LAHORE, Pakistan — A senior official said today that Benazir Bhutto will remain under house arrest for at least another day, while the Bush administration was sending its No. 2 diplomat to Pakistan to urge President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to rescind emergency rule.

Authorities put Bhutto under house arrest on Tuesday for the second time in a week.

Bhutto said Tuesday that she was working to forge a partnership with Nawaz Sharif, the man overthrown as prime minister in a 1999 coup by Musharraf. She demanded that Musharraf step down, dashing Western hopes that the two moderate leaders would form an alliance to confront strengthening Islamic extremists.

Bhutto's call, which could see Pakistan's two main opposition parties joining, raised a new threat for Musharraf, a key U.S. ally.

PARIS — Striking transit workers slowed France to a crawl today, taking on President Nicolas Sarkozy in a pivotal standoff over his bid to strip away labor protections he says are stifling growth.As Paris commuters snaked through traffic on children's scooters and university students blockaded classes to protest Sarkozy's reforms, the key question was how long the strikers would hold out against the determined president.Unlike the scattered strikes that have long dogged France, this labor action is a decisive test of Sarkozy's campaign promise to make the country more competitive. Sarkozy has made this a personal fight to prove that France is reformable, and if he triumphs, the long-powerful trade unions may be deeply scarred.The strikes started Tuesday night when the SNCF rail authority halted service on most of its lines. Many railroads around the country stood empty today, with just 90 of 700 trains running. Unions are protesting plans to raise the retirement age for some 500,000 public sector workers.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Khieu Samphan, the former Khmer Rouge head of state whose arrest by a U.N.-backed genocide tribunal has been widely expected, was flown by helicopter to the capital for medical treatment after suffering a stroke, his daughter said today.Family members said Khieu Samphan was stricken Tuesday, just a day after two of his colleagues from the brutal Khmer Rouge regime were arrested by the tribunal.Prime Minister Hun Sen told reporters he had dispatched a helicopter to Pailin in northwestern Cambodia to bring Khieu Samphan to Phnom Penh where his health will be closely monitored. The former Khmer Rouge leader's daughter, Khieu Rattana, confirmed his arrival.The 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime was blamed for the deaths of some 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution. None of the group's leaders has yet faced trial.

LONDON — Boy George was charged Tuesday with falsely imprisoning a 28-year-old man, British police said.The 46-year-old former Culture Club frontman, whose real name is George O'Dowd, has been ordered to appear before a court Nov. 22.A message was left with O'Dowd's spokesman seeking comment.The Sun newspaper reported in April that a Norwegian man, Auden Karlsen, claimed he was chained and threatened at O'Dowd's London apartment, where he had gone as a photo model.