LARGE families and trade unions said yesterday they will lose out heavily if the House of Representatives goes ahead tomorrow and imposes restrictions on child benefits in relation to their parents’ annual income.

THE UNITED Nations has increased the presence of peacekeepers in the Pyla area to keep an eye on a contentious road being built by the Turkish Cypriots close to the buffer zone.

Tension rose in the mixed village last week when the construction work was discovered, with Greek Cypriot residents fearing the road was a ploy by the Turks to gain easy access to the village.

WE BANANIOTS have always been an earthy people, and not just metaphorically speaking. We love the land. When it comes to acquiring land we turn instinctively ruthless, cruel, greedy, mercenary, dishonest and totally selfish. Families fall out, marriages break up, and friends stop speaking to each other over land disputes.

A SURPLUS production of watermelons will drive 2,000 tonnes back into the ground to rot this season in an effort to balance flagging market prices. Fruit producers are exasperated, as the bout of heavy rainfall and good weather has led to a surplus production of 5,000 tonnes, threatening market saturation and unprofitable price levels.

E.U. Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom said yesterday that the European Commission’s postbag was full of letters from visitors to Cyprus expressing concern for the island’s environment.

THE URBAN Taxi Federation (POAT) yesterday agreed to suspend its strike until negotiations were completed between the Communications Ministry and the union co-ordinating committee.

CHARALAMBIDES Dairies yesterday officially announced its takeover by the Greek company Delta in what it said was the biggest-ever investment by a firm from an EU country in the food industry in Cyprus.

PARLIAMENT this week made an attempt at better regulating drug use and possession laws, but critics yesterday claimed half measures were the order of the day, saying the government was still neglecting the demand side of the issue.

SUSPECTED British drug smuggler Brian Wright, who has been living as a fugitive in the north, has fled his hideaway just hours before he was to become the first Briton to be deported from the unrecognised breakaway regime, British newspapers reported yesterday.

SECURITIES and Exchange Commission (SEC) chief Marios Clerides yesterday confirmed that Cyprus was co-operating with an American SEC investigation into a company named Millennium Financial Services, in which Cyprus-based investors have reportedly lost several million pounds.