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| 2 car bombs kill 25 in central Iraq Posted: 20 Jun 2011 11:26 PM PDT BAGHDAD: Two car bombs near the home of the provincial governor killed at least 25 people and wounded more than 30 in the city of Diwaniyah in central Iraq on Tuesday, a defence ministry official said. "Two car bombs exploded almost simultaneously near the governor's home in Diwaniyah, killing 25 people and wounding more than 30," the official told AFP. It was not immediately known if the governor, Salam Hussein Alwan, was among the casualties. - AFP |
| Flight chaos in Australia as ash cloud returns Posted: 20 Jun 2011 10:54 PM PDT SYDNEY: Thousands of passengers were grounded Tuesday as the Chilean ash cloud returned to Australia with a vengeance, with hundreds of flights cancelled to Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney. The cloud, created by the eruption of the Puyehue volcano high in the Andes more than two weeks ago, has looped the globe and made its way back Down Under to wreak fresh havoc. State broadcaster ABC said more than 120,000 people had their travel plans thrown into disarray.
"It is also predicted to linger longer over southeast Australia. It is spread in a large band below the Australian continent and is predicted to continue to move to the northeast and east in coming days." Qantas suspended services to and from the South Australian capital Adelaide as well as Canberra and Sydney — Australia's busiest airport.
Virgin, meanwhile, suspended flights to Adelaide and Canberra, with routes to major hubs Sydney and Melbourne as well as Tasmania not flying from 4:00pm (0600 GMT), with the disruptions expected to spill into Wednesday. "Volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Puyehue Cordon Caulle volcano in Chile continues to cause flight disruptions to the Qantas network," Qantas said.
Its morning services from Sydney to Bangkok, London, Singapore and Frankfurt were not affected, but international flights later in the day were hit. Some services, including from Singapore and Johannesburg, were diverted to Brisbane, while its Hong Kong and Los Angeles flights have been delayed. A spokesman said announcements would be made later on other international routes, including its evening services to London and other parts of Europe. Meteorologists said that while the ash had thinned during its travels around the world it was still clearly visible on satellite images and was moving at an altitude where aircraft generally cruise. "It is the same cloud that has gone right around the world. It is still dense and it is still hazardous to aviation," a spokesman at the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre. The cloud first entered Australian and New Zealand airspace just over a week ago, causing some airlines to ground all flights to affected areas while others chose to divert their planes under and around the plume. Flights were also affected across Argentina and Uruguay. The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre's director Andrew Tupper said the plume was a rare occurrence and a third loop back to Australia was not likely. A third time round would be unprecedented," he said, adding that it was a testing time for airlines. "It is a very complex problem for the airlines to manage. Obviously they have to take a conservative approach." Ash poses a significant threat to aircraft because once sucked into engines it can be converted into molten glass as a result of the high temperatures and potentially cause an engine to fail. - AFP
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