| Explorers die in Canary Islands tunnel after apparently suffocating
LOS SILOS DE TENERIFE, Canary Islands -- A group of 30 scientists and nature lovers got lost in a maze of narrow underground tunnels in Spain's Canary Islands, and six of them died after apparently suffocating, officials said Sunday. The explorers were more than a mile underground Saturday in area where gases may have seeped in, cutting off their oxygen, said Jose Andres Garcia, the island's emergency services director. Eustaquio Villalba, a spokesman for the Tenerife Friends of Nature Association, said the six likely died when they inhaled air filled with carbon dioxide. "It doesn't smell bad or of gas and causes a depletion of what little oxygen is available down there, given there is no ventilation," he said. One person who managed to make it out alerted emergency services, said Jose Miguel Ruano, Tenerife's regional government minister.
Very different immigration problems -- or are they?
The crux of the U.S. problem stems from its two lengthy land borders with Mexico and Canada, while Canary Islanders face an increasing influx of Africans reaching their shores on makeshift rafts. Both have seen numbers of illegal entries increase over time, though their responses differ. While U.S. immigration law delineates in painstaking and often confusing detail the consequences for undocumented migrants, the Canary Islands don't have clearly outlined policies. The Canaries must follow directions from Madrid, and Spain is part of the European Union — which is still drafting a uniform policy on immigration, Morales said. The islands have become an increasingly popular entry point for emigrants from northern and western Africa who are willing to risk their lives on a 60-mile sea voyage as a good bet to enter Spain and then Europe.
Package holidays close to extinction as more travel companies merge
The traditional 'sun, sea and sand' package holiday faces extinction with a disastrous fall in sales that has forced Britain's tour operators to merge or die. First Choice is being taken over by Thomson, which is owned by TUI of Germany, it was revealed today. Separately, the German-owned Thomas Cook is in the throes of merging with MyTravel, which is based in North West England. The mergers will see the loss of hundreds of jobs and travel agent shops from high street as more people book their holidays via the internet or Teletext. The consolidation of Britain's package holiday giants from four to just two comes amid a 14 per cent slump in sales in just four years. During the package holiday hey-day of the late 1990s more than 20m package were being sold every year but this year it is likely to be less than 16m.
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