EU agrees to step up Myanmar sanctions - Brown

BRUSSELS, June 19 (Reuters) - The European Union agreed on Friday to step up sanctions on Myanmar because of the Asian country's treatment of opponents, including detained Nobel Prize-winning opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"Europe agreed today to step up sanctions and take further targeted measures against the Burmese regime," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told a news conference after a summit of the 27 EU member states in Brussels.

Brown called for an end to Suu Kyi's "absurd and contemptible sham trial" and for her immediate and unconditional release. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom, edting by Timothy Heritage)