Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 00-08-09

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

CONTENTS

[01] HEADLINES

[02] ROLANDIS

[03] STOCK

[04] RUSSIABOMB

[05] SAUDI

[06] LEBANON

[07] FLOODS

[08] WORLD

[09] TAYLOR

[10] WEATHER

[01] HEADLINES

--- Russia stepped up efforts today to avert new attacks after a rush-hour bomb blast blamed on Chechen separatists killed eight people and wounded dozens in a Moscow underpass.

--- Members of the Saudi Royal Airforce exchanged gunfire today with an unknown "person or persons" at an entrance to a complex housing foreigners in southwestern Saudi Arabia.

--- One thousand Lebanese soldiers and police today completed the biggest security deployment to south Lebanon since Israel ended its 22-year-old occupation in May.

And

--- Overnight monsoon rain in India's northeast today raised flood waters which are feared to have killed about 300 people in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh and made millions homeless.

[02] ROLANDIS

Mr. Rolandis was replying to questions regarding recent press reports about the Ayia Napa tourist resort, which has turned into a hub of immorality.

He said the report showed extensive violation of laws and noted that measures must be taken immediately.

He also pointed out that this was not a case for his Ministry to tackle, but of the Police.

[03] STOCK

The All Share Index recorded an increase of 1,69 percent and closed at 372,28 units, compared to 365,67 yesterday.

The volume of transactions reached 15,6 million pounds, almost 5 million less than yesterday.

[04] RUSSIABOMB

Amid fears of a repetition of a series of apartment block blasts last year which killed nearly 300 people, President Vladimir Putin has taken the investigation under personal control.

In Moscow, police resumed blanket checks of basements and cellars. Nearly every truck entering the capital -- a city of 10 million people with many thousands of visitors each day -- was being checked for explosives.

Experts said yesterday the blast in the underpass on Moscow's central thoroughfare of Tverskaya Street, just a few blocks from the Kremlin, had been caused by a TNT bomb weighing between 400 grams and 1.5 kg.

Many of those wounded in yesterday's blast staggered out of the smoke-filled, narrow passage into the early evening light on to crowded Pushkin Square, their faces covered with blood, their clothes in shreds.

Charred bodies were put into ambulances, while frightened Muscovites looked on. The underground passage, lined with tiny shops selling goods ranging from cosmetics to flowers and clothes, was gutted, the floor strewn with shards of glass.

[05] SAUDI

A US embassy spokeswoman said that members of the air force exchanged gunfire with an unknown person or persons, but gave no further details.

She said the complex in the town in southwestern Asir province housed foreigners. There was no Saudi word on the incident.

Saudi Arabia is home to a big Western community. US and other Western troops are also based there.

[06] LEBANON

Lebanon is under international and local pressure to wrest control of the south from the Islamist Hizbollah guerrillas who drove out the Israeli army. Israel quit south Lebanon on May 24.

A convoy of 500 soldiers and 500 policemen set off from Beirut before dawn. It left less than 24 hours after the Lebanese government finally decided to send its own troops to the south, which had been occupied by Israel since 1978.

Hizbollah positions in both areas remained intact.

An army spokesman said the force would conduct patrols in the south but added that it would not fan out along the frontier, which remains under Hizbollah's control.

[07] FLOODS

The final toll could be higher as heavy showers are forecast in the next 24 hours for Assam, India's worst-hit region, where survivors face hunger and disease.

Official figures from the four countries show 184 people have died and 115 gone missing since swollen rivers began gushing off the Himalayas two weeks ago.

Relief officials in Assam said three million people had been displaced and more than 200,000 hectares of crop area affected.

[08] WORLD

- - - -

Chile's highest court revoked Augusto Pinochet's immunity from prosecution and cleared the path for the 84-year-old former dictator to be tried for alleged human rights abuses.

- - - -

In the United States, Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore formally named Senator Joseph Lieberman as his running mate, declaring his historic decision to place a Jewish politician on a major party ticket would "tear down a mighty wall of division."

Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush, in a back-handed compliment to Democratic rival Al Gore on his choice of running mate, said he respected Senator Joseph Lieberman and hoped he would bring a new tone to the vice president's campaign.

In California, in a day of shouting and political posturing, a faction of Reform Party members splintered off as they tried to stop Pat Buchanan from winning the party's presidential nomination.

- - - -

India and Pakistan accused each other of wrecking a chance for peace in the disputed Kashmir region after a frontline militant group said yesterday it was ending a 15-day ceasefire.

- - - -

Spain faced the prospect of an all-out bombing campaign by Basque separatists ETA after three explosions in under 24 hours killed five people and plunged the country into a full security alert.

- - - -

Venezuela insisted that President Hugo Chavez would become the first elected head of a state to visit Iraq since 1990, despite what it called "deplorable" US criticism of the trip.

- - - -

Nigeria's upper house impeached its leader Chuba Okadigbo in the climax to a parliamentary inquiry into contract awards

[09] TAYLOR

Taylor, 68, is being treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre near Beverly Hills, and is expected to be released at the end of the week, according to press reports. She was reportedly admitted last Friday.

Taylor has had a string of health problems in recent years. Exactly a year ago, she was hospitalized for 10 days after injuring her back.

She has also had a brain tumour removed, both hips replaced and been treated for high blood pressure, an irregular heartbeat, viral pneumonia and drug dependency.

Taylor won a best-actress Oscar in 1960 for her role as a call girl in "Butterfield 8" and again in 1966 for her portrayal of an alcoholic wife opposite her husband at the time, Richard Burton, in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

Her last feature appearance was in 1994's "The Flintstones." In May this year, the London-born actress was created a Dame -- the female equivalent of a knighthood -- by Queen Elizabeth II.

[10] WEATHER

Tonight will be clear, with fine mist and low clouds along the coast.

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

Temperatures will drop to 22 degrees inland, to 24 along the south and east coasts, and to 20 along the west coast and over the mountains.

Tomorrow will be fine.

Winds in the morning will be northwesterly, light, two to three beaufort, and in the afternoon westerly to southwesterly, moderate four beaufort, over slight to moderate seas.

Temperatures will reach 37 degrees inland, 34 along the south and east coasts, and to 31 along the west coast and over the mountains.

On Friday and Saturday the weather will be fine, with temperatures remaining at the same levels and an increase in humidity.

The fire hazard is extremely high in all forest areas.

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