Yangon  - United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari arrived in Yangon Saturday morning for talks on national reconciliation between Myanmar's military junta and opposition groups.

Gambari was seeking during his four-day visit to revive his unsuccessful efforts to push the junta to free opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and thousands of other political prisoners and to allow democratic reforms in the military dictatorship.

Jakarta - Indonesia said Friday that it would deport 193 Rohingya boat people but was seeking assurances from Myanmar and Bangladesh that they would not be harmed when returned.

The Muslim Rohingyas, who were rescued January 7 from the sea off Aceh province, have pleaded to the Indonesian government not to send them back, saying they faced persecution in Myanmar.

Yangon  - The United Nations special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, is scheduled to meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on an official visit expected to start this weekend, government sources said Friday.

Gambari is expected to arrive in Yangon on Saturday to revive his so far unsuccessful efforts to push Myanmar's ruling junta to free Suu Kyi and thousands of other political prisoners and to allow democratic reforms in the military dictatorship.

Jakarta  - Indonesia has denied requests by the United Nations refugee agency for access to 193 Myanmar boat people stranded in the westernmost province of Aceh, the foreign ministry said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said that the boat people appeared to be part of about 1,000 refugees from Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority held and later released by the Thai military late last year.

The Myanmar boat people were found adrift off Sabang island in Aceh province on January 7 and are now being sheltered at the naval base.

Yangon - The European Commission has agreed to provide 40.5 million euros (52.4 million dollars) in humanitarian aid to Myanmar this year, with some of it aimed at assisting the Rohingya Muslims who are living "in terrible conditions," officials said Tuesday.

Of the 40.5 million euros allocated, some 22 million will go to assisting communities hard hit by Cyclone Nargis, which left 140,000 people dead and affected 2.4 million others in March 2008.

Sydney  - Two sailors from Myanmar rescued by an Australian coastal patrol boat claim they had drifted for 25 days in a polystyrene box without food and water, news reports said Tuesday.

Maritime Safety Authority spokeswoman Tracey Jiggins said the men were on a 12-metre Thai fishing boat with 18 others that it sank in rough seas December 23.