Strike grounds hundreds of flights in France PARIS (AP) =97 A strike by French air traffic controllers forced the=20 cancellation of hundreds of flights in and out of France on Tuesday,=20 creating havoc for travelers across Europe during a nationwide walkout by=20 civil servants. The air traffic controllers joined bus, subway and train=20 drivers, hospital workers, and electricity and telephone utility staff in=20 the strike over pay, retirement benefits and the French government's=20 privatization plans. The protests were the biggest labor challenge yet for= =20 the 5-month-old government of center-right Prime Minister Jean-Pierre=20 Raffarin, which has made a priority of selling off the state's stake in=20 many French companies to raise cash. Flights in France and Europe were=20 hardest hit by the strike, officials said. Long-haul flights to=20 destinations such as the United States, Asia and Africa were much less=20 affected, the Paris airports authority said. The authority said around 80%= =20 of flights =97 or a total of more than 1,000 =97 were canceled at Paris'= Orly=20 and Charles de Gaulle airports. The strike began Monday evening and was=20 expected to continue until 6 a.m. Wednesday. Italian carrier Alitalia said three out of four of its daily 90 flights=20 between France and Italy were canceled. Hungary's national airline, Malev,= =20 canceled 10 flights into or out of Paris, and Scandinavian Airlines=20 canceled 27 flights linking Paris and the French Riviera town of Nice to=20 Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm. Spain's national aviation authority said=20 about 130 flights between Spain and France were canceled and use of French= =20 airspace by flights that didn't land in France also was hindered. At=20 Frankfurt airport, continental Europe's busiest, the walkout caused the=20 cancellation of 72 flights, an airport spokesman said. Disruptions for=20 travelers in France weren't limited to the skies. British airlines also=20 canceled some 200 flights to and from France. Bottlenecks formed on=20 platforms in many Paris subway stations in the morning rush hour. Commuters= =20 in the cities of Toulouse, Bordeaux and Marseille also faced sharp service= =20 cutbacks in buses and subways. In Paris, tens of thousands of public employees, many lighting flares that= =20 formed huge clouds of smoke, marched through the city. "All together! All=20 together! Yes! Yes!" the protesters shouted. Union organizers claimed=20 80,000 participants. The police put their number at 30,000. Thousands more= =20 stomped through the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, and in the towns= =20 of Toulouse in the south and Rennes in the northwest. The strikes marked=20 the second day of France's transportation sector woes. Striking truckers=20 blockaded dozens of highways in a protest over pay on Monday. Two top=20 truckers unions, whose dispute is with management =97 not the government =97= =20 had vowed to revive the protest on Tuesday, but the few remaining blockades= =20 had all been lifted by the afternoon. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (nalis) http://www.nalis.gov.tt (T&T National Library & Information System Authority) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************