News In Brief

Irish prime minister balks at course of EC talks

Irish Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald Tuesday vowed to block any agreement at a vital European Community summit meeting after it rejected his demands for special treatment for Ireland's dairy farmers.

A spokesman for the Irish leader said FitzGerald had stormed out and would not return to the meeting, which is trying to rescue the Common Market from imminent bankruptcy.

Earlier, officials from France, whose leader Francois Mitterrand is the community's current president, had intensive private discussions with British officials in an all-out bid to narrow differences over London's budget overpayments and ways to replenish the bloc's almost exhausted coffers.