Close to 350 people, thought to be refugees from Syria, have been rescued by a Cypriot cruise ship after the vessel they were in issued a distress signal early on Thursday.

Limassol port master Giorgos Pouros said the refugees had been taken aboard the Salamis Filoxenia and were in good health.

The total number of people rescued was 345 — 293 adults and 52 children — the defence ministry said.

“It was a quite a difficult operation,” said Kikis Vasiliou, director of Salamis Cruises, the owner of the cruise ship. “All the passengers are safe.”

The rescue effort was carried out amid rough seas. It finished at around 2.30pm.

Vasiliou commended the captain and the crew, adding that the goal was to save the people’s lives.

Salamis Filoxenia was expected to dock in Limassol at around 9pm where medical personnel will be waiting to examine the refugees. They will then be transported to an army barracks in Kokkinotrimithia, in Nicosia.

The defence ministry said the signal from the boat was received at 6.25am. The vessel was located some 50 nautical miles (90 km) south-west of Paphos.

A defence ministry spokesperson said that a lot of women and children where among the 300 people.

By Michael Holden

British police arrested nine men as part of an operation into Islamist-related militancy on Thursday, with media reporting the country’s most high-profile radical Muslim preacher was among those held.

Britain last month raised its international threat level to the second-highest classification of “severe”, meaning an attack is considered highly likely, and Prime Minister David Cameron has said the Islamic State group battling for territory in Syria and Iraq poses the country’s greatest ever security risk.

Police said the arrests were not in response to any immediate threat but that the men were held on suspicion of encouraging terrorism and belonging to and supporting a banned organisation.

“These arrests and searches are part of an ongoing investigation into Islamist-related terrorism,” police said in a statement.

The BBC and Sky News reported that one of the men held was Anjem Choudary, the former head of the now banned organisation al-Muhajiroun. It gained notoriety for staging events to commemorate the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States with leaflets that referred to the hijackers as “the Magnificent 19″.

Police declined to confirm if Choudary, who has recently spoken out against the West’s intervention against Islamic State, had been held or to give further details. There was no answer from his mobile phone when contacted by Reuters.

The men, aged between 22 and 51, were in custody at police stations in central London while 19 properties across the capital and in Stoke-on-Trent in central England were being searched.

Choudary’s followers have been linked to a number of militant plots in the past, and one of the men who hacked a British soldier to death on a London street in May last year had attended demonstrations the preacher had organised.

Choudary has never been charged with any terrorism-related crimes.

In 2011 his home and a community centre in east London where he used to teach were raided by counter-terrorism police. He told Reuters at the time that he had done nothing illegal.

“The definition of terrorism is more suitable for the US/UK policy in Muslim lands than those who are removing their oppressive regimes,” Choudary said in a tweet he wrote hours before the police arrests.

“The war being waged by the US/UK & co is a war against Islam & Muslims. The objective is to take Muslims away from the Shari’ah (Islamic law)”

Al-Muhajiroun’s Syrian-born founder Omar Bakri was banished from Britain in 2005.

By Mustafa Andalib

Hundreds of Taliban fighters have stormed a strategic district in an Afghan province southwest of the capital and are on the verge of capturing it after killing dozens of people and beheading some in days of fighting, officials said on Friday.

The Ghazni provincial government has lost contact with police in the province’s western district of Ajrestan, said Asadullah Safi, deputy police chief of the area. An army unit reported that fighting was raging late on Friday afternoon, another provincial official said.

“If there is no urgent help from the central government, the district will collapse,” Safi said earlier.

The battle for Ajrestan illustrates the grave challenges facing Afghanistan’s new president and the security forces in holding territory as foreign combat troops prepare to leave at the end of the year.

No longer pinned down by US air cover, Taliban fighters are attacking Afghan military posts in large numbers with the aim of taking and holding ground.

Ghazni is on the main highway linking Kabul to southern Afghanistan, where the Taliban have been making advances in recent months.

The attack by an estimated 700 Taliban fighters began about five days ago and early reports were that more than 100 people had been killed, including 15 who were beheaded by the militants, said provincial deputy governor Ahmadullah Ahmadi.

Safi said a suicide car bomber attacked a police checkpoint early on Friday before provincial authorities lost contact with the district.

By late Friday afternoon, officials had contacted an army unit that reported that fighting was still going on, Ahmadi said. Afghan army commandos from outside the province had arrived to reinforce police and soldiers, he said.

The Taliban are fighting to expel U.S.-led foreign forces and the U.S.-backed Kabul governnment.

‘DIFFICULT TO HANDLE’

The Taliban have been focusing on regaining important opium-growing areas, such as the southern province of Helmand, and areas where they have traditionally enjoyed support, such as Kunduz province in the north.

Control of Ghazni’s mountainous Ajrestan district, about 200 km from Kabul, could provide the Taliban with a launching point for attacks in two bordering provinces and along the crucial artery connecting the capital to Afghanistan’s second city of Kandahar in the south.

The growing Taliban threat is likely to be the most urgent challenge for the new, US-brokered government of national unity between President-elect Ashraf Ghani and his former rival Abdullah Abdullah.

Provincial authorities have appealed for help from the central government in Kabul, where Ghani is in the process of taking over the presidency from Hamid Karzai.

“We have asked repeatedly for helicopters to evacuate the wounded, but so far nothing has been done,” Ahmadi said.

Months of deadlock over a disputed election and uncertainty over whether any US troops will remain beyond this year has battered morale among Afghan security forces.

“Peace with the Taliban requires a strong government. At the moment, the Taliban think they can fight in every province and they believe they can overthrow the government,” said Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, Abdullah’s running mate and the leader of Afghanistan’s ethnic Hazara minority.

“Without international support it will be hard to provide security … The example of Ajrestan district shows that without international commitment of troops, it will be difficult to handle the Taliban.”

The Cyprus Tourism Organization (CTO) will implement the recommendations made by auditor general, Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said on Friday, after it emerged that advertising campaigns had been approved by the board bypassing the due process.

“The auditor general made some very serious observations. We will review them and act on that assessment immediately,” the minister said..

The report –a draft of which was leaked to the media this week- blasted CTO for its advertising practices and specifically for the fact that the board approved €900,000 worth advertising campaigns bypassing all due process.

The board had claimed that they needed to appropriate the money before the end of the year because the money would have been taken back by the state.
The auditor general also criticized the minister, pointing out that CTO is under his authority and thus he is to be held responsible for the board’s actions.

Unemployment fell on a quarterly basis in Q2 to 15.4 per cent from 16.9 per cent, the statistical service said on Friday.

On an annual basis, the rate of unemployment remained the same.

According to the results of the labour force survey for the 2nd quarter of 2014, the number of employed people was 365,000 in Q2 (185,800 men and 179,200 women) with the number of jobless individuals being 66,700 (37,700 men and 29,000 women).

The employment rate for persons aged 20-64 was 67.8 per cent (71.7 per cent men and 64.3 per cent women) recording an increase from the previous quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2013.

The majority of those without a job were men – 16.8 per cent, compared with 13.9 per cent women.

The unemployment rate for young persons aged between 15 and 24 was 37.2 per cent of the same age group in the labour force, recording a decrease from the previous quarter of 2014 and the corresponding quarter of 2013

By Krisztina Than

Hungary has secured increased gas imports from Russia’s Gazprom, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday, a day after Hungary’s pipeline operator FGSZ stopped shipping gas to Ukraine.

Orban told public radio that he had held talks with Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and the company had agreed to ship increased volumes of gas to boost levels at Hungary’s storage facilities in the coming weeks.

Hungary is aiming to avert supply problems in the event of a potential halt in shipments of Russian gas stemming from the Ukraine crisis.

FGSZ on Thursday announced it had halted gas shipments to Ukraine indefinitely.

The move triggered a protest from Ukraine’s Naftogaz, which urged its “Hungarian partners to respect their contractual obligations and EU legislation”.

“Naftogaz calls on the EU to ensure a collective solution to the energy security of Europe and the respect of EU internal rules. Neither EU countries nor Ukraine should be put under political pressure through energy blackmail,” Naftogaz said in a statement on its website.

European Commission spokeswoman Helen Kearns said: “The message from the Commission is very clear: We expect all member states to facilitate reverse flows as agreed by the European Council… There is nothing preventing EU companies to dispose freely of gas they have purchased from Gazprom and this includes selling this gas to customers both within the EU as well as to third countries such as Ukraine.”

On Friday the EU aims to propose an interim solution to the gas row between Russia and Ukraine at talks it is brokering in Berlin to avert a winter gas supply crisis.

Timothy Ash, an analyst at Standard Bank, suggested that the Gazprom deal could be part of Moscow’s strategy on Ukraine.

“Hungary also suspended reverse gas supplies to Ukraine last night. This comes after Gasonyazprom’s CEO, Alexei Miller, met Orban on September 22, and reflects perhaps on Hungary’s own 10 billion euro deal for an upgrading of its nuclear power facilities, significantly funded by Russia,” Ash said in a note.

Michael LaBelle, an assistant professor at the Central European University in Budapest, said it made sense for Gazprom to store gas in Hungary and the move would also help Hungary in the event that supply is cut off.

“With the crisis in Ukraine they (Russians) need to put it somewhere else and Hungary has the under-utilised capacity and it gets the Hungarian government out of the pickle,” he said.

He noted that selling gas already stored in Hungary would currently be unprofitable as it had been purchased at a higher price.

A government spokesman was not immediately available to comment.

Hungary’s state-owned energy group MVM last year bought the local gas trading and storage units of Germany’s E.ON which gave the government control over gas imports from Russia.

During a gas crisis in January 2009 when Russian gas flows via Ukraine were halted, Hungary had to impose restrictions on some industrial gas users. Since then it has increased storage capacity while annual consumption has declined.

RELIANT ON RUSSIA

Hungary is heavily reliant on Russian gas. Annual consumption is about 9 billion cubic metres (bcm), with most imported by pipeline from Ukraine. Hungary has domestic annual production of about 1.5 bcm.

The central eastern European country has storage capacity of about 6 bcm. Its storage tanks are currently a little more than 61 percent full, the lowest percentage in the European Union, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed.

Orban said Hungary’s storage would be boosted in the coming weeks and that, regardless of the severity of the Ukraine crisis, Hungary must avert a situation in which its people do not get the energy they need.

“I had talks with the Russians, the leader of Gazprom, about this, that we will need a large amount of gas in the coming period to increase the stored volumes,” he said. “And we will get this large amount.”

Orban did not indicate how much additional gas Hungary would receive.

Erste Bank oil and gas sector analyst Tamas Pletser said Hungary had Europe’s fourth-largest gas storage facilities and could avert serious supply disruptions even if flows via Ukraine are halted.

Hungary can also import gas via a pipeline from Austria.

By Andrew Osborn and William James

Prime Minister David Cameron urged lawmakers on Friday to vote in favour of Britain joining US-led air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq, hours ahead of a crunch parliamentary vote he is expected to win.

Approval would mean Britain embarking on its first military campaign since it launched air strikes in 2011 against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in Libya, seeing it join a coalition that includes the United States, France and Middle Eastern allies.

Cameron recalled parliament from recess for a special session after the Iraqi government requested British intervention, and was careful to secure cross-party support for strikes against IS before putting forward a motion.

“Is there a threat to the British people? The answer is yes,” Cameron told parliament, saying he thought action would need to last “years” to be effective.

“This is not a threat on the far side of the world. Left unchecked we will face a terrorist caliphate on the shores of the Mediterranean and bordering a NATO member, with a declared and proven intention to attack our country and our people.”

Britain, a staunch US ally, was quick to join military action in Afghanistan and Iraq a decade ago. But a war-weary public and parliament’s rejection last year of strikes on the Syrian government prompted Cameron to tread carefully this time.

Cameron is expected to comfortably win the parliamentary vote, which is due at around 1600 GMT.

Before Friday, Britain had confined itself to delivering aid, carrying out surveillance, arming Kurdish forces who are fighting IS militants, and promising training in Iraq.

But the beheading of a British aid worker by an Islamic State militant with a British accent has highlighted the danger the group poses to domestic security. The fate of another Briton being held, Alan Henning, has also stirred public opinion.

SCEPTICISM

Cameron’s approach has dismayed some lawmakers in his Conservative Party who think striking IS in Iraq is insufficient and want him to extend action to tackle militants in Syria too, something he has said he is not ready to do for now.

Richard Ottoway, the Conservative chairman of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said IS was ranging at will across an unguarded border between Iraq and Syria, meaning it had to be targeted in both countries.

“We will never end this conflict by turning back at the border,” Ottoway told parliament.

Cameron explained he had not proposed Syrian strikes because he realised there were concerns within the opposition Labour party about such action. Labour has said any such action would require a UN resolution on Syria.

“I do believe there is a strong case for us to do more in Syria but I did not want to bring a motion to the house today which there wasn’t consensus for,” said Cameron.

“Of course … there are many concerns about doing more in Syria and I understand that.”

Some Conservatives harbour doubts about the efficacy of the Iraqi army and say Cameron is wrong to rule out deploying British ground forces, as he repeatedly has.

The limited scope of the proposed British effort — only six Cyprus-based Tornado GR4 fighter-bombers are initially due to take part in strikes — is modest compared to previous interventions.

That has prompted some Conservatives to accuse Cameron of taking only token action.

“Is he seriously contending that by air strikes alone we can actually roll back ISIL (IS), or is this gesture politics?” Edward Leigh, a Conservative lawmaker, told parliament.

Opposition leader Ed Miliband said he backed strikes against IS in Iraq, but some lawmakers in his left-leaning Labour Party made clear they were uncomfortable about the prospect of any kind of military action.

“The question is, will what the Prime Minister and the government is proposing, will that be effective in destroying ISIS (IS)?,” asked David Winnick, a Labour lawmaker.

“Look at what the House of Commons (parliament) agreed to: Iraq, Afghanistan, in this government, Libya. None of them success stories.”

Britain says around 500 of its citizens have travelled to fight in Syria and Iraq, raising fears radicalised fighters could return to stage attacks at home — something Cameron has described as the biggest threat to national security.

By Iacovos Constantinou

Table-toppers APOEL face third-placed AEL in what is undoubtedly the most intriguing game of the fifth round of the Cyprus football championship.

Second-placed Apollonas appear to have a much easier match, at least on paper, at home to newcomers Othellos Athienou.

APOEL will be seeking their fifth straight win against AEL at the GSP stadium on Saturday in order to complete a tough opening fixture sequence in the best possible way.
With Tuesday’s Champions League clash at home to Ajax on his mind as well, coach Giorgos Donis is set to continue with his squad rotation, resting some players and giving playing time to others.

However, as APOEL almost paid the price for too much tinkering against Anorthosis in midweek, Donis may not make drastic changes to his ‘best’ eleven.

He cannot call upon the injured Anastasios Papazoglou while star signing Rafik Djebbour is returning from injury and the best he can hope for is a place on the bench.

John Arne Riise should get some more playing time while Vinicius is expected to start the game.

AEL, who lost to Apollonas last week, travel to Nicosia knowing that they must avoid defeat at all costs as this would leave them eight points off the top.

Bulgarian coach Ivaylo Petev will be without the suspended Sardinero and most probably Barcelos, who seems to have been unable to shake off his niggling injury.
However since taking over a year or so ago, Petev has never lost two consecutive games with AEL and he is hoping that this pattern will continue.

Apollonas will be without the injured Rezek and Hamdani against Othellos, while coach Christakis Christophorou is also expected to rest key players ahead of their Europa League clash against Villareal on Thursday.

Othellos, with four points so far, were desperately unlucky not to get anything out of their game against Omonia on Wednesday, losing to a last minute goal.

They are a well-organised team that most opponents will find very difficult to break down.
Anorthosis take on bottom of the table Ayia Napa at the Antonis Papadopoulos stadium.

Despite collecting just three points so far, Anorthosis should be able to record their second win of the season.

Omonia travel to Achna on Sunday to face Ethnikos in a game that can go either way while Doxa Katokopias entertain Nea Salmina.
The final game of the round will take place on Monday evening where two in-form teams, AEK and Ermis Aradippou, will clash at the GSZ stadium.

Saturday, September 27th: APOEL vs AEL (18.00), Apollonas vs Othellos & Anorthosis vs Othellos (20.00)
Sunday, September 28th: Ethnikos Achnas vs Omonia (19.00), Doxa vs Nea Salamina (20.00)
Monday, September 29th: AEK vs Ermis Aradippou (19.00)

By George Psyllides

Former Central Bank governor Christodoulos Christodoulou on Friday pleaded guilty to six charges relating to tax offenses in connection with a €1 million cash transfer from a Greek ship-owner to a company managed by his daughter.

His daughter Athina and her former husband, Andreas Kizourides, were acquitted.

The prosecution later suspended seven lesser charges.

Prosecutor Andreas Aristides said the defendant admitted the most serious charges as regards the sentence.

Aristides said the case has two aspects – the first concerns the deliberate omission to declare the amount to the inland revenue department in a bid to avoid taxation.

“The six charges admitted fall in this category,” the prosecutor said.

The second aspect concerns the manner of obtaining the amount, as well as its transfer from an account in Marfin Egnatia Bank in Greece, to Marfin Laiki Bank in Cyprus.

At present, Aristides said, the charges relating to the second aspect that are included on the charge sheet concern the offenses of conspiracy and forgery in two separate instances.

The prosecutor added that requests for assistance had been sent to Greece and the findings of the investigation are being gradually passed on to Cypriot authorities.

A preliminary examination of the evidence showed that Christodoulou could face additional charges, Aristides said.

The former CBC boss has previously claimed that the money was a down payment for consultancy services that would have been provided over ten years to Focus, a company belonging to Michalis Zolotas.

Christodoulou also submitted a copy of an agreement between his daughter’s company and Focus.

Zolotas is said to be an associate of former Laiki strongman Andreas Vgenopoulos whom many hold responsible for the collapse of the island’s banking system.

The transfer in question was allegedly made to the company’s Athens-based bank account in July 2007.

Around two years later, the €1 million plus interest was then allegedly transferred to an account in Laiki Bank.

Christodoulou had served as governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus from 2002 to 2007, and the suspicious transfer was reportedly made a few months after his term expired.

Vgenopoulos has said that Zolotas was not his associate.

In a statement issued in May, Vgenopoulos said Zolotas was not his friend and nor an associate, as Cypriot media had reported, and that the ship-owner had ties with Laiki long before he came onto the scene.

Vgenopoulos said he had asked Zolotas to issue a statement to clarify his relation with him and explain his acts to the Cypriot people, but the Greek ship-owner had refused.

Speaking to the media after the hearing, Christodoulou said he had been vindicated by the fact that charges had been dropped.

“I neither stole, nor was I bribed,” he said. “My conscience is clear; I did my duty. I was honest and I have given this country more than I have taken.”

He said the whole affair was a smear campaign and half the island should have been charged with the same offenses. The trial continues on October 16.

By Tony Jimenez

The United States, inspired by a brilliant display by rookie duo Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth, led by 2-1/2 points to 1-1/2 after a topsy-turvy opening fourballs session in the 40th Ryder Cup on Friday.

Holders Europe, helped by a magical stroke from Sergio Garcia who holed out from a greenside bunker at the fourth, held the upper hand early on but the visitors fought back strongly.

Spieth, 21, and Reed, 24, forming the youngest partnership in the history of the biennial team event, crushed out-of-sorts Ian Poulter and Scottish debutant Stephen Gallacher 5 & 4 in match three.

The first contest was dominated by Europe’s Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson as they swept to a 5 & 4 win over Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson.

Thomas Bjorn and Martin Kaymer let slip a three-hole lead to halve their match with Americans Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker, while Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley beat world number one Rory McIlroy and Garcia one up in the final match.

By Angelos Anastasiou

CYPRUS’ constructive and stabilising role in the Eastern Mediterranean region, including efforts to mediate between energy-producing and energy-consuming countries, as well as recent developments concerning the Cyprus problem, were the focus of President Nicos Anastasiades’ contacts in the context of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Addressing the Assembly on Friday, Anastasiades highlighted his vision for broader regional cooperation catalysed by the discovery of fossil fuels, and for Cyprus to assume an active role in effecting it.

“The discovery of hydrocarbons in our neighbourhood has undoubtedly upgraded its strategic importance,” he said. “Energy can serve as a catalyst for broader cooperation, thus contributing to peace and stability, and as a means of strengthening regional and EU energy security and diversification, which will boost the economies of the countries in the area.”

“We stand ready to contribute towards this cause and even mediate in bringing neighbouring hydrocarbon-producing and hydrocarbon-consuming countries together,” he added.

Anastasiades also reaffirmed his commitment to working towards a settlement of the Cyprus problem, calling on Turkey to show genuine political will by adopting his proposed package of confidence-building measures.

“Following the [February 2014] Joint Declaration and intensive negotiations between the two sides, comprehensive proposals on all chapters of the Cyprus problem have been submitted,” Anastasiades recounted. “We have now reached the phase of concentrating our efforts to bridging the differences, so as to pave the way forward towards a viable and lasting settlement.”

“It goes without saying that what is also needed is the demonstration of genuine will by our compatriots to negotiate in good faith and by Turkey to contribute constructively to the efforts to reach a settlement, not only in theory and rhetoric, but through practical and substantial actions.”

“A first step towards the long-awaited demonstration of genuine political will would be the adoption of my package-proposal for bold Confidence Building Measures that would create a win-win situation for all parties concerned, helping build mutual understanding, confidence and good will, thereby serving as a catalyst to the ongoing negotiating process.”

Anastasiades argued that the status quo is unacceptable, and that a solution to the Cyprus problem would incur benefits to all involved.

“Cyprus and its citizens deserve much more than a divided country,” he said. “Forty years is more than enough for all of us, and it is high-time for all those involved to realise that the artificial complacency related with the current status quo is to the benefit of no one. A solution would be to the benefit of all Cypriots, Turkey, our immediate region, and, evidently, the international community.”

The Cyprus President also welcomed the recent appointment of the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser, Espen Barth Eide.

“We believe that his appointment, at a critical juncture in the negotiating process, demonstrates the UN determination to ensure that the process moves decisively forward,” he said.

By Jonny Hogg

Islamic State fighters tightened their siege of the strategic town of Kobani on Syria’s border with Turkey on Friday, pushing back Kurdish forces and sending shells into Turkish territory, witnesses said.

The Sunni Muslim insurgents, who launched their assault on Kobani more than a week ago, besieging it from three sides, took control of high ground to the west of the town and a village to the east in fierce fighting.

More than 140,000 Kurds have fled Kobani and surrounding villages since last Friday, crossing into Turkey. The UN refugee agency has said the entire 400,000 population of the town could flee.

Kurds watching the fighting west of Kobani from hills on the Turkish side of the border — Syrian refugees and Turks among them — said they feared an imminent Islamic State assault on the town and called for US-led air strikes on the insurgents.

“After here it’s flat to Kobani. It’ll be easy (for them),” said one Turkish Kurd who gave his name as Mohammed.

“Where is America, where is England, why are people not helping?” said another villager, Ali.

The siege of Kobani has fuelled Kurdish anger not just at the Sunni insurgents but also against the Turkish state. Kurdish militants fought a three-decade insurgency for greater rights in southeast Turkey, and many Kurds accuse Ankara of supporting the Islamist insurgents against their ethnic kin.

Several hundred unarmed protesters who had gathered on the Turkish side of the border in solidarity with the Syrian Kurds at one point broke through a barbed wire fence and rushed towards Kobani in an apparent bid to help defend it.

The group, including pro-Kurdish politicians from Turkey, later gathered on a railway line on the Syrian side of the border, clashing with Turkish security forces who fired tear gas and were initially reluctant to let them back in.

U.S.-led air strikes have targeted Islamic State fighters elsewhere in Syria but some Kurdish military officials have said they made the situation in Kobani more precarious by pushing the Sunni insurgents towards the Turkish border.

SHELLING AND GUNFIRE

Islamic State fighters appeared to have taken control of a hill 10 km west of Kobani from where the YPG, the main Kurdish armed group in northern Syria, had been attacking them in recent days.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war, said Islamic State fighters had also taken control of a village around 7 km to the east of Kobani.

“We’re not sure how many people are left in Kobani, but the safe area is shrinking,” said Carol Batchelor, Turkey representative for UN refugee agency UNHCR.

The boom of artillery and bursts of machinegun fire echoed across the border. Two shells hit a vineyard on the Turkish side, though there were no immediate reports of casualties.

“We’re afraid. We’re taking the car and leaving today,” said vineyard owner Huseyin Turkmen, 60, as small arms fire rang out in the Syrian hills just to the south.

Turkey has so far declined to take a frontline role in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State but strongly denies the Kurdish accusations that it is supporting the insurgents, saying they pose a grave threat to its national security.

President Tayyip Erdogan, returning from the U.N. meetings in New York, repeated his call for a buffer zone on the border inside Syrian territory, a safe haven for refugees he envisages would be protected by an internationally-policed no-fly zone.

“The steps that need to be taken from now on should make sure that the same disasters do not happen again but also … help secure our borders,” he told reporters in Istanbul.

Kurdish forces said on Thursday they had pushed back the advance on Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, but appealed for air strikes on the insurgents’ tanks and heavy weapons.

“The clashes are moving between east, west and south of Kobani … The three sides are active,” Idris Nassan, deputy foreign minister in the Kobani canton’s Kurdish administration, said by phone from the centre of the town.

“They are trying hard to reach Kobani. There is resistance here by YPG, by Kobani and some volunteers from north Kurdistan — Turkish Kurds — who are coming to share in the efforts of Kobani. They have made a strong response,” he said.

Kobani sits on a road linking northern and northwestern Syria, and Kurdish control of the town has prevented Islamic State from consolidating its gains. The group tried to take the town in July but was repulsed by local forces backed by Kurdish fighters from Turkey.

“EVERYONE HERE IS ARMED”

“If they did come inside Kobani, everyone here is armed, they are armed and resisting. Even me, I am the deputy foreign minister here in Kobani canton, but I am an armed man too. I am ready to defend Kobani,” Nassan told Reuters.

“Every girl, every young man, every man who is able to fight, to carry a gun, they are armed and they are ready to defend and fight.”

Turkey has been slow to respond to calls for a coalition to fight Islamic State in Syria, worried in part about links between Syrian Kurds and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade armed campaign against the Turkish state for greater rights in Turkey’s southeast.

The PKK has urged Turkey’s Kurds to join the fight to defend Kobani and accused Ankara of supporting Islamic State. Residents in the border area say hundreds of youths have crossed the frontier in defiance of Turkish security forces.

Turkey denies having given any form of support to the Islamist militants, but Western countries say its open borders during Syria’s three-year-old civil war have allowed Islamic State and other radical groups to grow in power.

The Turkish military has in the past fired back when shells from Syria’s civil war strayed into Turkish territory, and the intensifying battle for Kobani is heightening pressure on Ankara to take a more robust stance against the insurgents.

THE Nicosia Municipality’s Multipurpose Centre announced the opening of an Intercultural Centre.

The centre said it will begin accepting students for the new school year 2014/2015.   The courses offered are for adult legal immigrants who live within the town’s municipal limits.

Classes are scheduled to start on October 13, offering Greek language lessons on Mondays at four different levels at a cost of 50 euros per year: the first level from 6.30-7.30 pm, the second level 7.30-8.30pm, the third level from 8.30-9.30pm, and the fourth level from 9.30-10.30pm.

On Thursdays, English language lessons will be offered at two levels, the first level from 5.30-7pm, and the second from 7-8.30pm at a cost of 60 euros per year.

Computer classes will take place during the weekends in the form of workshops at a cost of 60 euros per year.

HEALTH minister Philippos Patsalis will be holding a public consultation on the two key bills relating to the National Health Scheme (NHS) and autonomy of public hospitals next Saturday.

According to a press release, the public consultation will take place at 11am on October 4, at the Journalists’ Union in Nicosia.

The ministry said in the statement that it recognises the importance of cooperation with all stakeholders in society without exception, and aims through public consultation to hear every creative thought and contribution so as to ensure implementation of a sustainable NHS for the citizens of the country.

Nicosia will host the next trilateral meeting at the level of foreign ministers between Cyprus, Greece and Egypt.

The three countries have expressed their common willingness and intention to organise a trilateral summit as soon as possible.

The foreign ministers of Cyprus, Greece and Egypt, Ioannis Kasoulides, Evangelos Venizelos and Sameh Shoukry respectively, met on Friday in New York and reaffirmed their political cooperation.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, Kasoulides said he and his counterparts had the opportunity to exchange views on issues related to the region. He described countries like Egypt as “the pivot for the stability in this area”.

“It has been proven so in the efforts for the ceasefire in Gaza and for the efforts of finding a political solution in Libya,” he said.

Kasoulides added that the three countries had decided practical ways to work together “in order to contribute to stability, and to peace in our region and to be present in a way that shows that we are not just following the events without reacting”.

Venizelos said the trilateral format was an excellent instrument for political cooperation. “Egypt is always the key factor for everything in the Arab world and we have some very concrete proof in recent weeks with the ceasefire in Gaza and also with the Egyptian initiatives on Libya”. He also added that the role of Greece and Cyprus as EU members was always very important.
“From this point of view our trilateral cooperation is a platform of stability for the wider region,” he added.

The Egyptian minister his country was committed to the trilateral relationship and to consolidating its mutual cooperation with both Greece and Cyprus. “We certainly have joint ambitions and also challenges that we need to meet and we must meet them collectively”, he said.

He went on to say that the proximity of the three countries “makes it imperative for us to be able to coordinate our positions and to contribute positively to meet the challenges that face us and to establish greater security and stability in our region, so that to provide us the necessary ability to forge ahead of economic and political coordination”. (CNA)

Gulf Air has announced twice-weekly flights between Kuwait and Larnaca in response to demand from Kuwait, it said on Saturday.

The airline will offer direct, twice weekly connections between Kuwait and Cyprus starting from October 26. The new service will operate on Wednesdays and Sundays departing Kuwait at 11am local time with return flights departing Larnaca at 2.05pm local time. Bahrain-based passengers will have the choice of thrice weekly Bahrain-Larnaca operations and convenient six daily flights between Kuwait and Bahrain providing connections to the airline’s newest Kuwait-Larnaca service.

Gulf Air Acting Chief Executive Officer, Maher Salman AlMusallam said: “Gulf Air’s latest development sees us building upon the positive response we have already seen to our Kuwait-Istanbul route as we strive to give our passengers attractive connections and direct travel options. Launching the new, direct Kuwait-Larnaca route caters to travel demand and is one more step towards offering our passengers simpler travel arrangements while we continue to offer convenient connections between Bahrain and Kuwait.”

Gulf Air is already operating direct flights between Bahrain and Kuwait and Bahrain and Larnaca. The airline’s existing Kuwait operations consist of six daily flights while it serves Larnaca with three weekly flights direct from Bahrain.

Gulf Air flights between Kuwait International Airport and Larnaca International Airport will be operated by an A320-ER aircraft in a two-class configuration of 14 Falcon Gold seats and 96 seats in Economy.

Flights can be booked online at www.gulfair.com, by calling the airline’s 24 hour Worldwide Contact Centre on (+973) 17373737, or through any Gulf Air sales offices and approved travel agencies.

By Michele Kambas

Two British fighter jets were flying over Iraq and ready to hit targets on Saturday, their first mission since parliament authorised strikes against Islamic State militants there, Britain’sMinistry of Defence said.

Two Tornado jets left the British Royal Air Force’s Akrotiri base in Cyprus at 0725 GMT, followed minutes later by a refuelling aircraft, a Reuters witness said.

“We can confirm that … Royal Air Force Tornados continue to fly over Iraq and are now ready to be used in an attack role as and when appropriate targets are identified,” said a Ministry of Defence spokesman.

Saturday’s sortie was the first time British aircraft have flown over Iraq in an armed role since Islamic State militants swept across large areas of the north of the country in June and declared a caliphate including land already seized in neighbouring Syria.

The British aircraft joined a U.S.-led military coalition supported by some Gulf and European nations against the militant group.

Six Tornado jets, normally based at RAF Marham in England, have been based on the east Mediterranean island since August. They have been engaged in intelligence-gathering and reconnaissance over Iraq for the past six weeks.

Britain retains two military bases on Cyprus, a colony until independence in 1960. (Reuters)

By Tony Jimenez

Europe led the United States by 6 1/2 points to 5 1/2 after both teams produced an extraordinary exhibition of shotmaking in a record-breaking morning fourball session at the 40th Ryder Cup on Saturday.

Hunter Mahan, Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed were the stars of the show as the Americans picked up two wins and a half after starting the day with a 5-3 deficit.

However, the performance of the session came from Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson. The two Europeans were a record 12-under-par for 16 holes as they outplayed Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar 3 & 2.

Watson and Kuchar also lit up the Jack Nicklaus-designed PGA Centenary Course in a crackerjack tussle that featured a total of 21 birdies, another Ryder Cup record.

European talisman Ian Poulter, known as ‘The Postman’ because he always delivers in the biennial team event, produced a couple of moments of eye-popping magic as he and Rory McIlroy shared a half with Jimmy Walker and Rickie Fowler.

Mahan was another standout performer, finishing an estimated seven-under-par in the betterball format as he and Jim Furyk defeated Jamie Donaldson and Lee Westwood 4 & 3, but it was rookies Spieth and Reed who inspired the American effort for the second day running.

No doubt stung by captain Tom Watson’s bizarre decision to drop them from Friday afternoon’s foursomes after they had routed Poulter and Stephen Gallacher in the morning fourballs, the two young tyros this time battered Martin Kaymer and Thomas Bjorn 5 & 3.
The 24-year-old Reed and the 21-year-old Spieth wore a steely gaze throughout the contest and a tally of eight birdies from the two debutants proved too much for their European opponents.

“I enjoyed that a lot,” said Reed. “It’s easy for me when a guy like Jordan hits so many fairways and greens and makes his putts.”
Partner Spieth added: “We are doing what Tom tells us to do and we trust what he says is best for the team. We played really well yesterday but maybe he wanted us to rest ahead of today’s sessions and tomorrow’s singles.”

The youngsters fit together like a hand in a glove, with Spieth providing the calm, measured approach and the more excitable Reed doing the whooping and hollering as they became the first US rookies to win their first two matches together since Chip Beck and Paul Azinger in 1989.

No one was more excitable than Poulter, though. The Englishman again struggled to hit fairways but he evoked memories of the ‘Miracle at Medinah’ with a trademark eyes-on-stalks-like show at the 15th.

The crowd exploded with noise as he holed out from a greenside bunker before Poulter yelled with joy and continually beat the badge on his sweater with the inside of his fist.

He came up with a second demonic show after posting a birdie four at the next hole before matching birdies at the last from McIlroy and Walker ensured a thrilling match ended all square.

“Funny things happen, don’t they?…a case of second-class post,” said a smiling Poulter.
“I made a couple of quick birdies to start the match off, which was great, and then fell asleep in the middle.”

No one peppered the flags more than Mahan as he helped partner Furyk register his first Ryder Cup win over Westwood in eight meetings, the highlight coming when the former rolled in an eagle putt from off the green at the 14th.

“We hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens and we tried to get two balls on the green as much as we could,” said Mahan.
“I felt like we put the pressure on them all day. We were making a lot of long putts and chip-ins and stuff.”

Rose and Stenson set the pattern for a spectacular session of golf, stringing together a record 10 successive birdies to sink Watson and Kuchar 3 & 2 in the day’s top match.

“From start to finish we played well and they played well but it’s unheard of to finish with 10 birdies in a row,” said Rose who sunk a series of improbable putts to take his overall Ryder Cup record to an impressive nine wins and three defeats.
“I was forcing myself to stay in the zone, it’s so hard to come by when it gets like that and you just don’t want to burst your bubble.”

By Martyn Herman

PHIL Jagielka’s unlikely equaliser earned Everton a 1-1 draw in the 223rd Merseyside derby on Saturday after Steven Gerrard’s free kick had appeared to have secured Liverpool victory.

Liverpool skipper Gerrard beat Everton keeper Tim Howard midway through the second half with a swerving free kick that squeezed in at the near post.

Mario Balotelli should have doubled Liverpool’s lead shortly after but struck the crossbar from close range and Everton rode their luck to equalise in stunning fashion.

Everton launched one last attack in stoppage time and when Aiden McGeady’s cross was headed out it fell to Jagielka who let fly an unstoppable drive into the top corner from 25 metres.

It was a body blow for Liverpool who had been hoping to kick-start their season after successive league defeats but a huge relief for Everton who have also begun the season badly.

Liverpool have seven points from six matches with Everton on six.

In a busy Saturday programme, leaders Chelsea host third-placed Aston Villa later, champions Manchester City are away at Hull City while Manchester United will try to bounce back from the 5-3 defeat at Leicester City last week when they host West Ham United.

Arsenal host north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the late kick-off.

By David Lewis and Stephanie Nebahey

The death toll from an outbreak of Ebola in West Africa has risen to at least 3,091 out of 6,574 probable, suspected and confirmed cases, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

Liberia has recorded 1,830 deaths, around three times as many as in either Guinea or Sierra Leone, the two other most affected countries, according to WHO data received up to September 23.

An outbreak that began in a remote corner of Guinea has taken hold of much of neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone, prompting warnings that tens of thousands of people may die from the worst outbreak of the disease on record.

The WHO update said Liberia had reported six confirmed cases of Ebola and four deaths in the Grand Cru district, which is near the border with Ivory Coast and had not previously recorded any cases of Ebola.

The district of Kindia in Guinea also reported its first confirmed case, the WHO said, a day after it said the spread of Ebola appeared to have stabilised in that country.

Nigeria and Senegal, the two other nations that have had confirmed cases of Ebola in the region, have not recorded any new cases or deaths in the last few weeks.

The WHO said on Friday it expected to begin small-scale use of two experimental Ebola vaccines in West Africa early next year and in the meantime transfusions of survivors’ blood may offer the best hope of treatment.
WHO is working with pharmaceutical companies and regulators to accelerate the use of a range of potential treatments to fight the disease, a senior WHO official said. Ebola has no cure.

GlaxoSmithKline has begun clinical trials of its vaccine in the United States and Britain, to be followed by a trial starting in Mali next week,while New Link vaccine trials are about to start in the United States and Germany, said Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO assistant
director-general.
“If everything goes well again we might be able to start to use some of these vaccines in affected countries at the very beginning of next year, in January. This will not be a mass vaccination campaign, let’s be clear about that because the quantity which will be available doesn’t make this possible,” Kieny told a news briefing in Geneva.
She stressed however that the shots were experimental and had not yet been shown to work against Ebola: “They have given very promising results in monkeys, but monkeys are not humans.
“We could still face a situation where these vaccines would be unsafe in humans or where they would do nothing in terms of protection. So we need to be very prudent.”