THE FINANCE Minister expressed fears yesterday that inflation on the island could get out of hand if it was not carefully regulated.

FRIENDS and relatives of the victims of the Helios flight that killed 121 people in August 2005 yesterday called on the Attorney-general to waste no more time in starting criminal proceedings.

A 52-YEAR-OLD man was yesterday arrested in connection with the death of 233 trees in Cyprus.

The trees, planted along various roads on the island, have withered over the last 20 days, under conditions that are still being investigated by the police.

NATIONAL carrier Cyprus Airways (CY) expects to record losses for 2008, its chairman Kikis Lazaridis said yesterday.

FORMER Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer publicly embraced his new role as the UN’s special envoy for Cyprus yesterday, saying he was encouraged after meeting the two leaders.

“INAPPROPRIATE decision-making by human beings is the number one factor which places swimmers in danger in unsuitable conditions.”

That was the verdict of Glafcos Cariolou yesterday, who is a member of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation’s Central Coastal Committee.

He was speaking out following the drowning of a 32-year-old man on Sunday off the coast of Paphos.

MARATHOUNDA rubble dump will finally close in September, after facing severe opposition from residents for over a decade.

The tip at Marathounda was opened in 1997. In 2005, the government signed an EU convention, to confirm they would build a special rubble dump for Limassol and Paphos, as is required by the European Union.

RESIDENTS and tourists staying close to an Ayia Napa fun fair have complained that excessive noise into the early hours of the morning is making their lives a misery.

Tour operator Thomas Cook, which books many of its customers into Ayia Napa’s Panthea Village, situated beside the Palatsio Luna Park, has had enough of the situation.

TWO ILLEGAL immigrants from Iran were arrested in Xylotymbou at around 1.30am yesterday while they were on the Dekeleia-Achna-Famagusta motorway.

THE EUROPEAN Commission has signed grant contracts with 26 sheep and goat farmers in the north to help them pay for dairy hygiene equipment such as milking machines and cold tanks.