APOEL and AEL defeated in FIBA Eurochallenge Last 16

2010-02-10

VLADIMIR Dragicevic scored 18 points and Ivan Maras added 17 as Montenegrin champions KK Buducnost Podgorica beat Madisons APOEL 89-76 in the third game of the FIBA EuroChallenge Last 16 on Tuesday night in Podgorica.

After a slow start to the Group K game, things did not look promising for the hosts as the Cypriot champions led by as many as 10 points in the opening stages of the second period when Brandon Heath made a three-pointer to make it 28-18.

However, from that point until the end of the first half, Dejan Radonjic’s men outscored the visitors 29-11 to take an eight-point lead at 47-39 as the teams headed for the locker rooms at half time.

Christofias: EDEK pullout was not a surprise

2010-02-10

FORMER COALITION member EDEK spent two years behaving more like the opposition than a government partner, said President Demetris Christofias yesterday in a strong-worded reaction to the socialist party’s decision to leave government.

The president said he was not surprised by EDEK’s Monday night decision, though he regretted it, and charged the party with acting in haste.

“It would be normal and ethically correct for the EDEK leader to have taken his decision after the planned meeting of coalition party leaders with the president,” said Christofias.

Parties back EDEK’s claim of being ‘kept in the dark’

2010-02-10

REACTIONS TO the withdrawal from government and Christofias’ response came thick and fast yesterday. Socialist leader Omirou said the president’s reply reflected unchanging positions which proved that EDEK’s decision was the right one. He argued again that the party’s requests for more briefings and “collective consultations” on the negotiations had fallen on deaf ears in two years.

He accused Christofias of missing a chance to withdraw the proposal on a rotating presidency when the Turkish Cypriot side submitted a host of confederal proposals to the table.

Trial date fixed for murder suspects

2010-02-10

TV PRESENTER Elena Skordelli, her brother Tasos Krasopoulis and Andreas Gregoriou were yesterday all referred to the Assize Court for direct trial for last month’s premeditated murder of media boss Andis Hadjicostis.

Despite objections by the defence lawyers of the accused, Nicosia district judge Charalambos Charalambous ruled that there was a prosecutable case against the trio and that they were to appear before the three Assize Court judges on February 22 at 8am.

As Charalambous announced his decision the three accused remained dead panned, their faces hard to read. Whether they will be held in custody pending their trial will be announced today after the trio’s lawyers also objected to that.

Neophytou: we’re taking Brussels for a ride

2010-02-10

 

Stavrakis clashes with deputies over Eurocypria bailout

 

TEMPERS flared yesterday as the House Finance Committee completed its consideration of the Finance Ministry’s request to inject €35 million into 100 per cent state-owned charter airline Eurocypria’s in the form of share capital.

Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis almost walked out, after DISY Vice President Averoff Neophytou appeared to accuse him of misleading the European Commission over the legality of the proposed cash-injection.

Prison doctor sees 60 patients a day

2010-02-10

THE PRISON doctor had over 8,000 visits from prisoners last year and the psychiatrist had around 1,500, the House Human Rights Committee heard yesterday.

Deputies heard that more medical staff and equipment was needed for the prisons, which have an average 600 prisoners at any one time even though it is designed to cater for only around 350.

“The provided health care in the prisons is, to some degree, unsatisfactory … under the circumstances,” Committee chairman Sofoclis Fyttis said. “However, it is necessary for the medical staff and equipment to be reinforced.”

Fyttis said last year the Central Prison doctor had examined over 8,349 people.

She works overtime and sees 60 people a day, Fyttis told reporters.

€4 million boost to ease jobless rate

2010-02-10

THE GOVERNMENT, along with the European Union are allocating €4 million as part of a new plan to bolster employment, it was announced yesterday.

The new plan of business subsidies should be up and running by next month, Labour Minister Sotiroulla Charalambous said yesterday.

“The timeframe is for the plan to run within the first 15 days of March … so that we put to use this tool in the battle to support employment,” the minister said.

The plan is co-funded by the EU with an initial budget of €4 million.

The aim is to use up all the funds within 2010.

Forces gather against ‘huge luxurious church’

2010-02-10

PARLIAMENT WILL look into the Town Planning Department’s decision to grant permission for a “huge” new church next to 500-year-old Ayia Paraskevi Church in Strovolos, said DISY deputy Christos Stylianides yesterday.

Plans to build the new church have met stiff opposition from local residents and environmental groups who argue that the “huge luxurious church” will dwarf the historic Ayia Paraskevi Church. The Strovolos Municipality has also voiced its reluctance to grant a building permit for the project, noting that it has no choice but to do so since Town Planning gave the go-ahead.

Lighthearted look at the cultural upheaval

2010-02-10

OMBUDSWOMAN Iliana Nicolaou and the New Theatre Group are putting on a play to combat discrimination toward migrants, which has been growing in Cyprus in recent years due  the “cultural upheaval.

The play, which was written by Andrea Koukkidou and directed by Fotos Fotiadis, premiers at 8.30pm on February 17 at the Pallas Theatre in Nicosia. Financial assistance for its production was provided by the European Union.

Titled “Allodapoi tsiai Topakes” or ‘Foreigners and Locals’ in English, the play is written and performed in the Greek Cypriot dialect.

It centres on a young Ukrainian woman named Tatiana who arrives in Cyprus to work as a housekeeper and earn enough money to support her ailing parents back home.

Concern over licences for 17 year olds

2010-02-10

AKEL yesterday expressed concerns over the efficacy of a proposed law to allow teenagers to get their learner’s driving licence a year earlier.

“It may look like a progressive measure but it has serious risks in increasing traffic accidents,” AKEL deputy Andreas Fakontis said after a meeting of the House Communications committee.

The bill provides that learner’s licences be issued to 17-year-olds on condition that every time they drive in the next 12 months they will be accompanied by a licensed driver over the age of 25.

Fakontis said this was dangerous considering that almost one in two people killed on the road were under the age of 25.

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.