THE CYPRUS Post Office released its 2010 Christmas stamp set yesterday, along with a new commemorative stamp to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the European Court of Human Rights.

The Christmas series comprises of three stamps, with values of 21 cents, 51 cents and 68 cents.

POLICE YESTERDAY arrested a second person in connection with the alleged trafficking and exploitation of 110 Romanian workers.

A 42-year-old Romanian woman living in Nicosia was arrested on suspicion of being the accomplice of the 38-year-old Cypriot man arrested last week over the same case.

According to a police source, the woman is believed to have been responsible for monitoring the workers at a “camp” in Tseri where the workers were kept in prefab units.

DIKO yesterday enhanced its image as a party in confusion, washing its hands of Nicholas Papadopoulos’ onslaught against President Christofias.

“Mr. Papadopoulos did not inform the party [that he would make the comments], nor did he ask for, nor he get authorization from the party, therefore he is voicing personal views,” party spokesman Fotis Fotiou said at a news conference yesterday.

“The Democratic Party does not espouse the personal views, assessment, analysis or rhetoric of Mr. Nicholas Papadopoulos or of any party cadre who may voice personal opinions,” he added.

THE RULING National Unity Party (UBP) in the north has carried out its threat to monitor and regulate EU programmes and funding by blocking the participation of 15 Turkish Cypriots in an EU-funded environmental education programme in the Czech Republic, it emerged yesterday.

The move came just weeks after the right-wing UBP, in power since April this year, introduced a bylaw into the north’s international aid regulation that effectively transferred the final say on Turkish Cypriot applications for EU funding to the ‘foreign ministry’.

Twenty-one Turkish Cypriot civil servants were to have taken part in the environmental education programme in the Czech Republic at the beginning of November. However, only six were given permission to go.

THERE IS no management system for solid waste such as construction debris in Cyprus, the House Environment Committee heard yesterday.

A lot, if not most, of the building debris ends up in landfills, or worse, in river beds and streams, blocking the flow of water and flooding large areas when there is heavy rain.

The committee discussed the matter yesterday in the wake of the floods, which caused a lot of destruction to properties in various communities last month.

It is quite a common sight in Cyprus to see dry river beds with hills of debris or even streams levelled to make way for the construction of houses.

Green party deputy Giorgos Perdikis, presented a slideshow of photos of various areas in Cyprus where such practices are common place.

THE state is unable to properly check overtime claims by civil servants and consequently overtime payments have been mounting year by year.

In 2008, total government overtime expenditures reached €62.3 million, an eight per cent increase on the previous year.

According to Treasury figures, the worst offender in 2008 was the medical sector (state doctors and nurses). Substantial increases were also recorded for the Department of Correctional Facilities.

From an admission by Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis, it can be gleaned that the mechanism for checking overtime claims is ineffectual, meaning that such payments may well be an unnecessary drain on the cash-strapped treasury.

ANIMAL lovers have been left stunned after it was announced that one of the island’s leading sanctuaries may be forced to close.

An email sent to the press yesterday, stated that if funds cannot be found urgently, the Argos shelter will shut down by the end of the year.

“It is with great sadness we are forced to announce that unless we receive financial aid at Argos, which presently shelters over 200 animals, will be forced to close down,” the statement read.

“Due to the great number of unwanted and abandoned animals that make their way to the Argos shelter, it is impossible to sustain over 200 animals any longer.  With debts of over €100,000, we are bankrupt”

DOCTORS yesterday were cautiously optimistic over the condition of EVROKO Vice-President Nicos Koutsou, who is recovering from surgery after suffering a stroke earlier this week.

Koutsou was hospitalised Wednesday after suffering a stroke during a prerecording of a studio debate for Antenna TV.

Petros Petrides, the medical director of Nicosia General Hospital, said Koutsou has been taken off the respirator which he was connected to following surgery that involved draining blood from an intercranial haematoma. The procedure was carried out on Wednesday and repeated yesterday.

“He appears to understand and to respond to instructions. This is very encouraging for the patient. But a lot more work is needed,” Petrides told journalists.