Sunday, August 23, 2009 SEOUL: North Korean envoys delivered a message from their leader Kim Jong-Il when they met South Korea's president Sunday, raising hopes of an end to high tensions that had sparked fears of military clashes.Details of the verbal message were not disclosed.But both sides at the first high-level North-South meeting since President Lee Myung-Bak took office 18 months ago expressed hopes for warmer ties after more than a year of deep hostility from Pyongyang."I'm leaving with good feelings," Kim Ki-Nam, a close aide to Kim Jong-Il, told reporters as he left for the airport after the talks.Relations have been icy since the conservative Seoul leader scrapped a "sunshine" aid and engagement policy towards the hardline communist state and linked economic assistance to nuclear disarmament.Military forces along the heavily-fortified border have been put on alert at various times.Tensions rose further after Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests this year, which were punished with tougher United Nations sanctions.Kim Jong-Il's message was "regarding progress in inter-Korean relations", said chief presidential spokesman Lee Dong-Kwan, declining to say more.Lee "explained the consistent and firm principles of the government's North Korea policy and asked the North's delegation to relay them" to leader Kim, the spokesman said."If the South and the North genuinely try to resolve problems through dialogue, there will be no problems that cannot be resolved," he quoted the president as telling the visitors.Kim Jong-Il had sent the envoys to Seoul to join national mourning for former president Kim Dae-Jung, who pioneered the "sunshine" policy and held the first inter-Korean summit in 2000."The North's delegation expressed thanks for the meeting and expressed hope that the North and the South will cooperate and resolve all problems," the spokesman said.
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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