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Thursday, 19 December 2024
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Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 00-12-22Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cyprus-mail.com/>CONTENTS
[01] Fury as Turks jail Greek CypriotBy Jean Christou RELATIVES of a Greek Cypriot man detained by the Turks stormed the office of Attorney General Alecos Markides late yesterday after it was announced that the detained man would remain in custody in the north until February. The incident happened shortly after the wife of the detainee, Panicos Tsiakourmas, 39, returned from the north where he appeared in court yesterday, with the news he would not be released. The enraged relatives -- demanding that the government release a Turkish Cypriot drug smuggling suspect in a swap deal for their loved one -- headed for the Attorney General's office after venting their anger at the Ledra Palace check-point and then the House of Representatives, both of which incidents led to scuffles. At the Attorney General's office the dozen-or- so relatives smashed their way into the building after being told that Markides would not meet their demands. Police and riot squad officers rushed to the offices and minor scuffles ensued but the relatives refused to let Markides out of his office until he met with them. Markides duly obliged at around 8.30 pm, and the meeting served to calm the situation and persuade the relatives to leave, though he did not give in to their demands. In statements after the relatives had left, Markides said a `swap deal' to secure Tsiakourmas's release was not on the cards. "There is no such issue," he said. Markides added that he was still hopeful the government could secure Tsiakourmas' release and that he would be meeting with President Clerides to discuss the issue today. Earlier, in occupied Nicosia, Tsiakourmas, who is diabetic, was charged with possession of 1.5 kilos of cannabis and intent to sell and bound over until the `Assize court' meets again in February. As soon as relatives and friends waiting at the checkpoint for a possible release heard the news several made a dash for the Green Line but were restrained by police and UNFICYP soldiers. After leaving the Ledra Palace the group headed for the House of Representatives where Tsiakourmas' wife Niki met House President Spyros Kyprianou after they caused a fracas. Later Kyprianou personally took Niki and another relative to the Foreign Ministry in his car. The relatives moved on to the Attorney General's office after Foreign Ministry. Tsiakourmas disappeared on December 12 from the British Sovereign Base (SBA) of Dhekelia as he went to pick up some Turkish Cypriot workers from the Pergamos checkpoint, which leads from the bases into the occupied areas. His car was found abandoned with the engine still running some 400 metres inside the SBA. The evidence suggests he was dragged from his car and taken to the occupied areas. The circumstances of Tsiakourmas' abduction have angered the British bases and the British High Commission (BHC) which has let it be known they believe the Greek Cypriot father of three was abducted within the SBA. Government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou told the Cyprus Mail the latest development had just "made things worse". "This shows that Mr Denktash and his regime want to create further tensions, " he said. Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides added: "This action has gone beyond any limit of humanity and legality."[02] New phone charges: ups, downs and Package BBy Jennie MatthewTELEPHONE bills are going up on January 1, as the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CyTA) is forced to end subsidising the charge for local calls, in keeping with EU directives. Tariff changes have been on the cards for some time, but it means consumers are faced with more expensive charges for local phone calls and some services, although international calls will be less expensive. The goal is the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector by January 2003. Prices are going up because the subsidisation of cheap local calls by expensive international ones has to end. The consumer has to pay for what he gets. All customers have been sent a briefing detailing the forthcoming changes, but on closer examination, some subscribers have accused CyTA of elaborate spin-doctoring in `disguising' some of the imminent price increases. "The first time I looked at the letter, I thought it sounded a good idea. But I have to admit that when I read it properly the prices did sound a bit high," said one Nicosia woman yesterday. A Limassol Internet addict was outraged by what he branded "a CyTA rip-off -- higher prices with no improvement to services, advertised in a sly manner". Despite the sales pitch at the beginning of the information bulletin, about "moving dynamically through the new era of telecommunication technology", "breaking new technological ground" and "introducing new services" no substantial new services are yet being offered. Instead, telephone users have to choose between two packages, A or B. Everyone will be automatically transferred to package A in January, unless they opt for B. Package B is recommended for individuals (businesses are ineligible) who make fewer than 75 calls a month. Monthly line rental costs £3 in package A - up 140 per cent from the current £1.25. Package B charges £1.50 - an increase of just 20 per cent. Local call charges, regardless of package, will go up from 1.3 cents per 4 minutes to 2 cents for four minutes - an increase of 54 per cent. The connection fee is to jump from £14 to £20. Voicebox calls and calls to the Universal Access service (077) will increase by 54 per cent and calls to directory enquiries will be jacked up a massive 246 per cent. By contrast, the gains are a 78 per cent reduction in the cost of international calls, a three per cent decrease in peak-time trunk calls from an all-time flat rate of 3.1 cents a minute to 3 cents a minute peak time (7am to 8pm). Off-peak time trunk calls will fall by 50 per cent, from 3.1 cents to 2 cents a minute (8pm to 7am, all day at the weekends and public holidays). CyTA yesterday denied that the price increases were either sly or sky-high. "Its not a great expense. The expense is not such that it really affects people a lot, particularly in the light of reduced rates over the year, and the reduced international rates in August," said CyTA Spokeswoman Rita Karadjia. "We don't want to cheat people. The government directive says our tariffs must be based on cost and international call charges will come down even more in the future," head of CyTA business management support, Glafkos Houtris told the Cyprus Mail. CyTA prices were last altered in 1972. The cost of living has risen by 330 per cent since then, and the fact remains that call charges still lag behind. The Cytanet Internet monthly subscription has already been cut from £12 to £7 plus VAT, and connection for the high-speed ISDN line fell from £50 to £40 in August. But for every £4 less which subscribers pay each month, they will pay 58.5 per cent more per call time. Instead of the current 19.5 cents an hour, from January 1 the charge rises to 30 cents an hour. WHAT YOU PAY NOWLocal Call Charges 1.3 cents per 4 minutesTrunk Call Charges (off and on peak) 3.1 cents per minute Monthly subscription £1.25 Connection £15 NEW CHARGES:PACKAGE ALocal Call Charges 2 cents per 4 minutes Trunk Call Charges (off peak) 2 cents a minute (peak) 3 cents a minute Monthly subscription £3 Connection charge £20 PACKAGE B Local Call Charges 2 cents per 4 minutes Trunk Call Charges (off peak) 2 cents a minute (peak) 3 cents a minute Monthly subscription £1.50 plus an additional 2 cents for every successful call, regardless of length. Do the maths and you save £1.50 if you make no calls a month at all (unlikely). If you make exactly 75 calls (also unlikely) then it works out the same as package A. But for each call over 75, package B charges an extra 2 cents on each call, over and above the cost of the duration of the call - highly conceivable in a busy month when you're working from home, or there's a family crisis. Seeing as few people count their outgoing calls, there seems a high possibility that some who opt for Plan B will find it more expensive than they thought. It discriminates against people who make lots of short calls, but may favour those who make few, but long calls. MOBILE PHONEThe connection charge will drop from £25 to £20.Monthly subscription dropped from £10 to £8 in August. Peak and off-peak hours correspond exactly to those for fixed telephony. [03] Kyknos shines as blue chips sufferBy Jean Christou THE KYKNOS star shone bright on the market yesterday taking volume through the roof to £34.4 million and helping to lift the general index slightly as the investment company continued to be wooed by rivals Sharelink and Era. Investors sniffing a possible good deal overcrowded the bandwagon in their haste to be included, resulting in over 20 million Kyknos shares being traded on a volume of £17.8 million, over half the day's total. Kyknos gained 11 cents in the fray and closed at 91 cents. Despite the excitement surrounding the Kyknos takeover bid, the all- share index itself registered only a minor 0.67 per cent gain, closing at 242 points. The FTSE/CySE top 20 blue chips gained nothing from the Kyknos saga since investment companies are excluded. The FTSE dropped 1.06 per cent to 1,049 as Bank of Cyprus (BoC) and Laiki lost more ground. BoC shed six cents to close at £3.31 and Laiki two cents to end at £3.17. In Athens BoC lost a substantial 5.49 per cent to end at 1,980 (£3.31) against a drop in the general Greek index of 1.54 per cent and the banking sector 1.63 per cent. Second on the CSE's most active list yesterday was GlobalSoft which has been having a slow run lately. GlobalSoft clocked up a volume of £2 million but the share remained static at £5.13. One broker said if it hadn't been for Kyknos the outcome of yesterday's session would have been much bleaker since blue chips were still coming under a lot of pressure. The CSE analyst said investors were getting carried away with the takeover saga. He said Kyknos was getting all the attention from Sharelink and Era "and as a result the hungry masses follow their lead blindly". "The two love bugs are throwing bread to the bird and the masses are scrambling to get a few leftover breadcrumbs," he said. "These kinds of scenarios are quite dangerous and have ruined investors in the past and will continue to do so in the future - unfortunately." He said that the interest in Kyknos also had given a kick-start to some other investment companies which resulted in that sub sector coming out on top yesterday with gains of 6.22 per cent. "They also joined the circus with the hungry masses following while drooling all over themselves," he added. "The possibility of a quick buck with no sweat is too sweet and forces some of us to overlook the risk factors associate with this scenario." Today trading opens at 9am instead of the usual time of 10.30am.[04] Officials play down EU shipping rulesBy Jean Christou CYPRUS WILL not be adversely affected by yesterday's EU governments warning to the shipping industry that it would unilaterally implement certain rules if the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) does not do so by 2015. Issues at stake include a total ban on single-hull oil tankers, stricter rules and financial liability on classification companies, inspections and aircraft-style black boxes. The measures are part of a package put together after the single-hull Maltese tanker Erika spilled 10,000 tonnes of oil off the coast of France a year ago. Following late night discussions on Wednesday the EU transport ministers issued a statement saying unless the IMO, which sets global shipping rules, agree on certain issues the EU would take unilateral action. The London-based IMO is due to meet in April and the ministers said if there is a deal then they would immediately adopt the agreement into EU law. An official at the Merchant Shipping Department in Limassol who wished to remain anonymous told the Cyprus Mail these were issues already in the pipeline for Cyprus and the goal to which the shipping industry here was working towards. Cyprus hopes to join the bloc in 2003. The official said the Cyprus ship register, the world's fifth largest with over 2,000 vessels, does not have a huge number of single-hull tankers. Rules which came into force some tears ago said new tankers should be built with a double hull to cut maritime environmental disasters caused by the oil industry. `I would say it's a partial problem for us," the official said. "The majority of tankers we have are brand new so problems would only be caused to registers with old ones." The warning towards the classification societies which certify a ship's seaworthiness is a welcome move, the shipping official said. "This will not affect us at all but it will make the societies a little more careful towards their obligations." The EU's threat to ban from its waters ships which have been held in port for safety reasons twice during a 36- month period could pose a problem for Cyprus. The island's open registry deemed a Flag of Convenience (FoC) is frequently a target of such inspections at port state control and the detention rate, although improved, is still a cause for concern. Cyprus has defended itself against the detentions and black lists by pointing out that vessels are often detained for minor transgressions which can be righted in a few hours but the incident is dumped into a broad category which does not take this into account. "Detentions do not always reflect the standard of the ship," the official said. "Our only reservation on this is that there should be analysis and the seriousness of the detention defined." On the issue of black boxes for ships, the official said it sounded more like the EU was trying to boost the black box industry in Europe. `If you take into account the investment needed for older vessels the funds would be better put towards improving safety," he said. Thomas Kazakos general secretary of the Cyprus Shipping Council (CSC) said the Erika II package has been in the pipeline for some time and said that if there have been some new developments they would have to study the issues before commenting.[05] Employment agencies accused of deceitBy Melina Demetriou DEPUTY chairman of the House Social Insurances Committee Aristophanis Georgiou yesterday accused employment agencies of demanding up to three months wages from foreign workers as a condition of being found a job. He continued that workers were often threatened with deportation if they did not pay this sum. After a Committee meeting on the matter, Georgiou told reporters that in his opinion both Cypriot and foreign workers were being taken advantage of by their employment agencies. The Labour ministry has confirmed the matter was serious, at the same time admitting it failed to address it. "Sometimes, the illegal dealings take place in the countries workers come from but in cooperation with Cyprus offices, this way covering up the whole thing," Georgiou said. The Labour ministry earlier this week admitted to Georgiou that it did not have the means to tackle the illegalities and only dealt with such cases after formal complaints had been made. But ministry official Charalambos Kolokotronis said yesterday the ministry was trying to come to some agreement with Bulgarian employment offices in order to halt the manipulation. "It is time to put an end to the slave trade if we want to be considered a modern society," Georgiou said. DISY deputy Lia Georgiadou told the Committee that contracts were usually conducted in Greek, regardless of whether foreign workers understood, which was against the law. AKEL deputy, Yiannakis Thoma said workers were often deported once they complained about their employer, without ever seeing their case in Court. But Georgiou also said that workers in cooperation with some lawyers sometimes manipulated their bosses. "When it is time to leave the country, some workers come up with false complaints and turn to lawyers to press charges against their employers. This way they manage to stay on the island for a few more months until the case is tried. The lawyers are always paid by the employers, despite the fact that workers finally drop the charges."[06] Row over fire compensationBy a Staff Reporter A HEATED row erupted in the House of Representatives Committee meeting yesterday between Agriculture Minister Costas Themistocleous and DIKO deputy Nicos Pittokopitis over the compensation of Paphos farmers who's crops were destroyed during September's fires. Tempers flared after Themistocleous, who was set to brief the Committee on remuneration plans, said he was not ready to touch on the matter. Pittokopitis, from Paphos, lashed out at Themistocleous, saying he had repeatedly failed to discuss the matter and was deceiving both the Committee and the farmers. The minister turned on Pittokopitis accusing him of trying to get the media's attention. Pittokopitis then accused Themistocleous of being "the minister of mass media." At that point Committee Chairman Christos Mavrokordatos suggested reporters leave so deputies could resolve the matter in private. But reporters remained in the room and the minister stormed out. Pittokopitis took the opportunity to announce: "The minister has put the matter of compensation down for today. It is not the first, not the second, but the fifth time he is putting off this discussion. What can I say; he is inefficient. He has humiliated the legislature and the farmers who have come here from Paphos hoping to get some answers at last." The Agricultural Committee backed Pittokopitis, charging that the minister's behaviour was unacceptable. "We have decided to send a letter to the President of the Republic, asking about the issue of the compensation," Mavrokordatos said. Farmers' representatives at the meeting were frustrated after having to travel to the House for what became no reason.[07] Money exchange scam unveiledBy Martin Hellicar AN ILLEGAL Paphos currency dealership handled hundreds of thousands of pounds every day and was only uncovered when its operators ran out of cash and had to resort to police for protection from enraged clients, the Paphos District Court heard yesterday. A 32-year-old currency dealer suspected of supplying the illegal banking operation with dollars was yesterday brought up before the court. Meanwhile, the woman suspected of running the money exchange scam - selling US dollars for Cyprus pounds at rock-bottom prices - was yesterday recovering in a private Paphos clinic after suffering a heart attack. Police were waiting in the aisles to execute an arrest warrant against her. Case investigator Christakis Constantinou, of Paphos CID, told the court that the scam had come to light last Saturday after a woman from Salamiou village went to police to complain that she was being threatened by a number of Greek Russians. Police probed deeper into the matter, Constantinou said, and found that the woman was running a black market currency dealership catering for Paphos's large Greek Russian community. The illegal exchange had been running since July and was being used by hundreds of Greek Russians to exchange Cyprus pounds for US dollars, the court heard. Some clients were bringing the woman fifty or sixty thousand pounds a day, Constantinou stated. The woman then took the cash to the currency dealer who exchanged it for dollars, the court heard. But the scam ran into cash-flow problems because the value of the pound fell and the woman did not allow for this in her dealings with her clients and so ended up offering her clients a better exchange rate that the broker was giving her, the court heard. She ran into debt to the tune of some £280,000 and was unable to get her clients their dollars, Constantinou said. The irate clients began demanding their cash and making threats, forcing the illegal operator to go to police, the court heard. Police questioned the woman on Tuesday night and an arrest warrant was issued for her the next day but her heart attack forced her apprehension to be put on ice. The 32-year-old dealer, who was arrested on Wednesday night, told the court he had nothing to do with the alleged scam. He said his only dealing with the woman suspect had been to change £41,000 worth of currency for her some time ago. The court remanded him for five days to allow police more time to investigate his alleged involvement in the exchange scam.[08] `Papa's' face offBy Martin Hellicar TASSOS PAPADOPOULOS is earning his `spurs' as an opposition party leader by drawing angry fire from the government for his outspoken criticisms of the Clerides administration. On Wednesday, the man who recently succeeded Spyros Kyprianou as DIKO leader claimed the government was failing to govern and was "creating crises through ill- judged actions". "The government does not govern, it appears just to act randomly, each minister doing his own thing," Papadopoulos stated in a speech before an open DIKO meeting. The bait was too much for Government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou to resist. The spokesman launched into an unbridled attack on Papadopoulos during his daily press briefing yesterday. Papapetrou expressed disappointment with Papadopoulos's behaviour: "Such statements could, albeit with difficulty, be forgiven if they had come from a young and inexperienced politician and not from a politician of Papadopoulos's standing," he said. More was expected of Papadopoulos, a politician usually renowned for thoughtful, well-argued statements rather than random attacks, Papapetrou added, continuing with the "disappointment" theme. Much of what the DIKO leader had said on Wednesday amounted to "insults", the Spokesman protested. Papapetrou flatly rejected Papadopoulos's claims that the government was not running the country properly. The Spokesman said the government was not seeking a showdown with DIKO and said he wondered why Papadopoulos was "lowering the tone". Spats of this nature are set to become more frequent as the May parliamentary elections near.Cyprus Mail 2000Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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