A CEASE-FIRE has rarely been breached faster than the one announced by Palestinian militant groups on Sunday. The two biggest Islamist groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, declared a three-month suspension of attacks on Israeli targets at lunch-time.
PARLIAMENT will vote on measures to promote internal trade with Turkish Cypriots tomorrow, after the vote was postponed last week. Head of the House Communications Committee, Nicos Pittocopides, said yesterday that AKEL and DIKO were prepared to vote for the measures, while DISY, who postponed the vote, and KISOS were still undecided.
THE U.N. has assured the government that authorities in the occupied north have no intention of cutting the power supply to Strovilia residents, Foreign Minister George Iacovou said yesterday. The news comes nearly a month after reports that Greek Cypriot residents in the checkpoint village would have their electricity cut.
TRADE, Industry and Tourism Minister George Lillikas yesterday unleashed a scathing attack against his predecessor concerning his handling of the controversial Larnaca refinery upgrade that the government recently decided to scrap after it transpired that it would save taxpayers around $86 million.
D.I.S.Y. DEPUTY and lawyer Christodoulos Taramountas yesterday charged that a number of unscrupulous lawyers-including an officer at the Attorney-general’s office – were demanding a cut of compensation fees awarded Greek Cypriot refugees from the north by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
EIGHT SYRIAN, Palestinian and Iraqi immigrants were arrested in Kato Pyrgos and Mansoura yesterday for illegally entering the country. The men came from Lebanon by boat late Monday night, arriving on the coastline between the two villages. Police were alerted when a local villager came across a number of immigrants asking for food and water.
OPPOSITION D.I.S.Y. and the government yesterday continued slugging it out over the appointment of a new Civil Service Commission (EDY), focusing on the selection of a prominent DISY figure to the body.
THE ELECTRICITY Authority (EAC) billing system is confusing, problematic, and unfair to low- income groups, the House Trade Committee heard yesterday. AKEL deputy Stavros Evagorou said pensioners were the hardest hit by the system since sometimes they had to pay a big chunk of their paltry pension on the electricity bill.
AN INCREASING number of people connected to the criminal world were crossing to the occupied north, either to buy drugs or visit casinos and cabarets, according to Assistant Chief of Police, Soteris Charalambous.
THE GOVERNMENT yesterday announced a study into the feasibility of altering import taxes on cars after press reports revealed Cypriots pay much more for their cars compared to the rest of Europe. A survey recently carried out by Politis newspaper found that Cypriots pay 42 per cent above the EU average, or 62 per cent if you apply the purchasing-power parity (PPP) method.
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.
