Police launch seat belt campaign

2011-07-05

 

SIXTEEN out of the 22 killed in car crashes so far this year were not wearing their seatbelts, while less than 14 per cent of passengers in the back seats of cars bother to buckle up, the head of the traffic department said yesterday.

The shocking figures were announced as police kicked off an island wide campaign yesterday highlighting the importance of wearing seatbelts.

It coincided with the death yesterday of a 47-year-old asylum seeker in the Tseri industrial area. Driving too fast, he lost control of his car and swerved into the oncoming traffic hitting a truck. He was killed immediately. He too was not wearing his seat belt.

Our View: What we need is a reduction, not an increase, in municipalities

2011-07-05

ON SUNDAY referendums were held in eight villages about the possibility of changing status from community to municipality. Not surprisingly seven of the eight overwhelmingly voted in favour of becoming municipalities, the only exception being Pano Polemidhia, the majority of which voted against becoming part of the existing Kato Polemidhia municipality.

It is bewildering why the government bothered with the referendums. Was there really any possibility that the residents of the villages would not want to elect a mayor and a municipal council? Pano Polemidhia voted against because its residents did not want to be swallowed up by the existing municipality, but if they were offered their own they would certainly have voted ‘yes’.

CY denies serving out of date meals

2011-07-05

CYPRUS Airways (CY) denied yesterday it served expired meals to the passengers of an inbound flight, thus putting their health at risk.

The airline was responding to a report in Sunday’s Politis, which said that the meals on a May 24 flight from Saint Petersburg, Russia, had expired a month before.

A crew leader’s report published by Politis said: “meal boxes for inbound flight had stickers on them indicating the ‘best before’ date which was the 21st of April, 2011. We conducted (sic) catering from LED (Saint Petersburg airport) and were told that it was OK to use those meals.”

The newspaper also listed two cases, earlier this year, in which passengers had complained after finding foreign objects in cheese pies served on CY flights.

Murder attempt made on journalist at anti-Ankara newspaper

2011-07-05

A TWENTY-SIX-YEAR-OLD Turkish man appeared in court yesterday accused of a failed attempt to murder journalist Ali Osman Tabak of the north’s outspoken Afrika newspaper on Sunday night.

The alleged would-be hit man, Turkish national Mustafa Yalcin, is said to have fired one shot at the journalist after entering the offices of the controversial Afrika newspaper early on Sunday evening. Tabak told the press later he escaped injury or death by “a hair’s breadth” by leaping out of the gunman’s line of fire. Yalcin was later arrested in possession of a Czech-made 7.65mm pistol believed to have been used in the attempted shooting.

Tourism on the increase with Russians the biggest spenders

2011-07-05

AN INCREASE in arrivals from the UK has put a smile back on the face of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO), after recent years saw the island’s main source of tourism steadily – and worryingly – diminish.

According to the CTO’s deputy chairman Lefkos Fylaktides, the steady reduction in British tourists that has been noted over the past few years has ended for the time being. In fact, he said increased arrivals from the UK – as well as Russia and Central Europe – had led to an 11 per cent increase in arrivals over the first five months of this year compared to 2010.

Kalopanayiotis: a vision rewarded

2011-07-05

LOCALS may already know the village of Kalopanayiotis which woos tourists with its gorgeous setting, historical and ecclesiastical monuments, and sulphur-rich hot springs but its community is now hoping that its title as Cyprus’ own 2011 European Destination of Excellence (EDEN) will attract even more people and funding for its ongoing regeneration project.

Kalopanayiotis and runner-up Fini, both in the Troodos mountains, participated in this year’s EDEN competition under the theme of Tourism and Regeneration of Physical Sites and were awarded yesterday at the European University Cyprus.

Arrests in sham marriage case

2011-07-05

POLICE have arrested three persons on suspicion of conspiring to arrange and carry out a fake marriage.

A Larnaca district court yesterday ordered the suspects – a Cypriot national, a Ukrainian and a Bulgarian – be remanded in police custody for five days.

The case dates back to October 2010 and involves a civil marriage held at the municipality of Lysi.

Police told the court that their first suspect, a 52-year-old Cypriot, confessed under questioning that he had urged the Ukrainian woman to wed a Bulgarian national and permanent resident of Cyprus.

The purpose of the marriage was so that the 46-year-old Ukrainian could remain on the island as her residency permit was about to expire.

Raft of agreements signed with the Ukraine

2011-07-05

CYPRUS and Ukraine signed yesterday a series of bilateral agreements and a Memorandum of Understanding, as part of President Demetris Christofias’ official visit to the Ukraine.

President Christofias and his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovych attended the signing ceremony after holding talks at the Presidential Palace in Kiev.

An official press release said that Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Antonis Paschalides signed an agreement for financial, scientific, technical and industrial cooperation which aims to encourage business links and implement development programmes.

A Cypriot-Ukrainian Intergovernmental Committee will be established.

Earliest yet official start to summer sales

2011-07-05

THE official summer sales kicked off yesterday, earlier than in any other year, in a response both to the still-sluggish economy but also to the fact the start date had been consistently flouted by some shops in years past.

In previous years, wealthier establishments had ignored the official start date and commenced their sales earlier, despite the fine they subsequently had to pay.

Despite this year’s early kick-off, however, Consumers’ Association President Petros Markou still recommended shoppers exercised “caution and research”, noting “they need to be sure of what the price of the good was before the discounts”.

Acquainting themselves with sales exchange policies ahead of making purchases was also important, he said yesterday.

Elderly lady killed while crossing road

2011-07-05

A 77-YEAR-OLD woman was knocked over and killed at around 4.30am on Sunday, by a 21-year-old, on Thiseos Street in the old town of Nicosia. The 21-year-old was arrested after it was confirmed that he was driving under the influence.

According to one person in the area, the 21-year-old was a close relative with SigmaLive stating that it was her great grandson. Police could not confirm either.

Police said that the 21-year-old’s car hit the elderly woman while she was crossing the road, and then proceeded to crash into the wall of a house nearby.

The 77-year-old was taken to the General Hospital where her death was confirmed whereas the 21-year-old and his passenger were given first aid then released.

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.