Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 00-03-28

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

CONTENTS

TUESDAY 28 MARCH 2000

[01] HEADLINES

[02] CLERIDES

[03] STUDENTS

[04] VERHEUGEN

[05] STOCK EXCHANGE

[06] PUTIN

[07] OPEC

[08] WORLD

[09] OLIVES

[10] WEATHER

[01] HEADLINES

--- The President said it would be a grave mistake to abandon a federation solution for the Cyprus problem.

--- Russia President elect Vladimir Putin will begin working on government changes and an economic programme for his impoverished state today.

--- OPEC oil producers hope to clinch a deal today in Vienna to raise output limits and satisfy the demands of powerful consumer nations for lower prices.

AND

--- In Spain, the residue left from olive crushing is to be used as fuel to produce electricity.

[02] CLERIDES

During his stay, the President will meet with his counterpart Ezer Weisman and Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and other top officials.

President Clerides will also visit Ramallah on the West Bank, where he will meet with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who will present him with the Star of Bethlehem.

The President will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides, who will hold talks with his Israeli counterpart David Levi.

[03] STUDENTS

If this happens, he said, then the Greek Cypriot side would come under fire, as the Turkish Cypriot side is now for insisting on a confederation solution.

The President added that if the Cyprus problem is not solved, then Turkish settlers would take over part of the island, which would be a great danger.

President Clerides was speaking before the head and students of the Athens University Philosophy School, who visited him today.

He said that there is international interest in the Cyprus problem, but noted that Europe is not clear on this matter.

The President described as concerning the fact that Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, is setting preconditions for talks on the Cyprus problem.

He said that developments are expected in the process leading up to the third round of proximity talks, due to the illegal elections in the Turkish occupied areas.

President Clerides noted the need for close cooperation between Athens and Nicosia.

[04] VERHEUGEN

A spokesman for Mr. Verheugen told CyBC that EU officials in Brussels are satisfied that European Commission proposals regarding the funding of bicommunal programmes have been accepted.

The spokesman also said that no spectacular results were expected from the meeting of Mr. Verheugen with Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash.

The Turkish Cypriot community will receive ten million euros through the United Nations.

Mr. Verheugen's spokesman expressed satisfaction with the fact that Mr. Denktash has accepted the participation of his representatives in working meetings with the EU representative to Cyprus, to further explore community issues.

He also noted that the meetings will be unofficial and will not in any way mean separate negotiations. This has been made clear to Mr. Denktash.

[05] STOCK EXCHANGE

Total dealings were also significantly reduced, reaching 15,5 million pounds.

[06] PUTIN

The former KGB agent swept to power in Sunday's vote despite giving few clues about the policies he would pursue, but he made clear yesterday that he would pursue Moscow's military drive against Chechen rebels to the end.

In a message to interior ministry troops, Mr. Putin praised their professionalism in fighting the rebels.

Mr. Putin, who won an outright majority with 52 percent of the vote, has risen from obscurity in just eight months. He owes much of his popularity with Russians to his uncompromising stance on Chechnya.

[07] OPEC

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries remains divided over how far to turn up the taps to replenish global petroleum inventories depleted by a year of its strict supply curbs.

Cartel kingpin Saudi Arabia will continue to press for an extra 1.7 million barrels a day, enough to raise OPEC limits by just over seven percent.

Saudi is eager to secure a deal big enough to ease crude prices back below 25 dollars a barrel, a level that satisfies its main ally in the West, the United States. US oil was priced at 27 dollars 60 cents today, down from a recent high of 34 dollars.

Riyadh appears in no mood to make concessions to its Middle East rival Iran which wants to limit extra OPEC oil to 1.2 million barrels per day, or only five percent.

[08] WORLD

- - - -

US-sponsored peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, which conclude today, have been intense and productive, and will resume in Washington in a few weeks, according to a senior State Department official.

- - - -

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has survived a no-confidence vote over the future of Jerusalem, against a background of mounting government instability with crucial decisions on peace moves still ahead.

- - - -

In Uganda, police said they suspected they might find mass graves at three more sites used by Doomsday cult leaders suspected of murdering 700 of the group's members already confirmed dead.

Police have found 700 bodies, among them dozens of children, in mass graves and a church used by the Christian Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God in southwest Uganda since the church, crammed with cult members, was set ablaze on March 17.

- - - -

The US government intensified its efforts to return Cuban shipwreck survivor Elian Gonzalez to his father in Cuba, saying it was going ahead with plans to remove the boy from the care of his Miami relatives on Thursday.

- - - -

A powerful bomb blast on the Pakistan side of a border crossing with Afghanistan killed seven people and injured another 12. Police said a bomb exploded in a small grocery shop in Torkhum, a historic border point for travellers between Afghanistan and Pakistan, killing five children and two adults.

- - - -

Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels fought pitched artillery battles as the guerrillas tried to push north of the key Elephant Pass military base.

- - - -

Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf said he was unable to give a timeframe for a return to democracy until certain objectives were met.

- - - -

Daimler Chrysler AG said its purchase of a 34 percent controlling stake in Mitsubishi Motors Corp might open up business opportunities with other Mitsubishi companies, including possibly in the aerospace sector.

[09] OLIVES

But in Spain, the world's biggest olive producer, olives will soon be used as fuel to produce staple of modern life -- electricity.

The country's biggest power company, Endesa, is building two plants in the heart of the olive-growing region to generate electricity from olive residues, one of the world's first projects to use the leftovers as a fuel.

The residue left from olive crushing is difficult to dispose of at present and can be dangerous for the environment.

But it can provide clean fuel for power stations and it was used in the past to burn and heat houses or in brick furnaces.

Nowadays fewer people are using it and so it is becoming difficult to get rid of, said Angel Sancho, director of projects at the engineering firm Ghesa, which is building the two plants.

[10] WEATHER

Winds will be mainly southwesterly to westerly, light, three beaufort, over slight seas.

Tonight will be mainly clear with a few passing clouds.

Winds will be northwesterly to northeasterly, light, two beaufort, over calm to slight seas.

Temperatures will drop to 8 degrees inland and along the coast, and to 4 over the mountains.

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