Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 04-09-08

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

CONTENTS

[01] HEADLINES

[02] COURT DECISION

[03] VERGHEU SMIRNI

[04] TURKEY SHIP

[05] RUSSIA

[06] IRAQ

[07] MIDEAST

[08] MIDEAST RESIGN

[09] VIETNAM BOMB

[10] EFTHIMIOU VINE

[11] WEATHER WEDNESDAY 8 SEPTEMBER 2004

[01] HEADLINES

-- A ship containing toxic waste sank after being moored in a Turkish harbour for four years, sparking fears among environmentalists of serious damage to local marine life.

-- The Russia government has offered a 10 million dollar reward for information to help it hunt down Chechen rebel leaders Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov, it accuses of being behind last week's school siege, news agencies reported today.

and

--The Pentagon death toll in Iraq reached at least 1,002 today nearly 18 months after the invasion, as the brazen abduction of two Italian women aid workers in central Baghdad sparked a new hostage crisis

[02] COURT DECISION

The District Court had ruled on 20 August that the Greek Cypriot was guilty but did not sentence him because he would have been treated unfairly against other EU citizens.

The Supreme Court judge decided that the court of first instance acted within its capacity by ruling that the Greek Cypriot was guilty but stopping short of sentencing him.

[03] VERGHEU SMIRNI

Mr. Verheugen was speaking after meeting the Governor and Mayor of Smirni today.

Noting that political reforms were made in Turkey and now Turkey started to implement them, Verheugen said there has been progress as far as the adoption of political reforms is concerned.

However, he said there are some difficulties in implementing political reforms and NGOs also stressed this.''

[04] TURKEY SHIP

The Ulla had sat in the port of Iskenderun in southeastern Turkey since 2000 as officials tried to decide what to do about its two-tonne cargo, which Turkish media said was waste from the chimneys of thermal powers stations.

Turkish television showed the ship, its bottom rotted away, gradually sinking beneath the waters of the east Mediterranean.

"Unfortunately this was something that was bound to happen," a Greenpeace's Mediterranean office spokeswoman told the Anatolian state news agency.

Environmentalists fear the carcinogenic cargo could destroy local marine life and also enter the human food chain.

[05] RUSSIA

Interfax news agency quoted the FSB security service as saying it would pay up to 300 million roubles for information that would lead to "neutralising" the two rebels.

At least 335 people were killed -- half of them children -- in the siege at a school last week in souther Russia.

Meanwhile, Russia is prepared to launch pre-emptive strikes on bases used for training militants anywhere in the world.

[06] IRAQ

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, in a report to the U.N. Security Council yesterday , said violence in Iraq may threaten elections scheduled for January 2005. Postponing the vote would be a severe blow for the U.S.-backed interim government.

In one of the biggest strikes against guerrillas, the U.S. military said as many as 100 militants had been killed in fighting in the hotbed Iraqi town of Falluja.

U.S. warplanes pounded suspected guerrilla positions for a second consecutive day today , and a doctor said at least two Iraqi men were killed.

In one of the most chilling abductions in a country gripped by a wave of kidnappings, two Italian women aid workers and two Iraqis were snatched in broad daylight in central Baghdad.

Witnesses said 20 men armed with AK-47 assault rifles and pistols with silencers stopped vehicles in a busy commercial area of the capital and raided a building housing the humanitarian organisation Bridge to Baghdad.

They seized Italian aid workers Simona Pari and Simona Torretta and the two Iraqis -- a male Bridge to Baghdad employee and a woman working for another Italian organisation Intersos.

Italy has about 2,700 troops, the third largest contingent, serving with U.S.-led forces in Iraq and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's pro-U.S. government has refused to bow to guerrilla demands that they should be withdrawn.

[07] MIDEAST

Dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles sealed off two Palestinian towns and took up positions outside the Jabalya refugee camp in what the army said was an open-ended operation to stop militants from firing rockets into southern Israel.

The incursion, one of the biggest in north Gaza in months, came a week after Hamas suicide bombers killed 16 people on Israeli buses in Beersheba. Israel struck back yesterday, hitting a Hamas training camp and triggering vows of revenge.

The latest spiral of violence could further complicate Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw troops and settlers from the occupied Gaza Strip by the end of 2005.

[08] MIDEAST RESIGN

Mr. Qurie has threatened to quit several times since taking office last November, but has always patched up relations with Mr. Arafat -- who is under growing local and international pressure to relinquish some of his sweeping powers.

Officials said the latest threat was made during a row with Mr. Arafat yesterday over whether Palestinians would participate in a meeting that is scheduled with foreign donors and Israelis in New York later this month.

Officials close to Mr. Arafat said the Palestinian president called Mr. Qurie and asked him to stay on.

[09] VIETNAM BOMB

Ten people, aged between 18 and 30, were cutting open the shell for gunpowder at Quy Nhon city, the capital of the central province of Binh Dinh.

In a separate incident, a 31-year-old man was killed in Quy Nhon when a shell he was sawing exploded.

Since the war ended in 1975, more than 38,000 Vietnamese have been killed in explosions of left over ordnance. An estimated 800,000 tonnes of ammunition is believed to be scattered around the Southeast Asian country.

[10] EFTHIMIOU VINE

Mr. Efthimiou called on the vine growers to allow more time to negotiate with the EU and the wine industries.

The issue was expected to be examined during today's meeting of the COuncil of ministers.

[11] WEATHER

Tonight the weather will remain clear with some high cloud. Winds will be north-westerly light, two to three beaufort and the sea 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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