London, Sept. 8 : British MPs have reportedly introduced a proposal to place a cap on the number of immigrants settling in the country with a view to having a more “balanced” immigration policy.

According to The Times, a YouGov poll-cum-report initiated by a new cross-party parliamentary group suggests significant cuts in immigration, a decision backed by most political parties.

The report calls for a balanced migration policy under which immigration is capped in line with the number of emigrants to maintain a stable population.

The reports authors say that ministers should reduce the number of non-EU migrants allowed to settle permanently in Britain.

Naypyitaw, Myanmar  - Myanmar's police chief on Sunday claimed to know nothing about a hunger strike being staged by Nobel laureate and political dissident Aung San Suu Kyi to protest her five-plus years under house arrest.

Addressing a press conference in Naypyitaw, the military's new capital situated 350 kilometres north of Yangon, Police Chief Khin Yee said Suu Kyi had recently been visited by her lawyer and doctor and neither had told the government about her hunger strike.

Prague  - Czech and US negotiators completed talks Friday on a second missile shield pact defining conditions for stationing US troops at the system's planned base on Czech soil, the Czech Defence Ministry said.

The center-right government of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek is to take up the so-called Status of Forces Agreement within two weeks, said ministry spokesman Jan Pejsek.

Signing in Prague by Czech Defence Minister Vlasta Parkanova and a US representative should follow within days after the cabinet gives its approval, he said.

Berlin  - Germany promised Friday to erect prefabricated homes for 1,800 homeless refugees in Georgia.

The Foreign Ministry in Bonn said it was granting 8 million euros (11.5 million dollars) to the German development aid agency GTZ, which would put up the buildings. They will contain 350 apartments.

Georgia had asked for help to house the people who fled from South Ossetia during last month's conflict and could not return.

Baghdad  - US commander in Iraq General David Petraeus said on Thursday he would call for the pullout of US troops from Baghdad within 10 months because of declining violence in the Iraqi capital.

Petraeus told reporters in Baghdad he recommended the withdrawal of troops from Baghdad in a report to be submitted to Congress in two weeks, citing "increasing capabilities of Iraqi forces to conduct security operations without the help of US troops in most of Iraqi areas," the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency reported.

Beirut  - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad vowed Thursday that his country will not abandon Lebanon's Shiite resistance movement Hezbollah.

Assad in an exclusive interview with Hezbollah-run al-Manar Television said "we do not see any interest in abandoning the resistance (Hezbollah). Our position toward the resistance against any occupation in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine is firm and has not changed."