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.

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.

TEHRAN, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Iran's police are to keep up their moral crackdown through the winter months, confronting couples whose behaviour in public is deemed to be inappropriate, officials said on Sunday.

Iran in April launched what has proved to be its most severe moral crackdown in years, handing out warnings to thousands of people for dress deemed to be unIslamic and other outlawed behaviour.

DUBAI, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - A shirt belonging to the emir of Dubai was sold for 4.35 million dollars (3.0 million euros) at an auction on Friday to raise funds for a children's education charity, organisers said.

In all, the 12 items donated by prominent political and entertainment figures in the Gulf emirate netted 8.44 million dollars.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who is also vice president of the United Arab Emirates, wore the short when he won the equestrian endurance world cup in Spain in 2000.

WASHINGTON, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - The Dalai Lama began the spiritual leg of a tour of the United States Thursday with a visit to a shelter for women in Washington, where he humbly brought himself to the level of the residents by pointing out that he, too, is homeless.

'Me too, homeless,' the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet said, eliciting a roar of approving laughter from the group of a dozen women gathered in a small room at Washington's N Street shelter for homeless and low-income women, many of whom are trying to kick drug habits.

TSUMKWE, Namibia, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - They roamed the savannahs and open plains for thousands of years, but the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of southern Africa's San tribes is slowly being squeezed towards extinction.

After clashing at the start of the last century with German settlers in modern-day Namibia and then being exploited by South Africa's apartheid regime in the 1980s, the San, also known as Bushmen, are now threatened by the 21st century curses of unemployment, poverty, alcohol abuse and HIV-AIDS.

TSUMKE, Namibia, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - They roamed the savannahs and open plains for thousands of years, but the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of southern Africa's San tribes is slowly being squeezed towards extinction.

After clashing at the start of the last century with German settlers in modern-day Namibia and then being exploited by South Africa's apartheid regime in the 1980s, the San, also known as Bushmen, are now threatened by the 21st century curses of unemployment, poverty, alcohol abuse and HIV-AIDS.

BEIJING, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Four million more people are to be relocated away from China's Three Gorges Dam area, state media reported Friday, weeks after officials warned of a potential 'environmental catastrophe' there.

Already 1.4 million people have been forced to leave their homes to make way for the world's largest hydropower project, which started operations last year, but the new announcement has radically expanded the resettlement project.

ODENSE, Denmark, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - While many countries grapple with unemployment, Denmark's labour shortage is so severe that a criminal record is no obstacle for young people seeking jobs, and a new project is helping young ex-cons into the labour market.

Adnan Chini, a 22-year-old Dane of Palestinian origin with a long rap sheet, is among those who have recently been given a new start in life.

Standing at his work station at Micro Matic, a factory that makes draught beer dispensers, Chini says he is 'grateful to have been given a helping hand in time.'

SOFIA, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - Bulgaria's government is striving to improve competitiveness and maintain economic stability while facing a wave of demands for salary increases less than a year after joining the European Union as its poorest member.

Schools and nurseries across the country have been paralysed for the past ten days as tens of thousands of teachers have gone on strike to double their pay.

ROME, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - Three Italian public sector unions announced a joint strike Wednesday in response to Prime Minister Romano Prodi's austerity budget for 2008 which they allege is not worker-friendly.

Members of the CGIL, CISL and UIL unions say the October 26 protest is to denounce the lack of funds to renew collective sectoral agreements and the paltry measures in the budget to tackle job insecurity.

The budget was adopted Saturday after 10-hour talks among Prodi's centre-left coalition partners.

TEHRAN, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) - A group of prominent MPs have warned over the presence of Italian clothing retailer Benetton in Iran, saying its fashions are a bad influence on female consumers, newspapers said on Monday.

The reformist Etemad-e Melli said the five MPs -- four members of parliament's cultural commission and a member of its legal commission -- had issued their warning in a written protest to parliament.

The protest comes amid a crackdown by Iranian police on dress deemed to be un-Islamic, which has already seen warnings handed out to over 100,000 women.

TEHRAN, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) - A group of prominent MPs have called for the Italian clothing retailer Benetton to quit Iran, saying its fashions are a bad influence on female consumers, newspapers said on Monday.

The reformist Etemad-e Melli said the five MPs -- four members of parliament's cultural commission and a member of its legal commission -- had issued their warning in a written protest to parliament.

WASHINGTON, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - Industrialized nations must convince older workers to stay on the job beyond retirement age or face a skills shortage and higher labor costs, a study released Tuesday warned.

The study conducted earlier this year for the American Association of Retired People (AARP) by global consultancy Towers Perrin projects that, by 2016, 39 percent of the population in the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations will be aged 50 or more compared with 30 percent in 1996.

WASHINGTON, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - Industrialized nations must convince older workers to stay on the job beyond retirement age or face a skills shortage and higher labor costs, a study released Tuesday warned.

The study conducted earlier this year for the American Association of Retired People (AARP) by global consultancy Towers Perrin projects that, by 2016, 39 percent of the population in the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations will be aged 50 or more compared with 30 percent in 1996.

COTONOU, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - Standing in front of the Great Wall of China restaurant, Benin trader Diane is bitter at what she sees as unfair competition from the flood of Chinese imports.

'The Chinese copy everything and sell their counterfeits with impunity, ruining everything for us,' rails the loincloth seller in the small west African country.

'Cotonou will soon be completely in the hands of the Chinese and then all of Benin!' insists Diane, who imports the loincloths she sells at the city's Dantokpa market from the Netherlands.

PARIS, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - The French government said Monday it foresaw a narrowing in the deficit in the social security regime, which covers pension, health and family support benefits, to 8.9 billion euros (12.5 billion dollars) next year from 11.7 billion in 2007.

The health ministry said the savings could be made through increases in fees for certain medical procedures and tax hikes. Without such measures, it said, the shortfall would come to 12.7 billion euros next year.

RABAT, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - Police and demonstrators protesting high food prices clashed Sunday in the central Moroccan city of Sefrou, leaving 50 people injured, officials and witnesses said.

Witnesses said the demonstrators, who threw rocks at police, also trashed a bank office, several shops and an local administration office.

Police arrested about 30 people, according to witnesses.

The Moroccan Human Rights Association, which organised the demonstration, said that police had detained 28 people, including two of its activists.

GENEVA, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - The collapse of Communism has led to a 'catastrophic' decline in access to education and widening inequalities in the former Soviet bloc, the United Nations Children's Fund warned Thursday.

More than 14 million children enter the workplace each year without any kind of formal education or school diploma, in contrast to the near-universal levels of education enjoyed in Soviet times, UNICEF said in a report.

PARIS, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - Nordic countries take the greatest care of their environment and their people, according to a ranking published on Thursday by the publication Reader's Digest.

Finland comes top of the 141-nation list, followed by Iceland, Norway and Sweden, and then Austria, Switzerland, Ireland and Australia.

At the bottom of the list is Ethiopia, preceded by Niger, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso Faso and Chad.

The United States comes in 23rd, China 84th and India 104th.

MUNICH, Germany, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - A conservative German politician on Wednesday proposed making marriage contracts expire after seven years, with the option to renew for those not feeling the proverbial itch.

'I propose that marriages lapse after seven years,' Gabriele Pauli told reporters in Munich, the capital of the largely Catholic southern state of Bavaria.

'This would mean that one will only commit for a fixed period and will actively have to renew your vows if you still want to continue.'

Pauli, 50, has been divorced twice.

CONAKRY, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - Police used tear gas Tuesday to disperse thousands of demonstrators gathered in the Guinean capital Conakry to protest recent price rises, witnesses said.

The protestors, the majority of them young, were complaining about the increased cost of essential items such as meat, rice and petrol as well as against repeated power cuts in parts of the capital.

Small groups later formed barricades and set tyres on fire before police restored order, witnesses said.

TEHRAN, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) - Iran has seized one million bottles of alcohol and arrested hundreds of smugglers in a border province over the past five months as part of a campaign against immorality, the Fars news agency said on Sunday.

The seizures and arrests came in West Azarbaijan province which borders Iraqi Kurdistan, one of the main sources of alcohol being illegally smuggled into the Islamic republic.

TEHRAN, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) - Hardline vetting body the Guardians Council on Sunday approved a law passed by parliament to restore the annual time change in Iran, against the wishes of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Ahmadinejad's government had in March 2006 abolished the time change, arguing that there was no evidence to show that the annual shift had any effect on saving energy.

Since then, Iran's time has stayed the same in both summer and winter at GMT + 3.5 hours.

BEIJING, Sept 14, 2007 (AFP) - The income gap between rural and urban areas is widening in China, government data published Friday showed, despite years of efforts from the top echelons of government to bridge the divide.

Last year, the average Chinese city dweller earned 3.28 times as much as his fellow citizen in the countryside, up from 3.21 times in 2004, according to figures published on the agriculture ministry's website.

BRUSSELS, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - The European Union's top justice official said Thursday that he would submit next month plans for an EU 'blue card,' inspired by the US 'green card,' to attract qualified immigrants to the bloc.

Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini, in a speech at an immigration conference in Lisbon, said he would unveil his 'Blue EU Labour Card' to the 27-country EU on October 23 to help entice qualified job-seekers to Europe.

TEHRAN, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has received nine million letters from Iranians since he came to power in 2005, most of them demanding his personal help or loans, the press reported on Thursday.

Ahmadinejad has made a point of holding public rallies in cities and towns in every one of Iran's 30 provinces where his aides were deluged with written requests for his assistance by members of the public.

BRUSSELS, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - The European Union's top justice official said Thursday that he would submit next month his plans for an EU 'blue card', inspired by the US 'green card', to attract qualified immigrants to the bloc.

Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini, in a speech at an immigration conference in Lisbon, said he would unveil his 'Blue EU Labour Card' to the 27-country EU on October 23 to help entice qualified job-seekers to Europe.

MOSCOW, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - Informal employment and migration have become global challenges that call for 'pro-active social security,' the head of the International Social Security Association (ISSA) said Wednesday.

'We're entering a century of global social security... national social security solutions are not sufficient,' Hans-Horst Konkolewsky said in an interview on the sidelines of an ISSA forum in Moscow.

WASHINGTON, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - The cost of health insurance in the United States climbed nearly twice as fast as wages in the first half of 2007, with family coverage costing employers around 1,000 dollars (714 euros) a month, a poll showed Wednesday.

Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose an average of 6.1 percent in 2007, while wages went up by 3.7 percent, the Employer Health Benefits Survey released by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust showed.

MOSCOW, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - Russia, the world's leading producer of asbestos, protested on Wednesday as an international forum in Moscow urged a global ban on the use of the material because of health risks.

'It's just a PR campaign when they say that asbestos can kill,' said Viktor Ivanov, head of the Chrysotile Association, an industry group based in the Russian town of Asbestos in the Ural mountains region.

MOSCOW, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - International public health experts urged a global ban on the use of asbestos at the World Social Security Forum on Wednesday, despite protests from conference host Russia.

'Asbestos is the source of a major humanitarian crisis on a global scale,' said Annie Leprince, a medical expert from the National Research and Safety Institute in France, who was the main speaker at the forum.

WASHINGTON, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - The cost of health insurance in the United States is climbing faster than wages, with family packages costing employers around 1,000 dollars (714 euros) a month, a poll showed Wednesday.

Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose an average of 6.1 percent in 2007, while wages went up by 3.7 percent, the Employer Health Benefits Survey released by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust showed.

KINSHASA, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - Striking school teachers in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday threatened to intensify their protest if the government did not speedily implement a pay hike accord.

'We have called for a toughening of the strike because the government has not responded to this day,' Andre Malasi, chief of the National Union of Teachers from Registered Catholic Schools (Synecat) told AFP.

MOSCOW, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - Russia, the world's leading producer of asbestos, protested on Wednesday against calls at an international forum in Moscow for a trade ban on the mineral because of health risks.

'It's just a PR campaign when they say that asbestos can kill,' said Viktor Ivanov, head of the Chrysotile Association, an asbestos industry group based in the Russian town of Asbestos in the Ural mountains region.

BERLIN, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - The birthrate in Germany fell again in 2006 to an average of 1.33 children, giving the country one of Europe's lowest birthrates, the national statistics' office said on Monday.

There were 672,700 children born in Germany last year, 13,100 fewer than in 2005.

The birthrate was slightly higher in the former communist East Germany than in the western states.

In 1990, the birthrate in Germany was 1.45 children.

The decline is threatening the future health of Europe's biggest economy.

MOSCOW, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - Delegates at a major international forum in Moscow on Monday called for new policies in pensions and healthcare systems to cope with the world's ageing population.

Kicking off the six-day forum, the president of the International Social Security Association (ISSA), Corazon de la Paz, underlined 'the need to redesign schemes to minimise the impact of an ageing population.'