Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 03-02-05

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

CONTENTS

[01] HEADLINES

[02] CLERIDES

[03] DENKTASH

[04] AUSTRALIA CYPRUS

[05] LONDON GC TC

[06] IRAQ POWELL

[07] NORTH KOREA

[08] MIDEAST

[09] WEATHER WEDNESDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2003

[01] HEADLINES

-- Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash said he is cooperating with Ankara on the direct talks which he continues, based on the decision of the Turkish National Security Council.

-- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will use satellite photographs and recorded Iraqi conversations today to try to persuade a skeptical world that Iraq is concealing its weapons of mass destruction and that war may be necessary to disarm it.

And, -- North Korea vowed today to counter any plan to beef up U.S. military power on its doorstep as Washington struck a more conciliatory tone, saying direct talks would certainly take place over their nuclear standoff.

[02] CLERIDES

Speaking last night during a Lions Club meeting in Limassol, President Clerides said we are at a crucial point towards a Cyprus settlement.

He said the Turkish policy on Cyprus is expected to change when Recep Tayyip Erdogan becomes prime Minister.

[03] DENKTASH

He reiterated that Morfou and Karpasia will not be returned to Greek Cypriots because, as he claimed, the Annan map, included in the UN secretary-General's plan, does not comply with human values.

He also said that even if Turkish Cypriots want to, he will not sign the Annan plan because it does not provide for a bizonal state and political equality but talks about the immigration of thousands of people, provides little territory to the Turkish side and disintegrates the guarantees.

[04] AUSTRALIA CYPRUS

During the meeting ways to effectively promote the Cyprus problem in the country were examined.

In a joint declaration, the meeting supported a solution to the Cyprus problem which provides for a Cyprus state with a single sovereignty and international personality and its territorial integrity guaranteed.

[05] LONDON GC TC

A total of two hundred and fifty people from both communities participated where they expressed support to the demonstrations of Turkish Cypriots in the occupied areas and efforts to solve the Cyprus problem. They pledged to continue the demonstrations until a solution is found.

Sixteen British MPs also took part. The gathering was held with the initiative of six Labour and three Conservative MPs in collaboration with the chairman of the Cypriot Federation of Britain, Haris Sofoklides and the chairman of the Turkish Cypriot organisation Peace Platform for Cyprus", Hasan Raif.

[06] IRAQ POWELL

Mr. Powell's "multimedia" presentation at the U.N. Security Council, scheduled for 1530 GMT, may be the United States' last chance to convince many of its key allies such as France, Russia and China as well as world opinion that Iraq constitutes a clear and present danger.

While none of the U.N. Security Council's members believe Iraq has offered its unstinting cooperation to the U.N. weapons inspectors searching the country for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs, many believe they deserve more time.

That view clashes with U.S. President George W. Bush's stand that Baghdad has weeks, not months, to bow to the will of the United Nations and give up its suspected arms or face a U.S.-led military campaign.

In a rare television interview broadcast on Tuesday, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein flatly denied Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Powell urged Saddam Hussein to prove it.

Meawhile, the U.S. military continued to build up its forces as the Pentagon deployed the F-117A stealth fighters that bombed Baghdad during the 1991 Gulf war and the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier set sail toward the Middle East.

In another sign the region is bracing for war, Kuwait said it would close the northern half of the country bordering Iraq from Feb. 15 to step up training to defend against any attack.

[07] NORTH KOREA

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, addressing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday as the Bush administration sought to rally world opinion behind a possible war in Iraq, gave no clear timeframe for talks.

But while North Korea's official news agency denounced U.S. "war hysteria", state radio in Pyongyang said the reclusive communist state would work for a "peaceful and fair" resolution of the four-month-old impasse over its nuclear intentions.

Mr. Armitage said direct talks would take place once the United States had reached a consensus with South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and the European Union on the way forward.

[08] MIDEAST

In the West Bank, troops killed a Palestinian policeman in a raid on his base in Qalqilya. Witnesses said the man was shot as he and others fled. According to Israeli military sources, he had refused orders to halt.

The overnight violence broke out hours after Palestinian security officials in Gaza said they were trying to rein in militants to forestall often devastating Israeli military strikes.

In Gaza, army sappers blew up the home of Baha Saeed, a militant from Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction who killed two Israelis in an attack on the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom shortly after the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000. Saeed was shot dead during that assault.

Israel says its policy of home demolitions deters militant violence, but Palestinians and human rights groups denounce it as collective punishment.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's tough line on a 28-month-old Palestinian uprising for independence helped secure a resounding victory for his right-wing Likud party in last month's polls. Likud is still wrangling with potential coalition partners.

[09] WEATHER

Temperatures will reach 16 C inland, 17 C on the coasts and six over the mountains.

Tonight, the weather will be clear with some thin cloud. Winds will be south-westerly light, three beaufort becoming four beaufort.

The sea will be slight to moderate and rough on the south-west and west coast. Temperatures will fall to five degrees inland and on the east coast, to seven on the south and west and one degrees on the mountains where frost will form.

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