By Alexia Evripidou
Reactions have been mixed to last week’s historic Good Friday liturgy at the Ayios Giorgos Exorinos church in Famagusta.
The ceremony was welcomed as a message of hope and reconciliation by some, and as a ‘glass half empty’ by others.
Thousands of people, including foreign diplomats, local political party leaders, and Famagusta refugees, travelled to witness the first such liturgy at the church in almost six decades. The historic event was hailed by UN and attending foreign ambassadors as an initiative which could serve as a prime example of restoring trust between the island’s two communities.
Archbishop Chrystostomos said the wall-to-wall TV coverage at home and abroad gave the false impression that the Turkish side was democratic.
But for real progress to occur, he said, Greek Cypriots must be allowed to use all of their churches in the north. The Good Friday liturgy had taken place in only one of those churches, he said.
Famagusta Mayor Alexis Galanos also tempered his comments.
“I believe it is a positive step but we must not exaggerate, we must continue building on it. Talks are still continuing and we would like to see the same thing [as Good Friday] happen in all our churches,” he said.
Putting politics aside, however, Galanos talked about the important effect it had on the worshippers. “Thousands of people were delighted to be able go to the church. It was not about politics for them”. However, it is up to the politicians and Europe now to see a continuation of this, he said.
The UN Secretary General’s Representative in Cyprus, Lisa Buttenheim told the Cyprus News Agency that she welcomed Good Friday’s service, the first since 1957 at Ayios Giorgos. “After so long, it’s a positive development. I appreciate that the mayors of Famagusta Mr Galanos and Mr Kayalp have once again come together to help make this happen. Such initiatives improve the atmosphere and build trust,” she said.
British High Commissioner Mathew Kidd and Ambassador of the Netherlands Brechje Schwachofer, both shared their pleasure at being able to participate in the celebrations. Kidd commented how the event was “an example of how both communities can work in partnership to foster respect for each other and deliver results”.
The Turkish Cypriot Mufti, Dr Talip Atalay attended the ceremony and gifts were exchanged between him and the Bishop of Constantia and Famagusta, Vasilios – who led the service. Furthermore, a representative of the East Mediterranean University went on to give the Bishop the key for the church. “This is not a gift. This is being returned to its owner,” he said.
Galanos told the Cyprus Mail yesterday: “The event conveyed a very good message. If people want to see the positive of this event, they will. If people want to see negative, then they will find that too, however, religious talks can only go so far, the real issues need to be resolved on the political table”.
The church lies within the walled city of Famagusta, which is very close to the fenced off area of Famagusta, known as Varosha, under Turkish occupation since 1974. The UN has called for the return of the town to its lawful inhabitants but so far, Ankara refuses to comply.

By Jeff Mason and Darya Korsunskaya

US Vice President Joe Biden told Russia on Tuesday that “time is short” for action on defusing the crisis in eastern Ukraine, but Moscow said it could handle any tougher economic sanctions the West might impose.

Speaking on a visit to Kiev, Biden called on Moscow to pull back troops built up on Ukraine’s borders and to “stop talking and start acting” on getting Russian separatists who have seized control in eastern towns and cities to disarm.

The United States has repeatedly warned Russia it faces “mounting costs” if it fails to ensure full implementation of an international agreement struck last week on calming the crisis. This stipulates the rebels must leave the government buildings that they have occupied in the past two weeks.

Russia has in turn accused the Ukrainian government of stirring up the trouble and told Washington it must influence Kiev to prevent “hotheads” from provoking a bloody conflict.

Biden, however, put the onus on Moscow. “We’ve heard a lot from Russian officials in the past few days. But now it’s time for Russia to stop talking and start acting,” he told a news conference. “We will not allow this to become an open ended process. Time is short in which to make progress.”

Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and the eastern rebellion have deepened the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War, and Biden demanded the removal of Russian forces near Ukraine’s frontier which Moscow insists are merely on exercises.

“No nation should threaten its neighbours by amassing troops along the border. We call on Russia to pull these forces,” Biden said after meeting Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk.

Moscow denies it is orchestrating the militants, who say they want the chance to join Crimea in becoming part of Russia following the overthrow of Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovich after months of street protests in Kiev.

But Washington, which signed last week’s accord in Geneva along with Moscow, Kiev and the European Union, has said it would decide “in days” on additional sanctions if Russia does not take steps to implement the agreement.

In Moscow, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the country could deal with tougher measures if necessary.

“We shan’t give up on cooperation with foreign companies, including from Western countries, but we will be ready for unfriendly steps,” he told parliament.

“I am sure we can minimise their impact,” he said. “We will not allow our citizens to become hostages of political games.”

So far the United States and EU have imposed visa bans and asset freezes on only a limited number of Russians over the annexation of Crimea last month.

Medvedev said some Russian banks had been shut out of international payments systems, calling this “a violation of existing agreements” which “must not go unpunished”.

LESS DEPENDENCY

The EU has been more cautious than the United States in imposing sanctions, with some member states worried about antagonising a country which supplies a third of Europe’s gas.

Both sides stressed on Tuesday they wanted to depend less on the other over energy.

Medvedev said Russia was more interested than ever in diversifying its gas exports and described talk of Europe importing US gas as a substitute as “a bluff”.

Putting the counter argument, Britain said leading Western economies had to tackle the issue when the Group of Seven nations meet next month, noting how Russia has cut off supplies to Ukraine during past disputes over prices.

“It can’t be right for Russia to hold individual countries to ransom,” said Energy Secretary Ed Davey. “There have been at least two, if not three, occasions in recent times when Russia has sought to use its energy superpower status in quite an aggressive manner,” he said in comments published by The Times newspaper.

During Biden’s trip, the United States offered Ukraine a new $50 million aid package to help with economic and political reform. Of this $11.4 million was earmarked for helping with the election to choose a successor to Yanukovich, the White House said in a statement.

While small in relation to Ukraine’s huge needs and a $1 billion loan guarantee already signed with Washington, the package serves to show support for the new authorities following the overthrow of the Kremlin-backed Yanukovich in February.

TOUGH WORDS FOR KIEV

Biden also had tough words for Kiev, saying it must deal with the endemic graft that has sapped the economy and public faith in the state. “To be very blunt … you have to fight the cancer of corruption,” he told lawmakers.

Yatseniuk said Russian special forces were operating in eastern Ukraine to undermine the election due on May 25.

“Everything that is now happening in the east and which Russia is supporting is aimed at wrecking the presidential election,” he said. “We demand that our Russian neighbours immediately recall their special forces, which are in the east, recall the army from Crimea and turn this shameful page in which Ukrainian territory has been seized by Russian troops.”

In Crimea, where Russian-speakers form a narrow majority, voters overwhelmingly backed union with Russia in March in a referendum staged after Moscow forces had already taken control of the Black Seapeninsula.

However, Crimea’s minority Tatar community expressed its discontent on Tuesday, accusing Russia of barring its leading political figure from returning home after the annexation.

A Turkic-speaking, Muslim community, long present on the Black Sea, Tatars make up about 12 per cent of Crimea’s 2 million population. Deported to central Asia on suspicion of aiding Nazi German invaders, they began to return in the 1980s and in large numbers after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

In an online statement, the community’s assembly said Mustafa Dzhemilev, its former chairman and a member of the Ukrainian parliament, had been handed a notice banning him from Russia for five years as he crossed back to mainland Ukraine after a weekend in Crimea.

By Jonny Hogg and Humeyra Pamuk

The candidate for Turkey’s main opposition party has asked the Constitutional Court to order a re-run of a contested mayoral ballot in the capital Ankara, where he lost to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party.

The secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP) says last month’s close Ankara race was marred by fraud including problems with vote counting – charges that Turkey’s High Election Board has already rejected.

Nationwide local ballots saw the Islamist-rooted AK Party sweep to victory despite weeks of anti-government protests last summer and a widespread corruption scandal that has dogged Erdogan and his inner circle since late last year.

The CHP hoped to grab control of Turkey’s two man cities, Istanbul and Ankara, in the vote that turned into a de-facto referendum on Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian 11-year rule.

In the event, it won neither, but CHP’s unsuccessful mayoral candidate in Ankara, Mansur Yavas, tweeted late on Monday that he had taken the battle to the Constitutional Court.

“Today by using my individual right, I have appealed to the Constitutional Court. From now on, it’s up to the Constitutional Court to accurately reflect the will of Ankara residents,” he said.

However, it remains unclear whether the Constitutional Court has the authority to overturn the decision of the High Electoral Board. Government officials say it does not and it was not clear when the court would rule on the admissibility of the case.

On Tuesday, a CHP adviser said Yavas would take his fight to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.

The electoral board did cancel one mayoral vote on Monday – a race in the northwestern district of Yalova, where first the AK and then the opposition were announced victors. A re-run will take place on June 1, local media reported.

Despite a history of military coups and political instability, this is the first time that a poll in Turkey has attracted such widespread allegations of irregularities.

The dispute comes amidst a wider debate over whether Erdogan is using a raft of purges and legal reforms to tighten his grip on the police and judiciary, as part of a bitter power struggle with US based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he blames for orchestrating the corruption allegations.

By Miyoung Kim and Hyunjoo Jin

The company that owned the South Korean ferry which sank last week, killing possibly hundreds of people, sprang out of a shipping to cosmetics empire founded by a businessman who was jailed for fraud and then went bankrupt.

The founder of the predecessor company, Yoo Byung-un, once likened his 1997 bankruptcy proceedings to a captain going down with his ship. An investment vehicle run by his two sons and its shipbuilding affiliate are now the majority owners of Chonghaejin Marine Co. Ltd, the operator of the ferry that capsized.

There is no suggestion that last Wednesday’s accident was in any way linked to the company’s chequered history. But Yoo and his two sons have been barred from leaving South Korea as investigators seek to establish what led to the fatal sinking of the Sewol ferry.

Of the 476 passengers and crew on board, 339 were children and teachers on a high school outing. Only 174 people have been rescued and the remainder are all presumed to have drowned, a disaster that has shocked South Korea.

Officials said on Tuesday they had launched investigations this week into tax issues and possible illegal foreign currency transactions by the company and by the Yoo family.

An official at the Financial Supervisory Service told Reuters that the financial regulator is investigating whether Chonghaejin Marine or the Yoo family engaged in any illegal foreign exchange transactions without elaborating further.

Another person familiar with the matter told Reuters that the prosecutors are looking into potential tax evasion by the unlisted firm, its affiliates or the Yoo family. A spokesman at the tax agency declined to comment on the matter.

No one was available for comment at either the company or the family. Neither of the regulatory officials were willing to be named, citing the confidential nature of the investigation.

Yoo was jailed for four years in the early 1990s, according to court proceedings at the time, for his role in colluding with one of his employees to defraud a group of people of 1.2 billion won ($1.15 million).

The 73-year-old is typical of the entrepreneurs who helped transform South Korea from one of the poorest countries in the world to one of the richest in a generation, a process dubbed “The Miracle on the Han River” after the river that runs through the capital Seoul.

“Yoo had business skills. Once he took over a bankrupt textile company and then expanded it into toy exports. Later he even got a state award for strong export performance and further expanded into shipbuilding and ferry operation,” said a source who had worked for Yoo for nearly a decade.

Yoo and his sons did not respond to requests for comment on the company’s history. No one would go on the record to discuss the family or their business interests.

STARTED FROM SOAP

Yoo started off making soap and ended up with a business empire that spanned shipping, building and cosmetics before the company he ran, Semo Co. Ltd, went bankrupt in 1997.

Its bankruptcy protection petition cited business diversification as the cause of a cash shortage that had fuelled a rise in debts.

According to company filings, Chonghaejin Marine Co. Ltd was set up on February 24, 1999, a day before a court approved the restructuring of the bankrupt Semo, and became a key entity to consolidate Semo’s shipping business.

Yoo’s sons, Yoo Dae-kyun and Yoo Hyuck-ki, were its majority owners through an investment vehicle and an affiliate. They later became the majority owners of a holding company called I-One-I Holdings that ended up controlling Chonghaejin and other business affiliates, according to the documents.

Subsidiaries of I-One-I Holdings invested 33.7 billion won ($32.4 million) in Semo in 2007 to write off debt and end the court-led restructuring.

It is not clear if Yoo’s two sons are involved in the day-to-day management of the company.

According to Chonghaejin’s 2010 financial reports filed in 2011, a man called Kim Han-sik is the company’s chief executive and owns an 11.6 per cent stake in the company. He is one of the top three shareholders along with the two sons and their companies.

Kim was not available for comment because he is hospitalised due to illness, according to a company official.

A media report said Kim used to work for Lloyds and has a close personal relationship with Yoo. He appeared in public last week when Chonghaejin apologised for the disaster.

Chonghaejin itself won an award for excellence in customer satisfaction in Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in 2011.

Reuters made several attempts to contact the ferry operator at its offices on the second floor of Incheon Port International Passenger Terminal, but no one answered repeated telephone calls.

Yoo’s company Semo started operating ferries on Seoul’s Han River in 1986, just two years before the city held the Summer Olympics. The number of daily ferry passengers in the river jumped to around 4,000 in 1988, the Olympics year, from just 46 in 1986, according to media reports at the time.

Detailed financial information on its ferry business at the time is not available, as South Korean regulators introduced filing requirements only in 2000.

Semo itself was subject to an investigation when a ship in the Han river drifted and collided with three of Yoo’s moored ferries, killing 13 people with one missing.

The company was cleared of any liability for the incident which occurred in 1990.

CAPTAIN OF A SHIP

Yoo described his feelings about the bankruptcy in a magazine interview.

“I had thought if you are CEO, it’s like you’re the captain of a ship. You are bound together and share your fate with the ship until she goes down,” Yoo said in an 1999 interview with a monthly magazine Chosun after filing for bankruptcy of Semo.

“But I realised, as the ship sank, there are people who can swim it through so well ahead of others and be saved,” he said.

When the Sewol went down last week, its captain and many of the crew were among the first to leave the vessel, witnesses have said.

Through I-One-I, Yoo’s two sons have direct or indirect stakes in nine business affiliates that include the Sewol operator Chonghaejin, shipbuilder Chonhaiji and cosmetics firm Dapanda Co, according to data from South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service.

Yoo himself doesn’t own any major stake in these companies, according to the filings.

I-One-I reported 4 billion won net loss in 2013 after posting 2.1 billion won of profit in the prior year, partly because of increased interest payments and valuation loss from its investment in affiliates, including shipbuilder Chonhaiji and paint manufacturer Ahae.

In 2012, I-One-I reported a profit and returned 175 million won to shareholders in dividends, or 8.12 per cent of its profit.

FOUR innocent bystanders, including two children, and one young man handling a firecracker were injured by them over the Easter period, the police announced on Tuesday.
A man from Larnaca suffered severe injuries to his palm, fingers and eyes from a firecracker.
The police also said their campaign before the holiday to block the use of firecrackers, mostly brought over from the north, had resulted in fewer incidents this year.
“Generally, it went well. I’d like to report that there were no injuries at all, but unfortunately that was not the case, there was one serious incident to a 20 year old man and four other minor casualties,” police spokesman Andreas Angelides said of the campaign.
The most serious incident took place on Good Friday when a 20-year-old from Larnaca was holding a metal tube which exploded, resulting in injury to the palm of one hand, the loss of fingers from the other and damage to his eyes.
In separate incidents two 29-year-old men both suffered minor lacerations from flying firecrackers, while a three-year-old boy standing outside a church in Aradippou with his parents was burnt him above his eyebrows. A 10-year-old suffered burns to her right arm as she was standing on church grounds with her father.
In another incident, riot police MMAD were called in to deal with a situation involving a number of rubber tyres being thrown onto the bonfire causing the release of dense and irritant fumes. A 27-year-old man was detained and 10 others were questioned.
Over 10,000 firecrackers have been found and confiscated since the crackdown on firecrackers and resulting convictions of offenders began in March, said Angelides.

South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won announced his resignation on Sunday over the government response to the ferry disaster, in which it was first announced that everyone had been rescued, focusing attention on poor regulatory controls.

The Sewol ferry sank on a routine trip south from the port of Incheon to the traditional holiday island of Jeju on April 16.

More than 300 people, most of them students and teachers on a field trip from the Danwon High School on the outskirts of Seoul, have died or are missing and presumed dead.

The children on board the Sewol were told to stay put in their cabins, where they waited for further orders. The confirmed death toll on Sunday was 187.

South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy and one of its leading manufacturing and export powerhouses, has developed into one of the world’s most technically advanced countries, but faces criticism that regulatory controls have not kept pace.

As part of the investigation, prosecutors raided two shipping safety watchdogs and a coastguard office. They have also raided two vessel service centres, which act as maritime traffic control.

Chung’s resignation was approved by President Park Geun-hye, who has the most power in government, although her spokesman said later that he would remain in post until the rescue operation was completed.

“Keeping my post is too great a burden on the administration,” a sombre Chung said in a brief announcement. “…On behalf of the government, I apologise for many problems from the prevention of the accident to the early handling of the disaster.

“There are too many irregularities and malpractices in parts of society that have been with us too long and I hope those are corrected so that accidents like this will not happen again.”

Chung was booed and someone threw a water bottle at him when he visited grieving parents the day after the disaster. President Park was also booed by some relatives when she visited a gym where families of the missing were staying.

Tempers have frayed over the slow pace of the recovery and frequent changes in information provided by the government.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education sent text messages to parents that “All Danwon High School students are rescued” in the hours after the disaster, media reported.

Berlin’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday strongly advised Germans to avoid travelling to eastern areas of Ukraine due to the tense situation and said journalists risked being held by separatist forces there.

“The situation in eastern Ukraine is very tense at the moment,” said the ministry, adding an increasing number of state institutions were occupied by armed individuals.

“In view of the latest developments, it must be assumed that representatives of the media are at special risk of being held or seized by separatist forces,”

A member of the team of international observers was detained by separatists in the Ukrainian city of Slaviansk on Sunday. The de facto mayor has guaranteed the observers’ safety.

“We wish from the bottom of our hearts to go back to our nations as soon and as quickly as possible,” the observer, German national Colonel Axel Schneider, said at a news conference organised by his captors.

Jeffrey Feltman, UN Under-Secretary-General and head of the Department of Political Affairs, will not assume the post of the UNSG`s Special Adviser for Cyprus, as successor to Alexander Downer, who is taking up the post of the Australian High Commissioner in London, the UN said.

Asked whether Feltman would assume the post of UNSG`s Special Adviser for Cyprus, following a statement made recently by the Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu that Feltman would visit Cyprus, UN Secretary General Ban Ki – Moon`s Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that “Feltman continues to be Feltman. Lisa Buttenheim is, as I mentioned, the UN Acting Special Adviser. Whether he is going to Cyprus I can only ask”, Dujarric said.

According to reliable sources, Feltman has expressed his desire to visit Cyprus soon, but he is not expected to take up the post of the UNSG`s Special Adviser for Cyprus.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied its northern third. President Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu reached on February 11, 2014, an agreement, which led to the resumption of UN- backed peace talks, with a view to reunite the country under a federal roof. (CNA)

Cypriot Paralympic gold medalist Karolina Pelendritou, also known as the ‘Princess of the Pool’ set a third world record in the space of a couple of days at the IDM Berlin 2014, the International Idm Schwimmen Meeting for impaired swimmers.

On Saturday, Pelendritou, who is visually impaired, set her third new world record at the finals of the 50 meters breaststroke in the SB 12 category (34:87), after having set a world record earlier in the day during the semifinals of the meters breaststroke (34:91).

On Friday, Pelendritou set her first new world record in Berlin in the 200m breaststroke (2:50:01).

The IDM is one of the top events in the world and is considered a `dress rehearsal` for the European Swimming Championship held during the the summer, where Pelendritou will defend her European Champion title.

Moldovan citizens will no longer require visas to travel to the European Union beginning on Monday, as the bloc presses ahead with deeper ties with east European nations in defiance of Russia.

Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine are all seeking tighter links with the European Union as part of an Eastern Partnership with the bloc, which allows for closer trade and business ties without full EU membership.

In response to the Ukraine crisis, the European Union has said it will accelerate the partnerships and from Monday, all citizens of Moldova with a biometric passport can travel visa-free to Europe’s Schengen zone, the European Commission said on Sunday in a statement. The Schengen zone includes most EU countries and some non-members such as Norway and Switzerland.

Ukraine’s quest for EU ties triggered the current crisis in relations with Moscow, dividing the nation between those seeking to look West and those wanting to stay in Moscow’s orbit.

Following Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March, NATO has cited Moldova’s disputed Transdniestria region as a possible next target.

Moldova’s pro-European prime minister Iurie Leanca has said EU-inspired reforms and visa-free travel for Moldovans are the best hope of resolving the “frozen conflict” of Transdniestria, arguing they would make Moldova more attractive to those in the rebel region.

EU partnership deals depend on certain reforms. In its statement, the Commission, the EU executive, said Moldova had reformed its interior ministry, modernised its border police and made progress towards ensuring equality and human rights.

A narrow strip of land near the Ukrainian border, Transdniestria has not been recognised by any state as independent, but it is home to Russian troops and half-a-million people – 30 percent of them ethnic Russians – who look to Russia as their patron, much like the ethnic Russian majority in Crimea.

The European Commission statement did not spell out whether people living in Transdniestria would be eligible for visa-free travel and no Commission official was immediately available for comment.

By Steve Tongue

Leaders Liverpool’s hopes of winning their first title in 24 years suffered a huge setback on Sunday when their 2-0 defeat at home by second-placed Chelsea blew the Premier League title race wide open.

Under-strength Chelsea cut the gap at the top to two points with two games to play.

The result also boosted the title aspirations of third-placed Manchester City as they can close the gap on the leaders to three points if they beat Crystal Palace in Sunday’s late match.

In additional, City will also have a game in hand and have a better goal difference.

A mistake by Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard allowed Senegal international Demba Ba to score in added time at the end of the first half.

Just before the final whistle former Liverpool hero Fernando Torres set up Willian to score the second goal.

That meant an end to Liverpool’s run of 11 successive wins and brought their first League defeat since Chelsea beat them in December.

By Maria Tsvetkova

Pro-Russian separatists on Sunday seized control of the offices of regional state television in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk and said they would take it off air and broadcast a Kremlin-backed Russian channel instead.

A Reuters reporter said four separatists in masks, with truncheons and shields, were standing at the entrance to the building controlling access, while more separatists in camouflage fatigues could be seen inside.

About 15 police officers were standing a short distance away but were not trying to resist the separatists. One police lieutenant, who was sitting in a police vehicle nearby, said it would have been pointless to intervene.

It was the first time the station had been seized by the separatists, though previously a transmission tower in the Donetsk region had briefly been seized and technicians forced to broadcast Russian stations’ output.

Pro-Russian separatists, some of them armed, have seized about a dozen official buildings in eastern Ukraine. They say they are rising up against a Ukrainian government they say is illegitimate, but Kiev says they are proxies of the Russian government bent on destabilising Ukraine.

About an hour after the station in Donetsk was overrun, it was still broadcasting its scheduled programmes, a children’s show called “Circle of the Sun”.

CHANGING CHANNELS

But the station’s director, Oleg Dzholos, who came outside to speak to reporters, said the people who seized the building had ordered him to change the programming.

“They used force to push back the gates,” he said. “There were no threats. There were not many of my people. What can a few people do? The leaders of this movement just gave me an ultimatum that one of the Russian channels has to be broadcast.”

Dzholos said three of his staff were still inside the building, and that the separatists had not ejected him from his office.

Separatists who swear allegiance to the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic already control the regional governor’s office and the city hall in Donetsk, the regional capital.

A man in a white shirt who came out of the building and said he was a representative of the Donetsk People’s Republic said that from now on the station would be broadcasting Rossiya 24, a Russian state-owned news channel.

Earlier, a crowd of around 400 people surrounded the building and shouted “Russia!” and “Referendum!,” a reference to a vote the separatists want to hold on seceding from Ukraine. The protesters later drifted away, but the separatist guards on the doors remained.

One of the masked men at the entrance, asked why the building had been seized, said: “They show lies, they try to influence the people and they broadcast misinformation.”

The police officer sitting in his vehicle nearby, who gave his name as Vitaly, said his superiors had ordered him to protect the building after they received information that a crowd was heading to the television station.

“I don’t see any point in using force,” he said. “It would not have worked if we had tried to stop anybody, there were a lot of people here.”

Ministers and other high-ranking officials dealing with energy issues from Cyprus, Croatia, Italy and Montenegro will participate in the Global Offshore Technology (GOT) Conference and Exhibition that will take place in Limassol, April 28-29.

According to a press release, the event will bring together the officials with the international oil and gas community to examine the prospects for offshore oil and gas in the region.

They will also examine the advances in technology and engineering services that have prompted some of the new discoveries and the commercialisation options for the Mediterranean’s oil and gas prospects.

Around 80 companies have registered to attend the conference, held under the auspices of Cyprus’ Ministry of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism. (CNA)

Millions of commuters face transport chaos this week as workers on the London Underground rail network hold a two-day strike in a dispute over planned job cuts.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers’ union (RMT) will stage a 48-hour walkout beginning on the evening of April 28 after talks aimed at resolving the row over plans to close manned ticket offices broke down earlier this month.

A similar strike in February brought the network, used by some three million people most days, to a virtual standstill.

A second walkout was averted to allow the talks to take place. Another three-day strike has been called from May 5.

The strike action follows the March 11 death of RMT leader Bob Crow, whose success in extracting concessions from employers through hard talk and industrial disruption has set the mould for those vying to replace him, trade union experts say.

Transport for London (TfL), which argues that less than three percent of journeys on the 151-year-old tube network now involve passengers using ticket offices, has said it will run a limited service on some lines, with some stations closed. Extra bus and river boat services will also be added.

“A lot of people are going to be late,” said 25-year-old architect Stefan Wilson, who is able to walk to work in the City of London from his home in Wapping.

“If you work in an office job it will have less impact. It is going to be worst for people like nurses who cannot do their job from home.”

SAFETY FEARS

TfL says its modernisation plans, including cutting 953 station jobs, can be achieved without compulsory redundancies or any loss of pay to workers and with the promise stations would remain staffed at all times.

The union says the cuts risk safety and would damage quality of service, and has blamed rail management for the failure of eight weeks of talks. It said it hoped the strikes would lead them to engage in “meaningful and serious talks”.

A TfL spokesman on Sunday said it hoped to hold last-minute talks with the RMT on Monday aimed at averting the walkout.

British Prime Minister David Cameron last week called the strike “unjustified and unacceptable”, saying it would hit millions of families and cause chaos for businesses.

Business lobbies have said previous tube strikes have cost London’s economy up to 50 million pounds ($84 million) a day.

Manchester City took advantage of Liverpool’s surprise 2-0 home defeat by Chelsea to move within striking distance of them at the top of the Premier League with a comfortable 2-0 win at Crystal Palace on Sunday.

Three points behind the leaders, City have a home game in hand and a goal difference that is eight better than Liverpool’s. They are only one point behind second-placed Chelsea, having played a game fewer.

City midfielder Yaya Toure, returning from injury, made the first goal for Edin Dzeko and scored the second before halftime.

Eleventh-placed Palace had won their previous five games to guarantee another year in the Premier League.

By Elizabeth Piper

The pro-Russian mayor of Ukraine’s second-biggest city, Kharkiv, was in a serious condition on Monday after being shot in the back while riding his bicycle, the latest violence in the country’s east.

Gennady Kernes, 54, was riding along the route he takes almost every day when he was shot, probably by someone hidden in nearby woods, said Iryna Kushchenko, spokeswoman for the local government.

His bodyguards were following in a car but were not close enough to intervene, she said.

The Interior Ministry said he had been taken to the city’s hospital for emergency treatment.

“Doctors assess his condition as serious,” the ministry said in a statement.

Kernes, who worked his way up the ranks of local government, was accused by Ukraine’s new pro-Western leaders two months ago of promoting separatism by demanding independence when pro-Russian protesters took control of administrative buildings.

Ukrainian forces evicted them this month, making Kharkiv the only major eastern city to have taken back control from the armed protesters who have demanded a referendum on independence for most of eastern Ukraine.

On Sunday, hundreds of soccer fans paraded the streets of Kharkiv shouting “for Ukraine”.

By George Psyllides

THE GOVERNMENT condemned on Monday a note verbale sent by Turkey to the United Nations delineating the continental shelf between it and the breakaway state in the north of the island.

“The government considers this action unacceptable and unequivocally condemns it,” government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said. “This is an action that also takes place in the midst of negotiations for the solution of the Cyprus problem, which, undoubtedly, are affected in a negative way.”

The Note Verbale, dated April 10, 2014, to the Secretary General of the United Nations, concerns the submission of the geographical coordinates of what Turkey considers to be its own continental shelf and the continental shelf of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state, which is only recognised by the neighbouring country.

It concerns an agreement of delineation between the two, which was ratified by Turkey through Law 6344, dated 29 June 2012.

It was signed in New York on September21, 2011.

The issue of the submission of this illegal ‘agreement’ by Turkey to the United Nations is been investigated by the Permanent Mission of the Republic in New York, and the government is taking all the necessary actions to prevent the creation of new, illegal, fait accomplish, the spokesman said.

By Angelos Anastasiou

THE PARENT-TEACHER Association (PTA) of the English School have appealed to President Nicos Anastasiades for the removal of the school’s board chairwoman, Magda Nicholson, whom they accuse of having “brought both the school’s management and community into disrepute” through lies and corrupt, self-serving practices.

In a letter to Anastasiades dated April 26 and copied to all board members, as well as the school’s headmaster and the parents’ association, the PTA indicted Nicholson of a string of offences, including falsely denying a report by the Cyprus Mail that in March 2014 the board decided to exempt board members’ children from the school’s rigorous admittance exams.

“On 30 March 2014 there was an article in the Cyprus Mail reporting among other things on the decision of 17 March 2014 [to admit children of members of the board even if they have not passed the entrance examination],” the letter said. “On 1 April 2014 there was a clear and unequivocal denial, by the chairperson of the board Ms Magda Nicholson, which appeared online on a site run by Phileleftheros newspaper.”

The denial article – a piece in the Cyprus Daily, also posted on Phileleftheros’ online news site – had Nicholson declaring the Cyprus Mail report on the discriminatory decision as “all lies” and threatening to take legal action, but the PTA’s letter claimed otherwise.

“[Nicholson’s unequivocal denial] appears to be consistent with a trend of false and untrue statements to the media and also to the anti-discrimination authority, which have been made by Ms Nicholson on her own initiative, in her capacity as chairperson of the board,” the PTA charged.

The letter also described what it perceived as another incident of misconduct in February 2014, where Nicholson had informed the board that she had personally arranged for a friend of hers to work with the school in submitting a proposal to the European Commission at a fee that would be charged at 165 hours of consulting services.

“There was no mention of an open process for tenders or of the ES objectives that would justify this preferential selection of an external consultant,” the PTA said. But even more ominously, “there was no indication that the ES staff recognises the need for such services.”

As it is governed by the government, the EnglishSchool’s board of management is appointed by the council of ministers. The current board, including Nicholson as chairwoman, was appointed in July 2013.

Following the list of alleged transgressions, the PTA offered a scathing summary of the accusations against Nicholson and appealed to Anastasiades to intervene in order to force her to step down.

“Corrupt practices, self-serving attitudes, lying to the media and submitting false statements to public authorities are all practices that have been promoted by the chairperson of the board this last year, each of which individually digresses from the minimum expectations of any form of public office,” the PTA argued in its letter and went on to request Anastasiades to “do everything possible to have Ms Nicholson removed from her post”.

In conclusion, the parent-teacher association proposed a series of measures that should be implemented upon appointing a new chairperson. The not-so-subtle implication was that the current lax control and supervision exercised over the school’s management may facilitate even more serious offences.

“We also call for the government to stipulate terms of reference at the time of appointment of a new chairperson of the board, which would include the need for transparency in the ES governance and mechanisms for management accountability, independent educational evaluation and transparent external financial auditing,” the letter concluded.

AS PREVIOUSLY announced, Qatar Airways will commence direct flights to and from Doha and Larnaca airports on Tuesday.

The addition of Larnaca as a destination was announced by the airline last December.

“We are continually striving to provide customers with more options of unique destinations to visit, and the Mediterranean city of Larnaca is a welcomed new addition to the airline’s route map,” a statement from the airline said.

The carrier will be flying four times a week to Larnaca, which is its first route to Cyprus, while the Cyprus government has expressed the hope that the number of flights will increase over time. Flights will be operated by an Airbus A320 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, all departing from Larnaca at 2.10 pm and Doha at 8.10 am.

During a three-day official visit to Qatar by President Nicos Anastasiades in March, the Cyprus government signed an aviation agreement with the Gulf emirate, which provides the right for Qatar Airways to land in Cyprus and continue to other European destinations, excluding Greek destinations in order to protect the interests of Cyprus Airways.

Other features of the agreement relate to unlimited rights of cargo flights by Qatar Airways to Cyprus, and conversely for Cyprus Airways, while yet another perk is the ‘code sharing agreement’, which basically allows Cyprus Airways to fly to previously unreachable destinations in the Far East through Qatar Airways, without the Cyprus carrier itself being actually present with its own aircraft.

The air connection marks the end of a tense commercial period between the two countries, as Qatari investors were poised to participate in a major land deal with the previous government, and last year Qatar Airways was in talks with Cyprus Airways to buy a Heathrow airport timeslot. But both deals fell through, with the blame falling on Cyprus.

Finance Minister Harris Georgiades, Cyprus Airways head Tony Antoniou, and a spokesperson from the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry hailed the introduction of direct flights from Qatar as a positive step in the effort to revitalise the economy and explore new avenues of growth.

“This will boost investment interest from the Arab world,” Georgiades told state radio last week. “But big investments will not come from one day to another. It will take time, but the government is pushing air connection between the Gulf and Cyprus.”

AS PART of the ongoing anti-gambling campaign by the police, officers raided an establishment on Sunday night.

According to a police spokesman, during the raid eleven computers that may have been illegally modified to gambling machines, were confiscated, as well as €120 in cash, and several hand-written notes.

The establishment’s owner was released pending further investigation.