PROTESTERS HOLD PLACARDS IN HONG KONG, 1998-04-21 (photo)

Workers from Chinese restaurants located in government-owned public housing estates protest outside Hong Kong's chief government office where Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa and his cabinet held a meeting on tackling unemployment April 21. The workers demanded the government Housing Authority reduce the restaurants' rent before they lose their jobs. Soaring unemployment has cast gloom over the once free-spending Hong Kong, with government figures showing the jobless rate jumping to 3.5 percent in January-March from 2.9 percent in the previous three months, the biggest percentage jump in two decades. REUTERS