BBC News
The new United Nations envoy for Somalia says that the international peacekeeping force there may need to be trebled to cope with what he calls the increased threat from insurgents. The troops for the African Union mission in Somalia are defending the transitional government from al-Shabab Islamist militants, who control much of the capital Mogadishu and have been linked to al-Qaeda. The envoy, Augustine Mahiga, told the security council that more troops were needed to stop foreign fighters and weapons getting into the country through the port of Kismayo which is under the control of al-Shabab.
The security forces in Mexico say they've killed 19 people in a seven-hour gun battle in the northeast of the country. The soldiers say they returned fire when they were attacked at an illegal roadblock 100km east of Monterrey.
The authorities in Burma are barring several areas of the country from taking part in the general election in November, a vote already described by critics as a sham. State media said polling would not take place in a number of townships in five states where, they said, the vote would not be free and fair. Vivien Marsh of our Asia Pacific desk reports.
It isn't clear exactly how many of Burma's several hundred constituencies have been erased from the vote, but they are in five states, mostly along the eastern and northern borders which are all home to armed ethnic groups. They have been resisting the Burmese government's attempts to bring them into a border guard force. Burma hasn't had a general election for 20 years. The last one was won by the pro-democracy party led by Aung San Suu Kyi, but the military authorities annulled the results.