2010-04-18 BBC
BBC News with Fiona McDonald
The disruption of air travel caused by the spread of volcanic ash from Iceland has worsened with no flights leaving or landing at airports in northern and central Europe. At least 23 countries closed their airspace in whole or in part on Saturday. Three quarters of transatlantic flights were cancelled as the clouds of ash and dust move further across the continent. With the weather and the wind direction unlikely to change, little improvement is predicted for the next 24 hours. Doctor Matthew Roberts from the Icelandic Meteorological Office explains.
"There still is a tremendous quantity of ice for melting via the erupting volcano. And the reason why the glacial ice is so important is that the glacial ice is responsible for quenching the lava that's appearing at the eruption site. As it quenches, it cools, fragments into tiny but abrasive shard and this material has been lofted high into the atmosphere and is traveling towards Europe."
A test flight is being carried out in Dutch airspace to assess the impact of the volcanic ash on aircraft parts. Officials said the aircraft belonging to the Dutch carrier KLM would fly at lowerer altitude than usual to try to avoid flying through the massive ash cloud.
Tens of thousands people have attended an open-air memorial service in the Polish capital Warsaw for President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others who died in a plane clash in Russia. Duncan Kennedy sent this report.
The three-hour memorial linked to the poems, music and speeches in honor of those who died. Warsaw's main square was filled with people, among them relatives and friends of the victims of last Saturday's air crash in western Russia. President Kaczynski's daughter and twin brother came, as did past leaders like President Lech Walesa. Later, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he still found it hard to comprehend the tragedy. On Sunday, President Kaczynski and the first lady will be buried in the state funeral in Krakow.
The White House has announced that President Obama won't be attending Mr Kaczynski's state funeral on Sunday because of the travel chaos across Europe. He joins a growing list of world leaders and dignitaries who have cancelled plans to make the trip to Krakow. They include the heir to the British throne, the Prince of Wales and the kings of Sweden and Spain. Another absentee will be the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
In a speech to mark the arrival of Pope Benedict in Malta, the Ireland's President George Abela has referred to a current court case there against three Roman Catholic priests accused of child sex abuse. Mr Abela said justice must be seen to be done in the case. The visit to Malta is the Pope's first foreign trip since the child sex abuse scandal affecting the Church came to ahead in Europe and the United States. The Pope avoided making any direct reference to cases of child sex abuse by priests.
World News from the BBC
Bombs have exploded at a camp for displaced people in Northwest Pakistan, killing at least 40 people. Sixty others were wounded. Police said that the two bombs went off within minutes of each other as food was being distributed at the camp near the town of Kohat. A security guard Saolo Matali described seeing a suspected bomber at the entrance of the camp.
"We were engaged in searching people. \ I saw with my own eyes a person coming. I could see he knew we would search him. As he came in front of the gate, there was an explosion. After that, I don't know what happened."
A BBC correspondent in Pakistan says the victims were Shiite Muslims and a Sunni militant group has said it carried out the attack.
The head of the Pakistani army General Ashfaq Kayani has apologized for the deaths of civilians during air raids near the Afghan border a week ago. Pakistani warplanes targeting Islamist militants bombed a remote village in the Khyber tribal district. The army initially claimed that most of the dead were militants, but local people said more than 60 civilians had been killed.
The government of Ecuador threatened legislation to take over foreign oil concessions if the companies resist growing state control of the industry. The government has been pressing the companies to give up concessions that give them a share of profits from oil fields and to accept service contracts instead.
Saudi Arabia has announced plans to build a new research complex for developing nuclear and alternative energy technologies which will be based in the capital Riyadh. An official statement said the new center would be responsible for shaping the kingdom's energy policy, overseeing the commercial use of nuclear power and handling radioactive waste. Saudi Arabia has the world's largest proven oil waste.
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