2011-10-13 – Cyprus Mail

Airline breaks record to rescue ship

2011-10-13

How heavy is too heavy? for one airline it seems the sky’s the limit, after their freight division came to the rescue of a ship in need of a 36 tonne rudder part in Dubai last week.

Emirates Airline’s SkyCargo service transported the 9.16 metres long and 1.05 metres wide rudder stock to a ship in the Dubai Dry Docks that was in urgent need of repairs.

The part – tailor-made by Korean steel manufacturer Taewoong – would normally be transported by sea, but a quick solution was required to reduce the cost of the ship being out of service.

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2011-10-13

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Act now to avoid crisis, IMF warns

2011-10-13

CYPRUS needs to take urgent action to shore up its economy, the IMF warned yesterday, saying the island needed to intensify efforts to avoid fiscal slippage caused in part by its exposure to Greece.

An existing austerity drive by authorities to contain pensions costs and better target social benefits was the minimum that could be done to get the situation in order, said assistant director in the European Department Erik Jan de Vrijer.

“We think the situation at the moment is very serious. The fact that the government cannot access the capital markets is very serious and the risks to the banking sector compound that,” he said. “The first priority for Cyprus is to do all it can to avoid that these problems get out of hand.”

Our View: U-turn on casinos a pragmatic move

2011-10-13

STATE REVENUE forecasts must be extremely worrying for the government to have decided to give licences for the operation of casinos. There can be no other plausible explanation for President Christofias U-turn on a matter he had repeatedly voiced very strong moral objections.

The Papadopoulos government was very keen on issuing casino licences, had done a lot of the preparatory work but had to abandon the project, because of the opposition of Christofias, whose party was a member of the government alliance. And after he was elected, Christofias stuck to his guns, emphatically stating in 2009: “There will be no casinos in Cyprus as long as I am president.”

EU: Cyprus-Turkey situation potential for problems

2011-10-13

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule warned Turkey yesterday to refrain from any action regarding Cyprus, which could negatively affect good neighbourly relations.

Fule was speaking on the publication of the annual progress report on Turkey’s accession process.

“Regrettably, accession negotiations have not moved forward for more than one year. There are frustrations about this on both sides,” said Fule, adding that the EU should work out ways to keep Ankara engaged. “I believe it is time to work for a renewed positive agenda in EU-Turkey relations. To build together on our common strategic interests,” Fule added.

Debate on Mari report postponed

2011-10-13

PARLIAMENT yesterday postponed discussion of the findings of an inquiry into the July 11 blast, apparently for procedural reasons.

Lawmakers had initially decided to discuss the findings, which laid most of the blame for the blast the killed 13 men on President Demetris Christofias, this afternoon.

But apparently some voiced concerns over the length of the session – seven hours.

A proposal to break it in two – today and next Thursday — was abandoned since both the leaders of DISY and DIKO would be absent next week.

The decision on the new date will be taken this morning during the informal party leaders’ meeting.

Large-scale poaching raid nets six

2011-10-13

POLICE YESTERDAY arrested six people during a large-scale anti-poaching dawn raid across the areas of Aradippou, Maroni and Lefkara using a police helicopter.

The operation took place from 6.30am until 12pm, with the focus on combating trapping, killing, capturing and trading in protected game.

According to police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos, armed with court orders, police searched 13 residences and two enclosed open spaces during which they found and confiscated 550 protected wild birds, including ampelopoulia (blackcaps), three frozen hares, tape recordings of bird sounds, 211 lime sticks and ten nets measuring 20 metres by five metres.

UN seeks Cyprus funding into 2012

2011-10-13

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon foresees an increase in the frequency of meetings between the two leaders, he said in his report requesting 2012 funding.

“Despite periods of intense activity, the talks have taken longer than was hoped. However, progress has been achieved on some of the issues and a significant body of work has accumulated over more than two years of negotiations,” Ban said in his report.

‘TRNC ministers’ hypocrisy over RoC passports exposed

2011-10-13

AFTER reportedly saying that Turkish Cypriots were being “deceived” into obtaining Republic of Cyprus (Roc) passports ‘TRNC Foreign Minister’ Huseyin Ozgurgun, has been named in a newspaper as being a recipient himself.

“The Greek Cypriots deceive our young people, the Turkish Cypriots, with the passport,” Ozgurgun was quoted as saying in Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen.

The paper on Tuesday then published a copy from RoC’s civil registry showing that Ozgurgun himself holds a passport of the Republic.

The story also blew the whistle yesterday on another four ‘government ministers’ in the north who hold RoC passports.

Decision on second- round licensing by year end

2011-10-13

SPECULATION CONTINUED yesterday as to when Cyprus will get a clear picture of the size and quality of hydrocarbon reserves south of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

According to Panos Papanastasiou, Dean of the Engineering School at the University of Cyprus, Texas-based Noble Energy, currently drilling in Cyprus’ Aphrodite field, will have a clear idea within two weeks whether all the talk of massive gas reserves proves to be true or just hot air.

On Tuesday, Commerce Minister Praxoulla Antoniadou called for patience, saying the first indications of the size and quality of the field, also known as Block 12, were expected in December, while the evaluation procedure would last around a year.