Новости за 21.02.2017

The House agriculture committee found the results of checks on the use of pesticide to be satisfactory, with only seven per cent being outside acceptable levels. MPs heard that according to the data submitted by the authorities pesticide residue levels were quite satisfactory. Chairman Andreas Kafkalias noted however, that there was no question of complacency. […]

US President Donald Trump’s administration plans to consider almost all illegal immigrants subject to deportation, but will leave protections in place for immigrants known as “dreamers” who entered the country illegally as children, according to official guidelines released on Tuesday. The Department of Homeland Security guidance to immigration agents is part of a broader plan […]

Parliament’s decision to set a date for public schools to commemorate the 1950 enosis (union) with Greece plebiscite was an unfortunate and populist approach, President Nicos Anastasiades said in an interview with the Athens News Agency, published on Tuesday. Passed 10 days ago, after hardline parties voted in favour of an amendment tabled by far-right […]

Opposition parties and unions on Tuesday called for Transport Minister Marios Demetiades to resign over the many problems that have arisen at Limassol port since its operation was taken over by the private company, Eurogate. The minister drew the ire of workers’ unions and opposition parties following his claims on Monday that machinery at the […]

When asked what he thought about the prospect of yet more austerity to be imposed on Greece by its international creditors, Nicos Papapetrou was fairly short. “I had better stop … because I will start swearing,” 49-year old Papapetrou, a shop assistant in Athens said. Greeks appeared resigned on Tuesday to accepting further budget cuts […]

Former Bank of Cyprus (BoC) CEO Andreas Eliades said on Tuesday an extension of the deadline to cover a capital shortfall in 2012 would have allowed the lender to complete its recapitalisation. Eliades said state assistance was always on the cards if the bank failed to cover the entire shortfall. “State support was the alternative […]

US President Donald Trump denounced anti-Semitism in the United States on Tuesday in his most forceful remarks to date about a spate of threats to Jewish community centres around the country. Several Jewish community centres were evacuated for a time on Monday after receiving bomb threats, the JCC Association of North America organisation said. Vandals […]

Patience has its limits, and if Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci honestly wants a solution to the Cyprus problem, he should not be making excuses, President Nicos Anastasiades said on Tuesday. He was responding to comments made earlier by Akinci and Turkish Foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in a joint news conference, in which they persistently […]

If you work in the food industry and want to up your game, then the series of lessons on wine organised by the Cyprus Sommelier Association will give you all the knowledge you need to know exactly what you are talking about when it comes to wine. The first cycle of lessons, starting on March […]

Banks plan to maintain their lending standards for corporate loans, mortgages and consumer and other lending unchanged in the first quarter of the year after doing so in October to December, the Central Bank of Cyprus said. After demand for loans increased in all three categories in the last quarter of 2016, it is expected […]

The harmonised consumer price index rose 0.7 per cent in January compared to the respective month of 2016, the statistical service said. The January increase was on higher energy prices which rose an annual 8.1 per cent and a 0.4 per cent rise in the prices of food, alcoholic beverages and tobacco which more than […]

The Central Bank of Cyprus said that its will inform and consult its staff and bank workers’ union ETYK on certain aspects of its February 18 board decision on the supervisory authority’s restructuring. “The board’s agenda included the organisational restructuring and the roles and competences of the directorates and departments, the staffing needs, modernising career […]

The interior ministry of the Republic has granted citizenship to a high-ranking Lebanese UN official, Turkish Cypriot media reported on Monday, raising questions over his impartiality. Citing unnamed diplomatic sources, Turkish Cypriot media outlet Diyalog reported on Monday that UNFICYP’s chief financial officer Husein Moussa had been granted Cypriot citizenship, casting doubt over the UN […]

The Sutton United player filmed eating a pie while sitting on the substitutes bench during Monday’s 2-0 FA Cup defeat by Arsenal may have bitten off more than he can chew as twin investigations were launched into the stunt on Tuesday. Wayne Shaw faces possible action from the Gambling Commission and the FA after it […]

Norway would like to have the option to be included in any arrangements between Britain and the European Union as they negotiate a new relationship, a government minister said on Tuesday. The Nordic country is not a member of the EU but pays for access to the European common market via the European Economic Area […]

The value of the Turkey’s bilateral trade with Cyprus’s occupied area dropped 10 per cent last year to $972m (€916m) compared to 2015 which is a six-year low, the Turkish Cypriot newspaper Kibris reported on Tuesday, citing the Turkish Statistical Institution (TUIK). Turkish Cypriot exports to Turkey dropped last year 4.8 per cent to $64.5m, […]

Finance minister Harris Georgiades said that Cyprus’s government debt is “absolutely sustainable” after the government smoothed out debt maturities to 2020. Georgiades who was commenting in an interview to Bloomberg said that the government could “probably” tap international markets in the second half of the year in anticipation of better market circumstances. “We have a […]

The government is not prepared to reduce fuel taxes unless other measures are put in place to offset the loss in revenue, the House finance committee heard on Tuesday. The committee discussed the matter for the fourth time, including the creation of low cost stations in a bid to force prices down. MPs heard that […]

Greece on Tuesday urged Germany to drop its “irrational” demand that it meet a 3.5-per cent primary budget surplus over a 10-year period, and be “constructive” about calls to ease the cash-strapped country’s debt mountain. Athens and its international lenders agreed on Monday to resume talks on a bailout review, easing a standoff which had […]

China’s football splurge on big-name foreign players is reminiscent of the 1970s North American boom that ultimately fizzled out in failure, former Vancouver Whitecaps chief executive Paul Barber said on Tuesday. Barber, now chief executive of Premier League promotion hopefuls Brighton and Hove Albion and an influential figure in English football, warned that the Super […]

Romania’s lower house of parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly endorsed a government order to scrap a graft decree that triggered mass street protests, international condemnation and a consequent U-turn by the month-old cabinet. The cabinet of Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu enraged people when it quietly approved on Jan 31 a decree that would have decriminalised several […]

Thirteen sculptures by ten artists have been added to the Ayia Napa Sculpture Park, the municipality announced on Tuesday. The sculptures were carved during the first phase of the fourth Sculpture Symposium which is organised every winter by the Ayia Napa municipality. The art works were transferred from the technical workshop of the municipality to […]

Both Limassol and Nicosia will get the chance this week to take a musical dive into the world of Johannes Brahms. German composer and pianist Brahms was considered by his contemporaries and later writers as both a traditionalist and an innovator as his music is firmly rooted in the structures and compositional techniques of the […]

The bodies of 74 migrants have been found washed up on a beach near the western Libyan city of Zawiya, a Red Crescent spokesman said on Tuesday. Spokesman Mohamed al-Misrati said the bodies had been recovered on Monday and that the migrants appeared to have died during the past two days. They were all adults, […]

Both Limassol Mayor Nicos Nicolaides and the state intend to file objections to a request for a recount of the ballots of last December’s mayoral election that was filed by Akel after its candidate, incumbent Andreas Christou, lost by just nine votes. The two sides have until March 20 to file their objections. “The court […]