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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 27 February 2018

Rome blanketed by snow as Arctic storm sets seasonal records

By NICOLE WINFIELD but melted, but freezing
ROME (AP) — The Arctic temperatures expected
storm dubbed the "Beast overnight prompted offi-
from the East" saw tem- cials to close Rome schools
peratures across much of on Tuesday for a second
Europe fall Monday to their day and warn of continu-
lowest level this winter and ing traffic and train chaos
even brought a rare snow- due to the ice that was
storm to Rome, paralyz- already forming on slick
ing the city and giving its cobblestone sidewalks and
residents the chance to ski, streets.
sled and build snowmen in Parks that usually stay
its famous parks and piaz- green through winter were
zas. blanketed white, giving ea-
Rome's schools were or- ger Romans a rare oppor-
dered closed, while train, tunity to go sledding, snow-
plane and bus services shoeing or skiing. Even the
were crippled. Italy's civil Circo Massimo became a
protection agency even hotspot for snowball fights,
mobilized the army to help while Piazza Navona, with
clear slush-covered streets its famed Bernini fountains,
as a city used to mild win- turned into a snow-dusted
ters was covered by a thick winter wonderland.
blanket of snow. Rome's Mediterranean cli-
"Beautiful, beautiful!" mar- mate and proximity to the Shawn Roser, from Venice, Florida, a student at the North American college in Rome, throws a
veled Roman resident sea usually result in mild win- snowball as he plays in a snow blanketed St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Monday, Feb. 26, 2018.
Ginevra Sciurpa, who ters, such that restaurants (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
donned a fur hat and thick often keep outdoor seat-
scarf to brave the cold. ing open, albeit with space as minus 24 degrees Cel- being treated for hypother- accidents in Sweden. He
"Even though I'm not a heaters, even through the sius (minus 11 Fahrenheit) mia and frostbite. was uninjured.
child anymore, the enthusi- coldest months of the year. in some places were to Swedish Prime Minister Ste- The Cape Morris Jesup
asm for the snow is still the Elsewhere in Europe, the blame for the deaths of at fan Lofven's car skidded station on Greenland’s
same. It is always beautiful, storm set dangerously low least three people over the off the road in a snowstorm northern tip recorded tem-
and above all I didn't have temperatures: Lithuanian weekend. Hospitals in Lithu- north of Stockholm and peratures above freezing
to go to work." officials said temperatures ania and Latvia have re- smashed into railing, one of several times since mid-
By noon the snow had all that plunged to as low ported an uptick in people several snow-related traffic February.q
EU's Juncker says Serbia must solve dispute with Kosovo

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — cannot accept any new Juncker is visiting Serbia as ing compromise with pre- the scope of the deal is up
European Commission Pres- members with unresolved part of a tour of the West- dominantly-ethnic Alba- to the two nations. The EU is
ident Jean-Claude Juncker territorial issues. "Serbia has ern Balkans nations aspiring nian Kosovo, whose 2008 helping out in the talks on
said Monday that Serbia already covered an im- to join the bloc at a time declaration of indepen- normalizing ties between
must solve its dispute with pressive part of the (EU) Russia is looking to bolster dence following a 1998-99 the two. Juncker has al-
Kosovo and implement path," Juncker said, before its influence in the region, war Belgrade does not rec- ready visited Macedonia
a series of reforms before adding that a number of particularly in Serbia. ognize. "We need a com- and Albania. He will travel
it can join the European problems "still have to be The visit comes after the EU promise or we will continue to Montenegro before pro-
Union. Juncker said follow- solved." He singled out the drafted a new expansion to live in the past," Vucic ceeding to Kosovo and
ing talks with Serbia's Presi- need for judicial reforms strategy that envisages Ser- said. Juncker said the EU is Bosnia. His trip ends with
dent Aleksandar Vucic that and improvements in the bia and Montenegro could seeking a "legally-binding" an EU summit with regional
the Balkan country is on the rule of law before Serbia be the next to join the bloc agreement between Ser- leaders in Sofia, Bulgaria,
right path, but that the EU and others can join the EU. in 2025. Vucic said he's urg- bia and Kosovo, but that on March 1.q