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Political turmoil set for round two

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AKEL's Andros Kypriaonou will be meeting with AG Costas Clerides next week regarding allegations made against AKEL about dodgy donations

By Angelos Anastasiou

AS THE two major political parties remain under fire and their leaders have scheduled meetings with the Attorney-general (AG) over controversial donations, the House appeared to be headed towards not publishing the names of those who moved money before the March 2013 banking crisis.

Ruling DISY and opposition AKEL both reportedly received a total of €2 million in donations from Focus Maritime Corporation, a company owned by Greek shipowner Michalis Zolotas – an “associate and close friend of [failed Laiki former strongman] Andreas Vgenopoulos”, around the time of the 2008 presidential elections.

Focus was also involved in a suspicious €1 million transfer to former Governor of the Central Bank Christodoulos Christodoulou in 2007, two months after he had stepped down. The company was also said to have received millions in loans from Laiki Bank, which have yet to be repaid and are classed as non-performing.

But initial denials soon gave way to excuses and rationalisations. At first, DISY said that the money – €500,000 – was not paid by Zolotas or Focus, but by a consortium of Cypriot shipowners in Athens and London who offered the fund the transport students to Cyprus for the election. The party said it would return the money to Laiki’s depositors if the claims were backed by evidence from the AG’s investigation. Late on Thursday, the party admitted it discovered €50.000 paid by Focus into one of its accounts shortly before the election, and issued a cheque payable to Laiki’s administrator for the amount.

AKEL maintained that it had never received any money from Focus, despite Politis’ claims that roughly €1.5 million was paid to the party via proxy – €1 million through an intermediary offshore company and €500.000 through a law firm, which confirmed receipt of the money but rejected the claim it did so on AKEL’s behalf.

Party chief Andros Kyprianou contacted the AG Costas Clerides and asked to be informed of any evidence linking the party to Focus, and a meeting was set for after Easter.

In a perhaps not unrelated issue, on Wednesday the House Ethics committee came to a unanimous decision to include the names of all individuals and companies that moved funds out of Cyprus, or were granted loans with favourable terms. The list, said to include some 11.000 names, was prepared during the committee’s probe into the causes of the collapse of the economy. The decision appalled the business community who said it would be disastrous for the economy.

The mass criticism caused the two major parties to backpedal. Late on Thursday, DISY argued that indiscriminately publishing would serve only to muddy the waters as truly suspicious transfers would get lost in the bulk of normal business transactions.

AKEL soon followed suit through its spokesman and Ethics Committee member Giorgos Loucaides. “We are happy that DISY has adopted our position on publicising transactions relating only to politically exposed persons,” Loucaides said.

Yesterday Kyprianou completed the U-turn while attempting to pre-empt charges of caving to the business world.

“We do not share the arguments made either by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry or the banking sector; our views are guided by our belief that it is not right for people to be vilified with no evidence against them,” he said.

With AKEL and DISY enjoying a comfortable majority on the Ethics committee, the decision is sure to be amended to accommodate their positions.

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We’re being fed austerity in cunningly measured doses

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Finance Minister Harris Georgiades

By Hermes Solomon

FOR YEARS now political parties have excelled in only one operatic style, notably opera buffa, but last year DISY switched to opera seria, and this year to German Singspiel.

The AKEL opera buffa reign of 2008-2013 ‘sang’ the country into the ground. It was replaced in February 2013 by DISY opera seria, which sought to salvage banks and the economy by introducing austerity measures at a publicly acceptable pace, thus avoiding those violent demonstrations that took place in Athens at the outset of the Greek recession.

Unfortunately, the DISY measures were grossly inadequate, and this spring, DISY/troika switched to German Singspiel, a means of communicating with the audience (citizens) via salvation plots that are generally comic or romantic in nature, frequently including elements of magic (unrealistic predictions of growth), fantastical creatures (unspecified foreign investments, phantom gas and oil) and comically exaggerated characterizations of the good (DISY) and the evil (AKEL) with DIKO and ‘others’ performing the choral refrain backstage.

But DISY/troika NPL Singspiel is double-sing, or what Americans call spiel (rehearsed speech, usually for sales purposes).

“The rent-to-mortgage scheme, under consideration as a means of protecting primary residences, will be effectively financed by the state budget and will ‘only’ apply to ‘specific’ cases,” said Finance Minister, Harris Georgiades.

Is the finance minister suggesting that help is on hand for the ‘deserving’? Then who exactly are the ‘deserving’?

Picking off NPL’s one at a time (divide then disinherit as happened in all recently bankrupted EU economies) will become apparent when we see the first batch of homesteads falling under the auctioneer’s hammer. By then, it will be too late to organise outraged groups threatening the state and banks with as much clout as dispossessed Bank of Cyprus bondholders.

Add to that a forthcoming Singspiel ‘massacre’ of our civil service and SGO’s and we have a country, like Greece, truly on its knees.

“The island is going through difficult times,” the president said, speaking at PASYDY’s annual conference in Nicosia, “and it is imperative that the public sector concentrates on increasing productivity and drastically cutting its operating costs. I will not mention what has been done. I am noting all the things that have not been done, and they are still a lot.”

Mid-upper grade civil servants on salaries of between 50 and 70 grand a year, who drive SUV Mercs, employ housemaids, send their kids to private schools and live in smart suburban concrete palaces do not exist in any EU member state other than Cyprus.

Most of our civil servants are in hock up to their eyeballs due to easily acquired loans at especially low rates of interest – a targeted social group solicited by banks for years due to their formerly presumed secure income, free healthcare and high end of career bonuses and pensions.

We should be thankful that civil servants have thus far ploughed every penny of their income and loans back into the economy. Had their take-home pay in anyway equated to that of their EU counterparts, our economy would have collapsed in 2008 along with Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain (PIGS)… mores the pity it didn’t!

Anastasiades said, “The public service must contribute to the restructuring of state services and meet the increasing public demands for good administration, meritocracy, transparency … accountability, and, mainly, upgrading the quality of service.”

How many times have we heard that sort of spiel?

But this time his veiled threats unmask many future job cuts in the civil service and SGO’s and further unavoidable reductions in salaries, benefits and pensions…

Tell someone who cares many readers will say! Private sector employees have already paid this price.

It should not be forgotten that since 2012, civil servant pay and pensions have already taken several hits, so far totalling around twenty per cent of their income, edging many towards the NPL cliff edge.

In the small print of bank loan contracts there is ‘usually’ a paragraph relating to ‘the bank’s right to call in loans’.

Who reads contract small print anyway? But this small print will be the undoing of many NPL’s as banks clutch at straws to recapitalise.

The NPL dilemma now faced by a third of private sector homeowners will catch up with civil servants, who will suddenly be considered un-creditworthy as banks include many in the list of future NPL’s; add to this teachers, public health staff, SME’s, etc. all who are out to banks for a hundred thousand euros or more; or should I say much more in many cases, cash strapped and sinking?

David Stockman of Wall Street’s ‘Stockman’s Corner’ wrote on 14/04/2014: “The evil of modern central banking combined with powerless governments can nowhere better be seen than in the recent mad stampede into $4 billion of Greek bonds. Yet Greece is not credit-worthy at almost any coupon yield, and most certainly not at the 4.75 per cent sticker that was attached to the offering.

“After a 20 per cent contraction, the Greek economy has been literally eviscerated with not much left except tourism, yogurt plants and a 27 per cent unemployment rate. It has an impossible debt-to-GDP ratio of 170 per cent (ours is 200 per cent plus given the endlessly rising number of NPL’s and business closures) and, worse still, almost all of that debt is owned by EC institutions and the IMF.

“EU claims that Greece’s fiscal affairs have turned for the better is preposterous. The backlog of “payables” to pharmacies, hospitals, doctors, garbage haulers, road maintenance vendors and countless more, along with deep arrearages in payments to pensioners and other transfer payment beneficiaries, has been manipulated by the Greek finance ministry and their Brussels overseers, and now totals in the tens of billions.

“This has created the impression that Greece’s budget is on the mend; it’s actually on the road to yet another political crisis owing to parched liquidity among vendors and precarious finances of beneficiaries. And that’s to say nothing of the absolute fracturing of the Greek body politic, where its current lame government survives to clear the next Brussels demanded action with one vote to spare. In short, Greek sovereign risk cannot be calculated by the market because it essentially has no functioning sovereign.

“Make no mistake; the euro is a means of economic exploitation of the poorer Mediterranean countries at the hands of (mainly) Germany. That the victims continue to see the euro as a benefit rather than the tool of their oppression is a sign of the corrupt nature of their media and political elites, and the brilliance and effectiveness of the means of exploitation.”

Yesterday, Cyprus was another country; our politicians and bankers masking the truth and forestalling the inevitable with an endless tissue of lies, theft and cover-ups.

Calling in NPL’s is just the beginning of Cyprus’ woes.

Today, as the truth slowly emerges, Cyprus will follow in the abysmal footsteps of an EU forsaken and exploited Greece. The only difference is that Greeks had crippling austerity measures rammed down their throats at the outset, whereas Cyprus is being fed austerity in cunningly measured doses. But the final outcome is the same – both lovingly yet despairingly united in future decades of poverty!

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Our View: Are deputies coming to their senses?

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House Ethics Committee chairman Demetris Syllouris

INDICATIONS are that common sense will eventually prevail and the House ethics committee will not release the full list of names of individuals and companies that had taken money out of Cyprus in the period preceding it haircut of deposits, as it had originally intended to do. The pleas by the banks’ association, the Chamber of Commerce, accounting firms and CIPA appear to have made some of the political parties change their views.

DISY, issued a statement on Thursday, saying the publicising the names would “serve the purposes of the ethics committee and would hurt the country.” Such indiscriminate disclosure had no place in a “well-governed state that aspires to becoming an international business centre,” the party correctly pointed out. Even more surprising was AKEL’s volte face. Despite announcing a few days ago that it would release the list, containing 11,000 names, even if the ethics committee decided against it, on Thursday it changed tune. Only the names of politically exposed persons would be made public.

This was a positive step, even though it remains to be seen what stand the rest of the crusading parties would take. The original idea was totally absurd. The list would have included 11,000 names of individuals and companies that had transferred funds out of Cyprus between June 2012 and March 2013, as if they had done anything illegal or improper. Even the claim of anyone being privy to insider information was not valid in 2012.

Yet deputies wanted to ‘expose’ people for engaging in normal, lawful money transfers and tarnish their reputations for no reason. Such action usually takes place in totalitarian regimes where there is no rule of law or respect for people’s rights. This blatant disregard for banking confidentiality has no place in a country that wants to promote itself as an international business centre and attract foreign investors. If the House does publish the list, it would drive away the businesses that stayed here after the haircut, because no company wants its money transfers being made public.

Deputies intend to apply this business of naming and shaming to all those who received bank loans on favourable terms or had bank loans written off. One list relating to Bank of Cyprus managers and directors was posted on a website on Monday, but the figures it provided made no sense. An admission of the inaccuracy of the data was the fact that the website subsequently deleted the names of the individuals that had supposedly been favoured. This is the danger of reproducing lists, without explanations. We saw it a couple of weeks ago when three deputies were accused of receiving favourable treatment by banks by the Greens leader, but once they had provided explanations it was clear this was not the case.

Indiscriminately, publishing lists of names without any explanations serves no purpose other than to suggest the guilt of people, the majority of whom had done nothing wrong. This should not happen in a democratic country that boasts the rule of law. Our lawmakers should be aware of this.

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A solution is just the start: could the South Africa experience help the Cyprus process

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Andreas Mavroyiannis and Kudret Ozersay are off to South Africa next week

By Stefanos Evripidou

THE TWO negotiators in the peace process will head to South Africa next week to hear how seemingly insurmountable obstacles were overcome through difficult negotiations, which ended apartheid and introduced democracy to the country of 51 million people.

Andreas Mavroyiannis and Kudret Ozersay, along with members of their negotiating teams, will begin the roughly three-day visit at the end of next week. Mavroyiannis leaves for South Africa on April 24. Both negotiators will return to the island before the end of the month and ahead of their next official meeting on May 6.

While in South Africa, the two are expected to visit Johannesburg, Cape Town and possibly other locations, attending workshops and holding informal meetings with people very influential in ending apartheid and overseeing reconciliation.

According to sources, the two negotiators are expected to meet with Frederik Willem de Klerk, the last State President of apartheid-era South Africa, who played a crucial role, along with Nelson Mandela, in ending racial segregation and introducing multi-racial democracy.

They will also visit Robben Island, where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison.

The facilitator and source of inspiration for the trip is Roelof Petrus Meyer, who acted as the chief government negotiator in South Africa in the 1990s. He was later given a ministerial position by Mandela post-apartheid.

Meyer is currently chairman of the In Transformation Initiative, through which he has shared his diverse and extensive experience of conflict resolution with others involved in peace negotiations, including from Northern Ireland, Rwanda and Kosovo.

The visit is being organised by UNDP-ACT in Cyprus, and funded by USAID.

Meyer did some work with UNDP last September, where he opened a discussion at a conference in Malta on how a more “inclusive approach” can help the Cyprus peace process. The conference was attended by civic, business and political figures from across the spectrum in Cyprus. Participants were introduced to examples of other peace processes around the world, including South Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Northern Ireland.

Following the Malta conference, the idea came up for the two negotiators- who did not attend the Malta meet- to share experiences, face-to-face, with people who were at the heart of the South African peace process, both before and after.

While South Africa is not without problems, battling the legacy of apartheid and colonialism, it is still widely considered an example of how successful negotiations can lead to a non-violent transition of power and transformation of the state.

South Africans have been sharing their experiences with negotiators from around the world over the years, including from Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka and even Bahrain.

As one diplomatic source put it, they have “developed a niche in helping other people to understand how they negotiated the dismantling of apartheid, which was a very difficult process that took several years”.

The hope is that the Cypriot negotiators will have a chance to take advantage of the wealth of knowledge they will have access to while also reflecting on the future of their own process.

The source acknowledged that South Africa and Cyprus are completely different conflicts, making it very difficult to draw direct parallels. But one can take home lessons learnt from certain aspects of the negotiation process.

“The issue is the process of having to negotiate a longstanding historically embedded conflict. And if you look at that dynamic from a different view point, it can cast a positive experience that you can learn from,” he said.

A source close to the Greek Cypriot negotiating team agreed that South Africa and Cyprus were “fundamentally different situations” but that there were lessons to be learnt from South Africa on how things could be handled in a way which solves disputes, not just during negotiations but also after a solution.

The main aim is not to get something concrete out of the trip, despite press reports to the contrary, but to share experiences, which may prove useful, said the source.

As for Meyer, his opening talk in Malta may shed some light on what he will have to say to the negotiators.

He recalled that South African negotiations took place with an understanding that “what’s important is what we want from the future and not what we want to protect from the past”.

Regarding aspects of the South African experience which could possibly have relevance to Cyprus, he referred to: the need to develop a new mind set to ensure the obstacles of the past are overcome; the importance of developing a transparent, open negotiating process based on a solid communication strategy, ensuring the support of the wider public; and, building confidence across the divide and mobilising public opinion towards the need for change.

The diplomatic source told the Cyprus Mail that Meyer helped the Malta participants get a sense of the need for a broader based dialogue, which can hopefully create a societal platform (including political and non-political forces) for a successful negotiation process.

Looking at the South African negotiations, one can see the depth of the societal contribution, directly and indirectly, to the peace process.

Meyer’s argument is that implementing a solution is just the start of it. Mending the wounds of society at different levels also takes a long time, and requires a strategy that has real leadership.

“Everyone understand that negotiations in and of themselves need to have that societal support. They can’t be made up of just politicians. They need everyone, business leaders, union leaders, professional organisations, NGOs, local communities, religious leaders,” said the diplomatic source.

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Easter break

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EASTER BREAK NOTICE

The Cyprus Mail wishes all of its online readers a Happy Easter. We will be closed over the holiday weekend. The next edition of the newspaper will be on Wednesday April 23.

Main international news however will be posted on the website throughout the Easter break.

 

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Hamilton on pole for Mercedes in wet China

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British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes AMG GP in action during the third practice session for the the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix at the Shanghai International circuit

Lewis Hamilton will line up on pole position for Sunday’s Chinese Formula One Grand Prix after putting in a storming lap in treacherous conditions to maintain Mercedes’ qualifying stranglehold.

The Briton’s best time of one minute 53.860 seconds through rain and spray was a hefty 0.595 of a second quicker than Red Bull’s Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who joined him on the front row.

“It is so slippery out there, the conditions – trying to find the grip, not making mistakes on your lap and really putting it together,” said Hamilton, who will be chasing his third win in a row on Sunday.

“It was a tough session. I really enjoyed it. The car was feeling great. I hope that we can follow through tomorrow.”

It was Hamilton’s third pole in four races this season and 34th of his F1 career, pushing the 29-year-old past the late Jim Clark’s British record that he equalled in Malaysia last month.

He is now fourth on the all-time pole list led by Michael Schumacher with 68.

Red Bull’s quadruple Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel was third fastest, but more than a second slower than Hamilton and outqualified by team mate Ricciardo for the third time in four races.

Championship leader Nico Rosberg, who had been on pole in the previous Bahrain Grand Prix, completed the second row for Mercedes after running wide on his second lap and then spinning on his final flying lap.

BRAKE PROBLEM

The German will have his work cut out on Sunday if he is to win at the scene of his maiden grand prix triumph in 2012.

“I was just struggling on the brakes and that’s why my last sector was so bad. The braking was really difficult and that’s a pity,” said Rosberg.

“It was just trying a little bit too hard but in the end I was slower anyway on that last lap. I just had to give it a go on the last corner and see if I could somehow magically pull back a little bit of time and it didn’t quite work out.

“It didn’t really change much. In the end I just wasn’t quick enough in general.”

Ricciardo, whose team lost their appeal earlier in the week against his exclusion from second place in Australia, bounced back in Red Bull’s best combined qualifying effort of a difficult season so far.

The Australian, impressive since joining from Toro Rosso at the end of last year, found a chunk of time late in the final part of qualifying after having trailed the German during the first two sessions.

“Alrighty, there wasn’t anything left in that,” the 24-year-old said to his team over the radio on his lap into the pits.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, last year’s winner in China, qualified fifth with new team boss Marco Mattiacci looking on from the pit wall after watching Friday’s sessions from the garage.

“Some of the steps that we brought here seem to confirm a positive result so we move a little bit in the right direction. We know that it’s not enough but it’s the first step,” said Alonso.

“We know that Mercedes probably is out of reach in dry conditions but hopefully with Red Bull we are not too far. I don’t know if we can be faster than them or not but hopefully not 30 seconds behind them any more.”

However, it was a day of mixed fortunes for the sport’s glamour team with Kimi Raikkonen failing to make it through to the top 10 shootout after struggling for grip all session long.

Former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa qualified sixth for Williams, who had Valtteri Bottas seventh with both hoping to move up in the race.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg lines up eighth, with Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne ninth in the Toro Rosso ahead of compatriot Romain Grosjean, who gave Lotus their best qualifying result so far this season in 10th.

Grosjean’s Venezuelan team mate Pastor Maldonado did not take part in qualifying due to problems related to the Renault power unit. He had been due to take a five place grid penalty anyway for causing a collision in Bahrain.

Neither McLaren driver made it through to the final phase of qualifying, with Jenson Button 12th and Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen 15th.

“I didn’t know what to expect really. It’s been a strange year in terms of the car in the wet. Normally we’re very good in the wet but now we’re struggling for grip out there,” commented Button.

“It’s tough in these conditions. I really do hope it’s dry tomorrow.”

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Sunken Korea ferry relatives give DNA swabs to help identify dead

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Relatives of the missing passengers of the Sewol ferry

Some relatives of the more than 200 children missing in a sunken South Korean ferry offered DNA swabs on Saturday to help identify the dead as the rescue turned into a mission to recover the vessel and the bodies of those on board.

The Sewol, carrying 476 passengers and crew, capsized on Wednesday on a journey from the port of Incheon to the southern holiday island of Jeju. Thirty-two people are known to have died.

The 69-year-old captain, Lee Joon-seok, was arrested in the early hours of Saturday on charges of negligence along with two other crew members, including the third mate who was steering at the time of the capsize.

Prosecutors later said the mate was steering the Sewol through the waters where it listed and capsized – for the first time in her career.

Asked why the children had been ordered to stay put in their cabins instead of abandoning ship, Lee, apparently overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster, told reporters he feared they would have been swept out to sea in the strong, cold current.

Early reports said that the ferry turned sharply and listed, perhaps due to a shift in the cargo it was carrying and crew members said the captain, who was not initially on the bridge, had tried to right the ship but failed.

Some 500 relatives of the 270 people listed as missing watched a murky underwater video shot after divers reported they had seen three bodies through the windows.

The official number of those missing was revised up from an earlier estimate of 269.

Packed in a gymnasium in the port city of Jindo day and night since Wednesday, tempers frayed and fist fights broke out after the video was shown. The video, viewed by relatives and journalists, did not appear to show any corpses.

“Please lift the ship, so we can get the bodies out,” a woman who identified herself as the mother of a child called Kang Hyuck said, using a microphone.

Relatives have criticised what they say is the slow response of the government and contradictory information given out by authorities in the early stages of the rescue mission.

CHANCES OF FINDING SURVIVORS “ALMOST ZERO”

President Park Geun-hye was jeered by some when she visited on Thursday. “Park Geun-hye should come here again,” Kang Hyuck’s mother said.

Three cranes were moved close to the sunken ship on Saturday but were not deployed. Strong tides and rough weather again impeded efforts to get inside.

Coastguard spokesman Kim Jae-in said the cranes would be deployed when the divers say it is safe.

“Lifting the ship does not mean they will remove it completely from the sea. They can lift it two to three metres off the seabed,” he said.

Coastguard officials said that divers would make another attempt to enter the ship in the evening.

“The chances of finding anyone alive now are almost zero,” said Bruce Reid, Chief Executive Officer of the International Maritime Rescue Foundation.

“There will still be a search operation on the water, a surface search, but it would be more of a recovery exercise now. They’ll be looking for bodies.”

The capsize occurred in calm weather on a well-travelled 400 km (300 mile) sea route from Incheon to Jeju some 25 km (15 miles) from land.

Lee, the ship’s captain, was described by officials from Chonghaejin Marine Co Ltd, the owner of the vessel, as a “veteran”.

“I had ordered (passengers) to leave the ferry, but (later) I said to them to stay because there was no rescue ship,” he told South Korean television as he was led away by police.

Police also raided Chonghaejin offices in Incheon and Yang Joong-jin, a prosecutor in the city of Mokpo, said ten people were being questioned over the loading and stowing of the Sewol’s cargo.

Yonhap news agency said 180 vehicles were onboard the ferry along with 1,157 tons of freight. At least some of the freight was in containers stacked on the foredeck.

Relatives and friends of the schoolchildren have also gathered at the Danwon High School in the commuter town of Ansan.

The vice-principal of the school, Kang Min-gyu, 52, was one of those rescued as the children followed orders and stayed aboard. He hanged himself outside the gym in Jindo, police said.

His body was discovered on Friday and police released part of a two-page suicide note.

“Burn my body and scatter my ashes at the site of the sunken ferry,” he wrote. “Perhaps I can become a teacher for the missing students in my next life.”

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Kidnapped French journalists found on Turkey’s Syrian border

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Two of the four French journalists, Pierre Torres (L) and Nicolas Henin (R)

Four French journalists held hostage in Syria since June were found by Turkish soldiers on its border with Syria on Saturday, Turkish media reported, and French President Francois Hollande said the four were in good health.

Nicolas Henin, Pierre Torres, Edouard Elias and Didier Francois were found in Sanliurfa province blindfolded with their hands bound, Dogan News Agency said.

Hollande said the four were in “good health, in spite of the very gruelling conditions of their captivity.” They will be taken to France in the coming hours, he said in a statement.

Dogan said the journalists had been kidnapped by the rebel group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) but that an unknown group brought the journalists to the Turkish border on Friday night. They would be handed over to French officials after medical checks, it said.

Francois, a veteran war correspondent working for Europe 1 radio, and Elias, a photographer, were abducted in early June on their way to Aleppo. Henin, who was working for Le Point magazine and Torres, reporting for French-German television channel Arte, were taken later that month.

Syria is the most dangerous place in the world for journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Two French journalists remain missing in the Sahel region of North Africa.

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Cardiff, Fulham fail to ease relegation fears

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Dejected Fulham players trudge off the White Hart Lane pitch after their loss to Tottenham Hotspur

The Premier League survival hopes of Cardiff City and Fulham remain no clearer after a draw with Stoke City and loss to Tottenham Hotspur respectively kept them marooned in the relegation zone with three matches remaining.

Cardiff fought back from a goal down to draw 1-1 to move above 19th placed Fulham on goal difference after the west Londoners went down 3-1 at Spurs, who won with goals from Paulinho, Harry Kane and Younes Kaboul.

The pair are two points behind Norwich City, who host leaders Liverpool on Sunday.

Newcastle United slumped to their fifth straight loss after a late Wilfried Bony penalty earned Swansea City a 2-1 win, lifting the Swans to 36 points, six clear of relegation danger, while Crystal Palace’s resurgence under Tony Pulis continued with their fifth consecutive victory courtesy of Mile Jedinak’s second-half penalty in a 1-0 win at West Ham United.

Aston’s Villa’s match with Southampton was scoreless.

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Strong 7.5 magnitude quake hits off Papua New Guinea

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earthquake

An earthquake with a magnitude 7.5 struck off Papua New Guinea on Saturday and a tsunami warning was briefly issued for the Pacific Island nation and neighbouring Solomon Islands, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

The quake, at a depth of 10 km (6 miles), struck 68 km southwest of Panguna on the island of Bougainville, the U.S. Geological Survey said, revising down the magnitude from an initial 7.8.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center later cancelled a tsunami warning for Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands and there was no threat to neighbouring Australia or across the Pacific Ocean.

At least six strong tremors have hit near Bougainville in the past week or so, including a magnitude 7.3 on April 11, but there have been no reports of major damage.

“Certainly it has been very active, more active than usual,” said Jonathan Bathgate, a seismologist at Geoscience Australia. “(The spate of earthquakes) is relieving some pressure on this faultline, but we can’t rule out another large earthquake.”

The quake would have been felt strongly on Bougainville and nearby islands, but given its position on the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire” where earthquakes are frequent, extensive damage was unlikely, Bathgate said. However, a local tsunami may have been generated, he added. Readings showed a small wave had been generated, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

In 1998, a magnitude 7 earthquake triggered a tsunami that smashed into villages near Aitape on Papua New Guinea’s north coast and killed more than 2,000 people.

Resource-rich Bougainville, which neighbours the Solomon Islands, fought a war for independence from Papua New Guinea in the 1990s, leading to the closure of the Panguna copper mine, majority-owned by Rio Tinto Ltd. Bougainville is now an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea.

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Chelsea’s title hopes hit by Sunderland defeat

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Sunderland's Fabio Borini (L) scores the winning goal from the penalty spot against Chelsea

By Josh Reich

Chelsea’s title ambitions suffered a major blow with a shock 2-1 home defeat by bottom side Sunderland on Saturday, handing the initiative to Premier League leaders Liverpool who visit lowly Norwich City on Sunday.

It was manager Jose Mourinho’s first league defeat at Stamford Bridge in 78 matches, with the winner coming from a cooly converted penalty by former Chelsea player Fabio Borini, who is on loan at Sunderland from the Merseyside club.

The Italian forward tucked home the spot kick in the 82nd minute after Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta brought down Jozy Altidore. Sunderland’s Connor Wickham had equalised in the 18th minute to cancel out Samuel Eto’o's early opener.

The defeat left Chelsea in second spot on 75 points from 35 games with three matches left, two points behind Liverpool who have played 34 before their visit to Carrow Road.

Third-placed Manchester City have 71 points from 33 games before they host struggling West Browmich Albion on Monday.

Sunderland, who drew at Manchester City in midweek, stay bottom with 29 points, one behind Fulham and Cardiff City with a game in hand, and three off Norwich who are just above the relegation zone in 17th.

MOURINHO CONGRATULATIONS

“Congratulations to my players, because they gave what they have and what they don’t have,” Mourinho, whose unbeaten home record stretched over his two spells at Chelsea, told Sky Sports in a post-match interview that he cut short.

“Congratulations to Sunderland, because they won.

“Congratulations to (referee) Mike Dean, because he made a fantastic performance, and congratulations to (referees’ chief) Mike Riley, because what they did during the season was fantastic for what the championship is.”

The Portuguese coach must now pick his side up for Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg at La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid followed by a Premier League clash with Liverpool and the return with Atletico the following week.

For Sunderland the win comes days after their surprise 2-2 draw with City and gives them hope of avoiding relegation.

Manager Gus Poyet, also a former Chelsea player, acknowledged that the penalty was a tough decision to give.

“It was very tough for the referee,” he said. “Every now and again you get it, every now and again you don’t. We can talk about it for ages and even then we don’t know for sure so we need to give the benefit of the doubt to the referee.

“I think the key games are against Cardiff and West Brom at home. Of course, we go to Manchester United and anything can happen. But it’s exactly the same, nothing changes. We still believe. We try our best and there’s nothing more we can do.”

ETO’O OPENER

Early in the game there was little sign of the upset to come, with Chelsea camped in Sunderland’s half and it was no surprise when Eto’o opened the scoring after 12 minutes, getting his boot to the ball ahead of the defence from Willian’s corner.

Despite their lowly position Sunderland are showing some fight and, having gone behind at City before coming back, they showed the same spirit in equalising after 18 minutes.

Wickham, who had scored twice against City, reacted first after Chelsea’s stand-in goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, replacing the ill Petr Cech, failed to hold Marcos Alonso’s strike.

The home side continued to press, forcing some fine saves from Sunderland keeper Vito Mannone, and thought they should have had a penalty when Seb Larsson knocked over Ramires.

Moments later Chelsea’s Brazilian midfielder appeared to elbow the Swede in the face, an incident missed by referee Dean.

Eto’o nearly added a second soon after the restart but shot wide and, despite having plenty of the ball going forward, Chelsea struggled to fashion any clear openings.

They were made to pay for a lack of cutting edge 10 minutes from time when left back Azpilicueta brought down United States international Altidore, allowing Borini to give the visitors an advantage they held through five minutes of added time.

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Eight killed in plane crash in northern Mexico

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Archive photo of a Hawker 800 jet

A Hawker 800 jet crashed in northern Mexico late on Saturday, killing all eight people on board, the government of the state of Coahuila said.

The plane came down in an industrial estate in the municipality of Ramos Arizpe, just north of state capital Saltillo, the Coahuila attorney general’s office said in a statement.

According to preliminary findings, the jet departed from the Mexican Caribbean island of Cozumel on the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and was bound for Ramos Arizpe, the statement said. It was not clear what caused the crash.

Separately, authorities in Naucalpan on the northwestern fringe of Mexico City said late on Saturday that a three-way car collision there had killed at least eight people and injured 12 others, some of them seriously.

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Hamilton wins Chinese GP in Mercedes one-two

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By Alan Baldwin

Lewis Hamilton raced to a hat-trick of wins in Sunday’s Formula One Chinese Grand Prix, cruising unchallenged to the flag ahead of team mate Nico Rosberg as a dominant Mercedes claimed a third straight one-two finish.

The win was the 25th of Hamilton’s career and drew him level with British legend Jim Clark and his current Mercedes boss, triple world champion Niki Lauda, in the all-time winner’s list.

It is also the first time that Hamilton – who moved ahead of Clark to become the top British qualifier on Saturday – has managed to win three races in a row.

“I just can’t believe how amazing the car is,” said Hamilton, who led from pole and punched the air with both fists after parking up and leaping out.

“I was just really racing myself. This team is on a roll, that’s for sure.”

Fernando Alonso, winner of last year’s race in China, finished third to give Ferrari their first podium of the season and the first under new boss Marco Mattiacci, who looked on from the pitwall.

“Being here on the podium is some kind of surprise for us, it’s a nice surprise finally,” the double world champion said.

“(I’m) happy with the podium finish today, third in the drivers’ championship behind these two guys.

“So we didn’t have the start of the season that we like but at the end of the day we are still in the fight.”

Rosberg continues to lead the drivers’ standings despite not having won a race since the season-opening Australian Grand Prix but Hamilton’s three straight wins have allowed the Briton to close to within four points.

“THIS THING IS SO QUICK”

The 2008 world champion made a clean getaway from pole position and immediately showed his car’s untouchable pace, the Briton extending his advantage over his nearest rival to a gaping 10.4 seconds by the end of the tenth lap.

Rosberg, however, was not as fortunate as his team mate and was on the back foot even before the start of the race with his engineers unable to view any telemetry information from his car.

The German was hoping to clear the two Red Bulls separating him from the Briton early on but his challenge never materialised after a poor getaway and a collision with the Williams of Valtteri Bottas dropped him down to seventh at the start.

“It was just very close,” Rosberg said of the first corner contact with Bottas.

“There were cars all over the place and just had a bit of contact there and was grateful that my car held on.”

The 28-year-old, who claimed his maiden grand prix triumph in China two years ago, was able to call upon his car’s formidable pace to fight his way through the field, eventually crossing the line 18 seconds behind his team mate.

“It’s really a pleasure, you know, to drive this car at the moment. It’s incredible, the car that the team have built, fantastic,” Rosberg said.

“This thing is so quick, you know,” he added.

BULL-FIGHT

Daniel Ricciardo maintained his early season edge over Red Bull team mate Sebastian Vettel, the Australian crossing the line fourth ahead of the quadruple world champion.

However, the gloves came off in the battle between the two, with Vettel asked to let the faster Ricciardo through for the second race in succession.

“What tyres is he on?” Vettel asked his team when instructed to let Ricciardo go past.

When told that Ricciardo was on the same tyres as him, the 26-year-old responded by saying “tough luck.”

Force India followed their Bahrain podium up with another double points finish as Nico Hulkenberg took sixth and Sergio Perez ninth.

The Silverstone-based team dropped a place in the constructors’ standings to Red Bull, but are still an impressive third ahead of Ferrari.

Williams were once again left to ponder what might have been after failing to make the most of a strong qualifying result.

Bottas scored the team’s only points in seventh, while Felipe Massa’s race was ruined by a collision with Alonso’s Ferrari at the start and a lengthy first stop as his crew struggled to change his left-rear tyre.

McLaren failed to score a point for the second consecutive race, with Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen crossing the line eleventh and thirteenth, respectively.

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Liverpool go five clear in Premier League title race

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Liverpool's Raheem Sterling (2nd L) celebrates scoring his second and his teams third goal

Liverpool took a giant step towards their first title in 24 years with a 3-2 win at a plucky Norwich City on Sunday, opening up a five-point lead over second-placed Chelsea with three matches remaining.

Arsenal kept themselves in the hunt for a place in next season’s Champions League with a 3-0 win at Hull City in a dress-rehearsal for next month’s FA Cup final.

Two goals to Raheem Sterling and Luis Suarez’s 30th league strike of the season helped Liverpool to their 11th consecutive Premier League victory and ensured them a top four finish and a place in Europe’s elite club competition next season.

They moved to 80 points, five ahead of Chelsea who suffered a shock 2-1 defeat by bottom-placed Sunderland on Saturday, while third-placed Manchester City, on 71 points and with two matches in hand, play West Bromwich Albion on Monday.

Arsenal, for whom Lukas Podolski scored a double after Aaron Ramsey’s opener, moved to 70 points, four clear of fifth-placed Everton who play Manchester United in Sunday’s late kickoff.

Liverpool have not finished top since 1990, two years before the Premier League began, and they can put themselves on the brink of ending that drought when they meet Chelsea at Anfield next Sunday.

Norwich remain mired in the relegation battle in 17th place, two points above Cardiff City and Fulham and three ahead of Sunderland, while Hull are 14th, six points above the drop zone.

Liverpool’s Suarez, who now has 12 league goals in five matches against Norwich, refused to get carried away with their position.

“In football you never know what can happen,” the Uruguayan told Sky Sports.

“We keep calm and focus on next game. Of course we happy, at the start of the season our target was for the top four.”

FAST START

Liverpool made a typically fast start at Carrow Road, with Sterling putting the Reds ahead after four minutes when he received the ball from Suarez, shifted right and unleashed a shot from outside the box that grazed Michael Turner, giving John Ruddy no chance.

Gary Hooper headed over from close range, but with Liverpool’s constant movement creating plenty of openings it was little surprise when they doubled their advantage with 11 minutes gone.

Jon Flanagan released Sterling down the left, with the 19-year-old sending in a low cross that evaded the defence, allowing Suarez to open his body and place the ball inside the far post, becoming the first Liverpool player since Ian Rush in 1986-87 to score 30 league goals in a season.

He is now just two shy of equalling the Premier League 38-game season record held by Alan Shearer and Cristiano Ronaldo.

To their credit Norwich, who have now lost four straight matches, did not buckle, with Hooper being denied by Joe Allen and Nathan Redmond stinging the palms of Simon Mignolet.

The hosts continued to press after the break, with Hooper finding the back of the net early in the second half when Mignolet failed to deal with a high cross under pressure from Bradley Johnson, the ball falling to the former Celtic striker in front of an open goal for his first goal since late December.

Sterling restored Liverpool’s two-goal buffer, his mazy run ending with a shot that went over Ruddy via Johnson, but Liverpool faced a nervous last 13 minutes when Flanagan was beaten by Robert Snodgrass to a cross to trim the lead once again.

RAMSEY BREAKTHROUGH

Following a sluggish start, not helped by a delay caused by strong winds blowing advertising hoardings on to the pitch, Arsenal began to impose themselves.

They took the lead after a neat passing move involving Mesut Ozil and Santi Cazorla allowed Ramsey to steer the ball home after 30 minutes, his first goal since November having missed three months through injury.

After Hull’s Jake Livermore drove the ball into the post from 25 yards, Podolski doubled Arsenal’s lead on 45 minutes, volleying in after Ramsey’s lovely chested-layoff from Olivier Giroud’s cross, despite legitimate complaints that Mikel Arteta had fouled Nikica Jelavic in the lead up.

It was Podolski’s fourth goal in five league matches, coming after a midweek double at West Ham United, and he added a fifth early in the second half, following up after Steve Harper had blocked Ramsey’s initial effort.

It ensured Arsenal kept their hopes of another top-four finish in their own hands, and handed them a boost ahead of the cup final, an opportunity to end a nine-year wait for a trophy.

“We have beaten Hull twice this season, but it is a Cup final and you cannot take anything for granted, but we will go into that game confident in our ability,” Ramsey said.

“We will go into that game with confidence and if we do well at the end of this season it could be our most successful for many years.”

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Deadly gun attack in eastern Ukraine shakes fragile Geneva Accord

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According to various media reports, several pro-Russian activists died following an exchange of gunfire on the night of 19 April near Slaviansk.

At least three people were killed in a gunfight in the early hours of Sunday near a Ukrainian city controlled by pro-Russian separatists, shaking an already fragile international accord that was designed to avert a wider conflict.

The incident triggered a war of words between Moscow and Ukraine’s Western-backed government, with each questioning the other’s compliance with the agreement, brokered last week in Geneva, to end a crisis that has made Russia’s ties with the West more fraught than at any time since the Cold War.

The separatists said armed men from Ukraine’s Right Sector nationalist group had attacked them. The Right Sector denied any role, saying Russian special forces were behind the clash.

Failure of the Geneva agreement could bring more bloodshed in eastern Ukraine, but may also prompt the United States to impose tougher sanctions on the Kremlin – with far-reaching consequences for many economies and importers of Russian energy.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will meet with Ukraine’s acting president, Oleksander Turchinov, and Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk in Kiev on Tuesday during a two-day stay in Ukraine.

Biden will consult on developments in eastern Ukraine and discuss international efforts to strengthen Ukraine’s economy and assist Kiev “in moving forward on constitutional reform, decentralization, anti-corruption efforts, and free and fair presidential elections on May 25th,” the White House said on Sunday.

Under the deal signed in Geneva last week, the European Union, Russia, Ukraine and the United States agreed that illegal armed groups would go home in a process to be overseen by Europe’s OSCE security watchdog.

So far, the pro-Russian militants have shown little sign of budging from public buildings in the east, although there was some hope of progress after Kiev said it would not move against the separatists over Easter, and international mediators headed to eastern Ukraine to try to persuade them to disarm.

But the shootings near Slaviansk – already a flashpoint for tensions between Ukraine’s rival camps – are likely to make that task even harder, hardening the view of the many Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine that they cannot trust Kiev.

“The Easter truce has been violated,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “This provocation … testifies to the lack of will on the part of the Kiev authorities to rein in and disarm nationalists and extremists.”

The town’s self-appointed pro-Russia mayor placed a curfew on the town and appealed directly to Russia’s Vladimir Putin to consider sending in peacekeeping troops – an outcome Ukraine tried to avoid by holding back its poorly resourced forces.

Ukraine’s SBU security service accused Moscow agents of faking a “cynical provocation” at Slaviansk and the Foreign Ministry hit back, reproaching Russia for rushing to judgment and failing to meet its part of the deal struck in Geneva.

“The Russian side must be reminded about their obligations under the Geneva agreement to bring all necessary influence to bear on separatists to clear illegally held buildings, unblock roads, lay down arms and prevent any bloodshed,” it said.

Right Sector spokesman Artem Skoropadsky said it was a “blasphemous provocation from Russia: blasphemous because it took place on a holy night for Christians, on Easter night. This was clearly carried out by Russian special forces.”

Separatist militiamen near the eastern Ukrainian city of Slaviansk told Reuters four vehicles had approached their checkpoint at around 2:00 a.m. (2300 GMT) and opened fire.

“We had three dead, four wounded,” one of the separatist fighters, called Vladimir, told Reuters at the checkpoint, where there were two burned-out jeeps.

He said the separatists returned fire and killed two of the attackers, who he said were members of the nationalist movement that has its power base in the Ukrainian-speaking west of the country and is reviled by many in the Russian-speaking east.

Police in Kiev said three men among the separatists were killed and three wounded.

A Reuters cameraman at the scene said he saw the bodies of two people, one with what appeared to be gunshot wounds to the head and face, lying in the back of a truck.

One of the dead was dressed in camouflage fatigues, the other, identified by several bystanders as a local man, was in civilian clothes.

The deaths were the first in armed clashes in eastern Ukraine since the Geneva accord was signed on Thursday.

NO WILL TO MOVE

The crisis in Ukraine began late last year when President Viktor Yanukovich turned his back on closer ties with Europe, prompting protests in the capital. They led to him fleeing Kiev, and a pro-Western interim administration taking over.

Soon after, Moscow used its military to back separatists in Ukraine’s Crimea, before Putin signed a document annexing the peninsula. The United States and European Union responded by slapping sanctions on Russian officials.

A local media report that in Yenakievo, Yanukovich’s home town outside Donetsk, separatists had left the town hall they had occupied for a week prompted the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine to speak of “progress”. But a Reuters correspondent later found the building flying the flag of the separatist Donetsk Republic.

One activist there said they had not ended the occupation. Local police were in position outside the town hall.

Russia, which has deployed extra troops on the border with Ukraine, says it is not interfering but has an obligation to protect the Russian-speaking community in the east from the rulers in Kiev, who it says are illegitimate, have ties to the far right, and discriminate against ethnic Russians.

Senior officials from the OSCE, in Donetsk to mediate an end to the crisis, cautioned against expecting rapid results.

“This will take time,” German diplomat Klaus Zillikens told Russia’s Ekho Moskvy radio station. “Of course, the ideal outcome for everyone would be if all sides agreed and straight away said: ‘OK, let’s implement the agreement’. But it won’t be like that. And we can see that already.”

GOODWILL GESTURE

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry had promised that, as a gesture of goodwill for the Easter holiday, it would suspend the “active phase” of an operation it had launched to reassert its authority in the east of the country – although in truth there had been little sign of its limited forces making much impression.

In another sign of reconciliation, the Interior Ministry issued an Easter message that asked members of the ministry’s disbanded Berkut unit to help defend Ukraine’s unity.

In the days when Yanukovich was clinging to power in Kiev, Berkut members are alleged to have been responsible for shooting dead dozens of protesters. Their unit was disbanded, and some of them have joined the pro-Russian separatists.

The separatists say they will not leave the buildings they have occupied until the pro-Kiev protest groups occupying Independence Square – scene of the months-long protests against Yanukovich, also go home. Moscow has supported that point of view.

The eastern activists want guarantees they will be given a large degree of autonomy from Kiev and that protections of Russian-language rights will be enshrined in a new constitution. The acting president, Turchinov, repeated his assurances on Sunday that power could be devolved within months.

Interviewed in Russian on a channel focused on the Russian-speaking east, he said he was ready to listen to local leaders and immediately appoint regional governors of their choosing.

Accusing Putin of destabilising Ukraine in order to control it, he said the Kremlin leader was afraid of the example Ukraine’s uprising set for Russia and other ex-Soviet states.

At Easter church services in Kiev and in Moscow, senior clergy issued sharply contrasting appeals for peace.

“In these Easter days, our prayers to God are for the people of Ukraine, for a reconciliation of enmity, for an end of violence, for people’s love for each other, so that they should not be divided,” Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, said in a recorded video message.

In his Easter message, Patriarch Filaret, head of Ukraine’s Orthodox Church, condemned what he described as Russia’s aggression against his country: “God cannot be on the side of evil, so the enemy of the Ukrainian people is condemned to defeat,” he said. “Lord, help us resurrect Ukraine.”

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A morning of recycling and fun to mark Earth Day

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By Alexia Evripidou

Cans for Kids are inviting the public to join them celebrate Earth Day with snacks, fun and recycling on Saturday, April 26. Proceeds of the sold recycled cans will help purchase medical equipment for Makarios III Children’s Hospital.

The general public are invited to collect their aluminium cans and pop along on Saturday from 10am to 1pm to the Cans for Kids Recycling Centre for a joint fun and educational morning.

Organised along with Microsoft and the “Young Volunteers”, the morning promises to see old and young, politicians, housewives, suit wearers, heel clickers and flower power lovers, all rolling up their sleeves and mucking in together to help recycle for an excellent cause.

“We want people to be aware that without it costing them anything at all, they can turn their aluminium rubbish into something significant for children in need” said vice president of Cans for Kids, Rosie Charalambous.

Everyone is asked to pack up bags of recyclable cans and go on down to join in the event. The main goal for the day being to recycle as many aluminium cans as possible before sending them off to be crushed at the centre. The cubed metal will then be sold to buy medical equipment for children in Cyprus. There are prizes for people who bring in the most cans.

Furthermore, the day is also aimed at helping create awareness for environmental issues and support annual Earth Day today, which is celebrated with global events demonstrating support for environmental protection. Environmentalist argue that if we are to conserve the Earth’s finite resources we must make better use of them, and recycling is one way of reducing the consumption of raw materials.

Mayor of Nicosia Constantinos Yiorkadjis, the Environment Commissioner Ioanna Panayiotou and Commissioner for Volunteerism Yiannis Yiannakis will all be attending to support the event. Along with Omonia and APOEL football players who will be seen kicking around the centre handing out signed goodies.

Food and beverages will be available at a reduced cost courtesy from sponsors Get Fresh, Souvlaki Bar and Costa Coffee. All monies will go to Cans for Kids.

Formed in 1990, Cans for Kids is a registered charity which aims to encourage people to save and recycle their aluminium cans. The charity has collection points all over Cyprus some of which can be found in hospitals, schools, car parks etc in towns Nicosia, Larnaca, Paphos and Ayia Napa.

As well as raising money to improve the standard of living of the children in the hospital, Cans for Kids raises awareness of the benefits of recycling by visiting schools to give talks to help children get into the “recycling habit”. They say that it couldn’t be easier “just keep a bag or container handy near your waste bin and throw empty cans in there rather than the dustbin”.

Since its initiation, more than 25 million cans have been collected with over €260,000 euros worth of equipment being donated to the Makarios Hospital in Nicosia. The hospital which is the central paediatric hospital in Cyprus, was chosen as it is the central place which treats seriously ill children from all over Island.

 

The charity which won the World Energy Globe Award in the category “Youth for Cyprus in Salzburg on February 4 2014, believes that “by saving your cans for Cans for Kids, not only do you help the environment, but you know that your efforts are giving something back”.

 

For more information, visit http://www.cansforkids.org/

 

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Swedish UN-veterans returning to Cyprus after 40 years

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By Staff Reporter

Next month, 125 Swedish UN-veterans are returning to Cyprus,  40 years after they witnessed the invasion of the island in the summer of 1974.

It will be the largest reunion ever of Swedish peacekeeping forces outside of Sweden.

Sweden was one of the first troop-contributing countries to UNFICYP. Between 1964 and 1993, a total of 27,981 Swedish military and police officers served in Cyprus.

The Swedish Contingent that took over responsibility for Famagusta district in April 1974 – many of whom are now returning 40 years later – had a strength of 240 military personnel and police officers.

One of many new duties of the Swedish peacekeepers in the wake of the in the aftermath of the invasion was to feed and take care of animals at farms, left behind by their fleeing Greek Cypriot owners.

They also set up and manned new observation posts in Famagusta district and acted as mediators between the opposing forces. The Swedish UN Contingent was also charged with the task of evacuating all Scandinavian tourists from the island. There were over 800 here at the time.

The programme for the reunion visit includes visits to the former  Swedish UN headquarters – Carl Gustav Camp – in Famagusta, UNFICYP Headquarters in Nicosia and several other places, both in the government controlled part of the island and in the north.

UNFICYP recently marked 50 years on the island.

Contact: 

Pär Hedlund
Phone : +357 24 644 423/+357 99 44 66 83
E-mail: hedlund@cytanet.com.cy

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Anti mosquito spraying in Larnaca

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Larnaca municipality announced on Tuesday that anti mosquito spraying  would be carried out  on Wednesday and Thursday  from 6.30am until 9.30am each day. The sprayings will cover the area around the salt lake  - from Kamares to the bird watching tower next to Pattichion Amphitheatre.  

During the sprayings the nature trail from Kamares to the army camp near the salt lake will be closed to the public.

In order to allay any fears over any environmental impact, the municipality said it had received permission from both the department of the environment of the ministry of agriculture and from the public health services. Eco-friendly substances will be used, it added. The plane assigned to the task will be a yellow ‘Air-Tractor 802’ with the registration number FD-1. It will spray at low altitude for better results, the municipality said.

 

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Talat does not rule out running for ‘president’

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FORMER Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat has not ruled out running for ‘president’ next year, reports said on Tuesday.
In a speech he delivered in Corum in Turkey, Talat, who negotiated on Cyprus with former President Demetris Christofias from 2008 to 2010 when he was replaced by Dervis Eroglu, said he would not however run without party backing.
Talat said that during the time he served, he did not manage to solve the Cyprus problem because Christofias had “internal problems” and feared losing coalition partner DIKO. The Cyprus issue could be resolved in three months if the two sides have the same goal, said Talat.
He said he and Christofias had managed to agree 31 convergences. “This was the first time in the history of the Cyprus negotiations that both sides prepared documents stating that they have agreed to these issues,” he said. “But we needed more time.”

 

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Low Easter sales disappoint

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By Evie Andreou
Traders were very disappointed with business over the Easter period, small shopkeepers’ union POVEK general secretary Stefanos Koursaris said on Tuesday.
Koursaris said that Easter turnover was substantially lower this year compared to previous years.
A big chunk of the expected turnover went to supermarket chains and large superstores which benefited from the extended shop hours, he said.
“With the exception of basic items (foodstuff), the rest of the market has suffered a loss compared to previous years,” Koursaris said.
“We realise that from the one hand the economic crisis has restricted sales to basic items but on the other hand the extended shop hours benefit supermarket chains and big superstores,” he added. Koursaris argues that this threatens healthy competition.
POVEK is warning that unless the minister of labour either proposes an amendment to the law that will satisfy everyone’s needs or drops the current decree on extended shop hours, they would take measures.
“As a first step, we will hang black flags outside our shops on a date that will be announced later, probably on Friday,” Koursaris told the Cyprus Mail. He also warned of further measures.
The extended shop hours are on the agenda of the meeting between POVEK, trade unions PEO, SEK and DEOK and other concerned parties such as convenience store owners, bakeries and hairdressers, scheduled for this Friday.
POVEK members will also participate next week in regional meetings to discuss their issues, on Monday in Limassol, Tuesday in Larnaca and Wednesday in Nicosia. Discussions are also slated for an upcoming meeting of the House Labour Committee.
Koursaris expressed his dismay over the government’s inability to enforce measures that help support small businesses such as the so-called ‘solidarity fund’, which he added “remains a theory and empty words”.
The first decree on extended shop hours was issued in July 2013. It allows shops outside of tourist areas to remain open for longer hours, seven days a week.
POVEK objected from the beginning to the decree since they feared it would harm small and medium size shops instead of helping them, as they cannot afford to hire more staff to cover the longer hours.
The organisation has decided to legally challenge the decree, which was initially set for a trial period of three months.
In September 2013, big retailers who founded a new association, the Pancyprian Association of Retailers, called for the extended opening hours to remain permanent. The decree was extended in October until the end of November 2013. The current decree will run until May 31.
Before the current decree was issued the labour minister said the government was working on a bill to permanently extend opening hours.

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