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Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 99-05-03Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation at <http://www.cybc.com.cy/>CONTENTS
[01] HEADLINES 3 MAY 99 EVENING-- RUSSIAN REPRESENTATIVE ON YUGOSLAVIA CHERNOMYRDIN IS DUE IN WASHINGTON FOR VITAL TALKS WITH PPRESIDENT CLINTON-- DURING LAST NIGHT'S AIR STRIKES NATO CONCENTRATED ON DESTRUCTION OF POWER, BUT ALSO HIT A SECOND BUS IN PRISTINA THIS TIME -- THE MASS EXODUS OF REFUGEES FROM KOSOVO TO SKOPLE AND ALBANIA CONTINUES --THE CYPRUS GOVERNMENT, IF ASKED, WILL ENFORCE THE EU OIL EMBARGO IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST --EDEK CHAIRMAN LYSSARIDES IS ON A MISSION TO GERMANY ON BEHALD OF PRESIDENT CLERIDES. --THE EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK IS OFFERING 400 MILLION EUROS FOR CYPRUS INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS --AND FORMER PLO GUERILLA ABU DAOUD WAS BARRED FROM ENTERING FRANCE TODAY WHERE HIS BOOK ON THE MUNICH MASSACRE OF ISRAELI ATHLETES IS BEING PUBLISHED [02] CHERNOMYRDINToday's visit to Washington by Russian representative ion Yugoslavia, Viktor Chernomyrdin creates a slight ray of hope for a peaceful solution. In the American capital he will be having critical talks with US President Bill Clinton. The result, he added, will depend on what develops I will either return to Moscow or to Belgrade, he added. The Russian envoy is also carrying a letter to the US president from Russian president Boris Yeltsin , which is a sequel to their telephone conversation last night Cherniomyrdin will also confer with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and US Vice President Al Gore. The Russian Interfax News Agency reported that Yeltsin is expected to announce specific measures, in a matter of hours, aimed at a diplomatic solution to the crisis.[03] YUGO/WARTanjug quoting the Serb media centre said NATO planes dropped "soft bombs" which exploded above power plants and sprayed graphite, which conducts electricity, on switching equipment, short-circuiting the systems but causing little damage. Tanjug, quoting the Serb media centre in Pristina, said that a NATO bomb struck a second bus in Kosovo this time, today, killing at least 10 people. The media centre, whose report could not be independently verified, said the incident occurred at 1:15 p.m. (1115 GMT), on the road leading from the Kosovo town of Pec to the neighbouring republic of Montenegro. It said that the bus was driving from Pec to Rozaje, a town in Montenegro, and was reportedly hit near the village of Savine Vode, 12 km (8 miles) west of Pec. Apart from the dead, it said, 10 people on the bus had also been wounded. No other details were immediately available. The agency said that NATO warplanes had kept pounding the area in the afternoon, which prevented rescue teams from reaching the scene. Western journalists were also being escorted to the spot.[04] YUGO/REFUGEESA new mass exodus of Kosovar refugees towards Skople and Albania has been in motion for the past 24 hours. Some two thousand refugees travelled by train through the night to the Skolje border post. Another four thousand followed early in the morning. The new mass or refugees is crowded into the temporary refugee camp at the town of Pace and from there the refugees are transported to other parts of Skoplje. A similar refugee exodus towards Albania has also been going on for the past few days. The UN High Commission on Refugees has estimated that tens of thousands of displaced persons are within Kosovo. These refugees are waiting for neighbouring countries to lift their restrictions, so that they also can leave Yugoslavia. The total number of refugees has been estimated at over 800 thousand and of these only 30 thousand have found refuge in West European countries.[05] SEREZIS Acting in the national interest, the government will decide if it will conform with the sum total of EU decisions on sanctions against Yugoslavia, when this is requested. The statement was made by government spokesman Costas Serezis who added that until the moment there have been neither indirect or direct recommendations to the Cyprus Government from the EU> Specifically on the oil embargo, the spokesman said the government will enforce the regulations. In defining the national interest, Serezis said the government does not wish to undermine in any way the accession course of Cyprus towards the EU> He added that Cyprus looks to Europe and remains devoted to a peaceful solution to the Yuigoslav crisis. Serezis indicated that it not only the one side which is responsible for the crisis, because there has also been clear national cleansing from the other side also.[06] LYSSARIDESEDEK Chairman Vassos Lysarides is on a mission to Germany on behalf of President Clerides, carrying a message on the accession course of Cyprus. On his departure from larnaca this Morning, Lyssarides said the message refers to the need to speed up the accession of Cyprus and that it must not be connected to a Cyprus solution. These two things, he added, are also covered by the decisions of the National Council which has agreed that all, together, must contribute towards speeding up the accession process with the EU. Referring to the Yugoslav crisis the chairman of EDEK said that continued bombing only contributes to the destabilisation of Europe, while the United States only serve their own interests. Europe Lyssarides added is committing suicide, and, if it wants its unification, it must enforce its own policies.[07] EUROBANK The European Investment Bank has called upon the Cyprus government to go ahead with liberalisation current cy and credit system. Sir Bryan Anguine, President of the Bank was today received by President Glafcos Clerides. He and announced that the European Investment Bank is prepared to lend Cyprus the funds for basic infrastructure projects, and is offering 400 million Euros over the next three years, and expects the government to submit plans. Sir Bryan indicatively referred to the Nicosia sewer system, to expansion of the two airports and the highway network. However, with president Clerides, they also discussed liberalisation of the currency-credit system and the bank resident daid that if Cyprus goes ahead in this direction, it will benefit financially and the credibility of its market will be upgraded. He also promised loans towards this end in amounts similar to those available to the East European Countries.[08] TURK/GOVERNMENTTurkish President Suleyman Demirel today gave the mandate for a new Turkish government to "invasion" prime minister Bulent Ecevit. The prime minister designate said that tomorrow he will consult with deputies from his own party and on the next day he will consult with party leaders. Ecevit refused to refer to the possible composition of his new government, but according to the most prevalent scenario it will be made up of three parties: The Leftist Democratic party, the Party of Nationalist Action, and the Motherland Party of Mesut Yilmaz.// Meanwhile the prosecutor General of the National security Court ordered an investigation against MP Mervi Kovakci of three Islamist Party for violation of the principles of the secular state, because yesterday she arrived in Parliament wearing a scarf over her head.[09] PLOA former PLO guerrilla, now a member of the Palestine National Council, was barred TODAY from entering France to promote his memoirs, in which he boasts of planning a deadly 1972 assault on Israeli Olympic athletes. Abu Daoud was returned to his plane and flown back to Tunis. Daoud had been expelled from France on a previous visit but the publishing house had been verbally informed that, on this visit, he would be admitted. The book by Daoud, real name Muhammed Daoud Audeh, who lives in the West Bank town of Ramallah, gives a detailed behind-the-scenes account of the Munich operation in which 11 Israeli athletes died. The book, entitled "Palestine: From Jerusalem to Munich", says Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who in 1972 led the Palestine Liberation Organisation, had been briefed on the planning of the Munich mission by PLO colleague Abu Iyad, who was later assassinated by a rival group. The PLO had at the time denied any connection to the action for which the then-unknown Black September Movement claimed responsibility.[10] WEAPONSPolice today found the Kalaxchnikov rifle and the magazine which presumably were used in the murder of Fotis petrakides. The discovery was made on the site indicated murder suspect George Christodoulou Zavrandionas, 22, from Aradippou. The items were found in the bore of a well between the villages of Avdellero and Aradippou which was pointed out by the suspect. Using a special apparatus equipped with a magnet the police will also pull up the pistol also used in the murder. It appears that the murder of Fotis Petrakides has been completely cleared up since Zavrandonas reportedly has admitted committing the crime.[11] WEATHERThe weather will be generally clear this evening but mist will form locally in many areas. Winds will gradually become North Westerly light and the sea will be calm to slight. Temperatures will drop to 18 C inland, 17 C on the South and East coasts, 14 C on the West coast and over the higher mountains. The weather will continue clear tomorrow with moderate sea breezes. The sea will be slight and temperatures will rise to 32 C inland, 28 C on the south and East coast, 24 C on the West coast and on the higher mountains.Today's temperatures were: Nicosia 32 C -- 20 C Limassol 28 C -- 19 C Larnaca 30 C -- 17 C Paphos 24 C -- 14 C Prodromos 26 C -- 16 C Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |