Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 04-11-12

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

CONTENTS

[01] Headlines

[02] Karamanlis Cyprus

[03] Tymbou Air

[04] Tassos USA

[05] Arafat funeral

[06] Iraq

[07] Turkey EU

[08] Indonesia quake

[09] Weather FRIDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2004

[01] Headlines

-Turkish Cypriot newspaper Kibris writes today that works are continuing at the illegal airport in occupied Tymbou in order for the airport to be ready by December.

-President Tassos Papadopopulos said that he has no information weather the American government is making efforts to open the illegal airport of occupied Tymbou.

-The funeral of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat began today when Egypt's top Muslim cleric said prayers over his coffin at a military base in Cairo.

[02] Karamanlis Cyprus

His Nicosia talks will focus on efforts to revive the negotiation process for a solution to the Cyprus problem and European Union issues, including Turkey's bid to secure a date for the start of membership talks with the EU.

Karamanlis will be accompanied by Government Spokesman Theodoros Rousopoulos, Deputy Foreign Minister Ioannis Valinakis and other officials. Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis will join the Greek delegation after attending Yasser Arafat's funeral in Cairo.

Papadopoulos and Karamanlis will have a short private meeting followed by talks with the participation of the two countries' delegations. Afterwards, the two leaders will make statements to the press.

Later on Karamanlis will meet with Cypriot parliamentary party leaders, in President Papadopoulos' presence.

[03] Tymbou Air

According to the newspaper, the United States has set conditions that concern the security and the extension of thelanding and take off lanes so that they are able to make translantic flights.

Mehmet Ali Talat said that the so called isolation of the turkish cypriots will soon end in any way and they will also enter the European Union.

[04] Tassos USA

President Papadopoulos also said that his information is different but he gave no further explanation on the subject.

[05] Arafat funeral

The coffin, draped in the Palestinian flag, was brought from Gala military hospital and laid on carpets in a nearby mosque. After prayers, a hearse drove the coffin to the starting point for the funeral procession to nearby Cairo airport.

Arafat's military funeral in Egypt will be followed by burial in the smashed West Bank compound where he spent his final years besieged by Israeli troops without realising his dream of a Palestinian state.

Arafat's coffin was loaded onto a horse-drawn gun carriage for the short procession to a military airbase.

Palestinian officials, including Mahmoud Abbas who has taken over leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, greeted dignitaries from around the world in a condolences tent.

Presidents and dignitaries from more than 50 countries gathered in Egypt, his second home and one of his closest allies in years of struggle for a homeland.

Streets in the area, many of them closed off, were lined with hundreds of policemen. Soldiers on rooftops surveyed the area with binoculars.

Unusually for the funeral of an Arab leader, ordinary people will not be able to take part in the procession, apparently for fear that too many would come out to show their respect.

Egypt gave Arafat, the symbol of Palestinian nationalism since the 1960s, full military honours when his coffin arrived wrapped in the black, red, green and white Palestinian flag.

The Palestinian Authority declared a 40-day mourning period.

[06] Iraq

The military said 178 U.S. soldiers had been wounded in the offensive that has hammered guerrillas in Falluja but sparked a surge in bombings and attacks in other Iraqi towns and cities.

The U.S. military acknowledges that insurgent leaders and foreign militants may have fled Falluja before the attack began on Monday night, but says those who remain are bottled up.

Tank crews said they had driven rebels through a ghost town to a southern area the Americans say is a stronghold for foreign militants led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Residents reported fighting and air strikes in parts of Falluja, including the eastern Sinaa area, Jolan in the northwest and the southeastern Martyrs neighbourhood.

The city's Haj Hussein mosque was destroyed in one overnight air raid, they said. The U.S. military says it considers mosques legitimate targets if insurgents use them for military purposes.

A U.S. military spokesman said the Red Crescent had permission to help the many civilians who have fled Falluja, but could not say if it had been granted access to the city itself.

The Red Crescent has seven teams of doctors and relief workers, backed by trucks of food, medicine and water, ready to go into each of Falluja's districts when the word is given.

[07] Turkey EU

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and his Dutch counterpart Bernard Bot, whose country holds the rotating EU-presidency, are to attend the meeting to take place in The Hague on November 24.

The EU's High Commissioner for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, Dutch Minister in charge of relations for the EU, Atzo Nikolai, and an official of the next EU-term President Luxemburg would be among the participants, according to the agency.

During this month's meeting, both sides would evaluate the reforms Turkey had made and oversee preparations for the upcoming summit on December 17.

Gul and Bot are expected to hold a joint press conference at the end of The Hague talks.

[08] Indonesia quake

The death toll could rise because rescuers had not reached many affected areas.

The quake damaged more than 600 houses, six schools, several churches and mosques. The island's airport was also damaged and was out of action.

An earthquake registering 7.1 on the Richter scale that hit Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua in February killed at least 30 people and left around 26,000 homeless.

[09] Weather

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