Orphanides pens 51-page rebuke of AKEL

2014-05-30

By George Psyllides FORMER Central Bank Governor Athanasios Orphanides has charged that AKEL’s deliberate actions in the economy transformed a manageable problem into a catastrophe,

Allegations Cyprus is a money laundering centre ‘unfounded’

2013-01-30

ALLEGATIONS that Cyprus is a tax haven and money laundering centre for Russians are “unfounded” and “unjust”, House Speaker Yiannakis Omirou said yesterday.

The island fully complies with international conventions and European legislation against money laundering, Omirou said in a letter to his euro-area counterparts and to European Parliament President Martin Schulz.

The International Monetary Fund, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have all given Cyprus high scores for the country’s adoption and implementation of the measures, he added.

Our View: The painful truth is that we are in a very weak position.

2013-01-29

AN ARTICLE which appeared in yesterday’s edition of Politis revealed that at the last Euro Group meeting, eight days ago, the issue of withdrawing emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) from Cypriot banks was raised. It was the second time in two months that we were faced with this threat which, if carried out, would have led to a collapse of the banks.

Building strike continues

2013-01-29

BUILDERS continued their islandwide, indefinite strike yesterday with no apparent end in sight as trade unions SEK, PEO and DEOK have threatened that measures may escalate. 

In a statement released yesterday, PEO gave its full support to the builders in their fight against their employers.

“For a long time, employers in the construction industry in Cyprus, citing the crisis and difficulties in the industry, have started an attack on the working class. They have systematically dismissed large numbers of workers and replaced them with cheap labour, increasing unemployment and the impoverishment of the families of thousands of workers,” the statement said.

Hospital wrongly told woman she had miscarried

2013-01-25

THE health minister has ordered an investigation into a complaint that doctors at a state hospital had wrongly diagnosed a woman as having had a miscarriage, it emerged yesterday.

Health Minister Androulla Agrotou said there would be disciplinary action if it was determined beyond any doubt that offences had been committed in this and two other unrelated cases currently under investigation.

Twenty-six-year-old Maria Stylianou, in her eighth week of pregnancy, lodged a complaint after she was told by doctors at the Makarios hospital on Tuesday

that she had had a miscarriage.

“She (the doctor) was absolute about what she was saying,” Stylianou told Sigma television. “She announced it was a miscarriage.”

Our View: Electricity prices will remain high as long as there is no competition

2013-01-11

SUCCESSIVE governments have been promising to import natural gas to power the Electricity Authority’s (EAC) power generators, for more than 10 years now, but nothing ever happens. The Clerides government, which stepped down 10 years ago, had first made plans for the project, but these were never implemented. The Papadopoulos government also embraced the idea but abandoned the plan for an offshore terminal, after it was revealed that the company that would set it up was represented by the late president’s law office.

Daily stoppages until salaries are paid

2012-04-03

WORKERS at state broadcaster CyBC yesterday decided to hold two “symbolic” 10-minute work stoppages every day until they are paid their March salaries.

The decision was announced by unions OIO-SEK and SIDIKEK-PEO following a meeting with the labour ministry’s labour relations’ department, where they were told they had the legal right to “take any measures they deem necessary” to seek payment of their salaries as there was a “blatant violation” of their employment contracts.

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.