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CIA chief admits agency used ‘abhorrent’ methods on detainees (Update 1)

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Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Brennan listens to a question from the press in Virginia

By Mark Hosenball

CIA Director John Brennan said on Thursday some agency officers used “abhorrent” methods on detainees captured following the Sept. 11 attacks and said it was “unknowable” whether so-called enhanced interrogation techniques yielded useful intelligence.

With his agency under fire in the aftermath of a U.S. Senate report detailing the CIA’s use of torture on detainees after the attacks, Brennan rejected the report’s conclusion that the agency had deceived the White House, Congress and the public about its interrogation program.

“Our reviews indicate that the detention and interrogation program produced useful intelligence that helped the United States thwart attack plans, capture terrorists and save lives,” Brennan told a news conference at the agency’s Virginia headquarters.

“But let me be clear. We have not concluded that it was the use of EITs (enhanced interrogation techniques) within that program that allowed us to obtain useful information from detainees subjected to them,” he said.

“The cause-and-effect relationship between the use of EITs and useful information subsequently provided by the detainee is, in my view, unknowable,” he added.

The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday published the report of a five-year investigation which found that the CIA misled the White House and the public about its interrogation program and acted more brutally and pervasively than it acknowledged.

“In a limited number of cases, agency officers used interrogation techniques that had not been authorized, were abhorrent and rightly should be repudiated by all. And we fell short when it came to holding some officers accountable for their mistakes,” Brennan said.

But the CIA chief said the “overwhelming majority of officers involved in the program at CIA carried out their responsibilities faithfully and in accordance with the legal and policy guidance they were provided.”

The Senate committee concluded that the agency failed to disrupt a single plot despite torturing al Qaeda and other captives in secret facilities worldwide between 2002 and 2006, when George W. Bush was president.

FINDING BIN LADEN

Brennan said the CIA believes that information gained from detainees subjected to enhanced interrogation helped locate al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, killed in a U.S. raid in Pakistan in 2011. But he conceded it was unclear whether the intelligence could have been obtained without using such methods.

Some captives were deprived of sleep for up to 180 hours, at times with their hands shackled above their heads, and the report recorded cases of simulated drowning, or “waterboarding,” and sexual abuse, including “rectal feeding” or “rectal hydration” without any documented medical need.

Brennan said that he believes that “effective, non-coercive methods are available to elicit” useful information from detainees – “methods that do not have a counterproductive impact on our national security and on our international standing.” He said he supported President Barack Obama’s 2009 decision to bar the use of these enhanced techniques.

Brennan said it was “lamentable” that the Senate committee did not question CIA officers involved with the interrogations program and that the committee failed to reach a bipartisan consensus on the report. Committee Democrats issued the report without the support of the panel’s minority Republicans.

Asked whether, as the report asserted, there could have been more than the three detainees the CIA had earlier acknowledged were subjected to waterboarding, Brennan said that based on everything he had seen and read it was only those three.

Asked whether he considered some of the methods used by CIA interrogators to be torture, Brennan said he would leave it to others to place labels on what occurred.

Brennan noted that the CIA was directed by Bush to carry out a program to detain terrorism suspects around the world after the 2001 attacks. “In many respects, the program was uncharted territory for the CIA and we were not prepared,” Brennan said.

Brennan said he tends to believe that the use of “coercive methods has a strong prospect for resulting in false information” because the detainee may say anything simply to get the methods to stop. “And I think this agency has said that individuals who were subjected to those techniques … provided useful information as well as false information,” he added.

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German killed in Kabul attack on play condemning suicide bombings (Update 1)

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The wreckage of a car is removed from the site of a suicide attack in Kabul

By Hamid Shalizi

A teenaged bomber on Thursday targeted a Kabul auditorium packed with people watching a drama condemning suicide attacks and being staged at a French cultural centre, killing a German man and wounding 16 people, officials and a witness said.

The suicide blast was the second to strike the Afghan capital in a day, after six Afghan soldiers perished when their bus was hit on the outskirts of the city as they rode into work.

The violence, part of a nationwide campaign by Islamist Taliban insurgents to strike at military and civilian targets, came less than three weeks before the year-end deadline for most foreign combat soldiers to withdraw from the country.

General Ayoub Salangi, head of the Interior Ministry while the cabinet is being finalised, said the suspected theatre bomber appeared to have been about 17 years old and detonated his explosives at the venue during an early evening performance.

“I heard a deafening explosion … There were Afghans, foreigners, young girls and young boys watching the show,” Sher Ahmad, an Afghan rights activist who was at the performance, told Reuters.

He said the blast came during a performance of a new play called “Heartbeat: Silence After the Explosion”, a condemnation of suicide attacks.

“Pieces of flesh were plastered on the wall. There were children and women crying for help. Some were running out, some were just screaming.”

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the bomber targeted the event because it was staged “to insult Islamic values and spread propaganda about our jihad operations, especially on suicide attacks”.

Amid confusion immediately following the blast, one person could be heard saying “It’s all part of the show” in a video posted on YouTube purporting to be of the attack.

HEAVY SECURITY

Early police reports said the bomber attacked the French-run Lycée Esteqlal, one of Kabul’s oldest and most highly respected high schools, but Ahmad said the performance was at the French Cultural Centre located in the same compound.

Salangi said the person confirmed killed was a German man, but he could not immediately confirm his identity.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the attack was “particularly perfidious because it … was against exactly those people who are helping the country to build a better future.”

The French government said in a statement that “several” people were killed in the attack and “many” more injured, but none of the fatalities were French nationals.

The venue was heavily guarded during the event, according to Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi, who added that the bomber may have hidden explosives in his underwear to pass through security.

He said the bomber detonated the explosives at the top of the auditorium stairs, which may have prevented more casualties. The body of the bomber was shredded, but police were able to identify him as a teenager because his head was found intact.

Taliban militants have stepped up a campaign of violence this year to take advantage of uncertainty and weakness besetting Afghanistan’s security forces as they prepare to take over the war on the insurgency, now in its 13th year.

Earlier on Thursday, a suicide bomber targeted a bus carrying Afghan army personnel, the Defence Ministry said, ending a near two-week lull in attacks in the capital. As well as the six soldiers killed, 11 were wounded.

Five Afghan school children were also reported killed in a foreign forces air strike in northern Parwan province, Afghan officials said.

The International Security Assistance Force confirmed an air strike in the area, but said five insurgents were killed.

Civilian casualties caused by air strikes have been one of the most contentious issues of the war, although there are often conflicting claims.

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Alleged Brazil serial killer confesses to 42 murders in Rio

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Sailson Jose das Gracas is escorted by policemen at a police station in Nova Iguacu near Rio de Janeiro

By Stephen Eisenhammer

A man arrested by police in Rio de Janeiro on suspicion of murder has confessed to killing 42 people over the past decade, making him potentially one of the country’s most prolific serial killers.

Sailson Jose das Graças, 26, who was arrested on Wednesday, told reporters at a police station in the state of Rio that he killed for pleasure and the accompanying adrenaline rush. He said he also operated as a killer for hire.

He said his preferred victims were white females, whom he strangled. Among the 42 victims, 39 are thought to be women.

The news comes just months after a security guard confessed to killing 39 people, mostly homeless people and transvestites, in the Brazilian city of Goiania.

“I would wait for an opportunity to break into the house and kill,” Das Graças told reporters, adding he would often watch his victims for months before making his move.

“When I didn’t do it I would get nervous, then I would go hunting” for other victims, he added. Police made Das Graças available for reporters to question in a give-and-take session that’s not uncommon in Brazil.

Das Graças said he would often remove the nails of his victims to avoid marks or scratches from a scuffle. He said his wife was aware of the murders.

He began a life of crime at the age of 15 snatching handbags. At 17 he allegedly killed his first victim.

Experts said Das Graças was likely a psychopath who enjoyed the media spotlight and warned that what he said should be carefully checked.

But police said they were convinced by his account and were cross referencing his confessions with past crime reports. Four crimes had already successfully been matched, they said.

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Taxpayers to shell out €1m more for CyBC pensions

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CyBC news2(1)

By Elias Hazou

TAXPAYERS will apparently shell out €1m for pension payouts to CyBC employees this year, after parliament on Thursday gave the nod to a supplementary budget for the financially troubled state broadcaster.

The amount – approved by unanimous vote at the plenum – was itemised as extra cash for purchasing television content for CyBC, but some MPs said that in reality it would end up being used for pension payments.

DIKO MP Nicholas Papadopoulos said CyBC pension payouts next year could reach as high as €4m.

By 2016, he added, there would simply be no cash available to cover this expense.

“These problems, which are structural in nature, cannot be kicked down the road forever,” Papadopoulos said.

DISY deputy Marios Mavrides said that whereas CyBC staff are entitled to their pensions, the taxpayer should know that they are paying in duplicate for waste and mismanagement at the state broadcaster.

The CyBC, which has 600 employees, has been asking the government to plug a huge gap of some €110m in its pension fund. This is over and above the millions the state pays for the upkeep of the corporation every year. CyBC is now asking that the pensions of their staff be paid directly by the state as in the case of civil servants.

Last month the government revealed that broadcaster CyBC may have to lay off some 100 employees to remain viable.

 

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Farmers to split Nicosia with their tractors

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tractors

FARMERS have decided to split Nicosia down the middle on Monday as a sign of protest for not yet receiving their due subsidies.

The farmers said that the government is delaying to return on VAT, that many of them cannot even afford to pay utilities and that they will not allow a fellow farmer to spend Christmas penniless.

They said that they will form a line with their tractors from the presidential palace down to the Finance ministry and from parliament to the Agriculture ministry, effectively splitting the capital.

“They are inexcusable, the crop farmers. We have helped them many times, last year they were the first to receive subsidy payments and this year we will also begin payments with them,” Agriculture minister Nicos Kouyialis said.

He said that the first €12m will be given within the next few days and €24m more in the first week of January, while by January 10 they will be paid their hectare-based subsidies.

Apart from the subsidy, the farmers also want compensation for losses from draught, exemption from direct payment of VAT and exemption from the taxation of agricultural land.

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Pair re-arrested in TEPAK fraud case

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tepak

TWO suspects linked with ongoing police investigations into financial irregularities at the Cyprus University of Technology (TEPAK) were reportedly re-arrested on Thursday.

The two are Zenon Achillides, head of TEPAK’s property management service, and a 51-year-old contractor.

Achillides was arrested last Friday in connection with the alleged forgery of letters of credit to architects.

The contractor, two of whose companies had undertaken work on two university buildings, had been arrested last Sunday on arrival at Paphos airport. On Monday he was remanded in custody for four days.

According to reports, three forged letters of credit were found in his company’s file at TEPAK’s archives by the Audit Service.

He faces charges of conspiracy to commit a crime, forgery, circulating forged documents, bribing a civil servant, abuse of power and obtaining unlawful income from illegal activities.

Police had placed the suspects under arrest following a complaint filed by the TEPAK board and a report by Auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides.

According to Politis, the two men have now been re-arrested in connection to a different case.

The paper has long been covering alleged financial mismanagement and malfeasance at TEPAK.

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MPs approve GMI payments

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GMI post office

PARLIAMENT on Thursday approved the retroactive disbursement of Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI) benefits to eligible persons.

Retroactive GMI payouts will be made provided applicants meet all the government’s criteria and have furnished authorities the necessary data within a month of being asked. Payouts assisting with rent and interest payments on loans are included.

MPs said authorities have given assurances they will provisionally approve some 8,000 of the 16,000 first-time applicants for the handout, which were not yet fully processed due to delays in processing their forms. This applied chiefly to the long-term unemployed.

Close to 70,000 people have applied for GMI, 16,373 of whom are long-term unemployed Cypriots, over 3,300 are non-Cypriot EU citizens, 719 third-country nationals, 21,000 existing welfare recipients and 28,135 low-income pensioners.

Authorities have examined 2,500 applications out of the 16,373 from the long-term unemployed category and have paid 640 beneficiaries. Earlier this week, MPs heard that another 800 individuals were expected to receive their assistance over the next few days.

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Eide could be back next week

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Andreas Mavroyiannis

GREEK Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis has just wrapped up meetings in Washington with high ranking officials of the American government, members of Congress and think tanks.

Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency, Mavroyiannis said his contacts took place within the framework of cooperation between Nicosia and Washington, adding that he briefed his interlocutors on developments in the Cyprus issue and they exchanged views.

Mavroyiannis said the Greek Cypriot side was looking forward to the continuation of Cyprus talks, should the circumstances allow.

He said the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy Espen Barth Eide was set to travel to Cyprus next week, but this had yet to be confirmed.

Mavroyiannis arrived in Washington on Monday and during his stay he held meetings with Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, Amanda Sloat, VP Joe Biden’s Adviser Colin Kahl, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Robert Menendez and other members of the Senate.

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EC to provide €3.9m in aid to needy students

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students

By Evie Andreou

THE green light has been given by the European Commission for Cyprus to utilise €3.9m allocated from the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) for the 2014-2020 to provide school uniforms and bags to needy students.

Launched in January this year, FEAD aims to help EU member states to support their ‘most deprived persons’ with the provision of either basic goods or food or even encourage actions of social integration according to their own situation and preferences.

“The FEAD programme for Cyprus will focus on supporting the most deprived students. Vulnerable children deserve all our support and I am confident that the programme will contribute to give them a fair opportunity to develop their full potential at school,” said Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, Marianne Thyssen.

Adding the national contribution to the scheme, the sum will be around €4.6m and it will be used to cover the needs of deprived students at public schools.

In order to avoid stigmatising the students receiving the aid, multiple providers will be selected through public tenders to allow for a variety of goods from which the students will be able to select.

With a total budget of €3.8bn, FEAD “aims to contribute to meeting the Europe 2020 target of reducing the number of people in or at risk of poverty and social exclusion by at least 20 million by 2020,” the Commission said.

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‘Deep regret’ over Palestinian minister’s death

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Palestinian honor guards carry the coffin of Palestinian minister Ziad Abu Ein during his funeral in the West Bank city of Ramallah

THE foreign ministry on Thursday expressed its deep regret over the death in the West Bank of a Palestinian Authority minister.

In a statement, the ministry noted that the need for the circumstances of the incident “to be independently investigated.”

“Yesterday’s events demonstrate the dangerous situation prevailing in the region and underline the need for restraint and for an early re-launching of peace negotiations leading to a final settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” the statement added.

The press release conveyed the condolences of the government and the people of Cyprus to the family of the late Palestinian minister Ziad Abu Ein and to the Palestinian people.

Abu Ein died on Wednesday after being grabbed by the neck by an Israeli policeman at a West Bank protest, an incident that has raised tensions with Israel.

Abu Ein was laid to rest yesterday after receiving a Palestinian state funeral.

His death came at a time of heightened tension between Israel and the Palestinians following months of violent unrest in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

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Renaissance man

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La Main Harmonique

This coming Tuesday the Pharos Arts Foundation, together with the Institut Francais de Chypre, will present a concert by La Main Harmonique ensemble at the Shoe Factory in Nicosia, during which they will perform Orlando Lasso’s master-cycle Prophetiae Sibyllarum, consisting of 13 miniature, secular motets based on poems by Virgil, Horace and Seneca.

The ensemble, which is made up of eight singers, was founded in 2010 in the south-western Midi-Pyrénées region, France, and specialises in the exploration and performance of polyphonic masterpieces of the Renaissance and to convey this relatively unknown repertoire to the general audience.

The performance on Tuesday will be guided by the ensemble’s founder and artistic director Frédéric Bétous.

La Main Harmonique also concentrates on today’s music innovation by collaborating and forming valuable relationships with contemporary composers. Acting both as interpreters and creators, the members of the ensemble are particularly focused on grasping the essence of the composition and comprehending the objective of the composer.

Released in 2010, La Main Harmonique’s first recording Ockeghem & Compère, was highly praised by national and international press. Since then, the ensemble has appeared in many renowned venues and has performed in international festivals in France and elsewhere.

The group of musicians has also been involved in the 700th anniversary celebrations of the Palais des Papes in Avignon through a programme on Pétrarque with madrigals by Willaert and Rore. The programme, entitled L’Aura mia Sacra, was released in 2013 and established the ensemble’s undertaking in contemporary music through a commission to the French-Greek composer Alexandros Markéas. The willingness of its members to shed light on the analogies and correspondences between Renaissance polyphonic music and contemporary classical music has become one of the core components of La Main Harmonique’s identity ever since.

This identifying characteristic is manifested in the ensemble’s last project, which relies on musicological research as well as contemporary music creation: Focused on Carlo Gesualdo and his Sacrae Cantiones for six or seven voices – which was incomplete but has recently been restored by Marc Busnel from the Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance in Tours – the project also includes original music by composer and contralto Caroline Marçot, commissioned by La Main Harmonique.

Lasso, the Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance, was inspired to write the music to be performed on Tuesday by the early Sibyls or prophetesses, which were archaic figures who encompass the Greek and Roman imagination.

Impersonating the link between man and his gods, they survived in Christian times as seeresses who prophesised the Saviour’s Realm.

These figures were the muse Lasso used to compose a cycle of 13 motets which became a masterpiece of Renaissance composition. The Prophetiae Sibyllarum were written in Munich during Lasso’s service for Duke Albert of Bavaria and remained in the Duke’s exclusive and secret property for many years until they were published only in 1600.

The concert will allow the audience to discover these rare motets, written on poems by Virgil, Horace and Seneca. The works of these authors became the wells from which the Renaissance men drew their ideas of wisdom, human values, and culture as the insight of natural human qualities.

Concert
The Pharos Arts Foundation and the Institut Francais de Chypre present the ensemble La Main Harmonique. December 16. The Shoe Factory, Nicosia. 8.30pm. €15/10. Tel 22-663871

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Remand for TEPAK official and contractor

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tepak

By George Psyllides
A university official and a contractor were on Friday remanded in custody for five days in connection with financial irregularities relating to properties used by the Limassol-based University of Technology (TEPAK).
The two were already in custody for similar offenses in connection with two buildings, Symeon and Kalypso, but authorities have expanded their investigation to cover two other properties, Dorothea and Hani.
The two are Zenon Achillides, 44, head of TEPAK’s property management service, and a 51-year-old contractor Giorgos Hadjigeorgiou.
They are held in connection with unauthorised payments, double charges and other offences.
The court heard that €35,618 had been charged to install flooring in Symeon, which was included in the building’s equipment. It emerged that the amount did not concern equipment but additional work that was not provided for in the contract.
The contractor is also accused of charging and receiving €421,000 for additional work at Kalypso, which was the obligation of the owner.
The work included the installation of special piping for medical gas, worth €42,000, which was never put in place. Instead, the contractor allegedly installed ordinary pipes worth €3,000.
Police also have testimony that the contracts should not have included provisions covering the cost of additional equipment and work, which should have been done through public tenders.
Concerning the two new buildings, an agreement was signed for Dorothea on November 3, 2008, between Achillides and Hadjigeorgiou, who was the owner, to rent the property for €22,600 per month. The agreement was not authorised by the university authorities and no minutes exist.
The agreement included payment of €1.1 million for work to the building, out of which €180,000 was paid for work already done in 2007.
Investigators also located another payment for additional work, dated December 2009, for €271,000. It included an extractor for a laboratory worth €6,500, which was charged again a year later.
A contract for additional renovation work was also signed for Hani, again without authorisation, the court heard. The contract included expenses that the owner of the building should have footed. There was also a charge for €24,000 for special laboratory flooring which was never installed.

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Oil tumbles towards $62 on supply glut

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Shell

By Simon Falush

OIL FELL to fresh lows not seen since July 2009 on Friday with Brent crude slipping towards $62 a barrel on concerns over a global supply glut and weak demand.

Brent is down more than 9 per cent this week, taking its fall since a June peak above $115 to 45 per cent.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said oil prices would likely come under further pressure, cutting its outlook for demand growth in 2015 and predicting that non-OPEC output gains would increase global supplies.

The IEA, which coordinates the energy policies of industrialised countries, cut its outlook for global oil demand growth for 2015 by 230,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 900,000 bpd on expectations of lower fuel consumption in Russia and other oil-exporting countries.

“It spells out the main scenarios that are in the market and said that stockpiles will be substantially bigger in the first half of 2015,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodity analyst for SEB in Oslo.

Brent was down $1.03 at $62.65 per barrel by 1427 GMT and hit a low of $62.37.

Down 33 per cent already, it is on track for its biggest quarterly drop since the fourth quarter of 2008.

US crude was down $1.21 at $58.74 per barrel, after falling to $58.27, its weakest since May 2009. The contract has lost about 11 per cent this week.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which accounts for a third of world oil output, sees 2015 demand falling to its lowest in more than a decade.

“It’s following the trend lower. The market has reacted strongly to the OPEC forecast cut, and it is focusing only on the negative,” said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro inAmsterdam.

He added there was little technical support until $50-$55.

Top energy consumer China released data on Friday showing near-record refinery runs in November, with factory output growth weaker than expected.

High Chinese oil demand, which has remained above 10 million bpd for the past three months, could help provide a price floor.

Remarks by Saudi Arabia’s oil minister reiterating that the kingdom would not cut output, and a surprise jump in US crude and distillate inventories, have also helped drive down prices this week.

Analysts said there was scope for oil to slip further.

“We are getting quite close to excess supplies which could push prompt Brent (prices) down to incentivise traders to store increased volumes of crude on ships, as onshore storage fills up,” Abhishek Deshpande, an analyst at Nataxis told the Reuters Global Oil Forum.

He said oil could briefly fall as low as $40 per barrel.

 

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Flights resume after London airspace closed (Updated)

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By David Milliken and Paul Sandle

Flights to and from London were severely disrupted on Friday by a technical failure at England’s main air traffic control centre that forced authorities to limit access to the country’s airspace.

Flights in and out of Heathrow, which calls itself the world’s busiest international airport, were halted for at least an hour before it said operations were beginning to resume.

“UK airspace has not been closed, but airspace capacity has been restricted in order to manage the situation,” the National Air Traffic Service (NATS) said on its website.

It later said the system had been restored, but that it would take time for operations to fully return to normal.

Gatwick said flights were departing but with delays. Stansted airport, the city’s third busiest, said in a tweet that departing flights were also resuming.

Details on the cause of the problem were not immediately available. A government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters it did not appear to be linked to any security threat to the United Kingdom,

As Heathrow is a major hub for international transfers, the disruption was likely to be felt far beyond the UK. Over 67 million passengers travel through the airport annually on services offered by 90 airlines to over 180 destinations in more than 90 countries, according to its website.

Airports in Birmingham and Manchester, in central and northern England, said they were unaffected by the airspace closure and were ready to accept diverted flights.

British Airways said passengers who did not wish to travel on Friday could seek a full refund or postpone travel.

NATS said it suffered a technical problem at its air traffic control centre in Swanwick, southern England. Swanwick is one of NATS’ two main centres. The other is at Prestwick in Scotland.

Mikael Robertsson, co-founder of plane tracking site FlightRadar24, said it was very unusual for hundreds of flights to be diverted at the same time during the Friday afternoon travel peak.

“I can’t remember when I saw last something similar. For sure this will affect many thousands of travellers around Europe and the whole world,” he said.

Philippe Guilbert, who was due to fly from Guernsey in the Channel Islands to Gatwick, said the pilot on his plane told passengers he had not heard of similar disruption in Britain in the last 10 years.

Ian Allison, a computing science professor at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, said air traffic systems are usually designed to cope with technical failures.

“So it seems to be a major incident that has caused the contingency plans to fail as well as the primary system,” he said.

 

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Turkish foreign minister proposes visit to Cyprus

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ANKARA, TURKEY - NOVEMBER 29: Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut C

TURKISH Foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has proposed that he and his Greek counterpart Evangelos Venizelos visit President Nicos Anastasiades when he returns to Cyprus as a step towards defusing the tensions of Turkey’s violation of the island’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

According to the Cyprus News Agency, Venizelos thought it was a “good idea”. The two men met on Friday in Thessaloniki on the sidelines of the meeting of foreign ministers of member countries of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, BSEC.

CNA said Venizelos and Cavusoglu had discussed the Turkish seismic vessel Barbaros’ survey within Cyprus’ EEZ and the Greek minister had told his Turkish counterpart that it was “a violation of the sovereign rights of the Republic.”

They also reportedly discussed what needed to be done to bring the two sides in Cyprus back to the negotiating table. The Greek Cypriot side withdrew from the talks in October when Turkey issued its NAVTEX for exploration.

No details were given as how the Turkish Foreign Minister’s visit could or would happen. Ankara does not recognise the Republic of Cyprus in which case the meeting would have to take place in the UN-controlled buffer zone.

Government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said Cavusoglu was welcome to visit the Republic of Cyprus, through the legal entry points, and meet with Anastasiades at the presidential palace.

CNA reported later that on Friday afternoon, Cavusoglu called Anastasiades in New York where he underwent heart surgery, to wish him well.

The two men did not discuss anything else, the report said.

Citing Foreign ministry sources in Ankara, CNA said the proposal was along the lines of an older suggestion by Prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu for the premiers of Greece and Turkey to visit the island’s communities – “first the south and then the north.”

No dates were discussed, the sources said.

In fresh comments, Christodoulides rejected any suggestion of a four-partite meeting.

“We do not participate in such meetings and anyway Greece is not willing to take part in such a meeting either,” the spokesman said. “We reject this proposal.”

Meanwhile, it was announced that UN special advisor Espen Barth Eide was expected on the island between December 16 and 17 for meetings with the negotiators.

Energy minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said Cyprus’ planning and activity in its EEZ was continuing as scheduled, regardless of statements by Turkish officials.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event on Friday presenting a study on the new regulations in the electricity market, Lakkotrypis referred to ENI’s research progress, saying the drilling continues somewhat slower than anticipated due to “certain technical difficulties.”

However, he confirmed ENI will have the results from the Onasagoras reserve within December.

“We expect the results from Onasagoras within December, and will coordinate any announcements with the company,” he said. “But planning to move the platform to the second drill, in fields 2, 3 and 9, is already underway.”

“We are pressing ahead as scheduled, and any technical difficulties are dealt with as they come up,” he added.

Asked whether drilling operations have been affected by Turkey’s attempts to raise obstacles, the Energy minister repeated the government’s position that Cyprus moves ahead with its plans as scheduled.

“We are expecting the results of initial exploratory drilling to establish the existence and extent of quantities,” he said.

Elaborating on the “technical difficulties” that have come up, Lakkotrypis said they relate to increased pressure at the depth ENI is currently drilling, and they relate to the seabed’s geology.

“High pressure at the drilling location has forced the company to move ahead at a pace slightly slower than planned,” he said.

Lakkotrypis was also asked to comment on Turkey’s stated intention to introduce a drilling platform into the eastern Mediterranean, wrongly attributed to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

On Thursday, Erdogan said in an address that Turkey will “defend Turkish Cypriots’ rights until the end,” before announcing plans to build its own platform to pursue drilling in the Black Sea.

Lakkotrypis said that the statements of Turkish President showed that Ankara could not find any companies from which to lease a platform because no one wanted to be involved in any violations carried out by Turkey in the region. The same applied to the Barbaros and that was why Turkey had built its own seismic vessel, he said.

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Fresh arrest in Paphos sewerage case

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Paphos town hall

By Angelos Anastasiou

Paphos police on Friday arrested a 68-year-old former municipal councillor in connection with corruption at the town’s sewerage board.

Efstathios Efstathiou had been named by former mayor Savvas Vergas who is also held by police along with two others – sewerage board director Eftihios Malekkides and former DISY councillor Giorgos Michaelides — for the same case.

Police have not ruled out further arrests.

Meanwhile, the state legal service filed an appeal with the Supreme Court against the rejection of its remand request of three other individuals in connection with the case.

The remand requests had been filed for AKEL’s Paphos municipal councillor Giorgos Shailis, Medcon Construction CEO Andreas Chimarrides and Nemesis Construction’s managing director Kyriacos Chrysochos, but were denied by the Paphos District Court last Sunday.

The three were arrested on Saturday after Vergas implicated them in the bribery and misappropriation scandal in his statement to police.

He had said that a group of individuals had conspired to charge extra – and unnecessary – work, sharing the spoils between them, and named himself, Malekkides, and various municipal councilmen and contractors as members of the ring.

The legal service argued that rejecting the remand requests obstructed the work of investigators, which requires the corroboration of strengthening of available testimony.

The legal service hosted meeting yesterday morning, attended by deputy Attorney-general Rikkos Erotocritou and the team of investigators.

The meeting reviewed the evidence collected thus far, in light of the fact that the remands of the three already held in connection with the case – Vergas, Malekkides, and Michaelides – expire on Saturday.

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Fishermen protest over Vassiliko ban

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Part of the VTT jetty that fishermen protest they cannot approach

By Angelos Anastasiou

PROFESSIONAL fishermen on Friday blocked access to tugboats at the VTT’s oil-storage terminal in Vassilikos, thus preventing them from towing cargo ships to the company’s loading buoy, in protest of the fishing ban imposed in the area off the Vassilikos coast.

“We have opted for this form of protest because of the serious fall in revenues we have suffered as a result of the terminal’s operation, which has imposed a fishing ban over four square kilometres,” said the head of the Zygi fishermen’s association, Yiannos Stylianou.

“We ask that we are compensated by either the state or the Ports Authority for our loss of income,” he added.

VTT Vassiliko’s head Yiorgos Papanastasiou expressed his regret at a single group obstructing loading and unloading operations, arguing this tarnished the image of Cyprus in the eyes of potential investors.

“That’s why the state has a responsibility to step in,” he said.

Later, the company issued a statement saying the buoy is located in an area designated by the Cyprus government as “heavy industry,” in which fishing is prohibited.

“All legally-required permits for the construction and operation of the buoy have been acquired from the Cyprus Ports Authority and the Department of Environment, with respect to the most stringent of safety standards, public health and the environment, so that its operation causes minimal impact to the area,” the statement said.

“We believe that the argument that the buoy is harmful to the interests of the area’s fishing industry is baseless,” it added. “We have traditionally supported the communities around our company’s terminal.”

VTT Vassiliko is a Cyprus-registered company, a subsidiary of VTTI B.V. It’s shareholders are Dutch energy behemoth Vitol and leading international marine company MISC, a subsidiary of Malaysian oil giant Petronas.

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Consumers demand lower fuel prices

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Oil companies say there are many costs involved before petrol reaches the pumps

The consumer association on Friday demanded an immediate and drastic cut in the price of fuel to reflect the reduction in the international price of oil.

The association called on the Energy minister to change the pricing system to make it fairer.

The international price of oil reached $63, a 28 per cent drop since October, the association said.

On the contrary, pump process in Cyprus fell only 8 to 9per cent, which does not correspond to the real decrease.

“This slow and very small drop put Cyprus in a worse position compared with 22 other EU countries,” the association said. Cyprus is almost the most expensive country in the eurozone, it added.

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New federal movement gets underway

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Federal movement wants bicommunal cooperation

By Angelos Anastasiou

A BI-COMMUNAL group of concerned Cypriots have banded together to form the Federal Cyprus Movement (FCM), which they plan to officially inaugurate on Sunday morning at Ayios Sozomenos village along with a tree-planting event in memory of all the victims of the Cyprus problem.

“The movement aims to spread the federal state understanding to the people,” the event announcement said.

The FCM comprises Greek and Turkish Cypriots who consider the development of a “federal conscience” among all Cypriots a prerequisite to reaching a settlement of the Cyprus problem.

“For us, combating the mutual prejudices borne within each community and ending the stronghold of political elites that use these prejudices to justify their secessionist and hegemonic policies are fundamental issues,” the movement’s founding declaration reads.

“We are well aware that, with founding the Federal Cyprus Movement, comes the need to deconstruct the official narratives and liberate ourselves from an interpretation of reality that is based on our own exclusive truth, recognising others’ truth.”

But, by definition, such a revisionist approach is bound to be met with fierce resistance from some in the political establishment and interests deeply entrenched in the perpetuation of the status quo. The FCM people seem to realise it – and not care.

One of the movement’s founding members, Sotos Ktoris, told the Cyprus Mail that it comprises an “expanded group of concerned citizens that has identified the need for a federal conscience among the Cypriot people”.

“The movement is the result of the personal agony of a handful of people from both communities over our country’s future,” said Ktoris.

“It has no political agenda or affiliation – it is not a political movement,” he said. “We have the sole aspiration of educating people on what a federation is and creating a federal conscience among our fellow citizens.”

Comprising a handful of individuals from both the Greek and Turkish communities of Cyprus, Ktoris said the FCM plans to spread the word on the everyman level.

“We plan to move the debate away from urban centres,” he explained. “We will take to the villages – each and every one of them – literally sit in the kafenedes [traditional coffee shops and social gathering places] and talk to people about federal issues over coffee.”

Long-term, the FCM plans to create an academy that will organise events and lectures on federal issues, with guests and members as speakers.

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Paphos arrests

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police car

FOUR men were arrested in Paphos early on Friday with stolen property in their possession.

According to police reports, the four were arrested when during a search, €2,500 in cash and various items, including two golden neck chains, were found for which they were not able to give sufficient explanations.

Police said that the front number plate of the car the four men were driving was different than the one in the back and that one of them belongs to a car reported stolen in Limassol, while the other sign was reported stolen from a car in Nicosia.

Paphos police is investigating the case.

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