The UK’s future is within the EU, not left outside on the margins as key decisions and

Forty-two Irish companies are concluding a four-day trade mission to Singapore and Malaysia.

IN THE next 25 years, Europe’s share of the world population and global GDP is expected to fall considerably. Does that mean that a weakened Europe will fall prey to the rising powers of 2040?

South-east Asian diplomats have failed to reach common ground on how to resolve a territorial dispute involving China, as a regional conference ended without a joint statement for the first time in the bloc’s history.

Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has met Thailand’s prime minister in her first ever audience with a head of government from the region, her political party said.

SECURITY experts have discovered the biggest series of cyber attacks to date, involving the infiltration of the networks of 72 organisations, including the United Nations, governments and companies around the world.

BURMA’S democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will not accept conditions on her freedom if the military government releases her this week when her latest period of detention is due to end, her lawyer said.

GROUPS all over the world, including in Dublin, took advantage of the 65th birthday of Aung San Su Kyi to pressurise jailers in her native Burma to release her, and hold genuinely democratic elections later this year.

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama yesterday told Burma’s junta to free pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi during an unusual face-to-face interaction with a top leader of the ruling military.

BURMESE democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is set to appeal against her conviction, lawyers has said, as the ruling junta faced a global wave of anger over her extended house arrest.

South Korea imposed heavy security today for a summit with south-east Asian leaders following North Korean nuclear and missile tests that frayed nerves across the region.

A police chief said today that Burma had been considering releasing pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest this week, but cancelled the decision after an American swam to her house.

BURMESE pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will testify today at her trial for violating the terms of her house arrest.

Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will testify tomorrow at her trial for violating the terms of her house arrest.

The trial of democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi resumed today as Burma lashed out against Thailand – one of its few supporters in an international community likely to halt recent moves to improve relations with the country’s military rulers.

BURMA’S South East Asian neighbours expressed grave concern over the trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but China said it would not interfere in the regime’s affairs.

Burma’s military government faced worldwide criticism today for bringing new charges against pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, with rights groups urging the junta’s neighbours to intervene urgently.

Mexico is temporarily suspending all non-essential activity of the federal government as the number of confirmed swine flu cases jumped.

A leader of anti-government protesters in Thailand today agreed that demonstrators will leave the venue of a weekend summit of Asian leaders, easing concerns that the meeting might have to be canceled.

Hundreds of anti-government protesters converged on the venue of an Asian summit today, threatening to disrupt the annual meeting unless Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva resigns.

Cambodia is seeking regional intervention in its territorial dispute with Thailand after talks between the two neighbours failed to end a military stand-off around an ancient cliff-side temple.

BURMA needs at least €630 million ($1 billion) over the next three years to put the survivors of Cyclone Nargis back on their feet, a UN-led report said yesterday in the first comprehensive assessment of damage caused by the disaster that killed more than 84,000 people.

A senior figure in Burma's military junta has suggested that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi could be freed from house arrest in about six months, Singapore's foreign minister said.

International aid agencies mustered everything from anti-snake venom kits to plastic roofing today, warning that a second wave of deaths would follow the Burma cyclone disaster unless the military regime let in more aid quickly.

Burma’s military junta said today that it had detained nearly 3,000 protesters who took part in the pro-democracy uprising and vowed to continue the ruthless crackdown.

A United Nations envoy remained tight-lipped today about his meetings with Burma’s junta chief and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi in a highly-watched mission that followed the regime’s deadly crackdown on democracy protesters.

A UN envoy is hoping to meet Burma's top two military leaders today to persuade them to ease a violent crackdown on anti-government protesters.

Ireland should boycott the 2008 Olympics in Beijing if China doesn’t use its influence on the political crisis in Burma, Trocaire said today.

Gordon Brown today condemned the violence used by Burma’s security forces as they crack down on protests on the streets of Rangoon.

The international community appealed to Burma’s military leaders today not to crack down on the tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators taking to its streets.

Asia’s key annual security meeting opens this week amid the backdrop of North Korea’s nuclear threat and increasing regional frustration over Myanmar’s failure to restore democracy.

Southeast Asian nations pressed Myanmar’s (Burma’s) generals to get serious about democracy as they opened a summit today aiming for broader Asian integration – an uphill task as shown by a feud raging between China and Japan.

Australia was set today to sign a friendship treaty with southeast Asia, formally acknowledging that its economic future is tied to the region after holding back on joining the accord for more than a decade.

Diplomats preparing for the inaugural East Asia Summit in Malaysia today reached a tenuous agreement on a grand plan to eventually create a cohesive economic community across the disparate region.

Former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad today lashed out at Australia’s participation in next week’s inaugural East Asia Summit, saying Canberra will pressure Asian countries into accepting Washington’s views on issues such as trade and globalisation.

Southeast Asian agriculture ministers have agreed to launch a three-year plan next year aimed at stamping out the menace of bird flu in the region – a move they hope will win enough international aid to halt the disease before it becomes a catastrophic global epidemic with the potential to kill millions.

Poverty, profits and old farming traditions combined to spark massive Indonesian fires that have choked parts of Malaysia, in what officials describe as Southeast Asia’s worst ecological crisis in years.

Military-ruled Burma agreed today to forgo its scheduled chairmanship of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next year to avoid a damaging Western boycott of the group’s meetings, diplomats said.

Australia’s foreign minister is expected to announce next week that Australia will sign a non-aggression pact with its south-east Asian neighbours when he attends an ASEAN security forum, an analyst said today.

Australia, New Zealand and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations launched historic talks today on a free trade deal linking the regions.

SOUTHEAST Asian nations and China signed an accord yesterday to create the world’s biggest free trade area by removing tariffs for their two billion people by decade’s end — a key step in their vision of a trade bloc to rival Europe and North America.

China’s landmark trade agreement with Southeast Asian leaders is the latest example of how the communist giant is claiming a growing role in a region long dominated by the United States.

Southeast Asian leaders finalised visionary pacts with China and India at their summit today, hoping for a pan-Asian trade bloc to rival Europe and the US, even as the region grapples with terrorism and epidemics such as bird flu.

Military-ruled Burma says it will stick with its “road map” to democracy despite the junta’s recent purge of the prime minister who proposed it, but is ducking questions on when pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will go free.