Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 03-07-23

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

CONTENTS

[01] HEADLINES

[02] IRAQ USA

[03] SADDAM TAPE

[04] NORTH KOREA

[05] TYPHOON CHINA

[06] SPAIN BOMBS

[07] BA STRIKE

[08] FRANCE EIFFEL

[09] DOCUMENTS

[10] WEATHER Wednesday 23/07/03

[01] HEADLINES

--An audio tape purportedly by deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein urged Iraqis today to fight occupying U.S. forces, saying the war was not over.

--North Korea could declare itself an atomic power soon if the United States does not respond to its proposals for ending a nuclear row, diplomatic sources in Tokyo said amid increasing shadow-boxing ahead of likely talks.

And, -- In Cyprus, the government confirmed that documents found in garbage bags exposed in public came from the Ministry of Health.

[02] IRAQ USA

A U.S. military spokesman said one soldier was killed and six wounded when their vehicle hit a mine or home-made bomb in the northern town of Mosul, where the brothers were killed in a six-hour gunbattle with about 200 U.S. troops yesterday.

In a separate ambush, another soldier was killed and two wounded when their convoy was attacked near the restive town of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, in the heart of the "Sunni triangle" from where Saddam drew much of his support.

U.S. officials had said they feared an upsurge in attacks as diehard Saddam loyalists sought to avenge his sons -- in Mosul a dozen youths even staged a brief pro-Saddam protest, waving his picture and chanting their loyalty to the death.

But officers said killing Uday and Qusay would ultimately help silence guerrillas who have killed 41 American soldiers since President George W. Bush declared major combat over on May 1, and give fresh impetus to the search for Saddam himself.

Celebratory shots rang out in Baghdad overnight, but sceptical Iraqis said they wanted proof of the deaths.

The Americans said they would provide evidence to show beyond doubt that Uday, 39, and Qusay, two years younger and Saddam's "crown prince", died when U.S. troops backed up by helicopters attacked a villa in Mosul with machineguns and rockets.

The two were tracked down after a tip-off from a walk-in informant who stands to gain at least some of the two $15 million rewards the United States offered for information on their whereabouts.

Locals in Mosul said the owner of the villa where Uday and Qusay were hiding may have betrayed them to claim the cash.

[03] SADDAM TAPE

"Our will will not surrender and won't be defeated. The battle is not over yet," the tape, addressing Iraqi armed forces, said.

The tape, aired by Dubai-based Al Arabiya television, was dated July 20, two days before U.S. troops killed Saddam's two sons, Uday and Qusay, in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

The tape said, "We tell our armed forces and our people that if America has achieved military superiority, it will not achieve supremacy in the battle of wills against the Iraqi people."

[04] NORTH KOREA

The United States said today it was considering fresh talks with Communist North Korea and China on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons ambitions if they were followed by broader discussions with Japan and South Korea.

But White House spokesman Scott McClellan played down a Washington Post report that said the United States was considering offering North Korea a formal security guarantee in return for ditching its nuclear programme.

China, spurred by North Korea's apparent drive to enhance its nuclear arsenal, has been pushing hard for a re-run of the three-way talks it hosted in Beijing in April.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said today talks between North Korea, China and the United States should take place as soon as possible in Beijing.

[05] TYPHOON CHINA

The Imbudo is a full-fledged typhoon, with maximum winds at the centre of 165 km an hour, a senior scientific officer at the Hong Kong Observatory.

"It will be closest to Hong Kong tonight."

The Observatory issued warning signal No. 3 in the early afternoon as strong winds gusted in Hong Kong's harbour and said it would consider raising it again to No. 8 -- Hong Kong's third-highest storm warning -- later in the day.

Typhoon Imbudo was about 400 km southeast of Hong Kong and moving northwest at a slightly faster speed of about 30 kph toward the coast of western Guangdong province, in southern China.

[06] SPAIN BOMBS

The explosions, about 10 minutes apart, wounded four policemen plus a civilian in Benidorm and eight people in Alicante.

ETA gave advance warning of the attacks in a call to a Basque newspaper, but the bombs exploded 10 to 20 minutes before the caller said they would, leading Interior Minister Angel Acebes to call them "booby traps".

Both resorts, which lie about 40 kms apart on Spain's eastern Mediterranean coast, were packed with Spanish and foreign holidaymakers, though the warning gave police time to evacuate the hotels.

The government announced this month it was sending 5,000 extra police to patrol tourist resorts over the summer to guard against ETA attacks and other crimes.

ETA is Western Europe's most active guerrilla group and has been branded a terrorist organisation by the United States and European Union. It has killed 841 people since 1968 to press for an independent state in northern Spain and southwestern France.

[07] BA STRIKE

A wildcat strike by about 250 BA ground staff at two terminals at London's Heathrow airport, the world's busiest international hub, over the weekend forced BA to cancel hundreds of flights and disrupted the travel plans of over 100,000 people.

Shares in British Airways dropped more than two percent in early trade as investors fretted about the collapse of two days of negotiations over the airline's plans to introduce an electronic "clock in" swipe card for those employees.

BA Chief Executive Rod Eddington warned the failure to continue to modernise the airline's business model would threaten its future. BA has made the most radical changes out of any European network carrier, slashing more than 10,000 jobs as it tries to lower its historically expensive cost base.

[08] FRANCE EIFFEL

Fire broke out last night in a room full of electric cables, spitting out a column of dark smoke. Officials quickly evacuated the surprised tourists and nobody was injured.

Broadcasting continued as normal and the tower's newly reinstalled twinkling lights -- a popular attraction which Mayor Bertrand Delanoe said played no part in the fire -- sparkled on schedule after dark last night.

The tower, named after its contractor Gustav Eiffel, was built for the 1889 world fair celebrating the centenary of the French Revolution.

[09] DOCUMENTS

The documents were minutes from various meetings of the Cabinet in the past decade. They were found by reporters from "Fileleftheros" newspaper in half-torn garbage bags, exposed to the view of passers by.

Health Minister Dina Akkelidou stated she does not know how the documents ended up in the garbage bags.

Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said the government is expecting the results of a police inquiry over the issue and investigations will continue until the issue is fully resolved.

Opposition Democratic Rally accused the goveernment of irresponsible handling in a case concerning the state's safety, and talked about political responsibilities.

It also called for the resignation of the Health Minister.

[10] WEATHER

Tonight the wether will be clear but thin mist and low cloud will form in some areas. Winds will be westerly to north-westerly light, two to three beaufort and the sea slight. Temperatures will fall to 23 C inland, 22 on the south and east coast, 20 over the west and 19 over the mountains.

The fire hazard remains extremely high in all forest areas.

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