In the name of Allah, the merciful, due to the circumstances our beloved Egypt is living through and the attempt to steal the glorious revolution and circumvent the legitimate objectives which the revolution was based upon, we have decided to form a national free government which demands to adhere to the revolution’s principles and achieve freedom and social justice.
I am writing to draw attention to an email forwarded to me recently, promoting Hungary as an international finance centre, particularly for tax planning.
I was concerned that the first sentence of the memorandum attached to the email reads: “The purpose of this memorandum is to show that Hungary could successfully replace Cyprus in international tax planning.” This is the first time I have seen Cyprus so specifically and explicitly targeted.
The memorandum goes on to outline the main benefits of the Hungarian tax regime, which include a low tax rate, tax exemption for dividends received, absence of withholding tax, a wide network of double tax agreements and a streamlined and effective corporate registration system.
The title of Ambassador Andreas Jacovides’ recent book, International Law and Diplomacy: Selected Writings, reflects the philosophy of a learned author that “international law and diplomacy interact and expertise in one can be of great relevance and usefulness in the conduct of the other”.
As a specialist in international law, Jacovides is well placed to write on the subject, and the book’s importance rests particularly on the fact that he has personally participated in the preparation of many of the subjects he writes about.
The Selected Writings (published by Martinus Nijhof, a well known publisher on international law) provide a rich array of various core aspects of international law
IN NOVEMBER of 1973 I spotted an advertisement in the Sunday Times: One room house for sale in the village of Trimithi, Kyrenia District; unobstructed views of the sea and Turkish mountains, £3,000.
The following weekend I met the vendor at the Birmingham Hilton where, over Tournedos Rossini accompanied by a bottle of Chateau Neuf, I learnt that he was the foreign correspondent of the Telegraph based in Beirut, a dangerous place to be at the time. I also learnt, towards the end of the bottle, that Cyprus would eventually be invaded by Turkey, who would nab the north, ethnically cleansing it of Greek Cypriots, thus dividing the island and its two embattled communities indefinitely – his words not mine!
THE SMALL Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is known internationally for two things: high visa fees, which reduce the influx of tourists, and its policy of promoting “gross national happiness”, instead of economic growth. The two are related: more tourists might boost the economy, but they would damage Bhutan’s environment and culture, and so reduce happiness in the long run.
When I first heard of Bhutan’s goal of maximising its people’s happiness, I wondered if it really meant anything in practice, or was just another political slogan. Last month, when I was in the capital, Thimphu, to speak at a conference on “Economic Development and Happiness”, organised by Prime Minister Jigme Y Thinley, I learned that it is much more than a slogan.
DESPITE the government’s determination not to give in, Turkey’s threats against Cyprus concerning the imminent drilling of natural gas can potentially result in an experience similar to that of S-300. As the ancient Greeks used to say, “necessity forces even gods into compliance”. But this is not inevitable if the government and the parliament act instantly to create a special fund for depositing the proceeds from the exploitation of natural gas, with the Turkish Cypriots’ share going into a special escrow account to be released to the Turkish Cypriots, with interest, upon the solution of the Cyprus problem.
I HAVE known Demetris Christofias since 1987 when he emerged as a new political star.
By then the AKEL chief for 40 years, Ezekias Papaioannou – with whom I had excellent relations since my days at the foreign office – was already in old age. Papaioannou had disclosed to me that he considered Christofias fit to become the new AKEL chief and was going to bypass the incumbent leadership. In July 1987, he also appointed Demetris as liaison officer between AKEL and my party (The Liberal Party) as at that time we both supported George Vassiliou in the presidential elections in February 1988.
I HAVE recently written that the situation at semi-governmental organisations, with regard to salaries, pensions and other benefits, is the most outrageously provocative encountered in the broader public sector.
These organisations have very accurately been described as ultra-costly sheikdoms at which stealing from the taxpayer was rampant, even though they are all bankrupt. The revelations made at the House Watchdog Committee last Tuesday, during the investigation of the financial records of the CyBC, confirmed the large scale of the problem.
VIRGINIA ERSKINE says the disturbing reality for the orphans of Cairo is that their existence since the downfall of Hosni Mubarak earlier this year has not changed one iota. For the millions of children that sleep rough and spend their waking hours on the streets, the revolution may as well have happened on another planet.
Frightened young girls continue to deliver babies on their own in filthy conditions with no medical aid – most of the unfortunate babies are then tossed aside to die on rubbish dumps, in doorways or down drains.
The lucky ones end up in an orphanage, such as those Virginia works at, but most children arrive with dire health problems which are often severe, ranging from cholera to tuberculosis and anaemia.
IT’S the first day in your new job as a trainee doctor, and in walks a middle aged man with hearing problems.
You sit him down in and begin to take his history. He is a carpenter by trade and – until recently – a cricket umpire on the weekends, but he has had to hang up his umpire’s coat because he could no longer hear the sound of bat-on-ball.
Now it is up to you to help him return to the wicket…. how do you proceed?
This was the scenario faced by 30 students on their very first day at the University of Nicosia’s gleaming new medical school, which opened on Monday.
It is a pioneering achievement for the university, offering the island’s first medical degree: a four year, Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS)
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.
