SIMERINI: “They abandoned their dead child…” A four-year-old boy died at a private Limassol clinic on Monday after his father rushed him there when he found his child unconscious. But the child’s father, who is from Syria, abandoned the scene because he and his wife, as well as their remaining two children, have been living in Cyprus illegally for the past five years and were afraid of being deported. Police later tracked down the family who were overcome with grief at the loss of their child.
PHILELEFTHEROS: “14-year-olds use hard drugs”. The number of Cypriots using hard drugs has sharply increased in the last four years. Comparing two national epidemiological studies carried out in 1999 and 2003, researchers found the number of Cypriots aged 15 to 60 who had tried addictive substances at least once in their lifetime had increased from five per cent in 1999 to 19.7 per cent last year.
ALITHIA: “Tassos kept Powell conversation secret”. Questions were raised on Tuesday as to why President Tassos Papadopoulos failed to inform members of the National Council about his recent phone conversation with US Secretary of State Colin Powell. Further queries were brought up when the government insisted on avoiding talking about the matter, despite the fact that the US State department confirmed the conversation.
MACHI: “Fear of illness leads to strike”. Employees at a state old people’s home held a two-hour strike over fears over one of their residents who had been treated for a contagious disease. But hospital authorities and social services said the old man had been treated in hospital for six weeks and was now healthy enough to return to the home and was no longer contagious. Despite the assurances, the workers said they refused to work if the resident came back.
POLITIS: “Reasons behind murder-suicide remain a mystery”. Police have yet to uncover what led 53-year-old Stavros Sophocleous to shoot dead his long-time girlfriend Antonitsa Rodosthenous, 46, and then to take his own life. Despite various family statements referring to problems between the couple, nobody was able to determine what problem could have been so severe that it could explain the tragedy.
HARAVGHI: “Chair throwing at Paralimni municipality”. Paralimni’s Municipal Council meeting, which was open to the town’s residents on Tuesday afternoon, ended up resembling a battlefield after one member of the public threw a chair and injured a municipal councillor. The ruckus ensued after residents argued on whether or not Paralimni mayor Nicos Vlittis should step down from office, after his son-in-law was arrested following investigations into corruption allegations against Vlittis himself.
