A round-up of other world news in brief
Serbian police search factory for Mladic
VALJEVO - Police searched a factory in the central Serbian town of Valjevo yesterday for fugitive Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, according to a source in the office of the war crimes prosecutor.
Mladic, the commander of the Bosnian Serb forces in the 1992-1995 Bosnia war, was indicted in 1995 on genocide charges for siege of Sarajevo and for orchestrating the Srebrenica massacre of about 8,000 Muslims. - (Reuters)
Tax crime charge for Pinochet son
SANTIAGO - A Chilean judge yesterday formally charged former dictator Gen Augusto Pinochet's youngest son, Marco Antonio, and two former aides with tax crimes.
The widow and five children of the late Chilean dictator were arrested in October 2007 as part of an investigation into allegations he stole $27 million (€21.23 million) of public funds and hid it in foreign banks, but they were later released. - (Reuters)
Somali gunmen kidnap two nuns
GARISSA - Heavily-armed Somali gunmen kidnapped two Italian nuns yesterday in a predawn raid on a remote Kenyan border town, witnesses said.
Somalia is one of the world's most dangerous countries for aid workers, who are often abducted or killed in attacks usually blamed on Islamist insurgents or clan militia. - (Reuters)
Call for freeze on Pius canonisation
VATICAN CITY - One of the most influential groups of Holocaust survivors accused Nazi-era pope Pius XII yesterday of keeping "silent in the face of absolute evil" and asked the Vatican to freeze his sainthood process.
The New York-based American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants has announced a global campaign to lobby Vatican ambassadors so that Pope Benedict XVI will put the sainthood process for his predecessor on hold. - (Reuters)
Nkunda warns peacekeepers
GOMA - Congolese rebel chief Laurent Nkunda said yesterday he would fight African peacekeeping troops if they attacked him, as concerns grew that east Congo's conflict could suck in neighbouring armies.
Leaders from Africa's southern and Great Lakes regions have offered to send troops to try to help pacify east Democratic Republic of Congo, where fighting between Nkunda's Tutsi rebels and the army has uprooted hundreds of thousands of people. - (Reuters)
Footballer fined over gesture
IPSWICH - A footballer who made an "insensitive" handcuffs gesture to show support for a friend jailed following the deaths of two children has been fined by his club.
Ipswich Town said it was concerned that midfielder David Norris's celebration after scoring a goal had been interpreted as a tribute to his friend, former Plymouth Argyle goalkeeper Luke McCormick, who is serving a seven-year jail term. - (PA)
China defends record on torture
GENEVA - China defended itself against allegations of torture before a UN watchdog yesterday, saying it had "zero tolerance" for abuses in its police stations, jails and on the streets.
Beijing delegation chief Li Baodong rejected as "groundless and untrue" concerns raised by activist groups about the reported brutal physical and mental treatment of detainees, including monks and nuns arrested during demonstrations this year in Tibet. - (Reuters)