Premier Says Strike Won’t Affect Soccer

Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said the government is prepared to intervene in the 6-day-old walkout by pilots of Air France, but he offered no new initiatives on how to end the crippling strike at the state-run airline. The strike has embarrassed France ahead of soccer’s World Cup, which opens Wednesday. Air France is the official World Cup carrier and is committed to transporting the competing teams from one venue to another. But the World Cup will take place “normally,” Jospin said. “We are going to find a lot of airline companies to transport [spectators and players] at the expense of Air France.”