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British working with foreign ministry to resolve title deeds issue

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Britain's Minister for Europe David Lidington

By Peter Stevenson

THE BRITISH high commission will be cooperating closely with the foreign ministry following a Cabinet decision regarding the issuing of title deeds.

The issue has dogged the Cyprus property market for years, with thousands of aggrieved British home-owners on the island still without title deeds to their properties.

There is currently a backlog of over 130,000 title deeds yet to be issued and transferred. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the troika includes a requirement for the government by the end of 2014 to ‘eliminate the title deeds issuance backlog to less than 2,000 cases’ that remained pending for more than one year.

According to sources at the foreign ministry, Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides has reassured both his counterpart in the UK, William Hague and the UK’s Minister of State for Europe David Lidington who visited earlier this month that the government is taking corrective measures.

British Foreign Minister William Hague

British Foreign Minister William Hague

“We recognise that a problem exists regarding the non-issuance of title deeds and we hope that a solution will help make Cyprus a more attractive place for investors to come and purchase property,” a foreign ministry official said on Monday.

At a recent Cabinet meeting in October it was decided that following a number of complaints, mainly by British citizens, that a review was required to establish what issues exist in the real estate market.

The problem does not only concern British citizens but Cypriots too according to the Cabinet study.

“We welcome the Cypriot government’s plans to work towards a solution to the property issues that so many UK and Cypriot nationals face and we are grateful for the steps the government has taken so far,” a British high commission spokesperson said yesterday.

The UK has offered assistance to the government in their efforts to tackle property issues the spokesperson added.

The British high commission will continue to raise concerns with the government, the spokesperson continued, including at ministerial level.

“We encourage anyone experiencing problems with property to seek legal advice by engaging an independent lawyer who will be best placed to advise on rights and methods of redress,” the spokesperson said.

The Cabinet decision entails the government working with the British high commission on the island.

As part of this cooperation the foreign minister will reply in English to questions set by the British high commission and any relevant ministries or services on matters regarding title deeds. Cypriot government officials will also have the opportunity to travel to the UK to exchange information and gain tips from their British counterparts.

The foreign ministry will also prepare a single text in English giving information on what measures need to be taken to obtain title deeds for the British High Commission which will include the contribution of each related ministry.

A guide will also be prepared in English for any new or prospective real estate buyers.

The relevant ministries and services will call on developers and lawyers involved in land deals to ensure they meet the buyers’ obligations.

These issues all fall under the responsibility of the commissioner on public service reform, Emmanuella Lambrianidou but the coordination with the UK will be the foreign ministry’s responsibility.

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Bank of Cyprus announces first half €1.8 billion loss (update 2)

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Bank of Cyprus (BoC) on Tuesday reported a €1.8 billion net loss for the first half of the year, impacted by its forced disposal of Greek operations and rising provisions.

The bank, forced to seize client deposits to recapitalise in March, was one of three Cypriot lenders forced to sell its Greek operations in March in an attempt to ring-fence the eurozone from contagion from a messy international bailout for the island.

Disposal of Greek operations resulted in a loss on disposal of €1.4 billion while impairment of loans was €539 million, BoC said.

“The elevated provisioning reflects the continued deterioration in the loan portfolio due to the advancing recession and the ongoing reduction in collateral values in Cyprus.”

BoC made a loss of €134 million a year earlier.

Since when it has been transformed by the forced acquisition of assets of now-defunct Laiki Bank and the Greek asset disposal this year.

CEO John Hourican conceded that the lender was faced with “unprecedented challenges” but the course of action was clear.

“Our priority remains to restore investor and customer confidence in the Bank,” he said. “This can only be achieved through our focusing on arresting asset quality deterioration, making progress on non-core disposals and maintaining capital ratios so as to build a strong platform for the safe return of depositors to the Bank.”

Based on new Central Bank definitions for non-performing loans the bank had an NPL ratio of 36 per cent in the first half of the year.

Bank of Cyprus seized 47.5 per cent of clients’ deposits exceeding €100,000 to recapitalise itself when international lenders discussing a bailout for Cyprus refused to inject cash into the bank.

It is the first time in the history of the eurozone crisis that client deposits were tapped to boost regulatory capital. Based on central bank guidelines its core tier 1 capital should exceed 9 per cent.

The bank presently has a core tier 1 ratio of 10.5 per cent.

“The Group’s Core Tier 1 capital ratio has been restored to 10.5 per cent. The restructuring plans are underway and the Group is taking decisive steps to deal with non-performing loans, strengthen risk management and defend its deposit franchise,” Hourican said.

The Group’s total deposits were €17 billion on June 30, 2013 compared with €28.4 billion at the end of the previous year.

The drop is primarily due to the disposal of €7.7 billion deposits in Greece and the conversion of €3.8 billion of deposits to equity as per the Bank’s recapitalisation.

Deposits in Cyprus account for 85 per cent of Group deposits, Russia, 7 per cent, and deposits in the United Kingdom for 8 per cent. The Bank’s deposit market share in Cyprus was 30 per cent at the end of June.

Customer deposits remain the Bank’s primary source of funding and accounted for 51 per cent of assets, while the Bank’s net loans to deposits ratio totalled 140 per cent.

Following the absorption of Laiki, Emergency Liquidity Funding was €11.1 billion – some €9 billion came from Laiki.

At present, the lender, ELA was €9.8 billion and funding from the European Central bank €1.3 billion.

The Bank said it aimed to increase the contribution of deposits towards its funding and to reduce the reliance on funding from Central Banks, and in particular its reliance on ELA.

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Peace talks in ‘very tragic situation’

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cyprob1

By Stefanos Evripidou

THE PEACE talks are currently in a “very tragic situation”, with the Turkish Cypriots eyeing a “divorce” post-settlement, Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis said,  following the unsuccessful effort of President Nicos Anastasiades to overcome the deadlock on Monday night.

Speaking to CyBC radio, Mavroyiannis said during the two leaders’ informal meeting on Monday night in the buffer zone, Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu spoke clearly of two sovereign states.

Despite the president’s many efforts, Eroglu wouldn’t budge from his “hard line positions”, Mavroyiannis said.

“He insists that we have two sovereign states that will decide one day to join together and share in common a small number of powers, and they will maintain their sovereignty, citizens and all characteristics of a sovereign state.”

It’s a “very tragic situation”, said Mavroyiannis.

While the meeting itself, which lasted over two and a half hours, was held in a “very good, friendly atmosphere”, Eroglu would not move an inch from his “extreme position”.

“The president showed all the good will, calmness and patience, in an effort to present matters with a view to prospects for the future,” he said, adding, “instead of trying to discuss terms of reunification, we cannot, at this stage, be discussing the terms of a future divorce, because behind this extreme position, is the idea that one day, each will go their own way.”

The Greek Cypriots cannot resume fully-fledged negotiations without first clarifying the basis of the talks, as specified in UN resolutions, and the methodology in a joint declaration, Mavroyiannis said.

The Greek Cypriot negotiator accused the Turkish Cypriots of taking a hard line position in all their statements.

Possibly giving credence to Mavroyiannis’ assessment is the fact that Eroglu came to Monday’s meeting with an announcement that he read out on the steps of Chateau Status on its conclusion.

Previous leaders have issued joint statements

Previous leaders have issued joint statements

 In the announcement, likely drawn up before even talking to Anastasiades, Eroglu effectively accused the Greek Cypriots of holding the talks prisoner to the need for a joint declaration.

“It’s not a question of terminology, but of a completely different approach. And they say, let’s start the talks and see what happens on the way. We insist these issues have to be cleared up now,” Mavroyiannis said.

“The gap between us was made abundantly clear. We have a serious problem before us. We never underestimated its size. We will continue our efforts. But without movement on these extreme positions, we cannot see how to start with a meeting of the leaders and fully-fledged negotiations.”

Mavroyiannis confirmed that Eroglu handed over two draft proposals near the end of Monday’s meet. The one suggested skipping the joint declaration and entering into direct talks on the governance and power-sharing chapter; a proposal non-digestible to the Greek Cypriots who on the one hand, won’t proceed without a joint declaration, and on the other, do not wish to engage in peace talks chapter by chapter but by crossing through chapters.

The second proposal repeated “extreme” positions on the joint declaration.

Mavroyiannis on Tuesday briefed the ambassadors of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council on the informal meeting, while UN Special Adviser Alexander Downer was updated on Monday night.

The Cyprus News Agency quoted a Greek Cypriot source on Tuesday saying the Turkish Cypriots approach the peace talks with a plan B already in mind.

This proves “we cannot build frail structures. Things have to be clear. We are ready in the framework of the process to provide the other side with safeguards which we consider self-evident, in order to meet their questions and insecurities. But we will not negotiate on issues pertaining to a clear basis (for the talks),” he said.

According to the Turkish Cypriot press, Eroglu acknowledged that agreement could not be reached on starting talks, adding that patience is needed in such cases.

Eroglu said the world needed to know the “realities” in Cyprus and called on the Turkish Cypriot youth to work to preserve the breakaway regime.

AKEL spokesman Giorgos Loucaides on Tuesday expressed “deep concern” at the way matters are developing. He criticised the government for doing away with the two joint statements of the previous leaders, Mehmet Ali Talat and Demetris Christofias.

Ruling DISY said the meeting showed how critical it was to clarify from the start the basis and aim of the talks. If talks start without a common understanding on the basic foundations of a federal state, they will be “doomed to failure”.

DISY slammed Eroglu’s pursuit of “two partnership states”, saying he did not seek a common future but was thinking ahead to a future “divorce”.

Leader of coalition partner DIKO Marios Garoyian said the Turkish side’s intransigent positions and the “Pontius Pilate” approach of the UN Secretariat have led matters to a dangerous impasse.

House President and EDEK leader Yiannakis Omirou argued entering into negotiations on Eroglu’s terms would be tantamount to “national lunacy”.

Greens spokeswoman Eleni Chrysostomou called for the national council to prepare a plan B while EVROKO’s Demetris Syllouris said: “Ankara’s aim is to embed the notion that the Cyprus problem cannot be solved, so Turkey can implement its goal of partition in Cyprus.”

Citizens’ Alliance leader Giorgos Lillikas said Turkey will be satisfied with nothing less than complete control over Cyprus.

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Chickens slaughtered after salmonella found on Paphos farm

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chicken4_

Almost 2,000 chickens have been killed in Paphos after the salmonella virus was found in eggs on a farm.

The Veterinary Services will announce Wednesday whether the remaining chickens will need to be slaughtered too. Authorities have so far slaughtered around 1,800.
The poultry farm is separated into two structures, each housing around 1,800 chickens. The salmonella virus was discovered in eggs originating from one of them.
The veterinary services are waiting the test results of the eggs from the second structure, to decide on whether there is a need to slaughter all the chickens.
“It’s a common occurrence for us. We discover the salmonella virus in farms and products two maybe three times a year. This is the system doing what it was supposed to do. We tested the product during routine checks, found the virus, and eliminated the threat. End of story”, deputy head of the veterinary services Andreas Papaeftathiou said, saying the issue had been blown out of proportion by the media.
Papaefstathiou added that the problem is not with poultry farms, who he said are tested regularly, but with people in rural areas keeping chicken coops at home. “These are out of our control and people don’t realise how easy it is for eggs to be infected with the virus,” Papaefstathiou said.
The poultry farmer whose chickens were slaughtered will be fully compensated. Fifty per cent of the compensation cost will be covered by the EU.
The Cyprus consumers union issued a statement yesterday, criticising the veterinary services for not releasing the name of the chicken farmer. “Protecting poultry farmers is not the state’s job. Their concern should be to protect consumers by informing them. They left the public, especially little children, unprotected,” the statement said.

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Game and fauna offices vandalised

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news briefs (rect)

The game and fauna services Nicosia district offices were broken into on Monday night, according to the police report.

The offices, located on Spyros Kyprianou avenue in Latsia, were broken into at around 9pm.
Perpetrators opened up two cardboard boxes containing files and stole a drill that was lying around. They then proceeded to damage two service cars that were parked behind the offices. Police said that the burglars damaged a windshield and scratched the vehicles.

 

 

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Explosion in Limassol

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news briefs (rect)

A bomb exploded yesterday morning in a car in Limassol, police reported
According to the police, the explosion, at 4.35am, was caused by a cylindrical squib that was planted in a 29-year-old man’s car while it was parked outside his residence in Ypsonas.
The explosion caused extensive damage to the car.

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Paying the price for irrational policies of the past

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GREECE-BANKING-PIRAEUS-MARFIN

By Elias Hazou
Recession-hit Cypriots are paying the price for the wasteful spending of past governments but also for a credit bubble fostered by the banks that inevitably had to burst, finance minister Harris Georgiades said yesterday.
“Budget cuts and austerity are not a political choice the government has made, rather they are the inevitable price we are paying today due to the irrational policies of the past,” Georgiades said, addressing the 4th Limassol Economic Forum that brought together policymakers, people from government and business and economic analysts.
This year’s forum dealt with the continuing austerity in Europe and the ongoing debate of how to return to growth.
In his speech, Georgiades said the poor economic state of many EU countries must be blamed on “loose fiscal policies” implemented in the past, rather than on current austerity policies.
Governments spent money which they did not have, he said, expecting future governments to foot the bill.
In the case of Cyprus, Georgiades noted that the public-sector payroll and pensions were responsible for ever-increasing government spending. State expenditures increased faster than the real economy.
The civil service in Cyprus is the most expensive in Europe, he added.
Spending on welfare benefits was always going up, said Georgiades, even when unemployment stood at normal levels. And spending with abandon continued even as the clouds of the global financial crisis began gathering.
The unsound expansion of credit during the past decade is the other key reason behind the Cypriot economy’s downfall, the minister pointed out.
The banking sector, he said, provided financing not so much for real investments that would boost production and growth, but for consumption and to the housing market. Loans were given out based on guarantees and not on thorough business plans ensuring repayment.
Georgiades said the current administration is committed to putting public finances in order, which necessarily included cutbacks in spending.
But he pledged that Cypriots would not be saddled with new taxes.
The current administration was also determined to press ahead with structural reform (civil service, public healthcare, privatisation of state-owned enterprises).
“Within the next five years we must do all the things we should have done but delayed over the last 10 to 15 years,” Georgiades said.
The forum featured, among others: Nasser Saidi‚ former finance minister of Lebanon and currently employed with the International Monetary Fund; Guillermo Nielsen‚ former finance minister of Argentina; Jose Suarez-Lledo, director at Moody’s Analytics; and Guntram B. Wolff‚ director of the Bruegel think tank.

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Ukraine leader to go to EU summit, pro-EU protests continue

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Anti-government protest in Ukraine

By Natalia Zinets and Richard Balmforth

Ukraine said on Tuesday it would not let itself become an East-West ‘battleground’ and its president declared he would attend an EU summit to explain why Kiev had turned down a landmark trade deal in favour of closer cooperation with Moscow.

President Viktor Yanukovich’s government announced last week it had dropped plans to sign a free trade pact with the European Union at Friday’s Vilnius summit, stunning EU leaders and igniting pro-Europe rallies in the former Soviet republic.

“We absolutely do not want to be a battleground between the EU and Russia, a field of confrontation,” Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said. “We want to have good relations with both the EU and Russia.”

Yanukovich, who speaks of a “pause” in Kiev’s move towards the West, said he would explain Kiev’s action to the EU.

“Today my plans have not changed. I have repeatedly said that I am planning to go to Vilnius,” he was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.

The Vilnius agreement would have marked a definitive turn towards the West for Kiev and away from Moscow, which sees Ukraine as a sphere of its economic and political influence.

Azarov said Thursday’s decision to suspend the signing with the EU and revive economic dialogue with Russia, Ukraine’s former Soviet master and biggest single trading partner, had been taken out of economic necessity.

Ukraine is heavily indebted and strongly reliant on Russian gas, for which it says it is paying unreasonably high prices.

Given the outcry over Ukraine’s about-turn after years of negotiations with the EU, Azarov’s words set the scene for a possibly strained encounter – in all likelihood at a dinner in Vilnius on Thursday night – between Yanukovich and the club of 28 EU leaders.

He himself, in the comments reported by Interfax, did not say how long he would stay at the Nov. 28-29 summit.

The opposition accuses the government of cynically using months of negotiations with the EU as a bargaining chip in dealings with Russia to reach a deal for cheaper gas and loans from Moscow. Putin aims to draw Ukraine into a Russian-backed customs union with eastern, former Soviet neighbours.

Small street demonstrations, involving a few hundred people and including a students’ march, continued in the capital Kiev on Tuesday but opposition leaders issued calls for people to turn out after work in the evening and the numbers were expected to swell as they did on Monday.

“We are different but we are united because we are have only one aim – President Yanukovich must sign the Association Agreement at the Vilnius summit,” a statement by the three main opposition leaders said.

“We call on Kiev people and … like-minded people in other towns to go out on to the streets of their towns,” they said.

The three opposition leaders – boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko, former economy minister Arseny Yatsenyuk and far-right nationalist Oleh Tyahniboh – say they intend also to go to Vilnius.

“We’ve been hearing about the European Union for years now, that’s all I can remember them talking about… If he doesn’t sign it, there will be a storm of protests,” Taras Zagorbenskyy, a student from Lviv, said.

TYMOSHENKO’S FATE

The demonstrations in Kiev have evoked memories of the 2004-5 Orange Revolution protests against sleaze and electoral fraud which brought hundreds of thousands out on to the streets and doomed Yanukovich’s first bid for the presidency.

These were co-led then by the now jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, a fierce opponent of Yanukovich whose release the EU was trying to agree as part of the run-up to Vilnius.

Student bodies have also called for a strike on Wednesday in educational institutions.

There have been isolated clashes involving small groups of protesters and riot police, but the demonstrations have been otherwise peaceful.

Tymoshenko, who turns 53 on Wednesday, served twice as prime minister under her former ‘orange’ ally Viktor Yushchenko and was only narrowly beaten by Yanukovich for the presidency in early 2010 after he made a political comeback.

She was jailed the following year for seven years for abuse of office after a trial which Western governments said was political and on Monday announced she was launching a hunger strike in the hospital where she is held under prison guard.

Yanukovich might face rough questioning about Tymoshenko’s fate from leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Germany was to have accepted Tymoshenko for treatment for chronic back trouble under a compromise deal envisaged by the EU but which has now died along with the planned signing.

TUG-OF-WAR

Referring to the East-West tug-of-war around Ukraine, he said: “Some EU members, regretfully, have been led by the principle of tearing Ukraine away from Russia, drawing us to themselves … From the other side, we were also offended by the position of Russia which was directed at not allowing Ukraine to grow closer to the EU.”

Russia and the EU have accused each other of putting pressure on Ukraine – Russia by threatening trade retaliation and the EU pressing too strongly for internal reforms.

Putin, speaking at a news conference after talks with Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, said Russia had not discussed revising state-controlled Gazprom’s costly gas supply contract with Ukraine in an attempt to persuade Kiev not to sign the trade pact with the EU.

“Gazprom and (Ukraine’s Naftogaz) have a contract that I believe is signed until 2019 and we did not discuss revising the contract,” Putin said.

Azarov says the International Monetary Fund’s refusal to soften its terms for fresh financial assistance was ‘the last straw’ which led to the government retreating from Vilnius.

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Ayia Napa marina awaits revised plan approval

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Changes will be made to the initial plans drawn up for the Ayia Napa Marina in order to reduce costs

WORK on a new marina in Ayia Napa should begin in April 2014 if new plans to lower costs are accepted, the head of the Famagusta Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) said yesterday.

Giorgos Michaelides said that the economic crisis has made financing the project particularly difficult and M.M.

Makronisos Marina Ltd, the company in charge of the project, has asked that more incentives be provided to investors.

He said a “very serious “ strategic investor from abroad was interested in participating in the project and prepared revised plans and submitted an application to the Town Planning Department in April.

The revised plans envisage less construction work out into the sea, which is a very expensive procedure. Instead, more construction will take place on land, a more viable option now that real estate prices have dropped. “According to the studies of auditors, after the reduction of real estate prices, 14,000 square metres of extra built space will be needed in order for the work to be viable,” Michaelides said.

He hopes work will begin in April 2014 and take approximately three years.

Michaelides was also asked about the golf court in Ayia Napa and the marina of Protaras.

According to the FCCI head, the issue of the golf court is still pending and it might not be followed through. He said development works have not started even though the land plot was allotted a few years ago.

As far as the marina of Protaras is concerned, Michaelides stated that the necessary studies regarding the viability of the project and its environmental impact have been concluded, and also the terms of the tender offer have been outlined.

The project will be a Private-Public partnership.

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Turkey carries out seismic surveys north of the island

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seismic survey

By Elias Hazou

THE government yesterday denounced the encroachment into Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) by ships commissioned by Turkey to carry out seismic surveys northeast of the island.

The ministry was responding to a NAVTEX (Navigational Telex) issued by Turkey notifying mariners that three research vessels will be carrying out seismic surveys in the eastern Mediterranean between November 22 and December 18.

A NAVTEX is a broadcast to mariners notifying or warning ships of weather forecasts, military drills and other similar activities.

The foreign ministry said Turkey had no legal right to reserve the sea areas designated in the NAVTEX. The areas, the ministry said, include part of the territorial waters of the Republic, near the southern coasts of the Karpas Peninsula and the Gulf of Famagusta, as well as part of the adjacent Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Republic.

The government also issued a notice underlining that sea areas within the Search & Rescue Region of the Republic (which also include territorial waters) as well as Cyprus’ EEZ, “can only be reserved by the Republic of Cyprus.”

The ministry said it is closely monitoring the Turkish moves and activities and taking “all due actions to protest the new violations by Turkey of the sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdictions of the Republic of Cyprus in its seas.”

The government was also considering “further ways of conveying the message to Ankara that it is not in its interests to continue undermining stability and security in the region and violating its legal obligations towards all members of the international community.

“Despite Turkey’s delinquent behaviour, the Republic of Cyprus will continue undistracted its activities for exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in its seas, through the duly licensed by the Republic of Cyprus oil and gas companies, always acting in accordance with the relevant provisions of the International Law of the Sea and its national legislation,” the statement read.

The NAVTEX issued by Turkey provided the coordinates bounding the reserved sea area.

Based on the coordinates given, the southernmost bound of the area falls just below the tip of Cape Greco, with the easternmost boundary situated approximately halfway between Cape Greco and the coast of Syria. In terms of latitude and longitude, the reserved area just about skirts offshore blocks 2 and 3, which Cyprus has licensed to an Italian-South Korean consortium. Even so, it does trespass into the Republic’s EEZ.

Online vessel tracking tools meanwhile showed the Barbaros Hayrettin Pasa – a research ship purchased by the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) reportedly for $130m – to be zigzagging off the tip of the Karpas peninsula at the extreme northeast of the island.

In addition to the Barbaros, two other vessels – the M/V Bravo Supporter and the M/V Deep Supporter – were also conducting research as part of the same NAVTEX.

Turkish energy minister Taner Yildiz said in September that Turkey aimed to extend hydrocarbons exploration up to the area around Cyprus, pending approval from the country’s prime minister.

Reports by Turkish Cypriot daily Kibrisli that a drilling platform had also arrived off the island’s northern coast, proved to be inaccurate. According to online tracking, the platform was yesterday located just off the port of Iskenderun, Turkey.

Other reports claimed the same platform, called the GSP Jupiter, would commence exploratory drilling in waters around Cyprus.

The Turkish move to deploy three research vessels in the eastern Mediterranean comes a week after Cyprus decided to put up for auction offshore blocks 5 and 6, lying southwest of the island and in an area which Turkey claims falls within its own continental shelf.

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New movement aims to protect Sunday shop workers

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sunday shop workers

AIMING to represent some 1,500 people hired as part of a government scheme extending shop opening hours a new movement has been created.

“We will defend in all legal ways our right to work,” an announcement from the newly-formed Movement for New Hires in Commerce (KNLE) group said. The new group has started lobbying in earnest, calling on the government to make the new scheme permanent.

“We aspire to representing over 1,500 employees from all sectors of retail who have been hired as part of the decisions to extend opening hours,” the announcement said.

The labour minister issued a decree extending opening hours outside tourist areas, allowing shops to also open on Sundays as long as half of those needed to keep the shop open were hired from the registered unemployed.

The ongoing decree was first enforced in July, and the government committed to subsidising salaries of new hires by 65 per cent for eight months.

“Our aim is to eradicate our job insecurity stemming from the temporary nature of the current opening hours,” the group said. The decree lapses end of the month, though shops may remain open longer between December 1 and December 31, during the Christmas holiday period.

The new group also threatened “interventions” in case the decree lapsed and the new hires lost their jobs. They said they had voted for a seven-member committee and would be represented by Nicoletta Ppoulli.

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Girl, 12, wins diving accolade

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diver

By Ruth Lumley

TWELVE-year-old Charlotte Burns celebrated her birthday in Cyprus by becoming the youngest PADI Junior Master Scuba Diver in the world.

The youngster, from Kent in the UK, made the trip to the island with her family earlier this month to achieve her goal just 16 months after diving for the first time, her family said.

Charlotte has been diving since she was legally allowed to at the age of 10, completing more than 70 dives.

She visited Alpha Divers in Larnaca, to gain the highest qualification she could the day after her 12th birthday, on November 18.

Charlotte, who comes from a family of divers, decided to start diving after her brother Will, 26, became the youngest qualified junior master diver in the world at the age of 14.

She endured the worst storms Cyprus had seen in years, keeping her cool when the mooring line connected to the wreck she was diving in snapped, a spokesman for the family said.

He added that Charlotte is no stranger to diving in adverse conditions having tackled dives in Oban, Scotland, in water temperatures of -4C and in UK lakes with minimal visibility.

Charlotte’s passion has also had a positive effect on her mother Louise who had to overcome her fear of diving so that she could become her daughter’s diving buddy.

The spokesman said: “Louise is now an advanced PADI diver and has just completed her wreck diving speciality training in Cyprus”.

During the trip, Charlotte also met Ray Woolley, 90, one of the world’s oldest scuba divers who had also dived the Zenobia wreck she dived to earn her junior master scuba diver status, the spokesman said.

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Our View: Interests of society’s most protected trump those of the impoverished

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Βουλή των Αντιπροσώπων//House of Represent

THIS TIME last year, with the state having run out of money, the Christofias government was desperately looking for cash to pay the public employees’ monthly and 13th salaries in December. In the end, the government applied strong pressure on the unions of the three big semi-governmental organisations (CYTA, EAC and Ports Authority) which agreed to lend the state €250 million from their staff provident funds. Some union members protested but, in the end, the unions bailed out the government and there was no default on payments.

If the government were capable of behaving prudently, it would have borrowed only half the amount and told public employees there was no money for 13th salaries. Instead, the recklessly irresponsible president at the time borrowed the full amount and then boasted he had saved the 13th salaries, ignoring the fact he had added €120 million to the state’s mounting debt, by borrowing money that the state would be in no position to pay back in the foreseeable future.

Public employees’ 13th salaries have been back in the news, after House president Yiannakis Omirou proposed a three per cent cut to these, with the money saved being distributed among the long-term unemployed and other individuals in need, at Christmas. Omirou’s proposal incensed the PASYDY leadership, which called a two-hour work stoppage that was subsequently cancelled because of the death of former president Clerides. But it was an appallingly shameful reaction by the country’s most privileged workers who have been least affected by the depression.

This callous disregard for the impoverished members of our society was justified by claims that the three per cent cut would be unconstitutional. It might have been, but it was still disgraceful to call a strike because society’s most protected did not wish to help their destitute countrymen. What was even more shameful was the way Omirou, under pressure from PASYDY has been back-pedalling; it has not helped that many deputies have expressed opposition to his proposal. This is the level of community spirit we have.

Omirou’s proposal, which might be unconstitutional and will be discussed by parties on Thursday, is very superficial, as it assumes within three weeks the state services will have gone through lists of those eligible for support and prepared payments. Such an operation would need months to complete. The likelihood is that the proposal will be shelved and the ‘vulnerable groups’ will get nothing for Christmas.

If we had politicians capable of looking ahead, payment of 13th salaries in the public sector would have been suspended from last year. The current government could have taken such a decision this year, on the grounds that money was needed to help the growing numbers of impoverished citizens, but it also felt that keeping the privileged workers happy was the right thing.

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Bicommunal football agreement faces ‘many risks’

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football

By Peter Stevenson

‘MANY risks’ are posed by the agreement reached by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) and its Turkish Cypriot equivalent, the TCFA, in Zurich earlier this month, lawyer and former CFA and Apoel chairman Christos Triantaphyllides said yesterday.

The landmark deal was signed by CFA chairman Costakis Koutsokoumnis and the TCFA chairman Hasan Sertoglu in the presence of FIFA President Sepp Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini.

“Football cannot and should not have been forced to accept a fait accompli before a complete solution is found to the Cyprus problem which is still at a very delicate stage,” Triantaphyllides said.

He explained that the agreement has already been ratified by the CFA and if it is also ratified by the TCFA, then this would mean that the TCFA would be officially recognised.

“If this goes ahead then foreign teams might come and play in the occupied areas against Turkish Cypriot teams. The next step, which I fear greatly, is if there is no solution to the Cyprus problem that Turkish Cypriot teams will take part in official FIFA and UEFA competitions,” he said.

Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris reported on Tuesday that Sertoglu told Turkish Cypriot KIBRIS TV that the TCFA does not approve of the latest initiatives taken by CFA officials and claimed they have launched an unexpected attack against the TCFA.

Sertoglu said the TCFA will hold an evaluation meeting regarding the agreement with their football clubs on Friday or Monday.

According to Sertoglu he was told by Turkey’s Minister of Youth and Sport Suat Kilic that the CTFA is an autonomous organisation and that for this reason, its decisions should be respected. He added that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also gave his support by saying that this provisional agreement will contribute to the solution process.

It was reported last week by the Ankara Anatolia news agency (AA) that Blatter expects serious steps to be taken in the near future for Turkish Cypriot football teams to be represented under the CFA’s flag.

This process is expected to lead Turkish Cypriot football clubs to be recognised officially by UEFA, AA reported.

Blatter, who spoke to the press following his visit to see Pope Francis at the Vatican, said, “We have the solution. We have been working on it for six years. The CFA has approved it so we are expecting approval from the Turkish Cypriot side, hopefully to be received by the end of this month.”

Blatter said the agreement will not lead to a united Cypriot national team, while Turkish and Greek football teams may be playing in a combined league in Cyprus.

On Saturday Kibris reported that Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu said that he does not accept the two federation’s unification.

“It is not possible to accept such unification,” he said. He argued that Sertoglu had told him that the text discussed in Cyprus was different than the text signed in Zurich. “I do not know whether these mistakes can be corrected in new meetings,” he said.

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National Council to convene on Monday

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President  Nicos Anastasiades will convene the National Council next week to brief party leaders on developments in the Cyprus problem.

EDEK chairman Yiannakis Omirou said the meeting will take place  on Monday.

It is expected that the president will brief the members of the Council –  which acts as an advisory body — about his meeting  with Turkish Cypriot leader Dervish Eroglu earlier this week.

Following his meeting with Eroglu on Monday, Anastasiades said there is still a way to go before the two communities in Cyprus reach the desired outcome that would pave the way for the commencement of a substantive dialogue for a solution of the Cyprus problem.

 

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APOEL and Apollon face battle to keep Europa dreams alive

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APOEL Nicosia vs Bordeaux

By Nemanja Bjedov
APOEL host Maccabi Tel-Aviv on Thursday night, needing a second successive Europa League Group F home win if they are to remain in with a chance of reaching the round of 32, while anything other than a two-goal victory would mean Apollon’s dream is finished when they visit Trabzonspor in Group J.

The Cypriot champions revived their campaign by beating Bordeaux 2-1 in Nicosia in the last round and are now third in the group with four points from as many matches. But a defeat or score draw against second placed Maccabi, who have seven points, would end their hopes of a top-two finish.

The two teams met on Matchday one, with the game ending in a goalless draw. However, APOEL were definitely the happier of the two sides after their goalkeeper Urko Pardo saved a 95th-minute Barak Itzhaki penalty at the Bloomfield Stadium.

Croatian striker Mario Budimir is suspended for the Maccabi clash, while Constantinos Charalambides, Marcelo Oliveira and Joao Guilherme are all in danger of picking up suspensions with a yellow card.

APOEL coach Giorgos Donis had doubts over Esmael Goncalves’ fitness but it seems that the Portuguese forward will be available for selection.

Apollon Limassol, the national cup holders, need a victory against Trabzonspor in order to have any chance of overtaking the Turkish outfit or Lazio at the top of the group. Yusuf Erdogan struck on 86 minutes to earn Trabzonspor a 2-1 win when the teams met for the first time in the first round in Nicosia in what was Apollon’s first ever meeting with a Turkish side.
Christakis Christoforou’s men are currently third in Group J with four points, while Lazio have eight and Trabzonspor 10.

Christoforou has no worries with suspensions as only Georgios Vasiliou has two yellow cards and will miss the last match in the group if he is booked. However, Apollon have been significantly weakened as Fotios Papoulis will be absent for personal reasons, while Andreas Stavrou, Dimitris Froxylias, Rachid Hamdani, Andreas Frangkou and Marios Stylianou all did not travel.

The match at the Huseyin Avni Aker Stadium is scheduled to start at 8pm, while APOEL kick-off at the GSP Stadium in Nicosia at 10.05pm.

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Berlusconi expelled from Italian parliament over tax fraud

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Italy Berlusconi

By Roberto Landucci and Catherine Hornby
THE Italian Senate expelled Silvio Berlusconi over his tax fraud conviction on Wednesday, drawing a defiant response from the veteran centre-right leader who vowed to continue leading his party and fight on outside parliament.

The vote, after months of political wrangling, opens an uncertain new phase in Italian politics, with the 77-year-old media billionaire preparing to use all his extensive resources to attack Prime Minister Enrico Letta’s coalition government.

“We are here on a bitter day, a day of mourning for democracy,” Berlusconi told several thousand supporters from his Forza Italia party in front of his residence in central Rome as the Senate voted only a few hundred yards away.

Berlusconi, who has dominated politics in Italy for two decades, has already pulled his party out of Letta’s coalition after seven months in government, accusing leftwing opponents of mounting a “coup d’etat” to eliminate him.

Stripped of his parliamentary immunity from arrest, he is more vulnerable in a series of other cases, where he is accused of offences including political bribery and paying for sex with a minor.

However he no longer commands enough support in parliament to bring down the government, which easily won a confidence vote on the 2014 budget late on Tuesday with the support of around 30 dissidents who split off from Forza Italia this month.

Letta declared on Wednesday that his government was now “stronger and more cohesive” after winning the budget vote and said it would press on with its reform programme.
The Senate declared Berlusconi ineligible for parliament after he was convicted of masterminding a complex system of illegally inflated invoices to cut the tax bill for his Mediaset television empire.

Under a law passed with Berlusconi’s support last year, politicians convicted of serious criminal offences are ineligible for parliament, but his expulsion had to be confirmed by a full vote in the Senate.

The court sentenced him to four years in jail, commuted to a year likely to be spent performing community service. He was also banned from holding public office for two years, preventing any immediate return to government.

Both Letta’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and former comedian Beppe Grillo’s anti-establishment 5-Star Movement rejected a series of motions challenging the move.
In a characteristic piece of political theatre, Berlusconi addressed a rally of supporters outside his Rome residence as the vote was taking place, underlining that he will remain a troublesome opponent to the government even outside parliament.

“I’m not going to be retiring to some convent,” he told supporters. “We’re staying here!”

Much like Grillo, who does not sit in parliament but who keeps up a steady stream of attacks in public meetings and on his widely read blog, Berlusconi is almost certain to mount a sustained campaign against the government in the run-up to the European parliamentary elections in May.
The political battle over Berlusconi has already hampered any serious overhaul of Italy’s stagnant economy, which is stuck in a recession that has lasted more than two years, sending youth unemployment over 40 per cent.

The split on the centre-right may have removed the immediate threat to Letta, who has won two confidence votes in parliament since Berlusconi’s conviction, but the risk of further judicial conflict over any of the other criminal trials and investigations hanging over Berlusconi could inflame his supporters still further.

Berlusconi joined Letta’s Democratic Party in an unlikely coalition after the February election left no side able to form a government on its own.
But relations were rocky from the start and were worsened by rows over tax policy and tensions over Berlusconi’s tax fraud conviction in August.

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Two killed in Brazil World Cup stadium accident

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Workers stand near a crane that collapsed on the site of the Arena Sao Paulo stadium, known as "Itaquerao", which will host the opening soccer match of the 2014 World Cup, in Sao Paulo

By Eduardo Simoes
A CRANE collapsed on Wednesday at the construction site of the stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which is due to host the opening ceremony of the football World Cup, killing at least two people and apparently causing damage to the structure.

The stadium, which was scheduled to be finished in the next month or so, is to be the site of the opening game and five other matches when Brazil hosts the tournament in June and July.
A spokesman for the São Paulo fire department confirmed the two deaths, both construction workers. A police spokeswoman had previously put the death toll at three.

Local media including Folha de S.Paulo newspaper said a crane was lifting a piece of roof into place when the accident occurred, sending the roof crashing down onto the side of the structure. A spokesperson for Odebrecht SA, the company building the stadium, declined immediate comment.

Brazil has struggled to deliver stadiums, public transportation improvements and other World Cup-related projects within the timelines specified by world soccer body FIFA. Some construction sites, such as a new terminal at Sao Paulo’s international airport, are being built around the clock seven days a week to try to finish them before the Cup.
The Sao Paulo stadium, formally called Arena Corinthians but known locally as Itaquerão for the area where it is located, was 94 per cent complete at the time of the accident, according to the stadium’s website.

Photos taken by local media appeared to show significant damage to the exterior of the stadium.

It was not clear if the damage could pose a major delay to opening the stadium, according to Ricardo Trade, executive director of the local organizing committee for the World Cup.
“It’s impossible to make any forecasts at this moment,” Trade said. “What we know is what the images are showing, that part of the structure fell down.”
“At the same time, we can’t think that if construction is delayed by three months, the stadium will end up out of the World Cup.”

Corinthians, the professionalfootball club that will play in the stadium after the tournament, lamented the accident in a short statement but declined further comment.
“Extremely shocked by the news from Sao Paulo,” FIFA’s executive secretary Jerome Valcke wrote on his Twitter account. “Our thoughts are with the families of the victims of this accident.”

“We are currently awaiting further details from the authorities, who are investigating this tragic accident,” Valcke added.
The incident is a further blow to Brazil’s image and its preparations to host the 2014 tournament. Six stadiums were used in the Confederations Cup warm-up tournament in June, but several of them were delivered later than FIFA wanted.

Another six, including Itaquerão, are due to be delivered by the end of December but all indications are that at least two, in Manaus and Cuiabá, will not be ready on time. Even Itaquerão, which was due to be finished on schedule, will not begin to install 20,000 temporary seats until February.

The accident also casts further scrutiny on Brazil’s building standards. One worker was killed earlier this year while working on Palmeiras’ new stadium, also in Sao Paulo. Several people were injured when a fence collapsed just weeks after Gremio opened their brand new arena in the southern city of Porto Alegre in January.

And the Engenhão stadium built for the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro was forced to close in June after engineers said the roof was in danger of collapsing in high winds. The arena is due to be used as the Olympic stadium in 2016 and will be closed for 18 months for repairs.

The Itaquerão stadium, on the gritty east side of Sao Paulo, was originally budgeted at 350 million reais ($152.2 million) but that shot up to over 1 billion reais after local authorities decided to hold the prestigious opening match there.

Former Corinthians President Andres Sanchez said FIFA’s demands for more elevators, leather seats and extra space for sponsors were among the reasons for the massive increase.

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Police accused of breaking migrant’s leg (video)

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Capture

Video footage released by migrant support group KISA shows police officers apparently trying to subdue an Ivorian man and breaking his leg in the process at the centre of the capital, Nicosia.

KISA said that a police patrol with three police MMAD officers randomly stopped three African men, all black, between Eleftheria square and the Ohi roundabout in the heart of Nicosia on Wednesday, a shortly after 1pm.

Some viewers may find this footage disturbing.

All men presented papers showing they were in Cyprus legally.

One of them accused police of racial profiling, choosing to stop them for no reason because of their skin colour, KISA said.

The video shows the man fall on the ground as a police officer tries to handcuff him.

The man is screaming and his leg appears broken. “It’s come apart,” the police officer said as he was handcuffing him.

“I ask you a simple question. Why because I’m black that you control me?” the Ivorian man told police.

KISA said the man has been living in Cyprus for seven years and is married to a Cypriot with whom he has a four-year-old child.

Off camera, another man said in English: “Let the world [see] what is happening. This [is] what blacks go through here.”

“Can you see? This is someone’s leg. It’s broken.”

The independent authority for the investigation of allegations and complaints against the police have confirmed they have received an official complaint and will be appointing a criminal investigator.

Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou said earlier on Thursday the case would be investigated. “I said as soon as I took over [in February] that I don’t want to see people getting beat up by police,” Nicolaou said. He said that with the exception of “one or two isolated cases,” police in general had not used violence, even during “combative protests” outside the presidential palace and parliament. “There have been one or two isolated cases but they were investigated and there were even consequences for the police office in one of them.”

The Ivorian man is currently in Nicosia General Hospital with a broken leg, KISA said.

The video footage shows a police officer telling someone over the phone the man was “giving police trouble [and] shouting”.

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English football tight-lipped on match-fixing claims

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Match fixing

THE Football Conference, the fifth tier of English football, comprising professional and semi-professional clubs, refused to comment yesterday over allegations some of its matches had been fixed by an overseas betting syndicate.

Police arrested six men on suspicion of match-fixing in England, the National Criminal Agency (NCA) said on Wednesday, with British media reporting the focus was on the lower leagues.
However in a statement on their website (www.footballconference.co.uk), the organisation said: “The Football Conference has become aware of a story published today concerning arrests being made over alleged match fixing.

“The Football Conference takes all matters relating to the integrity of the game very seriously but it cannot make any comment on today’s story as it would be inappropriate to do so.”
The arrests, which were first reported late on Wednesday, are said to include three current footballers and one former player who appeared in the Premier League and is now an agent but still playing in a league at a level lower than the Conference.

In a statement on Wednesday, the NCA said it was “working closely with the Gambling Commission and the Football Association.
“The focus of the operation is a suspected international illegal betting syndicate.”

Britain’s Daily Telegraph, which has been investigating match-fixing, reported the matches are all in the lower leagues.
The Telegraph did not specify the relevant divisions but one team is alleged to have been involved in three fixed games.
The Football Association said in a statement that it had “been made aware of a number of arrests in relation to a National Crime Agency investigation.
“We have worked closely with the authorities in relation to these allegations.”

Football League chief executive Shaun Harvey said in a statement: “We understand from media reports that there is an ongoing Police investigation into alleged match fixing in domestic football. To date, we have had no contact from the Police regarding this matter.

“The threat of corruption is something that The Football League and the other football authorities treat with the utmost seriousness.”
“The integrity of our matches and our competitions is the bedrock of the domestic game.”

Earlier this year, an inquiry by European police forces, the European anti-crime agency Europol, and national prosecutors uncovered a global betting scam run from Singapore.
About 680 suspicious matches, including qualifying games for the World Cup and European Championships and the Champions League for top European club sides, were identified in the investigation.

The last major match-fixing scandal in England occurred in the mid-1960s when 10 players were found guilty and jailed for conspiring to fix matches.

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