Fresh snowfalls heap more misery on Europe

Britain, shivering through its coldest winter in three decades, was hit by a fresh blanket of snow on Wednesday, halting flights from London Gatwick, Birmingham and Cardiff airports and throwing many suburban train services back into chaos.

The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings for a large swathe of England, stretching from Devon to Essex and also covering the West Midlands and northwest England.

London City, Birmingham, Cardiff and Southampton airports reopened following closure. There was similar disruption for air travelers in France.

In Paris, 40 percent of all flights from the main Charles de Gaulle airport were canceled due to snow and sleet showers, while half of flights were scrapped at Orly.

Regional airports across France were also forced to close or reduce traffic because of snow.

In Germany, one of the countries worst hit by the big freeze, temperatures were reaching minus six degrees Celsius, with fresh snow in the south, while some secondary roads in the north were still blocked.

Switzerland's main publicly owned salt works said that it had turned down new orders from the snowbound Netherlands and Germany in order to cater for booming domestic needs; Kazinform cites Arab News. See www.arabnews.com for full version.