Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 03-09-08

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

CONTENTS

[01] HEADLINES

[02] HADZI EU

[03] BRYSOULES

[04] EL BARADEI

[05] IRAQ

[06] SARS WHO

[07] NEPAL BOMBS

[08] CONVICT DEVELOP

[09] ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

[10] WEATHER Monday 8/09/2003

[01] HEADLINES

-- The occupation regime appeared provocative at the Turkish post in Brysoules, in view of a gathering that was to be held to honour a Turkish soldier who was found on this day in 1997 dead at his post.

-- The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog called on Iran today to show full transparency with U.N. inspections and urged Tehran to answer all open questions about its uranium enrichment programme.

-- U.S. soldiers came under attack in Baghdad and rounded up suspected guerrillas in Saddam Hussein's hometown today as President George W. Bush prepared Americans for a long fight in Iraq.

---- And back in Cyprus, fifty eight thousand pupils returned to their classes today with the opening of the elementary schools.

[02] HADZI EU

Speaking to CyBC, Mr. Hadjidemetriou said the aim is to include the new data in the progress report which the EU is preparing.

He also said efforts are underway to strengthen the island's permanent mission in Brussels with additional staff.

Mr. Hadjidemetriou is heading a multi-member delegation and will report to EU chief negotiator with Cyprus Leopold Maurer and other community officials regarding the issues on which Cyprus has made progress and explain the reasons why other matters are still pending.

[03] BRYSOULES

Soldiers were placed along the post, displaying their guns provocatively.

The occupation forces had claimed the Greek Cypriots were responsible for the incident at Brysoules. However, the UN and the British Bases never shared their views.

[04] EL BARADEI

Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, told reporters that he is going to strongly urge Iran to clarify all issues relevant to its enrichment programme to make sure that all its enrichment activities have been declared and (are) under agency verification.

Mr. ElBaradei was speaking before the opening of a closed-door session of the IAEA's governing board. The top item on the agenda is two IAEA reports on nuclear inspections in Iran.

[05] IRAQ

"Enemies of freedom are making a desperate stand there -- and there they must be defeated," Mr. Bush said in a speech last night answering criticism at home and round the world of Washington's handling of postwar Iraq.

He said this will take time, and require sacrifice. "Yet we will do what is necessary, we will spend what is necessary, to achieve this essential victory in the war on terror," the President added.

Mr. Bush asked Congress for 87 billion dollars for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and urged the United Nations to bury differences over the March invasion to take "a broader role in assuring that Iraq becomes a free and democratic nation".

Just hours after Mr. Bush's speech, two U.S. soldiers were wounded when their convoy struck an explosive device on a Baghdad bridge in the latest of daily guerrilla attacks.

And virtually as the president was speaking in the early hours of local time in Iraq, U.S. troops rammed gates, jumped walls and stomped through bedrooms in a pre-dawn raid on suspected guerrillas in Saddam's hometown Tikrit.

Hoping to end a spate of bomb attacks on U.S. convoys there, soldiers backed by armoured fighting vehicles snatched, handcuffed and blindfolded four suspects in their homes.

Saddam himself has been on the run for five months.

Bush told Americans that Iraq was now the "central front" in the war on terrorism since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Sixty-seven American and 11 British soldiers -- plus hundreds of Iraqis -- have been killed in combat or crossfire since Mr.Bush declared major combat over on May 1.

[06] SARS WHO

Director-general Lee Jong-wook told a five-day WHO regional committee meeting in Manila that the organisation has to prepare on the assumption that SARS will come back. He said the challenge now is to enhance surveillance networks that will detect and deal with SARS if it does come back.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome killed more than 800 people after it apparently jumped to humans from animals in southern China late last year and was then spread worldwide by travellers.

It infected a total of about 8,500 people, trimmed economic growth and cost billions of dollars in lost business.

[07] NEPAL BOMBS

No one claimed responsibility but an interior ministry official blamed Maoist rebels for the explosions at government installations.

The bombs exploded almost simultaneously as people headed to work or school.

An Interior ministry spokesman said security had been tightened. Soldiers cordoned off areas near the attacks and patrolled the streets.

The blasts came a day after at least nine guerrillas and four security personnel were killed in separate gun battles across the troubled Himalayan kingdom.

The rebels have been fighting since 1996 to overthrow the constitutional monarchy and establish one-party communist rule.

They called off a truce late last month and walked out of peace talks after the government rejected their demand for a new constitution to define the role of the king.

[08] CONVICT DEVELOP

Speaking to CyBC, Mr. Charalambous said the Police is continuing investigations and is evaluating the data it has received. However, nothing concrete has arised.

[09] ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Pupils were handed out their books and placed into various departments last Thursday.

Director of Elementary Education, Gregoris Hoplaros in statements to CyBC said that a total of 348 schools and nine special schools operate throughout the free areas of the republic. A total of fifty-eight thousand pupils have been registered for this year, while nine thousand of these students are going to the first grade.

He also said no problems were reported so far and schools opened as normal.

[10] WEATHER

Tonight the weather will be clear. Winds will be north-westerly to north-easterly light, two to three beaufort and the sea slight. Temperatures will fall to 20 C inland and on the south coast, 18 over the west and 14 over the mountains.

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