By Angelos Anastasiou

FORMER chairman of the Cyprus Airways board of directors Tony Antoniou blasted his successor Makis Constantinides on Monday, accusing him of misrepresenting reality on issues of critical importance.

Constantinides’ public remarks on an agreement allegedly signed by Antoniou relating to a settlement between Cyprus Airways and Hermes Airports – a private consortium managing the Larnaca and Paphos airports – were rejected by the former chairman.

“A draft agreement had been prepared but never signed because Hermes Airports demanded the abolishment of legal rights and claims for damages by Cyprus Airways,” Antoniou said.

This followed claims that Constantinides – former chairman of Hermes – had summarily paid €1.8 million out of the cash-strapped airline’s coffers to Hermes for payments scheduled to be made by the end of 2014, which some claimed constituted preferential treatment to his former employers.

Antoniou called on Constantinides to “either make public the agreement he claims I signed, or publicly withdraw his assertions”.

“If others have signed such an agreement after my departure, the Cyprus Airways chairman should say so in public,” he added.

Antoniou said that Constantinides’ claim of dues to Hermes being €5.5 million was false as the real figure was €3.8 million, down to €3.2 million after deducting the charges contested by Cyprus Airways.

“That means that the chairman of Cyprus Airways has waived the claim of €502,500 in self-evidently excess electricity charges in the passengers’ terminal, which were the object of negotiation between Hermes and Swissport,” Antoniou added.

He also commented on Constantinides’ assertion that projected losses for the national carrier for 2014 will be €16 million, instead of the €10 million that Antoniou had estimated before the House watchdog committee last week.

“If losses rose dramatically in recent months, under the new management, reaching €16 million, we do not know,” Antoniou, who had resigned in August, said.

“However, one must keep in mind that, despite operating losses, we had the proceeds from selling the Heathrow time slots deposited in bank accounts, and that money secured the company’s financial viability until the end of 2015.”

He was referring to the controversial sale of Cyprus Airways’ remaining two time slots at Heathrow airport earlier this year – one for €6.5 million and the second for €22 million.

By Alan Baldwin

Marco Mattiacci’s brief reign as Ferrari Formula One principal ended on Monday with the troubled Fiat-owned outfit replacing him with Maurizio Arrivabene, the team’s third boss in nine months.

The Italian joins from sponsor Philip Morris where he held senior positions in marketing and promotions. He is also an independent board member of Juventus soccer club.

Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne said in a statement that the team and Formula One needed “a person with a thorough understanding not just of Ferrari but also of the governance mechanisms and requirements of the sport.

“Maurizio has a unique wealth of knowledge: he has been extremely close to the Scuderia for years and, as a member of the F1 Commission, is also keenly aware of the challenges we are facing,” he added.

“He has been a constant source of innovative ideas focused on revitalisation of Formula One. His managerial experience on a highly complex and closely regulated market is also of great importance.”

Mattiacci, who replaced Stefano Domenicali when the principal resigned in April, was parachuted in from Ferrari North America where he was president and chief executive.

He never looked comfortable in the high-profile sporting role, however, while Ferrari’s performance on the track continued to decline.

The glamour team ended the season in Abu Dhabi without a single race win, for the first time since 1993, and the conclusion of the campaign also saw the departure of double world champion Fernando Alonso.

Germany’s four-times champion Sebastian Vettel has been signed from Red Bull as the Spaniard’s replacement.

Ferrari have also had upheaval at the very top with the enforced departure of long-serving president Luca Di Montezemolo, a link with the team’s late founder Enzo, last month.

He has been replaced by Fiat Chrysler chief executive Marchionne.

Arrivabene ensures Ferrari have a Formula One insider at the helm at a time when the sport faces considerable financial challenges with two small teams plunging into administration and fears that others could follow.

There are calls to reduce the price of the new V6 turbo engines and also for a more even distribution of revenues currently heavily skewed towards big teams like Ferrari, the sport’s oldest and most successful outfit.

Arrivabene has represented all sponsors on the Formula One Commission since 2010, a role that means he is well acquainted with the sport’s commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

PARLIAMENT on Monday welcomed a government decision to sign the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women.

The move came as MPs at the House human rights committee heard that the Cyprus Association for the Prevention and Handling of Violence in the Family dealt with 812 incidents during the first six months of 2014.

Over 300 were new cases and 102 involved minors. In 35 incidents, the victims were taken to a shelter for their protection.

In 56 per cent of cases victims were either wives or partners while 84 per cent had been subjected to domestic violence repeatedly.

Committee chairman Sophocles Fyttis said 78 per cent of the complaints involved Cypriot citizens. In 78 per cent of the cases the assailants were male and 16 per cent female.

Committee members expressed concern over the delay in signing the Istanbul Convention, and Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou said his ministry was waiting for comments from the legal services on any possible concerns or objections relating to the signing before going ahead.
The Convention went into force on August 1.

By Constantinos Psillides

A 17-YEAR-OLD boy has been sentenced by the Paphos District Court to 12 months in jail for sexually harassing a 13-year-old girl along with two friends.

The 17-year-old boy admitted to forcing the 13-year-old girl – who suffers from a mild intellectual disability – to perform oral sex on him and two of his friends near a church in Paphos on September 2012.

The 17-year-old forced the girl to commit the act by threatening her with a recording of her performing oral sex on one of his friends three months earlier, in June 2012.

In November 2012 the principal of the school she went to was informed that a video showing the girl performing oral sex was being shared around. The girl told the principal that she did it the first time “because she was in love” and then felt forced into doing again because she was embarrassed.

In handing out the verdict, the district judge noted that the 17-year-old had a very troubled childhood. According to the court’s decision, the boy’s biological parents never really took care of him and he was put in foster care after he threatened to leave home and kill himself. He currently lives with foster parents with five children in a four bedroom house and according to the court is “feeling the loving, family feeling he so longed to feel since he was a child”.

Despite the boy’s family background, the judge pointed out that sexually harassing a minor is a major offence and that the 17-year-old’s actions “resulted in the humiliation of the girl while her dignity was irrevocably damaged”.

By Evie Andreou

ROBOTIC surgery performs difficult surgical procedures with minimal incisions, fewer risks, minimum hospitalisation and a greater percentage of success according to the Cyprus Robotic Centre (CRC) of the Hippocrateon private hospital.

The centre, which has been performing robotic surgeries since 2008, presented on Monday the new daVinci SI surgical system that offers surgeons 3-D high definition vision with up to ten times more magnification and multi use instruments that facilitate a wide series of procedures.

The CRC’s team of surgeonical experts in gynaecology, urology and general surgery have so far performed more than 650 surgeries, including the first robotic colectomy on the island.

The system has two parts; the tower, which is positioned over the patient during surgery and has the robot’s four arms, three that can hold a variety of different surgical instruments, and one that holds the system’s 3D cameras. The surgery is performed through these arms that follow the surgeon’s hand movements through the console, the system’s second part.

The surgeon sits in the console and operates the robot’s controls while looking into a monitor that allows them ‘to have a magnified, high definition 3-D view of the surgical site’.

During the operation other medical staff or nurses assist the surgeon by changing the surgical instruments on the mechanical arms.

The daVinci SI allows surgeons to perform operations through a single 1.8cm incision through the patient’s bellybutton thus, reducing the risk of complications and keeping blood loss to the minimum. The minimal incision also leaves the patient virtually scar less.

One team member, urological surgeon and andrologist Dr Demetris Demetriou, said that since 2008 more than 600 urology operations have been performed with excellent results. In the last two years, robotic surgery has also been used in gynaecological procedures providing huge benefits, maximal safety and perfect aesthetic results.

Doctors from the centre said the robotic system has a higher success rate treating prostate cancer, urinary problems and benign and malignant diseases of the kidney.

Dr Angelos Sioutas, obstetrician and gynaecological surgeon, said that it is possible with the robotic system to operate on type I and II endometrial cancer, stage I ovary cancer and even to perform surgery during pregnancy in cases of various forms of cancer.

Other conditions that are robotically operable are the uterine prolapse with 90per cent success, endometriosis and even hysterectomies, the surgeons said.

THOUGH OPERATING on a tight budget, the ministry of communications said on Monday it expects to press ahead with planned infrastructure projects via public-private partnerships.

Presenting to MPs the 2015 budget for the ministry, which he called an “austerity budget”, Communications Minister Marios Demetriades said a dedicated department has been set up to promote collaborations between the public and private sectors.

The 2015 budget comes to €279m, a 1.2 per cent increase on last year’s.

The ministry’s priorities for the period 2015 to 2017, as outlined by Demetriades, include the establishment of a modern and safe transport network and the promotion of sustainable mobility, and promoting the digital economy and developing electronic communications and infrastructures.

Part of the sustainable transportation drive would include the promotion of alternative fuels and electric cars, while a feasibility report for a Nicosia tram should be completed and published by the end of the year.

Demetriades referred to a government decision for the four district offices to offer a one-stop-shop to citizens within the first quarter of 2015.

Quizzed by reporters later, the minister said there was no new development regarding national carrier Cyprus Airways.

The Cyprus Airways board is preparing a new rescue plan but the government has made it clear it will not pour any more funds into the company.

The airline is waiting on an EU decision on whether Cyprus broke state aid rules by subsidising it with around €75 million in previous years. A decision to return the money would effectively spell the end for the company.

A government source said recently that the EU could give a positive response if a strategic investor was found and the company completed a restructuring plan that includes shedding 320 jobs and further cuts in benefits. CY currently employs 560 people.

The House finance committee will on Tuesday be briefed on actions underway for seeking a strategic investor for the ailing company.

By Constantinos Psillides

FORMER Bank of Cyprus CEO Andreas Eliades was questioned on Monday by police investigators regarding his role in the financial meltdown, according to a police source.

The source, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Cyprus Mail that the questioning lasted for around nine hours and that the former Bank of Cyprus (BoC) boss was fully cooperating. “The questioning started around noon and was expected to be concluded at around 9.00pm. If we are not done will pick where we left on Tuesday,” said the source.

Eliades is being investigated for allegedly deliberately withholding information or otherwise misleading investors with regard to BoC’s investments in toxic Greek government bonds while being privy to confidential information.

Cypriot banks lost about €4.5b when European Union leaders agreed in late 2011 to a Greek debt write-down, designed to make that country’s debt burden more sustainable.

A Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) June report found that Eliades was amongst the bank executives to blame for the Greek bond blunder. Eliades was slapped with a €530,000 fine, along with other former high ranking executives from the Bank of Cyprus and the now defunct Laiki Bank.

The police source told the Cyprus Mail that investigators are putting together a detailed report to be handed over to the attorney-general’s office as soon as possible.

Police were under heavy criticism over the financial crisis probe, as Attorney General Costas Clerides shifted the blame to them when reports surfaced saying that the state was dragging its feet.

The scope of the police inquiry covers the expansion into Greece, banks’ corporate governance, Cypriot banks’ purchase of junk Greek bonds, and how the former Laiki Bank came to amass some €9b in emergency liquidity, a liability since passed onto the Bank of Cyprus.

Authorities were forced to seize uninsured deposits at its two main banks in March 2013 to qualify for €10b in aid from international lenders, the first time bank savers were burned in the euro zone crisis.

Problems on Cyprus snowballed into the winding-down of Laiki Bank under a mountain of debt and a large chunk of deposits exceeding €100,000 being converted to equity to prop up Bank of Cyprus.

TURKISH President Tayyip Erdogan told a meeting on women’s rights on Monday that gender equality was contrary to nature and said feminists did not recognise the value of motherhood.

Erdogan, whose conservative, Islamist ideology frequently raises hackles in more liberal segments of Turkish society, said women’s “delicate” nature meant it was impossible to place them on an equal footing with men.

“You can’t get a woman to work in every job that a man does, like they did in communist regimes in the past,” he told the meeting of Turkey’s Women and Democracy Association.

“You can’t put a pickaxe and a shovel in their hand and get them to work. That’s not the way.”

He said women should be treated equally in the eyes of the law, but their different role in society had to be recognised.

Erdogan’s critics in mostly Muslim but constitutionally secular Turkey have regularly accused him of puritanical intrusiveness into private life, from his advice to women on the number of children they should have to his views on abortion.

But his divisive rhetoric has won him the support of the country’s pious Anatolian heartlands, helping secure his victory in the first popular election for head of state in August after more than a decade as prime minister.

“Our religion gave woman a station. What station is this? The station of motherhood … Motherhood is something different and is the most unobtainable, the highest station,” he said.

“There are those who understand this, those who don’t. You can’t tell this to feminists, because they do not accept motherhood. They have no such concerns.”

Economists cite the low numbers of women in the workforce as an obstacle to Turkey’s development, while the European Union — which Turkey has been negotiating to join for over a decade — has urged the country to do more to improve gender equality.

“We know women are not physiologically equal. But equality is about having equal rights, equal status and equal opportunities,” said Gonul Karahanoglu, president of women’s rights group KA.DER.

“He defines women only as mothers. It is discriminating against all the women who don’t have children. He always says the same things,” she said.

By Louis Charbonneau and Fredrik Dahl

IRAN and six powers failed on Monday for a second time this year to resolve their 12-year dispute over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, and gave themselves seven more months to overcome the deadlock that has prevented an historic deal.

Western officials said they were aiming to secure an agreement on the substance of a final accord by March but that more time would be needed to reach a consensus on the all-important technical details.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who is trying to win relief from crippling international economic sanctions by patching up relations with the West, said that “many gaps were narrowed and our positions with the other side got closer” at talks in Vienna, state TV quoted him as saying.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gave a more sombre assessment, saying “real and substantial progress had been made but adding that “some significant points of disagreement” remained.

“These talks are not going to get easier just because we extend them. They’re tough. They’ve been tough. And they’re going to stay tough,” he told reporters.

Under an interim deal reached by the six powers and Iran a year ago in Geneva, Tehran halted higher level uranium enrichment in exchange for a limited easing of the financial and trade sanctions which have badly hurt its economy, including access to some frozen oil revenues abroad.

Monday marked the second self-imposed deadline for a final settlement to have passed without any deal. “We have had to conclude it is not possible to get to an agreement by the deadline that was set,” British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told reporters, adding that the target date had been extended to June 30, 2015.

Tehran dismisses Western fears that its nuclear programme might have military aims, saying it is entirely peaceful. However, the United States, France, Germany, Russia, China and Britain, want to cut back Iran’s uranium enrichment programme to lengthen the time it would need to build a bomb.

Rouhani said he had no doubt there would be an agreement eventually. An unashamed pragmatist, he won election by a landslide last year on promises to work to end Iran’s international isolation.

But he made clear that Tehran was taking a tough line at the talks. “There is no question the nuclear technology and facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran will remain active and today the negotiating sides know that pressure and sanctions against Iran were futile,” he told state TV.

Rouhani faces heavy pressure from hardline conservatives at home who have already blocked his drive to ease restrictions on Iranians’ individual freed

Saudi Arabia has arrested the four main suspects in an attack on Shi’ite Muslims this month and believes it was ordered by Islamic State militants from abroad, the state news agency cited an Interior Ministry security spokesman as saying on Monday.

Seven members of the Sunni-ruled kingdom’s Shi’ite minority were shot dead in the Eastern Province district of al-Ahsa on November 3 as they marked their holy day of Ashoura.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, put down an upsurge of Islamist militancy a decade ago, but fears that jihadist groups such as Islamic State or the al Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front now operating in Syria or Iraq will radicalise Saudis to mount a new wave of strikes inside the kingdom.

Last week, the ministry said militants were trying to attack Saudi Arabia, but that it was not aware of any evidence that the al-Ahsa attack had been coordinated with Islamic State.

On Monday, the ministry spokesman said 77 suspects had been arrested so far, and that they were believed to include the four main perpetrators.

He said the leader of the al-Ahsa attack had received orders from abroad, and that “the target, as well as those to be targeted and the timing were all specified for him, as well as the provision that the (attack) be carried out in al-Ahsa”.

The leader had picked three followers, and these had scouted out the target, seized a car, killed its owner, and used it in the attack.

The spokesman said security forces carried out operations “to arrest everyone affiliated with this terrorist group, whether those who pledged allegiance to the leader of the group, or participants, supporters, financiers, or those who provide cover”.

Two Saudis and a Qatari were killed as they resisted arrest, along with two security officers, the ministry said.

Authorities had already said that among the detainees were people believed to have fought for Sunni jihadists in Syria or who had previously been jailed for fighting for al Qaeda.

By Julia Symmes Cobb

Colombia’s FARC rebels freed two captured soldiers on Tuesday, the first step toward resuming peace talks which the government suspended after the insurgent group took five hostages, including an army general.

The halt in the two-year-old negotiations, taking place in Havana, threatened to derail efforts to end five decades of war between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels, which has killed more than 200,000 people since it began in 1964.

President Juan Manuel Santos has said talks would not resume until all five hostages, including General Ruben Dario Alzate, a military official, a civilian lawyer and the two soldiers released on Tuesday, are freed.

The soldiers, Paulo Cesar Rivera and Jonathan Andres Diaz, were taken captive in the restive eastern department of Arauca during a military operation on Nov. 9.

They were freed Tuesday morning with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross, arriving at an airport in Tame, Arauca, in a helicopter emblazoned with the charity group’s insignia.

“We’re glad that these two people can shortly return to their homes, where their families await them,” Christoph Harnisch, the head of the ICRC’s Colombia delegation, said in a statement.

The FARC confirmed the liberation of the soldiers in a statement and said they would now focus their efforts on freeing the general and the two other hostages captured with him.

The rebels expect military operations in the area where Alzate and the others are being held “to be suspended immediately so the liberation of the mentioned people can go ahead without problems and without risks to anyone.”

Local TV showed the families and friends of the two soldiers celebrating the release. Relatives will be reunited with them in Bogota, local press reported.

Santos had urged the rebels to release the soldiers but did not suspend talks until a week later, after the kidnapping of Alzate and the two others in the violent Pacific department of Choco.

After a tense three-day stand-off, the FARC said they would release the captives. The government’s team will not return to the negotiating table until all hostages are safely back with their families, Santos said.

The talks aimed at ending Latin America’s longest-running war were interrupted only once before, when the FARC withdrew briefly to reflect on the government’s plan to put any resulting peace deal to a nationwide referendum.

The rebels’ decision to free the captives may mollify critics of the process who say the FARC is not serious about ending the conflict.

But delays have sparked grumbles that the FARC is hoping to milk the releases for positive press coverage.

The rebels have reiterated their desire for a bilateral ceasefire while the talks proceed, something the government has consistently refused to consider, and have criticized Santos for suspending the negotiations.

Santos “destroyed confidence” by halting the negotiations unilaterally, FARC leader Rodrigo Londono, known by his nom de guerre Timochenko, said in an open letter on Monday.

The FARC, once prolific kidnappers, say they have stopped holding people for ransom but insist that military personnel are fair game and, when captured, are prisoners of war.

Alzate is the highest-ranking military official ever kidnapped by the FARC.

By Evie Andreou
More and more women are forced to return to abusive husbands because they cannot afford to fend for themselves, the Association for the Prevention and Handling of Violence in the Family (SPAVO) on Tuesday at the start of a 16-day campaign against domestic violence.
According to SPAVO between 2009 and 2010, 11 per cent of women returned to their husbands, while over the next two years, the percentage rose to 13 per cent.
Meanwhile, consultants who work at the organisation said over the last two years, a larger percentage of women seeking refuge at the shelter return home since they are financially dependent on their partners and they cannot provide for themselves and their children.
“We are still gathering data for the last two years but they will be a sad evidence of these women’s situation – more women chose to return home than live on their own,” programmes officer at SPAVO Marios Nicolaou said.
He said the number or shelter requests has also declined as women realise that once they leave the shelter they will be pretty much on their own.
“The state unfortunately has discontinued a significant number of allowances that help these women,” Nicolaou said.
SPAVO also called for better cooperation between relevant services to helps meet the needs of these women.
In September work began on a new shelter that will offer refuge to women and their children with funds from the government, SPAVO and Norway Grants, head of SPAVO Kiki Poyadji said.
“The centre is designed is such a way to provide the biggest possible support to women and their children through educational and other support programmes,” Poyadji said.
She also said that since September the organisation is operating a second shelter for women and children in Paphos.
During the first six months of 2014, SPAVO dealt with 812 incidents, including over 300 new cases, while 102 involved minors. In 35 incidents, the victims were taken to a shelter for their protection.
Speaking at the launch of the campaign, Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou said “the government condemns every form of violence and supports with fervour the greater protection of victims”.
For that reason, he added, it has signed the Convention of Istanbul against domestic and gender violence.
The campaign is running simultaneously around the world and was launched on Tuesday, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and will end on December 10, the International Day of Human Rights.
SPAVO has also announced the launch of TV spots with the participation of popular Cypriot actors to help raise awareness of domestic violence, to encourage victims to speak up and society to be more involved and take action when they suspect domestic violence.
Poyadji said the organisation has made an appeal for two cars, one for Nicosia and one for Paphos.

n The SPAVO helpline – 1440 – operates every day from 8am to 10pm on weekdays and 10am to 10pm at the weekend

By Elias Hazou
Nicosia and Cairo agreed on Tuesday to speed up talks for exporting Cypriot gas to Egypt as the island appeared to switch track from onshore LNG to pipelines.
Egypt can receive as much gas quantities as Cyprus can export, Egypt’s petroleum minister Sherif Ismail told reporters in Nicosia.
Τhe gas could also be processed so that it can be exported to other countries, he added.
“We are open for any discussions, ready to discuss all options… the pipeline will be direct to Egypt, we have huge LNG market there,” Ismail said.
Responding to a follow-up question, the Egyptian official clarified that the two sides are discussing the possibility of Cypriot gas going to Egypt for domestic use as well as for LNG export.
His comments came soon after talks with his Cypriot counterpart, energy minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis, who later met separately with a Greek delegation under Greece’s energy minister Yiannis Maniatis. Tuesday’s talks wrapped up with a three-way meeting of the energy ministers of Cyprus, Greece and Egypt.
The talks are designed to lay the groundwork for regional energy cooperation among the three Mediterranean nations, and they follow a summit of the three nations’ heads of state in Cairo earlier this month.
No letters of intent were signed, but Cyprus and Egypt said their discussions would be picking up pace.
In a joint statement after their meeting, Ismail and Lakkotrypis said they agreed to “build on the emerging momentum by enhancing and deepening the cooperation between the two governments in the hydrocarbons sector to their mutual benefit. In this context, they agreed to expedite discussions on exporting Cypriot natural gas to Egypt.”
Lakkotrypis was even more explicit, saying the focus was on exporting Cypriot gas via pipeline to existing infrastructures in Egypt – the LNG facilities at Idku and Damietta, which are currently operating well below capacity.
The gas concerned the reserves discovered at the Aphrodite field, in offshore block 12, operated by US outfit Noble Energy.
The minister said moreover the two governments have decided to initiate a technical study weighing the various export options for Cypriot gas; its findings should be available in about two months.
“Of course there are several technical and commercial issues that need to be addressed, and that is why we have set this process in motion,” he said.
“It appears that the best way [for exporting gas] would be via a direct pipeline between Cyprus and Egypt.”
Earlier this month, during an energy meet in Nicosia, Noble Energy said it was now looking at regional pipelines as its top option for developing its Cypriot gas finds.
And last month the state-owned Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company (CHC) held talks with BG Egypt to discuss possible export of Cyprus’ natural gas to the company’s LNG facilities in Idku.
Meanwhile following separate but parallel talks between the Cypriot and Greek delegations, Greek energy minister Maniatis said they discussed the prospect of the East Med pipeline, connecting Israeli and Cypriot gas reserves to continental Europe via Crete and mainland Greece.
“This corridor… may constitute, together with an LNG plant, a new source of [energy] supply to the European Union,” Maniatis said.
In a joint declaration, the energy ministers of the three nations noted that they have agreed “to establish a framework for tripartite consultations, in order to facilitate dialogue and advance trilateral co-operation between them in the field of hydrocarbons for the benefit of their countries and of the wider region.”
According to the statement, in a bid to attract investment in hydrocarbons, the ministers identified five areas of trilateral and broader regional cooperation: environmental standards in offshore hydrocarbons operations; methods of ensuring safety in offshore hydrocarbons operations; energy infrastructure; research and development in the hydrocarbons sector; and institutional expertise and capacity building.

By Angelos Anastasiou
The Paphos municipal council decided on Tuesday to terminate the employment of employee Maria Solomonidou, who is under police scrutiny for her role in two criminal cases.
Solomonidou was suspended from her post on October 21 after she was implicated in two separate police investigations.
Investigations into threatening text messages sent to municipal councilmen and a journalist in connection with a case of suspected land-demarcation fraud in Paphos revealed that Solomonidou was the owner of the phone from which the texts were sent.
She has also been implicated in the case of a concert organised in Paphos last summer featuring Greek pop singer Sakis Rouvas, which was allegedly misleadingly advertised as a charity event.
Paphos councilman Themis Filippides told the Cyprus News Agency that her dismissal was officially not related to her alleged misconduct, but based on grounds of redundancy.
“Terminating her employment was based on the fact that her services are not required to the Municipality’s cultural services, given the services’ staffing and in light of the limiting of its activities as a result of the ongoing financial crisis,” he said.
Filippides said that Solomonidou’s four-week warning period ahead of termination commences on Wednesday, but she has been instructed not to work during this time.
“On the basis of this arrangement, she will be paid accordingly,” he said.
Meanwhile, Interior minister Sokratis Hasikos said on Tuesday he will go to Paphos to meet with the Municipal Council, as well as the Paphos Sewerage Board, in the coming days.
A probe by Auditor General Odysseas Michaelides into the workings of the sewerage board – chaired by Paphos mayor Savvas Vergas – revealed several suspected cases of mismanagement of public funds.
“I will meet with them so that I can have direct and personal knowledge of the situation as it relates to these two bodies,” said Hasikos.
“I want to send a message – that the government is monitoring the issue closely and receives continuous updates,” he said.
Hasikos said the government is gravely concerned both for Paphos’ local administration and the Paphos 2017 project. Paphos has been designated European Cultural Capital for the year 2017, during which it plans to organise a series of high-profile Europe-themed cultural events.
“Nonetheless, and despite everything that has happened and continues to unfold in Paphos, we will not allow administrative breakdowns,” Hasikos said.
“There is the Constitution, there are laws, and there are courts, which will have the final say,” he added.
Hasikos’ warning came a day after indicted – and suspended – Paphos mayor Savvas Vergas announced he will not be stepping down until all police investigations have been concluded and court rulings have been issued.
The announcement prompted yet another barrage of statements from political parties – including DIKO, of which Vergas is a member, but with the notable exception of ruling DISY – reiterating their calls for his resignation, as they had last week.

Jack Straw, the former British Foreign Secretary snubbed by the late President Tassos Papadopoulos for meeting in the north with a Turkish Cypriot leader in 2006, is calling on the international community to accept the division of Cyprus.
Straw has often in the past brought up the issue of two states in Cyprus, and in an interview with Turkish news agency Anadolu in London on Tuesday he said the island’s division needed to be accepted as a reality.
“If it had been possible for there to be a happy, united island, well, that would be the best solution, with a bi-zonal, bi-communal constitution. But the majority of people living on the island in the Greek-Cypriot part don’t want to accept that,” Straw said.
He referred back to the 2004 referendum on the Annan Plan, which was rejected by the majority of Greek Cypriots saying the failure of negotiations was not the fault of the Turkish Cypriots.
“So my view is the international community should accept the reality that there is division and that you have partition,” he said. “And then these two rather small nations would be able to develop their own relationship and I think it would be a cleaner system.”

By Jean Christou
UN Special Adviser Espen Barth appeared pragmatic on Tuesday night that his proposal for a twin-track process to resolve the hydrocarbons dispute so that Cyprus talks could resume, had not created “much enthusiasm” on either side.
President Nicos Anastasiades told Eide during their 90-minute meeting that there would be no returning to the negotiating table until Turkey ceased violating the island’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
He also explained to Eide why the Special Adviser’s proposal for a twin-track process through parallel discussions on hydrocarbons had been rejected by the Greek Cypriot side.
“I respect and understand that, so that was what I had to propose,” said Eide.
“So in a sense now it’s more the two sides that have to find a way to create the conditions that they can speak. What I am concentrating on is now what we do in order to make sure that the talks will be speedy and effective once we are back at the table. And I remain optimistic that we will get there but I am not able to say exactly when we will get there,” he added.
“I feel that the situation can either get better or it can get significantly worse,” he said.
He said he was encouraging both sides to think of ways where they could re-approach each other in such a way that the talks could continue.
But the government spokesman’s comments after the meeting were clear. “Our decision to return to the negotiating table cannot be secured while there is a continuing violation of the sovereignty of the Republic,” said Nicos Christodoulides.
“We developed our argument as to why the proposal of Mr Eide could not be accepted. There can be no dialogue under threats and intimidation.”
If Turkey changed its stance and demonstrated in practice that it respected the sovereignty of Cyprus a dialogue could be resumed.
“It is clear who is responsible for the situation we are in today so the party responsible should take those actions that will make it possible to resume the dialogue.”
Eide is due to meet Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu on Wednesday
Earlier in the day Anastasiades met political party leaders ahead.
After the meeting Christodoulides said there had been a good exchange of views on the argument the Greek Cypriot side would be putting to Eide.
Its position had not changed and was unanimous, he said. “The issue of hydrocarbons can in no way be discussed either at the [negotiating] table nor in any other parallel process,” said the spokesman.
He said the issue of energy was an important incentive both to the Turkish Cypriots and to Turkey to solve the Cyprus problem as soon as possible. “Any other discussion or idea for discussion serves as a vehicle for failure to resolve the Cyprus problem,” Christodoulides said.
“It was Turkey by its actions, which have escalated the situation that led us to the decision to suspend our participation in the negotiations, so any action or efforts [to defuse the situation] should be directed there.”
In early October, Turkey announced plans to carry out surveys within Cyprus’ EEZ and sent in the seismic vessel Barbaros on October 20 with plans to carry out exploration until December 30. This prompted Anastasiades to withdraw from the talks.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted on Tuesday as saying that as long as the Greek Cypriots explore and drill for gas, the Barbaros would be there. “If they stop, we will stop,” he said. “We are against unilateral drilling.”
He suggested that as the two sides in Cyprus could not agree, a joint private consortium could be set up to take over the hydrocarbons mantle until a Cyprus solution was agreed.

By Ellen Wulfhorst, Daniel Wallis and Edward McAllister

Aiming to head off new looting and rioting, Missouri’s governor on Tuesday ordered National Guard reinforcements into the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson following overnight violence ignited by the clearing of a white police officer in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager.

Attorneys for the family of Michael Brown, the 18-year-old shot to death by officer Darren Wilson in August, condemned as biased the grand jury process that led to Monday’s decision not to bring criminal charges against Wilson.

About a dozen Ferguson buildings burned overnight and 61 people were arrested on charges including burglary, illegal weapons possession and unlawful assembly, police said. Police said protesters fired guns at them, lit patrol cars on fire and hurled bricks into their lines. Police fired tear gas and flash-bang canisters at protesters and shops were looted.

The killing in Ferguson, a predominantly black city with a white-dominated power structure, underscores the sometimes tense nature of U.S. race relations. The St. Louis County grand jury’s decision also led to protests in other major U.S. cities. The unrest came despite calls by President Barack Obama and others for police and protesters to exercise restraint.

The grand jury decision shifts the legal spotlight to the ongoing U.S. Justice Department investigation into whether Wilson violated Brown’s civil rights by intentionally using excessive force and whether Ferguson police systematically violate people’s rights by using excessive force or discrimination.

Brown family lawyer Benjamin Crump said the grand jury process was unfair because the prosecutor in the case had a conflict of interest and Wilson was not properly cross-examined.

“This process is broken. The process should be indicted,” Crump told a news conference, adding that the family wants police to be equipped with body video cameras to provide an indisputable account of their actions.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon said he was meeting with law enforcement officials and bolstering the National Guard deployment to ensure that people and property are protected in the days ahead.

“The violence we saw in areas of Ferguson last night is unacceptable,” Nixon said in a statement.

His office said “the Guard is providing security at the Ferguson Police Department, which will allow additional law enforcement officers to protect the public.”

While news channels aired Obama’s live remarks calling for restraint from the White House on one side of the screen, they showed violent scenes from Ferguson on the other.

“This is going to happen again,” said Ferguson area resident James Hall, 56, as he walked past a building smoldering from a blaze set during the street protests in the city.

“If they had charged him with something, this would not have happened to Ferguson,” he said.

Although no serious injuries were reported, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said the rioting on Monday night and early Tuesday morning was “much worse” than the disturbances that erupted in the immediate aftermath of the August shooting.

The smell of smoke hung in the air along a stretch of West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson. The street was closed by police but heaps of broken glass and piles of rubble accumulated in front of the few buildings that had not been boarded up.

“We see that Michael Brown’s death has been spit upon by the criminal justice system here,” said the Reverend Michael McBride, an activist from California.

“Now is the opportunity for the president to really be my brother’s keeper,” said McBride.

TWO SIDES OF TRAGEDY

In the city of St. Louis, where windows were broken and traffic was briefly stopped on a major highway overnight, Police Chief Sam Dotson vowed a stronger response on Tuesday night.

Schools in Ferguson and its surrounding cities were closed on Tuesday and city offices in Ferguson were also shut.

Wilson could have faced charges ranging from involuntary manslaughter to first-degree murder. Brown’s family said through their lawyers that they were “profoundly disappointed” by the grand jury’s finding.

Wilson offered thanks to his supporters, saying “your dedication is amazing,” in a letter attributed to him posted on a Facebook page for those who have rallied to his side.

Attorneys for Wilson, who was placed on administrative leave and has avoided the spotlight since the shooting, said he was following his training and the law when he shot Brown.

Wilson told the grand jury that Brown had tried to grab his gun and he felt his life was in danger when he fired, according to documents released by prosecutors.

Classy Chelsea romped to a 5-0 win at Schalke 04 on Tuesday to power into the last 16 of the Champions Leagueand make it a miserable night for their former coach Roberto Di Matteo.
Captain John Terry headed in a corner after 78 seconds and Willian doubled the lead with a fierce low shot on the half hour as the Group G leaders extended their unbeaten start to the season to 19 games in all competitions.
A Jan Kirchhoff own goal in the 44th minute made it 3-0 and second-half goals from substitutes Didier Drogba and Ramires mean Schalke’s qualification hopes now hang in the balance.
Schalke, who hit the woodwork in the first half, had little to offer against a rampant Chelsea attack as coach Di Matteo lost his first meeting against the team he led to Champions League glory in 2012.

Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero struck a hat-trick, including two late goals, in a 3-2 victory against 10-man Bayern Munich on Tuesday to keep alive their hopes of reaching the Champions League knockout phase.
Aguero raced through to slot past Manuel Neuer in the 85th and 91st minutes to snatch a stunning win, the Argentine having given City a 21st minute lead with a penalty after Bayern’s Mehdi Benatia was shown a red card for bringing him down.
Xabi Alonso and Robert Lewandowski had struck within five minutes of each other shortly before halftime to put the visitors in front at the break.
City are level on five points with CSKA Moscow and AS Roma, who earlier drew 1-1, and know if they win in Rome and the Russians fail to beat Bayern in the final round of Group E matches they will qualify for the last 16.

By Andreas Vou
A dominant performance from FC Barcelona saw them breeze past APOEL at the GSP Stadium on Tuesday night with a 0-4 victory.
There was a cup final atmosphere in Nicosia as they welcomed one of the giants of European football despite the fact that qualification to the next round of the Champions League was a mathematical impossibility.
The Catalans, on the other hand, had all to play for and needed a win to maintain pressure on group leaders Paris Saint-Germain whom they trailed by one point, hence Luis Enrique fielded an almost full-strength lineup.
Lionel Messi fired an early warning sign after just three minutes when he broke clear of the APOEL defenders – his powerful shot, however, was straight at goalkeeper Urko Pardo.
APOEL defended with their typical style of two banks of four camped on the edge of their own penalty box which frustrated Barça in the early exchanges but it would not last long. Barça’s intense pressing game meant that APOEL sparsely got out of their own half in the first period.
Just five minutes after Jordi Alba saw his volley sail over the bar, the left-back made a telling contribution for the first goal of the night. Alba played a strong pass to the feet of Luis Suarez, who then pulled off a magical turn, flicking the ball through the legs of Guilherme before placing the ball neatly into the corner of the net for his first goal for the club.
Barcelona had failed to win in their previous two visits to Cyprus (1-1 against Apollon in 1982 and 0-0 versus AEK in 1996) but it would not be third time lucky for APOEL.
Just a few days after breaking the record for the most goals in the history of Spain’s top division, Messi cleverly deflected Rafinha’s goalward shot into the corner to surpass the legendary Raul’s 71 goal haul in the Champions League.
On 58 minutes, the Argentine wizard would extend his record to 73 – a lovely threaded through ball by Dani Alves was latched on to by Messi who needed one touch to control and another to poke the ball beyond his former Barcelona B team mate Urko Pardo.
APOEL’s best and perhaps only real chance of the night came just shy of the hour-mark – a powerful strike by Tomas De Vincenti, on as a second-half substitute, was palmed away by Barça keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Even though Barcelona were reduced to ten men on 70 minutes, after Rafinha’s clumsy challenge on De Vincenti, the visitors continued their dominance. And Guilherme’s aggressive challenge on Pedo Rodriguez with six minutes to go would also reduce APOEL to ten players, as he received his marching orders for his second yellow of the night.
Messi, who also scored a hat-trick against Sevilla on Saturday at the Camp Nou, would notch in his third of the night in Nicosia too. Pedro unselfishly squared the ball back to Barca’s no.10 who had the easy task of tapping home to wrap up a comfortable 0-4 win.
Despite the result, which leaves APOEL rooted to the bottom of Group F with just one point, the Cypriots’ objective remains exactly as it was before kick-off. Ajax’s 3-1 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain means APOEL are still one point behind the Dutch champions. This means that a win, and only a win, for APOEL in their final group game in Amsterdam on December 10 will see them into the knockout phase of the Europa League.