By David Ljunggren

Canada allowed the U.S. National Security Agency to conduct widespread surveillance during the 2010 Group of 20 summit in Toronto, according to a Canadian Broadcasting Corp report that cited documents from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

The report is the latest potential embarrassment for the NSA as a result of Snowden’s leaks. He has already revealed the agency spied on close allies such as Germany and Brazil, prompting heated diplomatic spats with Washington.

The CBC report, first aired late on Wednesday, cited briefing notes it said showed the United States turned its Ottawa embassy into a security command post during a six-day spying operation by the top-secret U.S. agency as President Barack Obama and other world leaders met that June.

Reuters has not seen the documents and cannot verify their authenticity.

The CBC report said the operation was no secret to Canadian authorities. It said an NSA briefing note described the operation as “closely coordinated with the Canadian partner”.

The Canadian equivalent of the NSA is the Communications Security Establishment Canada, or CSEC. Last month Brazil angrily demanded an explanation for media reports which said CSEC agents had targeted its mines and energy industry.

The CBC report said the documents did not reveal the precise targets of the NSA operation, but described part of the U.S. eavesdropping agency’s mandate at the Toronto summit as “providing support to policymakers”.

A spokesman for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper declined to comment on the allegations in the report, but said security organizations were subject to oversight.

“We do not comment on operational matters related to national security. Our security organizations have independent oversight mechanisms to ensure that they fulfill their mandate in accordance with the law,” Jason MacDonald said in an email to Reuters.

CSEC spokeswoman Lauri Sullivan, asked whether the CBC report was accurate, said the agency did not target anyone in Canada through its foreign intelligence activities.

“CSEC cannot ask our international partners to act in a way that circumvents Canadian laws,” she added.

CSEC, which has a very low public profile, employs about 2,000 people. It is part of the so-called Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network that also includes the United States, Britain, New Zealand and Australia.

CSEC head John Forster had already been scheduled to appear later on Thursday before the House of Commons defense committee to discuss the annual budget for the defense ministry, which has overall responsibility for the agency.

After the allegations that CSEC had spied on Brazil, the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and the OpenMedia.ca lobby group announced a lawsuit last month alleging such activities were illegal and unconstitutional.

OpenMedia.ca executive director Steve Anderson said Canadians watching the CBC report would “be shocked to discover just how secretive, expensive, and out-of-control our government’s spying activities are”.

He added in a statement: “This is sure to cause huge damage to Canada’s relationships with our other G-20 partners.”

The U.S. embassy in Ottawa was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.

A 70-year-old woman from Sotira in the Famagusta district was robbed of €700 in cash and about €800 worth of jewellery by a conman pretending to work at the local hospital.

Police said that the man, believed to be in his thirties, visited the old woman at her home on Tuesday morning saying that the her son was hurt in an accident and urgently needed to have a surgery to implant plates in his leg. According to the police, the conman convinced the old woman to hand over cash and her gold jewellery to be melted down and used for the implants.

The young man has since disappeared and the police do not know if he was a Cypriot or a foreigner.

ALTHOUGH the seepage of deposits continues, the outflow has slowed down to a crawl compared to the start of the year, data released by the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) show.

In October total deposits of non Monetary and Financial Institutions (MFIs) in banks stood at €47.312bn, a drop of €163m from September.

By contrast, deposits from August to September had nosedived by €924m. The largest decrease in deposits (minus €3.7bn) took place in March – the month the Eurogroup decided to wind down the island’s then second-largest lender Laiki and impose a haircut on uninsured savings in Laiki and Bank of Cyprus.

From March to October, deposits dropped by a whopping €16.4bn. And from October 2012 to October 2013, total deposits shrank by 22.7 per cent.

A breakdown of the data for October 2013 shows that, despite the overall slowing down of outflows, deposits held by domestic residents fell by €461.8m and deposits held by other euro-area residents by €107.8m. This decline was however offset by an increase by €406.6m in deposits held by residents of the rest of the world.

Of the total deposits in October, €32.5bn belonged to domestic residents, €2.682bn to other euro-area residents, and €12.116bn to rest-of-the-world residents.

Households held the bulk of deposits with €27.967bn, followed by non-financial corporations (€11.1bn), other financial intermediaries (€5.401bn), insurance corporations and pension funds (€2.420.3bn) and the general government (€355.2m).

In March of this year deposits of households had amounted to €32.765bn.

Total outstanding loans meanwhile fell to €63.303bn from the €64.075bn recorded in September, a sign that banks continue hold a firm grip on credit.

The total credit to non-banks in the system was 12.1 per cent lower compared to the same month (October) last year.

By Natalia Zinets and Adrian Croft

The European Union told Ukraine it was risking its economic future by rejecting a free-trade deal in favour of closer ties with Russia, hours before a likely frosty encounter on Thursday evening between EU leaders and President Viktor Yanukovich.

Yanukovich flew into the Lithuanian capital Vilnius in time for a dinner in honour of the Eastern Partnership, the EU’s four-year-old outreach programme for former Soviet republics, including Ukraine.

He had been expected to sign a far-reaching free-trade and political association deal with the EU at the Vilnius summit, the result of years of negotiation.

But last week, following intense pressure from Moscow and growing concerns about Ukraine’s dire economic situation, Yanukovich announced he was not ready to sign the EU deal yet and would instead focus on reviving economic dialogue with Russia.

EU enlargement commissioner Stefan Fuele said on Thursday Ukraine’s decision to walk away from the agreement could imperil its future.

Disputing Ukraine’s estimates that upgrading its economic base to European standards would cost $20 billion a year, Fuele said: “The Ukrainian economy needs huge investments, but these are not costs. They represent future income, more growth, more jobs and more wealth.”

“The only costs that I can see are the costs of inaction allowing more stagnation of the economy and risking the economic future and health of the country,” he told a business forum in Vilnius, adding the EU offer remained on the table.

Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel, arriving in Vilnius, underscored that the offer of closer trade ties was still open to Kiev but she had no hope of reaching an agreement at the summit.

Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker was less definitive but said Ukraine had yet to meet EU conditions for a deal.

“I still have the small hope that we can come to an agreement tonight. I don’t rule it out…We have laid down our conditions. They have not all been fulfilled,” Juncker told reporters.

Among its conditions for a deal, the EU had asked that Ukraine addresses the issue of “selective justice” in its judiciary, an implicit demand that it addresses the fate of imprisoned former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, an arch rival of Yanukovich.

In an emotional appeal to the European Union, Tymoshenko’s 33-year-old English-educated daughter, Yevgenia, made a plea on behalf of her mother, asking the EU not to turn its back on Ukraine.

“In the name of my mother, I ask you not to leave Ukraine without your protection. Without your support, we don’t even have a chance for relatively honest elections, a partly independent press, the remains of political and economic competition and most importantly there will be no hope for positive change,” she said.

Tymoshenko declared a hunger strike on Monday and has given her support to the tens of thousands of Ukrainians who have demonstrated in Kiev against the rejection of the EU deal.

Several thousand protesters demonstrating against the Ukrainian government’s decision to walk away from the EU deal gathered on Kiev’s Independence Square on Thursday as Yanukovich arrived in Vilnius. A few dozen protesters also demonstrated outside the summit venue in Vilnius holding placards saying “Yanukovich, don’t steal the future” and “We are Europeans”.

FROSTY DINNER

On the eve of the summit, Yanukovich told the EU to stop meddling in her case and appeared likely to retort that Tymoshenko’s guilt had been proven in a Ukrainian court.

He had set the scene for a chilly reception by dismissing the EU’s trade offer as “humiliating”. The 600 million euros ($800 million), or so, of support on offer was “candy in a pretty wrapper”, he said.

But his presence at the EU gathering – without signing the agreement – indicates he does not want to burn his bridges with the EU and leave his country’s economic future solely to Russia, which wants Kiev to join a Moscow-led trade bloc. His government says the suspension of the EU deal marks only a “pause” in moves to integrate Ukraine into Europe’s mainstream.

The EU side, however, said there was no readiness to enter into a geo-political bargaining game over Ukraine, likely a reference to possible increased financial aid.

“It was never a bazaar for billions. It was a question of giving Ukraine and the Ukrainian economy access to the largest integrated economic market in the world,” said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who warned that Yanukovich’s decision to abandon the EU deal left it vulnerable to pressure.

Yanukovich has already accepted short-term support from Moscow, which supplies Ukraine half of its gas needs, without committing to Russia’s Customs Union with Kazakhstan and Belarus, and all the while keeping the EU within reach.

Defending Kiev’s decision, First Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov told the Vilnius forum: “The country cannot be ready for such a serious decision (to sign) if the social-economic situation is not balanced.”

“No about-face has taken place. We are confidently moving towards an aim which we have set. Ukrainians need Europe and the European path is the only one for us,” he said.

Yanukovich spoke with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, before the dinner with heads of EU states.

EYE ON THE PRIZE

The EU will initial political association agreements with two other ex-Soviet republics, Georgia and Moldova, putting them on track to sign formally in around a year. A visa agreement with Azerbaijan will also be signed.

Belarus and Armenia will also attend the summit, though there seems little prospect of their moving closer to the EU. Belarus is a member of the Russia-led Customs union, which Armenia has also opted to join.

But the biggest prize in the Eastern Partnership was always Ukraine, a country of 46 million people that borders four EU member states, and it will be something of an elephant in the room during the dinner on Thursday night.

EU leaders may also try to understand from Yanukovich how he intends to balance his acceptance of help from Russia with his stated aim of moving closer to the EU. Russia and Ukraine have suggested three-way talks with the EU, but that is not acceptable to Brussels.

“These are bilateral programmes between the EU and the Eastern Partnership countries. It’s not about negotiating three-ways with Russia,” said an official from Lithuania, which holds the EU presidency and has planned the Vilnius summit.

It is not clear what Russian President Vladimir Putin did to get Yanukovich to shift position, but diplomats in Brussels, Kiev and Moscow have suggested Russia will give Ukraine a more favourable gas-supply deal and better terms on repaying 1.3 billion euros of debt.

It will also reopen trade flows that have been interrupted since Yanukovich started making his overtures to Brussels.

By Fredrik Dahl

The U.N. nuclear watchdog will probably need more money to help it verify that Iran honours a deal with world powers to curb its nuclear programme, the agency’s chief said on Thursday, and it would take some time to prepare for the task.

Yukiya Amano also said Iran had invited the agency to visit the Arak heavy-water production plant on Dec. 8, the first concrete step under a new cooperation pact aimed at clarifying concerns about the Islamic Republic’s atomic activities.

Both agreements indicate how Iran is acting quickly to address fears about its nuclear project after the election in June of a relative moderate, Hassan Rouhani, as new president on a platform to smooth its troubled relations with the world.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will expand monitoring of Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities and other sites under the Nov. 24 breakthrough deal reached after marathon talks in Geneva between Iran and the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain.

The IAEA can mobilise expertise and staff from within the organisation for an increased workload in checking whether Iran is complying with the interim accord, agency Director General Amano told a news conference.

But its budget is very tight, he added: “Naturally this requires a significant amount of money and manpower … I don’t think we can cover everything by our own budget.”

The Arak facility produces heavy water intended for use in a nearby research reactor that is under construction. The West is concerned that the reactor, which Iran has said could start up next year, could yield plutonium as fuel for atomic bombs once operational. Iran says it will make medical isotopes only.

As part of its agreement with the powers, Iran is to halt installation work at the reactor and stop making fuel for it.

The IAEA is studying how to put into practice the Geneva deal with respect to U.N. inspectors’ role in verifying compliance and this would take some time, Amano said, adding it was a complicated task that needed preparations.

“I cannot tell when we will be ready,” he said on the sidelines of a regular meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation board of governors. “We would like to do the job properly.”

About 10 percent of its annual 121-million-euro ($164 million) budget for inspections is already devoted to Iran. The agency has two to four staff in Iran virtually every day of the year, with some 20 dedicated to inspector activity there.

Under the Geneva interim accord, there will be much “extra work and they will require extra resources to do it,” a Western envoy said, with “the extremely complex and difficult implementation” expected to start in January.

The U.S. ambassador to the IAEA, Joseph Macmanus, said “there will be costs” but he expressed confidence that member states would provide the funding needed.

“DEVIL IN THE DETAIL”

The agreement between Iran and the powers is designed to halt any further advances in Iran’s nuclear campaign and buy time for talks on a final settlement of the decade-old dispute.

After years of confrontation, relations between Iran and the West have improved somewhat since the election of Rouhani on a pledge to end Tehran’s isolation and win relief from sanctions that have battered the oil producer’s economy.

But Western officials and experts caution that finding a permanent solution to the Iranian nuclear issue will probably prove an uphill struggle, with the two sides still far apart on the final scope and capacity of the Iranian nuclear programme.

The Islamic Republic says it is a peaceful energy programme but the United States and its allies suspect it has been aimed at developing the capability to produce nuclear weapons.

Iran agreed on Sunday to stop its must sensitive nuclear work – uranium enrichment to a higher fissile concentration of 20 percent – and cap other parts of its activities in exchange for limited sanctions relief.

Refined uranium can fuel nuclear power plants but also the fissile core of a bomb if processed to a high degree.

“The IAEA inspectors are able to give an early warning if Iran does not comply at these locations with its undertakings,” former IAEA chief inspector Olli Heinonen said. “In verification work, the devil is in the detail.”

The IAEA’s visit in about 10 days’ time to the heavy water production plant near the town of Arak is part of a separate agreement signed this month between the U.N. agency and Iran.

Inspectors have not been there since August 2011, despite repeated requests. But Iran agreed on Nov. 11 to grant access to this site and to a uranium mine within three months.

Entry fees for museums and archaeological sites were increased on November 15, according to the Department of Antiquities.

In its announcement, Larnaca municipality said its new fees would be €4.50 for museums and ancient monuments, with the previous fee being €3.40.

For the archaeological site of Kourion the €1.70 fee was increased to €4.50.

The remaining museums and archaeological sites that previously charged €1.70 will now have a new fee of €2.50.

“The new entry fees will be reduced up to 20 per cent for organised groups of ten and more people. Daily passes will be issued for the price of €8.50, three- day passes for €17 and seven-day passes for €25,” the announcement said.

THE Sovereign Base Area Police have issued an arrest warrant for Stephanos Panaretos from Trachoni who was found guilty on November 21 of intending to cause grievous bodily harm to a police officer and was sentenced to eight years in prison, according to a statement issued on Thursday by the SBA.

The 22-year old, who is said to be trained in martial arts, is considered extremely dangerous, and police are urging anyone with information on his whereabouts to call the confidential emergency line on 1443.

According to the SBA, Paneretos failed to appear before the SBA Court last week but was represented by his lawyer in his absence.

His sentence relates to an incident earlier this year when Paneretos ran over an SBA police officer during an operation in Trachoni, causing him breaks to his arms and legs, as well as severe head and facial injuries.

By Constantinos Psilides

PARLIAMENTARY party leaders decided yesterday to postpone a decision to cut 3.0 per cent off civil servants’ 13^th salaries.

A final decision on the matter will be taken next week.

The delay was requested by DISY leader Averof Neophytou  according to party MP Nikos Nouris, “so that the party can formulate a more comprehensive plan”.

“The DISY leader wants to tackle the issue personally but he is currently abroad so he asked for the decision to be postponed”, Nouris said.

The promotion of the DISY proposal will largely depend on the support from other parliamentary groups, according to Nouris.

The cut was proposed by House president Yiannakis Omirou earlier this month. The aim was to collect around €6m to distribute as a Christmas bonus to needy families.

Greens MP Giorgos Perdikis said that the 3.0 per cent cut is “a done deal” and that anything else discussed on the subject is merely to “pass the time”.

AKEL MP Yiannos Lamaris said that his party will not be supporting any pay cuts, asking instead that the money for needy families to be raised from companies that reported profits this year.

“Some companies reported profits of up to €4m in 2013. We should not be under the illusion that because we are in a recession some people aren’t making money. There are some who make more money just because we are in a recession,” Lamaris added, suggesting that the state establish a solidarity fund to support the needy.

He asked the government to reassess the immovable property tax, claiming that “85 per cent of people paid the tax whereas only half of companies did so”.

The proposed cut infuriated public workers union PASYDY, who threatened with a two-hour strike that was cancelled as it was scheduled to take place in the week of the funeral of former president Glafcos Clerides.

PAPANTONIOU supermarkets in Limassol and Paphos will be donating food to large families’ associations in the cities, the Cyprus Red Cross and local community markets, the supermarkets’ managing director has said.
Charalambos Papantoniou said collection started this week on Thursday and is due to be completed on Wednesday, in the context of the company’s corporate social responsibility.
Thanking the supermarkets on behalf of the organisation of large families, Leontios Tsielepos said they would distribute aid based on need, prioritising families with unemployed parents and dependent children. He told the Cyprus News Agency that in Paphos alone there were 4,500 large families. Large families are those with five members or more.
“We are working hard to ensure the large families in hardship do not have to go without,” he said.
Papantoniou supermarkets also said yesterday that they were working alongside the commerce ministry to support families around the holiday season by providing vouchers across a number of different supermarket companies. “Everyone has an obligation to support the weaker, as our society lives through difficult times,” Papantoniou said.

By Constantinos Psillides

Although not nearly as sexy and provocative as the famed HBO series, the clash between MP Nicolas Papadopoulos and DIKO leader Marios Garoyian for the Iron Throne, or party leadership, was almost bloody enough to turn television executives green with envy.

In the last few weeks the two contenders have used every weapon at their disposal and didn’t hold back any punches. “Neo-liberal”, “populist” and “willing to sacrifice the party for his own agenda” are just some of the insults hurled at Papadopoulos by the Garoyian camp. “A failure as a party leader”, “power-hungry” and “incapable of affecting major policies” is a selection of the accusations the Papadopoulos camp countered with.

DIKO voters are called upon today to decide which one of their battle weary candidates is better suited to head the party for the coming years.

Like all good political intrigue plots, there is also influence from a man in the shadows. DIKO’s coalition partner, the governing DISY and its former leader, president Nicos Anastasiades needs DIKO MPs now more than ever, with public displeasure and opposition in the parliament increasing due to austerity measures. Anastasiades also needs allies if he is to resolve the Cyprus problem, a remote chance with Nicolas Papadopoulos at the helm of DIKO.

Papadopoulos tried to put a stop to rumours about dissolving the coalition if he is elected DIKO leader, saying that he will back Anastasiades “as long as he keeps his promises”.
But the Papadopoulos – Garoyian rivalry is not just about the future of the coalition. It has been brewing for years and it’s a battle for the soul of the party, an inevitable clash of the two factions that have been operating almost independently of each other since the passing of former party leader and president, Tassos Papadopoulos on December 12 2008.

Garoyian came to power on October 22 2006, after Tassos Papadopoulos stepped down as DIKO leader, beating MP Nicos Cleanthous to the position.

Meanwhile, on May 21 2006, Nicolas Papadopoulos was elected MP.

DIKO went on to back Dimitris Christofias in the second round of the 2008 presidential elections, a move that caused displeasure within the party.

Three years later, on May 15 2009, Garoyian ran unopposed for re-election as the party leader. Papadopoulos was elected deputy leader.

Two distinct factions began forming in the party: one under Garoyian, best described as “the party faithful”; and the “hardliners”, especially when it came to the Cyprus problem, under Papadopoulos.

Under continuous political pressure, Garoyian was forced to put the matter of dissolving the coalition up for a vote. The party central committee convened on February 24 2010 and after a nine-hour meeting and a secret vote, decided overwhelmingly (124 members out of 172) to stay in power with AKEL.

Garoyian won that round but the Papadopoulos camp did not stay silent for long. The ‘hardliners’ continued to express their dissatisfaction and it wasn’t long before Garoyian suffered a severe political blow.

In the May 22 2011 parliamentary elections, Garoyian was set against EDEK leader Yiannakis Omirou for the presidency of the House. Garoyian lost when DIKO MP Zacharias Koulias decided not to back him. Garoyian’s reaction was swift and harsh.

Less than two weeks after the vote, Garoyian asked for a joint meeting of the party executive board and the party parliamentary group to decide on the expulsions of Koulias and deputy party leader George Kolokassides, whom Garoyian also accused of undermining his candidacy. After another lengthy meeting 25 DIKO members voted for the expulsion of Koulias while on a separate vote 20 voted to show Kolokassides the door.

Papadopoulos and current education minister Kyriakos Kenevezos abstained.

With the Papadopoulos camp now weakened, Garoyian steered DIKO towards backing Anastasiades’ candidacy for president in the 2013 elections.

Papadopoulos wasn’t shy in expressing his disappointment, publicly declaring his disagreement and even went as far as attending political rallies of Giorgos Lillikas, who was also candidate for president.

Papadopoulos’ apostasy cost DIKO dearly. Almost 40 per cent of party voters didn’t follow the party line. Anastasiades did win the election but it was now more than obvious that Garoyian was losing his once powerful grip over the party.

A total of just over 38,000 party members are set to vote today but it remains to be seen if either side can stick to Garoyian’s promise this week that he is willing to forgive and forget for the sake of the party come Monday.

APOLOGIES to regulars for the two week closure of the Coffeeshop, but there was improvement work that needed to be done to our establishment because it is faced very tough competition from the mighty international chains that have invaded Kyproulla and are taking our customers.

We can no longer survive offering the humble skettos and spadja tea and have decided to offer espresso, caramel latte, peppermint mocha and frappuccino plus ginger and carrot-flavoured machallepi in order to win back our customers and attract a younger, more demanding clientele.

Although the preparations for the new shop have not been completed we felt obliged to re-open early because we felt obliged to inform our few remaining loyal customers about the mother of all election contests, branded the Clash of the Titans by the promoter, taking place today at DIKO.

I refer to the bout for the party leadership, between two of our leading political lightweights, current leader Marios Lafazayian and challenger Ethnarch Junior. This is not so much a battle for the soul of the party but for its very desirable body, which every ambitious and hot-blooded politician has tried to get into bed.

THERE is no ideological difference between the two candidates even though Lafazayian’s principled opportunism is more in tune with the party’s rank and file.
The arrogant Junior is less in touch which is why he has been promising to make DIKO proud again, unaware that the ordinary party member is primarily interested in rusfeti not in pride. And in that respect nobody could accuse Marios of not delivering.

Junior had hoped that he would win by simply using his dad’s name, claiming his hereditary right and squandering a small fraction of his big wealth to fund a triumphant election campaign. He had underestimated the resolve of the guy he thought was just the caretaker leader that would make way for him as soon as he decided he was ready to take over the family party.

It was a big miscalculation because Lafazayian is the spiritual son of Spy Kyp and learned all the dirty and devious tricks of politics from the great man himself. He avoided costly public campaigning, and focused on signing new party members that would vote for him. DIKO has doubled its membership in the last few months, taking it from 21,000 names to 40,000. Most new members are said to be DISY voters wanting to shaft Junior, who openly backed Lillikas in the last presidential elections.

Junior showed his desperation this week by visiting Archbishop Chrys and securing his backing. You almost felt sorry for the boy, seeking the endorsement of a clapped-out priest in order to become leader of DIKO.

OUR ESTABLISHMENT would like to wish both contestants bad luck and express the wish that it will be a nasty fight with plenty of blows below the belt. We also hope that the eventual loser will be ungracious in defeat, bad-mouthing his opponent and accusing him of cheating.

One last thing. I could not believe Junior’s nerve in citing as his main criticism of Lafazayian the charge that he had delayed withdrawing DIKO from the incompetent Tof government. Junior forgets that it was his dad’s decision for DIKO to back the village idiot in the 2008 presidential elections. Poor old Marios had made a deal to back the DISY candidate but it was vetoed by the Ethnarch.

The lasting damage to the country had been done by the Kennedy family of Strakka who put the village idiot in power and not by Marios’ dithering over leaving the government.

PROFESSOR Panicos’ staff management skills appear to be as lousy as his administration of the banking sector. We hear that the working environment at the Central Bank (CBC) is toxic, with employees gripped by paranoia and fear, not knowing what to expect from top management.

Most decisions relating to staff are still being taken by the Governor’s PA, Akelite Cruella, Eleni Markadji, who has been exercising much greater powers than her position would justify ever since AKEL and Panicos took control of the CBC.

On Friday, a female member of staff fainted and suffered a breakdown after receiving a letter from her boss, the nerdy London Cypriot known as GG, informing her that she would be moved to the bank’s library where she would not even have a desk; she would be sitting on a bench. An ambulance had to be called to take her to hospital where she was kept until nighttime.

The woman had been hired by GG six months ago to work in the Governor’s Office and Communications and performed her duties very well. But according to our information, the Stalinist battleaxe Markadji did not like her and decided she had to be kicked out of the Governor’s Office. GG simply executed the order.

When GG was informed that the woman had passed out, he did not even bother to go and see how she was. Perhaps Markadji did not give him permission to leave his desk.

THERE are countless stories about Markadji’s bolshie behaviour. “I will close down both the banks” was one of the boasts she had made in the past. And when DISY chief Averof Neophytou sent a letter to the Governor asking about a member of staff’s relationship with a director of a commercial bank Markadji was shouting in the corridors that “I will sort out Averof if he doesn’t mind his own business.”

Averof had a point, Markadji is married to a certain Malcolm Williams who is an advisor of the Federal Bank of the Middle East, a bank under the supervision of the CBC.

Last week it was reported that FBME was transferring funds in violation of the capital controls imposed by the CBC. Although the bank was informing the CBC about the transfers on a daily basis, the CBC never told the bank to stop the transactions and allowed this practice to go on for seven months.

When the CBC board found out, however, it forced Professor Panicos to write to FBME, threatening it with fines. Was it La Markadji that gave orders to CBC staff to turn a blind eye to the transactions, in which case there may have been a slight conflict of interest, or did she ask the Professor to give the orders, in which case everything would be above board?

None of this appears to have affected Markadji’s working relationship with the Governor. Only last weekend she accompanied him and GG on an official trip to London and proudly showed colleagues the photos she had taken with Panicos.

Still refining his style – Christis Hasapis

WHILE our establishment was closed a very important message was made public. It was an SMS sent by the mighty boss of the Phil media group Nikos Pattichis to his bosom buddy Christis Hasapis, the long-haired chairman of the Bank of Cyprus, to congratulate him on his election.
It said: “It is not possible for me to be away for two days in Athens and on my return find you Chairman!!! I missed a lot of the behind-the-scenes dealings I was told by our business section. Immediate attention to styling please – I have many good people to help you. Zografakis (member of the BoC board) is a very good friend and super-smart, Katsaros (board member representing Church) is related to our Panicos Charalambous (Phil hack) and through him I made the deal with ‘my man’ the Archbishop and Mega (TV). You will have access to and support from television through Phil now. I want the first exclusive interview for Phil and the Cyprus Weekly. Kisses N…”

Patt loves to play the media big-shot and must feel even more powerful now that he has got his hands on a television station as well, not to mention his close ties with three members of the BoC board including the chairman. But what media bigshot signs off a message to a bank chairman with ‘kisses’? I think he needs some media magnate styling.

CHRISTIS, we hear, felt very embarrassed by the ridicule he was subjected to on Facebook even though he had done nothing wrong. Patt had mistakenly sent the SMS to someone at Kathimerini newspaper. There was a second SMS informing Christis about the publicity Patt’s rags would give to his wife but we have been unable to find it.

Anyway, the BoC chairman heeded Patt’s advice for “immediate attention to styling.” He has trimmed his hair, while at Friday’s AGM of the bank he applied a lot of gel at the front so the hair could be pulled behind his ears and he could pose as a banker.

It did not work again because the hair on the back was way too long and bushy, giving him a mullet hair-style, which is more often associated with heavy metal fans than bank chairmen. Immediate attention to styling is still necessary, I fear.

WE MAY be too harsh on Christis because of our envy. On Monday, during the lunch at the break of the The Economist conference at Hilton Park he was sat next to the delectable Delia. Disappointingly he hardly spoke to her, preferring to spend most of his time conversing with a woman sitting opposite him. In fact he only exchanged a few words with dear Delia only after she made the effort to speak to him. Once Patt sorts out his styling it might be an idea to send him somewhere where they teach conversation skills.

FINANCE minister Haris Georgiades could not have been very happy with the sequence of the speakers at The Economist conference. He was made to speak after Maarten Verwey, the European Commission’s deputy director-general for economic and financial affairs and head of the troika. Protocol dictated that the minister spoke before the troika boss, but the organisers may have adopted a bailout protocol which places the lenders above state officials.

A GINGER latte drinker informed us that the BoC’s biggest non-performing loan is not that of Leptos Estates. Leptos boasts the second biggest NPL. The biggest is that of the once mighty Lanitis Group, which the BoC inherited from Laiki. The bank could now end up owning half the Limassol marina. The Lanitis family were big shareholders of Laiki and their consent was needed when Vgenopoulos tried to take over the bank. The family gave its consent to the takeover by the dodgy banker – everyone wondering at the time why it had done so – and is now suffering the consequences of its inexplicable decision.

WE WERE closed when the dear old sea wolf Glafcos Clerides – Kyproulla’s most sensible politician – passed away so we were unable to run a eulogy. It is now too late for one, but we feel obliged to take issue with Nicos Tornaritis’ proposal to name Larnaca airport after him. We really think this is not a good idea. Clerides deserved to have something named after him, but our fear is that this would simply continue what has been a bad practice (naming buildings after dead presidents), with the risk of having to name something after Christofias when he finally goes to socialist heaven.

‘MASS popular uprising’ was how the AKEL mouthpiece Haravghi headlined its report about the demonstration by unions, mainly of public sector workers, planned for December 14. It was a totally misleading headline as the protest against the “the harsh austerity of the troika and all those who align themselves with its diktats” was neither an uprising nor mass in the strict sense of the word.

A more accurate headline would have been ‘Public sector fat cats are revolting’ because apart from pensioners, the main participants in the demonstration would be state school teachers, semi-government workers, farmers and students. The mass popular uprising would be made up of the second highest-paid teachers in the EU, grossly overpaid SGO workers, the state-subsidised farmers and students who are provided with a completely free education.

In Cyprus, the land of irrationality, it is the privileged, over-paid, over-protected and over-fed workers with total job security that take to the streets protesting about the austerity measures that have barely touched them. All that matters is their personal wellbeing and they do not give a second’s thought to the tens of thousands of long-term unemployed and impoverished families depending on hand-outs by charities to survive.

Those whose lives have been wrecked by the collapse of the economy appear to have been air-brushed out of our society, their wellbeing an irrelevance compared to that of the public sector fat-cats.

It is strange that the labour aristocracy of Pasydy would not be joining the mass uprising of the privileged, but they performed their uprising a little earlier. Pasydy members had organised their own uprising – a work stoppage that was called off as a mark of respect to Glafcos Clerides – in protest against the proposal for a three per cent cut to 13th salaries. The money saved would have gone to low income groups, according to House president Yiannakis Omirou, who made the proposal, but as the Pasydy boss said, it was unjust that his members were the only people being asked to make sacrifices.

This is propaganda that Goebbels would have been proud of, but Glafcos Hadjipetrou has been getting away with it because nobody dares to challenge him. The biggest pay cut imposed on civil servants was in the region of 15 per cent for the highest paid and this included a contribution to social insurance, which was still half the percentage private sector employees paid, and 1.5 per cent contribution for healthcare. The devious Hadjipetrou also includes the automatic pay rises civil servants were entitled to and did not receive because of the freeze imposed by the government, to claim that his members had suffered cuts of as much as 30 per cent.

The truth is that the maximum pay cut suffered by teachers, SGO workers and other public sector employees was in the region of 15 per cent and this included social insurance contributions. This is nothing compared to the sacrifices private sector workers have had to make. Apart from earning wages that were, on average, 40 per cent lower than in the public sector, they suffered pay cuts of between 20 and 50 per cent and in most businesses suspension of 13th salary. There are many who are owed two or three months’ wages, but do not protest because this is still better than being jobless. What is the value of job security that is guaranteed to the moaning public sector fat cats?

These points need to be made because the labour aristocrats are setting the agenda and are affecting political thinking. It was astonishing that the DISY spokesman on Friday said that his party was preparing a proposal that envisaged all employees making a contribution to a fund that would help low-income groups and the unemployed. Presumably the idea is to make everyone contribute so that the labour aristocrats do not repeat the big lie that they were being exclusively burdened with the cost of the recession. It seems the only people who are heard in Cyprus are those who take to the streets, threaten strikes, make a noise and falsely claim victimhood.

Vulnerable groups should be supported by the state but the money should be raised exclusively by additional public sector pay cuts and not touch private sector workers who have been hit the hardest by the recession. The pampered public employees’ whose wages, pensions and benefits bankrupted the state and made it unable to offer any support to the weakest and most vulnerable members of our society must pick up the bill for any proposed welfare measures. This is now a moral imperative.

By George Psyllides

Central Bank (CBC) Governor Panicos Demetriades withheld information from and misled the regulator’s board, signed an agreement that involved conflict of interest, and sided with the interests of a company instead of the CBC, an internal audit has found.

The damning report, seen by the Sunday Mail, concerns Demetriades’ relationship with consultants Alvarez & Marsal (A&M), initially hired to investigate how the island’s two biggest banks, Bank of Cyprus (BoC) and the now defunct Laiki, ended up seeking state assistance.

The firm, with Demetriades’ approval, and apparently without prior authorisation from the board, ended up handling most of the aspects relating to the restructure of the island’s banking sector.

The probe, carried out by the CBC’s audit committee – three non-executive board members – concluded, among others, that Demetriades had withheld information and agreements signed with A&M, misled the board, committed millions that were not budgeted, and without the approval of the board, signed an agreement to pay a success fee after the fact, and awarded jobs to one company without a tender procedure.

In early December 2012 it was decided that the CBC would need the help of experts to evaluate the methodology used by PIMCO to audit the banks’ portfolios to determine their capital needs, to assess the banks’ restructuring plans, to decide whether an asset management company (AMC) was needed to handle non-performing loans, and if one was necessary to evaluate the assets, and finally to assess the disengagement from Greece.

Four firms were short-listed, including A&M, which the board excluded from taking part in evaluating the portfolio audit, the restructuring plans, and the AMC, due to its involvement in the investigation.

The board decided to ask bids from the other three companies, Canaccord/ Genuity Hawkpoint, Lazar Freres, and Bain & Co.

For the disengagement job, senior director Spyros Stavrinakis recommended hiring Nomura investment bank.

The board agreed.
A couple of weeks later, on December 16, board members received an email from Demetriades who said it would be better if bids were also invited from three more firms – Moelis & Co., BlackRock, and A&M, which had been rejected by the board earlier that month.
During the board meeting the next day, members adopted the governor’s suggestion to take bids from all six firms because they were under the impression that the addition of the three only concerned the evaluation of the PIMCO results.

The job eventually went to BlackRock

At the next board meeting, on February 4, Demetriades and Stavrinakis argued that restructuring plans must be evaluated urgently and announced that the job was awarded to A&M for €960,000 plus VAT plus expenses.

The audit report said Demetriades and Stavrinakis had misled the board, bringing before it a fait accompli.

In fact, unbeknown to the board, A&M had been awarded the restructuring and the AMC jobs on December 31, even though it had been excluded on December 3.
“And they cited the urgency of the matter on February 4 … to justify their act,” the report said.

The December 31 agreement came to the attention of the board on August 29, 2013, the day a notification was sent warning of the termination of A&M’s services.

The €3.5 million “secret” agreement was never presented to the board for approval and the money was not budgeted.

The board was asked to approve individual payments without any reference to the agreement and “was ignored by the governor” whenever it asked for information.

“Even though it is prohibited to spend amounts that are not approved by the board, and even though there was a deal that could have been presented to the board for approval, the governor chose to conceal the agreement in question and ask for approval afterwards,” the report said.

On March 16, the Eurogroup decided to impose a levy on all bank deposits in Cyprus to recapitalise Laiki and BoC. This was rejected by parliament.

On March 23, 2013, the governor struck two additional deals with A&M, which were attached to the “secret agreement of December 31, 2012”.

The one was for the restructuring of the Cypriot banking industry, and the other for its recapitalisation.

This was two days before a second Eurogroup decided to close Laiki and seize customer deposits to recapitalise BoC.

Demetriades had effectively authorised A&M — without the board’s permission – to handle the recapitalisation of Cypriot banks and the sale of their Greek operations.

On March 28, Demetriades also agreed to afford A&M a “recapitalisation fee” of 0.10 per cent of the total gross capital benefit into the banking system.

It was backdated March 23, two days before the Eurogroup decision.

“It obliged the CBC to possibly pay a recapitalisation fee of many millions without at least exempting the bail in — as the bank’s external legal adviser had suggested — knowing that it was preceded by the March 25 Eurogroup decision to recapitalise banks through a bail in,” the report said.

The Eurogroup also decided that the Greek operations of the Bank of Cyprus, Laiki and Hellenic, must be sold in a bid to ensure the crisis did not spill over.

They were eventually sold to Pireaus bank for €524 million, a price that many thought was too low.

Soon after, Pireaus said it recorded a negative goodwill of €3.4 billion from the transaction – a gain occurring when the price paid for an acquisition is less than the fair value of its net tangible assets.

“The governor made a deal with a company, which had a huge conflict of interest,” the 58-page report said. “A&M negotiated the sale of branches to Pireaus bank. The lower the sale price, the higher the haircut and the recapitalisation fee claimed by the company.”

The March 28 deal replaced another agreement signed between Demetriades and A&M on March 23.

That agreement spoke of a “success fee” and that it was subject to the approval of the board on March 25, which was never given.

The caveat had been removed from the March 28 deal, the report said, at the behest of A&M Head of Global Asset Risk Hal Hirsch.

“Certainly, if there is an objection at any time at any party, we will have to deal with it then,” Hirsch was quoted as saying in an email to Demetriades.

And “success fee” became “recapitalisation fee.”

Hirsh also confirmed that the recapitalisation agreement was signed after the deposit haircut decision in a September 5 letter.

“At the time the recap fee was proposed, the form of the recapitalisation had not been decided,” Hirsch said, according to the report.

Demetriades claimed he signed the March 28 agreement under duress.

His copy states, in English: “Signed under duress. Mr Hirsch threatened to move the entire Alvarez team out of Cyprus at the peak of the crisis if I did not sign.”

The audit committee report doubts Demetriades had been under duress when he signed.

During two board meetings, April 7 and 8, in Hirsch’s presence, “the board did not notice any problem in their relations.”

Nevertheless, the report said, a national central bank governor, never signs deals under duress.

A&M initially demanded around €11 million but later said it would settle for €4.75 million.

The firm said the €4.75 million “was within the range we were advised by the Governor would be appropriate.”

About 30,000 protesters launched a “people’s coup” on Thailand’s government on Sunday, swarming multiple state agencies in violent clashes, taking control of a broadcaster and forcing the prime minister to flee a police compound.

Police fired teargas on protesters who hurled stones and petrol bombs in demonstrations that paralysed parts of Bangkok and followed a night of gun and knife battles in which two people were killed and at least 54 wounded.

A group of protesters forced Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to evacuate to an undisclosed location from a building where she had planned to give media interviews, while hundreds seized control of state broadcaster Thai PBS, waving flags and tooting whistles.

Declaring Sunday “V-Day” in a week-long bid to topple Yingluck and end her family’s more than decade-long influence over Thai politics, protest leaders urged supporters to seize 10 government offices, six television stations, police headquarters and the prime minister’s offices in what they are calling a “people’s coup”.

Police said the protesters had gathered in at least eight locations. In at least three of them, police used teargas and water canons.

National police spokesman Piya Utayo said troops were being sent to a government complex occupied by protesters since Thursday and the Finance Ministry, occupied since Monday. “We have sent forces to these places to take back government property,” he said on national television.

It is the latest dramatic turn in a conflict pitting Bangkok’s urban middle class and royalist elite against the mostly rural poor supporters of Yingluck and her billionaire brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister ousted in a 2006 military coup.

Reuters journalists waiting to interview Yingluck inside the police Narcotics Suppression Bureau were told by Natthriya Thaweevong, an aide for the prime minister, that she had left after protesters made it inside the outer part of the compound, the Police Sports Club, where the bureau is located.

In the early afternoon, protesters massed in front of a police barricade outside Wat Benjamabhopit, also known as the Marble Temple. Police fired teargas as some protesters tried to heave aside the heavy concrete barriers.

The deep detonation of stun grenades, followed by the jeers of protesters, echoed across the historic quarter.

“I just want the people named Shinawatra to get on a plane and go somewhere – and please, don’t come back to our country again,” said Chatuporn Tirawongkusol, 33, whose family runs a Bangkok restaurant.

PETROL BOMBS

Outside the Metropolitan Police Bureau, about 3,000 protesters rallied, accusing riot-clad police of being manipulated by Thaksin, a former policeman who rose to become a telecommunications magnate before entering politics and winning back-to-back elections in 2001 and 2005.

Chamai Maruchet Bridge, north of Government House, the prime minister’s offices, was a scene of nearly non-sop skirmishes, as police repeatedly fired teargas into the stone-throwing crowd, Reuters witnesses said. Protesters gathered near barricades spray-painted with the words “Failed State”.

A Reuters photographer saw protesters hurl at least a dozen petrol bombs into police positions from a college campus across a canal from Government House.

In one of the most dramatic events, state broadcaster Thai PBS was taken over by protesters, according to PBS and police. More than 250 mostly black-shirted protesters gathered in the parking lot, as others streamed in.

The executive producer at Thai PBS, Surachai Pannoi, told Reuters the management of the station would share its broadcast line with Blue Sky, a broadcaster controlled by the opposition Democrat Party, starting this afternoon.

STREET BATTLES

Yingluck, who won a 2011 election by a landslide to become Thailand’s first female prime minister, has called for talks with the protesters, saying the economy was at risk after demonstrators occupied the Finance Ministry on Monday.

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, a deputy prime minister under the previous Democrat-led government that Yingluck’s party routed 2011, has ignored her and told demonstrators that laws must be broken to achieve their goals.

The Democrats, Thailand’s oldest political party, have not won an election in more than two decades and have lost every national vote for the past 13 years to Thaksin or his allies.

Suthep has called for a “people’s council”, which would select “good people” to lead, effectively suspending Thailand’s democratic system. Yingluck has rejected that step as unconstitutional and has ruled out a snap election.

Thailand faces its worst political crisis since April-May 2010, a period of unrest that ended with a military crackdown. In all, 91 people were killed then, mostly Thaksin’s supporters trying to oust the then-Democrat government.

Suthep faces murder charges for his alleged role in the ordering crackdown.

Police tightened security after clashes on Saturday between supporters and opponents of Yingluck near a sports stadium where about 70,000 red-shirted government supporters had gathered. Five big shopping malls closed their doors in Bangkok, underscoring the economic impact of the protests.

One “red shirt” government supporter was shot and killed outside the stadium early on Sunday, after a 21-year-old student was fatally shot several hours earlier.

A red-shirt leader, Jatuporn Promphan, said four red shirts had been killed but Reuters only confirmed one, 43-year-old Viroj Kemnak. Fifty-four people were wounded, according to the government’s Erawan emergency centre.

Thousands of government supporters began to disperse, returning on buses to their homes in the north after their rally was called off in a bid to defuse tensions.

Seventeen battalions of 150 soldiers each, along with 180 military police, all unarmed, were called in to boost security ahead of the demonstrators’ Sunday deadline for ousting the government.

Thaksin, who won over poor rural and urban voters with populist policies, was convicted of graft in 2008. He dismisses the charges as politically motivated and remains in close touch with the government from his self-imposed exile, sometimes holding meetings with Yingluck’s cabinet by webcam.

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a funeral procession in a northern Iraq town on Sunday, killing at least 10 people and wounding 25, police said.

The attack took place in Muqdadya, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, among a crowd of mourners in a cemetery. They had been escorting the body of a prominent pro-government Sunni Muslim tribal sheikh.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but insurgents linked to al Qaeda have frequently targeted local Sunni leaders and their followers considered supportive of Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government.

Iraq is suffering from its worst wave of violence in at least five years. Insurgents have increased bomb attacks and shootings against civilians and security forces.

The government says the civil war in neighbouring Syria is stirring violence in Iraq. It says groups mainly linked to the Iraqi wing of al Qaeda are trying to intensify conflict.

On Friday police discovered the bodies of 18 men, including a Sunni tribal sheikh and his son, who had been abducted and shot in the head near Baghdad in an attack a senior security official said bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda.

Actor Paul Walker, best known for his roles in the “Fast and the Furious” action movies, died on Saturday in a car crash in Southern California, his publicist said.

Walker, 40, who was in five of the six films about illegal street racing and heists, was a passenger in a friend’s car and was attending a charity event, according to a message linked to his Twitter account.

“Sadly, I must confirm that Paul did pass away this afternoon in a car accident,” Ame Van Iden, Walker’s publicist, said in an email.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that two people were killed in a car accident in Valencia, a community in the city of Santa Clarita, at about 3:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. ET).

Deputies arriving at the scene found the vehicle engulfed in flames. The victims were pronounced dead at the scene, the statement said. The office did not provide the identities of the dead, and said the cause was under investigation.

In the “Fast and Furious” pictures, the blond-haired, blue-eyed actor played Brian O’Conner, a law enforcement official.

The first movie in the series, which stars Vin Diesel, was released in 2001, and a seventh was in development at the time of his death, Universal, the studio behind the franchise, said in a statement. The most recent film, released in May, was one of this year’s biggest box office hits.

“Brother I will miss you very much,” Diesel said in a post on Instagram, adding “I am absolutely speechless. Heaven has gained a new Angel. Rest in Peace.”

According to the IMDb.com movie website, Paul William Walker IV was born in Glendale, California, in 1973 and began acting at a very young age, appearing in many commercials.

He played Professor Bennet in the 1987 movie “Monster in the Closet” and starred in the television series “Throb,” IMDb said.

Walker also made guest appearances on television shows, including “Charles in Charge” and “Who’s the Boss?” and had a role in the soap opera, “The Young and the Restless.”

Other film appearances include “Timeline,” “Into the Blue,” “The Lazarus Project” and “Hours,” which is slated for release in December.

According to IMDb, Walker has a daughter named Meadow.

Universal conveyed its condolences to Walker’s family, saying, “All of us at Universal are heartbroken.

“Paul was truly one of the most beloved and respected members of our studio family for 14 years, and this loss is devastating to us, to everyone involved with the Fast and Furious films, and to countless fans.”

More tributes flowed on social media websites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

“So sad. He gave a lot of joy,” wrote James Franco, while model/actor Tyson Beckford posted “Tyson Beckford: RIP Paul Walker, loved working with you on “Into the Blue.”

Television host Carson Daly said that he was “Sick about the tragic loss of #PaulWalker. I enjoyed our time together very much. Such a really nice guy,” while actress Alyssa Milano, current host of “Project Runway All Stars,” protested “No. No. No” before adding “Rest with the angels.” (Reporting by Mary Wisniewski and Piya Sinha-Roy in Los Angeles and Chris Michaud in New York;

Wayne Rooney scored twice to help Manchester United stretch their unbeaten run to 12 games in an entertaining 2-2 Premier League draw at Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool were upset 3-1 at Hull City on Sunday.

Rooney twice levelled for United in a captivating game at White Hart Lane, showcasing his poacher’s instinct to cancel out Kyle Walker’s opener before firing home a penalty after a Sandro thunderbolt had put Tottenham back in front.

Champions United remained eighth on 22 points, nine behind leaders Arsenal, with Tottenham a further point back.

Hull, who had never beaten Liverpool, opened the scoring on 20 minutes thanks to a huge slice of good fortune, Jake Livermore’s shot from distance cannoning off the boot of Martin Skrtel and looping over keeper Simon Mignolet.

Liverpool levelled thanks to a curling free kick from Steven Gerrard but their lacklustre performance was punished in the second half when David Meyler latched on to a loose ball and buried it into the bottom corner.

Skrtel deflected in a Tom Huddlestone shot with three minutes remaining to wrap up the points for Hull.

Liverpool dropped to third on 24 points, behind Chelsea, who host Southampton later on Sunday, on goal difference.

Manchester City can also muscle into the top four with a win at home to Swansea City.

Hull moved up to 10th on 17 points.

Meanwhile Martin Jol has been sacked as manager of Premier League Fulham, the club said on Sunday.

Fulham are third from bottom of the standings and lost 3-0 at West Ham United on Saturday

Chelsea and Manchester City offered further evidence that they will lead the pursuit of Arsenal after both recording wins against Southampton and Swansea respectively.

Chelsea recovered from going behind after 13 seconds to beat Southampton 3-1 at home with John Terry scoring on his 400th league appearance for the club and free-scoring Man City climbed to third after spanking Swansea City 3-0.

City, for whom Samir Nasri netted twice, have now scored 16 goals in their last three home matches.

Liverpool began the day in second place but faltered, losing 3-1 at Hull City.

With a third of the season gone Arsenal lead the standings on 31 points, four more than Chelsea and six ahead of City with Liverpool in fourth, a further point behind.

United are eighth, nine points adrift.

By Preston Wilder

Is it just me, or does a giant hammer make a hopelessly inefficient weapon in the heat of battle? I mean, think about it: you throw the thing, it pulverises whatever target you were aiming at, then whooshes back boomerang-style. All well and good – but you can’t really hold another weapon, like a sword or something (your hand needs to be free for the returning hammer), so for a few seconds you’re just standing there, all but unarmed, surrounded by enemies and waiting for your hammer to come back. How is that helpful?

I assume it worked in the Marvel comics where Thor (Chris Hemsworth) started out, because comics have panels: one panel shows the hammer flying off, second panel shows destruction being wreaked, third panel shows it flying snugly back into Thor’s palm. No-one wondered what Thor was doing while the hammer was at work – but films are more literal so we do wonder, just as we wonder why, for instance, Asgardian soldiers in the prologue decide to dispose of the indestructible, all-powerful Aether by burying it deep “where no-one will ever find it” instead of, say, taking it back to Asgard and guarding it carefully. (People on the internet have made a list of such yeah-right moments – that’s what people on the internet do – which you can find by Googling ‘Thor the Dark World plot holes’.)

Needless to say, burying the Aether doesn’t work. It re-emerges, many millennia later, and attaches itself to Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), an ordinary London-based scientist who finds herself in the wrong dimensional portal just in time for “the Convergence” which only happens once every 5000 years. This awakens the evil Malekith, who needs the Aether for his diabolical plans – and also brings Thor into the picture, Jane being his squeeze from the first movie (though he hasn’t seen her in two years). And of course there’s Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thor’s ambitious half-brother – now in the Asgard dungeons, with a touch of Hannibal Lecter as Thor reluctantly comes to seek his help.

Clearly, the plot is generic and implausible; clearly, that’s not important. This is part of the Marvel masterplan, aimed at spinning lots of parallel franchises with The Avengers as the hub. The first Thor, in 2011, was a formulaic outing memorable only for its flashes of humour, and the same might be said of this sequel – with the caveat that it over-milks snarky Loki, giving him too many zingers and allowing Hiddleston to indulge himself. “It’s not that I don’t love our little talks, it’s just … I don’t love them,” he tells Odin (a hammy Anthony Hopkins), and that mid-sentence pause is so long it seems to stop the whole movie.

Loki is used as a plot crutch (his convenient ability to shape-shift gets the writers out of trouble more than once) and is also employed for Avengers jokes, it being part of the marketing strategy that all these films make reference to each other. He mentions Thor’s “new companions” and even pretends to be Captain America, just as Jane earlier brushes off our hero’s talk of having been too busy up in Asgard for the past two years with “I saw you on TV! You were in New York!”. Then again, no-one else seems to recognise the Norse warrior when he gets on the Tube – though one girl pretends to stumble so she can touch his manly chest – so I guess that TV coverage of the wholesale destruction of New York must’ve clashed with The X-Factor or something.

Bottom line? Daft plot, scads of pompous dialogue (“Unleash the Aether!”) leavened by a streak of snarky humour – Loki up in Asgard, Jane’s sardonic assistant (Kat Dennings) here on Earth – and an overall impression of amusing moments in a sea of superfluous filmmaking. We didn’t need a Thor sequel, but it’s part of the business plan so here it is, wasting two Oscar winners and a passel of very good actors; even Hemsworth, who seemed no more than beefcake in the first Thor, has since proved his acting chops in Rush – and in fact gets the sequel’s sweetest moment, Thor hanging up his hammer on a coat-rack as if it were an umbrella (it’s Hemsworth’s dainty, rather hesitant movements that sell it). Speaking of which, the film’s special effects – which are much more important than its plot – include quite a nifty gadget, a kind of grenade which, when thrown, opens up a black hole behind one’s enemy, sucking them in and carrying them away to god-knows-what dimension. Memo to the muscled Norse warrior: This is much more efficient than a giant hammer.

DIRECTED BY Alan Taylor

STARRING Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston

US 2013                        112 mins

Razor thin victory for Papadopoulos

By Poly Pantelides and Stefanos Evripidou

NICOLAS Papadopoulos has won party elections for the leadership of coalition party DIKO, beating outgoing Marios Garoyian by a mere 546 votes, amid objections by Garoyian’s team over the voting procedure.

A total of 24,734 from the 38,000-plus eligible DIKO members voted on Sunday with Papadopoulos receiving 12,460 votes (51.12 per cent) compared with 11,914 votes for Garoyian (48.88 per cent). The whole process itself was completed at about 2am on Monday after the Nicosia district votes were counted.

Garoyian’s campaign crew have questioned the electoral result, claiming that roughly 400 DIKO members were not included in the party’s registrar and were not allowed to vote.

Garoyian, who remains a DIKO MP, said that although he disagreed with the result, he was still a “DIKO soldier” and as such would continue acting according to his duty.

Papadopoulos said that it was time to forget what was said during the electoral campaign, and extended overtures of “friendship and collaboration” to Garoyian.

“There are more things keeping us together than pulling us apart,” Papadopoulos said.

The leadership vote in Paphos was particularly hotly contested.

The leadership vote in Paphos was particularly hotly contested.

The members’ register was handed over to the commission on Sunday morning, head of DIKO’s Paphos electoral commission Antonis Antoniou said.

He added that between 60 or 70 people had showed up in Paphos to vote, under the wrong impression they were registered members.

Some 203 Paphos applications were also rejected in the run-up to elections because the applicants were registered with other parties, and represented them in an official capacity such as in community councils, Antoniou said.

Ruling party DISY does not have a majority in Parliament, needing DIKO support to implement Cyprus’ bailout obligations, which include controversial plans to collect €1.4 billion by privatising semi-government organisations, a move hotly contested by main opposition AKEL.

Papadopoulos had publicly disagreed with Garoyian’s decision to support Anastasiades during the February 2013 presidential elections, even showing up at election rallies for the EDEK-backed candidate, Giorgos Lillikas.

In the run-up to the DIKO elections, analysts had suggested a victory for Garoyian could result in a split of the party, with Papadopoulos supporters departing and teaming up with like-minded folk from EDEK, the Greens and Lillikas’ Citizens Alliance. The resulting victory of Papadopoulos, however, will have put any such thoughts to bed.

The new DIKO leader is also seen as having a more hardline approach to the Cyprus problem than his predecessor. Papadopoulos was extremely critical of what he called the “generous concessions” made by former president Demetris Christofias in the peace talks during his five-year term.

It is widely understood that Papadopoulos’ father, former DIKO leader and president Tassos Papadopoulos, played a significant role in getting DIKO to support Christofias’ presidential bid over DISY’s Ioannis Kasoulides in the 2008 elections, effectively winning the election for the communist AKEL.

Fast forward to 2013 and the new DIKO leader now finds himself in a coalition with DISY and EVROKO.

Collaboration on economic issues, at least, will not be so challenging for the coalition as Papadopoulos has often found himself on the same page with DISY leader Averof Neophytou on key economic matters discussed in parliament.

The head of Papadopoulos’ election campaign, Chrysis Pantelides, told the Cyprus News Agency Sunday’s election was not a referendum on whether DIKO would remain in government or not.

“As long as President Anastasiades keeps his obligations towards DIKO, then DIKO and its president Nicolas Papadopoulos are morally, politically, and nationally obliged to support the government,” Pantelides said.

Pantelides further ruled out any talk of replacing DIKO ministers in cabinet at this stage.

He did not rule out a return of former DIKO members who were kicked out by Garoyian, such as independent MP Zacharias Koulias, though any decision would have to be taken by the party’s collective organs “when the time comes”.

“With Nicolas Papadopoulos at DIKO, the entry doors open and the exit doors close,” he said.

The party is expected to hold a new round of elections after Christmas to decide on the remaining positions in the party leadership.