Striking railway workers last night were set to disrupt transport throughout France just 11 days before the Euro 2016 soccer tournament, as French President Francois Hollande refused to back down over a labor dispute that has sparked months of protests.
The transport strike adds to problems still being caused by last week’s blockade of fuel depots which left motorists lining up at many gas stations.
The rolling train strike called by the powerful CGT union is expected to affect about half of national and regional train services.
Photo: Reuters
That is to be followed by a strike on the Paris Metro network from tomorrow, while Air France pilots have voted in principle for a lengthy strike at some point this month, when Euro 2016 is in full swing.
The protests and strikes have cast a shadow over the soccer tournament, which is expected to attract millions of foreign visitors to France when the tournament starts on June 10.
Belgium also faced growing disruption yesterday from a public sector workers’ strike.
However, despite three months of stoppages and sometimes violent demonstrations against labor reforms, Hollande again refused to bend to the unions’ demands to scrap the legislation.
The measures, which would make it easier to hire and fire employees, “will not be withdrawn,” a defiant Hollande told the Sud Ouest newspaper.
“The text assures the best performance for businesses and offers new rights to employees,” he said. “I consider it necessary to see it through to its conclusion.”
Hollande said that despite the predicted transport chaos, the biggest threat to Euro 2016 “remains terrorism.”
“We’re not going to stop people going to see the football matches, but the government has to be prepared to discuss. Everything is in its hands,” said Philippe Martinez, the leader of the CGT union that has led the strike action.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique