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US, DPRK

talks end

NEW YORK: The United States and North Korea broke off talks on Wednesday, unable to reach an agreement on an anticipated groundbreaking visit to Washington by a top Pyongyang official. "We adjourned our talks in preparation for the high-level visit," said US special envoy on North Korea talks, Charles Kartman. "Those discussions will continue in the near future," he said, but added that the two delegations had failed to agree on when and whom would be leading the Washington visit. The closed-door talks formally opened in the United Nation's US mission on March 8 but took a three-day break ending Monday.ÑAFP

Military pact

SUVA: Fiji, Tonga and New Caledonia signed a trilateral military activities agreement on Thursday aimed at improving training levels within their armed forces. The memorandum of understanding was signed at the Queen Elizabeth barracks in Suva on behalf of New Caledonia by its army chief General Xavier de Zuchowicz. The deal calls for annual military exercises to be staged alternately in Tonga or Fiji. New Caledonia will reciprocate through its annual Southern Cross exercises, to which the Fijian and Tongan armed forces will be invited, a French Embassy statement said.ÑAFP

Church blast

MEXICO: Three people died and 17 were injured in an explosion caused by fireworks, which completely destroyed a church outside Mexico City the blast at the Santa Ana Xilotzingo church, 60 kilometers west of Mexico City, occurred on Tuesday night as a group of faithful were celebrating their return from a pilgrimage to a neighbouring village. Officials said fireworks set off during the celebration landed on a other fireworks stored next to the church, and set them alight. Fireworks are an integral part of most Mexican celebrations, and accidents are not uncommon. The pyrotechnic devices are often manufactured in illegal home industries.ÑAFP

Taiwan rocked

TAIPEI: An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale jolted southeastern Taiwan on Thursday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, seismologists said. The quake struck with the epicenter 40.1 kilometers east of the coastal Chengkung township in Taitung county. The tremor originated 12.8 kilometers below the earth's surface. Minor tremors and aftershocks have been a daily occurrence in Taiwan since a devastating quake last September 21 which left 2,400 people dead, 11,000 injured and more than 100,000 homeless.ÑAFP

Five killed

COTABATO: Philippine separatist militants killed four government militiamen and a farmer in two separate attacks in the south, the military said on Thursday. Two other people were wounded in the attacks, said local military spokesman Major Julieto Ando. Five government militiamen were riding on the roof of a van in Carmen town, North Cotabato province when they were ambushed by 20 guerrillas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Wednesday, Ando said. Four of the militiamen were slain and one was wounded, Ando said, adding that the MILF militants took two rifles and two handguns from the victims.ÑAFP

'Killing fields'

NEW YORK: A top United Nations team of lawyers and negotiators has headed to Cambodia, on Thursday, for talks on a "killing fields" tribunal for former Khmer Rouge leaders. The UN Under Secretary General Hans Corell will lead the seven-member delegation's attempt to reach a deal with the Cambodian Government. The talks will begin on Friday, the sources here said. The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said "the whole point of the United Nations being involved in the issue is to ensure that the special court which Cambodia is going to set up conforms to international standards of justice". The Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, however, declared that he did not trust the UN.ÑPPI