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Thursday, 18 April 2024
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Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 01-05-22Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation at <http://www.cybc.com.cy/>CONTENTS
[01] HEADLINES--- Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis has said that Cyprus' accession to the European Union must be guaranteed during the Greek presidency of the bloc, in the first half of the year 2003.--- All high schools remained closed today, due to a student walk-out, while the Ministry of Education, the parents' organisations and AKEL continued to squabble over the reasons of the strike. --- US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk met Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon this morning as the United States took tentative steps to give teeth to a plan to end months of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed. --- Twenty-six prisoners were burned to death in a northern Chilean jail yesterday in a blaze police said inmates started in protest but prisoners' relatives and firefighters said was an accident. And --- Moscow attacked US plans for a missile defence system today, saying both Russia and China believed it would jeopardise 30 years of strategic stability. [02] SimitisGreek Prime Minister Costas Simitis has said that Cyprus' accession to the European Union must be guaranteed during the Greek presidency of the bloc, in the first half of the year 2003.Speaking after a meeting with Greek President Costis Stephanopoulos, Mr. Simitis stressed that Greece must make moves so that Cyprus' accession is safeguarded. [03] WalkoutAll high schools remained closed today, due to a student walk-out, while the Ministry of Education, the parents' organisations and AKEL continued to squabble over the reasons of the strike.Minister of Education Ouranios Ioannides told CyBC that the decision of the Pancyprian Parents' Confederation was meant to serve political party interests. Mr. Ioannides noted that such a decision was unjustified, adding that the walkout could be staged after the parliamentary elections, so as not to spark pre-election exploitation. He said the only one to support the walkout was AKEL. The Confederation's President Elias Demetriou said the parents were not playing anyone's game and that the decision to stage the strike was unanimous. [04] LyssaridesPresident of the Movement of Social Democrats, Vassos Lyssarides, today claimed that the Democratic Rally and AKEL were trying to divide the people before Sunday's parliamentary elections.He also said that his own party did not have the same access to the press as the two big parties of the island. [05] VassiliouUnited Democrats President George Vassiliou launched a verbal attack against all those who oppose a bizonal, bicommunal federation solution in Cyprus.Mr. Vassiliou said that all those against this solution should put on their national dress, pick up their guns and go and fight the Turks. He expressed certainty that his party would be in the new House of Representatives and reiterated that certain parties, which he did not name, were fighting against the United Democrats. Mr. Vassiliou was speaking after a tour of the new Nicosia Town Hall, which will cost 3,7 million pounds. [06] YilmazTurkish Vice President and leader of the Mother Turkey party, Mesut Yilmaz, will illegally visit the Turkish occupied areas of the Republic on June 1.Turkish Cypriot media reported that during his two-day illegal visit, Mr. Yilmaz will meet with Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash. [07] MideastUS Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk met Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon this morning as the United States took tentative steps to give teeth to a plan to end months of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed.An American official said Sharon, Indyk and US Consul-General Ron Schlicher met for more than two hours after Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States backed the report of a US-led inquiry into the violence. The diplomatic moves followed a new outbreak of shooting between the Jewish settlement of Gilo, regarded by Israel as a neighbourhood of Jerusalem, and the West Bank village of Beit Jala near Bethlehem. At least five Israelis and two Palestinians were wounded in the fierce exchange of fire, the latest in eight months of violence since a Palestinian uprising erupted against Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestinians fired three mortar bombs into Israeli territory near the Gaza Strip this morning, according to the army. It said one mortar round landed in a Jewish settlement in Gaza. At least 443 Palestinians, 87 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed since the uprising erupted last September. [08] ChileTwenty-six prisoners were burned to death in a northern Chilean jail yesterday in a blaze police said inmates started in protest but prisoners' relatives and firefighters said was an accident.Police said the protest at the jail in Iquique, about 1.800 km north of Santiago, was apparently linked to the recent self-immolation of an inmate at another Chilean jail -- and played down earlier reports of a prison riot. President Ricardo Lagos meanwhile said the incident -- one of most deadly incidents in Chilean prison history -- dramatized the need for the government to speed up plans to build more jails to ease overcrowding. Some 80 percent of prisoners held at Iquique jail were convicted of drug-related offenses. [09] ChinaMoscow attacked US plans for a missile defence system today, saying both Russia and China believed it would jeopardise 30 years of strategic stability.Both countries restated their strong opposition to the proposed US missile shield at a meeting in Moscow yesterday. The two sides swapped views after hearing from US officials who toured Europe and Asia this month to drum up support for the project. US President George W. Bush insists the National Missile Defence system is needed to defend the US from "rogue states" like North Korea and Iraq. Russia has said it understands US concerns but believes steps to head off potential threats should not destroy the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which Moscow sees as the cornerstone of non-proliferation. [10] BritainBritain's "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher launched a savage attack on Prime Minister Tony Blair today, accusing him of being soft on Europe and declaring he was a socialist at heart.The former Conservative Prime Minister, who won three terms of power, went into battle for the June 7 general election as opinion polls suggested Blair's Labour Party would triumph by a landslide and that the Conservatives faced a second battering in four years. Mrs. Thatcher accused Blair of having stolen many of her policies to win power in 1997 but said he had reversed them since then by stealth. [11] WorldAnd now for a look at other developments around the world in brief.- - - - The head of Indonesia's supreme legislative body joins a growing chorus of opinion that enfeebled President Abdurrahman Wahid is virtually certain to face an impeachment hearing. - - - - Japan's first female foreign minister, Makiko Tanaka, bruised from her domestic battle with bureaucrats, faces the first test of her diplomatic skills when she tries to mend frayed ties with Asian neighbours at talks in Beijing later this week. - - - - In a move likely to annoy China, US Secretary of State Colin Powell is to meet the Dalai Lama today at the end of his nine-city tour of the United States. - - - - Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian arrives in New York today on visit certain to turn into high-profile diplomatic episode that will strain Sino-US ties. - - - - Vietnam says the future of its stalled trade agreement with the United States should not be linked to rights issues and said any attemp to renegotiate would be "inappropriate and unsatisfactory". - - - - Soviet-trained Mongolian President Natsagiin Bagabandi, provisionally re-elected in a weekend vote, says he will not stand in the way of reformers in his formerly Communist party in tackling the deep economic ills of the poor country. [12] WeatherThis afternoon will be fine and quite warm.Winds will be northwesterly to southwesterly, moderate, three to four beaufort, over moderate seas. Tonight will be clear. Winds will be northwesterly to northeasterly, light, two to three beaufort, over slight seas. Temperatures will drop to 20 degrees inland and along the south coast, and to 17 along the west coast and over the mountains. The fire hazard is high in all forest areas. Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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