News Briefs

Have you seen this man?

POLICE are searching for a 39-year-old Syrian man in connection with the theft of £9,800. Tamir Kannan Al Molhem is described as being thin, approximately 1.80m in height, of Middle Eastern complexion with dark hair and brown eyes.

Police are calling for anyone with information as to his whereabouts to contact Limassol CID, their nearest police station or call the Citizen’s Line on 1460.

Arson attempt at Akinci’s HQ

ARSONISTS yesterday attempted to set fire to the offices of the Peace and Democracy Movement (PDM) in occupied Nicosia yesterday.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, the perpetrators tried to torch the place by putting a gas cylinder near the backdoor of the office and then starting a fire.

Turkish Cypriot authorities are investigating the attempted arson on the offices, which are the headquarters of PDM leader Mustafa Akinci.

PDM member Izet Itzian told reporters the failed attempt was an act of sabotage, aimed at aggravating efforts for a solution to the Cyprus problem.

CyTA announce new rates

NEW CALL rates were introduced by the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CyTA) yesterday after receiving authorisation from Telecoms Regulator Vassos Pyrgos.

From yesterday, CyTA is now charging £5 a month for a package A telephone line rental and £1.50 per month for package B, while rental for the ISDN line comes to £8 per month.

For local calls from one land line to another, charges are set at two cents per two minutes during peak hours and two cents every four minutes during off-peak hours. The local call rate for landline to mobile amounts to 2.47 cents a minute while landline connections to the internet are charged at two cents every six minutes.

EC to announce shadow positions for commissioners

THE EUROPEAN Commission will announce the portfolios that the 10 new Commissioners will follow from May 1 this Wednesday. According to the Cyprus News Agency, Commission President Romano Prodi will announce the policy portfolio to be assigned to each new Commissioner after completing his meetings with all 10 Commissioners from the new member states. He met with Cyprus’ first appointed Commissioner, Finance Minister Marcos Kyprianou, last Wednesday.

The new Commissioners will not get their own portfolios from May but will be placed alongside existing Commissioners to shadow them until the end of their term in office on October 30.

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.