Italy vote clears way for Berlusconi resignation

2011-11-12

Italy’s parliament gave final approval to a financial stability law today, paving the way for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to resign and make way for an emergency government headed by former European Commissioner Mario Monti.

Berlusconi, who failed to secure a majority in a crucial vote on Tuesday, promised to resign once parliament passed the package of economic reforms, demanded by European partners to restore confidence in Italy’s strained public finances.

He is due to hand in his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano after a cabinet meeting that will mark the final act of the Berlusconi government and bring an end to one of the most scandal-plagued eras in Italy’s post-war history.

Arab League suspends Syria, demands end to killing

2011-11-12

The Arab League suspended Syria and called on its army to stop killing civilians in a surprise move on Saturday that turned up the heat on President Bashar al-Assad.

The League will impose economic and political sanctions on Syria’s government and has appealed to member states to withdraw their ambassadors, said Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani. It will also call a meeting of Syrian opposition parties, he said.

“We were criticised for taking a long time but this was out of our concern for Syria,” Sheikh Hamad told reporters at the League’s headquarters in Cairo. “We needed to have a majority to approve those decisions.”

Syria’s representative at the Arab League said the decision was “not worth the ink it was written with”.

Turkish commandos shoot dead lone ferry hijacker

2011-11-12

Turkish commandos killed a lone hijacker, identified as a Kurdish militant armed with a bomb, in a pre-dawn operation on Saturday to rescue more than 20 passengers and crew held hostage for 12 hours on a high-speed ferry near Istanbul.

Hostages aboard the “Kartepe” ferry later described how the hijacker was shot dead minutes after the commandos slipped aboard.

“There was no chance left we’d capture him alive. The long phone calls to persuade him (to surrender) failed,” Interior Minister Idris Sahin told NTV news channel, adding that 450 grammes of plastic explosive were found on the body.

None of the 18 passengers or six crew were hurt, but some were taken to a hospital for checks after their ordeal.

Ireland and Croatia all but seal Euro 2012 places

2011-11-12

Ireland and Croatia erased bad memories with stunning football and seven goals on Friday as they made preliminary bookings for the Euro 2012 football finals by crushing Estonia and Turkey away.

In the other playoff first legs, Czech Republic overcame Montenegro 2-0 in Prague where Vaclav Pilar scored after 63 minutes and Tomas Sivok in added time while Bosnia and Portugal slugged out a goalless draw on a poor surface in Zenica.

Ireland, seeking to forget the disappointment of their infamous ‘Henry handball’ playoff defeat by France in the qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup, won 4-0 in Estonia in their first leg while Croatia beat the Turks 3-0 in Istanbul.

Cabinet appoints advisory body on gas

2011-11-12

THE CABINET has appointed a five-member group of experts to advise the government on natural gas issues, it was announced yesterday.

“The advisory group will be dealing with the long-term strategic planning concerning the extraction and management of hydrocarbons,” government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said.

They will also deal with the management of the potential gas reserves in block 12 – a concession where exploratory drilling is currently underway by US-based oil company Noble Energy.

The group will answer directly to President Demetris Christofias.

Aradippou wins 11.11.11 weddings’ race

2011-11-12

AROUND 170 civil weddings took place all over Cyprus yesterday marking the date 11.11.11 but Aradippou in Larnaca snagged the most ceremonies, marrying 100 couples.

Aradippou mayor Christakis Liperis said all of the couples came from Israel where there is no civil marriage.  Aradippou municipality has specialised in weddings for Israeli couples for the past 15 years, he said.

Liperis said that other so-called auspicious date s  such as 10.10.10 has also brought more couples to the island and he said he expects an even bigger turn out for 12.12.12. 

Definitely an auspicious day for lovers…of ice cream

2011-11-12

PEOPLE think the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th year of the millennium is an auspicious day to get married but for ice cream vendors 3COWS, it was an auspicious day to advertise by dishing out free ice cream. 

Technically speaking the 11th year of the millennium was last year (2000 was the first year and 2001 the second) but 11.11.11 has a nicer ring to it and as 3Cow’s Nikos Koukos said, “We liked the date.” 

The liked it so much that from 11.11am until 11.11pm they offered free ice cream to anyone who walked in their shops and even had a tricycle carrying a fridge drive around Nicosia to reach out to even more people.

But even driving around offering ice cream may not please everyone. 

War veterans honoured

2011-11-12

CYPRUS’ remaining Second World War veterans gathered yesterday to mark Remembrance Day for all those who died in the line of duty.

 “I served from the very beginning and was there until the end,” said 94-year-old WWII veteran Christos Eliofotou. 

Eliofotou was one of 10,000 Cypriot expats who volunteered in WWII along with 20,000 Cypriots from all communities – over seven per cent of the population at the time. 

Those were difficult times, 81-year-old WWII veteran Charalambos Paraskevas said. 

“I joined the army when I was 17 because times were difficult and we were very poor,” said Paraskevas who ended up serving in Italy. 

Arrests made after hunting fracas in buffer zone

2011-11-12

POLICE arrested two men yesterday, one of whom was a police officer, after members of the UN force in Cyprus UNFICYP reported that two men were hunting illegally in the buffer zone near Kambos and were involved in a bust up with UN officers.

After a line-up for identification at a Cypriot police station, the police officer was released without any charge, as the UNFICYP officers did not identify him as taking part in the bust-up or the hunting.

The other suspect, a 22-year-old hunter, was officially charged and released until his case appears in court.

According to the police report, two UNFICYP officers from Argentina spotted two Greek-Cypriots hunting illegally in the buffer zone. 

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.