Asia marks fifth anniversary of Indian Ocean tsunami

Countries across the Indian Ocean are marking the fifth anniversary of the catastrophic tsunami that killed almost 250,000 people.

In Indonesia's Aceh province, where 170,000 died, thousands held prayers in public mosques and private homes.
On Thai beaches, Buddhist monks chanted prayers as mourners held pictures of loved ones lost five years ago.
Hundreds of tourists also returned to Phuket island to mark one of the worst natural disasters of modern times.

A moment of silence was observed on Phuket's popular Patong Beach marking the time the tsunami struck.
German survivor Ruschitschka Adolf, 73, and his wife Katherina waded into the turquoise seawater to lay white roses as a tribute to the dead.
"We [still] come and stay here because we are alive," Mr Adolf told Reuters news agency.
Other ceremonies were expected in the 14 countries hit by the massive wave.
Communities rebuilt
Thousands of survivors in Indonesia's Aceh province, the hardest-hit area, gathered at mosques and beside the mass graves where tens of thousands were buried.
"None of my family members survived in the tsunami," Siti Aminah, 72, told AFP news agency at a grave site near Banda Aceh, Aceh's capital.
"My children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, they all have gone and left me alone here."
Banda Aceh's main business district, which was completely destroyed by the tsunami, is again bustling with activity, says the BBC's Karishma Vaswani there.
Our correspondent says many have rebuilt their lives thanks to billions of dollars in international aid.
But five years on, the grief and trauma of the disaster are still very real for the people of Aceh, she adds.
After Indonesia, Sri Lanka was the country worst hit by the tsunami.
More than 40,000 people died there and half a million were displaced.
Visitors can still see blackened, destroyed buildings in the country's south and west, the BBC's Charles Haviland reports from Colombo.
There are also large vistas with a view of the ocean from the coast road, which were once blocked by buildings, our correspondent says.
But there has been good recovery too - aid grants have brought some farmers to a higher technical level than before.
And one model village built by a philanthropist - which started out as 1,000 homes for victims - has now developed to take in a health centre, diving classes and more, our correspondent adds.
Unprecedented scale
The tsunami was sparked by a 9.2-magnitude earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra - the mightiest earthquake in 40 years.
In Aceh province, the quake toppled homes and buildings and sent panicked residents rushing into the streets.
About 20 minutes later, a wall of water up to six stories high surged in from the sea, burying thousands in thick black mud and leaving others to scramble up buildings or cling onto trees.
It was a disaster on an unprecedented scale, the BBC's Rachel Harvey reports from Bangkok.
Apart from the deaths, hundreds of thousands people lost their homes and livelihoods.
No single agency or government could have been prepared for the challenges the tsunami presented, our South-East Asia correspondent says.
Following the disaster, the UN has been designated to coordinate relief work in massive disaster zones.
The so-called Cluster System for emergency response was used to good effect after the Padang earthquake in Indonesia in September, our correspondent says.

Syria: Thousands still fleeing into Turkey

At least 4,300 people have now fled violence in Syria to seek refuge in Turkey, a senior Turkish official says.

A BBC correspondent on the border says the real number of displaced people is probably much higher.

The Syrians have mainly been fleeing the town of Jisr al-Shughour, targeted in a government crackdown.

An eyewitness described a tank attack on a nearby village on Friday morning, in which people were killed and crops destroyed.

Syria's government says its forces went into the town to restore order after the deaths of 120 security personnel.

Clashes throughout the country on Friday led to the deaths of at least 32 people.

Hundreds of people have been killed in a crackdown in recent weeks on anti-government protests, which began in March.

Meanwhile the US White House strongly condemned Syria's "outrageous use of violence" against the protesters and called for an "immediate end" to the violence.

'Not refugees'

The BBC's Owen Bennett Jones, in Guvecci on the Turkish-Syrian border, says the real number of displaced people is probably much higher than official total because many have slipped across the border unnoticed by the Turkish army.

Senior Foreign Ministry official Halit Cevik said Turkey would deal with the crisis as best it could.

"If they are coming, this is a humanitarian issue," he said. "We will do whatever is needed within our means."

He added that while Turkey could cope with the crisis at the moment, it might need international help if things got worse.

But Mr Cevik said that the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, would not be involved.

The Syrians involved were not seeking refuge in Turkey, he said, as their eventual aim was to go back home.

Syria: US condemns 'brutality and violence'Unverified amateur video appears to show Syrian soldiers kicking prisoners.Unverified amateur video appears

The US has strongly condemned Syria's "outrageous use of violence" against anti-government protesters.

The White House said the government was leading Syria down a "dangerous path" and called for "an immediate end to the brutality and violence".

Activists say at least 32 people were killed in fresh clashes on Friday.

The violence came as government forces moved into the town of Jisr al-Shughour, where it said 120 security personnel had earlier been killed.

Hundreds of civilians have fled north into Turkey to escape the assault.

Assad 'unavailable'

In a statement, White House spokesman Jay Carney repeated calls for the Syrian security forces to exercise restraint.

Both state media and activists on the ground also reported troops and tanks advancing on Jisr al-Shughour.

Most residents are believed to have abandoned the town.

The government blamed "armed groups" for the deaths of 120 security personnel in Jisr al-Shughour earlier this week, but some reports said the troops were shot after a mutiny.

Syrian TV said troops had reached the outskirts of the town after securing nearby villages, and that they had killed or captured a number of armed men.

Activists said they had blasted the town with tank fire, but the BBC's Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon says there is little indication as to how much resistance the troops are facing in an area whose population has largely fled.

Slaughtered like lambs'

There were reports of large demonstrations against President Assad in many parts of Syria after prayers on Friday.

Security forces are reported to have opened fire in some areas - activists said there were deaths in the coastal town of Latakia, in Deraa in the south, and in a suburb of Damascus.

Friday protests have become a regular event since March, but government efforts to quash them have escalated in recent weeks.

Human rights groups say more than 1,300 people have died in the crackdown, mostly unarmed civilians. The government denies this and says about 500 security forces have died.

More than 3,000 Syrians - mostly women and children - have crossed the border into Turkey to escape the violence, many of them from Jisr al-Shughour. An unknown number of people are thought to have fled to other locations within Syria.

"People were not going to sit and be slaughtered like lambs," one refugee in Turkey told Reuters news agency.

Some of those arriving at the temporary camps have serious gunshot injuries - including a Syrian Red Crescent worker who said he was shot in the back as he tried to help the injured in Jisr al-Shughour.

With the unrest showing no sign of abating, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has set up a new camp in Turkey capable of housing up to 5,000 people.

Are you in Syria? Have you travelled from Syria to Turkey to flee the situation there? Send us your comments and experiences.

Would you trust the human eye to spot a bomb?

Airline passengers will undergo full body scans as security measures are stepped up after the alleged plan to blow up a plane on Christmas Day. But the technology is only ever as good as the people who operate it, says Chris Yates.

Security measures for British air passengers are about to get a lot more stringent.

After the alleged attempt to bomb a transatlantic passenger plane over the US on Christmas Day, full body scanners in major British airports have been given the go-ahead.

In addition to these "naked" imaging scanners, there will be a greater reliance on explosive residue detectors and a full scale review of the security system that exists in this country.

Full body scanners, or whole body imaging (WMI), as the technology is known in the trade, will allow airport security staff to see beneath passenger clothing to ensure travelers are not carrying concealed weapons of most types.

The equipment has been around for some time, with a current trial at Manchester airport, but until now plans to roll it out have been held back by concerns about privacy. The scanners effectively render a naked image of each passenger - highlighting any objects stored close to the body as well as more intimate details.

Yet the fact such concerns have been swiftly swept aside in the immediate aftermath of the Christmas Day scare is evidence of how international air travellers are about to witness another tightening of the security net.

But how effective are these full body scanners and are we relying on them too heavily?

Regardless of whether Whole Body Imaging (WMI) could have identified the explosive device allegedly used in the failed Christmas Day attack, this type of technology in the airport environment is a potential game changer for the safety of air passengers. It also gives security personnel much needed additional capability.

Human error

But it cannot be seen as the panacea to the threats we face today.

Full body scanners are often only as good as the people paid to be behind the screens, analysing the succession of complex images scrolling in front of their eyes.

Staff monitoring screens typically only do so for a two-hour stretch - one of a rotation of duties to stop them from getting bored.

But even then, they are only human and it's a human frailty that when attention is focused on a mundane task, it can easily wander - distracted by the sight of an attractive man or woman or a passing celebrity.

There are moves at the moment to relocate the operatives looking at screens to a remote area - a darkened room where there are no distractions. It's one of the ways that the security industry is looking at improving scanning and minimising human error.

So maybe the alternative is to go for something that minimises, even sidesteps, human error. entirely. With some emerging technologies, such as liquid detectors, the machines themselves make the call.

Given that the alleged Christmas Day plot is said to have relied on liquid for the in-flight bomb, there is clearly a case for liquid detectors at airports sooner rather than later.

The hardware and software is already available.

Green light scanner

A bottle scanner device has undergone pilot trials at Newcastle Airport and is being assessed by Manchester airport.

The scanner is an ingenious piece of kit - a standalone system providing a highly accurate means to positively verify whether the content of a bottle is safe for carriage in the passenger cabin or otherwise. It literally gives a green light for "OK" or a red light.

Or there is a piece of technology which can be used with existing baggage X-ray systems to detect liquid explosives and chemical threats in real time, for a fraction of the cost of deploying new hardware.

Gordon Brown has also signalled that passengers could see greater use of explosive residue detection systems that are already deployed at UK airports for random screening of passenger belongings.

Many of us are familiar with having items of hand luggage swabbed and analysed by these labour intensive devices at airports. However, this method of detection is evolving dramatically.

An explosive residue detection system developed by Loughborough University and presently being commercialised can remotely scan crowded areas, such as airports and train stations, automatically alerting an operator if it detects traces of explosives.

A hand-held variant of the system is also under development and is ideally suited to deployment in the central screening areas within airports.

PR exercise?

Of course, it could be pointed out that for all the money and time spent on elaborate scanning equipment, as far as I know, they have yet to be instrumental in foiling a terrorist plot.

Indeed, many people will say that scanning at airports is nothing but a PR exercise - there to reassure the overwhelming majority of law-abiding passengers while also acting as a deterrent for violent fanatics.

That could perhaps have been said of the old style X-ray scanners. But the level of sophistication we have nowadays gives much greater capability to detect weapons.

Yet security at airports is as much about technique as technology. The technique involves, amongst other things, passenger profiling. Rudimentary forms of profiling have been commonplace at airports for very many years and we're all used to the sort of basic questions asked of us prior to and during the check in process.

Traditionally, the UK has shied away from full on profiling of the kind passengers travelling to Israel might undergo for example. However, there is now a strong case for much greater use of this technique at airports.

Civil liberties groups have long been opposed to passenger profiling, citing issues surrounding whether individuals might be profiled on grounds of ethnic background and so forth. There is though no reason why greater profiling cannot be conducted without recourse to contentious issues such as race and religion.

The aviation industry routinely collects vast amounts of data on our travelling habits that can be used to build up an extremely useful profile. Information regarding the destination, frequency and duration of overseas trips allows those tasked with ensuring the security of flights to positively identify passengers who may travel to regions of the world determined to be high-risk for example. That enables higher levels of security to be applied to that person as he or she passes through the airport.

What is required is a system of systems comprising both technique and technology. The technique must include greater use of passenger profiling whilst the technology must include advanced tools giving greater detection capability.

Such techniques, when combined with greater use of advanced technologies, give us much greater detection capability on the frontline at our airports.

Chris Yates is an aviation security analyst with Jane's Information Group.

BeautifulPeople.com axes holiday weight gain members

Dating and social network site BeautifulPeople.com has axed some 5,000 members following complaints that they had gained weight.

The members were singled out after posting pictures of themselves that reportedly showed they had put on pounds over the holiday period.

The site allows entry to new members only if existing members vote them as sufficiently attractive to warrant it.

The US, the UK, and Canada topped the list of excluded members.

The site has always been unrepentant about its selection process, calling itself "the largest network of attractive people in the world".

The move was reportedly prompted by members themselves, who police the membership of the site to maintain a high - if highly subjective - standard of attractiveness.

"As a business, we mourn the loss of any member, but the fact remains that our members demand the high standard of beauty be upheld," said site founder Robert Hintze.

"Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which BeautifulPeople.com was founded."

'Sexercise' yourself into shape

The NHS has some new advice for people struggling to schedule a fitness routine into their daily lives - a workout between the sheets.

According to the NHS Direct website, "sexercise" can lower the risk of heart attacks and helps people live longer.

Endorphins released during orgasm stimulate immune system cells, which also helps target illnesses like cancer, as well as wrinkles, it states.

Sexual health experts said such claims could not be scientifically proven.

"It's good to see the NHS are promoting sexual wellbeing," Dr Melissa Sayer told the Guardian newspaper.

"Yes, there is evidence that sex has benefits for mental wellbeing, but to say there is a link with reduced risk of heart disease and cancer is taking the argument too far."

NHS Direct, however, told the paper the content was "backed by science and clinical evidence" and "isn't just a bit of fun".

'Regular romps'

The advice, published under the headline "Get more than zeds in bed", is one of several sexual health-related articles to be found on the NHS Direct website.

Sex with a little energy and imagination provides a workout worthy of an athlete, the article says.

"Forget about jogging round the block or struggling with sit-ups.

"Sex uses every muscle group, gets the heart and lungs working hard, and burns about 300 calories an hour."

The advice suggests "regular romps this winter" could lead to a better body and a younger look.

Increased production of endorphins "will make your hair shine and your skin smooth," it adds.

"If you're worried about wrinkles - orgasms even help prevent frown lines from deepening."

The article goes on to say that orgasms release "painkillers" into the bloodstream, which helping keep mild illnesses like colds and aches and pains at bay.

The production of extra oestrogen and testosterone hormones "will keep your bones and muscles healthy, leaving you feeling fabulous inside and out".

Mudslide in Brazil resort kills at least 15 people

At least 15 people have been killed and 10 injured by a mudslide in a Brazilian island resort, say officials.

The mud destroyed three houses and an upmarket lodge on Ilha Grande, Angra dos Reis, near Rio de Janeiro.

More than 40 people have now died in a series of landslides in and around Rio in the past two days.

Fire department commander Pedro Machado told local media the mud probably hit as tourists returned to their rooms after New Year's Eve celebrations.

Mr Machado said about 100 people, including police and navy boats, were searching for survivors.

The resort can only be reached by boat.

Witnesses told reporters the houses and the Sankay lodge had been hit by a piece of the hillside measuring some 300m across.

Wooden sections of the lodge could be seen floating close to the shore and on the beach, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The lodge, which has capacity for 50 people, was reported to be full at the time, AP said.

Other landslides in Angra dos Reis killed seven people early on Friday.

On Thursday at least 19 people died as heavy rains triggered mudslides in Rio de Janeiro state.

Officials said most of those deaths occurred as shanties collapsed under mud or rain in the greater Rio city area.

Pakistan volleyball crowd 'hit by suicide bomber'

At least 60 people have been killed after a suspected suicide bomb attack at a volleyball pitch in the troubled north-west of Pakistan, officials say.

Officials said the bomber drove a vehicle towards the field as people gathered to watch a match. Some sources suggest the death toll has reached 75.

The attack happened near Lakki Marwat, close to North and South Waziristan.

The Pakistani army has been conducting a campaign against the Taliban in the tribal areas since October.

Dozens of people were reported to be injured in Friday's attack. Several buildings collapsed, trapping people under rubble.

'Militant hub'

"The villagers were watching the match between the two village teams when the bomber rashly drove his double-cabin pick-up vehicle into them and blew it up," district police chief Mohammad Ayub Khan told AFP news agency.

Mr Khan told reporters the attack may have been in retaliation for attempts by locals to expel militants.

"The locality has been a hub of militants," he said.

"Locals set up a militia and expelled the militants from this area. This attack seems to be a reaction to their expulsion."

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool reports from Islamabad that among those killed are believed to be members of a local peace committee who have been campaigning for an end to the violence.

Mushtaq Marwat, a member of the group, told Pakistan's Geo TV that the attack occurred as the committee was meeting in a nearby mosque.

"Suddenly there was a huge blast. We went out and saw bodies and injured people everywhere," he said.

'Soft target'

Other witnesses recalled seeing a bright flash before hearing an ear-piercing explosion.

Some initial reports about the attack said the vehicle that exploded was stationary, or that a bomber had walked towards the volleyball pitch.

North and South Waziristan form a lethal militant belt from where insurgents have launched attacks across north-west Pakistan as well as into parts of eastern Afghanistan.

Our correspondent says it had been feared that while the army was congratulating itself on its campaign, militants had simply escaped to neighbouring areas such as the one where Friday's attack happened.

The number of people killed in militant attacks in Pakistan is fast approaching 600 in just three months, with no apparent end to the violence in sight, he adds.

Militants have attacked both "hard" targets, including army or intelligence offices, and "soft" ones such as markets or the crowd that was hit in Friday's bombing.

The attack came as a general strike was held in Karachi, Pakistan's commercial capital, in protest against a bombing there on Monday and riots that followed.

The bombing, which killed at least 43 people, targeted a Shia Muslim march and was claimed by the Taliban.

Taliban claim bombing in Karachi

Pakistan's Taliban have said they carried out the suicide bombing which killed 43 people in the commercial capital, Karachi, on Monday.

A spokesman threatened to carry out more such attacks in the coming days.

Meanwhile, firefighters are still trying to douse flames following rioting after the attack on a Shia Muslim march.

Dozens of people were injured in the bomb, which struck as Shias marked the climax of the holy month of Muharram.

After the explosion, marchers turned their anger on ambulance workers, security forces and journalists.

'Our man'

"We carried out the suicide bombing in Karachi," the AFP news agency quoted Asmatullah Shaheen, one of the commanders of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as saying.

"He [the bomber] was our man. His name was Hasnain Muawia and we did it to protect the honour of the companions of the holy prophet," said Mr Shaheen whose name is on a government list of 20 most-wanted militants.

"We will carry out more such attacks and also target government installations," he said.

Meanwhile, fire tenders in Karachi were still struggling to control the fires that erupted following Monday's attack, officials said.

Arsonists set on fire nearly 2,000 shops and warehouses between Light House and Boulton Market in central Karachi.

The area houses Pakistan's largest wholesale markets that supply goods all over the country.

Traders said hundreds of shops were gutted in fire and that they had lost merchandise worth more than $350m. It is estimated that thousands of people have been rendered jobless.

City fire chief Ehtisham Qadri told the BBC Urdu service that the fire was still not doused and that a dozen fire engines were working the narrow lanes of markets in the old city area.

"There are no leaping flames on the skyline, but it's far from over. It's not safe yet," Mr Qadri said.

"I cannot give a time frame to bring it under control, because the area is very congested and heavily built, with narrow lanes and small shops which retard our progress."

Pakistan has seen an upsurge in violence in recent months.

Hundreds of civilians have died in bomb attacks as Pakistan's army concludes an offensive against Taliban militants in South Waziristan and surrounding areas.

Blast in Pakistan-administered Kashmir kills five

A suspected suicide bomb attack on a Shia Muslim gathering in Pakistan-administered Kashmir has left five people dead, officials say.

The blast in Muzaffarabad came as Shia Muslims commemorated the festival of Ashura that mourns the 7th-Century death of Imam Hussein.

More than 60 people were reported to have been injured in the blast.

Pakistan's security forces were on high alert fearing sectarian clashes between Shia and Sunni Muslims.

The attacker detonated his explosives as police tried to search him at a checkpoint set up outside the gathering, a police spokesman told the Associated Press news agency.

Bridge collapse in western India 'kills 40'

The collapse of a bridge being built in western India is feared to have left some 40 people dead, local police say.

Dozens of labourers working on the bridge are thought to have fallen into the river Chambal when it collapsed late on Thursday.

Rescuers have recovered 12 bodies but there is little hope of finding anyone else alive, a senior officer said.

The accident happened near the town of Kota, some 170 miles (270 km) west of Jaipur in Rajasthan.

Police Inspector General Rajeev Dasot said an inquiry had begun into the circumstances leading to the collapse of the bridge, which is being jointly built by South Korea's Hyundai Engineering and Gammon India.

Mr Dasot said it could take another three days to clear all the debris, AP news agency reported.

The government has ordered an investigation and police have arrested two project managers.

Correspondents say construction site accidents are relatively common in India, where health and safety rules are often overlooked.

Asia marks fifth anniversary of Indian Ocean tsunami

Countries across the Indian Ocean are marking the fifth anniversary of the catastrophic tsunami that killed almost 250,000 people.

In Indonesia's Aceh province, where 170,000 died, thousands held prayers in public mosques and private homes.

On Thai beaches, Buddhist monks chanted prayers as mourners held pictures of loved ones lost five years ago.

Hundreds of tourists also returned to Phuket island to mark one of the worst natural disasters of modern times.

A moment of silence was observed on Phuket's popular Patong Beach marking the time the tsunami struck.

German survivor Ruschitschka Adolf, 73, and his wife Katherina waded into the turquoise seawater to lay white roses as a tribute to the dead.

"We [still] come and stay here because we are alive," Mr Adolf told Reuters news agency.

Other ceremonies were expected in the 14 countries hit by the massive wave.

Communities rebuilt

Thousands of survivors in Indonesia's Aceh province, the hardest-hit area, gathered at mosques and beside the mass graves where tens of thousands were buried.

"None of my family members survived in the tsunami," Siti Aminah, 72, told AFP news agency at a grave site near Banda Aceh, Aceh's capital.

"My children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, they all have gone and left me alone here."

Banda Aceh's main business district, which was completely destroyed by the tsunami, is again bustling with activity, says the BBC's Karishma Vaswani there.

Our correspondent says many have rebuilt their lives thanks to billions of dollars in international aid.

But five years on, the grief and trauma of the disaster are still very real for the people of Aceh, she adds.

After Indonesia, Sri Lanka was the country worst hit by the tsunami.

More than 40,000 people died there and half a million were displaced.

Visitors can still see blackened, destroyed buildings in the country's south and west, the BBC's Charles Haviland reports from Colombo.

There are also large vistas with a view of the ocean from the coast road, which were once blocked by buildings, our correspondent says.

But there has been good recovery too - aid grants have brought some farmers to a higher technical level than before.

And one model village built by a philanthropist - which started out as 1,000 homes for victims - has now developed to take in a health centre, diving classes and more, our correspondent adds.

Unprecedented scale

The tsunami was sparked by a 9.2-magnitude earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra - the mightiest earthquake in 40 years.

In Aceh province, the quake toppled homes and buildings and sent panicked residents rushing into the streets.

About 20 minutes later, a wall of water up to six stories high surged in from the sea, burying thousands in thick black mud and leaving others to scramble up buildings or cling onto trees.

It was a disaster on an unprecedented scale, the BBC's Rachel Harvey reports from Bangkok.

Apart from the deaths, hundreds of thousands people lost their homes and livelihoods.

No single agency or government could have been prepared for the challenges the tsunami presented, our South-East Asia correspondent says.

Following the disaster, the UN has been designated to coordinate relief work in massive disaster zones.

The so-called Cluster System for emergency response was used to good effect after the Padang earthquake in Indonesia in September, our correspondent says.

Pakistani air strike kills 10 in tribal area

Pakistani fighter jets have targeted suspected militant hideouts in the Orakzai tribal agency, south-west of Peshawar, killing at least 10 people.

Officials say the dead were militants, but eyewitnesses told the BBC the bombs destroyed the home of a tribal chief, killing three women and four children.

Pakistani troops have been engaged in an major offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan, further south.

The army believes many insurgents fled from there to areas such as Orakzai.

A number of air strikes have targeted militant targets in Orakzai in recent weeks.

The UN says more than 40,000 civilians have left their homes in Orakzai and are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Europe cold snap kills dozens across continent

Dozens of people have died across Europe as days of snow storms and sub-zero temperatures swept the continent, causing traffic chaos for millions.

At least 29 people froze to death in Poland as temperatures fell far below freezing, while in southern Germany a figure of -33C (-27F) was recorded.

Moscow said it was deploying 9,000 snow ploughs to clear the city's streets.

Air, rail and road transport links were disrupted across northern Europe where more snow was expected in coming days.

Eurostar services between the UK and the continent were suspended on Monday for a third day, as the company launched an immediate review into train breakdowns which have stranded and delayed tens of thousands of passengers since Friday.

'Saturation point'

The crisis prompted French President Nicolas Sarkozy to call the head of national rail carrier SNCF - the majority stakeholder in Eurostar - to order a normal resumption of service by Tuesday.

Meanwhile Eurotunnel - which carries vehicles under the Channel between England and France - said its terminal at Folkestone was at "saturation point" and closed its shuttle car service to new arrivals.

In Poland, police appealed for people to help if they came across homeless or drunk people lying outside, as temperatures dropped towards -20C in some areas.

Most of the 42 people who froze to death in the country over the weekend were homeless, police said.

Meanwhile, one restaurant owner offered tens of thousands of homeless people a hot meal in Krakow's main square.

"The food is not the only important thing," restaurateur Janusz Kosciuszko was quoted as telling Euronews.

"What is also important is that these people know that someone is thinking about them."

Treacherous travel conditions on roads and railway lines caused a spike in accidents across the continent, with several people reportedly killed in accidents in Austria and Germany.

Fifty people were injured when a train hit a buffer in the Croatian city of Zagreb, while 36 were injured when a passenger train derailed in Paris.

Parts of the continent saw 20in (50cm) of snow over the weekend.

In France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, airport operators struggled to clear runways amid thick snowfall, with major disruption to flight patterns.

In France, a second wave of snowstorms hit the country's north on Sunday with Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport warning as many as one in five flights was likely to be cancelled on Monday.

Germany's third largest airport - in Dusseldorf - was also closed because of Sunday's heavy snow.

In Belgium, the three biggest airports - Brussels, Charleroi and Liege - were completely shut. Severe delays and cancellations were reported at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.

Temperatures were forecast to rise later in the week.

President Barack Obama hails US Senate healthcare vote

US President Barack Obama has hailed the Senate's healthcare vote as a "big victory for the American people".

Senators voted in the early hours of Monday to end debate on a compromise bill, putting the legislation on course to face a final vote on Christmas Eve.

President Obama has set health reform as a key plank of his first term.

The legislation, which aims to cover 31 million uninsured Americans, could lead to the biggest change in US healthcare in decades, if approved.

"The United States Senate knocked down a filibuster aimed at blocking a final vote on healthcare reform and scored a big victory for the American people," Mr Obama said.

Acrimonious debate

He said the Senate showed it could "stand up to the special interests" and move the nation closer to a health insurance overhaul for the country as a whole.

He said the bill would reduce the deficit in the long term, countering Republican criticism that the legislation is too expensive.

After a long, often acrimonious debate Senators voted 60 to 40 along party lines to end debate on the bill at 0100 (0600 GMT) on Monday.

Four further votes are scheduled this week on the issue before the final Senate vote on Christmas Eve.

Under the Senate bill, most Americans would have to have health insurance.

Private insurers would be banned from refusing to provide insurance because applicants had pre-existing medical conditions.

If passed, the Senate bill would have to be reconciled with a more expansive one passed last month by the House of Representatives.

Key differences in the House version include a government-run health insurance plan, or public option, and how to pay for the reform.