Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 01-03-21

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

CONTENTS

[01] GROSSMAN CY

[02] BLAIR SIMITIS

[03] TEKOGUL

[04] RUSSIAN THEFT

[05] FYROM

[06] MIDEAST

[07] CSE

[08] TAILER

[09] WEATHER WEDNESDAY 21 MARCH 2001

[01] GROSSMAN CY

The statement was made before the US Senate's Foreign Relations Committee by the State Department's third-highest-ranking official, Mark Grossman, a candidate for the position of Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs.

Mr Grossman further noted that Washington should make use of any pressure it can bring to bear upon Turkey and the Turkish-Cypriot leadership in a positive way, and noted that all the people on the island should contribute to solving the problem so that they may have the chance to join the European Union.

In relation to UN endeavours aimed at the resumption of negotiations, the State Department official, who also served a term as his country's ambassador to Ankara, said that the US will do everything possible to support the current efforts and bring the two sides together.

[02] BLAIR SIMITIS

In statements after the meeting, the Greek head-of-government noted that his British counterpart had underscored the need for a resumption of Cyprus talks, adding that this in itself is a plus and that negotiations should continue in order that the long-standing problem be resolved the soonest possible.

According to our London correspondent, Prime Ministers Blair and Simitis also discussed greco-turkish relations, matters of bilateral co-operation and the situation in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,or FYROM, in relation to which they agreed that a decisive intervention is imperative, lest the crisis spread further into the Balkans.

[03] TEKOGUL

Information broadcast by our station last night indicates that the Turkish-Cypriot man's friends and relatives blatantly threatened that Greek-Cypriots, including policemen, will be abducted, in ways similar to that used in the case of building contractor Panikos Tsiakourmas, forcibly taken from his car on December 13th last year from within the Eastern Sovereign British Base territory of Dhekeleia and still being illegally held by the ocuupation regime.

Immediately after yesterday's sentencing of Tekogul by the Larnaka Assizes, two Turkish-Cypriots attending the trial as journalists started taking pictures of plain-clothes policemen outside the courthouse, as well as of military installations in the area.

[04] RUSSIAN THEFT

According to Ruslan Koriakov, four hooded individuals entered his house at around 11 o'clock, attacked, tied and gagged him, and then closed him in the toilet.

Some two hours later Koriakov managed to free himself, and discovered that his alleged attackers had stolen approximately two-and-a-half thousand dollars in cash, a credit card and a gold chain.

Police are looking into the matter.

[05] FYROM

A guerrilla commander however told Reuters that the fighters plan to ignore the deadline and take the battle to the streets of Tetovo if the government of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or FYROM, does not negotiate on their demand for equal rights for the country's estimated 600,000 Albanians.

The Republic's forces have been pounding a hill overlooking the mainly Albanian city of 70,000 for the past seven days, after the guerrillas began firing on police last Wednesday. In the past 48 hours, the sound of heavy weapons has also been heard. At the same time, NATO Kosovo peacekeeping troops reinforced their presence on the mountainous juncture of the FYROM-Kosovo-Serbia border region.

In a parallel development, European Union security chief Javier Solana, visiting Skopje, said that the gunmen would achieve nothing by force and advised his hosts not to negotiate, while the six-power international Contact Group on the Balkans, comprising the US, France, Germany, Britain, Italy and Russia, announced through Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini that they would show "zero tolerance" towards the gunmen. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov was also due to hold talks in Skopje today.

[06] MIDEAST

UN officials said that at their first-ever face-to-face meeting, Ariel Sharon and Kofi Annan will cover the uprising in the West Bank and Gaza as well as Lebanon, where the world body set down a border following Israel's withdrawal last May.

Prime Minister Sharon met late last night with US President George W. Bush, who underscored his administration's approach to Middle East peace by saying that he would not try to force the pace of peace talks, but rather to facilitate peace and work with those responsible for achieving it.

Towards this end, former US Senator George Mitchell's fact-finding committee into Israeli-Palestinian violence is today making its first trip to the region for talks with top officials from both sides. The committee's establishment and visit was agreed upon by Israeli and Palestinian negotiators during talks at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik last October.

Meanwhile, seven nations have sponsored a Security Council resolution calling for a UN observer force to protect Palestinians. At issue is a repeat call that the 15-nation council show its willingness to send unarmed UN observers to the West Bank and Gaza, even if Israel refuses to allow them into the territories.

[07] CSE

The overall volume of trading almost doubled in comparison to yesterday's low figure of 4.2 million pounds, reaching 8.1 million.

[08] TAILER

Leif Borgersen, the owner of the Ford Ka model, told the Norwegian regional daily "Telemarksavisa" yesterday that he found his car bathed in lick marks, saliva and moose excrement.

Borgersen says the moose left its mark on the front yard of his home in Lardal, about 200 km southwest of Oslo.

"The front yard was simply transformed into an outdoor toilet," he said. "I'm a bit uncertain whether I should take the risk of letting the car stand alone and defenceless in the front yard from now on."

There was no serious damage to the car apart from the sideview mirror, which, for some strange reason, was bent backwards.

[09] WEATHER

Generally fair conditions are also forecast for this evening, with winds turning to light northwesterlies, 3BF, on slight to moderate seas, and temperatures dropping to 11C inland and in coastal regions, and 9C on the higher reaches of the Troodos mountains.

The extended forecast for tomorrow and Friday includes a low-pressure zone in the upper atmosphere, leading to relatively unsettled weather conditions.

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