Burma

Southeast Asian leaders adopted a landmark charter Tuesday that seeks to promote free trade and human rights, but their vision to create an integrated, EU-style bloc is being marred by Myanmar's snub to democracy. In a diplomatic bungle, the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations also abruptly withdrew an invitation to UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari to address Asian leaders after Myanmar objected. They further rejected calls to suspend Myanmar from the bloc to punish the junta's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters that left 15 people dead in September, and its refusal to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. "ASEAN Leaders will strive to prevent the Myanmar issue from obstructing our efforts to deepen integration and build an ASEAN Community," Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his opening remarks at the annual summit.

Thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle, a former intelligence officer for Burma's ruling junta has revealed. The most senior official to defect so far, Hla Win, said: "Many more people have been killed in recent days than you've heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand."

These are the shocking images from Burma of a Japanese journalists as he lay dying after soldiers opened fire on thousands of anti-government protesters. Kenji Nagai held his camera above his head to continue taking photos even as a soldier pointed a gun at his chest. He was one of at least nine people who were killed when troops opened fire after ordering the protesters to move on. Another 11 were reported injured.