Writing is a murderous business

2018-03-04

By Agnieszka Rakoczy Lazy Ayia Napa summers spent on the beach reading and chilling while trying to pick apart Agatha Christie murder mysteries was how

Turkey warns Iraqi PM over sectarian conflict

2012-01-24

Turkish  Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan warned Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Tuesday that Turkey would not remain silent if he pursued a sectarian conflict in his country and said Ankara did not favour any ethnicity or sect in the region.

Erdogan’s warning was the latest in a war of words between the two neighbours that has added to already heightened regional tension. Turkey fears Iraq is heading towards a full-scale sectarian war while Baghdad has accused Ankara of meddling.

“Esteemed Maliki should know this, if you start a period of conflict in Iraq within a sectarian struggle, it will be impossible for us to remain silent,” Erdogan told his AK Party parliamentary group in the Turkish capital.

Dutch TV hosts grilled over cannibalism stunt

2011-12-22

Two Dutch TV hosts cooked and ate each other’s flesh, sampling fried buttock and fried belly, and pushing the boundaries of bad taste last night in a programme aired by Dutch broadcaster BNN.

A butcher advised presenters Dennis Storm and Valerio Zeno on which were the best cuts of human flesh, and a surgeon removed the strips of muscle from Storm’s left buttock cheek and Zeno’s abdomen.

A chef fried the flesh, and served it to Storm and Zeno with green asparagus on the side.

Zeno described the experience as similar to eating a piece of car tyre, and took a while to swallow his food on air.

Storm cleaned his plate a bit faster, and jokingly likened his own “meat” to Kobe beef because he takes good care of his body and health.

Cyprus to contribute €460m

2011-12-21

CYPRUS is prepared to contribute around €460 million to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of the island’s contribution to the IMF’s crisis-fighting resources, Finance Minister Kikis Kazamias said.

Kazamias was speaking following the conclusion of a conference call of EU finance ministers on Monday.

The ministers discussed bilateral loans to the IMF and the eurozone’s coping mechanisms in the face of the financial crisis.

The IMF package, the result of negotiations at a December 9 EU summit, consists of around €150 billion covered by eurozone members and another €50 billion covered by the remaining member states.

Our View: We need to rediscover our communal spirit

2011-12-17

“ASK NOT what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country,” President John F Kennedy told Americans in his inaugural address 52 years ago. Those were different times, but this exhortation is more relevant today than ever before. It certainly applies to today’s Cyprus where avarice and self-interest have become our society’s dominant values, with organised groups’ interest only in what their country can do for them. 

Fire chief suspended after Mari blast to return to work

2011-12-16

 

FIRE CHIEF Andreas Nicolaou will return to active duty – temporarily at least – after the Supreme Court ruled that the decision to suspend him had been unlawful.

Nicolaou was initially put on furlough on July 27 for a period of three months following the launch of criminal and disciplinary investigations against him with regard to his role in events prior to and on July 11 surrounding the ammunitions blast at Mari naval base.

He was suspended from duty by the Justice Minister on the grounds that he allegedly failed to take any safety measures despite knowing since February 2009 that 98 containers with flammable and dangerous materials were being stored at the base.

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.