Mr Linstead released the strike notice

England have

Hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers face flight delays and cancellations after pilots threatened to strike over hijack fears.

The International Federation of Air Line Pilots Associations (IFALPA) has called a 24-hourstoppageand accused governments of failing to take action to halt air piracy.

British Air Line Pilots Association spokesman (BALPA), Gordon Hurley, said hijacking was on the increase, and striking was the "only effective way of dealing with it".

"Until governments take the matter seriously and make airports secure and stop this hijacking, this menace, this piracy, this is the only alternative we have," he said.

Three basic demands

BALPA's vice chairman, Jack Linstead, said he was issuing a strike notice reluctantly, but added that it was a reflection of the pilots' strength of feeling on the issue.

The strike ballot had returned "a very clear mandate to take industrial action," he said, adding that there was still time for the dispute to be resolved.

IFALPA wants governments across the world to fulfil three basic demands.

These are: to increase international airport security; to adopt the International Civil Aviation Organisation's convention against air hijacking; and to speed up the pace of ratification of other anti-hijacking conventions.

German soldiers parade through the Place de la Concorde

French troops withdrew to avoid a violent battle and total destruction of Paris. They are believed to have taken a new line of defence south of the city.

The Germans advanced from the north-east and north-west and shortly afterwards tanks rumbled past the Arc de Triomphe down the Champs Elysees to the Place de la Concorde.

Government retreats

All shops and businesses in Paris have been closed and shuttered and there are unconfirmed reports the French government has now left Tours, in central France, and gone further south to Bordeaux.

The enemy has been advancing toward Paris since they took Dunkirk ten days ago, forcing a huge evacuation of the port, resulting in thousands of allied deaths and casualties.

As the Germans approached, the French premier Paul Reynaud broadcast an appeal for all free men to come to the aid of France.

British troops arrived south of Paris and began fighting, with their French counterparts, day and night to stem the advance of the Germans.

The RAF has spent the past few days bombing German convoys, supplycolumns, mechanised units and lines of communications.

All the bridges behind enemy lines from Rouen to Mantes have been destroyed by the RAF to stop the enemy bringing up material and reserves.

German aircraft responded with air raids east of Paris and at Evreux and Mantes, west of the capital.

stoppage:the act of stopping;a halt（中止；停工）

column:aformation, as of troops or vehicles, in which all elements follow one behind the other（縱隊(duì)）