SOUTHEAST ASIA

TROOPS LEAVE ACEH IN DEAL WITH REBEL FIGHTERS

Indonesian soldiers pulled out of Aceh province yesterday to complete the last phase of an agreed troop reduction. The move was part of a peace deal signed in the wake of last year’s tsunami. Under the deal the rebels of the Free Aceh Movement were to hand in 840 guns, while Indonesia was to withdraw tens of thousands of uniformed personnel. The guerrillas completed their disarmament last week, and this week said they had demobilized their armed wing.

– The Daily Telegraph

EAST ASIA

UNIVERSITY PROBE SAYS ALL STEM CELL LINES WERE FALSIFIED

SEOUL, South Korea – An already disgraced scientist lied about all the stem cell lines he claimed were matched to different patients through cloning, investigating researchers said in a new jolt to the shattered reputation of Hwang Woo-suk.

Yesterday’s announcement all but ends the fraud investigation into one of three major cloning breakthroughs claimed by the one-time scientific superstar and national hero. Probes of Dr. Hwang’s two other groundbreaking experiments are still underway at Seoul National University where he worked before resigning in disgrace last week.

– Associated Press

JAPANESE BEHAVIOR IN SUICIDE CASE ‘VILE,’ SAYS CHINA

BEIJING – China has denounced the “vile behavior” of the Tokyo government in alleging a Japanese diplomat based in Shanghai committed suicide after he was blackmailed by a Chinese agent demanding state secrets. Japanese press reports said the diplomat, who was in charge of encryption of classified material, left suicide notes saying he had been blackmailed by Beijing over his relationship with a hostess at a karaoke bar.

– The Daily Telegraph

MIDDLE EAST

PROSECUTORS DECIDE AGAINST NEW CHARGES FOR TURKISH WRITER

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkish prosecutors decided yesterday not to file new charges against the country’s best known novelist for allegedly denigrating Turkey’s armed forces, but the writer still faces charges that he insulted “Turkishness,” lawyers who sought his trial on both accusations said. Nationalist lawyers had petitioned prosecutors to file criminal charges against Orhan Pamuk for reportedly telling German newspaper Die Welt in October that the military threatened democratization in Turkey.

– Associated Press

PERSIAN GULF

U.S. FORCES WILL BE WITHDRAWN ACCORDING TO ABILITIES OF IRAQIS

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – America will carry out planned withdrawals of American troops in Iraq only from regions where Iraqi forces can maintain security against the insurgents, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said yesterday. General Peter Pace said the current force of 160,000 would drop to below 138,000 by March, then American commanders on the ground would work with the Iraqi government to determine the pace of future pullbacks in areas that have been secured by local security forces.

– Associated Press

EASTERN EUROPE

ETHNIC SERB CONVICTED FOR VIDEOTAPED SREBRENICA KILLINGS

ZAGREB, Croatia – An ethnic Serb seen killing Muslims in a nationally televised video was convicted of war crimes yesterday and sentenced to 15 years in prison, with the judge saying he had shown “no mercy of compassion” for his victims. Serbian paramilitary member Slobodan Davidovic “actively participated in inhuman treatment, humiliation, and liquidation” of six young Muslim men from Srebrenica in 1995, a Zagreb district court judge, Miroslav Sovanj, said in his ruling.

– Associated Press