Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 01-03-22

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

CONTENTS

[01] HEADLINES

[02] us cy

[03] cem cyeu

[04] t/c agents

[05] quake turkey

[06] fyrom

[07] mideast

[08] f&m

[09] CSE

[10] TAILER

[11] weather THURSDAY 22 MARCH 2001

[01] HEADLINES

A Turkish-Cypriot newspaper corroborates information that the trial of drug-runner Omer Tekogul was attended by Turkish Secret Service agents;

FYROM forces began pounding Albanian guerilla positions above Tetovo this morning;

Israel's Prime Minister comments on his Washington visit on the way home;

Britain's foot-and-mouth outbreak is being described as "out of control", while three incidences of the disease are located in the Netherlands;

and...

Two Florida newlyweds spend their wedding night apart!

[02] us cy

The statement was made by US State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher, in comment at a reference to the Cyprus Issue made by Undersecretary of State Mark Grossman before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Richard Boucher further called on journalists to try and refrain from any misinterpretations.

Meanwhile, it was announced that Greek Foreign Minister Yiorgos Papandreou will be visiting Washington on an official visit on May 21st for talks with his US counterpart, Colin Powell.

According to our Athens correspondent, Mr Papandreou is to ask the US to bring any pressure it can to bear upon Ankara so that it may, in turn, persuade the Turkish-Cypriot side to return to the negotiations table and resume Cyprus settlement talks under the aegis of the UN Secretary-General.

[03] cem cyeu

Mr Cem also put forth the claim that Cyprus' accession to the European Union willl inevitably upset the current balance, both on the island itself, as well as in the entire Eastern Mediterranean, adding that both Turkey and what he termed "theTurkish-Cypriot administration" will do everything in their power to avoid such a development.

Turkey's Foreign Minister further claimed that the continuation of Cyprus settlement talks in their present form would be totally without meaning, maintaining that new parameters should be introduced, and called on the United Nations to take serious note of the warnings issued by Turkish-Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.

[04] t/c agents

Meanwhile, claims made by our station concerning the presence of Turkish Secret Service agents at Tekogul's trial have since been corroborated by the Turkish-Cypriot newspaper "Kibrisli", which mentions that the agents' job was to keep the occupation regime constantly briefed on the proceedings over the telephone, and also prints a photograph of one of them.

[05] quake turkey

The Kandilli Quake Observatory Centre, on its internet website, said the tremor hit the central province of Afyon at 0621 GMT. A quake measuring 5.8 on the Richter Scale jolted the province in December but once again caused no damage or casualties.

The province's Deputy Governor told Reuters by telephone that the epicentre of the quake was in the Bolvadin district, while the tremor, which lasted for some 10 seconds was barely felt in the town of Afyon itself.

Two major earthquakes killed at least 18,000 people in the country's northwest in 1999 and left thousands homeless.

[06] fyrom

Reuters reporters in Tetovo, the heartland of the country's Albanian community which makes up a third of the population, reported a steady stream of detonations starting at around 0900 GMT.

Heavy guns appeared to be targeting rebel rear positions in hills in the Sar Planina range, where the guerrillas have been holding several village and a swathe of terrain for over a week now, even though plumes of smoke were also seen rising above Tetovo itself.

The government of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or FYROM, had earlier refused to comment on whether the rebel offer of a ceasefire was an adequate response to its ultimatum to the guerrillas to leave their posts by midnight last night.

[07] mideast

Speaking on Israeli Army Radio en route back home, he also reiterated his refusal to resume peace talks while Palestinians continue their uprising.

There was no immediate comment on Ariel Sharon's remarks from the United States, where the Israeli Prime Minister had held talks with President George W. Bush and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

In fresh violence overnight meanwhile, a member of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's special guard was killed by Israeli tank shells, which the army said it fired in response to mortar fire on two Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, while Israeli police announced yesterday that they had neutralised a bomb found in the boot of a stolen car left in an ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of Jerusalem.

[08] f&m

While world attention remained focused on the British outbreak, the Netherlands became the second mainland European state to fall victim to the highly contagious and financially costly disease. France was the first.

The Netherlands, which found foot-and-mouth on three farms yesterday, plans to vaccinate animals as part of efforts to prevent the disease from spreading -- a measure Britain and other countries have rejected on grounds of cost and that it would be only short-term.

In Britain meanwhile, 40 new infected sites were found yesterday, bringing the total to 435 and showing that the country is far from controlling the month-long epidemic that has paralysed much of its countryside, from farming to the lucrative tourism industry.

The scale of the disaster is underscored by figures showing that more than 270,000 animals have been slaughtered because they were either infected or as a precaution, with a further 130,000 waiting to be killed.

[09] CSE

At the same time, the overall volume of trading reached some 5.4 million pounds, compared to yesterday's 8.1 million.

[10] TAILER

Police in the central Florida town of Stuart said that Kathryn Marie Patrick was released on a 5-thousand dollar bail after allegedly pelting her new husband with wedding cake, punching him in the face and then kicking him as he lay on the ground.

The argument, apparently over their wedding gifts, erupted as the pair returned from their marriage ceremony on Sunday.

Nothing like a good start to a life together!

[11] weather

Generally fair conditions are also forecast for this evening, even though skies will be marked by some high cloud. Winds will continue moderate west-to-southwesterlies, 3-4BF, on moderate seas, while temperatures will drop to 10C inland, 12C in coastal regions and 7C on the higher reaches of the Troodos mountains.

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