IT IS not very often that the party leaders see eye to eye on any issue of public importance. Yet the commendably resolute stance taken by Attorney-general Solon Nikitas on the issue of presidential pardons to prisoners at Christmas has united them.
DOCTORS of the World-Cyprus has sent two teams of physicians to the Gaza Strip and the Iranian town of Bam, recently reduced to rubble by a devastating earthquake. Headed by Eleni Theocharous, the team of surgeons visiting Gaza will be carrying out approximately 100 operations on Palestinian children with various birth defects.
THE National Committee Against Drugs has met with President Tassos Papadopoulos to discuss new strategic measures that must be taken to fight the battle against drug use in Cyprus. Health Minister Dina Akkelidou, Interior Minister Andreas Christou, Justice Minister Doros Theodorou, Labour Minister Makis Keravnos and Education Minister Pefkios Georgiades also attended the meeting on Monday.
MORE than 350,000 cigarettes and other contraband have been seized by British Bases (SBA) customs since restrictions on the freedom of movement restrictions were partially lifted by the Turkish Cypriot side last April, an SBA statement said yesterday.
THE Ministry of Labour has initiated a round of talks with unions in a bid to reach agreement on a new regime for opening hours for small shops and supermarkets, but the task appears daunting from the outset. A complex law dating back to 1960 is still in force in Cyprus; the ministry is working on a bill to amend it and streamline all matters relating to the operation of small shops.
THE TURKISH Cypriot Democratic Party (DP) is expected today to give its reply on whether it agrees to co-operate with the Republican Turkish Party (RTP) in forming a ‘government’ in the occupied north. The official proposal was made by RTP leader Mehmet Ali Talat on Monday. DP chief Serdar Denktash said yesterday that an answer should be expected by the latest by this morning.
PRESIDENT Tassos Papadopoulos said yesterday he would be soon replying to a letter from US President George Bush urging all sides involved in the Cyprus problem to return to the negotiating table immediately to resolve the island’s political problem.
A 50-year-old man strolling through Nicosia’s Municipal Garden on Sunday night was mugged, in the second such incident in less than a week. According to the victim, it was about 8pm when two men approached him and asked him to hand over his money. Another two men then came along and began punching him in the face. The victim told police he believed the perpetrators were foreigners.
LIMASSOL police yesterday opened a manslaughter investigation into the death of a British tourist beaten up by three men in the early hours of New Year’s Day. The victim, identified as London resident Stuart Butler, died in Nicosia’s general hospital on Monday. He had been receiving treatment for serious cranial injuries.
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.
