By George Psyllides

CONFRONTATION over the bill to privatise semi-government organisations would not benefit anyone, Finance Minister Harris Georgiades said yesterday as the government re-submitted the legislation to parliament a day after it was rejected, potentially putting an international bailout programme at risk.

“If we sink, we will all sink together,” the minister said. “If on the other hand we work responsibly and with confidence as we have done in recent months, together we will succeed again.”

The European Commission said yesterday it was closely monitoring the situation in Cyprus and reminded that approval of the bill was one of the preconditions of the bailout agreement, and for receiving the next tranche.

Olli Rehn’s representative Simon O’ Connor said: “We understand that the government plans to re-submit the bill in the House of Representatives. We are closely monitoring the situation and I repeat that it is a prerequisite for the disbursement of the next installment,” O’ Connor said.

Georgiades said the government would do whatever possible to maintain the course charted in the past few months to stabilise the Cypriot economy.

Earlier, the government spokesman said legislation, amended to accommodate concerns over workers legacy rights, would be submitted to the House of Representatives.

The new bill is expected to be discussed on Tuesday.

Georgiades said the bill secured the role of parliament as well as the rights of the workers.

Parliament on Thursday rejected the privatisation plan, potentially throwing into disarray an international bailout programme of the island and endangering the next tranche of a €10bn loan.

The vote was split evenly, with 25 lawmakers in favour and 25 against, and five abstentions from DIKO, which has eight MPs. The bill needed a simple majority to pass. AKEL, EDEK and the Greens voted against.

Approval of a privatisation plan is mandatory under terms of an EU/IMF bailout Cyprus secured in March 2013. Without approval of the legislation, Cyprus is not eligible for a fourth tranche of about €236m in aid next month.

The state has already received almost half its bailout amount.

As part of its commitments to pay down debt, Cyprus is expected to privatise three major public utility corporations, raising some €1.4bn by 2018. Those earmarked for sale include the Telecommunications Authority, the Electricity Authority and the Ports Authority.

The Eurogroup was due to green-light the disbursement of the next instalment when it next met on March 5.
Rejection of the bill was caused by DIKO’s abstentions.

Reports suggested that the abstaining MPs – former party chairman Marios Garoyian, Athina Kyriakidou, Angelos Votsis, Antonis Antoniou, and Fytos Constantinou – did so to show their disagreement with the party leader Nicolas Papadopoulos’ decision to pull the party out of the coalition government because of the president’s handing of the Cyprus problem.

Papadopoulos and two others voted in favour.

Papadopoulos said the bill did not go through because the party’s amendments were not accepted, rejecting suggestions that his party was to blame for the debacle.

“It was not our best moment last night. I accept this, but not just for the Democratic Party,” Papadopoulos said.

He said he understood the MPs who abstained and denied that his party was split.

DIKO, he said, submitted amendments and got the impression that they would be accepted by ruling DISY.

“What we faced last night was a sterile refusal for anyone to come to an understanding with us,” he said.

Asked why he voted in favour, Papadopoulos said DIKO was caught unawares and MPs voted as they thought fit.

After studying the new bill, Papadopoulos signalled on Friday afternoon that it would be approved.

He expressed satisfaction because the cabinet accepted most amendments submitted by DIKO “a fact that permits approval of the bill. We would not be here today if all this had happened yesterday.”

Papadopoulos said those who tried to hurt DIKO by blaming the rejection on the party’s split vote were only trying to mislead public opinion.

The new bill does not include an amendment proposed by DIKO, which stated that even if a position is scrapped, the holder continued to hold it with all the privileges and benefits until they retired or promoted.

That provision was rejected by international lenders.

DISY leader Averof Neophytou said his party could not vote for something they knew would not be accepted by the lenders.

Ukraine’s defence minister said on Saturday Russia had “recently” brought 6,000 additional personnel into Ukraine and that the Ukrainian military were on high alert in the Crimea region.

Ihor Tenyukh gave no further details in comments to reporters in Kiev.

The Ukrainian government has accused Moscow of deploying troops in Crimea, where Russia’s Black Sea fleet has a base, but Russia says it has not violated an agreement with Ukraine that covers its forces there.

On the other hand the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that Moscow is “extremely concerned” about the recent developments in Ukraine’s Crimea, which it said confirm the desire of Kiev’s politicians to destabilise the situation on the peninsula.

“In Russia, we are extremely concerned about the recent developments in Crimea,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

“We believe it is extremely irresponsible to further pressure the already tense situation in the Crimea,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Turkey’s parliament passed legislation to shut down private preparatory schools many of which are an important source of income and influence for an Islamic cleric Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan accuses of running a covert campaign to topple him.

Lawmakers late on Friday set a deadline of Sept. 1, 2015, to close the schools, news channels reported, which millions of students attend to prepare for entrance examinations to win limited spots at state high schools and universities.

The government has accused cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose followers wield influence in the police and judiciary, of concocting a graft scandal to compromise Erdogan and his government. The scandal broke with police raids on Dec. 17 but ties between the ex-allies have been tense for several years

The government’s initial moves to shut down cram centres late last year escalated those tensions ahead of March 30 municipal election, seen as a critical test of support for Erdogan after 11 years in power.

Education is central to U.S.-based Gulen’s Hizmet, or Service, movement’s mission. Their respected prep schools help spread influence across a nationwide network, and shutting them will deprive Hizmet of a chief source of financing.

Followers of Gulen, who preaches respect for science, democracy and dialog with other faiths, have forged a powerful socio-religious community network active. Gulen, who says he has no plans to form a political party, denies any involvement in the graft investigation.

Erdogan remains by far Turkey’s most popular politician. In parliament he faces a weak opposition and, supporters argue, at the polling stations his success in driving Turkey’s economy could eclipse any damage from corruption accusations.

Erdogan has said that abolishing the cram schools is part of a larger reform of an “unhealthy” educational system that ranks Turkey below the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development average in literacy, maths and science.

The law allows some of the cram schools to become private schools, giving them free access to properties that belong to the Treasury, and for the Education Ministry to recruit some of the teachers to work in public schools.

A 22-year-old Paphos man has died from head injuries sustained when he crashed his car into a concrete wall while returning home early on Saturday.

Andreas Mouzouras, a resident of Pano Yialias, was driving on the Pomos to Polis road on his way home at 6.15am, police said.

Under unknown circumstances, his car veered off course and crashed into a concrete wall on the right hand side of the road near Argaka.

The 22-year-old was trapped in the vehicle and had to be freed by the fire service.

He was rushed to Polis hospital where doctors diagnosed severe head injuries and decided to transfer him to Paphos general hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

It appears that the 22-year-old was not wearing his seatbelt, police said.

HOW TOTALLY depressing that a very successful and prominent Cypriot business man like Constantinos Lordos feels compelled to write such an article (Give a little man a little power, Sunday Mail, February 23)
The message is clear. If you are a Cypriot or foreign entrepreneur thinking of starting a business in Cyprus, forget it if you haven’t got the “right connections”.
Surely this state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue if Cyprus is to become a modern, go ahead country of the 21st century and beyond.

Jon Kennerley, Kouklia, Paphos

AS AN offspring of the 80s, I inherited the results of a brutal invasion. I was soon “taught” that I have to compromise with some elders’ mistakes and that I am part of a community whose power to claim its rights is limited to its size on the map. By the noughties I faced a dilemma: either legalising the unacceptable status quo or rotting in isolation by the global community. I chose the latter, only to claim another chance to earn what I deserve.
I deserve a chance to live in a free country where bullets and guns are only exhibits in museum stands, where the Rule of Law is upheld and equality is cherished. I deserve the right to live together with every single legal citizen on this island and not side-by-side. I deserve a constitution that safeguards unity and does not set the seed for division, that sustains and secures the fundamental human liberties and the basic four freedoms, rewarding the sacrifices that the people of this country have made to accede to the EU.
I refuse to compromise with the last generation’s failures and pessimism.
I need solutions. I demand this country’s future be built on solid foundations. And if this seems impossible in the eyes of a “realist” that gave up believing, then I need a change.

A realist.

Nikolas G Koukounis, LLB, LLM, Barrister (Gray’s Inn), Trainee Lawyer

SURELY no one should be surprised by another ”heroic” and ”defiant” NO from these irresponsible, retarded, corrupt, populist imbeciles who also happen to be the ELECTED representatives of an equally unintelligent and immature electorate?
Have we not seen this before? The ”heroic” NO’s on the proposed Eurgroup bail in during March 2013 and subsequently on the nationalisation of the co-ops should still be fresh in our minds,
As should be the 180 degree turnaround that immediately follows these ”heroics”.
Let us hope that now the Troika imposes even harsher conditions (as they did with the bail in) on these privatisations since this is the only language these clowns understand.
Since they will definitely vote YES next time.
After all, there are limits to the ”heroism” of these morons. And while they may be totally stupid, they are not crazy. Once they realise that they will not receive their salaries at the end of the month, they will immediately, as they always do when it comes to their pockets, set aside their pseudo ”patriotism” and vote for what really counts – money in their pockets.
Just another normal day in the surreal, cloud cuckoo land that is the banana republic, where stupidity is infinite and reigns supreme, and where we always elect the leadership we deserve.

John Mavro via Cyprus Mail website

REGARDING parliament’s rejection of the privatisation bill on Thursday, it is now patently clear that a large section of the political leadership cares not one iota about the majority of their people or their country, and is interested only in sustaining the number of people in the ‘civil’ service (what a ridiculous misnomer that is!) because that is where their power base lies and without it they lose their strangle hold.
One of the many reasons we are in the financial mess we are in is because of the crazy size and cost of the public sector. It is a fact of modern life that nobody can ever be guaranteed a job for life, a fact both union chiefs and politicians need to come to terms with and let go of their sense of entitlement.
At least some of our semi government organisations could and should make money but are prevented from doing so by outrageously bad management and the ridiculously high cost of the workforce.
This vote will only delay the inevitable and, if the next tranche of funding is delayed, create more discomfort for ordinary people, including SGO workers, who will not get paid. As always, those at the top of the food chain will not feel the impact of this, and only those at the bottom will be wondering how to put food on the table until our political leadership grows up and faces the consequences of its self-serving activities over the last half century.
I do not think that privatisation will lead to lower prices for consumers, it certainly didn’t in UK, and I wish we could hold on to our national assets and run them at a profit for the national good. But this is just a pipe dream, and so is the notion that we can continue to run them as a gravy train for the pampered few.
What these fools now propose is that we sell off the assets and keep the liability!

Vivienne Ladommatou, via Cyprus Mail website

A PIONEERING Centre for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Employment (ΚΕΑ) has recently started operations, with the declared aim of combating recession and unemployment in Cyprus.
The centre constitutes an attempt at collaboration between the business sector, the academic community and the public sector in finding ways to cope with the effects of recession.
ΚΕΑ said it aspires to deal with critical issues, such as galloping unemployment, the dramatic decline in companies’ liquidity and profitability, and uncontrollable shrinkage in fundamental sectors of the Cyprus business world.
The problems will be tackled through practical support from European and national sponsorship programmes, the utilisation of structural funds, via public support mechanisms and direct financing by the European Support Fund (ESF).
In the initial stages, ΚΕΑ said it would focus on reinforcement of entrepreneurial action through new sources of funding and simplifying the process of establishing a company (one-stop shop), as well as enhancing competitiveness and the employment rate.
It will also reinforce youth entrepreneurship for individuals 21-35 years old, who aspire to create and develop their own company and help women step-up their business know-how.
KEA’s ‘VIP Club Business Success’ programme is designed as an alternative form of modern business networking, which offers opportunities for profitable collaboration. There will also be ‘smart’ training under the ‘Aristaeus Plan’, focusing on long-term professional integration, mainly for young people, women and recent graduates.

OUR ESTABLISHMENT would like to apologise to the PASYDY boss Glafkos Hadjimourmouris for consistently presenting him as Kyproulla’s most obnoxious union leader. In the last couple of weeks we have realised that we had been a little unfair to him as we were exposed to a much more obnoxious type of union boss than him.

The SGO union bosses turned out to be significantly worse than Hadjiklamouris. Andreas Panorkos, who heads an EAC union called something like Popeye and was a daily guest on TV and radio shows last week, makes his PASYDY colleague seem almost like a reasonable human being by comparison.
Apart from being thuggish and uncivilised, the self-regarding SGO unionists are not blessed with great intelligence. Early Tuesday morning, when the strike by the EAC began, Panorkos was on radio telling us that there would be no power cuts as a result of the strike. Ten minutes after his assurances there were power cuts.

PANORKOS was on the radio show to defend the violent behaviour by members of his union outside the legislature the previous day. The EAC mob, exercising the sacred rights to strike and protest, laid siege on the legislature, threw fire-crackers and stones, smashed windows, fought with cops, shouted abuse at deputies and invaded the building.
But as Panorkos explained on the show, his angry mob was not to blame for its aggressive and violent behaviour. The protesters, he authoritatively informed us, had been provoked by finance minister Haris Georgiades, who insisted on being driven through the mob to get to the legislature where he was expected to attend the House finance committee meeting that was to discuss the privatisation bill.
Haris, from his car, made a gesture that sparked the fury of the protesters that were shouting abuse at him. It was not a rude gesture – he just wagged his index finger at them. The minister should have gone into the legislature through a back entrance so he would not provoke the peaceful protesters, said Panorkos.
When the presenter asked why the protesters had taken firecrackers with them if they had no intention of resorting to violence, Panorkos moved on to another topic.

THE POLICE command came under fire from justice minister Ionas Nicolaou for not taking adequate measures to protect the legislature from the EAC mob. He had a point, this being the first time in history that cops were involved in clashes with a violent mob and were not accused by politicians and hacks of using excessive force.
Several politicians went as far as to suggest that the cops used inadequate force to control the crowd. Nobody, not even Ionas, saw anything wrong with the fact that not a single EAC thug had been arrested by the cops for violent and threatening behaviour. Is it OK to attack cops and cause damage to property when it is in the name of workers’ rights?
Maybe the cops felt it would have been wrong to arrest protesters that had been so irresponsibly provoked by Haris’ unacceptable finger-wagging.

THE OVERTIME ban at Limassol port which has cost the economy big bucks and is driving away business was also extended as a result of a provocation, but not by Haris.
A port union boss explained that the ban would have been lifted the Friday before last so the port would operate during the weekend (with the ban in place, the port closed down from Friday lunch-time until Monday morning and no ships could dock or leave).
A meeting of the union members, to vote the lifting of the ban, was arranged for Friday 21st. But port workers were so incensed by public comments made against the overtime ban by forwarders, who were losing money, they voted to keep it in place. The comments were so provocative port workers felt they had to be punished, the union boss said.
Port workers, who took action in protest against the government’s decision to cut overtime rates, were working this weekend after the finance ministry agreed to have talks with them and forwarders took a vow of silence.

ANOTHER union boss enjoyed five minutes of fame this week after issuing a public threat to his party boss Ethnarch Junior. Alecos Tryfonides, general secretary of a CyTA union and member of the DIKO central committee came up with a sound-bite that received non-stop air play on Tuesday, the day before his party’s vote on leaving the government.
Referring to Junior, he said: “They should think because tomorrow there is the Central Committee meeting. I am warning him (Junior) publicly. The principles of DIKO are not only on the Cyprus problem. We will not get a divorce from Anastasiades and sleep with Averof.”
DIKO’s other principle he was referring to was the keeping of SGOs under state ownership so the privileges and big salaries of CyTA workers, like Tryfonides, could be safeguarded. He was not implying that Nik was better in bed than Averof, but referring to the latter’s support for privatisation, which was against DIKO’s principles.

JUNIOR betrayed his neo-liberal beliefs in reaching a deal with Tryfonides. He agreed to add an amendment to the government’s privatisation bill which ensured that SGO workers could never be made redundant, not even if the department they were working for was closed down. Until now, this privilege was only enjoyed by public parasites.
In exchange for this, it was reported, Tryfonides agreed to vote in favour of Junior’s proposal for DIKO to leave the government. The prince of negativity was desperate for votes because it was uncertain the central committee would have backed his proposal. In the end, Junior got his way with 97 votes for and 81 against, bringing joy and happiness to all of us.

THE APPEARANCE of Tryfonides provided an answer to a mystery of the last few years. Why had a total incompetent, who had presided over a long list of cock-ups, been kept as acting director of the Nicosia Central Prisons for so long?
I refer to Giorgos Tryfonides who was appointed acting director in 2009 and was only relieved of his duties in January after five prisoners had committed suicide in the space of seven months. He was kept in his post because he had the high protection of DIKO that has another principle apart from the Cyprob – it always takes care of its own, no matter how useless they are at their state job.

DIKO has always been a family party. Its current general secretary is Marinos Moushioutas, son of a former DIKO deputy, who also has a well-paid state job. He is the municipal secretary at Nicosia municipality. His sister, Emanuella, is a civil servant, who briefly served as commissioner for the reform of the civil service. Living off the taxpayer is a key feature of the patriotism of DIKO members.

REGULAR guest of the Lazarus patriotic show, the super bash-patriotic Costas Mavrides, who narrowly lost in his bid to get elected deputy leader of DIKO last December, is being a bit disingenuous. Lazarus always presents him as ‘the academic Costas Mavrides’.
Has he forgotten to inform Lazarus that he is no longer an academic? He is a civil servant at the labour ministry, which is nothing to be ashamed of, especially as I am informed he landed this cushy, well-paid, job on merit and not because he was a member of DIKO.

APART from its patriotic mission to prevent a settlement of the Cyprob, DIKO also keeps us entertained with its antics. On Thursday in the legislature, five of the eight DIKO deputies abstained in the vote on the government’s privatisation bill, thus preventing its approval.
Approval is a condition for the release of the next tranche of the troika loan. It was a bizarre decision because without the troika money, the government would not be able to pay March public sector wages and pensions, something that would affect more members of DIKO than any other party.
When he heard about the vote, a member of the government asked a DIKO minister if he could help him understand the logic of voting against the bill. The minister explained that logic could never explain DIKO actions and decisions. To understand them you had to think dikoically, something only Dikheads could do.

THE BILL will be re-submitted to the legislature which has scheduled a plenum on Tuesday so it could be voted through. Its title and a couple of sentences would be changed because it is unconstitutional to vote a second time on a bill that was rejected.
The decision angered the holier than thou communists of AKEL, their spokesman Giorgos Loucaides claiming did this “not only constitute disrespect for the legislature it also constitutes a mockery of the institutions, a blow to democracy and a rubbishing of the dignity of citizens”. The party had written to the House president urging him not to accept the tabling of the bill as this violated House regulations.
This is the same party which, back in September, agreed to the re-submission of the co-ops bill, with some cosmetic changes, just a few hours after it had been defeated in the plenum. This did not constitute disrespect for the legislature or a mockery of the institutions.

OUR GOOD friend Thoukis, who writes a weekly column in Politis, might be good friends with Professor Panicos but does he also have to act like his personal publicist?
Last Sunday he informed us that the Central Bank had “placed the banking system in the occupied area under its microscope and a group of experts has been studying all international reports relating to it.”
Professor Panicos, according to Thoukis, was showing a personal interest in the matter and had recently declared that a Cyprob settlement would give a massive push to the economy. But alas, the 24 banks operating in the north were facing a similar problem to our banks – many NPLs.
If our Turkish Cypriot brothers require help, we would be very happy to send them the professor to sort out their banking sector just like he sorted out ours. I think even DIKO would support such confidence-wrecking measure.

IT APPEARS that the memo, sent out by Bank of Cyprus CEO John Hourican warning staff against leaking information to the press was ignored by some of them. On Tuesday, Politis reported that Hourican had been negotiating the sale of the BoC’s Russian bank Uniastrum as well as other assets, without consulting the board of directors.
The paper said the board was completely in the dark about the negotiations. You do not have to be a detective to guess the source of the leak was a member of the board, whom Hourican has no power over.
Things must be a bit desperate at the dear old BoC. Last week the board invited Archbishop Chrys to carry out a blessing at its HQ, which was attended by hundreds of staff including Hourican who, reportedly, had a ‘what am I doing in this nut-house’ look on his face.
He obviously has not seen the academic study which showed that banks blessed by Archbishops always have better results than those that snub the Church.

WE WOULD like to close on a positive note. We should all be grateful that Qatar decided against undertaking the big development project opposite the Hilton Hotel because the Qataris record on worker safety is truly appalling. According to Private Eye magazine, 400 Nepalese migrant construction workers have been killed so far in Qatar as it prepares for the hosting of the 2022 World Cup.

MINISTER of Health Petros Petrides announced after the last visit by the troika that the full implementation of the National Health Scheme, which would offer universal healthcare coverage, would be put back by a year. It would still be introduced in 2015, as is stipulated in the MoU, but it would be implemented in stages that would be completed a year later.
This could not have come as a surprise to anyone given the continuous postponements of the scheme’s introduction since it was first put together in 2001. Some could even speculate, flippantly perhaps, that the new delay is a government ruse for avoiding full implementation as we would be out of the assistance programme in 2016 and less inclined to follow the Troika’s diktats.
Then again that we are now talking about the scheme as a real possibility is entirely down to the Troika, which has included an implementation time-frame in the MoU and is directly involved in the drafting of plans. If it were not for the Troika, the scheme would have remained in the planning stage indefinitely, politicians carrying on talking about it without ever taking action.
It has always been this way. The Clerides government commissioned the first blueprint, the Papadopoulos government established the state bodies that would administer it and the Christofias government, predictably, did nothing. The truth is that all governments, including the current one, have been terrified of implementing the scheme, never venturing beyond the planning stage, and for good reason.
The scale, cost and complexity make it a project that no government wants to touch, because the likelihood of it resulting in an unmanageable and costly mess is high. Could we really trust our technocrats and officials to administer such a complex system competently, let alone cost-effectively, or would the scheme turn into a black hole into which huge amounts of the taxpayer’s money would keep being poured?
Even the basics relating to the scheme seem beyond our technocrats. For many years now, the EU has been asking the Cyprus government to carry out a costing of its public health services, because the bill for treatment offered to an EU national should be sent to his country of origin. Our technocrats have still not been able to do this, even though it is essential for the proper functioning of a national health scheme. How could there be insurance cover when the cost of carrying out an operation at a state hospital is not known?
Other factors contributing to the fears of the politicians are the many vested interests they would have to satisfy in some way. There are the private clinics and practices wanting to secure maximum charges, the state hospital doctors and nurses wanting to protect their earnings and overtime pay, the state pharmaceutical services that wield excessive power, the pharmacies with their guaranteed profit margins and the assorted unions all of which want the best possible deal for their members at the expense of other groups.
Now the government would also have to contend with the reservations of employers’ organisations, whose support for the scheme has diminished, because businesses do not want an additional cost to their payroll; employers would have to contribute a percentage of each salary they pay to the scheme. Talk that the health scheme would be bad for our struggling economy because it would push up labour costs is more than justified.
And that is not all. The government is keen on involving private insurance firms in the scheme rather than relying exclusively on the state’s Health Insurance Organisation for dealing with claims, payments and negotiation of prices, presumably because it does not want to create another inefficient state monopoly. There is reportedly disagreement between the government and the Troika on this issue, with the latter believing that involving private insurance firms would increase rather than reduce costs.
All fears and reservations about a National Health Scheme are understandable, but the government cannot keep putting back its introduction indefinitely. Access to free healthcare for all citizens is as important as access to free education, which is provided by our society even though its low standard does not justify its very high cost. If the government is afraid that a health scheme would end up the same – low quality, high cost – perhaps it should consider bringing in foreigners to run it and ensuring unions and political parties have no say in its running.

By Bejay Browne
HOPES are running high that repairs will get underway in the coming weeks at two of the island’s most popular beaches, which all but disappeared in December.
The blue-flagged beach at Polis campsite lost almost 40 metres of sand overnight. In nearby Latsi, a popular beach close to the port also vanished, with a café’s beachside seating left perched on top of a sandy ledge.
The head of the government’s public works departments’ coastal engineers Stelios Zevros confirmed to the Cyprus Mail that investigations were underway to discover the cause.
“We have a permanent station based in the area which takes regular measurements and a team is ready to take further measurements inside the sea, hopefully next week – once the weather permits,” he said.
Many businesses and locals in the area are reliant on tourism as a means of income. This could now be in jeopardy if a solution isn’t found.
Some locals put the catastrophe down to a 6.2 earthquake on December 28 off the coast of Turkey, which was strongly felt in Cyprus, particularly north of Paphos.
But Zevros says he doubts this was the cause of the decimation.
“It is more likely due to severe erosion from the waves and wind,” he said.
Zevros said there has been a problem with coastal erosion in the area for some time; although nothing to this extent. “There is a master plan to construct 14 breakwaters to protect the coastline. So far, only four of the 14 have been erected in the sea by Latsi port, as the economic crisis hit soon after this.”
Phase one was completed in 2010 and Zevros said phase two, which will run from the last breaker up to the campsite at Polis, should have commenced immediately afterwards.
Polis Chrysochous Mayor, Angelos Georgiou said he has met representatives of the public works department and could have some positive news soon on what action would be taken.
“This is a very serious and difficult problem, but I’m sure that something will be done to ease the situation and in time for the tourist season,” he said.
Georgiou said that based on data his team was collecting, they would have to try and figure out where the sand went and if it is still in the surrounding seas.
“We will compare the results with ones from previous years. Hopefully, we will be able to understand the sand’s movement and be able to locate it. If it’s not too far we may try to reclaim it. This action is one of the possibilities facing us.”
If the summer season is to be saved, work will have to be completed by April.
The mayor also said he was waiting to be granted a licence to go ahead with the upgrading plans for Polis campsite. The project will cost close to €1.5 million.

UKRAINE CALLS UP ALL MILITARY RESERVES

The West faced its biggest confrontation with Russia since the Cold War and Ukraine marshalled its forces for defence after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the right to invade his neighbour.

Ethnic Russian forces have already bloodlessly seized Crimea, an isolated Black Sea peninsula where most of the population are Russian and Moscow has a naval base, and sought to disarm the small Ukrainian contingents there on Sunday.

Of potentially even greater concern are eastern swathes of the country, where most of the ethnic Ukrainians speak Russian as a native language. Those areas saw violent protests on Saturday, with pro-Moscow demonstrators hoisting flags at government buildings and calling for Russia to defend them.

Putin’s declaration that he has the right to invade his neighbour – for which he quickly received the unanimous approval of his parliament – opened the prospect of war in a country of 46 million people on the ramparts of central Europe.

“President Obama expressed his deep concern over Russia’s clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity, which is a breach of international law,” the White House said after the two leaders spoke for 90 minutes.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, leading a government that took power after Moscow ally Viktor Yanukovich fled a week ago, said Russian armed action “would be the beginning of war and the end of any relations between Ukraine and Russia”.

Acting President Oleksander Turchinov ordered troops to be placed on high combat alert. Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya said he had met European and U.S. officials and sent a request to NATO to “examine all possibilities to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine”.

NATO ambassadors were due to meet in Brussels on Sunday to discuss the situation. Washington has proposed sending monitors to Ukraine under the flags of the United Nations or Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, bodies where Moscow would have a veto.

Washington and its allies have suspended plans to attend a G8 summit in Sochi, where Putin had just finished staging his $50 billion winter Olympic games.

“This is probably the most dangerous situation in Europe since the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968,” said a Western official on condition of anonymity. “Realistically, we have to assume the Crimea is in Russian hands. The challenge now is to deter Russia from taking over the Russian-speaking east of Ukraine.”

POWERLESS

In Crimea, Ukraine’s tiny military contingent was powerless to oppose Russian forces, who bore no insignia on their uniforms but drove vehicles with Russian plates and seized government buildings, airports and other locations in the past three days.

Russian news agencies reported that Moscow’s troops had disarmed Ukrainians at several small bases.

Igor Mamchev, a Ukrainian navy colonel at a small base near the regional capital Simferopol, told Ukraine’s Channel 5 television he had refused to surrender.

“A truck with troops of the Russian Federation, armed with rifles, helmets and bullet-proof vests arrived at our checkpoint and suggested we give up our weapons and accept the protection of the armed forces of the Russian Federation,” he said.

“I replied that, as I am a member of the armed forces of Ukraine, under orders of the Ukrainian navy, there could be no discussion of disarmament. In case of any attempt to enter the military base, we will use all means, up to lethal force.

“We are military people, who have given our oath to the people of Ukraine and will carry out our duty until the end.”

Elsewhere, the Russian forces appeared to be assuming a lower profile on Sunday after the pro-Moscow Crimean leader announced overnight that the situation was now “normalised”.

Russians had vanished from outside a small Ukrainian guard post in the port of Balaclava that they had surrounded with armoured vehicles on Saturday.

The Russian forces had been greeted cheerfully by many, with a wedding party honking its horns and people snapping photos. But there were also some voices of worry.

“No one is attacking us, so why do we need protection – much less armed protection? They are filling up Balaclava with troops,” said Olga Karpova, 32.

A barricade in front of the Crimean regional parliament, which the Russians seized on Thursday, had been dismantled. A single armoured vehicle with two soldiers drove through the main square, where people were snapping photos.

Ukrainian news agencies reported that Ukrainian marines were barricaded into a base in Feodosia, another Crimean port. Russia has appealed for Ukrainian detachments on the peninsula to back the “legitimate” – pro-Russian – regional leadership.

Putin asked parliament on Saturday to approve force “in connection with the extraordinary situation in Ukraine, the threat to the lives of citizens of the Russian Federation, our compatriots” and to protect the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.

Putin said his request for authorisation to use force in Ukraine would last “until the normalisation of the socio-political situation in that country”.

His justification – the need to protect Russian citizens – was the same as he used to launch a 2008 invasion of Georgia, where Russian forces seized two breakaway regions and recognised them as independent.

There has been effectively no sign of dissent or second guessing in Russia, where state controlled media have relentlessly portrayed Yanukovich’s removal as a coup by terrorists and extremists, funded by the West.

In a statement posted online, the Kremlin said that in his phone call with Obama, Putin “underlined that there are real threats to the life and health of Russian citizens and compatriots on Ukrainian territory”. Moscow reserved the right to intervene on behalf of Russian speakers anywhere they were threatened.

FLAGS TORN DOWN

So far there has been no sign of Russian military action in Ukraine outside Crimea, the only part of the country with a majority that is ethnically Russian and which has often voiced separatist aims at times of tension between Moscow and Kiev.

A bigger risk would be conflict spreading to the rest of Ukraine, where the sides could not be easily kept apart. Demonstrations turned violent in eastern cities on Saturday.

Demonstrators flew Russian flags at government buildings in the cities of Kharkiv, Donetsk, Odessa and Dnipropetrovsk.

The worst violence took place in Kharkiv, where scores of people were wounded when thousands of pro-Russian activists, some brandishing axe handles and chains, stormed the regional government headquarters and fought pitched battles with a smaller number of supporters of Ukraine’s new authorities.

In Donetsk, Yanukovich’s home city, the local government has called for a referendum on the region’s status, a move Kiev says is illegal. A pro-Russian “self-defence” unit, which staged a big protest on Saturday, scheduled another for Sunday.

“We do not recognise the authorities in Kiev, they are not legitimate,” protest leader Pavel Guberev thundered from a podium in Donetsk on Saturday.

Thousands of followers, holding a giant Russian flag and chanting “Russia, Russia” marched to the government headquarters and replaced the Ukrainian flag with Russia’s.

In true Hollywood fashion, the Academy Awards on Sunday promised a cliffhanger ending in the race for best picture Oscar between favorites “12 Years a Slave” and “Gravity” along with extra drama thrown in by a tempestuous Mother Nature.

After three days of heavy downpours soaked parts of the red carpet along Hollywood Boulevard, there was no guarantee the rain would stop by the time hundreds of movie stars in custom-made designer dresses and tuxedos begin arriving for Hollywood’s biggest night.

The 86th annual Academy Awards will be hosted by comedian Ellen DeGeneres, under pressure to deliver an entertaining yet tasteful three-hour show after critics widely panned last year’s ceremony and host Seth MacFarlane’s provocative humor.

This year’s Oscars celebrate what is widely regarded as one of the most high quality years in film and performances in recent memory. The president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, called it the best line-up “in the last decade or so.”

Nine films are competing for the top honor of best picture and Paul Sheehan, editor at awards handicapping site Goldderby.com, says that unlike past years, the high quality means “eight of the nine films could be a credible best picture winner.”

While British director Steve McQueen’s brutal slavery drama “12 Years a Slave” and Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron’s space thriller “Gravity” are the frontrunners and have split many of the season’s awards, experts say an upset is possible because no one can know for sure how the 6,000 plus members of the Academy voted.

“I feel more comfortable putting my chips on ’12 Years a Slave’ just because there is more historical basis for doing so,” said Scott Feinberg, awards analyst at The Hollywood Reporter. “But at the same time there is no denying that there is great enthusiasm for other movies.”

Among those is 1970s crime caper “American Hustle” from director David O. Russell, who scored 10 nominations and, for the second year in a row, the rare feat of having his actors nominated in all four acting categories. Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street,” a tale of financial greed and excess, has also been a hit with audiences and critics.

Other best picture nominees are “Captain Phillips,” and smaller films “Philomena,” “Nebraska,” “Her,” and “Dallas Buyers Club.”

AN HISTORIC CHOICE?

But the Academy could also make history this year if it chooses “12 Years a Slave” for best picture. It would be the first time that the top film honor goes to a movie by a black director in the 86 years of the Oscars.

On Saturday, the real-life story of free man turned plantation slave Solomon Northup gained more momentum by sweeping the Independent Spirit Awards, a show that recognizes movies made on small budgets. It scored five wins in seven nominations, including best feature film.

The Spirit Awards also bestowed honors on the frontrunners for all four acting races for the Oscars, which may yield few surprises on Sunday.

Cate Blanchett won best actress at the Spirit Awards for her portrayal of the disgraced socialite in Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine.” Matthew McConaughey took best actor for his role as the unlikely AIDS activist in “Dallas Buyers Club,” for which he lost some 50 pounds (23 kg) and his co-star Jared Leto won best supporting actor.

Also on Saturday, newcomer Lupita Nyong’o won best supporting actress for her role as hardworking slave Patsey in “12 Years a Slave” but she faces a challenge at the Oscars from Jennifer Lawrence as the loopy housewife in “American Hustle.”

“This is a film that many thought would be a film too difficult for people to embrace and people have embraced it over and over again,” Nyong’o said on Saturday, her 31st birthday.

The biggest night in Hollywood will feature homages to movie heroes and “The Wizard of Oz” on its 75th anniversary. U2 and Pharrell Williams will be among the performers for best original song.

Among the presenters will be Hollywood power couple of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt as well as Sidney Poitier on the 50th anniversary of his best actor win for “Lilies of the Field,” the first Oscar in that category for an African American.

The show from Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre will be broadcast live at 03.30 local time (01.30 GMT) to 225 countries around the world.

Following is a list of nominations in leading categories.

BEST PICTURE
“American Hustle”
“Captain Phillips”
“Dallas Buyers Club”
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Nebraska”
“Philomena”
“12 Years a Slave”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”

BEST ACTOR
Christian Bale in “American Hustle”
Bruce Dern in “Nebraska”
Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Chiwetel Ejiofor in “12 Years a Slave”
Matthew McConaughey in “Dallas Buyers Club”

BEST ACTRESS
Amy Adams in “American Hustle”
Cate Blanchett in “Blue Jasmine”
Sandra Bullock in “Gravity”
Judi Dench in “Philomena”
Meryl Streep in “August: Osage County”

BEST DIRECTOR
David O. Russell for “American Hustle”
Alfonso Cuaron for “Gravity”
Alexander Payne for “Nebraska”
Steve McQueen for “12 Years a Slave”
Martin Scorsese for “The Wolf of Wall Street”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Barkhad Abdi in “Captain Phillips”
Bradley Cooper in “American Hustle”
Michael Fassbender in “12 Years a Slave”
Jonah Hill in “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Jared Leto in “Dallas Buyers Club”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Sally Hawkins in “Blue Jasmine”
Jennifer Lawrence in “American Hustle”
Lupita Nyong’o in “12 Years a Slave”
Julia Roberts in “August: Osage County”
June Squibb in “Nebraska”

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“Before Midnight”
“Captain Phillips”
“Philomena”
“12 Years a Slave”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“American Hustle”
“Blue Jasmine”
“Dallas Buyers Club”
“Her”
“Nebraska”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“The Broken Circle Breakdown,” Belgium
“The Great Beauty,” Italy
“The Hunt,” Denmark
“The Missing Picture,” Cambodia
“Omar,” Palestine

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“The Croods”
“Despicable Me 2″
“Ernest & Celestine”
“Frozen”
“The Wind Rises”

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“The Act of Killing”
“Cutie and the Boxer”
“Dirty Wars”
“The Square”
“20 Feet from Stardom”

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Happy” from “Despicable Me 2″
“Let it Go” from “Frozen”
“The Moon Song” from “Her”
“Ordinary Love” from “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
“The Book Thief”
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Philomena”
“Saving Mr. Banks”

BEST COSTUMES
“American Hustle”
“The Grandmaster”
“The Great Gatsby”
“The Invisible Woman”
“12 Years a Slave”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“The Grandmaster”
“Gravity”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Nebraska”
“Prisoners”

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
“Dallas Buyers Club”
“Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa”
“The Lone Ranger”

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
“Gravity”
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
“Iron Man 3″
“The Lone Ranger”
“Star Trek Into Darkness”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday condemned Russia’s “incredible act of aggression” in Ukraine and threatened economic sanctions by the United States and allies to isolate Moscow, but called for a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

“You just don’t in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped up pre-text,” Kerry told the CBS program “Face the Nation.”

The Ukraine crisis has taken already strained U.S.-Russian relations to new lows. Kerry did the rounds of the Sunday morning television news shows to emphasize the Obama administration’s condemnation of Russia’s moves.

Russia still has “a right set of choices” that can be made to defuse the crisis, Kerry said. Asked on the ABC program “This Week” if the United States has “any military options on the table” to address the crisis, he said that President Barack Obama “has all options on the table.”

However, he added, “The hope of the United States and everybody in the world is not to see this escalate into a military confrontation. That will not serve the world well, and I think everybody understands that.”

He told the NBC program “Meet the Press,” “We want a peaceful resolution through the normal processes of international relations.”

Putin won permission from his parliament on Saturday to use military force to protect Russian citizens in Ukraine, ignoring warnings from Obama and other Western leaders. Russian forces have already bloodlessly seized Crimea – an isolated Black Sea peninsula where Moscow has a naval base.

“It’s an incredible act of aggression. It is really a stunning, willful choice by President (Vladimir) Putin to invade another country. Russia is in violation of the sovereignty of Ukraine. Russia is in violation of its international obligations,” Kerry said.

‘BROAD ARRAY OF OPTIONS’

Kerry said Obama told Putin in a 90-minute phone call on Saturday “that it was imperative to find a different path, to roll back this invasion and un-do this act of invasion.”

Kerry said G8 nations and some other countries are “prepared to go to the hilt to isolate Russia” with a “broad array of options” available.

“They’re prepared to put sanctions in place, they’re prepared to isolate Russia economically, the ruble is already going down. Russia has major economic challenges.”

Kerry mentioned visa bans, asset freezes, trade isolation, investment changes as possible steps, adding: “American businesses may well want to start thinking twice about whether they want to do business with a country that behaves like this.”

“There are very serious repercussions that can flow out of this. There are a broad array of options that are available, not just to the United States but to our allies,” Kerry added.

Kerry also called on the U.S. Congress to work with the Obama administration on an economic package to assist Ukraine.

Kerry’s comments came amid a chorus of condemnation from Washington and its allies.

Ukraine has asked for help from NATO, Britain and the United States, as co-signatories with Moscow to a 1994 accord guaranteeing Ukraine’s security after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Ukraine’s security council has ordered the general staff to put all armed forces on highest alert.

Kerry said the United States is “absolutely prepared” to boycott a scheduled G8 meeting in Sochi, Russia, in June. The city also hosted the Winter Olympic Games last month.

Obama canceled a visit to Moscow last September to protest Putin’s refusal to help rein in Syrian President Bashar Assad in that country’s civil war, although he did attend a G20 summit in St. Petersburg.

The White House said on Saturday the United States will suspend participation in preparatory meetings for the Sochi summit. Kerry said recent events “put at question Russia’s capacity to be within the G8.”

“If Russia wants to be a G8 country, it needs to behave like a G8 country,” he added.

The crisis began in November after Viktor Yanukovich, Ukraine’s Russian-backed president who was ousted a week ago, triggered protests by spurning a political and trade deal with the European Union.

Two moments of magic in the space of two second-half minutes helped Manchester City to a 3-1 victory over Sunderland in the English League Cup final at Wembley on Sunday.

Manuel Pellegrini’s favourites were trailing to Fabio Borini’s 10th minute strike for Sunderland and a shock looked on the cards until Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri intervened.

Jesus Navas completed the turnaround late on.

Toure curled in City’s equaliser after 55 minutes before Nasri thumped home the winner to snatch the season’s first silverware for Pellegrini’s title-chasing side.

It was City’s first League Cup title since 1976.

“We needed to win today, it was very important. And we deserved it the way we played in the second half,” Toure told Sky Sports.

“Today we showed we are a great team. I think it was my best goal.”

Sunderland spent the opening five minutes entrenched inside their own half as City, who scored 19 goals en route to the final, moved the ball around with ease on the lush turf.

But minutes later the ball was in the back of the City net.

There seemed no imminent danger as Borini closed down Vincent Kompany but City’s skipper was guilty of over-complication and Borini robbed him of the ball before bursting into the penalty area and thumping a shot with the outside of his right boot past Costel Pantilimon.

City dominated possession for the rest of the half without ever carving open a Sunderland rearguard bolstered by former Manchester United stalwarts Wes Brown and John O’Shea.

Phil Bardsley, who scored in Sunderland’s semi-final penalty shootout win over United, reacted superbly to deny Sergio Aguero a certain goal but keeper Vito Mannone was not required to make any outstanding saves.

Sunderland were always dangerous on the counter-attack and could have doubled their lead when Borini ran through on goal from a suspiciously offside position but Kompany recovered to nick the ball away as the Italian cocked his leg to shoot.

A city onslaught was expected at the start of the second half but again, Sunderland continued to impress.

Ki Sung-yueng, part of the Swansea City side to lift the trophy last season, let fly from 30 metres, forcing Pantilimon to tip his dipping strike over the crossbar.

Then the wheels fell off Sunderland’s bandwagon.

One nonchalant swing of Toure’s right leg sent a curling 25 metre shot beyond the fingertips of Mannone after 55 minutes and two minutes later Nasri turned the final on its axis with an unstoppable shot from the edge of the penalty area after Aleksandar Kolarov’s cross was half cleared.

It was cruel on Sunderland who until then had been worth their lead but a further demonstration of the formidable firepower available to Pellegrini.

Sunderland refused to capitulate and once their heads had cleared from the shock of two lightning bolts they began to pose some serious questions of a city defence that still looked vulnerable to crosses.

With Sunderland throwing men forward substitute Steven Fletcher hit a shot straight at Pantilimon and they battled gamely until the end to no avail.

Substitute Navas made absolutely sure there was no way back for Sunderland with City’s third on the stroke of full time.

The slavery drama “12 Years a Slave” won the Academy Award for best picture on Sunday, making history as the first movie from a black director to win the film industry’s highest honor in 86 years of the Oscars.

British director Steve McQueen’s unflinching portrayal of pre-Civil War American slavery won two other Oscars, including best supporting actress for newcomer Lupita Nyong’o and best adapted screenplay based on the memoir of Solomon Northup, a free man tricked and sold into slavery in Louisiana.

“Everyone deserves not just to survive but to live. This is the most important legacy of Solomon Northup,” said McQueen in his acceptance speech.

“12 Years a Slave,” prevailed over space thriller “Gravity” from Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron, which nevertheless racked up the most Oscars of the night with seven, including the best director honor for Cuaron, a first for a Latin American director.

The film starring Sandra Bullock as an astronaut lost in space swept the technical awards like visual effects and cinematography, a reward for its groundbreaking work on conveying space and weightlessness.

Referring to the “transformative” experience he and others undertook in the four-plus years spent making “Gravity,” Cuaron, whose hair is graying, said, “For a lot of these people, that transformation was wisdom. For me, it was just the color of my hair.”

In one of the strongest years for film in recent memory, the 6,000-plus voters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences scattered golden Oscar statuettes among the many acclaimed movies in contention.

It was a good night for the scrappy, low-budget film “Dallas Buyers Club,” a biopic of an early AIDS activist two decades in the making that won three Oscars, including the two male acting awards.

Matthew McConaughey, in a validation of a remarkable career turnaround, won best actor for his portrayal of the homophobe turned AIDS victim turned treatment crusader Ron Woodroof, a role for which he lost 50 pounds (23 kg).

His co-star, Jared Leto, won best supporting actor for his role as Woodroof’s unlikely business sidekick, the transgender woman Rayon, for which he also slimmed down drastically.

Australia’s Cate Blanchett won the best actress Oscar for her acclaimed role as the socialite unhinged by her husband’s financial crimes in Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine.”

“As random and subjective as this award is, it means a great deal in a year of, yet again, extraordinary performances by women,” said Blanchett, who beat out previous Oscar winners Bullock, Amy Adams, Judi Dench and Meryl Streep.

‘AMERICAN HUSTLE,’ ‘WOLF’ FALTER

The big loser of the night was director David O. Russell’s 1970s crime caper “American Hustle,” which walked away empty-handed despite earning 10 nominations, the same number as “Gravity.” Martin Scorsese’s tale of financial greed, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” also failed to take home Oscars.

But it was also a night of predictable wins for heavy favorites.

The tale of Nordic princesses, “Frozen,” won best animated film, a first for Disney Animation Studios since the category was introduced in 2002, and its girl-power anthem “Let It Go” won best original song.

For best foreign language film, Italy took its 11th Oscar in that category with “The Great Beauty,” a visually stunning film about life in Rome and a writer in crisis.

Comic and talk show star Ellen DeGeneres returned as Oscar host on Sunday, bringing a deadpan affability, and pizza, to the Academy Awards show while still poking fun at Hollywood royalty.

In her easy breezy style, DeGeneres mixed with the crowd liked she did back in 2007, taking a star-studded selfie with the likes of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie that broke the record for retweets on Twitter. And she largely avoided the ribald humor that landed her predecessor Seth MacFarlane in hot water last year.

Early reviews were broadly positive, but Variety’s Brian Lowry noted that the opening monologue by DeGeneres “screamed of a desire to dial the show back to safer terrain.”

Kenyan actress Nyong’o was one of the big stars of the night, not only for her winning pale blue Prada gown on the red carpet, but also for her touching speech.

In accepting the first award of the night for “12 Years a Slave,” Nyong’o, 31, paid homage to her character, who picked more cotton than anyone else but suffered at the hands of her besotted yet evil master.

“It doesn’t escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else’s, and so I want to salute the spirit of Patsey, for her guidance,” a tearful Nyong’o told the audience.

Sunday capped an unusually long awards season, extended by the Winter Olympics, and for “12 Years a Slave” it spells the end of six months of both high acclaim and uncertainty over awards stemming from the perception that it was a hard film to watch.

The film from studio Fox Searchlight compelled Oscar voters to go see the film with the ad ‘It’s Time,” fearing that they might skip it and throw their weight behind “Gravity.” It has earned nearly $140 million at the worldwide box office, a fraction of the $700 million for “Gravity.”

Right to the end, McQueen and his fellow producers, including Pitt, stuck to his line that slavery was a theme that is not only historical but also current.

“We just hope this film remains a gentle reminder that we are all equal,” said Pitt backstage.

Following is a collection of quotes from some of the winners:

MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, WINNER, BEST ACTOR, “DALLAS BUYERS CLUB”
“First off, I want to thank God, because that’s who I look up to. He’s graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hand or any other human hand. He has shown me that it’s a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates.”

ALFONSO CUARON, WINNER, BEST DIRECTOR, “GRAVITY”
“Making a film can be a transformative experience … for many of us involved in this film, it was definitely a transformative experience. For a lot of people that transformation was wisdom, for me it was just the color of my hair.”

CATE BLANCHETT, WINNER, BEST ACTRESS, “BLUE JASMINE”
“As random and subjective as this award is, it means a great deal in a year of, yet again, extraordinary performances by women.
While there are still some people in the film business “who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films with women at the center are niche experiences. They are not. Audiences want to see them, and in fact, they earn money.”

JARED LETO, WINNER, BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, “DALLAS BUYERS CLUB”
“To all the dreamers out there … in places like the Ukraine and Venezuela: I want to say, we are here and as you struggle to make your dreams happen, to live the impossible, we’re thinking of you tonight.”

LUPITA NYONG’O, WINNER, BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, “12 YEARS A SLAVE”
“It doesn’t escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else’s and so I want to salute the sprit of Patsey for her guidance.”

Gunmen burst into a court in a busy shopping area in the centre of the Pakistani capital on Monday, killing at least 11 people in a brazen attack likely to shatter any prospect of meaningful peace negotiations with Taliban insurgents.

A loud explosion reverberated across central Islamabad just after 9 a.m., followed by bursts of gunfire. Police said at least 30 were wounded. A judge was among those killed.

“There was a blast, then there was a lot of gunfire. Gunmen were spraying bullets at everyone,” said Faisal Ali, a businessman who witnessed the attack.

No one immediately claimed responsibility, but the attack is likely to show that the central Taliban leadership, which declared a month-long ceasefire over the weekend, is not fully in control of its operations.

Taliban fighters stage frequent attacks around the country, but such assaults are rare in Islamabad, the leafy and hilly seat of Pakistan’s government.

Broken glass and charred human remains littered the site of the blast at the F8 market area as residents and police rushed around in bloodstained clothes. A severed leg lay atop the rubble.

Pools of blood and severed body parts were scattered on the floor of several offices. Police said gunmen fired at random targets in the area after the initial court explosion.

Police blocked entry and exit points to the area, a maze of narrow, dusty streets lined with one-room shops and offices.

Camouflaged commandos knocked on doors and secured street corners as they combed through the area for more militants.

“There is one policeman among the dead,” local police station head constable Mohammad Yousaf told Reuters.

“We also have unconfirmed reports that two lawyers have died. There is a lot of chaos on the scene right now and things will become clearer soon.”

The Taliban, a fragmented group consisting of dozens of smaller bands of militants, said this weekend they would observe a one-month ceasefire to try to revive peace talks and called on all groups to observe it.

Talks broke down last month after a series of attacks and counterattacks by the army and the insurgents.

Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis resigned as a member of DIKO yesterday, in disagreement with the party’s decision to leave the government coalition last week.

DIKO abandoned the government on Wednesday over disagreements with President Nicos Anastasiades’ handling of the Cyprus problem.

In a written statement, Lakkotrypis said he strongly opposed the party’s decision.

“DIKO’s history requires it to be in the front line of developments,” Lakkotrypis said, referring to the ongoing effort to reunify the island and the economic difficulties the Republic was faced with.

He said he had sent a resignation letter to DIKO chairman Nicolas Papadopoulos.

Lakkotrypis asked for the DIKO supporters’ understanding, adding that his decision was “the only option dictated by my conscience.”

Party spokeswoman Christiana Erotokritou said the decision was respected as were Lakkotrypis’ personal ambitions and plans.

Erotokritou said DIKO was the thousands of members and voters who have been defending its principles and positions since 1976 and not the state officials.

On Wednesday, Papadopoulos had asked the four ministers belonging to his party to resign immediately.

On Friday, all 11 ministers put their resignations at the disposal of the president ahead of an expected reshuffle but Anastasiades asked them to remain in place until March 15.

Russia has started a build-up of armoured vehicles on the Russian side of a narrow stretch of water between Russia and the Ukrainian region of Crimea, Ukrainian border guards said on Monday.

A border guard spokesman also said Russian ships had been moving in and around the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, where the Russian Black Sea Fleet has a base, and that Russian forces had blocked mobile telephone services in some parts of Crimea.

He said the build-up of Russian armour was near a ferry port on the Russian side of what is known as the Kerch Strait, which separates the eastern edge of the Crimea peninsula and the western edge of the Taman Peninsula.

The strait is 4.5 km (2.8 miles) wide at its narrowest point and up to 18 metres (59 feet) deep.

“There are armoured vehicles on the other side of the strait. We can’t predict whether or not they will put any vehicles on the ferry,” the spokesman said by telephone.

The border guard spokesman did not say how many armoured vehicles had gathered in Russian territory, opposite the city of Kerch on the Ukrainian side of the strait.

There was no immediate comment from the Russian Defence Ministry.

The Kerch Strait also connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

Russian forces have taken control of Crimea, which has an ethnic Russian majority, and Ukraine has ordered a military mobilisation as well as putting its forces on combat alert.

Russia’s upper house of parliament has authorised President Vladimir Putin to deploy troops in Ukraine to defend Russian speakers in Ukraine who are said by Moscow to be under threat.