Signal under scanner WASHINGTON: Federal investigators are going to test the automated system that is meant to prevent train crashes like the one in Washington DC that killed nine people. Debbie Hersman of the National Transportation Safety Board says investigators are going have their first opportunity Wednesday to test the computerised signal system. The train was under automatic control at the time of the crash, and investigators say there was evidence the operator tried to stop it. Hersman tells CBS television that investigators are trying to understand how the automatic system works and if there were any problems. Investigators will also review maintenance records. — AP

Cyclone alert system DHAKA: Bangladesh is trialling a text message service to warn people of natural disasters, including floods and cyclones, a government official said on Wednesday. Disaster Management Bureau spokesman Syed Ashraf told AFP the service would be piloted for six months in the southeastern districts of Cox’s Bazar, where cyclones frequently hit, and Sirajganj in the north, prone to flooding. “The SMS messages will be sent warning people of floods or cyclones. They’ll be told whether to go to shelters and what to do,” he said. — AFP Suu Kyi trial YANGON: Lawyers for democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi urged Myanmar’s top court on Wednesday to allow two key aides to testify at her trial, despite efforts by the ruling junta to bar them from the witness box. In a case that has drawn international condemnation, the Nobel laureate faces up to five years in jail on charges of breaching her house arrest after an American man swam uninvited to her lakeside home in May. A court at Yangon’s Insein prison last month barred two senior members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) from giving evidence, but the Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal against the decision. — AFP

Expenses scandal LONDON: MPs could face jail for making false expenses claims, under reform proposals unveiled in response to the scandal which has shaken Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government to its core. The legislative plans were presented as a new speaker took office in the House of Commons, vowing a clean break following hugely damaging revelations about expenses claimed by members of parliament (MPs). Brown pledged to open a “new chapter” with Speaker John Bercow, who was elected on Monday after his scandal-tainted predecessor resigned. “I am determined that it is cleaned up in such a way that we can say to the people of this country: ‘We listened, we heard, we knew something was wrong, we have now dealt with it’,” Brown said. — AFP