Pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi confirms she will stand in Burmese by-election

Burma's pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, intends to run for parliament in a forthcoming by-election. Her decision was expected after her party decided last week to rejoin mainstream politics in the long-isolated country.

Nyan Win, a spokesman for Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) said she had not yet decided which district she would seek to represent but she "has the intention to stand".

The NLD decided on Friday to rejoin politics and register for future elections, signalling its confidence in reforms by the nominally civilian government that took power this year. The military-aligned ruling party won parliamentary elections held by the junta last November as part of its promise to introduce democracy and relinquish power after nearly five decades of authoritarian military rule. The NLD boycotted the elections because of a law that had prevented Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, from running. But the new government later scrapped the law. AP