International
Workers stage massive general strike in France
• Strike bringing country to standstill on 2nd day of action over pay dispute
French unions showed their muscle Thursday in the streets of Paris and dozens of other cities in the country in the latest expression in a campaign of nationwide industrial action to demand improved pay and working conditions, denounce the increased cost of living, and demand relief from the government from soaring prices.
Around 150-200 demonstrations were announced for the day all over France by the Confederation Generale du Travail (CGT) labor union.
The CGT was behind the multisector one-day strike, which threatened to paralyze the capital’s public transport network.According to the CGT, 4,000 people took part in the demonstration in Paris, which kicked off at 2 p.m. local time (1300GMT) at the Place de la Republique and ended at Place de la Bastille.
The police and the Interior Ministry put the number of demonstrators in Paris at 2,000-4,000, while there were no riots or scuffles during the protest.
Although there were other protests scattered around France in cities like Lyon or Montpellier, disruptions were heavily concentrated in Paris, where workers of the Regie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) public transport network have overwhelmingly backed the strike, declaring a Jeudi Noir (Black Thursday) for services. At least half the subway lines were idle and many suburban buses were as well.
Five metro lines were fully closed, and another seven only operated at peak hours. Thursday’s strike came as commuters have grown increasingly angry with Paris public transport, with services still reduced since the COVID-19 pandemic started although traffic levels have broadly returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Unions have staged strikes across several sectors in recent weeks seeking pay hikes or increased hiring as spiraling energy costs feed into widespread inflation.
Public Accounts Minister Gabriel Attal said: “The slogan of this strike at the RATP was ‘zero metro, zero RER,’ but also ‘zero empathy for all the French people I am thinking of today, who have not been able to go to work, who have not been able to travel, who may have had difficulties dropping their children off at school’,” he said, referring to the Reseau Express Regional (Regional Express Network), a hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system serving Paris and its suburbs.
This is the third mobilization of the unions in a row, after two other nationwide protests on Oct. 18 and Oct. 27. The protest on Oct. 18 involved 107,000 demonstrators, according to the Interior Ministry, but the CGT said there were at least 300,000 protesters.
The strike grievances and demands included an increase in the minimum wage, re-evaluation of all salaries in line with inflation in the same way as the SMIC, and re-evaluation of the salary scale for public sector workers.
The CGT is also angry at the government’s use of emergency strike-breaking powers during earlier strikes at oil refineries in October that led to widespread petrol and diesel shortages at filling stations on a national scale.
Union leaders are also hoping to step up pressure on President Emmanuel Macron as he prepares to revive a controversial pension’s overhaul that would push back the official retirement age from 62 to 64 or even to 65.
French consumer prices in October rose at their fastest pace since 1985, driven by rising energy, food and manufactured goods prices, according to official data
Food prices in particular grew almost 12% in a blow to the least well-off households who spend a larger share of their monthly budget at supermarkets.
Meanwhile, energy prices added almost 20%, despite government interventions to limit bills for consumers that have kept overall inflation below levels seen in their European Union neighbors. (Anadolu Agency)
There are grave fears for the passengers of a private plane that suddenly vanished mid-flight, sparking a major search off the coast of the US.
US authorities say the Gulfstream G100 lost contact with air traffic control about 2am local time on Saturday (4pm Saturday AET) while flying from L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda to Boston Logan International Airport.
The US Coast Guard said the Federal Aviation Administration alerted it after contact was lost with the aircraft – which plummeted from 23,500 feet to 11,000 feet in just three minutes, according to FlightAware data.
“We are praying for a safe outcome,” a spokesperson for Latitude Air Ambulance, which operates the missing plane, told City News.
A search is now under way off Nantucket in the air and on water as crews work to locate the missing jet, the Coast Guard said. Data from FlightRadar24 showed a number of aircraft searching south of the island.
Six people are missing after a private jet vanished, sparking a major search off the coast of Nantucket in the US.
The plane was en route from Bermuda to Boston when it vanished.
“Air & surface crews have launched in search of the aircraft. Updates will be provided here as info becomes available,” the Coast Guard Northeast District said on X.
The plane was carrying out a medical evacuation in Bermuda – a British overseas territory in the north Atlantic Ocean, according to Clarence Togeretz, Director of Flight Operations at Latitude Air Ambulance.
“We always get rather concerned when our crew doesn’t report to us in a timely manner,” he told NBC News.
“But I will say that again, optimistically and positively, that doesn’t mean that the worst has happened.”
Seventeen people were killed when eight gunmen stormed a bar close to Johannesburg on Saturday evening, with 15 more injured.
In a separate shooting in the early hours of Sunday morning, 10 people were killed outside an entertainment venue in a township near Cape Town and a further 11 were injured.
South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world and has struggled to contain gang-related gun violence in recent years. Police have not indicated a motive for either of the latest attacks.
In Johannesburg, gunmen opened fire on customers outside the bar before continuing the attack inside and torching two vehicles before fleeing.
Police said thirteen men and four women were killed.
Deputy provincial police commissioner Maj Gen Fred Kekana said the attack may have been a retaliation for an incident last month, in which one person was killed and another wounded, according to AFP news agency.
Speaking at the scene, he said police had clear pictures and in some cases names for the suspects.
In Cape Town, five victims died at the scene and a further five people died in hospital.
No arrests had been made in either case on Sunday morning.
The two mass shootings came days after 11 people were killed in the city of Duban when gunmen stormed a house in the KwaMakhutha township.
Illegal weapons are prevalent in South Africa and gun violence has been a persistent problem for decades, with about 60 murders recorded every day in the country of 62 million.
But a recent spate of mass shootings has raised fears that the problem is deepening, with violence often linked to turf wars between gangs engaged in drug trafficking and illegal mining.
In February, President Cyril Ramaphosa called organised crime “the most immediate threat to our democracy, our society and our economic development”.
Earlier this year the military was deployed alongside police in areas with the highest murder rates in an effort to reduce armed violence.
On Saturday a tenth woman’s body was found in Ekurhuleni, to the east of Johannesburg, with local police saying they were unable to rule out a serial killer operating in the area with similarities between the deaths. (BBC)
The United States has deported more than 25,000 people under secretive agreements with 35 countries to take migrants with no ties to those nations, according to an investigation published Monday.
Since US President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, Washington has been signing deals with developing countries to take migrants who cannot legally be sent home.
The investigation by Forbidden Stories found the administration has earmarked $410 million to be paid directly to the receiving countries, or to UN agencies to facilitate the returns.
At least 25,447 people had already been deported to third countries by August 31, 2026, according to data compiled by Forbidden Stories with a consortium of international journalists.
The vast majority — around 20,000 — were sent to Mexico, but the rest were dispersed to 27 other countries across Latin America, Africa, and the Pacific, and agreements have been finalised with seven more.
The deals vary, including over which nationalities can be deported and whether people with criminal records can be accepted.
An AFP investigation earlier this year found Washington is using visa bans and restrictions on African countries to strongarm them into accepting deportees.
Lawyers told AFP that deportees were being thrown into a “legal black hole”, held without charge in countries where they have no ties and few if any rights.
Forbidden Stories said 49 of Africa’s 54 countries had been approached about accepting third-country deportees.
A little-known State Department division called the Office of Remigration, created in May 2025, has handled most of the negotiations and payments, according to Forbidden Stories.
The office is headed by Christian Jove Ehrhardt, a 41-year-old diplomat who previously worked as a security officer.
The report details his visits to Cameroon, which signed a memorandum of understanding with the US in December on accepting deportees. A week later, it also signed a five-year health assistance programme worth nearly $400 million.
The following month, the State Department said it would provide a further $30 million to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Cameroon to “facilitate the voluntary return of refugees and combat illegal immigration.”
The first plane carrying deportees arrived in Cameroon on January 14.
– Payments –
Other agreements have involved direct payments to governments.
Palau, a small Pacific island nation with a population of under 18,000, signed an agreement in December 2025 to accept up to 75 third-country nationals in return for $7.5 million.
However, only three people have so far been sent under the agreement.
In Eswatini, 32 people have arrived since July 2025 out of a possible 160 under an agreement worth more than $5 million. It has accepted deportees with criminal records, the investigation found.
Of the $410 million planned for the agreements, internal State Department records showed that $81 million was earmarked for signatory governments.
The rest was intended for aid organisations, including more than $178 million for the UN’s International Organisation for Migration, and $123 million for UNHCR.
The agencies have faced criticism over their involvement, although UNHCR told Forbidden Stories that it was not party to the bilateral agreements and that US funding was being used in line with its mandate to strengthen asylum systems.
An IOM spokesperson told Forbidden Stories that the agency’s decisions to accept funding rested “on a single question: whether our engagement will improve the lives of the migrants affected. In these instances, we believe strongly it does.”
-
Editorial3 days agoNigeria’s Roads: Where a Driver’s Licence May Not Mean a Driver Can Drive
-
News2 days ago
Over 1,000 Islamic clerics ask Tinubu to drop 2027 re-election bid
-
Features2 days ago
TWENTY YEARS IN MEMORY: MARIA UKAMAKA IFEOMA OJUKWU
-
News2 days ago
Military, DSS, police rescue 20 NYSC corps members, civilian in Imo
-
News2 days ago
GOCOP Trains Members On Deployment Of AI Tools to Boost Efficiency, Profitability
-
News3 days ago
Mbah Constitutes Development Centres Across Enugu, Appoints New Coordinators (FULL LIST)
-
News2 days ago
Gov Mbah Seeks National Emergency in Education, Launches Enugu Education Policy
-
News22 hours ago
GOCOP conference: Agbakoba urges media to test right to announce election results
