Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 01-08-14

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

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

Tuesday, August 14, 2001

CONTENTS

[01] Cyprus Airways undeterred by Middle East violence

[02] Police display new arms find

[03] Officials deny Protaras sea contamination claims

[04] Denktash calls for ballistic tests on 1996 Dherynia killing

[05] BoC leads share rally

[01] Cyprus Airways undeterred by Middle East violence

CYPRUS Airways (CY) yesterday defended its policy of keeping flight crews in Israel for overnight stays, at a time when almost every major European airline has altered schedules to avoid keeping staff on the ground in Tel Aviv amid increasing security concerns in the Middle East.

KLM, British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France and Swissair have altered their schedules, leaving Cypriot crews among the few still staying over in Tel Aviv.

CY spokesman Tassos Angelis said yesterday the airline operated almost daily flights to Tel Aviv, one of the national carrier's three most profitable routes along with Athens and London Heathrow.

Angelis said the flight left Larnaca at 10.30pm and returned the following morning at 6am.

"The idea for the flight to come early in the morning is so that passengers from Tel Aviv can connect to Europe more easily," Angelis said.

He said the airline had not discussed changing its schedule because of the increasing violence in Israel.

"I don't think any of our crews have expressed any concern over staying in Tel Aviv," he said.

Costas Demetriou, president of CY's biggest union CYNIKA, which has both cabin crew and pilots among its members, confirmed that none of its members had made any complaints about staying in Tel Aviv.

"We know that the situation in Israel and the area is critical but no one here has expressed any concerns," he said.

However, Demetriou said he would raise the issue with members in case there was an issue for some staff.

KLM was the first European airline to alter its schedule last week after the latest escalation of violence. Its flights from Tel Aviv now stop in Cyprus to allow crews to stay overnight at Larnaca.

Lufthansa and British Airways on Sunday joined other major European airlines in altering schedules to Tel Aviv to avoid flight crews having to stay the night.

"As of today, our crews are not staying overnight," Itzhak Zaroni, spokesman for Lufthansa in Israel, told Reuters. "They are afraid to stay overnight in Tel Aviv."

British Airways, which cancelled two flights from London to Tel Aviv over the weekend, said its late evening flight would depart on time but would stop in Athens to pick up a new crew, which would continue on to Tel Aviv and then work the return flight to London after a brief stop in Israel.

"It's only temporary," said a British Airways spokeswoman. "It's just for the next few days." She said the airline would make a decision on whether to continue the policy in a few days.

Lufthansa and British Airways joined Dutch carrier KLM and Swissair who altered their Israel schedules earlier this month.

KLM's night flight from Amsterdam leaves an hour later and stops in Larnaca to pick up a fresh crew. Flight crews will stay the night in Larnaca.

Swissair will not make any stops but has pushed back the time of its night flight from Zurich so crews will not have to stay in Israel. Crews, however, will work both directions.

Air France last month cancelled its daily evening flight from Paris to Tel Aviv due to low capacity. Prior to stopping its evening flight, the airline was stopping in Cyprus to change crews.

Air Canada on Sunday said airlines' fears about security in Israel were unfounded and that it had kept its schedule intact, but decided to move crews to nearby Herzylia from Tel Aviv.

US carriers Continental and Delta - which both fly non-stop to New York - said they had not made any changes.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[02] Police display new arms find

The arms, which are in excellent condition, include one M-58 sub-machine gun seven pistols and five revolvers as well as 10 pistol magazines, five M- 58 magazines and a large number of ammunition of different calibres.

The find was credited to the special task force set up to investigate past serious crimes.

Police Chief Andreas Angelides said: "We do not forget any of the old cases; we have formed a special task force to look into all cases separately."

Within the framework of that investigation, police had succeeded in detaining several suspects and confiscating large quantities of arms and explosives, Angelides said.

He said the M-58, two revolvers and one of the pistols found were connected to a certain person held by police. He did not name the suspect

Angelides said the weapons were not related in any way to suspended lieutenant colonel Savvas Sudjis, who is currently in custody.

Sudjis is suspected of supplying explosives to the underworld. On Saturday, he led police to a mini armoury, which included explosives, automatic rifles, thousands of bullets of various calibres and grenades.

Yesterday, Angelides said police investigations would continue while all the arms found would be examined to establish if they had been used in criminal activity.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[03] Officials deny Protaras sea contamination claims

GREEN seawater and rocks on a beach in Protaras could be signs of contamination in the area.

Yesterday's Politis reported that a sewage pipe, which is covered by water and sand, was polluting the seawater in the area.

Investigations began after an unknown person phoned the newspaper to report discovering of a pipe after following a cold current felt while swimming.

According to tests commissioned from a Nicosia laboratory by Politis, results show the presence of bacteria from animals or humans, as well as phosphorus and nitrate.

Paralimni Mayor Nicos Vlittis denied the pipe was being used for sewage.

He claimed the Fisheries Department and the State Laboratory had tested the water coming out of the pipe and found it to be clean.

An official from the Fisheries Department, Loizos Loizides, added yesterday that the presence of nitrates and phosphorus could be attributed to run off water from hotel gardens in the area and that there was no threat to the public.

"The water is tested continuously and according to EU standards and there have been no signs of harmful bacteria in the water," he said.

He denied that the pipe was currently being used.

An official from the Health Services Department, Sofoclis Anthousis, admitted there were pipes in the area that were used by hotels for the drainage of excess water from their gardens.

Anthousis also said that no bacteria had been detected in recent tests in the area.

However, Politis reporter Maria Panayiotou insisted yesterday that when she arrived in the area, the pipe was being used.

"The results of the test are clear. The chemist who ran the tests is well qualified and has done many similar tests," she said.

According to Panayiotou, the law says nothing should be disposed of in the sea, not even the clean water referred to by the Mayor.

Panayiotou urged the relevant public departments to run their own tests.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[04] Denktash calls for ballistic tests on 1996 Dherynia killing

Denktash said Akin had merely fired in the air and that some unknown member of the crowd has shot Solomou. The Turkish Cypriot leader is challenging the government to carry out ballistic tests to prove Akin's innocence.

Subsequent television footage showed Akin standing on a balcony pointing a pistol directly at Solomou, 26, as he tried to reach the Turkish flag during an anti-occupation following the funeral of his cousin Tassos Isaac, 24. Isaac was beaten to death by Turkish and Turkish Cypriot protestors in clashes during a similar demonstration in the same place five days earlier.

The government has secured international arrest warrants for Akin and others who opened fire on Solomou, who included high-ranking 'police officers' in the north.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[05] BoC leads share rally

All sub-sectors ended in the black, with gains ranging from 0.37 per cent in the investment sector to 3.57 for fish farms.

The banking sector added 2.06 per cent, thanks to last-minute interest in BoC, which gained four cents to £2.13. Laiki added five cents to £1.69. Tech stocks also rose 1.87 per cent as GlobalSoft managed to end the day one cent up at 39 cents.

"For the first half hour of trading nothing really happened," said Nicosia broker Demos Stavrides. "Then in the last 15 minutes there was a buying trend towards particular shares, mainly Bank of Cyprus, for which there was a relatively good demand."

Stavrides said investors did not seem to react to a 0.5 per cent cut in interest rates, which was announced by the Central Bank on Friday, and came into effect yesterday.

"I don't think the small investor really understands what the effects might be," Stavrides said. "Most don't have money and some seem to be going for land instead of shares. This is the tendency now."

Some 90 titles recorded gains yesterday compared to 44 decliners and 104, which remained unchanged.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

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