Bloomberg Some Electricite de France (EDF) workers joined strikes at oil refineries, cutting power output, as the government vowed not to back down revising a labour law and businesses warned of economic damage if the protests continued. “What are the alternatives – a withdrawal of the text? That’s impossible,” Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Thursday on RMC radio. …

  Berlin / AFP Germany’s finance minister on Thursday voiced backing for the French government’s labour reforms that have sparked crippling strikes, saying France was capable of withstanding such social opposition. “France is obviously not unreformable,” Wolfgang Schaeuble told journalists, adding that President Francois Hollande “is right” to champion the reforms. He shrugged off the impact of the strikes that have …

  Bloomberg Former Mayor of London Boris Johnson, a campaigner for Britain to leave the European Union in next month’s referendum, needs to be re-educated about the way the 28-nation bloc works, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Thursday at the Group of Seven summit in central Japan. Asked about Johnson’s comments linking the bloc to Adolf Hitler and …