- Your 'local everything': what 7-Eleven buyout battle means for Japan
- AI-aided research, new materials eyed for Nobel Chemistry Prize
- The US economy is solid: Why are voters gloomy?
- Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel
- Nobel-winning physicist 'unnerved' by AI technology he helped create
- Trump secretly sent Covid tests to Putin: Bob Woodward book
- Neural networks, machine learning? Nobel-winning AI science explained
- Boeing delivers 27 MAX jets in September despite strike
- Stock markets diverge as Hong Kong sinks, oil prices fall
- US trade gap narrowest in five months as imports slip
- Stay and 'you are going to die': Florida braces for next hurricane
- Geoffrey Hinton, soft-spoken godfather of AI
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for 'foundational' AI breakthroughs
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free in 2025 after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China slaps provisional tariffs on EU brandy imports
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for key breakthroughs in AI
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free soon after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China says to take anti-dumping measures against EU brandy imports
- China stocks rally fizzles on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- China stocks rally peters out on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- Taiwan's Foxconn says building world's largest 'superchip' plant
- Nobel literature jury may go for non-Western writer
- From Bolivia to Indonesia, deforestation continues apace
- China holds off on fresh stimulus but 'confident' will hit growth target
- German suspect in 'Maddie' case faces verdict in sex crimes trial
- Top economic official 'confident' China will hit 2024 growth target
- COP29 fight looms over climate funds for developing world
- Shanghai stocks soar to extend stimulus rally amid Asia-wide drop
- Will Tesla's robotaxi reveal live up to hype?
- 'Invisibility' and quantum computing tipped for physics Nobel
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street falls
- 'Dark day': Victims mourned around the globe on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Mission to probe smashed asteroid launches despite hurricane
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street slips
- Europe's asteroid mission Hera launches despite hurricane
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street retreats
- What is microRNA? Nobel-winning discovery explained
- Weather may delay launch of mission to study deflected asteroid
- China to flesh out economic stimulus plans after bumper rally
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on US jobs data
- World marks anniversary of Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on jobs data
- Cancer, cardiovascular drugs tipped for Nobel as prize week opens
- Tunisia incumbent Saied set to win presidential vote: exit polls
- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
French Christmas train strike provokes fury, travel woes
Some 200,000 holidaymakers in France scrambled Wednesday to book alternative travel for their Christmas holidays as the national rail operator announced major service cancellations due to a strike.
The SNCF cut one third of scheduled trains for the looming Christmas weekend when millions of French people are expected to travel for family gatherings.
The worst affected services were high-speed TGV lines, the mainstay of long-distance rail travel in France, leading to a rush for flights, rental cars and car-pooling.
"I understand their demands but do they have to go on strike during the festivities?" Isabelle Barrier, whose train to southwestern Toulouse was cancelled, told AFP in Paris.
"They couldn't give a damn about people! If they want to strike, I understand, but not the Christmas weekend!" said Emilio Quintana, a father struggling to find a ticket to Marseille, told AFP.
SNCF's travel division boss Christophe Fanichet apologised to travellers on Wednesday and called the strike action by ticket inspectors -- launched without union backing -- "scandalous" and "unacceptable".
"You don't strike at Christmas," agreed government spokesman Olivier Veran.
Faced with high inflation, ticket inspectors are demanding a further pay hike beyond the 12 percent increase already negotiated which will take effect over two years, according to the SNCF.
Annual inflation is running at around 6.0 percent in France, lower than most other European countries which are also facing public sector strikes.
Neighbouring Britain has been hit by a wave of stoppages from rail workers, as well as nurses, passport control workers and ambulance drivers.
According to the SNCF website, half or more of scheduled trains for the weekend have been cancelled on key routes such as Paris to Rennes, western France, or Paris to Bordeaux, in the southwest.
The rail operator promised re-bookings free of charge, including for more expensive seats, but most TGVs were already fully booked on Wednesday.
It also offered to pay out twice the original ticket price to people unable to rebook, but travellers queueing at railway stations said that was not much of a consolation for a ruined holiday.
Mathilde, a 38-year old Parisian whose train to Bordeaux was cancelled, said she was tempted to get on another train even without a ticket.
"I might try to force my way onto a train, although I'm not sure that will work," she said, adding: "I don't expect the SNCF to be very understanding."
O.Ignatyev--CPN