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New Finance Minister Laurent Fabius, a former prime minister resurrected in a government shuffle, will use his "rather extraordinary experience" to help define government policy, the head of the Socialist Party said Wednesday. New Finance Minister Laurent Fabius, a former prime minister resurrected in a government shuffle, will use his "rather extraordinary experience" to help define government policy, the head of the Socialist Party said Wednesday. Francois Hollande, speaking on France-Inter radio, said that Fabius will have "the voice of the minister of economy and finance buto elaborating the government line, neither more nor less," Hollande said.Fabius, former party rival of Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, is the No 2 figure in the government. His appointment marks his return to the heart of political power after years on the sidelines.Jospin shuffled his cabinet on Monday, leaving behind four ministers and bringing in eight new ones, including Fabius and former Culture Minister Jack Lang, appointed education minister.The new Cabinet convened for the first time Wednesday, meeting with conservative President Jacques Chirac who shares power with the leftist coalition government.Both Fabius and Lang, who once served as education minister but is best remembered as the flamboyant culture minister, are emblematic of the 14-year presidency of Francois Mitterrand.Their arrival drew criticism from the conservative opposition that Jospin was simply positioning himself for municipal elections next year and legislative and presidential voting in 2002.Hollande countered charges that the government is a replay of the past, saying that it is merely balanced between the old and new, and determined to carry out reforms."This government is balanced between those who symbolize the new generation and those hailing from our common history in the Socialist Party," Hollande said.Jospin brought in the new ministers to refresh a government that, after nearly three years in power, seemed to be stumbling in the face of street protests and opponents' accusations of paralysis.Despite the sweeping changes that included adding a fourth Communist minister and a second ecologist, Jospin has insisted he was making an "adjustment."Daniel Vaillant, minister for parliamentary relations, underscored the point, saying a "family photo" - the traditional snapshot of a new cabinet - was given a pass because the change represented only new faces, not a new government."We know the hurdles .. We know the strategy. We know the projects," he said.Despite criticism that the shuffle was a backward move, Jospin pledged on Tuesday to push through reforms promised when the left came to power in 1997.It was trade union fury over attempts to reform education and the unwieldy tax collection system that pressed Jospin into making changes.Hollande said the new team has an "obligation for (producing) results.""We're not there just to be prudent ... but to be reformers, to change the daily life of the French," Hollande said.. At least 11 apprentice ski instructors died and two were injured yesterday in an avalanche on the Kitzsteinhorn near the popular resort of Kaprun, south of Salzburg in Austria. At least 11 apprentice ski instructors died and two were injured yesterday in an avalanche on the Kitzsteinhorn near the popular resort of Kaprun, south of Salzburg in Austria. More than 150 alpine rescuers, supported by 20 dogs and five helicopters, were searching for survivors last night on icy terrain 9,600ft high.

Up to five more people were still feared buried.There had been only a low-level avalanche warning when the group set off in light drizzle. The skiers,were going off piste, heading towards the Mühlbach valley below.The rain and the subsequent sunshine loosened the glacier's snow cover and the cascading snow cut a path 500ft wide. Local officials did not rule out the possibility that the victims had inadvertently set off the avalanche themselves.One trainee told Austrian state television that the slide was caused by an instructor whose skis set loose a wall of snow. However, other reports said two snowboarders had apparently started the avalanche and might have been among those killed.Emergency services were alerted by one woman in the group, who escaped unhurt, and was able to make contact on a mobile telephone Help arrived at the scene within minutes. Nine helicopters ferried rescuers to the isolated site and then carried the dead to the village of Niedernsill, about 10km (seven miles) from Kaprun.Although the dead were originally described as all German, local officials said late last night that six were Austrian, two Finnish, one Danish, one Slovakian and one Belgian.The accident was the worst Alpine disaster to hit Austria since 38 people were killed in two separate avalanches in one day at the resorts of Galtuer and Valzur in February last year.The Kaprun/Zell am See ski area has some 130km of mostly intermediate ski runs and can cater for around 14,000 tourists. Avalanche warnings have been in force in many Alpine regions in recent weeks.

The area around Kaprun was on level two of the five-tier warning system.At the end of December, nine German skiers were killed in an avalanche near the Tyrolean resort of Galtuer.. Ukraine's government have decided to close down the Chernobyl nuclear plant by the end of this year, as Western countries have long demanded, but said final approval still must come from President Leonid Kuchma. Ukraine's government have decided to close down the Chernobyl nuclear plant by the end of this year, as Western countries have long demanded, but said final approval still must come from President Leonid Kuchma. The government decision followed earlier pledges by Kuchma to shut the plant, site of the world's worst nuclear accident.The Cabinet ordered the Fuel and Energy Ministry to work out a general plan for closing Chernobyl within three months. After that, a more detailed program taking into account social protection for Chernobyl's workers has to be devised within six months.Necessary spending has to be included in the 2001 budget, the government decision said.Kuchma promised U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson last month that the plant would be shut down this year.But Kuchma did not give a definite closing date and reiterated that Chernobyl would close only once American, Ukrainian and other international experts work out an aid deal to help compensate Ukraine for the energy the plant provides.Just hours after reporting its decision, the government also raised a similar requirement."We are not talking about unilateral stoppage of Chernobyl's reactor No. 3 that would put an end to everything," said Cabinet spokeswoman Natalia Zarudna.