FURIOUS passengers and holidaymakers were left feeling helpless yesterday after the disruptions caused by the air traffic control work to rule protest in Greece.

Jonathan Mills, who lives near Leeds, was due to fly out for a three week holiday with his wife and two daughters on the cancelled Cyprus Airways (CY) flight from Manchester to Larnaca. He said felt let down by the airline.

“We have received no support whatsoever,” he said. “They [CY] haven’t been in touch at all.” Surprised by the lack of help, Mills said: “I expect a higher level of service from a national carrier.”

IT IS rather ironic that a government, run by a communist, who rarely has a good word to say about the market economy, is doing much better than its predecessors in attracting foreign investment. Last week it was announced that one of the world’s biggest, private energy trading companies would build an oil product terminal facility in Vassiliko, estimated to cost €100 million.

Heat stroke symptoms can sometimes mimic those of a heart attack or other conditions, and sometimes a person experiences symptoms of heat exhaustion before progressing to heatstroke.

Symptoms of heat exhaustion include: nausea, vomiting, fatigue, weakness, headache, muscle cramps and aches, and dizziness.

However, in some cases people can develop heat stroke without any of the above. The most common heat stroke symptoms include: high body temperature, absence of sweating, with hot red or flushed dry skin, rapid pulse, difficulty breathing, strange behaviour, hallucinations, confusion, agitation, disorientation, seizure or even coma.

INCREASED humidity levels and high temperatures over the next three days have led experts to urge people to steer clear from strenuous outdoor activities during the day.

The Meteorological Services yesterday announced that although temperatures should be slightly lower today the humidity levels are so high the public should avoid being outside as much as possible. From tomorrow even greater care should be taken as temperatures will rise.

During the day, people are urged to avoid being out in the sun or carrying out strenuous exercises. They are also advised to wear light clothing and use hats as well as sunglasses. Avoiding alcohol consumption and heavy eating is advisable too.

UNLESS all the political parties and the social partners co-operate soon to significantly reduce public spending, the country’s economy runs the risk of suffering the same fate as Greece and falling into a fiscal crisis, Central Bank Governor Athanasios Orphanides said yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference on the results of the EU’s stress test of 91 European banks’ debt portfolios, Orphanides said that “unfortunately, we have seen a severe worsening of the budget deficit in Cyprus, and all the analysts and international credit ratings agencies, as well as the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the majority of analysts in Cyprus, have all established that there needs to be an extremely serious effort to improve public finances.”

DESPITE an improving track record, Cyprus needs to do more to crack down on human trafficking and protect the rights of asylum seekers and refugees, the Council of Europe has said.

In a letter addressed late last month to the Interior Minister, Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, welcomed the “progressive measures” taken to combat trafficking in human beings, but added it was crucial for Cyprus to “step up efforts to eradicate this scourge totally”.

The letter followed the Commissioner’s visit to Cyprus on 10 June, focusing also on the human rights of asylum seekers and refugees. In it, Hammarberg welcomed the measures taken to combat trafficking, in particular the abolition of the “cabaret artist visa”.

CONSUMERS are being urged to take extra care when cooking chicken, after it emerged that ten in every hundred chickens that reach households are infected with salmonella.

Furthermore, 30.6 per cent of slaughtered chickens have been found to be infected with campylobacter – the number one cause of food poisoning in the EU.

Even though the figures seem daunting, Cyprus’s salmonella levels (10.5 per cent) are lower than the EU average of 15.6 per cent. And the numbers of chickens with campylobacter in Cyprus is significantly less than the EU average of 71.2 per cent.

THE contract to build a third wind farm was signed yesterday as part of Cyprus’ EU commitment to produce 13 per cent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020.

The wind farm will be constructed in Ayia Anna (Larnaka) by Rokas Aeoliki Cyprus Ltd and will produce 20MW of electricity. The 20-year subsidy scheme will be financed by the special fund for renewable energy resources and by the sales of energy produced by the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC).

The contract is part of a series of subsidies available for encouraging electricity production by wind, solar thermal and photovoltaic systems the Minister of Commerce Antonis Paschalides explained at the contract signing yesterday.