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International Flights Gradually Resume at Nairobi Airport

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cenydd
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Posts: 525
Politics: Liberal

International Flights Gradually Resume at Nairobi Airport Aug 8, 2013 11:15:37 GMT

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Post by cenydd on Aug 8, 2013 11:15:37 GMT

International passenger flights were slowly resuming from Nairobi’s main international airport, officials said Thursday, one day after a devastating fire ripped through its main arrivals hall, temporarily disabling East Africa’s busiest airport.

One Kenya Airways flight to Amsterdam departed early Thursday, and another to Johannesburg. Departures for about a dozen other foreign destinations — as well as a handful of international arrivals — were scheduled before midday, but there was no official word from the Kenya Airports Authority about when Jomo Kenyatta International Airport would be able to resume a full operating schedule.

Confusion still reigned among the makeshift check-in counters, however, as thousands of passengers who had been left stranded Wednesday sought to find their way aboard flights.

www.nytimes.com/2013/08/09/world/africa/nairobi-airport.html?_r=0

It must be causing absolute chaos in the airline world, and I guess not only for African flights, with people and planes being in the wrong place, not able to get to transfers, and so on. The question is still what the cause of the fire was, though, and whether it was accidental or deliberate, being on the American Embassy bombings in 1998.

A liberal’s disagreement with a socialist or social democrat comes down to this: we both seek equality, but the only equality a liberal thinks is worth striving for is an equality of freedom. A liberal’s disagreement with conservatives comes down to this: we both seek freedom, but a liberal believes no one can achieve it alone. There is such a thing as society, and government’s purpose is to shape a society in which individual freedom can flourish. (Michael Ignatieff)

cenydd
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Posts: 525
Politics: Liberal

International Flights Gradually Resume at Nairobi Airport Aug 10, 2013 9:38:57 GMT

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Post by cenydd on Aug 10, 2013 9:38:57 GMT

Kenya ruled out terrorism after a blaze left its main airport in charred ruins this week, describing the incident as a "simple fire gone bad."

There were no reports of casualties in the Wednesday blaze at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. The fire destroyed large parts of the international terminal and brought East Africa's largest aviation hub to a standstill.

It occurred on the 15th anniversary of the near-simultaneous terrorist attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which left 224 people dead and thousands injured.

The nation's president, Uhuru Kenyatta, said the blaze was not an act of terror.

"We can now confirm that there was no element of a terror incident in this fire," the president said in a statement Friday. "There is no evidence of an explosion or an improvised explosive device. This was a simple fire gone bad. If anyone is culpable, including for gross negligence, they will be dealt with by the full force of the law."

Well, that is the end of that speculation, I guess. Still, it's not good for the long temr future of the airport to have such a catastrophic incident, and that's not going to be good for Kenya itself.

A liberal’s disagreement with a socialist or social democrat comes down to this: we both seek equality, but the only equality a liberal thinks is worth striving for is an equality of freedom. A liberal’s disagreement with conservatives comes down to this: we both seek freedom, but a liberal believes no one can achieve it alone. There is such a thing as society, and government’s purpose is to shape a society in which individual freedom can flourish. (Michael Ignatieff)