Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 01-08-18

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

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

Saturday, August 18, 2001

CONTENTS

[01] Sheep slaughtered after outbreak of scrapie

[02] Police say arrested army colonel is key to arms cases

[03] Briton faces deportation over claims he bought property in the north

[04] UN welcomes anti racism laws but says they must be enforced

[05] Rising frustration as businessmen still held in Bahrain

[06] Hunting holidays in Bulgaria

[07] The battle over Mega

[08] Number of meningitis cases well down

[09] Musicians formally charged in sex abuse case

[10] Lab tests say beach water is clean

[01] Sheep slaughtered after outbreak of scrapie

SEVEN sheep infected with scrapie were slaughtered yesterday and their carcasses burnt in an effort to prevent the spread of the disease from a Paphos farm where the disease was diagnosed earlier this week.

An announcement from the Agricultural Department said the farm, one of the main sheep farms in the Paphos area, which is the main supplier of male breeding lambs for farms across the island, had been put under quarantine after the cases of scrapie had been diagnosed.

Andreas Orphanides of the Veterinary Services Department announced that animals sold to other farms over the past five years would now be traced and observed to determine how many might be infected.

Any animals showing symptoms of the disease will be slaughtered and tested for scrapie as a precaution.

Orphanides said the situation was serious, as the Department could not be sure how many animals might be infected across the island.

Scrapie is a fatal, infectious, wasting disease that affects the central nervous system of adult sheep and is suspected to be spread from ewe to offspring and to other lambs in contemporary lambing groups through contact with the placenta and placental fluids.

Government scientists yesterday again reassured the public that the disease could not be passed on to humans.

The feeding of scrapie-infected sheep to cattle is thought to have been one of the causes of the mad cow epidemic in Europe. Cyprus has so far avoided the mad cow and foot-and-mouth epidemics that have devastated farms elsewhere in Europe, especially Britain.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[02] Police say arrested army colonel is key to arms cases

In the wake of Sudjis' arrest, police have made three large seizures of weapons and explosives.

Iatropoulos said the keys in the case were Sudjis, and another suspect Fanos Mahattou, who had named him.

Yesterday, the court heard Sudjis had claimed the weapons found in his home and car had been give to him by a man who was later murdered.

Police, however, reject the allegation.

The suspect has allegedly admitted to several offences under investigation, but was not being co-operative, police told the court.

The 47-year-old infantry officer was arrested in Larnaca last Thursday week after Mahattou named him as being involved with several bombings.

Sudjis and 42-year-old Mahattou from Ayia Napa are under investigation concerning three counts of illegal possession of explosives, two counts of attempted destruction of property using explosives, and conspiracy to commit felony.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[03] Briton faces deportation over claims he bought property in the north

A BRITISH property developer who owns a 50 per cent stake in a Cyprus-based company faces immediate deportation on suspicion of buying Greek Cypriot property in occupied northern Cyprus.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance had originally advised the Immigration Department to grant Graham Cockroft, 55, a work permit and to renew his pink slip, in recognition of his status as director of Rockpool Homes Ltd, which provides customers with solar-electric homes.

But according to press reports yesterday, the Ministry then obtained information that Cockroft had brought Greek Cypriot land in the occupied areas and ordered his arrest on August 13.

The Briton has filed an appeal against the deportation order at the Supreme Court, but his lawyer, Doros Kakoullis was yesterday unavailable for comment.

Cockroft told the Cyprus Mail last month that Immigration had asked him to leave the country without explanation, despite a recommendation from the Labour Ministry that he be given a work permit.

He claimed an Immigration official handed him a letter urging him to "make arrangements to leave Cyprus immediately".

At the same time, Immigration told the Cyprus Mail that Cockroft had already been deported, although the businessman was still resident in Pissouri.

Cockroft was arrested on August 13.

Cockroft moved to Cyprus in 1990 with his ex-wife Margaret. They originally worked for the UK and Italy-based European Property Network (EPN) that sells homes advertised on the Internet.

It was they that put Cyprus on the EPN map. There are currently no homes in the occupied areas advertised on the site.

He has spent the last two years researching the potential market for a solar-powered village on the island, before getting permission from the Central Bank to run Rockpool Homes Ltd in joint-ownership with a Cypriot partner.

Cockroft's homes have their entire electrical system run on solar energy, through Photo Voltaic (PV) cells installed in the roof.

He had five orders for homes in January and over 700 enquiries from the UK through British advertising. He was expecting the first to be completed by the end of this month.

The firm currently employs nine Cypriots and Cockroft owns the title deeds to his home in Pissouri.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[04] UN welcomes anti racism laws but says they must be enforced

THE UN Committee for the elimination of racial discrimination is concerned over the lack of legal provisions outlawing racial discrimination in Cyprus and said those that were in place were not being implemented.

In its concluding remarks released yesterday, the Committee said that while Cyprus had enacted a number of criminal law provisions in the field of racial discrimination, and had amended them in line with previous recommendations, "there is still little evidence that these criminal provisions are being used", the report said.

While it welcomes certain measures taken to cut down on incidences of racial discrimination, such as the setting up of a complaints office for foreign workers at the Labour Ministry, the report said a lot more could be done.

"The Committee expresses its concern at the lack of legal provisions expressly outlawing racial discrimination by private persons in education and employment and recommends that the state party give attention to the development of such legislation," the report adds.

It also said the Committee was concerned at the lack of a comprehensive immigration policy aimed at regulating the entry and stay of immigrants as well as their employment rights.

Cyprus must also take steps to increase awareness of the convention among the general public, in particular foreign domestic workers, members of the police and the judiciary.

Another recommendation includes taking measures in the fields of education and culture to help combat discrimination.

Elsewhere, the report focuses on the island's division and the difficulties experienced in trying to organise bicommunal activities, and also reaffirms the importance of putting an end to the Turkish occupation.

Last month, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) of the Council of Europe (CoE) referred to racism, discrimination and xenophobia in Cyprus and expressed its concern over the use of excessive force by police against illegal immigrants.

Concern was also expressed at reports of discriminatory checks by immigration officers of non-whites coming into Cyprus and the lengthy detention periods for illegal immigrants.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[05] Rising frustration as businessmen still held in Bahrain

DIPLOMATIC relations between Cyprus and Bahrain are deteriorating, the lawyer of two Cypriot businessmen detained in the Gulf state for nearly four weeks claimed yesterday.

The two are being held to assist with police enquiries into a fake bank guarantee for £50 million.

Infuriated that his clients are not back in Nicosia with their families, Christos Clerides said the Bahrain authorities had not a shred of evidence to incriminate them.

"The elongation of this case poisons the relations between the two countries. In addition, it creates a crisis of trust amongst Cypriot businessmen who deal with Bahrain. Their human rights are being violated and we will submit relevant memos to the embassies of European Union countries, the United States and international human rights organisations," he said.

The British Embassy in Bahrain has been working to allow the men home, alongside staff from the Cyprus Foreign Ministry and the men's legal team.

The wife of Costas Polemidiotes, 50, reported her husband and his colleague Andreas Papayiannis missing to Nicosia CID on July 26 when he failed to ring home.

Although Clerides insists that his clients are not under arrest or formal detention, the Bahrain Central Bank (BMA) announced on July 30 that five businessmen - Cypriots and Jordanians - had been arrested in connection with the £50 million bank guarantee.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[06] Hunting holidays in Bulgaria

The Thursday-Monday trips will take a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 15 people, who will be provided with a gun, a hunting dog and an escort when they get to Bulgaria.

Game included in the package deal include pheasant, partridges, rabbit, deer and wild duck.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[07] The battle over Mega

LOGOS company has terminated its three-year co-operation with Mega television and claimed the channel back, throwing it into turmoil.

Three years ago, Mega bought Logos Television. The two companies signed a co-operation agreement which gave Mega the right to run the channel.

But Logos logos on the walls of the Mega building met shocked employees walking in on Thursday morning.

Logos announced that a Supreme Court decision had declared the agreement between the two companies invalid. The company said that, according to the Court decision, Mega could no longer run the channel and Logos should take over. The company urged Mega's staff to sign contracts with Logos since they could no longer work for Mega.

According to newspaper information, parent company Mega of Greece is behind Logos' move.

Media circles believe that Mega of Greece was unhappy with the management of its subsidiary company and wanted the channel in Logos' hands.

But Mega was quick to hit back.

"The content of Logos' announcement is deceiving and untrue. Logos' unilateral move is illegal and arbitrary," Mega's legal advisor Yiannakis Mylonas said on Thursday.

According to Mylonas, the Court decision ruled that Logos had abused its licensing rights and that it had nothing to do with the channel's ownership status.

Mylonas described Logos' move to urge its employees to break their contracts with the company as "illegal."

The parent company was reported to have reassured Mega staff that their working rights would not be affected by possible developments.

But Mylonas warned employees that if they signed agreements with Logos they would have trouble getting their jobs back at Mega in case the channel prevailed.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[08] Number of meningitis cases well down

THE NUMBER of viral meningitis cases is on the decrease, but health officials yesterday warned the public to remain vigilant.

This month showed only two new cases in the Famagusta district and two new cases in Limassol.

According to Chief Medical Officer Chrystalla Hadjianastassiou, this proves that the public has been taking precautionary measures.

One hundred and twenty four cases of the highly contagious disease have been recorded so far this year - 99 of them in the Limassol area, 13 in the Famagusta district, eight in Nicosia, and two each in Larnaca and Paphos.

"Considering we were having reports of new cases nearly every day in the month of July, the four reported so far this month prove that people have been careful," said Hadjianastassiou.

The main symptoms of viral meningitis, which is nowhere near as dangerous as the sometimes deadly bacterial form of the disease, are a high fever and headaches.

The Health Ministry first issued a viral meningitis warning in April this year, saying the number of cases of the contagious disease in the first three months of 2001 was double that of the same period last year.

Hadjianastassiou urged that hands be washed regularly, eating utensils never be shared and precautions be taken when preparing food.

Health officials say a diluted chlorine-based cleaner should be used for house cleaning, homes should be kept well aired, rubbish taken out regularly, bedclothes changed regularly and outdoor areas kept litter-free.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[09] Musicians formally charged in sex abuse case

TWO well-known musicians were yesterday formally charged with sexually assaulting underage girls.

Musician Georgos Serdaris, 65, and 52-year-old composer Doros Georgiades, both from Larnaca were arrested last month after two women testified that they had been sexually assaulted by the two men nine years ago, when they were aged12 and 13.

As the investigation progressed, more girls came forward with similar stories.

The girls, who wanted to become singers, went to the two men for private tutoring. They claimed the suspects sexually abused them, promising to make them famous.

In a hearing held behind closed doors, the two suspects were yesterday charged with 25 counts of sexual assault against minors. They were then released on bail pending trial.

The court ruled the hearing should be carried out behind closed doors to protect the women who had testified against the two suspects.

Georgiades' lawyer Demetrakis Papachrysostomou had objected to the hearing being closed, arguing that publicity was the right of the accused and helped protect them.

The court recessed for 90 minutes to decide on the issue.

Judge Lemonia Kaoudjani said it was the defence's constitutional right to object, but stressed that his arguments had been insufficient.

The constitution, she said, provided for special circumstances wherever the rights of minors could be affected.

In this case, if the hearing was open then the minors' names, addresses as well as the nature of the offence allegedly perpetrated against them would be in the public domain.

The judge ruled that the procedure should be closed and banned publication of any information from the case file without the court's permission.

Any information concerning the case would be issued by the court, Kaoudjiani said.

The court referred the suspects to the Assizes court, which will convene on September 10.

Serdaris will face 17 charges concerning seduction and sexual assault and Georgiades eight charges of the same nature.

The court released the suspects on bail and ordered them to appear once daily at the nearest police station.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[10] Lab tests say beach water is clean

Samples were taken from the beach near a pipe protruding into the sea after a report in Monday's Politis claimed the pipe was polluting the seawater in the area.

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

Officials claimed the water was tested continuously and according to EU standards and that there had been no problems.

An official from the Health Services Department admitted that there were pipes in the area that were used by hotels for the drainage of excess water from gardens, which would explain the presence of phosphorus and nitrates in the water.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

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