Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 00-03-17

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

CONTENTS

FRIDAY 17 MARCH 2000

[01] HEADLINES

[02] COOK

[03] KYPRIANOU

[04] TZUR

[05] HAJ

[06] WORLD

[07] OSCARS

[08] WEATHER

[01] HEADLINES

--- House of Representatives President, Spyros Kyprianou, returns to Cyprus this afternoon.

--- Hundreds of thousands of Moslem pilgrims in Saudi Arabia stoned the devil today, the eve of the end of the haj season.

And

--- Several boxes of Oscar statuettes, meant to be presented at the Academy Awards ceremony on March 26, have gone missing.

[02] COOK

In a letter to British EuroMP Tereza Villiers, Mr. Cook notes that Britain's policy has not changed on the issue.

He said Britain's goal was to make Cyprus part of the European Union, adding that this had nothing to do with Turkey.

[03] KYPRIANOU

British doctor Rex Stanbridge said that Mr. Kyprianou is quite well and can gradually get back into his routine.

[04] TZUR

The deceased was known in Cyprus for her charity work.

Her funeral will be held on Sunday in Jerusalem.

A condolences book will be open at the Israeli Embassy until three o'clock today and on Monday from one till three in the afternoon.

[05] HAJ

The pilgrims, many of whom had slept in the open air or in fire-resistant tents, packed the 1.6-km Jamarat bridge in Mena and pelted the pillars with pebbles to chants of "God is Greatest".

They will sleep in Mena for another night before a third day of devil-stoning tomorrow, the fifth and last day of the haj.

Crowds are moving smoothly under the watchful eyes of hundreds of police as loudspeaker announcements in eight languages guide the pilgrims, who are given free chilled water in temperatures that reach 37 Celsius.

The massive effort by Saudi authorities to ensure a safe pilgrimage appears to be paying off.

In 1998, 119 people were killed during the stoning ritual in a stampede at Jamarat. A year earlier, 343 pilgrims had died in a blaze that ripped through tents at Mena.

The authorities have introduced safety measures at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure such incidents would not be repeated.

The planning ministry said the total number of pilgrims this year stood at 1.73 million, a record 1.27 pilgrims from outside the kingdom and 466,000 from inside. Earlier estimates had put the figure at 2.1 million with 800,000 residents attending.

[06] WORLD

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US Defence Secretary Willian Cohen said today he saw no signs China was preparing to attack Taiwan, but warned Beijing that the use of force was not an acceptable way for the two rivals to settle their differences.

- - - -

Angered by blunt Chinese threats against Taiwan as it prepares to elect a new president, the United States called in Ambassador Li Zhao Xing to urge Beijing to tone down its rhetoric.

- - - -

US Defence Secretary William Cohen wound up a visit to Japan with a call for the Japanese people to keep supporting the vital -- but expensive -- US-Japan security alliance despite Tokyo's economic problems.

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US President Bill Clinton will urge India and Pakistan to curb their nuclear programmes and ease long-simmering tensions over Kashmir during his one-week visit to South Asia starting on Sunday.

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US peacekeepers have swept through eastern Kosovo seizing quantities of cached arms, ammunition and uniforms in an attempt to seal the border with Serbia to insurgents.

- - - -

Japan said its long-suffering economy was headed towards a full-fledged recovery but was not there yet because consumers remain worried about their jobs.

- - - -

Horst Koehler, the managing director designate of the International Monetary Fund, won support from his new colleagues in Washington as differing views emerged on how to reform the global lender.

- - - -

The Dow Jones industrial average soared a record 499 points, and bonds rose, as news of mild inflation eased concerns about a major interest-rate hike by the Federal Reserve. The technology-loaded Nasdaq composite index turned around after three straight sessions of triple-digit losses, jumping nearly 3 percent.

- - - -

Ford Motor Co. is making room in its international garage for Land Rover sport utility vehicles, icons of British automotive engineering. The world's No. 2 automaker reached an agreement to buy the profitable Land Rover sport utility brand for 3 billion euros, or about 2.9 billion dollars, from German luxury automaker BMW.

[07] OSCARS

In a statement Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences officials said that the Oscars were "apparently stolen" from a Roadway Express Co. loading dock in the Los Angeles suburb of Bell after being shipped by their manufacturer in Chicago.

About 40 statuettes are missing, but the academy will have enough to present at the Oscars ceremony.

Police spokesmen said they had no details about the apparent theft and that all comment on it was being made by the academy.

It was the second snafu to hit the Oscars in a month. About two weeks ago, 4,000 ballots mailed to voters in the Los Angeles area failed to be delivered and new ballots had to be mailed. The first round of ballots had been misdirected to a bulk mail office.

[08] WEATHER

Winds will be northwesterly to northeasterly, light, 2 to 3 beaufort, and will gradually become northeasterly to southeasterly, moderate, 3 to four beaufort.

The sea will be slight to moderate in northern and eastern areas.

Tonight will be clear with a few passing clouds.

Winds will be northwesterly to northeasterly, light, 2 to 3 beaufort, over slight to moderate seas.

Temperatures will drop to about 9 degrees.

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