Austerity package may be too little too late

2011-07-03

 

THE GOVERNMENT may find it hard to convince foreign investors and credit rating agencies of the effectiveness of its fiscal consolidation efforts, as borrowing costs rise and the danger of having to resort to the European rescue mechanism looms, economists warned yesterday.

Despite the austerity package unveiled on Friday by government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou providing for stricter measures – such as cutting pay scales for newcomers in the public service – than similar packages announced in the past, it might still be too little too late, economist Spyros Episkopou said.

“These measures may have an impact provided they are implemented immediately,” Episkopou, the CEO of Epicentral Consultancy Ltd. told the Sunday Mail.

Tales from the coffee shop: Icy tales from low key WikiLeaks source

2011-07-03

US AMBASSADOR Frank Urbancic, despite representing the most powerful state in the world, is the most low profile ambassador currently serving in Kyproulla.

He could be shy by nature – not a character trait often associated with Yanks – but it is also possible that he decided to make himself scarce because of social circumstances. He is after all serving in country with a hostile, communist regime, led by a US-hating red – with 10 honorary doctorates – who still feels deeply nostalgic for the glory days of the Soviet Union and the Cold War.

Our View: More action needed than praying for a miracle

2011-07-03

WHEN did Greece finally realise that its day of reckoning had arrived? When the finance minister went abroad in search of funds to re-finance the country’s crippling debts and nobody was prepared to take the risk of lending it any more money? No matter how high the interest rate offered, there were no takers. After years of state profligacy, short-term thinking and scandalous mismanagement of the economy the country was bankrupt. Creditworthiness was zero and a bailout was the only hope of averting the complete collapse of the state.

Common EU policy needed on migration

2011-07-03

CYPRUS has stressed the need for the creation of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) by 2012 to tackle the significant migrant influx mainly faced by Mediterranean EU members.

“Cyprus, as well as the other Mediterranean countries, faces various challenges related to the increased migrant flow in the area, resulting from the instability in North Africa and the Middle East,” said Sotos Ktoris, coordinator of the interior ministry asylum service.

He was addressing a seminar held in Malta on Friday entitled Europe’s New Mediterranean Reality: Migration And Asylum In Malta, Greece And Cyprus.

Proceeds robbed

2011-07-03

A 69-year-old confectionary owner was attacked and robbed on Friday at around 9.30pm as he was leaving his store in Ayios Dometios, Nicosia. The assailant managed to get €5,500 from him after beating him repeatedly.

The owner suffered cuts and bruises on various parts of his body.

According to police, the 69-year-old had just closed up and was walking to his car with a bag full of money when he was attacked from behind.

Nicosia police chief, Kypros Michaelides said that after the assailant threw him to the ground and a fight ensued in which the thief managed to grab the bag with €5,500 from the owner. The thief then escaped in a car that was waiting for him near by.

The thief is described as young, normal physical build and about 1.70m in height.

Fall from apartment block

2011-07-03

A 21-year-old was seriously injured on Friday in the Famagusta district when he fell from a height of ten metres from the apartment block where he was staying.

His condition is considered serious but he is out of danger. He was taken to a private clinic in the area where it was confirmed that he was suffering from fractures to his left hand, his pelvis and spinal cord, as well as an injury to his forehead.

According to police, the 21-year-old was found by an 18-year-old who was staying at another tourist apartment block nearby, who heard a noise and on coming out found the injured man.

Police are investigating the conditions under which he fell.

 

Village referendum

2011-07-03

REFERENDUMS will take place today to decide whether the residents of seven communities want their areas to become a municipality.

Dromolaxia and Meneou will vote together to determine whether they want to form one municipality and Yeri, Tseri, Ypsonas, Livadia and Sotira will vote separately. Pano Polemidia will also vote to determine whether it wants to merge with the municipality of Kato Polemidia.

According to Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis a temporary municipal committee will be formed until December when elections will be held to elect a mayor and a municipal council.

 

Ukraine visit

2011-07-03

PRESIDENT of the Republic Demetris Christofias leaves today for a two-day visit to Ukraine, where he is expected to sign bilateral agreements and inaugurate the new Embassy of Cyprus in Kiev.

Christofias will meet with his counterpart Victor Yanukovich and acting Prime Minister Andriy Klyuyev among others.

The President will also attend and address a Business Forum, organised by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine, in the presence of businessmen from both Cyprus and Ukraine.

Native New Yorker

2011-07-03

Born in Nicosia, raised in Brooklyn, a rising jazz star with a drug addicted past tells THEO PANAYIDES that he now lives for his music

We’ve interviewed Alexi David once before at the Sunday Mail. It’s no secret to say so, since he has the interview prominently displayed on his website (www.alexidavid.com), in a section called ‘Drugs’. That was in February 2004, a piece by Alexia Saoulli that began with a stark proclamation: “Alexi David is a 26-year-old man suffering from a chronic incurable illness. He is a former heroin addict, and this is his story.”

Super 8 ****

2011-07-03

The first thing we see is a sign outside a factory: “Safety is Our Primary Goal”. It’s a motto that might also be erected outside the dream factories of risk-averse, big-studio Hollywood – and Super 8, though not exactly radical, does represent a small, cherishable risk in this playing-it-safe summer of sequels and prequels. Let’s put it this way: the audience clamouring to see how Harry Potter ends, or how Erik Whatsisname turned into Magneto, is large and well-established. The audience who were on the cusp of puberty – 12 or 13 or thereabouts – in the very early 80s is significantly smaller, and tends to stay home watching TV these days anyway.

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.