News in Brief
France faces massive strikes over pension reform
AFP – French trade unions are heading for what is expected to be a decisive showdown with President Emmanuel Macron over pension reform, with massive strikes from Tuesday aiming to bring the country “to a standstill”.
After five separate days of protests so far this year, this week’s stoppages herald a new phase in the battle between the centrist government and opponents of the changes, which includes an overwhelmingly majority of French voters.
Amazon shutting down eight cashierless stores
GEEKWIRE – Amazon is closing down two cashierless Go stores in New York City, two in Seattle and four in San Francisco on April 1.
The e-retail giant made the announcement on the same day it admitted that it’s pausing construction on its second headquarters in Arlington, Virginia as it reassesses its office needs in the face of more and more people preferring to work remotely.
As Bloomberg notes, these are Amazon’s latest cost-cutting moves amidst slowing sales growth.
Cuba’s president meets CEO of Russia’s Rosneft amid fuel shortage
REUTERS – Russian oil firm Rosneft’s CEO Igor Sechin met with Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel late on Saturday, the island’s leader said, amid an acute fuel shortage that has service stations temporarily shuttered and hours-long gasoline queues.
Several tweets on Cuba’s Presidency account emphasized the good relations between the two countries, but did not specify the reason for the visit by the state-run oil firm’s boss.