Burmese human rights block to EU-Southeast Asia trade pact

The European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have suspended free trade negotiations between the two sides over the question of human rights abuses in Burma.

After two years, discussions have ground to a halt, the Indonesian trade minister Mari Pangestu said on Monday (1 June), as reported by Agence France Press.

"We are temporarily postponing the negotiations," she said to the French news agency on the margins of an ASEAN-South Korea summit. "Take a pause, not...