SIMERINI: “No more National Guard exercises in the summer”. The National Guard has decided to scrap its summer exercises in an effort to avoid the outbreak of fires. The decision was announced at the House of Representatives on Thursday when National Guard Commander Lieutenant General Athanasios Nicolodemos met with deputies to discuss the problem of having firing ranges next to the villages of Mitsero, Xintous and Kalo Chorio.
PHILELEFTHEROS: “He split his head open with a butcher’s knife”. Police are looking for a 21-year-old Bangladeshi man who is believed to have attacked his 26-year-old roommate with a butcher’s knife on Wednesday night. The pair allegedly argued, resulting in one picking up the knife and slashing the other’s head. The latter was rushed to hospital with severe head wounds, while the 21-year-old took off.
ALITHIA: “Eleni Antoniou creates complications at trial”. State pathologist Eleni Antoniou caused severe complications at the trial of four doctors connected with the death of a 14-year-old boy in 2001 after she said she had changed her original statement based on new evidence surrounding his cause of death. The evidence had been gathered by a Nicosia hospital haematologist who sent biological samples from the youth’s body to the UK for testing.
MACHI: “Zampelas: We are inexcusable”. Nicosia mayor Michalakis Zampelas said there was no excuse for the poor condition of the capital’s roads. “Whatever we say there is no excuse. Yes there is a problem with the holes in our streets,” he said. Zampelas was responding to the paper’s article the day before, which had likened Nicosia’s streets to streets of a bombed capital. The mayor added construction workers had already started to undertake the task of filling in the holes and that they should be fixed shortly.
POLITIS: “Counterfeit money found in prison”. Two Chinese men were arrested after they attempted to smuggle 12 counterfeit £20 notes into Nicosia Central prison. The 23-year-old and 25-year-old were arrested when police found the money hidden inside two cases they had brought to a Chinese friend of theirs serving time. A police search of the 25-year-old’s home uncovered another two counterfeit notes.
HARAVGHI: “Nikos Vlittis’ son-in-law arrested”. Former Paralimni municipal mechanic and son-in-law of disgraced Paralimni mayor, Andreas Kakoullis, was arrested late on Thursday afternoon on bribery and corruption charges. The arrest comes as no surprise, as investigators continue their enquiries into the affairs of his father-in-law, Nikos Vlittis. Kakoullis is long suspected of having abused his power and trying to cover up the fact.
