THE Attorney-general will appeal a court decision and the sentence handed down in the assault of a British national by a developer following a dispute over a property.

On Wednesday, a Paralimni court sentenced developers, Christoforos Karayiannas, 55 and his son Marios, 35, to a 10-month jail term that was however suspended for two years for assaulting Conor O’Dwyer in 2008.

A third man involved in the incident, 31-year-old Charalambos Ttigis was fined €3,000.

The court found the trio guilty last month of assaulting O’Dwyer and causing actual bodily harm (ABH) – and not the more serious grievous bodily harm (GBH) count, the state had charged them with.

CHAOS reigned in shopping areas yesterday as German Supermarket chain LiDL opened its doors to customers for the very first time.

Hundreds of Cypriot consumers made their way to the stores excited to see if LiDL would keep its promise of ‘quality buys at smart prices’.

LiDL has spent over €1.2 million in advertising in October alone and on yesterdays showing it looks like money well spent. At one point at the LiDL store in Pallouriotissa in Nicosia customers were refused entry as the store was already crowded. A security guard working outside the store said: “It was just a precaution; we were just waiting for some customers to come out so it didn’t get too crowded.”

EIGHT MEPs on a tour of the north were yesterday prevented from crossing back to the south via the Limnitis crossing point after Turkish authorities there said their papers were not in order.

The MEPs had just held a meeting at the Turkish Cypriot village of Limnitis-Yesilirmak with the mukhtars of Limnitis-Yesilirmak and of Kato Pyrgos and Green party deputy George Perdikis.

The two mukhtars then separately crossed to the south to the Greek Cypriot village of Kato Pyrgos, where they awaited the party of MEPs to join them shortly later.

At around 11am the mukhtar of Kato Pyrgos received a call from MEP Alison Wood, who said she and the others would not be able to cross to the south because of complications at the Turkish Cypriot checkpoint.

SYRIAN PRESIDENT Bashar al-Assad became the first Syrian head of state to visit Cyprus yesterday, resulting in the signing of five agreements between the two countries and pledges to work closer together on issues of common interest.

Speaking after talks with President Demetris Christofias at the presidential palace, al-Assad thanked the Cyprus government for its stance on the Golan Heights.

“Cyprus is a member of the EU and the EU does not vote in favour of the return of the Heights,” he said.

Christofias highlighted that “there can be no solution of the Middle East question without the return of the occupied Golan Heights to the country they belong”.

THE HOUSE Watchdog Committee yesterday voted to postpone discussion of the UN leaked documents until after the president returns from UN headquarters in New York.

Deputies who voted against the decision cried foul, describing it as a “severe blow” to democracy and a “gag” on parliament.

In the run up to the debate, the government made huge efforts to have the issue removed from parliament’s agenda, concerned that any attempt to browbeat UN Special Adviser Alexander Downer was not in the best national interest.

President Demetris Christofias will travel to New York for a meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on November 18 while Ban is due to issue his progress (or lack of) report by the end of the month.

TURKISH Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu has told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that a solution can be found by the end of the year if the Greek Cypriots stop wasting time.

According to Turkish Cypriot press reports, in a letter dated November 1, Eroglu states that progress and agreement can be reached by the end of the year “if the Greek Cypriot side takes progressive steps and shows the necessary political will”.

He was quoted saying: “If the Greek Cypriot side stops making unnecessary statements and starts putting its energy into the negotiations on the Cyprus problem, then a comprehensive solution may be found by the end of the year.”

THE COUNCIL of Europe’s parliamentary president yesterday hit back at criticism over his decision to meet with Turkish Cypriot politicians, saying he was “surprised” by the suggestion that he had misled Cypriot officials.

In a letter addressed to his main detractor, House President Marios Garoyian, the Council’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) President, Mevlut Cavusoglu, called on politicians to show more responsibility and “resist the temptation” to make populist statements.

The PACE president and Turkish MP wrote expressing surprise at Garoyian’s suggestion that he was “misled” over the planned visit north.