THE US has condemned Burma's expulsion of the country's top UN human rights diplomat.

"This outrageous action. . . is an insult to the United Nations and the international community, " Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said.

The ruling military junta acted against UN resident co-ordinator Charles Petrie one day before the arrival of UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari to promote talks between the government and the pro-democracy opposition.

DEADLY VOLCANO 'HAS STARTED TO ERUPT'

ONE of Indonesia's deadliest volcanos began erupting yesterday, but there was no visual confirmation of activity because the peak was cloaked in dense fog, a senior government volcanologist said.

Seismic readings showed Mt Kelud was erupting. The mountain was put on high alert several weeks ago and tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate the area.

CHAVEZ REFORMS APPROVED

VENEZUELA'S progovernment National Assembly overwhelmingly approved constitutional reforms that would greatly expand the power of President Hugo Chavez and permit him to run for re-election indefinitely.

The 69 changes to Venezuela's Constitution now go to citizens for a vote on 2 December. The proposed changes, Chavez's most radical yet in his push to transform Venezuela into a socialist state, threaten to spur a new wave of political upheaval in the oil-rich South American country.

EPISCOPAL CHURCH SPLIT LOOMS IN US

REPRESENTATIVES from the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh have voted overwhelmingly to approve constitutional amendments that pave the way for leaving the national church, in a widening rift over homosexuality and interpretation of scripture.

Pittsburgh joined dioceses in California and Illinois, in granting preliminary approval to separating from the national church.

The division between conservatives and the Episcopal Church, the Anglican body in the US, has sharpened since the denomination consecrated New Hampshire bishop Gene Robinson, who is openly gay, in 2003.

OLD SOLDIERS URGED TO PROTECT TIGERS

THE Indian government wants to recruit retired soldiers to patrol tiger sanctuaries in the hope of saving the last of the big cats after an official report confirmed a drastic drop in numbers.

Conservationists praised the decision, saying that even if it had faults, at least prime minister Manmohan Singh and his government were finally taking the plight of the beleaguered tigers seriously.

LITTLE-KNOWN VAN GOGH ON DISPLAY

THE Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is showing a never-before exhibited painting by the troubled Dutch genius, in a display that highlights the careful forethought he put into his passionate compositions.

The vignette, 'A Loving Couple', has been in private collections for decades. It shows a man and woman walking on a path next to a canal, leaning together, her arm over his shoulder.

Painted in March 1888, when Van Gogh was near the height of his artistic powers . . . and two years before his suicide . . . the small piece is all that remains of a larger canvas that Van Gogh discarded as a flop.