Israel strikes targets in Gaza after days of rocket attacks

2011-03-24

Israeli aircraft struck targets in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, a day after Palestinian militants fired more than a dozen rockets and mortar bombs across the border and deep into Israel.

The upsurge of violence on the Gaza border in the past few days has led to fears of a new war between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, after months of relative quiet.

Hamas said Israel’s latest attacks targeted smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border and one of its training camps in central Gaza.

A third strike hit a power transformer, causing blackouts in the area, witnesses said. Medical workers said no one was injured in the strikes. Hamas said it ordered its personnel to evacuate their positions.

Our View: The CyBC’s true beneficiaries are its staff and the regime in power

2011-03-24

EVERY year or two, opposition deputies will make a fuss about the extortionate annual budget of the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation. The responsibility, this year, was assumed by DISY’s deputy leader Averof Neophytou who said that the €47-million budget for 2011 was a provocation to Cypriot citizens who were feeling the brunt of the world economic crisis.  The taxpayer was paying these millions to support a broadcaster that was not objective and acted like a political party broadcaster, said Neophytou.

He was perfectly entitled to protest about the squandering of the taxpayer’s money, when we consider that private broadcasters provide as good a service – if not better – without being a burden on the state.

Orphanides: urgent need to reform pensions

2011-03-24

THE STATE must urgently tackle pension reform threatening to undermine public finances in the long run, and costly in the immediate future, Central Bank  governor Athanasios Orphanides warned yesterday.

Orphanides, a member of the Governing Council of the  European Central Bank, said that pension spending was expected  to spiral to close to 30 per cent of gross domestic product by  2060 without reform. At present it is 19 per cent of GDP.

“We know what the choices are, they are inescapable,” Orphanides said.

“Either the government will significantly cut benefits, or increase contributions over the expected lifetimes of individuals, or both.”

KISA head Polycarpou charged over Rainbow Festival clash

2011-03-24

POLICE yesterday charged 14 people, including the head of an immigrant support group in connection with violent clashes in Larnaca last November that resulted in over a dozen people injured.

News of the development was broadcasted last night by state television CyBC, which did not name any of the other individuals whose identities could not be immediately verified.

KISA director Doros Polycarpou later told the Cyprus Mail he was charged with rioting and participating in an illegal assembly.

The clashes took place on November 5, 2010 at the Phinikoudes promenade.

Anti-immigrant groups and people attending the annual Rainbow Festival clashed, as police appeared unable to control the situation. Yesterday, Polycarpou questioned his prosecution.

2012 to be free of water cuts

2011-03-24

A CONTINUOUS supply of water with no domestic cuts is likely to continue into 2012, authorities said yesterday.

This is due to the development of new desalination plants and the improvement of existing plants, according head of the Water Development Department, Sophocles Aletraris.

“Cypriot society, the economy and tourism will be secured under any circumstances and we will never live through the traumatic experience of water cuts again,” said Aletraris adding that this is due to the almost doubling in the cubic capacity of desalination plants in 2012, from 122,000 to 222,000 cubic metres.

This will cover the water needs of large urban areas and tourist centres, as well as industries that use drinking water in their production process.

More than a Lidl chaos

2011-03-24

CASHIERS at Lidl supermarkets every Thursday weather a turbulent scrum of bargain-buyers that other stores can probably only hope for on the opening days of their winter and summer sales.

The German chain, which opened nine outlets in Cyprus late last year, is well-known for its cheap food and booze. But it lures in even more customers each Thursday with its weekly special offers on a bewildering array of items.

“There’s this incredible surge of customers. One Thursday, there was so much pressure that my feet weren’t touching the ground,” said Nikos Nikolaou, a dedicated weekly bargain hunter. “It’s well worth fighting through the chaos though. I’ve snapped up tools and clothes and lots of other bits and pieces.”

Israel experts due in Cyprus

2011-03-24

ISRAELI technocrats are due on the island soon to discuss ways for Cyprus to operate as a transit point between the neighbouring country’s Leviathan natural gas site and Europe, Commerce Minister Antonis Paschalides has announced.

The technocrats, members of the working group that was appointed during President Demetris Christofias’ visit to Israel, are expected to arrive in Cyprus in the coming days.

“Israeli technocrats are coming to Cyprus for consultations on various scenarios, related to the existence of natural gas reserves in the area,” said Paschalides, who yesterday met with spokesmen for the Electricity Authority of Cyprus and Energy Regulatory Authority to discuss their role and duties in the matter.

Six day remand for Nancy

2011-03-24

A NICOSIA court yesterday renewed the remand of a 43-year-old Chinese woman known as Nancy, who is suspected of involvement in a prostitution ring with Chinese immigrants busted by police last week.

Police have now identified seven women who were part of the ring, as sexual exploitation victims.

The court ordered the suspect to remain in custody for a further six days pending a police investigation.

Two other men, including a high-ranking police officer in the immigration unit, have also been detained in connection with the case.

Stamp to honour Cypriot Nobel winner

2011-03-24

NEW stamps to honour Nobel Prize winner Christopher Pissarides will be issued in the summer, the Postal Service has announced.

The stamp will feature a photo of Professor Pissarides, with a background dedicated to the Nobel winner’s work.

“We have a philatelic committee, which at times makes suggestions for new stamps,” said Chrystalla Charalambous, an official at the Postal Service. “So it was suggested that with Cyprus being such a small country and producing such a renowned Nobelist, a stamp to honour him was clearly the right thing to do.”

The stamp, which will go into circulation on June 8 this year, will cost €1,71 and can be used for letters sent locally but also the rest of Europe and other countries.

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.