COPENHAGEN Zoo’s scientific director and other staff have received death threats after a healthy giraffe was killed to avoid inbreeding among the long-necked beasts there, the zoo said on Monday.

But director Bengt Holst said it was the right decision and he would be ready to do the same with another animal if needed.

The death of Marius, an 18-month-old male shot on Sunday and then dissected in front of crowds at the zoo, has created a uproar among animal lovers in Denmark and abroad.

“I got direct threats against the zoo, me and my family,” Holst said. One caller who telephoned in the middle of the night told him that he and his family deserved to die.

A zoo spokesman said other staffers had also been threatened but gave no further details.

Copenhagen Zoo’s giraffes are part of an international breeding programme that aims to maintain a healthy giraffe population in European zoos by ensuring that only unrelated giraffes breed.

“If an animal’s genes are well represented in a population, further breeding with that particular animal is unwanted,” Holst said. “We could face the same problem with an elephant if there are too many males.”

Marius was killed despite the pleas of thousands who signed online petitions to save him. He was given his favourite breakfast of rye bread and then shot.

After an autopsy, some meat from Marius’s carcass was fed to other zoo animals and some was sent to research projects in Denmark and abroad for study.

Camilla Bergvall, vice chairwoman of Animal Rights Sweden, said it was common for zoos to kill healthy animals because they were not suitable for breeding, the zoo lacked room for them or there was little public interest in them.

“Zoos have to think about their revenues,” she said. “It is important to understand that this is not just about Marius. It happens quite often that healthy animals are killed.”

Bergvall said keeping species in zoos caused the individual animals to suffer. Breeding animals for captivity created the limited gene pool problem that led to Marius’s death.

“The best thing is not to breed animals for people to look at,” she said.

FRESH political pressure on British utilities hit the sector’s stocks on Monday, limiting broader gains in the UK’s top equity index although it rose for the fourth straight session.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed up by 0.3 per cent, or 19.87 points, at 6,591.55 points.

Gains at British bank Barclays and drugsmaker AstraZeneca together added the most points to the FTSE, enabling the index to shrug off the effects of a pullback in the utility sector.

Barclays rose 1.2 per cent as analysts welcomed its plans to step up its cost-cutting programme after the bank published a snapshot of its headline 2013 results, while AstraZeneca rose 1.4 per cent after Morgan Stanley increased its price target on the stock.

However, a decline in major utility stocks prevented the FTSE 100 from making even bigger gains.

The utility sector was hit after British Energy Secretary Ed Davey wrote to regulators to say the profit margins of major energy companies’ gas supply units were too high.

Davey also said British Gas may have to be broken up and his comments knocked shares in the sector, with British Gas owner Centrica falling 1.7 per cent while rival SSE declined by 0.4 per cent.

Utility stocks are often favoured by investors for their solid dividend yields, but Cavendish Asset Management fund manager Paul Mumford said political pressures on the sector were turning him away from holding those stocks.

“I don’t bother to hold them because you’re up against all these political headwinds,” he said. “There are other areas of the market where you don’t have the same amount of regulatory interference,” added Mumford, who said his preferred UK equity sectors include oil and gas, and property.

The FTSE 100 rose 14.4 per cent in 2013 to post its best annual gain since 2009, but the index has declined 2.3 per cent since the start of 2014 as global equity markets have fallen due to concerns over a slump in emerging markets economies.

Despite this weak start many investors with a long-term view expect the FTSE to rise slowly over the course of 2014, partly helped by a gradual recovery in the British economy.

Mike Franklin, chief investment strategist at Beaufort Securities, said the index could rise by around 5 per cent over the next two weeks to reach the 6,900 point level.

“The pace of returns may be a bit slower this year, but the primary bull market is still intact,” he said.

PRIMETEL has successfully managed to secure the licence for a third mobile network in Cyprus and is evolving from Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) to Mobile Network Operator (MNO). This development has enabled the creation of a fourth generation network (4G) and the availability of new services at lower prices. 

The company will directly proceed to the design and development of a fourth generation network, offering Cypriot consumers the 4G experience.

“The acquisition of the third mobile licence has been a milestone for our company. We fully recognise that the future of broadband is mobile and as such we will proceed with this investment,” PrimeTel CEO Hermes Stephanou said. “Our company is committed to delivering next generation Services with speeds exceeding 30 mbps for mobile devices.”
In telecommunication systems, 4G is the fourth generation of mobile phone mobile communication technology standards. It is a successor to the third generation (3G) standards. A 4G system provides mobile ultra-broadband internet access, for example to laptops with USB wireless modems, to smartphones, and to other mobile devices. Conceivable applications include amended mobile web access, IP telephony, gaming services, high-definition mobile TV, video conferencing, 3D television, and cloud computing.

PrimeTel currently operates a national network for fixed broadband services, with fixed voice, internet, television and wifi. The company also operates an international submarine fibre optic landing station connecting Cyprus through a global network to the rest of the world.
“We aim to develop a full next generation 4G network from the start allowing for broadband mobile services. A network that can support services cost effectively and efficiently,” Stephanou said.

The interest period for the third mobile licence closed on September 24, after an extension from the initial deadline of July 24.
Areeba, later taken over and renamed MTN Cyprus, was the final bidder for the first commercial licence in 2005, upping the stake to 22 mln euros and knocking out Greek bidder OTE from the race. State telecoms company CyTA had matched the 22 mln euro price at the time.

By Iacovos Constantinou

Ebo who had replaced the ineffective Oriol early in the second half scored the only goal of the game between leaders AEL and fourth placed Ermis Aradippou that sent AEL four points clear at the top.

As expected AEL pushed forward right from the start with Ermis content to soak up the pressure and try to catch the home side on the break. Orlanda Sa was a continuous threat for the visitor’s goal with three attempts in the first twenty five minutes that all went close.

Ermis’s only real threat came in the dying seconds of the first half when Moran’s back-heel was well saved by AEL’s keeper Karim Fagrouch.

The second half followed the same pattern as the first with AEL going close when another substitute, Stanlav Genchev, hit the post with a delicate chip from outside the area and Orlanda Sa blasting the rebound high and wide.

The goal came in the 79th minute after Dede worked the ball through to Ebo and the young Ghanaian slid past de Pina before unleashing a powerful shot past the helpless Ermis keeper Arabatzis to break the deadlock and secure all three points for AEL.

UN Special Envoy Alexander Downer is stepping down as the UN Secretary-General’s special adviser, Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday.

In a statement welcoming the resumption of Cyprus talks, Ban said: “I also recognise the indispensable role played by my Special Adviser Mr. Alexander Downer to this point, beginning from his appointment in September 2008. Mr. Downer has informed me that now that the joint communique has been achieved, he has decided to take up a new position and step down as my Special Adviser. I thank him sincerely for his perseverance and commitment over the past five and a half years, and wish him well in his future endeavours.”

In a separate statement minutes later, Downer himself did not refer to his stepping down but said he welcomed the finalisation of a joint communiqué and the formal relaunch of the talks.

“I commend the leaders for their commitment to resuming negotiations and working towards the successful conclusion to the Cyprus problem,” said Downer. “I urge the sides to embrace the fact that it is in their interest to bridge their differences, agree on a common vision of the future between the two communities and conclude negotiations to achieve that vision.”

He said the UN would continue to support and encourage both parties “as they take this step together”, so as to reunify the island for the benefit of all Cypriots.

Ban also commended the leaders for their commitment to resuming negotiations “and for their hard work in the past months to reach what is an important statement of shared principles and invaluable basis for renewed talks”.
“The United Nations will continue to support the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in their efforts to reunify the island and move on from decades of separation. I personally pledge our resolute commitment to these efforts,” said Ban.

By Mike Collett-White
Attention at the Winter Olympics turned on Tuesday to the eagerly awaited men’s ice hockey competition even before a puck had been shot in anger, as host team Russia and heavyweights Canada and the United States paraded before the world’s media.

For many fans the Winter Games do not properly begin until the puck drops on the men’s ice hockey rink, and that happens on Wednesday at the gleaming new Bolshoy Ice Dome and Shayba Arena on Russia’s Black Sea Coast.

On day four of the February 7-23 Olympics, most of the action was up in the nearby Caucasus Mountains, where mild temperatures were causing increasing concern about poor snow conditions.

The final training session for Wednesday’s women’s downhill was cancelled due to the conditions, and ahead of the Nordic Combined competition on the same day American Bill Demong said of the snow: “It’s not even slushy, it’s just mushy.

“No matter how many chemicals they use I anticipate the snow will get beaten down during the course of the race and I think it will be very tough,” he told reporters.
Temperatures are expected to rise to at least 15C (59 Fahrenheit) later this week.

US skier Bode Miller has blamed the weather for wrecking his hopes of glory in Sunday’s downhill, and he fears the mild conditions may scupper his bid to successfully defend his super combined title, saying softer snow favours slalom technicians.

Despite the gripes, competition went ahead on Tuesday and American snowboarder Shaun White, one of the best known faces in winter sport, will be vying to retain his halfpipe title.
The women ski jumpers compete in the Olympics for the first time after a long campaign to be included.

The first of eight medals to be decided on Tuesday went to teenager Dara Howell of Canada in the inaugural women’s freestyle skiing slopestyle.
Several skiers crashed out spectacularly, including Howell’s compatriot and favourite Kaya Turski, who did not qualify, and fellow Canadian Yuki Tsubota, who appeared to suffer a serious injury on her second run of the final.

The result strengthened Canada’s place at the top of the overall medals’ table with four golds, while Russia linger in sixth position with one gold, two silver and three bronze medals.
The hosts are desperate to improve on their woeful performance at the last Winter Olympics in Vancouver four years ago, when just three gold medals left them 11th in the table.
When the figure skating team won gold in Sochi on Sunday there was a surge of excitement across the country and internationally. That would be nothing compared to the euphoria a men’s ice hockey gold would bring.

If there is one country where the sport matters as much as in Canada, it is Russia, and more than 100 journalists and 40 television cameras were there for the men’s media conference.
“I participated in four Olympic Games and I don’t remember such an interest in ice hockey players,” former goaltending great Vladislav Tretyak, now president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, told reporters.

In a show of unity, and underlining the sport’s importance, the entire ice hockey team showed up to face the media.
“It is a team sport and it’s up to the entire team to get the gold so that is why we are here together,” said Tretyak.
The heavyweight American and Canadian teams had their first practice on Monday, but attention was already turning to Saturday’s mouth-watering clash between the United States and Russia.

That game will bring back memories of the ‘Miracle on Ice’ at Lake Placid in 1980 when a US team made up of amateur and college players, stunned the dominant Soviets, who had won five of the previous six Olympic ice hockey gold medals.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has staked his personal and political prestige on staging a successful Games, would dearly love a home victory in that game.

The Sochi Games have cost an estimated $51 billion, which would make it the most expensive Olympics ever, although that figure has been questioned and would include long term infrastructure projects in the region.
The buildup to the Games was overshadowed by threats of militant violence, an international outcry over a contentious “anti-gay propaganda” law and allegations of widespread corruption and profligacy.

Once they got underway that hostility quickly evaporated, although a militant Islamist group urged followers to pray for an earthquake in Sochi during the Olympics to avenge Muslims who died there fighting “Russian infidels”.
The appeal was made by a local branch of the Caucasus Emirate, a group which is waging an insurgency for an Islamist state in Russia’s North Caucasus and called on supporters last year to attack the Games.
“All who are able to read this letter can supplicate that the Almighty destroys the land in Sochi with an earthquake, and makes the infidels ‘drunk of water’ before Hell and drown in a flood!,” said the appeal posted online on Monday.

On a more positive note, the International Olympic Committee lifted a ban on the Indian Olympic Association, which was suspended when a corruption-tainted official was voted in as secretary general in 2012.

A military transport plane carrying members of the armed forces and their relatives crashed into a mountain in eastern Algeria on Tuesday, killing more than 100 people, a local official said.

“The plane crashed into a mountain and exploded. Several bodies were burnt to ashes and could not be identified,” the official told Reuters by telephone from Oum El Bouaghi province, about 500 km (300 miles) from the capital Algiers.

Colonel Lahmadi Bouguern told the APS state news agency 99 passengers and four crew members had been on board the C-130 Hercules but the death toll was “yet to be determined”, adding bad weather and strong winds may have been a factor in the crash.

The private Ennahar TV station, citing “informed sources”, said 103 people were killed. Another official earlier told Reuters one person survived the crash and 53 bodies had been recovered so far.

The Defence Ministry said it had set up a commission to investigate the crash. “Details will be provided as soon as new information becomes available,” it said in a statement carried by APS. Army Chief of Staff and Deputy Defence Minister Ahmed Gaid Salah would go to the crash site, it added.

The transport plane took off from Algeria’s southern Tamanrasset province and was bound for the eastern city of Constantine, APS said.

If the death toll is confirmed, the crash will be the worst in Algeria since 2003 when an Air Algerie jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Tamanrasset, killing 102 people.

Seven municipalities in Nicosia have spent over €126,000 over the last year on the Colourful Societies programme that aims to promote multiculturalism and support third country nationals.
The programme is 95 per cent funded by the EU and involves the municipalities of Strovolos, Latsia, Tseri, Engomi, Dali, Aglantzia and Geri.
Among the services it offers are counselling, seminars for adjustment, issuing a manual on key issues such as housing, transportation and communication, employment, health services, public administration and local authorities.
The programme also funded activities such as culinary and music festivals, along with sporting events.

The US on Tuesday stressed the importance of upholding peace and security in and around Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean and urged all parties to “avoid any threats or other actions or statements that escalate tension”.

The statement, issued in the context of welcoming the resumption of Cyprus talks, comes within weeks of increased Turkish marine activity in the seas around Cyprus.

At the start of the month, Turkish navy expelled a Norwegian vessel searching for hydrocarbons in Cyprus’ economic exclusion zone, claiming it had entered an area under Turkey’s jurisdiction. Prior to that Cypriot officials said Turkey had encroached into Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), dispatching research vessels to waters south and southwest of the island.

“The United States urges all parties to avoid any threats or other actions or statements that escalate tension,” the White House said, adding that the US reaffirmed its support for the exercise of the sovereign rights of the Republic of Cyprus to explore and develop the resources in its off-shore zones.

“We continue to believe that the island’s oil and gas resources, like all of its resources, should be equitably shared between both communities in the context of an overall settlement”.

The statement said that President Barack Obama and the United States encouraged the sides in Cyprus to work expeditiously to resolve outstanding core issues and achieve a settlement that reunifies Cyprus as a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation the soonest possible.

It said the US, which was instrumental in finalising the joint declaration of the leaders, would engage in diplomacy with all stakeholders to explore possible initiatives to reinforce settlement negotiations, including measures aimed at the future revitalisation of the Famagusta region, when agreed by the two communities.

Washington welcomes the meeting between President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu and the renewal of negotiations on a Cyprus settlement under the auspices of the UN, adding that “the joint statement agreed by the two leaders reflects a spirit of compromise and lays a solid foundation for results-oriented talks”.

The statement congratulated the constructive work done by Greece, Turkey and other international players in ensuring the talks got off the ground.

“The division of Cyprus has endured for far too long. Through a settlement both communities will be able to realise their full potential, with enhanced stability and economic prosperity for all the people of the island,” said the statement.

“The United States welcomes President Anastasiades’ proposal for a package of bold and innovative confidence-building measures and other constructive proposals, which have the potential, when agreed and implemented by the parties to dramatically enhance cooperation between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities and restore faith in settlement efforts”.

TWO policemen were taken to hospital on Monday after they were attacked by a 25-year-old man wielding a pocket knife in Polis Chrysochous.
According to reports, the 25-year-old was being watched by officers from the drug squad and was approached at around 5.50pm while in his car. He realised he was being approached and reacted by getting out of his car and grabbing one of the two officers by the neck, police said.
He then allegedly punched and kicked them both before he was arrested and taken to Polis Chrysochous police station.
At the police station another two policemen were about to conduct a body search but the 25-year-old attacked them with his pocket knife.
The policemen were taken to Paphos General Hospital where it was reported that one of the policemen suffered multiple head and hand injuries and the other had been stabbed in the stomach.
One of the officers underwent surgery while the other is being held for observation.

DEFENCE minister Fotis Fotiou said on Tuesday relations with Israel were entering “a new phase” as the two countries held a joint military exercise in Cypriot airspace.
Codenamed ‘Onisilos-Gideon’, the scheduled drill took place inside the Nicosia flight information region (FIR). Between 11am and 1am Israeli fighter jets carried out flybys over areas south of Limassol and Chirokitia.
Featuring 32 F15 and F16 jets and six more support aircraft of the Israeli Air Force, the exercise included simulated firing at targets on land and sea along the southern coast from Limassol to Paphos.
In comments to the press, Fotiou thanked his Israeli counterpart Moshe Ya’alon for the “excellent cooperation” of the countries’ respective ministries.
“Relations between Cyprus and Israel are entering a new phase,” Fotiou said.
“I am confident that the strategic dialogue that began several months ago will benefit both countries and will continue on all areas, including energy security.”
In April 2013 the two nations conducted a joint search and rescue (SAR) exercise in the sea area south of the island. The drill was held in line with the bilateral agreement drawn up in February 2012 between the Cyprus and Israel on SAR issues.

Syrian authorities have detained 336 men who left Homs and are still questioning most of them without direct supervision by any neutral third party, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

The men, deemed to be of fighting age by the Syrian authorities, were among 1,151 who left the besieged rebel-held Old City of Homs during an agreed ceasefire that was extended for another three days, until Wednesday.

The UN-brokered “humanitarian pause” between 6am and 6pm has also allowed aid to get into the old quarter of Homs, which has been surrounded by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces for more than a year and a half.

Homs governor Talal al-Barazi said around 100 men had been questioned and released, but the United Nations has so far only reported the release of 41 men.

The men have been questioned in a school, under the “general monitoring” of protection staff from the UN refugee agency UNHCR and the UN children’s agency, UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told a briefing in Geneva.

“We know every person that is there. We are speaking to them separately … But these are interviews that the UN is not necessarily privy to. These are security screening interviews,” Fleming said.

“Mostly what we’re asking about is we’re concerned in general about how they’re faring, what’s their health situation, what are their concerns,” she said.

The UN was also asking detainees about the humanitarian situation inside Old Homs, she said, to better inform aid workers going back in for evacuations and aid distributions.

Aid and evacuations operations were halted on Tuesday afternoon for logistical reasons, the governor said, but will continue again on Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m.

“We’ve delayed today’s operations until tomorrow, when we will have prepared a new corridor into the area, which is closer to the civilians there, especially for the elderly … It is difficult for some of them to walk,” he told Reuters by telephone.

The ceasefire deal originally stipulated that only women, children and men over 55 years of age would get safe passage.

But on Sunday, Barazi said anyone could leave, though men aged between 15 and 55 would be questioned and put through a “judicial process”, which could include an amnesty.

Opposition activists have expressed concern that some Homs evacuees, particularly men, could encounter dangers such as those faced by residents who fled the besieged rebel-held town of Mouadamiya, near the capital, Damascus, in October.

Security forces detained dozens of men, many of whom have not been freed.

“ONE SPOON OF BULGUR”

Rupert Colville, spokesman for the U.N. human rights office, said any evacuee, including those who had laid down their arms, must be protected from acts prohibited under international law, including cruel treatment, torture and humiliating and degrading treatment.

“We are also deeply concerned to learn that a number of boys and men and their families were seized by the authorities as they left the besieged area. It is essential that they do not come to any harm,” he said.

The Old Homs ceasefire has been the first tangible result of the “Geneva 2″ peace talks, in their second round this week.

The evacuees included five women in the late stages of pregnancy, including one who was in labour and gave birth in hospital shortly afterwards, said World Health Organization spokeswoman Fadela Chaib.

Many people had skin diseases, she said.

Those coming out were very weak with obvious signs of malnutrition

“A man said he survived for a week with one spoon of bulgur,” said World Food Programme spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs, adding that the small amount of bulgur wheat available in the besieged area was infested with insects.

“They said that daily they survived on leaves, grass, olives, and sometimes some wheat flour appeared and they were mixing flour with water to make a kind of bread.”

Syria’s nearly three-year-old conflict has killed more than 130,000 and forced six million to leave their homes. Many live in desperate conditions, with hunger an increasing problem.

The United Nations says it does not know how many people are still in Old Homs, but some estimates suggest the area has about 2,500 residents – a small percentage of the more than quarter of a million the UN estimates are trapped.

Assad’s forces have often used sieges to choke rebel-held areas. Rebels are increasingly doing the same.

Police in Italy and New York broke up a major trans-Atlantic mafia ring on Tuesday, arresting 24 people accused of plotting to move hundreds of millions of dollars in drugs between South America, Italy and the United States.

The sting operation involving undercover agents and wire taps offered more evidence the Calabria-based ‘Ndrangheta had overtaken its Sicilian cousin, the Cosa Nostra, and was trying to make inroads in the United States by forging ties with one of the traditional New York mob families, the Gambinos.

FBI and Italian agents jointly carried out “Operation New Bridge” simultaneously just after midnight in Brooklyn and just before dawn in Italy, American and Italian officials told a news conference in Rome.

Those arrested were accused of international drugs trafficking, money laundering and membership in organised crime.

The clans of the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta, a version of the Sicilian Mafia on the southern mainland, and members of the Gambino Mafia family in New York, were in the advanced stages of plans to smuggle some 500 kg of pure cocaine from Guyana in South America to the port of Gioia Tauro in Calabria.

Italian investigators estimated the street value of the cocaine after cutting at about 750 million euros.

The drugs, supplied by Latin American drug cartels, were to have been sent to Italy hidden in shipments of canned fruit. Some of it would then have been smuggled to the United States.

“The ‘Ndrangheta determined to move deadly narcotics across international boundaries, attempting to build a bridge of criminality and corruption to stretch from South America to Italy and back to New York,” said assistant US attorney Marshall Miller.

He told reporters at a news conference at the headquarters of Italy’s anti-Mafia investigators with other US and Italian investigators that the operation struck at “the heart of international organised crime”.

UNDERCOVER AGENTS

The operation began in 2012 when investigators detected a plan by members of the Ursino clan of the ‘Ndrangheta to smuggle large amounts of drugs.

An undercover agent was dispatched to Italy and was successful in infiltrating the clan. An undercover agent was also involved in the handover of 1.3 kg of heroin in New York as part of the infiltration operation.

They said the plan involved ‘Ndrangheta members in both Italy and New York who had forged an alliance with the Gambino family of the US Mafia.

The FBI and Italian investigators intercepted email messages between mobsters in Italy and the New Socco Enterprise fruit canning company in Georgetown, Guyana.

During the investigation police wire taps indicated the group was also considering arms trafficking on a considerable scale but that plan never moved beyond the initial stages.

Investigators say that in recent years ‘Ndrangheta clans have made inroads in criminal activity in northern Italy and elsewhere in Europe, particularly in Germany and now want to expand in the United States.

“What we see here is ‘Ndrangheta attempting to gain a foothold in the New York area and the United States,” Miller said. “We also see efforts to forge cooperation between the ‘Ndrangheta and the Cosa Nostra,” he said.

By Elias Hazou
CYPRUS is looking at several options for developing its hydrocarbon reserves but its priority remains the construction of an onshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, energy minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said on Tuesday.
Floating, or water-based LNG operations, are one alternative, he said, as is a possible pipeline linking Cypriot gas wells to gas-processing plants in Egypt.
Briefing the House commerce committee, Lakkotrypis conceded that the island’s proven gas reserves so far are insufficient to justify an onshore LNG terminal.
But, he stressed, the government is not discarding plans for a land-based facility. The project could still materialise if Israeli gas reserves were to be pooled with Cyprus’ and diverted to a mooted LNG terminal in Vasilikos.
He revealed also that foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides will be travelling to Jerusalem some time this month for talks with the Israeli leadership.
The purpose of Kasoulides’ visit would be to elucidate Israel’s intentions vis a vis that country’s export policy.
Israel itself is still mulling its export options after a series of major gas discoveries in recent years.
In the interim, gas prospecting in Cypriot waters would continue. The Italian-South Korean consortium ENI-Kogas, which has a concession on three offshore blocks, is planning four exploratory well drillings this year, and in October US-based Noble Energy is expected to drill again in its Block 12 concession.
Should additional discoveries be made, these could raise the estimated amount of reserves and render viable an onshore LNG plant.
Being an island, Cyprus is cut off from continental electricity grids and pipelines and has to import expensive heavy fuel oil to drive its power plants.
It has just invited tenders for the purchase of natural gas for a period of seven to ten years. The invitations for expressions of interest (EOI) were published in the official journal of the EU on January 25. The EOI expires on March 24. The aim of the tender is to lower power generation costs through cheaper natural gas.
Without naming names, Lakkotrypis said a number of companies, including high-calibre outfits, have so far purchased the tender documents.
As far as technology goes, the tender is open-ended, although the terms and specifications are slanted toward suppliers of LNG.
A gas sales agreement would span at least seven years (2016 to 2023) with an option for renewing for another three years.
The top criterion would be the lowest financial proposal, the minister said.
“The dilemma is this: do I take a price today to make the economy more competitive, or do I wait?” Lakkotrypis explained.
Meanwhile Israeli news website Globes reports that the partners in the Tamar gas field – Noble and the Delek Group – are planning €15b in natural gas sales to Turkey, Cyprus and Greece without the need to build a pipeline.
Edeltech Ltd, an Israeli group of companies, is said to be in talks with the Tamar partners to buy up to 80 billion cubic meters and sell it using the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) technology.
According to Globes, Edeltech plans to bid in the Cypriot tender and wants to buy gas from Tamar at $7 per million British Thermal Units. The cost of transporting gas from Israel to Cyprus is estimated at $2.50 per million British Thermal Units, giving a final price of around $10 per million British Thermal Units, compared with the current price of $18 per million British Thermal Units for LNG.

A top UN official warned on Wednesday of “ethnic-religious cleansing” in the Central African Republic, as peacekeepers uncovered a mass grave at a military camp occupied by Muslim Seleka rebels in the capital Bangui.

The atrocity is the latest sign of the escalating conflict that has gripped the former French colony since March when Seleka seized power. Their campaign of rape, torture and executions against the mostly Christian population has triggered off sectarian violence which has displaced a million people.

A Reuters witness saw at least a dozen decomposed bodies at the military camp in the 200 Villas neighbourhood of Bangui, where Seleka fighters have been stationed for several months.

The bodies had been stuffed into a large underground chamber, possibly a septic tank.

Pastor Antoine Mboa Bogo, head of the local Red Cross, confirmed the existence of the grave and said his staff would return to the camp on Thursday to determine the number of dead. It is not known who committed the killings.

Violence has worsened since Seleka leader Michel Djotodia resigned as president in January under international pressure. The withdrawal of Seleka troops from the country’s south paved the way for reprisals by mostly Christian “anti-balaka” militia on Muslims, causing tens of thousands of people to flee.

France has deployed around 1,600 troops to support an African Union peacekeeping force of 6,000 soldiers but they have been powerless to halt the communal violence.

On a visit to Bangui, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres called for a massive deployment of international peacekeepers to halt what he described as a “humanitarian catastrophe”.

“There is an ethnic-religious cleansing taking place. It must be stopped,” Guterres told reporters.

Attackers have reduced mosques to rubble, dragged people from their homes to be lynched, committed massacres and forced Muslim communities to flee under threat of persecution. As many as 100,000 Muslims have fled, according to Joanne Mariner of rights group Amnesty, redrawing the religious map of the country.

LE DRIAN SAYS CRIMES MUST BE PUNISHED

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed on Tuesday to France to send more troops and said he was concerned the violence in the landlocked country could spiral into genocide. He said a possible UN peacekeeping mission, requested by new Interim President Catherine Samba Panza, would take time to deploy.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who met with Samba-Panza on Wednesday, said the anti-balaka militia had emerged as the main threat to peace in the country and said those reponsible for crimes would be punished.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report that the anti-balaka, whose name means “anti-machete” in the Sango language, were organised and had started to use language that suggests they want to eliminate Muslims from the country.

The militia groups Christians and animists – who wear charms on their bodies for protection – as well as members of the armed forces and supporters of toppled President Francois Bozize.

“Whether the anti-balaka leaders are pursuing a deliberate policy of ethnic cleansing or exacting abusive collective punishment against the Muslim population, the end result is clear: the disappearance of longstanding Muslim communities,” said Peter Bouckaert, HRW emergencies coordinator.

In the western gold trading town of Yaloke, fewer than 500 Muslims and one mosque remain from an estimated Muslim population of 30,000 with eight mosques, said Bouckaert.

Muslims used to make up 15 per cent of the population of roughly 4 million. Many worked as traders, shopkeepers and herders and their flight is severely affecting the impoverished economy, raising fears of a major food crisis.

The World Food Programme began a month-long emergency airlift of around 1,800 tonnes of food on Wednesday – enough to feed 150,000 people for a month.

International forces including elite units of the Chadian military and African peacekeepers have evacuated tens of thousands of Muslims from areas under the control of anti-balaka forces in the absence of government troops.

The militias are yet to target Muslim populations in the northeast of the country, where Muslims form a majority and some reports say Muslim fighters are regrouping.

By Peter Stevenson

Employees from the Electricity Authority (EAC) went on strike on Wednesday, while staff from the telecoms authority CyTA will strike on Thursday to protest against the privatisation of semi-government organisations (SGOs).

Members of the EAC’s trade unions stopped work at 8am and resumed at 11am and have warned that if the Cabinet approved the bill and sends it to parliament they could stage another strike for 24 hours.

“Without warning all of the EAC staff will strike for 24 hours and strike measures could escalate,” an EAC trade union statement said.

The government was granted a short extension to preparing and submitting bills regarding the privatisation of SGOs by the troika delegation on Monday.

In order to raise a budgeted €1.4 billion in revenue by 2018, the troika-mandated privatisation of SGOs is designed to auction off stakes in CyTA, the EAC, the Cyprus Ports Authority (CPA), and several others, to private investors.

“Our goal is to announce our opposition to any efforts to privatise the EAC so we can save our organisation, our national wealth and more importantly to resist by giving society, the public and future generations the great social asset that is electricity,” the trade unions said.

EAC employees are calling on the Cabinet to reject the ‘catastrophic’ bill and are completely opposed to any condition that could see the organisation change from being a public corporation.

Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency, head of the scientific personnel trade union SEPAIK Adonis Yiasemides said “privatisation would be catastrophic for our country and the organisation”.

In reference to the escalation of any strike measures on the trade unions behalf, he said: “It will definitely not be just a three-hour work stoppage” adding “our actions will be assertive and dynamic”.

CyTA employees are due to strike on Thursday between 9am and noon and will protest outside the presidential palace while the cabinet is meeting. Trade unions threatened that employees would go on a 24-hour strike on Friday if the proposal is approved by the cabinet.

General secretary of trade union APE-ATIK Alecos Tryfonides said that the privatisation bill did not contain any provisions to ensure labour and pension rights for SGO workers. He added that it only partially met trade unions’ requests for consultations but that it was still unclear what format consultations would take.

Tryfonides said that any privatisation should be voted on by parliament and not following a decree by the cabinet.

He added that efforts were being made to coordinate all trade unions representing SGO workers.

TALL BAMBOO plants were on Wednesday blamed for a fault in the main overhead power cables which supply electricity to Tala village and surrounding areas in Paphos.

Residents and businesses experienced three power cuts in 24 hours following a fault in the overhead line on Tuesday, according to an Electricity Authority (EAC) spokesman.

The problem first occurred at around lunchtime on Tuesday and lasted for a number of hours. Power was restored only to be lost again on Wednesday morning.

Initially, technicians had been left scratching their heads as they were unable to discover the reason for the power failure, as everything seemed to be in order, a spokesman admitted. The supply was reconnected to homes early on Tuesday evening. However, the ‘tricky’ problem reappeared on Wednesday morning.

The spokesman said: “The technicians informed me that on Wednesday after the problem occurred again, they inspected the entire overhead power line in the area and replaced a faulty part. They discovered that tall bamboo plants which had grown out of control were touching the line when the wind blew and were causing the problem.”

He added: “We hope that this problem is now solved and there will be no further interruption to supply.”

President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and fighters from Lebanese ally Hezbollah pounded Syria’s strategic border town of Yabroud on Wednesday, activists said, in apparent preparation for a new offensive to flush out rebels.

The assault is the latest step in Assad and Hezbollah’s campaign to assert control over the Lebanese-Syrian border region and fortify the president’s hold on central Syria, from the capital Damascus to his stronghold on the coast.

Syrian state media said the army had seized the nearby village al-Jarajeer, while rebels said Assad’s forces had advanced on the area but had not completely taken it.

The military push came as international peace talks in Geneva seized up in mutual recrimination, with the government resisting discussion of a post-Assad transition while the opposition called for a UN-monitored ceasefire.

There has been little let-up in fighting despite the start of the first peace negotiations three weeks ago after nearly three years of war. Assad’s forces seem to have had the better of recent fighting, but outright victory seems out of reach.

As US National Intelligence Director James Clapper put it to senators on Tuesday, a “prolonged stalemate” seems likely, extending what he described as “an apocalyptic disaster” in Syria.

MOUNTAIN BATTLE

On Wednesday, more than 13 air strikes hit the government’s target area around Yabroud in the frontier mountains, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Overnight clashes between Assad’s forces and the opposition on the outskirts of Yabroud continued into the morning.

A spokesman for the rebel unit Liwa al-Ghuraba, said Hezbollah fighters and Assad forces were trying to position themselves on nearby hilltops to attack Yabroud.

“They are gathering their forces with the hope of taking the border road,” said spokesman Abu Anas, speaking by Skype. “Right now no one is moving in Yabroud. The rebels are blocking the offensive … The hospital is filling up with wounded.”

Lebanese media said dozens wounded in Syria had been sent to Lebanese hospitals as well.

The attack on Yabroud is part of what locals have called the “Battle for Qalamoun”, the name of a mountainous region along the frontier with Lebanon used by both the rebels and Assad’s allies to bring in people and supplies.

Assad’s forces sent in envoys in the days leading up to the attack to try to convince leading citizens in nearby towns to accept a truce. Some villages accepted, but most towns, like Yabroud, refused, said the rebel Abu Anas.

“The battle for Qalamoun was supposed to just be a propaganda campaign,” he said. “But the regime got itself in a mess: The army sent people to convince us there could be a peaceful solution if we raised the government flag and took photos. Instead, we refused.”

Activists in rebel-held besieged areas elsewhere who have accepted similar conditions in the past, in exchange for allowing in food and supplies, have said the truce ended up being more of a surrender, with little aid being allowed in.

Concern about talks running into the sand prompted the international mediator in Geneva, Lakhdar Brahimi, to bring forward by a day to Thursday a meeting with Russian and US officials in an apparent attempt to get Washington, which backs the rebels, and Assad’s ally Russia, to press their proteges.

Continued strains between Russia and other world powers that have so far blocked UN action against the Syrian government showed little sign of easing. Russia said it would veto a UN resolution on aid, saying its wording seemed meant to open the way for foreign military action.

SECTARIAN STRUGGLE

The struggle on the Syrian border risks fuelling sectarian tensions in Lebanon, where Sunni-Shi’ite divisions deepened by the conflict in Syria have already triggered instability.

Rebels fighting to end four decades of Assad family rule are led largely by Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority and have strong support from Sunnis in neighbouring Lebanon. Many of the fighting units in Yabroud are Islamist, including some with links to al Qaeda.

Assad’s forces have support from minorities, particularly his Alawite sect, an offshoot of the Shi’ite Islam practised in Iran. Assad’s campaign in central Syria gained a huge boost from the support of Shi’ite Hezbollah’s experienced fighters, who battled Israel in a 2006 war.

The violence in Syria has set off a wave of tit-for-tat car bombings in Lebanon by both sides, as well as sporadic street clashes. On Wednesday, Lebanese security sources said the army had arrested an al Qaeda militant they called the “mastermind of car bombs” in Shi’ite areas.

Opposition activists argue the assaults around Yabroud are also an effort to systematically push out Sunnis from Syria’s mixed Sunni-Shi’ite border region.

Activists said the fresh surge in fighting sent many civilians fleeing out of Yabroud, with many heading to Lebanon.

Recently arrived refugees told the Lebanese newspaper the Daily Star that Syrian army forces warned them over mosque loudspeakers to flee the area if they wanted to save their lives.

Syria’s army warned residents not to use illegal border crossings to escape, Lebanese news channel Al Manar said, implying such routes could be targeted by the military.

Previous successful military assaults have given Assad the advantage along the Lebanese border. It was once a critical foothold for the rebels, whose main strongholds are now in Syria’s northern and eastern regions as well as along parts of the southern border.

Syria’s three-year conflict began as peaceful protests against four decades of Assad family rule but descended into an armed conflict after a security force crackdown.

The fighting has killed well over 130,000 people and has forced more than 6 million people to flee their homes.

A deadly winter storm brought heavy snow, freezing rain and a possibly historic accumulation of ice to the southeastern United States on Wednesday, causing hundreds of thousands of power outages and treacherous driving conditions, meterologists said.

The worsening storm stretched from eastern Texas to the Carolinas, and is likely to reach the Middle Atlantic states by late Wednesday, National Weather Service meteorologist Roger Edwards said.

Power outages spread rapidly as temperatures dropped.

More than 110,000 Georgia Power customers were without electricity on Wednesday, with most outages reported in metropolitan Atlanta. Some customers may have to wait up to a week for power to be restored, said Georgia Power spokeswoman Amy Fink.

“It does appear that the storm could have an even greater impact than we originally had predicted,” she said.

The wintry mix had already caused two weather-related traffic deaths in Mississippi and three in northern Texas earlier in the week, authorities said. The state Highway Patrol in South Carolina had responded to 273 weather-related calls for service overnight.

Nearly 3,000 US flights were canceled and hundreds more delayed early on Wednesday, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.com.

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta was hardest hit, with more than 800, or 69 percent of flights, canceled, FlightAware.com said. Delta Air Lines and AirTran, the two dominant carriers there, had the most cancellations as of Wednesday morning.

“Atlanta is all but shut down. None of our approximately 155 departures scheduled for today is operating,” said spokesman Brad Hawkins of Southwest Airlines, which operates AirTran.

Up to 2 cm of ice was expected in a broad section of Georgia, including metropolitan Atlanta. Some areas could see more than 2.5 cm.

The Interstate 20 corridor from north central and northeastern Georgia into South Carolina would be among the hardest hit by icy conditions, said meteorologist Edwards.

Snowfall totals were expected to be unusually high in the region, with nearly 8 inches forecast for Charlotte, North Carolina, and 9 inches for Spartanburg, South Carolina. Parts of the state, from the mountains to the coast, had already seen heavy snowfall.

“It is going to be a tough 48 hours,” said North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, noting that toppled trees and downed power lines were likely to create hazardous travel conditions.

Edward Clay, 40, who lives in Greer, South Carolina, decided against driving to Asheville, North Carolina, for his job as a construction project superintendent, even though snow flurries were just beginning.

“I could get to Asheville easy,” he said. “Getting back to South Carolina is the problem. It’s going to be an all-around bad day to be on the road.”

Government officials were quick to make plans to deal with the impact of the storm, following another two weeks ago that paralysed Atlanta-area roads and forced more than 11,000 students in Alabama to spend the night at their schools.

Hundreds of schools and government offices across the South were closed on Wednesday, and shelters were opened in Georgia and Alabama to help those stranded by the storm.

Conditions deteriorated overnight as a swath of the Deep South, from Alabama through South Carolina, was deluged with rain, sleet and snow, Edwards said.

A tractor-trailer carrying milk jack-knifed on Interstate 285 around Atlanta early on Wednesday, said state transportation department spokeswoman Natalie Dale.

Overall, the traffic volume was light.

“People really seem to be heeding the warnings and staying off the roads,” Dale added.

The last significant ice storm in Georgia was in January 2000, when up to 1.3 cm of ice left more than 350,000 people without power, weather service meteorologist Dan Darbe said.

With the latest storm, “we’re talking a much larger area and a much larger amount of ice”, he said.

Winter storm watches reached into the Northeast, where heavy snow and possible ice was expected as the storm moved up the eastern seaboard on Thursday.

By Mike Collett-White
In a finish even a Hollywood scriptwriter would struggle to match, the women’s downhill at Russia’s Winter Olympics produced a tie for gold for the first time on Wednesday, on a thrilling fifth full day of competition.

The host nation got its second gold of the Games when Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov triumphed in the figure skating pairs competition at the Iceberg Skating Palace.
Russia won the first Olympic figure skating team event three days earlier.

Adding to the feel-good factor, complaints about slushy snow conditions in the Caucasus mountains melted away despite clear skies and mild temperatures, and down in the Olympic park on the Black Sea coast, the men’s ice hockey tournament got underway.
A few days of stunning sporting action on the snow and ice has drawn the sting out of criticism levelled at Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, who has staked his legacy on staging a successful Games.

However, supporters of an environmentalist who campaigned against ecological damage from Olympics construction work, and who lost an appeal against his sentence on Wednesday, said he was being punished for publicising problems caused by the Games.
Yevgeny Vitishko, who was convicted of damaging the regional governor’s property, will spend three years in a prison colony.
The Kremlin denies using courts for political purposes and says there are no political prisoners in Russia.
The court ruling in the city of Krasnodar, 170 km northwest of Sochi, is unlikely to deflect attention from sporting achievements for long, however, particularly after what may be remembered as Sochi’s ‘Wonder Wednesday’.

History was made when Switzerland’s Dominique Gisin and Tina Maze of Slovenia shared the women’s Olympic Alpine skiing downhill gold medal after clocking exactly the same time down the gleaming Rosa Khutor descent.
“It’s better to be two on top than one to be 1/100th behind. Two happy faces,” said Maze, Slovenia’s first Winter Games gold medallist.
Alpine skiers have shared medals before at the Olympics, but never gold.

It was the second time in two days that women athletes set a precedent at the Olympics.
On Tuesday night, women ski jumpers finally had the chance to prove their mettle, 90 years after the first men competed at a Winter Games and following a long battle for inclusion.
Going into Russia’s first Winter Games, the biggest worry was the threat of attack by Islamist militants based in the north Caucasus hundreds of kilometres to the east.

On Tuesday, a militant group urged followers to pray for an earthquake in Sochi during the Olympics to avenge Muslims who died there fighting “Russian infidels”, but as yet there has been no violence directly linked to the Games.
The cost of staging the Games, estimated at $51 billion – although that figure is disputed – and allegations of widespread corruption have also slipped from the headlines for now.
Putin came under fire after Russia introduced a law last year banning the promotion of gay propaganda among minors, which critics said encouraged anti-gay violence.
This week, Putin’s allies rallied to his defence after a satirist and prominent Kremlin critic drew a comparison between the Sochi Games and the Olympics held in Nazi Germany in 1936.

In a blog published by Ekho Moskvy radio station, Viktor Shenderovich said 15-year-old figure-skating sensation Yulia Lipnitskaya should not be used to lend legitimacy to Putin.
He drew parallels with a German shot putter who became a symbol of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, raising hackles among politicians in Russian parliament on Tuesday.
Svetlana Zhurova, a former Olympic champion speed skater, said Shenderovich’s blog “fits into the campaign against the Olympics that has unfolded in the Western media.”
For many Russians, victory in World War Two is the proudest moment in their country’s checkered 20th century history. Some 27 million Soviet citizens died in the conflict.
The more the action and excitement take hold, however, the happier Putin is likely to be, and Trankov and Volosozhar were roared on to gold by a noisy, flag-waving home crowd.
The win leaves Russia in seventh place in the medals table with two golds, while Germany lead with six.
German favourite Eric Frenzel won the Nordic Combined normal hill, landing the longest jump of the day and then mastering a slushy cross-country course to beat Japan’s Akito Watabe.

Compatriots Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, nicknamed the ‘Bayern Express’, extended the country’s dominance in luge, and Germany could make it a clean sweep of luge golds at these Games if they wins the inaugural team relay on Thursday.
The International Olympic Committee and International Luge Federation remembered Georgian athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili, whose death from injuries in a training crash four years ago to the day at the Vancouver Games stunned the sporting world.

“We are laying flowers at the luge centre in Whistler,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said in Sochi.
Stefan Groothuis was surprised to extend the golden speed skating run of the Dutch by winning the men’s 1,000 metres title, as American Shani Davis’s bid for a rare Olympic hat-trick fell way short.

And in the women’s snowboarding halfpipe, Kaitlyn Farrington of the United States stunned three former champions to win gold by the narrowest of margins at the at Extreme Park.
The puck dropped for the start of action in the eagerly anticipated men’s ice hockey tournament, and Sweden beat the Czech Republic 4-2 and Switzerland edged out Latvia 1-0 in the opening group games.