SEOUL: South Korean officials have departed for North Korea to take part in the countries' first government-to-government contact in more than a year.The officials were seen Tuesday entering the border control area dividing the two Koreas to prepare to cross into the communist country. North Korea made a surprise offer to South Korea for talks last week. The two sides plan to discuss a troubled joint economic zone they operate across the border in the North. Tensions between the two Koreas have been high since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office last year in Seoul vowing to take a tough line on Pyongyang. North Korea has detained a South Korean worker at the Kaesong Industrial Complex amid allegations he denounced the country's political system.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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