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Local News March 11, 2014

EAC unions oppose renewal of loan to government

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…

Local News March 11, 2014

Failure to submit SGO budgets jeopardises salaries

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…

Local News March 11, 2014

Planned clampdown on access to alcohol

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…

Local News March 11, 2014

Traffic overhaul for congested Nicosia

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…

Local News March 11, 2014

How dead people get to vote

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…

Local News Business March 10, 2014

CBC Governor Panicos Demetriades resigns (update 3)

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…

Local News March 10, 2014

History of stormy relations between president and governor

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…

Local News March 10, 2014

Fourth tranche of bailout funds on its way

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…

Local News March 10, 2014

Economist sees little sign of president’s ‘miracle’

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…

International News March 10, 2014

Shots fired in air during raid at Crimea naval base

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…

Local News March 10, 2014

Greece to commission feasibility study for Mediterranean gas pipeline

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…

International News March 10, 2014

Pistorius vomits in court at Steenkamp autopsy details

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…

Local News March 10, 2014

Car tax deadline

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…

International News March 10, 2014

Bayern Boss Hoeness admits far bigger tax dodge than charged with

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…

Entertainment March 10, 2014

Film review: AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY **

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…

Local News March 10, 2014

Larnaca water supply to be cut on Thursday

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…

Local News March 10, 2014

Free parking for hybrid and electric cars within Nicosia municipality

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…

Entertainment March 10, 2014

In a few minutes

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…

Local News March 10, 2014

Three DIKO ministers suspend their active party membership

Education Minister Kyriacos Kenevezos, Health Minister Petros Petrides and Defence Minister Fotis Fotiou on Monday said they had suspended their active membership in the DIKO party over differences with the leadership.

Reports were rife on Monday that the three remaining DIKO ministers would resign from the party, ahead of the expected cabinet reshuffle later this week.

Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis resigned from the party last week.

Earlier on Monday, the party’s spokeswoman Christiana Erotokritou said there had been no resignations…

International News March 10, 2014

Mexico kills drug kingpin three years after reporting him dead

Mexican drug lord who was falsely reported dead more than three years ago was killed by the armed forces in western Mexico early on Sunday, the government’s second major victory in its fight against organized crime in as many weeks.

Known as “El Mas Loco,” or “The Craziest One,” Nazario Moreno led a violent drug cartel that has ravaged the western state of Michoacan. The previous government said Moreno was killed in a firefight in December 2010, but his body was never found and he was widely believed…