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[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 12:56 GMT, Thursday, 24 September 2009 13:56 UK
Suu Kyi 'welcomes US engagement'
Detained Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi says she welcomes US plans to engage with the country's military rulers, her lawyers say.

But lawyer Nyan Win said that Ms Suu Kyi also wanted the US to engage with the political opposition.

It comes after the US said sanctions against Burma could be eased if the junta improved its human rights record.

Ms Suu Kyi is under house arrest and is currently preparing an appeal against an extension of her sentence.

"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said that direct engagement is good," said Nyan Win.

"She accepts it but she says that engagement must be with both sides," AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said sanctions remained an important part of US policy but that "by themselves they have not produced the results that had been hoped for on behalf of the people of Burma".

She said the US would be looking to employ both sanctions and engagement to "help achieve democratic reform" in Burma.

Ms Suu Kyi was sentenced in August to a further 18 months' house arrest after a US intruder stayed at her home.

She has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention and if her appeal fails, the extension will keep her out of multi-party elections scheduled to be held next year.


[Africa]
Page last updated at 13:34 GMT, Thursday, 24 September 2009 14:34 UK
US travel ban threat for Kenyans
Hundreds died in weeks of violence following the election in 2007
The US has threatened to impose travel bans on 15 senior Kenyan officials if they fail to support the country's "reform agenda".

Michael Ranneberger, the US ambassador in Nairobi, says letters have been sent to the officials urging them to back reforms and oppose the use of violence.

In recent months the US has criticised Kenya for failing to investigate deadly violence after the 2007 election.

Some 1,300 people died, but officials have resisted calls for a tribunal.
The letter sent to the officials stated that the US "would not do business as usual with those who do not support reform or who support violence".

In it, state department official Johnnie Carson urges Kenya to strengthen its institutions and eradicate corruption to avoid more violence after the next election in 2012.

Deadlines missed

Mr Ranneberger told reporters he would not be releasing the officials' names, but said they included ministers, MPs, permanent secretaries and other prominent officials.

He added that the US would "more closely scrutinise any proposals for Kenya in international financial institutions".

A power-sharing government was eventually set up after the 2007 election, but it has struggled to restore stability in the wake of the violence.

Rights groups blamed the police for many of the deaths in the riots, which raged for two months after the election.

International mediators have pressed the government to set up a tribunal to investigate the killings, but officials continue to miss every deadline they are set.

In recent weeks the US has also criticised President Mwai Kibaki's attempt to reappoint a much-criticised anti-corruption chief without parliament's approval.


[Americas]
Page last updated at 14:00 GMT, Thursday, 24 September 2009 15:00 UK
Obama pushes nuclear disarmament
The UN Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution calling for nuclear disarmament, in a session chaired by US President Barack Obama.

The resolution calls for further efforts to stop the spread of nuclear arms, to boost disarmament, and to lower the risk of "nuclear terrorism".

It was the first time US president had chaired a Security Council meeting.

The resolution comes amid growing concerns among world powers over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

It also comes a day after Mr Obama's debut UN speech, in which he warned of a nuclear arms race.

The resolution adopted on Thursday reaffirms the council's commitment "to seek a safer world for all and to create the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons", the Associated Press reported.

It does not specifically mention countries by name, such as North Korea and Iran, but reaffirms previous Security Council resolutions relating to their nuclear plans.

Iran's nuclear programme has been criticised by the US and five nations who are set to hold talks next week.

Iran says its nuclear ambitions are for peaceful energy purposes, but others fear it is developing weapons.

{ UN ON THURSDAY
Security Council:
> Nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament
General Debate:
> Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu
> Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama
> Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
> Iraqi President Jalal Talabani
>Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili}

Also on Thursday, a UN conference on a 1996 treaty banning nuclear bomb tests will begin with a speech by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Her appearance is the first US participation at the biannual conference since 1999 when the US Senate refused to ratify the treaty.

On Wednesday, the first day of the United Nations General Assembly, Iran's plans came under fire.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Iranian leaders were "making a tragic mistake" if they thought the international community would not respond.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned Iran - and North Korea - that the world would be even tougher on proliferation.

In his speech on Wednesday, President Obama said: "For decades, we averted disaster, even under the shadow of a super-power stand-off. But today, the threat of proliferation is growing in scope and complexity.

"If we fail to act, we will invite nuclear arms races in every region, and the prospect of wars and acts of terror on a scale that we can hardly imagine."

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signalled that Moscow might be prepared to soften its opposition to sanctions against Iran over its nuclear plans.

But the Chinese foreign ministry has said that increasing pressure on Iran would not be effective.

In his speech, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke of countries which undermined the development of other nations under the pretext of preventing arms proliferation.

Mr Obama said he and Mr Medvedev shared the goal of allowing Iran to pursue peaceful nuclear energy, but not nuclear weapons.


[Middle East]
Page last updated at 12:12 GMT, Thursday, 24 September 2009 13:12 UK
'Al-Qaeda group' escape Iraq jail
Sixteen members of al-Qaeda in Iraq have escaped from a prison north of Baghdad, Iraqi security officials say.

Reports said five of the group, who were being held at a facility in Tikrit, had been sentenced to death for involvement in attacks.

A security official said that the men removed the windows from a bathroom, crawled through the opening and climbed a ladder over the prison walls.

One of the men has since been caught, but the rest remain at large.

Checkpoints have been set up around Tikrit, which is a predominantly Sunni town in Salah al-Din province about 80 miles (130km) from Baghdad.

Iraqi military spokesman Maj Gen Abdul-Karim Khalaf said extra surveillance had also been ordered at Iraq's borders and throughout the north-west of the country.

A senior provincial security official told AFP news agency that the escapees had probably received assistance from within the prison system.

"It is clear there was co-operation with specific groups that helped them escape. Probably one of the officials helped them," he said.

In a separate development, 24 people have been arrested in Morocco on suspicion of having links to a cell recruiting suicide bombers for Iraq, according to a state news agency.

It said the group, based in towns and cities across Morocco, was also suspected of recruiting men to fight in Somalia and Afghanistan.