Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 03-01-20

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

CONTENTS

[01] HEADLINES

[02] CYPRUS

[03] ALVARO NEA

[04] IRAQ SADDAM

[05] IRAQI DEVELOP

[06] LONDON MOSQUE

[07] ALGERIA

[08] ITALY SHIP

[09] HOTELS

[10] BAD WEATHER

[11] WEATHER MONDAY 20 JANUARY 2003

[01] HEADLINES

-- If there is no settlement to the Cyprus issue until the end of February, then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan might terminate his good offices mission and uncertainty will prevail, said his special adviser on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto.

-- A special envoy of Saddam Hussein today dismissed any talk of the president going into exile and said all Iraqis -- from children to the old -- would fight to defend their leader from a foreign invasion.

-- Police in riot gear burst into a London mosque today in Britain's biggest anti-terror operation since the September 11 attacks, arresting seven people as part of a wider probe into the discovery of ricin poison. And, -- Low pressure is affecting the island in the last 24 hours with rain, local storms and snow over Troodos. Weather conditions are expected to worsen in certain areas.

[02] CYPRUS

The talks will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from four until six thirty in the afternoon.

According to reports, the two sides will present the issues which they want amendments on the Annan plan. Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides told CyBC the two sides issues concerning security, refugees, settlers and property.

[03] ALVARO NEA

In an interview with the "Nea ton Athinon", Mr. de Soto called on both leaders and especially Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktahs, to listen to the popular wish for a solution.

Mr. De Soto said the Secretary-General hopes the leaders will listen to the people since it is clear there is a feeling in both the north and south that the Cyprus problem has reached a decisive point.

On the revised Annan plan, Mr. de Soto said it constitutes an overall, balanced approach and any changes should take into consideration the changes which the other side is seeking too.

[04] IRAQ SADDAM

Asked about suggestions from U.S. President George W. Bush's administration that the Iraqi president quit to avoid war, Ali Hassan al-Majeed told reporters in Beirut: "Who appointed the idiot Bush as the world's police officer?

He said "Iraq has chosen its leader and has made an authentic and real choice with 100 percent and is ready to defend him, from suckling babies to the elderly.

Bush administration officials yesterday supported the idea of an exile "haven" for senior Iraqi leaders, and said Iraq's willingness to avoid war by disarming would be determined conclusively within weeks.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he hoped Saddam Hussein would choose to go into exile, but he was unsure of the prospect.

[05] IRAQI DEVELOP

Mr. Blix and Mr. ElBaradei, head of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency, met disarmament officials Amir al-Saadi, President Saddam Hussein's top scientific adviser, and General Hussam Mohammad Amin, head of the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate.

They later met Foreign Minister Naji Sabri and the talks extended beyond their scheduled time, forcing a delay by at least 90 minutes to a news conference by the two officials.

There was no word on why the talks had been extended. The two men were scheduled to leave Iraq after talking the media.

[06] LONDON MOSQUE

Police said they believed the mosque played a role in recruiting suspected attackers and in supporting their operations both in Britain and abroad.

Scores of officers swarmed out of about 50 police vehicles into Finsbury Park mosque in north London in the early hours.

London's Scotland Yard police said officers arrested seven people in the mosque and two adjacent private homes in the pre-planned intelligence operation.

The mosque is the base of one of Britain's most outspoken Muslim clerics, Abu Hamza al-Masri, who was widely criticised after he praised Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, which Washington blames for the September 11 attacks. The Egyptian-born man was not, however arrested.

He lashed out at Prime Minister Tony Blair's government, calling the raid a knee-jerk reaction to last week's stabbing to death of a policeman in another anti-terror operation in the northern city of Manchester.

Scotland Yard said the raid was linked to the seizure on January 5 of a small amount of ricin, one of the world's deadliest poisons, in the nearby Wood Green district.

No chemicals had been found at the mosque, police added.

[07] ALGERIA

According to the official APS news agency there were no reports of injuries and the motives of the hijackers were unknown.

The three men burst into the cockpit of the Air Algerie Boeing 737-800 airliner during a 45-minute flight from the eastern city of Constantine to the capital and demanded to see "a high official" on landing.

There was no immediate indication the incident involved global terror in any way.

The activities of Algerian radicals - at home and abroad - are rooted in a 10-year-long conflict between Islamic radicals and pro-Western authorities since an aborted 1992 election Islamic militants were poised to win.

[08] ITALY SHIP

A spokesman for the port of Bari said the missing had jumped from a small boat found yesterday. Six people died from cold on the boat and six others were being treated in hospital.

Five survivors said they were Turkish Kurds. One was a Greek, who allegedly part of a smuggling network.

The boat, the "Sakis", was stolen from a Greek port on January 14 according to Greek authorities.

Three Italian speedboats, one military vessel and one small plane were searching for those thought to be lost at sea.

Nearly every day, boats bursting with migrants from North Africa, Asia and the Middle East wash up on Italy's shores. Dozens of people have drowned when their rickety boats have sunk or capsized in bad weather.

[09] HOTELS

The Association rejected the Labour Ministry's proposal to renew the collective agreements, contrary to the unions and Tourism Business Association's readiness to sign it.

[10] BAD WEATHER

Light snowfall began in the Troodos area and roads are slippery and open only to vehicles withm four wheel drive or chains. There is low mist and thin cloud in the area and Police is advising drivers to be careful.

The depth of snow on Mt. Olympus is 15 cm and ten on Troodos Square.

Weather conditions will improve from Wednesday but there will be local rain on Thursday.

The director of the Meteorological Service, Kyriacos Theofilou said the total rainfall for the month of January is very low, reaching 30 percent. The toral rainfall for the last three months of 2002 reached 98 percent.

[11] WEATHER

Winds will be north-easterly to easterly strong to fresh, four to five beaufort, becoming very strong from easterly to south. The sea will be moderate and rough on the south and east. Temperatures will fall to 13 C inland, 16 C on the coasts and three over the mountains. To apogeyma o kairos qa einai synnefiasmenos, me broxes poy se merikes perioxes qa einai

Tonight, the weather will be unstable with passing rain which will be torrential at times and snow or sleet over the mountains. Thin mist might form inland. Winds will be north-easterly to south-easterly moderate, four to five beaufort on windward areas. The sea will be moderate to rough on the south and east.

Temperatures will fall to eight degrees inland, ten on the coasts and two over the mountains.

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