Baghdad blasts target Shi'ites, killing 72

2011-12-22

A wave of bombings killed at least 72 people in Baghdad today, the first attacks since Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government was engulfed in a crisis that risks fracturing the country along sectarian and ethnic faultlines.

The bombings, just days after the last US troops left Iraq, marked a violent backlash against Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s move to sideline two Sunni rivals. The tensions threaten a relapse into the kind of sectarian bloodletting that drove Iraq to the brink of civil war a few years ago.

Turkey blasts French genocide bill as racism and cuts ties

2011-12-22

France sparked a major diplomatic row with Turkey today by taking steps to criminalise the denial of genocide, including the 1915 mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks, prompting Ankara to cancel all economic, political and military meetings.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said the draft law put forward by members of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling party was “politics based on racism, discrimination, xenophobia.”

“This is using Turkophobia and Islamophobia to gain votes, and it raises concerns regarding these issues not only in France but all Europe,” he told a news conference, adding that Turkey could “not remain silent in the face of this”.

Nicosia and Paphos outbid Limassol for European Capital of Culture 2017

2011-12-22

Nicosia and Paphos have been selected to fight it out to be the Cyprus contender for the European Capital of Culture in 2017, outbidding the third candidate city Limassol.

An expert committee’s decision was announced today by European Commissioner for Education Androulla Vassiliou at the education ministry in Nicosia.

Vassiliou said the two candidate cities now have the chance to work further on their bid, before the final selection stage in September 2012, when the team of experts will finalise its decision.

Attorney-General to appeal against Court ruling on 'Helios'

2011-12-22

 

 

Cyprus Attorney-General Petros Clerides said he will lodge an appeal to the Supreme Court against the Assize Court’s majority ruling to acquit the five defendants over a fatal air crash in 2005 in which 121 persons died.

The Court ruled yesterday by majority (two to one) that there was not sufficient evidence linking the defendants to the air crash and as such they bear no responsibility for the crash.

”I have read the ruling of the majority as well as that the minority and I have received the views of the prosecutors who handled the case and we have unanimously concluded that an appeal against the majority ruling is justified,” Clerides said, noting that the existence of a dissenting opinion justifies his view than an appeal should be lodged.

Dutch TV hosts grilled over cannibalism stunt

2011-12-22

Two Dutch TV hosts cooked and ate each other’s flesh, sampling fried buttock and fried belly, and pushing the boundaries of bad taste last night in a programme aired by Dutch broadcaster BNN.

A butcher advised presenters Dennis Storm and Valerio Zeno on which were the best cuts of human flesh, and a surgeon removed the strips of muscle from Storm’s left buttock cheek and Zeno’s abdomen.

A chef fried the flesh, and served it to Storm and Zeno with green asparagus on the side.

Zeno described the experience as similar to eating a piece of car tyre, and took a while to swallow his food on air.

Storm cleaned his plate a bit faster, and jokingly likened his own “meat” to Kobe beef because he takes good care of his body and health.

Helios defendants acquitted

2011-12-22

 

FOUR people and defunct Cyprus budget airline Helios Airways were acquitted of manslaughter on Wednesday over the fatal air crash of August 2005, which cost the lives of 121 people.

In one of the most high-profile legal cases in Cyprus legal history which lasted over two years, a majority decision by a three-judge bench ruled that the defendants had no prima facie case to answer.

In order to avert the dismissal of the case, the state prosecutor had to prove two charges: first, that the accident was caused by mistakes or omissions made by German Captain Hans-Jurgen Merten and his co-pilot Pambos Charalambous and that they were unfit to fly, and second, that Helios knew or should have known this.

Our View: AG has no one but himself to blame for Helios relatives’ ire

2011-12-22

WHEN IN the first week of November 2008 Attorney-General Petros Clerides called a news conference to announce that five people would face criminal charges for the Helios air disaster, we had written the following: “There is a sneaking suspicion that these five individuals will be charged so that authorities, under unrelenting criticism for not bringing those supposedly behind the Helios air tragedy to justice, are seen to be doing something.”

Disbelief and grief at Helios verdict

2011-12-22

YESTERDAY’S majority verdict by the criminal court to acquit all five defendants of the Helios trial was met by growing disbelief and grief by most of the victims’ relatives, who had packed the court room in Nicosia.

Approximately 50 relatives – all dressed in black – gathered outside the court from 7.30am and flocked the courtroom at around 9am when they were allowed in.

Once the verdict was announced by court chairman Haris Solomonides, the relatives started cheering and clapping sarcastically, shouting “Bravo!” and “well done.”

The relatives rushed up from their seats and tried to approach the judges but were stopped by the police officers, as they yelled “Disgrace!” and “you should be ashamed of yourselves.”

Doctor remanded again for sexual assault

2011-12-22

A 43-YEAR-OLD anaesthesiologist was remanded for a further eight days yesterday by Famagusta District court in connection with a range of offences including rape and sexual assault, after a second patient came forward.

He was first arrested ten days ago after police, acting on a complaint filed by a female patient, searched his premises and found a number of banned drugs. The following day he was remanded into custody for eight days after which he was released.

According to police spokesman, Michalis Katsounotos, he was then arrested again on Tuesday after the second woman made a complaint about him. Police are investigating the same offences for the second complaint.

The proceedings were held behind closed doors again.

Prime murder suspect detained for a further eight days

2011-12-22

THE PRIME suspect being held in connection with the brutal murders of his pregnant girlfriend and her three-year-old daughter was detained for a further eight days by Paphos district court yesterday.

The court heard that the charges under investigation now also include the attempted abortion of Julia Oborok’s and his unborn child. 

Police now believe they have forensic evidence linking the 29-year-old suspect to the murder of the 24-year-old Moldovan woman, the unborn child and her three-year-old daughter Victoria Pozidou, which took place in Paphos last week.

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.