International news in brief

Icy gusts spread winter pain

MINNEAPOLIS (AP):

It's not the heat, it's the humidity, goes the old saying. For the tens of millions of Americans currently trapped in the deep freeze: It's not the cold, it's the wind.

Air temperatures plunging into the negative teens, 20s, and even 30s Sunday into yesterday are bad enough. But add wind speeds of even a few miles per hour, and what's already deeply unpleasant becomes downright dangerous.

"It's not so much the absolute cold, though, that's certainly not pleasant either," said Mark Seeley, a climatologist for the University of Minnesota.

"But what the wind does when it starts blowing it around is force the cold air on to whatever it touches. Whether it's human skin or a car engine, the wind pushes away the warmth being generated and replaces it with cold."

Thus the popular term "wind chill," which a couple of Polar explorers originated in 1945 to differentiate between the actual temperature and the temperature that it feels like thanks to the wind. For instance: In International Falls, Minn., along the Canadian border, it was forecast to reach an air temperature of 30 below zero early Monday. But wind gusts will make it feel more like negative 60.

"Fighting a fire on a night like that, a lot of our guys would rather do recon in the burning structure than man the hoses," said Jim Hultman, a veteran firefighter in International Falls, frequently one of the coldest spots in the nation. "I'm not kidding. Because at least you're warm."

More seniors becoming caregivers

NOBLESVILLE, Ind (AP):

Paul Gregoline lies in bed, awaiting the helper who will get him up, bathed, and groomed. He is 92 years old, has Alzheimer's disease, and needs a hand with nearly every task the day brings. When the aide arrives, though, he doesn't look so different from the client himself - bald and bespectacled.

"Just a couple of old geezers," jokes Warren Manchess, the 74-year-old caregiver.

As demand for senior services provided by nurses' aides, home health aides, and other such workers grows with the aging of baby boomers, so are those professions' employment of other seniors. The new face of America's network of caregivers is increasingly wrinkled.

Among the overall population of direct-care workers, 29 per cent are projected to be 55 or older by 2018, up from 22 per cent a decade earlier, according to an analysis by the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute, or PHI, a New York-based non-profit advocating for workers caring for the country's elderly and disabled. In some segments of the workforce, including personal and home-care aides, those 55 and older are the largest single age demographic.

"I think people are surprised that this workforce is as old as it is," said Abby Marquand, a researcher at PHI. "There are often people who have chronic diseases themselves who have to muster up the energy to perform these really physically taxing caregiving needs."

Epiphany celebrated by diving after wooden crucifixes in icy water

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP):

Thousands of young men are plunging into icy rivers and lakes across Bulgaria to retrieve crucifixes cast by priests in an old ritual marking the feast of Epiphany.

By tradition, a crucifix is cast into the waters of a lake or river, and it is believed that the person who retrieves it will be freed from evil spirits and will be healthy through the year.

The celebration of Epiphany, or the Apparition of Christ, as Bulgarians call it, began on Monday in Sofia with a water-blessing ceremony.

The head of Bulgaria's Orthodox Church, Patriarch Neofit, said a prayer for the prosperity of the people and blessed the colours of representative army units - a tradition abandoned in 1946 and re-established in 1992.

Plane goes off runway, kills 1, injures 2

DENVER (AP):

A private jet went off the side of a runway in Aspen, flipped over, and burst into flames, killing one man and injuring two others, Colorado authorities say.

Officials said the flight to the wealthy mountain resort city originated in Mexico and all three aboard were Mexican pilots. Two were flying and one was a passenger.

Alex Burchetta, director of operations for the Pitkin County Sheriff's Office, identified the man who died as co-pilot Sergio Carranza Brabata. He did not know where in Mexico the 54-year-old Brabata lived.

Burchetta said the plane went off the right side of the runway Sunday afternoon, flipped over, and burst into flames.

"The injuries were traumatic in nature, but they were not thermal," he said. "So the fire never reached inside the cabin, as far as we can tell."

President calls for reunion of families

SEOUL, South Korea (AP):

South Korea's president on Monday called for resuming reunions of families separated by war, expressing hopes that the humanitarian programme would improve strained ties between the rival Koreas.

The call came amid lingering tensions on the Korean Peninsula following Pyongyang's fiery rhetoric and threats of nuclear wars last spring. The two Koreas had planned to hold family reunions in September for the first time in three years, but Pyongyang cancelled them at the last minute.

President Park Geun-hye told a televised news conference that she wants the reunions to take place on the occasion of the Lunar New Year's Day later this month to "heal wounded hearts".

She said she hopes the two Koreas would find a new momentum for better ties with the reunions, adding that her government plans to expand inter-Korean civilian exchanges and approve the shipment of more humanitarian assistance to the North.

Later Monday, South Korea sent a message proposing talks on Friday to discuss the reunions, according to Park's Unification Ministry.