Snowsh news

Zoom travellers seeking way home

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:00:00 -0400

Hundreds of travellers left stranded following the collapse of low-fare airline Zoom are facing up to the fact they will have to make their own way home.

The UK and Canada-based firm grounded all flights on Thursday night as it prepared to go into administration.

Zoom, which operated from five UK airports, blamed its financial difficulties on a massive jump in fuel bills as a result of the high cost of oil.

Passengers on both sides of the Atlantic face spending hundreds of pounds on alternative flights to return home.

Zoom's cash crisis became apparent on Wednesday follow the grounding of a Zoom flight from Paris at Calgary airport in Canada.

Glasgow airport was instructed on Thursday by the UK's Civil Aviation Authority to detain a Halifax-bound flight over the non-payment of charges.

Passengers also began queueing for a later flight to Vancouver which never left the ground. Travellers were told of the company's collapse as they continued to wait into the evening.

Zoom said it expected the vast majority of affected passengers would be able to secure alternative flights and will be entitled to refunds.

It added that 80% of its passenger bookings were made using credit cards or through travel operators and both methods carried a high degree of protection.

The airline said an estimated 40,000 passengers had made bookings with Zoom over the next year, the majority of which were for 2009 departures.

Chile touts intergalactic ties with 'UFO trail'

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:00:00 -0400

SANTIAGO (AFP) - When it comes to attracting tourists to a remote region in central Chile, the town of San Clemente is aiming high -- playing up its reputed connection to visitors from outer space.

The Andean municipality, 240 kilometers (150 miles) south of Santiago, has opened the country's first UFO trail, a 30-kilometer (19-mile) long stretch that takes in a supposed landing site for flying saucers and optimal lookouts for extraterrestrial craft.

Sernatur, Chile's tourism service, is backing the initiative.

"We support the creation of this UFO trail because experts say that it is a 'hot zone' for watchers," the service's director, Oscar Santelices, told AFP.

However, just in case hordes of foreign tourists of the terrestrial variety turn up expecting to get a close encounter of a first, second, third or -- heaven forbid -- fourth kind (alien abduction) out of their trip, Sernatur had a bucket of cold water.

"In no way can we guarantee that a tourist coming to San Clemente will see a UFO," it said in its brochure.

The Chilean town has long been am unofficial destination for UFO-watchers in the know, though mainstream curiosity-seekers looking for a bit of interplanetary mystery have been more often drawn to neighboring Peru to see the Nazca Lines, those centuries-old gigantic representations of animals in a desert which can only be fully appreciated from the air.

UFO researchers say hundreds of UFO sightings have been reported in San Clemente since the mid-1990s.

Rodrigo Fuenzalida, president of the Chilean Grouping for UFO Research (AION), said between January 1995 and the middle of 1996 there was around one sighting per week.

The last unidentified flying object spotted was in the third week of February this year, he said.

"It was an orange object located about 400 meters (1,312 feet) in the distance, with oscillating movements," he said.

A site of special interest is a flat zone of huge volcanic blocks known as El Enladrillado, 60 kilometers (37 miles) from San Clemente and at an altitude of 2,300 meters (7,546 feet), which locals claim is a UFO landing pad.

"There, sightings have been made of shining spheres going into the water and into wooded zones without any human explanation," Fuenzalida said.

El Enladrillado, which can only be accessed after hours of trekking over rough terrain, forms the central part of the UFO trail.

Other points along the path include signs detailing sightings, as well as restaurants, camping sites, hostels and cabins to serve hungry or weary Earthlings, Juan Carlos Cerro of the local tourist office said.

Spanish shopkeeper finds Homer Simpson euro

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 12:00:00 -0400

MADRID (Reuters) - A one euro coin has turned up in Spain bearing the face of cartoon couch potato Homer Simpson instead of that of the country's king, a sweetshop owner told Reuters on Friday.

Jose Martinez was counting the cash in his till in the city of Aviles, northern Spain, when he came across the coin where Homer's bald head, big eyes and big nose had replaced the serious features of King Juan Carlos.

"The coin must have been done by a professional, the work is impressive," he told Reuters.

The comical carver had not taken his tools to the other side of the coin displaying the map of Europe. So far, no other coins of the hapless, beer-swilling oaf have been found in circulation.

"I've been offered 20 euros for it," said Martinez.

Stunning Vortex Fountain at Seaham Hall

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 12:00:00 -0400

This stunning Vortex Fountain designed by William Pye is located in Seaham Hall, Sunderland (United Kingdom). Its a large acrylic polymer cylinder which allows an air-core vortex to form as water is pumped in a circular motion. Amazing design!

The vortex fountain works by pumping water in a circular motion up a large acrylic cylinder, and forces water to cascade down its sides. This has the effect of creating a vortex in the middle of the fountain, and since the cylinder is completely transparent, the water appears to stand still, like a solid block of water.

California will no longer exist on the Russian map

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:00:00 -0400

MOSCOW (Reuters) - California will no longer exist on the Russian map.

Russia's north-western region of Nizhny Novgorod has decided to eliminate the tiny village of California due to the lack of inhabitants, Itar-Tass news agency reported on Thursday.

The village was set up in the 19th century by a Russian landowner as a snub to the government for selling Alaska to the United States in 1867, Tass said.

The once vibrant village has been in decline since the Soviet collapse, with the last of its residents leaving in 2000 to seek better lives elsewhere.

It will now officially cease to exist as a geographical unit but it was unclear if its buildings, including a school, would also be destroyed.

Thousands of villages, abandoned by people moving to cities, are scattered across Russia, many in ruins but some frozen in time, their wooden huts unchanged for decades.

Passengers tell of mid-air drama

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:00:00 -0400

Passengers tell of mid-air drama

Shaken but relieved airline passengers were continuing their journeys after surviving a terrifying ordeal in which a gaping hole appeared in their jumbo jet 30,000ft up.

Flooring gave way, part of the ceiling collapsed and debris flew into the first class cabin on the Qantas Boeing 747 which was flying from London to Melbourne.

Scared passengers, some of whom were woken up by a loud bang, had to don oxygen masks as the plane descended after losing cabin pressure on the Hong Kong-Melbourne leg of the flight.

Film shot by passengers and displayed on websites showed the scenes on board the plane as the captain announced that he was making for Manila in the Philippines for an emergency landing.

Passengers spoke of "part of the ceiling" flying past them, while others told how children were crying. Some aboard vomited after the plane managed to land safely at Manila, with all 346 passengers and 19 crew able to disembark normally. On film, applause for the crew from the passengers as the plane touched down could clearly be heard.

As air accident investigators probed the cause of the incident, passengers, who spent Thursday night in Manila, were flying on to Melbourne in a replacement Qantas Boeing 747.

Initial investigations suggested that a section of fuselage had separated and that there had been an "explosive decompression". Pictures of the stricken plane at Manila showed a large hole in the aircraft's fuselage through which luggage could be seen.

Debra Manchester, a housewife from Buckinghamshire, was sitting in first class when the incident began.She told The Times Online: "Newspapers and what looked like part of the ceiling flew past me. We didn't know what was happening to the plane. After a while, things calmed down and there was a deadly silence."

Phil Restall, from London, said he was woken "with a jolt" by the loud bang before the plane descended rapidly.

He told the BBC News website: "No-one panicked, there was no screaming. It wasn't your typical television movie. Everyone listened to the cabin staff."

Ravers lose sight at Russian laser show

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:00:00 -0400

MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) - Dozens of partygoers at an outdoor rave near Moscow last week have lost partial vision after a laser light show burned their retinas, Russian health officials said on Monday.

Moscow city health department officials confirmed 12 cases of laser-blindness at the Central Ophthalmological Clinic, and daily newspaper Kommersant said another 17 were registered at City Hospital 32 in the centre of the capital.

Attendees at the July 5 Aquamarine Open Air Festival in Kirzhach, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Moscow, began seeking medical help days after the show, complaining of eye and vision problems, health officials told Reuters.

"They all have retinal burns, scarring is visible on them. Loss of vision in individual cases is as high as 80 percent, and regaining it is already impossible," Kommersant quoted a treating ophthalmologist as saying.

Attendees said heavy rains forced organisers to erect massive tents for the all-night dance party, and lasers that normally illuminate upwards into the sky were instead partially refracted into the ravers' eyes.

"I immediately had a spot like when you stare into the sun," rave-attendee Dmitry told Kommersant.

"After three days I decided to go to the hospital. They examined me, asked if I had been at Open Air, and then put me straight in the hospital. I didn't even get to go home and get my stuff," he said.

Cosmic Connection, promoters of the Aquamarine rave, were unreachable and did not list contact numbers on their Web site.

Industry Web site www.laserfx.com said focused laser light can cause eye damage almost instantly.

The owner of a Moscow laser rental company told Reuters the accidental blindings were due to "illiteracy on the part of technicians".

"It was partly the rain, but also partly the size of the laser. Somebody set up an extremely powerful laser for such a small space," said Valentin Vasiliev, who said his company did not provide the Aquamarine lasers.

Hong Kong gets more rare Chinese sturgeons, says official

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:00:00 -0400

HONG KONG (AFP) - China will give five more of its rare sturgeons to Hong Kong, the head of an aquatic park said Monday, despite a diplomatic embarrassment when a previous gift was killed by a barracuda.

The five Chinese sturgeons, which are rarer than pandas, will join four surviving members of the previous donation and go on display at the city's Ocean Park from August 8, the opening day of the Olympics, park chairman Allan Zeman said.

"Sometimes out of bad things, good things happen. Now instead of having five sturgeons, we have nine sturgeons," Zeman said at a press conference on Monday.

The original batch of Chinese sturgeons arrived in the city last month as a gift from the Chinese National Aquatic Wildlife Conservation Association to represent the five Olympic rings, the first time the fish has been sent outside the mainland.

But just four days later, a 1.1-metre (3.5 foot), three-year-old sturgeon was bitten and killed by a barracuda in the aquarium.

The death was a diplomatic embarrassment for Hong Kong, and the city's Chief Executive Donald Tsang demanded a full report from the park.

Zeman said the latest school of sturgeons would be given their own tank.

The fish are known as "living fossils" because they have been around since prehistoric times but they are also referred to as "pandas under the water" because they are so rare.

China often uses gifts of pandas as a sign of diplomatic goodwill.

Finland regains karaoke crown, keeps on singing

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:00:00 -0400

AFP - Friday, July 11 05:03 pmHELSINKI (AFP) - A Finnish club set the world record Friday for the longest karaoke session of 216 hours, with the participants vowing to keep going and set a new watershed mark of several weeks.

"The official from the Guinness Book of World Records has given us a certificate and the record is now held by Kouvola Karaoke Club and Finland," Arto Nikunen, the president of the club, told AFP when the marathon had lasted for 216 hours.

The previous record of 214 hours was held by a club in China.

Last year Kouvola, a small town some 135 kilometres (85 miles) northeast of Helsinki, went head to head in an intense karaoke battle with its Chinese rival, when the two sides kept breaking each others' records.

Nikunen's club held the record for just six days last August and this time they want to avoid a similar disappointment. They have increased the number of karaoke machines to six from two and are even prepared for power outages.

"We want to hold the record for longer than six days like we did last year. We want to make a hefty record, so it would be difficult to break it," said Nikunen, whose new favourite karaoke song is the Beatles' "Let it Be."

Kouvola's goal is to reach 600 hours of non-stop karaoke singing, which would be reached on July 27.

Tears on my pilau as curry war hots up

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:00:00 -0400

ITN - United Kingdom, Friday, July 11 07:26 am

A row has broken out between rival restaurateurs who claim to have created the world's hottest curry.

Chefs at London's Cinnamon Club created the Bollywood Burner - a dish so spicy diners are required to sign a disclaimer before eating it.

Made with lethal "Naga" chillies, the lamb-based burner has been submitted to the Guinness Book of Records in a bid to have it officially declared the world's hottest curry.

But Rukon Latif, owner of the Rupali Restaurant in Newcastle, has vowed to fight fire with fire by making his Curry Hell dish even stronger.

The blistering balti was created by his late father Abdul Latif Lord of Harpole, when he opened the Rupali in 1977.

Mr Latif would give Curry Hell free to anyone who could finish a plateful.

Diners who have dared the Curry Hell challenge have included Gazza and "Jackass" daredevil Steve-O.

"How dare they claim the Bollywood burner is hotter than Curry Hell?" said Rukon Latif, 24.

"Dad would be turning in his grave. We've been serving up Curry Hell for years now and it's one of our most popular dishes.

"But we've been thinking of ways to make it stronger - we are experimenting with using Mexican chillies rather than the crushed Indian bird's eye chillies we use traditionally.

"The heat does not come from the chillies alone. There's a secret ingredient too which gives it its kick."

The Rupali already holds a world record for the longest takeaway curry delivery - from Newcastle to Sydney, Australia.

Shark found in Australian pool

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:00:00 -0400

SYDNEY . Austrailia (AFP) - A shark was found in a swimming pool at one of Sydney's most popular beaches Friday, apparently swept into the baths by a freak wave.

The one-metre (3.3 foot) shark turned up in a rock pool situated next to the open ocean at Cronulla beach.

Cronulla Surf Lifesaving Club spokeswoman Robyn Cole said fisheries officers netted the shark and released it back into the sea unharmed shortly after members of the public reported its presence in the pool Friday morning.

"It was quite calm, just swimming happily up and down at one end of the pool," she told AFP.

"It's funny, though, because we have swimmers who come here at 6am every morning to do laps. It's still dark then and they mustn't have even noticed it was there."

Cole said the shark must have been swept into the pool overnight by a large wave.

"It's the first time we've had a shark in the pool," she said. "We've had seals sunbaking there before, and get dolphin at the beach all the time, but I've never heard of a shark getting caught in a pool before."

Fake euro notes on the rise

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:00:00 -0400

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The number of fake euro banknotes is on the rise, the European Central Bank (ECB) said on Thursday, with the 50 euro note the preferred choice of counterfeiters.

The ECB said the number of fake euro notes seized by authorities had jumped more than 15 percent in the first six months of the year.

A total of 312,000 dodgy notes were taken out of circulation in the first half of 2008, the highest since 2003 and up from 265,000 in the first half of 2007.

The ECB said 36 percent of all seizures were 50 euro notes, 33 percent were 20's and 21.5 percent of recoveries were 100 euro notes.

The Frankfurt-based central bank estimates that there are around 11.5 billion legitimate euro notes if circulation following its introduction in 2002.

It revealed on Wednesday that as much of 20 percent of all euro notes are in countries where it is not even legal tender.

"When the figures...are compared with the number of genuine euro banknotes in circulation, the quantity of counterfeits is very small indeed," the ECB said.

Current Euro members:

Country	Flag	Euro	Rate	Abbreviation
Austria		Yes	13.7603	ATS
Belgium		Yes	40.3399	BEF
Denmark		No		DKK
Finland		Yes	5.94573	FIM
France		Yes	6.55957	FRF
Germany		Yes	1.95583	DEM
Greece		Yes	340.750	GRD
Ireland		Yes	0.787564	IEP
Italy		Yes	1936.27	ITL
Luxembourg		Yes	40.3399	LUF
Netherlands		Yes	2.20371	NLG
Portugal		Yes	200.482	PTE
Spain		Yes	166.386	ESP
Sweden		No		SEK
United Kingdom		No		GBP

It pays to go in an Indian public toilet

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:00:00 -0400

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - It pays to use a toilet in southern India, as residents are earning close to a dollar a month by using public urinals, a scheme launched by authorities to promote hygiene and research in rural areas.

Dozens of people are queuing up to use toilets in Musiri, a remote town in Tamil Nadu state, where authorities have succeeded in keeping street corners clean with the new scheme, The Times of India newspaper said on Sunday.

"In fact, many of us started using toilets for urination only after the ecosan (ecological sanitation) toilets were constructed in the area," said S. Rajasekaran, a truck cleaner.

The urine was also being collected and tested for its efficacy as a crop fertiliser, an official of the state's agricultural university added.

People relieving themselves in the open is a common sight in India's rural towns and villages, as basic sanitation still eludes millions.

Swiss court rules on noisy chicken

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 12:00:00 -0400

Swiss court rules on noisy chicken

GENEVA (AFP) - A Swiss court has ordered that a chicken be locked up in a soundproof box every night so its neighbours can get a good night's sleep, the ATS news agency reported Friday.

The court at Ticino in southern Switzerland even stipulated that the box, in which the chicken must be kept from 10:00 pm to 7:00 am, should be at least eight centimetres (three inches) thick and insulated with glass wool.

The decision ends a five-year battle between the authorities in the village of Sant'Antonio and the chicken's owner.

The authorities, alerted by complaints from neighbours, earlier ordered that the bird be put in a henhouse at night. The measure, however, was found to be pointless.

Drunken Swede tries to row home from Denmark

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 12:00:00 -0400

Drunken Swede tries to row home from Denmark

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - A drunken 78-year-old Swede stole a dinghy after a night out in the Danish town of Helsingor and tried to row back to Sweden, but fell asleep halfway, Danish police said on Monday.

When the man discovered he lacked the necessary funds to pay for the ferry from Helsingor to Helsingborg in Sweden on Saturday, he decided to row the five km (three miles) across the strait of Oresund that separates the two.

He quickly grew tired and, trusting fortune and the currents to see him safely home, took a snooze at the bottom of the boat, where Danish police later found him out at sea, still asleep.

The strait is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Police said the owner of the dinghy had decided not to press charges.

United Kingdom, london: BAA axes T5 fingerprinting plan

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:00:00 -0400

United Kingdom, london: BAA axes T5 fingerprinting plan

Press Assoc. - 26/03/08

Airport operator BAA will not be taking fingerprints of passengers using Heathrow's £4.3 billion Terminal 5 (T5) following doubts over the legality of such a move.

BAA had hoped to fingerprint T5 domestic-flight passengers and international passengers transferring on to domestic flights at the west London airport from the start of business at the new terminal on Thursday.

But the Information Commissioner's Office was concerned the fingerprinting could breach the Data Protection Act.

BAA said: "Following a meeting with all relevant parties, including the Information Commissioner and the Border and Immigration Agency, the introduction of fingerprinting for domestic passengers and international passengers transferring on to domestic flights at Heathrow will be temporarily delayed.

"BAA will be opening Terminal 5 using a photographic identification process during this time which is already in place. We will be working closely with the Information Commissioner and the Home Office over the next few weeks to agree the best approach going forward."

Airport operator BAA, and British Airways which has exclusive use of the new terminal, will hope that this is the only hitch in the T5 opening. But BA and BAA have warned that it could take time for the new terminal to "bed down".

Bitterly opposed by local residents and green groups, T5 has been built following a record-breaking and costly four-year public inquiry which ran from 1995 to 1999.

The new terminal was officially opened by the Queen earlier this month and will be able to handle 30 million passengers a year.

BA's first woman pilot, Captain Lynn Barton, 51, will be the commander of the first flight to arrive at T5 - BA026 from Hong Kong.

BA is expecting 80% of its T5 passengers to either check in online or to use the self check-in facilities at the terminal. Luggage will whizz round on more than 10 miles of belts and tracks in a system capable of handling 12,000 bags an hour.

Russian Federation: Russian farmer sues space agency for falling rocket

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:00:00 -0400

Russian Federation: Russian farmer sues space agency for falling rocket

By Natalya Sokhareva Reuters - 26/03/08

BARNAUL, Russia (Reuters) - A shepherd is suing Russia's space agency for compensation after he said a 3-metre-long chunk of metal from a space rocket fell into his yard, just missing his outdoor toilet.

Boris Urmatov, who is asking for 1 million roubles (21,000 pounds) from the Roskosmos agency, lives in a small village that lies underneath the flight path of rockets taking off from the Baikonur launchpad Russia leases in nearby Kazakhstan.

"Something woke him up in the night, like something exploded. Since he's visually handicapped he didn't notice the fallen rocket parts," Urmatov's sister Marina told Reuters from the village of Kyrlyk, in Russia's Altai region.

"But in the morning in front of the shepherd hut he saw this enormous metal casing, as smooth as an egg," she said by telephone from the village, which is 3,500 km east of Moscow. "It nearly crushed the outhouse."

She said her brother was seeking damages to compensate him for the stress he suffered.

Residents in the neighbouring village of Ust-Kan said rocket pieces regularly rain down on their area. Parts of the surrounding countryside are designated special zones where people may not go during the launches.

"Sometimes it's smooth metal casings, sometimes it's bolts. I remember something like an engine fell once," said Anatoly Kazakov, an Ust-Kan resident.

"THEY FLY, THEY FALL"

Roskosmos said it regularly warns residents when a launch is scheduled, and in a history stretching back over 50 years and 400 rockets, only a few space-bound rocket parts have fallen outside designated areas.

"Technologically speaking, these parts are supposed to fall off during a launch. They fly, they fall, they fly, they fall. It's how they work," said Roskosmos spokesman Alexander Vorobyov.

He said Roskosmos regularly sends out an investigation team to check on reports of damage from rocket parts, but it could only pay compensation if a court rules for damages.

"If a court determines that, yes, those are rocket parts, they fell on his land, then for sure he will be compensated. No question about it. We live in a civilised, law-abiding country," Vorobyov said.

Izvestia newspaper said Roskosmos had only once paid out compensation over rocket debris to a private individual -- 10,000 roubles in 2001 -- when a piece fell on his yard as he was outside chopping wood.

"What is abnormal is when somebody gets greedy, and it turns out the parts did not fall on his land, but that they were dragged there. Those moments are not good," Vorobyov said.

"But those are individual instances. We in no way refuse to pay out compensation. It just has to go through the court system."

United Kingdom, England. Heathrow T5 Fingerprinting Delayed

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:00:00 -0400

United Kingdom, England. Heathrow T5 Fingerprinting Delayed

By Sky News SkyNews - 26/03/08

Airport operator BAA has delayed plans to introduce fingerprinting for passengers at Heathrow's new Terminal 5, on the eve of its public opening.

Domestic passengers and international passengers transferring onto domestic flights at Heathrow were to be fingerprinted from the start of business on Thursday.

But the plan has been temporarily suspended amid doubts over the legality of such a move.

The Information Commissioner's Office was concerned the fingerprinting could breach the Data Protection Act.

BAA said it would instead used a "photographic identification process...which is already in place."

In a statement, the firm said the decision came after a meeting "with all relevant parties, including the Information Commissioner and the Border and Immigration Agency."

It added: "We will be working closely with the Information Commissioner and the Home Office over the next few weeks to agree the best approach going forward."

BAA, and British Airways which has exclusive use of the new £4.3bn terminal, will hope this is the only hitch in the T5 opening.

But they have warned that it could take time for the new terminal to "bed down".

T5, which was bitterly opposed by local residents and green groups, has been built following a record-breaking and costly four-year public inquiry which ran from 1995 to 1999.

BA is moving much of its Heathrow operation into the new terminal, which was officially opened by the Queen earlier this month.

The company says the building will be able to handle 30 million passengers a year.

United Kingdom: Plans for mobile use on flights

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:00:00 -0400

United Kingdom: Plans for mobile use on flights

Press Assoc. - Wednesday, March 26 01:12 pm

Haters of mobile phones could soon be able to add "I'm on the plane" to "I'm on the train" as their least-favourite overheard phrase.

Ofcom said plans were now in place to allow passengers on UK-registered aircraft to use their own mobiles while in flight in European airspace.

For some time, some airlines have offered passengers in-flight telephone services via the airline's own network.

Ofcom said that the new arrangement will involve passengers' own mobiles connecting to an on-board base station. Both of these must be switched off during take-off and landing to ensure they do not interfere with mobile networks on the ground.

Once the aircraft reaches a minimum height of 9,840ft (3,000m), the system may be switched on by the cabin crew. Mobile users will then be able to use the aircraft's network service to make and receive calls which will be routed via a satellite link to the network on the ground. Calls will be billed through passengers' normal service providers.

Ofcom said the new arrangement will be subject to approval by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and by the UK's Civil Aviation Authority.

The decision has been developed jointly with other EU countries and follows an Ofcom consultation on the proposals published in October 2007.

Ofcom said: "The safety of passengers is paramount and mobile systems on aircraft will only be installed when they have secured approval by EASA and the CAA.

"If such approval has been secured it will be a matter for individual airlines to judge whether there is consumer demand for these services."

Yellowknife: Remote Canada town a hub for Northern Lights seekers

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:00:00 -0500

By Cameron French Reuters - 29th February 2008
YELLOWKNIFE, Northwest Territories (Reuters)

Find accommodation in Yellowknife

In the subarctic woods of Canada's Northwest Territories, a quiet crowd searches the moonlit sky, a wave of concern creeping into hushed voices. Time is running out.

Then a funnel of greenish light appears in the east, hanging still at first, then rippling like steam in a glass tube. On the opposite horizon, a waving curtain of colour spreads above the trees, drawing shouts of glee from the crowd.

"It's so romantic!" a woman shrieks, clasping her partner's hand. Others are busy adjusting their digital cameras.

The Northern Lights have made their appearance, the highlight of the day for a group that has crossed an ocean and endured freezing temperatures to seek them out.

More formally known as aurora borealis, the lights have made the northern mining centre of Yellowknife -- population roughly 20,000 -- a travel hub for mostly Japanese tourists eager to take advantage of the town's nearly ideal viewing conditions.

While Alaska and Scandinavia boast their own borealis viewing industries, local operators claim the conditions outside Yellowknife -- flat and for much of the year very, very cold -- are perfect.

As well, the city's proximity to the "aurora oval", a magnetic band that circles the magnetic pole in the upper Northern Hemisphere, means the lights can occur at nearly any point in the sky.

And so a cottage industry has risen to handle the estimated 6,000 tourists who annually pump millions of dollars into the local economy during the prime winter viewing months.

While the territory boasts 11 official languages -- English, French, and nine native tongues -- it's English and Japanese you'll find on menus in the better hotels.

Air Canada, meanwhile, has introduced a direct flight from its Asian travel hub of Vancouver, British Columbia, during winter months to keep up with demand.

On a recent night-time venture to a viewing spot about 30 km (20 miles) outside of town, tourists are crammed into two school buses in heavy parkas, snow pants and ski masks.

Following a short trek across a frozen lake, the group is shepherded into a heated tent for a short presentation in Japanese about the lights.

Maho, who did not give her surname, has made the trek from Vancouver where she works at Starbucks as part of a work-abroad program. She will spend three evenings out at the site, hoping that at least one will provide ideal viewing conditions.

Asked about the popularity of the lights in her native Japan, she said: "We learn about them in school, so we come here."

Hideo Nagatani, manager of local operator Aurora Village, says the appeal for the Japanese is simply a cultural love of nature's grandeur.

"It's like during the fall season, many Japanese flock to Quebec and Ontario for the changing of colours on the leaves," he said.

"Where there is something very spectacular, they will travel around the world to really see it."

CURTAIN OF LIGHT

Caused by the collision of solar-charged protons and electrons with the earth's upper atmosphere, the borealis typically appears as green and red curtains of light that dance across the sky.

Several cultures have their own folklore surrounding the lights. An Algonquin Indian myth held the lights were the souls of ancestors dancing around a fire.

The Japanese fascination with the lights also has its own bit of folklore: that conceiving a child beneath the lights will bring good luck.

One Thursday evening in February, the crowd seemed set for disappointment as clouds obscured the sky. Small snowflakes whirled, sparkling in the occasional camera flash. The temperature was minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit).

"It needs to be colder," says Clayton Abichon, the lone fluent English speaker on staff this evening, referring to the abnormally balmy conditions for a mid-February evening 500 km (300 miles) south of the Arctic circle.

So when about 30 minutes before midnight the sky finally cleared, a rush of humanity bursts from the tents, where many had been taking refuge from the cold.

The display fades at one end the sky and starts at the other, almost moving around the horizon at times, while sled dogs howled in their kennel farther down the frozen lake shore.

The crowd oohed and ahed as it would at a fireworks display, with many lying on their backs on the snowy ground for a better look.

Most will be back the following night, hoping for even colder temperatures and another light show worth crossing an ocean for.

(Reporting by Cameron French; Editing by Eddie Evans)

http://www.yellowknife.ca/