Sir,

I live in Anglisides and would like to pass on our heartfelt thanks to the EAC technicians that turned out in atrocious weather to restore power to our houses.

POLICE have arrested a Nicosia bar owner on suspicion of attempting to deal around 100 grams of cocaine.

The suspect, who is said by police to be 38 and to have dual Cypriot and Lebanese nationality, was arrested by Drug Squad (YKAN) officers as he was walking from his car on Filios Zannetou Street in Nicosia at 6pm on Monday afternoon.

A NICOSIA businessman yesterday testified against two men – one a former archbishopric chief accountant – claiming that they had blackmailed him out of £100,000.

State Prosecutor Alexia Shapanis has accused Ionas Alexandrou and Chrysostomos Philippou of multiple counts of blackmail and theft that allegedly took place between 1999 and 2000.

EMPLOYEES at the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) have warned of dynamic measures, including possible strike action, if the government goes ahead with plans to build a floating unit instead of a land facility processing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

The threat came as a ministerial committee decided yesterday to initiate tenders for an offshore storage facility.

CYPRUS’ refusal to conform to EU directives over the importation of biofuels has not gone unnoticed by the EU, which has already delayed sanctioning the island over the matter.

A ROW broke out between teachers’ unions and deputies yesterday during discussions in Parliament over the extension of teachers’ retirement age.

Unions OELMEK, POED and OLTEK walked out of the House Education Committee when they spotted representatives of the newly-formed union, SEDEK, set up by teachers who are in favour of extending the retirement age from 60 to 63.

EIGHTY PRIVATE Retirement Homes have given the Labour Ministry until Monday to increase their patient fees by almost £200.

Failure to satisfy their demands could result in the eviction of several thousand elderly patients.
But Labour Minister Antonis Vassiliou made it clear he would not be blackmailed and that the ministry was prepared to deal with any eventuality.

FIVE FLIGHTS in and out of Larnaca Airport were yesterday cancelled due to a 24-hour general strike called by Greece’s leading labour unions.

A four-hour work stoppage by Greek civil aviation authority staff entirely grounded flights between 12 and 4pm, with Greek national carrier Olympic Airlines saying that it would cancel around 60 domestic and international flights.

AN EMPLOYEE of the National Bank of Greece in Cyprus yesterday called on bank union ETYK to put an end to their strike, as it had left the staff “devastated beyond belief”.

The worker, who wished to remain unnamed, told the Cyprus Mail that all were now worried for their jobs.