BBC news 2012-09-30 加文本

BBC news 2012-09-30

BBC news with Kathy Clugston.

The president of Burma Thein Sein has told the BBC that he would accept the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as a future elected president if that was what the Burmese people wanted. Two days previously, Thein Sein had told the UN General Assembly that Burma's reforms were irreversible. Stephen Sarker reports from New York.

President U Thein Sein was for two decades a stalwart member of Burma's repressive military government. Now, he's become a remarkable champion of political reform. "The transition from dictatorship to democracy is the will of the people", he told me. I asked him if he would accept the leader of the opposition and former political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi as a future elected president. "It all depends on the people", he said. "If the people accept her, I will have to accept her. We are working together."

The youngest prisoner detained by the United States at Guantanamo Bay has been sent to his native Canada to complete his sentence.  Omar Khadr was 15 when he was wounded and captured in Afghanistan in 2002. He pleaded guilty to killing an American soldier and after being detained for 8 years at Guantanamo was found guilty by a US military tribunal of war crimes. Lee Carter reports from Toronto.

Omar Khadr arrived at a Canadian military base east of Toronto on Saturday morning and was quickly transferred to a maximum-security prison where he is expected to serve the last 6 years of an eight-year sentence. His return to Canada was part of a pre-trial plea deal agreed with American prosecutors in 2010. Under the agreement, Mr Khadr admitted killing the US soldier in a gunfire exchange near Khost in Afghanistan in 2002.

The Nigerian army says members of the security forces have been arrested on suspicion of links with the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. An army spokesman told the BBC an immigration officer detained last month had helped to identify security personnel connected to the militants. Will Ross reports from Lagos.

A military spokesman told the BBC that a number of security personnel had been arrested in Borno and Yobe states over links to Boko Haram. Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa would not say how many had been detained, and would not divulge whether they were from the police or the army. Analysts have in the past said the fight against Boko Haram was undermined because the Islamist group had managed to infiltrate the military. These arrests certainly suggest there is an enemy within.

Tens of thousands of anti-austerity protesters in Portugal have backed a call by some trade unions for a general strike. Demonstrators in Lisbon denounced the government economic policies. The protest was called by the Communist-linked General Confederation of Portuguese workers. Its leader Armenio Carlos said the deficit reduction plan had put Portugal on a road without an exit.

World news from the BBC.

There has been a large anti-government protest in the Polish capital Warsaw. Demonstrators blew horns, waved flags and said prayers as they protested against a new law that would raise the retirement age in Poland to 67. The rally was also joined by Roman Catholics angered that a Catholic media group has been denied spots on Poland's new digital broadcasting platform. From Warsaw, Adam Easton reports.

The demonstration brought together diverse groups to celebrate patriotism and their shared opposition to the center-right coalition government.  Solidarity trade unionists are angry the government failed to consult them before adopting a law that gradually raises the retirement age for both men and women to 67. Supporters of the Roman Catholic Radio Maryja and its assisted television Trwam say it is facing discrimination because it was denied a spot on the new digital platform. The National Broadcasting Council said television Trwam's owners had not given financial guarantees to secure the digital spot.

Two women from Britain and Australia have been kidnapped in the northeast of Ecuador near the border with Colombia . The Ecuadorian authority said the tourists were abducted on Friday by what was thought to be a Colombian group. Reports said the women had been travelling in a canoe while visiting a remote nature reserve. The incident follows reports that five other tourists were attacked in the same area on Friday.

Hundreds of Libyans have surrendered their weapons at collection points in the capital Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi following an appeal by the military that was promoted on television. Most handed over assault rifles, but others came forward with heat-seeking missiles, rocket launchers and even a tank.

The former publisher of the New York Times Arthur Sulzberger who led the newspaper for 34 years has died at the age of 86. During his tenure, the paper won 31 Pulitzer prizes and became a multi-billion-dollar media enterprise.

BBC news.