Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 99-04-21

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>

Wednesday, April 21, 1999

Nato preparing ground war in Kosovo

RUSSIA'S diplomatic efforts to stop the bombing of Yugoslavia and preparation for a possible ground offensive by Nato were yesterday's main stories.

Haravghi reported that Russia had undertaken a new initiative to end the war and also warned that it would not allow the West to defeat Yugoslavia and take control of the whole country, because the area was of strategic importance. After meeting senior Russian officials, President Boris Yeltsin announced that he would mediate between Nato and Yugoslavia in order to stop the bombing.

Phileleftheros carried a similar story claiming that Moscow would not tolerate the transformation of Yugoslavia into a protectorate of the United States. Yeltsin had a 50-minute telephone conversation with President Clinton whom he had urged to stop the bombing of Yugoslavia. This was the first time the two had spoken to each other since the start of the war.

Alithia insisted that the continuation of the bombing and the decision to use Apache assault helicopters constituted the last phase of the war before the deployment of land troops. It was now "certain" that Nato and the US were preparing for a land attack. It cited a report in The Observer, which quoted sources in Washington as saying the land attack was scheduled for the end of May.

Simerini said that Nato would be throwing Kosovar guerrillas into battle during the first phase of the land attack on Kosovo. Nato was currently arming and training ethnic Albanian KLA guerrillas. The Apache helicopters, based in Albania, would be deployed in the next 10 days. According to the paper, the helicopter would be used to destroy Serbian armoured vehicles in Kosovo.

Politis led with a report about the male wonder-drug, Viagra, which went on sale in Cyprus on Monday. According to paper, a few days ago, a 50-year-old man, who took Viagra without consulting a doctor, had suffered a heart attack. There was not a great demand for the drug on its first day on the market, although several men had given their prescriptions for the drug to their chemists well in advance of Monday.

Machi, in an exclusive front page report, said that Ukraine had offered Cyprus T-84U tanks at half the price that was being asked by Russia for T- 80 tanks. Ukraine had written to the Cyprus Ministry of Defence with their offer, which was too good to ignore. The T-84U is not only superior to the T-80, but also better than the equivalent tanks made by the US, England and France.

Phileleftheros reported that the purchase of real estate by foreigners had fallen dramatically. The most worrying thing was that many foreigners were going a step further, selling their holiday homes and leaving Cyprus. Some of the reasons cited by the paper was the entry of neighbouring countries into the holiday home market, the high price of real estate in Cyprus and the legal restrictions on the purchase of land by foreigners as well as the complex procedures involved.

Politis reported that a nun at Agios Georgios monastery in Alamanou had attacked a wandering salesman who had set up his stall in the monastery courtyard. Using a walking stick she swept all the salesman's goods off the stall. The sister superior denied the event had happened when she was contacted by the paper.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

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