[A man sweeps the street next to a pile of rubbish surrounding trash containers during the ninth day of a garbage collectors strike, in Madrid yesterday. Street cleaners and garbage collectors who work in the city's public parks walked off the job in a strike called by trade unions to contest the planned layoff of more than 1,000 workers. Madrid's municipal cleaning companies, which have service supply contracts with the city authorities, employ some 6,000 staff. Photo by Daniel Ochoa de Olza via AP]