Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 03-09-16

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] STEPH PAPS

[03] ANNAN CYPRUS

[04] CYPRUS PAPANDREOU

[05] DENKTASH OBSERVERS

[06] TC PARTIES

[07] MIDEAST

[08] IRAQ

[09] ISABEL

[10] JAPAN EXPLOSION

[11] WEATHER Tuesday 16/9/03

[01] HEADLINES

-- UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has expressed regret that the Cyprus problem despite his intensive exercise of his good offices, remains unresolved.

-- The Cyprus problem and Ankara's role in the so called elections in the occupied areas will be among the issues which Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou will discuss in Washington with high ranking US administration officials and member of the Congress.

And,

-- Despite a U.S. veto threat, the Security Council was poised to vote today on a resolution put forward by Arab nations demanding that Israel not harm or deport Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

[02] STEPH PAPS

President Papadopoulos also accepted an invitation by Mr. Stephanopoylos to pay an official visit to Greece the soonest.

The Cypriot president then met with greek parliament President Apostolos Kaklamanis. President Papadopoulos also entered talks with Prime Minister Costas Simitis. The epicentre was future developments on the Cyprus problem in the next months and the changes that are necessary to the Annan Plan to make it more functionable and viable.

President Papadopoulos' contacts in Athens will be completed in the afternoon with a meeting with opposition leader Costas Karamanlis. He returns to Cyprus later this evening.

[03] ANNAN CYPRUS

However, he stresses that he would resume active efforts to resolve this longstanding problem provided that the parties concerned would demonstarte their commitlement to a settlement based on his peace plan.

The UN chief notes that a settlement before the entry into force of the Treaty of Accession to the European Union on 1 May 2004 would still allow a reunited Cyprus to accede to the European Union.

The UN Secretary-General's reference to Cyprus is included in his annual report to the UN General Assembly on the work of the United Nations, released yesterday at the UN Headquarters. Chapter I of the report entitled "Achieving peace and security" that deals with conflict prevention and peacemaking in many regional problems includes, among others, a paragraph on Cyprus.

[04] CYPRUS PAPANDREOU

According to the Athens News Agency, Mr. Papandreou will ask Washington to maintain its interest on Cyprus and increase its pressure on Turkey.

Mr. Papandreou will meet US state Department Coordinator for Cyprus, Thomas Weston, President George Bush's National Security Adviser, Condolezza Rice and senator Paul Sarbanes.

Tomorrow he will meet his US counterpart Colin Powell and the Foreign Affairs Commiteee of the Senate.

[05] DENKTASH OBSERVERS

Kibrisli newspaper calls on Mr. Denktash to ask for observers in an effort for the illegal elections to achieve some legality.

[06] TC PARTIES

According to Turkish Cypriot press, a delegation of the Justice party met yesterday with a delegation of the National Unity Party, while today it is scheduling meetings with the National Justice, the islamic party, the Democratic Party and the Justice and Peace party.

According to Halkin Sesi, the parties which do not belong to the illegal parliament, insist that the right wing parties should join although this is rejected by the National Unity and the Democratic Parties.

[07] MIDEAST

The resolution drafted by Palestinian U.N. envoy Nasser al-Kidwa "demands that Israel, the occupying power, desist from any act of deportation and to cease any threat to the safety of the elected president of the Palestinian Authority."

Washington, Israel's closest ally, is "not prepared to support the resolution in its present form" because it does not explicitly condemn terrorism by Palestinian militant groups and is "very lopsided" against Israel," said U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte.

The council decided last night to schedule a vote on the resolution at the request of Syria, which was acting on behalf of Arab and nonaligned nations.

[08] IRAQ

Mr. Powell and leaders of Washington's Kurdish allies lit candles at a memorial for 5,000 Iraqi Kurds killed in a 1988 gas attack, which he said showed the world should have acted sooner against the brutal regime of the former Iraqi president.

The United States has often cited the killings in the northern town of Halabja as proof of their accusation that Saddam was developing weapons of mass destruction.

Underlining the sharp differences in how U.S. troops and their allies have been received, unknown attackers shot dead the local chief of Iraq's U.S.-backed police force in Khaldiya, a town west of Baghdad in the U.S.-labelled "Sunni Triangle", where resistance to the American-led occupation is strongest.

[09] ISABEL

Isabel was moving at around 11 kph along a northwesterly path that could bring it ashore as early as Thursday near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and north along the Chesapeake Bay near Washington, through Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Forecasters said the storm was already bringing large ocean swells and dangerous surf conditions along parts of the mid-Atlantic coastline, where it could affect millions of people in some of the most heavily populated areas of the Eastern Seaboard as far north as New Jersey.

People began stocking up on supplies, boarding windows and securing their boats on Monday in North Carolina's Outer Banks, an island chain more than 160 km long and home to 55,000 permanent residents.

[10] JAPAN EXPLOSION

Paper and glass flew and screams could be heard as the blast ripped through the third floor office of a delivery firm in the industrial city, 270 km west of Tokyo.

Public broadcaster NHK said the three dead were the hostage-taker, the manager of the office and a police officer.

Media reports said the 52 year-old man, thought to be a contract driver with the firm, had stormed into the office about three hours before the blast, doused the area with a liquid and threatened to set the building on fire if he was not paid three months' wages of about $2,129 dollars.

[11] WEATHER

The sea will be slight to moderate. Temperatures will reach 33 C inland, 31 on the south coast, 28 over the west and 24 over the mountains.

Tomorrow the weather will be mainly clear. Winds will be south-westerly to westerly moderate, three to four beaufort, gradually becoming north-westerly to northerly light, two to three beaufort and the sea slight. Temperatures will fall to 18 C inland and on the west coast, 20 C on the south and east and 15 over the mountains.

The fire hazard is extremely high in all forest areas.

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