Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 99-01-30

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

Saturday, January 30, 1999

Bananas hit the front page

BANANAS made the front page of left-wing Haravghi yesterday.

The paper highlighted the plight of banana growers in the Paphos area, whose harvest is being buried because of lack of demand.

One-hundred-and-sixty-five tonnes of bananas have been dumped so far, the paper reported, and a total of 500 tonnes were destined for this earthy end.

Growers, agricultural organisations and Paphos deputies agree that the problem is the government's decision to allow imports of fruits like pineapples, mangoes and pomegranates.

This imported fare was undercutting the local producers, the paper stated.

But the government line is that the growers are simply doing their job too well and overproducing, with the result that there are too many bananas on the market. Production increased by 10 per cent last year, the paper reported government officials as saying.

But growers were quoted as saying the truth was that last year's harvest had been two per cent lower than that of previous years, Haravghi reported.

The runner-up Miss Young Cyprus also made the headlines and got her picture in the papers yesterday, but for all the wrong reasons.

Machi reported that the 19-year-old Nicosia beauty had been arrested by police on suspicion of involvement in a "big scam."

The pageant queen's employer had complained to police that she had "diverted" £20,000 worth of goods from his clothing import firm and sold it, pocketing the takings, the paper reported.

She was arrested on her return from Athens, where she had taken part in the "Face of the Year" beauty contest, Machi added.

The suspect was expected to appear before Nicosia District court yesterday, the paper reported.

The paper also carried a report on the oldest person alive in Cyprus.

Katerina Christodoulou, of Kouklia village in the Paphos District, is an impressive 120 years old, Machi reported.

Katerina had just been admitted to a private Paphos clinic suffering from kidney failure but was nonetheless in excellent spirits.

Her four children had passed away but she was still going strong, the paper reported. She lived on her own and was regularly visited by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, the paper added.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

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