Massive support for Argentine general strike

There's been widespread support in Argentina for a twenty-four hour general strike over the government's latest economic austerity measures.

An estimated sixty per cent of the country's twelve-million strong workforce stayed at home in one of the biggest displays of industrial protest there in recent years.

The unions called the strike after the introduction of higher taxes and spending cuts and a reduction in the salaries of public sector workers.

They've threatened further action, but President Fernando de la Rua says the government has no choice but to meet targets set by the International Monetary Fund. The BBC South America correspondent says neither side is ready to give way and each seems resigned to the inevitability of more strikes.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service