By Jean Christou
IN A serious blow to DIKO leader Nicolas Papadopoulos, the remaining three ministers the party had placed in government broke ties with him on Monday ahead of a government reshuffle later this week.
DIKO had ordered its four ministers to resign from the cabinet following its decision last month to withdraw from the coalition with ruling DISY over differences on the handling of the Cyprus issue.
None had wanted to resign, and had made it clear during…
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IT WAS ALMOST six months ago that President Anastasaides announced in a television interview that he would explore the legal ways of terminating the contract of Central Bank Governor Panicos Demetriades. The president, at the time, was frustrated with, among other things, the blatant feet-dragging of the governor over the approval of the members of the new board of the Bank of Cyprus and his public muscle-flexing.
As an independent state official, Demetriades was untouchable thanks to the EU charter,…
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By Angelos Anastasiou
The Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) pension fund managing committee will decide on Tuesday whether or not to renew the €100 million loan it granted the Cyprus government, which expires on March 19.
The semi-state organisation (SGO) had agreed to lend cash out of its employees’ pension fund in December 2012, following stark warnings of imminent default issued by the government.
“If these additional financing needs are not secured we will be talking about a state default…
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By Elias Hazou
HUNDREDS of workers at semi-governmental organisations (SGOs) may not be paid at the end of the month unless parliament imminently approves their budgets.
Several SGOs – perhaps as many as 40 – have yet to have their budgets for 2014 approved by the House of Representatives. These include telecoms and electricity utilities CyTA and EAC, state broadcaster CyBC, the Cyprus Sports Organisation and the Cyprus Theatre Organisation.
By law, the budgets of ministries and public-law entities must…
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By Elias Hazou
MORE FREQUENT breathalyser tests on motorists, stricter monitoring of the sale of intoxicating beverages and even restrictions on radio and television commercials are just some of the new Cabinet-endorsed measures targeting the harmful use of alcohol.
For the first time, policymakers have devised specific actions relating to alcohol in the national strategy on containing the use of addictive substances. The 2013 to 2020 strategy has already been endorsed by the cabinet.
The need for a more concrete…
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By Jean Christou
MAKARIOS and Kallipoleos avenues in Nicosia, two of the city centre’s busiest thoroughfares, are to become one-way roads as part of medium to long-term plans to end the capital’s traffic congestion.
According to the Nicosia municipality, which said it was working closely with the public works deparment, this would be the first step in a plan that includes the regeneration of the Makarios-Evagoras-Stassikratos ‘triangle’ and the inside and outside of the walled city, the creation of…
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By Staff Reporter
SOME 63,500 Cypriots who have passed away since 2000 are still listed as voting citizens, while others who are listed as deceased make surprise appearances at polling stations on election days.
According to Demetris Demetriou, head of the elections office at the Ministry of Interior, the blunders are an example of the dire state of the civil registry.
“Ever since 2000 the civil registry was built using the elections database, which was then updated with the identification…
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By George Psyllides
CENTRAL BANK Governor Panicos Demetriades resigned on Monday after two turbulent years in office, which also saw the launch of an investigation into his dealings with a consultancy firm.
An official statement said Demetriades’ resignation has been accepted by President Nicos Anastasiades.
Reports suggested that he will be replaced by Auditor-general Chrystalla Georghadji, a highly respected technocrat, but there was no official confirmation on Monday night.
Demetriades handed his resignation to Finance Minister Harris Georgiades in Brussels…
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By Elias Hazou
Panicos Demetriades was appointed governor of the Central Bank in May 2012 for a five-year term by then President Demetris Christofias.
On March 18, 2013, after the first haircut decision – on all bank deposits – at the Eurogroup, Demetriades wanted the banks to re-open the following day, but President Nicos Anastasiades put a stop to it because allowing the banks to open would almost certainly have sparked a bank run.
A week later, Demetriades gave a…
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By Angelos Anastasiou
AS EXPECTED, the Eurogroup – the monthly get-together of Eurozone finance ministers in Brussels – gave the green light to release the fourth tranche of financial aid by international creditors to Cyprus late on Monday.
“The Eurogroup has endorsed in principle the disbursement of the next tranche of financial assistance to Cyprus,” said a statement issued after the meeting.
Quarterly on-the-ground progress reviews by the troika mission to Cyprus determine the release of assistance tranches after last…
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IN AN article titled ‘The bail-out is working; the bail-in isn’t’, The Economist’s take nearly a year after the banking crisis, is that the state of Bank of Cyprus poses the biggest threat to recovery.
The newspaper also said that despite some encouraging signs in the wider economy, it was premature of President Nicos Anastasiades to assert recently that the island was on the way to “a new economic miracle”.
“The main cloud hanging over the economy is the sorry…
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Unidentified armed men fired in the air as they moved into a Ukrainian naval post in Crimea on Monday in the latest confrontation since Russian military groups seized control of the Black Sea peninsula.
With diplomacy at a standstill, Russia said the United States had spurned an invitation to hold new talks on resolving the crisis, the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, who said he would address the UN Security Council on Thursday, put the blame for…
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By Karolina Tagaris
Greece launched an international tender on Monday for a study on the feasibility of a proposed pipeline to carry gas from Israel and Cyprus in an effort to reduce dependence on Russian supplies.
The Eastern Mediterranean Pipeline is designed to initially carry 8 billion cubic metres a year of Israeli and Cypriot gas.
It would stretch from Israel’s Leviathan natural gas field to Greece and onto European markets through the IGI-Poseidon pipeline, led by Italian utility Edison…
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Track star Oscar Pistorius, on trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, wept and vomited into a bucket in a South African courtroom on Monday after hearing graphic details from her autopsy.
Pathologist Gert Saayman was interrupted several times by the 27-year-old Paralympic and Olympic athlete’s sobbing and retching but the defence team argued against an adjournment, saying a break would not improve his state of mind.
Earlier, Judge Thokozile Masipa imposed a broadcast blackout on Saayman’s testimony out of respect for Steenkamp’s family and…
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THE STATE expects to raise around €100 million from road tax – €10million more than last year – despite the increase in the number of cars being taken off the road.
The deadline for paying the road tax expires at midnight on Monday. Failure to meet the deadline will entail a €30 fine plus10 per cent of the tax amount.
The punitive penalty seems to have worked.
“It appears that almost all owners have renewed their road permit,” said senior…
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Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness stunned a German court on Monday by admitting he had evaded taxes of 18.5 million euros using a secret Swiss bank account – more than five times the amount on a prosecutors’ charge sheet.
Once one of Germany’s most admired managers, Hoeness apologised and appealed for leniency at the start of a trial in a case that shocked Germany and prompted other tax dodgers to turn themselves in.
State prosecutor Achim von Engel read the charge sheet in which he was accused of evading 3.5 million euros in taxes…
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By Preston Wilder
Look straight ahead and think of nothing, Greta Garbo was allegedly instructed for her iconic final shot in Queen Christina. Great film acting comes in many forms, and I guess it could also include Meryl Streep doing pill-addicted Violet Weston in August: Osage County, weaving into the room like a drunken person, trying to keep her balance and holding up an arm against the sunlight. She was, after all, Oscar-nominated. Still, it’s hard to avoid…
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The Larnaca Water Board announced on Monday that supply would be cut to the entire town on from 7.30am to 11am due to improvement works to the main water pipeline to the city .
In Area 13, or the Free Trade Zone of Larnaca, the cut will run until 7pm
The water board said it would make every effort to reduce the period of interruption of supply and consumers are called on to make sure they are careful during the…
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The Nicosia municipality announced on Monday that hybrid and electric vehicles would be granted free parking until January 2015 at municipal car parks.
The free parking will apply only to residents, and those working within the boundaries of the Nicosia municipality.
The concession will not however apply to parking metres or street parking, it said.
Interested owners are required to submit to the municipality a copy of their vehicle’s ownership title with a certified mailing address and a copy of a…
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The European Short Film Bouquet – from footage on an elderly dance group’s tour bus to life as a donkey in a world of horses – promises a divergent lineup says Alix Norman
Constantly growing in popularity, short films are a typical first stage for many new professional filmmakers, allowing for more alternative forms of expression and subject matter compared to higher budget feature films. Historically, short films coexisted with their lengthier counterparts through the early days of film, with…
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