12 theSun | WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 4 2009

news without borders

pigeon concealed in each leg.”

briefs
Snow brings deaths and
The manhad come off a ten-hour
flight from Dubai. – AFP

Car plunges into
Pacific after prank
VANCOUVER: A prank to hang a
Volkswagen Beetle from a major
bridge failed on Monday, land-
ing five engineering students in
handcuffs and their car at the
bottom of the ocean.
A concerned citizen reported
a disturbance at about 4am local
time on the Ironworkers Memo-
rial Bridge in this western Cana-
dian metropolis, said Constable
Lindsey Houghton.
Police found “a group of
five young University of British
Columbia students attempting
to hang a VW Bug over the side,”
said Houghton. – AFP
Quake causes panic
in southern Peru
LIMA: A quake measuring 6.0
on the Richter scale shook
southern Peru on Monday, the
Peruvian Geophysics Institute
(IGP) said. The quake particu-
larly affected the region of
Ica, south of Peruvian capital
Lima, which was badly hit by
a quake in 2007 that claimed
close to 600 lives and caused
damage to the property of
some 440,000.
The earthquake happened
at 12.53pm (1.53am in Ma-
laysia). It was centred some
74km west of the city of Pisco
and 35km underground, under
the Pacific Ocean, the authori-
ties said. – dpa
Aussie caught with
pigeons in trousers
MELBOURNE: An Australian
man was caught with two live
pigeons stuffed in his trousers
as he got off a flight from the
Middle East, officials said yes-
terday. Customs officers body-
searched the 23-year-old after
he was allegedly found with two
bird eggs in a vitamin container
in his pocket during checks at
Melbourne Airport on Sunday.
“He was taken to a private
room and Customs and border
protection officers found he
was wearing tights with a live
Cleric jailed on
terror charges
MELBOURNE: A Muslim cleric
and six followers were jailed
for up to 15 years yesterday
after being found guilty of
forming an terror cell which
plotted bomb attacks de-
signed to kill thousands.
“The organisation had
encouraged its members to
engage in violent jihad“ judge
Bernard Bongiorno told Victoria
state’s Supreme Court. Cleric
Abdul Nacer Benbrika was
jailed for 15 years, while his
followers received minimum
terms of between four and
seven-and-a-half years. – AFP
Man charged for
shoe attack on Wen
CAMBRIDGE: British police said
on Monday they have charged
a protester who hurled a shoe
at Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao
as he gave a speech at Britain’s
Cambridge University.
“Following an incident in the
auditorium during the premier’s
speech earlier today, a man has
been charged with a public order
offence,” a police spokeswoman
said. “The 27-year-old man has
been charged under Section
Four of the Public Order Act and
will appear at Cambridge magis-
trates court on Feb 10.” – AFP
Four plead guilty to
anti-Obama attacks
NEW YORK: A New York man
pleaded guilty on Monday to
a series of racist assaults al-
legedly meant to protest the
election of President Barack
Obama that left one victim in
a coma, the US Department of
Justice said.
Ralph Nicoletti, 18, was
the last of four defendants to
plead guilty in court to three
hate crime assaults on the
night of Obama’s election.
The other co-defendants are
Bryan Garaventa, 18, Michael
Contreras, 18, and Brian Car-
ranza, 21. If convicted, they
each face sentences of up to
10 years in prison. – AFP
EPAPIX
Oxford
travel chaos to Europe
LONDON: Snow storms across hit France and Spain, closing roads
Street,
western Europe killed at least five and rail tracks, and spread as far
usually
people on Monday and brought south as Morocco.
London’s
travel chaos, grounding most flights A Cyprus Airways plane with
busiest
at London’s Heathrow airport after 104 passengers came off the icy
street with
one jet slid off a taxiway. taxiway at Heathrow, the world’s
shoppers,
Two climbers died on Mount busiest international airport, air-
buses and
Snowdon in Wales and three peo- port operator BAA said. No injuries
taxi’s is hit
ple were killed in accidents and were reported.
hard by
from the cold in Italy. Both runways were temporar-
London’s
heavy
London lay under 10cm of snow, ily closed, however, and Heathrow
snowfall
the most recorded in the British halted all flights for several hours.
capital in 18 years. The storms also A number of other British airports
yesterday.
were closed or had cancellations
and severe delays.
British Airways called off all
short-haul flights for the day,
although a spokeswoman said
the airline hoped to operate about
20 long-haul flights, including to
the United States, Asia and Africa,
yesterday.
She said BA had booked 2,500
hotel rooms in and around London
for people who were stranded.
Eurostar advised passengers
against travelling between London
and Paris on high-speed trains
because of snow delays.
British regional trains were
badly hit and London subway and
bus services at one point came to a
near standstill.
The government was doing
“everything in our power,” to
make sure transport systems ran
smoothly, Prime Minister Gordon
Brown said.
Thousands of schools closed
around the country and an army of
snow ploughs and gritters worked
to clear roads, many of which saw
gridlock despite a warning from the
British Highways Agency against
all but essential travel.
London Mayor Boris Johnson
offered temporary respite for
drivers, announcing the city’s £8
(RM42.40) daily congestion charge
for driving into central London was
suspended for the day.
The snowfall even forced foot-
ball chiefs in England to extend
the strict window imposed to allow
clubs to sign or transfer players be-
yond the 1700 GMT (1am yesterday
in Malaysia) deadline.
Italy faced grimmer news, with
three people killed by the cold and
torrential rainstorms. One man
died from the cold in the northern
town of Lecco. Another was killed
in Sicily when his car was swept
away by a river.
Another 500 people were evacu-
ated from their homes in Cosenza
in the southern region of Calabria.
Snow also forced the cancellation
of about 20 flights from Rome and
Milan.
In France, Paris-Charles de
Gaulle airport cancelled at least
87 flights and others were delayed.
Paris-Orly also reported delays,
although both were getting back to
normal by mid-evening.
Some French high-speed trains
were cancelled and those that did
run were ordered to slow down.
Up to 20cm of snow also fell in
parts of Switzerland. Part of the
road around the San Bernardino
tunnel was closed.
In Belgium, about 400km of traf-
fic jams were reported during the
morning rush hour around Brus-
sels and other main cities.
Snowfalls also snarled traffic
in several parts of Spain including
the Madrid area where two high-
ways were temporarily closed, the
National Travel Administration
Department reported.
A storm packing winds of more
than 100kph injured about a dozen
people in southern Spain, emer-
gency services said. In the Medi-
terranean port of Malaga, winds
ripped off part of the roof from the
city’s main bus station.
In Ireland, snow caused hazard-
ous driving conditions and flights to
Britain were disrupted with heavy
snowfall yesterday. – AFP

US newspapers fight back

WASHINGTON: US newspapers, reeling from
sagging print advertising revenue, dropping cir-
culation and the migration of readers online, are
fighting back.
In a full-page advertisement in The New York
Times, The Washington Post and other newspa-
pers on Monday, a group called the “Newspaper
Project” made the case that news on the printed
page is not on the verge of extinction.
“More people will read a newspaper today
than watched yesterday’s big game,” the ad
declared in a reference to Sunday’s American
football championship, the Super Bowl between
the Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Steelers and Arizona
Cardinals.
“With 100 million daily readers, newspapers
are a tremendous scoring opportunity,” the group
said in a message aimed at advertisers.
“We acknowledge the challenges facing the
newspaper industry in today’s rapidly changing
media world,” said Donna Barrett, a member of
the Newspaper Project and Community Newspa-
per Holdings president and chief executive.
“However, we reject the notion that newspa-
pers – and the valuable content that newspaper
journalists provide – have no future,” Barrett, who
is also president of Southern Newspaper Publish-
ers Association, said in a statement.
On its website, NewspaperProject.org said
it was launched by a small group of newspaper
executives “to support a constructive exchange
of information and ideas about the future of
newspapers.”
“Unlike websites that feature negative, gloom-
and-doom stories about newspapers, this website
will be devoted to insightful articles, commentary
and research that provide a more balanced per-
spective on what newspaper companies can do
to survive and thrive in the years ahead,” it said.
The Newspaper Project said it planned to run
ads in more than 300 other newspapers across
the United States.Social network Facebook on
Monday was the venue for another initiative
aimed at saving newspapers that has attracted
tens of thousands of followers.
The crisis in the US newspaper industry has
been exacerbated by the recession and a steep
drop in advertising.
Online advertising revenue has grown at many
US newspapers but has failed to keep pace with
the slide in print advertising revenue.
A survey by the Pew Research Centre for the
People & the Press last year also found that the
internet has surpassed newspapers as the main
source of national and international news for
Americans.
More than 15,600 newspaper employees were
laid off or took buyouts last year, according to
figures compiled by Erica Smith, a St. Louis Post-
Dispatch journalist who tracks the cuts on her
blog at graphicdesignr.net/papercuts.
The Chicago-based Tribune Co, which owns
the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other
dailies, is one of the most prominent victims of
the crisis and filed for bankruptcy protection in
December. – AFP