Ban announced on Vietnamese workers

2011-02-08

 

THE government yesterday annouced it was banning the entry of domestic workers from Vietnam with immediate effect following a flurry of asylum applications from current employees from the Asian country whose permits were either close to expiration or had expired.

Authorities had observed in recent months an unusual number of asylum applications from Vietnamese nationals whose time in Cyprus was up, coupled with cases of forged documents.

“There has been a phenomenon of mass asylum applications and because they were not isolated as in other cases, we decided to suspend (entry),” Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis said.

There were also cases of Vietnamese nationals caught with forged documents, the minister said.

Cooking the books

2011-02-08

IT WAS inevitable that the European Commission’s decision to remove Cyprus from the excessive deficit procedure, on the grounds that remedial measures taken were adequate, would be fully exploited by the government and Akel which are already celebrating.

The Akel leadership and the finance minister have been making out that almost all our economic problems have been solved and that the recession is more or less over. Need it be mentioned that what the Commission said was based on the vague pronouncements about spending cuts made by the government and the tax increases that were recently approved. In other words the observations were not based on anything tangible.

Israeli agreement lays bare Turkey’s attitudes

2011-02-08

THE REACTION of the Turkish government following the recent signing of an agreement between the Republic of Cyprus and Israel delineating the exclusive economic zone for hydrocarbon exploration between the two countries did not surprise Cypriots but provoked the reaction of Israeli officials who viewed it as far fetched and out of proportion.

In their objections, Turkish officials stated that they consider this agreement null and void because the Cyprus problem remains unresolved. Turkey in essence stressed that it does not recognise any international agreements signed by the “Greek Cypriot administration” as it describes the Republic of Cyprus.

Cyprus today, yesterday and probably, tomorrow

2011-02-08

DURING these times of increased poverty, corruption, non-observance of democracy and human rights, the world’s media can be held responsible for Egyptians seeking Hosni Mubarak’s head on a plate – and not only his, given the existence of so many similar iron fisted regimes. Unimaginable in today’s Europe, n’est-ce pas?

The European Union favours mobility, cultivates unity and the acceptance of community rules yet permits some quirkiness to survive unmolested in individual member states.

Pension reform before elections

2011-02-08

THE government has committed itself to submitting proposals to fix distortions in the pensions’ scheme of the public sector before parliament breaks up for elections in May.

Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis announced the plan at yesterday’s House Finance Committee, where he joined discussions on a proposal signed by all parties except ruling AKEL to amend the current pensions’ system.

The proposal – which aims to put an end to state officials receiving double and even treble pensions, or receiving pensions if they are still employed in a public post – led to a series of conflicts, especially between public servants’ umbrella union PASYDY and MPs.

Our view: Those that pick up the tab also call the shots

2011-02-08

TURKEY’S Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has stepped up his verbal onslaught against the Turkish Cypriot unions and parties that demonstrated against Ankara’s direct interference in the running of the north’s economy. Erdogan demanded that the authorities in the north arrested those who chanted slogans against Turkey, and alleged that Greek Cypriots were behind the demonstrators.

Cautious response to north’s disarray

2011-02-08

NICOSIA yesterday treaded cautiously with respect to the protests taking place in the north, leaving it to individual politicians to censure Ankara’s meddling in the affairs of the ‘TRNC’.

The Republic of Cyprus has no involvement in the popular demonstrations taking place in the north, but as a matter of principle supports the right to free speech and to gather, government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said yesterday.

Commenting on the protests to the austerity measures introduced in the occupied areas by Ankara, Stefanou said: “The Turkish Cypriots, being Cypriots, have their own dignity.”

“The Turkish Cypriots, through their demonstrations, are voicing their feelings,” he said.

Air traffic controllers net 4 million euros in overtime

2011-02-08

SOME €4 million is spent on average each year on overtime pay and allowances to air traffic controllers (ATC), the Department of Civil Aviation has confirmed.

Daily Phileleftheros, which broke the story yesterday, cited one example from 2009 where an ATC received around €8000 a month in overtime and allowances on top of the salary.

The paper said the lowest amount paid in overtime (again 2009 stats) to an ATC was €5,138. The highest was €100,000.

Leonidas Leonidou, director of the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) said the figures cited “more or less correspond to reality”.

The problem of overtime would be resolved through additional hiring of personnel by the DCA, he said. The department recently hired 20 new ATCs, and plans to engage 20 more.

Cyprus Airways: little chance of long-term viability

2011-02-08

 

Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis yesterday admitted there was little chance of finding measures that would ensure Cyprus Airways’ (CY) long-term viability, just temporary solutions that will demand continuous reinforcement to stop the state carrier from going bankrupt.

Stavrakis’ admission followed concerns voiced by MPs after the House Finance Committee held a closed meeting to discuss the govenrment’s CY recovery plan. The airline’s unions were also present.

The plan, which has been approved by all the CY unions and its board of directors, includes the submission of a €20 million supplementary budget as compensation for the losses suffered by Turkey’s ban on all Cypriot flights in the country’s airspace.

Post-bag thief on remand

2011-02-08

A 28-YEAR-OLD Nicosia man who worked at Cyprus Airways’ (CY) Larnaca airport cargo department was yesterday remanded in custody for six days on suspicion of stealing around €5,000 in cash from postal bags.

Police said they have received six complaints since November last year, claiming that a large number of postal bags have been stolen from Larnaca airport.

Working in coordination with the postal services, CY and airport authorities, police were led to the suspect who was arrested on Sunday, Larnaca police spokesman Christos Andreou said.

The alleged offence regards both bags arriving from overseas and ones that were meant to be sent abroad.

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.