A Russian governor is encouraging couples to skip work today, September 12, and have sex in order to help boost Russia's low birth-rate.  If you thought skipping working and having sex wasn't good enough, those women who give birth in exactly nine months on Russia's national day on June 12 will qualify for a winning a new home.

Russia wants to reverse a trend in which the population is shrinking by about 700,000 people a year as births fail to outpace a high death rate boosted by AIDS, alcoholism and suicide.

This is the third year Ulyanovsk region, famous as the birthplace of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin, has dedicated a day to encouraging couples to produce more babies.