North coalition bypasses legislature to cut cost-of-living allowance

The north’s ruling coalition on Tuesday issued a decree stipulating that Turkish Cypriot public sector workers will not be paid the cost-of-living allowance until next year at the earliest after this month, hours after failing to pass a bill to do the same through the Turkish Cypriot legislature.

The legislature had been in session from Monday afternoon until the early hours of Tuesday morning, with Turkish Cypriots staging a general strike on Monday, blocking key roads through northern...