A BURGLAR who broke into a co-op bank in Nicosia was arrested yesterday after falling asleep when he couldn’t find anything of value.

He was found by a cleaner early in the morning, but missed by a police patrol dispatchjed to the building when he triggered the alarm.

MEP Marios Matsakis wants an end to all military parades in and around Cyprus, and has requested the European Parliament to appeal to EU governments to put a stop to them.

In a letter to President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Pottering yesterday, Matsakis said every year the “sides” in the Cyprus dispute hold large military parades and various military exercises.

THE GOVERNMENT yesterday handed 374 title deeds to refugees wanting to build a home on their own plot of land.

At a special ceremony marking the event, Interior Minister Christos Patsalides said this was part of a wider drive to issue more than 6,000 title deeds by the end of the year.
Another 5,200 deeds would be made available in 2008.

PRESIDENT Tassos Papadopoulos yesterday appointed former foreign minister and AKEL member Georgios Lillikas to run his re-election campaign ahead of the February 2008 presidential elections.

According to a press release, Lillikas was appointed head of campaign staff in agreement with the parties that support Papadopoulos’ re-election: DIKO, EDEK and the European Party.

A NICOSIA court yesterday threw out a lawsuit filed by a Cyprus-based Serbian businessman claiming the Popular Bank withheld his money in a secret account allegedly linked to sanctions-busting for the Milosevic regime.

Predrag Djordjevic had been seeking compensation and damages in a 900,000 Deutschmark (DM) transaction he said was never completed.

CYPRUS Airways (CY) is hoping to receive the green light from the European Commission for a wage increase for its low-paid employees, despite a pay freeze under the airline’s restructuring plan.

The plan calls for a freeze for a period of five years, or until the ailing national carrier has been profitable for two consecutive years.

THERE WAS a measured reaction from Cyprus yesterday after the re-election of Conservative Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis on Sunday.

Karamanlis is set to form a new government tasked with implementing promised reforms, after winning a second term on Sunday with a reduced parliamentary majority.

THE government plans to delay until mid-2008 the implementation of a raft of VAT increases that the EU wants imposed on January 1, while pushing the EU to allow a derogation until 2010.

THE HEALTH Ministry will immediately take steps to improve existing services at Athalassa hospital’s autism wing, the minister said yesterday.

Speaking to reporters following a visit to the ward, Costas Kadis said that fixing up special areas for autistic children would have a significant improvement on conditions at the ward.