Millions of French commuters faced a second day of transport chaos on Wednesday as rail workers continued what is expected to be three months of intermittent strikes – the first major test to Emmanuel Macron’s pro-business plan to reshape the French economy and loosen labour rules in the state sector. Rail strikes are scheduled for two days out of every five until 28 June against Macron’s proposed sweeping changes to SNCF, France’s vast state rail network. It is the biggest industrial action against the centrist president since he took office last year.

About half of essential rail staff and a large majority of train drivers were expected to walk out. SNCF management said 29.7% of staff were taking part in the strike on Wednesday compared with 33.9% the previous day, but unions have given much higher figures of 60% or more on the first day. Regional and local trains were severely limited, while one in seven high-speed TGV trains were running. International trains to Italy and Spain were stopped but three out of four Eurostar trains to London were operating.(theguardian)…[+]

Israel’s airports authority has refused to display adverts informing female passengers that it is illegal for airline staff to ask them to move seats at the behest of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men.

The Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) had planned to display the billboard ads at Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv, during Passover, the Jewish holiday that ends on Saturday. IRAC’s ad campaign follows a court ruling in June in favour of an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor, Renee Rabinowitz, who sued Israel’s national airline, El Al, for gender discrimination. Cabin crew had asked her to move when an ultra-Orthodox man refused to take his seat next to her. In a case supported by IRAC, the judge ruled that “under absolutely no circumstances can a crew member ask a passenger to move from their designated seat because the adjacent passenger doesn’t want to sit next to them due to their gender”. El Al was given 45 days to amend its policies and was ordered to pay compensation to Rabinowitz. Women travelling on the airline have been frequently asked to move seats in recent years.(theguardian)…[+]

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before a House oversight panel on 11 April amid a privacy scandal that has roiled the social media giant, the panel announced Wednesday.

Representatives Greg Walden and Frank Pallone said the House energy and commerce committee hearing will focus on Facebook’s “use and protection of user data”. Announcement of the hearing date comes as Facebook faces scrutiny over its data collection following allegations that the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica obtained data on tens of millions of Facebook users to try to influence elections. Walden is the committee’s Republican chairman and Pallone is the panel’s top Democrat. “This hearing will be an important opportunity to shed light on critical consumer data privacy issues and help all Americans better understand what happens to their personal information online,” Walden and Pallone said. Their committee is the first of three congressional panels that have requested Zuckerberg’s testimony to announce a hearing date. The Senate commerce and judiciary committees also have called for Zuckerberg to appear before them.

Walden and Pallone said last month that they wanted to hear directly from Zuckerberg after senior Facebook executives failed to answers questions during a closed-door briefing with congressional staff about how Facebook and third-party developers use and protect consumer data.

Zuckerberg said during a 21 March interview on CNN that he would be “happy” to testify before Congress, but only if he was the right person to do that. He said there might be other Facebook officials better positioned to appear, depending on what Congress wanted to know. Walden and Pallone said a day later that as Facebook’s top executive, Zuckerberg is indeed the “right witness to provide answers to the American people”.(theguardian)…[+]