The Cyprus Mail website is getting refurbished today.

It will look better and be far easier for you – its readers – to use. The new website will seamlessly take over from the old one within the day. 

There is nothing you need to do at your end. Simply enjoy the new Cyprus Mail website and have a look around to get a feel for our new home.

The Cyprus Mail team

Author:  Poly Pantelides

THE COMMUNICATIONS ministry has called for tenders’ proposals for a feasibility study on a tram network in the greater Nicosia region, Nicosia mayor Constantinos Yiorkadjis said yesterday.
“We believe in the (project’s) potential to offer solutions to the accumulated problems created by the contradictory… way in which Nicosia’s city network has been designed,” Yiorkadjis said this week during a workshop last night on the concept of a Nicosia tram.
 “There is no excuse for continuing to endlessly build roads with no strategic planning and without prioritised goals for achieving sustainable growth,” Yiorkadjis said.
Because the… Continue reading →

IN THE END, all the fuss and political grandstanding that preceded the dinner for the two leaders and their spouses, hosted at the residence of the UN Special Representative Lisa Buttenheim, was much ado about nothing. President Anastasiades’ fears that the host, Alexander Downer, would have attempted to turn Thursday’s dinner into a political event, using it to kick-start the peace process, proved totally unfounded. The social character of the dinner was maintained and a good time was reportedly had by all.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon did not respond to the indignant letter from Anastasiades, seeking his assurances that… Continue reading →

Author:  George Psyllides

CYPRUS’ anti-money laundering unit (MOKAS) said it was cooperating closely with US authorities in a major case involving the operators of a digital currency exchange with links on the island through numerous bank accounts.
US prosecutors have filed an indictment against the operators of digital currency exchange Liberty Reserve, accusing the Costa Rica-based company of helping criminals around the world launder more than $6 billion in illicit funds linked to everything from child pornography to software for hacking into banks.
The indictment lists 45 bank accounts – 22 in Cyprus at four banks: Hellenic, National Bank… Continue reading →

Author:  Poly Pantelides

THE PREVIOUS government ignored suggested action plans to contain Cyprus’ deteriorating finances and support the overextended banks, the head of the finance ministry’s investment and finance directorate told an inquiry yesterday.
Andreas Trokkos was testifying at an ongoing committee of inquiry into the country’s near-bankruptcy leading to a harsh €10 billion bailout that has resulted in a massive restructuring of the country’s banking system and has forced losses on uninsured depositors in the island’s major banks.
A year before the bailout Trokkos and other finance ministry directors recommended the immediate implementation of an action plan to… Continue reading →

THE CENTRAL Bank of Cyprus (CBC) yesterday announced that it had appointed audit firm KPMG London to carry out an independent evaluation of the assets of the Bank of Cyprus and the Cyprus Popular Bank, CBC announced.
“The CBC acting as Resolution Authority has appointed KPMG London to carry out an independent evaluation of the assets and liabilities of Bank of Cyprus and Cyprus Popular Bank,” CBC Spokeswoman Aliki Stylianou said, adding the evaluation was expected to be completed by mid July.
“After the completion and delivery of the valuation report, the Resolution Authority will determine the rate of conversion… Continue reading →