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Quake rocks California wine country, dozens injured (updated)

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A California Highway Patrol officer redirects traffic from a buckled section of California's Highway 12 after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay Area at 3:20 a.m. local time near Sonoma, California

A 6.0 magnitude earthquake rocked wine country north of San Francisco early on Sunday, injuring dozens of people, two of them seriously, damaging historic buildings, setting some homes on fire and causing power outages around the picturesque town of Napa.

The biggest quake in the region in 25 years jolted many residents out of bed when it hit at 3:20 a.m. local time (1020 GMT), centered 6 miles (10 km) south of the City of Napa, population 77,000.

Two people were seriously injured in the earthquake, Barry Martin, community outreach coordinator for the City of Napa, said by telephone. He said he did not have details on the injuries.

There were no reports of any fatalities, Martin said.

Fire fighters were still trying to put out mobile home fires, he said.

Most damage appeared centered around Napa, a famous wine-producing region and a major tourist destination in northern California.

Brick facades gave way in the historic section of downtown Napa, and bricks fell off a second floor corner of the courthouse, which showed cracks. On the main street, masonry collapsed onto a car.

The City’s website said there were some 50 gas line breaks, 30 water line breaks and many broken windows and buildings with interior damage.

The quake knocked out power to about 40,000 homes and businesses in Napa and neighboring cities of Sonoma, St. Helena and Santa Rosa, according to the website for Pacific Gas & Electric.

“Everything was just shaking, the hanging lamps waving back and forth,” said Omar Lopez, 24, night clerk at a small inn in St. Helena, 15 minutes outside of Napa.

“Guests came into the front desk after the quake and they said the swimming pool looked like a bunch of people had jumped in at the same time.”

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said the epicenter of the quake was five miles (eight km) northwest of the town of American Canyon, on the northern edge of the San Francisco Bay.

‘WOKE US ALL UP’

The quake was the largest to hit the Bay Area since the Loma Prieta quake in 1989, which killed a few dozen people and caused heavy damage to buildings.

“It was long. I think it was the biggest one since I felt since I felt the 1989 quake,” said Stephanie Martin, 47, a nursing assistant in Oakland, south of the area where the quake was felt more strongly. “Nothing tipped over, thank God. Rolling back and forth. Just woke us all up.”

Aaron Moreno, 18, rushed to Lola’s Market, the Mexican grocery store where he works in Napa, right after the earthquake to prevent potential looting and to begin cleaning up the mess. He said there were broken wine bottles and glass everywhere and the store would probably be closed for two days.

“Oh I felt it. When I woke up I was lying on the floor. It kicked me out of bed,” said Keith, who lives in Napa and wanted to be identified only by his first name.

The quake was followed by small aftershocks.

“It is the strongest quake in a 60-mile (100-km) radius from the epicenter of this quake in several decades,” said Randy Baldwin, a USGS geophysicist, “It was a shallow quake and there are lots of aftershocks.”

He said most of the aftershocks were around magnitude 2 range. Aftershocks can continue for the next several weeks and experts will watch their distribution to determine if this quake happened on a fault line, Baldwin said.

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Sluggish United held by Sunderland, Spurs thrash QPR

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Jack Rodwell (C) heads in Sunderland's equalizer against Manchester United

By Toby Davis

Manchester United laboured to a ponderous 1-1 draw away at Sunderland on Sunday that delivered a first Premier League point of the season but laid bare their dire need for reinforcements.

After Tottenham Hotspur had made it six points from two games with players condemned as expensive mistakes last season starring in a 4-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers, United’s frailties at both ends of the pitch were there for all to see.

Juan Mata’s opening goal on 17 minutes proved a unique scoring opportunity while their lack of a commanding centre half was exploited by an unmarked Jack Rodwell for Sunderland’s equaliser.

Goals were not in short supply at White Hart Lane where Harry Redknapp endured a miserable return to his former club.

Nacer Chadli scored twice while record signing Erik Lamela was pivotal in a playmaker role, sparking celebrations for new Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino, whose side sit top of the fledgling table, and more gloom for Redknapp.

QPR have no points from their first two games after being promoted back to the Premier League after a season in the second tier.

Ten-man Hull City came within six minutes of holding on for victory over Stoke City but Nikica Jelavic’s opener was cancelled out by Ryan Shawcross’s scrambled effort late on.

Hull, who had James Chester sent off after 14 minutes, have four points from their first two games of the season, while Stoke’s late leveller ensured they got off the mark.

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Boko Haram leader ruling Nigerian town by Islamic law

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bokoabu

By Isaac Abrak

The leader of Nigeria’s Islamist group Boko Haram said his fighters were now ruling the captured northeastern town of Gwoza “by Islamic law”, in the first video to state a territorial claim in more than five years of violent insurrection.

The Nigerian military denied Boko Haram had taken control of the town during fighting over the past week, although security sources and some witnesses said police and military there had been pushed out.

Abubakar Shekau’s forces have killed thousands since launching an uprising in 2009, and are seen as the biggest security threat to the continent’s leading energy producer.

The militant leader’s often rambling videoed speeches have become a regular feature of his bid to project himself as public enemy number one in Africa’s biggest economy.

In the latest one released late on Sunday, the militant who says he is fighting to create an Islamic state in religiously-mixed Nigeria, said his forces had taken control of the hilly border town of Gwoza, near the frontier with Cameroon.

“Allah has granted us success in Gwoza because we have risen to do Allah’s work,” Shekau says, reading out a statement off a notebook, with two masked gunmen on each side of him and three four-wheel-drive vehicles behind him in thinly forested bush.

“Allah commands us to rule Gwoza by Islamic law. In fact, he commands us to rule the rest of the world, not only Nigeria, and now we have started.”

Nigerian authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Local newspaper ThisDay quoted Major-General Chris Olukolade as saying the claim Boko Haram controls Gwoza was “false and empty”.

“KILL WITHOUT PITY”

The video includes footage of what appeared to be an attack on Gwoza, showing fighters, backed by armoured personal carriers, pick-up trucks with attached machine guns, and one tank-like vehicle with track wheels and a large gun.

They unload salvos of gunfire all over the town from trucks and on foot. The fighters are all armed with AK-47s or rocket propelled grenades, some in military uniform, others in civilian clothes. Many of them walk casually as they take over the town.

They also fire into the hills at what appear to be fleeing security forces and civilians, and they help themselves to weapons and ammunition seized from security forces. It ends with scenes of executing captives in pre-dug mass graves, some of them beaten to death with spades.

Witnesses said Gwoza remained a battleground but that Nigerian forces had largely fled. A security source also confirmed that the insurgents were still laying siege to it.

Resident Hannatu John escaped the town during the attack, running into the hills as the rebels fired at them, fleeing eventually to the capital of Borno state, Maiduguri.

She has heard nothing of her father or sisters in the town since early last week, she told Reuters in Maiduguri.

“We are in the dark and full of despair,” she said. “Nobody knows what will happen tomorrow.”

Police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu said on Sunday that 35 policemen were missing after an attack on a mobile police training camp in Gwoza.

Shekau also taunts France, Israel and the United States in the video.

“Democracy is worse than homosexuality, worse than sleeping with your mother,” Shekau says. “You are all pagans and we will kill you, even if you do not attack us we will kill you … Allah commands us to kill without pity.”

Islamist groups across the world have become increasingly bold in making territorial claims in recent months. Sunni group Islamic State has declared a “caliphate” across large areas of Syria and neighbouring Iraq while an affiliate of al Qaeda said in July it aimed to set up an emirate in east Yemen, local media reported.

Shekau makes no mention of Islamic State in the video, although he does mention Iraq in the context of US intervention there.

In separate violence, at least 13 people were killed in a communal clash between rival Fulani and Jikun ethnic groups in Wukari town, Adamawa state, also in the northeast, police spokesman Joseph Kwaji said by telephone.

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Balotelli completes move to Liverpool

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The £16m man: Mario Balotelli is is the big signing Liverpool fans have craved since selling last season's top scorer Luis Suarez to Barcelona in July

By Mark Meadows

Italy striker Mario Balotelli has joined Liverpool from AC Milan on a “long-term” deal, the Premier League club said on Monday.
The 24-year-old is the big signing Liverpool fans have craved since selling last season’s top scorer Luis Suarez to Barcelona in July but Balotelli’s famous on and off field antics may not sit well with some at Anfield.

The former Manchester City player returns to England after only a season and a half at boyhood club Milan, who are continuing to cut costs to the dismay of supporters.

“I’m very happy. We’ve been talking about coming here and now I’m happy to be here,” Balotelli told the club’s official website (www.liverpoolfc.com).
“Liverpool are one of the best teams here in England and the football is very good here. It’s a great team with young players, and that’s why I came here.”
The transfer fee was not disclosed but media reports have speculated the amount is around 16 million pounds.

Liverpool surprised pundits by finishing runners-up to City in the Premier League last season after years of woe and have recruited a host of players with the cash received for Suarez but Balotelli is the biggest name so far.
England World Cup players Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert arrived from Southampton along with Dejan Lovren while Emre Can and Lazar Markovic are among others to have signed.

Balotelli’s return to England is something of a surprise given his profound wish to quit City for Milan in January 2013 but economic realities dictate policy at Silvio Berlusconi’s once mighty club these days.

Other top players such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic have been sold to balance the books at the seven-times European champions, who could only finish eighth in Serie A last term and start the season under novice coach Filippo Inzaghi in near disarray.
Their first Serie A encounter is at home to Lazio on Aug. 31 when the San Siro is likely to let Berlusconi know in no uncertain terms about their unhappiness over Balotelli’s sale.

Liverpool, back in the Champions League this term unlike Milan, visit Manchester City in domestic action later on Monday.

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Slain Missouri teen remembered with calls for peace, justice

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Michael Brown funeral

By Edward McAllister and Nick Carey

Family and supporters on Monday celebrated the life of Michael Brown, a black teenager slain by police in Ferguson, Missouri, with a music-filled, foot-stomping funeral service and messages to remember him not with violence but with peace.

Brown’s body lay at the Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church in a black and gold casket, topped with the St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap he was wearing when he was killed on Aug. 9 in Ferguson.

Thousands of people filled the modern red-brick church and gathered outside on Dr. Martin Luther King Drive in St. Louis for the exuberant service, a markedly different scene from the violent protests that rocked the St. Louis suburb after the shooting of Brown, an unarmed black teen, by a white officer.

Brown’s coffin was surrounded by photos of him as a child, graduating from school and smiling in his Cardinals cap.

“There are no goodbyes for us, wherever you are you will always be in our hearts,” read a sign accompanying one of the photos.

High-spirited music by a gospel choir and horn players filled the sanctuary, as mourners clapped their hands and danced in the aisles.

Printed in a program for the service, were letters to Brown from his parents.

“The day you were born I just know God sent me a blessing and that was you,” wrote Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden.

The letter by Michael Brown Sr. read: “I always told you I would never let nothing happen to you and that’s what hurts so much, that I couldn’t protect you.”

Readings from the Bible were met with whoops and cheers, and family members rose to speak.

“I am mad and hurt and that is a lethal combination,” said one relative. “But today is for peace and quiet. We say good journey to Michael until we meet again.”

A member of the clergy also made a plea for peace.

“We must resist the temptation to riot and loot in our neighborhood. It only gives a bad picture for the world,” he said.

APPEAL FOR CALM

Brown’s father made an appeal for calm on the eve of the services.

“All I want tomorrow is peace while we lay our son to rest,” he said at a Sunday rally against police violence that he led with civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton.

Attending the rally were the parents of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager shot dead by a neighborhood watch volunteer in 2012.

Like the Martin shooting, Brown’s killing has focused attention on racial tension and relations in the United States. The Ferguson protests also evoked criticism of the local police force’s use of military gear and heavy-handed tactics.

Around the church on Monday, the police presence was heavy but relaxed. Authorities have braced for a possible flare-up, although clashes between protesters and police have waned significantly in recent days.

Among the hundreds of people waiting outside the church was Travis Jackson, a black, 25-year-old retail store employee who said he took the day off from work to pay his respects.

“I had to be here. After all the emotions and pain of the past two weeks, this is an important moment for this community,” he said.

“Today I am focused on peace for Michael Brown. Tomorrow I can think about justice,” he added.

In addition to Sharpton, civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson was on hand for the funeral. The White House also said it was sending three presidential aides to attend the service.

A grand jury began hearing evidence on Wednesday, a process the county prosecutor said could take until mid-October.

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Syria says would work with any state to fight Islamist militants

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Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem press conference

By Mariam Karouny and Sylvia Westall

Syria said on Monday it would cooperate in any international effort to fight Islamic State militants, after Washington signalled it was considering extending the battle against the group into Syrian territory.

Russia, the most prominent foreign backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, also urged Western and Arab nations to overcome their distaste of the government in Damascus and engage with it to fight the hardline insurgents.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem held open the possibility of working with a range of countries, including the United States, Britain and Saudi Arabia, all of which supported the uprising against Assad.

Moualem presented his country as a vital partner in a war against Islamic State, which has seized areas of Syria and Iraq and declared a “caliphate” in the territories it controls.

“Syria, geographically and operationally, is the centre of the international coalition to fight Islamic State,” Moualem said in a televised news conference. “States must come to it if they are serious in combating terrorism,” he added.

Asked about the prospect of US air raids against Islamic State inside Syria, Moualem said any strikes would have to be coordinated with Damascus. “Anything outside this is considered aggression,” he told reporters.

Asked if Syria was ready to work with the United States and Britain in fighting the group, he said: “They are welcome.”

He also called for intelligence sharing with neighbouring states and suggested cooperation would be possible with Saudi Arabia, another major backer of the anti-Assad uprising that has shown increasing alarm about Islamic State.

The White House signalled on Friday it was considering taking the fight against Islamic State into Syria after days of air strikes against the group in Iraq and the beheading of a US journalist.

But Washington has also supported a more than three-year-old insurgency in Syria, which has killed at least 191,000 people, and there has been no sign of any shift in US policy towards Assad. Britain has also ruled out negotiating with him.

“He’s part of the problem,” Ben Rhodes, President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said last week. Last year, Washington came close to bombing Syria after accusing Assad’s forces of using chemical weapons.

“NO BORDERS”

Islamic State, an offshoot of al Qaeda which draws some of its strength from foreign fighters, has emerged as the strongest group in the insurgency. Its thousands of fighters control roughly a third of Syria, with territory in the north and east.

Until recently, direct engagements between the Syrian army and Islamic State were rare. Activists and Western officials accused the Syrian army of leaving the group to its own devices as it was crushing less radical opposition factions.

The government has mostly focused its military efforts on beating back insurgents in a strategic corridor of territory stretching north from Damascus — areas far from the group’s strongholds where it has less of a presence.

The pattern of conflict has changed in recent weeks, with hundreds of government loyalist fighters killed in engagements with the group as it has sought to expand further in Syria, strengthened by weaponry brought in from Iraq.

Assad has characterised his opponents as extremists from the start of the uprising in 2011, when his forces violently suppressed protesters inspired by the Arab Spring. Critics say the reaction of security forces helped radicalize them.

On Sunday, Islamic State fighters captured an air base in northeast Syria after days of fighting that cost more than 500 lives, according to a monitoring group.

“Islamic State has no borders and the faster we move against it, the more we diminish its danger,” Moualem said.

Moualem also condemned the killing of U.S. journalist James Foley, who was beheaded by the Islamic State, apparently in Syria. The Pentagon has said the U.S. military failed in a secret rescue attempt of Foley and other U.S. hostages.

“If it is confirmed and this military operation did take place and failed, I say if there were prior coordination then the possibility of its failure would have been very low,” Moualem said.

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UN accuses Islamic State of mass killings

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COLOMBIA AND UN AGREE OTHER YEAR FOR HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE IN THE COUNTRY

By Stephanie Nebehay and Ahmed Rasheed

The United Nations condemned on Monday “appalling, widespread” crimes by Islamic State forces in Iraq, including mass executions of prisoners that could amount to war crimes.

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay condemned “grave, horrific human rights violations” being committed by Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim group which has seized large areas of Iraq and Syria to the alarm of the Baghdad government and its allies in the West.

Up to 670 prisoners from Badush prison in the city of Mosul were killed by Islamic State on June 10, Pillay said in a statement quoting survivors and witnesses to the “massacre” as telling U.N. human rights investigators.

“Such cold-blooded, systematic and intentional killings of civilians, after singling them out for their religious affiliation, may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Pillay said.

Islamic State (ISIL) loaded 1,000 to 1,500 prisoners from the jail on to trucks and took them for screening, Pillay said. Sunni inmates were then separated and removed.

“ISIL gunmen then yelled insults at the remaining prisoners, lined them up in four rows, ordered them to kneel and opened fire,” she said.

AIR POWER

Islamic State fighters have made gains against Kurdish forces in the north in recent weeks, seizing towns, oilfields and Iraq’s largest dam. Backed by U.S. air power, Kurdish forces later took back control of the Mosul dam.

An Islamic State video last week depicting the beheading of American journalist James Foley prompted revulsion in the West and calls for tougher action against the jihadists, including taking the fight to them in Syria as well as Iraq.

Some experts have suggested that attacking Islamic State in Syria should involve coming to some sort of arrangement with the government of President Bashar al-Assad, seen in the West as a pariah since an uprising against him began three years ago.

Syria said it would cooperate in any international efforts to fight Islamic State in the country, after Washington signalled it was considering extending the battle against the militants into Syrian territory.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem presented his country as a vital partner in the war against Islamic State.

“Syria, geographically and operationally, is the centre of the international coalition to fight Islamic State,” Moualem said in a televised news conference. “States must come to it if they are serious in combating terrorism,” he added.

Asked about the prospect of US air strikes against Islamic State in Syria, Moualem said his government was ready to cooperate with any country fighting militants. But air raids without Damascus’s approval would be seen as hostile acts.

While the White House indicated last week that it was considering taking on Islamic State in Syria, Washington has also supported the insurgency against Assad and there has been no sign of any shift in U.S. policy towards him.

GERMANY KEEPS DISTANCE

Germany said on Monday it has had no diplomatic contacts with the Assad government and no plans to rekindle ties because of the threat posed by Islamic State.

The statement by a German foreign ministry spokesman followed a report in The Independent, a British newspaper, which said the United States had shared intelligence with Syria via Germany’s BND intelligence service.

“The regime of President Assad has committed unbelievable injustice in every form during the civil war that has been raging for 3-1/2 years. Nearly 200,000 people have died,” the spokesman, Martin Schaefer, told a news conference.

“To be honest it is very difficult to imagine that all this can be ignored in the name of Realpolitik,” he said.

Russia, Syria’s major ally, urged Western and Arab governments to overcome their distaste for Assad and engage with him to fight Islamic State insurgents. “I think Western politicians are already realising the growing and fast-spreading threat of terrorism,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

The growing perception in the West and in Baghdad that Islamic State represents a threat to the region and beyond has shaken old alliances and enmities.

While there have been suggestions that the West may find itself dealing with Assad, old enemies Iran and Saudi Arabia have united in welcoming this month’s appointment of incoming Shi’ite Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Iraq.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian left for Riyadh on Monday, the state news agency IRNA reported. This would mark the first visit to Saudi Arabia by a senior government official since President Hassan Rouhani was elected in 2013, promising to try to improve Tehran’s relations in the region and with the West.

Shi’ite Muslim Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia are enmeshed in a struggle for influence in the Middle East and back opposing sides in conflicts and political disputes in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain and Yemen.

IRNA said Abdollahian was due to meet Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal. Riyadh officials were not available to comment, but Saudi-owned satellite news channel al-Arabiya said the Iranian minister would arrive on Tuesday for talks.

The visit follows talks in Baghdad on Sunday between Abadi and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who reaffirmed Tehran’s support for Iraq’s territorial unity and its fight against militants.

Abadi said on Monday that talks on forming a new government were constructive and predicted a “clear vision” on a unified administration would emerge within the next two days, state television reported.

Abadi is tasked with forming a power-sharing government that can tackle deepening sectarian violence and counter Islamic State.

In Baghdad, a suicide bomb attack in a Shi’ite mosque on Monday killed at least nine people and wounded 21, police and medical sources said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying in a statement that it was to avenge an attack on Friday when Shi’ite militiamen opened fire in a Sunni mosque in Diyala province north of Baghdad on Friday, killing 68 people.

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US Open results

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US-Open-logo

Results from the U.S. Open Men’s Singles Round 1 matches on Monday:

Andy Murray (Scotland) beat Robin Haase (Netherlands) 6-3 7-6 1-6 7-5
Benoit Paire (France) beat 24-Julien Benneteau (France) 7-6(4) 5-7 6-4 4-6 6-4
Matthias Bachinger (Germany) beat Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) 6-3 6-2 6-2
Nick Kyrgios (Australia) beat 21-Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 7-5 7-6(4) 2-6 7-6(1)
Matthew Ebden (Australia) beat Tobias Kamke (Germany) 6-4 6-3 7-6(2)
Andreas Seppi (Italy) beat Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukraine) 6-3 6-1 6-4
23-Leonardo Mayer (Argentina) beat Albert Montanes (Spain) 6-2 3-0 (Montanes retired)

Results from the U.S. Open Women’s Singles Round 1 matches on Monday:

Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) beat Duan Yingying (China) 2-6 6-2 6-4
Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Romina Oprandi (Switzerland) 4-6 6-2 6-3
Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) beat Karin Knapp (Italy) 6-4 6-3
Monica Puig (Puerto Rico) beat Tereza Smitkova (Czech Republic) 3-6 6-3 6-3
Peng Shuai (China) beat Zheng Jie (China) 6-3 6-3
18-Andrea Petkovic (Germany) beat Ons Jabeur (Tunisia) 7-6(7) 1-6 6-3
14-Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) beat Timea Babos (Hungary) 6-4 7-5
6-Angelique Kerber (Germany) beat Ksenia Pervak (Russia) 6-2 3-6 7-5
2-Simona Halep (Romania) beat Danielle Collins (U.S.) 6-7(2) 6-1 6-2
4-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) beat Sharon Fichman (Canada) 6-1 6-0
Jana Cepelova (Slovakia) beat Maria Teresa Torro (Spain) 2-6 7-5 6-1
Zheng Saisai (China) beat Stefanie Voegele (Switzerland) 1-6 6-2 6-2
Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) beat Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) 6-3 6-2
31-Kurumi Nara (Japan) beat Aleksandra Wozniak (Canada) 6-2 6-1

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6,000 to lose jobs if shops shut on Sundays

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By George Psyllides

RETAILERS warned on Monday that around 6,000 people stood to lose their jobs if the government decided to terminate its policy of extending shop hours across the island.

Decrees extending shop hours to include Wednesday afternoons and Sundays were introduced by the government in July 2013 in a bid to encourage consumerism and boost the economy.

The decrees basically said that shop hours that applied in tourist zones now applied everywhere.

It did not take long for the scheme to prove successful, with retailers now reporting 6,000 people hired to cover Sundays and a boost in turnover.

“Hiring 6,000 fellow citizens meant €470,000 going to the state coffers per month, or €5.6m a year through employers’ contributions,” a statement said.

The retailers said there appeared to be an intention not to renew the decree in September, which, apart from the loss in jobs, would kill efforts to stimulate the market and the recovery of economic activity.

“It would once more create obsolete distortions in the retail market — condemned by everyone and mainly the EU – through the failed system of tourist zones and the selective operation of shops,” the statement said.

The retailers’ association, including supermarkets, small businesses and fruit markets, urged the government to rethink and called on all affected parties to intensify talks to find a solution that would benefit everyone.

Workers, who have since formed an association, held a protest on Monday and presented their demand for renewal of the decree in its current form to Labour Minister Zeta Emilianidou.

The minister said the matter will be decided at the end of the week.

Nikoletta Pouli, one of the workers, said they only wanted to protect their right to employment.

“We are tired. Thirteen months now, we have to live in insecurity every three months (duration of the decrees).” She urged all sides to intensify the dialogue so that the measure becomes permanent.

The liberalisation has been fought since its introduction by various groups led by POVEK, the small business association.

POVEK claims the majority of small and medium businesses were suffering as a result of the decision to extend shop hours, which only served a dozen big stores and supermarket chains.

POVEK is supported by PEO trade union, which is part of AKEL.

The union said the protest had been instigated and paid for by the large companies in the sector who “forced the employees” to participate.

PEO said the decrees had increased exploitation of workers and minimum income violations have also risen.

“Sunday, as a day of rest and family get-together, has been abolished for thousands of workers in the sector,” PEO said.

Convenience stores also reacted along the same lines, accusing retailers of being behind the workers.

“We do not want anyone to lose their job, whether they are employed by the large supermarkets or the small and medium businesses in the sector like convenience stores,” their association chairman Andreas Theodoulou said in a statement.

“However, our businesses are shutting down one after the other and our workers are left unemployed as a result of the anarchy brought about by the decrees.”

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CY bidders’ shortlist by Thursday (Update)

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makis

By Constantinos Psillides

ALL fifteen companies that submitted non-binding expressions of interest in Cyprus Airways must submit their business proposal by Thursday, Communication and Works minister Marios Demetriades said on Monday.

The minister said that all business plans will be evaluated by a ministerial committee and a shortlist will be compiled. Companies that make the shortlist will then be asked to file binding proposals, the minister added.

The state invited companies to submit expressions two months ago. It owns about 94 per cent of Cyprus Airways, a carrier which has struggled to survive against cheaper fare competitors and has been loss-making for years despite several attempts at a turnaround.

“We are hoping that by the end of September we will have the best possible solution,” Demetriades told the press after a meeting with President Nicos Anastasiades. Asked if any decisions were made, Demetriades said that nothing has been decided yet. “There is process that is currently in its second phase. Nothing more.”

According to Demetriades, the government signed non-disclosure agreements with all 15 companies.

Asked if any company is ahead on the race to own Cyprus Airways, given that the minister met on Friday with representatives from RyanAir and on Monday with people from Aegean Airlines, Demetriades said that no one is receiving preferential treatment.

“This is not a case of someone leading the race. There is a proper process in place and we will follow it to the letter,” assured the minister.

Meanwhile, Makis Constantinides, the former permanent secretary of the communications and works ministry is tipped to be the new chairman of the ailing airline, after Tony Antoniou resigned at the weekend over claims he had charged personal expenses on the airline and had not followed proper procedures when assigning a project.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, President Nicos Anastasiades had sounded out Constantinides about the job and he has reportedly accepted. The Cabinet is expected to make its decision and officially announce the name of the new chairman on Wednesday.

Through his position at the ministry, Constantinides has extensive experience in the aviation sector.

Antoniou’s resignation was accepted by Anastasiades despite a probe finding nothing incriminating against the outgoing chairman, though it had been determined that proper procedures when assigning a project had not been followed to the letter because the relevant article had been misinterpreted.

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More detainees on the roof at Menoyia

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By Constantinos Psillides

SIX detainees at the Menoyia detention centre climbed on the roof of the building on Monday morning to protest their prolonged detention, according to a police report.

As of late last night, the detainees, some of whom have been in Menoyia over 18 months, refused to climb down and refused to be given food or water.

The detainees, five Iranians and an Afghan, demanded to be set free, pointing out that the state had no right to keep them there.

Under EU law, a person can be detained for a period of six months before being deported back to their country of origin. A police spokesman that the detainees were refusing to cooperate with negotiators and that they shredded their travel documents and refused to accompany police officers to their country’s embassy to arrange their deportation.

“They are trying to blackmail the authorities into setting them free on Cyprus soil,” said the spokesman.

The detainees climbed onto the roof using a water pipe in the detention centre’s backyard.

Officers from the emergency rescue unit EMAK rushed to the scene but were unable to convince the detainees to climb down.

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Negotiators to meet on Tuesday

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Negotiators Mavroyiannis and Ozersay

THE negotiators of the two sides, Andreas Mavroyiannis and Kudret Ozersay, will have their first meeting after the summer recess on Tuesday, in the framework of UN-led talks for a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem.

Sources told the Cyprus News Agency there was no specific agenda for the meeting, which had been  scheduled before the holidays, apart from the preparation of a meeting of the two leaders, President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, on September 2.
“This is the first meeting after the summer vacation and it will most likely deal with procedural issues,” the sources said.
They also noted that it has not been made known yet when the new UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, would assume his duties or when he would visit Cyprus.
The leaders’ previous meeting took place on July 24.

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Emmys exalt old favourites over TV’s shiny newcomers

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Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn and Bryan Cranston pose with their awards during the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles

By Mary Milliken and Eric Kelsey

For all the talk about newcomers raising the game of television, the industry on Monday chose to bestow its top Emmys on the long-running shows Breaking Bad and Modern Family and long-time television actors who held off challenges from film stars.

Breaking Bad, AMC’s unlikely tale of a teacher-turned-drug kingpin Walter White, won the night’s biggest honour, the Emmy for best drama series, for the second year in a row while lead Bryan Cranston took best drama actor for the fourth time in that role.

It was a nostalgic vote of sorts for the series after it ended on the fifth season with widespread acclaim and devoted binge-watching fans. It held off the ballyhooed HBO anthology, True Detective, the bayou thriller starring Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey and fellow film star Woody Harrelson, who Cranston beat.

“Thank you so much for this wonderful farewell to our show,” said Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, who also celebrated Emmy wins in best supporting actor and actress categories for Aaron Paul and Anna Gunn.

“This is indeed a wonderful time to be working in television,” Gilligan added. “I think you all know that.”

Modern Family, ABC’s light-hearted take on contemporary family dynamics, won its fifth consecutive Emmy for best comedy series, leaving Netflix Inc’s dark jailhouse comedy Orange Is the New Black as one of the big losers of the night.

The 66th annual Primetime Emmys took a somber turn toward the end to remember Robin Williams, the versatile actor and comedian who died two weeks ago in an apparent suicide at the age of 63.

With a lump in his throat and a tremble in his voice, actor Billy Crystal remembered the madcap performer as “the brightest star in a comedy galaxy” and concluded: “Robin Williams – what a concept.”

BROADCASTERS DEFY PREDICTIONS

There were plenty of laughs in television’s biggest night, from Julia Louis-Dreyfus passionately locking lips with Seinfeld guest star Cranston to Melissa McCarthy asking if her car would be towed.

When asked about the prolonged smooch later, Cranston quipped: “I think it’s not a question of ‘why?,’ more a question of ‘why not?’”

First-time Emmys host, comedian Seth Meyers, took early pokes at the stalwart broadcasters facing edgy competition from Netflix, the first outlet to win acclaim for original content streamed online with political thriller House of Cards.

But this year’s Emmys, handed out by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, signalled that there was still plenty of love for the likes of ABC and CBS, particularly in the realm of comedy.

ABC’s Modern Family made history by tying 1990s NBC sitcom Frasier for the most comedy victories.

Modern Family has been a big, beautiful dream for the last five years and we thank you for not waking us up,” said series co-creator Steven Levitan.

Although the big broadcasters did not have a horse in the race for best drama, Julianna Margulies won best drama actress for her role as lawyer Alicia Florrick in CBS’s The Good Wife.

“I feel like this is the golden age of television, but it’s also the time for women in television,” said Margulies. “I feel very grateful to be here.”

MIRRORING HOLLYWOOD

Jim Parsons won his fourth lead acting Emmy for playing the pedantic nerd Sheldon in the CBS comedy The Big Bang Theory, and Louis-Dreyfus won her third consecutive Emmy for her role as the foul-mouthed, gaffe-prone US Vice President Selina Meyer on HBO’s political satire “Veep.”

“I love the idea of being powerful and powerless at the same time, it mirrors Hollywood in some ways,” said Louis-Dreyfus of her Selina character.

In other comedy awards, comedian Louis C.K. won his second writing award for his FX show Louie, and Stephen Colbert’s Comedy Central fake news show The Colbert Report won the Emmy for best variety program for the second consecutive year.

The miniseries Fargo, based on the cult film from the Coen brothers, gave FX Networks its first Emmy for a program, but actors from the critically acclaimed miniseries lost out on awards despite being heavy favorites, especially lead actor Billy Bob Thornton.

HBO’s The Normal Heart earned best TV movie honors for its depiction of the early fight against AIDS.

The premium cable outlet HBO, owned by Time Warner Inc, scored more Emmys than any other network with 19 wins out of its 99 nominations. But it failed to win big in top-line categories and its fan favorite, the medieval fantasy Game of Thrones, lost out again in the drama race.

One of the big surprises of the night was Sherlock: His Last Vow, which won a total of seven Emmys for the US public broadcaster PBS, more than any other show.

For the first time in some 40 years, the Emmys were moved up from their usual Sunday night spot in September so as not to conflict with NBC’s ratings-powerhouse “Sunday Night Football” and MTV’s Video Music Awards.

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A taste for adventure

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profile

Successful British novelist Victoria Hislop is about to release her new book, set in Cyprus. THEO PANAYIDES meets a woman with a zest for life
Victoria Hislop first came to Cyprus in 1978. That’s a story in itself. She was 18 going on 19, and answered an ad in the back of a magazine: “Overland journey to Cyprus, £90”. She was just out of school, and “I wanted an adventure” – so she found herself in a packed, battered nine-seater mini-van with a half-dozen other youngsters.

Looking back, she says now, sitting at an outdoor café in Phaneromeni Square in Nicosia, there was something very odd about the whole thing. The van belonged to a middle-aged couple, who did all the driving. They were surly and not very friendly; by the end, none of the youngsters would even speak to them. The idea was to see the sights along the way, but in fact all they saw was the inside of the mini-van. They drove and drove, relentlessly – then, in the middle of the night, the van would stop and the passengers would be ordered out to pitch their tents. Victoria recalls “waking up in Belgium in someone’s garden”, being harangued by an angry Belgian woman, clearly having been too tired at 3am the night before even to see where they were camping.

Why did this grim-faced couple offer to drive to Cyprus? Maybe just to make some cash – but then why did they take a detour across Turkey, veering east to the plains of Anatolia where the man woke them all up one night to announce that they’d been robbed, and all their money was gone? They must’ve been delivering something, muses Victoria, green eyes dancing with amusement in her lively face, “either delivering or taking”, with herself and the others brought in as cover. A gaggle of wide-eyed young people was much less likely to attract the attention of Customs than two miserable gits in their 50s.

Needless to say, that first trip was memorable. Victoria knew about the invasion, 1974 having been “the first summer that I actually remember following current affairs; I was 14, and kind of waking up a little bit”, but she’d somehow forgotten that she was coming to a divided island – and was surprised when the van crossed from Mersin to the occupied north and she found herself in a non-place that wouldn’t even stamp her passport. The rest of the trip (she was here for two weeks) was equally disconcerting. She had very little money, the bulk of it having been stolen – or was it? – in Turkey, and mostly ate watermelon, bread and countless tomatoes that ended up making her violently ill. The tents were boiling-hot and unbearable. The girls were courted (if that’s the word) by Turkish soldiers, but Victoria felt threatened and unsafe. After all, she says, “we were English girls, and everyone makes the same assumption about English girls on holiday. And that wasn’t really my thing”.

profile2-Victoria with her husband Ian

Victoria with her husband Ian

That traumatic teenage trip left its scars: “I’ve never been camping since,” she admits, laughing merrily. “If someone tells me we’re going to sleep in a tent, forget it!” Fortunately, that dislike doesn’t extend to Cyprus itself – and in fact Cyprus is the subject of her new book The Sunrise, her fourth novel since making her name with The Island in 2005. That debut, a big hit in Britain and even bigger hit in Greece (where it became a hugely successful TV series), was set on the leper colony of Spinalonga, off the coast of Crete; since then she’s written The Return, set during the Spanish Civil War, and The Thread, set in Thessaloniki – and now The Sunrise, which takes place in Famagusta before and during the invasion.

Writing about other countries’ histories has its pitfalls, but so far no-one’s complained about ignorant foreigners sticking their nose into things they don’t understand. That could change here, notes Victoria with a rueful grin. I feel like I’m licking my fingers and putting them in a wall socket, she says, pointing vaguely at the wall of the café: “I’m going to have some electric shocks, for sure”.

For a start, one of her protagonists – the book’s hero, albeit “a very flawed hero” – is Turkish Cypriot, “which is going to lose me a lot of fans, I think”. But the biggest difference from her earlier books (apart from being more political) is that this is not a historical novel, or not really: “It’s not a history that’s finished. It’s still there, it’s still an open wound”. As if to underline the point, her Cypriot-born Greek publisher Costas Papadopoulos hovers nearby as we chat, ready to drive her to Derynia where they’ll be attending the annual mid-August march protesting the occupation of Famagusta.

The book is neutral, affirms Victoria. There are two families, one from each community, and “all are essentially victims”; she reserves her ire for Turkey and the Greek junta, what she calls the “very unpleasant men meddling in your affairs”. Still, it’s also true that her catalyst for writing The Sunrise was meeting a Turkish Cypriot woman in London a couple of years ago: “She’d read a short story I’d written that’s set in Nicosia and is all about the missing, and she said to me: ‘I really like that story, but there’s something you don’t include’. So I said, ‘What’s that?’, and she said, ‘Well, you know it’s not only the Greek Cypriots who suffered’. And I said ‘No, I didn’t know that’.”

Really? She didn’t know?

“No, not really. Because I’d spent a lot of time with Greeks and Greek Cypriots, and they don’t tend to talk about the Turkish Cypriots.”

This could be a problem, at least with some people. Any book that tries to be fair-minded, painting the suffering of Turkish Cypriots as equivalent to that of Greek Cypriots, goes against the ‘victim’ narrative we’ve been peddling (with some justification) for the past 40 years. And of course there’s something else – because Victoria is British, and this is the first of her books where being British makes a difference. Britain’s a player in Cyprus, and always has been; it’s tricky for a Brit writing about 1974 to convince the world (or our small island world) of her good faith.

What’s the attraction, anyway? What brings her here? How does a girl from the market town of Tonbridge in Kent end up writing books about far-off conflicts in Mediterranean countries? Admittedly, she’s not the first English writer to be drawn to the Greek milieu; others, from Byron to Durrell, have ploughed this particular furrow – but those were mostly public-school lads feeling the effects of a classical education, whereas Victoria’s different. Her CV says that she read English at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford but that’s slightly misleading, at least insofar as it makes you think of a studious, bookish girl from the Oxbridge elite. In fact her parents weren’t rich (she was on a full state grant) and her dream as a teenager was to be a tennis player because it was glamorous, well-paid and outdoors-y; she shouldn’t even have studied English, she says now (she was much better at Languages), and never really fit in at Oxford where everyone oozed moneyed confidence and “I didn’t feel I had the right clothes”. She did meet her husband there – she’s been married to Private Eye editor and Have I Got News For You stalwart Ian Hislop since 1988 – but, all in all, “they weren’t my best three years”.

Maybe Oxford was too institutional for her; there’s something quite free-spirited about Victoria Hislop – not necessarily anarchic or rebellious, just a rogue streak of bubbly spontaneity. She’s impulsive, and enthusiastic; she tends to blurt things out. When I ask for her favourite film, she replies that her favourite film is always one that she’s liked best recently (many people would say the opposite), singles out Locke – the recent British drama starring Tom Hardy – and raves about it at length: “Watch it! It will inspire you!” (She’s even more animated when I mention that its cinematography is by a Cypriot, Haris Zambarloukos, letting out an excited “Ooooh!”.) One might say she’s adventurous – then again, it’s like that first trip to Cyprus in 1978: she answered the ad, and went on the adventure, but hated the uncomfortable tents and shunned the coarse-minded soldiers (some of the other girls went out with the Turks; Victoria stayed behind). It “wasn’t really my thing”.

I suspect the controlled adventure of researching and writing books about hot, turbulent countries fits her perfectly; it’s like a holiday from responsibility. “Britain is a fantastic country,” she explains. “It’s well-run. People are well looked after, on the whole. We have a solid history, good education system, blah blah blah. But, in the end, it can be quite dreary”. It’s not just the weather, though of course that’s a major drawback; even the law-abiding orderliness of the place can get you down. Look at that, she exclaims, pointing out the graffiti that disfigures most of the walls around Phaneromeni. Yes, it’s wrong in a way – “I’d be furious if I’d just cleaned that wall” – yet it’s also angry and edgy, “I quite like it”. People in Greece and Cyprus are “less respectful of institutions. We’re very respectful. And, you know, if it says [in the UK] that you’ll get fined for graffiti, then you will get fined. If you’re told you mustn’t use your mobile phone in the car then you don’t use it, because you will get stopped by the police. Whereas in Greece…”

“I just find the Greek way of life much more attractive, and fun, and staying up late – I mean, in London you come out of the theatre maybe at 10.30, you go and see three hours of Shakespeare and you’d quite like something to eat, and a drink. But by the time you come out and look around, you go into a restaurant [and they say] ‘Sorry, we’re shut’. That’s boring!”

That said, her own life in London – now her kids are grown up – sounds quite pleasant. She and Ian live in Chelsea; she likes to walk as much as possible, avoiding the stress of the Tube. When she’s writing a book, she’ll go to the London Library at St. James’s Square, “and I’m there at 9.30 when it opens, and I go to the same desk every day”. There are no distractions in a library, “no-one can get you”; you’re not allowed to talk, or use your phone. There’s a whole gang of them at the London Library, professional writers working on their books, “and we all go and have soup together, but we only leave the library for about 40 minutes”. She’s a slow writer, 1,000 words on a good day, but the book slowly gets written – then, when it’s published, “I give half of what I earn back to the government, and I’m really happy to do that”; not paying tax, she says, is “basically stealing”. I decide not to mention that avoiding tax has been part of the “Greek way of life” for decades.

That’s the thing about Victoria Hislop: she’s a Northern European with a rogue streak of Southern European. I suspect she likes a well-ordered life, the house, the theatre, the library – but she also likes a splash of chaos, a swirl of illicit graffiti, a bit of adventure now and then. I haven’t read The Sunrise but I think it must be fair-minded, and I know she’ll be mortified if it falls foul (I hope it doesn’t) of the more irrational type of Cypriot – yet maybe she’d also appreciate that kind of irrational passion. It’s like when I ask about her politics, and she breathlessly replies that “I’m very naturally left-wing, and I’m always very excited here [in Cyprus] because I meet people who are Communists, and to me Communism is…” She shakes her head in wonder: “We just don’t have Communism in England!”

What’s the first word that comes to mind, if she had to describe herself? “Optimistic,” she replies at once. She’s a glass-half-full person, a bubbly person; it’s part of her free-spirited side. On paper, her life seems amazingly well-planned: she had fun in her 20s, married at 29, raised a family in her 30s, became a famous novelist in her 40s. In reality, “I’ve never had a plan – I still don’t have a plan!”. Even The Island wasn’t intended as a novel (in fact, she’d never planned to write fiction); she went to Spinalonga for a travel piece, which took on a life of its own. It’s all turned out well, almost without her help. It’s like her way of raising children, which is not to raise them in any particular way: “My children have never done anything I’ve told them – or they’ve done it in their own way – since they were old enough to speak”.

Britain, too, has changed along with Victoria Hislop, now a very different place to the one she left, looking for adventure, back in 1978. It’s now multi-cultural, diverse, a good place for free spirits. Why doesn’t she write a book set in Britain next, maybe something about foreign immigrants? “The thought of it!” she shrieks, and laughs again. “Can’t imagine writing a book set in England. I’d have to stay there!” She has a point.

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Berlin’s colourful mayor ‘Wowi’ to step down

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Berlin mayor Wowereit addresses  a news conference in Berlin

By Alexandra Hudson

Berlin’s mayor Klaus Wowereit is stepping down after 13 years running the city he once described as “poor but sexy”, his reputation tarnished in recent years by embarrassing delays and cost overruns to the German capital’s new airport.

Wowereit, who became a national celebrity by coming out as gay during his first mayoral election campaign just as a newspaper was planning to expose his sexuality, is leaving two years before the end of his term.

Facing the media on Tuesday with a typically broad grin, the 60-year-old mayor said: “I announced to the Senate today that I will not stand again for the next legislature period and that I will vacate my position on Dec. 11.”

After much speculation about how long he would continue Wowereit said he had wanted to give some clarity.

“This was not an easy decision. I have been in politics in this city for more than 40 years… it is sometimes difficult to find the right time to go. For me the time has come now. I’m going of my own free will and I’m proud of having played my part in the positive development of this city.”

Dubbed “Wowi” in the media, the Berlin-born politician’s candour, smile and down-to-earth manner made him one of Germany’s most popular politicians, and he was frequently photographed hobnobbing with celebrities and enjoying a party lifestyle.

Seen by some as a possible SPD candidate for chancellor, he was ultimately passed over due to party concerns that what made him popular in Berlin might not play so well with voters nationwide and because of a perceived lack of gravitas.

Tagesspiegel newspaper said Jan Stoess, head of the SPD in Berlin, would take over from Wowereit, who had won a third term as mayor in September 2011, governing in coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU).

POOR BUT SEXY

Wowereit’s phrase “poor but sexy” was a marketing stroke of genius for the city, which has transformed into one of Europe’s hippest and most popular tourist destinations on his watch.

“Berlin is the place to be for people from all around the world,” Wowereit said. “Together we can be proud of this in the last years we have taken a huge leap forward.”

Berlin is finally starting to glimpse the prosperity that was supposed to land in its lap after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and it was restored as the jubilant capital of Germany after decades of Cold War division.

Noting the looming 25th anniversary of the fall of the Wall on Nov. 9, Wowereit said: “Berliners have achieved a huge amount in the last 25 years to turn the once divided city into an international metropolis. This wasn’t always easy… but ultimately it has been very successful.”

The city remains a work in progress. The centre is a mess of torn-up streets and construction. Berlin does not dominate decentralised, federal Germany the way London or Paris do their own countries and it generates just 4 percent of German output.

However its economy is growing faster than the German average and it has one of Europe’s liveliest digital start-up scenes. Shopping centres and luxury housing are going up on the former ‘no-mans land’ by the Wall and the population is growing fast, though at 3.4 million it is still less than in the city’s early 20th century heyday.

The city’s building boom and rising popularity make it all the more embarrassing that it still does not have an airport befitting a capital city. The new international airport – a pet project of Wowereit’s – is running five years behind schedule, at twice the original budget, and has become a national joke.

“One of the biggest defeats of course, was the non-opening of the airport. That was a bitter defeat and remains so, and I hugely regret that this still hasn’t been put right,” the mayor said.

Wowereit suffered another defeat in May when Berliners voted in a referendum to reject the Senate’s plans to partially build on the historic Tempelhof airfield. “Would you trust this man with another airport?” read the campaign slogan to save the airfield, beneath a picture of Wowereit slumped back in a chair.

But SPD leader and vice chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said “that Berlin today is an open, tolerant and attractive world city, on the right path economically, is down to Klaus Wowereit”.

Berlin’s debt to capita ratio is twice the national average however, and nearly 17 percent of Berliners rely on welfare. It is also struggling with high unemployment and resentment at the rapid gentrification and an influx of tourists.

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Six of the best moments from week two of the Barclays Premier League

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Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois made a stunning save to deny Leicester's David Nugent

By Crippy Cooke
Another Premier League weekend has passed and it’s left us with plenty to talk about.
There was an impressive debut goal scored by a new Premier League summer signing, one of the most theatrical dives of the season from a repeat offender and many more incidents that were among the best moments from week two of the greatest league in the world.

6. Best Save
Thibaut Courtois’ save from Leicester striker Dave Nugent’s one-on-one.
Chelsea goalkeeper Courtois justified his manager‘s faith in him after making a terrific stop to thwart Leicester City striker David Nugent, who was through on goal.
The Belgian raced off his line to close down the angle and by making himself look big he managed to block the shot for a corner.
Against many other Premier League goalkeepers, Nugent would have scored on the weekend.

5. Best Assist
Romelu Lukaku running 50 yards before slipping through Steven Naismith for an Everton goal.
Everton striker Lukaku showed exactly why the Toffees paid so much for his signature this summer.
The former Chelsea man won the ball from Per Mertesacker in his own half and evaded the sliding challenge from Calum Chambers before expertly slipping through Naismith to score Everton’s second goal of the game.

4. Best Goal
West Ham new-boy Mauro Zarate scoring the opener against Crystal Palace.
Striker Zarate was an unused substitute in the Hammers’ first game of the season. However, he started against Crystal Palace a week later and didn’t let his manager down.
After the ball was cleared to the edge of the box, Zarate fired a low first-time volley under pressure that beat Julian Speroni in goal. His celebration was almost as good as the goal itself.

3. Best Dive
Ashley Young’s dive against Sunderland.
When things are going poorly on the pitch, there’s nothing worse than seeing your own player humiliated for simulation.
Manchester United winger Young was booked for one of the most theatrical dives in the area this weekend when the England international failed to fool the referee he was genuinely tripped.
As he has done in the past, Young left his leg out to make contact with Sunderland’s Wes Brown and flung himself to the turf in a desperate attempt to win a spot-kick.

2. Best Game
Everton 2-2 Arsenal
Four goals scored, a 90th minute equaliser and controversy throughout, Everton’s 2-2 against Arsenal has to be the best game of the weekend.
The Toffees’ second goal should have been flagged for being offside, but for a previous foul in the build-up, while Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere could have been sent off for a dangerous tackle on Gareth Barry during the game too.

1. Best Vine
Alan Pardew using interpretive dance to tell his team to play with a smile.
Sometimes words can’t describe the hilarity of what you’re seeing, but Newcastle manager Alan Pardew makes the best Vine of the week following his intriguing way of telling his players to play with a simile in the 0-0 draw against Aston Villa.

For more articles and the latest soccer news, check out FTBpro.com

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Lampard retires from England duty

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Lampard scored 29 goals for England and captained the team in their last group match against Costa Rica at this year's World Cup in Brazil

By Josh Reich

England midfielder Frank Lampard has retired from international football after winning 106 caps.
The 36-year-old was released by Chelsea in May after 13 years at the London club and he signed for New York City before agreeing to move to Manchester City on a six-month loan deal.

Lampard scored 29 goals for England and captained the team in their last group match against Costa Rica at this year’s World Cup in Brazil.

“I have taken the decision to retire from international football,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
“It has been a very tough decision for me to make which is why I have given it so much thought since the World Cup. I have always been exceptionally proud and honoured to represent my country and have to say looking back I have enjoyed every minute of wearing the England shirt.”

Lampard said it was time put his family first given that he was soon to be playing in the United States.
“Also, to concentrate on how I can perform consistently to the best of my abilities over my next few years in club football,” he added.

“It is now the time to move forward and I feel very confident that with Roy Hodgson in charge, the young players that we have coming through, and the changes that are being made throughout the development of the youth system in this country, that we will have success in the future and a team that this country deserves.”

England captain Steven Gerrard ended his long international career last month.
Lampard made his international debut against Belgium in 1999, going on to play at three World Cups and two European Championships.

He make headlines at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa when he had a goal wrongly disallowed in a second-round clash with Germany, a match England went on to lose 4-1.

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Gaza ceasefire deal reached, Palestinian groups say

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Destruction in Gaza City

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Jeffrey Heller

Palestinian officials said on Tuesday a Gaza ceasefire deal with Israel has been reached under Egyptian mediation and a formal announcement of an agreement was imminent.

There was no immediate confirmation from Israel, where a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to comment.

“An agreement has been reached between the two sides and we are awaiting the announcement from Cairo to determine the zero hour for implementation,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in Gaza.

A spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, one of the Gaza militant groups that has been firing rockets into Israel, said the announcement could be made within two hours.

Cairo’s initiative, Palestinians officials said, called for an indefinite halt to seven weeks of hostilities, the immediate opening of Gaza’s blockaded crossings with Israel and Egypt and a widening of the enclave’s fishing zone in the Mediterranean.

Under a second stage that would begin a month later, Israel and the Palestinians would discuss the construction of a Gaza sea port and an Israeli release of Hamas prisoners in the occupied West Bank, the officials said.

Both Israel and Egypt view Hamas as a security threat and are demanding guarantees that weapons will not enter the economically crippled territory.

Increasing pressure on Palestinian militants to end their rocket strikes, Israel bombed more of Gaza’s tallest structures on Tuesday, bringing down a 13-storey apartment and office tower and destroying most of a 16-floor residential building.

The strikes flattened the Basha Tower and wrecked the Italian Complex, after occupants were warned to get out, and no deaths were reported.

Declining to comment specifically on the attacks, the Israeli military said it had hit 15 “terror sites”, including some in buildings that housed Hamas command and control centres.

WARNING MISSILES

Hamas, the dominant militant group in the Gaza Strip, accused Israel of an “unprecedented act of revenge against civilians” aimed at deterring Palestinians from supporting the Islamist movement.

Israel has now attacked three of Gaza’s most prominent high-rise buildings since Saturday, when it destroyed the 13-storey Al Zafer Tower.

The strikes were preceded by non-explosive warning missiles that sent residents fleeing, but 20 people were wounded in the attack on the Italian Complex.

Six Palestinians were killed in other Israeli strikes on Tuesday, medical officials said. Israel’s military said 70 rockets were fired from Gaza and that one damaged a house in the southern coastal town of Ashkelon, lightly wounding 10 people.

Palestinian health officials say 2,129 people, most of them civilians, including more than 490 children, have been killed in Gaza since July 8, when Israel launched an offensive with the declared aim of ending the rocket salvoes.

Sixty-four Israeli soldiers and four civilians in Israel have been killed.

Thousands of homes in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed or damaged in the conflict. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said 540,000 people had been displaced in the territory where Palestinians, citing Israeli attacks that have hit schools and mosques, say no place is safe.

Israel has said Hamas bears responsibility for civilian casualties, because it operates among non-combatants. The group, it said, uses schools and mosques to store weapons and as launch sites for rockets.

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Two admitted to hospital with heatstroke

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weather

TWO people were on Tuesday admitted to hospital suffering from heatstroke as temperatures are set to remain at high levels.
“Two foreign nationals have been taken to the General Hospital in Paphos for treatment after suffering from heatstroke. These are the only cases reported in Paphos so far,” said Hospital Director Spyros Georgiou.
On Wednesday the temperature in Nicosia is expected to reach between 38C and 40C, while normal temperatures for this time of year are 36C.
However high temperatures over the last few days have felt warmer than they are. “Due to the fact that temperatures are 2C to 4C higher than normal, the humidity even though at normal rates of 30-35% is making temperatures feel a lot higher than what they actually are,” an official at the Department of Meteorology said.
Temperatures are expected to drop back to normal by Thursday.

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Man United smash British transfer record to sign Di Maria

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Di Maria

By Ken Ferris

Manchester United smashed the British transfer record when they signed Argentina winger Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid for £59.7 million on Tuesday.
Di Maria has signed a five-year contract, the Premier League club announced on their website (www.manutd.com), with the fee breaking the British record of £50 million Liverpool received from Chelsea for Spain striker Fernando Torres in 2011.

Di Maria said: “I am absolutely delighted to be joining Manchester United. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Spain and there were a lot of clubs interested in me, but United is the only club that I would have left Real Madrid for.

“Louis van Gaal is a fantastic coach with a proven track record of success and I am impressed by the vision and determination everyone has to get this club back to the top – where it belongs. I now just cannot wait to get started.”

Van Gaal added: “Angel is a world-class midfielder but most importantly he is a team player. There is no doubting his immense natural talent.
“He is a tremendously fast and incisive left-footed player who puts fear into the most accomplished defence. His dribbling skills and his ability to take on and beat opponents are a joy to watch. He is an excellent addition to the team.”

Di Maria started out at Rosario Central with the Argentine club’s renowned youth academy and moved to Benfica in 2007.
Real paid the Portuguese club £20 million for his services in 2010 and the winger was a part of the team that won the club’s 10th European Cup last season.

However, the 26-year-old fell out of favour after the big-money signing of Colombian World Cup star James Rodriguez and was omitted from the squad for the Spanish Super Cup last week.

Di Maria, who looked strong in pre-season after suffering a thigh injury in the World Cup quarter-finals that forced him out of the tournament, turned down a new contract at the Bernabeu.
Last week Real coach Carlo Ancelotti said Di Maria had asked to leave the club.

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