- China cuts another key interest rate to boost economy
- Restarting nuclear power plants: the unprecedented gamble in the US
- US state executes man despite conviction doubts
- Asylum seeker lifts South Korea hopes at Homeless World Cup
- Hostages freed in Gaza truce pine for those left behind
- Pope offers refuge to Myanmar's jailed Suu Kyi: report
- Tragic tale of two West Bank teenagers freed in Gaza truce
- US intel warns of Iran threats to assassinate Trump: campaign
- In election, Hollywood is about cash not endorsements
- UK foreign minister Lammy seeks 'strongest position' for Ukraine
- Macron presses Iran president for Lebanon de-escalation
- UNRWA fears new 'tragedy' as Lebanon violence adds strain: chief to AFP
- Russia mulls ban on 'childless propaganda'
- Blackwater founder probed by Venezuela over anti-Maduro campaign
- Crypto CEO and Bankman-Fried ex Caroline Ellison gets two-year sentence
- Hezbollah announces death of commander after strike on south Beirut
- Tatum hungry for more after breakthrough Celtics success
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs sued for alleged 2001 rape
- Biden pleads for democracy in emotional UN farewell
- New York area port prepares for possible US strike disruption
- Rodri 'irreplaceable' but Guardiola confident Man City will still compete
- Brook 'relieved' as maiden ODI hundred sets up first win as England captain
- Dior's arrows and Amazons as Saint Laurent revives its master
- Mbappe strikes again as Madrid hold off Alaves
- Nkunku hits Chelsea hat-trick, Man City edge into League Cup last 16
- Amnesty calls for commission to probe Kenya protest deaths
- Bolivian government rejects Morales ultimatum for cabinet reshuffle
- US Congress calls on Novo Nordisk to lower drug prices
- Stock markets advance on China stimulus
- Russia 'can only be forced into peace," Zelensky tells UN
- Hundred hero Brook keeps England alive in Australia ODI series
- Biden pleads for democracy in final UN address
- Brook's hundred sees England beat Australia in 3rd ODI
- Alarm grows as Israel and Hezbollah exchange intense fire
- NFL legend Favre reveals Parkinson's diagnosis
- Biden urges world to 'stop arming generals' in Sudan
- Defying experts, Trump vows tariff-driven US economic boom
- Stokes open to England white-ball return
- No peak oil demand 'on the horizon', phaseout a 'fantasy': OPEC
- Sri Lanka's new leftist leader dissolves parliament, calls snap polls
- England scrum-half Mitchell to see specialist on neck injury
- Under-pressure Masood to lead Pakistan in England Tests
- Storm Helene on track to hit Florida as major hurricane
- IOC should reinstate Russia as soon it obeys rules: Samaranch
- Dior unleashes arrows and Amazons at Paris Fashion Week
- San Siro loses 2027 Champions League final due to uncertain future
- Canada's Trudeau faces no-confidence vote
- AI research uncovers 300 ancient etchings in Peru's Nazca desert
- Brazil's Lula calls Security Council makeup 'unacceptable'
- Alarm grows as Israel launches new 'extensive' strikes on Lebanon
May Day holiday marred by clashes in Turkey, France
Police and protesters clashed in Turkey and France during May Day rallies on Sunday, as tens of thousands marched across the world in support of workers' rights.
Turkish riot police detained scores of demonstrators in Istanbul, pinning some of them to the ground and dragging them away from the rally, which the governor's office said was unauthorised.
And rallies in Paris quickly turned violent as youths clashed with police on the sidelines and buildings were vandalised, though unions said more than 200,000 people joined rallies across France and most were peaceful.
May 1 is a public holiday in many countries and Sunday saw events in every continent.
European rallies sparked the most controversy with Turkish protesters gathering at Istanbul's Taksim Square, an area synonymous with anti-government protests, chanting "long live labour and freedom, long live May Day".
City officials said the group refused to disperse and 164 were detained, with government-approved rallies elsewhere in Turkey passing off peacefully.
French ministers denounced the violence in Paris and prosecutors said 50 people had been arrested.
Before the trouble erupted, protesters told AFP they wanted to send a message to Emmanuel Macron days after he was re-elected for a five-year term as president.
Martine Haccoun, a 65-year-old retired doctor, said she came to protest in the southern city of Marseille "to show Macron that we didn't give him a blank cheque for five years".
She said many voted for Macron simply to stop far-right challenger Marine Le Pen.
- 'Not slogans' -
While scuffles were reported in Italian cities including Turin, crowds of thousands gathered in London and cities across Germany with no sign of trouble.
In Spain, around 10,000 people joined a demonstration in Madrid and dozens of other cities also held well-attended rallies.
Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz of the communist party said she wanted to show solidarity "with the workers of Ukraine, who today aren't able to protest".
In the Greek capital Athens, more than 10,000 joined rallies against a background of spiralling inflation.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis took to social media to promise a raise in the minimum wage by 50 euros a month.
"We honour the working people not with slogans, but with acts," he wrote on Twitter.
Kenyan Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta similarly used his May Day speech to promise a 12 percent hike in the minimum wage, though activists said it was not enough to keep pace with inflation.
- 'Pull by his ear' -
The mood was uglier in Sri Lanka, where the opposition showed rare unity in calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign over the country's worst-ever economic crisis.
"For over a month, the president has been barricaded in his official residence," former legislator Hirunika Premachandra said at a rally in Colombo.
"It is time for us to pull him by his ear and kick him out."
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was also feeling the heat, being forced to leave an event when miners stormed the stage he was due to speak at and chanted "Cyril must go".
However, other leaders were able to harness the energy of the crowds.
Xiomara Castro, the new president of Honduras, was greeted by thousands chanting her name, and she responded by telling them she would govern for them and put an end to a "dark era" of corruption and drug trafficking.
May Day came too soon for many in China to enjoy what is usually one of the year's busiest holidays.
"Obviously it's bad in terms of our own self-interest, but it's necessary overall for the good of the country," said a young waiter at a deserted restaurant near the Forbidden City in Beijing.
burs-jxb/har
O.Lorenz--BTB