¤ North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has not apologised for the recent nuclear test but said he had no plans for a second test while reserving Pyongyang's options if the crisis escalates, China said. The October 9 nuclear test drew regional condemnation and UN sanctions backed by China, the reclusive state's long-time supporter.
¤ An Ontario judge struck down a section of Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act, saying it violates freedom of religion and thought guarantees in the country's Charter of Rights. Ontario Superior Court Judge Douglas Rutherford made the decision in the case of a Canadian who is charged with conspiring to carry out bomb attacks in Britain.
¤ Chad's army put tanks on the streets and bolstered security in the capital N'Djamena as rebels appeared to be advancing towards the city after attacking two towns in the remote southeast. The insurgents were thought to be nearing the town of Mongo, 400 km east of N'Djamena, after attacking Am Timan on Monday and briefly seizing Goz Beida near the Sudan border on Sunday, military sources and diplomats said.
¤ Top UN envoy Jan Pronk said he had no regrets about comments he made concerning the situation in Darfur which led to his expulsion from Sudan, and said he hoped he could return to the country. "I am still the special envoy to Sudan - just now not in Sudan itself," he told Dutch radio station BNR Nieuwsradio in his first interview since leaving Khartoum.
¤ A Rwandan government-appointed commission launched a probe yesterday into allegations French troops supported soldiers behind Rwanda's 1994 genocide and helped facilitate mass murder. Rwanda's Tutsi President Paul Kagame, whose government came to power after the genocide, has accused France of training and arming Hutu militias who were the main force behind a 100-day slaughter that killed 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
¤ Ukraine will pay nearly 40 per cent more for Russian natural gas next year, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich said yesterday, but the price remains considerably lower than that paid by other countries. Yanukovich's announcement, the culmination of months of negotiations, looks set to end uncertainty over Russian gas supplies to Ukraine and ensure smooth transit to European customers over the coming winter.