World news: North Korea makes new offer of talks with South

Published on Friday 7 January 2011 10:44

North Korea made a new offer today for unconditional talks with the South to ease tensions on the divided peninsula.

The North's latest offer comes days after South Korea dismissed earlier calls by Pyongyang for negotiations.

Tensions between the two sides escalated after a North Korean artillery barrage on a South Korean-held island near their disputed maritime border killed four South Koreans in November.

The attack occurred in waters not far from where a North Korean torpedo allegedly brought down a South Korean warship eight months earlier. That attack killed 46 sailors. Pyongyang has denied responsibility.

"We do not want to see the present South Korean authorities pass the five-year term of their office idly without North-South dialogue," the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said. "There is neither conditionality in the North's proposal for dialogue nor need to cast any doubt about its real intention."

Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said South Korea would review the latest offer.

Knox trial turned into movie

HEROES star Hayden Panettiere is to play Amanda Knox on TV. Knox was jailed for 26 years in 2009 for killing UK housemate Meredith Kircher.

The Italian murder trial of American college student Amanda Knox, pictured, has been recreated in a US TV movie. The film focuses on the trial of Knox, who was sentenced to 26 years for sexually assaulting and murdering her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, in Perugia.

Plane struck by lightning

A PASSENGER jet with 35 people on board landed safely at an airport on New York's Long Island after being struck by lightning.

The pilot of US Airways Express flight 4507 from Philadelphia to New Haven, Connecticut, reported electrical problems after the lightning struck.

Palestinians seek UN help

The Palestinians are seeking a United Nations resolution demanding that Israel stop all settlement activities.

UN observer Riyad Mansour said the US had failed to convince the Israelis to halt construction and the Palestinians believed a UN Security Council resolution could create enough "critical pressure" on Israel to end the building work.

The US has voiced opposition to settlement building, but it also opposes the resolution.

Man castrated and murdered

A 65-YEAR-OLD man from Portugal found dead in his plush Manhattan hotel room was castrated and beaten, police said today.

The body was discovered by staff after a worried friend went to check on the victim at the InterContinental New York Times Square hotel.

Girl on train tracks inches from death

Argentina: A little girl cheated death by inches after a bizarre bid by her mother to dodge ticket collectors.

The girl's mother was captured by CCTV cameras lowering her on to the tracks and guiding her underneath the platform just as a train was coming into the station.

Niger: Two Westerners believed to be French nationals were kidnapped by armed men who burst into an upmarket bar in capital Niamey.