Activists call on Archbishopric to clarify links to racist group

2010-11-13

THE ARCHBISHOPRIC needs to make clear whether it has been financing far right organisations or not, said migrant rights’ activist Doros Polycarpou yesterday.

Speaking at the presentation of a study on racist crimes yesterday, the head of migrant support group KISA called on the Archbishopric to clarify its link, or not, to extreme organisations like those involved in the attack on a group of festival goers at Larnaca promenade last Friday.

Polycarpou said he had “unconfirmed reports” that the Archbishopric was financially supporting racist groups.

Several gaps remain in tooth probe

2010-11-13

DEPUTY Attorney-general Akis Papasavvas had €17,000-worth of teeth implants approved because his application had not been clearly rejected, Health Minister Christos Patsalides said yesterday after being handed the results of a probe into the scandal.

Patsalides gave the wooly explanation at a news conference during which he admitted there had been some procedural omissions and a lack of clarity in the steps followed.

The main conclusion was that the doctor’s opinion on whether the implants had been a medical necessity were unclear, as was the ruling of the special committee that examined Papasavvas’ application.

Our View: No easy answers or solutions to migration issue

2010-11-13

THE IMMIGRATION issue, which surfaced after last week’s clashes on the Larnaca sea-front, sparked public debate, but inevitably it was taken over by the populists in the legislature. Deputies were outraged to discover that in the Labour Ministry’s 2011 budget €30 million had been allocated for immigrants and asylum seekers.

Here Come the Islamist nuclear terrorists!

2010-11-13

YOU PROBABLY noticed reports recently about the secret trial in Georgia of two Armenian men who tried to sell highly enriched uranium (HEU) to a man purporting to be an Islamist terrorist. The apparent buyer was actually an undercover policeman and the whole thing was a sting operation from start to finish, but it offers some interesting insights into the current state of play in the world of counter-terrorism.

Defence minister in serious condition

2010-11-13

DEFENCE Minister Costas Papacostas will remain on a ventilator for the next few days and is in “a stable but serious condition” according to Gavriel Kaoutsianis, Head of Cardiology at the Nicosia General Hospital.

Kaoutsianis said yesterday: “The Defence Minister was placed on the ventilator on Thursday for better regulation of his blood pressure and to improve his lung function.”

Papacostas has been sleeping since been put on the ventilator and Kaoutsianis said: “Maybe I will  wake him up in the next few days  but I think at this stage it is best that he is left on the ventilator for the next two or three days.”

Ray of hope for some ECA pilots

2010-11-13

CYPRUS Airways (CY) will be hiring flight crews to staff two aircraft the company was planning to sell but reversed its decision after the demise of Eurocypria (ECA) and the potential of filling the gap left behind, it emerged yesterday.

CY said it will be hiring co-pilots for the two Airbus 320 planes but did not specify the number.

It is understood that at least some of the new hires will take the positions of CY co-pilots who will be promoted to captains.

“There will possibly be some promotions and positions will be filled,” CY spokesman Kyriacos Kyriacou said.

This development could be a ray of hope for ECA staff left without a job after the company went bust.

20kg haul of cannabis in police sting

2010-11-13

 

POLICE discovered at least 20 kilos of cannabis last night in a massive sting operation in which shots were fired by Drugs Squad (YKAN) last night in the Paphos village of Archimandrita.

One man was arrested and another two were sought in connection to the case. Police said all three were Greek Cypriots, thought to be involved in a trafficking ring smuggling drugs into Cyprus through the post.

Acting on a tip off, YKAN placed a Paphos post office under surveillance early yesterday after a suspect package arrived.

The package was picked up by the suspect, who then took it to Archimandrita, where he met his two associates.

Court rejects ‘tele testimony’ in Helios case

2010-11-13

THE NICOSIA Criminal Court yesterday rejected a prosecution request for several overseas expert witnesses to testify via teleconference in the Helios air crash.

State prosecutors had filed two separate requests: one on September 28 for two United States National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) witnesses and another last Monday for five witnesses working for Boeing, the manufacturer of the aircraft that crashed in Greece in August 2005, killing all 121 on board.

Economy still growing, latest stats say

2010-11-13

CYPRUS’ economy grew for the third quarter running, data showed yesterday, but less quickly than expected as a resurgence in tourism and banking was offset by continued weakness in the island’s construction industry.

Gross domestic product grew 0.6 per cent in the third quarter from the second and accelerated to a year-on-year rise of 1.7 per cent from the second quarter’s 0.4 per cent, the statistics department said.

The headline figure fell short of finance ministry estimates of 0.8 per cent.  “The improvement… may be attributed to the improved performances … in tourism, transport, trade and banking activities,” the statistics department said in a statement. Construction still remained negative, however.

Going from bad to worse in Paradise

2010-11-13

A 73-YEAR-OLD pensioner and former British Army serviceman who has been living in an unfinished complex in Paphos, may have to pay in excess of € 5,000 to be connected to mains electricity, although he says he has already paid a connection fee.

John Rowles, has been living with two other families in an unfinished complex of 50 properties in Marathounta with no mains electricity and has been reliant on an expensive and noisy generator which only runs for part of the day.

Following a story in the Cyprus Mail last month, the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) belatedly stepped in to help residents follow the correct procedures so that they could have a mains supply.

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.