World News in brief: Mladic on way to The Hague on Monday if appeal fails

Ratko Mladic could be on his way to face a war-crimes tribunal in The Hague as early as Monday, possibly joining his former ally Radovan Karadzic on trial for some of the worst horrors of the Balkan wars.

The ex-Bosnian Serb army commander began issuing demands from behind bars yesterday, eating strawberries, calling for a TV set and Tolstoy novels, after the pre-dawn raid in a Serbian village the day before that ended his 16 years on the run.

His family claim the 69-year-old is too ill to stand up to the rigours of a genocide trial and that he is not guilty of crimes including his alleged role in the massacre of 8000 Muslim men and boys in Bosnia's Srebrenica enclave.

But Serbia's war crimes court ruled yesterday that Mladic was fit to stand trial and that conditions had been met for him to be handed over to the United Nations tribunal in the Netherlands.

A defence lawyer said Mladic would appeal against the decision on Monday, but the former fugitive could be extradited within hours if it is rejected.

Deadly fight to oust Yemeni leader spreads

The deadly fighting that rocked the Yemeni capital this week has spread after armed tribesmen seeking to oust President Ali Abdullah Saleh seized two military camps in battles that killed at least 18 and prompted airstrikes by government planes, a tribal leader said.

Yesterday's fighting brought to at least 124 the number killed in the past five days of violence, which has hiked fears that the country could be thrown into civil war as Saleh clings to power.

Grease star Jeff Conaway dies

A cowgirl silhouetted in the dust practises for the Professional Cowboy Association Rodeo in Troy, Alabama, US.

Jeff Conaway, who played swaggering Kenickie in the film Grease, starred in the TV comedy Taxi and publicly battled drug and alcohol addiction has died at 60.

The actor was taken off life support on Thursday and died yesterday at the Encino Tarzana Medical Centre in California.

Peacekeepers hit by bomb

A roadside bomb ripped through a United Nations convoy carrying Italian peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, wounding six of them in the first such attack since 2008.

The explosion struck as the peacekeepers' vehicles travelled south on the main road in Sidon.

Apaches join Libya force

Nato is poised to deploy attack helicopters over Libya for the first time as the international community tries to intensify pressure on Colonel Gaddafi to give up power.

Prime Minister David Cameron has confirmed that British Apache helicopters will join the latest offensive, which comes amid intelligence reports that the dictator's behaviour is becoming increasingly erratic. The Libyan regime is totally isolated on the world stage after Russia joined Western calls for Gaddafi to go.Grenade scam soldiers held

The Salvadoran army has arrested two officers and four soldiers for trying to steal 1812 hand grenades to sell to drug traffickers.

Defence minister General David Munguia said the months-long operation was a major blow to a deep-rooted criminal group that was stealing the country's weaponry.