A snowstorm on the US East Coast has caused several hundred motorists to become stranded in the western part of Virginia state, officials said yesterday.
Virginia Department of Emer-gency Management spokesman Bob Spieldenner said that local and state officials, as well as the National Guard, have helped get about 100 stranded motorists to shelters in two counties.
About a foot of snow has fallen in the area. Mr Spieldenner said many of the motorists became stranded after accidents along Interstate 89 and Route 29 blocked the road. Officials are using four-wheel drive vehicles and the National Guard is using Humvees to help some of the motorists.
Mr Spieldenner said some people have food and fuel and were opting to stay in their car to wait for the roads to clear. (PA)
Snow forces French flight cancellations
France's civil aviation authority has called on airlines to cancel 30 per cent of flights scheduled to leave Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport this morning due to forecasts of overnight snowstorms.
The DGAC civil aviation authority made its recommendation yes-terday after the country's national meteorological service warned of snowfall in the Paris area.
Much of France was hit earlier this week by snowstorms, which caused delays at Paris airports.
Low temperatures were also blamed for breakdowns last Friday on the Eurostar train service between Britain and France that left thousands of passengers stranded for hours. Eurostar service was suspended yesterday and is expected to remain disrupted for the coming days. (PA)
Deportation fight
A former KGB agent who has taken refuge in a Canadian church to avoid deportation says the government should reconsider his case in light of newly released documents.
Mikhail Lennikov took sanctuary in a Lutheran church in Vancouver, British Columbia, in June after his application to stay in Canada was denied on security grounds.
Lennikov, 48, and a Member of Parliament, said they have government documents that do not support the federal government's claim that he poses a risk to national security. (PA)
Film writer dies
The man who wrote film hits Alien and Total Recall - screenwriter Dan O'Bannon - has died aged 63.
The Writers Guild of America said Mr O'Bannon died last Thursday. His wife Diane told the Los Angeles Times her husband died at St John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California, after a 30-year battle with Crohn's disease.
He began his career in 1974 with the science-fiction film Dark Star, which he co-wrote with director John Carpenter. His credits include Invaders from Mars, Bleeders and The Return of the Living Dead, which he also directed. (PA)
Google's fine mess
A Paris court has ruled that Google's expansion into digital books breaks France's copyright laws, and a judge slapped the internet search leader with a fine until it stops showing literary snippets.
Besides being fined the equivalent of €10,000 for each day in violation, Google was ordered to pay €300,000 in damages and interest to French publisher La Martiniere, which brought the case on behalf of a group of French publishers.
Google's legal team says the company will appeal against a decision which may prevent Google from realising its five-year-old goal of scanning all the world's books into a digital library accessible to anyone with an internet connection. (PA)
Bribery probe
Prosecutors have released former South Korean Prime Minister Han Myung-sook after questioning her over an alleged bribery scandal.
Her arrest and questioning last Friday came days after the nation's former No 2 official refused to appear before prose-cutors over suspicions she took $50,000 from a businessman in return for favours in 2006 when she was prime minister.
Ms Han denied the allegation and exercised her right to remain silent during questioning, while Woo Sang-ho, a spokesman for the main opposition Democratic Party, claimed her arrest was politically motivated. (PA)