Hellos :D


♥ Wednesday, April 28


Singaporeans are simply obsessed with eating. For the best food, they will queue endlessly, they will traverse the island, and they will eat at all hours. Many have been known to come back after migrating simply because they miss their favorite foods. Much of it is humble but insanely delicious street fare found in food centers and coffee shops throughout the island.


1. Chicken rice
It’s everywhere -- at hawker stalls, food courts, luxury hotels and even at the zoo, but Singaporeans just can’t get enough of it. Chicken rice is often called the “national dish” of Singapore. Steamed or boiled chicken is served atop fragrant oily rice, with sliced cucumber as the token vegetable. Variants include roasted chicken or soy sauce chicken. Don’t miss out on the dipping sauces -- premium dark soy sauce, chili with garlic, and pounded ginger. Play around with different combinations to discover new tastes.

If you are put off by perpetual queues at legendary Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice (Stall 10, Maxwell Food Centre), you can dine in air-conditioned comfort instead at Boon Tong Kee.

Singapore food porn: Exotic hawker fare from around the world – on CNNGo .

2. Char kway teow
There is no stopping Singaporeans from indulging in this high-fat hawker favorite. Flat rice noodles stir-fried with lard (for best flavor), dark and light soy sauce, chilli, de-shelled cockles, sliced Chinese sausage, bean sprouts, Chinese chives and sometimes prawns and egg. Essential to the dish is good “wok hei” or breath of wok, the qualities and tastes imparted by cooking on a wok using high heat. Many now choose to omit the cockles but char kway teow will always be incomplete without the sinfully rich fried pork lard pieces.

One of the island’s best char kway teow is at a humble hawker center in the east. Hill Street Fried Kway Teow at Block 16, Bedok South Road, #01-187. tel +65 9042 131. .

3. Wonton or Wantan mee
The name “wonton” literally means "swallowing of cloud" in Cantonese. Indeed, the dumplings with their flowy translucent skins resemble wispy clouds when suspended in soup. Most Singaporeans prefer the dry version of the noodles. Wonton noodles look simple but the perfect one is elusive. The thin egg noodles need to be of the right texture, the sauce has to be well-balanced, and the pork or shrimp dumplings ought to be juicy and meaty. At many places, you’ll find the sliced char siew (Chinese BBQ pork) is often papery dry and red with artificial dye but that hardly deters fans of the dish who seem to prize the noodles and dumplings.

Try the cult favourite Hong Mao Wonton Mee but note they open early and close early (7am to 4pm, closed Mondays) and there is at least a half-hour wait. 128 Tembeling Road.

CNNGo lists 40 Hong Kong foods we can't live without .

4. Carrot cake (chai tow kuay)
No, not the sweet Western cake loaded with orange carrots. This "carrot" is more of a white radish (daikon). Rice flour and grated radish is mixed and steamed into large slabs or cakes. These are cut up into little pieces and fried with preserved turnip, soy sauce, fish sauce, eggs, garlic and spring onions. It’s amazingly good. You can have it “white” or “black” (with sweet dark soy sauce added). Also known as fried carrot cake or chye tow kueh, this grease-laden belly warmer is available at many hawker centers.

Look for old stalwart Heng Carrot Cake at Stall 28, Newton Food Centre, Newton Circus Road.
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5. Chili crab
Another national signature, chili crab is one of the most requested dishes for anyone who comes to Singapore. There are more than a dozen ways to do crab (black pepper, salted egg yolk, cheese-baked, etc) but chili crab remains the bestseller. It’s certainly not something to be consumed daintily. The spicy chili-tomato gravy tends to splatter, but crab enthusiasts love it so much, they’ll mop everything up with mini mantou buns.

Roland Restaurant claims to be the creator of the dish. They are at Block 89 Marine Parade Central #06-750, tel +65 6440 8205. .

6. Bak kut tehBak kut teh, meaning "pork rib tea" is most likely of Hokkien or Fujian origin, NOT FROM MALAYSIA. Meaty pork ribs are lovingly boiled for hours with lots of garlic, pepper, medicinal herbs and spices. Early 20th century port coolies often relied on this as a tonic to strengthen bodies and health. These days, bak kut teh is simply enjoyed for its taste. There are two styles -- the clear, peppery Teochew broth and the darker, more herbal Hokkien stew. You tiao (fried crullers) are the perfect croutons for soaking up the soup, and a hot pot of Chinese tea (ideally Tieguanyin) helps dissolve or wash down the fats ever present in the meaty ribs.

For the Teochew variety, try Ng Ah Sio Pork Ribs Eating House at 208 Rangoon Road, tel +65 6291 4537. For the Hokkien version, try Sin Heng Claypot Bak Kut Teh at 439 Joo Chiat Road, tel +65 6345 8754.

CNNGo finds the best meat restaurants in Singapore
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7. Sambal stingray
Singaporeans love their seafood and they love their spices. Sambal is a versatile chili paste blended with spices, shallots, candlenuts and often belachan (fermented shrimp paste). Sambal-coated cuts of stingray are wrapped in cleaned banana leaves and grilled to smoky perfection. The sweet, tender flesh is a perfect canvas for all the complex spices and BBQ flavor.

Check out award-winning Leng Heng Seafood BBQ and enjoy your BBQ by the sea. Stall No. 6, East Coast Lagoon Food Centre, East Coast Lagoon Road. .

8. Fried Hokkien mee
Yet another dish favored by hardworking laborers of the past. Thick yellow egg noodles mixed with rice vermicelli are cooked in a rich seafood stock, and tossed with prawns, squid, small strips of pork belly and deep-fried lard pieces. A small kalamansi lime is always given should you prefer some tangy juice to cut through the greasiness of the dish.

Tian Tian Lai (Come Daily) is practically an institution, and deserves its hype. Come to Block 127 Toa Payoh Lorong 1 #02-27, tel +65 6251 8542.
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9. Rojak
Rojak is actually a Malay word used to describe something made from a random mix of unrelated things. But any derogatory undertones are erased when one refers to the fruit salad that bears the same name. Rojak does have an odd mixture of ingredients. Bite-size pieces of fruits, vegetables, dried tofu, fried you tiao (dough fritters) and cured cuttlefish are tossed in a prawn paste sauce topped with crushed peanuts. Grated bunga kantan (pink ginger buds) add a sensuous fragrance. The result is a wild mix of sweet, spicy, sour and savory flavors.

HK-Hollywood superstar Chow Yun Fat is a fan of Balestier Road Hoover Rojak. The rojak here has jellyfish instead of cured cuttlefish. Block 90 Whampoa Drive, #01-06 Whampoa Drive Food Centre. .

10. Bak kwa
This chewy snack is like salty-sweet BBQ jerky. Bak kwa (dried meat) is made from pork although now halal versions made from chicken exist. These squarish BBQ meat sheets are popular as gifts for friends and relatives at Chinese New Year. Throngs will form at shops despite elevated prices. Bak kwa can be eaten on its own, with bread or with homecooked food.

The king of bak kwa is undisputedly Lim Chee Guan at 203 New Bridge Road, tel +65 6227 8302. Or try Bee Cheng Hiang’s spicy pork at its 28 outlets islandwide.

4/9 '10 loves x3 8:13 PM

♥ Thursday, April 22


SINGAPORE, April 21, 2010 (AFP) – Singapore Airlines said it had resumed a full service to Europe "with immediate effect" Wednesday after authorities there reopened airspace, which had been shut down due to a volcanic ash cloud.

The airline also said it had lost an estimated 40 million Singapore dollars (29 million US) due to cancellations and disruption since the shutdown on April 15.

Hotel accommodation, meals and other expenses for affected customers in Singapore and overseas cost the carrier another 10 million dollars.

"With the reopening of European airspace, Singapore Airlines is returning to a full European flight operation with immediate effect," the carrier said in a statement.

"Customers already booked on scheduled flights to and from Europe will now be able to travel as planned."

The airline operates an average 25 flights daily to Europe.

4/9 '10 loves x3 12:23 AM

♥ Wednesday, April 21


SINGAPORE : The travel nightmare in the wake of the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud is easing, as airlines have started operating flights to selected airports in Europe.

Three flights by Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Lufthansa flew out of Changi Airport on Tuesday morning.

SIA said another seven flights will depart later Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.

Travellers arriving on the first flight into Singapore from Athens on Tuesday morning were visibly relieved, as some had made a big detour just to get home.

"The only two airports that appeared to be open were Rome and Athens. So I took the train from Milan to Rome, and was able to get a flight from Rome to Athens, (stayed) overnight there and got home," said one passenger.

Airlines said they are waiting for the go—ahead from more airports in Europe to open and may be looking at increasing the number of flights.

"We will be looking to mount flights as soon as we can, and where we can, (to) operate additional services and/or use larger aircraft (so as) to be able to cater to the customers who are still here," said Nicholas Ionides, VP of Public Affairs at Singapore Airlines.

"Last night, about 600 passengers were able to return to Europe and to their destinations. And we expect full flights for the entire week. A backlog of maybe about 1,000 passengers are now on Lufthansa only. And we’re waiting for permission to fly an additional two flights on Wednesday, out of Singapore as well," said Ume Mueller, VP (Asia Pacific), Lufthansa German Airlines.

And the news cannot come any sooner for those who are running out of options.

For some passengers who have ran out of money and have no where to go, Changi Airport has stepped in to offer assistance. 36 KLM and Air France passengers are currently being put up at the Changi Airport Recreation Club, and they have been provided with inflatable mattresses, shower facilities and food.

"There isn’t a huge amount of privacy, but we cannot complain. I know of people who are in Thailand... and they have been robbed in the airports while they’ve been sleeping on the floors of terminals... We’ve got comfort and we’ve got a support network here which has been wonderful," said Sophie Harris, an Air France passenger.

And things are looking up for travellers, as Air France is flying to Paris on Tuesday night. — CNA /ls

4/9 '10 loves x3 10:00 PM

♥ Tuesday, April 20


By Peter Griffiths

LONDON - European airports slowly started to return to life on Tuesday after five days cut off from the world due to a huge ash cloud, but some airspace stayed closed after reports a new plume from Iceland may be on its way.

Italy, Switzerland and France reopened their airports early on Tuesday though many flights remained cancelled, and in Italy only a handful took off in the morning, mainly domestic flights. Hungary, Slovenia and Moldova also resumed flights.

But Britain's National Air Traffic Service, which controls UK airspace, said much of Britain's airspace would remain closed to flights below 20,000 feet at the earliest after air traffic controllers warned a new ash cloud was headed for major air routes.

It said it would make another statement around 1400 GMT.

The European Union, which announced on Monday that its members had reached a deal to reduce the size of the no-fly zone from 0600 GMT on Tuesday, acknowledged that progress was slow.

"We know there are still a lot of problems for passengers on the ground," spokeswoman for the executive European Commission Helen Kearns told a briefing.

"We are faced with an unprecedented crisis. The disruption will continue over the week."

Germany said it would maintain its no-fly zone until 1800 GMT, with exceptions. Finland and parts of Sweden and Norway were also closed.

But some airlines were taking advantage of the exceptions to fly. Flag carrier Lufthansa, for example, was flying on sight, which does not require air traffic control approval, to destinations like Seoul, New York and Lagos.

"We are operating about 200 flights today. That is the bulk of our long-haul flights, and domestic and European routes are significantly expanded today," said spokeswoman Claudia Lange.

Under Monday's EU agreement, which followed enormous pressure from airlines losing an estimated $250 million a day, flights may be permitted in areas with a lower concentration of ash, subject to local assessments and scientific advice.

But exactly how national authorities would split European airspace into areas where aircraft could fly or not was not clear, and many countries were adopting a cautious approach.

Poland, which had reopened four airports on Monday, closed them again on Tuesday, as well as shutting the northern part of its airspace to transit flights.

A handful of flights took off from Scottish airports after the restrictions were eased. However, a Glasgow airport spokesman said it would close from 1200 GMT until further notice because of the spreading ash cloud.

"It's really just Scottish domestic flights, maybe a couple of international ones, there's one going to Iceland -- yes, it's ironic, isn't it?" said Glasgow airport information officer Steven Boyle.

MAKING THE BEST OF IT

The unprecedented disaster has stranded millions of people at the end of the busy Easter holiday season and one analyst estimated it could end up costing global passenger airlines and cargo companies as much as $3 billion.

Many travellers have spent the past five days desperately trying to get home for school or work by road, rail and sea.

British businessman Chris Thomas, trying to get home from Los Angeles since Thursday, flew to Mexico City and then aimed to fly to Madrid and spend $2,000 to rent a car for the 14-hour drive to Paris. He was booked on the Eurostar Channel tunnel train to London, and then planned to drive four hours to Wales.

"It's all a bit crazy but you have to err on the side of caution," Thomas said. "Nobody wants to be on the first plane to go down in a volcanic cloud."

Gillian and Craig Robertson from Kilmarnoch in Scotland were stranded in southern Turkey with their four-year-old son Jack and would likely miss a family wedding. Robertson said he feared for his family-run business.

"We're in construction -- housebuilding," he told Reuters. "So we've already been hit hard by the recession. With this on top, it's dreadful. This is sink or swim for us."

Others were making the best of a bad business.

"There are much worse places than that to be stuck so we had a pretty good time," said a visitor to Paris who only gave his name as Gabriel. He arrived last Tuesday and was supposed to fly back to New York on Friday.

"Not knowing when you would get back, that was a problem," he said at Orly airport. "Otherwise we made the best of it, had great food and great wine."

Britain was deploying three navy ships, including an aircraft carrier, to bring its citizens home from continental Europe. The British travel agents' association ABTA estimated 150,000 Britons were stranded abroad. Washington said it was trying to help 40,000 Americans stuck in Britain.

A British embassy official said on Tuesday the HMS Albion was in the northern Spanish port of Santander where it would collect 450 British soldiers and around 250 British nationals.

MORE ASH ON ITS WAY?

Britain's NATS said in an overnight statement that the volcano eruption was strengthening and a new ash cloud was spreading south and east towards Britain.

"This demonstrates the dynamic and rapidly changing conditions in which we are working," it said.

The meteorological office in Iceland said although the volcano was still erupting steadily under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier about 120 km southeast of the capital Reykjavik, it was actually emitting less ash and more lava than previously, creating a lower cloud.

The office's Gudrun Nina Peterson said the ash heading towards Britain had probably been spewed out before conditions changed.

"If there has been ash detected over England today or during the night that is going to be from about 24 hours earlier. This is not an instant thing," she said.

Experts disagree over how to measure the ash and who should decide it is safe to fly. A British Airways jet lost power in all four engines after flying through an ash cloud above the Indian Ocean in 1982.

Several airlines were conducting test flights on Tuesday to gather details and data. European planemaker Airbus said it took advantage of scheduled test flights to check for the impact of ash on Monday and found nothing abnormal.

IATA officials said the economic impact on aviation of the disaster, which cut flights on Monday to an estimated third of normal volume on Monday, was greater than after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Firms dependent on fast air freight have been feeling the strain.

South Korea's Incheon International Airport, the world's fourth-busiest cargo handler in 2008, suffered 3,216 tonnes of lost shipments to Europe from April 16-19, the country's customs agency said.

Twenty inbound and 25 outbound cargo flights had been cancelled. Among those suffering were computer chip and electronics suppliers such as Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor.

Kenya's flower exporters, which account for a third of EU imports, said they were losing up to $2 million a day.

Businesses have had to find alternative ways of operating. Communications provider Cisco Systems said companies were turning to videoconferencing to connect executives.

4/9 '10 loves x3 9:52 PM

♥ Monday, April 19


PARIS (AFP) - – The volcanic ash hanging over Europe has mushroomed into a dark 1.5 billion dollar cloud with no hope of a silver lining, analysts warned.

Airlines and other travel industry sectors already face a huge bill from the four-day closure of European airspace and there will be growing pressure for the European Union to give financial aid, analysts said.

And the longer the disruption goes on the bigger the threat to the European economies struggling to come out of recession, they added.

European carriers such as KLM, Lufthansa and Air Berlin are stepping up pressure to get passenger carrying jets back in the air. They have questioned experts who state the mineral dust blown over Europe from an Icelandic volcano is a threat to jet engines.

While the European Union is investigating the extent of losses, Brussels Airlines has already called for government help to survive. Many of their counterparts are also in a desperate state.

"After the banks, we will now be expected to help the airlines," one European Union official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Crisis advisory company Lewis PR estimated that the shutdown has so far cost the European travel industry more than 1.0 billion pounds (1.2 billion euros/1.5 billion dollars) in cancelled flights, lost hotel rooms and empty cruise liners.

It has warned the disruption could go on for another two weeks.

Paul Charles at Lewis PR said: "Airlines alone are facing a massive bill from lost revenues and the enormous costs of reaccommodating and repatriating stranded passengers.

"Travel and transport firms have faced a double-whammy of disruption this year, with snow-related cancellations and now the ash cloud crisis, and several firms are at breaking point."

The International Air Transport Association has said the travel mayhem was costing airlines more than 200 million dollars (230 million euros) a day at a "conservative and initial" estimate.

John Strickland, aviation analyst at the JLS consultancy, said the final losses are "an unknown quantity".

"A lot of people were being quite dismissive, but we are now running to three, four, five days' worth of disruption," he said, highlighting the "enormous losses" the airline industry is already struggling with.

"Airlines have got the closed sign up and are hemorrhaging revenue every day. It started having a major impact for UK carriers but now it's become pretty well a Europe-wide phenomenon."

Accountancy firm Deloitte said "the big concern" will be if the volcano keeps sending the sulpherous cloud toward Europe for a prolonged time.

"Following one of the worst years for financial performance the aviation industry has ever seen, a prolonged period of losses for an industry that is already in a difficult financial position could have serious repercussions."

Charles at Lewis PR said there would be a fallout for the wider economy.

"The wider implications will add further costs to the economy, in terms of staff not being able to get back to work because they are stranded and cargo, such as fresh food and vital medicine supplies, not being delivered," he said.

Howard Archer, chief European economist at IHS Global Insight consultancy, said the impact on the economy would be limited as long as the chaos is quickly controlled.

"Obviously though the longer that the problem does persist, the more serious will be the economic repercussions.

He said the pharmaceutical industry may be "hit significantly" as many of its products are moved by air to be meet tight delivery schedules. "Individual companies could also be affected if they need spare parts or inputs brought in quickly from overseas."

EU transport ministers are to hold a teleconference on Monday on the crisis, with talk inevitably turning to aid for the stricken airlines.

Spanish Finance Minister Elena Salgado said that so far no country has proposed giving aid.

But European Commission official Francisco Fonseca said that aid is possible. "In exceptional circumstances, the commission will study the situation, in its own time," he said.

4/9 '10 loves x3 10:53 PM

♥ Sunday, April 18


.SINGAPORE : The air travel chaos deepened at airports around the world on Sunday as the volcanic ash from Iceland continued to cloud air travel.

At Changi Airport, 120 flights between Singapore and Europe have been cancelled since Thursday, including the 38 flights that were cancelled on Sunday.

Mother and son, Janet and Joe Richardson have been camping at Changi Airport since Thursday.

They were due to fly home to Manchester in the UK on Air France after a month—long holiday in Perth.

"They (need) to get us some hotel rooms. I’ve managed to sleep because I’ve got some sleeping tablets but my mother has been awake for three days. She had 2 hours of sleep last night and that’s it," said passenger Joe Richardson.

Others who are putting up in hotels are also streaming into Changi Airport, desperate for any information.

However, they did not get very far.

"We came yesterday and there was no one here at the airlines. We came here again today and this is the first time we’ve seen any sort of notice (being put) up," said passenger Karen Smith.

Singapore Airlines managed to book hotel rooms for all its passengers in the transit areas.

But some passengers are not taking chances; they are still queuing at the information counter hoping to catch the first available flight.

"In terms of having advance bookings — that’s a challenge because it doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you are able to go. But customers who have been waiting the longest in transit are the ones that are going to be re—accommodated first when we are able to restore some of our flights," said Nicholas Ionides, VP of Public Affairs at Singapore Airlines.

The gloom of passengers is also felt by taxi drivers.

Most of them have seen a dip in their takings.

"The arrival flights are not coming. (Takings are down) roughly by 10 per cent," said one taxi driver.

But food and beverage outlets like Dome cafe at Terminal One have seen an increase in business by some 15 to 20 per cent.

"Because of the flights cancellations, (and) we do accept KLM and Air France vouchers, so that boost up our sales," said Ann Yeoh, assistant manager of DOME.

Some airlines have been offering daily meal and hotel vouchers to help affected passengers.

While travellers here are trying to find a way out, some Singaporeans who were affected by the flight disruptions in Europe have found alternative routes to return home.

One of them, Ganesh Rajaram, was supposed to fly home from Cannes in France on Saturday.

Instead of waiting, he decided to drive seven hours to Rome and catch a flight back on Qatar Airways.

"It felt quite helpless actually because there’s nothing anyone can do to help you. Every time we went to an airport, there were just cancellations. There were queues of people... European domestic travel was hit the worst, and domestic travel was non existent," said Ganesh Rajaram, senior VP at Fremantle Media (International Distribution).

"My colleagues are still there in Cannes without a way to go back. I’ve got colleagues stranded in Paris trying to get back to the US." — CNA /ls

4/9 '10 loves x3 10:45 PM

♥ Saturday, April 17


LONDON – A lingering volcanic ash plume forced extended no-fly restrictions over much of Europe on Saturday, as Icelandic scientists warned that volcanic activity had increased and showed no sign of abating — a portent of more travel chaos to come.

Scientists say that because the volcano is situated below a glacial ice cap, the magma is being cooled quickly, causing explosions and plumes of grit that can be catastrophic to plane engines if prevailing winds are right.

"The activity has been quite vigorous overnight, causing the eruption column to grow," Icelandic geologist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson told The Associated Press on Saturday. "It's the magma mixing with the water that creates the explosivity. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an end in sight."

An expansive cloud of grit hovered over parts of western Europe on Saturday, triggering extended flight bans that stranded people around the globe. Continued volcanic activity could produce more plumes if the weather patterns stay the same.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office said the amount of ash in the plume grew Saturday and that the vast ash cloud is continuing to travel south and southeast. Scientists had planned to fly over the volcano to see how much ice has melted to determine how much longer the eruption could spew ash, but the Icelandic Coast Guard said Saturday's flight had been postponed.

Aviation experts say the volcanic plume has caused the worst travel disruption Europe — and the world — has ever seen.

"I've been flying for 40 years but I've never seen anything like this in Europe," said Swedish pilot Axel Alegren, after landing his flight from Kabul, Afghanistan, at Munich Airport; he had been due to land at Frankfurt but was diverted.

Anxious passengers have told stories of missed weddings, graduations, school and holidays because of the ominous plume, which seemed likely to disrupt world leaders' plans to attend Sunday's state funeral for Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria in the southern city of Krakow.

So far, delegations from India, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, New Zealand and Pakistan have canceled plans to attend the state funeral. President Barack Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel still planned to attend. Slovenian President Danilo Turk decided to travel to Poland by car.

Most of northern and central Europe's airspace has been shut down, affecting airports from New Zealand to San Francisco. On Saturday, the French prime minister extended the closure of airspace in northern France until Monday morning. British airspace is closed until at least 0600 GMT Sunday, and forecasters said the ash cloud would progressively cover the whole of the U.K. later Saturday. British Airways is canceling all short-haul flights to and from London airports Sunday.

Stranded passengers reported the delays were causing financial hardships. Some had to check out of hotels and sleep in the airports.

"I have been staying in a hotel but have now checked out and do not know what I am going to do — I have limited financial resources here," said Anthony Adeayo, 45, who was due to travel from Britain to Nigeria with British Airways.

Others, desperate to return home or get to meetings, rushed to book a ride on ferries or taxis.

P&O Ferries said its ferry services from France's Calais to Britain's Dover were overbooked and there was no space left on their ferries for foot passengers, while a Virgin Holidays Cruises phone operator said dozens of people have called in to ask about transatlantic crossings to New York aboard the Queen Mary 2 cruiser.

A British taxi firm said it pocketed a fortune from driving a group of clients hundreds of miles to Switzerland.

Shoppers were warned Saturday that continued flight bans could spark shortages of imported fresh fruit and vegetables.

"There are no shortages yet, but we may start to see certain ranges affected if this carries on," said Christopher Snelling, head of global supply chain policy for the Freight Transport Association.

The Belgian and Swiss governments extended their ban until Saturday evening. Italian aviation authorities were closing airspace in northern Italy on Saturday until 1800GMT. Spain's Iberia airline is canceling most of its European flights until further notice.

In the Nordics, air space in the central and southern parts of the region was expected to remain closed at least until Sunday afternoon.

At least 45 flights between Europe and Asia were cancelled Saturday. Australia's Qantas canceled all flights to Europe, and passengers were being offered refunds or seats on the next available flight. The airline said it was not known when flights would resume. Cathay Pacific was already canceling some Europe-bound flights leaving Hong Kong on Sunday.

"The British Airways telephone message says check the Web site for updates but when you check the site it says call the customer services number," said James Kirkman, 41, who was visiting family in Australia with his two kids. "There's no information. The kids were due back at school on Monday."

Southern Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull (ay-yah-FYAH'-plah-yer-kuh-duhl) volcano began erupting for the second time in a month on Wednesday, sending ash several miles (kilometers) into the air. Winds pushed the plume south and east across Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and into the heart of Europe.

Authorities told people in the area with respiratory problems to stay indoors, and advised everyone to wear masks and protective goggles outside.

The air traffic agency Eurocontrol said about 16,000 of Europe's usual 28,000 daily flights were canceled on Friday — twice as many as were canceled a day earlier. U.S. airlines canceled 280 of the more than 330 trans-Atlantic flights of a normal day.

The International Air Transport Association says the volcano is costing the industry at least $200 million a day.

The disruptions hit tourists, business travelers and dignitaries alike.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel had to go to Portugal rather than Berlin as she flew home from a U.S. visit. China, Japan and Russia and five other Asian nations were missing finance talks with the European Union in Spain.

The military also had to adjust. Five German soldiers wounded in Afghanistan were diverted to Turkey instead of Germany, while U.S. medical evacuations for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan had to be flown directly from the warfronts to Washington rather than to a care facility in Germany. The U.S. military has also stopped using temporarily closed air bases in the U.K. and Germany.

In Iceland, torrents of water have carried away chunks of ice the size of small houses. Sections of the country's main ring road were wiped out by the flash floods.

More floods from melting waters are expected as long as the volcano keeps erupting — and in 1821, the same volcano managed to erupt for more than a year.

Iceland, a nation of 320,000 people, sits on a large volcanic hot spot in the Atlantic's mid-oceanic ridge and has a history of devastating eruptions. One of the worst was the 1783 eruption of the Laki volcano, which spewed a toxic cloud over Europe, killing tens of thousands.

___

Associated Press Writers Naomi Koppel and Sylvia Hui in London, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Angela Charlton in Paris, Raf Casert in Brussels, Slobodan Lekic in Munich, David Nowak in Moscow and Kwang-Tae Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

4/9 '10 loves x3 11:49 PM

♥ Friday, April 16


REYKJAVIK (AFP) - – A volcanic eruption in Iceland fired ash across northern Europe forcing the closure of huge swathes of international airspace on Thursday which grounded hundreds of flights.

The eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in southeast Iceland had already melted part of a surrounded glacier causing severe floods. More than 700 people were evacuated from their homes.

A huge cloud of ash from the second major eruption in Iceland in less than a month blew eastwards across the Atlantic, closing major airports more than 1,000 miles (1,700 kilometres) away.

Britain closed its airspace to all flights. Nearly every airport in Norway, Denmark and across northern Sweden also shut down, authorities announced. There was major disruption in Belgium, France, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands.

More than 300 flights out of London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports and others in Britain were cancelled, including transatlantic services.

British airport operator BAA said: "Following advice from the Met Office, the National Air Traffic Service has introduced restrictions to UK airspace this morning as a result of volcanic ash drifting across the United Kingdom from Iceland."

Many flights from the rest of Europe to North America would have to be rerouted because they normally go through British airspace, officials said.

The ash was about five-six miles (eight-10 kilometres) in the air and could not been seen from the ground. But experts said it was a danger to jet engines and restricted visibility.

Icelandic airports remained open as wind was blowing ash away from the island.

"Flights to and from Iceland are still ok. The wind is blowing the ash to the east," Hjordis Gudmundsdottir of the Icelandic Airport Authority told AFP.

"It's amazing really," she said. "Things here should be fine for the next 12 hours at least, and we think probably all day, judging from the weather forecast."

The volcano on the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in southern Iceland erupted just after midnight on Wednesday.

Smoke coming out of the top crater stacked more than 20,000 feet (6,000 metres) into the sky, meteorologists said. Icelandic public broadcaster RUV reported that a 500-metre fissure had appeared at the top of the crater on Wednesday.

Lava melted the glacier, causing major flooding which forced the evacuation of between 700 and 800 people. Evacuees were being directed to Red Cross centres.

"We have two heavy floods coming out from the melting of the Eyjafjallajokull glacier," police spokesman Roegnvaldur Olafsson told AFP from near the site of the eruption late Wednesday.

The eruption in a remote area about 125 kilometres (75 miles) east of Reykjavik was bigger than the blast at the nearby Fimmvorduhals volcano last month.

"It is very variable how long these eruptions last. Anywhere from a few days to over a year," Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson, a professor of geophysics and civil protection advisor in Iceland, told AFP.

"Judging from the intensity of this one, it could last a long time," he added.

Olafur Eggertsson said he had been forced to evacuate his farm, which lies in the path of one of two large floods of melt water coming from the glacier.

"At around 10:30 this morning we heard a lot of noise and saw mud and soil suddenly rushing down from the mountain. Just 30 minutes later we had mud and soil and a giant flood running into our dyke above the farm," Eggertsson told AFP.

"So in just a half hour, mud and soil came cascading down the mountain, down to our farm and on to the national highway that lies just beneath our farm. That is a total of four kilometres (2.5 miles) in just 30 minutes," he said.

His family left all their animals behind in the rush to escape.

"We have 200 animals on our farm: cows and sheep who are all inside now. It takes some time for the dykes to be destroyed and I don't know yet if they are in danger, but we are extremely worried," he said.

Last month, the first volcano eruption at the Eyjafjallajokull glacier since 1823 -- and Iceland's first since 2004 -- briefly forced 600 people from their homes in the same area.

That eruption at the Fimmvorduhals volcano, which gushed lava for weeks, ended Tuesday, experts said.

4/9 '10 loves x3 8:58 PM

♥ Monday, April 12


By Gareth Jones

WARSAW - Russian and Polish investigators struggled on Monday to identify the remains of nearly 100 people killed in a weekend plane crash in which Poland's president and many other top officials perished.

President Lech Kaczynski's coffin returned home on Sunday to a Warsaw plunged into deep mourning and awash with flowers, candles and red and white national flags, but the remains of the 95 other victims were sent to Moscow for identification.

Kaczynski's ageing Polish government Tupolev plane crashed in thick fog near Smolensk airport in western Russia on Saturday, reportedly after the pilot ignored traffic controllers' advice not to land.

While the deaths of military leaders and leading opposition figures are a huge blow to the political and military elite, the crash poses no threat to political and economic stability in Poland, a country of 38 million people firmly anchored in the European Union and the U.S.-led NATO alliance.

In Poland, the government, not the president, decides policy, though the head of state can veto laws. From the government, only three deputy ministers were on the plane.

Financial markets largely shrugged off the crash on Monday, with the zloty currency and stocks flat or slightly firmer. They were awaiting a decision on who would replace Slawomir Skrzypek, the governor of the Polish central bank who was also killed.

Acting President Bronislaw Komorowski said on Monday he would act quickly to name a new governor. The bank's Monetary Policy Council was also due to meet at 10 a.m. British time to discuss the situation.

IDENTIFYING THE DEAD

In Moscow, Russia's health minister Tatyana Golikova said the process of identifying all the bodies would take two to three days.

Her Polish counterpart Ewa Kopacz, visiting Moscow, said: "It's not an easy procedure. In many cases it's only possible to identify the dead with the help of genetic expertise."

Kopacz also expressed gratitude to the Russian authorities for their professionalism and their collaborative approach.

The crash has also shocked Russia, Poland's historic foe and communist-era overlord, which declared Monday a day of mourning.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's decision to personally see off Kaczynski's coffin from Smolensk made a good impression on Poles.

Kaczynski and his entourage had been planning to mark the 70th anniversary of the massacre of Polish officers by the Soviet NKVD secret police in the nearby Katyn forest.

Poland has declared a week of mourning. Kaczynski's coffin, greeted in silence by tens of thousands of people lining its route from Warsaw's military airport to the presidential palace on Sunday, will be available for public viewing from Tuesday.

"We will delay the funeral until his wife Maria's body has been identified and has returned to Poland. There is an agreement between the government and the President's chancellery on this," Jacek Sasin from the chancellery said on Monday.

PRIDE, QUESTIONS

Millions of mourners across staunchly Roman Catholic Poland packed into churches on Sunday to pray for the dead. Houses, shops and businesses were decorated with Polish flags.

"I am proud of how the nation reacted, it is something to be proud of, but we also have to be responsible and prudent," said Lech Walesa, Poland's former president and onetime leader of the Solidarity movement that overthrew communism in 1989.

"We have to ask ourselves why this happened. It's not about arguing or placing blame on anyone, but we have to draw conclusions, lessons for the future," Walesa told Polish TV.

Kaczynski, a combative nationalist known for his distrust of both the EU and of Russia, belonged to Solidarity in the 1980s but later quarrelled with Walesa.

Kaczynski and his identical twin brother Jaroslaw, a former prime minister, had led opposition to Prime Minister Donald Tusk's pro-market reform government and its efforts to take Poland into the euro as soon as possible.

Komorowski has said he will set the date of a presidential election which had been due in October after holding talks with Poland's political parties. Under the constitution the election must now be held by late June.

Komorowski, 58, is the presidential candidate of Tusk's ruling Civic Platform . Opinion polls suggest he would have defeated Kaczynski in the election.

4/9 '10 loves x3 8:35 PM

♥ Sunday, April 11


By Lidia Kelly

SMOLENSK, Russia - Poland's President Lech Kaczynski, its central bank head and the country's military chief were among 97 people killed when their plane crashed in thick fog on its approach to a Russian airport on Saturday.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk described the crash as "the most tragic event of the country's post-war history." Ashen-faced and wearing a black suit and tie, Tusk told a news conference he would fly to the crash site.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin talked to Tusk by telephone and has also gone to the scene of the crash, a spokesman said.

The death of Kaczynski, who with his twin brother was a dominant force in Polish politics, brings political uncertainty. A presidential election had been due in October but now must be held within two months, according to the constitution.

The president's wife and several other high-ranking government officials were also aboard the aged Tupolev Tu-154, which plunged into a forest about two km from the airport in the western Russian city of Smolensk.

Pilot error was a possible reason for the crash, said Andrei Yevseyenkov, spokesman for the Smolensk local government. Local officials said the plane had clipped treetops on its way down.

Thousands of mourners gathered outside the presidential palace, laying flowers, lighting candles and saying prayers. Church services in the predominantly Catholic country were hastily arranged.

Kaczynski, 60, was a one-time ally of Solidarity hero Lech Walesa and a co-founder of the rightist Law and Justice party with his brother. He resigned from the party when he became president in 2005 but continued to support it.

A party source said his twin Jaroslaw Kaczynski was not on board the plane that crashed.

Kaczynski's death, along with the that of many high-ranking members of Law and Justice who were also on the plane, at a stroke changes the nature of Polish politics by decimating the opposition.

"The political consequences will be long-term and possibly will change the entire future landscape of Polish politics," said Jacek Wasilewski, professor at the Higher School of Social Psychology in Warsaw.

While the president's role is largely symbolic, the holder can veto government legislation. Lech Kaczynski infuriated the government of Tusk several times by blocking legislation including health sector reform.

The speaker of the lower house of parliament, Bronislaw Komorowski, has been named acting president, as the constitution stipulates. Komorowski is also Tusk's presidential candidate in the centrist Civic Platform party.

SMOULDERING FUSELAGE

Russian television showed the smouldering fuselage and fragments of the plane scattered in a forest. A Reuters reporter saw a broken wing some distance from the rest of the aircraft.

The plane was one of two Tupolev TU-154M's in the Polish government fleet, both about 20 years old. Government officials had complained about the age of Poland's official fleet.

Russia's Emergencies Ministry said 97 people were aboard the government plane, including 88 members of a Polish delegation en route to commemorate Poles killed in mass murders in the town of Katyn under orders from Soviet leader Josef Stalin in 1940.

Earlier reports had said 132 people were aboard. Smolensk regional governor Sergei Antufyev and Polish state news agency PAP said there were no survivors.

A Russian mission control official who had been present during conversations with the pilot told Reuters the pilot had ignored advice.

"The pilot was advised to fly to Moscow or Minsk because of heavy fog, but he still decided to land. No one should have been landing in that fog," he said, on condition his name was not published.

Polish Justice Minister Krzysztof Kwiatkowski said he would order a special inquiry into the crash. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Russian investigators would cooperate with the Polish side.

CENTRAL BANK CONTINUITY

Among the other casualties of the crash were Kaczynski's wife Maria, along with Slawomir Skrzypek, 47, who had been central bank governor since 2007, the chief of Poland's military Franciszek Gagor and Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer.

Analysts said Polish markets would not be severely jolted. "Although tragic, we do not believe that this event threatens political and financial stability in Poland in any fundamental way," Goldman Sachs said in a research note.

Some relatives of victims of the Katyn massacres were also on board the plane, said a Polish government official in Smolensk.

Thousands of Polish prisoners of war and intellectuals were murdered at Katyn by Soviet forces in spring 1940 in an enduring symbol for Poles of their suffering under Soviet rule.

The government declared a week of national mourning.

"I'm all broken up ... it cannot be expressed in words," said Ewa Robaczewska from outside the palace.

4/9 '10 loves x3 12:50 AM


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