THERE have always been suspicions that telephone-bugging was a commonplace practice in Cyprus, dating back to the turbulent 1960s when concepts such as individual freedom and the right to privacy were unheard of. This was a time when the police routinely abused their powers without having to answer to any authority.
ALITHIA: “I’ll kill myself if you reveal my identity”. An Archbishopric employee who gave information regarding a new case of financial fraud against the Church has warned Paphos Bishop Chrysostomos he would kill himself should his identity ever be released.
AN OPINION poll published yesterday provides some comfort for President Tassos Papadopoulos, with a 59 per cent approval rating, despite a string of recent scandals. The public’s response was generally positive towards the government’s performance and its handling of the Cyprus problem.
THE MARITIME Cyprus 2003 conference opened to an auspicious start yesterday with over 600 movers and shakers from around the shipping world joining top brass maritime delegates in Limassol to discuss the future of world shipping.
A 36-YEAR-old Limassol man was arrested over the weekend on charges of wife battering and assault causing actual bodily harm, police said yesterday. On Sunday, an officer from a local police station was called to a Limassol home to investigate a domestic violence complaint, which had been called in by the 36-year-old’s young Russian wife.
PRESIDENT Tassos Papadopoulos yesterday launched an official investigation into the discovery of a phone-tapping device found in Justice Minister Doros Theodorou’s office by private detectives three months ago. Speaking shortly before his departure for New York, the President said the investigation was necessary in order to put things in a proper perspective.
E.U. EXPERTS due on the island later this month to assess whether farmers in the north can export citrus fruits face an uphill struggle against a string of obstacles. For one thing, the EU experts may not even be allowed by the breakaway regime to carry out the necessary quality and health controls.
FIFTY-two-year-old convicted Limassol bomber Andreas Onoufrios is on 24-hour suicide watch, following his recapture on Saturday after two weeks on the run from the authorities. Onoufrios was placed in isolation on Sunday night when he was returned to the central prisons. He had been on the run since failing to return to jail after being given a 24-hour pass to get married on September 5.
A BICOMMUNAL protest against the need to show passports to cross to the occupied areas turned sour yesterday when three people – including a pensioner – were arrested by Turkish Cypriot ‘police’ after trying to take a donkey across the Green Line.
AN ONGOING Church crackdown on alleged widespread financial irregularities and embezzlement began in earnest yesterday, when the Holy Synod met with senior officials of the Hellenic Mining Corporation, of which the Church is the majority shareholder.
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.
