Britain-arts-Picasso All-night opening for Picasso, Matisse at London's Tate Modern (francais suivra) LONDON, July 11 (AFP) - London's Tate Modern gallery is to open for longer hours, including its first all-night session, in a bid to cope with demand for its exhibition comparing the works of Matisse and Picasso. Museum chiefs said Thursday that more than 250,000 people had already been to see the Matisse Picasso exhibition at the gallery on the south bank of the Thames since it opened on May 11. A further 150,000 are expected before it closes on August 18. Opening hours each day are to be extended until 10:00 pm (2100 GMT) -- the gallery normally shuts at 6:00 pm each weekday -- from July 19. On the final weekend, it will be open for 36 hours, from 10:00 am on August 17 to 10:00 pm the following day. A spokeswoman for the gallery said there had been an "extraordinary number" of visitors. The show has been a huge hit, with visitors having to buy timed tickets in an effort to prevent overcrowding. Km Britain-euro Welsh market town to become temporary eurozone (francais servi) LONDON, July 8 (AFP) - A small Welsh market town Tuesday becomea Britain's first eurozone for a week-long international music festival. Shops, pubs and restaurants in Llangollen, north Wales, will accept the single European currency during the eisteddfod, which is expected to attract up to 100,000 European visitors. The local chamber of trade says 80 percent of its members have signed up to the scheme, which has won the backing of Europe minister Peter Hain and European Commission vice-president Neil Kinnock, who is Welsh. The idea has not been welcomed by everyone. Some local businesses recently organised a street protest. But Hain, the man charged with selling the idea of the euro to the British people, has welcomed the event. He said the creation of a temporary eurozone for the festival would make it a more inclusive event enjoyed by Britain's Euroepan neighbours. Kinnock said it would prove to sceptical Britons that the currency was not something to fear. "For British people, the Euro will be shown to be a usable currency that holds no mysteries and carries no threats. Everyone gains from that," he said. Britain is one of only three of the 15 EU countries not to use the single currency. The others are Denmark and Sweden. km

Wish you weren't here: another British summer washout LONDON, July 9 (AFP) - Even for a country associated with rain it has been a wretched few months, leaving Britons down in the dumps, the tourist industry in a state of resignation and one national newspaper lamenting: "Summer 2002: Cancelled". June was one of the wettest months on record for much of Britain -- the seventh wettest in more than two centuries, according to the Metereological Office -- and July has started just as bad. While some weather experts are predicting sunnier times ahead, it will likely only be in the second half of August. For a sign of the frustration, take a look at the BBC weather centre's website. "Does anyone remember that strange phenomenon called 'Summer' which we used to enjoy?" asked Allan Dade plaintively on a message board. Paul Bethell queried the experts who had been predicting hotter summers thanks to global warming. "Some hope. It's as wet and grey and miserable as I've ever known!" And Sharon Roe complained that all this rain was giving her headaches and dizzy spells. "I can now tell when the pressure is low without checking. I also know when a storm is brewing or rain is coming as my joints hurt, the bones deep inside." It's not about to get better either, according to forecasters, hence the Sunday People's headline cancelling summer. The London Weather Centre issued a severe warning Tuesday for southeast England, forecasting localised flooding. More rain is expected during the rest of this week and into next, coupled with gusty winds and outbreaks of thunder. The Wimbledon tennis championship which concluded Sunday was also hit by rain, although not as badly as some previous years. At the prestigious Henley regatta, ladies dressed in their finest had to skip over puddles, while England's one-day cricket match against India here Tuesday was delayed by the seemingly inevitable. The rain is also bad news for farmers, who need dry days for harvesting and making hay. It is brought here in low pressure systems which form over the Atlantic and are accelerations and decelerations of strong winds associated with the jet stream. As a new low pressure area or depression starts to form, the winds are deflected to the right in the northern hemisphere due to the rotation of the Earth. So much for the science. The Daily Telegraph felt sufficiently moved to editorialise on the subject Tuesday. "Foreigners often mock the British for the way in which we go on about the weather," it wrote. "What they fail to realise is that our weather is just a damn sight more interesting than anybody else's. "Where else but in Britain can one wake up on a July morning not knowing whether to put on a sweater and sou'wester or a T-shirt and shorts?" Tourist bosses are also bravely trying to look on the sunny side of life, having hoped that fine weather would help them recover from the lingering effects of last year's foot and mouth crisis and the September 11 attacks. "The weather tends not to have consequences on long holidays or even on short breaks but only on one-day trips," said Rebecca Milton of the English Tourism Council. "It's unfortunate but not the end of the world," agreed Mark Osborne, of a London sightseeing bus tour operator.

Jane Seddon, head of tourism at Blackpool, a prime resort in northwest England, said she was disappointed, but pointed out that there were plenty of dry attractions in the city too, such as a circus and theatre.