SPAIN: Retired workers, backed by the CCOO and UGT trade union centres, demonstrated across the country yesterday, demanding higher pensions and urging authorities to ensure funding for state benefits.

The biggest protests were in Bilbao, Barcelona and Madrid, where thousands chanted: "Thieves, thieves!" in front of the Cortes parliament, blocking traffic and being surrounded by large numbers of police.

Protesters held signs calling this year’s 0.25 per cent pension increase "miserable," saying it's not enough to keep up with inflation.
 

FRANCE: National carrier Air France admitted having to cancel half of its long-haul flights departing from Paris yesterday because its staff are on strike for a 6 per cent pay rise.

Hundreds of angry workers demonstrated outside the airline's headquarters in northern Paris.

Air France claimed it was successful in operating 75 per cent of total flights, with just 28 per cent of employees participating in the action because of France’s vindictive anti-union legislation.

MONTENEGRO: The US embassy in the capital Podgorica confirmed yesterday that no-one was injured when an assailant threw an explosive device into its compound.

Local police named the attacker as  Dalibor Jaukovic, who hurled an apparent bomb into the embassy yard before killing himself with another device at around midnight on Wednesday.

They suggested that he might be a former soldier previously decorated by late president Slobodan Milosevic during the 1999 Nato bombing of Serbia and Montenegro.

AFGHANISTAN: Ghazni provincial government spokesman Arif Noori reported yesterday that a Taliban attack on a police security post has killed eight local police.

He said the insurgents attacked from four sides on Wednesday night, using heavy weapons, including artillery, in a two-hour assault.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack, insisting nine local police were killed and one captured.