Five Norwegian airports shut down by strike

Five Norwegian airports were shut down by a strike early Friday when 220 union members walked out after all-night contract talks failed to reach a settlement with the national airport authority Avinor.

The strike stranded an estimated 17,000 passengers a day before Norway's May 17 Constitution Day, when thousands of people fly home to join parades and celebrations.

''Avinor strongly regrets the consequences a strike will have for airlines and passengers. Our community and financial considerations made it impossible to meet the demands from the employee representatives,'' said Avinor Chief Executive Sverre Quale.

Josef Fritzl: From the cellar of our deepest fears

When I was traveling through Austria, I was struck by the cleanliness and orderliness that characterized its countryside.

The roadside fields looked like a patchwork quilt and the houses in the towns looked like a picture in a storybook.

The streets of Vienna were so clean you could practically eat off them.

Since my Austrian travels, any mention of that country has brought to mind all that is pristine and picturesque.

Now those Austrian scenes routinely feature in my nightmares.

Cyprus bans private boats ferrying to Lebanon

Nicosia - Cyprus has enforced a ban on pleasure boats ferrying passengers to Lebanon, shipping officials said on Wednesday.

The move comes as local media reported that private boat owners were charging large amounts of money to ferry people out of but also into Lebanon, wracked by sectarian violence and with its international air links cut for the past week. Since last weekend 34 yachts have sailed from Lebanon to Cyprus, carrying an estimated 340 people, including the ambassador of Saudi Arabia, authorities said. Between 15 and 20 people had left Cyprus for Lebanon on private boats.

Diving Bell star joins outcry against Sarko

©Unknown

Juliette Binoche with Sarkozy

Last month the French actress Juliette Binoche revealed the shame she felt at having Nicolas Sarkozy as her country's head of state. Now Mathieu Almaric (pictured), star of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and the baddie in the forthcoming Bond movie Quantum of Solace, has added his own protest against the president. "It's not a joke," he told the Observer. "It's very tough, very, very tough and it's only been one year that he's in power. It's finished. I mean, the belief people had in him is just dead. I have a lot of difficulty now to find that exotic or funny or ridiculous. I'm disgusted."

©unknown

Mathieu Almaric

Greek fuel truckers continue strike, supplies dry up

Athens - Greece's fuel truckers on Monday decided to extend a strike that has cut petrol supplies, causing queues at filling stations and transport disruptions that threaten to bring the economy to a halt.

The strike has already lasted a week, leaving about three quarters of Greece's petrol stations without fuel for the fourth consecutive day.

Talks between unions and the government have failed to reach agreement so far. Fuel truck drivers want a 13 percent increase in their commission.