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S Sudan rebel leader in Ethiopia for peace talks

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Violence in South Sudan claims more than 400 lives, UN says

By Aaron Maasho

South Sudan’s rebel leader Riek Machar arrived in the Ethiopian capital on Thursday to meet President Salva Kiir, a rebel source said, after international pressure for face-to-face talks to end four months of conflict and avert a possible genocide.

Friday’s talks in Addis Ababa will be the first time the two rivals have sat together since fighting erupted in mid-December. Thousands of people have been killed, about a million have fled their homes and rights groups say there may have been war crimes committed.

The United States, other world powers and African neighbours, which welcomed South Sudan’s independence from Sudan in 2011, have piled pressure on the two men to halt the violence that continued despite a January ceasefire deal.

Washington imposed sanctions on two commanders from opposing sides this week. Diplomats say more steps will follow if there is no action to stop what has become ethnically-driven killing.

Machar’s spokesman James Gatdet Dak said Machar was heading to Addis Ababa and that he would meet Kiir after holding talks with the host, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn. A rebel source later told Reuters he had arrived.

It is the first time the rebel side has publicly declared Machar’s agreement to attend the talks.

Ethiopia is leading mediation efforts as chair of the regional African grouping the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

“The agenda will be presented by the mediators,” Dak said. “We think they will discuss a transitional government, power sharing, but we will wait and see.”

There had been doubt as to whether Machar would turn up. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said this week that the rebel leader had told him he would “do his best” to get there.

Kiir told international visitors, including US Secretary of State John Kerry, that he would attend.

“CLEAR WARNING”

Kiir’s foreign minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, said discussions would be about a “transitional process” not a transitional government, and insisted Kiir would stay on until 2015 elections. Machar has demanded Kiir resign.

Diplomats involved in the mediation say the focus on Friday would be ending violence and implementing a “month of tranquillity”, which the two sides agreed to this week.

They also hope the meeting will start laying the groundwork for a sustainable political solution.

The United States said its sanctions on two commanders was a “clear warning”.

Norway, another of South Sudan’s main Western sponsors and donors, also said patience was running out and the two leaders had to respond or face tougher action.

“This is the message that Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir will hear loudly when they come to Addis on Friday,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Bende told Reuters.

Fighting has increasingly followed ethnic lines, with troops loyal to Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, battling supporters of Machar, a Nuer. Machar was sacked as deputy president in July, sharpening their years of rivalry.

Clashes have quickly spread to oil producing areas in the north of the country, reducing the flows of crude by about a third from 245,000 barrels per day before the conflict and threatening the young nation’s almost sole source of revenues.

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Venezuela arrests hundreds, sparking opposition protest

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People run away from tear gas during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas

By Eyanir Chinea and Deisy Buitrago

Venezuelan security forces on Thursday rounded up hundreds of youth activists and dismantled camps set up as part of protests against President Nicolas Maduro, leading angry residents to stage demonstrations in backlash against the move.

Pre-dawn raids by National Guard troops broke up four tent camps maintained by student activists as part of a three-month wave of protests that have steadily waned over recent weeks even as sporadic clashes continue.

Police fired tear gas on protesters near the upscale Plaza Altamira who had set up barricades along a main avenue in eastern Caracas to demand the students be freed.

Earlier, a man used a pipe to break the windshield and windows of a truck that tried to push through barricades.

“These arrests are irresponsible because this is a peaceful protest and we are not trying to topple the government,” said Jose Manuel Perez, 22, a student leader. “Mr. President, think about what you’re doing. We demand respect for the students.”

Troops on Thursday morning picked up the remnants of the camps, where students from all over the country had lived in tents, chatting and strumming guitars beneath banners with anti-government slogans, such as “Maduro, assassin.”

Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez said soldiers arrested 243 people, accusing the students of using the camps as a base of operations to stage violent protests. He displayed items taken during the raids including mortars and Molotov cocktails.

The near-daily protests of February and March, which saw clouds of tear gas and barricades of burning trash and tires, have waned as opposition sympathizers have taken stock that Maduro is unlikely to be pushed from office.

Sporadic acts of violence have continued, including the burning of a National Guard vehicle this week.

Forty-one people have been killed, according to official figures, and nearly 800 injured. About 3,000 people have been arrested since February, with Thursday’s latest round-up leaving about 450 people still in detention.

Francia Cacique, 24, a leader of one of the camps, called the raid illegal and denied the students had been plotting subversive activities.

“They’ve come up with the excuse of drugs and weapons, which is totally false,” Cacique told Reuters via cellphone instant message, saying the detained protesters were being held at a Caracas military base. She was not arrested.

“I call on the world to help us and to realize that this is a dictatorship!”

Opposition demonstrators took to the streets in February to demand Maduro’s resignation, complaining of soaring prices, chronic product shortages and abuse by security forces.

Maduro has called the protests an effort to overthrow him through public order disruptions that have snarled traffic, preventing some people from obtaining medical treatment.

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Assad’s forces take Homs, ‘capital of Syrian revolt’

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Homs provincial governor Talal Barazi jokes with Yacoub El Hillo, a United Nations representative in Syria, in old Homs city

By Marwan Makdesi

Syrian forces took full control on Thursday over Homs, a city once associated with scenes of joyous pro-democracy crowds but now famed for images of ruin that epitomise the brutality of Syria’s civil war.

After holding the Old City of Homs for nearly two years, around 1,200 rebel fighters and trapped civilians boarded buses which took them out of the “capital of the revolution” in convoys on Wednesday and Thursday, activists said.

They were driven to rebel-held territory outside the city under a deal agreed between the insurgents and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

“Old Homs has been completely cleansed of armed terrorist groups,” state television said.

Homs provincial governor Talal Barazi told Reuters earlier on Thursday that Homs would be “declared a secure city” and reconstruction would commence after the evacuation.

Although the area had been cleared of insurgents, the army is not expected to move into the Old City until Friday when it will be checked for explosives.

Rebels smiled to cameras as they left, but the fall of Syria’s third largest city to government forces is a major blow to the opposition and a boost for Assad weeks before his likely re-election.

When thousands of Syrians took to the streets of Homs in 2011, it electrified the nation and anti-Assad demonstrations erupted in every major city. Government forces cracked down on the religiously mixed city with batons and live ammunition.

Mortar bombs were fired on protests in Homs and the revolution became armed. Rebel groups spread through the city as civilians fled or cowered in the basements of battered buildings. A year ago, government forces laid siege to the Old City and residents said they starved.

On Thursday, the city was close to silent with no sound of gunfire or explosions. Many buildings at the entrance to the Old City district lay in ruins, destroyed by three years of fighting.

Lebanon’s al-Manar television aired footage from Homs of a line of rebel fighters, some carrying guns and wearing scarves around their faces, walking to green buses, passing government troops.

ASSAD GAINS

At the same time as rebels were evacuated from Homs, dozens of captives held by rebels in the northern provinces of Aleppo and Latakia were freed as part of the same deal.

Governor Barazi told state media that 70 people abducted by rebels were released, including five children and 17 women, and state television said more people were later released from Latakia on Thursday.

The Homs evacuation comes after months of gains by the army, backed by its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, along a strategic corridor of territory linking the capital Damascus with Homs and on to Assad’s Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean.

Assad’s forces now control most of the capital, along with the main highway from Damascus to the coast, while rebels control much of the desert in the north and east. Syria’s second city, Aleppo in the northwest, is contested.

Many areas in Homs province remain in rebel hands, including the stronghold town of Rastan, and Assad will also need to secure rural areas around the capital to take full control of areas the Syrian armyhas been battling for. Government forces have also lost ground in the south to Islamist brigades.

Assad is widely expected to be the runaway victor in the June 3 presidential vote, which his opponents at home and abroad have dismissed as a charade.

They say no credible election can be held in a country fractured by civil war, with swathes of territory outside government control, 6 million people displaced and another 2.5 million refugees abroad.

More than 150,000 people have died in the conflict. Millions more have fled their homes and fighting regularly kills more than 200 people a day.

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Strong earthquake hits Mexico

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Workers evacuate a government building after a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Mexico City

A 6.4 magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City on Thursday, rattling buildings and prompting office evacuations, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

The US Geological Survey put the quake epicenter in the western Mexican state of Guerrero at a depth of 23.9 km just inland from the Pacific Coast. No tsunami alert was triggered.

The USGS initially said the quake was of 6.8 magnitude, and had reported it was much shallower. A quake of that magnitude can cause damage to buildings, especially poorly designed structures.

Finance Minister Luis Videgaray was mid-speech at the National Palace in Mexico City when the quake struck.

“I think we’d better take a pause if you don’t mind,” he said, leaving the stage. Onlookers flooded out.

A representative for state oil giant Pemex said they did not believe there was any impact to its installations, the majority of which are located far from the epicenter.

Mexico, Chile and Central America have been rattled by a series of quakes along the Pacific in recent months.

Mexican media reported there was no damage in the Pacific holiday resort of Acapulco, near the epicenter.

“I was working when I started to feel seasick and we left the office,” said Andres Alcocer, 34, a publicist in Mexico City.

A 8.1-magnitude earthquake in 1985 killed thousands of people in Mexico City. In March 2012, there was a 7.4 magnitude quake but it did not cause major damage.

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S Africa’s ANC rolls to victory

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Election officials empty ballot boxes as counting begins at a voting station in Embo

By Helen Nyambura-Mwaura and Xola Potelwa

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) swept toward victory in South Africa’s fifth post-apartheid election on Thursday, handing President Jacob Zuma the clout to push through pro-business reforms in the face of union and leftist opposition.

Burdened with sluggish economic growth and damaging strikes in his first term, the scandal-plagued Zuma has devoted less and less time over the last year to the wishes of unions, whose long walkouts have hit confidence in Africa’s most developed economy.

He has also batted away opposition from the far left, squelching some expectations the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) – led by his former protege Julius Malema - would ride a wave of populist anger over widespread poverty and unemployment.

The ANC, the liberation movement that swept to power two decades ago under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, had won 63 per cent of Wednesday’s vote with 85 per cent of districts counted, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said.

“With this, he is much less beholden to the left,” Cape Town-based political analyst Nic Borain said, adding he expected Zuma to appoint a technocrat cabinet with the express mandate to roll out policies to boost growth.

“There’s no deeply insightful change, but the bottom line is that by 2019 they are going to have to be growing this economy and making sure they can still raise tax revenue.”

Zuma hinted this week that the ANC needed to take a more pro-business tack, accusing the main platinum union of irresponsibility for dragging out a four-month wage strike, and he hinted at reforms in the pipeline.

“We need an overwhelming majority so that we can change certain things so that we can move faster,” Zuma told a news conference. “There are things you need to remove so you can move faster. I won’t be specific.”

Zuma embraced and shared jokes with colleagues when he visited the electoral commission on Thursday evening and, although his broad grin betrayed his satisfaction, he held off from making a speech until the result was announced officially.

One influential minister said the ANC would now focus on policies adopted at a 2012 leadership conference, when it rejected “wholesale nationalisation” of industries and sought to quell investor concerns with business-friendly pronouncements.

“The policies of the new coming government, the principles that will provide the framework for the new administration, have already been set out,” Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba told Reuters. “That is what we are going to implement.”

The ANC’s nearest rival, the Democratic Alliance, was on 21.9 percent, upholding poll predictions the party would improve on the 16.7 per cent it won five years ago as it gradually sheds its image as the political home of privileged minority whites.

The militant EFF, launched by Malema after he was expelled from the ANC in 2012, was in third place with 5.4 per cent.

ANC MEMBER SHOT

Turnout was high across 22,000 polling stations nationwide, officials said, and voting passed off smoothly although the ANC said one of its members was shot dead outside a polling station in rural KwaZulu-Natal, Zuma’s home province.

Polls ahead of the election, the first to feature voters born after apartheid, had put ANC support near 65 percent, a touch below the 65.9 percent it won in the 2009 vote that brought Zuma to power.

The rand firmed as much as 1 percent against the dollar, to 10.35 – its strongest level this year – as the ANC’s margin of victory became clear. The benchmark Top-40 stock index was little changed.

The ANC’s enduring popularity has confounded those who had expected its support to wane as the glory of its past receded into history and voters focused instead on the sluggish growth and slew of scandals that have typified Zuma’s first term.

Africa’s most sophisticated economy has struggled to recover from a 2009 recession – its first since 1994 – and the ANC’s efforts to stimulate growth and tackle 25 per cent unemployment have been hampered by the unions.

South Africa’s top anti-graft agency accused Zuma this year of “benefiting unduly” from a $23 million state-funded security upgrade to his private home at Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal that included a swimming pool and chicken run.

Zuma has denied any wrongdoing and defended the upgrades as necessary for the protection of a head of state. He confidently told reporters on Monday that the Nkandla controversy was “not an issue with the voters”.

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UK tourism back in the spotlight

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Commerce minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis expects a doubling of UK tourists during the 2014-2015 winter season

By Sinead Kelly

THE Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) has concluded a deal with the largest British tour operator that is expected to significantly boost arrivals from the United Kingdom, commerce minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis revealed yesterday.

The minister also said that casino licences, another major boost for tourism, should be expected by Spring 2015 while related legislation is scheduled to be ready at the end of this month.

“We have completed the policy document and legislation is being prepared at this moment to be submitted to parliament by the end of May,” Lakkotrypis said.

When commenting on the UK deal, the minister avoided naming the tour operator. However, TUI, which owns Thomson and First Choice among others, is said to be the UK’s largest operator and is already heavily invested in the Cyprus market. .

Lakkotrypis said authorities project a doubling in British tourist arrivals in the 2014-2015 winter season, and an up to 35 per cent rise for the 2015 summer season. “For us, it is an important agreement as it will allow us to reverse the current negative trend from mature markets,” Lakkotrypis said.

Although it is still the mainstay of Cyprus’ tourism, the UK market has been on a steady decline since its peak in 2001 when 1.5 million Britons visited the island. By 2004 numbers had fallen to 1.3 million. By 2010 they had dropped to 996,040 and by last year to 891,229 amid criticism from UK operators that Cyprus had left the British market on autopilot while actively pursuing newer sources of arrivals such as Russia whose numbers have jumped from 83,816 ten years ago to 608, 576 last year.

Lakkotrypis said the new deal with the UK operator was primarily geared at boosting winter tourism, adding that efforts were underway to strike up similar arrangements with German tour operators.

“We are cautiously optimistic about tourism for 2014. From flight bookings so far, this looks to be a good year, assuming there are no other external factors that could negatively impact tourist traffic,” he said.

The minister was speaking to the press shortly after briefing the House commerce committee on the deal with the British tour operator and the CTO’s forecasts for this year.

MPs also sounded an upbeat note. Committee chairman Lefteris Christoforou spoke of a likelihood of higher tourism revenues this year compared to 2013.

Estimates placed 2014 revenues at around €2.5bn, he added.

AKEL MP Costas Costa said the news from the Russian and Ukrainian markets was “particularly positive,” noting that to date there have been no cancellations while bookings from Ukraine are on the up.

EDEK’s Giorgos Varnava noted that tourism was the only industry that had remained robust amid the financial crisis and has become the economy’s backbone. Businessmen must drop their prices and improve quality of tourism services to compete with rival tourist destinations, but need government support to do that, he said.

Earlier this week Haris Loizides, head of the Cyprus Hotels Association, said Cyprus had been counting on an increase of between 20 and 25 per cent in tourism from Russia this year to help it weather the fallout of the economic meltdown.

He said the political turmoil in the Crimea and Ukraine has considerably slowed down bookings, adding that as things stand Cyprus would be fortunate to have an increase of 10 per cent in Russian tourists.

Loizides pointed out that hoteliers also had to adjust their tourism package downwards to compensate for a devaluation of the Russian rouble against the euro.
Despite the difficulties, the prospect of a casino in the coming years is seen as an additional boost. Lakkotrypis said the government expected to issue the licences eight months after the law was passed, through open tender procedures. And although the majority of deputies were yesterday pleased with the development, Costas Costa, his AKEL colleague, reiterated his party’s disagreement with the decision to license casinos.

The previous administration under Demetris Christofias had flatly refused to consider the creation of casinos on ideological grounds, consistently brushing off suggestions that Greek Cypriots could spend their money at casinos in the Republic as opposed to the occupied north, which is currently the case.

On coming to power last year, the government asked the CTO to update a 2007 study into the creation of casinos to help them decide on the form they would take – whether they will be accompanied by other development projects.

In October, a meeting between the president and interested stake holders revealed the single casino licence will provide for an integrated resort in one district plus two more branches, or satellite casinos in two other districts.

The original CTO study into developing casinos predicted annual revenues for the state of between €35 and €50 million, as well as a significant boost in employment opportunities.

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Snail hunter’s car seized

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A 22-year-old Greek Cypriot who was collecting snails near the buffer zone in Larnaca saw his car seized by Turkish soldiers who claimed it was parked inside the occupied areas, police said.

The incident happened at around 4pm on Thusrday when the man, a resident of Pyla — a village inhabited by Greek and Turkish Cypriots — went snail hunting in the Pergamos area.

After he finished, he returned to his vehicle only to find it surrounded by Turkish soldiers, police said.

The man reported the incident to the United Nations and returned to the location accompanied by members of the peacekeeping force.

Turkish troops insisted that the car was inside the occupied areas and demanded its seizure.

The UN surrendered the keys to the soldiers and the vehicle was taken to a police station in the Turkish occupied areas in the north.

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Robbers assault man, housemaid during burglary

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Two masked individuals tried to rob a 76-year-old, beating him and his housemaid, but eventually leaving the Nicosia home empty handed, police said.

Police said the man was sleeping on the couch when the two individuals broke into his home in Strovolos at midnight Thursday.

They hit him in the head with a bat and went into the bedroom to find valuables to steal.

They were noticed by the housemaid who tried to stop them resulting in her getting hit in the head also.

The assailants left the house empty handed while the man and the housemaid were treated in hospital and later discharged.

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The relationship between cinema and reality

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THEO PANAYIDES meets an Iranian film director who has fled to London. A restless cancer survivor, she may return to the island

 

The camera shows a young boy named Amin getting into a car, where he proceeds to argue loudly and vociferously with the driver, his mother. It’s the first scene in Ten (2002), directed by Abbas Kiarostami, one of the most acclaimed Iranian films of all time; it was named among the 10 best films of the 00s (not just Iranian films, but films in general) by legendary French magazine Cahiers du Cinéma. There are (yes) 10 scenes in Ten, all of them taking place in the car. The passengers keep changing (they include a devout old woman and a prostitute, as well as young Amin and his auntie), the female driver being the only constant. That driver – mother, sister, friend – is Mania Akbari.

Ten was made 12 years ago, and a lot has changed since then. Amin, who is Mania’s real-life son as well as her son in the movie, is now in his early 20s; he’s at film school in Malaysia, and will shortly be going to London to continue his education. Mania herself is also based in London, having recently fled Iran when crew members on her latest film were arrested for ‘filming without official permission’. That film – called From Tehran to London – chronicles her move, Mania’s films as director being at least partly about herself. One more thing has changed: though only 39, she’s now a cancer survivor, having been diagnosed with breast cancer at 30 and lived with the disease for four years.

That’s a lot to talk about, as we sit in the foyer of the Zena Palace Cinema in Nicosia where her films are being screened in the Cyprus Film Days festival. The only trouble is that Mania is elusive; not hard to approach (she’s friendly enough), but hard to pin down.

For a start, she doesn’t speak English. She tries valiantly a couple of times, but barely gets beyond a dozen words before lapsing back into Farsi. Nader Taghizadeh, an Iranian living in Cyprus, makes heroic efforts to translate – but it must be said that she doesn’t make it easy for him. Her answers are long and convoluted, chatting to Nader as if she’s forgotten that he has to retain every word she’s saying; she’ll often talk for a solid minute, unable to hold herself back till the point has been made. It’s clear, just from her body language, that a good deal gets lost in translation. Mania gestures as she talks, doing complicated things with her hands. She’ll hold the fingers of one hand in a circle, and point to it with the other. At one point, she caresses the arm of the leather couch next to her. Her replies are high-flown, poetic. Translated into English, however, stripped of the nuance she brings to them, they too often seem opaque and puzzling.

One example: I ask about Ten, and how far the woman she plays corresponds to the real Mania. She replies (through Nader) that there is a “philosophical way of looking at the cinema and reality” – and gives me the example of an “Eastern philosopher” who was sitting by his fireplace, asking himself ‘Do I exist or not?’. The philosopher couldn’t prove that he existed, says Mania – but then he started to think about his existence and realised that, since he was thinking, he must also exist. “The relationship between cinema and reality,” she concludes, “is something similar to that.”

Yes, but how? The philosopher she cites is presumably Rene Descartes, of ‘I think, therefore I am’ fame (not an Eastern philosopher, but whatever) – but then how exactly is the relationship between cinema and reality similar to ‘I think, therefore I am’? Does the actor think about her character, and therefore will her into being? Is it the audience which does the thinking? Above all, if cinema ‘exists’ does it exist in the same way as reality? Is she saying that cinema is stronger than we think, or that reality is weaker?

If I spoke Farsi, I’d have tried to press her on the point (I do ask a follow-up question, which goes nowhere). But I actually suspect it wouldn’t matter – because I suspect she’s elusive in her native language too. Mania Akbari seems to be one of those people who thrive on big, nebulous concepts, not the banal nuts and bolts holding them together. One might compare it to the difference between falling in love and holding down a relationship; “Life is so vast,” sighs her character in Ten – based, she asserts, on Mania herself – “you can’t sum it up in just one person”. She’s been married and divorced three times, and also had several very open relationships which, “as a Muslim woman, were very difficult for society [in Iran] to accept… I was the first person in that traditional society who got pregnant from my boyfriend and kept my child from that pregnancy, which is my son that you saw in Ten”. (Given the approximate ages of mother and child in the film, Mania must’ve had Amin in her late teens.) Even sending additional questions via email – without the problems of instant translation – fails to pin her down. For instance:

Q: “What do you miss most about Iran?”

A: “Nostalgia for the past is very futile, however the pain and agony of humanity is the harvest of past memories. Nostalgia is sometimes painful and sometimes joyful.”

That makes her sound like an out-and-out dreamer – which is probably not the whole story. There’s something quite alert and hands-on about Mania, sitting in the foyer of the Zena Palace with her lively face and short, orange-dyed hair. She’s not passive; she doesn’t just pose for photos but also checks my camera, looking to see what I’ve got. There’s a strong sense of self, as with any artist. I still haven’t watched the films she’s made as director (they all screened too early at Cyprus Film Days), but it’s no surprise to learn that she draws heavily on her real-life experiences of society and politics – in effect, that she uses film like an artist, for self-expression. “When I’m making a film, I’m not actually trying to make a film,” she explains. “The camera is an instrument I use to follow me, and everything I want to say to people and to myself.”

She doesn’t even like films very much, says Mania. Being on the jury at a film festival (as at Cyprus Film Days) is a nightmare for her, “because you’re forced to sit and watch all these films” (though the films at CFD have so far been great, she adds diplomatically). Usually, “when I see a film, I really hate it and just switch it off, I don’t watch it. If I watch something accidentally – if I sit in a chair and watch a film – usually I get bored in two minutes and leave”. She seems to have a low boredom threshold, which might also explain her creative zeal and rebellious nature. As our heroine says in Ten: “I have to take photos, paint or travel. I have more important things to do than wash dishes or vacuum the carpets.”

profile2-Driving in Ten

Driving in Ten

In a word, she’s unconventional. After all, she doesn’t hate all films, just the ones that follow a “conventional route”; when she finds a film “which is itself”, she explains somewhat cryptically – a film that “goes somewhere which is itself” – then she’ll stay and watch to the end. Exile in London has allowed her to commune with creative types like the critic Mark Cousins (with whom she’s exchanged “cinematic letters”) and British artist Douglas White; these, you sense, are her people – not fusty old Iranian traditionalists. “In my whole family, we didn’t have any artists,” she recalls when I ask about her background. Most of her loved ones are teachers and academics, sensible people with their nose in a useful book – but Mania herself always “hated laws”, hated conformity, and despised the oppressive boredom of sitting behind a desk at school. “I was always trying to escape from laws… My family always had this concern about their child, me. They thought ‘this kid is abnormal. This kid is not a normal person’.”

Which brings us, in a roundabout way, to cancer. “I will explain cancer from a philosophical point of view,” Mania tells me. A cell normally operates in a certain way – from left to right, let’s say – but sometimes it happens, from one moment to the next, that it goes from right to left. “And no-one knows why it happens, why this moment, what is this moment and what happens in this moment [when] performance changes from right to left”. It’s a kind of black magic, a miracle in reverse – and of course the mutant cell then attacks other cells, and suddenly you’re a 30-year-old woman with a young son who hears “the voice of death”, as she puts it. “I could touch death,” she tells me in English. When you get close to death, “your view of the world changes completely”.

It’s a strange irony, though, I point out. She’d always been so unconventional – and now suddenly her body too was being unconventional, deciding to go from right to left instead of left to right.

Mania waits for Nader to translate, then nods happily. “Mm, mm!” she agrees, obviously delighted. For the first time, we seem to have connected – because I’ve stopped asking boring questions about her life and met her, for the first time, in her realm of poetic analogies. Cancer as a kind of perverse artwork, the body’s own rebellion against convention! – and of course Art was part of the solution as well. Mania directed her first film, 20 Fingers, in the year of her cancer diagnosis, and later made another film, 10 + 4, about her battle with the disease. “In that situation, Art helped me. Next to chemotherapy you do cinema-therapy as well. It gives you power. To make yourself powerful from your weaknesses,” she adds with feeling, “that’s very beautiful.”

Like all artists, she can’t be easy to live with. All that restlessness, the prickly sense of self and refusal to be pinned down, must be tough sometimes. “You’ve only ever loved yourself,” says little Amin in Ten, calling her selfish. “No-one belongs to anyone,” retorts Mania in the film, standing up for women’s rights in Iran and the right to be independent in general. If Ten was really (as she says) “a documentary about my personal life and my relationship with my son”, then it must be said it’s quite a volatile relationship; that’s one angry little boy. Is their relationship better now? The relationship between mother and son is “a difficult relationship always,” she replies blandly, enlisting Freud in her defence.

‘How much longer do you plan to stay in London?’ was another of the questions I sent Mania by email – thinking, in part, of the fact that Iran is slightly easier now, with Rouhani having replaced Ahmadinejad. “Future is not predictable,” was her reply. “The geography of my life is decided by the possibility of making films and having creativity”. She could be back in Cyprus in the summer; she’d like to make a film here. I assume there are lots of other projects for this combative, creative, unpredictable woman. “I haven’t found peace of mind yet,” admits the woman in Ten, the onscreen Mania who’s like a more lucid, explicable version of the real Mania. “One day, maybe. Who knows…” Maybe.

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Focus on top spot and relegation scraps

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By Iacovos Constantinou

Only two rounds before the end of the football league season and there are still three teams in contention for the title and three other teams who are desperately trying to avoid relegation. Given the present league standings it’s highly unlikely that this round will prove decisive for either position but it can reduce the number of possible candidates.

Leaders AEL travel to Nicosia to face Omonia in a fixture they have not won since 2001! AEL know that they should avoid defeat at all costs and if this means settling for the point so be it. They need two points from their last two games to be crowned champions.

APOEL, the second title challengers entertain Anorthosis and anything other than a win almost surely signals the end of their title hopes. They will be without defender Marcelo Oliveira (suspended) and leading scorer Gustavo Manduca (injured) against a much improved Anorthosis who finally recorded their first win in three months last Wednesday.

Third placed Apollon still have a remote chance of the championship but second place seems a much more realistic target. Their coach has to solve their central defence crisis but up front Abraham has proven more than a worthy replacement for their leading marksman Gaston Sangoy.

Their opponent, Ermis Aradippou, has been playing poorly (with one notable exception against APOEL) since reaching the Cup final, but their chairman has promised their fans a performance to of the ‘past’.

In the relegation scramble Doxa Katokopias can secure their place in the top flight if they defeat fellow strugglers Aris at the Makarion stadium in Nicosia.

Following their win on Wednesday Ethnikos Achnas are hoping for at least a point in their away clash with group leaders Nea Salamina.

In the last game already relegated AEK from Kouklia entertain AEK from Larnaca in a game of little interest.

Group A: tomorrow at 6pm: Omonia (59) v AEL (78), Apollonas (73) v Ermis (59)

Group A: Sunday at 6pm: APOEL (75) v Anorthosis (41)

Group B: Sunday at 5pm: Nea Salamina (48) v Ethnikos Achnas (38),  Doxa (39) v Aris (37), AEK Kouklion (22) v AEK Larnaca (46)

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Home for Cooperation turns three 

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By Evie Andreou

THE bi-communal Home for Cooperation (H4C) turns three on Saturday and has planned an anniversary event, although part of the celebration – the open air music festival- has been postponed due to the unsettled weather.

The music festival was to take place in the moat area by Ledra Palace with Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot bands. Entrance will be free of charge after a new date is fixed.

The official ceremony will however go ahead as planned at 4.30pm on Saturday at H4C and will be attended by the negotiators from the two sides Andreas Mavroyiannis and Kudret Özersay. The Ambassador of Norway Sjur Larsen will also make a speech. Also present will be UN Special Representative Lisa Buttenheim and members of diplomatic missions in Cyprus.

“The Home for Cooperation began operating in 2011 as a multicultural public space welcoming to everyone living in Cyprus,” said Kyriakos Pachoulides, chairman of the Association for Historical Dialogue and Research (AHDR).

Commenting on H4C’s objectives he added: “Our goal was to create an alternative public space in Cyprus accessible to everyone and it has been achieved. The events and activities organised by H4C and the different organisations we host aim to attract people here. It is an open process which gives the opportunity to people to interact with each other and engage in constructive dialogue”.

“We are pleased to see that our café is attracting people, not just from the general public but people from the diplomatic world, government stakeholders, even religious leaders. They use the café and other premises to organise events”.

The Home for Cooperation is housed inside Nicosia’s Green Line in a building constructed in the early 1950’s for residential and commercial purposes. In 1974 the building was caught in the crossfire and evacuated.

It was chosen by the AHDR in order to implement its idea of establishing an inter-communal educational centre in the buffer zone. In 2009 it received financial support from the European Economic Area Grants and Norway Grants and renovation works began in 2010.

In May 2011, H4C marked its opening with a four-day celebration. It has recently won the Europa Nostra 2014 ‘Conservation’ award along with 12 other laureates.

H4C houses AHDR, and other non-governmental organisations like the Centre for Sustainable Peace and Democratic Development (SEED), Peace Players, and the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO).

There is also a café, a conference room, a meeting room and an educational room which are used for conferences, meetings, workshops and film screenings.

 

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Cyprus used as example of what not to do in football

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Danny_Mills

Cypriot football was used as an example to avoid, as an FA commission discussed the participation of English footballers in the top flight, according to the Daily Mirror.

The number of Cypriot players in top flight teams is particularly low; there were times where no Cypriot was playing for at least one of the two sides during a game.

This ultimately affects the performance of the national team, which had seen some success in past years but has been sliding of late as older stars retire and younger players do not get any chances to advance.

Cyprus came up when Danny Mills, a former England international asked what would happen “if we do nothing and numbers dwindle and we end up with an England team picked from the second and third tier of English football?”

“Cyprus,” was the reply from two-time former England caretaker boss Howard Wilkinson.

Mills added: “Where’s the inspiration for kids? The highest ambition of every kid is to play in the World Cup. But if your team has not got any chance of even qualifying, how do you think that’s going to affect kids’ aspirations?”

 

 
 

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Drugs, firecrackers seized at creperie

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Limassol police have seized drugs, firecrackers, and flares found in a creperie belonging to a 37-year-old.

Police said they found 40 grammes of cannabis, 508 firecrackers, smoke bombs, flares, and other similar items, as well as €895 in cash.

The owner was arrested.

 

 

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AKEL sues ‘over loss of supporters’ Politis says

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akel pc   3

By George Psyllides

MAIN opposition AKEL has sued a newspaper over allegations that the party had received €1.5 million from a company allegedly linked with a man many hold responsible for the collapse of the banking sector.

The party said it had no other choice but to resort to court to set the record straight after shadows were left by “malicious” reports in Politis.

Politis said in a statement later that one of the reasons the party sued the paper was because the article had “resulted in the loss of party officials, members, voters and supporters”.

The paper said it found it “astonishing” that the party considered its members and voters as “lost profits”.

“Just how impressionable does AKEL think its officials and members are?” Politis said in a written statement. The paper said it welcomed the lawsuit because the party would be asked to present in court its financial statements for the time period in question.

AKEL also warned yesterday “for the first and last time” that anyone who reproduced “the false allegations from now on … will also be sued.”

Politis had reported that Focus Maritime had paid €500,000 directly to DISY in ten instalments of €50,000 each in January and February of 2008, and almost €1.5 million to AKEL – of which €1 million was paid through offshore Abendale Management Corporation in two equal instalments in September 2007, and €450,000 in June 2008 through the audit firm of Kyprianides, Nicolaou & Partners.

The newspaper said the transfers were made around the time of Cyprus’ 2008 presidential elections.

Both parties denied any wrongdoing although DISY later admitted to receiving €50,000 from Focus.

Focus is owned by Greek ship owner Michalis Zolotas who is in turn linked to Greek businessman Andreas Vgenopoulos, whom many here blame for the collapse of Laiki Bank.

Focus allegedly received large loans – some without adequate security – from Laiki during the time Vgenopoulos was at the helm of the bank.

AKEL said because it does not usually resolve disputes in court “except as a last resort,” and because monetary benefit was not the objective, if successful, it will donate any money awarded to people affected by the crisis.

The party is seeking between €500,000 and €2 million in compensation.

The party filed the libel suit while authorities are looking into the case, trying to determine whether the allegations were true.

“The objective is to find out whether this money trail ended at the two parties,” Attorney-general Costas Clerides told state radio CyBC.

Clerides had recently asked investigators to extend their search. Cyprus has asked Greek authorities to assist by looking into bank accounts on their side.

The investigation is part of a wider probe into the collapse of the economy, which Clerides said was a laborious and complex task.

Two related cases appear to be close to completion.

Clerides said investigators were asked to fill in some gaps “but they are at an advanced stage.”

It is understood that the two cases concern loans and forgery.

The attorney-general said violation of capital controls were not included in the terms of reference initially but recent reports and information regarding cash transfers abroad using illicit methods have caught they eye of investigators.

“We are monitoring the matter so that we can go ahead when we have a more complete picture,” Clerides said.

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Halliburton ‘vote of confidence’ in Cyprus (updated)

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By Stefanos Evripidou

OILFIELD services giant Halliburton on Friday concluded a deal with the government to use Cyprus as their base of operations for the eastern Mediterranean, providing a much-needed “vote of confidence” for the prospects of the Cypriot economy.

The Cyprus Mail reported last week that two of the world’s largest oilfield services companies- Halliburton and Schlumberger- were about to sign relevant agreements with the government this month to set up shop in Cyprus.

Halliburton’s Senior Vice President for Europe and Africa Mark Richard met on Friday night with President Nicos Anastasiades at the Presidential Palace to close the deal.

Once the meeting ended, Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis wasted no time spreading the news on Twitter, welcoming Halliburton to Cyprus in a tweet. He wished them the best in servicing hydrocarbons exploration in Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and thanked them for their confidence in Cyprus’ potential.

Speaking after the meeting, Richard said: “It is a pleasure to be here in Cyprus for the start of our operations to support our customers and the country of Cyprus in the ongoing efforts to hopefully produce oil and gas here in the Mediterranean.”

The Halliburton official thanked the government “for the tremendous support and hospitality in helping us to get started here in the country”, adding, “Hopefully, this is the start of many, many good years to come”.

Richard said the multinational will base its operations in Larnaca. Halliburton currently operates in more than 80 countries.

Asked how many people will be employed in Cyprus by the company, Richard said: “That depends on how much work we actually win from competitive tenders with our customers, but it will be considerable at one point in time.”

Halliburton is expected to announce shortly its plans for collaboration with Cyprus-based companies and universities, as part of its operational plans for the region.

The giant’s operations are due to start in Larnaca before summer’s end.

Lakkotrypis, also present last night, beamed at having the “great pleasure” to receive “such an important company” that will be active in providing support services for hydrocarbon explorations within Cyprus’ EEZ.

“The presence of such a company constitutes a vote of confidence for Cyprus and the prospects of the Cypriot economy,something which we very much need,” said the minister.

Talks with the company began many months ago with the involvement of the president himself, he said. They reached a “happy conclusion” last night, opening the way forward for the company’s establishment in Cyprus, a move which will help achieve economic growth in the short-term, said Lakkotrypis.

The minister said he hoped to have something similar to announce soon, a likely reference to the pending agreement with Schlumberger, expected to be sealed before the end of the May.

Schlumberger, arguably the world’s largest oilfield services company, has its principal offices located in Houston, Paris, and The Hague. In the industry, they are known as sub-surface specialists, and develop a lot of the software used to analyse seismic data.

Last week, former executive chairman of the Cyprus National Hydrocarbons Company, Charles Ellinas, confirmed to the Mail that the two multinationals were about to set up shop here.

He said Halliburton in particular have been looking to rent land for their base of operations in the Aradippou/Larnaca area, close to the Larnaca harbour and the airport.

Halliburton provides drilling services and gear for companies prospecting for hydrocarbons.

Their base in Cyprus will cover the entire eastern Mediterranean, which is expected to become a hotbed of exploration activity in the years to come.

According to Ellinas, Halliburton estimates around 50 to 60 new wells will be drilled in the eastern Mediterranean (Israel, Cyprus and Lebanon) in the next few years, possibly racking up $5bn to $7bn in drilling costs. Halliburton will be keen to get a significant slice of that pie, and Cyprus’ political stability makes it a sensible place from which to base its pie-chasing operations.

Halliburton’s activities here would likely consist of storing their drilling gear and opening up offices.

Ellinas noted that once the company secured contracts for its services, local companies would have an opportunity to provide support services like storage space, servicing of equipment, providing supplies etc.

Considering Halliburton’s modus operandi elsewhere, the US-based company is expected to set up a management team but then hire and train locals to do the work.

Speaking yesterday at an oil and gas conference in Nicosia, Finance Minister Harris Georgiades on Friday highlighted the huge importance of hydrocarbons to Cyprus’ economic prospects, warning however that: “The discovery of hydrocarbons does not mean we have won the lottery – like some people in Cyprus are saying.”

The energy sector is promising but also a challenge, which requires careful handling and a well-prepared strategy, he said.

“We are not and should not be basing our financial recovery on natural gas prospects alone. It should be based on facts and not on political rhetoric.”

Georgiades noted that the finance ministry would submit a legal bill before the end of the year to set up a national fund to handle hydrocarbons revenues in a transparent manner for both current and future generations.

Peace, stability and regional cooperation as a result of hydrocarbons could also see a solution to the Cyprus problem, said the minister, noting it was an opportunity to see the normalisation of relations with neighbours – especially Turkey.

Also addressing the conference, DIKO leader Nicolas Papadopoulos warned that without a Cyprus problem solution, the government needs to stick to plans to build a liquefaction plant to export gas from the eastern Mediterranean basin to Europe and Asia.

“It should be clear that, with the solution of the Cyprus problem pending and before the necessary confidence towards Turkey is built, Cyprus cannot consider any ideas for exporting its natural gas via pipelines to Turkey,” said Papadopoulos.

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Cypriot MMA star Philippou looking to get back to winning ways

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Packing a punch: Limassol man Costas Phiippou is currently ranked No.12 in the MMA middleweight rankings

By Andreas Vou

CYPRIOT MMA fighter Costas Philippou is set to take on Lorenz Larkin on Saturday night in UFC Fight Night 40 at Cincinnati’s US Bank Arena.
The 34-year-old is currently ranked No.12 in the MMA middleweight rankings and had gone on a five fight winning streak prior to his two latest defeats.
The Limassol-native suffered a major setback to his title aspirations after his September defeat to Francis Carmont, followed up by another loss to Luke Rockhold in January’s UFC Fight Night 35 headliner.

Philippou takes on 27-year-old Larkin who has not had the best times of late either, having lost two of his three latest bouts since joining the UFC.
In October, he earned his first and only UFC victory in an impressive decision win against Chris Camozzi but that was sandwiched by two disappointing losses.
His first defeat came on his UFC debut; as did Philippou, Larkin found Carmont too tough to stop while he then tasted defeat at the hands of Brad Tavares in January during UFC Fight Night 35.

Both fighters have all the more reason to be motivated as they look to get back to winning ways but Philippou is the slight favourite with his added experience.
Based in the United States, UFC is the most esteemed mixed martial arts organisation in the world, home to the elite fighters in the industry with each headlining event averaging in the region of four million television viewers.

Philippou’s road to the very top has been anything but easy, leaving Cyprus shortly after meeting his coach and mentor Polis Potamitis in 1996, who bought him a ticket to travel to New York to pursue a pro career.

The Cypriot soon faced his toughest bout, coping with tragedy. In September 2005, his coach who had become his best friend was shot and killed on the island, leaving Philippou in a dire psychological state.

He showed immense character to pick himself up and eventually began climbing the ladder towards the top, eventually quitting boxing in favour of MMA in 2007.
In May 2008, Philippou made his professional MMA debut, becoming the first ever Cypriot to do so when he competed for the ‘Ring of Combat’ promotion fight. Despite losing by a split decision on that occasion, he went on to win seven times and lost just once, earning promotion at the next time of asking.

The Limassol star joined UFC in 2011 and, despite losing his first fight, bounced back, again, in the best possible way, winning his next five matches in a run which stretched from August 2011 to December 2012.

Philippou has demonstrated formidable character by picking himself in times of adversity throughout his career. Despite his last two defeats, the Cypriot fighter is once again looking to bounce back.

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Greek remanded after 25kg cannabis found

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A 60-year-old Greek man was remanded in custody for six days on Saturday on suspicion of smuggling 25 kilos of cannabis into Cyprus.

The man arrived from Athens on Friday afternoon but his behaviour while retrieving his luggage at Larnaca airport made police officers suspicious.
“His luggage was checked by customs officers who found over 25 kilograms of cannabis,” drug squad spokesman Stelios Sergides said.
The suspect told police he did not know the recipient of the drugs and that his instructions were to expect a phone call.
Sergides said the 60-year-old refused to give up the suppliers of the drugs in Athens.

 

 

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Kiev tells east Ukraine rebels vote for self-rule would be catastrophe

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Armed pro-Russian militants stand guard on their checkpoint alongside a railway line in Slaviansk, Ukraine, 10 May 2014.

Ukrainian acting President Oleksander Turchinov told eastern regions gripped by a pro-Russian uprising that they would be courting catastrophe if they voted “yes” in a separatist referendum on Sunday.

Turchinov, who deems the vote in the Russian-speaking Donetsk and Luhansk regions illegal, urged the population to accept “round table” talks on greater autonomy. But, in reference to fighters who have seized police and government buildings, he said “terrorists” could not be included.

The vote, organised on a largely ad hoc basis with no clear control of authenticity of ballot papers or voter lists, could have serious consequences for Ukraine and relations between Moscow and the West. It risks turning isolated clashes into civil war.

“(Secession from Ukraine)…would be a step into the abyss for these regions,” Turchinov said on his website. “Those who stand for self-rule do not understand that it would mean complete destruction of the economy, social programmes and life in general for the majority of the population in these regions.”

The atmosphere in major cities across the region was tense though there were no reports of fighting in the morning.

In the port city of Mariupol, where between seven and 20 people were killed in fierce fighting on Friday, rebels blocked the streets with barricades of tyres, garbage containers and chairs. Smoke was still coming from the partially burnt-out administration building. There was no sign of Ukrainian forces.

The barricades were manned by a handful of pro-Russians, some with batons or clubs, wearing motorcycle helmets. No gunmen were visible. Video on the YouTube site showed an armoured car captured by rebels set on fire and ammunition exploding.

Throughout the city of Slaviansk, the most heavily defended separatist redoubt, streets were barricaded with tyres, furniture, cars and scrap iron.

In the city of Donetsk, rebels released several members of the Red Cross whom they held for seven hours, one having been beaten, a Red Cross official in Kiev said.

WESTERN SANCTIONS

Western states prepared to step up pressure on Russia, whom they accuse of engineering the crisis to destabilise Ukraine. Russia denies involvement but voices support for insurgents it says are defending themselves against fascist Ukrainian forces.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande said that if May 25 national polls failed to go ahead because of the rebellion, this would further unsettle the country. In that case, they would be “ready to take further sanctions against Russia”.

Western countries are expected to announce new economic sanctions over President Vladimir Putin’s actions over Ukraine.

The European Union has so far imposed asset freezes and visa bans on 48 Russians and Ukrainians over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. EU diplomats say new sanctions will for the first time target companies.

The national polls are seen in Kiev as a way of establishing a fully legitimate, universally elected government following pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovich’s flight to Russia in February under pressure from pro-Western demonstrations.

In the largely rebel-controlled regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, which have declared a breakaway “People’s Republic of Donetsk”, preparations went ahead for Sunday’s self-rule referendum, though there was widespread uncertainty about what the question on the ballot paper meant:

“Do you support the act of self-rule of the People’s Republic of Donetsk?”

Some people interpret it as a vote for more local powers, some for broad autonomy within Ukraine, some for independence, others still as a step towards incorporation into Russia.

Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the rebel mayor of the city of Slaviansk said he expected a 100 percent turnout. He set out conditions for talks with Kiev.

“The withdrawal of (Ukrainian) forces and exchange of prisoners,” he told a news conference. “Only after fulfilment of these conditions would we be ready for talks. If the junta continues to retain its forces here, we will continue to fight.”

Ponomaryov has been in the forefront of separatist activity, and Kiev could place him in the category of “terrorists” who would not be welcome at the round table for which Kiev is seeking international backing.

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Turkey’s Erdogan heckles critic, storms out of ceremony

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Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan

An angry Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan heckled the head of the country’s bar association on Saturday, accusing him of rudeness for speaking too long and critically at a judicial ceremony, then stormed out of the hall.

The dramatic scene underscored how tensions remain high after bitterly contested March local polls and amid expectations Erdogan will seek the presidency in another election in August.

Erdogan interrupted a speech in Ankara by Metin Feyzioglu, chairman of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, saying his speech was political and was full of untruths after Feyzioglu questioned the government’s handling of the aftermath of a 2011 earthquake in the southeastern province of Van.

“You are speaking falsehoods … How could there be such rudeness?” Erdogan shouted and stood up to gesticulate in anger at Feyzioglu, who was onstage at a podium and refused to stop speaking. The scene was broadcast by CNN Turk television.

Erdogan also expressed frustration that Feyzioglu, who in the past criticised the criminal prosecution of Erdogan’s political opponents, had broken protocol by speaking for an hour before leaving the ceremony in Ankara.

It was an unusual outburst even for Erdogan, Turkey’s most popular leader in a half-century, whose street-tough origins and hard talk are part of his appeal for many Turks.

Last month, the head of the Constitutional Court denounced “excessive” political criticism of his tribunal in a speech attended by Erdogan, who remained stonily silent during the ceremony. Only later did he say he was “saddened” by Chief Justice Hasim Kilic’s words.

At the 2009 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Erdogan left the stage after clashing with Israeli President Shimon Peres in what would augur a split between the two allied nations that persists today.

The three-time premier has yet to announce a run for the presidency, but his interest in the top job is widely accepted.

Though largely ceremonial, the presidency is still the nation’s most prestigious post and was held by modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

A presidential bid would follow a difficult year for Erdogan that included the biggest anti-government protests in decades over his perceived authoritarianism and a corruption scandal that implicated family members and cabinet ministers.

Erdogan responded with a sweeping shakeup of the police and judiciary he has accused of political interference.

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One dead, two missing after hot air balloon catches fire in Virginia

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hot air

At least one person died and two were missing after a hot air balloon hit a power line and caught fire over Virginia during a festival, police said on Saturday.

Authorities said they had found the remains of one person, and were continuing to search for the others missing after the Friday evening accident 30 miles (48 km) north of Richmond.

Witnesses posted photos online showing a balloon in mid-air with its basket engulfed in flames and a trail of smoke spilling into the sky.

One local described hearing people calling for help from the basket.

“They were just screaming for anybody to help them,” resident Carrie Hager-Bradley told a local NBC affiliate.

The balloon, holding a pilot and two passengers, was one of three aloft at the time as part of the Mid-Atlantic Balloon Festival, said officials.

Resident Debra Ferguson told a local newspaper she looked up after other balloons had landed safely near her house and heard cries of “Oh my God” and then saw a surge of flames.

“As soon as we looked up, the thing blew up right there … it was like a match, poof, and then it was gone,” Ferguson told the Free Lance-Star of Fredericksburg.

Witnesses said there was an explosion as it hit the line and the balloon then separated from the basket carrying the passengers, Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corrine Geller told a televised news conference.

She did not identify the person who had been found and said the other two balloons landed safely.

The accident occurred 7:30 p.m. (2300 GMT) said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.

The balloon crashed near a park as the festival was hosting a special “Friday Flights Happy Hour”, organizers said.

More than 20 hot air balloon teams from across the United States were to take part at The Meadow Event Park in Caroline County. The Saturday and Sunday events were canceled.

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