Daily Archives: January 19, 2010

MARCOS Baghdatis kicked off his Australian Open campaign in fine style yesterday, beating Italian Paulo Lorenzi 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round of the first Grand Slam of the season in Melbourne.
The Cypriot number one made a quick start to the match  on the Margaret Court Arena, racing into a 5-0 lead. He lost just three points throughout the first four games and did not make a single unforced error.
Well supported by an army of Greek and Cypriot fans, Baghdatis’ dominance was more than obvious.
However, Lorenzi gradually settled into the match and provided a solid challenge towards the end of the opener.

IT SEEMS you only have to take your eye off your car for a minute in Britain and someone has either clamped its wheels or towed it away. ‘Clamper cowboys’ and commission-based private tow companies trawl the streets like hyenas waiting for fresh meat.
Mr Smith in Crawley had his car towed away with his dog in it and then had to pay over £500 to get it back. People who abandoned cars in the snow during last week’s dangerous driving conditions returned to find them clamped or gone. The situation is totally out of control.
Of course, there are those that would say that Cyprus’ lax parking culture, which so often extends to double yellow lines, pavements and verges would soon sharpen up if the privatised and heartless companies now operating in Britain set up shop here.

EVERYONE would have liked to congratulate the police for the way investigations into the murder of Andis Hadjicostis have been conducted. After 12 months of unrelenting negative publicity the force desperately needed a break, something that would help restore shattered public confidence. Solving a high profile case like the Hadjicostis murder would have silenced the police’s critics and helped rebuild the force’s tarnished reputation.

POLICE officers investigating the murder of media mogul Andis Hadjicostis a week ago have made contact with a fourth suspect who is said to have fled abroad – perhaps to Moldova – and have urged him to return to Cyprus to help their investigation, Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said yesterday.
“Based on our investigations so far, there are strong indications that the fourth suspect is abroad,” Katsounotos said.
He added that police investigators had managed to contact the suspect, had told him that a warrant had been issued for his arrest, and urged him to return to Cyprus to help the police with their enquiries.

CHURCHGOERS attending Sunday’s liturgy got more than they bargained for when they were handed leaflets warning of the dire consequences of a rotating presidency.
Archbishop Chrysostomos subsequently took personal responsibility for the political leaflets.
Along with a brochure explaining the Gospel in simple terms, people were handed the leaflet calling on them to say ‘OXI’ or ‘NO’ to the rotating presidency and to the weighted vote, both proposed elements of a reunified state.
Printed on glossy paper, the pamphlets attack the two concepts, asserting that they would be disastrous for Cypriot Hellenism if included in a peace plan. The unsigned leaflet also takes a swipe at President Demetris Christofias:

TWO PEOPLE are in critical condition and on life support following two serious accidents that took place in Limassol just as traffic police announced the launch of a road safety awareness campaign in a bid to halt spiraling accident tolls.
The first serious accident took place a few minutes before midnight on Sunday in Ypsonas village. According to police, a car driven by an 18-year-old man, under conditions that are being investigated crashed into a large motorcycle driven by 38-year-old Athinagoras Michael from Malia village in Limassol. The car was making its way eastward on Ilias Kannaouros street, while the motorcycle had been following a westward course.

A 33-YEAR-OLD Nicosia lawyer who was found guilty of verbally abusing and physically assaulting his neighbour last summer was yesterday in court to tell the other side of the ‘wheelie bin assault’.
This time instead of being in the dock, it was the lawyer who was in the witness stand and his neighbour who was in the dock over the August 2007 incident.
He said it had been she who had verbally accosted him, spat in his face, slapped him and scratched the right side of his neck “quite deeply”. He even had a doctor’s note certifying his injuries which was submitted as evidence.