THE government announced yesterday it would be issuing €1.4 billion in treasury notes in a bid to boost the banking sector’s liquidity – but it remains to be seen whether the benefits will trickle down to the consumer.
CONVICTED murderer Antonis Prokopiou Kitas, better known as Al Capone, was yesterday still at large, five days after escaping Apollonion Hospital where he was being treated.
The Cabinet is today expected to reach decisions on how to deal with the escape, in a meeting that will be joined by the Attorney-general.
PRESIDENT Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat met yesterday to discuss external relations.
This was the leaders’ 12th meeting in the framework of direct talks which began in September.
The UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for Cyprus Alexander Downer said the pair discussed “the external relations, powers of a federal government”.
THE GOVERNMENT is determined to support the tourism industry during the international economic downturn, assured Commerce Minister Antonis Paschalides yesterday during a gathering of tourism’s leading players.
TWO men wielding a sawn off shotgun and a knife held up the Laiki Bank on Makarios Avenue in Chlorakas outside Paphos yesterday, making away with €40,000.
At 9.30am the robbers entered the bank wearing tracksuits and crash helmets, threatening staff with the gun and a knife.
A 43-YEAR-old Indian housemaid was killed yesterday when a car ploughed into her bicycle as she was cycling to work in the Famagusta district, police said.
Thembi Kagarla was knocked down by a small van just after 7am on the Avgorou-Frenaros road near the industrial area.
THE PLENUM yesterday began a three-day debate on the 2009 state budget.
The debate started by observing a minute’s silence in memory of former President Tassos Papadopoulos, who died last Friday of lung cancer.
CHANUKAH celebrations will receive a significant boost this year as 4.5 metre tall Menorahs are erected around Cyprus, the Cyprus Jewish Community Centre said yesterday.
A special celebration, including the participation of local dignitaries, will be held in Larnaca this Sunday, December 21.
THE TEMPORARY floating desalination plant at Moni in Limassol is now fully operational, pumping 20,000m³ of water per day. Following a 72-hour trial period, Water Board technicians confirmed that the plant is running smoothly and could start sending water to the reservoirs of the Limassol Water Board.
THE GREEN party yesterday slated the government for its “incoherent” energy policy, noting that while the EU was funding a solar energy plant in the north, the Cyprus government had yet to take a decision on solar technology.
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.
