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The UN Security Council has expressed serious concern at the imposition of a new period of house arrest on Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. A statement from the council, which came after two days of debate, also called for the release of all political prisoners in Burma. A court in Rangoon found Ms Suu Kyi guilty two days ago of breaking the terms of her previous house arrest. Earlier the European Union extended its sanctions on Burma. The EU said judges involved in Ms Suu Kyi's sentencing would now join military and government figures in having their overseas assets frozen and travel to the EU banned. Ms Suu Kyi was found guilty because she allowed an American man, John Yettaw, to stay at her lakeside home after he swam there uninvited in May. She was sentenced to three years in prison but the term was commuted to 18 months house arrest, ensuring the opposition leader cannot take in planned elections next year. Governments around the world condemned the conviction. UN statement Correspondents said Thursday's UN statement was watered down from an original US draft, which "condemned" the verdict and demanded that Burma's military junta free Ms Suu Kyi. The main reason for the weaker language was China - a powerful permanent member of the council, with close ties to Burma's rulers, says the BBC's Tom Lane at the UN. Together with Russia it has blocked strongly-worded condemnations in the past, our correspondent adds. The statement, read out by the council's current president, British Ambassador John Sawers, said: "The members of the Security Council express serious concern at the conviction and sentencing of... Aung San Suu Kyi and its political impact." Thai PM on relations with Burma He said council members "reiterate the importance of the release of all political prisoners". Ms Suu Kyi, 64, has spent 14 of the past 20 years under house arrest. The US, Britain and France were among those to quickly condemn Tuesday's verdict, but Burma's neighbour China said the world should respect Burma's laws. Meanwhile, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who is the current chairman of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) told the BBC that imposing sanctions could lead to problems and that it was important to take a balanced approach to dealing with Burma. The latest European sanctions widen restrictions imposed on military and government members after a violent crackdown on protests in 2007. A decade earlier, in 1996, the EU banned the sale or transfer of arms and weapons expertise to the country. It also suspended all bilateral aid other than humanitarian assistance | |
More troops are being drafted in to help the rescue effort
More than 390 people are believed to have been buried alive in the Taiwanese village worst affected by a massive mudslide caused by a typhoon.
It is the first time the government has released a firm estimate of the number of people they believe might have been killed in Hsiaolin village.
Thousands of people are still stranded by the worst mudslides and floods.
Last weekend's typhoon caused Taiwan's worst flooding for 50 years, resulting in 117 confirmed deaths so far.
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The floods have washed out roads, swept away bridges and sent low-rise buildings crashing into rivers, leaving many mountain villages accessible only by air.
Hundreds of survivors have been airlifted from Hsiaolin village, which was hit by a massive mudslide that covered all but two houses, and thousands more from other settlements in central and southern Taiwan.
But Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou has said he expects the number killed to climb to more than 500 people.
Hundreds had been feared dead, but the government had not previously given an estimated overall death toll.
Help on way?
Taiwan's government says it has received offers of help from the international community, including the European Union and the US.
But it has stressed the need for very specific technical assistance - namely giant cargo helicopters that can carry large earth diggers and other machinery into remote mountain areas to help re-open roads.
The government has also requested prefabricated buildings to help house those left homeless by the flooding and supplies of disinfectant, to try to prevent the spread of disease.
| TYPHOON MORAKOT  Deluged Taiwan with at least two metres (80in) of rain over the weekend Caused the country's worst flooding in 50 years Some 117 people confirmed dead, another 500 believed killed More than 14,000 people airlifted out of affected areas |
Visiting the area earlier this week, President Ma assured anxious relatives that no effort would be spared to find their loved ones, as anger began to rise over the government response.
The families of those stranded and of the hundreds feared dead have urged the government to speed up rescue efforts.
Many have been waiting for days at the rescue operation centre in Qishan for news of relatives missing since the typhoon struck over the weekend.
Critics say the authorities were too slow to realise the magnitude of the disaster. Some of those stranded say they have received no help for days and are short of food and water.
More than 14,000 people have been evacuated by air from the worst-affected areas. Others have been carried to safety over ravines where bridges have collapsed by soldiers using cables and makeshift ziplines.
Military helicopters have been dropping provisions for those still stranded, but poor weather has hampered their work. Soldiers have also been trying to reach remote settlements on foot.
The flooding has destroyed 34 bridges and severed 253 sections of road in Taiwan, Reuters news agency quotes the transportation ministry as saying, with repairs likely to take up to three years in the worst-affected areas.
Officials in the island's south-eastern Taitung county estimated that nearly 3,700 people remained cut off as of Friday morning, the AFP news agency reports, while in central Chiayi county some 9,000 were thought to be stranded.
Some 2,000 people are still to be evacuated in Kaohsiung county, the area worst hit and where the rescue operations in Hsaiolin and other villages have been focused, AFP quotes a county magistrate as saying.
Many of the affected villages are inhabited by aborigines, who farm the mountainous terrain.
Typhoon Morakot, which lashed Taiwan with at least 200cm (80in) of rain last weekend, has caused at least $910m (£550m) in damages to agriculture and infrastructure, Reuters reports.
Reconstruction is expected to cost some $3.65bn (£2.2bn).