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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

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Prices to rise in New Year as poverty line grows

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Eurogroup calls for speedy deal Signs of unrest grow as island races to meet new deadline

By Elias Hazou

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UROGROUP president Jean-Claude Juncker last night urged Cyprus and the EU/IMF to seal the deal on a bailout as soon as possible.

“I call on Cyprus and the EU/IMF troika to conclude on the proposed terms of a programme in order to reach agreement on an adjustment package in a timely manner,” Juncker said after the Eurogroup meeting.

Eurozone finance ministers met last night to discuss the terms of a Greek debt buyback and review a Cypriot bailout.

“The Eurogroup will discuss the interim results of the due diligence exercise on the capital needs of the financial sector and its implications for programme financing on December 13,” Juncker said after the meeting.

Last night’s meeting will be followed today by an Ecofin meeting of EU finance ministers, expected to discuss proposals for a single supervisory mechanism for banks.

The government and the legislature are scrambling to meet a December 13 cutoff date to demonstrate that Cyprus is geared to implement the terms of a bailout agreement.

Eurozone ministers meeting in Brussels yesterday were given an initial briefing on the preliminary bailout agreement between Cyprus

and international lenders.

But it is the next meeting of the Eurogroup ten days later - where a more detailed discussion of Cyprus’ rescue package will take place -that will prove crucial.

An agreement can only be finalised once the interim results of a due-diligence into the banks’ loan portfolios are known; they are expected to come out this Friday.

A deal would then have to be approved by the Eurogroup and by individual member-states; assuming all goes well, it would take weeks before the first tranche of bailout money is released.

To that end, the government is expected to submit around 20 bills to parliament this coming Thursday, with the aim of having them approved by December 13.

As the island races against time to meet the new deadline, unrest was growing on the domestic front yesterday. Teachers, hoteliers and co-ops griped over the terms of the bailout deal, bus drivers went on strike over unpaid wages, CyTA workers protested over giving more money to the state, the health ministry budget was up in the air pending bailout alterations and farmers announced price hikes from January on bread, milk and meat.

Today contract teachers are planning a demo outside the finance ministry. They are protesting a provision

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Shacolas to feed needy school children

Sister Tuna Noodle Cocktail, a member The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, poses in a dress designed during a charity event entitled Project Nunway, in San Francisco.

The event featured designs made from recycled materials and modelled by Sis-

ters. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (SPI) is a charity and street performance organisation founded in 1979 which uses religious imagery to raise money for AIDS, LGBT-related causes and mainstream community service organisations

THE EXECUTIVE chairman of the Shacolas Group, Nicolas Shacolas, yesterday announced that his family and the Shacolas Group will collaborate to ensure needy primary school pupils are fed next year.

According to an announcement, a committee chaired by former health minister Charis Charalambous has been set up to liaise with the education ministry and find ways to implement the feeding programme for one year.

The project will commence on the return of primary children to their schools in the new year.

A Shacolas Group source said no decision had been taken yet on what constitutes a poor child or how one could ascertain that they are adequately fed.

The exact size of the philanthropic contribution in terms of euros, the number of children to be included and other detailed issues will be examined by the committee in the coming weeks, before children return to school in early January, he said.

The chairman and board of the Cyprus federation of parents of primary school children yesterday welcomed the announcement, noting that a large number of families are in “a very difficult financial position” as a result of the ongoing economic crisis.

DISY leader and presidential candidate Nicos Anastasiades hailed the long-standing charitable activities and sensitivity of Nicos Shacolas.

Anastasiades expressed hope that others would follow his example, “since in this period, our society has a great need for the magnanimity and generosity of its philanthropist members”.

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Eurogroup in fresh call for speedy deal

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TODAY: Clouds and scattered showers. Temperatures will reach 16C inland, 17C along the coasts and 8C over higher ground OUTLOOK: Mostly fine on Wednesday, but Thursday and Friday likely to be overcast with further drizzle YESTERDAY:

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CHEMISTS NICOSIA N. Hadjicharalambous, 49C Prodromou Ave. Tel: 22451451, 22770444 (H) O. Solomou, corner Strovolos & Pythonos St, Strovolos. Tel: 22313123, 22375724 (H) M. Kitsa, 21C Kyriakou Matsi Ave., Tel: 22441780, 22420506 (H) G. Hatziapostolu, 75 Larnaca Ave., Tel: 22100029, 22779662 LIMASSOL S. Nicolaou, 31 Georgiou A Germasoyia, Tel: 25325450, 25383877 (H) Gr. Gregoriou 37B Kosti Palama Tel: 25754111, 25566818 (H)

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Cyprus Mail Established 1945. Number 21,396 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

(Continued from front page) of the bailout memorandum that calls for increasing teaching time of teachers by one academic period.

If implemented, this measure could put up to 1,000 contract teachers out of a job, the secondary teachers’ union OELMEK warned yesterday.

Citing the 2013 state budget, OELMEK head Demetris Taliadoros said that during the first eight months of next year there will be 533 contracted employees; thereafter their number would be reduced to 40.

Taliadoros challenged the education minister to say whether he was aware of the measure and to state his position.

Education Minister Giorgos Demosthenous responded later in the day, noting that he had voiced his opposition to the measure.

“There are other ways to generate the savings requested by the troika,” he said.

Joining the fray, the Pancyprian Cooperative Federation charged yesterday that the troika would “devour” co-operative banks by killing their “human-centred and social role”.

Federation president Andreas Mouskallis (an AKEL MP) said the memorandum “turns co-operative institutions into banks, but with reduced capacity for drawing capital, which will lead to their closure”.

The memorandum states that “authorities will align the regulation and supervision of co-operative credit institutions to that of commercial banks”. It goes on call for legislation to be “passed by [end to June 2013] to strengthen governance by prohibiting co-operative credit institutions from lending to natural persons that are non-members, independent board members, including their connected parties, and removing any board members in arrears on existing debts to their co-operative credit institutions, while lending to other board members will be prohibited above a certain threshold, which will be calibrated by the Central Bank Cyprus (sic). Loans and other credit facilities to each board member will be disclosed to the public.”

Hoteliers meanwhile warned that the restructuring of property tax schemes, as provided in the memorandum, would be the final nail in the coffin for the al-

ready struggling construction industry - and ultimately for tourism.

The economic adjustment programme calls for updating the 1980s property prices by applying the CPI index over 1980 to 2012, and amending tax rates for the value bands.

Cries of protest are also coming from the handicapped. As part of broader cutbacks in welfare benefits totalling €113 million (all ministries) provided for in the 2013 budget, among others the summer holidays allowance for handicapped people will be slashed by half.

President Demetris Christofias also appeared in defiant mood yesterday.

“Unfortunately, policies of harsh austerity do not seem to be reversing the trend. The crisis is deepening whereas political decisions on a European level appear not to have the desired results,” Christofias said.

The comments come 24 hours before the president addresses the nation on the preliminary agreement struck with international lenders - the troika. In today’s address, Christofias is expected to describe how the island came to ask for foreign assistance.

CyTA staff protest against lending more to the state SEMI-STATE telecoms company CyTA yesterday put off a decision on whether to loan the government €120 million from its pension fund, as employees demonstrated against the idea.

The CyTA board convened yesterday to discuss the potential loan, with one eye on finding ways to ensure its repayment, and another on maintaining peaceful labour relations with staff by safeguarding their pension interests. No decision was taken.

Three of the five unions representing CyTA staff outright reject any kind of loan, which would come on the heels of an earlier loan of €100m to the government that has yet to be paid back. Members of the three unions, representing half of the CyTA staff, demonstrated outside CyTA’s main offices in Nicosia yesterday holding placards saying hands off the semi-state authority.

Last week, CyTA chairman Stathis Kittis acknowledged that the main telecoms provider in Cyprus faced a dilemma between giving the loan or watching the state fail to pay the 13th salaries of the wider public sector.

CyTA employees demonstrating in Nicosia yesterday

(Christos Theodorides)

More moneylaundering allegations surface POLITICIANS across Europe are urging their governments to demand a crackdown on alleged Russian moneylaundering in Cyprus as a condition of any bailout, The Telegraph said yesterday.

The paper said MPs in the UK, Finland and the Netherlands have questions for the banks before a deal is signed. The paper said German politicians were looking at making similar demands. The moves follow allegations that the Cypriot authorities refused to

investigate claims that criminals linked to a $230m alleged Russian tax fraud laundered $30m through the island’s banks, said The Telegraph.

It said the case has been linked to a number of suspicious deaths, including that of Alexander Perepelichny, 44, a whistleblower living in the UK who died while out jogging last month.

The alleged criminal conspiracy involving police and tax officials was uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer working for UK-based hedge fund Her-

mitage Capital Management, who died in 2009 after a year in pre-trial detention on unproven charges of tax evasion. The US has since banned entry to 60 Russians linked to the fraud and death.

The Telegraph said Hermitage wrote to Cypriot attorney-general, Petros Clerides with evidence he said showed that banks had received stolen money.

Clerides said he could not investigate without a request from the Russian authorities.

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, December 4, 2012

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Home CYPRUS TODAY Petrol station owner mugged in Larnaca THE 60-YEAR-OLD owner of a petrol station in Mazotos in Larnaca was mugged as he got home on Sunday night by two masked men who got away with around €100,000 police said.

He had just parked outside his house in Larnaca and was exiting the car when he received a blow to the head.

He fell to the ground, covered in blood, while the two men who were spotted by neighbours, picked up the bags of money and fled in a car.

A 29-year-old Romanian, was later arrested and remanded yesterday for eight days but the second suspect managed to get away.

The car the thieves had used was later found some distance away, with hoods and other evidence inside.

The victim was taken to Larnaca General Hospital where the on-duty doctor sewed up his wound.

He was later released.

Man crushed under wheels of tractor A 79-YEAR-OLD man was crushed to death on Sunday afternoon by his tractor in Orounta village, police said.

At around 3.45pm, Peristerona police station received a call that an accident had occurred in the village of Orounta.

Investigations at the scene showed that 79-year-old Panayiotis Stavrou had started his tractor while standing next to it and moved in front of the vehicle resulting in him being run over.

He was taken to Nicosia General Hospital where his death was confirmed.

Prices to go up as number on poverty line increases Bread, milk and meat hikes as of Janaury 1, farmers say

By Stefanos Evripidou FOOD PRODUCERS yesterday warned that the prices of staple items like milk, bread and meat will rise, adding to the woes of Cypriot households already contemplating shrinking incomes as a result of austerity measures and tax hikes on the way.

According to the state broadcaster yesterday, food producers warned that the ever-rising price of grain has left them with no choice but to increase the retail price of their products in January.

Cattle farmer representatives told CyBC that producers have absorbed the increasing grain prices for long enough, and can do so no longer.

New increases in milk, bread and meat prices are likely to be introduced at the start of the new year with milk expected to go up a further four cents a litre.

Cattle farmers argue the real increase should be closer to 10 or 12 cents but that farmers agreed to absorb most of the increased grain cost.

Cypriot milk is already considered one of the most expensive in Europe.

Bread will also see a rise though to a smaller degree

while the higher demand for meat during the holidays is also likely to push up prices significantly.

Producers warn that the situation could get worse as grain prices are expected to rise further.

The latest news does not bode well for families living close to the poverty line.

According to data released

by Eurostat yesterday, 14.1 per cent of Cypriots lived on the verge of poverty in 2011, while almost one in four Cypriots met at least one of the three EU criteria for poverty.

In 2011, 14.5 per cent of Cypriots had an income under 60 per cent of the average national income, even after any social transfers, while the average for the EU was 16.9 per cent.

One in ten- 10.7 per cent of Cypriots were severely materially deprived, while 4.5 per cent of Cypriots lived in households with very low work intensity. The averages for the EU were 8.8 per cent and 10.1 per cent respectively. With the rise of unemployment, more Cypriots are expected to enter the latter category in 2012.

According to Eurostat, persons at risk of poverty are those living in a household with an equivalised disposable income below the ‘risk

One in four now meet at least one of the EU’s three criteria for poverty of poverty’ threshold, which is set at 60 per cent of the national median equivalised disposable income (after social transfers).

The criteria used for assessing persons who are se-

verely materially deprived are: those who cannot afford to pay rent/mortgage or utility bills on time; are unable to keep their home adequately warm; face unexpected expenses; cannot

eat meat, fish or a protein equivalent every second day; take a one-week holiday away from home; own a car, washing machine, colour TV, or telephone (including mobile phone).

Twenty years of texting, Cypriots send 2.8m messages a day TWENTY years ago, yesterday, Neil Papworth, a 22-year-old British engineer sent the first ever text message from his computer, with the message “Merry Christmas” to an Orbitel 901 mobile phone.

In Cyprus in 2012 roughly 2.87 million text messages are sent daily, according to the island’s main telecommunications provider, CyTA. Widely regarded as the most popular way to stay in contact, numbers have risen from last year with 2.84 million messages being sent daily, in 2011.

In the UK, studies have shown that there is

a slight decline in text messaging over the last year. This decline could be attributed to people using alternative forms of text-based communications, such as instant messaging and social networking sites.

The recent increase in ownership of internetconnected devices, such as tablets and smartphones, could also be behind this trend.

The availability of a wider range of communications tools like instant messaging and social networking sites mean that people might be sending fewer SMS messages but that doesn’t necessarily mean people are ‘texting’ less.

“Even my mum uses Viber now,” said one 35-

year-old man.

Long gone are the days when people would arrange where they would meet over the phone, naming the time and the place and placing the rest of it down to fate.

“At 18, when I first got a mobile phone, texting wasn’t such a big thing but it has grown a lot since then,” 29-year-old Joanne Charalambous said.

“If I want to have a conversation with someone I will still phone them up, but texting is a lot more convenient for arranging to meet up or for letting friends know my plans,” she added.

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Tuesday, December 4, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

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Home Skordelli says she never met key witness in Hadjicostis murder trial

By Poly Panteldies FORMER television presenter Elena Skordelli yesterday told Nicosia criminal court that politicians had intervened on her behalf to obtain a job at Sigma.

Skordelli faces murder charges in relation to the assassination of Sigma boss Andis Hadjicostis in 2010. Before going to Sigma, she had been hosting a show at Ant-1 TV station

but said that disagreements arose and she was fired. “I was very aggrieved because the show had high ratings and I prepared it almost alone,” Skordelli said yesterday.

But even though she heard from Sigma who were interested in hiring her, her former boss at ANT1 TV station called Sigma’s Costas Hadjicostis – Andis Hadjicostis’ father – to ask him not to hire her, she told the court.

Skordelli said that some high-profile officials intervened on her behalf and helped her to get

hired “because they said they knew my worth and knew how hard-working I was”.

She said her colleagues at Sigma were happy when she came to hold a significant proportion of the channel’s shares, because they felt they would have someone representing them on the board, she said.

Skordelli also denied ever meeting key prosecution witness Fanos Hadjigeorgiou and allegedly telling him that she wanted Andis Hadjicostis to die. “I do not know him [Had-

Municipalities continue to struggle with funding cuts

Noble to sell 10pct of stake in Leviathan

MUNICIPALITIES are still in danger of grinding to a halt for lack of funds, the head of the municipalities’ union Alexis Galanos said yesterday.

He was speaking at the union’s annual general meeting.

Parliament cut funding by about €25 million this year, leaving about €70 million for all 39 municipalities. The budget for the 30 non-occupied municipalities, six of which were only added this year, came to about €60 million which was distributed to all municipalities. Together, the municipalities owe €150 million.

Galanos said yesterday that the municipalities had been putting in efforts to update their methodologies and reduce administrative costs.

“Unfortunately, the almost daily worsening of the economy and the context that eventually brought us to the support mechanism did not allow us to get any of the

News sets off new squabble over gas finds and bailout

By Elias Hazou POLITICIANS here found new grounds to bicker yesterday after news that Houstonbased Noble Energy agreed to sell 10 per cent of its stake in Israel’s Leviathan gas project.

Noble announced on Sunday that the partners in the Leviathan Project have agreed in principle on a proposal to sell a 30 per cent working interest in the offshore Leviathan licences to Australia’s Woodside Energy Ltd. Under the proposal, the Delek Group will sell 15 per cent of the rights in the licences for $1.281 billion, Noble Energy 9.66 per cent of the rights for $802 million, and the remaining partner Ratio, 5 per cent of the rights for $417 million.

The Leviathan project has an estimated 17 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of discovered resources and is currently being appraised.

Under the terms of the deal, Noble said it would receive cash payments totalling $464 million. (€357 million).

In addition, Noble Energy would receive a share of

Woodside’s annual LNG revenue above certain price parameters, subject to a $322 million cap over the life of the project.

The company would also be carried for up to $16 million in the drilling of a Mesozoic oil exploration well on the Leviathan licenses.

Including the potential revenue sharing amounts and drilling carry, the implied price for Noble Energy’s interest being sold is $802 million, the company said.

Woodside joined a group earlier this year that bid on gas exploration rights off Cyprus.

Its offer for Block 9 was not picked.

Using Noble’s announcement as ammunition, DISY’s Averof Neophytou took a pot shot at presidential candidate Yiorgos Lillikas on the latter’s proposal to use Cyprus’ natural gas reserves as collateral.

Lillikas has been advocating pre-selling the rights to the Cypriot offshore blocks in a bid to raise cash; in this way, he argues, the island would have no need for a bailout.

Cyprus’ gas reserves are yet to be proved.

Neophytou said the num-

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jigeorgiou], and I never said such a thing,” she said. “I saw him here [for the first time] when he came to spread all sorts of lies to save his hide, enjoying everything the attorney-general has to offer,” she said referring to Hadjigeorgiou’s immunity for prosecution in exchange for turning state’s evidence.

Also facing charges are Skordelli’s brother, Tasos Krasopoulis, alleged shooter Gregoris Xenofontos and alleged fixer Andreas Gregoriou. The siblings are the alleged masterminds.

funding cuts back,” Galanos said. But he added that “the government did not respond, perhaps because of their problems and busy workload” to a series of suggestions to improve savings and upgrade the way municipalities work.

Galanos said they were not sure what was coming next, but would nonetheless continue to fight for local government.

President Demetris Christofias, who also addressed the meeting, said the government was at the side of the municipalities during hard times such as these, “to find practical ways to solve problems, even with limited means”.

“Strong local government with administrative and financial independence is a basic policy goal,” Christofias said. But both parliament and the interior ministry have previously made it clear that their ability to help financially is limited.

Former Kofinou workers still waiting for redundancy payouts Cyprus’ gas finds have yet to be proved conclusively bers cited by Noble suggest its contract in the Leviathan project is valued at $8.3 billion ($802 million times ten), or €6.4 billion. Given that the gas reserves in Cyprus’ Block 12 prospect are estimated to be about 2.5 times less than Leviathan’s, this would indicate Noble’s interest in Block 12 would be worth around €2.6 billion (€6.4 billion divided by 2.5).

That’s a far cry from Lillikas’ recent claim that Block 12 alone is worth some €80 billion, Neophytou said.

Moreover, pre-selling the rights to gas prospects now would necessarily mean selling at a discounted price, he added.

All this showed how Lillikas’ proposal was unfeasible and unrealistic, Neophytou said, pointing out that the gas reserves would not be enough

to avoid a bailout. Hitting back yesterday, Lillikas’ said his proposal had been endorsed by “independent economists.”

He went on to quote energy chief Solon Kassinis - widely recognised as an authority on the subject - as saying that Cyprus could stand to make as much as €600 billion from all the gas prospects.

“We understand Mr. Neophytou’s anxiety; he is worried lest there could be a different way out other than his beloved memorandum,” a statement issued by Lillikas’ election staff said, referring to the troika bailout.

Lillikas said Neophytou’s boss and rival presidential candidate Nikos Anastasiades “had been blackmailing us into signing the memorandum here and now, even before we knew the terms.”

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FORMER employees for the Kofinou slaughterhouse yesterday protested outside the presidential palace because they are still waiting on due payments, they said.

Carrying banners speaking of ‘empty promises’, ‘being made fools of’, and ‘being fired after 25 years of hard work without even a cent’, people who were made redundant on April 12 this year said they were still waiting on their redundancy package.

They were among the 28 who were made redundant as part of a management rescue plan for the slaughterhouse that has been running a debt of millions for years. All workers – former and current - are still waiting on their 13th salary from last year.

They have also been asking their former employer to pay in social insurance and provident funds, they told the Cyprus News Agency. “[The protesters] have obligations, debts, children studying abroad, and needs, but they have not managed to get a job given the high jobless rate plaguing our country. They are in a tragic situation and we are making an appeal to solve the problem,” said representative with union SEK, Christos Mamas. The jobless rate in Cyprus reached 12.9 per cent in October, and is expected to continue rising for the next two years.

The protesters handed over a letter addressed to President Demetris Christofias, to under-secretary to the president Titos Christofides.

One in four won’t endorse candidate ALMOST one in four Cypriots are not as yet endorsing any presidential candidates, because they plan to either abstain or put in a blank ballot or are undecided, an opinion poll has shown.

The poll carried out by NOVERNA Consulting on behalf of Politis newspaper, was published over two days on Sunday and Monday.

A total of 8.2 per cent of those asked who they would vote for said they were putting in a blank ballot, 6.1 per cent said they not voting and 9.7 per cent said they haven’t decided who they’re voting for yet. In total, 24 per cent cannot name

a candidate they endorse, the poll showed.

A total of 35.6 per cent said they were voting for the head of main opposition party DISY, Nicos Anastasiades, from the outset. A total of 18.1 per cent said they were voting for the candidate backed by ruling party AKEL, Stavros Malas and 17.2 per cent said they were voting for EDEK-backed candidate Giorgos Lillikas.

According to the poll, eight in ten Cypriots said they did not approve of the government’s handling of the economy, and almost six in ten did not approve of how the bailout negotiations were carried out.

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, December 4, 2012

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Public transport grinds to halt as drivers strike over salaries Thousands of commuters without means to move about in and out of town face more misery today

By Peter Stevenson PUBLIC transport islandwide, except for Paphos, ground to a halt yesterday as drivers in the Nicosia, Larnaca, Limassol and Famagusta districts staged a strike over wages.

Bus drivers on intercity buses and school buses also took part in the strike called after drivers did not receive their November salaries.

The strike left thousands of people inconvenienced, some of whom sat, unaware, at bus stops waiting for transport home that was not coming.

“We’re probably going to have to pay three times the amount to get home [to Lakatamia] now so it’s quite a large inconvenience for us,” said Ron and Maria Harrison. “We heard that the new Nicosia buses were really nice, spacious and punctual and decided to use them for the first time today,” they added.

Although they had been inconvenienced, the Harrisons did understand the bus drivers’ position, “We understand that having not received their salaries for November that they’ve been left with no choice,” they concluded.

Weather conditions yesterday were not conducive to people trying to make their way on foot as opposed to using the unavailable public transport.

“I’ve had to walk 5km on foot, in the rain because of the strike,” Cameroonian refugee Leslie told the Cyprus Mail. “Cabs are far too expensive so I’m going to have to walk all the way from Plateia Solomou to Kaimakli now,” he added The drivers said they would continue to strike

Cameras and copper stolen Police received a report from the head teacher of a primary school in Limassol that between 1.30pm on Friday and 7am yesterday, 80 metres of copper pipe, valued at around €2,250 and six security cameras worth around €1,440 were stolen.

During the burglary, the central heating system and the closed circuit security system were damaged, totalling roughly €4,000. After arriving on the scene, Limassol CID found roughly 25 metres of copper pipe hidden in the bushes near the school.

They will continue their investigations.

today after receiving later in the day 50 per cent of money owed to them.

Limassol drivers, who held a strike on Friday, have received part of that salary but they said they have not assurances that they will get their December, or 13th salaries, they said.

“The decision to strike was not on the spur of the moment,” one Nicosia bus driver told the Cyprus Mail yesterday. “We have been warning the authorities for the last two years that we want what is due to us and we’ve been left no other choice,” he added.

As well as their November salaries, the drivers are demanding that the amount of €175,000 be deposited monthly into their provident fund as no deposit has been made since July of 2010 according to trade union PEO. They are also disgruntled by their lack of healthcare and that they have been left in the dark.

“Do we have to strike for the ministry to hear us?” director-general of PEO SEGDAMELIN, Pantelis Eleftheriou said yesterday. “We don’t want to inconvenience the public,” Eleftheriou said yesterday.

“But strikes will continue until our demands are met,” he added.

“We don’t know what’s happening, nobody is taking responsibility for this,” another Nicosia bus driver told the Cyprus Mail.

“The company (OSEL) is blaming the government, the government in turn is blaming the company,” he added. “We don’t know who we can trust, there are people being threatened and others being fired and we’re none the wiser,” he concluded.

The drivers all seemed to agree that there was a

The sign reads ‘Strike Here’ as stationary buses are parked near an empty bus stop complete lack of organisation by both OSEL and the government. “The company was established too hastily,” another bus driver said.

“The buses they brought in were too big and the routes are completely unorganised.”

Minister of Communications and Works, Efthymios Flourentzos, claimed on Saturday that money had been deposited into each city’s necessary accounts so they could proceed with payments.

Flourentzos clarified though that the money deposited was not the drivers’ full salary.

The ministry yesterday afternoon submitted proposals to the companies to tey and solve their liquidity problems.

EDEK, deputy Nicos Nicolaides, himself a former communications minister said: “For the umpteenth time in the last two years, public transport has been hit by strikes that inconvenience workers, students, senior citizens and visitors to our island.”

FUNERAL It is with deepest sorrow that we announce the death of our beloved

HAGOP ADOURIAN Who passed away on Sunday 3rd December 2012.at the age of 87. The funeral will take place on Wednesday 5th December at 2pm at the Sourp Asdvadzadzin Armenian Church The family: PARSEGH, ANI ADOURIAN & FAMILY DICKRAN, PASCAL ADOURIAN & FAMILY Condolences at the church

(Christos Theodorides)

Tuesday, December 4, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

6

Home

Health ministry’s budget up in the air Uncertainty over changes that may come with bailout

CYPRUS TODAY Peeping Tom put cam in ladies toilet A 33-YEAR-OLD college employee was remanded in custody yesterday for eight days on suspicion of placing a secret camera in the ladies’ toilet of his workplace.

According to online news portal Sigmalive, the college management reported to police on November 26 that a hidden camera was operating in the ladies’ toilet of the college. Investigators went to the scene where they found a mobile USB ‘spy’ camera in the women’s toilet which was in operation.

They confiscated it as evidence, reportedly finding 129 videos and a number of photographs on it that had been previously recorded.

Further investigation led police to a 33-year-old male employee of the college who was arrested and remanded for eight days yesterday.

According to Sigmalive, police secured a search warrant for his residence where they confiscated computers, CDs and other items as evidence.

By Poly Pantelides

Tests needed for study in the US

DESPITE meeting yesterday in parliament to discuss the 2013 budget for the health ministry, its top administrator said he was unable to say what the budget would actually be like, because it does not incorporate bailout measures.

For example, despite the fact that for years state hospital doctors have been clocking in overtime and reaping fatter salaries as a result, permanent secretary Dionysis Mavronicolas said yesterday that “no agreement has been made with doctors” to address the issue. “The situation is different now,” Mavronicolas said referring to forthcoming measures to limit and tighten monitoring and recording of overtime agreed with Cyprus’ international lenders in a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU).

The MoU calls for the revision of “regular working hours and stand-by shifts of healthcare staff, including rules to increase the mobility of staff; revise current regulations on overtime pay and fully implement existing laws on recording/monitoring overtime payments”.

But Mavronicolas did not refer to any of these changes and could not say how they would impact the budget. He was discussing the budget at

THE Fulbright Commission yesterday announced the tests currently required for graduate scholarships for the United States.

Before applying for a scholarship in the summer of 2013 for Master’s Degree programmes beginning in the autumn of 2014, students must take the following tests: TOEFL or IELTS (even if students studied at Englishspeaking universities).

Either the GMAT or the GRE test depending on their proposed field of study. For details on scholarship eligibility criteria and testing, including dates and registration procedures, please visit the website: www.fulbright.org.cy Information can also be obtained at the Fulbright Commission, J.W. Fulbright Centre, Marcos Drakou Street (Next to the Ledra Palace Hotel in the buffer zone), Nicosia, tel.

22669757. Grants are subject to Board approval and availability of funds.

Students hail CY decision to reduce fares Ministry says it’s hard to determine where cutbacks can be made at busy hospitals a combined meeting of the House finance and health committees.

The most specific reference to the MoU Mavronicolas made was in response to a question on what would happen by abolishing a reported 140,000 free healthcare beneficiaries who would fall under income-based criteria.

Mavronicolas, said the ministry could make “significant savings” but he said that they needed time to study the measures. He could not say

whether busy hospitals “will have any spare capacity” that would justify making people redundant. Changes also set back the implementation of the national health scheme (NHS) so that an actuarial study can be updated, Mavronicolas said. This is because a study – by consulting firm Mercer – is now four years’ old, Mavronicolas said.

The law on the NHS itself dates back to 2001.

“Things have changed, the jobless rate is up...” said Ma-

vronicolas. The troika has recommended that Mercer’s study be updated in the first three months of 2013, so that the NHS can be discussed in parliament and the government can call for tenders to set up the necessary IT-infrastructure.

“There is the NHS, the [bailout measures], and changes in staff working schedules,” he said. At €598.5 million, the 2013 budget is 1.7 per cent lower than the 2012 one,” Mavronicolas said.

‘New health role for private pharmacies’

By Peter Stevenson THE PHARMACEUTICAL Association of Cyprus yesterday presented a document titled ‘Blueprint’, which deals with the role that private pharmacists play in healthcare and public health.

The document was presented by the association at a news conference in the presence of Health Minister Androulla Agrotou. “Blueprint” was released by the Pharmaceutical Group of The European Union (PGEU) simultaneously throughout the 27 member countries of the EU yester-

day, “Today, 154,000 private pharmacies operate in Europe and are visited by five million people every year,” said head of the Cypriot association, Nicos Nouris.

“Around 58 per cent of EU citizens have access to a pharmacy no further than five minutes away, so it is a very easily accessible mode of care without having to book an appointment and with flexible opening hours that include 24-hour service in cases of late-night pharmacies,” he added.

Nouris went on to throw the gauntlet down to national governments, including Cyprus, to take full advantage of pri-

DISTRICT COURT OF PAPHOS

vate pharmacies as centres for providing health services during this period when the industry is being hit by the economic crisis.

He also said pharmacies in Cyprus were struggling to cope with competition from the “strong and powerful monopolised public sector”. The association will hold a “Pharmacy Week” in March next year, which will include events and seminars to inform pharmacists about the role they can play in the field of health, media related interventions, open discussions about medicine and also campaigns to show the social role of pharmacists.

DISTRICT COURT OF PAPHOS Appl. No. 315/2012

Probate Jurisdiction

Appl. No. 319/2012 Probate Jurisdiction

In the matter of Michael Ward of UK.

In the matter of John Paul Warning of UK.

Notice is hereby given that after the expiration of eight days from today application will be made in the probate registry of Paphos for the grant of probate of the will of Michael Ward of UK, deceased.

Notice is herby given after the expiration of eight days from today application will be made in the probate registry of Paphos for the grant of probate of the will of John Paul Warning of UK, deceased.

Penelope Athinodorou-Mantis Advocate for Applicant

Penelope Athinodorou-Mantis Advocate for Applicant

THE STUDENT union ‘DIPAKF Anayennisi’ yesterday hailed the decision by Cyprus Airways (CY) to reduce air fares and provide concessions to student card holders.

According to the union’s announcement, the national carrier reached agreement with student bodies to provide a number of privileges to student ID card holders.

These are: student card holders will be eligible for a 10 per cent discount on air fares to and from Cyprus; free luggage transfer up to 30kg; and for those who are Sunmiles card holders, they can redeem their points to attain a free ticket with only half the points officially required.

Hearts of Gold award 2012 nominees named

By Bejay Browne THE nominations for the annual Paphos Hearts of Gold award 2012 have been announced.

Sixteen adults and seven children have been nominated by the public. The ceremony, will take place at Paphos town hall on Friday at midday. The award will be presented by Paphos Mayor Savvas Vergas.

The community based award, is now in its sixth year.

Winners will be presented with a solid gold handmade heart - created and donated by Aphrodite Jeweller’s.

There are two categories - the Junior Heart of Gold for under 18s, and award for adults.

In the junior section : - Semina Phisendzidou,6, Jasmitha Marharaja Singh,12, Maria Arabova,11, Jason BruceSouster,13, Rosalia Ashiotis, 15, Constantinos Tziatit, 14, and Anastasis Thrasivoulides, 17, have been nominated.

In the adult section nominees include, the Zingers for fundraising, Dawn and Mark Foote for their work with the Tala monastery cats, Paul

Clarke who has raised thousands for charity on his bike and Leontios Tsielepos as the president of the Regional Committee of the Pancyprian Organisation of Large Families.

Sally Unsworth has been put forward for her work with the cancer patients support group and the Cyprus Samaritans and Alan and Jean Mack for raising thousands for local charities.

The entire team of the Paphos cancer patients support group has also been nominated, along with Olga Sophocleous for her work with the Kivotos Centre of Therapies for children with special needs, and the CalenDare girls for raising thousands.

John Hughes has been nominated for his fundraising efforts, Vasia Ioannou for her volunteering work, Alan Wilson for setting up M.A.R.C.Hmilitary and retirees Cyprus holidays for heroes, and the team of the Paphos Friends hospice. The award is supported by Paphos municipality social welfare committee, Aphrodite jewellers, Massiva printing, the Cyprus Mail, Paphos Post and Rock FM.

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, December 4, 2012

7

Britain

Kate expecting her first baby Duchess hospitalised with severe morning sickness

By Tony Jones THE DUKE and Duchess of Cambridge are expecting a baby, St James’s Palace announced yesterday.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and members of both families are delighted with the news, said a spokesman.

But St James’s Palace said in a statement that Kate had been admitted to a private hospital for treatment for a severe form of morning sickness known as hyperemesis gravidarum.

“As the pregnancy is in its very early stages, Her Royal Highness is expected to stay in hospital for several days and will require a period of rest thereafter,” St James’ Palace said in the statement.

St James’ Palace would not say when the royal couple became aware of the pregnancy only saying “recently”.

It is understood that the pregnancy has not passed the 12 week point and yesterday’s announcement was prompted by the Duchess’s medical condition.

For women with hypereme-

sis gravidarum their vomiting can be so severe they cannot keep food or liquid down.

The condition usually continues past the first three months of pregnancy and can pass by week 21, but may also last longer.

Reacting on Twitter, Prime Minister David Cameron wrote: “I’m delighted by the news that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expecting a baby.

They will make wonderful parents.”

A spokeswoman at Kate’s old prep school, St Andrew’s in Pangbourne, Berkshire - where she showed off her hockey skills last week in an Alexander McQueen frockcoat and three-inch-high calf-length boots - said they had “no inkling at all” that she was expecting.

Kate visit to her old prep school on Friday afternoon was her last public engagement.

She appeared well and even had lunch at the school with pupils and staff during the two-hour visit.

So her condition may have developed over the weekend and it is likely she was taken

Duchess of Cambridge in her last public engagement on November 30 when she played hockey in heels at her old school (right). Greeting the crowds (above) to hospital yesterday afternoon after seeking medical advice.

The Duchess had a number of engagements this week, including a visit to London’s Docklands on Wednesday for a charity fundraising session on a brokers’ trading floor,

Future monarch

Kate has rare pregnancy condition

THE Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s baby should one day rule as monarch whether a boy or a girl.

Thanks to the proposed radical shake-up of the monarchy’s rules of succession, the sex of the royal infant will not determine whether he or she wears the crown.

This baby will be a future king or queen regardless.

In October 2011, David Cameron announced that the 16 Commonwealth countries where the Queen is head of state had agreed to give female royals the same rights of succession as their brothers.

THE Duchess of Cambridge has been admitted to King Edward VII Hospital suffering from severe morning sickness.

Hyperemesis gravidarum is a rare condition which causes severe vomiting during pregnancy.

The severity of the vomiting can cause dehydration, weight loss and a build-up of toxins in the blood or urine called ketosis.

It affects 3.5 per 1,000 pregnant women and can cause women to vomit blood.

Symptoms also include severe nausea, low blood pressure and fast heart rate, headaches, lethargy or confusion.

Hyperemesis gravidarum is treated by giving women fluids intravenously and by anti-sickness tablets.

“The women who are vomiting pretty much constantly, that cannot keep any nutrients down, they need to be admitted to hospital,”said consultant obstetrician Daghni Rajasingam, spokeswoman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

She said the length of stay in hospital depends on each patient but many women are discharged in a matter of days.

“It depends on how well the woman is keeping fluids down.”

McCartney graces the last print edition of The Dandy

Paul McCartney was a big fan of The Dandy comic

PAUL McCartney will fulfill a lifelong wish today when he appears in the final print edition of Britain’s longest-running children’s comic The Dandy, a favourite of the ex-Beatle when he was growing up in Liverpool.

The comic that brought beloved characters including pieeating cowboy Desperate Dan and Korky the Cat to millions of homes is going digital-only from today, 75 years after it was first published.

The weekly publication sold more than two million copies in its 1950s heyday, but with children lured by alternative entertainment from television and video games, circulation fell to less than 8,000.

Published in the Scottish city of Dundee by DC Thomson, executives are describing digital-only Dandy as a chance for a “new lease of life” rather than the beginning of the end.

McCartney contacted Dandy after the digital switch was first announced in August.

He said that in an interview with music magazine NME in 1963 he was asked what his personal ambition was, and he replied that he wanted to have his picture in The Dandy.

“I hope it’s not too late!” the 70-year-old wrote in a letter.

“The Dandy was a favourite comic of mine when growing up in Liverpool and each week I would look forward to the exploits of Desperate Dan and his other comic book colleagues.”

He will be seen grimacing as Desperate Dan squeezes his fingers in a firm handshake, after which McCartney leads 50 of the comic’s most famous characters in a sing-a-long of the Beatles hit “Hey Jude”.

but they have all been cancelled, said St James’ Palace.

Labour leader Ed Miliband responded on Twitter: “Fantastic news for Kate, William and the country. A royal baby is something the whole nation will celebrate.”

Tuesday, December 4, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

8

World US Supreme Court takes no action on same-sex marriage

WORLD TODAY North Korea launch warning RUSSIA and China urged North Korea yesterday not to go ahead with a plan for its second rocket launch of 2012, with Moscow saying the launch would violate restrictions imposed by the UN Security Council.

North Korea’s state news agency on Saturday announced the decision to launch another space satellite and reportedly told neighbours it would take a similar path to that planned for a failed rocket launch in April.“We urgently appeal to the government (of North Korea) to reconsider the decision to launch a rocket,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.China was not so direct in its criticism of North Korea, but urged “all sides” not to take any action that “worsens the problem”.

Children killed by Vietnam war bomb A MORTAR shell left from the Vietnam War has exploded in a southern village, killing four children and seriously injuring five other people.

Hieu Nghia village official Le Van Giang said three children aged four to 11 died at the scene yesterday afternoon and a sixyear-old boy died at the hospital.

The blast seriously injured two other children and three men.

Giang said the shell exploded when the children who found the shell in bamboo brush were playing with it. A villager found the shell five years ago when dredging a canal.

The village in Vinh Long province was a communist stronghold during the war.

Vietnamese government figures show ordnance have killed more than 42,000 people since the war ended in 1975.

Typhoon plea for Philippines PHILIPPINE President Benigno Aquino told people yesterday to take storm warnings seriously as authorities evacuated thousands of residents of coastal and mountain regions hours before the biggest typhoon this year was due to hit.

Typhoon Bopha, with winds of 175 kph and gusts of up to 210 kph, is expected to make landfall early today on the southern island of Mindanao.

“The potential destruction of this typhoon is no joke,” Aquino said in a national television and radio address.

People should heed evacuation calls to avoid a repeat of a typhoon last year that killed 1,500 people.

By Terry Baynes

Pope Benedict pictured with a tablet though he still writes his speeches and books by hand

OMG! Vatican unveils Pope’s Twitter handle Tweet @pontifex as the Pope enters brave new world

By Philip Pullella THE SECRET’S out. Pope Benedict’s new handle on Twitter will be @pontifex, beating out other contenders that had been considered to showcase the thoughts of one of the world’s most visible leaders.

Benedict already has 1.2 billion “followers” in the standard sense of the word but next week he will have another type when he enters what for any 85-year old is the brave new world of Twitter.

The Vatican said yesterday that the pope will start tweeting on December 12.

“The handle is a good one. It means ‘pope’ and it also means ‘bridge builder’,” said Greg Burke, senior media advisor to the Vatican.

Among the other handles that Vatican officials had reportedly considered was @BenedictusPPXVI, but they opted for something that was linked to the office of the papacy.

But don’t expect tweets about how the pope is feeling or which soccer team he is praying to win a derby.

The papal tweets will be spiritual,

Burke told a news conference, and the pope will tweet when and how often he wants.

And, even though Benedict is not the kind of person who walks around with a Blackberry or iPad, Burke said “all the pope’s tweets are the pope’s words. Nobody is going to be putting words into his mouth.”

The first papal tweets will be answers to questions sent to #askpontifex.

The tweets will be going out in Spanish, English, Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish, Arabic and French. Other languages will be added in the future.

Primarily the tweets will come from the contents of his weekly general audience, Sunday blessings and homilies on major Church holidays. They will also include reaction to major world events, such as natural disasters.

Benedict will be pushing the button on his first tweet himself on Dec. 12 but in the future most will be written by aides and he will sign off on them.

But while the pope will be one of the world’s most high-profile tweeters and have many followers, he will not be following anyone himself.

“This is the new market of ideas and the Church has to be there. We want to

use any method to spread the message.

It’s cost-effective and not very labour intensive and it is aimed at young people,” Burke said.

The Vatican said precautions had been taken to make sure the pope’s certified account is not hacked. Only one computer in the Vatican’s secretariat of state will be used for the tweets.

Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, head of the Vatican’s communications commission, said while he himself was not a big twitter fan he understood its importance and its possibilities for the Church.

“Reducing the pope’s message to 140 characters is definitely a challenge but we have seen that a profound thought can also be expressed in a brief Biblical passage,” Celli said. “We can see this as sparks of truth or pellets of wisdom”.

The pope’s Twitter page is designed in yellow and white - the colours of the Vatican, with a backdrop of the Vatican and his picture. It may change during different liturgical seasons of the year and when the pope is away from the Vatican on trips.

The pope, who still writes his speeches and books by hand, has given a qualified blessing to social networking.

THE US Supreme Court yesterday remained silent about whether it will enter the legal fray over same-sex marriage and agree to hear one of several pending appeals on the issue.

The court’s nine justices met in private on Friday to consider whether to review challenges to the US Defence of Marriage Act, which denies federal benefits to married same-sex couples, and to California’s gay marriage ban, known as Proposition 8.

In an “orders list” issued early yesterday, the court made no mention of any of the same-sex marriage cases.

The court could reschedule those cases for further consideration at its weekly conference on Friday. The justices sometimes hold especially complex cases for a future conference if they want more time to consider a course of action.

Thirty-one of the 50 states have passed constitutional amendments banning gay marriage while Washington, DC, and nine states have legalised it, three of them in November elections.

At issue is the 1996 Defence of Marriage Act, or DOMA, which only recognises marriages between a man and a woman. Gay men and lesbians have challenged a part of the law that prevents them from receiving federal benefits that heterosexual couples receive.

Even in states where samesex marriage is legal, the couples do not qualify for a host of federal benefits because of DOMA. The court also is considering whether to review a challenge to California’s ban on same-sex marriage. The California case, Hollingsworth v.

Perry, had sought marriage equality for gays and lesbians under the US Constitution.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in February found the California gay marriage ban unconstitutional, but it ruled narrowly in a way that only affected the one state and not the rest of the country.

Centre-left leader poised to become Italian premier

By Barry Moody PIER LUIGI Bersani is in pole position to become Italy’s next leader after winning a centre left primary vote, but the former communist must now convince nervous markets and conservative voters he won’t drag the country too far to the left.

Bersani, 61, crushed a challenge from Matteo Renzi, the youthful mayor of Florence, in a run-off primary election on Sunday to choose the centre-left candidate for a national vote next spring. He won more than 60 per cent to Renzi’s 39 per cent, taking

Pier Luigi Bersani every region except the challenger’s Tuscan home turf.

Bersani is often portrayed as a colourless career appa-

ratchik, but his insistence on holding elections on the centre-left against opposition inside his Democratic Party (PD) was a masterstroke.

It left him as unchallenged leader of the notoriously factionalised centre-left, which itself emerged reunited from a vote that garnered extremely valuable public exposure.

Some three million voters participated in the second round and nearly four million in the first.

Debates between the candidates attracted record television ratings and reignited public interest in the traditional political system, which is under serious threat from

the populist 5-Star Movement of comedian Beppe Grillo.

Latest opinion polls show the centre-left gaining on the back of the primary process and a small drop in support for Grillo, who has ruled out any post-election alliances and wants a referendum on whether Italy should leave the euro. His movement is now running second.

With the centre-right reduced to shambles by the indecision of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is still dithering over whether to stand in the general election, Bersani appears to have a clear run at becoming prime minister.

But he will soon face a series of tough challenges.

Above all he must convince the conservative voters who dominate Italy that he is not a dangerous leftist and persuade investors he will not dump the painful progress made by technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti in rescuing Italy after it came close to a Greek-style collapse under Berlusconi.

Bersani has repeatedly pledged to stick to Monti’s tough budget commitments, which have calmed the markets, but says they must be tempered with policies to boost growth, reduce unemployment and ease the pain on workers and pensioners.

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, December 4, 2012

9

World

Israel defiant in face of European building pressure Israeli ambassadors summoned over settlement plans

By Jeffrey Heller ISRAEL rejected concerted criticism from Europe yesterday over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to expand settlement building after the United Nations’ de facto recognition of Palestinian statehood.

Britain, France, Spain, Sweden and Denmark summoned the Israeli ambassadors in their capitals to hear appeals for Netanyahu to reverse course and deep disapproval of the plan to erect 3,000 more homes in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

An official in Netanyahu’s office said Israel would not bend. “Israel will continue to stand by its vital interests, even in the face of international pressure, and there will be no change in the decision that was made,” the official said.

Angered by the UN General Assembly’s upgrading on Thursday of the Palestinians’ status in the world body from “observer entity” to “nonmember state”, Israel said the next day it would build the new dwellings for settlers.

Such projects, on land Israel captured in a 1967 war, have routinely drawn world condemnation.

Approximately 500,000 Israelis and 2.5 million Palestinians live in the two areas.

In a shift that raised the alarm among Palestinians and in world capitals, Netanyahu’s pro-settler government also ordered “preliminary zoning and planning work” for thousands of housing units in areas including the “E1” zone east of Jerusalem.

FATAL BLOW Such construction in the barren hills of E1 has never been put into motion in the face of opposition from Israel’s main ally, the United States. Building in the area could bisect the West Bank, cut off Palestinians from Jerusalem and further dim their hopes for a contiguous state.

The settlement plan, UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon said, would deal “an almost fatal blow” to a twostate solution to the IsraeliPalestinian conflict.

“We don’t want to shift into sanctions mode,” French

President Francois Hollande told a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. “We are more focused on persuading.”

Britain made clear it would not back such Israeli retaliation over the UN vote, which Palestinians sought after peace talks collapsed in 2010 over settlement building.

“We deplore the recent Israeli decision to build 3,000 new housing units and unfreeze development in the E1 block,” a Foreign Office spokesman said. “We have called on the Israeli government to reverse the decision.”

But a spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron played down what diplomatic sources said was the possibility of recalling Britain’s ambassador in Tel Aviv, saying: “We are not proposing to do anything further at this stage”.

France expressed “serious concerns” to the Israeli ambassador, reminding him that settlement building in occupied territories was illegal and an “obstacle” to reviving peace talks with the Palestinians.

A French Foreign Ministry

Even partial judicial boycott of vote could harm Mursi

By Tom Perry and Marwa Awad EGYPT’S Supreme Judicial Council has agreed to supervise a referendum on a draft constitution, a legal adviser to President Mohamed Mursi said yesterday, although some judges have called for a boycott.

Judicial dissent has complicated the Islamist leader’s plan to end a crisis over Egypt’s troubled political transition by driving through a new constitution in a snap vote on Dec. 15.

The judiciary oversees voting in Egypt by law.

The influential but unofficial Judges Club urged colleagues on Sunday to shun the referendum which Mursi hopes will douse anger over a decree he issued on Nov. 22, greatly expanding his powers and temporarily putting himself above the law.

Such a boycott, even if not all judges joined it, could undermine the credibility of the plebiscite and worsen disputes that have plagued Egypt’s path to political change since a popu-

A supporter of Mohamed Mursi gestures during a rally in front of the Supreme Constitutional Court in Maadi lar revolt overthrew Hosni Mubarak nearly 22 months ago.

The judiciary, like Egyptian society at large, is split over the vote on the constitution, the way in which it was drafted and Mursi’s decree, seen by his opponents as a power grab and by his supporters as necessary to keep the transition on track.

“The Supreme Judicial Council has met and agreed to delegate judges to over-

see the constitutional referendum,” Mohamed Gadallah, the legal adviser to Mursi, told Reuters.

He said about 10,000 members of the judiciary are needed to monitor the vote.

These do not all have to be judges and could include officials in prosecutors’ offices for example.

There was no immediate comment from the judicial council, the body which formally oversees judicial affairs.

official, responding to reports Paris might bring its Tel Aviv envoy home, said: “There are other ways in which we can express our disapproval.”

Ahead of a Netanyahu visit this week, Germany, considered Israel’s closest ally in Europe, urged it to refrain from expanding settlements.

Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said Israel could not have remained indifferent to the Palestinians’ unilateral move at the United Nations.

“I want to tell you that those same Europeans and Americans who are now telling us ‘naughty, naughty’ over our response, understand fullwell that we have to respond, and they themselves warned the Palestinian Authority,” he said.

Bedouins ride donkeys in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim, near Jerusalem yesterday

Tuesday, December 4, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

10

World

Syria denies plans to use chemical weapons Clinton says US will act if Syria uses chemical arsenal

By Erika Solomon SYRIA said yesterday it would not use chemical weapons against its own people after the United States warned it would take action against any such escalation.

The statements came amid media reports, citing European and US officials, that Syria’s chemical weapons had been moved and could be prepared for use in response to dramatic gains by rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

“Syria has stressed repeatedly that it will not use these types of weapons, if they were available, under any circumstances against its people,” the foreign ministry said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had earlier warned that Washington would take action if Syria used the weapons.

“I am not going to telegraph any specifics what we do in the event of credible evidence that the Assad regime has resorted to using chemical weapons against their own people, but suffice to say, we are certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur,” she said during a visit to Prague yesterday.

The opposition believe that Assad, who has upped his response to rebel gains in the 20-month-old revolt, could turn to heavier weapons and some have suggested he might use chemical weapons.

The rebels have begun to

advance quickly in recent weeks after months of slow sieges to cut off army routes and supplies.

In the past few weeks, they seized several military bases around the country, and an oil field and hydro-electric dam in the northeast. Rebels are using anti-aircraft weapons to attack the military helicopters and fighter jets that have bombarded their positions with impunity until now.

The main focus for the army in the past five days has been Damascus, where security forces are pushing back hard against the rebels and trying to seal the capital off from rebel-dominated suburbs.

The opposition-linked Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian army was trying to take over Daraya, on the southern outskirts of Damascus, and was attacking rebels with rockets as it advanced into some parts of the town.

A Syrian security source said that the army had blocked three entrances into Daraya and was optimistic it could take the town. Rebels said they would be able to hold their ground.

“There have been several attempts to storm Daraya and each time the army has suffered major losses. This is not new,” said activist Samir al-Shami, of the Syrian Youth Union in Damascus.

Other activists reported heavy bombardment of the towns of Deir al-Asafir and

UN pulls ‘non-essential’ staff THE UNITED Nations said yesterday it was withdrawing “all non-essential international staff” from Syria due to the worsening security situation, and was restricting remaining aid workers to the capital.

Up to 25 of about 100 foreign staff could leave this week, it said, adding that more armoured vehicles were needed after attacks in recent weeks on humanitarian aid convoys and the hijacking of goods or vehicles. Some convoys had been caught in crossfire between Syrian government and rebel forces, including an incident in which two staff were injured near the airport.

“The UN has decided to send all non-essential international staff out of Syria and to halt all field trips outside of the capital for now,” the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement posted on its service www.irinnews.org.

Damascus had been considered safe until last week when the main airport was shut down and flights into Syria cancelled after several attacks by rebels, it said.

Another Syrian official defects SYRIAN foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi has defected from President Bashar al-Assad’s government and has left the country, a regional diplomatic source said yesterday.

“He defected. All I can say is that he is out of Syria,” the source, who did not want to be named, told Reuters.

Makdissi, who belongs to Syria’s Christian minority, staunchly defended Assad’s crackdown on the 20-month revolt against five decades of autocratic rule by Assad and his late father. A former diplomat, Makdissi is fluent in English, a rarity in the state apparatus shaped by xenophobic Baath Party ideology. But he had little influence in a system underpinned by the security apparatus in which the foreign ministry has no say.

Anti-Putin protests in Istanbul: The sign, with pictures of Bashar al-Assad of Syria and Vladimir Putin reads ‘Cruel Assad accomplice partner Putin You are not welcome’ Beit Saham, which are close to the highway leading to Damascus International Airport, the scene of three days of heavy clashes that effectively closed the airport.

The army struck back around the airport last Thursday and since then the suburbs of Damascus have been rocked by fierce clashes and heavy shelling. Activists de-

scribed continuous shelling that killed more than 56 people around Damascus. More than 200 people died across Syria on Sunday, according to the Observatory.

Neither side has the upper hand in the fighting around Damascus. A previous attempt by rebels last July to hold ground in the city was crushed, but the fighters fell

back into the suburbs and nearby countryside.

The Observatory reported air and artillery bombardment in towns across Syria yesterday. An air strike on the northern border town of Ras al-Ain, which it said killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 30, prompted Turkey to scramble fighter jets along the border.

Turkey and Russia agree to differ over Syria conflict RUSSIA and Turkey agreed to differ yesterday on strategies to end Syria’s civil war, highlighting how distant the prospects of a negotiated solution to the 20-month-old conflict are.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan during a one-day visit to Istanbul aimed partly at ensuring differences over Syria do not damage a deepening trade and energy relationship.

“The positions of the Russian Federation and Turkey completely correspond regarding what has to be attained (in Syria), but as of yet no shared approach regarding methods of how to attain it has been reached,” Putin told a joint news conference with Erdogan after the talks.

Turkey - worried about Syria’s chemical weapons, a growing refugee crisis, and Syrian support for Kurdish militants - has been a major backer of the Syrian opposition and has led calls for international action against President Bashar al-Assad.

It sees Russia, one of Syria’s closest allies, as key to quelling the conflict.

“Our biggest wish is an immediate halt to the bloodshed and fighting in Syria, and we are taking steps to make sure our foreign ministers are carrying out extensive work with this aim,” Erdogan told the news conference.

But Moscow has vetoed three UN Security Council resolutions aimed at putting pressure on the Syrian leader.

Serbian police question billionaire tycoon Miskovic

By Matt Robinson BILLIONAIRE retail tycoon Miroslav Miskovic, one of Serbia’s most influential figures, was questioned by police yesterday as part of what the nationalist government says is a drive to root out graft, a key condition for joining the European Union.

Miskovic is among the richest people in Serbia, with an empire - Delta Holding - first created under late strongman Slobodan Milosevic and expanded after his ouster in 2000.

Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic said Miskovic was to be questioned, among other things, about his real estate business.

Western diplomats are concerned Serbia’s leaders are motivated more by political score-settling than genuine reform.

Delta, which has interests in retail, agribusiness, real estate and insurance in Serbia and the region, has denied any wrongdoing and said last week that Miskovic would respond to the police summons “in line with his civic duty”.

Miskovic arrived at the

Miroslav Miskovic Interior Ministry without a lawyer and was questioned for four hours, but made no comment to a scrum of waiting journalists.

The ruling alliance of nationalists and socialists, who last held power together at the tail end of Milosevic’s 13-year rule, says it is committed to rooting out the organised crime and graft that has flourished in Serbia over the past two decades.

“I’m sceptical this (investigation into Miskovic) will bring any kind of real result,” said political analyst Petar Lazic, describing Miskovic as “too powerful” and politically well-connected.

“This looks more like classic demagogery, a witchhunt to score political points,” he said.

Migrants in Greece kept in ‘shocking’ conditions MIGRANTS in Greece face shocking conditions in detention centres and deepening hostility on the streets as the country goes through its worst economic crisis since World War Two, a top UN official said yesterday.

Many of the 130,000 mostly African and Asian migrants trying to enter Europe via Greece each year go short of food, heating and hot water, including children, said the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Francois

Crepeau.

Conditions were poor in most of the 11 detention centres he visited. In one, the Venna centre in Rodopi near the Turkish border, beds were concrete slabs, the toilets were filthy and there was no light, he said.

“These are places where I wouldn’t want to spend more than an hour. These are shocking places,” said Crepeau.

Police launched a sweep operation in August called “Xenios Zeus” after the

ancient Greek god of guests and travellers. They have so far arrested thousands of undocumented immigrants.

“It’s difficult to see children - three years old, five years old - behind bars,” he said.

Presenting the findings of a nine-day mission to Greece, Crepeau said there was a rise in racially-motivated violence and the authorities were not doing much to curb it. Much of the violence went unreported.

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, December 4, 2012

11

Business

Anger at banks was ‘fully justified’

Crackdown urged on low tax paying Amazon, Starbucks

By Tom Bergin A COMMITTEE of UK lawmakers has called on government to crack down on multinational companies that make substantial sales in Britain but pay little tax there, echoing demands from leaders across Europe for measures to tackle corporate tax avoidance.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said yesterday the government should set down rules limiting intercompany transactions that reduce companies’ tax bills, push for more transparency in company reporting on tax and work with other countries to limit profit-shifting across borders.

“Global companies with huge operations in the UK generating significant amounts of income are getting away with paying little or no corporation tax here.

This is outrageous and an insult to British businesses and individuals who pay their fair share,” said Margaret Hodge, who chairs the PAC. The committee, which is charged with monitoring government financial affairs, also criticised the UK taxman, Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC), for being “too passive” with big companies.

“Lenient treatment is given to big corporations, of which almost half have a head office overseas,” the PAC said in its report on HMRC’s annual accounts.

The committee said it found the evidence it received was “unconvincing, and in some cases evasive”.

Starbucks said it had always complied with UK tax law but revealed on Sunday that, in response to the public outcry around its tax arrangements, it was looking

at changing these.

Amazon said it complied with the tax rules, but declined to comment on the committee’s findings. Google declined to comment.

The recent UK focus on tax avoidance follows a Reuters investigation into Starbucks that showed it paid no UK corporation tax in the past three years and had told investors it was profitable while reporting big losses to the UK taxman.

With governments across Europe running big budget deficits due to the financial crisis and global economic slowdown, tax avoidance has moved to the top of the political agenda.

Tax campaigners and groups opposed to austerity measures have pushed the UK government to lean more heavily on big businesses to close the budget gap.

Amazon pays little income tax in the UK because it

Crackdown: British Finance Minister George Osborne channels UK sales through Luxembourg, which offers some of the lowest effective tax rates in Europe.

The committee acknowledged such concerns.

“We are concerned that multinationals have an unfair competitive advantage over British businesses which have no choice but to pay their corporation tax,” the PAC report said.

The French government said last month that it was

discussing new measures to tax internet companies such as Amazon and Google, which minimises its tax bill by booking sales through an Irish subsidiary.

British Finance Minister George Osborne announced last month that he had teamed up with his German counterpart to lead a push in the Group of 20 economic powers to make multinational companies pay their “fair share” of taxes.

Delta eyes stake in Virgin Atlantic SINGAPORE Airlines is in talks to sell its 49 per cent stake in British carrier Virgin Atlantic, with sources saying Delta Air Lines is among the suitors keen to access Virgin’s lucrative slots at London’s Heathrow airport.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Group wants to keep its 51 per cent stake in Virgin Atlantic and work with Delta if the US carrier pulls off a deal, a source familiar with Branson’s thinking added yesterday.

Singapore Airlines said in a brief statement it was in talks with interested parties but did not name them. It also cautioned the discussions might not result in a deal.

Airlines like Delta have long hoped to break into London’s capacity-constrained Heathrow airport, a lucrative hub for corporate passengers where landing slots are generally hard to acquire. Virgin Atlantic is the second-largest carrier at Heathrow after IAG’s British Airways.

Delta has been considering ways to partner with Air France-KLM, which could also take a stake in Virgin Atlantic, one person familiar with the matter said.

The European Union requires that EU carriers be under European control, meaning Delta would need an EU airline as a partner if it wanted majority control of Virgin Atlantic.

If Air France-KLM were to buy a small percentage of Branson’s stake, then Virgin Atlantic could continue to be European controlled.

However, the source close to Branson signalled the British entrepreneur was not looking to sell.

Vagelis Karelis, 39, a man who lost his right foot sits by prosthetics placed by other Greeks with disabilities Greek parliament during a protest against new austerity measures on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Greece’s bond buy back boosts hopes Successful buyback central to efforts to make debt sustainable

By George Georgiopoulos and Karolina Tagaris GREECE said it would spend 10 billion euros to buy back bonds at a price range that topped market expectations, boosting hopes it can cut its ballooning debt and unlock long-delayed aid.

A successful buyback is central to the efforts of Greece’s foreign lenders to put the near-bankrupt country’s debt back on a sustainable footing and would clear the way for the funding Athens needs to avoid running out of cash.

Hopes the deal would attract enough investor interest to cut debt by the targeted 20 billion euros - about 11 per cent of gross domestic product rose after the government offered a premium to market prices, sparking a rally in Greek bonds.

“It indicates they really want the swap to succeed,” said Ricardo Barbieri, strategist at Mizuho, on the pricing.

“Some investors might be tempted to participate in the swap because of the ability to simplify their position, should they wish to maintain exposure to Greece,

otherwise an opportunity to exit totally, completely their positions at a level that is better than Friday’s close.”

The buyback will be conducted through a modified Dutch auction in which investors declare what level they are willing to sell their bonds at before Athens sets a final price.

Such an auction creates competition among investors since anyone bidding at the upper end of the range risks being left out, and allows Athens to assess demand before setting a price.

The range set by Athens varied from a minimum of

30.2 to 38.1 per cent and a maximum of 32.2 to 40.1 per cent of the principal amount, depending on the bond maturities of the 20 series of outstanding bonds.

That reflected a spread of two percentage points between the highest and lowest price offered on each bond.

The prices were well above the levels Greek bonds eligible under the buyback closed at on Nov. 23, even though Greece’s lenders last week said they did not expect the bonds to be purchased for more than the closing price on that date.

THE ECONOMIC impact of the global financial crisis has been as devastating as a world war, a senior Bank of England official said yesterday.

Andy Haldane, the Bank’s executive director for financial stability, said that public anger at the banks was fully justified.

“In terms of the loss of incomes and outputs, this is as bad as a world war. That is the scale we are talking about,” he told BBC Radio 4’s The World at One. “If we are fortunate, the cost of the crisis will be paid for by our children. More likely it will still be being paid for by our grandchildren.

“There is every reason why the general public ought to be deeply upset by what has happened - and angry.”

Haldane said the banks still needed to own up to risky assets on their books if confidence was to be restored to the system and lending to business was to flow again.

Failure to come clean would mean “the fog will persist”.

“Investors will be much less willing to put their money into the banking system.

They will lack confidence in the banking system and will either charge very high rates for lending that money to banks or will just withdraw their money entirely,” he said.

“More could and should be done to get lending moving as a springboard to getting the economy moving.”

While there had been a “ratcheting down” of bank bonuses and salaries in the wake of the Libor raterigging scandal earlier this year, he said there as “still some way to travel” before they reached acceptable levels.

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

0.8171 0.8089

US Dollar

1.3095 1.2965

Australian $

1.2680 1.2366

Canadian Dol.

1.3101 1.2777

Swiss Fr

1.2132 1.1988

Denmark Kr

7.5536 7.3670

Japan Yen

107.8985 106.6115

Norwegian Kr

7.4729 7.2883

Polish Zloty

4.1561

4.0535

Romanian Leu 4.6094 4.4286 Russian Ruble 40.5982 39.5958 Swedish Kr

8.7623 8.5459

Tuesday, December 4, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

12

Opinion

Looming war in Mali Paying lip service to ceding of power to local authorities THE ROLE of local government, in these difficult times, was very important in maintaining social cohesion, said President Christofias in a speech at the AGM of the Union of Municipalities. Christofias said that the need for decentralisation of power was a priority as was the strengthening of the financial and administrative self-sufficiency of local authorities.

We have been hearing about the need of central government to cede powers to local government for years, as it is a policy directive of the EU which has decided that local democracy is more representative. Citizens have a bigger say in what happens in local government which is why it made sense to give it more powers.

While the political leadership of Cyprus recognises this need and occasionally pays lip service to it, it has never been pursued practically. Power remains concentrated under the central government for which its devolution is anathema. There may also be opposition from top ranking civil servants who do not want to see their powers diminished.

The truth is that despite the rhetoric, the politicians do not see local authorities as anything more than employment centres for their supporters. This is why municipalities are overstaffed and spend most of their funds on wages and pensions. Even the ability to tax citizens – the professional tax allowed cash generation – was taken away from municipalities by the Clerides government which undertook to cover the loss in revenue.

The only thing achieved by this decision was to increase the already big dependence of local authorities on the central government. And now that the state has no money it does not cover the loss in revenue from this tax, the only revenue of municipalities coming from the annual rates it collects that do not even cover the cost of refuse collection service. Even the big number of unnecessary positions that each municipality has, by law, was imposed by central government.

This is why it so difficult to believe politicians when they claim they want to cede more powers to local government and help them become financially self sufficient. This could only happen when municipalities start to impose taxes or up the rates they collect. Of course there is no worse time to impose new taxes than now, which would suggest that Christofias’ plans for decentralisation would have to wait for a few more years.

Perhaps the municipalities should consider taking the initiative for the gradual reform of the laws governing their operation. This could give them some greater financial independence which would be the first step towards establishing more representative local government.

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Y

OU probably haven’t given much thought to the problems in Mali, but United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has, and his advice on military intervention in that West African country could be summed up in two words: forget it. Although, being a diplomat, he actually used a great many more words than that.

Mali’s 14 million people are almost all Muslims, but there is a deep ethnic divide between the black African majority in the southern half of the country and the Tuaregs (only 10 per cent of the population) who dominate the desert northern half. Last March, a military coup in the capital, Bamako, distracted the Malian army long enough for Tuareg separatists to seize control of the entire north.

The Tuareg separatists had been in business for many years, but an influx of weapons and fighters from Libya after the fall of the Gaddafi regime gave them a new impetus. Having driven government troops out of the north and declared the independent nation of Azawad, however, the separatists were then rapidly pushed aside by Islamic extremists who declared a jihad against practically everybody.

A military coup in a West African nation, even if the government then lost control of half the country to separatists, would normally be of interest only to other West African states. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) might

Comment Gwynne Dyer back military intervention to reunite the country, or it might not, but the rest of the world would ignore it. Not this time.

What set alarms bells ringing in the United States and Europe was the fact that al-Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM) is a major force in the alliance of Islamist fundamentalists that now controls northern Mali. The mere mention of al-Qaeda sets Western governments salivating like Pavlov’s dogs, and the issue of reconquering northern Mali suddenly got onto the international agenda.

Western countries have been pushing for a UN Security Council resolution authorising military action against the rebels for months, and in October they got their way. The resolution gave regional leaders 45 days to provide plans for an international military intervention to oust the rebels in northern Mali, and the US government recently said that war is now “inevitable”.

At that point Ban Ki-Moon wrote his letter to the Security Council condemning the rush to military action: “I am profoundly aware that if a military intervention in the north is not well conceived and executed, it could worsen an already fragile

humanitarian situation and also result in severe human rights abuses. Fundamental questions on how the force would be led, sustained, trained, equipped and financed remain unanswered.”

“A military operation may be required as a last resort to deal with the most hardline extremists and criminal elements in the north,” Ban conceded, “but before that stage is reached, the focus must be on initiating a broad-based and inclusive national dialogue...” Diplomatic buzz-words, certainly, but he is fighting for time and that’s all he has.

But US drones are already overflying northern Mali on a daily basis. US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has refused to rule out direct American support for training or other operations on the ground in Mali. A real war will soon start in Mali.

It would involve the same kind of UN intervention force that has been fighting the Islamist al-Shabab militia in Somalia: African countries provide the troops, and Western countries cover the costs. But whereas the Ugandan, Kenyan and Burundian armies that are doing the heavy lifting in Somalia are reasonably competent soldiers, the West African armies that would provide the troops in Mali are not.

Take the biggest army in the region, for example. As a senior Malian official told The Guardian newspaper last month, “The Nigerian army is in a shocking state. There is no way they are

capable of forward operations in Mali...The Nigerian forces lack training and kit, so they simply don’t have the capability to carry out even basic military manoeuvres. They have poor discipline and support.”

So who will pick up the pieces if the ECOWAS force, already unpopular in Mali, fails to recover the north? Probably Western troops, but that would trigger powerful anti-Western reactions all over Africa. It might produce a military victory and reunify Mali by force, but it would be a political disaster. The extremists could not hope for a better recruiting tool. This whole operation is being driven by a reflex panic about terrorism. But northern Mali is a very long way from anywhere else, and there are no flights out.

The better approach would be to wait for the rebels in the north to fall out and start fighting one another, which they probably will.

Meanwhile, train and equip Mali’s own army for the task of retaking the north by force, if that ever becomes necessary, although the fact that it is currently run by the turbulent and ignorant junior officers who made last March’s disastrous coup certainly doesn’t help.

Still, Ban Ki-Moon is right.

Sometimes the best thing to do is as little as possible.

Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.

LETTER to the Editor Co-ops are trustworthy? I really don’t think so I take strong issue with the poll findings that the majority of Cypriots trust the co-ops, based on a friend’s bitter experiences as tenants in one of their apartment blocks.

My friends have lived in a coop owned building for nearly two decades.

They have been diligent in paying the rent every month and in paying the common expenses maintenance bill. However, just like the folks who convey the usual Cypriot attitude to safety [e.g. Mari], these so-called landlords did not invest any credible efforts, financial or otherwise, to ensure that their building[s] are safe for habitation, despite the fact that Cyprus is in an earthquake zone.

When they finally realised that this complacency was dangerous, it was too late to do any-

thing for the building. It was decided that the building [where my friends were tenants] had to be demolished, and that everyone had to be evicted. You could actually see the steel framework, because chunks of concrete had fallen off the façade, leaving Swiss cheese style holes.

At least they seemed willing to find the affected tenants homes in other co-op owned accommodation.

However, that promise turned out to be worthless.

My friends, since they were inconvenienced, really should have been offered choices that matched their costly commute needs, but they weren’t. Only one property suited their needs.

They considered taking it, but on closer inspection, realised the maintenance job wasn’t up to par.

ON THIS DAY DECEMBER 4

And there is a layer of icing and cherries on top of this particularly rotten cake. The summer before they officially decided the building was an earthquake hazard that was too expensive to save, they asked my friends and the other tenants whether they wanted to purchase the apartments.

One of the other buildings that was initially offered as an alternative accommodation was also due to be demolished on the same grounds - that should there be an earthquake, the entire property could come down.

As a result, there were more households who faced eviction than was previously reckoned, with a limited amount of available accommodation.

After six months of searching, my friends managed to find a new home and they are cur-

rently in the process moving in.

However, this has exacted a toll on their lives. My friend’s son, a sickly fellow who nearly died of pneumonia twice within one semester, had been sent home from a top British university in late February so that he could recover in Cyprus. It was hoped he could go back this academic year but finding out in March that he faced homelessness was detrimental to this plan.

What if an earthquake on the scale of 1996, happened before the co-op realised they should do a maintenance check after 40 years? They would be dealing with deaths. In fact, their manslaughter would probably land them in jail. You call that trustworthy?

Panayiota McGarry, Limassol

WHAT THE MAIL SAID

1872

25 years ago Friday December 4, 1987

The American vessel, the Mary Celeste, is found sailing in the Atlantic Ocean. The ship was seaworthy, its stores and supplies were untouched, but nobody was on board.

Secretary-General Perez de Cuellar expressed concern yesterday at the prolonged deadlock in negotiations on the future of Cyprus.

“I am seriously concerned by the fact that the negotiating process has now been deadlocked for 18 months, a fact which contributes to the tensions referred to below”, he said in a report on the UN peacekeeping force.

1918 US President Woodrow Wilson sails for the World War I peace talks in Versailles, becoming the first US president to travel to Europe while in office.

1976 British composer Benjamin Britten dies aged 63.

1992 US President George Bush orders 25,000 troops into Somalia. In late 1992, civil war, drought, and clan-based fighting created famine conditions that threatened onefourth of Somalia’s population with starvation.

2003 America ends its protectionist steel policy, by withdrawing a tax on foreign steel imports, in order to avoid a trade war with Europe.

35 years ago Sunday December 4, 1977 The situation of Greek Cypriots in the north remains a matter of concern, the UN Secretary-General Dr Waldheim said in his report to the Secretary Council which will debate the extension of the UNFICYP mandate. The number of Greeks in the north after the invasion and the second thrust to Famagusta had been reduced to 2,000.

45 years ago Monday December 4, 1967 A team of South African surgeons today successfully carried out the world’s first human transplant by putting the heart of a 24-year-old woman into a 56-year-old man. The heart was taken from the girl after she had died in car crash. The five-hour long operation was described as successful and the condition of the man as very good.

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, December 4, 2012

13

Environment

UN calls for urgency on climate Doha deal to delight no one, short of needed action

By Alister Doyle THE United Nations has said greater urgency was needed to slow climate change and that even success at current low-ambition talks among 200 nations in Doha would delight no one.

The world economic slowdown has taken the spotlight off global warming and no big nations at the November 26 - December 7 talks in Qatar have announced new measures to slow rising temperatures and help avert projected floods, droughts, heatwaves and rising seas.

“My call here is for all of us to act impatiently,” Christiana Figueres, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, told a news conference when asked about the low expectations for Doha.

She urged everyone from the public to business leaders to put pressure on governments. “I don’t see perhaps as much public interest, support for governments to take on more ambitious and more courageous decisions,” she said.

Doha is seeking to agree measures including a symbolic extension of the UN’s existing Kyoto Protocol, which binds rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emis-

sions until end-2012.

“Ultimately (governments) do have to reach a politically balanced package (in Doha) with which no one will be delighted... fully recognising that what comes out of Doha is not at the level of ambition that we need,” she said.

Keeping Kyoto alive would be a step towards a global deal that is meant to be agreed in 2015 and start up in 2020. It would bind all nations to curb greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and cars.

Figueres said governments were aware of a need for urgent action but that they also had to reconcile national interests, from OPEC nations worried about a shift from oil, to small island states who want radical action to slow rising sea levels.

“That is where we have a gap,” she said of thousands of delegates meeting in a cavernous conference centre in Qatar which has a giant metal sculpture of a spider as a centrepiece.

A deal on climate change is hard because it “affects all sectors of the economy. It affects all parts of society,” said Artur Runge-Metzger, head of the European Commission delegation.

d adBut he said vances had been ast made in the past ny decade; many nations have set uts targets for cuts in emissions for 2020. m The problem hat for Kyoto is that Russia, Japan and Canada have pulled out, meaning that s are Kyoto backers re led by down to a core the European Union and Australia that account 5 per cent for less than 15 ions. of world emissions. veloping They, and developing y China nations led by ee Kyoto and India, see e model as a valuable at the rich and a sign that tted most who have emitted ases since greenhouse gases the Industrial Revolution ead towards are willing to lead act. a new global pact. uts say it is The drop-outs o extend Kyomeaningless to merging counto when big emerging tries have no curbs on rising emissions.. The United atified Kyoto, States never ratifi sons. for similar reasons. d that governFigueres said ments were working for a deal in Doha. “All governn committed ments remain ard work that to doing the hard ne by the end needs to be done of next week,” she said.

An activist dressed as a polar bear carries a placard during a rally in Doha to demand urgent action addressing climate change (AFP)

Pledges to fight global warming inadequate, US off track MAJOR nations’ policies are inadequate to limit global warming and the United States is off track even in carrying out its weak pledge to limit greenhouse gas emissions, a scientific scorecard showed.

The Climate Action Tracker report, issued on the sidelines of talks among almost 200 countries in Doha about climate change, said a toughening of policies was still possible to avert damaging floods, heat waves and rising seas.

Major emitters China, the United States, the European Union and Russia all got “inadequate” ratings for their plans to help limit global warming to an agreed UN ceil-

ing of below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6F) above pre-industrial times, it said.

Adding up all national pledges and taking account of rising emissions, the world was headed for a warming of about 3.3 degrees Celsius (6F), it said.

“We are off track and the United States is not likely to meet its pledge,” said Niklas Hoehne of research group Ecofys, which compiles the tracker with Climate Analytics and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

He said the other top emitters were on course at least to meet their promised curbs in emissions by 2020 as part of efforts

to avert severe change that would disrupt water and food supplies.

President Barack Obama aims to cut US emissions by 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020. The US delegation leader in Doha, Johnathan Pershing, has reaffirmed the target and said Washington has been making “enormous” efforts.

But the US Senate never ratified Obama’s pledge, made in 2009. Hoehne said that the United States could step up action by tightening emissions from existing coal plants, giving more incentives for renewable energy or tougher building codes.

Pershing said US emissions seem to have

peaked, spurred by Obama’s clean energy policies. The US goal is being helped by a shift to less-polluting shale gas from coal, and by an economic slowdown.

Among the biggest emitters, only Japan and South Korea had formal policies for cuts that were “sufficient”. India, Brazil and Indonesia got a “medium rating,” according to the scorecard.

“Two degrees is feasible. It’s possible, but we have to start now, not wait until 2020 to act,” said Bill Hare of Climate Analytics.

“The longer you wait, the harder it gets,” said Michiel Schaeffer, also of Climate Analytics.

Brazil reports a decline in Amazon forest destruction

Qatar, world’s biggest gas emitter, Antarctic bacteria offers a clue to different kinds of life set to invest up in solar energy

BRAZIL has something to tout at global climate change talks in Doha: destruction of the world’s largest rainforest is still slowing at a record pace.

Data released suggests destruction of Amazon woodlands has slowed to the lowest rate since monitoring began in 1988. The figures, based on Brazilian government data gathered by satellite imagery, mark the fourth straight year the overall deforestation levels have slowed.

But the data, scientists warn, must still be fleshed

OPEC member Qatar will ask firms to tender for a 1,800 megawatt (MW) solar energy plant in 2014 costing between $10-20 billion as the world’s highest per capita greenhouse gas emitter seeks to increase its renewable energy production.

“We need to diversify our energy mix,” said Fahad Bin Mohammed al-Attiya, chairman of the Qatari organisers of climate talks in Doha.

Qatar, the world’s top exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), has been wary of a global shift to renew-

out by follow-up research to confirm whether the reality on the ground matches what seems to be the case from the sky, especially as loggers and farmers clear smaller but more numerous patches of woodland in efforts to evade detection.

Three of the nine Amazonian states measured in the recent data actually showed increases in deforestation.

Meanwhile, scientists and environmentalists warn that changes to Brazil’s environmental policies in recent years could soon begin reversing the progress.

able energy, fearing it will hit demand for oil and gas from OPEC producers.

It has so far disappointed environmentalists by failing to set clear targets for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions at the UN talks, arguing its LNG exports help other nations turn from more polluting coal.

Qatar said the power generated by solar energy would mainly power its desalination plants, which are currently gas fuelled.

The plant construction was expected to be completed by 2018.

A STUDY by polar researchers has revealed an ancient community of bacteria able to thrive in the lightless, oxygen-depleted, salty environment beneath nearly 20 metres of ice in an Antarctic lake, giving insight into the unique ecosystem.

The research, funded by National Science Foundation and NASA, provides clues about biochemical processes not linked to sunlight, CO2 and oxygen - or photosynthesis.

The authors of the study say it may explain the potential for life in salty, cryogenic environments beyond Earth,

where energy in ecosystems is typically fuelled by the sun.

The energy driving bacterial life in Lake Vida, a mostly frozen, brine lake below the Antarctic ice shield, may be derived from chemical reactions between the salt water and the underlying, iron-rich rock, researchers said.

Conditions at Lake Vida are similar to habitats on Mars and are believed to be present elsewhere in the solar system, creating a potentially new framework for evaluating the likelihood of extraterrestrial life and how it might be sustained.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

14

What’s on

films

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

Times are subject to change, so check first with cinemas mas before you head out

NICOSIA Lawless (15) 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 11am, 1.15pm and 3.25pm. 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; KCineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 2) (in Greek, in 3D) at 5.30pm, weekends also at 11.20am, 1.20pm and 3.25pm; KCineplex, 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 3) at 7.50 and 10.15pm; K-Cineplex,

Mall of Cyprus (Screen 3) at 7.50 and 10.15pm. Tel: 77778383 Frankenweenie (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 3) at 5.35pm, weekends also at 3.30pm; KCineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 3) at 5.35pm, weekends also at 11.30am, 1.30pm and 3.30pm.

Tel: 7777-8383 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 1) at 5.35, 7.45 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3.25pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 1) at 5.35, 7.45 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 11am, 1.20pm and 3.25pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Taken 2 (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 6) at 8 and 10.20pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Skyfall (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 2) at 7.40 and 10.20pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 2) at 7.40 and 10.20pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (K) (S K-Cineplex (Screen 6) (in English, in 2D) at 5.30pm, weekend weekends also at 3.30p 3.30pm. Tel: 77778383

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

Adikos Kosmos (in Greek) Cine Studio, tonight and Thursday at 9pm, presented by the Friends of the Cinema Society.

Tel: 96-420491, www.ofk.org.cy

also at 3.25pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Killing Them Softly (18) Rio 3 at 10.30pm. Tel: 25871410; K-Cineplex (Screen 3) at 7.50 and 10.15pm. Tel: 7777-8383

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

LIMASSOL

Frankenweenie (12) Rio 3, weekdays at 6.10pm, weekends at 3, 4.35 and 6.15pm. Tel: 25-871410; KCineplex (Screen 3) at 5.35pm, weekends also at 3.30pm. Tel: 7777-8383

Killing Them Softly (18) K-Cineplex (Screen 3) at 7.50 and 10.15pm. Tel: 7777-8383

Rise of the Guardians (K) Rio 4 (in English, in 2D), weekdays at 7.45 and 10pm, weekends at 3, 4.50, 6.35, 8.20 and 10.10pm; Rio 1 (in English, in 2D), weekdays only at 6pm; Rio 2 (in Greek, in 3D), weekdays at 6 and 7.50pm, weekends at 3, 4.50, 6.35 and 8.20pm.

Tel: 25-871410; 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 Lawless (15) Rio 6 at 7.45 and 10pm, weekends also at 5.30pm. Tel: 25-871410; K-Cineplex (Screen 4) at 5.35, 7.50 and 10.20pm, weekends also at 3.25pm. Tel: 7777-8383 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (12) Rio 1, weekdays at 7.55 and 10.10pm, weekends at 3, 5.15, 7.45 and 10pm. Tel: 25-871410; K-Cineplex (Screen 1) at 5.35, 7.45 and 10.15pm, weekends

Taken 2 (12) Rio 5 at 7.45pm (weekends at 8.15pm) and 10pm. Tel: 25871410 Skyfall (12) Rio 3 at 7.45pm; Rio 2 at 10pm (weekends at 10.10pm). Tel: 25-871410; K-Cineplex (Screen 2) at 7.40 and 10.20pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Ice Age 4: Continental Drift (K) Rio 5 (in Greek), weekends only at 3, 4.45 and 6.30pm. Tel: 25-871410

LARNACA

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 1) at 5.35, 7.45 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3.25pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Frankenweenie (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 3) at 5.35pm, weekends also at 3.30pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Taken 2 (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 6) at 8 and 10.20pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Skyfall (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 2) at 7.40 and 10.20pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (K) K-Cineplex (Screen 6) (in English, in 2D) at 5.30pm, weekends also at 3.30pm. Tel: 7777-8383

Lawless (15) K-Cineplex (Screen 4) at 5.35, 7.50 and 10.20pm, weekends also at 3.25pm. Tel: 7777-8383

PAPHOS

Rise of the Guardians (K) K-Cineplex (Screen 2) (in Greek,

Lawless (15) Rio 2 at 5pm (weekends only),

7.30 and 9.45pm. Tel: 26207000 Rise of the Guardians (K) Rio 4 (in English, in 2D) and Rio 1 (in Greek, in 3D) at 4pm (weekends only), 6, 8 and 10pm. Tel: 26-207000 Killing Them Softly (18) Rio 5 at 5pm (weekends only), 7.30 and 9.45pm. Tel: 26207000 Frankenweenie (12) Rio 6, weekdays at 6pm, weekends at 4 and 5.45pm. Tel: 26-207000 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (12) Rio 7 at 5.30, 7.45 and 10pm.

Tel: 26-207000 Taken 2 (12) Rio 3 at 5pm (weekends only), 7.30 and 9.45pm. Tel: 26207000 Skyfall (12) Rio 6, weekdays at 7.45 and 10.15pm, weekends at 7.30 and 10pm. Tel: 26-207000 Tinkerbell: Secret of the Wings (K) Rio 7 (in Greek), weekends only at 3.40pm. Tel: 26-207000

Frankenweenie

listings Today

Tomorrow

8.30pm. €10. Tel: 22-34 8203, theatroena@cytanet.com.cy www.facebook.com/theatroena

Exhibition

Exhibition

Other Events

Cyprus – Germany: 800 Years of History and Culture An insight in the historical and cultural relations between Cyprus and Germany since the period of the Crusades.

The exhibition presents archaeological remains, documents, old printings, paintings, historical items and church treasures. Opens December 4, 7pm until December 31. The Society of Cypriot Studies (Old Archbishopric Palace, Opposite Pancypriot Gymnasium). Tel: 22- 432578

The of Art as a Functional Object Group art exhibition. Opens December 5, 8pm until January 18. Centre of Contemporary Art Diotopos, 11 DZ, Crete Street, Nicosia. Monday: 5pm-8pm.Tuesday-Friday: 11am-1pm and 5pm-8pm. Saturday: 11am1pm. Tel: 22-766117

Book Sale Museum book sale with 40 per cent to 60 per cent discounts. December 5. Leventis Municipal Museum, 15-17 Hippocrates Street, Laiki Yitonia, Nicosia. 9am-1pm and 2pm5.30pm. Proceeds will go towards enhancing the museum collection.

Tel: 22-661475

Music First Strovolos Band Festival A concert which sees a variety of local philharmonic bands team up for one night in a varied programme with classical, jazz, pop, Greek, movie and Christmas repertoire. December 4. Strovolos Municipal Theatre, Nicosia. 8pm. Free. Tel: 22-313010 Elvis & Elton Christmas Concert Two of the top tribute acts in Cyprus come together with one amazing performance to celebrate American and British music at its best. December 4. Pentaras Hall, Coral Bay Road, Paphos. 8.30pm. €10. Reservations essential - Tel: 99-832538. Meals available in the restaurant - Tel: 26-271130

Music Without a Conductor Cyprus Symphony Orchestra with strings and winds presenting a programme with works by Grieg, Wirén and Gounod. December 5. Larnaca Municipal Theatre. 8.30pm. €12/7.

Tel: 24-665794

Dance From Classroom to Stage Annual climax of the Dancecyprus Junior Company’s education programme, with dancers aged from 12 to 17, demonstrating how they make the transition from dance training to stage performance. December 5.

Polemidia Theatre, Limassol. 7pm.

Tel: 99-920264/25-432404 Flamenco Flamenco presentation by Ioanna Fangou. December 5 & 6. Theatro Ena, 4 Athenas Avenue, Nicosia.

Drought Project Centre of performing Arts MITOS is celebrating five years of creative activity with a presentation as part of the cultural events of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of Europe.

Theatre performance, art exhibition, book edition, based on the myth of Ariadne. December 5-9. Palio Xydadiko, Limassol. 8.30pm. Art exhibition open until December 9. Open daily: 4pm-10pm. Tel: 99- 864970 Birds of a Feather Film screening of the documentary film by Stefanos Evripidou and Stephen Nugent. A public discussion with the film producers will follow.

December 5. Home for Cooperation, Opposite Ledra Palace, Buffer Zone, Nicosia. 8.30pm. Free. Tel: 22-445740 Managing Petroleum Wealth – Lessons and Experiences Lecture by Martin Skancke, Founder and

CEO of Skancke Consulting. During the lecture, experiences in management of petroleum revenues and how they affect economic policies will be discussed.

December 5. Main Auditorium Hall of the University of Cyprus (Kallipoleos 75 Avenue) at 6.30pm. Simultaneous interpretation from Greek to English and vice versa will be provided. The signing of the Agreements for the Programmes funded under the European Economic Area (EEA) / Norwegian Financial Mechanisms 2009-2014, will take place prior to the lecture, at 5pm. RSVP: 22894330/22-894305

Ongoing Other Events 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

Theatre The Harley Jacket THOC’s New Stage presents play

by Vasilis Katsikonouris directed by Giorgos Mouaimis. Until December

7. THOC New Theatre Building, 9 Gregori Afxentiou, Nicosia. Wednesday through Friday at 8.30pm. In Greek. Tel: 22-864300 Calendar Girls Play by Tim Firth presented by Stage One Theatre Group. December 3-8. Emba Theatre, Paphos. €12/6 for children. Telephone Box Office Open: Monday-Friday: 10am & 1pm, Tel: 99-967737. Theatre Box Office Open: Monday & Friday only, from 10am-12.00 Midday, or email: boxoffice@stageonetheatre.com Oscar The New Stage of THOC presents the play based on the work by French-Belgian dramatist Eric Emmanuel Schmitt. Until December 8. THOC New Theatre Building, 9 Gregori Afxentiou, Nicosia. Every two weeks Wednesday through Saturday.

8.30pm. In Greek. Tel: 22-492900 Samia Revival of ancient Greek comedy by Menander. Until December 9. THOC New Theatre Building, 9 Gregori Afxentiou, Nicosia. Every Saturday at 8.30pm and Sunday at 6pm. €12/6.

In Greek. Tel: 22-864300 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

For a full guide to the week’s events and regular meetings, make sure you get a copy of the Sunday Mail

Exhibition Athenians Solo art exhibition by Christian W. Bertram. Until December 4. Municipality Multifunctional Foundation, ‘Old Market Pallouriotissa’, Nicosia. Opening hours: Monday-Friday 10am-1pm & 4pm-7pm. Tel: 22-466330 Human Dimension Solo paintings and sculptures exhibition by Mary Papademas. Until December 4. Loukia and Michael Zampelas Art Museum, 27 Arch.

Makarios III Ave, Kaimakli, Nicosia.

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 10am-1pm&3pm-7pm. Wednesday: 10am-1pm. Friday: 10am-1pm & 3pm-8pm. Saturday: 10am-6pm.

Sunday: closed. Tel: 22-456098 Small Portraits Solo art exhibition. Until December 8. Apocalypse Gallery, 30 Chytron Street, Nicosia. Monday- Friday: 10.30am-1pm and 5pm-8pm. Saturday: 10.30am-1pm. Tel: 22-766655 Regenerate the City Solo art exhibition by Eleni Economou.

Until December 8. Argo Gallery, 64E D. Akrita Avenue, Nicosia. MondayFriday: 10am-1pm and 5pm-8pm.

Saturday: 10am-1pm. Tel: 22-754009 Kostis Georgiou Solo painting exhibition. Until December 8. Morfi Gallery, 84 Agkyras St, Limassol. Monday-Saturday: 10am-1pm. Tuesday-Friday: 5pm-8pm.Tel: 25-378733. www.morfi.org

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, December 4, 2012

15 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

Tomorrow Other Events Challenging the truth The documentary film Birds of a Feather, by Stefanos Evripidou and Stephen Nugent, will be screened at the Home for Cooperation tomorrow evening.

The documentary funded by the Norway Grants (EØS-midlene), raises questions that resonate with every frozen conflict on the notions of truth, history and victimhood.

A public discussion with the film producers will follow the screening.

Yeliz Shukri (filmmaker) and Dr Costas Constantinou (academic) will make short introductions to the discussion, which will be coordinated by the Head of Prio Cyprus, Dr Harry Tzimitras.

In their debut documentary, Evripidou and co-director, cinematographer and editor Nugent were not interested in

Review Theatre Oscar’s end of days Based on the novel by EricEmmanuel Schmitt and adapted for the stage by Mimi Denisi, Oscar attempts to shed comfort on the heart wrenching issue of terminally ill children. How do you explain to a child that its life will end before it ever had a chance to live it? What solace can a parent find in watching their child slip away? Yet in what could have simply been another tear-jerking rendition of this sensitive matter, Oscar endeavours instead to inspire its viewers to re-think the significance of their own remaining days, however many that may be.

“We have twelve days left together” explains ten year old Oscar’s only friend and confidant, the elderly and very pink ‘Aunt Rose’ (Elena Papadopoulou).

“Let’s imagine that every day is like ten years for you.” And so begins a twelve day journey in which Oscar (Stelios Iakovidis) lives his entire life within the confines of the hospital ward; experiencing adolescence, love, marriage, children, growing old, and ultimately, death, all the while narrating his experiences in a letter to God. Iakovidis’ performance as the

finding a universal truth, but rather to illustrate that history is shaped by “perception and memories of truth”. Birds of a Feather looks at the contrasting personal memories formed in a post-conflict space after decades of physical separation. The wellversed narratives of each community’s official histories have left little room for dialogue or mutual understanding. As stories unravel, the film raises questions on the victimisation of truth and the different perspectives of history.

Within this framework, the documentary presents the Home for Cooperation, which is located opposite Ledra Palace Hotel, in Nicosia and emphasises the importance of its presence in the UN controlled buffer zone, widely known as “the dead zone”.

Fuel intentions...

Birds of a Feather Film screening of the documentary film by Stefanos Evripidou and Stephen Nugent. A public discussion with the film producers will follow. December 5. Home for Cooperation, Opposite Ledra Palace, Buffer Zone, Nicosia.

8.30pm. Free. Tel: 22-445740 young boy is both quirky and energetic, with impeccable comic timing, while Papadopoulou offers a tenderer, more loveable playing of the mature pink lady. The pair are undoubtedly empowered by the innovative direction of Panayiotis Larkou, and the overall show is livened

by Stavros Tartaris’ powerful lighting effects and an impressive unfolding set, designed by Mayia Angeli. Although features of all of these elements could be marginally flawed, it is nevertheless refreshing to see an ensemble bring together a production with this level of vigour and ingenuity.

Thoc have undoubtedly upped their game this year, and it’s paying off – Oscar, along with all of their other shows currently running, is sold out night after night, with a line of ‘waiting list’ viewers hoping for last minute cancellations. An indisputable victory for theatre in Cyprus – finally, it’s not only being taken seriously, but it’s taking itself seriously.

Oscar is on for four more shows, Wednesday through Saturday this week, in Nicosia, call to try and snag a last-minute seat.

Oscar The New Stage of THOC presents the play based on the work by French-Belgian dramatist Eric Emmanuel Schmitt. Until December 8. THOC New Theatre Building, 9 Gregori Afxentiou, Nicosia. Every two weeks Wednesday through Saturday. 8.30pm. In Greek. Tel: 22-492900/77-772717

By Eleni Cosma

Above the Noble rig Homer Ferrington drilling in Cyprus’ Block 12, also known as the Aphrodite field and (below) Martin Skancke, Founder Skancke Consulting and Former Director General and Head of Asset Management Department, Norwegian Ministry of Finance.

Oil is a vital source of energy for the world, and with more countries dependent on this sought-after commodity more than any other resource, its impact inevitably becomes more pronounced and more widespread.

Tomorrow afternoon, Martin Skancke, Founder and CEO of Skancke Consulting will give a lecture entitled Managing Petroleum Wealth – Lessons and Experiences, which will take place at the Main Auditorium Hall of the University of Cyprus. The lecture is open to the public and held on the occasion of the signing of agreements for projects funded under the financial mechanism of the European Economic Area (EEA) and Norway, 2009-2014.

Oil and gas hold the promise of becoming vital resources for economic and social development. Unfortunately, in many cases it proves difficult to translate petroleum resources into welfare for the people. Why is this the case? Perhaps it is because of the way oil economies are run. Managing oil revenues well is much the same as managing any other budget, but some issues are more important for oil producers and exporters.

Decades of experience in the oil and gas sector have given Norway valuable expertise on how to manage petroleum resources in a sustainable way. During the lecture Skancke will attempt to take stock of how the Norwegian model and practices in other countries has managed petroleum wealth thus far. Moreover, he will look at the challenges that still lie ahead.

As a specialist, he will analyse the issue of exploitation of a petroleum fund and all matters associated with the proper organisation and management. Plenty of examples of practices that are used by Norway or other countries will be presented.

The lecture will also provide valuable lessons and insights in terms of better management of the natural resources discovered in Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone, taking into consideration the geopolitical and financial challenges we are now facing.

Skancke has worked on issues relevant for long-term investing for more than 20 years.

Until last year he headed the asset management department of Norway’s Finance Ministry, which is responsible for the management of the Norwegian Government

Pension Funds, but he resigned from his top post to start advising other countries that are building up their own funds.

From 2002 to 2006 he was Director General and head of the Domestic Policy Department of the Office of the Prime Minister. He has previously been head of the section for monetary policy and fiscal affairs at the Ministry of Finance and a consultant at McKinsey & Co. Skancke holds a business degree from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration and an MSc (Econ) from the LSE. As for the language of the lecture, simultaneous interpretation from Greek to English and vice versa will be provided. It’s also worth noting that prior to the lecture, the Ceremony for the signing of the Agreements for the Programmes funded under the European Economic Area (EEA) / Norwegian Financial Mechanisms 2009-2014, will take place at 5pm and will be open to the public. Those interested in attending the lecture and ceremony are advised to RSVP beforehand.

Managing Petroleum Wealth – Lessons and Experiences Lecture by Martin Skancke, Founder and CEO of Skancke Consulting. During the lecture, experiences in management of petroleum revenues and how they affect economic policies will be discussed. December 5. Main Auditorium Hall of the University of Cyprus (Kallipoleos 755 Avenue) at ultaneous 6.30pm. Simultaneous interpretation from Greek to English andd vice versa will be provided.

The signing off the or the Agreements for Programmes funded opean under the European ea (EEA) Economic Area / Norwegian Financial Mechanisms 20092014, will takee place cture, prior to the lecture, P: at 5pm. RSVP: 222-894330/22894305

By Ledha edha Socratous ous

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

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesd

16

Reportage In Istanbul, a mosque fit for a sultan on cards

Grand view: there are over 3,000 mosques in Istanbul

Nostalgic for empire, Erdogan has been likened to a sultan report Matt Robinson and Ece Toksabay

T

AYYIP Erdogan has described his third term as Turkish prime minister as that of a “master”, borrowing from the celebrated Ottoman architect Sinan and the last stage of his storied career after apprenticeship and graduation.

It’s a lofty allusion.

Sinan’s 16th-century creations came to define the Ottoman Empire at its apogee, the Suleymaniye Mosque, built for Sultan Suleiman, part of Istanbul’s unmistakline. able sky-

Now, entering a second decade at the helm of a country revelling in its regional might, Erdogan wants to leave his own mark on the cityscape with what will be Turkey’s biggest mosque, a “giant mosque,” he says, “that will be visible from all across Istanbul.”

To be built on the highest hill on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, planners boast the structure will hold up to 30,000 worshippers and bear six minarets taller than t h o s e of the Al-Masjid alNabawi, or the

Prophet’s Mosque, in Medina.

It is symbolic of Turkey’s tilt to the east under Erdogan, who has chipped away at the founding secularism of the modern republic and presided over its emergence as a power in the Middle East.

But the Istanbul elite are up in arms.

Some have branded the proposed mosque unsightly and ostentatious, a thinly-disguised declaration of victory

by Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted government over the

Women of Istanbul: women dressed in red during the Istanbul Fashion week and (below) women clad in headscarves walk along the street

secularists and their guardians in the military.

“On the European side, Sultan Suleiman put his mark on the city with the Suleymaniye Mosque, which could be seen everywhere from old Istanbul,” said Emre Kizilkaya, a blogger and foreign editor at the Hurriyet daily.

“Now many think Erdogan wants to put his own mark on the Asian side.”

Picked in mid-November in a hasty competition limited to Turkish architects, the winning design bears a striking resemblance to Istanbul’s iconic 400-year-old Sultanahmet Mosque, or Blue Mosque, built by a student of Sinan.

One religiously conservative intellectual called it a “cheap replica” and wrote to Erdogan imploring him not to embarrass coming generations with such “unsightly work.”

“There’s a saying in Turkish - ‘You don’t discover America again,’” said Oguz Oztuzcu, chairman of the Istanbul Independent Architects’ Association. “You don’t try to make another Sydney Opera House, do you? They’re competing with existing icons.”

Even the country’s culture minister is unconvinced.

“It’s not success in today’s world to build gigantic structures. It was success during the era of Sinan. Now it’s just about how much cement you’re using,” said Ertugrul Gunay, a rare dissenting government voice.

“We should build something like a gem, and it should shine with its beauty, not with its gigantic size.”

The mosque will sit atop Camlica Hill, once a hunting ground for the Ottoman well-to-do and now a popular viewing point, where couples sip sweet tea among rose bushes and take pictures with their cell phones of this city of over 14 million people.

Minarets puncture the skyline of European Istanbul.

Backers of the new mosque say they want to create a similar skyline on the Asian side, and do away with the antennas that now blight the hilltop.

Ergin Kulunk, president of the Islamic association overseeing the project, said the

Asian side lacked a mosque of such a size to cater to the needs of worshippers.

“It’s a necessity,” he said, and dismissed the storm of criticism over the design, the work of two headscarved female architects.

“We wanted a classical mosque with a dome, and if you’re going to build a classical mosque with a dome, it’s inevitable it will resemble Hagia Sophia, Selimiye Mosque or the Blue Mosque,” he said.

Officially, the government did not instigate the project, but it has given the land and Erdogan’s personal endorsement. The cost is estimated at over 100 million lira, or €43 million, to be paid for by donors - code, the opposition says, for businessmen out to curry favour with the government.

The Istanbul Islamic authority, seated near the bustling Grand Bazaar, professed to have little knowledge of the project, but had no complaints. Istanbul has over 3,000 mosques.

Taking its support from the socially conservative Anatolian heartland, Erdogan’s ruling AK Party has all but won the battle with the old secular elite that emerged with the founding of the modern republic in 1923.

It has muzzled the military, upholder of secularism, that had ousted four governments since 1960. Reforms in the military and the judiciary were promoted as complying with change demanded for entry to the European Union (EU).

With Turkey’s bid to join the EU, however, going nowhere, Erdogan is courting old Ottoman lands in the Middle East.

Economic growth, outstripping Europe, is driven increasingly by trade with the Gulf. Arab businessmen and tourists are flocking

Nay sayer: minister Ertugrul Gunay to Turkey - up sixfold from Saudi Arabia, 500 per cent from Qatar and 400 per cent from Kuwait since October 2010.

The government, meanwhile, is embracing Istanbul’s imperial past, when the

‘By building a ne mosque that shall Istanbul landmarks, E world he has tak Ottoman Empire sprawled across three continents.

“We must go everywhere our ancestors have been,” Erdogan said last Sunday, and took aim at the makers of a hit Turkish television series, one of the country’s most famous exports, for its gaudy portrayal of Sultan Suleiman.

day, December 4, 2012

17 Television

26

Crossword

28

Sport

Sultan: Tayyip Erdogan, perhaps the most noteworthy Turkish leader since Ataturk

Crowning glory? the planned new mosque on Camlica Hill

“Those who toy with these values should be taught a lesson within the bounds of the law,” he said.

Such talk has drawn fire from critics who accuse Erdogan of behaving like a modern-day sultan, at home

eo-Ottoman style dominate all other Erdogan is telling the ken over Turkey’ and abroad. Hundreds of military officers have been jailed on charges of plotting a coup against Erdogan; others including academics, journalists and politicians are facing trial on similar accusations.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, smarting from Turkey’s support for the rebels

trying to oust him, told a television interviewer last month that Erdogan “thinks he’s the new sultan. In his heart he thinks he’s a Caliph.”

The new mosque, however, will be modest in comparison with others in the Middle East, such as the 600,000-capacity Prophet’s Mosque or the world’s largest, the AlMasjid al-Haram, or Grand Mosque, in Mecca.

“Any other mosque might be bigger in size, physically and architecturally, but it cannot compare to the two holy mosques due to their sanctity and status,” a Saudi cleric, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

Nor does it compare in scale with Erdogan’s other plans for Istanbul, which include digging a 45-km channel linking the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara to ease congestion in the Bosphorus Strait and filling in part of the sea to create an assembly ground big enough for 800,000 people.

He hopes, too, to bequeath Turkey a new constitution, replacing the version written after a 1980 military coup and in the process creating a powerful executive presidency.

Barred from running for prime minister again, Erdogan is widely expected to bid for the new presidency in 2014, cementing his status as Turkey’s most significant leader since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the secular republic from the World War One ruins of the Ottoman Empire.

“Ottoman sultans adorned the hills of historic Istanbul with mosques dedicated to their victories, creating a lasting legacy,” said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish research programme at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

“By building a neo-Ottoman style mosque that shall dominate all other Istanbul landmarks, Erdogan is telling the world he has taken over Turkey.”

29-32

18

Tuesday, December 4, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

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Nicosia - email: classified@cyprus-mail.com Limassol - email: limassol@cyprus-mail.com Paphos - email: paphos@cyprus-mail.com

MISCELLANEOUS *****************************

GURMIT KAUR from India and Holder of passport with K 0609492. wishes to change her name on her passport from now on she wants to be called Gurmit Kaur Rai. My new name will be on my new passport. ************************** LOOKING TO PURCHASE a second hand saxophone and trumpet which are in good condition.

Please contact us on Mob.: 99405636 *****************************

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS - CYPRUS Is drink costing you more than just money? AA could be the answer.

Meeting at the following locations/days. Call to speak to an AA member.

Ayia Napa Monday 97798043 Larnaca Tuesday (Polish spk) 96616589 Thursday 24645523 / 99259264 Limassol Tuesday / Wednesday / Friday / Saturday 25368265 / 99559322 Nicosia Wednesday/Sunday 99013596 Paphos Tuesday / Thursday / Saturday 99916331 / 99399240 Details of meetings are available on www.aa-europe.net *****************************

HEALTH & FITNESS

CLINICAL PILATES. Personalised Clinical Pilates

by Physiotherapists in Nicosia. Individual assessment and supervision of exercises. “Clinical pilates” is a modified form of therapeutic exercise used by physiotherapists to assist in the rehabilitation and prevention of musculoskeletal injury especially lower back pain, sacro-iliac pain and neck pain. More info on 22446988.

Nicosia - tel: 22 818583 fax: 22 676385 French clothes and shoes.

Also women’s dummies and modern wall fittings (clothes rails.) Selling at very low prices for clearance. Tel: 99-168943

PETS

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PERSONAL *****************************

AUSTRIAN INGENEUR, 50 years, searching for a nice women. Mobile: 004917365562 or 00491726293462 *****************************

LESSONS *****************************

GREEK LESSONS taught in small and friendly groups or individually. Tel 99274971 *****************************

‘’SEBASTIAN”, German Pointer cross, around 6 years old. He is very big and strong, he is gentle with humans and adores children.

Come and meet him! 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 Elena on 99520511 mon-frid. *****************************

HARMONY AND BALANCE! Anti cellulite treatment, reflexology, aromatherapy, massage-against stress, back pains, headache. Nicosia for appointment call on 97696795. *****************************

ACUPUNCTURE, cupping, skin honing, massage. For the alleviation of aches, pains, stress and rehabilitation from illness or injury.

Qualified Chinese practitioner. Pafos [Konia] 9922 1851. *****************************

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FOR SALE MISCELLANEOUS CLOTHES STOCKS AND SHOP FITTINGS FOR SALE. Excellent women’s brands for sale including Italian, Spanish and

MOLLY is sweet and polite and very gentle. Aged around 2 yrs, she is a Pinscher cross, small sized and will do best in a quiet home. She is good with other dogs. A bit scared/ shy around children and prefers peace, quiet and cuddles. 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 Elena on 99520511 mon-frid. *****************************

SERVICES *****************************

NEED AN EXPERIENCED ELECTRICIAN/PLUMBER/HANDYMAN? Free call out, no job too small.

Very reliable. l am experienced in all types of building work. Plasterboarding / Suspended Ceilings etc.

Please Call Sid 96840581

PRIVATE TUITION Experienced, UK-qualified teacher offers full/part-time private home tuition in Maths, English, the Sciences, Geography, History, Business Studies and Economics, from KS3 to iGCSE, AS and A2 levels. 9 years experience in Cyprus; references available. Telephone 99318796 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.

Paphos - tel: 26 911383 fax: 26221049

CHIMNEY SWEEP, when did you last have your chimney swept or log burner cleaned? Build-up of soot can cause respiratory problems and fires.

All areas, call Dave, a professional sweep, now on 99819137. Also available for weddings. www.paphosluckychimneysweep.com

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Limassol - tel: 25 761117 fax: 25 761141

SNOW is a female lab x hound cross around 10 months old. Snow is energetic and sweet. Best suited to a home with lots of space and older children she can play with. She will do great in a home with other dog/s. 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 Elena on 99520511 mon-frid. *****************************

PROFESSIONAL UPHOLSTERY CLEANING, also carpets, rugs and mattresses. Special offers now available. For a quote call Rickys Cleaning Services on 99131044 (all areas) rickyscleaningservices@ gmail.com *****************************

DO YOU NEED A WEB-SITE BUT ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE COST? Web design & hosting at exceptionally low prices, experienced designer & programmer , your dream web-site is only a phone call away.

Don’t delay!!! Call Andros for a free quote or consultation on 99335078, info@ akalou.com, - islandwide *****************************

DO YOU WANT A SHINY LOOKING FLOOR? Full repair & restoration of chipped, scratched, dull and stained, Marble, Terrazzo, Stone & Ceramic tiled floors and surfaces. Professional cleaning, repair & sealing of internal/external ceramic tiles & grout lines.

For a free professional consultation & demonstration contact Mark at Premier on 70006766 or 96333961 All areas *****************************

K.D.FLYSCREENS LTD We manufacture top quality sliding screens, opening doors and roller systems.

We also do repairs. For a FREE QUOTE please contact Phone: 99119582 Website: www.kdflyscreens. com *****************************

WE UNDERTAKE REFURBISHING of houses or holiday homes, construction of pergolas, undertaking of plumbing, house painting, garden work.

For information call JIMMYS: 96587137, MELIS: 96547879 *****************************

FOR SALE BUSINESS/ PROPERTY/LAND *****************************

TIMI, PLOTS, a few selected available, seaview, near the 2 golf courses, Venus Rock and airport 60% building factor, €99.000. Half registration fees til the 31.12.12.

Tel. 99621914 *****************************

LARNACA, ALETHRIKO, plots for sale, 525 sqm, 90% building factor, near highway Limassol-Larnaca, 5 min from airport, quiet residential area €109.000.

Half registration fees till the 31.12.12. Tel. 99621914 *****************************

PRIME LAND IS AVAILABLE FOR LONG LEASE

Larnaca - tel: 24 652243 fax: 24 659982

classified contents Employment Opportunities pg 18 Employment Miscellaneous 18 Pets 18 Lessons 18 Health & Fitness 18 Personal 18 Services 18 For Sale Miscellaneous 19 For Sale Land/ Property Business 18 For Sale Motor vehicles 19 Wanted 19 To Let Nicosia 20 To Let Limassol 22 To Let Larnaca 22 To Let Paphos 22 To Let Protaras, Ayia Napa, Paralimni -To Let Athens -Land For Sale Bulgaria -For Sale Nicosia 24 For Sale Limassol 24 For Sale Larnaca -For Sale Paphos 24 For Sale Ayia Napa -For Sale Famagusta Protaras -For Sale Athens -Property& Home Services display ads 25

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

19

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Advertiser FOR SALE B.P./LAND 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 MOTOR VECHICLES

FOR SALE MOTOR VEHICLES MINI COOPER (2005) 1600cc, 52.000 miles, British racing green/Blk roof, full mini spec., bluetooth, fitted, MOT 15/07/14, €6.500 ono. Contact 35799531267 Pyla. *****************************

FOR SALE LAND in Anthoupoli (half plot) 288 sq.metres. for information 99621554.

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

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WANTED TO RENT

PROPERTY TO LET

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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. *****************************

NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

rear house €300, 3bdrm m/ ssa with garden €500, Str/ los €400, Acropolis €550, 4 bdrm new house Dasoupolis €1,200, Acropolis g/f €800. 21 PROPERTY FINDER A.M. 627 A.A.108 / E 99474839, 99646822

trance camera, 3.6 sq.m storage room. close to the University of Nicosia/Makedonitissa-Egkomi, Nicosia.

Tel +35796440161 *****************************

FOR RENT OR SELL: 2 bedroom flat in Nikis Avn in Nicosia, 80 m. Completely renovated, with electric supplies. Excellent for office or flat. 3 bed-room flat and some furnitures in Nicosia near Central Bank, 140 m.

Completely renovated like new. Mob : 99 460 860 *****************************

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 *****************************

LUXURY FLAT 1-bedroom, fully furnished, 58 sq.m/entrance camera with Jacuzzi, italian equipment, Central autonomous heating, ALL electrical appliances for the kitchen (ceramic boards etc). Autonomous double covered parking with en-

TO LET NICOSIA

FLATS / HOUSES FOR RENT: studio Aglantzia €350, 1bdrm Ag. Andreas furnished €425, Hilton €400, Strovolos €350, Acropolis €380, Kennedy furnished €400, 2bdrm Ag. Dometios €400, Lykavitos €550, Kennedy €400, Acropolis

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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. *****************************

2

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

TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

*****************************

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

FOR RENT 3 B/R apartment fully furnished close to Central Bank. 3 W.C., fully air-conditioned 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

English-Painter & Decorator

SELEC Fencing & Decking Specialist

Fully Qualified 30 years’ Experience

For all your Garden and Security Fencing

ALL AREAS • External & Internal painting • Damp Damage Repairs • Spritze Repairs • Free Estimates + very clean work • All areas. All types of woodwork stained and preserved • All work guaranteed

Tel. Tony on 99176557

♦ Quality approved workmanship ♦ 15 years experience + guaranteed work ♦ English workers ♦ also garden gates ♦ sheds ♦ chain link fencing ♦ free estimates ♦ all types of fencing & decking

Tel. SELEC fencing 99176557

20

Tuesday, December 4, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Advertiser TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

football training ground Archagelos - €1700 (photos 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).

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, covered parking near Alpha Mega supermarket - STROVOLOS €1200 (H4ST10007-R), (photos in the website).

7. 3 bedr detached ground floor house with big garden with grass and covered patio with bbq and bar, central heating, a/c, 230sq.m, FULLY FURNISHED or partially, covered parking, storage room, in a very quiet neighborhood opposite Acropolis park. Acropolis - €1500 - 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 - Lakata-

mia- €1600 (photos in website).

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 breakfast 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 CentrePLATY 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 shutters, 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. 4 bedrs new luxury detached house, all the bedrooms very big and all with big bathroom/shower, sitting room upstairs, attic room with shower and wc, office space/maid’ s room with shower and wc, central heating, full AC, 450sq.m, big sitting and dining areas, big kitchen with sitting area and fitted cooker and oven, 6 wc, 2 covered parking’s, big yard with tiles and garden with grass, bbq area in a very quiet neighbourhood near the CYBC ( RIK) station and near a neighbourhood park – Aglantzia €2000(H4AGZ0005-R), (photos in the website).

15. 4 bedr luxury detached house, separate maid’s room, 600 sq.m, central heating, full a/c, 6 wc, 4 bathrooms, big sitting and dining areas opening on to the garden, big kitchen with electrical appliances, built in 2 big plots of land with huge garden with grass, swimming pool, 2 covered parking, in a quiet neighbourhood close to Alpha Mega supermarket Engomi - €3000 (H4PA20005-R), (photos on the website).

For many more proper-

TO LET NICOSIA ties with photos visit our website at www. landtouristestates.com which is updated daily.

LANDTOURIST ESTATES LTD 22-422225/96422225/96422226, www.landtouristestates. com *****************************

LUXURY FLATS: 1. 2 bedr luxury spacious apartment, with central heating independent, 3a/c, big sitting and dining room, cooker and oven in the kitchen, blinds, 2 bathrooms(on en suite), big covered veranda, covered parking, storage room, near Ippokration private hospital. Available end of November – Engomi - € 550 - A2ENG0012-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. 1 bedr spacious apartment with separate kitchen, 2a/c for hot and cold, big bedroom, covered veranda, NICELY FURNISHED, in the centre behind Cleopatra

21

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Advertiser TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

TO NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

hotel – Nicosia Centre - € 550 - A1NIC0020-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. 1 bedr new modern luxury apartment, 50sq.m, 2 a/c for hot and cold, nicely modern furnished, 3rd floor, covered parking, 6 year old in a quiet neighbourhood off Kantaras street. - STROVOLOS €370 (A1ST10009-R), (photos in the 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).

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 parking, storage room, in a very quiet neighbourhood in a dead end street, off Athalasas Avenue behind Stephanis near English School €720 (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. A2ST10028- R, 2 bedr new luxury apartment on the 1st floor of a 2 storey building, with a/c for hot and cold, fully nicely modern furnished, big covered veranda, parking, in a quiet neighbourhood. (no com-

mon expenses). Strovolos €600 (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).

15. 2 bedrs new luxury apartment, sitting room open plan with kitchen which includes cooker, oven, refrigerator and washing machine, 2 wc, central

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22

Tuesday, December 4, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Advertiser TO LET NICOSIA 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 photos visit our website at www.landtouristestates. com which is updated daily. LANDTOURIST ESTATES LTD 22-422225 / 96-422225 / 96422226 www.landtouristestates. com

TO LET LIMASSOL situated in a private area of Ypsonas with separate kitchen, lounge dinning room,garden, parking ensuite master bedroom a/c all over house. 25 337400 Price 700 euros ****************************

2 BEDROOM COTTAGE FOR RENT IN LANIA VILLAGE in a quiet and peaceful area, fully furnished, storage heaters, a/c, rent €300 per month.

Minimum contract 1 year.

Info mob 99548855 ****************************

2 BDRM flat in the centre of Nicosia. Rent €450. For information call 99453663, 99663927.

FOR RENT new ground floor terrace studios for rent in Kouka village (20 minutes from Limassol) in a quiet and peaceful area fully furnished €180 per month minimum contract 1 year. For info mob 99548855

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LIMASSOL ****************************

FOR RENT luxury 2 bedroom flat near Alasia hotel very close to Debenhams (Makarios avenue), with kitchen, office room, dining room, big siting room, two wc, a/c, verandas. For further information please call 99465365 ****************************

4 BEDROOM HOUSE IN EPISKOPI Split level 4-year- old 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

GROUND FLOOR HOUSE, furnished renovated this year. Laminated parke floor, and big wardrobes in the 3 bedrooms. Rent €590.00 Tel 99497576 99886775 ****************************

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

TO LET LARNACA ****************************

FULLY FURNISHED one bedroom flat near Larco hotel Larnaca. Price €370.

Tel: 99202543 ****************************

1. K.S.L LETTINGS – APARTMENT FOR RENT Fully Furnished 1st floor 2 bedroom apartment.

High quality furnishings throughout.

400 Euros per calendar month.

Pyla. Quote TLL1088. Tel. (00357) 24815104 2. K.S.L LETTINGS – Properties Required for waiting Long Term Tenants. We desperately require 2/3 & 4 bedroom villa’s with private swimming pools for waiting tenants in the Larnaca District. Please call us for a free valuation. Tel. (00357) 24815104 3. K.S.L LETTINGS – LARGEST RANGE OF PROPERTIES. OVER 200 RENTAL PROPERTIES IN THE LARNACA DISTRICT AT THE MOST COMPETITIVE RATES! FLEXIBLE CONTRACTS AVAILABLE. Tel. (00357) 24815104 4. www.KSLlettings.com – Villa For Rent Simply Stunning! Fully furnished 5 bedroom, 5 bathroom Villa with a good sized rear garden & private pool, located in the village of Oroklini.

Call for further information quoting Ref. TLL1415. Tel. (00357) 24815104 CALL 24 815 104 TO ENQUIRE OR ARRANGE A VIEWING – NO OBLIGATION OR FEES. View our full range of over 200 properties by visiting www.KSLlettings.com updated daily. LANDLORDS ADVERTISE YOUR PROPERTY FOR FREE AND GET WORLD WIDE ADVERTISING – NO TENANT NO FEE! *****************************

TO LET PAPHOS PAPHOS TO LET 3 bdrm detached villa & pool. Fully furnished.

2 bdrms en suite, garage with r/m control, garden, lovely view. Near Tsada Golf Course. Price €750 per month. Tel. 99603330. *****************************

€290 /mnth Acropolis Heights (a) ,Chlorakas (b) € 380 /mnth Universal area and Both are 2-bed houses, beautiful locations, in Cul-de-sacs, 10 years old, 90 sq. mts, Furnished, Open-Plan Lounge/Kitchen, Front Car-port, Garden, (a) is Ground floor, 1 W.C/bath. (b) is 2-Floors, 2 W.CS/Bath and part air-conditioned. Call 99-632388.’ *****************************

BARGAIN PROPERTY FOR RENT - Moutallos, 3 bedroom first floor apartment, fully furnished, 2 bathrooms, 1 en-suite, balcony, very close to all amenities, euro 350 per month o.n.o tel: 99127195 *****************************

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 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

TO LET PAPHOS 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. *****************************

GREAT VALUE STUDIO FLAT FOR RENT, just off Tomb of the Kings, very convenient position, easy walk to harbour, town centre or Kato Paphos.

Fully furnished (washing machine etc.) Only Euro 200/month inc. communal charges. Phone 99-493862 *****************************

1. UNIVERSAL – superb 2 bed furnished apartment for rent. 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

TO LET PAPHOS month.

PLEASE CALL 96203009 *****************************

FOR RENT A selection of 1 to 5 bedroom houses & apartments F/F & U/F Universal, Peyia, Tomb of the 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 2. SEA CAVES, 3 bedroom bungalow, specially fitted for people with disabilities , stunning sea views, free wifi, 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 ensuite, in cul-de-sac, fully airconditioned with fireplace, euro 700 p/m PLEASE CALL : 99 387842 *****************************

CHLORAKAS, 2 bedroom

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• OPEN FOR CHRISTMAS DAY LUNCH & NEW YEAR’S EVE CALL PETER NOW FOR ANY ENQUIRIES: 96870774 – PAPHOS

23

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Advertiser TO LET PAPHOS apartment, fully furnished, large veranda, very quiet location, communal pool, Euro 280 – o.n.o Please call: 99699019 /26910140 *****************************

PEYIA, available now for rent in a most sought after location next to the municipal park, 1 & 2 bedroom apartments with magnificent sea and mountain views, furnished or unfurnished, off street parking, quiet area, for viewing, ring: 99 887251 / 99 025173 *****************************

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 *****************************

PAPHOS RENTALS SECTION TREMITHOUSA Very sought after location, Modern 2 Bedroom, F/F, Town House, Lovely Communal Pool, Sea views, Early viewing highly recommended,

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

400 Euros PAPHOS - Very large 3 Bedroom Apt , Fully Furnished to a very high standard ,Would suit 3 Professionals sharing, Within close proximity to Hospital and Court, Central Heating, 2 Bathrooms, Laundry, 350 Euros.

TALA - Luxurious 4 Bedroom, F/F to a very high standard, 2 bathrooms, 2 en-suite, Swimming Pool, Landscaped Garden and Spectacular Views, 700 Euros.

EMPA - Immaculate, Spacious 2 Bedroom, U/F, House, Large kitchen, Patio, Quiet location, Must be seen, 300 Euros WANTED - 2 bedroom furnished properties MORE PROPERTIES AVAILABLE FOR INFORMATION PLEASE CALL 99862922

TIMI 3 bed modern villa with wood burner, Ac, offered fully furnished. Spacious living areas with 2 sitting areas, big kitchen,3 upstairs bedrooms, master on suite shower, family bathroom, Small private pool, off street parking.

Quite location not far from the village amenities. Paphos Town. Ref: 722 price €600 KISSONERGRA A bed luxury villa on its own private grounds, with fantastic views of the sea, private pool, Modem Furnishings, quality appliances, downstairs bedroom, large kitchen, upstairs bedroom with en suite, family bathroom. Ref 0000 Price €950 ANARITA A 3 bed villa offered furnished , with private pool, in nice quiet cul-de-sac, off street parking, AC. quality kitchen, 3 bedrooms upstairs. Ref 855 price €600 PEGEIA A superb character 4 bedroom villa, with beams, fire place, central heating. Italian kitchen, sitting and dining areas, 3 good size bedroom, with downstairs bedroom with en suite. Outside mature gardens, private pool, fantastic views, peaceful

location. Ref: 765 Price €900 Mandria A modern unfurnished 4 bed Villa with private pool. Downstairs bedroom with shower, sitting room with log burner, 3 bedrooms upstairs, master bed with en suite shower room. Property has private fence and pets are welcome. Ref 1174 price €700 YEROSKIPOU 2 bed furnished apartment with communal pool, gym, under cover parking on modern new complex Apartment is furnished, with bathroom, modern kitchen and blinds + AC Ref: 1164 price €350 ARMOU A 3 bedroom fully furnished bungalow with private pool. Nice clean modern property with log burner, 3 good size bedrooms, master en suite, large family bathroom, garage, fantastic views of the sea. Ref 854 Price €750 MANDRIA Modern 2 bedroom apartment, offered furnished. Property is modern and has a large outside veranda, great views, large communal pool. Not far from all local amenities.

Ref: 882 Price €400

Please call for a free viewing on Office 26600450 Mobile: 97614070 many more properties on our website at www.flowron. com - www.paphospropertycyprus.com LANDLORDS IF YOU HAVE A PROPERTY FOR RENT, PLEASE CALL US!!!!!!

Your Vision is our Mission

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 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 non-drivers!

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,

*****************************

FLOWRON PROPERTY RENTALS, YOUR NUMBER ONE CHOICE FOR RENTAL PROPERTIES. LOOKING FOR A RELIABLE AND EFFICIENT PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANY, CALL THE EXPERTS TODAY!!

****************************

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

24

Tuesday, December 4, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Advertiser TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

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 kitch-

en. 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 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

FOR SALE Well kept detached bungalow on the edge of Pano Kivides. Quiet location with open view. Kitchen/diner 5.55m x 3.75 Separate lounge of similar size. Two bedrooms, with A/C, fitted wardrobes.

Good size bathroom. Mains drainage. Entrance hall, used as an office. Gas CH. All new double glazed windows. Conservatory 7.26m x 2.46m. Outside, plot in excess of 700 sq. m.. Large covered area including brick built workshop 5.3m x 4.8m . Hot tub. Car port, TITLE DEEDS. Euros 198000. Private sale. No agents. No VAT. Why pay for a building site with no services when you could move into a comfortable home, with no hassle, but lots of potential, for less?

Tel. 99995906 or 99995992.

*****************************

REFURBISHED stone-built

TO LET PAPHOS 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 bdrm flat with title deeds, 110 sq.m., fully renovated, best central area, 800m from the European University, excellent view, €99.000.

Tel. 99621914. ******************************

FOR SALE PENTHOUSE between Armenias Str and Hilton Hotel. 3 bedroom, main bedroom with shower, c/h, fireplace, large verandas. For more information please call: 99467596. ******************************

FOR SALE NICOSIA PAPHOS ******************************

PROPERTY SALE BLOCK BUY INVESTMENT - House (detached) 3-Bed, 2 Bath, on ½ plot, Koloni, Paphos in cul-de-sac. Near amenities, highway and airport. 5 min from sea.

- Two Traditional stone village houses, large common courtyard in picturesque village of Lysos, Paphos. 10min from Latchi.

- 5017m2 Land with 10% building rights, in Lysos village on main road to Stavro Tis Psokas.

- 8362m2 Land with 10% building rights in Lysos village on boarder of housing zone which is to be extended.

QUICK SALE FOR SERIOUS OFFERS EURO 800,000 Tel : 99452241/99848757 UNIVERSAL AREA, 3 bedroom detached villa, covered area 122 sqm, mas-

POLICE DIVISION HQ

HOSPITALS ........ 1400

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) 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 Forest Fires ..................... 1407

ter bedroom en-suite, 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 1. PAPHOS, FLATS FOR SALE OR RENT: Kissonerga, 3 bdrm flat with title deeds, in a block of 4 flats only, fully renovated, 2 baths, 146 sq.m closed area, c/h, a/c, covered parking, excelent view of sea and mountains, half registration fees titll 31.12.12 reduced to €135.000 or rent €450 per month. Tel. 99621914. ******************************

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.

******************************

U SEFUL PHONE NUMBERS

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

FOR SALE PAPHOS

Narcotics Helpline ......... 1410 (Outside hours.............. 22-304160) 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) Airports Larnaca ..........................77778833 Paphos ...........................77778833

AYIA NAPA 1.AYIA NAPA, Studio for sale, 38 sqm, furnished and fully renovated,. with title deed, in licensed complex, 5030m from Nissi Beach €49.000. Tel. 99621914.

LARNACA

FOR SALE Semi-detached house in Archangelos area split level Nn 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

25

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, December 4, 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.

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

Tuesday, December 4, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

26

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)

CYBC 2 07.00 08.00 16.30

17.00

Apo Mera Se Mera Current affairs programme.

15.30

Entehnos Local cultural programme.

16.00 18.00 18.15

Mazi Sto CyBC News Kaftes Piperies

18.00 18.50 18.55 19.10 20.00 21.00

Live cookery show.

18.45

19.20

22.35

Moiraia Fengaria

News Followed by a speech to the nation by President Christofias.

21.15

23.15

08.30 09.05 09.40 10.20 11.15

Kati Psinetai (rpt)

12.10 13.00 13.20 14.00

Biz/Emeis (rpt) News In English News In Turkish Great Goals of the UEFA EURO (rpt) NRG Zone FILM: The Addams Family

15.00 16.10 17.00

Lost

Criminal Minds Fifth season. ‘Solitary Man’. The FBI agents try to catch a serial killer in New Mexico who is kidnapping women and disposing of their bodies in an effort to find a mother for his daughter.

Vimata Stin Ammo Local period drama, based on true events.

22.00 22.30 23.30 23.45

DW-TV’s magazine show, bringing you the latest on lifestyle and entertainment in Europe.

Sixth season. ‘Happily Ever After’. Desmond goes back to the island so that he can conduct a dangerous electromagnetic experiment, which sends him back to the alternate reality in Los Angeles, a reality where he has never met Penny.

New local drama series inspired by Maro Kranidioti’s book ‘Otan i Moira Apofasizei’.

20.00

06.20 06.50 07.00

Black comedy, starring Anjelica Huston. 1991.

See Pick Of The Day.

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

NRG Zone Kids’ TV Euromaxx

Amateur chefs each stage a dinner party to find who will be crowned the winning host.

Local comedy series, which happens to be the longest-running show on TV.

12.00

ANTENNA

Ego Ki Esi Eponymos News Repeats 00.00

17.50

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 Vals Me 12 Theous (rpt) Oneiropagida (rpt) Tha Vreis To Daskalo Sou (rpt) Ekeino To Kalokairi (rpt) Aiyia Fuxia (rpt) With News at 18.00.

19.30 20.15 21.15 22.10 23.10 00.10 00.15 00.30 01.40 02.30 03.20 04.10 04.40

Niose Me News Vals Me 12 Theous Ekeino To Kalokairi Proedrikes Ekloges News Sports News Radio Arvila Synora Agapis (rpt) I Agapi Irthe Apo Makria (rpt) News (rpt) To Kafeneio (rpt) Deal (rpt)

MEGA 06.40 07.00 08.00 10.00 12.45 14.00 15.00

Diktiotheite Kai Exelihtheite Koinonia Ora Mega 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 18.20 19.20 20.15 21.15 22.10 23.10

Yia Sena News Eisai To Tairi Mou (rpt) Eftyhismenoi Mazi (rpt) News Klemmena Oneira Enoha Mystika FILM: Conspiracy

SIGMA 06.30 07.00 08.20 10.20 11.10 12.00 14.20

01.00 03.00 04.00 05.00

News I Apli Methodos Ton Trion Yia Sena (rpt) Charlie’s Angels Enimerosi Tora (rpt) Proino Mou (rpt)

18.30

06.45 07.20

Local drama series.

09.30 10.55

Mesimeri Kai Kati Aspra Balonia (rpt) Magazino News Ti Tha Fame Simera Mama The Del Monte Heirs Latin American telenovela.

19.30 20.20 21.20 22.20

7 Ouranoi kai Synnefa Alites News Aspra Balonia (rpt) FILM: The Pink Panther Bumbling French policeman Inspector Clouseau goes to New York in search of a stolen priceless diamond.

Comedy remake, with Steve Martin, Kevin Kline. 2006.

00.20 00.25 01.00

07.50 09.00

11.50 12.30 13.00 15.30 17.15 17.50 19.40

Kids’ TV Star News Mesimeriani Meleti Kids’ TV Exelixeis Sti Showbiz Fotis - Maria Live Mila

CAPITAL 08.15 08.40 09.25 10.00

17.30 18.15

Magikos Kosmos S’Agapo (rpt) Akti Oneiron Ston Asterismos Tis Imeras Kouzina Me Apopsi Capital Sports 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 Igeia Kai Zoi FILM: Suspect

11.00 11.30 12.30 13.30 14.50 15.45 16.35

With News at 18.30.

A public defender represents a deafmute Vietnam veteran accused of murder, and uncovers corruption in high places.

Courtroom drama, starring Cher. 1987.

Talk-show, specialising in “confessions” and revealing interviews.

21.15 22.15 23.15

Exelixeis Sti Showbiz Presidential Elections Eleventh Hour (rpt) American drama, starring Rufus Sewell as a special adviser to the United States government ‘Eleventh Hour (Agro)’. When multiple cases of food-related paralysis are reported in North Carolina, Dr Jacob Hood is asked to investigate the source of the problem.

News CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (rpt) 24

Epistrofi (rpt) Mila Mou (rpt) Otan Megaloso (rpt) Eleni (rpt)

News Fotis - Maria Live Best Of Mesimeriani Meleti Best Of Exelixeis Sti Showbiz Mila (rpt) Nistikoi Praktores (rpt) Cooking show, with helpful tips on eating well and nutrition.

Ground-breaking real-time drama series, starring Kiefer Sutherland.

01.40 02.10 03.00 03.30

Repeats

The Del Monte Heirs (rpt) Protoselido Eleni Vasiliki (rpt) 7 Ouranoi kai Synnefa Alites (rpt)

Local drama series.

15.20 18.00 18.05

A war veteran investigates the disappearance of a friend, and sets out to destroy a ruthless corporation’s sinister plot. Revenge thriller, starring Val Kilmer. 2008.

00.00 00.10

PLUS TV

00.00 01.10 02.00

LTV Sports News Star News Repeats

23.15

FILM: Annapolis A trainee cadet at a naval academy clashes with a senior officer and ends up having to fight him in a boxing match. Drama, starring James Franco. 2006.

01.10

FILM: Belly Of The Beast An ex-CIA agent’s quest to find his kidnapped daughter leads him on a trail of political intrigue, corruption, danger and betrayal.

Martial arts adventure, starring Steven Seagal.

2003.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (LTV3, 11.30)

01:10 Life On Air: David Attenborough’s 50 Years In Television 02:00 Last Of The Summer Wine 02:30 The Weakest Link 03:15 EastEnders 03:45 Doctors 04:10 A Thing Called Love 05:10 Last Of The Summer Wine 05:40 Waking The Dead 06:30 The Green Green Grass 07:00 Tellytales 07:10 Boogie Beebies 07:25 Teletubbies 07:50 Balamory 08:10 Tellytales 08:20 Boogie Beebies 08:35 Teletubbies 09:00 Balamory 09:20 Garth And Bev 09:30 Buzz & Tell 09:35 As Time Goes By 10:05 The Green Green Grass 10:35 The Weakest Link 11:20 EastEnders 11:50 Doctors 12:15 Elephant Diaries Update 13:10 Lark Rise To Candleford 14:00 Last Of The Summer Wine 14:30 The Green Green Grass 15:00 The Weakest Link 15:45 EastEnders 16:15 Doctors 16:45 Elephant Diaries Update 17:35 Lark Rise To Candleford 18:25 The Weakest Link 19:10 EastEnders 19:40 Doctors 20:10 Born And Bred 21:00 Big Top 21:30 The Impressions Show With Culshaw & Stephenson 22:00 Lark Rise To Candleford 22:50 2 Point 4 Children 23:20 Dad’s Army 23:50 Twenty Twelve 24:20 Single Father

07:00 How It’s Made ; 07:25 Wheel-

er 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 Overhaulin’ 14:30 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 Mythbusters 22:00 Mighty Planes 23:00 Dangerous Flights 00:00 Aircrash Confidential 01:00 Airplane Repo 01:55 Mythbusters 02:50 Mighty Planes 03:50 Dangerous Flights 04:50 Aircrash Confidential 05:45 How Do They Do It? 06:10 Overhaulin’

09:30 Football: Eurogoals 10:15 Biathlon: World Cup Sweden 11:45 All Sports: Watts 12:45 Football: Eurogoals 13:30 Snooker: Uk Championship Canada 18:30 Biathlon: World Cup Sweden 19:00 Ski Jumping: World Cup Finland 20:00 Snooker: Uk Championship Canada 00:00 Motorsports: Gta Road To Dubai 00:15 Biathlon: World Cup Sweden 01:45 Snooker: Uk Championship Canada

05:40 Private Practice 06:25 Castle

07:10 Modern Family 07:35 Happy Endings 08:00 Once Upon A Time 08:50 Jamie’s Fish Supper 09:40 Private Practice 10:25 Castle 11:10 Modern Family 11:35 Happy Endings 12:00 Raising Hope 12:25 Melissa & Joey 12:50 Glee 13:40 Once Upon A Time 14:30 Masterchef 15:20 Private Practice 16:05 Castle 16:50 Modern Family 17:15 Happy Endings 17:40 The Gates 18:30 Masterchef 19:20 Off The Map 20:10 Castle 21:00 Raising Hope 21:25 Melissa & Joey 21:50 Glee 22:40 Modern Family 23:05 Happy Endings 23:30 Raising Hope 23:55 Melissa & Joey 00:20 Glee 01:10 Castle 02:00 Off The Map 02:45 Modern Family 03:10 Happy Endings 03:35 Rita Rocks 04:00 The Gates 04:50 Masterchef

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 Pawn Stars 12:30 Cajun Pawn Stars 13:00 American

Restoration 14:00 American Pickers 15:00 American Restoration 15:30 Storage Wars 16:00 Pawn Stars 16:30 Cajun Pawn Stars 17:00 American Restoration 18:00 American Pickers 19:00 American Restoration 19:30 Storage Wars 20:00 Pawn Stars 20:30 Storage Wars 21:00 Ancient Aliens 22:00 Storage Wars 23:00 American Pickers 00:00 Pawn Stars 00:30 Storage Wars 01:00 Ancient Aliens 02:00 Storage Wars 03:00 American Pickers 05:00 American Restoration 05:30 Storage Wars 06:00 Ancient Aliens

07:30 Action Zone 08:00 Peacemaker 10:15 Love In The Time Of Cholera 12:45 Easier With Practice 14:30 Burn Up 18:00 St. Elmo’s Fire 20:00 LTV Sports News 21:00 Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day 23:00 Triage 00:45 Hustler TV 03:15 Botched 04:50 Lost & Found 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 14:55 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 NBA Action 17:30 Barclays Premier League World 18:00 Nascar Sprint Cup Series 21:00 La Liga Review 2012-13 22:00 Barclays Premier League 2012-13 00:00 ATP World Tour Uncovered 00:30 Planet Speed 01:00 Liga Bbva 2012-13 03:00 Barclays Premier League 2012-13 07:15 Chuck 08:00 2 Broke Girls 08:30 Supernatural 10:00 According To Jim 10:45 How To Make T N America 11:20 Pan Am 13:00 Strike Back 13:50 Chuck 14:35 Supernatural 16:05 Eastbound & Down 16:35 Aliens N America 17:20 The Closer 18:10 Harry’s Law 18:55 Strike Back 19:45 According To Jim 20:30 The Big Bang Theory 21:00 The Mentalist 21:45

C.S.I. New York 22:30 True Blood 23:30 Tell Me You Love Me 00:25 Lesbian Ampire Killers 02:00 One Million Years Bc 03:40 Eastbound & Down 04:10 Aliens N America 04:55 The Closer 05:40 Harry’s Law 06:25 Strike Back

07:45 Kings Of Mykonos, The 09:30 Without A Paddle: Nature’s Calling 11:30 Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows 14:00 Fifth Patient, The 15:30 Black Sunday 18:15 Sins Of The Mother 20:00 Welcome To The Rileys 22:00 Bringing Out The Dead 00:05 Daring! Tv 03:30 Double Jeopardy 05:15 Atl

06:20 The Bone Collector 08:20 Cine News 09:10 Sundays At Tiffany’s 10:40 Films And Stars 11:10 Scusa Ma Ti Chiamo Amore 13:00 Just Go With It 15:00 «Love Stories» A Little Bit Of Heaven 16:50 Welcome To The Sticks 18:50 Hollywood 1on1 19:20 European Film Awards 2012 21:00 C.S.I. Xii Genetic Disorder 22:00 Moneyball 00:20 Killer Elite 02:20 Cine News 02:50 Sanctum 04:40 Straw Dogs

05:45 Jesse Stone: Innocents

Lost 07:20 Cine News 08:10 Jumping The Broom 10:05 League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen 11:55 Cine News 12:40 Morning Glory 14:30 The Tempest 16:25 Serendipity 18:00 Stars In Style 18:35 Limitless 20:25 I Don’t Know How She Does It 22:00 The Way Back 00:20 Death Race 2 02:05 The Mechanic 03:40 Cine News 04:40 Wings Of The Dove

19:05 Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes 21:00 Gran Torino 23:05 How I Met Your Mother 00:45 Cine News 01:30 Adult Zone

19:05 No Strings Attached 21:00 Emma 01:15 Mpilompa

07:00 Yank At Eton, A 08:25 Julie 10:00 The Swan 11:45 Casablanca 13:25 It’s Always Fair Weather 15:05 Manpower 16:45 Son Of Lassie 18:25 The Last Time I Saw Paris20:20 Singin’ In The Rain 22:00 Westworld 23:25 Cannery Row 01:25 Shoot The Moon 03:25 Billy Rose’s Jumbo 05:25 Saratoga

By Preston Wilder

The Addams Family (CyBC2, 21.00) It’s 90s Night on Pick of the Day, featuring a double bill from that decade - the decade when Christina Ricci was a big-eyed, deadpan little girl instead of the svelte, glamorous thing she is today. She’s Wednesday Addams, youngest member of the titular family, strapping chubby brother Pugsley into an electric chair to play a game called ‘Is There a God?’, among other precocious antics (she also asks if Girl Scout cookies are “made from real Girl Scouts”); it’s that kind of family, also featuring Raul Julia as suave paterfamilias Gomez, Anjelica Huston as cadaverous consort Morticia, a hulking butler named Lurch and a disembodied hand known

The Addams Family

as ‘Thing’ (“Thing, you’re a handful,” purrs Morticia) and the film, based on a 60s TV show, was a big hit though in fact it’s a one-joke movie, its joke being to set up normal family situations then gleefully invert them. Also with Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Fester who might be an impostor, that being the only wisp of plot in this ooky comedy. Made in 1991.

Bringing Out the Dead (LTV3, 22.00) “Are they dead?” asks Pugsley Addams [see above] as he and Wednesday prepare to bury two people; “Does it matter?” replies his sister. Nicolas Cage isn’t much like that in this Martin Scorsese drama - in fact

Nic is somewhat obsessed with whether people are alive or dead, being an overworked paramedic in a hellish vision of New York. “This city ... It’ll kill you if you’re not strong enough,” we’re told, making this a companion-piece of sorts to Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, another tale of a man going nuts in reaction to the squalor around him - but maybe that’s the problem, that it’s all a bit familiar: been here, done this, heard the bluesy urban soundtrack, seen the neon-lit streets and drug-induced fantasies. Not much plot per se, just our hero slowly losing the plot, haunted by visions of the people he’s tried to save in a maelstrom of hot light and grainy images. Think Third Watch in the style of a music video, and you’re not far off. Made in 1999.

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, December 4, 2012

27

Showbiz ‘Hobbit’ may bring Hollywood ending to 2012

The Hobbit is expected to contribute to the first annual box office increase in North America in three years

IT took more than a decade, two directors and a lawsuit before The Hobbit made it to the big screen. Hollywood executives are crossing their fingers the culmination of that journey will help smash movie box office records this year.

The film, which opens on December 14, is expected to contribute to the first annual box office increase in North America in three years, a sign big movie studios have made more films enticing enough to get people into theatres and away from their TVs, games and the Internet.

The Hobbit follows this year’s other big box office successes The Avengers, which became the industry’s third-largest film with $623 million in US sales, and The

Dark Knight Rises and The Hunger Games which both passed $400 million.

Hollywood analysts predict the two months of the year that include The Hobbit and the finale of the Twilight vampire series may lift US and Canadian ticket sales above the $10.6 billion record set in 2009.

“The fourth quarter is just gangbusters,” said box office watcher Phil Contrino, editor of the boxoffice.com website. “One movie after the other is exceeding expectations.”

Annual receipts are on track to end 5 per cent above last year at $10.8 billion or more, projects Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Hollywood.com.

Ten films have already passed $200 million in ticket sales, compared to seven last year, when no film passed the $400million mark.

That would be the first yearly box office increase in three years, and would be from a jump in admissions rather than a hike in ticket prices that traditionally fuel box office growth. Ticket prices are averaging $7.94, a penny increase from last year, according to the National Association of Theatre Owners.

Hollywood has raked in $9.7 billion so far in ticket sales and sold more than 1.2 billion tickets in the North American (US and Canadian) market, 5.5 per cent up on a year ago.

It’s official - Taylor Swift and Harry Styles an item Pair spotted sharing romantic afternoon in Central Park TAYLOR Swift and Harry Styles have been spotted out together for the first time as they enjoyed a romantic walk in New York’s Central Park.

The lovebirds were spotted out in public together for the first time as they casually strolled through the park with some friends, stopping to watch the sea lions at the zoo.

The “I Knew You Were Trouble” singer and the One Direction heartthrob appeared deep in conversation as they joined two older friends and their baby, which country starlet Taylor held on her lap.

Fans of the boy band had been following Harry around the city and took to Twitter in disbelief to share photos of the new couple, with one writing: “Just saw Taylor Swift. Holy c**p!”

The 18-year-old pop idol has invited Taylor - who split with high school senior Conor Kennedy in October to watch the band perform the biggest gig of their career at New York’s Madison Square Garden yesterday, and the 22-year-old singer

‘Prayers secret to a happy marriage’ KHLOE Kardashian says prayers are the secret to her happy marriage.

The X Factor USA host who has been married to Los Angeles Clippers basketball star Lamar Odom for more than three years - says their spirituality helps them to stay connected especially when they are forced to spend time apart due to their hectic careers.

She told USMagazine.com: “We are very spiritual and we say our prayers with each other every night. He will lead the prayers and it is so sweet.

“Sometimes his plane will land in the next city (at 4 am) and he will still call me and we say our prayers. If I’m asleep and don’t answer he will text me a prayer. It keeps us together.”

NOT TECH SAVVY

Fans of Styles’ boy band One Direction took to Twitter in disbelief to share photos of the new couple flew straight out to join him after performing at KIISFM’s Jingle Ball at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.

The X Factor USA co-host Mario Lopez first sparked rumours of a romance after announcing he had seen the pair “walking off hand-in-

hand” during rehearsals for the singing competition’s live results show in November.

He added: “So Taylor Swift and Harry from One Direction - you heard it here first.

(They’re) officially hanging out, I can say that much.”

However, insiders claim Taylor is just trying to win back her ex-boyfriend Conor by making him jealous of her relationship with Harry, who she first briefly dated back in March.

A source told HollywoodLife.com: “She isn’t

denying in any way the reports of the people talking about her having a relationship with Harry because she wants to make Conor jealous and the way she thinks she is making him jealous is to show him that she has options.”

Meanwhile the 28-yearold Keeping Up With The Kardashians star revealed that her family have no idea what to get her husband for Christmas later this month.

She said: “Kourtney asked, ‘Would Lamar like an iPad mini for Christmas?’ I said, ‘Absolutely not!’ He would have no idea what to do with it. He’d be, like, ‘I can’t write on this thing.’”

But despite not being particularly tech savvy, Khloe revealed that she and Lamar love to Skype each other when he is away playing basketball.

She said: “I have to walk him through it on the phone and it takes forever. He’s just not a very big electronics person.”

Lindsay Lohan refuses to return to rehab Justin Bieber finds music biz ‘too much’ for him LINDSAY Lohan refuses to return to rehab.

The Liz & Dick star - who was charged with assaulting fortune teller Tiffany Mitchell in a New York nightclub last week and also for lying to police about being behind the wheel of a car accident in June - has reportedly told her friends, who are trying to force her to seek help, that she doesn’t need to return to a treatment facility for the sixth time.

Sources close to the 26-year-old troubled starlet told gossip website TMZ.com the actress simply doesn’t believe she has a problem with alcohol despite reports she has been drinking up to two litres of vodka a day recently because she is so stressed about her legal prob-

lems and the poor reviews for her performance in the TV movie about Elizabeth Taylor, which aired in the US last week.

The insiders revealed that despite being terrified she will be thrown back into jail, the actress will not check into rehab in a bid to receive a reduced sentence.

Lindsay reportedly feels she was the victim of a well-calculated setup because shortly after she turned down Tiffany’s offer of a palm reading, she noticed some of the psychic’s friends gathering around her designer purse at another table and was then informed by several of her other friends in the club that Tiffany’s pals were stealing her Celine black leather bag.

JUSTIN Bieber admits the music industry is sometimes “too much” for him.

The 18-year-old pop star - who is currently in an on/off relationship with Selena Gomez - insists he occasionally feels “overwhelmed” with his life, so he always turns to his mother Pattie Mallette, who raised him mainly on her own after giving birth to him aged 18, for advice.

He said: “When everyone’s constantly saying they love you and you’re amazing, people start believing it. When I feel like this industry is too much and I get overwhelmed, I think of my mum saying, ‘Stick it out’.”

While Justin turns to his mother for advice

when he is feeling down, he makes sure she doesn’t get too involved with managing his music career because he doesn’t want to start arguing with her and ending up “resenting” her.

He explained: “She wants me to be a good person. A lot of times the parents start managing the artist and that can be tricky when it becomes your momager.

“It’s too much. You start resenting them, because they’re making all your business decisions, and what if you don’t agree with them? You start fighting and it’s not a good thing. I have my mom, and she helps out, but as far as being my manager, I let my manager do that. Let my mom be my mom.”

Tuesday, December 4, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

28

CRYPTIC 2253

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Across 1 A galaxy of talent? (3-4,4) 9 Defamation in the journal I believed (5) 10 Call it oriental wood destroyer (7) 11 Without inner surface material is younglooking? (7) 13 Islands to north of Georgia (5) 14 Eggs not completely ground?

(3) 15 Dogged fighter? (5) 16 As well as the first fifteen letters (3) 17 Old boy initially hid from Indian washerman (5) 19 Comparatively near the beginning of time (7) 21 Gap Len’s forged in a piece of glittering material (7) 23 Outbuilding accommodated one child in Scotland (5) 24 Cheap gin Ron arranged whilst acting as escort (11)

10

11

12

13

15

17

16

18

21

19

20

22

23

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.

24 12 Stewpot from southern States (5) 15 Rear, do this to come last (5,2) 16 Teaching you in France with one on the inclusion of sexap-

MEDIUM

EASY

MEDIUM

HARD

peal (7) 18 Might ham go off in N Ireland town? (5) 20 Steal fashionable bird (5) 22 Wrong terrorist included (3)

Rating EASY Rating HARD

CRYPTIC: Across – 1 & 7 On the crest of a wave; 8 Spoor; 10 Mutter; 12 Adds up; 13 Rhoda; 14 Null; 16 Bran; 17 Snarl; 19 Auntie; 20 Nausea; 23 Titan; 24 Aquatic; 25 By all means. Down – 1 Op art; 2 Tracer; 3 Eden; 4 Reseda; 5 Sponsor; 6 Commandant; 9 Repentance; 11 Rhine; 12 Adorn; 15 Lengthy; 17 Signal; 18 Lacuna; 21 Sites; 22 Calm.

QUICK: Across – 1 Contribute; 7 Recital; 8 Thing; 10 Quaint; 12 Unseen; 13 Guppy; 14 Eyed; 16 Tyre; 17 Riant; 19 Tabled; 20 Débris; 23 Dirge; 24 Diploma; 25 Commitment. Down – 1 Cocoa; 2 Noting; 3 Rule; 4 Botany; 5 Tritely; 6 Frequented; 9 Gingersnap; 11 Tumid; 12 Upend; 15 Embargo; 17 Redeem; 18 Temple; 21 Roost; 22 Edit.

Rating HARD

Answers to crossword 2252

Rating MEDIUM

2 Might be liable holding nothing but a flower (7) 3 Sarah has less than one room (5) 4 Back at sea (3) 5 Car tour organised by custodian (7) 6 Descendant is male, about 101 (5) 7 Would this bring dirty weather?

(5,2,4) 8 Be doing manual work thrashing (11)

9

14

Down

PREVIOUS DAY’S SOLUTIONS

8

QUICK Down

1 Delay action (4,3,4) 9 Essential (5) 10 Outdoor blaze (7) 11 Tried again (7) 13 Inexpensive (5) 14 Assist (3) 15 Slapstick (5) 16 Carve (3) 17 George Cross island (5) 19 Predicament (7) 21 Golf-club (7) 23 Pale (5) 24 Lord’s Prayer (11)

2 Fastened (7) 3 Ukrainian port (5) 4 Globe (3) 5 Ecclesiastical vestment (7) 6 Indian corn (5) 7 Smock (11) 8 Committed (11) 12 Dread (anag.) (5) 15 Frail (7) 16 Compose (7) 18 Tripoli’s country (5) 20 Carroll (author) (5) 22 Relatives (3)

HOROSCOPE

Across

ARIES March 21 - April 20

LEO July 23 - August 22

SAGITTARIUS November 23 - December 21

Although you may feel the need for restraint, the Moon in pleasure loving Leo can balance this out. If you take care of responsibilities early, you’ll feel better about having fun later on. It’s a good time to tackle obstacles and use your energy and charisma to blast through them. Exciting and positive news may come out of the blue too.

With the Moon in your sign, the power is yours. Your vital energy could send you off in a new direction. If you know what you want, make a move. A well directed course of action may help make things run smoothly at work and encourage co-operation and participation with fellow workers. A party later can encourage a romantic atmosphere.

As a potent desire to spend takes hold, you may want to put aside a need to be practical and adopt a mood of indulgence. You could be subject to unusual temptations, so set yourself one or two limits and go with the flow. You may feel restless mentally and physically, and if so, let your imagination roam. Push beyond normal boundaries.

TAURUS April 21 - May 21

VIRGO August 23 - September 23

CAPRICORN December 22 - January 20

You may want to invest your energy into home projects, and allow creative ideas to encourage you to have a go.

Social opportunities may have you reluctantly involved in situations you would rather avoid. Sacrifices made in the name of friendship may put you in a self-serving mood.

Make time to relax in a warm scented bath or get your hair done.

It’s fine to follow your natural instincts and stay in the background today. You may be caught up in practical matters which take up time, but you’ll enjoy yourself anyway. Yet your subconscious can be energised, and you could easily be swayed to join in with friends and laugh together later on. Be available if it sounds like good fun.

If you feel the need to take action or to speak out, make sure you are not being goaded by anger or resentment.

If you have been feeling frustrated, try to find a smoother more harmonious way to get what you want. Later, a call or message may bring information which puts a happier slant on an issue you may have been trying to resolve.

GEMINI May 22 - June 21

LIBRA September 24 - October 23

AQUARIUS January 21 - February 19

Adding a touch of ingenuity to your work efforts may see someone impressed. With Saturn affecting the handling of your day-to-day job, you may feel under pressure, but at the same time you can be keen to get ahead. Strong opinions may be making the rounds. It may help to be tolerant and show your lighter more humorous side today.

It’s a day for news, messages and ideas to circulate. Business affairs can thrive if you’re willing to be proactive. Domestic interests are also in focus, especially as you may be in the process of getting your place ready for the festive season. Take smart practical steps in both areas and you may be pleased with the results of your hard work.

Relationships could be a little challenging today, especially if you and another have been sweeping problems under the rug. Today’s Moon in Leo suggests that they may burst out into the open and cause you to have words.

However, things seem to end on a note of faith and forgiveness. Honest exchanges often work for you, and all is certainly not lost.

CANCER June 22 - July 22

SCORPIO October 24 - November 22

PISCES February 20 - March 20

People around you seem to be very strong willed, which may contribute to misunderstandings and twists and turns in relationships. If you stand your ground, you’ll experience a positive welcoming vibration that helps you to succeed. Even if you work as part of a team, by sticking to your principles, good things can eventually come to you.

The best way to avoid disappointment today is to keep your expectations utterly realistic - especially where family and home issues are concerned. However, it’s also possible that if you look for the best in others, you can find it. You may have a lot of fun today, provided you allow for some unusual influences later on. Why not flow along with these?

Upbeat trends may enable you to forge ahead with business and career projects as well as home and family plans too. Strange as it may seem, you can further your interests even more by reaching out to help others and lending your support. Today, pals are not only fun to be with, they can also be a mine of useful information. It can pay to listen up.

29

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Sport Finn: I’m ready and available for third Test

IN BRIEF

STEVE Finn emerged from a tough net session yesterday and declared himself fit and available for the third Test. It should be all the information that England’s selectors need to include him in the side for the match against India which begins tomorrow.

“I did what I planned to do today,” said Finn. “I bowled six overs in two spells, four and two. If I’m needed on Wednesday then I’m ready to go.”

It is difficult to think that the tourists will overlook the claims of Finn being in an attack almost certainly comprising two fast bowlers and two spinners.

He was destined to play in the opening match of the series in Ahmedabad until he suffered a thigh injury in the final warm-up game.

The recovery has taken longer than expected, but Finn now seems likely to take over from Stuart Broad. It is a big call for England to make because Broad has played in 52 Tests, has been a significant performer in many of their most notable recent victories and is the vice-captain on this tour.

But his form has been poor and there is a suspicion that he was not fully fit for the Second Test in Mumbai, which England won by 10 wickets to level the series.

It is intended that Finn’s raw pace will offer more firepower, especially at the start of an innings.

He said: “You have your roles in the team and if I’m picked as part of the two I might be used in a strikebowling capacity as the seamers tend to be in these sorts of conditions. So be it.

“There is a little bit of pressure because you’re being used as a strike bowler but you don’t change your plans or the way that you are going to bowl because of that.

“It doesn’t mean you start bowling bumpers and yorkers all the time searching for wickets. You still have to have a degree of patience and use your skills wisely.”

New Zealand handed kind World Cup draw

The Northern Irishman announced his engagement to Kristin Stape last month in Dubai and on Sunday triumphed by three shots in the World Challenge hosted by Tiger Woods

Sherwood win adds to McDowell happy state

By Mark Lamport-Stokes AFTER two years of golfing frustration and an absence from the winner’s circle despite several close calls, life has got much better for Graeme McDowell in recent weeks, both on and off the course.

The ever-popular Northern Irishman announced his engagement to Kristin Stape last month in Dubai and on Sunday triumphed by three shots in the World Challenge hosted by Tiger Woods.

For the next 10 weeks, he will enjoy a well-earned break with his wife-to-be in their new home in Orlando while putting finishing touches to his own tavern outside the gates of Lake Nona, which he plans to open by late January.

“It’s been a very fun week,” McDowell said after holding off playing partner Keegan Bradley with a closing four-

World Challenge win ends two years of close calls under-par 68 at a rain-soaked Sherwood Country Club.

“For two years I’ve been saying things like ‘processes’ and ‘trying to get better’ and ‘be patient’ and hopefully the wins will come.

“I guess I got fed up with telling everybody that I’m playing well, playing well. I’m relieved to get across the line and take some nice confidence into this little off-period I’ve got coming up. It really is about the processes, but we need to win.

That’s why we’re out here.”

California has been a happy hunting ground for McDowell who has twice won the World Challenge at Sherwood and clinched his first major title in the 2010 US Open held at Pebble Beach. He was espe-

cially happy, though, that his fiancée was able to fly into the ‘Golden State’ on Friday and watch him seal victory in the elite 18-man event, where every player was ranked in the world’s top 35.

“Getting engaged three or four weeks ago was a huge step in my life, and this has really made it a lot of fun,” McDowell smiled. “I certainly enter a new chapter in my life which I feel is going to bring a lot of solidity and support to my golf career and this is a great way to begin it.

“She’s in support of what I do and loves to try and get out when she can. She flew in Friday night, and thankfully it was worth the trip.”

McDowell was mainly frus-

trated this year because he knew he was playing good golf with little reward, though he came close to winning a second major crown after playing in the last group in the final round of the US Open and the British Open.

“Getting in the last group of some major championships, that is what I dream of,” said the Northern Irishman, who tied for second at the US Open and finished joint fifth at the British Open.

“Yes, I’d like to win those, but you can’t win them all and it is frustrating at this point in time. The game wasn’t giving me a huge amount this year and I’ve not really got a lot to show for myself. You never deserve things in this game, you know.

“You gotta just try and stay in there and try and keep doing it ... this (win) will certainly give me something nice to think about in the offseason.”

HOLDERS New Zealand will play Argentina, Tonga and two qualifiers after the draw was made for the 2015 rugby World Cup yesterday, but hosts England were handed a tougher task.

England, winners in 2003 and runners up four years later, were among the second tier of seeds and were paired with Australia and Six Nations rivals Wales.

“To win the World Cup you have to win big games and I have got a huge amount of respect for what Wales have done recently,” England coach Stuart Lancaster said. “We know their squad pretty well, it is a young side and a lot of them will still be around in 2015. Australia have just beaten us and if you look at the age and profile of their squad, they have got some young lads as well.”

Should England win their pool they are now unlikely to play world champions New Zealand, who they dismantled 38-21 at Twickenham on Saturday, until the final.

South Africa were paired alongside Samoa for the fourth consecutive World Cup and Scotland, while fourth seeds France will face Ireland and Italy. It is also the fourth occasion Tonga have been drawn in the pool stages with New Zealand after they were thrown together in 1999, 2003 and 2011.

New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and France were kept apart as the four top seeds in the IRB rankings heading into the draw, while eight teams have yet to qualify.

England dismantled New Zealand 38-21 on Saturday

Fiery Magic get the better of Howard, stun Lakers

Romo surpasses record as Cowboys bring down Eagles

Riders urged to co-operate to combat taint of doping

THE Orlando Magic caught fire in the fourth quarter to stun the Los Angeles Lakers 113-103 and get the better of former player Dwight Howard on Sunday.

In their first meeting since trading Howard to Los Angeles in the off-season, the struggling Magic surprised the Lakers by scoring 40 fourth-quarter points to snatch the road victory.

Arron Afflalo led the way with 30 points while Glen Davis added 23 and 12 rebounds to help Orlando (6-10) snap a three-game losing streak and win the battle against Howard.

TONY Romo threw three touchdown passes to surpass Troy Aikman’s franchise record as the Dallas Cowboys beat the crumbling Philadelphia Eagles 38-33 on Sunday, allowing them to keep their playoff hopes intact.

Romo tossed all three of his touchdown passes in the final two quarters, where both teams traded scores, finding Dez Bryant on a six-yard score with 5:35 remaining to give the Cowboys a 31-27 lead and their first advantage of the game.

It was Romo’s 168th career touchdown pass, putting him three ahead of Aikman.

A LOBBY group campaigning to clean up cycling has invited riders to back a plan it says could remove doping suspicions undermining the sport after the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.

“The assistance we are seeking from the riders will be to put in place a system that will guarantee that the winner of the major tours has not blood doped,” said doctor Michael Ashenden, a leading anti-doping campaigner. “It’s a short-term intensive approach that will restore public confidence in the riders and the race outcome,” Ashenden told a news conference organised by “Change Cycling Now”, without offering more details.

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Tuesday, December 4, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Sport

Scolari: age no barrier to Neymar’s success LUIZ Felipe Scolari believes Neymar will become an icon in Brazil in the next two years and has dismissed concerns that the striker’s age will be a barrier to his success ahead of the country’s next two major tournaments.

Scolari, who returned to the position as Brazil coach last week after he guided them to a fifth World Cup title in 2002, thinks the 20-year-old Santos forward will be a key player in both next year’s Confederations Cup and the 2014 World Cup, both of which Brazil will host.

Scolari does not think age should stop a world-class player from achieving success on the international stage, and in doing so compared Neymar with two of Brazil’s greats.

“Ronaldo used to be one of the leading figures in the Selecao (national team), and he shone for Brazil when he was

only 19 or 20,” Scolari told fifa.com.

“Pele too was only 17, and though he wasn’t a big name at the time he became one during that World Cup (in 1958).

“At the end of the day, it’s not a problem. Of course you need to have a lot of character and be very level-headed.

What’s more, the young lad could be an icon in technical terms, but that doesn’t mean he has to be a leader within the squad too.

“That’s where it’s important for there to be a good level of understanding between the coaching staff and the players so everybody knows where they stand. But I don’t see anything wrong with the fact that a 20 or 21-year-old player is our biggest star.”

Scolari admitted he is relishing the chance of working with Neymar after coming up against him during his time

in charge at Palmeiras.

“Of course, how I’d have loved to have him at Palmeiras when I was there so it’s great that he’s with us now rather than on the opposite side,” Scolari said.

“But he’s just one of the players that I could name.”

The 64-year-old coach knows the ability to manage egos within the Brazil squad and keep his star players happy will be a key part of his role.

“It’s one of the biggest skills: bringing together that large number of egos and personalities and making them really think about and work towards a common objective,” Scolari said.

“You’ve also got to make them accept certain situations that often aren’t favourable to them as individuals.

That’s the sign of a great coach, and (Real Madrid coach Jose) Mourinho has that ability.”

Brazil coach Scolari has compared 20-year-old Santos forward Neymar with other national greats

Inter boss: Sneijder is not a victim

Mourinho silent about Real future despite exit forecast

INTER Milan coach Andrea Stramaccioni has rubbished reports that midfielder Wesley Sneijder is being victimised.

The influential Dutch playmaker has been a peripheral figure at the San Siro recently and was left out of the side that limped to a 1-0 win over Palermo on Sunday.

Media reports in Italy suggest Sneijder would have to accept a pay cut to remain with the Italian giants, although Stramaccioni insists the contract wrangle is not the reason for him being left out.

“My view - as someone who has only experienced this level of football for a short time - is that we should be careful when using terms such as ‘victimised’,” he told reporters.

“If someone who earns 1,000 euros a month heard us, we’d look a bit silly. It’s my job to decide who’s in the best shape to play and I do so, I make my decisions and I stand by them, so let’s please avoid talking about someone being ‘victimised’.

“It’s my job to pick the best team available, and at the moment I’m not picking him.

“This has nothing to do with his contract, I have to select the team and Inter come first.

“It’s not a case of the president telling me not to pick Sneijder, I pick the team.

And I think it’s outrageous to suggest Sneijder is being ‘victimised’.”

Inter appeared lost without Sneijder and suspended striker Antonio Cassano yet they still did enough to deny Gian Piero Gasperini any joy on his return to the San Siro.

Palermo’s current coach was unceremoniously sacked as Inter boss having overseen just five games last season and although his side deserved a share of the spoils, they were undone by Santiago Garcia’s own goal in the 74th minute.

It was Inter’s first win in four and helped them to third in the Serie A standings.

Real boss insists no decline in Perez ties

Under fire: Mourinho has been criticised by supporters following Madrid’s slow start this season

By Jon Fisher JOSE Mourinho yesterday refused to elaborate on his Real Madrid future other than to say his relationship with president Florentino Perez had not deteriorated.

A report in Marca, a Spanish newspaper with traditionally strong links to the club, yesterday morning claimed Mourinho and Perez had agreed the Portuguese would leave the Bernabeu at the end of the season.

But speaking ahead of tonight’s Champions League game with Ajax, Mourinho said of the speculation: “Neither I nor the president are going to say a word. My future is tomorrow, which is my 101st match in the Champions League.”

Rumours of discord between him and Perez are not new, but Mourinho was adamant their relationship had not changed for the worse, adding: “My relationship with him is good and I’ve already said that. I’m not going to feed this situation.”

Mourinho has come under fire from supporters this season following third-placed Madrid’s slow start to the domestic season which has enabled arch-rivals Barcelona to

establish an 11-point advantage over the defending Spanish champions.

They are also five points behind second-placed Atletico Madrid despite Saturday night’s 2-0 defeat of their nearneighbours.

Mourinho was jeered by sections of the crowd in last Tuesday’s Copa del Rey defeat of Alcoyano, prompting

the former Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan boss to offer supporters the chance to vent their frustration by arranging to come to the side of the pitch 40 minutes before the Atletico game.

The reaction was mixed but with less than 5,000 fans inside the Bernabeu at the time, it offered little indication as to how the majority were feeling.

On the gesture, he said: “If there’s animosity, the best thing is that it comes out before the match and against me personally so later on they can support the team and there won’t be an opinion, but support.”

Mourinho was, as ever, convincing, but the Marca report nonetheless claimed: “Jose Mourinho will not coach Real

Madrid next season.”

Under a picture of a broken heart, it added: “Both Mou and Florentino Perez believe the Portuguese’s cycle on the bench at the Bernabeu is exhausted and that the current situation cannot continue beyond June 30.”

Marca report Perez has become concerned by a number of incidents this season which have not cast the club in a good light.

Firstly, there was an incident with Sergio Ramos which saw the Spain defender put on Mesut Ozil’s shirt underneath his own after the German was substituted at half-time of a game against Deportivo La Coruna.

Ramos later claimed he was merely showing support for his team-mate but the move was perceived as an attempt to undermine Mourinho’s authority.

Ramos was later dropped.

There was also the public spat with Alberto Toril, boss of the reserve side Real Madrid Castilla, who play in the Segunda Division. Mourinho accused Toril of focusing too much on results rather than trying to produce young players for the first team.

And it would seem the publicity stunt prior to the Atletico game may have been the final straw.

Marca’s report added: “Florentino believes Mourinho is ‘committing suicide’ with his decisions and statements this season - the Ramos case, the war with Toril and checking the pulse of the Bernabeu.

“They will try to get to the end of the season in a friendly manner as Florentino does not want a crisis in the middle of the season.”

Spurs might not have to spare Emmanuel Adebayor for African Nations Cup TOTTENHAM may not lose Emmanuel Adebayor for the duration of the African Nations Cup after it was reported the striker had “suspended” his international career with Togo.

Adebayor is embroiled in a dispute with the Togolese federation over match bonuses and will not represent the national team, according to

a spokesman for the player quoted on South African website supersport.com.

Adebayor’s public relations officer Amedodji Blaise told the site: “Togo international and captain Emmanuel Adebayor hereby brings to the notice of the general public that he is suspending his international career

with the Togo team.

“The atmosphere currently prevailing within the Hawks will not help the team achieve its set-out objectives.”

The Nations Cup is taking place in South Africa and runs from January 19 until the final on February 10.

Adebayor last week criticised his

national federation for failing to pay bonuses following a 1-0 friendly win over Morocco.

The 28-year-old former Manchester City striker had retired from international football in early 2010 following an armed attack on the Togo team bus in Angola but he made a return to the team earlier this year.

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, December 4, 2012

31

Sport

Szczesny tells Arsenal fans to keep the faith

By Nemanja Bjedov

Supporters urged not to give up after ‘battering’

by Swansea WOJCIECH Szczesny yesterday urged Arsenal supporters not to give up on their team after admitting the Gunners were “battered” by Swansea.

Arsenal slumped to a 2-0 defeat on Saturday and fell to 10th in the Premier League table in what is now the club’s worst start to a domestic campaign in Arsene Wenger’s 16-year reign.

Those fans that had not already left Emirates Stadium voiced their disapproval with a chorus of boos at the final whistle after a match which had been targeted by one supporters’ group — the Black Scarf Movement — for a protest march against the club’s board structure and ticket pricing.

Arsenal travel to Olympiakos in a Champions League match today to decide who will finish top of Group B before hosting West Brom on Saturday, a match Szczesny described as a “must win”.

He told supporters: “Even after a game like that when everyone is disappointed, the fans are disappointed, the players are disappointed, it is very easy to give up and just say that we are not good enough.

“We definitely believe we are good enough to do the job, we are going through a little bit of a rough time but just keep the faith and I’m sure sooner rather than later, we will get there.

“It is very hard right now.

This defeat is even more disappointing because we played at home against a Swansea side in a game you should be winning comfortably when you play for this club.

Fourth successive APOEL win narrows gap with Anorthosis

Despite the dire state of affairs Szczesny insists there are enough games for Arsenal to rescue the situation “We got battered and there’s no hiding from it — they were the better team from start to finish and it makes it even harder for us. Of course, the confidence is knocked a little bit after a game like that but we are going to work even harder to make sure we get everything right on Saturday against West Brom because we just must win that game.”

Szczesny admits his teammates have some soulsearching to do after their fourth League defeat of the season left them five points behind fourth-placed Tottenham and 15 behind leaders Manchester United.

“It’s about time for us to realise something has gone wrong and we have to do something about it because I don’t think the fans deserved (what they saw),” he said. “The stadium was empty when the game finished and I don’t blame them. We must stick together and work harder because it was not good enough.

“We had a little conversation in the dressing room that was probably louder than usual.

What happens in the dressing room stays in the dressing room but everyone was disappointed.

“I am not going to say we didn’t want it enough but

Swansea wanted it more and it showed. That’s not good enough when you play for this club so I think before we start talking about qualities and what goes wrong tactically and stuff like that, you need to make sure everyone gives 100 per cent.”

Despite the dire state of affairs, Szczesny insists there are enough games for Arsenal to rescue the situation.

Last season, they recovered from 17th to snatch third spot and qualification for the Champions League and Szczesny said: “There is time. If you look at the fixtures this month, we should be getting points. But we should have started on Saturday and we didn’t which is very disappointing.

“Having said that, we’ve got a few games in front of us that we should be winning and we have to make sure we do that and climb up the table. To see Arsenal in 10th is just not right.”

Mikel Arteta agrees the players are testing the supporters’ loyalty. The midfielder said: “We can’t keep asking them to stay behind us. Obviously, they will be very frustrated so it’s up to us to put it right. Hopefully, the fans can stay with us but it is very understandable they show their disappointment. We know it is not good enough. We haven’t got time to feel sorry for ourselves.”

Wenger is under more pressure now than at any point in his tenure with each home game played in front of an increasingly agitated crowd but he vowed to honour his deal which expires in 2014.

“If you ask me always about my future — I can only give you one answer; I have always respected my contracts, that is it,” said the manager. “At the moment, there is uncertainty among the fans, they do not have complete confidence we will win the game.

“I focus on my job. I want our fans to be happy but I cannot say it affects the way I feel, because I feel I have to focus on the job and see how we can sort our problems out.”

APOEL recorded their fourth consecutive victory away from home, claiming a a 2-0 victory over AEP in Paphos, and narrowing the gap with league leaders Anorthosis to a single point, after AEL ended the Famagusta side’s nine-match winning streak with a 1-1 tie.

“We created many chances in the first half and fully controlled the pace of the match, not allowing AEP to push forward,” said APOEL coach Ivan Jovanovic. “However, the second half was quite the opposite. They started piling on the pressure and our mistake was that we tried to adjust to their style of play.

After playing like that ... it is really significant that we actually managed to win.

“We had problems with injuries. Coming from a key victory in the last round to this match was obviously not a psychologically ideal situation for us, and as a result we made many mistakes - especially in the midfield, which is not like us. Luckily, we managed to score the second goal and seal victory.”

Meanwhile, Anorthosis and AEL shared the points with a 1-1 draw at Larnaca’s Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium.

Jan Rezek broke the deadlock with his ninth goal of the season after 35 minutes, but Dede set up the final score 20 minutes from time, moments after Anorthosis’ defender Valentinos Sielis

Only a single point now separates APOEL and Anorthosis

Cyprus Standings

Gardner voices Sunderland frustration at poor run SUNDERLAND midfielder Craig Gardner has admitted the players are becoming frustrated by the club’s poor run of form following Sunday’s 2-1 loss at Norwich.

Despite a second half siege on the hosts’ goal Sunderland could not grab an equaliser following Gardner’s first half strike which halved the deficit and they have now recorded just two wins in their last 22 Barclays Premier League fixtures.

Norwich had stormed ahead with goals from Sebastien Bassong and Anthony Pilkington and managed to keep the Black Cats at bay to ruin Martin O’Neill’s one year anniversary as Sunderland boss.

Gardner came close in the second half, hitting the post with a free-kick and seeing another effort cleared off the line, but revealed the play-

ers need to do more to turn things around with the club languishing in 17th place in table.

“We’re frustrated but we have a tough game coming up against Chelsea now and we need to take hold of games from the start, not just from the start of the second half,” he said.

“We’ve just got to take our chances. It’s taking us a while to get into games.

“We need to stand up and be counted and take our chances. We can’t keep doing this after games, saying ‘it’ll come, it’ll come’. We need to make it come.”

Former England Under-21 international Gardner does think Sunderland have started to show their quality in patches during games of late but is hoping they can start games at

a quicker pace in the coming weeks.

“We started off slowly again against Norwich and found ourselves two goals down,” he said.

“Not many teams play Norwich off the park at home - which is what we did in the second half. It’s there, we can do it but we need to do it from start to finish.”

Whilst Sunderland continue to struggle for form and consistency Norwich have quietly gone about their business and Chris Hughton’s side are now unbeaten in their last eight league matches.

Since losing 4-1 at Chelsea on October 6 the Canaries have picked up points against the likes of Everton and Southampton and recorded memorable victories over Arsenal and leaders Manchester United at Carrow Road.

was sent off for the second bookable offence.

“It was a very difficult match for us,” said Anorthosis’ coach Ronny Levy. “I felt we had everything in our hands once we took the lead, but when we were left with 10 players things changed.

However, we still had two great opportunities to score a second goal.”

AEL’s coach Jorge Costa felt both teams had a chance of taking all three points.

“It was a great match and I believe both teams deserved more than a point out of it.

We played very well despite the fact that we had many injury problems ahead of the match - I am very happy with the way we play football,” he said.

“It is a very difficult task, but we have 20 more matches ahead of us and everything is possible,” Costa added, mulling the possibility that AEL could defend their title.

Elsewhere, Apollon beat Nea Salamina 3-1 at the Tsirion Stadium in Limassol, while AEK’s Dutch striker Nassir Maachi scored five minutes from time to secure his team’s narrow 2-1 victory over Enosis Neon Paralimni away from home.

Ayia Napa defeated Alki 2-0 in Larnaca, while Doxa Katokopia and Ethnikos Achnas played out a 1-1 draw at the Ammochostos Stadium in Larnaca.

In the final match of Round 12, Omonia beat Olympiakos 2-0 at Nicosia’s GSP Stadium yesterday evening.

Team 1. Anorthosis 2. APOEL 3. AEK 4. AEL 5. Apollon 6. Omonoia 7. Doxa 8. Paralimni 9. Olimpiakos 10. Ayia Napa 11. Salamina 12. Alki 13. Achna 14. Paphos

P

W

D

L

F

12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12

10 10 9 6 7 5 4 3 3 2 1 1 0 3

2 1 1 5 2 4 2 5 4 1 3 3 6 2

0 1 2 1 3 3 6 4 5 9 8 8 6 7

29 30 19 21 19 18 10 9 11 5 6 6 6 11

A Pts 7 6 7 11 9 10 14 17 17 25 17 20 17 23

32 31 28 23 23 19 14 13 10 8 6 6 6 2

Tuesday, December 4, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

32 Sherwood win adds to McDowell happiness 29

Sport

Mourinho silent about Real Madrid future 30

Ponting departs quietly as Proteas triumph

There was to be no fitting finale for Australia’s Ricky Ponting - the second highest run-scorer in Test history

RICKY Ponting’s final innings for Australia ended in disappointment as he managed just eight on the fourth morning of the third Test against South Africa, and the tourists clinched the series 1-0 with an impressive 309-run victory.

Having announced his retirement prior to the match Ponting mustered just four in the first innings and fared little better in his last hurrah, thick-edging Robin Peterson to slip three balls before the lunch break at Perth.

South Africa welcomed Ponting to the crease with a respectful guard of honour, but there was to be no fitting finale for the second highest run-scorer in Test history.

Australia, chasing 632 for an unlikely victory, resumed yesterday on 40 without loss but had dangerous opener David Warner dismissed by the second ball of the day for his overnight score of 29.

Vernon Philander was responsible, sending down a fine delivery that would have threatened off stump had Warner not nicked it to Graeme Smith at first slip.

Ed Cowan hit the first four of the day three balls later, but the aim of the day was defence and consolidation as Philander and Dale Steyn sent down a testing opening spell.

Number three Shane Watson hit his 12th ball for four, while Cowan put away a Steyn full-toss for his second boundary.

Watson found the ropes in three consecutive overs but he was next out for 25 when Morne Morkel squared him up and found the edge to offer Smith a second catch.

That brought Ponting to the crease for the final time and, as well as a warm ovation from the stands, the opposition lined up to form a guard of honour to the wicket.

Ponting stopped to shake hands with Proteas skipper Smith and, after Cowan stole some of the spotlight with a six off Peterson, got off the mark by pulling his sixth delivery for four.

Luck seemed to be on the 37-year-old’s side when he was gifted a second boundary, Morkel mis-fielding at mid-on, but that proved his last scoring shot.

Left-arm spinner Peterson got one to bite and bounce outside off stump and Ponting mis-hit an unwise cut straight to the alert Jacques Kallis.

The Proteas clamoured to shake his hand as he departed to plentiful applause before his successor as Australia skipper, Michael Clarke, struck the last two balls of the session for four.

AB De Villiers was involved in the next two wickets, stumping Clarke off Peterson for 44 and then catching Michael Hussey off Steyn for 26.

Matthew Wade was joined by all-rounder John Hastings with the home side on 198 for six and South Africa were on the verge of victory.

Wade went for 10, caught by Smith at short midwicket when he mistimed a Peterson delivery.

Australia ended the session on 204 for seven, with Hastings and Mitchell Johnson battling against the inevitable.

Philander found the edge of Johnson’s bat and De Villiers took a regulation catch as Australia failed to add to their total in the first three overs after tea.

Hastings went for a belligerent 20, caught at first slip by Smith off Morkel.

Mitchell Starc also hit out, his 68 off 43 balls including two sixes and nine fours, as he and Nathan Lyon put on a battling 87 for the final wicket.

But after South Africa took the new ball Lyon was finally out for 31 when he was caught at slip by Smith off Steyn.

That left the home side all out for 322 for a 309-run defeat and a 1-0 series loss which confirmed South Africa as the number one ranked Test side.

Blues need big helping hand Chelsea’s Champions League fate beyond their control

Even if the Londoners beat Nordsjaelland at Stamford Bridge tomorrow, they will become the first champions to go out at the group stage if Juventus avoid defeat against Shakhtar Donetsk

By Martyn Herman

S

ix clubs enter this week’s final round of Champions League group matches harbouring hopes of grabbing one of the three last-16 places still up for grabs, although for holders Chelsea their fate is beyond their control.

The Londoners are vying with Juventus for the second qualifying spot from Group E, but even if they beat Nordsjaelland at Stamford Bridge tomorrow they will become the first champions to go out at the group stage if the Italians avoid defeat against Shakhtar Donetsk.

Interim Chelsea manager Rafael Benitez, an unpopular choice with the fans after he succeeded the sacked Roberto Di Matteo 12 days ago, has done little to win the supporters over after losing one and drawing two of his three games in charge.

“We have to improve on the pitch in order for the fans to be happy,” Benitez told the club website (www.chelseafc.com).

“We have experienced players who have played at this level for a long time. You can see how they train and it’s clear they want to improve.”

Celtic and Benfica still have

a chance to join Group G winners Barcelona in the knockout rounds while Galatasaray or CFR Cluj will end Group H as runners-up.

For the other teams already assured of a place in the last16 draw on December 20, their final matches will determine whether they progress as group winners.

Even some of those with no chance of progressing will be eyeing consolation prizes in the Europa League.

Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat by Juventus last month left their

hopes of surviving Group E hanging by a thread.

The move to replace Di Matteo with Benitez was designed to re-ignite a fading season that had begun in style, but instead the club are still stuck in a downward spiral that gathered pace at the weekend when Chelsea were beaten 3-1

by West Ham United.

The Stamford Bridge club are without a victory in seven matches and discontent is rife as fans openly vent their frustration at the decision to replace the Champions League-

winning Di Matteo.

Chelsea yesterday denied British media reports linking former manager Avram Grant to an assistant role alongside Benitez.

While Shakhtar are formidable opponents at home, Juventus will go there full of confidence after a 3-0 win against Torino on Saturday cemented their place at the top of Serie A. Victory would also see Juventus go through as group winners.

The Italians were held 1-1 by

Ukrainians Shakhtar in October, and Juve midfielder Claudio Marchisio said he was well aware of the dangers that lurk in Donetsk.

“We can’t go on to the pitch hoping to take it easy,” he said. “We’ve got to play like Juve always do.

“Saturday’s win gives us a lot of motivation to face Shakhtar who I believe are the toughest team in the group.”

Scotland’s sole representatives Celtic will reach the last16 for the first time since 2008 if they better Benfica’s result

at Barcelona when they host Spartak Moscow tomorrow.

“We have to rise to the occasion. We have to win the game,” said Celtic manager Neil Lennon after his weakened side were surprisingly held 1-1 by Arbroath in the Scottish Cup at the weekend.

Turkish side Galatasaray look favourites to win their scrap for the Group H runners-up spot as they travel to bottom club Braga, needing to match what Romanians Cluj manage against leaders Manchester United at Old Trafford tomorrow.

The only issue to be resolved in Paris today is whether Paris St Germain can overtake Porto with a victory over the Group A leaders.

Bayern Munich will also guarantee top spot in Group F ahead of Valencia with victory against BATE Borisov tomorrow.

Manchester City have been eliminated from the group stage for the second year running and will even miss out on the Europa League if they fail to triumph at Group D winners Borussia Dortmund today.

Even if City win, Ajax Amsterdam will still take third place if they upset group runners-up Real Madrid.

A Europa League spot is also available in Group C, with Zenit St Petersburg and Anderlecht locked together on four points going into their away games against runnersup AC Milan and group winners Malaga respectively.