Military exercises begin
THE GREEK Navy and Air Force yesterday began a two-day military exercise in Cyprus, in keeping with the joint defence pact signed between Greece and Cyprus in November 1993.
Four Greek jets yesterday flew over Cyprus and initiated mock ground attacks in the operation code-named Toxotis – Vergina. The National Guard used the exercise as an opportunity to activate its anti-air craft defence system.
The operation will include a rescue exercise, with the Cyprus Flight Information Region (FIR).
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Man found dead in car
SAVVAS Savva, aged 50 from Ayios Dometios in Nicosia, was found dead in the driver seat of his car at around 7am yesterday. The car was parked in the MMAD firing ground in Anoliontas, Nicosia district.Savva was first reported missing on Tuesday. Initial investigations have ruled out any evidence of foul play.
Morphine seized
POLICE yesterday discovered 10 ampules of morphine in the village of Deftera at around 3.30pm, following a tip-off from an anonymous call to a TV station in Nicosia. The morphine was confiscated by police and dispatched for analysis to confirm its batch and status. It is not yet clear if the morphine is the same as the 10 doses of morphine reported missing from Limassol Hospital earlier this month.
On Tuesday, Health Minister Frixos Savvides vowed publicly to punish anyone found guilty of negligence in the case of the disappearing morphine.
Kurds sentenced in north
A ‘COURT’ in Turkish occupied north Cyprus yesterday sentenced 69 Iraqi Kurds to ten days in prison on charges of illegal entry into the breakaway region. The immigrants washed up on the remote Karpas peninsula after their smugglers told them that they had arrived in Italy. The 69 arrived in three different groups, turning up last week and on Monday.
“We will accept any decision except returning to Iraq. We are prepared to die here. If you send us back to Iraq it means the slaughter of us and our families,” Haydar Kais Yasin told the ‘court’ yesterday. It is not yet clear if the Turkish Cypriot authorities will deport the immigrants or not.
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.
