Millions watch solar eclipse deliver celestial show

MILLIONS of people living in Europe, Africa and Asia watched as the moon passed across the face of the sun, causing an annular eclipse in which only a fiery solar rim can be seen.

The corridor in which this dramatic event could be seen was a narrow one, snaking from the North Atlantic, where it started at 0841 GMT, across the Iberian peninsula and then to northern and eastern Africa before petering out in the Indian Ocean at 1222 GMT.

Countries that lie on this path included Portugal and Spain as well as Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, northern Chad, central Sudan, southwestern Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.