APOEL: we are not top through luck

2011-10-20

APOEL fans could hardly hide their disappointment after the draw for the group stages of the Champions League was made in August.

Their side, after qualifying for the group stages of Europe’s premier club competition for only the second time in their history, had failed to draw any of the giants of the European game. What made things even worse was how none of the sides they had drawn, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit St Petersburg or Porto, constituted a particularly appealing holiday destination for a short midweek break in the autumn months, such as Barcelona, Madrid, London or Milan would have been. The overall feeling from the fans was that since the Nicosia side was more than likely to end up last whatever the case, let’s at least enjoy the trip. 

Gaddafi reported dead

2011-10-20

Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi died of wounds suffered this morning as fighters battling to complete an eight-month-old uprising against his rule overran his hometown Sirte, Libya’s interim rulers said.

His killing, which came swiftly after his capture near Sirte, is the most dramatic single development in the Arab Spring revolts that have unseated rulers in Egypt and Tunisia and threatened the grip on power of the leaders of Syria and Yemen.

“He (Gaddafi) was also hit in his head,” National Transitional Council official Abdel Majid Mlegta told Reuters. “There was a lot of firing against his group and he died.”

Gaddafi caught fleeing Sirte

2011-10-20

Deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafiwas captured and wounded in both legs near his hometown of Sirte at dawn this morning National Transitional Council official Abdel Majid said.

Majid reported the capture after Libyan interim government fighters took the town today, extinguishing the last significant resistance by forces loyal to the former leader and ending a two-month siege.

“He’s captured. He’s wounded in both legs … He’s been taken away by ambulance,” the senior NTC military official told Reuters by telephone.

Gaddafi was trying to flee in a convoy which NATO warplanes attacked, Majid said. The head of Gaddafi’s armed forces Abu Bakr Younus Jabr had been killed during the capture of the Libyan ex-leader, he added.

Libyan government forces declare complete capture of Sirte

2011-10-20

Libyan transitional government forces said today they had captured the last positions held by Muammar Gaddafi’s loyalists in the deposed leader’s home town of Sirte.

“Sirte has been liberated. There are no Gaddafi forces any more,” said Colonel Yunus Al Abdali, head of operations in the eastern half of the city. “We are now chasing his fighters who are trying to run away.”

Another front line commander confirmed the capture of the Mediterranean coastal city, which was the last remaining significant bastion of pro-Gaddafi fighters almost three months after the ex-leader was overthrown by rebels. 

Oil and gas strategy already long overdue, says expert

2011-10-20

 

THE government must implement a gas revenue management plan now if it is to realise the “wide and bright prospects” before it and not end up with the ‘Dutch disease’, or the corruption and inflation experienced by other gas-rich countries, experts warned yesterday.  

 This was the stark choice put before assembled business leaders, economic experts and Commerce Minister Praxoulla Antoniadou at the 2nd Limassol Economic Forum’s discussion panel on energy yesterday.

“You may think you have some time, but you are wrong. You have no time… you have to get the key issues on the table very soon” said Renaissance deputy Chief Executive Officer Hans Jochum Horn.

Our View: Finance ministry persists in making the same mistakes again and again

2011-10-20

 

THE MAIN criticism made against the state budget for 2012, under discussion at the House Finance Committee, was that its forecasts were over-optimistic. Someone could have made this claim, without looking at the budget, given past experience. All three budgets prepared by the Christofias government were over-optimistic, committing the same mistake – ignoring, each time, the recession and poor economic climate and thus failing to meet its fiscal targets.

North slammed for illegal arrests

2011-10-20

MEMBERS OF the European Parliament yesterday called for the immediate release of Cypriot former Finance Minister Michalis Sarris and six others, in the north under antiquated homosexual laws.

In a signed statement several MEPs said the laws were a breach of the binding European Convention on Human Rights and international laws on the right to privacy.

At the same time the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA-Europe) sent a letter to Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu to demand the immediate end to arbitrary detention and prosecution of men suspected of having engaged in consensual adult same-sex sexual activity.

CY flights rescheduled today

2011-10-20

CYPRUS Airways has rescheduled today’s flights to accommodate the changing status of the strike by Greek air traffic controllers. 

The airline will push back two flights which were originally scheduled for midnight today. 

A flight from Larnaca for Athens will now depart at 5pm and a Larnaca-to-Thessaloniki flight will leave at 6pm. 

The Greek strike was meant to last 48 hours but was reduced to 12 hours on Tuesday evening. 

Cyprus Airways kept to their original plan for yesterday as they had already made arrangements for all their passengers, the airline said in an announcement. 

“It was not made possible to reschedule several flights,” Hermes’ Airports, Adamos Aspris said. 

Urgent appeal for donor match

2011-10-20

A 16- YEAR-OLD school girl from Paphos is in urgent need of a bone marrow transplant to aid her recovery from acute leukemia.

Kathryn Hadjipetrou was diagnosed with the condition just over three weeks ago and was immediately admitted to the Makarios Hospital in Nicosia where she has remained ever since.

Her mother Heather Hadjipetrou, who hasn’t left her daughter’s side since she was admitted said the teen was currently undergoing chemotherapy  to prepare her for a vital bone marrow transplant.

“Kathryn is leading such a full life and is hoping to study a theatre and TV production course at York University. Her diagnosis was a devastating shock to us all but Kathryn has remained positive throughout,” she said.

‘Two months left to apply to IPC’

2011-10-20

REFUGEES WISHING to pursue their property rights have two months left to apply to the Immoveable Property Commission (IPC) in the north, said human rights lawyer Achilleas Demetriades yesterday. 

Speaking at a press conference, Demetriades highlighted that the IPC, set up by Turkey in 2006 as a domestic remedy to property claims of displaced Greek Cypriots, would close its doors on December 21, 2011, unless Turkey decides to extend its lifespan in the meantime.  

In the 2010 Demopoulos case, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling clarified that Greek Cypriots would have to exhaust all domestic remedies first before going to Strasbourg Court. 

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.