Sweden launches probe into fate of Holocaust hero

2012-01-19

Sweden has commissioned a new inquiry into the fate of Holocaust hero Raoul Wallenberg, who saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Nazis during World War Two but disappeared after being arrested by advancing Soviet troops in 1945.

The decision on the new probe into the disappearance of the Swedish diplomat came as Sweden this year commemorates the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Anna Charlotta Johansson, spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, said the inquiry would be conducted by Hans Magnusson, a diplomat who led a joint Swedish-Russian group in the 1990s that tried to find out what happened to Wallenberg.

Heathrow plans for the great Olympic exodus

2012-01-19

Olympic athletes and spectators might be counting down to the July 27 opening ceremony of the London Games, but Heathrow Airport managers are focusing much of their attention on the day after the closing ceremony.

This is because though athletes and officials traditionally arrive at an Olympic Games over several days, most leave in one fell swoop.

Heathrow is planning for 137,800 passengers on August 13 – a 45 per cent increase in departures – making it the busiest day in the airport’s history.

According to Nick Cole, head of Olympic and Paralympic planning for Heathrow, every single seat on every aircraft will be full, something the airport has never seen before.

Why is the sky blue? Kids' questions parents fear

2012-01-19

They range from the easy, like “would a shark beat a dinosaur in a fight?” through the tricky, like “why is the sky blue?” to the near-impossible, such as “how much does the earth weigh?”

Kids bombard their parents with questions every day on all manner of subjects and now a survey has found the 10 most feared by the grown-ups.

Top of the list: “Why is the moon sometimes out in the day?

Others include: will we ever discover aliens? and how do aeroplanes stay in the air?

Concordia tape shows cruise ship crew denying emergency

2012-01-19

A crew member of the capsized Costa Concordia told the Italian coastguard the vessel had only suffered a power outage and there was no emergency onboard, even after passengers had put on life vests, according to a new recording aired on Thursday.

News channel Sky TG 24, which broadcast the tape, said it was the first radio conversation between the coastguard and the cruise ship after the liner, carrying 4,200 passengers and crew, hit a rock off Tuscany’s coast last week and keeled over.

The conversation began at 10.12pm (2112 GMT), about 30 minutes after the accident, Sky TG 24 reported.

By then, many passengers had called relatives on their cell phones asking them to alert the police, who in turn told the coastguard to check on the state of the ship.

let paphos

2012-01-19

4 Bedroom Villa + Self contained studio apartment in Peyia * 1000+ sq.m plot * Elevated views over Coral Bay * Outdoor Bar * Private Pool * Storage Shed * Off road parking * E1000.00 P.C.M. Tel: 96466964

Baghdatis causes racket as his rage goes viral

2012-01-19

 

WHACK. Whack, whack, whack. Whack. Whack. Four broken racquets, $1,250 worth of fines and more than 200,000 hits on video sharing website YouTube was all it needed for Marcos Baghdatis to enter Australian Open folklore.

Video footage of the 26-year-old Cypriot’s spectacular display of fury and pique in his second round loss to Stanislas Wawrinka on Margaret Court Arena was broadcast around the world on television before it went viral on Thursday.

“I haven’t seen that,” Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic said. “I heard about it. I haven’t seen that. I’m going to go to YouTube now, check that out.”

Parliament in bid to resolve air traffic controllers’ dispute

2012-01-19

PARLIAMENT will hold an ad-hoc meeting today to discuss ways to resolve the air traffic controllers’ (ATC) dispute with the government which culminated in a four-hour strike yesterday, affecting 5,000 people and 38 flights to and from the island’s two airports. 

MPs have called for a meeting of the House Communications Committee to discuss the dispute which has had a considerable impact on flight travel to and from the island, as well as economic consequences for airlines and the economy.  

The meeting comes just days before the controllers’ next four-hour strike scheduled for next Wednesday. 

Our View: Opportunity now for unions to take constructive line

2012-01-19

REPRESENTATIVES of the big unions and the employers’ federation OEV meet again today to continue discussions about measures that could be taken to help businesses. At the first meeting of the two sides on Monday, OEV presented its proposals for helping struggling sectors of the economy survive the recession without staff lay-offs. These included a two-year freeze of CoLA and pay rises, a return to the 40-hour working week as well as suspension of employer contributions to staff provident funds.

CY management failed to put airline on right track, charge pilots

2012-01-19

CYPRUS Airways (CY) pilots charged yesterday that the airline’s management has failed to put the ailing carrier on the right track and demanded action to find a strategic investor who should be given a majority share.

The pilots, members of the PASYPI union, said despite any actions, the company remained on a downward course with increasing losses.

“While passenger movement to and from Cyprus recorded a 10 per cent increase in 2011, Cyprus Airways saw a drop of 15 per cent,” PASYPI said in a memo submitted to the finance ministry. “The failure of the current management to tackle the market challenges amid an economic recession is obvious.”

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.