Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: News in English, 00-10-26

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

CONTENTS

[01] Headlines

[02] Tassos

[03] Missions

[04] Stock

[05] Mideast

[06] Plane

[07] Sub

[08] World

[09] Weather THURSDAY 26 OCTOBER 2000

[01] Headlines

--- A young Palestinian cyclist died today in a suicide bomb attack on an Israeli army post in the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip which slightly injured an Israeli soldier.

--- Rescue teams today picked their way through the burnt-out wreckage of a Russian military plane which ploughed into a mountain in ex-Soviet Georgia, killing more than 80 people including eight children.

And

--- A letter has been found in the pocket of a dead sailor retrieved from the sunken Russian submarine Kursk which indicated that at least 23 crew members did not die instantly.

[02] Tassos

Speaking after the meeting, Mr. Papadopoulos said his party's estimated did not agree with those of the UN envoy.

Mr. de Soto said there were new issues to be discussed and that new ground must be broken, based on UN resolutions, towards a comprehensive settlement.

The UN diplomat also noted that achieving a solution would take a lot of time, as it was not a problem that could be solved overnight.

[03] Missions

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ioannis Kasoulides, said today that Cyprus maintains embassies in all European countries, except Luxembourg, and is promoting the operation of embassies in Poland, Romania, Lebanon and the Palestinian areas.

[04] Stock

The volume of transactions was just under 16 million pounds, that is 8 million less than yesterday.

Investors are furious over the situation at the Stock Exchange and have decided to hold a demonstration outside the House of Representatives this afternoon, when the plenary session will be discussing legislation regarding the Stock Exchange.

[05] Mideast

A Palestinian security official confirmed that a Palestinian had been killed in the incident, which appeared to be the first suicide attack in Israeli-Palestinian violence that erupted nearly a month ago.

The army blamed the attack on the Islamic Jihad guerrilla group, whose leader was killed on this day five years ago.

The army said the cyclist appeared to be a youth who carried a book bag, but there were conflicting reports of exactly how the bicycle rider was killed.

The attack took place next to an army post on a main north-south road between the Palestinian town of Khan Younis and the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom.

Israeli military officials had warned that Islamic militants might try to carry out suicide attacks. The Hamas and Islamic Jihad resistance movements have killed scores of people inside Israel in such attacks in the past.

At least 131 people, nearly all of them Palestinians, have been killed in the wave of clashes which erupted following a September 28 visit by right-wing opposition leader Ariel Sharon to a Jerusalem site holy to Muslims and Jews.

[06] Plane

The elderly Ilyushin-18, packed with officers and their families returning from holidays, crashed in flames last night 20 km northeast of the port of Batumi, the capital of the autonomous region of Adzhara where Russia has a military base.

Russian soldiers and Georgian rescue workers at the site, which was sealed off to reporters, said the plane's wreckage was burnt out and that few intact bodies had been found.

The fire caused by the crash could be seen several kilometres away.

The crash occurred during a thunderstorm. The head of Georgia's air traffic control said that radar screens showed the plane, flying from Moscow to Batumi, had failed to change course before landing.

It was the third disaster in as many months for Russia's creaking, ill-maintained infrastructure, following the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk which killed 118 and a fire that gutted Moscow's Ostankino television tower and killed three.

[07] Sub

Russian officials have so far insisted that most of the 118 crew members died in a minute or two after disastrous blasts on board the nuclear-powered sumbarine in August.

Divers are now trying to retrieve the bodies from the Kursk, lying under the Barents Sea.

Navy commander Vladimir Kuroyedov was quoted as saying that the letter had been found in the pocket of one of four bodies retrieved yesterday.

The letter said: "It's 13:15. All personnel from sections six, seven and eight have moved to section nine. There are 23 people here. We have made the decision because none of us can escape".

The letter, apparently written by an officer identified as Lieutenant-Captain Kolesnikov, also contained the words "I am writing blind".

The Kursk plunged to the floor of the Barents Sea on August 12, killing all 118 crew, in Russia's worst naval disaster.

[08] World

- - - -

US President Bill Clinton said Palestinian President Yasser Arafat could do more to reduce Israeli-Palestinian violence but stopped short of blaming him for clashes that have halted the peace process.

- - - -

Veteran opposition leader Laurent Gbagbo, propelled to power in Ivory Coast on a wave of popular protest, risks being brought down to earth by the political challenges of his new position.

- - - -

Peru has ordered the capture of powerful former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos, Latin America's top diplomat has said.

- - - -

Seeking to plug weak spots and excite their supporters, Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore exchanged long-distance jabs in a presidential race that seemed to be turning ever-so-slightly toward the vice president once more.

- - - -

British diplomats were allowed to interview seven British citizens detained in communist-ruled Cuba for possible offences against national security.

- - - -

A long-awaited report will offer a damning indictment today of the British government's handling of mad cow disease -- a public health crisis which shook the nation and shattered the livestock industry.

- - - -

A US senator said that a US defence intelligence analyst resigned the day after the USS Cole was bombed in the Yemeni port of Aden because he believed his superiors had failed to give enough weight to analysis that could have warned of an attack.

- - - -

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed a pioneer for women's independence in conservative Saudi Arabia as head of the UN Population Fund which deals with women's equality and sexual health.

Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, 55, a long-time UN official, is the first woman from Saudi Arabia to hold a senior UN post.

- - - -

US-based Human Rights Watch made fresh accusations of human rights abuses by Russian troops in the war-torn Chechnya region.

- - - -

A chartered Boeing 737 campaign plane carrying Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien made an emergency landing in Quebec City because of a mechanical problem.

[09] Weather

Winds will be westerly, light to moderate, three to four beaufort, over moderate seas.

Tonight will be unsettled with local showers and some snow on Troodos.

Winds will be northwesterly, light to moderate, three to four beaufort, over moderate seas.

Temperatures will drop to 8 degrees inland, to 12 along the coast, and to 3 over the mountains.

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