Cyprus star Ioannou soars to win High Jump

2011-06-10

ONE of Cyprus’ most talented athletes, high jumper Kyriakos Ioannou, has won the event at the prestigious Diamond League meeting in the Norwegian capital of Oslo.

The competition, as well as nearly all of the Track and Field events, was severely disrupted by rain.

World indoor high jump champion Ivan Ukhov failed to clear his opening height of 2.15m and the event duly turned into a three-way battle between Olympic champion Andrey Silnov of Russia, world championship bronze medalist Raul Spank of Germany and world silver medalist Ioannou.

All three cleared 2.28m, but were unable to jump 2.30m.

Ioannou and Silnov then went into a jump-off, with the 26-year-old Cypriot taking the eventual victory on the countback rule.

Colocassides calls expulsion ‘shameful’

2011-06-10

DIKO’s former deputy leader Georgios Colocassides yesterday accused his party of political thuggery in dealing with dissenting voices.

Speaking at a news conference in Nicosia, Colocassides said he did not recognise his expulsion from DIKO, calling the move “irregular” and “shameful” and pointing the finger at party no.1 Marios Garoyian.

“But the main question is not whether a party leader has acted arbitrarily,” said Colocassides.  “This kind of people will always be around. What truly saddens me is that so many others volunteered to co-sign this shame, because it is nothing short of an infamy.”

Our View: Voting on principle a privilege only for DIKO as a party, not for members

2011-06-10

WE SAW the last chapter of the Zacharias Koulias saga on Tuesday, when the DIKO executive council expelled him from the party for his apostasy. The diminutive, firebrand deputy had refused to vote for his party leader Marios Garoyian in the election of House president, backing instead EDEK chief Yiannakis Omirou and tilting the contest in the latter’s favour.

Understandably, most of his party colleagues were outraged and demanded the expulsion of this latter-day ‘Judas’, whose apostasy had deprived their leader of another five-year term as House president. Koulias’ apostasy, according to Garoyian, was a blow “against the party code, political morality and democratic legality and his action paved the way for the corruption of the values of public life”.

New House meets, picks committee membership

2011-06-10

AFTER a month-long break, the new House of Representatives (2011-2016) yesterday conducted its first order of business in appointing the chairmen and members of the parliamentary committees.

Main opposition DISY, having prevailed in May’s legislative elections, got the lion’s share of committee chairmanships, six in total: Commerce, Health, Legal Affairs, Audit, Foreign Affairs and Education.

Ruling AKEL will preside over the Agriculture, Interior, Labour, Environment and Refugees committees.

DIKO meanwhile retained the key Finance committee, and also chairs the Communications and Human Rights committees. Socialists EDEK are in charge of the Defence Committee, and the European Party chair the Institutions Committee.

World’s largest statue planned for Limassol village

2011-06-10

WHAT MIGHT be the world’s tallest statue is being planned at a Russian backed development off the coast of Limassol.

The 135 metre statue of an angel named The Kind Angel of the World is being planned at Monagrouli, about 20km from Limassol.

The development is being planned by a Russian foundation, the International Club philanthropists and Patrons of Europe and will include a conference centre for 1,300 delegates, a ‘presidential’ convention centre for 300 delegates, a theatre and banqueting hall. It will also include a number of cafés and restaurants.

A site of 52 donums has been set aside on Church-owned land in Monagrouli, and the Church has already agreed to lease the land to the Russian foundation.

Prisoners’ human rights being ‘violated’ by enforced hair cuts

2011-06-10

PRISON authorities could be violating inmates’ human rights by making them cut their hair and shave, a human rights lawyer said yesterday, as a report claimed a convict was sent to isolation after refusing to shave his beard.

Daily newspaper Politis reported that Panayiotis Kafkaris, an inmate doing life for murder, had been sent to isolation after he refused to shave a beard he had had for 37 years.

Politis said Kafkaris was returned to his cell after promising to shave but was sent to isolation anew when an irate deputy prison governor Giorgos Tryfonides found out that the convict’s lawyer got involved.

Civil servants deny agreeing to pay freezes

2011-06-10

THE head of public servants’ umbrella union PASYDY yesterday rubbished reports that government workers were prepared to accept a wage scale freeze for another two years to help the government’s efforts at an economic recovery.

Glafcos Hadjipetrou said public servants had already made enough concessions and claimed that the government was behind the reports as a means of pushing for more concessions.

Daily newspaper Phileleftheros reported yesterday that government and unions – specifically PASYDY, left wing PEO and right wing union SEK – were about to conclude an agreement to freeze pay scale rises in the broader public sector for two years.

The sector includes those working in the central government, semi-government organisations and local authorities.

Cypriot firms could get some Libyan money back

2011-06-10

THE CABINET has paved the way for Cypriot companies to claw back some of the money owed them by the Libyan state, Commerce Minister Antonis Paschalides said yesterday.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting, he announced that cabinet has approved the ministry’s proposal regarding the distribution of money owed by the Libyan government to Cypriot firms.

Libya’s total debt to Cyprus for goods and services provided by Cypriot companies since the 1980s reaches almost €6 million. So far the Cyprus government has been able to collect approximately half of that.

New school timetables get final approval

2011-06-10

THE NEW curricula and timetables agreed as part of the educational reform process will finally be implemented in all primary schools this September, Education Minister Andreas Demetriou said yesterday.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Demetriou said: “Cabinet approved (yesterday) the new timetable for primary education, and so from September our primary schools will work fully with the new curricula and timetables.”

He added: “We believe this is a big change for our education system and I welcome the fact that we got here with the full consent of all stakeholders and of course POED (primary school teachers’ union), which has been very cooperative in this whole process.”

Cyprus receives European warning over the Akamas

2011-06-10

CYPRUS has received a warning letter from the European Commission over its failure to designate sufficient protected areas in the Akamas peninsula, which the EU considers a violation of its directives, it emerged yesterday.

In a lengthy letter to Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou dated May 19, the Commission suggested that Cyprus had used socioeconomic criteria in designating areas in the Akamas instead of scientific standards as it ought to.

The Commission lists a series of habitats and species that were left out when Cyprus designated the protected areas in the Akamas.

Its letter, which constitutes formal notice – the first step in a procedure that could see Cyprus end up in court – was made public by news portal Stockwatch.

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.