Quantcast
Channel: Cyprus Mail
Viewing all 6907 articles
Browse latest View live

Our View: It’s vital that EU reaches a deal with Greece

0
0
Greek Finance Minister Varoufakis shakes hands with his German counterpart Schaueble at an extraordinary euro zone Finance Ministers meeting in Brussels

AFTER the failure to reach an agreement at last Wednesday’s meeting, the eurozone finance ministers will be hoping to strike a deal over Greece’s debt crisis when they gather again tomorrow in Brussels. The signs were not very encouraging, because despite seven hours of ‘constructive’ talks on Wednesday the ministers could not agree on a joint statement outlining the procedural steps for Monday’s meeting. However, since then, there have been negotiations with Greece, positive statements have been made and there are hopes that some compromise would be found tomorrow.

So far, however we only have what had happened at Wednesday’s meeting to go by. After it, Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem said there was an “intense discussion” that made progress, but “not enough progress yet to come to joint conclusions.” The Greeks had rejected a draft agreement that proposed the extension of the bailout deal which is due to expire at the end of this month. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who had been contacted by finance minister Yanis Varoufakis during the negotiations, stood firm in opposing the extension of the bailout beyond February 28.

The big sticking point is that the alternative – Greece’s proposal for a bridging loan that would cover its funding needs until it negotiated a new reform plan with its creditors – is not acceptable to other EU governments, something that was made very clear to Varoufakis on Wednesday. Several ministers, reportedly, made it clear that there were legal restrictions to the adjustment programme and that they would not receive approval for bridge financing from their countries; there was no legal mechanism in the EU for this type of financing, not to mention that national parliaments had to approve bridging finance, a practical impossibility before the end of this month.

This highlights the amateurishness and slapdash approach of the Syriza government which seemed to think that it could argue its case at the Eurogroup with the slogans and anti-bailout rhetoric it used in its election campaign. It was quite incredible that the Greek government actually thought it could get its way by rhetoric alone. It had drafted no plans of how its proposals would work, how and when it would implement the structural reforms that would lead to growth, how it would secure its banking sector, how it would ensure fiscal sustainability etc.

Varoufakis went to Wednesday’s meeting without quantifiable and verifiable data to support Greece’s case, presumably thinking he could sweettalk his colleagues into agreeing to his government’s demands. This slapdash approach has been the key feature of the Tsipras government, which has set itself impossible targets without having developed even a basic strategy to achieve them. Rather than try and build alliances with some of Greece’s EU partners, it has alienated a big number of them with its trenchant rhetoric which has embarrassed other governments that also have austerity measures in place.

The government’s entire strategy seemed to have been based on the premise that by playing hardball, the Eurogroup would give in to Greek demands in order to ensure the stability of the euro. This is proving a miscalculation as the contagion the European Commission fears now is not the same as that of 2010, when Greece was bailed out in order to prevent run on European banks. Now the danger of contagion relates to other governments of member states following Greece’s example and refusing to honour agreements and adhere to assistance programmes.

The extension of the bailout deal is the only option under the circumstances. If there is no agreement tomorrow, Greece would not be eligible for the €7 billion loan it was expecting to cover its funding needs – it needs €4.3 billion by the end of March. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank said it would stop accepting Greek government bonds as collateral for lending money (emergency liquidity assistance) to Greek banks which are struggling to keep their deposits. According to banking sources private sector deposits at Greek banks fell by €11 billion in January, which meant they needed to borrow more from the ECB; share prices have also been on a steep downward path. Tsipras’ defiant, anti-bailout rhetoric may have won over the Greek voters, but it had the opposite effect on the markets.

And things are certain to become infinitely worse for the Greek economy if Tsipras refuses to agree to the extension of the bailout agreement, because the alternative is the dreaded Grexit. Would he be prepared to allow the country to enter what some economists claim would be the “economic equivalent of a nuclear winter”? The “humanitarian crisis” that Tsipras and Varoufakis want to end by terminating the bailout would be made much worse if a compromise is not reached tomorrow and a Grexit becomes a possibility. We hope it will not come to this and the ongoing consultations would yield a positive result.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Send to Kindle

‘Dogs driving us barking mad’

0
0
2german-shepherd-166972_1280

By Bejay Browne

PEYIA residents are organising against the nuisance of barking dogs, which they say are not only affecting their wellbeing but also impacting short and long term property rentals in the area.

The issue has lit Paphos internet forums on fire recently and some renters are now insisting on having a ‘get out’ clause written into their leases to cover them when they think the barking is so out of hand that they have to move.

Residents – dozens have complained to the municipality – say they have had enough sleepless nights caused by incessant barking and are calling on the government to enforce the law.

British ex pat resident David Reiling told the Sunday Mail: “Dog owners need to take control of their animals and consider their neighbours. There is no peace at my complex. Many of the homes are empty as they aren’t being rented again because of the noise.”

He said that holidaymakers had also written to property owners saying they would not return due to the nuisance.

Reiling, who lives in lower Peyia, has owned a dog for most of his life, but doesn’t  at the moment. He is incensed by a lack of action from the authorities that he has set up a protest group.

He said his home is surrounded by barking dogs. To the front there is one, to the right there are eight dogs locked in a garden all day and further along there are four others. “It’s a nightmare,” he said.

Reiling, said that so far complaints to the municipality and the police had brought no results. He has also written to the ombudswoman.

“We will have to leave if it doesn’t get better, but we can’t break our contract, as there will be financial penalties. We have chosen to live here and paid good money to do so and now I would like to have peaceful enjoyment of my home,” he said.

The campaigner said that a municipal warden has been sent to investigate his complaint but informed him that as the dog owners had the necessary licences, there was nothing he could do.

“It’s not about permits though. It’s about the noise nuisance. We don’t get a proper night’s sleep. “We are woken at three, four, five and six in the morning by dogs barking and baying. They will then howl all day until the owners are back from work,” he said.

Reiling said that he was afraid of approaching the dog owners personally as he has been told that others were threatened with hunting guns in the past. He said that he started the protest website as he believes the only way to change the status quo is to gather support.

“Authorities need to act on the law which Cyprus already has, I’m not trying to change the culture,” he stressed.

An increasing number of residents say they are being denied peaceful use of their home, are trapped in a living hell and are being ignored by the local authorities.

Although most of the complaints made to the local authorities are from non-Cypriot residents, a 56-year-old Cypriot woman living in the area said this was because Cypriots know complaining won’t bring results and so they put up with it.

The woman asked only to be identified as Eleni, as she is fearful of repercussions. She also has had disputes with a particular dog owner in the past whose pets continue to make her life a misery.

She told the Sunday Mail that things had been unbearable for the last five years by continuous barking from a large number of hunting dogs which are being kept on a piece of land next to her home in Peyia.

“I have two small dogs of my own which live in the house with me and I don’t want anything to happen to me or them. The man who keeps these dogs has already shouted at me when I told him that they bark day and night and are disturbing the peace. I close my doors and turn up the TV very loud to try and drown out the noise.”

Eleni, whose property has remained in her family for generations, said she likes to sleep with her windows open during the summer but added that this was impossible due to the barking “which continues for hours on end”. She said a lack of sleep was making her stressed and tearful.

“I have mentioned the problem to some of the staff at the municipality in the past, but nothing has changed. So many people are related to each other in Peyia and they don’t want to make problems for themselves. But the situation here is getting out of hand. Many people are having problems like mine now, and I’m hoping that the foreign residents will be able to do something about it.”

Reiling said it was the owners’ responsibility to control their dogs. Some barking is understandable, he said, but what many people are being subjected to is in on another level entirely.

“They need to take control of their animals and consider their neighbours. People are leaving, holidaymakers are not coming back, the resale value is being affected and people come on holiday for peace and quiet; this problem is affecting rental incomes,” he said.

Peyia councillor Linda Leblanc said people are often fearful of complaining to the municipality as ‘there is no level of confidentiality.’

“I’m aware of many complaints on the issue. The people responsible for dealing with this nuisance are the mayor and the municipal warden, as this is part of his job. We get reports and then nothing happens,” she said.

Leblanc said that an employee of the municipality was one of the worst offenders, raising hunting dogs in a residential area. For the last two years the councillor has been attempting to resolve the situation in a sensitive and friendly way, but so far nothing has changed.

She said she has been to a site with eight or nine dogs, but there was no support from the police or community policeman, giving the impression that some people are above the law “and untouchable”, she said.

“If it was in a deserted area, perhaps a blind eye could be turned, but this in impacting on the quality of people lives and causing health problems as well,” said Leblanc.

The councillor underlined that the complaints about the barking were not just a few isolated incidents. Dozens of residents were complaining. “Even the deputy mayor told us to go to the newspapers about it at a council meeting,” she said.

The new dog law, when enacted, should give local authorities increased power and help to eliminate problems such as those being experienced in Peyia, according to environmental officer at the minister of interior Dr Eleftherios Hadjisterkotis, who helped to draft the new dog law.

Hadjisterkotis said that when the new law receives final parliamentary approval in a few weeks, local authorities will have the tools to be able to deal with situations in a more satisfactory way.

He said: “The local authorities will be able to give an on the spot fine for instances such as incessant dog barking. This will be about €85 for the first time and double that if there is a second instance.”

Hadjisterkotis said that until now, if people were breaking the law the local authority had to call the police to take the person to court which is a complicated and lengthy process and mostly avoided. Cases of this were rare, he said. He said that the new law has taken around three years to draft and all considerations have been taken into account.

“We have listened to opinions and suggestions from all sectors, government departments and services, NGOs and the general public about existing problems concerning the law, such as public nuisance, which could include a lack of respect for neighbours, allowing dogs to defecate on pavements and in front of doors, dogs being allowed to roam free and stray dogs.”

He said that aim was to improve the welfare of the animals and the people who co-exist with them. “If dogs are barking all night it’s creating problems for people who can’t sleep and find it hard to function the next day,” he said.

Hadjisterkotis said that each section of the law carries an appropriate fine and it was currently being examined section by section by the parliamentary environment committee which will take some weeks. It will then go for final approval from parliament, he said.

Protest group:  http://peyiabarkingdogsnuisanceprotestgroup.webs.com/

Send to Kindle

Danish police say kill suspect in Copenhagen attacks (Updated)

0
0
A police secures the police headquarters in Copenhagen, February 15, 2015.

Danish police shot dead a gunman in Copenhagen on Sunday they believe was responsible for killing two civilians and wounding five police in separate attacks on a synagogue and an event promoting freedom of speech.

Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said the shootings, which bore similarities to an assault in Paris in January on the offices of weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo, were terrorist attacks.

A man died in Saturday’s shooting at a cafe hosting Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has received death threats for depicting the Prophet Mohammad. Vilks was unhurt. A security guard died in a separate attack overnight at a nearby synagogue.

“We’ve tasted the ugly taste of fear and impotence that terror wants to create,” Thorning-Schmidt told reporters. “But as a society, we have answered back.”

Police had released a photo of the suspect, dressed in a heavy winter coat and maroon mask. But the motivations of the gunman, who police said was armed with an automatic weapon, were not known.

Danish police had launched a massive manhunt with helicopters roaring overhead and an array of armoured vehicles on the usually peaceful streets of Copenhagen.

Police said they shot dead the suspect near a train station in Norrebro, an area in Copenhagen not far from the sites of the two attacks. Police said he had fired on officers. Some local media said police raided an apartment in the area.

“We assume that it’s the same culprit behind both incidents… that was shot by the police,” Chief police inspector Torben Molgaard Jensen told reporters.

French ambassador Francois Zimeray attended the cafe event, entitled “Art, Blasphemy and Freedom of Expression”, and praised Denmark’s support for freedom of speech following the Paris attacks.

Witnesses said the envoy had barely finished his introduction when up to 40 shots rang out, outside the venue, as an attacker sprayed the cafe’s windows with bullets.

Security experts said they considered Vilks, the main speaker, to have been the target. A 55-year-old man died as a result of that shooting, police said early on Sunday.

Witnesses said police who were at the heavily-guarded venue fired back at the attacker. Vilks was taken to a back cold storage room for protection.

“The rather spare audience got to experience fear and horror – and tragedy. I can’t say it affected me as I was well looked after,” Vilks wrote in a blog post.

Hours later, shots were fired at a synagogue about a half hour’s walk from the cafe. A man guarding the synagogue was shot in the head and died later. Two police officers were wounded.

“He was a member of the community, a fantastic guy,” Rabbi Bent Lexner, Denmark’s former chief rabbi, told Israeli Army Radio. “We are in shock. I am sitting now with the parents of the man killed. We didn’t think such a thing could happen in Denmark.”

“GET OUT”

Helle Merete Brix, organiser of the event at the cafe, told Reuters she had seen an attacker wearing a mask.

“The security guards shouted ‘Everyone get out!’ and we were being pushed out of the room,” Brix said.

“They tried to shoot their way into the conference room … I saw one of them running by, wearing a mask. There was no way to tell his face.”

Denmark became a target 10 years ago after the publication of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad, images which led to sometimes fatal protests in the Muslim world. Many Muslims consider any representation of the Prophet blasphemous.

Vilks stirred controversy himself in 2007 with drawings depicting Mohammad as a dog, triggering numerous death threats.

He has lived under Swedish police protection since 2010 and two years ago, an American woman was jailed for 10 years in the United States for plotting to kill him.

Danish authorities have been on alert since three Islamist gunmen killed 17 people in three days of violence in Paris last month that began with an attack on Charlie Hebdo, long known for its acerbic cartoons on Islam, other religions and politicians.

Like other European governments, Scandinavian leaders have been increasingly concerned about the radicalisation of young Muslims travelling to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside violent jihadist groups such as Islamic State.

Authorities have also been worried about possible lone gunmen like Anders Behring Breivik, the anti-immigrant Norwegian who killed 77 people in 2011, most of them at a youth camp run by Norway’s ruling centre-left Labour Party.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius compared the Copenhagen attack to the Paris killings, told Europe 1 radio on Sunday: “I am struck by the similarities of this sequence. First an attack against freedom of speech, then an attack against Jews, and then the confrontation with the police.”

After the synagogue shooting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said such attacks would likely continue and Israel would welcome European Jews who choose to move to there.

French President Francois Hollande said Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve would go to the Danish capital later on Sunday.

European Council President Donald Tusk called Saturday’s attack “another brutal terrorist attack targeted at our fundamental values and freedoms, including the freedom of expression.”

Send to Kindle

Ukraine rebels disavow ceasefire at encircled town (Updated)

0
0
President Poroshenko gave the order to Ukrainian forces to cease fire beginning at midnight

Ukraine’s rebels disavowed a new truce on Sunday hours after it took effect, saying it did not apply to the town where most fighting has taken place in recent weeks.

Guns fell abruptly silent at midnight across much of eastern Ukraine in line with the ceasefire agreement, but the pro-Russian rebels announced that they would not observe the truce at Debaltseve, where Ukraine army forces have been encircled.

“Of course we can open fire (on Debaltseve). It is our territory,” Eduard Basurin, a senior rebel commander, told Reuters.

“The territory is internal: ours. And internal is internal. But along the line of confrontation there is no shooting.”

Reuters journalists in nearby towns heard volleys of artillery from the direction of Debaltseve in the morning after a night that had been mostly quiet.

Ukrainian forces have been holding out in the town for weeks, astride a railway junction in a pocket between the two main rebel strongholds.

Washington says Russia’s regular military, armed with tanks and missile launchers, carried out an operation in the days before the truce to encircle Debaltseve.

Reuters journalists have seen armoured columns of troops without insignia arriving in the area in recent days.

Elsewhere in eastern Ukraine the ceasefire was met by abrupt silence at midnight. Reuters journalists in Donetsk, the main rebel stronghold, said artillery bombardment halted and they heard no firing overnight, after intense final hours before the ceasefire when shells had exploded every few seconds.

A Reuters photographer in government-held territory also said constant bombardment had halted overnight, although he heard a volley of artillery around 7 a.m. from the direction of Debaltseve.

The Ukrainian government said on Sunday morning that the ceasefire was being “generally observed”. Its forces had been shelled 10 times in the hours since the truce took effect, but it described those incidents as “localised” rather than regular. Nine of its soldiers were killed on Saturday but none since the truce took effect, a spokesman said on Sunday morning.

Hennadiy Moskal, the head of the Kiev-controlled administration for Luhansk, one of the rebellious provinces, said most hot spots had been quiet but a complete ceasefire had not come into effect.

A Ukrainian staff officer stationed near Debaltseve said: “The general level (of attacks) has decreased, although there are violations.”

Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, wearing the uniform of the armed forces supreme commander, said in a midnight televised address in the capital Kiev that he had ordered troops to stop firing in line with the truce.

He said there was still alarm over the situation around Debaltseve.

The ceasefire, negotiated in four-power talks on Thursday, foresees creation of a neutral buffer zone and withdrawal of heavy weapons. More than 5,000 people have been killed in a conflict that has caused the worst crisis in Russia-West relations since the Cold War.

“NEW RUSSIA”

Russian President Vladimir Putin denies Moscow is involved in fighting for territory he calls “New Russia”. Western officials cite overwhelming evidence to the contrary and Washington and its allies have imposed economic sanctions on Moscow.

Poroshenko said that if Ukraine were slapped once, it would not offer the other cheek. But, seated alongside armed forces chief of staff Viktor Muzhenko, he added: “I very much hope that the last chance to begin the long and difficult peaceful process for a political settlement will not be wasted.”

In the hours leading up to the ceasefire, heavy artillery and rocket fire roughly every five seconds had reverberated across Donetsk, the main regional city in the east which is under the control of the secessionists.

Ukrainian authorities said two civilians were killed by shells that hit a town minutes past midnight.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged implementation of the ceasefire in a telephone call with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and expressed concern about efforts by Russia and the separatists to cut off Debaltseve.

U.S. President Barack Obama expressed “deep concern” about the violence around Debaltseve prior to the ceasefire, in a telephone call with Poroshenko, the White House said. Obama also spoke to German chancellor Angela Merkel, who negotiated the ceasefire along with President Francois Hollande of France at all night talks with the leaders of Ukraine and Russia.

The Kremlin said the four leaders who negotiated the truce would continue to speak by phone.

Maxim, a rebel fighter at a checkpoint on a road from Donetsk to government-held Dnipropetrovsk, told Reuters it was indeed quiet but he did not expect the ceasefire to hold.

“Truce? I doubt it. Maybe 2-3 days and then they will start shooting again. This is all for show. The OSCE is driving around here, so of course they are being quiet,” he said. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has monitors to observe the truce.

The U.S. State Department, pressing its case that Russia was backing the rebels in the latest fighting, on Saturday released commercial photographs that spokeswoman Jen Psaki said showed “the Russian military has deployed large amounts of artillery and multiple rocket launchers around Debaltseve, where it is shelling Ukrainian positions.”

“We are confident that these are Russian military, not separatist systems,” she said.

Send to Kindle

ECB has track record with funding stick it holds over Greece

0
0
COMMENT ECB

With its power over emergency funding for banks, the European Central Bank wields a big stick that it has past form in waving to badger countries into the kind of aid-and-reform programme that Greece is desperate to escape.

The ECB is loath to pull the plug on Greece’s banks, a scenario that would almost certainly lead to the country’s exit from the euro zone, but if authorities in Athens refuse to extend the existing programme or sign up to a new one it may have little choice.

Time is short, and the ECB has Greece on a tight leash.

On Thursday, the ECB raised the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) available to Greek banks by about 5 billion euros ($5.7 billion) to 65 billion, extending the funding until just Feb. 18, when it will reassess the situation.

The ECB has already stopped accepting Greek bonds in return for funding, shifting the financing burden onto Greece’s central bank. However, the ECB retains control over that ELA funding, which is subject to tight conditions.

“If the Greek government says ‘we are not paying our debts’, then the banks are actually insolvent, because they hold a lot of Greek sovereign bonds,” said Volker Wieland, a member of the German government’s Council of Economic Experts, or ‘wise men’.

The rules governing ELA stipulate that the euro zone’s national central banks can only grant such funding temporarily and to solvent banks.

Denying Greek banks this funding “would be a way to bring Greece to an agreement quickly,” said Wieland.

CLOCK TICKING
This is a tactic the ECB has used before.

In March 2013, with Cyprus unwilling to accept the conditions for unlocking EU aid, the ECB set it a tight deadline to agree a bailout plan, threatening to cut off ELA funding to its banks. That quickly brought Cyprus to heel.

By contrast, Ireland used ELA to prop up its banks for months before the ECB agreed to a deal to ease its bank debts. But it also swallowed a severe dose of austerity medicine.

That made it a role model for the euro zone’s debt-ridden economies – something that Greece’s leftist government, with its anti-austerity demands, is clearly not.

The ECB’s Governing Council, which will reassess the Greek ELA on Wednesday, can restrict the funding operations if a two-thirds majority is in favour.

Some Council members’ patience is wearing thin.

Executive Board member Peter Praet said last week that ELA is “only for very short needs” and stressed the rules on provision to solvent banks should be applied. Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann has called for “strict standards with ELA”.

U-TURN, OR GAME OVER?
Taking a strict approach would leave the ECB in an awkward position if Greece failed to agree a programme at Monday’s meeting of euro zone finance ministers but nonetheless remained in the euro zone.

“If Greece does not sign up to a programme but it’s still in the euro zone, it is basically in a state of limbo,” said Andrew Bosomworth, a senior portfolio manager at Pimco in Munich.

ECB Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny said on Thursday a lack of agreement on a programme would “definitely not” automatically see Greece’s banks cut off from ELA.

Yet the solvency of Greece’s banks is tied closely to that of the state, which needs the funding tied to its bailout programme. The existing programme runs out on Feb. 28.

The ECB wants euro zone governments to work out a deal for Greece’s future. A failure to do so quickly could accelerate deposit outflows from Greek banks, which have increased as EU negotiations have stalled.

“The Greeks have to do a complete U-turn soon,” said Berenberg bank economist Christian Schulz. “If not, I think there is a big chance the ECB will limit ELA. Then it will be ‘game over’ for the Greek banks.”

Send to Kindle

Intensified fighting in southern Syria leaves scores dead

0
0
Photo archive: Syrian unrest continues

By Sylvia Westall

Heavy fighting in southern Syria has killed scores of pro-government and insurgent fighters in the past week, a group monitoring Syria’s war said on Sunday, forecasting even fiercer violence as the weather clears.

Syria’s army and allied combatants from Lebanon’s Hezbollah launched a large-scale offensive in the region last week against insurgent groups, including al Qaeda’s Syria wing Nusra Front and non-jihadist rebels.

Southern Syria is one of the last areas where mainstream rebels opposing President Bashar al-Assad have a foothold. They have lost ground to hardline Islamist militants in the four-year conflict.

More than 50 rebels have been killed in the fighting, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Rami Abdulrahman said 43 members of the Syrian army and allied groups had also died, including 12 officers.

“Now the weather is better there will be Syrian air strikes. With the air strikes they will move forward,” he said.

State news agency SANA said Syrian forces had inflicted “heavy losses” on “terrorist groups” in Deraa on Sunday after killing many enemy fighters and destroying their vehicles the previous day.

Syrian officials were not immediately available for comment on Sunday. State media and Hezbollah’s al-Manar channel have carried regular reports on the fighting in the south.

Abdulrahman, who tracks the war using sources on the ground, said around 5,000 pro-government troops were taking part in the offensive, which aims to take a triangle of rebel-held land from rural areas southwest of Damascus to Deraa city to Quneitra.

Sources on both sides of the battlefront have said the offensive aims to shield Damascus, the capital, which is a short drive to the north. The insurgents made significant gains in the south in recent months, taking several army bases.

“The situation remains hit-and-run between us and regime forces,” said Abu Gaiath, a spokesman for the rebel Alwiyat Seif al-Sham group. Its fighters are part of the “Southern Front” rebel alliance that has had support from states opposed to Assad.

Speaking via the Internet from inside Syria, he said fighting had calmed in the past two days but the military was aiming to encircle a village northeast of Quneitra and had captured towns and villages south of Damascus.

The Observatory’s Abdulrahman said 10 fighters on the government side had been executed after being accused of passing information to the enemy. He also said Nusra Front fighters had been killed in battle but exact numbers were not known.

Winter weather had curtailed fighting in the past few days and prevented air strikes, one of the army’s most potent weapons against insurgents. Abdulrahman said the army and allied groups planned to involve 10,000 fighters in the offensive.

Send to Kindle

Cyprus adjustment programme to be discussed in Eurogroup meeting, says Spokesman

0
0
Government spokesman Nikos Christodoulides

Cyprus economic adjustment programme will be discussed in the eurozone Finance Ministers meeting (Eurogroup) on Monday in Brussels, Government Spokesman said on Sunday.

Speaking to the press, Niκos Christodoulides said Minister of Finance Harris Georgiades and the Troika technocrats will brief the Eurogroup on the state of play of Cyprus` programme, stressing that the Cypriot programme has no relation with the Greek programme that also will be discussed in the meeting to begin on 15:00 local time in Brussels.

Cyprus is in breach of its programme targets as the Parliament suspended the implementation of a law on foreclosures a crucial prerequisite of the fifth review that took place in July 2014. The IMF postponed the disbursement of a €86 million as part of the programme`s sixth tranche amounting to €436 million.

A Troika (EC, ECB and the IMF) mission visited the island in late January for an informal review of the programme implementation but reached no conclusions.

“Given the further suspension of the effective application of the foreclosure framework, reaching staff-level agreement on the review was not possible during this visit,” the lenders said in a statement.

On Greece, Christodoulides said Athens and its lenders engaged in consultations on a technocratic level to codify their positions on the way forward. “This would assist tomorrow`s Eurogroup to have a more targeted discussion and explore the possibilities for a positive conclusion,” he added.

CNA

Send to Kindle

‘Significant agreements’ with Russia during the President’s visit in Moscow

0
0
Russian ambassador Stanislav Osadchiy

The Cypriot Government is in advanced talks with Russia regarding the signing of a number of cooperation agreements, said Sunday the Government Spokesman Nikos Christodoulides, referring to the upcoming visit of President Nicos Anastasiades in Moscow.

Commenting on statements by Russian Ambassador Stanislav Osatsi in an interview with “Kathimerini” newspaper, that Russian – Turkey relations is not an obstacle for Russia’s cooperation with Cyprus, Christodoulides said that “each country works solely trying to serve its own strategic interests and that is what Russia does, that is what the Republic of Cyprus does”.

“In this context we are in advanced processes, in advanced talks for the signing of a number of significant agreements and within the next week there will be more specific announcements by both the Russian side and the Republic of Cyprus,” he said.

At the same time he said that the long-standing positions of Russia on the Cyprus problem were
greatly appreciated by Nicosia and that in this context, the traditional relations between the two countries was an indisputable fact.

Regarding the reference of the Russian Ambassador on military cooperation, Christodoulides reiterated that there was a military agreement between the two countries that would be updated and concerns military material that Cyprus has purchased from Russia and that there was a dialogue underway to provide facilities to Russia in connection with Russian nationals in the area, in case of emergency.

CNA

Send to Kindle

CBC Board to review a proposal aiming at reducing lending rates

0
0
SEMA CYPRUS

Cyprus Central Bank Board of Directors will meet on Monday to review a proposal aiming at reducing lending rates in Cyprus.

Reliable sources told CNA it is highly likely the Central Bank will proceed with announcement of a interest rate reduction.

The proposal provides for a capital penalty to the commercial banks that offer interest rate margin of 2% over euribor on deposits. The proposal is along the lines of a 2013 CBC decision for imposing capital penalty to the banks offering a 3% interest margin over euribor.

The same sources said that Central Bank Governor Chrystalla Georghadji acquired the assurances of the commercial banks` CEOs that they will use the benefit stemming from the deposit rate reduction to reduce lending interest rate.

Georghadji met with the executive chiefs of the three Cypriot banks last Thursday. John Patrick Hourican, Bank of Cyprus Managing Director, said the bank endorses Georghadji`s proposal, while Bert Pijs, Hellenic Bank CEO noted the Bank will proceed with a 1% reduction of its base rate as soon as the Central Bank announces its final proposals.

Furthermore, the Cooperative sector already announced a 1% interest rate reduction on housing loans.

CNA

Send to Kindle

Battle rages for town where Ukraine rebels reject ceasefire (Update 2)

0
0
Members of the Ukrainian armed forces are seen not far from Debaltseve

By Anton Zverev

Pro-Russian rebels pounded encircled Ukrainian government forces on Monday and Kiev said it would not pull back heavy guns while a truce was being violated, leaving a European-brokered peace deal on the verge of collapse a day after it took effect.

The European Union announced a new list of Ukrainian separatists and Russians targeted with sanctions, to which Moscow promised an “adequate” response.

Fighting had subsided in many parts of eastern Ukraine after a ceasefire came into force from Sunday, under a deal reached last week in marathon talks involving the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine.

But the truce appears to have been stillborn in the part of the front where the most intensive fighting has taken place in recent weeks.

Rebels announced hours after it came into effect that they had no intention of observing the ceasefire at the town of Debaltseve, where they have been advancing since January and now have a Ukrainian unit all-but encircled.

Washington says the rebel operation around the town, which sits on a strategic railway hub, is being assisted by the Russian armed forces, which Moscow denies.

Reuters reporters near the front said Debaltseve was being relentlessly bombarded with artillery. At least six tanks as well as armoured personnel carriers and artillery could be seen in woods near Vuhlehirsk, 10 km (six miles) west of Debaltseve, which the rebels captured a week ago.

Military trucks headed along the main road in the direction of the town to regular bursts of shelling and the firing of Grad rockets and machineguns.

“You can hear there is no ceasefire,” said a rebel fighter with a black ski mask who gave his name as Scorpion, his nom de guerre, and blamed the fighting on Kiev’s forces. “Debaltseve is our land. And we will take Debaltseve.”

Kiev said its forces were shelled more than 100 times after the truce took effect. Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said government troops could not pull back their own heavy weapons, as set out in the agreement reached in the Belarussian capital Minsk, without a ceasefire that held.

“The pre-condition for withdrawal of heavy weapons is fulfilling Point One of the Minsk agreements – the ceasefire. One hundred and twelve attacks are not an indicator of a ceasefire. At the moment we are not ready to withdraw heavy weapons,” Lysenko told a news briefing in Kiev.

The military in Kiev said five of its soldiers had been killed and 25 wounded since the ceasefire took effect the previous day.

In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said it was important that the withdrawal of heavy weapons begins as scheduled on Tuesday. Merkel was the driving force behind intensive diplomacy to end the war last week, flying to Kiev, Moscow and Washington before staying up all night for the talks in Minsk that produced Thursday’s deal.

The West says Putin, who has called eastern Ukraine “New Russia”, has sent troops and weapons to back the rebels. Moscow denies this and accuses the West of waging a proxy war in Ukraine to seek “regime change” in Russia.

NEW SANCTIONS LIST

Agreement on the truce raised hopes of ending a conflict that has killed more than 5,000 people.

Fighting began after the overthrow of a Moscow-backed president in Ukraine last February and Russia’s annexation of the Crimea peninsula a month later.

An earlier ceasefire agreed last September collapsed when the rebels launched an advance last month. Western countries say they reserve the option of expanding economic sanctions on Russia over the crisis.

The EU’s new list of 19 people and nine organisations hit by asset freezes and travel bans was dominated by Ukrainian separatists but also targeted popular Russian singer Iosif Kobzon – sometimes dubbed Russia’s equivalent of Frank Sinatra – and two Russian deputy defence ministers.

“One thing is clear – the decision, which will be followed by an adequate response, runs contrary to common sense and will not help efforts to find a solution to the inter-Ukrainian conflict,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Two separatist leaders said in a statement the rebels would pull out of the ceasefire if Kiev made any further moves to abandon Ukraine’s neutral status – also a red line for Moscow, which fears Ukraine might seek to join the NATO alliance.

“Any attempt by Kiev to move towards NATO or any other anti-Russian military alliance is unacceptable to us,” rebel representatives Denis Pushilin and Vladislav Deinego were quoted by the separatist news outlet DAN as saying. “In such an event we would immediately suspend cooperation with Kiev and would consider the Minsk agreement void.”

A rebel commander, Eduard Basurin, said Ukrainian troops had violated the ceasefire 27 times in the past 24 hours.

Ukraine’s military also said separatist rebels had shelled a district of Donetsk city at around 1000 GMT.

Tensions over Ukraine have also been stoked by Russian military exercises near the border with Ukraine in the past few months. A Defence Ministry official was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying Moscow had concluded the latest military exercises, involving the strategic missile forces.

Send to Kindle

Police arrest two on suspicion of aiding Copenhagen shooter (Update 2)

0
0
Mourners stand in front of a synagogue in Krystalgade in Copenhagen

By Ole Mikkelsen and Sabina Zawadzki

Danish police have arrested two people on suspicion of aiding a gunman in deadly attacks on a synagogue and an event promoting free speech at the weekend that have shocked a nation proud of its record of safety and openness.

A 22-year-old gunman opened fire on a cafe in Copenhagen hosting a free speech debate on Saturday, killing one, and attacked a synagogue, killing a guard. The man was later shot dead by police in his neighborhood of Norrebro, a poor and largely immigrant part of the city with a reputation for gang violence.

The cafe event was attended by Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has received death threats for drawings of the Prophet Mohammad, and by French ambassador Francois Zimeray, who likened the attacks to the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris. Vilks and Zimeray were both unharmed.

“The two men are suspected of helping the perpetrator by giving him advice and assistance in connection with the shootings at Krudttøndenre and Krystalgade,” police said in a statement on Monday, referring to the locations of the attacks.

A Copenhagen judge later remanded the two suspects to 10-days detention.

The killings shocked Danes who pride themselves on a welcoming and safe society, and fed into a national debate about the role of immigrants, especially Muslims. The populist Danish People Party, which campaigned against the building of a mosque here, has strong support in the polls.

Denmark became a target of Islamists 10 years ago after the publication of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad, images that led to sometimes violent protests in the Muslim world.

The detention of possible accomplices may heighten fears that this was not just an attack by a lone wolf, but possibly backed by a more organised group of marginalised youths radicalised by time in jail or unemployment.

There was no suggestion that foreign jihadi groups played a role, however.

“We’re not talking about a fighter who has been abroad in Syria or Iraq. We are talking about a man who was known to the police due to his gang activities, criminal activities inside Denmark,” Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard told the BBC.

So far there have been no claims of responsibility from any radical groups, and no videos or statements from the killer.

Police said the man was known to them due to his past criminal activities. Danish media have widely reported that he had been released from prison just a few weeks before.

Danish media have widely named the gunman as Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein. Reuters could not confirm his identity and police declined to comment. But police records show that a man named El-Hussein was convicted of stabbing a man in the leg on a Copenhagen train in 2013.

RADICALISATION

Norrebro, where the gunman lived, mixes housing estates and seedy bars with bicycle paths and gardens. However, as house prices in Copenhagen ballooned, many young professionals have also made the area their home and it now hosts trendy music venues and at least one Michelin-starred restaurant.

Respected news broadcaster TV2 said El-Hussein’s parents were Palestinian refugees who came to Denmark after living in Jordan for several years.

TV2 obtained a psychiatric assessment of El-Hussein conducted in connection with the assault case for which he was imprisoned in which he told psychologists he had a happy childhood and good relations with his parents and a younger brother. However, he did not graduate from school, was unable to get into a university and later was homeless.

Citing two unnamed friends, Politiken daily newspaper said the man was passionate in discussions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and had a short fuse. They expressed shock that he should launch such attacks, however.

Memorial services will be staged across several cities on Monday evening and flags were flying at half mast.

The attacks dominated the local media, with questions raised about whether Denmark should tighten its security measures. Even before the attacks, parliament held an initial debate on whether to pass a law that would allow authorities to confiscate the passports of radicalised youths wanting to travel to the Middle East.

“I feel very sad. And mostly, I am sad because of all the hatred it causes afterwards,” commuter Nini Jepersen told Reuters at Copenhagen’s central station. “I hope we will all remember, we are all human and religion is not the cause of anything like this.”

Send to Kindle

Egypt bombs Islamic State targets in Libya after 21 Egyptians beheaded (Update 4)

0
0
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said that Egypt country faced a long, tough battle against militants

By Omar Fahmy and Yara Bayoumy

Egyptian jets bombed Islamic State targets in Libya on Monday, a day after the group there released a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians, drawing Cairo directly into the conflict across its border.

Egypt said the dawn strike hit militant camps, training sites and weapons storage areas in neighbouring Libya, where civil conflict has plunged the country into near anarchy and created havens for armed factions.

While Cairo is believed to have provided clandestine support to a Libyan general fighting a rogue government in Tripoli, the mass killings pushed President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi into open action, expanding his battle against Islamist militancy.

Libya’s air force also participated in Monday’s attack on Derna — an eastern coastal city seen as a base for Islamic State fighters in the oil-rich nation.

“There are casualties among individuals, ammunition and the (Islamic State) communication centres,” Libyan air force commander Saqer al-Joroushi told Egyptian state television, adding that between 40 to 50 militants were killed.

It was not possible to confirm those numbers.

“More air strikes will be carried out today and tomorrow in coordination with Egypt,” said Joroushi, who is loyal to Libya’s internationally recognised government, which has set up camp in the eastern city of Tobruk after losing control of Tripoli.

The rival Tripoli-based parliament, which is supported by some Islamist groups, condemned Monday’s strike as an assault on the country’s sovereignty.

Cairo also called on the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria to broaden the scope of their operations to include Libya, highlighting how the militant group is expanding its reach around the Arab world.

Since the fall of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, a number of Islamist movements have taken hold. Recently, some have declared ties to Islamic State and claimed high-profile attacks in what appears to be intensifying campaign.

Last month, Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack on the Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli, killing nine people, including an American security contractor and a Frenchman.

CHRISTIAN CONDEMNATION

Egypt is not the only Arab nation sucked into confrontation with Islamic State by the gruesome killings of its citizens.

Jordan has taken a leading role in conducting air strikes against the group in Syria and Iraq this month after the militants released a video showing a captured Jordanian pilot being burned alive in a cage.

The 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians, who had gone to Libya in search of work, were marched to a beach, forced to kneel and then beheaded on video, which was broadcast via a website that supports Islamic State.

Before the killings, one of the militants stood with a knife in his hand and said: “Safety for you crusaders is something you can only wish for.” Afterwards, he says: “And we will conquer Rome, by the will of Allah.”

The head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, condemned the killings. “They were killed simply for the fact that they were Christians,” he said at the Vatican. “It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants. They are Christians!”

Egypt’s Coptic Christian pope was one of the public figures who backed Sisi when he, as army chief, ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against him.

The beheadings could pile pressure on Sisi to show he is in control of Egypt’s security, even though he has already made progress against Islamist militant insurgents in the Sinai.

Egypt has been trying to project an image of stability ahead of an investment conference in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh in March designed to lure billions of dollars into an economy battered by turmoil since the 2011 uprising.

“It’s swift and decisive, it’s not about strategy, it’s about containing anger within Egypt,” said Hassan Hassan, co-author of a book on Islamic State.

“Just like in Jordan, it’s more about saving face, saying: ‘You can’t mess with us’. …. It’s likely to evolve into a sustained strategy of helping in the fight against ISIS (Islamic State) in neighbouring countries.”

Sisi sees radical groups in Libya as a major threat to Egypt’s security. Fears the crisis there could spill across the border have prompted Egypt to upgrade its military hardware.

France has said Egypt will order 24 Rafale fighter jets, a naval frigate and other equipment in a deal to be signed in Cairo on Monday worth more than 5 billion euros ($5.7 billion).

French President Francois Hollande said on Monday that he and Sisi wanted the United Nations Security Council to discuss Libya and take new measures against the Islamic State.

Italy also called for a U.N. response.

“In Libya, the situation is difficult but if it wants to, the international community has all the instruments necessary to be able to intervene,” said Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi after talking by telephone to Sisi.

Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous nation, has not taken part directly in the U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic State strongholds in Iraq and Syria, focusing instead on the increasingly complex insurgency at home.

Security officials say militants in Libya have established ties with Sinai Province, a group operating from Egypt’s vast Sinai Peninsula that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

Sinai Province has killed hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police since Sisi toppled Mursi and launched a crackdown which killed hundreds of Islamists and jailed thousands of others.

Send to Kindle

Forces loyal to president seize parts of Yemen’s economic hub

0
0
Protesters shout slogans against the Shi'ite Muslim Houthi movement, in the southwestern city of Taiz

By Mohammed Mukhashaf

Forces loyal to Yemen’s president said they seized strategic buildings in the southern city of Aden on Monday after a five-hour battle, escalating a civil conflict that threatens to split the country in two.

The militias supporting Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi wrested control of parts of Yemen’s economic hub including, sources said, its main power station and intelligence headquarters from security forces allied to the Houthi movement.

The country’s north is dominated by the Shi’ite Muslim Houthis, who completed a takeover of the capital Sanaa last month, while in the south forces loyal to Hadi and separatists seeking to restore the former South Yemen appear to be in charge.

The Houthis forced Hadi to resign during their takeover, but he remains de jure president as parliament has yet to give its assent. They tried to dissolve the assembly two weeks ago, but its largest group, the General People’s Congress party (GPC) objected.

The GPC said on Monday it had withdrawn its objection, boosting chances of a consensus in multi-party talks in Sanaa on picking a new national administration.

But while negotiations in Sanaa have dragged on, violence has escalated, filling the political vacuum left in January when the Houthis seized the presidential palace, also forcing Prime Minister Khaled Bahah’s government to resign.

Tens of thousands of Yemenis demonstrated in several cities on Saturday against Houthi rule as clashes between Houthis and Sunnis in a southern region left 26 dead.

‘SITUATION UNDER CONTROL’

In five hours of clashes overnight, sources in the Popular Committees of Aden run by Hadi’s brother, Nasser, said they had also taken Aden’s television station and the administrative building of its free trade zone, with the loss of three fighters.

The Popular Committees confirmed in a statement that several government buildings previously guarded by the security forces had been taken.

Aden’s governor Abdel-Aziz bin Habtour, in remarks carried on a Defence Ministry news website, said clashes had take place but denied Hadi loyalists had taken over the television station.

“The situation is under control and what has happened is being dealt with,” the site quoted the governor, whose political affiliations put him closer to Hadi than to the Houthis, as saying.

In past weeks, several countries including the United States, major European nations and Saudi Arabia have closed their embassies in Sanaa due to the wider unrest, with Turkey on Monday becoming the latest to withdraw its diplomats.

The United Nations Security Council on Sunday called for the Houthis to quit government institutions, threatening further steps if the violence does not stop.

But in the U.N.-brokered talks in Sanaa on Monday, the GPC said it withdrew its objection to the Houthi dissolution of parliament, raising hopes of an agreement to create a new assembly.

The parties were still in talks to agree on a presidential council and a new government.

Send to Kindle

Minister on the spot over appointment of transplant doctor (Updated)

0
0
surgery2

By George Psyllides

THE AUDITOR-GENERAL said on Monday that a transplant agreement between the state and a private doctor did not conform with the terms of the competition and censured the health ministry for handling the case in an irresponsible manner.

Odysseas Michaelides also said that the explanation given by the minister was apparently based on false information.
Minister Philippos Patsalis swiftly ordered all the departments involved to respond in writing to the questions raised by the auditor.

The issue became public just days after the ministry announced a six-month agreement with nephrologist Vasilis Hadjianastasiou as a temporary solution to serve the patients of the Nicosia hospital’s transplant clinic.

Michaelides questioned why the amount per transplant was almost double the established maximum price – €3,650 compared to €2,000.

This, according to Michaelides, meant that Hadjianastasiou would collect €91,250 in six months for 25 transplants, the number included in the terms.

Considering there was a €50,000 limit, the doctor would either provide services for a shorter period of time, or scheduled operations would have to be cancelled, Michaelides said.

The auditor also questioned why the ministry agreed to pay Hadjianastasiou 3,650 euros, when for three Greek doctors it paid a total of €3,300 per transplant and post op treatment and observation.

In a letter to the minister, Michaelides noted that the first documents drawn for the competition spoke of 14 operations per six months – a figure that could not be adequately substantiated, according to the auditor.

The minister told Michaelides afterwards that he expected 16 transplants every six months but the number was changed to 25 so that it would match the €50,000 limit

Michaelides reminded the minister that the terms of a competition were binding “and should not be handled in such a frivolous manner”.

The auditor-general was also told that the €3,300 paid to the three Greek doctors was in fact only for one and that the other two provided their services for free.

“This does not correspond to reality since the payment of the €3,300 was in the form of three separate payments (€1,100 each) into the bank account given by each doctor,” Michaelides said.

He reminded the minister that it was a criminal offence for ministers to knowingly provide false information to the auditor-general and asked him to explain where he got it from.

In a statement, the health minister said he has asked all departments to provide the necessary answers to the auditor’s questions.

He reiterated that the agreement was a temporary solution until the problem at the Nicosia general hospital’s transplant clinic was resolved permanently.

At the same time reports said the doctor in question has asked Michaelides to withdraw a statement suggesting he was profiteering.

The auditor referred the case to the island’s medical association (PIS) after it emerged that he initially asked for €9,000 per transplant but finally settled on €3,650.

Michaelides suggested that the doctor’s stance was a violation of medical ethics. The fact that he later settled for €3,650 could justify censuring him for profiteering, he said.

PIS said it will examine the case though it stressed that based on EU directives, it was not authorised to intervene in setting fees.

The association said it was very difficult to prove “unethical behaviour regarding the medical fee, especially in cases where it is set after negotiations that arrive at a mutually acceptable deal as is the case in question.”
Earlier, the Nicosia-Kyrenia medical association cleared the doctor of any wrongdoing.

Send to Kindle

Supermarkets hit back over shop hours

0
0
Shopping  on Sundays

By George Psyllides

SUPERMARKET owners on Monday accused opposition MPs of pandering to the demands of convenience stores by tabling a bill stripping the labour minister of the power to issue decrees extending shop hours.

The legislative proposal aims to put an end to the labour minister’s decrees – issued on ad hoc basis – and so force the government to explicitly and comprehensively regulate the matter of shop opening hours by introducing relevant legal regulations.

“They want to satisfy a small group of professionals who want to maintain their privileges in the market at the expense of the entire economy, growth and employment,” the supermarket association said in a statement.

The bill is authored by AKEL, and co-sponsored by DIKO MP Angelos Votsis and EDEK deputy Roula Mavronikola. It is expected to be discussed by the plenum in 15 days.

AKEL is pushing for a comprehensive overhaul of the current regime, as it opposes the government decision to extend shop hours across the island (previously reserved for tourist areas only) to include Wednesday afternoons and Sundays.

The move is also opposed by POVEK, the small shop owners association.

The government introduced the measure in July 2013 in a bid to boost the economy.

Supermarkets accused the parties of seeking to protect the interest of convenience stores instead of the broader benefits that Cypriot consumers will have through healthy and fair competition.

“SYKADE’s (convenience store association) version of the smooth operation of the market is closing shops in certain areas on certain days and having restrictions for its own protection,” the association said.

AKEL says the measure is a flop, arguing that it only benefitted large retailers at the expense of small businesses, which cannot compete.

The party has cited its own figures showing that hundreds of convenience stores and bakeries have shut down, with some 2,700 people losing their jobs.

But retailers have hailed the measure as a success, which not only boosted the market but also provided employment to over 6,000.

SYKADE responded to the supermarkets’ “unfounded and unjustified” accusations.

Its chairman Giorgos Theodoulou said they did not wish any business to close or people to lose their jobs.

“We know well what this means, since 500 convenience stores have shut down, and other small and medium businesses close each day,” Theodoulou said.

He accused supermarkets of aiming at concentrating the whole retail market in their hands.

 

Send to Kindle

Turkey expresses outrage over EP resolution on Missing

0
0
Digging for the remains of Missing persons

By Jean Christou

THE TURKISH foreign ministry has slammed a resolution passed by the European Parliament (EP) last week condemning the relocation of missing persons remains from graves in the north by the Turkish military, ostensibly to cover up the existence of mass graves.

In a statement on the Turkish foreign ministry’s website, spokesman Tanju Bilgin said the resolution was “entirely a unilateral decision” and undermined the reputation of the European Parliament.

Bilgin said the issue of missing persons in Cyprus, “which is a human tragedy” was sensitive for both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.

“Indeed, there are many Turkish Cypriots who are still missing since the 1963-1974 period,” he said.

“Although the European Commission has already recognised this fact, it is unacceptable that there are no references to the missing Turkish Cypriots in the resolution. It has been an extremely unfortunate development that the EP ignored the losses of Turkish Cypriots and adopted a biased resolution on such a sensitive issue that should have been addressed by staying away from political polemics.”

He said the resolution would not make any positive contribution to the work of the tripartite Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP), which is financially supported by Turkey, along with a number of other of countries. “We will not accept this unilateral resolution in any form,” Bilgin added.
In its resolution last week, the EP condemned the “relocation” that took place in the village of Ornithi – where four burial sites were disinterred, two of which were the sites of mass graves. Evidence suggested the graves had been previously exhumed and the remains of 71 missing civilians intentionally removed. The EP said this was “a great disrespect to the missing persons and a gross violation of the rights of their families to finally know the real conditions of the deaths of their loved ones.”

MEPs called for the immediate and complete verification of the fate of the missing persons and urged the Turkish government “to immediately cease removal of the remains from the mass graves and to comply with international law, international humanitarian law and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judgements” and “to fully implement its obligation following the decision of the ECHR to compensate the families of the missing persons.”

On top of that, also last week, it emerged that the family of a Greek Cypriot who went missing in 1974 were given bones belonging to three other people, along with his remains. Giorgos Fori’s remains were found in October in a mass grave at Ornithi, one of the sites that had been excavated by the Turkish military during which bones were removed.

The CMP said on Monday in a statement that following the recent developments, the three members – one Greek Cypriot, one Turkish Cypriot and a UN representative – would hold a news conference on Wednesday to discuss the controversy surrounding the identification process.

Around 2,000 people – 1,508 Greek Cypriots and 493 Turkish Cypriots – were listed as missing since the intercommunal fighting in the 60s and the invasion. The CMP has so far identified 430 Greek Cypriots and 138 Turkish Cypriots.

Its terms of reference do not include attributing responsibility for the deaths of any missing persons or making findings as to the cause of death.

 

Send to Kindle

Opposition vows to continue blocking foreclosures

0
0
Labour Minister Zeta Emiliandou at the House committee meeting on Monday

By Elias Hazou

THERE APPEARS to be no end in sight to the domestic debacle over the foreclosures law, with opposition parties set this week to reconfirm its suspension which they passed a fortnight ago.

AKEL, DIKO, EDEK and the Greens have said they will reject the president’s referral of the suspension law when the matter comes up before the plenum on Thursday.

At the end of January the opposition pushed through the House a bill suspending in its entirety the enforcement of repossessions-related legislation, until March 2.

President Nicos Anastasiades subsequently refused to sign off and sent the bill back to parliament. The president cites the economic risks to Cyprus from not complying with the terms of the bailout programme as a result of non-implementation of foreclosures.

During a joint session of the House interior affairs and finance committees on Monday, the same parties vowed to continue blocking foreclosures until such time as a safety net for borrowers and mortgagors, the so-called insolvency framework – a set of laws governing bankruptcy – has been enacted.

Labour Minister Zeta Emilianidou, deputising for the finance minister who was in Brussels attending the Eurogroup meeting, appealed to MPs not to insist on blocking repossessions.

She suggested an alternative – exempting only primary residences from repossessions until March 31.

By then, she said, the fifth and last bill comprising the insolvency framework should come to parliament, thus satisfying the opposition’s demands.

Non-compliance with the bailout programme meant Cyprus could not borrow from the markets or be eligible for the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing programme, Emilianidou noted.

Weighing in, Andreas Charalambous, a senior finance ministry official, told deputies that the fifth insolvency bill – relating to personal bankruptcy – could be tabled to the House “realistically” by the week after next.

The draft was ready, he said, but the document has yet to be green-lighted by the troika of lenders. Cyprus’ international creditors have flagged a clause which lets off the hook guarantors of bad debt.

In a written statement issued later, DIKO leader and chairman of the House finance committee Nicholas Papadopoulos said the government has been unable to guarantee that the troika will agree to a temporary exemption of primary homes from repossession proceedings.

“Do we have the president’s assurance that this suggestion will not stymie the bailout programme? Unless we have a clear position on this, we cannot take a stance,” Papadopoulos said.

Opposition parties say their motive is to protect the man on the street, warning that enforcement of the foreclosures law will open the floodgates to repossessions of homes and small business premises.

But as the Mail has earlier reported, Central Bank data shows that loans taken out on owner-occupied housing account for just 14 per cent of all debt in arrears.

And this weekend, Politis reported that €5.26bn – half of Bank of Cyprus’ non-performing loans – are held by just 30 big debtors representing 45 companies.

The data strongly suggests that primary residences are not top of the banks’ priority list in chasing down bad debtors.

 

Send to Kindle

After weeks of uncertainty, interest rates lowered

0
0
Central Bank announced an interest rate drop for commercial banks

By Angelos Anastasiou

THE CENTRAL Bank of Cyprus on Monday announced a reduction of its maximum deposit rate for commercial banks by one per cent, in hopes that this will encourage them to lower their own interest rates.

“The CBC, having considered the governor’s prior consultations on this matter with representatives of the banks, is certain that credit institutions will proceed to commensurate reductions in lending rates promptly,” an announcement said.

The Central Bank left a window open for further measures to combat the problem of extremely high lending rates by Cypriot banks.

“The CBC will closely monitor the trajectory of lending rates and, if necessary, will consider adopting additional measures in future,” the statement warned.

The announcement came after a string of meetings Governor Chrystalla Georghadji had with the heads of major local banks – Bank of Cyprus (BoC) CEO John Patrick Hourican and Hellenic Bank director Bert Pijls – who pledged to support the CBC’s efforts to lower interest rates.

Indeed, minutes after the CBC’s statement, the Bank of Cyprus – the island’s largest lender – announced it was lowering its interest rates by one per cent across the board.

“The Bank of Cyprus announces the lowering of all basic interest rates by one per cent, with no exceptions,” it said in a statement.

“The benefit will relate to all active loans connected with the bank’s basic interest rate.”

The BoC said the move will impact 180,000 accounts belonging to 94,000 customers who will incur a total benefit of €5.7 million in the form of lower loan repayments.

Additionally, it said, non-performing loans being serviced will incur an additional benefit of 2 per cent.

Last week, the Co-operative Central Bank announced a one per cent reduction in serviced mortgages, a month after it had done the same with agricultural and student loans.

The issue of high lending rates – the cost of money – has been the object of heated political debate for months, as it had been considered a major barrier to restoring economic activity.

Last month, Georghadji told the House that rate reductions would be forthcoming “within two weeks”, but a CBC spokesman was on state radio the next day arguing that her remarks were misinterpreted, and that a committee of experts would prepare proposals for the CBC board within a fortnight.

This back-and-forth created some uncertainty, but Monday’s announcement – coupled with private conversations with bank heads – appear to have yielded the much-anticipated results.

Deputy government spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos welcomed the CBC’s move, saying the rate reduction was a government goal for 2015.

“The government feels that following the Co-operative Central Bank’s lowering of lending rates for agricultural, student, and housing loans, [Monday’s] decision is an initial positive step towards further reductions of interest rates in Cyprus, thus creating the conditions to expedite a return to growth, while easing the burden on households and businesses,” the deputy spokesman’s statement read.

Send to Kindle

Greece given until Friday on bailout extension (Update 3)

0
0
A protester waves a Greek national flag during anti-austerity pro-government demonstration in front of the parliament in Athens

By Renee Maltezou and Jan Strupczewski

GREECE rejected a proposal by its euro zone partners on Monday that it should accept a six-month extension of its international bailout programme while sticking to the terms of its agreement with lenders, casting talks on its debt into disarray.

EU officials said the talks were over unless Athens changed its mind after a leftist-led government won power last month and vowed to scrap the 240 billion euro bailout, reverse austerity policies and end cooperation with EU/IMF inspectors.

A Greek official said Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis had rebuffed a draft statement put to him at a euro zone finance ministers’ meeting in Brussels that spoke of Greece extending the current programme.

“Some people’s insistence on the Greek government implementing the bailout is unreasonable and cannot be accepted,” the official said. “Those who keep returning to this issue are wasting their time. Under such circumstances, there cannot be a deal today.”

But Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chaired the meeting which broke up after four hours said Greece needs to seek an extension of its international bailout this week.

“The general feeling in the Eurogroup is still that the best way forward would be for the Greek authorities to seek an extension of the programme,” Dijsselbloem told a news conference.

“That would allow us to work on future arrangements … and allow for the Greeks to use the normal kind of flexibility in a programme, change measures, put other measures into place,” he said.

He said the Eurogroup could accept a request for an extension from Greece this week with an extraEurogroup meeting on Friday, but no later

European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters after the talks broke up after less than four hours that euro zone parters were willing to resume talks with Greece if and when it changed its position.

“It was clearly decided that if and once this request for an extension of the bailout is there, if there are certain commitments from the Greek authorities to stick to the programme, then the chairman of theEurogroup will announce the next Eurogroup,” Dombrovskis said.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said before the talks that Greece had lived beyond its means for a long time and there was no appetite in Europe for giving it any more money without guarantees it was getting its finances in order.

Failure to reach a deal would raise fears that Greece could be forced out of the euro zone. The European Central Bank is due to review on Wednesday how much longer it is prepared to allow the Greek central bank to continue providing emergency funds to keep Greek banks afloat.

As the meeting in Brusssels broke up, a senior Greek banker said Greece’s stance boded ill for the markets and the banks.
“It is a very negative development for the economy and the banks. The outflows will continue. We are losing 400-500 million every day and that means about 2 billion every week. We will have pressure on stocks and bond yields tomorrow.”

Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis had spelled out in a combative New York Times article his country’s refusal to be treated as a “debt colony” subjected to “the greatest austerity for the most depressed economy”.

MONEY FLEEING

Varoufakis, who has ruled out requesting an extension, said in the article: “The lines that we have presented as red will not be crossed…

“Our government is not asking our partners for a way out of repaying our debts. We are asking for a few months of financial stability that will allow us to embark upon the task of reforms that the broad Greek population can own and support, so we can bring back growth and end our inability to pay our dues.”

An opinion poll showed 68 percent of Greeks want a “fair” compromise with euro zone partners while 30 percent said the government should stand tough even if it means reverting to the drachma currency. The poll found 81 percent want to stay in the euro.

Deposit outflows in Greece have picked up. JP Morgan bank said money was fleeing Greek banks at about 2 billion euros a week, leaving 14 weeks before the banks run out of collateral.

The European Central Bank has allowed the Greek central bank to provide emergency lending to its banks, but a failure of the debt talks could mean the imposition of capital controls.

Euro zone member Cyprus was forced to close its banks for two weeks and introduce capital controls during a 2013 crisis. Such controls would need to be imposed when banks are closed. Greek banks are closed next Monday for a holiday.

The ECB will review its policy on Wednesday in the light of the Brussels talks, but an ECB source said it was unlikely to pull the plug on Greek banks as long as terms of a future programme were still under discussion.

Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had requested a bridge programme for a few months while a new debt relief deal is agreed to replace the existing bailout, which has already forced drastic cutbacks onto ordinary Greeks.

The current programme expires at the end of the month. Some of the problem is semantic. The Greekswill not countenance anything that smacks of an “extension” to the old bailout or a continued role for the supervisory “troika” of international lenders.

Send to Kindle

Increased abuse of animals coming to light

0
0
animal abuse

By Evie Andreou

Everyone involved in animal abuse cases is accountable to justice, the Animal Party and Limassol police said on Tuesday.

Head of the Animal Party, Kyriacos Kyriacou said animal welfare issues need to be embedded in the political system.

“Over the last two years, we have witnessed barbaric and ruthless behaviour toward voiceless animals,” Kyriacou said.

He reiterated his party’s position that nothing will be swept under the carpet and that the party will make sure the right messages are being received by those responsible for enforcing the law.
“Citizens have the right to know what is taking place concerning animal welfare issues,” Kyriacou said.

Mentioning an abandoned dog, which led to the issue of the first ex-parte decree issued for an animal in January, the recent skinning of a cat in Paphos and the stabbing of a dog in Limassol,

Kyriacou said there are serious problems not just with pets but also with zoos, abattoirs, farms and the import of exotic animals.
“Another recent problem is the mysterious disappearance of dogs,” Kyriacou said, attributing it to dog fights.

Dog fights is an issue under investigation, Limassol police chief Kypros Michaelides said.

He added that after orders from headquarters, police have intensified efforts to clamp down on animal abuse and neighbourhood policemen are involved in the process as well as specially trained officers.

He said last year 18 serious cases concerning animal abuse were reported in Limassol, and two in 2015 but that many other cases do not become known either because there is no evidence or because people hesitate to proceed.

Michaelides also said the increase in reports was due to the joint efforts of the police, the Animal Party and animal welfare organisations that have increased their efforts.
“Maybe some people have not yet realised that we as Cyprus must look and act like a European country; unfortunately the latest incidents are such that do anything but honour us,” Michaelides said.

He said the campaign will continue and urged the public not to hesitate reporting incidents of animal abuse and not to be afraid that they will be engaging in procedural adventures, since they can either anonymously complain to the citizen’s hotline, 1460, or to promote a complaint by third parties, such as animal welfare organisations and the Animal Party.

Last week, a 64-year-old man was found guilty of killing his dog by tying it to a car and dragging it through the streets of Limassol on Christmas Day in 2013. He is to be sentenced on Friday.

Send to Kindle
Viewing all 6907 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images