Obama?s geisha

A woman dressed as a ?maiko? (apprentice geisha) walks down a street wearing Democratic Party candidate Barack Obama campaign buttons in Kyoto, Japan.

Suffering children

A Palestinian child cries during the funeral for his parents in Gaza. Three Israeli air strikes in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip killed a Hamas militant and two other Palestinian civilians.

UN chief offers hope and aid to Myanmar

UN chief Ban Ki-moon took ?a message of hope? to Myanmar?s cyclone victims yesterday and pressed the military government to allow large-scale international aid for the 2.4 million people left destitute.

The UN Secretary-General was driven down an avenue in Yangon lined with trees uprooted by the cyclone, where workers were still shovelling debris into trucks three weeks after the storm left nearly 134,000 dead or missing.

He signed a book of condolences at the foreign ministry and was to go by helicopter to stricken areas of the delta southwest of the former capital later in the day.

The first of nine helicopters granted permission by the government to airlift supplies into the delta arrived in Yangon yesterday, the UN World Food Programme said.

S. Africa army tries to end xenophobic attacks

South African troops prepared yesterday to enter townships to help end xenophobic attacks that have killed 42 people, and a top official of the ruling ANC criticised the handling of the crisis.

President Thabo Mbeki?s call for the army?s intervention was an acknowledgment of the seriousness of unrest since May 11 that has driven thousands of African migrants from their homes and threatened to destabilise Africa?s largest economy.

The deputy leader of the ruling African National Congress, which ousted Mbeki as party leader in December, criticised the police delay in responding to the violence. ?The delay encouraged people in similar environments to wage similar attacks against people who came from our sister countries on the continent,? Kgalema Motlanthe said at an international media industry conference in Johannesburg.

More than 15,000 migrant workers and their families have fled to refugee camps after 11 days of attacks by mobs armed who accuse the African immigrants of stealing jobs and fuelling crime. Several people have been burned to death and scores of shacks looted and torched.

French unions take on Sarkozy over pensions

French unions staged nationwide protests yesterday against plans by President Nicolas Sarkozy to make people work longer to qualify for a full pension.

In a rare show of unity, France?s five largest unions called on members to take to the streets in 80 cities to denounce the government?s decision to make people work 41 years before retiring against 40 years at present.

?The scale of the protests will show that the government will have to review its plans under pressure,? Bernard Thibault, head of the powerful CGT union, told France 2 television.

Initial indications suggested that the day of action was having a mixed impact. Public transport in France?s two main cities, Paris and Lyon, was little affected, but there was major disruption in the third city, Marseille. Two out of three high speed trains were running and schools also remained open meaning business as usual for much of France.

However, unions said the success of their protest would be measured by how many people turned out for their rallies, with 500,000 expected in Paris yesterday for the main march.