Cooper's deadly harvest was clearly an embarrassment to the Munich-based advertising agency Sassenbach, which BMW used to promote its Mini. The agency said that it had decided on weather sponsorship because it wanted a "wind and weatherproof idea". It had encouraged visitors to its website to follow Cooper's 'beautiful weather' online. Yesterday a company spokes-man refused to comment on its choice of name.
Yesterday schools and colleges in the Ukrainian capital Kiev were closed because of the cold. Snow and freezing weather resulted in the cancellation of Istanbul ferry traffic across Europe's busiest waterway, the Bosphorus. In Germany a woman froze to death after falling into a drainage ditch.
In Britain, temperatures plunged to -7C in some areas last night, and are not expected to push above 2C today. Forecasters said Eastern England could see snow showers tomorrow, while an Atlantic front is expected to move into Scotland on Saturday, resulting in up to 10cm of snow across higher ground.
- THE INDEPENDENT