Seoul - The first military talks between North and South Korea in eight months ended shortly after they began Thursday with no significant progress and North Korea accusing the South of spreading propoganda in its territory, South Korean media reports said.

Pak Rim Su, the leader of the North's delegation, accused the South Korean side of not being prepared to solve problems at the talks in Panmunjom, a village inside the demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported.

North Korea called the talks to protest propoganda leaflets that South Korea has been disseminating in his country, Pak said.

Seoul  - Military officers from North and South Korea are to meet Thursday for the first time in eight months, the Defence Ministry in Seoul said.

On the agenda at the talks in Panmunjom, a village inside the demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas, is the implementation of agreements already made between the neighbours' militaries, the ministry said Wednesday.

In a surprise move last week, North Korea proposed to hold the discussions Tuesday, and South Korea's military later accepted but moved the talks back two days.

It was the first offer by North Korea to hold such a dialogue since conservative South Korean President Lee Myung Bak took office in February.

Seoul - The United States' top negotia

Seoul - South Korea on Thursday banned the import of Chinese milk and milk powder products and recalled two snacks found to contain the chemical melamine, which has caused kidney damage to thousands of Chinese babies.

The Korea Food and Drug Administration ordered the recall of Misarang Custard cake from China and Milk Rusk cookies imported from Hong Kong after some of the products on South Korean store shelves were found to contain melamine.

Sydney - Australia might issue a patent to a South Korean scientist who falsely claimed to have cloned human embryos, news reports said Wednesday.

National patent agency IP Australia confirmed to the Sydney Morning Herald that it was reviewing a patent application from Hwang Woo Suk, formerly of Seoul National University, for his disputed technology on cloning human embryos.

Hwang was once hailed as a national hero in South Korea before being embroiled in a scandal over falsified data on 2004 and 2005 studies in which he not only claimed to have cloned human stem cells but also to have developed patient-specific stem cells.

Johannesburg  - Voting was underway Friday in parliamentary elections in Swaziland that have been branded farcical by political parties that are barred from contesting polls in Africa's last absolute monarchy.

Voters queued outside polling stations from early morning in the landlocked kingdom of around 1 million people to cast their ballot for 55 members of the 65-seat national assembly. King Mswati III names the remaining 10.

He also names the prime minister, ministers and judges.

The run-up to the polls has seen unprecedented protests in the normally peaceful country of mainly subsistence farmers, with political parties and trade unions using the occasion to underscore the lack of democracy in the country.