WASHINGTON - ABOUT 677,300 Ikea and Green Mountain Vista window blinds and shades were recalled in the United States on Thursday after a young child was strangled.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission said a 1-year-old girl from Connecticut was strangled when she got caught in the inner cord of a set of Ikea Roman blinds over her playpen.

VIENNA - THE decision by a headmaster in Austria to ban kissing from his school made front-page news on Thursday as outraged pupils and politicians slammed the move as medieval and excessive.

Siegfried Biermair, the head of a school in Gunskirchen, Upper Austria, sent a letter to parents on Monday informing them of the kissing ban after teachers complained that the kissing rituals of some girls were getting out of hand.

PARIS - TEACHERS across France went on strike on Thursday to protest against plans to cut thousands of jobs in the education system, but the government vowed to press on with reforms it says are needed to cut costs.

Some 70 per cent of teachers are expected to join the strike, which has also reopened controversy over recent measures that will oblige local authorities to provide alternative care arrangements for children by school assistants or other staff.