JOHN WOOD, manager of the Le Meridien Spa and Resort in Limassol is leaving Cyprus after 30 years of involvement in the island’s tourist industry.
Wood told the Cyprus Mail yesterday he is transferring to Le Meridien’s Middle East/West Asia division but has not yet been given his precise destination.
THE CYPRUS stock market yesterday continued the downward trend it set last week, shedding 6.73 points off the all-share index to close at 245.89 points.
The general price index was down 2.74 per cent, but the FTSE 20 index was down by 3.46 per cent, indicating that blue chip shares were losing ground.
IN A rare papal reference to the Cyprus problem, Pope John Paul II yesterday expressed confidence that Cypriots’ traditional dedication to the “values of the bible” would lead to a settlement for the divided island.
DEFENCE Minister Socratis Hasikos yesterday rejected opposition claims the helicopters that carried out a demonstration flight were not fuelled to capacity to be able to carry more troops.
THE CYPRUS Chamber of Fine Arts (EKATE) has expressed concern that a recent exhibition of copies of international masterpieces deliberately misled the public into buying pieces they believed to be of higher value.
THIRTY-FOUR Syrians and Kurds were deported to Syria last week, despite pending applications for political asylum, a direct breach of human rights and international law.
IN THE wake of violence during last week’s football matches, the government is considering cutting down on subsidies offered to sport associations whose members are linked to hooliganism.
But the Cyprus Sports Organisation (CSO), the state body responsible for allocating funds, strongly opposed the plan, whaich was tabled yesterday at the House Finance Committee meeting.
“Reducing subsidies is a strong deterrent to hooligans. I think it will pay off,” Committee Chairman Marcos Kyprianou said yesterday.
The CSO’s general manager Costas Papacostas complained “cutting down on subsidies would have a direct impact on the training of young athletes. It would be unfair to minors who are in no way connected to the violence.”
A CHOULOU man has been given a three-day remand for his alleged part in scamming a childless couple out of £8,000 to allegedly speed up their adoption of a Romanian child.
Paphos district court remanded Andreas Chrysostomou, 48, on Sunday following a short man-hunt when the couple went to the police with their story.
THREE people were killed and 29 seriously injured in 119 traffic accidents during the week between December 3 and 10, police said yesterday.
A further 36 people suffered minor injuries.
In the same period police reported 2,633 traffic code violations, of which 1,368 concerned speeding.
PETROL PRICES are set to drop by 1 or 2 cents per litre just after the new year, according to an announcement by Finance Ministry officials yesterday.
Ministry representative Michael Stavrou told the Finance Committee that: “We are seriously considering a reduction of fuel prices by January 2, 2001.”
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
