French rail strike reaches milestone 29 days
Paris: Rail strikes against government plans to reform France’s retirement system have marked a new milestone of 29 straight days of walkouts, surpassing even the lengths of strikes in the 1980s.
The nationwide walkouts started on December 5.
Yesterday, they surpassed a 1986-1987 rail strike in longevity, a walkout that lasted 28 days at the SNCF national rail company.
The current strikes have crippled train and metro services in Paris and across the country over the Christmas-new Year period and continue to cause severe disruptions.
The SNCF said half of its vaunted high-speed trains were not running yesterday.
Only two automated lines were operating normally on the Paris Metro, with services patchy or non-existent across the rest of the network.
Unions are gearing up for further walkouts next week, when schools reopen and negotiations are set to resume with the government.
In a televised New Year address, President Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed his commitment to the pension overhaul but urged his government to “find the path of a quick compromise” with unions.
Taipei: Taiwan’s top military official has died in an air force helicopter crash that killed seven other people.
The country’s defence ministry said five people survived the crash in mountains outside Taipei, the capital city.
As chief of the general staff, General Shen Yi-ming was responsible for overseeing the island’s defence against China, which threatens to use military force to annex what it considers it own territory.
The helicopter was flying from Taipei to the north-eastern city of Ilan when it crashed.
According to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence, 13 people were on the UH-60M Blackhawk helicopter, which took off shortly after 7.50am from Songshan air force base, Taipei.
Krefeld: Three women are under investigation for launching paper sky lanterns at New Year that apparently ignited a fire at a German zoo, killing more than 30 animals.
The local women – a mother and her two daughters, aged 30 to 60 – went to police in the western city of Krefeld after authorities held a news conference about the blaze, said criminal police chief Gerd Hoppmann.
The women are being investigated on suspicion of negligent arson.the offence can carry a prison sentence of up to five years.
The fire started in a corner of the ape house’s roof at Krefeld Zoo and spread rapidly.
Many Germans welcome in the new year legally with fireworks at midnight, but sky lanterns are both illegal and unusual in the country.
Mr Hoppmann said the women had ordered five sky lanterns on the internet and told authorities they had not known they were illegal in Germany.
The destroyed ape house had no fire detectors or sprinklers.