CYPRUS MAIL

Cyprus Mail www.cyprus-mail.com

Friday, December 21, 2012

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CYPRUS

SPORT

FILM

Sweeping pension changes passed

Ronaldo returns to United in Champs League back

Wreck-It Ralph headed for the big screen centre

5

Hit and miss for Christmas post Postal services say most of the delayed mail is coming from UK

By Poly Pantelides

P

EOPLE are still waiting for Christmas letters and parcels from the UK, but the postal services said yesterday they were trying to resolve the situation with the Royal Mail.

“Over the past few days – just like last year – we have unfortunately observed delays with UK delivery because there are fewer flights [from the UK to Cyprus],” the head of postal services, Andreas Gregoriou, said.

Delivering postal sacks then becomes by default a lower priority as far as these flights are concerned, Gregoriou said.

Most of the post traffic hails to and from the UK and on average postal services are receiving between 150 and 200 postal sacks a day, an increase of up to 25 per cent compared to the rest of the year, Gregoriou said.

Each sack may weigh a maximum of 30 kilos.

“For three weeks I’ve been expecting my parcels to arrive, I think that’s fair enough,” said a mother of three, who added that she was not going to have presents under her Christmas tree for the second year running.

Though their children realise that their presents will come eventually, “it’s a bit unfair when presents arrive for one of them but not for the rest,” she said.

And she has been waiting

for a delivery sent out from the UK in mid-November, she said.“It’s hard enough to be organised at Christmas when you’re working and you’ve got three kids.

You really do need the post office to be on your side,” she added.

But Sarah Murphy – who was let down by the service last year – had only good things to say this time round. “They’ve done perfectly,” Murphy said adding that she ordered gifts from an internet site on December 3 and has been getting parcels through last week and the week before that.

Still, delivery seems to be a hit or miss affair and people have reported having to enquire about undelivered parcels they were not notified about.

One man enquired at his local post office and was led into a room full of undelivered packages.

The postal services said that people were always notified about getting larger parcels – that are tracked electronically – and they had a notification system in place for the smaller parcels.

Earlier this week a Limassol-based woman said that she had only received one item of post from the UK even though she has been waiting for letters, photographs, small [parcels], some since the end of November.

“Where is the mail? Is it lying in bags like last year in Larnaca airport?”

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Clad in Santa Claus costumes, workers wipe windows 55m above the ground outside a hotel in Tokyo yesterday. The hotel produced the event to enliven the Yaesu business district near Tokyo Station ahead of Christmas (AFP)

On eve of ‘the end’ Cypriots philosophical about doomsday

By Peter Stevenson THE Cyprus Mail hit the streets of Nicosia yesterday to find out how people felt about the end of the world, which some believe is today.

Despite Mayan prophecies, the majority of those polled didn’t believe the world was ending any time soon and the response was philosophical.

“I have followed the Mayan calendar for the last ten years and I can tell you that there is absolutely no basis to people claiming the world will end,” 34-year-old jewellery-maker Vassiliki said.

“The world needs to change, not to end,” she added. Andreas Nicolaou, a

61-year-old civil servant was one step ahead of the Mayans and claimed to know exactly when the world would end.

“Do you know when the world will end?” he asked.

“When I die, because my world will end that day,” he explained. “All these people who claim to know when the world ends is just their imagination playing tricks on them,” he added.

“So what if it’s the end of the world, it’s not like it’s ours anyway,” was the response we got from 21-year-old Yiannis from Greece. “It’s all rubbish, this talk of the end of the world anyway,” he added.

Chris, 37, was feeling jovial when he told the Mail, “It’s not going to be the end

of the world, what happened was the Mayan’s found a large slab of stone and carved out their calendar but ran out of space.”

Despite their age, four young students from Highgate School gave some philosophical replies to whether they believed the world was coming to an end.

“The end of the world will be a gradual thing, it won’t happen suddenly from one day to the next,” 18-year-old Sevag Ouzounian said. An opinion shared by 15-year-old Becky Kamitsis, “It’s not possible for someone to predict when the world will end as it will be gradual.”

“It’s all rubbish,” her 18-year-old sister

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Friday, December 21, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

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Home PICTURE OF THE DAY

Weather Paralimni

Nicosia 16

7

Troodos

18 18

Larnaca

18

18

Paphos

Limassol

TODAY: A mixture of sunshine, cloud and rain. Temperatures will reach 16C inland, 18C along the coasts and 7C over higher ground OUTLOOK: Remaining unsettled throughout the weekend YESTERDAY:

Max Temp Nicosia 15 Larnaca 15 Limassol 16 Paphos 17 Paralimni 15 Prodromos 4

-

Min 10 11 12 12 10 2

Humidity 69% 80% 77% 67% 78% 99%

SUNRISE: 06:51am

SUNSET: 4:38pm

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

Air quality in Cyprus is assessed with the aid of a network of nine advanced monitoring stations.

Data is recorded hourly.

Information provided by the Air Quality Section of the Department of Labour Inspection (DLI)

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

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

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

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

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

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

EXCHANGE

€

1.3274

€

0.8172

For a full list of exchange rates, see page 12

CHEMISTS NICOSIA Th. Nioulikos, 22 Them.

Severis Ave. Tel: 22669664, 22661852(H) A. Nicolaou, 12 Ay. Andreou St, Pallouriotissa.

Tel. 22430032, 22424078 (H) E. Hadjigeorgiou, 132C Kirinias Ave. Tel: 22338002, 22330761 E. Daskalakis, 24A, Elia Papakyriakou Egkomi, Tel: 22355955, 22357220 G. Konstantinou, Giannitson 8, Tel: 22107447, 22380736 LIMASSOL Ch. Efstathiou 168 Ellathos Tel: 25359115, 25325354 (H)

A. Michaelidou, 8C Macedonia St. Tel: 25338270, 25738636 (H) V. Lisiotis, 15 Acathemias Germasoyia Tel: 25311234, 25811818 (H) LARNACA L. Vernis, 29 S. Timayia Ave. Tel: 24638470, 24533055(H) M. Tamboulis, 50. 52 Ayiou Lazarou St. Tel: 24628869, 24362890 (H) PAPHOS H. Irakleous, 62C Ellados Ave. Tel: 26942343, 26954204 (H) PARALIMNI P. Kyzas, 82 Makarios Ave. Tel: 23823270, 23823308 (H)

A sculpture of the Virgin Mary stands in a church courtyard in Sirince, a village in western Turkey yesterday.

Believers in the December 21, 2012 doomsday prediction have flocked to Sirince, which some hold to be the

QUICK CROSSWORD 2268 Across

Down

1 Memory verse (8) 6 Gospel writer (4) 8 Small fowl (6) 9 Desire (anag.) (6) 10 Policeman (9) 13 Thin fog (4) 14 Male cat (3) 15 Rave (4) 16 Female nightclub singer (9) 19 Large country (6) 20 In fact (6) 21 Low dull sound (4) 22 Jumbo (8)

2 Tidy (4) 3 Chum (4) 4 What it is all about (4,2,3,4) 5 Decorated fir (9,4) 6 General slaughter (8) 7 Fragrant (8) 11 Hotchpotch (8) 12 Basis of measurement (8) 17 Tub (4) 18 Interrelated group (4)

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

ON THIS DAY DECEMBER 21 1962

25 years ago, Wednesday December 21, 1987 A new opinion poll puts Spyros Kyprianou in the lead for the presidential elections. This contradicts results of a poll taken by KEMA, the Middle East Research Centre, which put George Vassiliou, the AKEL-backed independent candidate, in the lead.

1967 Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a heart transplant, dies in Cape Town, South Africa, after living for 18 days after the transplant.

The United Nations adopts the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Established 1945. Number 21,411 NICOSIA 24 Vass. Voulgaroctonou, P.O. Box 21144, 1502 Nicosia Tel: 22-818585, Fax: 22-676385 email: mail@cyprus-mail.com LIMASSOL 5A Nicolaou, Pentadromos Centre, Thessaloniki St, Tel: 25-761117, Fax: 25-761141 email: cyprusmail@cytanet.com.cy LARNACA Tel: 24-652243, Fax: 24-659982 PAPHOS 62 Apostolou Pavlou Avenue, Office 2, 8046 Paphos, Tel: 26 911383 Fax : 26 221049 email: paphos@cyprus-mail.com

WHAT THE MAIL SAID

President Kennedy and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan agree the UK will buy nuclear missiles from the US to form a multilateral NATO nuclear force.

1969

Cyprus Mail

only safe haven in an apocalypse, as the Virgin Mary is said to have risen to heaven from there (AFP)

1988 A bomb explodes on board Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270.

1995 The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.

35 years ago, Friday December 21, 1977 The government does not share the US view that the withdrawal of 700 Turkish troops from the north was evidence of goodwill conducive to meaningful talks. “The Turkish announcement accompanying the move indicated that it was taken to evidence goodwill towards resumption of serious negotiations on settling the Cyprus problem”, US President Jimmy Carter said. But Greek Cypriot sources regard the Turkish move as part of a “peace offensive” calculated to give a semblance of progress in order to ease the lifting of the US arms embargo.

45 years ago, Saturday December 21, 1967 The General Council of Trade Unions of Japan has announced it is planning to hold an international meeting of transport labour unions in Nicosia, Cyprus, late in January, in preparation for the first conference of the Asia-Pacific transport workers.

CYPRUS MAIL Friday, December 21, 2012

3

Home Hit and miss for Christmas letters and packages

World will continue to exist for another five billion years

(continued from front page) She was referring to thousands of delayed post last year that was eventually delivered by the end of December, too late for hundreds of people who were counting on getting their Christmas items before that.

Despite progress, some have lost hope.

“I have now decided to ask people not to send any more cards… to Cyprus,” the disappointed Limassol resident said.

“It’s a fact that at this time of year there is increased traffic,” Gregoriou said though he said the feedback they were getting from people showed that services had improved.

Postal traffic last year amounted to a minimum of 615,000 arrivals last December compared to average monthly traffic of about 550,000.

Around 11,500 parcels are delivered on average in December, versus some 9,000 on average for any other month in the year.

Vassiliki (left) with her friend Margarita: No basis for thinking it’s the end

Experts say Mayan calendar is one like any other. It ends and a new one begins

Remands issued after drugs bust FIVE SUSPECTS were brought to Nicosia District Court yesterday following their arrest after a car chase and the firing of warning shots on Wednesday, in connection with the possession of 20kg of cannabis and 3kg of cocaine.

The District Court of Nicosia issued an eight-day remand for three of the suspects, a four-day remand for the fourth suspect, while the fifth suspect was expected to be released.

According to state radio, the drugs appear to have been imported from Greece and a search will begin for the location and arrest of the sender.

Police believe the suspects to be concealing more quantities of drugs.

Katerina Demetriou, 16: only God knows when it will end

Cypriots philosophical about end of the world (continued from front page) Hester said. “I heard some people saying that the date had changed and the world was going to end in 2014, which proves it’s not real,” she added, while 16-year-old Katerina Demetriou, the last student to speak, had more of a theological approach to her answer, “I really don’t believe that the world is going to end tomorrow,” she said. “The only person who knows when the world will end is God,” she added.

Ambrosia, a 48-year-old shop owner explained how she tries to live each day at a time. “It’s very much a case of carpe diem for me, I just try to get on with it and not pay too much attention to all these doomsdayers,” she said. “I look at all those poor people in the Middle-East and I can’t even imagine what they’re going through,” she added. “They don’t have a set day that is the end of the world, each day for them could possibly be the end,” she concluded.

THE MAYAN calendar did not predict the end of the world, according to NASA and ESA scientists, in an interview with the Cyprus News Agency (CNA).

NASA and ASA also said that there was no such planet called ‘Nibiru’ that will supposedly hit and destroy the Earth.

“I personally have understood that the Mayan calendar is a calendar just like the ones we are using today.

After the last day of the currently valid calendar, we will have the first day of the next calendar,” Head of the Space Weather Segment in the European Space Agency Space Situational Awareness Programme, Juha Pekka Luntama, said.

He added that the “only scientifically predictable end of the world is in about five billion years from now when our Sun gradually runs out of fuel and becomes a white dwarf in a process that lasts another 4-5 billion years”.

The theory about the end

of the world was dismissed also by NASA. “Just as the calendars we have at home do not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012”, a NASA official told CNA. On Nibiru, the ESA official said: “The gravitational impact of an unknown planetary body in the inner solar system would be detectable in the orbits of the other planets and thus this kind of a planet could not be kept secret even from amateur astronomers. So Niburu does not exist.”

But according to Zecharia Sitchin, an Azerbaijaniborn American author and archaeologist, Nibiru is mentioned in ancient Sumerian iconography and symbology.

In his 1976 book The 12th Planet Sitchin attempts to translate the ancient Sumerian writings saying that they mention the existence of a 12th planet - the eight known planets, plus Pluto, the Sun and the Moon -

called Nibiru. He also says that the ancient Sumerian writings speak about the creation of Homo Sapiens

by Nibiru inhabitants - the so-called Annunaki (those who came from heaven to the Earth) who mixed their own DNA with Homo Erectus, thus creating Homo Sapiens.

“There are claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is heading towards the Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but nothing happened so they moved the end of the world to December 2012 linking it with the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar”, the NASA official told CNA. He also said that NASA astronomers were carrying out a survey called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit.

“There are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs,” he concluded.

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Friday, December 21, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

4

Home Cyprus and Israel sign deal on civil protection Minister denies new German reports as Merkel visit announced for next month

Shiarly says no issue of haircut

CYPRUS AND Israel yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) concerning bilateral cooperation and mutual assistance in the field of disaster management and civil protection.

Israel Minister of Home Front Defence, Avi Dichter signed the MOU with Interior Minister Eleni Mavrou during a brief visit to Cyprus.

The MOU effectively means enhanced cooperation between Israel and Cyprus in the event of natural disasters.

Not only will the two countries help each other should a disaster occur, but they will also cooperate to prevent and prepare for such disasters.

The MOU provides for collaboration and sharing practices on how to prepare the population for disasters and crises, stressing civilians’ capacity to help themselves in such cases.

Teams will receive basic and advanced training in crisis management, while medical best practices in cases of emergency will also be shared.

Cyprus and Israel have expanded relations considerably in recent years and have signed a significant number of co-operation agreements in various sectors.

By Stefanos Evripidou FINANCE MINISTER Vassos Shiarly yesterday denied German press reports that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was seeking a haircut of Cyprus’ debt to make it more sustainable before agreeing to participate in an international bailout of the country.

“There is no issue of a haircut (of Cypriot debt) therefore all these reports in various media are allegations of IMF positions,” said Shiarly yesterday afternoon.

Speaking at a press conference, he added: “The IMF has made no such reference and it is unnecessary to comment on such claims that someone supposedly made.”

Popular German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung ran an article citing sources close to the troika negotiations with Cyprus saying that the IMF refuses to participate in the bailout unless Cyprus agrees on a debt haircut, as happened with Greece, despite the latter supposedly being a one-off.

The IMF allegedly feels that without a debt haircut, Cyprus’ debt will not be sustainable. The paper also reported that Germany

and the Netherlands will not even contemplate a bailout for Cyprus without the IMF’s contribution.

The German daily proposed an alternative solution where Russian passes on a €5 billion loan to Cyprus via the IMF, keeping the IMF in the game while using Russian money to bailout Cyprus’ banks that are filled with Russian money. The latter point has become a common theme in German media lately, following suspected leaks from the German intelligence agency on alleged Russian money laundering on the island.

A debt haircut would prove disastrous for Cyprus as the largest holders of Cypriot government bonds are Cypriot banks. In the event of a haircut, the banks would take a big hit on those bonds, meaning even more money will be needed for their recapitalisation.

Shiarly argued that it was premature and tantamount to speculation to be discussing debt sustainability before investment company PIMCO completes its review of the recapitalization needs of Cypriot banks.

PIMCO’s final estimations on Cyprus’ exposure to Greece and the amount the banks will need from in-

ternational lenders will be handed over mid-January, a week before the Eurogroup (Eurozone finance ministers) will meet to discuss the Cyprus rescue package on January 21.

The final figure released

by PIMCO will have a big impact on how sustainable Cyprus’ debt will be postbailout. Reports suggest Cyprus will borrow around €17.5 billion from the troika made up of the EU/IMF/European Central Bank. However this figure only stands as long as the banks don’t need more than €10 billion rescue money.

“The problem we have arises to a large extent from the cooperation and solidarity we showed as an EU member state when we were called to contribute to the request of another EU member state,” said Shiarly yesterday in reference to the massive hit Cypriot banks took from the 80 per cent Greek debt haircut as a result of their overexposure to Greek government bonds.

The minister also told reporters that “the financing needs of the state are covered for December, January and February”. Three semi-government organisations (EAC, Cyta and the ports authority) all agreed

Shiarly: the IMF has made no such reference in recent days to provide the state with €250m in total in short-term loans.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is due in Cyprus on January 11 for an extraordinary party summit of the European People’s

Party in Limassol, hosted by DISY leader Nicos Anastasiades and EPP leader Wilfried Martens.

According to reports, Merkel is due to meet with President Demetris Christofias during her visit.

Gas bidder was switched over differences in reserves estimate

By Elias Hazou COMMERCE Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis said yesterday that talks with a French-Russian consortium over exploration rights in offshore Block 9 were abandoned because the bidders’ estimate of the gas reserves lying within the prospect did not match the government’s assessment.

It’s understood that, under the working formula, the higher the estimate of reserves in a prospect, the greater the

government’s share in a production-sharing contract. It appears that the estimate by the Total-Novatec consortium was lower than the government’s – which would have meant a smaller cut for Cyprus once extraction began.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, government sources said yesterday that under ENI-KOGAS’s offer on Block 9, the state’s share could now go up to 70 per cent. By comparison, the share for Block 12 (with US firm Noble Energy) is “around” 60 per cent,

depending on the operator’s costs.

On Wednesday the Cabinet announced that the state would commence negotiations with the Italian-South Korean joint venture ENIKOGAS for Block 9, after talks with the Total-Novatec did not progress as desired.

In addition, negotiations are to be launched with Total E&P Activites Petrolieres (a French company) for block 10. Until now, no negotiations had taken place with any interested party on this block.

The move raised some eyebrows, as the French-Russian consortium had initially been picked for Block 9 despite its bid being ranked fourth or fifth. According to press reports at the time, TotalNovatec’s bid had scored around 50 points short of the top-ranked bid submitted by ENI- KOGAS. At the time, the government insisted there was nothing untoward in changing the ranking of the bids, stating that other parameters – such as national security – were

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taken into account. Now, the government has gone back to the bidder who had obtained the highest score in the first place.

It’s also understood that, on Block 10, Total’s bid was topranked, followed closely by ENI-KOGAS. Sylikiotis said that during a meeting on Monday with representatives of the Total-Novatec consortium, “it emerged that further progress could not be achieved and the negotiations were terminated by common consent.”

He added: “Because we felt it important to maintain Total’s strong presence in the process, to ensure this we opened talks with them on Block 10.”

The minister denied that talks with Total-Novatec had crashed and burned: “It is up

to each company to say how it assesses this or that block.”

He also dismissed suggestions that the consortium was disqualified because the signature bonus it offered for Block 9 was too low; a signature bonus pales in comparison to the amount the state stands to make from actual exploitation, he explained.

“What matters the most in the contracts is the stake of the state. It’s possible that in the final contracts Cyprus could secure some of the highest percentages in the world, perhaps reaching 65 to 70 per cent,” he said.

In early January the ENIKOGAS people will be back on the island for talks on Block 9, while at the same time negotiations will start with Total on Block 10.

COMPLETION OF DISSOLUTION OF Porterfield Management Ltd In the matter of the International Business Companies Act 24 of 1994 of the Republic of Seychelles, you are hereby informed that since the 19th December, 2012, the Company has been dissolved under the International Business Companies Act and the said Company has been struck off the Register of International Business Companies.

Dated this 20th day of December, 2012 Maria Hadjivassiliou Liquidator

CYPRUS MAIL Friday, December 21, 2012

5

Home House Looking out for number one, MPs vote down cuts approves €29m to pay insurers of Vassilikos power plant

By Elias Hazou

AMID the blitz of salary and benefit cutbacks, the overwhelming majority of MPs on Wednesday voted against a proposal for slashing their own representation allowance by 15 per cent.

The amendment, proposed by Greens MP George Perdikis, was backed by a grand total of seven deputies.

The proposal tabled by Perdikis envisaged adding MPs to the list of state officials – such as permanent secretaries of ministries – who will see a 15 per cent reduction in their monthly representation allowance.

“If with this austerity budget civil servants are on average taking a hit of 10 per cent on their income,

By Stefanos Evripidou THE LAST-minute amendments to the 2013 budget voted through on Thursday night included a government-tabled amendment for an extra €29m to pay insurers of the destroyed Vassilikos power plant.

The government has reportedly reached a preliminary agreement with the electricity authority (EAC) and its insurers and reinsurers for an out of court settlement regarding the cost of fixing Vassilikos after the power plant was destroyed by the Mari blast last year.

The insurers have reportedly agreed to pay €132.5m in full to the EAC to cover the cost of fixing the battered plant, €30m of which has already been paid, leaving €102.5m pending.

In turn, the government has agreed to pay the insurers €99m in compensation in recognition of its own responsibility for the blast, while at the same time avoiding a costly legal battle with the insurers.

slashed by about 10 per cent in the 2012 budget that was passed in December last year.

Now, with the broader cuts to the salaries of state officials and the taxing of allowances, it’s estimated that MPs’ take-home pay will be further reduced by some €1,000 to €1,200 a month.

The 2013 budget also did not do away with funds set aside for all former Presidents of the Republic and former House Speakers. The fund is intended to cover these state officials’ expenses for a personal assistant and for a chauffeur once they are out of office.

Far from being abolished or trimmed down, this year the amount was actually raised to €283,000 to account for the imminent addition of Demetris Christofias to the list of ex-Presidents.

SEE EDITORIAL PAGE 13

Sweeping changes to public sector’s pensions

New law also provides for extending retirement age

By Elias Hazou

SLIPPED IN The €29m slipped into Thursday’s budget vote and approved by parliament will be used by the state to start paying back that €99m agreed with the insurers, in perhaps the first real admission of some level of culpability by the government for the July 2011 disaster at Mari.

According to yesterday’s Phileleftheros, the first tranche of the payout, €15m, will be given to insurers on January 28, 2013. A further €14m will be handed over on July 28 next year after which, another €14m will be given to insurers every six months until the €99m is paid in full in 2016.

The paper cited sources saying interest will not be charged on the sum pending.

Meanwhile, from the €102.5m owed to the EAC from the insurers, it is believed €72.5m will be given by the EAC to the state in the form of a short-term loan to cover its pressing financing needs, in addition to the €100m that the state will borrow from EAC workers’ pension fund.

At the same time, industry sources say the government also owes the EAC €24.5m pledged in relation to the cost incurred by the authority for renting mobile generators after the naval base blast.

then state officials – including ourselves – should set the example with a 20 per cent cut,” Perdikis said yesterday, explaining the logic behind his proposal.

But the vast majority of his colleagues felt otherwise. MPs voting against his proposal argued that reducing the representation allowance – which amounts to some €1,700 per month – would ‘punish’ recipients twice, since this allowance will henceforth be taxed for all concerned.

Previously, the allowances given to MPs were all tax-free; that’s no longer the case.

Other benefits enjoyed by deputies are the secretary allowance (around €1,000), the travel expenses allowance (€650), and a per-diem allowance for expenses while on official trips abroad (€250 for trips to the European Union). At last count, MPs’ basic salary amounted to €3,300 per month, but that was

LAWMAKERS yesterday grudgingly endorsed sweeping changes to pension payments in the broader public sector, part of a cost-saving drive agreed between Cyprus and international lenders.

The changes affect retirement age, the calculation of pension benefits, and the one-off retirement bonus.

The measures affect people employed in the central government, semi-governmental organisations and local administration.

Employees entitled to a pension and the one-off bonus, having attained the age of 45 or 48 before December 31, 2012, will not experience any reduction in their pension benefits for services rendered up until that date, in the event they do not opt for early retirement.

Persons under the age of 45

on this date who retire early, will see an actuarial reduction in their pension benefits for services rendered up to December 31, 2012, to be calculated on the assumption that mandatory retirement age is 60 years.

For those who attain the age of 48 after December 31, 2012, and opt for early retirement, deductions will be made on their pensions on the assumption that mandatory retirement age is 63 years. The new law also provides for zero taxation on the pension bonus for services rendered up until 31 December of this year.

The bonus accumulated for services beyond January 1, 2013 will be taxed according to the provisions of income tax laws.

Moreover, employees’ pension benefits for services beyond that date will be calculated as the average of gross income for the months of service from January 1,

Notice of Appointment of a Liquidator under Section 204 of the BVI Business Company Act. LISADAR ASSOCIATES LIMITED (“the Company”) (In Voluntary Liquidation) Company No. 1588265 NOTICE is hereby given pursuant to section 204(1)(b) of the BVI Business Companies Act, 2004 that the Company is in voluntary liquidation. The voluntary liquidation commenced on the 18 day of December, 2012. The Liquidator is Avraam Kapiri of Steliou Mavrommati, 57, Agios Dometios, 2364, Nicosia, Cyprus.

Dated 20 December , 2012.

(Sgd) Avraam Kapiri Voluntary Liquidator

The House has had a busy week witht the budget debate and bailout bills 2013 up until the date of retirement. The law provides also for extending the mandatory retirement age for civil servants, employees of SGOs, teachers, police officers and members of the National Guard.

Legislators complained yesterday they did not have enough time to study the new measures– particularly that regarding increasing retirement age in the military – and pledged to revisit the matter if the application of the law caused problems in the future. Despite discuss-

ing the contentious law on Immovable Property Tax, legislators again decided to postpone voting, which will likely take place in January after parliament has reconvened.

By a majority vote, parliament also re-passed an amending law impacting the state hydrocarbons company (KRETYK), after President Christofias refused to sign it and sent it back to the House. Among other things, the law seeks to exert greater financial oversight over the company and gives par-

liament a say in the criteria used for the selection of the executive directors.

Meanwhile Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly felt the need to thank parliament for passing the 2013 austerity-geared budget earlier on Wednesday, this, he said, would enhance Cyprus’ credibility as the island hopes to clinch an EU/IMF bailout early next year.

“Personally, I could not have expected a more positive response on the part of the entire political leadership,” he said.

Man shot and injured while sitting in a car A STRANGER shot and wounded a man who was in a car which became stuck on a muddy dirt road in the Famagusta district on Wednesday night, authorities said.

The man, 24, was sitting in the passenger seat and was accompanied by his 21-yearold friend who was driving when they ran into difficulties in the area of Frenaros and Vrysoules.

The two friends are thought to have been poaching, a police source said.

They were in a dark and remote area when a shotgun was fired at them from a

distance of about 100 metres, police said.

A bullet grazed the 24-year-old in the eye area and he was given first aid in Paralimni hospital and later released.

Both friends have told the police they have no differences with anyone that could explain the shooting.

They did not see the shooter and could not say where the shooter came from, police said.

Damage to the car is estimated at about €400. Famagusta police are investigating the case.

Friday, December 21, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

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‘Use stadium car park or be fined,’ Strovolos says

By Peter Stevenson STROVOLOS municipality plans to put an end to illegal parking on pavements, roundabouts and even at stop signs in the area of the GSP Stadium in Nicosia, it said yesterday.

The municipality, with the police have begun a campaign in an attempt to put an end to severe congestion before and after football matches held at the stadium.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday Strovolos Mayor Lazaros Savvides, said the situation had turned into a ‘nightmare’ for many residents near the stadium. “They have every right to complain,” he said. “If you have ever had the chance to go to a foot-

ball match you would have seen the amount of cars parked illegally, making it very difficult for residents to get to their homes or even ambulances to get into the area,” he added.

According to the police, the problem has been going on for some time, especially on weekends when football matches take place.

“The stadium has 2,278 available parking spots for cars but during matches not all the spaces are filled,” Nicosia’s Police chief, Kypros Michaelides said. “Instead the pavements are littered with cars, forcing pedestrians to walk in the road,” he added.

Fans travelling to the stadium are being encouraged to at least travel in twos in a car where possible and to use the stadium’s car park

Police are hoping that by preventing people from illegally parking around the stadium they can alleviate some of the post-match traffic. “What people don’t understand is that by parking illegally they cause more congestion later, meaning it takes even longer for everyone to get home after a match,” Michaelides said. “With these measures, we hope that we can reduce the time that it takes to leave the stadium to half an hour as opposed to around 45 minutes as it currently stands,” he added.

“From now until January 20, when APOEL play arch-rivals Omonoia, we will be informing people with leaflets at the stadium and also using the PA system inside the GSP. After that date we will be forced to fine people,” Michaelides added. Anyone who parks

illegally in the area after January 20 will be at risk of receiving a fine of up to €85.

Savvides queried why Cypriots abroad always obey the law but when they return home they feel they can park wherever they like. “If you have the chance to go abroad to other stadia, you will often find that people will park kilometres away from their destination and walk the remaining distance because they know if they park illegally they will receive a heavy fine,” he remarked.

“The police don’t want to burden people more during these economically difficult times by handing out fines but we need to keep the order and believe that four weeks warning is more than enough time for people to comply with the law,” Michaelides concluded.

Floodwaters plaguing Latchi yesterday

(Photo courtesy of Ian and Patricia Dobson)

No let-up on Paphos floods ‘The water was about waist high and the flooding lasted for about 45 minutes’

By Bejay Browne PAPHOS police yesterday urged people not to try and visit overflowing dams in the district as it was dangerous as long as the rains continued.

“Asprokremmos dam in Paphos overflowed at 4am [yesterday]. There are too many vehicles being driven to the area by curious motorists. I would ask the public not to go to this and other dams at the moment as it could be dangerous,” said police spokesman Nicos Tsappis Torrential rain over the last few days in Paphos has closed roads and caused severe damage in some areas, particularly in Latchi.

Tsappis added that a landslide also caused the Paphos to Polis road to be closed for a short time on Tuesday, a bridge and a house were badly damaged in Polis Chrysochous and the small dam in Argaka also overflowed, flooding a nearby house.

A torrent of water poured over the Coral Bay road flooding a gym on the ground floor of a house and causing thousands of euros worth of damage. Personal trainer Mark Anthony said that the fully equipped gym and office space which covers 120 square metres had been completely ruined.

“Luckily no-one was in the gym as I’d had a cancellation.

I was upstairs in the house working when I noticed water seeping onto the road,” he said.

Moments later, a massive torrent of water rushed across the Coral Bay road, over the property wall, covering the entire garden and swimming pool. It burst through the front door of the gym with such force that equipment and office furniture was lifted off the ground.

“The water was about waist high and the flooding lasted for about 45 minutes. I was feeling very panicky,” said Anthony. “We’ve been here for just over a year. We didn’t have any problems with flooding last winter, but since this has happened, people have told me that a similar occurrence happened here a number of years ago.”

According to Anthony, the police closed the main road as the water rendered it impassable to traffic and fire engines arrived about an hour and a half later to start pumping the water from the area.

He added: “There is no drainage system here, so the water goes straight into the garden. It’s as if the house is set down inside a bowl which filled up around the house.

I looked out of the window and we were surrounded by

THIS WEEK IN YOUR

brown water.” Antony tried to wade through the murk to save what he could but plasterboard partition walls crumbled and he was unable to save most items.

“I was gutted and shocked.

We have spent a lot of time and money building up our business and everything is ruined.” Ian and Patricia Dobson who live on a boat at the Latchi marina said there was no let-up yesterday.

“Residents of the marina have no vehicle access whatsoever, and if you are unlucky enough to be berthed on the harbour exit wall (as we are) - getting out of the marina by foot looks impossible as well,” they told the Cyprus Mail.

They said the municipality have had repeated complaints from residents and businesses since last year, “but decided it wasn’t a high enough priority” “On Tuesday we were caught up in the flooding and had to be towed out of about three feet of water after attempting to drive across what is usually a small ‘puddle’. Overnight the river had burst again, washed away all the foundations of the unfinished road, and where the small puddle used to be - was a big hole undetectable until you drove into it. As ever, the buck is being passed and no-one seems to be prepared to take any responsibility.”

Asprokremmos joins overflowing dams CYPRUS’ second largest dam at Asprokremmos overflowed as expected in the early hours of yesterday.

The Asprokremmos dam, which can hold 52.4 million cubic metres has had a water inflow of 5.0 million cubic metres so far this month, the water development department’s Fedros Roussis said.

The dams at Evretou and Kanaviou, which hold 24 million cubic metres and 17.2 million cubic metres respectively, are also expected to overflow in the next few days while the biggest, the Kouris dam, which can hold 115

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million cubic metres, may overflow by early January, Roussis said.

The dams are now at 79 per cent capacity in total, which is a first for December, Roussis said, adding that this was because reservoirs were already holding substantial quantities following last year’s generous inflow.

On Tuesday afternoon, the dam of Argaka overflowed and on Wednesday so did the dams of Pomos and Arminou.

More rain is expected at the weekend with storms islandwide. The weather should improve from Monday, the met office said.

CYPRUS MAIL Friday, December 21, 2012

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Friday, December 21, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

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Europe EUROPE TODAY Inching toward sainthood THE Vatican moved the late Pope Paul VI, who died in 1978 after leading the Roman Catholic Church for 15 years and oversaw the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, a step closer yesterday to sainthood.

The Vatican said Pope Benedict had approved a decree recognising the “heroic virtues” of Paul VI, who was born Giovanni Battista Montini in 1897 and held high positions in the Church before he became pope in 1963.

The recognition of heroic virtues, which means the person lived a exemplary Christian life, is an early step in the sainthood process. The move means that Paul VI could be beatified if the Vatican ascertains that a miracle can be attributed to his intercession with God. Another miracle would be necessary after the beatification in order for him to be made a saint.

Nigeria kidnap A FRENCH energy worker has been kidnapped in northern Nigeria after 30 gunmen attacked a residence and killed a policeman and a security guard protecting the foreign employee, officials said yesterday.

No group claimed credit for the abduction but Islamist groups linked to Boko Haram, which has killed hundreds in an insurgency this year, have been behind similar kidnappings in the past and pose the biggest security threat to Africa’s largest oil exporter.

Tycoon freedom A RUSSIAN court reduced former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s jail sentence for embezzlement by two years yesterday, clearing the way for one of President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critics to walk free in October 2014.

Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man, is serving a 13-year sentence near the Arctic circle on charges of tax evasion and money laundering, a punishment seen by Putin’s critics as a politically-motivated act of revenge.

Putin backs tough response to US law PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin supported a ban on Americans adopting Russian children yesterday in a feud over a U.S. human rights law which he said was poisoning relations.

Putin, 60, struck a hawkish tone in his first annual news conference since he began a new six-year term in May, but denied that tough measures against his opponents since his return to the Kremlin meant he was an authoritarian leader.

He used the marathon live broadcast to dismiss speculation about his health, underline the strength of the economy and portray himself as the guarantor of stability in a country that was under Soviet communist rule two decades ago.

“This is by no means the least successful period in Russia’s history,” he said, adding: “Because I love Russia.”

“Without irony, I look forward to any future president being more successful.”

Sitting behind a large desk in front

of 1,200 journalists in a Moscow conference centre, Putin remained calm, rarely smiled and was still going after three hours. But he became particularly animated when asked about the spat with Washington.

He described as “unfriendly” the legislation signed by President Barack Obama last week that will punish Russians accused of violating human rights by refusing them visas and freezing their assets in the United States.

“This, of course, poisons our relationship,” he said of the measures, drawn up because of concern over the death in a Russian prison of anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009.

The dispute threatens efforts by Putin and Obama to improve ties between the former Cold War enemies following their presidential election victories this year.

But Putin signalled he would sign into law a tit-for-tat move proposed by Russia’s lower house of parliament to prevent Americans adopting Russian

children as well as barring entry to US citizens accused of abusing Russians’ rights.

The Kremlin says Obama is likely to visit Russia in the first half of 2013, but Western diplomats say the US president will agree to a summit only if he feels progress can be made.

Asked about the conflict in Syria, another irritant in relations with Western powers which have backed President Bashar al-Assad’s enemies, Putin said Moscow’s main concern was the fate of the country and not that of its longtime ally Assad.

He said Moscow wanted to ensure that any solution to the conflict in Syria must prevent the opposition and government forces just swapping roles and continuing to fight indefinitely: “We are not concerned about the fate of Assad’s regime. We understand what is going on there,” Putin said. “We are worried about a different thing - what next.”

Putin struck a hawkish tone at the news conference

Berlusconi warns Monti not to stand in elections Both left and right uneasy over Monti candidacy

By Barry Moody SILVIO Berlusconi joined forces with his leftwing opponents yesterday to warn Mario Monti against standing in the coming election, as uncertainty over the outgoing premier’s plans stoked political tension in Italy.

Berlusconi told a radio phone-in programme it would be “morally questionable” for Monti to run, emphasising the risks of him being caught in right-left crossfire if he throws his hat in the ring and loses his status of being above the fray.

Monti, who has governed as a non-partisan technocrat since last year, is expected to announce his plans after the 2013 budget is approved and parliament is dissolved, but has refused to say anything before then, fuelling fevered speculation over what role he will play in the election.

Yesterday, he made what sounded like a pre-campaign speech, telling Fiat car workers in southern Italy that it would be irresponsible for Italians to throw

Ex Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi reacts on the set of a RAI 1 television programme, with a portrait of current PM Mario Monti in the background on Tuesday in Rome (AFP) away the sacrifices they have made during a year of debtcutting austerity under his government.

Berlusconi, bidding for his fifth term as prime minister, has repeatedly attacked Monti’s policies and promised again yesterday to abolish a hated housing tax he imposed.

Some reports say Monti will announce his candidacy at the weekend, but political sources told Reuters that he was preparing to endorse one big centrist group or several smaller ones which would sign up to policies continuing the fiscal discipline he has imposed over the last year to

calm a financial crisis.

Such groups, ranging from the existing UDC party of Pier Ferdinando Casini to a new civic movement founded

by Ferrari boss Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, are campaigning for Monti as next prime minister, effectively making him a candidate if he endorses them.

Entering the campaign could pose many risks for Monti, including reducing the chances that he would become Italy’s president if he does not succeed in winning the premiership after an election, which is now almost certain to be held on February 24.

Pollsters say the centrist groupings associated with Monti would increase their vote from below 10 per cent to up to 15 per cent if he takes the field, but that might not be enough to guarantee a major post-election role for the former European commissioner.

The centre-left Democratic Party is likely to win up to 35 per cent of the vote according to pollsters and is currently considered certain to win the election.

But it may need to form an alliance with the centre to ensure control of the upper house and calm market fears that it would follow leftwing policies despite its stated commitment to fiscal discipline.

Berlusconi expressed agreement with senior centre-left politician Massimo D’Alema who said a week ago it would be illogical and questionable for Monti to stand against a party that had supported his reforms for the last year.

Other critics suggest it would be just as questionable for Monti to campaign at the same time as he remains as caretaker prime minister after his resignation.

Detritus of broken hearts on parade at exhibition in romantic Paris PARIS may be the city of romance, but for one month this much-loved capital is littered with the brokenhearted bric-a-brac of failed relationships in a new exhibition.

The “Museum of Broken Relationships” is part flea market and part final resting place for the many objects, both bizarre and mundane, that testify to love gone awry.

A snip of a dreadlock, red stilettos purchased in the raunchy Pigalle neighbourhood of the French

capital, a green plastic duck, and of course, an unworn wedding ring are all on display in the basement of the former municipal funeral home that has been turned into The 104 art and culture centre.

Texts of various lengths and formats, from a few choice words to gushing poems, accompany the anonymous love tokens, along with the name of a city where the romance bloomed. Most striking are two dates - a beginning and an end.

“There is something precious in break-ups because they offer a new perspective on love”, said Olinka Vistica, the exhibit’s curator. “These objects are not worth anything, it’s a flea market, but we try to show them with dignity, and create sort of a temple.”

Vistics said the exhibit’s Parisian home until Jan. 20 may be symbolic, but not maudlin. The show opened on Wednesday.

Still, “We are not creating a cem-

etery,” Vistica told Reuters, adding that the show felt nevertheless “like a farewell ceremony”.

On one pillar, a 19-year marriage is expressed through a book of works

by French author Gustave Flaubert that was offered for a 40th birthday.

“A youthful romance which became a lifelong love, transformed, and gave birth to two kids before everything vanished,” reads the text.

Further on, a red stiletto is accompanied by the lyrics to a popular

French pop song by Les Rita Mitsouko: “Love stories end badly ... in general”.

One woman at the show who had donated a memento said the museum offered a “second life” to the symbols of lost love.

“This object that I schlepped around is now part of the collective history,” she said.

The touring exhibit, created in 2006 in Croatia, has travelled to more than 20 cities around the world.

CYPRUS MAIL Friday, December 21, 2012

9

Britain

Forecasters warn of more flooding ahead

Cancer boy’s mum renews her fight to avoid radiotherapy

Homes, road and rail networks under threat

A WOMAN who does not want her seven-year-old son to have radiotherapy treatment following surgery on a brain tumour renewed her High Court fight yesterday.

Sally Roberts, 37, of Brighton, East Sussex, fears radiotherapy will cause her son, Neon, long-term harm.

Doctors say Neon might die within months without radiotherapy.

Yesterday, a High Court judge began hearing more evidence about the pros and cons of radiotherapy.

Earlier this week, Mr Justice Bodey ruled Neon could have further surgery against Roberts’ wishes.

Roberts, who comes from New Zealand, wanted a second operation to be delayed until more doctors had been consulted. But specialists said follow-up surgery needed to be carried out urgently.

And Mr Justice Bodey said the operation should go ahead.

A doctor treating Neon told the judge yesterday that the operation went well.

Roberts has told the court she is not a “bonkers mother”.

BELEAGUERED towns and villages were told to prepare for further flooding yesterday as forecasters warned of heavy deluges over the weekend.

Southern and south western England, south east Wales, the Midlands and the north east of England were singled out as the areas most at risk as successive bands of rain swept across the country.

The latest bout of wet weather could leave more homes under water and cause further disruption on the road and rail networks, the Environment Agency (EA) said.

It has issued 37 flood warnings and 207 flood alerts.

River levels on the River Cober in Helston, Cornwall, are high after persistent rain yesterday, while the Dolphins River Park in Charmouth, west Dorset, was under threat from the River Char.

The River Wey in Weymouth, Dorset, was also rising, the EA said, and the Somerset Levels also face risk of flooding due to heavy rainfall of up to 20mm over last night on already saturated ground.

Flood defences were put up yesterday in the riverside town of Bewdley in Worcestershire, on the banks of the Severn, and at Upton-uponSevern existing flood barriers

The Environment Agency constructs the Bewdley flood defence barrier as the level of River Severn rises

were being monitored as the river rose steadily.

Further defences were set to go up in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

While the rain is forecast to ease off a bit today, it will set in again on Saturday and is expected to cause havoc in areas where the ground is already saturated.

Forecasters warned the weather across the whole country is likely to remain unsettled for up to seven days.

Andy Ratcliffe, a forecaster for MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: “Tomorrow it will largely be dry in the South West, but by the evening the next band of

rain will move in.

“That will stay throughout the weekend and into next week.”

The counties with the greatest risk of flooding include: Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West and East Sussex, south east Wales, Northamptonshire and North Yorkshire.

John Curtin, the EA’s head of incident management, said: “Our teams are out around the clock to minimise the risks and prepare for flooding, clearing drainage channels and ensuring that flood defences are working properly.

“We would urge people in atrisk areas to keep up to date

Second arrest in ‘plebs’ investigation POLICE investigating claims an officer fabricated evidence that led to a minister resigning said yesterday they had arrested a second man over the reporting of a row outside Prime Minister David Cameron’s Downing Street residence.

London’s police force said the 23-year-old suspect was held at his home on Wednesday evening on suspicion of “intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of an indictable offence”.

The arrested man was not named and is not a police officer or a member of police staff. He was released early yesterday after questioning.

Andrew Mitchell quit as the “Chief Whip” in charge of discipline in Cameron’s parliamentary Conservative party in October following weeks of negative headlines.

He had been accused of angrily calling officers “plebs” when they refused to let him cycle through the main gates at Downing Street.

Mitchell had denied using the class-laden insult but was contradicted by a police log of the incident leaked to a newspaper.

The snobbish term was damaging for Mitchell and the Conservatives because it played

into opposition claims that the government is elitist and out of touch with ordinary Britons squeezed by economic austerity.

But doubts have grown over the police account since Channel 4 News reported that a policeman posed as a member of the public and falsely claimed to have heard Mitchell use the pejorative term, in an email sent to a Conservative lawmaker.

Cameron and London’s Metropolitan Police have both stressed the seriousness of the allegation, which threatens to undermine relations between police and politicians at a time when the government is cutting force budgets.

CCTV footage of the incident aired by the programme also showed that the street outside the gates was almost empty, even though the email and the police log said several people had been “shocked” by Mitchell’s outburst.

A policeman working in the London force’s Diplomatic Protection Group was arrested last Saturday on suspicion of misconduct. He was not on duty at the time of the Downing Street altercation.

Queen to appear in 3D for Christmas broadcast THE Queen has “embraced” new technology and recorded her traditional Christmas broadcast in 3D for the first time, Buckingham Palace announced yesterday.

The festive message has gone hi-tech to allow viewers to scrutinise the Queen as never before in her Dia-

mond Jubilee year.

However, the audience will also be able to see the 86year-old monarch in standard and high-definition during the speech, which will be broadcast at 3pm on Christmas Day. The theme of this year’s message is not known, but

it is likely to feature the key highlights from 2012 - the London Olympic Games and the Diamond Jubilee.

The Queen has watched her 3D Christmas message, produced this year by Sky News, and is reported to have enjoyed the experience.

with the latest situation by checking the Environment Agency website and remain prepared for flooding in their area by signing up to receive free flood warnings.”

Neon Roberts She fears radiotherapy will reduce Neon’s intelligence quotient (IQ), shorten his life, put him at risk of having strokes and make him infertile.

Roberts has said she would agree to Neon being given chemotherapy because any damage caused could be “overcome”.

“The mother remains concerned that radiotherapy is not in Neon’s best interests,” Ian Peddie QC, for Roberts, told the judge yesterday.

“We assert that there are doctors who can offer credible alternative treatment to the therapy that is proposed.”

Friday, December 21, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

10

World US State Department seeks more funding post Benghazi

Armoured kids’ backpack sales soar in America But semi-automatic gun buys rise as well AFTER the Connecticut school massacre, Ken Larson and his wife have decided to buy their son an armoured backpack - even though the one-year-old won’t be in school for a few more years.

“My son’s life is invaluable,” said Mr Larson, 41, of Salt Lake City. “If I can get him a backpack for 200 dollars (£123) that makes him safer, I don’t even have to think about that.”

Meanwhile, firearms enthusiasts across the US are stocking up on semi-automatic rifles in anticipation of tighter gun control measures as President Barack Obama demands “real action, right now”.

A spike in gun sales is common after a mass shooting, but the latest rampage has generated record sales in some states, particularly of assault weapons similar to the AR-15 rifle the gunman used last Friday to kill 26 people at the school, including 20 children just six and sevenyears- old.

He first killed his mother at home in her bed, and finally killed himself at the school as emergency responders closed in.

Colorado set a single-day record for gun background check requests the day after the shootings, while Nevada saw more checks in the two days that followed than any other weekend this year.

Records were also set in Tennessee, California and Virginia, among others.

PROPOSALS Some gun shop owners stopped selling the remaining stock of their assault weapons, anticipating only more interest and value after Obama on Wednesday instructed his administration to create concrete proposals to reduce gun violence that he could give to Congress by January.

Robert Akers, a South Dakota gun seller who specialises in military-style weapons, said the rush of customers had transformed his Rapid Fire Firearms store into a “madhouse” and that he’s not actively selling the guns and has turned off his phone.

“The price is only going to go up higher,” he said.

There was also an unusual increase in sales for armoured backpacks designed to shield

children caught in shootings, according to three companies that make them.

The armour inserts fit into the back panel of a child’s backpack. It is designed to stop bullets from handguns, not assault weapons like the one used in last Friday’s shooting.

Still, the manufacturers and some parents say that while they don’t guarantee children won’t be killed, they could be useful as shields.

Some experts, however, say sending children to school in armoured backpacks is not a healthy response to fear.

Anne Marie Albano, psychiatry director at Columbia University’s Clinic for Anxiety and Related Disorders, said parents should convey calmness, not anxiety.

“This is not serving to keep children safe,” she said. “This is serving to increase their fear and their suspicion of their peers.”

At the Amendment II store in Salt Lake City, sales of children’s backpacks and armoured inserts have increased, with 200 purchase requests on Wednesday alone.

Sales of assault weapons also were on the rise.

Boy scouts await a funeral procession for Benjamin Wheeler, 6, (in photo), a victim of Friday’s Connecticut school massacre, at Trinity Episcopal Church yesterday

THE U.S. State Department will seek billions of dollars in new funds and revamp security procedures around the globe in response to a critical independent investigation of the September 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, senior State Department officials said yesterday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s two top deputies appeared at a Senate hearing and conceded that US officials had failed to “connect the dots” ahead of the attack, which killed US Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

“We learned some very hard and painful lessons in Benghazi,” Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said.

“We are already acting on them. We have to do better.”

The State Department announced on Wednesday that its security chief had resigned and three other officials have been relieved of their posts following the report, which cited leadership and management deficiencies, poor coordination among officials and confusion over who had the authority to make decisions.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, who is now tipped to be President Barack Obama’s pick to replace Clinton when she steps down next month, chaired the session and led the call for increased funding.

Park talks tough after presidential win SOUTH Korea’s President-elect, Park Geun-hye, used her first major speech yesterday to warn of the risks posed by a hostile North Korea and also fired a political shot across the bows of Japan’s incoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Speaking after a visit to the country’s national cemetery, which included a poignant homage at the graves of her assassinated father and mother, South Korea’s first female leader pledged to spread wealth more evenly.

Park has said she will hold talks with North Korea and resume aid to the isolated and belligerent country, but only if it abandons its nuclear weapons programme.

The impoverished North launched a rocket last week that critics said was a test for technology that could be used

for a long-range missile that could one day carry a nuclear warhead.

“North Korea’s long-range missile launch showed how grave the security reality is that we are faced with,” Park told a news conference a day after her convincing election win.

JAPAN RELATIONS Park will take office in February and signalled she would continue outgoing Lee Myung-bak’s tough line on territorial claims that Japan has on South Korea.

The relationship between them, the two closest allies of the United States in the region, has been damaged by an island row and the issue of an apology and compensation from Japan for the forced sexual slavery of Korean wom-

en in World War Two. South Korea says Japan, which has similar disputes with China, has not come to terms with its harsh past rule of Korea. Japan says it has paid compensation for the slavery issue and has apologised.

“I will try to work for greater reconciliation, cooperation and peace in North East Asia based on correct perception of history,” she said in an apparent reference to the simmering conflict with Tokyo.

Park, 60, replaces fellow conservative Lee after his mandatory single, fiveyear term ends.

The slightly built and elegant Park grew up in Seoul’s presidential palace during the 18-year rule of her father, Park Chung-hee, who took power in a military coup in 1961.

South Korea’s President-elect Park Geun-hye (C) is set to take office in February (AFP)

China detains 1,000 in doomsday crackdown UN urges countries to ban female genital mutilation CHINESE authorities have detained around 1,000 people as they step up a crackdown against a doomsday cult called “Almighty God” which has been predicting the world will end today, state media reported.

In recent weeks, hundreds of members of the Almighty God group have clashed with police, sometimes outside government buildings, in central Henan, northern Shaanxi and southwestern Gansu provinces, according to photos on popular microblogs.

The government says it is a cult calling for a “decisive battle” to slay the “Red Dragon” Communist Party, and which has been spreading doomsday alerts related to an old Mayan calendar seen by some as predicting “the end of the world” on December 21.

Police have now detained around 1,000 members the Almighty God group across some

seven provinces, the People’s Daily reported on its website yesterday, saying about 400 of them had been detained in the remote western province of Qinghai.

The sect’s followers have been distributing leaflets saying that the world will end in 2012, state media have said.

China’s Communist Party has taken particular aim at cults, which have multiplied across the country in recent years. Demonstrations have been put down with force and some sect leaders executed.

Former President Jiang Zemin launched a campaign in 1999 to crush the Falun Gong religious group, banning it as an “evil cult” after thousands of practitioners staged a surprise but peaceful sit-in outside the leadership compound in Beijing to demand official recognition of their movement.

THE United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution yesterday urging countries to ban female genital mutilation, calling it an “irreparable, irreversible abuse” that threatens about three million girls annually.

The resolution, which is not legally binding, asks the 193 UN members to “take all necessary measures, including enacting and enforcing legislation to prohibit female genital mutilations and to protect women and girls from this form of violence”.

The World Health Organisation estimates that about 140 million girls and women have undergone female genital mutilation.

Campaigners liken the psychological effects of female genital mutilation to those of rape.

Female genital mutilation - the partial or

total removal of external female genitalia - is prevalent in 28 African countries and parts of the Middle East and Asia, notably Yemen, Iraqi Kurdistan and Indonesia.

It is carried out for cultural, religious and social reasons and is also known as female circumcision.

Female genital mutilation is also found in industrialized countries among some immigrant populations. Countries where the practice is near universal include Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Egypt, Sierra Leone, Mali and Guinea.

The resolution, which was adopted by consensus, also expressed concern about “evidence of an increase in the incidence of female genital mutilations being carried out by medical personnel in all regions in which they are practised”.

CYPRUS MAIL Friday, December 21, 2012

11

World Saleh’s son cedes arms to new leader

Egypt top prosecutor retracts resignation

A POWERFUL general who is the son of Yemen’s former president has agreed to give up his missiles after his elite Republican Guard was disbanded by the Arab nation’s new leader, sources at the presidency said yesterday.

Brigadier-General Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh’s apparent compliance with an armed forces shake-up ordered by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi on Wednesday eases fears of more turmoil in a country in the throes of a tense political transition.

The overhaul is widely seen as part of efforts to curb the still-considerable influence of Saleh’s father, ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh, loosen his family’s grip on the military and implement an internationally-backed plan to restore stability.

“General Ahmed has started to transfer all the missiles under his command to President Hadi,” a source at the presidential palace told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

“The decree will be executed. I don’t think anyone can stand against the international community, which has threatened to impose sanctions against those who oppose Hadi’s decrees.”

Earlier this month Saleh had refused orders from Hadi to hand over long-range Scud missiles to the Defence Ministry.

Another presidential source confirmed the missile transfer and said the United States, once an ally of Saleh in combating al Qaeda, had told his relatives “that the international community supports the decisions made by President Hadi”.

Officials at Ahmed Saleh’s office were not available for comment. But his father’s press secretary said Hadi’s decisions to restructure the armed forces were “welcomed”.

After a year of protests against his rule, President Saleh made way for Hadi in February under a Gulf-brokered transition plan backed

by Washington and its Western allies. But the former president’s continuing clout worries the country’s neighbours and Western nations who fear further conflict could plunge Yemen back into chaos.

EGYPT’S chief public prosecutor, forced to quit this week after opposition protests, retracted his resignation yesterday, setting the stage for more turmoil as the nation votes in a referendum on its political future.

Prosecutor Talaat Ibrahim, appointed by President Mohamed Mursi when he assumed sweeping new powers last month, said he had changed his mind because his resignation on Monday had been offered under duress.

Ibrahim had quit after more than 1,000 members of his staff gathered at his office in Cairo to demand that he step down. Mursi’s decision to appoint Ibrahim, instead of leaving the appointment to judicial authorities, threatened the independence of the judiciary, the angered prosecutors said.

Ibrahim described his removal from office as “mysterious and abnormal” and said it was now up to the justice minister to decide on his future, according to the state-run al-Ahram news website.

Several prosecutors immediately announced they were suspending work and would stage an open-ended protest outside Ibrahim’s office.

Ibrahim’s about-face came 48 hours before Egyptians vote in a referendum on a divisive new constitution championed by Mursi as a vital step in Egypt’s transition to democracy almost two years after the fall of Hosni Mubarak.

The opposition, facing defeat over the constitution, urged voters to reject the Islamist-backed charter and pledged to fight on to amend it during elections expected next year.

The opposition, a coalition of liberals, leftists, Christians and secular Muslims, called for a “no” vote against a document it views as leaning too far towards Islamism.

The first day of voting on December 15 resulted in a 57 per cent majority in favour of the constitution. The second stage tomorrow is expected to produce another “yes” vote as it covers regions seen as more conservative and likely to back Mursi.

A Free Syrian Army fighter, whose comrades were surrounding a military airport, is seen displaying shrapnel from what he said were the remains of a rocket used by the Syrian army in north Aleppo yesterday

Syrian rebels battle for strategic town

By Erika Solomon REBELS thrust into a strategic town in Syria’s central Hama province yesterday, activists said, pursuing a string of territorial gains to help cut army supply lines and cement a foothold in the capital Damascus to the south.

They have made a series of advances across the country, seizing several military installations and more heavy weaponry, hardening the threat to President Bashar al-Assad’s power base in Damascus 21 months into an uprising against his rule.

Rebels said a day earlier they had captured at least six towns in Hama province. Yesterday heavy fighting erupted in Morek, a town on the highway that runs from Damascus north to Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and another battleground.

The opposition-linked Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebels were trying to take checkpoints in Morek, one of which they had already

Fighting in Hama province could worsen sectarian strife seized, and described the town as a critical position for the Syrian army.

“The town of Morek lies on the Damascus-Aleppo road ... it has eight checkpoints and two security and military headquarters. If the rebels were able to control the town they would completely sever the supply lines between Hama and Damascus to Idlib province,” the group said in an email.

Idlib is in the rebel-dominated north bordering on Turkey.

The British-based Observatory has a network of activists across the country. Activist reports are difficult to verify, as the government restricts media access into Syria.

Fighting in Hama could aggravate Syria’s sectarian strife as it is home to many rural minority communities of Alawites and Christians. Minorities, and particularly the

Alawite sect to which Assad himself belongs, have largely backed the president. Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority has been the engine of the revolt.

“Rebels are trying to take Mohardeh and al-Suqaylabiya, which are strongholds of the regime and are strategic.

The residents are Christian and the neighbouring towns are Alawite. The rebels worry security forces may be arming people there,” said activist Safi al-Hamawi, speaking on Skype.

He said the opposition feared skirmishes that had previously been largely Sunni-Alawite could spread into a broader sectarian conflict.

“I think it is still unlikely, because the residents have tried to maintain neutrality, but if the battle became a sectarian clash, it could be a catastrophe. Christians and Muslims could suddenly find them-

selves enemies.”

UN human rights investigators said yesterday that Syria’s conflict was becoming more “overtly sectarian”, with more civilians seeking to arm themselves and foreign fighters - mostly Sunnis - flocking in from 29 countries.

“They come from all over, Europe and America, and especially the neighbouring countries,” said Karen Abuzayd, one of the UN investigators, told a news conference in Brussels.

The deepened sectarian divisions may diminish prospects for post-conflict reconciliation, even if Assad is ousted, and the influx of foreigners raises the risk of fighting spilling into neighbouring countries riven by similar communal fault lines.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Assad’s main ally and arms supplier, warned that any solution to the conflict must ensure government and rebel forces do not merely swap roles and fight on forever. It appeared to be his first direct comment on the possibility of a post-Assad Syria.

Ailing Talibani in Germany as succession fight looms

Compliant: Brigadier General Ahmed Saleh

IRAQI President Jalal Talabani arrived in Germany yesterday for medical treatment for a stroke, leaving behind a potentially messy battle to replace the Kurdish statesman.

The 79-year-old former guerrilla, who was admitted to hospital on Monday night, has mediated among Iraqi Shi’ites, Sunnis and Kurds, and in the growing dispute over oil between Baghdad and the country’s autonomous Kurdistan region.

The potential disappearance of his steadying hand fuels concerns of a succession crisis and tensions between Ar-

abs and ethnic Kurds spilling into open clashes.

Sources said the president was being treated at Berlin’s Charite hospital, and a black Mercedes with Iraqi diplomatic plates was seen leaving a Charite campus yesterday. Publicly Iraqi politicians wished Talabani a quick recovery, but talk was already turning to his potential departure.

“It will be complicated for anybody to replace him,” said Shi’ite lawmaker Ali Shlah. “Talabani’s absence will open up the situation wide to different claims.”

A year after the last American troops

left Iraq, violence is down from the days of intercommunal slaughter that erupted soon after the 2003 invasion that toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein. But sectarianism still runs deep in Iraq’s politics.

“Talabani’s absence from the scene will most likely intensify the political battles,” said Ramzy Mardini, an adjunct fellow at the Iraqi Institute for Strategic Studies in Beirut.

“The loss of a credible mediator is one thing, but the opportunism felt on one side and the fear held by the other is something that is quite worrisome.”

About-face: prosecutor Talaat Ibrahim

Friday, December 21, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

12

Business $8.2b deal to buy NYSE Euronext

US economy shows some muscle, but outlook sombre

INTERCONTINENTALEXCHANGE struck an $8.2 billion deal to buy NYSE Euronext, a combination that will propel the commodities market powerhouse into European financial futures but threaten to further reduce the clout of the New York Stock Exchange.

The deal will create a new player in global derivatives trading and clearing that would take on CME Group Inc. While the New York Stock Exchange has stood for 200 years as an iconic symbol of US capitalism, it is almost an afterthought in this deal.

Atlanta-based ICE said it will try to spin off the Euronext European stock market businesses in a public offering, generating speculation it may eventually shutter the NYSE’s trading floor, as well. Profits from stock trading have been significantly eroded by new technology and the rise of private venues run by Wall Street banks and brokers.

Analysts said the deal will give ICE a strategic boost with control of Liffe, Europe’s second-largest derivatives market, helping it compete against US-based CME Group, owner of the Chicago Board of Trade. Derivatives trading remains quite profitable for the exchanges and new rules coming into play next year will dramatically expand the demand for clearing overthe-counter contracts.

Regulatory concerns sank two deals to buy NYSE Euronext last year, including a joint bid by ICE and Nasdaq OMX Group and a separate bid from German exchange Deutsche Bourse. But ICE has far less overlapping business and should face easy approvals, antitrust attorneys said.

The deal values each NYSE Euronext share at $33.12, a 28 per cent premium to the stock’s closing price on Wednesday.

Q3 growth raised to 3.1 per cent pace

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

0.8172 0.8090

US Dollar

1.3274 1.3142

Australian $

1.2761 1.2445

Canadian Dol.

1.3232 1.2906

Swiss Fr

1.2149 1.2005

Denmark Kr

7.5539 7.3673 111.4698 110.1402

Norwegian Kr

7.4649 7.2805

Polish Zloty

4.1315

4.0295

Romanian Leu 4.5623 4.3833 Russian Ruble 41.1733 40.1567 Swedish Kr

THE U.S. economy grew faster than previously thought in the third quarter, helped by exports and government spending, but a sluggish world economy and belt-tightening

by Washington looks set to put on the brakes again.

Other data yesterday showed factory activity in the midAtlantic region picked up this month, while home resales in November were the best in three years, indicating the economy retained some vigor early in the fourth quarter.

However, a rise in first-time applications for unemployment aid last week suggested job growth remains modest.

Gross domestic product expanded at a 3.1 per cent annual rate in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said. It was the fastest pace since late 2011 and more than double the second quarter’s 1.3 per cent rate.

A month ago, the department said GDP grew at 2.7 per cent pace during the July-September period.

Millan Mulraine, a senior economist at TD Securities in New York, said the factors that boosted growth in the third quarter would not carry through the reminder of the year.

“The fact that we had an upward revision means that it’s a higher hurdle in the fourth quarter to get above the current best case of 1 per cent

Resales of US homes in November were the best in three years (growth),” he said.

Economists say businesses have hunkered down in the current quarter out of worry that currently stalled budget talks in Washington will fail to steer clear of a $600-billion “fiscal cliff” that could tip the economy back into recession.

Even if a deal is reached to avoid the brunt of the blow, a tighter fiscal policy and cooling global economy are still likely to weigh on US growth in coming quarters.

A Reuters poll of economists earlier this month showed a median forecast for GDP growth in the fourth quarter of just a 1.2 per cent annual

pace. Economists expect GDP to expand just 1.9 per cent next year.

In a second report, the National Association of Realtors said sales of previously owned homes surged 5.9 per cent in November to a seasonallyadjusted annual rate of 5.04 million units. It was the fastest sales pace since November 2009 and confirmed a housing recovery was strengthening.

KB Home, the nation’s fifth-largest homebuilder, reported a 20 per cent rise in quarterly revenue in the latest quarter as selling prices rose, although higher costs still squeezed its margins.

Separately, a factory gauge from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank showed activity in the mid-Atlantic region turned up this month after slipping in November, a finding that should ease fears of a hard landing for US manufacturing.

“The sky is not falling on manufacturing,” said Robert Dye, chief economist at Comerica in Dallas. “The contribution from housing-related manufacturing is making a difference.”

In a fourth report, the Labour Department said initial claims for jobless benefits increased 17,000 to a seasonally

adjusted 361,000 last week, in the low end of the range they held before Superstorm Sandy struck in late October.

The data covered the survey period for the government’s report on December nonfarm payrolls and suggested another month of modest employment growth.

Job gains so far this year have averaged 151,000 per month, not enough to significantly lower unemployment.

US financial markets ignored the data as investors focused on the lack of progress in budget talks in Washington, which kept stock markets flat.

William Hill enters Australia Brazil opens two airports to private investors

Rates

Japan Yen

By Lucia Mutikani

8.7695 8.5529

WILLIAM Hill, Britain’s largest bookmaker, expanded into the large Australian gambling market when it and partner GVC Holdings agreed a 485-million-pound ($789-million) deal for Sportingbet yesterday.

William Hill is paying 454 million pounds for its share of the deal - giving it Sportingbet’s Australian operation and an option to acquire its Spanish business.

Smaller partner GVC will take on the remaining businesses, which exist in countries where regulation is less clear cut and thus the investment risks are higher as a consequence.

“This is bang in line with our strategy,” said William Hill chief executive Ralph Topping.

“More online revenues, more international revenues and more regulated revenues.

“We are laying the foundations today of success for the next 30 years,” added Topping, who has been with the company four decades.

The recommended cash and GVC stock deal valued Sportingbet shares at 56.1 pence, in line with a provisional deal agreed earlier this month.

William Hill and GVC had proposed a price of 61.1 pence per share but cut the offer after Sportingbet said quarterly revenue fell 35 per cent.

William Hill is best known for its chain of more than 2,300 betting shops in Britain, a country where it generates more than 90 per cent of its revenue.

However, it is expanding online and in overseas markets where gambling is regulated - buying three businesses in the US state of Nevada earlier this year.

It has also taken a step towards acquiring full control of its fast-growing online joint venture, requesting a valuation for the 29 per cent stake held by partner Playtech.

BRAZIL opened two of its international airports to private investors and launched a plan to expand domestic air travel yesterday as it rushes to accommodate surging air traffic in time for the 2014 soccer World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.

The plan to modernise Rio de Janeiro’s Galeao airport, the country’s second-largest, and Belo Horizonte’s Confins airport should attract 11.4 billion reais ($5.48 billion) in bids from private companies, the civil aviation authority said.

Rio de Janeiro, whose creaking Galeao airport struggles to serve rising numbers of tourists and business visitors, is one of 12 Brazilian cities fielding World Cup matches in 2014 and will host the Summer Olympics two years later. Its capacity will be more than doubled from 15 million passengers a year at present to 44 million before the World Cup under the new plan.

Air traffic has boomed in Bra-

Brazil’s Rousseff aims to upgrade a deficient transport infrastructure zil in the last decade of rapid economic growth and rising middle class incomes, overcrowding its ageing airports, which have long been starved of investment.

Private companies that win operating licences to be auctioned in September will have control over the two airports, and state airport management company Infraero will have a minority

49 per cent stake, the same formula used in concessions auctioned in February for the airports of Brasilia, Campinas and Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos, Brazil’s largest.

The Brazilian government is requiring that bidders for the two new concessions have experience managing airports with at least 35 million passengers a year, far more than the 5 million in the earlier auction.

The operator must also take a minimum 25 per cent stake in the winning consortium.

The government also said it would invest 7.3 billion reais to upgrade smaller regional airports and build 17 new terminals to increase access to air travel in the interior of Brazil.

The plan is part of President Dilma Rousseff’s push to attract private investment to help upgrade a deficient transport infrastructure, from roads and railways to airports and seaports, which has made Brazil a costly place to do business.

CYPRUS MAIL Friday, December 21, 2012

13

Opinion

Ruling elite once again fail to lead by example IT WOULD have surprised nobody that the overwhelming majority of deputies voted against the Giorgos Perdikis amendment to a government bill that would have cut the ‘representation allowance’ collected by deputies and senior state officials by 15 per cent.

Only seven deputies did not vote against the amendment, which would have led to an additional cut of €300 to their monthly income (the allowance is about €24,000 per year).

Several reasons were given for this. Deputies would already have their monthly income reduced by about €1,000 from the other cuts imposed by the budget; also from 2013, the allowance would be taxed which meant recipients would already have taken a slightly reduced amount. Then again, all these years, deputies, judges, permanent secretaries etc paid no tax on the ‘representation allowance’ which was still pensionable.

This was an opportunity for deputies to set a good example, to show that in very difficult times for the country, the privileges of the past could not be sustained, but unfortunately, like everyone else living off the state, they put personal interest first. They were not willing to sacrifice a few more hundred euro in order to show all other protesting citizens who have had benefits and allowances cut that this is a time for sacrifices.

Leadership by example has never been embraced by our ruling establishment. On the contrary, it subscribes to the practice followed by authoritarian and totalitarian states which reward the members of their ruling elite better than anyone else. In the Soviet Union the top members of the Communist Party enjoyed a much higher standard of living than the impoverished population.

Was it any surprise that on taking power the communist president doubled the ‘representation allowance’ of all state officials?

Is it any surprise that deputies receive retirement bonuses and pensions disproportionately large for the number of years they serve as representatives and the hours they work? But as members of the ruling elite they consider preferential treatment their right and have contempt for the notion of leadership by example.

President Christofias was not even prepared to give up the per diem allowance of €200 that a president is paid when abroad, because of the recession; his predecessors did not claim it as the president’s expenses, when abroad, were paid for by the taxpayer.

Not that this would have made a difference to state finances, but it would have been a good example to set.

Given the self-serving behaviour of our ruling elite, is it any wonder that all members of our society who have suffered pay cuts and loss of benefits have been complaining or protesting?

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After Newtown killings, a president unleashed Analysis Matt Spetalnick

B

ARACK Obama came across like a president unleashed on Wednesday as he invoked the Connecticut shooting tragedy not only to address gun violence, but to tell Republicans to “peel off the partisan war paint,” accept that he won the election and get on with the job of averting a fiscal calamity.

After Newtown, he suggested, the world looks different to him. Why not to everyone else? “Goodness,” he said, “if this past week has done anything, it should just give us some perspective.”

Obama’s news conference - on the day he was named Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year,” - was billed as an announcement of a new drive to tackle the problem of violence. But it ranged over the “fiscal cliff,” the National Rifle Association, partisanship in America and the Republican Party’s troubles with the conservative Tea Party movement.

While saying he was willing to compromise with Republicans on reaching a deal to avoid a year-end fiscal cliff of economy-shaking tax increases and spending cuts, he offered no concessions of his own even as he scolded them for intransigence.

With Americans’ feelings still raw over last week’s deadly shooting rampage at a Newtown elementary school, Obama signalled a willingness to take on the nation’s powerful gun lobby in a way he had always avoided in his first term.

His stance was much tougher than the more conciliatory approach he took on Nov. 14 at his first news conference after defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

It also appeared to reflect the emerging confidence of a president who, without the need to ever again seek re-election, is now thinking more about his legacy.

Speaking of Republicans still spurning his offers to resolve the standoff over the cliff, he said: “They keep on finding ways to say ‘no’ as opposed to finding ways to say ‘yes.’ I don’t know how much of that just has to do with (that) it is very hard for them to say ‘yes’ to me.”

He understood, he said, that some Republicans are “more concerned about challenges from a Tea Party candidate or challenges from the right.”

But, he added: “If they’re not worried about who’s winning and who’s losing, did they score a point on the president, if they extract that last little concession, did they force him to do something he really doesn’t want to do just for the heck of it, and they focus on actually what’s good for the country, I actually think we can get this done.”

President Barack Obama speaking to reporters on the day of the school shooting

‘Gun control has been a low priority for most US politicians, due in large part to the clout of the National Rifle Association, the powerful gun industry lobby’ “If you kind of peel off the partisan war paint, then we should be able to get something done,” Obama said.

After previously speaking only vaguely on the need to address gun violence, Obama ordered a high-level Cabinet group headed by Vice President Joe Biden to give him

concrete policy recommendations within a month and vowed to move swiftly to submit them to Congress.

“This is not some Washington commission. This is not something where folks are going to be studying the issue for six months and publishing a report that gets read and then pushed aside. This is a team that has a very specific task to pull together real reforms right now,” Obama said.

Obama himself has done little to rein in America’s gun culture in his four years in office. Gun control has been a low priority for most US politicians due in large part to the clout of the National Rifle Association, the powerful gun industry lobby.

But the Democratic president appears to sense a possible tipping point in Americans’ attitude toward guns after the horror of the Newtown killings, and made clear he will put the issue high on his second-term agenda.

Challenged by one reporter to explain “where have you been” on gun control until now, Obama sternly stared down his questioner, saying: “I’ve been president of the United States dealing with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, an auto industry on the verge of collapse, two wars. I don’t think I’ve been on vacation.”

But he said the Connecticut shooting, just the latest of a string of such incidents on

his watch, “should be a wakeup call for all of us.”

Whatever steps the Biden group comes up with are likely to face some criticism because many Republicans see the US Constitution’s Second Amendment right to bear arms as sweeping and sacrosanct.

Obama also did not mince words about the gun lobby, which has often succeeded in blocking gun legislation but this week said it also wanted to help prevent a repeat of Newtown.

“The NRA is an organization who has members who are mothers and fathers, and I would expect that they’ve been impacted by this, as well. And, hopefully, they’ll do some self- reflection,” he said.

Touting his approach to the fiscal cliff as the best way to prevent tax hikes on the middle class, Obama also bluntly warned Republicans that he would not negotiate with them over raising the national debt ceiling, which will need to happen in the first few months of next year, as leverage for a fiscal deal.

“The idea that we lurch from crisis to crisis, and every six months, or every nine months that we threaten not to pay our bills on stuff we’ve already bought, and default and ruin the full faith and credit of the United States of America, that’s not how you run a great country,” he said.

Friday, December 21, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

14

Showbiz Thousands mourn USMexican singer Oscar-winning director Bigelow’s new offering a controversial one Jenni Rivera

Bin Laden movie Zero Dark Thirty hits America’s screens

By Christine Kearney

By Eric Kelsey

OSCAR-WINNING director Kathryn Bigelow could have made a testosterone-fuelled shoot-’em-up Hollywood version of the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden.

Instead, she and screenwriter Mark Boal turned Zero Dark Thirty into a more complex look at the decade-long hunt for the al Qaeda leader, including a frank presentation of US torture and previously undisclosed details of the mission to hunt down the man behind the September 11 attacks.

When the film opened in limited US release on Wednesday, Bigelow and Boal wanted audiences to disregard a year of controversies, including claims, which they have denied, that the film makers were leaked classified information.

“It’s about a look inside the intelligence community. The strength and power and courage and dedication and tenacity and vulnerability of these women and men,” Bigelow, 61, told Reuters in a joint interview with Boal.

Bigelow won an Academy Award in 2010 for The Hurt Locker, about US army bomb disposal experts in Iraq. She says her latest movie puts the audience at the centre of the quest to find bin Laden, and gives a perspective of the US intelligence community and how its methods changed in the years following the September 11 attacks.

“It’s a controversial topic, it’s a topic that has been endlessly politicised. The film has been mischaracterised for a year and a half and we would love it if people would go and see it and judge for themselves,”

THOUSANDS of mourners on Wednesday packed a Los Angeles theatre to pay their final respects to MexicanAmerican singer Jenni Rivera more than a week after her death in a plane crash.

Rivera, 43, best known for her work in the Mexican folk Nortena and Banda genres, died after the small jet she was travelling in crashed in northern Mexico on December 9.

Rivera’s family, dressed in white, led the memorial service eulogising the singer.

A bank of white roses was displayed in front of Rivera’s bright red coffin and a brass band performed musical interludes.

More than 6,000 people crowded into the theatre about 30 miles north of her childhood home in Long Beach, California. Tickets for the service at the Gibson Amphitheatre sold out within minutes, organizers said.

The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Rivera was called the ‘Diva de la Banda’. She sold about 15 million albums and earned a slew of Latin Grammy nominations during her 17-year career.

“Jenni made it OK for women to be who they are,” her manager Pete Salgado said at the service. “Jenni also made it OK to be from nothing, with the hopes of being something.”

Rivera had five children, the first at age 15, and was married three times. Her third husband was baseball pitcher Esteban Loaiza.

Rivera’s private life influenced her songs, which often referenced living through hardship.

“She’s a fighter and she knows it’s in all of us,” Rivera’s son Michael said between video tributes.

In recent years, Rivera branched out into television, appearing on a reality television show and serving as a judge on the Mexican version of the singing competition The Voice. Television broadcaster ABC was reported to be developing a comedy pilot for the singer.

Rivera’s plane crashed in mountains south of Monterrey killing all seven on board.

The singer was to perform in the city of Toluca, 40 miles southwest of Mexico City, in central Mexico after a concert in Monterrey. It is not clear what caused the crash.

The movie takes a complex look at the decade-long hunt for the al Qaeda leader, including a frank presentation of US torture and previously undisclosed details of the mission to hunt down the man behind the September 11 attacks Boal said.

The action thriller has emerged as an Oscar frontrunner after picking up multiple early awards and nominations from Hollywood groups.

When bin Laden was killed by Navy commandos in May 2011, Bigelow was only months away from shooting a film about the failed bid to find him in the Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan during the US-led invasion a decade earlier.

She quickly revised the project.

Zero Dark Thirty opens not long after the September 11 attacks with graphic scenes of interrogation, including water boarding, sexual humiliation

and a detainee being forced into a box.

It stars Jessica Chastain as a CIA officer called ‘Maya’ who uses intelligence gleaned from brutal interrogations, electronic surveillance and old-fashioned spying to track down bin Laden through his use of couriers.

The opening scenes of torture, which are seen in the movie as yielding both correct and false information from prisoners, have inflamed debate in the United States.

The movie shifts between locations, including secret CIA centres in foreign countries known as Black sites, the Pakistan city of Islamabad and

Camp Chapman, in Khost, Afghanistan. It is not meant to be an accurate depiction of all the players involved in hunting the al Qaeda leader, Bigelow and Boal said.

Instead, it tells the story through the eyes of Maya, fresh-faced and not long in the field, battling security threats, CIA bureaucracy and unsupportive bosses to eventually track bin Laden to his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

“She is based on a real person, and there are other people who also contributed who are not represented, whose work I hope is reflected in her character - it’s a character in

a movie and not a documentary,” Boal said.

Chastain told Reuters in an interview that the woman she portrays is still active. The Washington Post has reported that the agent is now in her thirties, remains undercover and while receiving the agency’s highest medal, was denied a promotion.

Early reviews of the film, which will be released more widely on January 11, have been positive, especially for Bigelow’s sense of pacing and suspense. The Hollywood Reporter said it “could well be the most impressive film Bigelow has made, as well as possibly her most personal.”

Django premiere cancelled Attenborough calls Bjork ‘honey’ after Newtown massacre

By Piya Sinha-Roy THE premiere for Quentin Tarantino’s latest film Django Unchained, a violent spaghetti Western slave revenge tale, was cancelled this week in the wake of the school shooting in Connecticut last Friday, the film’s studio said.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the tragedy in Newtown, CT and in this time of national mourning we have decided to forgo our scheduled event.

However, we will be holding a private screening for the cast and crew and their friends and families,” a spokesperson for The Weinstein Company said in a statement.

Tuesday’s premiere in Los Angeles was scheduled to have a red carpet and party, but was instead a private screening with no media coverage.

The film, which won five Golden Globe nominations last week, stars Jamie Foxx as a slave turned bounty hunter who wreaks revenge on slave plantation owners as he tries to rescue his wife.

It features Tarantino’s trademark style of extensive graphic and bloody violence, along with dark humour, and is due to be released in US movie theatres on Christmas Day. A source at the privately held Weinstein Company told Reuters the cancellation was unrelated to the violence depicted in the movie.

Paramount Pictures cancelled a weekend premiere for Tom Cruise’s new movie Jack Reacher and New York’s Lincoln Centre Film Society postponed a Monday screening after talks with Cruise out of respect for the Newtown families.

Sir David is said to be ‘enchanted’ by the singer

SIR David Attenborough is enchanted by Bjork and calls her “honey”.

The natural history TV presenter struck up a friendship with the It’s Oh So Quiet singer when they filmed a documentary together in which they explore music in nature, entitled Attenborough and Bjork: The Nature of Music, and David admits he finds the Icelandic pop star mesmerising.

David - who admits he can’t pronounce Bjork’s name properly - revealed: “I called her ‘honey’ while filming. She is really quite enchanting.”

The 86-year-old TV star and Bjork, 47, got on so well they worked together on another project with David recording a spoken-word introduction for her album Biophilia, which incorporated live exhibitions and iPad apps.

In the documentary the broadcaster reveals his own passion for music and introduces footage of the lyre bird, reed warbler and blue whale to show the music that exists in the animal kingdom.

The singer was killed in a plane crash

CYPRUS MAIL Friday, December 21, 2012

15

Health

Health

bites

Daylight savings tied to bump in heart attack rates SETTING the clock ahead for daylight savings time may set the scene for a small increase in heart attacks the next day, according to a US study - which suggests that sleep deprivation may be to blame.

Researchers at two hospitals in the US state of Michigan, whose findings appeared in the American Journal of Cardiology, reviewed six years of records and found that they treated an average of 23 heart attacks on the Sunday when the United States switched to daylight savings time.

That compared to 13 on a typical Sunday.

“Nowadays, people are looking for how they can reduce

their risk of heart disease and other ailments,” said Monica Jiddou, the study’s lead author and a cardiologist at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. “Sleep is something we can potentially control. There are plenty of studies that show sleep can affect a person’s health.”

Radio waves ‘lower blood pressure’ ZAPPING kidneys with radio waves can help patients with uncontrollable blood pressure, a study has shown.

The procedure involves burning away nerve tissue around the kidney arteries.

Scientists found that it lowered blood pressure for up to a year in a group of patients whose condition persisted despite taking multiple drugs.

They believe the results could have significant implications for the treatment of resistant hypertension, or high blood pressure.

Hypertension, defined as a blood pressure higher than 140 over 90 millimetres of mercury, is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

Study leader Professor Murray Esler, from the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia, said: “Studies will soon determine whether this procedure

EU seeks an end to ‘attractive’ tobacco branding Plans include ban on menthol and slim cigarettes but the tobacco industry expected to fight proposals

By Charlie Dunmore THE European Union proposed drastic restrictions on tobacco branding this week, saying cigarette packs should reflect the deadly threat posed by smoking.

If approved by EU member states and the European Parliament, the law will mean graphic visual and written warnings take up 75 per cent of the surface of all cigarette packets, leaving 25 per cent or less for the brand.

The European Commission proposed the bill after two years of discussion, a period marked by heavy industry lobbying, the resignation of an EU health commissioner amid cash-for-influence allegations and a break-in at the offices of anti-smoking groups in Brussels.

“The figures speak for themselves: tobacco kills half of its users and is highly addictive,” Health Commissioner Tonio Borg, said in a statement setting out the plans which would also ban slim cigarettes and flavourings such as menthol.

“Consumers must not be cheated. Tobacco products should look and taste like tobacco products, and this proposal ensures that attractive packaging and flavourings are not used as a marketing strategy,” Borg said.

Current EU legislation says health warnings on the front of packs must cover at least 30 per cent.

While the proposals stop short of the completely plain packaging imposed in Australia earlier this month, EU governments will be free to ban all branding if justified on public health grounds. Britain and France are among the countries considering the idea.

can cure mild hypertension, producing permanent drugfree normalisation of blood pressure.

“Based on blood pressure declines achieved, reduction in heart attack and stroke rates of more than 40 per cent is anticipated.”

Squeezing breasts ‘can stop cancer’ A LITTLE squeeze may be all that it takes to prevent malignant breast cells triggering cancer, research has shown.

Laboratory experiments showed that applying physical pressure to the cells guided them back to a normal growth pattern.

Scientists do not envisage fighting breast cancer with a new range of compression bras, but they believe the research provides clues that could lead to new treatments.

“People have known for centuries that physical force can influence our bodies,” said Gautham Venugopalan, a leading member of the research team at the University of California in Berkeley, US. “When we lift weights our muscles get bigger. The force of gravity is essential to keeping our bones strong. Here we show that physical force can play a role in the growth - and reversion - of cancer cells.”

The study involved growing malignant breast epithelial cells within a gel injected into flexible silicone chambers.

Eating meals as family ‘boosts healthy diet’ REGULAR family meals round a table can boost children’s fruit and veg intake, research suggests.

Children in families who eat together every day have an average of one-and-a-half more portions of fruit and vegetables each day than children in families who never eat together.

Researchers from the University of Leeds examined the diets of more than 2,300 primary school children, attending 52 different schools across London.

Parents filled in two forms, one about their children’s dietary intake and a home food diary detailing how often they ate meals together as a family and their own levels of fruit and vegetable consumption.

On average, children ate 293g a day of fruit and vegetables - or 3.7 portions, according to the study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Among the 1,516 children whose parents completed

the home food diaries, those who sometimes ate family meals together ate 95g more fruit and vegetables every day than those who never ate together.

And children who always ate family meals together ate an average of 125g more every day.

“Children in families who stated they ate together every day had one-and-a-half more portions of fruit and vegetables daily than families who reported never eating together,” the authors said.

“Sometimes eating at a table together increased children’s fruit and vegetable consumption by more than a portion.”

They concluded: “The results from this study illustrate a positive public health message for parents, which could improve their own dietary habits and their children’s.

“The key message from this research is for families to eat fruit and vegetables together at a mealtime.”

IVF twin pregnancies prove riskier than two singletons

Companies such as Imperial Tobacco and Philip Morris fear that tougher EU restrictions will set a precedent for similar moves in growth markets such as Asia and Africa.

The industry’s bid to weaken the plans is expected to intensify as EU governments and lawmakers begin the process of finalising the rules, which could take up to two years and might end with an even tougher final version.

Borg’s predecessor as EU health commissioner, fellow Maltese John Dalli, resigned in October following a complaint by snuff producer Swedish Match over an alleged bribery attempt by one of his associates.

Dalli denies the conclusion of an EU investigation that he was aware of a request for €60

million in return for proposing to overturn an EU sales ban on Swedish Match’s main product, a moist oral snuff known as “snus”.

“The complaint was designed to try to push the directive to one side, and maybe to have somebody else in charge who would be more lenient on them,” Dalli told Reuters by telephone.

“But the proposal contains all the relevant policy issues that I was pushing for, including giving member states the possibility to go beyond the requirements in the directive.”

Barely 24 hours after Dalli’s resignation, there was a breakin at the offices of several antitobacco campaign groups who share a building in the EU district of Brussels.

The head of one of the groups, Monika Kosinska of the European Public Health Alliance, said building security officials found evidence that thieves had entered the building via a fifth floor balcony having abseiled down from the roof.

After disabling security motion sensors, the intruders stole laptops belonging to campaigners working on the EU tobacco directive and tried to delete files from a computer server in the office, Kosinska said. Police have not identified any suspects.

A total of 576 billion cigarettes were sold in the EU last year, a fall of more than 100 billion since 2007, consultants KPMG said in a report for Philip Morris in June.

HAVING twins as a result of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) carries higher risks of complications for both mother and babies than having two single babies from separate IVF procedures, according to a Swedish study.

The extra concerns that come with multiple births are nothing new. But even as many fertility clinics have stopped regularly transferring more than one embryo, debate has continued over whether having twins through IVF is really a bad thing for couples desperate for children.

“The neonatal and maternal outcomes were dramatically better for women undergoing two IVF singleton pregnancies compared with one IVF twin pregnancy after double-embryo transfer,” wrote researcher Antonina Sazonova in the journal Fertility and Sterility.

“These results support single-embryo transfer to minimise the risks associated with twin pregnancies,” added Sazonova of Sahlg-

renska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The researchers analysed data from fresh and frozen embryo transfers done at Swedish IVF clinics between 2002 and 2006. Those records included 991 women who ultimately gave birth to twins after a double embryo transfer and 921 mothers with two children born through separate rounds of IVF. Almost 47 per cent of twin babies were born prematurely and 39 per cent were considered low birth weight, the team reported. That compared to the seven per cent of singleton babies that were preemies and less than five per cent born small.

Twins were also more likely to have breathing complications, sepsis or jaundice.

Their mothers had two to three times more preeclampsia - high blood pressure and protein in the urine - and were four times more likely to need a C-section than women who had two single births.

16

CYPRUS MAIL Friday

Film ES SUMMARIES Wreck-It Ralph (See page opposite) Our rating:

Life of Pi (See page opposite) Our rating:

Arbitrage (See page opposite) Our rating:

Zarafa (See page opposite) Our rating: N/A

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey A hobbit named Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) is swept into a quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug.

Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior Thorin Oakenshield. Their journey will take them into the Wild, through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.

Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever … Gollum. Also starring Richard Armitage and Andy Serkis. Directed by Peter Jackson.

In English, with occasional dialogue in made-up languages with Greek subtitles. In 3D. (Adventure fantasy, 169 mins.)

Our rating:

Seven Psychopaths Irish screenwriter Marty Faranan (Colin Farrell) has come down with a bad case of writer’s block.

He has the title for his next script, ‘Seven Psychopaths’, but is struggling to write it. Billy (Sam Rockwell) is Marty’s best friend, an unemployed actor and part-time dog-napper, who wants to help Marty by any means necessary.

Hans (Christopher Walken) is Billy’s partner in crime; they snatch dogs, Seven Psychopaths

then return them and claim the reward – but they get in trouble when they dog-nap Bonny the Shih tzu, whose owner Charlie (Woody Harrelson) is a psychopathic gangster. Now Marty’s going to get all the inspiration he needs for his subject matter – as long as he lives to tell the tale. Also starring Abbie Cornish and Tom Waits. Directed by Martin McDonagh. (Dark comedy, 110 mins.)

Our rating:

Lawless Life of Pi

Shadow Dancer Single mother Collette McVeigh (Andrea Riseborough) is a Republican living in 1993 Belfast with her mother and hardliner IRA brothers. When she’s arrested for her part in an aborted IRA bomb plot in London, an M15 officer called Mac (Clive Owen) offers her a choice: lose everything and go to prison for 25 years, or return to Belfast to spy on her own family.

With her son’s life in her hands, Collette chooses to place her trust in Mac and return home. But when her brothers’ secret operation is ambushed, suspicions of an informant are raised and Collette finds herself and her family in grave danger. Also starring Gillian Anderson. Directed by James Marsh. (Drama, 101 mins.)

Our rating:

Hotel Transylvania Welcome to the Hotel Transylvania, Dracula’s lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up, free to be the monsters they are without humans to bother them. It’s a special weekend and Dracula has invited some of his best friends – Frankenstein and his wife, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, the Werewolf family and many more – to celebrate his beloved daughter Mavis’ 118th birthday. For good old Drac, catering to all of these legendary monsters is no problem; but everything could change for the over-protective dad when one ordinary human guy stumbles on the hotel and takes a shine to Mavis.

Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky. In 3D. DUBBED INTO GREEK. (Cartoon comedy, 91 mins.)

Our rating:

Lawless It’s 1930, and America is in the grip of Prohibition. The Bondurant brothers, timid Jack (Shia LaBeouf), tough-as-nails Forrest (Tom Hardy), and psychotic Howard (Jason Clarke), are bootleggers, making ‘moonshine’ whisky which they sell to friends and neighbours – including the local sheriff – in Franklin County, Virginia. Their livelihood is threatened by the arrival of Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce), a ‘special deputy’ from Chicago who has come to Virginia to stop those who violate the law of the land.

What that means is that those who pay a fee are allowed to continue bootlegging while those who don’t are shut down, often by force.

The Bondurants refuse to give in to Rakes, and their stubbornness Rise of the Guardians instigates a war.

Also starring Jessica Chastain, Gary Oldman and Mia Wasikowska. Directed by John Hillcoat. (Crime drama, 116 mins.)

Our rating:

Rise of the Guardians Jack Frost (voice of Chris Pine) is chosen to join an elite group of superheroes – the so-called ‘Guardians’, namely Santa Claus (voice of Alec Baldwin), the Easter Bunny (voice of Hugh Jackman),

the Tooth Fairy (voice of Isla Fisher) and the Sandman, whose job is to protect children everywhere. Jack is an unwilling hero; he’d prefer to roam the world on his own, freezing ponds and causing snow days – but the world’s children are threatened by Pitch (voice of Jude Law), a.k.a. The Boogie Man, who wants to turn dreams into nightmares and banish belief in Santa, Bunny, and Tooth. Jack reluctantly agrees to help and, in the process, discovers the true hero within. Directed by Peter Ramsey. In 3D. (Cartoon adventure, 97 mins.)

Our rating:

Istanbul. Mills enlists his daughter to help them escape. Directed by Olivier Megaton. (Action-thriller, 92 mins.)

Our rating:

Skyfall A hard-drive listing all NATO operatives undercover in terrorist organisations is stolen, and used to make M (Judi Dench), the head of British Intelligence, look bad.

Though not in peak condition

after a near-death experience, secret agent James Bond (Daniel Craig) sets out to recover the drive, which leads him to mystery man Silva (Javier Bardem) – a psycho who’s nursing a grudge, and has a revenge scheme in mind. Also starring Naomie Harris, Ralph Fiennes and Albert Finney.

Directed by Sam Mendes. (Actiondrama, 143 mins.)

Our rating:

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 Bella (Kristen Stewart) is enjoying her new life and new powers after the birth of Renesmee, her daughter with vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson).

Soon, however, their family bliss is threatened again, by a new menace. The vampire Irina (Maggie Grace) believes a child like Renesmee could challenge the power and existence of the Volturi. As Irina rallies the Volturi to destroy this potential threat, Bella and the Cullens – together with any allies they can assemble – prepare for a crucial battle to protect their family. Also starring Taylor Lautner and Billy Burke.

Directed by Bill Condon. (Fantasy drama, 115 mins.)

Our rating:

Taken 2 Four years ago, retired CIA agent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) stopped at nothing to save his 17-year-old daughter Kim (Maggie Grace), kidnapped in Paris by Albanian kidnappers to be sold into prostitution. Murad (Rade Serbedzija), the father of one of the kidnappers killed by Mills in that operation, has sworn revenge, and takes Mills and his wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) hostage during their family vacation in

Wreck-It Ralph

Seven S Se eve eve ven en Psychopaths Psyc Ps sy yc cho hopa path ths ths

y, December 21, 2012

17 For full cinema listings see page 14

Television

20

Crossword

21 28-32

Sport

NEW FILMS Life of Pi Directed by: Ang Lee Starring: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Gerard Depardieu US 2012, 127 mins.

In 3D. In English, plus occasional dialogue in Tamil and French with Greek subtitles.

Showing from today at the K-Cineplex and K-Cineplex (Mall of Cyprus) in Nicosia, the Rio and K-Cineplex in Limassol, the K-Cineplex in Larnaca and the Orasis in Paphos.

THE PLOT Growing up in Pondicherry, India during the 1970s, Piscine, known to all as Pi (played as a teenager by Suraj Sharma, as an adult by Irrfan Khan), has a rich life. His father owns a zoo, and Pi spends his days among tigers, zebras, hippos, and other creatures. But after Pi attempts to befriend a Bengal tiger, named Richard Parker, the young boy learns a harsh lesson from his father about the relationship between human and beast.

As circumstances worsen for them, the family decides to move to Canada, hitching a ride on a Japanese cargo ship – but Pi soon finds himself in the company of a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and Richard Parker after a shipwreck sets them adrift in the Pacific Ocean.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID Pro: “We should probably stop deeming any book ‘unfilmable’

… From now on, let’s just trust that a sufficiently and necessarily peculiar mind can draw a visual story out of any novel. There are several things about Yann Martel’s Life Of Pi that suggest it couldn’t be realised on screen: it’s largely set on a small boat adrift in the ocean, inhabited only by a young man and a tiger ...well, really, do you need further reasons? It requires a tiger that will follow direction and a way of making bobbing about in water interesting for close to two hours, with only one person speaking. Actually, what it needs is Ang Lee, who makes this enormously complicated film look like the simplest thing in the world…

“Life Of Pi exists on the bleeding edge of technology and every penny of its budget is on screen, yet it isn’t a film from which you’re likely to take memories of a single money shot or sequence.

There’s too much going on to separate isolated moments; it’s all impressive pieces in a unified puzzle … To produce a coherent film from Martel’s tricky novel would be achievement enough, but Ang Lee has extracted something beautiful, wise and, at times, miraculous.”

Olly Richards, Empire (UK)

Arbitrage Directed by: Nicholas Jarecki Starring: Richard Gere, Tim Roth, Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling US 2012, 107 mins.

Showing from today at the KCineplex and K-Cineplex (Mall of Cyprus) in Nicosia, the Rio and K-Cineplex in Limassol, the K-Cineplex in Larnaca and the Orasis in Paphos.

THE PLOT On his 60th birthday, New York hedge-fund magnate Robert Miller (Richard Gere) is the very picture of a successful businessman.

Behind the façade of success and wealth, however, Miller is desperately trying to complete the sale of his trading empire to a major bank before the enormity of his fraud is exposed.

Struggling to conceal his duplicity from loyal wife Ellen (Susan Sarandon) and brilliant daughter and heir-apparent Brooke (Brit Marling), Miller is also hiding an affair with French artdealer Julie (Laetitia Casta). Just as he’s about to unload his troubled empire, an unexpected bloody error forces him to juggle family, business and crime – but a cop (Tim Roth) is on his case.

Arbitrage

Step Up 4

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID Pro: “For all his leading man looks, Richard Gere has always been an uncomfortable presence onscreen: confident, sure, but strangely tense … Writer-director Nicholas Jarecki puts the veteran actor to brilliant use in the insanely gripping Arbitrage, a drama about the manic, desperate calculations beneath the successful, seemingly calm veneer of a Wall Street bigwig standing on the precipice of total personal and financial ruin…

“There are holes in the plot, to be sure, but somehow we don’t mind, because for all the unbearable tension of Jarecki’s script, the central attraction here is the man in the arena: Gere has been a punchline so often that it’s kind of startling when he gets a chance to really act. Which is to say: Here he gets to show real desperation instead of just doing that Richard Gere thing where he sticks out his jaw and breathes really deeply.”

Bilge Ebiri, New York (US) Anti: “Arbitrage is a decent enough way to spend your time compared to, say, waiting on line at the grocery story. But why grade on a curve? Every episode of Law & Order I’ve ever seen has a more complicated and plausible plot, punchier dialogue and more New York authenticity, all in less than half the time consumed by this poky would-be finance thriller.

And as for that so-called Oscar buzz for Mr. Gere, allow me to apply a little buzzicidal ointment. Clint Eastwood’s chair has a better shot at an Oscar nomination. So-so actors don’t get nominated for forgettable movies.”

Kyle Smith, New York Post

Zarafa

(US)

Zarafa Directed by: Remi Bezancon & Jean-Christophe Lie Dubbed into Greek.

In 3D. France 2012, 78 mins.

Showing from today at the Rio in Limassol and Paphos.

at times abstract touch (especially during the Egypt-set sequences). Such a style does the film’s heartfelt message justice, turning the straightforward story of a boy and his giraffe into an easily accessible indictment of France’s shadowy past.”

Jordan Mintzner, Hollywood Reporter (US)

THE PLOT A grandfather tells his grandchildren the story of Maki, a young boy who escapes from slave traders, befriends a giraffe (the title character), crosses the desert, meets a pirate, and a few other things on a trip that takes him from Africa to Paris.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID Pro: “A colourfully compelling kids’ flick with darker historical undertones, [this is] a broadly appealing tale about an escaped slave boy and the giraffe he befriends during his long trek from Africa to France…

“Using a wide-ranging colour palette that shifts from the warmer hues of the Sahara desert to the colder, sadder blues and grays of old-time Paris, Lie and his team provide a pared-down animation technique that recalls classic Disney, albeit with a rougher,

Wreck-It Ralph Directed by: Rich Moore Dubbed into Greek.

In 3D. US 2012, 101 mins.

Showing from Tuesday at the K-Cineplex and K-Cineplex (Mall of Cyprus) in Nicosia, the Rio and K-Cineplex in Limassol, the K-Cineplex in Larnaca and the Rio in Paphos.

THE PLOT Wreck-It Ralph is a videogame villain who longs to be as beloved as his game’s perfect hero, Fix-It Felix. Problem is, nobody loves a villain. Ralph somehow needs to transform himself into a hero – so he sneaks into a first-personshooter war game, planning to win a medal, but soon wrecks everything, accidentally unleashing a deadly enemy that threatens every game in the arcade. Ralph’s only hope?

Vanellope von Schweetz, a

young troublemaking “glitch” from a saccharine cart-racing game who might just be the one to teach Ralph what it means to be a Good Guy. WHAT THE CRITICS SAID Pro: “It’s not just the joystick junkie in me that admires Wreck-It Ralph, Disney’s wacky new comic adventure with a lovable lug of a video game character at its centre. The movie’s subversive sensibility and oldschool/new-school feel are a total kick.

“Its 3-D animation antics are coloured by an ‘80s-era arcade look that is retro deluxe, while its antihero’s destructive tendencies have him working a very au courant 12-step programme…

“More culturally connected and a tad racier than we usually see in the Disney brand, Wreck-It Ralph does a terrific job of providing enough oomph and aaaahs for adults and plenty of giggles for kids inside its artfully wrapped animation package. Whether the presence of Pixar’s John Lasseter at the studio’s animation helm or the new kids on the filmmaking block are responsible, the film blows in like a fresh 21st century breeze.”

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times (US)

Friday, December 21, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

18

What’s on

films

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

NICOSIA Life of Pi (K) K-Cineplex (Screen 4) at 5.30, 7.50 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3.10pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 4) at 5.30, 7.50 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 11.30am and 3.10pm.

Tel: 7777-8383 Arbitrage (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 3) at 7.50 and 10.20pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 3) at 7.50 and 10.20pm. Tel: 7777-8383 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 1) at 7 and 10.15pm; K-Cineplex (Screen 2) at 5.05 and 8.15pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 1) at 7 and 10.15pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 2) at 5.05 and 8.15pm, weekends also at 11.30am. Tel: 7777-8383 Seven Psychopaths (18) K-Cineplex (Screen 6) at 10.20pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 5) at 10.20pm.

Tel: 7777-8383 Hotel Transylvania (K) K-Cineplex (Screen 1) (in Greek, in 3D) at 5.10pm (till Monday), weekends also at 3.20pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 1) (in Greek, in 3D) at 5.10pm (till Monday), weekends also at 11.30am, 1.30pm and 3.20pm. Tel: 7777-8383

Lawless (15) K-Cineplex (Screen 6) at 7.50pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Rise of the Guardians (K) K-Cineplex (Screen 3) (in Greek, in 2D) at 5.30pm (till Monday), weekends also at 3.25pm; K-Cineplex (Screen 1) (in Greek, in 2D) at 5.05pm (from Tuesday); K-Cineplex (Screen 5) (in English, in 2D) at 5.30pm, weekends also at 3.25pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 3) (in Greek, in 2D) at 5.30pm (till Monday), weekends also at 11.20am, 1.15pm and 3.10pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 1) (in Greek, in 2D) at 5.05pm (from Tuesday); K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 5) (in English, in 2D) at 5.30pm, weekends also at 11.20am, 1.20pm and 3.25pm.

Tel: 7777-8383 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 5) at 5.35, 7.45 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3.20pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 5) at 7.45pm.

Tel: 7777-8383 Windfall in Athens (in Greek, call for details of subtitles) Eirini Hall (Peace Room) at 7.30pm. Tel: 99-434923 Roads and Oranges (in Greek, call for details of subtitles) Eirini Hall (Peace Room) at 9pm. Tel: 99-434923

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

LIMASSOL Life of Pi (K) Rio 1 at 5.30, 8 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3pm. Tel: 25-871410; K-Cineplex (Screen 4) at 5.30, 7.50 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3.10pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Arbitrage (12) Rio 2 at 10.50pm; Rio 3 at 7.45pm, weekends at 8pm, from Tuesday at 8.10pm. Tel: 25-871410; K-Cineplex (Screen 3) at 7.50 and 10.20pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Zarafa (K) Rio 2 (in Greek) at 3pm (weekends only), 4.30pm (from tomorrow) and 6pm. Tel: 25871410 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (12) Rio 2 at 7.45pm; Rio 3, till Monday at 10pm, from Tuesday at 10.10pm. Tel: 25-871410; K-Cineplex (Screen 1) at 7 and 10.15pm; K-Cineplex (Screen 2) at 5.05 and 8.15pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Seven Psychopaths (18) Rio 4, weekends at 8.20 and 10.10pm, Monday at 7.45 and 10pm, from Tuesday at 8.10 and 10.10pm. Tel: 25-871410

Hotel Transylvania (K) Rio 3 (in Greek, in 3D), till Monday at 4.30 and 6pm (weekends at 6.15pm). Tel: 25-871410; K-Cineplex (Screen 1) (in Greek, in 3D) at 5.10pm (till Monday), weekends also at 3.20pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Lawless (15) Rio 5 at 10.05pm. Tel: 25-871410 Rise of the Guardians (K) Rio 4 (in English, in 2D), till Monday at 3pm (weekends only), 4.50 and 6.35pm, from Tuesday at 4.30 and 6.20pm; Rio 3 (in Greek, in 3D), weekends at 2.50pm only. Tel: 25-871410; K-Cineplex (Screen 3) (in Greek, in 2D) at 5.30pm (till Monday), weekends also at 3.25pm; KCineplex (Screen 1) (in Greek, in 2D) at 5.30pm (from Tuesday); K-Cineplex (Screen 5) (in English, in 2D) at 5.30pm, weekends also at 3.25pm. Tel: 7777-8383 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (12) Rio 5 at 5.30pm (from tomorrow) and 7.45pm. Tel: 25-871410; K-Cineplex (Screen 5) at 7.45 and 10.15pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Taken 2 (12) Rio 6 at 5.40 and 7.45pm. Tel: 25-871410

Shadow Dancer (12) Rio 6 at 10.10pm. Tel: 25-871410

LARNACA Life of Pi (K) K-Cineplex (Screen 4) at 5.30, 7.50 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3.10pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Arbitrage (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 3) at 7.50 and 10.20pm. Tel: 7777-8383 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 1) at 7 and 10.15pm; K-Cineplex (Screen 2) at 5.05 and 8.15pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Seven Psychopaths (18) K-Cineplex (Screen 6) at 10.20pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Hotel Transylvania (K) K-Cineplex (Screen 1) (in Greek, in 3D) at 5.10pm (till Monday), weekends also at 3.20pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Lawless (15) K-Cineplex (Screen 6) at 7.50pm. Tel: 7777-8383 Rise of the Guardians (K) K-Cineplex (Screen 3) (in Greek, in 2D) at 5.30pm (till Monday), weekends also at 3.25pm; K-Cineplex (Screen 1) (in Greek, in 2D) at 5.05pm (from Tuesday); K-Cineplex (Screen 5) (in English, in 2D) at 5.30pm, weekends also at 3.25pm. Tel: 7777-8383

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 5) at 5.35, 7.45 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3.20pm. Tel: 7777-8383

PAPHOS Life of Pi (K) Rio 3 at 5.30pm, weekends also at 3pm; Rio 7 at 7.30pm; Rio 1 at 10.30pm. Tel: 26-207000 Arbitrage (12) Rio 6 at 8.30 and 10.30pm. Tel: 26-207000 Zarafa (K) Rio 5 (in Greek) at 6pm, weekends and Monday at 11am, 3, 4.45 and 6.30pm, from Tuesday at 5 and 6.30pm. Tel: 26-207000 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (12) Rio 1 at 7.30pm, weekends also at 11am and 4pm; Rio 6, weekdays only at 5.30pm; Rio 7 at 9.45pm. Tel: 26-207000 Seven Psychopaths (18) Rio 4 at 7.30 and 9.45pm. Tel: 26-207000 Hotel Transylvania (K) Rio 1 (in Greek, in 3D), weekdays only at 5.30pm; Rio 6 (in Greek, in 3D), till Monday at 11am, 2.40, 4.30 and 6.20pm.

Tel: 26-207000

listings Today Exhibitions Loizos M. Loizou Solo painting exhibition. Opens December 21, 6.30pm until January 21.

Vladimiros Kafkarides Cultural Centre, 11-15 Vladimiros Kafkarides Street, Aglantzia, Nicosia. 10am-1pm & 6pm8.30pm. Tel: 22-312940/22-421609

Theatre Spring Awakening THOC presents work by Frank Wedekind, directed by Dimitris Lignadis.

December 21 until January 26. THOC New Theatre Building, 9 Gregori Afxentiou, Nicosia. Every Wednesday through Sunday at 8.30pm. In Greek.

Tel: 77-772717/22-864300

Tomorrow

Music Markus Schulz Smirnoff Midnight Circus presents German trance music DJ Markus Schulz.

Special Guest: Jaz Von D. Warm Up: Andy Von Emmanouel. December 21.

Royal Hall, 29 Xanthis Xenierou Street, Nicosia. 11pm. €10. Tel: 22-375984 Alice in Dreamland The Cyprus Opera Organisation presents a musical inspired by the novel of Lewis Caroll, with music and scenario by the famous Bulgarian composer Lyubomir Denev. December 21.

Vladimiros Kafkarides Cultural Centre, 11-15 Vladimiros Kafkarides Street, Aglantzia, Nicosia. €10/5 kids 8 years and under. In Greek. Tel: 22-312940

Music Alice in Dreamland The Cyprus Opera Organisation presents a musical inspired by the novel of Lewis Caroll, with music and scenario by the famous Bulgarian composer Lyubomir Denev. December 22. Larnaca Municipal Theatre. €10/5 kids 8 years and under. In Greek. Tel: 24-665795 Above and Beyond DJ trio arriving in Cyprus for a special Christmas performance. December 22. Pavilion, Lakatameia. 9.30pm. €22. Tickets available Nicosia: Octagono Kiosk, Café Caprice and The Mall Kiosk. Limassol: Musical Paradise, Brent Cross – Anexartisias.

Larnaca: Amalfi Café. Paphos: Calypso Music Store. Tel: 22-322222

Trio Tekke Local group live in concert. December 22. WhereHaus 612, 5 M5 Michael Kousoulide, Pallouriotissa Industrial Area, Nicosia. 9pm. €10.

Tel: 99-188248

Theatre A Play about... Trash The theatre group Point To, in collaboration with Scarabeo Lounge Bar, presents the comedy directed by Evagelia Onoufriou. December 22 & 29 and 5, 12, 19, 26 January 2013.

Scarabeo Bar, 4 Nikokreontos Street, Nicosia. 9.30pm. €10. In Greek. Tel: 99-935777/99-740773 Gourouniasmata Silver Spotlight presents the new musical for children by Katerina Christofidou and Aigli Spyridaki. December 22-23. Melina Merkouri Hall, Famagusta Gate, old Nicosia.11am. €10. In Greek. Tel: 97-876760

Ongoing Other Events First International Christmas Fair Includes a wide range of events and concerts for families and children.

December 14-Janaury 1. Christmas Fair, Sea Road, Between McDonalds and Pascucci Café, Yermasoyia. All day event. Tel: 97-745594

7 films: Harun Farocki A selection of screenings by legendary German filmmaker, critic and teacher followed by discussion and talk with the artist. Within the framework of the opening ceremony of a new contemporary art centre. Until February 15. Point Centre for Contemporary Art Megaron Hadjisavva, 2 Evagorou Street, Nicosia.

Every Wednesday through Sunday from 11am-5pm. Tel: 22-662053. info@ pointcentreforcontemporaryart.com Bidoun Library A mobile library consisting of books, magazines and other printed matter about the Middle East. Within the framework of the opening ceremony of a new contemporary art centre. Until February 15. Point Centre for Contemporary Art Megaron Hadjisavva, 2 Evagorou Street, Nicosia. Tel: 22-662053

Theatre

Shakespeare in an Hour Pirasmos Productions presents theatrical comedy. Until December 23. Pantheon Art Cinema, 29 Diagorou Street, Nicosia. Thursday through Sunday at 8.30pm. In Greek. Tel: 70-001910 Misery Stephen King’s psychological thriller staged by Satiriko Theatre. Every Friday and Saturday. Until December 29.

Vladimiros Kafkarides Cultural Centre, 11-15 Vladimiros Kafkarides Street, Aglantzia. Every Friday at 8.30pm and Saturday at 11pm. In Greek. Tel: 22312940/22-421609.

Just Broken Up Act Theatre presents play by Vassilis Myrianthopoulos & Vangelis Hatzinikolaou.

Until January 6. Latsia Municipal Theatre, 57 Yiannos Kranidiotis Avenue, Nicosia.

On specific days at 8.30pm and 6pm on Sundays. €20. Tel: 77-777181

Death and the Maiden Satiriko Theatro presents play by Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman. Until December 21. Vladimiros Kafkarides Cultural Centre, 11-15 Vladimiros, Kafkarides Street, Aglantzia, Nicosia.

Every Wednesday and Friday at 8.30pm.

In Greek. Tel: 22-312940/22-421609

The Elephant Man Theatro Ena presents a play by Bernard Pomerance, translated and directed by Andreas Christodoulides.

Until January 27. Theatro Ena, 4 Athinas Avenue, Nicosia. Every Friday through Sunday at 8.30pm. In Greek. €15/12. Tel: 22-348203

11:16 Anemona Theatre presents a mystery

by C. G. Wilson. Until December 23. Anemona Theatre, 7 Archagelou Street, Latsia, Nicosia. Every Friday and Saturday at 8.30pm and Sunday at 8pm. In Greek. €10. Tel: 22-573031

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

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

Exhibitions Each Scarf Tells the Story of a Missing Person Exhibition of scarves embroidered by the relatives of missing persons in Mexico. Until December 21. the Cyprus Community Media Centre (CCMC), next to the Ledra Palace Hotel, Nicosia Buffer zone Alexandros G. Michaelides Solo painting exhibition. Until December 21. Blob Creative Space, Arch Makariou, City Plaza, Second Floor, Nicosia, Monday-Saturday: 2pm-7pm.

Tel: 99-657277 Giorgos Kostonis Solo painting exhibition. Until December 22. Intercollege, 52 Famagusta Avenue, Larnaca Road. Monday-Friday: 10am-7pm. Tel: 24-747500 Dialogues Group exhibition by the academic staff and associates of Aigaia School of Art and Design. Until December 22. Aigaia School of Art and Design, 81 Agion Omologiton Avenue, Nicosia. MondayFriday: 9am-1pm & 4pm-8pm. Saturday: 4pm-8pm. Tel: 22-445757 Angel of Christmas Solo painting exhibition by Andreas Karayian. Until December 22. Apocalypse Gallery, 30 Chytron Street, Nicosia. Monday- Friday: 10.30am-1pm and 5pm-8pm. Saturday: 10.30am-1pm. Tel: 22-766655

CYPRUS MAIL Friday, December 21, 2012

19 To have your event included for FREE in our listings, send details to: Arts Editor, Cyprus Mail, PO Box 21144, Nicosia. Fax: 22-676385.

Email: whatson@cyprus-mail.com Please send your information as early as possible. Include full details, a contact number and good quality photos

Looking Ahead Music Loop the music loop THE New Year will bring music fans something to look forward to: the second Lefkosia Loop Festival.

Organised by the Indie record label Louvana Records, at the Melina Merkouri Hall on January 5 & 6, the festival aims to break new ground on the local music scene with a varied range of high-quality musical performances based on the live looping technique.

Like last year’s festival, it will host artists from Cyprus and abroad who are working with live looping and similar techniques to create music in a live context. As technology advances, more and more artists are using live sampling to expand their sound. If you’re not familiar with the concept, live looping is the process of recording samples of sounds and having them play back in a loop.

In a nutshell, with a quick push of a button or pedal, a performer can record a brief clip that can then be played back indefinitely.

Throughout the course of a song, musicians can add or erase elements at will, navigating a diverse mix of background vocals, guitar riffs, percussion and more, thus producing rich tapestries of sounds.

From Greece, cellist Yiorgos Kaloudis will perform pieces from his two personal albums, and the double-bassist/composer Michalis Siganidis will present his debut performance of Doc-Fic-O, a solo set using tape, double-bass, guitar and vocals. For the second year in a row, the festival is hosting Sancho 003 (Fotis Siotas and Kostas Pantelis), presenting pieces from their second album called Muzga. From London we have Mo Kolours, a half Mauritian, half English, half percussionist, half beatmaker who dropped his first EP, Drum Talking, in May 2011.

The festival wouldn’t be complete without a few Cypriot acts, this time round they come in the guise of Plain History, Acapella Solo Loop and M.Edo, all three of whom are brand new artists.

Look out for Giannis Koutis who will be presenting his Stand Alone Project and live action painter Raissa Angeli, who will be accompanying some of the acts on stage. Also on the scene Leontios Toumbouris and Lito Kattou will present their latest video and last but not least, Arampas will be present an audio-visual project called Robot.

Nicosia Loop Festival Music festival with a host of local and foreign bands and artists with live looping and similar techniques to create music in a live context.

January 5 & 6. Melina Merkouri Hall, Famagusta Gate, Athina Avenue, Nicosia. 7.30pm. email: culturalservice@nicosiamunicipality. org.cy. Tel: 22-797650/70-007610

The Da Vinci machine code PEER into the mind of one of the most revered and dynamic minds of all time: Leonardo Da Vinci. While best known as an artist, da Vinci is also “the original Renaissance man,” a man ahead of his time with a diverse range of talents and skills.

His work covered numerous fields: from physics to anatomy and from mechanics to astronomy, and coming up in the new year it’s Da Vinci’s genius as an inventor that will be showcased in a must see exhibition.

Locals and visitors to Limassol will have the opportunity to be awed and inspired by the innovative thinking of da Vinci. From January 3 to February 28 the Evagoras Lanitis Centre will host the world-touring exhibition: Da Vinci Machines – An Exhibition of Genius, organised by the FBME Bank in Cyprus as part of its 30 year anniversary.

The exhibition brings together more than 60 interactive machines (many of which are scale models and some are life size), based on original 500-year-old concepts.

These machines have been constructed over a number of years by a team of Florentine artisans from the Niccolai Teknoart SNC (Firenze) group.

These artisans, who relied on Da Vinci’s drawings and designs, painstakingly brought to life the machines with the greatg only y materials est attention to detail, using of the period – wood, cotton, brass, iron mputers were used to calcuand cord. Computers late the exact scale and proportion of each ally, model and, finally, a great deal off skill lved has been involved he sein identifying the coys cret clues, decoys ns and encryptions planted by Da Vince to avoid g others copying his ideas.

The machines are

grouped in themes: war machines, flying nd hydraulic mamachines, nautical and ces chines as well as devices illustrating Principles of Mechanics. Youngsters and adults alike are fully encoure aged to check out the cestor air screw, an early ancestor to both the helicopter and the propeller beanie, and learn the secrets al lion, a robotic lion behind the mechanical given as a gift to the king of France.

Even though the exhibition doesn’t include any of Da Vinci’s original pieces, the impact of his work is unprecedented, because the viewer can get closer to the pieces in the show than to actual works that would be protected behind glass.

The interactive aspect of the exhibit is an unparalleled opportunity for people to learn how some of the inventor’s basic machines work. From scuba to submarines, from the first machine gun to a design for a canal system for irrigation, one can gain invaluable insight into their functionality and accompanying explanatory notes, illustrative panels, and computer programmes help modern minds obtain further understanding of Da Vinci’s wide-reaching genius.

The exhibition will also include 15 high q y reproduction p quality artworks of some of his most famous paintings including the Vitruvian Man, the Last Supper and But the climax of The Annunciation. But, the show is in the Sec Secrets of Mona Lisa portion. In this section, the exhibition presents the insigh insights of French scie scientific engineer Pa Pascal Cotte, who

was allowed by the French government and the Louvre m museum to take the pa painting off the wall and away from its frame and sscientifically analyse it with hig high-tech cameras. The exhibition rev reveals the findings of the recent scie scientific research includana ing x-ray analyses. th exhibit moves far In addition the beyond machine inventions alone, featuring facsimiles of Da Vinci’s most famous codices, anatomical studies, Anghiari battle drawings and Renaissance art.

The Codices are rare, limited edition collections that reproduce the surviving manuscripts of Da Vinci’s notes. The copies of the codices together with animated computer programmes enhance the scientific, cultural and educational experience of each exhibit. Also featured are giant art panels, computer animations and film screenings.

Keep in mind that special educational guided tours, addressed to children of all grades, and guided tours for groups over 10 people by experienced tour guides will also be available. It’s also worth noting that all proceeds from the exhibition will go towards the Archbishop Makarios III Hospital for Children.

Da Vinci Machines – An exhibition of Genius Exhibition displaying more than 60 interactive machines from Da Vinci original drawings, 15 high quality reproduction artworks, giant art panels and rare copies of Leonardo codices.

Opens January 3, until February 28. Evagoras Lanitis Centre, Vasilissis Street, (Medieval Castle Area), Limassol. Weekdays: 10am-8pm. WeekLeonardo Da Vinci’s ends: 10am-9pm. €3/25. Tel: 25-342123. www. davincimachinescyprus.com machines: bicycle (left) and (top right) a flying machine

By Ledha Socratous

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

Friday, December 21, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

20

Television CYBC 1 06.45 08.15 11.00 11.30

Proti Enimerosi Kali Sas Mera Kaftes Piperies (rpt) Istories Tou Horkou (rpt)

CYBC 2 07.00 08.00 16.30 17.00

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

12.00

Apo Mera Se Mera Current affairs programme.

15.30 16.00 18.00 18.15

Entehnos Mazi Sto CyBC News Kaftes Piperies

18.45

Paizoume Kypriaka

18.00 18.50 19.00 19.10

19.20

20.10 21.00

Moiraia Fengaria

News Patates 8 Local satirical show, using comedy sketches and embarrassing TV clips to skewer local politicians.

22.00

22.30

Greek FILM: Ti 30, Ti 40, Ti 50

00.15 00.45

News Moiraia Fengaria (rpt) Entehnos Repeats

07.50 08.40

Biz/Emeis News In English News In Turkish UEFA Euro 50 Classic Matches (rpt)

09.30 10.25 12.10 13.00 13.20 14.00

NRG Zone FILM: November Christmas

23.20 00.00

14.50 15.45 17.40

Glastonbury Festival (rpt) More Repeats

Erotas (rpt) Proini Enimerosi Me Agapi Deliyianneio Parthenagogeio (rpt) Englimata (rpt) Lyke, Lyke Eisai Edo (rpt) FTHIS Panselinos (rpt) Niose Me (rpt) News Mera Mesimeri Konstantinou Kai Elenis (rpt) To Kafe Tis Haras (rpt) Oneiropagida (rpt) Aiyia Fuxia (rpt) Local smash-hit comedy series, with village setting. Interrupted by News at 18.00.

19.30 20.15 21.30

Niose Me News Dancing With The Stars

MEGA 06.15

15.00 16.00

Emeis Ki Emeis (rpt) Diktiotheite Kai Exelihtheite Koinonia Ora Mega Nea Mera Proino Mou Enimerosi Tora Kelmmena Oneira (rpt) Eheis Meson Yia Sena

18.00 18.10

News Master Chef

06.40 07.00 08.00 10.00 12.45 14.00

Local talk-show.

Greek reality competition show where amatuer chefs compete against each other in weekly challenges.

19.20

00.10 00.15 00.30 01.40 02.30 03.20 04.40

News Sports News Ola Bahalo Fetos Synora Agapis (rpt) I Agapi Irthe Apo Makria (rpt) News Deal (rpt)

Eftyhismenoi Mazi (rpt)

SIGMA 06.10 07.00 08.20 10.20 11.10 12.00 14.20 15.20 18.00 18.05 18.30 19.30 20.20 21.20 22.20

Greek comedy series.

20.20 21.15 22.10 23.10

00.00 00.50 01.30 03.30 04.20

News I Apli Methodos Ton Trion (rpt) Yia Sena (rpt) Enimerosi Tora (rpt) Proino Mou (rpt)

The Del Monte Heirs (rpt) Protoselido Eleni Vasiliki (rpt) 7 Ouranoi kai Synnefa Alites (rpt) Mesimeri Kai Kati Aspra Balonia (rpt) Magazino News Ti Tha Fame Simera Mama The Del Monte Heirs 7 Ouranoi kai Synnefa Alites News Oikogeniakes Istories FILM: A Holiday To Remember A single mum returns to her childhood home, where she rekindles the flames of passion with an old boyfriend.

Romantic drama, starring Connie Sellecca.

1995.

News Klemmena Oneira Porta Kleidomeni FILM: Redbelt A martial arts instructor lives by a strict code of principles, which he is forced to compromise after a run of bad luck. Drama, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor. 2008

Celebrities and pro dancers train and compete in a ballroom dancing competition.

Top Gear Bolivia Special Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May drive 4x4s from the rainforest of the Amazon basin to the coast of Chile, tackling one of the world’s most dangerous roads on the way.

Comedy.

23.35 23.55

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

A father whose daughter is seriously ill plans to celebrate Halloween and Christmas early to make sure she lives to see them. Drama, starring John Corbett and Sam Elliott. 2010.

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

20.00 21.15

05.30 06.20 06.50 07.00

NRG Zone Kids’ TV FIFA World Cup 2014 Magazine Kati Psinetai (rpt)

A chance to relive some of the greatest moments the tournament has produced in it’s 50 years.

Live cookery show.

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

ANTENNA

00.00 00.05

News CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

PLUS TV 06.45 07.20 07.50 09.00 09.30 10.55 11.50 12.30 13.00 15.30 17.15 17.50 19.40

Discussions about various issues based on woman’s life (men, relationships, sex, kids etc.) with showbiz guests.

21.15 22.00

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

Exelixeis Stin Showbiz La Bomba Sportshow

06.45 08.40 09.25 10.00 11.00 11.30 12.30 13.25 15.00 16.00 16.50 17.35 18.15

23.15

00.30 01.30 02.00

LTV Sports News Star News Repeats

News Sports Time Rubi FILM: All I Want for Christmas Two youngsters call on Santa Claus to help reunite their divorced parents. Drama, with Leslie Nielsen. 1991.

22.45

FILM: Reindeer Games An ex-convict assumes his dead cellmate’s identity, but the deception ends up embroiling him in a casino robbery. Thriller, starring Ben Affleck. 2000

FILM: Tricks Of A Woman When a desperate fashion photographer bets his rival he can turn an ordinary girl into a super-model, he has no idea of the consequences. Romance, starring Scott Elrod.

2008.

Kids’ TV S’Agapo (rpt) Akti Oneiron Ston Asterismos Tis Imeras Kouzina Me Apopsi Remington Steele Milagros Kids’ TV Top Models S’Agapo Sabrina, To Koritsi Tis Agapis Akti Oneiron Pacific Blue With News at 18.30.

19.15 19.50 20.05 21.00

Satirical show focusing on the sports and news.

An elite team of police forensic evidence investigation experts work their cases in Las Vegas.

01.00 01.40 02.30 03.00 03.30

Star News Fotis - Maria Live Best Of Mesimeriani Meleti Best Of Exelixeis Sti Showbiz Mila Best Of Nistikoi Praktores (rpt) Kids’ TV Star News Mesimeriani Meleti Kids’ TV Exelixeis Stin Showbiz Fotis Maria Live Mila

CAPITAL

00.40

FILM: In The Line of Fire A secret service agent who failed to stop the Kennedy assassination tries to outwit a killer plotting to murder the president. Thriller, starring Clint Eastwood.

1993.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 (Novacinema1, 17.10)

01:15 The Weakest Link 02:00 Born And Bred 02:55 EastEnders 03:20 Doctors 03:50 Keeping Up Appearances 04:20 Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps 04:50 My Family 05:20 Born And Bred 06:15 The Weakest Link 07:00 Tellytales 07:10 Boogie Beebies 07:25 Show Me Show Me 07:50 Balamory 08:10 Tellytales 08:20 Boogie Beebies 08:35 Show Me Show Me 09:00 Balamory 09:20 Charlie And Lola 09:30 Buzz & Tell 09:35 Keeping Up Appearances 10:05 Mastermind 10:35 The Weakest Link 11:20 EastEnders 11:45 Doctors 12:15 Ray Mears’ Wild Foods 13:05 Tribal Wives 14:00 Mastermind 14:30 Keeping Up Appearances 14:55 The Weakest Link 15:40 EastEnders 16:10 Doctors 16:40 Ray Mears’ Wild Foods 17:30 Tribal Wives 18:20 The Weakest Link 19:05 Big Cat Diary 19:30 Doctors 20:00 Doctor Who: The Runaway Bride 21:00 Lead Balloon 21:30 Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps 22:00 Tribal Wives 22:50 ‘Allo ‘Allo! 23:25 Victoria Wood’s Midlife Christmas 24:25 Alan Carr: Chatty Man

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

11:50 How Do They Do It? 12:15 How It’s Made ; 12:40 Extreme Engineering 13:35 Fifth Gear 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 One Giant Leap: Neil Armstrong Tribute 22:00 Curiosity 00:00 True Csi - True Csi 01:00 Secrets Of Seal Team 6 01:55 One Giant Leap: Neil Armstrong Tribute 02:50 Curiosity 04:50 True Csi True Csi 05:45 How Do They Do It? 06:10 Overhaulin’

09:30 Luge: World Cup Latvia 10:00 Alpine Skiing: Exhibition Italy 10:45 Tennis: Australian Open, Melbourne 12:00 All Sports: Watts 13:00 Football: Next Gen Series 14:00 Football: Uefa Champions League Classics 15:00 Football: Uefa Europa League Classics 16:00 Tennis: Mats Point 16:30 Tennis: French Open Paris 18:00 Snooker: Uk Championship Canada 19:45 Equestrian Sports: Olympia International Horse Show London 20:45 Stihl Timbersports Series: World Championship Norway – 21:45 Strongest Man: Champions League Spain – 22:45 Bowling: Pba Tour Usa 23:45 Equestrian: Horse Racing Time 00:00 Motorsports: Gta Road To Dubai 00:15 All Sports: Watts

05:40 Off The Map 06:25 Castle 07:10 Modern Family 07:35 New Girl 08:00 The Gates 08:50 Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations 09:40 Off The Map 10:25 Castle 11:10 Modern Family 11:35 New Girl 12:00 Happy Endings 12:25 Don’t Trust The B...In Apartment 12:50 Glee 13:40 The Gates 14:30 Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations 15:20 Off The Map 16:05 Castle 16:50 Modern Family 17:15 New Girl 17:40 Body Of Proof 18:30 Jamie’s Best Ever Christmas 19:20 Desperate Housewives 20:10 Castle 21:00 Happy Endings 21:25 Don’t Trust The B...In Apartment 21:50 Glee 22:40 Modern Family 23:05 New Girl 23:30 Happy Endings 23:55 Don’t Trust The B...In Apartment 00:20 Glee 01:10 Castle 02:00 Desperate Housewives 02:45 Modern Family 03:10 New Girl 03:35 04:00 Body Of Proof 04:50 Jamie’s Best Ever Christmas

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 Ice Road Truckers 13:00 Ax Men 14:00 American Pickers 15:00 American Restoration 15:30 Storage Wars 16:00 Ice Road Truckers 17:00 Ax Men 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 Soviet Storm: WWII In The East 23:00 Mankind: The Story Of All Of Us 01:00 Ancient Aliens 02:00 Mankind: The Story Of All Of Us 04:00 American Pickers 05:00 American Restoration 05:30 Storage Wars 06:00 Ancient Aliens

07:30 Fork In The Road, A 09:20 Grumpy Old Men 11:05 Fathers And Sons 12:50 Brighton Rock 14:50 Dummy 16:20 Lost & Found 18:00 Sunset Limited 19:30 Hollywood Buzz 20:00 LTV Sports News 21:00 Kisses 22:20 Hollywood Buzz 23:00 Social Network 01:05 Hustler TV 03:00 Welcome To The Rileys 05:00 Fandango 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, Kai-Lan 12:00 Dora The Explorer 12:25 Spongebob Squarepants 13:15 The Mighty B! 13:40 My Life As A Teenage Robot 14:05 Hey Arnold!

14:30 Icarly 15:20 Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue! 15:45 Justice League Unlimited 16:10 Legion Of Super Heroes 16:35 Young Justice 17:00 2011 World’s Strongest Man 17:30 Planet Speed 18:00 Barclays Premier League World 18:30 NBA Action 19:00 La Liga World 19:30 Barclays Premier League 2012-13 21:30 Copa Del Rey 2012-13 23:30 Barclays Premier League Preview 00:00 La Liga Show 2012-13 00:30 Barclays Premier League Review 01:30 La Liga Review 2012-13 02:30 NBA 2012-13 05:00 Barclays Premier League 2012-13

07:15 Two And A Half Men 08:00 Eastbound & Down 08:35 The Closer 09:20 Harry’s Law 10:05 Chuck 10:50 2 Broke Girls 11:15 Supernatural 12:45 Underbelly 13:35 Two And A Half Men 14:25 The Closer 15:15 Harry’s Law 16:05 The Big Bang Theory 16:30 According To Jim 17:15 The Mentalist 18:00 C.S.I.

New York 18:55 Underbelly 19:45 Gossip Girl 20:30 Entourage 21:00 Ncis: Los Angeles 22:30 Southland 23:30 Mildred Pierce 01:00 Shutter Sland 03:15 Hung 03:45 The Big Bang Theory 04:10 According To Jim 04:55 The Mentalist 05:40 C.S.I. New York 06:25 Underbelly

08:00 Klute 10:00 Marriage On The Rocks 12:00 Babel 14:30 Action Zone (E) 15:00 Risky Business 16:45 Sins Of The Mother 18:20 Change Of Plans 20:15 Without A Paddle: Nature’s Calling 22:00 Botched 23:35 Action Zone (E) 00:05 Daring! Tv 03:20 Country Strong 05:30 Love Don’t Cost A Thing

05:00 Good Morning Vietnam 07:00 Cine News 07:45 Oranges And Sunshine 09:30 Cine News 10:00 Transformers 3 Transformers: Dark Of The Moon 12:35 O Annivas Pro Ton Pylon 14:20 Mad On Novacinema 15:00 «Love Stories» Just Friends 16:40 Cine News 17:10 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 19:10 Seeking Justice 21:00 Ncis 22:00 Manolete 23:40 The Son Of No One 01:15 Take Me Home Tonight 02:55 Men Of Honor

06:45 Margin Call 08:35 Cine

News 09:25 The Muppets 11:10 Jane Eyre 13:10 Cine News 13:55 There’s Something About Mary 16:00 I Don’t Know How She Does It 17:35 Spotlight On 18:10 Home Alone 20:00 The Haunting 22:00 League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen 00:00 Casino Jack 01:55 The Talented Mr. Ripley 04:15 Cine News 04:55 Drive

19:35 Inspector Gadget 21:00 The Eagle 23:00 Fright Night 00:55 Cine News 01:30 Adult Zone 03:00 The Hit List 04:35 Perfect Stranger

19:30 The Sweetest Thing 21:00 Love And Other Impossible Pursuits 22:50 The Dilemma 00:50 The Tree Of Life 03:10 Killing Bono

07:00 Black Legion 08:25 The Swan 10:10 Manhattan Melodrama 11:45 Glass Bottom Boat, The 13:35 Manpower 15:15 Liquidator, The 16:55 Hucksters, The 18:50 Bad Day At Black Rock 20:10 Young Cassidy 22:00 Year of Living Dangerously, The 23:50 Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid 01:45 Philadelphia Story, The 03:35 Sandpiper, The 05:30 Fastest Gun Alive, The

By Preston Wilder

Kisses (LTV, 21.00) I’m going to be a bit negative tonight, so please forgive me and bear with me - but this Irish drama is clichéd and inexplicably beloved, and someone needs to speak up about it! A pair of ghetto kids (a boy and a girl, Dylan and Kylie) flee their abusive families and spend a day and night in Dublin as free-ranging runaways, the short film - a mere 72 minutes - being a near-plotless record of that ‘magical’ escape. The kids meet quirky types like a friendly immigrant bargeworker and a Bob Dylan impersonator (who rasps approvingly when they tell him they’re running away: “I know that feelin’, I’ve been runnin’ away all my life”); they roam the city - a place of neon signs reflected in

rain-puddled streets - and have adventures, the film switching from black-and-white to colour to illustrate the leap from Real Life to Freedom. The result has won awards from Ireland to Miami - but I find it as glossy as a music video, and about as deep. Made in 2008.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Novacinema2, 22.00) Oh dear, more negativity - but if Nova2 meant to schedule a Friday-night double bill of toe-curling awfulness they couldn’t have done much better than The Haunting (I assume it’s the 90s remake, not the 60s original) followed by League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, two depressing testaments to Hollywood’s

creative bankruptcy and (over-)reliance on special effects. It’s even worse in this case because the original comic-book (by Alan Moore) is justly famous - a precursor to Rise of the Guardians in positing a superhero team of iconic figures, viz. 19th-century literary characters like Captain Nemo, Allan Quatermain, Tom Sawyer and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A brilliant idea but the film is charmless, a matter of lame one-liners (The Invisible Man: “Here I stand for all to see!”), Sean Connery in gruff-hero mode and generic action as the team go after the inevitable villainous madman. Then there’s the literary references: “You made good time getting here”. “Not as good as Phileas Fogg. Around the world in 80 days!” Spare us. Made in 2003.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

CYPRUS MAIL Friday, December 21, 2012

21

CRYPTIC CROSSWORD 2268 1

2

3

4

8

5

PREVIOUS DAY’S SOLUTIONS

6

7

9

10 11 13

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.

12 14

15

16 17 19

MEDIUM

HARD

20

1 Crushed drink Edward finished (8) 6 Hurry to indicate that a word is missing (4) 8 Support the Spanish drive forward (6) 9 Most of the fruit is for a Muslim ruler (6) 10 Fairies place hood on an optical instrument (9) 13 Lout puts pair of spectacles between the lines (4) 14 Most of the pudding will go down (3) 15 Beat a sugar producer (4) 16 One way to call back, showing indifference (9) 19 Gets in another ring (6) 20 Some alcohol lowered into the basin (6) 21 Afraid Leanne at heart is lazy (4) 22 Flighty creature with a colourful origin (8)

2 Swimmer parking car first! (4) 3 To exercise, drink hard! (4) 4 In disordered haste producing some fairground equipment (6-7) 5 Made out to be famous (13) 6 Daintiness of a choice food (8) 7 A member in pain putting his foot down firmly (8) 11 Officer limped off, having acted in accordance with others wishes (8) 12 Sham about model in the money (8) 17 Last, remove a strip, of wood (4) 18 Open space with room to manoeuvre (4)

Rating EASY

Down

Rating HARD

Across

Rating EASY

22

Rating MEDIUM

21

18

EASY

HARD

Answers to crossword 2267

HOROSCOPE

CRYPTIC: Across – 1 Parody; 4 Scotch; 9 Troopship; 10 Lab; 11 Hipster; 13 Laser; 14 Composition; 18 Write; 19 Pattern; 21 Tie; 22 Saltpetre; 24 Hiring; 25 Advert. Down – 1 Patchy; 2 Roo; 3 Depot; 5 Copilot; 6 Telescope; 7 Hobart; 8 Short supply; 12 Profiteer; 15 Press on; 16 Twitch; 17 Invest; 20 Typed; 23 Tee.

QUICK: Across – 1 Assist; 4 Astral; 9 Guatemala; 10 Cox; 11 Singlet; 13 Limit; 14 Overcrowded; 18 Colic; 19 Infidel; 21 Opt; 22 Decagonal; 24 Trendy; 25 System. Down – 1 August; 2 Sea; 3 Steal; 5 Swallow; 6 Recommend; 7 Laxity; 8 Masterpiece; 12 Novelette; 15 Receded; 16 Accost; 17 Slalom; 20 Foggy; 23 Net.

ARIES March 21 - April 20

LEO July 23 - August 22

SAGITTARIUS November 23 - December 21

The Sun makes its annual passage to the top of your horoscope. For the next four weeks your leadership skills and ability to take responsibility, will be much to the fore. But as like the start of this month, there are some powerful other planetary forces at work, and this could be a time when you may need to head down some fierce opposition too.

Now, this is just about the least appropriate part of the year to be worried too much about fitness and diet, so you could find yourself making a pact...with yourself, one that gives you the green light to enjoy the merriment over the holiday, and then get seriously down to tightening up the things that you probably already know you can do better around.

It may have seemed a strange time of the year to begin some new strands in your life, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been unfolding. And whilst this may have been exciting, or even a little scary, the Sun helps you to weigh up your progress thus far. Just don’t expect instant results.

Your new venture, love tie or idea, may need more nourishment yet.

TAURUS April 21 - May 21

VIRGO August 23 - September 23

CAPRICORN December 22 - January 20

Have you had those proverbial itchy feet this year? If so, as the Sun powers into your sister Earth sign of Capricorn, you may find yourself thinking once again about the type of escapes that you could stage, or the exciting overseas vistas that you can open up. Yet in love, the surprise can be in just whose face keeps coming up into your consciousness.

Your playful side often comes to the fore just before Christmas, and this year is no different. What is different is that you have found yourself wanting to combine more homely, and loving vibes, with having fun this month, and this is set to be more apparent once more. This may even see you invite some local friends around for a drink or meal.

This is definitely a day to acknowledge and even celebrate. As the Sun returns to you after an absence of eleven months, it is the spark that can propel you into a more sociable frame of mind, and move you from the more reflective mode which has seemed to have dominated of late.

Yet with the Moon in Aries, it may take a few days before this is obvious.

GEMINI May 22 - June 21

LIBRA September 24 - October 23

AQUARIUS January 21 - February 19

Even if someone has been taking your fancy, now you will be more focused on the nitty-gritty issues between you, rather than just neat attraction. Even in a long standing union, words are less important than action. In business, if there have been discussions, now you will want to see hard and fast decisions. It’s not what people say that counts, but what they mean.

There has been such a blur of activity and communication, you might be forgiven for wanting to take a step back, catch your breath and get your bearings. Will you be able to? Ah, that’s another matter Libra. So, if it does prove hard to wiggle out of yet another round of meeting up with friends and partying, at least resolve to have a good lie in tomorrow.

Because of Pluto’s transit through your 12th Solar House in recent years, however jolly life may have been at times, or however challenging, this tiny entity has been showing you that despite your reputation for logic, there is another more intuitive side of you that you need to embrace. Sometimes following a hunch can be scary, but rarely dull.

CANCER June 22 - July 22

SCORPIO October 24 - November 22

PISCES February 20 - March 20

The last few months have been transformational as far as certain involvements are concerned. And for that matter, how you engage with the wider world. People have often seen you as a conciliatory voice before now, and you still can be, but having your voice heard is so much more important to you, as events will prove before the turn of the year.

Your senses have needed satisfying or even gratifying in recent days, but now you can find yourself wanting more than just indulgence. Good company and conversation can certainly be one way to achieve this, or you can find yourself thinking creatively about any outstanding Christmas shopping. If you are unsure of what to buy, don’t stint on your research.

It’s not that spending time with work-mates or professional connections has been dull, on the contrary, things may have proved jollier than you may have thought. Even so, the Sun is now set to flag up within you the need for some more liberated fun. In fact, by the start of next week your whole outlook may have gone through quite a big change.

22

Friday, December 21, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Advertiser

ADVERTISER helps you find what you’re looking for

Only

€14 (plus VAT)

a week for classifieds (up to 40 words)

Send your classified by fax or email and pay by credit card, cheque or cash. It couldn’t be simpler!

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

JOB WANTED ***************************** MY NAME IS NALIN DARSHANA. I am from Sri Lanka. I am looking for a job, living in or out. I can do any kind of job.

I have release paper and Cyprus full licence. I can speak English well. Call 96261313 ***************************** MY NAME IS NEELA SUDARSHANE. I am from Sri Lanka.

I am looking for a job, living in or out. I have two years experience. I have release paper.

Call 96871375, 96261313 *****************************

MISCELLANEOUS BDL SHIPPING Worldwide animal transportation, Home removals including small loads Vehicle import & export, General collection and delivery (including IKEA), Rubbish removal plus general transportation & shipment. Competitive rates. Phone: 99239311 Web: www.bdlcyprus.com ***************************** I AM RAJWINDER KAUR from India currently residen and working in Cyprus. I have changed my name from Rajwinder Kaur to Rajwinder Kaur Sandhu all concerned may note. ***************************** 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 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.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. *****************************

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

Nicosia - tel: 22 818583 fax: 22 676385 *****************************

LOUISE, she is around 1 year old Segugio Italiano cross and she is not suitable for hunting.

She will make a perfect pet as she loves cuddles , hugs and kisses. Very playful gentle girl ,friendly with other dogs and loves kids! At the Nicosia Dog Shelter, many more dogs and puppies like this one are looking for forever homes !

To provide a temporary foster home or to adopt contact on 99520511 mon-frid 10-2pm. *****************************

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

PETS *****************************

TAG 87, a very handsome young male wirehaired pointer cross around 1,5 years old.

Friendly, attentive and athletic.

At the Nicosia Dog Shelter, many more dogs and puppies like this one are looking for forever homes ! To provide a temporary foster home or to adopt contact on 99520511 mon-frid 10-2pm.

OZZY is an adorable male which came into the shelter almost a year ago! The person who found him wanted to help increase his re-homing chances so he sponsored his neutering...! But Ozzy has since been sitting in the shelter wishing for a new family... !But he has a great character and is only around 2 years old! At the Nicosia Dog Shelter, many more dogs and puppies like this one are looking for forever homes ! To provide a temporary foster home or to adopt contact on 99520511 mon-frid 10-2pm. *****************************

SERVICES PROFESSIONAL UPHOLSTERY CLEANING, also carpets, rugs and mattresses.

Limassol - tel: 25 761117 fax: 25 761141

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

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

FOR SALE BUSINESS/ PROPERTY/LAND ***************************** FOR SALE LAND in Strovolos between Leoforos Iosif X” Iosif & Leoforos Stavrou area. 721 sqm. Call 99321785 22421785 ***************************** TIMI, PLOTS, a few selected available, seaview, near the 2 golf courses, Venus rock and airport. 60% Building factor, eu 99,000. Half registration fees till the 31.12.12. Tel. 99 621914 ***************************** LARNACA, Alethriko, plots for sale, 525 sqm, 90% building factor, near highway Limassol-Larnaca, 5 min from airport, quiet residential area, eu 109,000. Half registration fees till the 31.12.12. Tel. 99 621914 ***************************** PRIME LAND IS AVAILABLE FOR LONG LEASE IN LIMASSOL. 40, 000 sq.m., zoning Ka7 (80% -45% - 3 stories). Regular amphitheatrical shape overlooking Ladies Mile. Close to New Limassol Hospital with direct access to Limassol – Paphos Highway.

Water supply, electricity and telephones are readily available. Suitable for immediate development. Ideal for various health facilities and resorts, holiday centres, commercial and shopping centres, entertainment enterprises etc.

Information: Tel. 22 674338, 99621554

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

FOR SALE MISCELLANEOUS

WANTED TO RENT

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

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.

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

FOR SALE MOTOR VEHICLES RED BMW MINI 1 2005 1600cc full factory specs 22500 miles New tyres full service history

Larnaca - tel: 24 652243 fax: 24 659982

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

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

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

Please note tel nos. that begin with: 22 = Nicosia 23 = Paralimni/Protaras 24 = Larnaca 25 = Limassol 26 = Paphos

23

CYPRUS MAIL Friday, December 21, 2012

Advertiser FOR SALE MOTOR VECHICLES

TO LET NICOSIA

2 year MOT Drivers & Maint manual 6500euros Pafos 99096902. ***************************** FORD FOCUS GHIA (2006) diesel, 1600cc, 98000km, blue, automatic - tiptronic. dual zone climate control, power steering, electric windows, 6 airbags, central locking, cruise control, computer board, alloy wheels, and many extras. €7500 ono. Contact: 99022779 - Nicosia

ing distance to central Nicosia. Fully furnished including 2 double beds, fitted wardrobes, TV, fridge, oven, dining table & chairs. Recently refurbished with new kitchen. Private landlord. €550 pcm. Tel: 96673335 ***************************** TO LET 3 bedroom house situated on a dead end street next to a small quiet park near Falcon School. Has an En-suite master room, large study room, central heating, a/c and fire place in the living room.

For enquiries tel 99660758

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

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

Call 99300020. ***************************** FLATS TO LET - Nicosia: A wide selection of furnished & unfurnished in all areas of Nicosia.

NIKARIA ESTATE LTD Theo Loizides 22761616 / 99660050 nikaria@cablenet.com.cy ***************************** FOR RENT spacious modern 5 Bedr house, next to Metro Supermarket, Strovolos, Nicosia. Furnished, 3 Restrooms, air-conditioning throughout, central heating, extra office room, amble storage spaces, covered garage, verandas with pergola, garden, barbecue area, quiet street in a qul de sac. Call 99606856. ***************************** 2-BEDROOM FLAT with balcony in leafy side-street, Ayioi Omoloyites, near Hilton, walk-

***************************** LUXURIOUS APARTMENT FOR RENT A luxurious one floor apartment situated in central Nicosia in an area of exceptional Beauty at 3 Museum Street, is available to let. It has been recently renovated and consists of four bedrooms, two bathrooms, big dining and sitting rooms, kitchen and a huge veranda.

Approximate covered area 250 sqm. Monthly rent €1400.00 o.n.o. Tel: 99622370. www. parcon.com.cy ***************************** MODERN 2 BDRM, first floor flat in attractive building in Anthoupolis, very quiet area between the Grammar School and the European University, also very convenient for Pascal and Highgate Schools and the University of Nicosia. Large front veranda, all appliances, modern fittings, light and bright. Furnished or unfurnished €550p.m. Call 99900177. ***************************** 2 ROOMS €125 each, near McDonald’s Engomi only Philippine girls. Call 99663927. ***************************** FOR RENT 3 B/R apartment fully furnished close to Central Bank. 3 W.C., fully airconditioned extra storeroom, owned covered parking. Excellent condition. Information:

TO LET NICOSIA Tel. 99621554 ***************************** 3 BEDROOMS flat on second floor in a block of six flats, in a nice position at Strovolos area, fully a/c, c/h, covered parking place for one car, recently painted. Rent €650pm. (furnished if required). Tel: 97773358. ***************************** LUXURY HOUSES:

1. 5 bedrs detached house, 550sq.m, built in 2 big plots of land, big garden with grass, big swimming pool with extra fence for children and big covered patio with bbq area, big reception areas with marble floor, fire place and bar, big kitchen with all electrical appliances and sitting room with fire place, maid’s room, floor heating, full a/c, blinds on the windows, master bedroom with en suite bathroom and shower, big bathroom for the other 3 bedrooms and extra shower in the 5th bedroom - Strovolos €2500 (H5ST10001-R), (photos in the website).

2. H3AR0004-R, 3 bedr luxury detached house with central heating, full a/c, 3wc, 2 bathrooms, parquet floor throughout the house, big sitting and dining area, big kitchen with family room opening onto the swimming pool which has big covered area with wooden deck, bbq area, covered parking, in a very quiet area behind Apoel football training ground - Archagelos - €1700 (photos 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,

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Tel. Tony on 99176557

TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

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 separate maid’s room, with very big garden with grass(200sq.m) and covered patio with bbq and bar, central heating, full a/c, 180sq.m, FULLY FURNISHED or NOT, 2 covered parking, storage room, in a very quiet neighborhood opposite Acropolis park - Acropolis -

€1200 - H3ACS0004-R (photos in website).

8. H4LAK0002-R, 3 bedr + office space luxury detached house, built on a big plot, 350sq. m, big swimming pool with cover, garden with grass, big sitting and dining room, separate family room, central heating, a/c, curtains on all the windows, cooker, dishwasher and dryer, parquet floor throughout the house,3wc, 2 bathrooms, 2 covered parking in a quiet area on the borders of Strovolos with Lakatamia Lakatamia- €1600 (photos in website).

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 Centre- PLATY AGLANTZIAS €3500 (H5PAG0002-R), (photos in the website).

10. 4 bedr semi detached house with central heating, 4 a/c, 3 wc, 2 bathrooms, 180sq.m, electrical appliances, small yard, bbq area, off Kostantinoupoleos street

near French ambassador residence.- STROVOLOS €700 (H4ST10043-R), (photos in the website).

11. 4 bedr luxury semi detached house with good size garden with grass, big covered patio with bbq area, central heating, a/c units, 3wc, 2 bathrooms, 2 covered parking, FULLY FURNISHED AND EQUIPPED, in a quiet area in a dead end close to all amenities and schools.

ANTHOUPOLIS €1300 (H4ANT0002-R), (photos in the website).

12. H4AGZ0010-R, 3 bedr RENOVATED GROUND FLOOR HOUSE with big separate 1 bedroom flat with multi room, big sitting and dining room , separate tv room, big kitchen with family room and fitted cooker and oven, 3wc, 2 bathrooms, very big 5 X 6 bedrooms with solid parquet floor, central heating with petrol independent, a/c units, double glazed windows with 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).

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24

Friday, December 21, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Advertiser TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET LIMASSOL

14. 3 bedr + big attic room with shower and wc luxury new house,210sq.m, central heating, full a/c, 4wc, blinds on all windows, cooker and oven in the kitchen, small garden, covered parking near Alpha Mega supermarket - Strovolos - €1200 – H4ST10007-R (photos in website).

15. 3 bedr detached house with extra room for office, 250sq.m, central heating independent, 4a/c, big renovated kitchen with cooker and oven, big sitting and dining room with parquet floor and fire place, 1bathroom, 2 shower, 3wc, 2 covered parking, double glazed windows and shutters in bedrooms, big verandas surrounded by trees and bushes off 28th October street in the central part of Makedonitissa - Makedonitissa €1100 – H3MAK0004-R (photos in website).

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

shop. Nicosia centre, € 450 (photos in website).

3. 3 bedr new luxury big apartment 150sq.m+big 25sq.m veranda with very nice view, big sitting and dining areas, big separate kitchen with all the electrical appliances, big bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, storage heaters, full a/c, shutters and blinds on the windows, covered parking in a quiet neighborhood off Prodromou close Ministry od Defence – Engomi- € 700 – A3ENG0026-R (photos in website).

4. A1DAS0010-R, 1 bedr luxury spacious apartment with big sitting and dining room, big bathroom, big bedroom with shutters, covered veranda, storage heaters, 2a/c, cooker and oven in the kitchen, covered parking in a quiet area in a small modern building near Acropolis Park. Dasoupolis €400 (photos in website).

5. 2 bedr new luxury modern furnished apartment , central heating ind, 2 a/c, big covered veranda and covered parking in a quiet area behind the Municipal building – Agios Dometios - € 660 - A2ADO0004-R (photos in website).

6. 2 bedr luxury spacious apartment on a small modern building with central heating independent(with petrol), full a/c, solid parquet floor, big bedrooms, big sitting room with open plan kitchen, big covered veranda, FULLY MODERN FURNISHED, covered parking off Makarios avenue in a quiet area near the centre – Nicosia Centre- € 800 – A2NIC0030-R (photos in website).

7.

4 bedr luxury floor apartment,250sq.m, office, maid’s room, central heating ind, full hidden wall unit a/c,2 showers, 1 bathroom, 3wc, parquet floor, big kitchen with cooker and oven, bbq on the veranda in the kitchen, big sitting area, roller blinds on all the windows, alarm system, big veranda on a small building off Athalasas avenue near Alpha Mega supermarket and

Areteion hospital – Dasoupolis - € 1100 - A4DAS0002-R (photos in website).

8. A1ACS0007- R, 1 bedr luxury spacious apartment with 2 a/c for hot and cold, electrical appliances in the kitchen, big bedroom, covered veranda, blinds, covered parking, in a quiet area near Acropolis park.

NICELY FURNISHED. Acropolis €450 (photos in website).

9. 3 bedr new luxury finished PENTHOUSE apartment 150sq.m internal areas+120sq. verandas, solid parquet floor all the flat, big bedrooms, big sitting and dining room, big semi separate kitchen with electrical appliances, home cine ma with big screen, LCD tv, covered parking in a quiet neighborhood near CYTA, Laiki + Hellenic bank headquarters and French school. CAN BE RENTED ALSO expensive MODERN furnished – Dasoupolis - € 1200 - A3DAS0019-R (photos in website).

10. A2AOM0009-R 2 bedr luxury finished apartment in a small building with 4 flats only, central heating with petrol independent, full a/c, 2 bedrooms with en-suite bathroom/shower, separate guest wc, NICE MODERN EXPENSIVE FURNITURE, big covered veranda, covered parking, storage room, in a very quiet neighbourhood very close to Junior school and the park - Agioi Omologites - € 800 (photos in website).

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 €700 (A3ST10030-R), (photos in the website).

12. A2LYK0006-R, 2 bedr penthouse apartment with big veranda 60sq.m, storage heaters, full a/c, 2 bathrooms (one en suite), big sitting room, big separate kitchen with cooker and oven, blinds, covered parking near Agios Antonios market CLOSE TO THE UNIVERSITY. Lykavitos €510 (photos in website).

13. 3 bedr luxury apartment with central heating independent, full a/c, 2 bathrooms, parquet floor, big sitting and dining area, big covered veranda, covered parking, storage room, blinds, shutters in the bedrooms, big kitchen with all expensive electrical appliances, off Makarios avenue near the centre – Nicosia Centre- € 800 – A3NIC0025-R (photos in website).

14. 4 bedr new spacious luxury finished floor apartment with floor heating independent, full a/c, 3wc, electrical appliances in the kitchen, blinds on all windows, very big 50sq.m covered veranda, fire place, covered parking and big overfloor heated covered swimming pool on the ground floor, on a small 3 storey building in a quiet neighborhood near a playground and near Ippokration private hospital Engomi - €2000 - A4ENG0003-R (photos in website).

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

For many more properties with photos visit our website at www.landtouristestates. com which is updated daily. LANDTOURIST ESTATES LTD 22-422225 / 96-422225 / 96422226 www.landtouristestates.com

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

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

1. 3 bedr luxury finished spacious floor apartment with very big sitting and dining areas with family room with fire place, solid parquet floor all throught, central heating independent, full a/c, all the bedrooms with en suite shower/bathroom, 4wc, big kitchen with all the electrical appliances, blinds on all windows, big covered veranda, covered parking, big storage room, on a small 3 storey building in a quiet neighborhood – Agios Andreas- € 1300 – A3AAD0005-R (photos in website).

2. AINIC0006- R, 1 bedr., fully furnished and equipped apartment, 50sq.m, 2AC for hot and cold, covered verandah, covered parking, nice view, off Makarios avenue between Hilton and DEBENHAMS

Card designed by Martin Sebok, Year 3 (Age 7)

THE MANAGEMENT, STAFF & PUPILS OF THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF PAPHOS WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Let us welcome the New Year with health, hope & love.

This year, instead of sending Christmas cards, the school has made a donation of 950 to the children’s ward of the General Hospital.

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

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

Laminated parke floor, and big wardrobes in the 3 bedrooms.

Rent €590.00 Tel 99497576 99886775 *****************************

LARNACA ***************************** 2 BEDROOM NICOLADES SEA VIEW CITY BLOCK, a/c’s in all rooms, private parking, sea view, walking distance to everything, can be used for office or residential. €750, minimum 12 months contract. 99320077 Larnaca ***************************** FOR RENT spacious 3 bedroom apartment with balcony situated in centre of town, semi furnished. Please call 99311152 ***************************** FOR RENT 2 bed, 2 bath, new built apartment, in a quiet scenic location In Alethriko, Larnaca 5 min. to Larnaka, 5 min.

TO LET LARNACA to the beach Fully furnished, A/C, communal pool, under covered parking, Long term rent, €350.00 per month For more info pls call 99639378 ***************************** FULLY FURNISHED one bedroom flat near Larco hotel Larnaca. Price €370. Tel: 99202543 *****************************

PAPHOS *****************************

APHRODITE HILLS - Villa share at this amazing resort? Now available for discerning people, luxury double rooms, each with own en suite and heating unit and plus of large lounge/dining/ kitchen area, external patios, gardens and swimming pool.

Fully furnished and equipped €800pm plus share of running expenses, min period 6 months or yearly contract renewal. To enquire (or view from January 2013) ring 99178141. A chance not to be missed! ***************************** MR RENT PAPHOS, THE LEADING PROPERTY RENTAL AGENCY IN PAPHOS OFFICE: 26271858 (00357) IF YOU HAVE A PROPERTY TO RENT WE ARE THE RENTAL AGENCY TO CONTACT OFFERING FULL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT & RENT COLLECTION SERVICE 1. UNIVERSAL AREA €450 spacious 3 bedroom first floor apartment, master with ensuite. Situated on small complex with no pool. Fully furnished with modern furniture, fully equipped kitchen with dishwasher. Balcony leads to a large private roof terrace with shaded barbeque area offering views of the sea, stor-

25

CYPRUS MAIL Friday, December 21, 2012

Advertiser TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

age & sunbathing deck.

2. SEA CAVES €500 we are delighted to offer this detached 2 bedroom villa situated on a corner plot in a quiet residential area offering sea views.

Gated drive for off street parking. Fully enclosed good sized low maintenance garden with private pool offering privacy and shaded areas. Available unfurnished or part furnished.

Pets allowed at owners discretion. Website reference number: RTL_482 3. KISSONERGA €550 modern detached 3 bedroom villa situated in a quiet residential area.

Master bedroom with ensuite, separate kitchen, downstairs guest wc. Enclosed garden offering private pool & off street parking. Available unfurnished though can include kitchen appliances. Pets allowed at owners discretion. Website reference number: RTL_501 4. PEYIA €700 price includes pool cleaning. If you are looking for a villa with breathtaking views & privacy than this property is for you. This modern detached 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom villa is furnished with modern furniture, including satellite TV. One bedroom & bathroom on ground floor.

A spacious enclosed garden with private pool offering stunning views. Off street parking.

Website reference number: RTL_401 5. CHLORAKA €750 modern detached 4 bedroom 3 bathroom villa with ground floor bedroom & bathroom. Beautifully furnished with good qual-

ity modern furniture includes sky satellite, fly screens & feature fireplace with modern gas fire. Private pool offering views of the sea. Off street parking.

Situated within walking distance of bus routes & shops.

Website reference number: RTL_611 6. KATO PAPHOS €800 large 4 bedroom detached villa situated in the sought after residential area of Limnaria. Walking distance to the beach and the many amenities of Kato Paphos. Spacious living accommodation offering an enclosed garden with c/pool. Fully furnished with modern furniture & solar panels. Website reference number: RTL_442 7. ANAVARGOS €895 we are delighted to offer this unique 5 bedroom 3 bathroom rustic country home offering spacious living accommodation with large gardens, private pool & stone built bbq & entertainment area. Fully furnished with log burner for those winter months. A real character home worth viewing. Pets allowed. Website reference number: RTL_635 offers considered.

8. TALA €900 a charming detached 4 bedroom villa with character, situated on a corner plot in a quiet residential area with breathtaking sea views. Spacious living rooms with central heating & real fireplace. Separate kitchen & dining room. Good sized garden offering private pool and stone built barbeque area.

Undercover parking. Available

fully furnished. Website reference number: RTL_638 TEL: 97790883 OFFICE: 26271858 VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR MANY MORE PROPERTIES www.mrrentpaphos.net Email: info@ mrrent-paphos.net

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

***************************** 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. SEA CAVES, 3 bedroom bungalow, specially fitted for people with disabilities , stunning sea views, free wi-fi, fully furnished with modern furniture, swimming pool, all bedrooms with en-sute, utility room, air

2. UNIVERSAL – one bed furnished apartment on 2nd floor, small quiet well maintained complex with sea views. €300 per month.

3. UNIVERSAL – 2 two bed, 2 bath apartments on superb quiet complex, with 3 pools, gym, sauna, jaccuzi & bowling green. 1 apt furnished, 1 unfurnished from €400 per month.

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

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

TO LET PAPHOS conditioning throughout, shutters, very green and secluded area euro 1100 p/m o.N.O 3. EMBA, 2 bedroom apartment, 2 bathroom, modern furnished, air conditioned throughout, communal swimming pool, covered parking, close to all amenities, euro 330 p/m 4. CHLORAKA, 3 bedroom furnished villa with pool, amazing views, master en-suite, in culde-sac, fully airconditioned with fireplace, euro 700 p/m

TO LET PAPHOS PLEASE CALL : 99 387842 ***************************** CHLORAKAS, 2 bedroom apartment, fully furnished, large veranda, very quiet location, communal pool, Euro 280 – o.n.o Please call: 99699019 /26910140 ***************************** A DELIGHTFUL AND SPACIOUS 1 bedroom apartment, F/F, top floor, new, located at a peaceful location just 500 from St. George hotel in Chloraka.

A+ quality apt. Within walking

26

Friday, December 21, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Advertiser TO LET PAPHOS distance to amenities, part of a beautiful building with swimming pool, list and other amenities. Only €250p/m Other apts also available near Carrefour in the Centre of Paphos. Call 99403261, 26934650 ***************************** FLOWRON PROPERTY SERVICES LTD: PROVIDING AN EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE FOR TENANTS AND LANDLORDS: PROPERTIES AVAILABLE FOR RENT LONG TERM RENTAL, PROPERTIES WANTED: FULL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT WITH KEY HOLDING AND RENT COLLECTIONS OFFERED

ANAVARGOS: 1 to 3 Bedroom apartments available near to the general hospital, furnished or unfurnished. All properties, have white goods and are modern. The building has a lift and off street parking. Prices from 300-400 Euros per month. Ref 7777 Price 300-400 ANARITA: 3 bed nicely furnished villa in the centre of Anarita village with private pool, off street parking. Property has a modern kitchen with granite work tops, sitting and dining area, guest wc. Upstairs 3 bedrooms Master with en suite shower, separate family bathroom. Outside shaded pergolas. Ref 855 Price 600 SECRET VALLEY: 3 bed villa fully furnished 3 bedroom villa with private pool. Nice furniture, master bedroom with on

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

suite shower, family bathroom, 2 bedrooms with twin beds.

Dining area, kitchen, guest WC, off street parking, private pool. Modern Villa. Ref: 1035 Price 700 SERCRET VALLEY: 4 bed beautiful furnished bungalow to the highest of standards, with large bedrooms - en suites, Modern large kitchen fully equipped, sitting and dining area with fire place.

Outside heated pool, off street parking, landscaped gardens and great views. Ref: 1151 Price 1800 TIMI: 3 bed nicely furnished villa with large sitting and dining areas, fire place, full AC. Upstairs large family bathroom, 3 bedrooms, master bedroom having en suite shower and walk in wardrobes. Off street parking, private pool Ref: 722 Price: 600 PEGEIA: 4 bed villa with stunning situated in a lovely quiet location in Pegeia offered unfurnished. The property has 2 down stairs bedrooms, a large sitting room with fire place, central heating, kitchen with Stylish design, dining area.

Upstairs 2 bedrooms, large outside veranda. Outside stunning views Private pool.

Ref: 765 Price: 900 MESGOI: large unfurnished villa situated in a residential area. Property is very modern with fire place, downstairs bedroom with en suite, kitchen and separate utility room, 3 additional bedroom upstairs

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

3. TOMB OF THE KINGS – 3 bed fully furnished apartment in established block. Own entrance via stairway. Open plan living area. Dining kitchen. 3 bedrooms and family bathroom. A/C, sat TV. Internet available. Large balcony area.

Parking. €350.00 per month 4. TALA - 3 bed 3 bath quality furnished villa. Set in enclosed gardens the villa consists of open plan living area with dining space. Fully fitted kitchen with all appliances, door to rear garden. Storage room. Ground floor bedroom with adjacent shower. Stairs to two double bedrooms both en-suite, one with Jacuzzi tub.

Small seating area with adjacent balcony. Pool and off street parking. Landscaped gardens €750.00 per month or close offers only 5. SEA CAVES – 2 bed, 2 bath fully furnished large townhouse set in quiet location.

Open plan living area. Fully fitted kitchen. 2 double bedrooms and family bathroom.

Garden area and parking. Realistically priced. Suit retired people or those wanting a quiet area. €400.00 per month 6. UNIVERSAL AREA. 2 bed fully furnished apartment. Living area, fitted kitchen. 2 double bedrooms and family bathroom. A/C, Enclosed garden area. Comm pool and parking. Euros 375.00 a month or offers. 1 & 2 bed apartments available on Universal starting at €250 per month.

7. LOWER PEYIA - 3 bed, 2.5 bath part furnished villa situated in quiet cul du sac. Open plan living and dining area with doors out to pool and garden. Very large breakfast fitted kitchen. Doors out to garden and pool. Separate guest WC. Stairs to 3 double bedrooms.

Master bedroom very large with en-suite shower. Family bathroom. Private pool, gardens, shutters. €550.00 per month or close offers only.

8. STROUMBI– 3 bed 2.5 bath large unfurnished villa in quiet village area. Spacious open plan living area with feature 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 Semi-detached house in Archangelos area split level on a hill, no houses in front, 3 big bedrooms, 2 big bathrooms and TV room big lounge & dining area, fireplace, fitted kitchen, 40 sq.m. store room, C/H, A/C, solar.

For information call: 99496541

***************************** PEYIA – 3 bedroom villa with modern quality furniture and finishes. Central heating, sky, alarm, infinity pool and stunnning sea and mountain views €700 per month, call: 99389426 ***************************** BRAND NEW APT, opposite Poseidonio Gym, near Carrefour, F/F, a/c, great quality, 1 bdrm, from €340p.m.Tel 99403261 ***************************** RENTAL POINT - PAPHOS PROPERTIES AVAILABLE TO RENT IN THE PAPHOS DISTRICT. JUST A SMALL SAMPLE OF AVAILABLE PROPERTIES. ALL TYPES OF PROPERTY URGENTLY REQUIRED FOR LONG TERM RENTAL. CALL 97648440 FOR MORE INFORMATION. LANDLORDS CALL IF YOU HAVE A PROPERTY FOR RENT.!!!

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

Covered parking and security gates.. Comm swimming pool and landscaped gardens. €425.00 a month. 2 bed apartment same complex €400.00 a month.

2 MESOGI 3 bed 3 bath furnished apartment in handy location close to the shopping areas. Large open plan living area and dining area..

Fully fitted dining/kitchen with appliances . Guest WC. Utilty room. 3 double bedrooms one with en-suite. Family bathroom. Balcony & and parking. €500.00 a month. Suit nondrivers!

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

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

99582335 *****************************

PAPHOS ***************************** BARGAIN OFFER Chlorakas, 2 bedroom apartment, large veranda, very quiet location, communal pool, sea view, €75.000 o.n.o please call: 99699019 /26910140 ***************************** PAPHOS, FLATS FOR SALE OR RENT: kissonerga, 3 bedroom flat with title deeds, in a block of 4 flats only, fully renovated, 2 baths, 146 sqm closed area, ch, ac, covered parking, excellent view of sea and mountains, half registration fees till 31.12.12.Reduced to eu 135,000,or rent eu 450 pm. Tel 99 621914 ***************************** KATO PAPHOS UNIVERSAL, large 2 bedroom apartment,

EURO 6.95 !!!

VERY LOW PRICES !

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

***************************** Chlorakas, 2 bedroom townhouse. Exceptional sea views.

New kitchen, bedrooms and bathroom. Private parking, On mains sewage system. Communal pool. A/C, quality fixtures. Fully furnished. Security barrier. FULL TITLE DEEDS Now €92,000 Call 99716390. ***************************** UNIVERSAL AREA, 3 bedroom detached villa, covered area 122 sqm, master bedroom ensuite, air conditioned throughout, all white goods, solar panels, garden irrigation, plot size 273 sqm, communal pool, euro 165.000 o.v.n.o.

– title deeds available Call : 99682644- no agents ***************************** FOR SALE special offer, €79, 000 first floor apartment in Protaras, fully furnished with 2 bedrooms and a swimming pool. Walking distance to the beach of Ayia Triada and all amenities. Tel: 97 608941. *****************************

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

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

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

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

• BOOKINGS FOR PRIVATE PARTIES AVAILABLE AT

***************************** 1 BEDROOM APARTMENT, TOMBS OF KINGS AREA, close to the sea, large private roof terrace with electric and water, covered parking, veranda, furnished, swimming pool. Full TITLE DEEDS, was €95,000 reduced to €65,000.

HOSPITALS ........ 1400

GOOD HOME COOKING- RUN BY FAMILY-ESTABLISHED 1988

• SUNDAY ROAST LUNCH & DINNER FOR ONLY

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

POLICE DIVISION HQ

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

• OPEN ALL WINTER 7 DAYS A WEEK !

ground floor, 1 bathroom, kitchen, large veranda, private parking, A/C, satellite TV. Near bus route, shops, banks, quiet apartment. Full furniture.

Communal pool. 92 sq.m covered area. Full TITLE DEEDS. REDUCED €92,000

U SEFUL PHONE NUMBERS

THE DEVONSHIRE RESTAURANT

• BE ASTOUNDED BY OUR LOW WINTER PRICES !

FOR SALE PAPHOS

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

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

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

27

CYPRUS MAIL Friday, December 21, 2012

Advertiser FOR PAPHIAKOS ANIMAL WELFARE SOS HELPLINE, 24 HOUR MEDICAL EMERGENCY SERVICE - CALL 99655581 CONTACT DETAILS FOR PAPHIAKOS. Paphiakos & C.C.P. Animal Welfare Education/Information Centre, No. 12 Dedalos Building, 8049 Kato Paphos PO Box 61272 8132 Kato Paphos Web. www.cyprusanimalwelfare.com www.facebook/paphiakos Email info@cyprusanimalwelfare.com Larnaca Emergency Service - The contact point for animal emergencies in Larnaca is Maria at the Paphiakos Animal Welfare Charity Shop, telephone 24623494 or 99325897 STOP, SHOP AND GIVE TO THE ANIMALS! ALL DONATIONS ARE WELCOME AT OUR CHARITY SHOPS! PAPHIAKOS & C.C.P. ANIMAL WELFARE Registered Charity No 1529 Contact our shops and we can take your clutter The Charity Shops are located at: Shop No.1 Agapinoros Street, Kato Paphos Tel 26910325 Shop No.2 Ap Pavlou Avenue, Kato Paphos Tel 26942894 Shop No.3 Gr. Afxentiou Avensia Court 3 Larnaca 24623494 Shop No.4 9 Ayiou Ioanni Street 3061 Limassol 25561695 Peyia Information Centre & Shop & T Rooms 26622828 Polis Information Centre & Shop & T Rooms 99223572 Book Exchange Shop Trimithousa 99771763 Our shops are always happy to receive your unwanted goods!

NOW YOU CAN HELP BY COLLECTING YOUR ALUMINIUM CANS AND HANDING THEM IN AT ANY PAPHIAKOS CHARITY SHOP OR THE CLINIC. SAVE AN ANIMAL AND SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT!!

PAPHIAKOS CAR BOOT SALE EVERY SATURDAY at the Ambassador Restaurant and outside in the grounds at Paphiakos. Free parking. Sellers from 7am, buyers from 8am. For information & bookings please call MIKE on 96702600.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS FOR PAPHIAKOS CHARITY NO. 1529 WORLD ANIMAL DAY. On Thursday October 4th Paphiakos will be micro chipping pets for only €20 including all the paperwork. For further information telephone 26953496.

To celebrate World Animal Day on Thursday October 4th Paphiakos will be offering free spaying/neutering for all feral and unwanted animals as they do throughout the year. Contact 26953496 for further details.

PAPHIAKOS SHELTER OPEN DAY The Open Day will be held on Sunday October 7th between 10am and 3pm. It will be a Family Fun Day out with a lot of different activities. There is car parking, toilets and refreshments on site so enjoy and join in the celebration of animals and what they bring to our lives. Entrance is €2 CHARITY HAIR CUT. On Thursday 4th October 09.30-17.30 without an appointment Andri at Atlantic Bay Hotel (2nd Floor) will be charging €5 for a haircut with all proceeds going to Paphiakos. Telephone Suzanne on 99151996 or Andri on 99604783.

PAPHIAKOS CHRISTMAS BAZAAR. Saturday November 24th 9am – 3pm at the Crazy Spoon Restaurant. For further details contact 99151996. Stalls, Santa’s Grotto, Donkey Rides, Pirate Pat and many more.

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

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

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Friday, December 21, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Sport Sting in the tail for mighty All Blacks after stellar year

By Martyn Herman

New Zealand flex muscles before shock thrashing

LONDON will get the chance to recreate the magic of 2012 after being chosen to host the 2017 Paralympic athletics world championships, Mayor Boris Johnson said yesterday.

The event will be held just a month before the Olympic Stadium hosts the IAAF world athletics championships, making London the first city to stage both events back-to-back.

This year’s Paralympics athletics events attracted sell-out 80,000 crowds with the performances of British 100m runner Jonnie Peacock and wheelchair racer David Weir providing some of the most memorable moments of the Games.

“London just staged the best spectacle of sport the world has seen,” Johnson said in a statement.

By Mitch Phillips

IN BRIEF

AFTER ending their World Cup pain in 2011 New Zealand stamped their authority all over 2012, only for their triumphant run to be cut short spectacularly in the final game of the year.

When the All Blacks ran out at Twickenham on December 1 within three games of matching their record 23match unbeaten sequence and, with only an 18-18 draw with Australia blotting their copybook, they were being touted as the best team of all time.

But in an afternoon that encapsulated the tantalising unpredictability and eternal appeal of international sport, they fell to their secondworst defeat, 38-21, against England.

A sweep of the International Rugby Board’s (IRB) awards - Steve Hansen was named best coach, Dan Carter best player and the All Blacks best team - will have been scant consolation for a team who bucked the trend of recent World Cup winners by kicking on and improving in the year after their success.

Hansen made sure his squad kept developing with the introduction of players who brought an extra dimension to an already superb side.

He blooded nine new players as he started the reconstruction of a side that would otherwise be dominated by players in their mid-30s by the time they defended their title in England in 2015.

Changes in the first-choice

London to host 2017 Paralympic world champs

MAGIC OF 2012

Haka war dance: the world champion All Blacks swept all before them, before falling to the second-worst defeat in their history, 38-21, against England at Twickenham earlier this month (below) side saw Aaron Smith inject verve at scrumhalf while fearsome winger Julian Savea’s tally of 12 tries in nine Tests in his debut season tells its own story.

Their brand of rugby was a step up even from that which they displayed in last year’s triumph on home soil, mixing all the physicality expected of the All Blacks with a ruthless exploitation of turnover ball and an explosiveness out wide that few teams were able to stop.

“This year they have shown they are one of the great sides,” said their former captain Sean Fitzpatrick. “They are trying to play the perfect game. They want to take it to a new level.”

Hansen was not drawn into the debate about where his side might stand in the alltime rankings.

“It’s for other people to judge whether we are the

greatest team or not - or if we are a great team,” Hansen said after his team’s 25th successive win over Wales.

Australia were unable to match their neighbours on a regular basis but they bow to nobody when it comes to resilience.

Ravaged by injuries and

humiliated 33-6 by France, the Wallabies climbed off the canvas to end their season with a hat-trick of wins over England, Italy and Wales.

Stopping the New Zealand juggernaut via their June draw was also an impressive display a month after they had been whacked 31-8 by South Africa.

Heyneke Meyer’s first year in charge of the Springboks produced a home series win over England and a November three-game European clean sweep in which they won every one of their lineout throws.

But they managed only two wins in the Championship and were held to a draw by Argentina amid criticism, hardly original, that their physical approach was onedimensional.

After crying out for years for more meaningful competition, Argentina got their wish

and performed creditably in their first year in the Championship, and they played twice as many matches in 2012 as they had in any previous non-World Cup year.

New Zealand and Argentina’s anti-climatic finales were as nothing, though, compared with Wales’s precipitous fall.

Having followed up their run to the World Cup semifinals with their third Six Nations grand slam in eight years, they lost their next seven games, including yet another to their Cardiff nemeses Samoa.

That defeat and the heartbreaking last-minute loss to Australia, their fourth of the year, had calamitous consequences because Wales dropped into the third tier of seeds for the 2015 World Cup in England, and subsequently into a group with Australia and the hosts.

“By bringing the IPC athletics world championships to our wonderful Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park just a month before the world athletics championships, the capital is poised to recreate the magic of 2012.

“London’s Paralympic Games were the first ever to sell out, and these Championships provide a perfect chance to build on that enthusiasm for disabled sport,” he added.

Xavier Gonzalez, chief executive of the IPC, said London had helped raise the bar for Paralympic athletics.

“We cannot wait to see Great Britain embrace the Paralympic Movement once again with open arms,” he said.

“The bar has been set high for the 2017 IPC Athletics World Championships, and we are eager to see the worldwide media attention they attract.”

The next edition of the championships is being held in Lyon, France in 2013.

Hirscher finishes year in style with slalom victory

Martinez predicts win within eight rounds over Murray

Singh stars as India win first Twenty20 in Pune

AUSTRIA’S Marcel Hirscher finished 2012 in style with his second victory of the winter in a floodlit slalom in Madonna di Campiglio, his last race of the year.

The reigning overall World Cup champion won both runs and destroyed the field in the second leg to win in a combined time of one minute 42.50 seconds.

The race was marred by the death of a 70-year-old steward, who suffered a heart attack during the first run.

Hirscher, who finished on the podium in all seven technical races held this winter, left second-placed German Felix Neureuther 1.67 seconds adrift.

ARGENTINA’S WBC middleweight champion Sergio ‘Maravilla’ Martinez predicted this week he would defeat Briton Martin Murray within eight rounds in next year’s title defence.

Martinez, who was voted Argentina’s sport personality of the year on Tuesday night ahead of goal recordbreaking football player Lionel Messi, will be making his first defence since beating Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in Las Vegas in September.

The fight will take place in Buenos Aires on April 27, possibly at the Velez Sarsfield football stadium although the venue has not yet been fixed.

YUVRAJ Singh starred with bat and ball as India won the first Twenty20 international against England in Pune by five wickets.

Having won the toss and inserted England, India restricted the tourists to 157-6 from their 20 overs.

Alex Hales hit 56 and Jos Buttler 33, but England’s total was well below par. Yuvraj took 3-19 from his four overs.

In reply, Yuvraj top-scored for India with 38 as the hosts reached their target with 13 balls to spare.

England’s bowling attack served up 10 wides and will have to be far more disciplined if they are to square the series in Mumbai tomorrow.

CYPRUS MAIL Friday, December 21, 2012

29

Sport Giants, Ravens feel urgency of showdown

Aussie Open prize money is raised to record levels Move likely to appease unhappy players

By Patrick Johnston AUSTRALIAN Open organisers increased prize money for the early losers at the opening grand slam of the season to record levels yesterday, a move which is likely to quell player unrest and end talk of a strike.

The Australian Open will now pay more prize money per round than any other tournament, with increases also coming in doubles and qualifying matches, but mixed doubles saw a money freeze.

The biggest increases were for first round losers in the men’s and women’s singles, who will now receive A$27,600 ($29,000), representing a 32.7 per cent boost from 2012, with those exiting in the second round taking home $45,500, up 36.6 per cent.

The move is likely to appease the players council, led by 17-time grand slam champion Roger Federer, who had been calling for more revenue from the four elite tournaments to be passed down to those hitting the shots.

“Our motivation is to make a major contribution toward helping ensure professional tennis players can make a decent living,” Craig Tiley, the Australian Open tournament director, said in a statement.

“As we have said in the

past, it is a real issue and needs to be urgently addressed throughout the sport.”

In October, Tiley’s team announced that the players would be vying for a share of a record A$30 million for the Jan. 14-27 event without giving the breakdown of how that money would be divided.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus pocketed A$2.3 million each for their singles successes and a repeat next month in Melbourne would give them A$2.43 million.

While the multi millionaires at the top of the game will appreciate the extra rewards, the players scrambling to make the top 100 of the men’s and women’s rankings and those who mainly compete in doubles will be happier.

At the 2012 event, Israeli doubles veterans Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram shared A$9,500 for their first-round loss to the American Bryan brothers, offering little in the way of winnings once expenses had been taken into account.

A similar result next month will see the pair collect A$12,500.

“That is why the biggest increases are in the earlier rounds, qualifying and doubles which in effect rewards a lot of the lower-ranked players for their achievements which, by the way,

should not be undersold,” “To just reach the main draw of a slam, a professional tennis player has to be among the top 100 in what is one of, if not the most, competitive professional sport in the world,” Tiley added.

“At the same time, we also still want to continue to recognise the incredible drawing power and contribution of the top players.”

On Monday, the men’s governing body, the ATP, gave a lukewarm response to the U.S. Open increasing prize money for the 2013 edition by $4 million to a record $29.5 million.

“The ATP remains committed to continuing discussions on this issue, with the objective of ensuring that the players’ share of the revenues at the U.S. Open truly reflects the value that they generate for the event,” the body said.

Tiley said his team had been in full discussion with the players and tours before announcing their increases with more likely to come “It is always a balance which is why we undertook unprecedented consultation on this subject with the tours and players who have been extremely supportive,” Tiley said.

“We will not be stopping here. There will be more talks and more increases during the next four years.

This is just a very positive first step.”

Novak Djokovic beat Rafa Nadal in an epic near six-hour final in Melbourne last January

Clippers remove Hornets sting, equal 38-year-old NBA record

By Jahmal Corner

LA superstar Blake Griffin tormented New Orleans

A high-spirited Los Angeles Clippers soared to a franchise record-tying 11th straight victory with a comfortable 93-77 triumph over the slumping New Orleans Hornets.

Roared on by a raucous home crowd, the surging Clippers tied a winning streak dating back to 1974 when the franchise was known as the Buffalo Braves.

The present incarnation of the Clippers (19-6) last lost on November 26 against the same Hornets so the victory also served as an ideal way to dish out some revenge in the rematch at the Staples Center.

“We were really motivated to play better,” Los Angeles center DeAndre Jordan

told reporters. “We’re just playing great basketball and that’s what’s winning us games.”

The Clippers eased to victory on the back of another balanced effort as Blake Griffin scored 18 points and Jamal Crawford led the reserves with 17, the home players sharing high-fives and smiling throughout the contest.

While points arrived often and from a number of sources, the Los Angeles defense stifled the struggling Hornets (5-20), who appeared jaded in their second game in as many nights as they slipped to a ninth consecutive defeat.

Chris Paul brought the Los Angeles crowd to its feet in the second quarter when the 27-year-old point guard became the fifth fastest

player to reach 5,000 career assists.

“I didn’t have a clue,” Paul said, having tallied 10 points and 12 assists against the team where he spent his first six seasons in the league.

Los Angeles made things especially tough on the young Hornets in the third quarter where they harassed them into many of their 20 turnovers.

A 12-2 run put the Clippers 69-52 ahead and out of reach. The fourth quarter saw many of the Los Angeles starters resting comfortably on the bench with victory already assured.

“It’s cool to be able to accomplish the streak with this group of guys, we have so much fun together,” Griffin said. “But we have much bigger aspirations. We’ll take it, but we have to move on.”

THE New York Giants and Baltimore Ravens, both coming off one-sided losses, are looking forward to Sunday’s playoff-calibre showdown with a sense of urgency running through both teams.

The Super Bowl champion Giants need to win their last two games, including a regular season finale against Philadelphia, to ensure a place in the playoffs, while the Ravens, on a three-game losing skid, can win the AFC North title with a victory.

“We have the two-game schedule and we have to win both games to get in the playoffs and everybody’s aware of that,” New York coach Tom Coughlin told reporters.

The Giants (8-6) are tied for the NFC East lead with the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys, but would come up on the losing end of tiebreakers with both teams.

Since Washington and Dallas meet in their final game, two wins would guarantee the Giants a wildcard berth.

The Ravens (9-5) were beaten 34-17 at home last week

by Denver, but clinched a playoff berth nonetheless for a fifth successive season.

Coach John Harbaugh said it is essential the team get on track.

“We understand what’s at stake,” Harbaugh told reporters in a conference call to the Giants’ practice facility. “The guys are excited to play. We have plenty to play for. We’re trying to play for a division championship.

“Coughlin said his team had been plagued by inconsistency and that quarterback Eli Manning was the man to lead them out of the trend after the team was shut out 34-0 last week by Atlanta.

The Giants hope history can repeat itself.

Last season, the up-anddown New Yorkers put it all together at the end of the season, winning their last two games to reach the postseason and sweeping four playoff games culminating in a Super Bowl triumph over the New England Patriots.

“The reality of it is we haven’t been able to play to substantiate what I would say is the personality of this team,” Coughlin said about the 2012 edition of the club.

“So I’m definitely counting on the veterans to go ahead and prove this and do it with consistency. Last year we did it over a six-game run, and we’re in that situation again.”

Ravens running back Ray Rice said he expected a high intensity showdown game against the Giants.

“They have a lot at stake and we got a lot at stake,” said Rice. “We’re trying to clinch the AFC North and I think they are in a threeway tie. There’s going to be a playoff atmosphere on Sunday.”

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Friday, December 21, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

Sport

Abidal sends coach Vilanova support following shock news

APOEL face AEL in heavyweight cup clash

‘I wish him and his family a lot of courage’

By Nemanja Bjedov

BARCELONA defender Eric Abidal has offered his support to Tito Vilanova after his return from cancer treatment on Wednesday was overshadowed by news his coach faces a new fight against the illness.

Vilanova, 44, underwent an operation on his parotid gland yesterday and faces six weeks of chemotherapy.

Barcelona confirmed the news on Wednesday night, coincidentally, on the same day Abidal returned to training for the first time since he needed a liver transplant in April.

Abidal’s return was a significant step in his bid to continue his career, however, he admitted he had been left thinking only about his ailing boss.

“I confirm to you that I have started again the collective training with the group,” he wrote on his Facebook page yesterday.

“I hope to come back soon on the fields, but I can’t stop thinking of our coach, Tito Vilanova: I wish him and his family, a lot of courage!”

Vilanova yesterday underwent his second surgery in just over a year.

Vilanova, who took over from Pep Guardiola in the summer, initially had a tumour removed from his throat in November last

Get well soon: on the same day Eric Abidal (right) returned to training for the first time since he needed a liver transplant in April, Barca announced that coach Tito Vilanova had suffered a relapse and needed further cancer treatment year.

Barcelona held a specifically-convened press conference on Wednesday in which president Sandro Rosell offered Vilanova the club’s unconditional support.

Rosell, who was flanked by on-field leaders Carles Puyol, Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Victor Valdes, revealed assistant manager Jordi Roura would take interim charge, however, he said he expected Vilanova would quickly return to the touchline.

The club even opened the door for Vilanova to return during his recovery, with a statement saying his “treatment may be compatible with his work life”.

“Tito is strong, very strong.

He’s shown us that and we’re convinced he’ll back with us very soon,” Rosell said.

“We want to express our unconditional support to Tito and his family.

“We thank everyone for their support. We have complete confidence in the

team. The club is very strong and united, we’re capable of overcoming adversity.”

Speculation in the Spanish press has already linked Guardiola, who left the club to take a year-long sabbatical in the summer, with a return, but sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta denied any contact had been made.

Barca travel to Real Valladolid on Saturday before the winter break and Zubizarreta emphasised Vilanova, who has led the La Liga

leaders to their best ever start, remained in charge.

“Tito is our coach and will continue to be our coach,” he said. “Jordi (Roura) will be on the sidelines for Valladolid, but all the rest is pure speculation.”

Zubizarreta also expressed his shock at the news, saying: “It was difficult news to hear.

“Tito’s only concern has centred on his children and his family. The only person he has not spoken of is himself.”

Napoli humbled by Bologna

Lowly Bologna have now beaten their illustrious opponents twice in the past week

HOLDERS Napoli, already reeling after being deduced two Serie A points for matchfixing, were knocked out of the Italian Cup last 16 after suffering a last-gasp 2-1 home defeat by Bologna on Wednesday night.

Edinson Cavani gave the hosts a 12th-minute lead but Cristian Pasquato on 38 minutes and Panagiotis Kone in stoppage time helped Bologna set up a last-eight clash with Inter Milan, who beat second tier Hellas Verona 2-0 on Tuesday.

Greek midfielder Kone had also scored late on for modest Bologna when they won 3-2 at Napoli in the league last weekend.

Lazio also won through after a 4-1 penalty shootout success at home to Siena following a 1-1 draw. The match was played in a mostly empty stadium in the Italian midweek afternoon such is the lack of interest from fans in the competition.

They will face Catania in the January quarter-finals after the Sicilians progressed last week along with AC Milan, Juventus and AS Roma, who will host Fiorentina following the Florence side’s 1-0 win at Udinese on Wednesday.

Borja Valero netted for Fiorentina in the 36th minute The standout tie of the predrawn last eight is Serie A champions and last season’s beaten finalists Juventus travelling to Milan.

Serie A title chasers Napoli were docked two points on Tuesday in Italy’s latest match-fixing shame as three players were banned for between six months and three years over bets placed on a match with Sampdoria in 2010.

Paolo Cannavaro, brother of Italy great Fabio, and fellow Napoli defender Gianluca Grava received six-month bans for not reporting evidence of match-fixing while

former goalkeeper Matteo Gianello was banned for three years and three months for orchestrating the fix.

Napoli, who said the club had nothing to do with the issue, have appealed.

In other news, today’s Serie A match between Cagliari and leaders Juve will be held in Parma after the league stepped in following another chaotic day in Italian football which left fans fuming.

The league said in a statement yesterday that the Stadio Tardini in Parma, 631 kilometres over sea and land from Cagliari, would host the game after safety officials in Sardinia said the city’s Is Arenas was not fit to hold the match.

Cagliari have had a long running battle with local authorities over their new stadium. They had to play home matches at Trieste, over 1,000 kms away, when the Is Arenas was previously deemed unsafe.

THE draw for the Round of 16 of the Cyprus Coca-Cola Cup has thrown up some intriguing matchups including a mouthwatering clash between APOEL and AEL. The two teams met at the same stage of the competition last season with AEL advancing to the quarterfinals with a 1-0 aggregate victory. After winning the first leg in Nicosia they played out a goalless draw at home.

“Over the last three years we have not had a kind draw. APOEL are one of the most difficult opponents at this stage and with all the problems we have with injuries it really does not come at the best time for us,” said AEL spokesman Ploutis Avraam.

“However, last season we had to overcome three tough opponents on the road to the cup final and we will try to do it again,” he added.

This stage of the competition is played over two legs and the dates initially set for the matches are January 9 and 16 as well as the 23rd and 30th of the same month.

The exact schedule of the matches will be announced at a later date by the Cyprus Football Association.

APOEL spokesman Panikos Hadjiliasis agreed with his Limassol counterpart: “AEL are probably one of the most difficult opponents we could have drawn. We have been unlucky with the draw over the last few seasons, but it is not the end of the world and we will be looking forward to this challenge. Our goal is to progress to the next stage of the competition.”

Cup holders Omonia will take on Ethnikos Achnas in what will be a replay of last season’s semi-final. The first game will be played at the Dasaki Stadium in Achna, while the return leg will take place in the Cypriot capital.

League leaders Anorthosis were drawn to face their city rivals Alki, but Ronny Levy’s men will need to be at their best in order to advance, according to their communications officer Alexandros Alexandrou: “We have to be very cautious as Alki does not immediately strike as a tricky opponent.

We are pleased that we have avoided more difficult opposition at this stage, but we must take Alki seriously and definitely not underestimate them,” he said.

Elsewhere, three second division sides will be involved in the Round of 16 action.

Anagennisis Derynia visit Ayia Napa in the first leg, while Ermis Aradippou face Enosis Neon Paralimni and PAEEK travel to Paphos to meet AEP. In the remaining two matchups, Nea Salamina host Apollon Limassol and AEK take on Olympiakos Nicosia at the GSZ Stadium in Larnaca in first leg matches.

CYPRUS MAIL Friday, December 21, 2012

31

Sport Arsenal ‘let the fans down’ selling van Persie

Well played: Rafa Benitez (centre) congratulates his players after a four-goal blitz at Elland Road secured their place in the last four of the Capital One Cup

Benitez: wins will unite us

By Mark Walker RAFAEL Benitez is confident he will win over Chelsea’s doubting fans if his players can maintain the form they showed in dismantling old rivals Leeds in a 5-1 Capital One Cup quarter-final second-half stroll at Elland Road.

Chelsea’s interim manager Benitez has been under fire the minute he walked into Stamford Bridge to replace the sacked Roberto Di Matteo at the end of last month.

But second-half efforts from Juan Mata, Branislav Ivanovic, Victor Moses, Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres, which included a four-goal 19-minute blitz, ensured the perfect response from Benitez’s side following their disappointing World

Spaniard confident of getting fans behind him Club Cup final defeat in Japan.

The European champions lost out 1-0 to Corinthians of Brazil in Yokohama on Sunday and following a flight delay which saw them return to London on Monday afternoon found themselves 1-0 down to old enemy Leeds at half-time thanks to Luciano Becchio’s fine first-half opener.

But Mata equalised for the Londoners two minutes into the second half and after Leeds had held their own for an hour, the Barclays Premier League side turned in a display of clinical finishing to leave a delighted Benitez to reflect on the impressive

way his players had bounced back.

“My priority is to win against (Sunday’s opponents) Aston Villa now, enjoy this, and it will be a question of time. If we can play at this level and win games it will be easier to have everybody together,” said Benitez, whose side will meet either Villa or Bradford in the Capital One Cup final at Wembley, if they can overcome Swansea in the semi-finals.

Searching questions had been asked of the Spaniard after Chelsea took just five points from four Barclays Premier League games since he replaced Di Matteo and the former Liverpool manag-

er could not hide his relief.

“I’m pleased with the way that we won and pleased because we came back from Japan with jet lag, sleeping too much, players tired and still the performance was fantastic.

“The first half was very good, the second half was amazing. Coming back we needed to see the fitness of the players and we had to decide to change some of them, so to have this reaction, being mentally ready and after working so hard and playing so well, I’m really pleased with them.”

Leeds manager Neil Warnock, who shook hands with Benitez after the match to

draw a line under their fallout dating back to 2007, was pleased with his side’s display and quickly turned his attention to Saturday’s npower Championship clash against Middlesbrough.

Warnock is also eagerlyawaiting news of the completion of the club’s pending takeover by Bahrain-based investment bank GFH Capital, which is scheduled to be finalised today.

“I’m disappointed because I thought if Tom Lees’ header had gone in just before half-time, it would have made it 2-0 and very difficult for them, but overall we made it a difficult night for them and played some good football,” Warnock said.

“The noise volume when we scored, I’ve never heard anything like it. If Leeds sort themselves out...”

Sterling ‘shone from the start’

By Carl Markham

Liverpool’s teenage forward Raheem Sterling (left) is destined for a bright future, says assistant coach Mike Marsh

LIVERPOOL forward Raheem Sterling was destined for a bright future at the club from the moment he walked through the door, according to first-team coach Mike Marsh.

Sterling, who turned 18 earlier this month, is set to sign a five-year contract in the coming days, warding off interest from the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea.

Sterling’s progress has been swift since arriving from QPR aged 15 but Marsh, who was coaching at the academy at the time, instantly knew they had a star in the making.

“I was his coach on the night he came for his first day of training in the under-16s,” said Marsh, who was promoted from under18s manager to Brendan Rodgers’ coaching staff.

“He was only 15 and the local lads - they’re quite feisty - decided to test him in one or two challenges and he didn’t shirk a challenge.

“He was just straight back into the next one and I thought ‘We’ve got a player on our hands’.

“Talent isn’t everything but when we’re

talking about bottle we’re expecting him to be brave and get on the ball in areas when he can hurt defenders. You can see he’s got a bright future.”

Press Association Sport understands Sterling, who made his senior England debut last month, could sign the contract by this weekend.

It is just reward for the rapid progress he has made since arriving from QPR in February 2010 on a deal which still has 18 months to run.

After making his first-team debut in March under former manager Kenny Dalglish, Sterling has become a regular starter under Rodgers and the club were keen to tie him down to a longer contract as soon as he turned 18.

There were some sticking points over wages, which alerted a host of top clubs, but an agreement has been reached which satisfies all parties.

Liverpool were keen not to be held to ransom on the salary issue, wary of paying the youngster too much too soon, but it is believed Sterling’s new contract will be incentivised and include a number of performance-related increments.

RUSSIAN billionaire Alisher Usmanov says Arsenal made a mistake in selling Robin van Persie to Premier League rivals Manchester United.

The oligarch, who has accumulated an £18 billion fortune and is believed to be one of Russia’s richest men, says it is still his dream to own Arsenal.

And in a rare television interview, the 59-year-old, who already owns a 30 per cent stake in the club but has no seat on the board, gave his full backing to under-fire boss Wenger, who has been fighting calls from fans to quit.

Usmanov, who earned his fortune in mining, lumber and business investments and is believed to be significantly wealthier than Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, said the Arsenal boss has not had enough support in recent years to keep up with Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea.

Speaking in broken English, Usmanov told CNBC in Moscow yesterday: “First I did not hear the claims that Arsene Wenger was against me and the board, and I am surprised about this.

“Second I always tell Mr Wenger he is one of the best coaches and football managers in the world but I openly admit he has many, many difficulties to contend with.

“Today less, but over the last five years he has not had enough support to provide his conceptions of his game in Arsenal from the board, either for transfers or for keeping players etc.”

Usmanov was asked if he would have done more to keep van Persie who joined United in a £24 million deal in the summer, despite Wenger’s attempts to keep the Dutch striker.

The Soviet-born businessman said: “This decision was a mistake. If I am one of Wenger’s players I would want to stay for the finish, but he explained Robin want to go to win trophies.

Asked about his influence in the transfer window, Usmanov said: “I never interfere with things over which I have no control, this question (about buying players) is for Wenger.

“I never ever give instruction to chief executive of my plans I only ask you need my help or not.”

Usmanov also said Arsenal had not made enough capital from its commercial wing and he questioned the operation at the Emirates.

He added: “If I have big stake in Arsenal of course I have my opinion what we must do, for example in the commercial side there are many questions over the effectiveness of commercial side of Arsenal today. But we will see we will wait and maybe when I wake up some day I have this Arsenal club.”

Friday, December 21, 2012 CYPRUS MAIL

32

Sport

Sting in the tail for mighty All Blacks after stellar year 28

Benitez: wins will unite Chelsea 31

British clubs find out Europa opponents

Tottenham will play what could be one of the most hotly contested ties of the round when they face Lyon

REIGNING European champions Chelsea will face Sparta Prague in the last 32 of the Europa League.

The Blues, who failed to make the knockout stages of the top-tier European competition, will start their bid to become only the fourth club after Juventus, Ajax and Bayern Munich to win all of the major European trophies as they bid to usurp defending champions Atletico Madrid.

Tottenham will take on Ligue 1 side Lyon, while Liverpool face Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg and Newcastle take on Ukraine’s Metalist

Kharkiv.

Chelsea avoided a rematch with Atletico,who handed them a 4-1 drubbing in the Super Cup back in August.

Atletico drew Russian side Rubin Kazan as they bid to defend the title they won with a comprehensive 3-0 defeat of Athletic Bilbao in last year’s all-Spanish final.

Liverpool travel to Zenit for their opening round of 32 match to face the Russian side who has hit the headlines this week when their largest supporters group, Landscrona, caused widespread outrage.

They posted an open letter on their website that outlined their preferred criteria for future signings at Zenit to exclude sexual minorities and nonEuropeans from the playing staff.

Tottenham will play what could be one of the most hotly contested ties of the round when they face Lyon, who are a tough opponent more used to Champions League football.

Andre Villas-Boas’ side could line up a last-16 meeting with Inter Milan if they can beat Lyon over two legs, and if the Serie A side can win their tie against Romania’s Cluj.

Ronaldo returns to United Arsenal face German giants Bayern, Celtic drawn with Italian champs Juventus out a signal.

“We can make it - we will go into it as favourites.”

Celtic boss Neil Lennon called his side’s draw against Juve “a beauty” but very tough.

Lennon told Sky Sports News: “Well in terms of glamour it’s a beauty. Juventus are one of the great traditional European teams.

They’re current Italian champions and finished the group stage very strongly.

“So in terms of glamour it’s great, in terms of qualification it is going to be very tough, but it could have been any of the other teams and it would have been just as tough.”

By Martyn Ziegler

C

RISTIANO Ronaldo will face Manchester United for the first time since he left Old Trafford after Real Madrid were drawn against his old side in the last 16 of the Champions League.

The tie will also pit Jose Mourinho against Sir Alex Ferguson in the most mouthwatering tie of the first knock-out round of Europe’s top club competition.

Emilio Butragueno, Real Madrid’s director of institutional relations, said it would be a special match for Ronaldo - and for the two managers.

He said on www.uefa.com: “I am sure it will be a special game for him (Ronaldo).

He’s a great professional.

I’m sure he’s going to do his best to help us qualify. It’s going to very, very special for him.

“It will be a thrilling experience for everyone. Manchester United are not only a great team but a great organisation known around the world.

“But we know it’s going to be tough, Sir Alex Ferguson has been there over 25 years and he’s a fantastic manager - he knows how to get the best out of his players and they have top players, but we are Real Madrid and we will try our best.

“I know the coaches have a great relationship. We are very happy with Mourinho and I hope he’s going to lead the team to the Champions League to make our fans feel proud of the team.”

United’s club secretary John Alexander hoped there was a lucky omen in the draw.

He told Sky Sports News: “Out of several standout ties, I think this is the one.

“It’s the tie that everyone wanted to see - but that nobody wanted to see, they wanted to save it for later in the competition.

“When you think about the traditions of these two clubs they have both been incred-

Mouthwatering: Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo (left) will face former side Manchester United for the first time since his £80-million move in the glamour tie of the Champions League Last 16 following yesterday’s draw ibly successful, but of course the past is history.

“One thing going in our favour is that our one victory over Real Madrid in this competition was in the year we won the final at Wembley in 1968 so let’s hope that is a lucky omen.”

United defender Rio Ferdinand, who played in the 2003 match against Real, welcomed the draw on Twitter saying: “Oh yes, Madrid!!

What a great couple a games that’ll be!! @Cristiano see u soon bro!!”

Barcelona will take on familiar foes AC Milan with the first leg at the San Siro.

Their most recent encounter was in the quarter-finals

last season, when Barca prevailed 3-1 on aggregate with Lionel Messi scoring twice in the second leg.

AC Milan sporting director Umberto Gandini told www. uefa.com: “Last season we faced them twice (the group stage and quarter-finals), this time only once fortunately. We are now used to playing in Catalonia.

IMPROVING “We are improving and I’m sure we will continue to do so until February.

“We face a perfect machine, even if they had more problems than usual this season in the group stage. Let’s just

hope we will qualify this time around.

“This is the highest hurdle we could face but if we manage to pass it we can go all the way.”

Barca coach Tito Vilanova yesterday underwent cancer treatment on his parotid gland before undergoing six weeks of chemotherapy.

Gandini said in support: “We are all very close to Tito Vilanova and his family and we wish him all the best for his surgery.

“We hope he will be on the bench against us.”

German champions Borussia Dortmund face a tricky clash with Shakhtar Donetsk while local rivals Schalke

take on Galatasaray.

Big-spending Ligue 1 outfit Paris St Germain will fancy their chances of beating Valencia, whose form has been patchy this season, and Malaga, who are performing better in the Primera Division, meet Portuguese champions Porto.

Bayern Munich take on Arsenal while Celtic meet Italian champions Juventus.

Bayern chairman KarlHeinz Rummenigge said: “This is a draw that we can be happy with. We know Arsenal well, but we must not underestimate them.

“It’s important that we try to get a good result in London and get a goal to send