By Stefanos Evripidou

THE EUROPEAN Commission decided on Thursday to refer Cyprus to the EU Court of Justice for failing to adopt EU laws on minimum oil reserves –the same day the energy ministry tabled the relevant bill before parliament, a year late.

Cyprus has failed to transpose the Oil Stocks Directive from 2009 which requires member states to maintain minimum stocks of crude oil and petroleum products to ensure security of oil supply in case of possible disruptions.

The deadline for member states to transpose the directive was December 31, 2012.

EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said: “It is essential that European businesses and households have energy available at all times. Given the importance of oil in the EU’s energy mix, it is vital to guarantee consumers’ access to petroleum products even in case of a supply crisis.”

Following Cyprus’ failure to transpose the relevant EU directive into national legislation, the Commission sent a letter of formal notice to Cyprus in January 2013 and a reasoned opinion in June 2013.

Despite the two infringement proceedings initiated by the Commission, as of yesterday Cyprus had failed to notify the EU body of any transposition measures.

According to an energy ministry source, however, the relevant bill was sent to parliament for discussion on Thursday. It was not clear whether the timing of the bill’s tabling before the House of Representative had anything to do with the legal proceedings being launched against Cyprus. The source would not elaborate on the reasons behind the delay.

A Commission press release said it did not rule out referring other member states to the EU Court in the coming months for delays in adopting the security of supply directive.

The Commission notes that oil is the most important fuel in the EU energy mix. In the case of Cyprus the share of oil in the gross inland consumption in 2011 was 95 per cent, compared to 35 per cent for the the EU as a whole.

It further notes that 85 per cent of the oil consumed in the EU is imported.

“With decreasing indigenous production this dependency is expected to increase further, exposing the EU to disruptions in the global oil market,” said the Commission.

The Oil Stocks Directive requires member states to maintain stocks of crude oil and/or petroleum products equivalent to at least 90 days of average daily net imports or 61 days of average daily inland consumption, whichever of the two quantities is greater.

“The latest directive brings the EU system of oil stocks closer to current international practices and strengthens the EU’s capacity to use stocks effectively so as to minimise negative effects on consumers in case of a supply crisis,” adds the Commission.

According to sources within the Cyprus Organisation for Storage and Management of Oil Stocks (COSMOS), despite the fact the EU legislation has yet to be adopted into national law, Cyprus more or less complies with the directive in terms of maintaining reserve stocks for internal consumption.

COSMOS, a non-profit semi-government organisation set up to maintain minimum stocks of crude oil and/or petroleum products.

The public body currently maintains around 100,000 metric tonnes (MT) of owned stocks in Cyprus; another 100,000 MT of owned stocks in Greece, 75,000 MT of rented stocks in Greece; 40,000 MT of rented stocks in Netherlands, 90,000 MT are held with the Electricity Authority of Cyprus and 20,000 MT with private commercial companies.

COSMOS has recently prepared a study for Cyprus to develop its own storage terminal on the island, in an effort to reduce the cost of complying with the EU directive on security of supply.

A 21-YEAR OLD woman died Thursday in an horrific head-on collision on the Vrysoulles-Frenaros road, Famagusta district.

The victim was a passenger in a car driven by a 24-year-old Greek Cypriot man. At one point the vehicle veered into the opposite lane and crashed head on with an oncoming car.

Firemen arriving at the scene pulled the woman out of the mangled debris. The woman, a Slovak national, was rushed to Famagusta general hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

The driver of the other car, a 62-year-old Turkish Cypriot man, is in serious condition. The Greek Cypriot motorist was also injured, but is not in danger, police said.

Famagusta police are investigating the circumstances of the accident.

By Mike Collett-White
The women’s figure skaters provided a thrilling climax to Thursday’s Winter Olympics action when Russian Adelina Sotnikova claimed gold, but a skier’s decision to pull out of the Games in protest was a reminder of the crisis in neighbouring Ukraine.

Seventeen-year-old Sotnikova had been second going into the free skating programme, but whipped the partisan crowd into a frenzy with an energy-sapping routine that scored highly with the judges, despite a slight mistake on one of the jumps.
The first Russian to win the women’s Olympic individual figure skating gold medal, Sotnikova landed 11 jumps, including seven triples, to the stirring backdrop of “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso”.

Outgoing Olympic champion Kim Yuna of South Korea was the last skater out at the Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi, but her mesmerising performance was not enough.
It was the perfect tonic for a home crowd still smarting from Wednesday’s bitter men’s ice hockey defeat by Finland in the other most coveted Olympic title on the ice.

Away from the sporting drama, Alpine skier Bogdana Matsotska and her coach and father said they had withdrawn from Russia’s first Winter Games in protest at Ukraine PresidentViktor Yanukovich, who enjoys Moscow’s backing, and his government.
The Ukrainians’ decision came in the wake of deadly clashes between demonstrators and security forces in which at least 67 people have been killed, 39 of them on Thursday when a gun battle broke out in the centre of Kiev.

“I have decided not to take part in the slalom, my favourite discipline (on Friday), because of the horrible events that are happening in the capital of my Ukraine, in the Maidan (square),” 24-year-old Matsotska told Reuters Television.
“My friends are there at the Maidan, people I know, close friends of mine. To go on the start line when people are dying and when the authorities broke the main rule of the Olympic competition, which is peace – I simply cannot do it.”
Some athletes from Ukraine asked for permission to wear black armbands while competing in order to honour those killed.

The International Olympic Committee said it had not stopped them from doing so, but that the team made the decision alone.
Ukraine team officials and some competitors held a minute’s silence in memory of the victims, and black ribbons were attached to Ukraine flags hanging from the balconies of their building in the athletes’ village.

“I am not a political person, I am totally out of politics and political parties, but I stand against these horrible actions that Yanukovich and his government are taking against our Ukrainian people,” Matsotska said.
Turmoil in Ukraine has raised uncomfortable questions for Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, who has been instrumental in shaping events there.
Nationwide demonstrations erupted in November after Yanukovich bowed to Russian pressure 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 be desperate for the crisis not to overshadow the Games, which he has used to try to project a modern, tolerant Russia through a well-organised Olympics and his own smiles, handshakes and hugs with athletes and officials.

Thrilling sporting action has generally pushed criticism to the background, but it resurfaced this week with the detention in Sochi of members of protest group Pussy Riot, well known in the West for attacking Putin’s human rights record.
They released a music video on Thursday criticising Russia’s staging of the Winter Olympics that includes clips from an incident in Sochi when Cossacks beat members of the group with a whip as they tried to perform.

“The Olympics create a space for the complete destruction of human rights in Russia,” said Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, one of the group’s most prominent members who has already been jailed for her protests.
“Here we are banned from speaking out. Here everyone’s rights are banned, including political activists, LGBT representatives, ecologists,” she told reporters in Sochi.
The Kremlin denies cracking down on opponents. But the video, and intense media interest it has generated, have the potential to embarrass Putin.

Singer Madonna, one of many international performers who have spoken out in support of the group, expressed her admiration for its stand.
“Are you kidding me? Are the police in Russia actually whipping Pussy Riot for making music on the streets?” she wrote on Twitter.
“Is this the dark ages? GOD bless P.R. They are fearless!”

In other sporting contests on Thursday, Canada won the women’s curling final 6-3 againstS weden, maintaining their unbeaten record in all 11 games played in Sochi.
Victory over the Swedes, who were seeking a third straight title, avenged a bitter defeat for the Canadians in the final in Vancouver in 2010.
The ice hockey final pitted the United States against Canada, far and away the strongest teams in the sport. Canada had the upper hand recently, beating the Americans 2-0 in the 2010 Vancouver final and 3-2 in the preliminary round in Sochi.

Of the two medals up for grabs in freestyle skiing at the Extreme Park in the Caucasus Mountains above Sochi, the first went to France’s Jean-Frederic Chapuis in the men’s ski cross, a thrilling spectacle of soaring jumps, tight, banked turns and painful tumbles.
American X-Games champion Maddie Bowman won the women’s freestyle skiing halfpipe, making its Olympic debut.

Norway scraped the narrowest of wins in a dramatic finish to the Nordic combined men’s team event, holding off Germany to grab the gold by 0.3 seconds.
That victory cemented Norway’s place atop the medals table with 10 golds.

But as the Games enter the home stretch, with less than four days of competition to go, winning gold was not everything.
Britain’s tense win over Switzerland in the women’s curling bronze medal match meant the country is now guaranteed to match its best ever Winter Games medal total of four.

And the Swiss women’s ice hockey team were ecstatic when they came from behind to beatSweden 4-3 in the bronze medal game, for their first ever podium finish in the event.

A bomb hoax Thursday evening temporarily halted proceedings at what was an already stormy meeting of the Anorthosis football club.

At around 7.40pm a call was placed to the DIAS media group warning that a bomb had been planted at the Hilton Park Hotel, in Nicosia, where the meeting was being held.

The call was traced to a public phone booth in Limassol, police said.

The bomb squad combed the hotel for explosive devices, but found nothing. The all-clear was given at around 9pm.

Anorthosis members were meeting to vote on proposal to turn the historic football club into a corporation. A 75 per cent approval was needed for implementation of the proposal.

By Constantinos Psillides

MAJOR political parties on the island have again failed to provide the state audit office with party finances reports for 2013.

The audit service notified the parties on February 13 that their deadline, March 2014, was coming up and still none of the major parties, with the exception of EDEK and the Greens, provided the Service with their financial reports. AKEL, DISY, DIKO, Citizen’s Alliance, EVROKO and the Independent Citizens Movement have yet to comply with the law.

The matter was discussed amongst party leaders and party representatives but no response has yet been given to the audit service.

The Political Parties Law (PPL) was amended in 2012, as an effort to add transparency to party finances. The amendment stipulates that the party forward the information to the Auditor-general. The latter then checks the accounts for any discrepancies and/or violations of the law, compiles a report and sends it back to the permanent secretary of the interior ministry, who in turn publishes the findings in the government gazette.

Though the 2012 law was an improvement on previous legislation, it did not go far enough in the opinion of GRECO, the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption group.

Transparency Now, a coalition of civil organisations, has been pushing for greater transparency in disclosure of party finances. One of their key demands is a ban on anonymous contributions to parties.

Transparency Now recently held an open discussion where they presented their proposals to make party finances transparent. Present where the leaders of all major political parties, who agreed that transparency in party finances is needed to gain back the trust of the people.

In a press release after the legislation was passed, GRECO officials expressed their satisfaction with the new legislation, noting that there were still gaps to be filled. “However, it is further pointed out that more steps are needed in order to create a coherent and robust legal framework free from inconsistencies, preferably through gathering all corruption crimes in a single legal instrument”, said the press release.

The next GRECO report is expected on September 30, 2014.

By Peter Stevenson

Without a solution to the Cyprus problem, transporting natural gas to Turkey via a pipeline is not an option, Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said on Friday.

During a joint press conference with Greens MP Giorgos Perdikis, the minister said the prospects were there if a solution was found.

“The government was very clear. The President said that without a solution there is no chance (for a pipeline to Turkey). The ministry is not considering such an option. A pipeline to Turkey is not our decision to make,” Lakkotrypis said adding that “in the event of a solution, of course, it opens up wide prospects and the matter would take on a commercial format”.

In response to claims that transporting Cyprus’ natural gas through a pipeline through Turkey would be the cheapest method Lakkotrypis said that “on a technocratic level, it does not means that the cheapest method of transportation will be the most effective method for the government”.

“It is not currently an option. The Turkish side may talk all it wants about its plans,” he added.

Asked whether the government had been sounded out about transporting Israeli natural gas to Turkey via Cyprus, the minister said he was not aware of such proposals. He said the only time he had heard of something along those lines was from former US diplomat Matthew Bryza during a conference on hydrocarbons in Cyprus last summer.

“There is nothing substantial in the comments and there was no in-depth discussion or analysis on the subject. It was Mr. Bryza’s position which he expressed during a conference in Paphos,” he said.

Responding to questions regarding possible Chinese investment in Cyprus’ natural gas, Lakkotrypis confirmed reports of a meeting he had with a Chinese company which is interested in exploiting Cyprus’ natural gas reserves.

“We had a meeting with a huge Chinese state-run company, but I need to say that we have all had such meetings in the last 12 months with large Chinese state-run companies who have shown interest in contributing on the subject of indigenous deposits and on exploiting Cyprus indigenous deposits and on an interim gas solution.

“The meeting I had last week was on both subjects, on an interim gas solution and the specific Chinese company’s activities in our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ),” he said.

He explained that various Chinese companies were interested in all of the stages in the chain of natural gas exploitation and not only in the upstream but in exploiting the natural gas, certain solutions and major infrastructural projects which will be developed.

Perdikis said he believed a national council to deal with energy policy needs to be formed.

On the issue of the pipeline to Turkey, the Greens MP said that under no circumstances should any plans to connect Cyprus with Turkey via a pipeline reverse any plans for a Liquefied Natural Gas terminal, whether it is in Vassilikos, a floating LNG or by using a terminal in Egypt or Israel.

By Constantinos Psillides

The Israeli Civil Aviation Department is threatening to put a stop to Cyprus Airways (CY) flights to Israel if Cyprus doesn’t ratify the EU-Israel aviation agreement, according to a letter presented to the House Foreign and European Affairs Committee.

The agreement will allow other EU based carriers to fly from Larnaca to Tel-Aviv.

The Larnaca-Tel Aviv route is controlled by a bilateral agreement, which stipulates that CY is the only airline that can fly to Israel, unless the company foregoes the privilege. The EU-Israel agreement nullifies the bilateral agreement but hasn’t yet been put into effect since Cyprus hasn’t ratified it.

Cyprus Airways representative Maria Saparilla told committee members that if the agreement is ratified immediately, it will endanger CY’s restructuring efforts as it will result in a 10-20 per cent loss of income. Cyprus Airways counter proposal is to wait for 2018 to ratify the agreement, so that the company has time to respond to the projected loss.

Cyprus Civil Aviation Department official Antonis Lemesianos reminded committee members that an “open skies” policy is a priority for the government and that the Israeli threats should be taken seriously.

“When deciding on the subject, one must not only take into consideration the best interest of a single company but the best interest of the whole country,” Lemesianos said, adding that the loss for CY would be around €1m but the country stands to lose tens of millions. Lemesianos also reminded committee members that putting an end to monopolies is included in the troika bailout agreement.

The civil aviation official pointed out that when a third carrier started operating the Moscow-Larnaca route (which also used to be governed by a similar bilateral agreement), the loss for CY was estimated to be around €1m while the state gained around €50m.

Lemesianos noted that Cyprus has until the end of July this year to ratify the agreement so every European carrier can be allowed to fly to Israel from Larnaca.

Finance Minister Harris Georgiades’ position on the subject leaves no room for misinterpretations. On February 3, after CY chairman Tony Antoniou asked for the state to protect the company, the minister tweeted that “it is time for Cyprus Airways monopolies to end”.

Cyprus Airways is currently waiting to hear from the European Commission, which is expected to approve or reject the company restructuring plan. The Commission will also decide whether Cyprus violated EU law when it gave over €100m in aid to the ailing national carrier, so it could stay afloat.

Ukraine’s opposition leaders signed an EU-mediated peace deal with President Viktor Yanukovich on Friday, aiming to resolve a political crisis in which scores have been killed and opening the way for an early presidential election this year.

Under pressure to quit from mass demonstrations in Kiev, Russian-backed Yanukovich made a series of concessions to pro-European opponents, including a national unity government and constitutional change to reduce his powers, as well as bringing forward the poll.

“There are no steps that we should not take to restore peace in Ukraine,” the president said in announcing his concessions before the agreement was signed. “I announce that I am initiating early elections.”

Within hours, parliament voted to revert to a previous constitution slashing Yanukovich’s prerogatives, sacked his interior minister blamed for this week’s bloodshed, and amended the criminal code to pave the way to release his arch-rival, jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.

With Ukraine caught in a geopolitical tug-of-war between Russia and the West, at least 77 people have been killed this week in the worst violence since the independent country emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.

It was not clear whether the concessions would be enough to persuade protesters demanding Yanukovich’s immediate removal to lift their occupation of Kiev’s central square.

EU leaders and the White House praised what European Council President Herman Van Rompuy called a “necessary compromise”, but there was no explicit endorsement of the accord in grudging comments from Moscow.

For now, the deal, mediated by the foreign ministers of Germany, Poland and France, appears to have been a victory for Europe in its competition with Moscow for influence.

The European envoys signed the document as witnesses, but a Russian envoy did not. The Russian envoy, Vladimir Lukin, acknowledged that Moscow had fallen behind the EU in the latest diplomacy: “The EU representatives were in their own way trying to be useful, they started the talks.

“We joined the talks later, which wasn’t very right. One should have agreed on the format of the talks right from the start,” Lukin was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

Nevertheless, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton acknowledged that implementing the accord would be “very challenging”. Ukraine is bitterly divided and near bankruptcy.

A Reuters correspondent at the signing in the presidential headquarters said Yanukovich, 63, a towering former Soviet regional transport official with two convictions for assault, did not smile during a ceremony lasting several minutes.

Opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko, a retired world boxing champion, switched his nameplate to avoid sitting next to the president.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski described the agreement as a “good compromise for Ukraine”. In a post on Twitter, he said it “gives peace a chance. Opens the way for reform and to Europe”. It fell to Sikorski to sell the deal to the sceptical opposition.

ITN Video filmed outside a meeting room during a break in the talks showed Sikorski pleading with opposition delegates to accept it: “If you don’t support this, you’ll have martial law, you’ll have the army, you’ll all be dead.”

PROTESTERS STAND THEIR GROUND

Anti-government protesters remained encamped in Kiev’s central Independence Square, known as the Maidan or “Euro-Maidan”, and scene of the bloodshed this week.

Shortly after the signing ceremony, an open coffin carrying one of the dead from Thursday’s violence, was borne across the square as a bare-chested drummer beat out a funeral tattoo with people chanting “Heroes don’t die! Bandits out!”

Some car horns hooted and fireworks were lit to celebrate the accord, but many activists were suspicious, noting that Yanukovich had cut deals before and was still in office.

“He has to go today. We won’t accept elections. He gave the order to kill, so how can we live with him now until December?” said Vasily Zakharo, 40, from the western Lviv region.

“That’s our opinion and that’s the decision of the Maidan.”

Zakharo came to Kiev four days ago to join the uprising. He shaved, packed a bag, took a baseball bat and left a note for his wife. “I called her when I got here. She cried, of course.”

Earlier in the day, armed police briefly entered the parliament building while lawmakers were in emergency session but were quickly ejected. Members traded punches when speaker Volodymyr Rybak tried to adjourn proceedings.

If fully implemented, the deal would be a severe setback for Putin, who had made tying Ukraine into a Moscow-led Eurasian Union a cornerstone of his efforts to reunite as much as possible of the former Soviet Union.

Alexei Pushkov, head of Russia’s State Duma foreign affairs committee and a member of Putin’s United Russia party, told Reuters the accord was positive if it ended the violence.

“But I don’t think it resolves any of the core problems that Ukraine is facing: economics, ethnic relations and governability. The opposition is rather dissimilar, and now the opposition will start to squabble among themselves,” he said.

Washington took a back seat in the final phase of negotiations after a senior U.S. official was recorded using an expletive to disparage EU diplomacy on an unsecure telephone line last month. A White House spokesman said the United States remained ready to impose further sanctions as necessary if the deal was not implemented.

The future of Ukraine’s economy, heavily indebted and dependent on Moscow for energy imports, remains unclear. Putin promised $15 billion in aid after Yanukovich turned his back on a far-reaching economic deal with the EU in November, but Russia has not made clear whether it will still pay.

Ukraine cancelled a planned issue of 5-year Eurobonds worth $2 billion, it told the Irish Stock Exchange where the debt would have been listed. Kiev had hoped Russia would buy the bonds to help it stave off bankruptcy.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut Ukraine’s credit rating for the second time in three weeks on Friday, citing the increased risk of default. S&P said latest developments made it less likely that Ukraine would receive desperately needed Russian aid.

Russia’s economy minister said Moscow was still undecided on the next $2 billion instalment and was awaiting clarity on the government in Ukraine.

On financial markets, Ukraine’s dollar bonds and the hryvnia currency firmed against the dollar from record lows hit this week on hopes for a deal.

However, RBS analyst Tatyana Orlova noted the country was still in dire financial straits. “This is not the end of the story. What I am reading is there is a deal but the devil is in the detail … The urgent need is for a technocratic cabinet that could take steps to avert default,” Orlova said.

The health ministry said 77 people had been killed since Tuesday afternoon, which meant at least 47 died in Thursday’s clashes.

On Thursday, EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels agreed in principle to impose targeted sanctions on Ukrainian officials responsible for the violence and threatened more if the authorities failed to restore calm.

After the Kiev accord, Ashton said a decision on the future of sanctions would depend on what the EU foreign ministers on the ground in Ukraine reported.

By Orhan Coskun

TRUKISH lawmakers on Friday abolished special courts which had convicted hundreds of alleged military coup plotters, as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan battles a new foe he sees as using influence in the judiciary to try to unseat him.

Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AK Party is widely held to have relied heavily on U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen’s influence in the police and judiciary in breaking the power of the army, which carried out three coups between 1960 and 1980 and forced an Islamist-led government from power in 1997.

Now Erdogan is battling a corruption scandal he sees as contrived by Gulen’s Hizmet (Service) movement, and has already dismissed or reassigned thousands of police and hundreds of judges and prosecutors in a bid to purge its influence.

The scandal poses one of the greatest threats to Erdogan’s 11-year-old rule and his response has betrayed what critics say are his increasingly authoritarian tendencies. Gulen’s supporters have said they are the victims of a witch-hunt.

Parliament passed a law in the early hours, proposed by the AK Party, abolishing the special courts which convicted hundreds of army officers and others in the high-profile “Sledgehammer” trial on charges of plotting to overthrow the government.

The law could mean the officers being retried in regular criminal courts, a possibility Erdogan mooted last month. It may also lead to a review of cases involving military, businessmen, journalists and politicians jailed in a separate “Ergenekon” conspiracy investigation.

“The prime minister has on a number of occasions expressed his dissatisfaction and his concern about some of the Ergenekon trials,” a senior Turkish official said this month.

“Some of these judges feel so empowered within the system, and now it is the same judges that are trying to bring down this government … When they turn against you, you have to fight back,” he said.

Battling the graft scandal, Erdogan’s AK Party has pushed through laws tightening control over the Internet and the courts this month, and has proposed a bill envisaging broader powers for the national intelligence agency, MIT.

Erdogan’s critics regard these steps as an authoritarian backlash against the corruption inquiry. The government says the laws defend democracy in the face of a bid by Gulen to wield covert influence over the state, a charge the cleric denies.

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) welcomed the abolition of special courts, which it had long opposed as against the principles of democracy, but accused the government of taking the step for the wrong reasons.

The army, which has in the past hinted at concerns over the role of the Hizmet movement, has filed a criminal complaint over the coup plot trials, arguing that evidence against serving and retired officers had been fabricated.

Under the new legislation, the maximum detention period will also be reduced to 5 years from 7-1/2 years.

England striker Wayne Rooney has signed a four-year contract extension with Premier League champions Manchester United that will keep their prize asset at the club until June 2019.

United announced the deal on their website (www.manutd.com ) on Friday with the 28-year-old, who left Everton for Old Trafford in 2004, having a year to run on his old contract.

“I am made up to be staying at United,” said Rooney, whose new deal will earn him up to £300,000 ($499,800) a week, according to media reports.

“I am convinced that this is the start of another successful chapter in Manchester United’s history.”

United have struggled since David Moyes took over as manager in the close season and tying Rooney to a new contract will come as a relief after predecessor Alex Ferguson said at the end of last term that the player had asked for a transfer.

United, owned by the American Glazer fanmily, are languishing in seventh place in the Premier League ahead of their visit to Crystal Palace on Saturday.

They are 11 points away from the top four, which brings a Champions League qualifying place, although they are in the last 16 of this season’s competition where they face Olympiakos.

Moyes, who worked with Rooney at Everton, said: “With his ability, his experience and his desire to succeed, he is a vital part of my plans for the future and I’m absolutely thrilled he has accepted the challenge”.

“I said last July that Wayne has an outstanding chance to be a true legend of this club’s long and rich history.

“He is just 42 goals away from overtaking Sir Bobby (Charlton) our record goal scorer and becoming the first United player to hit 250 goals for the club.

“These opportunities only come to special players and I’m confident Wayne will set a new record that will take decades to reach.”

Rooney has made 430 appearances for United, scoring 208 times, and is fourth on the club’s all-time goal scorer list behind Jack Rowley (211), Denis Law (237) and Charlton (249).

He has won the Champions League, five Premier League titles, two League Cups and the FIFA World Club Cup as well as the PFA and Football Writers’ Player of the Year awards in 2010.

At the end of last season, Rooney denied that he had requested a move but media speculation about his future intensified when Chelsea made a bid for him in the summer.

Moyes fought to keep the striker at United and Rooney has repaid his manager with 11 goals in 28 appearances this term.

“The fans have always been a huge part of this club and the support they have given me since my debut against Fenerbahce has been amazing,” said Rooney, who scored a hat-trick against the Turkish side to announce his arrival at Old Trafford.

Ukraine’s second Winter Olympic Games gold medal will not be celebrated as the country’s Sochi team sticks together amid deadly clashes in anti-government demonstrations in Kiev.

Vita and Valj Semerenko, Olga Pidhrushna and Juliya Dzhyma won the women’s relay on Friday to give Ukraine their first Winter Olympic title since figure skater Oksana Baiul won the women’s individual title in 1994.

“We will not celebrate because it’s not time for celebration, we will be peaceful it’s a very sad moment for our nation and our team belong to the nation, we’re all together,” Segey Bubka, head of Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee, told reporters with tears in his eyes.

“It’s historical because we have a very difficult moment in our country and of course it was not easy for us to focus and continue the competition,” the former pole vault champion said.

Bubka met with the relay team to help them stay focused on sport after the demonstrations in their homeland left more than 70 people dead.

“I gave them psychological advice,” he explained.

“We (the Ukrainian delegation) had meetings and we had a special meeting two days ago. We discussed how we will manage the pressure and the difficulties.”

It was important to stay at the Games to show support to Ukraine, Bubka said.

“We decided all together we will continue because we would like to raise the flag and hear the Ukrainian national anthem,” he added.

“It’s the best way to support our people, to support our nation.”

Asked if the fact that Friday’s victory happened in Russia meant anything, Bubka, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said: “It’s the Olympic Games it’s not politics.”

Politics did come into play on Thursday, however, when Alpine skier Bogdana Matsotska and her coach and father said they had withdrawn from Russia’s first Winter Games in protest at Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovich, who enjoys Moscow’s backing, and his government.

“It’s only one athlete, no one left,” said Bubka.

“We have 55 people here, all our delegation is here, only the athletes who have finished their competitions who planned because of the flight to leave, they left.

“No one else, no one else. They decided not to participate in the slalom. I had a meeting with them and we discussed, we understand their position but they stay with the team,” he added.

“And we leave after the closing ceremony together.”

EMOTIONAL crowds on Kiev’s Independence Square rounded on opposition leaders on Friday after they signed an agreement with President Viktor Yanukovich to end a protracted crisis, and said they would not wait any longer for him to go.

Passions ran high as the coffin of a victim from Thursday’s violence, when dozens were killed during anti-government protests, was borne through the crowd to the stage on the square, apparently catching opposition leaders off guard.

Despite the deal signed by Yanukovich and the opposition, many on the square were in no mood to call off the protests which erupted in November after the president abandoned a trade pact with the European Union and turned instead towards Moscow.

After another open coffin was held aloft by the crowd, a protester wearing battle-fatigues leapt up to the microphone and triggered roars of approval as he declared: “By tomorrow we want him (Yanukovich) out!”

Referring to the three opposition leaders, including boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko, who were standing behind him, the man said: “My comrade was shot and our leaders shake the hand of a murderer. It’s a disgrace.”

“We have given you politicians a chance to become ministers in the future, even the president, but you don’t want to fulfil our one demand – that this criminal leave office.”

“We, simple people, are telling the politicians behind our back, that there is no way Yanukovich will be president for the whole year. He has to be gone by 10 a.m. tomorrow.”

“If it is not announced by 10 tomorrow that Yanukovich is gone, we’re going to attack with weapons,” he said.

Earlier, Klitschko drew cat-calls and derisive whistling from the crowd when he had praised as “very important” their political achievements during the day.

Klitschko and his fellow opposition leaders, Arseny Yatsenyuk and nationalist Oleh Tyanibok, signed an EU-brokered deal with Yanukovich in which the president made important concessions after two and a half months of confrontation on the streets of Kiev.

These included early elections, formation of an interim government and a return to an earlier constitution which will mean him giving up key powers, including control over the make-up of the government.

Klitschko later apologised for shaking Yanukovich’s hand, taking the microphone and telling the crowd: “If I offended anyone, I ask their forgiveness.”

But many among the protesters were firm in their rejection of the accord.

“I’m going to fight until the death,” said Vasily Stefinyuk, a 50-year-old veteran of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan from the north eastern city of Kharkiv.

“We’ve been betrayed,” he said. “We’re not here because of Klitschko or Yatsenyuk, we’re here to get rid of Yanukovich.”

The United States welcomed the deal aimed at halting bloody clashes between government forces and protesters in Ukraine and said Russia played an “important role,” but added that Washington remains prepared to impose fresh sanctions if needed.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said President Barack Obama was due to speak by phone on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the European Union-mediated peace deal.

Carney said he welcomed the agreement and that the efforts of the French, Polish and German foreign ministers as well as US leaders helped bring about the deal. He added that “Russia witnessed the agreement and … played an important role in that respect.”

“It is in Russia’s interest that Ukraine not be engulfed in violence - Kiev or other places – and that it return to stability, and that progress be made toward a future in Ukraine that reflects the will of the Ukrainian people,” Carney told a news briefing.

By Mike Collett-White

SOCHI  (Reuters) – Two athletes tested positive for banned substances on Friday in the Sochi Olympics‘ first doping cases, but an emotional gold for crisis-torn Ukraine and ice hockey victory for Canada over the United States ensured sporting action had the final say.

There will be few more popular winners at Russia’s first Winter Games than the women’s biathlon relay team from Ukraine, who edged out the hosts at the end of a week when anti-government protests had left at least 77 people dead.

A Ukrainian skier had already pulled out of Sochi in protest at President Viktor Yanukovich’s handling of the crisis, and other athletes from the team said they struggled to focus as their country went up in flames.

“When I was on the podium I couldn’t stop crying. I tried to calm down and was trying to hide it behind my skis. They were tears of happiness, not only mine, but of the whole country, our team,” team member Valj Semerenko told reporters.

“We are so happy that the people of Ukraine are happy back home and that something good happened for our country,” added Olga Pidhrushna.

Ukraine’s only other Winter Olympic gold medal was won by figure skater Oksana Baiul in the women’s individual event at the Lillehammer Games in 1994.

In the big ice hockey clash, Canada once again prevailed over arch-rivals the United States in their semi-final at the futuristic Bolshoy Ice Dome, denying the Americans revenge for the final of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

A single goal was the thin dividing line between the sides in the end. Jamie Benn, charging toward the slot, redirected Jay Bouwmeester’s low shot past a helpless Jonathan Quick.

In the other semi-final, Sweden beat Finland 2-1, and they meet the Canadians in the final event of the Games on Sunday evening played just hours before the closing ceremony.

In the short track speed skating, Russia’s Viktor Ahn added two more golds to his impressive tally in the men’s 5,000 metres relay and the individual 500 metres events.

It takes his Olympic gold medal haul to six, three for South Korea and three for his adopted country Russia.

His feat propelled Russia to second in the overall medals table with nine golds, one behind Norway.

SKATING SCANDAL

The intensity on the field of play was a welcome tonic on a day when two athletes were thrown out of Sochi for doping.

German biathlete Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle, a two-times Olympic champion at cross country, tested positive for a banned stimulant and was sent home.

The 33-year-old, who also has three Olympic cross country silvers to her name, narrowly missed out on medals in Sochi, coming fourth in both the 12.5km mass start and the mixed relay.

“This is the worst nightmare you could imagine,” she said. “I can’t explain to myself at all how the doping test could be positive.”

At around the same time, Italian officials announced that bobsleigh athlete William Frullani, a policeman, also tested positive for a banned substance and was excluded from the team.

The announcements came as the Olympics were still reeling from a judging scandal in the women’s figure skating late on Thursday that threatened to take some of the gloss off the host nation’s first-ever gold in the event.

Adelina Sotnikova, who few expected to be among the medals before the contest began, beat favourite Kim Yuna late on Thursday, despite the South Korean defending champion producing a performance many viewers deemed superior.

The controversy rumbled on into Friday, when South Koreans expressed shock and anger at a decision they said had been engineered to favour the Russians.

More than 1.5 million people signed an online petition demanding an inquiry into Kim’s loss, which many people stayed up into the early hours to watch. “Queen Yuna” is South Korea’s most loved and best-known athlete.

It was not only her compatriots who questioned the scoring.

“How the hell were Yuna and Sotnikova so close in the components?” exclaimed Canada’s four-time world champion Kurt Browning. “I just don’t get it.

“Yuna Kim outskated her, full stop. I’m shocked. What, suddenly, she just became a better skater overnight? I don’t know what happened. I’m still trying to figure it out.”

Russian television and radio lionised their 17-year-old champion on Friday, and little mention was made of the judging.

RUSSIAN RECORD BREAKER

In the men’s 5,000 metres short track speed skating final, the United States finished second to claim their only medal in either short track or traditional long track speed skating at the Sochi Olympics.

In the long track events, their men’s and women’s team pursuit trios were both knocked out in the first round.

The U.S. team had predicted they were capable of winning eight medals prior to the Games, but their efforts may have been hampered by a fiasco over their suits when they decided to change them halfway through the Olympics to no apparent effect.

Marielle Thompson and Kelsey Serwa took gold and silver in the rough and tumble of the women’s ski cross final held at the Extreme Park.

German Anna Woerner was taken off the course on a stretcher with a knee injury after a nasty fall during the quarter-finals, her leg appearing to give way on impact as she hit the icy landing slope.

Safety concerns were high after Russian free skier Maria Komissarova fractured a vertebra and dislocated her spine during practice on the same course last week.

Canada’s men also won the curling, brushing aside Britain to win 9-3 and claim the country’s third successive title and complete the double after their women also took gold.

The women’s Alpine skiers bade farewell to the Games as American Mikaela Shiffrin won the slalom ahead of Austrian duo Marlies Schild and Kathrin Zettel.

But arguably the moment of the day came in the women’s biathlon. Given upheaval at home, in which Russia played a major role by backing Yanukovich against pro-European protesters, it was an emotional moment as Ukraine’s flag was raised.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will be desperate for the crisis in neighbouring Ukraine not to overshadow Sochi, which he has used to project his country as a modern, tolerant state that does not deserve the Western criticism it receives.

But Russian protest group Pussy Riot, who released a music video in Sochi this week attacking the Games and Putin’s human rights record, have drawn international attention to what critics say is his refusal to brook opposition.

In Moscow on Friday, a judge convicted eight defendants of assaulting police during a protest against Putin, in what activists called a “show trial”.

Sentencing was postponed until Monday, however, meaning it will be revealed after Sunday’s close of the Olympics. Putin says he does not use courts as a political tool.

By Angelos Anastasiou

GOVERNMENT coalition party DIKO voted to abandon the ruling alliance just after midnight Friday, citing disagreement with the terms for the resumption of negotiations on the Cyprus issue, and accusing President Nicos Anastasiades of violating his pre-election pledges that helped secure the party’s support.

The decision calls for the resignation of DIKO’s four ministers and three presidents of semi-governmental organisations by March 4, but the party pledges to maintain a “responsible stance within and outside of Parliament.”

The decision will be brought before the party’s Central Committee on Wednesday for final approval.

In a statement issued after the marathon eight-hour session, DIKO listed the reasons for its decision and cites the party’s “history, principles and duty to the country’s citizens”, as well as “ethical and political imperatives”, as drivers for its decision to withdraw.

“When it comes to issues like the handling of the Cyprus problem, the protection of the Republic of Cyprus, defending the interests of the Cypriot Hellenism and securing the solution we want, there cannot be, and there must not be, compromises. For the Democratic Party, no share of power compares to our values and principles. Once again, we are called upon to defend what’s right, our dignity and our history,” the statement concludes.

DIKO’s Executive Office was convened on Friday afternoon by leader Nicolas Papadopoulos to discuss the latest developments on the Cyprus problem. The session focused on the terms of resuming negotiations as set out in the joint declaration rubberstamped by Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu on February 11 when the talks officially resumed.

Addressing DIKO’s body’s members, Papadopoulos unleashed an all-out attack on Anastasiades and listed the reasons why he considered the agreement for the resumption of talks unacceptable. He then moved that DIKO exit the government coalition and its four ministers tender their resignations. Speeches by members, some supporting the proposal and others voicing dissent, were followed by prolonged discussion, before Papadopoulos’s motion passed with 22 votes in favour, 15 against and 2 abstentions.

Since it was unveiled, DIKO’s leader made no secret of his “serious concerns” over the terms of the agreement, which he felt included unprecedented concessions to the Turkish Cypriot side, with nothing to show for them by way of reciprocal gains. He also said he considered DIKO’s pre-election deal with Anastasiades “terminated” by the President on the grounds that he failed to consult with his coalition partners before coming to final decisions.

According to Papadopoulos’s interpretation, the agreement dissolves the Republic of Cyprus and implies the ‘virgin birth’ of a new state, concedes separate sovereignty to Turkish Cypriots, reintroduces the concept of dual citizenship, violates Anastasiades’s campaign-trail commitment that the basis for the resumption of talks must be “clearly defined”, and revives the philosophy pervading the Annan Plan. “Unfortunately, after this agreement, negotiations are starting  from a very poor base which will  lead with mathematical precision to a very bad solution.,” the party’s statement said.

Earlier yesterday, Papadopoulos had met with former DIKO leader Marios Garoyian, who cited political stability, national unity, and party interest as arguments in favour of DIKO remaining in the ruling coalition, but only after Anastasiades committed to his interpretation of the joint communiqué as a benchmark for the resumed talks. Garoyian’s conciliatory suggestion was promptly met with outright rejection by an unbending Papadopoulos.

Garoyian also addressed the Executive Office, arguing that DIKO’s role must be close to the President so that it can shape developments. He denied that the pre-election deal he made with Anastasiades had been violated and subtly assigned self-interest to Papadopoulos’s manoeuvring.

“I feel that we must all set our personal strategies aside and restrain our personal ambitions”, he said, adding that “they cannot be acceptable when they contradict national priorities.”

DIKO’s withdrawal from the government would raise a multitude of tough questions that Anastasiades would be called to answer, ranging from the way forward on the newly-resumed talks on the Cyprus problem to replacing successful political appointees, and perhaps even passing legislative bills through the House – as DIKO’s pledge of a “responsible stance” seems to only refer to bills relating to the bailout agreement.

Open dissent by DIKO to the President’s strategy on the Cyprus problem leaves opposition party, left-wing AKEL the only significant political power – other than ruling DISY – supporting the resumption of talks on the basis of the agreed text. AKEL’s increased leverage may lead to more assertive politicking, especially on issues of leftist ideological principle, which it has had to swallow thus far.

On the other hand, DIKO’s wing of Cyprus problem hawks may have been a threat from within to the President’s strategy, so it may be something of a blessing that this induced crisis hasn’t been allowed to fester any longer. The party’s ultimate withdrawal may raise the stakes enough to shed much-needed light to the picture as all key players are forced to pick sides in some quasi-apocalyptic ‘moment of truth.’

IT WAS a common secret that corruption was rife at the state body administering abandoned Turkish Cypriot properties in the Republic, but until a few weeks ago nobody ever dared mention it. This was because all the political parties were involved in the corruption, distributing properties among their supporters and ensuring very low rents.

In the end, what had been set up to help refugees make a new start was exploited by people with party connections for their personal benefit. There are now non-refugees using Turkish Cypriot properties, refugees sub-letting such properties and many tenants that have not paid rent to the Guardian for years. Total rent arrears are currently €4 million, while rents are still at 1980s prices and the state pays for repairs and improvement work to these properties.

The Guardian of Turkish Cypriot properties is the minister of interior, who is supposed to ensure that everything is done by the book. However, until the appointment of Socrates Hasikos a year ago, all his predecessors turned a blind eye to the dodgy deals and political favours carried out in the name of the Guardian. Incidentally, we never heard any deputies complaining about what was going on either, because they were part of the problem.

Hasikos was the first interior minister that refused to turn a blind eye to what was going on and openly spoke about the corruption. He has promised a shake-up and has already announced that many deals would be reviewed; those who had not been paying rent would be evicted, there would be a review of rents to reflect current prices, refugees would be offered land for farming and the guardian would pay for repairs to properties only in exceptional cases.

The most important decision Hasikos took was to ask for the transfer of the civil servants who had been working for the Guardian for years. Staff that were in the same job for too long created ‘relationships and dependencies’ with members of the public and were unable to perform their duties objectively. This is true of all government departments dealing with the public and a strong argument for regular transfers of civil servants. Of course PASYDY has for decades prevented the government from transferring civil servants, thus contributing to the cultivation of corruption.

Whether Hasikos will be successful in replacing the staff of the Guardian remains to be seen, because PASYDY is certain to resist. The truth is that Hasikos will make many enemies in his commendable effort to clean up the corruption at the Guardian, but if he succeeds it would be an astonishing achievement.

By George Psyllides and Peter Stevenson

PORT workers enforcing a work to rule are dealing a serious blow to the economy, Communications Minister Tasos Mitsopoulos said yesterday, as businesses urged the government to issue a decree compelling them to return to work.

Port workers have been refusing to do any overtime since last Friday, causing huge problems for the island’s struggling economy.

The workers do not work afternoons and weekends, demanding a raise in overtime pay, which was cut by the government as part of an austerity drive that followed the island’s €10 billion bailout.

Port workers demand their overtime pay increase on weekdays at a ratio of 1:1.3 and on weekends and holidays 1:1.75 from the previous 1:1 on weekdays and 1:1.3 on weekends.

“It means ships will remain in the port the whole weekend and this entails a huge cost for the ships and the traders,” said Marios Tsiakkis, general secretary of Cyprus’ chamber of commerce and industry (KEVE).

Tsiakkis said shipping companies were complaining about the cost created by the delays and it is understood that in at least one case, the workers’ action caused hundreds of thousands of euros in damage when perishable goods were left in their containers.

“At a time when the country is plagued by problems and there are 70,000 unemployed … some people insist on irrational demands, in our view, bringing the economy to its knees,” Tsiakkis said.

Tsiakkis urged the state to act using the law on essential services.

“This situation cannot go on. The country must function. If some people want to strike, which is respected, it does not mean they can block the whole country,” he added.

The minister did not appear ready to go to war with the port workers just yet.

The strike measures, he said, “hurt the competitiveness of Cypriot ports and deal a serious blow to the export trade in a difficult period for our economy,” Mitsopoulos said.

In response to repeated industrial action by air traffic controllers, who held the island hostage, parliament in 2012 put into force legislation limiting strike action.

The law set a minimum of air traffic management, which forced air traffic controllers to handle at least 75 per cent of overflights in Nicosia’s Flight Information Region during the summer time (May-October) and 50 per cent during the rest of the year.

Pantelis Stavrou, representative of the SEK trade union, made it clear that his outfit disagreed wit the decision, despite the workers’ demands being justified.

He told the Cyprus Mail that they had suggested suspending measures for a few days pending a new initiative to resolve the matter on Tuesday.

“We didn’t agree. We are in favour of compromise and understanding,” he said, adding that SEK respected the decision nevertheless.

Ukraine’s parliament voted on Saturday to remove President Viktor Yanukovich, who abandoned his Kiev office to protesters and denounced what he described as a coup after a week of fighting in the streets of the capital.

Parliament also freed his arch-nemesis, former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who walked free from the hospital where she had been jailed, completing a radical transformation in the former Soviet republic of 46 million people.

The apparent toppling of the pro-Russian leader, after bloodshed in Kiev that saw 77 people killed and the centre of the capital transformed into an inferno, looks likely to pull Ukraine away from Moscow’s orbit and closer to Europe.

It is also a stark reversal for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s dream of recreating as much as possible of the Soviet Union in a new Eurasian Union, in which Moscow had counted on Yanukovich to deliver Ukraine as a central member.

Members of the Ukrainian parliament, which decisively abandoned Yanukovich after this week’s bloodshed, stood, applauded and sang the national anthem after it declared the president constitutionally unable to carry out his duties and set an early election for May 25.

“This is a political knockout,” opposition leader and retired world boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko told reporters.

Moments later, opposition leader Tymoshenko, 53, waved to supporters from a car as she was driven out of the hospital in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, where she has been treated for a bad back while serving a seven-year sentence since 2011.

In a television interview which the station said was also conducted in Kharkiv, Yanukovich said he would not resign or leave the country, and called decisions by parliament “illegal”.

“The events witnessed by our country and the whole world are an example of a coup d’etat,” he said, comparing it to the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany in the 1930s. He said he had also come under fire. “My car was shot at. I am not afraid. I feel sorrow for my country,” he told UBR television.

Ukraine’s parliamentary speaker said Yanukovich had been prevented from boarding a plane to Russia and was now in the Donetsk region, Interfax news agency reported.

Despite his defiance, the dismantling of his authority seemed all but complete, with his cabinet promising a transition to a new government, the police declaring themselves behind the protesters and his arch-rival Tymoshenko going free.

At the president’s headquarters, Ostap Kryvdyk, who described himself as a protest commander, said some protesters had entered the offices but there was no looting. “We will guard the building until the next president comes,” he told Reuters. “Yanukovich will never be back.”

The grounds of Yanukovich’s residence outside Kiev were being guarded by “self-defence” militia of protesters.

“RESPONSIBLE TRANSFER OF POWER”

“The cabinet of ministers and ministry of finance are working normally,” the cabinet said in a statement. “The current government will provide a fully responsible transfer of power under the constitution and legislation.”

Ukrainian military and police leaders said they would not get involved in any internal conflict. The interior ministry responsible for the police said it served “exclusively the Ukrainian people and fully shares their strong desire for speedy change”.

“The organs of the Interior Ministry have crossed to the side of the protesters, the side of the people,” new Interior Minister Arsen Avakov told Ukraine’s Channel 5 TV.

Yanukovich, who enraged much of the population by turning away from the European Union to cultivate closer relations with Russia three months ago, made sweeping concessions in the deal brokered by European diplomats on Friday after days of street battles that saw police snipers gun down protesters.

But the deal, which called for early elections by the end of the year, was not enough to satisfy pro-Europe demonstrators on Independence Square, known as the Maidan, or “Euro-Maidan”, who wanted Yanukovich out immediately in the wake of the bloodletting.

On Saturday, the speaker of parliament, a Yanukovich loyalist, resigned and parliament elected Oleksander Turchynov, a close ally of Tymoshenko, as his replacement.

“Today he left the capital,” Klitschko said of Yanukovich at an emergency session of parliament. “Millions of Ukrainians see only one choice – early presidential and parliamentary elections.”

Two protesters in helmets stood at the entrance to the president’s Kiev office. Asked where state security guards were, one, Mykola Voloshin, said: “I’m the guard now.”

TYMOSHENKO FREE

The release of Tymoshenko transforms Ukraine by giving the opposition a single leader and potential future president, although Klitschko and others also have claims.

“Our homeland will from today on be able to see the sun and sky as a dictatorship has ended,” she told reporters as she prepared to head for Kiev to visit Independence Square.

The 53-year-old known for her distinctive blonde braid was jailed by a court under Yanukovich over a natural gas deal with Russia she arranged while serving as premier before he took office. The EU had long considered her a political prisoner, and her freedom was one of the main demands it had for closer ties with Ukraine during years of negotiations that ended when Yanukovich abruptly turned towards Moscow in November.

She had served as a leader of the “Orange Revolution” of mass demonstrations which overturned a fraudulent election victory for Yanukovich in 2004, but after a divisive term as prime minister she lost to him in an election in 2010.

Underscoring Ukraine’s regional divisions, leaders of Russian-speaking eastern provinces loyal to Yanukovich voted to challenge anti-Yanukovich steps by the central parliament.

Eastern regional bosses meeting in Kharkiv – the city where Yanukovich had apparently sought refuge – adopted a resolution saying parliament’s moves “in such circumstances cause doubts about their … legitimacy and legality.

“Until the constitutional order and lawfulness are restored … we have decided to take responsibility for safeguarding the constitutional order, legality, citizens’ rights and their security on our territories.”

Kharkiv Governor Mikhaylo Dobkin told the meeting: “We’re not preparing to break up the country. We want to preserve it.”

In Russia, Mikhail Margelov, head of the foreign policy committee of the upper house of parliament, said the Kharkiv meeting proved “that the Maidan and the opposition, let alone the militants, are not the majority of the Ukrainian people”.

But the head of the foreign affairs committee in Russia’s lower house, Alexei Pushkov, seemed to acknowledge that Yanukovich’s rule was finished. “He fled. Security fled. Staff fled,” Pushkov said. “A sad end to the president.”

With borders drawn up by Bolshevik commissars, Ukraine has faced an identity crisis since independence. It fuses territory integral to Russia since the Middle Ages with former parts of Poland and Austria annexed by the Soviets in the 20th century.

In the country’s east, most people speak Russian. In the west, most speak Ukrainian and many despise Moscow.

The past week saw central state authority vanish altogether in the west, where anti-Russian demonstrators seized government buildings and police fled. Deaths in Kiev cost Yanukovich the support of wealthy industrialists who previously backed him.

Venezuela’s jailed protest leader urged supporters on Friday to keep demonstrating peacefully against President Nicolas Maduro despite violence that has killed at least six people and rocked the OPEC member nation.

“I’m fine, I ask you not to give up, I won’t,” Leopoldo Lopez told his followers in a handwritten note passed to his wife at Caracas’ Ramo Verde prison and then posted on the Internet.

The 42-year-old Lopez, a Harvard-educated economist and one of the few surviving relatives of Venezuelan independence hero Simon Bolivar, spearheaded protests against the socialist government that began at the start of February.

He surrendered to the military this week after an arrest warrant was issued, accusing him of instigating the violence.

At least six people have died, five from gunshots, and one run over by a vehicle, as the protests have degenerated into violence in Caracas and other cities around Venezuela, especially in the western Andean region.

The government puts the death toll at eight, including indirectly linked cases of a woman who had a heart attack and a judicial official who crashed his car swerving round a barricade.

Some 100 civilians have also been injured, and 37 members of the security forces, authorities say.

Both sides are blaming each other for murder and brutality.

The government says sharpshooters are appearing on the opposition side, and radicals are seeking to create chaos by smashing property, attacking police and blocking highways.

The protesters, mainly students, accuse Maduro of worsening repression. They say police are firing shots, allowing pro-government gangs to attack protesters and mistreating some detainees.

“To the police, soldiers, prosecutors and judges: do not obey unjust orders, do not become the face of repression,” Lopez said in his note from prison.

“To the youth, to the protesters, I ask you to stay firm against violence, and to stay organized and disciplined. This is everyone’s struggle.”

Having initially accused Lopez of crimes including murder and terrorism, authorities are now charging him on lesser counts of instigating arson, damage and criminal gatherings.

“WAR ZONE” IN WEST VENEZUELA

Once again, the worst trouble on Friday appeared to be in the western border town of San Cristobal, which residents are calling a “war zone,” with running battles for days between students and security forces on barricaded streets.

Venezuela’s military has moved into the town in force, residents say, with helicopters and planes flying overhead.

There was also trouble in Merida, another Andean town, and protesters blocked a few streets again in Caracas on Friday.

In the biggest challenge to Maduro’s 10-month-old government, the protesters are demanding his resignation over Venezuela’s rampant crime, inflation, shortages of basic products and alleged repression of opponents.

Demonstrators bang pots and pans from windows every night.

“I recommend they buy some stainless steel pots to last for a good 10, 20, 30 or 40 years,” Maduro mocked them.

“Because the revolution is here for a long time!”

While the Caracas protests began in middle-class neighborhoods and are still strongest there, sporadic demonstrations have also spread to poorer areas.

Maduro says the protests are a pretext for a planned coup, similar to the short-lived ouster of his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, in 2002. There is no evidence the military, which was the decisive factor in 2002, may turn on Maduro now.

Oil minister Rafael Ramirez warned that fuel supplies to “zones under fascist attack” could be suspended in order to preserve security.

Maduro, a 51-year-old former bus driver and union activist, won the presidential election last April. About nine people, most of them government supporters, were killed then in post-election violence when the opposition disputed the result.

RAPPROCHEMENT WITH WASHINGTON

Maduro on Friday called on US President Barack Obama to hold dialogue with his government and proposed the two countries restore ambassadors, a day after slamming US President Barack Obama’s comments on Venezuelan affairs.

“Obama says we should hold dialogue, then I call for a dialogue with you, President Obama, I call for a dialogue between revolutionary Venezuela and the United States and its government,” Maduro said in an evening press conference.

The US president on Thursday criticized Maduro’s government for arresting protesters and urged it to focus on addressing the “legitimate grievances” of its people.

Venezuela on Monday expelled three more US diplomats on charges of stirring up protests, an accusation the US State Department called “baseless and false.”

The two countries have not had full diplomatic relations since 2008. An attempt last year to restore ambassadors ended after Venezuela expelled three US diplomats on charges of espionage and Washington responded in kind.

Bolivian President Evo Morales called on Obama and Colombia’s conservative leader Juan Manuel Santos to stand up for Maduro after both called for dialogue in comments that Venezuela’s government bristled at.

“If they are democratically elected presidents, they have to defend President Maduro because he’s been democratically elected by his people,” Morales said.

Local TV channels are providing almost no live coverage of the unrest, so Venezuelans are turning to social media to swap information and images. Falsified photos are also circulating.

Maduro has criticized CNN’s coverage of the unrest, and the US-based network said on Friday its reporters’ credentials had been revoked. Information Ministry officials did not confirm that, saying CNN had been invited to a Maduro news conference later on Friday.

A house in Larnaca caught fire late Friday causing extensive damage, police said.

The house was vacant as the owners were away.

According to the police report, a neighbour called the police at 1.50am to report that the house next to his was burning. Fire department trucks arrived at the scene and put out the fire. According to police, the fire started in the living room.

After the preliminary report, fire department officials reported that the fire was due to arson.

Larnaca police are investigating.

Police arrested a 32-year old man and a 29-year old woman from Limassol on Friday, in connection with a drug trafficking case. According to the police report, the couple are accused with illegal possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.

Police said the 32-year old was arrested when officers stopped their car at a checkpoint. A small 18g plastic bag of cannabis was discovered on the man, which led officers to search the couple’s home in the presence of his wife.

Police said therer they found an additional 295g of cannabis, 21 cannabis plants and a precision scales. The couple are expected to appear before court on Monday.