Free Republic

Singapore - In Singapore, United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari has read a declaration by the Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi after meeting the Nobel prize winner in Myanmar. In it Ms Suu Kyi says she wants a dialogue with the junta as quickly as possible for the sake of the nation. On Friday, she will meet an official appointed by the junta for contact with the opposition. Ms Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest, will also be allowed to meet members of her party the NLD.

Bangkok: Burma's junta faces a roasting from US President George W. Bush at next week's APEC leaders meetings over the continued detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Bangkok: Burma's junta faces a roasting from US President George W. Bush at next week's APEC leaders meetings over the continued detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Mr Bush also is expected to urge APEC leaders to do more to push for democratic reforms in Burma, which has been run for four decades by the military. Mr Bush's National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, has said the President will make...

DHAKA: After confessing to receiving arms training in Pakistan, the arrested leader of an Islamic group in Bangladesh has revealed his organisation's links with Myanmarese extremists, a media report said on Tuesday. Maulana Abdur Rauf, leader of the Islamic militant group al-Jamiatul Islami, who was arrested on Friday, has revealed that his organisation had links with two groups of Islamic extremists in Myanmar, the vernacular daily Prothom Alo reported. Rauf had earlier confessed to receiving military training in Pakistan and having fought the Soviet Army in Afghanistan. Eighteen alleged Islamic extremists including Rauf were arrested from the house of a...