41.   Meanwhile, negotiations resumed Saturday between the city of Marseille and bus and subway drivers who have continued their crippling strike in the Mediterranean port city.

42.   Negotiators for four isle shipping companies and union dock workers agreed Wednesday to resume contract talks this weekend as the state braces for what could be a crippling strike.

43.   Rejecting a government offer for talks to resolve two years of crippling strikes and violence, opposition activists clashed with police Thursday.

44.   Rail workers protesting government austerity measures and the worst joblessness since World War II made Friday a headache for commuters and threatened more crippling strikes.

45.   The announcement was met with a terse UAW statement that implied more labor problems for the automaker, which settled two crippling strikes last week.

46.   That caused a rift in the government, which feared the specter of crippling strikes in the fall.

47.   The business leaders planned to meet with the president on Tuesday to express their concern about the crippling strike.

48.   The French, meanwhile, braced for another crippling nationwide strike Tuesday.

49.   The government and air traffic controllers reached agreement Monday on a new contract, ending a crippling strike that disrupted flights for the past five weeks.

50.   The opposition parties led a series of crippling strikes to demand that Mrs. Zia quit and have a caretaker government hold parliamentary elections.