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Strikes by German pilot and cabin crew unions force Lufthansa to cancel flights

BERLIN (AP) — One-day strikes by unions representing pilots and cabin crew at Lufthansa caused a wave of flight cancelations Thursday at Germany’s biggest airline.

Lufthansa criticized the walkouts as disproportionate but said it expects to offer a largely normal flight program Friday.

Lufthansa said the strikes called by the Vereinigung Cockpit and UFO unions led to extensive cancelations, but didn’t give a specific figure. The departures board at the airline’s main Frankfurt hub suggested most of its flights from there Thursday morning were canceled.

The airline said it was trying to rebook passengers onto flights by partner airlines and other companies from the Lufthansa group, which includes airlines such as Swiss, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines.

The two unions called for the 24-hour walkouts on Tuesday.

Vereinigung Cockpit called for walkouts on flights departing from Germany in a dispute over the pension system for pilots at the airline and its Lufthansa Cargo unit.

UFO called for members to strike on flights departing Frankfurt and Munich and flights by the Lufthansa Cityline unit in a dispute over its demand for negotiations on various issues.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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