NON-GOVERNMENTAL organisation Truth Now, yesterday called on the state to ratify the Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances, which Cyprus signed in 2007
The group, marking International Day of the Disappeared, also said it would keep up the pressure on the government for the creation of a truth commission in Cyprus.
“It is indeed a paradox that the Republic of Cyprus, while it has signed the Convention in 2007, it has nonetheless not proceeded with the ratification of same, despite all the indications that it would do so,” Truth Now said.
It called the creation of a truth commission urgent. “Forty or 50 years is too long. Many parents have already passed away. Everyone should contribute towards the ascertainment of the fate of all the missing persons in Cyprus,” it said. “The families have the right to truth and the state has an obligation to reveal it.”
It did welcome the exhumation of remains from graves at the Makedonitissa cemetery where a number of dead had been buried indiscriminately after the 1974 and were being identified.

By Andreas Vou

It was a night of the starkest of contrasts for Apollon and Omonia against the two sides from Moscow as the Limassol club pulled off a sensational 1-4 victory against Lokomotiv while Omonia suffered injury-time agony against Dynamo in a 1-2 loss.
After just two minutes, it had looked as though Gaossou Fofana had put Omonia ahead but it was chalked off for offside. Their 2-2 draw in Moscow last week had given them a narrow advantage to protect in Nicosia but it quickly vanished as Milan Stepanov scored an own goal to put the Russians ahead.
Mickael Pote made it 1-1 with an excellent header from Cristovao Ramos’ cross on 22 minutes, a scoreline which would have seen Omonia through. The score remained until deep into injury time when Dynamo controversially scored the match winner through a Christopher Samba header. Omonia furiously protested for a foul on keeper Jose Moreira while the big centre-back appeared to be offside from the initial cross, but their protests fell on deaf ears and Omonia’s European dream will remain on hold for at least another year.
Apollon, on the other hand, caused a major upset against Lokomotiv Moscow, not only because they won on a difficult ground but in the manner in which they did so.
Former Anorthosis striker Jan Rezek stunned the home crowd after 20 minutes with a brilliant header which went in off the crossbar.
Gaston Sangoy returned to the lineup after missing out on the first leg due to suspension and the Argentine made a telling impact, striding past the experienced Vedran Corluka before crossing the ball to Fotis Papoulis, who put Apollon 0-2 up on 50 minutes.
Yet there was still time for more as Thuram and Hugo Lopez turned the game into a rout late on, before Roman Pavlyuchenko’s consolation goal, as Apollon cruise into the Europa League groups for a second successive season.
There were no surprises at White Hart Lane where AEL took on Tottenham Hotspur aiming to overturn a 1-2 deficit from the first leg. Ivaylo Petev’s men went down 3-0 to the North Londoners in a one-sided affair.

By Constantinos Psillides

A 27-year old man from Paphos was arrested after he was found in an intoxicated state outside the GSP stadium in Nicosia.

The 27-year-old appeared before the Nicosia District Court on Friday. He had to post €1,000 in bail and hand over all his travel documents. He is also required to appear at a police station every time his team plays a match and stay there for the duration of the game, until the day of his hearing. He is due to appear before court again on September 15.

According to the police report, the man was a passenger in a car that was reported for public disturbance. Police stopped the vehicle and ask the 27-year-old to take an alcohol-test which came back with almost three times the legal limit. According to the report, “the man was in an obvious state of inebriation.”

This marks the second case when a fan has been processed under the controversial football hooligan law after police arrested a 31-year-old from Limassol on August 25 when he tried to gain access to a football match without purchasing a ticket.

The new legislation was voted earlier in the month, under heavy opposition from AKEL who protested that the new laws were draconian in nature. AKEL specifically protested against the ‘fan card’, an identification that all sports fan must register for if they wish to buy tickets for any sporting event. AKEL claimed that the fan card is a way for police to keep tabs on football supporters. Organised fan clubs also protested against the new legislation.

The fan card is scheduled to take effect from January 1, 2015. Anyone not registered as a fan will not be able to buy tickets for any sporting event.

A human chain stretching from south to north Nicosia through the Ledra Street checkpoint will take place on Monday.

The bi-communal event, called ‘Peace Meeting and Reunion’, is part of the international day of action for world peace organised by the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU). The day honours the memory of World War II victims.

In Cyprus the event is being organised by leftist Pancyprian Federation of Labour (PEO), the Turkish Cypriot Federation of Revolutionary Workers union (DEV-IS) , Turkish Cypriot Teachers’ and Workers unions (KTOS, KTOEOS, KTAMS, BES) and the bi-communal group United Cyprus.

PEO general secretary Pambis Kyritsis and the chairman of the Turkish Cypriot Teachers’ Union (KTOS) chairman Sener Elcil, issued a joint declaration on Friday saying the world economic crisis had affected both Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot workers and there was a need to intensify common struggles.

They also pledged their support to the negotiations process and called on the two leaders to work with goodwill for “a just and mutually accepted solution”.

On Monday there will be a gathering at the end of Ledra Street in the south at 7pm where the human chain will be formed.

At 8pm, there will an event at the Buyuk Han in the north where the bi-communal chorus for peace in Cyprus and the bi-communal dance group Kypros will perform.

By Constantinos Psillides

CYPRUS citrus farmers will be looking to the United Arab Emirates and other countries in the Gulf region to export their goods, in an attempt to find alternative markets following the Russian food embargo.

Agriculture minister Nicos Kouyialis had a meeting on Friday with the representative of a UAE citrus import company, which according to Kouyialis wishes to expand its operation in the island.

“This is the first in a number of meetings, aiming at finding new markets for local producers’ products,” said Kouyialis after the meeting.

“Our aim is to establish a long-lasting collaboration with countries in the Gulf region, regarding the industries of citrus fruits, potatoes, vegetables and dairy products,” added Kouyialis, characterising the meeting as “very productive.”

Kouyialis told the press that he had also arranged for future meetings between the producers and import companies working in the Gulf region.

The Russian embargo, imposed after the EU announced further economic sanctions for the country’s involvement in the Ukraine crisis, hurt Cyprus to the tune of €13.5 million in exports. Out of that, €10.7m relates to citrus fruits, specifically an exclusively Cyprus variation called the mandora. Mandoras are described as a cross between an orange and a mandarin, used by Russian businesses to produce juice.

By Constantinos Psillides

A 34-YEAR-OLD man from Guatemala was remanded on Friday for seven days in connection with an attempt to trade in counterfeit money, police said.

According to the police report, man approached a Greek Cypriot Larnaca resident in June and offered to duplicate a €50 bill for him. The Greek Cypriot accepted and they conducted the transaction.

According to the police report, the Greek Cypriot then made a deal with the 34-year-old to duplicate €7,000 he would give him in cash. Before setting up the meeting however, the Greek Cypriot called the police and reported the incident.

The two then met on August 27. The Greek Cypriot gave the Guatemalan €7,000, which he claimed that he couldn’t duplicate because it included €500 bills which were hard to counterfeit. Police said that the Guatemalan then tried to flee with the money but was stopped by his victim and handed over to the authorities.

Investigators are also looking for a Romanian man who drove the 34-year-old around, along with two other men described to be of African decent.

The investigation will also look into whether the Greek Cypriot should be prosecuted, a police source told the Cyprus Mail.

Police said that they will also be notifying Interpol to investigate on possible crimes the Guatemalan might have committed in his own country.

By Robert Robertsson and Simon Johnson

Iceland reduced its aviation warning level to orange on Friday after concluding that a small eruption in the Bardarbunga volcano system that triggered a hours-long red alert actually posed no threat to aircraft.

No sign of ash like that from the Eyjafjallajokull eruption that shut much of Europe’s air space in 2010 has been detected this time. But the Icelandic Metrological Office said a no-fly zone in a radius of 3 nautical miles just above the Bardarbunga volcano in central Iceland would remain in effect.

“The small eruption is not a threat to aviation and the published aviation warning area has been cancelled,” the Met Office said in a statement.

Iceland’s largest volcanic system, which cuts a 190-km-long and up to 25-km-wide swathe across the North Atlantic island, has been hit by thousands of earthquakes over the last two weeks and scientists have been on high alert in case of an eruption.

Reykjavik’s Met Office said that just after midnight an estimated 1-km-long fissure eruption began in a lava field north of the Vatnajokull glacier, which covers part of the Bardarbunga system.

While the risk of an ash cloud is highest in case of a sub-glacial eruption, Icelandic authorities for a few hours raised the aviation warning level to red, the highest on a five-colour scale and indicating that an eruption is imminent or under way, with a risk of spewing ash.

The latest eruption was at the tip of a magma dyke 40 km from the main Bardarbunga crater and activity subsided to relatively low levels after peaking between 0020 and 0200 GMT, Met Office seismologist Martin Hensch said earlier.

He said that it was impossible to say how the eruption would develop.

“One of the concerns is that the fissure opens into the glacier but presently there is no sign of that happening,” he said, adding that the eruption was 6-8 km from the glacier.

Nick Petford, a vulcanology expert at the University of Northampton in Britain, said fissure eruptions were often spectacular, but relatively low key and often died out in a couple of days. But there could be a sting in the tail, he said.

“Exactly the same thing happened in 2010 with the Eyjafjallajokull volcano,” Petford said. “The main eruption was in April, but in March there was a fissure eruption which was a precursor to the much larger eruption.”

The Eyjafjallajokull event was particularly disruptive because it pushed ash up to precisely the elevation used by transatlantic aircraft, while prevailing winds propelled the cloud into European air space. The ash was also particularly sticky due to its chemical composition.

Petford said that if the current eruption subsided, scientists would be looking for signs of more quakes deeper under the volcano, which would suggest more magma was welling up, and for any swelling of the volcano that could be measured using GPS.

“Those are pretty clear evidence that large amounts of magma are being stored within the volcano and that’s a good indication it will explode.”

By Diadie Ba and Saliou Samb

The West African state of Senegal became the fifth country to be touched by the world’s worst Ebola outbreak on Friday, while riots broke out in neighbouring Guinea where infection rates are rising fast.

The deadly virus has defied efforts by governments to control it, prompting the leading charity fighting the outbreak Medicins Sans Frontieres to call for the UN Security Council to take charge of efforts to stop the epidemic.

At least 1,550 people have died of Ebola and more than 3,000 have been infected since the virus was detected in the remote jungles of southeastern Guinea in March, and quickly spread across the border to Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The World Health Organization warned on Thursday the actual number of cases could be up to four times higher and said that a total of 20,000 people could be infected before the outbreak ends.

In the Guinean city of Nzerekore, riots broke out on Thursday night over rumours that health workers had infected people with the Ebola virus, a Red Cross official and residents said.

A crowd of young men, some armed with clubs and knives, set up barricades across the southern city on Thursday and threatened to attack the hospital before security forces moved in to restore order.

Gunshots were fired and several people were injured, said Youssouf Traore, president of the Guinean Red Cross.

“A rumour, which was totally false, spread that we had sprayed the market in order to transmit the virus to locals,” Traore said. “People revolted and resorted to violence, prompting soldiers to intervene.”

Local Red Cross workers had to flee to the military camp with their medical equipment. Another resident said the security forces were preventing people leaving their neighbourhoods overnight. More than 400 people have died in Guinea, though the infection rate is slower than in neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Senegal’s Health Minister Awa Marie Coll Seck said the country’s first case was a Guinean student who turned up for treatment at a hospital in the capital Dakar on Tuesday, concealing the fact that he had close contact with victims in his home country.

Authorities in Guinea had been searching for the young man for three weeks since he evaded surveillance, the minister said. Tests at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar showed him positive for the disease.

“We are tracing his whole itinerary and also identifying anyone who had contact with the patient who now that he has been diagnosed is much more cooperative and supplied all the necessary information,” the minister said.

In an attempt to prevent the spread of the virus, Senegal last week banned flights with three of the affected countries and shut its land border with Guinea.

INFECTION SPREADING

In the latest sign that the outbreak is spinning out of control, the WHO said on Friday that the number of Ebola cases rose by the highest weekly amount since the epidemic began in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The WHO this month classified the Ebola outbreak as an international health emergency. On Thursday, it unveiled a $490 million road map to bring the outbreak under control over the next nine months, saying it was a global health issue.

In Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown, a new WHO-backed mobile laboratory opened this week to test local cases, speeding up the response time.

But often financial pledges have not translated into more clinics and staff on the ground, said Jorge Castilla, epidemiologist with the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department.

“I’ve seen many declarations, I see treatment centres on the maps but I know they are not working,” he said in an interview after a trip to the affected countries.

Suspicion of health care workers has dogged government responses to the Ebola outbreak across West Africa.

They are often clad from head to toe in plastic protective gear and wearing protective masks, and many locals have shunned their assistance, often preferring to die in their own homes.

Unknowingly, many health care workers have contracted the virus themselves and infected the very communities they are seeking to help. So far, more than 120 health care workers have died in the epidemic. Liberia reported five new cases of infection among them in a single day this week.

The health ministry issued an alert on Friday evening, warning residents of Ayia Varvara, Alambra and Pera Chorio Nisou in Nicosia, and Kalo Chorio in Larnaca not to use their water supply for drinking or cooking.

The ministry said that following a routine test by the health services and the water development department, it was found that the water supply in the specific areas was unsafe as it “deviated from specific chemical parameters”. No further details were immediately available.

The ministry urged the communities in question to comply with instructions until they were given the all-clear.

By Alexei Anishchuk and Richard Balmforth

Ukraine called on Friday for full membership in NATO, its strongest plea yet for Western military help after accusing Russia of sending in armoured columns that have driven back its forces on behalf of pro-Moscow rebels.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, defiant as ever, compared Kiev’s drive to regain control of its rebellious eastern cities to the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in World War Two. He announced that rebels had succeeded in halting it, and proposed that they now permit surrounded Ukrainian troops to retreat.

Speaking to young people at a summer camp, Putin told his countrymen they must be “ready to repel any aggression towards Russia”. He described Ukrainians and Russians as “practically one people”, language that Ukrainians say dismisses the very existence of their thousand-year-old nation.

The past 72 hours have seen pro-Russian rebels suddenly open a new front and push Ukrainian troops out of a key town in strategic coastal territory along the Sea of Azov. Kiev and Western countries say the reversal was the result of the arrival of armoured columns of Russian troops, sent by Putin to prop up a rebellion that would otherwise have been near collapse.

Rebels said they would accept Putin’s proposal to allow Kiev forces, who they say are surrounded, to retreat, provided the government forces turn over weapons and armour. Kiev said that only proved that the fighters were doing Moscow’s bidding.

Full Ukrainian membership of NATO, complete with the protection of a mutual defence pact with the United States, is still an unlikely prospect. But by announcing it is now seeking to join the alliance, Kiev has put more pressure on the West to find ways to protect it. NATO holds a summit next week in Wales.

NATO’s Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he respected Ukraine’s right to seek alliances.

“Despite Moscow’s hollow denials, it is now clear that Russian troops and equipment have illegally crossed the border into eastern and south-eastern Ukraine,” Rasmussen said. “This is not an isolated action, but part of a dangerous pattern over many months to destabilise Ukraine as a sovereign nation.”

Kiev said it was rallying to defend the port of Mariupol, the next big city in the path of the pro-Russian advance in the south-east.

“Fortifications are being built. Local people are coming out to help our troops, to stop the city being taken. We are ready to repel any offensive on Mariupol,” military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said.

So far, the West had made clear it is not prepared to fight to protect Ukraine but is instead relying on economic sanctions, first imposed after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March and tightened several times since.

But those sanctions seem to have done little to deter Putin, leaving Western politicians to seek tougher measures without crippling their own economies, particularly in Europe which relies on Russian energy exports.

European foreign ministers met in Milan on Friday ahead of a weekend EU summit. They made clear the bloc will discuss further economic sanctions against Moscow. Some said that was no longer sufficient, and other measures to help Kiev should be discussed.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said countries that had tried so far to mediate now needed to explain “what their ideas (are) to stop President Putin and save Ukraine as she is”. Sweden’s Carl Bildt said: “Sanctions alone are not enough: he (Putin) is prepared to sacrifice his own people”.

Poland denied permission for Russia’s defence minister to fly over its air space after a trip to Slovakia, forcing him to return to Bratislava. Warsaw said he could fly if he reported the status of his plane as civilian rather than military.

“BEST NOT TO MESS WITH US”

Moscow still publicly denies its forces are fighting to support pro-Russian rebels who have declared independence in two provinces of eastern Ukraine. But the rebels themselves have all but confirmed it, saying thousands of Russian troops have fought on their behalf while “on leave”.

NATO has issued satellite photos of what it says is artillery fielded by more than 1,000 Russian troops fighting in Ukraine. Kiev has released interviews with captured Russian troops. Reuters has seen an armoured column of Russian troops on the Russian side of the frontier, showing signs of having recently returned from battle with no insignia on their uniforms. Members of an official Russian human rights body say as many as 100 Russian soldiers died in a single battle in Ukraine in August.

Encouraged by state media, Russians have so far strongly backed Putin’s hard line, despite Western sanctions that have hurt the economy, the Kremlin’s own ban on imports of most Western food, and now reports of Russian troops dying in battle.

Putin’s lengthy public appearance on Friday and his overnight statement on the conflict appear to be an acknowledgment that the war has reached a turning point, potentially requiring greater Russian sacrifice.

Putin answered questions from young supporters, some of whom waved banners bearing his face, at a pro-Kremlin youth camp on the shores of a lake. Wearing a grey sweater and light blue jeans, he looked relaxed, but his tone grew intense while he spoke about Russia’s military might, reminding the crowd that Russia was a strong nuclear power.

“Russia’s partners … should understand it’s best not to mess with us,” Putin said.

Putin compared Kiev’s assault on the rebel-held cities of Donetsk and Luhansk to the 900-day Nazi siege of Leningrad in which 1 million civilians died, perhaps the most powerful historical analogy it is possible to invoke in Russia.

“Small villages and large cities surrounded by the Ukrainian army which is directly hitting residential areas with the aim of destroying the infrastructure,” he said. “It sadly reminds me the events of the Second World War, when German fascist … occupiers surrounded our cities.”

He said the only solution to the conflict was for Kiev to negotiate directly with the rebels. Kiev has long refused to do so, arguing that the rebels are not a legitimate force on their own but proxies for Moscow, which must agree to rein them in.

Earlier, in a statement released by the Kremlin overnight, Putin pointed to the rebels’ gains of recent days on the battlefield: “It is clear that the rebellion has achieved some serious successes in stopping the armed operation by Kiev.”

“I call on the militia forces to open a humanitarian corridor for encircled Ukraine servicemen in order to avoid pointless victims, to allow them to leave the fighting area without impediment, join their families …,” he said.

RADICALLY DETERIORATING

Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the main rebel group, told a Russian television station his forces were ready to let the encircled Ukrainian troops pull out, provided they leave behind their heavy armoured vehicles and ammunition.

In Kiev, President Petro Poroshenko held an urgent meeting with security advisers overnight, after cancelling a trip to Turkey due to the “radically deteriorating situation”.

Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk told a government meeting on Friday the cabinet would “bring before parliament a law to scrap the non-aligned status of the Ukrainian state and establish a course towards membership of NATO”.

Were NATO to extend its mutual defence pact to Ukraine, it would be the biggest change in the security architecture of Europe since the 1990s. After the Cold War, NATO defied Russian objections and granted its security guarantee to ex-Communist countries like Poland, Hungary and Romania. But it largely stopped at the border of the former Soviet Union, admitting only the three tiny Baltic states Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

In 2008 NATO denied Ukraine and Georgia a fast track towards membership. Russia invaded Georgia a few months later.

This year, after Putin annexed Crimea, NATO countries including the United States have repeatedly said they would be prepared to go to war to protect any member, but not to defend non-member Ukraine.

Kiev hopes to get its message across to Russians that their government is waging war without telling them. Ukrainian Defence Minister Valery Heletey said many Russian soldiers had been captured and killed: “Unfortunately, they have been buried simply under building rubble. We are trying to find their bodies to return them to their mothers for burial.”

Russia’s defence ministry again denied the presence of its soldiers in Ukraine: “We have noticed the launch of this informational ‘canard’ and are obliged to disappoint its overseas authors and their few apologists in Russia,” a ministry official told Interfax news agency.

“Russia has also sent its newest air defense systems including the SA-22 into eastern Ukraine & is now directly involved in the fighting,” he said.

By Angelos Anastasiou

Hellenic Bank announced €95.5 million in losses for the first half of 2014 on Friday, due to a spike in provisions by 105 per cent and increased taxation.

However, the Bank recorded an increase of 46 per cent from operations before provisions, to €87 million for the period, compared to €59.6 million during the same period last year.

Hellenic raised provisions to €194 million from last year’s €94.6 million.

Board chairwoman Irena Georgiadou said the Cyprus economy and public were facing an unprecedented crisis, and stressed Hellenic Bank’s commitment to catalysing economic recovery.

She noted that the bank had complied with regulatory capital requirements.

“In anticipation of the stress tests, the bank is reviewing options on capital issues, and has commissioned the Rothschild Group to evaluate the matter,” Georgiadou said.

With regard to non-performing loans, she remarked that the issue is being addressed responsibly and with sensitivity to the public’s vulnerable groups.

“We remain committed to supporting the Cyprus economy, and in that sense we are thrilled with the fundamental role we are playing in the recovery of the economy,” she said. “At present we are in the process of revising our strategy, and to that end we are cooperating with the Roland Berger consultancy.”

Meanwhile, the decrease of the Bank of Cyprus nominal share value from €1 to €0.10 was approved by the Nicosia District court, the bank announced on Friday.

Court approval follows Thursday’s vote in favour of the decrease in the share’s nominal value by the bank’s shareholders in an Extraordinary General Meeting.

The bank will submit the court decision to the Department of the Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver.

The meeting of the two Cypriot leaders, scheduled for Tuesday has been postponed, the UN said on Friday, announcing a visit to the island by newly-appointed Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide next week.

A statement from the UN said Eide would be on the island from September 5 to 8.

The UN said that from September 2-4 Eide would be in New York for consultations with the UN Secretary-General and other senior UN officials including.

“Lisa Buttenheim. As a consequence, the United Nations has requested a short postponement of the leaders meeting currently scheduled for September 2. During his visit to the island, the SASG will consult with the leaders on an appropriate date for their September meeting,” the statement said.

By Josh Reich

Manchester United top the Premier League spending charts but after a dismal start to life under Louis van Gaal they badly need to beat promoted Burnley on Saturday (2.45pm).

The arrival of Argentine winger Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid for a British-record £59.7 million took their spending this transfer window to over £130 million but, as Van Gaal knows, splashing the cash is no guarantee of success.

The experienced Dutchman has yet to register a competitive victory, picking up one point from two league games and suffering an embarrassing 4-0 League Cup thrashing at third-tier MK Dons on Tuesday.

United’s name was missing from Thursday’s Champions League draw after last season’s seventh-place finish, compounding the gloom around Old Trafford, and although Van Gaal insists it will take time for the squad to adjust to his methods, rapid improvement is required at Turf Moor.

“Our problem is when we have the ball,” Van Gaal told reporters.
“We have to build up the play and we have to improve that. So I don’t think our defence is weak – no, our build-up is still not good enough and we shall improve that, but that needs time.”

United are missing Michael Carrick, Shinji Kagawa and Luke Shaw through injury, while Marcos Rojo is still unavailable as he has yet to receive a work permit.

Burnley manager Sean Dyche, without a point from matches against Chelsea and Swansea City, said it was important not to get caught up in the interest surrounding Di Maria, who is expected to play.

“They have made a lot of changes and a lot of the attention will be on them this weekend. That’s no disrespect to ourselves because there is an outside view of us being written off by the bookies, etc,” said Dyche, who has spent less than £5 million on strengthening his squad for life in the top flight.
“Clubs being talked about in higher regard than our own is something we will get used to over the season, not for vicious reasons.”

Elsewhere, Romelu Lukaku and Samuel Eto’o could appear against former club Chelsea when the sides clash at Goodison Park on Saturday evening (7.30pm).

Everton manager Roberto Martinez will make a late decision on 33-year-old Eto’o’s involvement but he expects Lukaku to play despite a sore toe.

“Rom has strong inner strength and I don’t think he is motivated by who he is facing or who is in front of him,” Martinez told the club website (www.evertonfc.com).
Winger Christian Atsu is not eligible to play against his parent club.

Chelsea are chasing their fifth successive away league victory as they bid to continue their unbeaten start to the new campaign.
Also on Saturday, champions Manchester City host Stoke, Queens Park Rangers face Sunderland, West Bromwich Albion travel to Swansea, West Ham entertain Southampton and new Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock takes his team to Newcastle United (all 5pm).

Tottenham Hotspur have made a steady start under new boss Mauricio Pochettino, and will hope to banish the memories of two heavy defeats by Liverpool last season when they host the Merseysiders on Sunday (3.30pm).

Liverpool tore Spurs to shreds, winning the matches by a combined 9-0, but under Pochettino they are yet to concede in the league.
“The past is the past. I don’t want to remember the past. It is a new season, Pochettino told reporters.

The Reds have been boosted by the purchase of controversial Italian striker Mario Balotelli from AC Milan and being drawn with Real Madrid in the Champions League group stage.

They will be keen to get back to winning ways after losing 3-1 at Manchester City, the side that pipped them to last season’s league title.

Aston Villa host Hull City (3.30pm) and Arsenal travel to Leicester City (6pm) in Sunday’s other matches.

By Angelos Anastasiou
FBME issued a statement on Saturday questioning the Central Bank’s intentions and challenging the way it has taken control of the bank’s operations after the US Treasury described the bank as a “primary money laundering concern”.
FBME, headquartered in Tanzania, had denied the allegations, saying the US Treasury had compiled the report without its input.
The Central Bank (CBC) appointed an administrator for FBME Cyprus in mid-July. The regulator said it was selling the branch to protect depositors and prevent contagion after correspondent banks froze and/or closed the branch’s US dollar accounts and have suspended transfers on behalf of the branch.
In its statement on Saturday the bank’s management welcomed comments by the Central Bank issued on Thursday defending its operations as “a start of a debate”. But FBME went on to raise several points it felt remain unclear.
Citing a point from the CBC’s statement, which claimed that its actions “have been geared at normalising the operations of FBME and protecting its depositors”, the bank responded that “few, if any, depositors feel themselves to have benefited from this protection – not being able to access their accounts for over five weeks has caused massive harm.”
“This is not ‘normalisation’,” FBME argued.
Further, the lender’s management claimed that the CBC’s assertion that correspondent banks refuse to transact its payments is inaccurate, as the bank had come to an understanding with some prior to its takeover by the regulator in July. FBME duly informed the Central Bank’s Special Administrator of these arrangements “prior to the end of July”, it said, but he refused to engage.
With regard to the CBC’s claim that the SWIFT payment line was interrupted by FBME’s head office, the bank admitted this was the case as of August 18, but queried why the Special Administrator failed to utilise the bank’s deposits at the CBC – some €180 million – to make the necessary payments.
“Why can’t they use these [deposits] for payments?” the bank asked. “And why are they holding onto them? Also, what happened in terms of allowing transactions in the four weeks prior to 18 August?”
Finally, FBME rejected the CBC’s claim that its owners had refused to meet, claiming that at the time of the proposed meeting “one shareholder was abroad and the other was unwell.”
“The owners are still willing and always have been keen to hold such a meeting,” the statement said. “It should be simply re-scheduled.”
FBME signed off its statement with its response to the CBC’s ban on communication with customers, correspondents and other stakeholders.
“The holding company has responded by posting its own website, which can be found on www.fbmeltd.com,” the lender said.

A MAN was caught driving his motorcycle at 156 km/h on Friday night in a residential area along Grivas Dighenis Avenue in Nicosia, while another was arrested for possession of drugs as police launched a nightime campaign to curb dangerous driving, noise pollution and delinquency in the area.
According to a police report, traffic police and drug squad officers co-ordinated in carrying out the campaign from 10 pm Friday to 5 am Saturday, which resulted in a total of 76 tickets for various offences, 133 alcohol tests with 12 bookings, as well as hundreds of other checks on drivers and suspicious individuals. As a result of the checks, nine motorcycles and one car were impounded.
The operation was focused on specific areas, including Grivas Dighenis Avenue, Prodromou Street in Strovolos, and the Lakatamia and Pallouriotissa suburbs, which have a history of disturbance, noise pollution and youth delinquency.

A 35-YEAR-OLD Bulgarian man was arrested on Saturday morning as a suspect in the theft of €22,000 from the Kontea co-operative in Dromolaxia earlier in August.
According to police sources, at around 8:30 am on Saturday, Larnaca CID raided the Bulgarian’s home in Meneou, where they found most of the stolen money stashed under the roof tiles and in the hood used by the perpetrator in the robbery.
The suspect will be brought before the Larnaca district court on Sunday for remand.
A recent separate robbery had led police to suspect the man, and a court case against him in that incident is pending.
Police said that they tracked down the suspect after evaluating the perpetrator’s description provided by the co-op’s employees, his movements as recorded by the bank’s CCTV, and his criminal record.
The co-op robbery took place on August 22 shortly before 1 pm when an unidentified man in a black long shirt, whose face was covered with a hood, entered the branch through the electrically controlled entrance along with an unsuspecting female customer.
The perpetrator produced a firearm, possibly a fake, and asked the three cashiers for money in broken English.
After being handed some €22,000, he departed on foot.
However, his movements were recorded by the branch CCTV, which led police to launch a manhunt to locate the robber.

By a Staff Reporter
FOREIGN MINISTER Ioannis Kasoulides opposed the prospect of new sanctions by the EU against Russia, during the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Milan on Friday.
In a move that could signal a nod to Russia’s discontent with the EU’s unanimous decision to impose sanctions against it last July, Kasoulides told the meeting that the method of sanctions appeared not to have achieved the required results. Arguing that the solution to the Ukrainian crisis could not be a military one but a political one, he proposed that the EU’s efforts focus on mediation aimed at securing a ceasefire and bringing the two sides to the negotiating table.
According to a written statement, the issues discussed during the first part of the meeting were the current situation in the Middle East and Russia and Ukraine. With regard to the Middle East, discussion revolved around recent developments in Iraq, and particularly on the action of the Islamic State of Levant and Syria.
On Russia, European Foreign ministers exchanged views on possible ways of addressing the situation, including calls for further sanctions against Russia.
Meanwhile, Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb said European Union leaders would not decide on new sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis at an EU summit in Brussels on Saturday.
“It is clear we will discuss new sanctions as the situation has changed in the last few days … but we will not decide on any new sanctions today,” Stubb said in an interview with YLE public radio.
“If Russia continues with its destabilising efforts (in eastern Ukraine), I think it is right that sanctions will be toughened, but I hope that will not happen.
“There are countries that want to toughen sanctions right away, and countries that want a more calm approach,” he added.
The EU and the United States announced sanctions against Russia at the end of July, targeting its energy, banking and defence sectors. Previously the EU had imposed sanctions only against certain individuals and organisations accused of direct involvement in threatening Ukraine.

By a Staff Reporter
CHAIRMAN of the National Economic Council (NEC) Christoforos Pissarides’ warning earlier this week that a rejection of the foreclosures bill by Parliament could lead the Cyprus economy “back to March 2013”, has apparently caused some panic among depositors, according to local press on Saturday.
Phileleftheros reported that approximately €60 million of deposits were withdrawn from local banks in a single day immediately following Pissarides’ comments on Tuesday made after an NEC session chaired by President Nicos Anastasiades. Pissarides alluded both to a disastrous ‘no’ vote by the House on the foreclosure legislation and a new haircut on deposits.
The paper said reported that while normal outflows from banks typically do not exceed €100 million per month, last Wednesday saw €45 million withdrawn from commercial banks and €15 million from the co-ops.
Meanwhile, daily Simerini reported on Saturday that banks consider themselves victims of an overzealous effort by Anastasiades’ advisors to push for the approval of the foreclosures bill, citing remarks by Fiscal Council chairman Demetris Georgiades along the same lines as those of Pissarides.
But reports have had Anastasiades distancing himself from such doomsday scenarios. Phileleftheros reported that none of the concerns made public by Pissarides had been mentioned during Tuesday’s NEC meeting, while Simerini said that during a meeting between Anastasiades and the Banks’ Association on Thursday, the president assured the bankers that he did not share these views.
Nonetheless, the postponement of the vote from Monday to Friday has raised a few eyebrows among the public, as it brought to mind memories from last year’s Eurogroup decisions – all made on a Friday.

THE LATEST developments in the Cyprus issue, the appointment of the new UN Special Adviser on Cyprus and the need for the EU to play a stronger role in the efforts to solve the Cyprus issue, were discussed between President Nicos Anastasiades and the new European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker on Saturday
President Anastasiades is in Brussels to participate in Saturday’s the extraordinary meeting of the European Council.
Speaking after his meeting with Juncker, Anastasiades said that he also discussed Cyprus’ economy and the progress towards implementing Cyprus’ economic adjustment programme.
President Anastasiades added that he also discussed with Juncker the composition of the European Commission and the portfolio for Cyprus.
“Mr Juncker has biographies of the two candidates, he will decide which of the two will be called for interview in order to obtain, in my opinion, one of the important portfolios of the European Commission,” he said.

MAKIS Keravnos, CEO of Hellenic Bank, has resigned it was reported on Saturday.
Hellenic Bank has not confirmed his resignation, but local press reports said it was under pressure from other bank officials.
It was widely known he had long been unhappy with overall changes to the structure of the bank.
The likely candidate to replace him is Marianna Pantelidou who has been a member of the board since December 2013. She is also a member of the National Economic Council which advises President Nicos Anastasiades on the economy.
Makis Keravnos had been CEO of Hellenic Bank since September 2005. He was appointed member of the Board of Directors of Hellenic Bank on 20 July 2006.
He has held the position of Minister of Labour and Minister of Finance and was the first Minister of Finance after the accession of Cyprus to the EU.
Makis Keravnos also served as a board director of the World Bank for Cyprus, the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.