St. Nicholas Cathedral returns to Russia[ 570 ]

St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral in Nice returns to Russia

(RIA NOVOSTI) 20-1-10,

The Nice Superior Court in France has declared Russia to be the rightful owner of St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral.

The Supreme Court of Nice announced its decision on property rights to the Cathedral of St. Nicholas claimed by Russia and the Orthodox Association of Nice.

"Russia is the rightful owner of the territory, the cathedral, as well as all its properties," the chair of the Nice Municipal High Court said.

The Patriarchate of Moscow claimed the cathedral should be returned to the Russian state, the successor to the tsarist regime.

However, the Russian Orthodox Association of Nice (ACOR) opposed the claim, arguing the cathedral belongs to the Orthodox Church of Constantinople.

The ACOR said it will make an appeal to a court in the French city of Aix-en-Provence.

The church was originally the property of Tsar Nicholas II, however, it was given to the archbishop of St. Petersburg with a 99-year lease, which expired on December 31, 2007.

Inside the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary where Christmas Eve Midnight Mass was held

In 2007, the Cote d'Azur region, which includes Nice at its center, declared the contents of the church part of the national patrimony which meant no part of it could be removed from France without the permission of the Ministry of Culture.

The construction of the original Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow began in 1839 as a mark of religious gratitude for the 1812 victory over Napoleon.

St. Nicholas Cathedral, the largest Russian Orthodox Cathedral outside Russia, was built in 1912 in Nice and opened by Tsar Nicolas II, who also funded the construction, in the same place where his uncle Prince Nicolai Alexandrovich died in 1865. The cathedral is rich with icons, woodwork, and frescos.

It was established for the large Russian community that lived in the French Riviera and in Nice at the beginning of the 20th century.

The cathedral is a popular tourist attraction with up to 200,000 people visiting it annually.

Last year, a Russian Orthodox Church dedicated to St. Nicholas in the Italian city of Bari was returned to Russian ownership. The church was built in the beginning of the 20th century to welcome Russians coming to the city to visit the 11th-century Basilica of St. Nicholas, where the saint's relics lie.

St. Nicholas, a fourth-century bishop, was famous for his generosity. He later developed into the figure of Santa Claus in some countries. In 1087, his remains were stolen from the ancient Turkish city of Myra by sailors from Bari.

Munich Airport bomb scare [ 569 ]

German police: Munich Airport bomb scare may have been false alarm

January 20, 2010 -- Updated 2128 GMT

A security officer patrols with a sniffer dog at Munich Airport's Terminal 2 on Wednesday.

Berlin, Germany (CNN) -- A bomb scare that affected about 100 flights at Munich Airport in Germany on Wednesday may have been a false alarm, German police told CNN.

Police launched a huge manhunt Wednesday after a passenger appeared to flee from security officers when his laptop computer bag tested positive for explosives, they said.

Police originally said authorities wanted to take the man in for further testing after his bag set off suspicions, but he ran. They said a bomb squad was testing the bag to see if it really contained explosives.

But authorities later said the man may simply have been in a hurry, grabbed his things and left the airport.

They do not have the laptop case, they said.

They are still trying to find the man, they said, but are no longer describing the search as a huge manhunt.

Police earlier said they were reviewing airport security videos to try to figure out where the man went. It was not clear if that was what caused them to change their evaluation of the situation.

Police did not know which flight the man was booked on.

Part of the airport was shut down after the suspect fled, but was later reopened.

All planes in the area of Terminal 2, where the incident took place, were evacuated and all luggage was removed, police said. The passengers had to leave the secure area and be rescreened, an airport representative told CNN, adding that the airport was otherwise operating normally.

About 100 flights were affected by the security measures. Some were canceled and others were delayed, the airport said, adding that activity has slowly begun to return to normal.

The airport Web site was still showing some delays to flights leaving Terminal 2 several hours after the incident.

The incident took place as a United States Senate committee debated the foiled Christmas Day attack aboard a plane bound from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Detroit, Michigan.

The committee chairman, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Connecticut, said it is "infuriating" that the December 25 suspect, Nigerian Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, was able to board the plane in the Netherlands with a U.S. visa.

Janet Napolitano, secretary of homeland security, said AbdulMutallab "was not on the no-fly list, which would've flagged him to be prevented from boarding, nor was he on the selectee list, which would've flagged him for secondary screening."

"Furthermore, the physical screening performed by foreign authorities at airports in Nigeria and the Netherlands did not detect explosives on his body," Napolitano said. "As this incident underscores, aviation security is increasingly an international responsibility."

She said top Homeland Security Department officials are embarking on a multicontinent tour to meet with international counterparts about airline and airport security. She said she would leave Wednesday evening for Spain and a meeting with European Union officials.

Mother jailed for life...[ 568 ]

Mother jailed for life after giving son lethal heroin injection

Frances Inglis, who gave her brain-damaged son a lethal heroin injection to end his "living hell" was given a life sentence after being found guilty of murder today.

Telegraph co.uk.,,Published: 3:14PM GMT 20 Jan 2010

Frances Inglis, left, said she killed her son Thomas to end his suffering .--- Photo: CENTRAL NEWS

Frances Inglis, 57, said she killed her 22-year-old son Tom to end his suffering after he sustained severe head injuries when he fell out of a moving ambulance.

But despite giving a tearful and emotionally-charged account to jurors of how she had "no choice" and had done it "with love", she was found guilty of both murder and attempted murder.

A judge had earlier told the jury to put emotion aside, and told them no one had the "unfettered right" to take the law into their own hands. She was jailed for life with a minimum term of nine years.

Inglis, of Dagenham, east London, was first charged with trying to kill her son in September 2007, before going back and succeeding in November 2008.

During the trial Inglis wept as she described her despair at the "horror, pain and tragedy" of her son's helpless condition.

"For Tom to live that living hell – I couldn't leave my child like that," she told the Old Bailey.

She admitted ending her son's life but said: "I did it with love in my heart, for Tom, so I don't see it as murder."

Miranda Moore QC, prosecuting, said: "It would be a hard-hearted person who didn't have sympathy for her position.

"It is a tragic case but it is not a defence to murder to end someone's life to put them out of their misery."

The jury reached its verdicts by a majority of 10 to two after deliberating for more than six hours.

There were cries of "shame on you" from the public gallery as they were read out.

U.K. bans direct flight from Yemen..[ 567 ]

Gordon Brown announces ban on direct flights from Yemen to Britain

Gordon Brown has announced a ban on direct flights from Yemen to Britain following the attempted Christmas Day Detroit bomb attack.

TELEGRAPH Co.,UK.,, Published: 12:59PM GMT 20 Jan 2010

The Prime Minister said the ban on direct flights would remain in place until new security measures were put in place in the Middle Eastern country.

The ban comes amid security fears following the attempted bombing of a passenger plane on December 25th 2009 by a man allegedly radicalised in Yemen.
---
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who attempted to detonate explosives on the plane as it came in to land in Detroit, was a student in London but came into contact with al Qaida in Yemen.

Yemen was an "incubator and potential safe haven for terrorism", Mr Brown said.

In a statement to the House of Commons, Mr Brown also announced the creation of two new terror watch lists as part of a package of measures aimed at beefing up border security.

One new list will contain the names of individuals prohibited from flying to and from the UK.

The second, longer list will include lower risk individuals who will be subjected to special screening before they can board planes heading for the UK.

Mr Brown also pledged that all major ports and airports would be covered by the Home Office's e-borders scheme by the end of this year.

Under the £1.2 billion programme, passengers must provide detailed personal information when buying their tickets so they can be checked against watchlists before flying.

Mr Brown said: "We have agreed with Yemenia Airlines - pending enhanced security - that they suspend their direct flights to the UK from Yemen with immediate effect.

"We are working closely with the Yemeni government to agree what security measures need to be put in place before flights are resumed.

"I hope that flights can be resumed soon - but the security of our citizens must be our priority."

Yemen carrier Yemenia Yemen Airways, which had been operating two flights a week between London and Yemen, said it had suspended services last week.

The decision was made after the UK Government demanded flights stop in Cairo to be unloaded and checked.

A London-based spokesman for the airline, Farouk Burhan, said: "The UK Government said we could only carry on flights if we landed at another country's airport en route and completely unloaded the plane, including cargo, before having everything checked.

"We used to fly non-stop between London and Yemen and, more recently, we have been flying via Cairo.

"We would have had to unload at Cairo and we decided we could not comply with this request."

Haiti, new panic[ 566 ]

Strong aftershock shakes Haiti, week after earthquake

A strong aftershock has rocked Haiti, sending screaming people running into the streets, eight days after another quake devastated the country. BBC Wednesday, 20 January 2010 The extent of the damage is not yet known. The magnitude 6.1 tremor struck west of Port-au-Prince at 0603 local time (1103 GMT). An estimated 200,000 people died in last Tuesday's quake and another 1.5 million were made homeless. Despite an international aid operation, supplies are slow to reach survivors. However, international teams are still rescuing people alive from the rubble, including a 69-year-old woman pulled from the ruins of a church in the capital. The US military has defended its handling of the rescue operation, as aid groups complained of long delays in getting vital supplies of food, water and medicine. Haitian President Rene Preval said aid delivery was the main problem now. Help came "very fast," Mr Preval told a French radio station. "When it arrives, the question is: where are the trucks to transport it, where are the depots?" Fresh panic The US Geological Survey said Wednesday's tremor was centred 35 miles (56km) north-west of the capital. It struck at a depth of 6.2 miles (9.9km), but was too far inland to generate any tsunamis in the Caribbean. We were forced to buy a saw in the market to continue amputations Loris de Filippi Medicins Sans Frontieres Mass amputation fears How to manage a crisis In pictures: Haiti one week on US opens doors to Haiti orphans Battle against the looters Some buildings already weakened by last week's quake collapsed and wails of terror filled the air as frightened survivors poured out of unstable buildings, a BBC correspondent in the region said. Although some aid has started to reach desperate survivors, hundreds of thousands are still without food or water, a full week after the disaster. Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) said its cargo plane with 12 tonnes of medical supplies had been turned away from the congested Port-au-Prince airport three times since Sunday. It said five patients died from lack of the supplies it carried. "We were forced to buy a saw in the market to continue amputations," the group's Loris de Filippi told the Reuters news agency in Cite Soleil. But the US military has defended its efforts in the face of vast logistical challenges. "We're doing everything in our power to speed aid to Haiti as fast as humanly possible," said Gen Douglas Fraser, head of US Southern Command. He said they plan to start using two other airports, at Jacmel in Haiti and San Isidro in the neighbouring Dominican Republic, in the coming days.