10 In ten

Burma:

Junta makes way for 'civilian' government

THE dissolution of Burma's junta yesterday ushered in an era of civilian rule dominated by the same authoritarian generals that have isolated the country for nearly two decades.

The historic handover of power after 49 years of direct military rule will be greeted with scepticism by the international community and many Burmese.

Pro-democracy forces have barely any role in the new set-up. Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party has no official role but is expected to play a significant part in any review of sanctions. - Reuters

SYRIA

Assad gives no ground on emergency law

PRESIDENT Bashar al-Assad yesterday defied expectations that he would lift Syria's decades-old emergency law.

Speaking in public for the first time since the start of the protests, Assad said he supported reform. "Staying without reforms is destructive to the country," Assad said, without elaborating on a pledge by his adviser Bouthaina Shaaban last week that the president would look into lifting the emergency law.

Ending that law, imposed after the 1963 coup that elevated Assad's Baath Party to power, has been a central demand of the protesters. - Reuters

NIGERIA

Security beefed up ahead of polls

THE police force is deploying more officers ahead of elections which begin on Saturday.

National police spokesman Yemi Ajayi said each state would start deploying more troops today according to its needs.

The northern states of Kano and Niger would deploy 10000 officers each, but Lagos, the most populous state, might deploy twice as many.

The army and other law-enforcement agencies are also increasing their forces.

Nigerians vote for parliamentary delegates on Saturday, a president on April 9 and new governors on April 16. - Sapa-AP

Italy

Berlusconi vows to move Tunisian migrants

PRIME Minister Silvio Berlusconi promised to clear thousands of illegal Tunisian migrants from Lampedusa by the weekend, after an outcry over a humanitarian crisis on the tiny southern island.

Berlusconi, who visited Lampedusa yesterday, said the moving of about 6000 migrants from makeshift tent encampments to other centres in Italy had already begun on six ships.

"Within 48-60 hours, Lampedusa will be inhabited solely by Lampedusans," he told residents, who have seen 19000 Tunisians arrive since popular unrest toppled their president in January. - Reuters

Pakistan

Bali bombing suspect hunted down

PAKISTAN has arrested an Indonesian al-Qaeda militant suspected in the 2002 bombing of a Bali nightclub and will turn him over to Jakarta, a Pakistani intelligence official said yesterday.

He did not say when or where Umar Patek was arrested, but according to the Philippines army, which has also been hunting him, he was seized on January 25 along with a Pakistani associate believed to have been giving him shelter.

The arrest of Patek, who has a $1-million price on his head, could provide very valuable intelligence.

He is suspected in at least two other suicide bombings. - Sapa-AP

Rwanda

Human virus threatens mountain gorillas

A VIRUS causing deadly respiratory diseases in humans can be passed on to critically endangered mountain gorillas in Central Africa, a new study has found.

Researchers who spent time in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park said they found traces of human metapneumovirus during post-mortem examinations on two gorillas that died in 2009. The pair were in a group of 12 infected by a respiratory disease.

There are only 786 mountain gorillas in the wild. They live in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. - Sapa-AP

INDIA

Controversial book on Gandhi banned

A STATE in western India has banned Pulitzer-Prize winner Joseph Lelyveld's new book about Mahatma Gandhi after reports it hints that the father of India's independence had a homosexual relationship.

The author says his work is being misinterpreted.

More bans have been proposed in India, where homosexuality was illegal until 2009 and still carries social stigma.

Gujarat's state assembly voted unanimously yesterday to immediately ban Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India, which has not yet been released in India. - Sapa-AP

BURKINA FASO

Soldiers injure mayor in attack on house

THE mayor of Ouagadougou and number three of Burkina Faso's ruling party, Simon Compaore, was injured when angry soldiers ransacked his home.

"The mayor's home was completely vandalised, he was injured. He is undergoing examination at a clinic," an associate said yesterday.

According to the same source, angry soldiers left their barracks in the east of the capital, shooting in the air and going on the rampage in Compaore's home. It was not known what prompted the latest incident in several days of indiscipline by the military. - Sapa-AFP

India

Bollywood actor given 7 years for rape

AWARD-winning actor Shiney Ahuja was sentenced to seven years in prison yesterday for raping his maid, his lawyer said.

Ahuja was granted bail in October 2009 and ordered by the court to leave Mumbai, three months after he was arrested on charges of rape, intimidation and wrongful confinement of his maid, who is now 20 years old.

In the more than 18 months between arrest and sentencing, the 37-year-old actor had been working on a new film.

He would appeal against the sentence, lawyer Srikant Shivade said. - Reuters

UK

Cat with thunderous purr attempts rrrecord

A BRITISH community college says it has a recorded a house cat whose lawnmower-like purr hit 73 decibels, 16 times louder than the average feline.

Northampton College in central England said it had sent a music team with specialist equipment to record 12-year-old Smokey. The recording has been submitted to the Guinness World Records.

Journalists have compared the purr of the grey-and-white tabby to the sound of a Boeing 747 from a kilometre away.

Guinness World Records says it is "anxiously waiting" for the recording. - Sapa-AP