THERE’S an argument in progress over the dinner table. It’s about books, those things with paper and spines that disintegrate when you read them in the bath. I’m not saying my companions are technophobe Luddites but they are vigorously dissuading me from buying a Kindle. ‘Why, on earth would you want one – what can replace the pleasure of a real book?’
NAOMI Campbell may be dim-witted and self-centred, and the poor schmuck she gave the diamonds to thirteen years ago is in deep trouble even though he never tried to turn them into cash, but she certainly is useful. If she hadn’t been forced to testify, nine out of ten people wouldn’t even know who Charles Taylor is.
See? It worked. Unless you were on Mars last week, you already know that Taylor, the former Liberian strongman, is on trial at The Hague on charges of terrorism, murder, rape, enslavement and torture. You know it because the star-struck Taylor gave Campbell some illegal “blood diamonds” when they were both Nelson Mandela’s guests in South Africa in 1997, and because Mia Farrow (who was also there) eventually blew the whistle on her.
THE RECESSION is officially over, and the extra government revenues resulting from the increase in economic growth will help to reduce the budget deficit further, Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis announced yesterday.
Stavrakis said that the preliminary growth rate announced yesterday by the Statistical Service of 0.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter of 2010 compared to the previous quarter “confirms the government’s forecast that the recovery of the Cypriot economy has started very gradually, and is expected to speed up in the second half of the year.”
IS THE PRICE of fresh milk too high in Cyprus? Newspapers and radio stations seem to think so and in the last few days they have been carrying reports about profiteering by dairy farmers, dairy companies and shops, as they complain that we pay the highest price in Europe for milk. Is this really an issue or has the problem been created by journalists during the slow season for news?
A GOVERNMENT plan to introduce UK style speeding cameras throughout Cyprus’ road network could mean the end of the road for speed demons and drivers who dial, it emerged yesterday.
However, they need not rush to protest yet, since the €20 million project to install 304 cameras is not expected to be completed before 2015, and that is only if approved by the finance ministry and council of ministers.
The justice ministry said yesterday it would take five years to install the cameras, of which 277 will be fixed at traffic lights and on highways, and 27 mobile.
Of the mobile cameras, 16 would be car mounted, and 11 free standing. These would be able to identify drivers who are on their phones, not wearing seatbelts, jumping red lights and speeding.
POLICE yesterday confirmed they were investigating a complaint by a teenage girl with special needs, who was reportedly raped by two schoolmates at a special-needs school.
“It is a delicate and serious matter, and the police are dealing with it as such,” police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said yesterday.
The incident was brought to light by the 15-year-old girl’s mother, who not only revealed her daughter had been indecently assaulted twice over the past year at school, but that at least another 11 complaints had also been made to the police during the same period.
At the mother’s request, Phileleftheros newspaper yesterday published the distressful conversation between the reporter and the victim’s mum.
THE NEW Nicosia bus system, although a month behind schedule, will be fully operational with new timetables ready for distribution by the end of the month, said the head of OSEL, the company running the capital’s buses.
Iordanis Iordanou said that since the company took over operations of the Nicosia bus system last month, 20 out of the 21 planned bus routes have been introduced. OSEL was using the downtime of the slow summer months in the capital to train drivers on the 21st route which cuts across Nicosia.
THE POLICE Complaints Commission has absolved the police of any responsibility involving the death of a 16-year-old motorcyclist, who was killed in an accident last December in Larnaca.
The Commission had been investigating the case after the victim’s fellow students claimed 16-year-old Vasilis Theakou – who wasn’t wearing a helmet and had no licence – was being chased by a policeman before the accident occurred. The Attorney-general ordered a probe into the matter.
But the Commission yesterday announced its ruling: “No responsibility lies with the police.”
POLICE were yesterday in search of a 20-year-old Briton, who escaped custody in the morning after being remanded by Famagusta District Court in connection with a robbery and serious assault charges.
His compatriot, aged 23, also escaped but was later found in Paralimni and taken into custody.
“Famagusta CID is in search of Andre Terrif Walker, 20, from the United Kingdom, to assist investigations regarding a robbery and assault causing grievous bodily harm – crimes that were committed on August 4, 2010, in Ayia Napa – as well as his escape from legal arrest,” police said. “Anyone with information…should contact Famagusta CID or the nearest police station or the public hotline on 1460.”
THE 36TH ANNIVERSARY of Turkey’s second offensive against Cyprus was condemned across the local political spectrum yesterday.
On August 14, 1974, Turkish troops expanded their occupation to include the tourist resort of Famagusta in the east and the rich citrus-growing area of Morphou in the west. In total, almost 37 per cent of the island ended up under Turkish occupation.
Turkish troops first invaded Cyprus on July 20, 1974, five days after the legal government of the late Archbishop Makarios III was toppled by a military coup engineered by the military junta then ruling Greece.
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.
