World Briefs

ISLAMABAD - A U. N. fact-finding commission began an inquiry on Wednesday into the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Bhutto was murdered in a suicide gun-and-bomb attack in the city of Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007, after a rally to drum up support for a general election she had hoped to win. The three-member U.N. team is headed by Chile's U.N. Ambassador Heraldo Munoz and will take six months for its investigation

The team will not be empowered to launch criminal proceedings related to the assassination. Pakistan's previous government, led by Pervez Musharraf, and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency accused al Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud of killing Bhutto.

RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazilian officials say they've identified the remains of 21 more people who were aboard an Air France jet when it plunged into the Atlantic Ocean last month.

Authorities say 17 newly identified victims were foreign and four were Brazilian. They did not give more specific nationalities.

ARUSHA, Tanzania – Nine people definitively convicted by the UN-backed international court trying suspected ringleaders in Rwanda's 1994 genocide have been transferred to Benin, an official said yesteday. The transfer took place last Saturday, said Roland Amoussouga, spokesman of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Among those sent to the small west African country were former finance minister Emmanuel Ndindabahizi and a Roman Catholic priest, father Athanase Seromba.

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a fiscal emergency to address California's deficit and has ordered state offices closed three days a month to save cash. The government shutdown will lead to a third furlough day each month for 235,000 state employees, bringing their pay cut to about 14 percent.

LONDON - "Great Train Robber" Ronnie Biggs lost bid for early jail release Wednesday after the British government said he should not be allowed out on parole because he was "wholly unrepentant."

Justice minister Jack Straw said he had rejected the Parole Board's recommendation to allow Biggs, 79, to be released. Along with 11 other gang members, Biggs robbed a mail train in 1963 and stole 2.6 million pounds - about 30 million pounds ($49 million) in today's money.

The crime became known as "The Great Train Robbery."