BUCHAREST/SOFIA: Blizzards swept parts of eastern Europe on Friday, closing roads and causing traffic accidents, travel delays and leading to medical evacuations.
In Romania, one of the worst affected areas, authorities said main highways in the south and east were made impassable due to the heavy snow. More than 40 trains were not running due to snow on the track.
Senior emergency situations official Raed Arafat said authorities evacuated 622 people who needed dialysis and 126 pregnant women.
In Bulgaria, snowstorms paralyzed traffic and cut electricity to hundreds of thousands of people while forcing atomic energy producer Nuclearelectrica in neighboring Romania to shut down its No. 1 reactor.
Blizzards caused power blackouts in more than 770 Bulgarian towns, authorities said. It also closed parts of the Trakiya motorway in southeastern Bulgaria, all roads in a swathe of the northeast and the main A-2 motorway linking the Romanian capital Bucharest with the Black Sea port of Constanta.
Serbia’s state television reported that 17 people, including six children, were injured in a pileup caused by the wintry weather on the outskirts of the southern city of Nis.
Heavy snow and strong winds disrupted traffic in southern Serbia and snow piled up to two-meters (6.6 feet) high, closing several roads. Local official Dragan Dimitrijevic said emergency crews were “helpless against the wind.”
“New piles form almost immediately after we clear up,” he said.
Temperatures are forecast to drop to minus 20 C (minus 4 F) at the weekend and Bulgarian authorities issued a severe weather warning for 20 out of the country’s 28 regions, telling people to stay indoors.
In Croatia, the temperatures dipped below freezing even along the country’s Adriatic coast where high winds halted some ferry traffic to the islands and over the bridges along the coastline.
In Montenegro, bad weather caused traffic delays and authorities urged people to stay indoors. Villages were virtually cut off in the worst-hit northern part of the country.
Elsewhere, temperatures in Germany plunged as low as minus 25 C (minus 13 F) overnight, after storm “Axel” sucked in icy air from the Arctic.
In northern Europe, which is accustomed to subzero temperatures, it was bitterly cold but sunny, plummeting to minus 23 C on Friday morning in Helsinki, Finland, the same temperature recorded in Latvia. Temperatures were forecast to plunge to minus 25 C in central Romania and minus 20 in Bulgaria.
Blizzards, icy weather grip parts of Europe
Blizzards, icy weather grip parts of Europe
Bangladesh’s Yunus announces resignation, end of interim govt
- Yunus handed over power after congratulating the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its leader Tarique Rahman
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus stepped down on Monday in a farewell broadcast to the nation before handing over to an elected government.
“Today, the interim government is stepping down,” the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner said.
“But let the practice of democracy, freedom of speech, and fundamental rights that has begun not be halted.”
Yunus returned from self-imposed exile in August 2024, days after the iron-fisted government of Sheikh Hasina was overthrown by a student-led uprising and she fled by helicopter to India.
“That was the day of great liberation,” he said. “What a day of joy it was! Bangladeshis across the world shed tears of happiness. The youth of our country freed it from the grip of a demon.”
He has led Bangladesh as its “chief adviser” since, and now hands over power after congratulating the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its leader Tarique Rahman on a “landslide victory” in elections last week.
“The people, voters, political parties, and stakeholder institutions linked to the election have set a commendable example,” Yunus said.
“This election has set a benchmark for future elections.”
Rahman, 60, chief of the BNP and scion of one of the country’s most powerful political dynasties, will lead the South Asian nation of 170 million.
‘Rebuilt institutions’
Bangladeshi voters endorsed sweeping democratic reforms in a national referendum, a key pillar of Yunus’s post-uprising transition agenda, on the same day as the elections.
The lengthy document, known as the “July Charter” after the month when the uprising that toppled Hasina began, proposes term limits for prime ministers, the creation of an upper house of parliament, stronger presidential powers and greater judicial independence.
“We did not start from zero — we started from a deficit,” he said.
“Sweeping away the ruins, we rebuilt institutions and set the course for reforms.”
The referendum noted that approval would make the charter “binding on the parties that win” the election, obliging them to endorse it.
However, several parties raised questions before the vote, and the reforms will still require ratification by the new parliament.
The BNP alliance won 212 seats, compared with 77 for the Jamaat-e-Islami-led alliance, according to the Election Commission.
Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman conceded on Saturday, saying his party would “serve as a vigilant, principled, and peaceful opposition.”
Newly elected lawmakers are expected to be sworn in on Tuesday, after which Tarique Rahman is set to become Bangladesh’s next prime minister.
Police records show that political clashes during the campaign period killed five people and injured more than 600.
However, despite weeks of turbulence ahead of the polls, voting day passed without major unrest and the country has responded to the results with relative calm.
