THE House Health Committee finally agreed yesterday on the long-awaited final draft of the bill for a comprehensive public smoking ban, which looks set to be voted into law by parliament on Thursday.

THE GOVERNMENT wants parliament to approve an extra half a million euros to cover the cost of hiring 112 police members to provide security for the island’s two new airports.

The ministers of justice and communications were at the House Finance Committee yesterday to push the point that it was in the public interest for the state to control security at the airports.

AROUND 150 rural bus drivers caused near gridlock on Nicosia’s streets yesterday as they drove their buses en masse into the city to protest against government plans to radically reform and upgrade public transportation.

Turkey seeks to impress ECHR regarding remedy

A DAYTIME bomb explosion at Temptation club in the Yermasoyia tourist area of Limassol over the weekend has increased fears of public safety.

The high-intensity bomb exploded at 5pm on Saturday in a busy area, with hundreds of people in the vicinity.

THE reappearance yesterday of abducted 57-year-old George Ellinas in Paphos and its possible link to illegal money-lending yesterday resulted in a wave of calls for harsher laws and more prosecutions to clamp down on the phenomenon.

THE ongoing dispute between residents of Ineia village and the government over developing Lara Bay gained momentum on Sunday when villagers held a demonstration on the beach.

Community leader Savvas Charalambous has been at the forefront of moves to allow development in areas of Lara Bay, the protected breeding ground of the green turtle.

THE chances of Qatar investing in a luxury hotel project on state-owned land opposite the Nicosia Hilton now seem to be less firm than has been suggested previously, amid rumours of different investment priorities on the Qatari side, and even a lack of enough cash to go round.

COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER Nicos Nicolaides yesterday pushed back implementation of the controversial “2+ lane” transport measure for next week, citing high congestion as the reason for the extra delay.