Mass flight cancelations heaped fresh misery on European travelers on Tuesday, as the freezing weather that has caused at least 90 deaths on the continent brought chaos to Christmas holiday plans.
Passengers stranded by snow-blocked roads, delayed trains and a three-day suspension of the Eurostar rail service found little relief at airports as icy runways were closed and heavy snow grounded hundreds of flights.
At least 90 people have died in winter storms across Europe where temperatures have plunged to minus 20°C.
PHOTO: EPA
While Eurostar resumed a limited service on Tuesday, EasyJet canceled more than 200 flights because of the “significant snowfall” and airport closures across Europe, while Irish carrier Ryanair grounded about 65 flights.
British Airways also canceled a “small number” of short-haul flights on Tuesday morning, blaming the disruption caused by Monday’s heavy snowfall, which had shut London Gatwick, Britain’s second busiest airport, for several hours.
Germany’s Frankfurt airport, Europe’s third busiest, was closed for about four hours overnight after the runways iced over, stranding about 8,000 people.
London Luton airport was also closed overnight, and although it re-opened many flights were canceled or subject to lengthy delays.
In Italy, Milan’s Malpensa airport was closed in the morning after heavy snowfall.
At Linate airport, which also serves the northern industrial city, passengers spent the night in the terminal after the national carrier Alitalia, which accounts for some 75 percent of the airport’s capacity, canceled all flights.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese