DR MARIOS Matsakis may have done many crazy things in his life, but his decision to enter the National Guard’s Kalo Chorio firing range and disrupt an exercise was one of his more rational actions.

Had he not destroyed some of the targets, his act of protest would have been perfectly acceptable, even if he was charged with illegally entering an army firing range. Citizens, surely, have a moral right to act when they consider their lives or homes to be at risk.

OVER 200 Britons were detained in Cyprus in the past year as Cyprus ranked 10th among the top 20 countries where British nationals required the most consular assistance, according to a Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) report released this week.

The report said 207 Britons were detained in Cyprus, including 39 – down from 48 in 2009 — on drugs charges, between April 2009 and March 2010.

There were two cases of rape, compared to 10 plus four sexual assaults the previous year.

In all, the local consulate was contacted for assistance in 736 cases.

The island sees some 1.3 million visitors from the UK every year while some 59,000 Britons are permanent residents.

The FCO said 112 people required hospitalisation.

COUNTLESS British and other non Greek-speaking holidaymakers in Cyprus are at a disadvantage compared to locals if their flight is cancelled.

More than two weeks ago the European Commission launched an initiative requiring EU members to inform airline passengers of their entitlements to

compensation.

Cyprus’s Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) has published free information leaflets in Greek and English that are available at Larnaca and Paphos

airports.

“Both airports have full information leaflets throughout,” said Adamos Aspris of Hermes, which operates the airports at Larnaca and Paphos.

But most travellers these days rely on the Internet.

PROPOSALS tabled in the negotiations by the Greek Cypriot side but not accepted by the Turkish Cypriots could give new impetus to the process

aimed at achieving a solution soon, officials said yesterday.

“If accepted, the package of proposals repeated yesterday (Thursday) by President Demetris Christofias, will provide a boost to the negotiating

procedure with the aim of achieving a solution soon,” government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said.

The package, which has been previously proposed to the Turkish Cypriot side during the negotiations, suggests linking the discussion of three of

NATURAL gas will arrive on the island by 2014, the Trade, Industry and Tourism Minister Antonis Paschalides said yesterday.

Paschalides said his ministry is currently at the final stages of the negotiations with the short-listed companies for the selection of the natural gas provider.

After the selection of the provider company, the provider and the strategic investor for the natural gas terminal will be coordinated.

The natural gas project is expected to cost around a billion euros.

”A big effort and very hard work is underway so that we are ready in time,” Paschalides said, describing the natural gas project as ”perhaps the most important ever made in Cyprus.”

CYPRUS’ trade deficit for the first four months of 2010 reached 1.6 billion euro, according to figures released by Eurostat yesterday.

Total exports reached 300 million euro, recording an increase of 12 per cent compared to the corresponding period of 2009, whereas imports

declined by 8 per cent, compared to same period of 2009, reaching two billion euro.

For the same period EU-wide trade balance recorded a surplus of 19 billion euro concerning trade with the US, whereas the EU recorded a deficit

of 44.9 billion euro regarding trade with China and a deficit of 24.4 billion euro concerning trade with Russia.

POLICE were last night searching for a Romanian man who went missing while taking a swim in a lake in Nicosia.

The 37-year-old had gone fishing with a friend at the Manglis lake in the Archangelos area at around 8 pm.

His friend said he decided to go for a swim but then disappeared.

Divers and boats were being used to search for the man.

A DISY MP called for an investigation yesterday into the business contracts awarded to the civil engineering company owned by the chairman of left-wing football club AC Omonia, after a series of expensive new signings.

The latest deal is the more than €1 million reportedly paid for Andreas Avraam, a Greek Cypriot national midfielder who used to play for Limassol team Apollon FC, and which comes just weeks after the signing of Congo national player Lomana Trésor LuaLua.

In a written statement yesterday, DISY deputy Andreas Kyprianou said he wanted to raise the issue of Omonia’s signings, and asked to be informed on the contracts offered to club chairman, Miltiades Neophytou, the founder of Miltiades Neophytou Civil Engineering Contractors & Developers Ltd

THEIR monotonous drone became known around the globe during the football World Cup in South Africa during the past month.

Despite fierce criticism and complaints from spectators and players alike, FIFA refused to ban the humble vuvuzela horn in South African stadiums saying it was a fan tradition in that country.

But authorities in Cyprus yesterday banned the vuvuzela from football games, just as it started making its appearance on the island.

“In the event vuvuzelas are found carried by fans inside sporting venues or neighbouring areas they will be seized,” police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said.

Some fans have been spotted carrying the horns during European fixtures in recent days.