News Roundup, 1/18

Too many interesting stories to fully cover. A quick roundup:

• The Turkish man who shot Pope John Paul II offered to capture Bin Laden and planned to kill the late Syrian President Hafez Assad.
• The Iraq Islam Army claims it killed four “idiolatrous” Japanese GSDF troops. The unit denied the statement, saying troops in Samawah were never attacked and were operating as usual.
• Britain decides not to open European-stule “prostitution zones”—instead they will relax laws so that prostitutes can work together in the same premises, i.e. old-fashioned “whore houses.”
• As the world prepares to bring Iran to the UNSC, Iran says that now is the time for talks. The EU, to it’s credit, isn’t biting—but we have yet to see what the UNSC can possibly do.
• China’s apolitical stance in Africa helps its image and its prestige in the region, says the BBC.
• Four critics of Cambodian government are freed on bail after being arrested for insulting the Prime Minister.
• Camels in Norway? Believe it.