More world news in brief.
Tehran ignores latest demand to freeze nuclear activity
LONDON -Iran has ignored the demand that it freeze all nuclear activity in its answer to the international offer of a package of incentives to try to defuse the looming crisis over its nuclear ambitions.
Tehran yesterday reinforced the impression among western diplomats that it is still playing for time by waiting yet another day before delivering a written response to Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, who is leading efforts to avert a confrontation.
EU officials confirmed they had received the text from Iran's ambassador in Brussels last night but gave no details of its content. There was little hope of an unambiguously positive answer but no expectation of a clear rejection either.
"We are used to these tactics from the Iranians but the fact is that they haven't yet broken things off," a diplomat said.
There is likely to be strong pressure from Washington for a tough response. - (Guardian service)
France accused of aiding genocide
KIGALI -Rwanda formally accused senior French officials yesterday of involvement in its 1994 genocide and called for them to be put on trial.
Among those named in a report by a Rwandan investigation commission were former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin and late President Francois Mitterrand.
Kigali has previously accused Paris of covering up its role in training troops and militia who carried out massacres that killed some 800,000 people, and of propping up the ethnic Hutu leaders who orchestrated the slaughter.
France denies the accusation and says its forces helped protect people during a UN-sanctioned mission in Rwanda at the time. - (Reuters)
Gotti arrested
NEW YORK -John Gotti, the accused Mafia boss who beat federal charges three times by having cases end in mistrials, has been indicted on conspiracy charges including murder and cocaine trafficking.
Federal authorities said they arrested Mr Gotti at his Long Island home after he was indicted on conspiracy to traffic cocaine and murder three men from 1988 to 1991.
Five other suspects were indicted by a Tampa grand jury as a result of an investigation by the FBI and local police in New York and Tampa, Florida. - (Reuters)
Sadr will order militia to disarm
WASHINGTON -The leader of one of the most powerful militias in Iraq, Moqtada al-Sadr, is to order his followers to disarm and transform themselves into a purely social and political organisation, according to a new strategy document published yesterday.
Such a shift would mark a significant step forward for US and Iraqi government attempts to pacify Iraq.
Sadr's Mahdi army, committed to forcing US troops out of Iraq, has been behind much of the violence since the 2003 invasion. His forces have maintained a ceasefire since May. According to the document, whose authenticity has been confirmed by a Mahdi army spokesman Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi, the militia will concentrate in future on education, provision of social services and religion.
Posters have been spotted around Baghdad saying the changes will be announced at Friday prayers. - (Guardian service)