Two Koreas to hold talks in December
SEOUL, South Korea — North and South Korea have agreed to hold high-level talks next month to discuss ways to improve ties, Seoul officials said today. The two countries threatened war against each other in the summer over land-mine explosions that maimed two South Korean soldiers. The standoff eased in August when the Koreas met for marathon talks and agreed on tension-reduction efforts that include resuming talks between senior officials. Working-level officials from the two sides met at a border village Thursday and agreed to hold talks Dec. 11 at the Kaesong industrial complex in North Korea, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said in a statement. Vice ministerial officials will represent each side to discuss matters regarding improved ties, the statement said. Last month, the two Koreas held reunions of families separated by war for the first time since February 2014, another sign they were carrying out reconciliation efforts stipulated in the August agreements.
1 dead in attack on Bangladesh mosque
NEW DELHI — At least five assailants opened fire Thursday during evening prayers at a Shiite Muslim mosque in northern Bangladesh, leaving one person dead and three others wounded, police said. Bogra District Police Chief Mohammed Asaduzzaman said the assailants fled after the attack, which occurred just after sunset at the mosque in Haripur village. He said a mosque official in his 70s who led the prayers died from bullet wounds, and the three others were being treated at a hospital. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Shiites are a minority in Sunni-majority Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation of 160 million people. The country has been rocked this year by a series of attacks reportedly carried out by radical Islamic groups. Since February, four secular bloggers, a publisher and two foreigners — an Italian aid worker and a Japanese agriculture researcher — have been killed.
Pensioners protest against Greek plan
ATHENS, Greece — More than 2,000 pensioners chanting “We can’t live on 300 euros” marched through central Athens Thursday to protest plans by the country’s government to overhaul the pension system. Protests took place in Athens and 12 other Greek towns and cities against the proposed changes that would make the system less reliant on direct state funding. Pension funds have been severely hit by a debt-restructuring deal in 2012, a fast-aging population and weak contributions due to high unemployment. Already cut repeatedly during years of austerity measures, pensions have become a vital source of income for unemployed families, in a country with a limited welfare safety net and where extended family cohabitation is relatively common. “Pensions will be cut. The cuts in health care are huge. We’re at the point of not having health care, of not having medication. We can’t just idly stand by,” Yannis Antoniou, head of a bankers’ pensioners association, said. The proposals demanded by bailout creditors have further soured ties between the governing leftist Syriza party and unions, which have called a general strike for Dec. 3, two days ahead of an austerity budget vote in Parliament.
Tunisia detains 30, identifies bomber
TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisian authorities have detained 30 people suspected of having extremism links after a suicide bombing targeting presidential guards. They also identified the bomber as a local street vendor. The Interior Ministry said in a statement Thursday that forensic police identified the attacker as Houssam ben Hedi ben Miled Abdelli, 27, by his DNA. It said he was from a working-class neighborhood on the edge of Tunis. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack on a bus in central Tunis, which left 12 dead plus the attacker. In a later statement, the ministry said it detained 30 people suspected of links to extremist groups and seized several weapons in 526 raids around the country over a 24-hour period. The blast shook Tunisia and its democracy after two attacks on tourist sites this year by Islamic radicals that killed 60 people. A disgruntled Tunisian vendor set himself on fire in 2010, sparking a nationwide uprising that overthrew the president and led to revolts across the Arab world.