A former Republican candidate for state office, identified as Solomon Pena, has been arrested in connection to shootings at the homes of New Mexico Democrats for allegedly hiring gunmen.

Demonstrators are set to take to the streets on Thursday to protest radical pension reforms that seek to raise the retirement age. Eight of France's largest unions, which cover transportation, education, police, executives, and public sectors, said that the day would be the "first day of strikes and protests" against the proposed pension reform.

French Unions Strike

Authorities are expecting widespread strikes that will make the day a "hellish Thursday" on public transport networks, said Transport Minister Clement Beaune. The official added that he predicts "very disrupted" service on the city's transport network following the strike.

France's civil aviation authority said that one in five flights in and out of Paris' Orly airport will be canceled on Thursday due to striking air traffic control workers. The authority added that this did not include the possibility of further delays and cancellations to the remaining flights, as per CNN.

The main union for the education sector, Snuipp-FSU, said that roughly 70% of primary school teachers were also set to strike across the country. This has caused one in three primary schools in Paris to temporarily close. On the other hand, the Snes-FSU Union noted that roughly 50% of secondary school teachers in France will also join the strike.

In a statement on Wednesday, France's Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that more than 10,000 police and gendarmerie officers will be ordered across France on Thursday to face the protests. Out of all of these law enforcement personnel, about 3,500 will be deployed in Paris.

The French government has defended the planned pension reforms as a book-balancing and progressive policy change that will see the pensions deficit brought to a more manageable level in 2030.

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Planned Pension Reforms

Now, the hardline CGT union has threatened to cut off electricity supplies to lawmakers and billionaires ahead of the planned strike on Thursday. This is the latest development in an increasingly acrimonious showdown between the government and the country's unions, according to Reuters.

The proposed bill was announced last week and seeks to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, a move that, as shown in polls, is opposed by a vast majority of workers who are already facing a cost-of-living crisis.

The planned strike on Thursday is viewed as a test of whether or not unions, who have struggled to convince people to join strikes, can transform their anger into mass social protest. The leader of the CGT, Philippe Martinez, suggested that lawmakers should go see the nice properties of billionaires.

Sebastien Menesplier of the CGT's energy and mine branch has also threatened in recent days to cut electricity among the offices of MPs. In response, government spokesperson Olivier Veran said that the provocations were "unacceptable."

A senior research fellow at the Center for Political Research at SciencesPo in Paris, Luc Rouban, said that retirement is considered sacred. He added that for many people, retirement was like reaching paradise, said the New York Times.

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