Intel executives Shane Wall and Pankaj Kedia, who reportedly had criticized the iPhone at the Intel Developer Forum Taiwan session, have been slapped back with a statement issued on Thursday by Intel. 

These executives have been learnt to have passed comments related to the iPhone and its ARM microprocessor, that Intel competes with its own line of embedded microprocessors, including the Atom microprocessor.

Prague - Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek's party lost the Senate run-off elections Saturday in a defeat that could reshape the Czech Republic's EU presidency in the first half of next year.

The loss could topple the premier and empower vocal European Union critic President Vaclav Klaus, just weeks before the country takes over at the helm of the 
27-member EU bloc on January 1.

Analysts said a boost to the followers of the eurosceptic president could weaken the Czech presidency.

Seoul - North and South Korea have agreed to launch a new round of military issues talks after a previous round broke up without result, Seoul said Saturday.

The Defence Ministry said the new round would take place on Monday at a border point on the western coastline, near the South Korean city of Paju.

Pyongyang had proposed new talks on Friday, after the previous round had broken up without result some three weeks ago.

The talks are aimed at improving lines of communication between the armed forces of the two Korean states.

Harare - Zimbabwe's prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai on Saturday said former South African president and mediator Thabo Mbeki had to show impartiality or the political power- sharing deal being negotiated would not materialize.

Addressing a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) rally in a farming town of Marondera, about 70 kilometres east of Harare, Tsvangirai said: Mr Mbeki, there is only one message: when you have started a job finish it well."

Berlin - German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck has warned that financial markets face a long crisis, and some German politicians stepped up calls Saturday for pump priming to avert an economic slump.

In remarks to appear Sunday in the newspaper Bild am Sonntag, Steinbrueck said, "The danger of a collapse is still not gone. Any all-clear signal would be wrong."

Moscow - Russian President Dimitry Medvedev met outside Moscow on Saturday with his Belarus counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, for talks focusing on the financial crisis.

A spokeswoman for Medvedev said the two leaders discussed the world financial crisis, with the talks coming a few days after Russia promised a loan of 2 billion dollars to Belarus.

Belarus needs the financial support in order to be able to finance purchases of Russian gas in the coming winter months.

In another development in Minsk, Lukashenko's chancellery office has welcomed a move by the European Union to lift for six months a temporary travel ban which the EU had imposed on Lukashenko and other members of the Belarus government.