Junta retires senior generals in reshuffle

Rangoon The Burmese junta has retired five senior generals as part of a broad reshuffle, laying the groundwork for elections in 2010. Several military members were also promoted in about 150 changes, the first significant reorganisation this year.

Aung Naing Oo, a Burma analyst based in Thailand, said that some of the older generals had retired because of ill-health; others could take parliamentary seats after the 2010 polls.

The junta ploughed ahead with a referendum on its much-derided constitution in May, despite the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis at the beginning of the month. The official death toll stands at 84,537, with 53,836 still unaccounted for. (AFP)

Tourism ban lifted

Beijing China will end a ban today on tourists visiting Tibet, according to state reports. Restrictions on foreign visitors and journalists were imposed in response to violent protests against Chinese rule in the capital, Lhasa, in March. (AFP)

Russian fleet deadline

Kiev Ukraine says that the Russian Black Sea Fleet must leave Sevastopol when the lease expires in 2017, and that the matter is not open for discussion. Tensions over the base rose this year after Ukraine expressed hope of joining Nato. (AP)

Everglades buyout

Miami Florida will spend $1.7 billion (£850 million) on buying 187,000 acres of the Everglades from the company US Sugar. Developers and farmers own 35 per cent of the wetlands and have been blamed for causing pollution. (Reuters)

Honour for Carlin

Los Angeles George Carlin, 71, the counterculture comedian who died on Sunday (obituary), will receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humour as planned, the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts said, as its first posthumous award. (Reuters)

Auschwitz artist dies

Warsaw Jozef Szajna, a Polish survivor of the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, who became an acclaimed painter, playwright, theatre director and academic, has died at the age of 86, the Warsaw Academy of Arts said. (AFP)

Highway robbery

Berlin Six Romanians were arrested for allegedly stealing mobile phones and laptops from a lorry as it hurtled down the autobahn at 60mph. One is said to have broken into it from the bonnet of their car and passed the haul to another. (AP)

Banker’s desperation

New York Joshua Persky, a banker who lost his job six months ago, is going round the streets of Manhattan wearing a suit and a sign over his shoulders saying “MIT graduate for hire”, a newspaper said. He hands out CVs during the lunch hour. (AP)

Salmonella link to tourist death

Lake Garda A Briton on holiday in Italy has died and 40 others have been taken to hospital with suspected salmonella poisoning from the Grand Hotel Gardone. A post mortem examination is being carried out on the 75-year-old man.

Donors come to river’s rescue

Niamey International donors have pledged £700 million towards efforts to prevent the Niger river in western Africa running dry. Climate change and growing populations have led to a drastic reduction in river flow. (AFP)

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