GERMANY:A grassroots campaign to save Tempelhof Airport, the epicentre of the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49, fizzled out on Sunday after supporters failed to win enough votes in a citywide referendum.
Voters endorsed a measure to prevent the closure of the Cold War landmark this year by a 3-2 margin but turnout was too low. Only 22 per cent of registered voters cast ballots in favour of the measure, just short of the 25 per cent required.
Berlin lawmakers had previously decreed that the historic site - Orville Wright tested one of his flying machines on the grounds and Adolf Hitler later transformed it into the largest building in Europe - must close down in October to make way for a planned new international airport on the southeast edge of the city.
Mayor Klaus Wowereit said after the vote that the city would move ahead with its plans to mothball Tempelhof. Although it is now scheduled to see its last takeoff and landing in October, city officials are not sure what they will do with the site, which is covered by historic preservation laws and cannot be torn down. - (LA Times-Washington Post service)