THE PARTIAL lifting of restrictions on movement has raised countless problems for the Cyprus government. Some have been solved after much prevaricating, some have been ignored by design, while others are being tackled in instalments. The government=s overriding concern is to avoid any legal or political mistakes that could hand an advantage to the Turkish side.
ITALY has reached an agreement with Cyprus to build a detention centre on the island as a transit camp for illegal immigrants caught in the Mediterranean, according to Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.
CYPRUS Airways (CY) subsidiary Hellas Jet yesterday launched its first inaugural flight, from Athens to Brussels. The flight took off for the Belgian capital at 7.15am, CY spokesman Tassos Angelis told the Cyprus Mail. Angelis said the flight was not full, but that numbers were encouraging.
A NEW non-governmental organisation aimed at protecting consumers in every aspect of their lives was launched yesterday. The Cyprus Union of Consumers and Quality of Life is an independent, non-political, non-profit organisation, based on similar organisations in the European Union, its chairman, Lucas Aristodemou, said.
THREE outpatient clinics will be set up in central Nicosia within the next two years to coincide with the opening of the new Nicosia General Hospital in Athalassa. Nicosia Mayor Michalakis Zampelas told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that the clinics would be built in order to provide patients with health care near the city centre.
AKEL deputy Kikis Yiangou claimed yesterday that organised beggars were arriving from Greece to take advantage of the generosity of the Cypriot people by trading in human need.
PETROL STATION operators have warned they will consider industrial action unless oil companies agree to their terms for the renewal of a collective agreement. Petrol station operators claimed each station was losing £22,000 a year and demanded that oil companies inject a further £20,000 per station to cover operational costs.
ONE in eight cabaret artistes coming to work on the island marries to a Cypriot, while there are around 1,200 civil weddings between local men and foreign women every year, compared to 70 marriages between Cypriot women and foreign men, the House Human Rights Committee heard yesterday.
PRESIDENT Tassos Papadopoulos said yesterday that Turkish Cypriot trucks would be allowed to cross the Green Line as part of a new series of measures to facilitate the movement of Turkish Cypriots and ease internal trade between the two communities. Until now, only private cars have been allowed to cross since restrictions on the freedom of movement were eased in late April.
TURKISH Cypriot students have shown great interest in attending the English School in Nicosia this September, headmaster Robert Swan said yesterday. The fee-paying school said a total number of 20 places had been made available for Turkish Cypriot students in Years 2, 3, 4 and 6.
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.
