Unemployed protest in Argentina

Thousands of unemployed protestors in Argentina have marched through the centre of the capital, Buenos Aires, to demand more government help to offset a prolonged economic recession.

Organisers accused the authorities of failing to honour a commitment to provide handouts of food and medicine to the country's poor.

The social development minister, Graciela Fernandez Meijide, said the government had fulfilled all its obligations and would not give in to what it described as extortion by the trade unions. Earlier this year, Argentina received a forty-billion dollar bailout package from international lenders to help revive the economy.

In return, the government agreed to adopt austerity measures and implement structural reforms.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service