Korean ties under strain after expulsion

SEOUL North Korea has expelled most of the South Korean managers working in a joint factory park near their heavily armed border. The aggressive move came as South Korea pledged to take a tougher line on North Korea over human rights abuses, and the US pressured Pyongyang over its nuclear programme. (Reuters)

National strike of farmers paralyses Argentina

BUENOS AIRES An Argentine farm strike has depleted meat counters and paralysed grain exports from a key global supplier and is severely testing the Government's reliance on strong-arm tactics with business. The two-week strike is the largest in decades. Growers of all sizes have set aside differences to fight a tax increase on windfall profits from high-priced soy exports.

The protest is also aimed at the way in which Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the President, raised the tax, in a surprise decree. Mrs Kirchner backed the new tax with tough words on Tuesday, saying that farmers were becoming rich off cheap labour and subsidised fuel. But she was met by the farmers' vows to continue blocking highways in the agricultural heartland and by an unexpected cacerolazo protest on Tuesday, when thousands of middle-class Argentinians banged pots and pans in the streets.

This was was the biggest such protest since the 2001-02 crisis, which toppled a president, and it could pressure Mrs Fernández to negotiate with business for the first time. (Reuters)

Framework of peace deal only

JERUSALEM Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, has said that he expected only a framework of a peace deal could be reached with the Palestinians by the end of the year. Mr Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, had pledged in November to work towards a deal by the end of 2008 but little progress has been made. (AFP)

Proposal to ban MEPs hiring family

STRASBOURG Concerns about expenses fiddles in the European Parliament led MEPs to propose a ban yesterday on employing their relatives at the taxpayers’ expense (David Charter writes). British MEPs would be hard hit if the measure is passed in Strasbourg next month because more than one third pay their spouse or child to help them out of their ¤186,000 (£145,000) annual staff allowance.

The call for a ban was added on to the agenda of the Parliament’s budget control committee by Ingebord Grässle, an MEP from Germany, after a secret audit report, which detailed various expenses scams. Many of the fiddles were not technically in breach of the rules and have led to calls for a crackdown. It will now go to a vote of the entire 785-member Parliament.

Chris Davies, the Liberal Democrat MEP who revealed the existence of the secret audit report last month, welcomed the move. It also follows concern about the employment of relatives by MPs in Westminster after Derek Conway lost the Conservative whip for payments to his son, a full-time student.

Warehouse fire kills two

DUBAI A huge explosion at a fireworks warehouse started a raging fire that spread rapidly through warehouses in al-Qouz industrial zone, killing at least two people and causing tens of millions of dollars worth of damage. (AP)

Moves to damp down mozzarella crisis

ROME Massimo D'Alema, the Italian Foreign Minister, sought to allay fears over high dioxin levels found in milk used to make buffalo mozzarella after Japan and South Korea banned imports of the cheese. “The risks are very limited,” he said. Paolo De Castro, the Agriculture Minister, said that the Government was in talks with Japanese, South Korean and EU authorities and denied any link to chronic waste-disposal problems in Campania, the area of production. Despite reassurances from health experts, domestic sales have already fallen by 30 to 35 per cent. (AFP)

Saddam funded trip

WASHINGTON Saddam Hussein’s intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three Democrat congressmen in October 2002 — via an intermediary — during the run-up to the US-led invasion, federal prosecutors said. (AP)

HIV warning

UNITED NATIONS The number of HIV cases in Asia could jump by almost 8 million by 2020 unless more is done to combat its spread, a report presented to the UN chief said. Nearly 5 million people in Asia are infected with HIV now. (Reuters)

Stuntman in court

NEW YORK A former TV stuntman who tried to parachute off the Empire State Building in 2006 was re-arraigned on a charge of reckless endangerment. Jeb Corliss, of Malibu, pleaded not guilty in Manhattan's state Supreme Court. (AP)

Planetarium seized by gang

MOSCOW Armed men seized the Moscow Planetarium, a futuristic silver domed building on a valuable plot of land, apparently as part of a long-running property dispute between Moscow City Hall and the building's director. (AFP)

Tabloid editor sent to prison

CAIRO Ibrahim Eissa, the editor of the tabloid newspaper Al-Dustour, has been sentenced to six months in prison for reporting on the Egyptian President's health problems, panicking investors and threatening Egypt's economy. (AP)

Girl, 2, rescued from well

DELHI A girl of 2 who fell into a well 14m (45ft) deep in a village near Agra was rescued after 27 hours by soldiers, police and other helpers using heavy equipment. They played music to soothe the girl, identified only as Vandana. (AP)

Explore World News

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Asia News

• Africa News

Times Recommends

• Disease fears realised in cyclone aftermath
• First review: Sex and the City
• BlackBerry v the super smartphones