Tales from the Coffeeshop: Register in Larnaca to vote for Fanieros

2010-11-28

SUSPICIONS of collusion between the police and owners of big high street stores were being voiced in our establishment all this week after last weekend’s raids on four Larnaca shops in connection with illegal gambling.

There is strong circumstantial evidence to suggest that the raids had been conducted in order to help sluggish business in the struggling retail sector. Every December, police carry out raids on suspected gambling joints, which have become as much a part of the Christmas season as street decorations, Christmas trees, artificial snow and manic shopping.

Our View: AKEL leader spares none of the traditional communist targets

2010-11-28

MORE THAN 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the repressive, totalitarian regimes of the Eastern Bloc, Cyprus’ communists continue to live in the Cold War era, still repeating the same anti-Western propaganda they were taught by their Soviet masters. For Cyprus’ communists the class struggle and the war against the evil forces of Western imperialism and capitalism continues unabated, at least in the rhetoric.

Serving the Cyprus state

2010-11-28

Better salaries, generous pensions and a job for life.

IT’S deeply entrenched in the Cypriot psyche: Get a government job and you are set for life.

No wonder students hold protests when the government decides to raise the retirement age of teachers or cut entry-level salaries.

“You don’t need science to explain this,” said Nicos Peristianis, a sociologist at the University of Nicosia. “It is the benefits government workers have.”

In general, civil servants and workers in the broader public sector – semi-governmental organisations – receive better salaries than the private sector and work for half a day.

Then comes the huge benefit of job security and stability; a government worker must commit a very serious offense to get dismissed.

Stavrakis proposes new cuts in drive for economic recovery

2010-11-28

PASYDY: decisions should be made by an equal sharing of responsibilities

FINANCE Minister Charilaos Stavrakis has presented the coalition parties with a new package of measures for economic recovery, expected to reinforce the state with €120 million.

The new package provides a 2.0 per cent wage cut for all public servants – as opposed to the ministry’s previous proposal two weeks ago for a 1.0 to 2.0 per cent wage cut, depending on their salaries – and is expected to save the state €35 million instead of €20 million, which would have been the case with the previous proposal.

Boy still critical after TV tumble

2010-11-28

A FOUR-year-old boy from Larnaca who was serverly injured by a television set falling on him at his home on Friday, was yesterday still in critical condition, doctors said.

The Palestinian boy, who suffered multiple head fractures, broken ribs and a collapsed lung, is being treated at Makarios Hospital in Nicosia.

The conditions under which the accident happened have not yet been clarified. According to the police, the incident happened at around 10 am on Friday, while the four-year-old was playing in the living room in his parents’ presence. For unknown reasons, the TV set fell off its stand, crushing the toddler underneath.

Man makes off with him €75,000 worth of filming equipment

2010-11-28

POLICE are on the lookout for a man who managed to fool an electrical appliances company in Lakatamia into giving him €75,000 worth of filming equipment, before disappearing into thin air.

According to the police, the man in question had pretended to work for a foreign movie production team and convinced the shop owner to provide him with professional equipment, including two cameras, which weren’t insured.

It was only after the con artist left the shop – with the equipment – that the owner realised the personal details he had been given were wrong and he had fallen victim to a scam.

The owner immediately notified Nicosia Police Headquarters, which launched an investigation.

Ice skating comes to Paphos

2010-11-28

PAPHOS will finally be able to enjoy the experience of ice skating as a temporary rink will be set up in the town ahead of the Christmas holiday season.

The rink measuring 200m2 will be constructed in by the Paphos Municipality and set up in the town hall gardens.

According to Vasilis Spirou, the president of the Paphos figure skating club, the rink will be opened to the public on December 2, and should remain open until around January 10.

“Skating is such fun and I hope that many people will try it in Paphos,” he told the Cyprus Mail.

Spirou recently formed the Paphos figure skating club at about the same time that the Cyprus skating federation was formed.

Tow truck set on fire

2010-11-28

A FIRE broke out on a tow truck at 12.30am yesterday, in Limassol while it was parked in a company’s parking lot. The police said that according to preliminary tests the fire was started deliberately using flammable materials. The blaze caused extensive damage to the front of the tow truck and the cabin, amounting to around 25,000 euros. Limassol CID will continue the investigation.

Tersefanou golf project set to begin

2010-11-28

A CONSORTIUM of local developers has officially announced the construction of a long-awaited multi-million euro golf resort project.

At a press launch attended by Commerce, Industry and Tourism Minister Antonis Paschalides, the Med Group displayed plans for the new development which will be built in Tersefanou, on the outskirts of Larnaca.

The project is a joint-venture partnership between the DJK Group of Companies, Hassapis Land Developers and Sakyrco Construction and is expected to be completed within the next four to five years.

According to the plans, the resort will span an area of 1,500,000m² and will feature an 18-hole golf course, complimented by water features, lakes, bunkers and fairways.

The dream of a civil service post …

2010-11-28

IT is a Cypriot’s dream. Landing a government job.

Parents in Cyprus, the old generation at least, are often heard nagging their offspring to try for a job in the civil service. Students with their eye on their future hold protests when the government decides to raise the retirement age of teachers or cut entry-level salaries.

“There is nothing sociological about it. It is hard reality,” said Nicos Peristianis, a sociologist at the University of Nicosia. “It is the benefits government workers have. When you retire you get a high pension plus bonus; the economy might be going down the drain but you get your raise because your union is very strong. What else would you want?”

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.