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CyBC chastised for ignoring AKEL leader’s speech

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AKEL leader Andros Kyprianou

By Angelos Anastasiou
AKEL’s leader Andros Kyprianou lashed out on Saturday against the public broadcaster’s (CyBC) management, claiming a speech he gave on Friday on the 1974 military coup and subsequent Turkish invasion was purposely ignored to make way for a 20-minute story on the third anniversary of 2011’s Mari explosion that cost the lives of 13 individuals.
“I sincerely regret being forced to address this open letter to the members of the CyBC’s board,” Kyprianou wrote. “Unfortunately, however, the way the state broadcaster has operated over the past year leaves me with no other options.”
Kyprianou laid out the premise of his complaint in the gap between the role of public broadcasting, which he said was to objectively and comprehensively inform the public, and what he claimed it has become – a “medium of propaganda and government policy”.
“The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back was [Friday’s] anniversary of the tragic explosion at Mari, where 13 of our fellow citizens lost their lives,” the letter continued. “Justifiably, the CyBC ranked it as the leading story and gave it almost 20 minutes.”
Apart from claiming 13 lives, Mari – the result of political inertia on behalf of many government officials – became a political calamity for AKEL’s former leader Demetris Christofias and his government.
But Kyprianou was unhappy that a speech he gave at Livadhia village in Larnaca about the 1974 military coup on July 15 and the subsequent Turkish invasion on July 20 was blatantly ignored by the CyBC, implying that this sought to silence the truth and demote the issue’s significance.
“These two black anniversaries have seen our country and our people suffer much worse consequences, including a 40-year-long occupation, thousands of dead and missing, and tens of thousands of refugees,” Kyprianou argued. “And yet the CyBC felt no need to allow even a few seconds to AKEL’s views on this matter. But of course it had enough time to present the opinions of a journalist who attempted to overturn the historical truth of 1974 in other shows.”
This was a stab at journalist Makarios Droushiotis, who is currently employed at the Presidential Palace’s press office. Droushiotis recently published a book claiming the Soviet Union’s – and later Russia’s – supposed “steadfast support for Cyprus” is no more than myth, and was invited to a CyBC talk-show to discuss it.
“In other words, what is being attempted is for a tragic accident to be presented as ‘historical fact’, while historical facts may well be presented as ‘tragic accidents’,” Kyprianou quipped.
He pointed out that while AKEL seeks no favourable treatment from the broadcaster, it will not stand for the transformation of the CyBC into a government mouthpiece, and signed off the letter with a thinly veiled threat of political retribution if his warnings are not heeded.
“[CyBC boss] Mr Tsalakos and the board members should be aware that the camel’s back is broken,” Kyprianou declared. “From now on, AKEL will judge the CyBC very strictly and based on its objectivity. That will determine our stance towards the broadcaster if and when we are faced with issues regarding it.”

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Scolari should keep his job says CBF official

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scolariconfused

By Andrew Downie

Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari should carry on because of his good work in the job even though the hosts were humiliated by Germany in the World Cup semi-finals, a Brazilian federation official said on Friday.

“To me, he stays,” the president-elect of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) Marco Polo Del Nero told the Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper in an interview.

“What happened was a tactical error. That was the problem. But we all make mistakes. It can happen to anyone,” he added referring to Brazil’s 7-1 mauling by Germany on Tuesday

“The important thing is that he did a good job. The campaign and the preparations were good. A base exists.”

It was the first time Del Nero or Jose Maria Marin, the man he will replace as head of the CBF next April, have spoken about the humbling defeat by Germany in belo Horizonte.

Scolari, who led Brazil to their fifth World Cup title in 2002, said he would complete a report of the team’s performance after he takes charge of Saturday’s third-place playoff match against the Netherlands in Brasilia.

The former Portugal manager has lost just three times in 28 matches since taking over in November 2012 and thought the semi-final loss against Germany should not mask his solid record.

“I will present my report and then President Marco Polo and the board will talk among themselves and let’s see what happens and let’s see what they think was right and what was wrong in my work,” he told reporters at the Brasilia national stadium.

GOOD SITUATIONS

“I know in the last year and a half we have had several very good situations so I cannot see how people can only see the result of one match.

“What I really wanted was to get to the finals but I didn’t do that.”

Scolari’s failure, and the ignominy of overseeing Brazil’s heaviest ever World Cup defeat in which the hosts conceded four goals in six first-half minutes, has led many fans to call for his head.

However, Brazil captain Thiago Silva said the squad still believed in the coach with the Copa America coming up in Chile next year.

“It’s not because he is sat beside me but I’ve told him we really trust him and we have learnt and developed in this year and a half,” said the defender, who missed the Germany defeat through suspension.

“You cant crucify him for a mistake or any other reason. Because, as a group, when there is a mistake everyone is responsible. He has his part of the blame and so do we.

“Over those six minutes we just had a blackout and that result wouldn’t happen again in another 100 years.”

Scolari was peppered with questions about his future on Friday but the gesticulating coach said he had more pressing personal issues to sort after the World Cup.

“The first thing is to pay my bills, go to the bank and also adjust my personal life as it has been left aside during this period,” he told reporters.

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Kerry pushes for a deal in second day of talks on Afghan vote crisis

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Afghan National Security Adviser Spanta and Defence Minister Khan joke over who will speak to the media alongside U.S. Secretary of State Kerry in Kabul

By Lesley Wroughton and Maria Golovnina

US Secretary of State John Kerry scrambled to produce a deal by the end of Saturday to end Afghanistan’s election crisis, meeting for the second day with the country’s two presidential candidates and incumbent President Hamid Karzai.

The deadlock over the June 14 election run-off between the leading contenders, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, has raised concerns in Washington about a smooth transition of power in Afghanistan just as US troops are withdrawing.

Kerry and his aides met throughout the night, following talks on Friday with both Abdullah and Ghani, as well as with Karzai and UN special envoy to Afghanistan Jan Kubis.

He met again with Abdullah and Ghani at the US compound on Saturday and will meet Karzai at the presidential palace later.

A news conference is scheduled for Saturday afternoon before Kerry flies to Vienna for talks between world powers and Iran on Tehran’s nuclear program.

Preliminary results from the runoff vote put Ghani, a former World Bank official, in the lead by almost one million votes. Abdullah rejected the result, claiming widespread fraud and calling the outcome a “coup” against the Afghan people.

The United States has urged the Independent Electoral Commision not to release the final vote tally until a thorough review of the votes. It also urged the camps of both Ghani and Abdullah not to declare victory.

As talks unfolded behind closed doors, the rival camps were tight-lipped on the progress.

“In this meeting they both exchanged ideas,” said Mahmoud Saikal, a key member of Abdullah’s camp, speaking about the Friday meeting. “John Kerry wanted more information about all electoral problems.”

Discussions between Kerry and the Afghan parties have so far focused on the technical details of the election process and the scope of an audit of the votes that would be acceptable to both sides. It has also looked at ways in which Afghanistan could set up an inclusive and broad-based government.

US officials declined to elaborate on the possibility of a unity government, an idea both candidates have rejected, according to a US official.

“This is a divided nation along many lines and it’s very important at this stage in this society to ensure that we build as inclusive and as broad-based and as unified a national government as possible,” a senior administration official.

“It was a close election, regardless of what happens and what the audit comes back and finds.”

“We need to ensure that all communities and constituencies identify themselves in the government and feel represented in the government that ultimately takes over,” the official added.

In comments to reporters on Friday, Kerry said the transition to a self-reliant state hung in the balance unless the legitimacy of the election could be restored.

US officials said several ideas were being discussed and that an overall proposal had not yet been presented by the Americans. Kerry cautioned both sides against abandoning efforts to reach a compromise, the US official said.

Washington has warned of repercussions if either side declares victory and tries to grab power.

The United States is in the process of withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan after 12 years of fighting Taliban insurgents, but the country remains dependent on foreign aid. The U.S. is Afghanistan’s biggest foreign donor.

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Iraq headed for chaos unless politicians unite, UN says

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Policemen inspect a burnt-out vehicle at the site of a bomb attack at a checkpoint in the city of Kirkuk

By Ahmed Rasheed and Maggie Fick

Iraqi soldiers backed by Shi’ite militias fought Sunni rebels for control of a military base northeast of Baghdad on Saturday as a UN envoy warned of chaos if divided lawmakers do not make progress on Sunday towards naming a government.

Forces loyal to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched an early morning push to repel Islamic State militants who fought their way on Thursday into a military base on the edge of Muqdadiya, 80 km northeast of the capital.

Heavy fighting raged for hours and was continuing on Saturday afternoon, local security sources said.

Seven civilians including children from nearby villages were killed by helicopter gunship fire, police and medics said. Sources at the morgue and hospital in the town of Baquba said they had received the bodies of 15 Shi’ite militia fighters transferred after the morning’s fighting. State TV also reported that 24 “terrorists” had been killed.

The Sunni militants had moved toward the base after seizing the town of Sadur just to the north, another security source and eyewitnesses said. They were equipped with artillery and mortars and drove vehicles including captured tanks and Humvees.

Bickering lawmakers in Baghdad are under pressure from the United States, the United Nations and Iraq’s own Shi’ite clerics to form a new government swiftly to deal with the Sunni insurgency, which seized territory in the north and west last month, and has held it in the face of ground and air attacks.

Few doubt that an inclusive government is needed to hold Iraq together, but there is no consensus on who should lead it.

The national parliament elected in April met for the first time on July 1 but failed to agree on nominations for the top three government posts.

The UN special envoy to Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, said the country could plunge into chaos if parliament fails to move forward on a government in a next session now set for Sunday.

He also urged lawmakers to turn up, after fewer than a third attended the first session when Sunnis and Kurds walked out after Shi’ites failed to nominate a premier to replace Maliki.

MALIKI SITTING TIGHT

Most of Iraq’s Sunnis and Kurds demand Maliki leave office, and Shi’ites are divided, but he shows no sign of quitting.

Under a system created after the removal of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the prime minister has always been a member of the Shi’ite majority, the speaker of parliament a Sunni and, with one exception, the occupant of the largely ceremonial presidency has been a Kurd.

With politics in Baghdad paralysed, and Maliki continuing in a caretaker role, the fighting rages on.

The death toll rose to 30 on Saturday from a suicide bomb attack on Friday at a Kurdish-controlled checkpoint on the southern edge of Kirkuk province, where families fleeing violence in Tikrit and other areas overrun by militants last month were waiting to pass through.

Maliki’s opponents accuse him of ruling for the Shi’ite majority at the expense of the Sunni and Kurdish minorities, and want him to step aside.

Senior Shi’ite parliamentarian Bayan Jaber, a former interior and finance minister, said on Thursday that he hoped the Shi’ite National Alliance bloc, in which Maliki’s State of Law coalition is the biggest group, could agree on its nominee for prime minister before Sunday’s meeting.

But he said that if Maliki remained the sole nominee, “the problem will remain”.

Prominent Sunni Arab lawmaker Dhafer al-Ani said this week that “partition of Iraq will be the natural result” if the Shi’ite bloc could not put forward another candidate.

“If they insist on Maliki as the prime minister, then we will withdraw from the government,” he said. “I believe that it would be hard for any Sunni politician to raise his hand and vote for Maliki as prime minister for a third term.”

The head of the Kurdish Gorran bloc, Aram Sheikh Mohammed, said Kurdish factions would attend Sunday’s session, but the prospects of progress were poor.

“If Maliki nominates himself, I think neither the Sunnis nor Kurds will nominate their candidates (for speaker and president),” he said.

Kurdish forces seized two oilfields in northern Iraq from a state-run oil company on Friday.

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First phase of controversial airport road nearly complete

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Environmentalists have questioned the need for a new road linking Paphos to the airport

By Bejay Browne
THE FIRST phase of a new road which will eventually connect Paphos airport with the town’s tourist area is due to open in September.
The six kilometre road comes with a hefty price tag of more than 14 million euros and should be completed by the end of September, according to the resident engineer.
Iordannis Nicolaou said that the contractor is now in a penalty period because of delays, but that all that remains to be completed is finishing the road surfacing, painting all the road markers and work on a number of pavements. Work on the road started in June 2011.
The first four kilometres of the road is made up of four lanes – two each way – leading to a roundabout; the next two kilometres consist of one lane each way. The road includes pavements and bicycle lanes.
The airport still won’t be accessible via the new road, as that will form part of phase 2 of the project. Instead, motorists will still use part of the old Paphos to Limassol road to and from the airport.
Mayor of Yeroskipou Michalis Pavlides is less than enthusiastic about the road, which was agreed prior to him taking office. He suggests that the millions could’ve been better used to either build the Yeroskipou section of the eventual ring road around the town, or to construct a road connecting the centre of the municipality with the seafront.
“As it stands the new road has effectively divided us into two,” he said.
In addition, more than 5,000 trees were felled to make way for the project, angering environmentalists and locals.
At the time, a spokesman for the Greens suggested that it would’ve been possible to build the road on either side of some of the trees as they are growing in straight lines. He noted that specialists had agreed it was easy to move the road 10 or 20 metres, as there were no major excavations involved. But the suggestion was turned down.
The Greens also said that the project was an unnecessary waste of money which would cut the current travelling time from the airport to the town by only five minutes and would have a huge adverse affect on the environment.
The present mayor also opposed the destruction of the trees and complained that he was now left with the daunting task of securing at least 350,000 euros to replant trees, shrubs and flowers to beautify the area, which he described as unattractive.
“The municipality has been informed that we have to pay for this and I don’t know where I can find the money from. I’m meeting with various ministers and others to see if we can secure funds towards purchasing these trees.”
Pavlides said that the forestry department is undertaking a study of the area to establish which plants would be best suited and the actual cost.
“We have already put in the irrigation system. It’s important, as the area doesn’t look nice as it is,” he said.

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MEP seeks ICC action against Turkey

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ICC

By Angelos Anastasiou
A COALITION of Cypriots, including MEP Costas Mavrides, plan to file a criminal complaint against Turkish government officials in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on Monday, just days before the 40th anniversary of the Turkish invasion on July 20.
They are requesting the ICC prosecutor open an investigation into ongoing Turkish crimes on the Republic’s territory, and in particular, the “continued growth of Turkish settlements in the occupied territory”.
The communication is being filed by Mavrides, in his capacity as a member of Cypriots Against Turkish War Crimes (CATWR), an association of mainly Cypriots and refugees.
In a press release yesterday, the CATWR said this unprecedented demand for a war crimes investigation seeks to end the “impunity Turkey has enjoyed for its criminal conduct since it invaded the island on July 20, 1974.”
An investigation by the court’s prosecutor would be the first attempt to engage international criminal justice on the issue of Turkish occupation.
“The complaint demonstrates that Turkey is in blatant and systematic violation of article 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Court’s Statute, which prohibits an occupying power from directly or indirectly transferring its civilians into the occupied territory,” the CATWR’s statement said.
Cyprus has been a member of the court since its establishment in 2002, but Turkey has neither signed nor ratified the Rome Statute, and thus does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC. However, the statute includes a clause allowing for cases to be tried “where the crime was committed in the territory of a State Party”.
But the ICC has jurisdiction only with respect to events which occurred after the entry into force of its statute on July 1, 2002, thus Turkey may not be accused of crimes committed prior to this date.
Also, the court is mandated with prosecuting individuals, not groups or states. Therefore, any prosecutions face the added difficulty of identifying individuals responsible for the crime in question, and then building a case against them specifically.
CATWR is represented by Athan Tsimpedes based in Washington DC, who has initiated a lawsuit against the illegal occupation of property in the US courts.

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Kadri gives France first win, Contador stings Nibali

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Tour de France 2014 - 8th stage

By Julien Pretot

Blel Kadri earned France its first Tour de France win this year on stage eight, a 161-km trek from Tomblaine, as race leader Vincenzo Nibali showed a first glimpse of weakness on Saturday.

Nibali retained the yellow jersey by finishing third, three seconds behind Spaniard Alberto Contador.

Twice Tour winner Contador attacked on the last ascent and the Italian could not respond after team mate Jakob Fuglsang was dropped in the final climb.

American Andrew Talansky, who crashed on Friday, hit the tarmac again on the slippery descent from the Col de la Grosse Pierre with less than 10-km to go.

The Garmin-Sharp rider lost more than two minutes to Nibali and Contador, dropping to 16th overall.

Australian Richie Porte, promoted to Team Sky leader after defending champion Chris Froome pulled out injured following a crash, finished fourth in the stage ahead of French hope Thibaut Pinot.

“I think it is going to be a duel between Nibali and Contador. I’m still a bit behind,” said FDJ.fr rider Pinot who is third overall, one minute 58 seconds behind Nibali, with Dane Fuglsang in second spot 1:44 off the pace.

Contador is sixth, 2:34 adrift of Nibali, just behind fellow Spaniard Alejandro Valverde.

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Trailer park trash

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The camping site at Governor's Beach

By Hermes Solomon

Kalymnos Camping Site (KCS) near Governor’s Beach, Limassol has been mismanaged from its inception.

Twenty five years ago, the Cyprus Tourist Organisation (CTO) invested millions of pounds to create the finest caravan/trailer/camping site in Cyprus, passing control for the site over to Pentakomo village council two years ago. Pentakomo then renegotiated a management lease with the former franchisee – an entrepreneur/restaurateur.

The site produces an annual rental income in excess of 380,000 euros. Electricity is charged to the 360 tenants at 20 per cent above domestic rate to cover site lighting, which is repeatedly vandalised and rarely lit. Water consumption, council rates and site maintenance are at the cost of the franchisee.

 

I purchased a forty foot trailer with all mod cons seven years ago. The annual site rent was £600 (1075 euros) and I was issued with a site ‘rule book’ which stated that:

1.      For any information contact the camping management office (manned for eight hours daily, six days a week).

2.      It is obligatory for all persons spending a night at the KCS to complete arrival/departure forms – never enforced as far as I know.

3.      The management has the right to demand the removal of any tent or caravan/trailer if those tenants have not observed the regulations, or after 15 days if the operational needs of KCS so demand. (Packed-in tight forty foot canopied trailers are immovable once sited).

4.      The hours to observe public peace are from midnight to 7 a.m. and from 2 p.m. until 4.30 p.m. (Few tenants observe this rule).

5.      Tenants are obliged to repair damage caused. (KCS was decimated by the Mari Disaster – Vasiliko power station is next door).

6.      The proper consumption of water is imperative. (Tenants water their drives, terraces, gardens and wash their cars or boats with impunity since the CTO ‘forgot’ to meter individual plot water supplies)

 

Prohibited:

7.      It is prohibited to erect permanent or semi-permanent constructions. (Most tenants have ignored this directive due to a total lack of site inspection by the management).

8.      It is prohibited to barbecue food outside proscribed barbecue areas. (We all barbecue outside our front doors).

9.      To bring or leave domestic animals at KCS. (There are more than fifty dogs and as many roaming cats).

10.  To park any car inside the campers’ area. (Tenants and visitors park wherever and however they choose).

11.  To put boats and ‘foreign objects’ – meaning ‘heaps’ – inside the camping spaces. (Boats block communal roads every weekend and ‘heaps’ abound!)

12.  The entry of visitors’ vehicles is prohibited unless permission is granted. (Permission from whom when the main entry management office is unmanned?)

13.  The planting of trees or shrubs (who hasn’t?) since there is a special service for the maintenance of ‘green spaces’ (whereon the management/CTO have permitted the ‘illegal’ erection of wooden shacks/holiday homes to maximise rental income).

 

For your own pleasant and enjoyable stay:

14.  Do not make noise and respect the peace of others, especially during the hours of public peace. (Visible enforcement of this rule is non-existent).

15.  Keep ‘green spaces’ clean. (How, when there aren’t small waste bins dotted around ‘green spaces’?).

16.  Place garbage into plastic bags and use council waste containers (which overflow every weekend to the delight of roaming cats and rats).

17.  Use the various ablution blocks with care and do not cause damage or throw foreign objects inside toilet bowls, etc. (The facilities are filthy and mains sewage pipes often blocked and smelly).

18.  The water used to irrigate ‘green spaces’ – filtered waste water running through a black hose above ground network – is not drinkable. (This water is now used to irrigate an immense new lawn and over 100 palm trees planted recently around the Kalymnos Restaurant. Other ‘green spaces’ will soon become ‘desert spaces’).

19.  Observe traffic signs and facilitate movement of traffic. (No entry signs are ignored and the speed limit of 15kph also).

20.  Do not hoot or use motorcycles during public peace hours. (Quads and motorbikes are permitted to race around the site anytime unopposed).

21.  Pay the agreed rent promptly each year – surcharged at nine per cent for late payers. (Rents were recently increased by an average of 11 per cent and just under half of tenants are three months or more in arrears, two of whom approached the minister of the interior to complain about the increase. They were fobbed off by an underling who allegedly showed them KCS file, whereupon they noted that the franchisee paid only 18,000 euros annually to Pentakomo council for the management lease). On confronting the franchisee I was told he pays 160,000 euros annually for the lease and not to believe ‘unsubstantiated’ gossip.

22.  All tenants must provide insurance cover for their abodes – fire, theft and public liability – contracts will be nullified by failing to do so. (Management has yet to check if any tenants’ abodes are insured).

23.  The use of noisy machinery is strictly prohibited at weekends (but not servicing outboard motors, car, quad and bike engines or using grass strimmers, chain saws, electric drills, grinders, hammers and cement mixers, etc.).

 

There is now a two euro entry charge to visitors to stop tenants inviting ‘half the island ‘ to all-night barbecues to the inconvenience of other tenants. But visitors gain access to the site through breaks in the fenced-off perimeter or by ‘hosts’ opening the entrance barrier when the office is unmanned.

Tenants abuse site facilities due to inadequate site supervision or visible enforcement of rules. The management seems afraid of repercussions when confronting certain ‘lawless’ tenants, who have threatened to set alight management cars and the Kalymnos restaurant, which has developed over the years into a ‘dream’ location for weddings and other functions – deafening bands keeping KCS tenants awake until one in the morning most summer weekends.

If management persistently fail to observe their contractual obligations it’s not surprising that tenants do likewise.

What started out as a ‘superb’ campsite has deteriorated into a ‘nightmare’ for the present franchisee, who is constantly at odds with the CTO – not to mention many ‘lawless’ tenants – at the cost of rule-abiding tenants.

The KCS debacle mirrors what is wrong with both the Cyprus tourist and construction industries – mismanagement, lack of proper supervision, overdevelopment, underinvestment and profiteering at the expense of today’s tenants/owners, who are a mostly crisis-ridden, captive audience unable to sell and move on, trailers having more than halved in value in line with the domestic housing market.

If KCS had started out how it meant, through its rulebook, to go on then the site would not now be threatened with closure.

Enforcing laws, rules and regulations is not KCS’ strong point, nor this government’s or that of any previous administration.

Without order and discipline the eventual outcome is chaos. But then Cyprus is a young profligate republic and, through penury, is only now being dragged screaming into EU line.

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A long list of ‘criminals’

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Attorney-general Costas Clerides

By Evdokimos Xenophontos

IN ITS LEADER article last Sunday, under the headline ‘Can bad management and poor judgement be regarded as crimes’, the Sunday Mail concluded that if bad management decisions and poor judgement are regarded as crimes, the president of the republic should have been behind bars by now because he was as guilty as the bankers for making decisions, with catastrophic consequences for the Cyprus economy.

I agree with the leader writer that if bad management decisions and poor judgement are regarded as “crimes”, there are many “criminals” responsible for the catastrophe of the Cyprus economy and of the Cyprus banking system.

The people primarily responsible for the Cyprus catastrophe are:

The former Central Bank (CBC) governor Athanasios Orphanides who allowed the banks to carry on reckless banking practices like the excessive investments in Greek government bonds (GGBs) and the aggressive expansion in property lending, using the foreign deposits which he knew, or ought to have known, were hot money and should not be allowed to be used for long term lending and/or risky investments.

The CBC governor Orphanides for not informing President Demetris Christofias by email or text message or a press announcement (if Christofias refused to see him) about the catastrophic consequences of the PSI of the GGBs and how he could mitigate these losses.

The CBC governor Orphanides for allowing if not also encouraging the banks to market complex hybrid instruments to their retail customers in his effort to increase the capital of the banks, ignoring his parallel responsibility to protect the investing public (conflict of interest).

President Christofias and his government for running up excessive budget deficits through excessive additions to the civil service and excessive salary increases and high social benefits which all relied on excessive short term borrowings.

President Christofias for agreeing to the PSI without putting forward any conditions to safeguard the Cyprus banking system, as if its health was of no concern to the Cyprus government.

President Christofias and his government for guaranteeing (to the EU) all Cyprus deposits below €100,000 while they knew, or ought to have known, that the government could not afford to honour such a commitment particularly when he and his government went out of their way to make public statements against the Cyprus banks.

The former CBC governor Panicos Demetriades for making a public statement, soon after taking over as governor, that the Cyprus banks were under-provided or undercapitalised by €10 billion and later encouraging PIMCO to report high under-capitalisations. Did he not appreciate/realise that the bank depositors would not sit and wait to watch the ship (the Cyprus banking system) sink with their deposits in it? Did he not realise that his statement would become a self-fulfilling prophecy?

The members of the House of Representatives who, through (in my opinion) poor judgement, rejected the first Eurogroup decision which would not have catastrophic consequences.

The members of the House of Representatives who, in one night, passed the Cyprus Banks Resolution Law, without even reading it and without realising its catastrophic consequences. They happily authorised the so called Resolution Authority (one person) to do anything lawful or unlawful with their blessing.

The members of the House of Representatives who were pressurising the CBC governor Orphanides to allow the banks to expand their property lending when he tried to reduce the loan to value parameters.

Those who decided the fire sales of the Greek branches of the Cyprus banks against their will and with catastrophic consequences.

Those who decided the compulsory absorption of the so called good Laiki Bank by the Bank of Cyprus and thereby transferring the excessive obligations of that bank in terms of Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) borrowings (which were ultimately CBC or Cyprus government obligations) to the Bank of Cyprus. At the same time they also transferred the so called guaranteed deposits (guaranteed by the insolvent Cyprus state) to the Bank of Cyprus. This transaction also had consequential effects of inter alia increased capital requirements (in respect of the risk-waited assets transferred to match the liabilities). These capital requirements were met by additional (higher) bail-ins of the BoC depositors.

Those who agreed to the catastrophic bail-in of the BoC deposits in order to avoid their own obligations towards the ELA debt and towards the so called guaranteed deposits of Laiki (guaranteed by the Cyprus government which ought to have known, when committing itself,  that it was not in a position to honour such a commitment).

Admittedly the banks and the bankers also made bad decisions and followed reckless practices for which those responsible must be called to account. However, their crimes, if they can be considered crimes, do not compare (in terms of catastrophic consequences) with the above.

Therefore, if the attorney general has a mandate to establish who are primarily responsible for the catastrophe of the Cyprus economy and its banking system, the people listed above should not be excluded.

 

Evdokimos Xenophontos was the Bank of Cyrus Group chief general manager from 1993 until the end of 2004 when he retired from executive duties. He was also a member of the board of directors of the Bank of Cyprus from 1998 until 2013.

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The show must always go on

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President Anastasiades, keeping hold of the chair

By Loucas Charalambous

THE TURKISH Cypriot politician Mustafa Akinci, in a speech he gave at the University of Cyprus last Monday, referred to two stories from his experiences to support the view that if the Cyprus problem had not been solved by now this was because the politicians did not want to solve it. Below is a summary of what he said.

“During the 1990s, at a reception, I approached the then special representative of the UN Secretary-General in Cyprus and asked him how the negotiations were going. ‘Not at all well,’ he replied. I persisted with my questions and asked him if this meant we would not have a settlement. ‘No, it will never happen,’ he said, prompting me to ask him why the talks were continuing. His response shocked me. ‘Because the show must go on,’ he told me.

“On another occasion Rauf Denktash invited us to his office for a briefing. I asked him if there was any hope of an agreement and he categorically replied that there was no prospect of a settlement. I said that if there was a will there could be a settlement. He became annoyed and told me: ‘Listen Akinci, as we are moving neither my grandchildren nor my grandchildren’s grandchildren will see the settlement’.”

I think the response by the UN special representative was the most apposite answer to the question why the Cyprus problem had not been solved in 50 years. It was not solved because, as Akinci correctly pointed out, the will does not exist. It was not solved because the show had to go on.

And why did it have to go on? The politicians in our country are only interested in their ‘chairs’, as we say in Cyprus. In 2004, not to go too far back, there was no settlement because Tassos Papadopoulos, his ministers, deputies, state officials had to keep their ‘chairs’.

The show went on under Christofias because he did not want to surrender his chair either and have to share power within the framework of a federal state. And Anastasiades is now keeping the show going because he is not prepared to get off his chair for the sake of a solution. This is the reason he has been dragging his feet and undermining the talks with irrational proposals that allow Dervis Eroglu to claim that he was the one in a hurry for a settlement which was being delayed because of the obstacles being placed by the Greek Cypriots.

The phrase ‘the show must go on’, although very widely used today, was originally used exclusively for live performances and had its origins in the circuses of the 19th century. If for instance an animal broke free or an acrobat had an accident, the MC and musicians tried to keep the show going so as not to disappoint or frighten the audience. The principle was that ‘the show must go on’.

That the phrase emanated from the circus is especially appropriate for our case as in our political circus it is religiously applied. It is this circus that has been handling the Cyprus problem for the last 50 years now. We should not delude ourselves. We have been watching the exact same show all this time.

A while ago it was Papadopoulos, yesterday it was Christofias and today it is Anastasiades and tomorrow it will be someone else. Presidents change, but the chair is always there and the person occupying it will never be interested in a solution, because he too will want the show to go on.

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Greens keep up pressure over beach bar

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Beaches in the area are turtle nesting sites

By Bejay Browne

LOCAL OFFICIALS in Paphos have pledged to review the operation of a new beach bar operating at a turtle-laying beach, following a raft of complaints that the bar was endangering the nesting sites of endangered species.

Paphos district office officials visited the bar just above Asprokremmos beach and next to the Anassa hotel on Friday and will be followed at the beginning of the week by Polis mayor and head of the central beaches committee, Angelos Georgiou.

“The alleged breach of the Foreshore Protection Law in Asprokremmos should be examined by the concerned departments. The matter will be discussed at the next meeting of the central beaches committee in the coming days,” said Georgiou. “We must comply with the law and there should not be any arbitrary interference at any point of the beach.”

Community leader of Neo Chorio, Andreas Christodoulou, told the Sunday Mail the facility has a licence to operate as both an organised beach, providing sunbeds and umbrellas, and as a café, selling soft drinks and snacks, but no alcohol. However, the Paphos District office said that although there is a permit for a designated bathing beach, there is no licence for a beach bar to operate there.

”It is up to us if we want to give permission for sun beds and umbrellas on our beaches in Neo Chorio. We’re not sure if we will give permission for next year, we will have to see,” said Christodoulou.

The sun beds and umbrellas on the beach sit alongside a number of turtle nests.

The bar at Asprokremmos beach

The bar at Asprokremmos beach

Earlier this week, the Green Party condemned the operation of the beach bar, arguing that at night, light and noise emitted from the bar would have a disastrous effect on the turtles.

Christodoulou insisted that the community board and the villagers all cared deeply about the turtles’ wellbeing and representatives from the fisheries department have covered the nests with protective cages.

For Andreas Constantinou, district secretary of the Paphos Greens, the issue of what licences may or may not have been granted is beside the point.

“It doesn’t matter about permission, there are some cases where things are wrong, we should judge whose benefit is more important. The operation at Asprokremmos should be stopped,” he said.

Turtle hatchlings are attracted to light and at around seven weeks after being laid, they emerge from the sand and make their way to the lightest part of the horizon – which is usually the sea. If they become disorientated and remain on the beach they will quickly succumb to the heat or may be eaten by predators.

In addition, nesting females are put off by bright lights, noise and movement on a beach. If they are disturbed during nesting, they will immediately head back to the sea.

The Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta) and their breeding grounds have been protected by law since 1971.

They are both endangered species. Green turtles now nest on the west coast beaches of Lara and Toxeftra and on a few beaches on the north coast. Some Loggerheads also nest in these areas, but their main nesting beaches are in the Polis and Limni area in Chrysochou bay. The turtle breeding season in Cyprus gets underway in late May and finishes at the end of August

Most of the Akamas Peninsula, where Asprokremmos beach is located, is in the Natura 2000 network, an EU-wide network of nature protection areas established under the 1992 Habitats Directive. If beaches not within the Natura network are found to have turtle nests they are also protected.

For the Greens, the beach bar at Asprokremmos is not their only concern.

They said huge problems face the entire stretch of coastline from Asprokremmos beach up to the Baths of Aphrodite.

Constantinou said just a day after the party publicly condemned the beach bar, another beach close by and still within Neo Chorio boundaries was cleared of bamboo. Rocks were destroyed and sun beds put out on parts of the beach.

“Authorities are colluding in wanton destruction of an area of outstanding beauty,” he said.

Neo Chorio’s community leader said clearing the bamboo is a regular occurrence.

“Every year we send staff from the community board to clean the area. There is a natural spring were the bamboo is and it attracts mosquitoes. The bamboo will regrow in a few weeks,” said Christodoulou.

Constantinou said this was just an excuse.

“There is a service provided by the district office where they will spray for mosquitoes; no bamboo needed to be cut and they have also taken away some of the rocks. This is a massive problem. We can’t just create sandy beaches wherever we want.”

Polis mayor Angelos Georgiou said any intervention should be made very carefully but development should not be excluded altogether.

“We shouldn’t exclude human presence and the opportunity to enjoy some of these stunning beaches. If things are done using reasonable measures, it will actually help to maintain and enhance the natural environment,” he said.

But the Greens favour the approach adopted by Ayia Napa municipality which has introduced a public beach that does not offer sun beds and umbrellas.

“It’s easy to clean the sand and obviously no charge for beds or umbrellas. They have got it right,” said Constantinou.

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A man and his guitar

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Christos Christou, a life on the road

By Alexia Evripidou

 

AFTER A LONG absence from Cyprus, Christos Christou is returning to the motherland with a guitar in tow and life lessons to share. The free spirited 33-year-old musician has spent over four years travelling the corners of the earth, using his voice and a guitar to make ends meet. With a less than ordinary life under his belt, Christos and his guitar have busked and gigged their way around much of the world till all roads led back to Larnaca.

Since the age of 28, Christos has lived what most would perceive as an unconventional life, judged and frowned upon by some and envied by others. Packing up his life and job and putting his money where his mouth was, Christos hit the road with very little but the goal of taking life day by day and playing his beloved music. Deeply patriotic – with a large tattoo of Cyprus on his forearm adorning a Makarios quote – he tells of his adventures and his return home to Cyprus, where his heart lives.

Born in the seaside English town of Torquay where, according to cliché, purple-rinsed old ladies go to play bingo or bachelor weekends are rife, Christos spent his early youth listening to music and dreaming of the stage. At age seven, he sat in the car with his parents and spent the following ten days driving to Cyprus. His family wanted to start a brand new life here. He was unhappy and missed England. At the age of fifteen, his parents divorced and he got his wish to go back to England.

The following thirteen years involved moving between Cyprus, Torquay and London. In between countries and homes, he never quite knew where he belonged but always knew what he wanted to do: become a working musician. Restless and eager to be in a band, Christos moved to London and enrolled on a music course in 2001. Within the year, he thought his dreams had come true when he auditioned for a band. “All I wanted to do was play music; the course couldn’t teach me what I already knew, which was how to feel the music, so I left,” he said.

With his deep and gravelly voice, reminiscent of the Demis Roussos and Nana Mouskouri era, he was snapped up instantly as lead singer of a band. Within six months the band got signed by agent Alki David from the Levendis Group, who had branched out in the music business. With an agent, a band and high promises, Christos felt unstoppable but the endless conflicts between him and the manager forced Christos to leave. His band, The Cognition, collapsed shortly after.

Back to square one again, he joined the rat race working different jobs, one being in the Capital Hotel in Knightsbridge on 12 hour shifts. In between work and an hour long commute, there was little time for his music. Until an epiphany hit.

“In England I wasn’t a musician, I was a mobile phone worker or the like. I never had guilt about getting a ‘real job’ although my family around me did,” he explained.  “I tried hard in ‘normal jobs’ and worked long hours. I have never called in sick in my life. I was always there on time, looking to do the job the best I could, but I never felt I was going anywhere in life, I wasn’t achieving anything…I felt I was growing old and doing nothing.”

In 2009 he made the decision to leave behind his belongings and set out on the road less traveled, not knowing what was around the corner or where the financial security would come from. But somehow, it always did.

In Thailand, he ended up gigging in a little village called Pai, situated at the very tip of the country.

“One early morning I was sitting outside a bar which had closed. With my guitar and a few others we were jamming until a Thai man called Pi Nong came and offered me work gigging in his bar,” he said.

He stayed for several months in this small place famous amongst artists and musicians, a place where creative people congregated and created.

Playing both regular solo sets and with a band, Christos generally enjoys playing melancholic rock and his own songs. He got paid 300 baht a night (around seven euros). “This was enough to pay for my room my scooter hire and food. I was breaking even comfortably. I was so happy.”

He gigged around Thailand three times until the wind took him to Australia.

Cyprus stays with Christos wherever he goes

Cyprus stays with Christos wherever he goes

Here, Christos spent most of his time busking in the streets. Some days he made only $20 and others $150. Many times he didn’t have two cents to rub together, but work would always appear just when he was about to give up and go back to England. Other than the joy of playing music for a living, “I got to meet many people, especially homeless people,” he said.

He showed up for work as a professional musician with an amplifier and a guitar. Everyone knew he didn’t live on the streets, yet “they would always look out for me and protect me”.

“They were very giving people. I would even have homeless people throwing in coins for my music when I was playing. It might only be five cents, but for them it was a lot of money,” he said. “Often people tell them to ‘get a job’, but they don’t know what that person went through, that ended them up living on the streets. People make the mistake of judging before knowing and it’s wrong.”

One of his pit stops was St Kilda in Melbourne. “I was busking and a guy with long hair and a rug around him came up to me and stared at me. He went off and came back with a portion of chips for me. It really struck me how someone who has nothing can be so generous and the rich and powerful of this world don’t give a penny to anyone.”

Musically, travelling allowed him to constantly improve his skills, as he was always playing with new people. Often he would strum his guitar on a beach or an alleyway and someone would hear and offer him work.

Now in Cyprus, Christos both busks at Finigoudes in Larnaca and plays gigs in a variety of bars. He’s off to Germany soon and on his return he’ll be playing in the Lithos Bar on  August 3.

So, does Christos see himself as a hippy?

“What is a hippy?” he challenges.

“Some others see me as a ‘hippy’. Yes I love the earth, I love the world. I’m just a person who loves to play music. I am no better or worse than any one else. We’re all in this world together,” said as he sipped on his Italian roasted coffee and talked about unhippy subjects such as souvlakia and good whisky.

 

 

To hear Christo’s music take a look at www.christomusic.net is and www.facebook.com/christo.paint

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The ‘Monuments Woman’

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Some of the artefacts seized in the apartments of Aydin Dikmen

By Thanasis Gavos

TASOULA Hadjitofi, the refugee from Famagusta turned art trafficking adversary, is determined to continue her quest for locating and repatriating stolen treasures from plundered religious and cultural monuments around the world.

Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency almost a year after the first 173 artefacts found in Munich in the possession of Turkish art trafficker Aydin Dikmen were officially handed back to Cyprus, Hadjitofi said that her involvement in searching for treasures from the Turkish occupied northern part of the island had been a process of learning.

Tasoula Hadjitofi

Tasoula Hadjitofi

The court of appeals in Munich ruled last March that part of the artefacts found in Dikmen’s possession in 1997 in Munich, should be returned to Cyprus. German police moved in on Dikmen after they received help from the late  Archbishop Chrysostomos I, Hadjitofi, Cypriot police and an art-dealer Michel Van Rijn.

Most of the items had been taken from churches in the occupied areas after the 1974 invasion.

“Culture is the most political action. That’s why at wars the first thing done is to erase the weakest side’s traces,” said Haditofi. “I began my involvement from Cyprus, but since 2004 I have been using Cyprus as a learning process. I use my experience to assist other countries too.”

Having built a life and a successful career in The Hague, she is now leading the non for profit organisation she founded in the Dutch city, called Walk of Truth.

“My network consists of specialist professionals. I cooperate with Interpol, the Europol, the Dutch, the Greek and the Cypriot police forces. The lawyers I have worked with are also experts on stolen cultural artefacts,” she said.

Asked about how the Walk of Truth organisation came about, Hadjitofi recounted her crucial part in the Munich operation.

In the beginning, she said, it was only her and the late archbishop. “But you know, success has a lot of suitors… Then I said ‘it’s all right, I will hand back the treasures and go home.’ But I could see the Cypriot authorities were making mistakes one after the other. We clashed. It was a very difficult period for me and in addition the archbishop got ill.”

She said she felt disappointed with how officials in Cyprus treated her.

“I don’t care that my name is nowhere to be seen around the artefacts that have been repatriated. The basic thing is that they have been returned to Cyprus,” she said.

She decided to take up Turkish and after a while she visited Turkey, where she made friends who expressed their support for what she had been doing.

“I felt that since I could not go back home, I wanted to give people a reason to smile about through claiming back our cultural heritage. That was my walk of truth, to learn who I was. And I said to myself maybe that was what I needed to do, a platform on which to apply all the lessons I had learned and use them in other countries’ cases; because I could offer something this way.”

Among her future plans is to assist in finding and repatriating the stolen mosaic medallion depicting Apostle Andreas from the looted Church of Panagia Kanakaria.

But her plans are definitely not restricted to Cyprus. Last September she organised a conference within the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which analysed the illegal art trafficking chain. There were 35 experts and 70 personalities in total, ambassadors and EU officials.

“We focused on two cases from Cyprus, the Munich case and the four icons from the Antiphonitis church, as well as a case from Afghanistan. In the end we produced a comprehensive model for looted antiquities, which could be used by each country facing such a problem,” she explained.

For her the creation of a common international set of laws is crucial in dealing with art trafficking.

“Illegal art dealers would not have a choice of countries where they would be able to act,” she said. But she also considers of paramount importance a different political approach.

“It is very important the politicians stop considering culture as a matter of secondary value, as a luxury. Culture is not about entertainment; it is the real voice of the world and its history.”

The ‘Walk of Truth’ motto derives from the Russian writer and artist Nicholas Roerich: ‘Where there is peace there is culture. And where there is culture there is peace’. And in the mission statement the phrase “empowering people to embrace and protect endangered cultural treasures” features prominently.

Asked to describe the personal drive behind all her work, Tasoula Hadjitofi had no hesitation.

“I cannot accept that I cannot go home,” she said, referring to Varosha, the fenced off part of Famagusta. “That I must stand and see it closed and not be allowed to cross in; to have five Turkish soldiers forbidding me to go forward. Not to have the choice to go home, to show my children around, to bury my parents there, to visit my grandparents’ graves. It is something I cannot accept.”

Her first visit back to Famagusta last year, after 39 years, was both a shocking and a liberating experience. “I went for the first time on 10th July last year, because my father asked me to. Without thinking anything I walked into the sea enchanted; I wanted to go as close as I could to my house, where I grew up and played as a child. When the soldiers saw me they tried to stop me, I cried …. And when I came back I promised myself that the next time I go back, there will be no force able to stop me crossing that line.”

Referring to the ‘Walk of Truth’ next initiatives, Tasoula Hadjitofi said that she would very much like to organise “walk of truths”, so that ordinary people, regardless of race or religion, can visit places where their people are buried.

She is also planning to organise a conference on the issue of ownership. Among the cases she would like to discuss is the Parthenon [Elgin] Marbles held in the British Museum.

“Morally, emotionally and historically they belong to Greece. The marbles should be returned to the Parthenon because they are an integral part of it. The question is how to claim their return. I am sure they will go back, it’s just a matter of time.”

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Tales from the Coffeeshop: Martyrdom for a sensitive soul

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Eleni Theocharous, our very own warrior princess

By Patroclos

THE CURSE of the World Cup on the Cyprob that we revealed four weeks ago was quite clearly not the joke some people had thought. In the last week it was again confirmed that the latest bout of talks was going nowhere, Nik and Dervis emerging from their meeting disappointed and dejected and engaging in the customary blame-gaming.

Hopes that Brazil would win the trophy and break the curse – as had happened in 1994 and 2002 – were shattered at Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte last Tuesday as Frau Merkel’s boys ran riot heartlessly humbling the emotional and disorganised Brazilians 7-1. However, it must be said that Brazilian players’ tears were unrelated to the blow the result had dealt to Cyprus peace talks.

Today’s finalists, Argentina and Germany also contested a World Cup Final in 1986 and 1990, but these were years when the curse on the Cyprob held. The Germans won the World Cup in 1974, a year in which there was so much Cyprob movement that nobody would want repeated in 2014. Yet there was no movement after they won in 1990 so it is difficult to make any safe forecast.

Meanwhile, Argentina’s final wins (’78 and ’86) coincided with the years of complete stagnation and there is every possibility we could return to this era of innocence and happiness after tonight’s match.

THIS lack of progress is of great concern to the UN and the Yanks who are keen to secure the settlement that would allow them to implement their energy plans for the region. However, neither the people at the US nor at the UN seem superstitious enough to attribute the deadlocked talks to the curse of the World Cup.

It is believed that the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative Lisa Buttenheim is much too gentle and polite to knock heads together and force the two sides to cut out the diversionary tactics, giving them the leeway to wriggle out of real negotiations. This could be because she does not have the same mandate that Big Bad Al had but also because she is not inclined to employ the Aussie’s bullying tactics.

Without a bullying special envoy of the Bad Al type, it is believed the talks will eventually grind to halt. But the US has already found a man to take on the thankless role of Special Representative – former Under-Secretary-General of the UN Lynn Pascoe.

However not all Cyprus’ political parties have given their consent to his appointment, the UN having decided to consult the parties before making its announcement. The commies of AKEL are opposing him. Apart from being American, he also committed the cardinal sin of having had a row with comrade Tof when the latter was president and has not yet been forgiven.

PASCOE, whom many of our journalists insist on referring to as Pasko-e, served as Under-SG at the UN Department of Political Affairs from 2007 to 2012 during which time he was actively involved in the Cyprob. He knows the problem inside out, which is why he is considered the ideal man to take charge of the talks.

And the Yanks obviously want one of their own. He had previously served as US Ambassador to Malaysia and Indonesia and as Deputy Assistant Secretary for European Affairs at the State Department; he was also the US Special Negotiator for Nagorno-Karabach.

However, Pasko-e had always received bad write-ups in our papers, when serving at the UN, especially from the omniscient Washington-based hack Michalis Ignatiou, who regularly portrayed him as another Turk-loving Yank, whose sole objective was to screw over the Greek Cypriots. Ig, if my memory serves me well, even wrote an article singing the praises of comrade Tof, for falling out with the scheming and ruthless Pasko-e.

Nothing has been leaked about Pasko-e’s proposed appointment, probably because other parties apart from AKEL want to scupper it and fear publicity will ruin their plans to protect Kyproulla from the dastardly plans of our new strategic ally.

THE YANKS seem to have been serious in declaring that we are their strategic ally. They keep sending their officials over for visits, even if it is the assistants of the deputy Secretary of something or other.

A couple of days ago, we had assistant deputy secretary of defence and ditto of the State Depertment for European and Eurasian Affairs arriving to enjoy our heat and humidity. The former, James Townsend, met defence minister Christoforos Foikaides, who has taken his new position very seriously, and thinks he will create a proper army out of the civil servants in fatigues that is the National Guard.

In an interview in Politis last week, Fokaides said that he had raised the issue of the US embargo on the sale of arms to Kyproulla at the highest level – during the visit of Vice-President Biden. And we had expected that during Townsend’s visit the purchase from the US of a few weapons of mass destruction would have been announced by Fokaides.

But it seems the embargo is still in place and Fokaides agreed to co-operate with our new strategic ally on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, which was a big disappointment, as we were hoping the US would agree to their proliferation for the sake of its strategic ally.

NOBODY markets and promotes their heroic patriotism as effectively as DISY MEP, Dr Eleni Theocharous. Her branding, as the fearless warrior princess and scourge of Turkey, won her by far the most votes in last May’s European parliamentary elections; the second most popular candidate received 18,000 fewer votes.

Having scored countless victories over Turkey, the blonde doctor with the husky voice, decided to take on the cowardly Greek government for its refusal to defend Kyproulla’s honour after she was publicly humiliated by the horrible Huns.

The Turks submitted an official document to the EU referring to our Republic as ‘defunct’ two-and-a-half weeks ago, and Greece which held the EU presidency failed to raise a whisper, making smoke come out of the doctor’s nose and ears.

“Cyprus was subjected to a brutal and extremely insulting attack by Turkey and the attack that was carried out a fortnight ago remains unanswered,” lamented the courageous doctor, when she took a break from tirelessly treating all those wounded in the attack. Over-reaction and hyperbole is part of the Theocharous brand.

UNABLE to cope with humiliation and suffering caused by the Turks on Sunday night Dr Eleni bravely called for the resignation of the Greek Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos on TV. His cowardice and lack of patriotism had let poor Kyproulla down and he had to go.

But what did the warrior princess want Venizelos to do? Should he have declared war because Turkey called the Republic defunct or kicked Turkey’s Foreign Minister Davutoglu’s in the testicles? And why did she not ask our prez to respond to the brutal attack given it was Kyproulla that had been insulted and not Greece.

It is not even as if the patriotic doctor was asking very much. All Venizelos or Nik had to do was issue a strong-worded statement – condemning Turkey’s brutal provocation and unacceptable behaviour – that nobody would take any notice of except the Cypriot media and Kyproulla’s badly hurt pride would have been restored.

All the brave doctor’s finest triumphs over Turkey were achieved with well-planned verbal attacks. Hollow rhetoric, like our Republic, is not defunct.

THE SELF-promoting, self-regarding, self-parodying patriot must have taken great satisfaction from the havoc wreaked by her crazy antics.

First, Greece’s foreign ministry issued a statement expressing its displeasure at the MEP’s criticism. Then Cyprus’ foreign ministry issued a statement saying that the Greek presidency and Venizelos handled Turkey’s provocations very satisfactorily.

Venizelos followed with a statement accusing Dr Eleni of ‘politically exploiting national sensitivities’. He also slammed her irresponsibility in attempting to create problems at the plenum of the European Parliament when it was being addressed by Prime Minister Samaras.

Prez Nik also intervened, saying relations between Greece and Cyprus were impeccable and that nobody should jeopardise the unwavering support of Athens. Greece’s ambassador, speaking to the CyBC, said the matter was considered closed.

However, Nik will be visiting Athens at the end of the month to repair the damage done by the bash-patriotic doctor and smooth over relations. Relations cannot be so impeccable if they were shaken by the crazy rants of a publicity-mad, bash-patriot that nobody with half a brain would take seriously.

DR ELENI may have over-reacted to the word ‘defunct’ because in her free time she is a poet – she recently had an anthology of her poems published – and is more sensitive than the average politician. She is also more arrogant to believe she could call for the resignation of a minister of another country because she did not approve of his actions.

Now, the sensitive poet is sulking because neither her party nor prez Nik backed her publicly. Feeling hurt and unloved she sent a letter to the prez withdrawing the interest she had expressed for the position of EU commissioner, it was reported. Applying for a commissioner’s post, which pays in excess of 200k a year, was another big sacrifice she was prepared to make for the good of the country, but not after the way she was treated.

As she said, in her letter to Nik, “it is better to represent, as a parliamentary representative, a people that struggle, claim and fight with me than to represent a Republic that vilified me and punished me because I tried to defend it when someone called it defunct.”

She might not be appointed EU commissioner but she has attained martyrdom, which must soften the blow, even if it does not pay as well.

TWO WEEKS ago, we had written that the board of Bank of Cyprus had not made a final decision on a new capital issue because there were disagreements among directors over the price that would be charged for the new shares.

Our establishment had naively taken this information at face value, which was a big mistake. The fact was that directors had used the alleged disagreement over the share price as an excuse not to take a decision, because the majority was opposed to the capital issue as this would have diluted the existing shareholding and some would have lost their seats on the board.

And keeping their board seats was the overriding concern of the happy bunny and his fellow political party appointees. Central Bank Governor Chrystalla Georgadji knew exactly what they were up to and sent them a gloriously nasty letter informing them that if they did not sanction the issue of capital she would remove them all from the board. She also leaked the letter to put more pressure on them.

Cunning Crystal knew the only thing the directors cared about was keeping their board seats and her threat worked perfectly. The happy bunny would agree to a number one hair-cut to keep his chairmanship a bit longer. A week later, the humbled and humiliated directors approved a €1 billion share issue and a few days later the BoC road-show was abroad meeting foreign investors.

CRYSTAL has got balls. She smartly prevented another devious plot by the board to avoid the issue of new capital. When the board had decided to carry out an investigation into the issue of convertible bonds, she immediately realised what they were up to. If there was an ongoing investigation at the bank, the issue of new capital would have to be put on hold until it was completed.

She quickly demanded to be given the investigation file for approval. She shelved the file and the approval was never given, thus thwarting the directors’ plan. If these directors devoted as much time and grey matter to saving the bank, as they did to saving their board seats, the BoC would have been flying by now.

ETHNARCH Junior’s alliance building, designed to help his assault on the presidency, gathered momentum last week when he met EDEK boss Yiannakis Omirou and agreed their parties would seek re-negotiation of the memorandum.

He had made a similar agreement with AKEL a few weeks ago so we can look forward to an EDEK-AKEL-DIKO alliance led by Junior, the presidential hopeful, in the near future. Once they have re-negotiated the memorandum – the Troika is arriving tomorrow – they could then forge a united front against the appointment of Pasco-e, who is bound to be as pro-Turkish as bad Big Bad Al if he ever became Special Representative.

They cannot rely exclusively on the curse of the World Cup to prevent a settlement.

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Our View: Papadopoulos’ volte face on MoU a reckless grab for power

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Nicolas Papadopoulos, a change of view

NEW IMPETUS appears to have been given to DIKO chief’s Nicolas Papadopoulos’ drive to build a political front aiming to secure ‘improvements’ to the Troika’s memorandum of understanding (MoU), after last week’s meeting with EDEK leader Yiannakis Omirou.

Omirou welcomed the initiative and the two leaders agreed to set up working groups that would draft proposals for the re-negotiation of parts of the MoU with the Troika.

A few weeks earlier, Papadopoulos met the AKEL leader Andros Kyprianou for the same purpose and also secured a positive response. After all, the populist communists have been trying to make political capital out of their opposition to the memorandum from day one on the absurd grounds that austerity measures did not work. It was agreed the two parties would engage in a dialogue to which AKEL would bring its own ‘improvement’ proposals, but nothing has been heard since.

Perhaps the AKEL-DIKO dialogue failed to agree on the ‘improvement’ proposals and forced Papadopoulos to turn to EDEK. Another possibility is that the DIKO boss would at some point try to forge a front of all three parties and act as its leader. This would not only help Papadopoulos’ presidential ambitions, but also give him a new cause to champion after his vociferous, ultra-hard line on the Cyprus problem proved such a flop, as the European election results showed.

Funnily, the hollow rhetoric the parties have been using about the memorandum is not dissimilar to what they routinely use for the Cyprus problem. The government was not pursuing an ‘assertive’ policy in its dealings with the Troika, while provisions of the memorandum were ‘completely wrong and had to change’. This is like the empty promise that through an ‘assertive’ policy and the ‘repositioning’ of the Cyprus problem we would have a fair and viable settlement in no time.

And now DIKO, EDEK and AKEL are idly claiming that by changing some provisions of the memorandum the economy would be put on the road to recovery and lives would start to improve. Papadopoulos has even been resorting to AKEL’s disingenuous argument that austerity measures did not work, even though his party had no such qualms when it was voting them through the legislature. On Wednesday he said that if the government did not try to change provisions of the MoU it should not expect the parties to back policies that ‘failed to yield the desired results’.

But what was the purpose of the MoU? It was certainly not to help end the recession as the parties have been claiming. The MoU’s primary concern was to put the economy on a sound basis by rationalising public finances and restructuring the banking sector, so that the state would be in a position to repay the €10 billion it received in financial assistance from international lenders in order to avoid bankruptcy. The Troika did not come to Cyprus to fund development and help us get out of the recession, as AKEL, EDEK and DIKO have misleadingly been claiming.

Papadopoulos, as chairman of the House finance committee, always knew this and often took a responsible public stand when his new political allies opposed memorandum bills. But now he has decided to embrace their irresponsible, anti-memorandum demagoguery as he has not accrued any political advantage from his firebrand Cyprus problem rhetoric. He wants to re-negotiate the provisions of the MoU that he and his party had approved a few months ago, because the economy was still in recession. He knows very well that renegotiating bits of the memorandum would not kick-start the economy when the issue of non-performing loans, currently at 50 per cent, remains unresolved and banks are illiquid.

The truth is that the memorandum is the strong medicine the Cyprus economy desperately needed after years of reckless mismanagement by the political parties and unions. It has forced the politicians to implement measures they would not have dared touch in normal conditions. Thanks to the memorandum, profligate state spending has been brought under control, the dysfunctional public service is being restructured, welfare policy has been rationalised, local government will be downsized, the state education system will be revamped and the national health scheme will be introduced at last.

This is happening because the Anastasiades government has been working constructively with the Troika to clean up the mess that was created by decades of reckless spending and mismanagement by the politicians. It is thanks to this co-operation that the government has returned to the markets and funds for development are gradually being made available by the EU. Do Papadopoulos and his allies want to ruin all this progress made by pushing their unjustified demand for a renegotiation of the MoU?

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The true cost of hooliganism

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More than 200 police officers have been injured in sports-related in violence in the last decade

By Constantinos Psillides

WELL OVER 200 police officers and around 130 members of the public, match officials and football players have been injured in sports related violence in Cyprus in the last decade, a British former top police officer has discovered.

In a week which saw the House of Representatives fail to pass the long-awaited bill to tackle rampant hooliganism, the British expert’s research has highlighted yet again the desperate need for police to have the means to root out hooligans.

By trawling through media archives, Michael Layton, the former chief superintendent of the West Midlands police force in England, has collected data going back to 2003.

He cites 77 matches where one or two of the Big Five – APOEL, AEL, Omonia, Apollon, Anorthosis – were playing. Besides football matches, Layton also looked into 13 basketball and volleyball matches during the same period which again involved the same clubs.

In every single one of these games some sort of disorder occurred, according to Layton.
“More than 211 police officers have been injured whilst policing football matches, and at one fixture an officer died of a heart attack during disturbances. Officers have been stabbed, burnt, suffered broken noses, fractures, and routinely hit with rocks and missiles on at least 43 occasions,” said the former director of intelligence and operations with the British Transport Police (BTP) who was directly involved in the British police force’s fight against hooliganism.

According to his data, at least 128 members of the public, match officials, or players have been injured or assaulted during the course of these games.

He said that the vast majority suffered violent attacks with burns, head injuries, loss of fingers, loss of eyesight, and other injuries recorded, many of which required hospital treatment.

The youngest victim of football violence was just 12 years of age.

For Layton, and most experts in the fight against hooliganism, the police’s key weapon is that violent fans lose their anonymity.

And it was precisely on this issue – the provision of fan identity cards – that the justice ministry bill stalled on Thursday.
Parliamentary parties, with the exception of ruling DISY and former coalition partner DIKO, decided to postpone the vote on the bill for two weeks, so a compromise can be reached on some of the bill’s provisions.

The request to postpone voting was put forth by main opposition party AKEL. Party general secretary Andros Kyprianou told the plenum that he agreed that “the gangrene of sports related violence had to be dealt with but this bill contains provisions that were adopted in other countries and later withdrawn.”

Kyprianou’s comment mirrored those made by party MP Aristos Damianou a week ago, when he told the press that the bill employed “Thatcherite practices that the English have abandoned years ago”. Damianou promised then that his party would table its own bill to deal with hooliganism, which they probably will in the coming week.

While AKEL does raise some good questions – a fine for even covering your face partially in and near the stadium and for standing up during the match can be characterised as draconian – the party’s main opposition is over fan cards.

The fan card – a card issued for anyone who wishes to buy tickets to a sporting event – has also angered fans who view it as a tool to be used by police to keep tabs on them, even though the police will have nothing to do with the registry. AKEL, with its strong ties to Omonia, one of the biggest team in Cyprus, has always been in the frontline of the war against the fan ID card.

A compromise on the fan card appears impossible. Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou has repeatedly said that the bill is a “package deal” and that he would not give in one inch over the need for cards. He also made clear that the bill had to pass before the House closed for its summer recess.

Ionas has the full support of the Cyprus’ top police officers. Sergeant Michalis Herodotou, head of police anti-hooliganism office, told the Sunday Mail that fan cards were a crucial instrument, while police chief Zacharias Chrysostomou said they were an absolute necessity.

“We wish we didn’t have to go this far but we have to adapt to the situation before us,” said Chrysostomou.

For Layton the failure to pass the bill was a missed opportunity.

“It will leave the public and politicians ‘wringing their hands’ when violence inevitably erupts again at the start of the next season,” he said. “The figures themselves over the last 11 years alone tell a dismal story of constant dialogue, followed by strong messages of condemnation and promises of action, which are all too often not followed through. The new police chief has already made it clear that he does not want to see people mourning the death of someone caught up in this type of violence.”

The former police superintendent also notes that not dealing with football violence has an actual monetary cost, since fans are destroying stadiums and private property, while insurance companies are forced to fork out money to cover damages. This leads to increased premiums – the cost of which is passed to fans via ticket price increase- while treating victims of football violence in hospitals also adds to the pile.

In his research Layton also studied how MPs responded to football violence. He noted more than 40 political interventions, with statements from ministers and politicians, and more than 200 meetings and seminars which were attended by members of the House Legal Affairs Committee on the subject.

“Hooligans will see the failure of this bill as a triumph which is why a strong message needs to be delivered to them at the start of the new season that the ‘battle’ is actually just starting and that ‘the gloves are off’,” he said.

As for AKEL’s opposition to fan cards, Layton pointed to the widespread use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

“These give out far more information of a personal nature than a fan ID card ever will,” he said.

“As long as there is a proper and transparent system for dealing with requests for information from the police through using appointed ‘Single Points of Contact’ it should not be an issue.”

He also questioned AKEL’s objections that some of the bill’s provisions had no place in a modern society.
“I would venture to suggest that in a ‘modern society’ people do not go around throwing rocks at each other on a weekly basis just for the fun of it,” responded Layton.

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Defences set to dominate in tight cagey final

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world-cup-trophy
WORLD CUP 2014
World Cup finalist: GERMANY
Group G: June 16th, Germany vs Portugal 4 - 0
Germany's Thomas Mueller celebrates his second of three goals in a match that saw Germany beat Portugal 4-0
Group G: June 21st, Germany vs Ghana 2 - 2
Miroslav Klose scored within two minutes of coming on as a substitute in Germany's game against Ghana
Group G: June 26th, Germany vs USA 1 - 0
Germany's head coach Joachim Loew (R) shakes hands with goalkeeper Manuel Neuer following Germany;s 1-0 win over USA
Last 16: June 30th, Germany vs Algeria 2 - 1
Goalmouth action from Germany's difficult win against Algeria
Quarter-final: July 4th Germany vs France 1 - 0
Hugo Lloris of France cannot keep out Hummel's close range effort
Semi-final: July 8th Germany vs Brazil 7 - 1
Thomas Mueller (C) celebrates after opening the score in Germany's 7 - 1 thrashing of Brazil
World Cup finalists: ARGENTINA
Group F: June 16th, Argentina vs Bosnia& Herzegovina 2 - 1
Lionel Messi wiggles his way past a Bosnian defender
Group F: June 21st, Argentina vs Iran 1 - 0
Sergio Aguero heads wide in his team's slender 1 - 0 win over Iran
Group F: June 25th, Argentina vs Nigeria 3 - 2
Lionel Messi opens the score for Argentina with a delicate strike
Last 16: July 1st, Argentina vs Switzerland 1 - 0
Argentina's Javier Mascherano consoles Swiss player Xherdan Shaqiri at the final whistle
Quarter-final: July 5th, Argenitna vs Belgium 1 - 0
Gonzalo Higuain celebrates with Angel di Maria after scoring the games only goal
Semi-final: July 9th, Argentina vs Netherlands 0 - 0 (4-2 penalties)
Argentinian goalkeeper Sergio Romero makes his second penalty save to send his team through to the final

By Mike Collett

It might not be the way Brazilians wanted the World Cup to end but Sunday’s final between Argentina and Germany will provide a nerve-jangling climax to the best tournament in history – even though the goals that have lit it up may not flow.

While the the hosts are still coming to terms with their 7-1 semi-final humiliation by Germany and are preparing for the third-place playoff against the Netherlands, Argentina and Germany are gearing up to settle old scores

According to his agent, this will be Argentine coach Alejandro Sabella’s last match in charge — win or lose — and he will leave the job a national hero if his team triumph in the third final between the European and South American heavyweights.

But whether this match is a high-scoring thriller like their 1986 showdown in Mexico City which Argentina won 3-2, or more resembles the dire spectacle of West Germany’s 1-0 1990 win in 1990 in Rome is difficult to predict.

The trend in recent finals has been for tight, cagey, defensive games with narrow, low-scoring victories and those finals of 1986 and 1990 reflect the dividing line in the finals story.

The six finals up to and including 1986 produced 27 goals, the six since 1990, when Argentina became the first team to fail to score in the final, have produced nine.

And there is every indication that, paradoxically, this goal-laded World Cup — which has produced 167 goals so far and could beat the all-time record of 171 set in France’98 — will be won by defensive steel rather than attacking brilliance.

TOP KEEPERS

Both teams have goalkeepers in the form of their lives with Germany’s Manuel Neuer, probably the best in the world, and Argentina’s Sergio Romero, putting aside his season on the bench at AS Monaco with some impressive displays, not least his two stops in the penalty shootout win over the Dutch on Wednesday.

In front of Neuer, Benedict Hoewedes has played every minute of the competition at left-back and Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng have looked impressive in the centre of defence.

And since coach Joachim Loew re-positioned skipper Philipp Lahm at right-back rather than midfield, the defence has been even tighter.

Argentina’s rearguard though has been even more impressive.

They have not conceded a goal for three successive matches since a 3-2 win over Nigeria in their last Group F match on June 25, and Sabella can also call on a solid, well-established formation.

Romero has gained in confidence and stature as the tournament has progressed while right-back Pablo Zabaleta, centre-back Ezequiel Garay and defensive midfielder Javier Mascherano have all been impressive as they have played every minute of every match.

There is of course, another Argentine player who has played every minute for his country — Lionel Messi.

SATISFACTORY SO FAR

The world’s number one player has enjoyed a satisfactory rather than scintilating tournament so far, scoring four times in Argentina’s three group wins against Bosnia, Iran and Nigeria but failing to find the net against Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands in the knockout stages.

And while Argentina have struggled for goals since qualifying with one against Switzerland from Angel di Maria and one against Belgium from Gonzalo Higuain, Germany have flourished, with 10 in the last three games.

Thomas Mueller, who scored a hat-trick in the group stage against Portugal, now has five goals, but their total of 17 has been spread around the side.

Miroslav Klose, now the top scorer of all time in the World Cup with 16 goals, has two, Andre Schuerrle three, defender Hummels and Toni Kroos two, while, Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira and Mario Goetze have also found the net.

But they have yet to come up against a defence as formidadle as Argentina’s.

Lothar Matthaus, the last German skipper to lift the World Cup in 1990, said this week: “There is an old saying in Germany that defences win titles, while the attack wins the glory.”

Those words could yet be borne out in Sunday’s intriguing finale.

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New strategy to deal with ‘Turkey’s intransigence’

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National Council meeting lasted four hours

By George Psyllides
THE NATIONAL Council will convene in a lengthy session in the autumn to draft a strategy with the help of experts for tackling what it described as Turkish intransigence, the government announced on Monday.
Speaking after a National Council meeting on Monday morning, deputy government spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos said that parties were briefed by the president about his meetings with Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu.
The council also decided to convene in a lengthy session that could last several days “to plan a strategy to tackle Ankara’s plans”.
Papadopoulos made it clear that the talks cannot enter a new phase unless both sides submit proposals on all aspects of the Cyprus problem, recalling that Eroglu has agreed to do so, something which has been announced by the UN’s special representative in Cyprus.
“We cannot speak of a new phase without the submission of these proposals,” he said, adding that this was a red line for the Greek Cypriot side.
“How can we advance to the third stage during which we can see if convergences and divergences exist and how these can be bridged, if we don`t have the views of both sides and especially those of the Turkish Cypriot side on all aspects.”
The National Council also decided to set up a body of experts – a geostrategic council – to advise the body on how to proceed.
President Nicos Anastasiades has asked the parties to recommend qualified experts who will staff the council, considered decisive in enabling the presidency and the council to process strategies and tactics.
Speaking after the four-hour meeting, AKEL leader Andros Kyprianou suggested that the Greek Cypriot side must display more consistency on the convergences decided between former president Demetris Christofias and former Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.
Kyprianou said it was obvious that Eroglu appeared to be in favour of the convergences in public, when in reality he was against them.
The Greek Cypriot side was running the risk of being blamed if substantive moves are not made, Kyprianou said.
AKEL, Kyprianou said, backed Anastasiades’ demand for the Turkish Cypriot side to table proposals on all the issues, which will be discussed.
Kyprianou said 40 years have gone by since the coup and the Turkish invasion.
“We do not have the luxury to continue at the same pace. It must be intensified to reach a fair, functional, and viable solution of the Cyprus problem as soon as possible,” he said.
EDEK said it was necessary to define a strategy based on the new facts that have developed over the past 40 years, globally and regionally.
Party leader Yiannakis Omirou said it was clear that Turkey was engaging in the “same chicanery and intransigence” it has been engaging in for the past 40 years.
“This recurrence of Turkish intransigence requires discussing this necessary new national strategy,” Omirou said.
DIKO chief Nicolas Papadopoulos said the Greek Cypriot side lacked a clear strategy to tackle Eroglu’s manoeuvrings.
Papadopoulos said Eroglu appeared to be trying to lead the talks to a deadlock but in contrast to the Turkish Cypriot leader “our side does not seem to have a clear strategy on how to tackle” his manoeuvrings.
“Our side’s approach is characterised by confusion and perplexity,” he said.

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Three drowned in two days (Update three)

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File photo

By Constantinos Psillides

AN 84-year-old woman from Nicosia collapsed and drowned in shallow water shortly before noon on Monday at the Pyla beach along the Larnaca-Dhekelia road.
Her death brings to three the number of people who have apparently drowned in just two days after a 20-year-old woman and a 71-year-old man drowned on Sunday
Police report said that, while in shallow water a few metres into the sea, the woman lost consciousness, fell into the water and drowned. Subsequent efforts to revive her failed.
An autopsy, scheduled for Tuesday at the Larnaca General, is expected to determine the woman’s cause of death.
On Sunday 20-year-old Irene Georgiou, from Kokkinotrimithia, in Nicosia, drowned off the “Fanari” beach in Pervolia, Larnaca, at around 2pm.
Police said Georgiou, who was swimming with three friends, was carried away by strong currents. There are no lifeguards on duty at the specific beach.
According to the police, the four friends were caught in a current and only one of them knew how to swim.
The swimmer carried one of the women to shore and sought assistance while Georgiou and her friend were crying for help.
Lifeguards from a neighbouring beach scrambled to the area on jet-skis but found Georgiou unconscious. None of the others were injured.
She was brought to shore where lifeguards tried to resuscitate her before she was rushed to the Larnaca general hospital where doctors pronounced her dead on arrival.
Earlier on Sunday, a 71-year-old Greek Cypriot man was found unconscious in the sea off Malama beach in Paralimni.
He was rushed to Famagusta hospital where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.
Police said a port-mortem will he carried out on Monday to determine the cause of death.
The 71-year old was vacationing in the area with his wife.
“More often than not, it’s panic that kills people,” said the head of the Limassol Lifeguard Association, Michalis Kyprianou.
“You never, ever, swim against the current. Never. Rip currents are strong and will wear you out. What you do is go with the flow and try to remain in a horizontal position and wait for help or if you are a good swimmer go either left or right of the current and swim to the beach at an angle,” Kyprianou said.

CALL TO EXTEND WORKING HOURS

THE CYPRUS Lifeguards Association (CLA) issued a statement on Monday requesting that the state immediately takes measures to expand lifeguard working hours.
“Legislation is needed to regulate swimmer safety, define public beaches, stipulate the equipment each beach should have and outline the qualifications and duties of professional lifeguards as well as working hours,” read the statement, issued in response to the three drownings over the weekend.
According to thr CLA, a legal amendment has been in the House since 2005.
At present, lifeguards usually work from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm but length of employment, working hours and numbers depend mostly on the budget of the cash-strapped local authorities.
Local authorities in Cyprus are currently facing financial difficulties. For example Yeroskipou municipality, which is responsible for some of the beaches in Paphos, had its power cut on Friday due to unpaid electricity bills.
According to Wing Commander Marios Florides, head of the Cyprus Search and Rescue Centre, all public beaches run by municipalities have lifeguards on duty. On some beaches lifeguards are employed by hotels.
“Some of them work from April to November … while others work anything in between. It depends on the municipality,” Florides said on Monday.
Florides said there were no data available for the total number of public beaches and how many are run by municipalities.
But in the Limassol district for instance, from the 80km coastline only 21km are organised public beaches.
Out of that 21km, 30 per cent are run by municipalities and have lifeguards on duty who are employed only for July and August.
There have been calls to increase lifeguards’ working hours to cover early morning and late afternoon. According to the head of the Paphos municipality beach committee, Andreas Chrysanthou, “extending the working hours is imperative to enable better supervision of busy beaches.”
Chrysanthou said that countless people choose to swim in the morning or late afternoon to avoid the sun’s strong rays, and lifeguard working hours should be extended for a further three hours a day.

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Brazil 2014 strong contender as best-ever World Cup

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‘In the end, the World Cup got the right champions because Germany were the most complete and effective team despite a valiant effort by Argentina in the final’

By Simon Evans

The 2014 World Cup provided an unmatched level of football, outstanding individual moments, shocks, some controversy and it all took place in stadiums packed with knowledgeable and passionate fans.

Taken as a whole, the 64 games in Brazil, were unparalleled as a World Cup in terms of quality of football, with constant entertainment in the group stage, then tension and excellence in defending in the knockout phase as the leading powers advanced.
Every tournament has its memorable moments – Carlos Alberto’s wonderful fourth goal as Brazil crushed Italy in the 1970 final and Maradona’s magical solo goal against England in 1986 being two of the most enduring.

The 1954 World Cup, when West Germany stunned the previously dominant Hungarians in the final, and the 1958 tournament in Sweden, with the young Pele awakening the world to the skills of Brazilian football, were both tournaments which provided lovers of the game with plenty to appreciate.
But what made 2014 so special was that the quality and tactical sophistication was spread across so many teams, with very few nations looking out of their depth.

Costa Rica reached the quarter-finals for the first time and only missed out on a place in the last four after a penalty shootout against the Netherlands.
The Costa Ricans, who barely figured in most pre-tournament calculations, finished above three former world champions in England, Italy and Uruguay in their group – not by luck or purely effort but by playing good, intelligent football.

Colombia and Mexico impressed and could easily have gone much further, the United States provided excitement for the rapidly growing fan-base in their country and even minnows Iran went close to beating Argentina, the eventual runners-up.
In contrast, traditional powers who were not ready to compete with the best were quickly exposed, none more so than holders Spain who were crushed 5-1 by the Netherlands in their opening game and failed to make it to the second round.
Spain’s tiki-taka short-passing possession football had dominated the game for the past six years but it was dismissively swept aside by fast-paced pass and move football and relentless pressing.
Most remarkably, hosts Brazil, tipped by many to win the tournament, showed that that judgement was based on no more than nostalgia and perceived home advantage.

They were fortunate to make the last four but their weaknesses were ruthlessly exposed by Germany in a 7-1 victory that stands as the most extraordinary result the tournament has ever seen.
Despite the strong showing of unheralded teams, the knockout phase did see the best sides progress – all the group winners got through their second round games and then the favourites won the quarter-finals.
While caution limited excitement in the knockout phase, the negativity was largely restricted to tactics rather than dirty play, time-wasting or unsporting conduct.

According to FIFA the number of injuries was down by about 40 per cent, a remarkable statistic given the increased pace and athleticism of the contemporary game.
Technology also had a positive impact. The use of vanishing spray at free-kicks reduced arguing and sped up the game, while goal-line technology was introduced without any issues.
Dissent and abuse of the referees were largely absent and there were few cases of off-the-ball incidents.
Only 10 red cards were shown in the tournament, down from a record 28 in 2006, although one should have been shown to Uruguay’s controversial striker Luis Suarez after his bite on the shoulder of Giorgio Chiellini.

Diving, however, remains a problem. The skill of players in ‘drawing contact’ and then exaggerating their fall makes it very difficult for referees and can, as Mexico’s exit after an Arjen Robben-created penalty showed, leave a bitter taste.
But off the field, the fears of organisational chaos proved unfounded – the stadiums were ready, the airports functioned without major problem and fans enjoyed the tournament with no significant incidents.

Brazil supporters, even though their side were a major disappointment, contributed hugely to the success of the finals by picking teams, usually the underdogs, and making sure the atmosphere in stadiums was rarely of the sterile kind that has undermined some recent tournaments.
But the protests in Brazil in the run up to the World Cup highlighted a serious issue – was there really a need to spend so much money on new stadiums in a country with acute social problems?
The atmosphere might have been even better, as well as more socially responsible, if games were in older Brazilian venues with more modest upgrades and if ticket prices were affordable for the working class fan.

But, in the end, the World Cup got the right champions because Germany were the most complete and effective team despite a valiant effort by Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina, who were undone by Mario Goetze’s superb strike in the final.
New talent emerged, something rare in this globalised age, with Colombia’s James Rodriguez, the tournament’s top scorer with six goals, the most exciting to shine.
There was a joint record number of goals (171) but also outstanding defending with the role of the defensive midfielder emerging as fundamental – as Argentina’s Javier Mascherano highlighted.

In a nutshell the tournament had everything.
It was a magnificent showcase for modern international football – shorn of the influence of money that distorts the club game.
Debate will no doubt continue but 2014 has a very strong case to be considered the best World Cup of all time.

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