CYPRUS yesterday marked 50 years of the Republic against a backdrop of 36 years of division and ongoing negotiations to try and reunify an island whose 1960 unity lasted only three years.
The occasion was marked by a grand military parade, speeches, pomp and ceremony, from the gun salutes at sunrise and sunset to the main cultural event at the Tassos Papadopoulos stadium last night.
THE ANGRY reaction generated by President Christofias’ remark which apparently equated the 1974 Greek Junta-orchestrated coup with the Turkish invasion was out of all proportion. It certainly did not warrant the political mass hysteria that we witnessed in the last few days, with outraged newspapers, television and radio shows treating a few badly-chosen words as an issue of colossal significance.
THE HEADLINES in the Western media all said more or less the same thing when Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu pulled the plug on the latest round of the “Middle East peace process” on Sunday. “Netanyahu urges (Palestinian leader Mahmoud) Abbas to continue peace talks as building freeze expires,” they said, or “Netanyahu appeals for calm as freeze on settlements runs out.” Et cetera.
The implicit message was that this moderate, reasonable man is still pleading for peace, even though circumstances beyond his control are making it harder to achieve. Let us hope that the Palestinians can find it in their hearts to be equally reasonable and peace-loving.
TO FEED or not to feed that is the question creating one almighty row in a street near us in Athens. It all started innocently enough a young British expat her heart touched by the skeletal kittens raiding the silver garbage bins decided to start putting out saucers of milk. The milk became plates of food, then, aided by foreign friends and younger Greeks, store bought cat food.
Word got out about the soup kitchen, and more and more cats sat and waited each day mewing under the trees beneath her window until she arrived home, until the Greek family on the first floor had had enough and started shouting at her to stop it.
THE EUROPEAN Commission has warned Cyprus that it must abolish the requirement for EU seafarers working on Cypriot boats to be residents of Cyprus in order to join its social security scheme, or face the European Court of Justice.
The Commission considers that the situation infringes EU law on the coordination of social security systems. Its request takes the form of a “reasoned opinion”, which is part of the European Union’s infringement procedures. Failing a satisfactory response within two months, the Commission may decide to bring Cyprus before the European Court of Justice.
NICOSIA Municipality has filed a lawsuit against the surveyor, civil engineers and building contractor in charge of the €6-million renovation of the Municipal Theatre, the roof of which collapsed on to an empty auditorium in 2008.
Attorney-general Petros Clerides ruled previously that there was no criminal responsibility, leaving the municipality no option but to pursue a civil suit.
The write is against the architectural surveyor, civil engineers and the contractor who were commissioned to complete the refurbishment following a fact finding report into the causes of the collapsed roof, which the Municipality hopes will reveal negligence on the part of the developers.
NEW LEGISLATION empowering police to confiscate cars from Monday will only apply to cars with unreadable or missing number plates police said yesterday.
Traffic police sergeant Tassos Ashikkis said that the new law does not have any provision for towing away cars that infringe other traffic laws, such as parking on double yellow lines. “Currently there are no bills regarding this, although preliminary discussions are taking place.” Ashikkis said.
“For the time being, the regulations provide police with the authority to confiscate cars which have no number plate or whose number plate is unrecognisable. Cars will be transferred to a place prescribed by the chief of traffic police.”
FORTY THREE Paphos farmers have threatened to go on hunger strike next Tuesday if they do not receive subsidies they say were promised to them.
The sheep and goat farmers plan to assemble outside the Paphos offices of KOAP, the organisation for farmers’ payments, at 10am in protest.
They say some 4,000 animal breeders lodged applications with KOAP during the last three months and they are the only ones still waiting for money. The farmers have been told this delay was due to a member of KOAP staff being off work sick.
According to the president of the district committee of animal breeders, Evagoras Chrysanthou, the breeders have waited long enough for their financial claims to be settled.
TWO ROMANIANS caught stealing sausages, were arrested yesterday in connection with a burglary at a kiosk in Kiti, Larnaca, which occurred at 2am yesterday.
The men were discovered when they broke the back window of a nearby electronics shop, the alarm of which was connected to the owner’s mobile phone. When he came running he saw the two men fleeing the scene.
After calling the police, who asked to see the CCTV footage, the two men were discovered to have been legitimately buying beer, while also stealing two packets of sausages from the fridge.
Following police investigations the first burglar was identified and taken into custody, followed by the second.
A 71-YEAR-OLD pensioner from Mazotos was taken in for questioning by the Drug Squad (YKAN) late Thursday in connection with the alleged possession of weapons and cannabis.
Police said they found two hunting guns, one cannabis plant, and a cigarette butt in his kitchen dustbin that was said to contain cannabis.
The cannabis was confiscated by YKAN Larnaca and the two guns by the police in order to run ballistics tests at police headquarters despite the fact that the cartridges were blank.
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.
