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Old rivalries resume as Djokovic hires Becker

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By Martyn Herman
BORIS Becker once shared a bitter rivalry with Ivan Lendl across the net and now the two former world number ones will try to outwit each other from courtside after the German’s shock appointment as coach to Novak Djokovic.

After Djokovic was named ITF World Champion for 2013, despite being overshadowed by Spain’s Rafa Nadal, Serbia’s world number two announced the first shake-up of his team since a short and unsuccessful spell with Todd Martin in 2009.

Djokovic’s decision to work with 46-year-old Becker means two of the current ‘Big Four’ are now coached by former greats with Lendl helping Britain’s Andy Murray to the 2012 US Open title and this year’s Wimbledon crown.

“I am really excited to have the opportunity to work with Boris,” the 26-year-old Djokovic said in a statement on his website (www.novakdjokovic.com).
“He is a true legend, someone who has great tennis knowledge and his experience will help me win new trophies from the grand slams and other tournaments. Becker is a great person, too, and I am sure he will fit in our team in the best possible way.”

Becker, like Djokovic a six-time grand slam champion, will replace the Serb’s long-time coach Marian Vajda, although the Slovakian will remain part of the team.
The last time Djokovic tinkered with his close-knit entourage he brought in former American player Martin but the relationship was terminated in 2010 after a less than fruitful year together.

Becker will travel to all the grand slam tournaments with Djokovic, starting with next month’s Australian Open where the world number two is bidding for a fourth consecutive title, having twice beaten Murray in the final.

“I am proud Novak invited me to become his head coach,” Becker, the youngest player to win Wimbledon when aged 17, said in the statement.
“I will do my best to help him reach his goals, and I am sure we can achieve great things together.”

Becker and Lendl in opposite camps is an enticing prospect.
The 22 matches they played in the 1980s and early 90s always contained an undercurrent of friction, with the stony-faced Czech Lendl clearly agitated by the man nicknamed ‘Boom Boom’.

While Lendl edged their rivalry 12-10 it was Becker who won the three grand slam finals they contested, most notably the 1986 Wimbledon final which Lendl had set his heart on winning.
Becker once accused Lendl of not being “mentally tough” while Lendl hit back saying Becker did not have the guts to say things to his face in the locker room.

The passing of years has mellowed both men but their competitive edges will return in a few weeks when the new season starts with the build-up to the Australian Open.
Djokovic will hope Becker has a similar impact to Lendl’s on Murray as he strives to regain the world number one ranking from Nadal who dominated 2013, winning the French Open and U.S. Open titles on the way to the top of the rankings.

“My goal for 2014 is to play my best tennis and to get in shape for the Grand Slams and Masters 1000,” Djokovic said.
“These tournaments have the most weight in our sport, and I want to prove my worth at them. The team is now strengthened and we hope for maximum results.”

Djokovic will begin the year as ITF World Champion after surprisingly edging out Nadal for the award.
“Rafael Nadal made a remarkable comeback from injury with two grand slam wins, but it is Novak Djokovic’s consistent results across all four Slams, Davis Cup and the ATP World Tour Finals that see him named World Champion,” ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti said on Wednesday.

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EAC pledges holiday supply to those who have been cut off

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The EAC said on Wednesday it would not cut power to non-paying customers during the holiday season, and the 700 homes in Cyprus that have had their electricity supply cut may apply to have it temporarily reinstated, the authority said.

The measure applies only to residential electricity supply from December 18 to January 8, but does not cover instances where power has been cut off due to electricity theft, or instances of personal bankruptcy where the normal procedure will be followed.

The EAC strongly urges all consumers who will be applying to have their power supply reconnected to contact their local EAC customer service centre to agree on a late-payment settlement plan by January 20, in order to avoid their electricity supply being cut off again in the future.

The temporary supply for Christmas is not contingent on the existence of the late payment plan but those who don’t sort out their arrears will be cut off again after the specified period.

At a news conference on Wednesday, EAC boss Charalambos Tsouris said that 700 homes in Cyprus were currently without power, with unpaid electricity bills ranging from €250 to €6,000.

“While the EAC’s sensitivity is a given,” Tsouris added, “it cannot resolve the wider social problem. The state must assume its responsibilities.”

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Debate starts on first post-bailout budget

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By Constantinos Psillides

PARLIAMENT kicked off a two day marathon session on Wednesday afternoon, as legislators start the haggling process aimed at approving the   €6.62 billion 2014 budget by Thursday evening.

The session began around 4pm, with party leaders due to take the floor in turn to give a speech regarding the proposed budget.

This is the first budget after the bailout agreement with the troika of lenders, the European Central Bank, the International monetary Fund and the European Commision.

The 2014 budget has been cut by 5.5 per cent, compared with the €7.5 billion budget of 2013.

The session was due to commence with a summary of the 157-page report by the House finance committee, followed by a speech by MP Nicos Koutsou of the Citizen’s Alliance. Following Koutsou, a speech will be given by Greens MP Giorgos Perdikis, then MP Giorgos Varnava on behalf of EDEK, Demitris Syllouris of EVROKO, newly elected leader of DIKO Nicolas Papadopoulos, AKEL leader Andros Kyprianou and finally DISY chief Averof Neophytou. Today’s session is due to conclude around 8pm and will be broadcast live by CyBC radio and television.

The session will pick up on Thursday morning, with speeches by all 56 MPs and voting will be due to start 7.30pm but normally the process goes on until midnight.

The ruling parties bloc, DISY, DIKO and EVROKO are expected to approve the budget. AKEL and the Citizen’s Alliance are expected to vote against it while EDEK and the Greens are expected to abstain. All parties are expected to propose amendments to the budget.

Besides proposing amendments for debate, the legislators will also decide on earmarking certain funds, a process known as ‘crossing’.

Funds that are ‘crossed’ will undergo further scrutiny before parliament decides whether to release them or not.

Upon presenting the 2014 budget before the House Finance committee in October, Finance Minister Harris Georgiades warned that this would  probably be the most difficult year for the Cypriot economy, but it is also the year to correct the ills that led to its collapse.

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ESM approves €100 million disbursement to Cyprus

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The Board of Directors of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) approved Wednesday the disbursement of €100 million to Cyprus.

This follows the approval of the updated Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by the ESM Board of Governors and the positive assessment in the second quarterly review of Cyprus’ macroeconomic adjustment programme.

The current disbursement will bring the total amount of ESM financial assistance for Cyprus to €4.6 billion. The remaining portion of the approximately €9 billion committed to Cyprus by the ESM is scheduled to be paid in quarterly disbursements by 2016.

Cyprus and the Troika (European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund) agreed on March 25 on a €10 billion bailout, which included imposing losses on bank uninsured deposits as well as fiscal consolidation measures amounting to 7.2 per cent of GDP by 2016.

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Restaurant Review: Murphy’s, Nicosia

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By Alexander McCowan

There was a time when the only food dispensed in a public house was a bag of Smith’s Crisps containing a tiny screw of salt. How times have changed. The pub is now the first dining out experience of the majority, particularly in rural areas of the UK, where the level of cuisine sometimes matches anything available in a starred restaurant. However, the same cannot be said of licensed premises in Cyprus, where in the main, food is the last item on offer.

With one or two exceptions, pubs in the capital are a disappointment and certainly not a place to take the family or even the wife. So let me introduce you to an exception: Murphy’s. Over the last year this has been transformed into the most family friendly enterprise while at the same time being the base of the city dwelling sporting gentlemen.

The pub is divided in such a way the diners in the outside covered areas have no need to enter the main bar arena. The management offers seating to about 200 and serves from 10am till late night. This is one of the last refuges of the traditional breakfast which is the first item on their grill menu and contains two free range lightly done eggs, two English sausages, crispy bacon, grilled haloumi, mushrooms, tomatoes, buttered toast, a separate pot of baked beans and an optional pot of tea or coffee. There are four options for the breakfast menu including a vegetarian omelette and they can be ordered at any time of day.

The starters include jalapena peppers stuffed with cream cheese, potatoes with ground spicy beef sauce and sour cream, nachos with chili con carne, and many more.

There are mixed grill platters for two, cheese fruit platters, sandwiches and burgers of all kinds but the most popular dishes are the steaks and chops; the latter appear to have once adorned a mammoth, judging by their size. The beef might be a fillet, pepper, Black Angus Brazilian picana, Diane or T-Bone and if that’s not enough try the chicken and pork kebabs. The sweet list is limited to cakes.

The service is first rate and children are welcome; there is a children’s menu. This year Murphy’s will offer a special Christmas dinner yet to be announced. The premises are open every day but booking is essential at weekends and in the run up to Christmas when a number of companies and clubs will be holding their functions.

Well worth a try.

VITAL STATISTICS
SPECIALTY Grills.
WHERE Murphy’s, 11A, Alkeou Street, Engomi, Nicosia – next to the Europa Hotel
CONTACT 22 445005
PRICE Reasonable

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Germany frustrates Europe with bid to curb banking union

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EUROZONE OCNF

Germany is standing firm against the use of euro zone money to back a scheme for tackling troubled banks, dousing hopes still harboured by its peers that the bloc will unite behind lenders in difficulty.

More than five years since a financial crisis struck, Europe is crafting its most ambitious reform since the launch of the euro – an agency and fund to shut problem banks as soon as the European Central Bank starts to police them next year.

European leaders – who meet at a summit on Thursday and Friday – want to sign off on a deal so that banking union can become reality from the start of 2015, raising investor confidence and fostering more lending.

The aim is to prevent a repeat of the turmoil when failing banks in countries from Ireland to Cyprus brought their states to the brink of bankruptcy. But just as talks reach a climax, central elements of the plan are disintegrating.

Arriving for a second day of negotiations in Brussels, Germany’s finance minister said no money from the euro zone’s rescue fund, the 500-billion-euro European Stability Mechanism (ESM), would be available directly to pay for bank clean-ups.

Instead, a government footing the bill for a failing bank and falling short, could apply for a bailout paid for by the ESM.

That deals a blow to a central tenet of banking union as it was originally conceived, namely that weak governments should not be left to cope with banks, whose problems can buckle a country.

“The only way to the ESM is through the nation states,” Wolfgang Schaeuble told reporters, reiterating the long-held German view that such help can be given only to governments and not directly to banks.

Instead, he talked about unspecified “additional means of granting loans”.

Unlike in the United States, where the federal government can transfer funds to help weaker states, countries in the euro zone do not send such aid. Germany, which makes up more than a third of the euro zone’s economy, wants to keep it that way.

Euro zone finance ministers agreed on Tuesday night that banks will pay into funds for the closure of failed lenders, amassing roughly 55 billion euros ($76 billion) over 10 years in a Single Resolution Fund (SRF).

Until then, if there is not enough money available, governments will be able to impose more levies on banks. If that does not suffice, they would help with public money and after that turn to the ESM for help.

After 2025, when the SRF is full, it could borrow to raise additional emergency itself, the draft euro zone ministers’ agreement said. That was put to a meeting of all 28 EU finance ministers on Wednesday.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Schaeuble’s blunt message jarred with that of his French and Spanish peers, who appeared to understand the role of the ESM differently.

The dissonant voices cast a question mark over whether the new scheme to close banks and the entire banking union project.

“Using the ESM has not been ruled out at all,” Luis de Guindos, Spain’s economy minister, told reporters, a line echoed by his Italian counterpart Fabrizio Saccomanni.

Asked if the euro zone was breaking the ‘doom loop’ between struggling banks and their states, French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said: “That was exactly the purpose and that is what we are going to achieve.”

The European Central Bank, on whose support many banks depend, has become agitated because delays and uncertainty over how failed lenders will be dealt could compromise attempts to clean up the financial sector after ECB health checks next year.

“The single fund should have a credit line,” Vitor Constancio, a member of the ECB’s executive board, told ministers in part of the meeting that was broadcast.

His boss, Mario Draghi, said on Monday that the latest plan may be too complex and inadequately funded.

But there is little chance of a back-up without German consent.

Completing a banking union is central to keeping the euro safe in the long term, a currency bloc that is as political in its goal of deepening European integration as it is economic.

The euro lacks the workings of a normal currency union such as in the United States, which has a central finance ministry and central regulators alongside a central bank. Europe’s banking union had promised to help change that.

To compound matters, negotiators have also devised an unwieldy system to close a bank that may involve ministers from across the 28 countries in the European Union.

“We have to move fast in emergencies to resolve certain banks. I am concerned about decision making … this remains too complex,” Michel Barnier, the European commissioner in charge of financial regulation, told ministers in the meeting.

“We are building up a single system, not an intergovernmental network with several tiers,” he said.

What results in the end is likely to be far off what investors had originally expected. One leg, a common system of deposit guarantees, will not be part of it. EU negotiators agreed here only to standardise the rules on saver protection.

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Bank Of Cyprus posts €1.94 billion nine-month net loss (Updated)

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Bank of Cyprus posted a €1.94 billion net loss in the first nine months of the year.

The bank said the loss included a €1.45 billion loss from discontinued operations and from disposal of its Greek operations in the first quarter of 2013.

“Our priority remains to restore investor and customer confidence in the Bank. 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,” said John Patrick Hourican, Group Chief Executive Officer.

The troubled lender converted large deposits into equity, a process known as a ‘bail-in’ as a condition for Cyprus to receive €10 billion in aid from international lenders last March.

Under terms of the accord, another bank, Laiki, was shut down and some of its assets absorbed by Bank of Cyprus. The bank was also forced to sell its Greek operations to ringfence the Cyprus crisis and stop it spreading to other euro zone nations.

Hourican said deposit outflows had “significantly abated”, suggesting that customer confidence was returning. Sixty five percent of new deposits were for periods exceeding 12 months, the bank said, referring to deposits since October.

Bank of Cyprus had €15.4 billion in deposits at the end of September 2013, 46 percent down from a year earlier.

 

 

 

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Missing elderly man found dead

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Police cordon off the area where the man was found

An elderly man who had gone missing from his home in Orounda village in the Nicosia district was found dead on Wednesday morning in a ditch just outside of the village.

Police had put out an announcement on December 10 that 79-year-old Gregoris Chrysanthou had been missing since the previous Thursday, December 5.

Chrysanthou was found in a ditch on the side of the road with scratches on his face but following examinations carried out at the scene, police have ruled out any foul play. It is believed may have fallen into the ditch and was unable to drag himself out and possibly died of exposure.

A post-mortem is due to be carried out on Thursday.

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Investment framework must improve

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file photo Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis

Cyprus must improve its institutional framework for attracting and facilitating foreign, Commerce and Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said on Thursday during a meeting with British entrepreneurs.

Speaking after the meeting, Lakkotrypis said that British investors asked for more predictability, transparency and convenience.

He noted moreover that investors from the UK show their trust to Cyprus, despite the difficult conditions of the past months.

“We work hard to improve the institutional framework, to speed up the licensing process for small and bigger investment projects,” the Minister said.

British High Commissioner Matthew Kidd said the meeting was a good initiative, with the government explaining its efforts to improve the climate for investors from Britain and elsewhere.

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Power struggle in Turkey continues

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Huseyin Capkin

Istanbul’s police chief has been removed from his post, local media reported on Thursday, two days after the sons of cabinet ministers and prominent businessmen close to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan were detained in a corruption probe.

The sacking, along with other dismissals in the police force and detentions and raids in recent days, reflects a growing power struggle engulfing the ruling elite of a NATO country dominated by Erdogan for over a decade.

Huseyin Capkin, the chief of police of Turkey’s commercial capital, had been at his post since June 2009, except for a 16-day spell as governor of an eastern province in May 2010.

Police declined to comment.

Dozens of senior police officers in Istanbul and the capital Ankara were sacked on Wednesday.

Scores of people including the sons of three cabinet ministers and several well-known businessmen hve been detained in the biggest corruption investigation that Turkey has seen since Erdogan came to power in 2002.

Of the 52 detained, ten have bee released, local media said.

Erdogan denounced the raids and detentions as a “dirty operation” to smear his administration only months ahead of local elections critics view as a test of his authority.

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Police run biggest deportation op yet

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By Peter Stevenson

Police carried out one of their largest operations on Thursday as 55 Bangladeshi nationals, who were illegally on the island, were deported.

A total of 115 officers were escorting the foreign nationals back to Bangladesh on a charter flight, leaving from Larnaca Airport around 2pm.

“The number of officers was deemed necessary and is in line with EU regulations with every foreign national requiring two escorts,” Police spokesman Andreas Angelides said.

The security measures were deemed necessary, he added, to provide safe passage to the foreign nationals, their escorts and the crew of the aircraft. All the foreign nationals gave their written consent to be returned to their homeland.

“It is one of our most important operations and has been extensively planned,” Angelides said.

The police spokesman added that the foreign nationals were being held at the Menoyia detention centre and that they agreed to their deportation.

It is the fourth such operation but Thursday’s was by far the biggest, Angelides said, due to the large number being deported and the large police escort.

The migrants were also accompanied by doctors and nurses.

The flight was due to land in Dhaka where the migrants would be handed over to Bangladeshi authorities. The plane  is then due to fly to India where the officers will stay the night before returning to Cyprus.

All officers were inoculated for any infectious diseases.

The operation is 95 per cent funded by Frontex, which promotes, coordinates and develops European border management in line with the EU fundamental rights charter applying the concept of Integrated Border Management. Frontex helps border authorities from different EU countries work together. Frontex’s full title is the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union.  When Member States make the decision to return foreign nationals staying illegally, who have failed to leave voluntarily, Frontex assists those member states in coordinating their efforts to maximise efficiency and cost-effectiveness while also ensuring that respect for fundamental rights and the human dignity of returnees is maintained at every stage.

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Taking it slow

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THEO PANAYIDES meets a respected photographer who travels to Asia for the beauty of the light there, and has found the same qualities in Cyprus

 

Jean-Marc Payot looks nonplussed (to be fair, most people would) when I ask him to describe his personality. ‘Where to begin?’ his Gallic shrug – Gallic by way of Switzerland – seems to be saying. Fortunately his wife Athena is sitting next to me, and attempts to pick up the slack. He has two parts, she explains carefully.

I’m a Gemini, puts in Jean-Marc.

“One part wants to go quickly, the other would like to think and go slowly. When he is disturbed, he goes very fast.”

Is he disturbed right now? Hard to say. He doesn’t seem to be going fast, on the other hand it’s always a bit disturbing being in a hospital. We’re sitting in the tiny canteen of the Apollonion in Nicosia, surrounded by squalling children and the mixture of fear and forbearance that seeps into hospital corridors like a bad smell. Jean-Marc is fresh from a well-attended lecture called ‘Beloved India’ at the 6×6 Centre for Photography in Limassol, where he exhibited a number of recent photographs from Gujarat and Tamil Nadu – but now he and Athena have come to Nicosia for their annual check-up. Why he chose to have it here, as opposed to the South of France or his native Lausanne, is a question with no obvious answer.

The Payots have been coming to Cyprus every year for the past 20 years, always in October and November; Jean-Marc has psoriasis, a skin condition whose effects can be ameliorated by swimming in the sea, and he takes full advantage of our early-autumn beaches. As for the rest of the year, “we don’t stay very long in Lausanne, we stay two or three weeks to see our friends and family. We are most of the time in the South of France,” in a place near Avignon “where the light is also beautiful – or during the winter in Asia, to travel.”

The reference to Asia is significant, ditto the reference to beautiful light – because Jean-Marc is a photographer, and almost all his work is done in Asia. His website (www.jmpayot.ch) is divided into sections titled ‘Burma’, ‘India’, ‘Iran’, ‘Laos’, ‘Central Asia’ (and yes, even ‘Cyprus’). He first went East as a young man of 23 (he’s now 71), taking a job as assistant on a documentary being filmed by a well-known Swiss director named Henry Brandt. The film was a commission for the World Health Organisation, its subject being contagious diseases in what was then the Third World; “I saw famine, malnutrition, a lot of diseases. Poverty, of course. People living in the slums, people queuing for the injection for leprosy, one woman with smallpox…”

profile-BurmaBut there was beauty too: in India the four-man crew (Brandt and Jean-Marc, plus a doctor and a cameraman) filmed the Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest pilgrimage – it takes place every six years – with literally millions of Hindus gathering to bathe in the sacred Ganges. Jean-Marc recalls sleeping in tents near the river and being woken on the first morning by “a very strange noise”, like a soft patting sound with the volume turned up to infinity: it was the muffled trudge of naked footsteps on the sand, a throng of barefoot pilgrims padding down to the water (“Thousands of feet! Incredible!”). Later, in the Philippines, he recalls visiting Tacloban, the city recently devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, back when it was just a quiet village: “I remember they cooked for us a small pig in the ashes, and played music. It was so beautiful”.

The crew shot 120 hours of footage in six months; the film took two years to complete – but then it was done, and it was time to move on. The obvious next step would’ve been to find a job in TV, ending up as a cameraman or journalist – but it wasn’t so simple. Payot is a well-known name in Switzerland, a major chain of bookshops and publishing house, founded by Jean-Marc’s great-grandfather in 1875 then expanded by three generations of Payots. “I said to my father ‘Please leave me two or three years to see the world’,” recalls Jean-Marc; but the two years were up, and now it was time to take his place in the family business. “So I worked like a crazy man for 20 years,” he explains with wry resignation – opening shops, modernising the company and supervising the publishing arm in Paris, always with an eye to the profit-and-loss account. These, you might say, were the years of the ‘part that wants to go quickly’.

There was another reason why Jean-Marc might’ve wanted to settle down after his two years of intense travelling. He was newly married, and in fact had married Athena just before setting off to pitch his tent in the world’s fetid slums and malarial swamplands. The couple have been together for 48 years, and have three daughters and 10 grandchildren (one daughter accounts for half the grandchildren; unsurprisingly, she doesn’t work). I observe their interaction as they sit opposite each other in the cramped canteen at the Apollonion; they look broadly similar – two trim, dapper senior citizens – and behave like, well, an old married couple.

Jean-Marc is quieter, with rheumy blue eyes and a dry style punctuated by short, expressive gestures: his favourite is to shake his fist quickly – think of a man shaking a ketchup bottle, with the bottle turned towards him – when he says something was “a shock”, or perhaps “very strong” (from the French très fort). Athena’s more excitable, prone to building him up when she feels he’s being too modest; she jumps in, launching into lengthy explanations, then piously refuses to sit next to Jean-Marc and talk into my tape-recorder – as if to say ‘My husband’s the one being interviewed, I wouldn’t dream of interfering’ – then jumps in again on the next question. (“Alors, Athena, you want to do the interview?” he protests in mock-exasperation, and she clams up again.) They have much in common: she’s also a photographer, though she shoots in colour while he prefers black-and-white. But they also have differences. Athena’s a practising Catholic who prays ever day, Jean-Marc – though of Protestant origin – is an atheist, or more accurately an agnostic.

This matters more than you’d think – because Jean-Marc Payot had had enough of ‘going quickly’ after 20 years as a businessman. By the mid-80s his father had died, his daughters were in their teens and none of them had any interest in managing bookshops – so, in 1986, he sold the business, and Payot was owned by a non-Payot for the first time in 110 years. The first consequence of this was that he and Athena had enough money to last them – with a bit of frugal management – for the rest of their lives. The second consequence was that his contemplative side, the ‘part that wants to go slowly’ came to the fore. Not only did he devote himself, from his mid-40s onwards, to taking photos, he also concentrated on taking photos with a spiritual bent: his website shows monks, mystics, temples, many of the images bathed in white light, like small epiphanies.

“I am interested in all that concerns the spiritual life, because I asked myself a lot of questions about this. I don’t have a faith in God, but I’m asking questions – what happens with the soul, what happens after life and so on … I believe there is Something, and I am very interested to be in contact with this Something”. His visual style similarly aims for the transcendent: “What I like in photography is exactly the literal sense – to write with light, ‘photo’, ‘graph’. I am a real photographer because I write with light. If there is not a good light, I don’t take any photos. I photograph only in the morning and late in the day, when the light is beautiful, and I photograph only with black-and-white – and with film, because digital is good but the result is not the same … This is a sort of magic writing. I am excited by this. I am addicted to this sort of images.”

Does the magic happen easier in Asia? “In Asia they know a lot about this way of communication,” he replies, meaning communication with the ineffable Something. “They know much more than we know in the Christian religion”. He’s experienced “very strong meetings,” he confirms, citing a random encounter with a monk on a hill road in Burma: “He looked in my eyes and I feel something very warm going down” – he indicates his throat – “slowly, slowly, slowly, coming here three times” – Jean-Marc revolves his hand around his stomach – “then coming out, and it was done”.

What was it?

“It was compassion, it was strength, it was light. It was a will to communicate, without any words. This is a very strange experience. And this never happened to me in Switzerland, or in France, but in Burma.”

It happened in India too, of course – that early experience with the Kumbh Mela, back when he was young and impressionable. I suspect he was marked by that two-year journey in the late 60s, especially filtered through the 20 years of corporate hustle that followed. “It was very stressful, [but] I did my best,” he says diplomatically of his years as the Payot in charge of Payot – though he also recalls that Athena (who worked in the company as a bookseller) didn’t want him to sell, “but I tell her if I continue I will kill myself”. Ever since his mid-40s, “I’m free,” says Jean-Marc. Maybe it goes even deeper, this need for freedom: at one point he mentions that his late mother was “very full of authority, and very selfish”, which doesn’t sound like an easy relationship. Maybe the quest for a restless, unrestricted existence has been with him all his life. Is it very important for him to feel free? “Always,” he replies instantly.

Most would say he’s managed quite well. He doesn’t make a living from photography (though he’s sold photos, and books of photos), then again he doesn’t need to. He and Athena flit from France to Lausanne to Cyprus – where he laments the growing pollution and endless ugly villas but loves the light (it’s “very similar to the light of India”) and also loves the feeling of being on an island – to points further east. Next year he’d like to try a “real meditation”, says Jean-Marc, maybe find a Buddhist monastery and look inwards for a couple of months, trying to find that elusive Something before it’s too late. “I am over 70,” he notes. “I have to select what I will do. Because now I see some limit in front of me.”

One thing bothers me slightly. Athena mentions in passing that her husband sometimes uses his wealth to help young photographers in Switzerland (he says nothing, being too modest to confirm or deny) – but what about the subjects he finds in developing countries, who are surely worse-off than he is? Wouldn’t it be better to give them help, instead of taking their photos? Jean-Marc shrugs noncommittally. Sometimes he’ll help, of course, when someone’s sick or in trouble – but he’s not there to offer help. “It’s not my purpose”.

So he’ll just turn up, like a tourist –

“No, no,” he interrupts. “I am not at all like a tourist.”

My mistake. So he goes to these places like an artist –

“Not like an artist.”

What then? “Un témoin,” he says quietly. “Like a witness. Like somebody who will observe, and give testimony of what he has seen”. In the best Swiss tradition, Jean-Marc Payot – publisher, traveller, man of two parts – is a neutral. He’s content to record, showing all the things he finds enthralling. Other cultures, other people, and the constant yearning for Something.

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Murdoch’s UK paper hacked phone of Kate Middleton – court

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Staff working for Rupert Murdoch’s defunct British tabloid the News of the World hacked the phone of Kate Middleton, the wife of Queen Elizabeth’s grandson Prince William, it was revealed in a London court on Thursday.

Prosecutor Andrew Edis told the Old Bailey that a message from William left on Kate’s mobile phone had been discovered at the house of the paper’s former royal editor in 2006.

Former editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson are currently on trial with five others accused of a variety of offences which they all deny, including conspiracy to illegally intercept voicemails from mobiles.

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Ten years for drug smuggler

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By Constantinos Psillides

A MAN was sentenced to ten years in jail on Thursday after almost 12 kilos of cannabis were found in his possession.

The Larnaca Criminal court judge, who handed down the sentence, justified his decision by saying that punishment in drug smuggling cases should act as a deterrent.

The convicted man, Panayiotis Papadopoulos – who is originally a national of Kazakhstan but changed his name when he came to live in Cyprus – was arrested on June 24 after arriving at Larnaca airport from Athens, having previously visited Amsterdam.

The Drug Law Enforcement Unit agents, who had been previously tipped off about a large quantity of cannabis that was about to be smuggled, apprehended Papadopoulos in the baggage claim area, holding a pink bag.

When asked to provide officers with the key to the pink bag, Papadopoulos responded that the bag wasn’t his and that he was paid €900 to smuggle it to Cyprus by a Mr Robert.

Upon breaking the lock, the drug enforcement agents discovered the cannabis sealed in twelve plastic bags. During interrogation Papadopoulos claimed that he needed the money so his sick mother could have an operation.

Papadopoulos told the authorities he was to deliver the drugs to a man indicated by Mr Robert. No further clues were given as to the true identity of the man Papadopoulos claimed had orchestrated the drug smuggling operation.

Papadopoulos was charged with illegal possession and smuggling of controlled substances, with intent to distribute.

 

 

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Atletico flop likely to end Ronaldinho’s World Cup dream

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Ronaldinho dejected

By Brian Homewood
Ronaldinho’s hopes that a good performance at the Club World Cup might earn a Brazil recall have been dashed by Atletico Mineiro’s shock elimination at the hands of Raja Casablanca.
The ever-grinning former World Player of the Year gave two tantalising glimpses of his unique talent before drowning in a sea of mediocrity in Wednesday night’s match.

He scored Atletico’s only goal in the 3-1 defeat with an exquisite free kick and, buoyed by that, cheekily flicked the ball over an opponent to send the Brazilian fans into raptures.
For most of the game, however, Ronaldinho, 33, looked off the pace and ponderous as the ageing South American champions were upstaged by a team of run-of-the-mill Moroccan league players. The low point was when he tried to pass a defender with a cheeky dribble on the byline and was easily dispossessed.

Ronaldinho won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002, was part of the team which went out in the quarter-finals amid high expectations in 2006 and was omitted altogether by coach Dunga in 2010 in South Africa.

His performance on Wednesday was painfully similar to his ineffectual display for Brazil in a 2-1 friendly defeat to England last February in Luiz Felipe Scolari’s first game in charge of the five-time world champions.

On that occasion, Ronaldinho was substituted at half-time after missing a penalty and performing sluggishly.

Scolari gave him a couple more run-outs in low-key friendlies but was clearly unimpressed and left him out of the Confederations Cup squad in June.
With the 2014 World Cup on the horizon, Ronaldinho had been hoping to earn another chance by leading Atletico to the title in Saturday’s final against Bayern Munich.
“I’m just thinking about Atletico. I want to make the fans happy, represent my country and my club,” he said on Monday. “But if we all play well here, then the whole world will see it.”
“Everyone knows what I’ve achieved but I want to prove that I’m in good form and to reach the highest point which there is in Brazilian football, which is the national team.”

Ronaldinho’s performance was especially dispiriting as he had spared no effort to be ready in time for the Club World Cup after suffering a thigh injury in September.
It was initially feared he would be out for the rest of the year but, amid almost daily coverage of his race to be fit in time, he recovered quicker than expected and scored two goals for Atletico as he returned on the final day of the season.

The former AC Milan and Barcelona star’s career has been in a long, slow decline since he was chosen as FIFA’s World Player of the Year award for a second time in 2005, blamed mainly on his partying lifestyle.

However, he enjoyed resurgence after his move to Atletico last year, raising hopes that he could get another chance for Brazil, but all that went down the drain in the frenzied atmosphere of the Stade de Marrakech.

“Of course I’m dejected,” he told the Sportv network. “The expectations were huge, it’s been a marvellous year and we have gone down in the club’s history.
“This is tough, we’ll have to see what’s left for us.”

As he trooped dejectedly off the pitch, Ronaldinho was surrounded by admiring Raja Casablanca players, a sign of the adulation he still enjoys in many parts of the world but is more a sign of his past than his present.

 

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Wizz Air announces flights from Larnaca to Kiev and Belgrade

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By Peter Stevenson

WIZZ Air, the largest low-cost, low-fare airline in central and Eastern Europe will be flying from Larnaca to both Kiev and Belgrade, with ticket prices as low as €24.99 one way.

The Hungarian airline will be operating flights twice a week to the two new destinations, giving travellers from Cyprus the opportunity to visit the two tourist destinations for business or pleasure.

Flights between Larnaca and Belgrade will begin on May 1 of next year while flights between Larnaca and Kiev will begin on March 30. Despite these new routes only being available next year, they can be booked now by visiting the airline’s website at www.wizzair.com.

The new routes, which are part of a long term development plan for Cyprus, following on from the announcement earlier this year that flights will travel to Donetsk in Ukraine, will be operated on one of the airline’s new Airbus A320 aircraft during the 2014 summer schedule.

“The airline believes this will stimulate the local job market in aviation and tourism sectors as consumers will have access to more low cost routes,” Wizz Air’s corporoate spokesman Daniel de Carvalho said at a press conference on Thursday.

He said Wizz Air looks forward to taking Cypriots to the historic cities of Kiev and Belgrade as well as giving travellers from Serbia and Ukraine the opportunity to visit Cyprus at a very low price.

With the addition of the new routes, Wizz Air’s route network in Larnaca will now grow to a total of 6 routes to 5 different countries. De Carvalho added that capacity in the first 12 months of operating the new routes will grow to a total of 250,000 seats.

Wizz Air has a young, single type Airbus A320 fleet, with average age of approximately 3.5 years. All 45 aircraft are powered by International Aero Engine’s V-2500 engines and equipped with 180 comfortable leather seats. These new aircraft represent the latest technology, which helps to keep the airline’s operational cost down.

Wizz Air’s first flight took off on 19th May 2004 from Katowice in Poland. Today Wizz Air has 17 operating bases in the region: Gdansk, Poznan, Katowice, Warsaw and Wroclaw, in Poland, Budapest in Hungary, Sofia in Bulgaria, Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca Tirgu Mures and Timisoara in Romania, Vilnius in Lithuania, Donetsk and Kyiv in Ukraine, Belgrade in Serbia and Prague in Czech Republic, Skopje in Macedonia offering flights on over 280 routes.

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Saab shares leap as Brazil deal secures Swedish fighter project

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Brazil to buy fighter-bombers Gripen-NG from Sweden Saab

SHARES in Swedish aerospace firm Saab leapt by a third on Thursday after it beat U.S. and French rivals to win a $4.5bn fighter deal with Brazil, strengthening its hand in competing for export orders for years to come.

Brazil’s choice of Saab’s Gripen single engine jet over Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet and Dassault Aviation’s Rafale showed the Nordic group could beat global aviation heavyweights, securing development of an aircraft that has been surrounded by doubts.

Saab pulled off the surprise coup after news of U.S. spying on Brazilians helped to derail Boeing’s chances. Analysts said it would still face stiff competition for export orders elsewhere, and deals with some buyers could raise ethical dilemmas for Swedish leaders who traditionally champion democracy and human rights.

So far only the Swedish air force has bought new generation Gripens, with fellow neutral nation Switzerland poised for a deal and Brazil opting for a similar model. However, Saab was offering a cut-price deal at a time when many governments are slashing their defence budgets.

Saab said it would begin final negotiations on Friday for the Brazilian contract which prompted celebrations in the southern city of Linkoping, where Saab has its main Gripen plant and 10,000-15,000 work in companies connected to the aerospace industry.

By midday, Saab shares were up 31.8 per cent at 175.30 Swedish crowns ($26.84) but others urged caution.

Saab, which has annual sales of about 24bn crowns ($3.67bn), started developing the Gripen in the early 1980s with deliveries to the Swedish air force beginning in the following decade.

An early version crashed in central Stockholm during a 1993 air display, although no one died in the accident. Saab has developed several versions of the Gripen, which can fly twice the speed of sound, but since the fall of the Soviet Union scepticism has grown about the need for Sweden to keep making cutting-edge fighters.

The Swedish air force is small and closer ties with NATO, of which Sweden is not a member due to its neutrality, have made the export market vital for Saab. Success has been limited, with fewer than 100 planes sold or leased overseas.

But with regional powers from Africa to Asia looking to arm themselves relatively cheaply against new threats and top Western fighter projects struggling to contain costs, second-tier firms such as Saab may score some more wins against bigger rivals such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Saab’s Gripen was the cheapest choice for Brazil, well under the $8bn cost reported in media for Dassault’s Rafale and the more than $5bn for Boeing’s Super Hornet.

Saab, whose biggest shareholder is the Wallenberg family’s Investor AB with a 30 per cent stake, also says its planes are 50 per cent cheaper to maintain than rivals.

Earlier generations of Gripen have been sold or leased to South Africa, Hungary, Thailand, the Czech Republic and Britain as well as being used by Sweden’s own air force.

Brazil’s choice means Sweden can share costs of developing the new plane and future upgrades with other buyers.

Saab said parts of the aircraft will be built in Sweden and others in Brazil, where officials said domestic manufacturer Embraer SA would be its main local partner.

Founded in 1937 as an aerospace group, Saab ventured into cars and trucks after World War II, but sold off these businesses more than a decade ago. Today, fighter jets make up about 25 per cent of Saab sales, with the rest coming from weaponry and defence electronics.

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Cabinet green-lights probe into transport chief

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KOLETTAS

THE government on Thursday launched an investigation into allegations of misconduct concerning the head of the road transport department Sotiris Kolettas.

The cabinet has appointed state treasurer Rea Georgiou, to investigate the possibility of disciplinary and other offenCes being committed by the transport chief.

Sotiris Kolettas had been the focus of weekend reports that alleged he had refused to impose a fine on a bus company because of a special relationship with the outfit.

Last weekend, daily newspaper Politis published a letter from the communications ministry’s audit depart to the permanent secretary, informing him that Kolettas had refused to fine Intercity Buses – even after he was told to so — despite the company repeatedly violating its contract for two and a half years.

Quoting the letter, Politis said Kolettas ignored the minister’s instructions, informing the company that no fine would be imposed.

The audit department’s letter said this was not the first time Kolettas handled the company in question in a favourable manner, according to Politis.

The letter said Kolettas appeared to have a special relationship with the chairman of the board, Xenofon Andreotis.

It did not mention what this relationship is, but Politis alleged it concerned the purchase, by Kolettas, of a villa in Paralimni worth €400,000, from a company in which Andreotis was a shareholder.

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Education, prevention, detection and deterrence key in combating doping in sports

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Anti-doping (IAAF)

By  Richard W. Pound

All of the stakeholders in sport are fully aware of the high prevalence of doping and the dangers it presents, both to the health of athletes and to the integrity of competitions. Many of these stakeholders have a plan to deal with it. Unfortunately, their plan is to ignore the problem, pretend it does not exist, pretend to attack it vigorously, and ultimately hope that the public will get tired of hearing about it. They will then declare the sport to have been cured of the scourge, and the public will either accept the vanilla or become indifferent to the problem.

Doping is not, as apologists like to suggest, merely a way of leveling the playing field. Athletes do not dope to become as good as other athletes – they do it to beat them (even if it requires quantities of substances that may be harmful, or even lethal). In many cases, coaches, trainers, doctors, and scientists encourage and assist athletes in doping, even though they know they are corrupting them and the sports they participate in. The enablers are, in many respects, far more culpable than the athletes upon whom they experiment.

Anti-doping rules are not arbitrary. They are based on an overwhelming consensus among sport administrators, athletes, and medical and scientific personnel who are concerned with the health of athletes and the integrity of sport. The most recent version of these rules (contained in the World Anti-Doping Code) was adopted at the World Conference on Doping in Sport in November 2013.

The rules are clear and the measures they contain can be effectively applied, but they will only work if the people and organizations affected by them are committed to the fight against doping in sport.

Education, prevention, detection, and deterrence are key. Those involved must know the risks and consequences of doping, both at a personal and institutional level. They must be educated about the health of athletes, the essential morality of adhering to the agreed-upon rules of sport, and the risk that corruption of the essential elements of sport may eventually lead to its collapse.

It is far easier to prevent a problem than to solve one. Prevention of doping is preferable to permitting it to infect sport and then trying to cure that infection. Prevention requires energy and commitment and is difficult to measure – not unlike security measures, where success is measured by lack of incidents. Education is an important component of prevention, as is the existence of measures that may expose transgressions.

Human nature being what it is, there will always be some who care nothing about the rules of competition to which they promised to adhere. Such people will not be deterred from cheating by ethical appeals. They may, however, be deterred by the fear of getting caught.

The scientific basis of detection has become quite sophisticated (as has the science applied to active cheating). Almost all forms of doping can be scientifically identified through testing of urine and blood.

Deterrence is assisted by the imposition of sanctions. Athletes and officials who cheat should be removed from the sport they have corrupted. An escalating regime of sanctions has been adopted to protect clean athletes, and to provide a fair opportunity for anyone charged with a violation of the rules to put forward an informed defense.

This system will work if stakeholders want it to work, but it can also be sabotaged by those who prefer to ignore the problems of doping in sport or those who persist in the corruption of sport.

The stakes are enormous. If organized sport is unable to refind its moral compass, its future is in considerable jeopardy. Organized sport depends on support from the private sector. If the private sector loses interest in a corrupt system, it will withdraw its support, and the result will be the disappearance of international sport as we know it.

 

PDFFGGGRichard Pound is the Founding Chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency (1999-2007). He also served, twice, as Vice-President to the International Olympic Committee.

This article first appeared in www.themarknews.com

 

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Uganda passes law meaning life imprisonment for some homosexual acts

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Supreme Court Strikes Down DOMA

Uganda’s parliament passed a law on Friday that makes some homosexual acts punishable by life in prison, a spokeswoman for the legislature said, a move that raised alarm among gays who are already afraid to express their sexuality openly.

First introduced in parliament in 2009 as a private member’s bill, the law initially proposed the death penalty for some homosexual acts in the conservative east African country.

It was later amended to remove the death penalty, but includes jail terms for anyone convicted, including life imprisonment for what it calls aggravated homosexuality.

Countries including the United States previously criticised the bill when it came before parliament. Germany cut off aid to Uganda late last year citing the bill as one of its concerns.

Widespread criticism of the law, and resistance from the executive which is wary of antagonising western donors, stalled its passage. But parliament has also been under pressure to push it through, especially from mainstream and evangelical churches.

Homosexuality was already illegal in Uganda, but the new law prohibits the “promotion” of gay rights and punishes anyone who “funds”, “sponsors” or “abets” homosexuality.

Homosexuality is taboo in many African countries. It is illegal in 37 nations on the continent, and activists say few Africans are openly gay, fearing imprisonment, violence and losing their jobs.

LIBERTIES ERODED?

Frank Mugisha, executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), said he would try to rally rights activists to have the law blocked in the courts.

The president must sign any bill passed in parliament before it becomes law.

“We in the gay community are in a panic,” Mugisha told Reuters. “People are afraid of walking in the streets, because they know how Ugandans like to take the law into their own hands.”

International rights groups have criticized Uganda for passing a series of laws they say have chipped away at civil liberties and created an oppressive environment.

This week parliament passed an anti-pornography law that bans “erotic behaviour intended to cause sexual excitement and any indecent act or behaviour tending to corrupt morals.”

Local media critics responded with derision, dubbing it the “anti-miniskirt” law because it proscribes wearing miniskirts.

In August, Uganda also passed a public order management law that requires anyone planning to hold a political rally or demonstration to give notice to the police.

The legislation gives authorities sweeping powers to stop such meetings if they have “reasonable grounds” to do so.

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