General strike hits Belgium

Road and rail transport chaos hit Belgium on Friday as workers walked off the job in large numbers in the country's first general strike in 12 years, union officials said.
"It seems to be going quite well. It's really a great success," said Jean-Claude Vandermeeren, head of the socialist FGTB union, which called the 24 hour stoppage over government plans for pension and welfare reforms.
FGTB members gathered in number from 6:00 am (0400 GMT) at picket lines around three main intersections leading into the capital Brussels, causing long traffic jams.
Rail services were at a standstill across Belgium, with international high speed Eurostar services to Britain and Thalys trains to France cancelled. The services were not expected to resume until 10:00 pm.
Buses and underground trains in the capital were few and far between.
Some schools, major shops, administrative and postal services were also hit, according to Belgian radio - itself providing reduced programming for the day.
Big companies like automakers Ford and Volkswagen, and the European metal group Arcelor had also ground to a halt, with union members forming picket lines in some of the country's industrial zones.
Tempers frayed in some cases, with people trying to force their way through the lines with cars. One person was hurt, the Belga news agency reported.
At the port of Antwerp, the sconed biggest in Europe, about 20 ships were waiting to dock and a further five were waiting to leave as dockers downed tools.
Aircraft were coming and going from Brussels airport despite the strike, but another problem - a thick cloak of fog that hung over the city early in the day - was delaying landings, air traffic controllers said.
Unions and bosses began negotiations last week aimed at creating more jobs in Belgium, and to ensure adequate funding for the social security system.
The FGTB, the country's second biggest union with around 1.3 million members, warned from the start that it would organise a strike on October 7 if its demands were not met.
It is the first stoppage of its kind since 1993.
"I am not going to be intimidated by strikes," said Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, who has pledged to move forward with social security reform and changes to an expensive early retirement scheme.
He said he will forge ahead "with the unions if it's possible, without them if it is necessary."
The socialist-liberal coalition claims that the social security system will collapse if drastic changes to it are not made within the next few years.
To try to achieve that, the government wants to boost the employment rate, which is one of the lowest in Europe, in particular by delaying the retirement age, which currently stands at 58, by two years.