By Megha Rajagopalan

China has accused two risk consultants, a British man and his American wife, of illegally buying and selling private information, state media reported on Tuesday, amid a nationwide probe into the drugs industry.

The Briton, Peter Humphrey, and his American wife, Yu Yingzeng, were detained in Shanghai on July 10 as police investigated bribery accusations against British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

A police investigator in Shanghai, Lu Wei, said on state-run CCTV the couple “wantonly” obtained a lot of information on home registrations, international travel, and property records.

They sold the information to lawyers, multinational companies and financial institutions, CCTV said.

Humphrey said in a statement broadcast on CCTV that he had occasionally used illegal methods.

“I sometimes used illegal means to obtain personal information,” Humphrey said in Mandarin to a camera as he sat handcuffed wearing an orange vest.

“I very much regret this and apologise to the Chinese government,” said Humphrey, who once worked as a journalist for Reuters.

ChinaWhys, the investigative risk consultancy Humphrey and Yu founded, worked for many firms including GSK, separate sources familiar with the matter have said.

Chinese police have been investigating bribery accusations against GSK since July, though Chinese media reports on Humphrey and Yu made no mention of the firm.

“We were concerned to see that Peter Humphrey was interviewed about the details of a case which is currently under investigation and has yet to come to trial,” Britain’s foreign office said in a statement. “We are continuing to provide consular assistance to Mr Humphrey and his family.”

The American embassy could not immediately be reached for comment.

Jason Cai, a Chinese investigator who worked with Humphrey and Yu, was arrested around the same time, said a source with direct knowledge of the matter. Cai was not mentioned in the state media reports, and his arrest has not been announced.

Shanghai police did not respond to a faxed request for comment.

The ChinaWhys website says Humphrey has worked as a risk management specialist and corporate detective for 14 years.

Cai Hua, a Chinese criminal lawyer, said it was difficult to say how heavy the penalty would be if the couple is convicted.

“For the most part, it rests on the extent of the damage the crime has done and the amount of information obtained,” said Cai, who is not related to Jason Cai.

The couple “confessed to the crime without concealing anything,” the state-controlled Xinhua news agency reported. “actions seriously violated the personal privacy of Chinese citizens.”

“Whether it’s a Chinese person or foreigner engaging in illegal activities, public security organs will firmly crack down without holding back,” the news agency said.

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By Alice Baghdjian
Greeted by a press pack rather than prostitutes, the first customer to roll up to Switzerland’s sex drive-in on opening night took one lap of the facility before making a hasty exit.
The second car, a family vehicle driven by a man in sunglasses under cloudy evening skies, broke down and needed jump starting in front of a host of photographers, sniggering into their cameras.
Zurich authorities had said they expected a modest start to the country’s first so-called “sex boxes”, a row of drive-in wooden garages on a looping track where clients in cars can visit prostitutes, shielded from prying eyes and security cameras.
With an estimated annual turnover of around 3.5 billion Swiss francs ($3.79 billion), prostitution has been legal in Switzerland since 1942, with sex workers in Zurich required to have a special permit, health insurance and pay tax.
The number of prostitutes in the Alpine nation has risen sharply over the last decade, due to the decriminalisation of procuring and passive solicitation of sex alongside agreements between Switzerland and the European Union on free movement of people.
The sex boxes, which echo similar drive-in systems in the Netherlands and Germany, are being touted as a way to get large numbers of prostitutes and their clients off Switzerland’s otherwise pristine streets.
Complete with panic buttons in each shed, showers, a laundry room and on-site health workers, supporters say the system offers relative security to sex workers and privacy to their clients, while reducing the disturbance to locals.
“The existing strips were simply too strained,” said Ursula Kocher at Zurich’s welfare department.
“The conditions for the women were completely unhygienic and dangerous, they had to work in woods or secluded car parks,” Kocher said, standing in front of the boxes.
Only four prostitutes were on site at the start of the evening, but Kocher said she was sure more women would come to the compound, where they would have access to contraceptives, counselling and sexual health checks.
Between 7pm and 5am, men can cruise along the track and choose a prostitute from wooden shelters before parking in one of the nine drive-in boxes.
Though clients must arrive alone in a car, they also have the option of parking and visiting two smaller boxes or one of four camper vans on foot.
Prostitutes at the facility declined to talk to journalists or allow them to take their pictures.
Some critics have voiced concern that the novel fascination with the sex boxes, which have cost taxpayers more than 2 million francs to construct, is a distraction from more serious issues about exploitation and human trafficking.
“It would be more revealing to ask: what sort of men buy sexual services of young women on the street?” said Andrea Gisler, president of Zurich’s Frauenzentrale women’s group, adding the boxes only relocated red light activities to the outskirts of the city.
“The prostitutes and their protection has never come into it,” Gisler said.

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LARNACA district court on Tuesday remanded in police custody three men on suspicion of committing fraud and bribery in connection with a multimillion land deal involving state telecoms company CyTA.

The suspects are two police sergeants, Costas Miamiliotis, 40, and Lefteris Mouskos, 53, members of the secret service and 42-year-old businessman Nicos Lillis.

Lillis is a shareholder in Wadnic Trading Ltd, the company which purchased the land in 2007, and also the chairman of Alki football club.

The officers – already suspended from duty – are suspected of drafting a false report that enabled the sale of the land, which belonged to a Turkish Cypriot.

The businessman, Nicos Lillis, is suspected of bribing the two officers to draft a favourable report.

The two officers allegedly produced a report saying the Turkish Cypriot seller had resided in the government-controlled areas for six months – a necessary condition — prior to selling the land.

Detectives have traced two cheques – one for €10,000, the other €40,000 – made out to the two officers by Lillis.

An arrest warrant has meanwhile been issued for another former secret service officer, believed to be abroad.

The land in Dromolaxia, Larnaca, was sold to a Greek Cypriot businessman who allegedly changed its terms of use, upgraded the coefficients, built on it and sold it on to the CyTA pension fund, at several times the price he bought it from the original owner.

The three suspects appearing in court yesterday face a host of charges, including: conspiracy to defraud; engaging in fraudulent transactions on real estate property belonging to a third person; corruption of a public functionary; bribery; and legitimizing ill-gotten gains.

The alleged offences in question took place between 2007 and July 18 of this year in the Larnaca, Famagusta and Nicosia districts, police said.

Authorities began looking into the land deal in Dromolaxia in the wake of allegations made before a panel of inquiry, which is still ongoing.

The arrests largely hinge on the testimony provided to the committee by businessman Charalambos Liotatis, formerly connected to Wadnic Trading Ltd, the company which bought the land plot in 2007.

The panel heard how the Turkish Cypriot owner of the land had obtained papers certifying he resided in Dheryneia, where he supposedly worked as a confectioner.

Liotatis has implicated an MP and a senior CyTA official, whom the company allegedly bribed to the tune of €1.0 million each, as well as two major unions that allegedly were to receive €500,000 to grease the deal. Wadnic Trading has denied all claims.

The businessman claims also that he and Lillis once met with Neoclis Sylikiotis, the interior minister and custodian of Turkish Cypriot properties at the time in question.

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THE DEADLINE for applications for student grants ends on August 31, while child benefit applications will stop being accepted on December 31 the finance ministry announced yesterday.

The ministry called on families with one, two or more children who are eligible to apply for benefits this year to apply as soon as possible so their cases can be examined in a timely manner.

The ministry said that deadlines would be strictly adhered to.

Application forms are available at the offices of the grants and benefits services, the finance ministry, the citizen’s bureau and from the finance ministry’s website on www.mof.gov.cy

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By Liza Dobkina
Police seized a painting of Russia’s president and prime minister in women’s underwear from a gallery in St Petersburg, saying the satirical display had broken unspecified laws.
The officers also removed a picture of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, his torso covered in tattoos, and two others poking fun at lawmakers who have backed legislation banning so-called gay propaganda, gallery staff said.
The police service said it had taken paintings from the Museum of Power gallery – based in two rooms of a flat – late on Monday after receiving reports they were illegal.
It gave no further detail but Russia does have a law against insulting authorities – an offence that carries a maximum one-year prison term.
One painting showed President Vladimir Putin wearing a tight-fitting slip and brushing the hair of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who is wearing knickers and a bra.
St Petersburg deputy Vitaly Mironov, whose face was combined with the gay rights movement’s rainbow flag in one of the paintings, told Reuters the images were inappropriate and “of a distinctly pornographic character”.
St Petersburg, which next week hosts world leaders at a G20 summit, was one of the first Russian cities to introduce a law banning the spread of “gay propaganda”.
The Russian parliament has also adopted similar legislation, prompting protests from abroad and calls for a boycott of the Winter Olympics which Russia will host in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in February.
Gallery owner Alexander Donskoy said the officers had also shut down his establishment and gave him no explanation for the removal of paintings from the exhibition, titled ‘Leaders’.
“This is an (illegal) seizure,” he told Reuters. “We have been given no formal documents banning us from operating and no receipt confirming our petty cash was seized.”

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A 59-YEAR-old man from Paphos was seriously injured by a boat propeller while swimming off the coast of Latchi yesterday.

The man was hit yesterday afternoon while swimming in the waters off Latchi by a boat operated by a British national. He was rushed to Paphos general hospital where he underwent surgery after sustaining serious injuries to his leg and chest.

Doctors determined his condition to be serious.

Police are investigating the circumstances of the accident.

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The UK’s Ministry of Defence Medal Office has posthumously awarded a Cypriot veteran of the Second World War three medals.

Neophytos Georgiou Kamara from Emba in the Paphos district joined the Cyprus Regiment of the British Army as a volunteer in 1940.

He initially fought in North Africa, along with other Cypriots, in the famous battles of El Alamein and Tobruk, but was captured a year later in Greece by the Nazis.

Georgiou was sent to a Prisoner of War labour camp in Germany, where he spent four years until the camp was liberated following the end of the war.

He died a year and a half ago at the age of 96.

According to Cyprus News Agency, he was awarded the War Medal, the Africa Star and the 1939-45 Star.

The medals were recently received by his son, Giorgos Hadjigeorgiou, a former head of the Fire Service.

Hadjigeorgiou expressed his family’s satisfaction with the awards, noting that it would have been a great honour for his father had he received these distinctions while alive.

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By Joseph Nye

There has been much talk lately of the perceived decline of the United States as a world power, and of the rise of China. But the soothsayers should take a closer look at the omens, because the signs they’re reading are more complicated than they think.

The United States isn’t in decline. It’s simply operating in a changing world that presents a different set of challenges.

Projections of China surpassing the United States are examples of one-dimensional thinking in a world where power is multi-dimensional. The focus is too much on the single yardstick of overall gross domestic product, and not enough on the more refined measure of GDP per capita, or on military primacy, or on soft power.

The United States is going to retain its position as the world’s largest power, wielding more influence than any other country, for the foreseeable future.

But that doesn’t mean it’s going to get its way, have full control, or bring its power to bear in every situation around the world. Rather, the United States is going to have to work with others to get things done.

In some cases, U.S. influence in the world has declined in past 10 years, but in others it has grown.

In East Asia, for instance, U.S. power is as great as – or greater than – it was 10 years ago. This is because many East Asian countries worry about the rise of China and look to the United States to counterbalance Beijing’s ascendancy.

On the other hand, the United States is less able to influence events in the Middle East today, primarily because of the diffusion of power in the region, and because more people are participating in political processes through what is misleadingly called the “Arab Spring,” but should be called the “Arab revolutions.”

As a result of these revolutions, countries in the Middle East are less amenable to external pressures. In fact, the information revolution, which has vastly increased the leverage of the person on the street, means that all major governments – not just that of the United States – now have less influence.

While nations deemed “superpowers” are said to have supreme power and influence, no country can fully control how events around the world turn out.

From 1945 to 1950, for instance, the United States wielded immense international power. It had sole possession of nuclear weapons and the world’s largest economy by far. Yet, it was unable to prevent Chinese communists from taking over in China, or the Soviet Union from developing nuclear weapons.

Furthermore, the ability of the United States to bring its power to bear around the world during the 20th century was just as much affected by domestic pressures as by external ones.

In the aftermath of World War I, the United States had the strongest economy in the world. However, the isolationist policies coming out of Washington, D.C. in the 1930s limited the country’s ability to build on that power internationally.

Something similar happened in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. The nation was scarred by bloody images from the front lines and internal dissent over a conflict that many saw as morally questionable. The United States shied away from further foreign entanglements.

Today, the United States is examining its role in societies like Iraq and Afghanistan, and is concluding that it’s time to draw down its presence there. At the same time, it realizes that its presence is essential to maintaining a balance of power in East Asia so that China is less likely to bully its neighbors. But while the Obama administration is adjusting its foreign policy so that it focuses more on East Asia, it can’t turn its back on the Middle East. It has too many interests there, including energy, nuclear non-proliferation, and general regional stability.

As for the perceived loss of America’s much-vaunted superpower status, we simply need to come to terms with the changing reality of international relations, and accept that the United States will have to work with others to achieve its global aims. The changes of a global information age mean that even the world’s only superpower can’t go it alone.

Joseph Nye is the former Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and is currently the University Distinguished Service Professor there. He served as Deputy to the Undersecretary of State for Security Assistance, Science, and Technology and chaired the National Security Council Group on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1977-79). He also served as Chairman of the National Intelligence Council (1993-94). His latest book published in 2013 is Presidential Leadership and the Creation of the American Era.

This article originally appeared at  www.themarknews.com

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By George Psyllides

THE SUPREME Court will announce on Tuesday its decision concerning the appeal against the extradition of former minister Dinos Michaelides to Greece, where he is wanted in connection with money laundering.

On the second day of the hearing, Michaelides’ defence filed a motion to refer a pre-trial question to the European Court concerning the interpretation of the articles of framework agreement on the European arrest warrant and the hand-over procedures between member states.

The request caused a one-hour break in the procedure, which restarted with human rights lawyer Achilleas Demetriades, who joined Michaelides’ team, arguing in favour of submitting a pre-trial request.

The motion was later withdrawn.

Presiding judge Stelios Nathanael told the defence there was no question of interpretation thus no need for submitting a pre-trial question.

Nathanael added that such a procedure would take at least 22 months.

The hearing continued with the state presenting its arguments on why Michaelides’ extradition was legit.

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.

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.

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THE superefficient Boeing 787 Dreamliner will be arriving for the first time in Cyprus on Sunday, Hermes Airports has said.

Thomson Travel’s luxury airliner will fly from Manchester to Larnaca on Sunday and also from Gatwick to Paphos the following Wednesday. It is unclear whether Thomson will use the Dreamliner for the already existing routes to Cyprus in future.

Hermes Airports spokesman Adamos Aspris told the Cyprus Mail that Hermes and the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) were planning special events to welcome arrival and also to see off departing passengers on Sunday and Wednesday at both locations.

Arrivals will be able to sample traditional sweets and wine while departures will have music played by a DJ, Aspris said.  “It is the first time the Dreamliner is coming to Cyprus and we hope it will be the first of many,” he said.

According to the Boeing website, the Dreamliner is a superefficient airplane with new passenger-pleasing features. “It will bring the economics of large jet transports to the middle of the market, using 20 percent less fuel than any other airplane of its size,” Boeing said.

It can seat 210 to 250 passengers and has a wing span of 60 metres.  The Dreamliner is 17 metres tall and its first official flight took place in December 2009.

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The foreign ministry on Wednesday issued travel advisories for Egypt and Syria, urging all Cypriot citizens residing in or visiting Syria to leave the country immediately, in light of the deteriorating situation.

Due to the absence of a Cyprus diplomatic mission in Syria, the foreign ministry warned that it is not in a position to provide direct consular assistance to Cypriot citizens there.

In emergency cases, Cypriot citizens can contact the ministry’s duty officer in Nicosia on +357-99660129, or the ministry’s Crisis Management Department on +357-22801000 or the Cyprus Embassy in Beirut on + 961-1-329500 ext. 101, or on the after office hours emergency number: +961-71-559500.
An alternative for citizens needing assistance is to contact the Cyprus Embassy in Amman on: +9626-5657467.

The ministry also issued an advisory, warning Cypriot citizens who are permanent residents or intend to travel to Egypt to avoid certain areas in the country where mass gatherings and demonstrations may be taking place.

Cypriots are advised to monitor news reports for any new developments and follow instructions of the authorities.

The ministry further notes that the tourist areas in Sharm el Sheikh, Taba, Nuweida and Dahab, and St. Catherine’s Monastery in Mount Sinai are “fully accessible and operational”.
In case of emergency, citizens can contact the duty officer or crisis management department referred to above, or the Cyprus Embassy in Cairo on: + 202 33455969.

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TWO TEENAGERS from Nicosia were remanded in custody for eight days on Wednesday in connection with a spate of burglaries.

Police arrested the youths, aged 18 and 19, after a tavern owner in Latsia reported a burglary at his restaurant at 3.20am , informing police that burglars had made off with his television.

Police arrived at the scene to carry out investigations, after which they were able to locate the stolen television in the basement of an adjacent building.

The TV was taken as evidence and brushed for fingerprints. Police also secured witness testimony pointing to the two youths from Nicosia, who were later found and arrested.

The two teens allegedly confessed and gave a statement on 14 other burglaries and thefts as well as attempted burglaries.

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HOUSE PRESIDENT Yiannakis Omirou will remain bedridden for five days due to acute back pain. According to an announcement released by Parliament, the House President and EDEK leader was advised by his doctors to remain in bed for five days after suffering acute lower back pain.

The plenary session of the House of Representatives is not due to convene again until next week when a host of bills are expected to pass through parliament before approval of the disbursement of the next tranche of bailout money by the Eurogroup on September 13.

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By Nemanja Bjedov
MARCOS Baghdatis beat Japanese qualifier Go Soeda 6-4 6-3 6-1 in the opening round of the US Open on Wednesday in New York.
The 28-year-old Cypriot needed just over an hour and a half to see off Soeda, who dropped only one set throughout the qualifiers.
Baghdatis was on fire against the Japanese as he hit 16 aces on his way to a confidence-boosting win.
Their match on Court 11 was completed just minutes before play was suspended on all courts due to rain and lightning in the area.
The world No.53 Cypriot will next face either 17th seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa or Germany’s Daniel Brands in the second round.
Baghdatis has never reached the third round at Flushing Meadows in seven attempts, recording four first round exits and three second round eliminations, including last season’s loss to Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov.

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By Oliver Holmes and Erika Solomon
People in Damascus stocked up on supplies on Wednesday and some left homes close to potential targets as U.S. officials sketched out plans for multi-national air strikes on Syria that could last for days.
United Nations chemical weapons experts completed a second field trip to rebel-held suburbs, looking for evidence of what – and who – caused an apparent poison gas attack that residents say killed hundreds of people a week ago.
But as U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon appealed for unity among world powers and sought more time for the inspectors to complete their work, Washington and its European and Middle East allies said their minds were made up and that President Bashar al-Assad must face retribution for using banned weapons against his people.
Syria’s government, supported notably by its main arms supplier Russia, cried foul. It blamed rebel “terrorists” for releasing the toxins with the help of the United States, Britain and France, and warned it would be a “graveyard of invaders”.
Syrian officials say the West is playing into the hands of its al Qaeda enemies. The presence of Islamist militants among the rebels has deterred Western powers from arming Assad’s foes. But the West says it must now act to stop the use of poison gas.
Britain pushed the other four veto-holding members of the U.N. Security Council at a meeting in New York to authorise military action against Assad to protect Syrian civilians – a move certain to be blocked by Russia and, probably, China.
The United States and its allies say a U.N. veto will not stop them. Western diplomats called the proposed resolution a manoeuvre to isolate Moscow and rally a coalition behind air strikes. Arab states, NATO and Turkey also condemned Assad.
Washington has repeatedly said that President Barack Obama has not yet made up his mind on what action he will order.
A senior U.S. official said strikes could last several days and would involve other armed forces: “We’re talking to a number of different allies regarding participation in a possible kinetic strike,” the official said on Wednesday.
Western armies are expected to wait until the U.N. experts withdraw. Their initial 14-day mandate expires in four days, and Secretary-General Ban said they need four days to complete the work.
A second U.S. official said objectives were still being defined but that the targets could be chosen to prevent Assad from using chemical weapons in future. Washington was confident it could handle Syrian defences and any possible reprisals by its allies, including Iran and Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
With only the timing of an attack apparently in doubt, oil prices soared to a six-month high, lifting U.S. energy shares and the overall U.S. market.
But some emerging markets closed lower again on Wednesday because of investor jitters over where the international escalation of Syria’s civil war might lead – however much Obama and his allies may hope to limit it to a short punitive mission.
Neighbouring Turkey, a NATO member, put its forces on alert. Israel mobilised some army reservists and bolstered its defences against missile strikes from either Syria or Lebanon.
Syria’s envoy to the United Nations said he had asked Ban to have the team investigate three new attacks by rebel groups.
People in Damascus, wearied by a civil war that has left the capital ringed by rebel-held suburbs, braced for air strikes.
In a city where dozens of military sites are mixed in among civilian neighbourhoods, some were leaving home in the hope of finding somewhere safer, though many doubted it was worth it.
“Every street, every neighbourhood has some government target,” said a nurse in the city centre. “Where do we hide?”
At grocery stores, shoppers loaded up on bread, dry goods and cans. Bottled water and batteries were also in demand.
Numerous factors, including weather and assessments of Syrian air defences, may affect the timing of strikes. Analysts expect cruise missiles to be launched from U.S. ships in the Mediterranean. Aircraft could also play a role, as may forces from other NATO powers, notably Britain and France.
Obama is waiting for a U.S. intelligence report, though its findings are in little doubt. U.S. officials have already blamed Assad for the attacks on Aug. 21. U.S. sources suggested that the intelligence cache included intercepted communications between Syrian officials but that these contained no “smoking gun” and were not likely to be declassified for public release.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has recalled parliament to debate the Syria crisis on Thursday. He should be able to secure cautious support, despite widespread misgivings among Western voters about new entanglements in the Muslim world. But British action is unlikely before lawmakers have had their say.
Though decisive action against Syria is strongly backed by many in the U.S. Congress, a growing number of lawmakers are pressing the president to consult them and receive congressional authorization before ordering use of force.
The prospect of a Group of 20 summit in St. Petersburg next Thursday may also weigh in calculations over timing any strikes. Russian host President Vladimir Putin has made clear his view that Western leaders are using human rights as a pretext to impose their will on other sovereign states.
“The West behaves like a monkey with a grenade in the Islamic world,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin tweeted on Wednesday. Western leaders in the G20 may prefer to have any strikes on Syria completed before the summit starts.
As diplomats from Russia, China, Britain, France and the United States met at the United Nations, Moscow said Britain was “premature” in seeking a Security Council resolution for “necessary measures” to protect Syrian civilians.
But U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters: “The Syrians cannot continue to hide behind Russian intransigence at the Security Council.”
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Russia and China might veto the move but added: “It’s time the U.N. Security Council shouldered its responsibilities on Syria which for the last two and a half years it has failed to do.”
A senior Western diplomat said: “Of course there will be a Russian veto, but that’s part of the objective – to show that we tried everything and the Russians left us no choice.
“The Americans want to go quickly.”
China’s official newspaper also criticised on Wednesday what it saw as a push for illegal, Iraq-style “regime change” – despite U.S. denials that Obama aims to overthrow Assad.
The U.S.-led NATO alliance said evidence pointed to Assad’s forces having used gas, calling it a threat to global security.
Ban’s special envoy for Syria, Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi, said “international law is clear” in requiring council authorisation for any military action. But Western leaders say precedents, including NATO’s bombing of Russian ally Serbia in 1999 during the Kosovo war, allow them to protect civilians.
There was tension between the United Nations and Western governments. One U.N. official said: “The U.N. is annoyed and feels the Western powers haven’t shared data or evidence with them, which is a problem. It kind of undercuts U.N. authority.”
Rebel fighters and opposition activists showed the inspectors homes in the eastern Damascus suburb of Zamalka that had been hit by last week’s gas release. The experts also tested and interviewed survivors in hospital, as they did on a first trip on Monday that came under sniper attack.
Amateur video showed the convoy of white U.N. jeeps driving along a road, accompanied by rebels. One pick-up truck was mounted with an anti-aircraft gun. Gunmen leaned from the windows of another. Bystanders waved as the vehicles passed.
Syria’s civil war has killed more than 100,000 people since 2011 and driven millions from their homes, many crossing borders into Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.
It has heightened tensions between Assad’s sponsor Iran and Israel, which bombed Syria this year, and has fuelled sectarian bloodshed in Lebanon and in Iraq, where bombs killed more than 70 people on Wednesday alone.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that U.S. action would be “a disaster for the region.”

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A COALITION between the centre-left Republican Turkish Party (CTP) and the Democrat Party (DP) was being finalised on Wednesday night in the north.

Turkish Cypriot press reported that the leader of CTP Ozkan Yorgancioglu said in a written statement that his party would be the ‘ruling’ party and take the ‘ministries’ of interior, foreign affairs, finance, agriculture and energy, labour and health.

Serdar Denktash’s Democrat Party will be the junior coalition partner and take the ‘ministries’ of tourism and economy, public works and transport, education, youth and sport, environment and natural resources.

According to Yorgancioglu, the decision was due to be finalised at the end of Wednesday night’s meeting between the two parties.

With voter turnout in July at just 69 per cent – the lowest in two decades -, no party claimed outright victory. However, by gaining the largest share of the vote (38.4 per cent), giving the party 21 seats in the 50-seat ‘parliament’, the CTP was charged with forming a ‘government’.

The creation of the coalition is based on a compromise that will meet the expectations of the party and the people to help find a bi-zonal, bi-communal federal solution based on political equality in Cyprus, Yorgancioglu said in a statement.

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By Julian Linden
NEW York’s fickle weather forced a delay at the U.S. Open on Wednesday, raising the possibility that Andy Murray may not begin his title defence until the fourth day of the tournament.
Only a handful of early matches had been completed when the rain began falling at the U.S. National Tennis Centre, and with more foul weather forecast for the rest of the day, further delays could play havoc with the schedule.
The biggest loser could be Murray, who ended a 76-year British drought in the grand slams when he won the U.S. Open in dramatic fashion last year.
Because of the unique scheduling at the U.S. Open, where the men’s first round is played over three days, he was not scheduled to play his opening match at Arthur Ashe Stadium until Wednesday night.
If the prediction of thunderstorms plays out, Murray might have to wait until Thursday before facing his first-round opponent Michael Llodra.
The weather has been a major talking point at the U.S. Open for years with each of the last five men’s finals spilling into a third week because of rain delays.
The problem was exacerbated because of the controversial scheduling at Flushing Meadows.
Apart from playing the men’s first round over three days, the U.S. Open was the only grand slam where both singles semi-finals and finals were played on successive days, leaving no room for catch-up if rain falls on the last weekend.
Tournament organisers have changed that rule from this year, having a day off between the semis and final, but remain powerless to combat Mother Nature.
The U.S. Open, along with Roland Garros, are the only grand slams where the main stadium is not covered by a roof. For years, U.S. Tennis Association officials balked at the idea of building a roof because of the enormous cost of covering Arthur Ashe Stadium, the largest tennis stadium in the world.
But they have finally relented, announcing two weeks ago that they would commence a massive renovation program, which would include a roof, by 2016 at the earliest.
Each of the five matches that were completed on Wednesday before the showers arrived were decided in straight sets.
China’s Li Na beat Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson 6-2 6-2 to ease into the third round while Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, the third seed, defeated Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor of Spain 6-0 7-5.
Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro and Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also won through to the third round while Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus won his first-round match against Japan’s Go Soeda 6-4 6-3 6-1.

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Results from the Champions League playoffs second leg matches
Wednesday, August 28, second leg
AC Milan (Italy) – PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) 3-0 (halftime: 1-0)
First leg: PSV Eindhoven – AC Milan 1-1. AC Milan win 4-1 on aggregate.
Celtic (Scotland) – Shakhtyor IK (Kazakhstan) 3-0 (halftime: 1-0)
First leg: Shakhtyor IK – Celtic 2-0. Celtic win 3-2 on aggregate.
Maribor (Slovenia) – Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic) 0-1 (halftime: 0-1)
First leg: Viktoria Plzen – Maribor 3-1. Viktoria Plzen win 4-1 on aggregate.
Real Sociedad (Spain) – Olympique Lyon (France) 2-0 (halftime: 0-0)
First leg: Olympique Lyon – Real Sociedad 0-2. Real Sociedad win 4-0 on aggregate.
Zenit St Petersburg (Russia) – FC Pacos de Ferreira (Portugal) 4-2 (halftime: 1-0)
First leg: FC Pacos de Ferreira – Zenit St Petersburg 1-4. Zenit St Petersburg win 8-3 on aggregate.

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By Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn

Prime Minister David Cameron’s plans for an imminent military strike on Syria were in disarray on Thursday after a revolt by lawmakers warning him to heed the “lessons of Iraq”.

After imploring the world not to stand idly by over Syria’s suspected use of chemical weapons, Cameron was forced into an awkward climbdown on Wednesday when the opposition Labour party and lawmakers in his own party said they wanted more evidence before voting for military action.

On Thursday, Cameron’s government published legal advice it had been given which it said showed it was legally entitled to take military action against Syria even if the United Nations Security Council blocked such action.

It also published intelligence material on last week’s chemical weapons attack in Syria, saying there was no doubt that such an attack had taken place and that it was “highly likely” that the Syrian government had been behind the apparent poison gas attack that had killed hundreds.

Dogging Cameron’s steps is the memory of events a decade ago, when Britain helped the United States to invade Iraq after asserting – wrongly, as it later turned out – that President Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Britain, already embroiled in Afghanistan, was sucked into a second quagmire and lost 179 troops in eight years of war after Iraq descended into savage sectarian conflict.

It was the defining moment of Tony Blair’s 1997-2007 premiership, provoking huge protests, divisions within his Labour Party and accusations that his government misled the public by manufacturing the case for war.

“We have got to learn the lessons of Iraq because people remember the mistakes that were made in Iraq and I am not willing to make those mistakes again,” said Labour’s current leader Ed Miliband.

It was unclear how Cameron’s failure to master domestic British politics could affect U.S. and French plans for a swift cruise missile strike against Syria, which denies using chemical weapons against its citizens, or what the impact would be on Cameron’s standing in Washington.

President Barack Obama has made the case for a limited military strike on Syria, but some U.S. lawmakers say they have not been properly consulted.

Conservative officials were furious at the delay, accusing Miliband of opportunism.

“Ed Miliband is playing politics when he should be thinking about the national interest and global security,” a Conservative source told Reuters. “He keeps changing his position, not out of principle but to achieve political advantage,” the source added, saying Cameron wanted to “do the right thing” in the right way.

PUBLIC OPPOSITION

The potent legacy of Iraq is reflected not only in party politics, but in public opinion surveys.

A YouGov poll published on Thursday showed opposition to action hardening, with 51 percent of the British public opposing a missile strike on Syria, and just 22 percent in favour of it. Opponents say Britain has neither the money nor the evidence to justify further military action in the Middle East.

“We do not have a great track record of intervention, there is no appetite for it in the country or really in the House of Commons,” said Andrew Bridgen, a lawmaker from Cameron’s Conservative party who opposes immediate military action.

Domestically, Cameron’s authority looks dented. Part of his problem is that he governs as part of a two-party coalition because his Conservatives lack an absolute majority in parliament, exposing him to such impromptu revolts.

When the prime minister recalled parliament on Tuesday and cut short his own summer break to deal with the Syrian crisis, his rhetoric indicated he was confident of securing parliamentary support for a vote on military action.

But as parliamentarians returned, the tone suddenly changed late on Wednesday: dozens of lawmakers from his own party questioned the evidence of chemical weapons use and warned Cameron he could face defeat unless he toned down his plans.

After hours of negotiations between Cameron’s political managers and the opposition, his office agreed that the United Nations Security Council should see findings from chemical weapons inspectors before it responded militarily and that parliament should hold two votes on military action.

That means that parliament will vote on Thursday on a government motion cautioning President Bashar al-Assad and authorising military action in principle only.

It will need to vote again to authorise any direct military action, and Labour has tabled an amendment and said it will vote against the government. Syria wrote letters to British lawmakers urging them to avoid reckless action.

Cameron, who has the powers of a commander-in-chief, does not technically need parliament’s support to order military action. But after tabling a debate and facing such a revolt, it would be hard for him to go against lawmakers’ wishes.

“The motion that we’re putting forward … reflects the Prime Minister’s recognition of the deep concerns in this country about what happened over Iraq,” said Foreign Secretary William Hague.

Britain is to send six RAF Typhoon air-to-air interceptor jets to its Akrotiri base in Cyprus on Thursday, the Ministry of Defence said. Cyprus is just 100 km (62 miles) from the Syrian coast. Britain also has warships in the Mediterranean.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has sought more time for inspectors to complete their work, a step that could delay any strike as allies would be unlikely to attack with U.N. weapons inspectors on the ground.

“One of the most important lessons of Iraq is to give the United Nations the proper chance to do its work and I believe if we had tried to make that decision today on military action we wouldn’t have been giving the United Nations the proper time to do that work,” Labour’s Miliband said.

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A government-enforced price cap on fresh pasteurized milk will be lifted on Monday, allowing the market to regulate the price of this basic commodity once more.

In a statement on Thursday, the commerce ministry said the price control – enforced by ministerial decree – had prevented hikes along the supply chain, ensuring that consumers had access to affordable milk.

The ministry added, that price controls were a temporary measure and as such it decided not to renew the cap.

It went on to urge economic operators to exercise restraint and not to take advantage of the end of the cap to hike up prices at the first opportunity.

The ministry said it would be monitoring the situation once the price control is lifted and, if necessary to protect consumers’ interests, would not hesitate to intervene anew.

The price of milk is set at €1.41 per litre for retail and €1.32 per litre for wholesale, including VAT.

The price cap decree was originally issued by the previous commerce minister Neoclis Sylikiotis after farmers threatened to increase the price of raw milk by 1.8 cents after they had already raised the price by four cents.

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