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Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has obtained internet access, two months after she was freed from years of house arrest.

Technicians set up wireless broadband at her home after the military government authorised an internet connection, her staff said.

However, her assistant told the BBC that Aung San Suu Kyi had not yet used it as the signal strength was too weak.

Ms Suu Kyi is believed never to have been online.

Her assistant added that she had also been feeling a little too unwell to try the internet.

Her security chief, Win Htein, said she was “glad” to be able to go online at her home in the former capital, Rangoon, and would use the technology to contact her network of supporters, the AFP news agency reported.

She has said she wants to use social networking to contact younger people.

Ms Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest for seven years continuously until November, also had no telephone access during that time.

She first applied to a private company for internet access soon after she was released, but the request was transferred to a firm run by the country’s military authorities, AFP said.

People in Burma, which has been ruled by the military since 1962, must obtain the authorities’ permission to go online at home and there is a thriving black market for facilities under assumed identities.

The security chief said Ms Suu Kyi had applied in her own name for access.

Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders describes Burma’s legislation on internet use as among the world’s most repressive, with online dissidents facing lengthy prison terms.

Just one in every 455 people in Burma were internet users in 2009, according to statistics from the United Nations International Telecommunication Union, AFP says.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The UN human rights chief has urged Mexico to investigate the possible involvement of officials in the abduction of about 40 migrants.

Navi Pillay said the Central American migrants had been “abducted in highly questionable circumstances” from a cargo train in Oaxaca state last month.

They were reportedly taken by gunmen who stopped the train in Chahuites.

Mexico has said it is investigating, after initially saying the reports were unsubstantiated.

According to a statement from Ms Pillay’s office, the train was first stopped by police and migration officials, who arrested 92 of the 250 migrants who had been stowed away.

The driver of the government-run train then took money from about 150 who re-boarded, the statement says, but he also allegedly warned of “more problems ahead” as he had not been happy with what they had paid him.

Shortly afterwards, gunmen seized the train, robbing the migrants and kidnapping 40 of them, including at least 10 women and a child.

Speaking on Friday, Ms Pillay called for “a thorough and transparent investigation of the alleged ill-treatment and abuse of the migrants by the [Mexican] Federal Police and the National Institute of Migration staff.”

“The Mexican authorities need to ascertain whether or not any state officials … were complicit with the criminal organisation that carried out the abductions and extortion, both in this and other cases,” she added.

Ms Pillay said that, since the incident, “there has been no trace of [the migrants], and human rights defenders working with other members of the same group have been repeatedly threatened”.

The Mexican Institute of Migration previously said that officials had boarded the train and detained a number of them, but that – after speaking to local and federal officials – there was no evidence that there had been a kidnapping.

But it has since said it is still investigating the incident.

Mexico’s UN mission in Geneva had no immediate response to Ms Pillay’s comments, according to AP news agency.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Former Formula 1 world champions Williams are weighing up a flotation on the stock market as a way of securing their future.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Scientists have discovered that expert board game players use a part of their brain that amateurs fail to utilise.

The research, published in Science, involved scanning the brains of both professional and amateur Japanese “Shogi” players.

Shogi is a Japanese game, similar to chess.

Scientists from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan said that intuitive playing was probably not due to nature, but brain training.

Shogi is a very popular game in Japan, played to professional level.

Professional players train for up to ten years, three to four hours a day to achieve the level of expertise needed to play professionally.

They are able to make very quick “intuitive” decisions about which move in any combination on the board, would produce the best outcome.

The researchers recruited 30 professional shogi players from the Japanese Shogi Association. They also had a control group of amateur players.

The professional players were presented with a game of shogi already in progress and given 2 seconds to choose the next best move – from a choice of four moves.

The researchers found that there were significant activations in the caudate nucleus area of the brains of professional players while they were making their quick moves.

In contrast, when amateur players were asked to quickly find the next best move, there was no significant activation in the caudate nucleus. This brain activity was specific to professional players who were making quick decisions about the next best move.

In addition, professionals did not use that area of the brain when they were given a longer time of 8 seconds, to think strategically about further moves they could make. In this scenario, the caudate nucleus area of the brain was not activated.

The caudate nucleus area of the brain was historically thought to be involved with the control of voluntary bodily movements. However more recently it has also been associated with learning and memory.

A lead researcher on the project, Kenji Tanaka said he was surprised by the findings as the area of the brain being used was in the basal ganglia region, which he did not associate with intelligence:

“The professional players started to use the parts of the brains that are well developed in mice and rats and not so well developed in primates, so the findings were a suprise – by becoming expert, shogi masters start to use all parts of the brain.”

Mr Tanaka added that the findings supported the idea that the brain could be trained to be good at spotting patterns – and that it was unlikely that people were born with the requisite intuition needed to be good at board games.

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Authorities in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh say two international aid agencies are “helping” Maoist insurgents in the area.

A senior police official said Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were “facilitating” treatment of rebels.

The groups have denied the allegations.

Large parts of Chhattisgarh are rebel strongholds, as its dense forests offer protection from government troops.

The rebels are believed to be active in more than two-thirds of the country. They say they are fighting for the rights of the rural poor.

Chhattisgarh police official SRP Kolluri said two rebels arrested with medicines worth $6000 (£3,770) from a local pharmacy had said they were being treated by “people from MSF and ICRC”.

MSF has been working in Chhattisgarh since 2006.

MSF’s India head Martin Sloot said the organisation offers medical support to people who have limited access to healthcare, with support from Chhattisgarh government.

“But we do not support the Maoists,” he said.

ICRC’s communications officer, Surinder Oberoi, said the allegation was “baseless”.

In 2006, authorities of Dantewada district – a rebel stronghold – made similar allegations against MSF but the organisation was allowed to work in the area.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist insurgency as India’s biggest internal security challenge.

A government offensive against the rebels – widely referred to as Operation Green Hunt – began last October.

It involves 50,000 troops and is taking place across five states – West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and Chhattisgarh.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The prime minister’s communications chief Andy Coulson has resigned, blaming coverage of the News of the World phone hacking scandal.

Mr Coulson said coverage had “made it difficult for me to give the 110% needed in this role”.

He faced pressure after stories about phone hacking while he was editor.

Mr Coulson quit as editor in 2007 saying he took ultimate responsibility for the scandal but denied knowing phone hacking was taking place.

In a statement on Friday, he said it had been “a privilege and an honour to work for David Cameron for three-and-a-half years”.

But he added: “Unfortunately, continued coverage of events connected to my old job at the News of the World has made it difficult for me to give the 110% needed in this role.

“I stand by what I’ve said about those events but when the spokesman needs a spokesman, it’s time to move on.”

He said he would leave within weeks and was proud of the work he had done.

In a statement Mr Cameron praised him as a “brilliant member of my team”.

The prime minister said: “I am very sorry that Andy Coulson has decided to resign as my director of communications, although I understand that the continuing pressures on him and his family mean that he feels compelled to do so.

“Andy has told me that the focus on him was impeding his ability to do his job and was starting to prove a distraction for the government.”

Mr Coulson was editor of the News of the World in 2007 when its royal editor, Clive Goodman, was jailed for conspiracy to access phone messages. Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire was jailed for six months on the same charge.

Mr Coulson denied any knowledge of phone hacking but resigned saying, as editor, he took “ultimate responsibility”. A Press Complaints Commission investigation found no evidence that he or anyone else at the paper had been aware of Goodman’s activities.

He became Mr Cameron’s director of communications in May 2007.

But recently pressure has mounted on Mr Coulson amid renewed newspaper investigations into the scale of phone hacking at the Sunday tabloid. Mr Coulson himself was interviewed as a witness by police in November.

In December Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer said no new charges would be brought in the case, owing to a lack of admissible evidence.

Earlier this month the News of the World suspended its news editor, Ian Edmondson, over allegations of phone hacking in 2005-6, thought to involve the actress Sienna Miller.

In the Commons on Friday, former minister Denis MacShane demanded that the prime minister come to the chamber to make a statement on Mr Coulson’s resignation.

In a point of order, he said: “We’re being informed by television that Mr Andy Coulson, one of the most important figures in Her Majesty’s government and one of the closest aides to the Prime Minister – is now resigning.

“As the House is sitting, I believe it would be appropriate for the prime minister to come to the Commons to explain why this is happening and give the public the full details here in the House of Commons, rather than bury this news on a day when, frankly, there’s an awful lot of other news taking place.”

The statement comes on the day former Labour PM Tony Blair is before the Iraq Inquiry, and in the aftermath of Alan Johnson’s shock resignation as shadow chancellor.

BBC News Channel chief political correspondent Laura Kuenssberg said Mr Coulson had informed the prime minister on Wednesday he intended to resign.

Last week in a BBC interview Mr Cameron was asked if it was true that Mr Coulson had offered his resignation, the PM declined to answer, saying he did not “go into private conversations”.

He said Mr Coulson had resigned as News of the World editor when he found out about the “bad things” that had happened, and he did not think Mr Coulson should be punished twice.

He said he had given the former editor “a second chance” when he had appointed him, adding that Mr Coulson had done a “very good job” for the government and for the country.

“He’s extremely embarrassed by the endless publicity and speculation about what happened many years ago when he was editor of the News of the World,” he said.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The French foreign minister has been mobbed by Palestinian protesters on her arrival in Gaza.

They were angry at reports that Michele Alliot-Marie had said the five-year captivity of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas was a war crime.

But other news reports from her meeting with the soldier’s father on Thursday suggested she had said Sgt Shalit should receive Red Cross visits.

The Israeli-French dual national was captured by militants in June 2006.

A small crowd of protesters – many of them relatives of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons – tried to block Ms Alliot-Marie’s car after it went through the Erez crossing into Gaza.

Some held pictures of Palestinian prisoners and banners saying “Get out of Gaza”. Other protesters banged on the bonnet and threw shoes at the vehicle.

Later, as the French minister left a hospital she had been visiting, her car was pelted with eggs.

Ms Alliot-Marie is on her first trip to the Middle East since her appointment to the post last November.

In Jerusalem she met Sgt Shalit’s father, Noam Shalit. Afterwards he said the minister had promised to speak to the European Union and “to pass on the message that the prisoner should receive visits from the Red Cross”.

Mr Shalit then told reporters: “Holding a hostage without allowing him to meet representatives of the Red Cross is a war crime.”

Some news reports, including Israeli radio, attributed the comment to Ms Alliot-Marie.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said her comments reflected a “total bias toward Israel” and ignored the thousands of Palestinians held by Israel.

“They are the true prisoners of war,” he said.

While in Gaza, the French minister issued an impassioned call for an end to Israel’s blockade of the impoverished Palestinian territory, according to AFP news agency.

“The blockade of Gaza breeds poverty and fuels violence. In the spirit of the values of freedom and dignity that we share, France calls on Israel to stop it,” Ms Alliot-Marie is quoted as saying.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

New governors have been appointed to Northern Ireland’s Maghaberry and Magilligan Prisons by the director general of the prison service.

Colin McConnell has also appointed a deputy governor to manage the women’s section at Hydebank.

The move comes weeks before the initial report of a major prisons review ordered by Justice Minister David Ford.

Mr Ford said one of his priorities would be reform of the prison service, which had more staff than prisoners.

Colin McConnell, who took up his post earlier this month, said the appointments would “position the service to move forward quickly as it prepares to undertake widespread reform”.

The new governor at Maghaberry will be Pat Maguire, with Austin Treacy appointed as deputy governor.

Alan Longwell will take up the post of governor at Magilligan Prison.

Mr McConnell said his new staff have confirmed that they were committed to “driving through the necessary reforms we must undertake.”

“It is important that as we move forward as a service, the vision of senior management is shared, owned and delivered throughout the wider prison service,” he said.

“To make this happen, and as a departure from the current management arrangements, governors of our three prisons will report directly to me and will be measured against the challenging objectives I set them.

“This new level of accountability underlines our commitment to change and become a more efficient, effective and delivery-focused service.”

Mr McConnell said that later in the year he would launch a recruitment campaign aimed at attracting graduates as future senior prison managers.

He said it would be the first time in 20 years that external recruitment to the governor grade had taken place in Northern Ireland.

Dame Anne Owers was asked last year to conduct the review after a series of reports were strongly critical of the penal system in Northern Ireland.

Her team is expected to produce an initial report followed by more comprehensive recommendations before the summer.

A report published just before Christmas said industrial relations in Maghaberry Prison near Lisburn were “destructive” despite there being more staff working in prisons than there were inmates to supervise.

It also detailed how it was two-and-a-half times more expensive to house prisoners in Northern Ireland than elsewhere in the UK.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Anna Chapman, the red-headed Russian spy famously expelled from the US last summer, is making her debut on a mystery show for Russian TV.

But the trailer of the first edition of “Mysteries of the World With Anna Chapman” suggests the CIA’s secrets are safe, at least this Friday evening.

Ms Chapman will be reporting on a baby in Dagestan with skin marks said to resemble Koranic verses.

Since her expulsion, the agent has enjoyed celebrity status in Russia.

The 28-year-old, who has not publicly discussed her role as a spy, was given a senior post in a youth organisation of the ruling United Russia party and a consultancy position with an investment bank.

Capitalising on her US media image as a “femme fatale”, she posed for the Russian edition of men’s magazine Maxim.

At 2200 (1900 GMT) on Friday, she will present her new show on Russian commercial television channel Ren TV.

Over dramatic music, the trailer asks why the “miracle child” is being hidden “from everyone by his parents”, who may stand to lose out, and why is an “oligarch” building a house for him.

“I nearly understand what’s going on,” says Ms Chapman, who is apparently filmed on location, her famous red hair peeping out from under a white Islamic headscarf.

In the autumn of 2009, it was reported that thousands of Muslim pilgrims were flocking to Dagestan, a republic in Russia’s North Caucasus region, to see “miracle baby” Ali Yakubov, on whose skin verses from the Koran seemed to appear and disappear every few days.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

An air and sea search is underway after a man went missing from a P&O Highlander ferry in Cairnryan.

Clyde Coastguard are co-ordinating the search for the man who was reported missing by a coach driver after the ferry docked at about 0930 GMT.

The ferry is being searched and a Royal Navy rescue helicopter and lifeboats from Larne, Portpatrick and Stranraer are searching for him.

Larne RNLI said the search is concentrated on Lough Ryan.

A P&O spokesperson said they had searched the ship and were assisting authorities to locate the passenger.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Delays in young children’s ability to speak and listen properly are leaving them struggling to learn to read and write, Ofsted has warned.

At one nursery visited by inspectors, about 30% of three-year-olds started with a marked speech delay.

Although phonics work helps with early reading, some schools said their pupils were not yet ready for it, Ofsted said.

A focus on speaking and listening and high expectations of pupils often helped tackle the problems, it added.

Ofsted’s “Removing Barriers to Literacy” report looked at the factors that stop children from gaining good reading and writing skills.

It said that systematic phonics work, where children are taught to blend letter sounds to form words, is vital in tackling the issue.

But it also suggested that barriers in children’s communication skills needed to be overcome as well.

It highlighted how many children who struggled with literacy skills had experienced a “disturbed start to life”.

It added: “In one nursery visited, most of the two-year-olds had already had some form of social care intervention by the time they joined the nursery.”

Inspectors visited schools mainly in poorer areas for the report. These schools had a clear idea of the reasons why some pupils struggled with literacy.

These included low aspirations in a child’s home with few set routines or boundaries for behaviour, and poor attendance.

A reluctance by parents to engage with the school and limited experience of life beyond the immediate community was also highlighted.

Schools that were good at tackling the impact of a difficult start in life focussed on speaking and listening.

They also had high expectations for their pupils, setting them stringent targets.

Ofsted chief inspector Christine Gilbert said: “Despite some major initiatives in recent years to improve reading and writing, the standards being reached by some groups of children and young people, including those from low-income families, certain ethnic groups and looked-after children, still fall far below that of the rest of the population.”

Inspectors recommended that schools closely monitored the progress and attainment of groups who tend to struggle with reading, including white British boys and those from the poorest homes.

They also urged ministers to consider how the progress, especially in literacy, of children from a disadvantaged background, could be reflected in school league tables.

England’s Communication Champion for Children Jean Gross said: “Ofsted is right about the importance of speaking and listening skills for literacy.

“These core skills underpin all learning, including reading and writing. Phonic skills are vital for children, but they need to sit alongside good speaking and listening skills.

“If children can’t express themselves or understand spoken language, all the phonics in the world won’t help them to become good readers.”

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said the simple fact was that England was sliding down international league tables in reading and writing.

“Poor literary skills hold children back in all subjects and cause pupils to lose interest and become disillusioned with school. Every child must have a decent grasp of the basics from a young age.”

“That’s why it is a priority for this government to raise expectations and aspirations for all pupils. Improving literacy levels at all ages is one of the keys to achieving this.

“This is why we are increasing support for phonics teaching and are introducing an age six reading progress check, so that we identify children who are falling behind before it is too late.”

This year is the National Year of Communication and a government-backed campaign called “Hello” is being run by The Communication Trust, a coalition of over 35 leading voluntary sector organisations.

It is seeking to raise awareness of speech, language and communication issues among everyone that works with children and young people.

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A woman has been indecently assaulted and slashed on the face after stopping to tie her lace in a Renfrewshire park.

The 46-year-old was attacked in Barshaw Park, Paisley, at about 1530 GMT on Thursday.

She was assaulted, thrown on the ground, punched, and slashed. Police said she was in a stable condition in the town’s Royal Alexandra Hospital.

The suspect is described as white, 30 to 35 years old, with a muscular build, dark eyes and thick eyebrows.

He was wearing a black hat, charcoal grey scarf covering his face, a black parka jacket, gloves, dark blue jeans and black boots.

The man, who spoke with a local accent, was last seen running off in the direction of Glasgow Road.

Strathclyde Police said it had increased patrols in the area following the attack.

Det Insp Maxine Martin, from Strathclyde Police, said: “The woman was recovering from an operation and decided to take a walk in the park.

“Understandably, she is extremely shaken as a result of this terrifying and distressing ordeal and it is vital we trace the culprit responsible.

“Since yesterday afternoon we have carried out a thorough forensic examination at the scene of the crime and have been checking local CCTV in an effort to glean further information on this attack.”

Det Insp Martin asked anyone who was in the area at the time to contact police.

She added: “Thankfully, incidents of this type don’t happen often in this area, however, we appreciate people will naturally be concerned.

“I would like to re-assure the community that we are working round the clock to trace the suspect.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.