THE CYPRUS powerhouses gained a slight advantage in the first-leg games of the cup quarterfinals, although football pundits would agree that “It’s not over until the fat lady sings.” Nicosia big guns Omonia settled for a 3-3 draw with AEK, but will be playing the second leg on home turf and can reasonably hope to progress to the semis.
PHILELEFTHEROS “Foreigners committing crime” The government is concerned about the increase in crime committed by foreigners and Justice Minister Doros Theodorou has informed police they are not to hesitate deporting those who break the law. He made statements yesterday saying murders and attempted murders were mainly committed by foreigners.
OFFICIALS yesterday admitted it was hard to attract attention to any issue unconnected with the historic reunification talks in Switzerland, but made a pitch for greater consumer awareness in the run up to EU accession on May 1. Speaking at a news conference to mark Consumers’ Day, Commerce Minister George Lillikas sough to highlight the importance of consumer protection.
COFFEESHOP patrons at a Limassol village averted a possible tragedy on Saturday, when an enraged father sought payback for an insult on his teenage son. The incident took place at the village of Ayia Fyla. Apparently a customer at the coffeeshop told off a 16-year-old who had set fire to a dustbin. Villagers later told police that the youngster had a habit of such vandalism.
POLICE are investigating an attempted murder in the mountain resort of Platres on Sunday, but no leads have come up so far although the victim has named some suspects. Around midnight on Sunday, 75-year-old Andreas Moustakas was accosted by an unidentified man as he left his apartment and was making his way to his parked car. The suspect fired two shots with a hunting rifle.
THE TRAGIC death of a five-year-old boy saved the life of a 54-year-old woman in end stage renal failure, Cyprus’ transplant foundation confirmed yesterday. Phivos Petrou Demosthenous from Larnaca was declared clinically dead on Saturday afternoon at Nicosia general hospital after suffering a brain aneurysm.
A 22-YEAR-old Paphos man was yesterday remanded in custody for eight days after his 16-year-old girlfriend told police he had forced her into prostitution, using the money to feed his drug habit. After months of threats from her boyfriend, the teenage girl on Sunday finally plucked up the courage and went to the police.
POLICE have stepped up controls at ports and airports in the hunt for the killers of three Russians bludgeoned to death in Peyia last week.
EUROPEAN Green Party Deputy Daniel Cohn-Bendit has warned his party would attempt to stop Cyprus’ accession to the EU should the Greek Cypriot side vote ‘no’ in the referendum in April. In an interview with Phileleftheros, Cohn-Bendit warned the Cyprus Greens that their party would be isolated if they continued to hold a negative stance on UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan’s plan for a settlement.
THE latest opinion poll measuring Greek Cypriot feelings about the Annan plan and the ongoing negotiations has shown an increasing scepticism among Greek Cypriots on the viability of the final settlement.
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.
