Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 98-10-24

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>

Saturday, October 24, 1998

Bishop swamps the front pages

THE BISHOP of Limassol once again starred on every front page yesterday, with several politicians commenting on his and his financial advisor's apparent implications that government officials were involved in the bishop's allegedly shady dealings. The 'Nikiforos' military exercises were also focused upon by almost every paper.

Alithia had "Provocative actions by the Turkish army" as its main headline, with a report highlighting violations of Cyprus air space by Turkish jets since the beginning of the Nikiforos exercise.

At the same time as Greek planes were taking part in the exercise, Turkish F-16s flew over occupied Kyrenia and Famagusta, then entered the free areas flying over Larnaca and Paphos.

The stepping down of two Cyprus Electricity Authority board members also got front page attention in Alithia. Their letters of resignation were officially accepted by the Minister of Commerce, Nicos Rolandis, yesterday. A ruling last week by the Council of Ministers announced that the Cyprus Electricity Authority board had been negligent in its purchase of land from the Limassol Bishopric for more than the land's true value. The board was not asked to step down because of legal technicalities protecting the boards of semi-government organisations.

Machi continued in the Bishop vein, focusing on Archbishop Chrysostomos saying that the investigations by the three Bishop special committee into the allegations against Chrysanthos would be completed within a week.

Simerini for its part described Chrysanthos' comments as "Earthquakes in the public life". The paper said that the scandal involving the Bishop had become "an active volcano".

The paper also highlighted the resignation of some EAC board members. Other members were seeking a meeting with President Clerides to voice their concerns and hear his opinion on the issue, the paper said.

Phileleftheros gave prime importance to the Nikiforos exercise, while also giving front page attention to several other issues, including an expected 1999 rise in retail sales, marking a change in consumer behaviour from this year.

The fact that attempted murder victim Andreas Xiourouppas, shot on October 16, cannot yet speak clearly enough to name his attacker was also reported.

Haravghi led with a dramatic headline on the bishop: "A new 'bomb' in the Chrysanthos serial", it said, referring to interpretations of Chrysanthos' comments on politicians on Wednesday. The paper said House president Spyros Kyprianou had called for the Holy Synod report on Chrysanthos to be made public.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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