- Three Kosovo Serbs on trial over 'secession plot' attack
- Van Gogh museum to launch Impressionism show
- French minister ups ante in Eiffel Tower Olympic rings row
- Japan PM calls snap election to 'create a new Japan'
- German police shut pro-Palestinian camp over Thunberg invite
- Chinese stocks tumble on lack of fresh stimulus
- Trio wins chemistry Nobel for protein design, prediction
- SE Asian summit urges end to Myanmar violence but struggles for solutions
- Wimbledon replaces line judges with electronic system
- Record-breaking Root hits hundred as England power to 351-3
- Record-breaking Root hits hundred as England's power to 351-3
- Sabalenka relishes 'much-needed' tennis rivalry with Swiatek
- Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson set for six weeks out
- Taylor Swift got police escort to London gigs after Austria terror plot
- Cook tips Root to break Tendulkar's all-time runs record
- British skull auction sparks Indian demand for return
- Joe Root: England's elegant Test record-breaker
- Braving war: Lebanon's 'badass' airline defies odds
- Klopp to return as head of Red Bull football operations
- Hezbollah strikes Israel, says it foiled Israeli incursions
- Jurgen Klopp to return as head of Red Bull football operations
- Sinner to face Medvedev in Shanghai Masters quarter-finals
- US weighs Google breakup in landmark trial
- Record-breaking Root guides England to 232-2 in reply to Pakistan's 556
- Japan PM dissolves parliament for 'honeymoon' snap election
- Chinese stocks tumble on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
- 7-Eleven owner confirms new takeover offer from Couche-Tard
- Goodbye Tito? Tomb at risk as Serbs argue over Yugoslav legacy
- Restoration experts piece together silent Sherlock Holmes mystery
- Sinner avoids Shanghai deja vu with assured Shelton win
- Pyongyang to 'permanently' shut border with South Korea
- Trumpet star Marsalis says jazz creates 'balance' in divided world
- No children left on Greece's famed but emptying island
- Nepali becomes youngest to climb world's 8,000m peaks
- Climate change made deadly Hurricane Helene more intense: study
- A US climate scientist sees hurricane Helene's devastation firsthand
- Padres edge Dodgers, Mets on the brink
- Can carbon credits help close coal plants?
- With EU funding, Tunisian farmer revives parched village
- Sega ninja game 'Shinobi' gets movie treatment
- Boeing suspends negotiations with striking workers
- 7-Eleven owner's shares spike on report of new buyout offer
- Your 'local everything': what 7-Eleven buyout battle means for Japan
- Three million UK children living below poverty line: study
- China's Jia brings film spanning love, change over decades to Busan
- Paying out disaster relief before climate catastrophe strikes
- Chinese shares drop on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
- SE Asian summit seeks progress on Myanmar civil war
- How climate funds helped Peru's women beekeepers stay afloat
- Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded as wars rage
Lufthansa strike causes travel turmoil in Germany
Lufthansa passengers faced massive travel disruption Wednesday as a strike led the German airline group to cancel almost all its flights from its domestic hubs in Frankfurt and Munich.
Lufthansa axed more than 1,000 flights after the one-day walkout by ground staff was called by the powerful Verdi union earlier in the week.
The stoppage promises to bring more pain to a turbulent summer for air travel across Europe.
Lufthansa had already cancelled thousands of flights over the summer as the airline industry contends with ground-side disruptions.
The relaxation of coronavirus rules has boosted demand, but chronic staff shortages have left passengers facing flight disruptions, long queues and lost luggage.
"Lufthansa reduced its staffing during the (coronavirus) crisis, despite being saved by the taxpayer, and now there are personnel shortages in all corners," said Verdi Lufthansa representative Marvin Reschinsky.
"We now need financial investments in personnel to make sure air travel is still possible in the future," he told AFP.
Participation in the strike was "enormous", he said, reflecting the financial pressure employees feel from a recent surge in inflation, which stood at 7.6 percent in Germany last month.
Ground staff had "earned" a raise, said Katharina Horn, a Lufthansa employee.
After two years of the pandemic which battered the industry and led to long work stoppages for employees "all the savings are used up", she told AFP.
"We would have liked not to have to go out into the streets today. Lufthansa could have avoided that by making a reasonable offer," she said.
The strike was "wholly unnecessary" and had destroyed the "holiday dreams of more than 100,000 people", said Lufthansa spokesman, Martin Leutke.
Lufthansa was seeking to find alternatives for stranded passengers but Leutke warned that the process was "not easy in the peak travel period because all the flights are full".
"I wanted to go to Tunis but the flight is cancelled," Adel Zayani said to AFP, adding that he would now have to wait for a flight tomorrow.
The strike was "good for people, workers" who needed to earn money but "not easy" for passengers, said the 56-year-old.
A.Rodriguezv--AMWN