The second rise in interest rates in China in just over two months is coming into effect as the government steps up its fight against inflation. Here's Vivien Marsh of our Asia Pacific desk.

A brief statement on the website of the People's Bank of China said the one-year lending and deposit rates would go up by a quarter of a percentage point. Inflation is at its highest level in more than two years, and taming it is at the top of Beijing's policy agenda. Over the past two years, loans have been easy to come by as China rebounded quickly from the global economic crisis. But the new tightening indicates the sensitivity of inflation in a society in which poor families spend up to half their incomes on food.

Twelve Somalis have been arrested in Rotterdam in the Netherlands on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities. Geraldine Coughlin reports from The Hague.

Prosecutors said in a statement that the tip-off from the Dutch security service reports that a number of Somalis were planning to carry out a terrorist attack in the Netherlands

relatively

soon. A telephone shop and four houses in Rotterdam were searched by around 20 armed police officers, as well as two motel rooms in a village in the south of the country, but no weapons or explosives were found.

There's been a strong earthquake measuring 7.6 near to the western Pacific nation of Vanuatu. There are no reports of damage or injuries so far. The quake triggered a tsunami warning in the region. It was later cancelled.