THE BODY of a British man who went missing from his Oroklini home on Monday has been found, police said yesterday.

The body of Edward Lewis Blythe, 39, was discovered floating near the Larnaca Sailing Club yesterday morning by a man working near the coastal path.

TORRENTIAL rain and strong winds yesterday caused chaos in Nicosia, with the Fire Department responding to dozens of calls as parts of the capital flooded.

“The calls concerned flooded basements, flooded roads and people trapped in their cars,” Nicosia Chief Fire Officer Miltiades Miltiadous told the Cyprus Mail.

A TOTAL of 44 illegal immigrants arrived in Cyprus over the past three days from Iraq via Syria and Turkey.

A new group of Palestinians from Iraq were arrested trying to cross over from the occupied areas in the early hours of yesterday morning – six men, two women and four children.

THE NATIONAL Guard is putting its old weapons up for sale, but strictly for purposes of collection.

The guns for sale are Lee-Enfield rifles No4 (Martinis), Bren machineguns and Sten automatics. The total number of weapons is 9,000, of which the overwhelming majority are Lee-Enfield Number 4s. There are also around 90 Brens and 1,000 Stens.

ETYK, the blanket bank employees’ union, has given the National Bank of Greece (NBG) until today to accept government mediation, otherwise it has threatened to up the ante.

THE EUROPEAN Commission yesterday amended the timeshare directive to protect consumers from the ever-increasing substitutes such as bogus holiday clubs.

Loopholes in the timeshare regulations allowed operators to morph into other forms of timeshare, without using the term.

ANOTHER day of carnage dominated global markets yesterday, and Cyprus was no exception, as the general index plunged 8.0 per cent, led by a continuing massacre of bank stocks.

The general index hit 1,531 points, its lowest level in 36 months, a loss of more than 66 per cent since the beginning of this year.

THE CRAVINGS of expats based in Cyprus and even those of Cypriots has led to a new market developing for an online food service specialising in British grocery items.

According to www.BritishCornerShop.co.uk, which sends branded food products to expats living abroad, hundreds of orders for British food products are flowing in from Cyprus since the service began this month.

THE OLD statue of Archbishop Makarios is today being moved from the court of the Archbishopric building.

The removal operation is due to begin around 8am, as workers cut through the cement reinforcement. The massive structure will then be carefully tipped over onto a platform, and taken for repairs and clean up.

The old statue was defaced by vandals in early September.

FOR MOST of yesterday, deputies were squabbling on radio and television shows over some school regulations that had been submitted to the House Education Committee for discussion. The regulations had been amended by the Council of Ministers and submitted to the legislature without any discussions being held.