Parque de Lisboa News 14

An Iceland Volcano

The huge cloud of ash caused by the eruption of an Iceland volcano that has spread throughout Europe yesterday largely paralyzed air traffic and caused disruption to millions of passengers around the world.

The European agency Eurocontrol estimated at more than 50% of flights canceled in the continet during the day.

The agency responsible for aviation security expected to e carried out some 12,000 flights against some 28,000 expected in a normal day, according to an upward revision of it's initial forecasts.

Transatlantic traffic of the 300 flights scheduled for America to Europe yesterday, only garanteed between 100 and 120.

In Mexico, three flights to Amsterdan, Paris and London were canceled between Wednesday and Thursday.

The cloud of ashes continues to move toward the east and southeast and it's impact will continue for at least 24 hours, he warned in statement Eurocontrol in Brussles.

The paralysis in air traffic costs more than $ 200 million a day to the sector, according to a first estimate conservative of the International Air Transport Associaton(IATA).

Ireland reopened nearly all of it's airspace on Friday morning, Norway and Sweden also began to do so timid progressively.

The airspace of Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Holland, Hungary and Poland also remain closed until least Saturday.

The cloud is now directed towards the north of Italy, but Spain and the rest of southerm Europe ahould be free, at least for now.

''If forecast hold, the could will affect Seitzerland and northem Italy, Romania, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia in a line directly east'', said one experct in Brussles, Eurocontrol, Kenneth Thomas.

By Rebeca

The president of Poland is dies

The Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, died Saturday when a plane crash in which he travelled, together with other 96 people during a missed approach maneuver Smolensk Airport (West of Russia).

The Russian authorities have claimed that the air disaster, in which this Saturday is dead Polish President Lech Kaczynski, is due to the attitude of the plane's pilot for disobeying the orders of flight operators.
Flight Operators Séverni Smolensk military airport the pilots suggested that the ship diverted to neighbouring Belarus, but ''the crew decided to continue the flight'', Putin told the Kremlin envoy in the area, Guennadi Poltavchenko.
In the plane was also carrying Kaczynski's wife, Maria, the Polish central bank governor Slawomir Skrzypek, the chief of the Polish Army, Franciszek Gagor, and Deputy Foreing Minister Andrzej Kremer. In addition, the device would some relatives of victims of the slaungther of Katyn. The incident is a blow for Poland to have lost him the ladership of his Government.
When the president's plane, a Tupolev Tu 154 began it's approach to the military airport Smlensk, decided lo abort the maneuver by the thick for which prevented the visibility of the track. Having back up crashed into a tree and crashed. The images offered on Polish television throuhout the day are presidential wreckage spread over a radius of 500 metres.
The Russian Emergencies Ministry reported that 96 people are finally travelling on the Polish president's plane, not 132 as earlier thought. (By Lorena B.)