Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 02-11-03

Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cyprus-mail.com/>

Sunday, November 3, 2002

CONTENTS

[01] Cyprus policemen to join Bosnia force

[02] Denktash to stay longer in New York

[03] Doctors of the World go on the road

[04] Diabetic turns dream flight into reality

[05] Over the Moon: ring lost in Cyprus turns up in Bristol

[06] UN inspectors set up office in Larnaca

[01] Cyprus policemen to join Bosnia force

Cyprus is contributing four officers to the EPF. All four will be in place by the end of January.

A government announcement said Cyprus’ participation in the EPF was an important achievement for the police force. The extent of the contribution each European country is making has been decided on the basis of the size of its population.

Candidate countries seeking EU membership and other third countries will send 83 out of a total of 600 members of the EPF. On this basis Cyprus will contribute four out of the 83.

The main purpose of the European Poilce Force to Bosnia is to train Bosnian police officers.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2002

[02] Denktash to stay longer in New York

TURKISH Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash will stay in New York for at least another ten days as doctors wait for him to be well enough to travel, reports from New York said yesterday.

Denktash, who recently underwent heart surgery followed by a second operation after complications arose, went to the Presbyterian Clinic of New York on Friday for a checkup.

Doctors found that his lungs still contained fluid and deferred removing two fluid-draining tubes inserted after the second operation.

The Turkish Cypriot leader's senior adviser, Ergun Olgun, told the Cyprus News Agency in New York that the doctors believe Denktash’s condition is good.

"The doctors have found no complications and they have suggested that he goes back to the hospital next Friday, so that they can make a final decision on removing the drain,” Olgun said.

Olgun said he will meet the UN Secretary-general's Special Adviser on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, this week.

"On the basis of our discussions we will decide on the functioning of the committees and the possibility is that, depending on our discussions, I will pursue on the conclusions of that discussion."

Two ad hoc committees, designed to run parallel with the direct talks between Denktash and President Glafcos Clerides, are being set up to deal with technical aspects of the Cyprus question.

The talks have been put on hold since Denktash’s illness.

According to Olgun Denktash is unlikely to be able to return to Cyprus before November 12 or 13 and would not resume his duties until at least the beginning of December.

It was hoped that a Cyprus agreement could be reached before the European Union summit in Copenhagen in mid-December. UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan is expected to submit a plan for a solution after this weekend’s elections in Turkey.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2002

[03] Doctors of the World go on the road

The organisation’s vice-president, paediatric surgeon Elias Papadopoulos, said the fully equipped team of five doctors plans to take its expertise to all mountain and semi-mountainous region villages that lack their own surgeries in an effort to upgrade existing medical services. All doctors and nurses taking part in the scheme are volunteers.

Today the group will visit the villages of Souni, Zanakia, Pano and Kato Kivides, Ayios Amvrosios and Pachna. The five doctors will stop for at least an hour in each village and offer treatment to anyone needing it, including foreigners living on the island temporarily.

The mobile medical unit will also accept blood donations which it will give to state hospitals’ blood banks.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2002

[04] Diabetic turns dream flight into reality

A 39-year-old former RAF flying instructor leaves Cyprus for Jordan today on the next leg of a self-funded round the world flight aimed at raising awareness and money for diabetes research.

Scottish-born Douglas Cairns was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 25. This form of diabetes is a chronic condition in which the pancreas does not produce the insulin hormone, meaning blood sugar cannot be metabolised or controlled naturally. Insulin must therefore be injected regularly each day to metabolise sugar produced by digestion.

At the time of Cairns’ diagnosis, he was a flying instructor in the Royal Air Force, but he had to give up his career because of his condition. Forced to change his lifestyle, he joined a Fund Management Company and in 1996 was transferred to Thailand.

Although denied a career in the RAF, his passion for flying never left him. In Thailand he joined the Thai Flying Club, but was only allowed to fly with an instructor who would monitor him -- not quite the same as flying solo.

“Three years ago I learned that Type I diabetics could obtain a US private pilot’s licence if they fulfilled certain medical requirements,” Cairns told the Sunday Mail. “Naturally I jumped at the chance.”

All that was required was that his diabetes be well-controlled and that he have sufficient knowledge about diabetes and its care.

Two years ago Cairns realised his dream and got his licence. And that’s when he had the idea of flying round the world to raise awareness about diabetes and money for research, possibly leading to a cure. So he started saving for a trip that will cost him $100,000 -- $26,000 on fuel alone.

“I wanted to spread the message that diabetics can live a full and purposeful life and shouldn’t limit the scope of their dreams,” he said.

In January he saw the perfect opportunity to realise his own dream when he stopped working for his company in Thailand.

Although he has not been sponsored for this trip, Cairns has had support from Accu-Check – it develops blood sugar test metres and strips and is owned by Roche Diagnostic – which has also donated money to a fund he set up on his web site (www.diabetesworldflight.com) to support the research funds of Diabetes UK and the American Diabetes Association. So far $11,000 has been raised, he said.

Flying a Beech Baron B58 twin-engine six-seater light aircraft, Cairns set off from Omaha in the United States on September 24.

By the time he returns there on February 20 next year he will have stopped off in 22 countries, among them England, Malta, Cyprus, Singapore, Fiji, Australia and Hawaii.

In just under five months he will have flown 24,000 nautical miles. The longest leg of trip will be the 2,023 miles between Hawaii and California, a 12-hour flight. The most potentially dangerous part of the trip was across the North Atlantic because of precarious weather conditions, he said.

As a holder of a US FAA Class 3 Medical with Type 1 Diabetes licence, which is not valid outside the US, Cairns has to be accompanied by an appropriately rated Certified Flying Instructor on all legs of his journey flown outside the US.

But despite having a co-pilot, this is basically still a solo flight since he does the flight plans and makes all the necessary preparations himself.

“The only requirement for each flight is that I test my blood sugar level 30 minutes before take off, every hour during the flight, and then 30 minutes before landing,” said Cairns.

Apart from having to give up his RAF career 14 years ago, diabetes has not debilitated Douglas Cairns in any way.

“All you need is discipline and you can keep your condition under control, which enables you to realise any dream you want to,” he said.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2002

[05] Over the Moon: ring lost in Cyprus turns up in Bristol

Christina Moon, 67, lost the ring her former tea-planter husband Terence, 70, bought when the couple were on honeymoon in Darjeeling, India, in 1958.

But in 1982 while on holiday in Cyprus she mislaid it in a hotel room and, despite searching high and low, couldn't find it.

"I was very upset to lose it," she told the Western Daily Press. "Terry bought it for me from a Tibetan refugee because I hadn't had an engagement ring. But we couldn't find it anywhere. It had a lot of sentimental value."

But more than 20 years after the ring went missing, the couple's daughter, Patricia Sutton, was rummaging through a box of antiques at a market stall in Bristol.

"I saw this distinctive ring which looked just like the one my mother used to wear,” Patricia said. "I mentioned to her that I had seen it and she told me that the ring had been lost for 20 years. I had no idea. So I went back to the market later and was amazed to find the ring was still there. So I bought it for my mother's birthday. She was gob-smacked.”

"I was absolutely thrilled,” Christina said. “I knew straight away it was my ring. It fitted my finger perfectly.”

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2002

[06] UN inspectors set up office in Larnaca

The Larnaca-based office, close to the airport, will act as a staging post where the inspectors can group to receive instructions and UN identity cards before entering Iraq.

The government last month announced that it had given its approval for the setting up of the UNMOVIC office on the island and that all the necessary provisions had been put in place for it to begin operations.

Headquarters staff will be full-time UN officials but most of the people on the UNMOVIC roster of 230 inspectors will have to take leave of absence from employers around the world and work on short-term contracts.

The first inspections will probably involve only about 12 people and will be confined to ‘re-baselining’, establishing what has changed in Iraq since the former inspection team (UNSCOM) pulled out, AFP said.

The UN Security Council is expected to vote next week on a resolution which, if passed, would lead to preliminary weapons inspections by the end of the year, UN sources told the news agency.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said he expects the council to adopt a resolution late next week instructing UNMOVIC to resume inspections within 45 days.

But intrusive inspections of sites suspected of manufacturing or stocking chemical or biological weapons, or missiles to deliver them, are unlikely to start for at least two months after that.

UNMOVIC chairman Hans Blix has said that he and the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohammed El-Baradei, will lead an advance party of up to 20 people to Baghdad a week to 10 days after the council vote.

The IAEA is charged with verifying Iraq's claim that it has no nuclear weapons programme.

The advance party would reopen offices used by the former arms inspectorate which was withdrawn in 1998, and organise accommodation and transport for the new teams.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2002

Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article