PARIS – Union activists disrupted the Marseille airport Friday and halted activity at half of the country’s oil refineries in protests over changes to France’s labor system, but nationwide gasoline shortages eased slightly after government intervention.
Tensions let up slightly Friday after one-day strikes and protests Thursday pitting unions against the Socialist government and leaving many drivers in the lurch. The heart of their dispute is a labor bill that would loosen rules on France’s 35-hour work week and make it easier for employers to hire – and fire.
Some unions continued the strike into Friday, and France’s main oil company Total said four of its eight refineries were at a standstill.
MANILA, Philippines – Philippine lawmakers completed the official vote count from May 9 elections on Friday and announced that Mayor Rodrigo Duterte won the presidency by an overwhelming margin, while Rep. Leni Robredo triumphed as vice president.
Duterte, the tough-talking mayor of southern Davao city, received more than 16.6 million votes, 6.6 million more than his closest rival, former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, who was backed by outgoing President Benigno Aquino III.
About 81 percent of more than 54 million eligible voters cast ballots for a successor to Aquino and thousands of other national, congressional and local officials whose terms end on June 30, according to lawmakers and official figures released by Congress.
CAIRO – The search for the EgyptAir plane which crashed last week killing all 66 people on board has narrowed to a 5-kilometer-wide area in the Mediterranean Sea, based on signals from the craft’s emergency beacon, Egypt’s chief investigator said.
The chief investigator, Ayman al-Moqadem, said late Thursday that Airbus had given Egyptian authorities information on the Emergency Locator Transmitter, or ELT, from the doomed aircraft.
An official from the Egyptian investigation team on Friday clarified that the beacon information was from the day of the crash, May 19, and that no new signal had been found. An Airbus official said he was unaware of any ELT received or given to the Egyptians.
Both officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.
Associated Press
