Prime Minister David Cameron hailed Britain’s first gay marriages on Saturday, saying marriage was not something that should be denied to anyone because of their sexuality.

Campaigners have spent years battling to end a distinction that many gay couples say made them feel like second class citizens and Saturday was the first day that gay couples could tie the knot in England and Wales.

“For the first time, the couples getting married won’t just include men and women – but men and men, and women and women,” Cameron said in a statement. “When people’s love is divided by law, it is the law that needs to change.”

The British government, with the backing of Cameron, legalised same-sex marriage last July but it was not until this month that couples could register their intention to marry and March 29 was the first possible date for ceremonies.

Gay couples have been allowed since 2005 to enter into “civil partnerships”, conferring the same legal rights as marriage, but campaigners say the distinction gives the impression that society considers gay relationships inferior.

“Put simply, in Britain it will no longer matter whether you are straight or gay – the state will recognise your relationship as equal,” said Cameron as couples in London andBrighton on England’s south coast held midnight ceremonies in a race to be the first to marry.

“It feels like a silver wedding,” said Peter McGraith, who was marrying his partner of 17 years, David Cabreza, at a ceremony in London at one minute past midnight.

McGraith said he hoped this would send to a powerful signal to other gay couples around the world.

“It puts pressure on those places where our rights are completely denied,” said McGraith who has two adopted children with Cabreza.

While the number of countries legalising gay marriage has grown significantly sincethe Netherlands made the first move in 2000, only 17 currently allow gay couples to marry.

The law’s passage in Britain last summer caused deep splits in Cameron’s ruling Conservative Party, where many are opposed to same-sex marriage because it contradicts their Christian beliefs.

Despite shifting public attitudes in Britain, research for the BBC showed that about one in five adults would turn down an invitation to a gay wedding. The poll, conducted for BBC Radio 5, found that men were nearly twice as likely to stay away as women with 29 per cent saying they would not attend.

Campaigners hailed the change in the law as a “historic moment” that was marked by flying rainbow-coloured flags, a symbol of the gay movement, over London’s government quarter.

“These weddings will send a powerful signal to every young person growing up to be lesbian, gay or bisexual – you can be who you are and love who you love, regardless of your sexual orientation,” said Ruth Hunt, acting chief executive for leading gay rights charity Stonewall.

POLISH Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Saturday the European Union should form an energy union to bolster its energy security and lessen its dependence on key gas supplier Russia whose annexation of Crimea has caused a tense stand-off with the West.

Russia provides a third of the EU’s oil and gas which is shipped through Ukraine.

“The experience of the last few weeks shows that Europe must strive towards solidarity when it comes to energy,” Tusk said.

He said Poland’s proposed energy union would be based on six points including the “rehabilitation” of coal as a valid energy source, more shale gas exploration and common purchases to ensure the best price.

Liquid gas imports from the United States should also play a role in Europe’s energy diversification efforts, he said.

Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea, European leaders have already agreed to accelerate their quest for more secure energy supplies and reduce dependence on Russian oil and gas.

The EU has made progress in improving its energy security since gas crises in 2006 and 2009, when rows over unpaid bills between Kiev and Moscow led to the disruption of gas exports to western Europe. However, it has not yet managed to reduce Russia’s share of European energy supplies.

Turkey has started an espionage investigation after a discussion between top officials on potential military action in Syria was leaked on YouTube, heralding a possible government crackdown on its political opponents after elections on Sunday.

The recording of the meeting between Turkey’s intelligence chief, foreign minister and deputy head of the military was by far the most serious breach in weeks of highly sensitive leaks, a scandal which Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has cast as a plot to sabotage the state and topple him.

Erdogan and his aides have blamed the Hizmet movement of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former ally whose followers have influence in the police and judiciary, of running a “dirty campaign” of espionage to implicate him in corruption ahead of crucial nationwide municipal elections on Sunday.

“Tomorrow we will teach those liars and slanderers a lesson,” Erdogan told a jubilant crowd of supporters in Istanbul’s working class Kartal district on Saturday, vowing his ruling AK Party would triumph at the polls.

Gulen has vociferously denied orchestrating the leak scandal, but those close to his network have said they fear a heavy crackdown once the local elections have passed.

Police overnight briefly detained Onder Aytac, a prominent writer and journalist known to be close to the Hizmet movement, on suspicion of having information about the bugging of the foreign ministry meeting, the Hurriyet newspaper said.

CNN Turk meanwhile reported Erdogan’s lawyers asked prosecutors to take precautionary measures to stop both Aytac and Emre Uslu, a newspaper columnist, academic and former senior anti-terrorism police official, from fleeing abroad.

Aytac said in a statement on the Hizmet-affiliated Samanyolu news website that he had been asked whether he was a spy and how he had known so much about the content of the leaked recording, after he discussed it on a television programme.

“I made my assessment as an academic in that programme. They are trying to intimidate people who think like me in this election process,” he said in the statement.

Senior officials said in February that Turkey would launch a criminal investigation into an alleged “parallel state” backed by Gulen, which they accuse of orchestrating the graft scandal and illegally tapping thousands of phones over years.

Erdogan’s government has already reassigned thousands of police officers and hundreds of prosecutors in a purge after the corruption investigation burst into the open on December 17 with the detention of businessmen and three ministers’ sons.

Gulen’s network has said it is the victim of a witch hunt.

Today’s Zaman, a newspaper close to the network, said on Saturday Erdogan had filed legal complaints against its editor and deputy editor, as well as its contributors Aytac and Uslu and a former Istanbul police intelligence chief.

Meanwhile, Fatih Altayli, editor-in-chief of the mainstream Haberturk newspaper who openly decried government pressure on the media in a television interview last month, said in a column on Saturday that he was stepping down.

“With great regret I see that an era of ‘militant journalism’ has started,” he wrote, decrying what he portrayed as an increasingly polarised media landscape in Turkey with a lack of independent voices.

The corruption scandal and anti-government protests last summer have grown into one of the greatest challenges of Erdogan’s 11-year rule, and his critics fear that what they see as his authoritarian instincts will only deepen if the AK Party puts in a strong showing in Sunday’s polls.

The bugged Syria meeting involved intelligence chief Hakan Fidan discussing possible military operations in Syria with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Deputy Chief of military Staff Yasar Guler and other senior officials.

Erdogan denounced the leak as “villainous” while Davutoglu called the posting a “declaration of war,” an apparent reference to the escalating power struggle with Gulen.

A BRITISH military Chinook helicopter made an emergency landing in Akamas, Paphos, on Saturday.

The helicopter, carrying ten personnel, had taken off from the British base at Akrotiri and was headed to Athens.

But shortly after take-off a mechanical fault was identified, prompting the crew to safely land in a private plot in the Akamas area, while police and the fire brigade were notified and arrived at the scene.

A second helicopter, also a Chinook, escorted the first one until it landed and resumed its voyage.

Arrangements were made for engineers to be transported from the British bases to the landing spot in order to fix the helicopter.

IMF MANAGING Director Christine Lagarde has praised the Cyprus authorities for keeping implementation of its adjustment programme on track and pointed out that the ongoing fiscal adjustment should be complemented by structural reforms.

On Friday the IMF completed its third review of Cyprus’ performance under last year’s bailout programme, approving the disbursement of about €83.3 million.

The IMF head said that the Cypriot authorities are to be commended for keeping the implementation programme on track, meeting their fiscal targets with significant margins, advancing fiscal structural reforms and completing the recapitalisation of the financial system.

“While the macroeconomic outturn in 2013 was better than expected, the outlook is challenging. Full and timely policy implementation, broad public acceptance, and continued support from Cyprus’s European partners remain critical to the program’s success”, she said.

Lagarde also noted that the successful resumption of credit and output growth depends on progress with reducing non-performing loans. “Prompt implementation of a strong insolvency framework is necessary to provide adequate incentives for voluntary debt restructuring negotiations,” she said.

According to Lagarde, continued efforts are needed to strengthen banking supervision and regulation and implement the anti-money laundering framework.

She also said that prudent fiscal policies have contributed to permanent budgetary savings and reduced the budget deficit, adding however that “in light of persistent macroeconomic uncertainty, cautious budget execution will need to be maintained this year”.

“The ongoing fiscal adjustment should be complemented by structural reforms to enhance the welfare system and protect vulnerable groups, modernise the revenue administration, further strengthen public financial management, and prepare state-owned assets for privatization,” the IMF chief said.

On Saturday, deputy government spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos said that the only way to return to the markets and to exit the memorandum Cyprus has signed with its international lenders is to carry on with the hard work achieved so far.

“Faithful implementation of the memorandum and a policy of prudence followed by the government have decidedly removed the risk of default, stabilised the economy and the banking system in less than 11 months, and have refuted the ominous predictions made from within and outside of Cyprus on the level of economic contraction,”  he said.

By Constantinos Psillides

ENVIRONMENT Commissioner Ioanna Panayiotou and municipalities across the island are seeking volunteers to take part in the “Let’s do it Cyprus!”, an island wide clean-up event scheduled to take place on April 6.

In a press release, the Environment Commissioner says that over 100 local authorities, 56 organisations and 16 government departments expressed interest in joining the campaign, which aims at cleaning-up the island in one day.

According to the Commissioner’s office, over 5,000 people have already volunteered.

“Our goal is to have as many volunteers as possible, so our message can reach the whole island,” said Panayiotou. “We need the help and participation of everyone. So we can clean up Cyprus in a day and keep it clean for ever.”

The “Let’s do it Cyprus!” is a part of the “Let’s do it World” clean-up campaign, which originated in Estonia. In 2008, Estonians organised a country wide campaign action and collected 10, 000 tons of waste by more than 50,000 volunteers in one day.

Following Estonia’s lead many countries also started their own country clean-up events. Today more than 100 countries, according to the press release, have joined the clean-up campaign.

Cyprus joined the “Let’s do it” movement in 2012, organising an event in which over 4,000 volunteers gathered 20 tons of garbage, according to figures provided by the organisers.

“Cyprus is considered a country littered with garbage. Cypriots produce 2 kg of garbage per capita daily, placing our island on the number one spot of the per capita production board amongst EU countries,” the commissioner said. “According to 2010 statistics, the annual per capita waste production for Cyprus was 691 kg. This is a reality we have to change.”

People interested in volunteering should contact the organisers by calling 70009055, via e-mail at letsdoitcyprus@gmail.com or via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LetsDoItCyprus. Volunteers will be informed whether their local authority is part of the campaign and the location of their designated clean-up site.

Wayne Rooney scored two first half goals to help send Manchester United to a 4-1 win over a spirited Aston Villa on Saturday, temporarily lifting the gloom surrounding David Moyes’ dismal first term in charge.

Last season’s champions have looked a pale imitation of the sides that bossed the Premier League under former manager Alex Ferguson, and have slumped to seventh on the back of poor home form that includes consecutive 3-0 defeats to bitter rivals Liverpool and Manchester City.

The Old Trafford crowd, many of whom booed a banner proclaiming ‘Wrong One – Moyes Out’ that was flown over the ground as the match started, had further cause to grumble when Ashley Westwood put Villa ahead with a 13th minute free-kick.

Rooney headed United level six minutes later before putting them ahead from the penalty spot just before halftime as he went fourth in the all-time Premier League scoring charts.

Christian Benteke missed two glorious chances to draw Villa level before Spaniard Juan Mata scored his first goal since his £37m move from Chelsea in January.

Mexican substitute Javier Hernandez rounded off the win in injury time as United moved to 54 points, nine off fourth-placed Arsenal in the final Champions League spot.

The win was a much-needed boost ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final against holders Bayern Munich.

“I’ve been saying all the time I’ve been here, the crowd have been great, they’ve been terrific to me as well because at times we haven’t done as well as we’d like,” Moyes told BT Sport after the match.

“We didn’t start the game well today once again, but I’ve got to say the crowd were brilliant, they were behind the team.”

Westwood provided an immediate setback when he curled in a perfectly-placed free-kick that keeper David De Gea could only help into the net, following Rafael’s rash challenge on Gabriel Agbonlahor.

The goal was a wake-up call for the hosts, who drew level six minutes later when Shinji Kagawa found an unmarked Rooney in the box. The England striker headed home off the post for his 14th goal of the season.

Rooney and Kagawa continued to look lively, as did Mata, and while Villa posed a threat through Benteke and Westwood, the home trio combined to put United ahead just before the break.

Japanese international Kagawa threaded a ball through to Mata, who was cut down in the box by Leandro Bacuna, and Rooney gave Brad Guzan no chance from the penalty spot.

The goal took the 28-year-old’s Premier League tally to 171, behind Alan Shearer(260), Andy Cole (187) and Thierry Henry (175).

“He’s a top player, he’s been great since the start of the season and anything I say I’d just be repeating myself,” Moyes said of Rooney.

“I did say to him after the game that if you keep scoring two goals a game for us, that’s going to give us a great chance of doing better.”

Benteke missed a glorious chance to draw level soon after the restart when Westwood found him unmarked inside the six-yard box, but the Belgian failed to connect after cleverly bringing the ball down with his chest.

Five minutes later Benteke rose above Nemanja Vidic to meet a Marc Albrighton cross, but could not keep his header down.

Villa rued those misses when Mata scored, finishing from close range just before the hour after Marouane Fellaini held the ball up in the box, although Guzan denied Rooney a hat-trick.

Benteke missed a further opportunity before Hernandez added the final flourish, getting his foot on the end of Adnan Januzaj’s enticing cross as United won their first league game at home since late January.

Leaders Chelsea were playing later at Crystal Palace while Arsenal looked to keep their slim title hopes alive in the late kick-off at the Emirates against third-placed Manchester City.

Clocks will be moved forward by one hour as Daylight Saving Time (DTS) or summertime comes into force on Sunday.

At 3.00 am on Sunday, the clocks will move forward to 4.00am. DTS will remain in force until October 26

Chelsea’s Premier League title ambitions took a major hit on Saturday when a John Terry own goal condemned the leaders to a shock 1-0 defeat at lowly Crystal Palace.

As Chelsea sank to their first defeat by Palace in 24 years, reigning champions Manchester United ended a week of turmoil with a 4-1 victory over Aston Villa thanks to two goals by England striker Wayne Rooney.

Terry headed a Joel Ward cross into his own goal early in the second half, amid suggestions it touched Palace defender Joe Ledley’s hand on the way in.

Chelsea remained top of the table with 69 points, one ahead of Liverpool who can go top when they play Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

Manchester City, who were playing Arsenal later on Saturday, are three points off the lead with three matches in hand.

United came back from a goal down in a match that saw Juan Mata’s first goal since arriving from Chelsea, a late Javier Hernandez goal and a protest by some United fans who flew a banner carrying the message ‘Wrong One – Moyes Out’ over Old Trafford as the match started.

The holders remained seventh, nine points off fourth-placed Arsenal.

Goals to England trio Jay Rodriguez (2), Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana helped Southampton cruise to a 4-0 win over a toothless Newcastle United, while a Jonathan de Guzman double and a Wayne Routledge strike saw Swansea beat Norwich City 3-0 for only their third win in 18 matches

Peter Odemwingie’s scoring streak since joining Stoke City continued as he registered the only goal of the match in a 1-0 win over Hull City, while Cardiff fought back from going two down to draw 3-3 at fellow strugglers West Bromwich Albion.

By Angelos Anastasiou

A RESEARCH project that aims to evaluate the creaking justice system through the eyes of its participants has been announced by the University of Cyprus.

The research project, jointly undertaken by the University of Cyprus’ (UCY) Law Department and the Cyprus Bar Association (CBA), will be carried out by a standardised questionnaire to be filled out by all members of the judicial system – lawyers, judges and administrative personnel.

Its questions touch on time-old challenges facing the Cyprus judiciary, such as the functioning of courts, the execution of court orders, the disciplinary council, lawyers’ and court fees, the registrar of companies and the official receiver, and legal professionals are asked to suggest solutions to the problems they identify.

“The CBA has wanted to conduct this research for years,” the association’s executive director Koulia Vakis said, “so when the University approached us with this research proposal, we were more than happy to conduct it jointly.”

The announcement came on the back of claims made to the House Watchdog Committee earlier this month by CBA president Doros Ioannides that a ring of lawyers had set up a network with police stations so that state-offered legal representation applicants would be referred to them, thus receiving big chunks of the state legal aid budget.

Ioannides has also been extremely vocal in warning against the problems faced by the Cyprus judicial system, mainly owing to the understaffed courts since the freeze on government hiring was implemented early in 2013, which has meant that exiting judges, clerks and secretaries cannot be replaced.

Several critical views have been voiced towards the effectiveness – or lack thereof – of the CBA’s disciplinary council, comprising the Attorney-general, the CBA president and five executive members. A flurry of complaints filed to the council in recent years, relating to alleged fraud during the property boom, has produced meagre results. According to many plaintiffs – mostly foreigners who claim to have been defrauded when buying property in Cyprus – cases either took too long to investigate or appropriate punishment was never doled out.

Meanwhile, the Cyprus justice system is notoriously slow in dispensing justice, with the 2014 EU Justice Scoreboard, a report published by the European Commission, measuring the average completion time of a civil or commercial dispute at 505 days – the second-highest in the EU – while the Cyprus government expenditure on law courts as a percentage of GDP is the lowest in the EU. On a general ‘quality of justice’ scale of 0 to 4, Cyprus ranks second-to-last with 2.0, ahead of only Greece.

In light of the disappointing results, last week the Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou announced a series of measures taken by the government, mainly aimed at unclogging the justice system and improving justice quality.

He said these included the newly-created administrative court that is designed to lighten the Supreme Court’s workload, a legislative amendment that allows single-judge family courts to try cases, and the introduction of mechanisms to allow for the swift resolution of minor disputes.

According to Nicolaou, further efficiency is being introduced into the justice system through electronic justice and the continuous education of judges.

“We are proceeding to evaluate judicial activity through electronic logging of all the elements involved in measuring trial completion periods and evaluating the efficiency of court procedures, which will enable us to draw conclusions helpful to our efforts to improve the judicial system”, he said.

The UCY-CBA research is designed to bring to the fore the extent of these problems and more, along with suggested solutions from those directly involved, in hopes that its conclusions will be utilised appropriately by the competent authorities.

Vakis said that the research findings will be presented in a joint press conference with the University of Cyprus.

“The CBA cooperates closely with both the Justice Minister and the Supreme Court”, she said, “so we are hopeful that they will help improve the judicial system significantly.”

By Constantinos Psillides

AN Iranian man was arrested at Paphos airport on Tuesday for attempting to leave the country with a fake passport, and although this might seem like a routine case, nothing could be further from the truth.

The man in question has had an extraordinary 16-year history with Cyprus, much of the last five years behind bars because he cannot be deported to Iran and authorities here did not want to free him. He was considered “an undesirable immigrant” having been sentenced in 2007 to four months on drugs charges, and for the next five years held in Block 10, the precursor to the Menoyia detention centre.

As a result of his prolonged imprisonment, the man has contracted Hepatitis C (which according to his lawyer happened while he was in custody), lost 18 teeth and developed a stomach ulcer.

Using a fake passport to try and leave the country was “the desperate act of a desperate man” said his lawyer Michalis Paraskevas. “This was not an ordinary crime. We drove him to this. We should be ashamed,” he said.

“We left him in prison to rot, we destroyed his health and we refuse to let him leave the country.”

According to a report from the Office of the Ombudswoman on July 19, 2012, the man first came to Cyprus from Iran in 1998 and was deported in 2000 as an “illegal immigrant”. He claimed he fled Iran in fear for his life as he openly opposed the government there.

In 2001 he came back and in 2003 he submitted an application for asylum at the Cyprus offices of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, who handled applications before Cyprus entered the EU.

His application was rejected in the first and second instance. When Cyprus joined the EU in 2004 he filed an application again but was rejected in 2006.

In 2007 he was arrested for possession of a controlled narcotic substance and sentenced to four months. He strongly contested his arrest, accusing the arresting officers of planting the drugs on him so they could have an excuse to throw him in jail. He was taken to the Central Prisons where he served his sentence and then moved to Block 10 on the prison grounds awaiting deportation.

Under EU law immigrants awaiting deportation cannot be held for a period over six months. In some instances, the member state can extend the holding period for an additional 12 months but under no circumstances is an immigrant to be detained over 18 months.

In 2008 the Iranian man filed a complaint with the Ombudswoman’s office, claiming that being detained had contributed in a deteriorating mental health, developing stomach ulcer and the loss of 18 teeth. She suggested to the interior ministry to free him on humanitarian grounds.

The ministry agreed but demanded that the man contacted the Iranian embassy to have a passport issued. He rejected the terms, claiming that contacting the embassy would result in him being sent back to Iran and tortured or killed.

The ministry refused to free him unconditionally, since “he was arrested for the serious crime of drug possession and he repeatedly refuses to cooperate with authorities”, according to a report in 2010. “To detain an individual in such conditions for so long simply because he is not cooperative borders on inhumane and humiliating treatment,” the Ombudswoman responded in her report, arguing that there was no “logical prospect” of deporting the man so he should be freed.

Immigration services and the interior ministry ignored the Ombudswoman but were ordered by the Supreme Court to release the man, after his lawyer filed a habeas corpus petition. In November 2012 the Supreme Court accepted the habeas corpus request and ordered the immediate release of the Iranian man. He was released in January 2013, on condition that within two months he contact the Iranian embassy to have a passport issued. He did not and went into hiding.

His lawyer claims that the Iranian man is a textiles expert and had a job waiting for him in a major Cyprus firm but can’t work because the authorities won’t issue a work permit.

The ministry rejected the lawyer’s request, which was the last straw for the Iranian man and he tried to leave the country with the fake passport on Tuesday only to find himself behind bars again.

“We threw him in prison for a total of five years, we can’t deport him because he is going to get killed and we don’t allow him to stay and get a job. At least we should let him go. He wants to escape,” the lawyer said.

The Iranian man is to appear before court on April 3.

By Bejay Browne

THE OWNERS of a small, award-winning, picturesque hotel in the Paphos village of Lysos have discovered the hard way how easy it is to be a victim of your own success.

Paradisos Hills hotel in Lysos opened nine years ago and built a reputation for offering quality, excellent service and attention to detail, and yet the last 18 months have left them struggling to survive amid the economic crisis and spiraling running costs.

Sisters Soulla Charalambous and Niki Chrystodoulou take most of the responsibility for the day-to-day running of the hotel and the family has invested hundreds of thousands of euros in a place which is praised for its traditional Cypriot hospitality.

Encouraged by their success, the family decided several years ago to extend the hotel and was hoping to complete a project which included an additional 12 bedrooms – they currently have 15 – a conference room and a spa.

The entire project comes with a hefty 1.6 million euro price tag and work undertaken so far has already come in at half of that.

“We have had to halt work due to finances and we don’t know when we will be able to complete it,” she said.

The boutique hotel has just re-opened after closing for a few months in the winter, the second year they have had to do this, in order to slash outgoing costs.

“We have to survive and we are determined to do so. We have to turn over thousands every month to cover our costs. Our electricity bill alone has gone up to 6,000 euros every two months,” Soulla said.

“There are seven of us working here altogether and this is the minimum we can operate with. We have to remain competitive, so we have dropped our prices, as this is much better than being empty.”

Paradisos is set in a stunning, tranquil location a fifteen minute or so drive from Polis and on the edge of the forest. The scenery is a pull for lovers of the countryside as there is an abundance of nature trails and wild birds, as well as horse-riding which is close by.

Despite all these attractions and the family’s warm welcome, as with many other such businesses, the family has seen a massive drop in bookings.

“Our customers are mostly Cypriot and British, although we do get visitors from other countries as well,” Soulla said. “Many Cypriots used to come for overnight stays or long weekends, but we have seen the biggest decrease in this market.”

The part of the 1.6 million euro project the family has so far managed to complete includes a large function room, outdoor roof terrace and an infinity pool, of which the latter two boast some of the best views in Cyprus.

“Luckily, the level which we use is now finished and tidy, and the other works, which have been put on hold, aren’t obvious as they are underneath this. Most people aren’t even aware of it,” Soulla said.

The family’s problems weren’t restricted only to the crisis. They were also adversely affected by a strike at the island’s only cement factory, which occurred right in the middle of the ongoing building work.

“This really slowed us down,” said Soulla. “We have come through some real difficulties and a lot of stress.”

As well as slashing prices, the businesswomen say they are trying to offer more for customers. They have a number of musical evenings planned which are due to get underway in April. In addition, a yoga retreat will be held by industry professionals and seminars can be held in the newly completed function room.

Paradisos can also organise and host weddings, most of which have been for British couples, as the function room has a capacity to hold only 220 guests.

“This is quite small for Cypriot weddings, as they usually have thousands of guests. But we have held a Cypriot wedding for 900 guests outside in the parking area. When it’s decorated, it looks lovely,” said Soulla.

Her sister, Niki, who is the hotel’s chef, is offering cookery lessons where participants will learn to create traditional Cyprus dishes.

Niki offers lessons in Cypriot cooking

Billing itself as a ‘home away from home’, the hotel has consistently won praise from visitors who comment on many of the interactive holiday sites. It has been awarded, peoples’ choice and best service awards as well as certificates of excellence from Trip Advisor.

Although the sisters are the mainstay of the business, other family members often help out at the hotel during busy times such as Sunday lunch, parties and other functions.

The sisters believe that more should be done by the CTO to promote Cyprus and in particular Polis and the surrounding areas, which are seeing a general decrease in visitor numbers each year.

“This is such a beautiful area and like other areas of Cyprus, sadly, Polis is really suffering,” Soulla said:

www.paradisoshills.com

By Bejay Browne

A NEW HOSTEL has opened in Limassol offering alternative accommodation for guests on a budget.

The project is set in a 1960s building in Ayias Fylaxeos street – the Jamouda area – in the heart of Limassol. It has been carefully renovated to keep the character of the house, whilst providing comfortable and spacious accommodation.

Owned and operated by Elias Eliades and Antonis Antoniou, the new venture fills a gap in the local market and will cater for families, groups of friends, back packers, students and individual travellers.

The owners came up with the idea of creating the house after visiting numerous hostels in other countries. Lima Sol house can accommodate seven to eight people in two bedrooms.

“Both Antonis and I have travelled extensively around Europe and have stayed in many similar places. Although there is a crisis, that doesn’t dampen people’s wish to travel, but more people are looking for cheaper places to stay as many hotels are expensive,” Eliades told the Sunday Mail

The hostel owner will operate the premises along with Antoniou, they both speak Greek and English and have a staff member also speaks German and French.

“We only opened a couple of weeks ago and during the carnival were fully booked. We are already taking bookings from Sweden for August,” he said:

Only two rooms are operational at present, with seven or eight beds in total but two further rooms will be ready shortly, which will bring the total tally up to 12 beds. All of the facilities are shared.

“We offer comfortable accommodation and the building has a balcony all of the way around. There is a large living area with a TV, a kitchen and bathroom and free parking for our customers.”

Bathroom facilities at the hostel

Situated just a five minute walk from the old town in a superb location close to the main commercial and cultural areas of Limassol and about ten minutes from the seafront, Eliades says that most areas are accessible on foot.

During the day, Limassol is a haven for shoppers, whilst at night time the old town comes alive with those visiting the towns numerous clubs, bars and restaurants.

The Lima Sol house is also close to the central bus station, just a couple of minutes walk away.

“We chose the location very carefully, it’s important to be in the right place and it’s easy to get around whilst using us a base.”

The new venture also offers guests free Wi-Fi, a TV in the shared living area, a free locker for luggage, complimentary coffee and tea, linen and towels and 24 hour access, there is also an information desk.

It costs 15 euros per bed for a one night stay at the house, 40 euros a bed for a three night stay and 95 euros a bed for a seven night stay.

Eliades said that at present, bookings may be made via their Facebook page or by email or telephone. A dedicated website will be up and running in a few weeks.

For information and reservations: Elias Eliades 99562205, Antonis Antoniou 96269556 hostellimassol@hotmail.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lima-Sol-house/223448137847355

By Patroclos

BASH-PATRIOTISM and personal interest have always walked hand in hand in Kyproulla. So much so, scientists would do well to investigate whether there is a special chromosome or combination of chromosomes which ensures that these character traits go together.

This came to mind the other day when I heard that the members of the board of the English School, the big majority of whom, have impeccable bash-patriotic credentials, had decided that their kids would be given a place in the school even if they flunked the entrance exam.

This would be done in a rather elegant way. When the kid of a board member did not get adequate marks in the entrance exam, the kid and parent would be informed of this and if the kid still wanted to go to the school he would be accepted.

The bash-patriots on the board supported this rather corrupt practice, which made a bit of a mockery of the meritocratic selection process the school likes to boast about. To be fair this unequal treatment is not a new thing. The kids of teachers’ working at the school have been enjoying this privilege for many years.

Even if they score zero in the entrance exam their place is guaranteed, while some unfortunate kid that scored higher marks would be excluded. Of course, the special treatment of teachers’ kids is a workers’ conquest that must be respected.

THE BOARD also discussed a proposal, made by the bash-patriotic, Chairperson Magda Nicholson, for a 50 per cent discount on the tuition fees (about €7,500 per annum) for the kids of board members. This is another workers’ conquest, enjoyed by the highly-paid teachers of the school.

However, after a heated debate, the bash-patriotic board members were persuaded by the few sensible, non-bash members that approving such a privilege for themselves would invite a lot negative publicity, especially at a time when the school is facing big financial problems.

Common sense may have prevailed in this case but there cannot be much hope for a school run by a board primarily concerned with doing favours for its members. Then again, English School board members are entitled to enjoy some benefit in kind, in exchange for their bash-patriotism and selfless service to the country.

IN THE OLD days, the English School gave scholarships to smart kids from poor families that could not afford the tuition fees. This may still be done today, but the teachers’ conquests have turned things upside down.

It is now possible for a kid of below average intelligence to fail the entrance exam, but get a place at the school and be entitled to a 50 per cent discount on tuition fees because his or her parent is a teacher at the school. This could be called a scholarship for low intelligence, perfectly in keeping with our society’s egalitarian, Akelite values.

In order to protect the high standard of living of the school’s teachers, the board has been considering increasing the tuition fees, something which is certain to go down well with cash-strapped parents. This reinforces the long-held view of our establishment that most Cypriots think like Akelites, including extreme, right-wing bash-patriots.

CHIEF of Police Michalis Papageorgiou was unceremoniously sacked by Prez Nik on Thursday, a day after the neo-fascist thugs of ELAM broke into a Limassol building in which Mehmet Ali Talat was to give a speech and caused havoc.

There were only nine cops providing security for the event, which allowed the Elamite mob to force its way into the building and intimidate people; they also took a Turkish Cypriot’s photographer’s camera and fired a flare. It was nothing drastic, although the police compounded their failure by not arresting any of the thugs.

The next day, questioned on a radio show, the Chief, inadvertently, confirmed the accusations of ineffectiveness and incompetence by saying that he had left his subordinates to deal with the Talat event because he had gone to bed at 5.30am, having spent the previous nights touring police stations, and had not gone into work when he woke up.

What a shame that Papageorgiou, described as the only completely honest and incorruptible cop in the force by a government insider, turned out to be so hopeless at his job. This is not to suggest his successor is corrupt or dishonest. He was chosen because he was not working in the force, but in the PoliceAcademy.

PAPAGEORGIOU’S problem was that he would only have got a place at the English School if his dad was a member of the board or a teacher at the school.

His intelligence was not his strongest quality and it showed after his sacking when he was touring the radio and TV stations, moaning about his treatment, censuring the leadership of the minister of justice and threatening to take the Republic to court here and in Europe for his unfair dismissal.

He was unfortunate he did not fall under the authority of the ECB, which, as a matter of principle, blocks the dismissal of independent state officials, no matter how incompetent they prove to be. If he did, he may have received a golden handshake of a few hundred grand from the state and a letter of thanks from Nik for the fine job he had done.

But without the backing of the ECB he got nothing, except a mean letter from Nik telling him how bad he was at his job.

EVERYONE turned against the Elamites. Even Yiorkos Lillikas’ party, which is only marginally to the left of ELAM, condemned their actions defending the right of Talat, affectionately described by Phil as a former ‘occupation leader’, to express his views.

There was an element of hypocrisy in the condemnations by the bash-patriots, because the Elamites have similar views to them on the Cyprob. Their only sin was that they acted on their anti-Turkish feelings instead of confining themselves to brave words like their bash-patriotic fellow travellers.

Nobody told them that our struggle against occupation can only be waged by words.

OUR ESTABLISHMENT felt honoured that the Bank of Cyprus board responded to last week’s report about the board meeting in Moscow, even though it was not an official response, but anonymous comments made to Phil and Tass news agency last Wednesday.

The anonymous source claimed that the members of the board had gone to Moscow to see for themselves the prospects of Uniastrum Bank, in which BoC has an 80 per cent shareholding and to be given a presentation by the bank’s management.

They would obviously gain a much better understanding of Uniastrum’s prospects by reading documents about its performance in a board-room in Moscow than in a board-room in Strovolos.

It did not occur to the happy bunny chairman of the board that he could have asked the management of the bank to give the presentation in Kyproulla as then Uniastrum would have paid the bill for air-fares and hotels and not the bailed in depositors of the BoC.

THE ANONYMOUS source of the board resorted to a bit of misinformation about the trip. For instance, Phil’s report on Wednesday referred to a two-day trip to Moscow.

How could it be two days, when the directors left on Tuesday and were to have been given a presentation by Uniastrum on Friday? If my arithmetic is correct this would make it a four-day trip if they dashed to the airport immediately after the presentation and five days if they returned yesterday. Phil also wrote that there were six Russian directors on the board, but unless Marios Kalochoritis is a Russian with a Greek name there are five.

Phil also wrote the following: “The assurances by Cypriot directors that the cost of going to Russia is lower in relation to the cost of the Russian directors coming to Cyprus, failed to dampen the reactions.”

How is it possible that the cost of five Russian directors coming to Cyprus for a one-day board meeting and staying in a hotel for two nights could be less than 11 Cypriot directors (including secretary) flying to Moscow and staying in super-plush hotel for four nights with their wives?

The wives, according to Phil’s unnamed sources that are so bad at arithmetic, were paying their own expenses, but which expenses we were not told?

SOME LIGHT was shed on the issue on the Cyprus Mail website, by someone calling him/herself Nik Nak and claiming to be a BoC employee. Nik Nak wrote that the directors were travelling economy and “any spouses travelling with them are of course paying their own expenses.” This was rather vague because it was unclear whether, apart from the air-fare, the spouses would also be contributing to the hotel and restaurant bills.

My question is why Nik Nak, who also defended the happy bunny’s decision to block the hiring of a spokesperson, did not use his or her real name in the post, as this would have enhanced his or her career prospects. Instead 200 employees can now go to the chairman, claiming they were Nik Nak and demanding promotion for standing up for him.

MANY OF our illustrious leaders were alarmed to hear the thinly-veiled threats made by Mother Russia’s ambassador, Stanislav Osadchiy, who said in an interview on Mega TV last week Moscow was disappointed with our government’s decision to side with the EU on the issue of Crimea.

Osadchiy, sounding like the governor of Russian satellite issuing friendly advice to the errant locals, warned that if there were more sanctions it would have negative effects on the Cyprus economy as “our businessmen would pull out their capital and repatriate their activities.”

Brave freedom fighters like Omirou and Lillikas started trembling with fear, urging the government to do everything in its power to appease Mother Russia and safeguard our “valuable ties”. The legislature even passed a resolution on Thursday urging the government to refrain from any actions which may “upset relations between the Republic and the Russian Federation”.

Omirou even issued a statement explaining why we should be bending over for Mother Russia, but there is no space to go into the utter nonsense he wrote this week. For now I will just express my bitter disappointment with Omirou for showing such cowardice. What has happened to the proud and defiant man who publicly stood up to Barrack Obama (we still remember his courageous, “how dare Mr Obama” speech)?

THE FUND set up by our public-spirited deputies in January to finance social cohesion and create jobs has not been very successful. Depending exclusively on voluntary contributions, it has so far collected a big zero. You would have expected the deputies who came up with this bright idea and voted it through to have put their money where their mouths were and contributed at least five euros each just to get the fund going. But it appears the expertise of our socially sensitive and caring deputies is taking rather than giving.

AT LONG last, on Thursday, the House Institutions Committee issued the findings of its investigation into the banking collapse which its chairman Demetris Syllouris had been promising would reveal all about the wheeler dealing, the links between banks and politicians, the dubious decisions of top bankers etc.

The report revealed nothing. It mentioned all the loans of politicians that had been written off by the banks without mentioning any names. This did not stop Syllouris from taking the moral high ground and making self-righteous sermons in the media about how he had exposed corruption and the suspect links between banks and politicians.

Names were not revealed because this could undermine the criminal investigations being carried out by the Attorney General. Another reason could be that one of the people who had a substantial investment loan written off by a bank was Mrs Syllouris.

THE HOUSE of Representatives passed a resolution on Thursday urging the government “to refrain from any actions, including actions within international organisations, which may upset the relations of the Republic of Cyprus and the Russian Federation”.

With the exception of DISY, which abstained, all other parties supported this meaningless resolution, passed a little before the UN General Assembly was to vote on a resolution denouncing the annexation of Crimea by Russia. The Cyprus government still voted in favour of the resolution, provoking some public criticism from parties. It had also backed, a week earlier, the sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Council, despite calls by party leaders, to avoid doing so at all costs.

Our politicians had suspended their adherence to international legality and positions on principle, about which they regularly give lessons to the whole world, because they could not possibly condemn Russia’s actions in Crimea. They even justified the annexation of Ukrainian sovereign territory, on the grounds that Crimea belonged to Russia in the past and the majority of the population living there was Russian. There were no similarities with what Turkey had done in Cyprus, they argued, rather unconvincingly.

They were happy to overlook the similarities, as our struggling economy depends on Russian business and, more importantly, Moscow had always been a supporter of the Greek Cypriot cause. The House resolution warned against jeopardising our “valuable” ties with Russia, which it described as a “steadfast supporter of the Republic of Cyprus at critical times throughout its history”.

House President Yiannakis Omirou tried to explain what shape the “valuable support of Russia, in the last decades, at the side of the Cyprus Republic” took. “As a permanent member of the Security Council, both the Soviet Union and Russian Federation took a leading role in resolutions that were positive for Cyprus, while in 2004 prevented the adoption of the Annan plan by the Security Council.” It was also the only country that agreed to sell us arms, said Omirou, who also mentioned the large number of Russian tourists in recent years.

Omirou, like the leader of the Alliance of Citizens, Giorgos Lillikas, who had urged the government not to vote for EU sanctions, was deeply concerned about the warnings issued by the Russian Ambassador Stanislav Osadchiy, in an interview on Mega TV. Osadchiy, avoiding diplomatic niceties, said Moscow was not happy about Cyprus’ alignment with other EU member-states on sanctions and warned that if the EU stance did not change “our businessmen would pull out capital and repatriate their activities.” If there were tougher sanctions, he envisaged negative effects for the Cyprus economy which depended on Russian business.

Had the ambassador of any Western country issued similar warnings, they would have been perceived as blackmail and our politicians would have gone on the attack, but such is their loyalty to Moscow they took the ambassador’s thinly-veiled threats to heart and turned on the government. The irony is that Russia’s supposed “steadfast support” is more myth than reality. It dates back to the Cold War when Makarios would side with the Soviet Union in the naive belief that he would thus have a stronger hand in his dealings with the West. It ended in disaster, but we have learnt nothing from this mistake.

The same thinking prevails today. The Russian Federation’s steadfast support consists of changing the wording of UN Security Council resolutions that we do not approve of. Just like the Soviet Union before him, Putin’s Russia is much more interested in preserving its close ties with Turkey that, understandably, it would never put at risk for a tiny, inconsequential country like Cyprus. Trade between the two countries in 2013 was worth $35 billion while Russia is set to build Turkey’s first nuclear power station. Russia’s “steadfast support” for Cyprus goes only as far as not jeopardising its relations with Turkey.

This is why the official mythology about Russia always being by our side, with regard to the Cyprus problem, needs be challenged and eventually laid to rest. When we joined the EU we made a choice – to be part of the Western world. And the majority of our parties now want Cyprus to join Partnership for Peace, another Western club. But we cannot have it both ways. We cannot claim to belong to the West, but at same time act like Russia’s satellite because we want to keep Moscow, to whom we owe nothing, happy.

 By Jonathan Kaminsky and Bryan Cohen

The number of people missing from a landslide that sent a wall of mud cascading over dozens of homes in Washington state dropped to 30 from 90 on Saturday, but the death toll continues to climb as another body was found in the muddy heap of debris.

One week after the catastrophe, the unofficial body count rose to 28. The official tally of those killed is now 18 based on bodies found, extricated and identified by medical examiners.

But with the grim news also came word that the number of missing fell dramatically as officials were able to account for dozens of people as “safe and well.”

Rescue and recovery workers pushed through wind and rain on Saturday continuing to comb through debris left after the rain-soaked hillside gave way without warning and destroyed dozens of homes on the outskirts of the rural Washington town of Oso, northeast of Seattle.

“The number is so big and it’s so negative. It’s hard to grasp,” said volunteer Bob Michajla, 66, who has been helping to search part of the debris field that covers a square-mile (2.6 square-km). “These are all friends and neighbors and family. Everybody knows everybody in this valley.”

The process of identifying victims has been complicated by the fact that some bodies have not been found intact.

An estimated 180 people lived in the path of the landslide.

As families and friends wait for news of those still unaccounted for, many have turned to social media sites to mourn and share memories of those presumed lost. A memorial page includes pleas for information on many of the missing, as well as prayers, condolences and offers of help.

“I find it difficult to do anything other than try to get updates to see if any new survivors have been found,” said 50-year-old Brenda Roberson of nearby Arlington.

The plight of the Spillers family has gotten much attention. Postings on memorial web pages say Billy Spillers, 30, was at home with his four children when the hillside came down on their home.

Four-year-old Jacob Spillers was pulled out alive but his sister Kaylee, 5, was found dead. Billy and his two other children are still unaccounted for. The mother was not at home and survived.

Linda McPherson, 69, a librarian, died as her husband was able to dig himself out, according to theSnohomish County Landslide Victims Memorial Page on Facebook, while a 4-month-old girl and her grandmother were among those who perished.

No one has been pulled alive from the rubble since the day the landslide hit, when at least eight people were injured but survived. Rescuers have found no signs of life since then.

Lifelong Darrington resident Nolan Meece, 19, a recent high school graduate and frequent presence at community meetings about the slide, said he was among the first on the pile, arriving within an hour of the disaster.

“I was out there with my hands digging through all that mud,” he said, adding that when he first arrived he heard survivors calling out but that those on the scene could not save them. “The ones I seen did not survive,” he said.

The recovery operation has shown no signs of letting up, and heavy equipment operators were working to complete a rudimentary service road for emergency workers connecting the two sides of Highway 530, which was washed out by the slide.

Ron Brown, a Snohomish County official involved in search-and-rescue operations, said the debris field may end up being the final resting place for some victims, who may be buried so thoroughly they cannot be found.

“That’s going to be hallowed ground out there,” he said.

John Farmer, 52, who lives east of the slide site, suggested at a community meeting on Friday that the site should never be rebuilt but turned into a park or other place of remembrance.

“A place where we can remember our loved ones, our neighbors, our families, our friends,” Farmer said.

By Andreas Vou
DESPITE a thoroughly disappointing 2013, Marcos Baghdatis looks to be regaining some form following a mini-renaissance at the prestigious Sony Open in Miami.

2013 was a year to forget for Baghdatis. The Limassol native managed a personal low of losing in the first round of tournaments a massive 16 times, including a 12-match run of defeats. Fans, media, and even the man himself at times, had given up hope.

Nothing went right for the former world No.8. Whether he was facing the best in the business or a rookie just arriving on the scene, it seemed like Baghdatis’ career would just fade out.

However, he is bouncing back, slowly but surely. He received a wildcard invitation to Indian Wells but opted instead to use it for Miami, meaning he would have more time to prepare, and the risk paid off.

The 28-year old was pitted against Colombian Santiago Giraldo in the first round of a tournament in which he was making his seventh appearance. Most had written him off before the match started and after going down 6-1 in the first set, defeat seemed inevitable. However, Baghdatis proved everybody wrong, turning the match on its head and ended up winning in superb fashion.

Baghdatis faced Philip Kohlschreiber in the second round and pulled off another remarkable comeback to defeat the German. The Cypriot fell 6-3 in the first set but won the next two on the tie-break.

He went on to face world No.11 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in another exhilarating contest but this time was edged out by the Frenchman in a two-and-a-half hour thriller.
Baghdatis may have lost the match but he looks to have regained the confidence which his past successes have been based upon.

Currently without a coach having parted company with Croatian Zeljko Krajan, Baghdatis is training at the world-renowned IMG Academy in Florida, working alongside top-class coaches. He had trained there two weeks prior to the Miami event, which evidently had a positive impact.

President of the Cyprus Tennis Association, Filios Christodoulou, told the Sunday Mail how Baghdatis is training extremely hard to get back to the top of his game.
“He preferred to use the wildcard for Miami rather than Indian Wells. He preferred to prepare at the academy in Florida where he had time to fine-tune his game.”

Christodoulou is adamant that his decision to train in Florida has been crucial to his recent improvement, believing that the extra two weeks of preparation paid off.
“It seems as though the training and the extra time helped him do well. He did very well and the mtch against Tsonga showed how he is getting back some form. He won the first set and led 5-1 in the second set tie-break but ended up losing. It was very bad luck.”

Commenting on Baghdatis’ awful campaign last year, Christodoulou admitted that it was one to forget but is confident that he will back on form this year.
“In 2013 Marcos did not have best year, it’s true. He had much bad luck, many disappointments. But in 2014 he will find the strength to return, he is up to 124 in the world rankings, he has the ability and strength to return.”

Christodoulou also wanted to reiterate Baghdatis’ importance to Cypriot sport, believing that he should be looked up to for generations to come.
“He continues to be the benchmark, not just for tennis, but for Cypriot sport in general,” he concluded.

A momentary burst of form, or the start of a genuine revival for Baghdatis? Only time will tell but he is certainly giving his all and doing all he can. There is no longer that lethargic stride which he got into last season, with each defeat seemingly wearing him down.

Remaining in Florida, Baghdatis is preparing for the coming tournaments on the ATP World Tour, hoping to make 2014 a memorable campaign for all the right reasons.

Six people were killed on Sunday in clashes between groups backing rival candidates in Turkey’s municipal elections, which turned into a referendum on the rule of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

Security officials said four people were killed in a gun fight between two families in the village of Yuvacik in the eastern province of Sanliurfa, which borders Syria. Such clashes have occurred at previous local elections.

In Hatay province, also bordering Syria, two people died in a gunbattle between relatives of two candidates in Golbasi village, the officials said. Candidates in the voting for these local officials are not party-affiliated.

Tensions rose in Turkey in the build-up to the elections, with Erdogan trying to fight off graft allegations and stem a stream of damaging security leaks.

Briton’s Lewis Hamilton won the Malaysian Grand Prix with a pole-to-flag victory ahead of Nico Rosberg on Sunday in a first Mercedes one-two since they returned to Formula One as a works team in 2010.

The 2008 Formula One world champion easily pulled away from his rivals on a dry track with a three-stop strategy to win the race by 17.3 seconds, his 23rd career victory and first in Malaysia at the eighth attempt.

“Incredibly happy, it’s my eighth year here (at Sepang) and finally I got that win,” the Briton told reporters after taking the chequered flag for his second win for Mercedes since he joined them last year and first points of the season.

“Its quite special to get a one-two, I haven’t had many in my career, so that makes it even more special. A great day,” added the former McLaren driver.

Rosberg, who won the season opener in Australia two weeks ago, started in third place but squeezed past quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel into the first corner and was able to keep the Red Bull at bay and stay top of the driver standings.

It was Mercedes’ first one-two since 1955, their last year as a works team before 2010.

Rosberg almost touched the wall as he took Vettel at the start and struggled to manage his rear tyres in the early stages as the two Germans remained close before the Mercedes driver pulled away over the closing laps.

The second place finish moved him on to 43 points in the standings, 18 clear of Hamilton with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso third on 24 points after his second fourth of the season.

Mercedes took the lead from McLaren in the constructors’ standings.

“I had a really good start.. got away well and I thought Sebastian was going to put me into the wall but he stopped just before so thank-you for that,” Rosberg said.

“My heart skipped a beat a little bit but it was OK. I was trying to chase Lewis but he was a bit too quick today.”

VETTEL THIRD

Vettel finished third, 7.2 seconds behind Rosberg, for his first points of the season following an early retirement in Australia as he struggled to make an impact on the Mercedes pair without the rain that helped his qualifying bid on Saturday.

Having endured a tricky time during off season testing, Vettel was delighted to make the podium.

“Congratulations to them, they are bloody quick, the package they have is very, very strong,” Vettel told reporters.

“For us there is mostly positives. It’s much better than what we expected during the winter.”

Alonso was involved in a tight battle with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg in the closing stages before finally overtaking the German although he will be disappointed that once again the Ferrari looked well short of challenging the Mercedes duo.

McLaren’s Jenson Button was sixth with Felipe Massa of Williams seventh just ahead of team mate Valtteri Bottas after the Brazilian refused to yield to his Finnish team mate despite team orders to do so.

The row, at a circuit where team orders blew up into a major controversy last season at both Red Bull and Mercedes, threatened to cause friction for the coming races between the new team mates.

McLaren’s Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen and Toro Rosso’s Russian newcomer Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top 10 of a race that suffered just a couple of light drops of rain despite concerns about possible thunderstorms.

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, who was disqualified in Australia pending an appeal, missed out on points for the second race in a row after a disastrous third pit stop when he was in fourth.

The Australian pulled away before his front left wheel was fully attached with engineers sprinting down the pitlane to push him back and fix the issue.

Ricciardo was then given a 10 second penalty for the unsafe release but his chances of points were already over after he shredded a tyre and damaged a wing shortly before the stewards’ decision and he retired before the end.

“Deep down I’m really disappointed but at the same time there’s a little bit in me which is happy because I think I’ve come out how I wanted to,” the Australian said of his start to the season.

“I still want to improve but we’ve started off on the right foot. So for that I’m pleased. I know a little bit of luck will turn around soon and I’ll get my revenge and get some points.”

Liverpool crushed Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 at Anfield on Sunday to overtake Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table.

They are two points ahead of Chelsea with a much better goal difference and four clear of Manchester City, who have two games in hand. City and Chelsea, who both dropped points on Saturday, still have to visit Anfield.

Liverpool, who have not won the English title since 1990, went ahead after two minutes with an own goal by Spurs defender Younes Kaboul and doubled the lead through Luis Suarez’s 29th goal of the season in the 25th.

Brazilian Philippe Coutinho scored the third after 55 minutes and Jordan Henderson completed the rout quarter of an hour from the end.

Tottenham’s hopes of finishing fifth were further diminished by Everton’s 3-1 victory over Fulham in the day’s earlier game.