MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

World's workers rally on May Day.

Millions of workers from Tokyo to Havana and across Europe took to the streets Sunday in May Day rallies and marches to demand improved conditions and protest government policies.

From a rally of 5,000 Bangladeshis seeking a minimum wage, to an estimated million Cubans gathered in the Plaza of the Revolution to hear Fidel Castro, workers expressed their solidarity on the traditional international labor holiday.

More than 500,000 Germans took part in marches and rallies across the country, many focusing on recent political debate accusing company executives of increasing earnings while squeezing workers' wages and slashing jobs.

Russians protesting sweeping social reforms mixed with anti-government demonstrators in Moscow.

Thousands of Communists rallied under pictures of Lenin and Stalin along with traditional red-and-white, hammer-and-sickle banners with slogans like "Rise, Save Russia!" and marched down Tverskaya Street, one of Moscow's main boulevards.

. French demonstrators used May Day to voice opinions on France's upcoming referendum on the European Union constitution and the government's decision to cancel a traditional Monday that falls on May 16 this year.

China singled out more than 2,900 laborers -- and a few athletes -- for recognition on May Day, dubbing them "model workers," as people across the country started a weeklong holiday with visits to squares and parks for kite flying and other recreation.

In the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, about 5,000 workers rallied to demand a minimum monthly wage of 3,000 takas (US$50; euro38.85) and better safety standards, weeks after a garment factory collapsed, killing 73 workers. There is no minimum wage in the poverty-stricken nation where inexperienced workers earn on average from 800 to 1,200 takas (US$13 to US$20; euro10 to euro15) per month.

Thousands attended two peaceful marches in the Nepalese capital, calling for King Gyanendra to end to his direct rule and a return to democracy.

Hundreds of thousands of Japanese workers rallied for a global ban on nuclear weapons, before the 60th anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender on August 15, 1945, after U.S. planes dropped atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaski.

Riot police in Manila lined the streets amid rumors of a Labor Day plot to destabilize the Philippines government, similar to that of 2001, when thousands of supporters ousted former President Joseph Estrada. But only about 5,000 people turned out for largely peaceful demonstrations