CASH GUZZLER
WASTE WOES
INSIDE
EU aid and the neverending Cyprus peace process
What’s wrong with the island’s waste policies
TV and lifestyle supplements to see you through the coming week
Pages 8-9
Page 6
www.cyprus-mail.com
October 28, 2012
COFFEESHOP: COMRADE TOURIST DOES EUROPE INSIDE Cyprus UN sweeps Denia for stray mines 3
World Obama and Romney line up lawyers ahead of poll disputes 10
Lifestyle Fifty years of Bond girls six talk about the spy who loved them centre
Business Brand name firms cry foul over Amazon discounts 26
Sport Late Arteta goal seals Arsenal win over QPR 40
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Families reach breaking point Charity handed out 7,000 food coupons this month alone as calls for help double By Jacqueline Agathocleous
F
AMILIES are spending weeks without electricity and are forced to go to a charity organisation for food and clothing, as the economic crisis’ grip on households grows stronger by the day. “The situation is dramatic,” said Georgia Polyviou, head of the Alkionides charity. “We receive a call roughly every two minutes in the mornings from people whose electricity was cut off and who are seeking coupons for food.” She said the situation was “100 per cent” worse than last year, with families that were last year making ends meet currently finding it difficult to survive. “Single parents have been hit especially hard, after their benefits were slashed during the government’s reform,” said Polyviou, adding however that many other categories of people were suffering, such as large families and the unemployed. Last December, in the government’s effort to tidy up its finances, it decided to re-
form the benefits system. As a result, any benefits given to single parents by the welfare office were scrapped and responsibility was shifted to the finance ministry. As a result a single parent who may have received €800 a month from the state, ended up getting around €250. And about 1,900 out of 6,200 beneficiaries were completely excluded, due to new criteria which was widely criticised for being unrealistic. Someone whose entire assets were worth €40,000 could receive €200 a month, with €50,000 they got €150 and €80,000 they got €100. Last month, the labour ministry promised to spend some €2.7 million on assisting single parent families to pay off rent and loan instalments. “People are scared of having their homes repossessed as they can no longer meet their mortgage payments and loans. “These are what we would call normal families last year, which have now found themselves in a very difficult situation due to unemployment,” said Polyviou.
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Local resident Jim Carroll photographs storm surf with his dog, Willy, in St. Augustine Beach, Florida, as Tropical Storm Sandy, downgraded overnight, passes offshore yesterday SEE STORY PAGE 10
Paraplegic endures three-day ordeal in the New Mexico desert A PARAPLEGIC man who says he was stranded in the New Mexico desert without his wheelchair dragged himself six kilometres down a dirt road for three days before a motorist stopped to help him. Ricky Gilmore’s jeans told part of the story and his body the rest - the skin on his left leg and buttocks shredded, a wrist sprained and his kidneys in bad shape from lack of food and water. Gilmore, 49, is being treated for acute kidney failure from dehydration, a sprained wrist and a blood infection. He spent two days in intensive care and
it could be at least another week before he can go home. He was found along a seldom-travelled road on the Navajo Nation about 10 miles from his home in Newcomb, on the eastern side of the reservation. Gilmore said he was dropped in the desert by a couple in a white truck whom he met while he was hitchhiking. He had invited them to his home for steaks and they later went for what he thought was going to be a joyride. When he refused to share his alcohol with them, Gilmore said the man grabbed him by his feet and
threw him out of the truck while parked along the desolate road. It was early evening and Gilmore had no wheelchair, no food, no water and no coat to help him endure the flat desert scrubland. “It was dark and I was shivering and the wind was blowing so I just crawled to a bush and dug in right there. It was cold that night,” he said. But with the sunrise, survival mode kicked in and he started dragging himself along the expanse. On the third afternoon, a man in a blue pick-up truck stopped and called for help.