BAGHDAD - THE Japanese contingent in Iraq on Sunday wound up its mission during a ceremony at a coalition base in one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces in Baghdad, the US military said.

'The members of the Japanese Ground Self-Defence Force have been with the coalition forces since the onset of the conflict,' said Major General Michael Ferriter, deputy commanding general for operations.

NEW DELHI - INDIA'S foreign minister accused Pakistan on Sunday of trying to dodge blame over the Mumbai attacks' Pakistani origins by leaking a story about a hoax call to Pakistan's president that set off diplomatic panic.

Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported on Saturday that Pakistan had put its forces on high alert after a caller pretending to be Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee threatened President Asif Ali Zardari while the attacks were still going on.

TAIPEI - ABOUT 3,000 Taiwanese college students marched in the capital Sunday to protest a law that they say limits people's constitutional right to demonstrate freely.

The students, many in black shirts symbolising impaired human rights, shouted slogans as they paraded in a downtown district with police and government buildings.