Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 99-11-05

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From: The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation at <http://www.cybc.com.cy/>

CONTENTS

FRIDAY 5 NOVEMBER 1999

[01] HEADLINES

[02] AXWORTH CYPRUS

[03] DENKTASH ANNOYED

[04] RUSSIA CHECHNYA

[05] INDIA CYCLONE

[06] ISRAEL RABIN

[07] WORLD IN BRIEF

[08] KYPRIANOU ATHENS

[09] MEDICINES

[10] STOCK EXCHANGE

[11] TAXI DRIVERS

[12] WEATHER

[01] HEADLINES

--- Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, is annoyed over the fact that President Glafcos Clerides has invited to attend the OSCE summit.

--- Russia's military said its bombers and fighters had launched another barrage of raids on Chechnya today.

--- Hundreds of people in India's cyclone-struck areas have not eaten for three days and are becoming violent.

AND

--- Israel's former Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, called today for the reopening of the investigation into the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin.

[02] AXWORTH CYPRUS

This position was expressed officially during talks between Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Papandreou with Canadian Prime Minister Jacques Cretien and Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworth.

During the meetings, Mr. Papandreou pointed out that President Glafcos Clerides is willing to attend talks on the Cyprus problem, but noted that the Turkish side has not shown any such intention.

[03] DENKTASH ANNOYED

Turkish Cypriot newspaper "Yeni Duzen" wrote today that Mr. Denktash has called on President Clerides not to present himself as a President at the summit.

[04] RUSSIA CHECHNYA

On Chechnya's border with the region of Ingushetia, thousands of refugees fleeing the upsurge in fighting moved freely for the second straight day after Russian authorities reopened a clogged checkpoint.

Russia's army headquarters at Mozdok, just outside Chechnya, said that aircraft had made more than 100 sorties on Chechnya since yesterday.

Moscow has so far resisted growing pressure from the West to open negotiations with the Chechen leadership and vowed to press on with its campaign to destroy the Islamic fighters it accuses of staging devastating bomb blasts in Russian cities.

[05] INDIA CYCLONE

Millions of people are marooned in the impoverished eastern state of Orissa after a cyclone crashed into the coast, unleashing towering tidal waves last Friday and Saturday.

The official body count stood just short of 1,000 today, but the toll was expected to be significantly higher as epidemics of water-borne diseases loomed.

State government officials said there was enough food and medicines but the problem was to get them to the people.

They said people were increasingly getting violent and there had been attempts to loot when relief trucks arrived.

[06] ISRAEL RABIN

Peres took over as Prime Minister after Yigal Amir, an ultranationalist Jew, gunned down Rabin.

Conspiracy buffs have long speculated that the Shin Bet security service, in charge of protecting Rabin, was involved in the assassination, an allegation that found no support in the report of an official commission that investigated the killing.

Peres, now minister of regional cooperation in Ehud Barak's government, said that investigations must reopen so that everyone is convinced that matters were looked into properly.

Barak, who has described Rabin as his mentor, said he was confident every question raised would be examined and clarified.

[07] WORLD IN BRIEF

- - - -

The Chinese Communist Party vowed to wipe out the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement and announced the first criminal charges against its leaders.

- - - -

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is due to meet Chinese President Jiang Zemin, having called for China's swift admittance to the World Trade Organisation and raised the sensitive topic of political reform.

- - - -

Pope John Paul left Rome today for a four-day visit to India, where minority Christians are facing fierce hostility from hardline Hindus.

- - - -

Human rights violations show no signs of abating in the Democratic Congo, with continuing reports of arbitrary arrests and executions, rape and an intolerance for dissent, according to a UN envoy.

- - - -

At least 270 people have been killed in widespread flooding in central coastal Vietnam, and relief officials said the situation could worsen with more heavy rains forecast.

- - - -

British and French scientists hold talks today in an effort to end their two countries' beef dispute. France has so far refused to lift a ban on British beef despite top European Union scientists backing an EU decision earlier this year to end a three-year blockade of British beef exports over fears of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

- - - -

Opinion polls indicated that Australians look certain to retain Queen Elizabeth as their head of state in tomorrow's historic constitutional referendum.

[08] KYPRIANOU ATHENS

Mr. Kyprianou will meet today with Greek President, Costis Stefanopoulos, and his Greek counterpart, Apostolos Kaklamanis.

He is expected to return to Cyprus on Sunday evening.

[09] MEDICINES

In a statement, Minister of Health, Frixos Savvides, said that investigations have been carried out in the ten largest companies, which represent 60 percent of medicine distribution.

Mr. Savvides also said that investigations will be carried out in all pharmaceutical companies.

[10] STOCK EXCHANGE

The index reached 680,15 units, compared with 657 yesterday, and total dealings reached 29 million pounds, compared with 38 million yesterday.

[11] TAXI DRIVERS

The strikers warned that should the employers not shift from their positions, then the drivers would intensify their measures.

[12] WEATHER

Now the weather.

This afternoon will be mainly cloudy, with rain, which at times will be heavy.

Winds will be westerly to southwesterly, moderate, four beaufort, and strong, five beaufort, in areas with rain.

The sea will be slight to moderate.

Tonight will be unsettled with local showers and isolated thunderstorms.

Winds will be mainly westerly, light, three beaufort, and the sea will be slight.

In thunderstorm areas, winds and sea will be moderate.

The temperature will drop to 12 degrees inland, to 14 along the coast, and to 9 over the mountains.

The fire hazard is extremely high in all forest areas.

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