Globetrotting — S Korean FM sacked

DUBAI: Qatar has become the latest Gulf state to ask illegal foreign workers to leave, giving them two months till January 20 to return home after paying the stipulated fine. The two-month grace period applied to those who had overstayed in the country after the expiry of their visas, the Qatari interior ministry said in a statement. Those who failed to leave the country during this period would face tough penalties, it said. Indians and other Asians form a large percentage of the expatriate workforce in Qatar, but there are no estimates of the numbers of people living in the country illegally.

Food crisis

UNITED NATIONS: Acute food shortages have gripped 29 countries, mostly in Africa, a United Nations agency has reported. Though the cereal production in the developing countries is expected to decrease only slightly from last year’s food level, the countries facing shortages have gone up from 25 to 29. Eighteen of the affected countries are in Africa.

China blast

BEIJING: Eighty-seven miners and two rescue workers were killed when a gas explosion ripped through a coal mine in China’s central province of Anhui last week, delayed reports said here today. Two rescuers died while trying to save miners trapped by the blast at the Pansan coal mine in Huainan city.