Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 01-06-14

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

Thursday, June 14, 2001

CONTENTS

[01] Government bid to block summer rally could spell disaster for event

[02] Temperatures to cool off

[03] Taxi driver accused of beating up artiste

[04] Christofias stands in as president

[05] Development Bank strike could spread to all banks

[06] New structure for Intercollege in bid to gain university status

[07] Koshis: we don't know if terrorist boat even exists

[08] Gun-toting Israeli guards questioned

[09] 'Limassol businessman has defrauded bank of £500,000'

[10] Anastassiades travelling to Sweden to tell EU leaders Christofias is not a Stalinist

[11] Army lovers face court martial for going AWOL

[12] Verheugen hails Cyprus' progress in EU harmonisation

[01] Government bid to block summer rally could spell disaster for event

THE CYPRUS Rally could be thrown out of the world championship if the Interior Ministry goes ahead with a decision not to allow rallies during the summer season because of the increased fire hazard.

Speaking after a meeting held to discuss the current situation concerning fires on the island, Interior Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou said they had been caused by negligence, arson, or had started at rubbish dumps.

The minister said that rubbish dumps found to be unsuitable would be closed, while firebreaks would be created around the remaining ones.

He said the firebreaks would be completed in 10 days, while fire fighters and game wardens would be assigned with inspecting all functioning dumps and making sure they were up to speed.

But Christodoulou also said the meeting, attended by the directors of the fire brigade and the forestry department along with the district officers and the commander of the civil service, had decided that they would not allow car rallies during the period between May and September because of the increased fire hazard.

Christodoulou cited the example of a major forest fire started near Stavros tis Psokas during this month's Cyprus Rally when a car burst into flames.

Cyprus Automobile Association Chairman Takis Kyriakides said he was surprised by the decision and the fact that their input had not been requested.

He said that if the AA went to the World Rally Federation with this decision, it could spell the end of the Cyprus Rally being part of the world championship.

"They (the federation) do not need us, we need them," Kyriakides told the Cyprus Mail.

He added: "We would have expected them to inform us before they took any decision."

Kyriakides said there was fierce competition from countries eager to organise rallies for the world championship, hinting that someone else could take over at the blink of an eye.

Cyprus won the right to organise the rally last year after China withdrew due to lack of funds. The island won the slot over countries like Germany, a motor powerhouse very eager to host a rally of its own.

The rally gives the island massive publicity. Kyriakides said it would be a shame if this were to be lost, especially since Cyprus had proved its worth with excellent organisation and a highly successful event.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[02] Temperatures to cool off

THE CURRENT heat wave is expected to taper off gradually with a slight decrease in temperatures tomorrow and at the weekend, by which time they should fall to the low 30s, according to the extended outlook from the National Weather Service.

Yesterday's 39 degree inland highs are expected to prevail through today, but should cool down to the mid-thirties by Saturday and go down even further by Sunday, reaching 33 or 34, reports Weather Service director Kyriacos Theophilou.

Meanwhile, temperatures in central and eastern coastal areas will remain five to six degrees below the inland highs and eight to nine degrees lower in the western coastal areas.

Aside from one Greek soldier treated for heat exhaustion in Larnaca yesterday, health officials around the island have reported few heat- related illnesses this week.

The current heat wave does not appear to pose a great threat, since prolonged high temperatures usually pose the greatest danger.

"Usually the heat and high temperatures start, and two to three days after that we usually have some cases," the Health Department's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Chrystalla Hadjianastassiou told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.

Heat waves during the summer of 1998 killed several dozen people and ever since the health officials on the island have taken pains to keep the public well informed on preventive measures.

Dr. Hadjianastassiou said the situation last year, despite soaring temperatures and high humidity, had been better because of increased vigilance among the general population, which she attributed to health departments warnings.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[03] Taxi driver accused of beating up artiste

Police told the court that the suspect, who was arrested on Tuesday afternoon, had been detained on suspicion of causing the 27-year-old woman grievous bodily harm.

The suspect refused to co-operate, police said.

The case emerged early on Tuesday morning when the woman, who had been taken to the Limassol hospital emergency room, charged that a man she was with the night before in an apartment in Larnaca beat her up.

The court heard that the suspect picked up the woman outside the Astoria guesthouse, where she stays, at 6.30pm on Monday.

Together they went to his flat in Larnaca where they had sex.

After they finished, the woman said the 41-year-old demanded anal sex.

She refused, and the man allegedly started punching her on the head.

She managed to escape the brutal beating and run out of the flat naked, grabbing some clothes which were hanging out to dry on another floor.

She rushed into an adjacent hotel, where she asked the receptionist to call her a taxi, which took her back to Limassol.

A colleague from the cabaret where she works took her to the emergency room, where a doctor found she had suffered a broken nose, while her eyes and other parts of her head were bruised and swollen to the point that her face was deformed.

The woman gave police a description of the man and his car, together with the location of his flat.

Police soon found the building where the suspect lived.

Outside the building they found a bag with some clothes, which were later recognised by the victim.

The suspect was arrested later in the day, but police said he refused to co- operate.

Inside his flat, police forensic experts found bloodstains on the bed and floor, a used condom and a tuft of blonde hair.

The man was remanded in custody for six days.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[04] Christofias stands in as president

HOUSE President Demetris Christofias held several meetings yesterday during his first day as Acting President.

As House President, the AKEL leader is standing in for President Glafcos Clerides, who has gone to Sweden for the EU's Gothenburg Summit.

Christofias yesterday met with several Ministers as well as British High Commissioner Edward Clay and French Ambassador Jacques Depaigne.

With Finance Minister Takis Klerides, Christofias discussed the possibility of allowing shipping companies to list on the Cyprus Stock Exchange, while with Commerce Minister Nicos Rolandis he tackled the issue of the petrol pricing mechanism that automatically adjusts pump prices in relation to international oil prices and exchange rates. The law providing the framework for the mechanism is due for renewal at the end of the month.

Christofias also met with Cyprus' chief EU negotiator George Vassiliou and Justice Minister Nicos Koshis.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[05] Development Bank strike could spread to all banks

MAJOR disruption looms for the banking sector as the bank workers union ETYK meets today to discuss further industrial action to protest at a government decision to sell off a chunk of the Development Bank.

Protesting Development Bank employees stayed away from work yesterday and were set to do the same today.

ETYK general secretary Prodromos Charalambous yesterday said he could not exclude an escalation of the strike action with it extending to commercial banks. "We cannot know at this stage where things might go, it is an issue for the union's general secretariat to decide. We are on strike at the Development Bank, but we of course cover a wider area and I do not know what decisions might be taken by the general secretariat tomorrow," Charalambous said.

ETYK are complaining that Development Bank bosses are keeping them in the dark over a deal to sell 38 per cent of the bank's share capital to the Piraeus Bank. The government announced the deal in late April.

"We want to see the text of the agreement because it affects the future of the Development Bank and that of our members. Management say our rights are protected, but we want to know what is going to happen," Charalambous said. "They have not informed us at all, in fact they have misinformed us," the union chief said.

Development Bank bosses have hit out at the striking employees, saying their action served no purpose and was just a case of ETYK wanting to flex its muscles.

Finance Minister Takis Klerides yesterday sided with the bosses, saying there had been "complete openness" about the deal. "All details have been given to parliament and to the media, everything about the deal has been written in the papers," the Minister said.

The contentious agreement with Piraeus Bank will cut the government's stake in the Development Bank from 88 per cent to 45 per cent.

The buy-up will cost the Piraeus Bank group some £27.9 million for 37.87 per cent of the Development bank's share capital. The agreement with the government also provides for the Development Bank's floatation on the stock market in Cyprus, Greece or elsewhere.

The Development Bank has always been limited to investment activity but the Central Bank recently granted the institution licence to expand its operations into all aspects of banking.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[06] New structure for Intercollege in bid to gain university status

INTERCOLLEGE yesterday unveiled the new face of its streamlined organisational hierarchy in a bid to ready itself for university status when the Ministry of Education announces the final criteria.

The new structure announced yesterday will divide Intercollege's academic programmes into four schools encompassing 13 separate departments. At the same time, it announced the appointment of US-based professor Vangelis Coufoudakis to the post of Rector, as well as the four departmental heads, who hail from Greece, Britain and the United States and are to assume their positions in the autumn.

The appointments come after a one-year plus recruitment campaign that attracted interest from academics all over the world.

Intercollege hopes that the new leadership will give guidance during the college's transition to university status.

Until now, there were individual programme co-ordinators for each programme.

Now, there are four different schools, which include the school of business; the school of science and engineering; the school of education and languages and the school of humanities, social sciences and law.

"We want to be ready so that as soon as the criteria are announced, we can be ready to apply for it," explained Intercollege's Academic Dean, Andreas Polemitis yesterday.

"We see this as a step forward towards becoming a university," he furthered. "This is our goal, so we are doing something that we think we will be expected to do."

However, the Dean was critical of ongoing delays in government efforts to announce the requirements an academic institution must comply with to become an accredited university.

Colleges around the island have anxiously awaited an announcement on this subject since the Council of Ministers declared its intention to make Cyprus an "International Education Centre" two and a half years ago.

"We are not voicing any specific complaints, but perhaps an impatience that things should be moving at a faster rate, especially considering what has been happening around us," said Polemitis in reference to the delay.

He added: "there have been some positive steps. we are pleased about certain things, but what we are saying is that things should be moving at a faster rate."

At yesterday's meeting, newly appointed rector Dr. Coufoudakis also urged the Minister of Education and Culture to speed up the process of issuing the criteria for private universities, stressing that Intercollege was fully ready for the step forward.

Until January 2000, degrees and diplomas from Intercollege were not recognised as an official degree and because of this, many students left or stayed away, Polemitis claimed.

"One of the reasons why they went away is because there was no accreditation locally. This is supported by the fact that this year, in the (academic) year 2000 and 2001, when the programmes were accredited for the first time, there was a substantial increase in the number of students attending local colleges".

Polemitis clarified that the increase was among both local and foreign students, but especially local students.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[07] Koshis: we don't know if terrorist boat even exists

JUSTICE Minister Nicos Koshis yesterday questioned whether a boat allegedly carrying an Arab terrorist to Crete with $4 million in cash had in fact ever existed, despite reports from Lebanon to the contrary.

Marine police stepped up air and sea patrols on Monday in search of the man, apparently among 50 illegal immigrants on a fishing boat that set sail from Tripoli heading for Crete.

Marine Police Commander Theodoros Stylianou said the information came from reliable sources in Lebanon that "could not be disputed".

"He was barred from leaving the country legally so he left with immigrants, " Stylianou said on Tuesday.

Media reports yesterday suggested the suspect could be linked to one of America's most wanted men, Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden.

Reports claimed the 35-year-old Islamic militant had reached international waters near Crete - where the boat was supposedly headed.

But Koshis yesterday told reporters that it was possible the boat did not exist.

"We don't have any specific information. It's possible it doesn't even exist, it's just a tip-off we're investigating," he said.

Coastguards searched for a 14-metre vessel between Larnaca and Ayia Napa, but found nothing suspicious.

Bin Laden has been indicted in New York for allegedly organising the bombings of US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998 that killed over 200.

He is being sheltered by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, who have refused to extradite him to the West.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[08] Gun-toting Israeli guards questioned

TWO Israeli security guards were hauled into a Limassol police station for questioning yesterday, after being spotted carrying two walkie-talkies and two air guns in the new Limassol port.

The guards were employees of the Israeli ship Magic, which docked at the port yesterday morning, bringing busloads of Israeli visitors to Cyprus.

The ship's private security officers began checking the waiting buses, in what they considered a routine security precaution.

But two of them were spotted in the possession of radios and pistols. Police moved in, searched them and found two walkie-talkies and two air guns in their possession.

The radios and guns were confiscated for further inspection and the men taken to the police station for questioning.

They claimed they had no idea it was an offence to walk around armed in Cyprus, insisting that they were just doing their jobs.

They were released, but the police investigation continues.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[09] 'Limassol businessman has defrauded bank of £500,000'

POLICE are investigating claims that a prominent Limassol businessman defrauded a local branch of a well-known commercial bank of £500,000.

The accused businessman is a friend of the branch director and allegedly used their close relationship to cash a series of cheques worth half a million pounds.

The bank's management reported the matter to police yesterday after growing suspicious that their boss was conducting a cover-up operation.

He has since been suspended after an internal audit pointed to fraud.

The businessman apparently persuaded the bank to cash numerous cheques written out for substantial sums from his personal and companies' accounts held at other banks.

According to police information, cheques were cashed after the personal intervention of the branch director.

But, problems arose when there was no money in the other accounts to cover the sums - leaving the local branch and the manager hung out to dry.

The businessman's account at the branch was also puzzlingly empty.

The suspect reportedly refused to repay the money when his bank director friend appealed to him to cough up to avoid police intervention.

Police yesterday questioned people in relation to the case, and have not ruled out arrests today.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[10] Anastassiades travelling to Sweden to tell EU leaders Christofias is not a Stalinist

DISY chief Nicosia Anastassiades yesterday left Cyprus for Gothenburg, where he said he would be trying to convince European leaders that new House President Demetris Christofias was not a Stalinist.

Anastassiades left on the same plane as KISOS leader Vassos Lyssarides. Both are travelling to the EU's summit, which starts in Gothenburg in Sweden tomorrow.

Speaking at Larnaca Airport, Anastassiades said he would explain to European colleagues that "House President Demetris Christofias is a modern day communist and not a Stalin communist".

Anastassiades last week failed to secure the House Presidency for himself, warning that the election of a communist to the post would send the wrong message to Europe.

The DISY leader will take part in a meeting of the leaders of the European People's Party, while Lyssarides will join European Socialists in Gothenburg.

Anastassiades also said he would be sounding out the new climate, which had emerged after the Irish referendum rejecting the Nice Treaty and throwing the enlargement process into disarray.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[11] Army lovers face court martial for going AWOL

On Heidi's birthday last July, Heidi Cochrane, 24, and her immediate superior Jason Archer, 30, went AWOL from Cyprus where they had been posted with the 16 Regiment Royal Artillery, Heidi as Lance Bombardier and Jason as Sergeant.

Jason left his wife and neither of the two informed family or friends of their whereabouts.

The British tabloid News of the World tracked them down in Holland, where the two were camping out incognito.

They finally gave themselves up to the Colchester Garrison, Essex in February.

Reports suggest that Jason's mother finally persuaded them to hand themselves in, anxious that her son may be jailed for desertion - a more serious crime than absence without leave.

The date and location of their court martial has yet to be decided, but the two were kept in separate cells after their arrest.

Jason told the News of the World in February: "Every morning when the key turns in the door of our separate cells we will close our eyes, say each other's name and whisper, 'I love you'. And every evening at lights out, as they turn the keys in our cell doors, we'll whisper each other's names and say, 'I love you'. We'll know exactly the moment we are thinking of each other."

Heidi said they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. Their punishment could at best be a fine, at worse, a jail sentence or dismissal from the army.

Heidi, who joined up straight from school, had been chosen by the MoD as a model example of women in the army. She was photographed in full battle dress for publicity posters to draw attention to the value the Army places on its female troops.

Their Regiment, posted in Cyprus with the UN, left last December.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[12] Verheugen hails Cyprus' progress in EU harmonisation

FOREIGN Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides flew for an official visit to Finland from Luxembourg yesterday after provisionally closing the European Union chapter on free movement of persons in the seventh official meeting between Cyprus and the European Union.

Cyprus has closed more chapters in its accession negotiations with the EU than any other candidate country, 22 out of a total 29 - and hopes to conclude the negotiations in 18 months' time.

EU enlargement Commissioner Gunter Verheugen said the latest chapter Cyprus closed was "very important", noting that because of the country's high standard of living, there would be no transition periods.

At the meeting, Cassoulides vowed that Cyprus would work hard to meet the obligations set forth in the acquis communautaire.

But the good news in Luxemburg was overshadowed last week's Irish referendum on the Nice treaty, in which voters rejected the crucial step towards the enlargement of the EU, throwing the entire process into doubt.

While in Luxembourg, Cassoulides received assurance from his Irish counterpart, Brian Cowen, that Ireland's "no" to the Nice Treaty did not mean renegotiation of the treaty and that EU enlargement would continue without delay.

During an EU-Cyprus meeting on Tuesday, Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh congratulated Cassoulides on progress in the harmonisation effort and said the outcome of accession negotiations in general would allow the EU summit this weekend to give a fresh impetus to the process of accession.

She said that the Irish referendum result would not have any adverse effect on enlargement and said that the EU would not retract any conditions in the treaty.

EU leaders now anticipate a second Irish vote later this year to ratify the treaty, once the 15-member Union gives Dublin a chance to reject certain aspects that it views as threatening the country's neutrality.

The foreign minister will proceed to Gothenburg, Sweden to join the Cypriot delegation, led by President Glafcos Clerides, for the two-day EU summit starting tomorrow. The President will participate in a working lunch between the EU and candidate countries.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

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