I suggest you check the validity behind letters such as the one from John Wilson who advocates reducing (not eliminating) the number of dogs kept in inhumane conditions in isolated, rural locations.

Whilst no one can argue against the sentiment, I suspect that the conditions he describes and the extent of them are more a reflection of his own prejudices rather than the result of objective observation and unjaundiced analysis of what he infers is a significant, widespread problem.

Many hunting dogs are kept in remote locations to avoid annoying those living in residential areas. Badly treated hunting dogs make for bad hunting dogs.

Malnourished dogs cannot hunt and poorly exercised dogs tire prematurely. Visiting dogs once a week is not an option without consequences far more dire than those described. Hunting dogs represent a substantial investment for any hunter and they can change hands for considerable amounts of money.

It takes two to three years of extensive training before they become effective. There are obvious incentives to keep all hunting dogs in tip top condition. The many hunters whom I know care passionately about their dogs, particularly when they have been lost, poisoned or bitten by snakes.

But if my suspicion is wrong and your correspondent has seen numerous, isolated, rural locations where dogs (hunting or domestic) are being kept in inhumane conditions, did he report them to the police? And if not, why not? There are laws against such cruelty in Cyprus. And cruelty undoubtedly exists in Cyprus (note poisoning above) as it does everywhere and efforts to address the problem are to be applauded. But this requires a rational and practical approach rather than output based on anthropomorphic conjecture.

Peter A Bailey, Pissouri

Every one we know knows someone who has been burgled recently.
We were burgled in September while we were sleeping, our neighbours were burgled while they slept and it goes on and on. My cousin was burgled and he caught the burglar and the police did nothing. Another burglary was in progress and a neighbour phoned the police and was told by the time they would get there the burglars would be gone. We are in the area between Oroklini and Dhekelia. We never see a police car patrol our area especially during the night when our homes are being broken into. We hardly see any police driving any where to deter culprits only on the motor way for speeding.
This is our dilemma we want more visual police patrolling around we see none. We are writing to you to bring the concern of the residents of Cyprus to the attention to those who can do something about it.

Christina Kyriacou, via CM website

TIME SEEMS to be running out for the national carrier. The European Commission, in the next month or two, is expected to make a decision about the state funds Cyprus Airways received in the 2011 and the likelihood is that it will ask the company to return the €113million it was given to stay afloat. It does not have this kind of money to return and the only option would be closure, as the finance minister pointed out on Thursday.

Aware of this danger, staff unions have been protesting, accusing the board of incompetence and the government of not doing anything to protect the company. Their audacity, in particular that of the pilots union PASYPI – the most vociferous critic of the government and board – the members of which took the airline to court because it had cut their salaries, is quite astonishing. The pilots won the case and the company now has to find a few millions it does not have to pay the amounts cut, plus interest.

Apart from the government, the unions also attacked the “amateurism of the party hacks appointed to manage or be part of the company board.” They had never complained in past years about the ‘party hacks’ because they were satisfying the most unreasonable pay demands made by the unions. It is thanks to the board’s control by the parties that Cyprus Airways staff enjoyed pay and benefits that were not paid by much bigger and much more profitable airlines. But a company cannot live beyond its means indefinitely, being bailed out every few years by the taxpayer.

Cyprus is now a member of the EU and state subsidies are prohibited. Apart from the €16.6m it received in 2007 with Commission approval, from 2011 to 2014 the taxpayer pumped in €113m without the Commission’s approval; the government is also the guarantor of loans totalling €78m. All this money was used to cover the losses of the company, which would have been closed down a long time ago if it had not been owned by the state.

In the last few months, false hopes had been raised that a strategic investor would be found to take over the company, especially after the government invited companies to submit expressions of interest. Now, the unions are claiming that government has not handled the matter properly, as the objective of the two companies that were asked to submit plans – Ryanair and Aegean – was to use the brand name and exploit bilateral air agreements between Cyprus and other states.

But what did the unions and the parties supporting them expect? That an investor would come and pour money into an insolvent company, with no assets, that could be ordered by the EU to repay in excess of €100m to the state? And all staff would keep their jobs and the big wages they are earning so the company could carry on making losses? In reality, the unions are not looking for a strategic investor but a fairy godmother to come and fix everything and make all their wishes come true.

Cyprus Airways is beyond saving because it has been the victim of the unrestrained greed of unions, the self-serving agendas of the party hacks on its board and the interference of governments for decades. The company was being plundered and mismanaged but nobody ever complained because until 2004 it was protected and returning profits. Its surplus in 2003 was €110m and it had no debts. Like the other state monopolies – Cyta, EAC, Ports Authority – it followed the popular state business model of over-charging customers for a lousy service and paying its numerous and underworked staff unheard of wages and benefits.

For the last 10 years, since we joined the EU, there has been no protection and the company has recorded losses and piled up debt, having been forced to sell all its assets. No investor, strategic or otherwise, would want to take over the company even if it was given for free. And this is not because the Anastasiades government has been reluctant to save it as the unions are claiming. It is because it has been run into the ground over the years by its greedy unions, its poor management, self-serving politicians and irresponsible governments all together ensuring that, eventually, there would be nothing left to save. That time, unfortunately, has arrived.

By Marie Kambas

BUYING groceries on credit, once a common practice in Cyprus, when communities were smaller and everybody knew everyone else, has made a comeback since unemployment exploded but unlike the old days, some small traders are finding it hard to recoup what they are owed.

Many Cypriots, having lost their jobs or their money due to the deposits haircut, have turned back to buying on credit, or even bartering, to keep their kitchen cupboards stocked.

A group of small shopkeepers interviewed by the Sunday Mail, said they were selling on credit because they felt they could lose long-time customers if they refused, or because they feel sorry for those whose incomes have fallen or dried up.

“Even though it’s wrong, by necessity you sell on credit,” said Lakis Peppos a 58-year-old who owns a small family grocery store in central Nicosia.

“Look at these booklets, they are all credit, but what can we do? Clients ask to pay on credit and I can’t refuse them,” Peppos said, displaying about six school exercise books where he details credit purchases.

“Sometimes though when I want to buy merchandise for my grocery shop I can’t, because some of my clients weren’t able to pay me so I have to borrow money in order to buy stock,” he added.

Kostas Loukaides, 52, owns a car repair shop in the Pallouriotissa area of Nicosia. He too offers his services on credit but says that collecting what he’s owed is not easy, and he took has difficulties when he goes to order new supplies for his business. But, he said he was at least able to get something back in kind.

“Unfortunately I have to pay €1000 to buy mechanical oils, money which I don’t have at the moment because I’m waiting for some clients to pay me first,” Loukaides said.

He said that while buying on credit was widespread, some customers resort to alternative methods of payment. “Once a client came here and he wanted me to change his car brakes. He said he didn’t have any money but he had some traditional Cypriot equipment for baking bread. I serviced the car in the end and got the equipment as payment,” said Loukaides.

Now the mechanic is a proud owner of a bread baking plank and a wooden bowl suitable for kneading dough.

Selling on credit was a very common practice among businesses and consumers in the past and may still entail certain risks, according to Stefanos Koursaris general-secretary of the Pancyprian Organisation of Professional Craftsmen and Shopkeepers (POVEK). “Basically selling on credit is money for air,” he said.  While hundreds of small businesses had closed, it was more due to the crisis than the credit practices of customers, he added.

Demetris Protopapas a 28-year-old owner of a shop that sells car radiators continues to sell on credit, as it is expected by his customers, he said, even though some of them now owe him a total of €20,000. He expects to he will have to write off some 10 per cent of that amount.

“Once I had a client who didn’t have money to pay me, so he gave my father as a payment a sack of potatoes, I couldn’t do anything about it,” he said. “I just took the potatoes as payment”.

Some shopkeepers who have had a bad experience with customers unwilling – or at best unable – to pay what they owe, have ceased providing their merchandise on credit to some customers.

The risk of running out of cash that would allow them to order new stock is also a strong factor that prevents some shopkeepers from continuing to sell on credit, especially considering that unlike the old days when people would always pay up in the end, some people today just take advantage.

One of the merchants who feels this way is Giorgos Sipone, the 57-year-old owner of a fabrics store in Onasagorou Street in central Nicosia. “We used to sell on credit very often, but my clients had the money to [ultimately] pay,” he said.  “At the beginning of this year, I used to sell on credit to some clients I knew, the result was to lose them as friends as well because they didn’t pay me.”

Sipone said they had even tried to hide from him by avoiding his shop but he had spotted them, he said.

For Panicos Lazanias who sells electrical appliances in Limassol, selling on credit was the exception not the rule. “Only if I know a customer well,” the 44-year-old said. He added that since none of his suppliers sells on credit, he too has to sell only to those who can pay for what they get so that he can replenish his own stock.

While selling on credit in these difficult times is a double-edged sword, not doing so also carries its risks, like in the case of Charoula Sotiriou, a 45-year-old female grocer in Arediou, in the Nicosia district.

“Now we have stopped selling on credit, and because we have stopped we lost many clients,” she said. “I have a customer who owes me €300 for the past two years. He changes his phone number all the time. I also have another client who owes me €4,500 and I don’t know when I’m going to get that money,” she said.

“It’s become a disgrace, especially when they come here they ask to buy on credit. They fill up the trolleys and then they come up two months later with the excuse ‘we forgot to pay you’,” Sotiriou added. “When you ask for your money some of them get angry as well, and I become embarrassed because I’m asking for my money.”

It is a year or two ago that I several times drew attention to the inefficiency, wastefulness, and ugliness of the wind turbines a former energy minister foisted upon this island, using virtually all the alternative energy budget available at the time.

I invited whatever authority is responsible to advise us exactly what the cost/benefit of our turbines is – but answers came there none.

However, the 2011 electricity demand (latest figures recorded) in Cyprus was 4.7 gigawatts and It takes around 1,500 wind turbines to produce one gigawatt of electricity.

On Cyprus we have a few dozen almost useless behemoths. These figures speak for themselves.

By comparison, and to present some scale, In the UK the average annual electricity requirement is 36 gigawatts. Significantly, and for the entire EU to hit its much talked about 2050 emissions reduction target, the number of turbines would have to rise from the current 42,000 to half a million.

This would need an unrealistic area of wall to wall carpeting comprising Northern Ireland, Wales, Belgium, Holland, and Portugal combined. Target fulfilment, just for Britain, would cost £1.3 trillion, which is the size of the national debt. The statistics are staggering. And of course they make no ‘green’ sense whatsoever.

Ironically, the Greens, who previously supported wind farms, have latterly drawn attention to beautiful wildernesses and landscapes devastated.

They cite enchanting views blighted, divided communities. They highlight the killing of uncountable numbers of birds and bats, to say nothing of the boosting of carbon-intensive cement production, this all the while richly rewarding landowners, rich investors, and turbine producers.

And for what? We see these increasingly huge follies requiring great amounts of conventional power back-up (parasitic energy) just to keep them turning because of intermittency.

And then they get turned off when the wind is too strong. . . Overall the paltry out-turn of electricity is simply scandalous commensurate with the investment.

Happily we have no offshore turbines locally, but then the gigantic costs of those, with their disappointing reliability, and huge maintenance costs, to say nothing of the decommissioning costs (never spoken about) were at least a disincentive for our Republic.

That said, the UK is the world leader with offshore technology because no other country has been stupid enough to plough so much public money into it.

Wind farms in Cyprus, as elsewhere, are one of the most regressive policy decisions ever made by Governments, glibly providing generation, not of electricity but mainly profit for manufacturers.

Clive Turner, Paphos

Sentencing Christodolous Christodoulou, the ex-governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus, and ex minister of the interior and of commerce for fiddling the books and tax-evasion to only to five months in prison is a joke… but at least is a tiny step in the right direction.

But he needs to spend a few years in prison for his white-collar crimes so that Cyprus can start to behave like a country based on the rule of law and not the rule of man.

While at it, go after and investigate all those other big piranhas.

There are many such devious crooks right across all sectors of society, the government, politicians, political parties and society at large. Does the prosecutor have the balls or dare to do the right thing on behalf of the nation? We shall wait and see!

Only then citizens will start respecting the law of the land; for justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done so that others will not dare continue robbing the nation and expect citizens to pay for their thievery just like Mr Anstasiades, the president of Cyprus and his government did by robbing our bank accounts without even asking us.

When a government breaks the law under elected dictatorship, then the nation is in deep trouble.

All banks and bank managers in Cyprus have played a major role on the ruin of this nation and certainly their fingers are deep in the muck and dirty… yet the prosecutors and government have both been passive and have not done what the law or even decency demands – investigate and prosecute those mega-crooks and put the guilty away and behind bars like they do with ordinary citizens who break the law for such crimes as traffic tickets.

Andreas C Chrysafis, Paphos

By Denis Pinchuk and Gabriela Baczynska

Russia could resume natural gas deliveries to Ukraine as soon as next week if Kiev pays $2.2 billion in debt and pre-payments, gas exporter Gazprom said on Friday, under a deal that also safeguards winter deliveries to Europe.

Moscow, Kiev and the European Union reached an agreement on Thursday over the gas supplies despite tensions over a pro-Russian separatist rebellion in east Ukraine.

Gazprom cut off Ukraine in June amid a bitter dispute over unpaid bills and pricing for the former Soviet republic, which is seeking closer ties with the West.

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Gazprom would restart the flow of gas within two days of Kiev covering part of its debt and pre-paying for deliveries in November.

“Everything depends on when Ukraine makes this payment. We understand this can happen by the end of next week,” Miller told Russian state TV broadcaster Rossiya 24.

The Kremlin on Friday welcomed the deal as “an important step in the context of ensuring further uninterrupted gas transit to Europe”.

The EU receives about a third of its gas from Russia and about half of that is piped across Ukraine.

Speaking in Kiev, Ukraine Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said he was determined to ensure safe transit to the EU, a crucial partner for Kiev in dealing with Russia over the rebellion in the east and a creditor of Ukraine’s bankrupt economy.

“Ukraine will safeguard the transit and … won’t give Russia a chance to blackmail Ukraine and Europe,” Yatseniuk said.

Thursday’s agreement covers November through next March and calls for Ukraine to pay $1.45 billion. Miller put the pre-payment portion of that at $760 million.

Kiev must also pay off $3.1 billion for past deliveries by the end of the year, or supplies will cease from 2015, according to the protocol from Thursday’s talks in Brussels published by the Ukrainian government on Friday.

Gazprom, in turn, will refrain from using a contractual “take-or-pay” clause until the end of March. The clause requires Ukraine to pay fines if it takes less gas than specified in the long-term contract.

The deal allows Ukraine to tap funds from existing financial aid schemes provided by the EU and the International Monetary Fund. Kiev says it has put aside resources to cover its debts.

A spokeswoman for the European Commission said Ukraine would be able to pay over the winter by drawing on 760 million euros ($950 million) in existing EU loan facilities and an existing $1.4-billion IMF facility.

It will also be able to use its own income from selling gas and from pipeline transit fees paid by Russia.

Responding to suggestions that the EU gave in to pressure from both Moscow and Kiev to make additional financial commitments, the spokeswoman said: “The EU is not paying additional money to help Ukraine pay its gas bills.

“The EU is not giving any guarantee to the Russian side in case Ukraine says ‘we cannot order x amount of gas’ or ‘we cannot pay’,” she said.

WINTER SUPPLIES

Gazprom’s Miller said maximum daily supplies amounted to 114 million cubic metres under the deal to supply 2 billion cubic metres per month in November and December.

Ukraine will pay $378 per 1,000 cubic metres for gas in 2014 and $365 in the first quarter of next year.

Russia says each price reflects a discount of $100 from those under previous agreements. Miller added he expected the Russian government to approve it formally on Saturday.

Kiev said documents signed in Brussels included guarantees by the European Commission of financial support to Ukraine should Russia renege on the agreed prices as well as a promise of support from Brussels for increasing gas flows to Ukraine from EU states.

Ties between Kiev and Moscow are strained over Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region in March and the pro-Russian separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine where more than 3,700 people have died this year.

The agreement also leaves up to an arbitration court in Stockholm to rule on whether Ukraine’s gas debt should be $3.1 billion, an amount Kiev which has already put in escrow, or the $5.3 billion being sought by Gazprom.

By Mubasher Bukhari

At least 45 people were killed on Sunday when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a restaurant on the Pakistani-Indian border, just after a daily ceremony when troops from both sides simultaneously lower the two nations’ flags, officials said.

Hundreds of people visit the Wahga border crossing near the Pakistani city of Lahore to witness the flags of both countries being lowered just before sunset.

“I was sitting in my office near the border when I heard the blast. I rushed to the scene and saw scattered bodies, injured men, women and children and smashed cars,” a Pakistani intelligence source told Reuters.

Media reports earlier said the explosion was caused by a gas cylinder but later police said it was probably a suicide bomber.

Police said they were investigating, and a doctor said up to 70 people were wounded.

“According to initial information it was a suicide attack,” Inspector General of Punjab Police, Mushtaq Sukhera, told local television channels.

“When … security was a bit relaxed, the suicide attacker blew himself up near a restaurant. Thirty-seven people were killed and more than 50 wounded.”

The Cyprus Police is monitoring unconfirmed reports in relation to potential criminal activities in Cyprus, linked to Islamic State jihadists.

Police Spokesperson Andreas Angelides, when asked to comment on TV reports in relation to such activities, told CNA that all relevant authorities have been informed.

He added that the Police is taking all necessary security measures in airports and ports, in line with the practice followed in other European countries, since the inception of jihadist activities in the region.

“On October 31st an unconfirmed report has been relayed to Police headquarters, which was handled accordingly, while all relevant authorities have been informed and the issue is being monitored ever since” Angelides said.

CNA

A goal by Sergio Aguero gave Manchester City a 1-0 victory against neighbours Manchester United, who played with 10 men for more than 50 minutes on Sunday.

Defender Chris Smalling was sent off seven minutes before halftime for two yellow cards and in the 63rd minute Aguero scored from a pass by Gael Clichy.

City seemed at that stage to be well on top but United suddenly revived to push them all the way without being able to find an equalising goal at the Etihad Stadium.

The win left the home side in third place with 20 points in the Premier League, six points behind leaders Chelsea, and seven ahead of United, who dropped to ninth place.

By Andrew Osborn

Britain’s finance minister on Monday shrugged off a report which said German Chancellor Angela Merkel would abandon her attempts to keep Britain inside the European Union if it pressed ahead with plans to curb immigration from other EU states.

“I think it’s a little bit thin,” George Osborne said of the report in Der Spiegel, saying his own contacts with the German government had shown Berlin understood British public disquiet about unemployed EU migrants claiming welfare benefits.

“The British public want this addressed. We are going to do this in a calm, rational way,” Osborne told BBC TV, referring to a promise by Prime Minister David Cameron to set out new ideas about how to tackle the issue before the end of the year.

Under growing pressure from the anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP) ahead of a May 2015 national election and from many of his own lawmakers, Cameron has said he’d like to try to curb EU immigration if re-elected – a move Brussels says would infringe the right to free movement.

German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Sunday that Merkel had warned Cameron that such a policy would be a “point of no return” that could sharply increase the risk of Britain leaving the EU.

If re-elected, Cameron has pledged to renegotiate Britain’s EU ties before giving Britons a membership referendum in 2017 amid public disenchantment about the government’s failure to curb immigration because of the country’s EU membership.

A spokesman for Merkel said on Monday that Germany wants Britain to remain an “active and engaged” member of the EU but will not cede on Cameron’s plans to curb immigration from other EU countries.

Cameron has not yet set out what those plans are, but has made it clear he wants to find a way of respecting the EU’s rules which guarantee freedom of movement to work, while clamping down on what he has called “freedom to claim benefits.”

Germany has expressed sympathy with such a position in the past and Merkel’s spokesman said there was “strong interest” in cooperating with Britain to tackle any abuse of the freedom of movement regime.

Osborne said concerns about EU immigration were running so high in Britain that Cameron’s Conservatives were obliged to explain how they would address them if re-elected.

“It was never envisaged that you would have such large numbers of people coming, who don’t have job offers, people who move on to our benefit system,” said Osborne. “And that causes a lot of public unhappiness.”

The government on Monday denied a report that it had submitted a map in the reunification negotiations proposing that the Turkish side gets 25 per cent of territory in the event of a settlement.

The report was published by Turkish newspaper Milliyet, together with the map allegedly tabled by the Greek Cypriot side.

Government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides suggested it was an attempt by Turkey to mislead.
“The president has submitted nothing to the negotiations beyond the criteria that a settlement of the territorial issue must be based on,” the spokesman said.

Leaking misleading information, especially when it found itself in a difficult position, was a practice employed by Turkey on a regular basis, he said.

Milliyet claimed that the map left Turkish Cypriots with “only 25 per cent” of the territory, instead of 29 per cent provided for in a UN blueprint rejected in 2004.

Turkey currently occupies around 37 per cent of the island’s area.

“It is clear that it aims to turn attention away from Turkey’s provocative actions in the Cypriot exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and possibly to create impressions abroad,” Christodoulides said.

Turkey disputes Cyprus’ right to carry out natural gas exploration inside its EEZ and has dispatched a research vessel to conduct seismic surveys in the area.

The move prompted President Nicos Anastasiades to pull out of reunification talks.

To settle the territorial issue, the Greek Cypriot side has proposed criteria including development prospects, religious, historical and cultural importance of a particular area, and land productivity.

Meanwhile, former negotiator for the Turkish Cypriot community Kudret Ozersay said he would give back the town of Varosha to its lawful residents but under Turkish Cypriot administration.

Ozersay, who is contesting his community’s elections in April, said he would have done this if he was the leader of his community.

“Some would think that this suggestion will not sit well with the Greek Cypriot community but I think its time to refer to them directly instead of their leadership,” he was quoted as saying by Turkish Cypriot newspaper Kibris Postasi.

“We can promise that this arrangement will not be binding if comprehensive settlement is reached and according to that settlement a different scenario is thought for Varosha”.

Kibris Postasi said Özersay was criticised when he shared his suggestion on Facebook.

Activists, politicians, sociologists and other members of the community accused him of “trying to nicely package a hardliner right-wing attitude”

Three men from Bulgaria are currently in custody following suspicion that they were on the island to carry out assassinations, police said.

The three men were arrested on Saturday evening, after the owner of a summer home in Paphos reported at noon the same day that three men were in his home without his consent. The men were arrested and in their possession police officers found photos of two people from Paphos.

The people in the photos were called in for questioning and told investigators that they had monetary differences with a British permanent resident. According to the report they told investigators that the British man had contracted the three men to kill them.

Investigators tried to locate the British man for questioning but both he and his partner – according to the police report – had fled the place in which they were staying. An arrest warrant was issued, and according to police spokesman Andreas Angelides, they were closing in on them.

Police investigators contacted Interpol and discovered that the Bulgarian men were allegedly part of a criminal organisation operating out of Bulgaria.

They appeared before the Paphos District Court on Sunday and were remanded for four days. The three Bulgarians – and the wanted couple – are facing charges of attempted murder.

The three men told investigators that they had nothing to do with the case and that they were in Cyprus for holidays.

A suicide bomber killed at least 23 people in a procession of Shi’ite Muslims marking the ritual of Ashoura in northeast Nigeria’s Yobe state on Monday, witnesses said.

The attacker joined the line of Shi’ites before setting off his device as they marched through a market in the town of Potiskum, in a territory at the heart of an insurgency by Sunni Muslim Boko Haram rebels, resident Yusuf Abdullahi told Reuters.

“I heard a very heavy explosion as if it happened in my room. It took place just 200 metres from my house,” he said. Another person carrying an explosive that did not go off was also arrested, he added.

Mohammed Gana, whose brother was killed in the attack, said he counted 23 bodies at the scene.

Boko Haram’s five-year-old campaign for an Islamic state, which has killed thousands, is seen as the main security threat to Africa’s biggest economy and leading oil producer.

Ashoura marks the death in battle more than 1,300 years ago of the Prophet Mohammad’s grandson Imam Hussein.

Important findings, expected to aid scientists in dealing with genetic disorders and cancer growth have been announced by the Laboratory of Developmental Biology and Nanobiotechnology at the University of Cyprus.

A research team, composed of PhD candidate Nicoletta Petridou and Assistant Professor Dr Paris A Skourides, has identified novel roles of the Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) in spindle orientation and cell division.

Specifically, the team showed that FAK was a crucial regulator of cell division and is required for the proper orientation of cell division in cultured cells and in vertebrate tissues and organs.

According to a press release, orientation of cell division is a very important process both for proper development of embryonic tissues and organs as well as for the maintenance of tissues and organs in adults.

Loss of the ability to orient cell division results in severe developmental defects in the embryo and is responsible for a number of diseases in adults including neurological disorders like Huntington’s as well as others like polycystic kidney disease.

Importantly, loss of division orientation is involved in tumour progression and metastasis which in combination with FAK´s established role in tumorigenesis emphasises the significance of these findings.

The researchers’ findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.

Paphos district court has remanded a 60-year-old man for three days in connection with a land scam case involving an 87-year-old permanent resident from Britain.

The 60-year old who is an employee at an estate agency, was arrested at Paphos airport on Saturday evening, after he arrived from abroad.

Police are looking into whether the suspect, along with a 47-year old-who was arrested on October 29, conspired to defraud the British man to the tune of half a million euro.

According to police, the 87-year-old permanent resident decided in 2012 to invest in property in the Paphos district. He appears to have reached a number of agreements with the estate agents and paid them €500,000 in total.

The 87-year-old claims that despite paying up, he received title deeds barely worth €35,000 and reported the case to Paphos police.

Police are looking at accusations of conspiracy to commit a felony, conspiracy to commit a misdemeanour, forgery, issuing a forged document, fraud in selling property and obtaining money under false pretences.

Police also arrested two women aged 84 and 79 on October 29 but they were later released after investigators concluded that they had nothing to do with the case.

DISY MP Lefteris Christoforou was officially declared an MEP on Monday, in a ceremony at the Interior Ministry.

Christoforou, who came third on the DISY ballot in the May European Parliament, assumes his MEP position following Christos Stylianides’ resignation. Stylianides has been appointed EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, and the bloc’s Ebola ‘czar’.

Speaking yesterday, Christoforou said: “I will continue my struggle to do what’s right for Cyprus.”

“It is time every single one of us takes it upon ourselves to push Cyprus forward and exit the dead end. I have the strong feeling that together we can do it” he added.

Christoforou also thanked DISY voters for supporting him and party leader Averof Neophytou “for his long-time support and trust he showed me.”

He saved a special “thank you” for his family, crediting them with “being my permanent support in life and the main component in everyday and political challenges.”

The former MP was elected at the House of Representatives with DISY in 1996 and never lost his seat. As a parliamentarian he most recently served as chair of the House Commerce Committee.

The parliamentarian from Famagusta district will be replaced by Evgenios Hamboullas, the runner-up for his seat in the 2011 elections. Hamboullas was sworn in shortly after Christoforou.

Men in Cyprus earn 16.4 per cent more than women, ranking Cyprus among 10 EU member states with the largest gap in salaries between the two sexes.

Labour Minister Zeta Emilianidou said the gap was created by stereotypes and the mentality, the separation of professions into male and female, and oftentimes education.

The minister said it would take a joint effort to resolve the problems.

“It is not easy. Many changes have taken place but we still have way to go,” she said.

The head of the labour relations department said the economic downturn contributed significantly in maintaining discrimination among men and women.

Despite their excellent performance in almost all sectors, a large percentage of women continue to be employed on a temporary or part-time basis in low-skill jobs considered female and pay less, Andreas Mylonas said.

“The legal framework has undoubtedly alleviated the phenomenon to a certain degree, but the persistence of the inequality in pay suggests that the deeper causes of the chasm have not yet been tackled,” Mylonas said.

That made the introduction of more policies and mechanisms imperative, he said.

A survey conducted by the University of Nicosia found that women were concentrated in traditionally low-pay professions in sectors like tourism, nursing, and education.

There were more men in business administration, engineering, and technology. Only 8.4 per cent of management positions in Cyprus were held by women.

By Alexander McCowan

When the Cyprus National Rugby team was promoted and went undefeated for the third consecutive season in European Competitions they had little knowledge of the quality of the opposition they would face in Division 2B where they are now lodged.

It was taken for granted that the countries would be stronger, more seasoned, and certainly more experienced and more than likely better financed – as the Moufflons are tragically aware, in Cyprus, success does not attract funding, unless it relates to football – and the further the sides travel in the European divisions, the more likely to encounter national teams staffed by professional or semi-professional players. Cypriots are true amateurs, the rare breed that still plays for the love of the game and by necessity, contribute to their travelling and accommodation expenses.

So it was with slight trepidation they embarked on the first home game of the season against Andorra; a small principality situated in the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain. The team is a mixture of French and Spanish Catalans who play their rugby in the lower divisions of the French and Spanish leagues where the games are renowned for robust play and an uncompromising view of the Laws of the game – some referees are said to wear shin-pads.

Despite the gloomy weather there was a good turnout at the Paphiacos Stadium, the Moufflons’ home turf, with the regular battalions of lady volunteers controlling the turnstiles and programme and strip sales that are essential for securing the modest financial returns achieved on international day. There was a heavy downpour before kick-off, and while it didn’t damage the surface it created very slippery conditions for the players and the ball. The spectators were informed that there would be a change of captain, and the veteran prop, Tony Thoma, who was unavailable, would be replaced by Marco Mladenovic in the back row.

The Andorrans, a fine collection of mountain beef, left an early imprint on the Cypriot pack, which led to many errors and the visitors threatening the Moufflon goal line early on that led to an easy penalty conversion from the Andorran full-back following a late tackle, giving the visitors a 3 point lead, and ten minutes in the sin-bin for George Agathacleous. Andorra continued with their dominance of the Moufflon pack in the scrum and the line and were eventually rewarded with a converted try that took the score to a worrying 10-Nil lead for Andorra.

There was a hesitancy and lack of decision about the home side pack that needed correcting, as the Cypriot backs were superior to their opposition, but were unable to exploit the advantage, because the forwards failed to gain possession and distribute the ball and it was at this moment that the young Mladenovic asserted his leadership and aided by the back-row, pulled his forwards together to enable the mercurial Zavalis, operating behind the scrum to touch down and convert. This improved the Cyprus position so that they left the field 3 points down at 7-10.

Outsiders are not allowed in the changing rooms at half-time because one of the reasons is that the coaches sometime use some very abrasive and wounding language on the teams and one can only speculate that Phil Llewellyn, the Moufflon’s coach didn’t depart from tradition. It was immediately apparent that something had been injected into the Cypriots as they came on to the field a transformed side.

It was unfortunate for the visitors that some of their efforts went unrewarded but the cohesion of play between the Moufflon forwards and backs improved tremendously and following early penalties easily taken by Alex Zavalis, there followed the try of the match if not the season: Jack Antoniou was fed the ball deep in his own half and motored past three opponents until confronted by the Andorran full-back he kicked ahead, gathered on first bounce and travelled the rest of the field to bring the score to 20-10 when he converted the try.
Following another successful penalty to Cyprus with the score now standing at 23-10, the game was put beyond doubt Cyprus 30 Andorra 10, by replacement Stevey Awah, the Limassol stalwart, coming on for the new young talent, Michael Asprou, who we will hear more from according to assistant coach Andy Binicos.

No spectator could claim it was a pretty game, in fact it was extremely rough and rugged, and perhaps the visitors deserved a better score-line, but rugby is a game for grown-ups and the Andorrans will get their chance when Cyprus visits the Pyrenees next year.

There was an air of relief about president Laurence Vasiliades at the full time whistle, his broad shoulders certainly took a battering during the game: ‘If this is the level of opposition we can expect in Division 2 we shall need to beef up our game. Admittedly we were short of some key players, but I think this was an excellent result for the first game of the season, and we will have learned a lot from it. Our coach Phil Llewellyn will have had a good oversight of what we have here on the island and will set out to achieve the right blend for the rest of the season. We shall improve our fitness levels and continue building on our island resources, through schools and academies. Ric Wadmore, our development officer tells me numbers are increasing weekly. The children are the future of our game’.

Theo Lenos, team manager, said ‘ I thought I was back in South Africa during some passages of the game, but I am proud to say our lads stuck to their task and triumphed in the end. Did you see that try by young Antoniou, it was a cracker. We shall have a few more of those I think.’

By Staff Reporter

THE MATTER of the importation of interim natural gas supplies for power generation should clear up soon, the chairman of the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) said on Monday.

“By the end of the month we will know what the prospects are for a conclusion on the issue of the interim solution,” Othonas Theodoulou told reporters.

“Our desire and objective is for a drop in [electricity] prices,” he added.

The EAC boss was speaking shortly after a scheduled meeting with President Nicos Anastasiades, to whom he handed the EAC’s 2013 annual report.

Theodoulou said that talks would soon get underway with the three remaining bidders on their financial offers.

The technical offers were assessed first.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, during the meeting the President told Theodoulou: “I would like to hope that I shall be hearing some pleasant news regarding a reduction in the price of electricity.”

Earlier, the Natural Gas Public Company (DEFA) had extended the tender’s period of consideration to November 30.

Back in August, it was reported that four bidders were still in contention. Reports at the time said the four bidders were: Dutch energy firm Vitol; Greek conglomerate M&M comprising the Mytilineos & Vardinoyiannis (Motor Oil) groups in cooperation with Dutch giant Trafigura; a conglomerate under Socar, the state liquefied gas company of Azerbaijan; and Israel’s Delek group.

Delek was the only bidder which publicly acknowledged participation in the DEFA tender. It’s understood that the Israelis proposed to supply gas by undersea pipeline whereas the other proposals involved LNG supply.

Through DEFA, Cyprus is seeking natural gas supplies for domestic power generation until the island’s own reserves become available. Under the tender, the date of first gas supply must fall between January 1, 2016 and June 30, 2017.

The tender calls for the supply of between 0.7 and 0.95 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually to the Cypriot market through two delivery routes. One route will begin supplying gas in early 2016 and the other no later than the second half of 2017.

DEFA is by law the sole importer and distributor of natural gas in Cyprus. Once it concludes a deal for natural gas with a supplier, DEFA will then sell the fuel to the EAC. Any contract therefore requires back-to-back agreements – one between DEFA and the supplier, the other between DEFA and the EAC – that are in sync with one other.