He also challenged the international community to push Denktash to sit at the negotiating table with him. But any slim hopes of Denktash coming to talks without preconditions would seem to have been dashed by Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem. Clerides, who is not expected back from New York until Thursday, was scheduled to have a meeting with Annan late yesterday. No one was injured. The shop, which belongs to Kyriacos Efstathiou from Palechori, was used in recent years for storage, and was not insured.
Police say preliminary investigations suggest that the fire started accidentally.
Meanwhile, Larnaca police are treating as arson a fire which gutted a car early yesterday morning. The BMW belonging to a Larnaca cabaret owner, Alexandros Robertou, was parked outside the Port View restaurant when the fire broke out. Another car parked next it was also damaged. Damage to the BMW is estimated at 7,000, while the total damage to both cars has not yet been estimated. Neophytou carried out a tour of inspection of the airport yesterday.