Новости за 09.12.2015

President Nicos Anastasiades will travel to Ukraine on Thursday for a two-day official visit. Anastasiades will be officially welcomed by the president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko at the presidential palace. Following a private meeting, the two presidents will preside over a meeting between the delegations of the two countries. During the visit, Cyprus and Ukraine […]

By George Psyllides Interior Minister Socratis Hasikos on Wednesday accused the auditor-general of not doing his job properly, overstepping legal boundaries and publicising issues without substantiation. The minister even suggested changing the constitution to limit the term of independent officials. The auditor issued a lengthy statement later on Wednesday, responding to the minister point by […]

By Maria Gregoriou The musicians from the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra (CSO) will perform a chamber music concert on Saturday in Nicosia and Sunday in Paphos. The exceptional brass ensemble made up of CSO musicians Gareth Griffiths and Andreas Giannakouras (trumpets) and Kelly Alijani and Catherine Heaver (French horns), will take us on an exciting musical […]

By John Whitesides Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States drew a growing wave of international criticism on Wednesday and cost him business in the Middle East. Israeli politicians demanded Trump be blocked from a planned late-December visit, although a government official said the Dec 28 meeting with […]

By Julia Harte and Mark Hosenball A couple who massacred 14 people at a California holiday party were discussing martyrdom online before they met in person and married, FBI Director James Comey said on Wednesday. A US government source familiar with the investigation of the shooting said Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, may have been plotting […]

The state health services have warned the public about a brand of raisins on the market that have been found to contain high levels of Ochratoxin A (OTA), a toxic fungal metabolite. In a statement released on Wednesday, it said a sample of a packet of raisins by Livadiotis with the expiration date November 17, […]

By Nick Tattersall Turkey’s prime minister accused Russia on Wednesday of attempted ‘ethnic cleansing’ in northern Syria, saying Moscow was trying to drive out the local Turkmen and Sunni Muslim populations to protect its military interests in the region. Ahmet Davutoglu’s comments could further harm strained relations between Moscow and Ankara, already at their worst […]

By Martyn Herman Swansea City “reluctantly” sacked manager Garry Monk on Wednesday, following a dreadful run which has seen the Welsh club plummet towards the Premier League relegation zone. Former defender Monk, who played for the club during their rise through the divisions to the Premier League and took over from Michael Laudrup as manager […]

By Jean Christou THE notion of a Cyprus solution by March is ‘”overly optimistic” President Nicos Anastasiades has said, citing no agreement on timeframes either with the Turkish Cypriot side or with foreign leaders. Anastasiades was speaking to Greek TV channel ERT in Athens on Tuesday night. There had been progress in the talks but […]

Dealing with a catastrophic earthquake was the scenario for a civil defence exercise which was successfully conducted in Larnaca on Wednesday morning. A total of 42 government services and several NGOs were involved in the exercise, named ‘Enceladus’ after a giant in Greek mythology. “The agencies worked together to address multiple impacts after an earthquake, […]

By Andria Kades All eight of Nicosia bus company OSEL’s directors are being investigated in connection with fraud, forgery and extortion under false pretences police have confirmed. Auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides in his annual report released on Monday outlined that an investigation into one of the country’s six bus companies began last month. The eight directors […]

By Nick Mulvenney Roger Federer has rejigged his coaching team for next year by parting company with Stefan Edberg and bringing Ivan Ljubicic on board, the 17-time grand slam champion said on Wednesday. Former world number one Edberg had worked as part of a team led by Federer’s long-term coach Severin Luthi since January 2014, […]

By Megan Cassella Time magazine named German Chancellor Angela Merkel its 2015 ‘Person of the Year’ on Wednesday, noting her resilience and leadership when faced with the refugee crisis and turmoil in the European Union over its currency this year. In a statement explaining the magazine’s choice, managing editor Nancy Gibbs said despite crises in […]

(Updated with mayor’s comments) By Angelos Anastasiou The building permit for the proposed gold refinery plant in the industrial area of Aradippou, Larnaca, was issued in a majority vote of the municipal council on Wednesday. The proposal was passed by a six-to-five majority, with one abstention by DIKO’s councillor, while one DISY councilor was absent. […]

By Maria Gregoriou Join in a very Swedish tradition on Friday when children from the Swedish children’s choir will dress all in white and sing to celebrate Santa Lucia. Santa Lucia is a traditional song, first transcribed by Teodoro Cottrau. The song has been given various lyrics to accommodate it to the winter-light festival of […]

Cyprus, Egypt and Greece have agreed to create a permanent mechanism for cooperation that involves meeting more regularly, it was announced after the tripartite meeting in Athens on Wednesday. Speaking after meeting with President Nicos Anastasides and Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the next such meeting would take place […]

Fixed phone line connections declined by 6.55 per cent in 2014 compared to 2013, the Electronic Communications and Postal Regulation (OCECPR) reported on Tuesday. The number of mobile connections has remained steady in recent years. In 2014, according to the report, providers other than the semi-state CyTA increased their share in the broadband access market […]

By Stelios Orphanides Building permits rose this year in January to September 15 per cent in terms of construction project to 682,427 square metres and 19 per cent in terms of value to €764.1m compared to a year before, the statistical service said. Send to Kindle

By Angelos Anastasiou Twelve politically exposed persons (PEPs) were named as having benefited from former Interior Minister Eleni Mavrou’s land-zoning amendments to land they owned, boosting the value of their plots of land, daily Politis reported on Wednesday. The issue was raised by Auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides in his 2014 annual report, published on Monday. In […]

By Anthony Esposito US environmentalist and businessman Douglas Tompkins, the founder of outdoor clothing and equipment company The North Face, died on Tuesday during a kayaking trip in Chile, local health officials said. He was 72. Tompkins was on General Carrera Lake in Patagonia in southern Chile with a group of five others when his […]

  Where do you live? I live with my wife and daughter in my hometown of Limassol. When I am on tour and travelling across Europe we have a base in Croatia. Best childhood memory? Those endless summer Sundays, spending hours at the beach with the whole family. Most frequented restaurant and absolute favourite dish? […]

Six people were remanded for eight days on Wednesday in connection with embezzling €350,000 from two companies former Agriculture Minister Costas Petrides had a 50 per cent stake in. Paphos district court issued the order after the suspects three men aged 61, 33 and 60 as well as three women aged 52, 44 and 24, […]

By Stelios Orphanides The Cypriot economy grew in the third quarter of 2015 an annual 2.3 per cent and a seasonal adjusted 2.2 per cent, the statistical service said. Send to Kindle

By Alexandros Avramidis Greek police on Wednesday loaded hundreds of migrants who have been stranded for three weeks at the Macedonian border onto buses bound for Athens, a police official and a Reuters witness said, ending their hopes of reaching northern Europe. Scuffles broke out but not on the scale of recent clashes between police […]

The United States has no indication that a couple who killed 14 people in California were part of a wider cell or that they planned more attacks, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters in London, Lynch said the radicalisation of the couple seemed to have been going on for some […]