France faced a second day of paralyzed public transport yesterday as two rail unions continued to strike over planned pension reforms and services only slowly started to resume.
Commuters faced a day of struggle on Thursday as the rail network ground to a halt, and Paris metro and bus systems were reduced to a skeleton service. Many workers chose to stay at home, or walked or cycled to the office.
With two out of eight train unions calling for a 24-hour extension of Thursday's strike, the French state rail company SNCF warned that services would be "very disrupted" yesterday morning as it worked towards resuming normal services.
In Paris the metro and urban rail body RATP said that one metro train in two was operating, two out of three buses, but two of the main suburban commuter lines had yet to resume service.
"Operations are better than expected," a company official said.
SNCF said early yesterday only one-third of Paris regional trains would be running in the morning, rising to two-thirds in for the evening rush hour.
The company said it aims to resume full service for fast TGV and regular trains departing from and arriving in Paris by 4pm, with one-third of trains running in the morning.
It expected to have only one-third of trains traveling between regions operating in the morning, with two-thirds operating in the afternoon.
Disruptions yesterday could affect the rugby World Cup action in Paris, where France were to play Argentina for third place ahead of today's final between South Africa and England.
Last night's match was at the Parc de Princes stadium in southwest Paris -- a venue heavily reliant on metro lines.
SNCF assured English rugby supporters that Eurostar services between England and France were running normally yesterday, however. Around 60 percent of Thaylys fast trains to Belgium and the Netherlands were running, it added.
On Thursday, the capital's new system of public bicycles, the Velib, broke all previous records, clocking up 135,000 journeys by early evening as many Parisians chose peddle-power to beat the strike, according to official figures.
Tourists found several Paris museums shut, including the Musee d'Orsay and most of the Louvre, while the Opera de Paris and Comedie Francaise theatre canceled evening performances.
Police said 150,000 people turned out at demonstrations nationwide on Thursday to oppose the pension reforms planned by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The figure in Paris was 25,000, union organizers said.
Defeated opposition Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal said the strikes showed the "growth and confidence" promised by Sarkozy had turned into "mistrust and arrogance."
The Socialist party also suggested that the presidency chose to announce Sarkozy's divorce from his wife Cecilia on the same day as the strike in order to deaden its media impact.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese