World News: Strike chaos to continue in French retirement age row

FURTHER strike chaos is expected in France today with the threat of fuel shortages, street protests and disrupted public transport and air travel.

Airlines were told to drastically cut back their flights into the country as the next round of protests over plans to raise the retirement age swing into action.

Meanwhile, oil workers defied a government demand to get back to work amid the beginnings of panic buying at filling stations.

Some reports said more than 1000 filling stations, around a quarter of the total, had run out. Short-haul flights from other European countries were also warned to carry enough fuel for their return journeys.

Strikers have blockaded a dozen refineries and numerous oil depots in the last week as part of the widespread protests over president Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to raise the retirement age to 62.

They set tyres on fire in front of a refinery at Grandpuits, east of Paris, after being hit with a legal order to reopen it. Others formed a human chain to prevent refinery workers entering the plant.

The government opened a crisis co-ordination centre in the Interior Ministry, focusing on the conflict in the oil sector.

Second quake rocks NZ city

A STRONG earthquake has hit the New Zealand city of Christchurch, cutting power and phone services just weeks after a more powerful quake caused extensive damage.

Geological agency GNS Science said the magnitude five quake was centred six miles south-west of the city.

Blast kills two at parliament

AT LEAST two people have been killed when a suicide bomber and two gunmen attacked the local parliament in Russia's restive southern republic of Chechnya.

The bomber is reported to have detonated explosives just outside parliament this morning and two armed insurgents then engaged in a gun battle with guards.

The Kremlin is struggling to contain a growing Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus, on Russia's southern border.

Colonel admits double murder

A CANADIAN commander once selected to fly the Queen on a tour of the country today pleaded guilty to murdering two women. Colonel Russell Williams has also been charged with two sexual assaults and 82 break-ins. He pleaded guilty to two first-degree murder charges.

Missing Chinese miners dead

All 37 miners reported missing and trapped in China's latest colliery disaster have now been confirmed as dead.The gas leak occurred early on Saturday morning in a pit owned by Pingyu Coal & Electric Co Ltd, based in Yuzhou city in Henan province, although 239 escaped.

Soldiers seize 105 tonnes of marijuana

Mexico: Soldiers have seized 105 tonnes of marijuana with a US street value of more than $340 million in the country's biggest-ever such haul, the army said.

Kuwait: An armed mob stormed a privately-owned TV station and destroyed its equipment after the channel aired shows critical of the country's ruling family. At least 100 people wielding guns and knives broke into Scope TV's studios, cameraman Fahad al-Rashed said.