Strikes

French transport workers staged a one-day strike that brought almost all the country's trains to a halt and snarled highway traffic for miles outside Paris. Public transportation within the capital was not affected by the strike, the National Center for Road Information said. All but one of France's 15 rail worker unions took part in the action to seek higher pay.

Can Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger end the nearly 4-month-old supermarket strike? In a KNX-AM radio interview Monday, the governor said he needed an invitation to try. "If they call me and ask me to intervene and to be an intermediary, I'm more than happy to do that, because I think that we need to have everyone go back to work and normalize the situation," he said.

A dispute over the size of orchestras for musicals left most of Broadway filled with the sound of silence for the third straight day of a strike that is costing New York's fragile economy millions of dollars. The Great White Way went dark Friday night after talks between a musicians union and producers broke down and actors and stagehands refused to cross union picket lines, closing 18 Broadway musicals.

About 300 construction workers taking part in a nationwide strike marched through Panama City to demand that the government continue to run the country's social security system. A driver hit a protester, and police said they fired warning shots after protesters attacked them when they tried to help the injured man. Associated Press photographer Kathryn Cook was treated after a bullet grazed her leg. About 20,000 teachers and construction workers participated in the one-day strike.

Northrop Grumman Corp. may face a strike at its Newport News, Va., shipyard if a new labor contract is not reached by June 6, the expiration date of the current contract, the union said Friday. Negotiations with the United Steelworkers of America, the first since Century City-based Northrop acquired the Newport News shipyard for $2.6 billion in 2002, have been going on for four weeks with little progress, said Alton Glass, president of union Local 8888.

Games lost: 14. Total games lost: 60. Key development: Management negotiator Richard Ravitch rules out using replacement players this year. * In quotes: "Baseball is the quintessential American sport. Everything is highlighted . . . If there's a dispute in hockey or basketball, do you think that the federal government is excited about it?" --Richard Ravitch, management negotiator.

Belgian air traffic controllers resumed a strike Thursday after talks with government officials for higher pay failed. The Belgian airline Sabena said it was forced to cancel several European flights because of the strike.