Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 00-03-14

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

CONTENTS

TUESDAY 14 MARCH 2000

[01] HEADLINES

[02] SIR DAVID

[03] TURKS

[04] PORTS

[05] KYPRIANOU

[06] MOZAMBIQUE

[07] MIDEAST

[08] HAJ

[09] WORLD

[10] OXFORD

[11] WEATHER

[01] HEADLINES

--- Mozambique has readied itself for another day of grim reckoning from torrential floods.

--- Israel intends to hand over villages near Jerusalem to full Palestinian control soon.

--- More than two million Moslem pilgrims from around the world today embarked on the first ritual of the annual haj.

And

--- The venerable Oxford English Dictionary is going online with a flurry of new words.

[02] SIR DAVID

Sir David met the political leadership of the island at the home of British High Commissioner, Edward Clay.

The British envoy, who departs from Cyprus this afternoon, will hold a press conference at the Ledra Palace at two o'clock.

Yesterday, Sir David met with President Glafcos Clerides, Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, and leaders of Turkish Cypriot political parties.

CyBC sources said that Sir David does not consider the current phase productive for the Cyprus problem, in view of the illegal elections in the Turkish occupied areas.

After his visit to Cyprus, Sir David will fly to Ankara, and will return to the island after the illegal elections.

[03] TURKS

Turkish Cypriot media reported that the three-day feast begins on Thursday, but that Turkey celebrates for nine days.

The illegal Turkish Cypriot airlines will charter an extra 31 flights to bring the Turks to the occupied areas.

[04] PORTS

Mr. Neofytou told CyBC that the transportation took place at a time which suited the ship chartered for that specific reason.

He also said that for three years, equipment worth millions of pounds has been unused at the Larnaca port, and expressed satisfaction over the increased interest to run the port and turn it into a tourist-passenger port.

Mr. Neofytou added that so far 28 organisations have shown interest and that 8 large companies abroad have requested further information.

Meanwhile, Larnaca Mayor Giorgos Lykourgos told CyBC that he opposes the government's plans to turn it into a tourist-passenger port and urged the government to find ways to make the port more competitive.

[05] KYPRIANOU

Surgeon Rex Stanbridge, who carried out the operation, said that Mr. Kyprianou is recuperating well and may return to Cyprus.

Mr. Kyprianou will return to his duties gradually.

[06] MOZAMBIQUE

Close to 500 people have already been confirmed dead by the government but aid agency workers fear that this number will rise as water levels recede and diseases such as malaria and cholera take hold.

The official death tally represents only those confirmed dead by provincial authorities to the government in the capital.

South African President Thabo Mbeki arrived in Maputo this morning ahead of a meeting of leaders from the 14-member Southern African Development Community.

It is not clear how many leaders would attend the meeting, which was called at very short notice.

Aid workers geared up to bring relief to communities that have not yet received help.

Floods have caused millions of dollars in damage and shattered large parts of the country's infrastructure, adding to the economic misery of one of the world's poorest countries.

More than 260,000 people displaced by flooding are crammed into nearly 100 settlement sites across the former Portuguese colony.

Fighting broke out at a food distribution point in the badly flooded town of Chokwe yesterday, raising concerns that frustration built up by more than a month of flooding could quickly turn into anger.

Thousands of ordinary Mozambicans, many of whom endured a bitter 16-year civil war that ended only in 1992, have lost everything they owned to the flood waters.

The South African Weather Bureau has forecast two more days of rain over central and southern Mozambique.

[07] MIDEAST

The Jerusalem-area villages of Anata and Abediya are part of a handover map drawn in consultation with Palestinian officials.

Israel has resisted a key Palestinian demand that areas near Jerusalem be part of a promised but postponed withdrawal from a further 6.1 percent of the West Bank.

Media reported that the handover, slated for January 20 under interim peace deals, could take place as early as next week.

There has been no official confirmation of the report, but a political source said the map was likely to be shown to Prime Minister Ehud Barak's inner cabinet for debate tomorrow.

[08] HAJ

In cars, on buses and on foot, men in seamless two-piece white cloths and women in long robes with their heads covered began their journey at sunrise from the holy city of Mecca to the plain of Mena, 11 km away.

Pilgrims, tracing the steps of Prophet Mohammad to fulfil one of the five pillars of Islam, must be in Mena by sundown. They will spend the night in 43,000 fire-proof and air-conditioned tents erected in Mena under stringent safety regulations after a 1997 blaze killed 343 people.

Saudi Arabia has improved police communications to avert congestion on a bridge used by pilgrims. In 1998, 119 people died in a stampede on the Jamraat bridge.

[09] WORLD

- - - -

Vietnam's Defence Minister, General Pham Van Tra, welcomed an historic visit by US Defence Secretary William Cohen, saying it marked a new step in military relations between the former battlefield foes.

- - - -

Warning that Iraq's oil industry was deteriorating quickly, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on the Security Council to double funds for oil equipment as soon as possible.

Mr. Annan recommended the council double spare parts and other equipment from 600 million dollars to 1.2 billion dollars over a year's period ending this June to offset permanent damage to oil-bearing structures in Iraq.

- - - -

The acrimonious struggle to find a new head for the International Monetary Fund effectively ended when the United States promised to back Europe's new candidate for the high profile position.

- - - -

Three big Japanese banks announced that they will join forces next year to form the world's third-largest bank ranked by assets, underlining the rapid pace of change in Japan's hard-pressed financial sector.

- - - -

Under pressure from US lawmakers, the White House has agreed to release the full text of its landmark trade agreement with China in the hope of clearing the way for congressional approval.

- - - -

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said it would be difficult to achieve any major breakthrough in the stalled Northern Ireland peace process during talks in the United States later this week.

The London and Dublin governments will seek compromise from the squabbling Northern Ireland parties when political leaders fly to Washington for the March 17 celebrations of St Patrick's Day, Ireland's national day.

- - - -

Britain's PPL Therapeutics, the company that gave the world Dolly the sheep, said it had developed the world's first cloned pigs.

Five healthy piglets -- Millie, Christa, Alexis, Carrel and Dotcom -- were cloned from adult cells and born on March 5.

[10] OXFORD

The international flavour of today's English is illustrated as macoute - a Haitian term for a bad man. Maginnis - an Australian wrestling hold, and mack - meaning a 'smooth' seductive talker in the United States join other new words from around the world.

If you are in KwaZulu-Natal you should be careful of mafufunyana -- a form of hysteria often believed to be the result of evil spirits while in Canada a macoun is an apple.

The M entries are being revised first because researchers wanted to work on a section which had a consistent editorial style rather than entries earlier in the alphabet that were made before a pronounced style had really developed.

John Simpson, chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, said that delivering the Dictionary online will represent the achievement of a major goal, but that this is only part of the story.

More than 300 staff and advisers are completely revising the Dictionary -- the first revision since it was originally completed in 1928.

[11] WEATHER

Winds will be easterly, light, 3 beaufort, and moderate, 4 beaufort in western windward areas, over moderate seas.

Tonight will be clear with a few passing clouds.

Winds will be mainly northeasterly, light, 3 beaufort, over moderate seas in northern and eastern windward areas.

Temperatures will drop to 9 degrees inland and along the coast, and to 3 over the mountains.

The snow on Mount Olympus is 25 centimetres deep, and in Troodos Square 10.

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