‘People can’t handle any more taxes’

2011-01-11

THE 5.0 per cent hike in VAT on food and medicines, which came into force yesterday was met with a volley of pot shots being fired at the government from all angles.

The hike applies to foodstuffs, medicines and vaccines, and to beverages other than alcoholic drinks (beer, wine) and soft drinks that are already sold with a VAT of 15 per cent.

It is set to affect the price of basic commodities such as bread, milk, meat and vegetables.

The latest levies – estimated to bring state coffers some €60 million a year – come hot on the heels of a tax hike on tobacco products last month, while water price hikes are imminent.

Our View: Germany likely to focus on urgent need for a solution

2011-01-11

CHANCELLOR Angela Merkel will be Germany’s first head of government to visit Cyprus when she arrives at Larnaca Airport at noon today. It will be a very brief official visit, lasting no more than six hours, but it would be rather silly to make an issue out of it. Chancellor Merkel has a very busy schedule and has little time to devote to visits that do not include a significant work agenda.

‘Consumers will start buying only what’s necessary’

2011-01-11

THE CYPRUS Green took to the streets of Nicosia and Limassol yesterday to protest the introduction of a five per cent VAT on food and prescriptions by offering cheaper bread.

To highlight to increased cost, several of the party members set up stalls selling bread at the pre-VAT hike prices while calling for a one-day boycott of major supermarkets.

Green Party political officer Kyriacos Kyriacou said: “All of the bread was gone in half an hour – we sold 200 loaves in Nicosia, and so as far as I am concerned it went very well.”

Asked about the success of the supermarket food boycott, Kyriacou said that several people participated, but he considered number of people who heard the message to be more important.

Natural gas exploitation much sooner than expected

2011-01-11

CYPRUS could begin tapping into its potentially vast offshore deposits of hydrocarbons as early as this year, a senior official said yesterday.

Solon Kassinis, who heads the energy department of the Commerce Ministry, said there were strong indications of sizeable natural gas deposits south-east of the island.

One of the blocks, licensed to Texas-based Noble Energy, could contain gas deposits in the region of 10 trillion cubic feet, he said. This assessment, Kassinis stressed, was based on seismic surveys.

Noble was given exploration rights for one of 11 Cypriot plots up for grabs in 2008, about 65 km away from Israel’s Tamar prospect, the world’s biggest gas find in 2009.

Son of judge murdered in invasion seeks justice

2011-01-11

THE SON of a judge murdered during the Turkish invasion is calling on those who saw the three Turkish Cypriots involved in his death to come forward as eye-witnesses to bolster the murder inquiry recently launched by ‘police’ in the occupied north.

Spyros Hadjinicolaou and his mother, Agni, were called to give statements in the north on January 6, regarding the death of their husband and father.

Panayiotis Hadjinicolaou, a judge, was taken away on August 19, 1974, along with eight other men from a coffeeshop in Yialousa in the north east of the island. For years, his family campaigned to find news of his whereabouts. In 2007, his remains were found in a mass grave in Galateia. He was identified by the scientists of the Committee of Missing Persons using DNA samples.

Lost time will not affect details of Geneva meeting

2011-01-11

THE TWO leaders will be expected to discuss all chapters in the talks when they meet the UN chief in Geneva in a fortnight, despite time lost due to Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu’s poor health, said UN Special Adviser Alexander Downer yesterday.

The Australian diplomat met with Eroglu and President Demetris Christofias yesterday ahead of tomorrow’s meeting between the two leaders, the first since Eroglu underwent open heart surgery in Ankara on December 19.

Speaking outside the presidential palace, Downer said the meeting in Geneva with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will go ahead as planned, even though the two leaders did not get the chance to meet as frequently as planned due to Eroglu’s heart condition.

Police: no complaint about beaten teen

2011-01-11

POLICE yesterday said they had received no official complaint from the father of a 14-year-old girl, who claimed his daughter was left concussed after being beaten by police in Larnaca on Saturday night during post-match trouble.

A spokesman for Larnaca police said he had been shocked to hear of the man’s claims to a number of media outlets following clashes after the match. “Why didn’t he file a complaint to the police, so it could be investigated through the usual procedures?” the spokesman wondered.

State accused of creative accountancy

2011-01-11

THE GOVERNMENT has been borrowing money from profit-making state organisations such as the Human Resources Authority and the Game Fund, to plug gaps in the public debt, the House Finance Committee heard yesterday.

Even though the government’s move is legal, MP warned that this would almost certainly have a negative long-term effect on the state and semi-state organisations that have been affected.

Police tightlipped over drugs sting leak

2011-01-11

THE POLICE spokesman yesterday declined to comment on reports that the drug squad (YKAN) had in fact imported the 12 kilos of cannabis that went missing during a controlled sting in September, and the police chief was fully aware of it.

Police Spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said no statements would be made until the Attorney-general returned the file with his advice.

The issue was brought back into the spotlight by Politis, which yesterday claimed to have obtained documents on the internal investigation.

The probe was ordered after YKAN was publicly ridiculed at the time for losing 12 kilos of cannabis, when a planned sting in Aradippou went spectacularly wrong.

Municipality seeking compensation for theatre collapse

2011-01-11

THE NICOSIA Municipality is seeking €3m in compensation from all implicated parties following the collapse of the municipal theatre roof on an empty auditorium in June 2008.

Nicosia Mayor Eleni Mavrou said yesterday that the local authority did not have the means to repair the building.

The civil court case filed by the municipality is based on the findings of the investigative committee into the collapse, and has as its target those involved in the €6-million renovation of the municipal theatre before its roof collapsed.

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.