Nationwide protests in France after Macron doubles down on pension bill

By John Irish and Ingrid Melander PARIS (Reuters) -Train services were disrupted and some schools shut while garbage piled up on the streets of France on Thursday as part of a ninth nationwide day of strikes against a deeply unpopular bill to raise the pension age. Protesters blocked a highway near Toulouse in southwestern France in the early morning and a bus depot in the west, in Rennes, Le Parisien newspaper said. Protest rallies were scheduled across the country later in the day. President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said the legislation - which his government pushed through parliament wi...