Soldier released by Farc fighters

Colombia: Liberation army Farc said on Friday that it had released a soldier captured earlier this month.

It said it had turned Carlos Becerra Ojeda over to the International Red Cross and Cuba and Norway, two countries that have hosted peace talks between rebels and the government since 2012.

Farc captured Mr Becerra earlier this month after he survived a rebel attack in the south-western department of Cauca.

Reactor shut down at nuclear plant

Ukraine: One unit of the Zaporozhiya nuclear power plant was taken offline yesterday because of generator problems.

State nuclear power company Energoatom says the unit was disconnected from the electricity grid to prevent internal damage to the generator. It did not give further details, but said radiation was within acceptable limits.

It is the second time this month that a unit has been taken out of service.

Minimum wage rises by just 0.5%

Spain: Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced a miserable 0.5 per cent increase to the minimum wage and an even worse rise in government-funded pensions yesterday.

The monthly minimum wage will rise to €649 (£509) and monthly pension payments will increase 0.25 per cent. He claimed the 24 per cent unemployment rate would decline in 2015.

Two killed in Kurdish clashes in Sirnak

Turkey: Regional authorities said at the weekend that a group of Kurdish youths had clashed with supporters of a Kurdish Islamist party in the south-east.

Sirnak province officials said two people were killed and three hurt in fighting which erupted in Cizre, near the Turkish-Syrian border, early on Saturday.

500 trapped on burning ferry

Greece: A rescue operation was launched yesterday to rescue 478 people from a burning ferry in gale-force winds off Corfu.

Vessels close to the stricken Norman Atlantic, which caught fire off the small island of Othonoi, rushed to give assistance, the Greek coastguard said.

With high winds gusting up to 60 miles per hour and packing torrential rain and sleet, Greek authorities described efforts to rescue the passengers “as particularly difficult and complicated.”

Abduction protest targets army base

Mexico: A protest marking three months since 43 college students were abducted in southern Mexico has seen an attack on an army base in the city of Iguala.

Hundreds of protesters marched to the army base on Friday to commemorate the disappearance of the students on September 26.

Some spray-painted graffiti on the base’s wall and others tore down part of a metal gate at the entrance.

Wood workers burn to death

India: Eight people were burned to death early on Saturday in a timber shop on the outskirts of Indian financial capital Mumbai.

All eight were workers who were sleeping in the shop, police said.

A dozen fire engines took hours to extinguish the blaze, which also spread to some adjacent shops. Three other people were taken to hospital with burns.