Naypyidaw, November 13
The United States voiced alarm over Myanmar's backsliding on democratic reforms, as President Barack Obama today attended a regional summit meant to showcase the country's transition from army-led isolation.

Obama was set to raise powderkeg rights issues at a meeting with his Myanmar counterpart Thein Sein, a former general turned reformer, on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw.

Obama set the tone for his meeting with hard-hitting comments on the pace of reforms in an interview with Myanmar news website The Irrawaddy published just before he arrived last night for a three-day trip.

"One of the main messages that I'll deliver on this visit is that the government of Myanmar has a responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of all people in the country, and that the fundamental human rights and freedoms of all people should be respected," Obama said.

"Even as there has been some progress on the political and economic fronts, in other areas there has been a slowdown and backsliding in reforms.

"In addition to restrictions on freedom of the press, we continue to see violations of basic human rights and abuses in the country's ethnic areas, including reports of extrajudicial killings, rape and forced labour."

Obama planned to speak out on behalf of the nation's Muslim Rohingya minority in "all of his engagements" in Myanmar, his deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, told reporters today.

Around 140,000 Rohingya languish in fetid displacement camps in western Rakhine State after religious violence flared two years ago, leaving scores of the minority dead and casting a dark cloud over the nation's pathway towards democracy.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday also raised the "serious humanitarian" condition of the Rohingya. Obama met opposition leader and Democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi this afternoon at discussions with a group of lawmakers in the capital.

The pair will hold a joint press conference in Yangon tomorrow, in a show of support by Obama for his fellow Nobel laureate, who he visited on his first trip to the country in 2012.

Suu Kyi had preceded Obama's trip with her own warning against "over-optimism" about democracy in Myanmar, as the nation heads for crucial general elections next year. — AFP

Winds of change Myanmar emerged from international pariah status when a semi-civilian government took power four years ago and initiated a wave of liberal change after nearly half a century of military rule The substantial power is still held by the military, which is handling the transition to democracy. The military holds 25 per cent of seats in Parliament, giving it veto power over constitutional amendments The Muslim Rohingya minority faces a humanitarian crisis in western Rakhine state, and US officials called for Myanmar to draft a new plan to allow them to become citizens

Berlin, November 13
The European Space Agency today published the first image taken from the surface of a comet, and said that its Philae lander is still "stable" despite a failure to latch on properly to the rocky terrain.

The lander scored a historic first yesterday, when it touched down on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko after a decade-long journey through space on its mother ship Rosetta.

Scientists' jubilation was slightly dampened because the harpoons which were meant to anchor the lander to the surface failed to deploy, causing it to bounce twice before it came to rest on the comet's body, or nucleus.

"Philae is stable, sitting on the nucleus and is producing data," Gerhard Schwehm, a scientist on the Rosetta mission, told The Associated Press. "The lander is very healthy." The photos sent back to Earth show a rocky surface, with one of the lander's three feet in the corner of the frame.

Scientists are still analysing what effect the two bounces had on the spacecraft.

Schwehm said it may still be possible to fire the harpoons, but that this would be done only if it doesn't imperil the lander.

A key question is whether Philae's drill can be used to extract samples from beneath the surface without pushing the lander into space. Gravity on the comet is 1/100,000th that of Earth, meaning the washing machine-sized lander weighs just 1 gram (0.04 ounces) there. — AP

London, November 13
Samantha Lewthwaite or the White Widow and the world's most wanted woman terrorist, has reportedly been gunned down in war-torn Ukraine by a Russian marksman.

According to The Mirror, Lewthwaite had joined the Ukraine conflict just two weeks ago and was fighting on the side of a pro-government group, Aidar, as a sniper.

The Russian sniper who killed the British terrorist now has a bounty of $630,000 on his head from Ukrainian special services.

Muslim convert Lewthwaite, who was married to London 7/7 suicide bomber Germaine Lindsay, had been on the run ever since she was linked to a failed plot to blow up hotels and a shopping centre in Mombasa, Kenya, in 2011.

Interpol made her world's most wanted woman terrorist after her involvement in a Nairobi Mall attack that killed 67 people last September.

Reports last month had said that she had joined the Islamic State (IS) and was one of its most prominent female fighters. — ANI

World’s most wanted woman terrorist Interpol termed Samantha Louise Lewthwaite as the world’s most wanted woman terrorist after her involvement in a Nairobi Mall attack that killed 67 persons last September Lewthwaite is an alleged member of the Somalia-based radical Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab. She has been accused of orchestrating grenade attacks at non-Muslim places of worship She has been dubbed the 'White Widow' by the media, a play on words referencing her race, the death of her first husband and the practice of referring to Chechen female suicide bombers as 'black widows'

Chilpancingo, November 13
Demonstrators set fire to the local legislature building on Wednesday in the capital of the southwestern state of Guerrero in protests over the apparent massacre of 43 students by corrupt police and thugs from drug gangs.

Violent demonstrations rocked several other states, where protesters blocked an airport and damaged the local office of President Enrique Pena Nieto's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

In Guerrero's capital of Chilpancingo, members of a teachers union set fire to the session hall in the state assembly building while also torching several cars outside.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze and no injuries were reported. Protesters also set a fire at administrative offices of the state's education department.

Anger has intensified in Mexico since Attorney General Jesus Murillo said last week that evidence suggests 43 missing trainee teachers were murdered by gangsters, incinerated in a bonfire at a garbage dump and their ashes thrown in a river.

The students were abducted by corrupt police in September, Murillo said.

The protests have led to mass cancellations this week in the hotels of Acapulco, the famous beach resort, ahead of a long holiday weekend. On Tuesday, hundreds of protesters scuffled with riot police and burned PRI offices in Chilpancingo.

"God willing, this type of vandalism does not repeat itself, this is not the way," said resident Constantino Garcia. "I think that this is not what society hopes for when demanding justice." Tens of thousands of Mexicans have taken to the streets in recent weeks in peaceful protests over the government's handling of the case of the missing students, which has become the biggest challenge yet to Pena Nieto.

The President is on a trip to China this week, which infuriated protesters and relatives of the students. They believe he cares more about Mexico's business interests than trying to deal with the gang violence that has ravaged much of the country for years. — Reuters