Foreign Office urges Britons to leave Yemen while they can

Anyone with British relatives or friends in strife-torn Yemen is being urged to contact them and plead with them to get out of the country while they still can.

The emotional warning issued by the Foreign Office yesterday is another sign that the credit that Yemen's long serving President has in Whitehall has run out. It was coupled with a veiled warning from a Foreign Minister, Alistair Burt, that, if his troops continued killing civilians as he clings to power, he could face trial in an international court.

The urgency of the Foreign Office advice suggests that Yemen is now classed alongside Libya and Somalia, where civil government collapsed 20 years ago, as one of the three most dangerous places in the world

 

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POLICE were last night trying to contact the family of a young French walker who apparently died of hypothermia on the Ben Nevis tourist path.

The man, who was in his early 20s, was with a friend, attempting to reach the summit of Britain's highest mountain on Sunday.

Shortly after 7:30pm police in Fort William were alerted that the walker was in difficulties after becoming ill.


he time he and his friend were at 2,800ft on the 4,409ft mountain, at Carn Mor Dearg, above Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe, also known as Half Way Lochan.

Two mountain rescue teams from Lochaber and RAF Kinloss were scrambled, as was a helicopter from Stornoway Coastguard.

The man was found suffering from hypothermia. Rescuers had to carry him by stretcher more than 200ft below the cloud base so he could be airlifted off the mountain by the helicopter.

He was flown to Belford Hospital in Fort William, where medical staff fought to stabilise him, but he was declared dead at 11:15pm.

The alarm had been raised by the man's friend, who climbed back down the mountain to a hut where he used an emergency radio to call police.

John Stevenson, leader of the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team, said the friend spoke very little English, which made it difficult to find his companion.

Mr Stevenson said that the injured man was very cold. "There is still a lot of snow about, and it was very windy. We do not know if there were any underlying medical conditions."

Northern Constabulary said yesterday that officers were still trying to contact the man's family.

A spokeswoman said: "No details of the deceased will be released until next of kin have been informed.

"A full report on the circumstances will be submitted to the procurator-fiscal at Fort William."

It is believed the two men had been walking on the "tourist path" up Ben Nevis, which starts in Glen Nevis and zig-zags up the mountain past Half Way Lochan.

In January, engineering student Hyder Ali Manir, 20, fell to his death on the peak after losing his footing in a blizzard.

An inquest later heard that a video camera found near his body showed him reaching the summit, with mist and fog cutting visibility to a few feet.

Mr Manir, from Worcester, who was with his cousin Sabrina Hussain on the trek up the mountain, was poorly equipped, being dressed only in jeans, a T-shirt and jacket.

A major rescue effort was launched after Mr Manir failed to return from the summit, and he was found dead on the south side of the mountain.

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Passengers mutiny after seven hour runway wait

The scene on a Middle East Airlines plane erupted into chaos this weekend when passengers were forced to wait almost seven hours on the runway. Two take off slots were missed from London Heathrow Airport because of thunderstorms, prompting a Lord of the Flies-style mutiny, according to reports.

The Beirut-bound plane was originally scheduled to leave the London hub at 13:00, but was prevented from doing so because of bad weather. At 17:00 the 230 passengers were then told that another slot had been missed, meaning they would not now be able to take off until 19:30.

Police had to be called onto the aircraft when the angry passengers began to take their frustration out on the airline staff. According to reports, some people began pushing and shoving and using abusive language. The airline staff were making repeated calls over the microphone system for the passengers to calm down.

Eight officers piled on to the aircraft in an attempt to restore order. No arrests were made, however, and the aircraft apparently eventually took off with all passengers on board.

During the ordeal, one woman complained of heart palpitations and a man had to be given oxygen as he became so worked up. Some passengers were also trying to steal meals from the galley, according to reports.

 

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A person in Britain has been diagnosed with a lethal strain of E.Coli that has already killed five people in Germany.

Almost 300 people in northern Germany are in hospital and around 500 more are being tested for the infection.
Organic cucumbers from Spain are thought to be the source of the bacteria, but travellers to Germany are also being advised to avoid eating raw tomatoes and lettuce.
The Robert Koch Institute, Germany's national disease centre, said 60 cases had been reported in the last 24 hours alone, and infections have also been confirmed in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Britain's Health Protection Authority has confirmed that three German nationals who travelled from the country fell ill after entering Britain.
One of the cases has been confirmed as having the infection which is causing this outbreak.
A spokeswoman for the HPA said the outbreak in Germany was "very, very serious" and that although the bug was infectious, there had been no reports of secondary infection yet in the UK.
Dr Dilys Morgan, head of the gastrointestinal, emerging and zoonotic infections department at the HPA, said: "The HPA is actively monitoring the situation very carefully and liaising with the authorities in Germany, the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) as to the cause of the outbreak.

E.coli bacteria like these are responsible for the outbreak across Europe
"We are keeping a close watch for potential cases reported in England and are working with colleagues in the devolved administrations to recommend they do the same. In addition we are in the process of alerting health professionals to the situation and advising them to urgently investigate potential cases with a travel history to Germany."
The Food Standards Agency has confirmed that the offending cucumbers have not been for sale at any outlets in the UK.
A spokesman for the German consumer affairs minister Ilse Aigner said: "The European Union internal market has very strong safety rules and we expect all EU states to observe them," he said, adding that, for the moment, "one can only speculate about the causes" of the outbreak.
Those hit worst by the infection contract haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), a condition that can result in renal failure, seizures, strokes and coma.
In Spain, a spokesman for the AESA food safety agency said investigations were also under way.
"The Andalusian authorities are investigating to find out where the contamination comes from and when it took place," he said.
"This type of bacteria can contaminate at the origin or during handling of the product," he added.
There has been no report of contamination within Spain, AESA said.

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Three people in Britain have been diagnosed with a lethal strain of E.Coli that has already killed five people in Germany.

Almost 300 people in northern Germany are in hospital and around 500 more are being tested for the infection.
Organic cucumbers from Spain are thought to be the source of the bacteria, but travellers to Germany are also being advised to avoid eating raw tomatoes and lettuce.
The Robert Koch Institute, Germany's national disease centre, said 60 cases had been reported in the last 24 hours alone, and infections have also been confirmed in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Britain's Health Protection Authority has confirmed that the two UK victims are Germans who travelled from the country and fell ill after entering Britain.
A third UK victim has been struck down with similar symptoms but is still undergoing tests.
A spokeswoman for the HPA said the outbreak in Germany was "very, very serious" and that although the bug was infectious, there had been no reports of secondary infection yet in the UK.
Dr Dilys Morgan, head of the gastrointestinal, emerging and zoonotic infections department at the HPA, said: "The HPA is actively monitoring the situation very carefully and liaising with the authorities in Germany, the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) as to the cause of the outbreak.

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More than 270 people in Germany have fallen seriously ill because of potentially deadly bacteria, which has been found in imported Spanish cucumbers, officials said Friday.

The Robert Koch Institute, the national disease centre, said more than 60 new cases of haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) had been reported in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number to 276. Two people have died.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs said a nationwide special warning had been issued, adding that investigations were underway to track the origin of contaminated vegetables which have been ordered withdrawn from the market.

German authorities have identified organic cucumbers from Spain as a source of the bacteria, a strain of E. coli, which has also led to food poisoning in Sweden, Denmark, Britain and the Netherlands.

Consumer Affairs Minister Ilse Aigner was to speak by telephone with her Spanish counterpart about the issue later Friday, her spokesman told a regular news conference.

"The European Union internal market has very strong safety rules and we expect all EU states to observe them," he said, adding that, for the present, "one can only speculate about the causes" of the outbreak.

A spokesman for the health ministry said that the number of infections was still growing.

In Spain, a spokesman for the AESA food safety agency said investigations were also underway.

"The Andalusian authorities are investigating to find out where the contamination comes from and when it took place," he said.

"This type of bacteria can contaminate at the origin or during handling of the product," he added.

There has been no report of contamination within Spain, AESA said.

Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli causes haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), which can result in acute renal failure, seizures, strokes and coma.

In the German state of Saarland, near the French border, officials announced they had banned the sale of all cucumbers from Spain.

Some supermarket chains, including the giant Rewe, also said they had withdrawn all Spanish-imported cucumbers from their shelves nationwide.

German officials meanwhile defended themselves against charges, mainly from farmers in northern Germany, that they had acted rashly in their warnings to the public.

Initial warnings had spoken of possible contamination in tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumbers grown in northern Germany, where most cases of food-poisoning have been reported.

"The protection of the consumer must always take precedence over economic interests," the consumer ministry spokesman said.

German vegetable growers have suffered losses of some two million euros (US$2.8 million) per day since the middle of the week, a spokesman for the German Farmers' Association said Friday.

"Trading is completely flat on the vegetable market in Hamburg," Germany's second city, according to Jochen Winkhoff, who heads the Association of German Vegetable Growers.

All growers are hard hit and "we have to destroy their produce because there is no demand," he added.

Denmark's veterinary and food products agency said Friday it had found contaminated cucumbers from Spain in the stocks of two wholesalers in the west of the country and ordered them withdrawn.

It advised consumers not to eat raw cucumbers from Spain or tomatoes and lettuces from northern Germany.

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Skype issued an update that fixes a glitch in its Windows version that locked out some of its customers.

Following some downtime yesterday, Skype issued an update that fixes a glitch in its Windows version that locked out some of its customers.

The company said it will release a fix for Macs today — though the more technically inclined can follow instructions posted on its site Thursday.

To get the Windows solution, simply download the latest version of Skype.

While Windows, Mac and Linux users were hit by the bug, those using Skype on their phones and televisions should not have been affected

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Pilots wrestled with the controls of an Air France (AIRF.PA) airliner for more than four minutes before it plunged into the Atlantic with its nose up, killing all 228 people on board

Pilots wrestled with the controls of an Air France (AIRF.PA) airliner for more than four minutes before it plunged into the Atlantic with its nose up, killing all 228 people on board, French investigators said on Friday.

Aviation industry sources told Reuters pilots appeared to have acted contrary to normal procedures in raising, rather than lowering, its nose in response to an alert that the plane was about to lose lift or, in technical parlance, 'stall'.

But they said information from black boxes hauled up from the Atlantic floor earlier this month was still incomplete.

The 2009 emergency began with a stall warning two and a half hours into the Rio-Paris flight and nine minutes after the captain had left the cockpit for a rest period.

Shortly before, a junior pilot had told flight attendants to prepare for a "little bit of turbulence"

The Airbus (EAD.PA) A330 jet climbed to 38,000 feet and then began a dramatic three and a half minute descent, rolling from left to right, with the youngest of three pilots handing control to the second most senior pilot one minute before the crash.

The timeline was described in a note by France's BEA crash investigation authority, which said it was too early to give the causes of the crash ahead of a fuller report in the summer.

"These are so far just observations, not an understanding of the events," BEA director Jean-Paul Troadec told reporters.

The captain returned after "several attempts" to call him back to the cockpit but was not at the controls in the final moments, according to information gleaned from black boxes.

By the time the 58-year-old returned, just over a minute into the emergency, the aircraft was plunging at 10,000 feet a minute with its nose pointing up 15 degrees and at too high an angle compared to the onrushing air to provide lift.

The BEA said the reading of the black boxes suggested the crew were not able to determine how fast the plane was flying.

That echoes earlier findings which suggest the pitot tubes or speed sensors on the plane may have become iced up.

The airline said in a statement that the crew had demonstrated a "totally professional attitude". France's pilots union declined to comment.

"It's very emotional to see the unrolling minute by minute or second by second at some points of what happened," said John Clemes, vice president of the families' support group.

"You automatically think of your family member and how they were living through this. It's the events that caused the deaths of 228 people so it's traumatic and moving.

France's BEA crash investigation agency said pilots pulled the nose up at crucial moments as the aircraft became unstable and the aircraft generated an audible stall warning.

"The inputs made by the pilot flying were mainly nose-up," the BEA said in a timeline based on initial examination of the cockpit voice and data recorders.

A top aircraft industry safety consultant said the standard guidance in the Airbus pilot manual called for the pilot to push the control stick forward to force the plane's nose down in the event of a stall, which can lead to a loss of control.

"The BEA is now going to have to analyse and get to bottom of how crew handled this event," said Paul Hayes, safety director at Ascend Aviation, a UK-based aviation consultancy.

"The big question in my mind is why did the pilot flying (the aircraft) appear to continue to pull the nose up," he said.

"I must stress we are commenting and speculating on preliminary factual information, which will need analysing."

ADVICE TO PILOTS

The BEA report was strictly factual and did not allocate any blame or cause of the crash on June 1, 2009.

"These are so far just observations, not an understanding of the events," BEA director Jean-Paul Troadec told reporters.

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