Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 01-04-10

Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cyprus-mail.com/>

Tuesday, April 10, 2001

CONTENTS

[01] Teenagers rounded up after incidents at schools

[02] Fraud squad sends evidence to Belgrade

[03] Powell urges resumption of talks

[04] Turkish gypsy will be deported

[05] IT bids going ahead to share IMC with stock exchange

[06] Market retains its optimism

[07] Christou resigns from CSE probe over conflict of interest claims

[08] Government to review criteria on foreign workers

[09] easyEverything to come to Cyprus

[10] Vassiliou calls for House plenum to catch up EU backlog

[01] Teenagers rounded up after incidents at schools

The 1am incident at a gymnasium at Plati in the Aglandjia suburb of Nicosia came only hours after police arrested six teenage students for exploding a camping gas cylinder in the yard of another Nicosia gymnasium, in Lakatamia.

The incidents of what police called "youth delinquency" come as police crank up their Easter-time campaign to prevent illegal use of firecrackers. The blast at the Lakatamia school comes less than a fortnight after a pipe bomb went off in the lavatories of a Limassol school. The difference between the explosions in Limassol in Nicosia is that the former occurred during school hours. Two students were arrested in connection with the Limassol blast, one of them just 14 years old.

Police have charged seven teenage students in connection with the incidents at the Plati and Lakatamia secondary schools.

The incident at the Makarios III gymnasium at Plati occurred when police went to investigate a complaint about youths lighting a bonfire in the schoolyard. "Police went there and one kid threw a stone at the patrol car, cracking the windscreen," Police spokesman Stelios Neophytou said. "Police arrested six under-18s and took them to Lykavitos police station where three of them named another as the perpetrator," the police spokesman said.

The suspected stone-thrower was later charged and released.

Neophytou said the bonfire lit by the students had not caused any damage.

Neophytou said the blast at the Archangelos gymnasium in Lakatamia occurred at around 6.30 pm on Sunday. "Young persons caused a blast using a camping gas cylinder. Riot squad officers soon after took six youths under 18 to Lakatamia police station where they confessed and were charged in writing and released," Neophytou said. He said the blast had caused no damage but had disturbed the whole neighbourhood.

He also described the two Nicosia incidents as "isolated".

Bonfires, firecrackers and explosions are a traditional way for local youth to mark Easter, but police are keen to stamp out the habit.

A number of large seizures of illegal firecrackers have been made in recent weeks.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[02] Fraud squad sends evidence to Belgrade

But he distanced the country from responsibility, saying that there was no evidence that Cypriots had been involved in the transfer of funds, nor that any law had been violated.

"We are sending all relevant information and documents about these two cases to Yugoslavia," he said.

"We cannot pre-empt the outcome of the investigations here and in Yugoslavia but the fact that these funds were accepted in Cyprus does not meaning anything," he added.

The Anti-Fraud Unit concluded that Cyprus did not disregard its obligations to any international conventions in the evidence they had uncovered.

In an interview with CNN in Washington DC on Sunday, Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides also said that the evidence monitored by Cyprus so far, "is not appearing to be suspicious".

But he added that only a comparison between evidence collected by the government and information in Belgrade would reveal whether any theft or fraud had been committed.

But in Nicosia, Papapetrou precluded the possibility that Nicosia legal offices were involved, and that the money in question was still in Cyprus.

When questioned, he said he had no information about the origin of the money, whether or not it came directly from Yugoslavia or the date of its transfer to Cyprus.

Cassoulides said last Friday that Cyprus had sent 25 cases of evidence to the war crimes trial in The Hague at the request of Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte.

Cyprus is suspected of having served as a conduit for millions of dollars of Yugoslav state funds siphoned out of the country by former president Slobodan Milosevic. The authorities here have consistently denied ever doing anything wrong.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[03] Powell urges resumption of talks

Cassoulides reported after the meeting that Powell had urged the resumption of the UN proximity talks as soon as possible, an issue the Secretary of State also brought up during a recent meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem.

Cassoulides told journalists that he was confident that Washington understood the importance of the island's accession to the European Union and the opportunity of solving the Cyprus problem within the context of EU membership.

The meeting came after an earlier, in-depth discussion between Cassoulides and Deputy National Security Adviser Steve Hadley on the island's division, which the minister described as "a very useful exchange of views".

Cassoulides said he believed that the Bush administration would follow its predecessors in showing a "keen" interest in Cyprus.

He is due to return home today.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[04] Turkish gypsy will be deported

"With some reservation, I can tell you that one of the Turkish Cypriots who arrived here as a Turkish Cypriot has been found to be a Turkish Turk," he said.

Several dozen gypsies have crossed from the occupied areas in the last month. While the government said it would welcome all who could prove they were Cypriot, it warned it would deport any who were not.

Christodoulou went on to say that a holding centre for Turkish Cypriot gypsies would be set up somewhere between Nicosia and Larnaca, at least three kilometres away from any built up area, to avoid any problems from local residents.

"I will not reveal the place just yet, because of prejudice, which, given that it's three kilometres away from any houses, is not justified," Christodoulou said.

The arrival of the gypsies has caused discomfort among certain residents of the Paphos area, where many have so far been sent.

A plan to set up a holding centre to in Kotsiatis near Nicosia had to be abandoned last week after protests from angry residents.

Justice Minister Nicos Koshis raised security concerns last week by announcing that Turkish spies could be hidden among those drifting in from the north in search of a better life.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[05] IT bids going ahead to share IMC with stock exchange

IMC owner Andreas Kaisis told the Cyprus Mail that yesterday's newspaper reports claiming the IT bid was going ahead without government support were inaccurate.

"The Ministry of Commerce has given its full support, because information technology is lacking in Cyprus and our wishes were in line with government plans," said Kaisis.

Renting office space to information technology companies usurps the original idea of using part of the building -- now housing the flagging Cyprus Stock Exchange -- as a distribution centre for bathroom equipment.

The intention was for the ground floor to be taken up with bathroom equipment in transit to depots throughout Cyprus. The Stock Market is on the second floor.

"We signed the contract but the board of the CSE objected to the Ministry because they didn't want the entrance to the stock exchange full of toilets, " said Kaisis.

Town Planning suggested that a more appropriate use could be found for the island's premier commercial centre.

Two months ago, a meeting decided to open the doors to IT companies, in order to make use of the building's sophisticated technological infrastructure.

"As soon as we received the letter of confirmation from the Ministry, we started signing contracts," Kaisis said. He expects applications from up to 20 IT companies.

The first company started operating there two weeks ago.

But the CSE's objection to bathroom furniture was the latest in a long line of struggles over the proposed use of the huge, state-of-the art office complex.

Kaisis spent £700,000 on renovating the building to meet the requirements of the Council of Ministers for the CSE, then an extra £40,000 on plunging the roof down to wipe out a to wipe out an erroneous "mini-floor," not concordant with the licence arrangements.

Then Nicosia Mayor Lellos Demetriades went to the Supreme Court to try and prevent the CSE from going to the IMC, protesting it was outrageous to have a national institution outside the municipal boundaries of central Nicosia and that the contract had not been negotiated through the correct channels.

When the CSE finally moved in December, things were still far from perfect, with stockbrokers forced to sit on filing cabinets for lack of space, while investors complained that the new facilities in the £30 million building did not match expectations.

In January, the Town Planning Department protested that the car park was poorly signposted and that the ground floor branch of the Universal Bank was unlicensed to open on the left hand side of the front door, only on the right.

These disputes have been cleared up and the remaining retail outlets have until the end of May to shift over a £1 million worth of stock to new premises.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[06] Market retains its optimism

Although trading opened under Friday's 173-point close and sank rapidly to 172 in the first 20 minutes, a buying spree throughout the remainder of the 90-minute session clocked up a close of 176.5 points.

Blue chips however took a back seat and the FTSE/CySE only managed a gain of 0.7per cent while overall, volume was still low at £6.4 million.

All sub sectors apart from tourism, which sustained losses of 1.17 per cent, ended in the black. Gains ranged from 0.44 per cent in the insurance sector to a whopping 10.4 per cent in the financial services sector on the back of a jump in Euroinvestment and Finance stocks. The share added 34 cents to end at £1.39. Sharelink also came up smiling with a modest four-cent increase to 72 cents and CLR continued its foray into the market on positive ground with an rise yesterday of another three cents to also end at 72 cents.

Banks kept a low-profile yesterday showing only a 0.43 per cent increase in the sector overall. Bank of Cyprus (BoC) did not even make the most-active list and ended he day at £2.42 with no change. Laiki however was actively traded and gained one cent to £2.03.

The technology sector also found itself back on top with gains of 4.4 per cent. After a bad run in recent weeks, GlobalSoft managed to reverse its recent losing streak by adding nine cents to close at £2.52 on a volume of £1.1 million making it the most active share of the day.

Elsewhere in the technology sector the big winner was Logicom, which jumped 11 cents to 66 cents while Spidernet gained three cents to 79 cents.

Overall, gainers outpaced losers yesterday by 121 to 26 while 64 companies remained unchanged.

"The Cyprus market is very unique in that while global stock markets are suffering at the moment, here the index seems to go its own way regardless, " said one analyst. "But there appears to be a note of cautious optimism on the floor the past week. We hope it lasts."

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[07] Christou resigns from CSE probe over conflict of interest claims

The move came after Finance Minister Takis Klerides found out that Christou, a qualified stockbroker, had offered his services to the CSE to study and approve company portfolios prior to his appointment on the committee.

Christou resigned in order to avoid any possible misunderstandings over conflict of interest and future questioning of the validity of the committee's findings. The issue will be discussed by the Council of Ministers at its next meeting.

The three-member committee has already come under the spotlight for failing to publish any results from its findings so far.

It was the second slap in the face for the government's CSE policy yesterday, coming alongside a refusal from the board of the Social Insurance Fund to invest public money on the flagging market.

The board announced instead that it was considering alternative investment prospects for social insurance funds.

The government's proposal to sink social insurance money into the stock market was fiercely criticised by opposition parties earlier this year.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[08] Government to review criteria on foreign workers

"It was decided to set up a technical committee of representatives from relevant organisations who will study the criteria as they are today and make the clarifications needed so that the Labour department service responsible for granting work permits can apply these criteria more easily, " the minister said.

He said the technical committee's review of criteria for granting work permits would be completed by the end of the month.

Moushiouttas said the technical committee would also be reviewing government policy on employment of foreigners.

About 24,000 foreigners currently have permits to work on the island, while thousands are known to work illegally. Workers' unions routinely push the government to curb the number of foreign workers.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[09] easyEverything to come to Cyprus

The easyEverything franchise is the brainchild of 34-year old Haji-Ioannou, continuing a no-frills approach like his other 'easy' brand name enterprises, easyJet and easyRentacar.

The Internet café chain advertises 21 Internet cafes worldwide, mostly in Europe, with 8,635 computer terminals open 24 hours a day, every day.

The 760 computer terminals at the easyEverything café on New York's Times Square makes it the Guinness Book's record-holder for largest internet café in the world.

EasyEverything is the sister company of easyJet and was conceived in 1999 as a result of the airline's successful online ticket sales.

The latest round of expansion will, in addition to Cyprus, bring new cafés to Greece and four Eastern European countries, which have yet to be announced.

The café targets 18-35-year-old customers, the so-called 'internet generation' who want to use e-mail, chat services, games, employment, entertainment, sport and travel services as well as general surfing and buying goods and services online.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[10] Vassiliou calls for House plenum to catch up EU backlog

Vassiliou said yesterday that Cyprus had already been reprimanded by several EU services for falling behind on certain bills.

"It has caused me a lot of concern on a personal level that basic proposals on EU harmonisation, such as the regulation of telecommunications, which we are very far behind on, have been due for discussion for so long without ever being discussed."

He said that "hundreds of promises" had been made that the telecoms chapter would be closed by the end of March, "and now we hear that discussion has been postponed until mid-April because of party obligations. What is more important for any Cypriot politician than ensuring Cyprus' EU harmonisation and accession?" he wondered.

Vassiliou said the Plenum's April 19 session, the last before it dissolves ahead of May's parliamentary elections, had already been set aside for discussion on the national health scheme, an issue that is expected to require considerable debating time. "So I will ask the President of the House to arrange for a special Plenum for harmonisation issues to be voted on."

President Glafcos Clerides on Sunday said he was confident that Cyprus would enter the EU in two years' time.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article