French rail workers began a wave of industrial unrest on Monday night, with rolling strikes over three months designed to paralyse much of France's transport network in protest against government economic reforms.
Rail operator SNCF staff walked off the job at 1700 GMT on Monday, promising headaches for France's 4.5 million train passengers. The rail strike is due to run in successive waves of two days until the end of June.
Thello, which operates trains between France and Italy, said Monday and Tuesday’s night trains will be replaced with buses on the Paris-Milan and Milan-Paris route. Thello offered refunds and apologies to travellers.
"Black Tuesday" is expected to be even more chaotic as the industrial action disruption spreads across the continent.
Eurostar cancelled 29 trains from London to Paris and Brussels due to depart on Tuesday and Wednesday. The company posted a message on its website urging travellers whose trains are still running to arrive an hour early.
The Thalys train towards Belgium and the Netherlands will operate almost as normal, but AFP said there will be none at all towards Spain, Italy and Switzerland.
Air France employees are staging their fourth strike in a month on Tuesday, seeking a 6 per cent pay rise. Air France said it expects to operate 75 per cent of its flights, including 70 per cent of the carrier's long-haul flights out of Charles de Gaulle in Paris. While not linked to President Emmanuel Macron's reforms, Air France walkouts are also planned for April 7, 10 and 11.
French rubbish collectors, civil servants, gas and energy sector employees and the state broadcaster are also expected to strike in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of the May 1968 uprising.
The mass protests are a response to Mr Macron's agenda to make France more competitive and scrap 120,000 public sector jobs. Some have compared his plans to Margaret Thatcher's showdown with British coal unions in 1984.
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France braced for worst strikes in years
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Mr Macron's government says the SNCF needs to reform as EU countries open passenger rail to competition by 2020. He plans to push through the overhaul by executive order rather than parliamentary debate, a move criticised as undemocratic.
Unions fear the changes are a move towards privatising the SNCF and object to plans that would include stripping new recruits of a special status guaranteeing them jobs for life and early retirement.
Union membership stands at just over 11 per cent in France and analysts say the walkouts will test the strength of France's once-fierce trade unions. Jacques Chirac’s government tried to restructure the SNCF in 1995, but efforts were abandoned after four weeks of transport chaos.
Public opinion has sided with the government so far, but an Ifop survey on Sunday showed 46 per cent backed the SNCF strike, up four points from two weeks ago.
"France is tired," said an editorial in the regional Sud-Ouest newspaper. "Who will get tired the quickest? The trade unions clinging to their last bastion? Or the ambitious young president determined to turn a page?"
HEADLINE HERE
- I would recommend writing out the text in the body
- And then copy into this box
- It can be as long as you link
- But I recommend you use the bullet point function (see red square)
- Or try to keep the word count down
- Be wary of other embeds lengthy fact boxes could crash into
- That's about it
EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
Mina Cup winners
Under 12 – Minerva Academy
Under 14 – Unam Pumas
Under 16 – Fursan Hispania
Under 18 – Madenat
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Basquiat in Abu Dhabi
One of Basquiat’s paintings, the vibrant Cabra (1981–82), now hangs in Louvre Abu Dhabi temporarily, on loan from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
The latter museum is not open physically, but has assembled a collection and puts together a series of events called Talking Art, such as this discussion, moderated by writer Chaedria LaBouvier.
It's something of a Basquiat season in Abu Dhabi at the moment. Last week, The Radiant Child, a documentary on Basquiat was shown at Manarat Al Saadiyat, and tonight (April 18) the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is throwing the re-creation of a party tonight, of the legendary Canal Zone party thrown in 1979, which epitomised the collaborative scene of the time. It was at Canal Zone that Basquiat met prominent members of the art world and moved from unknown graffiti artist into someone in the spotlight.
“We’ve invited local resident arists, we’ll have spray cans at the ready,” says curator Maisa Al Qassemi of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi's Canal Zone Remix is at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Thursday April 18, from 8pm. Free entry to all. Basquiat's Cabra is on view at Louvre Abu Dhabi until October
Mobile phone packages comparison
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Emergency phone numbers in the UAE
Estijaba – 8001717 – number to call to request coronavirus testing
Ministry of Health and Prevention – 80011111
Dubai Health Authority – 800342 – The number to book a free video or voice consultation with a doctor or connect to a local health centre
Emirates airline – 600555555
Etihad Airways – 600555666
Ambulance – 998
Knowledge and Human Development Authority – 8005432 ext. 4 for Covid-19 queries
Army of the Dead
Director: Zack Snyder
Stars: Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera
Three stars
The Word for Woman is Wilderness
Abi Andrews, Serpent’s Tail
Superliminal%20
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More by Adrian Harte
Jawbone Press
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
