FIVE people will face the dock on criminal charges relating to the 2005 Helios air accident, Attorney-general Petros Clerides revealed yesterday.

Speaking to reporters, the AG said his office had decided to prosecute after a careful review of the police probe into the disaster and its causes

STOCKS gained close to 4.5 per cent yesterday, the second significant consecutive rise as banks continued to recoup recent heavy losses.

The general index closed at 1,700 points following a session that opened in the black and rose steadily until closing time.

Laiki rose six cents to €2.80 and Hellenic went up seven cents to €1.57.

A 21-YEAR-old woman from Limassol has admitted that she supplied the dose of heroin to 22-year-old Marios Theodorou, who died from an overdose of the hard drug, police said yesterday.

A SPECIAL steering committee to manage a possible tourism crisis is to be set up immediately, Tourism Minister Antonis Paschalides said yesterday.

Following a meeting of stakeholders in Nicosia, Pasachalides said it was decided the best way forward was a committee that met regularly and could take decisions quickly.

FINANCE Minister Charilaos Stavrakis said yesterday he was pleased with the EU’s forecasts for the Cyprus economy for 2009.

Speaking in Brussels where he was attending a meeting of European Finance Ministers (ECOFIN), Stavrakis said it was good to see such strong predictions for Cyprus in the midst of an international financial crisis.

THIRTEEN parliamentarians from the international community will be joining peace activists on a third voyage to Gaza this Friday.

The SS Dignity will be leaving Larnaca at 5pm for Gaza with 13 members of parliament from Britain, Ireland, Italy, Turkey, Wales, Switzerland and Scotland on board.

THE ELECTRICITY Authority of Cyprus (EAC) yesterday categorically denied claims that it would increase electricity prices, but said instead it would gradually reduce them because of the reductions in international fuel prices.

THE LEADER of the opposition, Nicos Anastassiades, met with President Demetris Christofias yesterday to mend fences after the unlikely alliance between the two took a battering last week.