Christofias’ swansong scales new heights of absurdity

2013-01-06

 

WHENEVER we hear the statements made by President Christofias and AKEL’s top brass we become confused. We form the impression that either we are living in another country or that they are addressing people in another country. 

The only sure thing is that they could not be in Cyprus, addressing Cypriots and talking such incoherent nonsense. Christofias, reaching new heights of the irrationality that has marked his words and deeds for a long time now, came up with another classic a few days ago – he was leaving office, proud of his achievements.

Fracking is just one more energy myth

2013-01-06

 

WHICH of the following statements is true? The United States now has a 100-year supply of natural gas, thanks to the miracle of shale gas. By 2017 it will once again be the world’s biggest oil producer. By 2035 it will be entirely “energy-independent”, and free in particular from its reliance on Middle Eastern oil.

Unless you’ve been dead for the past couple of years, you’ve been hearing lots of enthusiastic forecasts like this, but not one of them is true. They are generally accompanied by sweeping predictions about geopolitics that are equally misleading, at least insofar as they depend on assumptions about cheap and plentiful supplies of shale gas and other forms of “unconventional” oil and gas.

Central Bank defends rehiring retired staff

2013-01-06

AT LEAST two Central Bank employees who took early retirement to avoid losing any benefits have been re-hired by the regulator on contracts, the Sunday Mail has learned.
The two, Maria Stefani, secretary of Senior Director Spyros Stavrinakis, and Maria Papadopoulou, were both re-hired on contracts after opting to take early retirement to avoid losing any of their benefits as part of new legislation that came into force this month.
The Central Bank said the contracts were for a short period and were deemed necessary to ensure the smooth operation of the organisation in light of the rising number of early retirements.

Tales from the coffeeshop: Tof the terrible congratulates himself for job well done

2013-01-06

WE WOULD like to wish a happy and healthy New Year to all our customers. We have omitted the adjective ‘prosperous’ from our wishes, in case anyone thought we were taking the piss or engaging in black humour. If there is one thing that is certain about 2013 it is that, for most people, it will be anything but prosperous.
On the plus side, after February the clique of incompetent, commie half-wits who have turned a once-thriving plantation into a wasteland will not be able to cause any more destruction as they will leave office. On the minus side, by March there could be nothing left to save for the successor of Tof the Terrible.

‘It’s always someone else’s fault’

2013-01-06

 

“There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!” Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, Iraqi information minister declared in April 2003 just hours before Iraqi troops fell to US forces.

Were those infamous words, and others like them, uttered by that peerless master of spin, Comical Ali a.k.a. Baghdad Bob, a testament to propaganda-gone-overboard, or an exercise in self-delusion? A bit of both perhaps. Whichever way you see it, it encapsulates a state of being out of touch with reality. 

What’s all this got to do with us, you ask. Well, closer to home, it feels like someone else has declared open season on common sense.

Lately, President Demetris Christofias’ rhetoric has grown more and more puzzling, his behaviour increasingly erratic.

DISY leader brands Christofias as a monomaniac

2013-01-06

MAIN opposition leader Nicos Anastasiades yesterday described President Demetris Christofias as a monomaniac and urged him to come clean on whether he had agreed to privatising public companies if the island’s debt was deemed unsustainable.
“He ought to boldly say if he has agreed or not to negotiate the issue of privatising semi-state organisations if our debt proves to be unsustainable,” Anastasiades said. “It is in the memorandum. Consequently, to say something else before a party audience is sad and not fitting for a president.”
A preliminary agreement struck between international lenders and the government says that “if necessary to restore debt sustainability, the Cyprus authorities will consider a privatisation programme for state-owned and semi-public companies.”

Arrests for New Year’s Day murder

2013-01-06

TWO suspects have been detained in connection with the murder of a 34-year-old man in Limassol on New Year’s Day, police said yesterday.
The two men, aged 32 and 23, were arrested on Friday night and have been remanded in custody for eight days.
Police spokesman Andreas Angelides said the pair allegedly had personal differences with the victim, Yiannakis Christodoulou.
Angelides said the suspects’ claims regarding their whereabouts on the day the crime was committed could not be confirmed so far.
During the remand hearing, police told the court that the 23-year-old’s right thumb bears injuries apparently caused by a knife.
A 20-year-old man is also in police custody after police found a 12-centimetre folding knife in a car he was using.

Chinese-Larnaca airport deal is dead

2013-01-06

A SUPPOSEDLY multi-million investment deal with a Chinese company to develop the old Larnaca airport is dead, the government said yesterday.
“I would say it is finished for good,” Communications Minister Efthymios Flourentzos told reporters during a visit to Larnaca airport.
The minister said Hermes and the government will meet tomorrow with a view of coming out with a joint invitation to potential investors interested in developing the old airport building.
“The situation will develop according to what is proposed by those wanting to develop the site. It would be up to them to propose and we will evaluate the proposals and find one that is beneficial,” Flourentzos said.

Grave concern for stolen religious treasures

2013-01-06

GRAVE concern for the future of religious treasures seized by the Turks and held at a police station in Munich, Germany, since 1997 has been expressed by the founder of Walk of Truth, Tasoula Hadjitofi.
Her comments come after the German newspaper Abendzeitung Munich reported in December that Turkish antiquities official Aydin Dikmen has not only claimed the antiquities as part of his wife’s dowry but has asked for financial compensation from the Church in the event they are returned.
Hadjitofi said if this is true, the work by all those seeking the return of the items over the years must be taken into account and an investigation should be started to show how the case reached this point.

Dream machines of the classic car club

2013-01-06

 

PAPHOS Classic Vehicle Club is preparing to celebrate its tenth anniversary this year proud that its numbers of old car and motorbike enthusiasts now top 80 with membership constantly growing.

Classic cars are now a popular sight at social events and rallies in Paphos since the first meeting of the Paphos club was organised by Yiorgos Koutsides in 2003. He is now the clubs’ honorary president.

“We would welcome new members who are owners of classic or antique cars and motorbikes; we’re a very social group of people,” says club chair and Paphos resident John Barnacott.

Barnacott, originally from Plymouth in the UK, has been a classic car enthusiast for as long as he can remember.

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.