OVER 8,000 drivers have lost their licence for various periods of time since the point system was introduced, police said yesterday.

At present, 3,313 drivers have over 10 penalty points while 8,381 have so far lost their licence for various periods of time.

“Most are under 25-years-old and this is worrying,” traffic police chief Demetris Demetriou said.

A licence is taken away when the driver reaches 12 points.

Demetriou said most penalty points had been imposed for speeding.

Points are deleted three years after the day they were imposed.

The news came after three more young people lost their lives in separate road accidents within 15 hours over the weekend.

THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) is ready to invest a record €300 million in Cyprus in the current year, some 50 per cent more than in 2009, EIB Vice-President Plutarchos Sakellaris said yesterday.

Sakellaris said that following discussions with Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis, the EIB will seek to build on last year’s record investment of €202 million, not only in the form of cheap lending to banks but also through the direct financing of infrastructure projects such as the municipality sewage systems.

AMID news that crude oil hit an eight-week high above $82 a barrel, near its highest this year, the government said yesterday it was fast-tracking a bill enabling it to cap wholesale fuel prices.

The Consumers Association meanwhile urged the government to come clean on whether price controls for essential goods were possible or not, following press reports that a legal relic from the 1960s allowed for price caps.

At the moment the government can only set a ceiling on the retail price of fuel and gas. The hole in the law was laid bare recently when oil companies selling directly to the consumer did not comply with a price ceiling as they were not obliged to.

A 20-YEAR-OLD man was yesterday jailed for six years after he was found guilty of robbing over €200,000 from a Nicosia district Co-operative bank in January last year.

Nicosia Assize Court president judge Harris Solomonides said the case was one of the most serious of its kind and expressed concern at the defendant’s young age and the rising number of crimes of a similar nature in today’s society.

“The severity of the sentences is a way and a measure to act oppressively and catalytically, and to give society and every aspiring offender the appropriate messages,” Solomonides said.

LESS THAN one in ten women in Cyprus hold top positions in business and government, according to figures released yesterday to mark Women’s Day today.

Women are still not present at the centres of decision-making power, something which is a fundamental problem in Cyprus, Justice Minister Loucas Louca said, repeating a theme heard often throughout the day from various quarters.

“The aim of equality of participation of the two sexes in the social life and workings of Cyprus is still very far away,” said Lia Kallidou, the President of the Cyprus Gender Equality Observatory Board at a public debate organised jointly by the European Commission with Strovolos Municipality.

A 35-YEAR-OLD Ukrainian woman was yesterday remanded in custody for six days in connection with pimping and trafficking at least three other Eastern European women in Nicosia and Larnaca.

The raven-haired suspect was initially indignant at her arrest but later calmed down and through her lawyer said she had no objection to being held to assist police with their investigation.

The woman was arrested in connection with a sting operation earlier last week involving a Nicosia apartment transformed into a massage parlour offering sexual services. The information that the apartment was operating as a brothel was received through a tip-off, CID officer Sophoclis Sophocleous told the court.

Cyprus is to embark on an international campaign to promote the island as an international business services centre and to attract foreign direct investment, Commerce Minister Antonis Pachalides said yesterday.

The campaign will cover 21 countries, in Europe, the Balkanks, the Middle East, the Gulf, Eurasian countries, as well as developing Asian countries.

This year’s campaign starts on a positive per cent, despite a decline in tourist arrivals, while the registration of foreign companies rose by 23 per cent compared to 2009.

Both Paschalides and the President of the Chamber of Commerce Industry and Tourism Manthos Mavrommatis said that Cyprus could become an international services centre and an attractive country of foreign direct investment.

LIMASSOL Marina Ltd has signed an agreement with Camper & Nicholsons Marinas for the operation of the new Limassol Marina.

The marina is expected to welcome the first yachts in the Autumn of 2012. It will be able to accommodate all types of vessels, from sailing yachts to megayachts, and will feature a dry dock for light repairs and maintenance. It will bring a new level of quality and service to yachting on the island and provide facilities of the highest standard.

FOUR policemen were injured Sunday in the latest outbreak of football violence. Police are examining CCTV footage from the GSP stadium in Nicosia, but so far there have been no arrests.

Trouble erupted after the final whistle at a league fixture between APOEL and AEL, teams whose die-hard fans have a long-running vendetta.

Stadium authorities and police had devised security arrangements to keep the two sets of fans apart by allowing the home team supporters to leave the grounds first. With the final whistle, loudspeakers instructed the visiting AEL supporters to remain in their seats while the APOEL fans exited the stadium. The majority complied.