A DATE for the resumption of Cyprus talks will be fixed in the next day or so UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan said yesterday in New York as all parties began to gear up for a last-ditch shot at a settlement before Cyprus joins the EU on May 1.
Sir, Hearing the recent horror stories about heating costs for houses in the mountains, I like would to suggest that, instead of subsidising fuel, the government should give advice and assist in financing investments for improving the energy economy of houses.
THE TROUBLE with not possessing a reverse gear is that the only way to perform a U-turn is with a violent yank on the handbrake. There is a terrific smell of burnt rubber coming off British Prime Minister Tony Blair. First, it was the transformation of rebel London Mayor Ken Livingstone from zero to hero. Now, much more seriously, it is Iraq.
AGAIN, yet again, the issue of prison overcrowding has come to the fore. The figures speak for themselves: Nicosia prison has a capacity of 274, and currently houses 430. It is bursting at the seams. Worse still, it is quite apparent that crime is on the rise. One only has to flick on the evening television to hear daily tales of armed robberies, break-ins, muggings.
IT’S a silent witness to the history of Cyprus: it’s lived through the Crusades, Venetian and Ottoman rule, British colonialism and independence. It’s revered by local villagers and Cypriots who visit from far and wide. And now the Forestry Department is seeking to give formal protection to an olive tree said to be almost 1,000 years old outside the village of Anglisides in the Larnaca district.
SIMERINI: “They abandoned their dead child…” A four-year-old boy died at a private Limassol clinic on Monday after his father rushed him there when he found his child unconscious.
Fact of the day: Your palms are sweaty, your legs are shaky and your computer doesn’t like you any more. The symptoms are clear: you’ve got the travel bug. So how difficult is to travel within the EU after accession? It’s not, as long as you’re a EU citizen of course.
FIFTY employees at a state-run old people’s home in Limassol yesterday went on strike, demanding the removal of a 74-year-old man suffering from staphylococcus. Workers at the Ayios Panteleimon home said they would remain on strike until the old man was removed. Caretaker Despo Pilavaki said staff were not trained to know how to protect themselves or even provide the necessary care to the man.
TEACHERS looking for a job in public education will face stiffer competition from Greek-speaking Europeans once Cyprus joins the European Union. With internal borders removed and freedom of movement in place, lower-paid teachers from Greece could join hundreds of Cypriot teachers on the lengthy ‘waiting list’ for a position in a government school.
THE owner of a Paphos land developing company was yesterday remanded for five days for allegedly receiving deposits on property and selling it to another buyer. The man was arrested on Tuesday night in Paphos. He allegedly sold the same house to various people and is thought to have collected large sums of money in deposits — and in some cases the full amount – from 2001-2003.
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.
