Police baton-charged a crowd of about 700 anti-junta protesters including students and some Buddhist monks who gathered near a pagoda in Burma's main city Rangoon in defiance of a ban, witnesses say.

US President George W Bush has announced new US sanctions against Burma's military rulers and has urged other countries to follow suit, amid Burma's biggest anti-government protests in 20 years.

President Bush is expected to announce new sanctions against Burma as officials there threaten legal action against Buddhist monks leading the country's largest anti-government protests in nearly 20 years.

France has warned Burma's ruling junta that it would be held accountable if it cracked down on protesters who have taken to the steets in large numbers in Yangon.

Witnesses in Burma say at least 600 Buddhist monks protested Friday in Rangoon, in their fourth straight day of demonstrations.

The Burmese Democracy Movement is calling for urgent international intervention to head-off widespread violence in the country. Activists have come to Geneva to urge the U.N. Human Rights Council to mount a Commission of Inquiry into the latest abuses committed by the Burmese military junta.

Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on the arrests of democracy activists in Burma/Myanmar

This news release is issued in respect of the financial sanctions taken against Burma/Myanmar.

President Bush says he is renewing sanctions on Burma for at least another year, and at the same time calling again for the immediate release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners in the southeast Asian nation.

Burma and North Korea have restored diplomatic relations after a break of more than two decades caused by North Korea's bombing of a South Korean delegation in Burma in 1983. As Ron Corben reports the new ties raise concerns among human rights groups that Burma's military will step up purchases of weapons and bypass Western sanctions.

Labor unions from around the globe have agreed to work together to fight for the release of Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest.