France grinds to a halt again over pension reform

French Ministers wanted to raise the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62, and the state pension age from 65 to 67.

The French civil aviation authority announced up to half of flights to and from France had been cancelled because of walkouts.

Meanwhile, public transport and energy sector workers were set to vote on whether to begin open-ended strikes.

The rolling strikes would be organised by serving notice of 24-hour stoppages and renewed each day before they expired.

Members of the union would need to be balloted at the end of the strike day tonight.

Among those that had already declared in favour were union members from state rail company SNCF, and gas and electricity companies.

Already, a strike by workers at the oil and cargo terminals around Marseille was entering its third week, forcing up diesel prices in Europe.

Some 50 ships were stranded outside the port, and the French oil giant Total had continued to shut down its La Mede refinery because of a shortage of oil.

Four other refineries might have to close this week. A fleet of tankers had been employed to supply petrol stations.