French senate approves raise in retirement age

France's senate today approved raising the retirement age from 60 to 62 even as unions are promising new protests.

The senate adopted the contested article on the basic retirement age in a vote of 186 to 153. The article is part of a sweeping pension reform. The senate is expected to vote on the full reform next week.

Also today, leading French unions announced a new day of nationwide protests for October 16 over the pension changes.

Unions for railway drivers and some other industries are planning open-ended strikes starting October 12.

President Nicolas Sarkozy says the pension system is collapsing under debt. He agreed to some changes to the bill yesterday but is sticking to raising the retirement age.