World on alert for revenge attacks after bin Laden

2011-05-03

WORLD LEADERS yesterday warned of revenge attacks after Osama bin Laden was killed in a US assault in Pakistan that brought to a dramatic end the long manhunt for the al Qaeda leader who had become the most powerful symbol of Islamist militancy.

Euphoria over the killing of the September 11, 2001 mastermind was tempered in the West by fears of retaliation, and world leaders and security experts urged renewed vigilance against attacks.

Interpol predicted a heightened risk and called for extra vigilance in case followers sought revenge for the killing of the man who became the global face of terror, even if he no longer had tactical control of al Qaeda actions.

Our View: Bin Laden death sees justice done

2011-05-03

THE KILLING of Osama bin Laden by US troops on Sunday was described by President Obama as “the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat al-Qaeda.” Only time will tell how significant bin Laden’s death will be in defeating his terrorist organisation, but for now there will be widespread satisfaction that justice had been done.

Bin Laden was the man behind the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, which killed 3,000 people, and had been on top of the US’ ‘most wanted’ list since then. It may have taken almost a decade to track him down, despite a $25 million bounty on his head, but Sunday’s raid showed that America’s determination and resolve to defeat global terrorism never weakened.

Plan was to shoot Hadjicostis at Kykkos traffic lights

2011-05-03

MEDIA BOSS Andis Hadjicostis’ killers had originally planned to shoot him ‘on the move’ at the Kykkos traffic lights in Nicosia but changed plans after one of them was injured, said the prosecution’s key witness in the ongoing murder trial yesterday.

Fanos Hadjigeorgiou yesterday testified at the Nicosia criminal court for the first time in the trial, following Hadjicostis’ murder outside his home on January 11, 2010.

Hadjigeorgiou allegedly drove the getaway motorcycle on the night of the murder. He has been placed in a witness protection programme and has had all charges against him dropped in exchange for testifying against the other four defendants.

Politicians cry ‘foul’ over Church leader’s comments

2011-05-03

ARCHBISHOP Chrysostomos has once again got into the politicians’ crosshairs after remarking that Cyprus “duped” the European Union into accepting the island into its ranks and by suggesting that politicos are to blame for the island’s continued division.

In a televised interview with Greece’s SKAI channel, the Prelate predicted that ongoing peace talks would lead nowhere, he dismissed the current model of the negotiations as an “Annan-type plan” that would be rejected by the vast majority of Greek Cypriots, and said Cyprus had got into the EU on the false promise of solving the political problem.

DISY: we’d make life better for consumers

2011-05-03

OPPOSITION DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades yesterday accused the government of trying to create “an illusion of prosperity” instead of making life better for the consumer,

Speaking at a pre-election news conference on how DISY would do things better,  Anastassaides said Cyprus was still top of the list in Europe with the most expensive electricity, the most expensive milk, coffee, bread and many other items and essentials that  “irreversibly affect every Cypriot household”.

The DIS leader said the easiest way to apportion blame for this – and the one that the government parroted incessantly – was to cite increases in fuel and to “blame the developments in the Middle East”.

Boeing experts to testify at Helios trial

2011-05-03

TWO USA-based Boeing experts are to testify via videolink later this month in the Helios trial, the Nicosia Criminal court said yesterday.

After protracted legal sparring, on April 5, the court issued an interim ruling by which it accepted the prosecution’s request to make admissible the live testimony via videolink of Boeing experts James Murphy and Mark Lord.

The court has adjourned to May 23, when it will reconvene for the first videoconferencing session. A video link is to be established with Boeing’s Seattle headquarters. Due to the time difference with the United States, the sessions will take place from 4pm to 8pm, local time, from May 23 through May 27.

US planes land in Cyprus

2011-05-03

TWO AMERICAN military aircraft landed at Larnaca airport on Friday, having flown from an Italian military base en route to an Asian country, reported the Larnaca Press Agency yesterday.

According to the local news agency, a C-130 Hercules transport plane and a Harrier fighter plane arrived at Larnaca airport at around 10.30pm on Friday, carrying 11 people, ten of whom were in the transport plane.

The two US military aircraft left Cyprus at 3.50pm the following day.

Hermes Airports spokesman Adamos Adamis confirmed the arrival of the planes but refused to go into greater detail, saying the airports’ operator does not comment on issues of security and foreign policy.

Three new parties allowed to register

2011-05-03

THREE organisations were yesterday given the status of a political party but a fourth didn’t make the grade.

The new parties are the Citizen’s Rights Bureau of the Popular Socialist Movement (LASOK), the National Popular Front (ELAM) and Cyprus Progressive Cooperation (KYPROS), Attorney-general Petros Clerides yesterday ruled.

This is good news for the new parties as their votes will be included in the second counting of votes and they will be able to elect a member of parliament, given a minimum of 1.8 per cent of the total number of votes in Cyprus.

All parties, including the new ones, will be listed alphabetically in the ballots.

Polling company misleading voters, party warns

2011-05-03

A POLLING company has allegedly been misleading and misinforming the public about the upcoming parliamentary elections, the Cyprus Progressive Cooperation party (KYPROS) claimed yesterday.

To a question: “Which party will you vote for in the May 22 parliamentary elections,” an employee of the polling company refused to accept KYPROS as an answer, its president Thekla Petridou said yesterday at a news conference.  The question was part of a telephone interview on voting.

The employee instead told KYPROS’ vice-president that he needed to name of “one of the parties already in parliament.”

‘State doing its utmost to support foreign investors’

2011-05-03

CYPRUS IS doing its utmost to support foreign investors on the island, Commerce Minister Antonis Paschalides said yesterday.

In an address to the European Conference of Baker Tilly International, in Paphos, read out by Registrar of Companies Spyros Kokkinos, Paschalides emphasised the state’s commitment to safeguarding and enhancing Cyprus’ competitiveness as a cost-effective platform for international business.

“Our vision is to continue building on the strengths of our leading knowledge-based and export-oriented service industries. However, the pursuit of this strategic goal is currently being tested under the impact of the ongoing international financial and economic crisis”, Paschalides said in the address.

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.