Syria Archives - Cyprus Mail Archives

Archives April 13, 2013 posted by cmarchives

Lillikas resurrects anti-bailout platform

SEEKING TO gather all the angry people who want Cyprus to reject the bailout failed presidential candidate, Giorgos Lillikas, is starting a new movement.

“Only an alliance of citizens can overthrow the troika’s designs and those of its local representatives,” Lillikas told supporters in Limassol.

Lillikas’ anti-bailout mandate – that went through a number of guises during his election campaign – failed to win him the elections however where President Nicos Anastasiades’ mandate focused on the need to sign a bailout agreement as soon as possible.

Since then however, the bailout deal as all but destroyed the economy, and Lillikas is taking advantage and resuming his anti-troika stance.

Archives November 18, 2012 posted by cmarchives

Beggars have no rights to sovereignty or dignity

ALL THE TIME the troika was avoiding announcing an arrival date, our political demagogues were wondering why it was taking so long, worrying about the delay and stressing whether a bailout agreement would be ready for the November 12 Euro Group meeting.
They were praying and lighting candles in church in the hope that Divine help would speed up the arrival of the troika. A desperate President Christofias contacted EU leaders and the top brass of the European Commission imploring them to push the troika to come to Cyprus as soon as possible. “What have things come to, we are in discussions regarding inviting the troika to come,” said Christofias after a meeting with the party leaders.

Archives November 17, 2012 posted by George Psyllides

Dogs dumped as crisis worsens

ANIMAL shelters are reaching breaking point, as the economic crisis has led to an increase in the number of people abandoning their dogs.

“Around 170,000 dogs are abandoned in Cyprus every year,” Mary Anastasi, president of the Voice of the Animals organisation, told the House Environment Committee yesterday when it met to discuss the welfare of animals in Cyprus. “Animal shelters cannot cope with this huge burden, which has unfortunately worsened with the economic crisis.”

She said her organisation recommends a control, protection and public animal health service to be created in order to improve animal welfare.

Archives November 11, 2012 posted by Stefanos Evripidou

Seven fat followed by seven lean

ALTHOUGH fast asleep half a kilometre away from the source of the noise, I am awoken at dawn in our school mid-term holiday abode by the constant roar of labouring diesel engines. Container trucks, nose to tail, are climbing the steep hill adjacent to the Vasiliko power station – the odd unladen truck flying by on an outside carefree lane before 6.00 am.

The roar fades to intermittent by 7.00 am, both lanes busied instead by saloon cars, double cabins and vans delivering their mostly solitary and impatient occupants to work.

Archives November 4, 2012 posted by cmarchives

A call to share your family’s tales of World War I

ONE OF Europe’s largest digital archives is calling on Cypriots to contribute to an ambitious project that collects and digitises personal memorabilia and stories from the First World War.

‘Europeana 1914-1918’ is a project that aims to create a pan-European virtual library of WWI memorabilia to mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War in two years’ time.

“This project directly appeals to the person. It brings cultural history to life … and allows the public to engage with human histories from different parts of Europe, and even from opposing sides of the war,” Jill Cousins, the executive director of Europeana, told a press conference in Limassol this week.

Archives September 8, 2012 posted by Poly Pantelidou

Our View: It is unreasonable union demands that have near bankrupted CY

THE BOARD of cash-strapped Cyprus Airways has suggested cutting staff’s working hours by one third for the next three months in order to save money. The measure is estimated to save the company close to €5 million and allow it to survive until it receives the €31 million from the taxpayer in the form of an increase of its share capital.

The airline’s unions rejected the proposal even though press reports suggested they could eventually accept it in order to avert the company’s closure. Speaking on a radio show yesterday morning Antonis Neophytou Andreas Pierides, spokesman for the biggest union CYNIKA said that the €5 million could have been saved if the company made the pay cuts the unions had agreed to and implemented the early retirement scheme for 250 employees.

Archives September 7, 2012 posted by cmarchives

Committee of the Regions president in Cyprus

THE NEWLY appointed President of the EU’s Committee of the Regions has arrived on the island to meet the Cypriot Presidency and discuss ways in which cities and regions can contribute to efforts to combat the financial crisis.

Ramon Luis Valcarcel yesterday said he wanted member states’ regions and cities to make their presence felt across Europe, in efforts to deal with the economic crisis.

He said he planned to follow up the Europe 2020 Strategy during his visit to the island, which aims to stimulate growth and create jobs – among others.

Valcarcel described the Strategy as a “cornerstone” of efforts to re-launch Europe’s economic and social development.

Archives September 4, 2012 posted by cmarchives

Sophocleous takes up MEP role

EDEK member and former vice-president Sophocles Sophocleous yesterday replaced Kyriacos Mavronicolas as Member of the European Parliament (MEP).

Sophocleous said that his priorities were seeking a just solution to the Cyprus problem and curbing the debt crisis, “focusing on people and not numbers, and putting an end to one-sided austerity and waste.”

Mavronicolas announced in April that he was stepping down as MEP to run as deputy head of the EDEK party, a post that EDEK MP Marinos Sizopoulos secured instead.

The interior ministry’s permanent secretary, Andreas Assiotis, officially declared Sophocleous an MEP in the presence of EDEK head and House president Yiannakis Omirou.

Archives August 30, 2012 posted by cmarchives

Foiled robbery

AN ATTEMPTED robbery at a kiosk in Palouriotissa at around 12.45am was foiled yesterday when the owner heard the glass being smashed from his home across the street, and alerted police.

Police found the suspect, a 31-year-old Georgian, inside the kiosk holding a metal instrument, which they believe he used to break-in. As soon as he saw them he made a run for it, but they managed to catch and arrest him.

Archives August 29, 2012 posted by cmarchives

Visas eased for Ukrainian tourists

FOREIGN Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis yesterday said Cyprus will soon be offering speedier visa applications to Ukrainians interested in visiting the island for tourism.

Ukrainians interested in visiting Cyprus will be able to complete an online visa application, processed within days. Applications will only be accepted from their home country, Marcoullis told the Cyprus News Agency.

She said an official announcement by Cyprus’ Kiev embassy is due to be made in about a week.

Tourism from Ukraine – that has a population of 45 million – is growing and last year Cyprus attracted 14,279 visitors compared to 11,766 in 2010.

“Our aim is to double and maybe triple arrival numbers,” Marcoullis said.

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