Paris

Pension overhaul strike snarls traffic, business

Government workers angered by plans to overhaul pensions went on strike Thursday, hobbling air and rail traffic and slowing business activity across the country.

Thousands of the civil service workers, who make up about a fourth of France’s work force, packed the Place de la Republique in eastern Paris and marched 2 1/2 miles across town. Marches also occurred in more than 100 other towns and cities.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin remained determined in the face of the one-day work stoppage, which forced many commuters to trudge to work.

“We are going to reform the pension system. I’m sticking to it,” he said. “I’ll see this to the end. I have this mission.”

Officials argued that drastic changes in the plans are needed to avoid the government pension system’s collapse within 20 years. They argue for changes to cope with a growing population of retirees who are also living longer.

Russia

Passenger bus explodes in Chechen capital

A passenger bus was blown up by a land mine Thursday in the Chechen capital of Grozny, killing at least six people, emergency officials said.

The remote-controlled land mine was hidden in a pile of trash on the side of the road, said Yuri Miroshnichenko, a duty officer at the Emergency Situations Ministry’s office for southern Russia.

Miroshnichenko said six people were killed and 11 were wounded, but a Chechen Justice Ministry official said on condition of anonymity that eight people died and eight others were hospitalized, including three in grave condition.

The official said the bus came from Khankala, the Russian military’s main base in Chechnya. It was carrying construction workers from the base and other passengers picked up on the way to Grozny.