News In Brief

UN calls for urgent aid for N Korea
Afp, United Nations

The United Nations is in urgent need of $98 million to finance emergency aid for the people of North Korea, the UN coordinator for the impoverished country said yesterday.
North Korea faces chronic food shortages and suffered from famine in the mid-1990s that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths. Nearly 2.4 million North Koreans need regular food assistance and 28 percent of children under five suffer chronic malnutrition.

4 Bodies found in Indian sub
Afp, Mumbai

India's navy yesterday retrieved four charred bodies from a submarine that exploded in a Mumbai dockyard, and said it was unlikely any of the other 15 missing crewmen would be found alive.
The diesel-powered INS Sindhurakshak sank in a military dockyard early Wednesday, dealing a setback to India's naval ambitions just days after it unveiled its first domestically made aircraft carrier.
Navy divers managed to enter the vessel, whose forward section was totally destroyed in the fire, but their progress was hampered by extreme heat, poor visibility and mangled hatches.

80pc of Israeli Jews say peace impossible
Afp, Jerusalem

Almost 80 percent of Israeli Jews believe a peace deal with the Palestinians is impossible, an opinion poll found yesterday, two days after the resumption of negotiations in Jerusalem.
Asked whether "this time, we will reach a final agreement that will put an end to the conflict," 79.7 percent of respondents said no, and just 6.2 percent said yes. Another 14.1 percent expressed no opinion.

Powerful quake jolts New Zealand cities
Afp, Wellington

A powerful earthquake rattled major cities across New Zealand yesterday, sending terrified office workers fleeing as central Wellington shook "like jelly", but authorities reported no major damage.
The 6.5-magnitude quake struck at 2:31pm near an area where a series of quakes hit last month, the US Geological Survey said. It was felt from Christchurch in the South Island to Auckland in the North Island. A cluster of major aftershocks measuring up to 5.9 followed but no tsunami alert was issued.