passenger plane crashed in heavy fog and burst into flames on a highway in north western Russia, killing 44 people

passenger plane crashed in heavy fog and burst into flames on a highway in north western Russia, killing 44 people, officials have said.The Tupolev-134 aircraft, carrying 43 passengers and nine crew, crashed on its final approach to an airport in the city of Petrozavodsk.The Emergencies Ministry said the RusAir plane came down on a highway around a mile short of the runway. It broke apart before bursting into flames.Eight people including a 10-year-old boy are reported to have survived the crash and are in critical condition in hospital in Petrozavodsk.There is no immediate explanation for the accident but the Interfax news agency quoted airport director Alexei Kuzmitsky as saying there were "unfavourable weather conditions".This was compounding by the failure of the runway's high-intensity...

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Far from protecting Europe, a second bail-out of Greece is likely to cost eurozone taxpayers three times the amount of the original by 2014

The debate over the Big Fat Greek Rescue has oscillated wildly between will-they, won’t they and can they can’t they. But now it’s beginning to shift into: should they, shouldn’t they?The aim of the international mission has always been pretty clear, even if the method hasn’t: Athens must be shored up to protect Greece, the European Union, the euro, the European banking system, and the wider global economy.Behind the first domino of default, the international authorities have mustered extraordinary support, including the €110bn bail-out agreed last May, plus two vast temporary loan guarantee schemes. Next up is the proposal for a second bail-out, expected to be a further €120bn.Surely, reckon Europe’s directors, this will be enough to buy a happy ending to even the gloomiest Greek tragedy?...

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The entire 2011 census database has been stolen by hackers and will be published online, it has been claimed

Ryan Cleary, an alleged member of the hacking group behind the claim, LulzSec, was arrested in Essex this morning by specialist cyber crime officers from Scotland Yard.The 19-year-old was taken to a central London police station and remains in custody on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act and Fraud Act offences.A “significant amount of material” was also seized from an address in Wickford, Essex.The “pre-planned intelligence-led operation” in collaboration with the FBI followed claims online that the 2011 census database had been stolen and would be published in full.“We have blissfully obtained records of every single citizen who gave their records to the security-illiterate UK government for the 2011 census,” a posting purportedly by LulzSec said.&nb...

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Foreign secretary William Hague has dismissed Tony Blair's vision for an elected head of the European Union by insisting that member states have more pressing priorities

Foreign secretary William Hague has dismissed Tony Blair's vision for an elected head of the European Union by insisting that member states have more pressing priorities than further "constitutional tinkering".Hague made clear his view after Blair argued that a directly elected president of Europe, representing almost 400m people from 27 countries, would give the EU clear leadership and enormous authority.In an interview with the Times, Blair set out the agenda that he thought a directly elected EU president should pursue, although he conceded there was "no chance" of such a post being created "at the present time".Asked about the former prime minister's call for further European integration and the creation of an elected president, Hague suggested that Blair may have been thinking of the...

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EUROPE needs an elected president with a democratic mandate to drive sweeping reforms and give the EU leadership standing on the world stage, Tony Blair says.

THE former British prime minister warned yesterday that the European Union risked losing out to the economic and military might of China, Brazil and India.The popular consent enjoyed by a directly elected president of Europe -- chosen by an electorate of more than 386 million from 27 countries -- would give the EU clear leadership and enormous authority on the world stage, Mr Blair said. The post would represent a seismic development in the 50-year history of the EU and pave the way for sweeping economic reforms, including collaboration over tax policies."The rationale for Europe today is about power, not peace," Mr Blair told The Times of London in an interview to mark the publication of the paperback edition of his autobiography.Mr Blair set out five areas where the EU should forge closer...

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Romania and Bulgaria face new delays in their aspirations to join the European Union's borderless travel zone after EU governments asked on Thursday for more evidence of their anti-corruption efforts.

Romania and Bulgaria face new delays in their aspirations to join the European Union's borderless travel zone after EU governments asked on Thursday for more evidence of their anti-corruption efforts.EU interior ministers said at a meeting in Luxembourg both newcomers had met technical requirements for having their borders with older members brought down.But they agreed to wait until at least September before deciding whether to admit Romania and Bulgaria into the Schengen zone, named after a village in Luxembourg where a deal to cut border checks in Europe was signed in 1985."We hope that in September we can take this (Romania's and Bulgaria's Schengen accession) to another stage," Hungary's interior minister Sandor Pinter, who chaired the discussions, told a news conference.Reluctance among...

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new system of European governance

the overriding message from the European Commission that runs through its recommendations for each of the 27 member states in the new, post-crisis system of radically centralised oversight and correction of national economic policies by the EU known as the 'European Semester'. "We are now implementing the new system of European governance," commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, heralding the unveiling of 27 detailed - or 'granular', to use the adjective EU officials use - national prescriptions, telling member states what they are getting right and wrong with their fiscal policies and what they must do to 'fix' their economies.It goes further than fresh call for austerity: it is a recipe for much deeper liberalisation of the European economy than...

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It would appear the great global housing recovery of 2011 has been put on hold.

Sales and prices in developed countries are losing momentum after signs of recovery last year, Scotia Capital said Thursday. In some cases, the gains have been wiped out as “increasing nervousness over global economic prospects alongside rising food and fuel prices and persistently high unemployment are keeping potential buyers on the sidelines.”While cheaper housing will eventually benefit those looking to wade into the market, the bank said that it could be some time before the market in countries such as Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom recover.The process of repairing bloated public and household balance sheets points to a protracted period of subpar economic growth among debt-heavy developed nations that will restrain household borrowing and spending,” the bank said in...

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Italy's foreign minister said Libya's uprising had approached a turning point with Col. Moammar Gadhafi's rule coming to an end,

Italy's foreign minister said Libya's uprising had approached a turning point with Col. Moammar Gadhafi's rule coming to an end, and that the country sought an immediate ceasefire in Libya after Gadhafi's fall."Four months after the uprising in Libya, we are coming to a turning point: Gadhafi's rule is coming to an end," Franco Frattini said in a speech at the third meeting of the so-called contact group on Libya."Our priority is an effective ceasefire following Gadhafi's exit,"Frattini said at the meeting hosted in the U.A.E. capital of Abu Dhabi. Arab and Western leaders gathered at the meeting said they were committed to working out legal mechanisms to help Libya's National Transitional Council receive funds from frozen Libyan assets worldwide. They also said they waited to hear a political...

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European Central Bank (ECB) has signalled that it will raise interest rates next month, from 1.25%.

Earlier on Thursday, the ECB kept rates unchanged for the second month in a row, after increasing them in April for the first time in almost two years.The central bank wants to raise rates again in July to curb inflation in some of the eurozone's 17 member states.But it has to balance that against the need to leave rates low to boost growth in nations such as Greece and Portugal.In his press conference, ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet pledged to exert "strong vigilance" on inflation, a signal to the markets that rates will be raised at the next meeting."I would say... that it means that we are in a mode where there might be in the next meeting an increase of rates," he said. "But we are never pre-committed," he added.A July move may prove to be the last”UK interest rates remain at 0.5%However,...

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tanker is believed to have exploded at the plant in Pembroke Dock.

Fire crews have been called from across the area to tackle the blaze.A spokesman for Chevron said: "At 18:20 local time on June 2 2011 an incident occurred at the Pembroke refinery."Emergency services were called and responded immediately and remain on the scene."The fire has been extinguished."We are taking appropriate action to respond to the situation. We are still in the process of accounting for all personnel."According to the company website, the Pembroke Dock refinery specialises in processing heavy, lower quality crud...

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