Your business:

©AFP / Valery Hache

A fireman takes part in a demonstration on the streets of Nice

PARIS (AFP) - More than a million French workers took to the streets on Tuesday to challenge President Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to raise the retirement age to 62, the centrepiece of his reform agenda.

The interior ministry reported the turnout at rallies across the country at 1.12 million, while labour leaders estimated it at more than 2.5 million, but either way the movement had grown since a similar protest in June.

Labour unions called the showdown over the pensions bill, which Sarkozy insists he will push through as an "absolute priority" and which was presented to a stormy session in parliament even as the marches continued.

Sarkozy told lawmakers from his majority UMP party they must remain "firm" in raising the retirement age from its current 60, a party official said.

The strikers built on a similar protest on June 24, when police said 800,000 marched and the unions two million.

The Paris march was so large that the colourful column of drumming and banner-wielding marchers was forced to split in two and take two parallel routes through the city.

Under a banner marked with the French republican slogan "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," a huge column of brightly dressed trade unionists and supporters marched from the Place de la Republique through the east of the capital.

Scene: Protestors scorn government scandals

In southern France, protesters braved heavy storms to turn out in large numbers, while in Paris and the north they marched in bright autumn sunshine, in a cheerful mood with no reports of serious crowd trouble.

©AFP / Remy Gabalda

People march during a demonstration in Toulouse

The mood inside parliament was darker, and the bill was greeted with angry exchanges between the opposition and Sarkozy's right-wing support. The session was briefly suspended after Communist deputies produced a petition.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon said he was open to debate so the reform could pass as quickly as possible. "French citizens' pensions can still be paid tomorrow. That won't be the case if we stay where we are," he warned.

This was dismissed by the Socialist leader in the assembly, Jean-Marc Ayrault, who accused the government of rushing through a half-baked reform that is "only costed to 2018" and leaves ordinary workers footing the bill.

Schools, the national rail network, some public services and domestic air services were severely disrupted, and passengers complained of long delays on commuter train services and metros into Paris.

©AFP / Philippe Desmazes

People hold a banner reading " Precarious work, it eats life!" as they march on the streets of Lyon

Bernhard Thibault, the head of the CGT union, told television station TF1 that the demonstration would force the government to rethink. "Millimetre by millimetre, things are moving," he said.

"The government must give us a response," Francois Chereque, head of the CFDT union, told channel France 2, adding that the demonstration was a day that "stood out".

Taking to the streets: France's biggest demos

Ministers did little to lower the temperature in the run-up to the day of action, insisting pension reform is necessary and there will be no retreat on raising the minimum retirement age by 2018.

©AFP / Pierre Verdy

French commuters wait for a train on a platform at Gare du Nord tube station in Paris

The government argues this could save 70 billion euros (90 billion dollars) by 2030 at a time when France's public deficit -- at around eight percent of GDP -- is well above the eurozone target of three percent.

"If we don't do anything the deficit in the pension system will hit 20 billion euros in 2010, 45 in 2020 and probably 70 in 2030," Jean-Francois Cope, leader of the UMP in the National Assembly, told Le Figaro.

"All the reports conclude we're heading to this dead end, and all the other European countries have faced up to this by raising legal retirement to 65 or even to 67 like in Germany, Scandinavia and Spain," he said.

©AFP / Jean-Francois Monier

People demonstrate in Le Mans

At 62, the minimum retirement age would still be well under the average of around 64 in the OECD group of wealthy democracies, despite France having one of the world's longest life expectancies.

But French workers also pay high social charges on their salaries, and on an hour-by-hour basis are among the world's most productive.

Sarkozy has been weakened by a summer of scandal and his personal approval rating -- around 34 percent according to several polls -- is at an all-time low, two years before the 2012 presidential election.

©AFP/File / Aldo Utama

Indonesia protesters rallying against threats by the Dove World Outreach Center church group

GAINESVILLE, Florida (AFP) - The United States appeared powerless to stop a Florida church from burning hundreds of Korans on the anniversary of 9/11 despite fears of global repercussions.

The White House added its voice to growing concern from military leaders that the incendiary move by a group of American evangelicals could trigger outrage around the Islamic world and endanger the lives of US soldiers.

"It puts our troops in harm's way. Any type of activity like that that puts our troops in harm's way would be a concern to this administration," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs on Tuesday.

©AFP / Patrick Baz

US army soldiers play Risk at a patrol base named Stronghold Lugo on the outskirts of the village of Jellawar

He was reiterating comments by top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, who warned burning the holy book of Islam would provide propaganda for insurgents.

"It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort," Petraeus told The Wall Street Journal in comments echoed later by NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

But a small Florida church has vowed to mark Saturday's ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks by burning Korans as they remember the almost 3,000 people killed by Al-Qaeda hijackers.

Although the fire authorities turned down an application a few weeks ago from pastor Terry Jones to hold the open-air burning ceremony, police cannot intervene until they actually light the 200 Korans.

©AFP / Tim Sloan

Barack Obama (R) meets with Anders Fogh Rasmussen in the Oval Office

Even then, no arrests would be made as contravening local ordinances is only a misdemeanor, and citations -- fines and warnings -- are issued in such cases.

Jones said the Koran torching aimed "to remember those who were brutally murdered on September 11," and to send a warning "to the radical element of Islam."

The move comes against a backdrop of "Islamophobia" driven by plans to build an Islamic cultural center in New York close to Ground Zero, the site where the World Trade Center stood before it was destroyed in the 2001 attacks.

©AFP/File / Aldo Utama

A group of Indonesian demonstrators belonging to an Islamist organization rally outside the US embassy in Jakarta

US Attorney General Eric Holder met religious leaders Tuesday to discuss ways of stemming the anti-Islam tide, with calls from the broad coalition of faiths to make a strong speech condemning hate crimes.

Muslim Advocates executive director Farhana Khera said after the meeting that Holder had described the Koran burning plan as "idiotic and dangerous," but regretted that in itself the ceremony was not a violation of federal law.

Saturday's anniversary is also set to coincide with the festivities for the Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

©AFP/File / Shah Marai

General David Petraeus

US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley insisted freedom of religion was a pillar of American society, adding "the potential act of burning a Koran... is contrary to our values, contrary to how civil society has emerged in the country."

But Jones, who heads the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville Florida, remained defiant, saying his group was taking Petraeus's words seriously, but "we have firmly made up our mind" to go ahead.

"Instead of us being blamed for what other people will do or might do, why don't we send a warning to them? Why don't we send a warning to radical Islam and say, don't do it. If you attack us, if you attack us, we will attack you."

Al-Qaeda militants plowed two hijacked commercial airlines into the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001, destroying the twin towers and raining terror on the city.

©AFP/Getty Images / Mark Wilson

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is is among those denouncing the growing intolerance against the Islamic faith

Another plane was flown into the Pentagon outside Washington, while a fourth crashed into a Pennsylvania field after passengers overpowered the hijackers.

Religious bigotry was roundly condemned at a press conference called by the coalition of inter-faith leaders meeting with Holder.

"To those who would exercise derision... bigotry, open rejection of our fellow Americans for their religious faith, I say shame on you," said Richard Cizik, one of the country's most prominent evangelical leaders.

"We are profoundly distressed and deeply saddened by the incidents of violence committed against Muslims in our communities. And by the desecration of Islamic houses of worship," added Rabbi Nancy Kreimer.

There have already been protests in the Afghan capital Kabul and in Indonesia -- the world's largest Muslim-majority country -- against the provocative plans to burn the Koran.

And Iran has warned it could unleash an uncontrolled Muslim response.

The Vatican newspaper, l'Osservatore Romano, in a commentary Tuesday condemned the plans in an article "No one should burn the Koran."