JUSTICE Minister Doros Theodorou yesterday charged Attorney-general Solon Nikitas of wrongly accusing him of ulterior motives over the New Year pardons list of inmates proposed for early release. The minister said Nikitas had created an image of conflict between the two which he did not share or wish to cultivate.
LOCAL authorities in Larnaca are to consider the fate of buildings in Ermou Street after two derelict structures began to crumble under heavy rain. Tiles and parts of the wall of an old hotel, To Kypros, and of a derelict building belonging to Stavros Mentonis fell to the street overnight. Mayor Andreas Moiseos said traffic police had closed off Ermou Street yesterday morning.
A PEDESTRIAN killed in a hit and run accident in Limassol yesterday brought to five the number of people killed on the roads since New Year’s eve. That compares to no fatalities during the 2002-2003 New Year period. The body of Christakis Ioannou, 58, was found at 4.30am on Grivas Digenis Street in Limassol just near church of St. Nicolas. He had been struck by a car that fled the scene.
TURKISH Republican Party leader Mehmet Ali Talat said yesterday he could not see a coalition being formed between his party and the National Unity Party of outgoing ‘prime minister’ Dervis Eroglu. Talat – whose party came out top in the December 14 ‘parliamentary’ elections – on Monday received a mandate from Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash to form a ‘government’ in the north.
POLICE have launched an investigation into last month’s suicide of National Guardsman Charalambos Apostolides, after fresh claims that he was systematically abused in his barracks.
LIKE EVERYONE else, I too will engage in the traditional discussion of last year’s events in this, the first column of 2004. Keeping to our own events here in Cyprus, I think we can safely say that 2003 followed the usual insane and paradoxical course, a course characterised by our inconsistent, haphazard and ludicrous political behaviour.
Sir, Trades Descriptions Act: an edition of the Sunday Mail (December 28) that does not include the Coffeeshop by Patroclos cannot, inter alia and ipso facto, be considered to be a legal copy of the said Sunday Mail. If this occurs again, I will have to send the boy round. Please ensure that this omission is not repeated. I.M. Wotchingoo, Paphos Patroclos returns next Sunday, January 11
May 2004 bring happiness, love and unity to Cyprus. The people deserve it. Be careful do not kill the Goose that lays the Golden Eggs (Tourism and expats, not forgetting the Cypriot consumer): small long-term profits will prove much better than the greedy fast buck which has taken off over the past three years (bars, restaurants, supermarkets, domestic appliances, exchange rates).
Sir, As a regular tourist, and someone concerned about animal welfare, I salute the children from the Pancyprian Gymnasium in Nicosia (Cyprus Mail, December 23) for demonstrating against the cruel conditions suffered by the animals in the awful zoo in Limassol. I shall not return to Limassol until their conditions improve.
Sir, I have just read with great interest and amusement Ambrosia’s Social Diary in the Sunday Mail (December 28). Regarding her resolution number 5 (“Stop threatening my kids they’ll become plumbers if they don’t study – plumbers are handy people to have around”), perhaps she should actually encourage her kids to study in order to become plumbers, and a great deal of study they would need to do.
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.
