A Slovenian delegation of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Food will pay a three-day visit to Cyprus, as of Monday.
The delegation comprises the chairwoman of the Committee Iva Dimic, vice chairman Simon Zajc and member Ljubo Žnidar.
The Slovenian delegation will be received by the President of the House Yiannakis Omirou and will have a meeting with the Chairman and the members of Cyprus’ Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources in the presence of the Chairwoman of the Parliamentary Committee Refugees, Enclaved, Missing and Adversely Affected Persons Skevi Koutra Koukouma and representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment.
The Slovenian deputies will visit specialised crops in Famagusta, the Kalopanayiotis dam, the Dhekelia desalination plant and sites of historic and cultural interest.

MP Athina Kyriakidou will participate in the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) 50th anniversary meeting of the Committee of Experts.
The meeting will take place at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg from March 17 to 20.
Kyriakidou will participate in the meeting in her capacity as vice chairwoman of the Subcommittee on the Rights of Minorities of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
Representatives of the Council of Europe institutions and scientific centres and organisations that promote multiculturalism and the preservation and cultivation of linguistic diversity in Europe will attend the event.
Kyriakidou will travel to Paris to participate in a meeting of the No Hate Parliamentary Alliance and another meeting of the Committee on Equality and Non Discrimination of PACE.

By George Psyllides

Auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides briefed the president on Saturday about a potential conflict of interest regarding Central Bank (CBC) Governor Chrystalla Georghadji who found herself under fire anew this week after claims voiced by a CBC executive.
Michaelides met Nicos Anastasiasiades at the presidential palace as part of a bid to resolve the political crisis arising from allegations concerning the island’s top banker.
Reports suggested the president would ask for Georghadji’s and the CBC board’s resignation but he cannot force the governor to step down if she refuses to go.
There was also the European Central Bank to consider as Georghadji would be the second governor the current administration is having trouble with. Georghadji’s predecessor, Panicos Demetriades, received a generous payout of around €250,000.
Speaking after the meeting, attended by the finance minister and the undersecretary to the president, Michealides said he informed the president about some findings concerning the governor.
“At this point we will not do anything further. We will wait to see how the president handles the matter,” the auditor said.
Michaelides did not get into the details, saying their findings were included in a letter, which has been leaked.
“I simply informed the president about the contents of our letter,” he added.
In the letter, Michaelides suggested that Georghadji violated the terms of her office because she took part in meetings of the Resolution Authority that dealt with cases regarding former Laiki strongman Andreas Vgenopoulos.
Vgenopoulos, widely held as being responsible for the collapse of the island’s banking sector, is represented by Georghadji’s ex husband, a lawyer.
Michaelides also suggested there was conflict of interest because her daughter and her son, as heirs, would reap the benefits of a potential legal victory.
He also insisted that her daughter, Marianna, still had interests in her father’s firm.
Marianna has denied this repeatedly.
The latest twist in the Central Bank saga took place on Thursday during a meeting of the House Ethics Committee.
Executive Stelios Kiliaris claimed that the governor had said during a meeting at the bank that deputy attorney-general Rikkos Erotokritou had been ‘bribed’ during a private case he brought against the Resolution Authority, made up of the CBC board.
A probe has been ordered by the attorney-general.
He also suggested that Georghadji had put together a list of MPs with non-performing loans to be used as leverage.
Georghadji denied the allegations. No minutes were kept during that CBC meeting.
Demetris Syllouris, the deputy chairman of the ethics committee, briefed Anastasiades on what went on.
“The president is fully informed about what happened.”
He added that they will wait and see how the matter was handled by the attorney-general and deal with issues that may not be investigated by him.
Attorney-general Costas Clerides was scheduled to see Anastasiades at 6.30pm on Saturday.
The president was scheduled to meet all the party leaders on Sunday morning. Anastasides will see CBC Governor Chrystalla Georghadji in the afternoon, followed by the CBC board.
Parties have demanded Georghadji’s and the board’s resignations.

By Ahmed Rasheed

Iraqi forces and mainly Shi’ite militiamen battling to wrest full control of the city of Tikrit from Islamic State militants paused their offensive for a second day on Saturday as they awaited reinforcements, a military source said.

More than 20,000 troops and Iranian-backed Shi’ite fighters entered Tikrit on Wednesday, having retaken areas to the north and south in a campaign launched almost two weeks ago, Iraq’s biggest offensive against the militants yet.

Islamic State fighters still hold about half the city and have booby-trapped buildings and laid improvised explosive devices and roadside bombs, the source in the local military command centre told Reuters.

More “well-trained forces” were needed for the street-by-street battles that recapturing the whole city would require, the source said, speaking by phone from Tikrit. He did not give a timeline for their arrival.

Victory for Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government in Tikrit against the Sunni insurgents would set the tone for a broader confrontation in Mosul, the largest city in the north.

“We do not need a large number, just one or two thousand. We need professional personnel and soldiers,” the source told Reuters.
Military commanders had “reached a decision to halt the operation until a suitable, carefully set plan is in place” to break into central Tikrit, the source said.

Islamic State overran Iraq’s weakened army last year, seizing large amounts of territory where they have declared a caliphate and imposed brutal rule.
In Tikrit, which lies about 160 km (100 miles) north of Baghdad, the extremist group still controls central districts and a complex of palaces built by Saddam Hussein, the executed former Iraqi leader.

Iraqi security expert Hisham al-Hashemi doubted the city could be retaken with ground forces only, saying airpower was required to clear the many buildings which the IS fighters had rigged with explosives.

As the army and Shi’ite militias, who are known as Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation), recaptured IS-held towns near Tikrit, a small number of residents who had fled the militants’ advance began to return home. Nearly two million Iraqis were displaced last year and officials have said that securing their return is a priority.

On Friday, some 200 families went home to the town of al-Alam with a security personnel escort from the government-held town of Dhuluiya, police sources there said.

While the offensive on Tikrit has been put on hold, clashes in the environs continue. In the town to the north of al-Malha, near the Beiji oil refinery, IS fighters were fighting police and Hashid Shaabi forces, local police said.

Iraqi forces were advancing toward the strategically important al-Fatha bridge, which was blown up by the militants this week, Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan told Reuters.

Kurdish peshmerga forces, backed by Shi’ite militia fighters, have been attacking Islamic State-held towns and villages south and west of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, peshmerga sources said.

Their advances, unlike the Tikrit battle to the southwest, have been backed by sustained air strikes from a US-led coalition.
Islamic State also carried out attacks in Ramadi, about 90 km west of Baghdad. Two suicide car bombers attacked security personnel positions, killing two policemen, a police source said. The attacks were followed by clashes between IS fighters and Iraqi security forces in the city centre, he added.

And on the outskirts of Samarra, a sacred Shi’ite city being used as a rear base for the Tikrit offensive further north, militants attacked an Iraqi army unit on Friday, two security officials said. One said 11 soldiers had been captured by the militants while the second said some soldiers had gone missing.

A bomb near a busy market killed 4 people and wounded 11 in the Sab al-Bour neighbourhood of northern Baghdad, police and medics said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks.

By Michael Georgy

British oil company BP finalised on Saturday a £8.13 billion deal with Egypt to develop five trillion cubic feet of gas resources and 55 million barrels of condensates in the West Nile Delta.

The supply deal, signed at an international investment conference in the Sharm El-Sheikh resort, will help Egypt as it tackles its worst energy crisis in decades.

Rising energy consumption and decreasing production have turned it from a net energy exporter to a net importer in the last few years and caused persistent blackouts.

BP has said that production from the project was expected to reach up to 1.2 billion cubic feet a day, equivalent to about 25 per cent of Egypt’s current gas production.

BP said it had about 65 per cent equity in the project partnership. Production is expected to start in 2017.

Results from the Cyprus Football Championship on Saturday, March 14:

Omonia 1-1 APOEL
Apollon 1-0 AEK
Anorthosis 3-1 Ermis

With Saturday’s results, Apollon leapfrog APOEL at the top of the table with 51 points, one ahead of the defending champions.

By Justin Palmer

Resilient Wales withstood a second-half battering to blow the Six Nations wide open and end holders Ireland’s grand slam hopes with a 23-16 victory on Saturday.

Wales, 15-9 ahead at half-time thanks to four Leigh Halfpenny penalties and a Dan Biggar drop goal, were forced into intense defence for much of the second half but secured breathing space when replacement centre Scott Williams burst through for a try.

Ireland, with captain Paul O’Connell winning his 100th Test cap, hit back with a converted penalty try to before Halfpenny’s fifth penalty took Wales seven clear although they were again clinging on at the end.

The destiny of the title could now come down to points difference with Ireland and Wales having three wins from four games.

England, who host Scotland later at Twickenham (7pm), could also move to six points with a victory.

It has been one hundred years since the genocide of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire – a massacre in which a million and a half Armenians were murdered.

For one hundred years too many, the denial of this crime has been at the heart of the policy and diplomacy of the Turkish state, which was founded in part on the expropriation of the Armenians and the destruction of their culture.

One hundred years on, the denial or the condoning of this genocide are still causing victims, feeding violent nationalism and racism, breeding conflict and stifling democracy and freedom of expression in Turkey.

For several years, a growing number of voices have made themselves heard at the heart of civil society in Turkey, with increasing support from European civil society, to recognize the reality of the genocide and to commemorate this crime in Turkey itself. It is in this context that, since 2010, commemorations of the Armenian genocide have been held in Turkey.

This year, the Turkish state has cynically planned commemorations of the battle of Gallipoli on April 24 in a new attempt to overshadow the Armenian genocide. In addition, Turkish officials are engaged in a charm offensive to prevent international involvement in the commemorations of the Armenian genocide.

We Europeans, Armenians, Turks and Kurds, who have initiated, organized, supported or participated in these commemorations, call on all those who care for the truth to commemorate together, peacefully, in Istanbul, on April 24the genocide perpetrated against the Armenians.

The commemoration of this genocide concerns not only Turks and Armenians, but all of humanity. Today, the front line in the fight against genocide denial is also at the heart of Turkish society. Our shared campaign is universalist in character. It is a future-oriented campaign for solidarity, for justice and for the promotion of democracy.

It is a campaign of solidarity among all those who fight for historical truth. The dividing line is not between Turks and Armenians, but between those who fight against denial and those who promote it, irrespective of their origins or nationalities.

This is a campaign for justice. Genocide is the most violent political act which racism can lead to, and denial is a part of the act itself. To fight against denial is to fight racism and therefore for a more equal and just society.

This is a campaign for the promotion of democracy. To remember those who disappeared is an act of humanity and of symbolic reparation that involves all of us. To remember in Turkey is to contribute to freedom of expression and to question the very foundations of the undemocratic nature of power in this country.

We call on all those who share these values and this vision to join us and commemorate in Istanbul on April 24^th the one hundredth anniversary of the Armenian genocide.

Benjamin Abtan, President of the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement – EGAM,

Alexis Govciyan & Nicolas Tavitian, President & Director of the Armenian General benevolent Union – AGBU-Europe,

Levent Sensever, Spokesperson of Durde (Turkey)

By Bejay Browne

OVERCROWDING at the municipal cemetery in Paphos is now so acute, according to a Paphos MP, that burials are even being crammed into the pathways between graves.

DIKO MP for Paphos, Antonis Antoniou, has highlighted the problem of overcrowding at the Metropolitan Cemetery in Kato Paphos in an open letter and called on the authorities to come up with solutions and fast.

The public cemetery, which was established in 1938, has been facing problems for years with plots being crammed in side by side, but the overcrowding is now so dire, that some areas are practically inaccessible to mourners as only inches separate graves.

Antoniou said in his letter that the problems are widely known; the municipal cemetery is overcrowded and in a poor condition and he pointed out that it is not possible to create new graves. He said that overcrowding has reached massive proportions.

“Burials are even taking place in the pathways of the cemetery and this is now an issue of human dignity,” he said. “The situation is at breaking point, and this is a terrible way to keep the memory of our deceased fellow citizens. Their final resting place should be undertaken with honour.”

Antoniou said the relevant municipality services must either expand the cemetery, or speed up the process for the operation of a new facility.

He said that in recent no progress has been made, mainly due to a lack of resources and suggested that private investors may be the way forward.

“Perhaps the authorities should consider the possibility of a municipal partnership with private investors for the expansion, construction and operation of a new cemetery. This would relieve the situation and bring about a final resolution of this longstanding problem.”

Angel Guardian Funeral Homes in Paphos have carried out between 100 and 150 funerals at the Metropolitan Cemetery in the last few years, and said they were informed that the last free spaces were available back in 2011, according to managing director, Maureen Watt.

“Since then they have opened up some of the pathways and it’s jam packed. It’s even very difficult for able bodied people to access in places, let alone the infirm or disabled,” she said.

Watt highlighted the distress which is being caused to some families, saying that mourners can’t easily access some parts of the cemetery and are unable to easily get to see loved ones’ graves.

“They can barely walk between the graves and there is no wheel chair access at all. We had an instance at a service there around a year ago; a close relative couldn’t go as he’s in a wheel chair and it was impossible for him.”

Angel Guardian have carried out funerals for all different nationalities at the cemetery including British, Greek, German, Romanian and Canadian.

According to Watts, the metropolitan is the only cemetery in Paphos that has temporary plots. The body will remain in a grave for six or seven years and then the remains are removed, put into a pillow slip and named, before being placed in to the mausoleum in the cemetery.

“We have undertaken about 30 temporary plots and a lot of people use this option for one reason or another. Some families will go on to turn it into a permanent plot, when they have managed to save up the money required.”

After payment has been made, a proper headstone can be installed.

It is currently 340 euros to open and close a grave (either to create a new one or to re-open for a spouse) at the Metropolitan Cemetery and then a further 850 for a permanent plot – a total of 1190 euros for a permanent grave, or 340 euros for a temporary one. There is no charge for the removal of remains to be placed in the mausoleum.

Watt said that prices can vary dramatically from area to area. The cemetery in Erimi is the only one to operate a set rate – 850 euros for a single plot and 900 euros for a double one – this includes the price of opening and closing the grave.

“The village cemeteries are very different and vary in price. They all charge for opening and closing a grave- around 200 euros, on top of the cost of a plot.”

She noted that the price of a grave in Chlorakas is 1,500 euros for people who have lived there for fewer than ten years, whilst residents of over ten years are charged 1,000 euros. Watt said that the ‘British side’ of Peyia cemetery costs 854 euros a plot, Tsada 1,300 euros, Geroskipou 500 euros and Droushia is 350 euros.

“In some other villages such as Tala, it’s very difficult to get a plot at all,” she said.

Mayor of Paphos Phedonas Phedonos told the Sunday Mail that he is aware of the problems at the cemetery and is meeting with the Minister of the Interior imminently to discuss the matter.

“The cemetery is full up and I am meeting with the minister to suggest some ideas and see if we can find a solution as quickly as possible. I will know more next week.”

IF you’re unsure about what music to choose on car journeys, then David Williams, chief executive of GEM Motoring Assist (www.motoringassist.com) may be able to help with his exploration of driving-themed chart hits to suit all moods.

We all love making playlists for the car, or better still having them made for us; every service station has a rack of overpriced ‘Drivetime’ CDs. When you consider that the average Briton now spends three whole years of their life behind the wheel, you can appreciate why we might crave a little musical diversion. But have you ever tried to find a song that celebrates, without irony, the experience of driving on the UK’s roads? It seems we don’t get our kicks on the A66… It’s different in the USA.

I would argue that America’s two greatest contributions to human progress in the 20th century were mass-produced automobiles and mass-produced popular music. The birth of rock and roll in the States coincided with the heyday of automobile design, and in the early days the average American songwriter was just as infatuated with his car as with the girl in the passenger seat.

‘Mustang Sally’, ‘Little Deuce Coupé’, ‘Pink Cadillac’ and ‘Riding Along in my Automobile’ all fed into the American dream – young, affluent men with big cars, burning cheap gas by the gallon. Even the many casualties were immortalised in songs such as ‘The Leader of the Pack’ and ‘Tell Laura I Love Her’, forming a morbidly melodramatic genre that became known as the Teenage Tragedy Song. We were making some lovely cars in Britain at the time, but where are the hymns of praise to the Aston Martin, the Mini, or the Hillman Imp?

When, years later, Madness sang about ‘Driving in My Car’ (a 1959 Morris Minor as it happens) they chose to mock its parochial ordinariness (‘It’s not quite a Jaguar’).

Automobiles tend to be used more metaphorically in British songs. You can bet that if the Beach Boys had written ‘Drive My Car’, they would have specified make and model – but for The Beatles it’s all about the subordinate relationship between chauffeur and aspiring actress.

Gary Numan’s pulsating masterpiece, ‘Cars’, has a chilling lack of sentimentality. For Gary, driving is very much a solitary activity – you can’t imagine a man who sings ‘Here in my car/I feel safest of all/ I can lock all my doors’, casually picking up a girl and driving her home.

As with cars, so with the roads we drive on. America is unfathomably vast, and yet the distances travelled are easily shrugged off. Gene Pitney sang about being ‘only 24 hours from Tulsa’ – can you imagine a British singer being so blasé about a whole day’s drive? The Proclaimers might blithely set out to walk 500 miles and 500 more, but they would surely baulk at going by car.

When British bands try to emulate the great American road songs of escape and freedom, the results are often deliberately comical. The fact remains that you can’t actually go all that far on a UK highway (you can certainly spend a long time in traffic, but that’s not quite the same). So when 1980s one-hit-wonders It’s Immaterial sing about ‘Driving Away From Home’, the journey down the M62 is a paltry 39 miles, or 45 minutes (you’ve got to admire the pre-satnav precision).

Even when you’re going nowhere in an American car on an American road, the journey is thrilling. Bruce Springsteen is the master of bittersweet anthems of not-quite-escaping. In ‘Thunder Road’, these two lanes will take us anywhere – you somehow know the young lovers will never reach the promised land, but the excitement of that windswept journey is palpable. ‘Racing in the Street’ has one of the most thrilling opening lines for any petrolhead: ‘I got a sixty-nine Chevy with a 396’ (in layman’s terms, a great big engine). No matter that the singer seems to have wasted his life; he still loves his car.

For the British songwriter, a traffic jam is an existential nightmare. Chris Rea’s ‘Road to Hell’, penned in 1989, after enduring three years of apocalyptic snarl-ups on the M25, is terrifying if you listen closely enough to the words: ‘the perverted fear of violence chokes the smile on every face’. (This, of course, was the beginning of the 1990s phenomenon of ‘road rage’, which provided the title for a lovely indie anthem by Catatonia.)

Even in his wistful festive ditty, ‘Driving Home for Christmas’, Rea is stymied by the traffic: ‘top to toe in tail lights, I’ve got red lights on the run’.
Paul McCartney’s beautifully plaintive ‘The Long and Winding Road’, about a journey he made frequently along the remote B842 on the Kintyre peninsula, is about as close as you’ll get to affection for a British road in song. But it’s too melancholy and fragile to make it onto your drivetime playlist – it’s likely to leave you ‘full of tears’ in a layby.

If you disregard 2-4-6-8 Motorway (which I do – it’s a shouty counting song), just about the only irony-free paean to the UK motoring experience I can find is The Divine Comedy’s glorious ‘National Express’. It has the bouncy rhythm of a charabanc, mordantly witty lyrics, and, fittingly, its tempo is perfect for gently cruising past coaches on the M6 motorway.

By Ian Ransom

Lewis Hamilton’s world championship defence got off to a flying start on Sunday with a crushing victory for Mercedes in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix as Formula One rivals succumbed to a farcical rash of reliability problems.

Pole-sitter Hamilton started from a grid reduced to 15 cars from a possible 20 and cruised to his 34th race win with a 1.3-second gap to runner-up team mate Nico Rosberg.

With Mercedes enjoying a Sunday stroll, Sebastian Vettel finished third — 34 seconds behind Hamilton — on his Ferrari debut after winning a battle for the podium with Williams driver Felipe Massa.

Ferrari’s cheer was tempered, however, by two botched tyre changes for Kimi Raikkonen, the second forcing the Finn to retire when fifth late in the race due to his left rear wheel not being properly attached.

Interviewed on the podium by Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Hollywood ‘Terminator’, Hamilton said it was great to be back on top.

“It is an incredible feeling to continue winning,” he said.

Max Verstappen’s record-setting turn as the youngest ever F1 driver ended on a sour note when the Dutch 17-year-old rolled to a stop near the pit entry after complaining of smoke in the cockpit of his Toro Rosso.

Only 11 cars finished, with both Lotus drivers out before the end of the first lap on an embarrassing day for a series that prides itself on being the pinnacle of motorsport.

McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen, standing in for the absent Fernando Alonso, and Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat were unable to start after both suffered failures on their formation laps.

The two Manor Marussia cars were scratched on Saturday after failing to participate in qualifying or any practice sessions, while Williams driver Valtteri Bottas was ruled out of the race with a back injury less than an hour before the start.

After a chaotic start that saw Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado crash into the barrier on turn two after being nudged from behind, Hamilton and Rosberg sped away from the chasing pack.

Opening a 15-second gap to third placed Felipe Massa after the 20th lap, Hamilton successfully kept his team mate Rosberg at arm’s length.

Following a week of legal battles, Sauber were buoyed by a fifth place finish for Brazilian rookie Felipe Nasr, gaining their first points since 2013.

It was the best finish by a Sauber rookie, with Nasr’s team mate Marcus Ericsson and Red Bull’s Carlos Sainz also earning their first points by finishing eighth and ninth respectively.

Local hero Daniel Ricciardo had a terrible start and his Red Bull lacked pace but he battled hard to finish sixth in front of home fans.

It was a dark day for Honda-powered McLaren, however, with Jenson Button finishing last of the 11 cars and lapped twice by Hamilton and the leaders.

Force India driver Sergio Perez had an eventful afternoon, being instructed to drop back two places after over-taking illegally when the safety car was out early.

He then overcame a collision with Button in a battle to avoid the indignity of last place.

Driver and constructor standings after the Formula One Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park on Sunday
Drivers Points
1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 25
2. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 18
3. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Ferrari 15
4. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams 12
5. Felipe Nasr (Brazil) Sauber 10
6. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Red Bull 8
7. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Force India 6
8. Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) Sauber 4
9. Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain) Toro Rosso 2
10. Sergio Perez (Mexico) Force India 1
11. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 0

Constructors Points
1. Mercedes 43
2. Ferrari 15
3. Sauber – Ferrari 14
4. Williams-Mercedes 12
5. RedBull – Renault 8
6. Force India – Mercedes 7
7. Toro Rosso – Renault 2
8. McLaren 0
. Lotus – Mercedes
. Marussia – Ferrari

By Christopher McCall and Lincoln Feast

The first aid teams to reach Vanuatu reported widespread devastation on Sunday as authorities declared a state of emergency after a “monster” cyclone tore through the vulnerable Pacific island nation.

With winds of more than 300 kph (185 mph), Cyclone Pam razed homes, smashed boats and washed away roads and bridges as it struck late on Friday and into Saturday. Aid workers described the situation as catastrophic.

The count of confirmed deaths was at 10 with 30 people injured. But those numbers were almost certain to rise as rescuers reached the low-lying archipelago’s outlying islands.

Aid workers were particularly worried about the southern island of Tanna. An official with the Australian Red Cross told Reuters an aircraft had managed to land there and confirmed “widespread destruction”.

“Virtually every building that is not concrete has been flattened,” said the official, adding two deaths had been confirmed on the island which has a population of about 29,000 and is about 200 km (125 miles) south of the capital, Port Vila.

Witnesses in Port Vila described sea surges of up to eight metres (26 feet) and widespread flooding as the category 5 cyclone hit. Residents said the storm sounded like a freight train. Port Vila was strewn with debris and looked as if a bomb had gone off.

President Baldwin Lonsdale, who happened to be at a disaster risk conference in Japan, likened the storm to a monster.

“Most of the houses in Vila … have been damaged and destroyed. People are finding shelter where they can live for the night,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

He said the impact would be “the very, very, very worst” in isolated outer islands but held out hope the number of casualties would be “minor”.

He said offers of aid had been “very magnanimous”.

“We are not begging, but we are asking for assistance.”

Vanuatu’s climate change minister, James Bule, said people were used to storms, though not usually such strong ones, and he also hoped loss of life might be limited.

“We have people aware of what to do,” Bule said.

Formerly known as the New Hebrides, Vanuatu is sprawling cluster of 83 islands and 260,000 people, 2,000 km (1,250 miles) northeast of the Australian city of Brisbane.

It is among the world’s poorest countries and highly prone to disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis and storms.

Aid officials said the storm was comparable in strength to Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines in 2013 and killed more than 6,000 people, and looked set to be one of the worst natural disasters the Pacific region has ever experienced.

Kris Paraskevas, a consultant in Port Vila, said the situation was catastrophic.

“The villages are no good. Many houses were just poles and tin or thatch. There’s nothing left, people are just sitting in rubble,” Paraskevas said.

FIRST FLIGHT

Aid flights, including a New Zealand military Hercules aircraft carrying eight tonnes of supplies and an initial team, landed on Sunday as Port Vila’s airport partially reopened.

Australia sent two military aircraft including one with medical experts, search and rescue teams and emergency supplies, while a U.N. team was also preparing to go in with members drawn from as far away as Europe.

Oxfam’s country manager Colin Collett van Rooyen said Vanuatu’s outlying islands were particularly vulnerable.

“We are talking about islands that are remote and really small, with none of what we would call modern infrastructure,” he said.

“We anticipate that that will go higher,” he said, referring to the confirmed death toll of eight.

Australia promised A$5 million in aid, New Zealand NZ$2.5 million while Britain, which jointly ruled Vanuatu with France until independence in 1980, has offered up to two million pounds ($2.95 million) in assistance. The World Bank said it was exploring a swift insurance payout to the government.

“We will also be deploying humanitarian supplies to provide support for up to 5,000 people in the form of water, sanitation and shelter,” Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told reporters in Perth.

Aurelia Balpe, regional head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told Reuters Vanuatu’s medical system was poorly equipped to handle such a disaster.

“The country mostly relies on first aid posts and the supplies in the clinics are probably just antibiotics and pain relief.”

Late on Sunday, Pam had weakened as it moved to the southeast, and New Zealand’s northern regions were starting to feel its effects. Authorities there were warning the public to prepare for damaging winds, heavy rain and big seas.

President Nicos Anastasiades has congratulated the new President of Greece Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

“On behalf of the people of Cyprus, the Government and myself, I warmly congratulate the new President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos and wish him every success in the important high office he has assumed” the President said Sunday in a written statement.

Anastasiades stressed “the brotherly and firm bonds” between Greece and Cyprus, noting that they determine the excellent cooperation of the two countries in all fields and expressed confidence that the presence of Pavlopoulos in the highest state office of Greece “will contribute to our common struggles in a significant way”.

The President said that he had a telephone communication with President Pavlopoulos and they agreed to meet in Nicosia, soon.

CNA

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

Australian Open champion and top seed Novak Djokovic launched his BNP Paribas Open title defence in ruthless style on Saturday night, crushing Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-1 6-3 in the second round.

Playing near-flawless tennis from the baseline, the Serb broke his opponent twice in each set to coast to victory in just under an hour on the showpiece stadium court at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Fourth seed Andy Murray erased memories of early losses at the venue with a 6-1 6-3 demolition of Canadian Vasek Pospisil and Japanese trailblazer Kei Nishikori recovered from an erratic start to beat American Ryan Harrison 6-4 6-4.

Djokovic, seeking a fourth title at Indian Wells, breezed through the opening set in just 25 minutes before sealing the win when Baghdatis hit a backhand long on the second match point.

“It went very well for me, a very solid performance from the beginning,” the world number one said courtside after improving his record this season to 15-2.
“I served well and from the baseline I didn’t give Marcos many chances to come back in the match. Great performance against a quality opponent, against somebody that was a former top-10 player and that knows how to play on a big stage.
“Of course, having won the title in Australia, it allows me to have and carry this confidence into every other event that is coming up in the season.”

Murray broke Pospisil’s serve three times in the opening set and twice in the second to ease to victory in 79 minutes on a sweltering afternoon.
Ousted in the opening round in 2011 and 2012, the 27-year-old Scot hit 14 winners and won five of his nine break point chances to dominate the match.

“I’ve struggled a bit in the last few years here so I decided to try and play a very solid match and adjust to the conditions,” world number four Murray said. “It was very hot and that made the ball pretty lively.
“Controlling the ball isn’t that easy. I thought I played quite a smart match.”

Nishikori, who became the first Asian male to reach a grand slam singles final at the U.S. Open last year, broke Harrison five times while losing his own serve on three occasions before sealing his win in just under an hour and a half.

“It was a bit up and down but I played well in the second set,” said the 25-year-old Japanese. “I was playing almost a perfect game.”
The fifth seed, who lost to Marin Cilic in last year’s U.S. Open final before ending a landmark season with four ATP World Tour titles, will next play Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who beat Australia’s James Duckworth 6-2 7-6.

In other matches, 10th-seeded Croatian Cilic, back on the circuit after being troubled by a shoulder injury, was upset 6-4 6-4 by Argentine Juan Monaco while eighth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer battled past Croatia’s Ivan Dodig 4-6 6-1 7-6.

Bombs outside two churches in the Pakistani city of Lahore killed 14 people and wounded nearly 80 during Sunday services, and witnesses said quick action by a security guard prevented many more deaths.

A Pakistani Taliban splinter group claimed responsibility.

Islamist militants in Pakistan have attacked Christians and other religious minorities often over the last decade or more.

Many Christians, who make up less than two percent of Pakistan’s population of more than 180 million, accuse the government of doing little to protect them, saying politicians are quick to offer condolences after an attack but slow to act to improve security.

Sunday’s blasts occurred minutes apart in a majority Christian suburb of the eastern city. Police said it seemed they targeted two churches, one Catholic and one Protestant, that are very close to each other.

After the explosions, enraged residents protested and lynched two suspects, police said.

“I was sitting at a shop near the church when a blast jolted the area. I rushed towards the spot and saw the security guard scuffle with a man who was trying to enter the church. After failing, he blew himself up,” said witness Amir Masih.

“I saw his body parts flying through the air.”

The guard died as well, he said. It was not clear if the first blast was also triggered by a suicide bomber, Masih said.

Fourteen people were killed and 78 wounded, said Zahid Pervaiz, provincial director of general health.

“The rescue operation is still underway and the death toll may increase,” rescue services spokesman Sajjad Hussain said.

The Taliban faction Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility.

Pope Francis told crowds at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican he felt “great pain” over the bomb attacks, departing from scripted remarks in his customary address on Sunday.

“These are Christian churches. Christians are persecuted, our brothers spill their blood simply because they are Christians,” the pontiff said.

Following the blast, enraged residents lynched two men they suspected of involvement, a police official said. Journalist Riaz Ahmed said he had seen the two burnt bodies at an intersection.

Protesters also smashed shops and attacked vehicles. Police and several politicians were chased from the scene, residents said.

Pakistan’s police are notoriously poorly trained and under-funded while the court system is overburdened with a backlog of more than a million cases.

Lahore is the capital of Punjab, Pakistan’s wealthiest and most populous province and the political heartland of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The city is considered peaceful compared with many other areas of Pakistan, but violence has been increasing after the government’s failed attempts to hold peace talks with the Taliban last year.

After the talks failed, the military launched an offensive in the remote northwestern region of North Waziristan along the Afghan border to push the Taliban from the last major region they controlled.

The military now holds the major urban centres there, but residents say many militants fled before the offensive began and others remain in rural areas.

Three British teenagers who were planning to join Islamic State militants in Syria were detained in the Turkish city of Istanbul, Turkish officials said on Sunday.

The three, who have not been named, were detained on Friday, Turkish sources told Reuters. They said arrangements were being made with British authorities to deport them this week.

Police in London said they had been made aware that two 17-year-old boys had gone missing and were thought to be travelling to Syria. Further inquiries revealed they had travelled with a 19-year-old male.

“Officers alerted the Turkish authorities who were able to intercept all three males, preventing travel to Syria. They remain in detention in Turkey. The families have been kept informed of developments,” the police statement said.

Three British schoolgirls entered Turkey last month and are thought to have joined Islamic State in Syria.

On Thursday, the Turkish Foreign Minister said the girls had been helped to cross the border by a spy working for one of the country’s in the U.S.-led coalition against the militants.

Islamic State controls swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. It has attracted thousands of foreign fighters from Europe and elsewhere.

Turkey has faced criticism for not better controlling its southeastern borders, but has accused European countries of failing to prevent would-be jihadists from leaving in the first place.

By Stelios Orphanides

Chrystalla Georghadji is under mounting political pressure to step down as governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC), less than a year after she took office, making a new rift between Cyprus and the European Central Bank likely.

President Nicos Anastasiades who met earlier today with leaders of the political parties, is scheduled to meet the non-executive members of the central bank’s board of directors at 6pm today followed by meeting with the two executive members of the board, George Syrichas and Stelios Kiliaris. Kiliaris set in motion the chain of events last Thursday, when he said he was resigning and launched a broadside against Geroghadji.

By Tony Jimenez

If Chelsea are going to win the Premier League it looks like they will stumble hesitantly across the finish line rather than stride majestically through the tape like an all-conquering Olympic champion.

Sunday’s frustrating 1-1 stalemate with Southampton at Stamford Bridge was their third successive home draw in all competitions and served to highlight all-too-apparent deficiencies in Jose Mourinho’s team.

Too many players seemed tired and listless and Chelsea again appeared over-reliant on Eden Hazard’s lightning pace and tricky ball skills to drag them out of a hole.

The Londoners may be six points clear at the top of the table, with a game in hand on their rivals, but the dynamic tiki-taka football that was on view at the start of the season is now a distant memory.

Do not fall into the trap of believing the destiny of the championship is assured because not only are Chelsea struggling for form, they also have three dangerous fixtures still to negotiate against Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United.

Even Mourinho acknowledged that it is no longer a two-horse race for the league crown.
“There is a danger of more teams being in the title race,” the Portuguese told reporters after the Southampton game.
“Of course Arsenal are still in the race, seven points behind. We are not complacent, that is something I cannot accuse my players of.
“The danger is always there … but if someone had told me in August that in March we would be six points in front with a match in hand, I would have signed for that immediately.”

That may be the case but Chelsea were unable to take maximum advantage of second-placed Manchester City’s shock 1-0 defeat at lowly Burnley on Saturday and were lucky to go into the break on level terms against a Sadio Mane-inspired Southampton.

Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas looked more like a pedestrian Sunday morning park player than a World Cup and European Championship winner as he frittered away possession time and time again in the first half.
Brazilians Oscar and Willian flattered to deceive behind Diego Costa in attack and even the normally rock-solid Nemanja Matic was withdrawn in the second period.

To be fair to Chelsea they were much better after the break and Fraser Forster had to be at his best in the Southampton goal to keep them out.
Then when Mourinho made a late change by bringing on Juan Cuadrado, the club’s new Colombian signing from Fiorentina caused raised eyebrows among the fans as he resembled a fish out of water on the right wing.

Hazard, as usual, was a constant threat but the Belgium playmaker is beginning to feel the effects of a long and draining season.
Unlike Oscar and Willian, the other two players who occupy the three creative roles behind striker Costa, the 24-year-old Hazard is so important to Chelsea that he is rarely rested for games and not often substituted during matches.

With 10 games, almost a quarter of the season, left to play Chelsea’s title run-in could depend on their trip to third-placed Arsenal on April 26 and the home fixtures with fourth-placed United on April 18 and fifth-placed Liverpool on May 9.

Mourinho’s men looked invincible at Stamford Bridge at the start of the season, powering their way to 10 successive home league victories.
However, a run of four draws in the last five home games in all competitions suggest that visiting teams have worked out a way to silence their biggest weapons.

By Stelios Orphanides

The number of property transactions rose 5 per cent in February to 325 compared to the respective month of 2014, mainly on a strong increase in transactions in Larnaca and Famagusta districts which offset a further weakening of the property market in Nicosia, the department of lands and surveys said.

A real estate expert said the increase may be related to the weak euro vis-à-vis the British pound which makes purchases in Cyprus, mainly in coastal areas, more attractive.

By Jon Herskovitz

Robert Durst, scion of one of New York’s largest real estate empires, has been arrested in New Orleans on a murder warrant issued by Los Angeles County, the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office said.

Durst, born in 1943, is known for life twists that led him to be questioned but not charged in the mysterious deaths of his first wife Kathleen Durst in 1982 and a longtime friend in 2000.

There was no lawyer listed for Durst on the arrest report and Durst has maintained his innocence in the deaths. US media said he was arrested on Saturday.

The New York Times reported last week that the district attorney in Los Angeles had recently reopened an investigation into the December 2000 killing of Durst’s friend Susan Berman, and was tying it to the case of Kathleen Durst, who went missing from New York and was eventually pronounced legally dead.

In a telephone interview with the newspaper, Durst said he did not have the “faintest idea” who killed Berman, nor did he know what happened to his first wife, it reported.

In a separate case, after being arrested while living in Texas disguised as a mute woman, Durst was acquitted of murder in 2001 after convincing a jury that he had fatally shot and dismembered an elderly neighbor in an act of self-defense.

In the final installment of a six-part HBO documentary series called The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst aired on Sunday night, Durst appears to say he carried out the killings. But it is not known if he is speaking sincerely, and he is speaking to himself.

The documentary shows an interview session during which he rejects one piece of evidence against him. In the documentary, Durst then goes to the bathroom still wearing the microphone and apparently unaware he is still being taped.

In remarks captured on audiotape in the bathroom, but not filmed, he whispers to himself, “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.”

The Durst Organization oversees the lease and maintenance of One World Trade Center, the western hemisphere’s tallest skyscraper, built on the site of the twin towers destroyed in al Qaeda’s hijacked airliner attack on Sept. 11, 2001.

His life also inspired the 2010 Hollywood movie All Good Things.

In December 2014, Durst appeared in a New York courtroom on charges of trespassing on property owned by his estranged family.

The Durst Organization is responsible for a good portion of the city’s skyline – the company says it owns 11 Manhattan office towers.

Robert Durst, who has lived in Texas after getting about $65 million from the settlement of a lawsuit he brought against family trusts, was charged in 2014 with urinating on a drugstore candy rack in Houston.