Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 04-02-26

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] FYROM PRESIDENT CRASH

[03] TALKS CYPRUS

[04] DENKTASH DOCU

[05] IRAQ

[06] RUSSIA BLAST

[07] MIDEAST

[08] MEDICAL SCHOOL

[09] WEATHER THURSDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2004

[01] HEADLINES

-- Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos said the document submitted yesterday by Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash should be considered an effort to undermine the UN-led peace talks and turn them into a procedure of exchange of extreme positions.

-- In his document, Mr. Denktash is asking for separate sovereignty, suspension of the island's accession to the European Union and that all turkish settlers brought illegally on the island to remain here aftera solution.

And

-- Former government minister Clare Short said today that Britain conducted spying operations on United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the run-up to last year's war on Iraq.

[02] FYROM PRESIDENT CRASH

His death was confirmed by Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern who was holding European Union talks with FYROM's prime minister in Dublin. Bosnian officials said the executive jet had disappeared from radar screens about 0800 GMT.

The 47-year-old president, whose tenure was marked by the 2001 crisis with ethnic Albanian rebels that brought the former Yugoslav republic to the brink of civil war, had been on a short flight to the Bosnian city of Mostar for an economic conference.

A government source in the capital Skopje said the plane had gone down "somewhere near Stolac", a zone of treacherous winter skies for aviation amid mountains east and north of Croatia's Adriatic port of Dubrovnik.

Several staff members were also aboard, he added.

A spokesman for the Bosnian Serb interior ministry said the weather conditions were very bad with heavy fog and rain.

Police were sent to the crash site on Hrgut mountain. The U.S.-led NATO peacekeeping force in Bosnia, which has helicopters, said it was on standby in case help was requested.

FYROM Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski was already in Dublin when news of the crash was announced, on a mission to formally deliver his country's application to join the European Union, of which Ireland hold the presidency at the moment.

Journalists travelling with him were told to pack up and be ready for an immediate flight back home.

The mountainous Balkan region, combined with difficult winter weather conditions, can be hazardous for air travel.

In April 1996, a member of U.S. President Bill Clinton's cabinet, Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, was among 35 people killed when a U.S. Air Force passenger jet crashed into a mountain in the same area.

[03] TALKS CYPRUS

Speaking before departing for Nicosia Airport, the venue of the talks, President Papadopoulos said Rauf Denktash is trying to undermine the other two stages of the talks and this will create problems as to how the UN Secretary-General handle the whole issue. He also said that the issues which Mr. Denktash has raised are outside the framework of the talks as defined in New York.

President Papadopoulos also said the Greek Cypriot side has submitted its views during the talks and is waiting to see if we can enter the final stage where the referenda will be held.

President Papadopoulos is expected to give the Greek Cypriot's reply to Mr. Denktash's document.

[04] DENKTASH DOCU

He is also demanding that any agreement reached to be approved by the internal institutions of the component states and then the two leaders to sign the agreement as heads of states, each for his own component state.

Furthermore, he is asking for a limited number of refugees to return to their homes, from 21% in the final stage to 12 %.

[05] IRAQ

In a written statement, the cleric said an unelected Iraqi government due to take power after June 30 should have strictly limited powers and should focus on preparing for elections.

Ayatolah Sistani's statement marked a further easing of his initial demand that elections should be held ahead of June 30 to select the Iraqi government that will take over power from the U.S.-led administration occupying Iraq.

A United Nations delegation visited Iraq earlier this month to assess the feasibility of elections, and concluded that it would take at least eight months to get the country ready for polls.

[06] RUSSIA BLAST

It was not clear what caused the blast in the city of Chita, about 4,500 km east of Moscow and near Russia's borders with Mongolia and China. Emergency workers were at the scene.

Gas explosions are common in Russia, where infrastructure has gone largely unmaintained since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Criminal groups also occasionally set off bombs in turf battles with rivals.

[07] MIDEAST

The two men were killed in Biddo, a village near the West Bank's boundary with Israel where construction on the internationally condemned barrier began two days ago.

An Israeli police spokesman said he had no reports of live fire during the confrontation. The army, whose units also regularly patrol the area and join forces with police operations, did not immediately comment.

A Reuters cameraman said police had fired in the air and used tear gas and stun grenades against a crowd of hundreds. The police spokesman said at least three Palestinians were arrested.

[08] MEDICAL SCHOOL

Rector Stavros Zenios told deputies that development expenses would reach 14-16 million pounds and that during the first seven years, the school would require 2-3 million annually and by ther year 2010 when the school will be fully operational, expenses will reach 4 million per year.

Both the House committee and the health ministry are in favour of the opening of the medical school and called for procedures to speed up.

[09] WEATHER

Tonight it will be partly cloudy with thin mist and low cloud forming in some areas. Winds will be north-easterly light, three beaufort reaching moderate, four beaufort in windward areas. The sea will be moderate. Temperatures will fall to eight degrees inland, ten on the coasts and six over the mountains.

The depth of snow on Mt. Olympus is one metre and 90 cm on TRoodos Square.

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