PHILELEFTHEROS: “Turkey making demands to the EU” In its lead story, the daily noted that Turkey had shown some signs of its negotiating tactics in the upcoming four-way talks in Switzerland. The Turkish government has asked the EU to clarify its position with regard to the derogations from the EU acquis in the Annan plan.
THE ASSASSINATION at dawn yesterday of the spiritual leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, by an Israeli missile has dashed any remaining hope of Middle East peace in the foreseeable future.
Does education currently provide children with the right skills? EDUCATION taking on change has always been a thorny issue. History has shown that one of the last areas of society to relinquish its grip on the cosy traditions of the past is, ironically, the very establishment that is preparing our youth for the world of tomorrow. This is as true today as it has ever been.
A ‘yes’ vote is the only way forward. Thank god for sensible people like Marina Christophides (‘Stop! You’re turning into a rhinoceros!’, Sunday Mail, March 21). Keep up the good work Marina in getting the message across. Never before have we been so close to a solution and I fear that this is our last chance.
“IF CHEN loses, the chances of war are about 20 per cent,” said Arthur Ting of Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, only days before the vote on March 20 in which President Chen Shui-bian was seeking re-election. “If he wins, the risk rises to 40 per cent.” He won. His margin of victory was narrow: 50.12 per cent of the votes for President Chen, versus 49.88 per cent for Lien Chan of the Kuomintang.
CYPRUS will implement EU counter-terrorism measures immediately upon joining the bloc in May, Justice Minister Doros Theodorou said yesterday. Theodorou recently attended an EU council of justice ministers and security chiefs with the purpose of developing an action plan against terrorists.
A 21-YEAR-old Pontian Greek is being held in police custody and five others are wanted for questioning in connection with the alleged rape of a 20-year-old Russian woman in Paphos on Saturday night. The woman was rushed to the Paphos general hospital on Saturday by police officers after she showed up at the police station injured from what she claimed was a gang-rape.
THE results of a first-time study on the Greek and Turkish Cypriot neighbourhoods of the old town of Limassol were presented to the Interior Minister and local authorities yesterday.
A 41-year-old Greek Cypriot man was killed in a traffic accident in the occupied north on Sunday, the first such fatality since restrictions on the freedom of movement were partially lifted last April. Panicos Panayi from Limassol was killed on the Kyrenia to Morphou road at 11pm when his car veered into the oncoming lane and crashed into a bus.
THE GOVERNMENT yesterday announced it had signed an agreement with Britain for the installation of a monitoring station at Akrotiri that will measure the levels of electromagnetic radiation emitted from the massive new Pluto antennas. In a written statement yesterday, the two governments said the issue of the monitoring station had been under discussion during the past 12 months.
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.
