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Cyprus Today

15/05/13
Cop stations to be cut JUSTICE Minister, Ionas Nicolaou plans to reduce the number of police stations on the island in an effort to make them more efficient and productive. The Minister has asked the chief of police to give him a detailed report of all the police stations on the island, where they are in relation to each other and how many officers work in those stations. “By closing certain police stations the force will become more productive and efficient,” Nicolaou said. He expressed the need to modernise the force as it has operated under a model designed in 1960... Read on

Briefs

15/05/13
Burglary JEWELLERY worth around €15,000, two handbags worth around €800, a hunting gun worth around €1,000 and €12,000 in cash were stolen from a house in Alassa in the Limassol district on Monday between 8.45am and 7.30pm. The owner’s car worth around €50,000 was also stolen. The robber used the car’s spare key to steal the vehicle and get away. The Lania police department is investigating.  Car arson ... Read on

UK wants student loan money back

By Stefanos Evripidou 14/05/13
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EU releases first two billion euros in bailout aid

By Stefanos Evripidou 14/05/13
THE EUROGROUP gave its blessings to the disbursement of €3 billion to Cyprus yesterday, with the first €2 billion already sent to the island as part of the first tranche of a €10 billion bailout expected to “buy time” for its ailing economy. The group of eurozone finance ministers met for nearly six hours in Brussels yesterday, discussing among other things the bailout programmes of Cyprus and Greece and the troika’s assessment of Cyprus’ anti-money laundering measures. During the first hour of the Eurogroup meeting, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) board announced its approval of the Financial Assistance Facility Agreement with Cyprus and the disbursement of the first tranche of ‘rescue’ money worth €3 billion... 12 comments

Robber shot three times by police officer

By Peter Stevenson 14/05/13
A KNIFE-WIELDING suspected robber was critically injured early yesterday after being shot three times by a plain clothes police officer at a bakery in Lakatamia.According to head of Nicosia Police Kypros Michaelides, the officer who was patrolling in his car outside the bakery, noticed a suspicious looking man with a knife enter the bakery and attempted to stop him. Police said the man, a 34-year-old Greek Cypriot from Nicosia, attacked the policeman who was forced to use his gun to defend himself, shooting the thief once in the foot, once in the chest and once in the head.The injured man was taken to Nicosia General Hospital where he was operated on. He is in critical condition and in the Intensive Care Unit... 11 comments

Swift action pledge for Bank of Cyprus

By Elias Hazou 14/05/13
THE INTERIM board at the Bank of Cyprus (BoC) has pledged to take all necessary steps so the bank can swiftly move away from its current status of being under administration, the government said yesterday.The island’s largest lender has been undergoing restructuring since March, after a decision by eurozone finance ministers to impose losses on deposits of over €100,000. Under that arrangement, previous shareholders were wiped out, making large savers the new shareholders via a deposit-for-equity swap. The Central Bank, in its capacity as the ‘Resolution Authority’ for Cyprus’ two affected banks - BoC and Laiki - has appointed the members of the BoC’s transitional board of directors... 11 comments

CY board resigns over redundancy package

By Stefanos Evripidou 14/05/13
THE BOARD of national carrier Cyprus Airways (CY) has handed in its resignation in protest at the government’s promise to find €20m in compensation to pay outgoing workers as part of a last-ditch effort to save the ailing airline from closure.  According to state broadcaster CyBC last night, the CY board handed in its resignation to President Nicos Anastasiades, claiming that it simply cannot come up with the compensation money agreed between the government and unions to pay those workers that will be laid off as part of a restructuring plan.  In a letter to Anastasiades, the CY board reportedly highlights its grievances with the latest arrangement to rescue the airline based on a government proposal, agreed last month by unions, board and government... 23 comments

Government offers little hope to Kurdish refugees

By Maria Gregoriou 14/05/13
KURDISH refugees who have been camping outside the interior ministry for 15 days were told yesterday that the government cannot offer them subsidiary protection.Three members of the around 150 protesting refugees met with Interior Minister Socratis Hasikos yesterday after starting a hunger strike. He told them to provide him with a list of refugees without a home and those who have applied for work at the labour ministry by tomorrow afternoon and then leave or they will be arrested... 7 comments

Forest fire warning ahead of long, hot summer

By Peter Stevenson 14/05/13
THE government aims to slash the number of forest fires this summer by raising public awareness and increasing the efficiency of the fire department, the justice minister said yesterday.“The protection of the environment and public safety are of the utmost importance to the government, and we expect all the services involved in those matters to be fully alert and coordinated in order to effectively deal with fires,” said Ionas Nicolaou, speaking at an event to launch the 12th annual fire safety week.The government’s goal, the minister said, is to unite all the fire service units on the island within a new strategic plan which will clarify the responsibilities of each department and increase efficiency... 2 comments

Seasonal storms stronger than usual

By Maria Gregoriou 14/05/13
THE STORMS that have caused flash floods mainly inland and in the mountains will continue today and may last until tomorrow.From May 1 until 9am yesterday the total amount of rainfall was calculated at 15.1mm, which is 77 per cent normal for this period of the year, according to the meteorological services. “Because we had experienced high temperatures during the last couple of weeks, energy was built-up in the atmosphere and low pressure was created. This low pressure system is what caused these tropical storms during the last week in Cyprus,” meteorological officer Marios Theofilou said. “These storms begin suddenly around lunch time and end suddenly some hours later... 4 comments
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