BBC News with Iain Purdon
The President of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiyev has left the country and flown to neighboring Kazakhstan almost a week after his political opponents seized power. The authorities in Kazakhstan said his departure had been organized with the help of Russia and the United States. Rayhan Demytrie reports.
A plane carrying the ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev took off from Jalalabad Airport on Thursday evening. Within an hour, the foreign ministry of Kazakhstan issued a statement, saying Mr Bakiyev landed in the Kazakh city of Taraz. His departure, the statement said, was a result of negotiations between the US, Russia, Kazakhstan and a number of other international diplomats. And it was done for the prevention of civil war and further unrest in the country.
A huge plume of drifting ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland has disrupted air transport across much of Europe. Flights have been grounded in countries as far apart as Ireland, Norway and Poland. Tens of thousands of passengers are stranded and international flights to and from Europe have also been affected. In an unprecedented move, Britain closes its entire airspace to all but emergency flights. Dave Reynolds is the flight safety officer for the pilots union, the British Airline Pilots Association.
"The major issue, which has been highlighted, is the fact that this volcanic ash can get inside the aircraft engines and can make them cease to operate, but also significantly, the ash can get inside the aircraft's instrument systems and under conditions where the pilots are using their instruments to fly the aircraft, they will find themselves in the very dangerous situation, not being able to have reliable instruments."