Workers join May Day protests in Manila, elsewhere

ATHENS/MADRID — Trains and ferries were cancelled and hospital staff walked off the job in Greece on Wednesday and thousands were due to demonstrate across Spain as May Day triggered protests against harsh government spending cuts. Separately, Turkish riot police fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse crowds gathering in central Istanbul for a rally on what has become a traditional labour holiday.

Currently going on in Rio: three hundred thousand (expected to rise to a million) have taken to the streets in Rio in the biggest protests so far sweeping Brazil:

A powerful earthquake was felt in the Philippine capital Manila on Thursday, causing office workers to rush out of buildings, but authorities said there were no immediate reports of damage.The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the quake struck in the ocean about 100 kilometres (62 miles) southwest of Manila at 1:29 pm (0529 GMT) with a magnitude of 6.0.The US Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 6.1, with its epicentre located 137 kilometres (85 miles) southwest of Manila and at a depth of 72 kilometres.

On Friday, Salon reported Breaking: Massive Black Friday strike and arrests planned, as workers defy Wal-Mart.

In the shadows of an ancient cathedral in the Philippine capital, wilting horses attached to carriages shelter from the tropical sun as their drivers try to interest the few tourists milling around.Hawkers exhibit sombreros, fans and rosaries on the pavement nearby but few buyers are in sight -- a depressingly familiar scenario for Manila's historic tourist district centred on the colonial Spanish walled city of Intramuros.

An ex-policeman armed with a high-powered assault rifle seized a tourist bus full of children and adults in the Philippine capital Manila Monday, police said.The circumstances or the motive behind the hostage-taking remained unclear, but the bus was parked near a park when the suspect boarded it, metropolitan Manila police commander Director Leocadio Santiago said."We are still trying to determine the circumstances of the hijacking and what happened," Santiago said over DZBB radio in Manila.