EBO
News Summary:
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1.
2. Ancram
Demands Sanctions Against
3. Aussie heroin haul tracked to
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By Jane Macartney,
Asian Diplomatic Correspondent
in
and to urge freedom for democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi in
The annual Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) will
bring together most of
foreign ministers, including Li Zhaoxing of
future gatherings and how to expand after EU
enlargement next year.
"It's a shame that more European
ministers can't come," said
expert Ralf Emmers of
the
"
a lot of its own domestic issues to deal
with at the moment."
EU External Relations Commissioner Chris
Patten will present a keynote address
on how to take the relationship forward, and
ministers from
and
Some Asian participants are disappointed,
but European officials point to the
timing of the meeting -- a decision by host
summer holidays and say given the distances the
turnout is similar to
last year.
"We think it's a reasonable score on
our part," said one diplomat, dismissing
suggestions that the low turnout casts a question
mark over the future of ASEM.
Patten will seek to erase that question
mark with his initiative on a new partnership
with
of more substantive get-togethers, officials
say.
"What we are striving to ensure is to
maintain substance on the agenda, and
output and that is linked to the level of
participation," the diplomat said.
The meeting will focus on management of
the ASEM given the expansion of the
EU next year and
suggestions that
For the EU, the suggestion that
the idea of doing business with a junta that
has -- yet again -- imprisoned
pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi.
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Ancram Demands Sanctions Against
Scotman.com
By James Lyons, Political Correspondent,
PA News
steps, shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram said tonight.
Mr Ancram was
speaking ahead of a meeting of European foreign ministers tomorrow,
which has been designated “D-Day for EU action
on
detention of democracy leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi.
But Mr Ancram
warned words were not enough.
“The British Government has promised a
lot,” he said. “They must now make clear
to European foreign ministers that the
situation in
will no longer hide behind a weak common
European position.
“If European ministers refuse to impose
stronger measures against the Burmese
government,
sanctions, or pushing for sanctions against
Security Council.
“Such positive steps will help, not hurt,
the people of
“The European Union’s slow response to the
crisis in
“Unless European ministers show that they
have shifted their thinking, and follow
the tough lead set by the
their unwillingness to stand up to regimes that
cause misery and suffering
to millions of people.”
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Aussie heroin haul tracked to
Burma
Wa pact with North Koreans suspected
Alan Dawson
Australian anti-drug experts who broke up
a smuggling operation by North Koreans
have traced the seized heroin to
Diplomatic sources said yesterday the
Australians have confirmed all 125kg of heroin
was Double UO-Globe, a high-quality drug. “So
far as we know, only the UWSA
makes and can deliver this quantity of this
brand of heroin,'' a source said.
The drug bust occurred on April 19, when
Australian commandos boarded and
seized the North Korean freighter Pong Su after
a five-day chase off southern
involved drugs made outside
Diplomats in
extent of the link between
kingpin Wei Hsueh-kang.
Implications and suspicions range between
a simple, one-time purchase of drugs
by North Korean traffickers to a possible strategic
linkup that could see a major,
drugs-for-technology and weapons tradeoff
between shadowy, perpetually
bankrupt
and deep pockets of cash.
In recent months, North Korean involvement
in drug trafficking has become clearer,
in part thanks to senior defectors who have
outlined
get cash by almost any means.
North Koreans have been caught smuggling
heroin to
and methamphetamines to
Until the Australians broke up a somewhat
amateurish and tragic attempt to land
heroin in
the hermit nation's drug smuggling operations
were lacking.
Since then, various sources have said the
North Koreans have methamphetamine
factories close to the capital city. The Mannyun Pharmaceutical Factory in the
suburbs of
Testimony to the
Party in May said “Dear Leader'' Kim
Jong-Il had ordered opium be grown for
processing to heroin, and that the country could
produce 40 tonnes a year.
The Australian seizure added crucial
details to the chain of evidence that
is becoming a major player in the global
trafficking of heroin. But the link to
Wei's Wa cartel
suggests
Sources said they had no proof of any link
between
military junta _ although the dictatorship is
suspected of acquiescing in Wa drug
operations.
“
“It would be crazy for them to get
involved with North Koreans.''
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