A 15-year-old boy has been arrested in Paphos and is being detained in relation to the theft of a parking meter, causing malicious damage and conspiracy to commit felony and misdemeanor, Paphos police said.

The incident took place on Christmas Day when a parking meter, empty after having been forced open, was spotted by police dumped in a ditch Chlorakas.

The meter had been stolen earlier that day from Evagoras Pallikarides Avenue in Paphos.

Further investigation produced testimony against the teen who was arrested this week following a court order.

After interrogation, the boy admitted to stealing the parking meter, as well as 11 other similar acts, police said.

Two men were also arrested in the course of investigation, aged 33 and 20.

Consumer and company deposits rose in Cypriot banks in November, the first increase in 17 months on the island where big account holders in the two largest lenders were forced to take a hit as part of an international bailout last year.

Private-sector deposits rose by 0.8 per cent to €35.4 billion after a 1.3 per cent fall in October, European Central Bank data showed on Friday.

The deposits are still 30 per cent below their peak of €50.5 billion in May of 2012.

Banks on the island were shut for nearly two weeks in March after Cyprus agreed a €10-billion bailout, which forced major depositors to pay part of the cost of the rescue.

Capital controls are still in place, with limits on how much people can transfer from their accounts. Cyprus is gradually easing the controls.

The data showed that deposits in other southern European countries mired in the debt crisis remained relatively stable.

Private-sector deposits rose by 0.7 per cent in Spain and by 0.5 per cent in Italy and Greece in November. They inched up in Portugal and were down slightly in Ireland and Slovenia.

Monthly fluctuations in the figures are common, though sharp consecutive drops in countries with stable banking systems are unusual.

The data, which are for all currencies combined, are not seasonally adjusted and differ slightly from national central bank figures. They exclude deposits from central government and banks.

A 30-year-old man was remanded for seven days by Paphos district court following his arrest for the arson of a car late on Thursday in Paphos.

At around 11.20pm on Thursday a car was set alight while it was parked in a field, police said.

Fire fighters managed to extinguish the blaze but not before it had caused extensive damage to the vehicle.

Investigations carried out at the scene indicated it was arson. An eye-witness statement led police to arrest a 30-year-old man on suspicion of causing the fire.

He was then taken to Paphos police headquarters for questioning.

Paphos CID is investigating the case.

Nicosia district court remanded a 46-year-old man from the village of Evrychou for five days after he was reportedly showing off a Beretta pistol at his local coffee shop.

Officers visited the man later at his home and searched it. They found and confiscated the pistol, its case and 90 bullets and a blank cartridge cap.

The man was arrested for illegally possessing a pistol, and held for questioning. Morphou police station is investigating the case.

By Peter Stevenson

LAST year saw a significant reduction in the price of electricity according to Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority (CERA) chief George Shammas with the average cost falling by 17.5 per cent for regular consumers.

Shammas met yesterday with President Nicos Anastasiades to hand over CERA’s annual report for 2012.

“We discussed the purchase of electricity, natural gas and renewable energy sources,” Shammas said following the meeting.

He added that the President showed interest in the matters that CERA deals with and expressed his support for the regulator’s efforts to meet its goals.

“The annual report dealt with the subject of the energy crisis, something which CERA has been dealing with for almost two years now,” he said.

Shammas said the results of the regulator’s efforts were beginning to show now that the Vassilikos power station had returned to full working order. The plant was almost destroyed in the Mari naval base blast in July 2011.

“There was a significant reduction in the price of electricity in 2013, part of it is to do with CERA’s actions and another to do with the reduction in the price of fuel,” he said.

The price reduction comes to 17.5 per cent for the average consumer, although it could be more for others, Shammas added.

Asked whether there could be more reductions in the price of electricity in 2014, CERA’s chief said if something like that were to happen, it would be announced and then immediately implemented.

“CERA is currently understaffed and over the last three years we have had an approved budget to fill position which are necessary for us to perform our duties,” he said.

Shammas added that the President expressed his support in the matter and that it is currently being monitored by the troika so a solution could be found.

There is currently a freeze on public sector hirings.

“New issues arose in 2013 concerning plans to implement net metering for renewable energy sources for households, and self-production systems for commercial and industrial consumer,” Shammas said adding that these issues were discussed with the President, who supports CERA’s efforts.

Cyprus recorded a rate of deflation in 2013 of  -0.4 per cent for the first year since 1964, according to data published on Friday by the Statistical Service.

In December 2013 deflation of - 2.3 per cent was recorded, compared to -2.1 per cent in November 2013 and 1.1 per cent in December 2012.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for December 2013 fell by 0.34 units or 0.29 per cent to 117.49 units compared to 117.83 in November 2013.

This, the Statistical Service says, was mainly due to decreases in the prices of electricity, air fares, potatoes and certain clothing items.

On the other hand prices of certain fresh vegetables have gone up.
The rate of inflation for the year 2013 fell by -0.4 per cent compared to the previous year.
It is further noted that 2013 is the first year since 1964 with a negative annual rate of inflation.

Gay marriage proponents on Friday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to deny a request from Utah officials seeking to block a federal court ruling that allowed same-sex weddings to go ahead in the heavily Mormon state.

Now that supporters of gay marriage have filed their response to the state’s emergency stay application, it is up to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who handles such requests from Utah and surrounding states, to decide whether to grant or deny the stay, or refer the matter to the court as a whole. There is no deadline for her to act.

Hundreds of gay couples in Utah have received marriage licenses since the Dec. 20 ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby.

The state wants a stay of the ruling while it appeals to the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Shelby already declined to stay his ruling pending appeal, meaning gay and lesbian couples were able to marry in the state immediately. The appeals court also declined to stay the ruling, leaving the U.S. Supreme Court as the state’s last recourse.

Friday’s court filing by three gay and lesbian couples noted that the appeals court already has agreed to hear the case on an expedited schedule, with briefing to be completed by Feb. 25. They say the state has failed to show that the appeals court’s earlier denial of a stay was an incorrect decision.

Utah’s court filing on Tuesday called the gay and lesbian marriages that have been performed in the state “an affront … to the interests of the state and its citizens in being able to define marriage through ordinary democratic channels.”

The application relies in part on the high court’s June decision in United States v. Windsor, which struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), but also said the definition of marriage was largely a matter of state law.

The Windsor case was one of two major rulings concerning gay marriage that the court ruled on in 2013. The other paved the way for gay marriage in California.

Utah became the 18th state to extend marriage rights to gays and lesbians when Shelby sided with three same-sex couples in their lawsuit challenging a voter-passed amendment to the Utah state constitution that defined marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman.

The decision came as a shock to many of Utah’s 2.8 million residents, nearly two-thirds of whom are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons. The Church’s doctrine states that sexual relations outside opposite-sex marriage are contrary to the will of God.

The stay application, if granted, would block same-sex marriage while the state appeals Shelby’s decision. If the court grants a stay, the justices would not tackle the merits of the case at this stage.

By Michele Kambas

FOUR Norwegian and Danish vessels, which are due to ship hundreds of tonnes of deadly chemicals out of Syria, left Limassol port on Friday headed for international waters off the Syrian coast.

The operation has missed its December 31 target date but, Norwegian military spokesman Lars Magne Hovtun said, the ships are now on their way to collect their chemical cargo.

“The four ships have set a course toward a holding area in international waters outside Syria, so we are most ready to enter the port of Latakia when the order arrives,” he said.

The original deadline was missed because of poor weather, logistical delays and the conflict inside Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have fought to clear rebels from roads along which the chemicals will be transported.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is overseeing the removal of the chemicals along with Syrian authorities and the United Nations, has not said exactly when the chemicals will be ready to ship from Latakia.

“In any operation of this kind one does not state the day of execution but we are comfortable in the knowledge that all the work is about to be completed,” the Special Coordinator of the OPCW-UN Joint Mission, Sigrid Kaag, told Reuters this week.

“This is a very complex management exercise – over and above the fact that it is a chemical weapons programme that has to be destroyed at a time that a country is at war,” he said.

Syria agreed to abandon its chemical weapons under a deal proposed by Russia and hashed out with the United States, after an August 21 sarin gas attack that Western nations blamed on Assad’s government. Syrian authorities deny they used chemical weapons, blaming rebels for that and other attacks.

Once they have removed the chemicals from Latakia, the Nordic vessels will be escorted by Russian and Chinese ships to an Italian port where the cargo will be loaded onto a U.S.-owned ship adapted to destroy the chemicals.

The U.S. vessel, the Cape Ray, is due to leave the United States for the Mediterranean in about two weeks. (R)

By mid-2015 thirty-three Green Points for the collection of prunings and bulky refuse will have been set up across Cyprus, interior minister Socratis Hasikos has said.
Hasikos, who met on Friday with Commissioner for the Environment Ioanna Panayiotou, said they discussed various issues, including progress with the Green Points.
The Minister said they also discussed nature reserves and the setting up of a team of scientists to re-evaluate all areas listed as Natura 2000, to the benefit of both landowners and the environment.
Another issue discussed was that of waste management in Limassol. Hasikos said that by March 2014 there will also be answers by interested parties regarding the project, so that it can proceed, adding that a similar project will then follow for Nicosia.

Israel and the Palestinians are making progress towards reaching a framework peace agreement but they are not there yet, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters on Saturday.

Kerry spoke after about three hours of talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, the Palestinian seat of government in the West Bank.

“I am confident that the talks we have had in the last two days have already fleshed out and even resolved certain kinds of issues and presented new opportunities for others,” he said.

Kerry is on his tenth trip to the region in the past year as he seeks to secure a peace deal. He was to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem later on Saturday.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks brokered by the United States resumed last July after a three-year halt with Kerry leading mediation efforts to keep them going despite neither party expressing much hope for a successful outcome.

Kerry said he would fly to Jordan and to Saudi Arabia on Sunday to meet with the kings of each Arab nation to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which resumed on July 29 with a target of reaching a final agreement within nine months.

Arab support is regarded as essential for the Palestinians to be able to make the compromises likely to be necessary to strike a peace deal with Israel.

An alliance of Islamist and other rebel factions battled fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) across north-western Syria on Saturday in apparently coordinated strikes against the powerful al Qaeda-linked group.

Activists said dozens of fighters had been killed in the clashes, which started on Friday and may have been provoked by increasing resentment against the radical ISIL fighters, many of them foreign jihadis.

One group of fighters battling the ISIL was the newly formed Mujahideen Army, an alliance of eight brigades who accused the al Qaeda affiliate of hijacking their struggle to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

It said ISIL fighters were “undermining stability and security in liberated areas” through theft, kidnapping and trying to impose their own brand of Islam, and vowed to fight them until ISIL was disbanded or driven out of Syria.

The infighting amongst Assad’s opponents has strengthened his hand ahead of planned peace talks in Geneva on Jan. 22. Assad, backed by Shi’ite fighters from Iraq and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, has pushed back rebels around Damascus and in central Syria, and faces little pressure to make concessions.

Fighters from the Islamic Front, made up of several Islamist brigades which have been close with ISIL in the past, were engaged in heavy clashes with the group in northern Aleppo province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Observatory, a monitoring group based in Britain, said at least 60 people had been killed in fighting which it described as a major challenge to ISIL’s control in Aleppo and neighbouring Idlib province.

The ISIL and another al Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front, together with Islamist fighters from the Islamic Front, have eclipsed the Free Syrian Army which Western powers had hoped to build into a moderate force capable of toppling Assad.

That impotence was highlighted in November when the FSA’s military command lost control of a military base and main weapons depot close to the Turkish border.

BATTLING QAEDA ‘OPPRESSION’

Assad’s main political opponents in exile, the National Coalition, sought to portray Saturday’s clashes as a counter assault by the FSA against ISIL’s “authoritarian oppression”

“The Syrian people clearly have rejected al Qaeda’s attempts to establish a presence in the liberated territories,” coalition member Monzer Akbik said. “The solution to fighting extremism in Syria is to strengthen the Free Syrian Army at this critical juncture”.

The coalition said the fighting erupted after ISIL gunmen fired into a crowd of civilians in the Aleppo village of Kafr Takharim who were commemorating the death in ISIL custody of a prominent Syrian doctor and rebel commander, Hussein Suleiman.

Suleiman’s body was handed over by ISIL on Tuesday as part of a prisoner swap between rival rebel forces. Video footage of his corpse showed signs of beating and one ear was cut off.

Several demonstrations were held across Aleppo to mark Suleiman’s death on Friday. Some brought together several hundred protesters, a dim echo of the many thousands who took to the streets for anti-Assad protests in the early months of the uprising, before it turned into armed insurgency and civil war.

More than 100,000 people have been killed in nearly three years of conflict. More than two million refugees have fled abroad and another 6.5 million are internally displaced within the country of 23 million, the United Nations says.

The war pits Sunni rebels against forces loyal to Assad, from the Alawite faith which is an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, and has divided the Middle East along sectarian lines, with Sunni states such as Turkey and the Gulf monarchies backing the rebels, and Shi’ite Iran and Hezbollah supporting Assad.

Western reluctance to intervene militarily in the conflict – in contrast to the rapid NATO involvement in Libya in 2011 – has been heightened by concerns about the growth of al Qaeda-linked Sunni Muslim groups in rebel areas of north and eastern Syria.

Their spread inside Syria has been matched across the border in western Iraq, where ISIL has tightened its grip in the Sunni Muslim province of Anbar.

A FIRE set deliberately at a farm near Mari destroyed bales of hay and equipment worth some €53,000 the fire service said yesterday.
The fire service was called to the scene at 2.15am and when they arrived they found large bales burning in an open hangar.
“After examining the hangar, fire service experts found evidence that proves it was arson,” fire service spokeswoman Lisa Kemidji said, without elaborating.
Despite efforts, the blaze destroyed 300 large bales costing €18,000, a tractor worth €12,000, and other equipment.
The hangar was also destroyed by the fire.
Total damage was estimated at €53,500.
Fire service and police investigators are looking into what caused the blaze.

POLICE arrested four men aged between 20 and 25 in connection with shots fired against a fast food shop in Limassol in the early hours of Saturday.
Police believe the shooting was linked with drugs, adding that they were seeking two more suspects.
The shop, in the Tziamouda area, was closed at the time.
Limassol CID chief Ioannis Soteriades said the four were arrested after a six-round burst was fired at a fast food place at 4am.
Police believe the weapon is a G3 assault rifle, the same type issued by the National Guard to conscripts and reservists who keep them at home.
He said the six had been named as being behind the shooting.
The suspects, and the owner of the place have had run ins with the drug squad in the past, reports said.
Police found a small quantity of unspecified drugs on three of the suspects.

By Nemanja Bjedov

AFTER receiving a wild card, the World No. 87, Marcos Baghdatis will start his 2014 season at the ATP World Tour 250 Heineken Open in the New Zealand’s city of Auckland where he featured only once in 2006 and suffered a first round exit to Jarkko Nieminen.

The 28-year-old Cypriot arrived to New Zealand early last week in order to acclimatise and prepare for the upcoming Australian Open.

His first round opponent at the Heineken Open will be German Daniel Brands. Baghdatis will play Brands for the third time, with the pair having split their two previous meetings.

If he overcomes Brands, Baghdatis will then face fourth-seeded South African Kevin Anderson in the second round. Spaniard David Ferrer is the top seed at this hard-court tournament, which also features Tommy Haas and John Isner.

SERENA Williams laid down an imposing marker ahead of the first grand slam of the year by powering to a 6-4 7-5 victory over Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka at the Brisbane International.

The American won yesterday’s battle between the world’s top two players to pick up her 58th career title.

In the men’s draw, Roger Federer will be chasing a 19th win out of 27 encounters over home favourite Lleyton Hewitt when the two 32-year-olds renew their friendly rivalry in today’s final.

Both players needed three sets to reach the final with top seed Federer beating Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 and Hewitt downing Japan’s Kei Nishikori5-7 6-4 6-3 in stifling conditions.

The women’s final lacked the intensity of Williams’ victory over Maria Sharapova on Friday but lived up to its promise in a pulsating second set.

The world number one’s serve was far more consistent than in her previous match and she did not face a break point in taking the first set.

She was gifted the only break in the seventh game when Azarenka blasted a forehand wide down the line.

The American then sealed the set with an ace and an early end to the match seemed likely when she broke the Belarusian in the first game of the second set, but instead it brought her opponent to life.

Azarenka broke Williams twice to take a 4-2 lead but lost her own serve to restore parity.

In the crucial 11th game, Williams hit a vicious backhand down the line to secure her third break of the set and then served out for victory.

Her second set efforts showed Azarenka is not far off from toppling Williams, who she split four matches with last year, and after the match said: “I hope to meet you in Melbourne.”

Williams is also eyeing another meeting between the pair before they leave Australia.

“I hope we do play in Melbourne too because that would mean we’d be going the farthest,” Williams said.

Conditions were far easier for the women finalists than for the first men’s semi-final between Hewitt and Nishikori, where both players struggled as the temperature reached 42 degrees.

“When you just come off the court it feels like it’s the worst you’ve played in,” Hewitt said.

“It was a really heavy humidity feel out there. I was sweating just walking out to have my warm-up.”

Federer was far from his best against Chardy, losing the second set in a tiebreak. However, crucially as his French opponent’s serve fell apart in the third set, Federer swooped to set up a 27th meeting with Hewitt.

“Jeremy has a great serve and made it tough for me,” said Federer, who has won 16 of his last 17 meetings with the Australian.

“It will be very different against Lleyton. He has the game to cause me a lot of problems.”

“Obviously, Roger and I have a good history and a lot of tough matches in the past in slams, Davis Cups and everything,” Australia’s Hewitt told reporters. “I’m going to enjoy it.”

They first played in Lyon 15 years ago with Hewitt emerging victorious, as he did in seven of the first nine matches with the last of those coming in a Davis Cup clash in 2003 where he battled back from two sets and 5-2 down to overcome the Swiss.

Federer regards that contest as a landmark moment in his career while Hewitt sees it as one of his greatest wins.

“It has to be one (of my best),” Hewitt said. “In the conditions and over five sets and he was the reigning Wimbledon champion only a couple months before that as well.”

Since then, Federer has been dominant with Hewitt’s victory in Halle in 2010 his only win in the last 17 contests between them.

The Australian puts his latter struggles in the rivalry down to Federer’s brilliance rather than his own shortcomings.

“Nearly everyone had some kind of run against Roger in those years,” Hewitt said.

“He lost two or three matches for the year. Apart from losing to Rafa (Nadal) a couple times, he didn’t lose too many matches.

“In Halle, I got a little bit lucky but I did play a really good three-set match there.”

For his part, Federer is keen to resume a rivalry against an off-court friend he first met when they were 15-year-old juniors.

“We go back 17 years – our coaches back in the day were best friends,” Federer said. “It’s always special when we play.”

The Brisbane tournament acts as a warm-up event for the Australian Open, the first grand slam of the season, which starts in Melbourne on January 13.

A DOMINANT Australia looked firmly on course for a 5-0 Ashes series sweep when they reached 140 for four, a lead of 311, at the close of play after skittling England for 155 on a dramatic second day of the fifth test yesterday.

Chris Rogers, who had made 73 not out, and George Bailey, unbeaten on 20, will resume on day three looking to further inflate the lead before Australia unleash their pace attack on the hapless tourists.

England’s bowlers made inroads into the Australian batting order in the final session to contribute to the 13 wickets to fall at the Sydney Cricket Ground but the day was defined by a first hour that left the tourists reeling at 23-5.

While a dispirited England had once again contributed to their own batting downfall, Mitchell Johnson (3-33), Ryan Harris (3-36) and Peter Siddle (3-23) played decisive roles with another display of top quality pace bowling.

“It’s obviously not a done thing yet, we’ve got to make sure we bat well in the morning and get some more and bowl like we did today to bowl them out again,” Harris told reporters.

“We sort of figure they are going to fire at some stage, we hope they don’t but… I don’t think the wicket’s getting any easier. If we bowl like we did today, I think we’ll go alright.”

Australia had made 326 in their first innings before reducing England to 8-1 overnight and drove home their advantage by ripping through England’s top order in the early blitz.

It was Harris who started the carnage with the second ball of the day, when England captain Alastair Cook inexplicably padded up to an inswinger and was trapped leg before for seven.

Harris could have had a second wicket with his next delivery when Ian Bell edged the ball behind, only for Shane Watson to fluff a reasonably simple catch in the slips.

Nightwatchman James Anderson braved a couple of overs of short bowling before departing, also for seven, after finding the edge with a stab at a fuller length Johnson delivery, which Michael Clarke leapt to claim in the cordon.

Kevin Pietersen lasted just nine balls and 12 minutes before being dismissed for three courtesy of another edge to the slips from a Harris delivery, which Watson took this time after a juggle.

With England now 17-4 after just 32 minutes of play, Bell did his best to dig in.

He took 42 minutes to get off the mark but had just two runs on the board 14 minutes later when a superb delivery from Siddle had him caught behind by Brad Haddin.

“We knew we had to start well and pick up early wickets, we didn’t think we’d get that many, I guess,” Harris added.

Debutant Gary Ballance (18) went just after lunch before Jonny Bairstow (18) and Ben Stokes (47) offered some resistance in a partnership of 49 for the seventh wicket.

When they were dismissed in one Siddle over, though, England’s hopes of any kind of respectable score went with them.

England saved the follow-on and looked like they might just scramble to tea but Johnson returned to the fray and clean bowled Boyd Rankin, the third of the England new caps, for 13 to end the innings and bring up the break.

Stuart Broad, welcomed to the crease by a chorus of boos, scored 30 not out in a late flourish but England needed him to shine with the ball if they had any hope of saving the test.

Anderson made the first breakthrough for the tourists, though, trapping Dave Warnerlbw on his back foot for 16 and having Watson caught behind for nine.

Australia captain Clarke was Broad’s first victim, feathering an edge behind for six, before first innings centurion Steve Smith (7) got a thicker edge on a Stokes delivery which Cook claimed in the slips.

Opener Rogers kept piling on the runs at the other end, though, and reached his sixth test half century in his 11th test with a single before upping the run rate even further.

“I would say it is pretty disappointing today but 326 is way over par on this pitch in my opinion,” England batting coach Graham Gooch said.

“So once that’s score’s on the board it’s always going to be difficult and once we got the start we did and lost those early wickets… it’s going to be tough from here on in from this position.”

TEN-MAN Manchester City were forced to settle for a replay after Scott Dann’s goal secured a 1-1 draw for Blackburn in their FA Cup third-round clash at Ewood Park.

City had looked to have broken the Championship side’s resistance after Alvaro Negredo put them ahead just before half-time.

But Dann replied early in the second half after a mistake by Costel Pantilimon and City were left hanging on after Dedryck Boyata was sent off.

Rovers’ performance was an uplifting one after all their troubles of recent years and the atmosphere as they chased a late winner reminded the club of what they have missed since relegation.

City, with a Capital One Cup semi-final against West Ham coming up next Wednesday, made seven changes and perhaps paid the price with a loss of intensity.

Yet they still fielded a side full of international quality.

Negredo, Edin Dzeko and David Silva still formed a formidable attacking trio while Fernandinho provided drive from midfield.

City’s most notable change again came in goal as Pantilimon replaced rested England number one Joe Hart.

The reasons were understandable but questions could be asked of Pellegrini’s continuing rotation of the two keepers after an indifferent display from the Romanian.

Rovers also made a change in goal, as one of Hart’s England predecessors in Paul Robinson returned for his first game for 13 months.

The 34-year-old has now fully recovered after suffering a blood clot on the lung last year and his initial reintroduction was gentle as the visitors made a sluggish start.

Rovers, despite leaving star striker Jordan Rhodes on the bench, were positive and Rudy Gestede, fresh from making his loan from Cardiff permanent, troubled Joleon Lescott early on, although his penalty appeal was rejected.

The frustration for Rovers was that they could not work Pantilimon, with Dann’s free header from a corner their best effort but easily claimed by the keeper.

City slowly began to take control of the game midway through the first half and Robinson twice came out bravely to thwart Negredo.

Fernandinho shot straight at Robinson from outside the box and Silva spurned a glorious chance when he scooped over from a Boyata cut-back.

Tommy Spurr then appeared to pull back Negredo as James Milner lofted in a cross but there were few penalty appeals.

Rovers pushed again before the break but Gestede failed to connect with a headed chance and Chris Taylor shot over.

City punished them by snatching the lead themselves on the stroke of half-time as Dzeko flicked on a Silva corner and Negredo turned in his 15th of the season from close range.

The manner in which the goal was conceded perhaps led to what seemed a frank exchange of views between Grant Hanley and Taylor as the players left the field at the interval.

Rovers came back fired up and earned reward as they grabbed an equaliser in the 54th minute.

Gestede rose high to meet a Ben Marshall corner with a powerful header and Pantilimon could not hold it. Dann rushed in to sweep past him from close range.

City looked troubled at the back and a long throw-in from Spurr gave them more difficulties.

The pace of the game noticeably increased as Taylor put another Blackburn chance over.

City responded with Dzeko testing Robinson from outside the area and Negredo heading wide from the rebound.

Navas came on for Negredo and brought another fine save out of Robinson, who also spilled but regathered another effort from Dzeko.

Blackburn were undeterred and sensed an opportunity to pull off a shock.

They sent on the additional firepower of Rhodes and DJ Campbell with nine minutes remaining and threw everything they could at City.

City’s cause was not helped as Boyata upended Campbell to earn his second yellow card.

Rovers poured forward again but the impressive Tom Cairney sent a good shot narrowly wide from distance.

Lescott also needed to scramble back to break up another attack as City clung on.

PAUL Lambert’s damning indictment of the FA Cup’s place in the modern football calendar came back to haunt him as League One strugglers Sheffield United claimed a richly deserved third-round 2-1 upset at Villa Park.

Ryan Flynn grabbed the winner with a superb 80th-minute strike just five minutes after Lambert’s beleaguered Aston Villa had clawed their way back into the contest through an equaliser from substitute Nicklas Helenius.

Lambert had described the FA Cup as a “distraction” in the build-up to the match and maintained most of his fellow top-flight managers would rather do without the competition.

But despite his claims Lambert only made three changes to the side that won at Sunderland on New Year’s Day – making the utterly dominant performance by Nigel Clough’s Blades all the more disappointing for the home side.

Jamie Murphy had struck the visitors – currently languishing in 18th place in League One after a New Year’s Day loss at Walsall – in front on 20 minutes and Villa seldom looked like finding an equaliser until Helenius’s strike.

Villa’s day had gone badly from the start, Nathan Baker injuring himself in the warm-up and having to be replaced by Aleksandar Tonev, and the visitors more than held their own until Murphy gave them their shock lead.

The Blades striker made the most of some hesitant Villa defending to cut in from the left flank and drill a hard low shot which appeared to take a deflection off Andreas Weimann on its way past Villa keeper Jed Steer.

The goal briefly sparked the home side into life as Matthew Lowton clattered a shot against team-mate Weimann from an Antonio Luna cross, then Benteke was inches from connecting with a cross-field ball from Fabian Delph.

But as the first half neared its conclusion it was the visitors who looked likely to grab a second goal, Tony McMahon causing problems in the Villa box with his low cross from the right, and a Murphy ball from the left blocked by Villa captain Ciaran Clark as Chris Porter lurked in front of goal.

Benteke missed two glorious chances to equalise for Villa in the final minute of the first half, twice heading horribly wide after mis-judging two crosses from Marc Albrighton.

Continuing to make a mockery of their lowly league position, the Blades started the second half in fine fashion with Flynn bringing two consecutive saves out of Villa keeper Steer.

In response, Villa were struggling to muster any sort of attacking threat and their best chance to equalise in the 55th minute had an element of fortune about it as Albrighton’s cross from the right almost caught out Long.

Lambert threw on an additional striker in Helenius but the Blades continued to dominate and could have increased their lead on the hour when Steer spilled a low drive from Flynn and Villa were somewhat fortunate to be in a position to boot the ball away from danger.

Villa struggled to muster any attacking threat whatsoever until the 70th minute when Albrighton set up Benteke who toe-poked his shot straight at Long, then moments later Benteke fed Ashley Westwood whose shot from the left side of the box was scooped high and wide of target.

But the home side finally grabbed a scarcely deserved equaliser in the 75th minute when Weimann’s shot in the box took a big deflection and found substitute Helenius who fired home from the left side of the box.

If Villa thought they had turned the game around the visitors had other ideas. First Porter burst into the box straight from the re-start and scooped a glorious chance just over the bar, then Flynn flashed a shot across the face of goal.

But Flynn made amends in the 80th minute with a stunning strike to put the Blades back in front, cutting across the edge of the Villa box before unleashing a mighty left-foot shot past Steer in front of the massed ranks of visiting fans.

Benteke bicycle-kicked Villa’s final effort over the bar deep into injury time and the final whistle sparked wild celebrations among the visiting contingent – and boos for Lambert’s men.

Gardening with Patricia Jordan

Holidays over and work has to start again in the garden. This is the time when the laborious bit of gardening happens as the soil is usually moist and amenable to planting or moving any shrubs and trees. Fruit and nut trees are mostly dormant now so that some pruning can take place but don’t leave it too long especially in the case of almonds, as after a week or so of ‘Halcyon’ weather which occurs around this time of year, flower buds will begin to appear in sheltered gardens. This period of calm sunny weather was once recorded as appearing during the twelve days of Christmas but with changing weather patterns and shifting calendars, they tend to occur in January now. This unseasonal weather can cause mayhem in the garden as the plants think that winter is over and start to grow, only to be dashed to the ground when the winter storms start up again and continue into February. There is still a lot of winter to come so don’t become too complacent. I spend a lot of my time weather watching, especially if there is any danger of extremely low night temperatures.
If you have decided to plant citrus trees then this is a good time to choose them as they may just have some fruit on them and you can be sure of what you are buying. Many people are disappointed when they discover that they have bought a bitter orange and not a Merlin or a Jaffa. It is not always possible to tell what colour of fruit a grapefruit has but both the fruits, white and red, are delicious. Take care if you are on statins though, as grapefruits conflict with some of them, so consult your doctor first before eating these fruits.
Lemons and limes are a joy to have in the garden and so useful too. The juice of both can be frozen to make lemonade or limeade in the hot summers. They can also be made into lemon or lime curd, using just two ripened limes to one lemon in the recipe, and no Cypriot meal is served up without a plateful of cut lemons, which when squeezed over food enhance the flavour of the meat. It is not so long along that limes were not readily available in Cyprus but I have proved that they can be grown at 300 metres very successfully.

WHAT TO DO IN THE GARDEN THIS MONTH
Planting trees and shrubs is not difficult. First dig the hole, making it deeper and wider than the rootball of the tree you are going to plant. Hopefully the hole will be damp, if not add some water but don’t make it too soggy. If you have bone meal put a couple of handfuls in the bottom of the hole, otherwise some slow release fertiliser will do. Take the rootball out of the bag or pot and look closely at the roots. They may be wound round and round the pot which usually means that that they have been in it for too long. Tease them out gently and get rid of any claggy soil which may be around them and trim any dead or very thin roots. Should the tree be large you may need to put in a stake before planting. If you put it in later on you may damage the roots. Sit the plant in the hole leaving the graft point just above the level of the top of the hole. (If you bury the graft point then stems and leaves may sprout from there and you don’t want that to happen). Fill in the sides with some new soil or potting compost, treading it down. Once the tree is planted have a good look at it and see if there are any dead, diseased or crossing branches and remove them. You may lose some fruiting buds but new trees are going to take time settling in, so you may not get any fruits for the first few years anyway. You need to have a good flow of air through the tree otherwise when the weather becomes hot and humid moulds and botrytis may appear.

Look around your other fruit trees and using the same principles prune them with very sharp secateurs. Clean the blades with disinfectant after each tree so that you don’t transfer any disease. When a tree puts on about half a metre of growth a year it can quickly reach gigantic proportions, making maintenance difficult, and fruit or nut cropping almost impossible. You need to be cruel to be kind and lop off some of that growth each year. The same applies to Pecan trees, which can reach 20 or 30 metres if they are not curtailed and then the crows would get all the nuts! Pruning is a vital part of the success or not of your fruit and nut trees. Most commercial fruit and nut trees are kept to a reasonable height, which makes for easier management and harvesting the fruits, without having to resort to climbing ladders.

The ‘Prunus’ family comprises almonds, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums and cherries and all of these trees can suffer from canker. You can spot this easily as the bark oozes gum and large parts of the tree fail. At this stage there is really not a lot that you can do about it, other than fell the tree and grow something else instead. Some areas are prone to canker, like the valley in which I live, so I have given up growing prunus except for almonds and am concentrating on citrus instead. Some suggest spraying with Cuproxat, a copper-based fungicide, but I have had limited success with it. By cutting branches off above the ooze it may be possible for the tree to grow on for a few more years but once the tree has canker it is almost certainly doomed!

Winter jasmine should be starting to flower brightening up the garden. This is a shrub or climber that is pruned AFTER flowering. It’s amazing how many plants are in flower throughout the winter. Pyrostegia and Viburnum tinus both bring brightness and cheer and of course polygala just never seems to stop blooming. Osteospermums and marguerites give the garden some colour through the winter and soon the first narcissus will flowering in the borders. Cacti and succulents are beginning to throw out new flower stems too and Aeonium arboreum flower heads, looking like golden broccoli, will be shooting skywards. Aloe flowers of reds and yellows brighten up the countryside vying with the bright yellows of the native oxalis, which can be a nightmare to get rid of in gardens!

You should be able to start picking broccoli and cauliflowers soon and kohl rabi, fresh from the garden, sprinkled with salt and with some lemon squeezed over it, is lovely to eat even without dipping it into hummus or other dips.
Plant of the Month Olea europaea
Literally the name means ‘Oil from Europe’ but the first olives were supposedly found in Jordan. Regarded as natives of many Mediterranean countries, their oil is of major agricultural importance. At one time only Greece grew olives, which brought the country great wealth and for centuries their harvests were the biggest in the world. However, more recently Greece has dropped to third place with Spain and Italy now being the biggest producers.
This evergreen tree growing up to great heights if left un-pruned, does not require good soil for bountiful harvests and will thrive in poor limestone soils with limited rainfall. It does however prefer a sunny position. If the soil is too rich it may bring all kinds of cultivation problems. In Cyprus, trees can be found growing along the coastal strips and certainly up to 300 metres. They are generally pruned down to about 3 metres for ease of collecting the ripe fruits. The white feathery self fertile flowers, to which some people are allergic, are to be found on the ends of last year’s stems. In order to produce fruits the olive tree needs not only to be grown in a sunny spot but have a two month cold winter period with temperatures no lower than minus 5C. Watering new trees regularly until they are well established and during dry spells between February and May, is crucial for fruit production. Olives do not always crop well every year. This last season yielded a very poor harvest.
You may need to wait several years for a new tree to yield fruits. The most serious pest is the olive fruit fly, which lays its eggs in olives usually just before they become ripe in the autumn. Harvesting usually begins around November 25 – St Catherine’s Day. After this time the olives will not grow any more and start to drop and those which drop to the ground are no good as they deteriorate quickly, and if added to your oil may even spoil it.

By Nathan Morley

BUILDING BRIDGES between the government and the people can be a tricky business. This is not helped by the irritating tendency of ministers to make dubious nonsensical public statements at any given opportunity.
For example, back in September the Labour Minister Zeta Emilianidou confidently assured us that the Social Insurance Fund required “no further measures” to keep functioning with reserves and expected revenue being enough to last for another 47 years – until 2060.
Critics said the fund was perilously close to running out of money.
So, I know it comes as a crushing blow for those that hang on the every word of our ministers that the head of the Social Insurance Department made a brief appearance earlier this week to announce additional unpleasant financial squeezes. Fancy that.
As the rising cost of almost everything is hurting almost everyone, Theofanis Tryfonos delivered a patchwork of new rules, including that all employees are now required to pay additional contributions of 1 per cent to the Social Insurance Fund – with the same increase applying for employers.
For the self-employed the increase will be 2 per cent. Then it got worse.
For some reason, there’s a rather weird and arguably unfair formula for calculating that public servants will only pay an additional contribution of 0.5 per cent.
Most people would agree that it would be a sensible, well-intentioned measure if public servants could be stretched to pay a little more, say as much as 1 per cent?
Long gone are the days when the civil service was seen as a career dead end or a graveyard of ambition – now landing a job within the state machine is the only promise of a steady income, good medicare and peanut contributions – it is like winning the lotto.
An additional kink in these new rules and regulations has raised the conditions eligibility to a pension. Now, those employees who have worked for only a few years will not be entitled to a pension unless they have paid contributions for at least 12 years.
Another bitter pill comes to those whose pension will be reduced permanently if they choose to retire at the age of 63 years – their retirement benefit will now be slashed by 6 per cent.
The lesson here is that all that the predictions and statements from the ministers must be taken with a healthy pinch of salt and digested with a large brandy.

ANIMAL POLICE
Meanwhile, the good news continues online. During the past week dozens of blogs, forums and social networks have been linking to news reports documenting a spate of horrendous acts of cruelty towards animals – those that feel outraged are getting much savvier about getting their voices heard.
The actions of a few mindless psychopaths committing acts of deliberate and brutal cruelty is helping to determine the way this country is viewed abroad.
Photos of a dog being violently dragged to its death behind a car, another shot in the face, reports of pets being starved or dumped and the horrific images of decomposing corpses of dogs at a shelter in Limassol have been beamed to computer screens the world over – and understandably sparked outrage among animal lovers.
For years a coalition of animal-welfare groups have pushed for the creation of a special police force but with their protests receiving just a few column inches in the local press and the occasional mention on TV little progress has been made.
Now social media gives their grievances a new platform and the ability to organise politically like never before. However, amid the chorus of anger the government shows no signs of finally getting a handle on this outrageous situation.
Disturbingly, in August the Minister of Justice dropped a plan by the previous administration for the creation of a police unit for animal welfare – with activists insisting the job could be done with just a mere 10-15 officers covering the entire island, taking rescue calls and investigating reports of cruelty.
Ionas Nicolaou insists the problem can be handled by regular the police, who to the best of my knowledge are experienced in dealing with criminals, not animals.
This continued rejection of fate will only prolong the appalling situation, as one thing is absolutely certain – a unit tasked with protecting the welfare of animals will be established, abusers will be suitably punished and cruelty exposed where ever it happens.
The government needs to acknowledge there is a serious problem that needs to be tackled before it escalates further and may simply find it easier to respond now.

AND FINALLY…
Well done to a reporter at the Huffington Post for spotting this gem. The McDonald’s employee resources website, which can be accessed by simple registration, is giving out some very strange advice for their employees. The online health notice reads:
“Fast foods are quick, reasonably priced, and readily available alternatives to home cooking. While convenient and economical for a busy lifestyle, fast foods are typically high in calories, fat, saturated fat, sugar, and salt and may put people at risk for becoming overweight.”
A separate post states that “it is hard to eat a healthy diet when you eat at fast-food restaurants often,” adding that large portions make it easy to overeat.
Priceless.