THE BOARD of the Bank of Cyprus failed to secure the consent of the bank employees union Etyk for the very generous ‘voluntary’ retirement compensation scheme it has put together. The bank offered a month’s salary for every two years of service plus five salaries and payment of up to a month’s leave. An employee with 20 years’ service, would receive 16 salaries, which is extremely generous from a company that is in dire financial straits.

Etyk, however, wanted the compensation to be calculated on the old salaries and not the new ones that were subject to cuts of up to 30 per cent. The board held its ground and submitted its proposal to the Central Bank. Without the union’s consent, there is a strong possibility that the target number of 1,500 job cuts through voluntary retirement will not be reached. An employee could decide to stay on and wait to be made redundant in the belief that he or she would receive even more compensation in redundancy pay.

This problem would never have arisen if we had a strong government that acted in a rational way. When Laiki was declared bankrupt, its employees should have been paid the two months’ compensation that was stipulated in their contracts and told they were jobless. Instead, under pressure from Etyk, all Laiki’s employees were transferred to the Bank of Cyprus which has been paying their salaries for the last four months and would now have to compensate them to leave.

But why should the depositors of the BoC that have been bailed in, pay generous compensation to employees of a bank which had gone bankrupt? Had not enough millions been taken from the bank’s depositors, without them having also to pay off Laiki’s employees a total of €90 million in compensation? This was a scandalous decision, which was taken solely for political reasons – to stop the street protests by Laiki’s employees after the resolution of the bank last March – because from a business point of view it was monumentally stupid.

Then again, our politicians seem incapable of taking rational decisions, always opting for the easy way, disregarding the problems this would subsequently create. The easy option will cost BoC a minimum of €90 million in compensation plus four months’ of salaries to 2,500 extra staff it did not need. In order for our populist politicians to ingratiate themselves to Laiki employees and their union Etyk the BoC was lumbered with an additional expense, in excess of €100 million it cannot afford. With people like this running the country, could there be any hope of the economy avoiding total collapse?

Paphos police have arrested a 45-year-old Greek national on suspicion of cultivating cannabis plants, it was reported on Wednesday.

The man, who works as a cook, was picked up by the drug squad after three plants – the tallest being 30 centimetres — were found at his flat.

The suspect said the plants were for his own use, police said.

On Monday, Nicosia police arrested two 25-year-old men in connection with illegal possession and intent to sell banned substances.

At around 6.25pm, members of the Drug Squad stopped a car with two men inside and conducted a search of the vehicle.

Police said they found 84 grams of cannabis during the car search and an additional 16 grams and a pair of scales during a follow-up search of their homes.

The two men were yesterday being held for questioning.

Police on Wednesday were investigating an explosion at the village of Timi that caused extensive damage to a van belonging to a 34-year-old plumber.

The vehicle had been parked outside the man’s home when the blast occurred at 1.45am.

Police believe the explosion was caused by an improvised device, which had been placed underneath the vehicle.

The damage was estimated at €7000, police said.

The scene was cordoned-off and bomb squad officers carried out a search for clues that could lead to the arrest of the perpetrator.

By George Psyllides

CYPRUS and the European Central Bank (ECB) agreed on Wednesday that bringing Bank of Cyprus (BoC) out of administration was the priority in the period ahead, as the two sides pledged to continue discussions.

The problems of the island’s banking sector following the European Union’s decision to provide financial support to Cyprus were the object of a meeting between President Nicos Anastasiades and ECB President Mario Draghi and other officials in Frankfurt.

An ECB statement after the meeting said the two sides exchanged views on the ongoing implementation of Cyprus’ macroeconomic adjustment programme.

“Both parties agreed that, in the period ahead, one priority is to bring Bank of Cyprus out of resolution,” the ECB statement said. “The asset valuation is expected for the second half of July, and the discussions will continue when these results are available.”

Wednesday’s discussions almost certainly included the matter of some €9.0 billion legacy liability transferred to BoC – under the terms of the bailout deal – from the now defunct Laiki Bank, which had been withdrawing emergency liquidity assistance from the ECB.

In a letter to European leaders in early June, Anastasiades urged them to provide a long-term and sustainable solution to liquidity issues faced by BoC.

A government statement on Wednesday said Anastasiades “raised specific issues related to the practical difficulties in the implementation of the conditions of the loan agreement and the Memorandum.”

“It was also emphasised that the European Central Bank, on its part, will continue to cooperate with the Cypriot authorities for the successful implementation of the Memorandum and for the stability and prospects of the Cyprus banking system.”

To receive the much-needed bailout, Cyprus had to agree to close Laiki, its second-biggest lender, and recapitalise BoC by seizing uninsured deposits – over €100,000.

Depositors have so far lost 37.5 per cent of their money while a further 22.5 per cent could follow the same fate.

That will be largely determined by the asset valuation.

Depositors will receive BoC equity in exchange for their losses.

By Pritha Sarkar and Martyn Herman
NOVAK Djokovic showcased his full catalogue of acrobatic skills and on-court nous as he broke down the defences of Czech Tomas Berdych to reach his 13th successive grand slam semi-final with a 7-6(5) 6-4 6-3 win at Wimbledon on Wednesday.
The Serbian world number one performed the splits and pulled off lunging volleys as Berdych tried to throw him off balance by bombarding the 2011 champion’s half of the court with an onslaught of winners.
However, Djokovic kept his wits about him even when he trailed by two breaks and was 3-0 down in the second set. Berdych surrendered the set when he slapped an easy forehand into the net and from then there was only one winner.
Djokovic sealed the win when the Czech seventh seed smacked a forehand into the net and he will meet former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro for a place in Sunday’s final.
Argentine Del Potro recovered from a horrible first-game fall to overpower David Ferrer 6-2 6-4 7-6(5) and reach the semi-finals for the first time.
The towering eighth seed looked on the verge of pulling out when he injured his already-bandaged left knee after skidding on the fifth point and needing lengthy treatment.
He continued, however, and produced a barrage of baseline bombs to leave fourth seed Ferrer floundering.
Striking his sledgehammer forehand with effortless power, Del Potro broke twice to win the first set and clinched the second after Ferrer cracked at 4-4.
The Spaniard looked weary from the effort of reaching his second consecutive Wimbledon quarter-final on top of getting to the French Open final but battled hard in the third.
Former U.S. Open champion Del Potro proved invincible, though, and wrapped up an outstanding victory with a crunching forehand winner after two hours 16 minutes.

By Stefanos Evripidou

THE COMMERCE Ministry on Wednesday warned the public and shopkeepers against buying and selling popular sky lanterns as their use poses a danger to the surrounding environment.

The ministry’s Competition and Consumer Protection Service announced the ban at the start of the summer season, highlighting the danger of the paper lanterns (or Chinese lanterns), often used at beach parties to light up the night sky.

The service referred to an incident last year when a sky lantern was set off into the sky and ended up destroying three yachts in Limassol.

The lanterns are made of paper and when lit from the inside using a candle or wick can fly up to 1km in the air, lasting for about ten minutes before falling down to earth again.

According to the ministry, the sky lanterns are mainly imported from China though they can also be bought on the internet. While manufacturers argue they are safe and environmentally-friendly, the ministry noted that many problems have been caused as a result of their use, including fires, injuries, damage to farms, death to livestock and in one case, a person.

“Problems can also occur on highways and to air traffic since these products fly uncontrollably, making it impossible to predict where they will land,” said the statement.

The ban comes after over 200 British firefighters had to tackle a huge blaze started by a sky lantern, which caused £6 million-worth (over €7m) of damage to a recycling centre near Birmingham earlier this week.

CCTV footage captured the sky lantern landing on the recycling facility, burning about 100,000 tonnes of material.

Following the blaze, Britain’s Chief Fire Officers’ Association (CFOA) said “an urgent review” into the use of the floating paper lanterns was now needed.

In Cyprus, the commerce ministry further claimed that there have been reports of chemical hazards from the presence of asbestos in the wick.

The ministry, in cooperation with the fire service, forestry department and civil aviation department, having taken into account the climatic and morphological conditions prevailing in Cyprus, concluded there is no way for consumers to safely use these products.

As a result, and based on the General Safety of Products Law 2004-2010, the sky lanterns have been deemed unsafe and will be removed from the market where found.

The ministry’s consumer service calls on consumers to inform it if such products are identified, and refrain from purchasing or using them.

It also advises businesses to avoid importing the products into the market, which are no longer considered safe. Failure to do so could result in the immediate removal of the products from the market and the imposition of a fine.

For further information or to report the presence of the lanterns in the market, consumers may call the Consumers’ Hotline on 1429, or the service’s main office in Nicosia on 22867309 or 22867388, or their district offices in Limassol (25819150), Larnaca and Famagusta (24816160), and Paphos (26804610).

By Estelle Shirbon and Costas Pitas

A British private surveillance company denied on Thursday that it had bugged the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been living for over a year.

Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino made the allegation against the Surveillance Group Ltd in Quito on Wednesday, adding that Ecuador would seek help from the British government to get to the bottom of the matter.

In a statement, the Surveillance Group’s CEO Timothy Young rejected Patino’s allegation as “completely untrue”.

“The Surveillance Group do not and have never been engaged in any activities of this nature,” Young said.

“We have not been contacted by any member of the Ecuadorean government and our first notification about this incident was via the press this morning,” he said.

The Foreign Office in London declined to comment.

Patino described the Surveillance Group as “one of the biggest private investigation and undercover surveillance companies in the United Kingdom”.

On its website, the company says it combines “the practices, skills and experience of special forces, police and commercial surveillance to create an entirely new form of surveillance”.

It says its clients include British law enforcement agencies, other government bodies and financial institutions, and that it has teams in Europe and Canada.

Services on offer include digital forensics, corporate investigations, professional witness surveillance and intelligence reports, according to the company website.

Patino has said the microphone was found in the office of Ambassador Ana Alban at the time of his visit to the embassy on June 16 to meet with Assange, who has been granted asylum by Ecuador but cannot make his way to that country.

Assange risks arrest if he steps out of the embassy because he has breached his bail terms in Britain. He sought refuge inside the embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden to face allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Assange fears that if sent to Sweden he could be extradited from there to the United States to face potential charges over the release of thousands of confidential U.S. documents on WikiLeaks.

The anti-secrecy website described the alleged bugging of the embassy as an example of “imperial arrogance” but did not elaborate.

The topic of covert state surveillance has been at the top of the global news agenda since a series of leaks last month by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden about secret U.S. and British espionage programs.

WikiLeaks is trying to assist Snowden, who is believed to be stranded at an airport in Moscow and seeking asylum in a variety of countries including Ecuador.

By Maggie Fick and Shadia Nasralla

Egypt’s prosecutor ordered the arrest of the Muslim Brotherhood’s leader on Thursday, widening a crackdown against the Islamist movement after the army ousted the country’s first democratically elected president.

But Egypt’s new interim leader, Adli Mansour, used his inauguration to hold out an olive branch to the Brotherhood.

“The Muslim Brotherhood are part of this people and are invited to participate in building the nation as nobody will be excluded, and if they respond to the invitation, they will be welcomed,” he said.

Calm returned to Cairo on Thursday after huge crowds had filled Tahrir Square, danced in the streets and held Egyptian flags aloft overnight to celebrate President Mohamed Mursi’s downfall after days of mass protests.

Mursi’s dramatic removal after a year in office marked another twist in the turmoil that has gripped the Arab world’s most populous country in the two years since the fall of Hosni Mubarak.

The United Nations, the United States and other world powers did not condemn Mursi’s removal as a military coup. To do so might trigger sanctions.

Army intervention was backed by millions of Egyptians, including liberal leaders and religious figures who expect new elections under a revised set of rules.

POLITICAL ISLAM

The fall of the first elected leader to emerge from the Arab Spring revolutions raised questions about the future of political Islam, which only lately seemed triumphant. Deeply divided, Egypt’s 84 million people find themselves again a focus of concern in a region traumatised by the civil war in Syria.

Straddling the Suez Canal and Israel’s biggest neighbour, Egypt’s stability is important for many powers.

At least 14 people were killed and hundreds wounded in street clashes across Egypt on Wednesday, and television stations sympathetic to Mursi were taken off air. Mursi himself is in military custody, army and Brotherhood sources say.

The prosecutor’s office also ordered the arrest of the Brotherhood’s top leader, Mohamed Badie, and his deputy Khairat el-Shater, according to judicial and army sources.

The two men have been charged with inciting violence against protesters outside the Brotherhood’s headquarters in Cairo that was attacked on Saturday night.

A senior Brotherhood politician, Essam El-Erian, said the movement would take a long view of the political setback.

Writing on Facebook, he said “waves of sympathy” for the Brotherhood would rise gradually over time and that the country’s Islamist leaders were overthrown before they had a chance to succeed.

“The end of the coup will end faster than you imagine,” he added.

Outside the constitutional court where Mansour was sworn in, 25-year-old engineer Maysar El-Tawtansy summed up the mood among those who had voted for Mursi in the 2012 poll and opposed military intervention.

“IT’S ABOUT EGYPT”

“We queued for hours at the election, and now our votes are void,” he said. “It’s not about the Brotherhood, it’s about Egypt. We’ve gone back 30, 60 years. Now the military rules again. But freedom will prevail.”

Army intervention was backed by millions of Egyptians, including liberal leaders and religious figures who expect new elections under a revised set of rules.

Underlining the military’s central role in the overthrow of Mursi, the air force staged several fly pasts in the smoggy skies above central Cairo on Thursday to “celebrate the triumph of popular will”.

But for the defeated Islamists, the clampdown revived memories of their sufferings under the old, military-backed regime led by Hosni Mubarak, himself toppled by a popular uprising in 2011.

The clock started ticking for Mursi when millions took to the streets on Sunday to demand he resign. They accused his Brotherhood of hijacking the revolution, entrenching its power and failing to revive the economy.

That gave armed forces chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who already had his own reservations about the state of the nation under Mursi, a justification to invoke the “will of the people” and demand the president share power or step aside.

The United States and other Western allies had also pressed Mursi hard to open his administration to a broader mix of ideas.

Sisi, in uniform and flanked by politicians, officers and clergy, called on Wednesday for measures to wipe clear a slate of messy democratic reforms enacted since Mubarak fell. The constitution was suspended.

INTERIM GOVERNMENT

A technocratic interim government will be formed, along with a panel for national reconciliation, and the constitution will be reviewed. Mansour said fresh parliamentary and presidential elections would be held, but he did not specify when.

Liberal chief negotiator Mohamed ElBaradei, a former U.N. nuclear agency chief, said the plan would “continue the revolution” of 2011.

Many hope they can have more electoral success than last year, when the Brotherhood’s organisation dominated the vote. But its own ability to fight back democratically may be limited by the arrests of its leaders.

U.S. President Barack Obama, whose administration provides $1.3 billion a year to the Egyptian military, expressed concern about Mursi’s removal and called for a swift return to a democratically elected civilian government. But he, too, stopped short of condemning a military move that could block U.S. aid.

“During this uncertain period, we expect the military to ensure that the rights of all Egyptian men and women are protected, including the right to peaceful assembly, due process, and free and fair trials in civilian courts,” he said.

Obama urged the new authorities to avoid arbitrary arrests and said U.S. agencies would review whether the military action would trigger sanctions on aid. A senator involved in aid decisions said the United State would cut off its financial support if the intervention was deemed a military coup.

Much may depend on a strict definition of “coup.”

Concerns over human rights have clouded U.S. relations with Cairo, but did not stop aid flowing to Mubarak, or to Mursi.

The European Union, the biggest civilian aid donor to its near neighbour, also called for a rapid return to the democratic process. Foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said that should mean “free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections and the approval of a constitution”.

IT WAS inevitable that the investigation into the causes of the collapse of the economy would degenerate into a legalistic issue. Everything in Cyprus seems to end up as a legalistic dispute so it was no surprise to hear last week that the panel of three judges conducting the investigation would not deal with matters that were before the courts.

This was in reference to the legal action taken against Laiki’s Andreas Vgenopoulos and his associates by the bank’s administrator. However the panel of judges were to carry on the investigation into other aspects of the banking collapse, but the government has now decided that the police will take over, as they will also be probing the purchase of the Russian bank Uniastrum by the Bank of Cyprus, as DIKO leader Marios Garoyian had demanded.

Strangely, Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou expressed his displeasure with the investigative committee’s plan to carry on looking into the banking collapse, rather than waiting for the council of ministers to take a decision about the terms of reference. It is all a mess, the general impression being that nobody really knows what they are doing. On Tuesday the committee issued an announcement saying the cabinet could terminate the inquiry before a report was completed.

Is this a childish game of tit-for-tat between the government and the committee? The only thing the two sides have achieved with this puerile behaviour is to destroy the credibility of the investigation and raise questions about the government’s commitment to establishing who were responsible for the collapse of the banking sector and the economy. Was the decision to order the police to start a criminal investigation an attempt to terminate the probe by the judges or did the government feel it was dragging on for too long?

Perhaps we have missed something, but nobody seems remotely interested in the political responsibilities for the collapse. Several ministry officials and former finance ministers have spoken about former president Christofias’ refusal to take any measures that could have prevented the collapse. Was he not culpable for abject failure to take any unpopular, but necessary measures, despite countless warnings from home and abroad? Was he not culpable for allowing a manageable situation veer completely out of control through years of inaction?

Perhaps incompetence, indecisiveness and poor judgement cannot lead to criminal prosecution, but gross dereliction of duty and negligence should be prosecutable. But the legalistic disputes of the last week would suggest that the government wants to restrict the investigation to the banks and the bankers, leaving the main culprit free to walk.

By Stefanos Evripidou

EUROPEAN ARREST warrants were issued on Wednesday in Greece for former interior minister Dinos Michaelides and his son Michalis in connection with the money laundering case against former Greek defence minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos.

The investigation involves the purchase by Greece of the Russian TOR-M1 surface-to-air missile system and alleged kickbacks given.

Dinos and Michalis Michaelides were recently called to Athens to respond to questions by Greek investigators on the case but failed to show up. The two released a statement saying they had explained the reasons why they didn’t turn up through their lawyer. They deny the allegations and state they are innocent.

The former Cypriot minister and his son are suspected of money laundering, involving alleged kickbacks of $10 million (€7.7m) believed to have eventually ended up in the hands of Tsohatzopoulos who signed the agreement for the supply of the missile system.

Greek investigators believe the millions in kickbacks were sent from one offshore company to Michalis Michaelides’ account to which his father Dinos also had access.

According to Cyprus News Agency, the Cyprus Republic has 90 days after the warrants have been served to decide whether to deliver the two wanted men after hearing any possible objections the father and son may raise.

Tsohatzopoulos, 73, was arrested in April 2012 on money laundering charges in the biggest scandal in Greece involving a politician.

His cousin, businessman Nicos Zigras, who was also arrested in connection with the affair, testified to Greek authorities last year that Michaelides transferred cash linked to the acquisition of the missile systems.

Cyprus’ legal services have been cooperating with Greek authorities on the case.

Dinos Michaelides was forced to step down as interior minister in 1999 during Glafcos Clerides’ administration after ombudswoman Eliana Nicoloaou questioned planning changes to land which Michaelides later bought and built a luxury home on.

Michaelides said at the time he was being “defamed”. He also served as interior minister between 1985 and 1988 for the Spyros Kyprianou government and between 1993 and 1997, again for Clerides.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Wednesday Turkey should not join the European Union as it was not part of Europe, bluntly underlining Berlin’s opposition to the long-running membership bid.

Germany pressed the 28-member bloc to delay a new round of membership talks last week, in response to Ankara’s crackdown on anti-government protesters.

Brussels postponed the discussions for at least four months, but said the path to Turkey’s membership was still open.

“We should not accept Turkey as a full member … Turkey is not part of Europe,” Schaeuble said at an election rally by his and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrat (CDU) party in the western German city of Duesseldorf.

Germany and France have always had concerns about allowing a largely Muslim country of 76 million people into the bloc, fearing that Turkey’s cultural differences and its size will make it too difficult to integrate.

Merkel’s critics have accused her of making a show of her opposition to Turkey’s membership to curry favour with conservative voters before elections, scheduled for September.

Turkey became an associate of the bloc in the 1960s but accession talks launched in 2005 got bogged down in a dispute over Cyprus, an EU member, and opposition from Paris and Berlin.

Cyprus’ embassy in Egypt is on alert and ready to provide Cypriot nationals residing or visiting Egypt with help after the recent developments in the country, the Director of the Consular Affairs Department of the Foreign Ministry Pantias Eliades said Thursday.
Eliades said that so far no Cypriot citizen had contacted the Embassy of the Republic in Cairo asking for any help, noting that the Embassy has been ready for days and in coordination with the diplomatic missions of other EU member states in Egypt.
Asked if there is any problem with Cypriots who live in the country, Eliades said that the Foreign Ministry has been monitoring the situation in Egypt for weeks and issued a travel advisory for Egypt warning Cypriots residing, visiting or intending to visit the country to exercise due caution and avoid areas where there are mass gatherings.
He pointed out that the country’s airport is functioning normally adding that Wednesday’s flight from Cyprus to Egypt took place as scheduled.
Anyone who wants to leave the country can do so without any problem, he said.
Asked if there are any organised groups of Cypriot tourists in Egypt, Eliades said that no travel agent either in Cyprus or in Egypt has contacted the Ministry to report any problem.

The island’s biggest bank was dominated by its CEO who bought large numbers of Greek bonds without consulting other board members, a former Bank of Cyprus (BoC) chief executive said on Thursday.

Yiannis Kypri told an inquiry into the Cyprus’ banking sector near-collapse that in late 2009 and early 2010 former CEO Andreas Eliades raised the lender’s Greek bond portfolio without consulting the executive board.

“There were problems with company management, (BoC) culture and transparency particularly in the way the CEO at the time took decisions.” Kypri said referring to the BoC. He referred to Eliades’ term as a “monocracy,” a rule by one person.

Kypri said after the fact, Eliades had told the BoC executive board that there was no risk of Greece defaulting.

But although the Central Bank wrote to Eliades in March 2010 warning him of the Greek debt exposure risk, there was no written follow-up for another two years, Kypri said, agreeing with the inquiry that supervision had been inadequate.

BoC incurred huge losses during a Greek debt write-down in 2011, and was forced to request a state bailout in the summer of 2012.

As part of the terms of an EU/IMF Cyprus bailout, BoC is now in administration while the island’s second biggest bank, Laiki, is being wound down.

By Ed Osmond
MARION Bartoli crushed Kirsten Flipkens 6-1 6-2 in an embarrassingly one-sided semi-final on Thursday to reach her second Wimbledon final.
The French 15th seed completely outclassed Belgian Flipkens who failed to deal with the pressure of her first grand slam semi-final on Centre Court and was also hampered by a knee injury.
Flipkens, seeded 20th, dropped her first service game and Bartoli broke again for a 5-1 lead before taking the opening set in only 25 minutes.
Bartoli, who lost to Venus Williams in the 2007 Wimbledon final, made two early breaks in the second set before Flipkens received on-court treatment on her heavily strapped right knee.
The 27-year-old Belgian immediately broke Bartoli’s serve but the Frenchwoman broke straight back and sealed victory in just over an hour with a smash on her second match point.
She will play fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska or Sabine Lisicki, seeded 23rd, in the final on Saturday.

By Bejay Browne

A LOCAL radio station has stepped in to help a charity which is under increasing pressure to feed hundreds of needy families in Paphos.

Founders of the Solidarity charity say there is a real chance that families could be left to starve in the near future unless something is done urgently.
Pavlina Patsalou, who heads up the group along with Paphos councillor George Sofokleous, said the charity has been feeding hundreds of Paphos families for 20 or so months. They started with 20 families and now numbers are in excess of 650.
“We are being sent more and more people from the welfare department and other government bodies. I think there is a real possibility that some families may be starving soon and this worries me so much,” Patsalou said.
Solidarity and Rock FM now aim to raise money and food to help families who are not officially entitled to assistance as they fall outside municipal boundaries. Rock FM is encouraging people to arrive at the station today from 10am with non perishable foodstuffs or a donation.
“We are inviting businesses and individuals to come to the radio station to take part in a live show raising funds and donations for the Solidarity charity,” said station manager, Agapios Georgiou.
He continued: “the presenters of the ‘Bit in The Middle’ show wanted to do more to help the community. So, we decided to host a live broadcast called ‘Love your neighbour’ in aid of this worthy cause.”
Patsalou said the situation has become dire. “We are finding it hard to cope with the increasing numbers of needy coming to us for help. Some are being sent by the government departments who say they can’t help them. But we are now being faced by massive problems – companies that were supporting us before can’t even give ten euros now because of what has happened with the banks. We need money to buy food and we have to try and organise one event after another as we just can’t keep up with the demand.”
According to the charity, numbers of new families needing help every week are already in double figures. Most arrive at the charity on foot as they have no money for petrol to put in their cars, some don’t have electricity or telephones.
The radio station’s ‘Love your neighbour’ experience will be broadcast live during today’s morning show ‘The Bit in the Middle’ which is broadcast on 98.5/106.7 FM, from 10-11am. “We really need businesses and the public to help,” Georgiou said.
Items requested include all dry goods, such as rice, pasta, pulses, long life milk, tinned goods, tea, coffee, sugar and especially baby items such as nappies and baby milk. Toiletries, toilet paper and adult diapers are also needed.

Rock FM Tel: 26 822073, 203Galateia Court, Galateias Street, Paphos. www.rockfm985.com, www.solidaritypaphos.com

By George Psyllides

RULING DISY yesterday called on the state to find a way to overcome legal obstacles and extradite former interior minister Dinos Michaelides and his son to Greece where they are wanted in connection with a money laundering case.

Greece has issued European arrest warrants for the pair in connection with a case involving former Greek defence minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos.

The investigation concerns alleged kickbacks paid in the purchase by Greece of the Russian TOR-M1 surface-to-air missile system.

However, handing Michaelides and his son over to Greece will be very difficult if not impossible.

The alleged offences had taken place in the 1990s and Cyprus’ constitution currently prohibits the extradition of Cypriot nationals for events or actions that happened before the country joined the European Union on May 1, 2004.

DISY said Cyprus must find a way to extradite the pair.

“It is not proper, in an EU member-state, and while we continuously speak of transparency, to still have legal obstacles that block the execution of European warrants,” DISY said in a statement.

The party said their innocence will transpire through the legal procedure, adding that everyone was innocent until proven guilty.

“DISY is merely stressing the urgent need for the Cypriot state to send the correct messages to society with its actions,” the ruling party said.

Dinos and Michalis Michaelides were recently summoned to Athens to respond to questions by Greek investigators but failed to show up.

The two denied the allegations.

They said they had explained the reasons why they did not turn up through their lawyer.

The former Cypriot minister and his son are suspected of money laundering, involving alleged kickbacks of $10 million (€7.7m) believed to have eventually ended up in the hands of Tsohatzopoulos who signed the agreement for the supply of the missile system.

Greek investigators believe the millions in kickbacks were sent from one offshore company to Michalis Michaelides’ account to which his father Dinos also had access.

Tsohatzopoulos, 73, was arrested in April 2012 on money laundering charges in the biggest scandal in Greece involving a politician.

His cousin, businessman Nicos Zigras, who was also arrested in connection with the affair, testified to Greek authorities last year that Michaelides transferred cash linked to the acquisition of the missile systems.

Dinos Michaelides was forced to step down as interior minister in 1999 during Glafcos Clerides’ administration after the ombudswman questioned planning changes to land which he later bought and built a luxury hotel on.

At the time Michaelides said he was being defamed.

Thieves stole an ossuary worth €300 from a Paphos church, police said on Friday.

The donation box was not stolen.

The thieves entered the church of Ayios Nektarios in Chloraka through the main entrance, which is left unlocked for visitors.

A church official reported the theft to police on Thursday at 7.30pm.

By Tom Perry and Alastair Macdonald

Islamist allies of Egypt’s ousted president, Mohamed Mursi, called on people to protest on Friday to express outrage at his overthrow by the army and to reject a planned interim government backed by their liberal opponents.

In the Sinai peninsula near Israel, gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades at army checkpoints guarding an airport and rocketed a police station near the border with the Palestinian territories. One soldier was killed and two wounded, a security source said. The authorities declared a state of emergency in Suez and South Sinai provinces.

Dozens of people were wounded in clashes in Mursi’s Nile Delta home city on Thursday, raising fears of more of the violence in which several dozen have died in the past month.

How the army deals with any trouble will help determine future support for Cairo from the United States and other international powers.

Concern that the generals have carried out a military coup against Egypt’s first freely elected leader has left Washington reviewing the $1.5 billion in mostly military aid it annually gives Egypt. U.S. law bars aid for countries where the military has toppled an elected government in a coup. Washington has so far avoided using that label.

The planned protests have the slogan “Friday of Rejection”.

Outside the Rabaa Adaweya mosque in a Cairo suburb, where Mursi supporters have gathered over the last week, the army deployed extra armoured vehicles several hundred metres from makeshift barricades. Thousands of people milled around the area, while a group of about 50 men shouted pro-Mursi slogans.

“Down, down with military rule!” they chanted. “We call for jihad in the whole country.”

In the skies above the teeming city, the airforce staged fly-pasts, with jets leaving red, white and black smoke streams – representing the Egyptian flag – behind them in a show of force the military has employed frequently since Mursi’s ouster.

A military source said: “We will continue to secure the places of protest with troops, and jets if necessary, to make sure the pro- and anti-Mursi demonstrators don’t confront each other. We will let them demonstrate and go where they want.”

Mursi’s political opponents insist there was no coup.

Rather, the army heeded the “will of the people” in forcing the president out. Millions rallied on Sunday to protest over a collapsing economy and political deadlock, in which Mursi had failed to build a broad consensus after a year in office.

It was not immediately clear whether the violence in the long-unstable Sinai was directly linked to the overthrow of Musri. Early on Friday, security sources said Islamist gunmen opened fire on El-Arish airport, close to the border with the Gaza Strip and Israel, and at three military checkpoints.

A police station in Rafah on the Gaza border was hit by rockets, wounding several soldiers. Security forces closed the border crossing. State media said it would reopen on Saturday.

News of the state of emergency in Suez and South Sinai caused the price of Brent Crude to spike by more than $1.50, a reminder of Egypt’s global strategic importance astride the Suez canal. The price subsided after reports that shipping on the canal was unaffected.

DIPLOMACY

After a busy day of diplomacy by concerned Obama administration officials interrupting their Independence Day holiday in Washington, the Egyptian armed forces command issued a late-night statement guaranteeing rights to protest and free expression, and pledging not to pursue arbitrary measures against any political group.

The uncontroversial phrasing belied a busy 24 hours since the military chief suspended the constitution, detained Mursi and oversaw the swearing in of the chief justice of the constitutional court as Egypt’s interim head of state.

In addition to Mursi, the country’s first freely elected leader, several senior figures in his Muslim Brotherhood were held, security sources said. Prosecutors were investigating various charges, including incitement to violence and, in the case of Mursi himself, insulting the judiciary.

Television channels owned by or seen as sympathetic to the Brotherhood were abruptly taken off air. The state printer did not run off its party newspaper on Thursday or Friday.

“These media paint a different picture of the situation, which the army does not want people to see,” said Islam Taqfiq from the media committee at the Brotherhood’s political wing.

COUP OR NO COUP?

In Zagazig, the Nile Delta city where Mursi has a family home, 80 people were injured. Witnesses said the army moved in to seal the area after an attack on pro-Mursi protesters by men on motorcycles led to clashes with sticks, knives and bottles.

For a movement that has been banned and politically oppressed for most of its 85-year history, such developments have reinforced impressions among the Islamists that a “deep state”, once loyal to fallen autocrat Hosni Mubarak and his army-backed predecessors, is still determined to crush it.

Washington, the armed forces’ longtime sponsor, has voiced concern for human rights, but also for stability. Egypt’s peace with Israel and control of the Suez Canal give it a strategic importance beyond its 84 million people.

Washington, along with Middle Eastern allies from Israel to Saudi Arabia, are not lamenting the Brotherhood’s stunning reversal. The organisation has long represented many Arabs’ hopes for a better society but was found gravely wanting during Mursi’s year of missteps and rancorous division.

While avoiding the word “coup”, the White House said some on Obama’s national security team had contacted Egyptian officials “to convey the importance of a quick and responsible return of full authority to a democratically elected civilian government”.

Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr, staying in a caretaker role after resigning from Mursi’s cabinet, spent the day reassuring ambassadors and speaking by phone to foreign officials, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

“He was worried about the status of human rights,” Amr said. “Understandably. I assured him there is no retribution, no acts of vengeance, that nobody will be treated outside the law.”

Amr said he conveyed the the message that there had been no “military coup”. The army had merely heeded the popular will.

“USURPERS”

Adli Mansour, the constitutional court chief justice sworn in as interim head of state on Thursday, has held out an olive branch to the Brotherhood, but a senior official in the Islamist movement said it would not work with “the usurper authorities”.

Another of its politicians said Mursi’s overthrow would push other groups, though not his own, to violent resistance.

The armed forces’ statement contained a warning to those Islamists planning to demonstrate on Friday.

“Excessive use of this right without reason could carry some negative implications, including blocking roads, delaying public benefits and destroying institutions, posing a threat to social peace, the national interest and damaging the security and economy in our precious Egypt.”

The Brotherhood renounced violence decades ago. Even among its allies who were engaged in armed struggle against Mubarak in the 1990s and beyond, there seems little appetite to resume it.

But Egypt does have troubles with militancy, not least in the largely empty Sinai peninsula, where radical Islamists with links to al Qaeda have become more active since Mubarak fell.

Mursi’s dramatic exit was greeted with delight by millions of jubilant people on the streets of Cairo and other cities on Wednesday evening, but there was simmering resentment among Egyptians who opposed the military intervention.

Following the swearing in of Mansour as interim head of state, the next step in the army’s road map back to democracy is the formation of an interim government in the next few days. One state newspaper said it should be ready on Sunday.

After that, a panel is to revise the constitution in order to hold parliamentary and presidential elections.

Amr Moussa, a former foreign minister, head of the Arab League and now liberal party leader, told Reuters he expected the full transition to elected institutions to take no more than 12 months and possibly just six. “This is doable,” he said.

By Philip Pullella

The late Pope John Paul II will be made a saint, the Vatican said on Friday, announcing that Pope Francis had approved a second miracle attributed to the Polish pontiff, who led the Roman Catholic Church from 1978 to 2005.

The Vatican said Pope John XXIII, who reigned from 1958 to 1963 and called the Second Vatican Council – which enacted sweeping reforms to modernise the Church – would also be made a saint.

No dates for the canonisation ceremonies were immediately given but the Vatican said they were expected by the end of the year.

John Paul had already been credited with asking God to cure French nun Marie Simon-Pierre Normand of Parkinson’s disease, which helped lead to his beatification in 2011, when he was declared a “blessed” of the Church.

Two confirmed miracles are usually required under Vatican rules for the declaration of a saint.

The second miracle attributed to John Paul’s intercession is the inexplicable curing of a woman from Costa Rica who prayed to him for help with her medical condition on the day of his beatification. Details of that miracle were due to be announced in Costa Rica on Friday.

In the case of Pope John XXIII, who was known as the “good pope”, Francis waved the customary rules which require a second miracle after beatification, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said. John XXIII was beatified in 2000.

A Greater Sand Plover, the main reason for the site’s status (Photo David Nye)

A protected site used as a resting and feeding ground for over 30 migratory bird species is being threatened by development in the Famagusta area, conservationists warned on Friday.

According to BirdLife Cyprus, between the villages of Xylofagou and Ayia Napa, on the rocky shore, lies a coastal strip of great significance as more than 30 bird species of conservation importance use it to rest and feed during migration, or to spend their winter.

This site – long threatened by development, is now being overrun by bulldozers and concrete, despite its status as a protected Natura 2000 site, the group said.

Works at the Ayia Thekla-Liopetri Natura site include levelling the beach using bulldozers and the construction of cafeterias and other establishments, stripping it of its natural habitat and causing major disturbance.

“The destruction of the habitat for the creation of an organised beach came on top of the site already being ‘claimed’ for the construction of a road and other developments in and around the small site and the proposal for the construction of a marina,” said BirdLife.

It added: “In times of economic crisis, it is of utmost importance that any plans or projects are not carried out at the expense of nature and biodiversity. It is one of the greatest misconceptions of our time that the protection of nature should be weighed against short-term economic gain.”

The group argued that all economic activities of a country are “ultimately dependent upon the services and benefits that nature provides and thus during periods of economic crisis its protection becomes even more important”.