Icelandic volcano forced airports in Ireland to close for a fourth day

SHANNON, Ireland, May 7 Ash drifting from an Icelandic volcano forced airports in Ireland to close for a fourth day Friday, disrupting plans for thousands of air travelers.Airports in Shannon, Sligo, Knock, Gal way, Donegal and Kerry were temporarily closed because of a huge ash cloud drifting from recent activity in Eyjafjallajoekull volcano, CNN reported.”The restrictions are required as the increased level of recent volcanic activity has created a massive ash cloud stretching 1,000 miles long and 700 miles wide,” the Irish Aviation Authority said.

Northerly winds were keeping most of the ash cloud over the Atlantic Ocean, the IAA statement said, but the size of the cloud has increased and “is encroaching on Irish airspace along the west coast of Ireland.”Airports in Ireland, Northern Ireland and western Scotland were closed earlier this week because of the ash. Last month, ash from the volcanic eruption disrupted European air travel for six days.

Euro control, Europe’s air traffic management agency, said the ash accumulation poses a new navigational obstacle because the cloud is climbing to 35,000 feet into the typical cruising altitude of transatlantic aircraft, The Daily Telegraph reported. Until recently, the ash was below 20,000 feet.Euro control said Thursday it would reroute flights between Europe and North America to avoid flying over the ash cloud off Ireland’s west coast.(UPI)

Northern Ireland police warned that Irish Republican Army dissidents hope to overshadow the British election in the province with violence

DUBLIN  Northern Ireland police warned Friday that Irish Republican Army dissidents hope to overshadow the British election in the province with violence.Northern Ireland deputy police commander Judith Gillespie said officers would mount extra foot patrols and road checkpoints leading up to the May 6 vote amid signs dissident bombers might target polling stations, government buildings or economic centers.

“We are very alive to this possibility,” she said at Belfast police headquarters.Hours after she spoke, British Army experts dismantled a pipe bomb that had been abandoned in a hedge in an area divided between rival British Protestant and Irish Catholic districts of north Belfast. No group claimed responsibility.

Also, a road that runs past Belfast’s two main courthouses is being sealed off to traffic because of concerns that IRA dissidents could use it to plant a car bomb.Splinter groups opposed to the IRA’s 1997 cease-fire and the Catholic-Protestant government it inspired have detonated three car bombs this year, including two this month. The blasts have caused little damage and no serious casualties, but illustrate the dissidents’ growing bomb-making ability.Gillespie said the dissidents appeared most determined to kill police officers, but also hoped to mount any attack tied to the vote.”Obviously, with the election coming up, it is quite possible they will seek to maximize the impact of an attack in the run-up to that election,” Gillespie said.Northern Ireland has 18 seats in London’s House of Commons.

The British election in Northern Ireland in 2001 was marred by a drive-by shooting outside a polling station that wounded two policemen and a voter.Most IRA members renounced violence and disarmed in 2005 as part of a wider deal that propelled the IRA’s Sinn Fein party into a power-sharing government alongside the Protestant majority. The dissidents reject power-sharing because they continue to seek Northern Ireland’s abolition as a part of the United Kingdom.(AP)

17,000 flights were expected to be canceled on Friday due to the dangers posed for a second day by volcanic ash from Iceland

A huge ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano spread out across Europe on Friday causing air travel chaos on a scale not seen since the September 11 attacks.About 17,000 flights were expected to be canceled on Friday due to the dangers posed for a second day by volcanic ash from Iceland, aviation officials said. Airports in Britain, France, Germany, and across Europe were closed until at least Saturday.”I would think Europe was probably experiencing its greatest disruption to air travel since 9/11,” said a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority, Britain’s aviation regulator.”In terms of closure of airspace, this is worse than after 9/11. The disruption is probably larger than anything we’ve probably seen.”

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks on Washington and New York, U.S. airspace was closed for three days and European airlines were forced to halt all transatlantic services.

Vulcanologists say the ash could cause problems to air traffic for up to 6 months if the eruption continues, but even if it is short-lived the financial impact on airlines could be significant.The fallout hit airlines’ shares on Friday with Lufthansa, British Airways, Air Berlin, Air France-KLM, Iberia and Ryanair down between 0.8 and 2.2 percent.The International Air Transport Association said only days ago that airlines were just coming out of recession.

“LIMITED COMMERCIAL SIGNIFICANCE”

The flight cancellations would cost carriers such as British Airways and Lufthansa about 10 million pounds ($16.04 million) a day, transport analyst Douglas McNeill said.

“To lose that sum of money isn’t a very pleasant experience but it’s of limited commercial significance as well,” he told BBC TV. “A couple of days like this won’t matter too much. If it goes on for weeks, that’s a different story.”The volcano began erupting on Wednesday for the second time in a month from below the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, hurling a plume of ash 6 to 11 km (4 to 7 miles) into the atmosphere.Officials said it was still spewing magma and although the eruption could abate in the coming days, ash would continue drifting into the skies of Europe.

Volcanic ash contains tiny particles of glass and pulverized rock that can damage engines and airframes.

In 1982 a British Airways jumbo jet lost power in all its engines when it flew into an ash cloud over Indonesia, gliding toward the ground before it was able to restart its engines.The incident prompted the aviation industry to rethink the way it prepared for ash clouds.

Of the 28,000 flights that usually travel through European airspace on an average day, European aviation control agency Eurocontrol said it expected only 11,000 to operate on Friday while only about a third of transatlantic flights were arriving.The British Meteorological Office showed the cloud drifting south and west over Europe. Eurocontrol warned problems would continue for at least another 24 hours and an aviation expert at the World Meteorological Organization said it was impossible to say when flights would resume.”We can only predict the time that flights will resume after the eruption has stopped, but for as long as the eruption is still going on and still leading to a significant eruption, we cannot say,” said Scylla Sillayo, a senior official in the WMO’s aeronautical meteorology unit.

AIRSPACE CLOSED

Britain’s air traffic control body said all English airspace would be closed until 8 p.m. EDT on Friday although certain flights from Northern Ireland and Scottish airports were being allowed to take off until 1800 GMT.”When the experts give us the all-clear we’ll get the operation back up and running,” Paul Haskins, head of safety at National Air Traffic Service, told BBC radio.

There were no flights from London’s Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, which handles some 180,000 passengers a day, while officials at Germany’s Frankfurt airport, Europe’s second busiest, said flights would be suspended from 2 a.m. EDT.Around 2,000 people slept overnight at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, a spokeswoman said, adding they did not expect airspace in the Netherlands to reopen soon.

Eurocontrol said airspace was closed over Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, the north of the Czech Republic, northern France including all Paris airports, and at airports in northern Germany, Austria and parts of Poland.

Polish officials said if the disruption continued, it might force a delay in Sunday’s funeral for President Lech Kaczynski and his wife who were killed in a plane crash last Saturday.Airlines across Asia and the Middle East have also canceled or delayed flights to most European destinations.

However, as the ash plume drifted south over Europe, Irish officials said most of the airspace over Ireland had reopened.The air problems have proved a boon for rail companies. All 58 Eurostar trains between Britain and Europe were operating full, carrying some 46,500 passengers, and a spokeswoman said they would consider adding services if problems persisted.(Reuters)

Easter is the day Christians celebrate the salvation of the world through the resurrection of Jesus Christ

Easter is the day Christians celebrate the salvation of the world through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a day of great celebration. On that Sunday, it is traditional for pastors and priests to greet the congregation by proclaiming “Christ is risen!” To which the congregation responds, “He is risen indeed!” Some years ago, someone told me the following story. I do not know if it is true. I hope it is.

Back during the dark days of the Soviet Union, a small rural village far from Moscow committed a cardinal sin, at least a cardinal sin the eyes of the Communist state. They refused to give up their Russian Orthodox faith. They refused to stop attending worship on Sunday. Their “crime” called for re-education in order to wean the village off the “opiate of the people.” Therefore, the whole village — every man, woman and child — was ordered by the authorities to the village’s central square. In a chilling cold, they were forced to stand for hours and listen to speaker after speaker, denounce religion, Russian Orthodoxy, their priests and their faith. Finally, in order to be “fair,” the re-educators asked the village priest to come to the podium. He was very old and nearly bent double with age. He did not appear to be any threat to the people’s re-education.

The KGB agent in charge said to him, “You have exactly 10 minutes to challenge our arguments.”The old priest looked up and said, “I will not need that much time.”He moved slowly, almost painfully, to the microphone and then something remarkable, miraculous, occurred. He stood up straight. The years of age melted away; his eyes became clear and bright. He looked out over the crowd and in a strong, loud voice proclaimed the traditional Easter greeting: “Christ is risen!”

And the crowd roared back, “He is risen indeed!”

Then the crowd went nuts, cheering, hugging and crying, as the old priest, smiled kindly at the KGB agent, slowly bent back to nearly double, and shuffled off the podium.

There can be little doubt that over the centuries the arguments between different “brands” of Christianity have made a real mess of things: Catholic versus Protestant, conservative Christian versus liberal Christian, evangelicals versus mainline denominations. Tragically, people, such as during the Reformation or more recently in Northern Ireland, have even died over these arguments and disagreements. (Add to this, the wars that have raged over conflicts between religions and one has to wonder how anyone in their right mind can keep faith!) Nevertheless, despite all of these tragic disagreements, Christians all over the world for centuries have joined together on Easter Sunday, just as they will tomorrow, to confess in unity and unison, “Christ is risen!” This confession is the glue that holds Christian people together!

I cannot help but ask, in the light of the rancorous and sometimes violent debates that have raged recently in our nation’s Capitol: “What is the glue that holds us, the American people, together?” Have we become so fragmented, angry, arrogant or disillusioned that we can no longer debate the great issues of our time with civility? Have we lost the understanding that not only are we all unique creations of God, but also that our “uniqueness” means we may not always see the world in the same way; that what seems obvious to one is obscure to another, that what seems right to one is not so right to another? Like the “brands” of Christianity, can we not find a confession around which we can unify; a song we can sing in unison? I hope and pray we can. For without a glue to hold us together, we will become tattered and frayed. Our life as a nation will slowly, but surely, ebb away.

Easter, for those of us who are Christian, is not only a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, but an acknowledgement that there is always the possibility of new life. No matter how dark and dreary the days may be, spring is always just around the corner. It is in this hope, an Easter hope, that perhaps all of us, regardless of our creed or religion, can agree to put aside our rancor and anger, strive for civility, and work and pray together for new life for our nation and our world. Perhaps we might join hands and sing together in hope and unison the prayer written by Irving Berlin in the dark days prior to World War II:

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, my home sweet home.

Easter is the day Christians celebrate the salvation of the world through the resurrection of Jesus Christ

Easter is the day Christians celebrate the salvation of the world through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a day of great celebration. On that Sunday, it is traditional for pastors and priests to greet the congregation by proclaiming “Christ is risen!” To which the congregation responds, “He is risen indeed!” Some years ago, someone told me the following story. I do not know if it is true. I hope it is.

Back during the dark days of the Soviet Union, a small rural village far from Moscow committed a cardinal sin, at least a cardinal sin the eyes of the Communist state. They refused to give up their Russian Orthodox faith. They refused to stop attending worship on Sunday. Their “crime” called for re-education in order to wean the village off the “opiate of the people.” Therefore, the whole village — every man, woman and child — was ordered by the authorities to the village’s central square. In a chilling cold, they were forced to stand for hours and listen to speaker after speaker, denounce religion, Russian Orthodoxy, their priests and their faith. Finally, in order to be “fair,” the re-educators asked the village priest to come to the podium. He was very old and nearly bent double with age. He did not appear to be any threat to the people’s re-education.

The KGB agent in charge said to him, “You have exactly 10 minutes to challenge our arguments.”The old priest looked up and said, “I will not need that much time.”He moved slowly, almost painfully, to the microphone and then something remarkable, miraculous, occurred. He stood up straight. The years of age melted away; his eyes became clear and bright. He looked out over the crowd and in a strong, loud voice proclaimed the traditional Easter greeting: “Christ is risen!”

And the crowd roared back, “He is risen indeed!”

Then the crowd went nuts, cheering, hugging and crying, as the old priest, smiled kindly at the KGB agent, slowly bent back to nearly double, and shuffled off the podium.

There can be little doubt that over the centuries the arguments between different “brands” of Christianity have made a real mess of things: Catholic versus Protestant, conservative Christian versus liberal Christian, evangelicals versus mainline denominations. Tragically, people, such as during the Reformation or more recently in Northern Ireland, have even died over these arguments and disagreements. (Add to this, the wars that have raged over conflicts between religions and one has to wonder how anyone in their right mind can keep faith!) Nevertheless, despite all of these tragic disagreements, Christians all over the world for centuries have joined together on Easter Sunday, just as they will tomorrow, to confess in unity and unison, “Christ is risen!” This confession is the glue that holds Christian people together!

I cannot help but ask, in the light of the rancorous and sometimes violent debates that have raged recently in our nation’s Capitol: “What is the glue that holds us, the American people, together?” Have we become so fragmented, angry, arrogant or disillusioned that we can no longer debate the great issues of our time with civility? Have we lost the understanding that not only are we all unique creations of God, but also that our “uniqueness” means we may not always see the world in the same way; that what seems obvious to one is obscure to another, that what seems right to one is not so right to another? Like the “brands” of Christianity, can we not find a confession around which we can unify; a song we can sing in unison? I hope and pray we can. For without a glue to hold us together, we will become tattered and frayed. Our life as a nation will slowly, but surely, ebb away.

Easter, for those of us who are Christian, is not only a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, but an acknowledgement that there is always the possibility of new life. No matter how dark and dreary the days may be, spring is always just around the corner. It is in this hope, an Easter hope, that perhaps all of us, regardless of our creed or religion, can agree to put aside our rancor and anger, strive for civility, and work and pray together for new life for our nation and our world. Perhaps we might join hands and sing together in hope and unison the prayer written by Irving Berlin in the dark days prior to World War II:

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, my home sweet home.