THE police is investigating the cause of fire that destroyed a €20,000 car in Paphos on Friday morning.
According to a police report, the fire broke out at 9.15am in the car that was parked in the owner’s house, a 33-year-old man from Lebanon living permanently in Cyprus.
Evidence was collected from the scene by the police, the Fire Department and the electromechanical services.
Paphos CID is investigating the case.
BANK of Cyprus (BoC) said on Friday it had received just over €100m in offers for shares from existing shareholders during the process known as the ‘clawback’.
The lender said it had received offers amounting to €103.9m, which represent 10.39 per cent of the €1.0bn new capital it raised in July.
Existing shareholders could apply for up to 20 per cent in aggregate of the total number of shares offered to qualified investors in the first phase.
The minimum purchase per investor in the clawback was €100,000 and all existing shareholders were eligible to participate.
The capital raise is subject to shareholder approval in an EGM scheduled for next Thursday, August 28.
By Greg Stutchbury
New Zealand’s forwards responded to criticism of their performance in their opening Rugby Championship clash to set the foundation for a 51-20 victory over Australia at Eden Park on Saturday that also ensured the retention of the Bledisloe Cup.
All Blacks captain Richie McCaw, who was sinbinned early in the game, scored two tries while Kieran Read, Julian Savea and Steven Luatua also crossed, with their pack awarded a penalty try as part of a record score against the Wallabies.
Flyhalf Aaron Cruden kicked five conversions and three penalties, while Wallabies fullback Israel Folau and captain Michael Hooper crossed for tries with Kurtley Beale adding two penalties and two conversions.
The victory ensured the Bledisloe Cup remained in New Zealand for the 12th successive year. The third match in Brisbane in October is now a dead rubber in terms of the battle for the symbol of trans-Tasman supremacy.
Maligned for their failure to combat the Wallabies’ intensity in the 12-12 draw in Sydney last week, New Zealand’s forwards tore into their Australian counterparts, intent on protecting a formidable 20-year unbeaten record at Eden Park.
“We put the acid on those guys to front up this week,” McCaw told reporters of his tight five’s efforts.
“We looked at what happened last week and for a lot of the game we were getting beaten in the contact areas. They knew that and they set the platform for some go forward ball.
“Rugby is a hell of a lot easier when you win the contact.”
While Cruden and Beale traded early penalties, the sinbinning of McCaw in the 13th minute for a professional foul galvanised the home side, who controlled the ball the entire time their captain was on the sideline.
With the All Blacks leading 9-6, the tide of the match turned when Wallabies lock Rob Simmons was sinbinned just as McCaw was returning and the home side attacked the visitors’ scrum.
MAN ADVANTAGE
The All Blacks exploited their man advantage when Brodie Retallick was held up over the line and used the resulting scrum to shunt the Wallabies’ backwards and then disintegrate their pack with referee Romain Poite awarding a penalty try.
Then they produced a sweeping counter-attack from inside their own 22 after turning the ball over, spread it wide with Cruden drawing defenders before offloading a perfectly timed pass to Savea outside him.
Cruden’s conversion gave the All Blacks a handy 23-6 lead at the break that they extended with a scintillating 10-minute burst after the break that produced three more tries, two to McCaw from attacking lineouts.
“When you’re chasing 20-odd points against a team like the All Blacks it’s a dangerous experience and you need to take risks to chase the game,” Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie said.
“They played well, no question but I know we’re better than that, so it was a very frustrating night.”
Folau and Hooper scored two quick consolation tries for the visitors before Luatua scored a last-minute try that Aaron Smith converted to give them a record score.
The All Blacks’ previous best score was the 50-21 they accumulated in 2003, the year they regained the Bledisloe Cup.
“It was a special performance,” All Blacks coach Steve Hansen added. Obviously we didn’t play well last week, it was disappointing because we set high standards for ourselves.”
“We showed an intensity that we didn’t have the week before.”
Both sides now have a week off before their next Rugby Championship clashes, with the All Blacks playing Argentina in Napier, while the Wallabies head to Perth to host South Africa on Sept. 6.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Espen Barth Eide of Norway as his new Special Adviser on Cyprus.
Eide will assume the position, formerly held by Alexander Downer of Australia, who stepped down as his Special Adviser in April.
“The Secretary-General expresses his gratitude to Lisa Buttenheim of the United States, his Special Representative and Head of Mission, United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), for serving as Acting Special Adviser since Downer’s departure,” a press release said.
Eide is a seasoned diplomat who brings to the position a deep understanding of peace processes and peacemaking. He was previously Minister for Foreign Affairs of Norway from 2012 to 2013, and also served in other senior positions during his 10 years in the Norwegian Government, including as Minister for Defence from 2011 to 2012.
He was a Senior Researcher and Research Director at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, specialising in peacekeeping, peacebuilding and regional and global security issues. He has also been involved in a series of important United Nations-initiated best practices and reform processes.
Eide currently serves as Managing Director and Member of the Managing Board of the World Economic Forum in Geneva.
Born in 1964, he is married and has three sons.
By Natalia Zinets and Richard Balmforth
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday the standoff over Ukraine could be solved but only if control was tightened over the Ukraine-Russia border across which, the West alleges, Russia has been funnelling arms to help a separatist rebellion.
Merkel was visiting Kiev as a prelude to a meeting next week between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders that diplomats say is the best chance in months of a peace deal in eastern Ukraine, where government forces are fighting pro-Moscow rebels.
But she arrived as tensions flared up again. NATO has alleged Russia’s military is active inside Ukraine helping the rebels, and Moscow angered Kiev and its Western allies by sending an aid convoy into Ukraine against Kiev’s wishes.
“There must be two sides to be successful. You cannot achieve peace on your own. I hope the talks with Russia will lead to success,” said Merkel, looking ahead to a meeting on Tuesday involving Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko.
“The plans are on the table…now actions must follow,” the German leader told a news conference after talks with Poroshenko in the Ukrainian capital.
She said a ceasefire was needed, but the main obstacle was the lack of controls along the nearly 2,000 km border. She proposed an agreement between Kiev and Moscow on monitoring of the frontier by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Poroshenko suggested he saw scope for accord.
“The Ukrainian side and our European partners will do everything possible to bring about peace – but not at the price of sovereignty, territorial integrity and the independence of Ukraine,” he said.
Hours before her plane landed in Kiev, there was heavy artillery bombardment in Donetsk, the main separatist stronghold on the east of Ukraine, near the border with Russia. Reuters reporters saw apartments destroyed and puddles of blood, where, according to residents, two civilians were killed.
The unusually intense shelling may be part of a drive by government forces to achieve a breakthrough against the rebels in time for Ukrainian Independence Day, which falls on Sunday.
Diplomats say Merkel has two aims for the visit: primarily to show support for Kiev in its stand-off with Russia, but also to urge Poroshenko to be open to peace proposals when he meets Putin next week.
TRUCK CONVOY
The conflict in Ukraine has dragged Russian-Western relations to their lowest ebb since the Cold War and sparked a round of trade sanctions that are hurting already-fragile economies in European and Russia.
A convoy of about 220 white-painted trucks rolled into Ukraine on Friday through a border crossing controlled by the rebels after days waiting for clearance.
Moscow said the trucks moved in without Kiev’s consent because civilians in areas under siege from Ukrainian government troops were in urgent need of food, water and other supplies. Kiev called the convoy a direct invasion, a stance echoed by NATO, the United States, and European leaders.
A Reuters journalist at the Donetsk-Izvaryne border crossing, where the convoy rolled into Ukraine on Friday, said trucks on Saturday had started pouring back onto the Russian side of the border.
The foreign ministry in Moscow said the convoy had now left Ukraine, though a Ukrainian military spokesman disputed this, saying only 184 of the 220 vehicles had re-entered Russia.
In Brussels, NATO said it had reports of Russian troops engaging Kiev’s forces inside Ukraine – fuelling Western allegations that the Kremlin is behind the conflict in an effort undermine the Western-leaning leadership in Kiev.
“Russian artillery support – both cross border and from within Ukraine – is being employed against the Ukrainian armed forces,” said NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu.
A Ukrainian military spokesman in Kiev, Andriy Lysenko, said Ukrainian government forces were now coming under cross-border fire from Russia, using Grad and Uragan missiles, over a 400 kms length of the border.
The Russian foreign ministry, in a statement, called those allegations “groundless.” Russia accuses Kiev, with the backing of the West, of waging a war against innocent civilians in eastern Ukraine, a mainly Russian-speaking region.
HOMES DESTROYED
The crisis over Ukraine started when mass protests in Kiev ousted a president who was close to Moscow, and installed leaders viewed with suspicion by the Kremlin.
Soon after that, Russia annexed the Ukrainian region of Crimea, and a separatist rebellion broke out in eastern Ukraine. In the past weeks, the momentum has shifted towards Ukraine’s forces, who have been pushing back the rebels.
The separatists are now encircled in their two strongholds, Luhansk and Donetsk.
Reuters reporters in Donetsk said that most of the shelling was taking place in the outskirts, but explosions were also audible in the centre of the city.
In Donetsk’s Leninsky district, a man who gave his name as Grigory, said he was in the toilet on Saturday morning when he heard the whistling sound of incoming artillery. “Then it hit. I came out and half the building was gone.”
The roof of the building had collapsed into a heap of debris. Grigory said his 27-year-old daughter was taken to hospital with injuries to her head. He picked up a picture of a baby from the rubble. “This is my grandson,” he said.
In another residential area, about 5 km north of the city centre, a shop and several houses had been hit. Residents said two men, civilians, were killed.
Praskoviya Grigoreva, 84, pointed to two puddles of blood on the pavement near a bus stop that was destroyed in the same attack. “He’s dead. Death took him on this spot,” she said.
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Yasmine Saleh
Egypt called on Israel and the Palestinians on Saturday to halt fire and resume peace talks, but violence continued unabated with Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip and Hamas militants firing rockets at the Jewish state.
A senior Egyptian diplomat said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had informed Sisi that Hamas was prepared to come to Cairo for further talks, but Hamas did not immediately confirm the report. Israel also had no immediate comment.
Gaza health officials said five people, including two children, were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in central Gaza. Four more Palestinians were killed in other strikes.
The Israeli military said it bombed about 20 targets across the Hamas-dominated strip, including rocket launchers and weapon caches. It said Gaza militants had fired more than 40 rockets at Israel and no Israeli casualties were reported.
Indirect ceasefire talks mediated by Egypt to end the deadly six-week conflict collapsed on Tuesday after rockets were fired from Gaza during a truce and Israel responded with air strikes.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a short statement on Saturday calling on both sides to resume talks. Palestinian President Abbas, in Cairo after meeting President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, also urged swift resumption of negotiations.
The Egyptian diplomat said Cairo expected to receive responses from both Israel and Hamas, the Islamist militant group which dominates Gaza, by Monday.
The talks, conducted in Cairo, do not involve direct meetings between Israeli officials and representatives of Hamas. Israel considers Hamas a terrorist organisation and Hamas for its part refuses to recognise Israel. Egyptian officials shuttle between the two sides.
Hamas has said it will not stop fighting until the Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza is lifted.
Both Israel and Egypt view Hamas as a security threat and are reluctant to make sweeping concessions without guarantees weapons will not enter the economically-crippled enclave.
ICC BID
The Israeli military said Palestinian gunmen had fired almost 500 rockets at Israel since the talks broke down and Gaza health officials said 65 Palestinians had been killed in Israeli air strikes since then.
The Cairo talks had aimed to secure a lasting deal that would open the way for reconstruction aid to flow into the Gaza territory of 1.8 million people, where thousands of homes have been destroyed.
“My main goal is for the truce talks to resume in Egypt as soon as possible to avoid more casualties,” Abbas told a news conference in Cairo.
Palestinian health officials say 2,080 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the small, densely populated coastal enclave since July 8, when Israel launched an offensive with the declared aim of ending rocket fire into its territory.
Saturday’s violence came a day after a four-year-old Israeli boy was killed by a mortar attack from Gaza, leading Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to threaten to escalate the fight against Hamas, vowing the group would “pay a heavy price”.
The boy was the first Israeli child to have died in the conflict, bringing to four the number of civilians killed in Israel. Sixty-four Israeli soldiers have also been killed.
The Israeli military had said on Friday the mortar was fired from a school serving as a U.N. shelter, but later retracted that statement, saying the shelter was run by Hamas.
On Friday, Israel’s military spokesman Brig. Gen. Motti Almoz warned Palestinians near weapons stockpiles in Gaza to leave their homes. “We are intensifying our attacks,” he said, adding that Israel was “preparing for possible ground action”.
Israel pulled ground forces out of Gaza more than two weeks ago after saying it had destroyed a network of Hamas tunnels used for cross-border ambushes. But Netanyahu last week granted provisional approval for the call-up of 10,000 army reservists, signalling the possibility of heightened military action.
The United Nations says about 400,000 Gazans have been displaced and more than 400 children killed in the longest and deadliest violence between Israel and the Palestinians since the second Intifada, or Palestinian uprising, a decade ago.
Hamas leaders said on Saturday they have signed off on Abbas’s bid to join the International Criminal Court (ICC), a move that could open up both Israel and the militant group to war crime probes over the Gaza conflict. [ID: L5N0QT066]
If the Palestinians were to sign the ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, the court would have jurisdiction over crimes committed in the Palestinian territories. An investigation could then examine events as far back as mid-2002.
Israel and Hamas have traded allegations of war crimes and both defend their military operations as consistent with international law.
Bombings across Iraq killed at least 35 people in attacks that appeared to be revenge for an assault on a Sunni mosque that has deepened sectarian conflict.
A bomb also exploded in the northern city of Arbil on Saturday, a rare attack unsettling the relative stability the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region has enjoyed.
Local television footage showed firefighters dousing the charred remains of a car in Arbil. A Reuters journalist earlier saw a cloud of smoke, but the source was not clear.
In Baghdad, a bomber rammed a vehicle into an intelligence headquarters, killing at least eight people, police and medical sources said. Near Tikrit, a suicide bomber driving a military Humvee packed with explosives attacked a gathering of soldiers and Shi’ite militias overnight, killing nine.
Shi’ite militiamen machinegunned 68 worshipers at a village mosque in Diyala Province on Friday as politicians try to form a power-sharing government capable of countering Islamic State militants.
An advance by Islamic State through northern Iraq has alarmed the Baghdad government and its Western allies and drawn U.S. airstrikes in Iraq for the first time since the withdrawal of American troops in 2011.
Although the air campaign has caused a few setbacks for Islamic State, they do not address the far broader problem of sectarian warfare which the group has fueled with attacks on Shi’ites.
Bombings, kidnappings and execution-style shootings occur almost daily, echoing the dark days of 2006-2007, the peak of a sectarian civil war.
In addition to the Arbil attack, three bombings that appeared to target Kurdish forces killed 18 people in the city of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, security sources said.
Islamic State routed Kurdish forces in its latest advance through the north.
Two of Iraq’s most influential Sunni politicians suspended participation in talks on forming a new government after the militiamen carried out the mosque attack.
Deputy Prime Minister Saleh Mutlaq and Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jibouri have pulled out of talks with the main Shi’ite alliance until the results of an investigation into the killings are announced.
Jibouri, a moderate Sunni, condemned both Islamic State as well as the Iranian-trained Shi’ite militias who Sunnis say kidnap and kill members of their sect with impunity.
“We will not allow them to exploit disturbed security in the country to undermine the political process. We believe the political process should move on,” he told a news conference on Saturday.
Iraq’s new Shi’ite prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, faces the task of trying to draw Sunnis into politics after they were sidelined by his predecessor Nuri al-Maliki.
Maliki stepped aside after pressure from Sunnis, Kurds, some fellow Shi’ites, Iran and the United States.
Iran, a regional power broker with deep influence in Iraq, is sending its foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, to Baghdad on Sunday for talks with Iraqi officials.
By Alan Baldwin
Formula One leader Nico Rosberg swept to pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday with Mercedes team mate and title rival Lewis Hamilton alongside on the front row after a wet qualifying session.
Red Bull’s four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel, last year’s winner at the circuit in the Ardennes forests, qualified in third place and was joined on the second row by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
Rosberg leads 2008 world champion Hamilton by 11 points after 11 of 19 races.
The pole was Rosberg’s seventh of the season, with dominant Mercedes taking 11 of the 12 so far, fourth in a row and 11th of his Formula One career.
It was also his first at Spa in typically tricky conditions and reinforced his team’s pace, with Rosberg’s pole time of two minutes 05.591 seconds comparing to Vettel’s best lap of 2:07.717 – a hefty margin.
“It’s awesome. This is one of the most special tracks of the year so to be in front here is great,” said the German. “It’s always difficult on this track in the wet.
“We have a great car here. We are leading the way. We definitely have really good chances for tomorrow.”
Hamilton, a winner in Belgium in 2010, had been quickest in the second phase of qualifying and the front row start, while not pole, at least ended a long run of qualifying setbacks.
“I’m just happy to be up here,” said the Briton, who started the previous race in Hungary last and from the pit lane but still finished third and ahead of Rosberg at the chequered flag.
“I had a glazed front left brake disc so the car was pulling to the left or to the right, and there was nothing I could do on the out lap to get rid of that…I had to bring the braking point a little bit further back, and I was losing massive amounts out of turn one.”
Australian Daniel Ricciardo, winner in Hungary, qualified fifth for Red Bull with Finland’s Valtteri Bottas alongside in a Williams.
Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen was seventh for McLaren with Ferrari’s four times Spa winner Kimi Raikkonen eighth and Brazilian Felipe Massa ninth for Williams.
At the back of the grid, Germany’s three times Le Mans winner Andre Lotterer made his qualifying debut at the age of 32 and was nearly a second quicker than Swedish rookie team mate Marcus Ericsson in the other Caterham.
The German did however benefit from updates that Ericsson did not have.
Frenchman Jules Bianchi continued to impress for Marussia, qualifying 16th and ahead of Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado in the Lotus and Germany’s Nico Hulkenberg for Force India.
THE second pole dancing championship, ‘PoleArt 2014’ is being held in October and the organisers, MooN dance studio, are inviting participants to enter and claim the $30,000 prize, ‘the largest amount given in pole dance history’.
The organisers promise a spectacular show with more than 100 participants from all over the world and with a performance of the world renowned Cirque du Soleil on the final day of the event.
The best of the participants will also have the opportunity to perform at the closing gala with masters of pole dancing from all over the world.
The contestants will compete in five categories: professional men, professional women, semi-professional women, amateur women and junior.
The judges of the championship, Anna de Carvalho, Saulo Sarmiento and Steven Retchless, are winners of various global and national pole dance competitions and with experience in judging other competitions in the past.
“The aim of the event is to develop pole dancing as a genre and to bring dancers together with the aim to popularise pole dancing among Cypriots,” the organisers said. They also want to represent pole dancing and pole acrobatics as a new sport and to facilitate the increasing popularity of a healthy lifestyle.
The championship will be held in Monte Caputo concert hall in Limassol from October 29 to 31. Organisers welcome participants from all nationalities as well as representatives of dance schools, studios and organisations. Participants must be over 18, except for the junior category.
For more information visit www.poleart.com
By Bejay Browne
PAPHOS is gearing up for the Pafos Aphrodite festival 2014 with the highly acclaimed operatic production of Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte which will get underway next month.
The three performances will take place on September 5, 6 and 7 at the specially constructed open air amphitheatre at Paphos harbour, with the added attraction of the medieval fort as a backdrop.
“We are celebrating the 16th festival this year and are pleased to welcome the Opera Futura Verona, the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, the lyric chorus of Pafos Aphrodite Festival and the Amintore Galli chorus of Rimini in Italy,” said the mayor of Paphos, Savvs Vergas.
The orchestra and the chorus will be conducted by Cypriot conductor Ayis Ioannides and the productions sets have been created by renowned Italian director and set designer Paolo Panizza. Most of the opera’s cast and soloists will arrive in Cyprus today.
“This is a fantastic setting for the opera; listening to Mozart’s music under the stars,” the mayor said:
The then controversial two act opera saw its premiere at the Burgtheater in Vienna in 1790. It was regarded as daring for its time, as its focuses on a story of exchanging lovers.
“The story continues to enchant audiences today as it deals with the timeless issues of love, unfaithfulness, reason and emotion. These co-exist in a comic story where deception entwines with the truth and the facade co-exists with the face,” said festival manager Stella Shepi.
The company of ‘Pafos Aphrodite Festival Cyprus’ – PAFC – was founded in 1998 by the municipalities of Paphos, Yeroskipou and Peyia, along with the Paphos chamber of commerce and the Paphos board of the Cyprus Hoteliers Association.
Shepi said the organisation is non profit making and aims to promote the area as an international centre of high profile cultural events as well as contributing to Cyprus’ global standing in both the cultural and tourist sectors.
Shepi said that hundreds of opera lovers from all over the world are expected to once again descend on Paphos to enjoy the open air performances. She added that the event has gained global recognition and momentum with each passing year.
”This opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart marks the 16-year-old success story of the Pafos Aphrodite Festival and confirms its status by again presenting an artistic performance of international range,” she said.
Subtitle translation will be available in Greek and English during all of the performances.
Mozart’s ‘Cosi Fan Tutte’, September 5, 6 and 7 at the mediaeval fort in Paphos. Tickets are priced 25, 40, 50 and 70 euros. Visit www.pafc.com.cy or info@pafc.com.cy or call 26822218
By Mike Collett
Chelsea scored a second successive win over a newly-promoted side when they beat Leicester City 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday thanks to second-half goals from Diego Costa and Eden Hazard.
Chelsea started the season with a 3-1 win at last season’s Championship (second division) runners-up Burnley on Monday and Saturday’s win over winners Leicester gave Jose Mourinho’s men six points after a much improved second-half performance against the resilient visitors.
Swansea City also have six points from their opening two games after a first-half Nathan Dyer goal gave them a 1-0 win over Burnley at the Liberty Stadium.
West Ham United picked up their first points with a 3-1 win at managerless Crystal Palace thanks to two first half goals in three minutes from Argentine debutant Mauro Zarate and Stewart Downing, and a second half volley from Carlton Cole.
Marouane Chamakh scored for Palace before Cole’s third for the Hammers but the Eagles have now lost both their opening games following their 2-1 loss at Arsenal last week.
In the other games Aston Villa drew 0-0 with Newcastle United and Southampton were held to a 0-0 draw at home by West Bromwich Albion.
An Israeli air strike destroyed a 13-storey residential tower block in the centre of Gaza City on Saturday and initial reports said 17 people were wounded, the Israeli army and Gaza health officials said.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the building, which collapsed completely, had been used as a command centre by Hamas militants. Local residents said the building housed 44 families.
THE ABJECT failure to evaluate situations and prepare adequately for them has cost the Cyprus economy dearly in recent years.
Our politicians, always terrified of taking unpopular decisions, have regularly adopted the approach of hiding their heads in the sand and pretending a problem does not exist until they can ignore it no longer.
And when dealing with it cannot be put off any longer decisions are imposed on them, because they had not bothered exploring their options when there was time to do so.
It is not only politicians that are guilty of this appallingly reckless behaviour but also our top technocrats. In fact they should take a bigger share of the responsibility for the catastrophic consequences of this happy-go-lucky approach, because they should always have been evaluating conditions and drafting proposals for dealing with them for ministers.
If ministers chose to ignore them, it would be duty of civil servants to speak out publicly. But the slapdash way of doing things, improvising policy when decisions cannot be avoided any longer, seems to suit our ruling elite.
Former president Christofias, for instance, is still being criticised for his failure to demand the protection of the Cypriot banks at the European Council meeting that decided the haircut of the Greek government debt in October 2011.
Yet the truth is that not a single politician, technocrat or analyst had advised that Christofias should have raised the issue of protecting the Cypriot banks that were over-exposed to Greek government debt.
In retrospect, everyone knew what should have been done, but before the Council meeting nobody thought it necessary to study the repercussions of such a decision for the country and advise the president what to do.
President Anastasiades had even fewer excuses for going unprepared to the first Eurogroup meeting in March 2013.
The possibility of a bank deposits haircut had been raised at earlier Eurogroup meetings, it was the subject of reports in authoritative publications and it was not ruled out by top EU officials when they spoke publicly about it.
But the president and his entourage arrived in Brussels completely unprepared, without a plan B or a list of alternative options that they could have proposed to the meeting.
Anastasiades was under the illusion that his vow not to agree to a haircut of deposits during a speech to the legislature had settled the matter and there was no need to prepare for the worst.
Should we also mention the fire-sale of the operations of Cypriot banks in Greece, which according to some estimates cost the economy a loss of about €2 billion? Again, the Central Bank of Cyprus, as the resolution authority, did not study its options, nor did it put together a negotiating plan for securing a higher price, agreeing to sell at the ridiculously price that was offered.
The list of blunders committed because of the lack of preparation and planning is endless while the cost to the economy is in the billions, but we still refuse to mend our ways.
Now, the government is pushing to get the foreclosures bill through the legislature by Thursday so the release of the next tranche of financial assistance would be approved.
On Wednesday the Council of Ministers hurriedly approved a raft of measures supposedly aimed at protecting primary residences and small businesses, in the hope that some parties would eventually back the foreclosures bill.
The measures were deemed inadequate, so the president met the party leaders on Friday morning to hear their suggestions. The Council of Ministers met again in the afternoon to approve the bill incorporating the proposals of the leaders.
Interestingly, the need for a foreclosures law was included in the first memorandum agreed by the Christofias government at the end of 2012, but nothing had been done.
It was finalised last month, after negotiations with the Troika and again without the government having properly studied the matter so it would be able to argue its case convincingly.
Instead it allowed the opposition parties to demonise the bill and make demands for increasingly ridiculous counter-measures, some of which it had to satisfy in the hope of having the foreclosures bill approved.
The mish-mash of a bill of counter-measures, drafted by committee, and hurriedly approved by the cabinet on Friday afternoon so it could be submitted to the House on Monday is now the only hope for the foreclosures bill – on which the economy’s stability depends – being approved by the end of this week.
Improvisation and last-gasp decision-making have triumphed again, because in Cyprus government do not like to prepare for anything.
By George Psyllides
MONDAY is the start of a tough week for the government and possibly the country as major developments are expected that could derail the course of the economy, which appears, at least on paper, to be going smoothly.
The first major obstacle for the government is the bill on foreclosures and other related legislations, which the majority of parties oppose.
The administration has amended the general framework, mainly to convince its erstwhile partner DIKO whose chairman, Nicolas Papadopoulos, appears sceptical.
DIKO abandoned the government shortly after Papadopoulos won the party leadership, ostensibly on account of President Nicos Anastasiades’ stance on the Cyprus problem.
Papadopoulos, who previously said the fastest way to get rid of the terms of the bailout was to implement them, has now formed an alliance with AKEL and EDEK to fight it.
Observers suggest his motives are purely political and are none other than the presidency itself. It remains to be seen whether he would be willing to put the country’s interests at risk since, as officials warned, rejection of the bill would spell trouble.
Failure to pass the foreclosures bill would preclude Cyprus from receiving the next tranche of financial aid in September.
Beyond the direct and indirect repercussions for the state, it would also mean trouble for the island’s fragile banking system.
During discussion in parliament earlier this month, Finance Minister Harris Georgiades and Central Bank Governor Chrystalla Georghadji warned that rejection of the legislation would have negative repercussions.
“Without a healthy banking system we have no economy. The banks may be blamed for a lot of things but that doesn’t mean that debtors shouldn’t pay their loans,” the CBC Governor said.
The Governor said the value of the mortgaged loans in the upcoming stress tests would be zero if the bill was not passed, meaning Cypriot banks would need more capital.
Without an effective loan recovery tool, banks, which will be put under a single supervisory mechanism in November, could be asked to make 100 per cent provisions for their loans.
The finance minister also warned that if Cyprus’ sixth bailout tranche was not disbursed in time, “we will face difficulties and consequences beyond our control and planning.”
As if this headache was not enough, the government must also keep an eye on Bank of Cyprus (BoC), which is in the process of completing a €1.0 billion capital raise. But not if its old shareholders get their way.
Numbering approximately 88,000, the bank’s old shareholders saw their shares’ value diminished to 1.0 per cent in March 2013 when the bank was restructured following a conversion of 47.5 per cent of uninsured deposits into equity, the absorption of failed Laiki bank and the selling off of the bank’s Greek operations to Piraeus bank.
Now, 285 shareholders want an injunction banning the increase in share capital before the value of their stock is restored to the level of March 15, 2013 or else suspend an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) scheduled for August 28 to vote on the capital raise.
The court decision is expected on Tuesday. Without the extra cash, BoC would have a difficult time passing the upcoming pan-European stress tests on systemic banks that will be put under European supervision.
But even if the court rejects the request, the capital raise may be defeated at the EGM as shareholders claim it is tantamount to a second deposit seizure.
The motion must be approved by 75 per cent of those present. The government has 18 per cent of the vote but some Russian shareholders have signalled they would vote to reject.
Former deputy chairman of the board Evdokimos Xenophontos compared it to taking their rights and handing them over “just like that on a plate. These things are illegal.”
Xenophontos, wrote to the head of the European Commission’s mission chief for Cyprus, telling him it was wrong to put a patient who is under “intensive care” through a “stress test”.
“Such a test should be postponed. Right now the Bank of Cyprus is undergoing a recovery process,” Xenophontos told Maarten Verwey.
Xenophontos argued that the way the fresh capital was secured alienated the bailed-in depositors and effectively put the bank in the hands of foreign interests.
“How can the Bank of Cyprus and the country regain its credibility when it keeps doing such bad practices? Why don’t we follow a policy of small but frequent rights issues which in actual fact are “voluntary/optional bail-ins?” a method used successfully after the 1974 Turkish invasion.
Verwey’s response was that the stress tests were a pan-European exercise and postponement was not an option. On top of that, the European official said, it would not help reestablish confidence in the Cypriot banking system.
A strong, magnitude 6.6 quake hit central Chile on Saturday, shaking buildings and prompting power outages in the capital, Santiago, but not causing any major damage.
The epicenter was 31 miles (50 km) north-northeast of the port city of Valparaiso, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake, which the USGS originally reported at magnitude 6.3, hit at a depth of 20 miles (32 km).
The Chilean navy said there was no tsunami risk.
About 100,000 people in Santiago lost electricity, and there were also partial power cuts in the cities of Temuco and Valparaiso, said Chilean emergency service Onemi.
There were no reports of any structural damage, Onemi said. Quakes are common in Chile, the world’s top copper producer, and its infrastructure is designed to withstand strong tremors.
State copper firm Codelco said its Andina mine, 50 km (31 miles) northeast of the capital, was operating normally. Most of the copper mines are in the north of the country, which was not affected by the quake.
The relatively shallow quake, which hit at 6:33 p.m. (2233 GMT), was felt as far away as southern Chile and western Argentina.
A shallow earthquake of magnitude 5.2 also struck northwest of the western Iranian city of Dezful on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey said, some 300 miles (480 km) from Tehran, the capital.
There were no immediate reports of casualties. The depth of six miles was the same as that of a 6.3-magnitude quake which hit the same area on Aug. 18, injuring 60 people.
Sunday’s quake hit 38 miles west northwest of Dezful.
The Cyprus problem, the economy and the portfolio of the new Cypriot EU Commissioner will be on the agenda of a private meeting between the President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades and the new President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker on Saturday, August 30, in Brussels.
The meeting will take place in the context of the extraordinary European Council in which EU leaders will decide on the new President of the European Council and the new High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
Juncker will officially announce the composition of the new College of Commissioners.
Cyprus has put forward two candidates for the post of its Commissioner: European People`s Party MEP, Christos Stylianides and the President of Cyprus` European Party Demetris Syllouris. The final decision will be taken by the President of the European Commission after consultations with European leaders.
In statements to CNA, the Government Spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said that the Anastasiades – Juncker meeting is scheduled for Saturday morning. At the meeting, he added, they will discuss the Cyprus problem, the economy and the portfolio of the Cypriot Commissioner.
He also said that President Anastasiades will have the opportunity to meet with other European leaders as well on the sidelines of the Council.
Asked when the newly appointed special adviser to UN Secretary-General on Cyprus, former Foreign Minister of Norway, Espen Barth Eide, is expected to visit Cyprus, Christodoulides said that Eide is expected in Cyprus prior the President`s visit to New York to attend the UN General Assembly, scheduled to take place between 21-28 of September.
A date has not yet been set, he said. Eide will assume the position, formerly held by Alexander Downer of Australia, who stepped down as his Special Adviser in April.
Asked about the President`s program of meetings in New York, Christodoulides said that in addition to the meeting with the UN Secretary General, the President will also meet with leaders of neighboring states and the Gulf states.
On the appointment of the new Chairman of the Board of Directors Cyprus Airways, following the resignation of Tony Anthony, Christodoulides said the final decision will be taken at the next meeting of the Cabinet on Wednesday.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied its northern third. The latest round of UN-led peace talks began in February this year.
CNA
The Turkish side has to cooperate, displaying the necessary good will and sincerity, to help establish the fate of Greek Cypriot missing, in the way the Greek Cypriot side is doing with regard to Turkish Cypriot missing persons, Commissioner for the Environment Ioanna Panayiotou has said.
Speaking at the funeral of Klitos Zeniou, until recently listed as missing whose remains have been located and identified through DNA, she said Turkey must assist such efforts without political or other expediencies.
“We insist that every single case of persons missing in Cyprus must be investigated and we hope to vindicate their sacrifice through the reunification of our homeland, the withdrawal of Turkish occupation troops and settlers and safeguarding human rights and fundamental freedoms,” she said.
She noted that the success rate of excavations is diminishing because the information made available to the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) is insufficient, pointing out that Ankara must allow access to what it describes as military sites for excavations.
Panayiotou recognised the progress achieves so far in these efforts, but stressed that the process of exhumation and identification must be expedited as time is of utmost importance.
The CMP, established in 1981 in compliance with relevant UN General Assembly resolutions, is a tripartite inter-communal investigatory committee, comprising a representative of the Greek Cypriot community, a representative of the Turkish Cypriot community, and a Third Member nominated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and appointed by the UN Secretary General.
In July 2007 the CMP began returning the first remains of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot individuals to their families.
According to the latest data posted on the CMP website, 74 identifications of remains were conducted in 2014, up to July 31st, of which 66 belonged to Greek Cypriots and 8 to Turkish Cypriots. Last year there were 140 identifications of 88 Greek Cypriots and 52 Turkish Cypriots. Moreover, 53 individuals were exhumed in the current year, while in 2013 the total number was 67 individuals.
The percentage of excavation sites where remains were found stands at 11% for 2014.
From 2006 to 2014, a total of 1,093 were exhumed, from which 918 cases have undergone anthropological analysis and 551 were identified.
Donations to CMP in 2014 exceeded 4 mln US dollars, with 3,571,360 coming from the EU, 272,899 from Kuwait, 118,834 from the family of the late President Glafcos Clerides and 45,000 from Switzerland.
CNA
German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned on Sunday that closely watched talks next week between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko in Minsk were unlikely to deliver a breakthrough that would resolve the crisis in Ukraine.
A day after she paid a highly symbolic visit to Kiev, Merkel reiterated that a political solution was needed and that there was no military solution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Putin and Poroshenko are due to meet in the Belarussian capital Minsk on Tuesday at a meeting that will also include senior members of the European Union and the Russian-led Customs Union.
“My visit to Kiev was preparation for such a meeting (between Putin and Poroshenko) which certainly won’t result in the breakthrough,” said Merkel in an interview with ARD television.
“But you have to talk to each other if you want to find solutions,” said Merkel, adding the situation was very fragile.
Merkel, who has tried to play a role in easing the crisis, said she would do everything possible to help the two sides overcome differences on questions from decentralisation to trading ties and gas deliveries.
“What we say, and especially I as someone who experienced how Germany could be united peacefully with the agreement of its neighbours, say that the Ukrainian people must have the opportunity to choose their path,” she said.
Merkel, brought up in Communist East Germany, said she did not want to do anything that would hurt Russia, indeed she wanted to have good trading and diplomatic relations with Moscow.
Soldiers serving in the National Guard will have the opportunity to study through the Open University, following a decision by the Cabinet and the cooperation between the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Defence and the Open University.
The offer will apply to those soldiers who have secured a seat at the higher educational establishments in Cyprus and Greece for a degree course, an official press release informed.
The scheme will apply on a pilot basis, at an estimated cost of 36.000 euro, for the spring term in 2014-2015 beginning January next year, funds which will be drawn from the Ministries of Education and Defence.
Up to 120 soldiers will be selected by the Ministry of Defence to participate in the pilot programme, who are serving along the ceasefire line or at remote military units and taking into account social and economic considerations of the young recruits.
The full implementation of the programme could be in place as early as September next year.
The press release noted that this programme will benefit soldiers in many ways, including gaining credits to help reduce their years of higher education and achieve speedy entry into the labour market.
CNA
Australian Daniel Ricciardo won the Belgian Grand Prix for Red Bull on Sunday while Nico Rosberg finished second to extend his championship lead over Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton to 29 points.
Hamilton passed pole-sitter Rosberg at the start but his hopes were dashed when the two made contact on the second lap as Rosberg tried to retake the lead, slashing Hamilton’s rear tyre with his front wing.
Hamilton made it back to the pits but struggled with a damaged car from then on and finally retired five laps from the end after repeatedly asking to stop.
Finland’s Valtteri Bottas was third for Williams. The win was Ricciardo’s third in 12 Formula One races so far this season and second in a row.
It was also his team’s second in succession in Belgium after world champion Sebastian Vettel triumphed last year.
Driver and constructor standings after the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Drivers Points
1. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 220
2. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 191
3. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Red Bull 156
4. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 119
5. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams 110
6. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull 98
7. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Force India 69
8. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 66
9. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) McLaren 45
10. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams 40
Constructors Points
1. Mercedes 411
2. RedBull – Renault 254
3. Ferrari 158
4. Williams-Mercedes 150
5. McLaren 111
6. Force India – Mercedes 100
7. Toro Rosso – Renault 18
8. Lotus – Renault 8
9. Marussia – Ferrari 2
10. Sauber – Ferrari 0
