Govt considers setting up DNA testing centre at NIMR

Nigeria
Embarrassed by the inability of any laboratory in the country to conduct DNA tests on the victims of the June 3, 2012 DANA air crash and their relatives for easy identification of corpses, the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Yaba, Lagos, has raised a team to develop the institute’s capacity to perform such tests.å

Israeli scientists ‘track’ ancestors using DNA test

An Israeli scientist claims to have developed a way of accurately establishing where a person’s parents, grandparents and ancestors hail from by analysing their DNA.
Eran Halperin of Tel Aviv University developed a mathematical algorithm for extracting information about family origins from a DNA sequence called the single-nucleotide polymorphism. He made the breakthrough in partnership with Elazar Eskin, a computer scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Osceola County Sheriff’s Office hopes new DNA labs will speed up cases

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. —
Earlier this month, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office joined a short list of Central Florida departments with their own DNA pre-screening labs. The sheriff’s office now hopes the new lab will mean swifter justice in cases.

In NYC, identifying the dead, and finding closure

NEW YORK — On a wind-swept island off New York City, the remains of 850,000 people rest in pine boxes in a grid of covered trenches — but many are not resting in peace.
They are the unidentified or unclaimed dead who have been found around the nation’s largest city — often with little hope of a loved one ever knowing their fate. Now, with advances in DNA technology and anthropology and with new federal funding, the city medical examiner’s office has exhumed dozens of the bodies in a new push to identify several decades’ worth.

Texas man freed after DNA clears him of 1988 rape

FORT WORTH, Texas — A man who spent more than two decades behind bars was freed Friday after DNA evidence cleared him in the rape of a 14-year-old Fort Worth girl.
David Lee Wiggins was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1989, although neither of the two fingerprints found at the scene matched his. The girl, whose face was covered during most of the attack, picked Wiggins out of a photo lineup and then a live lineup, saying he looked familiar.

The search for Richard III

Archaeologists digging under a council car park in Leicester where they believe King Richard III may be buried have made their first breakthrough.
•Dig has uncovered a wall that could be part of the Franciscan Friary, known as Greyfriars
•If remains are found, they will undergo DNA analysis at the University of Leicester to confirm that they are those of Richard III

Millionaire Rozhetskin’s remains found in Latvian forest

Russia
The remains of a man found in a forest in Tukums Region in Latvia at the beginning of August 2012 most likely belong to the Russia-born U.S. millionaire Leonid Rozhetskin.

Race against time to find US troops’ remains in Vietnam

Vietnamese labourers work at a Missing In Action (MIA) excavation site in Kham Duc village in the central Vietnamese province of Quang Nam in May. A joint US-Vietnamese recovery team is hunting for the remains of those who were lost in battles in 1968, and must find them before all traces disappear.

Family’s agony ends after 23 years as DNA identifies rail victim as missing son

UK
A MAN who was killed after being struck by a train in London 23 years ago has been identified as a missing Scot.
Derek Burns was identified using advanced DNA techniques not available at the time of his death.

Richard III Grave Excavation Begins Under Leicester Car Park

Diggers have begun to excavate a city centre car park as part of an archaeological search for the lost grave of Richard III.
Experts from the University of Leicester mapped out the site behind council offices off Greyfriars in Leicester city centre on Friday.