By James Mackenzie

Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi repeated accusations on Wednesday that he had been forced out of office at the height of the euro zone crisis in 2011 as the result of a plot by European Union officials.

Berlusconi’s comments followed the publication of a book by former US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner which suggested that the US government had been asked to help force Berlusconi to resign as the crisis escalated in late 2011.

“At one point that fall, a few European officials approached us with a scheme to try to force Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi out of power; they wanted us to refuse to support IMF loans to Italy until he was gone,” Geithner wrote in his book, “Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises”, extracts from which appeared in the Italian press this week.

“We told the President about this surprising invitation, but as helpful as it would have been to have better leadership in Europe, we couldn’t get involved in a scheme like that,” he wrote. “‘We can’t have his blood on our hands,’ I said.”

Berlusconi resigned in November 2011 after months of tension on financial markets led to fears that investors could refuse to buy Italian bonds, sending the euro zone’s third-largest economy into default and breaking the single currency apart.

The 77-year-old media tycoon, currently serving a community service sentence after being convicted of tax fraud last year, said the book showed there had been a “clear violation of democratic rules and an attack on the sovereignty of our country”.

“The plot is an extremely serious piece of news which confirms what I’ve been saying for some time,” hetold Rai state television in an interview.

Berlusconi, the leader of Italy’s main centre-right party, has frequently accused European authorities and Italy’s head of state, President Giorgio Napolitano, of mounting a “coup” to remove him from office in 2011.

He made similar accusations earlier this year following the publication of a book based on interviews with his successor Mario Monti and others, which said Monti had been sounded out as a potential replacement premier months before Berlusconi’s government fell.

“FREELY AND RESPONSIBLY”

On Wednesday, Berlusconi repeated accusations that Napolitano had been in contact with Monti, the former European Commissioner appointed to lead the technocrat government that succeeded Berlusconi, well before the final crisis.

Napolitano issued a statement on Wednesday saying he was unaware of any pressure exerted on Berlusconi, who resigned after a split in the centre-right camp left him without a reliable parliamentary majority.

He said Berlusconi’s resignation had been offered “freely and responsibly” and that it had been caused solely by “Italian political and parliamentary events”.

Berlusconi has stepped up his attacks on Brussels and euro zone policy makers during the campaign for the May 25 European Parliament elections, encouraged by opinion polls that show rising dissatisfaction with the EU.

With less than two weeks to go, his Forza Italia party is in third place in opinion polls with about 20 percent, behind Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party, on around 34 percent, and the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, on about 25.

Many of his supporters remain convinced that his removal was engineered by foreign powers.

Monti’s government imposed a series of austerity measures aimed at restoring market confidence but failed to halt a steep rise in Italy’s public debt or restore growth, and ended its term deeply unpopular with ordinary voters.

By Ece Toksabay

Hopes faded of finding more survivors in a coal mine in western Turkey on Wednesday, where 245 workers were confirmed killed and around 120 still feared to be trapped in what is likely to prove the nation’s worst ever industrial disaster.

Anger over the deadly fire at the mine about 480 km southwest of Istanbul echoed across a country that has seen a decade of rapid economic growth but still suffers from one of the world’s worst workplace safety records.

Opponents blamed Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government for privatising the country’s mines and ignoring repeated warnings about their safety.

“We as a nation of 77 million are experiencing a very great pain,” Erdogan told a news conference after visiting the site. But he appeared to turn defensive when asked whether sufficient precautions had been in place at the mine.

“Explosions like this in these mines happen all the time. It’s not like these don’t happen elsewhere in the world,” he said, reeling off a list of global mining accidents since 1862.

Fire knocked out power and shut down ventilation shafts and elevators shortly after 3 pm (1200 GMT) on Tuesday. Emergency workers pumped oxygen into the mine to try to keep those trapped alive during a rescue effort that lasted through the night. Thousands of family members and co-workers gathered outside the town’s hospital searching for information on their loved ones.

“We haven’t heard anything from any of them, not among the injured, not among the list of dead,” said one elderly woman, Sengul, whose two nephews worked in the mine along with the sons of two of her neighbours.

“It’s what people do here, risking their lives for two cents … They say one gallery in the mine has not been reached, but it’s almost been a day,” she said.

A mechanical digger opened a row of fresh graves at Soma’s main cemetery. An imam presided over the funeral of six miners as a few hundred mourners wept in silence.

The fire broke out during a shift change, leading to uncertainty over the exact number of miners trapped. Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said the death toll as of 1600 GMT was 245. Late on Tuesday he said 787 workers had been in the mine.

The mine operator Soma Komur Isletmeleri said nearly 450 miners had been rescued from the site and that the deaths were caused by carbon monoxide. It said the cause was not yet clear.

Initial reports suggested an electrical fault caused the blaze but Mehmet Torun, a board member and former head of the Chamber of Mining Engineers who was at the scene, said a disused coal seam had heated up, expelling carbon monoxide through the mine’s tunnels and galleries.

“They are ventilating the shafts but carbon monoxide kills in 3 or 5 minutes,” he told Reuters by telephone.

“Unless we have a major miracle, we shouldn’t expect anyone to emerge alive at this point,” he said, pointing to an outside chance that workers may have found air pockets to survive.

DEADLIEST EVER

The disaster highlighted Turkey’s poor record on worker safety and drew renewed opposition calls for an inquiry into a drop in safety standards at previously state-run mines. The International Labour Organization ranked the EU candidate nation third worst in the world for worker deaths in 2012.

In Istanbul, police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse several thousand demonstrators, some wearing miners’ hard hats and headlamps, some waving left-wing party flags.

“Government resign,” the protesters chanted as they marched along the city’s Istiklal Avenue before the police intervened, sending them scattering into side streets. Police also clashed with protesters in the capital Ankara and there were protests in other cities.

Erdogan earlier declared three days of national mourning and cancelled an official visit to Albania. President Abdullah Gul also cancelled a trip to China scheduled for Thursday in order to travel to Soma.

“We are heading towards this accident likely being the deadliest ever in Turkey,” Yildiz told reporters, adding that “hopes were dimming” of finding many more survivors.

A pall of smoke hung above the area and Yildiz said the fire was still burning underground, hampering the rescue operation.

Turkey’s disaster management agency AFAD said in an email 85 people had been treated for their injuries.

Freezer trucks and a cold storage warehouse usually used for food served as makeshift morgues as hospital facilities overflowed. Medical staff intermittently emerged from the hospital to read the names of survivors being treated inside, with families and fellow workers clamouring for information.

“This isn’t a huge city. Everyone has neighbours, relatives or friends injured, dead or still trapped. I am trying to prepare my family for the worst,” said Hasan Dogan, 27, watching TV news reports from a canteen set up outside the hospital.

Some 16,000 people from a population of 105,000 in the district of Soma work in the mining industry, according to Erkan Akcay, a local opposition politician. The district is no stranger to tragedies, but never before on this scale.

The words “For those who give a life for a handful of coal” are engraved on the entrance wall to the emergency clinic.

Teams of psychiatrists were being pulled together to help counsel the families of victims. Paramilitary police guarded the entrance to the mine to keep distressed relatives at a safe distance, as residents offered soup, water and bread.

“They haven’t brought any ambulances in such a long time that we’ve started to lose hope,” said Hatice Ersoy, 43, a woman in a headscarf sitting on a pavement outside the hospital.

Several hundred people chanted “Government resign!” at Soma’s local government building as Erdogan visited the town.

Earlier some 200 people protested in front of the Istanbul headquarters of the operator Soma Komur. The company said in a brief statement late on Tuesday there had been “a grave accident” caused by an explosion in a substation.

POOR RECORD

Turkey’s rapid growth over the past decade has seen a construction boom and a scramble to meet soaring energy demand, with worker safety standards often failing to keep pace. It is a net importer of coal.

Its safety record in coal mining has been poor for decades, with its deadliest accident to date in 1992, when a gas blast killed 263 workers in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak.

The Labour Ministry said late on Tuesday its officials had carried out regular inspections at the Soma mine, most recently in March, and that no irregularities had been detected.

But Hursit Gunes, a deputy from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, said a previous request for a parliamentary inquiry into safety and working conditions at mines around Soma had been rejected by the ruling AK Party.

“I’m going to renew that parliamentary investigation demand today. If (the government) has been warned about this and they did nothing, then people will be angry, naturally. The opposition warned them. But there’s unbelievable lethargy on this issue,” Gunes told Reuters.

The ILO in 2012 said Turkey had the highest rate of worker deaths in Europe and the world’s third-highest. In the mining sector, 61 people died in 2012, according to the ILO’s latest statistics. Between 2002 and 2012, the death toll at Turkish mines totalled more than 1,000.

THE handbag of a kiosk employee was snatched in front of her eyes by two men in hoodies at around 2:30am on Wednesday from the kiosk on the Larnaca-Dekelia road.

According to the police, the 25-year-old employee from Romania saw the two men grabbing her bag when she came out of the storeroom behind the cash register.

She ran after them but one of them held a knife and threatened her. In the bag were personal items and only €10.

The police will try to identify the two men from the kiosk’s closed circuit surveillance cameras.

PAPHOS police have found two pistols stolen a couple of years ago from officers’ homes, it emerged on Wednesday.

The weapons, a Browning and an H&K USP, were found hidden, after a tip off, in a bush near the village of Ayia Varvara along with four empty magazines.

Paphos police spokesman Nicos Tsiappis said the pistols have been sent for ballistic tests to determine whether they had been used in any criminal acts.

The firearms had been stolen when the homes of officers were broken into in 2011 and 2012.

One of the guns was stolen on December 22, 2011, along with two magazines, 25 rounds, handcuffs, an expandable baton and various valuables.

The second pistol was stolen a year later, on November 24, with two clips and 25 rounds.

The thieves also stole €1,500 in cash and various pieces of jewellery of unknown value.

By Brian Homewood
Sevilla beat Benfica 4-2 on penalties after a goalless draw to win the Europa League final on Wednesday, extending the Portuguese side’s extraordinary run of defeats in European finals.

Substitute Kevin Gameiro fired home the winning penalty as Sevilla, twice winners of the old UEFA Cup, lifted the trophy for the third time and left Benfica to reflect on their eighth successive loss in European finals.

Benfica had the better of the 90 minutes but the confidence seemed to drain out of them in extra-time.
Sevilla won the toss, took the penalties in front of their own fans and Benfica’s Oscar Cardozo and Rodrigo had penalties saved by Beto to hand the Spanish side the trophy.

“Benfica were a just finalist like we were and it was a game where there were moments they were on top, others when we were,”Sevilla coach Unai Emery told Spanish TV.
“In the end they were pushing forward more as we were tired and all the games that we have played this season took their toll. However, we have learnt to fight and cope with the difficult moments and we came out on top.”

There was little excitement in an often scrappy and foul-littered first half until the very end when Benfica fullback Maxi Pereira just failed to lob the ball over goalkeeper Beto who blocked another effort by Rodrigo in the following attack.

Benfica should have gone ahead in the 48th minute when Lima had a shot blocked off the line by Nicolas Pareja after being cleverly set up by Pereira and Rodrigo’s follow-up was also blocked.

At the other end, Luisao saved Benfica with a perfectly timed tackle on Jose Antonio Reyes.
Pereira then set up another chance for Lima when he got in behind the Sevilla defence and this time the Brazilian forward completely missed his kick.

Lima nearly grabbed a late winner with a dipping long-range effort which Beto just managed to turn over the crossbar. Then Ezequiel Garay headed over at the far post from a floated cross.

Benfica failed to carry the momentum into extra-time and Sevilla nearly went ahead when Ivan Rakitic sent Carlos Bacca clear down the right but the Colombian fired his just over the bar.

Gameiro fired into the side-netting in the second half of extra-time after another break down the right.
By that time, fatigue had crept in, the pace had slowed and the game was littered with mistakes.

The Tourism Development and Promotion Company for the district of Nicosia is offering free guided tours of the Cyprus Museum in English for tourists.

The tour will be offered to individual visitors every Tuesday and Friday from 10am to 11.15am and 11.45am to 1pm.

Foreign visitors will only pay the usual entrance fee of €4.50.

The initiative will start on Friday and remain in force until July but not in August. It will be resumed again on the same terms between September and November.

The scheme is being conducted jointly with the  Cyprus Tourism Organisation, the Department of Antiquities, and the Association of Tourist Guides .

For more information: website www.visitnicosia.com.cy and facebook.com / VisitNicosia.

A 31-year-old man from Syria was injured by his Romanian wife in a quarrel on Thursday at their home in Yeroskipou.

The incident occurred when during a big argument between the man and his 36-year-old wife, she grabbed a kitchen knife and slashed him on the leg.

According to the police, the man ran outside calling for help. Neighbours called the police and an ambulance, which transferred him to the emergency unit at Paphos Hospital where he was treated and later released.

The wife was arrested.

By Martyn Harman and Keith Weir

DUTCHMAN Louis van Gaal remains favourite to become Manchester United’s new manager but media reports that he would be confirmed on Thursday before the release of the club’s financial results proved unfounded.

The former Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss is preparing to lead the Netherlands at next month’s World Cup and United are anxious to name the successor to the sacked David Moyes before the tournament kicks off in Brazil.

“Everyone at the club is working hard to ensure the team is back challenging for the title and trophies next season,” executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward said in a statement.
Van Gaal, 62, has been the leading contender for the role since Moyes was fired in April, 10 months after replacing Sir Alex Ferguson who retired after 26 glittering years at the helm of England’s biggest club.

Reports yesterday said United’s longest-serving player Ryan Giggs, who managed the team for the final four games of the Premier League season, had held talks with Van Gaal about becoming his number two.

United finished the season in seventh place, meaning they will be without European football next season.
Should Van Gaal take charge he will have the task of rebuilding the squad and mounting a title challenge next season.

United reported a 60 per cent increase in quarterly profit yesterday, saying they had the financial muscle to improve the squad.
Woodward added that United had generated record revenue and profit in the three months to the end of March despite the problems on the pitch. “This puts us in a healthy financial position to continue to invest in the squad,” he said.
Revenue in the three months to March rose 26 per cent to £115.5 million and operating profit reached £40 million.
For the year as a whole, the club stuck to its forecast for revenue of between £420 and £430 million and EBITDA (operating profit) of £128 to £133 million.

The US embassy in Nicosia will mark International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO), by flying the rainbow flag at the Embassy building in Engomi on May 17 and 31, the embassy said on Thursday.

The IDAHO is an annual event celebrated internationally to counter homophobia and raise awareness of the human rights discrimination faced by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) individuals.

“I want to assure you,” Ambassador John Koenig said, that the US Embassy in Nicosia “will remain committed to working with the LGBT community on promoting the protection of LGBT rights and on combating discrimination against LGBT individuals”.

“This is not only part of our foreign assistance, but represents our moral conviction”, he added.

This year, there will be IDAHO events in 118 countries.

The US Embassy will once again “proudly fly the rainbow flag on May 31 to celebrate Cyprus’ first ever Pride March.”  The Pride March will begin at Eleftheria Square, next to Ledra Street. (CNA)
 

By George Psyllides

THE former chief of police Michalakis Papageorgiou has appealed against his dismissal and is suing the president because he sacked him without prior investigation.

Papageorgiou wants the decision for his termination reversed and is demanding up to €500,000 in compensation from Anastasiades.

The former chief said the contents of the dismissal letter sent by Anastasiades did not correspond to reality and suggested that the president could have been misinformed.

“I wonder if such a thing has happened before in any other democratic country; a police chief gets the sack based on unfounded allegations, without any investigation or substantiation,” Papageorgiou said.

Papageorgiou was sacked in the wake of a violent protest by far-right ELAM at an event attended by former Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat in Limassol at the end of March.

Around 100 ELAM members disrupted the event, shouting slogans and holding Greek flags outside the Panos Solomonides municipal cultural centre just before it was scheduled to start.

They managed to enter the lobby and hurled a flare inside the hall. A Turkish Cypriot journalist who tried to take photos was slightly injured when scuffles broke out with police whose presence at the event was inadequate.

It was reported that although the Limassol police knew that ELAM would protest at the event, only six police officers were present.  Papageorgiou admitted that he had been asleep and was informed about the incident after it had taken place.

Anastasiades laid the blame on Papageorgiou for not taking adequate precautions and wasted no time in sending a letter to police headquarters giving him the sack.

In the letter, Anastasiades referred to a host of acts and omissions on the part of the police leadership that led to the events in Limassol.

Anastasiades said that taking into consideration “a series of other actions and omissions by the chief of police” he had decided to fire him. He referred to the chief’s lack respect for decisions of the institutions of the Republic, including decisions of the courts and the Ombudsman’s recommendations and accused Papageorgiou of performing his duties inadequately “in relation to the clampdown on serious crime and the promotion of real security of citizens.”

Papageorgiou said he was also planning to file a lawsuit against Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou but not in his official capacity.

“It is known that Mr. Nicolaou was trying to get rid, as he was saying, of the chief of police before even taking up office,” Papageorgiou said.

The former police officer said he was only interested in giving a clear message “that such actions hurt the police and the country and are unacceptable and anti-democratic.”

By George Psyllides

THE European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has agreed to finance Cyprus for a limited period to help the island overcome the problems caused by the deep economic crisis, it was announced yesterday.

The agreement, which will see Cyprus becoming a recipient country until 2020, was announced by Finance Minister Harris Georgiades through his Twitter account.

“EBRD decides to commence operations in Cyprus.”

EBRD shareholders earlier voted to provide up to €700 million of financing to Cyprus over the next six years to help it weather the eurozone debt crisis.

In a statement submitted to the EBRD’s annual meeting on Wednesday, the minister said the bank’s operations in Cyprus would significantly contribute in addressing the short and medium-term financial, fiscal and structural challenges the country faces

EBRD will support Cyprus’ privatisation programme and assist with corporate restructuring.

“The bank will also work to strengthen the financial sector to make it much more robust, much more resilient,” EBRD President Sir Suma Chakrabarti said, adding that there was a major need to restructure and rebalance the Cyprus economy.

The EBRD president stressed that “with the full support of the parties involved” the bank would be providing financing across the whole of Cyprus, for the benefit of all the people who live on the island.

The finance ministry said it was an especially important decision that created prospects for private sector financing programmes but also investment in vital sectors of the economy and the banking sector.

There has been talk of transferring an 18 per cent stake held by the now defunct Laiki Bank in Bank of Cyprus (BoC) to the EBRD.

Under the terms of its €10 billion bailout, Cyprus had to close down Laiki and seize uninsured deposits in BoC to recapitalise the lender.

Laiki went into liquidation, while deposits below €100,000 as well as its assets were absorbed by BoC.

It has been reported this week that the Resolution Authority (Central Bank, Finance Ministry, Securities and Exchange Commission), which administers the share, could transfer its voting rights to EBRD.

BoC CEO John Hourican said such a development would be good for Cyprus and his lender.

“It brings a very reputable institution on to the island, and putting their wisdom and benefit to our use is a good thing for the bank and a good thing for Cyprus,” Hourican told reporters on the sidelines of an economic conference in Nicosia.

The bank’s operations will complement those of other international organisations and international financial institutions active on the island.

The EBRD intends to establish a local office in Cyprus with resident staff.

The EBRD provides project financing for banks, industries and businesses, both new ventures and investments in existing companies.

Direct investment generally ranges between €5 million and €230 million. The bank typically funds up to 35 per cent of the project cost.

The Bank invests only in projects that could not otherwise attract financing on similar terms.

The EBRD was created in 1991 to invest in the former Soviet bloc countries of eastern Europe. In recent years, its membership has expanded to include Mongolia, Turkey and economies affected directly or indirectly by the Arab Spring such as Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan.

By Roberta Rampton

President Barack Obama led an emotional dedication on Thursday of a museum that commemorates the traumatic events of Sept. 11, 2001, built on the “ground zero” site of the twin towers that fell that day.

Obama and his wife, Michelle, joined by Bill and Hillary Clinton and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, toured the museum, which includes artifacts from many of the nearly 3,000 people who died in the hijacked-plane attacks in New York, Washington and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

“Here we tell their story so that generations yet unborn will never forget,” Obama said in dedicating amuseum that he called “this sacred place of healing and hope.”

The ceremony was held in a cavernous, underground hall where what remains of the foundation of the twin World Trade Center towers can still be seen, along with a retaining wall that survived the blasts.

In the center of the room, a 36-foot-high column covered with posters of those missing after 9/11 and names of units of fire and emergency workers who died responding to the tragedy.

Obama singled out 9/11 victim Welles Crowther, a 24-year-old equities trader known simply as a man wearing a red bandana who saved a dozen lives on the South Tower’s 78th floor. His body was recovered at ground zero in 2002.

A red bandana of the type he wore that day is displayed at the museum, donated by his mother, Allison, who spoke at the ceremony along with Ling Young, a woman Welles led out of the building.

Also on display is the charred watch worn by Todd Beamer, the software salesman who led a passenger revolt against the hijackers on United Airlines flight 93 before it crashed into a field near Shanksville.

The museum includes emotional telephone messages left for loved ones by those who would die in the towers, and cockpit recordings from the doomed planes.

During the tour, the Obamas walked through a hall with row upon row of photos of those who perished: old, young, some in firefighter and police uniforms, before entering a hall inscribed with Virgil’s “No day shall erase you from the memory of time.”

They paused beside what was left of a fire truck, scarred by flames, its ladders twisted beyond recognition.

Obama said the memorial “reaffirms the true spirit of 9/11 – love, compassion, sacrifice, and enshrines it forever in the heart of our nation.”

“I think all who come here will find it a profound and moving experience,” he said.

Obama noted that it was three years ago this month that “our SEALS made sure that justice was done,” a reference to the secret US mission he ordered that killed 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden in his Pakistan hideaway.

“Nothing can ever break us. Nothing can change who we are as Americans,” Obama said.

By Katharine Houreld

US authorities have quietly released 10 Pakistani detainees from Bagram Prison in Afghanistan, lawyers said on Thursday, after the men had spent years in prison without trial.

One had been held for 10 years after being captured by British forces in Iraq and transferred to Afghanistan, said legal charity Reprieve.

US authorities say that the detentions are necessary to keep potentially dangerous men off the battlefield.

It was not immediately clear where the 10 released men had been taken.

Justice Project Pakistan, which is providing representation to some of the detainees, said the International Committee of the Red Cross had informed their families that the prisoners had been released, but not where they were.

Another batch of six prisoners was released in December, only to be secretly transferred to Pakistani prisons and held incommunicado for several weeks.

Pakistani authorities did not tell the families the US had freed the six and only acknowledged holding them after Justice Project Pakistan won a series of court orders.

Foreign prisoners at Bagram, sometimes dubbed “Afghanistan’s Guantanamo Bay”, face review boards staffed by US military officers but are not allowed to know all evidence against them or be represented by a lawyer of their choice.

The boards evaluate the evidence and whether the detainees might pose a future threat to US forces.

Sarah Belal, a lawyer at Justice Project Pakistan, said dozens of men remain in the prison under US custody.

She said Pakistani government officials needed to tell lawyers and families about releases to avoid putting the men at risk of torture.

“Let’s be serious. They (Pakistani forces) have no problem torturing people. The longer you let someone sit incommunicado in detention, the bigger the risk of torture,” she said.

Pakistani authorities did not return calls seeking comment. International human rights groups have accused Pakistan of systemic torture in the past.

Road blocks and marches hit Brazilian cities on Thursday as disparate groups criticized spending on the upcoming World Cup football tournament and sought to revive a call for better public services that swept the country last June.

Less than a month before the tournament kicks off, and four months before a presidential election, Thursday’s protests will gauge the ability of demonstrators to once again rally frustrated Brazilians and the competence of police to manage unrest that occasionally escalated over the past year into violence and vandalism.

A main thoroughfare was blocked with burning tires in Brazil’s biggest city of Sao Paulo and protesters stormed a building in the capital Brasilia. Looters also took advantage of a striking military police force in the northeastern city of Recife, a World Cup venue, where security has been handed to the army until the police return.

Groups, including the Homeless Workers Movement, marched towards a World Cup stadium in Sao Paulo, site of the tournament’s kickoff, that has become a target because of families displaced by its construction.

One banner carried by demonstrators read: “The cup without the people, all to the streets again!”

In Brasilia the Homeless Workers Movement entered the headquarters of Terracap, the state company that manages the city’s 1.4 billion reais ($630 million) stadium – the country’s most expensive.

Protests are planned in up to 50 cities throughout the day, as demonstrators hope to rekindle momentum that led to millions of people hitting the streets last year during the Confederations Cup, a two-week World Cup warmup.

Last year’s demonstrations prompted President Dilma Rousseff, who faces a bid for re-election in October, to address the nation and acknowledge deficiencies in public services and investment in everything from education and health care to transportation and security.

After a near-decade of steady growth before she took office, Brazil is now struggling with a sluggish economy, persistent inflation, rising crime rates and lackluster investment.

Thursday’s protests come in a week which has already seen widespread strikes from dissatisfied labor unions across Brazil, from bus drivers in Rio de Janeiro to military police in the northeastern city of Recife.

By Constantinos Psillides

THE abstention rate in the upcoming May 25 European Parliament elections will exceed 50 per cent in Cyprus, according to a poll commissioned by ANT1 TV released late on Thursday.

Less than half of the participants said that they will be voting (40.6 per cent) making this the lowest percentage recorded since Cyprus joined the EU in 2004.

The DISY-EVROKO ticket is expected to come in as the winner, with 24.9 per cent of the vote. In all polls commissioned for the euro elections up to now, the ruling party comes as the clear winner.

Main opposition party AKEL is expected second with 15.5 per cent, DIKO with 8.4 per cent, and the EDEK and Green Party coalition barely scraping together 4.5 per cent, barely ahead of the newly formed Citizen’s Alliance at 4.4 per cent.

Asked whether they were interested on the  euro elections, 36.2 per cent of those polled said: “Not at all”, while 25.4 answered “a little”, 21.3 said “yes” while only 17.3 per cent said they were “very interested”.

According to the ANT1 TV poll, young voters are amongst those least interested

Asked about their voting criteria, people cited the candidates’  stance on the Cyprus problem – especially among older voters – internal governance and party allegiances.

Only 7.2 per cent responded their vote depended on individual candidates and only 5.4 said their vote depends on party stance regarding EU issues.

Asked why they were not voting, 48.1 per cent of participants said they didn’t trust politicians, 16.5 per cent said that they were not interested in politics, 13.7 said it was because of the current situation the country was in and 11 per cent said that none of the candidates were worthwhile.

Asked to rank the problems they were concerned with, 52.4 per cent said the economy was their number one worry, while 23.7 per cent said they worried about unemployment and 10.2 per cent said they were concerned with the Cyprus problem and foreign policy.

The poll shows a rise in pessimism as 67 per cent said next year they thought the economy would be worse.

Despite the negativity, President Nicos Anastasiades approval ratings seem to have increased, with 64.1 per cent viewing him favourably, a 1.9 per cent increase since November 2013 when ANT1 commissioned a similar poll.

By Jon Kim Andrus

The 2014 World Cup will be played next month in Brazil. It’s a fitting honor for a country that has won the most titles (five) in the 84-year history of the tournament. The excitement is already starting to build, and I’ll be pulling hard for my own Team USA.

While I’ll have one eye on the matches, the other will be on the foreign fans that will flock to Brazil, some of whom may unwittingly carry the virus that causes measles. If measles were to crash the World Cup and then spread, it would put at risk the country’s impressive gains against the disease and threaten other countries as well.

Brazil eliminated measles around the turn of the century, thanks to an aggressive national vaccination campaign. In 2002, the entire Americas region was declared measles-free. It was a tremendous achievement, and Brazilians are justifiably proud of it.

Measles once ravaged Brazil. Thousands of people became infected with it each year, and many of them died. Newborns and malnourished children were among the most vulnerable.

If not for the highly effective and safe measles vaccine, many of our countries would still be burying many of their young. By 2020, the elimination of measles in Brazil and the rest of the Americas will have prevented 3.2 million cases and 16,000 deaths, according to a study by experts from the Pan American Health Organization, among others.

Measles in any one country is a threat to all. Two years ago, Brazil confirmed two cases
that were imported by travelers from countries where the disease is still endemic – most likely in Europe or Asia. The virus found small but important gaps in the country’s population immunity (for example, in communities with lower vaccination coverage).

Last year, the imported virus spread and caused 213 more cases. From January to April of this year, there were another 172 cases.

The Brazilian government and the Pan American Health Organization are very concerned about the 600,000 foreigners who are expected to travel to Brazil for the World Cup in June. Some of these people could unintentionally carry more of the highly contagious virus to the country, as well as to the rest of the region.

The risk is real. Consider that of the 32 countries with teams in the month-long tournament, 19 reported measles cases in 2013.

But we are not powerless. We can mitigate the risk of measles importation.

We urge everyone who plans to go to Brazil to get vaccinated at least two weeks before traveling. This is how much time is needed for the vaccine to provide the fullest possible protection.

We urge physicians and health care workers everywhere to be aware of the danger to their patients, and to advise them to get vaccinated for their own good and the good of others.

At the same time, we applaud the Brazilian government for its efforts to ensure that all Brazilians – especially those who live, or will attend, in the 12 cities where matches will be played – get vaccinated.

The Pan American Health Organization developed a campaign for the 12th Vaccination Week in the Americas (April 26–May 3), stressing the importance of action against all vaccine-preventable diseases: measles, but also polio, rubella, hepatitis, diphtheria, mumps, whooping cough, neonatal tetanus, bacterial pneumonia, yellow fever, diarrhea caused by rotavirus, influenza, and human papillomavirus.

Vaccination works. We can use it to ensure a measles-free World Cup. We can keep measles from spoiling the quadrennial celebration of the world’s most popular sport.

Let’s give it a shot. Let’s defend our goal. Let’s tackle measles before it has a chance to strike.

Dr. Jon K. Andrus is the current Deputy Director of the Pan American Health Organization, the World Health Organization’s regional office for the Americas.

This article first appeared in www.themarknews.com

By Iacovos Constantinou

Thirty five games were not enough to decide this year’s Cyprus football champion, with everything on the line in the very last game of the season between the two title contenders AEL and APOEL at the Tsirion stadium in Limassol on Saturday (5pm).

With three points separating the two teams, AEL need to avoid defeat in order to be crowned champions for the second time in three years. The Limassol outfit have been sitting at top of the table for most of this year, dislodged for just a few days in April after being defeated by APOEL who at the time climbed above due to a superior head-to-head record.

AEL coach Ivaylo Petev’s main concern is how to replace one of his most influential players, the diminutive midfielder Bebe, who is suspended for the crunch game. Ohene or Theophilou look set to replace Bebe but the burden of his absence will fall on attacking midfielder Monteiro who is enjoying his best ever season with AEL.

Defending champions APOEL are hoping to become the first team in more than 60 years to win the championship in two consecutive years. Even though they boast the meanest defence and the most formidable attack, they know that the task ahead is not an easy one as only a win can deliver them the title.

Such is the competitiveness of this year’s championship that a defeat for APOEL will most probably see them drop into third place allowing Apollon to take the second coveted position that leads to the Champion’s League qualifying rounds.

APOELs coach Giorgos Donis faces similar problems to his counterpart as he has to find a replacement for his most consistent player of the season, winger Stathis Aloneftis, who was unable to shake off a niggling injury. Donis is keeping his cards close to his chest and any one of Gomes, Manduca and Alexandrou will fill that slot.

The 7,460 tickets that were issued for the game (AEL 5,060 and APOEL 2,400) proved inadequate as they disappeared within hours of being made available. Some APOEL fans even spent all Thursday night camped outside the APOEL ticket outlet to make certain of being at the front of the queue!

The names of the officials will not be made public until a few hours before the game and for the first time in Cyprus’ league history there will also be two goal-line officials in line with what happens in Champions and Europa League games.

In the other matches of the weekend, Apollon need a win against Anorthosis to make sure of second place if APOEL lose while Ermis and Omonia will battle it out for fourth place with a draw favouring the home side.

There is not much to play for in Group B as the relegation positions were decided last week.

Full fixture list:
Group A
Friday: Ermis v Omonia 2-1 FT score
Saturday: AEL v APOEL (17.00)

Sunday: Anorthosis v Apollon (18.00)
Group B
Sunday: AEK Larnaca v Doxa, Aris v Nea Salamina, Ethnikos Achnas v AEK Kouklion (all at 17.00)

By staff reporter

A man wanted in Scotland for tax evasion has been detained by police after he was released by the Turkish Cypriot breakaway state in the north of the island, it emerged on Friday.

Michael Voudouris, 46, fled to the north of the island in October 2012 after pleading guilty to a €12.6 million (£10.3 million) tax fraud.

He was released on bail but ended up doing a runner to the breakaway regime in the north which has no extradition treaty with Britain.

Voudouris had been on the run for 14 months before police arrested him in a restaurant in Famagusta, reports said.

On Friday, police said Voudouris was in custody in the Republic but could not provide any other information regarding his extradition to Scotland.

Scotland’s Daily Record said Voudouris appeared on top 10 most-wanted list of tax dodgers.

He laundered millions of pounds stolen by Glasgow computer firm Q-Tech Distribution in a carousel VAT fraud.

Voudouris stashed fortunes in bank accounts in Cyprus, Greece and Switzerland, the Daily Record said.

By Drazen Jorgic and Humphrey Malalo

Back-to-back explosions killed at least 10 people in a packed Nairobi market on Friday, extending a spate of attacks that have piled pressure on the government and spurred Britain and other Western nations to warn citizens about travelling to Kenya.

Close to 70 people were wounded in the two blasts, Kenya’s National Disaster Operations Centre (NDOC) said, and the Kenya Red Cross appealed for blood donations to help the injured.

One explosion struck a minibus taxi, shattering the windows and flattening its tyres. It was near a market best known for selling second-hand clothes from wooden stalls with corrugated iron roofs. The second blast occurred near the same market.

Outside the blood-spattered minibus, clothes littered a street that had been bustling with shoppers earlier in the day.

“I saw the explosion. People were running in all directions,” a woman at the scene told journalists. “I know some of the people who died.”

Nairobi County Police Commander Benson Kibui told journalists that one suspect was arrested near the market and another was detained elsewhere, without giving details.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

In the past such attacks have been widely blamed on the Somali Islamist militant group al Shabaab, which wants Kenyan troops out of Somalia. In September, gunmen from the group killed 67 people in an raid on a Nairobi shopping mall.

Kenya, an important Western regional ally, has suffered a string of bomb and gun attacks since its troops entered Somalia to battle al Shabaab, which had carried out cross-border raids and kidnappings in Kenya.

Many of the attacks have been along Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast, including the port of Mombasa, a tourist favourite. Some others have been in Nairobi, mainly near the Somali-populated Eastleigh district. Friday’s blasts were close to Eastleigh.

Tourism in the east African nation had already been damaged by kidnappings by Somali pirates in the north near the Somali border, though that threat has subsided over the past 18 months.

Kenyan authorities had hoped for a respite to rebuild the struggling industry.

One immediate commercial victim of Friday’s bombings was a regional telecoms conference, East African Com, due to be held in Nairobi next week. Organisers said security worries forced it to cancel the meeting, which attracts top industry executives.

TOURISTS LEAVE

The latest blasts came a day after Kenya rebuked Britain, the United States, France and Australia for issuing travel warnings. Hundreds of tourists have left resorts on the Indian Ocean coast ahead of schedule as a result.

“Yesterday night, 282 tourists flew out and today 300 more are going away,” Sam Ikwaye, of the Kenya Hotel Keepers and Caterers, told Reuters in Mombasa, one of several areas the British government said tourists should avoid or leave.

Diplomats have privately said Kenya’s security forces have been hampered in their work by inter-agency rivalries in the past and also say the government has not done enough to reassure Kenyans and others that it is stepping up security in the wake of the Nairobi Westgate shopping mall assault.

The government says it has not been credited for all the attacks it says it has foiled, but instead is criticised for the few that get through.

President Uhuru Kenyatta urged Kenyans to help the government in its battle against “terrorism” and dismissed the Western travel warnings as steps that “only strengthen the will of terrorists” instead of helping Kenya defeat them.

“Terrorism is not an evil that was born in Kenya. Terrorism is a worldwide phenomenon,” Kenyatta told a previously planned news conference held soon after the latest explosions.

Kibui said the blasts were caused by a Improvised Explosive Device (IED), a reference to a hand-made bomb.

Seven people were killed two weeks ago when explosions struck Nairobi and Mombasa.

By Malini Menon and Rajesh Kumar Singh

Opposition candidate Narendra Modi thundered to victory on Friday in India‘s election, with partial results showing that the pro-business Hindu nationalist and his party trounced the ruling Nehru-Gandhi dynasty in a seismic political shift.

Modi’s landslide, the most resounding election victory India has seen in 30 years, was welcomed with a blistering rally on India’s stock markets and raucous celebrations at offices across the country of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), where supporters danced, exploded fireworks and gave out sweets.

The BJP looked certain of a parliamentary majority, giving the 63-year-old former tea-seller ample room to advance economic reforms which were started 23 years ago by current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but stalled in recent years.

Singh’s Congress party suffered its worst ever wipeout, a big boost to Modi’s goal of ending the dominance of the Nehru-Gandhi family that has governed for most of the 67 years of independent India.

Singh, whose party looked set to win less than 50 of the 543 parliamentary seats at stake, congratulated Modi with a telephone call.

Crowds surged around Modi’s car after he visited his mother’s home in the western state of Gujarat, where he has been chief minister since 2001.

He sent a message saying “India has won” that instantly set a record as the country’s most retweeted Twitter post.

The desire for change has been so strong that voters put aside concerns about Modi’s Hindu-centric politics.

“I’m so happy because all of India wanted a strong government,” shouted software engineer Vinod Rai at the BJP’s Delhi headquarters. Rai echoed the sentiments of millions of Indians who bought into Modi’s promises of job creation and economic growth to satisfy a bulging youth population.

With more than six times the seats of its closest rival, Modi’s is the most decisive mandate for a leader since the 1984 assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi propelled her son to office. Since 1989, India has been governed by coalitions.

The BJP had already won or was winning in 283 seats in parliament, counting trends showed, comfortably across the halfway mark of 272 required to rule. An alliance led by the party was ahead in 338 seats, TV channel NDTV said.

MARKETS SOAR

Responding to the news, Indian markets got off to a roaring start, with the rupee breaking below 59 to the U.S. dollar, an 11-month high, and the benchmark stock index jumping 6 percent to a record high before paring its gains.

Betting on a Modi win, foreign investors have poured more than $16 billion into Indian stocks and bonds in the past six months and now hold over 22 percent of Mumbai-listed equities – a stake estimated by Morgan Stanley at almost $280 billion.

Unlike his predecessors, Modi will not have to deal with unruly partners as he implements reform. That could usher in profound economic changes, and he will try to replicate his success in attracting investment and building infrastructure in Gujarat, the state he has governed for more than 12 years.

“He can afford to have a smaller but stronger cabinet, that means a far more decisive government. He has been saying less government and more governance, we are really likely to see that,” said Navneet Munot, Chief Investment Officer at SBI Funds Management in Mumbai.

But with India’s economy suffering its worst slowdown since the 1980s and battling high inflation, it will not be an easy task to meet the hopes of millions of Indians who have bought into the idea that Modi will quickly push their country onto the top table of global economic powers.

His party also lacks strength in the upper house of parliament, where backing is needed for legislation to pass.

“It’s important to be realistic about how quickly they can instigate change. It takes time to, number one, get economic reforms through the political machinery and, number two, it also takes a while before economic reforms actually have a positive impact,” said Leif Eskesen, an economist at HSBC in Singapore.

DESIRE FOR CHANGE

India’s election was the world’s largest ever. Staggered over five weeks, a record of more than 500 million ballots were cast from the Himalayas in the north to the tropical south, with voters braving blistering heat for a record 66 percent turnout.

Since being named as his party’s candidate last September, Modi has flown 300,000 km and addressed 457 rallies in a slick, presidential-style campaign that broke the mould of Indian politics.

Modi contrasted his humble roots with the cloistered life of privilege of his dynastic rivals.

He ran circles around his slow-footed opponent Rahul Gandhi, 43, from the Congress party which his family has dominated since his great-grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, led India to independence from Britain in 1947.

Rahul, his Italian-born mother and leader of the party, Sonia, beside him, shouldered blame for their party’s rout.

“The Congress has done pretty badly, there is a lot for us to think about. As vice president of the party I hold myself responsible.”

Both mother and son held onto their own seats, but these were the only ones their party clinched in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 lawmakers to parliament.

Prime Minister Singh launched reforms in 1991 as finance minister that opened India’s socialist economy to global capital, but his spell in the top job ended marred by corruption and a floundering economy amid mounting policy paralysis. He has already bid farewell to his staff after ten years in office.

A dark chapter of violence against Muslims on Modi’s watch in Gujarat has mattered less and less to many, including a ballooning middle class alarmed by dwindling purchasing power and job opportunities as the economy slumped to sub-five percent growth in the last two years.

Modi has promised that, if elected, he would take decisive action to unblock stalled investments in power, road and rail projects to revive economic growth.

Tax and labour market reforms, backed by a gradual opening up to foreign investment, would seek to create the 10 million jobs that Asia’s third-largest economy needs every year to absorb young people entering the workforce.

“My blessings are there. The country will develop. My blessings are there,” she said.

He was later expected to embark on a victory tour to his local constituency of Vadodara, while party workers in New Delhi hoped he would later fly to New Delhi for what could be a hero’s welcome.