‘We survive on miracles in Patagonia…’

2010-12-11

ON THE table is Bruce Chatwin’s ‘In Patagonia’ , and here I am in Patagonia, but Neuquen is nothing like the place of my imagination, it is a perfectly formed grid city in the centre of a vast barren desert where the pink dust forms incredible sunsets and it rains but a week a year. There is no sight of the Andes, nor the romance of region except in the bottle of tinto on my table which proclaims it is the product of the Bodega, “fin del mundo’. It goes well with the succulent bife de chorizo, the best cut of meat in the land.

Our View: Public figures must realise they are fair game for ridicule

2010-12-11

CHIEF of police Michalis Papageorgiou must be very thin-skinned to have taken offence at his lampooning by CyBC television’s satirical show ‘Patates Antinaxtes’. The Chief wrote to the show’s producers to complain about the way he was being portrayed and to demand that his character was taken off the show.

Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos explained that the Chief felt the show “is insulting an institution, humiliating him personally and the position of chief of police.” He also felt that the Chief’s character – portrayed as a self-absorbed man who referred to himself in the third person and was afraid of a notorious criminal – was appearing much too frequently, on the weekly show.

Yes to good relations. No to ‘Pax Ottomana’

2010-12-11

MR HUGH Pope of the International Crisis Group makes several interesting observations under the intriguing heading ‘Pax Ottomana?’ in the November/December 2010 issue of Foreign Affairs magazine. However, the article also calls for some comments and corrections.

I had occasion, in a lecture back in 1991 at Humboldt University in Berlin as [Cypriot] ambassador to just–reunited Germany, to observe that what the world needs in the era of the United Nations is a peace based on the UN Charter – a ‘Pax Unitarum Nationum’, in preference to the ‘Pax Romana’ of the distant past or to the ‘Pax Britannica’ of the more recent past or to the ‘Pax Americana’ as some had been proposing.

DISY: 60 per cent in taxes and only 40 per cent in savings?

2010-12-11

THE FINANCE Minister yesterday tried to put a positive spin on the coalition’s proposals aimed in bolstering the economy as the opposition piled on the criticism, accusing the administration of burdening the public with additional taxes.

“The fact that we arrived somewhere I believe is a big success for the Cypriot economy lifting a shadow that has been around for six months, negatively affecting businesses and foreign investors,” Charilaos Stavrakis said.

The minister warned against populism, saying the measures were necessary to improve state revenues and cut expenditure.

Stavrakis said his was optimistic that the government would be able to meet the target of saving €35 million from the state payroll.

Winter finally announces its presence

2010-12-11

WINTER finally arrived yesterday bringing rain islandwide with particularly heavy downpours in Paphos and Limassol.

And, over the next few days winter’s full force will be felt with more rain,

hail, thunderstorms, heavy winds and snow, according to meteorological service official, Marios Theophilou.

Snow is expected to fall on Troodos by Saturday afternoon.  “On Sunday the snow will spread to other mountain areas and maybe even semi-mountainous areas,” said Theophilou, also mentioning the fact that there will be a noticeable drop in temperature on Sunday.

Cyprus’ first parolee a lifer

2010-12-11

CYPRUS yesterday saw its first-even parolee, a 37-year-old English Cypriot man imprisoned on the island after being jailed initially in the UK for manslaughter.

The convict will be released on Monday from the Nicosia central prisons where he has been incarcerated for the past 12 years after asking to serve his sentence in Cyprus.

Speaking after announcing its decision, Georgos Mettouris, president of the parole board said the newly-set up five-man board “gives prisoners the message that they can hope for a second chance as long as while they’re imprisoned they behave appropriately, show remorse for what they’ve done and that they’re ready to be integrated back into society.”

Complaints to personal data commissioner on the rise

2010-12-11

OVER 300 complaints were made to the Personal Data Commissioner last year, mainly concerning the disclosure of personal data through spamming,  the commissioner’s  annual report said.

Spam, including fax and email, but especially to mobile phones is on the increase according to the report. It said that 254 of the complaints last year were spam-related compared to 175 in 2008, a 32 per cent increase.

A law established in 2004, the Regulation of Electronic Communications and Postal Services, states that messages to market a product are only allowed to be sent to subscribers who have already consented to it.

Petition to save the grass snake

2010-12-11

AN ONLINE petition has been created to save the endangered Cyprus grass snake.

The petition says: “Snake George is desperately worried about the high risk that the endemic Cyprus grass snake will become extinct and realises that the Republic of Cyprus is simply not taking the necessary action to give it a real chance of survival.”

Snake George, whose name is Hans-George Wiedl is a conservationist whose speciality is reptiles.

He is proposing much stricter protection of habitats, combined with a really well-planned captive breeding programme to safeguard the genetic stock.  His focus is on the area around Paralmni Lake, which is being developed to the detriment of the grass snake (natrix natrix cypriaca).

SBA Authorities defend use of the army in anti-poaching operation

2010-12-11

SOVEREIGN Base Area (SBA) authorities yesterday played down the involvement of soldiers in dawn raids to seize illegal bird trapping equipment earlier this week, after politicians spoke out against their presence.

SBA Spokesman Captain James Mansell said yesterday: “This was an SBA operation, planned and led by SBA police who asked for assistance from the army in their anti mist-netting efforts.”

Mansell said that the soldiers were there in a supportive rather than a protective role for the SBA police, who have been conducting several raids every week.

Teachers upset over schoolyard smoking ban

2010-12-11

TEACHERS unions are up in arms over an Education Ministry circular banning them from smoking anywhere on school grounds, including outdoors.

“The law says that smoking is forbidden in all closed spaces with the exception of open spaces and outside areas,” said Eleni Semelidou, head of the Secondary School Teacher’s Union (OELMEK).

Semelidou said that under the law, teachers should be allowed to smoke in the schoolyard because it is an outdoor space.

“We are reacting because they said there would be no smoking, even in the yard,” said Semelidou.

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.