Contrasting reactions to eclipse in Eastern world

Nicosia: it was twilight at 2.30 p.m. yesterday at the height of the eclipse. The sun-bleached blue of the sky became slate grey. The sun became a slender white crescent burning bright behind the black shadow of the moon. There were no pedestrians and few cars in the streets.

Cypriots generally heeded the health ministry's advice to stay at home and watch the event on television. Coverage began at 1 p.m. and showed the slow progression of the eclipse, which caused 86 per cent coverage over the island of Aphrodite.

A divided screen was used to enable comparison with the development of the total eclipse in Turkey. By 3.54 p.m., the sun was whole again and the sky had returned to faded blue.

Jordan: Air raid sirens sounded an hour before the eclipse began and well after it ended to warn people to go indoors and stay there. Farmers were told to get their livestock into shelters.

United Arab Emirates: government offices closed at 10 a.m. although the eclipse did not occur there until 3 p.m.

Lebanon: the Electricite du Liban asked factories to make minimal use of electricity so people staying at home could watch it on television and avoid damage to their eyes. The Lebanese receive current only 18 hours a day because Israel damaged its power transformers in air raids at the end of June.

In Beirut, nightclubs were transformed into "dayclubs". They were offered drinks and buffet lunches while watching the eclipse on large television screens. Reuters adds:

Calcutta: Hindu devotees blamed the celestial phenomenon for tensions between India and Pakistan. Many devout Hindus believe eclipses are inauspicious events and immersed themselves in holy rivers during the eclipse.

While monsoon clouds obscured the spectacle for a group of devotees near Calcutta, about 700,000 people took the dip in a gigantic pond during the eclipse in Kurukshetra in north India. A few hours before the eclipse, the red sandstone platform around the pond was a sea of saffron, a traditional Hindu colour, as thousands of people streamed in and out of the water.

Israel: the world did not end at Armageddon during the solar eclipse. It got a little dark on Har Megiddo - Armageddon - a mountain in northern Israel in the afternoon, but the scene was far from apocalyptic. A handful of die-hard eclipse enthusiasts came to the biblical site despite warnings in the Book of Revelation and the prophecies of 16th-century astrologer Nostradamus.

Moscow: Not only did Russia's ageing Mir space station defy fashion designer Paco Rabanne's prediction it would come crashing to Earth during the eclipse, it also got the first view of the moon's shadow from space. Three cosmonauts orbiting Earth became the first people to see from space how the moon's shadow raced over the earth during the eclipse of the sun.

Ankara: US and British warplanes patrolled the skies of north Iraq despite appeals from Baghdad to suspend flights while astronomers watched the eclipse from mountain campsites. There were no clashes with Iraqi air defences.

Iran: In Isfahan, where the US space agency NASA said there was the best viewing, Iran's religious leaders directed Moslems to perform the namaz-e ayat, a special prayer offered at times of natural phenomena to celebrate God's glory and power. Thousands of Iranians and tourists poured into the majestic central square of the city. As the sun was blotted out, the crowd erupted in whistles, applause and shouts of Allahu Akbar! - God is greatest.

Castelgandolfo, Italy, Pope John Paul squinted at the eclipse through a square of tinted glass having cutting short his weekly general audience. Television pictures showed the Pontiff holding up the darkened lens having arrived at his summer residence in Castelgandolfo, south of Rome.

The sun was 84 per cent obscured over Rome where people turned out in droves to see the natural spectacle.

Berlin: A 24-year-old German was a victim of the eclipse when he was severely burned. He climbed a power pylon to get a good view and touched the 20,000-volt electricity cable.

Serbia: the streets of Belgrade were virtually deserted as people heeded government warnings to stay inside and draw the curtains, or used it as an excuse to take a day off work. The weekly magazine Nin said the eclipse was the only natural phenomenon in which Serbia, increasingly isolated under hardline President Slobodan Milosevic, "is equal to others".