Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 03-08-06

Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

CONTENTS

[01] HEADLINES

[02] PRESIDENT LETTER

[03] KLOSSON CYPRUS

[04] DENKTASH ASSOCIATION

[05] ISRAEL

[06] BOMB MIDEAST

[07] INDONESIA

[08] IRAQ

[09] PORTUGAL

[10] HIROSHIMA

[11] WEATHER Wednesday 6/08/2003

[01] HEADLINES

-- The US want a change in Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash's position on the Cyprus problem, said US Ambassador to Cyprus, Michael Klosson, adding however that a new negotiator for the turkish cypriot community could bring a new approach.

--Israel set in motion a plan today to release more than 300 Palestinian prisoners in what it called a goodwill gesture but Palestinian officials dismissed as a sham.

And,

--Police hunting for clues to who blew up a luxury hotel in the Indonesian capital said today the explosives and the methods bore similarities to those used in last year's deadly Bali nightclub blasts.

[02] PRESIDENT LETTER

In a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, President Papadopoulos points out that there is no lack of confidence between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots but what is lacking is a comprehensive settlement.

The Cypriot President also stresses that both communities on the island should indicate at the beginning of the talks their acceptance of Annan's peace plan as the basis for further negotiations in order to achieve a settlement, consistent with the Security Council resolutions.

[03] KLOSSON CYPRUS

In an interview with the Cyprus News Agency, Mr. Klosson said Washington is negotiating with Mr. Denktash and surely wants to a see a change in his stance, something which it has not witnessed so far.

He also expressed the view that a solution to the Cyprus problem is feasible before May 2004 because there are many elements which are helping towards this direction. One of these, Mr. Klosson said, is the Annan Plan which is balanced, the island's forthcoming accession to the EU and Turkey's european perspective.

[04] DENKTASH ASSOCIATION

For this reason, he said, the deliberations of the so called "council" for a customs union between the illegal "state" and Turkey will have no repercussions on Turkey's relations with the EU.

Mr. Denktash was replying to warnings by Turkish foreign ministry officials who said that the decision to go ahead with the customs union might cause problems to Turkey, including a possible non-recognition by the EU, problems with the Cyprus problem and EU - turkish relations.

[05] ISRAEL

The prisoners were being moved from Israeli prisons and jails to staging areas, from which they were to be bussed to freedom later in the day at crossing points in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Originally envisioned as a means of boosting confidence in a fragile U.S.-backed peace plan, the mass release has instead fuelled distrust between the two sides.

The dispute led Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to pull out of talks set for Wednesday with his Israeli counterpart, Ariel Sharon, on a "road map" aimed at ending three years of violence and creating a Palestinian state by 2005.

Palestinians say the release does not go far enough and want amnesty for all 6,000 of their jailed compatriots.

[06] BOMB MIDEAST

Police said they did not suspect involvement by Palestinian militants, who have carried out dozens of suicide bombings that have killed scores of Israelis since the start of the 34-month-old uprising for statehood.

Leading militant groups declared a three-month ceasefire on June 29.

Police said the explosion on a busy street killed one person and injured two others in a car that Israel Radio said was owned by a well-known Tel Aviv crime figure.

[07] INDONESIA

Yesterday's devastating car bomb attack, two days before the first Bali bomb trial verdict and after a spate of global terror warnings, killed up to 16 people in Jakarta's five-star, U.S.-managed JW Marriott Hotel.

Singapore's Straits Times reported that the Jemaah Islamiah militant Muslim group, widely blamed for the Bali carnage, had claimed responsibility for the latest blast.

The newspaper, which did not make clear how it had received the message, said "a JI operative" had described the attack as a "bloody warning" to Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri not to clamp down on militants.

Jakarta holds JI responsible for last October's Bali bombings, which killed 202, many of them Australian revellers in two nightclubs. Australian federal police have been working with local police on the Bali investigation, and more officers flew to Jakarta on Wednesday to help probe the hotel blast.

Meanwhile, Indonesian and Australian forensic officers were picking through the debris for clues to the perpetrators. The blast was believed to have been triggered by a suicide bomber.

[08] IRAQ

Lieutenant Colonel Steve Russell, commander of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment which is spearheading the hunt for anti-U.S. resistance in the city, told reporters his patrol fired on a man who seemed to be preparing to fire a rocket- propelled grenade in the early hours of the morning.

He said it was unclear if there was any connection with a number of grenades or possibly small mortars fired at the U.S. headquarters in Saddam's sprawling palace compound in Tikrit yesterday or with a roadway landmine blast north of town that killed an American civilian working on military contracts.

[09] PORTUGAL

A 60-year-old pensioner from Sobral da Adica, southeast of Lisbon, died on Monday in a Lisbon hospital. The man had been burned in a woodland fire on Friday. The death raises to 12 the number killed as a result of fires since a surge in blazes at the start of last week.

Portugal has been battling the fires amid a heatwave that has fanned blazes across Europe. The government declared a national disaster on Monday and is seeking aid from the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

[10] HIROSHIMA

In an annual ritual of remembrance for the more than 230,000 people who ultimately died from the blast, a crowd of thousands including survivors, children and dignitaries gathered to pray at Hiroshima's Peace Park, close to where the bomb was dropped.

The ceremony comes just days after North Korea agreed to talks on its secret nuclear programme, following months of tension that erupted last October and saw the secretive communist state pull out of a key non-proliferation treaty in January.

At 8:15 a.m., the exact time the bomb exploded on August 6, 1945, the crowd stood and bowed their heads as the Peace Bell tolled and doves were released.

The United States dropped a second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki on August 9. Japan surrendered six days later.

[11] WEATHER

Tonight the weather will be clear but thin mist and low cloud will form locally. Winds will be westerly to north-westerly light, two to three beaufort and the sea slight. Temperatures will fall to 24 C inland and on the south coast and 22 over the west and mountains.

The fire hazard remains extremely high in all forest areas.

Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article