PHILELEFTHEROS “DNA links Russian to murder” Four years after a Belgian woman was murdered in Cyprus, a Russian man was arrested in Russia after blood from the scene of the crime was identified as his via DNA testing. The murder took place in 1999 in an apartment in Larnaca. The victim was Althea Downing, 71 from Belgium. Samples from the scene were sent to Interpol as the police believed the suspect was also a foreigner. Moscow Interpol this week informed Cypriot police that they had found a match to a Russian man who was arrested. Cyprus want to the man to be tried here but there are legal problems.
POLITIS “Clinic was operating illegally” The gynecological clinic where Eleni Zacharia lost her life was supposed to be closed down in May. The autopsy, which will reveal the cause of death, was postponed for today. The Health Ministry and authorities were responsible for inspecting the clinic. The family’s lawyer is now asking why the Ministry failed to close the clinic. The matter was to be discussed yesterday at the House of Representatives.
ALITHIA “Stop loans as property prices may drop” The Central Bank has proposed that banks allow people to take out loans of up to 70 per cent of the value of the property they want to buy. The reason for this is due to the increase in property prices. The Central Bank issued a letter to the commercial banks so as to avoid unwanted situations due to the sudden increase in prices. Central Bank Governor Christodoulos Christodoulou said there was no indication of high the price of property would rise of or whether they would fall.
MACHI “Children with special needs not insured” Cyprus Insurance Companies are refusing to insure children with special needs. Parents are terrified of sending their children with special needs to school in case they have an accident, as they won’t be covered by medical insurance. The Insurance Companies claim they will not insure children with special needs as there are so many of them attending school.
HARAVGHI “Crowds of Turkish Cypriots due to Ramadan” Wednesday marked the end of Ramadan and thousands of Turkish Cypriots took advantage of the holiday to come to the government controlled areas of Cyprus to the district administration building to apply for passports, identity cards and birth certificates. The place was crowded with Turkish Cypriots all applying for these documents. Since the opening of the checkpoints 8,253 passports have been given to Turkish Cypriots.
SIMERINI “Thousands of old bangers” Green party leader George Perdikis expressed his concern that there were too many old cars on the streets and that there would be more in a few years. The other parties are unsure that the government’s plan to get rid of old cars is working. DISY deputy Lefteris Christoforou expressed his uncertainty that it would work. He said that 2-3 months would be given for the government to implement their plan. There are 150,000 cars unfit to be on the streets that are older that 12 years; 90,000 cars are over 15 years old. Experts say a car should only run for 5-6 years.
