Tales from the coffeeshop: Blood-sucking is protected

2011-11-20

THE ANGER and frustration of our deputies about the host of ridiculous allowances and benefits being paid by the state to public employees did not last very long. 

After the obligatory couple of days of theatrical ranting and raving against the irrational squandering of the taxpayer’s money, they had performed their duty, calmed down and moved on to the more important issue of the municipal elections.

In fact the deputies would have said nothing about the matter of perks had Politis not published a report about the absurdity of these costly and unjustified allowances last Sunday. They had been in possession of a brief, prepared by the finance ministry, which listed the 40 allowances and cost of each one for a week without publicly expressing their outrage.

Our View: A spineless government cannot prevent bankruptcy

2011-11-20

ANY REMAINING doubts that union bosses were dictating the government’s economic policies were shattered yesterday when finance minister Kiki Kazamias announced his latest measures. He announced additional taxation on private sector workers and 0.5 per cent levy on all companies operating in Cyprus, in order to persuade the moaning union bosses to agree to the freezing of wages in the broader public sector.

Parties mull austerity measures

2011-11-20

OPPOSITION party DISY yesterday said the government’s austerity measures proposed on Friday by Finance Minister Kikis Kazamias were too little, too late to salvage the economic situation.

DISY deputy chairman Averof Neophytou likened the economy to the flu saying that preventative measures and treatment must be taken otherwise it will turn into pneumonia.

He also accused the government of not following through on their policies, and wondered if the government this time was actually proposing measures as opposed to intentions.  

‘A wage freeze alone will not help’

2011-11-20

PUBLIC sector wages are part of the wider problem Cyprus’s economy faces and a two-year wage freeze alone may not help, unless this measure is accompanied by a complete overhaul of the public sector, a fund manager said.

“Transferability is something the public sector badly needs,” Marinos Gialeli, general manager of the Hotel Employees Provident Fund, which is the largest of its kind in Cyprus, told the Sunday Mail in an interview. 

Long-awaited Ayios Antonios market officially opens to the public

2011-11-20

THE newly renovated Ayios Antonios market, that now successfully combines the traditional with the modern, opened its doors to the public yesterday with an official launch.

“With this project, the area has the chance to regain its vitality and become an important social and commercial area, making an essential contribution to the city,” said Agriculture Minister Sophoclis Aletraris speaking at the opening.

The market underwent a €2 million facelift beginning in March 2010 and was paid for entirely by municipal funds.

Selection process begins for new Bishop of Kyrenia

2011-11-20

POLLS opened yesterday to elect the new Bishop of Kyrenia, after the post was vacated by the death of Bishop Pavlos last October at the age of 66.

The three front runners for the post are Mesaoria Bishop Gregorios, Archimandrite Chrysostomos Kykkotis and Archimandrite Benedict Ioannou.

A total of 43 polling stations were set up throughout the free areas of the Republic, and approximately 26,000 citizens were eligible to vote between 08:00 and 16:00 local time, with a break between 13:00 and 14:00.

Eligible voters were those over 18 who were registered in the Kyrenia district electoral roll. 

Election officials said that the process was running smoothly and that the decision would be out by the end of the day.

Christofias: police force must be ‘credible and effective’

2011-11-20

THE government will work closely with the police in order to transform the force into a trustworthy and respectable body, said President Demetris Christofias yesterday.

Christofias was speaking at the ceremony for the new Deputy Chief of Police, Andreas Iatropoulos.

The president reiterated the state’s support for the police force and stressed the need to create a relationship of trust and respect with the public.

“We are striving towards creating a police force that is credible and willing, capable and effective in its mission, with higher standards and aims” said Christofias. 

Iatropoulos said that he would assume his new position’s responsibilities with great determination and would repay the faith that was shown to him.

Clerides diagnosed with colon cancer

2011-11-20

FORMER President Glafcos Clerides, 92, has been admitted to Evangelistria clinic after he was diagnosed with colon cancer. He will undergo surgery tomorrow according to his doctor Iosif Kassios.

Kassios said that following the completion of various tests a malignant tumour was found. “We had a meeting [between doctors] and it was decided that the President should undergo surgery,” said Kassios.

Can we bloodlessly halt Iran’s atomic progress?

2011-11-20

Mr Dyer’s feature article in last Friday’s Cyprus Mail raises a crucial subject. There is nothing more important in politics than the endeavour to limit nuclear proliferation.

His criticism of the coalition’s invasion of Iraq is valid. The grounds for the invasion, the assertions that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction made by President Bush and Prime Minister Blair and Ministers were exaggerated and wrong. Now, Mr Dyer says, public opinion is being softened up for an invasion of Iran by the Americans or their proxies, the Israelis. We should not make the same mistake again, he says.

Wind farm proponents continue to fall short of sound arguments

2011-11-20

I was very pleased to see the Danish Ambassador’s letter about wind farms (October 30) in answer to my enquiry about their cost efficiency. But he has not addressed key issues which I will endeavour to outline below. 

The main problem with wind farms, apart from their astounding construction cost and the use of some 40 tonnes of concrete per tower (this in itself contributing massively to CO2 emission) is that their fickle and very poor output must invariably be matched by conventional, always-on energy production, which is an obvious paradox. Moreover, these windmills need tremendous space and they have a life of no more than 25 years. The decommissioning costs are never discussed. 

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.