Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 01-11-01

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

CONTENTS

[01] HEADLINES

[02] desoto arrives

[03] airports

[04] 8-digit phones

[05] cyta fault

[06] afgh war

[07] anthrax

[08] indonesia afgh

[09] tailer

[10] WEATHER THURSDAY 1 NOVEMBER 2001

[01] HEADLINES

Both Larnaka and Paphos airports will come to a standstill for four hours this afternoon;

The Cyprus Telecommunications Authority today inaugurated its new, 8-digit islandwide telephony system, while efforts are being made to restore full service to areas affected by a network fault;

Afghanistan's Taliban claim to have repulsed the first co-ordinated ground and air attack by US and Northern Alliance forces;

The anthrax scare is gripping the US, with a fourth person dying of the inhaled form of the disease;

Indonesia urges a halt to the US-led strikes over the Ramadan and Christmas seasons;

and...

35-year-old former "Hollywood madam" Heidi Fleiss goes public with her own brand of comedy!

[02] desoto arrives

As mentioned by the Cyprus News Agency, Mr deSoto is scheduled to arrive tomorrow lunchtime and will hold separate meetings with President of the Republic Glafkos Clerides and Turkish-Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash in the afternoon.

The UN envoy will be leaving the island on Saturday and going to Athens and Ankara for meetings before returning to New York, where he will also be present at this month's meeting between President Clerides and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

[03] airports

More than 40 flights, both incoming and outgoing, will be affected by the industrial action, which is scheduled to begin at 3 and end at 7.

The work stoppage is being held in protest at the government's announced intent of going ahead with its airport BOT scheme, and the tabling of the relevant bill in the House of Representatives.

[04] 8-digit phones

Through the scheme, the 0-prefix is abolished, and all services, fixed and mobile, will now comprise 8 digits.

Specifically, to place a call to a Nicosia-district location subscribers should dial 22 and the existing telephone number, for Famagusta 23, for Larnaka 24, for Limassol 25 and for Paphos 26.

At the same time, calls to mobile telephones should be now prefixed with 99 instead of 09, while access to voicemail can be gained by dialing 123 and the last 6 digits of the mobile telephone.

Special services 3- and 4-digit numbers will remain the same, and neither will international access codes be affected.

According to the latest announcement by CyTA, both the old and the new systems will continue to operate until June 1st 2002. Following that, and for a period of six months, those calling the old numbers will be forwarded to a recorded announcement informing them of the change.

Officially, the change is effected as of December 1st this year.

[05] cyta fault

Mobile telephony was also interrupted in the Pyrgos Tylliria region, which also presented fixed telephony problems, as did the Tsakistra, Palechori, Pedhoulas and Polystypos regions.

At the same time, access to the 080-service in the Nicosia, Larnaka and Famagusta districts was interrupted, while congestion may occur in telephone communications between Limassol and other cities.

CyTA apologises for any inconvenience caused, and notes that full service to all areas affected will be restored as soon as possible.

[06] afgh war

In the United States, the death of a fourth person of inhaled anthrax baffled officials tracking the source of the germ warfare agent, and raised questions over whether the outbreak might be more widespread than originally thought.

According to the Taliban Information Ministry, the latest US raids cut power supplies to Kandahar, the stronghold of Afghanistan's fundamentalist rulers, and to nearby areas. At the same time however, it was stressed that what were described as "three massive offensives" staged by the opposition Northern Alliance last night in coordination with the air strikes, were repulsed.

The Northern Alliance had no immediate comment, and battlefield reports from remote areas of the country cannot be easily verified.

[07] anthrax

Authorities said they were mystified by yesterday's death of Kathy Nguyen, 61, and lamented that she perished without being about to tell investigators how she might have encountered the germ warfare agent. All three prior deaths can be attributed to letters laced with the powdery anthrax spores, but investigators were at a loss to explain Nguyen's case.

Meanwhile, a special US commission on terrorism is today expected to unveil a report urging the creation of a national laboratory to devise vaccines to combat threats posed by biological weapons, which use pathogenic bacteria and viruses to sicken and kill victims.

In New Jersey, another postal worker was suspected of having skin anthrax, raising concerns that the disease had spread to a second regional mail facility in the state. And in Kansas City Missouri, a mail facility was yesterday shut down and its 200 staff members urged to take antibiotics after preliminary tests showed anthrax contamination.

[08] indonesia afgh

Megawati, a key moderate Muslim leader Washington is keen to recruit for its global campaign against terrorism, did not specifically mention the United States or the strikes on Muslim Afghanistan but her message was clear.

"We urge military action... not be continued during Ramadan and Christmas," she said. "Prolonged military action is not only counterproductive, but also can weaken the global coalition's joint effort to combat terrorism."

[09] tailer

The 35-year-old Fleiss has teamed up with her longtime friend Victoria Sellers, daughter of late comic actor Peter Sellers and actress Britt Ekland, in offering irreverent sexual advice on a website which also features comedy sketches by the likes of television greats Jerry Seinfeld and Milton Berle.

The two have also released a tongue-in-cheek DVD, offering creative answers to the myriad of sexual questions Fleiss says people have been asking her.

For those interested, the site address is <www.laugh.com>. That's www.laugh.com

[10] WEATHER

Generally fair conditions are also forecast for this evening, with winds continuing variable light, 3BF, on slight seas, and temperatures dropping however to 11C inland, 13C in coastal regions, and 6C on the higher reaches of the Troodos mountains.

The fire hazard remains high in all forest areas.

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