Heavy snow throughout Europe has brought chaos to Europe over the past few days. Britain briefly experienced blizzard conditions and snow after Christmas but few serious incidents occurred and after 3 days most of the country returned to normal. In Germany at least three people were reported dead early evening on Monday after a roof collapse at an ice rink. Heavy snow has been blamed for the collapse which occurred in the town of Bad Reichenhall. There were initial reports of 25 or more injured and dozens missing. Chris Burns, reporting for CNN also reported that there were also reports of an avalanche some 10 km away.
Damage in ‘the millions’ has hit California as floods sweep across northern parts of the state. The heavy rain has swelled river levels north of San Francisco and has created problems for residents. At least 1000 homes and many businesses destroyed by rising river levels according to CNN. In earthquake hit Pakistan, refugees are suffering from low temperatures and heavy snow with little effective relief being supplied by the international community. Despite repeated calls by the UN and Secretary General, Kofi Anaan, aid and money for the grief stricken area has all but dried up. Wildfires have continued to sweep across the outskirts of Sydney Australia and hundreds have been displaced. More than 1000 firefighters have attempted to quell the flames which have destroyed 25,000 acres of farmland in the worst brush fires in a decade.
Europe may find itself in the cold after a recent cut-off of gas to the Ukraine threatened to halt supplies to the west. Several countries, un-named by CNN, have said to have already seen a shortfall of gas supplies since Russia halted the natural gas flow. Russia has accused Kiev’s government of ‘stealing’ fuel, but some analysts have said the action may be a reaction to the so called ‘Orange Revolution’. Russian officials were adamant that Ukraine stole 1 million cubic metres of fuel on the 1st Jan, amounting to $25 million.
Meanwhile oil was on the agenda in Iraq after Ahmed Chalabi took over as interim oil minister. This followed the resignation of another official in the wake of fuel supply problems and price rises. The IMF had partly forced the price increases but had suggested they be implemented gradually. Many fuels stops in Baghdad were reported to have run dry as a tanker driver strike forced Iraq’s biggest oil refinery to close earlier this week. And with continuing violence in the country the future is far from certain. On Monday the Turkish ambassador survived an ambush, and an Iraqi government official was also targeted. Buquba saw another suicide bomb attack which target police recruits on a bus. At least were reported15 dead. Afghanistan did not escape the violence – a suicide bomber killed 1 US soldier and 2 civilians in an attack in the city of Kandahar.
[18:53 GMT 02/01/2006]
No comments:
Post a Comment