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[] | 2016-08-30T18:49:29 | null | 2016-08-30T20:53:21 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F30%2Fengland-hit-world-record-score%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/hales.jpg | en | null | England hit world record score | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | England piled up a world record one-day international total of 444-3 against Pakistan after Alex Hales and Jos Buttler ran riot at a sun-kissed Trent Bridge on Tuesday.
Buttler struck the last ball of the innings for four to take Eoin Morgan’s men past Sri Lanka’s 443 for nine against Netherlands in July 2006.
Hales plundered 171, the highest individual limited-overs score by an England batsman, before Buttler reached his fifty off 22 deliveries, also an England record.
The hosts passed their previous highest total of 408 for nine, made against New Zealand last year, while captain Morgan got to his half-century off 24 deliveries as he and Buttler shared an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 161.
Hales flayed four sixes and 22 fours in his 122-ball knock to surpass Robin Smith’s 167 not out against Australia in Birmingham in 1993.
Caught off a no-ball on 72 and dropped on 114, the 27-year-old right-hander passed Smith’s score by pulling Hasan Ali to the mid-wicket boundary.
The bowler trapped him lbw with the next delivery to end a second-wicket stand of 248 with Joe Root, who fell soon after for 85, but the pain was far from over for the Pakistan bowlers.
Buttler hammered six sixes and three fours to get to his half-century and finished 90 not out off 51 balls while Morgan ended unbeaten on 57.
Hales and Root’s partnership was also England’s third-highest in one-day internationals. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/30/england-hit-world-record-score/ | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/b6ffbe60bc653489643859d8d6044d3326da77e28c09f0ee9786a7c26d3943d9.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T10:49:09 | null | 2016-08-29T12:19:20 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Fbalancing-our-needs%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/whole-foods.jpg | en | null | Balancing our needs | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | By Dickson Despommier
The only system that matters is the Earth itself. The current methods for putting food on our tables are precarious and contributes to the degradation of our environment, but new strategies of urban farming could create stable, sustainable food supplies for the generations to come.
Producing food raises havoc with the planet’s ecosystems. From a biological perspective, we have essentially trashed the planet in order to meet the caloric needs of some 7.4 billion people. Farming has commandeered huge amounts of arable land (nearly the size of South America), 70 percent of the world’s liquid freshwater resources, and requires an enormous input of energy derived from combusting fossil fuels. Traditional agriculture is the root cause of rapid climate change, whose rate continues to increase unchecked.
When things are quiescent — i.e., when there are no massive food shortages and no significant foodborne disease outbreaks or country‐wide crop losses due to adverse weather patterns — we suffer under the illusion that we are all part of some beneficent, nurturing global food system. For the sake of brevity, let’s put aside a discussion of the unfairness of so‐called fair-trade agreements and the graft and corruption that must be factored in to fully appreciate the international multi‐corporate manipulation of the food” system.” In contrast, when things go south, we are forced to admit that the way our food gets to our table is not through the kindness and generosity of some conglomerate food management collective.
It is by pure circumstance of birth that some small portion of the world’s population finds itself geographically advantaged, and invariably grows up believing that the diversity of produce on display daily at Whole Foods is the norm. What they fail to grasp is that Whole Foods and a few other high‐end produce outlets must scramble every day to make sure their inventory meets the expectations of their customer base.
Meeting this demand comes at great expense. But in the end, even these super supermarkets fail when the burden of maintaining unrealistic levels of high‐quality produce proves too much to shoulder every time a major crop failure occurs somewhere around the world. With rapid climate change here to stay, crop failures will become more and more frequent. To be blunt, sustaining large human populations for long periods of time is not possible under these restrictive environmental conditions.
What is required is a new global plan of action that benefits not only us, but all living entities that comprise Earth’s biome. It turns out that our lives are wholly dependent upon a plethora of other life forms that collectively create conditions that maintain healthy environments.
The plan must address two issues simultaneously. The first is ensuring a sustainable, robust food supply; second, it must allow for the creation of urban centres that mimic balanced ecosystems, using technology to do so. If either of these two initiatives fails, we will all eventually fail.
Urban agriculture is gaining popularity in most cities around the world. Along with this, food movement has been the establishment of vertical farms, particularly in Asia and the United States. Vertical farms are the best way to produce hyperdense amounts of crops inside the city limits. Since the advent of these skyscraper farms, consumer attitudes toward food grown inside tall buildings have been most favorable, and the concept has generated a paucity of pushback from the industrial food sector.
Given the current growth rate of various urban agricultural activities, it is anticipated that over the next 20 to 50 years, cities will be able to supply a significant portion of their food from within the confines of their geographical boundaries. This alone could have a positive effect on the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.
For example, if all the major cities of the world raised only 10 percent of the plant crops they consumed, some 340,000 square miles of hardwood forest could be realized by the regrowth of trees that once stood where farms are now currently in place. Trees represent an enormous amount of stored carbon in the form of cellulose. Carbon farms (i.e., reforested abandoned farms) could replace a significant number of traditional farms if most of our plant‐based food came from indoor farms. Those who wished to continue to live the rural life could do so and be financially rewarded via a carbon credit system, such as the one already in place throughout the European Union, for their stewardship of “the good earth.”
Reforestation remains the cheapest, most reliable strategy for carbon sequestration. Left to its own devices, nature always finds a way to repair itself.
At the same time, with food coming mostly from within the city, the real possibility of urban centers morphing into sustainable, resilient living environments seems within our reach.
In that new urban world, all municipal functions (energy generation, transportation, education, housing, waste management, etc.) would be linked into a single manageable system, mimicking what already goes on in the natural world. The ecocity concept is the next big step in human evolution, as renewable energy realized from passive capture of wind, solar and geothermal sources has now risen to the top as the most reasonable economic alternative to burning carbon‐based fuels.
Cradle-to-cradle thinking (i.e., circular economic behavior) is now the mantra of all enlightened city planners and managers. The synergy of urban food production and ecological behavior will have an enormous positive affect on the overall health of all those who embrace these principles, and whose social and political support will foster respect for all life on Earth.
Dickson Despommier is Emeritus Professor of Public Health and Microbiology at Columbia University. He earned his Ph.D. degree in microbiology from the University of Notre Dame, and for 28 years conducted laboratory-based biomedical research with NIH-sponsored support at Columbia University. He has spearheaded an initiative whose goal is to produce significant amounts of food crops in multi-storey buildings situated in densely populated urban centers (www.verticalfarm.com and The Vertical Farm: feeding the world in the 21st century, Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2010; paperback, Picadore Pubs. 2011). Dr. Despommier is currently exploring how cities of the near future might function if they were able to produce a significant portion of their food. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/balancing-our-needs/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/c901ea97ee7dfcc8d3c7075de75b13690eb8df03501b875024e24bda61f376a8.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T16:48:46 | null | 2016-08-28T17:55:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F28%2Faudit-service-probes-claims-squandering-funds-former-trachoni-council%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/flash1.jpg | en | null | Audit service probes claims of squandering funds by former Trachoni council | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The audit service is investigating claims made against former members of the Trachoni community council for squandering of funds and abuse of power, the village’s leader Kyriacos Christodoulou said on Sunday.
The probe was launched following his own reports to the audit service after the new community council was faced with €1m in debt when they took over.
Christodoulou told the Cyprus News Agency that he reported “suspicious awards of contracts and recruitment procedures and unjustified expenses” between 2008 and 2011.
“We had found more than €1m in debt and around €65,000 (in the council’s coffers). Today, after much effort, we managed to pay off half a million into this debt and have around €750,000 in our coffers,” Christodoulou said.
Investigations by the audit service have been completed with respect to the accounting part, he said, while in the next few days audits are expected on works the former council had commissioned.
On Saturday it was announced that the Limassol CID were given the green light by the legal service to prosecute all nine members of another community in the district, Kolossi, after reports of irregularities in hiring staff and granting contracts for works between 2014 and 2015. The police were given the green light after the attorney-general’s office deemed that, following investigations, there were a number of offences concerning abuse of power. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/28/audit-service-probes-claims-squandering-funds-former-trachoni-council/ | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/ff46c74bb54da18f9ec8883510ef603eb38ee0dfc32e472db0988a6c9e27ea68.json |
[] | 2016-08-30T16:49:30 | null | 2016-08-30T18:32:58 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F30%2Fitaly-hold-mass-funeral-search-bodies-continues%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/italy123.jpg | en | null | Italy to hold mass funeral as search for bodies continues | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | More than two dozen coffins were laid out in a marquee on Tuesday ahead of a state funeral for some of the victims of an earthquake which levelled communities in central Italy last week, killing at least 292 people.
Relatives and friends gathered around the caskets, including those of two small children, which were carried into the tent in pouring rain after a summer storm broke over Amatrice, the worst-hit town from the Aug 24 quake.
Builders worked through the night hurriedly preparing the funeral site after furious locals warned they would boycott the event when they found out that the authorities planned to hold it in the city of Rieti, more than 60km away.
The bodies were originally taken to Rieti and officials said it would be easier to hold a mass funeral there rather than in the devastated Amatrice, but Prime Minister Matteo Renzi ordered a change of plan in the face of the local anger.
In the centre of Amatrice, which was voted last year one Italy’s most beautiful, crews continued to dig for bodies under mounds of rubble left by the 6.2 magnitude quake.
Speaking before the funeral of the 28 victims, Father Luigi Aquilini, an 84-year-old retired priest from Amatrice, said he helped identify some of the dead.
“Most of them were crushed. You couldn’t recognise their faces, so we had to understand who they were from their rings, their tattoos,” Aquilini said. “Buildings can be rebuilt, but the community? Families were shattered…so many children died.”
Of the 292 confirmed dead, 231 were found in Amatrice. In all, 21 children died. A number of foreigners were among the dead, including 11 Romanians and three Britons.
Renzi, Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos were expected to attend the funeral, which was set to start at 6pm (1600 GMT), the Civil Protection Agency said.
Many of those who died in Amatrice were not residents and their funerals are being held in their hometowns. Tuesday’s ceremony had been expected to involve 38 victims, but at the last minute the number was reduced without any explanation.
A fireman used a rope to hoist a wooden statue of Christ borrowed from a nearby church above a makeshift altar for Tuesday’s service. Hours before the ceremony, relatives placed bouquets of flowers and pictures of their loved ones on the simple wooden coffins.
In the town centre, emergency workers used mechanical diggers and bulldozers to search for bodies, with up to 10 people still believed to be missing under the debris.
It rained on Tuesday for the first time since the quake, complicating the search efforts and setting an even more sombre mood.
It is the second state-sponsored funeral in three days. On Saturday rites were held for victims of the quake from the adjoining Marche region. Amatrice is in the region of Lazio.
Controversy has grown over poor construction techniques, which may have been responsible for some of the deaths.
Investigators are looking into work done on the bell tower in Accumoli, which was recently restored but collapsed during the quake onto the home of a family of four, killing them all.
A court sequestered the half-demolished school building in Amatrice, which had recently been remodelled in part to help it withstand earthquakes.
Italy sits on two seismic faultlines. Many of its buildings are hundreds of years old and susceptible to earthquake damage.
Almost 30 people died in earthquakes in northern Italy in 2012 and more than 300 in the city of L’Aquila in 2009. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/30/italy-hold-mass-funeral-search-bodies-continues/ | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/58aa5ea7c2affa27b34061c3834be6b94b8ce0f97bd2fd7861a2612fc718a320.json |
[] | 2016-08-27T08:48:04 | null | 2016-08-27T11:30:05 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F27%2Fthe-nature-of-freedom%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1-2.jpg | en | null | The nature of freedom | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | A three-day workshop in Nicosia promises to teach participants about love and the nature of clarity and freedom. In September leading senior yoga teacher Christopher Gladwell will run one of his popular Shakti workshops at yoga studio The Centre in Nicosia.
Shakti is the concept or personification of divine feminine creative power and Hindus believe that Shakti is both responsible for creation and the agent of all change. Shakti is cosmic existence as well as liberation.
This are concepts that may take a while to understand, and Gladwell is one of the people qualified to convey them.
Gladwell has been actively studying yoga in its various forms of physical practice (asana), bodywork, breath work and pranayama, meditation and mindfulness, vibration and mantra, devotion and bhakti for about 35 years. He is the author of Engaged Yoga and runs a busy studio in Bristol, in between running workshops and trainings across Europe.
The Nicosia event starts on Friday 23 with an open class from 6pm until 8.30pm followed by a two-day workshop on Saturday and Sunday. Friday’s open class is on bio-intelligent asana practice, breath, compassion and mind and steps to a deeper practice.
Saturday’s theme is ‘The goddess as intelligence’. As it states in the Devi Gita and in the Vajrayana (two of the most important texts in Shaktism/goddess worship and tantric Buddhism), wisdom, clarity and intelligence as well as gnosis (jnana) are aspects of the divine feminine.
In this context, body-based practices will be used to find a more conscious flow and connection in the web of the nervous system.
“When we understand stress and its experience as the neuro-glandular muscular experience of separation, then we can use practice to move through this natural experience of separation into the inseparable matrix of Herself,” the programme explains.
The programme works with fascial awareness, the breath as the field of devotion, and seeing the mind content for what it is which leads to understanding the process of evolution.
Sunday is devoted to ‘The goddess as bliss’.
The programme centres on polarity. The reasoning behind it is that love is both the source and the fruit of polarity, as both attraction and repulsion require polarity.
According to Gladwell “the human brain functions in polarity and struggles to compute unity. The Goddess in her infinite wisdom created yogic practice to go beyond polarity, to enable us to know her. Beyond truth we move into method, methods of seeing and of knowing inseparability, Her.”
During the day, movement will be used to find appreciation throughout the conscious flow of body-mind, breath as the field of devotion as well as other practices to find extraordinary levels of emphatic appreciation.
Devine Feminine
Yoga workshop with Christopher Gladwell. September 23-25. The Centre, 6 Panayioti Kaspi Street, Nicosia. Friday: 6pm-8.30pm, Saturday: 9.30am-5pm, Sunday: 10am-5pm. €35 Friday open class only, €125 three days. Tel: 97-873494 | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/27/the-nature-of-freedom/ | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/731f6b9021782df90f22c75d7219c42e0c9028549b54d4daf589fdd41a8787f4.json |
[] | 2016-08-31T08:49:33 | null | 2016-08-31T09:50:15 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F31%2Fcyprus-signs-deal-egypt-gas-transfers-via-pipeline%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Minister3.jpg | en | null | Cyprus signs deal with Egypt for gas transfers via pipeline | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Cyprus signed a deal on Wednesday for the transfer of natural gas via pipeline to Egypt, once extraction starts of discoveries made off the Mediterranean island.
U.S. energy firm Noble found an estimated 4.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in one prospect off Cyprus in late 2011.
A consortium of Italy’s ENI and Korea’s KoGas have a contract with Cyprus for exploration over three offshore blocks. French oil major Total has exploration rights over one block.
Wednesday’s accord was signed in the Cypriot capital Nicosia by Egyptian petroleum minister Tarek El Molla and Cypriot energy minister Yiorgios Lakkotrypis.
In a joint statement, the two said the deal would allow a direct subsea pipeline from Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) to either Egypt’s EEZ or onshore Egypt, for domestic consumption or re-export.
An EEZ is a maritime area over which states have commercial rights.
Cyprus received expressions of interest from ENI, Total, Statoil, Exxon Mobil, Qatar Petroleum, and Cairn in a licensing round for another three offshore hydrocarbon blocks in a licensing round in late July. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/31/cyprus-signs-deal-egypt-gas-transfers-via-pipeline/ | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/e848cfad0bc00a5bd2e69fca6d281ca8907109ea545d4300e78f9c8645d55c1d.json |
[] | 2016-08-26T12:48:54 | null | 2016-03-29T05:10:42 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F03%2F29%2Fhijacked-airplane-lands-larnaca-police-says%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/main2.jpg | en | null | Hijacker to appear in court Wednesday (Update 21: wrap) | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | An Egyptian man with a Cypriot ex wife who hijacked a domestic Egyptair flight wearing a fake suicide belt and engaged in a dramatic standoff with authorities at Larnaca airport lasting more than six hours before he surrendered, will appear in court on Wednesday, police said.
The motive of the hijacker, Seif Eldin Mustafa, 59, who lived in Cyprus until 1994, remained unclear late Tuesday although it was plain to authorities almost from the start that the hijacking was not terrorist related. None of the 63 people – 55 passengers, seven crew and one security guard – aboard the Airbus A320 flight MS181, from Alexandria to Cairo was hurt during the standoff.
“It is not something which has to do with terrorism,” President Nicos Anastasiades told reporters earlier during a press briefing with European Parliament President Martin Schulz. Asked if a woman was involved following reports Mustafa wanted to speak to his ex wife, he said: “There is always a woman involved”, a comment for which the president was given a roasting on social media, and which ran as a separate article on major news outlets.
Album 1
Cypriot authorities said the hijacker’s demands from the start were rambling and incoherent, and he was psychologically unstable, though there was one point near the end of the drama when the crew and two British passengers were still on board, that turned into a “dangerous complication”, they said.
Mustafa had gone from wanting a letter in Arabic – dropped on to the apron – delivered to his ex wife who was brought to the airport, to demands to meet EU representatives to asking for women political prisoners in Egypt to be released. “His demands were neither logical nor coherent,” Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides said. As regards the letter he said there was no coherency there either.
Kasoulides who headed up a ministerial crisis team during the hijacking, said once most of the passengers had been allowed off the plane early on in the drama and were taken by bus to the old Larnaca airport terminal. But when Mustafa was told shortly before his surrender at 2.40pm that his demands would not be met, he made the threat to blow up the plane unless it was refueled and allowed to fly to Istanbul.
The foreign minister said that finally when one of the crew began to climb out through the cockpit window “he realised there was no chance of his demands being met and allowed the last two British passengers to leave,” said Kasoulides, adding that the hijacker tried to run once he got off the plane.
A search of the aircraft found no explosives and the hijacker’s fake suicide belt was filled with mobile phone covers to give the impression they were explosives, Kasoulides said. Egyptian interior ministry officials said Mustafa was expelled from law school and had a long criminal record, including robberies.
The hostage negotiations began shortly after the plane landed at Larnaca airport to where it had been diverted as it was flying within the Nicosia Flight Information Region. The incident shut the airport down for eight hours, delaying dozens of flights and inconveniencing hundreds of passengers. “Honestly this happened over a woman?” one passenger told the Cyprus Mail.
Foreign ministry permanent secretary Alexandros Zenon said the plane requested to land at Larnaca before 8am saying it was low on fuel. “We gave our consent because there were about 70 persons on board the aircraft. It landed at Larnaca airport in an isolated area, under the supervision of the security authorities. Immediately the crises management team was mobilised at the ministry of foreign affairs, where the ministers of the interior, defence, transport, and justice gathered, with other competent officials to handle the situation,” he said.
Though they knew they were not dealing with a terrorist, “nevertheless, the authorities of the Republic take very seriously the actions of the hijacker,” he added. Police and MMAD units surrounded the area and also had snipers in place.
According to Reuters, Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry said the pilot, Omar al-Gammal, had told authorities that he was threatened by a passenger who claimed to be wearing an explosive belt and forced him to divert the plane to Larnaca. Reached by telephone, Gammal told Reuters that the hijacker seemed “abnormal”. Sounding exhausted, he said he had been obliged to treat the man as a serious security threat.
Photographs on Egyptian state television showed a middle-aged man on a plane wearing glasses and displaying a white belt with bulging pockets and protruding wires. Television channels showed video footage of the hijacker, identified Mustafa, being searched by security men at a metal detector at Borg al-Arab airport in Alexandria.
Egypt’s Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fethy said authorities suspected the suicide belt was not genuine but treated the incident as serious to ensure the safety of all those on board. “We cannot say this was a terrorist act… he was not a professional,” Fethy told reporters after the incident.
Shortly After the aircraft landed at Larnaca, negotiations began and everyone on board was freed except three passengers and four crew. In the early afternoon Cypriot television footage showed several more people leaving the plane via the stairs and another man climbing out of the cockpit window and running off.
The hijacker then surrendered to authorities and was taken away amid heavy security.
“The hijacker has just been arrested,” Government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides tweeted immediately, followed by Anastasiades who said: “Congratulations to the #Cyprus Police and @CyprusMFA for their efforts to end the #hijacking & ensure the safety of all passengers and crew”.
Commenting later in the day, police spokesman Andreas Angelides when asked whether Mustafa would be extradited to Egypt, said it was too soon to discuss this.
“Since there are criminal offenses, we ought to investigate it thoroughly and objectively by looking into all details,” Angelides said.
He added that police had responded as soon as they were informed by the Larnaca airport’s control tower that a hijack was underway.
Two crisis centers were set up, he said, one in Nicosia and one at the airport. The role of the negotiators, especially trained police members, was crucial, Angelides added, and they had “handled the case successfully”, as they managed to secure the gradual release of hostages.
“Within six hours of negotiations the 59-year old was convinced to exit the aircraft,” Angelides said.
(Evie Andreou contributed to this report) | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/03/29/hijacked-airplane-lands-larnaca-police-says/ | en | 2016-03-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/78538323672c145bf7492128335f70498039e184903fb76248f4bfffd41a08ab.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T08:48:45 | null | 2016-08-28T11:16:49 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F28%2Felection-result-adds-northern-territory-gas-uncertainty%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Bill_Shorten-crop.jpg | en | null | Election result adds to Northern Territory gas uncertainty | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | By Harry Pearl
Australia’s centre-left Labor Party won a convincing vote in the Northern Territory election on Saturday, a result that will likely add to existing uncertainty over development of the region’s onshore gas industry and could ward off foreign investment.
Labor, which trounced the ruling Country Liberals Party, has promised to put in place a moratorium on fracking – a process which involves high-pressure injections of water, chemicals and sand into the ground to release oil and gas – until its impact on the environment is fully known.
Economic forecasters Deloitte last year estimated the region’s untapped shale and tight gas resources to be worth $22.4 billion to the local economy over the next two decades, but opinion about controversies over fracking has sparked intense debate in the territory.
Matthew Doman, Northern Territory director for the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA), said on Sunday there was no reason for a moratorium.
“Every reputable study confirms that, properly regulated, our industry is safe.”
Global oil and gas players like South Africa’s Sasol , Japan’s Inpex, and Falcon Oil & Gas have been attracted to the region, as well as Australian companies Santos and Armour Energy.
Proximity to Asia and existing pipelines and LNG export facilities makes Northern Territory attractive.
Adam Giles, the outgoing leader of the Country Liberals Party, warned before the election that imposing a moratorium on fracking would halt investment and present a sovereign wealth risk for the territory.
In February, Sydney-based Pangea Resources suspended its drilling operation in the Northern Territory, citing uncertainty over fracking legislation.
Lauren Mellor, an organiser with the Territory Frack Free Alliance, said the election result was a win for the anti-fracking campaign.
Best estimates put the prospective resources of shale gas and tight gas in the Northern Territory at nearly 270 Tcf, according to the Northern Territory government.
The election defeat ends a controversial single term in power for the Country Liberals party, which was embroiled in a series of scandals and burned through two chief ministers and six deputies.
Last month prison CCTV footage showed guards teargassing six aboriginal teenage inmates and strapping a half-naked, hooded boy to a chair at a Darwin youth prison.
Federal Labour leader Bill Shorten said the Northern Territory election result was undoubtedly a verdict on the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Liberal-National Coalition in Canberra.
Federal parliament sits for the first time on Tuesday after a July 2 election left the ruling coalition with a razor-thin majority | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/28/election-result-adds-northern-territory-gas-uncertainty/ | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/61912e66f22593b1589cfcf6d358a2653332f5c34b910430cfe688fbe143307a.json |
[] | 2016-08-27T14:48:18 | null | 2016-08-27T17:30:23 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F27%2Ftake-sea-raise-money-dogs%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web3-2.jpg | en | null | Take to the sea to raise money for dogs | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | As in previous years, dog shelter PAWS takes raising money to a different level this September with the annual raft race taking place on Saturday September 17 at the Bona Mare beach in Timi. Why not go along and join the charity either to take part or simply to have fun watching the teams compete?
All you need to compete is a team of two to four people, two of whom have to be at least 18 years old, and a home-made raft with no engine parts plus a paddle.
It is only €20 to register (by September 10) and each team is requested to raise at least €50 through sponsorship. Teams are asked to build their own raft, keeping in mind that they will have to transport it to the venue and carry it.
On the day all participants must be present at 10am to register, and the first race is at 10.30am. Those who are less adventurous can simply watch.
Following the race is a barbeque meal for contestants and spectators for only €7 per head. After all that paddling and cheering everyone will need it!
Last year six rafts took part and €2,548 was raised by the event. PAWS is continuously aiming to collect much needed cash for their dogs. For this purpose the charity has organised several quiz nights, the latest of which took place in July. Other past events include a Beetle drive and a piano recital.
PAWS annual raft race
A raft race followed by a barbeque. September 17. Bona Mare Beach, Timi, Paphos.10.30am. €20 registration and €7 for the barbeque.
Full rules and sponsorship forms available from PAWS shelter, Acheleia, PAWS charity shop, Chlorakas or PAWS stall at the Duch Pond Market on Sundays. Tel: 99-162118 (Linda) or 96-712689 (Matt) | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/27/take-sea-raise-money-dogs/ | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/9a938fa0d8208c3af303f7eac0663501eae713b5f65cf8a948dc7cdf93540945.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T10:49:14 | null | 2016-08-29T12:46:27 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Fgreek-turkish-foreign-ministers-discuss-cyprus%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/kotzias-cavus.jpg | en | null | Greek and Turkish foreign ministers discuss Cyprus | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Cyprus was part of discussions the Greek Foreign Minister Nicos Kotzias had with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, when they met informally in Crete on Sunday.
Speaking at a joint press conference after their meeting, Kotzias reiterated his government`s position on the issue of guarantees, saying Athens wants to end this anachronistic system of guarantees of Cyprus` territorial integrity and sovereignty.
He also reiterated to Cavusoglu that Turkey`s occupation army, which invaded Cyprus in 1974, must withdraw with the solution of the problem.
“We are looking for a solution and we will discuss this specific topic further. I will meet my Cypriot colleague to discuss the subject and I hope for a positive outcome. International politics require compromises, good compromises, not bad ones,” he said.
The Turkish FM said Ankara supports “the efforts that are underway in the negotiations to find a solution in the Cyprus issue,” and expressed hope that both parties will seize the opportunity they have. Turkey and Greece will support a solution.
During their meeting, Kotzias and Cavusoglu discussed also developments in the area, the situation in Turkey after the failed coup attempt of 15th of July, recent events in Syria but also EU – Turkey relations and the refugee crisis.
The two ministers agreed on the need to improve bilateral relations and Cavusoglu thanked the Greek government for its support after the failed coup attempt. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/greek-turkish-foreign-ministers-discuss-cyprus/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/5216430daabceab599d351b6e4abb5446af79a4c555c2c0e4526633ea9960c9d.json |
[] | 2016-08-30T08:49:26 | null | 2016-08-30T11:23:05 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F30%2Ffrance-joining-germany-urges-halt-transatlantic-trade-talks%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/ttip.jpg | en | null | France, joining Germany, urges halt to Transatlantic trade talks | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Current Transatlantic trade talks should be halted and a new set started, France’s trade minister said on Tuesday, adding his voice to German calls for an end to the negotiations.
Matthias Fekl said he would request a halt to negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on behalf of France at next month’s meeting of European Union trade ministers in Bratislava.
“There should be an absolute clear end so that we can restart them on good basis,” he said on RMC Radio, adding he would suggest that course to fellow ministers.
German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Sunday that TTIP negotiations had effectively failed after Europe refused to accept some US demands.
The comments put the EU’s two biggest economies at odds with both the official line from the European Commission, the bloc’s executive, and the US Trade Representative Michael Froman.
Three years of talks have failed to resolve multiple differences, including over food and environmental safety, but the USTR’s spokesman told German magazine Der Spiegel the negotiations “are in fact making steady progress”.
The White House has said this week it aims to reach a deal by the end of the year. “It’s going to require the resolution of some pretty thorny negotiations, but the president and his team are committed to doing that,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in Washington.
The Commission also remains upbeat.
“Although trade talks take time, the ball is rolling right now and the Commission is making steady progress in the ongoing TTIP negotiations,” the executive’s spokesman, Margaritis Schinas, told a news conference in Brussels on Monday.
Supporters say the TTIP could deliver more than $100bn worth of economic gains on both sides of the Atlantic, but critics say the pact would hand too much power to big multinationals at the expense of consumers and workers.
Paris threatened to stall further negotiations as long ago as April, but there are national elections due in both France and Germany in 2017, and before the summer, experts were saying that this year — ahead of the US presidential election — may be the best opportunity to strike a deal.
That prospect looks less likely now, and Britain’s June vote to leave the EU has further clouded the picture, even though the Commission has a mandate to finalise TTIP talks on behalf of all EU 28 members. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/30/france-joining-germany-urges-halt-transatlantic-trade-talks/ | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/1512d163ee8885649cdb343fe18d45f040fc534317773c9f14e59092307bb3d7.json |
[] | 2016-08-31T12:49:39 | null | 2016-08-31T13:51:30 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F31%2Fspains-socialists-vote-government-raising-risk-new-election%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/spain.jpg | en | null | Spain closer to third election in a year as confidence vote looms | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Spain’s acting prime minister faced a confidence vote in parliament on Wednesday that is likely to fail, bringing the country closer to its third election in a year, with the opposition Socialists steadfastly refusing to cooperate.
Spain’s lack of a functioning government since inconclusive elections in June and December and the resulting political deadlock have stalled investment and there are signs it could be starting to limit a strong economic recovery.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy needs the support of the Socialists, which have trailed his centre-right People’s Party (PP) in both elections, to reach a majority and form a government.
“I will be very clear, the Socialist party will vote against your candidacy to the government in order to be coherent and for the good of Spain,” Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez told parliament on Wednesday.
The PP is six seats short of the absolute majority of 176 seats it needs in the first investiture vote, even with the support of liberal party Ciudadanos, which was agreed on Sunday, and with one extra seat from a minor Canary Islands party.
If Rajoy loses Wednesday’s vote, a second vote will take place on Friday in which delegates can abstain and a simple majority would suffice to allow him to form a PP-led minority government. He would need just 11 abstentions to win this second vote, but a loss is also likely if the Socialists do not cede.
“Given the situation we are in, after two elections and the threat of a third election which you seem to want, I ask you to abstain,” Rajoy told parliament on Wednesday.
“We can’t keep on having election after election until there is an outcome for a government that Mr Sanchez likes.”
Sanchez has already said his party will not abstain in the second vote and a second loss for Rajoy would give him two months to form a government at the end of which another election would be called, possibly on Christmas Day.
Sanchez says Rajoy, a party stalwart since the late 1980s, is too tarnished by a long series of corruption scandals involving the PP to oversee the “regeneration” of Spanish politics that he has demanded. Corruption continues to rank as one of Spaniards’ biggest concerns.
“The problem is that you are not a trustworthy person,” Sanchez said during a marathon series of speeches by party leaders.
Rajoy told parliament he wanted to form a government with broad support that would be able to safeguard Spain’s economic recovery, with growth rates now among the highest in the eurozone, and play a leading role in the European Union.
There are some signs that the eight months of uncertainty are starting to have an impact on the economy. Investment in infrastructure dropped sharply in the second quarter and economists say growth rates could be several percentage points higher if there was a properly functioning government.
If Rajoy loses in both votes this week, the focus will shift to regional elections on Sep 25 in the Basque Country and Galicia where the Socialists hope to avoid a further erosion of support | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/31/spains-socialists-vote-government-raising-risk-new-election/ | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/4acc2db91d62ba8ea1481faef3555cd334fb9870e48c90c6223eb6b8a89918b6.json |
[] | 2016-08-27T18:48:28 | null | 2016-08-27T20:14:11 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F27%2Ffirst-wins-arsenal-leicester-chelsea-thump-burnley%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/spo-foot-arsenal-cazorla.jpg | en | null | First wins for Arsenal and Leicester, Chelsea thump Burnley | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | By Ed Dove
Arsenal and Leicester City picked up their first Premier League wins of the season by beating Watford and Swansea City respectively on Saturday while Chelsea continued their 100 percent start with a 3-0 stroll over Burnley.
Danny Rose’s strike cancelled out James Milner’s penalty as Tottenham Hotspur came from behind to draw 1-1 with Liverpool.
First-half goals from Santi Cazorla, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil gave Arsenal a 3-1 win at Watford to ease the pressure on long-serving manager Arsene Wenger.
“We had two difficult away games,” Wenger told Sky Sports. “But today I believe we had a good solid performance.”
Cazorla opened the scoring with a ninth-minute penalty and Sanchez and the outstanding Ozil struck again before halftime.
“We had a good cushion at halftime,” Wenger added. “At the moment we’re not completely there physically and you could see that in the second half.”
Debutant Roberto Pereyra pulled one back for Watford with an unstoppable shot.
Champions Leicester got back to winning ways after Jamie Vardy’s trademark strike and Wes Morgan’s second-half effort downed Swansea City 2-1 at a rain-swept King Power Stadium.
Vardy beat Lukasz Fabianski after being picked out by Danny Drinkwater before captain Morgan slammed home from close range.
Leroy Fer pulled one back in the 80th minute after Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez had a 56th-minute penalty saved by Fabianski.
Goals from Eden Hazard, Willian and Victor Moses sent Antonio Conte’s Chelsea provisionally to top spot with a 3-0 win over Burnley in a one-sided match at Stamford Bridge.
A revitalised Hazard beat Tom Heaton in the ninth minute and Willian added a second in the 41st minute after being played in by Diego Costa.
“The team played very well, created a lot of chances,” Conte said. “To keep the clean sheet is very important and to increase our confidence in the work we are doing. Now we must continue.”
Substitute Moses added a third as Chelsea’s revival continues apace.
Juergen Klopp was left frustrated at Tottenham as Liverpool failed to kill the game despite their first-half dominance.
Milner opened the scoring with a 43rd-minute penalty after Erik Lamela had fouled Roberto Firmino, but Philippe Coutinho and Sadio Mane were both denied during a one-sided first half.
Rose made Liverpool pay for their profligacy in the 72nd minute to leave Klopp ruing an opportunity missed.
“We must be more clinical,” Klopp said. “It’s not a game you win four or five. It’s difficult to create one chance, we had a few.”
Everton continued their unbeaten start when they overcame Stoke City 1-0 thanks to keeper Shay Given’s own goal. Southampton and Crystal Palace scored late equalisers to 1-1 draws with Sunderland and Bournemouth respectively. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/27/first-wins-arsenal-leicester-chelsea-thump-burnley/ | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/00cbde9d27de16bd88396c86b1ba12717af366058b5d4bc2e5c268fc867d095f.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T10:49:12 | null | 2016-08-29T13:26:06 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Ffilm-review-cafe-society%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/cafe-society.jpg | en | null | Film review: CAFÉ SOCIETY **** | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Emma Stone. Cate Blanchett. Colin Firth. Joaquin Phoenix. Penelope Cruz. Scarlett Johansson. Even in the past 10 years, with his powers allegedly failing and his films no longer lauded as universally as they used to be, the incredibly prolific Woody Allen has employed the cream of the Hollywood crop to make up for his own semi-retirement – but he’s never been as lucky with his actors as he is in Café Society, his most ambitious film in ages and the best since Blue Jasmine three years ago.
Our hero is Jesse Eisenberg, an actor whose poleaxed look and jittery body language make him a natural for Woody Allen World (he also appeared in To Rome With Love). He has “this deer-in-the-headlights quality,” as Vonnie (played by Kristen Stewart) puts it – and Stewart is the other stroke of luck, the It Girl of the moment, beloved by fangirls for her Bella in the Twilight saga and by highbrow critics for her expressive reserve in films like Clouds of Sils Maria (the cover of the current Film Comment is simply a photo of the actress with the caption: ‘The Age of Kristen Stewart’). She’s a watchful actress, self-aware without being self-conscious; she flirts with the camera, looking down or away, making it all the more potent when she makes eye contact. Café Society asks a lot of its actors, especially in the ending which is all about silence and presence; Eisenberg and Stewart deliver.
The film itself is rather un-Woody-like in being diffuse and expansive. Allen’s amazing work-rate (he’s now 80, and still making a film a year) is due partly to his talent for eye-catching premises which essentially write themselves: Time-machine takes a writer back to Paris in the 20s, rational man sets out to debunk a psychic but falls in love with her, stuff like that. Café Society is different, hard to summarise in 25 words or less. You might say it’s a love story, or a love triangle, or a tale of a young man’s maturity. It looks like a snapshot of the Golden Age of Hollywood – the same backdrop as the Coens’ Barton Fink and Hail, Caesar! – but then halfway through it migrates back to Woody’s beloved New York. Classic books or movies offer signposts in much of his work (last year’s Irrational Man was a riff on Crime and Punishment), but only tangentially here: a hefty dollop of The Apartment, maybe a touch of Vertigo. Woody’s previous films are represented too: the extended Jewish family out of Radio Days, the meeting of showbiz and gangsters – though it’s more of a juxtaposition – like in Bullets Over Broadway.
Café Society crams a lot of plot into its 96 minutes. You wonder if it’s going to coalesce in some madly ingenious way, but it’s hard to be ingenious when you’re churning out scripts like Allen does. Structure is loose in general: the film stops for tangents, like a summary of a minor character’s life (Corey Stoll as Ben the gangster) that could’ve been snipped altogether. Yet, in this case at least, the lack of cohesion is an asset, making a rather bleak statement on the meaninglessness of Life that’s surprisingly touching. As in Crimes and Misdemeanours, the dramatis personae include a criminal and an idealist – Bobby, our hero (played by Eisenberg), is somewhere in the middle – and they both reinforce the sense that Life is a sham. The criminal converts to Christianity on Death Row because Jews don’t believe in an afterlife, a perfectly opportunistic response to the basic hollowness of all religions; the idealist, a Communist intellectual, insists on our “common humanity” yet accomplishes nothing, and finally admits his own failure. The only tiny light in the darkness is Love, binding lovers in a way that transcends time and place – yet even Love comes with a sadistic twist, burning brightest only after it’s been lost forever.
There’s another MVP as well as Stewart and Eisenberg: director of photography Vittorio Storaro, who brings a heightened glow to the images (the light in the LA scenes plays like a stylised comment on sunny California, conveyed as a lush orange filter). Storaro’s images are larger-than-life, like the movie stars’ houses – but Vonnie and Bobby’s romance is small and unpretentious, that’s why it endures: “I think I’d be happier life-sized,” she muses, gazing at Joan Crawford’s mansion. Their most romantic night unfolds in New York, doing cosy intimate things: dinner at the kind of Italian place where the proprietor sits at your table for a drink afterwards, a game of craps somewhere in Brooklyn, a jazz band that seems to be playing in somebody’s front room, sipping wine at dawn in Central Park. Like the list of things that make life worth living in Manhattan (Allen’s masterpiece), Café Society is the work of a man who expects nothing and believes in nothing – just work, and good jokes, and the small cosy pleasures that keep Death at bay, temporarily. For all its flaws, it’s a beautiful movie.
DIRECTED BY Woody Allen
STARRING Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carell
US 2016 96 mins | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/film-review-cafe-society/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/9abb50d5c9f2299482b60ff37f0036ae35cd199ead9fb747ef003563f5d23ec8.json |
[] | 2016-08-30T08:49:19 | null | 2016-08-30T11:30:01 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F30%2Fart-music-food-drink-want%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1-4.jpg | en | null | Art, music, food and drink - who could want more? | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The Flying Away Art festival returns in the next few days for three days of art and music the Orfeas stadium on September 9, 10 and 11.
Over the years The Flying Away Art and Music Festival has managed to establish itself as a festival with passion, and it is the only festival in Cyprus which combines art and music. This September it takes place for the tenth time, hosting 70+ art shops and serving drinks and food, all in one location.
Already 150 artists are preparing to display their works and creations in specially equipped shops. There, in addition to admiring their art, you can acquire that vintage furniture that you dreamed of or the perfect table that matches your living room, unique fashion pieces and accessories missing from your wardrobe, and much more!
Along with the artists, dozens of musicians and performers from Cyprus and abroad will perform at the festival! And don’t try to pick a day of the festival… you owe it to yourself to attend all three! Why? Read on.
On the first day, Friday 9, the boys from Limassol who know how to rock, Cypriot band Atout’A’Leme will be onstage. After that the audience can enjoy the master of the Greek indie-pop scene, Monsieur Minimal and the night will culminate in a performance by Burger Project. This Greek band can best be described as a band with a twist. Songs that pretty much everybody knows are transformed in a delicate manner by these innovative entertainers.
On Saturday the audience can warm up by rocking to the rhythms by the group On Tour. Band Cyanna Mercury from Greece are next, who will as always be aiming for the perfect blend of psychedelic rock and blues with traditional elements of their country.
To round off the evening Philippos Pliatsikas and his band will charm those in the audience who are incurable romantics with his famous lyrical themes.
On the last day of the festival the organisers plan to woo the Reggae lovers among us. First on stage is Mr Pakman with his funky dub-reggae rhythms.
Later the unique beats of Funky Notes from Austria will take over and then the best known Greek Reggae band Locomondo will go on to perform songs such as Magiko Xali (Magic carpet). DJ Portiero is the last to entertain us in the spirit of the reggae mood of the day.
Performances will have a live link to Mix FM.
Flying Away Art and Music Festival
Three-day art and music festival. September 9-11. Orfeas Stadium, Nicosia. 6pm. €5/free per day. Tel: 70-087171 | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/30/art-music-food-drink-want/ | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/9530061661000951b334b72ce328787f35d819665c14f19ccb088ba24a5cda07.json |
[] | 2016-08-26T12:53:02 | null | 2016-08-26T15:30:40 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F26%2Fnine-dead-dozens-wounded-blast-police-hq-southeast-turkey%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/turkey-5.jpg | en | null | Turkey signals no quick end to Syria incursion as truck bomb kills 11 | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Turkish forces will remain in Syria for as long as it takes to cleanse the border of Islamic State and other militants, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Friday, after a truck bombing by Kurdish insurgents killed at least 11 police officers.
The suicide bombing at a police headquarters in a province bordering Syria and Iraq came two days after Turkey launched its first major military incursion into Syria, an operation meant to drive Islamic State out of the border area and stop Kurdish militias from seizing ground in their wake.
Turkey, a NATO member and part of the US-led coalition against Islamic State, has seen a series of deadly bombings this year blamed on the radical Islamists. But it also fears Kurdish militias in Syria will seize a swathe of border territory and embolden Kurdish insurgents on its own soil.
President Tayyip Erdogan said the bombing in Sirnak province would increase Turkey’s determination as it fights terrorist groups at home and abroad. Yildirim said there was no doubt the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy, was responsible.
“From the beginning we have been defending Turkey’s territorial integrity. We are also defending Syria’s territorial integrity. The aim of these terrorist organisations is … to form a state in these countries… They will never succeed,” Yildirim told a news conference in Istanbul.
“We will continue our operations (in Syria) until we fully guarantee security of life and property for our citizens and the security of our border. We will continue until Daesh (Islamic State) and other terrorist elements are taken out.”
After he spoke, the PKK claimed responsibility for the attack on the police headquarters, according to a website affiliated to the group.
Syria has condemned the Turkish operation, codenamed “Euphrates Shield”, as a breach of its sovereignty. Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes launched the incursion in support of Syrian rebels, mostly Turkmen and Arab, who quickly took the border town of Jarablus from Islamic State on Wednesday.
An alliance of 23 Kurdish parties in Syria also condemned the Turkish operation on Friday. In a joint statement, they called for a complete withdrawal of all Turkish forces from the country and accused Ankara of trying to occupy Syria under the pretence of fighting terrorism.
Turkish military vehicles shuttled in and out of Syria on Friday, Reuters witnesses said, including a construction machine that helped to flatten the route for a tank. Controlled explosions rang out around the Karkamis border crossing as Turkish security forces removed mines and booby traps left by Islamic State.
Ismail Metin, the commander of Turkey’s second army responsible for the borders with Syria and Iraq, visited Jarablus on Friday, local sources said.
Turkey has shown little sign so far of a quick withdrawal. US Vice President Joe Biden, who met Erdogan in Ankara on Wednesday, said Turkey was ready to stay in Syria for as long as it takes to destroy Islamic State.
A Syrian rebel commander in charge of one of the main groups involved in the Turkish-backed operation told Reuters the forces now aimed to move westward after taking Jarablus, an advance that could take weeks or months to complete.
Colonel Ahmad Osman, speaking to Reuters from Jarablus, said the priority was now to advance about 70km west to Marea, a town where rebels have long had a frontline with Islamic State.
Turkey has long lobbied for a “buffer zone” in northern Syria controlled by what it regards as moderate rebels, potentially in border territory currently held by Islamic State and stretching about 80km west of Jarablus.
Sweeping out Islamic State would deprive the group of a smuggling route taken by foreign fighters joining its ranks, and could also create a safe area for displaced civilians and help to stem the flow of refugees, Turkish officials have said.
They argue the proposal has become all the more urgent since Ankara began implementing a deal with the European Union to stop illegal migration earlier this year.
“The situation in Syria and Iraq is getting worse,” Yildirim told a joint news conference with the visiting prime minister of Bulgaria, which has also been struggling to slow migrant flows.
“We’re cleansing Islamic State and other terrorist elements (in northern Syria) so people living there are not forced to leave their homes. But the problem has to be comprehensively handled at the EU level. Solutions are needed quickly.”
Syria’s five-year conflict has killed at least a quarter of a million people and forced almost five million to flee the country, many of them to Turkey. The United Nations estimates that 6.5 million are internally displaced.
An agreement was reached on Thursday to evacuate around 4,000 civilians and 700 fighters from the besieged Damascus suburb of Daraya, ending one of the conflict’s longest stand-offs. Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) vehicles entered the area to prepare for the evacuation on Friday.
Syria’s army has surrounded rebels and civilians and blocked food deliveries in Daraya since 2012, regularly bombing the area, one of the first places to see peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad.
The suicide bombing in Turkey’s south-eastern town of Cizre is another reminder of the risks Ankara faces as its gets drawn ever more deeply into Syria’s conflict, with the threat of reprisals from both Islamic State and Kurdish insurgents.
The provincial governor’s office said 11 police officers were killed and 78 people, three of them civilians, wounded.
Large plumes of smoke billowed from the blast site. Photographs showed a large three-storey building reduced to its concrete shell, with no walls or windows, surrounded by rubble.
Turkey views the PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, as closely linked to the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. Washington, however, has backed the YPG in a separate campaign against Islamic State in northern Syria.
Turkish troops fired on YPG fighters south of Jarablus on Thursday, highlighting the cross-cutting of interests of two pivotal NATO allies.
The Cizre attack came as Turkey has been weakened by a failed July 15 military coup. More than 1,700 military personnel have been removed for their alleged role in the putsch, including some 40 per cent of admirals and generals, raising concern about the NATO member’s ability to protect itself.
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Twitter that Islamic State, the PKK and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia were all attacking to take advantage of the failed coup.
Last week Erdogan accused followers of a US-based Islamic cleric he blames for the coup attempt of being complicit in attacks by Kurdish militants.
The cleric, Fethullah Gulen, has denied any involvement in and denounced the coup plot. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/26/nine-dead-dozens-wounded-blast-police-hq-southeast-turkey/ | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/bbf724e88a128f0ceec5caef59d80db8d51d4440e4ff47f3fa020631fa0ccbda.json |
[] | 2016-08-26T12:59:20 | null | 2016-08-26T13:13:49 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F26%2Fpetrides-failure-pass-public-service-reforms-will-message-fine-broken-system%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/petrides.jpg | en | null | Petrides: failure to pass public service reforms will be a message that we’re fine with broken system | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The cabinet on Friday approved the five revised bills on the public service reforms which have been re-tabled before parliament to vote, Undersecretary to the President, and Reform Commissioner Constantinos Petrides said.
The reform of the civil service is a top priority of the government, Petrides said.
He added that there had been some minor amendments to five of the six government bills for “better practical implementation”. The government hopes to have the legislation passed by parliament so that the new system is implemented in January 2017.
The initial six bills reforming the civil service in terms of hiring, appraisal, promotion and remuneration were tabled before parliament in August 2015 but five of them were sent back for adjustments, following a request of the legislative body.
The concerns and suggestions of civil servants and public school teachers were taken into consideration too, Petrides said, following “a long and detailed social dialogue” with their unions.
Ahead of the visit of technocrats of the European Commission and of the European Central Bank, expected to arrive on September 26, it is important for the government and the country to keep their commitments to the EU, he said.
The civil service reform, Petrides said, would radically change the nature of the public service and safeguard the viability of public finances. The bill on the state payroll, he said, will play a role in the effort to upgrade the Cypriot economy. The bill stipulates that pay rises in the public service will be tied to the trajectory of gross domestic product. It follows that no salary increases would be granted at times of zero economic growth, and any such increases would be given following collective bargaining and provided the state can afford it.
As for the rest of the bills, he said, “if we want the civil service reformed, they must pass (into laws)”. This is a complete overhaul, he said.
“If the reform does not go through, it will be a message that we don’t want the system to change,” Petrides added.
He added that President Nicos Anastasiades, who is to meet with political parties on September 13, is to discuss among others, the civil service reform. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/26/petrides-failure-pass-public-service-reforms-will-message-fine-broken-system/ | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/8003eb9f70d17614a79cf7b5cb18e50232a9a44754c847804c06787e10e892c9.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T10:49:08 | null | 2016-08-29T12:03:12 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Fcypriot-paddles-crete-cyprus-raising-e30000%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/paddler-guy.jpg | en | null | Cypriot paddles 700km from Crete to Cyprus, raising over €30,000 | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Young rowing coach Kostas Symeonides on Sunday completed his challenge to paddle from Crete to Cyprus raising over €30,000 for charity.
Reaching the shore at Limassol’s Atlantica Bay at 6:30pm, he was greeted by friends and supporters to cheer him on as he completed the final strokes of the 700km journey on his paddle board.
His challenge began on August 19 from the easternmost end of Crete and through sponsors, raised €33,000 which has been donated to the Centre for Preventive Paediatrics.
Speaking to the press during the charitable event titled ‘I paddle for life, I paddle for children’ he said he was satisfied with the result and ready for some good rest after a difficult journey.
The first three days were the hardest, he added, due to terrible weather conditions coupled with the fact that one of the accompanying boat engines broke down leaving the whole team exposed to the risk of being stranded in the middle of the sea.
We were all relieved when we could see Cyprus, he told journalists, something that eased the efforts on the last few days.
Symeonides handed the cheque to the Centre for Preventive Paediatrics chairman Dr. Argyri Argyriou who thanked him and his team, pledging they would “keep up the fight for all of Cyprus’ children.”
Argyriou said the money raised through one individual covered a significant portion of their €600,000 budget, half of which is covered by the state.
The remaining amount is raised through sponsors and used to offer free preventative programs for pregnant women and new-borns across Cyprus, as well detecting deafness, hearing impairment, Down Syndrome and hypothyroidism.
This is Symeonides’ third charitable feat. In 2013, along with Nicos Karoilis he paddled upright for 12 hours in an 80km journey from Paphos to Limassol raising €13,900 for Cyprus Red Cross.
In 2014, a 400km challenge from Kastellorizo to Limassol raised €35,000 which went to the Center for Preventive Paediatrics. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/cypriot-paddles-crete-cyprus-raising-e30000/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/0f8ff591301778606ca4cd871969bd753648d1be92a6d1d493923f3ba99e7a5c.json |
[] | 2016-08-26T12:54:00 | null | 2016-08-26T14:54:20 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F26%2Fapoel-face-olympiacos-europa-league%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/APOEL-web-4.jpg | en | null | APOEL face Olympiacos in Europa League | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Cyprus champions APOEL have been drawn against Olympiacos of Greece, Swiss side Young Boys and Kazakhstan’s Astana in Group B of this season’s Europa League, following the draw in Monaco on Friday afternoon.
The Nicosia giants were eliminated from the Champions League in the playoff round on Wednesday night by Danish side FC Copenhagen.
APOEL were also in last season’s Europa League group stage, winning one and losing five of their six matches.
Manchester United meanwhile will come up against their former striker Robin van Persie after being drawn in a tough Europa League group alongside Fenerbahce, Feyenoord and Zorya Luhansk.
Three-time European champions United must negotiate a competitive group if they are to win one of the few titles that has eluded them.
The Premier League side will face 19-time Turkish champions Fenerbahce, who missed out on the Champions League group stage after a 4-3 aggregate defeat by AS Monaco in the third qualifying round.
They are managed by former Netherlands coach Dick Advocaat and include ex-United forward Van Persie who began his career with Feyenoord.
The Dutch Cup holders finished third in the Eredivisie last season. Zorya qualified as Ukraine’s fourth-placed team.
Southampton, the Premier League’s other representatives, have been drawn alongside Inter Milan, Sparta Prague and Hapoel Be’er Sheva.
Villarreal, beaten semi-finalists last season, meet former European champions Steaua Bucharest, FC Zurich and Osmanlispor.
Group-stage first-timers Dundalk of Ireland meet AZ Alkmaar, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Zenit St. Petersburg, who reached the Champions League round of 16 last season.
The top two teams from each of the 12 groups advance to the round of 32 where they will be joined by the eight third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage.
The final will be played in Stockholm on May 24.
Group A
Man United (ENG)
Fenerbahçe (TUR)
Feyenoord (NED)
Zorya (UKR)
Group B
Olympiacos (GRE)
APOEL (CYP)
Young Boys (SUI)
Astana (KAZ)
Group C
Anderlecht (BEL)
St-Étienne (FRA)
Mainz (GER)
Qäbälä (AZE)
Group D
Zenit (RUS)
AZ (NED)
M. Tel-Aviv (ISR)
Dundalk (IRL)
Group E
Plzeň (CZE)
Roma (ITA)
Austria Wien (AUT)
Astra (ROU)
Group F
Athletic (ESP)
Genk (BEL)
Rapid Wien (AUT)
Sassuolo (ITA)
Group G
Ajax (NED)
Standard Liège (BEL)
Celta (ESP)
Panathinaikos (GRE)
Group H
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
Braga (POR)
Gent (BEL)
Konyaspor (TUR)
Group I
Schalke (GER)
Salzburg (AUT)
Krasnodar (RUS)
Nice (FRA)
Group J
Fiorentina (ITA)
PAOK (GRE)
Liberec (CZE)
Qarabağ (AZE)
Group K
Internazionale (ITA)
Sparta Praha (CZE)
Southampton (ENG)
H. Beer-Sheva (ISR)
Group L
Villarreal (ESP)
Steaua (ROU)
Zürich (SUI)
Osmanlıspor (TUR) | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/26/apoel-face-olympiacos-europa-league/ | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/9513e6e7a79ba2bc240065bd73d7a71a605a6dce02da35debd1a227e5465d1e7.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T14:48:50 | null | 2016-08-28T16:53:44 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F28%2Fchina-names-new-chief-tibet-party-reshuffle%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/tibet.jpg | en | null | China names new chief for Tibet in party reshuffle | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | China’s ruling Communist Party appointed a new senior official on Sunday to run Tibet, considered one of the country’s most politically sensitive positions due to periodic anti-Chinese unrest in the devoutly Buddhist Himalayan region.
The official Xinhua news agency named Wu Yingjie as Tibet’s next party secretary. New leaders were also appointed in two other key provinces, part of a broad reshuffle ahead of an important party meeting next year.
Wu has worked almost his entire career in Tibet, according to his official resume, having previously served as a deputy governor and propaganda chief, among other roles.
Wu, like his predecessor Chen Quanguo, belongs to China’s majority Han Chinese ethnic group. Xinhua said Chen would be taking another position, without giving further details.
Communist troops marched in and took control of Tibet in 1950 in what Beijing calls a “peaceful liberation”. Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 following a failed uprising against the Chinese.
China says its rule has bought prosperity and stability, rejecting claims from Tibetan exiles and rights groups of widespread repression.
Xinhua said new party bosses had also been appointed to serve in the strategically located southwestern province of Yunnan and the populous southern province of Hunan.
In Yunnan, which sits of the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, Chen Hao replaced Li Jiheng, while in Hunan, Du Jiahao has assumed the party’s top job, Xinhua said.
Both Chen and Du worked with President Xi Jinping when he ran China’s commercial capital, Shanghai, as its Communist Party chief for a year in 2007, according to their resumes.
The party will hold a once-every-five-years congress next autumn where Xi is expected to further cement his hold on power by seeking to appoint close allies into the party’s ruling inner core, the politburo and the politburo standing committee.
The year leading up to that will see Xi appoint more new people into major provincial and government positions, sources with ties to the leadership say. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/28/china-names-new-chief-tibet-party-reshuffle/ | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/8720535131a12c34b985d9f40cea61bb5b6b314e4dbc855110b191363b7d1399.json |
[] | 2016-08-31T12:49:35 | null | 2016-08-31T14:16:40 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F31%2Fcouple-face-trial-safety-deposit-box-thefts%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/safety-deposit-box.jpg | en | null | Couple face trial over safety deposit box thefts | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | A Larnaca couple suspected of stealing close to €500,000 in cash and valuables from bank safety deposit boxes have been referred for trial by the Criminal Court, it emerged on Wednesday.
The couple will appear before the court on September 13.
The unemployed sign maker, 36, and his 32-year-old wife are accused of stealing €474,000 in cash and €10,000 in valuables from safety deposit boxes at Solidarity Co-op and the Bank of Cyprus between March 2015 and January 2016.
Police said the break-ins and thefts were carried out by a person who had access to the area when the branches were open.
The 36-year-old suspect was the only individual from the list of customers who had a box at both branches.
There were no security cameras in the rooms where the safety deposits are stored. Customers were left alone while accessing their boxes.
According to police, when the 36-year-old suspect accessed his safety deposit, he would request to remain for twice the time other clients spent – around 20 minutes instead of 10 — and always had two bags with him.
His visits coincided with the period the thefts took place, police said.
The suspect used a special home-made tool, which left little or no sign on the outside of the box.
According to police, during the period the thefts took place, the suspect had expressed interest in buying a boat worth €400,000 and to invest €333,000 in an aircraft recycling business.
He was also looking to open a printing service and manage a Japanese restaurant in Nicosia.
Authorities said at the time that they had seized property and cash worth €200,000 found in the suspect’s possession. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/31/couple-face-trial-safety-deposit-box-thefts/ | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/1ece4af489101c028424e307658a9e8c6fdc9f0bffb689e4f2fe4c5d9d3c05b0.json |
[] | 2016-08-31T08:49:32 | null | 2016-08-31T10:36:48 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F31%2Fleaders-hold-third-meeting%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/talks2.jpg | en | null | Leaders hold third meeting | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci hold their third meeting on Wednesday as part of a new round of intensified talks under the UN-auspices.
The two leaders are also set to meet on Friday, September 2, Tuesday September 6, Thursday September 8 and Wednesday September 14.
Anastasiades told the media after his meeting with Akinci on Monday that no statements will be made about the meetings and that a press release will be issued on September 14, when the current intensified round of talks is set to conclude.
At the same time he assured that the intention is not to have a `black out` but rather to facilitate the work during these important meetings and render them more effective. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/31/leaders-hold-third-meeting/ | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/ab269dae111e680480a4f9d7ad4c6b96d7d3c8af6c7cf14f8566798409319824.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T14:49:14 | null | 2016-08-29T17:31:00 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Fbrazils-rousseff-says-future-brazil-stake-senate-trial%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/rousseff-1.jpg | en | null | Brazil's Rousseff says 'future of Brazil at stake' in Senate trial | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Suspended President Dilma Rousseff told the Senate on Monday the future of Brazil was at stake in her impeachment trial as her conservative opponents were using trumped-up charges to oust her and roll back the social advances of the past 13 years.
The leftist leader, appearing before the Senate to defend herself in a process expected to remove her from office this week, said Brazil’s economic elite and political opposition had sought to destabilise her government since her 2014 re-election.
Rousseff denied charges of breaking budgetary rules and denounced the nine-month impeachment process that has paralysed Brazilian politics as a plot to overthrow her and protect the interests of Brazil’s privileged classes, including the privatisation of public assets such as massive subsalt oil reserves.
“What we are about to witness is a serious violation of the Constitution and a real coup d’etat,” Rousseff said.
She warned that a conservative government would slash spending on social programs, undoing the gains of the past decade in the fight against poverty.
“The future of Brazil is at stake,” she said.
Several hundred supporters chanted “Dilma, warrior of the Brazilian nation” outside Congress when her motorcade arrived.
A deep recession that many Brazilians blame her for and a huge corruption scandal involving state-run energy company Petrobras have undermined Rousseff’s popularity since she was re-elected in 2014.
Her vice president, Michel Temer, has been interim president since mid-May, when Rousseff was suspended after Congress decided it would continue the impeachment process that began in the lower house.
If the Senate convicts Rousseff on Tuesday or Wednesday as expected, Temer, 75, will be sworn in to serve the rest of her term through 2018. His business-friendly government vows to take unpopular austerity measures to plug a growing fiscal deficit that cost Brazil its investment-grade credit rating last year.
Appealing to undecided senators, Rousseff, 68, pointed to a lifetime fighting for democracy, from her arrest and torture by a military dictatorship for belonging to a left-wing guerrilla group to election as Brazil’s first female president.
ODDS AGAINST HER
Twenty of her former Cabinet ministers were in the Senate gallery to support Rousseff, along with her political mentor and former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, founder of the Workers Party.
With the odds stacked against her, Rousseff’s testimony appears to be aimed at making a point for the history books that her impeachment was a travesty, rather than a bid to sway the 81-seat Senate to block her ouster.
Temer is confident he has the two-thirds of the chamber needed to remove Rousseff, and he has planned an address to the nation on Wednesday before heading to China to attend the summit of the G20 group of leading economies.
“We need 54 votes and we expect to get at least 60,” Temer’s press spokesman, Marcio de Freitas, told Reuters.
He said the more votes Temer received, the stronger would be his mandate to take the difficult measures needed to restore confidence in Brazil’s economy, which is caught in a two-year recession.
Rousseff is accused of using money from state banks to bolster spending during an election year in 2014. She says the money had no impact on overall deficit levels and was paid back in full the following year.
A survey published by O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper on Monday showed 53 senators would vote against Rousseff and only 19 would back her – nine short of the 28 she needs to avoid being ousted. Nine senators have not stated their position.
But even senators not convinced the accounting charges brought against Rousseff warrant her removal will vote against her because they do not believe she has enough support to govern anymore and end Brazil’s political crisis.
“I will vote against her even though I think it is a tragedy to get rid of an elected president, but another 2-1/2 years of a Dilma government would be worse,” centrist Senator Cristovam Buarque said in a phone interview. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/brazils-rousseff-says-future-brazil-stake-senate-trial/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/1aa115b12e93858652c427e75ed5fcaa3d5ed3dc0cf0ad005c2644a9d4f388c7.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T02:48:40 | null | 2016-08-28T05:00:47 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F28%2Fyear-long-charity-walk-sandals%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/feature-evie-main-pic-Mark-Randall-setting-off-from-Gibraltar-on-his-8400-km-walk.-He-is-accompanied-by-the-governor-of-Gibraltar-Lt-Gen-Edward-Davis-left.jpg | en | null | A year-long charity walk in sandals | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | By Evie Andreou
ONE man’s desire to help those in need has made him ignore a back injury and embark on an 8,400-kilometre journey, on foot and in sandals, across Europe and including Cyprus all the way to Jerusalem.
The aim of retired British Army Lieutenant Colonel Mark Randall’s long trek is to raise UK£30,000 (€35,000) to help a number of charities supporting children and families of retired soldiers.
Fifty-three-year-old Randall, who lives in the Gibraltar, was actually obeying doctors’ orders last year when he began travelling the world on foot to raise awareness for several charity organisations, as well as funds for their support.
He began his Walk to Jerusalem expedition on April 1 from Gibraltar and aims to reach the city on foot by April 2017.
At the moment, he is heading for Cyprus via Rome.
Ironically, it was a long-term back injury that had forced Randall to retire early from the army.
“I could not walk to the toilet unaided and spent over six months unable to leave my home. The doctors told me to walk,” Randall said in his Walk to Jerusalem blog.
And so he did. And never stopped.
This is now Randall’s second charity walk. Last year he took 75 days to walk all the way from Cardiff Castle in Wales to Gibraltar, a total of 2200 km, also in sandals. This achievement led him to write and publish his book Walk to the Rock, whose sales in addition to the donations he received, helped raise £17,000 (€19,900) for charity. He donated the money to the Royal Gibraltar Regiment Benevolent Fund and the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) Open Day Trust.
At the moment Randall is well on his way on his 8,400-kilometre walk from Gibraltar to Jerusalem. He set off from the Shrine of Our Lady of Europa in Gibraltar on April 1 and has already passed through the plains of south west Spain, crossed into France through the Pyrenees. He then walked all the way to Italy, passed from Genoa and is now somewhere near Rome. On the way, he found himself 100km away from the earthquake that hit the town of Amatrice in central Italy on Wednesday which claimed the lives of more than 260 people.
“My heart goes out to the Italian people who have suffered from the 6.3 earthquake,” he posted on his Facebook profile.
After Rome, Randall is heading to Venice, then Trieste, and then down to the Albanian coastal city of Durres. He will then walk to Thessaloniki in Greece, and from there to Istanbul and across to Izmir on Turkey’s Aegean coast, before continuing his walk to the Turkish resort of Antalya.
“From the Turkish coast he will take a boat to Cyprus and then continue by sea to Israel for the final stretch of his fund raising walk to Jerusalem,” his friend George Valarino told the Cyprus Mail.
Randall hopes to reach Cyprus between mid-December and mid-February. If he arrives near Christmas, he will spend the holidays with a relative of his who lives in Limassol, Valarino said.
“So far, I have worn out five pairs of sandals – suffered extreme summer heat, had blisters and aches all over, and got lost more times than I care to remember,” Randall said in his blog.
Randall’s walk is not sponsored by anyone.
“I carry all my stuff in my rucksack and pay for my food, my lodgings, and all my needs,” he said.
All he asks for is donations to help meet his set goal in aid of charitable organisations.
The charities he is donating to are the Tourarte Education Charitable Association which helps with the academic and vocational education of children in the village of Tourarte, in Morocco, and Por Una Sonrisa association which aspires to improve the quality of life of children and adolescents in Gibraltar who are undergoing cancer treatment. Another organisation that will benefit from the donations is the Royal Gibraltar Benevolent Fund that supports serving and retired soldiers and their families, and the GBC Open Day Trust, which raises money for a variety of local charities.
To follow Randall’s walking tour: https://www.facebook.com/mark.randall.77770194
For donations: https://www.gofundme.com/walktojerusalem | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/28/year-long-charity-walk-sandals/ | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/fe60ffcd1171ab7f27a93340f1fe7938fd240963e13409fd1e54a586e9044b56.json |
[] | 2016-08-30T18:49:31 | null | 2016-08-30T20:23:52 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F30%2Fpolice-awaiting-response-captured-murder-suspects%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/suspects.jpg | en | null | Police awaiting response on captured murder suspects | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Police on Tuesday said they had still to receive an answer to a request submitted a week ago to the UN bi-communal technical committee on crime and criminal matters for the handing over of two men wanted for the murder of British national George Low.
A request concerning Mehmet Akpinar, 22, and Ahmed Salih, 43, who were captured in Kyrenia on by Turkish Cypriot police, was made last week.
At first Hakki Celal Onen, the Turkish Cypriot co-chairman of the technical committee said no such request had been made but changed his tune last Tuesday when he was reported as saying the request would be considered only after the suspects were tried in a Turkish Cypriot military court.
They are being held until their trial and face charges not for the killing, but for trespassing into a military area as they allegedly crossed north at least twice through areas other than official crossing points.
Low, from Dartford in Kent, and his friend Ben Joseph Robert Barker were walking along Grigori Afxentiou Street at around 3.20am on Sunday, August 14 when they were attacked by two men armed with knives, who then fled in different directions.
Low suffered a fatal injury to his neck, which severed his carotid artery. Barker was stabbed four times in the back, but survived.
Police issued the arrest warrants against Akpinar and Salih based on a statement given by a third suspect, Koulla Anastasiou, 48, who said she lived with Akpinar in her Kamares home in Larnaca and had aided his escape to the north. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/30/police-awaiting-response-captured-murder-suspects/ | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/b95e33b485a6eb8f70e456bc30e04a57b26c6f04104a609dbf7571f3be5824ed.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T08:49:05 | null | 2016-08-29T11:15:53 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Fsyrian-kurdish-ypg-fighters-reinforcing-syrias-manbij%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/ypg-1.jpg | en | null | Syrian-Kurdish YPG fighters 'reinforcing Syria's Manbij' | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Syrian-Kurdish YPG fighters appear to be reinforcing the Syrian city of Manbij, captured this month from Islamic State, with weapons and personnel, regional security sources told Reuters on Monday.
Manbij, on the west bank of the Euphrates River, was captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance, which includes the Kurdish YPG militia, in an offensive backed by the United States.
A Syrian rebel commander said on Sunday that Turkey-backed rebels aimed to capture the city from Kurdish-allied forces.
Sources told Reuters that trucks and minibuses loaded with weapons, equipment and personnel were moving from east to west in northern Syria, leading them to believe the YPGwas reinforcing Manbij.
The YPG said last week its fighters had withdrawn from the Manbij area, saying their presence there could not be used as a pretext for an attack. The YPG could not be reached for comment.
Turkey and its Syrian rebel allies seized territory controlled by Kurdish-aligned forces on Sunday, the fifth day of a cross-border campaign that a monitoring group said had killed at least 35 villagers.
Turkish warplanes roared into northern Syria at daybreak on Sunday and artillery pounded what security sources said were sites held by the YPG militia, after the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported fierce overnight fighting around two villages.
Turkey has said 25 Kurdish militants were killed in its air strikes and denied there were civilian casualties. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/syrian-kurdish-ypg-fighters-reinforcing-syrias-manbij/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/7e31c3bca6d5185e26027fe410f7b3db631d3f167254ed4827fa3e1e0818657a.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T12:49:09 | null | 2016-08-29T15:02:24 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Fwanted-man-stole-ambulance-treat-leg-injury%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/lssol-hospt.jpg | en | null | Wanted man stole ambulance to treat his own leg injury | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | A Latvian man who stole an ambulance from outside Limassol hospital on Sunday and later abandoned it, appears to have done so to treat a leg injury on his own as he was wanted by police in connection with burglaries, it emerged on Monday.
He was remanded by the court for eight days while the incident sparked an investigation by the health ministry as to how someone could just take off with an ambulance from the hospital grounds.
Police on Sunday arrested a 39-year-old suspected of having stolen an ambulance earlier in the day and abandoning it on the coastal road after crashing into two cars. He had driven off early Sunday with the ambulance after breaking through the parking barrier. A woman who was driving one of the two cars he crashed into was injured and taken to a private hospital. The suspect then fled on foot. Following a tip-off, police were able to locate a man matching his description and took him into custody just after noon on Sunday.
According to police, the 39-year old Latvian had gone to the hospital with an injured foot and it seems he registered at the A&E with a fake name but at some point appeared to change his mind, left the examining room and took the ambulance instead.
Police identified the man as a Latvian national who was wanted by police since 2010 in connection with a series of residential burglaries in the area.
They were also now investigating offences involving forgery, malicious damage, negligent driving and causing an accident, driving without a licence, and leaving the scene of an accident.
On Monday morning, after his leg injury was treated overnight he was moved from the hospital to the court for his remand hearing.
Health Minister George Pamboridis, in the morning confirmed he had ordered a probe into the incident. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/wanted-man-stole-ambulance-treat-leg-injury/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/dd3a6d5a5c40793f4a89abe58bb950213d1de93a9f33f19f8d202311cc02e5db.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T02:48:39 | null | 2016-08-28T05:04:28 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F28%2Fred-lines-red-cards%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/comment-panayiotides-The-only-permissible-logical-red-line”is-the-non-abandoning-of-the-efforts-that-are-directed-towards-reaching-a-mutually-acceptable-solution-within-2016.jpg | en | null | Red lines and red cards | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | By Christos P. Panayiotides
IN THE Cyprus talks, reference is often made to “red lines”. The term denotes the ultimate acceptable point of retreat on the issue that is being discussed, in the course of seeking to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution.
As one would expect, the “red lines” drawn by different individuals or groups differ not only because – regrettably – they are influenced by personal interests but also because they are a function of the assessments and predictions of those drawing the lines as to what is likely to happen if a mutually acceptable agreement is not struck.
For example, if somebody anticipates that the failure to reach a mutually-acceptable solution will result – sooner or later – in the annexation of northern Cyprus by Turkey and will ultimately lead to the total Turkification of the island, it is logical to expect that the “red lines” will be faint and easily movable.
By contrast, if somebody is convinced that time is working to our advantage (supporters of a “long-term struggle”), then the “red lines” must be numerous, steady and clearly visible. Whether the public disclosure of the “red lines” drawn on every aspect of the problem by the designated representatives of the Greek Cypriot side is an appropriate negotiating tactic is an entirely different matter. One could argue that such public disclosure undermines rather than reinforces our prospects of getting what we are after.
Beyond the vested personal interests come into play in formulating the political views of many of our compatriots and carry much more weight than the common national interest, the assessments and predictions of each one of us as to what is likely to happen in the event of the non-attainment of a mutually-acceptable solution, is a critical factor in the delimitation of the “red lines”.
Another factor which logically should influence the positioning of the “red lines” is the relative power of each side to impose its views on the other side or to prevent the other side from having its own way.
Finally, there is a sizeable segment of Greek Cypriots, who find it so painful to accept the heavy losses sustained – irrespective of who has provoked or who is responsible for these losses – that .
they choose to ignore reality.
They continue to pretend that nothing has happened and they hope that by means of a miracle, one day, the situation will be patched up, we will go back to 1950 and we will start all over again, without committing the tragic mistakes we have committed since then.
I suppose that this is the logic of the advocates of the “long-term struggle” approach that has been leading us from bad to worse. I say “I suppose” because the advocates of the “long-term struggle” have never clarified what they realistically expect that the future will bring which the past has failed to achieve and the present is incapable of delivering.
The question, which remains unanswered – because the advocates of the “long-term struggle” stubbornly refuse to respond to it – is not what our target should be but how this target can be achieved.
This is, indeed, the difficulty because it is certain that the target will not be attained automatically and, therefore, it is not sufficient to have “patience and perseverance”. It is not sufficient to “keep our memories and hopes alive” and of course, we will not attain our objective by wishful that “all refuges will return to their homes” or by declaring our determination “to fight with all available means and with all our strength in claiming our rights”.
Have the advocates of the “long-term struggle” ever counted the beans? Have they ever assessed the power (political and military) we have at our disposal and the support we can reasonably expect from our friends?
Unfortunately, our real power is very limited compared to that of Turkey while our friends and supporters have gradually dwindled to a few. This is indirectly admitted by our political leaders, who constantly accuse the United Nations, the Anglo-Americans and the European Union of being biased against us.
It is a widely held view (which has been systematically cultivated) that all of them, in chorus, plot to undermine the interests of Cyprus. Our old friends, the “non-aligned nations”, have degenerated and disappeared while we have never been able to secure from the “blond nation” anything beyond certain declarations which, if carefully examined, are found to be capable of multiple and often self-conflicting interpretations.
Any objective observer can easily see that the foremost objective of Russia has always been and continues to be the non-healing of the wound that Cyprus, unintentionally, inflicts on NATO. The ease and the speed with which the bridge between Turkey and Russia has been reconstructed recently is truly amazing. These developments underline the importance of self-interest in the international political arena.
Thus, without notable strengths and without allies willing to see their own self-interests being negatively affected as a result of supporting Cyprus, the prospects of our “long-term struggle” bearing fruit are, indeed, slim.
Equally naive is the position that the status quo can be maintained for an extended period of time. The tangible proof of how naive this assumption is can be obtained through a one-day excursion trip to northern Cyprus, where the speed with which the Turkification is proceeding is readily evident.
I have come to the conclusion that the only permissible logical “red line” is the non-abandoning of the efforts that are directed towards reaching a mutually-acceptable solution within 2016, and any politician who chooses to overstep this red line should be given the red card and expelled from the pitch.
Christos P. Panayiotides is a Certified Public Accountant | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/28/red-lines-red-cards/ | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/798e6456741e20f7552338dff41df02980460af6bb32680d9a94376b0e03b8e7.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T12:48:50 | null | 2016-08-28T13:57:08 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F28%2Fbangladesh-police-identify-dead-militants-linked-dhaka-cafe-attack%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Policemen-patrol-outside-the-Holey-Artisan-Bakery-and-the-OKitchen-Restaurant-as-others-inspect-the-site-after-gunmen-attacked-in-Dhaka.jpg | en | null | Bangladesh police identify dead militants linked to Dhaka cafe attack | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | By Serajul Quadir
One of the three militants killed by Bangladeshi security forces on Saturday in connection with July’s Dhaka cafe attack came from a posh area of the city like some of the attackers and went to a prestigious foreign university, police said on Sunday.
Towsif Hossain was from Dhaka’s leafy Dhanmondi neighbourhood and was missing since February. Like Nibras Islam, one of the five young and affluent cafe attackers who was killed after a 12-hour siege on July 2, Hossain had also attended the Kuala Lumpur campus of Australia’s prestigious Monash University, the head of the Dhaka police counterterrorism unit told reporters.
The other militant killed on Saturday morning was Fazle Rabbi from the Jessore district northwest of Dhaka, who was missing from last April, counter-terrorism head Monirul Islam said. Rabbi’s family has fled, police said.
The cafe attack was claimed by Islamic State and killed 22 people, mostly foreigners. It alarmed security and political experts because of the profile of the perpetrators: educated youths from privileged backgrounds who had turned to radical Islamism only recently. Both Hossain and Rabbi were around 25, police said.
Malaysian police said last month that at least two of the militants behind the cafe attack had attended Monash, although they did not name them. The militants singled out non-Muslims and foreigners in the attack, killing Italians, Japanese, an American and an Indian.
The identity of Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, a 30-year-old Bangladeshi-born Canadian citizen suspected to be the mastermind of the cafe attack, was confirmed on Saturday itself.
The militants were cornered on Saturday in a hideout on the outskirts of Dhaka, and having refused to surrender, were killed in the ensuing gun battle.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the police operation would uphold confidence and the image of her country, and came ahead of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Dhaka on Monday.
The government has denied the involvement of Islamic State in the attack and instead blamed Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, which has pledged allegiance to the group active in Syria and Iraq, for organising the assault that has weighed on the poor South Asian economy’s $28 billion garments export industry.
Analysts say Islamic State in April identified Chowdhury as its national commander in Bangladesh. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/28/bangladesh-police-identify-dead-militants-linked-dhaka-cafe-attack/ | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/10fc94822628821d7d4f89913dfae6b15676e4b958a34bd4ffae6d34235a2bf6.json |
[] | 2016-08-27T16:48:24 | null | 2016-08-27T18:07:36 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F27%2Fnico-rosberg-pole-belgian-grand-prix%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/spo-F1-nico-rosberg.jpg | en | null | Nico Rosberg on pole for Belgian Grand Prix | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Germany’s Nico Rosberg set the fastest time in qualifying on Saturday to seize pole position for the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver lapped the 7-kilometer long Spa-Francorchamps circuit in one minute 46.744 seconds.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was second quickest and will start alongside the German on the front row for what is the closest the Dutchman has to a home race on the calendar.
Four-times Belgium winner Kimi Raikkonen was third for Ferrari.
World championship leader Lewis Hamilton, set to start last due to a 55-place engine-related grid penalty, drove only four laps at an easy pace and did not make it beyond the opening phase of qualifying.
The Briton heads into the weekend gunning to become only the third driver to take 50 career wins.
He has won six of the last seven races, four of those in succession, and leads Rosberg by 19 points in the standings. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/27/nico-rosberg-pole-belgian-grand-prix/ | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/661516712680d92ecb1fcc24e0c938c7c9038fd1e50e1854542fbda96bf58c41.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T14:49:12 | null | 2016-08-29T16:36:13 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Fleicester-eager-enjoy-champions-league-debut-says-vardy%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Vardy.jpg | en | null | Leicester eager to enjoy Champions League debut, says Vardy | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy has said the club will look to enjoy competing against Europe’s elite in their Champions League debut.
The English champions were drawn in Group G along with Porto, Club Bruges and FC Copenhagen in the Champions League after winning the English top-flight title for the first time in their history.
“We’ll take anyone. We will always give it our all and it’s a new experience for us so we’re going to go out and enjoy it,” the 29-year-old told British media on Monday.
“They will obviously be doing their homework on us because they won’t have seen that much and we’ll be doing exactly the same.”
The England international scored his first league goal of the season as Leicester beat Swansea City on Saturday to get their opening win of the campaign.
“We weren’t meant to win the league were we? We’re not meant to win it this year either. We’re just enjoying ourselves,” he added.
“We know we can hurt teams. People saw that last year, so we’ll just keep going out on that pitch enjoying ourselves.” | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/leicester-eager-enjoy-champions-league-debut-says-vardy/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/91f2a82692d9567b1767520b0bc7de7b6349818652fd436c429fc893b0470fae.json |
[] | 2016-08-27T10:48:13 | null | 2016-08-27T12:20:46 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F27%2Fus-russia-fail-close-deal-ending-violence-syria%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/A-Red-Crescent-vehicle-carrying-wounded-people-who-were-evacuated-from-the-besieged-Damascus-suburb-of-Daraya.jpg | en | null | US and Russia fail to close deal on ending violence in Syria | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | By Lesley Wroughton and Stephanie Nebehay
The United States and Russia failed on Friday to reach a breakthrough deal on military cooperation and a nationwide cessation of hostilities in Syria, saying they still have issues to resolve before an agreement could be announced.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, addressing a joint news conference after more than nine hours of off-and-on talks in Geneva, said teams from both sides would try to finalise details in coming days in the Swiss city.
Kerry said the talks with Lavrov had “achieved clarity on the path forward” but together they offered few details on how they planned to renew a February cessation of hostilities and improve humanitarian assistance.
“We don’t want to have a deal for the sake of the deal,” Kerry said. “We want to have something done that is effective and that works for the people of Syria, that makes the region more stable and secure, and that brings us to the table here in Geneva to find a political solution.”
The talks have been complicated since initial meetings in July by new government attacks on opposition groups, and a significant offensive in the southern part of the divided city of Aleppo led by opposition fighters intermingled with the Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate also seeking to topple Russian-backed President Bashar al-Assad.
In the days ahead the technical teams, which include US and Russian military and intelligence experts, will try to figure out ways to separate the opposition groups, backed by the United States and Gulf Arab countries, from the jihadis.
It was unclear after Friday’s meetings whether outstanding issues could all be resolved between Moscow and Washington, which back opposing parties in the Syrian conflict. The United States has insisted that the Syrian air force, which has dropped barrel bombs and chlorine on residential areas, be grounded but Lavrov said on Friday that was not the goal.
Assad’s future is not part of the current talks. Instead, discussions are focused on finding an effective and lasting solution to end the violence, which would open negotiations on a political transition in Syria.
“If the remaining details can be completed, we believe we will be able to address the two primary challenges to the cessation of hostilities – the regime violations and the increasing influence of the al-Nusra Front,” Kerry said.
Kerry believes the plan is the best chance to limit fighting that is driving thousands of Syrians into exile in Europe and preventing humanitarian aid from reaching tens of thousands more.
The talks came as opposition groups effectively surrendered the Damascus suburb of Darayato the government after a gruelling four-year siege.
Kerry said the Syrian regime had “forced the surrender” of Daraya in contravention of the February cessation of hostilities agreement, but Lavrov said the local accord was an “example” that should be “replicated”.
The Russian foreign minister said another besieged area was “interested in such an operation with mediation of the Russian Federation.” He did not name the area.
Residents and insurgents in Daraya began to leave the besieged area where civilians have been trapped since 2012 and the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross expressed concern for their safety. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/27/us-russia-fail-close-deal-ending-violence-syria/ | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/4a023cc80f76b4ca9baed7e67c8e72902df24218b562416806117fcdea0af365.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T06:48:58 | null | 2016-08-29T08:24:02 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Fpremier-league-familiar-look%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/conte-1.jpg | en | null | Premier League has familiar look once more | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | By Steve Tongue
Three matches into the Premier League season following a stunning title success by 5,000-1 outsiders Leicester City, the table already has a more familiar look.
Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United lead the way having all won their opening three games under new managers.
Arsenal, in the top four every year since 1996, appear to have recovered from an early home defeat by Liverpool, who are in mid-table but have yet to play a home game because of building work at Anfield.
Tottenham Hotspur, third last season, are unbeaten.
Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs finished as the top three in 2011 and 2013. Until Leicester shocked the football world in May those three powerhouses had taken the previous 11 titles between them.
They will not be counting trophies yet, least of all City, who began last season with five wins in a row, only to finish fourth which cost manager Manuel Pellegrini his job.
The Chilean’s successor, Pep Guardiola, has spent heavily as expected and been rewarded with nine goals in three games, which has pushed his side to the top on goal difference.
“I am so satisfied, it is a pleasure to work with these guys,” he said after Sunday’s 3-1 home win over West Ham United.
“We feel the players believe in what we do and that is more satisfying for the coach of course. But that without results (it) is nothing. We go into the international break and start again.”
Chelsea have also looked impressive under Italian coach Antonio Conte, who oversaw two late victories against West Ham and Watford and a more comprehensive 3-0 win against Burnley on Saturday.
When league football resumes after the international break, the Londoners will hope to take advantage of the two Manchester clubs being involved in their first local derby of the season.
United’s former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho will be relishing that fixture, believing he has the squad he wants after four major signings, including midfielder Paul Pogba for a world record fee and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swedish striker who is a serial title winner.
Ibrahimovic has scored three goals already, making him joint leading scorer with City’s Sergio Aguero, who now faces an anxious wait to see if the Football Association will take retrospective disciplinary action against him for an incident in the West Ham game.
Early days or not, a reversion to some form of the status quo is looking increasingly likely. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/premier-league-familiar-look/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/40177d220eb43dec26bd5f3fa1c62f883fcbc96d40b96f7e492fe35ae42aa1b5.json |
[] | 2016-08-30T06:49:14 | null | 2016-08-30T08:45:55 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F30%2Fdjokovic-advances-new-concerns-rise-fitness-day-1-results%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/djoko.jpg | en | null | Djokovic advances but new concerns rise over fitness (All Day 1 results) | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Novak Djokovic opened the defence of his U.S. Open title with a 6-3 5-7 6-2 6-1 win over Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz on Monday, but the laboured performance gave rise to fresh concerns about the world number one’s fitness.
After a sizzling start to the season that brought grand slam wins No.11 and 12 at the Australian and French Opens, Djokovic’s form has plummeted, with a third-round loss to Sam Querrey at Wimbledon followed by a first-round exit at the Rio Olympics.
The Serb might have been in trouble on another day at Flushing Meadows but Janowicz, ranked 246 places below Djokovic, has advanced from the first round just once in four previous U.S. Open visits and looked unlikely to do it again on Monday.
Djokovic, a U.S. Open finalist five of the last six years, next faces Czech Jiri Vesely, a five-set winner over Indian qualifier Saketh Myneni.
Djokovic arrived in New York having been hampered by a left wrist injury and distracted by undisclosed “private matters” and on Monday trainers were called out early in the opening set to work on his right forearm.
Several times during the two hour, 37 minute match, Djokovic could be seen grimacing when hitting his powerful forehand, while his serve rarely looked threatening, stuck at around 100 mph.
“It was just prevention, it’s all good,” Djokovic told reporters. “Look, each day presents us some kind of challenges that we need to accept and overcome.
“After all I’ve been through in the last couple of weeks it’s pleasing to finish the match and win it.”
Up 3-2 in the opening set, Djokovic called for a medical time out during the changeover as Janowicz took a seat in the stands while the world number one had his forearm massaged.
When play resumed, Djokovic immediately broke the Pole and held serve on way to taking the first set.
But in the second frame Djokovic’s discomfort became even more evident as he double faulted and then sent a wild forehand long as Janowicz broke to take control and level the match.
Normal service was resumed in the third and Djokovic moved in for the knockout punch, breaking Janowicz to open the fourth before wrapping up the match.
The year’s final grand slam got off to a glitzy Hollywood-style start, with a performance from Phil Collins to mark the arrival of the $150 million retractable roof at the stadium.
“It’s hard to put on show after Phil Collins,” said Djokovic, before breaking into one of Collins’ hits during his on court post-match interview. “The U.S. Open is the most entertaining grand slam.
“It was wonderful to come back and play a night session that is undoubtedly the most special night session we have in our sport.”
Day 1: Men’s singles results
1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat Jerzy Janowicz (Poland) 6-3 5-7 6-2 6-1
5-Milos Raonic (Canada) beat Dustin Brown (Germany) 7-5 6-3 6-4
32-Benoit Paire (France) beat Dusan Lajovic (Serbia) 6-2 2-6 3-6 7-5 6-1
20-John Isner (U.S.) beat Frances Tiafoe (U.S.) 3-6 4-6 7-6(5) 6-2 7-6(3)
Vasek Pospisil (Canada) beat Jozef Kovalik (Slovakia) 6-1 6-3 6-3
Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) beat Facundo Bagnis (Argentina) 6-4 6-2 1-1 (Bagnis retired)
4-Rafa Nadal (Spain) beat Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) 6-1 6-4 6-2
10-Gael Monfils (France) beat Gilles Muller (Luxembourg) 6-4 6-2 7-6(5)
Andreas Seppi (Italy) beat Stephane Robert (France) 6-2 3-6 6-4 6-3
Steve Darcis (Belgium) beat Jordan Thompson (Australia) 5-7 3-6 7-6(5) 6-4 7-5
Nicolas Almagro (Spain) beat Marton Fucsovics (Hungary) 6-1 6-4 7-6(7)
31-Albert Ramos (Spain) beat Julien Benneteau (France) 3-6 6-3 6-3 2-6 6-1
Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukraine) beat Gastao Elias (Portugal) 6-1 3-6 2-6 6-3 7-6(4)
Ernesto Escobedo (U.S.) beat Lukas Lacko (Slovakia) 6-4 4-6 4-6 6-3 (Lacko retired)
Andrey Kuznetsov (Russia) beat Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil) 6-4 3-6 6-1 7-6(6)
7-Marin Cilic (Croatia) beat Rogerio Dutra Silva (Brazil) 6-4 7-5 6-1
Guido Pella (Argentina) beat Bjorn Fratangelo (U.S.) 6-3 6-4 6-4
Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) beat 28-Martin Klizan (Slovakia) 6-2 6-1 6-1
Kyle Edmund (Britain) beat 13-Richard Gasquet (France) 6-2 6-2 6-3
Jiri Vesely (Czech Republic) beat Saketh Myneni (India) 7-6(5) 4-6 2-6 6-2 7-5
15-Roberto Bautista (Spain) beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 7-5 6-1 6-7(5) 7-6(3)
James Duckworth (Australia) beat Robin Haase (Netherlands) 4-6 7-5 6-3 4-6 6-3
26-Jack Sock (U.S.) beat Taylor Fritz (U.S.) 7-6(3) 7-5 3-6 1-6 6-4
Ryan Harrison (U.S.) beat Adrian Mannarino (France) 6-4 7-6(5) 6-3
24-Lucas Pouille (France) beat Mikhail Kukushkin (Kazakhstan) 3-6 6-2 6-4 6-2
9-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) beat Guido Andreozzi (Argentina) 6-3 6-4 6-4
Mischa Zverev (Germany) beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert (France) 6-4 7-6(6) 4-6 6-0
18-Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay) beat Dudi Sela (Israel) 6-3 6-2 0-6 5-7 6-3
Jan Satral (Czech Republic) beat Mackenzie McDonald (U.S.) 4-6 3-6 6-3 6-2 6-2
Federico Delbonis (Argentina) beat Brian Baker (U.S.) 3-6 6-7(6) 6-4 6-2 6-2
23-Kevin Anderson (South Africa) beat Yoshihito Nishioka (Japan) 6-3 7-5 6-4
Marco Chiudinelli (Switzerland) beat Guilherme Clezar (Brazil) 2-6 7-6(6) 6-2 6-4 | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/30/djokovic-advances-new-concerns-rise-fitness-day-1-results/ | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/f39e8a71f6c7f88d45653b7aea7215b9c1029a5464b1baf5b525cd83057145cf.json |
[] | 2016-08-31T06:49:36 | null | 2016-08-31T08:16:44 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F31%2Fwilliams-sister-act-open-second-round-day-2-results%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/williams.jpg | en | null | Williams sister act through to Open second round (Day 2 results) | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | By Steve Keating
World number one Serena Williams opened her U.S. Open account with a tidy 6-3 6-3 win over Ekaterina Makarova on Tuesday, to join her sister Venus in the second round of the year’s final grand slam.
Williams, whose status as world number one is under attack from several fronts, delivered a message that she will not be surrendering the top spot without a fight, needing just 63 minutes to dispatch the 29th-ranked Russian.
Germany’s Angelique Kerber and Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, who have both beaten Williams in slam finals this season, along with Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, will all be eyeing the number one ranking should the American’s bid for a 23rd grand slam title stall.
Williams has owned the number one spot since Feb. 18, 2013 and will extend her streak to 186 consecutive weeks by the end of the U.S. Open fortnight, tying the WTA record held by Steffi Graf.
Back on Arthur Ashe Stadium court for the first time since a shock loss to Italy’s Roberta Vinci in last year’s U.S. Open semi-finals, Williams made quick work of Makarova to follow the lead of her sister Venus.
Sixth-seeded Venus had provided the opening act for sister Serena when she outlasted Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova 6-2 5-7 6-4 before turning over the Arthur Ashe Stadium court to her top-seeded sibling.
The Flushing Meadows spotlight is once again firmly fixed on Serena as she chases an Open Era, record smashing 23rd slam title with concerns over her right shoulder, believed to be a factor in her third-round singles loss at the Rio Olympics.
FASHION STATEMENT
As always at the U.S. Open, what the world number one was wearing attracted as much attention as her performance. Williams sported a black tennis dress with cutouts revealing her muscular shoulders.
“It’s a part of the design,” explained William. “It’s just the latest and greatest accessory.
“It also is functional, so I think that helps me, especially with my shoulder problems that I’ve been having.”
The 34-year-old American took something off her big serve, but showed no signs of distress as she blasted 12 aces past Makarova, a player who on occasion has given her problems, beating her in the fourth round of the 2012 Australian Open.
“I didn’t hit them as hard as I normally hit them,” she said about her serves. “I just went for more placement. I didn’t go for the big 120s (mph), just the regular.”
“I knew today I needed to be focused,” said Williams. “She goes deep in majors. She knows how to play big matches on big courts. She’s not intimidated.”
As usual, history beckons Williams who is bidding for a seventh U.S. Open victory that would surpass the Open Era record she shares with Chris Evert.
But whether it is the world number one ranking or another record at stake, Williams had the same answer.
“I don’t answer those questions,” flatly stated Williams, who will next face American wild card Vania King, a 7-6(2) 6-3 winner over Germany qualifier Antonia Lottner.
Results from the U.S. Open Women’s Singles Round 1 matches on Tuesday
1-Serena Williams (U.S.) beat Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) 6-3 6-3
Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) beat Mariana Duque (Colombia) 6-4 6-1
Julia Goerges (Germany) beat Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) 6-3 6-2
17-Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) beat Louisa Chirico (U.S.) 6-1 6-4
Naomi Broady (Britain) beat Laura Robson (Britain) 6-7(4) 6-3 6-4
19-Elena Vesnina (Russia) beat Anett Kontaveit (Estonia) 7-6(4) 4-6 6-3
11-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) beat Teliana Pereira (Brazil) 6-0 6-0
Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic) beat Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) 6-3 3-6 6-2
Johanna Larsson (Sweden) beat Karin Knapp (Italy) 6-4 6-2
Kurumi Nara (Japan) beat Stefanie Voegele (Switzerland) 6-0 7-5
Annika Beck (Germany) beat Nadia Podoroska (Argentina) 7-6(6) 6-3
16-Samantha Stosur (Australia) beat Camila Giorgi (Italy) 7-5 6-7(4) 6-1
15-Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland) beat Vitalia Diatchenko (Russia) 6-1 6-1
Nicole Gibbs (U.S.) beat Aleksandra Krunic (Serbia) 6-1 6-0
Zhang Shuai (China) beat Ellen Perez (Australia) 6-1 6-1
31-Timea Babos (Hungary) beat Barbara Haas (Austria) 5-7 6-3 7-5
25-Caroline Garcia (France) beat Pauline Parmentier (France) 4-6 6-3 6-4
Wang Qiang (China) beat 23-Darya Kasatkina (Russia) 6-4 2-6 6-2
Ana Konjuh (Croatia) beat 20-Kiki Bertens (Netherlands) 6-3 2-6 6-4
Richel Hogenkamp (Netherlands) beat Heather Watson (Britain) 6-2 7-5
Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) beat Daria Gavrilova (Australia) 6-4 6-4
Denisa Allertova (Czech Republic) beat 29-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 7-6(4) 6-1
5-Simona Halep (Romania) beat Kirsten Flipkens (Belgium) 6-0 6-2
Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) beat Lara Arruabarrena Vecino (Spain) 6-2 6-3
10-Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) beat Sofia Kenin (U.S.) 6-4 6-3
4-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) beat Jessica Pegula (U.S.) 6-1 6-1
26-Laura Siegemund (Germany) beat Patricia Tig (Romania) 3-6 6-3 6-2
Varvara Lepchenko (U.S.) beat Peng Shuai (China) 4-6 7-6(9) 6-3
Kristina Mladenovic (France) beat Nao Hibino (Japan) 6-4 7-5
6-Venus Williams (U.S.) beat Kateryna Kozlova (Ukraine) 6-2 5-7 6-4
Vania King (U.S.) beat Antonia Lottner (Germany) 7-6(2) 6-3
Montserrat Gonzalez (Paraguay) beat Danka Kovinic (Montenegro) 7-5 6-2 | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/31/williams-sister-act-open-second-round-day-2-results/ | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/c68b230d0b9a1a6413b8de1debb0865b04a978baf17eed52b7c05c5d9babd838.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T10:49:10 | null | 2016-08-29T12:34:13 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Fmission-accomplished%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/grenadainvasion.jpg | en | null | Mission accomplished? | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | By Brian Michael Jenkins,
To some, President Barack Obama was weak and vacillating on ISIS and homegrown terrorism, and on America’s resolve in Syria, Afghanistan and Iran. But his heavier reliance on drones and special ops raised the stakes in the war on terror in ways that could impact future administrations.
President George W. Bush took office with an ambitious domestic agenda, but the 9/11 attacks changed his priorities and made him a war president. President Barack Obama also entered office committed to domestic goals, amid the country’s most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression. There were no new 9/11s, but plenty of terrorist adversaries. While he will be judged in part for his domestic achievements during his eight years in office, the actions Obama took, and didn’t take, in the realm of counterterrorism are a major component of his legacy.
It is a controversial one. Critics have portrayed the president as weak, vacillating, overly cautious and unwilling to recognize the threat posed by radical Islamists – even resistant to uttering the term. This hesitation, critics charge, makes bad situations worse and encourages aggression by America’s foes. Had the president moved more quickly to bring down the Assad regime in Syria or been less tentative in his support of Syria’s rebels, ISIS would not have risen so forcefully, they claim.
Homegrown terrorism increased on Obama’s watch, with attacks in Fort Hood, Boston, Chattanooga, San Bernardino and Orlando. Even though the casualties in these attacks were exponentially less than those in 2001, opinion polls indicate that Americans are almost as worried about terrorism now as they were immediately after 9/11.
Criticism of Obama often reflects increasingly partisan domestic politics. But the president himself would likely agree that he has been careful to avoid additional military adventures.
As commander-in-chief, presidents don’t lead troops into battle, but they get credit for successful military operations and blame for military losses.
President Ronald Reagan ordered the Grenada invasion and sent U.S. bombers to Libya. President George H.W. Bush invaded Panama and liberated Kuwait after Iraq’s invasion. President Bill Clinton oversaw military operations in Bosnia and against Serbia. George W. Bush declared the Global War on Terror and toppled Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.
Obama can claim credit for ordering the military raid that killed Osama bin Laden – to many, his only significant counterterrorism achievement – and for pursuing an aggressive policy of drone strikes and special operations aimed at taking out terrorist commanders.
Presidents also get credit for ending unpopular wars and bringing American troops home. President Dwight Eisenhower entered office promising to end the Korean War. President Richard Nixon was determined to get the United States out of the Vietnam War.
Obama wanted to end U.S. participation in America’s two longest wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which were protracted insurgencies. Instead, a deteriorating military situation obliged the president to order more troops to Afghanistan. He attempted to mitigate the buildup by simultaneously announcing a timetable for total withdrawal, which he was forced to abandon. Many observers criticized as a mistake his decision to withdraw all American troops from Iraq. It allowed the new Iraqi government to create a sectarian regime (alienating the country’s Sunni population) and replace competent Iraqi commanders with regime loyalists. Faced with an ISIS offensive in 2014, the Iraqi army collapsed, forcing the United States to return to the theater.
As a result, Obama’s successor will inherit the two conflicts.
The president, however, has remained determined to avoid putting “boots on the ground” to fight terrorists abroad – as many have demanded. As he learned in Afghanistan, once the troops are in, it is difficult to get them out. Air power offered a safer option, but requires a capable ground force to be effective, demanding the deployment of U.S. personnel. More than 6,000 American troops are reportedly back in Iraq and Syria.
The administration’s campaign against the Islamic State is an example of preventive war. ISIS murdered American hostages but, unlike al-Qaida, did not declare war on the United States or carry out terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, instead exhorting followers to do so. America’s objective is to prevent the Islamic State from becoming a launching pad for terrorist strikes on the United States.
Using drone strikes to kill terrorist commanders began with the previous administration, but became a major component of Obama’s counterterrorist efforts. The strikes enabled the United States to directly attack terrorist organizations without taking on counterinsurgency or nation-building missions. Drone strikes also remain directly under White House control. With advice from the intelligence community and military commanders, the president determines the target. As Obama has said, “I am pretty good at killing people.” A future president may not want such direct involvement.
Special operations have continued to play an increasingly important role in U.S. military strategy. These are less the traditional deployment of Green Berets to work with local armies and irregular forces, and involve more kinetic operations – high-tech commando raids. They are preferred to sending large numbers of Americans into combat and they allow the White House to keep a tighter rein on involvement.
America’s stance on hostage situations returned to center stage during the Obama administration. The U.S. government does not pay ransom or make concessions to terrorists holding hostages, but does not outlaw private negotiations. Beheadings of American hostages held by ISIS prompted the president to order a review of procedures, which led to improved coordination of government efforts. Official policy did not change, although some erroneously thought it did.
Obama was accused of violating the no-concessions policy when the United States exchanged prisoners for an American private held by the Taliban, although trading prisoners for American military personnel is long accepted and not considered a violation of U.S. policy. The issue resurfaced when it was reported that the United States had returned to Iran funds frozen in 1979 in return for the release of American prisoners. Again, U.S. policy for dealing with terrorist kidnappings was not violated. Yet, it was portrayed as paying ransom by the same critics who had chastised the president for not retrieving all of the American prisoners.
Obama was determined to close the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, which many felt had become a national embarrassment, but he failed to do so. Flawed military commissions resolved only a handful of cases, and persuading other countries to accept detainees proved difficult. Transfers to the United States were blocked, mainly by the president’s political opponents who saw closure attempts as a criticism of the previous administration. Guantanamo will survive the administration.
In asserting his executive authority to justify military actions abroad and intelligence collection measures at home, Obama, like his predecessor, has pushed the edges. It is unlikely to be dismantled by the next president.
Obama’s days as counterterrorism-in-chief may be coming to an end, but history has only begun to take measure of his performance.
Brian Michael Jenkins is the Senior Adviser to the President of the RAND Corporation. He was appointed to the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security in 1996 and served as an adviser to the National Commission on Terrorism from 1999-2000. He was also appointed to the U.S. Comptroller General’s Advisory Board in 2000.
This article first appeared in TheMarkNews | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/mission-accomplished/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/55f3e2e916003c22a0a3a97544c5d60e4944f69609db647d554477e5bb32aae3.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T10:48:58 | null | 2016-08-29T13:14:44 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Fuzbek-leader-intensive-care-brain-haemorrhage%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/karimov.jpg | en | null | Uzbek leader 'in intensive care after brain haemorrhage' | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Uzbek President Islam Karimov is in a stable condition in an intensive care ward after suffering a brain haemorrhage on Saturday, his daughter Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva wrote on her Instagram page on Monday.
Karimov, 78, who has run Uzbekistan since it was a Soviet republic and wields sweeping powers, has no obvious successor. This means that the eventual transition of power is likely to be decided within a close circle of his family and top officials.
“At the moment, it is too early to make any forecasts about his condition in the future,” his daughter wrote. “I will be grateful to everyone who will support my father with prayers.
The government of Central Asia’s most populous country said on Sunday that Karimov was undergoing hospital treatment, but provided no details.
A failure to reach consensus on a transition could destabilise the mostly Muslim nation of 32 million long targeted by Islamist militants and strategically located north of Afghanistan.
Karimov has no sons, who might have been regarded as heirs apparent in the patriarchal culture. His elder daugher, Gulnara, has not appeared in public since several media reported in 2014 that she had been placed under house arrest.
Karimov’s second daughter, Lola, is Uzbekistan’s ambassador to Paris-based UNESCO. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/uzbek-leader-intensive-care-brain-haemorrhage/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/a04c6b813ab279c2e8c045ac7503ba57cae5e916b2d4e70cde568cdf34c6cde7.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T14:48:52 | null | 2016-08-28T16:48:20 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F28%2Firan-arrests-nuclear-negotiator-suspected-spying%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ASIA-AFRICA.jpg | en | null | Iran arrests nuclear negotiator suspected of spying | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Iran has arrested a member of the negotiating team that reached a landmark nuclear deal with world powers on suspicion of spying, a judiciary spokesman said on Sunday.
The suspect was released on bail after a few days in jail but is still under investigation, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said at a weekly news conference, calling the unidentified individual a “spy who had infiltrated the nuclear team,” state media reported.
The deal that President Hassan Rouhani struck last year has given Iran relief from most international sanctions in return for curbing its nuclear programme, but it is opposed by hardliners who see it as a capitulation to the United States.
Ejei was responding to a question about an Iranian lawmaker’s assertion last week that a member of the negotiation team who had dual nationality had been arrested on espionage charges.
Tehran’s prosecutor general on Aug. 16 announced the arrest of a dual national he said was linked to British intelligence, but made no mention of the person being in the nuclear negotiations team. On Sunday, Ejei did not explicitly confirm that the arrested person had a second nationality.
Britain said on Aug. 16 that it was trying to find out more about the arrest of a joint-national. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/28/iran-arrests-nuclear-negotiator-suspected-spying/ | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/2546c7c7dbd34593255e610b3f541ddef2a3d5a986d8d688bc60285ea7ac7659.json |
[] | 2016-08-31T02:49:29 | null | 2016-08-31T05:10:40 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F31%2Fbusinessman-attacked-exporting-potatoes-north%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/potatoes.jpg | en | null | Businessman attacked for exporting potatoes from the north | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | A Greek Cypriot businessman who made a deal with a Turkish Cypriot counterpart to bring over potatoes for export under the Green Line Regulation (GLR) is being harassed and has had threats made to burn down his packaging plant, he says.
Christos Christofi told the Cyprus Mail that last Saturday a group of around 200 protesters showed up at the premises of his company Sowrrano Fresh Ltd in Achna in the Famagusta district, made up of farmers, other potato exporters and seven MPs.
The protesters were only stopped from entering the plant by British bases police, Christofi said. “They protected us.”
The businessman said it all started in July when he made the deal on the Turkish Cypriot side to export potatoes that came from the north out through the legal ports of the Republic. Such trade is run under the GLR introduced by the EU in 2004 as part of a package to assist Turkish Cypriots, though the scheme runs both ways.
When Christofi began bringing over potato consignments, unknown persons fired shots outside his house so he decided to stop for a while.
He started again Thursday and Friday last week to bring over potatoes and by Saturday there was a mob of around 200 people, including the MPs protesting outside the plant, he said.
“There were farmers with some politicians demonstrating outside my premises saying what I was doing was illegal,” he said.
Christofi said threats also came from unrecognised phone numbers saying his premises would be burned down, and that problems would be caused for his family.
Four of the seven MPs at the protest on Saturday were from ruling DISY. Christofi said he identified two of them as Kyriacos Hadjiyiannis and Giorgos Georgiou, both MPs for the Famagusta district. He said he did not recognise the other two DISY deputies.
Michalis Georgallas from the Solidarity Movement – a Famagusta deputy – and the two far-right ELAM deputies, Christos Christou and Linos Papayiannis, the latter also a Famagusta district deputy, were there as well, according to Christofi.
He said the SBA police were called and “protected us” and stopped them from entering the premises.
So far Christofi has brought over 150 tonnes of potatoes and is contracted to bring 700 tonnes in total and export them, mainly to Greece, and the UK. None of the potatoes are sold on the local market, he said.
He said his detractors were also calling his customers abroad and spreading lies about the crop. “They’re calling clients and telling them the potatoes are from Turkey,” he said.
Christofi said Agriculture Minister Nicos Kouyialis had visited the packaging plant on Monday and confirmed that everything was above board and within the scope of the GLR, which provides that consignments from the north must be checked by an EU official to certify they are of Turkish Cypriot origin and are not harmful to health.
“We are trying to create good relations,” said Christofi of his deal with the Turkish Cypriot business. “I want our country to be reunited and if we don’t start now, then what’s the point?”
None of the MPs in question could be reached on Tuesday but one, Kyriacos Hadjiyiannis was hosted on Politis Radio in the morning where he was quizzed on Katerina Eliades’ show.
She called Hadjiyiannis and asked him why he had gone to the protest and he said: “We went to protest about the illegal trade.”
When she told him that the trade was not illegal, he insisted: “We went to protest against the illegal trade.”
“So you joined a protest attended by ELAM deputies?” she asked. “We went to protest against the illegal trade,” he responded for a third time. He then said he had to go to a House committee meeting and hung up.
ELAM slammed the GLR in a general announcement on Tuesday bemoaning a number of issues that were Cyprob related.
DISY spokesman Prodromos Prodromou, answering whether he thought four MPs from the ruling pro-solution party protesting a perfectly legal situation would create a negative impression, conceded to the Cyprus Mail later on Tuesday that it was unfortunate.
He said a grey area might be the packaging of the potatoes in the government-controlled part of the island but this was not really an issue. In this instance everything was done legally and EU certified, he said.
Prodromou did not condone the actions of the four deputies but neither did he condemn them. “They were under pressure from voters who have interests in the potato industry,” he offered. But he added that people have to understand that what is being done is legal and not a reason to demonstrate. It was unlikely there would any repercussions for the four deputies within the party itself. “But we will explain to them that it is legal.”
According to the latest Green Line report for 2015, the total value of goods for which accompanying documents were issued amounted to €3.93 million compared with €3.91 million in 2014, an increase of 0.58 per cent.
The report mentioned that traders from both communities were faced with many administrative problems when wanting to enter into business with the other community. “The economic operators from both sides need to be free to engage in trade relations, based on their business requirements,” the report concluded. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/31/businessman-attacked-exporting-potatoes-north/ | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/56ba33ec3c6ef4ff551ef9b9c5de8555376ace88939d0512562f869dce15c71b.json |
[] | 2016-08-31T12:49:41 | null | 2016-08-31T14:40:47 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F31%2Fhart-joins-torino-season-long-loan%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Hart-web.jpg | en | null | Hart joins Torino on season-long loan | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Torino have completed the signing of goalkeeper Joe Hart from Manchester City on a season-long loan, both clubs confirmed on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old has been unable to secure a first-team place under new manager Pep Guardiola and has fallen down the pecking order behind 17 million pound signing Claudio Bravo and Willy Caballero.
The England goalkeeper said his career had reached a turning point. “It was a sign. Torino’s offer came in the right moment, with the right manner. I am very excited to compare myself in an important and beautiful league such as Serie A,” Hart told the club’s website (www.torinofc.it).
Hart, who was also linked with a move to Sunderland, will become the first English goalkeeper to play in Serie A since the league began in 1929. He has won two league titles with City since joining from lower-division side Shrewsbury Town in 2006.
Torino thrashed Bologna 5-1 on Sunday in their latest league game and are seventh in the standings on three points, having conceded four goals in their two matches. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/31/hart-joins-torino-season-long-loan/ | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/b2ac11f9961a21ac7af0b04018188c227c1925b1e1b6d83545bdb6f46a9f7788.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T20:49:13 | null | 2016-08-29T22:29:26 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Fagreement-close-school-literacy-programme-dispute%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/opin-schools.jpg | en | null | Agreement close in school literacy programme dispute | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | THREATENED strike action by secondary school teachers appears to have been averted after Education Minister Costas Kadis compromised on his earlier decision to overhaul a programme for high-school pupils lagging behind in basic literacy skills.
Although initially the bone of contention for the secondary school teachers had been the very few new jobs opened by the government this year – 23 out of a total of 200 new teaching posts – their discontent was promptly addressed by the cabinet, which opened more posts in secondary education.
But the decision to consign the ‘literacy’ programme, a booster-course for high-school pupils arriving from primary school with literacy deficiencies, to the afternoon hours, which teachers claim would render it all but scrapped, became the teachers’ next casus belli.
After a meeting between secondary teachers’ union OELMEK and Kadis on Monday afternoon, however, unrest in schools appeared to have been averted, just days before schools open for the new year.
Union boss Demetris Taliadoros outlined to state broadcaster CyBC a compromise proposal by Kadis that called for two hours of the literacy programme per week to remain in the morning periods.
“We’ll take it to the [union’s] board of directors on Wednesday,” he said, careful to avoid the combative stance and inflammatory language from earlier this month.
Meanwhile, in a statement, the education ministry announced that Kadis is in the process of holding a barrage of meetings and contacts, as part of preparations for the new school year.
“Mr Kadis has met with the principals of all secondary schools, to whom he analysed the basic pillars of education policy for the upcoming year,” the statement said.
“Last week, the minister met secondary-school inspectors with the same agenda, and he plans to do the same with their primary education counterparts.”
Additionally, it was announced, on Monday Kadis chaired a briefing attended by all ministry directorates and departments involved with the goal of a smooth start to the new school year.
“With regard to technical infrastructure issues, the minister was briefed on Monday by the education ministry’s technical services, and was informed of the progress of works done in schools at a cost of €62 million,” the statement said.
“In the coming days, the minister will visit schools undergoing such improvements in all cities.”
On the issue of the timely dispatch of books and materials to schools, the minister “had the opportunity to attend a meeting in the education ministry’s warehouse last Saturday and was briefed by officials”.
“Thus far, 90 per cent of books have been sent to all school units, and the rest is expected to be in place by the start of lessons,” the statement added. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/agreement-close-school-literacy-programme-dispute/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/9777e3acdfb6b111050a0101e9a242befc04e06a38bcce4f5d96b12c9896f02d.json |
[] | 2016-08-27T10:48:19 | null | 2016-08-27T11:57:40 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F27%2Fpolice-officer-injured-car-chase%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/more-police5.jpg | en | null | Police officer injured in car chase | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | A female police office was slightly injured after falling to the ground when she was hit by a car she and a fellow officer had been pursuing in Larnaca early on Saturday morning.
The incident happened at around 3.10am when the two officers, on patrol in their vehicle, spotted a car running a red light on Panagoulis and Spyros Kyprianou Avenues junction.
The car, driven by a young man with another as a passenger, entered Spyros Kyprianou Avenue and headed towards the town’s port.
The officers followed the men, using their vehicle’s lights and siren to get them to stop.
Instead, the youths accelerated and tried to get away before being forced to stop after the car entered a dead end road.
The officer stopped behind the car, at which point the driver reversed abruptly and hit the police vehicle.
The female officer got out of the police car and moved towards the driver of the car while her colleague went for the passenger.
At that point however, the driver accelerated in a further bid to escape, dragging the officer and throwing her on the ground.
She was taken to hospital where she was treated for abrasions to the right side of her face and a broken tooth.
The driver of the car was expected to report to Larnaca police later on Saturday. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/27/police-officer-injured-car-chase/ | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/ed3f648b910640d8f77452158f04f9631055600da97840ef7917a99f645b0665.json |
[] | 2016-08-30T10:49:22 | null | 2016-08-30T12:22:52 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F30%2Fmigrant-arrivals-greek-islands-jump-highest-weeks%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/migrants-2.jpg | en | null | Migrant arrivals to Greek islands jump to highest in weeks | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | More than 460 migrants and refugees arrived on Greek islands from Turkey on Tuesday, the highest in several weeks, despite a European Union deal with Ankara agreed in March to close off that route.
Greek authorities recorded 462 new arrivals between Monday and Tuesday morning, up from 129 the previous day. Most entered through the Aegean islands of Lesbos and Kos.
The numbers are small compared to those trying to reach Italy from Africa — some 6,500 migrants were saved off the Libyan coast on Monday, the Italian coast guard said — and far fewer than the thousands a day arriving in Greece last summer.
But they indicate a steady inflow of people, five months after the deal was agreed. Under the accord, those who cross to Greece without documents from March 20 will be sent back to Turkey unless they apply for asylum and their claim is accepted.
So far under the deal, just 482 people have been deported to Turkey but none had applied for asylum, Greece says. No rejected asylum seekers have been sent back.
That has pushed the number of migrants and refugees currently on Greece’s islands to 12,120 from 5,538 in March. Most are Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis, and they live in overcrowded camps.
According to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, 100 people arrived on Greek islands from Turkey a day in August, up from 60 in July. It said 2,307 people arrived through Aug 23, compared to 1,920 for the entire month of July. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/30/migrant-arrivals-greek-islands-jump-highest-weeks/ | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/4380992823341a0c9be94eeac290650c8e8b66863fd219b2579b7bc93635b518.json |
[] | 2016-08-30T16:49:26 | null | 2016-08-30T18:24:26 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F30%2Fpuppies-abandoned-buffer-zone%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/puppies.jpg | en | null | Puppies abandoned in the buffer zone | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The Animal Party alleged on Tuesday that UNFICYP soldiers were seen abandoning a box with six puppies in the buffer zone near Ayios Dhometios in Nicosia and that they had been spotted by Greek Cypriot national guardsman at an observation post in the area.
According to the party, a UN vehicle was seen to stop, unload the crate and drive off.
It said it had reported the matter to the Cyprus defence ministry and veterinary services as it was a health hazard since no one knew where the animals had originated.
Volunteers have undertaken to look after the puppies for the moment, the party said.
The UN could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/30/puppies-abandoned-buffer-zone/ | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/3e6675b080c937e596f709383ca657bc7b53579743bf26ca4dcae430bbe2db49.json |
[] | 2016-08-31T06:49:30 | null | 2016-08-31T08:12:25 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F31%2Fmurray-flourishes-new-conditions-u-s-open-day-2-results%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/murray-2.jpg | en | null | Murray flourishes in new conditions at U.S. Open (Day 2 results) | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | By Simon Cambers
Second seed Andy Murray has always said he would quite like an indoor grand slam event and at the U.S. Open it seems he has found the next best thing.
The Scot cruised into the second round at Flushing Meadows with a 6-3 6-2 6-2 win over the Czech Lukas Rosol in the night session on Tuesday.
The new roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium was open but because of its size, Wimbledon and Olympic champion Murray said it made conditions almost identical to an indoor tournament.
“It’s quite different playing out there now,” Murray told reporters. “There’s literally no wind at all. It almost has the feel of playing indoors, it’s perfect conditions.”
The roof, combined with the cooler evening air, made conditions easier to control the ball as well as ramping up the decibel levels for the traditionally noisy New York crowd.
“It’s a lot louder than most places we play and it’s a slightly different sound out there,” the 2012 U.S. Open champion added.
“There’s always been noise but I think the roof has changed it a little bit.
“You get used to it as the match goes on but it would be quite a significant difference if you play on the outdoor courts.”
Murray will play Marcel Granollers of Spain in the second round.
Results from the U.S. Open Men’s Singles Round 1 matches on Tuesday
2-Andy Murray (Britain) beat Lukas Rosol (Czech Republic) 6-3 6-2 6-2
Viktor Troicki (Serbia) beat Radu Albot (Moldova) 5-7 3-6 6-4 6-4 7-6(5)
16-Feliciano Lopez (Spain) beat Borna Coric (Croatia) 3-4 (Coric retired)
Joao Sousa (Portugal) beat Victor Estrella (Dominican Republic) 6-0 6-1 6-1
Jared Donaldson (U.S.) beat 12-David Goffin (Belgium) 4-6 7-5 6-4 6-0
Alessandro Giannessi (Italy) beat Denis Kudla (U.S.) 0-6 6-4 6-1 1-6 6-0
Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) beat Christian Harrison (U.S.) 6-0 6-2 6-1
Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) beat 29-Sam Querrey (U.S.) 7-6(4) 6-7(0) 6-3 6-3
3-Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) beat Fernando Verdasco (Spain) 7-6(4) 6-4 6-4
Nicolas Mahut (France) beat 25-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) 6-3 7-5 1-0 (Kohlschreiber retired)
11-David Ferrer (Spain) beat Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukraine) 6-5 (Dolgopolov retired)
27-Alexander Zverev (Germany) beat Daniel Brands (Germany) 3-6 6-1 6-4 7-6(4)
Daniel Evans (Britain) beat Rajeev Ram (U.S.) 6-2 4-6 7-5 6-1
Karen Khachanov (Russia) beat Thomas Fabbiano (Italy) 6-3 6-3 4-6 6-3
22-Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) beat Inigo Cervantes (Spain) 6-2 6-4 7-6(7)
6-Kei Nishikori (Japan) beat Benjamin Becker (Germany) 6-1 6-1 3-6 6-3
Pablo Carreno (Spain) beat Ilya Ivashka (Belarus) 6-0 7-5 6-2
Jeremy Chardy (France) beat Michael Mmoh (U.S.) 6-4 6-4 6-1
Illya Marchenko (Ukraine) beat Ivan Dodig (Croatia) 6-3 6-4 6-7(4) 7-5
Ricardas Berankis (Lithuania) beat Malek Jaziri (Tunisia) 3-6 7-6(3) 6-4 6-2
19-Steve Johnson (U.S.) beat Evgeny Donskoy (Russia) 4-6 1-6 7-6(2) 6-3 6-3
8-Dominic Thiem (Austria) beat John Millman (Australia) 6-3 2-6 5-7 6-4 6-3
Marcel Granollers (Spain) beat Juan Monaco (Argentina) 7-6(5) 7-6(2) 6-4
14-Nick Kyrgios (Australia) beat Aljaz Bedene (Britain) 6-4 6-4 6-4
30-Gilles Simon (France) beat Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) 6-3 6-1 6-4
Paolo Lorenzi (Italy) beat Carlos Berlocq (Argentina) 6-4 6-2 6-1
21-Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) beat Lu Yen-Hsun (Taiwan) 4-6 7-6(4) 6-7(4) 7-6(5) 7-5
Fabio Fognini (Italy) beat Teymuraz Gabashvili (Russia) 6-7(9) 3-6 7-6(5) 7-5 6-4
Donald Young (U.S.) beat Jan-Lennard Struff (Germany) 6-3 7-5 4-6 7-5
Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) beat Diego Schwartzman (Argentina) 6-4 6-4 7-6(3)
Damir Dzumhur (Bosnia and Herzegovina) beat 17-Bernard Tomic (Australia) 6-4 6-3 4-6 7-6(0)
Horacio Zeballos (Argentina) beat Florian Mayer (Germany) 6-3 6-4 7-6(7) | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/31/murray-flourishes-new-conditions-u-s-open-day-2-results/ | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/3ca34fb5c0303c76b671f9c2d6580b34aed51d69a140fd4d0f921f891f9b63f1.json |
[] | 2016-08-26T13:03:45 | null | 2016-08-26T13:16:44 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F26%2Faek-stranded-czech-republic-fixture-postponed%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/AEK-web-2.jpg | en | null | AEK stranded in Czech Republic, fixture postponed | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The weekend fixture between AEK and Ethnikos has been postponed, the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) said on Friday.
The decision was taken after a technical problem grounded the airplane that was going to fly AEK back from Prague, where they were beaten 3-0 by Slovan Liberec in the second leg of their Europa League playoff tie on Thursday night.
The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation reported that AEK were expected back on the island on Friday night.
The Larnaca team was scheduled to play Ethnikos on Sunday.
A new date will be set later, the CFA said.
Cyprus football championship fixtures:
Saturday:
Doxa v AEL 6pm
Anagennisi Derynia v Omonia 7pm
Apollon v Aris 7pm
Anorthosis v Nea Salamina 8pm
Sunday:
Karmiotissa Polemidion v AEZ Zakakiou 6pm
APOEL V Ermis 8pm | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/26/aek-stranded-czech-republic-fixture-postponed/ | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/3fe0d81d32d6494af195a3e6e0214b7668d0076b81380b0296f542f57f5766f7.json |
[] | 2016-08-30T08:49:20 | null | 2016-08-30T10:15:19 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F30%2Forphandies-grilled-mps%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/orph.jpg | en | null | Orphandies being grilled by MPs | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Former Central Bank Governor Athanasios Orphanides was appearing before the House Ethics Committee on Tuesday to be grilled by MPs about issues related to the tanking of the economy.
According to CNA, a multitude of questions have been submitted by deputies related to the analytical framework for the functioning of the financial system institutions.
The Chairman of the committee Zachariah Zachariou said that the meeting would end at midday but would continue next Tuesday, if necessary all day.
At the current session are Auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides and the Commissioner of Internal Audit Anna Zavou-Christoforou.
More later | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/30/orphandies-grilled-mps/ | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/3c033b6373a871ba87e7d04671b639b13cbd70dac1610d814bc7c20c2b345e6a.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T12:48:59 | null | 2016-08-29T15:20:17 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Fgreek-economy-grows-second-quarter-strong-rebound-elusive%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/greece2.jpg | en | null | Greek economy grows in second quarter but strong rebound elusive | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Greece’s economy grew modestly in the second quarter but weak demand and scant investment mean a strong rebound after years of recession remains elusive a year after the country nearly crashed out of the euro.
Data released on Monday showed the €176bn economy expanded by 0.2 per cent in April to June, slightly less than a previous estimate of 0.3 per cent due to weaker consumer spending and net exports. It was the first quarter-on-quarter expansion since late 2015 and followed a 0.2 per cent contraction in Q1.
Facing a second bailout review entailing an unpopular loosening of labour laws in the autumn, Athens is keen to show a fatigued electorate that painful taxation and pension cuts that came with last year’s €86bn bailout deal will bear fruit and lead to economic recovery.
But kickstarting growth to bring down an unemployment rate of nearly 24 per cent, the highest in the eurozone, is a challenge as a fiscal straight jacket to attain budget surpluses of 3.5 per cent of economic output weighs on economic activity.
Jaded by years of austerity, Greeks were unimpressed by Monday’s figures.
“The GDP turnaround in the second quarter doesn’t mean a thing for us in retail trade, there is no liquidity in the market,” said Antonis Papadakis, 60, a clothing wholesaler who has seen his sales fall 70 per cent during the debt crisis years.
The data showed Greece’s economy shrank 0.9 per cent on an annual basis in the second quarter, more than a flash estimate of -0.7 per cent, with economists expecting a mild recession for the year as a whole.
“We had a downward revision but it is encouraging that GDP recorded positive growth on a quarterly basis,” said Eurobank economist Platon Monokroussos.
“Overall, a milder than initially expected contraction in the first half points to a full year GDP decline of close to 0.5 per cent or slightly better.”
The European Commission and Greece’s central bank project a 0.3 per cent economic contraction this year while the OECD sees a milder 0.2 per cent decline. Rating agencies Moody’s and S&P are more pessimistic, expecting the economy to shrink 0.7 per cent and 1.0 per cent respectively.
The EU sees the economy rebounding by 2.7 per cent in 2017.
Looking at the components of gross domestic product, the year-on-year decline in economic output was due to a further weakening of private consumption and a slightly negative contribution from net exports.
Consumption declined 0.2 per cent in the second quarter from Q1 and by 1.9 per cent year-on-year. Imports fell 0.4 per cent and exports decreased by 1.0 per cent, while gross capital formation increased 1.0 per cent from the previous quarter.
“Despite the revision, the figures are in line with expectations for a recovery in the second half of the year, unless there is a further slump in private consumption,” said National Bank economist Nikos Magginas.
For others, the small pickup in growth may be too little, too late. “What rebound? I’m ready to kill myself,” said Tassos Sidiropoulos, a street vendor selling dry nuts in central Athens. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/greek-economy-grows-second-quarter-strong-rebound-elusive/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/c1fa99a19944cf42c27d7c7b280cb5eb44cab67bd07bbaaee7f9204273db8318.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T14:49:09 | null | 2016-08-29T17:27:35 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Fanastasiades-no-statements-september-14%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/talks2.jpg | en | null | Anastasiades: no statements until September 14 | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | All eyes on the Cyprus negotiations are now focused on September 14 when the leaders complete a series of meetings which aim to bridge gaps on certain chapters and for the first time discuss previously ‘taboo’ issues such as guarantees.
Between now and then, no statements will come out of the ongoing talks but Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci is preparing intensively for major developments in New York towards the end of September, including the hope of a five-party conference with the guarantor powers.
President Nicos Anastasiades and Akinci met for around four hours on Monday, sticking to their word that no statement would be made.
Another five meetings are scheduled until September 14. The leaders are set to meet again on Wednesday August 31, Friday September 2, Tuesday September 6, Thursday September 8 and Wednesday September 14.
“We have agreed that no statements will be made during these important meetings,” Anastasiades said after Monday’s meeting, adding that an announcement would be issued on September 14.
He asked the media to respect the decision. He said the intention was not to impose a black out but rather to facilitate the work “during these important meetings and render them more effective”.
Akinci on Sunday met with his negotiating team and worked out a timetable, the target of which is to achieve as many convergences as possible.
In statements published on Sunday, the Turkish Cypriot leader made it clear that the ultimate objective in New York is to have a five-party meeting with guarantor powers Greece, Turkey and Britain after first meeting jointly with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The Greek Cypriot side has said that no joint meeting with Ban could take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly sessions as Anastasiades would be in New York as a head of state and not the Greek Cypriot leader but has not ruled out a meeting following that.
Akinci said it made sense to have the five-party conference in New York as the guarantor powers would be there.
“I hope the Greek Cypriot side is ready for this because I believe that from now on such an opportunity will not be easy to come by,” he said, adding that he expected to see “logic and realism” prevail during the coming process. “The Greek Cypriot side must approach the issues weighing what is possible and what is not possible,” he said.
Akinci said it was possible for the two sides to create a reasonable framework “especially if the Greek Cypriot side does not commit the mistake of asking for the impossible”. The target now was a joint statement on September 14 that would allow for developments in New York.
The Greek Cypriot side does not want any guarantor powers, least of all Turkey, involved post-settlement but the Turkish Cypriots say there cannot be a solution without some sort of Turkish presence. “If you want a solution, you cannot say you will never discuss this,” Akinci said.
“Our people feel the need for safeguards. We see this and our people reflect this. The importance of Turkey for the Turkish Cypriots is very clear. This should be understood by all sides. We will go nowhere if the Greek Cypriot side sees the issue of guarantees only from its own point of view.”
Touching on the Cyprus Republic’s hydrocarbons explorations, which Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot side opposes, Akinci said an “energy dynamics” had been created in the region and that after the resumption of ties between Turkey and Israel, Greek Cypriots could find themselves left out of that equation.
The coming three or four months were crucial, Akinci said. He said if 2016 closed without a deal, come 2017, there would be more potential risks to reaching a settlement such as the looming presidential elections in 2018, which he fears would distract and influence Anastasiades. “Certainly there is no one hundred per cent guarantee of that. But we see very clearly that there is this possibility,” he said.
Akinci also said that if the current effort fails or goes to separate referendums and still fails, it would not be the end of the world. “We will certainly continue our own way. This is not the desire or wish but if it happens we cannot do anything else,” he said.
“At the moment we walk the path of the solution. This process is the last effort of our generation and quite possibly could be the last effort for a federal solution, for a federal Cyprus “. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/anastasiades-no-statements-september-14/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/7f5f17583f141fa598cba83993610e548ce89241904e2aac16837119fd358fc3.json |
[] | 2016-08-30T08:49:22 | null | 2016-08-30T10:41:09 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F30%2Fwoman-indecently-assaulted-paphos-road%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/CNA_F0ffc21fbe63b44a2b205fed291873a92.jpg | en | null | Woman indecently assaulted on a Paphos road | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | A 23-year-old woman in Paphos complained to police that she was indecently assaulted by a man as she was walking along a road on Monday night.
According to police, the British Cypriot woman, a resident of the town, said she was walking along Dikomo road around 8.15pm when a young man approached her, grabbed her violently and tried to kiss her.
When she began to scream for help and push him away he fled.
The woman was treated at Paphos hospital for scratches on her shoulder and chest.
Police are trying to identify the perpetrator. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/30/woman-indecently-assaulted-paphos-road/ | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/7cc9a0de4d27bbd597d99e1598614b9aaab1cdac9b47bcd81e06348dbc910a12.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T02:48:47 | null | 2016-08-28T05:01:06 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F28%2Fart-comic-book-writing%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/feature-annette-main-pic-Illustration-from-Last-Moments-by-Stella-Violari-and-Chris-Demetriou.jpg | en | null | The art of comic book writing | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | By Annette Chrysostomou
Imagination is the main ingredient of being a great writer of comic books, and an experience in writing stories also helps.
This is the informed view of Max Sheridan, director of Write CY, a creative space in Old Nicosia dedicated to creative writing and community storytelling.
A current project of Write CY is the comic book project, which has brought local writers and artists together with a unique goal: to work together to produce five original comic books in time for the Cyprus Comic Con 2016 which takes place next weekend in Nicosia. The project – a first on the island – was the brainchild of comic book writers Antonis Bargilly and Max Sheridan, and came out of their eight-week comic book scriptwriting course at Write CY, a community creative writing space in Old Nicosia.
“There were five or six people in the course,” Sheridan said, “and not all of them had experience in telling stories. Except one they were all amateurs. Nevertheless, they did an amazing job considering that comic writing requires a very demanding and intense technique.”
Once they had the scripts, the next step for Bargilly and Sheridan was to find five local artists to bring them to life with their artwork. The open call for collaboration surpassed all expectations and a choice had to be made who of the artists were going to participate.
“Antonis looked at their work and we had a meeting with the writers and together they decided which of the artists matched each person. Soon we found one for each writer and they started to create the books together,” Sheridan explained.
They didn’t quite meet the deadline as only three of the five books will be ready for the Comic Con 2016. The other two will be launched in November. The subjects of the 12-page books vary widely, ranging from vampires to zombies. One is about a punk rocker in an abusive relationship, and another – written by an academic – about an academic going through a crisis. While one is in Greek the rest are in English, as three of the writers are English native speakers.
Though this time around all participants worked for free, the next time the organisers are planning to apply for some funding from the government, to at least be able to give a nominal payment to the participants.
For there to be a next time, they will of course offer another scriptwriting course, and the next one starts in January 2017.
Aspiring comic book writers can try it out at Comic Con on September 3 and 4 when Sheridan and Bargilly will be organising the 48-Hour Comic Book. The two-day event will give aspiring comic book writers and artists the opportunity to learn the basics of comic book scriptwriting and illustrating from professionals and to produce an original 12-page comic book in just two days. The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited.
“We have two booths and a room where people can have the five-hour scriptwriting sessions guided by scriptwriters and artists. At one of the booths we will also work in front of the public,” Max Sheridan said. At the booths, Write CY’s completed comic books will also be on sale.
Around 8,000 people are expected to be at the event and Max and his team hope that many of them will discover the challenging, funny world of writing comics.
You would then be able to write about subjects in a very different way, perhaps along the lines of Sheridan’s description of his friend Antonis Bargilly on the Write CY website.
“It was in December 2015 that we first heard rumour of Antonis Bargilly. Some said he was a failed voodooist, others an Italian banker with broken Swiss connections. Still others warned us that Bargilly, who never appeared before 11 in the morning and only in a damp velveteen cape, had been so influenced by vampire comics that his blood had gone cold and he no longer had a reflection.
“But we’d been looking for a comic book writer to teach our first comic book writing course at Write CY and Bargilly seemed to fit the bill. He was organised and punctual and had rare reserves of energy and talent. Enough at least to hide his darker side from us for months.”
For more information about the Comic Book Project and to apply for the 48-Hour Comic Book, visit: www.writecy.com/comic-book-project or check Facebook: www.facebook.com/thecomicbookproject.
Max Sheridan: Max grew up reading comic books and watching a lot of horror movies but ended up becoming a short story writer. His short fiction has appeared in a number of publications in the US, UK and elsewhere. He’s the director of Write CY and co-director of Storyline Creatives, where he helps other people tell their stories. Find him at maxsheridanlit.com. If you have a creative project you’d like to discuss, drop him a line at info@writecy.com.
Antonis Bargilly: Antonis has been storytelling since childhood. Even as he became a professional musician and composer, he continued to tell stories and use different means to craft them. Along with his friend, Antonis Aristodemou, he opened Ant Comics, the first comics shop in Cyprus, almost a decade ago. It was during this period that he founded the Cyprus Comic Society, a two-year project that brought local writers and comics artists together. At Write CY, he is bringing everything together – comics, teaching and storytelling – in his unique comics writing class. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/28/art-comic-book-writing/ | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/e56c433f55cbfaf7b614090cfccc5751c61081bb60f104ecec9f2b52e1110c12.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T14:49:07 | null | 2016-08-29T16:59:31 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Femotional-bond-criteria-leaders-discussions-property%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/fam-CNA.jpg | en | null | ‘Emotional bond’ criteria in leaders’ discussions on property | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | By Jean Christou
Turkish daily Milliyet on Monday said it had accessed the content of some of the discussions between President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, much of it focusing on property.
The article refers to how some of the issues surrounding property would be solved with an ‘emotional bond formula’, according to Milliyet’s Sefa Karahasan.
Karahasan wrote that the age of a Greek Cypriot in 1974 would be taken into consideration when determining their return to family property.
“The ‘emotional bond’ age of 10 is being discussed at the table. The religious areas, the properties to be used for security purposes after the solution, the properties which will be vacant after the solution and the unappropriated and unused properties will not be included in the scope of emotional bond,” the article said.
It will be implemented for all other properties, initially for land with buildings or homes and later for empty plots.
The paper estimates that between 162,000-180,000 Greek Cypriots fled south in 1974 and had left behind 1.35 million donums of land or 1,350 square kilometres.
Between 43,000 and 65,000 Turkish Cypriots went north leaving behind 400,000 donums, or 400 square kilometres of land.
The leaders already have a common understanding that individual property rights have been accepted, those who lost and those now using those properties will have different choices based on various criteria including compensation, exchange and return of property that will be overseen by a property commission on which there will be an equal number of Greek and Turkish Cypriots.
Diplomatic sources told Milliyet that Anastasiades asked Akinci for the return of the fenced off city of Varosha and the beginning of the withdrawal of troops from the very first day of a solution so that Greek Cypriots will see immediate benefits
“With the solution Tymbou [Ercan] airport will open for international flights and your integration with the international community will start,” he reportedly told Akinci.
Akinci, the paper said, argued that the implementation of the solution should be “spread over a reasonable period of time”.
He also proposed the leaders be closed in a room somewhere outside Cyprus to discuss the “critical chapters” like territory. Milliyet said Anastasiades has not closed the door to this suggestion, but wants to do as much as possible on the ground in Cyprus first.
Referring to the rotating presidency, Milliyet said the issue “has been turned into a mystery” but that an agreement in principle had been reached. However, Anastasiades had asked for a re-evaluation, it said.
On population, the newspaper said the leaders agreed on the number of the citizens before the referendum and that the Greek Cypriot population would be 802,000 and the Turkish Cypriot population 220,000. The Greek Cypriots reportedly said that no more than the latter number for Turkish Cypriots could vote in a referendum and opposed any right to vote by the Turkish Cypriots living abroad. Akinci reportedly responded by saying the number of the Turkish Cypriots would not increase beyond this number.
Milliyet said other issues on which agreement had been reached included the proportion in the federal government and the public sector being set at 67 per cent Greek Cypriot and 33 per cent Turkish Cypriot.
The federal state would have no army, only a coastguard, and that all citizens of the united federal Cyprus would be ‘internal citizens’ of both the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot founding states.
Those to be elected president and vice president would be able to equally share a term of five years i.e. a person could become president for 2.5 years and vice president for another 2.5 years.
The term of duty in the Senate and the House of Representatives would also be five years. During the first two years, and five months after a solution, the presidents of both would come from the Greek Cypriot founding state and their vice presidents from the Turkish Cypriot founding state.
The number of the judges in the Federal Supreme Court would be eight and if a deadlock was reached in the decision process, the solution would be to draw lots. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/emotional-bond-criteria-leaders-discussions-property/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/b269020c8c8dcfc5f24152e86c6c5a083891a4a2b04deaf2bd5385cc656fa955.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T12:48:48 | null | 2016-08-28T14:42:55 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F28%2Fvolunteers-clean-lara-beach-help-protect-turtles%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/DSC_6498-1.jpg | en | null | Volunteers clean up Lara beach to help protect turtles | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Scores of volunteers aged between five and 60, joined forces on Saturday to clean Lara beach in Akamas, where Loggerhead turtles (Caretta – Caretta) lay their eggs each year.
The majority of the garbage found in Lara beach consisted of food containers, aluminum foil, juice boxes and soft drink cans.
They also collected fishing equipment that was washed up in the beach, and petrol containers dropped off by sea vessels.
The event in Lara, which was the fourth stop this year, was organised by the youth of the Green Party as part of the ‘Clean-Up the Med’ campaign launched by the Italian organisation Legambiente.
Legambiente has been coordinating organisations, schools, tourist hotels, locals and institutions in countries of the Mediterranean basin in cleaning up beaches and natural sites. Each year, around 1,500 locations in 21 Mediterranean countries are been cleaned by local groups.
The priorities of the volunteers include the conservation of natural environment of the Akamas peninsula.
According to volunteer and member of the Green Party’s youth branch Maria Kola, the clean up prevents turtles from being entangled in fishing nets or other materials washed up on the beach or left behind by beachgoers. A clean beach also helps baby turtles etter orientate themselves when they emerge from the nest and need to head to the sea..
The hatching of turtle eggs starts mid-August, but there have been cases, they said, where turtles lost their orientation. The beach also hosts a center where guests can get more information about turtles. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/28/volunteers-clean-lara-beach-help-protect-turtles/ | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/5fe854844377ed2beabb76b3ff354f5e64c4ba0129fa4da83f14b3a566a63a10.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T02:48:37 | null | 2016-08-28T05:08:05 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F28%2Fview-petty-thinking-jeopardising-fruitful-energy-cooperation%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/comment-gas-The-ENI-Kogas-consortium-has-poured-more-than-half-a-billion-dollars-into-the-Cypriot-EEZ-so-far.jpg | en | null | Our View: Petty thinking is jeopardising fruitful energy cooperation | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | IF THERE is one quality the politicians on both sides of the dividing line share it is a general inability to see the big picture. Perhaps this has something to do with living on a small island, for decades cut off from the rest of the world, and being forced to be insular and narrow-minded. Politicians are capable of bickering about the most inconsequential matters for years, stubbornly sticking to their respective positions, even after it has become obvious that they have nothing to gain from it.
Win-win situations are unheard of here as every dispute is reduced to a zero-sum game. It is one of the main reasons so many attempts to solve the Cyprus problem have failed. And this pettiness is threatening to derail the current efforts, despite the best efforts of outsiders to show us the bigger picture from which everyone in Cyprus stands to gain. That there is a peace effort actively supported by the US and the EU is because a Cyprus settlement is considered key to the West’s broader plans for the eastern Mediterranean region which would be centred on energy co-operation.
American policy-makers concluded that the region’s hydrocarbons provided an excellent opportunity for its two main allies in the region – Israel and Turkey – to mend their relations and resume the close co-operation that had been destroyed by Israel’s attack on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in 2010. Relations based on mutual benefit – the sale of Israeli natural gas to Turkey – would secure peace and stability in the region. Cyprus, which had found its own gas reserves, could also be included in these plans for both practical and strategic reasons. The pipeline from Israel’s gas-fields would have to pass through Cyprus’ EEZ to reach Turkey, and a settlement would allow Cyprus to become part of this energy co-operation.
A Cyprus settlement, however, is vital for the plan to come to fruition. This is why the US has been taking such a keen interest in the peace efforts, having completely ignored the Cyprus problem for the 10 years following the 2004 referendum. Now that Israel and Turkey have fully restored relations and are discussing the sale of gas, the settlement has become even more pressing. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has made no secret of his interest in a settlement in his meetings with President Nicos Anastasiades, while 10 days ago, after his meeting with Mustafa Akinci, President Tayyip Erdogan also spoke about the benefits of gas co-operation. He said: “After a possible settlement the real dynamic of Cyprus would emerge and the programme of works of regional dimensions, which has not been evaluated, would be put into practice.”
Last Sunday, speaking to Bloomberg, the State Department’s special envoy for international energy affairs, Amos Hochstein said that countries in the eastern Mediterranean needed to work together if they hoped to unlock multi-billion dollar gas discoveries. “If we can reach an agreement on the future status of the island, we unlock not only Israel-Turkey, we unlock Cyprus’ future production and destinations,” he said bluntly.
Petty-minded Greek Cypriot politicians went immediately on the offensive, complaining that linking a settlement to the exploitation of Cyprus’ hydrocarbons was unacceptable and that our sovereign right to exploit our gas as we decided should be safeguarded. Others said that Anastasiades was again showing an inclination to make concessions. The Turkish Cypriots meanwhile, had taken great exception to the news of the visit of Egypt’s petroleum minister to Cyprus to sign an energy co-operation agreement on Friday, with Akinci’s spokesman complaining that Greek Cypriots ignored that hydrocarbons belonged to both communities.
When the bigger picture is staring them in the face, our politicians refuse to look at it, preferring to stay in their small and familiar world of negation, dressed up as high principle. Big opportunities and challenges frighten them. Rather than seize the opportunity of Cyprus becoming a player, albeit a small one, in regional energy plans, they would rather moan that Turkey was violating our sovereign rights. They refuse to see that a settlement, apart from re-uniting the island, would allow us to exploit our hydrocarbon reserves in conditions of peace and stability. There is also a ready market for our natural gas in Turkey. Even the oil giants, who submitted expressions of interest in the third licensing round, are banking on a settlement.
The potential that would be unlocked for Cyprus through a settlement and regional energy co-operation would drastically change the country and provide countless opportunities for the future. But this requires our politicians leaving their comfort zone of petty-minded negativity and seeing the bigger picture with the countless possibilities it offers. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/28/view-petty-thinking-jeopardising-fruitful-energy-cooperation/ | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/62ed88caa5e9f029569dc315c588b5f9c79be8ea884fff13fd5bc1df2140f735.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T18:49:16 | null | 2016-08-29T19:54:15 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Ffiremen-discover-cannabis-plants-scene-fire%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Cannabis.jpg | en | null | Firemen discover cannabis plants at scene of fire | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Members of disaster-response unit EMAK, who rushed to an area in Maroni, Larnaca, to put out a fire, discovered 20 cannabis plants ranging from 90 centimetres to 1.90 metres, a police report said on Monday.
According to the report, on Sunday night EMAK was informed of a fire raging in a cane-field at the Limni area in Maroni.
Members of the unit rushed to the scene and put out the fire, but spotted the 20 plants nearby.
Drug-squad YKAN was immediately informed, and members placed the area under surveillance in hopes that the people who planted them would show up.
On Monday morning, YKAN gave up and removed the plants, some of which were destroyed in the fire.
YKAN members collected evidence from the scene, and continue to investigate. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/firemen-discover-cannabis-plants-scene-fire/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/313d8de84bbb14ea110aba2e316c381287c2c30a1a1b197366e35530f06431e5.json |
[] | 2016-08-27T10:48:17 | null | 2016-08-27T12:06:40 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F27%2Fitaly-quake-death-toll-hits-284-day-mass-funeral%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/A-woman-sits-next-to-a-coffin-to-pay-her-respects-as-she-attends-a-funeral-for-the-earthquake-victims-inside-a-gym-in-Ascoli-Piceno.jpg | en | null | Italy quake death toll hits 284 on day of mass funeral | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The number of people killed in an earthquake that has wrecked parts of central Italy rose to 284 on Saturday, as the country started a day of mourning and prepared for a mass funeral for some of the victims.
A further two bodies were found overnight in the worst-hit town, Amatrice, which was flattened by Wednesday’s powerful quake causing the deaths of at least 224 residents and tourists.
Although rescuers continued to scour the mounds of rubble — all that remains of most buildings — there was little hope of finding survivors.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella flew to Amatrice by helicopter on Saturday to see the damage first hand before travelling on later in the morning to the nearby city of Ascoli Piceno for the funeral of up to 40 of the victims.
Mourners gathered at a sports centre in the city, where 35 coffins were lined up by early Saturday.
“Even if I didn’t know them my heart broke for them. My thoughts are with them because there are people who have lost everything, homes, loved ones and the sacrifices made in life,” said local resident, Luciana Cavicchiuni.
“These things should not happen,” she said.
Aftershocks continued to rattle the area overnight, the strongest measuring 4.2. The Italian geological institute said some 1,332 aftershocks have hit Italy’s central mountains since Wednesday’s predawn 6.2 magnitude quake | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/27/italy-quake-death-toll-hits-284-day-mass-funeral/ | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/6a4559b779dea770eee09de1215043b36da8e43ac4f2f4e8c0a1f335f43d91d1.json |
[] | 2016-08-30T12:49:24 | null | 2016-08-30T14:15:27 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F30%2Fbritain-seeks-reaffirm-calais-migrant-deal-keep-thousands-france%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/calais.jpg | en | null | Britain seeks to reaffirm Calais migrant deal to keep thousands in France | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Britain’s new interior minister, Amber Rudd, will meet her French counterpart in Paris on Tuesday to reaffirm the deal which allows Britain to make border checks in Calais and keep thousands of migrants and asylum seekers in France.
The meeting comes days after French presidential contender Nicolas Sarkozy said Britain should deal on its own territory with migrants camped in the northern town, joining similar calls by Alain Juppe, also a conservative presidential candidate.
There are close to 7,000 migrants sprawled across the area known as the “Jungle” north of Calais, with the aim of many to reach Britain illegally through the Channel Tunnel. Non-governmental organisations put the number at over 9,000.
“We remain committed to working together to protect our shared border in Calais,” a spokesman for Rudd said, while adding that the meeting would focus on security.
“We firmly believe in the established principle … that those in need of protection should seek asylum in the first safe country they enter.”
Some French and British officials, including then prime minister David Cameron, had warned Britain that the Anglo-French Le Touquet agreement could be harmed if the country voted to leave the European Union at a referendum on June 23.
Sarkozy’s comments chimed with Xavier Bertrand, the region’s head, who said France should scrap the agreement unless British Prime Minister Theresa May agreed to renegotiate the system agreed under the accord which allows British officials to check passports in France.
Bertrand, who belongs to the same party as Sarkozy and Juppe, the conservative Les Republicains, has no power on migration issues, which was a hot-button issue in the Brexit vote in Britain and is now also in the campaign for next April’s presidential election in France.
France’s Socialist government, including Cazeneuve and President Francois Hollande, have said they will respect the Touquet agreement which, if dropped, could spur the flow of refugees fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa through France to Britain. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/30/britain-seeks-reaffirm-calais-migrant-deal-keep-thousands-france/ | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/523dec16e49d87bf7d371cbec2a6a660717417b774dd8bfd6f658020468a9f9b.json |
[] | 2016-08-26T16:47:54 | null | 2016-08-26T18:48:23 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F26%2Fi-mayor-vergas-rants-prison%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/opin-vergas2.jpg | en | null | ‘I am a mayor’ Vergas rants in prison | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | DISGRACED former Paphos mayor, Savvas Vergas faces disciplinary measures for misconduct at Nicosia central prions after reportedly bursting into a rant and threatening a warden on Friday.
Vergas’ request to leave the prison in order to visit his mother, who he claimed suffers from medical problems, was looked upon by various news reports as essentially asking for favourable treatment.
According to several news sources, Vergas’ mother is being treated for lumbago. Trouble erupted when he was informed this was not a serious medical problem, something he did not accept, allegedly throwing a fit and threatening the warden handling the incident.
At some point during their shouting match Vergas is quoted as screaming, “Do you know who you are talking to? I am a mayor; I am a mayor…”
Reports said Vergas exhibited inappropriate behaviour in threatening the warden and stressed that the relevant regulation provides for visits only in critical cases of serious illnesses.
The former mayor was taken to a cell after the incident and the prison management is reported to have said he will face disciplinary measures for the misconduct.
Vergas is serving a six-year jail sentence, having been convicted in February 2015. He was found guilty on charges of conspiracy to commit a felony, corruption and bribery, in connection to the Paphos Sewerage Board (SAPA) scandal.
Vergas was at one point placed in a witness protection programme after he decided to blow the whistle on those implicated – in addition to himself – in a scam where public funds had been used to pay kickbacks to municipal officials by contractors vying for a piece of the SAPA construction and operation action. Ex officio as Paphos mayor, Vergas had also chaired SAPA.
But not long after the lid was blown on the case, Vergas struck a deal with state prosecutors and exchanged his confession, as well as information on others implicated in the scam, with favourable detention terms, which he was granted in the form of being held outside the central prisons.
Vergas was moved to the central prisons in April. Reports at the time said Attorney-general Costas Clerides, having consulted the police, decided on the move.
Vergas had also expressed fears that his life was in danger. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/26/i-mayor-vergas-rants-prison/ | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/e49bbd09e0c988e704569f71b28fde161a3476a20999547a1569c1efc1566fe8.json |
[] | 2016-08-31T12:49:46 | null | 2016-08-31T14:43:38 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F31%2Fuzbek-leader-recovering-brain-haemorrhage-daughter-says%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/islam.jpg | en | null | Uzbek leader recovering from brain haemorrhage, daughter says | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Uzbek President Islam Karimov’s daughter said on Wednesday that her father, who has run the Central Asian state with authoritarian style for 27 years, was recovering from a brain haemorrhage, countering speculation that he had died.
In an Instagram message, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva – the leader’s younger daughter who gave details of her father’s illness earlier this week – thanked well-wishers for their support, saying this was helping her father’s recovery.
The Tashkent government has made no statement since saying on Sunday that the 78-year-old Karimov, who has no obvious successor, was in hospital.
His daughter, the younger of two, issued her message after reports in some media that he had died.
Karimov took over at the helm of the then ruling communist party in 1989 and hung on to power when Uzbekistan became independent of the Soviet Union in 1991.
He has ruled Uzbekistan, Central Asia’s most populous state with 32 million people, with an iron fist since, showing little tolerance of internal dissent.
He has presented himself as a bulwark of stability in a country situated on the northern borders of Afghanistan which controls vast reserves of gold, oil, gas and cotton and is criss-crossed by ethnic fault lines.
But his frequent warnings that he holds the line against a militant Islamist threat to the region have won quiet approval from Russia and the West, despite Western unease over his tight policies at home.
Though the government had no new statement on his condition on Wednesday, it cancelled an event which used to take place annually at which Karimov met the public to commemorate victims of Soviet-era repressions.
It also cancelled a concert for senior officials and diplomats which used to take place every year on the eve of Independence Day, which Uzbekistan marks on Thursday, Sep 1, a diplomatic source told Reuters.
Tashkent city authorities said they would press ahead with Thursday festivities for the wider public, although they were putting off evening fireworks because of a football game between Uzbekistan and Syria national teams.
It was unclear whether someone would deliver a commemorative speech later on Wednesday in Karimov’s place – the choice of speaker could identify a likely successor.
Karimov has no sons, who might have been regarded as heirs apparent in the patriarchal culture. His elder daughter, Gulnara, has not appeared in public since several media reported in 2014 that she had been placed under house arrest.
State television ran its regular entertainment programming including feature films and quiz shows and the streets of the capital on Wednesday were peaceful with no signs of increased security presence.
Ordinary Uzbeks mostly wished Karimov a speedy recovery when they spoke to the press.
“We are really worried since we had heard that our president has fallen ill. We wish him long life”, said Gulbadanbegim, a medical college graduate.
“We are celebrating the 25th anniversary of our independence to which his contribution was great. We wish him quick recovery and never to fall ill.”
But privately, some said people were gripped by fear and uncertainty.
“My wife says no one knows what is going on and people do not ask each other (about any news on Karimov),” said a Kazakh man whose Uzbek wife was with her family in Uzbekistan.
“She says she’s afraid to discuss this even with her mom.” | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/31/uzbek-leader-recovering-brain-haemorrhage-daughter-says/ | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/1a7cb77ff91426450880c92f09bb19d1dd200fa19acdd502f650751283ec458e.json |
[] | 2016-08-30T12:49:30 | null | 2016-08-30T14:08:48 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F30%2Fmusical-night-stars%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web2-5.jpg | en | null | A musical night under the stars | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The grandiose setting of the ancient Curium amphitheatre has been the site of many performances, and will next week host Maltese pop and rock band Red Electrick, soprano Aliki Chrysochou and maestro Steven Mercurio for a musical night under the stars.
The five-man band who won the Best Band and the Best Song categories at the 2014 Malta Music Awards will woo the concert goers with new songs from their latest album, Inside You, as well as performing famous covers in tribute to David Bowie, Prince and Michael Jackson.
They will be introduced by Maestro Yiannis Hadjiloizou who every year invites musicians from different parts of the world and musical backgrounds to share the stage with him. Hadjiloizou, President and Artistic Director of the Cyprus Academy of Music, has given hundreds of concerts as a pianist, conductor and composer worldwide, with his music performed by the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, awarded at Cannes, and even sound tracked in Hollywood.
World renowned soprano Aliki Chrysochou and Maestro Steven Mercurio will make a guest appearance at the event. The internationally acclaimed soprano quickly became famous after her success in the seventh season of Britain’s Got Talent when she not only captivated the four judges but the whole world with her performance.
Conductor and composer Maestro Mercurio has performed in many of the world’s best loved opera houses where he has conducted more than 45 operas in seven different languages. His many accomplishments include composing songs, chamber works and pieces for large operas as well as creating arrangements for a wide array of artists including Andrea Bocelli, Placido Domingo and Sting.
Maestro and Friends
Yiannis Hadjiloizou hosts Red Electrick, Aliki Chrysochou and Steven Mercurio. September 11. Curium Ancient Theatre, Episkopi. 8.30pm. €20. Tel: 77-777040 | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/30/musical-night-stars/ | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/234bfc3a27ac9a1f69c527ee2aa1973a6a03055165363f46754742f96f03f42e.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T10:48:53 | null | 2016-08-28T13:48:34 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F28%2Fbodies-located-beneath-rubble-italy-quake-zone%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/italy.jpg | en | null | More bodies located beneath rubble in Italy quake zone | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Rescuers believe they have located more bodies in the ruined town of Amatrice, five days after a devastating earthquake struck central Italy, killing at least 290 people.
Residents of the hill town said up to 10 people were still missing and emergency services said they might have located three corpses in Amatrice’s Hotel Roma, which, like much of the historic centre, was wrecked by Wednesday’s quake.
“I am certain there is one more person (in the hotel), because it is my uncle,” said Deputy Mayor Gianluca Carloni.
“It is absolutely vital to finish as soon as possible this initial (search) phase to make sure that there are no more bodies under the rubble,” he said.
The Civil Protection Department lowered the official death toll on Sunday to 290 from a previously given 291. A number of foreigners were among the dead, including 11 Romanians, the foreign ministry in Bucharest said.
Many Romanians work in Italy and Bucharest said 14 of its nationals were still unaccounted for.
Museums across Italy will donate proceeds from Sunday’s ticket sales to help the rebuilding effort and soccer teams will hold a minute’s silence before their weekend matches out of respect for the victims.
Pope Francis led prayers for the dead in his weekly address in Rome, saying he wanted to go to the earthquake zone to bring comfort to the survivors.
“Dear brothers and sisters, as soon as it is possible, I hope to come and visit you,” he said.
Italy has promised to rebuild the shattered communities and has said it will learn from the mistakes of the reconstruction following a similar earthquake in the nearby city of L’Aquila in 2009, where much of the centre is still out of bounds.
“The government isn’t going to tell you what should be done. You will decide what needs doing,” Prime Minister Matteo Renzi told relatives of the dead on Saturday at a state funeral for 35 of the victims. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/28/bodies-located-beneath-rubble-italy-quake-zone/ | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/a4f4272df9c9bb50a65c206c0c77157020e6b6506b3a3496430a581cbbc31717.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T12:48:44 | null | 2016-08-28T15:48:35 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F28%2Frussia-lifts-ban-charter-flights-turkey%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Russian-President-Putin-shakes-hands-with-Turkish-President-Erdogan-during-their-meeting-in-St.-Petersburg.jpg | en | null | Russia lifts ban on charter flights to Turkey | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Russia on Sunday lifted its ban on charter flights to Turkey, the government said on its website.
Russia banned charter flights to Turkey, which was a popular holiday destination for Russians, after the shooting down of a Russian air force jet by Turkey’s military last November. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/28/russia-lifts-ban-charter-flights-turkey/ | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/7faf35307a2d06ff05546f055262107ddf1a78ce49644da01e9179b7bee23d8c.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T18:49:12 | null | 2016-08-29T19:57:16 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Flefkara-jewellery-shop-burgled%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/burglary-.jpg | en | null | Lefkara jewellery shop burgled | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Jewellery worth €3,000 was stolen over the weekend from a shop in Kato Lefkara, Larnaca, a police report said.
According to the report, the shop’s owner, a Greek Cypriot woman, told police that her shop was burgled between Friday and Sunday morning, and the perpetrators removed silver or gold-plated items, including bracelets and necklaces.
The shop is not insured for theft, nor does it feature CCTV or an alarm system. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/lefkara-jewellery-shop-burgled/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/353ddf807719c48587e74dc30d7da86d00605431a6781317c8e20a44e3e0da86.json |
[] | 2016-08-26T12:58:08 | null | 2016-08-26T14:00:09 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F26%2Fmemorable-night-greek-music-greats%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web2-2.jpg | en | null | Memorable night of Greek music greats | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | This event is being hailed as the biggest musical events of the year, with live performances by Antonis Remos, Despina Vandi, Helena Paparizou and Melisses all in one night in Nicosia’s GSP stadium.
Antonis Remos has been a star ever since he released his first album in 1996, which became platinum in a few months, as did many more of his albums. He has performed sold-out concerts all over Europe over the years.
Like Remos, Despina Vandi was born in Germany and later moved to Greece. The two of them have something else in common. They were two of the four artists participating in the Greek version of the talent show The Voice called The voice of Greece from 2013 to 2015.
After moving to Athens in the early 90s Vandi released two albums. In 2000 her single Ipofero became the best-selling single of all time in Greece.
Among the numerous awards she has won is a world music award, the only time a Greek artist recording in Greece has ever won this award.
As well as the other two artists, Helena Paparizou was born in Northern Europe, in her case in Sweden where she also grew up. She quickly established herself as a teen idol, particularly among young girls. In 2010, Forbes listed Paparizou as the 21st most powerful and influential celebrity in Greece. She has more than 144 million views on YouTube – more than any other artist in the Greek music industry.
Together with the band Melisses, who came close to representing Greece in the 2010 Eurovision Song contest these, massively successful artists are sure to fill the GSP stadium and their audience can look forward to a memorable night.
Full Energy Live
Live performances by Antonis Remos, Despina Vandi, Helena Paparizou and Melisses. September 7. GSP Stadium, Nicosia. 9pm. €45/10. Tel: 22-874050 | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/26/memorable-night-greek-music-greats/ | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/641e77557a1661b6b0506537e0386bbbc304c3cf54ec40623ecdbc841f39afa8.json |
[] | 2016-08-27T12:48:21 | null | 2016-08-27T14:06:40 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F27%2Fvillage-festival-dedicated-baking%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web2-3.jpg | en | null | Village festival dedicated to baking | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The various festivals organised in the Troodos area are a great way to get to know Cyprus and the traditions of the island. Villages in the mountains celebrate all the usual religious festivals, but quite a few of the events are also devoted to local produce. In recent months, there has been a Cherry Festival in Tsakkistra, a Rose Festival in Agros, a Fig Festival in Pyrgos, a Lavender Festival in Platres and an Apple Festival in Amiandos and Kyperounda.
Now it is Galata’s turn. The Pastry and Baking Goods Festival takes place in Galata on September 4, and is dedicated to baking various pastries, of which the area has a long tradition.
The festival programme starts with a guided tour of the village at 11am. During the walk visitors have the chance to visit the village’s Byzantine church Panagia Podithou which has been included in the UNESCO 10 Byzantine churches of Cyprus that were deemed to be of particular importance and were included in the list of World cultural heritage. The tour continues to another Byzantine church, Ayios Sozomenos, dating from the early 16th century, and the local folk art museum.
At 3pm, the festival starts in earnest in the village square. It features a presentation of traditional baking goods with flour as a main ingredient and a demonstration of traditional Cypriot bread production using a wood oven. Traditional old professions revolving around baking are put on show as well as an exhibition of old photos.
Something new is also part of the programme: cosmetics based on flours will be launched at the venue.
There are other treats as well. Visitors can enjoy Cypriot folk dance and music and taste an abundance of traditional delicacies and Cypriot coffee.
Galata pastry and baking goods festival
September 4. Galata Square. 11am. Tel: 99 352547 | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/27/village-festival-dedicated-baking/ | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/e7b7f8f95a978c8519111508feec9a6d955d98fa328a9473243f29e105069f27.json |
[] | 2016-08-30T08:49:21 | null | 2016-08-30T11:30:54 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F30%2Flivestream-kim-dotcom-extradition-hearing-first-new-zealand%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/kimdotcom.jpg | en | null | Livestream of Kim Dotcom extradition hearing a first for New Zealand | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | A New Zealand judge gave permission on Tuesday for the hearing of German tech entrepreneur Kim Dotcom‘s appeal against his extradition to be streamed on YouTube, making it the country’s first court case to be broadcast on the Internet.
The six-week hearing opened in Auckland this week, nine months after a lower court ruled Kim Dotcom could be sent to the United States to face copyright infringement and money-laundering charges over the filesharing website Megaupload.
The case has been closely watched by the media industry and developers in the file-sharing business for signs of how far the United States is willing to go to protect US copyright holders.
“It’s very important that the entire world gets to see the courtroom,” said Dotcom‘s lawyer, Ira Rothken. “The Internet isn’t run by any one nation, so we thought the solution itself would come from the Internet.”
Dotcom was arranging for a videographer to start recording the proceedings from Wednesday, the lawyer added. They will appear on Youtube with a 20-minute time lag to ensure removal of any material suppressed by the court.
The judge ordered the stream to be taken down at the end of the hearing.
New Zealand government prosecutors, who are representing the United States, had argued against the livestreaming.
The government law office did not immediately respond to a request for comment but a spokeswoman on Monday said it was not appropriate to comment while the matter was before the courts.
Media reported that the lawyers had argued on behalf of the US that live streaming could be prejudicial, as submissions made in the New Zealand court could be inadmissible in a future trial in the United States.
Legal experts believe the livestreaming of an entire hearing will be a first in New Zealand, although domestic media sometimes film brief snatches of courtroom argument.
“The New Zealand judiciary have been very cautious about letting cameras into the courtroom,” said Bill Hodge, a criminal law professor at Auckland University, adding that the exceptional nature of the case could have contributed to the decision.
Years of legal wrangling followed Dotcom‘s arrest during a raid by New Zealand police working in cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2012.
It later emerged that the Government Communications Security Bureau had illegally spied on him before the raid.
US authorities say Dotcom and three co-accused Megaupload executives cost film studios and record companies more than $500m and generated more than $175m by encouraging paying users to store and share copyrighted material. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/30/livestream-kim-dotcom-extradition-hearing-first-new-zealand/ | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/a30002d7de302464bb95e2e8b20a8be7bbc08b8e7591e6caa98d2982e6695c9f.json |
[] | 2016-08-27T12:48:14 | null | 2016-08-27T15:36:21 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F27%2Fprosecution-kolossi-councillors-misconduct%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Untitled-1-2.jpg | en | null | Prosecution of Kolossi councillors for misconduct | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The state Legal Service has decided to prosecute nine Kolossi municipal councillors in connection with several cases of misconduct between 2014 and 2015, it was reported on Saturday.
It followed an investigation into reports of irregularities in procedures to award projects and hiring of staff.
The cases are expected to be filed in court in the coming week. This did not necessarily mean that the suspects will be arrested, police sources told the Cyprus News Agency.
All those implicated have already been questioned by police as part of the investigation.
The Legal Service has also given instructions for the prosecution of the former community leader of the Kolossi refugee estate, the Apostolos Andreas parish, that was later put under the jurisdiction of the Kolossi council.
He is expected to be charged with abuse of power.
The Legal Service is also examining the findings of an investigation into corruption allegations in relation with the former council of Trahoni between 2008 and 2013. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/27/prosecution-kolossi-councillors-misconduct/ | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/299c6e8c59d7bcfab264e959b6dbb59a3d08f142b251ecf197f0e5753b48d1c1.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T10:49:03 | null | 2016-08-29T12:23:21 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Ffar-right-candidate-ahead-polls-win-austrian-presidency%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/hofer.jpg | en | null | Far-right candidate ahead in polls to win Austrian presidency | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The far right is ahead in Austria’s presidential race, according to opinion polls which predict a win for the anti-immigration candidate that would be a watershed for populists across Europe who have capitalised on the migration crisis.
Ahead of the Oct 2 election, the Freedom Party’s (FPO) Norbert Hofer is just ahead of his independent rival, Alexander Van der Bellen, who narrowly beat Hofer in a previous run-off vote in May that was annulled.
Concerns about security and national identity as well as dissatisfaction with traditional, more centrist parties, have fuelled support for the FPO as well as the Front National in France and the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD).
A poll of 600 people published by the Oesterreich tabloid showed the average support for Hofer at 53 per cent, one point higher than a poll in late July, versus 47 per cent for former Greens head Alexander Van der Bellen.
Another poll, of 778 people with a margin of error of 3.6 per cent, published by newspaper Kurier, found 38 per cent thought Hofer would win while 34 per cent expected Van der Bellen to.
In polls for parliamentary elections set for 2018, the FPO regularly attracts more than 33 per cent, ahead of both ruling centrist parties.
Hofer, whose party argued against joining the European Union in a referendum on membership in 1994, has said Austrians should hold a vote on leaving the bloc if Turkey were to join or if significantly more political power were transferred to Brussels.
The Freedom Party challenged the previous run-off result, which showed Van der Bellen winning by 31,000 votes. A court decided the election had to be re-run due to sloppiness in the count, although no evidence of manipulation was found.
Although Austria’s president plays a largely ceremonial role, he can dismiss the cabinet. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/far-right-candidate-ahead-polls-win-austrian-presidency/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/8ae447f4be7b05f40204ac357387122e27b509794b0b7b2f680facd920d77b5a.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T02:48:38 | null | 2016-08-28T05:07:29 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F28%2Fcyprus-justice-never-blind%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/comment-koumoullis-The-blindfolded-Themis-the-Greek-goddess-of-justice.jpg | en | null | In Cyprus, justice is never blind | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | A series of attacks on Turkish Cypriots, in particular a massacre from 1974, have gone unpunished. Why?
By George Koumoullis
THEMIS, the Goddess of Justice holds in her right hand a set of scales and has a blindfold over her eyes. To avoid being influenced in her decisions, she must not see the face of the defendant, the witnesses and other participants in a trial. But for the Cypriot Themis these accessories are nonsensical and have been scrapped so she can examine everyone with her searching and piercing glare.
A former attorney-general, making a mockery of every sense of the rule of law, issued a nolle prosequi for his son who was facing a host of charges for traffic offences. A few years ago, nine students were charged with attacking Turkish Cypriot English School students in front of dozens of students who were also witnesses. In the end, no student appeared in court. Why and how did this happen?
The explanation was given by the then chief of police Charalambos Koulentis. “The youngsters that took part in the episode are children from sound families, with parents who have leading positions in Cyprus society and command great prestige,” he said. In Cyprus, Themis has her eyes wide open.
Pending before the courts currently is the case of the secondary school students who attacked Turkish Cypriots on the Nicosia streets last November. The general feeling is that the case will be covered up. The state legal service is ill and its head is being called to make it objective, fair and blind in the implementation of the law and not send it to the hospital of incurable diseases.
What really shocked however, was the Astra radio show of October 21, 2015 on which the guest was former EDEK deputy Takis Hadjidemetriou. During the show a text message from an unknown listener was read and it said: “I was a member of Eoka B and killed many Turkish Cypriots in 1974. If a case is opened against me would I be tried in the north or the south?” The staggering audacity of this murderer prompted me to write an article which was published here on November 1, 2015.
Citing the shameless query of the listener, I wrote scathingly about the apathy of the state with regard to the brutal murder of 126 women and children at the Turkish Cypriot villages of Maratha, Aloa and Sandalari by members of Eoka B. I also explained that this was a war crime. While the state was not involved, from the moment it knew the suspects yet made no effort to arrest and charge them it became an accomplice of the Eoka B gangsters. Criminal law is absolutely clear about this. Nor is the knowledge that the Turkish Cypriots committed similar crimes in Voni and Palekythro in any way a mitigating circumstance for the police’s inaction.
A few days after the publication of my article (November 4 if my memory serves me well) I received a phone call from the police headquarters and was told police wanted to question me about what I had written. It was a big surprise to me that the police, at last, had decided to look into the matter. An even greater surprise was that they chose me even though they knew that I had nothing to do with Eoka B. But the greatest surprise of all was that all these criminals, who had been identified through the articles of several journalists, were roaming free among us. One of them became a religious instruction teacher!
The next day I made my maiden visit to the police HQ. Expecting to be greeted by a team of officers (you see, innocence is not completely eliminated by age) I was welcomed by a very polite policewoman. It was obvious there was a big difference between my evaluation of the seriousness of case and the police’s The policewoman wrote down everything I said in response to her questions. In effect, I said nothing more than what I had written in my article. The details are now known by tens of thousands Greek Cypriots – that Eoka B men killed in cold blood 126 women (having first raped some) and children in three Turkish Cypriot villages. They then threw the bodies into a rubbish dump.
It goes without saying that the information I gave in my statement was a deficient and vague picture of the crimes committed and I suggested to the investigating officer that the police should contact the radio listener who had publicly admitted to committing the murders. She fully agreed with me. But contacting Astra radio subsequently I realised that no contact had ever been made.
Several questions are raised by this farce. If the police were really interested in bringing the guilty parties for this atrocity before justice why had they chosen to question only me, who had absolutely nothing to do with the case ‘under investigation’? Why had the police not approached the listener who had boasted he killed Turkish Cypriots? Had the investigation been completed with my 30-minute questioning? Had the attorney-general’s office backed or not backed this tactic of the police?
How come, in the case of the June murder of the four people in Ayia Napa, the police have left no stone unturned in the effort to find the suspects, while for the atrocities at the Turkish Cypriot villages they have given in to the wishes of the extreme, nationalist Right and remained inactive, terrified and speechless? Could it be that the police force’s fear (conscious or subconscious) of being accused by the chauvinists as ‘anti-Greek’ and ‘pro-Turkish’ leads to its inertia which inevitably ends in apathy and callousness?
These are some of the big questions to which the public would have expected crystal-clear answers, but this will never happen in Cyprus.
It is a relief the Troika did not deal with state institutions. If it had it is possible it would have deemed us unworthy of EU membership, but very worthy of reform school.
George Koumoullis is an economist and social scientist | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/28/cyprus-justice-never-blind/ | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/04429b53936f13bbb869ff5459bc42421270439067f457b84f7c21ea08705644.json |
[] | 2016-08-30T18:49:33 | null | 2016-08-30T20:48:51 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F30%2Fpolice-say-paphos-mayors-comments-unseemly%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/phedonas.jpg | en | null | Police say Paphos mayor’s comments ‘unseemly’ | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | “The positions of the Paphos mayor regarding work done by the police are unfortunate and offensive to the entire force,” an official statement from the police said on Tuesday in response to statements made by the outspoken Phedonas Phedonos.
The mayor had complained of police inaction to investigate reports he made that Aradippou officials demanded bribes from oilfield service giant Schlumberger to secure a base of operations in Larnaca.
Police described his complaints on CyBC TV as “unseemly with degrading characterisations.”
“Police over time has proven its abilities, hence the continuous successes in several serious cases that come to light especially in recent years,” the statement said.
“Incorrect handling and individual corruption should not bulldoze the work being done and we have clearly indicated the willingness of the leadership of the police to combat these phenomena and work in this direction.”
Police said that despite their repeated attempts to get Phedonos to provide some data, even verbally, the mayor still refuses and insists on publicly accusing the police for obstruction and concealment.
They said that though deputy police chief Andreas Koushioumis had only last Thursday and again on Monday visited Phedonos to ask him for more information, the mayor had preferred to suggest to Koushioumis that there was evidence in the statements made by him to the media which they could utilise.
Phedonos had initially publicly made the allegations in March, saying a large American company had been blackmailed into paying kickbacks while seeking to set up shop in Larnaca.
The mayor has been criticised for not providing police with a statement, something he argued he did not do because every time he had in the past, those implicated found out within five minutes.
Speaking on the CyBC show Phedonos also alleged the beaches of Paphos were being used by criminal gangs to deal drugs, urging the presenter to “come down this evening and sit opposite the premises being used so you can see how it’s done.”
He told viewers the gangs had met “with Kalashnikovs” to sort out which territories each would run.
The mayor said he had told police about the matter but they had done nothing about it.
The police drug squad webpage urges members of the public to “Call 1498 anonymously and give information as it assists the work of the police,” and adding “That in each case considered, privacy and confidentiality is our top priority.” | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/30/police-say-paphos-mayors-comments-unseemly/ | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/67f321884b4983a686c0d560d9ffb325917251eff7e61b9400db3b6f9e12b15a.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T12:49:10 | null | 2016-08-29T14:32:10 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Finternational-symposium-mouflon-underway-nicosia%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/CNA20100906193446968.jpg | en | null | International symposium on Mouflon underway in Nicosia | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The 6th World Congress on Mountain Ungulates and the 5th International Symposium on Mouflon started in Nicosia on Monday morning, with the participation of scientists from over 20 countries, in Nicosia.
According to an official announcement, both conferences were organised by the Ministry of the Interior and will continue for four days.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Constantinos Nicolaides, the Interior Ministry Permanent Secretary, said that participation showed the increased interest that exists in the protection of mountain ungulates, “from the European Alps to the Himalayas, in Canada`s Rocky Mountains, the vast Siberia, as well in the Troodos mountains” in Cyprus.
He also said that the exchange of ideas would benefit the drafting of policies, that are necessary for the protection of mountain ungulates, which in many cases are endangered species.
Constantinides said the interior ministry was supporting both events, in a bid to display its increasing interest and concern over the protection of animal life on a global scale.
The meetings offer an opportunity for all scientists working in wildlife management, conservation, archaeozoology, history of hunting, ecology, veterinary research, genetics, taxonomy and population dynamics of Ungulates, and to representatives of government or non-governmental agencies involved in game and wildlife management, agriculture, nature conservation and veterinary research, to come together to exchange scientific and technical information through original scientific research, and determine ungulate conservation priorities for the years to come. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/international-symposium-mouflon-underway-nicosia/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/45f478b29ef110918b51592567669afacea9b1145cb9e09598bf48731d2bd874.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T14:49:13 | null | 2016-08-29T17:34:53 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Fset-write-home%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web3-3.jpg | en | null | A set to write home about | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden, two American DJs who split paths for a while to follow solo careers, are now back together and plan to show Limassol how progressive trance can really be.
The two DJs will perform at Guaba Beach Bar next Sunday as part of their Classics & Remixes Tour.
The duo will give all trance, electronica and house music fans a real treat as they will perform a whole set, rather than just flying in to be a big name to fill a guest slot.
As always things will get started at noon with local DJs, and the real show will take to the stage for four hours at 5pm.
Gabriel and Dresden
Live performance by the DJs. September 4. Guaba Beach Bar, Limassol. 12pm-9pm. €10/free. Tel: 96-682865 | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/set-write-home/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/4186e1b4010235e193cbadee3d454cabd9e281d43fc521f6f5a05a068b509813.json |
[] | 2016-08-26T12:55:09 | null | 2016-08-26T14:07:37 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F26%2Fcabinet-reappoints-kalogirou-cysec-chairwoman%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/cysec-fines.jpg | en | null | Cabinet reappoints Kalogirou as CySEC chairwoman | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.
Close | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/26/cabinet-reappoints-kalogirou-cysec-chairwoman/ | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/22d0fe219f9c737a0fa11b7a69e842cde3ae2d1475e60ff98065acd5cf912b2a.json |
[] | 2016-08-26T16:48:07 | null | 2016-08-26T18:21:38 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F26%2Fman-found-guilty-ordering-larnaca-bookie-arson%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/arson-3-e1393313694821.jpg | en | null | Man found guilty of Larnaca bookie arson | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | LARNACA criminal court found Andreas Charalambous, aka ‘Arapis’, guilty on Friday of conspiring to commit a felony and arson, charges stemming from the burning down of a betting shop in May last year.
Reading out the court’s decision, Judge Stalo Hadjiyianni, referring to the facts of the case, said that on May 12, 2015, a fire broke out at the Megabet Plus bookmakers at 5.30am, causing about €80,000 worth of damage to the equipment and building.
The blaze was put out by the fire service and investigations concluded that the fire was maliciously set by unknown people who smashed the glass on the aluminium front door of the premises before lighting the fire inside the building having doused it in petrol.
Saddam Qunbus and Mohamed Okla from Syria, who were arrested in connection with the case, later admitted to starting the fire and being paid to do so by rivals of the bookmaker’s owner Lazaros Philippou.
The two Syrians, who were jailed for three years last November, implicated Charalambous saying he was involved in the planning. Charalambous denied the arson charges.
The court decision described the prosecution witnesses as objective and impartial, accepting all their testimony.
The court heard that Charalambous, on the other hand, had tried to overturn the evidence against him through unsworn statements made from the dock.
As for two defence witnesses, the court decision noted they appeared in court to serve the defendant not the truth, describing them as totally unreliable in rejecting their testimony.
In its judgment, the court also stated that the prosecution had proved beyond all reasonable doubt the charges faced by Andreas Charalambous, namely conspiracy to commit a felony and arson, finding the defendant guilty on both charges.
The court set September 6 for the mitigation hearing and gave instructions for the welfare office to prepare a report on Charalambous. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/26/man-found-guilty-ordering-larnaca-bookie-arson/ | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/137454d8450dc992d15bba7364adf894797d929b14abf11c351bc3b0d3004a86.json |
[] | 2016-08-26T12:47:55 | null | 2016-04-13T23:08:58 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F04%2F13%2Fman-united-spoil-west-ham-party-to-reach-fa-cup-semis%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/United-web.jpg | en | null | Man United spoil West Ham party to reach FA Cup semis | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Manchester United gate-crashed West Ham United’s FA Cup farewell party at Upton Park with an invigorating 2-1 victory on Wednesday to book a semi-final berth against Everton.
A sensational goal from teenager Marcus Rashford and Marouane Fellaini’s close-range effort, both in the second half, settled the quarter-final replay after the sides drew the first game 1-1 at Old Trafford.
The scene was set for a momentous 155th and final FA Cup tie at the Boleyn Stadium which West Ham will soon swap for the Olympic Stadium but after a promising start it was the visitors who rose to the occasion.
Rashford deservedly put United in front after 54 minutes with a pinpoint curler from the edge of the area and Fellaini bundled in Anthony Martial’s cross 13 minutes later.
James Tomkins’s header set up a tumultuous climax in which Andy Carroll headed narrowly over and David de Gea made a sensational save from Emmanuel Emenike as United hung on to keep alive their hopes of ending a disappointing season with a trophy. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/04/13/man-united-spoil-west-ham-party-to-reach-fa-cup-semis/ | en | 2016-04-13T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/b2b068bc17fce5874fdb50ca81b71665d454d0863817748a3bdf4b6110309679.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T10:48:45 | null | 2016-08-28T13:41:18 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F28%2Fpeyia-water-problem-partially-fixed%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/peyia-770x489.jpg | en | null | Peyia water problem only partially fixed | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The problem of contaminated drinking water in an area of Coral Bay in Peyia was partly solved earlier in the week but some officials say it could resurface because the 30-year-old private supply network fed from a borehole could become susceptible again at any time.
In June, residents of some 300 units were notified by the health services that their water supply was no longer suitable to drink. They said the problem actually started in February of this year and they had been forced since to buy water at a cost of €20 to €30 per tonne.
The headache for Peyia municipality was that although the vast majority of these residents all live inside the boundaries of the municipality, only a small fraction resides within the designated local water supply network and can be connected easily. The remainder, which consists of a lot of tourist apartments and holiday homes, are still largely dependent on the borehole supply.
Residents have complained in the past over water shortages and the high cost in their area. The owner of a holiday home who lives in Nicosia, who has been in the area since the mid-90s, said during a protest earlier this month that he paid a €33 flat fee every two months but in the capital he paid less than a third of that amount. They staged the protest at the Peyia town hall on August 16 to complain about the situation.
Those who can do so easily, have already begun to switch over to the local network and most of the work is already done, according to authorities.
A municipality official who was not authorised to talk to the press in his official capacity, told the Sunday Mail that so far 65-70 of the residents who qualified had signed up to join the Peyia network.
He said the local council also took a decision to examine the possibility of connecting the people outside the network on a case-by-case basis if they applied, if the specifications were met and if they paid for the work.
A second factor that contributed to easing the problem for now was a new health certificate obtained by the developer giving his supply the all-clear.
An official from the water development department who is familiar with the situation, but who was also not authorised to speak to the media, said: “The most recent chemical and biological analysis found it’s now compliant but there is always a risk because the borehole is inside an intensive agricultural development and there is also building going on,” he said. One resident suggested during the recent protest that the well had been contaminated after villas were built in the area.
The water is checked once a week, according to the water official.
Peyia councillor Linda Leblanc remarked: “This is an issue of public safety.” She said all of the boreholes along coastal areas are now “completely contaminated”. Leblanc also said the water department had offered the developer 200,000 tonnes of water during the height of the problem but no agreement was reached at the time.
Commenting on the results of the latest health check, the water department official said: “It’s OK now but we don’t know about tomorrow.”
“The [borehole] aquifier contains a lot of fractures which allows for contamination as do such things as bad fittings and breakages. This borehole has to be abandoned for good. The microbiological pollution that was detected, no one knows where it came from. It is not a well-protected borehole and is in a dangerous condition.“
The official said the developer, according to the planning permission he received three decades ago, undertook to provide “good quality water” to his clients. “He has to find a way to work with local authorities to fix his network. But at the same time his network has no worth,” the official said.
This was confirmed by both the municipality official and by Peyia mayor Neophytos Akoursiotis. Adding the developer’s supply network to the municipality’s system was out of the question, they said.
“We can’t add him our network as the systems are not compatible and it could cause the public network to collapse,” the official said. He said that for instance the public network has 16 bars pressure and the private network has only two bars pressure. “I don’t think his network would fulfil the requirements of the specifications for the public network.”
In weighing up the pros and cons, he said the municipality had to think about the service it provides to its 11,000 residents. “For those living inside the water network boundary, they can be connected quickly,” he said. “For those outside but still within the municipality, they will be looked at on a case-by-case basis if they apply in writing and if all requirements are met. Adding five kilometres of pipe is not an easy thing to do and it would not be fair on the taxpayers to have to pay for this.”
The cost per dwelling for those within the network is €800 – set by legislation – despite the local authority having to install additional piping. Those outside, depending on the distance and conditions would have to pay more. The official said there were also legal aspects as the developer had contracted to provide water to his development and that was another issue adding to the complexities of the situation.
Akoursiotis said part of the problem was that the borehole was around 8km from the development.
“We spoke to the developer to find out his intentions,” the mayor said, referring to efforts to solve the problem earlier in the month. “We tried to find a formula to help come up with a temporary solution,” he said, adding that the sides were unable to agree on how to solve the issue at the time even though extra supplies had been offered by the water development department.
The mayor also said that Peyia municipality had no interest in joining the two networks. “It’s 30 years old, it’s leaking and needs fixing,” Akoursiotis said. “Every day there is building going there and bulldozers digging”, confirming the risk of contamination laid out by the water development official.
Akoursiotis said the municipality has now requested more water from the water development department to cover the escalating needs of the area with the supply being extended to new customers.
Despite a number of attempts, the developer could not be reached for comment. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/28/peyia-water-problem-partially-fixed/ | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/8daa4d881db803567b50df97500e9f11db958edac60b8fc8c540a42617dc2110.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T08:49:07 | null | 2016-08-29T10:57:35 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Fael-side-make-perfect-start%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/AEL-web.jpg | en | null | AEL the only side to make perfect start | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The top of the table has an unlikely tenant after two games with AEL the only team to have made a perfect start to this season’s Cyprus football championship.
Apollon and Omonia both dropped points over the weekend while newcomers AEZ Zakakiou remain unbeaten.
Four teams (APOEL, Anorthosis, Ethnikos, Doxa) have played just one game, while last year’s runners-up, AEK, have yet to start a game as their fixture against Ethnikos Achnas was postponed following their Czech travel ordeal.
It seems that AEL coach Pambos Christodoulou has managed to build a team that will challenge for honours this year, and this despite bringing in 16 new faces.
Against Doxa they were by far the better side, taking a two-goal lead before the break through Savane and Mezga. Doxa’s Peralta pulled one back but de Souza made sure of the three points for the Limassol team with a goal 13 minutes from time.
The moans have begun early at Omonia following their 2-2 draw against first division newcomers Angennisi, who played the whole of the second half with ten players.
Even the team’s press spokesperson Christodoulos Christodoulou seemed to agree with the fans, saying that “the players need to wake up, our fans’ patience is wearing thin.”
For a second consecutive game Omonia looked frail at the back, sorely missing a leader. They conceded two goals in the first half hour and it could have been worse had their young keeper Panayi not made a couple of excellent saves.
Omonia’s Matt Derbyshire, the only bright star in the team so far, got both goals to salvage a point.
Champions APOEL got off to a winning start as they defeated Ermis Aradippou 3-0.
The scoreline somewhat flatters the champions, who were run rugged in the second half by an exuberant Ermis who were let down by poor finishing.
Nuno Morias had given the Nicosia side a half-time lead, with APOEL scoring two more in the final ten minutes through Gianniotas and Efraim.
The two local derbies between Apollon and Aris, and Anorthosis and Nea Salamina both ended goalless.
Apollon did everything but score in their game against Aris who had their Brazilian goalkeeper Golz to thank as he pulled off a string of fine saves with the most impressive and crucial one coming in the sixth minute of added time.
Anorthosis were slightly the better team against Nea Salamina but they created few chances and with the exception of midfielder Rayos it was evident that they sorely lacked quality.
In the final game of the weekend, AEZ Zakakiou and Karmiotissa played out a goaless draw with both sides missing chances to win the three points.
Doxa 1-3 AEL
Anagennisi 2-2 Derynia Omonia
Apollon 0-0 Aris
Anorthosis 0-0 Nea Salamina
Karmiotissa 0-0 AEZ
APOEL 3-0 Ermis | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/ael-side-make-perfect-start/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/293dd2adecd9a646fa4cf451789ca6f5d2b048372b22d772b266393fc6219edd.json |
[] | 2016-08-30T10:49:26 | null | 2016-08-30T13:09:35 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F30%2Ffilm-review-mechanic-resurrection%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/02-1.jpg | en | null | Film review: MECHANIC: RESURRECTION ** | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | By Preston Wilder
If Mechanic: Resurrection has a theme, it might be ‘penetration’. Most of the running-time in this sequel to 2011’s The Mechanic – which was actually an unsung and superior Jason Statham vehicle – finds Mr Statham trying to infiltrate a series of forbidding fortresses: first a maximum-security Malaysian prison, then a 58th-floor eyrie in a Sydney skyscraper, then a submarine base in Varna, Bulgaria. It almost makes you wonder if the (mostly) young-male audience for the film views it through a kind of unconscious sexual prism, taking Statham’s bold scaling of impregnable bastions as a metaphor for their own romantic conquests.
Statham gets an actual romance here as well. That’s right folks, the action hero whose apparent lack of interest in women prompted a Ukrainian nymphet to exclaim “Oh! You are the gay!” in Transporter 3 has a proper relationship, with slow-dancing and banter and a bedroom scene and everything. The lucky girl is Jessica Alba, first seen being roughed up (not by Statham) on a yacht in Thailand – a fitting start to her passive role in the movie, which is mostly to be kidnapped and look distraught, though the script lets her throw the occasional ineffectual punch. Then again, even Tommy Lee Jones is wasted here, decked out in ridiculous goatee and babbling his lines as if in a rush to go home. Why did he even sign on for this? It’d make some sense if his role came in the Thai part of the movie – everyone likes a paid holiday – but in fact he’s in the Bulgarian part, so what the hell.
Statham still merits the likes of Alba and TLJ in supporting roles. He’s not quite at the likes of Claire Forlani and Peter Stormare yet – but that day won’t be long in coming if he keeps making stuff like Mechanic: Resurrection, a barely-even-glorified B-movie where the fun, as usual, lies in how unlikely everything is. The biggest chuckle comes from a colour-coded map of the world showing the four leading arms dealers by market share, allowing Statham to conclude that one arms dealer has hired him to kill the others (it’s not clear if this map is officially compiled or just something he found at armsdealers.com), though the bit where he hides behind a rubber dinghy to protect against machine-gun fire also made me smile. Oh, and how come the villain’s boat is always close at hand, whether our hero is in Australia or Bulgaria? It takes a while to sail from one to the other, you know.
None of that matters. What’s more important is the structure, which is bitty and not very satisfying. Arthur the ‘mechanic’ (played by Statham), a professional hitman, started life as an orphan, sold to an East End gangster who specialised in training child soldiers (I assume this was before the East End got gentrified, when child soldiers roamed Peckham High Street raping and pillaging) – but Crain, a fellow orphan from the old days, has now tracked him down, and demands that Arthur carry out three ‘kills’ in return for his kidnapped girlfriend. The first is an African warlord in the aforementioned Malaysian prison, perched on a high ocean cliff surrounded by shark-infested waters, the second an Aussie tycoon, the third TLJ in Bulgaria. “I wish you… bonne chance,” says the villain airily, having laid out his terms, lapsing into French for no reason at all.
The rest, so to speak, is penetration – but the three consecutive missions mean the film never really takes off as a story. Still, there’s enough fun detail to make it painless. Arthur enters the prison by posing as an infamous sex criminal (all it takes is a tattoo and a fake passport), bumps off his quarry then dives off the cliff into the sea, dabbing on a little shark repellent – which he bought before going to prison – for those shark-infested waters. As for the Aussie tycoon, one look at his “cantilevered swimming pool” makes it clear how the ‘kill’ is likely to be carried out. It’s just as elaborate and ludicrous as you hope it’ll be.
Fortunately, Jason Statham is a charming host. “Nothing’s changed,” he notes happily, contemplating his Thai hideaway – and that’s part of the charm, despite his fighting prowess he’s a quiet man, a homebody (we’ve already seen him lovingly tending to his vinyl collection); all he really wants is to be dead, having faked his own death before being forcibly ‘resurrected’. Then he meets Jessica Alba on that beach in Thailand – and the film is so over-excited it adds a few completely gratuitous shots of Ms Alba swimming around underwater, looking predictably lovely in her blue bikini. Come on guys, can’t we at least find some flimsy narrative pretext to drool over the leading lady’s body? Like I said, penetration.
DIRECTED BY Dennis Gansel
STARRING Jason Statham, Jessica Alba, Tommy Lee Jones
France/US 2016 99 mins | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/30/film-review-mechanic-resurrection/ | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/40dc3a66742a6f615586ceacd60c5bbfdf52639fa816ee0595fa996e0a3c34d0.json |
[] | 2016-08-26T14:48:06 | null | 2016-08-26T16:33:27 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F26%2Ffirst-evacuees-leave-besieged-damascus-suburb-daraya%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/daraya.jpg | en | null | First evacuees leave besieged Damascus suburb Daraya | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Besieged residents and rebels began leaving the Damascus suburb of Daraya on Friday, Reuters witnesses said, as an evacuation to end one of the longest stand-offs in Syria’s five-year war began.
Insurgents and government forces agreed a deal on Thursday to evacuate the town, which the Syrian army has surrounded since 2012. The UN said only one shipment of aid has reached the area since then.
A Reuters witness saw six buses leaving the town. Footage on state television showed buses carefully driving past a large group of soldiers through streets lined with rubble.
Peeping from the window of one the vehicles was a small child no older than four or five, too young to remember life before the siege.
A Syrian Army general told reporters in Daraya that around 300 families of fighters would leave the town on Friday, and in total around 700 fighters and 4,000 civilians would be evacuated by Saturday.
The plight of civilians in Daraya and other besieged areas has long been of concern to the United Nations, which has condemned the use of starvation as a weapon by both sides in the conflict.
There have been previous deals to allow similar evacuations of besieged fighters and civilians, or to let people return to their homes after ceasefires were agreed.
In February, around 4,000 people returned to their south Damascus neighbourhood after a ceasefire deal, and in December hundreds of fighters and their families were evacuated from two besieged areas in northern and western Syria.
In June, authorities agreed to allow UN-supplied food deliveries into Daraya under a cessation of hostilities deal, but just one shipment of food aid has reached the town since then.
By this spring, conditions there were so bad that, amid reports of the army burning local wheat fields, some people were reduced to eating grass and sending their children out to beg, the UN’s World Food Programme said.
Daraya, just 7km from President Bashar al Assad’s seat of power, was one of the first places to see peaceful protests against his rule.
The suburb fought off repeated attempts to retake it by government forces as the conflict escalated into civil war. It was also the scene of one of the worst atrocities of the war.
In 2012, several hundred people were killed, including civilians, many execution style, after security forces stormed the suburb after locals took up arms. Both the army and rebels blamed each other.
In recent weeks, the army has escalated its use of barrel and incendiary bombs there. Last week its only hospital was hit, rebels and aid workers said.
Daraya’s local council said in an online statement that civilians will be initially taken to the town of Herjalleh in the Western Ghouta suburbs of Damascus and “will move later to places they choose”.
Herjalleh is the site of a government housing project for displaced people.
The Syrian Army general said rebels who did not want to make peace with the Syrian government would be transferred to Idlib. Those who did would be taken to Herjalleh.
A Syrian military source told Reuters all civilians would leave the city and the army would enter it. People would be allowed to return to their homes once the area’s infrastructure had been rebuilt. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/26/first-evacuees-leave-besieged-damascus-suburb-daraya/ | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/1c8d1db8ebed470a9b6285241e3cc29f52515970567fd3ee0251a77b18418e41.json |
[] | 2016-08-30T14:49:30 | null | 2016-08-30T16:10:03 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F30%2Fun-says-10000-killed-yemen-war-far-estimates%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/yemen.jpg | en | null | UN says 10,000 killed in Yemen war, far more than other estimates | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | At least 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen’s 18-month-old civil war, the United Nations on Tuesday, approaching double the estimates of more than 6,000 cited by officials and aid workers for much of 2016.
The war pits the Iran-allied Houthi group and supporters of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who is supported by an alliance of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia.
The new toll is based on official information from medical facilities in Yemen, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Jamie McGoldrick told a news conference in the capital Sanaa. It might rise as some areas had no medical facilities, and people were often buried without official records.
The United Nations human rights office said last week that 3,799 civilians have been killed in the conflict, with air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition responsible for some 60 per cent of deaths.
McGoldrick gave no breakdown on civilian casualties, adding the conflict has displaced three million Yemenis and forced 200,000 to seek refuge abroad. The United Nations had information that 900,000 of the displaced intended to try to return to their homes.
“This is a big challenge, especially in areas still experiencing conflict,” McGoldrick said.
Some 14 million of Yemen’s 26 million population needed food aid and 7 million were suffering from food insecurity.
McGoldrick said the human situation in Yemen was “tragic” “Humanitarian work alone cannot solve these problems,” he said.
U.N.-sponsored peace talks ended earlier this month without agreement, and without an agreement for a new round.
The collapse of negotiations was followed by stepped-up fighting across Yemen.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said after talks in Saudi Arabia last week that the United States, Gulf Arab states and the United Nations had agreed on a new push for peace.
He said the new talks would try to twin a proposal for the Houthis to withdraw from cities they seized since 2014 with setting up an inclusive government. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/30/un-says-10000-killed-yemen-war-far-estimates/ | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/0bafa3e25703793ad14d7559eae18286eae478a9cade4f004db2d6db3896bfda.json |
[] | 2016-08-26T12:47:20 | null | null | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/ | en | null | Cyprus Mail News and More | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.
Close | http://cyprus-mail.com/ | en | 2016-08-01T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/7eb3763fc876202333e54728aad8c585c3143dc62952a5876f5f3f07b4fdcf80.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T10:48:47 | null | 2016-08-28T13:04:45 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F28%2Fpolice-call-anyone-information-related-paphos-mayors-graft-allegations-speak%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/our-view1.jpg | en | null | Police call on anyone with information related to Paphos mayor’s graft allegations to speak up | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Police on Sunday urged anyone possessing information that could back the claims made by Paphos Mayor Phedonas Phedonos that Aradippou officials demanded bribes from oilfield service giant Schlumberger which was looking to set up its base of operations in Larnaca a couple of years ago, to step up and speak out.
In an announcement, police said that to date they were not investigating “anything concerning the case in question because despite our repeated efforts to receive information and testimonies from people that may be in the know, it has not been possible”.
Investigations based on generalisations, it said, carry the risk of affecting the investigative process negatively. “Thus, there cannot be investigations that are based on public statements which do not assist police work, and serve nothing more than to create impressions,” it said.
“Therefore, we call on anyone who may possess evidence that may assist in investigating the case in question to submit it promptly to the police,” the announcement said.
Aradippou Mayor Evangelos Evangelides, following a session of the municipal council discussing the very matter, on Thursday called on Phedonos to provide evidence backing his claims.
He also called on the attorney-general and the police to investigate the graft allegations against the council.
Phedonos had initially made the allegations on television back in March. At the time, Phedonos said a large American company had been blackmailed into paying kickbacks while seeking to set up shop in Larnaca. On Thursday, Phedonos identified the company as Schlumberger. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/28/police-call-anyone-information-related-paphos-mayors-graft-allegations-speak/ | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/d7fcd19e7acebd6969a8e929a25b63fdfc63e425ccddc4cf0894c45fabca9bd1.json |
[] | 2016-08-26T12:52:00 | null | 2016-08-26T15:00:54 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F26%2Fpapadopoulos-wants-cyprus-problem-issues-parliament%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/DIKO-leader-and-head-of-the-House-finance-committee-Nicolas-Papadopoulos.jpg | en | null | Papadopoulos wants Cyprus problem issues in parliament | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | DIKO chief Nicolas Papadopoulos suggested on Friday that constitutional matters relating to the possible reunification of the island must go through parliament because he did not trust the president.
“There is no longer confidence in the president as regards the information given to parties and the people,” Papadopoulos told the state broadcaster.
He repeated accusations that President Nicos Anastasiades was engaging in secret diplomacy and kept parties and the people in the dark over his talks with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci.
Papadopoulos said he could not understand why people were kept in the dark when their constitutional future was being discussed.
“These discussions must be transferred to the House of Representatives,” he said, adding that a special committee on the Cyprus problem should be set up.
The committee will be given the relevant documents and parties and the people would be briefed on what was being discussed in the reunification negotiations.
“And what the proposals are regarding the constitutional provisions that will define the rights of our people.”
“Parliament must have involvement when it comes to constitutional provisions and the future of our people,” he said.
He charged that Anastasiades was afraid of transparency, claiming the president was engaging in secret diplomacy and enforcing an information blackout as regards the talks.
“This is a crime and it must stop,” he said.
Papadopoulos added that he will launch an initiative to move discussion to parliament where there will be full transparency. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/26/papadopoulos-wants-cyprus-problem-issues-parliament/ | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/efed3c5db5b865228689fe04bfff9ad156d8f1980abd33a1705621191d840291.json |
[] | 2016-08-31T10:49:38 | null | 2016-08-31T12:08:45 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F31%2Fus-open-order-play-wednesday%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/US-Open-logo.jpg | en | null | US Open order of play on Wednesday | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.
Close | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/31/us-open-order-play-wednesday/ | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/035869713b3a9189ca55a4d6897a61cd76897aab3cd24bc928adc49f77464cd4.json |
[] | 2016-08-26T18:48:43 | null | 2016-08-26T20:20:03 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F26%2Flimassol-clubs-get-new-football-stadium-2018-2019%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/limassol-stadium.jpg | en | null | Limassol clubs to get new football stadium by 2018-2019 | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | THE cabinet gave the go-ahead on Friday for the construction of a new football stadium in Limassol that will be used by the coastal town’s three biggest clubs.
Deputy spokesman Victor Papadopoulos said President Nicos Anastasiades commissioned the sports organisation (KOA), along with the clubs, to jointly launch the procedures for the creation of the stadium.
Apollon, AEL and Aris said they hoped the new ground would be ready by the end of 2018 or the beginning of 2019.
Papadopoulos could not say how much the project would cost, though reports suggested it would be in excess of €20m.
The project was delayed, according to Papadopoulos, because the stadium had to be redesigned to meet European football governing body, UEFA’s, Champions League specifications.
At present, all three clubs use the Tsirion stadium near the Ayia Phyla junction as their home ground that has had its share of structural problems, insufficient capacity and location within a residential area, causing problems and damage to properties whenever football fans get riotous.
AEL chairman Andreas Sophocleous said the government was doing its best to carry out the project, adding that delays were expected because of the procedures.
He said it was up to KOA and the clubs to launch procedures to have bids submitted by the end of the year.
Apollonas boss Nicos Kirzis said the delays were natural for such a grand project. Kirzis voiced hope that any problems would be overcome and the tender procedure launched soon.
“We hope that it will be ready at the end of 2018 or beginning of 2019, if everything goes according to schedule,” Kirzis said. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/26/limassol-clubs-get-new-football-stadium-2018-2019/ | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/1dd5a0d84596cb599cc66a48d34845daeabc847d191b7581782dec8d9d97cc88.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T02:48:44 | null | 2016-08-28T05:06:57 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F28%2Ftruth-commissions-reconciliation-roulette%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/comment-yakinthou-Former-Foreign-Minister-Erato-Kozakou-Markoullis-has-called-for-a-truth-and-reconciliation-commission.jpg | en | null | Truth commissions as reconciliation roulette | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | By Christalla Yakinthou
Former Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Markoullis wrote an open message on Facebook on August 16 apologising for the murders of more than 200 Turkish Cypriots in the villages of Aloa, Maratha, Sandalaris and Tochni in August 1974 by EOKA B and the lack of accountability for these crimes even after 42 years. It was a response to the funerals the previous day of 33 people from Tochni who were murdered and ‘disappeared’, and which investigative journalist Sevgül Uludağ has bravely written about extensively, and for many years.
Kozakou-Markoullis has received both criticism and support for her apology. What she did, though, was to create another space for discussion in Greek Cypriot society about the open silences regarding the years between 1960 and 1974.
Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akıncı had also previously said that Greek Cypriots have their own suffering – and this acknowledgement was important for Greek Cypriots to hear. Many Greek Cypriots appreciated that gesture from Akıncı as the first real sign of a possible rapprochement between the victims of violence in both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities. It was one of the first times that many people outside of the existing bicommunal non-government organisation (NGO) framework had heard the ‘other’ acknowledge their suffering; Kozakou-Markoullis’ apology builds on this.
But such apologies also create fear. People fear that if we apologise for our violence, it risks taking away our own legitimate suffering because the story may not be as clean as we have been telling it, or that our own suffering will be forgotten in the zero-sum game of politics. In reality though, war is not clean, and we will be reminded as we go along that extremists were also neighbours of the people killed, and we will have to learn, as a country regardless of the division, how to reconcile that. But the history of modern acknowledgement and apology for crimes of war (the German apology, the Australian apology, the South African apologies) has never made the community apologising smaller – in fact, it makes them braver, more open, more human.
Similarly, it can open a space for listening, which is important. Of understanding that my pain is not greater than your pain, and that right now at this moment you are suffering and I acknowledge it. That my loss is not undermined by your loss. We both suffer. What we have in Cyprus is a lack of feeling for the pain of others, and this is a result of the conflict, where people needed to protect themselves. It is an expected byproduct of trauma and violence.
But to build understanding is to build a safer society. And regardless of whether or not you agree with this (or any other) peace plan, don’t we all want to live in a society where we feel safe?
Islandwide we have our open silences, our understandings that we don’t like to talk about. Kozakou-Markoullis and others have been calling for a truth and reconciliation commission similar to the South African model in the hope that the truth of the past will bring reconciliation. While it’s possible that a truth commission may well be beneficial in Cyprus, there is also a very real, and concerning, possibility that it won’t. Most of the expertise on truth and reconciliation commissions – people who have worked in them in their own and other people’s countries – are not sure that a truth and reconciliation commission solves a community’s problems. If we look at Tunisia, the most recent truth commission and the one that has benefitted from the very best knowledge from all over the world, it is stumbling, and there is already a great deal of cynicism within society about it. It is on unsteady ground, and it came with the best learning, followed best practice, and with the most genuine will.
The thing is that truth commissions can become performances of truth, and they run a huge risk of bringing their own problems. In Tunisia, and in almost every other context, truth commissions have been divided by politics, and this has hurt victims and also discredited the work of the commission. Perhaps in Cyprus we will be able to get past the political and design flaws, and get it right. But this encourages a game of reconciliation roulette. It’s also possible that there are other ways to tell our truths, ways that still get us to where we want to be, and that acknowledge and hold space open for suppressed stories to be heard, but that don’t sink under the extraordinary pressure and expectations placed on them.
What is more important is that we first think about what our problems are, and then design solutions to meet these problems. The political leaders – and all people involved – need to listen first, and then propose. All stakeholders need to be included. Give space to families of the missing on all sides to say what they want – as individuals, quietly and in safety, without sensationalism. Be aware that not all families may want to disclose or hear such truths in this format. They may want or need other things as well, or instead. Give space to the displaced and victims of violence to say what they want. Listen to the journalists and activists who have been making sense of our schizophrenic histories, because they have decades behind them of asking themselves these questions. Don’t propose, listen. The island’s future should be a collaborative process.
Second, we need to know that truth doesn’t always lead to reconciliation. In South Africa, some victims forgave, but others did not. Many victims felt forced to forgive their perpetrators, because it was a truth and reconciliation commission. The truth did not always set them free, and they felt that perpetrators did not receive justice. Though some felt closure, many more victims left feeling betrayed, not reconciled. We want to avoid this in Cyprus, and we can do this only if we are more honest with what we are trying to do.
While we can learn from the experiences of other countries, we should learn from their failures as well as from their successes. The field’s best experts are talking about the importance of multiperspectivity – understanding the tapestry of stories that exist in our societies – rather than a final single truth, that will bring us “peace”.
We have to build something that works for our country and our shared and divided experiences. For this, we cannot just start with politicians proposing commissions alone. Instead we need to start with listening open-mindedly to what victims and survivors want – or don’t want; to hear what people hope for, and what they fear. And we need to talk to, ask questions of, and listen to people who have been doing this work for years. To take their advice, instead of creating a format first, and then looking for support.
Dr Christalla Yakinthou works with the Institute for Conflict, Cooperation and Security at the University of Birmingham, UK. She is an expert on transitional justice and has worked as a practitioner and an academic in Cyprus, Lebanon, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Tunisia. She has recently been advising the International Center for Transitional Justice on its work in Kenya, and is a co-founder of the The Bluestocking Institute for Global Peace and Justice, in Australia. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/28/truth-commissions-reconciliation-roulette/ | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/00c3ea61211b32306a7bcee96fb154b3a13991e96ce3706c9b299b9f70513423.json |
[] | 2016-08-31T12:49:43 | null | 2016-08-31T15:33:14 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F31%2Fsix-greeks-stand-trial-ayia-napa-pharmacy-theft%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/police-car-more-1.jpg | en | null | Six Greeks to stand trial for Ayia Napa pharmacy theft | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The trial of six Greek nationals charged in connection with the theft of cash from an Ayia Napa Pharmacy in August was scheduled for September 13 by Famagusta district court.
Three women aged 24, 27 and 29 and three men aged 19, 27 and 30 were charged with the theft of €29,000 from the premises
The court ordered they be released conditionally until the trial, with each paying €2,000 bail, surrendering their travel documents and presenting themselves at Paralimni and Dherynia police stations periodically.
On August 16, the 49-year-old owner of the pharmacy reported to Famagusta CID that a small black bag containing the money had been stolen from under the serving counter of the shop.
Police visited the scene and following investigations ascertained the culprits had made their way into the building through an aluminium door on the south side of the shop.
CCTV footage installed in the pharmacy verified that a few minutes before 8am an unidentified man, his face covered with a handkerchief and wearing white surgical gloves had entered the shop from the side door. He immediately headed for the counter where the bag was and after taking it, left the way he had come in.
The business was open at the time of the theft, with three employees working. They did not appear to have noticed the thief. They all underwent fingerprinting with negative results.
Evidence gathered from the pharmacy was sent for forensic examination and CCTV footage from various sources in the area was gathered and analysed.
During the investigation of the case, evidence implicating two brothers from Greece aged 24 and 30 came to light. Arrest warrants were issued for them and they were apprehended but search of their residence did not produce anything incriminating.
The remaining four were later arrested in connection with the case. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/31/six-greeks-stand-trial-ayia-napa-pharmacy-theft/ | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/32f25132f10ce786d4355c77fba62b0f50d991d94d32810e01a2e648fa84da08.json |
[] | 2016-08-30T16:49:28 | null | 2016-08-30T19:46:40 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F30%2Ffiremen-rescue-1000-people-year%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/fires.jpg | en | null | Firemen rescue over 1,000 people this year | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | From the beginning of the year until the end of August the fire services responded to just over 7,000 calls of which 4,453 were fires, and the remainder other callouts such as accidents, they said on Tuesday.
Property damage from fires so far this year amounted to €6.2 million, €5.8 million of which occurred in urban areas and €326,876 in rural areas. In total firemen rescued 1,284 people from various situations in the first eight months.
Fire service chief Marcos Trangkolas, in a news conference, said that by the start of this week the bulk of forest-fire season had passed. There had been a reduction of 50 per cent in the number of rural fires between May and August, he said.
Trangkolas speculated that the five-day fire in the Solea region on June 19, in which two firemen lost their lives, appeared to have woken people up a bit to the dangers of lighting fires recklessly in agricultural areas, which is illegal.
He said as part of the effort to prevent rural fires, the service had held 100 meetings with mayors and community authorities in high-risk areas. “We examined the problems and suggestions of local authorities and discussed practical measures, which include 24-hour patrols and the creation of observation posts in high-risk areas, and so the reduction target was achieved,” he said.
Hunting clubs had also been active in fire patrolling, he said.
A new round of meetings will be held in the coming weeks to raise awareness as around October and November the main cause of fires is burning scrub by farmers, especially in the Nicosia and Polis districts, the fire chief said.
To try and reduce the phenomenon – because it is illegal people do it surreptitiously – Trangkolas said a bill was being prepared that will offer farmers the opportunity and permission to burn scrub at a fixed time in the presence of a fire truck.
The process of preparing the draft law is expected to be completed end of this year, Trangkolas said.
“Fires are a social problem and concern the safety of citizens, their property, and the environment and to reduce the problem people must be vigilant, prepared, and act conscientiously and in that every citizen has to play his part,” said Trangkolas.
He also urged members of the public who know someone who either intentionally or recklessly has caused a fire to tell the authorities and not allow personal reasons or fear to outweigh the public interest.
The fire department, he added, has no authority to impose extrajudicial fines, but may, where information is collected, inform the police, which will carry out further investigations “so that the case can take the path to justice”.
He also said that as of September 3 every Saturday from 4pm to 7pm the public could visit any central fire station and ask for information, find out what they can do to help, or talk about self-protection if they find themselves in a situation involving fire. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/30/firemen-rescue-1000-people-year/ | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/0a0f8d029763370a788d550be7107e288f116122bf2ec32f734a15314907c673.json |
[] | 2016-08-26T16:48:01 | null | 2016-08-26T18:40:59 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F26%2Ffeds-yellen-says-case-interest-rate-hike-strengthened%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/yellen1234.jpg | en | null | Fed's Yellen says case for interest rate hike has strengthened | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The case for a US interest rate hike has strengthened in recent months because of improvements in the labour market and expectations for solid economic growth, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said on Friday.
Yellen did not indicate when the US central bank might raise rates, but her comments reinforced the view that such a move could come later this year. The Fed has policy meetings scheduled in September, November and December.
Speaking at a three-day international gathering of central bankers and academics in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Yellen said the “US economy was nearing the Federal Reserve’s statutory goals of maximum employment and price stability.”
Data released earlier on Friday, however, showed the economy was more sluggish than initially thought in the second quarter, with gross domestic product expanding at a 1.1 per cent annual rate. At the same time, consumer spending, which makes up more than two-thirds of economic activity, grew at the fastest rate since the fourth quarter of 2014.
Yellen pointed to a recent rebound in employment and said the Fed expects the economy to continue expanding.
“In light of the continued solid performance of the labour market and our outlook for economic activity and inflation, I believe the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened in recent months,” Yellen said, adding that the Fed still thinks future rate increases should be “gradual.”
The Fed raised rates in December, its first hike in nearly a decade, but it has held off further increases so far this year due to a global growth slowdown, financial market volatility and generally tepid US inflation data.
Yellen did not lay out a clear roadmap for what the Fed needs to see to raise rates. Investors have been doubtful about the central bank’s guidance, in part because its policymakers appear to be divided over whether to hike rates soon or take a more cautious approach.
“She’s just kept the door open for a hike sooner rather than later,” said Subadra Rajappa, an interest rate strategist at Societe Generale in Washington.
Prices for fed funds futures implied investors saw about even odds that the Fed will raise rates in December, largely unchanged from before Yellen‘s remarks. Investors see much smaller chances of hikes in September or November.
The dollar jumped against the yen and euro on Yellen‘s remarks before turning lower. US stocks briefly pared gains, while prices of longer-dated US Treasuries were trading higher.
Yellen noted that Fed officials have a wide range of views on where rates will likely be in the coming years. She said current forecasts imply a 70 per cent probability they will be between 0 per cent and 3.75 per cent at the end of 2017, and a 70 per cent probability they will be between 0 percent and 4.5 per cent at the end of 2018.
Such uncertainty, she said, is inherent in the inability to predict economic shocks.
OTHER OPTIONS
Yellen was speaking at a Fed conference on designing new monetary policy frameworks, with central bankers eager to find new ways to stimulate economies even after they have cut rates to near zero and flooded banks with money.
She devoted much of her speech to outlining how the Fed may deal with future recessions now that many economists and Fed officials believe that an aging population and other dynamics appear to be slowing US economic growth over the long term.
Because slower growth means future US interest rates will likely also need to be lower on average, some analysts have suggested that the Fed will have less room to fight future recessions because there will be less room to cut rates.
Such a view is “exaggerated,” Yellen said, because the Fed will be able to use bond purchases and forward guidance to ease conditions. She said the Fed still planned in the future to wind down its massive balance sheet but that it would take time, adding that the balance sheet was likely to be useful for policy for some time.
The Fed may also want to explore other options, including broadening the range of assets it can purchase, raising the inflation target, or targeting nominal GDP, she said. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/26/feds-yellen-says-case-interest-rate-hike-strengthened/ | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/827f3bcdb2e2d2af1bc2d1ae2cabe698d1c76f518c1f86c698c09ccec54b93a0.json |
[] | 2016-08-31T12:49:40 | null | 2016-08-31T13:56:44 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F31%2Fsix-teenagers-arrested-britain-suspected-killing-polish-man-hate-crime%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/polish.jpg | en | null | Six teenagers arrested in Britain suspected of killing Polish man in 'hate crime' | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Six teenagers in a town east of London have been released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of killing a Polish man in a suspected hate crime, British police said on Wednesday.
Police have reported a jump in hate crime in Britain after the country voted to leave the European Union in June, following a campaign that critics said stoked xenophobia and racism.
The 40-year-old man, named in local media reports as factory worker Arek Jozwik, suffered head injuries in a street attack in Harlow on Saturday and died in hospital on Monday evening, Essex Police said.
A second man, 43, was also attacked and suffered suspected fractures to his hands and bruising to his stomach. He has since been discharged from hospital.
Five boys aged 15 and one aged 16 were arrested on suspicion of murder, police said. One line of investigation was that the attack was a hate crime, they said.
The group has been released on bail until Oct 7 pending further inquiries.
Poland’s ambassador in London said in June he was “shocked and deeply concerned” about the reports of a rise in xenophobic abuse against the Polish community in Britain, which is estimated to number 850,000. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/31/six-teenagers-arrested-britain-suspected-killing-polish-man-hate-crime/ | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/1bb52030fca47504cb8d4b4905cba15454574675fd61aa88cb15defc867dbe7b.json |
[] | 2016-08-26T20:47:53 | null | 2016-08-26T22:18:01 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F26%2Fbomb-squad-deployed-birmingham-arrests%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Armed_police_officers_London_2014.jpg | en | null | Bomb squad deployed in Birmingham after arrests | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | An army bomb disposal team was deployed to an area in Birmingham, central England, on Friday after police arrested five men on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism.
The West Midlands police force said as a result of one of the arrests, an army bomb disposal team had been called in as a precautionary measure to the Lee Bank area of Birmingham.
The Fire Brigade said it had been assisting the police with the operation.
Police said two men, aged 32 and 37, were arrested in the Stoke area of Staffordshire while three others, aged 18, 24 and 28 were arrested in Birmingham, Britain’s second-biggest city.
“Police are searching a number of properties in the Stoke and Birmingham areas as part of the investigation; these searches are ongoing,” they said in a statement.
“The arrests were intelligence-led and part of an ongoing investigation.”
Britain is on its second-highest alert level of “severe”, meaning an attack is considered highly likely. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/26/bomb-squad-deployed-birmingham-arrests/ | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/165b0e929d19feca6a526f0cda329db07d256fc8edbe76d43b26c208874d8b7e.json |
[] | 2016-08-31T10:49:36 | null | 2016-08-31T12:27:15 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F31%2Ffirst-u-s-cuba-scheduled-flight-decades-set-depart%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/obamanew1.jpg | en | null | First U.S.-Cuba scheduled flight in decades set to depart | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The first regularly scheduled commercial flight between the United States and Cuba in more than half a century is set to depart on Wednesday, starting a new chapter in the Obama administration’s bid to open trade and travel with the former Cold War foe.
The first of several U.S. carriers to begin serving Cuba in the coming months, JetBlue Airways Corp will fly from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Santa Clara, a city in the center of Cuba known for its monument to revolutionary Che Guevara.
Among the passengers on the 150-seat Airbus A320 will be U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, JetBlue Chief Executive Officer Robin Hayes, news reporters and photographers and other officials. Regular travelers, including some of Cuban descent, will occupy nearly half the seats on a route that may be a commercial challenge, at least initially.
Cuba and the United States began normalizing relations in December 2014 after 18 months of secret talks. The countries had been hostile for more than five decades, since Fidel Castro ousted U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista in a revolution that steered the island on a communist course and made it a close ally of the Soviet Union.
Since Obama has been unable to persuade the U.S. Congress to lift a longstanding trade embargo, U.S. citizens are still prohibited from visiting Cuba as tourists. The U.S. government has approved exceptions to the ban, ranging from cultural, religious and educational travel to business and visiting family.
Despite those limitations, U.S. airlines have rushed to start flights – adding a lot of capacity and setting themselves up to lose money on the trips in the short run, said industry consultant Robert Mann.
“Most carriers look at international markets that have been restricted and are just opening up as an investment,” Mann said. “You need to get your foot in the door.”
Services on regional carrier Silver Airways and American Airlines Group Inc from the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area to Cuba‘s outlying provinces are the next to start, in September. Three other carriers will follow.
Mann said the companies probably offered to fly to Cuban cities unknown to many American travelers, so that U.S. officials would look favorably on their applications to fly to Havana.
A memorandum of understanding between Cuba and the United States will limit Havana flights to 20 round trips per day. U.S. officials have yet to announce a final decision on which companies will get those coveted routes. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/31/first-u-s-cuba-scheduled-flight-decades-set-depart/ | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/5211e717b6614c47d80be9fa895afb47a5733aeaaa777a32814146e24b9ec4ce.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T10:49:01 | null | 2016-08-29T13:40:01 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Fgerman-incirlik-visit-depends-stance-genocide-vote%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/fsfs.jpg | en | null | German Incirlik visit depends on stance on 'genocide' vote | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Turkish permission for German lawmakers to visit the Incirlik air base will depend on the German government distancing itself from a resolution branding a 1915 massacre of Armenians as “genocide”, Turkey’s foreign minister said on Monday.
Turkey, angered by a resolution passed by the German parliament in June that described the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces as a “genocide”, has denied German lawmakers access to the base near the Syrian frontier.
Six German surveillance jets and a refuelling tanker are using it to support the US-led coalition’s strikes on Islamic State. Some German lawmakers have threatened to end the mission unless Ankara allows them to visit.
“It depends on the steps taken by Germany. If they take the necessary steps we will enable this visit,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a news conference in Ankara, when asked about allowing the German lawmakers access to the base.
“But unfortunately I have to say that those that mingle and manipulate our history in an unfair manner cannot be allowed on this visit,” he said, in reference to the Armenian resolution.
Foreign ministry officials said “necessary steps” meant the German government distancing itself from the parliamentary resolution and making clear it did not support it.
Germany’s European Affairs Minister Michael Roth, who just returned to Germany from a visit to Ankara, earlier told broadcaster Suedwestrundfunk that the two countries had made progress in resolving the dispute over Incirlik.
“I have the impression that there is great movement here,” Roth said. “I hope and wish that parliamentarians from our Bundestag will soon be able to visit our soldiers.”
Roth said he was received warmly and openly in Turkey during a visit aimed at rebuilding German-Turkish ties.
Tense relations between the NATO allies soured further after Turkey’s failed July 15 coup, with Turkey unhappy about what it saw as a slow German response in condemning the action.
Roth said Germany had immediately condemned the coup attempt, but could have responded more compassionately. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/german-incirlik-visit-depends-stance-genocide-vote/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/3008f089f9badf53d81a6f7cd608e809a91ef6cc7b9dfa55f1f55465ca731083.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T10:48:52 | null | 2016-08-28T13:36:33 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F28%2Flaquila-grim-reminder-struggle-facing-italys-quake-hit-towns%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/laquila.jpg | en | null | L'Aquila is grim reminder of struggle facing Italy's quake-hit towns | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Seven years after being devastated by an earthquake that killed more than 300 people, L’Aquila’s abandoned city centre is a stark reminder of the struggle facing Italian towns hit by a quake last week.
Scaffolding still covers the city’s Baroque buildings, the skyline is dominated by cranes, most of the dusty streets are deserted and many areas remain cordoned off.
“This place is one big building site,” said Luca Dioletta, the owner of Bar Duomo in the L’Aquila’s main square, dominated by the neoclassical cathedral which is one of few buildings not shrouded in protective tarpaulins.
Bar Duomo, which opened just a month ago, is the only bar or restaurant in the square which used to teem with life before the quake struck on April 6, 2009.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s promise to rebuild Amatrice and other mountain towns ravaged by last week’s tremors echoed pledges made by former premier Silvio Berlusconi to some 80,000 people who lost their homes in and around L’Aquila in 2009.
In power since February 2014, Renzi will be determined to prove himself a more able leader than Berlusconi and avoid the many errors made in L’Aquila, which lies just 56 km (35 miles) south of Amatrice.
Reconstruction here has been held up by bureaucracy and corruption, while billions of euros were spent on unpopular housing projects, or “new towns”, with rows of identical dwellings built on special quake-proof platforms.
Residents say that while these brand new estates are comfortable enough, they lack any sense of community.
“Look around you, there are no services, no bars, no restaurants, no newsstands, just houses surrounded by nothing,” said Ottavio Masciovecchio, 60, who lives in the Paganica new town some 10 km outside L’Aquila.
Masciovecchio, who was born in the nearby village of Paganica, says he has lost all hope of ever returning to his former home and speaks bitterly as he walks around the boarded up houses and debris in the narrow streets where he used to live.
“They say Paganica is being rebuilt but it’s a lie. I’d like to show this mess to the whole world,” he said.
Renzi’s ministers say they will not let the communities around Amatrice die, but they have not explained how they can speed up Italy’s rebuilding efforts and have declined to speculate when the reconstruction might be complete.
“This is not about setting challenges and making promises. We need the pace of a marathon runner,” Renzi said on Thursday.
ORGANISED CRIME
Some 21 billion euros ($23 billion) was earmarked for L’Aquila’s reconstruction, but so far only 7 billion euros has been spent.
Local residents say the project has been snarled by inefficient use of the resources and cloying red tape, scourges that repeatedly trip up the euro zone’s third largest economy.
The housing projects were expensive, costing 2,000-3,000 euros per square metre, and residents and architects say the money could have been better spent on demolishing and rebuilding old houses or on more modest but temporary dwellings.
The new towns were strongly supported by Berlusconi himself, who made his first fortune as a construction magnate.
Marco Morante, an architect from L’Aquila who has worked with the town council and private contractors, described the failure to involve the local community in decisions over reconstruction as a mistake.
“Nearly everything was dictated by the central government, with a sort of military occupation of the area by the Civil Protection Department which alienated the townspeople,” he said.
Masciovecchio said reconstruction contracts in L’Aquila went to firms from abroad or other parts of Italy and few local residents had been hired. His son, who had worked in a local bakery, left to seek work abroad and now lives in Finland.
Morante, who estimated that only 5-10 percent of the centre of L’Aquila had been rebuilt, said bureaucracy was mainly to blame, with a bewildering series of changes in the rules on project allocation and construction permits.
Some of these changes were triggered by evidence that another Italian plague — organised crime — had infiltrated the reconstruction effort. In 2014 seven building contractors were arrested on allegations they had collaborated with the Naples mafia, the Camorra, to obtain cheap labour.
Morante said Amatrice and the other towns hit by this week’s earthquakes could learn from L’Aquila’s experience, but there were important differences.
For example, only an estimated 2,500 people had been made homeless in the latest disaster, far fewer than in L’Aquila. However, a higher proportion of the houses were levelled and will have to be completely rebuilt.
The risk for Amatrice and the surrounding towns is that if the rebuilding takes too long, the local youngsters will drift away, dealing a potentially fatal blow to communities where pensioners already make up a large proportion of inhabitants.
“I’m afraid our village and others will just die,” said Salvatore Petrucci, 77, who lost his house in Trisunga on Wednesday. “We may be the last people to have lived (here).”
After an earthquake hit southern Italy near Naples in 1980, some survivors had to wait more than 20 years before their damaged properties were restored.
Leonardo Innocenzi, 62, who was born and brought up in the centre of L’Aquila, lives in a “new town” 5 km away and says with resignation that he hopes he can get back to his old home within “two or three years, maybe four.”
“I think it will need another 8-10 years for this city to return to anything like it was, and we will have to see if it ever become the community that it used to be.” ($1 = 0.8932 euros) | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/28/laquila-grim-reminder-struggle-facing-italys-quake-hit-towns/ | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/380dbf5fe2262f2c74b5be1a77514c8dfd179e92f458815d6682899357ea65f3.json |
[] | 2016-08-29T08:48:59 | null | 2016-08-29T09:51:13 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F29%2Fman-caught-driving-208kmh%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/police-car-more-1.jpg | en | null | Man caught driving at 209km/h | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | A 29-year-old from Aradippou was stopped by police on the Ayia Napa-Rizoelia highway driving at 209km/h, in an area where the speed limit is 100.
According to police, traffic police stopped the civil servant on Sunday.
Police then breathalysed him and his blood showed 59μg, where the limit is 23.
He was charged in writing and released. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/29/man-caught-driving-208kmh/ | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/afd3c2e50e754f8b7e20309a181a5b99a37eef3324012f3025f4bb6d13f1ad91.json |
[] | 2016-08-26T13:04:08 | null | 2016-08-26T11:54:50 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F26%2Fhungary-build-second-fence-serbian-border-keep-migrants%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/asylum.jpg | en | null | Hungary to build second fence on Serbian border to keep out migrants | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Hungary plans to build a second fence on its southern border with Serbia that would enable it to keep out any major new wave of migrants, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday.
Orban said the new barrier, to be built alongside the existing one, would strengthen defences to respond if Turkey’s policy on migration changed. If that happened, hundreds of thousands could appear at Hungary’s border, he told public radio.
“Technical planning is under way to erect a more massive defence system next to the existing line of defence which was built quickly (last year),” Orban said.
Orban said Hungary had to prepare for the eventuality of a deal between Turkey and the European Union to clamp down on migration into Europe via the Balkans unravelling.
“Then if it does not work with nice words, we will have to stop them with force, and we will do so,” Orban said.
A razor-wire fence built along Hungary’s southern border with Serbia and Croatia has sharply reduced flows.
Last year hundreds of thousands of migrants moved up from the Balkans towards northern Europe. That flow has since been reduced to no more than a steady trickle.
Orban said Hungary would also boost its police presence to 47,000 from 44,000, of which 3,000 will be constantly deployed on the southern border.
He also said it was Europe’s interest to work with Turkey and to agree on the issues that serve Europe’s security.
Under the existing deal, Turkey has agreed to help stem the tide of illegal migrants into the bloc in exchange for aid and visa-free travel for Turks. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said that European leaders are not living up to their side of the pact.
Later on Friday, Orban and other prime ministers of Central European EU member states — the Visegrad countries — will meet in Warsaw with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Orban said the task for politicians was to change a decision by the EU to let in migrants and distribute them based on quotas among member states.
“The question is whether Angela Merkel will be willing to change this flawed Brussels decision together with us. Whether she is willing to fight with us for this, or not, Orban said.”
Hungary will hold a referendum on Oct. 2 on whether to accept any future EU quota system for resettling migrants. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/26/hungary-build-second-fence-serbian-border-keep-migrants/ | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/670b20dfa0faf071e6207b852e66da630ead7c9685a4954b1546ba0596c64751.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T08:48:43 | null | 2016-08-28T10:15:05 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F28%2F300000-refugees-come-germany-year-migration-office-head%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/merkel1.jpg | en | null | Up to 300,000 refugees to come to Germany this year -migration office head | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | The head of Germany‘s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) told a German newspaper that he expected a maximum of 300,000 refugees to arrive in Germany this year.
“We’re preparing for 250,000 to 300,000 refugees this year,” BAMF head Frank-Juergen Weise told Bild am Sonntag newspaper in comments due to be published on Sunday.
Germans tend to use the word “refugee” to refer to both refugees and migrants who are seeking protection but do not have refugee status.
Weise added that if more people were to come than estimated, his office would come under pressure but suggested he was not worried about such a scenario, saying it was instead likely that fewer than 300,000 would come this year.
Weise said Germany took in fewer migrants in 2015 than previously thought because some were registered twice and others had moved on to other destinations.
“We’ll present the exact number soon but it’s certain that less than one million people came toGermany last year,” he said.
It had widely been believed that 1.1 million migrants entered Europe’s biggest economy in 2015 after fleeing war and poverty in their home countries.
Weise said it would take a long time and a lot of money to integrate the newcomers into the labour market.
He said 70 percent of the migrants who had already arrived were fit for employment but added that the majority of them would be dependent on basic social security provision before they manage to get jobs.
He estimated that around 10 percent of the new arrivals had university degrees while around 40 percent do not have formal vocational training but do have practical work experience, he said. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/28/300000-refugees-come-germany-year-migration-office-head/ | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/a71a4e7f6932e4674f659f40eef2d607f63f725c4364b75a6ef83d8009c2bd3e.json |
[] | 2016-08-30T20:49:26 | null | 2016-08-30T23:05:27 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F30%2Fsystem-nhs-edges-step-closer%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/nhs-pic.jpg | en | null | IT system for NHS edges a step closer | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | Financial tenders for the design and development of an IT system for the National Health Scheme (NHS) are to be opened in early September, with the contract to be awarded worth a reported €55 million.
The deployment of a software system is seen as integral to rolling out the much-delayed NHS. The IT system will be used in the management and monitoring of patients and to expedite overall service.
Overseeing the tenders process for the IT system is the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO). It has already opened and assessed the bidders’ technical tenders, and according to HIO head Thomas Antoniou the financial tenders are to be opened soon, likely beginning of September.
The two bidders in the running are IBM and NCR.
The project will be partly financed by the EU.
Under the envisioned schedule, the contract with the successful bidder is expected to be signed by the end of this year or beginning of next. According to reports, the first part of the software is then expected to be delivered some 14 months later, and the system will go fully operational by mid-2018.
Attempts to secure an integrated IT system for the NHS go back to 2007, with at least three tenders called and scrapped since.
The NHS is a requirement of Cyprus’ bailout programme. Under the deal, Cyprus was supposed to offer a national healthcare scheme by 2015.
The latest attempt for an IT system was launched in 2013-2014, with the government opting for the Competitive Dialogue method.
Competitive dialogue is a public-sector tendering option that allows for bidders to develop alternative proposals in response to a client’s outline requirements. Only when their proposals are developed in sufficient detail are tenderers invited to submit competitive bids.
Meanwhile, on this September 13, a government bill regarding the autonomy of state hospitals will be handed to political party leaders at a meeting to take place at the Presidential Palace.
Hospital autonomy is the first step towards the implementation of the NHS. It aims to make state hospitals administratively and financially independent and able to compete with private hospitals.
Dialogue between the government and stakeholders in the public and private sectors is ongoing. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/30/system-nhs-edges-step-closer/ | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/a98cfc772e408dc21a04c7a1419da7d04179e30f797c4ed2ec4ee2917828c086.json |
[] | 2016-08-31T06:49:34 | null | 2016-08-31T08:33:56 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F31%2Fkey-islamic-state-leader-killed-apparent-u-s-strike-syria%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/000_Nic6251981.jpg | en | null | Key Islamic State leader killed in apparent U.S. strike in Syria | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | By Angus McDowall and Phil Stewart
Islamic State said on Tuesday one of its most prominent and longest-serving leaders was killed in what appeared to be an American air strike in Syria, depriving the militant group of the man in charge of directing attacks overseas.
A U.S. defense official told Reuters the United States targeted Abu Muhammad al-Adnani in a Tuesday strike on a vehicle travelling in the Syrian town of al-Bab. The official stopped short of confirming Adnani’s death, however.
Such U.S. assessments often take days and often lag behind official announcements by militant groups.
Adnani was one of the last living senior members, along with self-appointed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who founded the group and stunned the Middle East by seizing huge tracts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.
As Islamic State’s spokesman, Adnani was its most visible member. As head of external operations, he was in charge of attacks overseas, including Europe, that have become an increasingly important tactic for the group as its core Iraqi and Syrian territory has been eroded by military losses.
Advances by Iraq’s army and allied militia towards Islamic State’s most important possession of Mosul have put the group under new pressure at a moment when a U.S.-backed coalition has cut its Syrian holdings off from the Turkish border.
Those military setbacks have been accompanied by air strikes that have killed several of the group’s leaders, undermining its organisational ability and dampening its morale.
A U.S. counter-terrorism official who monitors Islamic State said Adnani’s death will hurt the militants “in the area that increasingly concerns us as the group loses more and more of its caliphate and its financial base … and turns to mounting and inspiring more attacks in Europe, Southeast Asia and elsewhere”.
Under Adnani’s auspices, Islamic State launched large-scale attacks, bombings and shootings on civilians in countries outside its core area, including France, Belgium and Turkey.
The official said Adnani’s roles as propaganda chief and director of external operations had become “indistinguishable” because the group uses its online messages to recruit fighters and provide instruction and inspiration for attacks.
Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency reported that Adnani was killed “while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo.” Islamic State holds territory in the province of Aleppo, but not in the city where rebels are fighting Syrian government forces.
Amaq did not say how Adnani, born Taha Subhi Falaha in Syria’s Idlib Province in 1977, was killed. Islamic State published a eulogy dated Aug. 29 but gave no further details.
INROADS INTO ISLAMIC STATE
Recent advances by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, and by Syrian rebels backed by Turkey, have made inroads into Islamic State holdings in Aleppo province, cutting them off from the Turkish border and supply lines along it.
Iraqi army advances against the jihadist group mean Baghdad is on track to retake Mosul by the end of this year, the head of the U.S. military’s Central Command General Joseph Votel said on Tuesday.
Among senior Islamic State officials killed in air strikes this year are Abu Ali al-Anbari, Baghdadi’s formal deputy, and the group’s “minister of war”, Abu Omar al-Shishani. Adnani had joined the group under its founder Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
There were conflicting reports earlier on Tuesday as to where and how he died.
A senior Syrian rebel official said Adnani was most probably killed in the Islamic State-held city of al-Bab in an air strike. Citing unconfirmed reports, he said Adnani was in the Aleppo region to raise morale in the face of mounting pressure.
Islamic State’s territory around Aleppo is of particular significance to the group because it is also the location of Dabiq, where an Islamic prophecy holds the last battle between Muslims and infidels will rage, heralding the end of time.
FACE OF GROUP
Iraq said in January that Adnani had been wounded in an air strike in the western province of Anbar and then moved to the northern city of Mosul, Islamic State’s capital in Iraq.
Adnani is a Syrian from Binish in Idlib, southwest of Aleppo, who pledged allegiance to Islamic State’s predecessor al Qaeda more than a decade ago and was once imprisoned by U.S. forces in Iraq, according to the Brookings Institution.
He was from a well-to-do background but left Syria to travel to Iraq to fight U.S. forces there after its 2003 invasion, and only returned to his homeland after the start of its own civil war in 2011, a person who knew his family said.
He had been the chief propagandist for the ultra-hardline jihadist group since he declared in a June 2014 statement that it was establishing a modern-day caliphate spanning swaths of territory it had seized in Iraq and neighbouring Syria.
Adnani had often been the face of the Sunni militant group, such as when he issued a message in May urging attacks on the United States and Europe during the holy month of Ramadan.
The United States designated him a “global terrorist” this year and said he was one of the first foreign fighters to oppose U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq since 2003 before becoming spokesman of the militant group. | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/31/key-islamic-state-leader-killed-apparent-u-s-strike-syria/ | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/3215a767ffca00acb7be18fc70b298d906b04c424316ae04f043271f508e2eee.json |
[] | 2016-08-28T06:48:40 | null | 2016-08-28T09:43:26 | null | http%3A%2F%2Fcyprus-mail.com%2F2016%2F08%2F28%2Firaqs-youth-orchestra-musical-dream-shattered%2F.json | http://cyprus-mail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/536796_329747203747732_940537797_n.jpg | en | null | Cyprus Mail Cyprus Mail | null | null | cyprus-mail.com | By Anna MacSwan – Thomson Reuters Foundation
For nearly six years, young Iraqis defied the war, coming from all over the country to play in an orchestra, but the emergence of Islamic State has dashed their dream of making music to bridge deadly sectarian divides.
The Iraqi National Youth Orchestra’s story is told in a memoir by Paul MacAlindin, the band’s conductor from its founding in 2009 until it was forced to stop playing in 2014, an end that left him “devastated and empty and very, very broken.”
MacAlindin, a Scottish musician, was eating fish and chips in an Edinburgh cafe when he saw an appeal in the local newspaper from a 17-year-old Iraqi pianist, Zuhal Sultan, for a maestro to put the orchestra together.
At that point, in 2008, MacAlindin knew little about Iraq or the challenges of playing classical music in a country devastated by more than a decade of war.
“I knew pretty much what everyone else in the general public knew, which was that Iraq was a war zone,” said MacAlindin, who took the job that was funded by, among others, the British and German governments.
With much of Iraq too dangerous for MacAlindin to get to in order to meet potential players, the musicians were sought on Facebook and auditioned via YouTube.
Most had learned to play by watching videos online in the first place. “There was no teaching to speak of,” said MacAlindin, now 48, who before taking up the Iraqi baton had conducted orchestras and ensembles from New Zealand to Germany.
The National Youth Orchestra of Iraq eventually met in 2009 for a summer school, the first of many rehearsals and concerts for which MacAlindin would fly in to conduct.
His proudest memory is their first concert, following two weeks of “orchestral bootcamp” with a team of translators to help the Kurdish and Arabic speakers communicate with their maestro and each other.
RESILIENCE AND DESPAIR
“We proved that it could be done. We also proved that we were resilient enough to see the course through to the end,” he said.
“And despite all the very large differences between us, we held ourselves together and nobody walked out.”
Beethoven’s Prometheus Overture, Haydn’s Symphony No. 99, and – to represent the ethnic mix of the orchestra – Kurdish and Arabic Iraqi pieces made up the repertoire that night and the orchestra went on to play in Britain, France and Germany.
As well as nurturing musical talent, the orchestra brought together people aged between 18 and 25 from all over Iraq.
“We had no interest in the politics or religion or all the other things that divide young people against each other in Iraq.
“We were simply together making music. That built trust, and it allowed friendships to foster in the orchestra that wouldn’t under any other circumstances be possible.”
But since the orchestra’s collapse in 2014, the year the Islamic State group declared a caliphate across swathes of Iraq and Syria, MacAlindin is pessimistic about its future.
“The whole country is in such a state of trauma that the possibility of anybody fulfilling their personal potential and contributing culturally to a nation – it’s just not happening,” he said.
Back in Iraq, the orchestra’s former members are trying to keep making music.
“Because they’ve already lived through a war, they know from hard experience that people die around them every day and they have no choice: to either give in to that despair, or stay positive,” MacAlindin said.
His memoir “Upbeat” was published in Britain on August 18.
Thomson Reuters Foundation is the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org | http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/08/28/iraqs-youth-orchestra-musical-dream-shattered/ | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | cyprus-mail.com/d6bea59c255445c37827846972e4b3afb6884ede8a4f521461d38c53870bc7f8.json |
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