France -- "Black Thursday" Transportation Strike Looms

PARIS (AFP) - France is bracing for a major transport strike on Thursday that will test President Nicolas Sarkozy's resolve to push through pension reform and confront unions who say worker benefits are under attack.

Unions of the state-owned SNCF rail company, the RATP Paris metro service and power utilities EDF and GDF have called for the one-day strike to protest plans to scrap pension privileges allowing some workers to retire as early as 50.

Delays are also expected at Paris airports, highway toll booths and in the urban transport services in more than 20 cities during the strike, dubbed "Black Thursday", according to France's biggest union, the CGT.