Austerity package in the balance

2011-09-13

 

QUESTION marks hang yesterday over the chances of a deal for a second batch of austerity measures by the end of the week, as trade unions again threatened strikes and with the country still facing the threat of another credit downgrading.

Unions representing workers in the civil service and the broader public sector reject government proposals for a 25 per cent cut in 13th salaries and a two-year freeze on payment of cost of living allowance (CoLA).

Finance Minister Kikis Kazamias met successively with the leaderships of OEV (Employers and Industrialists Federation) and KEVE (Chamber of Commerce and Industry), and the trade unions PEO, SEK and PASYDY. A new meeting with the unions has been set for today.

Our View: Despite Prelate’s views, Church’s political role less than exemplary

2011-09-13

ARCHBISHOP Chrysostomos knows very well how to dominate the headlines. He illustrated this talent once again on Friday, when he explained to a small group of youths, invited to the Archbishopric, how he planned to save Cyprus. His comments after the meeting sparked a political debate that was still dominating the current affairs shows yesterday. 

Layoffs on the rise

2011-09-13

MORE THAN one in three Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEB) member companies will lay off staff in the next three months, it emerged yesterday.

OEB’s latest report also said that within the companies that will lay off staff, an average of 11.6 per cent of staff will be made redundant.

The report also suggests a possible cause for the forthcoming redundancies, highlighting reduced turnover for 70 per cent of its 113 member companies in the past 12 months.

In this period, 22 per cent of OEB members saw a reduction in turnover of between 10 and 20 per cent. 

Fifteen per cent of companies saw a reduction of 21-30 per cent and 16 per cent saw a reduction of 31-40 per cent.

Three out of ten companies’ saw no reduction in turnover.

EAC: Noble’s first customers

2011-09-13

THE ELECTRICITY Authority of Cyprus (EAC) could be the first customer to receive natural gas from partners Noble and Delek, currently drilling for hydrocarbon deposits in Israel’s offshore fields. 

The EAC met with representatives of Noble and Delek in Nicosia yesterday in a “very good climate”, releasing a statement after saying that all three were ready to cooperate in the field of natural gas. 

“The role of the EAC is considered by the two companies as very important, since the EAC will be the most important and perhaps, at first, the only consumer of natural gas,” the EAC announcement said.

Fewer than expected at memorial protest

2011-09-13

AROUND 4,000 people, from all corners of the island, gathered outside the Presidential Palace last night demanding justice for the 13 killed during the naval base blast on July 11, some of them having marched from Eleftheria Square as part of the ‘Indignant’ group.

Organisers had hoped for as many as 15,000 to take part in last night’s protest to mark two months since the explosion.

“We’re here to replace the government,” said Alfredos Koutsios who had come from Limassol and said that he has been coming at least every 15 days since the protests began just days after the blast. 

Poll: majority want Christofias to resign

2011-09-13

SIX IN ten people think President Demetris Christofias should resign after the Mari naval base blast, according to a poll published by Simerini on Sunday. 

The poll carried out by Prime Consulting sampled 688 men and women across the country over the age of 18 between September 6 and 8 on behalf of the paper. Asked whether Christofias should resign, 44 per cent said ‘definitely yes’, 15 per cent ‘probably yes’, 10 per cent ‘probably not’ and 24 per cent ‘definitely not’. The results showed that 23 per cent of AKEL voters who took part in the survey agree that former AKEL leader Christofias should resign. 

Oxygen cylinders the latest way of smuggling drugs

2011-09-13

Oxygen cylinders have been found to be the new way of smuggling drugs into the country after drugs squad YKAN found three cylinders full of drugs in Aradippou and arrested four people on Sunday said to be at the centre of importing and distributing drugs on the island.

“This empowers us and together we can hit the drug dealers,” said YKAN chief, Gavriel Gavriel yesterday adding that oxygen cylinders as a place to store drugs was a first for Cyprus.

In total six and a half kilos of cannabis, half a kilo of cannabis resin and some ecstasy pills were found, according to Gavriel. Since the operation began last week three Greek Cypriot men aged 33, 28 and 31 along with a 25-year-old Spanish woman were arrested.

Teachers protest over small number of permanent positions

2011-09-13

“WE’RE people not numbers” and “we want a way out of a dead end” were just some of the slogans shouted outside the Education Ministry yesterday during a protest by secondary school teachers’ union OELMEK in support of temporary teachers who failed to get a permanent appointment.

“Over 100 colleagues who have taught in secondary schools over the years have failed to get permanent positions because fewer than 200 teaching contracts were given out this year,” said OELMEK head Demetris Taliadoros.

“We’re calling on the Education Ministry to follow the suggestions that we’re putting forward,” said Taliadoros who also wants those who have not yet been appointed “to win that right”.

Police escorts due to be slashed

2011-09-13

THE cabinet and justice ministry are once again mulling over a decision to reduce police escorts following recent police recommendations, it emerged yesterday

Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said that they submitted their report to the justice ministry several weeks ago before it goes to the cabinet which has the final say.

“It is a confidential decision,” Katsounotos said. “The police report concerning the guarding of politicians was sent, with recommendations, to the ministry of justice to inform the council of ministers.”

He added that the police do not choose the size of escorts, but acts according to the cabinet’s instructions.

Large Paphos project hits snags

2011-09-13

A RUSSIAN-backed multi-million-euro project proposed for Paphos has hit problems after the Antiquities department refused to give it the go-ahead.

A delegation from Moscow-based Quatro Engineering Ltd is currently visiting Paphos to plug plans to ‘upgrade’ the western coast of the town with the concerned government departments of Cyprus.

Paphos Mayor Savvas Vergas approves of the scheme, which he believes will be of great benefit for the seaside town and, according to him, a group of Russian businessmen were to visit the Municipality yesterday evening and expected to discuss how to proceed with the proposal. 

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.