Trains park at the Hendaye train station, southwestern France, Sunday on the fourth day of nationwide strikes that disrupted weekend travel around France. France's prime minister is holding special meetings Sunday about the government's divisive redesig
France braced for even worse transportation woes when the new work week begins Monday due to nationwide strikes over the government's redesign of the national retirement system. French President Emmanuel Macron convened top officials to strategize for the high-stakes week ahead.
Sunday saw more travel chaos as the strikes entered their fourth day, with most French trains at a standstill. Fourteen of Paris' subway lines were closed, with only two lines using automated trains with no drivers functioning. International train routes also suffered disruptions.
Monday will be an even bigger test of the strike movement's strength and of commuters' and tourists' patience. Unions are calling for more people to join the strike Monday. Many employees worked from home or took a day off when the strikes began last week, but that's not sustainable if the strikes drag on.
Warning of safety risks, the SNCF national train network and the Paris transit authority RATP warned travelers to stay away from train stations Monday instead of packing platforms for the few trains still running. "On Dec. 9, stay home or find another means of locomotion," SNCF warned travelers. Facing a challenging week ahead, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe met Sunday afternoon and evening with government ministers involved in the pension reform, and later met with Macron.
Macron, a centrist former investment banker, argues that the retirement overhaul will make a convoluted, out-dated pension system more fair and financially sustainable, uniting 42 different plans into one. The government says it won't change the official retirement age of 62, but the new plan is expected to include financial conditions to encourage people to work longer as lifespans lengthen.
Unions see the reforms as an attack on worker rights and fear that people will have to work longer for smaller pensions. Some French workers can now retire in their 50s. The new retirement plan will affect all French workers but the strikes involve primarily public sector workers, including train drivers, teachers and hospital employees.
New nationwide protests are scheduled Tuesday and the prime minister will release details of the new retirement plan on Wednesday. Yellow vest activists joined the protests Saturday, adding retirement reform to their list of economic grievances in protests around the country.
Police fired tear gas on rowdy protesters at largely peaceful marches through Paris and the western city of Nantes. PARIS (AP) - France braced for even worse transportation woes when the new work week begins Monday due to nationwide strikes over the government's redesign of the national retirement system. French President Emmanuel Macron convened top officials to strategize for the high-stakes week ahead.
Sunday saw more travel chaos as the strikes entered their fourth day, with most French trains at a standstill. Fourteen of Paris' subway lines were closed, with only two lines using automated trains with no drivers functioning. International train routes also suffered disruptions.
Monday will be an even bigger test of the strike movement's strength and of commuters' and tourists' patience. Unions are calling for more people to join the strike Monday. Many employees worked from home or took a day off when the strikes began last week, but that's not sustainable if the strikes drag on.
Warning of safety risks, the SNCF national train network and the Paris transit authority RATP warned travelers to stay away from train stations Monday instead of packing platforms for the few trains still running. "On Dec. 9, stay home or find another means of locomotion," SNCF warned travelers. Facing a challenging week ahead, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe met Sunday afternoon and evening with government ministers involved in the pension reform, and later met with Macron.
Macron, a centrist former investment banker, argues that the retirement overhaul will make a convoluted, out-dated pension system more fair and financially sustainable, uniting 42 different plans into one. The government says it won't change the official retirement age of 62, but the new plan is expected to include financial conditions to encourage people to work longer as lifespans lengthen.
Unions see the reforms as an attack on worker rights and fear that people will have to work longer for smaller pensions. Some French workers can now retire in their 50s. The new retirement plan will affect all French workers but the strikes involve primarily public sector workers, including train drivers, teachers and hospital employees. New nationwide protests are scheduled Tuesday and the prime minister will release details of the new retirement plan on Wednesday.
Yellow vest activists joined the protests Saturday, adding retirement reform to their list of economic grievances in protests around the country. Police fired tear gas on rowdy protesters at largely peaceful marches through Paris and the western city of Nantes.
Reuters, Valletta Activists barged into the building that houses the office of Malta's prime minister early on Monday to demand Joseph Muscat's immediate resignation amid an investigation into the 2017 killing of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Muscat is not directly implicated in the investigation but has said he will resign in mid-January after an election for a new leader of his ruling Labour Party. Testimony by the self-confessed middleman in the murder plan has linked people in the prime minister's inner circle to attempts at a cover-up.
About 40 activists surprised policemen and soldiers as they forced their way into the 16th century building in the capital Valletta from a side entrance, armed with drums, whistles, flags and loud hailers. They then sat down and blocked the entrance, chanting for Muscat to quit. He was not in the building at the time.
The political stability of the tiny Mediterranean island has been rocked in recent weeks by the fallout from the murder of the anti-corruption journalist, who was blown up by a car bomb. Muscat's chief of staff Keith Schembri was named among those involved or having known about the plot. Schembri has resigned and is under investigation. He has denied any wrongdoing.
"Malta has reached rock bottom. This is not just about corruption, but about political murder," the activists said over a loud hailer during their protest. They said Muscat's position was untenable and demanded a comprehensive investigation of all the people named, "not a cover-up". Police and soldiers watched over the activists who made no attempt to go upstairs, where the administrative offices are located.
---AP, Paris
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