A strike by Air France pilots will mean more disruption on Monday, its fourth and last day, the airline warned, with many flights cancelled.

It said Sunday that between 65 and 70 percent of its long-haul flights should be in service and about half its other services.

ROME, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - Thousands of air travellers were stuck on Monday as more than 230 flights were cancelled into and out of Linate and Malpensa airports in Milan due to striking airport staff, ANSA agency reported.

At Malpensa, 95 departing flights and 90 arriving flights were cancelled, while 29 planes did not leave the airport in Linate and 25 flights arriving were scrapped.

The four-hour strike, from 0800 to 1200 GMT, was called by unions for SEA, the company that manages the two airports.

PARIS, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - Commuter rail traffic was disrupted in the Paris region Monday morning as two unions kept up strike action over pension reforms, with the line linking the city's airports barely operating, according to the national rail operator SNCF.

Only one train in five was operating on the RER B line, which provides services to Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports and carries 700,000 people to work each day.

Commuters relying on commuter trains from the Gare du Nord station were also faced with a limited service.

RABAT, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - France and Morocco are to sign a deal on Monday for the construction of a high-speed rail link between the cities of Tangiers and Marrakech, sources and media reports said.

The agreement is to be sealed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy during his visit to the north African kingdom, several sources told AFP on Friday.

ATHENS, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Decades after serving as the setting for hit films like 'The Guns of Navarone' and 'The Big Blue', Greece has elicited help from Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks to get back on Hollywood's radar.

The Hollywood star, whose wife Rita Wilson is of Greek descent, is helping bankroll two movies which officials here hope will translate into extra tourist arrivals at the country's archaeological sites and island holiday spots.

TOULOUSE, France, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - 'There is no first class on this plane, sir. This is Suite Class,' repeats the Singapore Airlines steward as she shows off the front of the plane to curious onlookers.

All of the guides parroted the same line on Monday as the carrier unveiled what it called a 'new standard for luxury and comfort' in the Airbus A380, the world's biggest passenger jet.

BRUSSELS, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - A baby girl was born over the Sahara desert during the night aboard a Brussels Airlines flight from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Belgium, the company said in a statement Friday.

Baby Daniella -- named after the co-pilot for the Kinshasa-Brussels flight -- 'is doing fine thanks to the help of two doctors who happened to be aboard as well as the crew,' the statement said.

A 31-year-old Congolese woman, who was not identified, gave birth to the child at around 0200 GMT as the Airbus A330-300 was flying over the Sahara.

MUNICH, Germany, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - Attendance was down but beer consumption was up at Germany's world-famous Oktoberfest this year, organisers said as the event wrapped up Sunday.

Some 6.2 million visitors attended the world's biggest beer festival, about 300,000 thousand fewer than in 2006. But beer sales rose about 10 percent to 6.7 million litres (11.8 million pints).

ATHENS, Oct 6, 2007 (AFP) - A diver monitoring pollution from a sunken cruise ship near the Greek island of Santorini died in an accident on Saturday, the merchant marine ministry said.

The 44-year-old man, who was inspecting the wreck, is believed to have surfaced too quickly and apparently died from decompression sickness, a ministry source told AFP.

The diver was pronounced dead on arrival at the Santorini health centre, the ministry said in a statement.

LONDON, Oct 6, 2007 (AFP) - British adventurer Jason Lewis on Saturday arrived in Greenwich, south-east London, ending a 13-year round-the-world trip using only the power of the human body.

The 40-year-old completed the final leg of his 46,000-mile (74,000-kilometre) odyssey by pedalling his 26-foot (7.9-metre) boat Moksha up the River Thames.