Federal prosecutors have charged six men in the theft of $70 million from Brazil's Central Bank in August in one of the world's biggest bank robberies, media reported yesterday.

Those charged Friday include three men who were arrested shortly after the robbery and three who are at large, the local Agencia Estado news service said.

Thieves spent three months tunneling under a busy city avenue in Fortaleza, a city about 1,500 miles northeast of São Paulo, to break into the Central Bank vault and steal the equivalent of $70 million in Brazilian currency, the real.

Prosecutors said the group tried to charter a small plane a couple of days before the robbery for use in the escape and to transport the money out of the country.

Labor Party gets narrowest of wins

Jockeying for potential coalition partners began today after New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark's ruling Labor Party beat the National opposition by one seat in a nail-biting election.

Clark is poised to become the first Labor leader to win three straight terms after she came from behind to finish ahead of the conservative National Party under former central-bank governor Don Brash late yesterday.

Labor had 40.7 percent of the vote compared with 39.6 for National when vote counting closed.

That would translate into 50 seats for Labor in a 122-seat parliament, down one from the previous parliament, compared with National's 49.

The close result, with both parties short of an outright majority, meant days and possibly weeks of political horse-trading with the six key minor parties who won seats, in a bid to create a workable coalition government.

U.S., others dislike China plan on Korea

The United States and other countries failed to agree yesterday to a Chinese proposal that would let North Korea pursue peaceful nuclear activities if it gives up its atomic-weapons program. Talks were extended into another day.

Several delegations in six-nation negotiations on ending North Korea's nuclear-arms program indicated they were dissatisfied with the compromise offered by China, the U.S. envoy said after a long day of discussions that dragged late into the night.

"Several delegations, including ours, had difficulties with it," Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said, adding that the negotiations would continue into today.

Compiled from The Associated Press and Reuters