BURMA'S ruling military junta extended the detention of prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi today, defying international pressure to free the Nobel laureate.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other supporters of Suu Kyi were hopeful she would be released when the order for her house arrest expired yesterday.

However, a government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the press, said her detention has been extended but it wasn't immediately known for how long.

Police armed with batons were deployed near Suu Kyi's lakeside residence on University Avenue in Yangon early yesterday. Police erected barbed-wire barricades at each end of the street, closing it to traffic.

High jinks lands Dallas student in trouble

A DALLAS honours student has been charged with delivering marijuana-spiked muffins to a teachers' lounge in a prank that sent 18 people to hospital and triggered an FBI and terrorism investigation.

"I had no idea of the scope of my actions, " Ian Walker, 18, said yesterday, a day after he and a friend surrendered to police. They could receive 10 years in prison or more.