A high court judge today released a former president of Bosnia accused of war crimes 18 years ago in a case that has inflamed the Balkans and revived claims of British anti-Bosnian partisanship.

Ejup Ganic, an engineering professor and former president and vice-president of Bosnia, was arrested on 1 March while attempting to fly from Heathrow airport. He was seized on an extradition request from Serbia, which accuses him of war crimes at the beginning of the Bosnian war in May 1992.

on wednesday ordered ganic detained until a hearing next week in a london court. ganic was arrested monday at heathrow airport after serbia issued an arrest warrant accusing him of war crimes in connection with the 1992 deaths of serbian troops in bosnia

The wartime Bosnian Serb leader used his second day in the dock of a United Nations tribunal to pour scorn on allegations of genocide and war crimes for which he has been indicted on 11 counts.

Karadzic, 64, insisted that the Serbs could not be held accountable for the four-year siege of Sarajevo, where 12,000 died from shelling and sniper fire, because the atrocities were a "cunning strategy" by Bosnian Muslims "aimed at bringing in foreign troops and foreign intervention".

Serbia's justice minister has said she will seek the extradition of former Bosnian vice-president arrested in London on an arrest warrant from Belgrade.

Snezana Malovic said her ministry would send an extradition request on Tuesday for Ejup Ganic, who is wanted along with 17 others for suspected war crimes during the 1992-5 war.

Britain's foreign office said the 63-year-old was detained on Monday following "a provisional extradition request from ... Serbia in respect of conspiracy to murder and breach of the Geneva Convention," which deals with war crimes.

Radovan Karadzic today accused Bosnian Muslim forces of killing their own people in Sarajevo to engineer a western intervention against Bosnian Serbs.

The former Bosnian Serb leader made the claim as he defended himself against charges of genocide and other war crimes at the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.

On the second day of his opening statement, Karadzic sought to rewrite the historical record on the 44-month siege of Sarajevo, the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare.

The General Assembly renewed its demand on Friday that Israel and the Palestinians conduct credible, independent investigations into possible war crimes during the Gaza war, to be completed within five months. The Goldstone report, issued by the United Nations Human Rights Council last fall, said there was evidence that both sides, but Israel in particular, committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the three-week war in the winter of 2008-09.

United Nations (CNN) -- The United Nations' General Assembly on Friday passed an Arab League-backed resolution calling on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to further investigate alleged war crimes during the Israel-Gaza war.

The non-binding resolution calls for "credible and impartial" investigations, with results expected in five months.

Though the resolution cited the Goldstone report, which alleged war crimes on both sides, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian observer at the United Nations, cast it as part of a fight for "those criminals who committed war crimes against the Palestinian people from the Israeli side to be brought to justice."

The U.N. General Assembly has adopted a resolution renewing pressure on the Israelis and Palestinians to conduct independent and credible investigations into crimes committed by both sides during the 22-day Gaza conflict that erupted in December 2008.

The General Assembly voted to give Israel and the Palestinians five more months in which to conduct investigations of alleged war crimes that are "independent, credible and in conformity with international standards."

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The General Assembly on Friday demanded credible Israeli and Palestinian investigations into U.N. allegations of war crimes in last year's Gaza war, reflecting concerns that the probes so far have fallen short.

The United Nations' 192-nation assembly of member states approved the nonbinding Arab-drafted resolution with 98 votes in favor, seven against and 31 abstentions. Some 56 nations did not participate in the vote.

Sudan President Omar al-Bashir, facing charges of war crimes, is set to sign a preliminary peace accord with a rebel group in the Darfur region to help end the conflict in the oil-rich nation.

Officials in Doha described the agreement as temporary cease-fire, backed by a promise between the two sides to forge a final settlement that could include a power-sharing arrangement with the rebel group. The sides are also expected to negotiate the possibility that representatives for the rebels, known as the Justice and Equality Movement, or JEM, could become an officially recognized political party.

israeli advocacy group has ignited a storm with a public campaign targeting an israeli human rights organization that assisted united nations officials investigating the gaza war. the u.n.'s subsequent goldstone report accused israel of war crimes

the im tirtzu organization accuses the new israel fund of financing israeli organizations which judge richard goldstone used for information to accuse the israel defense forces of "war crimes." the fund's response, as is the wont of radical leftist

a co-author of the goldstone gaza report, which accuses both hamas and israel of war crimes, claims the gaza militant group fired only two rockets at israel prior to last year's winter conflict, according to a new report published by the jerusalem

Sri Lanka's defeated presidential candidate and former army chief has been cut off from family and friends after being arrested for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government while serving as army commander, his wife said Tuesday.

The government says Gen. Sarath Fonseka, who as the top general helped defeat the Tamil Tiger rebels last May, will be court-martialed for allegedly planning to overthrow the government while serving as the head of the army.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - Sri Lanka's defeated presidential candidate and former army chief has been cut off from family and friends after being arrested for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government while serving as army commander, his wife said Tuesday.

The government says Gen. Sarath Fonseka, who as the top general helped defeat the Tamil Tiger rebels last May, will be court-martialed for allegedly planning to overthrow the government while serving as the head of the army.

filed at 1:02 a.m. et ramallah, west bank (ap) -- an international human rights group says israel failed to show it's conducting an impartial investigation into gaza war crimes allegations. u.n. investigators have said both israel and hamas violated

The Hamas government in Gaza on Saturday backtracked on its apology earlier this week in which it expressed regret for harming Israeli civilians in rocket attacks.

The apology had signaled a rare deviation from Hamas' violent ideology, and the subsequent zigzag reflects the Islamic militants' conflicting objectives.

Hamas, which seized Gaza by force in 2007, is trying to reach out to the West in hopes of winning recognition and getting Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza. However, Hamas is also reluctant to discard its violent ideology for fear of losing credibility at home.

GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas, in an unusual move that seems unlikely to herald a change in tactics by the Islamist group, has expressed regret for the deaths of Israeli civilians in Palestinian rocket attacks during fighting in Gaza a year ago.

Israel, where Hamas suicide bombers have killed hundreds of civilians over two decades, dismissed any apology for the three non-combatants hit by rockets from Gaza in the war as insincere.

The UN chief had asked for submissions by a Friday deadline

There is not yet enough evidence to say whether Israel and the Palestinians are complying with UN demands to probe the Gaza conflict, the head of the UN says.

In a report, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said submissions by both parties remained incomplete.

They were asked to respond by Friday to last year's Goldstone report, which accused both of war crimes in Gaza.

Filed at 8:48 a.m. ET

GAZA (Reuters) - The Islamist group Hamas on Wednesday formally rejected allegations it had committed war crimes during last year's fighting in Gaza, charges made in a United Nations report.

Hamas officials said the group set out in a 52-page response handed to a U.N. official in Gaza that the killing of three Israeli civilians in rocket attacks during Israel's December 27, 2008-January 18, 2009 offensive was an accident and military installations had been targeted.