SCHOOL canteens were in chaos yesterday and around one in three children went hungry during their break due to confusion over the euro. Primary school children were the biggest losers, unable to cope with receiving change in euros and in working out how much they had to pay for their sandwiches.
THE CONTROVERSIAL ferry service between occupied Famagusta and Latakia in Syria has been temporarily suspended after Georgia struck the vessel from its flag, mainland Turkish Daily News (TDN) has reported.
FORMER Foreign Minister and businessman Alecos Michaelides died on Sunday at Paphos General Hospital. He was 74 and had suffered chronic health problems in recent years.
Born in Paphos, Michaelides made a notable contributions to his hometown’s tourism industry opening its first four-star hotel.
CYPRUS Airways (CY) said yesterday it had informed the electronic fraud office of a scam involving its subsidiary company Zenon NDC.
Known as ‘phishing’, such scams are an attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card and bank details, by pretending to be a bank or company.
THE SHELTER of the Cyprus Society for The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has announced that it will be closing on January 20.
There are still 37 dogs and 23 cats remaining in the shelter, which has appealed to animal lovers to assist by adopting one of the animals, which they say are all healthy and good natured.
THE EURO changeover has proved to be a success in Cyprus and Malta in the first week of January. The changeover of all cash and non-cash transactions to the euro appears to be going swiftly and without noteworthy problems. After only a few days, the euro had already largely replaced the Cyprus pound and the Maltese lira in people’s wallets and purses.
A STUDENT protest against the British Bases turned violent last Friday when protesters used metal bars, stones and flares against Sovereign Base Area (SBA) police, injuring seven and causing one officer to lose his front teeth.
A FIRE broke out in the toilets of Nicosia Central Prison’s Block 10 at 5:30am yesterday. The fire was promptly dealt with by guards using fire extinguishers and no one was hurt. Investigation are ongoing, with initial indications point to arson. Block 10 is where immigrant prisoners are detained and has been the topic of controversy and seen some unrest in the past few months.
ANKARA HAS developed two different plans for Cyprus depending on whether incumbent President Tassos Papadopoulos or AKEL leader Demetris Christofias wins next month’s elections, Turkish Cypriot press reported yesterday.
ALITHIA: “Mammoth incomes from properties”. The daily writes that the state received a first-of-its-kind increase in Capital Gain Tax during 2007, mainly due to the activity that took place in the property sector in view of the pending VAT on land purchases. In the first 11 months of 2007 the state received £422.3 million in taxes.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
