Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 98-06-10

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

Wednesday, June 10, 1998

Greece to strike back

ONLY two evening papers appeared yesterday as the dailies were on holiday on Monday.

Dilini, which is the same paper as Simerini, bar the masthead, and comes out only when there are no dailies, claimed that Greece's Ministry of National Defence had plans to hit back at Turkey if the latter attacked the S-300 missile site in Cyprus.

The decision was 'political' and had been conveyed to the US. The plan would serve to deter a Turkish strike on Cyprus, sources said.

This was also the view of Greece Defence Minister Akis Tsochadzopoulos who maintained that if Greece did not strike back, its military and diplomatic credibility would be destroyed and Turkey would be left to impose its plans for Cyprus and the Aegean Sea.

Apogevmatini led with a report that the Ministry of Justice and Public Order would set up a special service within the police force to deal with corrupt policemen. The decision was taken after allegations that a senior officer had links with a prostitution ring.

No evidence had been found to support the allegations against the officer, the paper said, adding that policemen also offered protection to cabarets and illegal gambling clubs.

In another front-page report, the paper claimed that three cases of tuberculosis are being reported in Cyprus each week. The sufferers are usually foreigners who come here for work. The disease is highly contagious and the medical authorities are wondering how to counter it, the paper claimed.

Dilini said the government was determined to modernise the public service, the payroll of which costs the taxpayer �600 million per year.

According to Minister of Commerce Nicos Rolandis, the government machinery will be modernised, state corporations will be privatised, spending will be reduced and productivity of the public service will be increased, the paper says.

Next to this item was a report saying that the Minister of Defence will submit a proposal to the government to give all officers serving in the National Guard an extra monthly allowance. The government had promised this allowance two years ago, but had not yet given it, the paper said.

Apogevmatini, in yet another unsubstantiated report, claimed that Cypriots studying in the US who came home for their holidays had brought back Viagra tablets. These were sold at �50 each, but did not have the desired effect, because the pills were not the real thing.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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