FRESH STRIKE OVER RETIREMENT AGE PARALYSED FRANCE

PARIS - French commuters squeezed onto limited trains or fought for rare parking spots on Thursday as a second round of strikes against President Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to raise the retirement age to 62 hobbled trains, planes and schools across the country.

Fewer than half of the Paris Metro's lines were working normally, according to the RATP public transit network, and about half of France's long-distance trains were expected to be cancelled, according to the SNCF state-run rail system.
Major cancellations were expected at Orly and Charles de Gaulle airports, the Paris airport authority said.

• Security was higher than usual at some Metro stations, where soldiers armed with machine guns were on patrol. In recent days, top officials have warned that the risk of a terrorist attack on French soil was at a record high.
• Union leaders are seeking a massive show of popular discontent at 232 demonstrations throughout the country yesterday, hoping to beat the September 7 protests when at least 1.1 million people took to the streets over reforms to the deficit-burdened pension system.
• The strikes are seen as a test for the conservative Sarkozy and are being watched elsewhere in Europe, as governments struggle to rein in costs with unpopular austerity measures after a debt crisis in Greece scared markets and sapped confidence in the euro.

Sarkozy has indicated he is willing to make marginal concessions but remains firm on the central pillar: increasing the retirement age from 60 to 62 and pushing back the age from 65 to 67 for those who want full retirement benefits.

Source: AP