France braced for crippling transport strikes on Thursday, launched in response to the government’s plans to overhaul the retirement system. Ninety percent of high-speed TGV trains will not run, and Air France announced it was canceling 30 percent of domestic flights and 15 percent of medium-haul flights. Eleven of 16 lines of the Paris metro were shut completely, and many schools in the capital and throughout the country were also closed, as teachers were among the demonstrators. In Paris, everything ground to a halt ahead of the strikes. Many normally busy stations and thoroughfares were quiet, and a number of shops and banks had boarded their windows […]