Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 00-03-09

Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

CONTENTS

THURSDAY 9 MARCH 2000

[01] HEADLINES

[02] MOSES

[03] CLINTON

[04] CLERIDES

[05] CYPRIOTS

[06] KOSHIS

[07] BAYRAM

[08] PLANE

[09] MOZAMBIQUE

[10] MIDEAST

[11] LEBANON

[12] WORLD

[13] MARS

[14] STOCK

[15] WEATHER

[01] HEADLINES

--- US President Bill Clinton reaffirmed that his country will continue to strive for a federation solution to the Cyprus problem.

--- Turkish Cypriots continued to flee the illegal regime in the north to the free areas of the Republic.

--- A Russian passenger plane crashed on take-off from a Moscow airport today, killing nine people.

--- Rescuers are searching for 20 thousand people reported stranded by floodwaters in Mozambique.

--- Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, and Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, head to a summit in Egypt today.

And

--- Scientists said that Mars resembles cottage cheese on one side and looks like Swiss cheese on the other.

[02] MOSES

The two diplomats will meet with President Glafcos Clerides again tomorrow, and are expected to meet with Mr. Denktash for a second time.

Mr. Moses said that he discussed core issues of the Cyprus problem with President Clerides, but did not elaborate.

This morning, the two US officials visited the Turkish occupied Karpass peninsula.

[03] CLINTON

In his bimonthly report on the Cyprus question, Mr. Clinton welcomes the talks and described US diplomatic support for UN efforts as very important.

The report, which covers the period from December 1999 until January 2000, includes a reference to the UN Secretary-General's evaluation that the two sides were seriously tackling all aspects of the Cyprus problem.

[04] CLERIDES

This afternoon, the two Ministers will sign a cooperation agreement between the two countries in the health and pharmaceutical sectors.

It will be the first health-related agreement to be signed between Cyprus and Iran.

[05] CYPRIOTS

The six-member family and four other persons turned up at the Xylotympou police station around midnight and have been sent to Limassol.

[06] KOSHIS

Minister of Justice and Social Order, Nicos Koshis, told CyBC that instructions have already been given to observe mosques and other sites.

On his side, Minister of the Interior, Christodoulos Christodoulou, said that the government has a strategy and is handling the matter correctly.

[07] BAYRAM

Turkish Cypriot media reported that the pilgrimage will take place on the third day of the Bayram.

[08] PLANE

A spokeswoman for Russia's Emergencies Ministry said the Yak-40 short-range passenger jet with five crew and four passengers on board was bound from Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.

The spokeswoman could give no reason for the crash and a guard at the airport gates said the three-engined plane slammed into the runway soon after taking off.

[09] MOZAMBIQUE

The stranded community, apparently missed during three weeks of intense rescue operations, was filmed by a US C-130 aircraft.

A French missionary who travelled for 10 days to seek help broke the news, prompting US forces to send the aircraft equipped with infra-red cameras to investigate.

[10] MIDEAST

With Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak playing host, Arafat and Barak are expected to polish plans to relaunch peace efforts by drawing up a framework peace accord by May and implementing a delayed Israeli West Bank land handover.

The summit will be held at Sharm el-Sheikh, the Red Sea resort where last September Barak and Arafat signed a peace deal setting an ambitious agenda to end over a century of conflict.

But since last year's accord, their peace efforts suffered a series of setbacks, the most serious of which, a row over the nature of an Israeli West Bank land handover, put peace talks on hold since early February.

At a meeting in the Palestinian-ruled West Bank town of Ramallah yesterday, Arafat and Barak appeared to have broken the deadlock on the delayed handover by agreeing to renew peace negotiations in Washington later this month.

[11] LEBANON

The prisoners, two women and two men, had been held for up to 18 months in the jail in the Jewish state's occupation zone.

The South Lebanon Army militia still holds more than 125 detainees without trial in Khiam for allegedly helping Lebanese guerrillas wage a war of attrition to end Israel's occupation of the border region.

Israel said last week it would withdraw from Lebanon by July.

[12] WORLD

- - - -

Russian troops have stormed a strategic village in southern Chechnya after a furious air and artillery barrage, and the army said it had trapped a top rebel commander inside.

- - - -

In the United States, Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush savoured coast-to-coast victories in US primaries on "Super Tuesday" and set their sights on the presidential race in November.

- - - -

NATO said it had no evidence that a spy in the alliance provided the Serbs with top secret details of the alliance's bombing raids against Yugoslavia during the Kosovo conflict last year.

In Britain, The Guardian newspaper, citing unidentified high-level US sources, said the spy had given Belgrade details of targets to be hit and precise flight paths.

- - - -

China urged the US Congress to grant it permanent trading privileges in the US market unconditionally and said failure to do so would hurt American businesses in the Chinese market.

- - - -

The father of Cuban shipwreck boy Elian Gonzalez, whose fate could be decided today by a US federal judge, said in published comments that he would not plead for his son in a US court but was confident he would return to Cuba.

[13] MARS

The pictures from the US NASA satellite, which has been circling Mars since 1997, show significant differences in the polar regions of the planet.

The north polar cap, with its pitted icy surfaces, looks like cottage cheese while the southern cap has more elaborate shapes and holes that resemble Swiss cheese.

The differences indicate a different geology which may mean there has been a long-term climate difference between the poles.

The regions may have had different climates for thousands or even millions of years.

By connecting the geology to the climate, scientists may be able to determine what is controlling climate change on Mars, if the planet ever had a climate that could have sustained life and if it did not, why not.

[14] STOCK

Total dealings reached 21 million pounds, a drop of about 6 million pounds.

[15] WEATHER

Winds will be southwesterly, moderate, 4 beaufort, over moderate seas, in windward areas.

Tonight will be mainly clear with a few passing clouds.

Winds will be northwesterly, light, 2 to 3 beaufort, over slight seas.

Temperatures will drop to 4 degrees inland, to 6 along the coast, and to zero over the mountains.

The snow on Mount Olympus is 45 centimetres deep, and in Troodos Square 35.

Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article