Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 99-04-09

Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

Friday, April 09, 1999

Kyprianou puts Cyprus on world stage

PRESIDENT of the House Spyros Kyprianou's personal initiative for the release of the three Americans held by Yugoslav forces was the lead story yesterday. This was to be expected, considering that Kyprianou's inititiative made the news all over the world.

Phileleftheros' correspondent in New York reported that "all of a sudden Cyprus has become the chief story in the US media". Kyprianou's Belgrade mission was being presented "since the morning as the most important event of the day", reported the correspondent.

Haravghi saw Kyprianou's initiative as good for Cyprus as it had put the island at the centre of world attention. In his way, the Diko leader, whose intervention on behalf of the three American soldiers, was contributing towards the peaceful resolution of the Yugoslavia crisis.

Politis reported that as a result of the broad coverage given to Kyprianou's initiative Nato and the United States assured Kyprianou that he would have safe passage to Belgrade. A Kyprianou associate had told the paper that the US had adopted a more positive approach towards the mission.

Simerini reported that there had been much behind-the-scenes activity. The refusal of Nato to stop the bombing of Belgrade to allow Kyprianou to go there, had incensed the Yugoslav authorities and put the initiative at risk.

Machi reported that the police were set to make a second arrest in connection with the murder of Fotis Petrakides, whose body was found in the Aradippou reservoir on Monday. A senior police officer informed the paper that the investigation had collected a lot of information about the causes of the crime.

The 22-year-old Aradippou resident who had been remanded for eight days in connection with the murder insisted that he had an alibi. He said that the drops of blood found in his car belonged to a hare he had shot while hunting. The suspect had previously served a prison sentence for stealing ammunition from a National Guard camp.

Alithia revealed that the Cyprus Airways pilots' union had offered to buy a 12 per cent shareholding in the airline for 2.5 million pounds with an option to increase this to 20 per cent. The union had commissioned a feasibility study by Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

In another front-page story, the paper said that the Cyta board had discussed the possibility of increasing local telephone rates which were only 20 per cent of the cost; the rate for calls to directory enquiries would also increase because it was underpriced. Meanwhile rates for overseas calls would be reduced by 50 per cent because they were over- priced.

Phileleftheros reported that the staff of the four Popular Bank-owned insurance firms - Cyrialife, Philiki, Interamerican, Paneuropean - had voted in favour of strike action in protest against the bank's decision to make 54 insurance workers redundant. The union is demanding that the bank withdraws the redundancy notices.

Haravghi reported that some 20 kilograms of locally-produced cheese had been found to be unfit for consumption. A Limassol dairy producer had been forced to suspend operation by the authorities.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article