Cyprus Mail newspaper by Cyprus Mail Co Ltd

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Wednesday, December 19, 2012

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CYPRUS

REPORTAGE

SHOWBIZ

‘Save our jobs’ Orphanides’ workers plead

Fracking could bring in more cash for Britain’s queen centre

Amy Winehouse inquest to be reheard in January 14

Flooding causes anger and grief Communities in Paphos and Limassol say no measures are ever taken By Poly Pantelides and Peter Stevenson

FTER a night of rain almost islandwide, which continued into much of yesterday causing countless problems to homes, shops and drivers, the met office says there will be little let up until Friday, and that will be brief. Shopkeepers, already hit by recession, are angry at being fed the same old lines year after year when it rains, as they spent another morning yesterday clearing mud from their damaged premises. Fire services received 16 distress calls yesterday morning, six in Limassol, five in Larnaca, three in Nicosia and two in Paphos involving flooded basements, and drivers stuck in their cars in flooded streets. And there’s more to come in next few days. Just over two weeks into the month, the amount of rain which has fallen so far has already surpassed the average total in any given December. “From the last 112 Decembers, this one ranks as 46th,” said meteorological officer Marios Theofilou. He said Cyprus could expect more of the same until Friday when the weather will be fine but the weekend would bring more rain, he said. Police have asked the public to be cautious, maintain a safe distance while driving and keep their lights on at all times. A number of roads in mountainous areas now

pose a safety risk from potential landslides and fog, police said. This includes roads from Alassa to Platres, Trimiklinis – Amiantos – Karvouna, and Yerasas – Kalo Chorio – Zoopiyis – Agros and roads to and from Kakopetria village. One driver in Paphos was almost swept away by a torrent, as a river between Nata and Choletra swelled. He managed to get out of the car and reach the riverbank before the flood carried his car towards the Asprokremmos reservoir. Authorities have closed the road. Roads and local shops in Paphos’ Latchi flooded from heavy rain, which began Monday night when a river flowing from the areas of Droushia and Androlykou overflowed, rising above a small bridge at the entrance of Latchi. Houses also flooded in neighbouring Polis Chrysochous, police said. Local shopkeepers said that they are flooded wherever it rains and blamed the authorities for consistently failing to take precautionary measures to remove part of the bridge’s structure that stops the river from flowing. The structure was added as part of a path for cyclists and pedestrians, Polis Chrysochous mayor Angelos Odysseos said, blaming the state for failing to heed his requests to have it removed. The municipality hired a digger to clear debris off the riverbed, Odysseos said. “We told [the municipality] last year but they said they

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Maasai women wait in a queue to register to vote in the general elections scheduled for March 2013 in the village of Olgumi in Kajiado County West yesterday, the last day for Kenyans to register to vote. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has taken biometric computer equipment to populations in remote tribal areas to ensure voting fraud is decreased (AFP)

Scientists find ‘habitable’ planet that is cosmic neighbour By John von Radowitz A PLANET with conditions that could support life orbits a twin neighbour of the sun visible to the naked eye, scientists have revealed. The world is one of ﬁve thought to be circling Tau Ceti, a star just 12 light years away which is almost identical to the sun. Astronomers estimate the Tau Ceti planets to be two to six times bigger than Earth. One of them, with ﬁve times the Earth’s mass, lies in the star’s “habitable zone”. Also known as the “Goldilocks zone”, this is the orbital region that is neither too hot nor too cold to allow liquid surface water and, potentially, life.

Because of the difﬁculties involved in detecting extra-solar planets, most found so far have had high masses. The Tau Ceti planetary family is thought to be the lowest mass solar system yet detected. Dr James Jenkins, a member of the international team from the University of Hertfordshire, said: “Tau Ceti is one of our nearest cosmic neighbours and so bright that we may be able to study the atmospheres of these planets in the not-too-distant future. “Planetary systems found around nearby stars close to our sun indicate that these systems are common in our Milky Way galaxy.” More than 800 planets have been discovered orbiting stars beyond the sun since the 1990s.

Those found around the nearest sunlike stars are the most interesting to astronomers. Professor Steve Vogt, another team member from the University of California at Santa Cruz, said: “This discovery is in keeping with our emerging view that virtually every star has planets, and that the galaxy must have many such potentially habitable Earth-sized planets. They are everywhere, even right next door.” Professor Chris Tinney, an Australian member from the University of New South Wales, said: “As we stare at the night sky, it is worth contemplating that there may well be more planets out there than there are stars, some fraction of which may well be habitable.”

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Home PICTURE OF THE DAY

Weather Paralimni

Nicosia 17

Troodos

19 19

Larnaca

Paphos

Limassol

TODAY: Overcast with rain, which will be heavy in places. Temperatures will reach 17C inland, 19C along the coasts and 8C over higher ground OUTLOOK: Remaining unsettled throughout the week YESTERDAY:

Max Temp Nicosia 17 Larnaca 20 Limassol 20 Paphos 21 Paralimni 18 Prodromos 9

Min 13 14 14 18 13 7

Humidity 99% 85% 81% 77% 86% 98%

SUNRISE: 06:50am

SUNSET: 4:37pm

Pollution Low/Low Low/Low Low/Low Low Low Low

Air quality in Cyprus is assessed with the aid of a network of nine advanced monitoring stations. Data is recorded hourly. Information provided by the Air Quality Section of the Department of Labour Inspection (DLI)

Worldwide Athens Budapest Bucharest Brussels Cairo Copenhagen Damascus Dublin Frankfurt Geneva Istanbul London

11 3 0 7 21 2 19 3 6 6 12 7

Cloudy Light Rain Mist Cloudy Clear Cloudy Cloudy Fog Cloudy Rain Cloudy Cloudy

Madrid Manchester Moscow Oslo Paris Prague Rome Sarajevo Sofia Stockholm Tel Aviv Vienna

6 5 -15 -2 8 4 12 0 3 -2 21 3

Mist Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Mist Cloudy Snow Light Rain Cloudy Cloudy Drizzle

EXCHANGE

€

1.3237

€

0.8165

For a full list of exchange rates, see page 12

CHEMISTS NICOSIA A. Hadjiioannou & E. Antoniou, 14C Naxou St, Lycavitos. Tel: 22755999, 22429210, 22429429 (H) M. Spiritou, 109D Tseriou Ave, Strovolos. Tel: 22320553, 22496649 (H) Ch. Scoumpris, 26A+B Byzantiou St, Strovolos. Tel: 22661499, 22370357 (H) S. Stylianou-Kyriakou, Ayiou Pavlou 101, Tel: 22771122, 22590272 A. Demetriou, 5 Armenia St, Acropolis. Tel: 22333670, 22425240 (H) LIMASSOL N. Kriticos 107 Pan. Evaggelistrias K. Polemithia Tel: 25397704,

25386455 (H) O. Drousiotis, Glastonos 131B Tel. 25379777, 25581928 L. Constantinou, 23 Georgiou Neofytou, Tel: 25585859, 99895992 LARNACA Misiel, 24 Ermou St. Tel: 24621360, 24531859 (H) A. Clerides, 6 Patron St. Tel: 24622754, 24667765 (H) PAPHOS P. Savvides, 61 E. Pallikarides St. Tel: 26933568, 26934034 (H) L. Tselepou, 91 E. Venizelou St. Tel: 26954594, 26949276 (H) PARALIMNI R. Kefala, 111 1st April St. Tel: 23730116, 23821516 (H)

Wax ﬁgures of John Lennon (right to left), George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr as the Abbey Road Beatles stand at the entrance to the Adlon hotel in Berlin. Fifty years ago, the Beatles recorded their ﬁrst session at Abbey Road (AFP)

QUICK CROSSWORD 2266 Across

Down

1 In control (2,3,4) 8 Slattern (4) 9 Religious song (9) 10 Celebrity (4) 13 Hem in (5) 15 Dawdle (6) 16 Divulge (6) 17 Pillage (6) 19 Worcester’s river (6) 20 SE English county (5) 21 South of France (4) 24 Persist (9) 25 Average (4) 26 Improvement (9)

2 Ribbon (4) 3 Tough (4) 4 Milliner (6) 5 Dealer (anag.) (6) 6 Flapped (9) 7 Surprising (9) 11 Flat (9) 12 Docker (9) 13 Fawn (5) 14 Message (5) 18 Regard (6) 19 Time of year (6) 22 Egg (4) 23 Flatten (4)

For cryptic crossword and answers to the previous quick crossword see page 21

ON THIS DAY DECEMBER 19 1941

25 years ago Saturday December 19, 1987

The Second World War: After a series of military setbacks, Adolf Hitler dismisses his senior ofﬁcers and takes personal command of the German Army.

The Cyprus government has reiterated its belief that the Customs Union with the European Community will “considerably strengthen the efforts for the right solution to the Cyprus problem”. The government spokesman referred to the ratiﬁcation by the House of Representatives of the protocol on the second state of the Customs Union agreement.

1946 On this day, 30,000 Viet Minh soldiers under Ho Chi Minh attack French positions in Hanoi, Vietnam starting three decades of war in Indochina.

1971

Cyprus Mail

Director Stanley Kubrick’s controversial ﬁlm A Clockwork Orange opens in Britain.

Established 1945. Number 21,409 NICOSIA 24 Vass. Voulgaroctonou, P.O. Box 21144, 1502 Nicosia Tel: 22-818585, Fax: 22-676385 email: mail@cyprus-mail.com LIMASSOL 5A Nicolaou, Pentadromos Centre, Thessaloniki St, Tel: 25-761117, Fax: 25-761141 email: cyprusmail@cytanet.com.cy LARNACA Tel: 24-652243, Fax: 24-659982 PAPHOS 62 Apostolou Pavlou Avenue, Ofﬁce 2, 8046 Paphos, Tel: 26 911383 Fax : 26 221049 email: paphos@cyprus-mail.com

WHAT THE MAIL SAID

35 years ago Monday December 19, 1977 President Kyprianou yesterday declared that the State will act with good will in order to provide a solid home front and aid unity, but at the same time will be merciless in combating lawlessness. The president gave the pledge at a massive rally in Eleftheria Square to mark the release of his son who was abducted by gunmen last Wednesday.

1984 In Beijing, Britain and China sign an agreement for the return of Hong Kong to the sovereignty of China in 1997.

1997 Titanic is released in theatres. This movie would become the most ﬁnancially successful movie in US history, grossing approximately $1.8 billion worldwide.

45 years ago, Tuesday December 19, 1967 Opposition to the government’s decision to move the Customs and Excise Department Headquarters to Famagusta is mounting. Among the protest measures being taken by Famagusta citizens is the boycotting of all government ofﬁcials and organisations. The possibility of a strike by dockers and clearing agents has not been ruled out either.

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Home

Flooding causes anger and grief Trachoni community leader said the necessary infrastrucure work was not done due to the cost of the projects (continued from front page) have no money,” a shopkeeper said. “Let them quit here and now!” another woman said. “What have they been waiting for? Should people die for them to do something?” Odysseos blamed the public works’ department for a shoddy job though deputy mayor Yiotis Papachristofis told the Cyprus News agency (CNA) that the local council allegedly ignored a number of warnings. “Despite our numerous questions to the mayor and assurances that the next winter would not bring about this problem, the problem unfortunately remains,” Papachristofis said. In Limassol, residents of the Trachoni community got stuck in cars when the entrance to the area got flooded for the second time this year. Fire services have been pumping the water to the community’s artificial lake which is however close to overfilling. “What will happen with more rain?” community leader Kyriacos Christodoulou asked. Christodoulou said that the necessary infrastructure works were never done because of costs. “We ask the relevant departments to find an immediate solution to this problem.” Christodoulou said. But in the meantime, Limassol mayor An-

dreas Christou yesterday announced that sewerage works in the Limassol areas of Tsirio and Ayia Fyla, areas that experienced two bouts of flooding ten days ago over one weekend, are due to start this year after the cabinet approved the budget. The works are expected to resolve the situation, Christou said. In just one day, the reservoir at Argaka in Paphos, which was 74.4 full yesterday morning overflowed by evening. It is the first reservoir to overflow this winter. The dam has a capacity of 990,000 cubic metres. The smaller dam in Kalopanayiotis that holds 363,000 cubic metres is already full while almost all others are over 50 per cent full, with the biggest, the Kouris, Asprokremmos and Evretou dams edging close to full capacity. The Pomos dam that can hold 860,000 cubic metres and was at 75.6 per cent capacity as of yesterday morning is expected to overflow today, the water development’s department Vassos Socratous told CNA. Socratous said that all reservoirs in Paphos and the rest of Cyprus were likely to overflow again this year. And it looks like Cyprus could be having a white Christmas in the mountains. The met office has promised snow today and tomorrow.

The only good news was that the Argaka dam in Paphos overﬂowed yesterday

Inadequate psychological support for children with problems By Poly Pantelides WELFARE is still failing to work alongside other state services to ensure that children’s rights are secured, Commissioner for Children’s Rights Leda Koursoumba said yesterday. Koursoumba was handing over her 2011 annual report to President Demetris Christoﬁas at the presidential palace. “There are gaps in the potential for collaboration among state services to support families,” Koursoumba told journalists afterwards. There are “enduring problems” in the sectors of education, health and social welfare where “there has been no improvement despite efforts,” Koursoumba added.

Koursoumba said in her report that she has had to intervene after receiving a complaint that social welfare failed to offer any psychological support following claims that a father was sexually abusing his child. Social welfare investigated the case and ruled there was nothing incriminating against the father, so ceased offering psychological support. “While the child underwent the painful procedure of the investigation of the claims of sexual abuse by [the child’s] father, no support was offered to restore the [child’s] psychological and emotional state,” Koursoumba said. The commissioner has also had to appeal to the education minister and the labour minister after a mother complained that her 12-

year-old was receiving no support from social welfare following the death of the child’s father. “According to the complaint, the child had emotional and behavioural problems following the father’s death,” Koursoumba said. Following her involvement, social welfare worked more closely with the school to tackle the child’s problems both psychologically and practically. Another mother complained that she and her children did not receive the psychological support she had requested after her estranged husband killed himself. Her daughter had problems with alcohol abuse, started self-harming and stopped school, the report said. Even before the suicide, family court had asked social wel-

fare to get involved. Koursoumba said that the mother’s complaint “raised questions” about how social welfare handled such cases, despite assurances from social welfare and the labour ministry that the family was being taken care of. Other ongoing problems involve children of migrants and asylum seekers. Although the child commissioner’s ofﬁce has appointed lawyers to represent unescorted underage asylum seekers, the state’s “asylum service refuses to implement the law” and will not accept the lawyers, Koursoumba said. There are also occasions when families are broken up and the main breadwinner is forced to leave the country “leaving the children behind in

Cyprus with no financial resources” and no dignified way of living on the island, Koursoumba said. Sometimes families who have lived in Cyprus for years pending an outcome on their political asylum application are told to leave without bearing in mind the child’s best interests, Koursoumba said. The full report is available online at www.childcom.org.cy (Greek only) and covers a number of issues including family violence, sexual abuse, the internet, bullying, and various ongoing programmes. Koursoumba thanked Christofias for his efforts which “have made a difference”. “I believe that a society’s respect for children’s rights demonstrates how civilised it is,” Christofias said.

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Wednesday, December 19, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Home Number of missing persons to be identified in 2013 will double THE NEXT year will see the number of identifications of missing persons’ skeletal remains and their return to grieving families more than double compared to the average annual figure, said Greek Cypriot representative to the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) Aristos Aristotelous yesterday. “While the average so far has been 56 identifications per year, it is estimated that in the first quarter of 2013, if all goes well, this number will double to around 120 in the first four months alone,” he said.

Aristotelous said the new identification process that began late last month at the premises of the CMP has started to deliver results. He noted that in the past fifteen days, the scientific staff of the CMP has proceeded to identify a number of missing persons cases, after receiving the first results of 281 skeletal samples believed to belong to 70 people that were sent to the Laboratory of the International Commission for Missing persons (ICMP) in Bosnia for genetic analysis. In the coming days, the first funeral of a

French navy ship to visit Cyprus next month THE French Navy vessel L’Adroit will call at Limassol between January 24 and 26, the French embassy announced yesterday. The OPV (off-shore patrol vessel) L’Adroit was officially made available to the French Navy and has been built on a selffunded basis by DCNS. The L’Adroit provides numerous of innovative and unrivalled capabilities designed specifically for maritime security (presentation DCNS). This new generation vessel carries all the prevention and action assets necessary for surveillance and policing tasks at sea: fast boats for commandos, assault and transport helicopters, unmanned surveillance vehicles (UAVs). The L’Adroit comprises a specific architecture. With an overall length of 87 metres and breadth of 13 metres, and offers a three weeks’ endurance, a range of 8,000 nautical miles and a top speed of 21 knots. The ship’s surveillance capabilities also rely on the communication suite enabling the L’Adroit to interact with all types of commercial vessel and military networks. One of the key innovations lies in the unique system of sloping ramps which allow RIBs (rigid inflatable boats) to be launched and retrieved quickly on the L’Adroit’s quarterdeck.

missing person identiﬁed under the new system will take place. The former AKEL MP noted that on December 7, a new set of 526 skeletal samples believed to belong to about 68 missing persons was sent to the Bosnian laboratory, which took over the work that had previously been carried out by the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics (CING). The recent movement in the search for and identiﬁcation of persons who went missing in the intercommunal strife of the 1960s and during the 1974 Turkish invasion should re-

store calm to the families of the missing who saw the whole process freeze recently due to a drawn-out dispute between the CMP and CING. “This fact creates a sense of relief to everyone affected, especially the parents and the relatives of our missing persons, who anxiously wait to learn the fate of their loved ones,” said Aristotelous. He added that so far the CMP has carried out exhumations corresponding to 903 missing persons, of whom 336 have been identiﬁed, with many more expected to be identiﬁed in 2013.

‘End homophobic bullying’ schools told by Savvidou Ombudswoman says it’s a ‘real problem’ By Stefanos Evripidou

French Navy vessel L’Adroit due at Limassol

HOMOPHOBIC BULLYING is a “real problem” in schools which needs to be tackled through a series of measures taken by the Education Ministry, said Ombudswoman Eliza Savvidou in a recent report. According to the report on homophobia in education and the handling of homophobic incidents compiled by the anti-discrimination authority working under the Ombudswoman, the ministry must take measures to tackle problems faced by both educators and pupils who face discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. The report highlighted the large extent of homophobic bullying in schools, noting that children who experience this form of discrimination often feel isolated and socially excluded, with low selfesteem. International studies show that victims of homophobic bullying end up feeling too afraid to go to school, resulting in lower grades. They often show signs of psychological problems and have suicidal tendencies, said the report. In Cyprus, “despite important steps taken, homophobia in schools is a real problem with serious dimensions,” said Savvidou. The education system in Cyprus is not familiar with cur-

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rent ideas on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity, said Savvidou, adding: “This lack of specialised information contributes to consolidating distorted views and prejudices and creates, feeds and reproduces in a disguised or open manner a homophobic climate characterised mainly by intolerance.” Instances where either educators or pupils are found to be either lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered (LGBT) are treated with embarrassment and/or concealment, said the report. Sex was introduced in health education lessons in the second and third years of lower secondary school as a part of education reform implemented in 2011-2012. However, many educators try to avoid raising the matter in classes in the second year, leaving it to the third year of gymnasium or sometimes leaving it out completely from the syllabus. The introduction of the topic of sex in health education is a positive step, said Savvidou. However, she proposed sex education should avoid stereotypical approaches to gender, based instead on providing objective information that help to knock down myths and prejudices. Education material should promote respect of difference and create a culture of tolerance with regards to sexual orientation and gender identity. Studies show educators are unable or unwilling to discuss issues related to LGBT persons. Educators need continuous support and training so they feel comfortable discussing these issues without adopting stereotypical approaches. This way they

can approach in a more specialised way young people who are either responsible for homophobic bullying or victims of it, said Savvidou. She further proposed the education ministry create a policy against bullying, which includes in its definition discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. To ensure the effectiveness of this policy, the ministry needs to incorporate educators, parents and pupils in the handling of homophobic bullying, helping to provide a safe environment for pupils who can attend schools with dignity and respect. Discrimination and bullying must not be tolerated. By dealing with homophobic bullying specifically, the ministry will show commitment to tackling the problem. Recording incidents of homophobic bullying is the first step, said the ombudswoman, noting that schools need to make the reporting of such incidents by educators and pupils easier. Schools also need to provide a support infrastructure and counselling for both people who are victims of such homophobic behaviour, as well as those who are responsible for it. The ombudswoman’s report was based on the results of a study in Cyprus on homophobic bullying in schools, the results of which were revealed on October 6, 2012. The study confirmed from the perspective of educators that bullying on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender was a frequent phenomenon in schools, and was expressed in speech, perceptions and the behaviour of pupils and educators.

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CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Home CYPRUS TODAY Drugs remand FOUR kilos of synthetic drugs were seized by police leading to the arrest of a couple from Dromolaxia in Larnaca, both aged 24 on Monday. On December 6, the drug squad placed a package that had arrived from Shanghai under surveillance after it arrived at customs and ended up at a courier service in Larnaca. The package was allegedly in the name of the 24-year-old woman but her husband showed up to collect it from the couriers’, police said. Inside the package were three kilos of a white powdered synthetic drug and 20,000 aluminium bags, measuring 5cm by 5cm, which are used to put the drugs in. After searching their house in Dromolaxia, police said they discovered one more kilo of a synthetic herbal drug. Larnaca District Court yesterday ordered the 24-year-old man to be remanded in custody for three days but rejected the police’s request to remand the woman.

‘Save our jobs’ hundreds of Orphanides staff plead Distraught workers take to the streets By Elias Hazou HUNDREDS of workers at Orphanides Supermarkets took to the streets yesterday asking for their jobs to be saved as a cloud of uncertainty hung over the future of the debt-ridden company. The employees came out shortly after news that the company’s two main creditors – Popular and Bank of Cyprus – had rejected the appointment of Andreas Andronikou as administrator. Fears were compounded when on Monday the chain shut down 11 stores and sent home on unpaid leave 200 employees. Last week the chain announced it was going into administration. The company owes banks some €140m or €150m, €85m to suppliers and €10m to other creditors. Yesterday’s demonstrations were all peaceful. Holding placards, hundreds of Orphanides employees gath-

Man stabbed A 75-YEAR-OLD man has accused his sisterin-law of attempted murder after she allegedly stabbed him for being teased, Paphos police said yesterday. The man ﬁled a report yesterday afternoon claiming that his 56year-old sister-in-law attacked him with two kitchen knives after she took his teasing the wrong way, he told police. The 75-year-old, who sustained wounds to his chest and lungs, is in Paphos general hospital following surgery. His sister-in-law was a guest in the 75-year-old’s Kato Paphos home. She was arrested for questioning and has denied the allegations, police said.

Robbery lies THE 44-YEAR-OLD manager of the pizza restaurant who reported a robbery on Monday was brought in for questioning yesterday. The manager originally claimed that he had been threatened at knifepoint by two men who had stolen the restaurant’s weekend income of around €20,000 before gagging and tying him up. After questioning the 44-year-old, police said the man had been lying about the robbery and they arrested him instead.

Orphanides staff on the march

(Christos Theodorides)

ered at a distance outside the parliament building, cordoned off by the police. A delegation was then allowed inside, handing over a memo with their demands to House ofﬁcials. The employees want the banks to make up their minds and agree to a formula that would keep the company aﬂoat. The company’s demise would impact the livelihood of some 1200 employees of the supermarket chain; in addition, around 2,000 more people would be affected on the supply end – such as merchants, packers and drivers. The demonstrators next headed off to the ministries of Labour and Finance. Earlier in the day, a delegation of the employees had met with top brass at Popular Bank headquarters. Although the creditors have turned down the administrator named by the company, Popular Bank yesterday reassured employees that it was considering oth-

er scenarios to salvage the chain. One option, as reported in the media, would be for the suppliers to set up a new company that would acquire Orphanides’ commercial operations. The suppliers would become shareholders in the company, and would rent the stores that remained in operation. The stores not operating would pass into the possession of the banks and would be sold. The chain’s real estate is said to be worth around €340 million. The company’s founder Christos Orphanides yesterday blamed the banks for the continuing uncertainty, saying that it was inconceivable for a company with hundreds of millions in assets to be allowed to go under. Last week Orphanides took full responsibility for the state of the company, but then in the same breath took a swipe at suppliers, accusing them of putting the squeeze on the chain.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Home Attorney-general makes an about-turn on pensions provision By George Psyllides ATTORNEY-general Petros Clerides yesterday did an about-turn over a disagreement with international lenders in interpreting a provision that changes the way civil service pensions are calculated as part of the island’s bailout. The difference was whether the new system would be retroactive or if it would only affect earnings after January 1, 2013 when it comes into force. During a discussion at the House Finance

Committee on Monday, Clerides appeared certain that it was the latter that had been agreed. The committee asked the government to clarify the matter before tomorrow when the draft legislation will be put to the vote. Yesterday however, Clerides sent the committee an urgent letter informing them there was no need to clarify the matter with the troika. Clerides said certain documents had come to his attention “for the ﬁrst time” in which the troika clearly interpreted the provision as being retroactive.

“And that the matter was considered closed for the troika,” the attorney-general said. The memorandum, on which the two sides have agreed in principle, states: “pension beneﬁts will be calculated on a pro-rata basis taking into account life-time service as of January 2013.” On Monday, Clerides said that his understanding was that pension rights until December 12, 2012 were secure and that the new method would kick in after January 1 of the new year. Under the current system, a civil servant’s pension is calculated on the basis

of their last salary. “You realise that in light of this development, which I repeat, I did not know about, any new communication with the troika not only would be pointless, but it could, maybe rightly, cause reaction,” Clerides said in his letter. He added that irrespective of which interpretation was correct, “I think the matter should be considered closed” since any extension in the negotiations would be damaging. “Thus, in my view, it is advisable that the bill is approved without further delay,” Clerides said.

Mixed messages on wages’ default Some analysts say the non-payment of December salaries would cause ‘a run’ on the government. Others say ‘no big deal’ By Elias Hazou THE QUESTION ‘what would happen had the state defaulted on civil servants’ 12th and 13th salaries’ has elicited mixed reactions, reminiscent of the speculation on the (supposed) Mayan prediction for December 21, 2012: some declare it would have brought about the apocalypse, others say “bah, humbug!” “The consequences would be quite severe,” offers Theodore Panayotou, director of the Cyprus International Institute of Management. “For one thing, civil servants would have lowered their productivity – there’s no doubt in my mind about that. Also, Cyprus would risk losing any credibility it has abroad: if the state is unable to pay its own employees, then what sort of message does that send?” And defaulting on publicsector wages could have triggered a “run on the government, much like a run on the banks,” Panayotou added: “Everyone who has a contract with the government– hoteliers etc. – would demand their money back.” Faced with the prospect of not being able to pay civil servants’ 12th and 13th salaries this month, the cashstrapped government used the carrot-and-stick approach to borrow internally some €238 million from semigovernmental organisations. The Cyprus Telecommunications Authority lent the government €100m, the Electric-

ity Authority another €100m and the Ports Authority €38m. This cash, plus around €200m in expected revenues from taxation in coming months, would keep the central government afloat until February, officials said. The short-term loan from the SGOs will be repaid within three months, at an interest rate of 5.5 per cent. “That’s as good a deal as you can get anywhere, yet the SGOs put up a fight. Still, to be fair, if you were the SGOs would you trust the government to pay you back?” Civil servants without money in their pockets would also have hit the retail trade hard. It would have been the final nail in the coffin for many shops and businesses on the brink of going bust that were counting on the Christmas spending spree. But the million-dollar question, according to Panayotou, is why it had to come to this, “hanging by a pinhead, as it were.” Economist Symeon Matsis agrees: “It’s the government’s fault for not taking corrective action beforehand, despite warnings that public finances were faltering. Instead, officials had been reassuring everyone that the state could meet its obligations. And then a few days ago, they drop a bomb, saying the government has run out of cash. “It was yet another example of lack of transparency on the part of the government, bolstering the feeling that they have no plan…it’s day by day,”

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Matsis said. And he went a step beyond Panayotou, predicting that a stoppage in salary payments would have led to a complete collapse of the economy: “It would signal that the government cannot collect adequate revenues. Rating agencies were abuzz on news that Cyprus might not be able to pay its civil servants.” Economic analyst Dr. Stelios Platis isn’t sold on the doomsday scenarios. “So what if civil servants didn’t get paid for December? It would have meant absolutely nothing,” he insists. According to Platis, if push came to shove, the government could simply pass (or at least try to pass) a special law suspending the payment of 12th and/ or 13th salaries. “The state has many mechanisms at its disposal for delayed payments,” he added. “I think a lot of fuss has been made here. Now, were the state to default on other obligations, such as to creditors, that would have been big, yes.” Failing a law temporarily suspending the payment of salaries, the government might have the option of asking international lenders for a bridge loan – an advance on a bailout loan. Asked how realistic this was, given that Cyprus has yet to put its signature on a bailout deal, Platis said: “I think the troika would go for it, especially after we passed all these austerity measures, which demonstrated goodwill on our part.

Four masked men robbed a jewellery store in broad daylight yesterday in Latsia, police said. The four men threatened the shop owner with a knife and tied her up in the back room of the store before getting away with a large amount of jewellery from the display units in the shop. Latsia police are investigating (Christos Theodorides)

Ministry: there will be no default THE FINANCE ministry said yesterday it has secured the necessary cash to cover its current financing needs and there was no possibility of a default, a day after a high-ranking official warned that without loans from semi-government companies (SGOs), the state would run out of money in a matter of days. Speaking before the House Finance Committee on Monday, finance ministry permanent secretary Christos Patsalides warned that Cyprus could be considered as being in selective default if SGOs refused to provide the necessary cash to cover its immediate needs. The cash would come from pension funds and workers had expressed concerns it would be lost.

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Telecommunications company CyTA said it would put up €100 million on condition that other SGOs – namely the electricity company (EAC) also chipped in. The EAC resisted until Patsalides told them that the state would default without the cash and would inevitably drag SGOs under as well. Late on Monday, the EAC agreed to lend the government €100 million. The ports authority put up another €38 million. The money will be mainly used to pay civil servants’ salaries – December and 13th. The cash-strapped state has come to a preliminary agreement with international lenders but it is not yet clear when it will be ﬁnalised for the ﬁrst tranche to be released.

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Cyprus at high risk of fiscal stress in the short-term, says EU

‘Bitter budget’ set to be passed

By George Psyllides CYPRUS appears to be at high risk of fiscal stress in the shortterm and also faces high sustainability risks in the medium and long run, according to a European Commission report released yesterday. The Fiscal Sustainability Report 2012 report said Cyprus should focus on “resolutely continuing to implement sustainability-enhancing measures that avert potential risks to fiscal sustainability from materialising or intensifying in the shortterm.” According to the report, which covers the 24 EU nations not in full bailout programmes, short-term “risks for fiscal stress have abated in nearly all countries” since a previous sustainability report in 2009. While the 2009 report indicated that almost two-thirds of EU nations had “elevated risks of fiscal stress for 2010,” yesterday’s report said only Spain and Cyprus “appear to be still at risk” in the short term. The report said the Cypriot state must also work on further containing the growth of age-related expenditure through pension reform to contribute to the sustainability of public finances in the long-term. Under a no-policy-change assumption, debt would increase from 102.7 per cent of GDP in 2014 to 127.4 per cent in 2020 and to 171.8 per cent in 2030, the report said. “Efforts should therefore be made in order to ensure that the debt ratio is put on a long-term downward path,” the report said. The island must implement long-term sustainability enhancing policies equivalent to a permanent improvement of 8.2 percentage points of GDP – an effort, which is substantially above the average improvement required for the EU as a whole (2.7pp), thus reflecting the significant ageing-cost component.

Recriminations from MPs as discussion begins but no one plans to oppose it By Poly Pantelides LAWMAKERS yesterday discussed the 2013 budget incorporating the terms agreed between Cyprus and its international lenders, which most deputies said they will vote for despite their reluctance. The state’s debt in 2013 is expected to come to 92 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) or about €16 billion, the head of parliament’s ﬁnance committee Nicolas Papadopoulos said yesterday. GDP is expected to be reduced from €17.9 billion in 2012 to €17.5 billion in 2013, he added. “In real numbers, the public debt for 2013 is expected to be increased by €770 million reaching €16 billion compared to the €15.3 billion estimated for 2012,” Papadopoulos said. For 2012, the state debt is set to be 85.8 per cent of GDP including the recapitalisation needs of the Popular Bank whose request for state support forced the government to request a bailout from its EU and IMF partners. Without the needs of the Popular Bank – now statecontrolled – the state debt comes to 75.7 per cent of the GDP, Papadopoulos said. “We’ve let this crisis expand and grow and here we are now having to ask help from our partners,” said the head of DISY and presidential candidate, Nicos Anastasiades. “We need to transmit a message of collective action and joint responsibility. After all, we know very well that voting the budget is a prerequisite to the completion of our lending agreement,” he added. DIKO’s head Marios Garoyan said that they were faced with a “very harsh dilemma”. “Either accept the terms of our lending agreement and the onerous and unfair measures or else let our country and economy default,” “We stand by our disagreement with the government’s handling of ﬁnances, for the inadequate negotiation with the [international lenders] which does not create any prospects for development that would have driven the island’s real economy,”

EDEK’s George Varnavas said. He added that EDEK would nonetheless vote in favour for the budget because it must support the government in hard times. Although the European party has not previously voted in favour of the current administration’s budget, its head Demetris Syllouris said yesterday he would vote in favour, “but not because I approve of [the government’s] financial policy”. Since the House has already approved tax hikes and salary cuts as austerity measures taken vis-à-vis an EU/IMF bailout, voting against the 2013 budget would be just a “cheap PR stunt,” Syllouris said. “Voting in favour of the budget is not a statement in support of this financial policy,” he added. “We are full of rage and anger,” the Green Party’s George Perdikis said. “We are angry because you have brought an era of poverty and misery, because it looks like you are leading us to an era when debt rules, and because we suspect that despite blaming each other, no one will be punished for the biggest crime against our people since [the Turkish invasion of] 1974,” Perdikis said. The head of ruling party AKEL, Andros Kyprianou, said that though they were not happy about having to agree to the bailout terms, the government had nonetheless secured milder terms. State spending is expected to reach €9.5 billion in 2013, of which €2.6 billion will go to paying civil servants, a reduction of 5.3 per cent compared to this year. Social benefits’ spending will be reduced to €963 million from €1.1 billion, and the budget for development has been reduced to €802 million versus €1.0 billion in 2012. State revenue (without any loans) is expected to come to €7.6 billion Papadopoulos said. The deficit in 2012 is expected to come to 5.75 per cent of GDP, he added. The four-year austerity programme is designed to generate savings of €1.3 billion. Legislators are due to vote on the budget this evening.

The teachers have not been paid since September but have now been promised the money by Friday

Night teachers protest over non-payment of their wages AROUND 25 people, amongst them eveningschool teachers and trade union members, protested yesterday outside the education ministry after not receiving a salary since September. “There are 2,500 teachers belonging to State Education Institutes (KIE) islandwide that have not received wages since September,” said Giorgos Constantinou, acting secretary-general of trade union OEKDY SEK. “For the majority the fact they have not been paid means they could not afford the petrol money to come to Nicosia to demonstrate,” he added. The teachers had threatened last week that if they had not received their salaries by Monday they would protest outside the education ministry. The protest ended after union leaders received reassurances and a promise from Education Minister Giorgos Demosthenous that their salaries would

all be paid by Friday. Constantinou said the ministry prioritised applications from jobless candidate teachers interested in positions in the governmentsubsidised afternoon and evening classes available to the public. They had been receiving unemployment up until September when they started work at the KIE. “You can imagine how difﬁcult it is to survive in this day and age when you don’t receive a salary for three consecutive months,” Constantinou said. “Despite re-assurances from the ministry that they were going to get paid before the holiday period, no payment was received and so they had no choice but to protest,” he added. Ministry ofﬁcial, Stella Theocharous told the Mail this is common practice and in previous years all of the teachers working in KIE would receive their salaries at the end of December.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

World King Ramses III’s throat was slit by assassin

WORLD TODAY Antarctica slice named ‘Queen Elizabeth Land’ BRITAIN named a vast swathe of its Antarctic territory after Queen Elizabeth yesterday, capping a year of Diamond Jubilee celebrations marking the queen’s 60th year on the throne. Newly christened Queen Elizabeth Land, the 437,000km² slice of Antarctica is almost twice the size of Britain and populated almost exclusively by penguins, seals and various bird species. British presence is maintained via three research stations operated by the British Antarctic Survey. “To be able to recognise the UK’s commitment to Antarctica with a permanent association with Her Majesty is a great honour,” Foreign Minister William Hague said. In 1908, Britain became the ﬁrst country to claim Antarctic territory and since then New Zealand, France, Norway, Australia, Chile and Argentina have also lodged ofﬁcial claims although most countries do not recognise them.

ANC re-elects Zuma president SOUTH Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) re-elected President Jacob Zuma as leader of the party yesterday, teeing him up for another seven years as head of state, and it chose businessman Cyril Ramaphosa as his deputy. More than 4,000 ANC delegates crammed into a marquee in the central city of Bloemfontein erupted into wild cheers when Zuma was conﬁrmed in the top party post after comfortably seeing off a challenge by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe. A beaming Zuma then walked on stage to shake hands with his colleagues and members of the party’s election commission.

Mandela is looking better FORMER South African President Nelson Mandela is “looking much better” after being treated for a lung infection and gallstones, but he would remain in hospital for the time being for extra care, a presidency spokesman said yesterday. The country’s ﬁrst black president and anti-apartheid hero, who is 94, was admitted to a Pretoria hospital on December 8 after being ﬂown from his home village of Qunu in a remote, rural part of the Eastern Cape province.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II (centre) sits ﬂanked by British Prime Minister David Cameron (left) and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg as members of the Cabinet pose for a family picture at No 10 Downing Street yesterday. The Queen attended her ﬁrst-ever cabinet meeting to mark her diamond jubilee, the only monarch to do so since 1781. The 86-year-old sovereign sat in as an observer on the meeting and received a gift from the Cabinet to celebrate her 60 years on the throne (AFP)

Newtown goes back to school, guns pulled from shelves Sandy Hook Elementary to remain closed for months By Edward Krudy and Peter Rudegeair STUDENTS returned to school in the shattered Connecticut town of Newtown yesterday for the first time since a gunman’s rampage killed 26 people in an elementary school, reviving the gun control debate in Washington and prompting a retailer to pull guns from shelves. Sandy Hook Elementary, where 20-year-old Adam Lanza gunned down a score of six and seven-year-olds and six adults on Friday, will remain closed. It was an active crime scene, with police coming and going past a line of 26 Christmas trees, one for each victim, decorated with ornaments, stuffed animals and balloons in the school colours of green and white. The rest of Newtown’s schools reopened with grief counselors and police present. The massacre of young children shocked Americans who had grown accustomed to mass shootings, prompting some US lawmakers to call for tighter gun restrictions and pressuring one private equity firm to sell its investment in a gunmaker. In addition, Dick’s Sporting Goods pulled all guns from its store closest to Newtown and suspended the sale of certain semi-automatic rifles in its stores nationwide. “It’s going to be awful, doing the things we used to do,” said Miguel, 16, who stopped by a doughnut shop on his way to Newtown High School. “There’s going to be a lot of tears.” When Sandy Hook students go back to school, it will be at the unused Chalk Hill School in nearby Monroe, where a

sign across the street read, “Welcome Sandy Hook Elementary!” Police have warned it could take months for them to finish their investigation, which was set back because Lanza smashed his computer’s hard drive, preventing police from retrieving any data, The New York Times reported, citing a senior law enforcement official. Investigators have revealed little to nothing about Lanza’s motive. President Barack Obama called for action at a Sunday night prayer vigil in Newtown, and Democratic lawmakers have sought a new push for US gun restrictions, including a ban on assault weapons such as the Bushmaster AR15-style assault rifle used by Lanza. The gunman carried hundreds of rounds of ammunition in extra clips and shot his victims repeatedly, one of them 11 times. He also shot his mother dead before driving to the school, and then killed himself to end the massacre with a death toll of 28. Some Republicans have shown signs

they are willing to at least discuss some gun controls after Newtown. “You are going to have some people (Republicans) who never, never go there,” said Representative Steve LaTourette, an Ohio Republican. “But yes, I think most Republicans are willing to have a very, very serious conversation about what this means and taking a second look at what the Second Amendment means in the 21st century.” The nation’s powerful gun industry lobby, the National Riﬂe Association, has remained silent on the Newtown shooting. US private equity ﬁrm Cerberus Capital Management announced it was selling its investment in gunmaker Freedom Group following pressure from a major investor, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, which said on Monday it was reviewing its investment with Cerberus. CalSTRS, the second largest pension fund in the United States, had invested $751.4 million with Cerberus.

Fewest US states in 20yrs execute NINE US states executed inmates in 2012, the fewest number in 20 years, as several Southern states that usually carry out executions did not put any inmates to death, according to a report released yesterday by a non-proﬁt that tracks death penalty data. “There are still 33 states with the death penalty, but very few are actually regularly carrying out executions,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center and author of the report.

Forty-three inmates were executed this year, the same number as 2011. “Even in the traditional death penalty areas, the death penalty is not being used as much,” Dieter said. “It’s not seen as a normal or regular punishment for a crime,” he added. “It’s very expensive, it takes a long time to get to a death sentence, many are overturned and executions take place 20 years after the sentence. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to invest in something so speculative and far off.”

THE Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses III, whose death has puzzled historians for centuries, had his throat slit in a succession plot concocted by his wife and son, new analysis suggests. New CT scans have revealed a deep and wide cut hidden by bandages covering the throat of the mummiﬁed king, which could not be removed in the interests of preservation, researchers said yesterday. “Finally, with this study, we have solved an important mystery in the history of ancient Egypt,” said Albert Zink, a paleopathologist at the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman in Italy, which led the investigations. During the study at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo researchers also discovered a small amulet inserted into the king’s wound - which Zink said was probably placed by embalmers hoping it would heal the cut in the afterlife. Ramses III reigned over Egypt from roughly 1186 to 1155 BC. The exact cause of his death has been ﬁercely debated by historians. Papyrus documents at the Egyptian Museum in Turin describe a conspiracy by Tiye, one of his wives, to kill the pharaoh so her son Pentawere could succeed to the throne. They suggest the conspiracy failed and all the people involved were punished.

Canada’s massive maple syrup whodunit ends in arrests THE world’s supply of maple syrup just got a little safer. Police in Canada’s Frenchspeaking province of Quebec announced a breakthrough in the mysterious disappearance last August of truckloads of Canadian maple syrup. Three suspects were arrested, vehicles were seized and syrup-making equipment recovered after a manhunt in Canada and the United States, the Quebec provincial police force said yesterday. Canadian news sources said $18 million to $22 million worth of syrup was taken and two-thirds of it was recovered. Five other suspects were still being “actively” sought in the investigation that also netted two elevator carts, four syrup kettles, platform lifts and six electronic scales. The syrup heist was uncovered by a routine inventory check by the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers earlier this year. The federation said the loss was signiﬁcant but did not specify the size of the loss from the warehouse that held 10 million pounds of maple syrup, worth some $30 million. Quebec produces about 75 per cent of the world’s maple syrup.

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, December 19, 2012

World

‘No religion’ third global group By Tom Heneghan PEOPLE with no religious affiliation make up the third-largest global group in a new study of the size of the world’s faiths, placing after Christians and Muslims and just before Hindus. The study, based on extensive data for the year 2010, also showed Islam and Hinduism are the faiths mostly likely to expand in the future while Jews have the weakest growth prospects. It showed Christianity is the most evenly spread religion, present in all regions of the world, while Hinduism is the least global with 94 per cent of its population in one country, India. Overall, 84 per cent of the world’s inhabitants, which it estimated at 6.9 billion, identify with a religion, according to the study entitled The Global Religious Landscape issued by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life yesterday. The “unaffiliated” category covers all those who profess no religion, from atheists and agnostics to people with spiritual beliefs but no link to any established faith. “Many of the religiously unaffiliated do hold religious or spiritual beliefs,” the study stressed. “Belief in God or a higher power is shared by seven per cent of unaffiliated Chinese adults, 30 per cent of unaffiliated French adults and 68 per cent of unaffiliated US adults,” it said. Exact numbers for religious populations are impossible to obtain and

Christianity is largest and most widely spread faith Hindu holy men. Hindus make up the world’s fourth largest group

estimates for the size of the larger faiths can vary by hundreds of millions. This study by the Washingtonbased Pew Forum appears to be one of the most extensive to date. Pew Forum demographer Conrad Hackett said the 2,500 censuses, surveys and population registers used to compile the report did not allow a further breakdown to estimate the world population of atheists and agnostics.

“It’s not the kind of data that’s available for every country,” he said. “A census will typically ask what your religion is and you can identify a number of particular afﬁliations or no religion. An age breakdown showed Muslims had the lowest median age at 23 years, compared to 28 for the whole world population. The median age highlights the population bulge at the point where half the population is

above and half below that number. “Muslims are going to grow as a share of the world’s population and an important part of that is this young age structure,” Hackett said. By contrast, Judaism, which has 14 million adherents or 0.2 per cent of the world population, has the highest median age at 36, meaning its growth prospects are weakest. Hackett noted that Israel, which has 40.5 per cent of the world Jew-

ish population, had a younger age structure than the United States, where 41.1 per cent of the world’s Jews live. Global Christianity’s median age is 30 and Hinduism’s 26. With a median age of 34, the growth prospects for religiously unafﬁliated people are weak, the study showed. The study estimated Christianity was the largest faith at 2.2 billion adherents or 31.5 per cent of the world’s population. The Roman Catholic Church makes up 50 per cent of that total, with Protestants - including Anglicans and non-denominational churches - at 37 per cent and Orthodox at 12 per cent. There are about 1.6 billion Muslims around the world, or 23 per cent of the global population. “The overwhelming majority (87-90 per cent) are Sunnis, about 10-13 per cent are Shia Muslims,” the study said. Among the 1.1 billion unafﬁliated people around the world, over 700 million, or 62 per cent of them, live in China alone, where they make up 52.2 per cent of the Chinese population. The study found that about 405 million people, or about six per cent of the world population, followed folk religions such as those found in Africa and China or among Native American and Australian aboriginal peoples. Christians make up the majority in 157 countries and Muslims in 49, including 19 of the 20 states in the Middle East and North Africa, with the exception of Israel.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

World Russia expects Obama visit despite ‘mini-crisis’ Gunmen shoot five workers from anti-polio campaign By Imtiaz Shah

the “infidel” campaign against polio, said health official Gul Naz, who oversees the project in the area where the women were shot. An anti-polio worker in Karachi was shot dead on Monday, the United Nations said. In the northwestern city of Peshawar yesterday, gunmen on a motorbike shot a 17-year-old girl supervising an anti-polio campaign, said government official Javed Marwar. She died of her wounds in hospital, a doctor said. All of the victims were Pakistanis working with a UN-backed programme to eradicate polio, which attacks the nervous system and can cause permanent paralysis within hours of infection. It has been eradicated in all but a handful of countries but at least 35 children in Pakistan have been infected this year.

U.S. President Barack Obama is likely to visit Russia in the ﬁrst half of 2013 despite a “mini-crisis” in relations over US moves to punish Russians accused of rights abuses, a Kremlin aide said yesterday. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has been angered by the US Congress passing the so-called Magnitsky Act which will bar entry to alleged Russian human rights violators and freeze any assets they hold in the US. Obama signed the legislation last week. But, signalling that the Kremlin does not want the spat to block efforts to improve relations, foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov

said Putin stood by an invitation for the US president to visit Russia. “We reckon that Obama’s visit could take place in the ﬁrst half of next year,” he said. The Russian parliament has given initial approval to a tit-for-tat law barring Americans accused of human rights violations from entering the country, and the “reset” in relations which Obama called for four years ago has not gone as well as hoped. Lawmakers have also proposed banning adoption of Russian children by Americans, a move backed by Russia’s Children’s Rights Commissioner, Pavel Astakhov.

Turkey sees France unblocking EU chapters

Russia moves warships as rebels take Syrian suburb

TURKEY is hopeful France will unblock talks over EU membership on at least two policy chapters in the coming months ahead of a visit by President Francois Hollande, Ankara’s EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis said yesterday. Turkey began talks in 2005 but has only completed one of the 35 policy “chapters” every candidate must conclude to join the EU. All but 13 of those chapters are blocked by France, Cyprus and the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm. While Hollande has stopped short of endorsing Turkey’s EU candidacy, he has said it should be judged on political and economic criteria - a contrast to his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy’s position that Turkey did not form part of Europe.

Yarmouk could serve as base for assault on capital

BLOCKADE “I believe Mr. Hollande is trying to schedule his next couple of months and his plans include coming to Turkey. We are hoping that before he arrives in Turkey he will tell us the good news on lifting the blockade on at least two of those chapters,” Bagis said. He said he expected those two chapters to be on ﬁnancial policy and on regional policy. Asked whether France had speciﬁcally told Turkey it would unblock those two chapters ahead of a visit by Hollande, Bagis said Paris had “indicated” it was “considering” opening them. Accession talks have been blocked by the European Commission which says Turkey does not yet meet required standards on human rights, freedom of speech and religion. Despite the slow progress and waning domestic support, Turkey has continued to push for full membership of the union and has said it wants to join before 2023, the centenary of its founding as a republic.

The proposal has upset Kremlin critics and human rights activists, and two government ministers called yesterday for restraint over such a move. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the ban would be wrong and Education Minister Dmitry Livanov criticised the idea on Twitter. “The logic is like ‘an eye for an eye’, but the logic is wrong, as children could suffer harm if they cannot ﬁnd adoptive parents in Russia,” he said. Both Obama and Putin have signalled, since winning presidential elections this year, that they want US-Russian ties to warm up.

GUNMEN shot five health workers on an anti-polio drive in a string of attacks in Pakistan yesterday, officials said, raising fears for the safety of workers immunizing children against the crippling disease. It was not clear who was behind the shootings but Taliban insurgents have repeatedly denounced the anti-polio campaign as a Western plot. Health officials suspended the immunization campaign in Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city of 18 million people. Three women were killed and a man was wounded in two separate attacks on health workers in Karachi, said senior police superintendent police Imran Shaukat. The team had received telephone calls warning workers they would regret helping

By Erika Solomon RUSSIA sent warships to the Mediterranean to prepare a potential evacuation of its citizens from Syria, a Russian news agency said yesterday, a sign President Bashar al-Assad’s key ally is worried about rebel advances now threatening even the capital. Moscow acted a day after insurgents waging a 21-monthold uprising obtained a possible springboard for a thrust into Damascus by seizing the Yarmouk Palestinian camp, an urban zone 3km from the heart of the city. The Syrian opposition has scored signiﬁcant military and diplomatic gains in recent weeks, capturing several army installations across Syria and securing formal recognition from Western and Arab states for its new coalition. Despite those rebel successes, bloodshed has been rising with more than 40,000 killed in a movement that began as peaceful street protests but has become civil war. Assad’s pivotal allies have largely stood behind him and Iran, believed to be his main bankroller in the conﬂict, said there were no signs of Assad was on the verge of being toppled. “The Syrian army and the state machine are working smoothly,” Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said yesterday. But Russia, Assad’s primary arms supplier, has appeared to waver with contradictory statements over the past week stressing opposition to Assad stepping down and airing concerns about a possible rebel victory. Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted unnamed naval sources yesterday as saying that two armed landing craft,

Vehicles queue at the Masnaa Lebanese border crossing with Syria as people ﬂee into Lebanon a tanker and an escort vessel had left a Baltic port for the Mediterranean Sea. Russia has a naval maintenance base in the Syrian port of Tartus, around 250km northwest of Damascus. “They are heading to the Syrian coast to assist in a possible evacuation of Russian citizens... Preparations for

the deployment were carried out in a hurry and were heavily classiﬁed,” the Russian agency quoted the source as saying. Assad and his minority Alawite sect retain a solid grip on most of the coastal provinces of Tartus and Latakia, where their numbers are high. But the mostly Sunni Mus-

lim rebels now control wide swathes of rural Syria, have seized border zones near Turkey in the north and Iraq to the east, and are pushing hard to advance on Damascus, Assad’s fulcrum of power that sits close to the western frontier with Lebanon. It was not possible to independently verify the Interfax

NBC NEWS TEAM FREED AFTER FIREFIGHT AN NBC news team was freed in Syria during a firefight at an Islamic rebel checkpoint five days after being ambushed and kidnapped by 15 heavily armed gunmen, correspondent Richard Engel said yesterday. Engel, 39, who along with production crew members Ghazi Balkiz and John Kooistra disappeared after crossing into northwestern Syria from Turkey on Thursday, said their kidnappers were members of a militia loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Their ordeal ended when their captors, who frequently moved them bound and blindfolded between safe houses, on Monday night unexpectedly drove into a checkpoint set up by an Islamist rebel group. Two of their kidnappers were killed in the ensuing firefight, and the three spent the night with the Islamist rebels, Engel told the network. The three were kidnapped when they were driv-

ing with anti-Assad rebels in a rebel-controlled area, Engel, an American, told NBC’s Today programme from Antakya, Turkey. A group of about 15 heavily armed men wearing ski masks “jumped out of the trees and bushes on the side of the road,” seized the three and put them in a container truck, Engel said. The gunmen “executed” one of the rebels escorting the news team, Engel said. “Then they took us to a series of safe houses and interrogation places, and they kept us blindfolded, bound,” he said. “We weren’t physically beaten or tortured. It was a lot of psychological torture, threats of being killed,” and mock shootings, he said. “It was a very traumatic experience.” “We tried to joke around a little and keep our spirits up,” Engel said, adding that they could peek under blindfolds but were not allowed to talk.

(AFP)

report, which came a day after Russia confirmed that two citizens working in the Latakia province were kidnapped along with an Italian citizen. About 5,300 Russian citizens are registered with consular authorities in Syria. In Damascus, activists reported overnight explosions and early morning sniper fire around the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk. The Yarmouk and Palestine refugee “camps” are actually densely populated urban districts home to thousands of impoverished Palestinian refugees and Syrians. “The rebels control the camp but army forces are gathering in the Palestine camp and snipers can fire in on the southern parts of Yarmouk,” rebel spokesman Abu Nidal said by Skype. “Strategically, this site is very important because it is one of the best doors into central Damascus. The regime normally does not fight to regain areas captured any more because its forces have been drained. But I think they could see Yarmouk as a red line and fight back fiercely.”

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, December 19, 2012

World

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Business S&P lifts British lawmakers to rubber-stamp bank reform on Friday Greek rating from selective default By Matt Scuffham

RATING agency Standard & Poor’s yesterday raised Greece’s sovereign credit rating to B-minus with a stable outlook from selective default, citing Europe’s efforts to keep the country part of the euro. “The upgrade reﬂects our view of the strong determination of European Economic and Monetary Union (eurozone) member states to preserve Greek membership in the eurozone,” S&P said. “The outlook on the longterm rating is stable, balancing our view of the government’s commitment to a ﬁscal and structural adjustment against the economic and political challenges of doing so,” the agency added.

BURDEN Standard and Poor’s had cut the rating to selective default earlier this month after the Greek government invited private sector bondholders to participate in a debt buyback meant to help lower the country’s debt burden. The rating agency said at the time that the consummation of the debt buyback would likely see the selective default cured. Greece’s major lenders - EU paymaster Germany and the International Monetary Fund - both endorsed the result of the bond buyback. The debt buyback helped convince euro zone partners and the International Monetary Fund to unlock €49.1 billion in aid by the end of March. Moody’s Investors Service rates the country C; Fitch rates Greece CCC. The ratings from all three agencies are speculative.

Rates These Bank of Cyprus rates for telegraphic transfer transactions (spot deals) apply to yesterday, but provide a good guide to today’s value against the euro. Buying Selling Pound St

0.8165 0.8083

US Dollar

1.3237 1.3105

Australian $

1.2651 1.2339

Canadian Dol.

1.3115 1.2791

Swiss Fr

1.2159 1.2013

Denmark Kr

7.5542 7.3676

Japan Yen

111.2586 109.9314

Norwegian Kr

7.4795 7.2949

Polish Zloty

4.1410

4.0388

Romanian Leu 4.5577 4.3789 Russian Ruble 41.2250 40.2071 Swedish Kr

8.8817 8.6624

BRITAIN will get the go-ahead to force banks to shield their routine retail operations from riskier investment banking activities when lawmakers announce the conclusions of an inquiry into banking reform on Friday. The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards will also recommend that the government can resort to a “nuclear option” of breaking up banks if they try to ﬁnd ways around the new rules, commission sources said. Britain is reforming its banks to avoid a repeat of the failures of 2008 when it was forced to pump £45 bil-

lion and £20 billion into Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group respectively to keep them aﬂoat at the height of the global ﬁnancial crisis. The commission, initially set up to examine the conduct of banks following a series of scandals, was asked by Finance Minister George Osborne in October to conduct pre-legislative scrutiny of the government’s Banking Reform Bill. Commission members have expressed concerns over the lack of detail in the bill which they believe makes legislation vulnerable to being watered down if bank lobbyists put pressure on future governments. The commission has considered ways to avoid that and will recom-

mend the threat of full separation if banks don’t comply - an idea supported by several witnesses, including John Vickers, who was the architect of the initial proposals as head of the Independent Commission on Banking. “There is concern over the circumventing or undermining of the ringfence by banks and that, over time, there will be an erosion of the effectiveness of it,” one of the commission sources said. Vickers’ plans are designed to protect the taxpayer by putting a shield around deposits from individuals and small businesses so that they are not at risk in a bank failure and the government is therefore not required to step in to rescue an ailing institution.

However, some committee members, including former British Finance Minister Nigel Lawson, have argued that full separation offers a better remedy and would stop the more aggressive culture of investment banks inﬁltrating retail banks. They believe that culture is partly to blame for the misselling of payment protection insurance by retail banks, which has cost the industry billions of pounds in compensation, and the misselling of unsuitable interest rate swaps to small businesses. The cross-party commission, which is headed by Conservative Andrew Tyrie and also includes the next Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has spent the last three months deliberating over reform of the industry.

World’s central banks look at 2013 with caution, alarm Sweden, Turkey, Hungary cut rates on same day, India may follow suit

Gradual recovery in the second half of next year: ECB President Mario Draghi

By Patrick Lannin and Seda Sezer CENTRAL banks are ending the year by loosening monetary policy further to try and foster a durable recovery in 2013, denoting a measure of alarm about the health of the world economy. Sweden, Turkey and Hungary all cut interest rates yesterday, united by the theme of the damage inﬂicted on their economies by euro zone economic weakness. The success of US budget talks and the twists and turns of the euro zone debt crisis will go a long way to dictating the pace of recovery, while China is likely to stick with its 2012 growth target of 7.5 per cent when it charts a course for 2013. But even if all that plays out without setbacks, policymakers in much of the world expect only a slow grind back with many pitfalls. Sweden’s central bank cut its main interest rate by a

quarter point to 1.0 per cent its lowest level for more than two years - and said it would expected to hold it around that level for the next year. “The weak developments in the euro area are having a clear effect on the Swedish economy,” the Riksbank said. Turkey cut its main policy rate for the first time in more than a year as falling inflation gave it room to step up its fight against a sharper-thanexpected slowdown, after it was the fastest-growing economy in Europe last year. Hungary’s central bank dropped interest rates to a two-year low of 5.75 per cent,

delivering its ﬁfth quarterpoint cut in as many months. Budapest will start 2013 without a ﬁnancial backstop after credit talks with the International Monetary Fund and European Union stalled. Last week, the Federal Reserve launched a new round of monetary stimulus and tweaked its own rule book by indicating interest rates would remain near zero until US unemployment falls to at least 6.5 per cent, a jobless level not seen since 2008. The European Central Bank left rates at a record low 0.75 per cent but by forecasting the euro zone economy could

well contract next year. “We expect domestic weakness to extend into next year with a very gradual recovery in the second half of the year,” ECB President Mario Draghi told European parliamentarians on Monday. In parts of the world, political pressure on central bankers is a developing theme. After Sunday elections, incoming Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe called on the BOJ to boost its monetary stimulus and pressed it to adopt a 2 per cent inﬂation target, double its current price goal, as soon as next month.

India’s central bank kept interest rates on hold yesterday, ignoring government pressure to reduce borrowing costs, but said it was shifting its focus towards boosting a ﬂagging economy, raising the odds of a rate cut as early as January. As with this year, much will rest on the performance of the world’s powerhouse economy; China. The central bank’s head of research said on Monday that China faced no big risk of an inﬂation rebound, nor any major pressure to ease monetary policy aggressively next year.

Ireland against Ryanair Aer Lingus bid US, Europe need five years to recover from jobs crisis THE Irish government has decided to oppose Ryanair’s bid to take over Aer Lingus after studying details of the plan, the country’s transport minister said yesterday in a blow to the budget airline’s ambitions. The European Commission, which is probing the €694 million bid on competition grounds and will have the ultimate say early next year, sent Ryanair a list of objections to the tie-up last month. Ryanair has offered fresh concessions, which include an offer to sell some of Aer Lingus’ landing slots at London’s Heathrow airport to British Airways and slots elsewhere to Flybe, according to a person familiar with the matter. “The Ryanair offer and at least the remedies that are being reported are not sufﬁcient in our view, so we won’t support their bid and, in addition, won’t co-operate with their remedies package,” Transport Minister Leo Varadkar told journalists.

GLOBAL economic growth is expected to remain sluggish in the coming year and will be insufficient to pull countries out of the unemployment crisis many are facing, the United Nations said in a report yesterday. It said under policies now in place it may take at least five years to recover from the job losses in Europe and the United States in the 2008-2009 recession. “A worsening of the euro area crisis, the ‘fiscal cliff’ in the United States and a hard landing in China could cause a new global recession,” said Rob Vos, head of the UN Development Policy and Analysis Division. “Each of these risks could cause global output losses of between one and three per cent.” US President Barack Obama, a Democrat,

is working with Republicans to avert steep tax hikes and deep spending cuts duet to take effect next month. Known as the “ﬁscal cliff,” the measures could trigger another recession. The global economy is expected to grow at 2.2 per cent in 2012, 2.4 per cent in 2013 and 3.2 per cent in 2014, the United Nations said in a report titled World Economic Situation and Prospects 2013. It said that 2.4 per cent “world gross product” growth in 2013 would be “well below potential.” “This pace of growth will be far from sufﬁcient to overcome the continued jobs crisis that many countries are still facing,” the United Nations said.

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Opinion

LETTERS to the Editor Bad banking Contribution of migrants to Cypriot and economic society is complex and extensive practices led to current situation at Orphanides THE BANKS now hold the future of the Orphanides Supermarket chain in their hands, but there does not appear much they can do to save the public company which has debts in the region of €250 million. There is no doubt the banks will want to save the company in order to recoup their money – they are owed €150 million - but the numbers do not add up. In this economic climate the company, which posted losses of €17 million in the ﬁrst nine months of 2012 would not even be able to repay the annual interest rate on its bank loans, let alone start repaying its suppliers to whom it owes €85 million. The funny thing is that the company is using its unsustainable position to put additional pressure on the banks, telling them that if they do not help, with more credit, they will lose all their money. The banks, Laiki and Bank of Cyprus, have only themselves to blame for extending credit to the company long after it made no business sense to do so. The loans may have been secured to some extent, but in effect the banks were keeping aﬂoat a business that had become unviable in the mistaken belief that they were protecting the rest of their loans. This unorthodox banking practice, whereby a bank lends money based on the collateral rather than the viability of the business, is the main reason Cypriot banks are lumbered with so many non-performing loans. It is also bad economics because resources that could have been made available to new businesses or healthy companies for expansion were being used to keep a badly-managed, failing business alive. This was a textbook case of mismanagement of resources and of preventing the market from resolving the problem. In their defence, the banks could argue that they were protecting Orphanides’ suppliers, who were also bank customers, some at risk of going under with the chain if it went bankrupt. All this achieved was to delay the inevitable. Now the company is so deep into debt that there does not seem to be any salvation. Ten of the company’s shops closed down on Monday and some 250 workers were sent home on unpaid leave. These workers were outside the legislature protesting about their treatment yesterday, but the sad thing is that nobody can help them. Nobody will be able to help the rest of the company’s workers either if the chain closes down. It would be a great shame as the workers, in contrast with the company’s banks and suppliers, did nothing wrong.

Want to send a letter? Send letters to the Cyprus Mail by email, fax or post. They should include a full postal address (email address is not sufﬁcient), daytime phone number and reference to any relevant article. Names and addresses may be withheld from publication if circumstances warrant. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Correspondence will be published at the discretion of the editor.

“CYPRUS must act. History tells us that migration has been an essential ingredient of growth and development of many countries. It is already essential to the economic survival of this country. However, unless regulated by appropriate laws and regulations, it entails a high cost in violations of the rights of persons, in social disruption, in reduced productivity, and lost opportunities for economic growth and development” These are words of Patrick Taran, Specialist on International Labour Migration and Governance at a recent conference in Nicosia On December 4, 2000, the United Nations, in view of the growing number of migrants world-wide, decided to declare December 18 as International Migrants’ Day. The reasoning behind this day was, mainly to highlight the positive effects of migration as a social phenomenon on both the countries of origin and the countries of destination, as well as to safeguard the human rights of migrants, irrespective of status. Furthermore, particular emphasis is also given to bilateral agreements between states but also regional and global cooperation and agreements on issues concerning global migration. Migrants’ contribution to Cypriot society has been complex and extensive, far beyond the economy, which is somewhat acknowledged by most. Migrants have played an important part in the development and well-being of Cypriot society in recent years as, for example, in the signiﬁcant improvement of the welfare system, the liberation of women from domesticity and their subsequent mass entrance into the labour market leading to their economic independence, and the improvement of social cohesion in general. Regarding the economy, migrants have been instru-

‘Migrants have played an important part in the development and well-being of Cypriot society’ mental in the production of a large section of Cyprus’ GDP, which was not reﬂected in the beneﬁts they enjoyed. Today, growth and development is acknowledged to be the key to lead us out of the economic crisis, totally disregarding the important role that migrants have played and will continue to play in the future in this development effort. This means creation of jobs for all living in Cyprus irrespective of their country of

origin. The escalation of the economic crisis during the past year has put migrant third-country nationals in a very difﬁcult position since the shrinkage of the economy along with the demagoguery of the presidential candidates and their support groups have produced a very dangerous climate. Moreover, in view of the economic crisis, there is an attempt to violate the legal framework for human rights and the right to equal treat-

ment as it is regulated by the European acquis. Unfortunately, the racist and xenophobic discourse that has been dominant in recent years is also being used and has been embedded in the presidential campaigns discourse of the candidates and their support groups in the upcoming elections of 2013. Cyprus is the only country in the European Union where migrants living and working legally have no equal access to healthcare and social rights. It is populism at its worst when, for the sake of their campaigns, some presidential candidates declare that they will eliminate rights that this country has never granted, despite its legal obligation to do so. We are concerned that the oversimpliﬁcation and continuous rhetoric about the so-called “super privileges” of different isolated and vulnerable social groups. as in the case of [welfare] “beneﬁts”, will seriously undermine free health care generally and is the prologue to its possible privatisation in the future. KISA urges the Republic of Cyprus to re-examine and create a comprehensive migration policy on the basis of equal treatment of each person and the respect of human rights, to proceed to signing and ratifying the International Convention for the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, to proceed to signing and ratifying the International Convention of the Council of Europe on the participation of immigrants in public life at local level and to proceed to signing and ratifying the International Convention of the International Labour Organisation for the Rights of Domestic Workers KISA - Action for Equality, Support, Antiracism

Future exploitation of gas does not invalidate memorandum A few weeks ago I made some comments about the proposal of one of the presidential candidates to use future proceeds from natural gas through the issuance of long-term bonds. Because my comments may have been misunderstood, I would like to clarify my position. Under no circumstances would it be appropriate to use future revenues from natural gas to avoid signing the memorandum that is forcing us to take measures, as painful as they are, in order to ﬁx the banking, ﬁscal, and structural problems of our economy. This adjustment of our economy, again as painful as it is, is necessary if we are to regain our lost credibility and be able to borrow again from the foreign mar-

kets. Any attempt to avoid signing the memorandum at this moment could cause immense damage, destroying our credibility irreparably. The only reason that would justify the use of future revenues from natural gas is to promote growth by providing business loans to citizens for innovative ideas to effectively tackle unemployment, especially among young people. But, as I pointed out a few weeks ago, because of the substantial risks in these bonds (credit, inﬂation, political, social, liquidity and interest rate risks, as well as the risk arising from the uncertainty at the moment around the exact quantities and future price of natural gas), the interest rate that will have to pay will likely be

too high at levels that do not serve our interests and cannot allow us to even service this debt. This proposal of course can be studied, and in the future if circumstances change and the risks to foreign investors are reduced signiﬁcantly then we could discuss the use of some of the revenues from natural gas for development projects either by issuing bonds or shares from the state company that is currently being formed. However, right now it is important to immediately sign the pre-agreed memorandum to avoid state bankruptcy and the collapse of our banking system. And let’s not forget that the loan from troika is long-term (30 years) with a very low interest rate (probably around

2.5%) and a long enough grace period where we will not have to pay interest. Exploitation of natural gas is a major national issue and should be given the proper attention from ofﬁcials. There must be a coherent long-term strategy so that we can achieve the most efﬁcient use of the proceeds from this national wealth. Any hasty decisions under pressure may prove destructive. George Theocharides is an Associate Professor of Finance at Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM).He is also the Director of the MSc in Finance & Banking. George Theocharides Cyprus International Institute of Management

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Showbiz

Hollywood quiet so far on gun control after massacre Major action heroes not speaking out

By Robert Dex

By Jill Serjeant PICK a social cause and you’ll often ﬁnd a Hollywood celebrity speaking out. Gay marriage (Brad Pitt), Darfur (George Clooney), the environment (Robert Redford or Leonardo DiCaprio). Gun control? Not so much. Most of Hollywood’s biggest action movie stars have remained silent, so far, on the divisive issue following last week’s slaying of 20 young children and six adults at a Connecticut school. And pop culture experts say it’s not hard to see why. “If you are known for being a star who carries around weaponry and ﬁres it, when something like this happens, the last thing in the world you want to do is insert yourself ... unless you say you are never going to star in another action-adventure movie,” Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University, said. Longtime gun control advocates like actress Susan Sarandon and Bowling for Columbine documentary director Michael Moore were quick to take to Twitter after Friday’s Connecticut massacre, and tens of thousands of Americans have since signed online petitions urging approval of stricter gun control laws. Yet major action heroes Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Denzel Wash-

Winehouse inquest set to be reheard

Paramount Pictures cancelled Saturday’s premiere in Pittsburgh of new ﬁlm Jack Reacher, in which Tom Cruise plays a cold-blooded former military sniper ington, as well as Pitt and Clooney, have had little or nothing public to say. That may change, according to a veteran public relations executive who handles many Hollywood clients. “I think there will be a very public display of outrage from prominent people in the entertainment world and people wanting to do something about guns,” said the public relations chief who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak for his clients. “I think the stereotypical Hollywood action star not wanting to touch an is-

sue like this may be dated. There is a lot of talk about people wanting to express very public outrage. Let’s see who joins, and how that manifests itself,” he told Reuters. With Hollywood studios again under scrutiny for making violent movies, Paramount Pictures cancelled Saturday’s premiere in Pittsburgh of Tom Cruise’s new ﬁlm Jack Reacher, in which Cruise plays a coldblooded former military sniper. In New York, the Lincoln Center Film Society postponed a Monday screening and conversation with

Cruise “out of respect for the families who lost loved ones in Newtown, Connecticut,” according to a statement. Jack Reacher, which opens with a sniper picking off and killing ﬁve apparently random targets on a riverfront promenade, is due to open in US movie theatres on Friday. Cruise has said nothing publicly about the shootings in Connecticut, and maintained his silence on the subject during a Monday appearance on the Late Show With David Letterman to promote the ﬁlm. Letterman spoke at length about the killings before

Cruise joined him on the set, saying “it’s a sad, sad holiday season.” The talk show host also said that gun laws were not the answer to a “multi-faceted” social ill. “I’m not dumb enough to think that this is a problem of guns, because before there were guns people were killing each other,” Letterman said. Hollywood is often irked when movies and videogames are held to blame for the actions of Americans, some of them with mental health issues, who have run amok with guns in recent years.

Florida man jailed for 10 Affleck: marry out of your league years in ‘hackerazzi’ case A FLORIDA man who pleaded guilty to hacking into the email accounts of celebrities to gain access to nude photos and private information was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a federal judge in Los Angeles. Former ofﬁce clerk Christopher Chaney, 36, said before the trial that he hacked into the accounts of ﬁlm star Scarlett Johansson and other celebrities because he was addicted to spying on their personal lives. Prosecutors said Chaney illegally gained access to email accounts of more than 50 people in the entertainment industry, including Johansson, actress Mila Kunis, and singers Christina Aguilera and Renee Olstead from November 2010 to October 2011. Chaney, who was initially charged with 28 counts related to hacking, struck a plea deal with prosecutors in March to nine felony counts, including wiretapping and unauthorised access to protected computers. “I don’t know what else to say except I’m sorry,” Chaney said during his sentencing. Chaney was ordered to pay $66,179 in restitution to victims. Prosecutors recommended a 71-month prison for Chaney, who faced a maximum sentence of 60 years. Prosecutors said Chaney leaked some of the private photos to two celebrity gossip websites and a hacker. Johansson said the photos, which show her topless, were taken for her then-husband, actor Ryan Reynolds. In a video statement, a tearful Johansson said she was “truly humiliated and embarrassed” when the photos appeared online. Chaney, a native of Jacksonville, Florida, was arrested in October 2011 after an 11-month FBI investigation dubbed ‘Operation Hackerazzi.’

The Argo star still can’t believe he has beautiful wife Jennifer Garner on his arm and says the secret to a successful marriage is choosing someone who is out of your league. He said: “There are two things for a marriage to be good. One is to work hard on it. The other one is to marry above you. And I succeeded at both of those.” The actor-and-director admits his wife is “cool” with his hectic schedule and says he appreciates how she stays up late waiting for him to come to bed so they can brainstorm ideas about whatever new ﬁlm he’s working on. He explained: “My wife is very cool. She knows that directing is consuming in that way. She’s just happy I come home. Usually, I come home after the kids are in bed anyway. We like to chat for a little bit and l’ll talk about the movie and what I’m doing, what I’m thinking or whatever. She’s a good sounding board.”

THE inquest into the death of singer Amy Winehouse will be reheard, according to a spokesman for Camden Council. The Back to Black star was found dead at her north London home last year, aged 27. The move comes after an investigation found Suzanne Greenaway, who oversaw the inquest into Winehouse’s death, did not have the correct qualifications for the role. The new hearing will be at St Pancras Coroner’s Court on Tuesday January 8. Greenaway recorded a verdict of misadventure at the original hearing last year. She was appointed to the role in July 2009 by her husband, Andrew Reid, who was the coroner for Inner North London, after she had worked as a solicitor and barrister in Australia. But she stepped down in November when it emerged she did not have the requisite five years’ experience in the Law Society. Dr Reid resigned from his position this month after the Office for Judicial Complaints (OJC) launched disciplinary proceedings against him. Investigators found he had not “thoroughly” checked his wife had the requisite qualifications for the position. The Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice had indicated their intention to remove Dr Reid from judicial office following the investigation. But despite being entitled to challenge their decision, the senior coroner decided to stand down. During her time as deputy assistant coroner, Greenaway conducted 12 inquests in Camden, but worked largely from Poplar Coroner’s Court in east London. According to British law, Greenaway, who also worked as a nurse in Australia, would have needed either five years with the Law Society or five years of experience as a qualified medical practitioner. She met neither set criteria. A spokesman for the Winehouse family said: “The family were happy with the way the original inquest was conducted and did not request it to be reheard. “This seems to be a matter of procedure and the verdict is not expected to change.”

The singer was found dead at her London home last year

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Education Spain education plan stokes tensions with a restive Catalonia Growing signs in UK that pupils can’t afford to eat

Children going hungry By Alison Kershaw

By Braden Phillips SPAIN’S leader vowed last week to press on with an education reform that has fuelled separatist sentiment in Catalonia, where politicians were closing on a pact that could lead to a vote on independence. Catalan ofﬁcials say the reform, which would require separate classes for students who want to be taught in Spanish, would undo decades of efforts to preserve the Catalan language. The dispute has enraged Catalans just as the two biggest forces in the local parliament attempt to strike a deal which would include a referendum on independence by 2015. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy denied on Friday that his proposed reform threatened languages such as Catalan or Basque, but said he was determined to overhaul Spain’s education system, which has the highest drop-out rate in Europe. “Given the results, there is no argument over the (problems with the) current model,” Rajoy told reporters in Brussels, where he spoke after a European summit. Rajoy also said he was “worried” about news reports of progress in talks between the two biggest groups in the Catalan parliament. Republican Left, or ERC, is trying to agree terms for backing a government run by the centre-right Convergence and Union, or CiU, ahead of an independence vote, local media said. Parties in favour of Catalan independence won a majority in regional elections on November 25, piling uncertainty on Rajoy as he ﬁghts a debt crisis that could force Spain to seek an international bailout. Thousands of people marched throughout Spain last Monday to protest the proposed reform, dubbed the Wert Law after Education Minister Jose Ignacio Wert. The law also proposes mandatory college-admissions tests and allowing gender-segregated schools to receive state subsidies. The biggest demonstrations were in Catalonia, where language has always been a sensitive topic in the centuries-old political tug-of-war between the north-eastern region and Madrid.

CHILDREN in Britain are still turning up to school hungry and skipping meals at lunchtime because they cannot afford to eat, research suggests. Some youngsters have been spotted stealing toast as they are so hungry, and in another case, a teacher found two girls sharing a packed lunch in the school toilets because one had no money for food, according to a report by the Children’s Society charity. The study, based on a survey of around 570 teachers, reveals serious concerns among school staff about the levels of hunger among pupils. Almost three in four (72 per cent) of the teachers surveyed said they have seen pupils coming into school with no lunch and no way to pay for one. Nearly half (45 per cent) said that children are often, or very often, hungry during the school day. The study, conducted with the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and the National Union of Teachers (NUT), also reveals that twothirds (66 per cent) of school staff say that teachers are providing pupils with food or

Charities are asking for extensions to free school meals money for meals if they turn up for lessons hungry. One teacher told researchers: “They come to school and have not had breakfast. They take toast that they have not paid for because they are so hungry.” Another said that they see a “signiﬁcant” number of pupils who do not have a mid-day meal because they have no money. A third teacher reported:

“Last month I found two girls sat on the toilet ﬂoor sharing one’s packed lunch because the other girl had no lunch money.” There were also concerns raised about the size of school lunches, with one teacher working at a school in a deprived area saying that pupils are often given not much more than a teaspoon of rice or cous cous and only one or two cubes of meat. While more than half (58 per

cent) said that lunches were an adequate size, around a third said that they were quite small or inadequate. Earlier this year, ATL raised concerns about portion sizes, suggesting that young children are being served “very small” school dinners and given limited choice despite paying more for their meals. According to The Children’s Society’s ﬁgures, more than half of the 2.2 million children living in poverty in England miss out on a free school meal each day. Of these, around 700,000 are not entitled to one, and a further 500,000 do not take them up because of barriers such as fear of bullying or being stigmatised, the charity said. Matthew Reed, chief executive of The Children’s Society, said: “This report sets out shocking evidence of just how much hardship teachers up and down the country are witnessing in classrooms day in, day out. Something is going badly wrong when teachers themselves are having to feed children. “Every child in poverty should be given a free school meal. Free school meals are key to moving children out of poverty and vital to helping them ﬂourish.” ATL president Hank Roberts said.

schools report FUNecole Educates women for global competitiveness

An ancient settlement and the sea

By Chryso Christodoulou HISTORY came to life for Years 5 and 6 of the American Academy Nicosia Primary School last month when they visited the ancient Neolithic site of Choirokitia followed by a trip to Mare Liberum Nautilus Exhibition in Limassol. At Choirokitia they visited the famous round houses of the ﬁrst humans to settle Cyprus. They explored the archaeological site with its original ruins on the hillside and the reconstructed mud brick and stone homes and storage buildings. They learnt that wild olive tress and carobs would have been growing there in prehistoric time and that the ancient people had cultivated wheat, barley and lentils. They kept sheep and goats and hunted wild deer. They saw stone grinders and storage pots and learnt that the stone walls and doorsteps protected homes against rain and ﬂood water. Moving on to Limassol they visited the Mare Liberum Nautilus Exhibition in the Evagoras Lanitis Centre housed in the old Carob Mill. Stepping into the exhibition the children

Students from the American Academy, Nicosia were enveloped by a world of the Mediterranean Sea in the 16th century. After an informative talk they spent a profitable hour researching the exhibition. They were able to find the answers to questions such as what were the maritime laws governing life at sea at the time; what was life like on board ship; who were the pirates of the day and when were the first charts or portolans made and by whom; how did Cyprus feature on such charts and how do you make a chart when you don’t have a bird’s eye view of a country. They saw models of ships collected by Aristotle Onassis, on loan from the

Hellenic Maritime Museum, Piraeus and two original portolans drawn on animal skin, which had to be kept at a constantly controlled temperature. They learnt which groups were vying for power in the Mediterranean and about important sea battles of that time. Back at school the children will add new items to their timeline. They will work at exploiting the practical experience of their trip, helping them to understand something of the intricate historical relations in the Mediterranean and the important geographical position of Cyprus and its effect on the turbulent history of this very special island.

THE 21st century business environment calls for critical thinking, creative expression and collaborative problem solving. New ways of using knowledge redeﬁnes the business professional. Excellence is now becoming the standard for global competitiveness. Successful companies require a workforce with “exceptional” rather than “adequate” skills. Successful professionals of both genders need to acquire a “global mind set” to face the complex, interconnected and multicultural business environment. However, if women aspire to compete on a global level they must be prepared to modify business plans and work within parameters dictated by varying cultural differences throughout the globe. Successful female professionals must be educated to think creatively, critically and work collaboratively using Information Communication Technologies (ICT) efﬁciently and effectively. In addition, they must learn to balance their professional careers between personal and social responsibility. Over the last several decades, the industrial business model has shifted to knowledge-based economy. Companies’ organisational structures are now less hierarchical and cross collaborative. They fully incorporate the latest technological innovations and are equipped with transparent communication processes that facilitate knowledge management. The entire workforce is now responsible for productivity, innovation and business performance excellence. To prepare the current and the next

generations for the high-skill, high-tech jobs both school curricula and executive education should shift from a “teaching paradigm” towards a “facilitating learning process paradigm”. Emphasis should be given to global awareness and developing civic, health, and environmental literacy skills. In an effort to connect the 21st century classrooms with the real business world, we have developed FUNecole® Creative Learning Environment a recognised best practice curriculum by European Commission’s Institute of Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) and endorsed by Cambridge International Examinations. FUNecole® lessons cultivate the entrepreneurial spirit, inspire youngsters to create, innovate and contribute collaboratively to tomorrow’s workforce. In conclusion, successful businesses require employees that exhibit proﬁciency in problem solving, creative expression and innovative thinking. Continuous on-the-job training should take place to facilitate today’s workforce target for global business sustainability and competitiveness. The real challenges are to prepare early tomorrow’s professionals, and especially girls, for the new upcoming professions that keep redeﬁning the professional arena. Chryso Christodoulou is the CEO of Digipro Computer Consultants, the founder of FUNecole® Research Institute, the developer of FUNecole® Creative Learning Environment and ambassador of the Cyprus Network of Female Entrepreneurship. Email: chryso@funecole.com Website www. funecole.com www.digipro.com.cy

CYPRUS MAIL Wednes

Reportage

Frack on you ur majest gas winner

An anti-fracking demo in Strasbourg

After the British government has said it will grant licences for fracking the Queen and other land owners could be in for more riches reports John Kemp

ER Majesty Queen Elizabeth II could be in line for a windfall now that her government is prepared to start granting licences to frack for shale gas again. In her capacity as the Duke of Lancaster, the Queen owns more than 50,000 acres and subsurface rights to tens of thousands more across northern England, the part of the country that has drawn the most interest from companies hunting for shale gas. Fracking ﬁrms will have to pay to put wells on her property or to drill through the subsurface mineral layers that she owns. Potential payments to the Duchy are just one example of a wider phenomenon. The prospect of widespread fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, has helped set off something of a rush among the owners of ancient mineral rights to register them ahead of an October 2013 deadline set by the Land Registration Act, in order to claim possible compensation. The Duchy of Lancaster, which dates back to the 14th century, is separate from the Crown Estate, historical land holdings and other royal possessions. Revenue from that property goes to the government in exchange for an annual payment to help cover the costs of running the monarchy. The Duchy holds assets in trust to provide an income for the Queen and her successors as sovereign. In March 2012, it had assets valued at £405 million and was providing an annual income of £13 million, which the Queen uses to meet her private expenditure and ofﬁcial expenditure incurred as sovereign. The Duchy has valuable com-

mercial property in central London (clustered around the ancient manor of the Savoy around the Embankment and the Strand) as well as in northern England. But the major part of its landholding, in terms of surface area, is held as rural estates spread across the counties of Lancashire (10,000 acres), Yorkshire (16,000 acres), other parts of northern England and the Midlands. In addition, over the centuries when the Duchy sold off some of its holdings, it reserved ownership of the subsurface mineral rights. As a result, it also owns mineral rights beneath tens of thousands more acres across the north of England,

emphasise the importance of protecting these interests,” the Duchy explained in its annual report. “The Land Registration Act has necessitated mineral owners to register their titles with the Land Registry, and the Duchy has been doing this in respect of both its surface and mineral ownership.” Fracking has set off a modern land rush. According to the Daily Telegraph newspaper: “The Duke of Northumberland, Duke of Bedford and Earl of Lonsdale have all registered manorial rights. Ordinary people who live in manor houses or old rectories may also have ‘lordships of the manor’ and therefore own mineral rights in the area.”

‘Mineral interests are a relatively small element of the Duchy portfolio, but windfall opportunities do emphasise the importance of protecting these interests’ even though the surface is now owned by others. Mineral rights and royalties produced an income of just $270,000 in the year ended March 2012. However, like other major landowners, including the Church of England, the Duchy has been busy registering its historic ownership of these mineral rights ahead of the deadline set by the Land Registration Act. “Mineral interests are a relatively small element of the Duchy portfolio, but windfall opportunities do

(“Lords of the manor to cash in on fracking” November 2012) Like other private landowners, the Duchy of Lancaster does not own the oil and gas found under its estates or as a result of its reserved mineral rights. In contrast to the United States, where oil and gas deposits are in private ownership and the owner receives royalties from fracking ﬁrms for extracting them, in the United Kingdom petroleum resources are in state ownership.

Under the 1934 Petroleum Production Act, all oil and gas deposits are owned by the Queen in her ofﬁcial capacity as “the Crown”, which in practice means they are government property. Section 1 of the Act states: “The property in petroleum existing in its natural condition in strata in Great Britain is hereby vested in His Majesty, and His Majesty shall have the exclusive right of searching and boring for and getting such petroleum”, which means oil and natural gas. Licences to explore and exploit oil and gas resources onshore are granted by the government. But “the rights granted by the landward licences do not include any rights to access, and the licensees must also obtain any consent under current legislation, including planning permission,” according to the British Geological Survey. So anyone wanting to get at the oil and gas must negotiate with the surface owner for permission to drill a well and build other facilities such as access roads and storage tanks. If the surface owner refuses, the driller must apply for a court order under the 1966 Mines Act to acquire the ancillary rights needed to get access to the oil and gas and pay what the court rules to be appropriate compensation. As a major landowner in the north of England, the Duchy of Lancaster will be able to charge anyone who wants to drill on surface land it owns. Under a recent court ruling, however, it may also be able to charge anyone who wants to drill through the underground areas it

owns, even if they build surface facilities on someone else’s land. In 2009, in a case that pitted Star Energy against Bocardo, a company ultimately owned by wellknown businessman Mohammed Al-Fayed, the Court of Appeal ruled that Star had to pay compensation for trespass for drilling a deviated

The Queen uses the Duchy i to cover costs incurred as so

sday, December 19, 2012

17 Whatson

18-19

TV & puzzles

20-21

Sport

28-32

ty, you may be be a shale The sultan of Brunei’s riches will still be out of her league

Reason to be cheerful: the Duchy sits on considerable below surface wealth

Well known businessman Mohammed Al-Fayed

As a major landowner in the north of England, the Duchy of Lancaster will be able to charge anyone who wants to drill on surface land it owns (angled) oil well under Bocardo’s property, even though the well started on someone else’s land and was at least 800 feet below the surface when it entered the area under Bocardo’s land. “I reach this conclusion with reluctance,” the judge explained. “The trespass is purely technical,

ncome overeign

because it did not interfere with Bocardo’s use or enjoyment of its land one iota. Moreover, Bocardo has lost no rights because it neither owned the oil that has been removed from strata within its land; nor did it have the right to search, bore for and get such petroleum. Those rights belonged exclusive-

ly to the Crown and its licensee (Star)”. Nonetheless, even though Star possessed a licence, it still needed to negotiate Bocardo’s permission to drill through all the other layers and minerals Bocardo owned underneath its property or apply to court and pay compensation. Hav-

ing failed to do either, Star was ordered to pay £1,000. But that was for using three pipelines beneath Bocardo’s land at depths between 800 and 2,800 feet below the surface, and extending just 500-700 metres below Bocardo’s Oxted estate. Fracking will employ much longer horizontal wells and affect much bigger areas of the subsurface. The compensation required could be correspondingly larger.

Since the Duchy of Lancaster owns the mineral rights across large swathes of the north of England, frackers will have to negotiate appropriate payments to drill through all the strata it owns (including for example the coal deposits it has been busy registering). In contrast to conventional oil and gas ﬁelds, which have a fairly limited impact on the surface and cover a restricted underground area, fracking involves drilling a much larger number of wells with horizontal sections extending thousands of feet. It has a very large footprint on both the surface and the subsurface, and a corresponding increase in compensation payments to a large number of land owners. Revenues from fracking are unlikely to put the Queen’s personal income on a par with the sultan of Brunei, and she should probably not starting ordering a new Royal Yacht, but they could make a small addition towards the cost of running her household.

A fracking drill in operation

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

What’s on

films

(K) All Audiences (12/15/18) No admittance to Under-12s/ 15s/ 18s (N/A) Not Available

NICOSIA The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 1) at 7 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3.30pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 1) at 7 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 11.30am and 3.30pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Seven Psychopaths (18) K-Cineplex (Screen 4) at 5.35, 7.50 and 10.20pm, weekends also at 3.25pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 4) at 5.35, 7.50 and 10.20pm, weekends also at 11.15am, 1.20pm and 3.25pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Shadow Dancer (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 6) at 5.35 and 7.50pm, weekends also at 3.30pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Hotel Transylvania (K) K-Cineplex (Screen 3) (in Greek, in 3D) at 5.35pm, weekends also at 3.30pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 3) (in Greek, in 3D) at 5.35pm, weekends also at 11.30am, 1.30pm and 3.30pm. Tel: 7777-8383

Lawless (15) K-Cineplex (Screen 6) at 10.20pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Rise of the Guardians (K) K-Cineplex (Screen 2) (in Greek, in 3D) at 5.30pm, weekends also at 3.25pm; K-Cineplex (Screen 5) (in English, in 2D) at 5.30, 7.50 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3.25pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 2) (in Greek, in 3D) at 5.30pm, weekends also at 11.20am, 1.20pm and 3.25pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 5) (in English, in 2D) at 5.30, 7.50 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 11.20am, 1.20pm and 3.25pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Killing Them Softly (18) K-Cineplex (Screen 2) at 10.15pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 2) at 10.15pm. Tel: 7777-8383 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 3) at 7.45 and 10.15pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 3) at 7.45 and 10.15pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Skyfall (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 2) at 7.40pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 2) at 7.40pm. Tel: 7777-8383 The General Eirini Hall (Peace Room) at 7.30pm. Tel: 99-434923

CINEMA WEBSITES: K-Cineplex: http://kcineplex.com, Friends of the Cinema Society: http://www.ofk.org.cy

Wild Strawberries (in Swedish, call for details of subtitles) Eirini Hall (Peace Room) at 9pm. Tel: 99-434923

LIMASSOL The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (12) Rio 2 at 7.45pm, weekends also at 4.30pm; Rio 3 at 10.20pm. Tel: 25-871410; K-Cineplex (Screen 1) at 7 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3.30pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Seven Psychopaths (18) Rio 1 at 7.45 and 10pm, weekends also at 3 and 5.15pm. Tel: 25-871410 Shadow Dancer (12) Rio 6 at 7.45pm, weekends also at 5.30pm. Tel: 25871410; K-Cineplex (Screen 5) at 5.35 and 7.50pm, weekends also at 3.30pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Hotel Transylvania (K) Rio 3 (in Greek, in 3D), weekdays at 5.50pm, weekends at 3.30 and 5.30pm. Tel: 25-871410; K-Cineplex (Screen 3) (in Greek, in 3D) at 5.35pm, weekends also at 3.30pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Lawless (15) Rio 4, weekdays at 10pm, weekends at 10.10pm. Tel: 25871410; K-Cineplex (Screen 5) at 10.20pm. Tel: 7777-8383

Rise of the Guardians (K) Rio 4 (in English, in 2D), weekdays at 7.45pm, weekends at 3, 4.50, 6.35 and 8.20pm; Rio 2 (in Greek, in 3D), weekdays at 5.50pm, weekends at 2.50pm only. Tel: 25871410; K-Cineplex (Screen 2) (in Greek, in 3D) at 5.30pm, weekends also at 3.25pm; K-Cineplex (Screen 4) (in English, in 2D) at 5.30, 7.50 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3.25pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Killing Them Softly (18) Rio 2 at 10.45pm. Tel: 25871410; K-Cineplex (Screen 2) at 10.15pm. Tel: 7777-8383 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (12) Rio 5 at 7.45 and 10.05pm, weekends also at 5.30pm. Tel: 25-871410; K-Cineplex (Screen 3) at 7.45 and 10.15pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Taken 2 (12) Rio 6 at 10.10pm. Tel: 25871410 Skyfall (12) Rio 3 at 7.35pm. Tel: 25871410; K-Cineplex (Screen 2) at 7.40pm. Tel: 7777-8383

LARNACA The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 1) at 7 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3.30pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Seven Psychopaths (18) K-Cineplex (Screen 4) at 5.35, 7.50 and 10.20pm, weekends also at 3.25pm. Tel: 7777-8383

Music Elvis & Elton Christmas Concert Chris King as Elvis Presley, Andrew Oliver as Elton John in a fast paced stage show. December 19. Yialos Restaurant, Pissouri Bay. Dinner 7.30pm, showtime 8.30pm. €20 including dinner. Reservations essential - Tel: 99-832538 Christmas with Tale Concert with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra. December 19. Larnaca Municipal Theatre. 8.30pm. €12/7 free for under 18s old. Tel: 24-665795 Maiden United One of the most popular Iron Maiden tribute bands play live. December 19. Barrel House, 3 Ioanni Sikoutri Street, Larnaca. 9pm. €10. Tel: 99-331088

Tomorrow Exhibition Group Exhibition Christmas bargains in paintings, sculpture, jewellery and much more. December 20 until December 23. Gallery Technis Dromena, Arch. Kyprianou, Nicosia. 12pm-8pm. Tel: 22-496398

Hotel Transylvania (K) K-Cineplex (Screen 3) (in Greek, in 3D) at 5.35pm, weekends also at 3.30pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Lawless (15) K-Cineplex (Screen 6) at 10.20pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Rise of the Guardians (K) K-Cineplex (Screen 2) (in Greek, in 3D) at 5.30pm, weekends also at 3.25pm; K-Cineplex (Screen 5) (in English, in 2D) at 5.30, 7.50 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3.25pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Killing Them Softly (18) K-Cineplex (Screen 2) at 10.15pm. Tel: 7777-8383 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 3) at 7.45 and 10.15pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Skyfall (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 2) at 7.40pm. Tel: 7777-8383

PAPHOS The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (12) Rio 1 at 7.30pm, weekends also at 11am and 4pm; Rio 6, weekdays only at 5.30pm; Rio 7 at 9.30pm. Tel: 26-207000

Seven Psychopaths (18) Rio 5 at 5.30, 7.45 and 10pm. Tel: 26-207000 Hotel Transylvania (K) Rio 1 (in Greek, in 3D), weekdays only at 5.30pm; Rio 3 (in Greek, in 2D), weekends only at 4 and 5.45pm; Rio 6 (in Greek, in 3D), weekdays at 8.30 and 10.15pm, weekends at 11am, 2.40, 4.30, 6.20, 8.10 and 10pm. Tel: 26207000 Lawless (15) Rio 2 at 9.45pm. Tel: 26207000 Rise of the Guardians (K) Rio 4 (in English, in 2D) at 5.30pm, weekends also at 11am and 3.30pm; Rio 7 (in Greek, in 3D), weekdays at 5.50 and 7.40pm, weekends at 11am, 3.30, 5.30 and 7.30pm. Tel: 26-207000 Killing Them Softly (18) Rio 1 at 10.30pm. Tel: 26207000 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (12) Rio 3, weekdays at 7.30 and 9.45pm, weekends at 7.45 and 10pm. Tel: 26-207000 Taken 2 (12) Rio 2 at 7.30pm, weekends also at 5pm. Tel: 26-207000 Skyfall (12) Rio 4 at 7.30 and 10pm. Tel: 26-207000

listings

Skyfall

Today

Shadow Dancer (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 6) at 5.35 and 7.50pm, weekends also at 3.30pm. Tel: 7777-8383

Music Christmas with Tale Concert with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra. December 20. Strovolos Municipal Theatre, Nicosia. 8.30pm. €12/7 free entrance for children and students under 18 years old. Tel: 22-313010 Jazz Night Live jazz music with Charis Ioannou trio. Buy two Glenfiddich of the same age and get the third one free. December 20. Finbarr’s, 52B Makarios Ave, Nicosia. 9pm. 22-376625 28th Pancyprian Christmas Carol Festival Christmas programme featuring choirs from the Nicosia district. December 20. Pallas Theatre, old Nicosia. 8pm. €5

Other Events Mag Dossier #01 A celebration of contemporary magazine publishing featuring magazines from across the world. Opens December 20, 8pm until January 26. Phytorio, Municipal Garden of Nicosia, 2 Nehrou. Tuesday-Friday: 10am-1pm and 4pm-7pm. Saturday: 10am-1pm. Tel: 22-681088

Ongoing Other Events First International Christmas Fair Includes a wide range of events and concerts for families and children. December 14-Janaury 1. Christmas Fair, Sea Road, Between McDonalds and Pascucci Café, Yermasoyia. All day event. Tel: 97-745594 European Political Thought A series of seminars to be presented by Dr Eleni Papamichael, followed by a discussion. Participants to more than six seminars will be awarded Diplomas of Attendance. Until January 23. M106 (Millennium building 1st floor) at the University of Nicosia 8.45pm. Every Wednesday. €50. Monitoring individual lectures €10. Tel: 22-841600/ 99-536311 and/or cceia@unic.ac.cy 7 films: Harun Farocki A selection of screenings by legendary German filmmaker, critic and teacher followed by discussion and talk with the artist. Within the framework of the opening ceremony of a new contemporary art centre. Until February 15. Point Centre for Contemporary Art Megaron Hadjisavva, 2 Evagorou Street, Nicosia. Every Wednesday through Sunday from 11am-5pm. Tel: 22-662053.

Bidoun Library A mobile library consisting of books, magazines and other printed matter about the Middle East. Within the framework of the opening ceremony of a new contemporary art centre. Until February 15. Point Centre for Contemporary Art, 2 Evagorou Street, Nicosia. Tel: 22-662053. info@pointcentreforcontemporaryart.com

Theatre 4 one-act plays Plays seamlessly tied together with live music, in a natural scenic space in a beautiful restored mansion at Lympia. Until December 19. Shilas Mansion, 4 Dimokratias Street, Lympia, Nicosia. Every Wednesday at 8pm. €5 with free drinks. Tel: 99-787090 Death and the Maiden Satiriko Theatro presents play by Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman. Until December 21. Vladimiros Kafkarides Cultural Centre, 11-15 Vladimiros, Kafkarides Street, Aglantzia, Nicosia. Every Wednesday and Friday at 8.30pm. In Greek. Tel: 22-312940/22-421609 11:16 Anemona Theatre presents a mystery by C. G. Wilson. Until December 23. Anemona Theatre, 7 Archagelou Street, Latsia, Nicosia. Every Friday and Saturday at 8.30pm and Sunday at 8pm. In Greek. €10. Tel: 22-573031

Shakespeare in an Hour Pirasmos Productions presents the theatrical comedy. Until December 23. Pantheon Art Cinema, 29 Diagorou Street, Nicosia. Thursday through Sunday at 8.30pm. In Greek. Tel: 70-001910 Misery Stephen King’s psychological thriller staged by Satiriko Theatre. Every Friday and Saturday. Until December 29. Vladimiros Kafkarides Cultural Centre, 11-15 Vladimiros Kafkarides Street, Aglantzia. Every Friday at 8.30pm and Saturday at 11pm. In Greek. Tel: 22312940/22-421609. email: satiriko@ cytanet.com.cy. www.satiriko.com Just Broken Up Act Theatre presents play by Vassilis Myrianthopoulos & Vangelis Hatzinikolaou. Cyprus Dialect Adaptation by Christiana Artemiou. Until January 6. Latsia Municipal Theatre, 57 Yiannos Kranidiotis Avenue, Nicosia. On specific days at 8.30pm and 6pm on Sundays. €20. Tel: 77-777181 The Elephant Man Theatro Ena presents a play by Bernard Pomerance, translated and directed by Andreas Christodoulides. Until January 27. Theatro Ena, 4 Athinas Avenue, Nicosia. Every Friday through Sunday at 8.30pm. In Greek. €15/12. Tel: 22-348203

Social Security THOC presents a play by Andrew Bergman. Until January 27. THOC New Theatre Building, 9 Gregori Afxentiou, Nicosia. Friday through Sunday. Friday & Sunday at 8.30pm, Saturday at 6pm and 8.30pm. Tel: 77-772717/22-864300

Exhibitions A Balancing Act Solo art exhibition by Kostas Neofitidis. Until December 19. Famagusta Gate, old Nicosia. Open daily: 10am1pm and 4pm-8pm. Closed November 26 & 29, December 12 & 28. Tel: 22-797650 Each Scarf Tells the Story of a Missing Person Exhibition of scarves embroidered by the relatives of missing persons in Mexico. Until December 21. the Cyprus Community Media Centre (CCMC), in nest to the Ledra Palace Hotel, Nicosia Buffer zone Tel: 22662269/+90-392-2280654 Alexandros G. Michaelides Solo painting exhibition. Until December 21. Blob Creative Space, Arch Makariou, City Plaza, Second Floor, Nicosia, Monday-Saturday: 2pm-7pm. Tel: 99-657277

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, December 19, 2012

19 To have your event included for FREE in our listings, send details to: Arts Editor, Cyprus Mail, PO Box 21144, Nicosia. Fax: 22-676385. Email: whatson@cyprus-mail.com Please send your information as early as possible. Include full details, a contact number and good quality photos

The art of the magazine

We love mags: over 30 magazines will be on display for your viewing ewing pleasure. From Frrom o left: Kaleidoscope, S Strike!, Randy, Shoppinghour Magazine. Inset below left: Little Joe and (right) The Outpost

WITH ALL the recent talk about the demise of print media, it is refreshing to see a new exhibition celebrating contemporary magazine publishing. The exhibition entitled Mag Dossier is organised by the Visual Artists Association (Cyprus) and hosted by The Cyprus Dossier at the Phytorio in the Municipal Garden of Nicosia from tomorrow until January 26. During this time lovers of the printed medium can head to the exhibition and browse beautifully printed, exceptionally designed, carefully edited and visionary magazines from across the world. The future of magazines has been in question for many years now, with the development of new technology and a demand for faster more accessible information it’s clusion that we’re easy to come to the conclusion living in a relatively “printt unfriendly rominent climate” when several prominent papers and magazines have ates seen their subscription rates ny fall dramatically and many others have even gone out of business. While e content remains king, the hift solution, it seems, is a shift ums and away from printed mediums towards online content, which boasts e methods of obsimple, fast and effective

Tonight Music Acoustic Maidens AFTER their successful performance last January, Maiden uniteD return to Barrel House in Larnaca for another performance this evening. Maiden uniteD are one of the most popular Iron Maiden tribute/cover bands in the world. We all have a favourite band or act, however, most us will never get to see them play live for one reason or another. A tribute band or act ﬁlls the void, bringing the music and the atmosphere of that band or act to the stage.

n. taining information. ional And yet, the traditional printed version of magazines remain the preferred mption. method of consumption. he expeMagazines offer the g with rience of engaging ar exinformation that far ceeds that of any other medium. People who ngible appreciate the tangible nology for may rely on technology fast responses to our daily desires, he emotional experience but it cannot top the d off a wellll prowe attain when at th the h hands duced magazine. Furthermore, the nostalgia of print media is worth saving. y The exhibition at Phytorio is meant to showcase magazines being be published today, and is a great exa example of the continued interest in printe printed material and the com vitality of the community of pubcreat lishers creating this material. The w works on view rep represent a broad arra of international array titles – from newspape style mags to paper image-o image-only photography magazine to conceptual magazines proj design projects.

In 2006 the Dutch Iron Maiden fanclub asked Joey Bruers to do a special show; something other than the regular tribute or cover band. With musicians from several bands, he performed a set of rearranged acoustic Maiden songs. The reaction from the crowd was overwhelming and the idea became a show then became a project: Maiden uniteD. There’s cover bands and there’s cover bands. While most of them try desperately to look and sound as much like the original as possible, Maiden uniteD is different, rather than limiting themselves to simply playing Iron Maiden music, they have reinvented it. Maiden uniteD re-arranged Iron Maiden music to make it work with acoustic instruments, transforming their music into almost jazzy pieces. Maiden uniteD, who impressed

i It’s important to note that these ma magazines assembled here t at this exhibition, are not your run of the mill printed matth one would ﬁnd at your ter that local kiosk, these contemporary magaz magazines provide some of the ex most exciting examples of current magazin publishing, demonstratmagazine b ing the breadth of creative thought going into print today. Examples of what you can ﬁnd on inclu The Alpine Review, a display include co bi-annual, comprehensive magazine th t tracks t k changes h that in thought, systems and creations around the world; The Travel Almanac, a Berlin and New York-based print publication focusing on travelling and temporary habitation; or White Fungus, an art magazine based in Taichung City, Taiwan.

Coming Up Music Greek rembetika with a twist WHEREHAUS 612 is hosting a spectacular extravaganza with local group Trio Tekke this Saturday that is sure to be a hit. If you haven’t had the chance to see them before, make sure to do so this weekend. The neo-Rembetika group has surged onto the scene in the past few years with their experimental approach to the ‘Greek blues’ and with their own distinctive compositions. While retaining musical elements of the old style, and delivering with swagger and passion, they play with new sonorities, fusing different styles and writing from their own modern-day experiences; they are forging their own path in a music which is captivating people’s attention around the globe. Their ﬁrst release Ta Reggetika (2009) has earned them an underground cult status, with its grainy sound and infectious groove. Their second album, Samas (2011), earned them a Battle of the Bands award on World Music Network and a nomination for Best Newcomer Act for the 2012 Songlines Awards. It has received huge praise in the UK and European press and is set to become a breakthrough album. Trio Tekke consists of Antonis Antoniou (voice, tzouras), Lefteris Moumtzis (voice, guitar) and Colin Somervell (double bass). At the event this weekend Trio Tekke will perform songs from their albums as well as new unreleased songs. The concert will then be followed by a party with the DJs Koulla P Katsikoronou, Lefto and SS Karamazov. Trio Tekke Local group live in concert. December 22. WhereHaus 612, 5 M5 Michael Kousoulide, p Pallouriotissa Industrial Area,, Nicosia. 9pm. €10. Tel: 99-188248

Mag Dossier #01 A celebration of contemporary magazine publishing featuring magazines from across the world. Opens December 20, 8pm until January 26. Phytorio – Visual Artists Association Municipal Garden of Nicosia, 2 Nehrou. Tuesday-Friday: 10am-1pm and 4pm-7pm. Saturday: 10am-1pm. Tel: 22-681088 By Ledha Socratous

legendary Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris at their very ﬁrst concert, are currently touring Europe again for their second album. Following their performance tonight the group are off to the Netherlands for three shows, before heading off to Greece in the New Year. For their show in Larnaca, expect the band to take the best of the original tracks and add their unmistakable stamp of Maiden uniteD all in a live environment. Iron Maiden fans apart from those with severe aversions to acoustic music, should enjoy every note of this. Maiden United One of the most popular Iron Maiden tribute/ cover bands in the world play live. December 19. Barrel House, 3 Ioanni Sikoutri Street, Larnaca. 9pm. €10. Tel: 99-331088

For a full listing of the day’s events see facing page

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Television CYBC 1 06.45 08.15

Proti Enimerosi Kali Sas Mera Local variety show, with entertainment options, cookery tips and more.

11.00 11.30

Kaftes Piperies (rpt) Istories Tou Horkou (rpt) Local comedy series, which happens to be the longest-running show on TV.

12.00

CYBC 2 07.00 08.00 16.30 17.00 18.00 18.50 19.00 19.10

Apo Mera Se Mera Current affairs show.

15.30 16.00 18.00 18.15

Entehnos Mazi Sto CyBC News Kaftes Piperies

20.10 21.00

Paizoume Kypriaka New season of local game show, asking questions having to do with Cypriot dialect.

19.20

Moiraia Fengaria Local drama series inspired by Maro Kranidioti’s book ‘Otan i Moira Apofasizei’.

20.00 21.15

22.45

Presidential Elections 2013 No details supplied, but presumably one or more of the candidates talking in the studio.

23.30 23.45

News Repeats

06.30 06.50 07.00

Highlights of the Final of Euro 2004 (Greece vs. Portugal), followed by Holland vs. France from Euro 2008.

12.10 13.00 13.20 14.00

NRG Zone FILM: Top Gun

14.50

07.50 08.40 09.30 10.25 11.15

15.45 16.40 17.30

23.30

18.30 19.30 20.15 21.15 22.10

MINI-SERIES: Whitechapel

23.15

Aiyia Fuxia (rpt) Niose Me News Vals Me 12 Theous Ekeino To Kalokairi Oikonomahies

00.10 00.15 00.30

News Sports News Radio Arvila

Financial programme.

Greek live parody show, with live music.

Kati Psinetai (rpt) Five amateur Greek chefs compete and rate each other on performance.

00.15

Proini Enimerosi Me Agapi Deliyianneio Parthenagogeio (rpt) Englimata (rpt) Lyke, Lyke Eisai Edo (rpt) FTHIS Panselinos (rpt) Ekeino To Kalokairi (rpt) Niose Me (rpt) News Mera Mesimeri Constantinou kai Elenis (rpt) To Kafe tis Haras (rpt) Oneiropagida (rpt) Vals Me 12 Theous (rpt) Ekeino To Kalokairi (rpt) With News at 18.00.

British crime series. Part 3 of 3. Chandler, Miles and the team are forced to play the Kray twins at their own game, with the body count rising and no tangible evidence against the pair.

News Vimata Stin Ammo Third season of local period drama, based on true events.

22.00

NRG Zone Kids’ TV Jamie’s Family Christmas Kati Psinetai (rpt) Kato Apo Ton Idio Ourano (rpt) News in English News in Turkish UEFA Euro 50 Classic Matches

Arrogant young pilot’s maverick ﬂying skills earn him a place in an elite US Navy squadron, where he comes into conﬂict with fellow students and falls for a (female) tutor. Smashhit action drama, starring Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis. 1986

Live cookery show.

18.45

ANTENNA

01.40 02.30

Repeats

03.20 04.40

Synora Agapis (rpt) I Agapi Irthe Apo Makria (rpt) News Deal (rpt)

MEGA 06.15 06.40 07.00

Emeis Ki Emeis (rpt) Diktiotheite Kai Exelihtheite Koinonia Ora Mega A revamped version of its predecessor (Koinonia Ora 8). Current affairs show that examines the issues affecting everyday people in Greece and abroad.

08.00 10.00 12.45 14.00 15.00

Nea Mera Proino Mou Enimerosi Tora Klemmena Oneira (rpt) Eheis Meson Local investigative show looking at alleged abuses of power, often reported by viewers.

16.00 18.00 18.10

Yia Sena News Master Chef

SIGMA 06.10 07.00 08.20 10.20 11.10 12.00 14.20 15.20 18.00 18.05 18.30

Latin American telenovela.

19.30

20.15 21.15 22.10 23.10 00.00 00.50 01.30 03.30 04.30 05.40

Eftyhismenoi Mazi (rpt) News Klemmena Oneira Enoha Mystika Anonymous (rpt) News I Apli Methodos Ton Trion Yia Sena (rpt) Charlie’s Angels Proino Mou (rpt) I Dipsa (rpt)

7 Ouranoi kai Synnefa Alites Local drama series.

20.20 21.15

News Aspra Balonia

06.45 07.20 07.50 09.00 09.30 10.55 11.50 12.30 13.00 15.30 17.15 17.50 19.40 21.15 22.00

22.20

60 Lepta Local investigative show. Today featuring an interview with the Attorney General, Petros Clerides.

23.30

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (rpt) An elite team of police forensic evidence investigation experts work their cases in Las Vegas. Interrupted by News at 00.40.

01.20 02.20 03.10 04.00 04.30

Dekati Entoli (rpt) Alithinoi Erotes (rpt) Mila Mou (rpt) Otan Megaloso (rpt) Eleni (rpt)

Classic Cartoons Fotis - Maria Live Best Of Mesimeriani Meleti Best Of Exelixeis Sti Showbiz Mila (rpt) Nistikoi Praktores (rpt) Classic Cartoons Star News Mesimeriani Meleti Kids’ TV Exelixeis Sti Showbiz Fotis - Maria Live Mila Exelixeis Sti Showbiz The Closer Fifth season. ‘Elysian Fields’. Brenda and the team investigate the death of a man who was the prime suspect in the murder of two girls 10 years before, prompting a detective to come out of retirement to help with the case.

Local drama series.

Greek cookery show.

19.20

The Del Monte Heirs (rpt) Protoselido Eleni Vasiliki (rpt) 7 Ouranoi kai Synnefa Alites (rpt) Mesimeri Kai Kati Aspra Balonia (rpt) Magazino News Ti Tha Fame Simera Mama The Del Monte Heirs

PLUS TV

22.45

06.45 08.15 08.45 09.30 10.00

17.30 18.15

Kids’ TV Magikos Kosmos S’Agapo (rpt) Akti Oneiron Ston Asterismo Tis Imeras Kouzina Me Apopsi Ygeia & Zoi Milagros Kids’ TV Top Models S’Agapo Sabrina, To Koritsi Tis Agapis Akti Oneiron Paciﬁc Blue

19.15 19.50 20.05 21.00

News Sports Time Epi Topou FILM: Breakaway

11.00 11.30 12.30 13.25 14.50 15.45 16.40

With News at 18.30.

A disgraced cop takes on a terrorist holding his wife hostage. Action thriller, also known as ‘Christmas Rush’ due to its seasonal setting, starring Dean Cain. 2002

22.50

LTV Sports News Star News Repeats

FILM: The Last Will A widow hires two hitmen to kill her husband’s son, the heir to his fortune. Action comedy, starring Goran Visnjic. 2001

FILM: Kidnapped: 48 Hours of Terror A man kidnaps his own niece so she can provide a kidney transplant for his daughter, but his brother is on his trail. Thriller, starring Ian Ziering. 2010

00.20 01.10 02.20

CAPITAL

00.25

FILM: 83 Hours Till Dawn A psychopath kidnaps a millionaire’s daughter and buries her alive while awaiting a response to his ransom demands. Thriller, based on fact. 1990

Last Night (Novacinema1, 22.00)

01:35 Born And Bred 02:25 EastEnders 02:55 Doctors 03:30 Rock & Chips: Special: Xmas 2010 04:30 Dad’s Army 05:00 My Family: Xmas Special 2005 05:30 Victoria Wood - What Larks! 06:15 The Weakest Link 07:00 Tellytales 07:10 Boogie Beebies 07:25 Show Me Show Me 07:50 Balamory 08:10 Tellytales 08:20 Boogie Beebies 08:35 Show Me Show Me 09:00 Balamory 09:20 Charlie And Lola 09:30 Big Top 10:00 The Impressions Show With Culshaw & Stephenson 10:30 The Weakest Link 11:15 EastEnders 11:45 Doctors 12:15 Born And Bred 13:05 Victoria Wood - What Larks! 13:50 Dad’s Army 14:20 Big Top 14:50 The Weakest Link 15:35 EastEnders 16:05 Doctors 16:35 Born And Bred 17:25 Rock & Chips: Special: Xmas 2010 18:25 The Weakest Link 19:10 EastEnders 19:40 Doctors 20:10 Casualty 21:00 My Family 21:30 Getting On 22:00 Single Father 22:50 One Foot In The Grave 23:20 Alan Carr: Chatty Man 24:05 The Royle Family 24:35 Waking The Dead

07:00 How It’s Made ; 07:25 Wheeler Dealers 08:15 American Chopper 09:10 Dirty Jobs 10:05 Deadliest Catch 10:55

Ultimate Survival 11:50 How Do They Do It? 12:15 How It’s Made ; 12:40 Extreme Engineering 13:35 Wreckreation Nation 14:30 Wheeler Dealers 15:00 Wheeler Dealers 15:25 American Chopper 16:20 Mythbusters 17:15 Dirty Jobs 18:10 Deadliest Catch 19:05 Ultimate Survival 20:00 How It’s Made ; 21:00 Dual Survival 22:00 Get Out Alive 23:00 Body Invaders 00:00 Stan Lee’s Superhumans 01:00 The Real Hustle 01:55 Dual Survival 02:50 Get Out Alive 03:50 Body Invaders 04:50 Stan Lee’s Superhumans 05:45 How Do They Do It? 06:10 Overhaulin’

09:30 Motorsports: Gta Road To Dubai 09:45 Ski Jumping: World Cup Switzerland 10:30 Biathlon: World Cup Slovenia 12:00 All Sports: Watts 13:00 Snooker: European Tour Scotland 14:00 Ski Jumping: World Cup Switzerland 15:00 Biathlon: World Cup Slovenia 16:30 Alpine Skiing: World Cup 17:00 Alpine Skiing: World Cup Sweden 18:00 Football: Next Gen Series 20:00 Alpine Skiing: World Cup Sweden 21:00 All Sports: Wednesday Selection 21:05 Polo: Argentine Open Argentina 22:05 Equestrian: World’s Top 10 Switzerland 23:05 Equestrian Sports: Riders Club 23:10 All Sports: Month Selection 23:15 Golf: Royal

Trophy 23:45 All Sports: Month Selection 23:50 Golf: Golf Club 23:55 Sailing: Extreme Sailing Series 00:20 Sailing: Yacht Club 00:25 All Sports: Wednesday Selection 00:45 Fia World Touring Car Championship 01:45 Football: Next Gen Series

05:40 Off The Map 06:25 Castle 07:10 Modern Family 07:35 New Girl 08:00 The Gates 08:50 Masterchef 09:40 Off The Map 10:25 Castle 11:10 Modern Family 11:35 New Girl 12:00 Grey’s Anatomy 12:50 Private Practice 13:40 The Gates 14:30 Masterchef 15:20 Off The Map 16:05 Castle 16:50 Modern Family 17:15 New Girl 17:40 The Gates 18:30 Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations 19:20 Off The Map 20:10 Castle 21:00 Grey’s Anatomy 21:50 Private Practice 22:40 Modern Family 23:05 New Girl 23:30 Grey’s Anatomy 00:20 Private Practice 01:10 Castle 02:00 Off The Map 02:45 Modern Family 03:10 New Girl 03:35 Rita Rocks 04:00 The Gates 04:50 Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations

07:00 Pawn Stars 07:30 Storage Wars 08:00 American Pickers 09:00 American Restoration 09:30

Storage Wars 10:00 Pawn Stars 10:30 Storage Wars 11:00 Ancient Aliens 12:00 Storage Wars 13:00 American Pickers 15:00 American Restoration 15:30 Storage Wars 17:00 American Pickers 19:00 American Restoration 19:30 Storage Wars 20:00 Pawn Stars 20:30 Storage Wars 21:00 Ancient Aliens 22:00 Swamp People 23:00 Storage Wars 00:00 Pawn Stars 00:30 Storage Wars 01:00 Ancient Aliens 02:00 Swamp People 03:00 Storage Wars 04:00 American Pickers 05:00 American Restoration 05:30 Storage Wars 06:00 Ancient Aliens

07:30 Seven Minutes In Heaven 09:00 Somewhere 10:45 General’s Daughter 12:45 Hole 14:30 Peggy Sue Got Married 16:15 Too Big To Fail 18:00 Fifth Patient 19:30 Videofashion 20:00 LTV Sports News 21:00 Love In The Time Of Cholera 23:20 Season Of The Witch 01:00 Hustler TV 03:10 Special Relationship 04:45 Bloodlines 06:30 LTV Sports News

07:00 Chowder 07:25 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 07:50 The Tom & Jerry Show 08:15 Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue! 08:40 Loonatics Unleashed 09:05 Superman: The Animated Series 09:55 The Looney Tunes Show 10:20 Tak & The Power Of Juju 10:45 Fanboy & Chum Chum 11:10 The X’s 11:35 Ni Hao, KaiLan 12:00 Dora The Explorer 12:25 Spongebob Squarepants 13:15 The Mighty B! 13:40 My Life As A Teenage Robot 14:05 Hey Arnold! 14:30 Icarly 15:20 Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue! 15:45 Justice League Unlimited 16:10 Legion Of Super Heroes 16:35 Young Justice 17:00 Barclays Premier League 2012-13 19:00 Copa Del Rey 2012-13 21:00 La Liga World 21:30 Planet Speed 22:00 Barclays Premier League Review 23:00 Copa Del Rey 201213 03:00 Barclays Premier League 2012-13 05:00 Liga Bbva 2012-13

07:15 According To Jim 08:00

The Big Bang Theory 08:30 The Mentalist 09:15 C.S.I. New York 10:00 Eastbound & Down 10:30 Two And A Half Men 11:20 The Closer 12:10 Harry’s Law 12:55 Underbelly 13:45 According To Jim 14:30 The Mentalist 15:15 C.S.I. New York 16:00 Entourage 16:30 Gossip Girl 17:15 Ncis: Los Angeles 18:55 Underbelly 19:45 According To Jim 20:30 2 Broke Girls 21:00 Pan Am 22:30 True Blood 23:30 Mildred Pierce 00:40 Strictly Sexual 02:30 Hung 03:40 Entourage 04:10 Gossip Girl 04:55 Ncis: Los Angeles 06:25 Underbelly

“Poitier celebrates while Cosby percolates!” says the trailer for this not-quite-classic comedy. You could put that kind of line in a trailer 35 years ago without the multiplex audience choking on its popcorn - but not even the combined talents of Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby can do much for this overlong cheese-fest. Sid and Bill are high-class thieves who’ve never been caught, but their luck runs out when retired cop James Earl Jones shows up with enough evidence to put them both behind bars; fortunately he’s willing to keep mum if they’ll agree to work at a youth centre for juvenile delinquents, guiding the kids on the straight and narrow. The 70s retro factor is high

(some of those kids have impressive Afros) - but sentimentality takes over, gradually killing the funny; “Piece of the Action starts off like a crime caper and ends up wanting to be a morality play,” grumbles a guy from LA at the Internet Movie Database. Poitier moralises while Cosby sympathises! Made in 1977.

Flight of the Phoenix (Novacinema2, 22.00) The second Pick of the Day this week about planecrash survivors stranded in the wilderness - but The Grey [see Sunday] turned into something quite profound, whereas this is just a glorified B-movie. Our heroes (led by Dennis Quaid) find themselves in the

08:15 Cine News 09:10 Gattaca 11:00 Fierce Creatures 12:35 Cine News 15:20 Kourastika Na Skotono Tous Agapitikous Sou 17:10 Films & Stars 17:45 The Way Back 20:05 One Day 22:00 Flight Of The Phoenix 00:00 The Lincoln Lawyer 02:05 Kill Bill: Vol.1 04:00 Cine News

19:25 Gulliver’s Travels 23:00 Person Of Interest 23:50 Reindeer Games 01:35 Adult Zone 07:00 Eichmann 08:45 Primal Fear 11:00 Framed (2009) 12:30 Assassination Games 14:15 Alive 16:20 Oh, God! 18:00 Duma 19:45 Piece Of The Action, A 22:00 Corruptor, The 00:05 Daring! Tv 03:40 Thief Who Came To Dinner, The 05:30 Machete

06:00 Cine News 06:30 Runaway Jury 08:40 The Conspirator 10:45 Hollywood 1on1 11:15 Habemus Papam 13:05 Jumping The Broom 15:00 «Love Stories» The Sweetest Thing 16:40 Cine News 16:55 Certain Prey 18:30 Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost 20:10 The Double 22:00 Last Night 23:40 Blitz 01:20

By Preston Wilder

A Piece of the Action (LTV3, 19.45)

Cine News 01:50 Straw Dogs 03:40 The Deep End

Mongolian desert and decide to escape by building a new plane, meanwhile enduring a series of Hollywood crises including the crash itself, a sandstorm, an electrical storm, plus a tribe of hostile nomads who prove themselves deadly then stay in the background for the rest of the movie, tactfully waiting for the climax to make their re-entrance (you’d think they’d attack while the plane was still being readied, but you never know with these primitive peoples). The kind of film where our heroes only have one chance to get it right, and do so - unless of course they have five chances to get it right (as with firing up the plane’s engines at the climax), in which case they only get it right on the fifth attempt. Dumb, mindless fun. Made in 2004.

Flight of the Phoenix

19:10 The Grace Card 21:00 Conviction 01:10 Winter’s Bone

07:00 They Were Expendable 09:10 G-Men 10:35 Ride, Vaquero! 12:05 Silk Stockings 14:00 Opposite Sex, The 15:55 Ziegfeld Girl 18:05 All This, and Heaven Too 20:25 Jailhouse Rock 22:00 Whose Life Is It Anyway? 23:55 Diner 01:45 Rhapsody 03:40 Wheeler Dealers, The 05:25 Each Dawn I Die

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, December 19, 2012

CRYPTIC CROSSWORD 2266 1

PREVIOUS DAY’S SOLUTIONS

8 9 10 11

HOW TO PLAY: Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1-9. There’s no maths involved, you solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic. With the ‘X’ sudoku, the shaded X must also contain the numbers 1-9.

20 21

EASY

MEDIUM

HARD

24 25

2 Too many workers may blame it (4) 3 Is repeatedly a flower (4) 4 Tearful when wet (6) 5 Fondness of Heather accepting half-sovereign (6) 6 Frank took in an examinee (9) 7 Belonging to another painter, Edward (9) 11 Post office (9) 12 Cooks joint in vessel (9) 13 Made an uninvited enquiry about conceit, we hear (5) 14 Linger, covered in black stuff (5) 18 One in vacant room (6) 19 Sounds correct for the repairer (6) 22 Badly maim religious leader (4) 23 Unknown gentleman once included (4)

Rating EASY

1 Walter’s 51, repairing the shaft (9) 8 & 9 Was sure it was done without error (4,2,7) 10 An entry of mine (4) 13 Make an impression with a photograph (5) 15 Howzat? (6) 16 Some brigand hindering an old Indian leader (6) 17 Swiss Cottage (6) 19 Put pen to paper about hospital and squirm (6) 20 With which a newly married woman is naturally endowed (5) 21 High-rise home? (4) 24 Lamenting faulty coordination (9) 25 & 26 Restoration of curb on New Testament (13)

Rating HARD

Down

Rating MEDIUM

Across

Rating MEDIUM

Answers to crossword 2265

HOROSCOPE

CRYPTIC: Across – 1 Watched; 5 Bash; 7 Nightclothes; 9 Emit; 10 Magnolia; 12 Legato; 13 Escort; 16 Scabious; 18 Stoa; 20 Letter-weight; 21 Pair; 22 Diviner. Down – 1 Wanderlust; 2 Tagging; 3 Hate; 4 Dallas; 5 Botanist; 6 Spell; 8 Pastmaster; 11 Stricter; 14 Octagon; 15 Putrid; 17 Arena; 19 Derv.

QUICK: Across – 1 Venison; 5 Must; 7 Legitimately; 9 Duty; 10 Elevator; 12 Toddle; 13 Stitch; 16 Nowadays; 18 Snub; 20 Afterthought; 21 Bren; 22 Created. Down – 1 Validation; 2 Negated; 3 Sate; 4 Namely; 5 Motivate; 6 Split; 8 Prohibited; 11 Bludgeon; 14 Tonight; 15 Mystic; 17 Wafer; 19 Dose.

ARIES March 21 - April 20

LEO July 23 - August 22

SAGITTARIUS November 23 - December 21

Last week Uranus stirred up your thinking and intellectual drive. This week it can work wonders in giving you the extra conﬁdence to go for it on the social or romantic fronts. Its combination with Venus is exceptionally zesty, and any self doubts which have come up, will fade. The emphasis is on just going for it. It could lead to some fab encounters.

Venus has escaped the confusing and cloying clutches of Neptune, which made things blurry, potentially, earlier this week. Now she forges a really excellent angle with the impetuous inﬂuence of Uranus. Use this to push yourself outside your comfort zone. Don’t be quick to prejudge the potential of any party or gathering, just take it on face value.

Continue to shock and awe with the full range of your zesty personality. You are unlikely to be short of it, and this can draw people magnetically towards you. Yet your independent streak can also see you happy not to get too bogged down in set plans, and if things ebb and ﬂow before the week is out, you are more likely to embrace rather than rue this.

TAURUS April 21 - May 21

VIRGO August 23 - September 23

CAPRICORN December 22 - January 20

The Sun and Mars are combining brilliantly. This can give you a buzz of anticipation, and may even see you want to be a little more risk taking. A Pisces Moon also encourages a very upbeat atmosphere. However, the biggest surprise can come from contact you receive from someone from your past. This may even set your pulse racing Taurus.

The Moon can boost your listening skills today, so why not let it help you? This may mean calming your mind, and creating the space and availability for others to attune to you, but it could prove really worthwhile. Someone may also give you some really insightful advice about how to manage the upcoming family get- together’s that loom.

Sometimes the things that amaze us the most are those which happen when we least expect. And of course, now I have told you this, you may start to think about what it may be that could emerge as if from no-where for you. I get it, but it is unlikely to be anything I suggest, or the ﬁrst thing that grabs you. Intriguing? Absolutely!

GEMINI May 22 - June 21

LIBRA September 24 - October 23

AQUARIUS January 21 - February 19

That side of you that can so easily jump from group to group or party to party with consummate ease, can really sparkle today. In fact, staying in one place or visiting your usual haunts could be way less exciting. The more mental and social interaction you have, chances are the happier you are going to be. Not a day for staying low key Gemini.

Uranus has been such an up and down inﬂuence for you the last few years, but for the rest of this week, it brings a lovely blast of stunning stimulation, and all this is heading in your direction - that is of course, if you want to rouse yourself to really go for it. Will you? Well, of course that’s your choice Libra, but my sense there’s a hint of excitement - do go.

The most exuberant, friendly and even zany side of your nature can really come to the fore, and you can ﬁnd that plenty of people are keen to spend time in your company. In fact, through to the end of the week there can be lots of amazing developments. If you are innovative, as Aquarius people often are, your unique ideas can see you do really well.

CANCER June 22 - July 22

SCORPIO October 24 - November 22

PISCES February 20 - March 20

Do something to stimulate your senses today. This could be a deliciously long hot soak in the bath, or escaping into a great novel or ﬁlm. Yet on the professional front, things can move quickly and surprisingly. This may see someone make an offer completely unexpectedly, or you can use your initiative to make something important happen.

Your enterprising streak could see you snafﬂe an unusual gift for someone in the rest of this week, and it may not cost you a fortune. Your sixth sense about what they would really like, can come into its own. With Christmas racing up, work may not be at the forefront of your thinking, but do stay alert, something brilliant can yet emerge.

The Moon is in your sign, but will square the planets gathered in your sector of responsibilities and obligations. Although you can make ﬁne progress professionally, you may have to offset any tendency you have to take things to heart or be over sensitive. Accept that a few compromises will be needed along the way, and you’ll be ﬁne.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Advertiser

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TAG 87, a very handsome young male wirehaired pointer cross around 1,5 years old. Friendly, attentive and athletic. At the Nicosia Dog Shelter, many more dogs and puppies like this one are looking for forever homes ! To provide a temporary foster home or to adopt contact on 99520511 mon-frid 10-2pm. *****************************

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LESSONS ***************************** TIME FOR A CAREER CHANGE? Learn how to teach English! The London Teacher Training College is offering TEFL Certiﬁcate courses in Cyprus. For more information call now on 99839307. *****************************

SERVICES

LOUISE, she is around 1 year

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FOR SALE MISCELLANEOUS CLOTHES STOCKS AND SHOP FITTINGS FOR SALE. Excellent women’s brands for sale including Italian, Spanish and French clothes and shoes. Also women’s dummies and modern wall ﬁttings (clothes rails.) Selling at very low prices for clearance. Tel: 99-168943

TO LET BUSINESS/ PROPERTY/LAND BUSINESS FOR RENT on Apostolou Pavlou avenue, Pa-

Paphos - tel: 26 911383 fax: 26221049 phos, prime location, large area, can be used for ofﬁce or any business, no goodwill, excellent price: €750 o.n.o. Tel: 99654122

FOR SALE BUSINESS/ PROPERTY/LAND FOR SALE LAND in Strovolos between Leoforos Iosif X” Iosif & Leoforos Stavrou area. 721 sqm. Call 99321785 22421785 ***************************** TIMI, PLOTS, a few selected available, seaview, near the 2 golf courses, Venus rock and airport. 60% Building factor, eu 99,000. Half registration fees till the 31.12.12. Tel. 99 621914 ***************************** LARNACA, Alethriko, plots for sale, 525 sqm, 90% building factor, near highway Limassol-Larnaca, 5 min from airport, quiet residential area, eu 109,000. Half registration fees till the 31.12.12. Tel. 99 621914 ***************************** LAND FOR SALE Prodromos resort. Can be perfect for building hotel, hotel apartments, restaurant, shops or ofﬁces. On main road, water/ electricity and telephone supplied. Building factor 60%. Also, stone house 120sqm. More info 99214165 PRIME LAND IS AVAILABLE FOR LONG LEASE IN LIMASSOL. 40, 000 sq.m., zoning Ka7 (80% -45% - 3 stories). Regular amphitheatrical shape overlooking Ladies Mile. Close to New Limassol Hospital with direct access to Limassol – Paphos Highway. Water supply, electricity and telephones are readily available. Suitable for immediate development. Ideal for various health facilities and resorts, holiday centres, commercial and shopping centres, entertainment enterprises etc. Information: Tel. 22 674338, 99621554 FOR SALE LAND in Anthoupoli (half plot) 288 sq.metres. for information 99621554.

WANTED TO RENT

Larnaca - tel: 24 652243 fax: 24 659982

classified contents Employment Opportunities pg -Employment Miscellaneous 22 Pets 22 Lessons 22 Health & Fitness 22 Personal 22 Services 22 For Sale Miscellaneous 22 For Sale Land/ Property Business 22 For Sale Motor vehicles 23 Wanted -To Let Nicosia 23 To Let Limassol 24 To Let Larnaca 24 To Let Paphos 24 To Let Protaras, Ayia Napa, Paralimni -For Sale Nicosia 26 For Sale Limassol -For Sale Larnaca -For Sale Paphos 26 For Sale Ayia Napa -For Sale Famagusta Protaras 26 For Sale Athens -Property& Home Services display ads --

abbreviations bdrm c/h a/c s/pool f/f apt pm pw sw nw st rd p/s c/l swb r/cass e/w

bedroom central heating air conditioning swimming pool fully furnished apartment per month per week south west north west street road power steering central locking short wheel base radio cassette electric windows

Please note tel nos. that begin with: FLAT OR HOUSE TO RENT, 2-3 bedrooms, veranda/terrace or garden, prefer furnished, SW of Nicosia (in approx area Lakadamia to Kapedes and Kalo Chorio) alan.tye@birdlifecyprus.org.cy, 22455072, 99089083.

22 = Nicosia 23 = Paralimni/Protaras 24 = Larnaca 25 = Limassol 26 = Paphos

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Advertiser FOR SALE MOTOR VECHICLES

FOR SALE MOTOR VEHICLES ***************************** RED BMW MINI 1 2005 1600cc full factory specs 22500 miles New tyres full service history 2 year MOT Drivers & Maint manual 6500euros Pafos 99096902. ***************************** FORD FOCUS GHIA (2006) diesel, 1600cc, 98000km, blue, automatic - tiptronic. dual zone climate control, power steering, electric windows, 6 airbags, central locking, cruise control, computer board, alloy wheels, and many extras. €7500 ono. Contact: 99022779 - Nicosia *****************************

PROPERTY TO LET NICOSIA ***************************** LUXURY ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT on third ﬂoor with view of the Presidential Palace, spacious living room and fully equipped kitchen, a/c, storage heaters and covered private parking. €450 ( common expenses inclusive). Call 99300020.

FLATS TO LET - Nicosia: A wide selection of furnished & unfurnished in all areas of Nicosia. NIKARIA ESTATE LTD Theo Loizides 22761616 / 99660050 nikaria@cablenet.com.cy ***************************** FOR RENT spacious modern 5 Bedr house, next to Metro Supermarket, Strovolos, Nicosia. Furnished, 3 Restrooms, air-conditioning throughout,

TO LET NICOSIA central heating, extra office room, amble storage spaces, covered garage, verandas with pergola, garden, barbecue area, quiet street in a qul de sac. Call 99606856. 2-BEDROOM FLAT with balcony in leafy side-street, Ayioi Omoloyites, near Hilton, walking distance to central Nicosia. Fully furnished including 2 double beds, fitted wardrobes, TV, fridge, oven, dining table & chairs. Recently refurbished with new kitchen. Private landlord. €550 pcm. Tel: 96673335 ***************************** TO LET 3 bedroom house situated on a dead end street next to a small quiet park near Falcon School. Has an En-suite master room, large study room, central heating, a/c and fire place in the living room. For enquiries tel 99660758 ***************************** LUXURIOUS APARTMENT FOR RENT A luxurious one floor apartment situated in central Nicosia in an area of exceptional Beauty at 3 Museum Street, is available to let. It has been recently renovated and consists of four bedrooms, two bathrooms, big dining and sitting rooms, kitchen and a huge veranda. Approximate covered area 250 sqm. Monthly rent €1400.00 o.n.o. Tel: 99622370. www. parcon.com.cy ***************************** MODERN 2 BDRM, first floor flat in attractive building in Anthoupolis, very quiet area between the Grammar School and the European University, also very convenient for Pascal and Highgate Schools and the University of Nicosia. Large front veranda, all appliances, modern fittings, light and bright. Furnished or unfurnished €550p.m. Call 99900177.

TO LET NICOSIA

***************************** 2 ROOMS €125 each, near McDonald’s Engomi only Philippine girls. Call 99663927.

in website). 3. 2 bedr fully renovated semi detached house 120 sq. m, a/c for hot and cold, small yard, FULLY FURNSIHED or not, double glazed windows with aluminum shutters, in a quiet area off Nikis behind Burger King - ACROPOLIS €650 (H2ACS0001-R), (photos in the website). 4. 3 bedr luxury semi-detached house with character, 200sq.m, central heating, full ac, sitting and dining room with ﬁre place, big kitchen with cooker and oven, dishwasher and refrigerator, nice mature garden with ﬂowers, trees and small garden with grass, covered parking, 3wc, 2 bathrooms in a quiet neighborhood. Available middle of January. Agios Andreas €1200 - H3AAD0001-R (photos in website).

ered parking near Alpha Mega supermarket - STROVOLOS €1200 (H4ST10007-R), (photos in the website). 7. 3 bedr detached ground floor house with separate maid’s room, with very big garden with grass(200sq.m) and covered patio with bbq and bar, central heating, full a/c, 180sq.m, FULLY FURNISHED or NOT, 2 covered parking, storage room, in a very quiet neighborhood opposite Acropolis park - Acropolis €1200 - H3ACS0004-R (photos in website). 8. H4LAK0002-R, 3 bedr + office space luxury detached house, built on a big plot, 350sq. m, big swimming pool with cover, garden with grass, big sitting and dining room, separate family room, central heating, a/c, curtains on all the windows, cooker, dishwasher and dryer, parquet floor throughout the house,3wc, 2 bathrooms, 2 covered parking in a quiet area on the borders of Strovolos with Lakatamia Lakatamia- €1600 (photos in website).

fast area and family room, big overfloor, swimming pool with covered patio area with fully equipped bar(bbq, fridge, freezer, cooker), mature garden around the house, 2 parking places, alarm system near the Cyprus Conference Centre- PLATY AGLANTZIAS €3500 (H5PAG0002-R), (photos in the website). 10. 4 bedr semi detached house with central heating, 4 a/c, 3 wc, 2 bathrooms, 180sq.m, electrical appliances, small yard, bbq area, off Kostantinoupoleos street near French ambassador residence.- STROVOLOS €700 (H4ST10043-R), (photos in the website). 11. 4 bedr luxury semi detached house with good size garden with grass, big covered patio with bbq area, central heating, a/c units, 3wc, 2 bathrooms, 2 covered parking, FULLY FURNISHED AND EQUIPPED, in a quiet area in a dead end close to all amenities and schools. ANTHOUPOLIS €1300 (H4ANT0002-R), (photos in the website). 12. H4AGZ0010-R, 3 bedr RENOVATED GROUND FLOOR HOUSE with big separate 1 bedroom flat with multi room, big sitting and dining room , separate tv room, big kitchen with family room and fitted cooker and oven, 3wc, 2 bathrooms, very big 5 X 6 bedrooms with solid parquet floor, central heating with petrol independent, a/c units, double glazed windows with shut-

***************************** FOR RENT 3 B/R apartment fully furnished close to Central Bank. 3 W.C., fully airconditioned extra storeroom, owned covered parking. Excellent condition. Information: Tel. 99621554 ***************************** 3 BEDROOMS flat on second floor in a block of six flats, in a nice position at Strovolos area, fully a/c, c/h, covered parking place for one car, recently painted. Rent €650pm. (furnished if required). Tel: 97773358. ***************************** LUXURY HOUSES:

1. 5 bedrs detached house, 550sq.m, built in 2 big plots of land, big garden with grass, big swimming pool with extra fence for children and big covered patio with bbq area, big reception areas with marble floor, fire place and bar, big kitchen with all electrical appliances and sitting room with fire place, maid’s room, floor heating, full a/c, blinds on the windows, master bedroom with en suite bathroom and shower, big bathroom for the other 3 bedrooms and extra shower in the 5th bedroom - Strovolos €2500 (H5ST10001-R), (photos in the website). 2. H3AR0004-R, 3 bedr luxury detached house with central heating, full a/c, 3wc, 2 bathrooms, parquet floor throughout the house, big sitting and dining area, big kitchen with family room opening onto the swimming pool which has big covered area with wooden deck, bbq area, covered parking, in a very quiet area behind Apoel football training ground - Archagelos - €1700 (photos

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5. 4 bedr new luxury detached house, separate maid’s room, central heating, full Ac, 260sq.m, big kitchen with all the electrical appliances, blinds on all the windows, 4wc, 2 showers, 1 bathroom, 2 covered parking, big garden with grass in a quiet neighbourhood in a dead end near French Ambassador house - Strovolos €1400 (H4ST10045-R), (photos in the website). 6. 3 bedr+big attic room with shower and wc luxury new house, 210sq.m, central heating, full a/c, 4wc, blinds on all windows, cooker and oven in the kitchen, small garden, cov-

9. 3 bedr upstairs and 2 separate bedroom in the basement luxury detached house(all the bedrooms with en suite bathrooms/shower), also separate kitchen and sitting room in the basement which has also separate entrance from the house, central heating, full a/c, solid parquet ﬂoor all the house, big sitting and dining room with ﬁre place, big fully equipped kitchen with break-

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Wednesday, December 19, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Advertiser TO LET NICOSIA ters, big verandas around the house, in a very quiet neighbourhood 200metres from FRENCH school and near Athalassas park - Aglantzia €1300 (photos in website). 13. 3 bedr ground floor house with big separate 80sq,m room with shower and wc for multi use, central heating independent, full a/c, 2wc, 2 shower,1 bathroom, fully furnished, small garden, bbq area, parking, on a small building in a very quiet area near Agios Vasilios church. Strovolos - €900 - H4ST10028-R (photos in website). 14. 3 bedr + big attic room with shower and wc luxury new house,210sq.m, central heating, full a/c, 4wc, blinds on all windows, cooker and oven in the kitchen, small garden, covered parking near Alpha Mega supermarket - Strovolos - €1200 – H4ST10007-R (photos in website). 15. 3 bedr detached house with extra room for office, 250sq.m, central heating independent, 4a/c, big renovated kitchen with cooker and oven, big sitting and dining room with parquet floor and fire place, 1bathroom, 2 shower, 3wc, 2 covered parking, double glazed windows and shutters in bedrooms, big verandas surrounded by trees and bushes off 28th October street in the central part of Makedonitissa - Makedonitissa €1100 – H3MAK0004-R (photos in website).

TO LET NICOSIA

For many more properties with photos visit our website at www.landtouristestates.com which is updated daily. LANDTOURIST ESTATES LTD 22-422225/96422225/96422226, www.landtouristestates.com

and blinds on the windows, covered parking in a quiet neighborhood off Prodromou close Ministry od Defence – Engomi- € 700 – A3ENG0026-R (photos in website). 4. A1DAS0010-R, 1 bedr luxury spacious apartment with big sitting and dining room, big bathroom, big bedroom with shutters, covered veranda, storage heaters, 2a/c, cooker and oven in the kitchen, covered parking in a quiet area in a small modern building near Acropolis Park. Dasoupolis €400 (photos in website). 5. 2 bedr new luxury modern furnished apartment , central heating ind, 2 a/c, big covered veranda and covered parking in a quiet area behind the Municipal building – Agios Dometios - € 660 - A2ADO0004-R (photos in website). 6. 2 bedr luxury spacious apartment on a small modern building with central heating independent(with petrol), full a/c, solid parquet floor, big bedrooms, big sitting room with open plan kitchen, big covered veranda, FULLY MODERN FURNISHED, covered parking off Makarios avenue in a quiet area near the centre – Nicosia Centre- € 800 – A2NIC0030-R (photos in website). 7. 4 bedr luxury floor apartment,250sq.m, office, maid’s room, central heating ind, full hidden wall unit a/c,2 showers, 1 bathroom, 3wc, parquet floor, big kitchen with

cooker and oven, bbq on the veranda in the kitchen, big sitting area, roller blinds on all the windows, alarm system, big veranda on a small building off Athalasas avenue near Alpha Mega supermarket and Areteion hospital – Dasoupolis - € 1100 - A4DAS0002-R (photos in website). 8. A1ACS0007- R, 1 bedr luxury spacious apartment with 2 a/c for hot and cold, electrical appliances in the kitchen, big bedroom, covered veranda, blinds, covered parking, in a quiet area near Acropolis park. NICELY FURNISHED. Acropolis €450 (photos in website). 9. 3 bedr new luxury finished PENTHOUSE apartment 150sq.m internal areas+120sq. verandas, solid parquet floor all the flat, big bedrooms, big sitting and dining room, big semi separate kitchen with electrical appliances, home cine ma with big screen, LCD tv, covered parking in a quiet neighborhood near CYTA, Laiki + Hellenic bank headquarters and French school. CAN BE RENTED ALSO expensive MODERN furnished – Dasoupolis - € 1200 - A3DAS0019-R (photos in website). 10. A2AOM0009-R 2 bedr luxury finished apartment in a small building with 4 flats only, central heating with petrol independent, full a/c, 2 bedrooms with en-suite bathroom/shower, separate guest wc, NICE MODERN EXPENSIVE FURNITURE, big covered veranda, covered parking, storage room, in a very quiet neighbourhood very close to Junior school and the park - Agioi Omologites - € 800 (photos in website).

parking, storage room, in a very quiet neighbourhood in a dead end street, off Athalasas Avenue behind Stephanis near English School €700 (A3ST10030-R), (photos in the website). 12. A2LYK0006-R, 2 bedr penthouse apartment with big veranda 60sq.m, storage heaters, full a/c, 2 bathrooms (one en suite), big sitting room, big separate kitchen with cooker and oven, blinds, covered parking near Agios Antonios market CLOSE TO THE UNIVERSITY. Lykavitos €510 (photos in website). 13. 3 bedr luxury apartment with central heating independent, full a/c, 2 bathrooms, parquet floor, big sitting and dining area, big covered veranda, covered parking, storage room, blinds, shutters in the bedrooms, big kitchen with all expensive electrical appliances, off Makarios avenue near the centre – Nicosia Centre- € 800 – A3NIC0025-R (photos in website). 14. 4 bedr new spacious luxury finished floor apartment with floor heating independent, full a/c, 3wc, electrical appliances in the kitchen, blinds on all windows, very big 50sq.m covered veranda, fire place, covered parking and big overfloor heated covered swimming pool on the ground floor, on a small 3 storey building in a quiet neighborhood near a playground and near Ippokration private hospital Engomi - €2000 - A4ENG0003-R (photos in website).

***************************** LUXURY FLATS:

1. 3 bedr luxury finished spacious floor apartment with very big sitting and dining areas with family room with fire place, solid parquet floor all throught, central heating independent, full a/c, all the bedrooms with en suite shower/bathroom, 4wc, big kitchen with all the electrical appliances, blinds on all windows, big covered veranda, covered parking, big storage room, on a small 3 storey building in a quiet neighborhood – Agios Andreas- € 1300 – A3AAD0005-R (photos in website). 2. AINIC0006- R, 1 bedr., fully furnished and equipped apartment, 50sq.m, 2AC for hot and cold, covered verandah, covered parking, nice view, off Makarios avenue between Hilton and DEBENHAMS shop. Nicosia centre, € 450 (photos in website). 3. 3 bedr new luxury big apartment 150sq.m+big 25sq.m veranda with very nice view, big sitting and dining areas, big separate kitchen with all the electrical appliances, big bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, storage heaters, full a/c, shutters

11. 3 bedr luxury spacious ground floor apartment with separate entrance, big verandas and garden, big sitting and dining room, central heating independent, full a/c, 2wc, very big master bedroom, electrical appliances in the kitchen, aluminum shutters on windows, parquet laminate floor all the flat, covered

15. 2 bedrs new luxury apartment, sitting room open plan with kitchen which includes cooker, oven, refrigerator and washing machine, 2 wc, central heating, full AC, blinds on the windows, very big covered verandas, covered parking and storage room in a dead end off Athalassas avenue near Laiki popular bank and Hellenic bank headquarters. - DASOUPOLI €550 (A2DAS0006-R), (photos in the website). For many more properties with

TO LET NICOSIA photos visit our website at www.landtouristestates. com which is updated daily. LANDTOURIST ESTATES LTD 22-422225 / 96-422225 / 96422226 www.landtouristestates.com ***************************** 2 BDRM ﬂat in the centre of Nicosia. Rent €450. For information call 99453663, 99663927.

LIMASSOL 4

BEDROOM HOUSE IN EPISKOPI Split level 4-yearold house detached with central heating, a/c all over the house, lounge dinning room, separate kitchen, utility room, en-suite master bedroom, parking, three wcs. Price 800 euros (negotiable) 25337400 3 BEDROOM HOUSE IN YPSONAS 3-year-old two storey detached house situated in a private area of Ypsonas with separate kitchen, lounge dinning room, garden, parking en-suite master bedroom a/c all over house. 25 337400 Price 700 euros GROUND FLOOR HOUSE, furnished renovated this year. Laminated parke ﬂoor, and big wardrobes in the 3 bedrooms. Rent €590.00 Tel 99497576 99886775

LARNACA 2 BEDROOM NICOLADES SEA VIEW CITY BLOCK, a/c’s in all rooms, private parking, sea view, walking distance to everything, can be used for ofﬁce or residential. €750, minimum 12 months contract. 99320077 Larnaca FOR RENT spacious 3 bedroom apartment with balcony situated in centre of town, semi furnished. Please call 99311152 FOR RENT 2 bed, 2 bath, new built apartment, in a quiet scenic location In Alethriko, Larnaca 5 min. to Larnaka, 5 min. to the beach Fully furnished, A/C, communal pool, under covered parking, Long term rent, €350.00 per month For more info pls call 99639378 FULLY FURNISHED one bedroom ﬂat near Larco hotel Larnaca. Price €370. Tel: 99202543

PAPHOS ***************************** MR RENT PAPHOS, THE LEADING PROPERTY RENTAL AGENCY IN PAPHOS OFFICE: 26271858 (00357) IF YOU HAVE A PROPERTY TO RENT WE ARE THE RENTAL AGENCY TO CONTACT OFFERING FULL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT & RENT COLLECTION SERVICE

1. TSADA €380 charming 2 bedroom 2 bathroom bungalow with gas central heating throughout, log burner in living area and real ﬁreplace in bedroom, perfect for those winter months. A fully enclosed pretty courtyard offers stunning views. Available furnished. Pets allowed at owners discretion. Website reference number: RTL_644 2. UNIVERSAL AREA €450

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Advertiser TO LET PAPHOS luxury modern 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment. Available fully furnished with modern furniture including plasma tv & satellite, fully equipped modern kitchen with top brand appliances. Situated on top floor with lift. Complex with communal pools & indoor gym. Great central location walking distance to bus routes & shops. Website reference number: RTL_395 3. KISSONERGA €550 modern detached 3 bedroom villa situated in a quiet residential area. Master bedroom with ensuite, separate kitchen, downstairs guest wc. Enclosed garden offering private pool & off street parking. Available unfurnished though can include kitchen appliances. Pets allowed at owners discretion. Website reference number: RTL_501 4. CHLORAKA €750 modern detached 4 bedroom 3 bathroom villa with ground floor bedroom & bathroom. Beautifully furnished with good quality modern furniture includes sky satellite, fly screens & feature fireplace with modern gas fire. Private pool offering views of the sea. Off street parking. Situated within walking distance of bus routes & shops. Website reference number: RTL_611 5. PEYIA €850 luxury spacious 3 bedroom 3 bathroom villa with automated garage, situated in a private residential area offering breathtaking sea views. This desirable villa offers central heating & real fireplace for those winter months. Mani-

TO LET PAPHOS

cured garden & private pool. Hot tub & bbq area. Modern ﬁtted kitchen, separate utility room & games room. Website reference number: RTL_ 270 6. SECRET VALLEY €850 modern 3 bedroom bungalow, master with ensuite. Spacious modern kitchen, fully furnished with modern furniture. Landscaped garden with private pool offering stunning views. Situated in a quiet residential area. Website reference number: RTL_651 7. ANAVARGOS €895 we are delighted to offer this unique 5 bedroom 3 bathroom rustic country home offering spacious living accomodation with large gardens, private pool & stone built bbq & entertainment area. Fully furnished with log burner for those winter months. A real character home worth viewing. Pets allowed. Website reference number: RTL_635 offers considered.

SITE FOR MANY MORE PROPERTIES www.mrrentpaphos.net Email: info@ mrrent-paphos.net ***************************** Long Term Rentals 1. Chlorakas 1 bed ground ﬂoor furnished apartment with central heating, communal pool and parking, sky TV. €335 pcm including all bills 2. Tala 2 bed quality furnished apartment. Stunning sea views, large balcony, well kept gardens, communal pool, quiet area. €375 pcm

Lovely quiet complex with pool, private parking, entry phone system & storage room. €350 per month. 2. UNIVERSAL – one bed furnished apartment on 2nd ﬂoor, small quiet well maintained complex with sea views. €300 per month. 3. UNIVERSAL – 2 two bed, 2 bath apartments on superb quiet complex, with 3 pools, gym, sauna, jaccuzi & bowling green. 1 apt furnished, 1

unfurnished from €400 per month. 4. TALA – 2 two bed, 2 bath villa style apts on stunning quiet complex with 4 pools, with off road and underground parking. 1 apt furnished 1 U/F from €360 per month. PLEASE CALL 96203009

8. TALA €900 a charming detached 4 bedroom villa with character, situated on a corner plot in a quiet residental area with breathtaking sea views. Spacious living rooms with central heating & real ﬁreplace. Separate kitchen & dining room. Good sized garden offering private pool and stone built barbeque area. Undercover parking. Available fully furnished. Website reference number: RTL_638 TEL: 97790883 OFFICE: 26271858 VISIT OUR WEB-

3. Chlorakas Large 4 bed detached villa, secluded position, large private pool, a/c, and parking. Unfurnished. Very nice well worth seeing. €800 pcm reduced 4. Peyia Unfurnished 2 bed 2 bathroom house, a/c, ceiling fans, ﬂy screens, storage, satellite TV, private parking, swimming pool, From €350 pcm REDUCED THIS IS JUST A SMALL SELCTION OF PROPERTIES THAT ARE AVAILABLE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THESE AND MANY MORE PLEASE CALL EITHER 96 545 174 OR E-MAIL ON info@unique-consultancy. eu LANDLORDS; WE NEED YOUR PROPERTIES NOW. PLEASE CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY IF YOU HAVE A PROPERTY FOR RENT. ***************************** 1. UNIVERSAL – superb 2 bed furnished apartment for rent.

***************************** FOR RENT A selection of 1 to 5 bedroom houses & apartments F/F & U/F Universal, Peyia, Tomb of the

TO LET PAPHOS Kings, Tsada, Timi, Chlorakas & Kato Paphos Landlord & Owners please call 99329357 Or please view at are website www.cyprussands.com Fully Registered Company in Cyprus ***************************** 1. MANDRIA, 2 bedroom apartment, fully furnished with modern furniture, separate kitchen, communal swimming pool, air conditioning throught, 2 balconies euro 375 p/m o.N.O

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Advertiser TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

2. SEA CAVES, 3 bedroom bungalow, specially fitted for people with disabilities , stunning sea views, free wi-fi, fully furnished with modern furniture, swimming pool, all bedrooms with en-sute, utility room, air conditioning throughout, shutters, very green and secluded area euro 1100 p/m o.N.O 3. EMBA, 2 bedroom apartment, 2 bathroom, modern furnished, air conditioned throughout, communal swimming pool, covered parking, close to all amenities, euro 330 p/m 4. CHLORAKA, 3 bedroom furnished villa with pool, amazing views, master en-suite, in culde-sac, fully airconditioned with fireplace, euro 700 p/m PLEASE CALL : 99 387842

ros per month. Ref 7777 Price 300-400 ANARITA: 3 bed nicely furnished villa in the centre of Anarita village with private pool, off street parking. Property has a modern kitchen with granite work tops, sitting and dining area, guest wc. Upstairs 3 bedrooms Master with en suite shower, separate family bathroom. Outside shaded pergolas. Ref 855 Price 600 SECRET VALLEY: 3 bed villa fully furnished 3 bedroom villa with private pool. Nice furniture, master bedroom with on suite shower, family bathroom, 2 bedrooms with twin beds. Dining area, kitchen, guest WC, off street parking, private pool. Modern Villa. Ref: 1035 Price 700 SERCRET VALLEY: 4 bed beautiful furnished bungalow to the highest of standards, with large bedrooms - en suites, Modern large kitchen fully equipped, sitting and dining area with fire place. Outside heated pool, off street parking, landscaped gardens and great views. Ref: 1151 Price 1800 TIMI: 3 bed nicely furnished villa with large sitting and dining areas, fire place, full AC. Upstairs large family bathroom, 3 bedrooms, master bedroom having en suite shower and walk in wardrobes. Off street parking, private pool Ref: 722 Price: 600 PEGEIA: 4 bed villa with stunning situated in a lovely quiet location in Pegeia offered unfurnished. The property has 2 down stairs bedrooms, a large sitting room with fire place, central heating, kitchen with Stylish design, dining area. Upstairs 2 bedrooms, large outside veranda. Outside stunning views Private pool. Ref: 765 Price: 900 MESGOI: large unfurnished villa situated in a residential area. Property is very modern with fire place, downstairs bedroom with en suite, kitchen and separate utility room, 3 additional bedroom upstairs with master en suite, family bathroom. Outside private

pool, fully fenced and private, nice views, pets welcome, suit family with children going to local international school. Ref: 783 Price: 750 TALA: A family home offered part furnished in a quiet residential area, property has off street parking, private pool, central heating and AC, modern kitchen, sitting/dining area, guest wc, upstairs 3 bedrooms with master en suite, family bathroom, sea views. Ref: 988 Price: 750 OFFICE: 120 MAKARIOS AVENUE, PAPHOS. OFFICE: 26600450 MOBILE: 97614070 many properties available on WEB: www. ﬂowron.com Email info@ ﬂowron.com

***************************** CHLORAKAS, 2 bedroom apartment, fully furnished, large veranda, very quiet location, communal pool, Euro 280 – o.n.o Please call: 99699019 /26910140

A DELIGHTFUL AND SPACIOUS 1 bedroom apartment, F/F, top ﬂoor, new, located at a peaceful location just 500 from St. George hotel in Chloraka. A+ quality apt. Within walking distance to amenities, part of a beautiful building with swimming pool, list and other amenities. Only €250p/m Other apts also available near Carrefour in the Centre of Paphos. Call 99403261, 26934650 ***************************** FLOWRON PROPERTY SERVICES LTD: PROVIDING AN EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE FOR TENANTS AND LANDLORDS: PROPERTIES AVAILABLE FOR RENT LONG TERM RENTAL, PROPERTIES WANTED: FULL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT WITH KEY HOLDING AND RENT COLLECTIONS OFFERED

ANAVARGOS: 1 to 3 Bedroom apartments available near to the general hospital, furnished or unfurnished. All properties, have white goods and are modern. The building has a lift and off street parking. Prices from 300-400 Eu-

***************************** PEYIA – 3 bedroom villa with modern quality furniture and ﬁnishes. Central heating, sky, alarm, inﬁnity pool and stunnning sea and mountain views €700 per month, call: 99389426

BRAND NEW APT, opposite Poseidonio Gym, near Carrefour, F/F, a/c, great quality, 1 bdrm, from €340p.m.Tel 99403261 ***************************** RENTAL POINT - PAPHOS PROPERTIES AVAILABLE TO RENT IN THE PAPHOS DISTRICT. JUST A SMALL SAMPLE OF AVAILABLE PROPERTIES. ALL TYPES OF PROPERTY URGENTLY REQUIRED FOR LONG TERM RENTAL. CALL 97648440 FOR MORE INFORMATION. LANDLORDS CALL IF YOU HAVE A PROPERTY FOR RENT.!!!

1. MESA CHORIO – 2 bed 2 bath fully furnished ground ﬂoor apartment set on an elevated position in this prestigious development. Open plan living area. Good sized kitchen. 2 double, bedrooms, master with en-suite shower room. Family bathroom. Large patio areas with enclosed gardens and lovely sea views. Covered parking and security gates.. Comm swimming pool

FOR SALE Semi-detached house in Archangelos area split level on a hill, no houses in front, 3 big bedrooms, 2 big bathrooms and TV room big lounge & dining area, fireplace, fitted kitchen, 40 sq.m. store room, C/H, A/C, solar. For information call: 99496541

TO LET PAPHOS and landscaped gardens. €425.00 a month. 2 bed apartment same complex €400.00 a month. 2 MESOGI 3 bed 3 bath furnished apartment in handy location close to the shopping areas. Large open plan living area and dining area.. Fully fitted dining/kitchen with appliances . Guest WC. Utilty room. 3 double bedrooms one with en-suite. Family bathroom. Balcony & and parking. €500.00 a month. Suit nondrivers! 3. TOMB OF THE KINGS – 3 bed fully furnished apartment in established block. Own entrance via stairway. Open plan living area. Dining kitchen. 3 bedrooms and family bathroom. A/C, sat TV. Internet available. Large balcony area. Parking. €350.00 per month 4. TALA - 3 bed 3 bath quality furnished villa. Set in enclosed gardens the villa consists of open plan living area with dining space. Fully fitted kitchen with all appliances, door to rear garden. Storage room. Ground floor bedroom with adjacent shower. Stairs to two double bedrooms both en-suite, one with Jacuzzi tub. Small seating area with adjacent balcony. Pool and off street parking. Landscaped gardens €750.00 per month or close offers only 5. SEA CAVES – 2 bed, 2 bath fully furnished large townhouse set in quiet location. Open plan living area. Fully fitted kitchen. 2 double bedrooms and family bathroom. Garden area and parking. Realistically priced. Suit retired people or those wanting a quiet area. €400.00 per month 6. UNIVERSAL AREA. 2 bed fully furnished apartment. Living area, fitted kitchen. 2 double bedrooms and family bathroom. A/C, Enclosed garden area. Comm pool and parking. Euros 375.00 a month or offers. 1 & 2 bed apartments available on Universal starting at €250 per month. 7. LOWER PEYIA - 3 bed, 2.5 bath part furnished villa situated in quiet cul du sac. Open plan living and dining area with doors out to pool and garden. Very large breakfast fitted kitchen. Doors out to garden and pool. Separate guest WC. Stairs to 3 double bedrooms. Master bedroom very large with en-suite shower. Family bathroom. Private pool, gardens, shutters. €550.00 per month or close offers only. 8. STROUMBI– 3 bed 2.5 bath large unfurnished villa in quiet village area. Spacious open plan living area with feature

TO LET PAPHOS

FOR SALE PAPHOS

ﬁreplace and dining space Good sized ﬁtted kitchen and breakfast area. Guest WC with storage area.3 double bedrooms. Master with en-suite bathroom. Family bathroom. Enclosed gardens, pool and off street parking. Realistically priced €550.00 per month. OVNO FOR FULL LISTINGS OF A PA R T M E N T S / T O W N HOUSES AND VILLA PLEASE CALL FOR DETAILS. ALL TYPES OF PROPERTY URGENTLY REQUIRED FOR LONG TERM RENTAL LANDLORDS/OWNERS PLEASE CALL. PLEASE CALL 97648440 or email:- inforentals@aol.com

parking, excellent view of sea and mountains, half registration fees till 31.12.12.Reduced to eu 135,000,or rent eu 450 pm. Tel 99 621914 KATO PAPHOS UNIVERSAL, large 2 bedroom apartment, ground ﬂoor, 1 bathroom, kitchen, large veranda, private parking, A/C, satellite TV. Near bus route, shops, banks, quiet apartment. Full furniture. Communal pool. 92 sq.m covered area. Full TITLE DEEDS. REDUCED €92,000

***************************** REFURBISHED stone-built village house located in Kili Paphos. Consists of 3 large rooms 1 small. Traditional wood burnt ﬁreplace, fully tiled secluded yard and garage. Tel: 99210610.

PROPERTY FOR SALE NICOSIA NICOSIA, FLAT FOR SALE: 2 bedroom ﬂat with title deeds, 110 sqm, fully renovated, best central area, 800m from the european university,excellent view, eu 99,000. Tel 99 621914 HOUSE FOR QUICK SALE on whole plot in Makedonitissa Tymvos area. 4 bedrooms 340m2, quality construction 1999 built, near schools. In need of minor modernization. Space for pool. Private sale €595,000, no agents. 99582335

PAPHOS PAPHOS, FLATS FOR SALE OR RENT: kissonerga, 3 bedroom ﬂat with title deeds, in a block of 4 ﬂats only, fully renovated, 2 baths, 146 sqm closed area, ch, ac, covered

EURO 6.95 !!! VERY LOW PRICES ! • OPEN FOR CHRISTMAS DAY LUNCH & NEW YEAR’S EVE CALL PETER NOW FOR ANY ENQUIRIES: 96870774 – PAPHOS

AYIA NAPA, studio for sale, 38 sqm, furnished and fully renovated, with title deed, in licensed complex, 500m from nissi beach, eu 49,000, tel. 99 621914

Nicosia ........................22 802 020 Limassol ......................25 805 050 Larnaca .......................24 804 040 Paphos ........................26 806 060 Famagusta ..................23 803 030

Nicosia General .............22-801400 Nicosia Makarios ...........22-405000 Limassol Old ................25-305333 Limassol New ................25-801100 Larnaca Old...................24-630312 Larnaca New .................24-630300 Paphos ..........................26-821800 Famagusta ....................23-821211

Rescue Co-ordination Centre ............................. 1441 (Immediate Response Service for Aeronautical or Maritime Accident & Incidents)

• BOOKINGS FOR PRIVATE PARTIES AVAILABLE AT

FAMAGUSTA

HOSPITALS ........ 1400

GOOD HOME COOKING- RUN BY FAMILY-ESTABLISHED 1988

• SUNDAY ROAST LUNCH & DINNER FOR ONLY

BEDROOM APARTMENT, TOMBS OF KINGS AREA, close to the sea, large private roof terrace with electric and water, covered parking, veranda, furnished, swimming pool. Full TITLE DEEDS, was €95,000 reduced to €65,000. Chlorakas, 2 bedroom townhouse. Exceptional sea views. New kitchen, bedrooms and bathroom. Private parking, On mains sewage system. Communal pool. A/C, quality fixtures. Fully furnished. Security barrier. FULL TITLE DEEDS Now €92,000 Call 99716390. UNIVERSAL AREA, 3 bedroom detached villa, covered area 122 sqm, master bedroom ensuite, air conditioned throughout, all white goods, solar panels, garden irrigation, plot size 273 sqm, communal pool, euro 165.000 o.v.n.o. – title deeds available Call : 99682644- no agents FOR SALE special offer, €79, 000 first floor apartment in Protaras, fully furnished with 2 bedrooms and a swimming pool. Walking distance to the beach of Ayia Triada and all amenities. Tel: 97 608941.

POLICE DIVISION HQ

Drug Law Enforcement Unit ......................................... 1498 (Confidential Information)

• OPEN ALL WINTER 7 DAYS A WEEK !

U SEFUL PHONE NUMBERS

THE DEVONSHIRE RESTAURANT

• BE ASTOUNDED BY OUR LOW WINTER PRICES !

PAPHOS 1 bedroom apartment, fantastic central location, lounge/kitchen, bathroom, veranda, covered parking, communal pool, Furnished. Near all amenities. TITLE DEEDS NOW REDUCED €45,000.

Game Fund Service: (Wildlife and hunting) Central offices (Nicosia): 22867786, 22-867897 Nicosia: 22-664606, 99-445697 Limassol: 25-343800, 99-445728, Larnaca/Famagusta: 24-805128, 99-634325 Paphos: 26-306211, 99-445679

Narcotics Helpline ......... 1410 (Outside hours.............. 22304160) AIDS Advisory Bureau ................................ 22-302826 Domestic Violence Centre .......................................... 1440 (Emergency Centre for Victims) Drug Info & Poison Control ............... 1401 Cyprus Samaritans ... 77777267 Police Duty Officer ......... 1499 (Confidential Information)

Forest Fires ..................... 1407 Airports Larnaca ..........................77778833 Paphos ...........................77778833

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Advertiser FOR PAPHIAKOS ANIMAL WELFARE SOS HELPLINE, 24 HOUR MEDICAL EMERGENCY SERVICE - CALL 99655581 CONTACT DETAILS FOR PAPHIAKOS. Paphiakos & C.C.P. Animal Welfare Education/Information Centre, No. 12 Dedalos Building, 8049 Kato Paphos PO Box 61272 8132 Kato Paphos Web. www.cyprusanimalwelfare.com www.facebook/paphiakos Email info@cyprusanimalwelfare.com Larnaca Emergency Service - The contact point for animal emergencies in Larnaca is Maria at the Paphiakos Animal Welfare Charity Shop, telephone 24623494 or 99325897 STOP, SHOP AND GIVE TO THE ANIMALS! ALL DONATIONS ARE WELCOME AT OUR CHARITY SHOPS! PAPHIAKOS & C.C.P. ANIMAL WELFARE Registered Charity No 1529 Contact our shops and we can take your clutter The Charity Shops are located at: Shop No.1 Agapinoros Street, Kato Paphos Tel 26910325 Shop No.2 Ap Pavlou Avenue, Kato Paphos Tel 26942894 Shop No.3 Gr. Afxentiou Avensia Court 3 Larnaca 24623494 Shop No.4 9 Ayiou Ioanni Street 3061 Limassol 25561695 Peyia Information Centre & Shop & T Rooms 26622828 Polis Information Centre & Shop & T Rooms 99223572 Book Exchange Shop Trimithousa 99771763 Our shops are always happy to receive your unwanted goods! NOW YOU CAN HELP BY COLLECTING YOUR ALUMINIUM CANS AND HANDING THEM IN AT ANY PAPHIAKOS CHARITY SHOP OR THE CLINIC. SAVE AN ANIMAL AND SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT!! PAPHIAKOS CAR BOOT SALE EVERY SATURDAY at the Ambassador Restaurant and outside in the grounds at Paphiakos. Free parking. Sellers from 7am, buyers from 8am. For information & bookings please call MIKE on 96702600. FORTHCOMING EVENTS FOR PAPHIAKOS CHARITY NO. 1529 WORLD ANIMAL DAY. On Thursday October 4th Paphiakos will be micro chipping pets for only €20 including all the paperwork. For further information telephone 26953496. To celebrate World Animal Day on Thursday October 4th Paphiakos will be offering free spaying/neutering for all feral and unwanted animals as they do throughout the year. Contact 26953496 for further details. PAPHIAKOS SHELTER OPEN DAY The Open Day will be held on Sunday October 7th between 10am and 3pm. It will be a Family Fun Day out with a lot of different activities. There is car parking, toilets and refreshments on site so enjoy and join in the celebration of animals and what they bring to our lives. Entrance is €2 CHARITY HAIR CUT. On Thursday 4th October 09.30-17.30 without an appointment Andri at Atlantic Bay Hotel (2nd Floor) will be charging €5 for a haircut with all proceeds going to Paphiakos. Telephone Suzanne on 99151996 or Andri on 99604783. PAPHIAKOS CHRISTMAS BAZAAR. Saturday November 24th 9am – 3pm at the Crazy Spoon Restaurant. For further details contact 99151996. Stalls, Santa’s Grotto, Donkey Rides, Pirate Pat and many more.

SATURDAY SERVICES NICOSIA St Paul’s Church Hall, Byron Ave LIMASSOL ‘Meeting Point’, 193A Christodoulou H’pavlou, opp Molos Park on beach rd BIBLE STUDY FOR ADULTS & CHILDREN 10.00 am Nicosia • 10.30 am Limassol FAMILY WORSHIP SERVICE 11.30 am Nicosia • 11.45 am Limassol Pastor: Branislav Mirilov 96702349 Info: Nsia 96207014 • Lsol 99322614 www.adventist.org | www.hopetv.org

AYIA NAPA and DHERYNIA (Anglican Church in S.E Cyprus) Sunday Worship 9.30am Morning Prayer every Sunday morning at St Constantinos & Eleni Chapel, Dherynia (near Hospital in Dherynia) 11am at Scandinavian Church, off Nissi Avenue (opp Tassia Maris Hotel), Ayia Napa nd 6pm at St Constantinos & Eleni (2 week) Chaplain : Revd Simon Holloway M.A. Tel: 97 839349 www.angsecyp.org Visitors especially welcome

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Sport ‘Wales can defend Six Nations’ Prop Adam Jones stays confident despite poor form By Andrew Gwilym PROP Adam Jones believes there is no reason why Wales cannot defend their RBS 6 Nations title, despite concerns over injuries and form. Tighthead Jones, 31, made a welcome return from two months out with a knee injury in the Ospreys’ 17-6 Heineken Cup win over Toulouse on Saturday, providing Welsh rugby with a major boost after a miserable autumn. Jones was absent as Wales suffered an autumn series whitewash which dropped them into the third tier of the world rankings and a ﬁendishly difﬁcult 2015 World Cup pool including Australia and hosts England. And prior to the Ospreys’ stunning triumph over fourtime European kings Toulouse, the regions had managed just one win from nine Heineken Cup games collectively. Wales have also been hit heavily by injuries and Dan Lydiate, Rhys Priestland, Alun Wyn Jones and Aaron Jarvis will all miss at least part of the Six Nations. The likes of Ian Evans, Jamie Roberts, Aaron Shingler and Leigh Halfpenny will also need to prove their

(L-R) Adam Jones, Gethin Jenkins and Ryan Jones pose with the Six Nations trophy following their team’s Grand Slam victory in March ﬁtness before the February meeting with Ireland in Cardiff. But 83-cap front-rower Jones said: “It was tough to miss the autumn series because you know what it’s like in camp - the build-up is always exciting. “It was probably a good series to miss, the way it turned out. But I don’t think we’ve turned into a poor team overnight. “There’s a lot of talent in the squad. If we can get everyone ﬁt, we can give anyone in the Six Nations a run for their money.

“A lot has been made about Warren Gatland being away on Lions duty but the coaches there are fantastic anyway. “Of course Gats is a big influence, but I don’t see why we can’t retain our title. It’s obviously going to be difficult, but I don’t see why not.” The Ospreys’ win over Toulouse, which kept the region in the hunt for a quarterfinal berth, also highlighted the talent the regions are churning out despite the talent drain to cash-rich French clubs.

The likes of Justin Tipuric, Eli Walker, Ashley Beck and Lloyd Peers all excelled against the French giants, and Jones believes their performances show the beneﬁts of giving youth a chance. “These boys are getting exposed now in European rugby, so I don’t see why we can’t kick on,” he said. “It’s going to take time. We’ve seen a lot of boys go to France and we are probably not going to win the Heineken Cup straight away, but performances like this show we can at least compete with these teams.”

‘It was probably a good series to miss but I don’t think we’ve turned into a poor team overnight’

Ibaka powers Thunder past Spurs By Jahmal Corner

Serge Ibaka sparked NBA-leading Oklahoma City

SERGE Ibaka produced a season-best 25 points and 17 rebounds to spark the red-hot Oklahoma City Thunder to a 107-93 victory over Western Conference rivals San Antonio on Monday night. Usually known for his defense and energy, Ibaka dominated the post against Tim Duncan to help the NBA-leading Thunder (20-4) cruise to their 11th straight win. “Serge was terriﬁc tonight,” Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant told reporters. “They do a great job of taking the main scorers out of the game. So that’s when you have to step up.” Russell Westbrook added 22 and nine assists while Durant added 19 for Oklahoma City in a rematch of last season’s Western Conference Finals when the Thunder eliminated the Spurs. The Thunder blew open a close game with an 11-0 run in the third quarter and used their speed and athleticism to run away from the Spurs. Tony Parker had 14 points and seven assists for the visitors and Duncan was held to 12 but neither played in the fourth quarter

where coach Gregg Popovich kept them on the bench with the game out of reach. The Spurs were also without Manu Ginobili, who missed the game after sustaining a left quadriceps injury on Saturday against Boston. The Spurs (19-7) have lost three of four and had their Southwest Division lead trimmed to one game. Stephen Jackson returned to the court for the Spurs after missing 14 games with a broken finger. Jackson had previously been fined $25,000 for a hostile Twitter message directed at Ibaka, but the Thunder forward hit back on the court where his offensive game continues to expand. “He hurt us bad,” Jackson said of Ibaka. “He had, what, 18 in the first half, 16 in the first half? He was hitting everything. “That’s the same way we lost last year in the playoffs, by him hitting those same shots. I take my hat off to him.” The Thunder lead the NBA in scoring and have not slowed down even after trading away Sixth Man of the Year James Harden in the off-season. Kevin Martin, who they acquired in the deal, had 20 off the bench.

IN BRIEF Sanchez flops as Jets miss playoffs THE New York Jets crashed out of AFC playoff contention with two late-game mistakes in a 14-10 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Monday. Driving downfield to Tennessee’s 23-yard-line for a comeback in the final two minutes, quarterback Mark Sanchez tossed his fourth and final interception of the night in one of the worst outings of his career. A dreadful Titans punt gave the Jets one more possession starting at Tennessee’s 32, only to end their season with a fumbled snap. The Jets (6-8) had won two straight games to revive their slim chance of reaching the post-season, but they flamed out in Tennessee (5-9) while the struggling Titans snapped their three-game losing streak. Chris Johnson provided the game’s lone highlight with a 94-yard touchdown burst that gave Tennessee a 7-3 lead at halftime. He finished with 122 yards rushing. New York struck back in the third quarter where Sanchez found Jeff Cumberland on a 17-yard strike, but the home team reclaimed the advantage on a 13-yard run by Titans quarterback Jake Locker. Sanchez, who has been under fire this season for his poor performance and was pulled mid-game two weeks ago, connected on just 13 of 28 passes for 131 yards in a season-defining failure.

Kobayashi wants return JAPANESE Formula One driver Kamui Kobayashi called a halt to fundraising efforts on his behalf and focused on 2014 after accepting that he had run out of time to ﬁnd a competitive drive for next season. The country’s sole F1 driver, and the most successful to date, had started a website campaign last month to raise money to try and keep him in the sport after being dropped by the Sauber team. The 26-year-old said on his website that he would have been able to bring a budget of some 8 million euros thanks to the response of Japanese companies. “Unfortunately, the time was still short and I am not able to secure the seat with competitive F1 team for 2013,” he said in an open letter to fans.

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Sport

India triumph equal to Ashes win, says happy captain Cook

Siddle strikes to spark dramatic Australia win By Nick Mulvenney

‘It’s special and will live long in my memory’ By David Clough ENGLAND captain Alastair Cook rated his side’s historic 2-1 Test series win in India every bit as special as their 2010-11 Ashes success in Australia. Cook led his team to a victory, in his first tour as permanent Test captain, which many thought was beyond them. In fact, after a nine-wicket defeat in the first Test in Ahmedabad, Ashes-winning captain Michael Vaughan was among a vast majority experts and otherwise - predicting a 4-0 defeat. However, Cook’s team fought back with successive victories in Mumbai and Kolkata and on Monday, thanks to centurions Jonathan Trott (143) and Ian Bell (116 not out), they finished the job with a series-clinching draw in Nagpur. Cook led from the front throughout, including a defiant 176 in that initial defeat and then a big century too in each of the next two Tests. But it was after watching Trott and Bell combine so relentlessly to keep India at bay for more than 150 overs in England’s second-innings 352 for four declared that Cook naturally felt the greatest sense of satisfaction. “I think it’s on a par with the Ashes,” he said, having

scored a mountain of runs both then and now. Success in Australia came after a wait of almost a quarter of a century. Success in India was the first since 1984-5. “As an Englishman, winning in Australia after so long meant a huge amount,” Cook added. “But in that dressing room there for that last half an hour, knowing what we had achieved, it was a very special place and it will live long in my memory.” England always professed public belief that they could overturn history and refute perceived wisdom of their surefire failings on the subcontinent. Cook admits nonetheless that, after their nine-wicket defeat in Ahmedabad, they needed to convince themselves as well that they could succeed here. “Of course there was doubt,” he added. “There is always doubt, especially after halfway through day two when we were getting rolled. “I was surprised at the level we managed to achieve so soon after Ahmedabad. “I was talking there about playing to our potential, but I was surprised we managed to do it straight away and put all those doubts to bed and prove it to ourselves.” Cook’s runs could not salvage a first-Test draw, but they did show his team-

mates what was possible. “When you go to bed at night realising you can play out here, that is a very encouraging thing,” he added. “After that second innings in Ahmedabad we thought ‘Yes, we can score runs out here’. “As I said then, if we could play close to our potential as a side we had a chance of winning a game and we did that. “Then we backed it up in Kolkata and in this game we continued in that form. “It was about transferring what we’ve been practising and working on out in the middle and trusting our ability to do that, especially with the bat. “The lads really stood up in those three games with the bat and we know what a quality bowling attack we had, we have proven that over a number of years. “I can’t praise the guys enough, the whole squad. Everyone has contributed and the willingness to learn and to front up to what is a very tough challenge out here was fantastic.” Above all, though, it has been a collective effort and a learning curve for the tourists. “We took a big hit in Ahmedabad and we looked at ourselves and we tried to turn it round,” Cook said. “We have to give ourselves a lot of credit for the way we played.”

Leading from the front: opener Alastair Cook became England’s record Test centurion with 23 during the tour

ATP does not support US Open’s planned Monday finish By Martyn Herman

The men’s ﬁnal, including this year’s epic between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, has been pushed back to Monday for the past ﬁve years due to bad weather

THE US Open’s decision to extend the 2013 tournament to a third Monday has drawn criticism from the men’s govening body the ATP who have called on Flushing Meadows organisers to fall into line with the three other grand slam tournaments. Next year’s men’s singles final will be played on Monday allowing the players to have a day’s rest after the semi-finals which have traditionally been played on ‘Super Saturday’ along with the women’s singles final. The 2013 women’s singles final will take place on Sunday with the semi-finals also on Friday - ending 30 years of the ‘Super Saturday’ - although no decision has yet been taken on whether the change will be a permanent one. “By modifying the schedule to allow a rest day between the semi-finals and the final, the US Open has recognised the incredible physical de-

mands of men’s tennis,” a statement from the ATP said. “However, the ATP and its players have made it clear to the US Open that we do not support a Monday final. “We strongly believe the US Open should keep a similar schedule to the other Grand Slams, with the men’s semifinals completed by Friday and the final on Sunday. “It is unfortunate the US Open response did not reflect our views on this issue and the ATP and its players will continue to pursue this matter in its discussions with the USTA.” Bad weather has wrought havoc with the US Open schedule in recent years with the men’s final, including this year’s epic between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, being pushed back to Monday for the past five years. The ATP also gave a lukewarm response to the USTA’s announcement of a $4 million rise in prize money for the tournament to a

record $29.5 million. “The prize money increase announced for 2013 is appreciated and, together with the 2012 increase, represents the largest increase by the US Open since the ATP Tour began in 1990,” it said. “However, over the last nine months the ATP and its players have asked that the US Open fully recognise the fundamental role of the players in driving US Open revenues, which are the largest in our sport. “The ATP therefore remains committed to continuing discussions on this issue, with the objective of ensuring that the players’ share of the revenues at the US Open truly reﬂects the value that they generate for the event.” Players have complained about prize money for years, saying purses for the four grand slams were too small in relation to the revenue they brought in and too lopsided in favour of the top competitors who regularly advance to the later stages.

SEAMERS Peter Siddle and Mitchell Starc skittled Sri Lanka’s last six wickets in a dramatic final session to give Australia a 137-run victory in the last hour of the first Test yesterday. Siddle, who finished the match with figures of 9-104, and left-armer Starc, who took 5-63 in the second innings, caught fire after tea to bowl the tourists out for 255. Having been stymied in similar circumstances by a brilliant rearguard action from South Africa in Adelaide last month, Australia were desperate not to repeat the experience in Hobart. However, it looked like it might be a case of deja vu at tea after some resilient Sri Lankan batting and a couple of rain breaks frustrated the hosts for two sessions. Captain Michael Clarke, whose team will take a 1-0 lead to Melbourne for the second match in the threeTest series, said he never doubted his bowlers. “We knew we had to be patient,” said Clarke, who was confident he would be fit for the second Test despite a hamstring injury. “No doubt I was confident that if we could bowl the balls in the right area for a long period of time that we would have success. “It was going to be a day’s work to get so many good batsmen out but take nothing away from the bowlers, they had to execute their plans and their skills. “If everyone’s got the heart that Siddle has, we’ll get back to being number one in the world no doubt.” Siddle had already taken the key wickets of captain Mahela Jayawardene (19) and ICC Cricketer of the Year Kumar Sangakkara (63) around lunch but the tourists reached tea on 186 with six wickets still in hand. In a sign of Australia’s growing desperation, wicketkeeper Matthew Wade shed his pads and gloves to bowl the final over before the break and claimed a maiden in his first spell in senior cricket. Sri Lanka, set a victory target of 393, could still conceivably have won the match but a paltry return of 42 runs in the second session clearly indicated they were batting for a draw rather than a first win in Australia. “Disappointed that we lost the game,” said skipper Jayawardene. “It was a tough Test match in the sense that we were chasing the game probably after the third or fourth day but we kept fighting. “Today we knew we had to bat through a couple of sessions sensibly, see what happens, and up until tea we were on target.”

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Sport

Zenit fans opposed to black and gay players By Gennady Fyodorov THE largest fan group of Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg have demanded the club refrain from buying black and gay players following turmoil surrounding the acquisition of Brazil striker Hulk. “We’re not racists but we see the absence of black players at Zenit as an important tradition,” Zenit fan club Landscrona said in a letter, called the ‘Selection 12 manifesto’, posted on its website. “It would allow Zenit to maintain the national identity of the club, which is the symbol of St Petersburg.” Zenit have been the only top club in Russia to have nev-

er signed an African player while the northern city of St Petersburg is known to have a strong right-wing nationalist inﬂuence. The fans said they want more home-grown or European players in the team. “We only want players from other brotherly Slav nations, such as Ukraine and Belarus as well as from the Baltic states and Scandinavia. We have the same mentality and historical and cultural background as these nations,” the letter said. They also expressed their opposition to having ‘sexual minorities’ in the team and demanded that each player would give “101 percent effort” in every match. Several prominent black

players have turned down lucrative offers from the wealthy club over the past 12 months after receiving death threats from Zenit fans, local media reported. A Zenit spokesman said on Monday the club would not comment on the fans’ letter. Former Zenit and Russia striker Alexander Panov said the fans have no right to inﬂuence the club’s selection policy. “If we don’t have enough good players from St Petersburg, then what should the club do?” the St Petersburg native was quoted as saying by local media. “All clubs around the world have black players. If they are absent from Zenit - it’s Zenit’s problem. I don’t think

fans should demand the club buy or don’t buy certain players. The fans have the right to go to the stadium or stay home.” Zenit have been in turmoil for the past few months with several senior players unhappy after the wealthy club splashed out more than $100 million on Brazilian Hulk and Belgium midﬁelder Axel Witsel just before the transfer deadline. Zenit demoted Russia skipper Igor Denisov to the reserve team in September after he refused to play, issuing an ultimatum to renegotiate his contract in line with what Hulk was making. Denisov was later allowed to rejoin the ﬁrst team after making an apology.

Zenit have been in turmoil since the wealthy club splashed out more than $100 million on Hulk (above) and Axel Witsel

Brazil on course for World Cup Concerns remain over transport and hotels By Mike Collett BRAZIL has problems like most countries but one that appears to be rapidly disappearing is the notion that it will not be ready to host the World Cup in just over 18 months’ time. While anxieties remain about the Amazonia Arena in Manaus and airports including Belo Horizonte as well the upgrading of roads and the construction of a few hotels, Brazil looks on course to stage a successful World Cup. “In the past 40 years only the Montreal Olympics in 1976 and the Athens Olympics in 2004 still had building worries at the end. That will not happen here,” said Ricardo Trade, the chief executive of Brazil’s World Cup organising committee (LOC). However, a general mood of scepticism remains in the country. Many Brazilians do think the stadiums will be ready on time but a feeling exists that the transport system, airports and hotel capacity will struggle to cope. There is also a belief that some stadiums, built at enormous cost through Brazil’s continually emerging muscle as the world’s sixth largest economy, are destined to become white elephants and that much of the building work is over budget. For the last two weeks ofﬁcials from world football’s governing body FIFA, Brazil’s LOC and representatives from national and state governments and the tourist board accompanied 20 foreign journalists on a

The first 2014 stadium officially opened its doors on Sunday when the Castelao (below) in the north-eastern seaside city of Fortaleza was inaugurated by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (kicking ball) tour of the six World Cup venues which will also stage matches at next year’s Confederations Cup. The stadiums are in varying states of readiness from the virtually complete Mineirao at Belo Horizonte and Fortaleza’s Castelao Arena to the far-from-finished Maracana in Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia’s Mane Garrincha National Stadium. But there is no sense of panic. “We are not involved in a race against time,” deputy sports minister Luis Fernandes told reporters in Brasilia. “Our main concern is the stadium in Manaus, which, being in the Amazon jungle has its own problems - but they will be solved. All 12 stadiums will be ready for the finals.” The first of those stadiums officially opened its doors on Sunday when the

Castelao in the north-eastern seaside city of Fortaleza was inaugurated by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. The Mineirao in Belo Horizonte will be opened

on December 21 with the four others hosting Confederations Cup matches in Recife, Salvador, Brasilia and Rio due to be ready by April. While Brasilia and Rio

still appear to have a huge amount of work to complete, Rousseff could at least celebrate on Sunday with the 67,000-seater Castelao refurbished at a cost of 518.6 million reais ($248.1 million). She said inauguration of the first stadium for the 2014 tournament as well as Corinthians’ victory in the Club World Cup final in Japan showed Brazil’s strength on and off the football field. “Brazil is capable of both things, winning on the football fields and building a stadium of this standing,” she said. FIFA has given the four other cities hosting Confederations Cup matches until next April to be ready - but doubts remain about the iconic Maracana, the venue for the 2014 final, and the national stadium in Brasilia. Both stadiums will sup-

port huge roofs. “It is a very complicated task, but we are very confident it will be ready on time,” Icaro Moreno, the chief engineer on the Maracana project, said. “By the end of November the stadium was 75 percent complete and will last for 50 or 100 years - so a few weeks either way now will not damage our plans to be ready.” The same might not be said of Brasilia, which looked even more of a building site than the Maracana. Engineer claims the stadium was 84 percent complete appeared hugely optimistic, but Trade was not too concerned. “There are targets to meet and they will all be met,” he said. “The Confederations Cup is next June, the World Cup in 18 months time. We have made promises to FIFA and to the Brazilian people and every promise we have made, we will keep.” Even half-built, all the stadiums convey a sense of grandeur befitting a country that has won the World Cup a record five times and is desperate for a sixth success in 2014. In Belo Horizonte and Fortaleza the surrounding walkways and platforms command superb views of their cities. The stadium infrastructures themselves are all built with sustainable legacies in mind and the designs are awe-inspiring, especially in Fortaleza with one end left open looking out to the city below. Whether Brazilian officials are being wildly optimistic that everything will be ready in time or not, they appear confident and feel everyone else should be too. As Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo said; “My real concern, is not that we won’t be ready in time because we will. But as a football fan, we must not suffer a repeat of the 1950 defeat to Uruguay which cost us the World Cup then and was a national trauma that took us years to recover from.”

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Sport

Benitez has to lift Chelsea for cup trip to Leeds bearpit Jet-lagged Blues face fired-up fallen giants

Liverpool will spend cautiously in January window By Josh Reich

By Justin Palmer HAVING flown halfway around the world only to return home tired and trophyless from the Club World Cup in Japan, Chelsea’s weary band of jet-setters are unlikely to be savouring a League Cup visit to Leeds United tonight. A trip to Elland Road and Leeds was once an intimidating prospect for any side, from their glory days under Don Revie in the late 1960s and early 1970s to becoming the last winners of the old first division in 1992. The fallen giants ply a more humble trade these days thanks to the financial implosion that engulfed the Yorkshire club. Now mired in mid-table Championship (second division) mediocrity and desperately searching for the golden ticket back to the Premier League, Leeds are seeking a hat-trick of topflight League Cup scalps and a place in the semi-finals. Everton and Southampton have been put to the sword at Elland Road, and Leeds manager Neil Warnock would dearly love to ratchet up the pressure on Chelsea counterpart Rafa Benitez. “I hope we go out and give them a good game, but if we play well and they do as well there’s only one winner, so we have to hope they’re not right up to it and we’re on top of our game,” Warnock told Sky Sports. “I don’t think I could have picked a better team to play

against. It promises to be fabulous with no pressure on us. Whatever team I select we can just go out and enjoy it.” It is unlikely that League Cup success ﬁgured too prominently in Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s thoughts at the start of the season but he may just give the quarter-ﬁnal clash a little more attention now, if only to put Benitez further under the microscope.

SILVERWARE Out of the Champions League after becoming the ﬁrst holders to exit at the group stage and seemingly out of Premier League title contention after slipping 13 points behind leaders Manchester United, Chelsea are running out of options for silverware. Trophies went begging after defeats in the Community Shield and Super Cup this season and a 1-0 defeat by South American champions Corinthians on Sunday ended their Club World Cup hopes. Benitez has won three of his seven games in charge since replacing the axed Roberto Di Matteo last month but the Spaniard, a deeply unpopular appointment with Chelsea fans, cannot afford a slip-up against Leeds. The teams have not met since the ﬁnal match of the 2003-04 season, a 1-0 win for the Londoners at Stamford Bridge that was to prove symbolic for both clubs for contrasting reasons.

For Chelsea, it proved to be the end of Claudio Ranieri’s tenure before Portuguese Jose Mourinho was ushered in to turn the club into champions and himself into the self-annointed “special one”. For relegated Leeds, their freefall had only just begun as the Champions League semi-finalists of 2001 paid a heavy price for spending beyond their means. They went into administration and plunged into the third tier of English football in 2007 before getting back into the Championship three years later. While a return to their glory days is some way away, Leeds can at least look forward to a sounder financial footing and the prospect of investment with a deal in place to be bought by Dubai-based GFH Capital. For now, they hope to follow the lead of Yorkshire neighbours Bradford, who caused one of the biggest upsets for many a year last week when they won a penalty shootout against Arsenal to reach the last four. “We’ve got to take a bit of heart from Bradford when they played Arsenal because they had a strong outfit out and anything can happen in the cup,” said Leeds midfielder Paul Green. “We have already beaten some Premier League teams here this season, no team likes to come to Elland Road to play against Leeds United and that is what it is going to be like on Wednesday.”

Manager Rafa Benitez (left) wants to make sure that Chelsea don’t slump to another embarrassing defeat

Fellaini to miss festive fixtures By Andy Hampson

No ifs, just butts: Marouane Fellaini layed into Stoke defender Marouane Fellaini with a vicious headbutt

EVERTON must do without midﬁelder Marouane Fellaini for the next three matches after he was banned for his clash with Stoke’s Ryan Shawcross. The Football Association brought a charge of violent conduct retrospectively after reviewing footage of Everton’s 1-1 draw with Stoke in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday. Fellaini and Everton accepted the charge, little surprise considering the player had already apologised and his manager David Moyes also condemned the incident. The ban is the equivalent of what the 25-year-old would have received had referee Mark Halsey seen the incident at the Britannia Stadium and issued a red card. Fellaini will now miss Everton’s Christmas ﬁxtures against West Ham, Wigan and Chelsea and will

not be available again until the trip to Newcastle on January 2. A statement from the FA also referred to two other clashes between Fellaini and Shawcross at the Britannia Stadium but Halsey has confirmed he saw both and did not consider them violent conduct. Fellaini’s absence will be sorely felt by Everton after an inspirational first half of the season. The Belgium international has scored eight goals and been the driving force of a team currently fifth in the table and pushing for a Champions League place. A report on Everton’s website confirmed that the Merseyside club would accept the charge. Fellaini issued a statement after the game acknowledging his error. He said: “I apologise completely to Ryan Shawcross, my team-mates and to our fans at the game. “There was a lot of pushing and pulling going on in-

side the Stoke penalty area and I didn’t feel I was getting any protection from the ofﬁcials. “Nevertheless I know I shouldn’t have done what I did. “I have also apologised to the manager and the staff. I have no excuses, I was disappointed with the way I was being treated and I lost my temper, which was unprofessional of me.” Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers Association, gave credit to Fellaini for his apology and to Moyes, who said he expected punishment. Taylor said: “It is good to see the lad has apologised for his actions. “It is disappointing, he has had a great season and obviously it is an aberration. “It was refreshing to hear the manager accept what he did was wrong and for the player to apologise. He’s prepared to accept what comes his way.”

LIVERPOOL will strengthen their under-manned forward line in the January transfer window although any significant purchases will have to wait until the end of the season, manager Brendan Rodgers said yesterday. “There is no doubt we will get reinforcements in January and there is no doubt that we will get the backing, but it will come down to two things - the availability and affordability of players,” Rodgers told reporters. The Anfield club are mired in mid-table with five wins from 17 Premier League matches, and were comprehensively outplayed in a 3-1 home defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday. Luis Suarez and the injured Fabio Borini are the only recognised senior strikers after Andy Carroll was allowed to join West Ham United on loan in the last transfer window, while the club’s efforts to bring in attack-minded players Clint Dempsey and Gylfi Sigurdsson were stymied, with both opting to join Tottenham Hotspur. Suarez is single-handedly leading the attack, with usually consistent performers Steven Gerrard and Joe Allen looking tired. Reports have linked Liverpool with Arsenal’s Theo Walcott and Chelsea’s Daniel Sturridge but Rodgers poured cold water on the suggestions. “I see lots of names bandied about and, with all due respect, names that are pie in the sky because there won’t be too many top players moving about in January because clubs want top money,” he said. “But there is no doubt that we want to bring in goals and we want to bring in players who can assist in scoring goals. “If we can do that then that will set us up and then we can really reinforce again when the market opens up in the summer. “All our problems were never going to be solved in this window because the January window is one of the least productive and the least movement goes on there but we will look to solve some of our problems in there and then we will look to revisit it in the summer.”

Suarez is single-handedly leading the attack

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

32 India triumph equal to Ashes win, says captain Cook 29

Sport Balotelli’s dolce vita turns sour with City tribunal By Mark Pangallo WITH a tribunal on the horizon over a club-imposed fine and a rap sheet more distinctive than his mohawk, Mario Balotelli is fast becoming the Christmas gift Manchester City could not give away even if they offered complimentary wrapping. Rash tackles, sendings-offs, tantrums after being substituted and the infamous ‘Why Always Me?’ undershirt have been the on-field norm for the Italy international since he joined City from Inter Milan in August 2010. His off-field antics have been equally as colourful as the cards he has been shown during his two years at the Etihad Stadium, especially his new camouflaged Bentley and his well documented clash with fireworks in his bathroom. But despite boss Roberto Mancini displaying more patience than a seasoned Buddhist monk, it now appears Balotelli will be sent packing after reports emerged he was disputing a club imposed fine of twoweeks’ wages for last term’s misdemeanours. Media outlets say the 22year-old striker was docked 340,000 pounds in wages when City’s tolerance was finally broken after he received his third red card of the season during a 1-0 loss away to Arsenal in April. Manchester City nor the Premier League, when contacted by Reuters, would confirm details of Balotelli’s hearing which is due to take place in front of an independent tribunal in London today. During their Premier League title-winning season last term, Balotelli missed 11 of Manchester City’s 54 competitive games. In total, he was banned for six domestic league, two League Cup and three Champions League fixtures. Balotelli, whose internal

club appeal was unsuccessful reports say, will be accompanied at the tribunal by his lawyer and a representative from the Professional Footballers’ Association. Legal representatives for City will also be in attendance. Despite a starting role in the Manchester derby this month, Balotelli was omitted for last weekend’s 3-1 win at Newcastle with Mancini blaming his absence on the Italian’s poor form. After he was hauled off early in the second half against rivals United, a frustrated Mancini urged him to start taking his job more seriously. “When you have a player of this quality you can’t understand that he could continue to throw this out of the window. This is incredible,” Mancini told reporters after the 3-2 loss. Even though Balotelli’s discretions have riled Mancini, the manager has stood by his player and reiterated his fellow Italian’s future remains at the club. It was a different case at Inter under then coach Jose Mourinho, who has since labelled his former player unmanageable. “I could write a book of 200 pages of my two years in Inter with Mario, but the book would be not be a drama the book would be a comedy,” the 49-year-old said in an interview following his move to Real Madrid. With the January transfer window imminent, City and Balotelli’s management have the opportunity to look for potential suitors with AC Milan having long been admirers. But any club taking a risk on him will not come close to matching the 22 million euro price tag Inter were paid. A relatively successful Euro 2012 tournament in which he scored three times, including twice against Germany to help the Azzurri reach the ﬁnal, will however go some way to helping prop up his value.

Controversial character: Mario Balotelli continues to make headlines on and off the pitch

Brazil on course for World Cup 30

GUNNERS’ CHRISTMAS WISH ANSWERED BY SANTI IN RAMPANT DISPLAY

Stoop to conquer: Arsenal’s Spanish midﬁelder Santi Cazorla opens his account, scores his second before the break (left, above) and completes his hat-trick (left, below)

Wenger: Arsenal answered critics By Mark Bryans

RSENAL manager Arsene Wenger believes his players answered their critics on the pitch as they steamrollered Barclays Premier League strugglers Reading. The Gunners ran out 5-2 winners at the Madejski Stadium on Monday night with hat-trick hero Santi Cazorla the star of the show in a rampant Arsenal performance. Lukas Podolski and Theo Walcott also struck for Wenger’s side, who moved to within two points of the top four with the win. Wenger felt talk of a crisis at the North London club, escalated by the Capital One Cup defeat at Bradford and reported rifts with assistant manager Steve Bould, was put to bed at the expense of bottom side Reading. “There could only be one answer and that was on the football pitch,” he said. “Success came with the quality of our game. We focused on the quality of our game and played. “Our ambition is to ﬁnish as high as we can and win our next game, that is all we can do. We have to focus on the quality of our football.” When pressed on the recent harsh criticism of Arsenal,

Wenger added: “It depends on what you mean by a crisis. If you call being slaughtered by everybody then we were in a super-crisis. “In our job you need to be mentally strong. It is a test when you have been in a position like we were in.” Walcott, who is still yet to sign a new deal with Arsenal, was deployed in his favoured central role and Wenger is hopeful an agreement can be reached sooner rather than later. The Frenchman said: “It is not my decision, it is Theo’s decision as well - if it is only my decision, it is quickly done. “Theo has been educated at Southampton and Arsenal, e has become where he el player. a top-level e that when “I hope iders his he considers future he will his is think this best the for place nd him and sign forr us. “I willl say just re and our desire

Middle man: Theo Walcott took advantage of his central role with goal No.5

will is clear, and Theo knows that. Hopefully we can get to a happy end with it.” Captain Thomas Vermaelen yesterday urged Arsenal to convince Walcott to sign a new contract but admitted the players are powerless to stop a high-proﬁle teammate leaving the club, Walcott is also seeking assurances that he will be deployed more regularly as a centre-forward, as he was at the Madejski Stadium, and Vermaelen hopes negotiations will reach a positive outcome. “Of course we want him to stay but that is something that is going on between the player and the club,” he said. “II don don’tt know what is going on behind the scenes - we don’t talk a about it. Of course, Theo h has been invaluable for us when he played tthis year. He is dan dangerous for us an and I hope he could stay this year. “W “We don’t talk about it bec because that is going on in football all the time. IIt happened last time with Robin (van Pe Persie) in the summ summer. It’s the jjob of the board and the club w what they

are going to do with it so we can’t do anything about it.” Reading boss Brian McDermott meanwhile still reckons he is the man to guide the Royals to safety this season despite a sixth straight league defeat. Goals from Adam Le Fondre and Jimmy Kebe saw Reading briefly threaten a revival at 4-2 but another loss has not made the 51year-old question his ability. “My position is what it is, I’m not enjoying the results but I’m enjoying the challenge,” he said. “I felt I was the right man to get us out of trouble when we were in the Championship, I felt I was the right man to get us two quarterfinals of FA Cups. “I thought I was the right man to get us into the playoff final, I felt I was the right man to get us promoted to the Barclays Premier League and I feel I’m the right man to get us out of trouble where we are.”