OPPOSITION DISY chief Nicos Anastassiades yesterday warned his political rivals that his party was a force to be reckoned with following the surprise victory in Sunday’s Euro elections.

SUNDAY night was a jubilant one for DISY’s 86-year-old honorary chairman Glafcos Clerides, who saw all predictions overturned and the party he founded in 1976 regain the top position in the country’s political scene.

IN THE wake of April’s referenda to decide the island’s future, Sunday’s Euro elections contained mixed signals for the smaller parties, raising concerns for some while sending optimistic messages for others.

A GLITCH emerged yesterday over who would take the seat of AKEL deputy Adamos Adamou in the House of Representatives following his elections as Member of the European Parliament.

TURKISH Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul yesterday called on the international community end to the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots.

Speaking at the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Istanbul yesterday, Gul appealed to the international community to encourage direct economic, commercial, social and cultural relations with the Turkish Cypriots.

TWO Nicosia men were yesterday remanded in custody for seven days in connection with a heroin trafficking ring that has already caused the death of ten people this year, police confirmed.

TURKISH Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Mehmet Ali Talat renewed calls on Sunday for an early election after party leaders fail to establish a three-way coalition in the north.

DEMOCRATIC RALLY (DISY)

Ioannis Casoulides

Received 67,251 preference votes
Studied Medicine at the university of Lyons, France. Served as Government Spokesman in the Clerides administration from 1993 to 1997; was later appointed Foreign Minister, a position he retained until February 2003.
“Today, Cyprus has consolidated its European identity.”

THE Euro Elections may have been big news on the Greek Cypriot side, but it created barely a whisper of reaction in the north, with many of yesterday’s Turkish Cypriot dailies failing to give the polls even a passing mention.

THE BOSS of a 20-year-old Georgian artiste suffering from AIDS and deported last week after admitting that she slept with six men, has been arrested, police confirmed yesterday.

The 20-year-old was working at a cabaret owned by the 60-year-old suspect, and admitted she had had sex with six men, before going missing two weeks ago.