THE BANK of Cyprus (BoC) on Tuesday announced the operation of a new webpage set up to list properties under the lender’s ownership that are for sale.
The page will host all properties owned by the bank in Cyprus, Greece, the UK, and Romania that have been put up for sale.
As a first stage, the lender has listed 23 properties, all in Cyprus. New properties will be added on the page periodically.
The information includes photos, maps, town planning details, and a bidding form.
Bids for each real estate will be accepted for a month – starting the day it was posted on the page. If the property remains unsold after a month, the lender will consider the bids in order of priority based on the date they were submitted.
For more information on the properties that are up for sale and the bidding procedure, visit the bank’s website: www.bankofcyprus.com Properties for sale.

By Evie Andreou
LITTLE BILLY, the stray dog thrown alive into a cardboard crusher by two hotel employees in Protaras three weeks ago is now featuring prominently in the international press.
The infamous photo of the little black poodle lying unconscious at the vet clinic after his rescue from the crushing machine featured prominently on the Daily Mail’s online edition on Monday, accompanied by the story of the dog’s fate which shocked locals and visitors alike and sparked a storm of protest.
Billy’s story has also been featured in the Daily Mirror, Deutsche Welle, AOL and the New Zealand Herald.
Billy, who died nearly two weeks ago, has become a symbol against animal abuse and the heavy criticism and negative publicity it brought, urged the government to speed up the process for the creation of a coordinating body that will better manage all services, state, local and private that work with animals.
On Sunday, Humanimal, a Greek activist group, protested outside the Cyprus Embassy in Athens. The activists demanded justice for Billy’s death and the creation of an animal police in Cyprus.
The protest was in support of the two earlier protests that took place in Cyprus, organised by the Nicosia Dog Shelter, outside Anastasia Hotel in Protaras where the incident took place.
The two employees involved were fired from the hotel, and they were charged. The hotel has been tarnished however not just for the incident itself but also for the response of the owners towards the protesters, which aggravated public opinion even more.
Billy was rescued from the crushing machine, by tourists who heard his screams and was transferred to a local vet clinic. He was in a coma for two weeks and died on July 4.

By a Staff Reporter
THE TURKISH Cypriots would like to see a referendum on a solution of the Cyprus problem held within 2014, but the Greek Cypriot leadership and the National Council oppose such a development, Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu said on Monday.
In a statement, Eroglu said that the five-step roadmap tabled by his side aims at holding a referendum on a set date. He argued that lack of a roadmap would mean that the two sides will continue negotiating for “another 40 years”.
According to Eroglu, the Turkish Cypriot side aspires to a comprehensive solution.
With regard to territory, he said that the Turkish Cypriot side had proposed criteria for a map in the January 2011 Geneva meeting, at which the UN Secretary General had expressed his satisfaction.
The Turkish Cypriot leader claimed that he proposed discussing the map one week prior to a summit with the guarantor powers – the UK, Greece and Turkey – but the Greek Cypriot side has yet to consent to such a summit.
According to Eroglu, this is not the time to discuss the map as it will impact the public and economic activity, adding that such discussion can be deferred until after agreement on a referendum and the summit have been achieved.
Eroglu reiterated his position that the issue of Famagusta will be addressed as part of the broader territory issue.

By Evie Andreou

THE American International School’s decision to increase fees by €750 a year has been met with dismay by parents who say the school is already the most expensive private school on the island.

The Nicosia school has described the increase as a building development fee which they say is necessary because they want to move out of the current rented premises to another location and build new facilities.

But parents have complained that the increase cannot be justified in a time of economic crisis. The increase also apparently counters a circular issued by the education ministry in February asking private schools not to increase fees for the 2014-15 school year and to actually decrease them by 0.82 per cent.

A parent, whose twin son and daughter are at the school, expressed his dismay and said that the school’s tuition is already a lot higher than the only other private school in Cyprus that offers the International Baccalaureate diploma (IB).
“The tuition fees are more than €13,000, while the fees at the other private school which offers the IB are €8,500,” said Sapachlaris on Monday.

Moving his children to the other school, however, is not an easy option as he is concerned how this might affect his children’s current high academic performances only a year away from graduating.

The school, operated by the Educational Services Overseas Limited (ESOL), first announced the increase at the end of last month. In July, parents received a second message with a comparison table showing how American International Schools’ tuition fees and development levies varied around the world with most of them higher than the fees in Cyprus.

“But the table shows tuition fees in places like Bern and Zurich; there is no comparison between these places and Cyprus. The average salary there is five times the salaries in Cyprus,” the parent said.

After receiving complaints from parents, the education ministry sent a letter to the school questioning the increase and
mentioning the circular on fee increases sent to all private schools in February.

Dr Niki Papadopoulou-Papa of the education ministry’s private education department told the Cyprus Mail on Monday that the circular had made clear that the schools had to submit their fees and other charges for 2014-15 to the ministry for approval by March 15. If the school wanted to leave its fees at the same levels or introduce a decrease less than the 0.82 per cent mentioned in the circular, they had to justify their decision and provide the necessary documentation.

“Schools cannot just raise tuition fees without permission from the ministry; we have sent a letter to the school and we are waiting for their response. There will be a discussion and we hope that the issue will be resolved soon,” said Papadopoulou-Papa.

In an initial letter to parents, the school had announced a €1,000 building development fee per student per year for non-Cypriot students and €500 a year for Cypriot nationals. But after complaints from non-Cypriot nationals, it was decided that all students would pay €750 per year.

The school was unavailable for comment yesterday.

By Angelos Anastasiou

A CRIMINAL complaint for war crimes against Turkey was filed on Monday in the International Criminal Court (ICC) by MEP Costas Mavrides and the Cypriots Against Turkish War Crimes (CATWR) foundation, requesting the court’s prosecutor to open an investigation against individuals responsible for the war crime of “directly and indirectly transferring civilian population of an occupying power into occupied territory.”

The ICC is an independent international tribunal set up in 2002, to which 122 countries are currently party. Though Turkey has neither signed nor ratified the Rome Statute that governs the ICC’s operation, the war crime in question has taken place on sovereign territory of a state party – Cyprus – thus granting the court automatic jurisdiction.

If the court decides to open the case, the prosecutor will start investigating in order to identify individuals with an active role in perpetrating the war crime. If sufficient evidence is found against any individuals, they will be indicted and an arrest warrant issued against them.

“It is at this point that Turkey can refuse to cooperate in extraditing individuals,” said one source close to the proceedings. “However, these warrants will be valid in all member state countries and if any of the wanted individuals are located in any of these countries they would be arrested and extradited to The Hague.”

But the court is mandated to investigate and prosecute individuals for acts committed after its creation in 2002, meaning crimes committed before this date are beyond the court’s reach. No matter, say the complainants. Statistics, included in the complaint, indicate that after 2002 the transfer of population has in fact accelerated.

“The present case focuses on the transfer of Turkish nationals to the area of Cyprus it occupies,” said Dr Theodora Christou of Tsimpedes law firm in New York. “This does not only concern the transfer of people, but also touches on a number of issues, including the redistribution of property, the creation of ‘universities’, the financial incentives offered to move to Cyprus, the development of the infrastructure, involvement in the energy industry and tourism development – all of these activities are unlawful and an occupying power is prohibited under international law from conducting them to the extent that Turkey has in Cyprus.”

In truth, the chances of a successful indictment of individuals, meaning an indirect indictment of Turkey, are rather slim.

“Very few cases have got to the indictment stage,” said one international law expert. “In principle, individuals responsible for the relevant policies could be indicted, but that assumes the prosecutor chooses to open an investigation in the first place. The prosecutor is not required to do so: there are lots of crimes in the world and they can prioritize which they pursue.”

But this does not dampen the complainants’ spirit. Even if unsuccessful, they feel their efforts will not have been in vain.

“The publicity and awareness-raising of Turkey’s crimes in Cyprus cannot be underestimated,” said one source. “Even bringing public attention to the issue and pressuring the Turkish government is an accomplishment, and the reason most such complaints are brought.”

Yet not everyone is pessimistic. In a textbook display of cautious optimism, one source directly involved in the case counters a powerful thought.

“Because Turkey and its agents have enjoyed impunity for so long they have had no need to hide,” the logic goes. “Those who bear criminal responsibility are easily identifiable – these would include army generals, ministers, civilian officials, and so on.”

By Angelos Anastasiou

THE TROIKA Cyprus mission arrived to Cyprus on Monday in order to carry out its fifth progress review of the island’s adjustment programme.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, at 8 am on Tuesday staff teams comprising representatives from the European Central
Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund, will kick off a series of meetings with ministry officials at the Directorate General for European Programmes.

The mission has been set to meet with Finance Minister Harris Georgiades on Thursday.

At 45 per cent of total loans, or €27.1 billion out of a total €60 billion, non-performing loans (NPLs) pose the single greatest challenge facing Cyprus. According to April data from the Central Bank of Cyprus, NPLs totalled 43 per cent of total loan portfolios in commercial banks and 51.7 per cent at the Co-operative Central Bank.

Against this backdrop, discussions will include the government’s upcoming legal framework on insolvency and property repossession.

The meetings are scheduled to last until July 22, at which point political discussions will commence to finalise the fifth updated memorandum between the mission heads and the finance ministry, scheduled to be concluded by July 25.

Following a banking and fiscal crisis in March 2013, the Eurogroup agreed to a €10 billion bailout loan to Cyprus, which included the winding down of its second largest bank and the conversion of uninsured deposits to equity in the largest lender, necessitating the imposition of restrictions on capital movement to control capital flight. In return, Cyprus agreed to a three-year economic adjustment programme.

After the initial shock and due to strict adherence to the terms of the programme, the economy fared better than expected, drawing positive remarks from the troika after each of the four quarterly progress reports, and allowing the country to borrow €750 million from international bond markets last month after a three-year effective lockout. The move was hailed as the “quickest return to markets by any of the five bailed-out EU countries”.

According to the troika’s progress report last May, the three major challenges facing Cyprus are reducing NPLs, maintaining fiscal viability, and the completion of policy reform.

“Cyprus’ programme remains on track,” the troika had said in an announcement. “Fiscal targets for the first quarter of 2014 were met with a considerable margin, reflecting better than projected revenue performance and prudent budget execution.”

By Angelos Anastasiou

FORMER CyTA chairman Stathis Kittis, one of the accused in the ‘Dromolaxia scandal’, in which a plot of land was bought illegally from its Turkish Cypriot owner and developed using money from the semi-state telecoms company CyTA’s employee pension fund in exchange for kickbacks, testified before the Larnaca Assize court on Monday.

Kittis denied having received kickbacks from Nikos Lillis, who had undertaken developing the plot into the ‘Aero’ office complex. Lillis, the key witness for the prosecution, claimed to have paid Kittis €300,000 in return for his help in approving the investment from the semi-state’s employee pension fund. Kittis said this claim was “baseless, non-existent, unfounded and unfair.”

He also denied having conspired with Lillis and former CyTA board member Charalambos Tsouris, also accused for his role in the scandal, to overprice the project so that more money could be withdrawn from the pension fund and poured into the ‘investment’.

Explaining the origin of a cheque for €90,000, which the prosecution argued was part of the kickbacks he received, Kittis claimed the money represented the partial return of a €100,000 payment made to his law office by Lillis as part of a purchase deal with a company Kittis ran.

“When Lillis withdrew from the deal, €90,000 was returned to him and the rest was kept by the law office as collateral, as agreed,” Kittis claimed.

He also addressed two instances in which he had been handed envelopes by Lillis, saying that both were related to Lillis’ capacity as then-president of Alki football club, and neither instance involved any illegality.

“Nikos Lillis asked me to mediate so that Alki was handed a grant from [CyTA’s pay-TV arm] Cytavision because the club suffered payment delays in its deal with [privately owned subscription-based television channel] LTV,” Kittis claimed.

Kittis said that the first meeting between the two men took place by chance at the Larnaca District court, and Lillis asked him to meet at his office. At the meeting, he said, Lillis handed Kittis a file containing Alki’s financials, which Kittis forwarded to Cytavision’s head.

According to Kittis, the second meeting took place in Nicosia following a fruitless mediation attempt with LTV, and Lillis told Kittis that he had reached agreement with a British team for its youth divisions to train in Alki’s training grounds. In corroboration of his claims, Lillis handed Kittis a jersey bearing the British team’s logo.

Kittis, Tsouris and five others – AKEL official Venizelos Zanettou, director of CyTA’s pay-TV arm, union rep Orestis Vasilliou, CyTA employee Yiannis Souroullas and his brother Gregoris who works at the land registry, and businessman Antonis Ioakim, a shareholder in Lillis’ company Wadnic – are being tried separately by the Larnaca Criminal Court in connection with the case.

By Samihullah Paiwand

A car packed with explosives exploded on Tuesday as it sped through a crowded market in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Paktika, killing at least 89 people, officials said, one of the most violent attacks in the country in a year.

The huge explosion took place not far from the porous border with Pakistan’s North Waziristan region, where the military has been attacking hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban in the past few weeks, prompting militants to retreat towards Afghanistan.

“The number of victims may increase,” said General Zahir Azimi, a defence ministry spokesman.

The attack comes at an uneasy time in Afghanistan as the country recounts votes from a disputed presidential election which the Taliban have vowed to disrupt.

But the Taliban distanced themselves from Tuesday’s attack. The movement’s leader have ordered militants not to target civilians.

“The truth behind this attack will become clear after an investigation, but we clearly announce that it was not done by the Mujahedeen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said in a statement.

“The Mujahedeen do not conduct such attacks and such attacks do not bring any benefit to them.”

A local deputy police chief, Nissar Ahmad Abdulrahimzai, told Reuters that police had been tipped about the car and were chasing it when it exploded.

“The explosion was so big it destroyed many shops. Dozens of people are trapped under the roofs,” Mohammad Raza Kharoti, the district governor, told Reuters.

“The number of wounded will rise to more than 100 and the number of those martyred will also increase.”

In Kabul, a remote control bomb concealed by a roadside killed two employees of President Hamid Karzai’s media office and wounded five, police said. The Taliban claimed responsibility.

The attacks took place as foreign troops are gradually withdrawing from the country. The United Nations said last week civilian casualties jumped by almost a quarter in the first half of this year as hostilities escalate.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Jeffrey Heller

Israel resumed air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday after agreeing to an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire deal that failed to get Hamas militants to halt rocket attacks.

The week-old conflict seemed to be at a turning point, with Hamas defying Arab and Western calls to cease fire and Israel threatening to step up a week-old offensive that could include an invasion of the densely populated enclave of 1.8 million.

Under a blueprint announced by Egypt – Gaza’s neighbour and whose military-backed government has been at odds with Islamist Hamas – a mutual “de-escalation” was to have begun at 9 a.m. (0600 GMT), with hostilities ceasing within 12 hours.

Hamas’ armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, rejected the ceasefire deal, a proposal that addressed in only general terms some of its key demands, and said its battle with Israel would “increase in ferocity and intensity”.

But Moussa Abu Marzouk, a top Hamas political official who was in Cairo, said the movement, which is seeking a deal that would ease Egyptian and Israeli border restrictions throttling Gaza’s economy, had made no final decision on Cairo’s proposal.

The Israeli military said that since the ceasefire deal was to have gone into effect, Hamas had fired 76 rockets at Israel. It said the Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted nine of the projectiles and the rest caused no damage or casualties.

Six hours after implementation of the truce was to have begun, and citing the persistent salvoes, Israel resumed attacks in Gaza. The military said it targeted at least 20 of Hamas’s hidden rocket launchers, tunnels and weapons storage facilities.

A Palestinian civilian was killed in an air strike in Khan Younis, raising the death toll in the Gaza Strip in eight days of fighting to 188, including at least 150 civilians, among them 31 children, according to Gaza medical officials.

There have been no fatalities in Israel, largely due to Iron Dome, but the rocket salvoes have made a rush to shelters a daily routine for hundreds of thousands of people across the country.

The surge in hostilities over the past week was prompted by the murder last month of three Jewish seminary students in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the revenge killing on July 2 of a Palestinian youth in Jerusalem. Israel said on Monday three Jews in police custody had confessed to killing the Palestinian.

KERRY CONDEMNS “BRAZEN” HAMAS ROCKET FIRE

Sirens sounded on Tuesday in areas up to 130 kilometres (80 miles) north of the Gaza Strip. The Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for some of the day’s rocket launchings.

Speaking in Vienna, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry supported Israel: “I cannot condemn strongly enough the actions of Hamas in so brazenly firing rockets, in multiple numbers, in the face of a goodwill effort (to secure) a ceasefire.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose security cabinet voted 6-2 earlier on Tuesday to accept the truce, had cautioned that Israel would respond strongly if rockets continued to fly.

He said he expected the “full support from the responsible members of the international community” for any intensification of Israeli attacks in response to Hamas spurning a truce.

Earlier, Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said that demands the movement has made must be met before it lays down its weapons.

Other Palestinian militant groups – Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine – also said they had not yet agreed to the Egyptian offer.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who reached an agreement with Hamas in April that led to the formation of a unity government last month, called for acceptance of the proposal, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said.

Abbas was due in Cairo on Wednesday for talks with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Palestinian leader’s spokesman said.

The Arab League, at a meeting on Monday, also welcomed the ceasefire plan.

ISRAELI GROUND ASSAULT POSSIBLE

Israel had mobilised tens of thousands of troops for a threatened Gaza invasion if the rocket volleys persisted.

“We still have the possibility of going in, under cabinet authority, and putting an end to (the rockets),” Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli defence official, said.

Under the proposal announced by Egypt’s Foreign Ministry, high-level delegations from Israel and the Palestinian factions would hold separate talks in Cairo within 48 hours to consolidate the ceasefire with “confidence-building measures”.

Hamas leaders have said any deal must include an end to Israel’s blockade of Gaza and a recommitment to a truce reached in an eight-day war there in 2012.

Hamas also wants Egypt to ease curbs at its Rafah crossing with Gaza imposed after the military ousted President Mohamed Mursi, an Islamist, a year ago.

The Egyptian proposal made no mention of Rafah or when restrictions might be eased.

Hamas has faced a cash crisis and Gaza’s economic hardship has deepened as a result of Egypt’s destruction of cross-border smuggling tunnels. Egyptian authorities also accuse Hamas of assisting anti-government Islamist militants in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, an allegation the Palestinian group denies.

Hamas has said it also wants the release of hundreds of its activists arrested in the West Bank while Israel searched for the three missing teenagers.

The proposed truce also made no mention of the detainees.

Adnan Abu Amer, a political analyst in Gaza, said it appeared that Egypt had deliberately ensured that their initiative would fall short of Hamas’s demands, in an attempt bid to make the movement look rejectionist.

“Egypt stood by Israel’s side, as if it was trying to punish Hamas and give Israel some time to pursue its military campaign,” he said.

By Natalia Zinets and Richard Balmforth

Ukraine has made fresh charges of Russian involvement in its conflict with separatist rebels, suggesting Moscow may have had a role in an air strike on Tuesday that killed 11 people.

The accusations come a day before European Union leaders meet to discuss the crisis, where they might consider adopting fresh sanctions against Russia.

“Tomorrow in Brussels, the heads of state and government will again assess the situation on the ground and, should it be required, adopt necessary decisions,” the bloc’s enlargement commissioner Stefan Fuele told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

In other fighting in the three-and-a-half month conflict with separatists in the Russian-speaking east of Ukraine, government forces said they had lost another six soldiers in attacks on their positions near the border with Russia.

In all, since the start of the government’s “anti-terrorist” operations in mid-April, a total of 258 Ukrainian servicemen have been killed, 922 injured and 45 are captive, military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said. Hundreds of civilians and rebels have also died.

Pushing hard for the EU – Ukraine’s new strategic partner – to take tougher measures against Russia at its Brussels summit on Wednesday, Kiev pointed to the downing of an An-26 military transport plane on Monday and Tuesday’s air strike on the Ukraine town of Snizhne.

The town’s health authorities said 11 people were killed and eight others injured, including a child, in the attack, which hit a residential area of Snizhne, 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the border with Russia, destroying 12 apartments.

A separatist leader was quoted by Russia’s Interfax news as saying the attack had been the work of a Ukrainian warplane.

But military officials and the foreign ministry said no Ukrainian fighter planes had taken off since Monday because a search and rescue operation was underway in the area for survivors of the downed An-26.

“Today at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) an unknown plane carried out a bombing attack on Snizhne. The flight can be described only as a cynical provocation,” Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s National Defence and Security Council, told reporters.

His remarks appeared to be an accusation against Russia, since the rebels have not used aircraft in the conflict.

Kiev’s fresh charges follow its accusation on Tuesday that the rocket that downed the An-26 may have been fired from Russian territory.

TOUGHER SANCTIONS CALL

Foreign ministry spokesman Vasyl Zvarich, also suggesting Russian involvement in the Snizhne attack, said Ukraine hoped the EU’s threats to move to a tougher level of sanctions against Russia were not simply “declaratory”.

The EU last Saturday targeted Ukrainian separatist leaders with travel bans and asset freezes on Saturday, avoiding fresh sanctions on Russian business to avoid antagonising Moscow, its main energy supplier.

Saying Ukraine had proof of Russian participation in the activities of the rebel fighters, Zvarich said: “We hope that a resolution will be taken which will give an objective evaluation of Russia’s actions in Ukraine’s eastern regions and will also condemn Russia’s support for terrorist and separatist groups.”

Fighting over the past four months between forces of the pro-Western Kiev government and separatists who want union with Moscow has intensified since last Friday, with Ukraine and Russia blaming each other for cross-border attacks.

Russia has accused Ukrainian forces of firing a shell that hit a house inside Russian territory last Sunday, killing a Russian man and injuring a woman. Kiev has denied its forces were involved.

Vladyslav Seleznyov, spokesman for what the government calls its “anti-terrorist operation”, said four crew members who had survived the downing of the An-26 had been found, while two others had been captured by rebels. The fate of the remaining two people on board was not known.

Military sources said two of the six servicemen killed in the past 24 hours had been killed by high-powered Grad missiles.

In the rebel-controlled town of Luhansk, also the scene of fierce combat since last Friday, 17 civilians have been killed and 73 others wounded from shrapnel and gunfire in the past three days, the town’s municipality said, declaring three days of mourning.

‘CONTACT GROUP’

Violence erupted in Ukraine’s Russian-speaking east following a pro-Europe revolt in Kiev that ousted a Moscow-backed president in February and led to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who has led the way in pressing the EU to take a harder line with Moscow, said on Monday that Russian military officers were now fighting alongside separatists and heavy military equipment was pouring across the border from Russia.

Poroshenko, elected in late May, refused on June 30 to extend a 10-day unilateral ceasefire which he said had been breached repeatedly by the separatists. He renewed the government’s military campaign to break rebel resistance.

The separatists, who have set up ‘people’s republics’, have been pushed back into the main eastern city of Donetsk, though they also remain in control of the border city of Luhansk.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in a new peace effort, said a diplomatic contact group might talk to separatists by video conference on Tuesday and meet them in person soon afterwards.

He said all parties were making a “strong effort” for the group – which includes Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe – to hold the video conference and agree a venue for a direct meeting with the rebels.

Moscow has invited foreign military attachés to visit the Russian town hit by fatal shelling on Sunday, an event for which it threatened “irreversible consequences”. Ukraine denied that its armed forces were responsible for the incident.

The Bank of Cyprus on Tuesday published the structure of its capital increase, as currently seen by the bank.

An extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders is expected to take place in August, to approve the capital increase.

The transaction structure currently being examined by the bank would allow existing shareholders to participate in three ways.

The first phase of the capital increase is currently underway and is expected to end in late July and involves a private placement to certain institutional investors in the European Union who are “qualified investors,” and similarly qualified institutional investors in other jurisdictions.

Existing shareholders that meet the requirements of a qualified investor in their jurisdiction may participate at the same time and in the same way as the new investors currently being approached by the bank and its advisors.

Following the solicitation of investor interest in the first phase, the board will meet to consider the bids received from investors, whether to proceed with the capital increase and, if so, the price per share and the allocation among investors.

At the end of the first phase, participating investors (including eligible existing shareholders who wish to participate) will enter into firm commitments in respect of their orders and the bank will call an EGM, expected to take place in August, to approve the transaction.

In the second phase of the transaction existing shareholders will be able to apply to purchase up to 20 per cent of the total number of shares offered to qualified investors in the first phase and at the same price as in phase one (the “clawback”).

The minimum purchase per investor in the clawback will be €100,000 and all existing shareholders will be eligible to participate.

Shares in the clawback will be allocated among participating shareholders pro rata based on their holdings at the time of allocation, excluding any shares acquired in phase one (further details will be provided at the start of the clawback period).

Following the approval and publication of a prospectus, the bank will make available a further €100 million of newly issued shares for subscription by all other existing shareholders prior to any relisting of the shares on the Cyprus Stock Exchange and the Athens Exchange.

The subscription price for the shares will be the same at all phases and for both new investors and existing shareholders.

Defence Minister Christophoros Fokaides has ordered military authorities to step up food inspections in all training centres after finding mouldy bread and false production dates on a bakery product.

The defence ministry said it will fine the supplier and will also look into terminating the contract.

The offending products were found at the Paphos centre, which is currently hosting hundreds of new recruits.

The minister immediately ordered a thorough inspection of all bakery products and asked the state’s health authorities to carry out checks at the company’s facilities.

The minister has ordered checks to be intensified in all training centres with special attention to perishable products like bread.

An investigation will also be carried out into the specific incident in Paphos. Due to this, the minister ordered the replacement of all officers involved.

The ministry warned that it will be particularly strict on catering matters and all involved in the supply chain will be held accountable when problems arise.

Limassol municipality has decided to turn the poles installed on pavements to prevent parking into works of art and is asking people to come up with ideas by the end of the month.
The municipality invited those interested in taking part to send a visual or brief written description of their proposal – painting or graffiti – as well as the material they planned to use and the cost per 10 poles.
No fee will be paid, the municipality said.

US Senator Robert Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and US Representative Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, have written to US President Barack Obama urging the US Administration to increase attention to the goal of reunifying Cyprus.
In the letter, they said that “reunification would allow Cyprus to fully realise its potential as a stable democracy and a regional leader anchored in the western security architecture that is capable of bolstering European energy security.”
“Forty years after the violent conflict that divided Cyprus, we urge you to increase the United States’ attention to the longstanding goal of reunifying the island and restoring the human rights and basic freedoms of all its citizens,” they noted.
Menendez and Royce said that “an EU Member, Cyprus has proven itself to be a reliable partner to the United States, including in counterterrorism and nonproliferation efforts.
“As reunification can only come from sincere negotiations between the island’s communities, we believe that the United States has a critical role to play in supporting the negotiating process that resumed earlier this year,” they noted.
“In our roles in Congress we will work to support efforts to reach a solution that will restore peace on the island,” they pledged, urging President Obama “to likewise enhance US support for the reunification efforts and look forward to working with you to end these 40 long years of unjust and undeserved division.”

FACTS are what make history and cannot be forged, president Nicos Anastasiades said on Tuesday, responding to accusations from opposition party AKEL’s general secretary Andros Kyprianou.
Kyprianou had accused the government and Anastasiades of a systematic attempt to “forge history and whitewash the US involvement in planning the July 15 coup.”
Kyprianou was referring to Makarios Drousiotis, a journalist and researcher who recently published a book called The Invasion and the Big Powers. Drousiotis’ book challenges a long-held belief among Cypriots that the coup was US backed and that the Soviet Union’s – and later Russia’s – support is no more than a myth.
Once Anastasiades took office, he hired Drousiotis to the presidential palace press office.
“Facts cannot be changed either by leaders or writers. Facts are what made history and facts cannot be changed,” said Anastasiades.
The president was talking to the press following a memorial service for those who died in the July 15, 1974 coup. “The day is dedicated to those that gave their life to protect democracy and freedom,” said Anastasiades, adding that he hopes that events like that don’t take place ever again.

By Constantinos Psillides
MEMBERS of the government and other officials honoured the memory of those who perished during the July 15 coup in 1974 by attending the annual memorial service of the fallen at the Ayios Constantinos and Ayia Eleni cemetery in Nicosia on Tuesday.
The date marks the 40th anniversary of the coup, which led to the Turkish invasion of July 20, 1974.
“Being fully aware of the dangerous status quo, we have to work together to ensure the future of Greek Cypriots in the lands of our fathers and make those historic decisions needed. To that end, our faith to our just cause must be steeled and at the same time we must preserve our national identity, our Greek language and education, our traditions and our culture,” said Education minister Kostas Kadis, who gave a speech at the memorial on behalf of the government.
Kadis pointed out that Cypriots need to reconcile with their past and recognise mistakes and realise that hatred and animosity lead to failure. “Leadership and the people should walk together, hand in hand, with respect to history and the preservation of historical memory.”
The memorial service was attended by president Nicos Anastasiades, president of the House Yiannakis Omirou and other state officials.
Kadis’ speech caused some controversy, due to using the term “civil strife” to describe the events of July 15.
Main opposition party AKEL’s youth branch EDON issued a statement criticising the minister, accusing him of attempting to forge historical facts.
“Are we to think that those who took up arms against the state had the same to do with destroying Cyprus as those who tried to defend it?” asks EDON.
The AKEL youth branch also criticised the government for attending the memorial service of the 22 commandos that were killed during an assault on the presidential palace on the day of the coup.

By Constantinos Psillides
Political parties attended an extraordinary session of the House of Representatives on Tuesday to denounce the July 15, 1974 military coup, with most party leaders focusing on condemning Turkey and criticising President Anastasiades for his handling of the Cyprus problem.
The coup, by members of the Greek junta led a few days later to the invasion of the island by Turkish troops, on July 20 1974.
Ruling DISY leader Averof Neofytou called for national unity, adding that we all need to “build bridges of understanding amongst us”.
Averof pointed out that the key for solving the Cyprus problem lies in Ankara and that Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots cannot solve it themselves.
“President Anastasiades started a new attempt to reach a proper and viable compromise which will ensure that the solution of the Cyprus problem is based on international law, on EU principles and UN resolutions. A solution that secures the legal rights of all Cypriots,” Averof said, adding that bickering between parties hurts that cause.
“Turkey is called upon to prove to the international community that is really ready for a solution; with actions, not just promises. It is there that we must focus our energy and attention,” he added.
The DISY leader chastised those who – according to him – are focusing on dividing the people. “We have no right to sell out our country. We have no right to slip into complacency and focus on everyday life. We should not settle with stagnation. And above all, we have no right to divide our people. We have paid dearly for civil strife in the past. No interest and no expediency can be placed higher than the titanic effort to create a better Cyprus.”
Main opposition party AKEL’s general secretary Andros Kyprianou criticised the president for his handling of the Cyprus problem, urging Anastasiades to wonder whether “the road he has chosen is the right one.”
“Turkish Cypriot community leader Dervis Eroglu insists on his unacceptable positions and unfortunately the president not only failed to expose him but actually made it easier for him. Not because he has followed the bankrupt – as he used to call it – strategy former president Christofias did but because he has abandoned it. He adopted the strategy of those who argued that the negotiation must start anew. We are already counting losses, chief of which is the very real possibility of hitting a dead-end,” said Kyprianou, adding that his party favours confidence building measures but making clear that they shouldn’t replace the solution.
AKEL also accused Anastasiades of insincerity, claiming that a year ago he said he would extend an open arm to the left, “and instead exhibited arrogance and authoritarianism.”
House President Yiannakis Omirou – also the leader of EDEK – has called for the adoption and implementation of a common national strategy on the question of Cyprus, saying that this would enable the political leadership to expose and report Turkey’s real intentions.
“Turkey’s proposals on a political settlement and its approach provide for a two state solution to the problem. Those views and positions, he pointed out, violate international law, UN decisions and resolutions and the UN charter. The Turkish side insists on those positions during the ongoing negotiation process as well, stressing at the same time that Turkey continues its provocative moves as regards Cyprus’ sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone,” said Omirou.
The House President stressed that those interested in security and stability in the region should call on Turkey to comply with international law. In particular, the EU should make it absolutely clear to Turkey that if it continues to refuse to fulfil its EU obligations regarding Cyprus; its EU accession course will be terminated for good.
DIKO leader Nicolas Papadopoulos asked the president to admit that his strategy has failed, adding that this is not the time or the place for blame games.
“What we in DIKO are saying is that we need to change our strategy on the Cyprus problem, considering that the one followed over the last months and during the Christofias administration has failed.”
Papadopoulos further argued that the body and the state have an obligation to work to overthrow the status quo, recognising that any coming solution would be a “bitter and painful compromise.”
“What we don’t accept is a solution that will establish partition, while legalising occupation and the settlers, that will abolish the Cyprus republic and turn the island into a protectorate of Turkey.”

By Johan Ahlander

A Swedish court upheld on Wednesday an arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange who has spent two years at Ecuador’s London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden over allegations of sexual assault.

Swedish prosecutors want to question Assange over the allegations made by two female former WikiLeaks volunteers. Assange denies the allegations and has been fighting a legal battle against extradition since his arrest in Britain in Dec. 2010.

Assange says he fears Sweden could in turn extradite him to the United States to be tried for one of the largest leaks of classified information in U.S. history.

“All in all, the district court makes the assessment that the reasons for the arrest warrant offset the infringement and adverse effects the measure entails for Julian Assange,” District court judge Lena Egelin said.

“He should therefore continue to be wanted for arrest in his absence.”

Assange’s lawyers have argued the arrest warrant should be repealed because it cannot be enforced while Assange is in the embassy and the Swedish prosecutor had not considered the possibility of interrogating him in London.

Thomas Olsson, one of Assange’s Swedish lawyers, said he would appeal the verdict.

Ecuador, which has granted Assange political asylum, wants London to assure him safe passage to Quito. But Britain has surrounded the Ecuadorian embassy with police officers round the clock ready to detain him if he leaves it.

British police say they have spent 6 million pounds ($10.28 million) from June 2012 until March this year on policing costs at the Ecuadorian embassy.

In an interview with Reuters last year, Assange said he would not leave the sanctuary of the embassy in London even if Sweden stops pursuing sexual assault claims against him because he feared arrest on the order of the United States.

By Constantinos Psillides

The government has officially put Cyprus Airways (CY) up for sale with advertisements in the local press on Wednesday inviting investors to submit expressions of interest to buy the shares or any of the company’s assets.

“We welcome the government’s decision. The company’s viability has been secured up to 2015 and we now move on with a transparent process to invite interest from potential investors,” said CY chairman Tony Antoniou, who explained that the government owns 93,67 per cent of the airline’s shares, with the rest owned by private shareholders.

“This way the government proves to the EU and the taxpayer that they are willing to keep CY alive. To keep a national air carrier that will be handed over to an investor but still have Cyprus as its base of operations,” said Antoniou, explaining that the government set as a term for investors that the company keeps flying from Cyprus.

The ads stressed that the expression of interest related to the submission of a non-binding intention to investigate the possibility of submitting a binding offer.

Antoniou said after a meeting with Troika officials, that the government distinguishes between selling-off the company’s assets and its shares, admitting that there aren’t many assets left to sell. He explained that what CY is selling, essentially, is the company’s goodwill, its experienced personnel and a network operating to major European destinations.

“Not many assets left” is actually an understatement. The only asset CY has left to sell is a 23-year old aircraft – an Airbus 320 – that is not active and can only be used as a back-up. Every other asset has been sold off. The airline rents an office building in Nicosia from the Church to house its headquarters and call centre, while the building housing the Larnaca offices belongs to Hermes Airport Ltd.

CY gradually sold all of its other assets, including three timeslots at London’s Heathrow airport – the first was sold three years ago for €22m, the second in March for €6.3m to Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines and the third only last month to American Airlines for €22.9m – as well as head offices in Nicosia and Athens.

The money raised from the timeslots sale will be used to compensate employees in the event the company closes down or to fund a restructuring plan, according to Antoniou.

CY also has to deal with a more immediate threat to its viability, since the company might go under if ordered by the European Commission to pay back €103.3m received in state aid since 2012.

The Commission is now looking into whether the state violated EU competition laws and is expected to reach a decision by October.

Antoniou said that the EU’s executive body should take more time, adding that it would be inappropriate for them to take a decision “at a point where CY faces positive developments.”

Finance minister Harris Georgiades told the members of the House Finance committee on July 5 that a negative decision by the European Commission is a real possibility.

The Finance minister wasn’t optimistic on CY attracting a strategic investor, having told MPs that “nobody would be interested in a company on the verge of bankruptcy.”

The government’s initiative, though, found an ally in the most of unlikely of places, as the powerful pilots’ union (PASYPI) welcomed the sale of company shares to new investors.

PASYPI has regularly clashed with the CY board on every decision, reaching the point where the pilots sued the board protesting a cost-cutting decision to slash the employer’s contribution to their provident fund from 8.0 to 1.0 per cent for 15 months.

PASYPI was also highly critical of the decision to sell the Heathrow time slots, so to come out in favour of a decision made by the company was unexpected.

“This is a step in the right direction. It is our wish also that a strategic investor steps in and takes over the company. We want someone with proper managing skills to take the reins of CY,” PASYPI president Petros Souppouris told the Cyprus Mail, adding that he remains cautiously optimistic about CY’s future.

Souppouris also said that more than half the pilots have left the company over the last 18 months, including the head of Flight Operations.

“My colleagues left in search of better working conditions and higher salaries. There were 135 of us a year and a half ago and now only 65 are left,” he said, pointing out that other airlines – including Air Arabia, Korean Air and Qatar Airways – visited the island over the past year in search of experienced pilots.

Asked about PASYPI’s about-turn to support the CY board’s decisions, since they have been so critical in the past, Souppouris said that they differentiate between the government and the board.

“We welcomed this decision because it’s a decision made by the government. It’s a decision made by the ministers of Communications and Finance, who have been tackling this issue admirably. They forced the board into signing-off on selling the company’s shares and also requested that experts join the board and take over operations on a short-term basis. We still strongly disagree with the way the board is running CY, but we welcome the ministers’ involvement,” explained the head of PASYPI.

Asked by reporters what will happen to CY employees should a strategic investor step in, Antoniou said that the board has proven time and time again that it respects its employees and will do its best to secure their future.

“If it is something that is often hurled at us is that we maintain more employees than necessary. We do so because we realise that people need to keep their jobs. Despite the company’s dire financial situation, we haven’t touched the collective agreements and we are working towards keeping as many jobs as possible,” said Antoniou.

The head of the CY board noted that in the event that a strategic investor is found, the company will probably grow and more jobs will be created.

Those interested can obtain information on the shares and the assets by sending an email with the subject “EoI for Cyprus Airways” to canayiotos@kpmg.com or demetrioug@kpmg.com

The deadline for the submission is July 23.

TWO high ranking British bases officials were released on Wednesday after being held and questioned earlier in the day for an alleged case of phone tapping, state broadcaster CyBC said.

They were stopped outside the gate on their way out of the National Guard headquarters (GEEF) in Nicosia, the report said.

The two suspects claimed they were invited by a high ranking army officer because he had suspected that his office was being tapped.

A tapping monitoring device was found in their car and their claims are being investigated by the police.

The government was notified of the incident.

Police did not confirm the information.