Counting the cost of latest hooligan rampage

2011-05-20

 

NICOSIA WAS yesterday counting the cost of the latest bout of football hooliganism, which left five people seriously injured and a club destroyed as Omonia fans rampaged after their team’s victory in the cup final on Wednesday night.

During the fracas, which went on until the early hours, fans also torched rubbish bins and defaced walls with spray paint as police used teargas to disperse them.

The five injured men were the victims of what was described by police as an “organised and unprovoked” attack by hundreds of Omonia fans at the Scaraveos club in Nicosia.

One of the club’s four owners suffered burns to his legs by petrol bombs hurled by the hooligans. His partner had his finger severed in the attack and another suffered head injuries.

Our View: Newspapers that broke elections law show it up as irrational, archaic

2011-05-20

 

ON MONDAY the Chief Returning Officer Lazaros Savvides reported three newspapers to the Attorney General for violating the provision of the election law for the publication of opinion polls. According to the law, no opinion poll could be published in the seven days before the election, which meant that nothing could be published after midnight last Saturday.

Laws’ wording changed in government gazette

2011-05-20

THE LAW passed last month attempting to rationalise the payment of multiple pensions to state and public officials has been – for lack of a better word – altered, so that only members of parliament and government ministers will contribute to social security.

The final draft of the law passed hurriedly on 21 April stated that “officials” must contribute 6.8 per cent of their monthly earnings to the state. This was understood to apply to some 150 individuals, some of whom were specifically named.

‘I’m in the closet about being out’

2011-05-20

IT IS NO great secret that society in Cyprus is deeply homophobic and if there were any doubts, then the latest reports on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals would soon put those to rest.

Cyprus’ ranking for LGBT rights is the worst among the EU-27 and the latest surveys confirm how widespread homophobic sentiments and attitudes for the overwhelming majority of the population.

This makes even more impressive the action and results of Cyprus’ own LGBT rights group ACCEPT which has managed to do much since the first meeting as a small group of people in October 30, 2009.

Don’t know which way to lean in elections? Try this web test

2011-05-20

HELP IS at hand for indecisive voters in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, after three academic institutions developed a website to guess the party that most closely fits your views.

The European University of Cyprus, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the e-Democracy centre University have teamed up to create cyprusvotecompass.org, after the platform was successfully piloted in Greece last October.

The website asks 30 questions on a range of social, political and economic topics, including the government’s past successes and failures and contentious issues like the Cyprus problem, immigration and same sex marriage.

For each question, users can select a range of responses from strong disagreement to strong agreement.

CY to keep re-jigged bicommunal song

2011-05-20

CYPRUS Airways (CY) will continue to air a Greek only version of a bilingual musical composition for their in-flight entertainment, despite opposition by bicommunalists.

Hymn for Cyprus was made for Cyprus’ 50th anniversary last year – composed by Greek Cypriot Roman Kariolou and with complementary Turkish and Greek Lyrics by Turkish Cypriot Neshe Yashin.

Two sopranos, Vasfiye Çak?rta? and Katerina Mina performed the original piece.

Kariolou and Mina have since recorded a new version – without the Turkish lyrics, which they offered for free to CY.

CY spokesman Kyriacos Kyriacou said yesterday: “They offered this song for use in our aircraft… as a complete work. The song is very beautiful and we really liked it.”

Toil and trouble plagues English School

2011-05-20

 

THE DUST has only just settled on the change of leadership at the English School’s board of governors and its parents association (ESPA),  and the school’s principal has already handed in her resignation, triggering parents to demand the removal of the “politically-motivated” board.

A new spat is threatening to throw the school back into turmoil, coming hot on the heels of the divisive debate between the board and parents over how best to handle Turkish Cypriot students.

Turkish Cypriot protesters dragged off by police

2011-05-20

ELEVEN protesters, one of them a prominent Turkish Cypriot human rights lawyer, were dragged away and arrested as they took part in a peaceful sit down demonstration in support of sacked Cyprus Turkish Airlines (CTA) workers in the north of Nicosia on Wednesday night.

Over 400 workers from the disbanded CTA have been staging regular protests since they were laid off last year. Sacked workers say they are owed compensation and remittances.

Police moved in to arrest protesters on Wednesday at around 7pm when former employees were joined by supporters of the left-wing New Cyprus Party (YKP), United Cyprus Party (BKP) and the Cyprus Socialist Party (KSP).

Speeding biker drops a kilo of cannabis

2011-05-20

A MOTORCYCLIST speeding down the Kofinou-Larnaca highway was probably disappointed on Wednesday night after he had accidentally dropped a kilo of cannabis and a precision weighing scale from the vehicle. The motorcycle had no licence plates.

A police officer happened to witness the incident during a routine patrol of the highway at around 7:30pm close to Larnaca.

The sergeant had been keeping his eyes peeled for any trouble after the cup final football match between Omonia and Apollonas and rushed in to pick up the bag which the motorcyclist dropped.

The officer asked him to stop but the motorcyclist instead picked up speed again and fled the scene.

Free airline ticket for children of large families

2011-05-20

CYPRUS Airways is offering free air tickets to two children up to the age of 18 who come from large families of three children or more.

A large family simply has to present their official card showing they are recognised as a large family, and they can apply for the tickets.

The tickets can be to any destination that Cyprus Airways flies to, between September 15 and December 15. The children must be accompanied by at least one of their parents. Taxes however are excluded from the offer.

For those interested call Cyprus Airways on 80000008 or visit their ticket issuing offices.

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.