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Arson on tow truck in Paphos

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A TOW truck, which was parked outside the owner’s house in Kissonerga, was damaged by arson late on Thursday night.

The fire, which damaged the right side of the truck, was put out by its owner, before the arrival of the fire department.

Police received a report that a man holding a tank with diesel fuel was seen approaching the truck and setting it alight.

Evidence was collected from the scene in order to locate the perpetrator.

Peyia police station is investigating the case.

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Park meter thief behind bars

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A 49-year-old municipal worker found guilty of stealing the proceeds from parking meters in Paphos was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday.

The man faced 186 charges, including abuse of authority. The Paphos criminal court had found him guilty on Wednesday.

The municipality filed a complaint to police two years ago after noticing that the proceeds from the parking meters had recorded a marked drop.

Police were then led to the defendant whose duty was to collect the coins from the meters.

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BoC shareholders urged to use fix term deposits to buy stock

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BoC shareholders

By Staff Reporter

CURRENT Bank of Cyprus shareholders can use their fix term deposits to buy shares of the bank as part of the share capital increase programme underway, the lender said.

Following an amendment on July 31 of last year’s bail-in order, shareholders may terminate a fixed term deposit created by virtue of the decree, prior to its maturity and use the funds to buy shares in the bank as part of the three-tier capital increase announced on July 30, the bank said.

At the end of July, the bank announced a successful private placement of 4.17bn new ordinary shares at 24c each in order to raise €1bn from local and foreign funds. US-based investor William Ross heads a group that have pledged €400m, while the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is pumping in a further €120m.

The lender said that it will now proceed with phase 2 of the capital raising, consisting of an open offer to existing shareholders allowing them to subscribe until August 21 for up to 20% in aggregate of the total number of shares offered to qualified investors in the first phase and at the same price as the placing price with the right to bid for a minimum €100,000.

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Bikers remember Isaak and Solomou

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By Angelos Anastasiou

A MOTORCYLE procession along the green line got underway on Friday organised by the Isaak-Solomou Memorial Initiative, in honour of Tasos Isaak and Solomos Solomou who were killed by Turkish occupying forces in the Dherynia buffer zone in August 1996.

Around 50 bikers, under the slogan “motorcyclists don’t forget,” started the ride at 8 am on Friday at the Georgios Grivas memorial in Chloraka, Paphos.

Xenios Kasinides, spokesman for the group, told the Cyprus News Agency that just like every year the ride aims to “remind the messages sent by the sacrifice of the two heroes, Tasos Isaak and Solomos Solomou. The messages of patriotism, altruism and ideology that each of us must have, to finally shake off the occupying army from our land.”

He said that the motorcycle ride was making its way through Polis Chrysochous, Pachyammos and Pomos and symbolically blocked the passage from the Limnitis checkpoint.

From Mammari, where the motorcyclists camped for the night, they will ride to Nicosia on Saturday.

Upon arrival, they will lay a wreath at the Makedonitissa military cemetery and war memorial from where they will visit the graves of executed EOKA fighters at the Central Prisons and the statue of liberty near the Archbishopric.

They will also visit the Modestos Pantelis memorial in Avgorou.

Before reaching Dherynia, where the ride will be concluded, the motorcyclists will symbolically block the Ayios Dometios, Ledra Palace and Ledra street checkpoints.

Kasinides said that on Sunday, motorcyclists from all town will ride to the Paralimni cemetery, where a memorial service will be held for Isaak and Solomou.

The procession will conclude in Dherynia where the annual event in memory of the two murdered youths will be held.

Before starting the ride, the bikers said that their aim in 2016 is to start the ride from Berlin.

That will mark 20 years since the ride that ended in tragedy at the buffer zone in Dherynia.

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Turkish Cypriots mark Kokkina ‘victory’, as survivors recall bombings

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Police escort for Turkish Cypriot buses

By Stefanos Evripidou

OVER 2,100 Turkish Cypriots crossed the Limnitis checkpoint on Friday in the northwest of the island to attend a ceremony marking the battle of Tylliria over the small enclave of Kokkina 50 years ago.

Head of the committee responsible for the opening of checkpoints, Andreas Karos, said everything went smoothly, as the Turkish Cypriots were transported in 116 buses.

The buses were escorted throughout the route from Kato Pyrgos to Mansoura by Cyprus Republic police cars and UN vehicles based in the region.

According to state broadcaster CyBC, two Turkish warships participated in the ceremony at Kokkina, a Turkish military outpost enveloped by the government-controlled areas, along with a minesweeper, four sailboats, two coastguard vessels and three navy dinghies. The vessels departed from the occupied Kyrenia harbour to reach the enclave.

Turkish Cypriot officials, including former leader Mehmet Ali Talat, arrived by helicopter while the rest travelled via bus across the checkpoint.

Standing in for Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu who is currently abroad, the breakaway regime’s ‘house speaker’ Sibel Siber addressed the controversial event, speaking of the need for peace in the world.

According to reports, Siber said world peace needed leaders with values.

“In Cyprus, we experienced war. We do not want war either in Cyprus or elsewhere” she said, adding, “today, international organisations were unable to stop the bloodshed among civilians.”

The community leader of Kato Pyrgos Costas Michaelides condemned the formal celebrations in Kokkina, describing them as a “disgrace”.

“The memories are alive because the victims, those who survived, are here. The crosses (on the graves) are here. However many years pass, 50 or 150, we will see this in our daily lives, because they remind us of this cowardly attack against the unarmed people of Tylliria,” he said.

Greens MP Giorgos Perdikis, who visited the area, described the Kokkina event as a “celebration of hate” and called for a new checkpoint to be opened in Kokkina, which would allow local residents to cross through without having to take a lengthy detour.

Following the inter-communal violence which erupted in December 1963, Turkish Cypriots established a bridgehead at Kokkina in 1964, providing them with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey.

Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government called on EOKA leader George Grivas to return from Greece and launch an attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions.

For three days in August, Turkish warplanes bombed the Tylliria area with napalm, hitting residential areas and a hospital. Over 50 people were killed, including 19 civilians.

The threat of a Turkish military escalation and a resolution of the United Nations Security Council calling for a ceasefire ended the standoff on August 10, 1964.

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Road death

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An 82-year-old woman died on Friday morning after she was hit by a car while crossing the road in Nicosia.

Maria Christophi was crossing Ifigenias Street at 7.20am when she was hit by a car driven by a 35-year-old woman.

She was rushed to hospital where she died at around 8am.

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Imperious McIlroy moves one ahead at PGA Championship

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The Northern Irishman, the pre-tournament favourite heading into the year's final major, is chasing a third consecutive victory on the PGA Tour

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

Rory McIlroy, helped by composed shot-making and a stunning eagle on his ninth hole of the day, soared one stroke clear in the weather-hit second round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club.

The Open champion, in pursuit of a third consecutive victory on the PGA Tour, fired a four-under-par 67 on a wet, ultra-long Valhalla layout where play was suspended for 45 minutes earlier in the round due to water-logged conditions.
McIlroy, the pre-tournament favourite heading into the year’s final major, holed an uphill 30-foot putt from just off the green to eagle the par-five 18th and also recorded four birdies and two bogeys to post a nine-under total of 133.

Four-time winner Tiger Woods, however, ended a miserable week prematurely when he missed the cut at a major for only the fourth time as a professional, looking tournament rusty in both rounds as he carded successive 74s.

McIlroy squandered a golden opportunity to add another eagle at the par-five seventh, where he hit a brilliant second shot from 243 yards to eight feet before missing the putt, but signed off with a birdie at the ninth where he drained a 16-footer.
“I played well for the most part,” world number one McIlroy told reporters after moving a step closer to winning the fourth major title of his career. “Scored really well. Some key up-and-downs to keep the momentum going in the round.

“I’m very pleased. I’m in a great position going into the weekend in another major championship. Can’t ask for much more. I’m confident, and I’m just on a good run.
“You’ve seen before when I got on good runs like this, I can sort of keep it going for a little while,” said the Northern Irishman, who won last month’s Open before clinching the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational last Sunday in his next start.

McIlroy ended his round one ahead of Australian Jason Day, who fired a best-of-the-day 65, and veteran American Jim Furyk (68). Americans Rickie Fowler (66) and Ryan Palmer (70), and Finland’s Mikko Ilonen (68) were a further stroke back.
Five-time major winner Phil Mickelson (67) was next best on a high-quality leaderboard, level at six under with Austrian Bernd Wiesberger (68).

England’s former world number one Lee Westwood (72), fourth-ranked Swede Henrik Stenson (71) and American Steve Stricker (68) were among a group of seven players knotted at five under.

McIlroy, however, commanded the spotlight as he lived up to his pre-tournament billing with another consummate display in the more difficult playing conditions of the morning.
Initially struggling for accuracy off the tee, he dropped a shot at the par-four 12th where he found a bunker with his approach, but swiftly responded by sinking a 12-footer at the 13th and a 16-footer at the 15th to get to six under.
Though the 25-year-old Northern Irishman squandered another birdie chance at the 16th, where he missed an eight-foot putt, he reached the turn in sizzling style with his eagle on 18.

McIlroy dropped another shot at the par-four second, where his tee shot ended up in the rough and his second in a bunker, but maintained his grip on the tournament with two birdies in his last three holes.

Day, among the late starters on Friday, surged into contention for his first major title with birdies on his last two holes, having earlier eagled the par-five seventh.
“I think we got a little lucky on the draw, teeing off in the afternoon,” said the 26-year-old from Queensland. “We didn’t get as much rain. I played great.

“A little disappointed that I had one bogey on the back nine but I came home strong with birdies on 17 and 18.”
The cut fell at one-over par, leaving Woods well out of the picture after he finished at six over.
Tournament rusty after having surgery in late March to treat a pinched nerve in his back, Woods struggled to an opening 74 on Thursday and he tumbled further backwards by dropping four shots in his first seven holes on Friday.

Also missing the cut were US Open champion Martin Kaymer of Germany and triple major winner Padraig Harrington of Ireland.

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Caught growing cannabis

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A BRITISH national, 69, living in Paphos has been arrested in connection with four cannabis plants found in his yard, police said.

The plants, measuring between 75 centimetres and 96 centimetres, were removed by drug squad officers who arrested the man.

The suspect claimed he was cultivating the plants for personal use.

 

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Limassol doctor guilty of negligence

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By George Psyllides

THE LIMASSOL district court has found a private doctor guilty of medical negligence, awarding the patient €40,000 in damages.

The case concerned an operation in November 1998 on one of the four major ligaments of the knee, the posterior cruciate, on Markos Paraskevas who was 40-years-old at the time

Through his lawyer Menelaos Kyprianou, the plaintiff argued that during the operation doctor Markos Markaris injured his tibial nerve causing him permanent paralysis at the sole of his right foot.

The lawsuit was filed in 2001.

The court ruled in Paraskevas’ favour after hearing expert testimony from a local orthopaedic surgeon and other medical experts.

The judge also found that Markaris had failed to inform the plaintiff of the risks of the operation.

“Medical paternalism no longer rules in modern law, and a patient has a prima facie right to be informed by a surgeon of a small but well established risk of serious injury as a result of the surgery,” the court said.

Citing the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the human Being with regard to the application of biology and medicine, the court said an intervention in the health field may only be carried out after the person concerned has given free and informed consent to it.

“This person shall be given the necessary information beforehand as to the purpose and nature of the intervention as well as on its consequences and risks. The person concerned may freely withdraw consent at any time,” the court said.

The defendant denied the claims, arguing that the problem had been caused by traffic accidents the plaintiff had been involved in and other surgical procedures.

Markaris said the patient’s post-op progress had been very good and in January 1999 he started walking and had full mobility of his knee and leg.

The doctor said he had recommended physiotherapy, which the patient did not do.

Paraskevas’ lawyer had countered that if the previous accidents were the cause of the problem then Markaris should not have operated and should have also informed him of the pre-existing damage.

This was the second case this month where a court awarded damages for medical negligence.

A Larnaca court recently awarded a man €100,000 in damages over the treatment of his mother by the town’s state hospital, which caused her to undergo avoidable leg amputation in 2004.

According to the ruling, Larnaca general hospital doctors treated the woman’s stroke but were too late to diagnose a leg embolism, despite obvious external markers – her leg had already gone black – and the son alerting the doctors of the issue when the woman was admitted.

But negligence in this case was exhibited not only by doctors, the judge said. In the ruling, he argued that Larnaca General nursing staff also failed to act with due care as the woman developed sores due to insufficient turning and positioning – recommended treatment for immobile patients.

Nurses were also said to have decided that the woman should have been fed orally while comatose, instead of employing the designated nasogastric intubation procedure, which caused her to develop pneumonia as a result of food particles entering the patient’s lungs.

 

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Arrested for property fraud

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A SCOTTISH man was arrested at Larnaca airport on Friday in connection with 12 cases of fraud and theft allegedly committed between 2009 and 2010.

Police believe the suspect managed to obtain between €35,000 and €40,000.

The man, 34, who worked as an estate agent in Paphos, is suspected of pocketing the rent money from homes and shops he managed, instead of giving it to the owners.

It is also claimed that he asked owners for money to repair the properties or buy furniture.

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Pellegrini: It’s not a friendly match

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Manuel Pellegrini's champions take on Arsene Wenger's FA Cup winners in the Community Shield at Wembley

PREMIER League champions Manchester City will be without eight players for Sunday’s Community Shield clash with Arsenal at Wembley (5pm), the traditional curtain-raiser to the English season.

Speaking at a news conference, manager Manuel Pellegrini said captain Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta, Fernandinho, Sergio Aguero, Martin Demichelis, Frank Lampard and Bacary Sagna had only returned to training this week after being given extended time off after the World Cup.
Spanish striker Alvaro Negredo had already been ruled out with a broken foot.

“Frank Lampard is not ready to play,” Chilean Pellegrini said.
“All the players that arrive this Monday, Demichelis, Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta, Sagna, Fernandinho, Lampard and Aguero, they have a special pre-season this week and next week.
“Negredo has at least two or three months that he won’t play. He is coming to Carrington again and he is working on different things.”

Pellegrini said beating last season’s FA Cup winners Arsenal was important for setting the right tone for the defence of their league title.

City suffered surprise defeats to Cardiff City and Aston Villa early on last season, and while they eventually fought their way to the Premier League summit, Pellegrini was keen to avoid a similarly slow start.

“It’s not a friendly match,” he added. “It is an important game against an important team in Arsenal.
“Maybe both teams, Arsenal and our team, do not arrive in our best moment because both have a lot of players who have just arrived from the World Cup but I think it will be a very good game and important for both teams to win it.
“We have to start from zero, we won the title last year but now plenty of teams have the same option.”

As for Arsenal, summer signing Alexis Sanchez is set to make his competitive debut.
Sanchez could be one of three debutants for the Gunners at Wembley, with Mathieu Debuchy and Calum Chambers also available. New goalkeeper David Ospina is a doubt with a thigh problem.

Per Mertesacker, Mesut Ozil and Lukas Podolski are not available. The trio do not return to training until Monday after being given extra rest following their World Cup triumph with Germany last month.

Midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain believes Arsenal are still benefiting from the feel-good factor of winning the FA Cup and thinks the triumph could spur the team on to more success this season.

The Gunners ended a nine-year wait for silverware when they beat Hull at Wembley in May – a victory that eased the disappointment of another underwhelming league finish.

Arsenal spent more than 100 days at the top of the Barclays Premier League last season but had to settle for fourth, seven points behind City.

“When there’s a lot of talk about a team that should or could be winning things and it’s not happening it can become a little bit frustrating,” Oxlade-Chamberlain said.

“There’s been a little bit of negative media about Arsenal in recent years but we always believed we would win a trophy soon and the squad we’re putting together could do it.
“The fact it did happen, I don’t know if it was a relief, it was a really nice reward for the togetherness we’ve had to show for a while now.

“It does start a winning momentum and once you know you can win, it gives you confidence – you can go into competitions thinking you can win and expecting to go far.”

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Spare Ribs looking for spare actors for meaty comic roles

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Kathleen Ruddy, looking for actors

By Nan Mackenzie

EDINBURGH Festival award-winning, Paphos-based writer, actor and director Kathleen Ruddy is planning a new production and is calling on home-grown comedy actors to act in her new play Spare Ribs this October.

Fans of Ruddy’s work will fondly remember her classic take on a Cypriot psychotic mother called Athenoulla in her 2012 play The Devil wears Primark, and her Edinburgh Festival award-winning creation titled Sex Chips and Ouzo which has now been elevated to the  screenplay stage.

Her new production, Spare Ribs, is set in an Irish butchers shop, just after the ‘Horse gate scandal’. And it’s here we meet pensioners Rita and Nancy whose shop is slowly but surely going belly up. Rita is still reeling from her husband running off with the bacon slicer and the only copy of Rita’s prize winning sausage recipe. Revenge is on the cards as both women, along with pregnant teenager Maggie, decide to put the only female-run butchers shop on the prime cuts map by reclaiming the Best Sausage trophy.

Unfortunately Rita has been steadily drowning her sorrows in a variety of alcoholic beverages and cannot remember the exact ingredients that went into making her prize bangers. Fate steps in after they decide to advertise their butchery services in the local newspaper, only for the paper to misprint a certain line. This then sets the women off onto a different but certainly complimentary niche business which offers the now classic storyline recipe of love, sex and sausages.

In 2013 audiences enjoyed Ruddy’s production of Death of a Playboy and were introduced to the combined talents of funny men Mark Mc Donnell and John Ritchie. Ruddy is now on the lookout for more comedy actors to play in Spare Ribs. Ruddy is also seeking a production assistant. Commercial sponsorship would also be welcomed, as would an old sausage making machine!

 

Contact Kathleen Ruddy 99 069074 rubber.ear@live.com

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Possible Larnaca role in Gaza sea route

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Airstrikes on Gaza

A EUROPEAN source has told Palestinian media outlets that Europe was willing to establish a sea route between the Gaza Strip and Larnaca meant for both people and merchandise, an Israeli news outlet reported on Saturday.

Quoting Palestinian media, Ynetnews said that, according to the initiative, European observers would be present both in Gaza and Larnaca in order to prevent security violations.

The source noted that Europe was interested in finding a comprehensive, permanent solution in order to save from having to rehabilitate the Strip every few years.

“We want to find a solution to the Gaza problem by reactivating the 2005 agreement on the crossings – including the crossing between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.” The source said that Europe has consulted with all relevant parties on the matter – including the Palestinian Authority, Israel, and Egypt – and is still waiting for their response.

 

 

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Citrus exports hardest hit by Russian ban

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CYPRUS agricultural exports to Russia reached €13.5 million in 2013, representing 61 per cent of total exports to the country, trade ministry data showed.

Total exports to Russia in 2013 reached €22.1 million, the Cyprus News Agency said, quoting the ministry.
The remainder of exports concerned mainly pharmaceutical products.

Cypriot agricultural exports to Russia are expected to be affected after Moscow this week put sanctions on food import from the EU in retaliation to EU sanctions on Russia.

Cyprus’ main food exports to Russia are citrus fruit worth about  €10.7 mln, fish worth €1.5 mln and vegetables worth about  €627,000 a year.

 

 

 

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Israelis, Gaza militants fight on, defying truce efforts

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Smoke rises following what witnesses said was an Israeli air strike in Gaza City

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Allyn Fisher-Ilan

ISRAEL launched more than 30 aerial attacks in Gaza on Saturday, killing five Palestinians, and militants fired rockets at Israel as the conflict entered a second month, defying international efforts to negotiate an agreement for an extended ceasefire.

The violence seemed to delay any progress in talks brokered by Egypt aimed at securing another truce. Israel had no plans to send negotiators back to Cairo “as long as the shooting goes on”, an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity.

Medical officials in Gaza said two Palestinians were killed when their motorcycle was bombed and the bodies of three others were found beneath the rubble of one of three bombed mosques.

Another attack reduced a security complex belonging to Gaza’s dominant Hamas faction to a huge cloud of smoke, but there were no casualties. In other attacks, three houses were bombed, and fighter planes strafed open areas, medical officials said.
The Israeli military said that since midnight it had attacked more than 30 sites in the coastal enclave, without specifying the targets.

Gaza militants fired 15 rockets at towns in Israel’s south on Saturday setting off alarm sirens but causing no damage or injuries, a military spokeswoman said.

Since the end of a 72-hour truce on Friday, Gaza militants have fired more than 65 rockets at Israel, military officials said. Two Israelis were hurt by a mortar attack on Friday.

Israeli air strikes killed five Palestinians on Friday, among them a 10-year-old boy near a mosque in Gaza City.
Egypt, backed by American and European mediators, has made no visible progress toward resuming the ceasefire that had halted fighting for three days between Israel and Gaza militants that began on July 8.

Egypt was expected to pursue its diplomacy on Saturday, meeting Palestinian officials in Cairo, but it wasn’t clear how much progress could be made if Israeli representatives didn’t show up.

Both sides remain apart on terms for renewing the ceasefire, with each blaming the other for refusing to extend it.
A diplomatic source familiar with the talks told Reuters it could take at least two days to see if it was possible to work out another truce. A sticking point was Israel’s demand for guarantees that any reconstruction supplies sent to Gaza would not be used by

Hamas to construct more tunnels of the sort that Palestinian fighters have used to infiltrate Israel.
Egypt is mediating the talks but meeting separately with each party. Israel and Hamas deny each other’s legitimacy, with Hamas rejecting Israel’s right to exist and Israel rejecting Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

Citing security concerns over continued rocket fire, Israeli police banned an anti-war protest planned for Tel Aviv on Saturday, saying regulations prohibited large gatherings in areas at risk of attack.

By resuming attacks against Israel, Gaza militants appeared to be trying to ramp up pressure and making it clear they were ready to fight on to fulfil a goal of ending a blockade of the territory that both Israel and Egypt have imposed.

Heavy civilian casualties and destruction during Israel’s campaign against militants in packed residential areas of the Gaza Strip have raised international alarm over the past month.

Gaza officials say the war has killed 1,886 Palestinians, most of them civilians. Israel says 64 of its soldiers and three civilians have died in the fighting that followed a surge in Palestinian rocket salvoes into Israel.

Israel expanded its air and naval bombardment of the Gaza Strip into a ground offensive on July 17, and pulled its infantry and armour out of the enclave on Tuesday after saying it had destroyed more than 30 infiltration tunnels dug by militants.
The White House urged Israel and the Palestinians to do what they could to preserve civilians after having failed to extend their ceasefire. Spokesman John Earnest said on Friday “the United States is very concerned” about the renewed violence.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the parties “not to resort to further military action that can only exacerbate the already appalling humanitarian situation in Gaza”.

At a rally in South Africa, Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu accused Israel of behaving like a “barbaric bully” in Gaza.
Israel said ahead of the truce’s expiration on Friday it was ready to agree to an extension. Hamas did not agree.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Israel had rejected most of the group’s demands. The Palestinians want Israel to agree in principle to lift a Gaza blockade, release prisoners and permit the opening of a sea port.
“There is no going back and the resistance will continue … there is no retreat from any of our demands,” Abu Zuhri said.

Israel has resisted easing access to Gaza, suspecting Hamas could restock with weapons from abroad.
Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, said the issue of a sea port should be part of wider peace negotiations with the Palestinians and that Hamas should not at this time be rewarded for “using force against Israeli citizens”.

In related violence, a Palestinian man died a day after being shot by Israeli troops quelling a protest in Hebron. Israeli gunfire killed another Palestinian protester in the West Bank, medical officials said.

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Guinea shuts borders with Sierra Leone, Liberia in bid to halt Ebola

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A Liberian nurse puts on protective clothing as preparation to carry the body of an Ebola victim for burial in the Banjor Community on the outskirts of Monrovia

By Saliou Samb

Guinea announced the closure of its borders with Sierra Leone and Liberia on Saturday in a bid to halt the spread of Ebola, a virus that has killed nearly 1,000 people in the three countries this year.

At least 367 people have died in Guinea of Ebola since March and 18 others are being treated in the country in isolation, but the decision was taken primarily to avoid infected people crossing into the West African state, authorities said.

“We have provisionally closed the frontier between Guinea and Sierra Leone because of all the news that we have received from there recently,” Health Minister Rémy Lamah told a news conference, noting that Guinea had also closed its border with Liberia.
The measures had been taken in consultation with the two neighbours, Guinea’s Minister for International Cooperation, Moustapha Koutoub Sano, told the news conference.

The UN World Health Organisation said on Friday that Ebola represents an international health emergency and could continue spreading for months.

Nigeria became the third African nation, after Sierra Leone and Liberia, to declare a national emergency on Friday as the region’s healthcare systems struggle to cope with the advance of one of the deadliest diseases known to man.

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Royal Mail seems to be doing what it can

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Many readers will be only too well aware of what has long been a less than satisfactory mail service between the UK and Cyprus. Examples are Christmas cards arriving in February, subscription magazines coming weeks after publication dates, and official letters being overtaken by events.

I initiated some correspondence with Ms Moya Greene, who is the UK’s Royal Mail Group Chief Executive Officer, and frankly, somewhat to my surprise she responded personally.

Over the last few months she has had a senior team examining what happens to our UK-sourced mail and what can be done to upgrade the service. Hitherto it seems some mail was being routed through various European countries, and this was obviously one cause of delay. There were some local problems pinpointed too, predictably shortage of staff here.

However, in particular, Royal Mail’s link with Cyprus Post has much improved and they are now working more closely together. Ms Greene lately writes to say that: “everything feasible is being done to ensure items from the UK are delivered as soon as possible”. I don’t think this is empty rhetoric.

Her correspondence from the start has been courteous, detailed, and thorough, with meetings being urged (in the case of Paphos) with the Postmaster (mistress) here. And she in her turn has been very co-operative.
It remains to be seen through everyone’s personal experience if the claimed overall quality of service has indeed been raised. Any comment would be welcome at new venture@cytanet.com.cy

Clive Turner, Paphos

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Food without noise would be nice

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Am I the only person in Cyprus that is getting tired of loud pop and rock being played whenever i go out to eat in restaurants, taverns and other places serving food and drink. Do restaurateurs think customers cannot eat unless loud music is being played.
Is there anywhere in Cyprus where I can enjoy a meal and good conversation with friends without the tedious, repetitive, mind-numbing thump,thump,thump.

J.Kennerley, Paphos

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Petrol prices still a rip off

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Some months ago in response to the twin crises of the then ISIS wreaking increasing havoc across northern Syria and into Iraq, and international reaction to the Russian annexation of Crimea with the concommitant unrest in the rest of Ukraine, oil prices rose sharply on international markets in anticipation of threats to supply.

In Cyprus this was reflected in a sequence of rapid rises of prices at the forecourt pumps from around mid €1.30s to mid €1.40s per litre.

For example Premium 95 rose quickly to an average peak of about €1.45 where it has remained for many weeks.
However, in recent weeks as threats to supply from the above crises have not materialised, so oil prices have fallen back on international markets with closing price one day during the week for benchmark Brent Crude at just above $104 per barrel.

This represents a decrease of almost 10 per cent per month which has not been reflected in any way on Cyprus forecourts. One can only assume that the relevant government departments and the consumer affairs commissioner have taken their eyes off this particular ball, while the local petrol companies and garage operators must be rubbing their hands in glee at this ongoing boost to their already healthy profit margins.

Previously in such situations the oil companies always plead that they buy in advance on the spot market and therefore we must allow a time lag for current stocks to be consumed before price changes are reflected at the pumps.

Strange how this always seems to be a problem only when international prices go down and as I have said already, current prices have now been held for many weeks despite the steady and ongoing decline in the international market price. One is also left to wonder whether EAC will be reflecting the recent steep reduction in their oil costs on consumers’ bills.

T J Murray, Larnaca

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Tales from the Coffeeshop: No closure on foreclosures

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So heartening that such a wealthy man is showing such sensitivity to the poor and downtrodden

By Patrolcos

WE HAD planned not to write anything about the foreclosures bill about which we have heard enough to last a couple of lifetimes in the last few weeks. Unfortunately, there’s no escape – it’s everywhere.

In our Coffeeshop we have put up notices clearly stating that ‘Talk about the foreclosures bill is strictly prohibited’, but the customers have been provocatively disregarding them. The management considered adding a warning that people who did not comply would be asked to leave the premises, but decided against it. Would be bad for business in these difficult times.

The other night I went to the cinema to escape this tedious debate, but before the start of the main feature I suffered a mild panic attack, terrified that Ethnarch Junior was about to appear on the big screen to inform us that he was having sleepless nights thinking that his fellow citizens would be thrown out of their homes. It did not happen and I calmed down.

Things are bound to get worse in the coming week because the bill will be discussed at the House finance committee, which is chaired by Junior, the self-appointed protector of those people not repaying their bank loans. He has become the new Mother Teresa of Cypriot politics. There is hope, seeing a man, still young, and from such a fabulously wealthy family, showing such sensitivity to the plight of those less fortunate than himself.

 

OTHER politicians, not as socially sensitive and compassionate as Junior, have also been using the bill to pose as the defenders of home-owners that have fallen on hard times. Opportunities for the politicians and the parties to exhibit their brave resistance to the evil designs of foreigners are never allowed to pass unexploited.

The foreclosures bill is the new Annan plan, to which our heroic politicians are determined to respond with a ‘resounding no’, if the unrealistic amendments they have been proposing are not added to it. The bravest of the brave, the commies of AKEL, to be on the safe side, have said they would reject the bill anyway because no amount of amendments could make it acceptable.

Our hopeless, loser politicians have developed quite a skill at demonising proposals so they can subsequently reject them and appear as saviours of the people. By uttering a heroic ‘no’ to the foreclosures bill, which they presented as a plot by the banks and sanctioned by the heartless Troikans to take the houses of all the poor people in Kyproulla, they will also be acting as the saviours of the big developers that owe many hundreds of millions to the banks, but that is another matter.

It is the poor people that our politicians want to protect and it is unfortunate that the big developers would also benefit it.

 

THE ONLY reason we brought up the bill, was because it has inspired a show of the Cypriot cunning and craftiness.

A report in yesterday’s Politis claimed that the government would make an attempt to delay the enforcement of the foreclosures bill until the end of the year. By then, the insolvency bill, which under certain conditions would protect the primary residence, would be ready.

This genius plan would allow us to satisfy the condition set by the Troika – approval of the bill by the end of August – for the release of the next installment of the financial assistance while also preventing any foreclosures until January. The government could tell the Troika that it kept its side of the bargain and argue that it had never promised to implement the bill.

The government, according to the report, is in consultation with the political parties which had come up with the wily idea of approving the bill but not implementing it. And come January we could suspend its implementation for another six months and not tell the Troikans about it.

The Troikans have not yet been asked for their views, but it is unlikely they would be conned so easily. A report in Friday’s Phil quoted Troika sources as saying that the lenders will not discuss any amendments to the foreclosures bill.

This makes approval without amendments but with postponement of implementation the ideal compromise solution that would keep everyone happy, including the poor old, big developers.

 

YOU ALMOST felt some sympathy for the chairman of the EAC, Othonas Theodoulou hearing him defend the authority’s decision to impose interest charges on bills that are not paid on time. Delayed payments amount to €60 million apparently.

Of course, the politicians and journalists were collectively outraged by the authority’s lack of compassion for people who were unable to pay their bills on time. Even the EAC unions came out against the measure, attacking their board for its harsh decision, although they did not offer to donate a percentage of their wages every month to cover the interest their hard-up, fellow citizens would be obliged to pay.

In the past, politicians had also demanded that the EAC did not cut off the electricity supply of those who did not pay their bill, because it would be wrong to leave homes of ‘vulnerable’ individuals without electricity. Soon nobody will be obliged to pay for anything in Kyproulla, on the grounds that the vulnerable members of our society must be protected.

 

SPEAKING of protecting vulnerable people, we did not find out if independent deputy Zacharias Koulias’ suggestion for protecting the primary car from repossession was included in any of the parties’ proposed amendments to the foreclosures bill. They included protection of the premises of small to medium businesses (that is 95 per cent of businesses in Kyproulla) and so they should have considered that there are people who conduct their work from a car. Apart from taxi-drivers there are sandwich vans, lokoumades vans etc.

 

YOU HAVE to admire the determination and never-say-die spirit being exhibited by the unhappy bunny chairman of the Bank of Cyprus Christis Hassapis. He may have suffered a few setbacks in his valiant efforts to prevent his bank from raising the capital it desperately needs to pass the autumn stress tests it would undergo, but he refuses to give up.

Last Sunday he visited Archbishop Chrys to persuade him to oppose the BoC capital issue that would be voted on at an EGM at the end of the month. Hassapis, for whom keeping his chairmanship is the mother of all priorities, told Chrys that the bank could survive without the €1 billion capital investment by Yank business interests.

I do not know what else he told the business analyst of the cloth, but he won him over. Immediately after the meeting Chrys called a top Nicosia lawyer who controls about 10 per cent of the shareholding of the BoC on behalf of his Russian clients and urged him to vote against the capital issue at the EGM.

Hassapis has gone from being a ridiculous figure we could all have a good laugh at, to being a ridiculous figure that could destroy everything, in order to hold on to his chairmanship. He is no longer a joke, he is a public danger.

 

THE GOVERNOR of the Central Bank Chrystalla Geoghadji would be squarely to blame if Hassapis manages to block the capital issue. She could have axed him whenever she wanted but was too weak and nice to take such a decision. Like so many of our ineffective state officials and politicians, she wants to be loved.

So, rather than take the personal responsibility of declaring him unfit to chair a bank board – a decision nobody would have questioned – she passed the responsibility to the board of the Central Bank, putting the decision to the vote. The board voted against him being axed by one vote, allowing him to carry on pursuing his devious schemes to ensure the BoC fails the stress test.

 

COMRADE Tof had a frightening experience during a recent social outing. He was a guest at a wedding party and while he was serving himself at the buffet his face suddenly turned red, his mouth was open and his eyes looked like they were ready to pop out. People who saw him thought he was having a heart attack or a stroke and went to help.

It soon became obvious that it was nothing serious. The comrade, standing near the sushi dishes, had taken a dollop of wasabi to try, presumably thinking it was avocado dip or pistachio paste.

 

WE HEAR that the Yanks have not given up on their efforts to get the former UN Under-Secretary-General Lynn Pasco-e involved in the Cyprus deadlock talks. The Yanks originally planned to have brash bruiser Pasco-e, detested by Kyproulla’s bash-patriotic hardliners, appointed as Big Bad Al’s replacement, but the idea received little support in Nicosia.

Now the US has come up with a plan B. It is considering appointing Pasco-e as a US special envoy to Kyproulla. There had been such envoys in the past – Ledsky, Beattie – but well before the referendum the Americans decided it was a complete waste of time, as everything their envoys proposed was rubbished by the press and politicians, who saw it as a US plot against Kyproulla.

 

MEGA-PATRIOTIC MEP, Eleni Theocharous lost the libel suit she had filed against Politis for an article by Loucas Charalambous, in which he wrote that she did not have the looks to work in harem. La Theocharous also had to pay the legal costs, the judge ruling that as a public figure she was obliged to accept criticism even if it was harsh.

Commenting on an interview given by Theocharous, in which she courageously said that suicide would be preferable to being forced into the harem of Ali Pasha, Charalambous wrote that she was in no danger of such a fate. Harem girls were usually the prettiest of the Ottoman empire, he had written and added:

“For obvious reasons, it was impossible for Mrs Theocharous to set foot in a harem. At best she could have been used as cleaner in the eunuchs’ quarters.”

I have a complaint to make to Theocharous. A week before Charalambous’ article the Coffeeshop had written, “She is old enough to accept that she is not harem material and would not have got into a third-rate harem, even if the chief eunuch was her uncle,” but it is still waiting for a libel suit. I have a good mind to report her to the European Parliament for blatant discrimination.

 

WE WERE saddened to hear that the delectable, delightful Delia Velculescu, who was definitely harem material in her youth, would no longer be visiting the sunshine isle to make sure we are implementing the adjustment programme. The IMF’s Chief of Mission for Cyprus has been transferred to another service and will be replaced by Mark Lewis, an American who, I hear, is neither delightful nor delectable and certainly not harem material.

 

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