MORE than 170 bus drivers packed Makarios stadium with their vehicles in Nicosia yesterday to protest against the start of an upgraded, cut-price, islandwide bus system due to start operating tomorrow.
Bus drivers from all over the island took part in the protest with plans to block the roads in front of the Presidential Palace, Parliament and the Communications Ministry either today or tomorrow.
THE government was yesterday considering a request from the United States authorities to have access to the confiscated laptop computer of fugitive suspected spymaster Robert Christopher Metsos.
Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said yesterday that the Ministry of Justice had received a request for court assistance from the US authorities on Friday evening.
The request specifically asked for access to “any objects or documents found in the possession” of Metsos, who is suspected of being the paymaster of an alleged Russian spy network operating for years in the US.
DEBENHAMS’ stores in Limassol and Ledra Street, Nicosia are planning to install indoor “smoking cafe” areas.
George Aniliades, Managing Director of Ermes which operates 10 Debenhams stores in Cyprus, said yesterday “We respect the law (banning smoking in indoor public spaces) and we respect both our smoking and non smoking customers.”
Asked why the stores were introducing closed-off indoor smoking areas six months after the smoking ban was put in place, Aniliades said “We’re trying to give the option to smoke within the law. Many of our customers are smokers and we are trying to give them the option within the law.”
THIRTY-FIVE trade unions have decided to go on 24-hour strike tomorrow in protest against the administration’s package of economic austerity measures.
According to Turkish Cypriot daily newspaper Havadis, tomorrow’s action may be followed by a continuous strike.
Turkish Cypriot daily newspaper Volkan wrote that the opposition Republican Turkish Party (CTP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) are both urging on the workers to take strike action.
Recently-elected Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu has the unpopular task of cutting public spending, on instructions from the Turkish government. In practical terms, Ankara plugs any gaps in the north’s public finances to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars every year.
IF YOU’RE fed up with those illegally parked cars on the corner of your street every day, or the rotting mattress on the empty plot of land opposite your house, help might just be at hand.
A new website, fixcyprus.com, is offering the public the chance to alert local authorities to recurrent problems in their neighbourhood. Officials from a number of municipalities are working work with fixcyprus.com and the website serves as a forum where the two groups can communicate. The website’s goal is to help local problems reach each municipality’s attention as quickly as possible.
“We try to keep it simple,” said Giorgos Mili, one of the websites operators. “We try to avoid vague or general complaints so that we can help the municipality.”
NICOSIA Municipality is making the most of the city’s pleasant summer evenings by putting on a series of free entertainment at various open spaces in and around the old town.
‘Summer Nights in Nicosia’, which runs from July until the end of September, includes a wide variety of musical, theatrical and other performances for all tastes from both local and international artists.
“These unique nights in the capital promise a rich and enjoyable artistic summer to all those who choose to stay in Nicosia,” said Nicosia Mayor Eleni Mavrou. “Nights in our city are truly special and I believe with cultural creativity they become unforgettable.”
EXCAVATIONS of the late Bronze Age settlement at Dromolaxia Vizatzia (Hala Sultan Tekke) have unearthed a rich array of imported and local bronze and pottery artefacts.
The finds at the ancient city which were carried out in May by the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, under the direction of Professor Peter M. Fischer, witness the central role Cyprus played during the Late Bronze Age, the Antiquities Department said in an announcement on Friday.
The ancient city was inhabited during the Late Bronze Age, which dates roughly to 1600-1100 BC. The city was once as large as 25 hectares making it one of the largest ancient cities of the period on the island.
WHEN I wrote on June 20 that Alexander Downer’s comments on June 5 suggested that he had understood he was dealing with lunatics, I had not read the interview he had given to the Turkish Cypriot paper, Cyprus Observer. The interview confirmed the fact that he has got our number.
What Downer said, quite courageously, was the quintessence of the Cyprus problem. The man has understood that we do not want a settlement and that we are taking the UN, the EU and everyone else for a ride. This was the reason he became the target of a nasty attack by all the hardliners as well as representatives of the government.
It is clear to me that the writer of your editorial (The English School: fighting for its soul, June 27) fails to appreciate and respect the right of the majority of the school’s students and parents to decide if the school has a Greek Cypriot character or not.
AMERICAN exceptionalism, when it runs rampant, is a tsunami to be avoided. The oil company BP is discovering that right now.
The environmental disaster destroying seaside communities around the Gulf of Mexico and killing off marine life is a globally important tragedy. BP has to take its sizeable share of the blame. So, presumably, should the American companies like Transocean and Halliburton, which were part of this doomed enterprise. But their nationality seems to have let them off the hook.
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.
