GOVERNMENT Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said yesterday it would be inconceivable to name a “nine-year-old drug addict” that President Tassos Papadopoulos had recently referred to in a speech to a drug addiction centre. Chrysostomides was replying to assertions by the opposition and the press, suggesting the nine-year-old drug addicted girl simply didn’t exist.
THE CENTRAL Bank yesterday dismissed speculation that the Cyprus pound could be devalued, branding such a possibility “unthinkable”. “There is absolutely no reason, no shred of evidence, to lead to a devaluation of the Cyprus pound,” said Central Bank governor Christodoulos Christodoulou.
BOOKMAKERS yesterday expressed their concern over reports that Greek and Turkish Cypriots were working together to operate illegal betting shops in the north.
THE INQUIRY into the handling of a Turkish Cypriot woman who was refused entry at Larnaca airport despite having the necessary paperwork would be complete in a few days, Interior Minister Andreas Christou said yesterday.
THE CYPRUS Telecommunications Authority CyTA said yesterday Turkish providers TurkCell and Telsim were stalling over implementation of an agreement to allow island-wide coverage for Greek and Turkish Cypriot mobile phones.
TWO BRITISH men have been arrested in connection with a stabbing in Ayia Napa, police confirmed yesterday. The two men, aged 22 and 24, were arrested yesterday after 23-year-old tourist Andrew Carvell was stabbed after an incident involving another group of Britons.
THE DEFENCE Minister yesterday sought to dampen press speculation about a £61 million missile upgrade, saying certain weapon procurement programmes had been scheduled a long time ago and there was no need for them to be discussed in public.
THE NEW Nicosia General Hospital will be operational by the end of next year, or at the very latest at the beginning of 2005, Health Minister Dina Akkelidou said yesterday. However, the assurance is unlikely to reassure sceptics, as the hospital has faced repeated delays and price increases since construction began seven years ago.
A COUPLE caring for two children who saw their parents drown before them in Paphos this week yesterday told British papers of the children’s remarkable courage. Tim and Kim Allen were holidaying with Scottish couple Peter and Alison Rainey and their two children, when tragedy struck the young family on Tuesday – only a day before they were due to return home.
TURKISH Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash yesterday called for a return to the Ghali ‘Set of Ideas’ and Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) that he rejected in the early nineties. He also announced that Turkey would open its air and sea ports to Greek Cypriot traffic if Nicosia agreed, statements that were echoed by Ankara later in the day.
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.
