in the latest disruption to air transport london gatwick airport was closed
for snow clearance until gmt notably delaying an emergency rescue team
heading for haiti after devastating earthquake there
london heathrow reported the cancellation of mostly short haul inbound and
outbound flights
our airfield team is working round the clock to keep both runways clear but the
threat of further snow and ice at the airport remains the world busiest
international passenger air hub said
london city birmingham cardiff and southampton airports reopened following
closure
there was similar disruption for air travellers in france
in paris percent of all flights from the main charles de gaulle airport were
cancelled due to snow and sleet showers while half of flights were scrapped at
orly
regional airports across france were also forced to close or reduce traffic
because of snow
french road authorities issued ban against heavy commercial road traffic from
midnight until noon on wednesday in eight departments around paris as the winter
storm dumped three to five centimetres of snow across northern france
more than trucks were forced to park west of the capital region
eurostar rail services between britain and continental europe were running
near normal service
two trains from london to brussels one from london to paris and the same
numbers in the opposite directions were not running though customers with
tickets had seats reserved for them on the next train
in britain the federation of small businesses estimated that the bad weather
was costing the economy at least million pounds million dollars
million euros day
small businesses have been particularly hard hit during the recent bad weather
with staff unable to make it to work because of school closures and snowbound
roads said fsb chairman john wright
in germany one of the countries worst hit by the big freeze temperatures were
reaching minus six degrees celsius with fresh snow in the south while some
secondary roads in the north were still blocked
switzerland main publicly owned salt works said that it had turned down new
orders from the snowbound netherlands and germany in order to cater for booming
domestic needs
the situation is so fragile that we can take the risk of delivering abroad
said armin roos sales manager at schweizer rheinsalinen we re running round
the clock
in iberia temperatures were on the rise again in spain but nearly all of
portugal was put on orange alert for high winds and heavy rain expected
wednesday
month of heavy rainfall has seen nearly all the country dam reservoirs fill
up with the alqueva dam reaching its maximum capacity for the first time since
it opened in forming europe biggest artificial lake
parts of balkans have been hit by flooding caused by downpours
in montenegro hippo was found wandering in village of plavnica on lake skadar
after flooding at private zoo led him to escape from his pen
football laws named as new burnley boss
burnley england jan afp
burnley have appointed former sheffield wednesday boss brian laws as their new
manager the club announced on wednesday
laws former burnley player who was sacked by wednesday last month succeeds
owen coyle who quit earlier this month to take over as manager of local premier
league rivals bolton
laws beat off competition from doncaster manager sean driscoll to secure
two and half year contract at turf moor where he will be joined by his
former wednesday assistant russ wilcox
the pair left wednesday last month after the club dropped into the relegation
zone of the second tier championship
graham alexander the club captain will become part of the new management
team after being handed role as player coach
laws takes over at club facing struggle to survive in the premier league in
its first season back in english football top flight since
the club currently th in the table but only two points above the relegation
zone has the smallest budget of any club in the division fact which
influenced coyle decision to move to bolton
laws faces tough task in attempting to build on the foundations laid by coyle
starting with daunting trip to champions manchester united on saturday
but club statement expressed confidence that they had found the right man for
the job
we believe brian will deliver continuity of the culture to which burnley fans
and staff have become accustomed it said as former burnley defender he is
especially familiar with the club the traditions we have and the passion we all
share
the statement also underlined that laws had proved he could operate effectively
with limited finances
the burnley board have been particularly impressed by the way brian
consistently achieved relative success in his former post at sheffield
wednesday while operating with one of the lowest wage and transfer budgets in
the championship
the results of deloitte and touche study delivered at the club request
confirm that he was top of the list of championship managers over the period
in terms of delivering the best results relative to financial
budgets
rugbyu england squad for six nations
london jan afp
england squad announced here wednesday for the six nations rugby union
tournament
backs
delon armitage chris ashton matt banahan danny care mark cueto harry ellis
toby flood ben foden riki flutey shontayne hape dan hipkiss paul hodgson
ugo monye mathew tait jonny wilkinson
forwards
steffon armitage steve borthwick jordan crane tom croft louis deacon nick
easter dylan hartley james haskell courtney lawes lee mears lewis moody
tim payne simon shaw andrew sheridan steve thompson julian white david
wilson
deadliest year for afghan civilians un
kabul jan afp
the number of civilians killed in the afghan war jumped last year to
making the deadliest year for ordinary afghans since the us led invasion
the united nations said wednesday
the vast majority of the dead were killed in taliban attacks the un mission
for afghanistan unama said by comparison civilians were killed in
the intensification and spread of the armed conflict in afghanistan continued
to take heavy toll on civilians throughout the report said
last year was also the deadliest for foreign forces fighting the taliban with
troop deaths up from for the year before as the insurgency has
escalated and spread from the southern provinces where it began soon after the
taliban regime was overthrown in the invasion
the un report said percent of last year civilian deaths or were in
insurgent attacks while pro government forces including nato and us troops were
responsible for percent or civilian deaths last year
the un had earlier reported that deaths in taliban attacks accounted for
percent of deaths or but told reporters in briefing the figure had
been revised downwards
the un revised upwards the number of civilians killed in violence not
attributable to the conflicting parties to from
was the worst year in recent times for civilians affected by the armed
conflict the report said adding unama hr human rights recorded the
highest number of civilian casualties since the fall of the taliban regime in
civilian deaths caused by western troops fell percent last year compared to
the year before it said attributing the drop to measures taken specifically to
protect civilians
commander of the foreign forces in afghanistan us general stanley mcchrystal
has made minimising civilian deaths and injuries central tenet of his counter
insurgency strategy and has ordered reduced air strikes as one way of achieving
this objective
the un report said the change in nato forces command structure specific steps
to minimize civilian casualties and new tactical directive by the force
contributed to the reduction in non combatant deaths
civilian casualties are source of tension between the afghan government of
president hamid karzai and the international forces fighting the insurgency
karzai uses the issue to press home his authority draw support for his
unpopular government while criticising the tactics of the foreign forces
recent incidents such as the deaths of civilians including eight teenagers
in eastern kunar province in an authorised but non military us operation have
seen afghans take to the streets to protest the presence of foreign troops
while taliban influence has been spreading to previously peaceful areas and
now has footprint across percent of the country according to the london
based international council on security and development the un said
percent of deaths were in the south where the insurgency is concentrated
another percent occurred in eastern western and central afghanistan it
said noting that the conflict has intensified and spread into areas that
were previously considered relatively secure
most of the civilians killed by pro government forces afghan national
security forces and the international troops leading the fight died in air
strikes usually conducted by nato and the us in support of ground operations
international military forces and afghan security forces also conducted
number of ground operations that caused civilian casualties including large
number of search and seizure operations the report said
these often involved excessive use of force destruction to property and
cultural insensitivity particularly towards women it said
more than foreign troops in afghanistan are fighting the insurgents
under us and nato command another are being deployed this year
africa asia eclipse set to kick off astronomers year
paris jan afp
for half the world the sun will be briefly reduced to blazing ring
surrounding sombre disk on friday when an annular eclipse races from central
africa to eastern asia astronomers say
the solar coverup visible in roughly kilometre mile band running
kms miles will at one point set duration record that will be
unbeaten for more than thousand years
an annular eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly in front of the sun but
does not completely obscure it thus leaving ring an annulus of sunlight
flaring around the lunar disk
according to nasa eclipse website
http eclipse gsfc nasa gov semono ase ase html the moon shadow
will strike the southwestern tip of chad and western central african republic at
gmt and then flit across uganda kenya and somalia
its path then leads across the indian ocean where the duration of annularity
at gmt will be minutes eight seconds making it the longest annular
eclipse of the rd millennium says nasa
only on december will this record be beaten
the lunar umbra or shadow then zips across bangladesh india myanmar and
china before expiring in the shandong peninsula at gmt
people in broader path of the shadow which includes eastern europe most of
africa asia and indonesia will see partial eclipse
it will be the last annular solar eclipse for months
compared to other years the number of eclipses in is meagre although they
provide an interesting mix for watchers the us magazine sky amp telescope
says in its january issue
apart from friday event the only coverup of the sun this year will take place
on july when total eclipse will cross the pacific visible notably from
easter island one of the world remotest inhabited locations
total eclipses occur because of an unusual trick of celestial geometry
the sun is times wider than the moon but it is also times farther away
because of the symmetry the umbra for those on the planetary surface is
exactly wide enough to cover the face of the sun
the orbits of the earth and moon are not completely circular though tiny
differences in distance explain why some eclipses are complete and others leave
thin ring of sunlight
on december solstice day there will be total lunar eclipse in
which the full moon will be covered completely by earth shadow for the first
time in three years according to sky amp telescope
pope meets christmas eve assailant who says sorry
vatican city jan afp
young woman who charged at pope benedict xvi at the start of christmas eve
mass knocking him to the floor in st peter basilica apologised to the
pontiff on wednesday the vatican said
susanna maiolo in brief private meeting with benedict apologised for what
happened the vatican said in communique for his part the pope wanted to
show her his forgiveness
maiolo stunned pilgrims on december when she leapt over security
barricade and dragged the year old pontiff to the floor
the pope was unhurt in the attack
maiolo received mandatory pyschiatric treatment under vatican city law and was
released on saturday
the holy see is proceeding with its prosecution of the young woman the
communique said
vatican spokesman federico lombardi told afp last month that the sovereign city
state justice system tended towards leniency
the christmas eve mass is one of the few occasions when tourists and pilgrims
can get close to the pontiff
the vatican said security prevented the woman from carrying out similar
manoeuvre on the same occasion year ago
two us soldiers among seven killed in afghan violence
kabul jan afp
two us soldiers and five afghans were killed in bomb blasts in afghanistan on
wednesday as the un reported the deadliest year yet for war weary civilians
caught in spiralling taliban led insurgency
also wednesday suicide truck bomb rocked southern afghan town injuring
several people day after at least nine people died in violence at protest
against an alleged desecration of the koran by foreign forces police said
the two us soldiers assigned to the nato international security assistance
force isaf were killed in home made bomb explosion in eastern afghanistan
the force said without giving the exact location
two isaf service members from the united states were killed today as result
of an ied improvised explosive device strike in eastern afghanistan the
force said in statement
the deaths took to the number of foreign forces killed in afghanistan since
the start of the year according to an afp tally based on that kept by the
independent icasualties org website
four afghan military engineers and civilian were killed meanwhile when
bomb device they were trying to defuse went off in the eastern province of
khost said zahir wardak senior military official
in southern kandahar province hub of taliban activity militant detonated
truck bomb near government installations in daman district injuring three
police and as many civilians the interior ministry said
the bomber apparently tried to enter the district headquarters but failed for
some reason and instead exploded outside the gate sardar mohammad zazai the
kandahar provincial police chief told afp
civilians are increasingly being caught in the crossfire of the afghan war the
united nations said in report on wednesday with killed in the
highest toll since the us led invasion in late
this is up percent from the civilians who died in and the vast
majority of the dead were killed in taliban attacks the un mission for
afghanistan unama said in its report
unama head of human rights norah niland said percent of last year
civilian deaths or were in insurgent attacks while pro government
forces including nato and us troops were responsible for percent or
civilian deaths
the deadliest months were august with deaths and september with she
told reporters
the good news is that in part the number of casualties is not keeping pace
with warfare incidents niland said referring to an escalation in fighting
as the insurgency has spread its shadow across the country
nato had reduced the number of air strikes in residential areas and the figures
of casualties as result of air strikes has come down significantly she said
but an influx of foreign troops over the course of as new counter
insurgency strategy takes hold meant much more warfare and that bad news for
afghan civilians niland said
civilian casualties are source of tension between the afghan government of
president hamid karzai and the international forces fighting the insurgency
karzai uses the issue to press home his authority draw support for his
unpopular government while criticising the tactics of the foreign forces
the report release comes day after at least nine people were reported killed
in protest in southern helmand province garmsir district
violence erupted on tuesday over rumours that nato led forces had defiled copy
of the koran during military operation
eight protesters were killed when the protesters attacked national security
officials in garmsir deputy provincial police chief kamaluddin khan told afp
the shooting of the protesters occurred after an afghan guard outside nearby
building was killed by gunfire from the demonstrators side he said
nato said it had no information confirming the civilian deaths but that it was
investigating the incident along with afghan security officials
the force however said it shot dead an insurgent sniper who shot an afghan
official on the military base at the time
the us and nato have troops leading the fight against the taliban with
another being deployed over the course of this year
majority of icelanders to say no in icesave referendum poll
reykjavik jan afp
majority of icelanders would vote no in referendum on bill to compensate
britain and the netherlands over the failure of icesave bank poll published
by public broadcaster ruv showed
the capacent gallup poll which questioned people from january to
suggests that percent of icelanders would vote against the icesave bill in
referendum to be held by the latest on march
some percent would approve the bill and five percent said they would not
vote out of all those polled percent accepted to answer the questions
however only percent said they wanted referendum on the hugely unpopular
deal percent saying they would instead prefer new negotiations with the two
countries
icelandic foreign minister ossur skarphedinsson said tuesday he hoped to reopen
talks with britain and the netherlands on plan to compensate them warning
that the proposal was likely to be rejected by icelandic voters in referendum
the icesave bill was approved by parliament on december but icelandic
president olafur ragnar grimsson refused to sign it and instead put it to
referendum citing public opposition to the controversial deal
the bill provided for the payment of billion euros billion dollars to
the british and dutch governments for compensating account holders from their
countries who lost their savings when the online icesave bank collapsed during
iceland financial crisis in october
asked how they felt about the president decision not to sign the bill
percent of those polled said they agreed percent disagreed and percent
did not have an opinion
those figures showed an increase in the support for the president position
which was at percent in poll run january and
after parliament approved the bill more than icelanders or about
quarter of the electorate signed petition protesting against the bill on
fears that the deal would doom the country of just to poverty for
decades
trial for australian tourist fatal beating begins in greece
athens jan afp
four greek nightclub staff accused of fatally beating young australian tourist
year ago went on trial wednesday on the aegean island of lesbos judicial
source said
year old club bouncer has been charged with voluntary homicide and three
other staff have been charged as accessories in the death of year old doujon
zammit who was badly beaten outside the tropicana club on the popular holiday
island of mykonos last july
we are putting our faith and trust in the greek justice system and its lovely
people who have supported us so far to send out the right message that this is
not greek behaviour that these men have shown zammit father oliver told
reporters on lesbos
and this behaviour is not going to be tolerated and accepted and they will be
punished for what they did he said
the family will be seeking conviction for all four defendants their lawyer
alexis kougias told reporters
fifth suspect who was underage at the time will be tried by minors court
zammit was one of six australians caught up in the incident
they were suspected by bouncers of having stolen bags and wallets in the
nightclub an accusation later dismissed by police
after the attack zammit was taken to hospital in critical condition but later
died after his life support was turned off with his father approval
the case shocked greece both over the brutality of the attack and over the
subsequent stance of oliver zammit who praised greeks as good people
hundreds of mykonos residents later gathered at the island harbour to denounce
the killing
oliver zammit donated his son heart kidneys liver and lungs to four people
including year old greek australian
the red cross hospital where zammit died later decided to give his name to one
of its intensive care units
one child killed by nw pakistan playground bomb police
pesawar pakistan jan afp
bomb mistaken for toy killed one child and wounded five others wednesday at
playground near northwest pakistan taliban stronghold of south waziristan
police said
the blast took place in the town of tank which sits about kilometres
miles east of the lawless tribal belt that runs along the afghan border and has
become sanctuary for taliban and al qaeda linked militants
some children were playing at playground and blast took place in nearby
garbage heap killing one child and wounding five others tank police chief
ejaz abid told afp
children found toy from the garbage heap and when they were playing with it
it exploded he added
sadaqat paracha told afp by telephone that he was playing cricket with his
friends and went to fetch the ball from the corner of the playground when he
found ball of steel on the pile of rubbish
threw the ball towards the other children and as soon as it hit the ground
an explosion occurred and received wounds on my foot forehead and shoulder
paracha said from hospital
sheeraz ahmed another child said that the bomb looked like steel football
as soon as the ball touched the ground it exploded
local police official mohammad ali khan confirmed the toll and said bomb
disposal experts were at the scene
the child who died in the blast is nine years old and the wounded are between
five and twelve years old ali said
pakistan has in recent months seen wave of deadly bombings blamed on taliban
insurgents avenging multiple military offensives against them across the
northwest including an ambitious assault into south waziristan
on january suicide bomber killed people when he rammed car packed
with explosives into crowd of men women and children watching volleyball
match at village in lakki marwat district also close to south waziristan
blasts caused by mines and other unexploded ordnance have also been reported in
the past in tank district which unlike the semi autonomous tribal areas is part
of the north west frontier province and under direct government control
suicide and bomb attacks blamed on the taliban and al qaeda linked militants
have killed more than people in pakistan since july
the northwest has suffered the brunt of the militant campaign with suicide
bombings increasingly targeting civilians at least people were killed in
car bomb in october at packed market in the provincial capital peshawar
as our area borders south waziristan we cannot rule out the involvement of
taliban militants said abid but added that investigations were ongoing
safety violations reported at jetstar pacific airlines
hanoi jan afp
top managers at vietnamese budget airline jetstar pacific jpa part owned by
australia qantas violated maintenance regulations vietnamese regulators say
in report obtained wednesday
the civil aviation administration of vietnam caav said the three officials
made mistakes in monitoring maintenance work and had not fulfilled jpa
commitment to safety
it identified the managers as former general director luong hoai nam and two
foreigners who headed the airline maintenance and technical quality sections
it did not say where the foreigners were from
key jpa executives have to take responsibility for these systematic mistakes
the caav said
hanoi police arrested nam last week for alleged neglect of responsibility in the
performance of his duty causing serious consequences local media reports
said
he resigned from his post late last year they said
jpa is percent owned by australia qantas group according to the airline
website which says the carrier was known as pacific airlines until may
its largest shareholder is the vietnamese government
caav deputy director lai xuan thanh said jpa had made numerous mistakes which
put flights at risk according to the official vietnam news agency
in its report the caav said it discovered several problems including those with
maintenance equipment efficiency of the maintenance system and training of
technicians
it said it issued five maintenance related fines to jpa in and
recommended that urgent measures be implemented
but reality showed that jpa did not fully implement regulations of the
authorities the caav report said
no one at the airline could be reached for comment
local media have not clearly explained the alleged neglect which led to the
arrest of former general director nam but the people police newspaper
reported jpa lost over million dollars related to aviation fuel purchases
in addition to the three jpa staff members referred to in the caav report two
executives have been ordered not to leave vietnam as they help authorities
explain how jpa lost million dollars in fuel hedging according to qantas
the two executives jpa chief operating officer and chief financial officer
had done nothing wrong qantas chief executive alan joyce said friday
france sends aid planes to haiti
paris jan afp
president nicolas sarkozy expressed his deep emotion wednesday after huge
quake rocked haiti as france said it was sending two planes with rescuers and
humanitarian aid to the stricken state
the president said in statement that he also expressed his solidarity with the
people of haiti and with the un personnel who were seriously affected by the
earthquake
cooperation minister alain joyandet said france was sending plane from the
nearby french caribbean island of martinique with police and rescuers and
hospital staff and another from marseille in southern france with people on
board
joyandet aides told afp that the minister who is responsible for foreigh aid
himself planned to visit haiti on saturday
two small casa transport planes were also being sent from martinique to haiti
where around french nationals live officials said
the french humanitarian group medecins sans frontieres msf said it was
treating around people in its centres in port au prince and that it would on
wednesday send bed inflatable field hospital
the group employs expatriates and more than locals in haiti
medecins du monde another french aid group that operates in haiti said it was
sending extra staff and was chartering plane to transport tonnes of
equipment and medical supplies to the stricken country
the strongest earthquake to hit haiti in more than century rocked the
impoverished caribbean nation tuesday toppling buildings and triggering fears
that thousands have been killed in widespread destruction
tennis dementieva downs safina to reach sydney semis
sydney jan afp
elena dementieva remained on course to defend her sydney international title
with convincing win over world number two dinara safina in an all
russian quarter final on wednesday
in night match delayed by rain fifth seed dementieva continued her dominance
over safina with wins in their last four encounters including last year
sydney final
dementieva will now face sixth seed victoria azarenka of belarus in thursday
semis
tonight dinara had slow start but was ready for the game and ready for the
fight dementieva said
she big girl so she big hitter you have to be ready for her to be
very aggressive on the court sometimes you have to play defensive
she never gives up and she was pretty tough in the second set after losing such
an easy first set
earlier world number one serena williams tossed aside russian vera dushevina
making it just seven games she has dropped on her way to the last four
of the sydney tournament
williams strong favourite to lift her fifth australian open crown and her th
grand slam takes on world number aravane rezai of france in the other semi
final
rezai won her third match of the tournament against italian flavia pennetta
on wednesday
in the bottom half of the draw azarenka went through to the semi finals after
beating slovak dominika cibulkova
definitely enjoy playing in the heat williams said of melbourne home to
the open usually enjoy playing in the heat live in florida so it all
about hot weather there
so think maybe that one of the reasons why do so well down here
the past couple of times won it been extremely hot so expect the same
temperatures again
asked during her post match press conference how close she was to her best form
williams said always try to get there usually around the semi finals and
finals of the grand slams
just doing the best that can now to get there hopefully have long
way to go which think is always good
williams said she was expecting her toughest match of the week against rezai
haven played her but know her game she said played her in doubles
and sister venus has played her before
she good player and she really young she has lot of drive think she
can be really good it ll definitely be my toughest match yet
azarenka had to again work hard to stay alive in the tournament taking two
hours minutes to extinguish the challenge of the th ranked cibulkova
so far azarenka has been taken to three sets in all her three matches at the
tournament
football laws named as new burnley boss
burnley england jan afp
burnley have appointed former sheffield wednesday boss brian laws as their new
manager the club announced on wednesday
