ALTERING the standards of halloumi production could undermine the government’s efforts to register it as a traditional speciality, Agriculture Minister Photis Photiou warned yesterday.

The minister was responding to dairy farmers’ objections over how to define the popular cheese prior to its registration as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) under EU law.

COMMUNICATIONS Minister Harris Thrassou yesterday denied reports he had attempted to persuade a US court to reject the Helios Relatives’ Victims Committee’s request to file lawsuits against Boeing and Helios in America.

STUDENTS at the Nicosia Nursing School yesterday walked out of class indefinitely after their demand for abolishing state exams was rejected.
Spokesman for the students Renos Nearchou said students felt the exams – without which students cannot obtain their diploma – were unnecessary and insulting, as similar ones were taken during the course of their studies.

AROUND 20 stenographers of the Nicosia Courts went on strike yesterday in protest over working conditions.

The strike, which lasted around two hours and saw most of yesterday’s criminal and legal cases grind to a halt for most of the morning, came as workers claimed their “pleas were being ignored” by administrators at the court.

THE Cyprus Republic has the sovereign right to oil and gas exploration in the island’s exclusive financial zone, European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said yesterday.

Piebalgs was speaking after meetings with President Tassos Papadopoulos and Foreign Minister George Lillikas, having arrived in Cyprus to present the EU’s Energy Policy for Europe.

TWO MEN have been ordered to stand trial at a Nicosia Criminal Court to answer to charges of possession and dealing around 300 grams of cannabis.

THE ATTORNEY-general’s office is said to be investigating to what extent a senior Education Ministry employee submitted false documents to secure a promotion.
The investigation, reported in Phileleftheros yesterday, was launched after the AG received a complaint from another ministry employee who had applied for and failed to secure the same promotion.

POLITICIANS yesterday stepped up their exchanges on explosive allegations that corrupt employees inside state telecom CyTA were selling private communications information for a price.

On Wednesday, the Cabinet gave the go-ahead to police to investigate the case. It was daily Politis that broke the story on Monday.

PAPHOS police yesterday busted a gang of three British burglars, who admitted to a number of break-ins.

The three young men were arrested after Paphos CID received a tip-off over a recent robbery in a tourist lodging.

According to Paphos Police Director Lambros Themistocleous, the men had admitted to the crime, along with a number of others.