January 24, 2006	Tuesday	Zilhaj 23, 1426

WARSAW, Jan 23: The freezing Arctic weather sweeping across northern and eastern Europe claimed nearly 100 lives over the weekend, with unusually low temperatures predicted to continue in the next few days.

Twenty-seven people have perished from exposure in Poland since Friday in temperatures hovering below minus 3O Celsius, bringing to 150 the number who have died this wintery.

Nearly half of the dead were homeless, of whom 90 per cent died while drunk.

Last winter, around 180 people died in Poland from the cold.

The government said Russian gas deliveries were 34 per cent below their contracted level on Monday and Polish energy group PGNiG said it would reduce supplies to heavy industry to make up for increased demand from households and public institutions.

Last week, Russian gas behemoth Gazprom acknowledged it could not satisfy the gas needs of western Europe because the extreme cold had caused Russian domestic demand to soar.

In Moscow seven people succumbed to the sub-zero temperatures over the weekend, bringing the death toll this winter to nearly 90. Another 31 people were hospitalised for hypothermia.

The freeze was particularly painful for the numerous street children sleeping rough in the Russian capital, where the temperature averaged minus 20 over Saturday and Sunday. Five people died of cold in Ukraine over the weekend, bringing to 26 the number of deaths since temperatures plunged last week.—AFP