MACHI: “Meeting: Anastassiades – Bush”. The far right wing paper states that a crucial and important meeting will take place between DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades and US President George W. Bush in the middle of July. The paper adds that Anastassiades will meet Bush at the World Summit, to be held in China on July 16-22, and will grasp the opportunity to outline the Greek Cypriot views on the Cyprus problem.
HARAVGHI: “No that is disputed”. Looking into Wednesday’s discussion on the discussion of the ratification of the European Constitution in the House of representatives, the left wing paper notes how left wing party AKEL spokesperson Nicos Katsourides explained the reasons as to why his party voted against the European Constitution.
PHILELEFTHEROS “Euro via recognition”. The paper said it appears that the Turkish Cypriot side was still pushing for the upgrading of their breakaway regime, even if it means losing the 259 million euro earmarked for aid to the north. In a letter to the Foreign Minister of Luxembourg asking EU member states not to accept the decoupling of the trade and aid regulations, even though it means the money could very well be lost. He also questioned why the Greek Cypriot side should be consulted on the issue at all.
POLITIS “Tassos covers for Lillikas”. The cabinet discussed the controversy surrounding allegations made against Commerce Minister George Lillikas that he had attempted to use his position as Minister to favour a company called SporTeam, which was seeking a contract with the Cyprus Tourism Organisation for advertising during the Olympics in Athens last year. Despite overwhelming facts as detailed by the Auditor-general, President Tassos Papadopoulos remained apathetic about the whole business at the cabinet meeting and no investigation was ordered.
SIMERINI: “They screwed up with the Chinese”. The Chinese Embassy will ask for explanations from the Foreign Ministry and the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) for the way 25 tourist agents and journalists coming from Beijing to help our tourism were ‘locked up’ at the airport. Matters got worse on Wednesday when they were forbidden from taking photos at the Curium amphitheatre until they got special permission from CTO.
ALITHIA: “Petrol at 53 cent a litre”. New fuel prices in Cyprus have made a record jump after the latest increases. Petrol jumped to 53 cent, while diesel touched 44 and 49.8 cent a litre. The government holds its hands in the air, saying it can’t do anything to help citizens from the heavy burden, citing the wider problems already faced by the economy of Cyprus, even though Finance Minister Makis Keravnos said the other day that the economy was going well.
