Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 99-04-17

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

Saturday, April 17, 1999

We don't want to win the Eurovision song contest

THE CYPRUS entry may be odds-on favourite to win this year's Eurovision Song contest but we don't want it to happen, it would be a "nightmare," Machi reported yesterday.

Why? Because if Cyprus won in Israel next month then the island would have to host the extravaganza in the year 2000. And as the CyBC representative admitted at a press-conference on Thursday, having to organise such an event would be a nightmare. So, the CyBC man said, Cyprus hoped that Marlain's entry Thane Erotas (It must be love) would come in a respectable second.

Many papers reported on three British soldiers "causing panic" by driving through downtown Paphos in their armoured vehicle in search of an ice- cream.

Machi commented on the incident in its editorial.

The paper described the squaddies' trip as a "patrol" and said it had upset locals and caused tourists to wonder if they were holidaying in a military area.

"Yesterday's action by the English defies description. Kato Paphos is a tourist area. It is not a military zone or a firing range. So what was an English army vehicle doing there?" the paper wondered.

Was there some covert agreement that allowed the British to patrol where and when they like?

"Let not the former colonialists claim that the driver of the vehicle lost his way and ended up in Kato Paphos when heading elsewhere," Machi stated.

The government should protest to the British and the British army should stay in the bases "which they temporarily hold because the Cyprus people never gave them sovereignty over them," the right-wing paper pronounced.

Simerini reported that the police stopped the British army vehicle to ask the occupants what they were up to and were told the trip to Paphos was part of a training exercise.

Police later found that the government had not given permission for the armoured vehicle to drive through Kato Paphos.

Alithia devoted front-page space to taking a pop at rival newspaper Phileleftheros.

Alithia accused Phileleftheros of fabricating a story about a fish farm causing algal blooms along the Famagusta area coast.

Phileleftheros was guilty of reporting without sourcing its information and without backing its story up with scientific facts, the paper stated.

The Agriculture Ministry had dismissed the report, Alithia added.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

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