SARAJEVO: The world's six billionth inhabitant -- by United Nations count -- was born in Sarajevo's Kosevo hospital at 00.01 am Tuesday as a yet unnamed boy weighing 7.81 pounds.

Maternity department chief Ivriz Bukvic said mother and child were doing well, and that the birth had been without problems.

The mother, Fatima Mevic, and her husband, Jasminko Mevic, are Bosnian Muslims who live in Visoko, some 20 kilometres northwest of the Bosnian capital. It is the first child for Fatima, 29. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Sarajevo on Monday for a two-day visit to greet the new arrival.

The move is purely symbolic as demographers agree the six billionth human being is more likely to be born in Asia than in Bosnia, although no one can tell with precision when and where the world population will cross the new threshold.

Bishops' synod draws flak from liberal Catholics

ROME: Catholic critics of a synod of European bishops on Mondayrejected the Vatican's restrictive positions on women priests, divorcees, contraceptives and the marriage of priests.

Meeting in Rome during what they termed a counter-synod, delegates of the We Are the Church movement said that more than three million Catholics consulted via the Internet had signed a letter to Pope John Paul II containing their demands. The letter was handed over to the Vatican on Monday.

The movement of liberal Catholics said the Vatican must open the doors for women priests and give divorcees the possibility to attend the holy communion. Priests should be allowed to marry and be chosen by their diocese and contraceptives no longer be banned.

"The year 2000 offers the opportunity for a bold reform of church structures and a reversion of decisions that cause so much suffering to a large number of Christians, like the ban on dioceses to choose their priests," the movement said in the letter.

Delegates also called for their inclusion in the church's decision-making process. Thebishops' synod which has a consultative role "must be transformed radically and become a permanent body...that can rule the entire Catholic church," the letter added. The movement rejects the current church hegemony in which the Pope is the top decision-maker.

French restauranteurs hurl eggs, flour at police

PARIS: Angry French hurled eggs, flour and even barricades at police before burning their aprons and holding up city traffic in a tax protest in Paris on Monday.

Police said 58 people had been arrested in all, 27 of whom were hauled in to police stations for drunk and disorderly conduct after burning their aprons and blocking afternoon traffic on a busy thoroughfare lining the Seine river. All the detainees were released several hours later.

Several hundred restaurateurs marched on the national assembly in a bid to persuade the government to reduce value-added tax (VAT) on sit-down meals from 20.6 percent to bring it into line with the 5.5 percent charged on a takeaway, whether it be ahamburger, a sandwich or a carton of rice.

But the protest turned sour as the chefs approached the parliament building and some of them started pelting eggs at police, who responded with teargas. Several riot policemen were injured in the violence, including a police commissioner who was hit in the eye. Restaurant operators have long complained that the two-tier VAT system is unfair, but are all the more upset now because the government has decided to reduce VAT on home improvements and "personal services" such as child care and housework, while refusing to countenance such a move for them.