Asylum seeker dies after benefits cut

2010-09-14

A DIABETIC Congolese asylum seeker died in his Nicosia hostel room yesterday after it emerged welfare services had cut his benefits denying him vital regular meals.

Antoine Bassumga, 41, was found unconscious in his €200 per month room at the Alexandria Hotel by the hotel’s cleaner Malanie Jayasindhe and his next door neighbour at 10am yesterday.

They called paramedics, who confirmed that Bassumga had died, but they refused to remove the body. Police later carried him away in a squad car.

The cause of death will be confirmed at an autopsy at 10am today. However, the early signs suggest his death could be due to a diabetes induced coma, indirectly the result of being left penniless when he slipped through cracks in asylum services bureaucracy.

Probe into drug sting farce allegations

2010-09-14

THE CHIEF of Police has launched an investigation into allegations that the Cyprus Drug Squad YKAN seriously bungled a major drug sting operation last week and managed to lose seven kilos of cannabis in another operation back in July.

Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said that the chief of police Michalis Papageorgiou received a preliminary report into the most recent allegations yesterday and that the incident was “probably a failed sting operation”.

According to reports, the drug enforcement agency used the help of a Syrian ex-convict to bring in 12 kilos of cannabis into the country under the protection of YKAN. The drugs were paid for by YKAN and the Syrian, who had purchased the drugs in Holland, was instructed to find a Cypriot buyer.

Christofias holds out olive branch

2010-09-14

PRESIDENT DEMETRIS Christofias yesterday met with the leaders of government partner DIKO and opposition party DISY in a possible effort to piece together some semblance of unity ahead of today’s National Council meeting.

He first met with House President and DIKO leader Marios Garoyian who came out the meeting saying he expected to see “tangible moves towards closer cooperation between the government and DIKO” in the coming days.

Speaking to reporters, Garoyian said: “I believe we took some steps forward.”

Title-deed legislation edges closer

2010-09-14

LEGISLATION designed to tackle the bane of unlicensed constructions across the island, as well as spelling out who is responsible for what in real estate transactions, could be ready by next month and may at long last bring relief to thousands of ‘trapped’ property buyers.

It’s estimated there are some 100,000 Cypriots and foreigners without title deeds for their properties, the majority because of building permit violations.

Politicians are working on a cluster of bills involving a so-called ‘town planning amnesty’ and at the same time accelerating the issuing of building and town planning permits, which under the present circumstances takes years.

Official launch of church’s new charter

2010-09-14

PRESIDENT Demetris Christofias asked the Holy Synod of the Cyprus Church yesterday to show a little more trust in the way he is dealing with the national issue.

“The message that I would like to direct towards you is that of more trust between us, more dialogue between us,” he said in a speech to the Holy Synod to mark the inauguration of the church’s new charter at the Archbishopric in Nicosia.

“The dialogue is missing and we need it so that there can be more understanding between us.”

Paphos primary school has just two classes

2010-09-14

PARENTS of children attending the village primary school in Choletria have stopped their children attending school in protest over cutbacks which will cut the number of what should be six classes to just two.

Lavrentios Polycarpou, the district officer of pubic education said that the number of children attending the school in the Paphos village had fallen to 27 from 29 last year.

“These cuts are as a result of the economic crisis and there will be no exceptions applied to any schools, as regards the regulations and permitted teaching time,” Polycarpou said.

Helmets the focus of road safety week

2010-09-14

SEVENTY-EIGHT per cent of the motorcyclists who have died since the beginning of 2010 were not wearing a helmet, according to Demetris Demetriou, director of the Traffic Police Department.

During the same period 2,000 fines were issued to those not wearing a helmet, he told a press conference yesterday to launch the 11th annual Road Safety Week, in the presence of the Minister of Justice Loucas Louca.

Louca said that road accidents were a social plague, and that road safety is everyone’s business. “For us to decrease the number of road accidents, cultivating a solid road safety consciousness is of undisputable importance,” Loucas said.

This year’s campaign entitled “Road Safety is not a Fairytale” is partially directed towards primary school children.

Manhunt for armed robbers

2010-09-14

THE POLICE unleashed a frenetic manhunt yesterday after an armed robbery took place at a Bank of Cyprus in Limassol.

At 9:15 am two individuals used a crowbar to pull open the electronic controlled doors of the bank, they then proceeded to pull out a sawn-off shotgun and threaten the staff and five of the bank’s customers.

The criminals took 21,800 euros in cash and made their getaway on a motorbike. Limassol CID chief Yiannis Georgiou said that the suspects spoke in Greek and that the police have both a description of the perpetrators and the model of the bike that was used by them in their escape.

Confident Anorthosis set the pace in Cyprus

2010-09-14

 

ANORTHOSIS coach Guillermo Angel Hoyos looked forward to the season ahead after his side beat APOP Kiniras 3-0 at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium in Larnaca on Sunday.

“We knew from the start that the game would be difficult but we really wanted to get the victory,” Hoyos said.

“The first half was very hard as APOP controlled the game well and we did not have any good opportunities,” he added.

“Fortunately for us, we scored early in the second half and from then on we were able to impose ourselves onto our opponents and play well. Congratulations to the players and the fans on their help. We will now have much more confidence for the games to come,” Hoyos concluded.

Our view: Referendum a shot in the arm for Erdogan

2010-09-14

THE US and the European Union welcomed the result of Sunday’s constitutional referendum in Turkey. The reform package that would make the country more democratic was approved by 58 per cent of the voters, in what was another resounding political victory for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Pollsters had been predicting a very close result in the run-up, but in the end the ‘yes-vote’ won by a respectable margin. There was a paradox in that support for the reforms that bring Turkey more in line with the EU was much stronger in the cities of Anatolia; opposition to the reforms was strongest in the Europeanised cities of Marmara which include Isanbul.

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.