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Vienna, Zurich and Auckland are the top three places in the world to live, according to the Mercer 2011 Quality of Living survey.

Austria’s capital city remains top of the list for the sixth year running, with Zurich and Auckland placed second and third respectively. Munich, Düsseldorf and Vancouver, Frankfurt, Geneva, new entry Copenhagen and Bern complete the top ten.

Image credit: F1 Online/Rex Features

Only five UK cities have made the list of 221, with London ranking highest at 38, and Birmingham (52), Aberdeen (54) and Glasgow (56) following. The lowest ranking UK city is Belfast at 63.

Khartoum, Sudan, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and N’Djamena are among the bottom ten, with Baghdad somewhat unsurprisingly at 221.

Huaxi is said to be China’s richest village with 60 companies owned by the citizens.

With an annual revenue of $8bn from manufacturing, the eastern Chinese town is now investing in tourism.

Huaxi recently opened a luxury hotel which is in one of the world’s highest towers.

American Airlines has filed for bankruptcy, its parent company has announced.

AMR Corporation (NYSE) made a voluntary filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganisation, but said it expected to continue operations normally.

American’s chairman and chief executive Gerard Arpey also stepped down, and AMR’s board of directors named AMR chairman and CEO Thomas Horton as his replacement.

The airline said in a statement: “American took this action in order to achieve a cost and debt structure that is competitive in the airline industry so that it can continue delivering world-class travel experience for its customers.”

The airline, which serves 260 cities through an extensive network that reaches 50 countries and territories, said its flights will operate normally.

The company will honour tickets and reservations as usual, and that its code-shares and frequent flyer programme are not affected.

Passengers travelling through Heathrow airport next week have been warned they may have to queue for up to 12 hours when immigration officers go on strike.

Heathrow’s operating officer Normand Boivin warned: “Modelling of the impacts of strike action on passenger flows at Heathrow show that there are likely to be very long delays of up to 12 hours to arriving passengers.

“The delays at immigration are likely to be so long that passengers could not be safely accommodated within the terminals and would need to be held on arriving aircraft.

“This in turn would quickly create gridlock at the airport with no available aircraft parking stands, mass cancellations or departing aircraft and diversions outside the UK for arriving aircraft,”.

Civil servants have been approached to help man the borders next Wednesday when up to 18,000 immigration officials are expected to take part in a public sector walkout.

The UK Border Agency has also asked staff working in embassies and high commissions in South Africa, India and Russia to return to Britain to help with cover for their striking colleagues.

A Heathrow spokeswoman said: “Heathrow experienced heavy fog on Sunday and overnight. Today we are aware of 40 inbound and 24 outbound flights that have been cancelled. The fog has started to clear and there are now no restrictions on flying.

“There are currently no delays to flights but we advise passengers to check with their airlines before travelling.”

Thousands of passengers are facing a second day of disruption as fog continues to force the cancellation of flights in and out of London.

Heathrow Airport and London City Airport, which were disrupted throughout Sunday, are affected.

By 06:55 GMT, 37 arrivals and 22 departure flights from Heathrow had been cancelled.

Ten flights due to depart from London City had also been cancelled because of the weather.

The foggy conditions were expected to lift by about 10:00 GMT, the BBC weather centre said.

Heathrow Airport, which deals with an average of 1,300 flights a day, said passengers should check with their airlines before travelling.

Heathrow said 132 flights, including 50 BA flights, were cancelled on Sunday due to heavy fog.

A total of 58 incoming flights were cancelled.

‘Difficult’ conditions

Some airlines were re-booking passengers on other flights, while others were arranging for accommodation.

Some domestic passengers were being taken to their destinations by coaches, the airport said.

Heathrow Airport is open, but air traffic controllers have slowed the rate at which aircraft can land.

London City Airport suspended up to 44 flights on Sunday and delayed others because of “low visibility”.

BBC Weather forecaster Holly Green said: “The Met Office are warning the fog may cause further travel problems, particularly during Monday morning rush hour.” 

Matt Rigby, from London, spent the day at Heathrow having seen his midday flight to Moscow delayed and then cancelled.

He said: “Staff did not know what to do and gave conflicting advice.

“There were lots of other people standing around in queues back in the terminal in the same situation. It was all pretty chaotic.”

Mr Rigby said: “We weren’t even told it was due to fog, but I was able to figure it our for myself because it was pretty foggy out there.”

A Gatwick Airport spokesman said it had low visibility and had a couple of delays, but on the whole it was business as usual.

Driving conditions could be “difficult” and motorists have been advised to take extra care.

A weather warning for dense fog also has been issued for Yorkshire and Humberside, the East and West Midlands, the East of England and the South East.

Fog has also affected large parts of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.