By George Psyllides

A SENIOR member of parliament called on Wednesday for an investigation into claims that authorities failed to take the necessary measures to protect public health during a large blaze in Limassol that burnt throughout the weekend.

House Labour Committee chairman, AKEL MP Andreas Fakontis, said the blaze at the department store in the Ayios Athanasios commercial zone resulted in east Limassol being covered in smoke and fumes the entire weekend.

He asked the labour minister to launch a probe into whether labour inspectors had failed to immediately carry out the necessary measurements and protect public health.

Fakontis questioned the adequacy of measurements carried out automatically by two stations in Limassol and the absence of labour inspectors from the site, as well as the two-day delay in getting mobile units to the area to carry out air quality measurements.

Stelios Orphanides, a resident of the area, told the Cyprus Mail that he had problems breathing and could not sleep over the weekend because of the noxious smell.

“No one told us whether to keep windows closed or not,” he said, nor were they given any form of advice. “Nothing.”

Ayios Athanasios mayor Kyriacos Hadjittofis criticised the way the incident had been handled by the labour inspection department which apparently left residents in the dark over the weekend.

People who worked in the area were asked to stay away on Monday. “I think we should have reacted the same way on Saturday and Sunday regarding residents who breathed in – those who remained at home — various particles from the fire,” Hadjittofis said.

He said the municipality asked residents to leave their homes from the first moment because of the noxious fumes in the air. Many were also calling and asking for information about the quality of the air they and their children were breathing, the mayor said.

“No measurement was needed to confirm that what they were inhaling could create health problems but it would have been better if there was a scientific measurement at that moment on behalf of the authorities and people were informed instead of waiting for two days,” he said.

The fire broke out at 2.40pm on Saturday and burned throughout the weekend and Monday after an accident in the department store’s production department.

Employees had tried to put it out without success and the fire spread rapidly to other parts of the premises where chemicals were stored.

Smoke and skin irritations caused by the burning chemical made the fire fighters’ task more difficult.

Limassol’s district labour office had said that measurements showed the smoke posed no danger to the area’s schools but Yermasogia B elementary school pupils were told to remain inside on Monday.

Meanwhile, fire and crime scene investigators were unable to enter the building yesterday because it has been rendered structurally unsafe.

Police said it was awaiting permission from the experts to enter the building and carry out the necessary investigation into the causes of the blaze.

RAINS and occasional storms have been predicted by the weather service for the rest of the week without any temperature change.

According to the meteorological office, rain is expected to fall locally on Thursday with strong winds, while the temperature will remain the same; 27 degrees Celsius in the mainland, 24-25C in the coastal areas and 15C in the mountains.

Rain will start falling from early Friday morning due to low pressure from the west and will continue to fall throughout the day. There will also be storms in the mainland in the western and eastern areas.

Saturday will be rainy with local storms, while on Sunday rain may recede and will fall mainly in the mountain areas.

By George Psyllides

NON-performing loans (NPLs) in Cyprus rose to €26.7bn in March because of a €212m increase recorded in the Co-operative sector, it emerged on Wednesday.

Central Bank figures compiled by the Cyprus News Agency said NPLs in commercial banks rose to 41.7 per cent of their loanbooks or €20.02bn from 41.4 per cent or €20.19bn in February.

The rise of NPLs as a percentage and drop in absolute numbers is a result of deleveraging.

NPLs in the Co-op sector reached 50.7 per cent or €6.75bn, compared with €6.37bn in February.

Loans granted to businesses by commercial banks reached €30.4bn in March with 45.7 per cent classified as non-performing.

The largest category concerned the construction sector – €7.2bn whose majority, 68.3 per cent were non-performing.

Loans to households and private individuals dropped slightly to €14.06bn – 43.5 per cent NPL.

Loans used to buy homes or immovable property reached €9.5bn with 38.8 per cent being problematic.

The Co-op sector had €2.92bn granted to businesses with 41.7 per cent being NPLs, €10.4bn to private individuals and households with 53.3 per cent considered non-performing compared with 49.8 per cent in February.

NPLs are even higher among consumer loans in the Co-op sector, reaching 61.4 per cent of the total, which reached €4.3bn.

Housing and property loans remained steady but NPLs rose to 45.4 per cent in March from 41.7 per cent the previous month.

Commercial banks have so far restructured €6.3bn worth of loans, raising the number to 13.2 per cent from 11.8 per cent.

Co-ops restructured 4.9 per cent of the loans, or €0.65bn. Restructuring in the Co-op sector only started recently due to the merger process.

Meanwhile, Cyprus’ gross domestic product (GDP) dropped by 0.7 per cent in the first quarter of the year compared with 0.8 per cent in the last quarter of 2013, the European statistical service Eurostat said on Wednesday.

THE chief negotiators of the two sides in Cyprus for the island’s political problem continued discussions on property, the legislature and the executive on Wednesday.

According to a statement by Spokesperson of the UN Good Offices Mission in Cyprus Michel Bonnardeaux, “Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis and Turkish Cypriot negotiator Kudret Özersay … followed up on the meeting of the leaders which took place on June 2 and continued substantive negotiations on property, federal legislature and federal executive.” He  added that “they exchanged written proposals on different matters and they also agreed that they will meet again on Saturday, June 14.”
“In the meantime, a meeting of the property experts of the two sides will take place,” Bonnardeaux concluded

Government spokesman Nikos Christodoulides said that Mavroyiannis and Ozersay discussed the property issue, the legislative and the executive powers.

He added that the two negotiators also exchanged views on the next steps. Christodoulides said the Greek Cypriot side submitted a document on European Union issues and the Turkish Cypriot side a document on the legislative power.

He noted that at their next meeting, the negotiators will discuss EU-related matters, citizenship, central government powers as well as the preparation of the leaders’ next meeting on June 23.

Addressing the press after the meeting, Ozersay said the Turkish Cypriot side is prepared to negotiate land adjustments as soon as a roadmap leading up to a referendum is agreed on.

“A roadmap for a geographical map,” he said, but added that he expects the Greek Cypriot side to table proposals that deviate from the agreed conversions, and warned that such proposals will be ignored by the Turkish Cypriot side.

“Such proposals will not be considered and this was made clear to the Greek Cypriot side today,” he said.

By Ken Ferris

A second-string England side were held to a 2-2 draw by Ecuador after a superb strike by substitute Michael Arroyo before both sides had a player sent off in a World Cup warm-up match on Wednesday.

Arroyo had not been on the pitch long when he unleashed a fierce right-foot drive from 20 metres that gave goalkeeper Ben Foster no chance after Rickie Lambert had put England 2-1 in front following good play by impressive midfielder Ross Barkley.

But tempers frayed when England’s Raheem Sterling, who had replaced Wayne Rooney just past the hour, flew into a tackle with Antonio Valencia. The Ecuador captain retaliated by grabbing Sterling around the neck and both were sent off.

Rooney, the only England player retained from the 3-0 win over Peru on Friday, had equalised from close range just before the half-hour after Ecuador had taken an eighth-minute lead when Enner Valencia powered home a close-range header.

A former convict who fired against police officers who wanted to arrest him pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charges on Thursday and asked to be released pending his trial.
Andreas Onoufriou, 63, had been on the run for five days before he was located and apprehended in Lagia, Larnaca, in late April.
Police had tried to arrest Onoufriou a few days earlier at his apartment in Limassol.
Acting on a tip, officers went to the house looking for firearms.
Armed with a G3 assault rifle, the same type issued by the National Guard, Onoufriou fired at the officers and fled the scene.
He also opened fire at members of the counter-terrorism unit before his arrest at Lagia.
Officers fired shots in the air to force Onoufriou to stop running.
Police also arrested two other men, suspected of helping Onoufriou while on the run.
Onoufriou faces 21 charges including attempted murder, possession of a firearm, and possession of explosives and ammunition.
The suspect, who appeared without a lawyer, objected to remaining in detention until the trial starts on Tuesday.
He argued that he had to look after his four-year-old son, his pregnant fiancée, and his mother, 80.
Onoufriou said many years have passed since his conviction and that his only concern now was his son, whom, he claimed, had been examined by a child psychologist and was in need of his father’s presence.
The gunfight at Lagia took place in the presence of Onoufriou’s son who had been taken from the care of the convict’s mother and two sisters.
The former convict claimed that police were trying to put him in jail and that it was the officers who fired against him in Lagia and not vice versa.
The court will decide on Friday whether to release Onoufriou.
His two co-defendants – the 62-year-old owner of the shed where the fugitive was located, and another man, 60, who owned a hunting shotgun found in Onoufriou’s possession — were released after being charged.
They also denied the charges.
Onoufriou was sentenced to 18 years in jail in 1996 for the attempted murder of a judge in Limassol.
In 2012 he was named in a plot to murder then attorney-general Petros Clerides but the charges were later dropped.

By Jeffrey Heller

Israel announced on Thursday plans to build some 3,000 more settler homes in response to the inauguration of a Palestinian unity government formed with the backing of Hamas Islamists opposed to Israel’s existence.

Housing Minister Uri Ariel said he had issued notices inviting bids to construct 1,500 housing units. Israeli officials said that in addition, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered planning to proceed for a further 1,500 settler dwellings.

“When Israel is spat upon, it has to do something about it,” Ariel told Israel Radio, adding that construction tenders had been issued as a response to what he termed a Palestinian “terrorist government”.

Asked who had insulted Israel, Ariel, a far-right member of Netanyahu’s cabinet, replied: “Our neighbours, and to a certain extent, the world.”

Netanyahu has already expressed “deep disappointment” over a decision by the United States, Israel’s main ally, to talk to the Palestinian administration despite Israeli calls to shun it.

A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose reconciliation deal with Hamas led to the establishment of a new government on Monday, said: “The Palestinian leadership will respond to this new settlement activity in an unprecedented manner.” He did not elaborate.

Ariel did not cite locations but Israeli media said the new homes for which bids had been solicited would be erected in seven settlements in the occupied West Bank, some in areas Israel annexed to Jerusalem after the 1967 Middle East war.

Most countries regard settlements that Israel has built in territory it captured in 1967 as illegal. Their fate is a key issue in talks on an eventual independent Palestinian state – negotiations that collapsed in April.

The United States said on Monday it would work with the new Palestinian unity government as needed but would monitor its commitment to continued cooperation with the Jewish state.

Ariel accused the United States of breaking an understanding with Israel that it would not talk with the new government.

“DIPLOMATIC MISTAKE”

On Sunday, Netanyahu had urged the international community not to rush to engage with a Palestinian administration he said was a front for Hamas, a group classified as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union.

But Abbas’s formation of a government of technocrats and his pledge to adhere to principles of non-violence and pursuit of peace paved the way for international acceptance that seemed to have left Netanyahu outmanoeuvred.

Despite Netanyahu’s appeal, the EU has also said it would work with the new Palestinian government, on condition it stuck to the principle of peace based on a two-state solution.

It issued a statement in Brussels later saying it was deeply disappointed by Israel’s latest move which was “unhelpful to peace efforts.”

“We call on the Israeli authorities to reverse this decision and to direct all their efforts towards an early resumption of peace talks,” the EU statement added.

Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Abbas-led Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee, said the “government of national accord … has been universally welcomed, with the exception of Israel in its blatant distortion of facts in order to destroy the chances for peace”.

Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, in an indirect rebuke of Netanyahu, called the first issuing of tenders since the peace talks collapsed “another diplomatic mistake”.

Livni, head of a centrist party in the Netanyahu government and its chief peace negotiator, told Israel Radio it would now be harder “to enlist the world against Hamas”.

An Israeli government official, commenting on Ariel’s construction announcement, said the building would take place in areas that Israel wants to keep in any peace agreement. Other officials said most of the other 1,500 homes still in the planning stages would also be built in those settlement blocs.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who spearheaded the nine months of talks whose collapse Washington partly blamed on settlement building on land Palestinians seek for a state, has tried to play down the latest dispute with Israel.

“I’ve had several conversations with Prime Minister Netanyahu. We’re completely talking about this on a day-to-day basis,” Kerry said in Beirut on Wednesday.

His tone contrasted with that of an unidentified Israeli political official who was quoted by the pro-Netanyahu Israel Hayom newspaper as calling US acceptance of the new Palestinian government “a knife in the back”.

Israel froze US-brokered peace talks with Abbas when the unity deal was announced on April 23 after numerous unsuccessful attempts at Palestinian reconciliation since Hamas seized the Gaza Strip fromFatah forces in fighting in 2007.

Some Israeli political analysts predicted Israel’s campaign against the foreign aid-dependent Palestinian government would now shift to lobbying allies in the US Congress to withhold funding, which typically runs at $500 million a year.

By Pritha Sarkar

She once posed for a photograph with an eight-year-old Eugenie Bouchard but that friendly touch was not on show on Thursday as Maria Sharapova wiped the smile off the Canadian’s face to set up a French Open final with Simona Halep.

While a 2002 photo of a statuesque Sharapova wrapping her arm around a pixie-like Bouchard has gone viral over the past 48 hours, the Russian hogged the limelight at Roland Garros as she grunted and shrieked her way to her third successive Paris final with a 4-6 7-5 6-2 win.

“Winning a match where I felt my opponent played extremely well, exceptional tennis and I didn’t feel that I was playing my best, I fought, I scrambled, and I found a way to win,” said seventh seed Sharapova after a third straight win from a set down.

She produced nine double faults, 35 unforced errors and was broken four times in a messy performance but the shot that mattered most was the blazing forehand she sent flying past Bouchard’s racket on her fifth match point.

That left the Russian bellowing into the skies while Bouchard, dubbed the ‘next Sharapova’ was left to reflect on what might have been.

“When you play a great champion, you definitely feel their presence. Often I constructed the point well and then didn’t finish it as well as I could,” said the 20-year-old.

“I had a couple of chances here and there and just didn’t take my opportunities when I had a few of them. That’s part of the learning experience for me.”

Halep, 22, proved that she is a fast learner as she became the first Romanian in 34 years to reach a grand slam final by dousing the fire of Andrea Petkovic with a 6-2 7-6(4) win.

Many of the near-capacity 15,000 spectators who went out for a breather following the conclusion of Sharapova’s 2-1/2 hour marathon barely had a chance to file back into the stadium before fourth seed Halep romped through the opening set.

But Petkovic, who almost quit tennis a year ago after her ranking plummeted to 177 following a series of back, ankle and knee injuries, showed her indomitable spirit to hang in there in the second set before Halep finally sealed her fate.

She dropped her racket on her moment of triumph before raising both fists skywards as it dawned on her that she could join her manager Virginia Ruzici, champion in 1978, in the French Open winners’ circle.

“I feel amazing now. It’s incredible I will play final in Paris. I did everything on court to win this match,” Halep said in a courtside interview after reaching the final without dropping a set.

By Lanre Ola

Suspected Islamist militants dressed as soldiers rounded up and killed at least 42 villagers in northeastern Nigeria, as an escalating insurgency increasingly targets civilians, a police source said.

The shootings on the outskirts of the city of Maiduguri late on Wednesday came a day after officials said raiders killed scores in three other settlements in Borno state, where Boko Haram insurgents first launched their campaign to carve out an Islamist caliphate.

Boko Haram has stepped up its revolt and mounted nearly daily attacks since it grabbed world headlines in April by abducting more than 200 schoolgirls in another part of the state.

The mass abduction, and Boko Haram’s fight-back against a military offensive, has increased political pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan who has faced regular street protests by activists criticising his response.

Jonathan has accepted help from the United States and other foreign powers who are alarmed at the prospect of further turmoil in Africa’s largest economy and oil producer, and its potential impact on a fragile region. Borno state borders Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

The gunmen in military uniform arrived in three vehicles, called the civilians together in the village of Bardari, then opened fire, the police source told Reuters. “The people couldn’t identify them in time as terrorists.”

The militants then left, crossing a river and setting fire to houses in the neighbouring village of Kayamla, added the source.

“Boko Haram wreaked havoc in the villages. They burned houses and killed people mercilessly after tricking the residents,” said Saleh Mohammed, a member of Civilian JTF – one of a number of vigilante groups that have sprung up to try to fight back.

Those civilian groups face revenge attacks by Boko Haram, which had focused mostly on military and government targets in the early days of its revolt.

No group claimed responsibility for the latest attacks. Boko Haram has no direct line of communication with the Western press and its purported leader, Abubakar Shekau, only occasionally claims attacks through videos circulated to local journalists.

Jonathan and the army have said they are doing all they can to release the girls, but have warned any attempt to free them by force could put them at risk, while any deals or prisoner swaps could encourage more kidnappings.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague will host a meeting of African and Western officials in London next week aimed at stepping up efforts to defeat Boko Haram, his office said on Thursday.

By John Irish and Jeff Mason

President Francois Hollande urged world leaders arriving in France on Thursday to mark the 70th anniversary of World War Two’s D-Day landings to use the occasion to ease tensions over the Ukraine crisis.

Hollande, criticised at home for a lack of initiative on Ukraine, was due to have a working dinner with US President Barack Obama before dashing across Paris to join Russia’s Vladimir Putin for a second evening meal later on Thursday.

One of his main aims, diplomats said, is to clear the path for an ice-breaking first meeting on French soil on Friday between Putin and Ukrainian president-elect Petro Poroshenko, even as fighting in eastern Ukraine continues between government forces and pro-Russian separatists.

The separate meals showed the lengths to which French officials have gone to keep Obama and Putin apart in Paris, at Washington’s request, before Friday’s commemorations of the allied D-Day landings that helped end World War Two, which will see 18 world leaders assemble on the Normandy beaches.

The French capital went into security lockdown before Britain’s Queen Elizabeth arrived by train from London. She was followed by Obama, who flew in from a Group of Seven (G7) meeting in Brussels to which Putin had not been invited.

“This is an important occasion to express gratitude and fraternity, but it is also major international event which should serve the interests of peace,” Hollande told the G7 summit before he too rushed back to Paris.

Asked if a Putin-Poroshenko meeting in France was possible, Hollande replied: “Yes … I invited (Poroshenko) so he could be there, because he represents the Ukrainian people who suffered a lot during World War Two. He will be there alongside President Putin. President Putin was informed of that.”

Obama called on Putin to recognise and work with Ukraine’s new government and stop “provocations” along its border, or face tougher sanctions from members of the G7.

Highlighting shades of difference among Western stances on Russia, Obama noted he would have preferred it if France had held back on the sale of Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia that Paris has insisted must go ahead.

“I recognise that this is a big deal,” he told reporters. “I recognise that the jobs in France are important. I think it would have been preferable to press the pause button.”

HANDSHAKE

Putin said in French media interviews on Wednesday he was open to meetings with both Poroshenko and Obama in France. While the US leader has so far not taken him up on the opportunity, the two countries’ foreign ministers will meet on Thursday.

Underscoring the sensitivities, Hollande will rush from meeting the Queen at his Elysee Palace to a chic restaurant overlooking the Champs-Elysees avenue to dine with Obama before returning to his residence for a late supper with Putin.

For Hollande, the Obama dinner will also be the opportunity to raise concerns about a possible $10 billion-plus US fine on BNP Paribas that he considers “disproportionate”.

Hollande has spent much of the week trying to create a diplomatic opening on Ukraine after sending Poroshenko a last-minute invitation to the D-Day ceremonies. Ukrainians fought in the Soviet Red Armythat defeated Nazi Germany.

French diplomats say Hollande, who met Poroshenko in Poland on Wednesday, wants at the very least to get Putin and the Ukrainian to shake hands at a closed-door lunch of leaders on Friday at the 18th-century Chateau de Benouville.

This, they argue, would be a tacit acknowledgement that the Russian leader recognises Poroshenko’s legitimacy, the day before he is sworn in, opening the door for dialogue.

In an apparent signal of recognition, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Grigory Karasin, said Moscow’s ambassador to Ukraine would attend Poroshenko’s inauguration.

“We want to see Ukraine peaceful and stable for all those who live in Ukraine … for them to feel equal, respected and listened to, living in peace, being a bridge and not a pawn,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Paris before talks with US counterpart John Kerry.

Putin did not rule out a first encounter with a pro-Western Ukrainian leader since Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region in March.

“You know, I don’t plan to evade anyone,” Putin told TF1 television on Wednesday when asked if he was willing to meet Poroshenko. “There will be other guests, and I’m not going to avoid any of them. I will talk with all of them.”

His relations with Ukraine as well as with the European Union and the United States have been strained since pro-Western protesters pushed a Moscow-friendly Ukrainian president from power in February and Russia then annexed Crimea.

Moscow has deployed tens of thousands of troops near the Ukrainian border and warned it could send them in to protect Russian-speakers. Poroshenko and Ukraine’s pro-Western government have ignoredMoscow’s demands for an end to Kiev’s military operation against the separatists.

A 26-year-old British man reported to police that 688 World Cup tickets worth around £120,000 (€148,000) were stolen from his car after it was broken into in Limassol on Wednesday.

The man, who said he was a ticket dealer, told police the incident happened at lunchtime when he parked his car for ten minutes to visit a shop.

He had left a laptop and a briefcase containing the tickets inside.

The thieves smashed the car window and took the valuables.

Police have not ruled out the possibility of the perpetrators knowing the contents of the briefcase. It was also not known how the man was in possession of so many tickets.

ARSON destroyed a 40-year-old man’s car in Limassol on Thursday and extensively damaged a car parked next to it.

According to the police, the burnt car was in the covered parking lot of the apartment building the 40-year-old lives in.

The fire department put out the fire which was reported at around 12:15am.

Police is investigating the exact cause of the fire.

STATE broadcaster CyBC announced on Thursday that five of its most senior reporters would share the post of Head of News, rotating every three months.

The position became vacant when veteran news chief Yiannis Kareklas retired last week.

“The board wants to send a message of cooperation and coordination. Our top officials will work together to ensure that public television fulfils its mission of informing the public objectively,” said a statement issued by the CyBC board.

The five reporters taking on the revolving post are Soulla Hadjikyriakou, Giannakis Nikolaou, Panikos Hadjipanayis, Androula Georgiadou and Dimitris Sidiropoulos.

Hadjikyriakou will be the first Acting Head of News with immediate effect.

TWO Cypriot men suspected of importing 112 kilos of mephedrone were referred to trial on Thursday before the Larnaca Criminal Court.

The suspects, aged 34 and 50, were arrested in connection with 112 kilograms of mephedrone found in four plastic barrels at Larnaca airport late last month.

The mephadrone, declared illegal in Cyprus in 2010, had been shipped to a company based in Potamia from Mumbai, India.

Authorities said the substance was meant to be re-exported to the UK.

The two face charges relating to conspiracy to commit felony, illegal supply, import, and possession of a class A drug, and possession with intent to supply.

They will remain in custody until June 26, the first day of their trial.

Mephedrone is a synthetic stimulant related to amphetamines and cathinone class drugs.

According to DrugScope, mephedrone produces a similar experience to amphetamines, ecstasy or cocaine.

By Stefanos Evripidou

THE CYPRUS Institute marked World Environment Day on Thursday by warning of the dangers of climate change to the region.

The Institute said that by the end of the century the combined hot days and nights in summer will be prolonged and the season will last up to two months longer in Cyprus.

“This result, together with the initial findings for a relation between mortality (especially related to heart disease) and temperature, indicate an increased risk for human health,” said the Institute.

Researchers looked at projected precipitation and temperature change in the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East at the end of the 21stcentury. They concluded that most of the region will be affected by drier conditions and likely experience up to 6 degrees Celsius of warming.

In addition to higher temperatures, average annual rainfall is expected to drop significantly, putting pressure on water supplies for drinking and irrigation.

The higher temperatures and diminishing water reserves mean that the cultivation of durum wheat will almost disappear, and the need for air conditioning will increase, indicating a bump in electricity consumption of two or three-fold. This in turn will have detrimental effects on health, especially respiratory and cardiac conditions.

The Cyprus Institute added that overexploitation of natural resources, the dumping of pollutants and other harmful substances and the consequences of climate change are threatening the environment and increasingly reduce the variety of plants and animals on our plant.

Stopping pollution and halting global warming would be the best ‘therapy’ but is deemed a not very realistic prospect, said the Institute.

Instead environmental researchers aim to better understand what exactly the current status of our environment is and where the most pressing problems lie; as well as gain a better understanding as to what exactly and at what ‘dosage’ the ‘medicine’ would have to be applied in order to regain environmental integrity.

Some of the research being done at the Institute to better understand natural processes and preserve the environment includes developing a national strategy for adaptation to climate change’s adverse impacts in Cyprus. Other studies look at reducing irrigation water use with wireless technologies.

Agriculture feeds the world’s population but also uses 900bn cubic metres of irrigation water per year globally, marking on average of more than 350 litres per person per day.

The Institute has been working with a group of European researchers on a new irrigation support system to make irrigation more efficient. The new “revolutionary smart irrigation system for farmers and water providers” helps to monitor water use and irrigate only where and when needed and only for as long as needed, using wireless sensors and high resolution weather prediction systems.

Researchers are testing the new ‘Enorasis’ system in a grapefruit orchard in Akrotiri owned by the largest citrus producer in Cyprus, Phassouri Plantations Company.

The Institute is also studying and evaluating the health of marine habitats under climate change. Severe changes of the Mediterranean marine ecosystem are widely anticipated in response to climate conditions, the impact of anthropogenic activities and natural disturbances, said the statement.

This year’s World Environment Day theme, marked in over 100 countries, focuses on small developing islands and climate change.

By John Irish and Jeff Mason

The leaders of Russia and Ukraine held their first talks on Friday since Moscow annexed Crimea, discussing ways to end their four-month conflict in a brief encounter during commemorations in France of the World War Two D-Day landings.

French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel brought together Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian president-elect Petro Poroshenko for a 15-minute meeting before they joined other dignitaries for lunch.

The meeting was the culmination of weeks of secret diplomacy by French officials to try to break the ice in the most serious European security crisis since the end of the Cold War.

Putin later had an equally short “informal” talk with US President Barack Obama, the White House said.

Hollande’s office said Putin and Poroshenko shook hands and agreed that detailed talks on a ceasefire between Kiev government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine would begin within a few days.

They also discussed steps such as Russian recognition of Poroshenko’s election as well as economic relations.

Poroshenko was photographed looking unsmiling and earnest as he stood with Putin and Merkel.

“It was a normal, serious exchange between two leaders,” an official in Hollande’s office said.

“This marks tentative progress which he (Hollande) welcomes, particularly given this occasion so symbolic for peace.”

In Moscow, a Kremlin spokesman said the two leaders urged a “speedy end to the bloodshed in southeastern Ukraine as well as to fighting on both sides”.

“It was confirmed that there is no other alternative to resolve the situation than through peaceful political means,” the spokesman said.

Hollande had invited Poroshenko to Normandy as his personal guest at the last minute in an effort to break the ice between Moscow and Kiev even as fighting continues in eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russian separatists.

A White House official said Putin and Obama, who had avoided contact with the Russian leader while the two were in Paris on Thursday – also spoke to each other before the lunch.

“It was an informal conversation – not a formal bilateral meeting,” White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said by email, adding the encounter lasted 10-15 minutes.

“DEMOCRACY’S BEACHHEAD”

World leaders and veterans paid tribute to soldiers who fell in the liberation of Europe from Nazi German rule, at a series of ceremonies around the Normandy beaches where allied forces landed 70 years ago on June 6, 1944.

Wreaths, parades and parachute-drops honoured history’s largest amphibious assault, in which 160,000 US, British and Canadian troops waded ashore to confront German forces, hastening its defeat and the advent of peace in Europe.

Flanked by stooped war veterans, some in wheelchairs, Obama earlier joined Hollande to commemorate victory and reaffirm US-French solidarity before the 9,387 white marble headstones of fallen US soldiers at the Normandy American Cemetery.

It will be the last major commemoration for most of the veterans, most of whom are in their late 80s and 90s.

Obama said the 80 km stretch of Normandy coastline – where allied soldiers landed under fire on beaches code named Omaha, Utah, Gold, Sword and Juno – was a “tiny sliver of sand upon which hung more than the fate of a war, but rather the course of human history.”

“Omaha - Normandy – this was democracy’s beachhead,” said Obama. “And our victory in that war decided not just a century, but shaped the security and well-being of all posterity.”

The president sought to link the sacrifices of World War Two to U.S. servicemen killed in combat since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States by al Qaeda Islamist militants.

The “9/11 generation of service members” understood that “people cannot live in freedom unless free people are prepared to die for it”, he said.

Hollande declared that France “would never forget the solidarity between our two nations, solidarity based on a shared ideal, an aspiration, a passion for freedom”.

Twenty-one foreign leaders attended the commemorations, including Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister David Cameron, Canada’s Stephen Harper as well as Merkel and Putin, whose country suffered the heaviest casualties and struck decisive blows on the eastern front to defeat the Nazis.

But while the unity of allies and their bloody sacrifices were the central theme of D-Day remembrance, private talks among government leaders focused on the most serious security crisis in Europe for more than two decades: Ukraine.

Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March and the standoff in eastern Ukraine have plunged Moscow’s relations with the United States and European Union to a post-Cold War low.

Fighting continued in eastern Ukraine as Ukrainian forces fended off an attack by pro-Russian separatists on a border post there late on Thursday. The attack was repelled by air strikes but the insurgency has escalated in the past two weeks, killing scores and prompting some families to flee.

Russia announced on Thursday it was sending its ambassador to Poroshenko’s inauguration on Saturday.

A Group of Seven (G7) summit of industrialised nations in Brussels on Thursday, from which Putin was excluded, urged Russia to work with Kiev’s new authorities to restore stability in eastern Ukraine or face possible tougher sanctions.

On Thursday, Obama told reporters the West would “have no choice to respond” with new sanctions if Russia failed to recognise Ukraine’s new government and work to calm pro-Russian gunmen in its former Soviet neighbour.

“There is a path in which Russia has the capacity to engage directly with President Poroshenko now. He should take it.”

Behind the facade of G7 unity, differences emerged over a 1.2 billion euro ($1.63 billion) French contract to sell two Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia. Obama said Paris should have pressed “the pause button” on the deal but Foreign Minister Fabius said the contracts would be honoured.

By Julien Pretot

Defending champion Rafa Nadal played his best tennis to set up a much awaited French Open showdown against Novak Djokovic with a 6-3 6-2 6-1 demolition of Wiimbledon champion Andy Murray in the semi-finals on Friday.

World number one Nadal, an eight-times Roland Garros winner, did not concede a single break point in a one-sided encounter on court Philippe Chatrier, hammering the British seventh seed with forehand winners.

Murray, looking to become the first British man since tennis turned professional in 1968 to reach the final in Paris, was never in the contest, making too many unforced errors on his usually reliable forehand.

Top seed Nadal wrapped it up on his first match point with a smash on Murray’s serve.

“I think I played one of my best tennis at Roland Garros today,” said Nadal, who extended his French Open record to 65-1.

“I’m very emotional to reach the final again here. It’s a dream. Novak is an unbelievable opponent.”

World number two Djokovic, who beat Latvian 18th seed Ernests Gulbis in the other semi-final, is one of three men who have beaten Nadal on his favoured red dirt this year.

Nadal hit 24 winners, most of them with his forehand, against a helpless Murray, and converted the six break points he had.

In hot weather which favoured Nadal’s top spin, Murray never had a chance and he won only 10 points on his opponent’s serve.

Nadal conceded three of them as he raced into a 3-0 lead after breaking in the second game when his opponent netted a forehand.

Murray held for the remainder of the set but could not trouble the Spaniard on his serve and Nadal bagged it with a casual forehand volley.

In the third game of the second set, the man from Mallorca broke when Murray sent an easy forehand wide.

Nadal turned the screw in the seventh game, stealing Murray’s serve again as the world number eight made yet another unforced forehand error.

He had already waved the white flag and Nadal, who has an 88-1 record in best-of-five set matches on clay, quickly put him out of his misery in the final set to reach his fifth consecutive Roland Garros final.

By Thomas Grove and Alissa de Carbonnel

Pro-Russian separatists shot down a Ukrainian army plane as fighting raged in the eastern town of Slaviansk on Friday, a day before the inauguration of pro-European billionaire businessman Petro Poroshenko as Ukraine’s president.

Slaviansk has been at the heart of a two-month insurgency in the Russian-speaking east of Ukraine by rebels opposed to the overthrow of a Moscow-leaning president and the formation in Kiev of a pro-Western government.

Separatists operating from the grounds of a church in Slaviansk also killed a member of the Ukrainian interior ministry’s special forces and seriously wounded two others in a mortar attack on Friday, the ministry said.

The self-appointed mayor of the city, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, said an Antonov An-30 intelligence plane had been shot down.

“The airplane was hit in the centre of the city. It happened in front of my own eyes. It was a wonderful sight. The residents who saw it applauded,” Ponomaryov told Reuters by telephone.

A spokesman for Ukraine’s “Anti-terrorist operation” or ATO, later confirmed a plane had been shot down but said it was an An-26 transportation plane carrying humanitarian aid.

The Ukrainian army and defence ministry were not available to comment on the reports. A YouTube video purporting to be of the An-30 and posted on several local news websites showed a plane clearly heading downwards in an irregular manner.

A photographer in Slaviansk, a city of 130,000 people in the province of Donetsk bordering Russia, said she saw the plane, visibly on fire, slowly descending but did not see it crash.

Residents said the sounds of shelling reverberated around the city on Friday. One separatist in Slaviansk told Reuters there had been shooting in the city centre and that there were casualties, although he did not know how many.

Resident Larissa Akincheva said she stayed away from her work as a store clerk due to the heavy shelling.

“Today I didn’t go out at all. I hear the explosions, the shelling. They have been firing all day,” Akincheva, 50, said by telephone. “You could hear the planes circling overhead, I don’t know if they were scouting or what.”

FAMILIES FLEEING

Fighting in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk has intensified since Poroshenko’s victory in the presidential election on May 25. The vote was called after the flight of Viktor Yanukovich in February after months of protests in Kiev.

Poroshenko was in France on Friday for ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the Allied D-Day landings of World War Two. There, he met world leaders including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who denies charges by Kiev and the West that Moscow is actively supporting the separatists.

There are signs that an increasing number of families are fleeing the violence in the two regions. With the Donetsk airport still closed after heavy fighting almost two weeks ago, people are taking to their cars and driving to the border.

At a small border crossing in Izvaryne about 70 kilometres southeast of Luhansk, a queue of more than forty cars inched along the hot sun-warmed tarmac toward the Russian border.

“It is the only open border post on the southern part of Luhansk,” a young border guard said, without giving his name because he was not authorised to speak to media. He said some four other nearby border posts were closed.

“We decided to leave after the air strike on Luhansk and the clashes around the Mirny border control – that’s where we live,” said Elena, 43, who was heading to Crimea on the Black Sea with a daughter and a 12-month-old grandchild. She said mortars had been falling close to her home for 24 hours.

“We are leaving because we cannot live with these Ukrainian killers,” she said.

But not all border posts are safe – late on Thursday, Ukrainian forces fended off an attack on a post some 95 km (60 miles) to the east of Donetsk using air strikes, the border service said in an English-language statement.

It said five Ukrainian personnel were wounded and according to “preliminary information”, 15 separatists had been killed.

“They drove around us in circles shooting for about four or five hours,” saidVadim, an officer at the border post wearing a camouflage T-shirt and cap with the Ukrainian trident on it.

“They didn’t ask us to give up, lay down our weapons or make any attempt to communicate at all. They just shot,” he said, adding he hoped reinforcements would arrive “soon”. He said there were 100-150 attackers.

The rebels’ two armoured personnel carriers, one of which had the name of the separatist formation “Battalion Vostok” painted on it, and a military transport vehicle covered in bullet holes stood abandoned at the checkpoint.

A spokesman for the Vostok Battalion was unavailable for comment. A spokeswoman for the separatists said she had no information about losses from the rebel side in this incident.

A 27-year-old-woman was attacked and robbed on Thursday evening while walking in the Archangelos area of Nicosia.

According to the police, the woman was attacked and thrown to the ground by a man who used pepper spray to immobilise her and stole her wallet. In it she had €75 and her personal documents.

The woman reported that the man was young, about 1.80 cm tall, of normal build and wore black sunglasses, a blue t-shirt, jean shorts and sports shoes.

MORE than 200 Syrian refugees marched to the Interior Ministry on Friday, protesting the treatment they receive from the state when it comes to human rights.

The refugees handed over a protest letter to a representative of the Interior Ministry, asking for the release of all Syrian refugees from the Menoyia detention centre and the termination of detention practice when it comes to refugees from Syria.

They also demanded a solution to the problems they are facing in Cyprus, in terms of employment, living conditions, the procedure for evaluating asylum applications and granting international protection status.

Police were present to monitor the protesters but no incidents took place.