French Senate passes pension reform bill despite nationwide protest

The French Senate on Saturday approved the country's pension reform plan, despite the hundreds of thousands of people who have taken to the streets to protest a significant policy change that could define President Emmanuel Macron's second five-year term.

The upper house of the French Parliament adopted the bill by 195 votes to 112, whose headline measure is lifting the retirement age by two years to 64.

A committee will hammer out a final draft, which will then be sent to the Senate and the National Assembly for a final vote, likely on Thursday, local media reported.