Hardline Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez surrendered to security forces on Tuesday to face charges of fomenting unrest against President Nicolas Maduro’s government that has killed four people in the last week.

Lopez, a 42-year-old Harvard-educated economist who has spearheaded the protest movement, got into an armored vehicle after a defiant speech to an opposition rally in Caracas on another chaotic day in the South American OPEC member nation.

“I have nothing to hide,” he told supporters with a megaphone. Minutes later, he surrendered to army officers, pumping his fist, and stepping into the military vehicle with a Venezuelan flag in one hand and a white flower in the other.

“I present myself to an unjust judiciary … May my jailing serve to wake up a people,” he added in the speech.

Lopez, wanted on charges including murder and ‘terrorism’, says he is being made a scapegoat by a dictatorial government. As supporters chanted “Leopoldo, the people are with you,” he was transferred to a black van and driven away.

In the coastal town of Carupano in eastern Venezuela, residents said a 17-year-old student struck by a car died after a demonstration against the socialist government.

That added to three fatal shootings last week in Caracas.

Student-led protests have multiplied this month across the nation of 29 million people in the biggest challenge to Maduro since his election last year following Hugo Chavez’s death.

The demonstrators are demanding Maduro’s resignation and expressing a litany of complaints from inflation and crime to corruption and product shortages.

“The country’s in an unsustainable state,” said filmmaker Jose Sahagun, 47, wearing white like many among thousands of demonstrators with Lopez in east Caracas.

“The government’s mask has fallen off. This man (Maduro) has held power for 10 months and the deterioration has been fast.”

Protest numbers, however, are smaller than in mass movements in places such as Brazil, Ukraine and the Middle East, with little sign yet of Venezuelans joining en masse in the hundreds of thousands seen on the streets a decade ago.

Nor has there been any evidence Venezuela’s military might turn against Maduro, the 51-year-old successor to Chavez.

“The armed forces will always be on the side of justice and development of the fatherland,” Defense Minister Carmen Melendez said. “Every act of violence takes us back to intolerance.”

Thousands of oil workers and Maduro supporters, clad in the red of the ruling Socialist Party, held their own demonstration on Tuesday, music blaring in a party atmosphere.

“Comrade President Nicolas Maduro can count on the working class,” said oil union leader Wills Rangel.

“CHAVEZ LIVES!”

In a nation split largely down the middle on political lines, ‘Chavistas’ have stayed loyal to Maduro despite unflattering comparisons with his famously charismatic predecessor. Many Venezuelans fear the loss of popular, oil-funded welfare programs should the socialist lose power.

“Chavez lives, the fight goes on!” Maduro backers chanted.

An opposition legislator and anti-government activists alleged that a government supporter had hit the dead student in Carupano, Jose Ernesto Mendez, but there was no independent confirmation or response from authorities to that accusation.

“For how long will the hate go on?” Cesar Rincones, a legislator of the opposition Democratic Action party, tweeted.

Residents said three other demonstrators were injured in the melee in Carupano, in Sucre state. One was gravely hurt.

A government statement said a man had been arrested for running over a 17-year-old and injuring three others.

In Caracas, security forces in anti-riot gear patrolled the streets with water cannons as police kept opposition supporters from leaving the city’s affluent eastern district.

Many residents stayed home, fearing fresh trouble after the daily clashes that have erupted since last Wednesday’s fatalities in the capital. Schools were mostly closed.

Maduro’s government accuses opponents backed by Washington of seeking to promote a coup against him, similar to a botched attempt against Chavez in 2002 when he was ousted for 36 hours.

The burly former bus driver and union activist this week expelled three US diplomats accused of recruiting students for the protests. Washington said that was “baseless and false.”

“We have seen many times that the Venezuelan government tries to distract from its own actions by blaming the United States or other members of the international community for events inside Venezuela,” the US State Department said on Tuesday.

“Our consular officers were conducting normal outreach activities at universities on student visas, which is something we do around the world as a way to improve the accessibility and transparency of the visa process.”

Prices of Venezuela’s highly traded global bonds , which fluctuate sharply on political tension, are at 18-month lows.

Complaints about acts of violence by both sides have piled up over six consecutive days of confrontations between police and demonstrators. Only 13 students were reported still being held after nearly 100 arrests in the past week.

Opposition activists say some of those detained have been tortured, but Maduro says police have been restrained in the face of provocation and attacks.

He has, however, publicly criticized the Sebin national intelligence service for having agents in the street and replaced its head on Tuesday.

“What our officials started will continue. We will not renege. I have no opposition,” he told a crowd in the northern city of Tabriz on Monday to chants of “Death to America” – a standard reflexive refrain since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Western diplomats said it was difficult to predict the chances of getting an final agreement with Tehranover the next six months that would be acceptable to all sides. “The one thing we know is they want the sanctions to go away, which will work in our favour,” a Western diplomat told Reuters.

During a decade of fitful dialogue with world powers, Iran has rejected allegations by Western countries that it is seeking a nuclear weapons capability. It says it is enriching uranium only for electricity generation and medical purposes.

Tehran has defied UN Security Council demands that it halt enrichment and other proliferation-sensitive activities, leading to a crippling web of US, EU and UN sanctions that has severely damaged the OPEC country’s economy.

Khamenei’s approval of serious negotiations with the six powers despite the scepticism he shares with hard-line conservative supporters, diplomats and analysts say, is driven by Iran’s worsening economic conditions, analysts say.

Another major factor was the Iranians’ overwhelming election last year of Rouhani, who is determined to relieve Tehran’s international isolation based on “constructive interaction” with the West.

CURBING URANIUM ENRICHMENT

The goal of the talks for the United States and its European allies is to extend the time that Iran would need to produce enough fissile material for a viable nuclear weapon.

For that goal to be achieved, experts and diplomats say, Iran would have to limit enrichment to a low concentration of fissile purity, deactivate most of its centrifuges now devoted to such work, curb nuclear research to ensure it has solely civilian applications and submit to more intrusive monitoring by UN anti-proliferation inspectors.

Khamenei and other Iranian officials have often made clear that they could not accept any such cuts in nuclear capacities. The trick will be devising compromises that powerful hardline constituencies on both sides can live with.

Western governments appear to have given up on the idea, enshrined in a series of Security Councilresolutions since 2006, that Iran should totally halt the most disputed aspects of its programme – all activities related to uranium enrichment at the underground Natanz and Fordow plants and production of plutonium at the planned Arak heavy water reactor.

Diplomats privately acknowledge that Iran’s nuclear programme is now too far advanced, and too much a cornerstone of Iran’s national pride, for it to agree to scrap it entirely.

But while Iran may keep a limited enrichment capacity, the West will insist on guarantees that mean any attempt to build a nuclear bomb would take long enough for it to be detected and stopped, possibly with military action.

Israel, which criticised the November deal as an “historic mistake” as it did not dismantle its arch-enemy’s enrichment programme, made its position clear ahead of the Vienna talks.

“We are giving a chance for (a) diplomatic solution on condition that it provides a comprehensive and satisfactory solution that doesn’t leave Iran with a nuclear breakout capability,” Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said.

“In other words, that it doesn’t leave (Iran) with a system by which to enrich uranium by means of centrifuges, nor any other capabilities that would permit it to remain close to a bomb,” Steinitz he told Israeli radio.

While cautioning the talks will take time, the US official said Washington does not want them to run beyond a six-month deadline agreed in November. The late July deadline can be extended for another half year by mutual consent.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored with a stunning strike from outside the penalty area in the highlight of Paris St Germain’s imposing 4-0 win at Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday.
The volatile Sweden striker, who took his tally in this season’s competition to 10, also converted a penalty after Blaise Matuidi had given the French side an early lead.
Yohan Cabaye added the fourth two minutes from time and Leverkusen, beaten 5-0 at home by Manchester United in the group stage, had no answer to PSG’s slick passing as they slumped to another heavy defeat.
The Bundesliga sides’s misery was increased when defender Emir Spahic was sent off in the 59th minute for a second yellow card.
Leverkusen, second in the Bundesliga, made a disastrous start when captain Simon Rolfes lost possession to Matuidi in his own half and the ball was in the back of the net within seconds.
Matuidi fed Ibrahimovic, who found Marco Verratti and the Italian laid the ball back for the Frenchman to side-foot past Bernd Leno in the third minute.
The visitors extended their lead in the 39th minute when Spahic was penalised for an off-the-ball tackle on Ezequiel Lavezzi and Ibrahimovic fired the penalty into the bottom left corner.
Ibrahimovic produced his masterpiece three minutes later, striking a rising, first-time shot into the far top corner after Matuidi managed to roll the ball back to him despite falling backwards.
Bayer were spared further blushes in the 67th minute when substitute Philipp Wollschied turned a Makuidi shot into his own goal but the effort was disallowed for offside against Lavezzi, although the Argentine did not appear to be interfering with play.
Midfielder Cabaye struck two minutes from time to complete the rout, firing home past the helpless Leno after a cross by winger Maxwell.

Lionel Messi and Daniel Alves punished 10-man Manchester City in the first leg of the Champions League last-16 tie at the Etihad Stadium Tuesday night.
Four-time World Player of the Year Messi struck from the penalty spot with 54 minutes gone after being brought down by Martin Demichelis, who was sent off.
City had their chances but Barcelona dominated possession throughout and were rewarded when Alves struck the second in the last minute.
City had set up well in an attempt to soak up Barcelona pressure and catch them on the break but the task proved beyond them after Messi punished a mistake early in the second half.
The Argentinian raced away and, although replays suggested contact by Demichelis may have been just outside the box, a straight red card was brandished and the penalty awarded.
Fernandinho’s return from injury allowed manager Manuel Pellegrini to deploy five across the middle with Alvaro Negredo operating as a lone striker.
After 14 minutes largely on the back foot, but with Barca yet to create a clear-cut chance, Vincent Kompany picked out Negredo with a long ball.
The powerful forward controlled well on the edge of the box but Javier Mascherano, with whom he regularly battled, managed to scramble away.
Negredo caused more trouble in the box after Jesus Navas crossed from the right but Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson penalised him for a foul on goalkeeper Victor Valdes.
Barca had another scare as Valdes was beaten in the air by Kompany at a corner but he scrambled back to gather on the line. Negredo had another chance from outside the area but shot straight at Valdes.
Cesc Fabregas played in Andres Iniesta only for Yaya Toure to get back and Messi linked well with Xavi and Iniesta before shooting over.
Joe Hart saved well from a strong Xavi shot and Kompany bundled Messi over.
Negredo had another chance to open the scoring before half-time but glanced a header wide from Navas’ cross.
Messi certainly appeared to move up the gears in the second half and did well to release Fabregas down the left.
That attack came to nothing but Messi was clearly in the mood and had the hosts, and particularly, Demichelis in trouble as he burst through on goal.
Demichelis could not keep pace and slid in a desperate attempt to tackle, but succeeded only in tripping his fellow Argentinian.
Contact appeared to be just outside the area but Eriksson pointed to the spot and gave Demichelis his marching orders.
Messi calmly stroked home the penalty down the centre as Hart dived to left.
Pellegrini sent on Joleon Lescott to reinforce the defence but recognised damage limitation was not an option and also introduced Samir Nasri.
City broke again but Gael Clichy wasted an opening and a well-struck Silva volley was clutched by Valdes.
The hosts, however, may have had a stroke of luck as Gerard Pique had a late goal ruled out for a marginal offside.
There was no reprieve for City in the final minute as Alves got behind the defence and fired past Hart.

By Andreas Vou

YOUNG Cypriot Odysseas Spyrides has signed a contract with Premier League outfit West Ham United. In doing so, the 12-year old striker becomes the youngest Cypriot to earn a deal with a foreign club and now permanently resides in London.

Spyrides was part of the island’s famed football camp ‘Cyprus Elite Players’ and was spotted by scouts of the London club last autumn, after Tottenham decided not to pursue his signature

Spyrides was one of three players who went to London in September for the final round of trials at Tottenham after three youngsters were chosen among thousands of kids from a process that started from the 2012 edition of the Ayia Napa youth tournament.

A contract was offered by Tottenham to 12-year old Charalambos Charalambous, but the family of the young striker preferred to remain in Cyprus for the time being. Charalambous will instead attend Pascal English School’s sports school in Larnaca and will continue to play at the Athletico football academy.

The third of the group, goalkeeper Christophoros Ioannou made a great impression in the final round of trials at Spurs and came extremely close to being the final pick for the London club. For now, the young keeper will continue to play for Omonia and attend the sports school of Pascal Greek School in Nicosia.

As a result of Cypriot clubs continuing to shun local players in favour of imports, parents of young Cypriots are increasingly warming to the idea of their children moving abroad to make a breakthrough in their careers. Combined with an increased level of scouting on the island from foreign clubs, we could see the next batch of top Cypriot talent be produced by clubs abroad.

There is already a healthy presence of young Cypriots in English football and Spyrides will aim to follow in their footsteps: Cyprus U19 international Alexandar Gogic signed for Swansea last summer while 17-year old Nicholas Ioannou is regarded as one of the brightest talents coming through the ranks at Manchester United.
Striker Harrison Panagiotou scored on the final day of last season for Leicester City while Nico Yennaris recently signed for Brentford following 13 years on Arsenal’s books.

By Mike Collett-White
RUSSIA fell to Finland in the big men’s hockey clash at the Winter Olympics on Wednesday, robbing the hosts of a shot at the gold they covet most, while athletes and officials reacted with shock to the deaths of protesters in neighbouring Ukraine.

The roar of the home fans at the futuristic Bolshoy Ice Dome was not enough to inspire the team to victory over Finland, who have been on the podium in four of the last five Olympics.
Finland won 3-1 in a result that took some of the wind out of home sails at Russia’s first Winter Games.

There were eight gold medals up for grabs, which included the men’s giant slalom, which Ted Ligety won convincingly to claim the first US Alpine skiing gold of the Games. Thick fog, rain and snow that made skiing so difficult over the last two days had lifted, and conditions were clear.

Ukraine’s Olympic team were struggling to come to terms with deadly clashes at home in which at least 26 people have been killed.
Ukrainian athletes asked for permission to wear black arm bands to honour those killed, but the International Olympic Committee, which bans any sort of political or commemorative symbols during the Games, refused.

“Yes it’s a distraction, everyone’s talking about it – even just now at the start, at the finish, people are saying ‘what’s happened in your country, what’s happened?’” said Dmytro Mytsak, a Ukrainian giant slalom skier from Kiev.
“We’re getting support from the Russian spectators and I’m grateful for that,” the 18-year-old added.
Former pole vault champion and Ukraine’s Olympic chief Sergey Bubka, in Sochi for the Games, expressed bewilderment at how events in Kiev and elsewhere had spiralled out of control.
“I cannot believe it’s happened and we are in such a difficult situation today,” said Bubka, also an adviser to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, against whom much of the anti-government protesters’ ire is directed.
“Again I appeal to both parties to stop the violence,” Bubka told international news agencies. “Try to find the peace…keep us together and live in peace, because this is most important. For us, what happened in Ukraine is a big shock.”

IOC President Thomas Bach added: “I would like to offer my condolences to those who have lost loved ones in these tragic events. Our thoughts and sympathy are with the Ukrainian team at what must be a very difficult time.
“The way they have continued to represent their nation with great dignity is a credit to them and their country. Their presence here is a symbol that sport can build bridges and help to bring people from different backgrounds together in peace.”

Russia, and its president, Vladimir Putin, are key players in Ukraine’s crisis.
Putin spoke with Yanukovich by telephone overnight.
On Wednesday, Moscow demanded Ukrainian opposition leaders “stop the bloodshed” in Kiev and said Russia would use all its influence to bring peace to its “friendly brother state”.

Demonstrations erupted in November after Yanukovich bowed to pressure from Russia and pulled out of a planned trade pact with the European Union, deciding instead to accept a Kremlin bailout for the heavily indebted economy.
Putin will hope events in Ukraine do not overshadow Russia’s first Winter Games, where state-of-the-art venues and thrilling action have pushed criticism during the buildup to the Olympics firmly into the background.

The president attributed the criticism – of a law banning the promotion of homosexuality among minors and of the high cost of staging the event – to a Cold War mentality in the West.
Threatened demonstrations have been few and far between, but the all-women protest group Pussy Riot attracted international media attention on Tuesday when they were detained for several hours at a Sochi police station.

Yesterday, group members were beaten with whips by Cossacks who are helping patrol Sochi during the Olympics, as they tried to perform an anti-Putin protest song in front of a wall decorated with the Sochi Games design.
Video footage showed a man aiming what appeared to be pepper spray at one of them, a Cossack beating people with a whip and masks being ripped from protesters’ heads.

“Most likely, this is some sort of a cheap provocation,” said Konstantin Perenizhko, a deputy to the regional Cossack military leader.
Cossacks, once the patrolmen of Russia’s borderlands, are meant to maintain order and work with police to make arrests.
In a rush of gold in the mountains, Ligety claimed the United States’ first Alpine skiing title of the Games by beating two Frenchmen to the top of the podium in the giant slalom.
Russia’s Vic Wild won the Olympic men’s snowboard parallel giant slalom gold medal minutes after his wife, Alena Zavarzina, had won bronze behind Swiss champion Patrizia Kummer in the women’s event.

Norway, anchored by the indomitable Marit Bjoergen, won the women’s team sprint classic gold medal, while in the men’s, Finland prevailed after an appeal lodged by Germany following a crash in the final stages was rejected.

Norway triumphed again in the mixed relay biathlon, meaning that 40-year-old Ole Einar Bjoerndalen became the most decorated Winter Games athlete with his 13th Olympic medal and joined compatriot and former cross-country skier Bjorn Daehli on a record eight golds.

There was a rare sight at the speed skating arena as the person on top of the podium was not Dutch -Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic retaining her 5,000 metres title.
It was business as usual behind her though as Ireen Wust’s silver and Carien Kleibeuker’s bronze kept the medals rolling in for the Netherlands, who have dominated the speed skating in Sochi.
Norway went top of the overall medals table with nine golds, ahead of Germany who have eight and the US on seven.

PAPHOS police arrested two Georgian men on Wednesday in connection with the armed robbery of a bakery on Sunday night.

The two men, both permanent residents aged 22 and 25, were arrested in the afternoon, police said.

One is said to have admitted threatening the employee of the Chlorakas bakery with a knife and stealing €900.

The second suspect denied any involvement.

The two robbers had their faces covered.

RESULTS of a Forestry department investigation are expected in the next few days after a number of dead fish were found in Athalassa Park last week.

The department was notified on Friday that the fish had been found in a pond in the park. Later that day a meeting was held with officials from the Fisheries Department and Veterinary Services to examine the cause of the incident.

Samples of water and dead fish were taken for the purposes of the investigation. Amongst the causes being examined are pollution or a lack of oxygen due to eutrophication.

Eutrophication or hypertrophication, is the ecosystem’s response to the addition of artificial or natural substances, such as nitrates and phosphates, through fertilisers or sewage, to an aquatic system.

“We expect the results of the tests in the next few days which will lead us to measures which will need to be taken to protect the wetland,” a forestry department official said.

he forestry department collects and removes dead fish from the area on a daily basis to prevent the situation from worsening, or from diminishing the quality of water and for public health reasons.

By Bejay Browne

A HUGE leisure project with a hefty price tag of around 7 billion euros is being proposed for Yeroskipou in Paphos by a conglomerate of foreign investors according to local officials.

Yeroskipou Mayor Michael Pavlides told the Cyprus Mail that the project dubbed ‘Ra’ after the Egyptian sun god could break ground by the end of the year, if all of the relevant permits and licenses are secured in time.

Pavlides, who along with fellow councilors are backing the project, said: “This is a very exciting proposal for Yeroskipou and Paphos as a whole, as it will help lift the local economy and create thousands of new jobs.”

The mayor, along with other officials, met with some of the investors in Nicosia three weeks ago to examine plans for the proposed project which include a marina for 500 boats, an art academy, an aquarium, three large hotels, apartment complexes and other buildings.

A number of the project’s architects flew in for twenty four hours to present their proposal. Pavlides said that the investors are from a host of different countries including Hungary, Russia, the U.S., Singapore, Hong Kong and Portugal. He also pointed out that the conglomerate has a proven tack record and has built a number of similar successful projects in other countries.

“During the construction period around 6,000 jobs will be created and when the project is finished and up and running it will employ close to 10,000. It’s an enormous project and a great opportunity,” he said.

According to the mayor, the investors are currently undertaking an environmental impact study and the relevant government departments are examining the plans ahead of permits being issued.

“I believe the permits may be issued in a matter of weeks which means work could start before the end of the year. It will take four years to complete.”

Pavlides noted that one of the investors, a Hungarian, is a resident of Cyprus and the area was chosen as it is a prime stretch of land which is close to the sea and currently undeveloped. The project will cover an area of three square kilometers starting next to the Phaethon hotel on the seafront, running along to the municipal beach at La Plage and then backing up to the new motorway, which connects Yeroskipou directly to Paphos airport.

Different plots which are earmarked for the project are currently owned by the state, the church and private owners.

Emphasising the enormity of the new plans, Pavlides said: “This investment would see 30,000 people as visitors and residents to the project. This is a serious and professional project and is exactly the type of investment Cyprus needs at the moment.”

TOURIST arrivals fell 3.8 per cent year-on-year in January, the island’s statistical service said yesterday.

Arrivals in January reached 40,675 compared with 42,286 in 2013.

Arrivals from the UK, Cyprus’ biggest market, fell 14.6 per cent in January, while Greece recorded a 20 per cent drop.

Arrivals from Russia on the other hand, saw a 23.1 per cent rise to 4,838.

Meanwhile, Cyprus residents’ trips abroad rose 17.7 per cent year-on-year in January to 72,892.

By Richard Balmforth and Natalia Zinets
Western powers threatened sanctions on Wednesday over the death of 26 people in the worst violence since Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union, pressuring President Viktor Yanukovich to compromise with his pro-European opponents.

Yanukovich, backed by Russia, denounced the overnight bloodshed in central Kiev as an attempted coup, and his security service said it had launched a nationwide “anti-terrorist operation” after arms and ammunition dumps were looted.
In the western bastion of Ukrainian nationalism, a regional assembly declared self-rule and crowds seized public buildings.

U.S. President Barack Obama said he condemned the violence in the strongest possible terms and warned of consequences if it continued, while European Union leaders said they were preparing targeted sanctions against those responsible for the “unjustified use of excessive force by the Ukrainian authorities”.
EU officials said Yanukovich himself would not be on the list to keep channels of dialogue open. The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland will visit him on Thursday, hours before an emergency EU meeting to decide on the sanctions.

The United States, going head to head with Russia in a dispute heavy with echoes of the Cold War, urged Yanukovich to pull back riot police, call a truce and talk to the opposition.
Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren urged the Ukrainian armed forces to stay out of the conflict, warning that “participation would have consequences in our defense relationship”.

Earlier on Wednesday, Ukraine’s defenCe ministry said the armed forces might take part in a countrywide anti-terrorist operation organised by the state security service.
A presidential decree later appointeD a new head of the armed forces general staff, naming navy head Admiral Yury Ilyin in place of Colonel-General Volodymyr Zamana. The decree gave no explanation for the change in personnel, nor for the timing.

While U.S. President Obama said he believed a peaceful resolution was still possible, Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, spelled out the alternatives if dialogue fails.
“What if no compromise is achieved?” he asked in parliament. “We will have anarchy and perhaps division of the state or civil war, the beginning of which we may now be witnessing.”
Protesters have been occupying central Kiev for almost three months since Yanukovich spurned a far-reaching trade deal with the EU and accepted a $15-billion Russian bailout instead.

The sprawling nation of 46 million, with an ailing economy and endemic corruption, is the object of a tug-of-war at a global level between Moscow and the West. But the struggle was played out at close quarters, hand to hand, in fighting through the night on Kiev’s Independence Square, or Maidan.
After night fell, fires blazed along the barricaded frontline between the protesters and riot police, but there was no immediate sign of a repetition of Tuesday’s violence.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Yanukovich spoke by telephone during the night and both denounced the events as an coup attempt, a Kremlin spokesman said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov blamed the West for encouraging opposition radicals “to act outside of the law”.

Moscow announced on Monday it would resume stalled aid to Kiev, pledging $2 billion hours before the crackdown began. The money has not yet arrived and a Ukrainian government source said it had been delayed till Friday “for technical reasons”.
Ukraine’s hryvnia currency, flirting with its lowest levels since the global crash five years ago, weakened to more than 9 to the dollar for the second time this month.
After a night of petrol bombs and gunfire on Independence Square, a trade union building that protest organisers had used as a headquarters stood blackened and gutted by fire.
Security forces occupied about a third of the square – the part that lies closest to government offices and parliament – while protesters reinforced their defences on the remainder of a plaza they have dubbed “Euro-Maidan”.

In a statement posted online in the early hours, Yanukovich said he had refrained from using force during three months of unrest but was being pressed by “advisers” to take a harder line: “Without any mandate from the people, illegally and in breach of the constitution of Ukraine, these politicians – if I may use that term – have resorted to pogroms, arson and murder to try to seize power,” the president said.
He declared Thursday a day of mourning for the dead. The state security service said it had opened an investigation into illegal attempts by “individual politicians” to seize power.
One opposition leader, former world champion boxer Vitaly Klitschko, walked out of an overnight meeting with Yanukovich, saying he could not negotiate while blood was being spilt.

When fighting subsided at dawn, the square resembled a battle-zone, the ground charred by Molotov cocktails. Helmeted young activists used pickaxes, and elderly women their bare hands, to dig up paving to stock as ammunition.

The Health Ministry said 26 people were killed in fighting in the capital, of whom 10 were police officers. A ministry official said 263 protesters were being treated for injuries and 342 police officers, mainly with gunshot wounds.
The interior ministry said five of the dead policemen were hit by sniper fire in the head or neck. Journalists saw some hardline protesters carrying guns at the barricades.
European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said the 28-nation EU, at an emergency meeting on Thursday, would impose asset freezes and visa bans on those blamed for the bloodshed.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, on a visit to Paris, said Washington was ready to impose similar sanctions.
The European Investment Bank, the EU’s soft-loan arm, said it had frozen its activities in Ukraine due to the violence.
The leaders of Germany and France said after talks in Paris that the sanctions were only part of an approach to promote a compromise leading to constitutional reform and elections.
“What is happening in Ukraine is unspeakable, unacceptable, intolerable,” French President Francois Hollande told a joint news conference. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said targeted sanctions against Ukraine’s leaders would show the EU was serious in pressing for a political solution. She made clear they were talking to all sides in the crisis, including Russia.

Merkel said she and Putin had spoken by phone and agreed to do everything to avoid an escalation of violence.
Diplomats cautioned that any sanctions would be largely symbolic, noting that similar Western measures had long failed to sway or unseat the rulers of Belarus or Zimbabwe.
In staunchly pro-European western Ukraine, opponents of Yanukovich declared political autonomy after seizing regional administrative buildings in Lviv overnight and forcing police to surrender. Protesters also took over regional offices in Ivano-Frankivsk, blocked a road to a border crossing to Poland and torched the main police station in the city of Ternopil.
Many in the west, parts of which were first ruled from Moscow in World War Two, view Yanukovich as a corrupt ally of Russia and of business oligarchs in the Russian-speaking east.
On the central Kiev square, opposition speakers harangued thousands of protesters, some masked and in combat fatigues.

Priests intoned prayers from a stage, while young protesters in hard-hats improvised knee and arm pads to protect themselves against baton blows. Others prepared petrol bombs.
“They can come in their thousands, but we will not give in. We simply don’t have anywhere to go. We will stay until victory and will hold the Maidan until the end,” said a 44-year-old from Ternopil who gave only his first name of Volodymyr.

Traffic entering Kiev were restricted, and the capital’s metro was closed to prevent protesters getting reinforcements.
Demonstrations erupted in November after Yanukovich bowed to Russian pressure and pulled out of a planned far-reaching association agreement with Brussels. Western powers urged him to turn back to the EU and the prospect of an IMF-supported economic recovery, while Russia accused them of meddling.
Ukraine has been rocked periodically by political turmoil since independence from the Soviet Union more than 22 years ago, but it has never experienced violence on this scale.

By Jean Christou

THE chief negotiators for both sides, Greek Cypriot Andreas Mavroyiannis and Turkish Cypriot Kudret Ozersay, met yesterday in the United Nations Protected Area of Nicosia at the Good Offices Mission.

According to a UN announcement they agreed to hold their next meeting on Monday.

The negotiators and their teams will meet respectively with the Good Offices tomorrow in order to prepare for their joint meeting on Monday.

According to reports, Mavroyianns and Ozersay, who will travel to Ankara and Athens respectively at the end of the month, are currently focusing on methodology.

It emerged yesterday that the Greek Cypriot team would be joined by lawyer Polys Polyviou – the independent investigator for the Mari blast – and former attorney-general Alecos Markides who was on the negotiating team formerly under Glafcos Clerides over a decade ago.

Polyviou, who was grilled on Radio Proto yesterday morning by a journalist from the 2004 ‘no camp’, managed to hold his ground. When quizzed over whether he was concerned about the negotiations going forward based on the controversial joint declaration that has the naysayers in a twist, said: “We should not just be concerned about what might happen, we should be just as concerned about what might not happen. If we continue to do nothing it will be a catastrophe”.

Earlier yesterday, President Nicos Anastasiades who kicked of negotiations with Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu on February 11, appealed to Greek Cypriot political forces for unity. “We need the strength of unity to overcome the problems that will be raised through the Turkish or Turkish Cypriot demands at the negotiating table,” he said.

The President was speaking at the presidential palace to teachers and children from the Kato Polemidia elementary school.

“I want to assure you that we will engage in the struggle to see our homeland free again, we will engage in the struggle to see human rights restored, we will engage in the struggle for the basic freedoms that will safeguard all our citizens and make sure that all citizens will enjoy the same things the rest of the European citizens are enjoying,” he said.

“If the 28 (member-states) of the European Union, with 28 different nationalities or origins, manage to cooperate, to build together and to create prospects, I wonder why two communities that lived peacefully together for years cannot manage to do the same, with mutual respect for each other’s ethnic origin. Ethnic origin was not and must not be the problem. It is human rights that must bring us close together by safeguarding them.”

News from the Turkish side yesterday had Eroglu saying the return of Varosha was not on the agenda, and that Turkey as a guarantor power said it was a red line for the Turkish Cypriots.

“There is not yet any issue on our agenda such as handing over Maras (Varosha). When negotiations come to a stage of ‘give-and-take,’ we will surely discuss everything and we will discuss it with the people,” Eroglu said.

Turkish Cypriot ‘foreign minister’ Ozdil Nami was quoted yesterday as telling  the European Union Socialist Group meeting in Brussels that he believed the  historic nature of the joint statement paved the way for rapid progress at the negotiating table by addressing some of the critical issues related to governance and power sharing in a federal Cyprus.

“Today on both sides of the island there is a sense of increased optimism due to this long awaited progress. There is also a sense of confidence that this time we will be able to resolve the issue,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Turkish ambassador to Athens Kerim Uras, in an interview with Anadolou news agency said the start of talks was the result of a long-term plan by Ankara. “The key to solving the Cyprus problem is natural resources and the key to the candidacy of Turkey to the EU is the solution of the Cyprus problem,” he said. Uras said that Greek Cypriots who lost their property in the north would be  compensated through profits from the exploitation of the island’s natural gas reserves.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich said on Wednesday he had agreed a “truce” with opposition leaders, after street violence in which at least 26 people were killed, and a start to negotiations to end further bloodshed.

A statement on the presidential website said that during talks with the three main opposition leaders, Yanukovich had agreed firstly a truce and secondly “the start to negotiations with the aim of ending bloodshed, and stabilising the situation in the state in the interests of social peace.”

The statement, issued on the eve of a visit by the foreign ministers of Germany, Poland and France, appeared to indicate that riot police who on Tuesday night advanced on to Kiev’s Independence Square would not take further immediate steps to break up the encampment of protesters.

Former economy minister Arseny Yatseniuk, one of the opposition leaders, said in a statement on the website of hisBatkivshchyna (Fatherland) party: “The storming of the Maidan (Independence Square) which the authorities had planned today will not take place.

“A truce has been declared. The main thing is to protect human life,” he said.
Yanukovich issued his statement after meeting Yatseniuk and the two other opposition leaders, boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko and far-right nationalist Oleh Tyahnibok.

By Mark Pangallo
Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid made it four away wins from the opening four Champions League last-16 first leg matches when they triumphed at Arsenal and AC Milan respectively on Wednesday.

Holders Bayern defeated Arsenal 2-0 at The Emirates while Atletico scraped past AC Milan 1-0 at the San Siro.
Toni Kroos opened the scoring in London for Pep Guardiola’s side when he curled a stunning right-foot shot into the top corner in the 54th minute.
Second-half substitute Thomas Mueller headed the second goal for Bayern in the 88th minute following a cross from Philipp Lahm.

An incident-packed first half yielded two missed penalties and a sending-off.
Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil’s weak spot kick was easily palmed away by Manuel Neuer in the eighth minute and Bayern’s David Alaba smacked his penalty against a post after keeper Wojciech Szczesny was dismissed for bringing down Arjen Robben in the area.

At the San Siro, striker Diego Costa secured victory for Atletico when his powerful header nestled in the net with seven minutes to go.
On Tuesday night, Barcelona won 2-0 at Manchester City while Paris St Germain romped to a 4-0 victory at Bayer Leverkusen.
The other four first-leg ties will be staged next week.

The state of Cyprus’ economy is much better today than original expectations, while the financial sector is stabilising, the President of the Eurogroup, Joeren Dijsselbloem has told the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament.

Dijsselbloem, who participated in the debate on the role of the troika in the countries under memorandum, carried out by the European Parliament, made a general statement and answered a series of questions by MEPs.

Referring to Cyprus, he noted that although the economic adjustment programme was at an early stage, there had been considerable efforts in the area of reforms, and the recapitalisation of the financial sector.

He added that the troika’s evaluations showed that the situation was much better than expected, compared with that of 2013 (when the programme was decided), while the financial sector was stabilising.

Asked to say who had proposed the first decision of the Eurogroup for Cyprus, rejected by the House of Representatives, on taxation of small depositors, Dijsselbloem said his role did not allow him to reveal any details of the meeting.

The Cypriot authorities and the troika (EC, ECB and the IMF) agreed last March on a €10 billion bailout, featuring haircut of uninsured deposits. So far Cyprus has received three positive reviews on the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding, covering the conditions of the financial assistance. (CNA)

A Cypriot physicist has been awarded one of the coveted Humboldt Research Awards conferred by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

According to a news release from the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, the Cypriot professor will collaborate on a research project with string theorist Professor Dieter Lüst of LMU’s Physics Faculty, who will be his host during his stay in Munich.

“Professor Costas Kounnas is one of the leading theoretical physicists in Europe, having made outstanding contributions to a wide range of fields, including theoretical particle physics, quantum field theory, supergravitation and superstring theory, and cosmology,” the news release said.

It added that in particular, Kounnas had played a major role in the development of theories of supergravitation, not only clarifying its fundamental nature and properties, but also its relationship to string theory.

His current research focuses on the theory of superstrings and on aspects of string cosmology.

Kounnas, who was born in Famagusta, studied Physics and Mathematics, and obtained his doctorate in 1981 at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. Following stints at CERN in Geneva and at the University of California at Berkeley (USA), he returned to France to take up the post of Research Director of the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) at the Ecole Normale Superieure, where he still works. From 1992 until 1999 Kounnas was also a staff member at CERN in Geneva.

The Humboldt Foundation’s programmes serve to promote cooperation between excellent German researchers and leading scholars from abroad. Winners of the Humboldt Research Award and holders of Humboldt Research Fellowships are free to choose the German counterparts with whom they wish to collaborate. Hence the number of Humboldt Laureates hosted an institution is an important measure of the range of its international contacts and its worldwide reputation.

(CNA)

Cyprus Football Association (CFA) president Costakis Koutsokoumnis expects the deal with the Turkish Cypriot Football Association (CTFA) to reunite football on the island to be finalised by the summer.

Koutsokoumnis was speaking at an event hosted by French Ambassador Jean-Luc Florent, on Wednesday evening in honour of the agreement.

Koutsokoumnis reaffirmed his commitment to carry on the process and overcome difficulties. He reminded that the  arrangement was about sports and not about politics.

He said the friendship and mutual trust between both associations and their teams facilitated the conclusion of the arrangement. He said he expected the process to be finalised during the summer.

CTFA president Hasan Sertoglu, stressed “the sincere will of both sides” to unite Cyprus football. Political problems should not hamper the process, he said. Sertoglu proposed that in the near future, Turkish Cypriots play in the Cypriot national team and that Greek Cypriot players participate in Turkish Cypriot teams, with local players status, and not as foreigners.

Representatives of more than 20 embassies, mostly at ambassador’s level attended the reception, along with UN, EU and European Parliament officials.

In his address, Ambassador Florent commended the arrangement that the two football associations concluded last November in Zurich to reunite Cypriot football. He congratulated both Koutsokoumnis and Sertoglu for their leadership and their courage and encouraged them to continue their efforts for the implementation of the arrangement.

Florent underlined the important societal aspect of the process which aimed at unifying Cypriot football and giving Cypriot youth, and the entire population of Cyprus, the opportunity to reunite around sports.

A 56-YEAR-OLD MAN was remanded in custody for eight days on Thursday in connection with the attempted armed robbery of a bank in Larnaca earlier in the day.

The man from Trahoni, Limassol, was arrested shortly after entering the Hellenic bank branch on Zinonos Kitieos Street at around 7am and threatening staff with a sawn-off hunting shotgun.

There were no customers in the branch at the time.

The court heard that Christakis Panayi had approached a female employee in the rear of the branch and showed her the weapon, which was in a bag.

He told her it was robbery and asked her to knock on the door so that he could get inside.

As soon as he entered the branch, he pulled the weapon out and asked for the money, the court heard.

The bank manager activated the alarm, which is linked with the police, who arrived on the scene soon afterwards.

Officers found the suspect standing there with the shotgun in his hand, while the staff were in the kitchen.

The officers disarmed the suspect and found two shotgun cartridges in his pocket.

The shotgun, which police said belonged to the man’s late father, was not loaded.

“I am not a bad person, I have been unemployed for years,” the man told the officers while he was being arrested.

He later told officers that he was facing a lot of financial problems and was planning to rob the bank on Wednesday but had changed his mind.

The cabinet on Thursday decided to enter the digital era by scrapping handwritten procedures and utilising an online application that will achieve considerable savings.

Known as e-cooperation, the application distributes almost all the cabinet material and ministers will be able to have access from anywhere around the clock.

The site will also be used by ministries to submit proposals, memos, reports, and so on, without having to send them by post.

Only authorised users will have access to the site.

The move to the paperless cabinet will save some two million sheets of paper annually and also cut the cost of printing by 95 per cent to 97 per cent as only classified documents will be produced in hardcopy.

Money will also be saved because there will no longer be a need to convey documents.

And this will come at now cost as necessary permits for use of the system have already been secured and the state’s IT department will provide the support.

The application will become operational no layer than March 20 and there will be a transitional period of around two months to ensure a smooth transfer.

European Union foreign ministers have agreed to move ahead with imposing sanctions including visa bans and asset freezes on those responsible for the violence in Ukraine, Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino said on Thursday.

Speaking as she left an emergency gathering in Brussels, Bonino said the position had been agreed with the French, German and Polish foreign ministers, who are currently in Kiev negotiating with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich.

“The decision is to proceed very rapidly, in the next hours, to a visa ban and asset freeze on those who have committed the violence,” she told reporters.