HSFC_2017_01_11

A4|Wednesday,January 11, 2017| SFChronicle.com XXXXX

STAVANGER,Norway —
Forsomeradiolistenersin
Norway,therewillbedead air
startingWednesday.
Themountainousnationof
millionwillbecomethefirstin
theworldtophaseoutanalog
signalsinfavorofDigitalAudio
Broadcasting,orDAB.
Themo ve hasprovokedcon-
cernfortheelderly andmotor-
ists, whileotherswillbenostal-
gicforthecracklingsoundof
oldradio.
Judith Haaland,98,remem-
berstheradiobroadcastsfrom
LondonduringWorldWarII
andNorway’s kingstiffening
theresolve ofhiscountrymen
underGermanoccupation.Now

blindandlivingalone,herradio

hasbeenhertethertotheout-

side world.

“IrememberApril9, 1940,

planesflyingoverheadand

Quislingcomingontheradio

sayinghehadtakencontrolof

thegovernmentwiththehelpof

theGermans,”saidHaaland,

recallingtheruleof Norwegian

NazicollaboratorVidkunQuis-

ling.

In amo ve likelytobewatched

closelyby othernations,the

Norwegiangovernmentwill

beginshuttingofftheFMsignal

onWednesday. By theendofthe

year,nationalnetworks willbe

availableonlyonDAB.

Norway claimsthemove will

freeup cashforbroadcastersto

invest inprograming,while

providingaclearerandmore

reliablenetwork,

ButcriticssaythatNorwe-

giansarebeingforcedtoexpen-

sively upgrade theirtechnology

andwarnthatemergencymes-

sagescouldbemissed,especial-

ly incars,asup to20million

analogreceiversarerendered

obsolete.

Between2.2millionand2.

millioncarshave noDAB.Mo-

toristswilleitherhave tobuya

newradiocosting$468oran

adap terfor$175.A DABradio

forthehomecosts$117,though

consumerscanpickup the

signalthroughTVortheIn-

ternet.

”Nor wayisnotpreparedfor

this.Therearemillionsofradi-

osinhomes,cottagesandboats

that won’twork anymore,and

only25percentofcarshave

digitalradiosoradap ters,”said

SveinLarsenoftheNorwegian

LocalRadioAssociation.

MarkLewisisanAssociated Press

writer.

NORWAY

Nation tunes out

analog radio in

favor of digital

MarkLewis /Associated Press

Judith Haaland, 98, sits next to her decades-oldradio set inStavanger, Norway. Now blind and

living alone, herradio has been hertether to the outsideworld.

By Mark Lewis

BUCHAREST, Romania —
Officialssuspendedship ping
alongEurope’s second-longest
waterway on Tuesday as a
polar spell gripped a large
swat he of the continent, caus-
ing hardship especially among
migrants, the homeless and
the elderly. The deep freeze
has causedat least 61deaths
sinceit began lastweek, a
third of those inPoland.
Romanian police halted
ship ping at midday for an
undetermined period along a
565-mile stretch of the Danube
River, which crossesRomania.
Croatian and Serbianauthor-
ities alsostopped river traffic
on the Danube.
In Serbia,ship ping was
banned on the River Sa va
because of icy conditions,

which claimed another two

lives in southern Serbia.Au-

thorities said an 88-year-old

man and his son, 64, died from

freezing temperatures in the

village of DugaPoljana, in the

south,which has been hard-

est-hit by the recent cold spell.

Serbianstate TV reported the

two victims, discovered by a

man delivering bread from a

neighboring village, were ex-

tremely poor.

Three people have been

founddeadin the past three

days in Macedonia as tempera-

tures plunged to-4 Fahrenheit.

One 68-year old homeless man

was found frozen todeath in

the capital,Skopje,while a

60-year-old man died in front

of his home in the southern

town inStrumica. An 80-year-

old woman was discovered in

her home in easternMace-

donia.

Authorities urged homeless

people togo to shelters and

local schools,which are taking

them induring the cold spell.

In Albania,it snowed in the

southern city of Saranda for

the first time in 32years. A

homeless Albanian manwas

founddeadin the southeast-

ern city ofKorca, the fifth

person to die in the frigid

weather.

In the central town ofBul-

qize, temperatures plummeted

to -7 .6 F, with mostrural areas

cut offby snow. There were

temporary power andwater

outages. Army helicopters

were distributing aid in remote

mountain areas.

Afterstrong criticism from

aid agencies and others,au-

thorities on the Greek island of

Lesbos said theywould move

250 refugees from tentsat

camps intovacant hotel rooms

as the heavy snow continued

unabated around the country.

“We denounce the inhuman

living conditions refugees on

Lesbos arefacing,” the island’s

public hospitaldoctors associ-

ation said“They are living in

mud and snow, cramped to-

gether in unsuitable tents ...

and lighting fires inside them

to stay warm.”

Elsewhere, astate of emer-

gency was decl ared in several

parts of Greece.

Snowdusted the ancient

Acropolis inAthens and

closed most schools in the

capital,while more than 10

heatedshelterswere opened

for the homeless.

AlisonMutler is anAssociated

Press writer.

AttilaKisbenedek / AFP / GettyImages

People take photos ofthe Margaret Bridge in downtown Budapest as icefloes float inthe waters of the Danube Ri ver.

EUROPE

Cold snap halts river traffic

— death toll surpasses 60

By AlisonMutler

In 2008, school officials in
Basel,Switzerland, ordered a
Muslim couple to enroll their
daug hters in a mandatory
swimmingclass, despite the
parents’objections to having
their girls learn alongside boys.
The officials offered the
couple someaccommodations:
The girls,who were around the
ages of 9 and 11, couldwear

body-covering swimsuits,

known as burkinis,during the

swimming lessons, and they

could undress for theclass

without any boys present.

But the parents refused to

send their daughters to the

lessons, and in 2010 the offi-

cials imposed a fine ofabout

$1,380. The parents, Aziz Os-

manoglu and SehabatKocabas,

who ha ve both Swiss and Turk-

ish nationality,decided tosue.

On Tuesday, the European

Court ofHuman Rights upheld

the Swiss officials’decision,

rejecting the parents’ argument

that Swiss authorities had

violated the“freedom of

thought, conscience and reli-

gion” guaranteedby the Euro-

pean Convention onHuman

Rights, which the court enforc-

es.

“The public interest in fol-

lowing the full school curricu-

lum should prevail over the

applicants’ private interest in

obtaining an exemption from

mixedswimming lessons for

their daughters,” the court

found.

The casewas the latest to pit

freedom of religionagainst the

imperative of social integration,

and to raise thequestion of

whether — and howmuch —

the governmentshould accom-

modate the religious views of

Muslim citizens and residents,

many of them immigrants.

The ruling could set an im-

portant precedent in other

cases inwhich religious and

secularvalu es or norms come

into conflict.

The parents have three

months toappeal the court’s

decision.

Dan Bilefsky is aNew York Times

writer.

SWITZERLAND

Muslim girls must swim with boys, courtrules

By Dan Bilefsky

GENEVA — China’s Presi-

dent Xi Jinping willattend the

World EconomicForum next

week, becoming the first Chi-

nese head ofstate to do so at

the annual gathering of busi-

ness leaders, politicians and

cultural icons in theSwiss

Alpine town of Davos.

As part of an official visit to

Switzerland, Xi willattend

and open the annual economic

meeting in theski resort of

Davos on Jan. 17,accompanied

by the largest de legation of

officials from China since the

world’s most populous coun-

try first participatedat the

forum nearly four decades ago.

Xi’s attendance comes as

China has sought to be more

influentialglob ally and pres-

ent itself as a force forstability

and champion ofglob alization

and opponent of protection-

ism. The Da vos forum takes

placeduring aweek when the

United States, home to the

world’s lar gest economy, will

be focused on DonaldTrump’s

Jan. 20 inauguration as presi-

dent.

“We are allaware thatwe

are now in the transition in

the world to amultilateral, to

a multipolar,geopolitical and

geoeconomicstructure,”World

EconomicForum founder

Klaus Schwab told reporters

in Geneva on Tuesday.

“China will equal theUnited

States soon asfar as economic

power is concerned,” Schwab

adde d, noting a“strong” Chi-

nese businessdelegation

would accompany Xi.

“In the spirit of Davos, we

want to engage them asmuch

as possible,” he said.

ForeignMinisterWang Yi

said last month that China

would “lead theway amid a

shakeup inglob al governance,

we will take hold of the situa-

tion amid internationalchao s,

we will protect our interests

amid intense and complex

games.”

DAVOS FORUM

Xi to be

1st China

leader

to attend

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WORLD