Manila airport workers have been banned from wishing travelers a Merry Christmas, a newspaper said Thursday.

The warning was issued by airport general manager Alfonso Cusi who claimed the polite yuletide greeting was a `not so subtle way of asking for money` from arriving passengers, the Manila Standard Today reported on its front page.

LJUBLJANA, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - Tens of thousands of Slovenians took to the streets of the capital Ljubljana on Saturday calling for higher wages to cope with soaring price increases.

Organisers put the number of protestors at around 70,000, making it the largest labour demonstration in the country of two million since independence from from Yugoslavia in 1991.

EU and eurozone member Slovenia, which assumes the rotating EU presidency in January, posted robust economic growth of 5.7 percent in 2006 and is on course for an even better 5.8 percent this year.

BERLIN, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - A lack of qualified workers costs the German economy 18.5 billion euros (26.2 billion dollars) or 0.8 percent of its total economic output a year, according to a study released on Monday.

Sectors such as mechanical engineering, information technology and the pharmaceutical industry have had trouble recruiting skilled workers for some time and this 'is starting to act as a brake on growth' for the economy as a whole, said the study commissioned by the economics ministry.

BEIRUT, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - Locked up and cut off from her family for nine years, without even a penny for the endless scrubbing and washing up, Siriani knew it was time to flee or 'die'.

Like thousands of Filipinas, Sri Lanka Lankans, Nepalese or Ethiopians, Siriani came to Beirut at the age of 20 as a house maid -- a must-have in the image-conscious country.

ATHENS, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Greek truckers on Friday called off a strike that had threatened to disrupt the distribution of heating fuel to thousands of households.

The truck drivers union was protesting against moves by fuel oil distributors to remove an existing cap on the number of permits the Greek government provides for truck drivers.

Distributors said they were abandoning plans to open up the sector by hiring their own trucks, Net state television reported.

The strike disrupted traffic on Thursday as dozens of trucks blocked a ring road around Athens.

ATHENS, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - Dozens of trucks blocked traffic on a section of the ring road around Athens Thursday, as a Greek truck driver's union launched a strike to protest against proposals to liberalise the haulage sector.

The union is protesting against moves by a union representing fuel oil distributors to remove an existing cap on the number of permits the Greek government provides for truck drivers.

The Greek haulage sector is heavily regulated by the state and the distributors argue that liberalising it will increase competition.

SOFIA, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - Thousands of Bulgarian teachers took to the streets again Thursday to demand higher pay as schools around the country remained effectively closed for a fourth week.

Police estimated the number of protestors gathered in front of the government building at between 20,000 and 25,000, while organisers put the crowds at around 50,000.

Blowing whistles and beating drums, the marchers called for the government to resign.

FRANKFURT, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - A third German train drivers' strike in the space of a fortnight caused fresh havoc Thursday, particularly in eastern parts of the country, the national railway Deutsche Bahn said.

Regional lines in the eastern states and the western cities of Frankfurt and Munich were hard hit, while those in the northern cities of Hamburg and Berlin were running on a sharply reduced schedule.

FRANKFURT, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - A third German train drivers' strike caused fresh havoc Thursday, particularly in eastern parts of the country, the national railway Deutsche Bahn said.

Such industrial action used to be rare in a country where unions and companies normally work to reach agreements that keep the eurozone's biggest economy humming while providing workers with a high level of job protection.

BEIJING, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - China aims to have trade unions established in at least 70 percent of all foreign-invested companies within about a year, up from 63.5 percent, a senior trade union official said Thursday.

'Our goal for the current stage is to have more than 70 percent of foreign companies set up trade unions by autumn next year,' said Sun Chunlan, vice chairperson of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, or ACFTU.

'I believe the goal for the next stage will be even higher,' she told reporters.

FRANKFURT, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - The main German train drivers' union has called for a fresh strike on Thursday followed by other possible stoppages in the days to come, with no end in sight to its dispute over pay and conditions.

The GDL union on Wednesday called for its members to stop work between 2:00 am and 11:00 am (0000 GMT and 0900 GMT) on Thursday and threatened that strikes could follow on Friday and next week.

Rail strikes cause extensive disruption in Germany, where 10 million people a day take the train.

BERLIN, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - German employer federations have urged the government to maintain economic momentum by pursuing unpopular labour reforms launched by former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

In a letter, outtakes of which were printed in Wednesday's Bild newspaper, the bosses pressed the left-right government coalition not to roll back measures they credited with helping to jumpstart Europe's biggest economy.

GENEVA, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Thousands of striking construction workers took to the streets of Swiss cities on Monday in protest about the end of a contract agreement with employers, blocking traffic in the western city of Geneva.

Up to 5,000 workers on a one-day strike marched through Geneva before gathering on the main Mont Blanc bridge in the city centre and blocking traffic.

FRANKFURT, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - German railway Deutsche Bahn has granted a main demand of train drivers who went on strike last week by agreeing to negotiate a separate collective deal with their GDL union, the railway said Monday.

Deutsche Bahn had until now refused to negotiate separately with the train drivers while offering GDL a better deal than one agreed earlier this year with the unions representing other rail workers, Transnet and GDBA.

BANGALORE, India, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - An Indian supplier to clothing retailer Gap said Monday it was trying to clean up labour practices after an ailing worker died outside a factory.

Padmavathi, 39, collapsed and died last month after she was kept waiting for leave to visit a doctor, unions and press reports said.

Months earlier a pregnant worker lost the baby son she delivered on a street when refused immediate leave, they said.

GENEVA, Oct 13, 2007 (AFP) - A rare strike in Switzerland has halted work on a record-length 57-kilometre (35-mile) railway tunnel under the Alps, trade unions said Saturday.

All construction sites on the new St. Gotthard tunnel, which is expected to be the world's longest when completed, and a new north-south rail link shut down late Friday for a one-day strike, the Unia trade union federation said in a statement.

BERLIN, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Thousands of German commuter and regional trains were brought to a halt Friday by a train drivers' pay strike that caused traffic chaos in major cities.

Such industrial action is a rarity in a country where unions and companies usually work to reach collective agreements and prompted the national railway Deutsche Bahn to requisition train drivers, citing a 'national emergency.'

BERLIN, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Half of Germany's commuter and regional trains were brought to a standstill Friday by a train drivers' pay strike that caused chaos in many major cities.

The industrial action is a rarity in a country where unions and companies usually work closely to reach collective agreements.

Fifty percent of regional and commuter trains sat idle, with Munich, Berlin and eastern German regions hit the hardest, Deutsche Bahn figures showed.

FRANKFURT, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Up to half of Germany's commuter and regional trains were brought to a standstill Friday by a train drivers' pay strike that caused chaos in many major cities.

The industrial action is a rarity in a country where unions and companies usually work closely to reach collective agreements.

Up to 50 percent of regional and commuter trains sat idle, with Munich, Stuttgart and Berlin hit the hardest, Deutsche Bahn director of commuter service Karl-Friedrich Rausch told N24 television.

FRANKFURT, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Up to half of Germany's commuter and regional trains were brought to a standstill Friday by a train drivers' pay strike.

The industrial action is a rarity in a country where unions and companies usually work closely to reach collective agreements.

Up to 50 percent of regional and commuter trains were idle, with Munich, Stuttgart and Berlin hit the hardest, Deutsche Bahn director of commuter service Karl-Friedrich Rausch told N24 television.

FRANKFURT, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Up to half of Germany's commuter and regional trains were brought to a standstill Friday by a train drivers' pay strike.

The industrial action is a rarity in a country where unions and companies usually work closely to reach collective agreements.

Up to 50 percent of regional and commuter trains were idle, with Munich, Stuttgart and the eastern city of Leipzig hit the hardest, the Deutsche Bahn rail company said in a statement.

In Berlin about half of the trains were running.

FRANKFURT, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - The German train drivers' union GDL called Thursday for a nationwide strike on Friday, hours before union leaders were to meet for talks with management of the national railway Deutsche Bahn.

'A strike is planned between 2:00 am and midnight, on regional and suburban lines,' a union statement said.

The news came just a few hours before GDL chief Manfred Schell was to meet Deutsche Bahn chief Hartmut Mehdorn.

SOFIA, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - More than 15,000 Bulgarian school and nursery teachers from all over the country demonstrated in front of the government buildings here on Thursday in pursuit of their demands for double pay.

Unofficial police estimates put the number of protestors at about 15,000, while strike committee spokesman Nikolay Nikolov estimated that around 50,000 teachers were gathered in the square.

BERLIN, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - The German train drivers' union said it will not stage threatened strikes Thursday but may stop work from Friday if state-run rail operator Deutsche Bahn fails to improve its offer on pay and conditions.

A spokeswoman for the GDL union said Wednesday it would go ahead with a planned meeting between its leader, Manfred Schell, and Deutsche Bahn chief Hartmut Mehdorn Thursday aimed at ending a bitter wage dispute.

LAGOS, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - Six Indians working for a steel firm in central Nigeria's Kogi state have been abducted by protesting workers demanding pay increases, state media reported Wednesday.

The whereabouts of the Indians who were seized at Ajaokuta Steel Company on Tuesday, were still unknown, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said.

NAN said the workers also barricaded the main entrance to the firm in an attempt to force the management to honour a 15-percent payrise agreed on October 2.

COLOMBO, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - Sri Lanka Lanka's main zoo was briefly closed to the public Wednesday after a dispute between animal-keepers and administrators over pay and welfare descended into violence.

Police said several staff were injured in the fighting at the National Zoo in the Colombo suburb of Dehiwala, including a senior manager who was beaten so badly he needed to be taken to hospital.

SHENZHEN, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - When the world's children celebrate Christmas this year with their made-in-China toys, their parents probably will be unaware of what Xiao Lei has been through to make them.

She rises at 6.30 every morning and works 14 hours or more a day during peak season, churning out stuffed toys, dolls' clothes, handbags and plastic figurines in a factory in the booming southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

Overtime is mandatory. Xiao Lei has one day off every month, sometimes more, sometimes none.

BERLIN, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - The German train drivers' union plans to mount fresh strikes from Thursday unless the state-run rail operator Deutsche Bahn makes an improved offer on pay and conditions.

'Strikes could take place on October 11, 12, 15 and 17 on local routes,' the GDL union said after its deadline of 1100 GMT Tuesday passed without Deutsche Bahn meeting its demands.

'This time, the strikes will not last three hours but the whole day,' the union added in a statement.

MAPUTO, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - Mozambique is translating its new labour law from Portuguese into Chinese for the benefit of firms from the Asian nation in the southern African country, an advisor in the labour ministry said on Monday.

'The new labour law will come into operation at the end of this month and because we have many Chinese enterprises and workers in our country who do not necessarily understand Portuguese; we consider it useful to translate this important law into their Chinese language,' Jafar Buana told AFP.

BERLIN, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - German train drivers threatened on Sunday to step up strikes to force the state-run rail operator to sweeten its pay offer after a work stoppage that caused chaos for morning rush-hour commuters.

The GDL union, which represents 8,000 drivers, said it was prepared to hold strikes without the traditional 24-hour advance warning, leaving rail operator Deutsche Bahn powerless to adjust its schedule in time.

'We are considering only announcing strikes at the very last minute,' GDF leader Manfred Schell told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

RIYADH, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - An advertising agency in Saudi Arabia plans to air public service commercials to promote kinder treatment of domestic helpers in a country where reports of abuse of foreign workers abound.

The ads will air on Arab satellite television stations after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, expected to end on October 12, said Kaswara al-Khatib, founder and chief creative director of Full Stop Advertising.

RIYADH, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's religious police have arrested a domestic worker accused of having put a spell on her employer, the Al-Madina newspaper reported on Sunday.

The arrest of the maid, whose nationality was not revealed, followed a complaint by the wife of the employer who she said had been 'bewitched by the maid'.

The woman said she suspected her husband had been put under a spell because he fiercely defended the maid from criticism every time she neglected her work.

BERLIN, Oct 5, 2007 (AFP) - A strike by German train drivers during the morning rush hour caused chaos on Friday as their union warned it would call a wider stoppage unless the state-run rail operator makes an improved pay offer.

Thousands of drivers heeded a call from the GDL union to stop work between 8:00 am and 11:00 am (0600 GMT and 0900 GMT).

Rail operator Deutsche Bahn said at least half of its 19,000 regional routes, which commuters rely on to get to and from work, and a third of its 750 long-distance services were affected by cancellations.

BERLIN, Oct 5, 2007 (AFP) - A strike by German train drivers during the morning rush hour caused chaos on Friday as their union warned it would call a wider stoppage unless the state-run rail operator makes an improved pay offer.

The GDL union, which represents 8,000 drivers, called on its members to stop work between 8:00 am and 11:00 am (0600 GMT and 0900 GMT).

Rail operator Deutsche Bahn said at least half of its 19,000 regional and a third of its 750 long-distance routes were affected by cancellations.

FRANKFURT, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - German train drivers' union GDL on Thursday called on its members to strike during the Friday morning rush hour following the collapse of talks with the state-run Deutsche Bahn rail company.

GDL asked its members to stop work from 8:00 am to 11:00 am.

'With this limited strike, we wanted to send a message. Deutsche Bahn needs to finally change its position and make a negotiable offer to GDL by the start of next week,' said GDL chief Manfred Schell.

LAGOS, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - Public sector workers in the southwest Nigerian state of Oyo have ended a strike over pay after the governor rescinded his decision to sack them over the action, officials said Wednesday.

Union leaders said the workers decided to resume work after six weeks following a series of meetings with Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, prompted by prominent Nigerians who intervened to break the deadlock.