LARNACA - POLICE ATTACKED WITH BARBEQUE SPITS, WOOD PLANKS DURING DRUG BUST

in-cyprus 25 July 2020 - by Josephine Koumettou

Two men attacked members of the police’s Drug Law Enforcement Unit (DLEU) with wood planks and barbecue spits and managed to flee during a drugs bust on Friday morning in Larnaca, the CNA reports.

A police officer was injured as a result while another two men aged 30 and 35 were arrested in the operation and remanded in custody for eight days on Saturday by the Larnaca District Court to facilitate police investigations into a case of illegal possession of cannabis with the aim to supply.

According to the police, the incident unravelled when members of the DLEU, acting on a tip-off, stopped for a check in a car park of a Larnaca block of flats a high speed motorcycle driven by a 30 year old from Nicosia.

The 30 year old, police said, had gone to the location to meet others who were already at the scene.

As soon as they became aware of police presence, the 30 year old and another three individuals tried to flee but police managed to stop and arrest the 30 year old and a 35 year old.

The other two attacked police officers with wood planks and barbecue spits and managed to escape. This resulted in the injury of one police officer while a warning shot was also fired in the exchange.

Police searched the backpack of the 30 year old and found one kilo of cannabis as well as other evidence.

DLEU searched the area and found two precision scales, glasses with traces of cannabis, plastic bags and gloves, plastic containers and a grinder with traces of cannabis, seven grams of cannabis, a box of cigarettes with cannabis and other evidence.

A wood fired oven was also found in an outdoor area with various items burning inside like gloves and plastic bags which are believed to be associated with narcotic substances that the two who had escaped tried to destroy.

The two who were arrested were remanded in custody today for eight days and an arrest warrant has been issued for the two who got away.

The Larnaca DLEU is investigating.

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'ORPHAN' CASES WORRYING, ANOTHER 3,000 TESTS SOON, SAYS HEALTH MINISTER

in-cyprus 25 July 2020 - by Josephine Koumettou

Cyprus Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou has told CNA that recent Covid-19 cases with no epidemiological connection, the so-called ‘orphan’ cases, are worrying and that in the coming days randomised testing on 3,000 people across the island will take place.

Replying to a question, Ioannou said that it is important that people who tested positive to the virus and had symptoms acted appropriately and communicated with their personal doctor or were tested privately on their own initiative.

“Having said this, I would like to urge once more our compatriots to immediately get in touch with their personal doctor if they present with coronavirus symptoms,” such as fever, cough, difficulty breathing, sudden onset of loss of smell or taste, he noted.

In this way we will be able to confirm COVID-19 cases quickly, to contain them and trace their contacts, he added.

Asked about the possibility of localised lockdowns in Cyprus, Ioannou said the Ministry of Health is monitoring very carefully the epidemiological picture.

“Right now, there are no thoughts for a localised lockdown, since we believe that the situation can be managed,” he replied.

He explained that the government is continuing with tests on population groups. “In view of recent community transmitted cases, we wish to examine the extent the virus is present in the community,” he said.

To that end, the Health Minister announced that random tests on 3,000 people across Cyprus will take place, with an emphasis on Limassol District, where most local cases have been reported.

He urged citizens to take advantage of the programme and to get tested, contributing in this way to the country’s good epidemiological picture.

“We will be able to announce further details on the programme in the coming days,” he said.

At the same time, Ioannou stressed that everyone ought to continue to follow individual hygiene measures “religiously” and to avoid coming into contact with many other people where it is possible.

He also reiterated that the use of a protective face mask is mandatory for people who work in customer service posts, such as cashiers and salespersons in super markets and shops, employees in restaurants who serve people or prepare food and beverages.

The Minister of Health also pointed out that the good epidemiological picture Cyprus has achieved so far depends exclusively on individual behaviour. No protocol, no checks from relevant authorities will have a good outcome if everyone’s behaviour is not as responsible, mature and disciplined as it was in previous months, he noted.

(CNA)

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PAWS ONLINE QUIZ NIGHT - 5 & 29 August

PAWS ONLINE QUIZ NIGHT

5 and 29 August - 7.30pm

€5 per person

All funds raised will go directly to the Shelter

Booking is essential - call Jane on 96 491212 or email  pawsevents@icloud.com [email required for each household in the team]

Payment via Paypal - Cyprus Association for the Protection & Care of Animals under the email paws-capca@hotmail.co.uk.   It can also be accessed via the website www.pawsdogshelter.com
and clicking the Donate button.   Or https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/pawsevents1 [GBP]

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MET OPERA ONLINE - W/C 27 July

During this extraordinary and difficult time, the Met hopes to brighten the lives of our audience members even while our stage is dark. Each day, a different encore presentation from the company’s Live in HD series is being made available for free streaming on the Met website, with each performance available for a period of 23 hours, from 7:30 p.m. EDT until 6:30 p.m. the following day. The schedule will include outstanding complete performances from the past 14 years of cinema transmissions, starring all of opera’s greatest singers.

The streams are also available through the Met Opera on Demand apps for Apple, Amazon, and Roku devices and Samsung Smart TV. To access them without logging in, click “Browse and Preview” in the apps for connected TV, and “Explore the App” on tablets and mobile devices.

Monday, July 27
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor
Starring Natalie Dessay, Joseph Calleja, Ludovic Tézier, and Kwangchul Youn, conducted by Patrick Summers. From March 19, 2011.

Tuesday, July 28
Puccini’s Tosca
Starring Karita Mattila, Marcelo Álvarez, and George Gagnidze, conducted by Joseph Colaneri.  From October 10, 2009.

Wednesday, July 29
Verdi’s Rigoletto
Starring Ileana Cotrubas, Plácido Domingo, and Cornell MacNeil, conducted by James Levine. From November 7, 1977.

Thursday, July 30
Verdi’s Il Trovatore
Starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Dolora Zajick, Marcelo Álvarez, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, conducted by Marco Armiliato. From April 30, 2011.

Friday, July 31
Dvořák’s Rusalka
Starring Kristine Opolais, Katarina Dalayman, Jamie Barton, Brandon Jovanovich, and Eric Owens, conducted by Mark Elder. From February 25, 2017.

Saturday, August 1
Verdi’s Ernani
Starring Leona Mitchell, Luciano Pavarotti, Sherrill Milnes, and Ruggero Raimondi, conducted by James Levine. From December 17, 1983.

Sunday, August 2
Wagner’s Die Walküre
Starring Christine Goerke, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Jamie Barton, Stuart Skelton, Greer Grimsley, and Günther Groissböck, conducted by Philippe Jordan. From March 30, 2019.

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POLICE TO CARRY OUT REGISTRATION PLATE CONTROL CAMPAIGN - 27 July to 2 August

From Cyprus Police

A cyprus registration plate control campaign will be carried out by the Police on the control of registration plates for motor vehicles.

The campaign will begin on July 27, 2020 and continue until August 2, 2020. The aim of the campaign is to ensure proper compliance with the provisions governing the specifications of motor vehicle registration plates and the obligations of vehicle drivers, as contained in the Motor Vehicle Regulation.

 

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CONTACT NOS FOR THE POLICE IN THE AREA WHERE YOU MAY BE ON HOLIDAY OR VISITING

From Cyprus Police

We are already in the summer holiday season, which many choose to spend away from the city where they live, temporarily staying either in a tourist accommodation, or in another family or holiday home in the village, on the coast or even in the mountainous areas. Others, again, prefer one-day or two-day trips to the mountain or the sea, on weekends, absent even for a while, from the urban areas where they live.

 

During the holidays, however, there are also various unforeseen incidents, some serious and not so much, but we also need to ask for help for them.

 

It is therefore useful to know some important contact numbers with the Police, in the area where we will be, so that in case we need to call for help, receive some advice or make a complaint, we can immediately contact either the local Police Station or the Police Directorate of the Province where we will be.

 

Relevant information on the contact numbers of the local Police Stations by Province, are published in the online link http://www.cypruspolicenews.com/police_stations, on the website of the Police www.cypruspolicenews.com. In addition to the telephone numbers, information is published about the address of the Police Stations, as well as about the areas of Municipalities and Communities, which are policed by each Police Station.

The contact numbers with the Police Directorates of the Provinces are as follows:

 

Famagusta Province: 23-803030

Larnaca Province: 24-804040

Limassol Province: 25-805050

Paphos Province: 26-806060

Morfos Area: 22-802525

Nicosia Province: 22-802020

The following numbers operate on a Cyprus-wide basis:

Cyprus Citizen's Contact Line - 1460

Police Emergency - 112 or 199

 

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AYIA NAPA POLICE ENJOYING A QUIETER SUMMER

Cyprus Mail 25 July 2020 - by Evie Andreou

The area near the Black and White club is usually packed with tourists

The plunge in tourist arrivals this year in Ayia Napa and Protaras has offered just one bright spark out of all the doom and gloom: a steep decline in crime and disorderly conduct.

The travel restrictions in place due to the coronavirus pandemic has effectively destroyed this year’s tourism with a 98.2 per cent decrease in arrivals in June.

What’s terrible news for hotels, restaurants and bars has been good news for the police.

“If there is no tourism, there are far fewer offences,” a police source told the Cyprus Mail on Saturday.

He said that each year, police officers have to deal with break-ins, attacks, injuries, scuffles, drugs, traffic accidents and drunk and disorderly cases on a daily basis.

Of the around one million tourists usually visiting the Famagusta district resorts, the source said, this year, there have been around 10,000 so far.

According to the latest CyStat data, tourist arrivals reached 9,119 in June 2020, compared to last June’s 509,662 arrivals, recording a 98.2 per cent decrease,

From January to June 2020, arrivals totalled 255,675, while last year arrivals totalled 1,631,023, a drop of 84.3 per cent.

“It goes without saying that these problems would reduce,” the source said.

But he insisted it is not all plain sailing for the police. There may be far fewer drunken tourists to deal with, but the influx of Cypriots eager to enjoy Ayia Napa without crowds of tourists comes with its own issues.

But they do not rush to call it their easiest summer ever.

“On weekends there is four times more traffic than usual due to the descent of Cypriots,” the source said.

“There are road accidents all the time, luckily not serious ones,” he said.

Between July 20 and the end of August the Famagusta beach resorts are brimming with Cypriot holiday makers, he said, adding that police have to deal “with other kinds of issues.”

 

 

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TURKEY AND GREECE EXCHANGE HARSH WORDS OVER HAGIA SOPHIA PRAYERS

in-cyprus 25 July 2020 - by Josephine Koumettou

Turkey and Greece exchanged harsh words on Saturday over the conversion of Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia into a mosque, a day after Islamic prayers were held at the ancient site for the first time in nine decades.

Greek criticism of the move to convert the site from a museum has been scathing, underlining tense ties between Greece and Turkey. Church bells tolled in mourning across Greece on Friday as Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan joined prayers at the building.

“Greece showed once again its enmity towards Islam and Turkey with the excuse of reacting to Hagia Sophia Mosque being opened to prayers,” Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said in a written statement on Saturday.

The ministry strongly condemned hostile statements by the Greek government and parliament members to stir up the public, and the burning of a Turkish flag in the Greek city of Thessaloniki, it said.

Hagia Sophia was opened to prayer as a mosque in line with the will of the Turkish people and belonged to Turkey like all cultural assets in the country, it added.

The Greek Foreign Ministry responded with its own statement, saying “the international community of the 21st century is stunned to observe the religious and nationalist fanatic ramblings of today’s Turkey.”

Friday’s ceremony sealed Erdogan’s ambition to restore Muslim worship at the site, which most Greeks view as central to their Orthodox Christian religion.

On Friday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called Turkey a “troublemaker”, and the conversion of the site an “affront to civilisation of the 21st century”.

Greece and Turkey disagree on a range of issues from airspace to maritime zones and ethnically split Cyprus. This week they also exchanged barbs over the delimitation of their continental shelves in the eastern Mediterranean, an area thought to be rich in natural resources.

(Reuters)

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CORONAVIRUS - RECORD NUMBERS OF CASES IN EVERY GLOBAL REGION

Cyprus Mail 25 July 2020 

FILE PHOTO: An essential worker wearing a face mask walks past a 'Heroes Wear Masks' sign in Melbourne after it became the first city in Australia to enforce mask-wearing in public

By Jane Wardell

Almost 40 countries have reported record single-day increases in coronavirus infections over the past week, around double the number that did so the previous week, according to a Reuters tally showing a pick-up in the pandemic in every region of the world.

The rate of cases has been increasing not only in countries like the United States, Brazil and India, which have dominated global headlines with large outbreaks, but in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Bolivia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Bulgaria, Belgium, Uzbekistan and Israel, among others.

Many countries, especially those where officials eased earlier social distancing lockdowns, are experiencing a second peak more than a month after recording their first.

“We will not be going back to the ‘old normal’. The pandemic has already changed the way we live our lives,” World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said this week. “We’re asking everyone to treat the decisions about where they go, what they do and who they meet with as life-and-death decisions – because they are.”

The Reuters data, compiled from official reports, shows a steady rise in the number of countries reporting record daily increases in the virus that causes COVID-19 over the past month. At least seven countries recorded such increases three weeks ago, rising to at least 13 countries two weeks ago to at least 20 countries last week and to 37 countries this week.

The true numbers of both cases and deaths are almost certainly underreported, particularly in countries with poorer health care systems, health experts and officials say. For this report, the Reuters data was restricted to countries that provide regular daily numbers.

A surge in cases usually precedes a rise in deaths by a couple of weeks.

The United States remains at the top of the case list, this week passing more than 4 million cases and recording more than 1,000 deaths for four consecutive days. Brazil and India – which epidemiologists say is still likely months from hitting its peak – have also exceeded 1 million cases.

SECOND WAVE

The data reveals a growing number of resurgent cases in countries across all regions.

In Australia, officials enforced a six-week partial lockdown and made face masks mandatory for residents in the country’s second-largest city, Melbourne, after a fresh outbreak.

Australia and Japan, which also posted a daily case record this week, both warned of a rise in infections among young people, many of whom celebrated the end of social restrictions at bars and parties.

In Mexico, which also posted a daily record this week and has the fourth-highest death toll of any country, officials warned that a downward trend in case numbers that began in mid-June – about the time the city began relaxing social distancing measures – could reverse.

Based on the rate of hospital admissions over the past week, Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said, hospitalisation levels by October could exceed those registered in June, the height of the pandemic.

“It is important to recognise that if we do not change the trend, there could be exponential growth,” she said.

In Europe, where the summer vacation season is in full swing, a new daily record figure in Spain is likely to deter tourists from visiting one of the continent’s most popular destinations.

In Africa, Kenya recorded a record high daily case number less than two weeks after reopening activity, including domestic passenger flights. President Uhuru Kenyatta, who had announced international flights would resume on Aug. 1, has summoned officials to an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the surge in cases.

In the Middle East, Oman imposed new restrictions that begin on Saturday in addition to a two-week lockdown that will overlap the Islamic feast of Eid al-Adha after reporting a record number of cases.

 

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PISSOURI HOMEOWNERS SAY GOVERNMENT DECISION 'LONG OVERDUE'

Cyprus Mail 25 July 2020 - by Andria Kades

The home Peter Field had to leave

Homeowners in Pissouri on Friday were uncertain over a government pledge that works would begin in the area in 2021 to stabilise the soil.

“It is very difficult to have confidence” after eight years of nothing, Anthony Walker, affected homeowner and retired chartered surveyor told the Cyprus Mail.

“I was present in September 2015 when the interior minister at the time gave a press conference and said €20m would go to solve problems. In the intervening time, nothing happened.”

On Thursday, the government said earthworks would commence in early 2021 at a cost of around €33m to stabilise the soil in the Pissouri area, where subsidence has caused serious damage to dozens of properties there throughout the years, with houses falling apart.

Following a visit to the site, Interior Minister Nicos Nouris said a study has recommended excavations at several points in the area, some to a depth of 39 metres, and the insertion of a mesh of shoring piles in a bid to stabilise the soil.

The project will also feature the construction of rainwater runoff and sewerage systems. Upon the project’s completion, said Nouris, there are plans to build public amenities for the community, such as sports grounds and sports facilities.

In addition, some of the land in the area would need to be expropriated.

The final report on the action to be taken will be submitted around January 2021, after which the government will immediately invite tenders for the construction project.

“This ambitious project is not expected to be finished before the end of 2022,” said the minister.

According to surveys, the land has been shifting by approximately 8 centimetres a month.

Many of the affected homes in Pissouri have virtually collapsed, the result of a continuous and accelerating landslide, and a number of residences are deemed unfit for habitation.

The problem dates back to at least 2012.

Lawyer for the Pissouri housing initiative Georgia Elina Zoi said on Friday this was one of the largest projects to be undertaken in Cyprus and there was trust towards Nouris as so far “he hasn’t delayed anything.”

Problems with delays tend to come from the district authority but the minister has pledged that the safety and security of the residents is a priority, according to Zoi and has even gone as far to say that means if they need to be relocated, this will be done.

Chairman of the initiative Peter Field said “we are obviously very much in the problem. We were evicted five years ago, rented and now established a new house in a new area.”

The government decision is “long overdue,” he told the Cyprus Mail.

Nonetheless, there is still uncertainty as to whether there will be compensation for people such as himself that have lost their home.

According to Zoi, the minister said it would be irresponsible to talk about compensation at the moment, stressing that the government is focused on stabilising the area and resolving a chronic problem.

 

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