A Germanwings plane Milan-bound flight 826 to Milan’s Malpensa airport with 120 people on board was evacuated last night at Cologne-Bonn airport in Germany minutes before take-off after receiving a bomb threat. The tower in Cologne alerted the pilot of the Airbus A320, which was taxiing toward the runway at the time. The pilot took the plane to a position at the airport that is foreseen for such cases, where the passengers and crew left the aircraft. Federal police said sniffer dogs found no sign of explosives. The threat was emailed to the airport 15 minutes before the plane’s scheduled departure, prompting police to set the necessary measures in action. At the same time, Germanwings planes from London and Birmingham to Germany have been immediately cancelled.
13 04 2015
Bomb threat to Germanwings flight 826
Meanwhile, Pope Francis has reportedly barred the nomination of a close aide of President Francois Hollande as new French ambassador to the Vatican because he is a homosexual. The apparent rejection calls into question the pope’s reputation as holding more liberal views on homosexuality. Officials in Paris said, the 54-year old Laurent Stefanini, a senior diplomat and Mr. Hollande’s chief of protocol, was nominated in early January but the Vatican has maintained a stony silence over whether it accepts his credentials. The usual time frame for the acceptance is a month and a half. After that, a prolonged silence after a nomination is normally interpreted as a rejection. The Elysee said that the choice of Mr. Stefanini to represent France at the Vatican resulted from “a wish by the president and a cabinet decision” and that the president regarded him as “one of our best diplomats.”
Reporting LIVE from London, United Kingdom, I’ll see you again on Wednesday, same time, same station. Wishing you all a great week ahead of us. Take care everyone!
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