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A8 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 9 January 2019

Winter storm blasts Europe; 13 dead amid heavy snow, gusts

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER tions. Flight cancellations
Associated Press were also reported in Slo-
BERLIN (AP) — Deadly win- vakia.
ter weather blasted Europe Low-lying Dutch coastal
for yet another day Tues- regions were being hit by
day, trapping hundreds of strong winds and wild seas,
people in Alpine regions, and local water authorities
whipping up high winds were checking dikes hold-
that caused flight cancel- ing back all that water to
lations and increasing the make sure they were not
risks of more deadly ava- damaged.
lanches. The Noorderzijlvest water
In Norway, attempts to authority said it was moni-
find the bodies of four ski- toring dikes because of
ers were again put on hold debris floating in the sea af-
due to poor visibility and ter 281 shipping containers
heavy snowfall. A 29-year tumbled off a cargo ship
Swedish woman and three in a storm last week. Many
Finns, aged 29, 32 and 36, of the containers are still at
were presumed dead af- sea and some have broken
ter a 300-meter (990-foot) open. “A fridge or contain-
wide avalanche hit a val- er that is rammed against a
ley near the northern city of A passenger train crosses the Cuha Valley in the heavy snowfall near Vinye, some 140 km west of dike can cause damage,”
Tromsoe last week. Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019. the authority said.
Romanian police on Tues- Associated Press Heavy snowfall and strong
day found the frozen body after snow-laden trees took On Monday night, 11 Ger- In the northern coastal Ger- winds were reported Tues-
of a 67-year-old man in a down power lines. man hikers had to be res- man city of Hamburg, resi- day over central Scandi-
parking lot in the southern Schools in some Austrian cued by mountaineers dents were preparing for navia, hampering efforts
city of Slatina after his wife regions remained closed from a cabin near Salzburg, a storm flood caused by a to restore electricity that
reported he hadn’t re- for a second day and ho- after having been snowed winter gale, the German had gone out after anoth-
turned from work. Temper- meowners were advised in without electricity and news agency dpa report- er storm swept through on
atures in Romania plunged to remove snow from their little food since Friday. ed. Jan. 2.
to a low of minus 24 Celsius roofs after several buildings Other people have also In the Netherlands, Am- In Greece, schools in Ath-
(minus 11.2 Fahrenheit). collapsed. One 78-year- been killed by avalanches sterdam’s busy Schiphol ens and many surround-
In Austria, hundreds of resi- old man was severely in- in Switzerland, Austria and Airport saw nearly 25 per- ing areas remained closed
dents were stuck in their jured when he fell off his Germany, and authorities cent of its flights cancelled after snow blanketed
homes due to blocked roof in Turrach while shov- warned that continuing Tuesday. Dutch carrier KLM the capital. Some rural
roads and some regions ex- eling snow, Austrian public snowfall is increasing the canceled 159 flights to and mountain roads were also
perienced power outages broadcaster ORF reported. risk of more avalanches. from European destina- closed.q

France’s Macron faces tough challenges at home and in Europe

By SYLVIE CORBET lion), includes a 100-euro relatively generous unem-
Associated Press ($114) monthly increase to ployment benefits.
PARIS (AP) — French Presi- the minimum salary. The The government wants to
dent Emmanuel Macron big challenge now is con- apply the same rules to all
is facing a mountain of taining the protest violence new pensioners in order to
challenges in the new year that’s hitting Paris tourist replace the dozens of dif-
— starting with yellow vest quarters. In his New Year’s ferent systems specific to
protesters who are back in speech, Macron adopted certain jobs. Macron prom-
the streets to show their an- a tougher stance against ised the legal retirement
ger against high taxes and any violence, denouncing age will remain at 62 but
his pro-business policies “heinous crowds” and urg- the changes might reduce
that they see as favoring ing a restoration of order. some other advantages.
the wealthy rather than the Hoping to calm tensions, The government also plans
working class. the government called on to apply stricter rules to ob-
Once Europe’s rising star, In this Monday, Dec. 31, 2018 file photo, French President the French to express their tain unemployment bene-
Macron is now fighting Emmanuel Macron gestures as he poses for a photograph after views during a “national fits. Other measures would
to save his image and the recording of his New Year’s speech at the Elysee Palace, in debate” organized in the allow job cuts among civil
his vision for transforming Paris, France. coming weeks in all regions. servants.
France’s welfare state and Associated Press REFORMS AHEAD The government appears
economic model. Here’s a pass the high cost of living named after the fluores- Despite the protests, Ma- politically weakened by
look at three major issues have led to violent clashes cent protective garments cron has vowed to keep the yellow vest movement
he will need to tackle in with police in Paris and oth- the protesters wear. He reforming the country this but can still pass new bills
2019: er cities — including most abandoned the tax hike year to fulfill some of his at parliament, where Ma-
YELLOW VEST CRISIS recently on Saturday. and announced last month electoral promises. Planned cron’s centrist party holds
Since November, demon- Macron made multiple a series of measures to changes concern highly in- a strong majority. Macron
strations initially triggered concessions that failed to boost purchasing power. flammatory topics: an over- and his parliamentary ma-
by a tax hike on diesel fuel extinguish the anger of the The package, estimated haul of the indebted pen- jority don’t face new elec-
and expanded to encom- yellow vest movement, at 10 billion euros ($11.5 bil- sion system and of France’s tions until 2022. q