Britain’s Queen Elizabeth used her annual Christmas Day broadcast on Thursday to advocate reconciliation, especially in Scotland where an unsuccessful independence referendum earlier this year polarised public opinion.

Channelling the spirit of a brief World War One Christmas truce between British and German soldiers 100 years ago, the 88-year-old monarch held the historic moment out as an example of how irreconcilable differences can sometimes be bridged.

“Of course, reconciliation takes different forms. In Scotland after the referendum many felt great disappointment, while others felt great relief; and bridging these differences will take time,” she said.

Scots voted by a margin of 55-45 to reject independence from the United Kingdom in a September referendum after a sometimes bitter two-year campaign which divided friends and families.

Alex Salmond, the former leader of the defeated pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) suggested before the vote that his party would accept the result, however close, and not resurrect the matter for years.

But the SNP has since staged an unexpected recovery and, under its new leader, Nicola Sturgeon, has made clear it will work towards a second referendum. The divisions that opened up during the referendum campaign remain raw.

“Sometimes it seems that reconciliation stands little chance in the face of war and discord,” said the queen. “But, as the Christmas truce a century ago reminds us, peace and goodwill have lasting power in the hearts of men and women.”

An arsonist set fire to a mosque in the Swedish town of Eskilstuna on Thursday, injuring five people, police said, an incident which comes amid an intense debate over immigration.

The immigration debate has pitted the far right, which wants to cut the number of asylum seekers allowed into Sweden by 90 percent, against mainstream parties intent on preserving the Nordic country’s liberal policy.

Between 15 and 20 people were in the mosque, located in the ground floor of a building in a mainly residential area, when the fire erupted. Local media footage showed smoke and flames billowing from the windows.

“A witness saw somebody throw an object through the window of the building, which serves as a mosque, after which a violent fire began,” police spokesman Lars Franzell said.

The five injured people were taken to hospital for treatment of injuries ranging from smoke inhalation to lacerations. No suspect has been apprehended yet, Franzell added.

Emergency services in Eskilstuna, central Sweden, were called to the scene of the fire shortly after 1200 GMT, and police are treating it as arson.

A firebomb attack on a car in the occupied West Bank left an an 11-year-old Israeli girl severely burned and her father injured on Thursday, the Israeli military said.

The Israeli military said the suspected Palestinian attack was near the Ma’ale Shomron Jewish settlement, north of the West Bank city of Nablus.

Video footage of the incident obtained by Reuters TV showed firefighters trying to douse the flames engulfing a vehicle on the side of a road after darkness fell.

The military did not say whether the victims of the attack were settlers, who are bitterly resented by many Palestinians.

Palestinians want to establish a state in East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and Gaza, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

U.S.-brokered peace talks between the two sides broke down in April. A July-August war between Israel and Islamist Hamas, which controls Gaza, saw the deaths of more than 2,100 Palestinians and 67 Israelis.

On Wednesday Israeli troops shot and killed a member of Hamas’ armed wing in the Gaza Strip, and an Israeli soldier was wounded. Recent months have seen an upsurge in violent confrontations in the West Bank and of attacks by Palestinians inside Israel.

By Michael Hann

THE omens are good for a Chelsea side heading into Christmas top of the Premier League tree but manager Jose Mourinho does not want to give title rivals Manchester City any reason to cheer over the festive season.

Having beaten Stoke City 2-0 at the Britannia Stadium on Monday, the London club ensured they went into a busy fixture schedule leading the table with 42 points from 17 matches.

The last three times Chelsea have been top on Christmas Day they have gone on to win the title, but with in-form City hot on their heels three points behind, Mourinho is taking nothing for granted with testing matches to come.

Sam Allardyce’s fourth-placed West Ham United travel to Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge fortress on Friday before Mourinho’s men head to Southampton on Sunday and then make the short trip across London to face Tottenham Hotspur on New Year’s Day.

“Now we have to focus on the three matches we still have until the end of this period,” Mourinho told reporters.
“Playing against Big Sam is a hard job for us, we have to cope with it. The three-point lead we have is a little advantage, it is a little pillow we have to protect us.
“We have been top of the league since day one and we are there because we are playing really well. Our Christmas fixtures are more difficult than any other one club.”

Second-placed City travel to West Bromwich Albion in search of a seventh straight league win but they are still without injured strikers Stevan Jovetic, Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero.

Captain Vincent Kompany is also missing for Manuel Pellegrini’s side but midfielder David Silva, having scored twice in City’s 3-0 home win over Crystal Palace last weekend, is ready to strike against struggling West Brom.
“I like to play in the middle, even though I can play on both wings,” Silva said. “When I play in the middle I get chances to score. That is why I scored the two goals. But I will be happy to help the team when the strikers are back.”

Many managers highlight the importance of negotiating the hectic Christmas period, but City’s Manuel Pellegrini is in a relaxed mood and does not think the next few weeks will define the champions’ season.

“We are not thinking about Chelsea,” Pellegrini told a news conference. “We are just thinking about our team.
“We know it is important to have our own pressure. You never win the title in December.
“We have a long five months to continue playing as well as we are doing so far and we will see at the end of the season which team has most points.”

Elsewhere on Friday, third-placed Manchester United, whose progress up the league was slowed with a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa last weekend, host Newcastle United while Arsenal welcome London rivals Queens Park Rangers to the Emirates.
BOXING DAY fixture list
Chelsea v West Ham United (14.45)
Burnley v Liverpool (17.00)
Crystal Palace v Southampton (17.00)
Everton v Stoke City (17.00)
Leicester City v Tottenham Hotspur (17.00)
Manchester United v Newcastle United (17.00)
Sunderland v Hull City (17.00)
Swansea City v Aston Villa (17.00)
West Bromwich Albion v Manchester City (17.00)
Arsenal v Queens Park Rangers (19.30)

More than 100,000 people have been evacuated from their homes by authorities in five northern states of Malaysia hit by the Southeast Asian’ nation’s worst monsoon floods in decades.

Extremely high levels of floodwater and bad weather have made relocating victims and the transport of food supplies by helicopters difficult, Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a statement.

A total of 103,412 people have been displaced in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Perak and Perlis, state news agency Bernama said, surpassing the previous record of 100,000 people evacuated during floods in 2008.

Northeastern peninsular Malaysia, which is worst affected, is regularly hit by flooding during the annual Northeast Monsoon, but this year’s rains have been particularly bad.

On Tuesday, nearly 60 foreign tourists were among almost 100 people rescued by boat and helicopter from a resort in a Malaysian national park lashed by its highest rainfall since 1971..

The flooding comes as communities in northwestern Malaysia mark the 10th anniversary of the devastating tsunami that hit on Dec. 26, 2004.

Microsoft Corp’s Xbox Live and Sony Corp’s PlayStation Networks experienced user connection problems on Christmas Day, for which a hacker group claimed responsibility.

The group, called Lizard Squad, could not be reached for comment, and the companies did not give a reason for the connectivity issues.

Both companies expected heavy use as people who received Microsoft Xbox players or Sony PlayStations on Christmas tried to hook up. The problems may have been exacerbated by Sony’s decision to let consumers download the controversial movie “The Interview” through Xbox Video as well as other online sources.

“Are you having a rough time signing in to Xbox Live?,” a service alert on the Microsoft product’s website asked. “We’re working to get this figured out right away. We appreciate your patience.”

Two hours after the message was posted at 4:33 p.m. ET (2133 GMT), the Xbox Live site said technicians were still “hard at work trying to reach a solution.”

As of 7:30 p.m. ET (0030 GMT), PlayStation Network was still offline, according to the device’s status page.

“We are aware that some users are experiencing difficulty logging into the PSN,” it said. “We will update this article with any changes that occur in regards to this issue. Thank you for your patience.”

Three Xbox platforms were affected by the service problem: Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Xbox on other devices, Microsoft’s status website said.

Spokespeople at Sony and Microsoft did not immediately respond for comment.

“I have the nation on strings,” Lizard Squad wrote on its Twitter site. It also said it would put the sites back online if enough people retweeted its messages.

Earlier on Thursday, Microsoft Xbox spokesman Sean McCarthy declined to give details of how the company may have been preparing for security breaches, given the problems that Sony has experienced in releasing “The Interview.”

“Of course, it’s safe to say Holiday season is always a very busy time of year for any consumer electronics company, so we work hard to ensure the stability of our infrastructure when so many consoles are activating for the first time.”

Chelsea overpowered West Ham United and Manchester City outclassed West Bromwich Albion as the Premier League title rivals signalled their intent at the start of a hectic holiday programme on Friday.

Goals from John Terry and Diego Costa helped leaders Chelsea to a dominant 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge before City overwhelmed West Brom 3-1 at a snowy Hawthorns — Fernando, Yaya Tour and David Silva on target for the champions.

Wayne Rooney struck twice for chasing Manchester United in a 3-1 home win over Newcastle United while Southampton’s return to form was underlined by a 3-1 victory at Crystal Palace which lifted the Saints back into the top four.

Terry tapped in Chelsea’s opener after 31 minutes and Costa sealed the points for Jose Mourinho’s side, although the scoreline disguised a gulf in quality between the two sides who were separated by only three places in the table at kickoff.

West Ham ground out a 0-0 draw in the corresponding fixture last year when Mourinho accused them of playing 19th Century football but once Terry had scored they offered little.

Chelsea moved to 45 points from 18 games, three more than champions City and 10 ahead of United.

Tottenham Hotspur beat bottom club Leicester City 2-1 for a third successive league win — Harry Kane again on target for the London club who moved up to sixth, just ahead of Swansea City who beat Aston Villa 1-0.

TOP SPOT

While the race for top-four places looks like being a long, drawn out affair, Chelsea along with Man City, who have won seven league games in succession, look like going head to head for top spot in the New Year.

“Football is football, you never know and the only thing we can do to try to reduce the unpredictability of football is to do what we’re doing: playing very well,” Mourinho said.

The first half hour was one-way traffic and the only surprise was that Chelsea did not score before Terry turned the ball over the line after Costa flicked on a Cesc Fabregas corner. It was Terry’s second goal in successive league games.

Costa, whose goal tally had slowed in recent weeks after an explosive start to his Chelsea career, showed his pedigree when he received a pass from Eden Hazard just past the hour mark and lashed a left-foot shot past goalkeeper Adrian.

Chelsea had numerous other chances to score with West Ham’s only flurry coming near the end when substitute Morgan Amalfitano dinked an effort against the post.

City responded emphatically and were out of sight before halftime at West Brom.

West Brom keeper Ben Foster dropped the ball at the feet of Fernando after eight minutes to gift the visitors their opener and Toure’s spot-kick made it 2-0. Silva stroked in the third after 34 minutes to end the game as a contest.

Raheem Sterling scored the only goal as Liverpool won at Burnley but Merseyside rivals Everton continue to struggle, losing 1-0 at home to Stoke City.

Hull City ended a run of 10 league games without a win by beating Sunderland 3-1 away.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan slammed European countries on Friday for criticising deteriorating press freedom in Turkey and said they should instead try to find a solution for what he said was increasing Islamophobia in the continent.

Turkish police earlier this month raided media outlets close to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Erdogan accuses of forming a ‘parallel state’ to undermine his rule and orchestrating a graft scandal targeting his inner circle.

The European Union, which Turkey has been seeking to join for decades, said the media raids ran counter to European values, a criticism already dismissed by Erdogan. On Friday, the President repeated his discontent, with a visibly harsher tone.

“We are not Europe’s scapegoat,” Erdogan told a symposium of civil servants. “We are definitely not a country that Europe can point its finger at and scold. Instead of criticising us, Europe should find a solution to increasing racism and Islamophobia.”

He made reference to an incident in the German city of Dormagen, where ultra nationalists drew Nazi signs on the walls of a mosque construction, according to reports in Turkish local media earlier this week.

Erdogan, whose AK Party was elected in 2002, introduced many democratic reforms in his first years in power and curbed army involvement in politics.

NATO allies often cited Turkey as an example of a successful Muslim democracy, but more recently critics have accused Erdogan of intolerance of dissent.

NEW CONSTITUTION

Erdogan also repeated his determination to forge a new constitution, saying the result of next year’s general election could help speed up the process.

“Together with our nation and civil society institutions, the results of June 7 elections will pave the way for the swift preparation of a new constitution,” he said.

Erdogan, who became Turkey’s first popularly elected head of state in August after 12 years as prime minister, has made no secret of his ambition to change the constitution and bolster the powers of the presidency, a move opponents fear will herald increasingly authoritarian rule.

The outcome of June’s parliamentary election will therefore be key. If the ruling AK Party can control a two thirds majority, it could introduce reforms without opposition support, including the creation of the strong executive presidency Erdogan seeks.

By Evie Andreou

THE RESTORATION of religious monuments, churches, mosques and graveyards signifies acceptance of each community’s right to worship and also enables people to critically examine their own attitudes and actions concerning other communities.

This year, parallel to the on-off political talks, several historic events took place, the highlight of which is the start of restoration of the Apostolos Andreas monastery situated in the Karpasia peninsula.

All events are part of the efforts to build trust among the two communities, something that the negotiations have failed to do over the last fifty years. The catalysts were the bi-communal technical committee on cultural heritage that aims to restore important cultural monuments of both communities throughout the island and of the Religious Trust for Peace

Process initiative facilitated by Sweden aiming at the cultivation of good relations between the island’s two religious leaders of the two communities, Archbishop Chrysostomos II and Mufti Dr Talip Atalay, as well as leaders of other religious minorities on the island.

After years of dispute as to how the monument was to be restored, works at one of the most important religious sites to Greek Orthodox pilgrims, the Apostolos Andreas monastery, begun in September, following the signing of two contribution agreements worth € 2.5m each by the Church of Cyprus and the Evkaf Administration.

Facilitators of the project is the cultural heritage committee, while the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) oversees the project, carried out by a consortium of two construction companies, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, following the architectural designs of the University of Patras.

The restoration works are scheduled to be completed by April 30, 2016.

Work has finally started on Apostolos Andreas

The theory goes that when communal identities are causal factors in conflict, traditional diplomacy may be of little value in seeking peace or conflict management.

We would be naive however to believe that the restorations or these rapprochement initiatives could take place without the consent of the political leadership. In every case mentioned all the stake-holders admitted that nothing would have been possible without the consent of authorities on both sides of the divide.

In April thousands of Greek Cypriots, most refugees, flocked to the Ayios Giorgos Exorinos church in Famagusta where they attended a Good Friday service worship for the first time since 1957.

About a month later and after five decades, the traditional Armenian quarter in northern Nicosia welcomed back many of its former residents that fled due to the inter-communal troubles of the 1960s. Some had even travelled from abroad to attend the first liturgy since 1964 to be held at the renovated medieval church of Virgin Mary, or Sourp Azdvadzadzin, located in the heart of the quarter.

In June mufti Talip Atalay recited a prayer in the Taht-el kale mosque in Nicosia, which has been closed for 51years, after an invitation he received by the archbishop and he also visited other mosques in Nicosia.

Atalay also visited a number of Muslim monuments in Paphos in September including the Mouttalos mosque where he prayed with around 100 faithful in the presence of the Archbishop Chrysostomos.

Chrysostomos had said that his effort and that of the mufti is to bring both communities of Cyprus together and preserve all the Islamic and Christian monuments on either side of the dividing line.

Another important event was the crossing of around 1,000 pilgrims from the north including settlers, at the Hala Sultan mosque in Larnaca on November 22, to celebrate the first day of the year according to Islamic calendar.

This year the Archbishop, who was until now not known for his rapprochement skills, had said some ten days prior to the pilgrimage that he had spoken with Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides ‘giving his blessing to a visit to the Hala Sultan Tekke’ and that the minister had agreed.

Just before the year was out, the Deneia mosque – the first site from a list of 40 selected by the Technical Committee to benefit from emergency measures – was restored and opened for prayer at the beginning of December.

Representatives on both sides said that the ongoing restoration of mosques and churches across the divide was sending a message of understanding and tolerance.

Throughout this challenging year, amidst rising unemployment, threats for foreclosures, faltering negotiations and public spats between politicians, it was refreshing to see initiatives like these that really contribute to peace promotion and reconciliation by correcting some of the wrong doings of the past.

By Constantinos Psillides

Tis’ that time of the year again, when instead of lying on your couch with a cup of tea and catching up on your favourite series you are forced to go to family gatherings with your partner’s annoying relatives. Especially that loudmouth uncle who not only has an opinion on everything – from space travel to professional football – but also considers it his mission in life to force that knowledge upon the world. Contemplating ways of getting away with murder isn’t a healthy way to spend the holidays – though in case you are going down that way, shooting people in the bathroom and afterwards claiming they were burglars can work.

Let me try and distract you from such negative thoughts.

At the end of each year, we are called upon to write about a story we covered that year. While I could go on and on about Vergas-gate or the local authorities’ legendary ineptitude on handling anything other than collecting taxes, this year I opted for a heart-warming story which, like all good stories, has a happy ending. It’s a story of how a family of political refugees fought and gained their right to be called Cypriots.

Our story begins eleven years ago, in neighbouring Palestine. Salah Ghanim is a peace-loving family man with a wife and two kids and the aspiration of being a furniture decorator. He had already visited Cyprus two times in the past, exhibiting his goods at the annual State Fair, and fell in love with the island. When it became evident that the volatile region was not safe, Salah decided to uproot his family, shut down his decorating business and come to Cyprus.

While here he went through all proper channels. He filed for asylum as a political refugee and started working in any job that was available, including lorry driver, despite a handicap that caused him to walk with a pronounced limp. The Palestinian patiently waited for the day he would receive Cypriot citizenship and be able to open up a business of his own. Meanwhile, he enrolled his two children to school in Cyprus and was fortunate enough to have a third one. Salah keeps his head down, learns Greek, pays his taxes and plans his future. Cyprus even inspires him to start drawing. War in Palestine was now a distant memory and Salah was counting the days before he could get on his feet again.

But his troubles were far from over, for he was unfortunate enough to be trapped in the slow moving grinds of the migration and civil registry department. Eleven years in, Salah is informed by the department that his application for permanent residency is rejected. Having exhausted all other options, Salah decides to go on a hunger strike in front of the interior ministry, demanding that his application is re-evaluated. That is where our paths crossed.

I met Salah and his fellow hunger strikers on a cold January day. They were camped outside the interior ministry and waiting for the minister’s limo to come by so they could wave their applications in his face. The hunger strikers didn’t want a hand-out or welfare; they were just fighting for the right to be able to live their lives the way they wanted without the restrictions imposed on political refugees.

Interior Minister Socratis Hasikos relents to the – obviously justified – demands and assures the hunger strikers that their applications will be re-evaluated and they would get their answer by May.

I’ll give you one guess as to whether the government stuck to that deadline.

Following the rejection of similar applications, the four hunger strikers – including Salah and his wife – set up their tents outside the UNCHR offices and warned that this time they would have their answer, or die waiting. A protest is staged outside the House of Representatives, while their plight hits the House floor when tabled for discussion by AKEL MPs.

The hunger strikers are interviewed by the media and the migration department’s practices in granting citizenship to political refugees are put under public scrutiny. Finally, in early July, Salah and his family get the piece of paper they have long waited for, making them Cypriot citizens after more than a decade of being political refugees. The Palestinian man cries with joy, thanking all who stood up with him and supported his plight.

I have since lost track of the man, meeting him only one time more at an art exhibition of his paintings. But the content smile that lined his face last time I saw him makes me confident that he will find a way to be happy.

I really like this story, for a number of reasons. First off, I covered a lot of immigrant horror stories this year, listened to countless more that didn’t even made the paper and it makes me happy that at least one of them had a happy ending.

Some of those stories are really heart-breaking and being faced with human suffering on a regular basis tends to make one cynical.

Secondly, it’s an oasis of good amidst the countless terrible news that go through our desks daily. Reporting on corrupted politicians, murders, thefts, the bleak prospect of our economy and people struggling to make do eats at your heart little by little. A story like Salah’s gets your mind off things, even for a little while.

And third, hooray for the little guy!

By George Psyllides

THOUGH Cyprus has seen scandals before, one could say that 2014 was the year when the political corruption abscess finally burst. Or did it?

It felt like a fresh corruption case was revealed every month. Topping the list so far is the Paphos sewerage board scandal and the arrest of former Paphos mayor Savvas Vergas, a DIKO member, and other party members, in connection with malfeasance relating to the construction of the town’s sewerage system.

Before the dust settled on what social media users dubbed Vergasgate, a football referee, Marios Panayi decided to blow the whistle on the filthy world that is Cypriot football. A fact that was well known but never before had anyone stepprd forward with evidence.

The European governing body UEFA has sent numerous so-called red files to the Cyprus Football Association (CFA), alerting it to possible match fixing. The files were supposedly handed over to police for investigation but that was just about it.

There was also the scandal concerning the technical university in Limassol, and the imprisonment of former Central Bank governor Christodoulos Christodoulou for five months because he cheated tax authorities.

And there’s former interior minister Dinos Michaelides currently on trial in Greece in connection with money laundering for his Greek former defence colleague, Akis Tsohatzopoulos.

Along with these, there have been numerous other smaller cases of abuse of public office, mostly involving waste or theft of taxpayer money.

In fine, corruption is rife in Cyprus.

True, it can be said that it exists everywhere. But, the key difference is that in most countries of the EU (most) such incidents are punished.

And there lies the problem. Going back to Christodoulou for a moment, his case is not about tax evasion. It is much bigger, but it will only be revealed if authorities choose to pursue it. I say they will not.

The answer to the question why can be found in the Greek (also in Latin) expression which means a crow does not gouge out the eye of a crow. It’s a phrase used by people when referring to politicians who cover each other.

But maybe sometimes it gets out of hand and they cannot keep a lid on it, forcing the authorities to act – though rumour has it that the biggest fish involved in the Dromolaxia scandal managed to get away and not for lack of evidence.

So why do they get away with it?

In my book corruption is not the problem. Corruption is the symptom of the malaise that Cypriot society suffers from.

As with the Vergas case, Panayi also implicated politicians. In fact, the common denominator of most if not all big scandals, is that political parties are involved one way or another.

I doubt that DIKO was not aware of what Vergas was allegedly doing. Same certainly applies to AKEL in connection with Dromolaxia.

In the wake of the recent scandals it has been suggested that parties in Cyprus are acting like organised crime syndicates.

They are involved in almost every aspect of daily life. Their involvement has become so deep that we have reached a point where they publicly complain when left out.

Case in point was the accusations voiced by the chairman of DIKO that Bank of Cyprus board members had links to President Nicos Anastasiades’ law firm. This after the recent recapitalisation and change in shareholding structure.

Before that Nicolas Papadopoulos made no complaint, probably because his koumbaros was sitting on the board and he was also close with chairman Christis Hassapis.

There are plenty examples but that is not the point.

The point is people – most at least – get on with their lives as if nothing is wrong. They do not seem to care that all this money comes out of their pocket and that even today, after the country went bankrupt, it is business as usual for political parties.

Some have suggested it is scandal fatigue, but I disagree.

People are divided by ideology and either do not want to believe that their party is corrupt or choose to ignore it.

“Yes but the others also did it,” is a also common response from those who begrudgingly acknowledge their party’s corruption.

And then there is perhaps the most important reason for this tendency to turn the blind eye.

American president John Kennedy’s historic words “ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country” certainly do not apply to Cypriots.

This is not how Cypriots were conditioned. The system trains them to expect everything from the state. And the parties make sure they get it. Jobs, allowances, benefits, eligible or not, qualified or not, votes buy favours. So if I have benefited from this system of clientelism, why would I take to the streets and demand change?

Perhaps most saddening is that the youth, who are usually in the forefront of any push for change, also suffer from this malaise.

Sure, we have seen student protests but usually they belong to the organised youth of a political party and they do it for their own reasons.

The only time students came out for a common cause, it was to protest against the decision to cut entry level pay-scales at the public sector. Makes you wonder if their only aspiration is to graduate and get a government job. Not farfetched.

The most sought-after jobs in Cyprus are in the state sector, municipalities included, and banks.

So their job was to get a degree and they are set for life. No aspirations, no vision, no creativity, nothing. Just sit there and get paid.

Cyprus has an exceptionally high number of university graduates, but this does not mean they are ‘educated’.

Successive governments lacked vision and did next to nothing to encourage private initiative. Corruption, bureaucracy, and aggressive syndicalism did not help either. Pompous declarations about turning Cyprus into a hub of you-name-it, they-said-it, remained just that.

In fact, the only thing Cyprus can boast is being a hub for cafes, wine bars, and eateries. That’s about it.

No, not all Cypriots are corrupt and money-hungry. There are still hard working folk out there, who love their country and who soldier on for the good of the next generations. There are also young kids with bright ideas who want to create and not just sponge off the state. They can drag Cyprus out of the gutter its politicians put it in. But first we need to demand accountability and rid ourselves of the political system in place since the 1960s.

By Elias Hazou

NAVAL blockades, shape-shifting ghost drill ships, gas, then no gas – enough material which Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert would have a field day with if they were covering Cyprus circa 2014.

This year closed with something of a buzz kill, after news that the “Onasagoras” offshore gas prospect in block 9 came up dry. Perhaps it is just as well – a reality check after the hype surrounding the island’s hydrocarbons adventures and misadventures that simply refuses to go away.

The wackiness started peaking around October, when ENI-KOGAS started drilling in Block 9 and Turkey despatched the Barbaros and warships into the EEZ. The move prompted President Nicos Anastasiades to pull out of peace talks with Turkish Cypriots.

Reports of a Turkish ‘naval blockade’ around the island soon followed, and even though this could not be farther from the truth, the fear-mongering stuck – at least briefly.

As if local media – admittedly not all – needed help, their colleagues in Greece stepped into the fray, with online news outlets there wildly speculating that it was the Turks – roaming in Cypriot waters – who downed a civilian twin-engine airplane. Evidence: zero.

In early November, another ‘crisis’ unfolded: a drilling rig parked off Turkey’s coast was ostensibly heading for the island, apparently confirming that Ankara was making good on threats to drill in Cypriot waters.

Again, the panic was short-lived; it quickly turned out the rig belonged to a Romanian company. It had been working off Iskenderun and was coming here for a maintenance job, assigned to a Cyprus-based outfit. What’s more, the rig in question can only operate in shallow waters, which blew out of the water (sorry) theories that it would be drilling in the seabed hundreds of kilometres off the Cypriot coastline.

On the upside, we did learn that there are companies in Cyprus with the technical know-how to service drilling rigs.

This month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed that his country would soon be deploying oil platforms to Cypriot waters. Except that’s not what he said. In fact the Turkish leader was talking about the Black Sea.

But because Erdogan also mentioned that Turkey would press on with its surveys in Cyprus’ EEZ, this was somehow conflated with his earlier drilling remarks. Back home, the frenzy kicked in, with journalists seeking guidance from Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides about the latest Turkish menace.

By comparison to headline-hunting media, officials haven’t fared much better. Until very recently, Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis and others were still obsessing with a land-based natural gas liquefaction facility, even though this was fast becoming a pipe dream.

Noble Energy knocked the wind out of those sails announcing what everyone – except the government – acknowledged, that is, that the LNG project was a dead duck. At an energy confab in Nicosia in November, the Houston-based outfit said unequivocally that their top priority at this stage is regional pipelines.

Despite this, and with ENI’s drilling in Block 9 in progress, the government held fast to its pet project for an onshore LNG plant.

There was more. The government began talking to British Gas about the prospect of selling gas to the latter’s Egypt operations. Nothing wrong with exploring one’s options, but the way officials here talked up these overtures you’d think it was a done deal. There were just a couple of problems: Israel had beaten us to the punch, having already talked to the Egyptians about gas sales, and then there was the small matter of Cyprus not having enough proven reserves – other than those in Block 12 – with which to negotiate.

December supplied the proverbial anticlimax. On Friday December 19, a glum-looking energy minister announced that ENI-KOGAS had not found enough commercially exploitable natural gas in its first drill at “Onasagoras”.

This was always a possibility and, to be fair, Lakkotrypis had earlier been careful not to whip up expectations from this first well. And the minister was correct in saying that one doesn’t know how much gas there is until you actually drill.

Industry sources have told the Mail that initial seismic data for the “Onasagoras” prospect pointed to potential gas there of the order of magnitude of 5 to 6 trillion cubic feet. Drilling and coming up with nothing is part of the game.

Indeed, despite the “Onasagoras” debacle, the game is not up. Prospecting at other sites could well yield exploitable reserves. And no doubt Cyprus could use a bit of good news. This talk of ‘disappointing results’ was misplaced: disappointment always follows inflated expectations.

A friend told me the other day, “Best that they found no gas, maybe now the Turks will leave us alone.” While we’re not quite on the same page, I can see where she’s coming from.

By Angelos Anastasiou

IMAGINE an independent public official showing up to work every morning in spurs, a gun holstered to his waistline, a poncho and a Stetson hat (and maybe a three-day stubble). You might be picturing Clint Eastwood or John Wayne or any of the other archetypal Western fictional larger-than-life cowboys, but you needn’t be. Save for the attire, Auditor General Odysseas Michaelides basically serves as your run-of-the-mill new sheriff in some corruption-riddled little town, fighting the good fight against the forces of evil lurking in the shadows.

Michaelides was thrust into prominence in April 2014, when he left the communications ministry’s in-house audit department to become head honcho – auditor general of the republic. Mere days later, he had taken the department – and the country – by storm, rolling up his sleeves, spotting and exposing irregularities and suspect practices in every corner of government – in itself, a beast of an organisation that bristles with inertia.

The fact that Chrystalla Georghadji – his predecessor – was a particularly tough act to follow makes Michaelides’ perceived success all the more impressive. In eight short months, he has managed to take on the state telecoms company, the Cyprus Tourism Organisation, the Cyprus Cultural Foundation, the Paphos Sewage Board, state doctors, former presidents and ministers, and municipal and local councils (to name but a few). He has become a household name, many referring to him by his first name, and the great white hope of all who have asked not what their country can do for them, but what they can do for their country, and come up short.

A civil engineer PhD, the auditor general thinks sunlight is the best disinfectant. In contrast to most public officials, he believes it is his duty not only to spot wrongdoing, but to bring everything to light. Most of his frequent letters to officials and departments under scrutiny are copied to the House, from where they routinely find their way to the press within minutes.

“Transparency is corruption’s greatest enemy,” he told the Sunday Mail in an interview earlier this year.

And the reverse is true, too. Sensing a threat to its survival, corruption and its agents will launch an assault on transparency. But strangely, this man has not been approached to do what surely qualifies as a national sport in Cyprus – look the other way.

“Never, and I want to stress this,” he protested. “Not because we live in a society of angels – far from it – but because Cyprus is a small place and everyone knows everyone.”

Michaelides’ driving force seems to be a heightened sense of civic duty, an incessant moral compass that will always point towards integrity. It’s no surprise, then, that he was politically active – nor that he left the party in which he was a member out of a deep sense of responsibility.

“I was a party member until my appointment,” he recounted. “Immediately afterwards, I informed my party that my conscience does not allow me to be a member anymore.”

Though still deeply politicised, his new post led him to self-censorship – a conscious choice to keep his opinions private.

All of the above notwithstanding, the tale of a man’s quest to single-handedly purge Cyprus of corruption is a myth.

Even the proverbial lone sheriffs in the spaghetti westerns had deputies, and he has been likened to Antonio Di Pietro (of “operation Clean Hands” fame) on at least one occasion.

But Michaelides hastens to dispel the false public perception, saying he is just the face of the effort.

“All the work that comes out of the Audit Service is the result of collaborative efforts,” he said. “It would be wrong to give the impression that the auditor general does all the work himself.”

But for all the high-profile enemies he must have made in his short time in office, none have even attempted to discredit him thus far. There has been no talk of ulterior motives, or politically driven witch hunts. Perhaps it is the ample political cover afforded him by President Nicos Anastasiades on more than one occasion, or perhaps it has more to do with the unmatched conviction he constantly projects that he is on the side of right, or his squeaky-clean profile that leaves no room for counter-attacks – which may have approached the ridiculous in the case of his seeking the attorney general’s advice on whether he should exempt himself from auditing public officials who happen to be related to him.

Or maybe, this is just one of those right-place-at-the-right-time happy accidents that make history. Michaelides took office just as Cypriots found themselves standing in the ruins of a corrupt system that had maintained a facade of efficiency for decades, and they wanted fingers to be pointed. Enter a fearless untouchable with a blank cheque in his marching orders.

Whatever the case, it seems this 46-year-old engineer has managed, time and again, to beat a system that has proven its ability to hide its dirt meticulously.

By Patroclos

THESE are difficult times to write a column. With a week lasting just two days and the rest taken up by public holidays, there is little to write about and even less to inspire (not that there is much to inspire during a normal working week, but I will not go into that).

I toyed with the dubious idea of doing a ‘Coffeeshop’s Greatest Hits’ column which would involve finding the 15 or 20 of the better items published over the last 12 months and reprinting them today. Having a Greatest Hits in my name would allow me to pretend I was a rock star for a day, something I always wanted to be even though I could not play a musical instrument or sing – not mentioning the total lack of musical talent.

I dropped my ‘ageing rock star for a day’ pretensions when I put all the year’s Coffeeshops together and realised this was a daunting task as I would have had to read through almost 100,000 words of copy to do this properly and had no way of knowing which were the greatest hits of some 500-plus items that had a few days’ shelf life.

WITH the greatest hits plan scrapped, I thought I would re-print how we approached 2014, to show that we columnists do not get everything wrong. This is what was written in the January 5, 2014 edition of the Coffeeshop.

“WE WOULD have loved to start 2014 with a message of hope and optimism, something heart-warming that would help customers start the year in a positive frame of mind, but we just couldn’t think of anything that would raise spirits, apart from the fact that this is a World Cup year.

But this means nothing to people who are not of the football faith, while those who are know that the World Cup could be a big disappointment and the high hopes and expectations in the run-up a wasted emotional investment. At best, it can act as distraction for a month, a brief respite from a year of economic and psychological depression.
What else is there to look forward to in 2014? Higher taxes, diminished earnings, high interest rates, less cash in circulation, more businesses closing down, rising unemployment, more NPLs, moaning union bosses, European parliament elections and, worst of all, the sell-off of profit-making SGOs.
How could we approach the year with even the slightest hint of hope when the criminal comrade Tof is a free man living off the taxpayer, that abysmal failure masquerading as a Central Bank governor still enjoys the backing of the ECB, DIKO will be without Garoyian’s visionary leadership and the BoC is under the chairmanship of a guy who seems to care more about his hair-style than the balance sheet.
In view of all this could we really heed the advice of the classic Monty Python song and Always look on the bright side of life? I think we can as Kyproulla would still be a much better place to live in 2014 than Syria.”

(The World Cup was a disappointment, especially if you supported Brazil and the Central Bank governor stepped down even though we have still not decided whether his successor was any better).

WITH REGARD to the Cyprob, we wrote:

“We may have failed to mention the non-existent prospects of a Cyprob settlement as another reason for psychological and economic depression but that is because it is not. In fact the Cyprob stalemate is the only remaining constant in our lives.
In the previous year everything was turned upside down in Kyproulla, all our certainties shattered by the bail-in and memorandum. We surrendered control of our lives to the troika tyranny, which has been calling the shots, even telling the poor public parasites what times they should go to work.
The only certainty we still have in our lives is our beloved Cyprob. We can still wake up every morning knowing that at least one thing in our life has not changed and remains a beacon of constancy untouched by the meddling tyrants of the troika.
Without any prospect of a settlement it can carry on acting as our one inspiration, our unyielding struggle for a fair and just solution, a reason to live at a time of existential and moral crisis. We sincerely hope the word or words that would allow agreement on a joint declaration are not found in any dictionary because we need our problem intact, to see us through this difficult year”

(In the end, satisfactory wording was found for the joint declaration and talks began, but despite this our problem emerged intact, giving us inspiration and comfort all year)

PREZ NIK returned last Sunday and on Tuesday he was, according to the headline on the front page of Monday’s Phil, which seems to have a fixation with religious metaphors, “back on the Golgotha of problems.” Was the paper implying that a crucifixion was imminent as he was on Golgotha?

Nik addressed the public on Tuesday, but failed to cause political havoc and start a public row as he usually does, which suggests that he has not yet fully recovered from his heart surgery.

He had our customers speculating whether the surgery had made him emotionally fragile and wanting to be loved. How else could his speech, in which he admitted making mistakes during his 22 months in office and implored the political parties to join his government, have been interpreted?

Did he really want to co-govern, for the next three years, with the populist opportunists of EDEK and DIKO, as it was certain the comrades would turn down his offer? A glykis-drinking customer who claims he is a doctor assured that his new approach had nothing to do with his operation as emotional instability usually sets in several months after a heart operation.

The truth is that despite his reputation as an ash-tray-hurling maniac, Nik has always wanted to be loved. He has shown many times, before he fell ill, that he even wants to be loved by the repulsive public parasites, whom he has publicly pandered to on countless occasions – that says it all.

THE DOCTOR argued that Tuesday’s presidential speech was confirmation that our prez had made a full recovery. He cited Nik’s full use of his unrivalled thespian abilities while talking to the cameras – raising his eye-brow, varying his intonation for rhetorical effect, putting on his stern look when required and gesticulating with the control of true professional.

This was a top notch performance, according to the doctor who saw the address as a charm offensive tempered by occasional expressions of false modesty calculated to win over the skeptics, having locked the support of the more naïve voters.

What else but false modesty was his admission that “during the first 22 months there were not only positives, but there were also negatives for most of which I take full responsibility?” He did not give one example of the negatives of his term nor did he explain how he would be taking full responsibility for them practically.

By not mentioning the negatives, how would we know that he would take full responsibility for them? Just asking.

HIS JUSTIFICATION for wanting to a form a government of the widest possible acceptance was a poignant example of the false modesty on display. “I believe and I am being direct and honest that the problems faced by the country cannot be shouldered by one person alone.”

If he directly and honestly believed this why did he become president in the first place?

I did not vote for Nik, which I admit was a mistake for which I take full responsibility, so that I would be governed by a committee consisting of Junior, Omirou and Lillikas, because the president has suddenly decided that he cannot cope on his own with the problems facing the country. I believe and I am being direct and honest that no party will want to share the responsibility for the unpopular decisions the government will have to take in 2015, just so that Nik can pose as a national leader.

APART from her technocratic qualities, last week we found out that Central Bank governor Crystal also has a spiritual side. She told a CyBC interviewer that while Nik was in hospital in the Big Apple, she was praying for him, which could explain his speedy recovery.

In the interview, Crystal volunteered the information that “during the ordeal the president went through I was praying for his health.” As she believes in the power of prayer and now having proof that it works, she could start praying for the speedy recovery of the Cyprus economy because I do not think it will arrive through Crystal’s non-spiritual, earthly abilities, which, barring tampering with her contract, have not impressed.

DIMINUTIVE deputy Zacharias Koulias’ Christmas text message to followers and colleagues was more metaphysical than spiritual. He said: “Time for all of us to understand that this country belongs to us and not the scum and thieves. Happy Xmas, and according to Icarus of Thessaloniki, Greeks keep your heads high. Our power is our origins. We can.”

What “we can” he did not say, because either Icarus did not tell him or because he wanted to avoid public ridicule.

Koulias, who is an independent deputy since his expulsion from DIKO, voted against the state budget for 2015, giving his approval (together with the patriotic deputies of EDEK, Alliance, Greens and AKEL) only to the defence expenditure, because the scum and thieves would not dare steal from the holy funds reserved for our overpaid, under-worked armed forces.

IN THE end, it was not a “political fabrication” against Akelites as the party had been shouting. The Larnaca court found AKEL’s financial manager Venizelos Zannetos guilty of extortion and he spent Christmas in prison awaiting sentence with a couple of other AKEL placemen.

The comrades immediately attacked the court’s verdict, with party chief Andros declaring Zannetos innocent. A saintly comrade could not possibly be guilty of any crime. As we have written in the past, in the AKEL criminal code, if money secured through illegal means ends up in the party’s coffers, this does not constitute a crime. Only if the perpetrator pockets the dosh is it a crime.

This was why for the commies, Zannetos was innocent, as the 650 grand he had extorted from the shady businessman who had thought up the Dromolaxia scam, went to pay off the bank debts of the AKEL-run football club Alki. The irony is that an AKEL deputy who had allegedly pocketed a big payment from the businessman was not even charged.

Zannetos, an impoverished party member, brought this payment up in court, but was told by the judge that it was not part of the case being tried.

MEANWHILE AKEL’s weekly rag Gnomi referred to Zannetos and former defence minister Costas Papacostas convicted for his part in the Mari explosion as “political prisoners”, who were victims of the “new dirty attack against the Left by the establishment of the Right”.

“Imprisonment of Zannetos a casus belli for the Left,” it declared on its front page and reported: “In view of rapid developments being cooked behind the back of the people, we are watching the same show of blows against the main political force of resistance to the anti-popular and anti-Cypriot plans.”

Its battle-cry was “Freedom to the political prisoners of the Left.” If the commie propaganda works Zannetos will become the Nelson Mandela of Kyproulla.

WHO WOULD have thought that halloumi would have eventually slipped into the Cyprob rhetoric. “Nicosia calls on (UN Special envoy) Eide not to deal with halloumi,” said a headline in Phil, which had brought the matter to public attention.

The paper had reported that Espen Barth Eide had become involved in discussions in Brussels about the registration of halloumi as a protected destination of origin. “Halloumi is none of his business,” said another headline in the paper, while it reported that the government made demarches to the UN and the EU over the protection of the name of halloumi.

But the best quote came from agriculture minister Nicos Kouyialis. He said that “Halloumi should unite Cypriots, not divide them.” We fully agree and would love to see halloumi as the big unifying force of 2015. Crystal should include it in her prayers.

Happy new year.

MANY will have been wondering what President Anastasiades was playing at, announcing in his first public appearance since his return to Cyprus from the US, that he would try to set up a government of broadest possible acceptance. Is there really a need for a government that represents as many political parties as possible, given the destructive role the parties have been playing, undermining the government at every opportunity and trying to derail the adjustment programme?

There could be several explanations for the president’s desire to form a broad coalition government. Perhaps the heart surgery he underwent made him lose some of his resolve and determination to face the daily barrage of criticism directed at this government by opposition parties constantly exploiting public discontent over the big problems of the economy. Having a couple of parties on side would restrict the criticism and give government decisions a greater perceived legitimacy as well as ensuring they were voted through parliament.

A cynic could argue that Anastasiades’ primary concern was his re-election and that he has embarked on a charm offensive aimed at strengthening his position. He is even prepared to give up his supposed commitment to a Cyprus settlement to lure hard-line parties into a coalition that would improve his re-election prospects, a cynic might argue. After all, every president we have had so far has been seen plotting his re-election, early in his term.

A more plausible explanation, offered by DISY officials, was that the president was being pragmatic given the challenges that face his government in 2015. The Memorandum of Understanding envisages the passing of very important pieces of legislation next year that could not be passed with DISY votes alone. Securing the support of other parties – at least DIKO – will be the only way the government is able to pass important legislation on the national health scheme and the privatisation of semi-governmental organisations that are part of Cyprus’ obligations towards the international lenders. At present, there is no majority in the legislature to pass either bill.

Anastasiades may have decided during his time recuperating in the US that he did not want to face the stand-off with the legislature that he experienced over the foreclosures bill again. That row dragged on for months, its latest instalment being the president’s decision to send back to the legislature the bill, approved 10 days ago suspending the implementation of the foreclosures law until the end of January. The saga caused the international lenders to withhold the release of €350 million in assistance until December while the IMF put off the release of €86 million again after the passing of the suspension law.

We are certain to see more of this irresponsible party brinkmanship next year, when the privatisation bills go to the legislature for approval, as all the parties strongly oppose the sale of CyTA and the Ports Authority. With the government needing the release of funds from lenders to refinance more than €2 billion of maturing debt next year, party obstructionism that led to postponements and delays could be disastrous for the country. It is understandable that the president would seek to bring some parties into the government in order to avoid any such difficulties that would fuel uncertainty and could destabilise the economy.

But is it realistic to think that forming a government of broad acceptance is possible? What would be the incentive for a party, which has been ruthlessly exploiting its zero responsibility in opposition, to join a government that has to take unpopular decisions? The spoils of power that made participation in government so attractive in the past are almost non-existent and no party would like to be perceived as being on the side of the troika.

The DIKO spokesperson when asked about the president’s proposal, revealingly said that if Anastasiades changed his policy on the Cyprus problem and adopted a new strategy the party could consider the joining the government. In other words, he would have to give up on the talks completely – at present there is a small chance they could resume – in order to form a government of the broadest possible acceptance. If he wanted to keep the door of the talks open such government would be out of the question.

Pragmatic as the president’s plan may seem on the surface, it is a non-starter, which is why he should start looking for an alternative strategy to help us fulfil our memorandum obligations. And that strategy should be geared at countering the irresponsible populism of the parties, but not by inviting them to join the government.

By Peter Apps

FROM FINANCIAL crisis in Russia to cyber warfare with North Korea, 2014 has generated new flashpoints right into its final days, setting 2015 up to be just as turbulent.

Almost all of the major confrontations, such as the battle with Islamic State militants, the West’s stand-off with Russia over Ukraine and the fight against Ebola, will rumble on.

Others could erupt at short notice.

“Normally after a year like this you might expect things to calm down,” said John Bassett, former senior official with British signals intelligence agency GCHQ now an associate at Oxford University. “But none of these problems have been resolved and the drivers of them are not going away.”

The causes are varied – a global shift of economic power from the West, new technologies, regional rivalries and anger over rising wealth gaps.

In June, a report by the Institute for Economics and Peace showed world peace declining for the seventh consecutive year since 2007, reversing a trend of improvement over decades.

The same group said in November deaths from militant attacks leapt 60 percent to an all-time high, primarily in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria, this at a time when the West’s ability to respond militarily is constrained as Washington and its European allies cut defence budgets.

While Western policymakers hope Russia’s economic crisis will curb Vladimir Putin’s ambitions, others worry it could make him more unpredictable.

“It’s not necessarily going to make Russia any better behaved,” says Christopher Harmer, a former US navy pilot now senior fellow at the Institute for Study of War.

NATO officials say the alliance would treat any aggression, even covert, in NATO member Baltic states as an act of war.

China is building up its military might. It lays claim to almost all the South China Sea, believed to be rich in oil and gas. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan also have claims.

In the East China Sea, a string of islets claimed by both China and Japan have strained ties severely.

Some officials and analysts say Western overstretch means a confrontation in one part of the world can encourage potential adversaries elsewhere to try their luck, a potential factor in North Korea’s increased assertiveness.

Washington has accused Pyongyang of launching a cyber attack on Sony Pictures after its film on the fictional assassination of leader Kim Jong Un. North Korea has rejected the charge.

“The recent hack on Sony has highlighted the vulnerability of the West to the growing threat posed by cyber attack,” said Alastair Newton, senior political analyst at Nomura.

Washington’s adversaries are becoming more adept at “ambiguous warfare”, using deniable tactics or proxy forces such as the “little green men” in unmarked uniforms and vehicles the West says Russia deployed in Ukraine.

Covert tactics may no longer be enough to satisfy Israel it can slow Iran’s nuclear programme. With a mid-year deadline for a deal, some analysts believe Israel’s government might launch a military strike to knock it back.

“If Iran agrees a deal, and that remains a big ‘if’, that could constitute a trigger for such an event,” said Nigel Inkster, former deputy chief of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and now head of transnational threats at London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies.

He said much would depend on whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wins March elections and how hardline a coalition results.

On one threat, most of the world’s powers are coalescing.

Pushing back Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is a high priority for western states, Gulf powers and Turkey, Russia and China.

Whether they can bridge differences on the fate of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, however, remains unclear.

Already some worry the anti-IS operation initially to safeguard minority refugees in northern Iraq is suffering “mission creep” as US elections hove into view.

More than 1,000 members of the 82nd Airborne Division will deploy to Iraq in the New Year to help train Iraqi forces.

The first months of 2015 will also be key in tackling a very different foe: Ebola.

A major U.S. military deployment to build treatment centres in Liberia is credited with helping slow new cases there but the virus continues to spread in Sierra Leone and Guinea.

“It really is an unusually broad range of challenges,” said Kathleen Hicks, U.S. Principal Deputy Secretary of Defence for Policy from 2012-13 and now with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

By Chris Nusatya and Randy Fabi

An AirAsia flight with 162 people on board lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday after the pilots asked to change course to avoid bad weather during a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, Indonesian officials said.

Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ 8501, an Airbus 320-200, lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control tower at 6:17 a.m. (2317 GMT), officials said.

“The aircraft was on the submitted flight plan route and was requesting deviation due to enroute weather before communication with the aircraft was lost while it was still under the control of the Indonesian air traffic control,” the airline said in a statement.

No distress signal had been sent, said Joko Muryo Atmodjo, air transportation director at the Indonesian Transport Ministry.

A search and rescue operation had been launched, the airline and the Indonesian air force said. Singapore said it had activated its air force and navy to help.

Indonesia AirAsia is 49 percent owned by Malaysian-based AirAsia.

The aircraft was between the Indonesian port of Tanjung Pandan and the town of Pontianak, in West Kalimantan on Borneo island, when it went missing, Atmodjo told a news conference.

The aircraft had been flying at 32,000 feet and had asked to fly at 38,000 feet to avoid clouds, he said.

Tanjung Pandan is the main town on Belitung island, roughly half-way between Surabaya and Singapore, and Singapore’s Channel News Asia television said there was bad weather over the island at the time the plane went missing.

Indonesia AirAsia said there were 155 passengers and seven crew on board. It said 157 people on the flight were Indonesian, with three from South Korea and one each from Singapore and Malaysia.

The plane had been due in Singapore at 8:30 a.m. Singapore time (0030 GMT).

The airline said the captain and first officer were both experienced.

Neither Malaysia’s AirAsia nor any of its affiliates in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and India have had any major incidents or crashes.

Tony Fernandes, chief of Malaysia’s AirAsia, said on Twitter: “Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. We must stay strong.”

The incident comes at the end of a disastrous year for the region’s airlines.

Malaysia’s national flag carrier, Malaysia Airlines, lost two aircraft this year.

Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board and has still not been found.

On July 17, Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. (Additional reporting by Siva Govindasamy in Singapore; Writing by Robert Birsel;

An international rescue effort was under way in high winds after a car ferry carrying 466 passengers and crew caught fire while sailing from Greece to Italy and its captain ordered its evacuation, officials said on Sunday.

Passengers who telephoned Greek television stations gave dramatic testimony of conditions on the ship, which caught fire just before 6.00 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) while travelling from Patras in western Greece to the eastern Italian city of Ancona.

“They tried to lower some boats, but not all of us could get in. There is no coordination,” one said. “It’s dark, the bottom of the vessel is on fire. We are on the bridge, we can see a boat approaching… we opened some boxes and got some life vests, we are trying to save ourselves.”

It was unclear whether there had been any casualties or whether any passengers were in the water, where cold winter temperatures would make survival difficult unless rescue came quickly.

The Norman Atlantic, carrying 222 vehicles, 411 passengers and 55 crew, was 44 nautical miles northwest of the island of Corfu when it sent a distress signal after a fire started in the lower deck, Greek coast guard officials said.

“The ship is already being evacuated,” an official told Reuters, adding that 130 people had been transferred from a rescue boat to a container ship that had been nearby when the fire broke out.

Officials said both Italian and Albanian authorities were taking part in the operation, which was being conducted in difficult conditions with strong winds.

Seven other ships were in the area and rescue helicopters and a C-130 search-and-rescue support aircraft had also been sent.

Manchester City squandered a gilt-edged opportunity to close the gap on Premier League leaders Chelsea when they let slip a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at home to struggling Burnley on Sunday.

Chelsea stuttered to a 1-1 draw at Southampton and champions City looked poised to close the gap at the top to one point when they scored twice in the first half against Burnley, but Ashley Barnes lashed in an equaliser nine minutes from time.

Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris inspired his team to a feisty 0-0 draw with third-placed Manchester United and Arsenal climbed to fifth with a 2-1 win at London rivals West Ham United.

Fourth-placed Southampton took a deserved 17th-minute lead against Chelsea, running clear of the defence to slot coolly past Thibaut Courtois at St Mary’s.

The visitors struggled to produce their usual fluent attacking play but equalised just before halftime when Eden Hazard brilliantly controlled a fine pass from Cesc Fabregas, cut inside and stroked the ball into the net.

Chelsea poured forward in search of a winner but were frustrated by well-organised Southampton who had midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin sent off in the closing stages after receiving a second yellow card.

Jose Mourinho’s team remained top of the table, three points ahead of City.

“I can believe Southampton defended with everything they have — with organisation, spirit and solidarity of players and the effort they fought to get the point,” Mourinho told Sky Sports.

“My players tried to win, especially in the second half.

“A point is a point against a difficult team,” added the Portuguese who was fuming that his side were not awarded a penalty when Fabregas went down in the area but was booked for diving.

Manchester City, seeking a 10th successive win, eased into a 2-0 lead against Burnley thanks to first-half goals by Jesus Navas and Fernandinho but the visitors got a lifeline when George Boyd tapped in just after the interval.

Barnes struck with a sweet strike from 12 metres to level for Burnley who hung on for a welcome point in their bid to avoid relegation.

EARLY PRESSURE

Spurs survived a wave of early United pressure but threatened to end the visitors’ eight-match unbeaten run in the closing stages at White Hart Lane.

United, who had won seven of their last eight games, stayed third in the table, 10 points behind Chelsea, and Tottenham are seventh.

“We lost two points. We had the best performance of the season in the first half and could have scored four or five goals,” United manager Louis van Gaal said.

“We were fantastic. But when you don’t score goals you cannot win. The second half was a struggle.”

The visitors, who named an unchanged starting line-up for the first time in 85 matches, dominated the first half.

Frenchman Lloris made a fine diving save to tip over Ashley Young’s fierce curling shot and Phil Jones had a close-range effort correctly ruled out for offside.

The influential Juan Mata’s deflected free kick also crashed against the post and Robin van Persie should have scored after running on to a sublime pass from Michael Carrick but Lloris blocked his tame shot.

Spurs nearly sneaked victory eight minutes from time when midfielder Ryan Mason blazed the ball over after good hold-up play from Harry Kane.

Arsenal struck twice before halftime through Santi Cazorla’s penalty and a neat finish from Danny Welbeck but West Ham hit back nine minutes after the interval through Cheikhou Kouyate.

Bottom club Leicester City won 1-0 at Hull City, Mame Diouf scored twice to lead Stoke City to a 2-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion and managerless Crystal Palace eked out a 0-0 draw at Queens Park Rangers.

Aston Villa overcame the sending-off of Fabian Delph to draw 0-0 with Sunderland.

Leicester stayed bottom, three points behind Burnley, Palace and Hull.

By Fergus Jensen and Siva Govindasamy

A missing AirAsia jet carrying 162 people could be at the bottom of the sea after it was presumed to have crashed off the Indonesian coast, an official said on Monday, as countries around Asia sent ships and planes to help in the search effort.

The Indonesia AirAsia plane, an Airbus A320-200, disappeared after its pilot failed to get permission to fly higher to avoid bad weather during a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday.

Flight QZ8501 did not issue a distress signal and disappeared over the Java Sea five minutes after requesting the change of course, which was refused because of heavy air traffic, officials said.

“Based on our coordinates, we expect it is in the sea, so for now (we think) it is on the sea floor,” Soelistyo, head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, told reporters when asked about the missing plane’s likely location.

A senior Indonesian civil aviation source told Reuters that authorities had the flight’s radar data and were waiting for search and rescue teams to find debris before they started their investigation into the cause of the accident.

Onboard Flight QZ8501 were 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain. The co-pilot was French.

The incident caps a disastrous year for Malaysia-affiliated airlines, with Indonesia AirAsia 49 percent owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia.

Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew and has not been found. On July 17, the same airline’s Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

The AirAsia group, including affiliates in Thailand, the Philippines and India, had not suffered a crash since its Malaysian budget operations began in 2002. The group’s shares in Kuala Lumpur fell as much as 12.9 percent on Monday.

MULTINATIONAL SEARCH

Indonesian Air Force spokesman Hadi Thahjanto said two C-130 Hercules planes were focusing the search for Flight QZ8501 in areas northeast of Indonesia’s Bangka island, which lies roughly halfway between Surabaya and Singapore, in the Java Sea.

An Australian P3 Orion surveillance plane had joined the search, the Australian Defence Department said.

Singapore said it had sent two navy ships to help, while Malaysia said it would send three naval vessels and a C-130.

China also offered to send aircraft and ships to help in the search, as well as any other assistance Indonesia needed.

Soelistyo said Indonesia might not have the best technology to search underwater and had accepted offers of help from the United States, Britain and France.

“An underwater search is not easy based on experience,” Soelistyo said, referring to the months it took Indonesia to recover flight data recorders from a Boeing 737-400 operated by Indonesia’s Adam Air which crashed off Sulawesi island in 2007, killing all 102 people on board.

Flight QZ8501 was travelling at 32,000 feet above the Java Sea and had asked to fly at 38,000 feet to avoid clouds, said Joko Muryo Atmodjo, air transportation director at Indonesia’s transport ministry.

Permission was not given at the time due to traffic in the area. Five minutes later, at 6:17 a.m. on Sunday (2317 GMT Saturday), the plane lost contact with air traffic control, Atmodjo said.

Data from Flightradar24.com, which tracks airline flights in real time, showed several nearby aircraft were at altitudes ranging from 34,000 to 36,000 feet at the time, levels that are not unusual for cruising aircraft.

Pilots and aviation experts said thunderstorms, and requests to gain altitude to avoid them, were not unusual in the area where the flight disappeared.

“You can climb to push above the cloud layer to get clearance and radar readings to pick your way over the storm,” said a Qantas Airways pilot with 25 years experience flying in the region.

“But the airplane’s performance is directly related to the temperature outside and increasing altitude can lead to freezing of the static radar, giving pilots an erroneous radar reading.”

The resulting danger is that pilots take incorrect action to control the aircraft, said the pilot, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

“WORST NIGHTMARE”

The Indonesian pilot was experienced and the plane last underwent maintenance in mid-November, the airline said. The aircraft had accumulated about 23,000 flight hours in some 13,600 flights, according to Airbus.

Malaysia AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes flew to Surabaya and, along with Indonesian officials, updated distraught relatives of passengers at a makeshift crisis centre at the airport in Indonesia’s second-largest city.

“This is my worst nightmare,” Fernandes said on Twitter. “But there’s no stopping”, he said of the search.

Indonesia’s Transportation Ministry said the government would carry out a review of AirAisa’s Indonesian business unit to improve safety.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo urged his people to pray for the safety of the passengers and crew. Pope Francis, during his Sunday address at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican, said those on board were in his prayers.

Louise Sidharta was at Singapore’s Changi Airport waiting for her fiancée to return from a family holiday.

“It was supposed to be their last vacation before we got married,” she said.