EU moves to ease Europe flight curbs

The EU has moved to ease air travel curbs imposed after much of Europe's airspace was closed because of the spread of volcanic ash from Iceland.

Transport ministers said there would be a core no-fly area, another open to all flights and a third zone available for a limited service.

The move came as the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Belgium said they would begin to reopen airspace.

Airline chiefs had lambasted officials over the flight ban.

Following talks with the bloc's 27 transport ministers by video conference, EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas told reporters in Brussels more planes would start flying from Tuesday.

EU transport commission spokeswoman Helen Kearns told the BBC they hoped to see a 10% or 15% increase in flights on Tuesday and another 10% increase on Wednesday.

"There will be a slow and progressive opening up of the European airspace," she said.

"It has been done based on the science and based on the principle that there can be no compromise on safety".

The airline industry says its losses have soared over $1bn (£650m; 740m euros), since much of Europe's airspace was closed five days ago because of ash from southern Iceland's Eyjafjallajoekull volcano.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh was the latest airline boss to call the flight bans unnecessary.

However, a Nato F-16 fighter jet suffered engine damage after flying through the volcanic ash cloud, said one US official earlier.

In the high temperatures of an engine turbine, ash can turn to molten glass and paralyse the engine.

But experts said the volcano - which erupted last Wednesday for the second time in a month - was now spewing more steam and less ash.

Britain's air traffic control body said airspace in Scotland, parts of the north of England and Northern Ireland would reopen on Tuesday.

The two main German airlines, Lufthansa and Air Berlin, were granted exemptions from the flight ban to allow them to bring home thousands of stranded passengers.

France said it would reopen Lyon airport later on Monday, before opening air corridors for flights between Paris and southern French cities, and eventually all its other airports.

Some passenger flights will be allowed to leave Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam from Monday night, said the Dutch transport minister.

Belgium said it would begin reopening the country's airspace from Tuesday morning.

The International Air Transport Association (Iata) earlier lambasted European leaders for their inaction, calling the travel chaos a mess and an embarrassment.

Iata chief Giovanni Bisignani said: "The decision that Europe has made is with no risk assessment, no consultation, no co-ordination, no leadership".

Airspace closures were costing airlines $200m a day in lost revenue, he said.

'No compromise'

European airlines have asked the EU and national governments for financial compensation for the closure of airspace.

EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said the bloc's economy would suffer badly if the disruption continued for a long time.

"What makes me a little bit afraid is that there is no timer on this volcano," he told news agency Reuters.

But the EU's transport commissioner said there could be no compromise on safety.

The shroud of fine mineral dust particles from the volcano has spread from the Arctic Circle in the north to the French Mediterranean coast in the south, and from Spain into Russia.

Airspace was closed, or partially closed, in more than 20 countries.

Italy's civil aviation authority shut the country's northern airspace until Tuesday morning.

But airports have reopened in Austria, Estonia, Finland, Hungary and Turkey, after authorities there decided there was no longer any risk.

In Spain, where all airports were open, the government offered to let Britain and other European countries use its airports as stopovers to get passengers moving again.

The UK earlier deployed three Royal Navy warships to help pick up stranded passengers from Spain and the Channel ports.

The French railway company SNCF has said it will offer reduced fares and 80,000 extra seats between Paris and London this week.

BBC News

3 rescued, 5 days after China quake killed 2,000

By ANITA CHANG (AP)

JIEGU, China — Relatives kept alive a 4-year-old girl and an elderly woman trapped by an earthquake under a collapsed house for almost a week by using bamboo poles to push water and rice through the rubble until rescuers saved them Monday.

The rare good news came as the death toll in China's remote Tibetan region jumped to nearly 2,000.

Rescuers also freed a third person Monday from the rubble of a hillside house that toppled when the magnitude-6.9 temblor struck Yushu county of Qinghai province Wednesday morning, state broadcaster China Central Television reported.

The death toll from the quake climbed to 1,944, while more than 12,100 people were hurt, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Relief and reconstruction work accelerated, with power and telecommunications services largely restored and aid convoys arriving in droves.

The rescue of Wujian Cuomao, 68, and Cairen Baji, 4, from a crumbled home in a village about 13 miles (20 kilometers) from the hardest-hit town of Jiegu was hailed by state media as a miracle and repeatedly played on television news broadcasts.

Footage showed workers in orange suits and safety helmets lifting the bewildered-looking white-haired woman onto a stretcher and into an ambulance. The visibly tired child lay wrapped in a blanket in the arms of a rescuer. Debris had pressed down on the girl's chest, CCTV said, but she suffered no injuries. The report said the woman's life was not in danger.

The woman and child were protected by a wooden bed frame, which they huddled under as the house fell to pieces around them. A young woman CCTV said was a relative pointed to an 8-inch (20-centimeter) gap between the floor and a corner of the broken bed frame.

"When the earthquake happened the house fell and they were buried under here," said the woman, whose name was not given. "We sent them food every day".

CCTV reported relatives used bamboo poles to push water and rice through the narrow gap to the trapped pair. Also Monday, rescuers freed a Tibetan woman named Ritu from her collapsed house on a hillside, CCTV said. Half her body had been trapped by the debris, the report said, but her vital signs were stable.

In Jiegu, thousands of Tibetan Buddhist monks picked at rubble with shovels, performed funeral rites and threw food to survivors from the backs of trucks.

Efforts were shifting toward rebuilding to help the tens of thousands left homeless in the elevated area where temperatures can hit lows of 27 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 3 degrees Celsius). Forecasts of snow in coming days could hinder relief efforts, state media said.

Convoys of military supply trucks were at a standstill, backed up for miles (kilometers) on the main road heading into town. At a supply depot set up on the town's edge, huge stacks of bottled water were piled up outside a warehouse. More relief goods rumbled past mountainside hamlets where residents pitched government-provided tents along a two-lane highway that is the only connection between Jiegu and the provincial capital of Xining, the nearest big city.

The surge in aid came as President Hu Jintao, who visited the area Sunday, promised the Communist Party and government were doing everything they could to help the remote Tibetan region, where residents have frequently chafed under Chinese rule. Tibetan anger over political and religious restrictions and perceived economic exploitation by the majority Han Chinese have sometimes erupted in violence.

In a sign of tensions, Jia Qinglin, China's top parliamentary adviser and the Communist Party's No. 4 ranking leader, warned at a meeting Monday of "hostile forces from abroad working to cause disruptions and sabotage" to the disaster-relief effort, CCTV reported.

Jia did not mention any specific individuals. The Chinese government often refers to supporters of the Dalai Lama and advocates of Tibetan independence as "hostile forces." The exiled spiritual leader said Saturday he'd like to visit the quake site. China is unlikely to allow a visit.

In Jiegu, classes resumed at Yushi No. 3 Elementary School, with hundreds of students taking lessons in classrooms set up in tents.

"Confidence! Hope!" the children chanted, led by volunteers from Beijing who organized the temporary classrooms and planned to build permanent ones.

"On the one hand, students are coming back to resume classes. On the other hand, we are giving the students some psychological treatment after the disaster," said Danzeng Jiangcuo, a sixth-grade math teacher. "We are trying to help them forget the disaster and not feel scared anymore".

Associated Press

Al-Qaida kingpins in Iraq killed amid continuing impasse over elections

US vice-president, Joe Biden, hails deaths as potentially 'devastating' blow against terrorist organisation

Ian Black

Al-Qaida's two most senior leaders in Iraq have been hunted down and killed, it was announced on Monday, a development hailed by US vice president Joe Biden as a potentially "devastating" blow to the terrorist organisation.

Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, said an intelligence team backed by US forces had killed Abu Ayyoub al-Masri, al-Qaida's leader in the country, and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the purported head of its affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq. The two died on Sunday in a rocket attack on a home where they were hiding near Tikrit in the northern province of Salahuddin.

"The death of these terrorists is potentially the most significant blow to al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) since the beginning of the insurgency," said General Raymond T Odierno, commander of US forces in Iraq.

Maliki showed reporters pictures of two corpses, which he said had been identified through DNA tests. Reports from Baghdad said computer equipment seized with them showed communications with al-Qaida leaders including Osama bin Laden.

Biden described their deaths as a "devastating blow" to al-Qaida in Iraq.

"But equally important in my view is this action demonstrates the improved security strength and capacity of Iraqi security forces," Biden said. "The Iraqis led this operation, and it was based on intelligence the Iraqi security forces themselves developed following their capture of a senior AQI leader last month".

Biden said a soldier accompanying the Iraqis was killed, but the name was being withheld until family was informed.

Toby Dodge at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London called the operation a coup for Iraqi intelligence. "This is clearly a victory in propaganda terms and possibly also in terms of capacity," he said. "We'll have to see over the next weeks and months if the tempo of mass casualty attacks drops off or not".

Masri, an Egyptian veteran of the Afghan anti-Soviet jihad, replaced Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian founder of AQI, who was killed in a US airstrike with the help of Jordanian intelligence agents in 2006.

Baghdadi was a more shadowy figure who, it had been reported by US officials, operated under a false name dreamed up to give an Iraqi face to a foreign-run terrorist group. He was identified under his real name, Hamid Dawud Muhammad Khalil al-Zawi.

Both men featured prominently in jihadi publications and had been reported killed or captured several times before. Analysts normally counsel caution in such cases, especially since Maliki is keen to bolster his image as a strongman amid the uncertainty about the outcome of Iraq's March parliamentary election. But the US statement may dispel such doubts.

Earlier this month, the Islamic State in Iraq claimed responsibility for triple suicide bombings that hit foreign embassies in the capital, killing 30 people and injuring 200 others. These and other attacks fuelled concerns that al-Qaida was making a comeback in the post-election impasse.AQI intensified its attacks last year as US forces began to withdraw.

In a separate development, Iraq's independent electoral commission on Monday ordered a manual recount of ballots cast in Baghdad nearly six weeks ago. The recount could affect who becomes the next prime minister after Iyad al-Alawi emerged with a narrow lead over Maliki.

The incumbent had wanted votes recounted in five provinces, and complained that the electronic system of counting was unreliable. But Baghdad accounts for 68 seats in the 325-seat parliament, so even a slightly different result there could change the overall outcome.

Alawi's Iraqiya list, a cross-sectarian group backed by minority Sunnis, came first with 91 seats. Maliki's State of Law won 89 seats while his erstwhile Shia allies in the Iraqi National Alliance gained about 70. Kurds together control 58 seats.

"There has been no sustained evidence of substantial or nationally-orchestrated election fraud in Baghdad so the decision to move to a manual recount of Baghdad's vote makes it look as if they have succumbed to the politically-motivated demands of Maliki," said Dodge.

"This is very worrying because it casts a shadow over the whole election, allowing the politically powerful to challenge the outcome of a vote they did not win simply because of their grip on state institutions".

The Guardian

UK sends in navy to help ash cloud crisis

By the CNN Wire Staff

London, England (CNN) -- The UK is sending Royal Navy vessels to bring home travelers stranded by the ash cloud disruption, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday.

The HMS Ark Royal and HMS Ocean were making their way back to British waters, while the Defense Ministry worked to pinpoint locations that most need help.

Transport across Europe has been crippled since the eruptionbeneath southern Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier worsened last week, prompting local evacuations and shutting European airspace.

With planes languishing at airports, stranded travelers have crammed onto boats and trains and rented cars to reach their destinations.

"I believe this is one of the most serious transport disruptions we have faced," Brown said. "It's got financial consequences as well as human consequences and we will do everything in our power to make sure all the arrangements are in place to help people, where possible, to get back home".

Brown said he spoke to Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero about using airports in Spain -- which have been less affected by the air travel chaos -- as a hub through which to bring people back to Britain. Further information would be released later Monday, Brown said.

A third Royal Navy vessel, HMS Albion, en route to pick up troops in Spain, may also be able to assist, Brown said.

UK travel has been badly hit by the ash cloud, with airspace largely shut since last Thursday morning and not expected to open until 0000 Greenwich Mean Time on Tuesday at the earliest.

Some airlines have begun to push for the restrictions to be lifted.

A British Airways test Sunday found no damage to the aircraft at a variety of altitudes, the airline said in a statement Monday. It did not say what type of plane it flew.

"The analysis we have done so far, alongside that from other airlines' trial flights, provides fresh evidence that the current blanket restrictions on airspace are unnecessary," said Willie Walsh, British Airways chief executive.

European transport commissioner Siim Kallas said Monday the situation was "unsustainable".

"It is now clear that we cannot just wait until this ash cloud dissipates".

But, he added, "there can be no compromise on safety" and any decision to reopen airspace "must be based on scientific evidence".

Meterologist Derrick Ryall of the MET Office in London said there was no "defined safe limit" for volcanic ash.

"No one has said what a safe limit for aircraft is, so therefore it's very difficult for these judgments to be made," he said.

European authorities were meeting Monday to plan further response to the ash cloud.

Some European airports reopened Sunday, including several in France and Germany, and all 16 that had been closed in Spain.

But officials in each country emphasized that decisions were being made around the clock and could change at any time.

A few dozen test flights Sunday offered hope that the skies over much of Europe may be safe for air travel, but officials made no promises that the massive disruptions due to volcanic ash are about to go away.

"The results coming from these flights is ... there's no impact in the area," European Union Secretary of State Diego Lopez Garrido said.

But an expert who has flown over Europe to check the air said he saw "dangerous" conditions.

Guy Gratton, head of the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements at Britain's Cranfield University, flew into the skies Thursday and saw "a really strange and complex set of layers of ash," with a layer of perfectly clear air suddenly giving way to a layer of ash, he told CNN.

If particles of ash enter a jet engine, when they come out they can solidify on turbine blades, he said.

A group of his colleagues took to the skies Sunday, and in some places saw "quite high concentrations of ash," he said.

"I suspect it's going to be a few days yet" before it's safe to fly, Gratton said.

Two key air travel groups issued a joint statement Sunday pushing authorities to ease flying restrictions. Airports Council International Europe, which represents airports, and the Association of European Airlines said they question "the proportionality of the flight restrictions currently imposed".

Olivier Jankovec, director general of ACI Europe, said airports have lost close to 136 million euros ($184 million) so far. More than 6.8 million passengers have been affected, he said in a statement, adding that the effect is worse than after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States.

"While safety remains a non-negotiable priority, it is not incompatible with our legitimate request to reconsider the present restrictions," he said.

"While Europe's airlines and airports consider safety to be an absolute priority, they are questioning the proportionality of the flight restrictions currently imposed," ACI Europe and the AEA said in their joint statement. "The eruption of the Icelandic volcano is not an unprecedented event and the procedures applied in other parts of the world for volcanic eruptions do not appear to require the kind of restrictions that are presently being imposed in Europe".

Airlines have been losing at least $200 million a day, according to the International Air Transport Association, the trade group representing airlines.

CNN

Volcano spewing less ash as lava boils up

By CARLO PIOVANO (AP)

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — The dramatic volcanic eruption that belched out the ash plume responsible for grounding much of Europe entered a new phase Monday — producing less smoke but bubbling with lava and throwing up chunks of molten rock.

Less ash is potentially good news for stranded travelers, but scientists who are monitoring the mountain's explosion warn the eruption is not finished, and may still set off other eruptions at nearby volcanoes.

The first sighting of glowing magma in the Eyjafjallajokull volcano was made on Monday, though the lava is not flowing down the mountain, Icelandic geologists said.

"It is sputtering and bubbling and will probably create a cone formation" as the lava spills over and freezes into rock, said Kristin Vogfjord, geologist at Iceland's Met Office in Reykjavik.

The volcanic eruption has been particularly explosive because it has surged under a 200 meter- (yard-) thick glacier. Melting ice pouring into the crater helped create plumes of ash that rose as far as nine kilometers (5.5 miles) into the air.

Now that the crater ice has mostly melted away, the ash cloud has decreased to below three kilometers (1.8 miles) in height, though the eruption continues. "The plume is lower but the tremors are slowly increasing, which means more magma is flowing," said Vogfjord.

She is one of several dozen geoscientists and meteorologists who are monitoring Eyjafjallajokull's violent moods.

Seismometers and GPS stations are planted close to and around the volcano to measure tremors and land movement that can herald eruptions.

The GPS units — plastic cylinders on short poles — show the land around Eyjafjallajokull has swollen as much as 8 centimeters (3 inches) in recent months and then contracted slightly following the eruption, much like a bubble popping.

The seismometers, all of which are connected to computers and relay information automatically to a central data center in Reykjavik, check for tremors which indicate that magma is breaking through the crust to surface at the crater.

The sound of these tremors can now be heard up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the mountain.

Vogfjord said some the instruments are vulnerable to the ash, however, and may break down.

The ash, made up of sand and tiny abrasive glass-like particles, is very fine and can penetrate machines like computers and cameras — and, officials fear, jet engines.

That makes flying dangerous because the ash tends to stick to a jet engine's interior parts, such as the turbines, where it melts to form a glassy coating.

Vogfjord's team also monitors the volcano with the help of satellite imaging, a radar beam from the airport that sees anything above an altitude of three kilometers (1.8 miles), as well as Coast Guard flights when weather permits.

While the current eruption may be stabilizing, geologists warn that any further ones on Iceland could again bring European aviation to a standstill. Even a volcano that is not covered by a glacier can shoot the same abrasive ash to altitudes used by commercial airliners.

That happened in 2000 at Mount Hekla and in 2004 in Grimsvotn, both located north of the current eruption. The difference then was that the wind carried the ash to unpopulated polar regions northeast of Iceland, rather than southeast to Europe's main air travel hubs.

Besides Mount Hekla, which is typically active every 10 years, scientists are also closely watching the Oraefajokull volcano and the massive Katla, both of which are under glaciers.

"The activity of one volcano sometimes triggers the next one, and Katla has been active together with Eyjafjallajokull in the past," said Pall Einarsson, professor of geophysics at the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland.

The glacier over Katla is more than twice the thickness of Eyjafjallajokull's, so its eruption would produce a vastly larger plume of ash and possibly ground flights for a much longer period of time.

So far, Katla shows no signs of activity, but it explodes roughly once a century — and its last eruption was in 1918, causing massive flooding, and lasted for a year.

Associated Press