French commuters face chaos today with a 24-hour strike expected to cripple the national network, shut down the opera in Paris and possibly affect the rugby World Cup final, officials said.
State rail operator SNCF said the Eurostar to London will operate almost as normal but only 46 out of 700 domestic fast-trains will be running and nearly all regional train links will be canceled.
Widespread disruption is also expected on the Paris metro, bus and suburban commuter rail networks as the city prepares to host rugby union's showcase World Cup final between South Africa and England on Saturday.
Singers and actors at the Paris opera and the Comedie Francaise announced they would refuse to perform in productions of La Traviata and Le Malade Imaginaire, on what unionists have dubbed "Black Thursday."
About 60 protest marches are scheduled to take place across the country, including Paris from the early afternoon.
The strike is due to end this evening but some rail unions have said they will try to roll it over into tomorrow and beyond -- stoking fears of disruption around the rugby final at the Stade de France.
An open-ended strike notice has been served by the CGT union in the Paris-north region which serves the Stade de France.
The civil aviation authority also warned that there could be limited disruption to Paris flights early today, mainly because of the difficulties faced by staff in getting to work.
The strike, which officially started yesterday evening, is against government plans to reform so-called "special" pension systems enjoyed by some 1.6 million rail, energy and other employees.
President Nicolas Sarkozy has pledged to increase the length of contribution periods for these workers from 37.5 to 40 years, in line with other public and private sector staff.
The strike is seen as a key test for the president. The last time a government tried to reform the systems was in 1995 when prime minister Alain Juppe was forced into a humiliating climbdown by weeks of strikes and demonstrations.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS