Our View: Police presence needed all year round

POLICE have been out in force the past two weeks as part of their Christmas and New Year clampdown on drink driving. There are so many of them on the roads that some drivers are being checked twice in the space of five or ten minutes.

They, and the Communications Ministry, promise us every year at this time that things will be different in the upcoming year. Not so many people will die or be seriously injured, young people will be better educated, traffic cameras and narcotests are on the way etc.

On the weekend of December 18, around 270 people were caught drink driving. Last weekend it was 250, which translates at close to 100 people a day or three people an hour.  And that is in addition to the speeders and other traffic offenders.

Our View: An advertiser’s dream campaign

IT WAS amusing to hear that KEO – which is 20 per cent owned by the Church – was contemplating whether to sue an American company after the popular local brew made a special appearance in a porn movie.

In the film, set in a Greek tavern in New York, a woman pours beer from a KEO bottle wedged in her cleavage after having a discussion with a man about the ‘Greek origin’ of the beer, following which, the action moves on to other things.

A KEO representative was quoted by an international news agency as saying:  “We are always searching for ways to promote our products and Cyprus throughout the world, but this is certainly not a path we would have chosen.”

Government seeks answers to Akhna antenna

 

VILLAGERS from Dasaki tis Akhnas y are up in arms over a 50-metre antenna, installed by the Turkish army in the occupied village of Akhna just metres away from where they live.

Unconfirmed reports that the antenna was in fact a phone mast that was installed by a Turkish mobile phone company has prompted the government to look into the matter.

Hearing the news, Communications Minister Erato Kozakou Marcoullis yesterday ordered the head of the telecommunications department to contact the Foreign Ministry to investigate the information.

‘Porn film promotion’ leaves KEO cold

 

POPULAR Cyprus beer KEO, in which the Church has a 20 per cent stake, has found its name has gone viral over the internet after it emerged the beverage was featured in an American porn movie.

Reports that the company would sue the US company were quashed by KEO yesterday however. The company was choosing to ignore the use of its award-wining beer in a sex film, it said.

In the film clip, which is titled “Busty MILF on The Table” the male star is clearly seen in a Greek Restaurant sipping a KEO beer. When he finishes the beer he says: “Is there another Greek one, the one with yellow label?”

Police cars going digital

 

POLICE are finally moving with the times and going digital with the installation of GPS, GPRS, GIS and ANPR cameras in all patrol cars.

According to police Superintendant Loizos Prastitis, the new technology will allow the end user full viewing and tracking access to all patrol cars installed with the hardware. The ANPR cameras feature digital optical character recognition cameras so officers can easily locate skewed or partial number.

Prastitis said: “The point of the system is to be able to monitor and coordinate the patrol cars in real time. By using GPS, GPRS and GIS, we will be able to view the speed of our cars, their travelling history and be able to digitally analyse routes based on a multitude of information we receive from the cars.”

Parties unite against Turkish propaganda

 

CYPRIOT OFFICIALS and politicians displayed a rare moment of unity yesterday, joining forces to condemn Turkey’s efforts to exploit politically last week’s incident of basketball hooliganism.

Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou said Turkish officials had entered a pre-election period and were “babbling” in an effort to politically exploit random events after an international men’s basketball match in Nicosia.

“The attempt to politically exploit an unfortunate incident at a sporting event is truly reprehensible and unjustifiable,” he said.

After last week’s game ended APOEL fans attempted to attack players of the Turkish team Pinar Karsiyaka. No players were injured while five police officers were taken to hospital for treatment.

‘Turkey has no right to talk about international law’

PRESIDENT DEMETRIS Christofias yesterday hit back at Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s comments on the Cyprus-Israel maritime agreement saying there was nothing in international law to justify his level of “cynicism and arrogance”.

The Turkish foreign minister had declared Cyprus’ recent agreement with Israel on the delineation of their respective exclusive economic zones (EEZ) as null and void.

Commenting on his remarks, Christofias said: “According to international law, the presence of the Turkish army in Cyprus is void and illegal therefore, neither the UN Charter nor international law can justify the level of Mr Davutoglu’s cynicism and arrogance.”

Bosnian FM warns of looming Cyprus deadline

THE COMMUNITIES on the island need to develop a plan to overcome their differences before the end of January, said visiting Foreign Minister of Bosnia-Herzegovina Sven Alkalaj yesterday.

Speaking after a meeting in Nicosia with Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou, Alkalaj, whose country is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2010-2011, said the Cyprus problem would be discussed at the Security Council in February 2011.

“We support discussions on resolving the standing differences between the two communities and we urge the two communities to develop a plan to overcome remaining differences before the Secretary General’s meeting with the two leaders at the end of January,” he said.

Larger shops ‘sucking in’ customers with illegal sales

LARGE stores who hold sales outside the regulate periods, are “behaving like cowboys” and ‘sucking up shoppers like a vacuum cleaner’  the general secretary of the small shopkeepers’ union POVEK, Stefanos Koursaris said yesterday.

“We don’t think it’s right to have sales 365 days a year,” said Koursaris.

POVEK is asking for a modification of the law in order to increase the fines imposed on those breaking the law, with the highest fine reaching a hefty €100,000 and a daily fine of €5,000 for repeat offenders.

‘Cyprus file will be completed as planned’

DISY opposes a report on the events that led up to the coup and invasion in 1974, because it would put an end to the opposition party’s right to misinform the public, the Chairman of the Committee for the File of Cyprus said yesterday.

Holding some of the parliamentary committee’s most confidential documents, EDEK’s Marinos Sizopoulos presented the media with his committee’s mandate.

This was a response to criticism from DISY’s representative on the committee, George Georgiou, who claimed the mandate didn’t demand a report with conclusions.

The Committee was authorised in 2006 to look into the events that led up to the coup and subsequent Turkish invasion in 1974.