Breaking News: Eurocypria staff go on strike

2010-11-03

Eurocypria airlines staff have decided to go on an indefinite strike starting tonight. It had been announced initially that the strike would start at 6 am on Thursday, but state broadcaster CyBC reported that a Moscow flight scheduled for 9.20 pm tonight from Paphos has been cancelled because pilots feel psychological pressure due the situation and are unable to fly.

The decision to strike was taken after it emerged that the company would shut down on November 13 and the 320 workers will apparently be left in limbo.

 

Limassol takes centre stage for Rally

2010-11-03
HERE’S a definite buzz in Limassol today, as the resort once again prepares to host Cyprus’ premier international sporting event: the FxPro Cyprus Rally.
The fun starts tonight with a ceremonial start on the Limassol seafront at 7pm, followed by the first ever running in Cyprus of a specially constructed Super Special Stage at the new port, where competitors will run two together over the two-kilometre track.
The rally is the final round of the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) and also Round 7 of the 2010 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC).

Just because men have a ………..

2010-11-03

I saw a really enjoyable BBC funded film the other night called, Made in Dagenham. It is a rather amusing, fictionalised account of the women’s strike, at the Essex car plant in 1968, that led to improved working conditions at Ford and ultimately to the Equal pay Act in 1970. The main character in the film, Rita, the leader of the strike, says, “we gotta demand pay that reflects the job you do not whether you got a dick or not.” How true, we say.

Cyprus Airways to axe Birmingham flights

2010-11-03

FLIGHTS TO the UK will be axed by Cyprus Airways (CY) in favour of destinations in Europe, the airline said yesterday.

Flights from Larnaca to Birmingham will be axed in March in addition to those from Paphos to Heathrow and Birmingham. The airline had been dithering over the decision regarding the Paphos flights.

After initially announcing that CY would stop Paphos-Heathrow flights, the airline seemed to back track, stating that the flight would not be cut for the time being after Paphos mayor Savvas Vergas, Paphos MPs and other officials caused a furore.

Wave of parcel bombs sweeps Athens

2010-11-03

SECURITY was stepped up in sensitive areas of Cyprus yesterday after a wave of mail-bomb explosions in Greece, police said.

Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said the force is taking “additional security measures” at certain locations, especially entry points into the republic.

“Intensified checks are also carried out at interests which could possibly be the target of a terrorist act,” Katsounotos said.

Small bombs exploded at the Swiss and Russian embassies in Athens yesterday and a parcel containing explosives was intercepted at the German chancellor’s office, the latest in a wave of attacks by suspected Greek leftist guerrillas.

Our view: In our democracy we are not all equal

2010-11-03

AFTER a week’s silence, President Christofias finally spoke about deputy Attorney General Akis Papasavvas’ tooth implants at the weekend. Predictably, he avoided the real issues – the division of our society into first and second class citizens when it came to free healthcare and the way top state officials use their positions for personal benefit – despite arrogantly proclaiming that we “must respect the rules of operation of democracy”.

DISY questions unfair pensions

2010-11-03

THE OPPOSITION yesterday laid bare the disparities of an unfair pension system that affords some three pensions while others live under the poverty level.

“While one in two pensioners live under the level of poverty… the system has created the extremely privileged,” DISY deputy chairman Averof Neofytou said.

Neofytou said there are many people in Cyprus who receive two, three, four and even five pensions at the same time.

“If one has served in three state positions they could claim three pensions,” Neofytou said. “I was mayor, minister and today an MP. At 60 I will claim three pensions.”

Neofytou highlighted the big gap between state and private workers’ pensions.

New poisons being used to kill dogs

2010-11-03

THE START of the hunting season has already taken its toll on hundreds of dogs as hunters involved in ‘turf wars’ turn to new poisons to kill the animals.

In addition to daily poisonings, hunters are now reportedly resorting to mass poisonings of dogs in so called “turf wars”.

“There are huge rivalries between some hunters, who want to show off how many kills they have. Also some do not want others to hunt on what they perceive as their turf, so they go ahead and poison their rival’s dogs,” said president of the Hunting Association, Anthony Kakoullis.

In their attempts to undermine others, hunters are poisoning prey and even artificial water fountains.

Outrage follows PACE official to north

2010-11-03

THE POSITIVE climate marking the visit of the Council of Europe’s Turkish parliamentary president Mevlut Cavusoglu turned sour yesterday after his visit north of the island and comments prompted a barrage of criticism from Greek Cypriot officials.

House President Marios Garoyian accused the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) of misleading Cypriot officials and violating the “clear positions” of the Council of Europe regarding the secessionist actions of the breakaway regime in the north.

PACE leader brings religious heads together

2010-11-03

BEFORE LEAVING Cyprus dodging a volley of criticism, parliamentary president of the Council of Europe Mevlut Cavusoglu managed to bring the religious leaders of the two main faiths on the island together.

On the last day of his official visit to Cyprus, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) held a roundtable discussion with Archbishop Chrysostomos II and Turkish Cypriot religious leader Mehmet Emin Yeltekin at the UN-controlled Ledra Palace hotel.

His visit ended with an interfaith discussion on the buffer zone where Chrysostomos requested the restoration of Apostolos Andreas in the occupied areas and the return of the abbot and three monks to the Monastery of Apostle Varnavas.

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.