Syrian tanks occupy main Hama square, shell city say residents

2011-08-04

Syrian tanks occupied the main Orontes Square in central Hama after heavy shelling of the city on Wednesday, residents said.

“All communications have been cut off. The regime is using the media focus on the Hosni Mubarak trial to finish off Hama,” one of the residents told Reuters by satellite phone from the city, adding that shelling concentrated on al-Hader district, large parts of which were razed during a 1982 military assault on Hama that killed thousands.

He said that tanks were seen thrusting to the centre from the south, accompanied by an array of ultraloyalist units, including militiamen known as ‘shabbiha’, paratroopers and special forces.

Six men held after record £300m cocaine haul seized

2011-08-04

A record £300 million haul of cocaine has been seized and six alleged members of an international drugs gang arrested, officials said today.

A total of 1.2 tonnes of cocaine, with a purity of 90 per cent, was found hidden inside a 65ft pleasure cruiser at Southampton docks in June.

It is the biggest haul of Class A drugs ever found in the UK, officials from the UK Border Agency (UKBA) and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) said.

French authorities were alerted to the suspicious £1 million craft Louise while it was in the Caribbean in May and it was then tracked to Southampton, on its way to Holland.

Officials spent six days searching the vessel and found the drugs packed in a specially-designed compartment beneath the boat’s bathing platform.

EU says eurozone’s systemic capacity is in doubt

2011-08-04

The European Union voiced support for Italy and Spain under attack on financial markets but acknowledged that investors now doubt whether the euro zone can overcome its sovereign debt woes.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said a surge in Italian and Spanish bond yields to 14-year highs was cause for deep concern and did not reflect the true state of the third and fourth largest economies in the currency area.

“In fact, the tensions in bond markets reflect a growing concern among investors about the systemic capacity of the euro area to respond to the evolving crisis,” Barroso said in a statement.

State actor seen as responsible for ‘enormous’ wave of cyber attacks

2011-08-04

Security experts have discovered the biggest series of cyber attacks to date, involving the infiltration of the networks of 72 organizations including the United Nations, governments and companies around the world.

Security company McAfee, which uncovered the intrusions, said it believed there was one “state actor” behind the attacks but declined to name it, though one security expert who has been briefed on the hacking said the evidence points to China.

Egypt puts Mubarak on trial, transfixing Arab world

2011-08-04

Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, accused of corruption and involvement in killing protesters, went on trial on Wednesday, delighting those who overthrew him and ringing an alarm bell for other autocrats around the Arab world.

In a scene that Egyptians would have found unthinkable just eight months ago, the man who ruled them for 30 years was wheeled behind the bars of a courtroom cage in a hospital bed to hear charges that could carry the death penalty.

Mubarak is the first Arab leader to stand trial in person since popular uprisings swept the Middle East this year.

His two sons, Alaa and Gamal, were also in the defendants’ cage, clutching copies of the Koran, alongside former Interior Minister Habib al-Adli and six senior security officials.

Christofias more isolated as coalition crumbles

2011-08-04

DIKO abandoned the government coalition yesterday over what appears to be disagreement with President Christofias’ proposals on the Cyprus problem.

“Unfortunately it was not possible to achieve a full agreement on the strategy of exiting the crisis,” Garoyian said after meeting Christofias yesterday morning. “Serious differences in the approach, assessment and positions concerning handling of the Cyprus problem remain.” “Therefore the dialogue ends and DIKO will cease its cooperation with the President”.

DIKO had said that staying in the government had hinged on the acceptance of several proposals the party had submitted to Christofias.

Our View: DIKO’s joke of an alliance with AKEL reaches its punchline

2011-08-04

A THREE-AND-A-HALF year political farce came to an end yesterday when DIKO leader Marios Garoyian announced that his party would be leaving the government alliance. DIKO would no longer perform the role of the “force of stability and responsibility”, which it had been promoting during the parliamentary election campaign.

Speaking after the third meeting in a week, with President Christofias, Garoyian said “it had not been possible to achieve full agreement on the strategy for dealing with the crisis”. In addition to this, “serious differences of evaluation, opinion and approach, in relation to the handling of the Cyprus problem, remained.” DIKO has quite a talent in attributing noble motives to its decisions.

Kyprianou ‘saddened’ over DIKO withdrawal

2011-08-04

AKEL General Secretary Andros Kyprianou expressed sorrow over the withdrawal of DIKO from the government, saying however that the decision was respected.

Kyprianou was speaking after a meeting between himself, President of the Republic Demetris Christofias and AKEL Parliamentary Spokesman Nicos Katsourides, following the meeting of Christofias with DIKO chief Marios Garoyian.

Kyprianou said the country was going through a crucial period with the Cyprus talks, the economy, the fallout from the Mari naval base blast and subsequent energy crisis, and the Cypriot EU presidency in 2012

The AKEL leader said it was necessary to work collectively to overcome the problems.

Briton to face Cypriot court over north properties

2011-08-04

BRITON Gary Robb was due to be extradited to Cyprus last night to face allegations of unlawfully developing and trading in Greek Cypriot properties in the north in a first of its kind case for Cypriot justice.

Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said yesterday two investigators from the police headquarters’ Criminal Investigation Department were sent to London to collect the 48-year-old fugitive after his arrest based on a European arrest warrant issued by the Cypriot authorities.

Victims’ families ‘being taken care of’

2011-08-04

THE SOCIAL Welfare Services yesterday confirmed it had undertaken to provide financial and emotional support to the families of victims of last month’s ‘Evangelos Florakis’ blast.

The principal officer of the Services’ Public Assistance Sector, Eftychios Hadjichristodoulou, said social workers were in the process of drawing up reports regarding each family unit including their different, individual needs.

He said the families of the 13 men who were killed on July 11 had received assistance from day one and were continuing to receive support. The family members included parents, wives and children, Hadjichristodoulou said.

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.