World

France on Monday braced for nationwide transport strike action as the government and unions remained in deadlock over walkouts at oil depots that have sparked fuel shortages.

Leading unions have called for strikes Tuesday in their biggest challenge yet to President Emmanuel Macron since he won a new presidential term in May.

The move comes after workers at several refineries and depots operated by energy giant TotalEnergies voted to extend their strike action, defying the government which has begun to force staff back on the job.

Motorists scrambled to fill tanks as the fuel strike, which has lasted for nearly three weeks, cripples supplies at just over 30 percent of France’s service stations.

The government, increasingly impatient with the striking workers, said it was forcing key staff back to work.

“The time for negotiation is over,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told the BFMTV broadcaster Monday. 

The government said it would begin to requisition workers at the Feyzin depot in southeastern France on Monday, having already employed the same strategy at the Mardyck depot in the north of the country.

Fuel workers voted to continue stoppages at several refineries run by TotalEnergies, the coordinator for the hard-left CGT union Eric Sellini said, rejecting a pay package agreed between the group’s management and mainstream unions.

Three out of seven of the country’s oil refineries and five major fuel depots (out of around 200) are affected, the government said.

Macron said on Monday he wanted a solution to the fuel crisis “as quickly as possible”, adding: “I stand with our fellow citizens who are struggling and who are fed up with this situation”.

During a visit to the Paris car show, Macron also said he would summon the cabinet ministers for finance, energy, the environment and transport as well as the government spokesman later Monday “for an update on solutions”.

Strike action at Esso-ExxonMobil meanwhile ended at the end of last week at the company’s two French refineries, after a pay deal between management and moderate unions which represent a majority of workers.

A return to normal supply conditions at petrol stations will take at least two weeks after strikes end, the government has warned.

– ‘Severe disruptions’ –

Unions in other industries and the public sector have also announced action to protest against the twin impact of soaring energy prices and overall inflation on the cost of living.

Leftist unions CGT and FO have called for a nationwide strike Tuesday for higher salaries, and against government requisitions of oil installations, threatening to cripple public transport in particular.

Rail operator SNCF will see “severe disruptions” with half of train services cancelled, Transport Minister Clement Beaune said.

Suburban services in the Paris region as well as bus services will also be impacted, operator RATP said, but the inner-Paris metro system should be mostly unaffected.

Beyond transport workers, unions hope to bring out staff in sectors such as the food industry and healthcare, CGT boss Philippe Martinez told France Inter radio.

Their action will kick off what is likely to be a tense autumn and winter as Macron also seeks to implement his flagship domestic policy of raising the French retirement age.

But the economic squeeze partly caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, along with the failure of Macron’s party to secure an overall majority in June legislative polls, only adds to the magnitude of the task.

On Sunday tens of thousands of protesters marched in Paris to express their frustration at the rising cost of living.

The demonstration was called by the left-wing political opposition and led by the head of the France Unbowed (LFI) party, Jean-Luc Melenchon.

Security forces fired teargas and launched baton charges after they were pelted with objects, while on the fringes of the march, masked men dressed in black ransacked a bank.

Some protesters wore yellow fluorescent vests, the symbol of the often violent anti-government protests in 2018 that shook the pro-business government of Macron.

“We’re going to have a week the likes of which we don’t see very often,” Melenchon told the crowd.

Organisers claimed 140,000 people attended Sunday’s march, but police said there were 30,000.

burs-jh/tgb/pvh

Ugandan media groups and rights activists on Monday filed a court challenge to a controversial new internet law that they protest is aimed at curtailing free speech and quashing dissent.

A total of 13 petitioners, including an online TV station, lodged the complaint with the Constitutional Court over the legislation, which was signed into law by veteran President Yoweri Museveni last week.

The Computer Misuse (Amendment) Act “threatens freedom of expression and targets those with divergent views”, one of the petitioners, Norman Tumuhimbise, told AFP.

Tumuhimbise works for Digital TV, which in March this year was raided by security agents. Nine of its staff including Tumuhimbise were arrested and charged with computer misuse and spreading false information.

According to the petition, the government has been given seven days to file a defence but it is not known when any hearings in the case would begin.

Amnesty International has called for the “draconian” law to be scrapped, warning that it was designed to “deliberately target critics of government and it will be used to silence dissent and prevent people from speaking out”.

“This piece of legislation threatens the right to freedom of expression online, including the right to receive and impart information, on the pretext of outlawing unsolicited, false, malicious, hateful, and unwarranted information,” said Amnesty’s director for East and Southern Africa, Muleya Mwananyanda.

Uganda has seen a series of crackdowns on those opposed to Museveni’s rule, particularly around the 2021 election, with journalists attacked, lawyers jailed, vote monitors prosecuted and opposition leaders violently muzzled.

– ‘Rise up and defend rights’ –

Opposition leader Bobi Wine, who unsuccessfully challenged the president in 2021 and has often been targeted by security forces, said the adoption of the law was not surprising.

“Museveni is aware he is unpopular and he is putting such laws to muzzle the population,” he told AFP.

“This time people should rise up and defend their rights because the civil space is being restricted time and again.”

Amnesty noted that the new legislation contained some useful provisions such as right to privacy and responsible coverage of children but “it introduces punitive penalties for anyone accused of so-called hate speech”.

People convicted under the law are barred from holding public office for 10 years, which Amnesty warned was a way of reinforcing state control over online freedom of expression, including by political opposition groups.

Offenders also face fines of up to 15 million Ugandan shillings (about $3,900) and prison terms of up to seven years.

“Ugandans must be able to exercise their right to freedom of expression without fear of being targeted by the criminal justice system,” Mwananyanda said in the Amnesty statement issued on Friday.

Buzzing like a lawn mower, a white arrow darts across the blue sky and drops obliquely toward its target in Ukraine’s capital as policemen crouching next to their patrol car open fire. 

When the kamikaze drone explodes along a street devoid of traffic, a thick plume of brown smoke rises high into the air, watched by a handful of bystanders moving skittishly on pavements or hugging buildings. 

The unmanned aerial vehicle strikes that officials said killed at least four people in Kyiv early on Monday trigger cries of alarm and send many residents rushing to shelters. 

Police officers try to keep their cool.

“We have been here for half an hour and four drones have fallen,” says officer Yaraslov, still nervous after firing his kalashnikov. 

“It’s a bit frightening but it’s our job. What can we do? It’s normal because it’s our work. We have to do it,” he adds.

It is 08:13 am (0513 GMT) in the centre of the Ukrainian capital. This is the second strike on the residential Shevchenkivsky district and at least the fourth attack since 06:30 am.

The drone strikes are the second Russian attack on Kyiv since missiles slammed into the city exactly one week ago as people were preparing for their new working week.

Yaroslav and his fellow officer block traffic at the intersection. Their patrol car is about 100 metres (yards) from where the first drone hit.

AFP journalists have been unable to identify the targets.

The mayor’s office said a residential building was partially destroyed and at least four people died.

– Heads turn skyward –

A few residents try to get a glimpse of the first target as brown smoke still trails upward.

Suddenly there are shouts and panic grips residents. Heads turn skyward, while a number of people run for shelter.

At first far off, the sound of a drone becomes clearer as the unmanned aircraft flies over the neighbourhood. 

Quite visible, even if it is dozens of metres above, the white dart-like craft flies over buildings.

Like other policemen and soldiers in the district, Yaroslav grabs his kalashnikov, kneels on the tarmac and starts firing at the object. 

The crackling of automatic weapons resounds with both long and short bursts throughout the area.

There is no sign the officers have hit the drone, which flies obliquely to its target 200 metres away. The explosion echoes in the streets.

Less than 10 minutes later, close to 8:20 am, the scene repeats itself in the same place — the third strike in a row.

The target is just a short distance from the building hit earlier.

AFP journalists hear no air raid sirens before the last two strikes. Some AFP journalists see a fireball when a drone has hit.

About 200 metres from the explosions, a group of elderly people — two women and a man — continue sheltering by the low wall of a building, next to a policeman.

They want to find a safer place.

– ‘We won’t be intimidated’ –

“Let’s go to the metro station. There’s a bomb shelter,” one of the women tells the others.

“When the guns begin to crackle, it means they (the drones) are flying somewhere. Can we leave now? We want to go to the park,” the woman asks the officer, who gives them the all-clear.

Sasha, a 22-year-old who lives in an apartment near where the drones struck, says anxiously that he was woken up by the first explosion at about 6:30 am.

“I’m afraid,” he says laconically, standing near the entrance of a building serving as a shelter.

Lessya, a woman of about 60 who lives in a building at the blocked-off crossroads, puts her faith in Ukraine’s security forces.

“We believe in our armed forces and we believe in our victory and we won’t be intimidated by these explosions,” she says.

“They don’t frighten us. We are used to it and still believe we will win, whatever happens. Yes, it’s scary … but they will never intimidate us. 

The British government on Monday axed almost all of its debt-fuelled tax cuts unveiled last month to avert fresh markets chaos, in a humiliating climbdown for embattled Prime Minister Liz Truss.

The shock move by new finance chief Jeremy Hunt, parachuted into the job on Friday to replace sacked Kwasi Kwarteng, leaves Truss’ position in a precarious state after a series of embarrassing U-turns.

Hunt estimated the tax changes would raise about £32 billion ($36 billion) per year, after economists estimated the government faced a £60-billion black hole. He also warned of tough spending cuts.

The chancellor of the exchequer said no government could control markets — but stressed his action would give certainty over public finances and help secure growth.

“We will reverse almost all the tax measures announced… three weeks ago,” Hunt said in a televised statement, conceding last month’s budget from his predecessor had harmed the public purse.

“The most important objective for our country right now is stability,” he added in a contrite statement, ahead of setting out further details in parliament later Monday.

– U-turns –

Hunt scrapped plans to axe the lowest rate of income tax, and curbed the government’s flagship energy price freeze — pulling the plug in April instead of late 2024.

After April, his department will “review” its energy support package, he said.

A proposed reduction in shareholder dividend tax was also binned, along with planned tax-free shopping for tourists and a freeze on alcohol duty.

The announcement comes as Truss’ governing Conservative party tanks in the opinion polls amid the reversals and Britain’s worsening cost-of-living crisis.

Truss fired her close friend Kwarteng on Friday after their recent tax-slashing budget sparked markets chaos — fuelling intense speculation over her political future one month after taking office.

“No government can control the markets but every government can give certainty about the sustainability of public finances,” Hunt added Monday.

His action sent the British pound jumping to $1.1346, while bond yields dipped.

Last month’s notorious budget had sent bond yields spiking and the pound collapsing to a record dollar-low on fears of rocketing UK debt.

– ‘Difficult decisions’ –

Tax reductions were the centrepiece of the ill-fated budget, but they were financed via huge borrowing.

Truss had already staged two embarrassing budget U-turns, scrapping tax cuts for the richest earners and on company profits.

“There will be more difficult decisions I am afraid, on both tax and spending, as we deliver our commitment to get debt falling as a share of the economy over the medium term,” Hunt added Monday.

“All departments will need to redouble their efforts to find savings, and some areas of spending will need to be cut.”

Hunt already stated that he was not taking anything off the table” amid speculation of cutbacks on areas like defence, hospitals and schools.

He met over the weekend with the governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, and the head of the Debt Management Office to discuss his plans.

In the wake of the earlier turmoil, the BoE launched emergency buying of UK government bonds — a policy that ended Friday.

The budget furore has reportedly sparked a plot to oust the prime minister.

UK media reported that senior Conservative members of parliament were plotting to unseat Truss, aghast at the party’s performance since she replaced scandal-hit Boris Johnson on September 6.

– ‘Death knell’ –

Monday’s latest massive U-turn comes after Truss was elected Tory leader on a tax-slashing platform that analysts dubbed “Trussonomics”.

“That sound you can hear is the death knell for Trussonomics, with the vast majority of her tax cutting plans now consigned to the bin,” said Laura Suter, head of personal finance at stockbroker AJ Bell.

“People have had yogurt in their fridge that’s lasted longer than some of the government’s planned tax cuts,” she added.

In two weeks’ time, Hunt will unveil his medium-term fiscal plan alongside independent economic forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility.

But the main opposition Labour party, riding high in the polls, said the ruling Tories had “lost all credibility”.

“All the chancellor’s statement underlines is that the damage has been done,” said its shadow finance minister Rachel Reeves.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday shrugged off criticism over a string of less than diplomatic comments he has made on sensitive topics. 

The Spanish official has raised eyebrows with his outspoken statements on a range of issues — from Russia’s nuclear threat, to scolding his own diplomats. 

Last week Borrell ditched the usually cautious language Western diplomats adopt on the subject to warn that Russia’s army would be “annihilated” if Moscow used a nuclear weapon in Ukraine. 

He also called the world beyond the EU a “jungle” that could “invade” in an analogy some internet users criticised for invoking outmoded colonial-era stereotypes. 

And in a broadside against his own diplomatic corps, he upbraided the EU’s representatives around the world for being too slow and ineffective. 

“I am very OK, why not?” Borrell, 75, said, when asked about the statements at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg. 

“Every week is very tense, so from time to time something erupts to the public opinion.”

Asked about the criticism over the comments, a spokeswoman for the European Commission said the executive’s chief Ursula von der Leyen still “has confidence” in Borrell. 

The blunt-speaking Spaniard — who has served as his country’s foreign minister — has pushed for a more assertive EU that can flex its muscles on the international stage. 

But he has also been known for his occasional gaffes.

Last year he gave the wrong figures for the estimated number of Russian troops massed around Ukraine. 

Earlier this year he also drew consternation for saying the EU could supply fighter jets to help Kyiv fight Moscow, something that has not materialised.