Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 04-09-07

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

CONTENTS

[01] HEADLINES

[02] RUSSIA DIALOGUE

[03] PRESIDENT VERHEU

[04] TURKEY-VERHEUGEN

[05] GOVT TURKEY

[06] MIDEAST

[07] IRAQ

[08] WEATHER TUESDAY 7 SEPTEMBER 2004

[01] HEADLINES

-- Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos signed the book of condolences at the Russian Embassy which opened following the Beslan school tragedy.

-- Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos said the government is in contact with EU member states on Turkey's european course.

--Turkey has made a start on improving cultural rights for its Kurdish minority under EU-oriented reforms, but must go further, European Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said today.

And

--Israeli tanks, helicopters and warplanes pounded a Hamas training camp today, killing 14 militants in the deadliest attack in Gaza for nearly four months, as Israel struck back after a double suicide bombing.

[02] RUSSIA DIALOGUE

"Why don't you meet Osama bin Laden, invite him to Brussels or to the White House and engage in talks, ask him what he wants and give it to him so he leaves you in peace?" Mr. Putin was quoted on by Britain's Guardian newspaper as saying. He also ruled out a public inquiry.

At least 100,000 people are expected at a Moscow rally later today to denounce terrorism, bolstering Mr. Putin against critics of the authorities' handling of the bloody siege.

The European Union has long advocated a political solution to the 10-year separatist war in Chechnya which has left the tiny province in tatters.

The southern town of Beslan buried more of the 335 people -- half of them children -- killed during a chaotic operation to free them from captors demanding independence for Chechnya.

The ruins of School No.1, where more than 1,000 hostages were held for 53 hours last week, has turned into a memorial, where funeral processions stop on their way to a new cemetery for the victims and where people come to lay flowers.

Anti-terrorism rallies, which started yesterday to accompany the two days of official mourning for the victims of the Beslan siege, will climax in a massive event outside the Kremlin.

Television newscasts and slick advertisements featuring cultural and sports personalities have been promoting the rally, and media quoted city police as saying they expected at least 100,000 people to take part.

Chechnya has always been a problem in cooperation between Russia and Western countries, many of which question Moscow's rights record as it fights separatism in the troubled region.

The European Union expressed solidarity with Russia , trying to defuse a row after Moscow reacted angrily to a request by the Dutch EU presidency for an explanation for the carnage at Beslan.

French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin qualified this, telling a radio debate France wanted to express solidarity "but also we want to have all the necessary information and we remind Russia every time we meet of the need to respect human rights".

Mr. Putin, a former KGB spy, refuses to negotiate with anyone in the Chechen separatist camp, including fugitive President Aslan Maskhadov, who denies involvement in the school siege.

The Kremlin leader backs Chechnya's new President Alu Alkhanov, elected last month in a poll denounced by rights groups as rigged.

PRESIDENT RUSSIA Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos signed the book of condolences which opened at the Russian Embassy for the victims of the North Ossetia tragedy.

President Papadopoulos condemned the ruthless act at the school of Beslan which resulted with the death of hundreds of innocent people, mostly children.

"Our prayers are with the families of the victims", President Papadopoulos wrote.

[03] PRESIDENT VERHEU

The President was commenting on statements made by Enlargement COmmissioner Gunter Verheugen who said the Cyprus problem and Turkey's accession course were separate but called for a solution to the problem before the end of October.

Mr. Verheugen said the Presidernt, is speaking in his capacity as Enlargement Commissioner and is expressing the Commission's view. The decision whether to start accession negotiations with Turkey will be taken in December by the European Council, the President concluded.

[04] TURKEY-VERHEUGEN

Kurdish language education and broadcasting were key areas for more action, said Verheugen, on a final fact-finding trip to Turkey ahead of a European Commission report on the country's EU entry bid.

Mr. Verheugen told reporters during a visit to a village near the city of Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey that he was satisfied broadcasting has started, with some delays, noting that what we have seen so far can only be the beginning.

The region has suffered in a 20-year separatist conflict in which more than 30,000 people have been killed, making it a major arena for human rights abuses that have long delayed Turkey's EU entry bid.

EU leaders will decide in December whether to give Ankara a firm start date for accession talks to the wealthy bloc, drawing on the Commission's progress report due on October 2. Eventual talks would be expected to last for many years.

Mr. Verheugen said political and social tensions in the southeast were closely linked to economic conditions in the region, which has some of Turkey's poorest people, lowest investment and highest unemployment.

He said Turkey also needed to step up efforts to help displaced Kurds return to villages destroyed in the conflict.

Meanwhile, Dutch EU Commissioner Frits Bolkestein has again aired misgivings about Turkey joining the European Union.

He said whoever allows Turkey in will also have to accept Ukraine and Belarus, adding that these countries are more European than Turkey.

[05] GOVT TURKEY

Acting Government Spokesman Marios Karoyan, commenting on statements made by Enlargement Commissioner Gunter Verheugen yesterday in Ankara, said it is the Commissioner's right to express is views.

Mr. Verheugen had separated Turkey's accession prospects with the Cyprus problem, but called for a solution to the problem by the end of October.

[06] MIDEAST

A barrage of tank shells and missiles struck a militant training base in the town of Shijaia, a stronghold of Hamas, the Palestinian faction behind nearly simultaneous blasts that killed 16 people on two Israeli buses in Beersheba last Tuesday.

The 14 Palestinians killed in the strike were being trained by Hamas's military wing in guerrilla-tactics at a soccer field used at night as a training base for militants, locals said.

Gaza's main hospital was overwhelmed by casualties, many of them militants in camouflage with masks covering their faces. More than 20 people, including several bystanders, were injured.

[07] IRAQ

A rocket-propelled grenade attack also killed a U.S. soldier and wounded two others in the slum today.

A Health Ministry spokeswoman said clashes had killed 15 Iraqis since early this morning. A Sadr City doctor told Reuters at least seven others were killed in overnight clashes.

Sadr City was not included in a peace deal which ended three weeks of fighting in Najaf in August between U.S. and Iraqi troops and fighters loyal to rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

But fighting in the slum had largely died down since the Najaf peace deal.

[08] WEATHER

The sea will be slight to moderate in windward areas. Temperatures will reach 34 C inland, 32 C on the south and east coast, 30 C on the west and 25 C over the mountains.

Tonight the weather will be clear. Winds will be north-westerly to north-easterly light, two to three beaufort and the sea calm to slight. Temperatures will fall to 20 C inland and on the coasts and 14 over the mountains.

The fire hazard remains extremely high in all forest areas.

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