Asia - Pacific - International Herald Tribune
News from Asia - Pacific from The International Herald Tribune, the world's daily newspaper online.

• Inquiry opened into S. Korean front-runner
  The presidential election in South Korea turned less predictable when Parliament voted to open an independent investigation into allegations of fraud by Lee Myung Bak, the front-running candidate.
• Pakistan embarrassed by terror suspect's disappearance
  Rashid Rauf, linked to a plot to blow up airplanes, reportedly slipped out of handcuffs after a court hearing.
• Kyrgyz president's party wins easily
  The party of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev stormed to an overwhelming victory in parliamentary elections, preliminary results showed Monday. But opposition candidates accused the government of rigging the voting and warned of further instability.
• Malaysia drops attempted murder charges against 31 ethnic Indians
  The defendants had been charged after a skirmish with a police officer during a protest rally in November.
• Attacks decrease along Afghan-Pakistan border, U.S. general says
  Brigadier General Joseph Votel said that attacks along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border had dropped more than 40 percent since July and that the United States and its allies were making progress in the fight against the Taliban.
• Free trade zones ease passage of fake drugs
  Counterfeiters use free trade zones to hide a drug's provenance, or to make, market or relabel adulterated products, according to anticounterfeiting experts.
• A desperate life for survivors of the Secret War in Laos
  Decades after the CIA hired jungle warriors to fight communists, men who say they are veterans of that covert operation are isolated, hungry and periodically hunted by the Laotian government.
• White House and NATO set review of Afghan mission
  Worried about the prospect of failure, the Bush administration and NATO have begun three top-to-bottom reviews.
• U.S. reversal under pressure leads to climate deal
  In a tumultuous final session at climate talks, delegates agreed on a "road map" for negotiations that would produce a climate treaty by 2009.
• Filipino talks with separatists seriously set back
  Islamic front accuses the government of changing the draft of a key agreement.
• Chinese fish farmers face polluted waters
  China is the biggest producer and exporter of seafood in the world, but contaminated water supplies are creating serious problems for food safety and the environment.
• Pakistani opposition group vows to undo Musharraf's constitutional changes
  Musharraf canceled the state of emergency on Saturday and restored the Constitution after passing a flurry of amendments and decrees to ensure that his recent actions would not be challenged by any court.
• U.S. and China relations hit a rough patch
  In recent talks on economic issues, it was obvious to the U.S. side that relations with China were going through a difficult phase.
• For Afghan boys and men, kite flying is a way of life
  The sole reason for kites, Afghans will tell you, is kite fighting, and a single kite aloft is nothing but a challenge to a neighbor: Bring it on!
• North Korea replies to Bush with an offer and a condition
  North Korea agreed on Friday to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, provided that the United States reciprocates by normalizing relations between the countries.
• For mining victims in China, pages quickly turned
  About 300 miners a month die in China, according to official statistics, and even an accident as large as the blast last week at Xinyao was not a sure ringer for front page coverage for many Chinese newspapers.
• Philippine Muslim rebel groups agree to reconcile
  The pledge raised hopes that the decades-old insurgency in the south of the country might finally come to an end.
• Industrial output in China cools
  November's output of 17.3 percent was the slowest pace in a year, and less than the estimated 18 percent.
• From tanks to trade: A new road for ex-foes
  Construction workers from China and Vietnam will soon join forces to build a highway that promises to bring new wealth to their once heavily guarded border regions.
• Most Pakistanis want Musharraf to quit, poll shows
  A public opinion poll in Pakistan has found that 67 percent of Pakistanis want President Pervez Musharraf to resign immediately.
• UN works to bridge divisions at Bali
  The last decade may be the warmest in 1,000 years, the chief of the World Meteorological Organization said, hoping to spur the 190 deadlocked governments into reaching a deal that would set a deadline for a global climate change agreement.
• Rape case underlines plight of Aborigines
  Mounting anger over the handling of the gang rape of a 10-year-old indigenous girl hasleft the new Rudd government scrambling for solutions to one of the country's most intractable problems.
• To save, South Koreans use credit cards
  Fifth in per capita credit card spending, South Koreans have mastered the art of maximizing discounts and rebates.
• Hollywood officials say China has started banning American movies
  The Chinese action may be in retaliation for the U.S. decision last April to file an intellectual property rights case.
• Stem cell trailblazer puts Japan at fore
  Dr. Shinya Yamanaka's work on programming adult cells to behave as stem cells, without involving the destruction of human embryos is being hailed in Japan as a sign that the country may finally be coming of age as a center of scientific research.
• Hunting the Taliban, finding sick children by the score
  U.S. troops patrolling Ghazni Province, an isolated Afghan region where the Taliban remain strong, are finding sick children everywhere, and parents begging for help.
• Foreign workers face campaign of brutality in Malaysia
  Foreign workers have become the targets of an expanding campaign of harassment, arrest, whippings, imprisonment and deportation.
• New survey shows split in Australian attitudes on United States
  A poll carried out by the University of Sydney has shown that while Australians still view the United States as an ally, they are deeply worried about its current political direction.
• Trucks at heart of China's diesel problems
  Noxious exhaust fills the cities because fuel is contaminated with high levels of pollution-causing sulfur.
• Wave of mixed signals as U.S. ship is snubbed
  Beijing's about-face on allowing the USS Kitty Hawk to dock in Hong Kong was followed by an even more surprising flip-flop from Bejing.
• Amid Gujarat campaign, memories of mass killings in 2002 still smolder
  Both the opposition Congress Party and the governing Bharatiya Janata Party are wary of confronting the issue before the Indian state of Gujarat holds elections Dec. 11.
• China media less aggressive in foreign coverage
  As Chinese journalists expand the boundaries of the permissible in domestic coverage,