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New York, September 10: A leading human rights group on Thursday asked the Obama administration to appoint a Special US Envoy on Myanmar and promptly conclude its policy review on the military ruled Asian nation.

In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, New York-based Human Rights Watch said the United States should appoint its own special envoy on Myanmar.

The Envoy would have a direct line to the Secretary of State and specific instructions to engage in a principled way with the government in Yangon and key bilateral and multilateral actors.

Tokyo, September 10: Westinghouse Electric Co, the US subsidiary of Japan’s Toshiba Corp, said on Thursday that it was close to an agreement to be the long-term operator of a British nuclear fuel manufacturing site.

Westinghouse said it was in “advanced discussions” with Britain’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) about taking on a long-term management lease for the site at Springfields near Preston.

Tokyo, September 10: A partner in Japan’s incoming coalition government on Thursday said it would not budge from its demand that the nation end a naval refuelling mission backing US-led military operations in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon on Wednesday urged the next government, led by the untested centre-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), to continue the mission in the Indian Ocean, despite its campaign promise to end it.

Yasumasa Shigeno, secretary general of the DPJ’s coalition partner the Social Democratic Party (SDP), said, “Our policy will not change.”

Jerusalem, September 10: An ad campaign against Jewish assimilation, co-sponsored by the Israeli government, has been yanked after outraging Jews abroad, an official said on Wednesday, laying bare the sometimes fraught relations between residents of the Jewish homeland and world Jewry.

The Hebrew-language campaign was launched by Masa, a joint venture of the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency and the Israeli government. It included newspapers ads and TV clips showing mock missing persons fliers emblazoned with Jewish-sounding names and the word “Lost”.

Washington, September 10: The United States encourages open exchange between China and the Dalai Lama on the issue of Tibet, an Obama administration official said on Wednesday.

“We have immense respect for the Dalai Lama. He is one of the leading spiritual figures in the world, and we have always encouraged a more open exchange between China and the Dalai Lama and his followers,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters at his daily news briefing.

Freetown, September 10: At least 80 children were killed when the boat in which they were travelling capsized off the coast of Sierra Leone capital during a storm, media reports said.

A total of 150 people, including children were on board the vessel at the time of the accident on Wednesday. Officials said the engine of the boat stopped working before the accident.

Meanwhile, rescue officials have saved 36 people and the search was continuing for other survivors. The vessel could not be traced.

The boat was returning from the Waterloo town to Freetown.

—IANS

Wellington, September 10: The Auckland electorate office of New Zealand Prime Minister John Key was firebombed early on Thursday, police said.

The office in Key’s Helensville electorate in the semi-rural outskirts of the city was attacked with a Molotov cocktail, which caused a small fire in the early hours of the morning, police said.

Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the blaze and damage was minor, police area commander Janet Hope said.

Key had no immediate response to the attack on the building, which was unoccupied at the time.

Washington, September 10: Stepping up pressure on Iran over its controversial nuclear programme, the US on Wednesday said that Tehran will have to make a choice whether it wants isolation or reintegration with the international community.

“The (Obama) administration has made it clear to Iran and the whole international community that we have a new approach to Iran. We have made it clear to Iran that the choice really is theirs to make,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.

Bogota, September 10: Colombia’s Supreme Court ruled that possession of illegal drugs for personal use is not a criminal offence, citing a 1994 decision by the country’s Constitutional Court, Caracol Radio reports.

Drug consumption “generates in a person problems of addiction and slavery that turn one into a sick, compulsive individual deserving of therapeutic medical treatment instead of a punishment”, the judges said on Wednesday.

Mexico City, September 10: Federal police prepare to enter a hijacked Boeing 737 plane at the international airport in Mexico City September 9, 2009. Hijackers seized an AeroMexico passenger plane in Mexico with more than 100 people on board on Wednesday but the incident ended quickly without bloodshed.

Federal police prepare to enter a hijacked Boeing 737 plane at the international airport in Mexico City September 9, 2009. Hijackers seized an AeroMexico passenger plane in Mexico with more than 100 people on board on Wednesday but the incident ended quickly without bloodshed.