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(Updated) Opposition says as many as 1,300 killed in gas attack near Damascus

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A film grab from Syrian opposition TV station showing the victims of alleged gas attacks by government forces

By Dominic Evans and Khaled Yacoub Oweis

Syria’s opposition accused President Bashar al-Assad’s forces of gassing many hundreds of people – by one report as many as 1,300 – on Wednesday in what would, if confirmed, be the world’s worst chemical weapons attack in decades.

Western and regional countries called for UN chemical weapons investigators – who arrived in Damascus just three days ago – to be urgently dispatched to the scene of one of the deadliest incidents of the two-year-old civil war.

Images, including some taken by freelance photographers and supplied to Reuters, showed scores of bodies including of small children, laid out on the floor of a clinic with no visible signs of injuries.

Reuters was not independently able to verify the cause of their death. The Syrian government denied that it had used chemical arms.

George Sabra, one of the leading opponents of Assad, said the death toll was 1,300 killed by poison gas rained down on suburbs east of Damascus.

“Today’s crimes are … not the first time the regime has used chemical weapons. But they constitute a turning point in the regime’s operations,” he told a news conference in Istanbul. “This time it was for annihilation rather than terror.”

An opposition monitoring group, citing figures compiled from medical clinics in the Damascus suburbs, put the death toll at 494 – 90 per cent of them killed by gas, the rest by bombing and conventional arms. The rebel Syrian National Coalition said 650 people had been killed.

If the cause of death and the scale of the killing were confirmed, it would be the worst known use of chemical weapons since Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein gassed thousands of Kurds in the town of Halabja in 1988.

Activists said rockets with chemical agents hit the Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar during fierce pre-dawn bombardment by government forces.

The Damascus Media Office monitoring centre said 150 bodies were counted in Hammouriya, 100 in Kfar Batna, 67 in Saqba, 61 in Douma, 76 in Mouadamiya and 40 in Irbib, all suburbs of Damascus.

A nurse at Douma Emergency Collection facility, Bayan Baker, earlier told Reuters the death toll collated from medical centres was at least 213.

“Many of the casualties are women and children. They arrived with their pupils constricted, cold limbs and foam in their mouths. The doctors say these are typical symptoms of nerve gas victims,” the nurse said. Exposure to sarin gas causes pupils in the eyes to shrink to pinpoint sizes and foaming at the lips.

The UN team is in Syria investigating allegations that both rebels and army forces used chemical weapons in the past, one of the main disputes in international diplomacy over Syria.

The Swedish scientist leading the team, Ake Sellstrom, said the reports should be looked into, but doing so would require a request from a UN member state.

France said the mission must be sent to the site to “investigate immediately”. Turkey and Saudi Arabia made similar calls. Britain said it was deeply concerned and would raise the issue at the UN Security Council, adding the attacks would be “a shocking escalation” if confirmed.

Extensive amateur video and photographs appeared on the Internet showing countless bodies, with victims choking, some of them foaming at the mouth, and no sign of outward injury.

A video purportedly shot in the Kafr Batna neighbourhood showed a room filled with more than 90 bodies, many of them children and a few women and elderly men. Most of the bodies appeared ashen or pale but with no visible injuries. About a dozen were wrapped in blankets.

Other footage showed doctors treating people in makeshift clinics. One video showed the bodies of a dozen people lying on the floor of a clinic, with no visible wounds. The narrator in the video said they were all members of a single family. In a corridor outside lay another five bodies.

A Syrian military officer appeared on state television and said the allegations were untrue and a sign of “hysteria and floundering” by Assad’s opponents. Information Minister Omran Zoabi said the allegations were “illogical and fabricated”.

The head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition said Assad’s forces had carried out a massacre: “This is a chance for the (UN inspectors) to see with their own eyes this massacre and know that this regime is a criminal one,” Ahmed Jarba said.

Syria is one of just a handful of countries that are not parties to the international treaty that bans chemical weapons, and Western nations believe it has caches of undeclared mustard gas, sarin and VX nerve agents.

Assad’s officials have said they would never use poison gas – if they had it – against Syrians. The United States and European allies believe Assad’s forces used small amounts of sarin gas in attacks in the past, which Washington called a “red line” that justified international military aid for the rebels.

Assad’s government has responded in the past by accusing the rebels of using chemical weapons, which they deny. Western countries say they do not believe the rebels have access to poison gas. Assad’s main global ally Moscow says accusations on both sides must be investigated.

Khaled Omar of the opposition Local Council in Ain Tarma said he saw at least 80 bodies at the HajjahHospital in Ain Tarma and at a makeshift clinic at TatbiqiyaSchool in the nearby district of Saqba.

“The attack took place at around 3:00 a.m. (0000 GMT). Most of those killed were in their homes,” Omar said.

An activist working with Ahrar al-Sham rebel unit in the Erbin district east of the capital who used the name Abu Nidal said many of those who died were rescuers who were overcome with poison when they arrived at the scene.

“We believe there was a group of initial responders who died or were wounded, because when we went in later, we saw men collapsed on staircases or inside doorways and it looks like they were trying to go in to help the wounded and then were hurt themselves,” he told Reuters by Skype.

“At first none of us knew there were chemical agents because it seemed like just another night of air strikes, and no one was anticipating chemical weapons use, especially with UN monitors in town.”

The timing of the allegations – just three days after the UN experts checked in to a Damascus hotel a few kilometres to the east at the start of their mission – was surprising.

“It would be very peculiar if it was the government to do this at the exact moment the international inspectors come into the country,” said Rolf Ekeus, a retired Swedish diplomat who headed a team of UN weapons inspectors in Iraq in the 1990s.

“At the least, it wouldn’t be very clever.”

 

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Cyprus problem remains top priority, Anastasiades tells overseas Cypriots

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President Nicos Anastasiades addresses the conference

 

Representatives of Greek and Cypriot organisations abroad, gathered in Nicosia on Wednesday for their 17th annual conference focusing on two main topics, the state of the economy and developments in UN-led efforts to find a political settlement.

Delegates from all over the world also discussed their contribution and pledged to continue their support.

President Nicos Anastasiades opened the two-day meeting and during his speech said that despite trouble in the Middle East and the financial problems faced by Cyprus, the government’s priority remained a solution to the Cyprus problem.

“Our priority is to free our occupied territory, the reunification our homeland and the creation of conditions which will allow Cypriots, both Greek and Turkish, to live together peacefully within a modern European state which will allow prosperity and a promising future,” he said.

Referring to a government proposal for the return of Famagusta as a first positive and practical step Turkey could make ahead of a new round of negotiations expected to begin in autumn, Anastasiades said it seemed the proposal was being accepted by the international community.

“It is interpreted as a tangible sign of our will to move the Cyprus issue out of the current deadlock and create the conditions that will give new impetus and momentum to efforts for a comprehensive settlement”, he added.

The Director of the Division of Overseas and Repatriated Cypriots, at the Foreign Ministry Ambassador Marios Ieronymides spoke about the responsibility of Cypriot Hellenism around the world to preserve the vision to liberate Cyprus and seek ways to take Cyprus out of the economic recession.

He commended the efforts of Cypriots abroad who were helping their homeland, and congratulated them on their successes in their adopted countries.

Katie Clerides, Presidential Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs and Affairs of Overseas Cypriots, noted that the presence of overseas Cypriots in Cyprus showed their love for their homeland and their continuous interest in pursuing the common struggle for justice in Cyprus.

“To achieve our goals we must act collectively and unite forces. We need your support also” she stressed.

For the first time, the Turkish invasion and occupation of Cyprus did not feature at the top of the agenda of the meeting, because of the economic crisis, Executive Council of the World Federation of Overseas Cypriots (POMAK) President Haris Sophoclides noted, adding that Cypriots from abroad had gathered to exchange views with the government and the political leadership on the best way to contribute to the recovery of the country’s battered economy.

Philip Christopher, President of the International Coordinating Committee “Justice for Cyprus” (PSEKA), said that although Cyprus was faced with an economic recession it should remain focused on the Cyprus issue.

He urged President Anastasiades to continue building bridges with Israel, the USA and the EU and “stick to the solution that we want”.

He also said that big corporations were interested in investing in a European country.

“Cyprus’ struggle is our struggle. We take part in the struggle for economic recovery, we take part in the struggle to end the Turkish occupation, secure the withdrawal of the Turkish troops and settlers from the island and the return of refugees to their homes” said Christos Karaolis head of the Executive Council of the Organisation of Young Overseas Cypriots, NEPOMAK.

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House to hold extraordinary session on CBC’s chief’s ‘super powers’

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Cyprus Central Bank Governor Panicos Demetriades

 

Parliament will convene in an extraordinary meeting next week to discuss and vote on a bill seeking to amend the law on the resolution of banks and take away the absolute authority wielded by the Central Bank (CBC) governor.

It followed an official request by ruling DISY, which also submitted the amendment.

“It is well known that all political parties said they had a gun to their heads and were forced to vote for a law, which, as they later found out, gave superpowers to a specific one-person authority,” DISY leader Averof Neophytou said.

DISY’s amendment includes other institutions in the resolution authority.

Under a decision in March to ‘bail-in’ Cyprus’ two largest lenders, BoC and Laiki, losses were imposed on large savers in both banks. Laiki is being resolved, with all of its liabilities (including deposits) and some of its assets folded into BoC. The latter has been recapitalised by seizing large savers’ cash via a deposit-for-equity swap.

As the resolution authority, the CBC effectively holds 18 per cent of BoC stock belonging to Laiki.

DISY has accused the Central Bank chief of a conflict of interest – the regulator of the banks cannot simultaneously be implicated in the selection of bank directors whose performance he will later supervise.

Neophytou said the amendments must be done as soon as possible because they “are important and urgent issues.”

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Egyptian court orders Mubarak’s release

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Reports: Cairo court orders release of Mubarak

By Tom Perry and Maggie Fick

DEPOSED Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak will leave jail as early as Thursday after a court ruling that jolted a divided nation already in turmoil seven weeks after the army toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.

Convening on Wednesday at the Cairo jail where Mubarak is held, the court upheld a petition from his lawyer demanding the release of the man who ruled Egypt for 30 years until he was overthrown during the uprisings that swept the Arab world in early 2011.

Judicial and security sources said the court had ordered Mubarak’s release. His lawyer, Fareed al-Deeb, confirmed this as he left Tora prison after the session. Asked when Mubarak would go free, he told Reuters: “Maybe tomorrow”.

Mubarak, 85, was sentenced to life in prison last year for failing to prevent the killing of demonstrators. But a court accepted his appeal earlier this year and ordered a retrial.

The ailing former president probably has no political future. But many Egyptians would see his release as the rehabilitation of an old order that endured through six decades of military-backed rule – and even a reversal of the pro-democracy revolt that toppled him.

At least 900 people, including 100 soldiers and police, have been killed in a crackdown on Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood in the past week, making it Egypt’s bloodiest civil episode in decades.

The United States and the European Union are both reviewing aid to Cairo in light of the bloodshed, but Saudi Arabia, a foe of the Brotherhood, has promised to make up any shortfall.

Mubarak is still being retried on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during the revolt against him, but he has already served the maximum pre-trial detention in that case.

The court ruling removed the last legal ground for his imprisonment in connection with a corruption case, following a similar decision in another corruption case on Monday.

Mubarak’s release might stir more turbulence in Egypt, where the army ousted Mursi, the country’s first freely elected leader, on July 3, saying it was responding to the will of the people following vast protests demanding his removal.

The generals have installed an interim administration to oversee a roadmap they say will lead Egypt to back to democracy.

The authorities now portray their quarrel with the Brotherhood, Egypt’s best-organised political force, as a fight against terrorism and are jailing its leaders, detaining the group’s “general guide”, Mohamed Badie, in Cairo on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which along with Kuwait have promised Egypt $12 billion in aid since Mursi’s ouster, have frowned on Mubarak’s detention all along. Arab diplomats said the conservative Gulf monarchies had lobbied for the release of a man they once valued as a strong regional ally.

Mubarak’s trial, when he appeared in a courtroom cage, and his jailing also affronted some Egyptian officers. One colonel, who asked not to be named, said the treatment of the former supreme military commander had “tarnished the army’s image”.

The United States, a close ally of Egypt since Cairo signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, said on Tuesday that the crackdown on protesters could influence US aid. It denied reports it had already suspended assistance.

At issue is the future of about $1.23 million in US military assistance and $241 million in economic aid to Egypt.

EU foreign ministers meet on Wednesday to discuss how the 28-nation bloc might use its economic power to promote an end to Egypt’s conflict, in which it has sought to mediate.

They are likely to tread carefully, mixing expressions of concern over bloodshed with limited, if any, changes in a 5-billion euro ($6.7 billion) aid package promised last year to help foster the new democratic system, diplomats in Brussels said.

Western nations were uneasy during Mursi’s year in power, when he assumed extraordinary powers to ram through an Islamist-tinged constitution.

Washington has not denounced the army takeover as a “coup”, which under US law would force a suspension of aid. The ensuing bloodshed, however, has dismayed the West.

US Senator John McCain, a former Republican presidential nominee who has emerged as a strong advocate of suspending aid, said: “The slaughter of hundred of Egyptians in the street is appalling to all of us.

“Now we should expect in return for our aid that the generals who are now running the country schedule a change in the constitution, schedule elections as soon as possible and the installation of a government that is representative of the people. The present government is representative of no one.”

The arrest of Badie, the Brotherhood’s leader, is part of a wave of detentions among the upper echelons of the organisation.

Murad Ali, a media adviser to the Brotherhood’s political party, and Safwat Hegazy, a fiery preacher, were arrested while trying to flee the country, state media reported on Wednesday.

The Brotherhood said the crackdown would prove futile.

“The putschists think that arresting the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and marring their image in the media will make Egyptians bow and give in to the coup,” it said.

“They have killed thousands, wounded thousands, arrested thousands but the (people) are continuing in their peaceful revolution, rejecting the coup and military rule.”

Badie was charged in July with incitement to murder in connection with protests before Mursi’s removal and is due to stand trial on Aug. 25 along with his two deputies.

On Tuesday, the state prosecutor ordered him detained for 30 days on the charges of incitement to killing during anti-Mursi protests in November and demonstrations in Cairo last month.

Footage released to local media showed the bearded leader sitting grim-faced in a grey robe near a man with a rifle following his detention overnight on Tuesday – images that seemed intended to humiliate the Brotherhood chief.

The Islamist group, founded in 1928, used its organisational muscle to secure victory for Mursi in last year’s presidential election. It says it has about a million members among Egypt’s 85 million people, as well as offshoots across the Arab world.

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Manning sentenced to 35 years in prison

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US Army Private Bradley Manning sentancing

By Ian Simpson

Bradley Manning, the US soldier convicted of the biggest breach of classified data in the nation’s history by providing files to Wikileaks, was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Wednesday.

Judge Colonel Denise Lind, who last month convicted Manning of 20 charges including espionage and theft, could have sentenced him to as many as 90 years in prison. Prosecutors had asked for 60 years.

Manning, 25, will be dishonorably discharged from the US military and forfeit some pay, Lind said. His rank will be reduced to private from private first class.

Manning would be eligible for parole after serving one-third of his sentence, which will be reduced by the time he has already served in prison plus 112 days.

In 2010, Manning turned over more than 700,000 classified files, battlefield videos and diplomatic cables to Wikileaks, the protransparency website, in a case that has commanded international attention.

Defence attorneys had not made a specific sentencing request but pleaded with Lind not to “rob him of his youth.”

Manning was working as a low-level intelligence analyst in Baghdad when he handed over the documents, catapulting WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, into the international spotlight.

The classified material that shocked many around the world included a 2007 gunsight video of a US Apache helicopter firing at suspected insurgents in Baghdad. Among the dozen fatalities were two Reuters news staff. WikiLeaks dubbed the footage “Collateral Murder.”

The case highlighted the difficulty in keeping secrets in the Internet age. It raised strong passions on the part of the US government, which said Manning had put American lives at risk, and anti-secrecy advocates, who maintained Manning was justified in releasing the information.

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Football players warned about clubs in Cyprus, Greece and Turkey

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football boots

By Brian Homewood

Professional footballers have been warned by the world players’ union FIFPro to think twice before signing to play for clubs in Cyprus, Greece or Turkey.

Players were advised to be especially wary of clubs who were not playing in European competition, with FIFPro saying many of those teams have failed to keep their promises.

“FIFPro wants to caution players and unions about the bad behaviour of clubs in Cyprus, Greece and Turkey,” said the Dutch-based organisation in a statement.

“Cyprus has for years occupied the first position, by a wide margin, as regards the number of disputes submitted to FIFA’s dispute resolution chamber (DRC), while Greece and Turkey are vying for second position.

“In all three countries, the number of disputes increases every year. The only exceptions are those clubs that play in European football: these accept the UEFA club licensing system, which reduces the risks.”

FIFPro said players had trouble getting paid and were forced to take out legal proceedings at football’s world governing body FIFA, which could be drawn-out and expensive.

“Clubs do everything possible to win players over, offering them fabulous wages, a luxurious home, ambitious plans, a bonus for signing a contract, a bonus scheme or a percentage of a future transfer payment,” said FIFPro.

“Unfortunately, FIFPro has found that many clubs don’t keep these promises.”

“Generally, after a few months, the club turns out to be short of financial resources, so the player has to wait months to be paid.

“Very often, he never collects (the wages). Some players find themselves forced to abandon their homes, because the club cannot or will not continue paying the rent and bonuses are never mentioned again.”

FIFPro added: “A player who has lost out is left with no other option but to start lengthy legal proceedings via the Dispute Resolution Chamber in order to get what is his by right: his wages.

“Sometimes this turns out to be impossible because the club has meanwhile declared itself bankrupt.”

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Fortunate Ivanovic helps Chelsea beat Villa

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Ivanovic (2-R) is congratulated by his Chelsea teammates after he scored the winning goal at Stamford Bridge

Branislav Ivanovic headed a second-half winner as Chelsea escaped from a lacklustre performance against Aston Villa with a 2-1 victory on Wednesday in the Premier League.

The Serb rose to power a freekick from Frank Lampard into the back of the net on 73 minutes, after Christian Benteke had cancelled out an early own goal from Villa defender Antonio Luna.

The Chelsea defender was perhaps lucky to be on the pitch, however, as moments before he grabbed the winner he was adjudged to have elbowed Benteke with referee Kevin Friend producing only a yellow card when it could have been red.

The Villa dugout was up in arms again in stoppage time when John Terry appeared to handle a cross from Fabian Delph but Friend waved away their appeals.

The win means Chelsea have a perfect six points from their opening two league matches after beating Hull City on Sunday, while Villa could not repeat their shock win over Arsenal on Saturday.

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Champions League Play-Off Round Results

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UEFA-Champions-League

Wednesday, August 21, first leg
Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) – Austria Vienna (Austria) 0-2 (halftime: 0-0)
Fenerbahce (Turkey) – Arsenal (England) 0-3 (halftime: 0-0)
Ludogorets (Bulgaria) – Basel (Switzerland) 2-4 (halftime: 1-1)
Schalke 04 (Germany) – PAOK Salonika (Greece) 1-1 (halftime: 1-0)
Steaua Bucharest (Romania) – Legia Warsaw (Poland) 1-1 (halftime: 1-0)

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Police testing confiscated laughing gas canisters for harmful substances

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party balloons background

Tests are being carried out to find out whether 47 canisters which were confiscated by police following the arrest of a 24-year-old foreign man in Ayia Napa, believed to have ‘laughing gas’ in them, contained any other harmful substances.

Following a number of checks in the Ayia Napa area on Wednesday, police arrested the 24-year-old and found and confiscated 47 canisters, 17 balloons and €33 in cash, police spokesman Andreas Angelides said.

He added that during questioning, the 24-year-old said another man was supplying him with  canisters, which are used to fill up the balloons with laughing gas.

He was cautioned for illegally selling substances which can cause damage to someone’s health and will appear in court at a later date.

The canisters were sent to the state laboratory for testing with initial results showing there were no traces of narcotics. Drug squad spokesman Stelios Sergides told the Cyprus Mail that more detailed tests would be carried out to establish what substances were in the canisters and what effects they could possibly have on the human body.

Police investigations are ongoing although no more arrests have been made.

 

 

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Part of Limassol hospital evacuated due to electricity fault

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ÊÁÐÍÏÉ ÓÔÏ ÍÏÓÏÊÏÌÅÉÏ ËÅÌÅÓÏÕ

By Peter Stevenson

THE FIRST two floors of Limassol general hospital were evacuated on Thursday when smoke was seen coming from an elevator shaft after an emergency generator was being used following the malfunction of an Electricity Authority (EAC) transformer.

The transformer had leaked oil and overheated on Wednesday night, and according to head of the hospital Chrysostomos Andronicou, the relevant authorities had been informed of the problem. He said that the fire services had check on the problem on Wednesday night and that the EAC had promised to deal with it on Thursday.

Andronicou had given instructions to staff following the fault to reduce electricity consumption by stopping the use of air conditioners and other electric devices such as washing machines and sterilising equipment.

He added that while EAC employees were busy replacing the transformer on Thursday, and while the hospital generators were in operation a number of power cuts occurred and smoke was seen coming from the elevator shaft.

The smoke was due to the excessive friction in the elevator brakes according to a fire services spokesman.

The first two floors were then immediately evacuated, including the emergency department, as fire fighters arrived. It was established that there was no danger so instructions were given to patients to re-enter the hospital shortly afterwards.

Andronicou expressed his anger that the EAC did not deal with the problem immediately.

“Unfortunately the EAC did not deal with us seriously. We are a big hospital and you cannot start work when you have had a problem since 3pm the previous day,” he said.

A number of patients and their relatives expressed their discontent that the air conditioners had not been working since Wednesday afternoon.

In response, the EAC released a statement categorically denying Andronicou’s claims.

“Allegations were not substantiated and were evidently made to cover mistakes made by the hospital,” the statement said.

The EAC clarified that no power cut had taken place from their side other than when they were forced to change the transformer.

“Hospital personnel were informed from the previous day that a transformer would need to be changed and it was agreed that the transformer would be switched off on Thursday morning,” the statement said.

The EAC claimed the transformer malfunctioned as it has been overloaded which was the hospital’s responsibility.

“Because changing the transformer was not an emergency it was decided it could be switched the next day,” the statement said.

 

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Egypt’s Mubarak leaves prison for house arrest

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Mubarak transferred to military hospital in Maadi

By Maggie Fick and Tom Perry

Egypt’s former autocrat Hosni Mubarak was flown from jail on Thursday in a symbolic victory for an army-dominated old order that has overthrown and imprisoned his freely elected Islamist successor.

A blue-and-white helicopter took Mubarak from Cairo’s Tora prison, where scores of his supporters had gathered to hail his release. He was flown to a military hospital in the nearby southern suburb of Maadi, officials said.

“He protected the country,” said Lobna Mohamed, a housewife in the crowd of Mubarak well-wishers. “He is a good man, but we want (Abdel Fattah) Sisi now,” she said, referring to the army commander who overthrew Islamist Mohamed Mursi on July 3.

For Mubarak’s enemies, the moment marked a reversal of the Jan. 2011 pro-democracy uprising that brought him down after three decades in power as one of the pillars of authoritarian rule in the Middle East.

But some Egyptians, many of whom have rallied behind the army’s decision to depose Mursi, expressed fondness for the 85-year-old former air force commander whose tight grip on power brought stability.

Judicial authorities had ordered Mubarak’s release from Tora. His lawyer and other sources said earlier that his first destination would be an upscale hospital northeast of Cairo.

The prime minister’s office has said Mubarak will be placed under house arrest.

That decision was made under a month-long state of emergency declared last week when police stormed protest camps set up in Cairo by deposed leader Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood to call for his reinstatement.

According to official sources, about 900 people, including some 100 soldiers and police, have been killed in violence across Egypt since then, making it the bloodiest bout of internal strife in the country’s modern history as a republic. The Brotherhood says the toll is even higher. Most of the victims were gunned down by security forces.

In the latest violence, gunmen in a car killed an army major and a soldier near the Suez Canal city of Ismailia, security sources said. Two soldiers were wounded. The assailants escaped.

Mubarak’s release dismayed some Egyptians.

“He should stay in prison. The country is facing obstacles so people are turning back to Mubarak. They don’t know what they are doing,” said Hoda Saleh, a fully veiled woman who was leaving Tora, where her brother is an inmate.

To outsiders who watch Egypt, the symbolism was powerful.

“This is the end. Mubarak will never be an important political player, but symbolically, it’s a victory dance by the reconstituted old state under the leadership of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces,” said Joshua Stacher, an Egypt expert at Kent State University in the United States.

Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison last year for failing to prevent the killing of demonstrators. But a court accepted his appeal earlier this year and ordered a retrial in the case, for which he has already served the maximum amount of pre-trial detention. Mubarak was arrested in April, 2011.

This week, two court rulings in separate corruption cases removed the last legal grounds for his continued detention, although he will not be allowed to leave Egypt and his assets remain frozen.

“WE LOVE MUBARAK”

At the Maadi hospital where he was taken, there were few signs of extra security for Mubarak apart from three police cars parked around the corner. Soldiers guarded the main gate, across a tree-lined boulevard from a Nile restaurant and boat club.

Patients and visitors on foot and in cars came and went from the white- and green-painted medical complex which resembles a beach hotel, with palm trees and landscaped gardens.

At the prison he left behind, Mohamed Hussein, a 36-year-old jobless man waiting outside to visit a jailed relative, said: “We love Mubarak.” His sister Fatheya chimed in: “Isn’t it enough that for 30 years he did not drag us into a war, and let us live in dignity?”

A brief commotion occurred when the daughter of a jailed Brotherhood leader, Khairat al-Shater, berated journalists awaiting Mubarak’s release. “Why are you waiting for Mubarak?” Khadija al-Shater asked. “We Islamists are in jail in there.”

As several Egyptian journalists shouted at her to answer for the deaths of police officers in the unrest, she said she had been denied access to her imprisoned father. Asked if he had seen a lawyer, she told Reuters: “His lawyer is in jail.”

Mubarak’s release plays into the Brotherhood’s argument that the military is trying to rehabilitate the old order. The army-installed government casts its conflict with the Islamist movement as a life-or-death struggle against terrorism.

Political upheaval has gripped Egypt since Mursi’s removal by the army on July 3, just over a year after he was elected.

The military’s declared plan for a return to democracy has yet to calm the most populous Arab nation, where security forces impose a nightly curfew as they hunt down Brotherhood leaders.

The clampdown appears to have weakened the Arab world’s oldest and arguably most influential Islamist group, which won five successive votes in Egypt in the two and a half years since Mubarak fell.

“FRIDAY OF MARTYRS”

The Brotherhood’s ability to stage pro-Mursi demonstrations has faded in the past few days. One of its spokesmen, Ahmed Aref, was arrested on Thursday, the state news agency reported.

Brotherhood supporters have nevertheless called on Egyptians to hold marches on the weekly Muslim prayer day, billed as a “Friday of Martyrs”, against the army takeover.

A pro-Mursi alliance called the National Coalition to Support Legitimacy said in a statement: “We will remain steadfast on the road to defeating the military coup.”

Alarmed by the bloodshed, the United States and European Union are reviewing their aid to Cairo. Saudi Arabia, a foe of the Brotherhood, has promised to cover any shortfall. It and other rich Gulf Arab states have already pledged $12 billion since Mursi’s fall.

EU foreign ministers stopped short of agreeing immediate cuts in aid to Egypt on Wednesday, in part because of concern that doing so could damage any future EU mediation effort.

An EU attempt to broker a compromise collapsed before security forces cleared out the Brotherhood protest camps.

James Moran, the bloc’s ambassador in the Egyptian capital, described reconciliation prospects as a huge challenge.

“Passions are high, emotions are high. Things have to cool off a little bit,” he said, skirting a question on whether the Brotherhood is committed to terrorism, as state media contend.

“It would be good if this is not all painted one colour. There may be different strains of opinion within the Islamist movement,” he said. “One thing is for sure – the Islamist constituency is there, and you are going to have to find a way somehow of living with it.”

A senior United Nations official, Jeffrey Feltman, met interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi on Thursday as part of an effort to promote peace and reconciliation.

The government has bristled at foreign attempts to use aid or persuasion to nudge it to seek a political compromise.

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Michaelides remains in hospital

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dinos-michalides

 

FORMER minister Dinos Michaelides remained in hospital on Thursday, after he fell ill on Wednesday during a hearing before a Limassol court that ordered his arrest in connection with money laundering.

A senior prison official said he was under guard at Nicosia general hospital where he underwent tests on Thursday.

The former minister is understood to be in a good condition but it was not immediately clear when he would be discharged from hospital and moved to a police cell.

Michaelides and his son Michalis are wanted in Greece in connection with alleged kickbacks paid in the purchase by Greece of Russian TOR-M1 surface-to-air missile systems.

They have been fighting extradition for the past couple of months.

The court on Wednesday ordered that Michaelides, 76, remained in custody until he was handed over to Greece.

Greek authorities had issued a European arrest warrant for Michaelides and son back in July.

His son’s case will be heard on September 4.

The pair had been implicated after the arrest of former Greek defence minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos in connection with the case.

The alleged offences that father and son are wanted for, took place between 1997 and 2001.

They deny any wrongdoing but said they want to be tried in Cyprus.

 

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Deal reached to move Larnaca fuel installations

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ΛΑΡΝΑΚΑ ΠΕΤΡΕΛΑΙΟΔΕΞΑΜΕΝΕΣ 1.

THE INTERIOR minister and the Larnaca municipality agreed on Thursday that gas and fuel installations on the town’s coast would be moved but no timeframes have been set.

“We all agree on the matter of the terminals and the gas,” Hasikos said after the meeting. “What remains is the time, the timeframe in which the (fuel) companies must abandon the area.”

The plan is to move the installations to Vassilikos.

The minister said the companies will not be receiving any form of compensation.

Hasikos will meet the companies early next month.

“I believe we will progress and very soon we will also have the area where these companies will be located in the broader vicinity of the energy centre at Vassilikos,” Hasikos said.

The minister had pledged that fuel and gas terminals on the Larnaca coast would be moved within three years.

In July, the Larnaca municipality secured a court order for the removal of the installations within 18 months.

The order comes into effect the day it is signed by the interior minister who can change the timeframe provided he justified his action.

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State aims to save €700m in 2014

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Finance Minister Harris Georgiades

 

By Stefanos Evripidou

THE GOVERNMENT aims to reduce state spending by 10 per cent in 2014, and reduce the public deficit without imposing new taxes, Finance Minister Harris Georgiades told an audience of overseas Cypriots yesterday.

Speaking at the 17th annual conference of Greek and Cypriot organisations abroad, Georgiades said this amounted to savings of around €700 million.

The aim is to reduce the public deficit to around €500m next year and ensure a primary surplus by 2016, a step closer towards Cyprus returning to international markets for capital.

He assured overseas Cypriots that the government’s policy focused on curbing spending, not imposing new taxes, adding: “We will secure taxation stability.”

“We lived beyond our means” both in the public and private sector, he told the audience.

The Cypriot state was spending more than it earned, and not on development projects, creating continual deficits and a growing debt, said the minister.

At the same time, banks were lending money beyond the means of the real economy, with the money directed towards consumption.

“In just three years from 2005 to 2007, private lending doubled.”

The two factors combined proved lethal.

“We had excessive borrowing and unsustainable credit expansion and at the same time a state which spent more than it should,” he said.

Georgiades described the adjustment programme Cyprus agreed to with its international lenders (European Commission, IMF and European Central Bank) as a “very difficult and ambitious” one, stressing however that the government will stick to it.

“We want to limit next year’s budget by more than 10 per cent. This is not easy but this is what we will pursue, ensuring also stability of tax yields and thereby the prospect of attracting new investments and encouraging entrepreneurship.”

Once government got a grip on public finances and reduced expenditures it would also lower the tax burden, he said.

The government also planned to make significant structural changes, referring to the new social welfare policy, new healthcare plan and “ambitious” reform of the public sector.

Regarding Cyprus’ battered banking sector, the minister argued that it was stabilising day by day.

 

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Brits who holiday here can’t pinpoint Cyprus on a map

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By Stefanos Evripidou

MORE THAN half of British holidaymakers visiting Cyprus confused the island with Greece, revealed a study by British Airways on the geographic awareness of the former colonial power’s subjects.

According to an article in the Daily Mail, despite Britain having a long and tumultuous relationship with its former colony, the majority of holidaymakers coming to Cyprus don’t really know where it is.

When shown a map, 53 per cent of Britons booked to go to Cyprus thought it was part of mainland Greece while just under a half thought Turkey was in the Ukraine.

Almost a quarter of those heading to Spain thought it was geographically located in France while 14 per cent of people looking for French resorts pointed towards Belgium.

The same figure confused Italy with Belarus while 24 per cent of those visiting Ireland thought it was in Spain.

Overall, a third of respondents admitted they found it difficult to pinpoint where they went on holiday.

Claire Bentley, representing British Airways Holidays, which conducted the survey, told the Daily Mail: “It is surprising to think that people are prepared to spend their hard earned wages on a holiday, without researching something as important as its location.”

The key factor in booking a holiday appeared to be the temperature for 65 per cent of Britons, while local attractions came a close second (61 per cent).

Just over half of respondents said accommodation is an important factor when booking a holiday, while 48 per cent were attracted to a hotel’s facilities.

Around 47 per cent were concerned about the currency used at their holiday destination, while 24 per cent wanted a decent swimming pool, 34 per cent wanted easy access to a beach, and 10 per cent wanted a decent pub.

Four in ten people admitted they often travelled to a holiday destination not knowing much about where they are going, not researching cultural differences, or bothering to locate their intended destination on a map.

Seven in ten people realised they should be more knowledgeable about their holiday destinations in the future, said the Daily Mail.

 

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UN chief asks Syria to allow speedy chemical attack investigation

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Opening session of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

By Michelle Nichols and Louis Charbonneau

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked the Syrian government on Thursday to allow U.N. inspectors to investigate the latest alleged chemical attack in the country’s civil war “without delay” and grant them access to the site near Damascus.

Ban has asked the U.N. High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Angela Kane, to travel to Damascus to push for access for the U.N. team, which arrived in Syria on Sunday to investigate several previous claims of chemical weapons use.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government is under increasing pressure from Western and Gulf Arab countries and Assad’s ally Russia to allow access to the rebel-held site of Wednesday’s pre-dawn attack. The opposition Syrian National Coalition has also urged U.N. access.

“The Secretary-General believes that the incidents reported yesterday need to be investigated without delay,” Ban’s press office said in a statement. “A formal request is being sent by the United Nations to the government of Syria in this regard. He expects to receive a positive response without delay.”

Syria’s government offered no immediate public response to calls on Thursday for the U.N. team to inspect the site.

Assad opponents gave death tolls from the attack ranging from 500 to well over 1,000 and said on Thursday that more bodies were still being found. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons.

The U.N. team, led by Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom, is already looking into three claims of chemical use in Syria’s conflict. The United Nations has received a total of 14 reports of possible chemical attacks – one from Syria’s government and the rest from Britain, France and the United States.

INQUIRY WON’T PLACE BLAME

The Syrian government and the opposition have accused each other of using chemical weapons, and both have denied doing so. The U.N. inquiry will try to establish only whether chemical weapons were used, not who used them.

Ban said on Monday that if the experts found that chemical weapons had been used then it would be up to “the international community to determine what course of action should be taken to prove … accountability and what needs to be done.”

“Use of chemical weapons is a violation of international law and international human rights law,” Ban told a news conference.

The United Nations has been demanding unfettered access in Syria to conduct the investigation. Sellstrom’s team consists of experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the World Health Organization.

Ban appointed Sellstrom to lead the inquiry in March, but diplomatic wrangling and concerns over safety prevented his team from entering Syria until this week.

Syria is one of seven countries that have not joined the 1997 convention banning chemical weapons. Western countries believe it has stockpiles of undeclared mustard gas, sarin and VX nerve agents.

The United Nations says more than 100,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict since 2011.

More than 1.9 million Syrians have fled the country – two-thirds of those since the start of the year – and more than 4.2 million people have been internally displaced, the United Nations has said. Most of those in need are women and children.

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UEFA Europa League Play-Off Round Results

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Aug 22 (Infostrada Sports) – Results from the UEFA Europa League play-offs first leg matches on Thursday

Udinese (Italy) – Slovan Liberec (Czech Republic) 1-3 (halftime: 1-1)
Zulte Waregem (Belgium) – APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus) 1-1 (halftime: 1-0)
Chernomorets Odessa (Ukraine) – Skenderbeu (Albania) 1-0 (halftime: 0-0)
Rijeka (Croatia) – VfB Stuttgart (Germany) 2-1 (halftime: 0-0)
Partizan Belgrade (Serbia) – Thun (Switzerland) 1-0 (halftime: 0-0)
Vojvodina Novi Sad (Serbia) – Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova) 1-1 (halftime: 0-1)
Swansea City (Wales) – Petrolul Ploiesti (Romania) 5-1 (halftime: 3-0)
Apollon Limassol (Cyprus) – Nice (France) 2-0 (halftime: 0-0)
FH (Iceland) – Racing Genk (Belgium) 0-2 (halftime: 0-1)
Elfsborg Boras (Sweden) – Nordsjaelland (Denmark) 1-1 (halftime: 0-1)
Pandurii Targu-Jiu (Romania) – Braga (Portugal) 0-1 (halftime: 0-0)
Tromso (Norway) – Besiktas (Turkey) 2-1 (halftime: 0-1)
Kukesi (Albania) – Trabzonspor (Turkey) 0-2 (halftime: 0-1)
Esbjerg (Denmark) – St Etienne (France) 4-3 (halftime: 1-2)
St Gallen (Switzerland) – Spartak Moscow (Russia) 1-1 (halftime: 0-1)
Kalju Nomme (Estonia) – Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine) 1-3 (halftime: 0-2)
Molde (Norway) – Rubin Kazan (Russia) 0-2 (halftime: 0-1)
Salzburg (Austria) – Zalgiris Vilnius (Lithuania) 5-0 (halftime: 3-0)
Atromitos Athinon (Greece) – AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands) 1-3 (halftime: 0-0)
FK Minsk (Belarus) – Standard Liege (Belgium) 0-2 (halftime: 0-0)
Maccabi Haifa (Israel) – FC Astra (Romania) 2-0 (halftime: 1-0)
Dynamo Tbilisi (Georgia) – Tottenham Hotspur (England) 0-5 (halftime: 0-2)
Jablonec (Czech Republic) – Real Betis (Spain) 1-2 (halftime: 1-1)
Garabagh Agdam (Azerbaijan) – Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany) 0-2 (halftime: 0-1)
Kuban Krasnodar (Russia) – Feyenoord (Netherlands) 1-0 (halftime: 0-0)
FK Aktobe (Kazakhstan) – Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine) 2-3 (halftime: 1-1)

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Successful Europa night for Cypriot teams

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By Nemanja Bjedov

Limassol outfit Apollon celebrated an unlikely 2-0 victory over French side OCG Nice at Nicosia’s GSP Stadium, while Cypriot champions APOEL secured a 1-1 draw away with Belgium’s SV Zulte-Waregem, in the first leg of the Europa League playoff round on Thursday night.

After a very slow first half, Apollon’s Argentinean forward Gaston Sangoy scored twice to provide his team with an excellent result before the second leg next week in France.

Sangoy, who played for Apollon from 2007 to 2010 and returned to Limassol after three seasons in Spain where he played for Sporting Gijon, opened proceedings directly from a free kick nine minutes into the second half, then made it 2-0 10 minutes later when he connected with Roberto Garcia’s cross.

Meanwhile, at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium in Brussels, Zulte-Waregem took the lead midway into the first half when Chelsea’s Eden Hazard’s younger brother Thorgan, assisted defender Junior Malanda to beat Urko Pardo in APOEL’s goal.

Both Hazard and Malanda are on loan at Zulte-Waregem, from Chelsea and VfL Wolfsburg respectively.

When Pardo made an excellent save after Jens Naessens’ placed shot with two minutes remaining in the regulation, it looked like the Belgian side would bring a narrow win with them to Nicosia for next Thursday’s second leg.

But Nektarios Alexandrou had other plans and he made it all square in the last minute of the match, much to the delight of the numerous loyal APOEL fans who had flown in to support their team.

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Gang rape of photo journalist shocks Indian financial city Mumbai

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Journalist gang-raped in Mumbai, one arrested

By Mumbai Bureau and Shyamantha Asokan and Aditya Kalra in New Delhi

A photo journalist was gang-raped in the Indian city of Mumbai, police said on Friday, evoking comparisons with a similar incident in Delhi in December that led to nationwide protests and a revision of the country’s rape laws.

The attack on Thursday evening triggered protests and an outcry on social media, with many users shocked that it took place in Mumbai, widely considered to be India’s safest city for women.

“An FIR has been registered … nobody has been arrested so far,” a head constable at the police station dealing with the case told Reuters. An FIR is a preliminary police report. Several people were detained for questioning, another policeman said. Some media reports said one man had been arrested.

In rowdy scenes in the upper house of parliament, the opposition accused the government of not doing enough to protect women, despite tougher sex crime laws brought in this year.

The victim, who is in her early twenties, was admitted on Thursday night to a hospital in south Mumbai, where she is in a stable condition, a hospital official told Reuters by e-mail.

The attack took place in an abandoned textile mill in Lower Parel, a gritty former industrial district that is now one of the city’s fastest-growing neighborhoods of luxury apartments, malls and bars, media reports said. The woman was working on an assignment with a male colleague.

“In the evening, the girl and her colleague were clicking pictures. Two men approached her asking her if she had permission to shoot. Another man then joined in and the photographer was gang-raped,” Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh told an Indian television station. Other reports said more men were involved in the attack.

“We’ve brought in 10 people for questioning. A case of gang rape has been filed,” Singh said.

Several dozen mainly male supporters of the right-wing Shiv Sena political party gathered with flags and banners outside the police station where the case was filed. A further protest was called later in the afternoon.

Women’s safety in India has been in the spotlight this year following the brutal gang rape of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in December, which led thousands of Indians to take to the streets in protest. The woman died of her injuries two weeks later in a Singapore hospital.

The trials of the four men and one juvenile accused of the December attack are expected to conclude within the next three weeks. The verdict on the juvenile suspect is set for Aug 31. Closing arguments in the trial of the four adult suspects started on Thursday.

Following public outcry over the Delhi attack, India introduced tougher rape laws in March, which include the death penalty for repeat offenders and for those whose victims were left in a “vegetative state”.

In contrast to Delhi, Mumbai has long been considered a safer place for women to travel alone, even at night.

“(Mumbai) has this sense of security … but these things make us feel that maybe we are not really that safe,” said A. L. Sharada, director of Population First, an NGO that works on women’s rights issues.

“Women should be able to move freely and take up work. Why should we be worrying about something bad happening to us all the time?” Sharada added.

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Favourable draw for Baghdatis at US Open

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US Open Tennis

By Nemanja Bjedov

Marcos Baghdatis has been drawn to play a qualifier in the opening round of the U.S. Open, which is scheduled to start on Monday at New York’s Flushing Meadows.

If the 28-year-old Cypriot – now ranked 53rd in the Emirates ATP Rankings after falling out of the Top 50 for the first time since November 2011 – manages to advance into the second round, he would then face the winner of the match between 17th seed South African Kevin Anderson and Daniel Brands of Germany.

In the same quarter of the draw are last year’s winner Andy Murray and fifth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych.

Baghdatis has never reached the third round of this event in seven attempts.

He progressed to the second round on three occasions, including last season when he was eliminated by Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov in four sets, while also recording four first-round exits.

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