MANY HAVE been wondering what the attraction of a struggling bank, operating in a tiny economy and with almost 50 per cent NPLs in its portfolio, was for American investors. What returns do they expect on their investment to be willing to sink hundreds of millions of euros in Bank of Cyprus? Yet if the extraordinary general meeting, scheduled for the end of August, approves the €1 billion euro increase in the capital of Bank of Cyprus, US interests could control as much as 45 per cent of the shareholding.

This attraction is related to the hydrocarbon prospects and future drilling operations in the sea surrounding Cyprus. American oilfield services giant Halliburton has also concluded a deal with the government to use Cyprus as its base for operations in the east Mediterranean. Schlumberger, another US giant that offers support services to the gas and oil industry, is also expected to set up offices in Cyprus. With US hedge fund Third Point having acquired more than a 20 per cent stake in Hellenic Bank it could be said that American business is not just showing great confidence in a small and struggling country, but it has also identified good investment opportunities.

Perhaps American companies know something we do not. What is clear is that this sudden business interest is not out of the blue. It is linked to the US administration’s unfolding political interest in Cyprus, exemplified by last May’s visit of Vice President Joe Biden who declared that Cyprus was a ‘strategic partner’ of the US. Before this, Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides was invited to Washington where he met Secretary of State John Kerry, who first spoke about the new strategic partnership, between the two countries. Kerry also spoke about visiting the island this year though there is nothing definite.

The vice president of the world’s superpower does not visit a tiny and inconsequential island on a whim, nor because he has good relations with the Greek lobby. Nor can the secretary of state’s talk of a ‘strategic partnership’ be dismissed as diplomatic niceties.

The US administration means business. It has plans for the region and has decided that Cyprus, because of its geographical position, will be a key part of its strategic planning for the Middle East in which instability and uncertainty is growing by the day and Islamists are on the advance.

What role Cyprus would have and what form the strategic partnership would take is unknown. These matters may have been discussed between Kasoulides and Kerry and subsequently during Biden’s visit, but have been kept a carefully-guarded secret. The Anastasiades government, which is pro-West and has openly spoken about its wish to join NATO at some point in time, must have reached an understanding, if not a deal, or there would have been no talk of a partnership or repeated public US support for Cyprus’ right to exploit its hydrocarbon deposits.

Some speculation suggests that the primary objective of the Americans is to cut Cyprus’ political and economic ties with Russia because we are entering a new Cold War in which the competing powers are intent on expanding their spheres of influence. This is supported, to an extent, by the sudden interest of American investors in Cypriot banks and the arrival of big US companies. If the capital issue at the Bank of Cyprus is approved, control of the island’s systemic bank would pass from Russian to American interests.

Perhaps the US considers the hydrocarbon deposits in Cyprus’ EEZ could provide an alternative energy source to Europe which has a big dependence on Russian natural gas. Cyprus’ total deposits will only be a small fraction of Russia’s but this would be an indication of the West’s efforts to limit Europe’s energy dependence on Russia.

This is speculation. We do not know what the long-term US plans for the region are. What we do know is that Cyprus is part of them and this could be the reason it has become attractive to American business.

Whether we would agree to be part of these plans remains to be seen. The Anastasiades government is fully in favour, but there could be strong objections from the political parties and media that are not just pro-Russia, but also stridently anti-US and anti-West. But the time when we have to decide which camp we belong to is fast approaching, because the world is once again divided into rival spheres of influence. Sitting on the fence will not be an option.

By Agnieszka Rakoczy

MORE FIVE-STAR hotels, Las Vegas-style casinos and an 18-hole golf course are planned for the Vokolida (Bafra in Turkish) coastline to the north-east of Famagusta at the very gateway to the Karpasia Peninsula, says Mehmet Yildirim, deputy director of the Cyprus Turkish Investment Development Agency (YAGA), the organisation charged with facilitating large local and foreign investments in the north.

Stalled for years since first unveiled as an ambitious concept in 2003, the Bafra Tourism Investment Project was seen by some to be a Turkish Cypriot version of Ayia Napa. Others dubbed it a 21st century Varosha variation.

The project has recently been given a new lease of life following a progress review of developments to date by the authorities in the north and their decision to impose stricter deadlines for implementation and completion of planned activities in the area.

In some instances, the authorities have even revoked previously signed contracts and leased the freed-up plots anew in a bid to revitalise and deliver the grand vision for a centre for international tourism and gambling.

“The new contracts are much stricter and allow us to check up on the stages of the planned developments,” says Yildirim. “The earlier contracts did not protect our side’s interests, the new ones do. Should a developer fail to keep his deadlines, fines will be imposed.”

The project aims to increase the north’s tourism capacity by at least 15,000 beds. The long-term objective is for the entire Vokolida beach area to become one large resort complex. This would comprise a mix of luxury hotels and casinos, their designs mostly inspired by and modelled on themes from ancient history or mythology.

The Turkish Cypriot regime gave the go ahead to build on land belonging to the government of the Republic of Cyprus, previously classified as low level forest. At the beginning of the millennium, the designated area’s status was changed to “special tourism development”. The new classification meant that the land could be developed and built upon, which has raised serious environmental concerns (see below).

The Noah’s Ark project

In 2003, the area in question was divided up into 14 plots and sold as 49-year-long leaseholds to 10 investors. Most were private companies from Turkey.

The Turkish Development Bank put around €224 million at their disposal and the plan was that all the proposed hotels would be built by 2007. Some money was also put aside for new roads and related infrastructure.

Not only was the venture supposed to strengthen the image of northern Cyprus as a tourism destination but it was also intended to create new jobs and income opportunities for the local population. The expectation was that there would be openings in the burgeoning hospitality and tourism industry for local workers and a commensurate growth in demand for local agricultural produce to supply a whole new range of catering outlets including high-end restaurants.

Those initial expectations failed to materialise. Eleven years on and only two of the planned hotels are up and running. Rosy optimism has been reality checked and found wanting. Nobody seems to be happy with the project once hailed to become the crown jewel of the north’s tourism industry.

Swimming pool at Noah’s Ark with boat shaped hotel in the background

Of the two functioning hotels now operational, one, the 734-room Kaya Artemis, resembles the ancient Temple of Artemis from Ephesus, while the other, the 684-room Noah’s Ark, is, precisely as its name implies, built in the shape of a giant ark (but with no animals in evidence). Both establishments have been struggling since they opened in 2007 and 2011 respectively.

According to Noah’s Ark deputy director, Zafer Keskin, the authorities in the north failed to deliver on what they had promised.

Speaking to the Sunday Mail, Keskin said: “Look around, we are in the middle of nowhere. The planned development has not happened. Costs of running a hotel here are twice as high as in Turkey. Promised subsidies haven’t materialised. Electricity is expensive. Water can be a problem.”

Both Kaya Artemis and Noah’s Ark are heavily dependent on their casino operations for their income. But neither casino can really compete with similar establishments currently mushrooming all over Kyrenia.

If the authorities really want the area to succeed as the north’s casino capital, “they have to stop giving licences to all the other casinos,” one Turkish Cypriot official told the Sunday Mail. “Right now, just the opposite is happening. We are giving casino licences to everyone who asks for one. We are giving them out left, right and centre.”

Kaya Artemis swimming pool

The company owning Kaya Artemis has several resorts in Antalya as well. To help sustain revenue flow in its northern Cyprus hotel, the company now offers clients a combination package enabling those holidaying in the chain’s Turkey-based establishments to spend some of their vacation here on the island.

Noah’s Ark has no such lifeboat or fall-back position. It relies on special events to attract its clientele and add to its appeal. The most recent of these was an international poker tournament. With prizes totalling a million euros, the tournament reportedly drew more than 300 international professional and amateur players to the tables.

Jackpot lure or not, a stroll around the main building of Noah’s Ark suggests less than a full house. Many of its rooms and suites appear empty and other areas of the expansive premises seem under-utilised to the point where air conditioning has been switched off or is irregular. Not the ideal when walking lengthy corridors inside a state of the art glass structure mercilessly exposed to the heat of the Cyprus summer sun.

Neither hotel has won plaudits for local hires. Estimates range from about 30 per cent of jobs at the two establishments to a mere five per cent. It depends on who you talk to.

According to Ahmet Adalier, the ex-mayor of Galateia (Mehmetcik), there is a legal obligation that 70 per cent of each hotel’s staff should comprise local employees. However, he told the Sunday Mail, “they give to us only the worst and lowest paid kind of jobs”.

Noah’s Ark deputy director Keskin indignantly disagrees.

“We would be very happy to have more local people working for us. As a matter of fact we are always looking for employees, but the truth is they are not interested. The hotel business is tough. Very few Cypriots stay with us longer, even though we offer very good deals and training schemes. In fact, we have a reputation as one of the best employers on the island. Sadly, they come, they see, they quit.”

Nor did the so-called ancillary benefits materialise, according to people in the surrounding community.

“What agriculture? There is none. We don’t produce enough to supply stuff to the hotels on a regular basis,” said ecotourism expert Ismail Cemal from Komi Kebir (Buyukkonuk). His view is shared by Adalir who says farming in the region is almost dead because most of the villages lack sufficient water to sustain it.

“Throughout the summer we have to bring water in tankers from Yesilkoy (Ayios Andronikos) and Famagusta. The municipality pays around 5000 TL per day for water just to survive. Most of our orchards are dying. Everybody here is waiting for water that is supposed to come next year from Turkey. Otherwise we will all die.”

Officials claim the hotels should not have any water problems because an Israeli-owned desalination plant next to them produces around 2000 cubic metres of water a day. Actually it can produce twice as much provided there are more hotels which will need it.

The ex-mukhtar laughs off the explanation.

“The truth is every summer the water supply to our villages decreases, just as our needs increase, and this is because the authorities send it to the hotels for tourists.”’

Despite the contradictions and the history of stop-go development, some further planned investments are on the drawing board for construction in the immediate vicinity of Noah’s Ark and Kaya Artemis.

The unfinished Babylon project aims to recreate the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Drawings, seen by the Sunday Mail, show one planned resort built to replicate the legendary hanging gardens of Babylon, while another pays tribute to Rome’s famous Colosseum. In the case of the latter, the drawings do not specify whether there will be a special rate for gladiators or free parking for chariots. A venue perhaps for the Lions’ Club?

Yet another project is described by its architects as “’a highly abstract version of Roman Villa Hadriana in Tivoli”.

Yildirim remains optimistic and says the Turkish Cypriot authorities realise many things around Vokolida (Bafra) have to improve. This is why they have gone back to the drawing board, putting more thought into planning the region’s infrastructure.

“We are working on that – planning the whole area. We need more social facilities, restaurants, bars, dormitories for workers, more social activities. We are planning to develop clusters of those for the entire area.”

He believes that once more hotels open and the golf course starts operating, the whole area will pick up immediately.

“There is a lot of private investment into the land around the Bafra project. Many foreigners from Israel, United Kingdom, Iran, Lebanon, and the Scandinavian countries bought plots there. Right now they are waiting. But once they see the time is ripe they will start building as well.”

Environmental impact

SOME ACTIVISTS argue that environmental concerns clearly need to be revisited and that the applicable criteria should be revised and enforced. They would like to see greater transparency on the overall issue of tourism development in the north.

In the case of Vokolida (Bafra), a recurring complaint is how the initial decision to reclassify the general area for special tourism development meant that thousands of donums of low grade forest and shrubs were literally swept away under an unfurling carpet of concrete and tarmac. To the dismay and alarm of those in the eco-conscious camp, infrastructure rolled forward relentlessly over nature as the deal was cemented right down to the shoreline of some of the island’s finest beaches.

Robin Snape, a leading environmentalist and board member of the North Cyprus Society for the Protection of Birds and Nature as well as head of Marine Turtle Conservation Project, notes that projects of the Bafra scale and magnitude require precise and detailed study as to their potential impact on environment.

“I don’t believe that anything like this has been done in Bafra. Nobody has ever consulted us, nobody has asked any questions. If they were doing a proper research we would have definitely been consulted.”

But Mehmet Yildirim, deputy director of the Cyprus Turkish Investment Development Agency (YAGA), counters that due diligence was and is observed: “Each investor has to submit an environment impact assessment report to the ‘Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources’. If the ministry does not approve the project, it won’t happen.”

Environmental activist Hakan Djuma, says that if the Bafra desalination plant produces 2000 cubic metres a day it is inadequate, given per capita consumption requirements and the upkeep demands associated with hotel landscaping maintenance, swimming pools etc. According to Djuma, the plant was supposed to produce 4000 cubic metres daily but is in dispute with the authorities, possibly because of the high cost of electricity required to operate the system.

By Michelle Moghtader

An Iran-140 Sepahan Air passenger plane bound for Tabas in northeast Iran with 48 passengers and crew on board crashed on a road near Tehran’s Mehrabad airport on Sunday, killing at least 38 people, Iranian state media reported.

Initial reports said that all passengers and crew on board had been killed, but state media later reported that some passengers had been injured and transferred to hospital.

Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) said that eight or nine had survived and quoted a doctor as saying that one of the injured had regained consciousness.

State television said 38 people died instantly and 10 were injured and were transferred to hospital in critical condition.

Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) reported that five had been taken to hospital, but cited a doctor at Imam Hospital as saying they had died.

The Civil Aviation Authority said the passengers included two infants and three children under the age of 12, IRNA reported.

The pilot detected technical issues four minutes after takeoff and tried to return to the airport, state television said, but the twin-engine turboprop crashed on a road at 9.18 am local time.

One eyewitness said the plane crashed into a wall.

A photograph on IRNA’s website showed a huge plume of black smoke billowing over traffic standing at a road intersection. A photograph from the Iran Student News Agency showed a charred tailfin lying on the ground.

The plane’s black box has yet to be found, the deputy minister of Roads and Urban Development said.

Iran’s airlines have been plagued by crashes, which Iranian politicians blame on international sanctions that block the airlines from replacing their ageing fleets. About 14 crashes involving

Iranian planes were reported in the decade to January 2011.

For years, planes have been kept in service through parts imported on the black market, cannibalised from other planes or reproduced locally, aviation sources say.

Iran’s four largest carriers – Iran Air, Iran Aseman Airlines, Mahan Air and Iran Air Tours – all have average fleet ages above 22 years, Iranian media have reported. They serve a market of 76 million people.

U.S. companies Boeing Co and General Electric Co have said they are seeking to export parts to Iran under the agreement for sanctions relief.

The chief of Iran Air said the airline will need at least 100 passenger jets once sanctions against the country are lifted.

POOR SAFETY RECORD

The plane that crashed – an Iran-140 – is a locally assembled version of the Antonov-140. Its safety record has come into question in the past.

In December 2002, an Iran-140 test flight crashed, killing at least 46 people, including engineers who had helped design it. The government claimed human error caused the crash, but many expressed worries about the aircraft.

More than a dozen large airlines and several fledgling carriers operate in Iran. The state carrier, Iran Air, has a fleet of about 40 planes including nine Boeing 747 jets, some of which were built before the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

The safety record for the carriers has led to most Iranian flights being prevented from landing in the EU.

Mehrabad is located in a western suburb of Tehran and mainly functions as a domestic airport, although it also serves some international routes. (Reuters. Additional reporting by Praveen Menon)

By Mike Collett

Arsenal, who went nine years without a trophy before winning the FA Cup in May, collected their second piece of silverware in three months when they crushed champions Manchester City 3-0 in the Community Shield at Wembley on Sunday.

Arsenal thoroughly deserved their emphatic win in the traditional curtain-raiser to the new English season with goals from Santi Cazorla after 21 minutes, Aaron Ramsey after 42 and a stunning long-range third from Olivier Giroud just past the hour.

City were without seven players who played in the World Cup while Arsenal were missing their three German World Cup winners Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski.

But the Gunners, fielding three debutants including 35.0 million pounds ($58.71 million) striker Alexis Sanchez, were far sharper than City who look like they have plenty of work to do before the start of the new Premier League campaign next weekend.

Arsenal deservedly went ahead when a neat move on the edge of the box involving Jack Wilshere ended with Cazorla shimmying to his left and scoring with a low angled shot that eluded City debutant goalie Willy Caballero.

Cazorla, who went 19 matches without a goal last season before scoring Arsenal’s first in their 3-2 FA Cup final win over Hull City, made it two goals in two matches at Wembley with an unerring touch and he combined well with Wilshere before going off in the second half.

Arsenal never loosened their grip and Yaya Sanogo, their 21-year-old French striker who failed to score in 14 appearances last season, should have made it 2-0 four minutes later but wasted an opportunity by dragging his shot wide.

Arsenal always looking sharper and quicker than City’s labouring midfielders and added to their lead three minutes before halftime.

Sanogo held off City defender Dedryck Boyata before laying off for Ramsey who controlled the ball with one touch and powered it into the net for another Wembley goal after his winner in the Cup Final last season.

CLEVER TOUCHES

Chilean Sanchez, bought from Barcelona to provide more firepower for Arsenal, played wide on the right and had a quiet half but showed some clever touches before being substituted at halftime.

City came into the match more after the break, but Giroud, named man of the match, wrapped up the victory with a thunderous 30-yard shot that, like the first two goals, Caballero had no chance of saving.

City came closest to scoring when Stevan Jovetic headed against a post in the 52nd minute but they were generally poor and lacked an edge without the likes of captain Vincent Kompany, Sergio Aguero and Pablo Zabaleta.

The game made a little bit of history with vanishing spray used for the first time in an English game when referee Michael Oliver pressed the button on his canister after 38 minutes for a Manchester City freekick in the middle of the field.

By Daren Butler and Ayla Jean Yackley

Tayyip Erdogan was set to be Turkey’s next president after local media credited the veteran prime minister with more than half the vote with nearly all the ballots counted.

After an election on Sunday that his opponents say may create an increasingly authoritarian state, broadcasters said Erdogan had 52.0 percent of the vote, 13 points more than his closest rival. Such a result would rule out a runoff round and seal Erdogan’s place in history as Turkey’s first directly elected head of state, a role expected to enhance his power.

Turkey has emerged as a regional economic force under Erdogan, who, as prime minister for more than a decade, has ridden a wave of religiously conservative support to transform the secular republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923.

But his critics warn that a President Erdogan, with his roots in political Islam and intolerance of dissent, would lead the NATO member and European Union candidate further away from Ataturk’s secular ideals.

The main opposition candidate, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, was on 38.8 percent with 90 percent of votes counted while Selahattin Demirtas of the pro-Kurdish, left-wing People’s Democratic Party was on 9.2 percent, said television stations CNN Turk and NTV.

Turkey’s electoral authorities are not officially due to announce their first results until Monday, with final figures due later in the week, but Erdogan, 60, is expected to make a victory address later on Sunday.

In a tea house in the working-class Istanbul district of Tophane, men watching election coverage on television praised Erdogan as a pious man of the people who had boosted Turkey’s status both economically and on the international stage.

“Erdogan is on the side of the underdog. He is the defender against injustice. While the Arab world was silent, he spoke out against Israel on Gaza,” said Murat, 42, a jeweller, who declined to give his family name.

“This country was ruined by the old politicians. They lied to us. They caused economic crises, the PKK violence,” he said. Erdogan has opened a peace process with Kurdish PKK militants to end a conflict which has killed 40,000 people in 30 years.

The voting turnout, which exceeded 89 percent in March local elections, appeared to be low, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly observer George Tsereteli told reporters.

Opinion polls had put Erdogan, 60, far ahead of two rivals competing for a five-year term as president. Parliament has in the past chosen the head of state but this was changed under a law pushed through by Erdogan’s government.

He has set his sights on serving two presidential terms, keeping him in power past 2023, the 100th anniversary of the secular republic. For a leader who refers frequently to Ottoman history in his speeches, the date has special significance.

A rapturous crowd cheered and chanted “Turkey is proud of you” and “President Erdogan” as he emerged from a school where he voted with his wife and children on the Asian side of Istanbul. He waved and shook people’s hands.

“The (voters’) decision will be crucial as an elected president and government will hand-in-hand carry our Turkey decisively towards 2023,” he told reporters.

In his final campaign speech in the conservative stronghold of Konya on Saturday, he said the election would herald a “new Turkey” and “a strong Turkey is rising again from the ashes”.

“Let’s leave the old Turkey behind. The politics of polarisation, divisiveness and fear has passed its expiry date,” he told a crowd of thousands.

His vision of a new Turkey left voters cold at one polling station in the capital Ankara, where many complained of deep polarisation under Erdogan and said only his AK Party loyalists had benefited from changes in the past decade.

“The freedom that he says has increased is for his own supporters. You can only be free if you support him. He has polarised this country in a way nobody has before,” said Yucel Duranoglu, 45, who works for a private company.

“ONE-MAN RULE”

The prime minister has promised to exercise the full powers granted to him by current laws, unlike his predecessors who have played a mainly ceremonial role. But he also plans to change the constitution to establish a fully executive presidency.

The current constitution, written under military rule after a 1980 coup, would enable him to chair cabinet meetings and appoint the premier and members of top judicial bodies including the constitutional court and supreme council of judges.

Ihsanoglu voted in a wealthy district of Istanbul near the Bosphorus strait while Demirtas cast his vote in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the mainly Kurdish southeast. Erdogan was set to vote in Istanbul in the afternoon.

Erdogan’s ruling AK Party scored a clear victory in local elections in March and a triumph on Sunday would emphatically put an end to the toughest year of his time in power.

He was shaken by nationwide anti-government protests last summer, and months later, Erdogan and his inner circle were targeted by a corruption investigation and a power struggle with his former ally, U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

He accuses Gulen of seeking to overthrow him and has pledged as president to continue purging institutions such as the police and judiciary where Gulen is believed to wield influence.

Despite the challenges Erdogan has faced, there was an air of resignation among many voters who oppose him.

“I am almost depressed. I worry for my country because I increasingly feel like an alien here. The prime minister is talking about a Turkey that I don’t recognise,” said Erkan Sonmez, 43, who works in an import-export business.

“I can no longer speak to my neighbours who vote for the AK Party, does that sound like a peaceful community to you?”

Israel has accepted a new Gaza ceasefire proposed by Egyptian mediators and will send negotiators to Cairo on Monday if the truce holds, Israeli officials said.

Egypt had called on Israel and the Palestinians to commit to a new ceasefire that would start at 2100 GMT and be in effect for 72 hours. A previous three-day pause expired on Friday and fighting in a month-old war resumed.

By Constantinos Psillides

NO CRIMINAL charges can brought against anyone regarding the unlicensed wiretapping search conducted at the office of the deputy chief of the National Guard Andreas Papapavlou on July 16, the attorney-general’s office concluded on Monday.

As a result, President Nicos Anastasiades issued a written statement on Monday saying that Papapavlou’s offer to resign would not be accepted.

“Although his actions were clearly erroneous, what matters now is that order and calm prevail in the ranks of the National Guard so the goal of successfully restructuring and modernising the army is achieved,” read the president’s statement.

The statement made clear that the deputy chief would be reprimanded for his actions, since he resorted to outside help to check his office.

On July 16 two Greek Cypriots security officers – both working at the British bases – were arrested by police outside the defence ministry offices. Police found in their possession wiretapping tracking equipment and after interrogation they admitted being invited by the deputy chief of the National Guard to check his office for secret cameras and other hidden electronic surveillance devices. The officers said that they were friends with the deputy chief.

Staff in the defence ministry got suspicious and contacted the police to report that people were doing a wiretapping search in the premises.

The two officers were later released without charge.

UNFICYP, the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus, is now officially run by Norwegian Major General Kristin Lund, the first ever woman commander of a UN peacekeeping operation.
Lund officially assumed her duties at a brief ceremony held in the United Nations buffer zone in Nicosia.
She succeeds Major General Chao Liu of China who served as UNFICYP Force Commander from February 2011 to August 2014.
At a ceremony to welcome the new commander, the UN Secretary General`s Special Representative in Cyprus Lisa Buttenheim “thanked Major General Liu for his three and a half years of service with UNFICYP and paid tribute to his dedication, professionalism and leadership which greatly contributed to United Nations efforts on the island”.
As a brigadier general, Lund served as deputy commander of the Norwegian Army Forces Command from 2007 to 2009.
In 2009, she became the first Norwegian female officer promoted to the rank of major general, and was appointed Chief of Staff of the Norwegian Home Guard.
In 2014, she was appointed to the Norwegian Defence Staff as the Assistant Chief of Staff for Veteran Affairs.
Her previous experience with the UN includes service with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in Bosnia.
Born in 1958, she graduated from the Norwegian Defence Command and Staff College, the Norwegian Defence University College and holds a Strategic Studies masters degree from the United States Army War College.

By Sarah McBride

Robin Williams, the versatile actor whose madcap comic style made him one of television and film’s biggest stars, was found dead on Monday from an apparent suicide at his home in Northern California. He was 63.

Williams’ appeal stretched across generations and genres, from family fare as the voice of Disney’s blue Genie in “Aladdin” to his portrayal of a fatherly therapist in the 1997 drama “Good Will Hunting,” for which he earned his sole Oscar.

But many remembered the master of impressions on Monday for his portrayal in “Mrs. Doubtfire”, when he played the part of a British nanny whose identity he assumed as a divorced father to be with his children.

“This morning, I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one of its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken,” Williams’ wife Susan Schneider said in a statement.

The Marin County Sheriff’s coroner’s division said it suspected Williams committed suicide by asphyxia, but the cause of death is still under investigation and an autopsy will be conducted Tuesday.

Williams had been recently suffering from severe depression, his publicist Mara Buxbaum said in a statement, and the actor had repeatedly talked about his past struggles with alcohol.

The Sheriff’s office said it received an emergency call about noon local time on Monday, saying that Williams was unconscious and not breathing at his home near Tiburon, north of San Francisco.

Outside the family home in a neighborhood of low-slung houses with water views, people left flowers and talked about the man who often had a smile and a wave for children on the street.

“Everyone loved him, but nobody bothered him. He would live unrecognized and just keep to himself,” said neighbor Johanna Dunning, who often saw him out biking early in the morning.

Social media was alight with appreciation for Williams, who introduced his frenetic and outlandish vaudeville-esque style to audiences as a quirky extraterrestrial in the late 1970s TV comedy “Mork & Mindy.”

U.S. President Barack Obama called Williams a “one of a kind” actor who could make people laugh and cry in his array of characters.

“He arrived in our lives as an alien – but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit,” Obama said in a statement.

‘GENUINE SOUL’

Williams, who was most recently in the CBS television comedy “The Crazy Ones” until it was canceled after one season, had entered a Minnesota rehabilitation center this summer to help him maintain sobriety.

His representatives at the time said Williams was not using drugs or alcohol but had gone to the center to “fine-tune and focus” his sobriety after working a longer-than-usual schedule.

The death of Williams shook Hollywood, and colleagues mourned the loss of what many called a big-hearted man and one of the most inventive comedians of his time.

“Robin was a lightning storm of comic genius and our laughter was the thunder that sustained him,” said filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who directed Williams as Peter Pan in the 1991 film, “Hook.” “He was a pal and I can’t believe he’s gone.”

Fellow comedian Steve Martin said in a tweet: “I could not be more stunned by the loss of Robin Williams, mensch, great talent, acting partner, genuine soul.”

Williams is scheduled to appear in “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb” on Dec. 19, 2014, playing the statue of Teddy Roosevelt who comes to life at night. Twentieth Century Fox, which will distribute the film, had no immediate comment.

In April, the Hollywood Reporter said that Fox’s Fox 2000 division was developing a sequel to his 1993 hit “Mrs. Doubtfire” that would reunite Williams and director Chris Columbus.

Williams, who was born in Chicago in 1951 and grew up in suburban Detroit earned four Academy Award nominations, the first for his portrayal of U.S. Army deejay Adrian Cronauer during the Vietnam War in “Good Morning, Vietnam.”

He also earned nominations for the 1990 coming-of-age prep school drama “Dead Poets Society” and “The Fisher King” in 1991 in which he plays a homeless man who helps save a suicidal radio host.

Williams married three times, most recently in 2011 to Schneider. He has three children.

His death also deeply affected his local artists’ community, far from the hype of Hollywood.

“He embodied what it meant to be humble,” said Lucy Mercer, executive artistic director at Throckmorton Theatre, a small venue near Williams’ home, where the actor was known to try out new material.

“He doused us in his love and positive glow and never asked for anything in return.”

EIGHT PEOPLE were slightly injured when the cars they were travelling in collided head on near Akourdalia village in the Paphos district, police said.

According to the police report, a 23-year-old Greek Cypriot driving towards Akourdalia lost control of his vehicle and collided with a car coming from the opposite direction. Two other persons were travelling with the 23-year old while a 26-year-old Danish tourist was driving the second vehicle. Four more Danish tourists were riding in the second vehicle.

Everyone was rushed at the Paphos General Hospital and kept under observation.

The two drivers were breathalysed but tests came back clear.

By Constantinos Psillides

AN AVERAGE of 80-100 people contact the legal services department on a daily basis το have arrest warrants for various debts temporarily rescinded, according to Deputy Attorney-general Rikkos Erotokritou, who was commenting on a story run by daily Simerini.

Speaking to CyBC, Erotokritou said that people are waiting every morning for the offices to open so they can hand in their requests.

The arrest warrants mainly cover unpaid bills, taxes, alimony payments and even unpaid parking tickets.

“These people can’t even afford milk or bread. They can’t afford to cope with electricity and water bills or making their monthly alimony payments so they come to us to reach a settlement, so they won’t end up in jail,” said Erotokritou, adding that some cannot even afford to pay a €35 parking ticket

The deputy attorney general remarked that the vast majority of those requests were completely justified, pointing out that all legal services can do is provide people with a second chance, either by arranging a minimum sum to be paid monthly or that if the case does end up in imprisonment to ensure the defendants receive reduced sentences.

Erotokritou said that legal services were far stricter when it came to alimony payments. Erotokritou clarified that in these cases the department ask defendants to settle on a payment plan that is satisfactory to all parties involved.

By Evie Andreou

POLICE QUESTIONED several foreign nationals over the weekend and on Monday in the Famagusta area, after they were spotted allegedly selling laughing gas (nitrous oxide).

Early on Monday morning, three people – one British and one Hungarian woman and a Romanian man – were spotted selling what was described as a pharmaceutical product without licence. Police confiscated 135 balloons, 40 unused and 26 used canisters, and €50 in cash.

On Saturday four foreign nationals were also questioned after being spotted selling the same substance. Unused and used canisters were confiscated, along with 45 balloons and €164 in cash. Police said the suspects would be charged at a later date.

‘Laughing gas’ which can produce a high when inhaled is widely available on the busy party streets of Ayia Napa in particular.

Famagusta police spokesman George Economou said that even though it is not an illegal substance, it cannot be sold without permission as it designated for medical use, it is not safe to be used by individuals for recreational purposes.

Economou added that if the practice continued police would implement more drastic measures.

Laughing gas (nitrous oxide) or Hippy Crack as it is called in the UK is a sedative agent mainly used by dentists to make patients more comfortable during certain procedures. Patients administered the gas do not go to sleep and are able to hear and respond to the dentist.

Apart from its medical use, a less pure form of laughing gas is for commercial use and is commonly used to tune engines. This less pure form may often contain other chemicals or gases such as methyl nitrate which can lead to oxygen deficiency in the human body.

The gas has proven to be a headache for British local authorities that have been confiscating the gas in large quantities. Reportedly a total of half a million young people across the UK often inhale the gas in bars, parties or concerts. It is very affordable (£3 to £5 per canister and is considered a ‘legal high’.

The gas, which is inhaled by users in a balloon which has been filled from a canister, reportedly brings ‘an intense feeling of euphoria’ for about a minute.

British authorities however, have warned that nitrous oxide abuse could lead to oxygen deprivation resulting in loss of blood pressure, fainting and heart attacks. It has also been linked to a number of deaths in the UK.

By Constantinos Psillides

CYPRUS IS seeking EU compensation for farmers and producers who have been badly hit by the prolonged drought said Agriculture Minister Nikos Kouyialis on Monday.

He added that he would raise the issue at the coming extraordinary meeting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council.

The council meeting was requested by Austria, according to Kouyialis, who said that the country faces similar problems.

“A number of countries have asked for compensation for destroyed crops due to the drought and Cyprus will be one of them. The EU has a crisis and disaster fund specifically designed to tackle unexpected problems like these. We just want our share,” said Kouyialis, adding that an experts meeting has been called for Wednesday to set the agenda for the council meeting.

“The experts will evaluate the damage caused to all agriculture sectors and suggest further measures. No decision has been reached yet and we will wait for the Wednesday meeting to be concluded before we press further,” explained the agriculture minister.

In April the met office declared the 2013-2014 season as one of the worst ever recorded, with a recorded 204mm rainfall, which equals 47 per cent of the expected rainfall.

News from the dams is also not encouraging as, according to the water development department figures, dam capacity is 37. 6 per cent, compared to 73. 5 per cent last year.

Kouyialis also told the press that he will be coordinating his efforts with his Greek counterpart George Karasmanis, who also has to deal with prolonged drought.

Kouyialis said that he spoke to Karasmanis on the phone and that he will be meeting with him in the following days.

By Gwynne Dyer

AFTER HALF a century of stasis, there are big new strategic realities in the Middle East, but people are having trouble getting their heads around them.

Take the United States, for example. Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State in President Obama’s first administration, is still lamenting her former boss’s failure to send more military help to the “moderate” rebels in Syria.

“The failure to do that left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled,” Clinton told Atlantic magazine recently. She’s actually claiming that early and lavish military aid to the right people would have overthrown Syria’s dictator, Bashar al-Assad, while freezing the al-Qaeda/ISIS jihadis out. If only.

Clinton travels a lot, but she never really leaves the Washington bubble. There are intelligence officials there who would gladly explain to her that almost all the desirable weaponry sent to the “moderates” in Syria ends up in the hands of the jihadis, who either buy it or just take it, but she wouldn’t listen. It falls outside the “consensus”.

Yet that really is how ISIS acquires most of its heavy weapons. The most striking case of that was in early June, when the Iraqi army, having spent $41.6 billion in the past three years on training its troops and equipping them with American heavy weapons, ran away from Mosul and northern Iraq and handed a good quarter of them over to ISIS.

In fact, that’s the weaponry that is now enabling ISIS to conquer further territory in eastern Syria and in Iraqi Kurdistan. Which, in turn, is why Barack Obama has now authorised air strikes in Iraq to stop ISIS troops from overrunning Irbil, the Kurdish capital.

By now, he has also presumably abandoned his proposal of last June to spend $500 million to train and equip “appropriately vetted” Syrian opposition fighters. (They were then supposedly going to overthrow Assad with one hand while crushing the jihadis with the other.)

But Obama has not yet dropped the other shoe. A lot of people have not dropped their other shoes yet. They all know that the whole strategic environment has changed. They realise that may require new policies and even new allies. Changing horses in midstream is always a tricky business, so the realignments are only slowly getting underway, but you can see where they are going to go.

The proclamation of the “Islamic State” in eastern Syria and northern and western Iraq has large implications for every country in the Middle East, but for the great powers it is almost the only thing they still care about in the region. They all have Muslim minorities of their own, and they all want the Islamic State stopped, or at the very least isolated, contained and quarantined.

That means that both the Syrian and Iraqi governments must survive, and they will probably get enough outside help to do so (although it will take time for the US and the major European powers to switch sides and openly back Assad). The army of the Iraqi Kurds might hold its own against the Islamic State if it had better weapons, so it will get them (although Baghdad will not welcome a more powerful Kurdish army).

Containing the Islamic State to the north will be a simpler task, because Iran and Turkey are very big, well organised states whose populations are relatively invulnerable to the ISIS brand of Sunni fundamentalism. But to the south of the Islamic State is Saudi Arabia, and that is a country that faces some tough decisions.

The Wahhabi strand of Sunni Islam which is Saudi Arabia’s official religion is very close to the beliefs of the jihadis who now rule the Islamic State to their north. Much of their financial support and even their weapons have come from Saudi Arabia. But the rulers of that kingdom would be extremely unwise to assume that the jihadis regard Saudi Arabia’s current political arrangements as legitimate, or that gratitude would restrain them.

Nor will the long-standing US alliance with Saudi Arabia endure if Saudi ties to the jihadis are not broken. Riyadh will have to decide, and it will be aware that its oil is no longer so vital to the United States that it can have it both ways.

The Iranian-US rapprochement will continue, and the issue of Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons ambitions will be settled amicably despite Israel’s protests. Indeed, Israel may come under irresistible US pressure to stop whacking the Palestinians or the Lebanese Shias every couple of years, stop the settlement programme, and get on with the two-state deal. Washington would very much like Israel to stop alienating the people it needs as allies.

Further afield, General Sisi’s new regime in Egypt can count on strong American support, and may even be encouraged by Washington to intervene militarily in Libya and shut down the Islamist militias there. Tunisia will be the only remaining flower of the “Arab Spring”, although there has also been a certain amount of progress in Morocco. But in the heartland of the Arab world, war will flourish and democracy will not.

Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles on world affairs are published in 45 countries.

FOR YEARS, when a person was suffering from an illness that could not be treated in Cyprus the government would pay the medical costs of treatment abroad. But because the system was being abused and many decisions were influenced by rusfeti, the state set up a committee, consisting primarily of doctors, to examine every application for treatment abroad and decide whether to approve it.

There was also legislation governing treatment abroad, but the first to ignore it were the politicians. There was a health minister of the Clerides government who, scandalously, had a knee operation abroad, simply because he could ignore the law and a former party leader who went to a London hospital for a kidney transplant despite the fact that Cyprus had a top quality kidney transplant clinic.

Health ministers, meanwhile, often used their discretionary powers to sanction treatment abroad, either out of the goodness of their heart or as a political favour. Sending patients abroad had become lucrative business with foreign hospitals having agents in Cyprus taking commission for every patient they sent to them. One health minister that served under two presidents was notorious for sending patients abroad, even if treatment was available in Cyprus, on the grounds that it was more economical.

There have been some attempts by governments to put procedures in place, making the approval of the medical council a requirement for releasing funds, but the health minister may still have the discretionary power to issue a different decision. The issue was back in the news a couple of weeks ago after a CyBC employee received treatment in London, without approval from the medical council, but insisted the state paid the £13,000 bill.

The health minister said this was out of the question because two medical councils had ruled she could have received the treatment in Cyprus, but after a few articles critical of the government in the press and a public plea by the president of the journalists’ union to President Anastasiades, the latter overruled everyone and sanctioned the payment of the bill by the state.

Is this how abuses of the system will stop? By the president ignoring state procedures decisions of state bodies and the law in order to show that he is compassionate and caring? The president should be the first person in Cyprus to show respect for the law and state procedures, instead of sanctioning an unlawful expenditure by the state. What is the point of having any rules or procedures, when the Head of State shows such blatant disregard for them, in order to get some positive publicity?

Anastasiades’ decision was not a show of kindness as he may have thought, but an indication that he considers himself to be above the law. And that is unacceptable.

By Constantinos Psillides

CYPRUS WILL be looking into alternative markets for its citrus exports following the full ban of food imports to Russia from EU countries, the Agriculture Minister Nikos Kouyialis said on Monday, announcing a meeting with all affected parties on Tuesday.

The minister will be meeting with representatives from the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KEVE), the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEV) and farming unions.

In 2013 citrus exports to Russia reached €10.7 million. The total export volume that will be affected was around €13.5 million in 2013, including citrus, fish, vegetables, dairy, and fruit.

Russia announced the import ban on EU food products last week in response to the tightened EU sanctions implemented at the end of July against Russia for their involvement in the Ukraine crisis

But farmer’s union EKA general secretary Panikos Hambas told the CyBC that looking for an alternative market was not a solution.

“Producers will be forced to sell their goods extremely cheaply because the market knows they are desperate and have no other option. The EU hotshots that green-lighted sanctions against Russia now must dig into their pockets and find a way of compensating the farmers affected by this ban,” said Hambas, adding that the main export affected are mandoras, a cross between an orange and a mandarin that’s grown in Cyprus and exported primarily in Russia.

EKA is the farmers’ branch of parliamentary party AKEL.

Hambas also expressed concern over the citrus exports business in general, warning that a prolonged embargo will destroy the industry.

“Packaging factories will close down and jobs will be lost. We must keep in mind that factory workers are almost exclusively Cypriots,” he said.

The EKA general secretary also claimed that according to his sources, Turkish Cypriot farmers will be re-labelling their products as Turkish and shipping them off to Russia. Turkey as a non-EU member is not affected by the ban.

Kouyialis said he had been in contact with Greek Agriculture Minister George Karasmanis to discuss both the prolonged drought and the effects of the Russian ban.

Kouyialis said that Greece is one of the countries most affected by the ban, standing to lose up to 200 million euros in exports to Russia, crippling the economy of a country that is already in a financial turmoil.

The spokesman of the Russian Embassy to Cyprus Sergey Filimonov told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) on Friday that the ban was “retaliatory”, following sanctions the EU imposed on Russia regarding the country’s involvement in the recent Ukraine crisis.

He added that excluding certain EU countries facing economic woes, like Cyprus, did not seem to be an option because “EU countries unanimously approved these sanctions against Russia, and therefore Russia’s response will apply to all countries.”

Hambas urged the government to intensify diplomatic talks with Russia and demanded that the EU open up its coffers and compensate all the farmers in EU countries that are affected by the embargo.

By Michael Georgy and Ahmed Rasheed
IRAQ’S NEW prime minister-designate won swift endorsements from uneasy mutual allies the United States and Iran on Tuesday as he called on political leaders to end crippling feuds that have let jihadists seize a third of the country.
Haider al-Abadi still faces opposition closer to home, where his Shi’ite party colleague Nuri al-Maliki has refused to step aside after eight years as premier that have alienated Iraq’s once dominant Sunni minority and irked Washington and Tehran.
However, Shi’ite militia and army commanders long loyal to Maliki signalled their backing for the change, as did many people on the streets of Baghdad, eager for an end to fears of a further descent into sectarian and ethnic bloodletting.
Sunni neighbours Turkey and Saudi Arabia also welcomed Abadi’s appointment.
A statement from Maliki’s office said he met senior security officials and army and police commanders to urge them “not to interfere in the political crisis”. At least 17 people were killed in two car bombings in Shi’ite areas of Baghdad – a kind of attack that has become increasingly routine in recent months.
As Western powers and international aid agencies considered further help for tens of thousands of people driven from their homes and under threat from the Sunni militants of the Islamic State near the Syrian border, Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States would consider requests for military and other assistance once Abadi forms a government to unite the country.
Underscoring the convergence of interest in Iraq that marks the normally hostile relationship between Washington and Iran, senior Iranian officials congratulated Abadi on his nomination, three months after a parliamentary election left Maliki’s bloc as the biggest in the legislature. Like Western powers, Shi’ite Iran is alarmed by Sunni militants’ hold in Syria and Iraq.
“Iran supports the legal process that has taken its course with respect to choosing Iraq’s new prime minister,” the representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the Supreme National Security Council was quoted as saying.
“Iran favours a cohesive, integrated and secure Iraq,” he said, adding an apparent appeal to Maliki to concede.
Abadi himself, long exiled in Britain, is seen as a far less polarising, sectarian figure than Maliki, who is also from the Shi’ite Islamic Dawa party. Abadi appears to have the blessing of Iraq’s powerful Shi’ite clergy, a major force since US troops toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Iraqi state television said Abadi “called on all political powers who believe in the constitution and democracy to unite efforts and close ranks to respond to Iraq‘s great challenges”.
One politician close to Abadi told Reuters that the prime minister-designate had begun contacting leaders of major groups to sound them out on forming a new cabinet. The president said on Monday he hoped he would succeed within the next month.
A statement from a major Shi’ite militia group, Asaib Ahl Haq, which has backed Maliki and reinforced theIraqi army as it fell back from the north in June, called for an end to the legalistic arguments of the kind used by Maliki to justify his retaining power and urged “self-restraint by all sides”.
It said leaders should “give priority to the public interest over the private” and respect clerical guidance – a clear reference to indications that Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani favours the removal of Maliki to address the national crisis.
US OFFER
While US officials have been at pains not to appear to be imposing a new leadership on Iraq, three years after U.S. troops left the country, President Barack Obama was quick to welcome the appointment. Wrangling over a new government since Iraqis elected the new parliament in April has been exploited by the Islamic State to seize much of the north and west.
Obama has sent hundreds of US military advisers and last week launched air strikes on the militants after they made dramatic gains against the Peshmerga forces of Iraq’s autonomous ethnic Kurdish region, an ally of the Baghdad authorities.
Kurdish president Masoud Barzani told U.S. Vice President Joe Biden that he would work with Abadi, theWhite House said.
US officials have said the Kurds are also receiving direct military aid, and US and British aircraft have dropped food and other supplies to terrified civilians, including from the Yazidi religious minority, who have taken refuge in remote mountains. The United Nations said on Tuesday that 20,000 to 30,000 Yazidis may still be sheltering on the arid Mount Sinjar.
Kerry, who on Monday had warned Maliki not to resort to force to hold on to power, said on Tuesday that Abadi could win more US military and economic assistance.
“We are prepared to consider additional political, economic and security options as Iraq’s governmentstarts to build a new government,” he told a news conference in Australia, where he also reaffirmed that Washington would not send combat troops.
“The best thing for stability in Iraq is for an inclusive government to bring the disaffected parties to the table and work with them in order to make sure there is the kind of sharing of power and decision-making that people feel confident the government represents all of their interests,” Kerry added.
BAGHDAD CALMER
It remains unclear how much support Maliki, who remains acting premier, has to obstruct the formation of a new administration. One senior government official told Reuters that his fears of a military standoff in the capital had eased as police and troops had reduced their presence on the streets.
“Yesterday Baghdad was very tense,” he said. “But key military commanders have since contacted the president and said they would support him and not Maliki.”
In both Shi’ite and Sunni districts of the capital, many spoke of a sense of relief and cautious hope for change.
“I’m very happy Maliki will not be prime minister again. I hate him; he killed my sons and broke my heart,” said 68-year-old Um Aqeel as she walked in the Karrada shopping district.
Saying two of her sons had died in violence in the past year – one while serving as a soldier in the north in May – she said: “Maliki knows only the language of war and never believes in peace, just like Saddam. Yesterday when I heard he was out I felt justice has been done by God, and my two beloved sons who were killed because of him will rest in peace.”
But as Um Aqeel offered sweets to passers-by in the mainly Shi’ite area to share her satisfaction, one man, Murtadha al-Waeli, warned her angrily that she was wrong to celebrate.
“Soon you will all regret Maliki’s going,” he said. “It was he who built a strong army. Iraq will fall apart after Maliki, and we will lose the battle with the terrorists. Shi’ites will pay a high price for losing Maliki. Just wait and see.”
In the mainly Sunni district of Adhamiya, where many people have long resented what they saw as Maliki’s determination to keep Sunnis out of positions of influence, cafe owner Khalid Saad said he hoped Abadi would learn a lesson from the past by keeping his distance from Iran and leaving Sunnis in peace.
“Maliki treated us Sunni like aliens,” he said. “We hope Abadi will learn from Maliki’s fatal mistakes and pull the country back from its sea of troubles.”

A small number of aircraft, fitted with state-of-the-art Litening III reconnaissance pods, were dispatched to Cyprus as part of a mission to deliver aid to Iraq, the British ministry of defence said on Tuesday.

“Thousands of innocent people suffering in northern Iraq urgently need our help.” Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said.
“Tornado aircraft will be able to play a specialist surveillance role to give us a more complete picture of the situation in the crisis area.”

The Tornado aircraft will be stationed at RAF Acrotiri, available to fly over the crisis area at short notice to provide vital intelligence to assist the delivery of the UK aid.

So far, three consignments of aid, provided by the Department for International Development, have been delivered to the area by the RAF using Hercules aircraft, the MoD said.

The humanitarian aid drops by RAF C130 aircraft, which took place early on Tuesday morning, included nearly 9,000 5-litre water bottles and 816 solar lanterns.

By Mike Collett

Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice as a rampant Real Madrid side, featuring the most expensive strikeforce ever assembled, powered to a 2-0 win over Sevilla in the all-Spanish UEFA Super Cup at the Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday.

Real, starting with eight of the team that won the Champions League last season, were predictably the better side in the annual curtain-raiser to the European club season and were far too strong for Sevilla, the Europa League winners.

Ronaldo put Real ahead after 30 minutes when he converted a sublime pass from returning hometown hero Gareth Bale, the world’s most expensive player, and the Portuguese winger made it 2-0 with a fierce left-foot shot after 49 minutes.
Real’s front four of Bale, Ronaldo, Colombia’s James Rodriguez and Karim Benzema, who cost a total of about 270 million pounds, could easily have scored more as the Madrid side won the trophy for the first time since 2002.

The opening goal, started and finished by Ronaldo, deservedly saw Real take the lead as they dominated the opening half and went close to scoring at least three other goals.
Ronaldo began the move inside his own half before the ball was played out to Bale wide on the left.
The Welshman, playing back in his birthplace, raced forward and then sent a deadly accurate, swirling 40-metre cross-field pass into Ronaldo’s path.
The Portugal forward, who ran more than 50 metres to get into a scoring position, slid the ball home under Sevilla goalkeeper Beto to put the European champions ahead.

Ronaldo had gone close to scoring four minutes earlier when he turned away from the defence after a Benzema pass, but Beto blocked his effort that time.
Bale had two other attempts deflected and Ronaldo also went close with a free-kick in the opening period.
Although Sevilla played neat football in midfield, with Denis Suarez involved, their only real chance saw forward Vitolo’s 20th minute shot blocked by keeper Iker Casillas.

The outcome was all but settled four minutes after the break when Ronaldo thundered home a left-foot shot that Beto, who was far off his line, got his fingers to but could not keep out.

Toni Kroos, who joined Real from Bayern Munich after helping Germany win the World Cup last month, played in Benzema who fed Ronaldo to scored from 15 metres.
The neutrals in the 33,000-crowd cheered Bale every time he touched the ball and, although he did not score, the Welshman had a night to remember as Real gave every indication they could go a long way in defending the Champions League this term.

By Maria Savva

After being forced to close due to financial difficulties, ‘Anemoni’ the Centre for Cerebral Palsy and Handicapped Children in Ayios Dhometios in Nicosia will be reopening in September.

The charity was able to secure state support as well as help and support from donors, said Commissioner of Volunteerism Yiannis Yiannaki.

Anemoni had suspended its operation after it became impossible to cope with the economic difficulties it faced. The announcement prompted an immediate mobilisation, which succeeded in raising enough money to get the centre running again.
“Prior to closing, Anemoni had an operational expense of about €250,000 a year which will now be around €150,000 a year.

After the council’s actions we have managed to find the appropriate means of help and support from donors and the centre will be operational in September. The centre will be working closely with relevant government officials to make sure that it is receiving all the contributions it deserves,” he added.

Anemoni’s objective is to provide proper care, support, and treatment to children with special needs. It serves as a day care centre, which accommodates children with disabilities from two to fourteen years old. The disabilities vary from light to severe mobility problems, loss of hearing or vision, and learning disabilities.

Yannaki said the centre was helping around 10 children. “Volunteering is very important in our country, and I believe that with good coordination and cooperation from the state and its ministries ‘Anemoni’ is on a good path to reopen,” he said.
Volunteer Neophytos Neophytou said steps were also being taken to see if there was interest on a long- term basis to provide help to children with special needs. “We have had very positive indications and response from various sectors, individuals and organisations willing to help,” he said.