AS OF YESTERDAY, 11,500 people fleeing Lebanon had already disembarked at Cyprus ports, according to Foreign Minister George Lillikas, although it remains unknown how many of them remain on the island.

PARLIAMENTARY Undersecretary of State at Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office Lord David Triesman arrived in Cyprus yesterday to thank the Cypriot government for its assistance in the Lebanese evacuation and the excellent handling of the situation.

THERE were scenes of fatigue and frustration yesterday at the Nicosia State Fair, where American evacuees from Lebanon were given temporary refuge before being bussed to Larnaca airport and flown back to the United States.

CANADIAN Prime Minister Stephen Harper diverted his plane to Cyprus on Wednesday to pick up Canadians fleeing Israeli air strikes in Lebanon.

Harper, in Europe at the end of a week-long three-country tour, decided to divert his Canadian Forces Airbus to pick up as many citizens as he could before returning to Canada.

IMMIGRANT support group KISA yesterday accused certain government officials of violating the human rights of some Lebanese nationals either stranded on the island or not allowed to enter as temporary refugees of war.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail yesterday, KISA Chairman Doros Polycarpou said they were getting reports of various incidents occurring around the island.

THE Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KEBE) has requested the Interior Minister, Andreas Christou, to allow shops and stores to remain open during the weekend in order to better service the thousands of evacuees from Lebanon, who have a huge demand for products such as clothes, food and other essentials.

ON THE 32nd anniversary of the 1974 Turkish invasion, memorials and other events were held throughout the free areas to pay tribute to those lost during the war.

HESITATION over Turkish membership of the European Union and US policies in the Middle East are causing an anti-western backlash in Turkey, the country’s foreign minister was yesterday quoted as saying.

ALLEGED pornographic material featuring a senior priest from Limassol and a young boy caught in sexual acts could be presented to the Holy Synod today.

The material has been handed to Paphos Bishop Chrysostomos, the locum tenens of the Archbishopric throne, who has promised to examine the evidence himself and, if he deemed it necessary, present it to the Holy Synod today.