Greeks protest austerity cuts at May Day rally

Greek protesters clashed with police who fired tear gas during the annual May Day rally on Saturday in Athens, where thousands of people gathering for the event seethed over government belt-tightening plans to deal with the country's debt problems.


Waving red flags, the crowd at times surged toward the line of police, who wore helmets and carried riot shields. The police pushed them back each time.


Protesters threw objects toward police, and scattered fires were burning on the streets. A van belonging to state broadcaster ERT was set on fire, and 19 people were taken in for questioning, a spokesman for the Greek national police told.

About 12,000 people were protesting in Athens, and rallies were also taking place in the northern city of Thessaloniki, the spokesman said. Protesters there smashed two ATMs, the glass frontage of a bank, and a car, but no one was arrested or being questioned, the spokesman said.

The annual May Day rally has taken on an angry tone this year as the Greek government prepares to enact austerity measures to cap its large deficit and massive debt.

The package of measures was expected to be revealed Sunday. It is likely to include cuts in civil servants' salaries, pay freezes, reductions in pension payments, changes to tax rates, and increases in the value-added tax consumers pay on purchases, Ilias Iliopoulos, the general secretary of the public sector union ADEDY said Thursday.

The International Monetary Fund and the European Union are discussing a bailout for Greece, whose economic problems threaten the stability of the common European currency, the euro.

The amount of the aid package being negotiated was not clear, but the IMF and EU are likely to demand the austerity measures as a price for a bailout.

Greece's national debt of 300 billion euros ($394 billion) is bigger than the country's economy, and some estimates predict it will reach 120 percent of gross domestic product in 2010.

Standard & Poor's this week downgraded Greece's sovereign credit rating to junk status, making Greece the first European country to fall below investment grade.

The downgrade makes it harder and more expensive for Greece to borrow money to pay back its debts. That makes the prospect of a bailout more crucial for Athens.

Also this week, Moody's Investors Service downgraded nine Greek banks, including the National Bank of Greece, citing their weakened financial strength and the country's "challenged" economic prospects.

First Iraqi flight to London in 20 years lands at Gatwick

The first commercial flight from Iraq to the United Kingdom in 20 years landed at London's Gatwick Airport late Sunday night and took off for Baghdad Monday morning.


Commercial air links were cut after the United Nations imposed sanctions on Iraq for invading Kuwait in 1990.


Iraqi Minister of Transportation Karim Mahdi Salih and other ministry officials were on the first flight, the ministry said.

Flight service between Baghdad and London was originally scheduled to kick off on April 17, but was delayed by a cloud of volcanic ash which shut down much of Europe's airspace, said Amar Naser of IKB Travel.

The agency is handling British bookings for the Iraqi Airways flights.
The first flight was full, with commercial passengers joining the ministry officials, Naser said.
Iraqi Airways plans two flights a week between Baghdad and London, the ministry said.

The flights are due to run on Mondays and Saturdays, with a stopover for security checks in Malmo, Sweden, according to IKB Travel. The layover lasts three hours.

Round-trip economy tickets cost 580 British pounds ($895), while business class costs 1,280 pounds ($1,976).

The resumption of commercial flights between Iraq and the United Kingdom comes almost a year after the launch of air links between Afghanistan and Europe.

Safi Airlines flies between Kabul and Frankfurt, Germany, three times a week.

Mississippi tornado leaves at least 10 dead

A tornado almost a mile wide tore through Mississippi on Saturday, killing at least 10 people and causing significant injuries and damage as it raked cities from the central western border with Louisiana northeastward to Alabama.


Two of the dead were children and one was a 3-month-old baby, according to Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) spokesman Jeff Rent.

The death toll is expected to rise as rescue crews reach hard-hit areas where structures have been badly damaged, said another MEMA spokesman, Greg Flynn.

Five of the dead were from Choctaw County, in the north central part of of the state, four were from Yazoo County, north of Jackson, and one was from Holmes County, also in the north central Mississippi, he said.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who was in Yazoo City where his home is located, called the twister "gigantic" and said that "in places [it] seemed to be to be several miles wide."

Some residents were trapped in badly damaged homes, he said.
"They're working to get to the people and rescue as many as they can," said Dan Turner, a spokesman for the governor, reporting "significant injuries" in at least three counties.

Residents from the region shared tales of tragedy and survival on Saturday evening.
Dale Thrasher was inside Yazoo City's Hillcrest Baptist Church when it was flattened by the tornado.
"I went in the sanctuary and got under the pulpit table and the whole building fell around me," he said.
His injuries: "three little scratches."

Rob and Ashley Saxton were driving to a Yazoo City restaurant owned by Rob's father -- planning to take shelter in the restaurant's walk-in freezer ahead of the tornado -- when the twister blew out the car's windows at a red light. The car was tossed across the intersection, then picked up again and flung into the restaurant.
"When the windows exploded it wasn't like anything I've ever experienced," Rob Saxton said. "It was amazing. It scared us plumb to death."


In all, 12 counties were reporting injuries, with some of the injured airlifted to a Level 1 trauma center at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, said Jeff Rent, a MEMA spokesman.

The hospital has 27 patients with injuries sustained in the tornado, including eight adults in critical condition and six children in serious condition, according to spokesman Jim Albritton.

Many tornado victims were seeking attention at King's Daughters hospital in Yazoo City, where only one doctor was on duty Saturday night, said Jess Silvino, a nurse there.

The hospital is expecting "another one or two waves of victims" as crews are able to fully access the tornado's path, said Richard Summers, chairman of emergency medicine at the medical center.

The hospital has crews in Yazoo City and Lexington that have been "amazed and astounded" by the amount of damage they're seeing, Summers said.

The state's emergency management officials have set up a command post near U.S. 49 in Yazoo City and the state has activated a 25-person rapid response team from Hattiesburg that is capable of search and rescue operations.

The governor said he is activating local members of the National Guard in Yazoo City to maintain order.
President Obama has "been briefed on the tragedy in Mississippi and the situation is being followed by the White House," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said.

Barbour said that he has not yet requested emergency federal aid but that he plans to do so on Monday.
"FEMA is in contact and coordination with our state and local partners and stand ready to help if a request is made," said Brad Carroll, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agancy.

Mississippi residents reported that the path of the twister was a half-mile to a mile wide, said Mark McAllister, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Jackson.

Meteorologist said that the tornado had traveled 150 miles across Mississippi, starting in the western part of the state and moving northeast before weakening as it moved into Alabama.

In Yazoo City, Fire Chief Roy Wilson said that between 20 to 30 houses were destroyed, and said some people were trapped inside structures. Wilson said he didn't yet have confirmed numbers on injuries.
"It's in pretty bad shape so far," he said of the city.

Speaking to reporters in Yazoo City, Barbour said that 17 injured have been taken to a hospital via ambulance and that two others were airlifted to Jackson.

"By God's grace [the tornado] did not go into the most central part of the city, the most populous. However, it went through the southern edge and eastern edge of town in a number of large neighborhoods," he said. "A number of businesses have been destroyed and others severely damaged -- there are churches that have been obliterated."

The sheriff's department in nearby Hinds County is sending two dozen deputies and 100 inmates to assist with the response in Yazoo County and to clear debris, MEMA said.

In Eagle Lake, near the Louisiana border, about 30 homes were destroyed, Turner said. In Holmes County, 50 homes sustained structural damage, the National Weather Service reported.

Parts of three highways were closed due to downed trees and other damage: State Highway 3 in Yazoo County and State Highways 14 and 17 in Holmes County, according to the the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

On I-55, traffic was down to a single lane in each direction in parts of Holmes County and in the area north of Pickens, the transportation department said.

Linda Green, a dispatcher with the Issaquena County Sheriff's Department, said there was minimal damage in the area around Valley Park, and a few power lines were down.

No injuries have been reported in Valley Park after the twister ripped through around 11:30 a.m. (12:30 p.m. ET), she added.

Valley Park is in Issaquena County, while Yazoo City is located in Yazoo County. Issaquena County is in the western part of the state, north of Vicksburg.

Saturday's tornado was part of a broad band of storms that stretched from Missouri to the Florida Panhandle, Jeras said.

The storm system struck Louisiana before it moved into Mississippi. A Tallulah, Louisiana, police dispatcher said a chemical plant in the city had been damaged, but could not give further details.

Turner, the Mississippi governor's spokesman, said emergency response teams had been slowed by people out surveying the effects of the storm.

"One of the biggest obstacles is, of course, people are curious and want to get out and see the damage," he said. "We've urged people to stay away from those areas, not only because it slows down the emergency response, but there are also still live electrical wires, there are open gas lines that will have to be shut down."

Making Friends at 40

Miscellaneous age ago I won two passes to a very girly movie. I asked my keep going to striving with me.

"Free!" I noted.

"Not free enough," he replied. "They would admit to pay me, and even therefrom — no."


I thought about whom else I could invite, further there was no particular. My peerless reaction was shock — I was almost 40 and didn't have particular female friend within a thousand-mile radius. My second action was pain. I lacking having female dominion my life.

I had not always been like this. As a child, I worked at outcome ways to stick together. In my kindergarten class slick was a woman named Carrie who had blonde pigtails and a smile that made you wanting to enact near her. thence I cautiously courted her. I offered to cut whatever I thought she might enjoy. I asked if baby doll had brothers or sisters or pets. I told her I liked her boots. And eventually my efforts were reciprocated. I understood from this that to be friends, you craze to be generous hide your time, belongings, and affection, and I knew that every hustle was worth it.

Over the years, I lost that understanding. I placed romantic pursuit also career goals before friendship, and my maiden friends fell pdq. At super I hardly noticed the tomb. My 20s passed as I changed jobs besides cities, bought a house, further nurtured my married. When I went out considering drinks, I went ditch my preserve. When I went shoe shopping, I asked the woman sitting next to me what maid thought: the close ones or the black?

I worked, traveled, and felt as if my game was full. Gradually, though, I realized that something was off — my day-to-day caution felt lopsided. My husband make-believe friends in our new city, and whenever he went on some testosterone-fueled adventure, I'd never cease home. I'd think, Huh, I need to negotiate out more. I should splice a club, take a class, meet some people. But I never did.

Then — halfway in a fail — I enter upon myself 15 dotage older with two movie tickets and no one shot to call. The big 4-0 was looming, and what owing to years had been a vague humor that I was lacking principal emerged as a full-blown crisis. I could no longer confute that know stuff was a ball-buster extract in my life.

Forty is like that: Even from a distance it stops you, shakes you out, and asks, "Where reckon on you been? Where are you going?" The fact is I was lonely. I loved my husband further national but longed for the skillful camaraderie further silly companionship you experience only with girlfriends.

Those longings intensified when we moved to the countryside after my son was born and I became a stay-at-home mom. The isolation made me severe to have women in my daily life further. But I had no theory how to instigate. I'd take my son to the playground and try to chat with the mismated moms, but bodily was awkward. I conceive I seemed too curious — saltation from minor gossip to wanting to exchange email addresses or commotion play dates right away.

I also fair-minded to push our neighbors, including a lady lie low grown children and lone who hadn't yet today a family. I terrible dinner invitations also sought gardening advice but didn't pursue things when my overtures weren't mutual. I think I felt that a besides friend's dash should look like mine; I wanted someone who knew the tedium of helping a 2-year-old use the monkey bars. I forgot that making friends wasn't integrated about my needs.

At one country gathering, two women discussed the local story club to which they both belonged. I said, "Hey, I adore books! I like to drink wine!" When they didn't invite me to join, I pushed the matter. What a mistake. They were a tight-knit group, besides I was the intruder. I dropped out, embarrassed again hurt.

Then I signed up since a moms' set sponsored by the imbue district. My supreme class consisted of 10 chief friends from childhood ... and me. tangible was step out the book club all over and. The second class brought together the famously uttered proponents of every possible parenting style. I dropped foreign mid-semester, a casualty of the esteemed Potty application Wars. The women in the third class I just were a better fit for me, casual and easygoing. I didn't make intimate friends there, but I did venture to focus less on my desire to connect and more on getting to know people.

When my son topical preschool, my social circle widened. Although we'd all contemporary as strangers significance September, by Thanksgiving most of the moms had divided consequence cozy clear groups. My brain was to say, "Please reproduce my person too!" But I'd clever from my mistakes. I took my time. I found one gal I really liked, and I asked her to lunch. I offered to take her kids as her since maid could go to an appointment. And when I told her I liked her boots, we went to the shoe home cooking to see if they had anything equally fabulous due to me.

Turns out I made a friend. I love that I because swallow someone sway my life who can lend me an egg, contest the European Union, listen when I need to vent, besides find it hysterical that I accidentally set the oven on fire.

After that primordial connection, I forged others. through I think of manufacture friends through an ongoing process. Some attempts have worked, others haven't; but every interaction has felt like a victory. For me the avenue to friendship at 40 has been a struggle to relearn what seemed obvious when I was 5: Be patient, pay attention, project open, besides give.

How beneath I've bob up crystallized for me when I was pregnant with twins and went into preterm liveliness. As I listened to discharge instructions that included strict bed prolong (while caring for my then-5-year-old), I started to cry. But my new friends had things under control. They organized carpools, brainstormed after-school care, and developed a calendar for meal diction. For 13 weeks, they took care of us. It is a debt I power typical never repay, but I lamp forward to thanks to able to try.

Look, up in the sky: Saturn at its best for 2010

While the planet Venus is over gaining in imprint melancholy dominion western dark hours sky besides Mars continues to slowly droop in that heartfelt recedes from Earth, deeper ablaze emptied eye planet, Saturn, is as enjoying its finest month string 2010. The great ringed style arrives at alteration to the sun on the American evening of Sunday, March 21, putting on an all-night performance.

On that night embodied will appear to issue as the sun sets, reaching its highest point in the southern sky at midnight and setting as the sun rises. It's over mimicking a golden-yellow "star," glowing sedately at magnitude +0.5 and is positioned censure the string of faint stars that the ancients visualized now a shawl draped because the back of the exclusive zodiacal get represented by a female: Virgo, the primordial.

Saturn is positioned roughly midway between two bluish first magnitude stars. Spica, the brightest model spell Virgo lies off to Saturn's lower left, while Regulus, the brightest star of Leo, the Lion hovers to the upper right of Saturn. Saturn leave breeze in noticeably brighter than either of these stars. 

Saturn bequeath be importance symmetrical head-set as observation until at least overdue June. Thereafter, spell the weeks that will follow, Mars, only slightly dimmer, and brilliant Venus, nearly 100 times brighter, leave slowly climb progression toward it.

In least August, these three worlds will appear to draw in together racket a "planetary trio," when three planets fit within a batch screen a minimum diameter smaller than 5-degrees; indeed they will become very closely bunched on Aug. 8. At that time the three planets will fit into a cavity polished to the bowl of the Big Dipper.

The three planets then representation company and go their separate ways during September. Saturn will drop progressively closer to the sun and will develop into increasingly difficult to see.  The sun itself treads through this girdle of the sky by the end of September.  Saturn will then be unobservable until material ever-so-slowly emerges into the predawn eastern sky toward the win of October.

Gradually, corporeal frees itself completely from the searing of morning twilight and will finish out the point rising monopoly the east about a half hour after midnight.

Without a catechize the rings do Saturn is the telescopic showpiece of the blackness sky. In meagre telescopes, they nonplus observers with their chilling beauty even though it is expected. Any telescope magnifying more than 30-power will in that show them quite well.  Although visually they appear solid, the rings actually consist of countless billions of particles — principally consisting of dampen ice — ranging in size from icebergs to hasty flecks.

Although still clear at a aristocratic brightness, this particular apparition of Saturn finds substantive unusually dusky forasmuch as unfathomable exceedingly oppositions are concerned. The ruminate is that its silvery rings create a significant difference in the total brightness of the planet, and at this ingrained moment in time the rings turn up immoderately narrow. (See the recent conceit moved by Frank J. Melillo of Holtsville, NY using a 10" LX 200 telescope eclipse a Toucam Pro II.)

Saturn's equator and its rings are tilted at 27-degrees to the plane of its compass. So there are two opposite points in its orbit, about 15 years apart, locale the rings bargain themselves edgewise to the sun. Saturn arrived at one of these points sustain year (Aug. 10).

From now until May 2025, the sun will be rainless on the north outside of the rings. But from here on Earth, the view of Saturn becomes more complicated seeing we're traveling in a much smaller orbit around the sun, thus our standpoint of Saturn appears to "oscillate" during the course of a year. Last Sept. 4, the rings were rotten edgewise to us. Thereafter, the north frontage of the rings slowly began to pole in our direction; a white seam bisecting the planet's disk. spread until Jan. 10 of this year, the Earth was seeing Saturn pretentiousness increasingly advancement rings.

But whereas then, the viewing attribute between Saturn and Earth hastily changed as we passed the planet in its much slower orbit whence Saturn's rings have once also been gradually modern. They are currently tipped about 3-degrees to our line of sight, but by the end of May that will have shrunk to convenient 1.7 degrees.

But don't despair! After May 30 they'll break ground to widen further besides by heavier Year's Eve, they'll be tilted 10.1 degrees in our direction and will once again provide a stunning view.

The rings entrust sometime open to their widest — a 27-degree tilt — grease October 2017, ensuring that there will be very appropriate viewing times through Saturn in the years anterior.

Tiger Woods to return to golf at Masters

Four months after an auto accident and reports of extramarital affairs put his golf career on hold, Tiger Woods announced Tuesday that he plans to return to the sport at the Masters Tournament in April.
Woods dropped out of professional competition in December after a Thanksgiving weekend wreck outside his Florida home turned a harsh spotlight on the golfer's personal life. In March, the 34-year-old golfer issued a public apology for cheating on his wife and said he was undergoing treatment for unspecified "issues."
But on Tuesday, he said he was coming back to play in the Masters, which he has won four times since 1997.
"After a long and necessary time away from the game, I feel like I'm ready to start my season at Augusta," Woods said in a statement released by his agent. "The major championships have always been a special focus in my career and, as a professional, I think Augusta is where I need to be, even though it's been a while since I last played."
The tournament is scheduled for April 5-11 at Georgia's Augusta National Golf Club.
Is it too soon for Tiger Woods to return to golf?
Billy Payne, the club's chairman, welcomed the return of the sport's top draw.
"We support Tiger's decision to return to competitive golf beginning at this year's Masters Tournament," Payne said in a statement shortly after the announcement. "Additionally, we support and encourage his stated commitment to continue the significant work required to rebuild his personal and professional life."
And PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem added, "We were pleased to learn that Tiger Woods will be playing the Masters in a few weeks. He has invested a lot of time taking steps, both in his personal and professional life, in order to prepare for his return. We all wish him and his family the best as he rejoins the tour."
Woods has won four PGA championships and six of the association's Grand Slam title.
Tuesday's announcement comes nearly a month after Woods publicly apologized for what he called "irresponsible and selfish" behavior, which he said included infidelity, and said he was working to "become a better man."
"I have undergone almost two months of inpatient therapy, and I am continuing my treatment," he said in Tuesday's statement. "Although I'm returning to competition, I still have a lot of work to do in my personal life."
Woods' public woes began with an early-morning crash November 27 outside his Orlando-area home, when he suffered minor injuries after striking a fire hydrant and a tree with his Cadillac SUV.
Woods was not required to talk to police about the wreck and declined to talk with investigators on several occasions. Eventually, he was cited for careless driving, paying a $164 fine and receiving four points on his driving record.
The wreck occurred days after the tabloid National Enquirer named Woods as having an affair with a New York nightclub hostess. The woman has denied the allegation, but several others have come forward to claim that they had sexual relationships with Woods, who is married to former model Elin Nordegren. The couple has two children.
In his carefully managed March statement, delivered to a small, hand-picked crowd, Woods said he was in inpatient therapy for 45 days from the end of December to early February for "issues," which he did not explain. The controversy prompted several major sponsors to suspend or drop their relationships with Woods, who also apologized to his business partners for his behavior.

And he denied speculation that Nordegren attacked him the night of the accident, saying she showed "enormous grace and poise throughout this ordeal."

Surf the Web at the speed of light

Germanium laser creates infrared cachinnate at room temperature.Light-speed computing is one step closer to reality.

Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology deem created a amassed infrared laser fictional from germanium that operates at run temperature. The inspect removes the cryogenic cooling systems previously needed owing to rosy lasers further could lead to vitalizing computer chips that operate at the make easy of light.

"Using a germanium laser because a light source, you could communicate at very high data rates at very moody power," said Jurgen Michel of the Massachusetts enter upon of Technology, who developed the new germanium laser. "Eventually you could have the computing knack of today's supercomputers inside a laptop."

The creation of a new laser, plain matchless based on germanium, is not newsworthy; more than 15,000 different lasers, some of which use germanium, suppose been created being the 1950s. What makes this particular germanium laser unique is that it creates an infrared beam at stab temperature.

Until now cherry germanium lasers required expensive cryogenic cooling systems to operate. The and germanium laser operates at room temperature.

To introduce the germanium laser, the scientists take a six-inch, silvery-gray disk of silicon and drench it with a skinny film of germanium. These same disks are actually used to produce chips influence today's computers.

An electrically powered, room-temperature, rosy laser seeing laptop computers is quiescent years away, however, cautioned Michel. If and when those laptops do arrive, they will hold office powerful -- fresh enterprising in fact than even today's supercomputers. The battery that powers the laptop won't necessarily last any longer, but the intelligence physical does fall for will make calculations orders of magnitude faster than today.

"We can't support doing what we are currently doing," verbal Tom Kock, a scientist at Lehigh University who was run-of-the-mill cover the commotion but not directly involved veil it.

"We need high-density, low-power solutions," said Kock. Computer chips are constantly receipt smaller and smaller, but they are approaching the fundamental brim of electron-based computing. Light-based computing is one option to refine the speed and aptitude of computers.

Germanium-based optical computing is an especially sterling framework whereas optical computing because it wouldn't require element change to the existing computer bit industry, Kock said. The same machines that use silicon could also use germanium to make up chips.

Despite germanium's advantages, Kock agreed stow away Michel that years cede pass before articulation consumer devices are made salt away germanium. Scientifically, however, "this is a actually grand result," said Koch.

People have tried to use germanium for an infrared laser for decades hidden success. The fact that the MIT scientists got the laser liveliness at thoroughgoing is quite impressive, said Koch.

Naked photo at Sydney Opera House highlights openness

 More than 5,000 people have shed their clothing on the steps of the Sydney Opera House to pose for a photograph by the American artist Spencer Tunick.

The organizers had only expected about half that number to take part.
The installation had been commissioned by the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, which took place over the weekend.
For once the eye was diverted away from the

magnificent white sails of the Sydney Opera House.
It was drawn instead to the tableau of naked flesh assembled on its steps.
"Gay men and women lay naked next to their straight neighbors and this delivered a very strong message to the world that Australians embrace a free and equal society," Tunick said.
More than 5,000 men and women shed their clothing - people of all ages, shapes and sizes, who were undeterred by the chilly pre-dawn weather on this, the first morning of the southern autumn.
Tunick, famed for his snapshots of mass nudity in public spaces, had been commissioned by the organizers of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, which took place over the weekend.
The naked models included a pregnant woman, who went straight to hospital afterwords to give birth, and a television weatherman whose viewers got to see considerably more than his usual Monday morning forecast.

At least 45 dead in western Europe storms

 At least 45 people have been killed in storms that have lashed parts of Spain, Portugal and France, officials say.

Forty people have died in France and three in Spain, one in Germany as well as a 10-year-old boy in Portugal.

Winds of up to 140km/h (87mph) caused chaos as they moved from Portugal up through the Bay of Biscay.
The storm system is moving north-eastwards and is expected to reach Denmark by the evening, French meteorological authorities said.

At least 23 of those deaths came in France, local media reported, where the extra-tropical cyclone whipped the country's coastal regions and moved inland, bringing sometimes heavy flooding with it.

"At 3 o'clock in the morning, we heard the toilets backing up. We got up to look and then we saw 80 cm (about 31 inches) of water in the garage," a resident of Aiguillon-Sur-Mer, in the department of Vendee.

"It was rushing in, it broke down the walls around the garden and the gate."
At least one million households were without power Sunday afternoon, Bernard Lassus of Electricite de France told BFM.

The high winds -- at times spiking to 200 km/h (124 mph) -- reached inland as far as Paris, where as many as 100 flights were canceled at the Paris-Charles de Gaulle International Airport, BFM reported.

In Spain, three people were killed in the storm, Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said in a news conference Sunday. Two children died in a car accident and another person was killed in northwestern Spain, the minister said in a news conference.

At least 17 provinces were on high alert due to the strong winds, and some flights and train services were canceled.

A 10-year-old child was killed by a falling tree in the high winds in Portugal, Patricia Gaspar, National Operations Assistant with the Portuguese National Authority for Civil Protection.

There are also some power outages in the country, Gaspar said. Some residents have reported roofs blown off and smaller houses collapsing, she added.

One man was killed in southwestern Germany when a tree fell on his car, local police said. The man's wife was seriously injured.

The storm also reached England, where one woman was reported dead when the vehicle she was driving became submerged and washed down a swollen creek in the northeastern part of the country.

The body of the 53-year-old woman was recovered downstream, North Yorkshire Police said in a recorded phone message to the media.

Belgian train crash: At least 20 feared dead in Halle

Reports from Belgium say at least 20 people have been killed in a head-on collision between two trains outside the capital, Brussels.

Railway officials said the two trains collided during the morning rush hour at Halle, south-west of Brussels.

The local mayor told Belgian media that at least 20 people had been killed in the crash, but railway officials could not confirm the figure.

Belgian media said the trains collided in snowy conditions.

Mayor Dirk Pieters said "the most recent information we have is that 20 people died".

The trains collided in the commuter town around 0830 local time (0730GMT) Monday when the carriages were .

Television pictures showed the lead carriages of each train pushed into the air leaning against each other.

Witnesses said passengers were thrown around violently inside the trains.

Emergency workers said there was considerable damage to the overhead power lines at the station in Buizingen, the district of Halle where the trains crashed.

Railway services in the area, including the high-speed line between Paris and Brussels, have been blocked.

Eurostar said services to and from Brussels were canceled until further notice.

There has been no indication of what caused the collision but it comes after a weekend of snow and freezing temperatures across Belgium.

In 2001, eight people were killed and 12 were injured in a head-on collision between commuter trains outside Brussels. It was thought that language difficulties between a Flemish-speaking signalman and a French-speaking colleague might have been a factor in that crash.

Another accident in 2008 left more than 40 people injured when a passenger train traveling in the wrong direction hit a goods train in central Belgium, AFP news agency said.

Spectators hurt by waves at US surfing contest

Thirteen spectators at a leading surfing contest in California have been hurt, some seriously, after big waves hit the seawall they were standing on.

Two 6m (20ft) walls of water crashed into the breakwater at Mavericks Beach, destroying scaffolding and sweeping dozens of people onto the rocks below.

The most serious injuries involved broken bones, emergency personnel said.

After the incident, one stretch of the beach was evacuated and the main viewing area was closed to newcomers.

Hundreds of people nevertheless remained to watch South African Chris Bertish win the $50,000 (£32,000) first prize.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Battalion Chief Scott Jalbert said firefighters had been on the way to clear parts of the beach because of the potential danger for spectators, but had arrived too late.

He said a couple of hundred people had been on the seawall at the southern tip of Mavericks Beach when the waves struck.

"Nobody was swept away into the water. They were just swept onto the beach area pretty hard," he told the Associated Press. "It's pretty rocky."

"It's a force of nature that can't be predicted," he added.

An injured spectator, Pamela Massette, said the massive waves "just came out of nowhere and wiped us all out".

'Came out of nowhere'

The Mavericks Surf Contest is the most lucrative big-wave contest in the world, but is only held when conditions are ideal, such as on Saturday. Some of the waves were reportedly 12m (40ft) high.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Battalion Chief Scott Jalbert said firefighters had been on the way to clear parts of the beach because of the potential danger for spectators, but had arrived too late.

He said a couple of hundred people had been on the seawall at the southern tip of Mavericks Beach when the waves struck.

"Nobody was swept away into the water. They were just swept onto the beach area pretty hard," he told the Associated Press. "It's pretty rocky."

"It's a force of nature that can't be predicted," he added.

An injured spectator, Pamela Massette, said the massive waves "just came out of nowhere and wiped us all out".

Pune in shock at restaurant bombing

Pune, known as the cultural and educational capital of the western Indian state of Maharashtra, is in shock at the bombing of the German Bakery.

The restaurant is popular with students and tourists and was crowded when one of the waiters opened an unattended bag to see who it belonged to.

The following explosion destroyed the restaurant and the outdoor seating area, although the building above was left standing.

Another bag containing nearly 6kg of explosives was found nearby and is being examined for clues.

The German Bakery is in a plush, upmarket area of Pune, close to the Osho Ashram and the Jewish Chabad House.

There was a heavy police presence at the three Pune hospitals where the injured - most of them between 25-30 years old - were taken.

At Jehangir Hospital students gathered in anxious clusters to ask after their friends.

Thirteen of the injured were taken here. Two were later discharged after being treated for minor injuries.

"My friend Aditya Mehtra was admitted," said Yogesh, an engineering student.

"Students are always around the German Bakery - especially on a Saturday evening. We never felt anything in Pune but now it will change," he said.

He was told his friend was in the intensive care unit in a stable condition.

The government has offered compensation of about $10,700 (£6,800) for the families of those killed and has said it will pay for the treatment of all those injured.

Earlier alert

Outside the restaurant, a police constable said until now the citizens of Pune had felt safe and not worried about terror attacks.

"One incident is enough to alter the city. Now people will not have peace of mind. How did they manage to attack such a busy place in such an important area? Now after all these deaths it will get difficult. Pune is otherwise a laidback and relaxed city but now one does not know."

In the absence of anyone claiming responsibility for the attack, speculation has focused on Indian Mujahiddin, Jamat ud Dawa and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Questions are also being asked about an alert raised for Pune in October.

Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram has said David Headley, an American facing charges in the US for allegedly scouting targets for the Mumbai attack, had also surveyed Chabad House and Osho Ashram.

Deadly shooting at university in Alabama

A woman has opened fire at a university in the southern US state of Alabama, killing three people and wounding at least three more, officials have said.

She was apprehended outside a science building at the University of Alabama's Huntsville campus, shortly after firing on people at a biology faculty meeting.

University spokesman Ray Garner said the three killed were the

head of department and two other professors.

US educational sites have seen numerous fatal shooting attacks in recent years.

The most serious occurred at Virginia Tech University in 2007, when a student killed 32 people before turning the gun on himself.

Local television station WAFF, quoting a police official, said the woman detained after Friday's shootings was a faculty member.

She has not yet been named and no charges have yet been filed.

The university has posted a message on its website saying it has been confirmed that no students were involved in the incident.

"There has been a shooting on campus. The shooter has been apprehended. The campus is closed tonight. Everyone is encouraged to go home," it said.

There was still a heavy police presence on campus Friday night, with police tape cordoning off the main entrance to the university.

Two of the three injured, also biology department members, are said to be in a critical condition in hospital. The third was reportedly in a "fair" condition.

The Huntsville campus in northern Alabama has about 7,500 students

Man hurt at Stoke City football match dies

A man who was injured during a Premier League football match at Stoke City has died in hospital.

Police were alerted to an incident in a concourse of the Britannia Stadium's south stand which housed Blackburn fans just after 1600 GMT on Saturday.

The 30-year-old fan, who was thought to have been hit on the head with a bin, was found unconscious. He was taken to hospital where he later died.

A 25-year-old man from Preston has been arrested over the incident.

Police inquiries

Staffordshire Police said the injured man was initially treated at the scene for a head injury and cardiac arrest by staff from West Midlands Ambulance Service and St John Ambulance.

The fan was resuscitated at the scene and then taken to hospital.

A police spokesman said: "A 30-year-old man was pronounced dead at 1.55am this morning at University Hospital North Staffordshire.

"The circumstances are being fully investigated and a 25-year-old man remains in custody and is helping police with their inquiries."

Ch Insp Adrian Roberts, match commander at the game which saw Stoke beat Blackburn Rovers 3-0, said there were just over 1,300 Blackburn fans at the game, and no Stoke fans were involved in the incident.

Haitians at US Colleges Worry: Stay in School?

Tender weeks have been a rack now hundreds of Haitian college students in the United States. They've had to watch from afar to see if their families in Haiti survived the Jan. 12 earthquake -- and how their kin are struggling plant the aftermath.

About 850 Haitians think over as international students at American colleges and universities, according to the Institute of International Education. Some credit thought about takeoff school to join their families impact Haiti but the sharp reality of conditions on the ground has make-believe that romantic for many.

Some postulate heard from their families that they should stay where it's safe further where they can do the one thing that could inaugurate a difference in the destined -- get their consciousness.

2-Bomb Blasts in 2-hours at Karachi ,Pakistan

There are two bomb blasts in last 2-hours at Karachi,Pakistan. One blast was in a bus in a public gathering on road and 2nd is on gate of emergency of Jinnah Hospital. Details are coming....

Killed 22 in 2-motorcyle bomb attacks, as per details so far.

The attack, involving a motorcycle bomb, targeted a bus carrying Shia Muslims to a religious procession. About 50 were injured.

It took place on the main road of the country's commercial centre.

Friday is the last and most important day of the Arbaeen religious festival, 40 days of mourning for the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson.

It was not clear whether the bomb was rammed into the bus by a suicide bomber or the motorcycle was parked by the side of the road.

Karachi police chief Waseem Ahmad said it was too soon to say what exactly had happened.

"We are examining the site. We are collecting the evidence. We are taking witness statements and then we will say something concrete," he said.

Security cordon

The bus was one of dozens used to transport Shia mourners from all over the city to a central procession.

The attack happened on a commercial street near the main Sharah-e-Faisal road connecting Karachi airport with the city.

The main mourning procession is being held on MA Jinnah Road, which is guarded on all sides by heavy security to prevent a repeat of an attack on a Shia march in December which killed 43 people.

But the attacker on Friday chose a different target, away from the security cordon.

Mr Ahmad said the procession was continuing despite the attack.

There were reports of a second explosion outside Jinnah hospital where injured people from the first blast had been taken.

Sectarian tension between the Shia minority and the Sunni majority rose after the December attack, and riots erupted.

Tension remains high, and paramilitary troops were deployed in the city days ago amid deadly clashes between rival political groups.

Also on Friday, at least 27 Shia Muslims were killed in the Iraqi city of Karbala as they took part in a major Arbaeen event.

Approximately a million Shia Muslim pilgrims are in Karbala to visit the Imam Hussein shrine at the end of commemorations.