AP – Stranded travelers sleep or sit on cots at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Monday, …

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NEW YORK – On Day Five at Camp Kennedy, Christien Lynen bathed in an airport restroom sink with her own soap and the one hand towel in her luggage. A Belgian family sat on the terminal floor around a coffee table they built out of a cardboard box.

And in a corner, two British tourists made light of their situation by scrawling a sign on a sheet of notebook paper: "JFK Squatters, Yorkshire Branch."

Hundreds of passengers are stranded at Kennedy Airport while they wait for the volcanic ash cloud over Europe to clear and flights to resume.

They have set up mini-encampments, brushing their teeth and hair in public bathrooms, fending off boredom by constructing a big cardboard airplane, and sleeping on cots under fluorescent lights amid the din of televisions and the public address system.

"Time goes by slow," said Laurence De Loosa, trying to get home to Belgium from a vacation to celebrate her 21st birthday with friends. "The lights were on all night. "It was not so easy to sleep. The TV was still on."

The cloud has paralyzed trans-Atlantic flights since Thursday, causing the biggest flight disruptions since 9/11.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the metropolitan area's major airports, has set up 1,000 cots and blankets at JFK and Newark, N.J., served hot meals to the stranded, and handed out essentials such as bottled water and baby wipes. The Red Cross and various consulates have provided some of the bedding and food.

On Monday afternoon, five days into the crisis, the agency opened trailers with a dozen showers at JFK.

The 500-some people camping out at the Port Authority's airports "are being well taken care of," said Chris Ward, the agency's executive director.

Some passengers made JFK their home because hotel rooms were scarce, they had gone way over budget on their New York vacations, or they just thought that staying close to the airport was the smartest thing to do if they wanted to get home soon.

Around the world, hundreds of passengers were having similar experiences, resting on blankets spread on airport floors and relying in some cases on McDonald's meal vouchers.

"We have one meal a day. At the moment a lot of people are not eating," Andrew Turner, a graduate student en route to London after a vacation in Sydney, said from Incheon International Airport in South Korea.

The passenger experience was more pleasant at Frankfurt Airport in Germany, where spokesman Uwe Witzel said the hundreds of stranded travelers were getting three meals a day, showers, fresh clothing and more.

"We've set up an Internet lounge, we've hired people to entertain the kids, and we've also arranged a spot outside the terminal building where people can go to get a breath of fresh air and some sun," he said.

At JFK's Terminal 4, passengers were putting their personal touches on their homes away from home.

Andrew Jenkins and Tom Laughton scrawled, "JFK Squatters, Yorkshire Branch" above their cots. Jenkins, 23, from Yorkshire, England, was relying on Red Cross blankets and $10 daily food vouchers from the Irish airline Aer Lingus.

"We were expecting to be sleeping on the floor," Jenkins said. "As long as we keep getting food vouchers, it's not going to kill us, is it?"

For Johan Bombeke, wife Annemie Quintiga and their three children, being stuck in an airport was no reason not to have furniture. The family arranged the cots they were given in a square, and in the center, they put a coffee table, constructed out of the box that the pillows they received came in.

Alan Godfrey of London staved off boredom by using the boxes the cots were delivered in to construct a 4-foot-long airplane with the sign "Big Al's Airways. Tickets Available! $1." He drew windows on it and attached the wings with drinking straws.

Godfrey had been at the airport since Friday, marking the passage of time with little penstrokes on the wall, one for each night.

The "Welcome to Terminal 8" announcement was playing over and over on the public address system all night, said Lynen, 49, of Belgium. Lynen ate fruit, chips, croissants and soda provided by the Belgian Consulate to stranded travelers.

"When you're in a group you're stronger. Luckily we are all together. Everyone is very nice. We help each other," Lynen said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said community outreach workers have been sent to JFK to help stranded travelers.

"We love them and we want them to have a good time, but it's kind of hard to do when you can't get your luggage or have to sleep on a cot," he said. "There's no substitute for somebody that wants to get home — they're not going to be happy no matter what you do for them."

___

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Play Video ABC News  – The Conversation: Journey to Iceland Volcano Top

• Slideshow:Iceland volcano erupts
• Play Video Video:Volcanic ash leaves passengers stranded Reuters

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AP – The first of three KLM passenger planes heading to New York takes off from Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, …

 

 by Emily Straton, BBC News Analyst, for the BBC's Biodun Iginla

 

 

– 1 hr 19 mins ago

LONDON – After five days in which nature brought the jet age to a halt, European officials agreed Monday to let air traffic resume on a limited basis, giving hope to millions of travelers around the world stranded by ash from a volcano in Iceland.

Three KLM passenger planes left Schiphol airport in Amsterdam on Monday evening during daylight under visual flight rules bound for New York, Dubai and Shanghai. An Associated Press photographer saw one jet taking off into a colorful sunset, which weather officials said was pinker than normal due to the ash.

European Union transport ministers reached a deal during a crisis videoconference to divide northern European skies into three areas: a "no-fly" zone immediately over the ash cloud; a caution zone "with some contamination" where planes can fly subject to engine checks for damage; and an open-skies zone.

Starting Tuesday morning, "we should see progressively more planes start to fly," said EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas.

The German airline Lufthansa said it would bring 50 planeloads of passengers home and Britain said it would reopen some of its airspace in the next 24 hours.

Britain's National Air Traffic Service said Scotland's airports and airspace would reopen at 2 a.m. EDT (0600 GMT) Tuesday, and London's airports — including Heathrow, Europe's busiest — might be able to reopen later in the day. British Airways said it hoped to start flying from London at 7 p.m. local time (1800 GMT) Tuesday.

The easing of the crisis came as the aviation industry — facing losses of more than $1 billion — criticized official handling of the disruption that grounded thousands of flights to and from Europe.

Visual flight rules allow a pilot to fly without reference to instruments, if weather conditions are good enough so the pilot can see landmarks and avoid any other aircraft. Those flights need to be under 18,000 feet, lower than usual altitude for commercial traffic.

Scientists have instruments that can both detect the presence of the ash and measure its concentration — information that can be relayed to pilots.

The airlines said test flights in recent days by airlines including KLM, Lufthansa and British Airways suggested planes can fly safely despite the ash. None of the flights reported problems or damage.

 

"The analysis we have done so far, alongside that from other airlines' trial flights, provides fresh evidence that the current blanket restrictions on airspace are unnecessary," said BA chief executive Willie Walsh. "We believe airlines are best positioned to assess all available information and determine what, if any, risk exists to aircraft, crew and passengers."

Scientists and pilots urged caution.

"Mixing commercial and safety decisions risks lives," said Philip von Schoppenthau, secretary-general of the European Cockpit Association, a union representing 38,200 pilots from 36 European nations.

"Our members have many firsthand experiences of the extremely abrasive and clogging effects of such clouds," he said.

Millions of travelers have been stuck since the volcano under Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier begun erupting April 14 for the second time in a month, spewing a vast cloud of ash that has drifted over most of northern Europe and is now spreading west toward North America.

In Iceland, meteorologists said the volcano's eruptions were weakening and the ash was no longer rising to a height where it would endanger large commercial aircraft. British Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis confirmed there was been a "dramatic reduction in volcanic activity."

 

Click image to see Icelandic volcano photos

AP

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said about 40,000 Americans in Britain were stranded abroad, citing Louis Susman, the U.S. ambassador to Britain.

"We are working closely with the State Department to examine all the opportunities that we have to speed this process along, understanding that people — you know, some people, maybe, may have gone on vacation," Gibbs said. "They're running out of medicine. They don't have a place to stay."

Eurocontrol, the air traffic agency in Brussels, said less than one-third of flights in Europe were taking off Monday — between 8,000 and 9,000 of the continent's 28,000 scheduled flights. Officials said more would operate Tuesday — although it wasn't immediately clear how many.

German Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer said all planes under the "control zone" plan will be thoroughly checked once they've landed.

"Much stricter tests and checks will be applied to all planes," Ramsauer said, in hopes of gaining more data about the risk from the ash. "Nobody knows how long the situation will continue."

Airports in central Europe and Scandinavia have reopened, and most of southern Europe remained clear, with Spain volunteering to be a staging-point for overseas travelers trying to get home. Infrastructure Minister Jose Blanco said Spain could to take in around 100,000 people under the new emergency plan, which focuses on trying to bring Britons home from Asia, Latin America and North America.

As British schools reopened after the Easter break with empty desks and missing teachers — thanks to an estimated 150,000 Britons stranded abroad — authorities resorted to extraordinary measures.

The government said it was sending three Royal Navy warships, including the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, across the English Channel to bring home stranded citizens. One ship was heading to Spain to pick up soldiers trying to get back to Britain after a tour of duty in Afghanistan.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the ash cloud had created "the biggest challenge to our aviation transport network for many years," and European officials said the disruption was worse than that caused by the Sept. 11 attacks.

Tensions boiled over among frustrated passengers at Incheon International Airport in South Korea, where 30 people blocked a Korean Air ticketing counter and demanded officials arrange travel to anywhere in Europe after hearing about the test flights.

"We need a flight, we need a time," Thierry Loison, who has been stuck at the airport since Friday on the way back to France, told Korean Air officials. "We were like animals this morning."

Others complained of rail fares that rose suddenly and hotel rates that tripled overnight. Graham Wishart, 65, stuck in London when his flight to Toronto was canceled, said his hotel bill had gone from 68 pounds ($104) to 189 pounds ($289) a night.

"People are raking in dough here from people who are stuck as a result of this natural disaster," he said. "It's just not right."

Critics said the coordinated action among European officials came too late.

"It's embarrassing and a European mess," said Giovanni Bisignani, chief executive of the International Air Transport Association.

The IATA accused European governments of offering "no risk assessment, no consultation, no coordination, and no leadership." The group urged governments to more urgently "focus on how and when we can safely reopen Europe's skies" — such as through more in-depth study of the ash cloud to identify safe corridors for planes.

Ash and grit from volcanic eruptions can sabotage a plane in many ways: the abrasive ash can sandblast a jet's windshield, block fuel nozzles, contaminate the oil system and electronics and plug the tubes that sense airspeed. But the most immediate danger is to the engines. Melted ash can then congeal on the blades and block the normal flow of air, causing engines to shut down.

Airlines said the test flights showed the danger was exaggerated. But a senior Western diplomat said Monday that several NATO F-16 fighters suffered engine damage after flying through the ash.

The official declined to provide more details on the military flights, except to say that glasslike deposits were found inside the planes' engines after they patrolled over European airspace.

The crisis caused by the volcano has hit everyone from Icelandic fisherman — unable to transport their catches abroad — to Kenyan farmers whose Europe-bound produce sits rotting in warehouses.

In addition to forcing President Barack Obama to cancel plans to attend the state funeral of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, the ash also caused U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to call off a scheduled trip to Finland.

The ash also forced the postponement until next week of a much-anticipated visit to Russia by a team of U.S. officials who were to discuss Russian concerns about adoptions.

The most immediate impact has been on airlines, already struggling because of the recession-induced travel downturn.

IATA estimated the industry was losing $200 million a day. British Airways said it was losing up to 20 million pounds ($30 million) a day. Other airlines were also racking up huge losses.

Video showed smoke billowing into the air from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, but Britain's Meteorological office said the eruptions "are weakening."

Scientists in Iceland said the new ash plume is lower, which would pose less of a threat to commercial aircraft. Geologists saw a red glow at the bottom of the volcano, suggesting the eruption is turning to lava flow, and said there is less ice in the crater, which would reduce the plume.

___

Lawless reported from London, Lekic from Brussels; also contributing were Associated Press writers Raf Cassert in Brussels; Geir Moulson and Melissa Eddy in Berlin; Angela Charlton and Jamey Keaten in Paris; Karl Ritter in Stockholm, Jennifer Quinn, Robert Barr and Danica Kirka in London; Carlo Piovano in Reykjavik; Kelly Olsen in South Korea; Toby Sterling, Arthur Max and Mike Corder in Amsterdam; Malin Rising in Stockholm; and Matthew Lee in Washington.

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Posted by biginla at 10:52 PM BST

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by Natalie de Vallieres, BBC News and the Economist, for the BBC's and the Economist's Biodun Iginla

• Apr 19th 2010, 13:01 by E.L. | BERLIN

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Posted by biginla at 6:39 PM BST

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Iceland's volcanic eruption

by Biodun Iginla, BBC News and the Economist

Why so little is known about the effects of erupting volcanos on air travel

Apr 19th 2010 | From The Economist online

NORTHERN Europeans will not forget the name Eyjafjallajokull in a hurry, even if they may have trouble pronouncing it. Monday April 19th marked a fifth day of jet-free skies over a huge swathe of the continent as a result of the eruption of the Icelandic volcano, which began pumping significant quantities of ash into the sky last Wednesday. That fine volcanic ash could pose a risk to jet engines, which have cut out in the past after exposure to similar volcanic material. Many of Europe’s busiest airports remained out of action.

Britain’s National Air Traffic Service said on Monday afternoon that airspace in Scotland and parts of northern England would reopen on Tuesday morning, with the the rest of Britain possibly cleared for flying later in the day. After European Union transport ministers agreed to begin easing flight restrictions, the Dutch authorities said Schiphol airport in Amsterdam would reopen on Monday night. Earlier, Norway, Sweden and Finland allowed a few mainly domestic flights to operats.The civil-aviation authorities had come under strong pressure from European airlines, several of whom hads conducted successful test flights in the danger zon. Howevere, the engines of a Finnish military jetdid suffed considerable damage as a result of breathing in the ash.

For all the attention the troublesome cloud of ash is getting, nobody yet has a good answer as to how long the disruption will last. For one thing, the European Aviation Safety Agency says that there is currently no consensus as to what is an acceptable level of ash in the atmosphere. Furthermore, there is no way of telling what concentration of ash the test aircraft were flying through. The best source of information for the moment is a theoretical model of where the cloud might be, taking into account the prevailing wind and other weather conditions. One interesting wrinkle is that studies of natural disasters tend to be paid for by insurance companies. As volcano eruption is deemed to be an uninsurable risk, there are few studies to turn to.

This uncertainty has lead the International Air Transport Association to plead on behalf of its members for Europe’s government to rethink policy on shutting airspace. The industry body reckons that its members are losing $200m a day as a result of the shut-down. On Monday British Airways said that it and other European airlines had asked for cash from the EU in compensation for the losses suffered because of the closure of airspace, citing the bail-out offered to American airlines in the wake of the September 11th 2001 terror attacks. IATA reckons the situation for Europe's airlines is even worse.

There are several ways that the damage wrought by Iceland's volcano might be mitigated. If meteorologists and vulcanologists can develop a dynamic model of the ash cloud’s progress it may be possible, as it has been in Scandinavia, to open up more airports and reroute planes to get passengers moving again. Wind patterns could change at any time and some reckon that they might do so by the end of the week. If the ash cloud were to drift in another direction flights could be sent around or above it. But while it currently sits over Europe’s biggest airports that is all but impossible. And passengers may decide not to make trips in case the temporary respite reverses along with the wind, stranding them far from home.

If it seems that the disruption could continue for days or even weeks longer, the ad hoc efforts to get people home could develop into more permanent solutions for those making essential trips. Madrid’s large airport, currently unaffected by the ash cloud, could handle extra flights with passengers then continuing their journey north by land. Cross-channel ferries and the Eurostar trains that connect London with Brussels, Paris and points beyond are currently full to bursting with short-haul flyers returning home and businessmen who have no alternative but to travel. But these services and Europe’s rail and road networks could provide some with alternative means of getting to their destinations.

Some air freight might take to the road or water—98% of the world’s trade is already carried by ship. And plenty of the world’s container vessels are sitting idly waiting for the world economy to pick up after the recent recession in the rich world. But for some freight, from Formula One racing cars stuck in China after Sunday's Grand Prix there to flowers farmed in Kenya and destined for restaurant tables in London, there is no alternative route.

Even if the volcano stopped emitting ash immediately, it might take two or more weeks before airlines could restore their schedules, with planes and crew stuck around the globe along with their passengers. Some fear that they could be in for a long wait. Icelandic volcanic activity has been low for some time. Eyjafjallajokull is particularly prone to producing the fine ash that has caused the current mayhem.

The last big eruption from Eyjafjallajokull, in 1821, belched ash into the atmosphere for over a year. Perhaps even more worrying than that is the risk that the neighbouring Katla volcano might erupt too. Archaeological evidence suggests that when roused it is even more destructive.

So far, aside from airlines and air travellers, the impact has been limited. But as the shutdown continues Europe’s fragile economies will suffer as tourists fail to arrive, meetings are cancelled and businesses with supply chains that rely on air freight nervously watch stocks running down.

Posted by biginla at 6:34 PM BST

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AP – Doug Rice, president of the local autoworkers' union, poses with the empty Chrysler stamping plant reflected …

• Play Video Economy Video:Financial Reform Unveiled in Senate ABC News
• Play Video Economy Video:Money Expert On CD Rates, Goldman Sachs, More CBS 11 Dallas
• Play Video Economy Video:Bank of America sees signs of economic improvement WCNC Charlotte

TWINSBURG, Ohio – The clerk at the candy shop does not want to cry. She is determinedly cheerful, a professional smiler, dressed head to toe in bright turquoise.

But standing next to a display of plastic-wrapped candles and teddy bears, her face crumples at the most basic of questions: Are you doing OK?

"I'm sorry," she says, wiping her eyes with a shirt sleeve, her voice a shaky whisper. "Because at the end of the month, there's nothing left. I don't know what to say. It's almost getting to the point where I don't know what we're going to do anymore."

For four years now, Julie Bittner has rung up customers in this little store on the charming grassy square at the heart of Twinsburg, Ohio. And from her view by the front window, she has watched the fortunes of a ransacked autoworkers' mecca slowly drain away. Streets once teeming with people are now deserted. Some days, she says, not a soul comes through the door.

She's seen the headlines. The recession is ending! Unemployment is stabilizing! From Wall Street to Washington, the message comes: America, the worst is over. Let the spending begin. But in places like Twinsburg — where for so many the misery goes on, unabated — people aren't buying the rhetoric. If brighter days are ahead, they say, they're still awaiting the dawn.

According to an Associated Press-GfK poll conducted in early April, many Americans' impressions of the economy — and their own financial straits — haven't budged in a long time.

"Who are they trying to kid?" Bittner says. "Are they trying to make you think it's better so you'll go out and spend?"

Well, yes. The nation's fragile consumer confidence, which sank to a record low about a year ago, could keep the fledgling economic recovery stuck in first gear, says Ken Goldstein, an economist at the Conference Board, a research group that keeps close tabs on consumers.

"And when you're stuck in first gear," he warns, "there's more chance to hit a pothole than if you are cruising over an open stretch of highway."

In April, just 25 percent of Americans believed the economy was getting better, the exact same percentage as in September, according to the AP poll. An overwhelming 76 percent rated the economy these days as poor, compared with just 21 percent who said the economy was "good" overall.

But on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that the economy is growing faster than the White House expected, and that people are spending more. Last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress that growth in demand by consumers and businesses will promote a moderate economic recovery in coming months.

That kind of good news is especially hard to reconcile in Twinsburg, considering the current state of affairs in Ohio, among the states most battered by the recession. Ohio's economy has actually worsened in the past year, according to the AP's monthly analysis of conditions in more than 3,100 counties and 50 states. In February, it was the eighth-most distressed state in the U.S.

In Clark County, Nev., home to Las Vegas, the unemployment rate has soared from 10.1 percent to 13.9 percent in the past year. The same can be said for California's Central Valley, where the unemployment rate in places like Merced County remains stubbornly high, and where 1 out of 16 homes is in some phase of foreclosure.

In Twinsburg, where workers press metal sheets into car door panels, things are only about to get worse. By now, the story of this place is practically a cliche: declining auto town in the heartland gone to rust.

But look around. The houses are well-kept and middle-class. The lawns have been mowed. There's a Starbucks and a Walgreens and a pretty white church with a steeple.

People live here. And right now, they're staring into a future that looks like a black hole.

The hulking Chrysler stamping plant that once employed thousands will shut down forever in June, and the 400 or so workers left will scatter in search of a paycheck. For a while, people like Doug Rice, president of the local autoworkers' union, still held out hope that a savior might step in and buy the plant, maybe turn it into a new manufacturing hub.

The plant's slow death has spread throughout the town. As fewer workers stopped by for lunch, the Bob Evans down the block shed waitresses. Faced with declining revenue, the mayor laid off firefighters and raised taxes. Nowadays, the chattering old ladies who used to raid the candy shop for their grandchildren don't drop in anymore.

"It hit the coasts last year, or two years ago," Bittner says. "But it's been coming on here for a long time."

Last month, when word leaked that a Canadian industrial liquidation firm had purchased the plant at auction and would likely strip out the equipment and essentially pillage the 165-acre complex, Rice climbed into his caravan and drove into the rising sun, stopping only when he crossed the Pennsylvania border. It was like a death in the family, he explains.

"I never thought I'd cry over my job," he says. "But I mean, I literally broke down. Cried like a baby. Didn't want anybody to see me."

An irrepressible optimist — he avoids the evening news altogether, preferring history books instead — Rice is not one to lay blame or point fingers. He is quick to praise the president, state lawmakers, the local mayor. He even has kind words for the auto company that sold the plant he loved down the river. But does he believe the recession is ending?

"It ain't almost over with," he says. "We have a long ways to go. A very long ways to go."

There's hope yet for Twinsburg. The Cleveland Clinic is building a new medical campus in town. The city's economic development director, Larry Finch, has a map tacked to the wall above his desk that's covered in stickers. Each one, he says, represents new development projects that might create new jobs. A plastics company. A bolt-making business. But he has yet to find one that can fill the gaping void left by the plant.

"Each of us is just a cog in a very big wheel that is rolling forward," says Ken Mayland, an economist at ClearView Economics. "Undoubtedly, people have a sense of despair and disappointment that the recovery isn't touching them. But when you add it all up — spending by businesses and consumers and others — it is propelling the recovery ahead."

That's cold comfort for Bittner, who can scarcely afford to buy lettuce at the grocery store. She'll believe in the recovery when there's more money in her pocket.

"You have to go with what you know instead of what you're being told," she says. "I think they're just trying to brainwash people."

As for Rice, he'll start to believe when manufacturing jobs return to Ohio.

"What really concerns me," he says, "is when the economy does come back, what are we coming back to?"

In a gray office park at the barren autoworkers' union headquarters, Rice's secretary, Carol Hoffman, says she'll start to believe in the recovery when she finds a job. Laid off last year when the union ran out of money to pay her, she kept coming in anyway, just to help out when they needed it, she explains in a tired way. She is 59 years old.

"I'm optimistic," she says, sounding forlorn. "I am. The day that I have a job and I can go out and buy something, yeah. I'm gonna feel real good."

___

Posted by biginla at 6:26 PM BST

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Play Video AFP  – More than 6,000 pulled alive from quake rubble

• Slideshow:Series of strong earthquakes hit China
• Play Video Video:Monks join China quake rescue effort Reuters
• Play Video Earthquakes Video:Raw Video: China quake survivors rescued AP

AP – Four-year-old girl Cairen Baji is carried by a rescue worker after they dug her and an elderly woman …

 

 by Xian Wan, BBC News Analyst, for the BBC's Biodun Iginla

 

– 19 mins ago

JIEGU, China – Relatives kept alive a 4-year-old girl and an elderly woman trapped by an earthquake under a collapsed house for almost a week by using bamboo poles to push water and rice through the rubble until rescuers saved them Monday.

The rare good news came as the death toll in China's remote Tibetan region jumped to nearly 2,000.

Rescuers also freed a third person Monday from the rubble of a hillside house that toppled when the magnitude-6.9 temblor struck Yushu county of Qinghai province Wednesday morning, state broadcaster China Central Television reported.

The death toll from the quake climbed to 1,944, while more than 12,100 people were hurt, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Relief and reconstruction work accelerated, with power and telecommunications services largely restored and aid convoys arriving in droves.

The rescue of Wujian Cuomao, 68, and Cairen Baji, 4, from a crumbled home in a village about 13 miles (20 kilometers) from the hardest-hit town of Jiegu was hailed by state media as a miracle and repeatedly played on television news broadcasts.

Footage showed workers in orange suits and safety helmets lifting the bewildered-looking white-haired woman onto a stretcher and into an ambulance. The visibly tired child lay wrapped in a blanket in the arms of a rescuer. Debris had pressed down on the girl's chest, CCTV said, but she suffered no injuries. The report said the woman's life was not in danger.

The woman and child were protected by a wooden bed frame, which they huddled under as the house fell to pieces around them. A young woman CCTV said was a relative pointed to an 8-inch (20-centimeter) gap between the floor and a corner of the broken bed frame.

"When the earthquake happened the house fell and they were buried under here," said the woman, whose name was not given. "We sent them food every day."

CCTV reported relatives used bamboo poles to push water and rice through the narrow gap to the trapped pair. Also Monday, rescuers freed a Tibetan woman named Ritu from her collapsed house on a hillside, CCTV said. Half her body had been trapped by the debris, the report said, but her vital signs were stable.

In Jiegu, thousands of Tibetan Buddhist monks picked at rubble with shovels, performed funeral rites and threw food to survivors from the backs of trucks.

Efforts were shifting toward rebuilding to help the tens of thousands left homeless in the elevated area where temperatures can hit lows of 27 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 3 degrees Celsius). Forecasts of snow in coming days could hinder relief efforts, state media said.

Convoys of military supply trucks were at a standstill, backed up for miles (kilometers) on the main road heading into town. At a supply depot set up on the town's edge, huge stacks of bottled water were piled up outside a warehouse. More relief goods rumbled past mountainside hamlets where residents pitched government-provided tents along a two-lane highway that is the only connection between Jiegu and the provincial capital of Xining, the nearest big city.

The surge in aid came as President Hu Jintao, who visited the area Sunday, promised the Communist Party and government were doing everything they could to help the remote Tibetan region, where residents have frequently chafed under Chinese rule. Tibetan anger over political and religious restrictions and perceived economic exploitation by the majority Han Chinese have sometimes erupted in violence.

In a sign of tensions, Jia Qinglin, China's top parliamentary adviser and the Communist Party's No. 4 ranking leader, warned at a meeting Monday of "hostile forces from abroad working to cause disruptions and sabotage" to the disaster-relief effort, CCTV reported.

Jia did not mention any specific individuals. The Chinese government often refers to supporters of the Dalai Lama and advocates of Tibetan independence as "hostile forces." The exiled spiritual leader said Saturday he'd like to visit the quake site. China is unlikely to allow a visit.

In Jiegu, classes resumed at Yushi No. 3 Elementary School, with hundreds of students taking lessons in classrooms set up in tents.

"Confidence! Hope!" the children chanted, led by volunteers from Beijing who organized the temporary classrooms and planned to build permanent ones.

"On the one hand, students are coming back to resume classes. On the other hand, we are giving the students some psychological treatment after the disaster," said Danzeng Jiangcuo, a sixth-grade math teacher. "We are trying to help them forget the disaster and not feel scared anymore."

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Posted by biginla at 6:02 PM BST

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• Europe hopes
• UK ban eases
• In maps
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• Science of ban

Hopes rose for an easing of flight chaos across Europe due to Icelandic volcano ash, with the news that Britain will reopen some airports on Tuesday.

Germany's aviation authority also granted Lufthansa permission to make 50 passenger flights back to Germany.

As airline losses spiralled over $1bn (0.74m euros; £0.65m), carrier chiefs stepped up calls that they be allowed to decide when it was safe to fly.

The crisis, now in its fifth day, has affected millions of passengers.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh became the latest airline boss to call the flight bans unnecessary.

MAJOR EU AIRPORTS 19/04 London Heathrow: Closed Germany: Airports in Frankfurt, Munich and Dusseldorf reopening to take 50 Lufthansa flights Paris Charles de Gaulle: Closed Schiphol, Amsterdam: Closed Rome: Leonardo Da Vinci International and Ciampino Airports open, limited service Madrid: Madrid-Barajas Airport open, but excessive delays

He was aboard a BA 747 that went on a test flight through parts of the restricted zone on Sunday.

Mr Walsh said analysis of the plane found no ill effects due to atmospheric ash from southern Iceland's Eyjafjallajoekull volcano.

The flight bans were imposed amid fears the ash - a mixture of glass, sand and rock particles - could damage aircraft engines.

Britain's air traffic control body said later on Monday that airspace in Scotland, the north of England and Northern Ireland would reopen on Tuesday.

The UK is also sending three Royal Navy warships to help pick up stranded passengers from Spain and Channel ports.

Lufthansa, meanwhile, was allowed to carry about 15,000 passengers to Frankfurt, Munich and Dusseldorf airports from the Far East, Africa and the Americas.

The International Air Transport Association (Iata) earlier lambasted European leaders for their inaction, calling the travel chaos a mess and an embarrassment.

Iata chief Giovanni Bisignani said: "The decision that Europe has made is with no risk assessment, no consultation, no co-ordination, no leadership."

Airspace closures were costing airlines $200m a day in lost revenue, he said.

The European Transport Commissioner, Siim Kallas, said earlier there could be no compromise on safety.

Posted by biginla at 5:33 PM BST

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