Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 04-03-11

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

CONTENTS

[01] Headlines

[02] Spain explosions

[03] Athens Cyprus

[04] Violence schools

[05] Bossi ill

[06] Mideast wrap

[07] Tailer

[08] Weather THURSDAY 11 MARCH 2004

[01] Headlines

Newly appointed Greek foreign minister Petros Molyviatis is holding talks in Athens later today with the UN chiefs' special advisor on the Cyprus issue Alvaro De Soto, to discuss developments in the ongoing settlement talks,

Umberto Bossi, the firebrand leader of Italy's Northern League party, was rushed to hospital after suffering a severe lung problem and possible heart attack

and

Fresh scandal hit the competitive world of dog shows when the owners of a dog tipped to win a prize at Crufts said it had been doped by a jealous rival.

[02] Spain explosions

State radio, quoting judicial sources, said there were at least 85 dead in the near simultaneous attacks at three Madrid area stations.

The Interior Minister said that there were four explosions in total, with no prior warning.

Emilio Benito, a spokesman for ambulance service Samur told state radio that around 250 people were injured in a single blast, at the Atocha train station.

Television pictures showed a commuter train with several holes blown in it at Atocha.

Basque separatist group ETA has killed around 850 people since 1968 in its fight for Basque independence and has been a looming presence over the run-up to the Spanish elections.

Last month, ETA declared a ceasefire limited to the northeastern region of Catalonia but made clear it would pursue the armed struggle in the rest of the country.

[03] Athens Cyprus

[04] Violence schools

[05] Bossi ill

Bossi, who serves as reform minister in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's cabinet, fell ill in the early morning and was whisked by car to the casualty department of a hospital in the northern city of Varese.

Graziano Maffioli, a senator in a government coalition party, told Reuters one of his relatives worked in the casualty department at Varese and told him that Bossi has had a serious heart attack and an oedema of the lungs.

A party official confirmed the oedema, an accumulation of fluids in the lungs which can prove fatal.

A spokesman for the Varese hospital said Bossi had been transferred to a cardiology unit but could not confirm whether he had suffered a heart attack.

Bossi is one of the most outspoken and mecurial characters in Italian politics who has regularly shaken his coalition allies with his controversial broadsides.

[06] Mideast wrap

Maariv published what it said were recommendations Prime Minister Ariel Sharon asked top security advisers to draw up as he prepared for talks with the envoys on unilateral moves he has threatened if a U.S.-backed peace "road map" fails.

Palestinians fear Sharon is pursuing his "disengagement plan" with the ultimate goal of trading Gaza for permanent control over large parts of the West Bank, effectively depriving them of land they want for a state.

Maariv said the draft outline recommended evacuating all but three of the 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and uprooting four in the West Bank at the same time.

[07] Tailer

Owners Clive and Nancy Evans said their Dobermann "Kerri" was fed drugged meat minutes before she entered the ring at Britain's premier dog show, leaving her dazed and confused.

It is not the first time accusations of sabotage have tarnished the image of the world's largest dog competition, a quintessential part of British canine culture and rivalry.

A poison-pen campaign against a Crufts' judge led to her resignation before this year's show opened in the central city of Birmingham last week.

In the past, owners have accused their rivals of trying to poison dogs, one pedigree pooch was attacked with acid, and last year's winner "Danny," a Pekinese, endured a vicious whispering campaign -- did he, or did he not, have a face lift?

[08] Weather

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