Seoul - EU and South Korean negotiators began two days of talks Monday to tackle issues that are holding up a free trade agreement, including industrial tariffs and trade barriers in the automotive industry.

"We are close to a gate that leads to a new era," South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong Hoon, who is leading the talks along with EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton, was quoted as saying by the South Korean news agency Yonhap ahead of the meetings in Seoul.

Seoul - South Korean President Lee Myung Bak on Monday named new ministers for finance and North Korean policy as his country has been hit hard by the global economic crisis and has seen tensions rise with its northern neighbour.

The cabinet shake-up came nearly 11 months into Lee's administration as his government has been criticized in the wake of the economic downturn and worsening relations with North Korea.

Seoul - North Korea's military Saturday threatened military conflict with South Korea, in the first public statement by the general staff of the North Korean People's Army in ten years.

The message, read by a military spokesman on North Korean television, according to the South Korean Yonhap news agency.

It said that South Korean President Lee Myung Bak and his "puppet military warhawks" would force North Korea's military forces "to take a strong military retaliatory step to wipe them out."

Seoul - Samsung, South Korea's leading electronics company, will merge its four major departments into two groups as a response to the ongoing economic downturn, the company reported Friday.

The semiconductor and liquid crystal display (LCD) divisions will merge, as will the telecommunication and digital media divisions, according to the company.

The company also announced a series of staff changes, including plans to cut top managers' salaries by 20 per cent. Bonuses will also be reduced.

Seoul - Shares surged 2.2 per cent Friday on the Seoul stock exchange after recent losses. South Korea's currency rose against the dollar.

Johannesburg - Every day 1,500 women die of avoidable complications in pregnancy in childbirth, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a report released Thursday.

The overall figure stood at 10 million women since 1990, with women in Africa south of the Sahara and south Asia most at risk, the report titled The State of the World's Children 2009 said.

Women in these regions were 300 times more likely to die in pregnancy and childbirth than in developed countries.

In no other area of healthcare was the gap between rich and poor as wide, UNICEF said.