Greece's ruling conservatives have narrowed the opposition Socialist's poll lead after Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis dismissed the finance minister and two deputy ministers linked to an investigation this week. Two opinion polls published by newspapers on Sunday showed Karamanlis's New Democracy party had cut the opposition's lead to around 3 percentage points, from over 5

The Free Gaza Movement ship, ''Spirit of Humanity”, will leave Larnaca Port Monday and its representatives hope that logic will prevail on the part of Israel. A press conference will be held at 1030 (0830 GMT) at Larnaca Port on Monday where the ship is expected to dock today and set sail at noon on

The government intends to propose a change in existing legislation governing the electoral law to allow Cypriots, living abroad, to vote in the forthcoming European Parliament elections. “By the end of January the Cabinet intends to table the proposed bill to allow Cypriot nationals, living abroad, to vote in the place of their residence,” Interior

The Cyprus government plans to buy water from a floating desalination platform, to be installed off the southern coastal town of Limassol, Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment Michalis Polinikis has said. Briefing the Agriculture House Committee, he said as things stand at present in the summer Cyprus, without imposing any water supply

Inflation in Cyprus was not only caused by high oil prices but also by high local prices, latest figures show. According to inflation by economic origin, the price of local goods rose by 13.3% in 2008 compared with 3.9% in 2007. Imported goods on the other hand, fell for a second consecutiveyear, by 0.4% in

The trade deficit widened to EUR 5,260.2 mln in January-October 2008 compared with EUR 4,329.3 mln in January-October 2007, as growth in imports outstripped growth in exports. In January-October, total imports/arrivals rose to EUR 6,222.2 mln compared with EUR 5,246.5 mln in January-October 2007. Total exports/dispatches (covering total exports to third countries and dispatches to

Preliminary data for October indicate that the volume of retail sales growth slowed slightly in October to 6.2% over October 2007, after growth of 8.2% in September. The most notable change was in furniture, household, electrical and hardware items, which saw a fall of 1.2% compared with October 2007, after a year-on-year rise of 6%

The registered unemployment rate in Cyprus rose by 1,381 persons to 14,169 in December 2008, marking a sharp rise of 10.8% compared with December 2007. A downturn in the construction sector can be seen from the sectoral figures. The largest rise in terms of numbers came from the construction sector, where unemployment rose year on

Mergers and acquisitions involving Cypriot companies tumbled to EUR 1.08 bln in 2008, a drop of 60% from the EUR 2.6 bln deals recorded in 2007 and EUR 2.9 bln in 2006, ending four years of deal growth as a lack of available credit, plunging stock markets and a worldwide financial crisis undermined companies' ability