Shop opening hours extended
THE Cabinet yesterday approved the extension of shop opening hours until the end of April.

The last decree was issued until the end of November but was extended to cover the Christmas period. The new decree covers January 2 until April 30.

An announcement said that the extended shop hours concern weekdays while on Sundays shops are allowed to be open from 11am to 7pm.

By Evie Andreou

UNLESS Education Minister Costas Kadis agrees to meet with them and gives his commitment in writing, all dialogue concerning the future of substitute teachers will be discontinued, their union OELMEK said yesterday.

The union, which met to discuss the ministry’s proposed educational reform, disagrees with the measures on substitute teachers, citing vagueness on training, evaluations, and not reference to the cost.

Following the World Bank’s highly critical report on the education system of Cyprus, released in June, Kadis had said that even though the report was not binding his ministry would introduce changes.

Concerning the new system of appointments the union said that the ministry’s proposal did not agree with the President’s suggestion to secure the working status of substitute teachers employed for more than 30 months. They will ask to meet Kadis as soon as possible to discuss the matter, they said.

OELMEK, the union that represents secondary school teachers, said that the proposal on obligatory training “consists of a series of gaps and a vagueness which may hide serious dangers”.

It does not mention when the training would take place and for how long.

“As an organisation we stress that we will not accept obligatory training if it does not fulfil the criteria we have set,” said the union. These included training at regular intervals, agreed times and costs to be borne by the education ministry.

The union asked the ministry to make the proposal more specific so that a proper dialogue can take place.

“The suggested procedures the proposal cements the bureaucracy it is supposedly trying to restrict,” the union said.

“Basic parameters are absent which one must keep in mind in order to be able to evaluate the proposal as a whole.”

By Elias Hazou

PEOPLE with fat bank accounts, as well as owners of immovable property worth hundreds of thousands, were among those applying for guaranteed minimum income (GMI), labour minister Zeta Emilianidou said on Tuesday.

Speaking on CyBC radio, Emilianidou revealed that authorities had received several applications from persons with up to €1m in their bank accounts, or owning property valued at over €200,000.

These were of course rejected, she said.

Of the some 16,000 application forms filed by first-time applicants, the ministry has approved 4,000 and payments have been made to these persons.

In a statement, the ministry said that a further 200 applicants would have received payment by yesterday.

Up until December 1, 16,200 GMI applications were filed by Cypriot citizens: currently out of work, long-term unemployed, low income earners and self-employed.

Authorities have meanwhile turned down around 4,800 applications, for not complying with basic eligibility criteria: value of immovable property, bank deposits, and income.

According to Phileleftheros, ministry checks identified 46 households where the owners possessed property worth over €1m. There were also at least three cases where applicants were found to have between €500,000 and €1m in their bank accounts.

Authorities were also able to verify that a number of self-employed people falsely claimed to be jobless, or stated an income lower than the real one.

These reported cases likely reflect the more egregious claims. There is no hard line on eligibility in terms of income levels for the GMI – whether one is entitled to the allowance, and how much, depends on a variety of factors, including whether or not he has a mortgage or pays rent, the number and age of dependents, the individual’s net worth, and even the total area of his or her home. Thus, two people receiving identical monthly wages may find their respective applications treated differently.

In theory, anyone could be eligible provided he or she does not have over €5,000 in cash or own property worth more than €100,000 – excluding primary residences.

The labour ministry said that of those applications rejected for not meeting property criteria, 57.5 per cent owned property valued at between €200,000 and several millions.

Moreover, among the claims disallowed on bank account criteria, 37 per cent of these applicants were found to have deposits of between €25,000 and €1m.

And 43 per cent of the cases rejected for not meeting income conditions were found to be earning monthly wages between €2000 and €5000.

Additionally, processing of approximately 6,000 applications has been put on hold due to missing or incomplete information, such as bank confirmation of deposits, wrong IBAN and so forth.

The ministry said it would be contacting these applicants.

An applicant must supply confirmation of permanent residence by local authorities, proof and justification of any change in income levels over the last six months, mortgagees must provide a copy of their mortgage agreement and a current interest statement, and those who rent a home must submit a copy of the tenancy agreement.

Personal banking information must be accompanied by confirmation of its accuracy by the bank itself. Copies of identity cards, bank account statements for all involved (applicant and dependents) since January 1, 2014, and employer confirmation of monthly salary, are only some of the items on the list. Self-employed applicants are required to submit additional documentation, and non-Cypriot applicants yet more.

Authorities are also checking applications by existing beneficiaries of state assistance (21,500) and low-income pensioners (38,000).

Earlier this month, Emilianidou conceded that over half of the 16,000 first-time applicants would not receive aid in time for Christmas.

Parliament subsequently passed a law making a person eligible to receive GMI effective from the date of filing the application rather than the date of the application’s approval. Persons whose applications are eventually approved will thus receive payments retroactively.

GMI was introduced this year, to replace the previous system of state allowance, which was easy to abuse. However, the new system has been criticised as being excessively complicated, causing the delays in processing applications.

THERE MAY have been no arrests yet, but the complacent, inward-looking football authorities have been shaken up by the public revelations made by referee Marios Panyi last week. He did not say anything new – football followers have been talking about match-fixing for decades, as if it were as much a part of the Cyprus game as the offside trap and a player diving – but the fact he spoke publicly and gave a statement to the police, meant that the continuous allegations could no longer be dismissed as fans’ gossip.

Then again, in a country in which corruption and dishonesty are seen everywhere, could football have been any different? Would the people that run football be any different from those that run the municipalities, the semi-governmental organisations and the unions? The peculiar thing is that the clubs make no money from football. On the contrary, all clubs – with the possible exception of APOEL, which earned a bundle from its participation in the Champions League group stages this year – are heavily in debt and probably insolvent.

Clubs owe big amounts of money to the state, the banks and their players; many are in constant danger of having points docked, in line with UEFA directives, because of their bad finances. We mention this because it shows there is no cash incentive to cheat, except in order to avoid relegation. Clubs that fix matches will not become wealthy nor would their officials (wealthy people that take over clubs always leave poorer) so what is the point in doing it? Betting might have something to do with it – 17 matches in Cyprus have been flagged for suspicious betting by UEFA.

This still does not seem to provide adequate explanation for the alleged match-fixing which according to those in the know had been part of the game long before betting arrived and while clubs were poor but without today’s debts. Now that the clubs have much bigger budgets spending vast amounts of money on the wages of foreign players, brought in to raise standards and improve the spectacle, it would have been reasonable to expect the fixing to have stopped. After all, what is the point of going deep into debt to raise the game’s standards while allowing corrupt practices?

Regardless of what the answers are Panayi should be congratulated for his off-the pitch whistle-blowing. It has forced the police to start investigations – the offices of the Cyprus Football Association were raided on Monday – and given a jolt to the smug officials that run the Association. Whether anything will come of it remains to be seen.

By George Psyllides

PRESIDENT Nicos Anastasiades yesterday conceded that not everything went well during the first 22 months of his administration and said he was ready to discuss the possibility of a broad government coalition with political parties.

Speaking at the presidential palace for the first time after his return from the US where he underwent heart surgery, Anastasides took responsibility for most of the mistakes in the first 22 months though he did not spell out what he thought they were.

He also commented on the disappointment over the less-than-hopeful outlook for gas prospects, the ongoing row over foreclosures, which he said had damaged the island’s credibility, and saved his harshest comments for Turkey’s stance on the Cyprus issue vis a vis energy, saying he would never accept becoming a partner with those who undermined the Republic of Cyprus.

The president said that while recuperating from his operation, he was given the opportunity to review the government’s course to date.

“I determined that during the first 22 months there were not only positives but there were also negatives, for most of which I take full responsibility,” Anastasiades said.

Based on the successes and the omissions, and all that remained to be done, he said, policies must be redefined and the effort to implement the pillars that constituted the foundation of the administration’s election programme reinforced.

This included consolidating the economy and returning to growth and prosperity; continuing with reforms; zero tolerance on corruption and bolstering the effort to stamp out the phenomenon and put an end to impunity; and resolving the Cyprus problem.

The president said he returned from the US ready to discuss the possibility of forming a government of the widest possible acceptance to tackle the challenges facing the island in the next three years.

“I believe, and I am being direct and honest, that the problems faced by the country cannot be shouldered by one person alone,” he said.

“Neither do negativity and any other expediencies help in making people understand that our priorities are not party and personal interests.”

Anastasiades said his intentions were honest, stressing that he was not prepared to serve the interests of any party nor those of anyone else, including himself.

He said the new beginning he wished to make would start at the presidential palace, which will see changes to the structure of the presidency.

The new plan will be announced after the holidays.

The change in the structure was mostly prompted by the fracas over Central Bank Governor Chrystalla Georghadji’s contract.

It started when Anastasiades issued a harsh statement denying any knowledge of Georghadji’s potential conflict of interest or any alterations to her contract, and accused her of lying to parliament about informing him.

The matter concerned the employment of Georghadji’s daughter Marianna by a law firm that represents ex-Laiki boss Andreas Vgenopoulos, currently embroiled in legal tangles with the Central Bank.

The CBC governor was accused of removing a clause from her contract so there would not be any problem with her daughter working at the law office. It later emerged that Georghadji had also changed another clause raising her remuneration.

The governor said she had informed the Presidential Palace of the changes but it transpired that Anastasiades had signed the contract without knowing.
The contract has since been amended and Georghadji’s daughter has quit the law office in question.

Makarios Droushiotis, a former presidential aide who handled the matter briefly, blamed the “mess” on “improvisations” employed in the absence of procedures.

Anastasiades also spoke of the Cyprus issue, saying that Ankara’s positions on restarting reunification talks and on energy matters create more problems.

He made it clear that he would not accept becoming a partner with those who undermined the Republic of Cyprus.

“The responses so far are not satisfactory in the slightest,” he said. “On the contrary, they create more problems.”

“What I want to make clear is that I will never accept those who undermine the Republic of Cyprus becoming partners in a state they do not participate in and also issue threats about plan Bs,” the president said.

Anastasiades pulled out of reunification talks after Turkey sent seismic vessel Barbaros in October to carry out surveys inside Cyprus’ EEZ in retaliation to the island’s hydrocarbon exploration projects.

He said that Cyprus’ positions on the matter were clear to the international community.

“What is important is that our decisions will be defined by Cyprus’ interests only and not on the suggestions of any third parties that aim at serving their interests,” he said. “If they have interests, Cyprus has bigger interests, to protect its natural wealth or sovereign rights.”

Turkey issued a NAVTEX (navigational telex) for exploration in the island’s EEZ from October 20 to December 30.

Ankara claims it is acting on behalf of Turkish Cypriots who also have rights over the island’s natural resources.

Cyprus says the seismic surveys are illegal and a violation of its sovereignty.

Although the Turkish operations are taking place within international waters, any activity by foreign nations beneath the water surface (such as surveys, depth soundings and data gathering) inside Cyprus’ EEZ is prohibited.

Any activities by foreign nations within the Nicosia Flight Information Region (FIR) also require Cyprus’ prior express approval.

By Emily Le Coz

Tornadoes unleashed by thunderstorms along the U.S. Gulf Coast ripped through southeastern Mississippi on Tuesday, killing four people, injuring many and causing extensive damage, authorities said.

One of the heaviest-hit areas was a commercial district along a U.S. Highway 98 bypass in the town of Columbia in Marion County, about 30 miles (48 km) west of Hattiesburg, state emergency management spokesman Greg Flynn told Reuters.

“We’ve got whole roofs lying in the road, people trapped in houses, cars flipped over,” Marion County Sheriff Berkley Hall said.

One woman was killed in a shopping strip in Columbia, a rural community of about 6,500 people, and another in a nearby trailer home, according to county coroner Norma Williamson.

“It’s chaos over here,” she said of the aftermath of the storm, which struck at about 2:30 p.m. (2030 GMT).

Images of the scene published on the website of Hattiesburg television station WDAM showed mangled buildings, snapped trees, debris-littered roads and overturned vehicles, including an ambulance.

Two more storm-related fatalities were confirmed in Jones County to the northeast, where a separate tornado touched down an hour later, and both victims there were believed to have died in their homes, county emergency management spokeswoman Tammy Wells said.

Flynn said numerous people were hurt in both counties, some seriously. He described property damage in Marion County as “massive.”

Governor Phil Bryant issued a state of emergency for Marion and Jones counties, hastening the availability of state resources needed for storm relief.

His office said the storms knocked out power to more than 7,000 customers.

The twisters were spawned by thunderstorms that originated over south-central Louisiana, then tracked northeast before barreling through southeastern Mississippi, said Corey Mead, a meteorologist for the national Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

About 15 homes were damaged in southeastern Louisiana by a storm that also knocked down trees and power lines across Tangipahoa Parish and unleashed a tornado in the town of Amite, though no injuries were reported, according to the office of Governor Bobby Jindal.

Mead said intensity of storms diminished after they passed through Mississippi, but dangerously high winds and additional tornadoes were possible late Tuesday and early Wednesday across parts of southern Alabama, northern Florida and southern Georgia.

Flash flood warnings also were posted across the Florida panhandle and parts of Georgia as a wave of heavy showers swept in behind the storm front, Mead said.

By Jon Herskovitz

AUSTIN, Texas, Dec 23 (Reuters) – Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, 90, was hospitalized in Houston, Texas, late on Tuesday after experiencing shortness of breath, a spokesman for the 41st commander-in-chief said in a statement.

Bush’s latest health scare came two years after he was struck by illness during the 2012 holiday season. He spent seven weeks in a Houston hospital for bronchitis and related ailments before his discharge in mid-January of 2013.

On Tuesday evening, the former president “was taken by ambulance to the Houston Methodist Hospital as a precaution after experiencing a shortness of breath,” according to his spokesman, Jim McGrath.

Bush “will be held for observation, again as a precaution,” McGrath said in a statement.

The former president, a Republican, grew so ill during his previous hospitalization that he was believed at one point to be near death, and members of his family gathered around him.

However, he marked his 90th birthday this year by taking a parachute jump in Kennebunkport, Maine. His eldest son, former President George W. Bush, just published a best-selling book about his father, titled “41 – A Portrait of My Father.”

President Barack Obama wished his predecessor well in a statement issued by White House spokesman Eric Schultz from Hawaii, where Obama was vacationing with his family.

“The president has been made aware that President Bush was admitted to the hospital,” Schultz said. “President Obama and the first lady send their good wishes to the former president and the entire Bush family during this holiday season.”

The elder Bush served as vice president for eight years during Ronald Reagan’s two terms as president before being elected president himself, defeating former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, the Democratic nominee, in 1988.

Bush took office in 1989 and served one term in the White House, during which he organized the U.S.-led military coalition that defeated Iraqi forces after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.

He lost his 1992 re-election bid to Democrat Bill Clinton.

Bush also served as a congressman, a U.N. ambassador, U.S. envoy to China and CIA director before becoming Reagan’s running mate in 1980.

Greece’s fourth-largest lender Alpha Bank will launch a joint venture with Spanish financial services firm Aktua Soluciones Financieras to manage a substantial chunk of its non-performing loans, it said on Wednesday.

By Marie Kambas

Domestic beer consumption fell 2.3 per cent to 29.9 million litres of between January and November compared to the previous year, according to statistics department data, as cheaper imported brands strengthened their market position by expanding sales in retail shops.

High-spirited, often rather pompous speeches are common among politicians, no less in Cyprus than other countries. According to the Cyprus Mail, December 16, ‘DIKO offers grudging support for budget’ . The party chairman said; “Conscious of our responsibility towards the country and our people…”
In your imagination you can almost see a new Messiah speaking down to you from the mountaintop. Maybe I am wrong or perhaps something was lost in the translation, from Greek to English?
Leif Krogstad, Larnaca

By Mark Makela
FOR NEARLY every day the last eight months, Michael Grant, 28, has dressed as Jesus Christ, and walked the streets of Philadelphia to share the Christian gospel by example. With long brown hair, a thick beard, and wearing a white robe and brown vest, he very much resembles the Westernized depiction of Jesus. Soon into this endeavor, he acquired the nickname of “Philly Jesus,” which he has gone by ever since.
“I’m not here to preach. I’m here to plant a seed. I portray Jesus and bring awareness to him, but don’t try to convert anyone. Jesus is like my Michael Jordan. I’m just wearing his jersey,” he said.
Several years ago, Grant was a heroin user and homeless. He panhandled, exaggerating his condition by dirtying his face and changing into rags to increase his daily earnings from handouts. When he was arrested and sentenced to a behavioral modification programme, he hit a low point and discovered the Lord. “When I hit rock bottom, Jesus was my rock,” he says. Grant thought of how he could share his faith in a positive way and seized upon an idea of dressing as Jesus to create a “visual ministry,” drawing upon his theater background from high school musical productions.
When wandering through Philadelphia, Philly Jesus is met with a combination of stares and enthusiasm, but mostly the latter, and frequently receives hugs and high fives. Grant has acquired the status of a local celebrity of sorts and every day is besieged incessantly with requests to pose for cellphone photos.
Philly Jesus offers guidance to those who seek it and prays with them. He stopped to greet all beggars he passed on the street, prayed with them, and gave them money. “I correct people when they call me ‘Jesus’ and I tell them ‘Philly Jesus,’” Grant said. “Also, I quote scripture all the time.”
Philly Jesus, who has an iPhone and posts numerous photos of himself and group portraits daily to Instagram and Twitter, states that he is here to introduce others to God. He stresses that he is not here to force anything upon anyone. It’s his goal to be a positive introduction or reintroduction to Christianity.
“I don’t have another job; I don’t have a home of my own. I stay with friends. Sometimes I couch surf. When people offer me money I accept it. I won’t ask for anything though. I don’t solicit,” he says.
Philly Jesus thinks part of his success stems from his optimistic outlook on life. He prides himself on having a fun-loving and approachable demeanor, with a healthy sense of humor. In November, an ice skating rink opened at the base of City Hall. Often Philly Jesus can be found skating with verve and using his walking staff as a hockey stick. “Jesus could walk on water and I skate on ice, ” Grant quips.
“I put the Christ back in Christmas. I explain that Jesus is the reason for the season. But that’s not all.” He continued, “People come up to me all the time, a lot of atheists, saying how much I inspire them, because I don’t care what I look like, and that I’m following my passion, going full throttle all the time.”
In the “city of brotherly love” it is apt that Grant is spreading Jesus’ messages of faith, hope, and love. Philly Jesus says he plans to continue this for years and years, and that he hopes to travel to other cities, to give speeches, and even to write a book of his experiences.
“When I’m older, when wrinkles form on my face, and my whiskers turn gray, I’ll morph into ‘Philly Moses,’” he said, “and then I’ll need to find a true believer to become the rightful heir.” (Reuters)

The letter from Ifigenia Georgiou headed ‘Keep your trash in your vehicle’ December 21, is the latest in a considerable history of such letters to the Sunday Mail bemoaning the way that the beautiful environment of Cyprus is being progressively spoiled by trash. Ignorance is at the heart of the problem, by those who discard trash irresponsibly and the various authorities for appearing to do so little to recognise and address the issue effectively. Apart from aesthetic and health considerations to those who live here, there is the longer term potential of unsightly trash impacting upon tourism.
The basic solutions seem fairly obvious. Clear up the trash and fly tips, educate the population and enforce the laws in respect of trash – how many people actually get convicted for dropping litter? In the past I have suggested a ‘Keep Cyprus beautiful’ campaign and financing clean-ups through taxation on plastic bottles and carrier bags. But there is much that could be done at both national and local levels at little or no net cost.
By coincidence, a possible explanation for nothing happening was implicitly set down in the column by Loucas Charalambous on the page facing the above letter. This article was written in the context of the partition of Cyprus and in essence declared that Cypriot politicians have been the architects of Cyprus’ various demises since 1961. If the politicians of Cyprus have been ‘Peddling the same nonsense for 51 years’ when it comes to the important issue of partition, it can only leave one doubtful that there will ever be a clear and effective strategy to clean up trash in Cyprus. Plus ça change!
Peter A Bailey, Pissouri

By George Psyllides
The fourth bill that forms the so-called insolvency framework affords protection to crisis-stricken individuals whose homes are worth up to €250,000 and the amount they borrowed must not exceed €300,000.
The bill affords protection from foreclosure to individuals who meet certain criteria.
To be eligible, a borrower must prove they lost at least 25 per cent of their income because of the economic crisis no earlier than two years before filing an application for a personal repayment scheme.
The total of their loans must not exceed €300,000 and their primary residence must have a market value of up to €250,000.
The bill includes strict criteria that define who is exempted from repaying a debt as part of the scheme.
According to the bill, a debtor will not be exempted unless, among others, they have up to €5,000 in debt, net disposable monthly income of €100 or less, and €400 worth of assets.
The bill has been handed over to political parties for their views.
It is the fourth of five bills that constitute the insolvency framework, legislation that among others, aims to afford protection to vulnerable groups.
Two have already been submitted to parliament and another one, approved by the cabinet on Tuesday, is on its way.
The insolvency framework was meant to come into force at the beginning of the New Year to coincide with the enforcement of the foreclosures law.
The delay provided opposition parties with the opportunity to suspend the law in what observers described as a populist stunt that ultimately hurt Cyprus’ credibility.
Despite government pleas, they suspended the law until the end of January, claiming they did it to protect vulnerable groups.
Parties said it was the government’s fault for delaying the preparation of the insolvency framework.
The vote to suspend came a couple of days after lenders released some €350 million as part of the island’s bailout.
That money had been withheld in September after opposition parties pulled an equally unnecessary stunt, passing laws that limited the scope of the foreclosures legislation.
The president referred the laws to the Supreme Court, which ruled them unconstitutional, opening the way for disbursement of the tranche.
But an additional €85 million has been withheld by the International Monetary Fund following the suspension last Thursday.
Anastasiades said on Tuesday that he planned to refer the suspension to the Supreme Court.

By Bejay Browne
CHILDREN in Cyprus who have written a letter to Santa this year have started to receive their gifts from the Andrey and Julia Dashin foundation in Limassol.
Those who haven’t done so yet have until January to send a personal letter to Santa as part of the foundation’s new festive charity cause.
Around six of the children who got their letters in before Christmas won a home visit from Santa along with their requested present as part of the initiative ‘Santa Claus is coming to town.’
The foundation said that the most touching, honest and heartfelt letters and illustrations were considered for the winning prize.
A Paphos family (Marilena, Chloe and Marios) were the first of many children participating in the initiative to receive their gifts, said Alina Nabieva managing director of the foundation.
“They were very happy and excited to receive the things which they had wished for and expressed in a letter to Santa.”
The initiative is open to all children in Cyprus – and not just for those from low income families – as a way of rewarding their courage in contacting Santa. The letters should be addressed to Santa Claus, via the foundation.
Every child who sends a hand written letter to Santa will receive a gift .The foundation will try and give the gifts which have been requested, unless it’s something such as health or prosperity, or an expensive gift. Instead a suitable gift will be chosen.
Nabieva said: “One of our boardrooms looks likes Santa’s sorting office; it’s wonderful to be able to help spread the magic of Christmas.”
‘Letter to Santa’ is open to children of all school and pre-school ages and must be accompanied by parental or guardian’s consent. This can be done via a signed application form found at the link is below.
This part of the competition will close on December 27.
Representatives of the foundation also visited the municipal kindergarten in Yermasoyia to present a donation voucher of €250 towards sports equipment to supplement a sum collected by the kindergarten PTA. This will be used to purchase the children sports equipment in the New Year.
The foundation also surprised the 50 children of the school with Christmas gifts and a visit from Santa.
The Dashin foundation also made a donation of €250 to a Nicosia based non-profit organisation ‘Young Volunteers Cyprus’ to help them in their charitable endeavors.
Nabieva said: “Five supermarket gift vouchers, each worth €50 were gifted to be sent to families in need for Christmas. These vouchers will be distributed by Young Volunteers Cyprus to the families on their database, together with other vouchers they have already secured as part of their Christmas charity initiative.”
She added: “We strongly believe that cooperation is paramount when it comes to charity and we are happy to be part of such a worthy cause.”
The Limassol based foundation was set up in April this year and officially launched in May, by Russian entrepreneur Andrey Dashin and his wife Julia.
Dashin is founder of one of the world’s leading forex brokers, Alpari. He is also a committed philanthropist.
All letters to Santa Claus may be sent to: 35, Lamprou Konstantara, Kato Polemidia, 4156, Limassol
Email: info@dashinfoundation.org Tel: 25-246120 Fax: 25-246220 www.dashinfoundation.org
Letter to Santa application form: http://www.dashinfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Application-Form_EN.pdf

By Eleni Courea
THERE is no shortage of charitable spirit this Christmas – the government has distributed €125,000 to 47 food banks across Cyprus, while leading a nationwide collection of food, toys and clothing for poor families. Councillors, charities, and local businesses have all taken part in the coordinated effort to give help to those who need it this holiday season.
The interior ministry has distributed €125,000 to 47 food banks, while charitable programmes are also being run by the Volunteers Association and by small businesses.
Individual amounts are being allocated according to the number of families each food bank provides for.
The joint project was initiated by the ministry in collaboration with the Commissioner for Volunteering and Civil Society in 2013. Its aim is to ease the burden of the financial crisis on poor Cypriot families. Last year, the ministry allocated €115,000.
The action is part of a wider national effort to provide for the increasing numbers of families experiencing financial strain.
The Commissioner for Volunteering, Yiannis Yiannakis, initiated a ‘Hug of Love’ campaign on November 24 in order to collect clothing, food and toys for Christmas. The collection has been largely successful.
According to Yiannaki, the collection has benefited a total of 12,500 families all across Cyprus, from Polis Chrysochous in the west to Paralimni in the east.
Aside from the national collection, though, Cypriots are also leading smaller projects to give help to those who need it. The Association for Volunteers in Nicosia (ESSE) is running a programme through which Cypriots can ‘adopt’, or support, a local family during the holiday season.
In addition, volunteers in Nicosia plan to visit old people’s homes and hospitals to sing carols, distribute gifts, and spread Christmas cheer. Help is also given to the enclaved persons in the north in the form of Christmas packages.
Cypriot charities, too, are at the forefront of the national collection effort. The Alkionides charity’s Christmas Bazaar raised around €3,000 to support impoverished families and particularly those with serious medical problems.
The Youth Alkionides Club raised an additional €400 for the charity, with their bake sale in The English School Christmas Bazaar.
Local municipalities have also made an important contribution to the national effort. In Sotira village in Famagusta, councillors have voted to cut a collective €2,000 from their salaries this month, and donate that sum to the Sotira food bank. This food bank, which is run by the local church, helped a total of 75 poor families in 2014, and provides essential support to 15 families on a monthly basis.
Finally, help is not only given by the government and NGOs, but also by small Cypriot businesses. A takeaway restaurant in Latsia, Taste Boutique, has been donating all its leftover food to poor families for the past year. Taste Boutique provides between five and fifteen such meals on a nightly basis.
This season, the restaurant has taken an extra step by deciding to provide poor families with freshly cooked hot food on Christmas Day, helping around 150-200 people in the Latsia and Yeri areas.

THIS WILL be another difficult Christmas for many people living in Cyprus. With the number of jobless still at very high levels and hundreds of families depending on charities for their Christmas dinner, talk about the season to be merry comes with a hollow ring. For too many people this could be the third or fourth successive year they will have been unable to celebrate Christmas as they did in the years of prosperity and easy bank credit.
At least this year the state has put in place a safety net, providing welfare payments to more than 4,000 households thanks to the introduction of the guaranteed minimum income (GMI), which was a bold initiative but came under intense criticism from the parties because it was funded through cuts in other welfare benefits. However it was an imperative given the economic conditions which do not look like improving very soon.
The recession is set to continue, and long-term unemployment – unheard of in Cyprus until a few years ago and the reason unemployment benefit was paid for only six months – has become a permanent feature of the economy. This was why a major rethink and reformulation of welfare policy was necessary. It may have weaknesses but these will eventually be addressed as the objective, ultimately, is to leave nobody in genuine need without welfare support.
AKEL and its union have reported that many payments had not been made on time, some benefits were too low and that not all applications had been processed. We do not know the extent of the delays, but this was a very difficult task, considering the bureaucrats had process some 16,000 applications and examine each one, as there greedy individuals who had tried to cheat the authorities. According to labour minister Zeta Emilianidou, close to 5,000 applications were rejected because applicants did not meet the criteria. Some applicants had big amounts of cash in the bank – some as much as a million euro – or property worth hundreds of thousands of euro.
She said some had failed to give the numbers of all their bank accounts, in an attempt to deceive the state, but checks by officials revealed their true financial standing; these checks were the main reason it took so long for all applications to be processed. The government should pass legislation that provides for the punishment of welfare cheats, because there will always be dishonest people trying to take money they are not entitled to from the state.
Although work still needs to be done GMI, was a commendable undertaking thanks to which many of our less fortunate fellow citizens will not feel totally neglected by society this Christmas.

By Eleni Courea and Marie Kambas

A RECENT telephone survey appeared to show that fewer Cypriots were experiencing financial difficulties this Christmas but both retailers and the man on the street told a different story nearly two years after the banking crisis.

While some of those interviewed by the Cyprus Mail think that the economic situation is slightly better, others including shopkeepers and business owners warned of darker times ahead.

Vasilis, 42, a bus driver for Nicosia bus company OSEL, said: “The 2013 financial crisis was the first of its kind in Cypriot history, and the shock still resonates. Everyone is very careful with their money now.”

Christiana, 19, a university student, agreed: “It’s clear that the crisis is far from over – all the shops are desperately advertising their discounted products,” she said.

Not everyone thought in terms of total doom and gloom but acknowledged that if people were spending more it was not much more, and it was only because a lot of things were discounted.

Margarita, 17, a school student said: “Yes, discounts have made everything cheaper, but people are spending more as a result. Makarios Avenue is being revived again, after more than two years. Ultimately, it’s part of the Cypriot culture to save up for a month or two before Christmas, so that we can buy things for those close to us.”

Stelios, a 66-year-old retiree, agreed: “People are spending more this year. Nobody trusts the banks with their money, so they’d rather buy gifts for their family and friends.”

Michalis, 63, who works at Birkenstock shoe shop said however the new year would be far worse than the last two.

People have spent all their savings now, and there is no more money coming in,” he said.

Christos Harrison, a security supervisor for hotels in Limassol, disagreed. “The economic crisis is a state of mind. People constantly tell each other, ‘there is a crisis’, and they create an atmosphere of fear. Everyone starts saving up, in case something goes awry. But ultimately, in my experience, people still spend as much as they used to – they just try to get more with their money. I spent some time working for the Jumbo toyshop in Limassol, and business was better than ever. But instead of spending their €100 on three items, people spent it on eight,” he said.

Shopkeepers and small business owners were not convinced that people were spending even a little more. Nelly Sotiriadou, a 38-year-old employee at Swatch, said: “This year is just the same as the last; people only buy what they need.”

Maria, 58, has owned a shop on Ledra Street, Ursula Gerden, for 28 years. “The situation is dire,” she said. “I’ve had very few customers this season; and those who do come in to buy things are foreigners, not Cypriots. I try to get two or three euros for each item now – it’s better than nothing.”

“Since the economic crisis, I’ve had to rely on revenue from tourism. But while there were tourists in Nicosia last Christmas, this year there are none. Things will only get worse now that Cyprus Airways is shutting down. The government is asking us to pay €2,000 in tax, and more for social services and maintenance; but where will we get this money, when we have no customers?”

Business Mail interviewed a number of shopkeepers who were pessimistic in the run-up to Christmas.
Popi Andreou who works at Skopy shoes in Nicosia said “people have started to spend money but not as it should be, people are still afraid to put their hands in their wallets”.

Anna Georgiou, who owns Green Shop which sells organic goods in Larnaca said generally business was brisk, because of the specific clientele.

“Consumers tend to look for quality in shopping. It’s not just good prices but also good customers service which is difficult to find, especially when a country is in crisis,” said Giorgos Hadjigeogiou, who works at Spectus, a specialist liquor and wine store in Limassol. “Besides it’s in our DNA to wait the last moment for our Christmas shopping,” he added.

Shopkeepers Yannis Azas and Pampos Kirou were very pessimistic, saying things were worse than last year.
Azas, who owns Miss Pop clothing store in central Nicosia said Ledra Street is not as busy as it should be.
“Ledra has been in this situation since the opening of the Checkpoints,” he said. “Cypriots prefer to give their money to a fake economy instead of their own,” he said, referring to the breakaway north.

Visitors to northern Nicosia on Sunday saw several groups of Greek Cypriots shopping, mainly for clothing items, even though customs authorities appeared to be stepping up their checks on people returning with carrier bags on the Greek Cypriot side of the checkpoint.

Pampos Kirou who owns IceBody, which sells clothing items in central Nicosia said: “It’s even worse compared to a month ago, I haven’t seen anything like it.”

Protests flared into early Thursday in the St. Louis suburb where a white policeman fatally shot a black man who brandished a gun at a gas station on Tuesday night.

A group of protesters marched onto Interstate 170 in the city of Berkeley, Missouri, around 7 p.m. on Wednesday (0100 GMT on Thursday), blocking traffic for roughly 45 minutes. The demonstration followed a vigil at the Mobil On The Run gas station where the shooting occurred.

The site was just a few miles from the Ferguson street where a white police officer shot dead 18-year-old Michael Brown in August, fueling weeks of protest in the region and across the country.

Demonstrations that drew as many as 150 people were largely peaceful throughout the night, but at one point officers disrupted an attempt by several people to break into a beauty supply shop.

At least two people were taken into police custody. Authorities were unable to provide further details.

Black public officials in Missouri were at pains on Wednesday to distinguish the death of the suspect, whom they noted was holding a gun, from cases of unarmed black men who had been killed by police officers. The latter incidents have led to protests across the United States and bitter debate about how U.S. police forces treat non-white citizens.

“This is not a policeman in the city of Berkeley going out half-cocked,” Berkeley Mayor Theodore Hoskins said at a news conference. “You could not even compare this with Ferguson.”

Shortly after the shooting on Tuesday night, a crowd of up to 300 people gathered at the scene, where bricks and three fireworks were thrown, two of them at the roughly 50 officers at the scene, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said.

Two officers were injured and four people were arrested for assault, Belmar said.

The shooting occurred three days after a man summarily shot dead two officers in their patrol car in New York City, targeting them only because of the uniform they were wearing.

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The Berkeley encounter unfolded after the officer, a six-year veteran of the town’s police department who was responding to a report of a theft, got out of his car to talk to two men at the gasoline station.

One of them pointed a loaded 9mm handgun at the officer, Belmar said. Police released an indistinct, distant surveillance video from the gas station, edited to end just before the shooting.

In the corner of the frame, one of the people at the station can be seen raising one or both arms in what might be a shooter’s stance near the police car, although the footage is too dark and grainy to establish that the person is holding a gun.

Two other videos released later by St. Louis County Police were similarly ambiguous, recorded by security cameras that appear to have only restricted views of the scene.

The officer fired three shots, Belmar said, a sequence captured on one of the three videos. One bullet struck the man with the gun, whom paramedics declared dead at the scene, he said.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper named him as 18-year-old Antonio Martin.

Police said they found a handgun with a defaced serial number at the scene.

The officer, who was not identified and was put on administrative leave, had been given a body camera in a pilot program but was not wearing it at the time of the shooting. The dashboard camera on the officer’s car was also off.

Protests in Ferguson have taken place for months and spilled over into violence when a grand jury decided a month ago not to charge the police officer who shot Brown.

Demonstrations in cities across the country gained in momentum when a New York grand jury decided not to indict a police officer over the death of Eric Garner, a 43-year-old black man who died in July when police tackled him and put him in a choke hold.

By Malathi Nayak

Google Inc’s decision to screen Sony Pictures’ film “The Interview” may help legitimize its YouTube platform as a serious rival to paid video streaming services, Netflix and Amazon.com Inc .

Sony Pictures made the controversial film available online on Wednesday, expanding distribution of a comedy that triggered a destructive cyberattack against the company that has been blamed on North Korea. The studio reversed its decision to halt the movie’s release after it was criticized for self-censorship.

“This is a huge opportunity for YouTube to show the world that it can be used to release professional content and content that is paid for as most people think YouTube is for free content,” said James McQuivey, an analyst who covers the disruption of digital platforms at Forrester Research.

“The message from YouTube is really to other studios, that ‘Look, we’re in the big time now, we can do this, we’re not afraid (of hacks) and we have a massive audience.'”

The release of “The Interview,” one of the highest-profile films to be released digitally on demand so far, comes at a pivotal time for the Internet search company.

In recent years, YouTube has tried to leaven its image as an Internet repository of home-made videos and move toward more professionally produced content to expand its business. Last month, it launched YouTube Music Key, a paid ad-free service.

YouTube does not disclose its content sales, but despite being one of the most heavily visited destinations for video on the Internet with over 1 billion viewers each month, analysts say YouTube has lagged the likes of Amazon, Netflix and Apple in paid content offerings.

One risk for Google is that YouTube could become the target of Sony’s hackers, though security analysts said the company is viewed to have strong cyber defenses.

Google has an “enormous” infrastructure that is well-tested in fighting off denial of service attacks and other threats,” said Barrett Lyon, principal strategist with F5 Networks and an expert in Internet network security.

“I wouldn’t imagine seeing ‘lights-out’ out at YouTube.”

The movie starring Seth Rogen and James Franco in a fictional plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un spurred the cyberattack against Sony Pictures.

In addition to YouTube Movies, Google Play, and Microsoft’s Xbox Video, the comedy will be available on a dedicated website, www.seetheinterview.com, to rent for $5.99 or buy for $14.99, Sony Pictures said on Wednesday, a day after agreeing to release it at some 200 independent theaters. No cable or satellite TV operator has yet agreed to make “The Interview” available through video on demand (VOD).

Apple’s iTunes store was noticeably not on Sony’s list.

“If I were at Apple, I would think twice about re-inviting hacking troubles, which is so embarrassing especially when you’re about to get into personal health and Apple Pay. You really want to show people you can preserve their information,” McQuivey said.

“In the case of Google, they have probably been attacked so many times that the threat of being attacked again is so modest or minor in their consideration that they didn’t think twice about this.”

Turkish police have arrested a 16-year-old high school student in the city of Konya on charges of insulting President Tayyip Erdogan, local media reported on Thursday.

The teenager’s lawyers have appealed against the prosecution, which came after he read out a statement during a ceremony to commemorate the killing of a Turkish soldier by Islamists in the 1920s.

In a video broadcast by Dogan News Agency, the teenager read out a statement defending secularism and the principles of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish republic.

He slammed the ruling AK Party government and Erdogan personally over corruption allegations, as a crowd surrounding him chanted “everywhere is bribery, everywhere is corruption”.

Erdogan portrayed a high-reaching corruption scandal that was initiated a year ago as a coup attempt orchestrated by his former ally U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen to undermine his rule.

The scandal posed one of the biggest challenges to Erdogan’s 11-year-rule as prime minister, leading three members of his cabinet to quit and drawing international criticism for his response, tightening Internet controls and reassigning police, judges and prosecutors.

The teenager, who is being held in detention, has pleaded not guilty, Dogan News Agency said.

The boy’s arrest sparked fierce criticism of Erdogan by opponents.

Atilla Kart, a lawmaker with the main opposition party CHP, said on Twitter that “an environment of fear, oppression and threat” was being created by the presidency.

Turkey’s penal code forbids insulting the president. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was critical of the teenager and said everyone should respect the post of the presidency.