Bulgarians Protest Over Wages And Pensions

Thousands of Bulgarian public-sector employees have been taking part in rallies in protest at low wages.

Waving purple labour union flags, several thousand miners, civil servants, doctors, nurses, teachers and metallurgy and energy-sector employees marched on parliament carrying large banners with slogans such as "STOP misery" and "We do not want lifelong labour for miserable pensions."

They are calling on the government to raise salaries by 10%, protect their right to early retirement and pay them regularly. They complain they are often not paid on time or in full.

They are also demanding tax rebates next year for more than 460,000 employees who receive the minimum monthly salary of 340 leva (£146). The average monthly salary in Bulgaria is £336, while the average pension is £126.

Protesting students dressed in fake military uniforms

The workers' rally merged with a daily protest by about 1,000 students outside parliament who have been calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski, whose technocrat government leads the EU's poorest member.

The students claim the political class is too corrupt and caters too much to big business.

Mr Oresharski has come under continuous pressure to resign over the past five months, with the students' movement giving new impetus to the rallies over the past four weeks.

Bitter anti-poverty street rallies turned violent last winter and several people set themselves on fire in desperation, forcing the conservative cabinet to resign in February.

Mr Oresharski's government took office in May, but quickly sparked even bigger street rallies, as critics accused it too of corruption and links to the oligarchy.

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Turkey: Bomb Security Alert Near PM's Office

Turkish police arrested a man carrying a fake bomb outside the office of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, causing a security scare in the capital Ankara.

Local television stations had initially reported that the suspect was shot and wounded by police but officials and witnesses later said they wrestled him to the ground and only fired shots in the air.

"This individual was carrying a device resembling a bomb but in fact it was not one," Interior Minister Muammer Guler told reporters, describing him as "mentally unstable".

Turkish media published a photograph of what looked like a white corset and a slab of putty wrapped in cling film, attached by wire to a small back device, seized from the man.

Mr Guler said the man had called police five minutes beforehand to tip them off. 

PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan was not at his office at the time of the alert

Earlier reports said he had refused to show his identity card at a checkpoint in the street outside the building.

The suspect, identified by police as Tugrul Bayir, born in 1961, was taken to a police station for questioning.

NTV television reported that the man had credit card debts and wanted to draw attention to his plight.

Mr Erdogan was at the headquarters of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) at the time and not in his office.

Security was boosted in the area, and a police helicopter was seen hovering over the building.

"Security guards fired five or six times into the air. They didn't shoot him," a witness said.

Police increased security around government offices after the scare

The witness said the suspect was wearing a corset around his waist carrying some type of cement with cables attached as well as a black box.

Mr Erdogan, who has been prime minister for 11 years but has become an increasingly polarising figure in Turkey, is due to leave for a visit to Moscow.

In February this year, a Turkish security guard was killed and several people injured in a suicide bombing outside the highly-fortified US embassy in Ankara.

The attack was claimed by radical Marxist group the Revolutionary People's Liberation Front (DHKP-C)

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Sarah Palin Car For Sale On eBay: No Bidders

Sarah Palin's hometown is auctioning a car she drove during her time as mayor of the city, but the vehicle has failed to attract a single bidder.

The small town of Wasilla in Alaska listed the 1999 Ford Expedition on eBay on Monday, hoping to secure a starting bid of $10,000 (£6,200).

The listing's photo shows the car with a cardboard cut-out of Mrs Palin in the driver's seat.

"Surplus City of Wasilla vehicle purchased new in 1999 for Mayor Sarah Palin official use, needs new brakes, wheel seals, and idle control valve," the listing states.

Opening bids for the car are listed at $10,000 (Pic: eBay)

Public works director Archie Giddings said the city hoped bidders would find some historic value in the car.

But no bids had been submitted as of late Wednesday. The listing expires on November 27.

Mrs Palin drove the vehicle during her second term as mayor of the city, which ended in October 2002.

She went on to become Alaska's governor, until Republican presidential nominee John McCain chose her to be his running mate in 2008 and she resigned her state office.

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Iran Nuclear Talks Are A 'Historic Opportunity'

By Tim Marshall, Foreign Affairs Editor, in Geneva

As negotiators from Iran and six world powers sit down for a second day of talks in Geneva they still face major hurdles if there is to be a breakthrough interim agreement on Tehran's nuclear programme.

Last night a senior American administration official here at the talks agreed progress had been made since the previous round of talks ended without success 10 days ago, but urged caution about the prospects of an agreement by Friday.

Speaking in Istanbul, British Foreign Secretary William Hague was more upbeat.

"The differences that remain between the parties are narrow and I believe that they can be bridged with political will and commitment," he said.

"So this is an historic opportunity to build agreement on how to curb nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and potentially to set our relations with Iran on a different path."

If there is to be an agreement it will require compromises on all sides.

Iran insists on its right to enrich uranium despite numerous UN Resolutions calling on it to halt. The compromise on this could be that Iran stands by its claim, but does not insist other countries recognise that claim.

Another possible compromise could be for Iran to agree to stop enriching to levels close to weapon-grade material, but continue to enrich at lower levels.

The French would have to drop their insistence that Iran reduces its stockpile of uranium already enriched to the high level of 20%.

Perhaps the most difficult issue is Iran's plutonium reactor due to open next year.

It's thought France insists it must not open as that would be another route to a nuclear bomb, but Iran insists on its sovereign right to operate such a plant.

Here the compromise could be for France to agree the facility can open, and Iran to accept limits to what it can do within the facility.

If there is an agreement the US and EU will relax some of the sanctions currently hurting the Iranian economy. About $10bn belonging to Iran which is currently in foreign bank accounts would be unfrozen.

The talks are scheduled over three days ending tomorrow. However, in reality the negotiations have dragged on for 10 years. If there is no breakthrough the voices asking 'what is the point of continuing them' will grow louder.

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Stocks Stumble On Fed Stimulus Slowdown Plan

Stock markets retreated after confirmation from the US Federal Reserve that it is actively considering a slowdown of its massive bond purchase programme.

Members of the US central bank, according to minutes of their last meeting, agreed that they would likely start reducing the £85bn monthly stimulus if the US job market improved further.

They also weighed the possibility of slowing the purchases even without clear evidence of a strengthening in hiring,

The Fed's bond purchases have been intended to keep long-term borrowing rates low to spur spending and growth but the flood of cheap money has also stoked stock market values, seeing many world indices including the Dow Jones reach record highs.

The minutes also showed that members wrestled with how to assure investors that even after they cut back on the bond buys, the Fed still intends to keep its keep short-term rate near record lows.

At the meeting, members made no changes in interest rate policy but many wanted to better communicate to the public its plans for both slowing its bond purchases and keeping borrowing rates low to encourage spending.

The discussion suggested some members were worried that investors could mistakenly assume a slowdown in bond purchases, which have kept long-term rates low, will be followed by an increase in short-term interest rates.

Stocks fell Wednesday after the minutes indicated the Fed might be closer to scaling back its stimulus.

The Dow closed down 66 points while most Asian markets fell overnight - with weak Chinese manufacturing figures also weighing on sentiment.

There were also further equity falls in Europe on Thursday.

Fed members expect incoming data to show improvement in the job market and would "thus warrant trimming the pace of purchases in coming months," the minutes said but did not specify when that first reduction in bond purchases might occur.

Some participants suggested that at some stage it might be appropriate to begin trimming the bond purchases "before an unambiguous further improvement" in the outlook for the job market. But other Fed officials objected that such a suggestion was premature and wanted more time to assess the impact of the bond purchases.

The Fed meets again in December, but most economists don't expect any changes in the bond programme until March.

That would be Janet Yellen's first meeting as Fed chairman - should the Senate approve her nomination.

Ben Bernanke, the current Fed chairman, will step down in January when his term ends.

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Xbox One Console Set For Midnight Launch

Microsoft's next generation Xbox One console goes on sale at midnight with a showpiece central London event launching the machine in the UK.

Leicester Square plays host to "surprise performances and celebrity appearances", while events in New York and Los Angeles will feature music from Deadmau5 and rapper Macklemore.

The XBox One Facebook page posted pictures of an elaborate-looking stage being put up in central London.

High street chain Game said it was preparing to open 300 UK stores at midnight.

The Xbox One is Microsoft's follow-up to the hugely successful Xbox 360, released in 2005, and is going head-to-head with Sony's new PlayStation 4 in the lucrative run-up to Christmas.

The PlayStation 4 sold more than a million on its first day

The PS4 came out in America on November 15 and notched up sales of more than a million on its first day. It is released in the UK on Friday, November 29.

Key tech specs for the Xbox One include an eight-core processor, eight gigabytes of RAM memory, a 500 gigabyte hard drive, and the ability to play Blu-ray discs.

It can also display games in ultra high-definition 4k format and comes bundled with a beefed-up version of the Kinect movement sensor.

Some of the big games available at launch include Forza Motorsport 5, Battlefield 4, Dead Rising 3, Call Of Duty: Ghosts and Assassin's Creed IV.

Forza Motosport 5 is one of the big launch games (Pic: Microsoft Studios)

Gamers hoping to still make use of their Xbox 360 games will be disappointed, however, as the new console does not offer backwards compatibility with older titles.

Sony's PlayStation 4 also has the same problem, but the company is planning to launch a streaming service to let customers play PS3 games over the internet.

For any "floating gamers" still unsure which console to go for, price may prove a deciding factor.

At £429, the Xbox One is £80 more than the PS4, but includes the Kinect movement sensor.

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Paris Shootings: Suspect's DNA Is A Match

DNA collected at one of the scenes of the Paris shootings is a match to a suspect arrested on Wednesday evening.

The man, named by police as Abdelhakim Dekhar, was detained at around 7pm local time (6pm UK time) in a vehicle in an underground  car park in the western suburb of Bois-Colombes.

The office of city prosecutors said the reading of Mr Dekhar's rights had to be postponed because he was not in a position to be questioned.

Police said he appeared heavily medicated when he was detained and interior minister Manuel Valls said the suspect seemed to have attempted suicide.

"Everything seems to show that indeed, he tried to commit suicide. However, he did not kill himself, which is very important so that we can find out all the facts," Mr Valls said.

Police made the arrest after a tip-off

Police sources told the AFP news agency that the man arrested is the same Abdelhakim Dekhar who was convicted in 1998 for his links to a 'Bonnie-and-Cyde-style' murder spree on October 4, 1994.

Dekhar was accused of buying a gun used in the attacks by Florence Rey and her lover, Audry Maupin.

Three policemen and a taxi driver were killed after the pair hijacked a taxi.

Dekhar protested his innocence at his trial in 1998, claiming he had been recruited by the Algerian secret service to infiltrate the French far-left.

Witnesses at the trial described him as a mentor to the couple and accused him of manipulating them.

He was found guilty and sentenced to four years in jail.

Investigators had earlier released CCTV images of the man they were looking for taken in an entrance in the La Defense business area.

The suspect was caught on camera in the La Defense area

They have received hundreds of calls about the case from members of the public.

On Monday, the shooter critically wounded a photographer at the offices of Liberation newspaper.

The photographer was arriving for his first day of freelance work at the newspaper and suffered wounds to his chest and stomach.

After fleeing the newspaper's offices in the east of Paris, the gunman is believed to have crossed over to the western edge of the city, where he fired several shots outside the main office of the Societe Generale bank. No one was hurt.

He then reportedly hijacked a car driven by a priest and forced him to drop him off close to the Champs-Elysees in the centre of the city.

The shootings prompted a manhunt across Paris. The motive for the attacks remains unknown.

The same man is also suspected of previously entering the offices of French TV station BFM carrying a gun.

The attacks led to French police arranging guards at Paris media outlets.

The photographer's assistant, who has not been named, is understood to be awake and off life support.

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US Korean War Veteran Held In North Korea

An 85-year-old American veteran of the Korean War has been detained for almost a month in North Korea, his family has said.

Merrill Newman, of Palo Alto, California, was pulled off a plane on October 26 as he was about to leave the country.

His son, Jeffrey Newman, said an officer boarded the plane, asked to see his father's passport and then asked a stewardess to make him leave the plane.

"My dad got off, walked out with the stewardess, and that's the last he was seen," he said, speaking from California.

Jeffrey Newman also said that the day before, his father and his tour guide spoke with North Korean authorities at a meeting in which his military service in Korea was discussed.

"We think that the conversation was difficult at times," he said, adding that he did not know the details.

Mr Newman was travelling with friend Bob Hamrdla, who was allowed to return and said in a statement that: "There has to be a terrible misunderstanding.

"I hope that the North Koreans will see this as a humanitarian matter and allow him to return to his family as soon as possible."

Kim Jong-Un is at the helm of the reclusive nation

Pyongyang has also been holding Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American Christian missionary, since November 2012.

Mr Bae faced several charges that all implied he had been attempting to help  topple Kim Jong-Un's regime and was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour.

The US special representative for North Korea policy, Glyn Davies, urged North Korea to "resolve the issues" of Americans detained in North Korea, including Mr Bae and Mr Newman.

Mr Newman is believed to have entered the reclusive nation with a valid visa for sightseeing last month. He was on a 10-day trip, reports said.

The younger Mr Newman said his family has been in contact with the State Department and had arranged for heart medication needed by his father to be delivered to the North Koreans through Swedish diplomats.

Kenneth Bae has been held since last year

The US has no diplomatic relations with North Korea.

The elder Mr Newman served as a US infantry officer in the Korean War and later worked as a manufacturing and finance executive before retiring in 1984, according to a biography of him in a February 2012 newsletter from Channing House, the Palo Alto retirement home where he now lives.

A State Department advisory to American travellers warns that "US citizens crossing into North Korea, even accidentally, have been subject to arbitrary arrest and long-term detention".

North Korea says the detained man had broken the law, according to Japan's new agency Kyodo.

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'Drone Strike' In Pakistan Kill Militants

A suspected US drone strike on an Islamic seminary in northwestern Pakistan has reportedly killed six people, including two Afghan militants.

Three rockets were fired on the Hangu district from an unmanned aircraft, according to local security officials.

The two militants killed in the attack were believed to be from the Haqqani group, an ally of the Taliban and one of the most feared militant networks battling US troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.

There was no information on the other victims.

The attack could increase tension between Islamabad and Washington over the controversial drone strikes.

Pakistan publicly opposes US drone strikes, saying they kill too many civilians and violate its sovereignty. However, the government is known to have privately supported at least some of the attacks in the past.

"Now no place is safe. The drones are now firing missiles outside the tribal areas," said Shaukat Yousufzai, health minister for the local government of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

"It is Hangu today. Tomorrow it can be Karachi, Lahore or any other place."

A protest against US drone strikes earlier this month

But the US  has shown no sign that it intends to stop using what it considers a vital tool to fight al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Washington has long called on Islamabad to crack down on the Haqqani group, which it says has frequently launched attacks on foreign troops from mountainous hideouts in Pakistan's lawless North Waziristan region.

Islamabad has refused, saying its troops are already too stretched battling domestic militants.

It is the first drone strike in the nation since Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud was killed on November 1.

Pakistani officials were outraged at that attack because they said it came a day before they planned to invite the leader to hold peace talks.

Earlier this week, Pakistan's foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz was quoted as saying that the US had promised not to conduct drone strikes while the government tries to engage the Taliban in peace talks.

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Freed Greenpeace Activists Hit Out At Detention

The latest British Greenpeace activists to be granted bail by a court in Russia have welcomed the decision - but say it shouid have happened sooner.

Frank Hewetson, 45, and 37-year-old Iain Rogers were among 30 people arrested by Russian security forces after an oil rig protest in the Arctic in September.

Father-of-two Mr Hewetson, from London, said: "I'm happy but it should have happened two months ago.

"i think our detention in prison has been unwarranted. We are a peaceful organisation, we are not hooligans."

His partner, Nina Gold, said: "It is a massive relief to know that Frank has been granted bail and that we can see him and talk to him soon.

"But it is not over yet - Frank and the others are still facing absurd charges carrying the threat of a long jail sentence."

When asked by Sky's Katie Stallard if he had a message for his family, Mr Rogers, from Exeter, joked: "Tell my mum I'm saving loads of money!"

Three other Britons, Alex Harris, Anthony Perrett and journalist Kieron Bryan, are also due for release after winning their bail applications on Wednesday.

(L to R) Ms Harris, Mr Bryan and Mr Perrett

Five of the six Britons in detention have now been given bail. The sixth, Philip Ball, will have his application heard on Friday.

More than 20 of those on the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise have now been allowed bail by courts in St Petersburg.

It follows international condemnation over Russia's treatment of the so-called Arctic 30.

Brazilian Ana Paula Maciels, 31, was the first to be released from custody on Wednesday after Greenpeace paid her £38,000 bail.

She was followed on Thursday morning by three Russians - activist Andrei Allakhverdov, photographer Denis Sinyakov and the ship's doctor Yekaterina Zaspa.

Ms Maciels after she was released from detention

The 'Arctic 30' were taken into custody after their vessel entered Arctic waters despite Russian warnings.

Some of the activists had tried to scale an offshore drilling platform owned by the state gas giant Gazprom.

The protesters were initially charged with piracy but this was changed to the less serious offence of  hooliganism, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years.

No date has yet been set by for their trials.

Greenpeace denies any wrongdoing and is demanding that all the activists -  who come from 18 different countries - and their ship are freed.

Protesters climb the Prirazlomnaya oil platform

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appealed to Russia to be lenient with the activists, saying environmentalists play a key role in society.

"They (Russia) may have their own domestic rules and regulations but I would hope that they would have some favourable and sympathetic considerations for this case," he said.

"In this world the civil societies ... play a very important role. It is not only the government or business communities who make this world move. A very significant part is now shared by civil society, including Greenpeace."

Meanwhile, Greenpeace has unveiled giant portraits of the 'Arctic 30' as part of its campaign against drilling in the Arctic.

Vivienne Westwood at the Arctic 30 exhibition

The black and white photographs were put up outside the London offices of oil giant Shell.

Greenpeace said it was drawing attention to Shell and Gazprom's planned oil venture in the Arctic.

Entitled Thirty Acts of Courage, the "exhibition" was officially opened by fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood, who said: "I'm delighted to be able to open this exhibition celebrating the bravery of the Arctic 30.

"Their audacious efforts to protect one of the world's last remaining wildernesses from exploitation by the oil industry are an example to us all."

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