World Briefs

TEHRAN, Iran – Hundreds of thousands of opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defied an Interior Ministry ban Monday and streamed into central Tehran to cheer their pro-reform leader in his first public appearance since elections that he alleges were marred by fraud. Gunfire from a compound used by pro-government militia killed one demonstrator.

PARIS – Air France has replaced the air speed sensors on its entire fleet of Airbus A330 and A340 long-haul aircraft, a pilots' union official said Monday. The company had been under pressure from pilots who feared the devices could be linked to the crash of Flight 447. Experts looking into the May 31 crash of the 4-year-old Airbus A330 jet have so far focused on the possibility that external speed monitors — called Pitot tubes — iced over.

GENEVA – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva brought a message of worker solidarity and economic responsibility to the United Nations on Monday. He left with some rare, sharp criticism from human rights groups that once championed his government.

Silva was greeted with rapturous applause at the U.N. labor agency after a speech that criticized rich nations for plunging the world into recession.

LONDON – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown authorized a long-awaited inquiry into the Iraq war on Monday, but defied requests from bereaved families and campaigners to hold sessions in public.

Brown told the House of Commons that an examination of mistakes made during and after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion will begin next month, but take place entirely behind closed doors.

KABUL – US General Stanley McChrystal took command of nearly 90,000 US- and NATO-led troops in Afghanistan Monday, tasked with turning around the war against the Taliban as attacks reach record levels.

McChrystal was appointed after his predecessor was sacked in May when the United States said it needed "new thinking" in a war that is gaining pace, nearly eight years after the extremist Taliban regime was ousted in 2001.

LUXEMBOURG – European Union member states are ready to help resettle detainees freed from the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, the EU said on Monday.

A joint statement by Brussels and Washington said the EU backed the decision by the United States to close the detention center and set out a framework for cooperation under which member states would be able to receive released detainees.