CLOSE TO €600,000 in excess charges will be returned to local authorities in Paphos by the operators of the sanitary landfill in Marathounda, Yeroskipou Mayor Michalis Pavlides said on Saturday.

Pavlides, also the vice chairman of the landfill’s board, said €580,000 will be returned immediately to various local authorities in Paphos served by the landfill.

The money represents overcharges from previous years. It follows a renegotiation of the terms with the contractors who operate the unit.

Pavlides said that apart from the money, local authorities would also have reduced monthly rates.

The current contractor’s agreement expires in July and a new tender will be announced, the mayor said.

PRESIDENT Nicos Anastasiades will attend the 45th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland between January 21 and 24, it was announced on Saturday.

The latest developments in the Cyprus problem were an additional reason for accepting the invitation, an official announcement said.

It is expected that a large number of heads of state and governments will attend, along with leaders of world economic organisations and multinational enterprises

On the sidelines of the forum, the president will hold a series of meetings with world leaders, the announcement said.

The theme of this year’s forum, “The New Global Context”, reflects the current situation on the political, economic, social and technological changes.

Anastasiades will leave for Switzerland on Wednesday.

By Maria Gregoriou

The bailout of March 2013, its effects on a cross section of society and the protests it caused are the subjects of the documentary film A Haircut Story, which will be screened on Tuesday at the Cine Studio at the University of Nicosia. If you can’t make the screening on Tuesday, Cine Studio will be showing it a second time on February 4.

The documentary, which had its debut screening at the Lemesos International Documentary Festival last year, was produced and directed by Danae Stylianou.
She studied Film Production at the University of Westminster in London. Her first documentary feature film was Sharing an Island in 2011, which focused on the inter-communal relations of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot youths.

The events surrounding Stylianou’s latest documentary made Cyprus the first Eurozone member to be subjected to a bail-in on deposits as a means of rescuing the island’s problematic banks. Depositors of the two largest banks on the island experienced a dramatic haircut of their life savings. The depositors were many, and the documentary touches on seven different stories of people who were immediately affected by the haircut.

Personal stories may be what the documentary zooms in on but it also focuses on providing the viewer with economic facts, the history of the Cyprus market, and crowds of people fighting for their rights and protesting for the rights of their children.

If the question of how such a small island in the Mediterranean could have taken on such a large banking system and how its people are footing the bill is still gnawing away at you, then this documentary may help you find some answers.

A Haircut Story
Screening of the Cypriot documentary directed by Danae Stylianou. January 21 and February 4. Cine Studio, University of Nicosia. 9pm. €8/5. Tel: 99-788173

British police have arrested an 18-year old woman at a London airport on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism and membership of a banned organisation, a police statement said.

Her arrest on Friday after she arrived on a flight at Stansted airport was connected to a prior investigation which had already resulted in the arrest of a 21-year-old man in October last year.

The woman was taken to a London police station where she remains in custody, the police said.

The arrest is the latest in a series carried out by British counter-terrorism officers since the country’s threat level was raised in August to its second-highest level because of risks posed by Islamic State fighters returning from Iraq and Syria.

Much of Europe is currently on heightened security alert after last week’s killings in Paris and raids in Belgium in which two gunmen were killed.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is in the United States for two days of talks with President Barack Obama where they have said they would tackle the threat posed by extremists.

By Nick Mulvenney

Britain’s Heather Watson defied the Tasmanian wind to secure her second WTA title with a 6-3 6-4 victory over American qualifier Madison Brengle in the final of the Hobart International on Saturday.

Watson was a popular winner of an event which battled rain and blustery conditions all week, wrapping up a hard-fought but error-strewn contest in a little under one-and-a-half hours.

The world number 49 did not lose a set at the tournament and will take a major confidence boost across the Bass Strait to Melbourne for the Australian Open, where she meet Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova in the first round.

“I’ve enjoyed my time here so, so much and I’d love to come back here again next year,” Watson told the crowd in the presentation ceremony.

“I know it hasn’t been superb weather for tennis but you’ve definitely made it fun for us.”

Watson’s friend Brengle had battled her way through seven matches in qualifying and the main draw to reach her first WTA final and was determined to make an impression, forcing Watson to save 11 break points in her first two service games.

The 12th saw the 24-year-old American claim the first break of the match when Watson double faulted but it was just one of five in the set and the Briton’s superior net game helped her take a 1-0 lead.

Brengle continued to struggle with her blistered right hand in the second set with her forehand responsible for 21 of her 34 unforced errors.

Watson pounced to claim the only break of the set for a 4-3 lead and three games later was serving for the match, which she secured when Brengle went wide with a backhand.

The Channel Islander paid tribute to her Argentine coach Diego Veronelli, who started working with her in late 2013 after she had won her maiden title in Osaka in 2012.

“We work so hard together but we also have fun,” the 22-year-old said.

“Whoo! Title number one.”

By Philip Pullella and Manuel Mogato

Pope Francis, wearing a plastic poncho against gusting winds and driving rain, kept a promise on Saturday to comfort survivors of a devastating 2013 typhoon but a new storm forced him to leave early.

The pope flew to Tacloban, ground zero of Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated the area around Leyte Island 14 months ago, killing at least 6,300 people, leaving a million others homeless and displacing four million.

The strong wind blew the white skull cap from Francis’ head and rippled his white cassock as he disembarked from his plane. He donned the same type of yellow, transparent poncho worn by the hundreds of thousands of people in the area as tropical storm Mekkhala hit, with wind gusts of up to 130 km/h (80 mph).

At a Mass near the airport, he put aside his prepared homily and delivered a very personal, emotional message of comfort to survivors, who stood amid puddles in mud-soaked fields and along roadsides.

He told them that he had vowed to make the trip in November 2013 when he saw reports of the devastation Haiyan had caused.

“I felt that I had to be here … I am here to be with you, perhaps a little late, I have to say, but I am here,” he said.

The Pope, speaking through an interpreter who translated his comments into English from his native Spanish, said he “respected the feelings” of those who felt they had been let down by God because of the disaster but implored them to move forward in their faith.

“Many of you have asked the Lord, ‘Why?’ And to each of you the Lord is responding to your hearts from his heart … so many of you have lost everything. I don’t know what to say to you but the Lord does know what to say to you,” he said.

Nearly 3,000 victims are buried in the city’s almost half-hectare mass grave site. Hundreds are still unaccounted for.

He asked the crowd to hold a moment of silence and thanked those who helped in the rescue effort after the worst recorded storm ever to make landfall.

“This is what comes from my heart and forgive me if I have no other words to express,” Francis said.

“PIERCED MY HEART”

“What he said pierced my heart,” said Maria Alda Panahustad. “My house was destroyed by (Haiyan) and again by Ruby,” she said, referring to another storm that hit the central Philippines last month, killing 27 people..

The papal Mass was accelerated and the remainder of the programme – a visit to a nearby cathedral, lunch with survivors and the blessing of a new centre for the poor – was compacted so he could leave four hours early because of worsening conditions.

In the cathedral, he apologised for leaving early. “I’m sad about this, truly saddened,” he said.

The Vatican said he blessed the centre from his car. He also stopped briefly at the home of a poor fisherman on his way into Tacloban city after the Mass.

Minutes after the Pope’s plane left for Manila, a jet carrying 11 people, including Philippine Cabinet members, overshot the runway at Tacloban because of the storm. No one was hurt but authorities closed the airport.

A 21-year-old volunteer was killed when a scaffolding holding huge speakers was blown over by the wind, Leyte health officials said.

Saturday’s storm was an eerie reminder of Haiyan, which hit the same area with 250 kph (155 mph) winds and created a seven-metre high storm surge, wiping out almost everything in its path when it swept ashore on Nov. 8, 2013.

Haiyan destroyed about 90 percent of Tacloban city, 650 km (400 miles) southeast of Manila. More than 14.5 million people were affected in six regions and 44 provinces.

The government estimates it needs almost 170 billion pesos ($3.8 billion) to rebuild the affected communities, including the construction of a four-metre high dike along the 27-km (17 miles) coastline to prevent a repeat of the disaster.

By Angus McDowall

Yemen’s Houthi movement pulled out of a meeting with the country’s other main political and regional factions on a new constitution after its fighters abducted a top government official, sources close to the situation said.

Houthi gunmen seized Ahmed Awadh bin Mubarak, office director for President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi in the capital Sanaa early on Saturday to stop him attending the meeting, which was to discuss a draft of the constitution, police sources said.

The movement’s representatives then withdrew from the meeting, two other attendees said, showing how wrangling over the constitution threatens to intensify political turmoil and insecurity in a country with an active al Qaeda wing.

The Houthi militia, which controls Sanaa, has denounced leaked details of the draft, which President Hadi has said will ensure the country does not fragment into two regions based on the former states or north and south Yemen.

The draft is a result of a national dialogue, aimed at easing a transition of power following mass street protests that led former president Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down in 2012.

The details leaked to Yemeni media indicated the new constitution instead retains a plan for a federal state divided into six regions, which both the Houthis and southern separatists believe would weaken their power.

A powerful group of tribes backed by the party of Yemen’s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh has also rejected the six-region plan, and urged the country instead be divided into much smaller governorates, analysts say.

Saleh’s party, the General People’s Congress, also walked out of Saturday’s meeting on the draft of the constitution, the attendees said.

The situation in Yemen has become more chaotic since the Houthis, who demand more rights for the country’s Zaydi Shi’ite Muslim sect, seized Sanaa in September and advanced into central and western parts of the country where Sunnis predominate.

Scores of people have already been killed in 2015 by al Qaeda attacks and clashes between the Houthis and Sunni militants and tribesmen.

The implications of further instability in the country were highlighted last week when it was revealed that participants in the attack on Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris had trained with al Qaeda in Yemen.

THE SECURITIES and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has “urgently requested” from investment firms to report any problems from the Swiss National Bank’s recent decision to scrap the minimum exchange rate with the euro.

The surprise decision led to a sharp revaluation of the Swiss franc.

In a circular to investment companies on Friday, the CySEC has asked them to respond by Tuesday whether the move has impacted their business in any way, or their clients’ funds.

If there was an impact, CySEC said companies must provide a detailed analysis and the measures they were putting in place to rectify the problem.

More than 1,000 people took to the streets on Friday to protest in front of a famous Viennese cafe after it ejected a lesbian couple for kissing in public.

The decision to order the couple out of Cafe Prueckel caused outrage on social media in Austria.

“Everyone should have the same rights, including to have a coffee. Vienna’s cafe scene is still very conservative and traditional,” said Julian Bartl, 20, a student among the 1,500 to 2,000 demonstrators police estimated were on hand.

A few locked lips in solidarity.

“Free love for all. It is ridiculous that this is happening in the 21st century, especially in Vienna. I come from Greece and Vienna is a thousand times more tolerant,” added Nikoletta Korkos, 27, a dancer.

The couple at the centre of the storm told Austrian media they had merely exchanged a kiss as a greeting.

“It was more than a welcoming kiss,” cafe proprietor Christl Sedlar told Reuters. Austrian media said she expressed regret over the incident and apologised eventually.

The constitutional court this week ordered lawmakers to let same-sex couples adopt a child.

The highest court had previously forced them to allow artificial insemination for lesbian couples in the Alpine country.

In case any reader is concerned about the report in the Cyprus Mail (January 13) where crematoria are blamed for emitting mercury arising from teeth fillings, they should be assured that any modern crematorium is now equipped with filters that completely obviate this once rightly criticised environmental hazard. Today, all crematoria filter out all metals, including mercury, with the debris being collected.
The bereaved have to sign a paper agreeing that this debris may be sold, with all the proceeds going to bereavement societies, this amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds annually. Moreover, with a burial, these metals eventually leech into the soil so getting into underground water systems. This is another reason for an alternative to burials.

But we should worry. We haven’t even got our Cyprus Crematorium Bill on the Statute Book yet, after 11 years of preparation! And with the police now ludicrously opposing a crematorium here for fear it could be utilised for the criminal disposal of bodies when there are 22 checks before cremation is allowed to proceed, we don’t need ever more alarmist suggestions feeding ever more procrastination.

In the UK and many other countries the filters take out not only mercury but all metal emissions – and the bereaved have to sign a paper agreeing that the debris thus collected can be sold, so meaning hundreds of hundreds of thousands of pounds annually go to benefit bereavement societies. It places a different complexion on the subject, doesn’t it?
As it happens, there is more risk from mercury with a burial because the mercury eventually leeches into the soil and gets in to underground water systems! There is (unfortunately) plenty of proof of that.

Clive Turner, Paphos

We Cypriots, and I have in mind primarily our politicians and administrators, have the ‘capacity’ to make a mess of most things they undertake to manage, be they our political affairs, our economy, semi-governmental corporations or our ‘team playing’, and I am referring to our membership of the European Union.

When we became members of the EU we never believed that our partners, the ‘hazofrangi’, will insist that we should play by the rules of the team so we continued to dance to our own tune, until we discovered that our partners/teammates insist on us playing by the rules, hence the catastrophe of our economy and now the grounding of Cyprus Airways.
I wonder how long and how many more catastrophes it will take to learn our lesson, if ever.

D Pnevmaticos, Ayios Tychonas

We do have to turn the heating up a bit for a few days in the winter but to expect winter fuel allowance for this is absurd. I did consider it may be appropriate to switch to a summer ‘cooling’ allowance. My air conditioning is on for at least five months. This suggestion is equally ridiculous.

WJ Fogg, via email

By Patroclos

IT DID not take long, after his return from the Big Apple, for hot-heated Nik to do his funky stuff and generate the type of pandemonium he loves to be at the centre of. There are no quiet or dull moments when he is running the country in his unguided missile style.

This time it was the UN Secretary-General and the US ambassador who provided the excuse for him to do his ‘outraged leader defends the interests of the country’ routine for a television audience. It was a pretty good performance, considering politicians and news-folk have been talking about nothing else since Thursday night.

It was a bravura performance that will make Nik eligible for inclusion in the Cyprob Heroic Resistance Presidents’ pantheon alongside Makarios, Spy Kyp, Ethnarch Tassos and Comrade Tof, men who bravely took on the world rather than agree to a settlement that would force them to give up their residency at the presidential palace.

Our prez even sounded like Spy and Tassos, attacking the UN Secretary-General, whom he accused of ‘naked blackmail’, the Yanks, particularly their ambassador, for misleading him about Turkey’s intentions and the easiest of all targets, the UN special envoy who had made promises he could not keep.

Apart from turning on the Yanks and the UN, Nik also borrowed some of his predecessors’ defiance, tinged with self-pity. He complained that the international community considered him a soft touch, because of his support of the A-plan in 2004, but it would soon discover what a tough nut he really was.

He would not give in to the pressure and return to the talks ‘under any conditions’ he declared. The spirit of Spy lives on.

WHAT did Nik hope to achieve by labelling Ban a blackmailer and informing the TV audience about his heated row with the US ambassador? Was he hitting back after the embarrassments he had suffered in the last couple of weeks?

A day after he announced he would agree to discus hydrocarbons at the talks as a compromise, the Turks issued a new Navtex, making him look a bit foolish to the opposition politicians who fully exploited his embarrassment. Junior took great joy in sticking the boot in, saying the ‘good boy’ policy of ‘generous gifts’ to the Turks had been exposed as folly.

Then there was the release of the UN Secretary General’s report, which did not condemn Turkey’s violations of the EEZ or cite them as the reason for the interruption of the talks. The report also brought back the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots which had been completely ignored by the UN for the last seven years, and, adding insult to injury, referred to the government as the ‘Greek Cypriot authorities’.

This was tantamount to de-recognition of the Republic claimed one party leader. The report was another slap for the prez declared Junior, unable to hide his joy.

The repeated ‘slaps’ had deeply wounded Nik and he decided to turn ‘bad boy’ in the hope that the merciless attacks and insults against him by the opposition and newspaper writers would stop. That was why he felt obliged to make a TV display of his new ‘bad boy’ persona rather than deal with the UN and the US in private as a prez less concerned with his public image would have done.

In this respect Nik is no different to Tof. He also wants to be loved and get positive write-ups in the local press. What is more difficult to understand is why he would yearn to be loved by a spoilt brat like Junior and his Dikheads or a self-serving opportunist like Lillikas.

WE DO NOT know the reason for the heated row the new, bad boy Nik had with the US ambassador John Koenig on Thursday but it may have had something to do with an insane proposal by the Yank for the re-opening of Famagusta.

He may have not brought this up at his meeting with Nik, but at a meeting with Famagustans, Koenig came up with the suggestion of re-opening the fenced area of Varosha under Turkish Cypriot administration. That is beyond taking the piss and the people at the meeting told him not to even think about making such suggestion.

If this was indeed the reason for the heated exchange at the palace, I hope Nik showed no restraint and hurled a couple of ash-trays at the ambassador.

ALL THE reports about EDEK chief Yiannakis Omirou’s decision to step down spoke about a “shock resignation”. The cause for the shock, although none mentioned it, was that Omirou had actually given up the leadership. This is not considered an option for our party leaders no matter how rubbish they might be at their job.

In reality, in Kyproulla we do not have party leaders, but party dictators who, once elected, only give up their dictatorship when something better comes along like the presidency. Omirou’s predecessor, Dr Faustus, was in charge of EDEK for 33 years only deciding it was time to go after he had turned 80. The late great Spy Kyp was dictator of the Dikheads for 24 years. Clerides’ and Nik’ DISY dictatorship lasted 17 years each, both stepping down only when they were elected to the presidency.

Comrade Tof had 21 years as the Castro of AKEL, while his predecessor, the dour commie, Ezekias Papaioannou died in the job after 40 years of Stalinist rule. This was why everyone was shocked that Omirou gave up his dictatorship after 12 meager years in the job and at the tender age of 63.

OMIROU was a nice guy apart from the fact that he was a Paphite windbag and a bit of loser. Nobody believes that he gave up his post for the reasons he gave in his letter of resignation which was a testament to the vacuous rhetoric that had become his trademark.

The best bit in his letter was the self-praise. “I did not arrive in the political scene from nowhere. Nor have I been a ‘career’ politician, despite my long political path.” Omirou has been an EDEK deputy since 1981, taking an assortment of roles in the party before being allowed by Dr Faustus to succeed him, but he is not a career politician.

He has been treating politics as his hobby for 33 years – a hobby that paid very well and allowed Omirou not to have a career in anything. He may have resigned as party dictator but he has not given any indication he would be giving up his other hobby – the presidency of the legislature.

SPEAKING of careers, spare a thought for the Cyprus Airways stewardess who told the TV cameras, while demonstrating outside the finance ministry last Monday, the following: “What are they trying, to make us all supermarket salesgirls?” Perish the thought, we could hire you as doctors at the Nicosia General hospital where there are vacancies and the pay is as good as it was at Cyprus Airways.

But they may still avoid the supermarket, if prez Nik keeps his promise. After Monday’s demonstration, Nik issued a statement saying “we will do everything in our power to ensure that Cyprus Airways staff are hired by the new company.”

This empty promise was made official at Wednesday’s Council of Ministers meeting which decided to move ahead with plans to establish a new national carrier, one of the main government objectives being to create jobs for Cyprus Airways staff. As I said, earlier, Nik does not want to govern he just wants to be loved.

GOVERNOR of the Central Bank Crystal, also wants to be loved but it is very doubtful she would have won anyone’s affections after it was revealed that she was costing the taxpayer €242,851 per year.

She benefited from last November’s Supreme Court decision which ruled that retired civil servants could carry on collecting their state pensions even if they had been re-employed by the state. So apart from her €14,000 monthly salary as governor she is also collecting a state pension of €4,863 every month. And this greedy woman also sneakily altered the remuneration of the governor’s contract so as to receive more than the 14 grand her predecessors were receiving.

I DO NOT know what has gotten into Yiorkos Lillikas. He is behaving like a salesman of the Russian Federation, constantly plugging the need to give military facilities to Russia. He makes out that the negative developments in the Cyprob made this an imperative.

On Thursday, he called on Nik to use his scheduled visit to Moscow for the signing of “substantive agreements that would align Cyprus’s interest with those of Russia so that we can secure the support of Russia.” Is he suggesting that we also try to sell natural gas to Turkey like Russia has been trying to do?

“The key,” said the Paphos opportunist “is the provision of military facilities to Russia, which unfortunately, according to our reliable information from Russian sources is not included in the agreement documents submitted by the Cyprus Republic to Russia.”

On Friday, he was at it again. He had received “disheartening messages from Moscow” regarding the President’s imminent visit. According to his information, the “agreement for the provision of military facilities had been removed from the agreements proposed by the government to Russia.”

THE OTHER country Lillikas wants to give military facilities to – France – has let us down big time on the hydrocarbons. French oil company Total has informed the government that it does not plan to carry out any exploratory drilling in the plot it has secured. Total wanted to issue an announcement, but our government has begged it not to do so because it would not go down well publicly, especially now that we have abandoned the peace talks over the natural gas that does not exist.

PRESIDENT Anastasiades’ improvisational policy-making that we wrote about a few weeks ago was exhibited once again in an interview on Mega TV on Thursday night when he accused the UN Secretary-General of ‘naked blackmail’, members of the international community of misleading him and the US ambassador in Nicosia of hostility.

It was an astonishing outburst, the motives behind which remain a mystery as it is extremely difficult to find a rational explanation for it. That he may have been playing tough for domestic consumption is not a rational explanation.

He may have been justified to be angry with the Cyprus resolution prepared by the UN for its failure to blame Turkey’s incursions into the Cypriot EEZ for the break-up of the talks, for bringing up the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots and for referring to the government as the ‘Greek Cypriot authorities’, but his feelings should not have been shared with the public. He is the president and does not have the right to react recklessly, like a punter in a village coffee-shop or a newspaper columnist. The president must exercise restraint, use measured language and avoid sweeping statements that will return to haunt him, as has happened more than once during Anastasiades’ presidency.

Even if the target of his angry rant was the domestic audience he should also have considered that not everyone would have perceived it in the same way. Another way of interpreting his angry words was that they were dictated by despair. He had lost control of the situation by walking out of the talks and setting conditions – no Navtex and no violations of the Cypriot EEZ – for the Greek Cypriots’ return, a condition that the Turks refused to satisfy. His attempt to put things back on track by announcing he agreed to hydrocarbons being discussed in the peace talks was answered with the issuing of another Navtex by Turkey.

Feeling cheated and trapped, he went on television and lashed out against the UN Secretary-General and his Special Advisor as well as the US ambassador. It has become something of a presidential tradition to attack the UN and the US when a president has led our side to an impasse from which there is no obvious escape, as it shifts public attention away from his bad choices. Anastasiades was correct in believing that Turkey had been let off by the UN report and that the Greek Cypriot side was being pressured (blackmailed was too strong a term) to return to the talks, but instead of treating it as another foreign plot against Cyprus he should have considered the meaning and implications of the UN stance.

The objective of Ban Ki-moon and Espen Barth Eide is quite clearly the resumption and, ultimately, the successful conclusion of the talks. They therefore avoided condemning Turkey’s actions to keep it on side and included a veiled threat to the Greek Cypriots about ending the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots in order to pressure Anastasiades to abandon his conditions and return to the talks. It was the Greek Cypriots who quit the talks and the UN decided, rightly or wrongly, that the only way of bringing them back was the veiled threat of a form of recognition of the north in its resolution.

It was also a warning that time was running out for the UN peace talks. Barth Eide, who has said this could be the last chance for a negotiated settlement, showed that he is not prepared to hang around for another two or three years until Anastasiades feels ready to return to the talks. Perhaps we should see this also as notice that the UN-sponsored talks could be reaching the end of their cycle and that the organisation will no longer waste time and resources on finding a compromise between two sides that have time and again shown they did not have the will or desire to reach a deal. And the Greek Cypriots are still deluding themselves that by avoiding a settlement and attacking UN efforts to help us reach a deal, they are punishing Turkey. It is a funny punishment that allows Turkey to keep everything it seized in 1974 as well as 40,000 troops on the island in perpetuity.

It may be that Anastasiades does not want the type of settlement that is achievable and is resorting to the anti-UN grandstanding, reminiscent of Spyros Kyprianou and Tassos Papadopoulos, in order to achieve his objective without having to explain himself to the people. This would explain his assertion on Mega that he would never return to the talks under these conditions. Given that conditions will not change, are we to conclude that this was a roundabout way of the president making it known that he was giving up on the peace process?

By George Psyllides

AS THE government embarked on a damage limitation campaign following the UN Secretary General’s report, the leader of main opposition AKEL, a party seen as vital in any bid to reunify the island, urged President Nicos Anastasiades on Saturday to change his hardline approach because it only yielded “depressing results”.

For the past two years, Anastasiades had followed the policy demanded by hardliners DIKO, EDEK, EVROKO, and the Green party, Andros Kyprianou said.

“And what are the results? The results are depressing,” he told the state broadcaster.

Anastasiades lashed out at the UN and the USA during a television interview on Thursday, following the publication of UNSG Ban Ki-moon’s UNFICYP report, which the president described as an effort to force his return to the negotiating table while Turkey continued to violate Cyprus’ sovereign rights.

The government’s main objection was the report’s failure to take a stance on Turkey’s violations of Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) by Turkey, and a reference to Turkish Cypriot isolation – a subject that has not come up for several years.

Daily Alithia reported that the isolation reference was included as a response to the moving of the EU Task Force for the Turkish Cypriot community from the Enlargement Directorate to the Regional Policy Directorate, a move which gives the Greek Cypriot side a say over the funding.

The UN has shrugged off the criticism.

“The UN Secretary General fully backs the work of his special envoy Espen Barth Eide and stands by his report. As in many cases – in general terms – reports of the Secretary General elicit reactions from one side or another. There is no reason for us to comment on the reactions to the SG’s report,” UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Kyprianou, the leader of the island’s second-biggest party after ruling DISY, urged Anastasiades to reconsider his tactics suggesting that each passing day brought Cyprus closer to partition.

Anastasiades pulled out of the talks in October after Turkey dispatched a research vessel to carry out seismic surveys inside the island’s EEZ where oil companies are carrying out hydrocarbon exploration.

Earlier this month Anastasiades attempted to put things back on track by announcing he agreed to hydrocarbons being discussed in the peace talks. Yet days later, Ankara issued a new NAVTEX (navigational telex) reserving areas in the eastern Mediterranean for exploration – parts of Cyprus’ EEZ among them – from January 6 to April 6.

In an interview with private Mega television on Thursday evening, Anastasiades said he had received promises from Ban, US Secretary of State John Kerry, and US Vice President Joe Biden, the Russian foreign minister and even Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, that Turkey was ready to go ahead with talks at the start of October as agreed.

On top of that, the ambassador of a big power – he did not name – had told him that before the start of the talks, Turkey was going to lift the embargo on Cyprus-flagged vessels.
“Instead, five days later a NAVTEX was issued,” he said. “It is the first time I say it, but patience has its limits.”
Anastasiades said he would not “bow, under any circumstances, and be dragged into talks under threat or blackmail”.

Turkey says it is acting on behalf of Turkish Cypriots, who also have rights. The government said Turkish Cypriots can enjoy the benefits after a solution and refuses to include them in decision-making.

Analyst Hubert Faustmann suggested Anastasiades was upset because the Americans did not deliver on their promise. And now he was also faced with domestic criticism.

“He made a move, which was not reciprocated,” said Faustmann, an associate professor of international relations at the University of Nicosia.

However, the core of the issue were the hydrocarbons and the international community “sees a dangerous escalation in the situation”, hence the pressure, he added.

Neither side was backing down but it would be an illusion for the Greek Cypriots to believe they can exploit hydrocarbon reserves without a solution, Faustmann said.

He did not rule out Turkey putting its own drill in Cyprus’ EEZ at some stage.

A former senior government official echoed that view.

“Turkey will not allow exploitation,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

And who would fund any project linked to the endeavour with the threat looming, he added.

The former official said the president’s reaction to the UNSG report was excessive and suggested that he must change his strategy.

“When the likes of EDEK, DIKO, and George Lillikas agree with you, it means you are doing it wrong,” he said.

“The international community is tired of Cyprus. Who will defend you when no one thinks you’re fully right?”

The official said the hydrocarbons should be on the table, just like citizenship, territory, and so on.

Kyprianou said Anastasiades could have scored points by proposing the creation of a fund to put in the Turkish Cypriot share of hydrocarbons funds to be accessed in the event of a solution; he could also ask Turkey to help solve the problem in return for discussing delineation of the EEZ, supply of natural gas and even building a pipeline.

“The option is not to shift to a tougher position; a tougher position will simply isolate us further,” Kyprianou said.

With relatives in Cyprus, I read The Cyprus-Mail article: ‘France, foreign leaders to march together in show of solidarity after attacks’ on January 11.
I understand the premise according to the ‘Western mind’ of having world-leaders lock arms, elbow to elbow, in a show of moral support of condemnation of ‘the worst Islamic assault on a European city in nine years’ and that civilised peoples of ‘The West’ would show solidarity so that we won’t be bullied into fear.
On the surface I applaud that expression of a seemingly united front of bravery. Yet if you give a bully – which is really what a terrorist is – a platform to gloat, then, the terrorists have achieved at least in their own minds, a major victory and the added publicity will embolden them even further.
Distorted minds get their own weird levels of satisfaction. Personally, it may sound crass but I don’t think the United States nor any European nation should show any public emotion: no tears, no moments of anguish or sorrow.
I firmly feel that Western society has been lulled into a fetal-position of fear by catch-phrases such as ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’.
Our globe has lived under threats of a variety of ‘weapons of mass destruction’ since 1945.
My point is; increase your vigilance, increase your security, but go about your daily lives. If the terrorists don’t rip at your emotions, they haven’t won.
But, once the world’s media goes into shock and overly publicises these tragedies beyond just mere reporting then I believe the terrorists have won.
Let’s ignore them outwardly, but be defiant inwardly. Just as in any type of warfare, even dating back to ancient times, an opponent will seek your soft underbelly.
This should be a time for discreet silence, a time for the shield of self-protection, and a time for the sword of punitive-measures for such culprits.
It may sound painful, but ignoring the lunatic will not embolden the lunatic. Let security officials and armies investigate and catch the perpetrators and bring them to justice. That is the only viable approach to deter lunatics from committing more attacks so they cannot bask in the limelight.

James A. Marples, Texas US

By Ian Ransom

Last year’s Australian Open kicked off the biggest shakeup in men’s tennis for a decade but Novak Djokovic is primed to stave off the charge of ‘Generation Next’ and take back his throne at Melbourne Park.

Stan Wawrinka holds the title and a band of young upstarts are determined to topple the ‘Big Four’, but Djokovic has the fitness and the momentum to reassert himself on the blue courts by the banks of the Yarra River, where he claimed three successive titles from 2011-13 and his first in 2008.

Though upended a year ago by Wawrinka in a cataclysmic quarter-final, a match seen as the beginning of the end for the old guard, Djokovic finished the year with victory at the World Tour Finals, the top ranking and the respect of his greatest rivals.

“The only guy who was really consistent was Novak,” Roger Federer said at the Brisbane International last week.

“He was still there when it mattered the most.”

Adding to Djokovic’s chances are a kind draw and fitness doubts over his biggest threats.

With Federer, Andy Murray and Rafa Nadal bunched on the other side of the draw, only one could meet the Wimbledon champion in the final.

TOUGH YEAR

Barring his record ninth French Open trophy, Nadal had a tough 2014.

Having lost to Wawrinka in the Melbourne Park final when battling a back injury, the second half of his year was wiped out by a wrist problem and appendicitis.

The Spaniard’s new campaign got off to a miserable start at the Qatar Open last week where he was dumped from the first round by German journeyman Michael Berrer.

Sixth seed Murray, though recovered from back surgery in 2013, struggled to find his best tennis last year and has had a major shakeup in his entourage, parting ways with assistant coach Dani Vallverdu and fitness trainer Jez Green in November.

Federer may be the best placed to stop Djokovic and the Swiss master’s 1,000th career win, reached by beating Milos Raonic in the Brisbane International final, proved he still has the hunger to challenge at the age of 33.

Federer’s last grand slam triumph was at Wimbledon in 2012, however, and his ability to win seven matches of best-of-five-set tennis remains the biggest question mark.

Wawrinka’s quarter-final upset of Djokovic in a five-set thriller was arguably the match of the tournament last year, and avenged his defeat in another marathon against the Serb at Melbourne Park in 2013.

Though the 29-year-old Swiss failed to reach his Australian heights at the other three grand slams, the fourth seed is peaking at the right time.

Sharing in a morale-boosting Davis Cup win with Federer at the end of the year, Wawrinka also won at Chennai in the leadup and is on collision course for a mouth-watering semi-final against Djokovic.

To get there he may need to overcome Japanese trailblazer Kei Nishikori, who became the first man from an Asian country to contest a grand slam singles final at the US Open.

Like 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov and eighth seed Raonic, the clean-hitting Nishikori, who stunned Djokovic in the Flushing Meadows semi-finals, is considered among the brightest hopes to rock the establishment.

By Greg Stutchbury

Serena Williams’ Australian Open preparations included smashing a racquet in frustration, complaining of fatigue and losing to players she had never lost to before, yet she is still the favourite to claim her sixth title at Melbourne Park.

The 33-year-old had a terrible buildup to the season-opening grand slam while playing in the Hopman Cup in Perth, losing to Eugenie Bouchard and Agnieszka Radwanska for the first time.

Her standard of play at the event, essentially an exhibition within a tournament format, was also far below her best.

Pundits, however, are loathe to begin writing about the decline of the 18-times grand slam champion as Father Time catches up with her.

With age comes wisdom. Or craftiness, at least.

And when all else fails, when she really needs to, the American unleashes a cannon of a serve or a blistering forehand that few can handle on the Melbourne hardcourts.

Her biggest challenge, apart from stopping her own game self destructing as it has done in Melbourne from time to time, is likely to come from Maria Sharapova, one of the few players who can go toe-to-toe with the American.

The 27-year-old Russian won her fifth grand slam on the clay at Roland Garros last year and said she was pleased with the mental tougness she had shown in getting out of situations she may have struggled with in previous years.

She also enters the tournament with some momentum having romped to the Brisbane title last week.

While world number three Simona Halep and Canada’s Bouchard are keen to make the step up after reaching grand slam finals last year, twice champion Victoria Azarenka looms as possibly the biggest challenger to Williams and Sharapova.

She slipped down the rankings after a foot injury that began after Melbourne worsened and eventually limited her to nine tournaments in 2014.

The 25-year-old is ranked 41st and has a tricky first-up encounter against American Sloane Stephens, though the tall Belarusian simply loves the blue courts in Melbourne which suit her powerful game and jackhammer forehand.

Azarenka has made at least the quarter-finals in four of the past five years, including back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2013, but she will need a dose of luck and a return to form if she is to go deep in the tournament this year.

She could face world number eight Caroline Wozniacki, who had to withdraw from Sydney this week with a wrist injury, in the second round before a potential quarter-final with Williams.

The winner of that last eight clash has been drawn to face either fourth seed Petra Kvitova or sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the semi-finals.

Kvitova won her second Wimbledon title last year and appears to have shaken off the confidence issues she had after failing to live up to the expectations following her first triumph on the grass of southwest London in 2011.

The Czech finished 2014 ranked fourth and had a strong second half to the year, winning two titles on hard courts in New Haven and Wuhan.

She also won in Sydney on Friday, beating compatriot Karolina Pliskova 7-6 7-6 in a hard-fought final.

The performances of Radwanska will also be heavily scrutinised after she linked up with 18-times grand slam title winner Martina Navratilova.

Navratilova only began working with the 25-year-old at Christmas and, as was evident with Andy Murray and Ivan Lendl, these partnerships take time to evolve.

Even if there is no immediate impact from the coaching move, Radwanska’s all-court game still makes her a threat despite her struggles against the stronger hitters.

Greek authorities have detained several people for questioning in connection with the foiled Islamist plot to attack Belgian police, Greek police said on Saturday.

If enough evidence was produced during the questioning, Greek authorities would send DNA samples to their Belgian colleagues for further investigation, a Greek police official said.

Earlier on Saturday, Belgian state broadcasters said authorities were seeking a Brussels man of Moroccan origin who was hiding in Greece.

Greek police said international security coordinators had passed on the names of several people in connection with the plot in Belgium to check if they were in Greece or had passed through the country.

They did not comment on whether the man named by Belgian media was on that list.

A spokesman for the Brussels prosecutors’ office was not available to comment on the events in Greece.

On Thursday, police killed two gunmen during raids in the east Belgian town of Verviers.

Thirteen suspects were subsequently arrested throughout the country and two others held in France on Belgium’s request.

In the aftermath of Thursday’s raids, Belgium raised its national alert level and deployed hundreds of troops to back up police and protect embassies, EU institutions and Jewish sites.

Up to 300 military will be stationed at locations such as the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Brussels and NATO and EU institutions.

“It’s very important to say that this wasn’t a simple decision, but it was necessary, at a time when police are overly engaged, for the army to enter in a supporting role,” Defence Minister Steven Vandeput told reporters.

Troops will reinforce police at least until Thursday, when authorities will review the national threat level, set at 3 on a scale of 4 this week.

The government raised the threat level after a raid in the east Belgian town of Verviers on Thursday in which police shot dead two gunmen. Authorities said the Islamist cell had been preparing an attack on police.

The first military company to be deployed on Belgium’s streets was the Chasseurs Ardennais, an infantry unit from the Ardennes region.

By Stelios Orphanides

Building permits fell in January to October 28 per cent in terms of construction area and 27 per cent in terms of value, the statistical service said.

The total area of construction projects which received building permits in the first ten months of 2014 fell to more than 0.6 million square meters while total value fell to 715.4 million euros, the statistical service said.