POLITIS: “Too tough to die” It seems that the law on advertising boards is applied selectively: licences are being given for new boards based on the provisions of the new law while illegal boards remain untouched. According to the paper, the Legal Services are still waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on whether the new law on ad boards is unconstitutional, as the lawyers of advertising companies claim.
PHILELEFTHEROS: “39,000 civil servants will cost £810 million” The salaries of civil servants in Cyprus are markedly higher than those of their counterparts in Greece. The difference is estimated to be somewhere between 20 and 30 per cent in all scales of employment. In particular, state salaries are expected to reach £810 million for 2004 compared to £750m for 2003 while the number of people employed by the state clocks in at 39,049.
HARAVGHI: “Electoral roll for Greek and Turkish Cypriot voters” Interior Minister, Andreas Christou, submitted his proposal for the euro-elections in June to the House Interior and European Affairs Committees on Monday. According to the proposal, Greek and Turkish Cypriots will vote from a single electoral roll at common polling stations using their identity cards for the six European Members of Parliament they wish to represent Cyprus.
ALITHIA: “CyBC gets £4.1m extra this year” CyBC’s budget has been increased by £4.1 million this year, totalling £25.8 million, of which, £21m is covered by the state. The latest budget will go before parliament for approval in two weeks. The House Finance Committee’s discussion on the proposed agreement with Alpha Greece for the purchase of television programmes failed to shed any light on the contents of the agreement, reported to cost around £2.1m for three years.
MACHI: “Journalists now to blame” The Journalists’ Union expressed its displeasure at the ministers of Justice and Commerce for statements made against the mass media. In particular, the union singled out comments made by Justice Minister Doros Theodorou in a CyBC interview where he blamed the media for the court’s refusal to remand in custody two men arrested over the plundering of the Archbishopric’s estate.
SIMERINI: “Double tragedy on the roads” Two road deaths have been added to the black list of victims of the asphalt. The two road accidents happened within the space of four hours on Monday morning bringing the death toll for the new year to nine. The first accident happened on the Nicosia-Limassol road just after midday while the second occurred in Paphos and led to the death of a motorcyclist who was not wearing his helmet.
