Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 02-04-05

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From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>

CONTENTS

[01] Cypriot NGOs disappointed by UN chief's report

[02] Leftwing parties meet in Nicosia for solidarity with Palestinians

[03] Financial position of Cyprus considered satisfactory by EU

[04] Cyprus Stock Exchange

[05] Weather and Temperatures for Cyprus

[06] Spokesman: No surprises in UN statement on Cyprus

[07] Response to Turkish Cypriots on missing persons to be ready soon

[08] Danish premier: Cyprus solution not a precondition for EU entry

[09] Parliamentary delegation to visit Arafat

[10] Verheugen appears less optimistic about a settlement this year

[11] British MP: Nobody can stop Cyprus' accession to the EU

[12] Indian Minister of State for External Affairs to visit Cyprus

[13] Archaeology prize to be introduced

[14] Cyprus Stand at Cairo International Fair wins first prize

[15] Arafat: We will win the war against the Israelis

[16] Rally condemns Israeli tactics in the Middle East

[01] Cypriot NGOs disappointed by UN chief's report

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Cypriot NGOs disappointed by UN chief's report

Nicosia, Apr 5 (CNA) - A group of Cooperating Cypriot Non-Governmental Organisations have expressed their "disappointment and grave concern regarding the foundation" on which the UN Secretary General's report, dated March 4, to the Commission of Human Rights is based.

In a letter to UN chief Kofi Annan, sent yesterday through the UN resident representative in Cyprus, the organisations note that "Cypriots are not less persons than any other person on the globe" and say there are "entitled to a fair treatment by the UN, based on the universally recognised principles of law and order".

[02] Leftwing parties meet in Nicosia for solidarity with Palestinians

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Leftwing parties meet in Nicosia for solidarity with Palestinians

Nicosia, Apr 4 (CNA) -- Cypriot leftwing party AKEL this morning opened in Nicosia a two-day International Conference of Left Parties "Solidarity with the Palestinian People", during the opening of which AKEL General Secretary Demetris Christofias said the international community must define "terrorism", so that struggles for freedom, such as the one of the Palestinian people, are not branded as terrorism.

Hanna Amireh, on behalf of the Palestinian People's Party, sent a message to the Conference, in which he notes the importance of international solidarity, which he said could stop Israeli aggressiveness against the Palestinians.

[03] Financial position of Cyprus considered satisfactory by EU

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Financial position of Cyprus considered satisfactory by EU

Nicosia, Apr 5 (CNA) -- The latest report of the European Commission on the macroeconomic and financial stability in the EU candidate countries is considered as extremely favourable in the case of Cyprus, as it evaluates both the achievements of its economy and its financial system as satisfactory.

The report refers to the impressive economic development of Cyprus, with the foreign sector as the motivating pivot during 1960-2000, and to the fact that the labour market continues to be at the level of full employment.

[04] Cyprus Stock Exchange

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Cyprus Stock Exchange

Nicosia, Apr 5 (CNA) - The Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) All Share
Index closed at today's stock exchange meeting as follows:

CSE General Index                              109.73  (-0,82)

Traded Value                  CYP  1.407.474

FTSE/CYSE 20                  CYP    531.630   463,76  (-0,44)

Sectoral Indices

Banks                         CYP    227.765   127,74  (-0,42)
Approved Investment
Companies                 CYP     96.385    96,99  (-0,02)
Insurance Companies           CYP     14.252    36,26  (-0,77)
Manufacturing Companies       CYP    147.320    59,11  (-0,59)
Tourism Companies             CYP     38.169    73,32  (-1,48)
Trading Companies             CYP     61.928    25,96  (-1,56)
Building and Cement Companies CYP     25.095    53,82  (-1,97)
Énformation Technology
Companies                 CYP      9.929     6,70  ( 0,75)
Financial Services Companies  CYP    219.858    20,21  (-1,51)
Fish Culture Companies        CYP         89    19,41  (-1,27)
Hotels                        CYP    170.544    69,43  (-0,50)
Other Companies               CYP    315.587   110,28  (-1,81)

* The third column presents the percentage variation of

[05] Weather and Temperatures for Cyprus

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Weather and Temperatures for Cyprus

Nicosia, Apr 5 (CNA) -- Today's weather and temperatures for Cyprus,
according to the Meteorological Service at Larnaca International
Airport are:

Temperatures (degrees Celcius)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Station               Maximum     Minimum       Weather
(At 1200 UTC)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Nicosia                  24          10         FAIR
Larnaca                  21          13         FINE
Limassol                 23          12         FAIR
Paphos                   23          13         FAIR

[06] Spokesman: No surprises in UN statement on Cyprus

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Spokesman: No surprises in UN statement on Cyprus

Nicosia, Apr 5 (CNA) -- The government has said a UN statement on the Cyprus peace process had no surprises and welcomed the reference to relevant UN resolutions and treaties.

[07] Response to Turkish Cypriots on missing persons to be ready soon

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Response to Turkish Cypriots on missing persons to be ready soon

Nicosia, Apr 5 (CNA) -- The response of the Greek Cypriot side to the positions of the Turkish Cypriots on the issue of missing persons in Cyprus will be finalized soon, Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said here today.

[08] Danish premier: Cyprus solution not a precondition for EU entry

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Danish premier: Cyprus solution not a precondition for EU entry

Istanbul, Apr 5 (CNA) -- The European Union is exercising its influence on all sides for a resolution of the Cyprus question, Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said.

[09] Parliamentary delegation to visit Arafat

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Parliamentary delegation to visit Arafat

Nicosia, Apr 5 (CNA) -- A six-member interparliamentary delegation leaves Sunday for Israel and will try to meet Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah.

[10] Verheugen appears less optimistic about a settlement this year

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Verheugen appears less optimistic about a settlement

Brussels, Apr 5 (CNA) -- European Union Commissioner for enlargement Gunter Verheugen appeared less optimistic that a settlement in Cyprus can be reached in 2002 and said the absence of substantive progress is due to the attitude of the Turkish Cypriot side.

Verheugen also said that Cyprus, with or without a settlement, will join the Union.

[11] British MP: Nobody can stop Cyprus' accession to the EU

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British MP: Nobody can stop Cyprus' accession to the EU

Nicosia, Apr 5 (CNA) -- Nobody has the ability to stop the accession of Cyprus to the European Union, British deputy and member of the "Friends of Cyprus" group Bob Spink said here today, adding that the EU course "puts enormous pressure on Turkey to seek a solution" of the Cyprus question.

[12] Indian Minister of State for External Affairs to visit Cyprus

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Indian Minister of State for External Affairs to visit Cyprus

Nicosia, April 5 (CNA) -- Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Omar Abdullah is to pay an official visit to Cyprus on 8-9 April, at the invitation of Cyprus Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides.

[13] Archaeology prize to be introduced

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Archaeology prize to be introduced

Nicosia, Apr 5 (CNA) -- The cabinet has decided to introduce a prize for best contribution to the preservation and promotion of the island's archaeological heritage, an official press release said here today.

[14] Cyprus Stand at Cairo International Fair wins first prize

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Cyprus Stand at Cairo International Fair wins first prize

Nicosia, Apr 5 (CNA) -- Cyprus has won the prize for best construction and decoration of a foreign country's stand at the Cairo International Fair which wrapped up at the end of March.

[15] Arafat: We will win the war against the Israelis

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Arafat: We will win the war against the Israelis

Nicosia, Apr 5 (CAN) -- Palestinian President Yaser Arafat has sent a defiant message for victory against the Israelis, through a personal emissary who is participating in an International Conference of Left Parties "Solidarity with the Palestinian People", which started here today in Nicosia.

In the message, conveyed by Hani Al Hasan, Arafat told the Israelis that they cannot have both security and occupation and said that the resistance of the Palestinians is in response to state terrorism.

"The day when peace is found in the land of peace and we all march to Jerusalem, hand in hand, and a new era begins, is not far," Arafat said.

"Be sure that we are not a defeated people. We have paid a high price but at the end the Israeli army will be defeated because it represents an injust cause. And we will win because we represent a just cause. We are fighting for freedom, liberty, justice and sovereignty and we are sure that we will free Palestine," Hasan said.

Hasan said Arafat is proud of the left parties and the solidarity they show and added: "Peace is our strategy and we will keep to this strategy not because we have no other choices but because peace is a real and right strategy to help our people, to stop the killings of children and coexist all in one land with two states."

He saluted "all our Israeli friends with whom we both believe in peace and we will make peace together in the future," adding that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "does not think of peace" and "the Israeli occupation army kills and practices ethnic cleansing".

Hasan criticized the US stance on the Middle East, noting that "America is no longer an honest mediator" and called on US Secretary of State Colin Powell to "be fair and honest" and "distinguish between the terror of the oppressor and the resistance of the oppressed."

He wondered why the US agreed to send an international force to Kosovo and FYROM but vetoed the dispatch of an international peacekeeping force to Palestine.

"America cannot use Israel to control the area. The time when America and Israel decided what happens here and what does not happen is finished and we are proud as Palestinians because we can say we really made our best to size these forces in this area," Hasan said.

He blamed the "illegal and fascist occupation of Palestine territories by the Israelis" for the violence and said that "resistance is the answer to state terrorism."

"Israelis cannot have both security and occupation" and in order to get security they must "get out of our land and dismantle the settlements," he added.

Hasan noted "the Cypriot people's principled stance in support of the struggle of the Palestinian people against the Israeli occupation."

Left-wing party AKEL's General Secretary Demetris Christofias asked Hasan to convey to Arafat the left wing parties' determination to stand by the Palestinian people until peace prevails in Palestine and both Palestinians and Cypriots enjoy the right to independence, freedom and sovereignty.

CNA/MK/MM/2002 ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

[16] Rally condemns Israeli tactics in the Middle East

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Rally condemns Israeli tactics in the Middle East

Nicosia, Apr 5 (CNA) -- Some 300 protestors marched through central Nicosia today chanting slogans against Israel and in support of the Palestinian people, and burnt photographs of the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon and US President George Bush outside the Israeli embassy.

The demonstrators, participants to a two-day international meeting of left-wing parties, demanded freedom for Palestine and said Cyprus and Palestine shared a common struggle against occupation.

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