Singapore - Stampedes of reporters and photographers covering diplomatic meetings at Singapore's Shangri-La Hotel have triggered complaints from guests and delegations, the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) said Wednesday.

"Some delegations have been swarmed by the media while entering or exiting the lobby, resulting in them being pushed and jostled," ASEAN's media subcommittee said in an advisory.

"A senior member of a visiting delegation was accidentally hit with a video camera by a photojournalist," it said. "A child was almost trampled on by a group of media personnel chasing some delegates into a lift."

Singapore - East Asian government ministers called for a "holistic and sustainable approach" to the spiralling food and fuel prices besetting the region, a statement said Wednesday.

The ministers of the 10-country Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), plus China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand, noted that the problems of high food and oil prices are closely interlinked.

"We should pursue a holistic and sustainable approach to these issues given their inter-related nature, in particular the need to balance between food and biofuels production," the ministers said in a statement.

Singapore - Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Wednesday his country made a further contribution of 30 million Australian dollars (29 million US dollars) in assistance to the victims of Myanmar's Cyclone Nargis that left 140,000 people dead or missing.

Smith, who was attending the annual foreign minister meetings of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), said the amount was in addition to the 25 million dollars Australia contributed immediately after the cyclone struck in May.

Singapore - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and five other foreign ministers were set to meet in Singapore for the first time on Wednesday in an unofficial gathering focusing on North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.

The talks are focused on setting up a mechanism to verify North Korea's nuclear declaration turned over last month.

Officials, including Rice who will be meeting North Korea's foreign minister for the first time, have played down any chance of a breakthrough.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said he hoped the meeting would be very good "for advancing the agenda" and pushing forward progress in the six-party talks.

Singapore - Myanmar ratified the Association of South-East Asian Nation's landmark charter Tuesday and vowed to uphold and enhance its democratic ideals.

Myanmar, vilified for its dictatorial government and human rights abuses, became the seventh of the 10-member regional grouping to ratify the document, which was signed by the leaders in November last year.

"Myanmar's ratification of the charter demonstrates our strong commitment to embrace the common values and aspirations of the peoples of ASEAN," Foreign Minister Nyan Win said.

Singapore - An international humanitarian taskforce Monday urged the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to strengthen "rapid response capacities" in cyclone-wrecked Myanmar. 

Composed of the United Nations, Myanmar's government and ASEAN's secretariat, the task force said ASEAN "should maintain its coordination leadership through mid-2009." 

ASEAN was the only trusted body to ensure relief and recovery efforts could be carried out successfully, the task force said. 

"Two months in the aftermath of cyclone Nargis, ASEAN has asserted its leadership that resulted in the reduction of loss of life and the alleviation of suffering," the task force said.