THE ODYSSEY of Cyprus’ moon rock, which has been missing for decades, is finally coming to a happy ending.
The piece of the lunar rock from the Apollo 17 mission, which should have been presented to Cyprus, but never was, has been recovered by NASA, ex-NASA special agent Joseph Gutheinz told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.
“I would not be surprised to see President Obama himself present this moon rock to the President of Cyprus. I am very excited that the last Goodwill Moon Rock will finally find its way home,” Gutheinz said.
Gutheinz, who is now a professor at the University of Phoenix, said NASA’s Office of Criminal Investigations had recovered the plaque and the lunar rock fragment after an unnamed person came forward.

A MEDICAL expert from abroad will be asked to investigate the case of a premature baby born in Limassol and reportedly pronounced dead, when the infant was in fact alive.

After gathering all the relevant information and evidence, Attorney-general (AG) Petros Clerides had said he needed an independent second opinion on the medical explanations offered by the doctors involved in the case.

The Health Ministry’s efforts to get a Cypriot obstetrician to take on the case have failed, after Minister Christos Patsalides received no reply from the Cyprus Gynaecologists Association’s 35 members.

This has been attributed to doctors’ reluctance to get involved in another specialist’s case and their show of solidarity towards their fellow professionals.

TWO PARTY leaders went to Brussels on Tuesday in an attempt to persuade representatives of different political groups at the European Parliament not to approve the direct trade regulation for the Turkish Cypriots. The response they were given, according to press reports, was that the European Parliament would not proceed to final approval of the regulation before the end of the year.

TWO 25-YEAR-OLD Jordanian men who live in Paphos were yesterday remanded in eight-day custody after they were caught red-handed with 500g of cannabis and almost $10,000 in counterfeit US$100 bills.

The duo were arrested on Tuesday night following a tip-off that they were transporting a kilogram of cannabis and $20,000 in fake $100 bills to the capital.

Police yesterday told the court they were still looking for the missing stash.

The court heard that the second suspect claimed he had been in Jordan in April when he was approached by the first suspect’s brother and asked to take $10,000 to his brother in Cyprus in return for $500.

THE MAJORITY of Nicosia residents disagree that the presence of foreigners is beneficial for their city, according to a European survey on quality of life.

EU city dwellers’ opinions about the presence of foreigners in their city were generally positive in 68 cities out of the 75 surveyed.

A slim majority of all the interviewees EU-wide, at least, strongly or somewhat agreed that the presence of foreigners was good for their city.

Respondents in the Nicosia sample, on the other hand were least likely to ‘strongly’ or ‘somewhat’ agree that the presence of foreigners was good – seven and 24 per cent respectively.

About two-thirds disagreed – 41 per cent strongly disagreed and 24 per cent somewhat disagreed.

SUNDAY shop opening hours in Limassol’s coastal area will be changed to better serve tourists arriving on cruises, the Labour Ministry has decided.

Labour Minister Sotiroulla Charalambous announced the news earlier this week, issuing a shop opening hours’ order for the summer period – starting from April 1 and ending on October 31 – according to which, shops in Limassol’s tourist area could only open after 1pm on Sundays.

This led to a series of reactions, seeing that Sunday mornings are usually very busy for the area’s shop owners, mostly due to the cruises that arrive on that day.

Last Sunday, the shopkeepers defied the ministry’s orders and opened up earlier. But instead punishing traders, the move alerted Minister Charalambous to the problem.

FREE WIRELESS internet access is coming to Paphos, courtesy of the municipality and state telecommunications authority, CyTA.

“We are planning to install free Wi Fi access in the most popular areas of Paphos,” said  yTA’s head of business customer services, Andreas Kampanellas.

“It will cover the Kato Paphos area along the coastal front, running from the castle up to the Penguin cafe. The area of coverage will also include Kennedy square,” he said.

The new scheme is a response to the numerous requests to install free Wi-Fi access from the mayor of Paphos Savvas Vegas and tourists and visitors to the town.

The areas to receive coverage were specifically chosen due to the high demand.

KONIA Mukhtar Kyriacos Kyriacou has announced that demonstrators will line the Paphos-Limassol highway close to the Konia roundabout at 11am on Saturday, to protest the lack of action by the government over their various concerns.

Outstanding issues include the large pig farm and the rubbish dump both situated in the area. According to Kyriacou, residents of Konia and the nearby villages of Armou, Marathounda and Yeroskipou have all lost their patience with the lack of action.

According to the mukhtar, the protesters hope to put pressure on all of the relevant authorities. called on the Interior Minister to start negotiating with the pig farm owner to arrange for its removal from the area.