Kofi Annan yesterday called on President Tassos Papadopoulos to take the initiative in responding positively to his appeal to cooperate in ending the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots.
UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan’s report is unfair and has misinterpreted the positions of the Greek Cypriot side, the government said immediately after its publication.
CANCER patients yesterday branded Health Minister Dina Akkelidou a criminal, claiming she was refusing to authorise the repair of treatment equipment in order to shut down the Nicosia General Hospital’s Oncology Department.
TURKISH Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Mehmet Ali Talat and Peace and Democracy Movement (BDH) leader Mustafa Akinci announced yesterday they had formed an alliance aimed at forming a new ‘government’ of “parties that said ‘yes’ to the Annan plan”.
RULING DIKO yesterday slammed the United Nations Secretary-general’s report on Cyprus, describing it as unbalanced and inaccurate.
Kofi Annan’s report was widely viewed as negative by the political leadership, though some interpreted it as leaving a window open for a future initiative to solve the Cyprus problem.
TURKISH Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Mehmet Ali Talat yesterday reacted angrily to charges brought against five journalists and the Kibris Media Group general secretary by the Turkish military in the north on Tuesday, branding the action as “inappropriate for these times”.
BELEAGURED Paralimni Mayor Nicos Vlittis and his son-in-law Andreas Kakoullis yesterday pleaded not guilty to eight charges of conspiracy to commit a crime, abuse of power and corruption.
Vlittis is accused of using his influence to hasten the issuing of building permits for coastal property developments by companies belonging to members of his family.
THE MANAGEMENT of state broadcaster CyBC yesterday lashed out at claims by staff union EVRIK that the monitoring of employees’ working hours had not been discussed with the union.
The employees last week staged a 30-minute strike over the state broadcaster’s plans to monitor staff via cameras placed in the corridors and next to the clocking-on machine.
AROUND 100 nurses yesterday threatened they would hand in their elections booklets unless Parliament amended the law on private clinics, which effectively puts them on the same level as untrained nurses, who only have work experience from the clinics.
Around 680 student nurses claim that upgrading older, unqualified nurses would jeopardise their future.
Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash said yesterday that the UN Secretary-general’s report merely thanked the Turkish side for saying yes in the referendum. Denktash, who was sidelined by the international community and refused to attend the last phase of negotiations, said the report was inadequate for the Turkish side.
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.
