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TV and lifestyle supplements to see you through Pages 6-7 the coming week

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September 16, 2012

SAY NO TO TROIKA AND CEMENT YES TO BANKRUPTCY INSIDE Cyprus Paphos celebrates its cultural place in Europe 5

World Afghanistan attack linked to anti-Islam film 10

Lifestyle Royal bump watching goes into overdrive 19

Business Education doesn’t always lead to a good job 24

Sport Sorry Saints gunned down by Arsenal 40

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COFFEESHOP

Bailout terms sought ASAP Although two sides disagree on how much asked for

By George Psyllides

T

HE government said yesterday it aims to strike an agreement with its lenders on a bailout programme as soon as possible though the two sides disagree on the total amount -- Cypriot estimates being much lower.

“The amount we are negotiating with the troika is much lower than the one they have in mind,” Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly said yesterday, without however giving the government’s estimate.

“There is a difference in the assessment,” he told reporters during a news conference on the sidelines of the Ecofin meeting in Nicosia.

Cyprus applied for financial assistance from its EU partners and the IMF, the troika, in June. The troika submitted a 20-page document with their proposals at the end of July but Cyprus has yet to respond.

On Friday, Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker said Cyprus and the troika will have to speed up the process as there is no time to lose – a clear suggestion there was a delay in the process.

After talks with main opposition DISY leader and presidential candidate Nicos Anastassiades yesterday, Juncker once again stressed the need to speed up the process.

“Everyone knows that urgent measures are needed in order to meet the expectations of the international community and of the financial markets,” he said.

Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou reiterated yesterday that the administration was working on its counter proposals, which will soon be presented to political parties and the unions for discussion before submitting them to the troika.

“Certainly this must be done soon,” Stefanou said.

Shiarly said he expected an agreement with the troika within a month, a month and a half.

The government has not revealed its cards on how it would counter the troika’s proposals, which had a negative reception after they were leaked on Wednesday.

It does insist however that beyond austerity, there must also be stimulus, to avoid sinking deeper in recession.

“We want to have a plan that would not only be viable but it must also have social cohesion,” Shiarly said.

He said the aim was to avoid a further increase in unemployment – currently over 10 per cent.

To mitigate the potential negative effects of an austerity programme, Cyprus has already sounded-out the troika on whether the standard three-year adjustment period could be extended to five.

“We have explored the possibility,” the minister said, but no formal request has been made so far.

European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn agreed that social cohesion is important.

“We feel that social fairness is a very important principle

TURN TO PAGE 3

PLAGUE SHIP ANCHOR HAULED OUT OF MEDITERRANEAN

People look at the anchor of the Grand Saint-Antoine merchant ship which is hauled out of the Mediterranean Sea in Marseille, France. The Grand Saint-Antoine is the ship that brought the plague to Marseille in 1720, on its way back from plague ravaged Syria.

The disease had time to spread throughout the country, resulting in 120,000 deaths in France, including 50,000 in Marseille, before the authorities ordered the burning of the boat. The anchor was found in a creek near Marseille in 1982

2 September 16, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

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A jewel of a village that has become an eyesore

Weather

Nicosia Troodos

35

27 2

Paphos

30

34

Larnaca

Limassol

34

TODAY: Hot and sunny with afternoon cloud over the mountains.

Temperatures will reach 35C inland, 34C in the south and east. 30C in the west and 27C over the mountains OUTLOOK: Remaining mostly settled

Picturesque Anavargos the victim of endless roadworks

By Bejay Browne

YESTERDAY

Nicosia Larnaca Limassol Paphos Paralimni Prodromos

max/min temp 36 - 19 31 - 20 31 - 21 30 - 20 34 - 21 27 - 16

Humidity 29% 51% 51% 62% 36% 38%

SUNRISE: 06.30 am

SUNSET: 18.52 pm

Sunday Mail Established 1945. Number 21,332 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

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RESIDENTS of Anavargos village in Paphos are up in arms over recent works in the area which has resulted in unfinished roads, piles of rubble left uncleared, and dirt and dust everywhere.

The village is situated in a prime location close to Paphos town and the general hospital. The heart of the village still has a number of traditional Cypriot houses and tavernas and a stone church, but residents say continuing road works and a general lack of care is ruining the area.

Caroline Harman-Smith has lived in Anavargos for the last 12 years, moving to the centre of the village three and a half year ago.

She contacted the Sunday Mail in desperation, stressing that urgent action needs to be taken to bring the village back to its former glory.

“The village is dirty and full of empty, unfinished apartment buildings which will never be sold or let as they are deteriorating over time and even more blocks are being erected,” she said. “The roads are uneven and full of potholes and the surfaces have not been completed since the recent sewerage and drainage works.”

Anavargos Taverna is housed in the old schoolhouse in the village. The family-run business has consistently been voted as one of the best tavernas in Paphos, but even they are being affected by the dire situation in the village.

Owner George Afxentiou said that business has been adversely affected by the ongoing roadworks, the copious amounts of dust being created and a lack of information about which roads will be closed.

“It’s a battle the entire time

Chaos as four different authorities are carrying out ‘improvements’ in the village

to find out which roads will be open and we are unable to pass any information on to our customers because we are left in the dark,” he said.

The restaurateur added that customers are being put off visiting the taverna by the road works and the clouds of dust which are thrown up every time a vehicle drives past.

“There is nothing we can do about it; it’s a really big problem. This used to be a nice quiet village, but things have

changed.”

Residents believe as an old village situated close to Paphos town, it could be a jewel instead of an eyesore.

The village is littered with builders’ rubble and rubbish yet a dry river bed found to the rear of the village is an area of natural beauty.

“In spring this area has a myriad of exquisite wild flowers including orchids and iris, scented trees and so on. It is a haven for birds and many people enjoy walking their dogs

here,” said Harman- Smith.

“Unfortunately recent work to enlarge the village cemetery using bulldozers has seen all of the large rocks which they unearthed falling down into the valley blocking the walks. As there is no way of getting a lorry down there or equipment to lift them, they will stay there, ruining the pleasure for those of us who love walking there and wish to preserve the area.”

Savvas Savva, the head of the technical department of the municipality of Paphos agreed that Anavargos has been a suffering in recent months. He explained that this was due to four separate authorities undertaking different work in the area: the municipality, the Paphos sewerage board, CyTA and the water board.

“Nobody has the authority to give directions to all of the different authorities to enable the co-ordination of work so that roads are dug up only once. This is because each authority has a separate budget,” he said.

According to the chief engineer, there may be some relief ahead for Anavargos residents, as all of the work in the area has now been completed. All that remains is for the sewerage board to resurface the roads.

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3 SUNDAY MAIL • September 16, 2012

CYPRUS TODAY Home robbed POLICE are investigating a burglary that took place at a residence in Limassol, where thieves escaped with €340,090 worth of valuables.

According to police they stole silver trays, candle sticks, gold watches, silver belts along with 50 ancient artefacts from Cyprus and Egypt, among other items.

The burglary took place between August 14 and 17.

Police are also investigating a burglary at a home in Nicosia, in which thieves escaped with €17,000 worth of valuables, including four gold rings and three gold frames.

It took place between 10am and 2.30pm on Friday.

Road campaign LIMASSOL police caught around 244 drivers between Friday afternoon and yesterday morning during a campaign aimed at reducing fatal traffic accidents.

According to police, 69 were caught for speeding, 58 for not wearing a seatbelt, 21 for not having renewed their road tax and 12 for driving without an MOT. In addition, another seven were caught for driving without insurance, one for driving a vehicle which had not been registered and 76 were caught for a variety of other traffic violations.

Police also breathalysed 491 drivers, from which 54 were found to be driving under the influence.

Swimmer hurt A 73-year-old man from Nicosia was injured yesterday lunchtime off the coast of Protaras after being hit by a speedboat while he was swimming, police said.

He is being treated at Paralimni general hospital for injuries to his arms.

According to police, the owner of the boat called the lifeguard to come and get him.

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Christofias meets EC’s Rehn Negotiating with state to help overcome challenges PRESIDENT Demetris Christofias yesterday met the European Commission vice president Olli Rehn to discuss the island’s financial situation vis-à-vis bailout negotiations with the EU and the IMF. Asked whether Cyprus and the troika – the commission, European central bank and the IMF – could sign a bailout agreement, Rehn said that they were negotiating with the state to help it overcome its challenges.

He said that he had a constructive meeting with Christofias.

“As Cyprus is facing economic reforms and fiscal adjustment, it is very important to maintain social fairness. It is a key principle to this process,” Rehn said responding to a journalist’s question on the government’s insistence on maintaining social cohesion.

Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said that the President had already met with ECB and IMF bosses and continued to work hard towards a proposal for troika as part of negotiations.

He did not answer a question on when a proposal would be submitted but said that it would be based on the principles of fiscal consolidation, growth, and social cohesion.

“Through a strong negoti-

European Commission vice president Olli Rehn speaking outside the presidential palace yesterday ating position and the support of all involved we can persuade the troika in a number of issues,” Stefanou said.

The troika have paid two separate visits to the island during July to evaluate the state of the economy following a formal request for assistance on June 25.

The immediate cause of the request was the island’s biggest banks that became overexposed to Greek debt with the second biggest lender, Popular, needing €1.8 billion, about 10 per cent of the country’s GDP. The country was forced to ask for help to cover its own fiscal needs in addition to the capital needs of the banks.

Cyprus sun lightens the sombre mood of Europe’s ministers Page 24

Bailout terms sought ASAP continued from page one of European integration. It is a core European principle, so we see that as Cyprus is facing economic reforms and fiscal adjustment, it is very important to maintain social fairness.

It’s a key principle to this process,” he said after meeting President Demetris Christofias.

But he tiptoed around a question on when he thought Cyprus and the troika might sign a deal. “... we have been discussing about how to best overcome the economic challenges of Cyprus. The European Commission stands by Cyprus in these troubled times and we are in the negotiation process of how to overcome this difficult period,” he told reporters at the presidential palace.

FinMin: public deficit aim for 2013 is 2.5% THE target is to bring public deficit down to around 2.5 per cent in 2013, Minister of Finance Vassos Shiarly said yesterday.

Shiarly was replying to questions during a press briefing after the conclusions of an informal ECOFIN. He said that on Monday the cabinet will discuss for the first time the budget for 2013.

“Roughly we are working with the aim of having a public deficit of 2.5 per cent for the next year, so the measures needed in order to be able to secure that budget deficit is something that will be debated for the first time tomorrow,” he said adding that “whether that will become public, I don’t know”.

Asked to name the two main issues of contention between the government and the troika during talks so far he said that “I think one would be the establishment of the

amount required for the recapitalisation for the banking sector”.

The second one, he added, “is the extent of the structural changes that need to be made and the timing of those structural changes”.

He continued to point out that “it is well known that we have requested a longer period of adjustment because a frontloaded adjustment might cause a slowing down of the economy or a recession, which we don’t believe is conducive to the economy at this point in time”.

“We want to maintain some momentum of the economy”, he stressed, arguing that “it is well known that where very tough initial austerity measures have been introduced there is a tendency to create a greater recession than would be allowable, so you don’t necessarily get the best results”.

4 September 16, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

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Scientist eager to get on with life After nine months behind bars for an immigration error, an Iranian scientist is now free to pursue his dream: to invent and to apply to live in Canada

By Stefanos Evripidou

T

HE IRANIAN scientist who spent over nine months locked up, the latter part on hunger strike, for failing to acquire a ‘pink slip’ during his last year of study in Cyprus 15 years ago has finally been released.

Sayed Farzin Amirkalali, 47, is a computer engineer from Iran. Two years ago, his neighbours discovered he had converted to Christianity. Religious conversion away from Islam is illegal in Iran, and according to the British Foreign Office, under Iran’s strict interpretation of Islam is punishable by death or at least life imprisonment.

Amirkalali decided to move his family to Canada. In Iran,

he was responsible for designing the Iranian version of the “voice command wheelchair” to help provide mobility to paralysed victims of the IranIraq war.

He is an expert on robotics and before getting locked up

by Cyprus’ immigration authorities, was keen to develop his research to enable brain signals to instruct wheelchair movement.

Given his innovative research skills, he was confident in securing a ‘professional migrant’ visa for Canada. Doing so from Iran would have taken three to five years, which he considered too big a risk given his exposure as a Christian convert. He calculated that applying from abroad would take less than a year.

“I couldn’t wait. Every

minute was a risk,” he told the Sunday Mail.

So, he came to Cyprus, where he had spent seven memorable years in the 1990s doing a degree in Computer Engineering at Intercollege, bringing his wife and ten-year-old son.

The aim was to spend a year doing a Masters, while at the same time applying for a visa to Canada from Cyprus.

As Robert Burns wisely noted a few centuries back, the best laid plans often go awry.

The college could not deliver a student visa for the 47-yearold in time. Amirkalali felt a return to Iran would be too dangerous given that their sudden departure had already raised suspicions back home.

After exhausting all other options, the Iranian scientist applied for asylum for him

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and his family on November 23, 2011.

He was arrested immediately and taken to Lakatameia police station. Immigration claimed he had spent the last year of his studies in 1997 without the necessary ‘pink slip’, resulting in his name being put on the stop list.

According to Amirkalali, immigration refused to give him a pink slip for his seventh year of college, since six years were the maximum afforded third country nationals studying a Bachelors degree.

The Iranian put the lengthy duration of his studies down to “bad English”.

Despite immigration’s refusal to extend his visa, he stayed on for a seventh year, completing his degree in 1997, on the mistaken understanding that the college and immigration had reached a deal to let him stay to complete the course.

Three years after his graduation and return to Iran, Amirkalali came back to Cyprus for his honeymoon. He returned to the island four times in total after 1997, each time with a visa issued by the Cyprus Embassy in Iran. At no point, was he prevented from entering the country for being on the stop list.

Until last year, that is. When the computer engineer was arrested the same day as he applied for asylum, he had no idea the authorities would suddenly consider him a persona non grata, given his untroubled previous visits to the country.

While in detention at Lakatemeia, Amirkalali’s asylum application was rejected. He appealed. The seconds, minutes, days and months passed incrementally with no end in sight.

Speaking from his cell last month, he said: “There is no TV, no sunlight, no open space to exercise… A day is a day here.”

According to Ombudswoman Eliza Savvidou, Lakatameia holding cells are “unsuitable for detention”. She also notes that detention pending deportation should be a last resort and should not exceed six months except in “exceptional cases” and only where efforts to deport that person continue.

In the case of Amirkalali, he could not be deported since his appeal was still being processed.

Savvidou noted the fact he had been allowed into the country four times without being informed his name was on the stop list or given a chance to remove it made his detention unlawful.

In his eighth month of detention and with his wife and son alone on the outside, Amirkalali stopped eating food, resulting in him going to

Together again: Sayed Farzin Amirkalali with his family hospital three times while in detention.

Then, in a welcome shift, the interior ministry reached the decision to release him, in an effort to facilitate his application to work in Canada.

On August 31, after 280 days without sunlight, fresh air or outdoor facilities, the 47-yearold husband and father was finally released.

Catching up with Amirkalali and his family after his release, the first thing he mentioned was his disappointment that an Australian scientist had invented the brain signal-enabled wheelchair while he was inside.

STRENGTH Asked how he coped being locked up without ever having been convicted of a crime either in his country or Cyprus, he said: “To be in separate cells, kept away from the sun, fresh air, the outside world... it’s difficult, but the power of God gave me the strength to keep going.”

He was quick to add, with his wife standing next to him: “These nine months, the only thing that gave me so much hope and energy was my wife” who would see him every day through a glass partition, as well as visit each and every office that might help release her husband.

“I saw others who didn’t have anybody to visit them.

I saw what happens to them.

They start getting psychological problems, start violent behaviour.”

Inside, he met other men from Iran, India, Bangladesh, Cameroon and Syria, some in there longer than a year.

Amirkalali said he found solace in the bible during his detention, and even found himself doing things he would never have imagined before: conducting bible readings for other inmates, holding prayers, singing.

“One guy who came from Block 10 said it was very strange because the atmosphere was so peaceful in Lakatameia. Even when there

was a hunger strike, it was peaceful. There was some conflict and shouting but it never got too violent.”

Despite his ordeal, Amirkalali only had good words to say about his guards.

“All the guards knew me.

We hugged and shook hands when I left. They called me the mukhtari because they said my behaviour was like a gentleman. I never protested, resisted, used bad words or had a fight. I knew they were doing their job. They didn’t put me in there, immigration did.”

At this point he took out a crumpled piece of A4 paper showing me the mobile phone numbers the guards had given him so they could go to a tavern together to celebrate his freedom.

Beyond the relief and joy of being reunited, it’s clear the ordeal has affected all three family members in different but equally penetrating ways.

The ten-year-old son remains quiet throughout the interview. Asked if he missed his father, the aspiring doctor said: “For sure, but I dealt with it.”

The mother expressed relief that they no longer had to hide the whereabouts of his father at school anymore.

Which young classmate would understand the difference between detention and jail?

Asked if he feels bitter or angry, the 47-year-old replied: “Whatever immigration did, making my wife and son suffer, I put it behind me, say it’s in the past, forget and forgive, look at today and plan for the future, the near future.”

And what does a person in detention for 280 days want to do with his time when he’s free?

“I want to enjoy being with my wife and son. We have a plan this weekend to go to the beach and then mountains.

“And secondly, I want to go on with my innovations. I have an idea in my mind I want to work on. These nine months I was thinking and reading, it was good but now I feel I need more action.”

5 SUNDAY MAIL • September 16, 2012

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Learn about creatures of the night

Paphos celebrates European victory

By Natalie Hami PEOPLE of all ages will soon have the opportunity to learn about the island’s bats as Animal Responsibility Cyprus (ARC) begin touring schools and communities to teach them about these fascinating nocturnal creatures.

The move comes after the organisation was called out to Pissouri as bat numbers there have dramatically dropped, from around 1,000 to 40.

The organisation also recently had a successful event at Athalassa’s environmental centre in Nicosia to celebrate European Bat Day and included a number of presentations, dispelling myths such as bats getting tangled in hair, with the highlight of the evening coming at about 7.30pm when everyone was led outside to see them y into the night. “People don’t know about bats and are suspicious about them so we did a presentation‌ and we also do various programmes at schools throughout the year,â€? said ARC head Kyriacos Kyriacou.

Kyriacou said one of the most important aspects of bat monitoring was the signing of the Eurobats agreement which aims to address threats to all 45 species of bats identiďŹ ed in Europe.

Paphos is becoming a European city. We feel very touched says its mayor Vergas

By Poly Pantelides

PARALYMPIC silver medallist Karolina Pelendritou was honoured in her hometown of Limassol last night with celebrations at the Limassol Nautical Club, where she swam her ďŹ rst strokes.

She captured the only medal for Cyprus at the 14th Summer Paralympic Games in London after ďŹ nishing second in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB12 (above).

The event was expected to begin yesterday evening in the Limassol Nautical Club’s courtyard and include an ofďŹ cial welcome for the 26-year-old athlete.

ON HIS return on Friday night from Nicosia to Paphos, the latter’s mayor, Savvas Vergas, received a very warm welcome amid celebrations for Paphos’ selection as European Culture Capital in 2017.

Vergas was among a team of ten who got off a bus to meet a jubilant crowd who showered them with kisses, hugs and applause.

The same team had gone to the capital Nicosia, the other contender, where the announcement was made in the afternoon at the education ministry. “This is the ďŹ rst time Paphos got something,â€? Vergas told the Sunday Mail, adding that he was getting congratulatory phone calls all night on Friday. “Everyone is together and united and there is plenty of happiness to go round. People were celebrating everywhere, from coffeeshops to clubs,â€? he said.

Paphos has been promised

â‚Ź1.5 million from the EU and â‚Ź5.0 million from the education ministry to pour into a ďŹ ve-year strategy dubbed The Open Air Factory.

The delegation has told the selection panel that the plan is to take outdoor spaces and turn them into production centres.

The thought is to have culture and public space meet, bring social groups together and make use of Paphos’ coastal placement.

INFRASTRUCTURE It is not yet clear how the plan will pan out although Vergas would ideally like to have â‚Ź66 million to do it: â‚Ź44 million to go into infrastructure projects that will serve the city in the longer term as well, and about â‚Ź22 million for operating expenses.

The actual budget will be determined by how much Europe, Paphos and the state will contribute, Vergas said.

But Paphos deďŹ nitely wants to get its own theatre, build a library and set up a

cultural centre, he said.

He added that he wanted to see Polis Chrysochou, Peyia and Yeroskipou beneďŹ t as well.

But for the time being there will be more celebrations, including “a celebratory meeting on Tuesday with the municipal council,�

Vergas said. “We will lay out our initial next steps at the meeting.�

And there is also the knowhow and expertise from other cities, which Paphos is keen to utilise. “It is now a national endeavour and Cyprus as a whole should be a cultural capital,� Vergas said.

So he will arrange for a meeting with other city mayors to exchange ideas and see what they can incorporate, he said.

Nicosia, for example, is home to the Cyprus theatre organisation, among others, and has the technical know-how and the people to help Paphos set up its own theatre. “Paphos is becoming a European city. We feel very touched,� Vergas said.

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6 September 16, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

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Personal trainer fights cancer with 400km charity run

By Natalie Hami RAISING funds for the fight against cancer has become personal in more ways than one for 48-year-old Naso Papatherapontos Shemetra who aims to run and cycle over 400km in November to raise funds for the Anti-Cancer Society.

The personal trainer, who now lives in the UK, explained how she felt inspired to help the fight against cancer in Cyprus after running the Paphos half marathon last year and because her own brother is a cancer survivor.

“I came to Cyprus last year and did the half marathon in Paphos and I thought ‘why not do something for my country?’” Shemetra said.

Her brother had suffered from thyroid cancer but survived. “He got well because it was treatable and this was simply because others had raised funds and did research,” she said. “I hope others will be inspired.”

The charity run, taking place in collaboration with the Cyprus Anti-Cancer Society and under the auspices of the House president Yiannakis Omirou, will start be-

tween November 9 and 12, and finish on November 18.

The run will begin in Nicosia at the Arodaphnousa palliative care centre, and cover various areas from Agros to Paphos, Limassol, Larnaca and Ayia Napa, ending at the GSP stadium in Nicosia.

Vassilis Iacovides, administrative officer at the Cyprus Anti-Cancer Society, said that this is the first time they have raised funds in this way, as they usually do so via the annual Christodoula march.

“The aim is to raise awareness on cancer and to collect donations through this from the communities that she’ll pass through,” said Iacovides.

Shemetra explained that she will also be cycling: “You know I’m not an athlete……

I’ll be covering 26 miles a day running and from 80 to 100km a day cycling,” said Shemetra, adding that she can physically only cover these distances.

“There’ll also be a car to cover any extra kilometres and we’ve explained this to people so they don’t think that we’re trying to con them.”

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Nuturing the Europe Poor showing in 2009 Euro elections prompted cultural soul searching by EU artists

By Zoe Christodoulides O YOU feel a sense of belonging in Europe? And does the average man on the street in Sweden feel any more European than someone in Cyprus?

A travelling exhibition questioning European identity is about to make a stopover on the island with a show that opens its doors tomorrow under the name of ‘United States of Europe’ (U.S.E). The exhibition has been primarily organised by the Pharos Arts Foundation in collaboration with the Goethe-Institute in Paris.

U.S.E is a large-scale collaboration project about European identity that is travelling through ten Eu-

D

ropean countries. The exhibition first opened in Lodz, Poland in November 2011, before moving on to Helsinki and then Vilnius.

Now opening up in Nicosia for a month as part of the cultural programme of the Cyprus EU presidency, it will then go on to be presented in public spaces, galleries and museums in Germany, Bulgaria, France, Ireland and Belgium until spring 2013.

“The idea for the exhibit first came about after the European Parliament election of 2009 which saw an overall bad participation rate of little more than 40 per cent,” says the Swedish chief curator of the exhibit, Johanna Suo. “It made me question why people don’t feel that it’s important to them, if they are at all concerned about Europe

or if they even feel that they really belong in Europe.”

The exhibition opening will kick off tomorrow evening with an organised walk “Discover your city and discover Europe” which will take visitors through various venues including the Loukia and Michael Zampelas Art Museum, the Nicosia Municipality Multifunctional Foundation, the ‘Old Market Pallouriotissa’, the Shoe Factory and the Temporary Space, eventually culminating at the Classic Hotel.

“The idea is to take people through all the venues and guide them, give them information, talk about what they will see and explain things to them, while of course exploring the city,” points out Suo. Organisers emphasise that the concept behind the U.S.E

is not propaganda for a federal Europe but it aims to create commitment to the Europe we live in, functioning as a communication platform for people living in the area.

The exhibition offers diverse interpretations on European identity through diverse disciplines and angles.

In total, the exhibit combines various elements with videos, photos and installations on show by well known artists from across Europe.

Representing Cyprus is local artist Kyriaki Costa whose brand new work is concerned with the memory of the past and the way in which the past is negotiated, preserved or safeguarded as she re-works narratives and recontextualises cultural heritage through quirky imagery.

Her collection will be shown

7 SUNDAY MAIL • September 16, 2012

Home

in us all

Faces of Europe: Stills by Anna Konik (left), Winter by Juha Niemi (above) and 21st Century Iconoclasm by Kyriaki Costa (right) at the Loukia and Michael Zampelas Art Museum “Just like everyday life, the triptych of history, experience and memory is always an issue of boundaries. Are we or are we not ‘Europeans’? Should we speak of belonging or fragmentation?” questions the artist. “All of the above are absolutely crucial questions that puzzle artistic creativity.”

While varying artwork will be shown at each venue on the list, an interesting multimedia laboratory will be set up at the Classic hotel.

“I warmly encourage people to visit this as it gives people a chance to leave their own feedback,” says Suo. “There will be touch screens avail-

able where people can fill in a quiz and an exhibitor logbook. Then there will be interviews to watch and 3D artwork to view.”

At the lab, visitors will also be able to put out their old photos onto the online database, upload text and videos.

“We really want to make people think about a deeper commitment in terms of citizen questions and create a real communication platform between Europeans. A lot of people complain that things are wrong around them and now people can say what they think and exchange their ideas,” says the curator. “The point is to be a more active citizen, reflect

about their own belonging and who they really are.”

But what difference will all this make on the wider socio political scale of things?

“What we’re planning in Brussels next year are debates, seminars and roundtable discussions alongside the exhibit,” Suo points out.

“We will examine a lot of the aspects highlighted in the interviews and points of views expressed. What we really want is to create debate in a neutral venue where European politicians will mix with people from the street to provoke exciting and valuable talk.”

United States of Europe.

Travelling exhibition acting as a platform of communication between Europeans. Opens September 17, 7.30pm, until October 14.At various venues around the city: Loukia and Michael Zampelas Art Museum, Nicosia Municipality Mul-

tifunctional Foundation, ‘Old Market Pallouriotissa’, The Shoe Factory, The Temporary Space, and The Classic Hotel. Organised walk tomorrow evening, 7.30pm-11.30pm starting at the Loukia and Michael Zampelas Art Museum. Tel: 22-663871

Club Jubilee Nicosia An Afternoon Club with a difference

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very year over 500 children set off to the Troodos mountains and discover that life can be enjoyed without modern technology such as Ipads, Play Stations or Nintendos. They also find out that new lasting friendships can be made without Facebook!

This is Club Jubilee summer camp which has been operating for the past 25 years. Children return year after year and after having children of their own, send them for the same kind of experience they once enjoyed!

Two years ago Club Jubilee opened an afternoon club in Nicosia which adheres to the same principles that made the summer camp so successful.

We caught up with Camp Director Vince Allan and asked him what was the secret of this success.

“No secrets, but we do have three guiding principles which we believe are key to happiness, not just at Club Jubilee but in life. Firstly, good health is essential and

a tangible goal to aim for and so every half term the children take part in a venture which culminates in an end product of some form such as a display, or performance to which their parents are invited to come and share.”

Club Jubilee Nicosia also provides facilities for homework and its bilingual staff are always on hand to provide help where needed. All members are encouraged to only use English so they also have the opportunity of a whole afternoon practising English in a real environment!

Club Jubilee Nicosia Afternoon Club runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1.30 until 5.30 and is open to Grades 1 to 6. If you would like your child to have new experiences in a healthy environment while making new friends, find out more at www.clubjubilee.com/ nicolsia or phone 99366637.

After all, over 500 children every year for 25 years!

so we do lots of different physical activities such as balance and co-ordination exercises, general fitness awareness and improvement as well as providing and talking about nutritious meals.

Next is new experiences. It’s so easy to slip into the same boring routines, so we aim to provide completely new experiences to stimulate and excite. These range from new sports such as baseball, to learning new skills and producing artistic displays. For example as this year was the Olympics we held our own, the difference being that each event was designed and run by the children themselves. They even designed their own flags and composed National Anthems!

Our third principle is friendship. Without friends to share the new experiences, they are devalued and so we run a lot of team and trust building activities designed to promote interaction and reliance on others.

We also believe it’s important for our children to have

8 September 16, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

Home

Pricey lifeline for prostate cancer victims New drugs can prolong the lives of those with advanced prostate cancer

By Poly Pantelides

A

BOUT fourteen months ago Kostantinos Christou’s body barely worked.

Only if he focused could he force one leg at a time to climb the stairs. When he walked, he staggered as if he were drunk.

Christou (not his real name) hails from Limassol, has two adult children, and is almost 68 years old.

About four years ago he learned that he had prostate cancer.

It was too late for the surgery that is an option for early prostate cancer, and he was not a candidate for radiation therapy, which aims to kill cancer cells via targeted radioactive exposure.

Christou’s cancer had metastasised, i.e. it had advanced beyond the prostate area.

The chemotherapy, meanwhile, had worn him down.

“After about six months I got to the point of dragging my feet. I would put one leg in front of the other go climb the stairs,” Christou said.

The side effects of chemotherapy - which

can kill normal cells along with cancer cells include hair loss, nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea and fatigue.

“I could only walk about ten metres on my own like a drunken man,” Christou said.

The prostate is part of the male reproductive system. It is a small, walnut-sized gland sitting below the bladder. If the cancer spreads beyond the gland, i.e. metastasises - usually to the bones - treatment can only prolong life and alleviate symptoms but cannot cure the cancer.

Prostate cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide and the most common cause of cancer in men, claiming about 27 per cent of cancer cases in Cyprus, according to data collected by the health ministry’s health monitoring unit (HMU).

The cancer’s growth is fuelled by testosterone production, making it hard to treat if it metastasises because testosterone continues being produced by the adrenal glands and the tumour.

In Cyprus, 56 people died from prostate cancer in 2010, according to the latest available data from HMU.

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Taking a pill is far less traumatic than chemotherapy, but is the cost prohibitive?

Christou should have been part of the following year’s statistics but his doctor got him on an early treatment programme for a drug that was not yet marketed.

The drug Zytiga or abiraterone acetane, sold

by Johnson and Johnson’s Janssen, is a kind of hormone therapy authorised for market use in September last year by the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) committee for medicinal products for human use (CHMP).

It has been recommended for the treatment of cancer that has metastasised beyond the prostate and continues growing despite conventional hormone therapies.

It is taken as a pill along with steroids prednisolone or prednisone.

The patients who have been given Zytiga live on average for 4.6 months longer than those given a placebo instead, based on a study on 1195 people.

Christou has so far lived well beyond the average, and 14 months later says that he is “well but not completely well”.

“But I’m telling you I reached the end [of my life], when I say the end I mean the end,” he said, commenting on his health over a year ago.

Zytiga works by bringing testosterone production down to a trickle by blocking enzyme CYP17, and so staving the cancer’s growth which is fuelled by testosterone production.

Its most common side-effects are hypertension, urinary tract infections, fluid retention, and a drop in potassium levels.

At present, the CHMP recommends Zytiga only for use “in adult men whose disease has progressed on or after a docetaxelbased chemotherapy regimen”.

Docetaxel or taxotere, the chemotherapy drug, disrupts tumour growth, prolongs life for two to three months and is also taken with prednisolone or prednisone.

Janssen is now doing a study to get Zytiga approved for use in cancer patients before gruelling courses of chemotherapy have been tried out and where the cancer has spread and continues growing.

Initial results have been positive and the US regulatory Food and Drugs Administration body, FDA, granted in late August Janssen’s application for priority review of the medicine, aiming to review the product in six months.

Janssen also submitted an application to the EMA to extend Zytiga’s use in June, when it lodged the FDA application.

Christou’s doctor, the oncologist George Orphanos, said that his small experience with the drug showed him patients responded well to Zytiga.

“It is much better to have a pill rather than chemotherapy,” Orphanos said.

“The worst thing is waiting to die. Zytiga brings results without the side effects of chemotherapy,” Janssen’s sales manager Nicolas Christodoulides said.

He knows what he’s talking about. Christodoulides watched his brother, Angelos, undergoing the horrors of chemotherapy before he died of cancer last year at the age of 52.

He talks of his brother’s anxiety over whether

he would make it to his daughter’s graduation ceremony (he didn’t), how his brother hated chemotherapy and what it did to his body, how he worried that he would lose his job.

Christodoulides talks of a moral requirement to provide patients with the best possible quality of life.

He still keeps his brother’s business card in a drawer in his office.

Christou - who is understandably biased because Zytiga keeps him alive - thinks everyone should be given it.

“If I wasn’t given the medicine, I would be dead. I want to tell people about the good it did to me. If it does the same to them they will be saved,” Christou said.

But Zytiga is extremely expensive, retailing at €5,400 per bottle (making it €3942 wholesale). A bottle lasts a month and Christou says he would not be able to afford it if he wasn’t sponsored by Janssen.

Christodoulides says that [patented] cancer medication is expensive across the board, citing breast cancer medication as an example.

Despite the high cost, Janssen’s Christodoulides argues hard for Zytiga’s benefits and extending its usage and making it available to men before the chemotherapy option has been exhausted.

He has a point, of course. You take a pill at home, with less severe side effects.

“Cancer patients are insecure and depressed. They want hope. They want to live longer to see their children graduate, get married,” he said.

Despite the price, the state’s pharmaceutical services’ head, Arthur Isseyegh said Zytiga has been approved and they are in the midst of a tender procurement with Janssen.

The state should be able to negotiate a better price for Zytiga.

But Isseyegh said the services will follow a “strict protocol” in terms of who gets the medicine.

The UK’s healthcare guidance body, NICE, has recommended Zytiga in the UK, where about 10,000 die from prostate cancer annually according to the National Health Service.

It will be available under a patient access scheme offering it at a discount, according to NICE’s appraisal guidance issued in June.

But Zytiga is also facing direct competition from a medicine called Xtandi - also taken as a pill and priced similarly to Zytiga - which the FDA approved on August 31, three months ahead of schedule.

Xtandi or enzalutamide is recommended for use in post-chemotherapy (docetaxel) patients just like Zytiga. Like Zytiga, it also interferes with the testosterone production that feeds cancer cells.

The company has also filed for EMA approval and is being tested in men with earlier stage cancer.

Worldwide Zytiga sales in the first six months of the year have come to $432 million (about €338m).

As others are counting numbers, Christou is counting the difference as in “miles apart. I was dead and now I’m alive.”

“Praise God, I’m back to normal,” he said.

9 SUNDAY MAIL • September 16, 2012

World

Japan protests erupt in China Growing tension over group of disputed islands

By Sui-Lee Wee and Maxim Duncan THOUSANDS of Chinese besieged the Japanese embassy in Beijing yesterday, hurling rocks, eggs and bottles as protests broke out in other major cities in China amid growing tension between Asia’s two biggest economies over a group of disputed islands.

Paramilitary police with shields and batons barricaded the embassy, holding back and occasionally ďŹ ghting with slogan-chanting, ag-waving protesters who at times appeared to be trying to storm the building. “Return our islands! Japa-

nese devils get out!� some shouted. One of them held up a sign reading: “For the respect of the motherland, we must go to war with Japan.�

Protester Liu Gang, a migrant worker from the southern region of Guangxi, said: “We hate Japan. We’ve always hated Japan. Japan invaded China and killed a lot of Chinese. We will never forget.�

Japan said its foreign minister had cut short a visit to Australia and own back to Tokyo.

The long-standing territorial dispute escalated dramatically on Friday when China sent six surveillance ships to a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, rais-

ing tension between the two countries to its highest level since 2010.

China, which has similar disputes elsewhere with other neighbours, was responding to Japan’s decision on Tuesday to buy the islands, which Tokyo calls the Senkaku and Beijing calls the Diaoyu, from a private Japanese owner despite Chinese warnings against doing so.

Sino-Japanese ties have long been plagued by China’s bitter memories of Japan’s military aggression in the 1930s and 1940s and present rivalry over resources - the islands are believed to be surrounded by energy-rich waters - and regional clout.

Relations between the two countries, whose business and trade ties have blossomed in recent years, chilled in 2010, after Japan arrested a Chinese trawler captain whose boat collided with Japanese Coast Guard vessels near the islands. “Armed police and police ofďŹ cers have been dispatched to protest sites to maintain order,â€? Xinhua said in an English-language report, the ďŹ rst mention of the unrest by mainstream Chinese media.

Japan’s Kyodo news agency said that the demonstrations were the biggest in China since the two countries normalised diplomatic relations in 1972.

A demonstrator damages a Japanese car as thousands of Chinese besieged the Japanese embassy in Beijing

Unification Church head Sun Myung Moon buried in Korea

By Seongbin Kang and Jane Chung SUN Myung Moon, a selfproclaimed messiah who founded the UniďŹ cation Church that once boasted millions of members, was buried at a church-owned mansion modelled on the White House yesterday after a two-week mourning period.

Tens of thousands of followers gathered at Gapyeong, an hour outside the capital Seoul, to say a ďŹ nal goodbye to Moon, a man who dubbed himself the ‘True Parent’ of those he married in mass ceremonies and who once proposed himself as ‘supreme chairman’ of a reunited Korea.

Moon, a staunch anti-communist who ran a business empire as well as a church and spent 30 years living in the United States, was born in what is now North Korea in 1920 and escaped to the South in 1950 after being sentenced to hard labour.

He died aged 92 on September 3 of complications due to pneumonia. The church he founded is now run by his youngest son, while the business entities are run by another son.

His wife remains the sym-

bolic head of the mission that oversees the entire Tongil, Korean for ‘UniďŹ cation’, group.

The church claimed that about 35,000 followers and mourners with some 15,000 from abroad attended the funeral service, which was ofďŹ cially titled ‘Sun Myung Moon, the True Parent of Heaven and Earth, Memorial and Ascension Ceremony’.

Men dressed in black suits with white ties and women in white or ivory dresses for the ceremony. Many sobbed quietly as the cortege carried Moon’s red-and-gold casket to the altar inside a vast hall in the church complex.

Many others watched on live broadcasts around the campus.

Critics for years have viliďŹ ed the church as a heretical and dangerous cult and questioned its murky ďŹ nances and how it indoctrinates followers, described in derogatory terms as ‘Moonies’.

Moon is survived by his wife and 10 of their 13 children.

But his eldest son Hyun Jin, the chairman of UCI, which owns the UPI news agency, did not attend the funeral.

Church ofďŹ cials did not give details about why he was not there

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10 September 16, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

World

Taliban link Afghanistan attack to anti-Islam film

Syria envoy meets Assad, says conflict is global threat

By Marwan Makdesi

Insurgents vow to kill or kidnap Prince Harry AFGHANISTAN’S Taliban claimed responsibility yesterday for an attack on a base which US officials said killed two American Marines, saying it was in response to a film that insults the Prophet Mohammad.

Camp Bastion, in southern Helmand province, came under mortar, rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire late on Friday in an attack in which several servicemen were wounded.

“The aim of this attack was revenge against Americans for the anti-Prophet movie,” said Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf.

US President Barack Obama has vowed to “stand fast” against violence which has spread since the amateurish film of obscure origin triggered an attack on the US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi that killed the ambassador and three other Americans on September 11, the eleventh anniversary of the al Qaeda attacks on the United States.

Britain’s Prince Harry was at Camp Bastion at the time of Friday’s attack, but was unharmed.

Earlier this week, the Afghan Taliban said they were doing everything in their

Afghan protesters set fire to a US flag as they shout anti-US slogans during a demonstration. Hundreds of Afghans protested against a film they say insults the Prophet Mohammad power to either kill or kidnap Queen Elizabeth’s grandson in what they dubbed their ‘Harry Operations.’

“Prince Harry was never in any danger,” Martyn Crighton, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said, adding that it would investigate whether his presence on the base had motivated the attack.

Britain’s Sky News said a Taliban commander had told the broadcaster that Prince Harry was main target of the attack. Sky’s Kabul correspondent said

she checked with a Taliban spokesman, who said the attack on Bastion was indeed in revenge for the Islam film, but that Bastion was chosen as the target because Prince Harry was there.

Sky’s correspondent in Cairo said he had received a fresh statement from a “senior Taliban spokesman/commander”, saying that the confusion over the claims was because there were two Taliban groups attacking the base.

“After saying this attack was mounted in reaction to

the video on Islam, it is entirely predictable that the Taliban have changed their tune to say it was aimed at Captain Wales,” a British defence source said yesterday, referring to Prince Harry.

“The insurgents who mounted this attack, most of whom were killed by ISAF, were nowhere near Captain Wales, who, with other UK and ISAF personnel, was under lockdown.”

ISAF has not confirmed the nationality of the two people killed in the attack on the base.

A spokesman for the Hel-

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mand governor said 17 bodies had been discovered and they were all thought to be insurgents killed in the fighting.

In a separate attack in Helmand province on Friday, a roadside bomb killed a British soldier, the Ministry of Defence said.

It was not clear whether the explosion was related to a report by Helmand’s governor that a roadside bomb had killed 12 civilians, including women and children, when their vehicle drove over an explosive device in the same area.

INTERNATIONAL mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said after talks with President Bashar al-Assad yesterday that the escalating Syrian conflict posed a global threat.

Activists say more than 27,000 people have been killed in the 18-month-old uprising against Assad, which started as mainly peaceful calls for reform but has become a bloody insurgency which is deepening sectarian tensions in the Middle East.

“This crisis is deteriorating and represents a danger to the Syrian people, to the region, and to the whole world,” Brahimi told reporters in Damascus after he spoke with Assad for an hour at the presidential palace.

It was Brahimi’s first meeting with Assad since he replaced Kofi Annan as mediator two weeks ago, taking on a mission which the veteran Algerian diplomat described as “nearly impossible”.

Assad’s forces and the outgunned but increasingly effective rebel fighters seeking his overthrow have ignored appeals to end the conflict, which has continued in most of the country’s main cities, including Damascus, Aleppo, Homs and Deir al-Zor. Damascus residents reported hearing heavy overnight bombardment followed by the sound of jet planes swooping over the capital yesterday.

“It’s not a secret that the gap between the parties is very wide,” Brahimi said, adding that he still believed there was “common ground” for them to resolve the crisis.

Pope: Lebanon should be model POPE Benedict urged multi-faith Lebanon yesterday to be a model of peace and religious coexistence for the Middle East, which he called a turbulent region that “seems to endure interminable birth pangs”.

The pope, on the second day of a visit clouded by war in neighbouring Syria and protests across the Muslim world, told a gathering of Lebanese political, religious and cultural leaders that religious freedom was a basic right for all people.

Christianity and Islam have lived together in Lebanon for centuries, he said, sometimes within one family. “If this is possible within the same family, why should it not be possible at the level of the whole of society?” he asked.

“Lebanon is called, now more than ever, to be an example,” he said, inviting his audience “to testify with courage, in season and out of season, wherever you find yourselves, that God wants peace, that God entrusts peace to us”.

Lebanon - torn apart by a 1975-1990 sectarian civil war - is a religious mosaic of over four million people whose Muslim majority includes Sunnis, Shi’ites and Alawites. Christians, over one-third of the population, are divided into more than a dozen churches, six of them linked to the Vatican.

The German-born pontiff, 85, delivered his speech in French at the presidential palace after meeting President Michel Suleiman, a Maronite Christian, Sunni Prime Minister Najib Mikati and parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, a Shi’ite.

Benedict began his visit on Friday with a call for an end to all arms supplies to Syria, where the tiny Christian minority fears reprisals if Islamists come to power at the end of the bloody insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad.

He also described the Arab Spring movement as a “cry for freedom” that was a positive development as long as it ensured tolerance for all religions.

11 SUNDAY MAIL • September 16, 2012

World

Last regular transatlantic service provides a welcome respite from the outside world

By Peter Apps

T

HE FIRST time Edward Harris crossed the Atlantic on a liner named Queen Mary, he was a young man travelling in the lowest “steerage” class emigrating to America.

Half a century on, Harris - now 77 and recently retired as the owner of a US-based travel business - is on his seventh such voyage, having developed something of a taste for sea crossings between his birthplace in England and adopted home.

More than twice the size of the original Queen Mary - launched 1936, retired 1967, now a floating Los Angeles hotel - the modern Queen Mary 2 has a very different feel from those early trans-Atlantic liners, perhaps closer to the modern cruise ships that ply the Caribbean and elsewhere, stopping at ports along the way.

The wooden deckchairs that line the promenade deck beneath the lifeboats may be the most potent physical reminder of what life was like aboard the QM2’s predecessors. But the sense of separation from the outside world that comes with seven days at sea between Southampton and New York remains largely the same.

“I love it,” Harris told Reuters four days into an August voyage.

“You can’t get phone calls, you get into a rhythm. It’s a great feeling, even on a completely different ship.”

After an annual world cruise to Australia between January and March, the Cunard-owned QM2 spends most of the rest of the year on the last scheduled transatlantic passenger schedule as what one crewmember called “the world’s poshest ferry service”.

Certainly, some aboard - including this reporter, paralysed from the shoulders down and headed to the United States for an assignment in Washington with a bulky electric wheelchair and some unpleasant memories from flying are using her as just that.

But for the majority of the roughly 2600 passengers aboard, many on their second, third or fourth trip, the appeal is the voyage itself.

In their 20th-century heyday, the liners carried all levels of society, from great celebrities to those like Harris who scraped together all they had to share a cabin with

Cruise liner Queen Mary 2 passes the Burbo Bank off-shore wind farm as it heads to Liverpool

Echoes of the past on Queen Mary 2 bunk beds. Sea crossings gradually gave way to air travel as transatlantic services increased after World War Two. Passengers today are often older, with an average age sometimes well above 50. But - particularly in the summer - there are also younger couples and families, as well as the occasional backpacker.

On almost every voyage, the ship hosts a reunion of anyone aboard who sailed on the previous “Queen” liners. A dozen or so passengers - sometimes more than 20 - share reminiscences of stormy passages, shipboard dalliances and slipping crewmembers money for tours of the most exclusive first-class dining areas.

Others recall when the original Queen Mary and sister Queen

Elizabeth were used as troop ships during World War Two, running a gauntlet of German air attacks and U-boats.

“Is it an anachronistic way to cross the Atlantic?” says Chris Wells, the current captain. “Perhaps. But it has a romance that you simply don’t get with air travel.”

The cheapest cabins aboard - inside double rooms with no view can retail for under £700 per head, while more luxurious, larger and better located twin level or multiroom cabins can cost several times that. The price includes all onboard food and entertainment but not alcohol.

Cunard still offers two separate upper classes with separate dining and socialising spaces. But even

those in the cheapest cabins have waiter-served three-course meals and a dress code that for several nights includes black tie.

Crossings in both directions, Cunard officials say, are almost invariably fully booked - leading some to ponder whether a second ship might one day be added to the route.

When the New York- and Londonlisted cruise giant Carnival Corp bought the ageing Cunard line in 1998, the British firm - founded in 1840 and later merged with White Star, owners of the ill-fated Titanic - was widely seen in terminal decline.

Its flagship, the much-loved Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2), was approaching retirement and there were doubts a transatlantic liner

Cyprus Handicrafts

could survive in the modern era.

Carnival thought differently.

Built in the French port of Cherbourg, the QM2 entered service in 2004 as the largest passenger ship ever built, accommodating some 2600 passengers and well over 1000 crew - although that record has since been surpassed by new vessels.

The ship boasts 15 bars and restaurants, five swimming pools, a casino, theatre and cinema/planetarium. A wood panelled library overlooks the prow and open ocean, as does the spa and on-board gym.

Daytime activities include lectures by historians, journalists and others, needlework sessions, wine tasting and watercolour classes.

For those who cannot bear to be disconnected, there is a sluggish and pricey - satellite Internet connection. But for much of the day, many passengers seem content to simply read, stare at the everchanging seascape or walk the promenade deck, each circuit 620 metres and three equalling just over a mile.

The occasional sight of a whale or dolphin prompts a periodic rush to the hand rails with smart phones and cameras.

More recently launched Cunard sister ships Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria are of almost equivalent size and have the same black hull and white superstructure of historic liners. But while they tend to sail traditional cruise routes, QM2 is specifically designed for the tough North Atlantic.

While the great liners of the past would often tie up in the heart of Manhattan, QM2 is so large that she would block a significant part of the Hudson River.

Instead, the ship docks in nearby Brooklyn, towering some 14 stories above the quayside and passing under the Verrazano-Narrows suspension bridge with metres to spare.

For New York litigator Victor Stewart, 61, whose earliest memories include the multiple crossings with his parents aboard the original Queen Mary, some of the magic has been lost, and the onboard reunion can sometimes be a wistful affair.

“But sometimes, just sometimes, you come across something - even just a feeling - that takes you back to how it used to be,” he said. “It’s almost impossible to put your finger on, but it is definitely there.”

Lefkara handmade lace, embroideries, crochet and needlework. Woven cotton cloth in traditional Lefkoniko, Karpass and Phiti styles. Handwoven traditional costumes, leather goods, silverware, copperware, pottery, mosaic, wood-carved items, baskets and other rush-made articles.

CYPRUS HANDICRAFT SERVICE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND TOURISM Lefkosia: 186, Athalassa Avenue, Tel: 22305024 Lemesos: 25, Themidos Street, Tel: 25305118 Larnaka: 6, Cosma Lysioti Street, Tel: 24304327 Pafos: 64, Apostolou Pavlou Avenue Tel: 26306243

12 September 16, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

Opinion Government and parties peddle false hope over troika terms THE SHAMELESS populism and demagoguery that has plagued public life and led the state to bankruptcy was on parade after the leaking of excerpts of the document with the troika’s proposed measures. All the political parties, with the notable exception of DISY, which avoided the familiar defiant rhetoric of the others, declared the “unfair and one-sided” proposals “unacceptable” as they would cause us to “sink deeper into recession.”

“We will not accept a bailout of tough austerity with burdensome conditions that would affect social cohesion,” said the DIKO spokesman, while EVROKO said it “rejects the measures of drastic austerity that contain the danger of sinking the economy into recession for many years.” An EDEK deputy announced that “we cannot accept any measures of austerity and (fiscal) discipline without development measures as well;” AKEL said that “unfortunately the neo-liberal nature and philosophy of the measures has been confirmed,” and at-

tacked DISY for failing to take a stand against the measures.

Unions echoed the views of the majority.

We are witnessing a similar atmosphere to the one that greeted the Annan plan ahead of the referendum, with almost all the political parties and the government adopting a negative stance towards the bailout. There was even a suggestion in the press that the selective leaking of the troika’s measures, that were certain to spark a hostile reaction, was a calculated move by the government camp to rally opposition to the bailout. Proposals ending the scandalous multiple pensions, tax free allowances for state officials and taxing retirement bonuses, which would have been viewed as positive steps, were only subsequently released, after the negative climate had been created.

In fact, the eagerness with which the parties declared the measures unacceptable was exactly what the government would have wanted. When Christofias finally

Cyprus Mail

calls a meeting of the party leaders and suggests we follow the catastrophic option of rejecting the troika’s proposals they would all have to agree with him as they had already declared them “unacceptable”. Would they take a share of the responsibility for the consequences of such a decision?

It is frightening that even in these very difficult times when there is no alternative to the austerity measures, political parties were unable to suppress their populist instincts, joining in the government’s crass campaign of misinformation, lies and false expectations. Why are the measures “unfair and ones-sided”?

They are very fair because they are targeting the cause of our state’s bankruptcy – the public sector payroll and pensions. The measures will stop the decades of ‘one-sided,’ legalised plundering of state coffers by politicians, state officials and public sector

unions. They are rightly one-sided because it is one side that led the state to bankruptcy.

The proposed austerity measures will put us deeper into recession, the great minds of the parties have been warning, ignoring the fact that this is the price a state pays for living beyond its means and financing its profligacy through borrowing for decades. It reaches the point at which nobody would lend it money, unless it drastically cuts its spending. We have now reached this point, aided by mismanagement of the banks, which is why the government applied to the support mechanism.

But the demagogues of the parties and the government continue to peddle false hopes and lies, behaving as if we would impose our terms on the troika.

The bailout terms would have to be “balanced, socially just and give emphasis to development,” said DIKO’s statement while the EDEK spokesman asserted that “we want the loan to get out of crisis not sink deeper into crisis, economic and social.” Are they

so ignorant and out of touch with reality to think there is even a one in a million chance of this happening?

This has also been the government’s line, Christofias saying on Wednesday he did not want austerity measures that led other countries to bankruptcy. He said the government had been preparing counter-proposals, which nobody has seen – not even the troika according to Euro Group leader Jean-Claude Juncker who urged the government, on Friday, to clarify its intention regarding the bailout.

The counter-proposals are a myth, just like the Russian loan, used by Christofias to avoid taking a decision on the bailout. Now that he has rallied the support of the political parties he might be ready to take the big decision which, we fear, could be a resounding no to the troika’s terms.

And then Cyprus would sink into a much deeper and more protracted recession than the one parties fear would be caused by the unacceptable bailout terms.

Letters to the Editor Athalassa park and the forestry Gestapo In March of last year the Sunday Mail published an article

by Jacqueline Agathocleous entitled ‘Blanket Dog Ban is Illegal’. The basis of the article is contained in the following quote from the first paragraph: ‘Dog owners will be pleased to know that - despite signs suggesting otherwise - it is against the law to ban dogs from any public space except for beaches and children’s playgrounds...’.

The article went on to quote Eleni Mavrou, the mayor (no longer alas) of Nicosia, suggesting dog owners could walk their pets in, among other areas of the city, Athalassa park, the English School grounds or the Famagusta Gate moat. At that time the municipality of Nicosia was replacing many of its no-dogs signs with no-dogsh*t signs, a very acceptable change. I hope this change is continuing.

Now, anyone who has visited Athalassa Park will know that it is plastered with no-dogs signs. Nevertheless, confidently armed with your article, I decided a few months ago to ignore the signs and for several weeks I walked my dog in this park. Most of the kids enjoyed patting the dog, a few people scowled at me, several of them puffing away at cigarettes in the tinder-dry park, but I could live with that. However, eventually I was spotted by a forestry department ranger and ordered out of the park on pain of a fine of 150 euros which would double if not paid within a week.

However I still had confidence in the Sunday Mail and decided to continue walking the dog in the park. This time the fellow was waiting for me by my car when I returned at the end of the walk. He (quite

politely) warned me that the next time he would impose the fine. I invited him to do so, confident as I was in your newspaper: ‘Let’s settle this in the courts’ I said. He replied that there is a 1933 law that gives the Forestry Department the right to control dogs and impose fines for violations.

People have challenged this law in the past both in Cyprus and Europe the “WE WON’ he gleefully proclaimed. Obviously he did not mean ‘we the people’ but rather ‘we the bureaucrats’. Anyway, I had no grounds to challenge him.

They have allocated a special area in the park where dogs can be walked but this hardly meets the claims in your article that ALL public area are open to dogs. In any case, the dog area is most unsatisfactory: it is in the most distant part of the park adjacent to the green line and is a sparsely treed and almost shadeless oven even in March and quite unusable in the heat of summer. Is this their pretence of complying with the law?

It seems to me that both Athalassa park and the Paedological Institute park, that runs along the north side of Aglandjia avenue, are in reality urban parks, surrounded by urban development and encroached on by various schools, universities, research institutes and army encampments. Although in colonial times they would have been sufficiently remote to justify placing them under control of the forestry department, they should nowadays both more appropriately be placed under the control of the surrounding municipalities and managed for the benefit of people who would like use them.

Robin Lardner, Psevdas

One party’s wearing white Stetsons the other black I fear putting my spoon into the bubbling stew that is Caucasian politics, but Mr der Avedissian’s letter in your last issue (Sunday Mail September 9) regarding the outrageous attack by an Azeri individual on an Armenian fellow conference member in Hungary, and his even more outrageous reception on his return to Azerbaijan also refers to the background of the affair, and this deserves further comment.

I have much sympathy with Armenia and its people inside and outside the Republic, as I have with all the peoples of the South Caucasus.

Historically they have had a tough time at the hands of toxic larger neighbours, but the dispute between Armenians and Azeris is not, as Mr der Avedissian implies, one between one party wearing white Stetsons and another wearing black.

Ethnic groups in the Caucaus are widely scattered, and are often found outside national boundaries.

Nagorno-Karabagh started off as a mountainous region within Azerbaijan with an Armenian majority, but with a sizable Azeri population.

Both peoples had a strong emotional attachment to the area. Armenia wanted it. Azerbaijan did not want to give it up. Relations at na-

tional (though not at a local) level deteriorated. Azeris were deported from Armenia, Armenians living near Baku were attacked.

The Russians could not cope, and serious war broke out in 1992 when the Armenians invaded.

After two years in which twenty thousand people were killed, and a million lost their homes the Armenians won not only Karabagh but a significant amount of Azeri-inhabited territory surrounding it.

The Azeris were driven out, so the forcible eviction of the long- established Armenian population of Baku was a hardly surprising consequence.

It was an ugly little war partly conducted by irregulars and mercenaries, and there were atrocities.

The result is that Karabagh is now a conquered territory of anomalous status unrecognised by anyone, not even by Armenia - very beautiful, apparently, but there are mines, and relations between the contestants remain poisonous.

All this is very sad. The countries of the south Caucasus are extremely interdependent: power lines, natural gas lines, roads, railways, oil pipe lines link them all, and to the outside world.

They cannot afford inflammatory incidents like the one in Hungary, any more than they could afford the assassinations of Turkish diplomats

by Armenian terrorists some years ago.

Serious diplomatic efforts should be made by an outside power to ease tensions in an area that is geographically as much part of Europe as Cyprus. There are already grounds for negotiation between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Could the former not consider ceding territory to the latter to form a corridor linking it with the otherwise inaccessible Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhichevan, which lies sandwiched between Armenia and Turkey in return for a thinned down Karabagh?

Couldn’t the good offices of Georgia, which has good relations with Azerbaijan, be put to better use?

Relations with Turkey could also be improved if the diaspora Armenians were kept out of the picture.

Caucasians will be Caucasians, and do silly, self-destructive and impulsive things, but a start should be made, and I think Mr der Avedissian and I would at least agree that not killing people could be a first step.

John Turvey, Maroni

Troika proposals are to be welcomed I read with interest your editorials, and am almost always in agreement with your views.

I am in particular agreement with your editorial of Friday September 14 and with what the troika is rumoured to be trying to impose regarding the civil service/public employees.

They are overpaid, over-privileged, over staffed, etc, although they will never admit to it.

No Cypriot government or political party is going to want to be seen to support the troika’s proposed impositions, but with any luck they will insist and the work that should have been done by successive governments

will get done without anyone in Cyprus having to accept responsibility for it. A point that no-one seems to have raised yet, is that public servants here are mostly inefficient, often deliberately unhelpful, and seem to be operating systems dating back to the mid 20th century.

When the shake-up comes, I hope that the opportunity is grasped to move everything forward into the current century. A change from ‘what do you want (disturbing my day)?’ to ‘how may I help?’ would be a welcome start.

Martin Bean. Souni

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You can send letters to the Cyprus Mail by email, fax or post. Letters should include a full postal address (an email address is not sufficient), a daytime telephone number and a reference to the relevant article. A name and address may be withheld from publication if circumstances warrant. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Correspondence will be published at the discretion of the editor. Management is under no obligation to inform readers if, when or where their letters will appear.

13 SUNDAY MAIL • September 16, 2012

Opinion Any optimism must be tempered by the knowledge that politicians often fail to back bold ideas Comment Phedon Nicolaides

I

T HAS been a rare week of good news for the single European currency. Just a few days after the European Central Bank’s announcement that it would initiate unlimited purchasing of government bonds, the European Commission published its proposal for the establishment of a banking union, the German constitutional court endorsed the ratification of the European Stability Mechanism and the Dutch general election was won by centrist, proeuro parties. Should we conclude that the crisis of confidence in the euro is over? Perhaps.

To understand whether this is the dawn of a new era for the euro, we need to ask whether these developments will resolve the problems of the eurozone. Therefore, we have to consider first what brought about the crisis. Although it started in the American mortgage market, with the burst of the property bubble there, it spread very quickly to Europe. International capital markets are closely interconnected and American brokers sold to European banks large amounts of the so-called “sub-prime” mortgages which had been packaged in supposedly safe financial instruments. Once European banks realised that a large proportion of their assets were virtually worthless, they turned to governments for assistance.

About 1000 billion euros of public money has been pumped into European banks in the form of fresh capital and another 3000 billion euros have been committed in the form of guarantees. But this public generosity also widened budget deficits and raised the total public debt of already indebted governments beyond legally allowable or economically sustainable levels. The situation became doubly bad for the governments that had to rescue banks because the economic slowdown that was triggered by the banking crisis reduced tax revenues, while the increased risk that governments bore from holding bank shares worsened their credit worthiness, which in turn increased the cost of their borrowing on the international capital markets. Those governments had two options: default on their debt - which was nothing less than financial suicide - or seek help from to their partners in the European Union.

Although the EU and its member states are barred by treaty from as-

Prospects are shining a little more brightly for the euro President of the German constitutional court Andreas Vosskuhle announcing the ruling on the European Stability Mechanism earlier this week suming the debt obligations of any country, a European Financial Stability Facility [EFSF] was established to provide funds under strict conditionality. The EFSF has extended a financial lifeline to Greece, Ireland and Portugal. Cyprus and Spain are due next for assistance, if they accept the austerity measures that the EFSF demands.

The EFSF has only a temporary status, so EU leaders have also agreed to create a permanent bailout fund - the European Stability Mechanism - and increase its lending power so that it can deal with larger countries like Italy and Spain.

The treaty that establishes the ESM has been ratified by all members of the eurozone except Germany. The ruling of the German constitutional court clears the way for completion of the ratification in Germany too.

Given that the ESM is backed up by resources provided by its members and its credit worthiness reflects that of its members, it could not be credible without Germany’s participation, which has the largest and most solid economy in Europe.

What is not clear yet is whether the ESM will lend only to sovereign borrowers or also directly to banks.

Since the primary cause of the crisis was the depletion of the capital of banks, it makes sense for the ESM to channel funds directly to banks. This will also help governments to reduce the risk they bear and, consequently,

the cost of their borrowing.

Banks turned to governments because they had nowhere else to go.

Governments are the lenders of last resort because they have powers of taxation. Consequently, the EFSF, and in the future, the ESM will depend on their members’ ability to raise tax revenues. This is why many Germans, Dutch and Finns have been against the EFSF, the ESM and eventually the euro. They consider them as instruments for taxpayers in the North to subsidise “profligate” governments and consumers in the South. This is also why the endorsement of the German constitutional court is conditional on the imposition of strict limits on the liability that Germany will bear. The country will have to go back to the negotiating table to demand that its representative will not be outvoted in case the German liability is raised beyond the current ceiling of 190 billion euros.

Ironically, the only member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank who voted against the policy of unlimited bond purchasing was Jens Weidmann, the president of the Bundesbank.

Although these German concerns are understandable, they also reveal a structural fissure in the current European financial framework and its successor. Their functioning very much depends on the consent of individual member countries. As a

result, they are less able to respond quickly to fast evolving crises and are more vulnerable to the vagaries of domestic political bargaining. A case in point is the behaviour of the Dutch government which has been based on a coalition that by necessity included the extreme anti-European party of Geerd Wilders. The government’s stance on Europe has been inevitably constrained by the need to retain Wilders’ support. Now the centre parties can ditch him and act more freely.

It is very interesting and sobering that about two weeks ago Moody’s downgraded the EU’s own credit rating from “Aaa stable” to “Aaa negative”. It explained that this was partly because in the event of an emergency, member states would seek to finance their own needs first and only afterwards those of the EU. The new European financial institutions will be able to act decisively only if they have sufficient independence. They will acquire that kind of independence only when they can command their own funds without having to tap into nationally controlled resources. Then the EU will have taken a decisive step towards remedying the current financial malaise and laying the foundations for truly unified financial markets.

The proposals for banking union go in the right direction. They provide for a single entity to supervise more than 6,000 banks that operate

in the eurozone. There will be acrimonious discussions on the extent of the jurisdiction of the new European regulator, the extent to which it will cover non-eurozone banks and whether it will be able to overrule national regulators.

But on the issue of lender of last resort with its own independently managed funds, Germany and a number of other countries are still resisting. Of course, these funds do not have to come from governments.

They can be provided by banks themselves, which after all will be the main beneficiaries, in the form of a mutual insurance scheme. This has not yet been mooted.

The developments of the past ten days are important for the future of the euro. But, the crisis is not yet over. Politicians have often failed to follow bold announcements with the necessary practical measures. The countries that have received assistance or are about to receive assistance, such as Cyprus, will still have to cut public costs. For them, the pain will last much longer. However, what is indeed encouraging is that the Commission and the ECB have mustered enough resolve to act according to their mandate to protect the common European interest.

Phedon Nicolaides is Jan Tinbergen professor and director of economic studies at the College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium

We never needed the troika to tell us what to do Comment Loucas Charalambous NEVER in this country have we been capable of recognising the seriousness of the problems we face. Instead, we have avoided dealing with them and convinced ourselves that they would go away by some miracle.

This was the always the case with the national issue, which is why today we are staring at partition, legalised by our own mistakes and wishful thinking. The same is now happening with regard to the big and pressing issue of our ailing economy. And there should be little doubt that the result will be as horrific as the result we achieved, thanks to our incredible stupidity, on the national problem.

On Wednesday, the document, containing a detailed outline

of the measures proposed by the troika for the financial bailout that would help our state and banks to survive, was published. Reading through it, you could not help asking the question, ‘did the troika have to tell us the measures we needed to take?’

Did we really need the troika’s technocrats to make us understand that to tackle the economic problem facing the country we should go to its root? Is there any sane person who does not know that the root cause of our problems is the outrageously high cost of the state sector?

It is well known that the growing budget deficit and unmanageable public debt were caused by the criminal behaviour of all our governments, and particularly the current one, which brought the state to its knees by constantly borrowing money

in order to feed the insatiable monster that is the public sector.

We did not need the troika.

If we had had the will and the courage we could have solved our problems on our own. And we would have solved them with far less painful measures than those that will have to be imposed now.

The problems were there for all to see. Anyone with half a brain could see where the never-ending party with borrowed money was leading us. But our politicians carried on pandering to PASYDY chief Glafcos Hadjipetrou and his fellow union bosses, for fear of losing union votes.

If in 2009 President Christofias had heeded the anguished calls for spending cuts - even his political allies were urging him to act - and implemented half the measures the troika is now ask-

ing for, state finances would be on a sound basis and we would not be faced with an unmanageable deficit. We would only have to deal with the problems caused by the recklessness of the incompetent and irresponsible bank bosses.

Our biggest handicap was that we have a president who instead of solving problems, multiplied them. A president who, regardless of whether he understood or not where his actions would lead, ensured the country hit rock-bottom. This is why the measures will now be more painful.

It is quite astonishing that even now, Christofias and the AKEL leadership are still pretending not to have understood the problem. They have had the troika’s proposals for two months now, but they persist with the demagoguery. Instead of taking decisions, they

are playing silly but dangerous games, begging Russia for a new loan so they can distribute it to Hadjipetrou’s members in the hope of taking their votes come February.

Only the other day, Christofias repeated the myth that the banks and the former Central Bank governor were to blame for our problems. But it was he who loaded the state with an additional €6 billion in foreign debt, increasing it by 75 per cent in order to give out money here and there and buy votes he had hoped would ensure his reelection.

This had nothing to do with the banks. This, like all other catastrophes he has brought upon us, is caused by the fact that for four-and-a-half years this country has a president who operates like the leader of the AKEL Kaimakli branch rather than as president of Cyprus.

14 September 16, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

Opinion

Nationalism and terrorism Comment

The Tribute in Light illuminating the sky over Lower Manhattan on Tuesday in remembrance of the September 11 attacks

Liah Greenfeld

S

EPTEMBER 11, 2001, may at least at first - seem like an inappropriate addition to the history of nationalism, given Al Qaeda’s explicitly stated global pretensions. In fact, now that the initial shock and confusion have given way to a more sober perspective, the terrorist attacks of that awful day are increasingly seen - as they should be - as one among numerous other nationalist milestones.

From this perspective, the attacks no longer appear, as they did to so many immediately afterwards, to reflect an incomprehensible, irrational, and uncivilised mentality, or a different civilisation altogether - pre-modern, unenlightened, and fundamentally “traditional” (in other words, undeveloped). It is in this unflattering sense that Islam, the dominant religion of an economically backward part of the world, was said to have motivated the attacks of September 11, 2001.

And, because those who believed this (virtually everyone whose voices were heard) belatedly perceived its insulting connotation, discussing the matter has caused considerable anguish in the years since.

There are no euphemisms that can inoffensively imply that one of the great world religions is a murderous, irrational ideology, unacceptable for modern, civilised human beings. And yet two different American administrations have implied - and consistently acted upon - this assumption.

But, once we place the tragedy of September 11, 2001, and the broader political phenomenon of international terrorism, in the context of other historical tragedies in the past century, religion becomes an unlikely explanation. It is here where the influence of nationalism becomes obvious.

Nationalism has been the major motive force in the West since the beginning of the modern period.

Historians have noted its influence in Elizabethan England (which produced the spirit animating the Puritan Rebellion and migration to America), and increasingly rec-

Enough time has gone by to view the September 11, 2001 attacks in their proper, nationalist context ognise it as the motive force behind the French and the Russian Revolutions. Meanwhile, Chinese scholars are beginning to view it as the inspiration for Mao Zedong’s struggle against the Kuomintang (the openly self-named “Nationalist Movement”) and the policies of the People’s Republic. And no historical acumen is needed to understand that nationalism was the source of Hitler’s National Socialism and, therefore, World War II. In fact, it would be puzzling if this were not the case, given that nationalism is the cultural foundation of modernity - the framework of its social consciousness. And, precisely because nationalism shapes the way we think, its role in phenomena that do not trumpet their nationalist motivation - like Al Qaeda’s attacks in 2001 - can

easily be overlooked.

As a rule, most nationalists do not call themselves nationalists.

Like the rest of us, they believe that their nationalism is natural and does not have to be emphasised. But a little self-examination should lead any thinking person to recognise that we all are nationalists - we feel, think, and react to the world as nationalism prescribes.

Nationalism is a temporal vision (and thus secular, even when using religion in its rhetoric) that divides people into sovereign communities of equal members. The equality of national membership (which, at the same time, may be exclusively defined) elevates every member’s status to that of the elite, making it dependent on the dignity of the nation as a whole.

As a result, those who possess

national consciousness become committed to and defensive of the dignity of the nation - measured by its standing, or prestige, vis-àvis other nations. That is why competition for national prestige has been the main motive in international politics since the beginning of the twentieth century.

Specifically, the aggressor in many international conflicts in this period has been motivated by perceived injury to national dignity.

Actual injury is not necessary: the perceived superiority of another nation is enough.

In an advanced modern society, such as Germany, intellectuals have no difficulty using openly nationalist language to convince a nationally conscious populace of threats to national prestige. By contrast, in a society where na-

tional consciousness is limited to the better educated (for example, the Arab Middle East), they must resort to traditional means of mobilisation. In the case of the Middle East, that traditional mobiliser is Islam, and so threats to national prestige are presented as threats to Islam.

Some nations do not feel threatened by imaginary insults to national dignity - for various historical reasons, they believe themselves to be superior to others. But, if their prestige is in fact at stake, the perception of a threat becomes decisive. Why else would citizens across the developed world be so preoccupied with their economic competitiveness? Is it not enough for us to be well off? Why do we need to be better off than others?

Why, for example, do Americans feel so threatened by the peaceful economic rise of China (as they did by Japan’s economic success in the 1980s)?

To no longer be ‘Number One’ would offend America’s sense of dignity.

There is no more to it than that.

China is now also motivated by nationalism, and it will rise as high as a motivated population of 1.3 billion people can. The threat to America’s international standing is real; but, blinded by it, Americans believe that they are still in a position to condescend to China as they would to an inferior power.

For the time being, the Chinese may be too preoccupied with their own backyard to pay attention to such insults, but it is foolish to offend them deliberately.

Because Americans misunderstood the motives behind the attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States fought two costly wars, which did not defeat its enemies and have left the Middle East more volatile than ever. Being blind to the connection between nationalism and dignity in China - and in America’s own conduct when dealing with China - may cost the US even more.

Liah Greenfeld, Professor of Political Science and Sociology and Director of the Institute for the Advancement of the Social Sciences at Boston University, is the author of Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity and The Spirit of Capitalism: Nationalism and Economic Growth © Project Syndicate 2012

Dreaming of that journey to the stars Comment Gwynne Dyer NEVER mind the constraints of the miserable present: the shrinking budgets, the lost opportunities, the collapsing morale. Thinking is free, so let’s think really big. Let’s think about...building a starship in the year 2112.

Well, I’ve already been thinking about that for decades, actually, but that was just wishful thinking. Now there’s a whole organisation for thinking about it, with a proper budget and government support and participation by private enterprise, and this week they held a public conference in Hou-

ston, Texas: the first annual symposium of the 100 Year Starship Initiative.

The sessions had ambitious titles: ‘Time and Distance Solutions’; ‘The Mission: Human, Robotic or Reconstituted?’; ‘Destinations and Habitats’; ‘Becoming an Interstellar Civilisation’.

But the organisers also realise that this project will take as long as building a Gothic cathedral: one session is simply called ‘Research Priorities for the First Ten of 100 Years’. Then they’ll have to set priorities for the next ten years, and the next, and the next....

The 100YSS, as it’s known, would probably not exist if the professionals interested in space flight had really challenging near-space projects to work on. They don’t: one American space scientist described the cur-

rent American space programme, and indeed those of its rivals elsewhere, as “trying to finish what we started in the 1960s”. Low-orbit operations are vital, but they are not inspiring.

Some of these frustrated professionals work at NASA and the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), so there is official support for thinking big.

LITTLE MONEY There’s not much money: DARPA gave the 100YSS only half a million dollars of seed money (out of its $3 billion budget), but then nobody is planning to build expensive hardware now. They just want to think about what kind of hardware (and software) would be needed to go to the stars.

So appoint a charismatic

former astronaut to lead the organisation - Dr Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space - and make sure that both private business and potential international partners feel comfortable with the approach.

It’s a natural area for international cooperation: there are probably never going to be rival national starship programmes. Add a truckload of ambition, a pinch of hard-nosed realism, and stir.

The first public outing for this enterprise is the symposium in Houston, and its popular appeal is obvious. It’s a heady thought that this may be where the future course of human history is set, and at this stage nobody has to deal with dreary things like budgets and project management. The most outrageous concepts can be welcomed, examined, and pursued or

rejected. But is there any realistic prospect that human beings could ever build a starship?

Nobody knows. As Douglas Adams’s seminal work, The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, sagely observed: “Space...is big. Really big.

You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is.”

STARSHIP Building a starship would therefore require not just four or five generations of technological revolutions.

It would also require the overturning, or at least the wholesale reinterpretation, of the laws of physics as currently understood. Last time around, it took about five centuries, say from 1450 to 1950, to get through a comparable scale of change in

technology and physics. But of course things move much faster now.

At any rate, it’s hard to see what harm the 100YSS could do, even if it never achieves its objective. If the history of space-flight up to now is any guide, at the very least it would produce radically new technologies that have major positive impacts on human welfare. And if it actually succeeded... That would be the biggest deal in human history.

The most recent estimate is that there are about 30,000 planets suitable for our kind of life within a thousand light years of here.

Most observers assume that if a planet can support life, then it will almost certainly have life. It would be a great pity to miss out on all that because of a mere lack of ambition.

15 SUNDAY MAIL • September 16, 2012

Opinion Netanyahu’s public rift with US makes Israeli strike on Iran harder and could hurt standing at home and abroad

uotes of the week

Comment Crispian Balmer

T

HE PUBLIC row between Israel and the United States this week will make it hard for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch a unilateral strike against Iran and risks undermining his domestic standing.

Despite years of warning about the dangers of Iran gaining nuclear weapons, the Israeli leader has failed to convince any major world power of the need for military action and has yet to persuade his domestic audience that Israel should go it alone.

By raising the stakes with Barack Obama in the middle of the president’s re-election campaign, Netanyahu has drawn criticism from his own defence minister, Ehud Barak, and given Tehran the pleasure of watching its enemies argue over the case for war.

“Netanyahu is overplaying his hand and creating problems for himself with Obama. This could make life very hard for him should the president win re-election,” said Alon Liel, a former director-general of the Israeli foreign ministry.

Infuriated by Washington’s reluctance to lay down clear limits to Iran’s nuclear programme, Netanyahu fired a broadside at Obama on Tuesday, saying those who failed to set red lines did not have the “moral right” to prevent Israel from striking.

Further stirring the troubled waters, senior Israeli officials briefed journalists twice in two days to denounce US policymaking, before announcing that the president had refused to see Netanyahu when both will be in New York later this month.

The White House denied ever receiving a request for a meeting and Obama swiftly got on the phone for a long chat with Netanyahu, with whom he has notoriously testy relations.

In the hours that followed, Israel sought to play down the differences between the two, but the damage was done, with the Israeli press bemoaning a new low in bilateral ties.

“The reality might be less serious than all the headlines are saying,” said Oded Eran, a senior research associate and former head of the Institute for National Security Studies.

“However, perceptions are just as important, and in that regard, serious damage has been done to the idea of Israeli deterrence, which may be very hard to rectify,” he added.

Israel, believed to have the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, has long threatened to attack Iran unless it dismantles its ambitious nuclear programme that many countries in the West believe is aimed at creating an atomic bomb.

Iran denies this and, de-

“God almighty, what is the matter with these people?”

Film critic Barry Norman (right) hits out at those who have called him sexist because he described a character in a film as “a tart with a heart”

Netanyahu and Obama at the UN last September. There will be no such meeting this year

Netanyahu overplaying Israel’s hand spite increasingly severe economic sanctions, has shown no sign that it intends to scale back its project or halt its contested uranium enrichment drive.

Regularly beating the drums of war, Netanyahu has succeeded in getting alarmed Western allies to turn the sanction screws, but has yet to persuade them of the need for military action, or even to win their backing for a lone Israeli initiative.

“The Israeli frustration stems from a sense that sanctions and negotiations are not as effective as they should be,” said Gidi Grinstein, founder of the Reut Institute think-tank.

“But Israeli action in defiance of the United States and without legitimacy is extremely risky.”

Aware that its armed forces might be hard pressed to do significant damage to Iran’s far-flung nuclear sites, Israel has said repeatedly that it wants the US military to do the heavy lifting, arguing a nuclear Iran is a threat to the whole world.

But rather than bow to Israeli demands for further clarity, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said Washington would not set any deadline with Iran.

Her comments triggered fury in Netanyahu’s office.

“The easiest thing would be to sit by and not tangle with

Obama, but Netanyahu believes he has to state things plainly, even if they are unpopular and cause conflict,” said a senior Israeli official, denouncing “fuzzy remarks” out of America.

Yet Netanyahu might come to rue his outspokenness.

Israelis know the United States is by far and away their most important ally and previous premiers who jostled in public with Washington have invariably drawn flak at home.

CRITICISM Sure enough, Israeli opposition politicians have denounced the prime minister’s handling of an increasingly complex situation.

“Who are you trying to replace? The administration in Washington or that in Tehran?” said Shaul Mofaz, head of the largest opposition party, Kadima, which was briefly part of Netanyahu’s coalition over the summer.

“The world is not sick of Israel, the world is sick of Netanyahu and does not believe him.”

Of more concern to Netanyahu was the fact he also received a clear rebuke from his own defence minister, Barak, who issued a statement saying problems with the United States should be worked out behind closed doors and not aired in public.

“Despite the differences and the importance of maintaining Israel’s independence of action, we should also bear in mind the importance of the partnership with the United States, and try not to harm it as much as possible,” he said.

Local media said Netanyahu was angered by Barak’s intervention and a senior member of the prime minister’s Likud party accused the defence minister of looking to score political points at a time of growing speculation about the prospect of an early parliamentary election in Israel.

Barak heads the small Atzmaut party in the governing coalition, and opinion polls have indicated it might not win a single seat in parliament in a new ballot.

“I am sorry that ... the defence minister has chosen to start his campaign at the expense of national interests and on the back of the prime minister,” said vice prime minister Moshe Yaalon, who has long aspired to the defence portfolio.

Barak’s spokesman denied any rift with Netanyahu, but again, the damage was done, with the two men who must work closest together on Israel’s military strategies seemingly at odds over how best to proceed.

Crispian Balmer is a Reuters’ correspondent

“Balancing on one foot at the edge of the kerb, she gracefully extends a slender, perfectly toned, bright pink denim-clad leg high into the air. Works every time” Ex-ballerina Darcey Bussell describes how a woman can best hail a London cab

Peter Tatchell, homosexual rights campaigner

“The coalition is clearly in a terminal state as an intellectual project. The question is whether it can stagger along one way or another as a government” Lord Adonis, former Labour Cabinet minister “He comes between farts and rats - which I think is unfair on rats. My guess is that Piers Morgan will still be unloved for generations to come” Comedian and writer David Walliams is no fan of the TV star and former Fleet Street editor

“I am obsessed with pigs.

They had to play a part” Peaches Geldof (above) explained why edible pigs featured on her wedding cake “The history of Boris Johnson is that he has been under-estimated, not least by me. I dismissed the talk of him one day leading his party as fanciful. Well, not any more” Nick Robinson, the BBC’s political editor “If an ‘innocent goodbye’ to Andrew Marr is putting your hand down someone’s trousers, then I suppose that I shall have to put mine down his when the programme ends” Actress Maureen Lipman, who wants to review the papers on Marr’s programme in the wake of photographs of him embracing a woman in a dark London street “All imperial and feudal titles should be abolished.

Knighthoods and damehoods are absurd relics of feudalism, totally out of step with modern, meritocratic Britain”

“What is my talent? Well, a bear can juggle and stand on a ball and he’s talented, but he’s not famous. Do you know what I mean?”

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian “Not really a night of the long knives, nor even the short ones, but more the rather blunt ones” Tory peer Lord Tebbit assesses the recent Cabinet reshuffle

“Think of the disgrace you will bring on the family.

Think of the appalling people you will meet” Actor Sir Christopher “Dracula” Lee (above) recalls the reaction of his mother, when he told her he wanted to go on the stage

16 September 16, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

News Review

Troika talk back and forth Building death A ROMANIAN builder was killed after falling 15 metres off the open veranda of an unfinished apartment block in Limassol on Monday, prompting authorities to deplore the “criminally negligent” lack of safety measures at the construction site.

The building, according to officials, had no scaffolding and no protective nets and workers had to go inside the construction to get to where they needed to work.

The 29-year-old married Romanian, who was on his first day at work, had just started working on the veranda – which had no railings or scaffolding around it – when the accident occurred.

Shooting averted FAMAGUSTA District Court remanded one Albanian and two Greek men for eight days on Monday after they were caught with two loaded guns in their car in Ayia Napa.

Police said they believed a serious crime had been averted.

The trio were reportedly paid killers and were on the island in connection with the June shootings of five people in Ayia Napa - four of whom were Famagusta businessman Phanos Kalopsidiotis’ security guards. Kalopsidiotis said later this week he had no doubt he was the target of the averted attack.

Loose goats FARMERS let around 200 goats and sheep loose in Paphos’ fields on Sunday and Monday as part of their ongoing demands to receive the full subsidy they say was promised to them by the state.

It was the latest in a series of protests in recent weeks since the cabinet in August announced the state subsidy to sheep and goat farmers would be halved this year and is due to expire under EU rules. The cabinet offered farmers €5.2 million to be distributed depending on livestock numbers.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde speaking to reporters at the Presidential Palace on Thursday night

A NUMBER of small provident funds invested up to 90 per cent of their deposits in the high-risk securities that banks have stopped paying interest on, the House Labour Committee heard on Monday.

Small provident funds with fewer than 100 members were most exposed by the lockdown on bank securities, noting that from 140 small funds, 25 of them invested between 50 and 90 per cent of their deposits.

CYPRUS Airways (CY) has selected Air France-KLM Consulting to draft a restructuring plan whose objective is to turn the ailing company into a competitive carrier.

CY said on Monday it had hired Air France-KLM Consulting to draft a restructuring plan aiming at “transforming the company into a competitive carrier in the international aviation industry”.

The plan must also make the airline attractive to any strategic investor wishing to acquire a majority stake in CY.

Tax clampdown AUTHORITIES will take legal action against people who do not pay their dues to the state, it emerged Tuesday, as the amount owed to the government rose to around €1.5 billion in 2011 - the bulk being arrears to the inland revenue department (IRD).

Accountant-General Rea Georgiou told lawmakers the finance minister has given instructions to the IRD to take legal action against anyone who has delayed paying their dues for over three months.

Exposed funds

CY lifeline

riot government.

The official, who made the comments in Brussels during an informal briefing to reporters, appeared to be venting the aggravation of international lenders, hinting that Nicosia has been stalling the bailout request process.

Troika plans REPORTS surfaced on Wednesday outlining a list of austerity measures being sought by the troika.

Labelled ‘exclusive’, web-based InBusinessNews carried a lengthy list of measures including, a 15 per cent cut in the state payroll by 2013, scrapping of

wage indexation (CoLA), and 13th salaries in the public sector, cutting 13th pensions of between €1,000 and €1,500 by 50 per cent, and those over €1,500 by 75 per cent, taxing allowances in the public sector, extending a wage freeze until the end of 2015, and introducing pension contributions for all public servants.

There was more bad news for the government on Wednesday when Moscow said the €5 billion loan being sought by Cyprus would not materialise any time soon. This will leave the island no option but to turn to the troika.

State plans THE government has almost finished drafting its own austerity package, its spokesman said on Thursday, as parties and unions voiced their opposition to measures proposed by Cyprus’ lenders.

Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said the government will negotiate hard for a balanced support programme, which “does not abolish workers’ rights and creates prospects for the economy by investing in growth.”

He said the programme should be based on financial consolidation, growth and

QUOTES OF THE WEEK “There was chaos there, absolute chaos. Absolutely no scaffolding, they worked from the inside out. It is very sad” State pathologist Eleni Antoniou after a Romanian was killed on an unsafe building g site

Tardy talks

“The construction n was in a state, with a complete lack ack of protective measures – on alll levels, from the stairway, to the verandas, erandas, to the skylights and there re were even holes in the floors. s. This negligence is criminal”” Labour inspector or Socrates Socratous

THE government on Tuesday sought to head off accusations it is dragging its feet following media reports suggesting the ‘troika’ – the European Union, the IMF and the European Central Bank – is frustrated with the lack of progress in bailout talks.

Late on Monday a senior Eurogroup official was quoted as saying the Eurogroup expects precise details regarding its request for a bailout from the Cyp-

“Yes, I was the target rget of the three prospective killers who were arrested by police in Ayia Napa” Famagusta businessman Phanos Kalopsidiotis

“Cyprus must stop being a barbaric country regarding its behaviour towards animals. One immediate request is to create a police for the protection of animals, for which relevant legislation has been passed, and p needs to be implei mented” Greens de deputy Giorgos Perdikis P “We will not no accept a memoranmem dum of tough tou austerity … that tha harms social cohesion” cohes DIKO spokessp Fotis man F Fotiou Fotio

“We have a dog called Max. The hierarchy at home goes like this: my son comes first, then my daughter, my wife, Max, and lastly me, so you can understand how much importance we give to Max” Agriculture Minister Sophoclis Aletraris highlighting his animal-loving credentials “Greed and the bankers’ mistakes in combination with the irresponsibility of the regulating authority led the country to the difficult position we are in today” President Demetris Christofias We hope that by helping people to overcome their personal buffer zones we will change the way they think, and we will change our future” Nicosia Mayor Constantinos Yiorkadjis (left) “Cyprus and the troika will have to speed up the process” Eurogroup president JeanClaude Juncker

social cohesion.

Mari trial AN EMOTIONAL Larnaca district fire chief told the court during his expert testimony on Thursday about how he found out his son was among the six fire fighters killed in the 2011 Mari blast.

Fire chief Michalis Theofilou testified during the trial of six men – former ministers, army and fire officials – who are facing charges relating to events leading up to the munitions explosion at the Evangelos Florakis naval base.

Seven sailors and six fire fighters were killed, among them fire fighter Panayiotis Theofilou, Michalis Theofilou’s son.

Econ bigwigs EU finance ministers converged in Cyprus for the Eurogroup and the informal economic and financial affairs council (ECOFIN) meetings which took place on Friday and yesterday.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the group of eurozone Finance Ministers, Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank and European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn all attended the meetings.

The focus of discussions was on the ECB’s new bond-buying programme and the outcome of a German court ruling on the eurozone’s permanent bailout fund.

They also discussed Spain and whether it will make a formal request for assistance beyond aid for its banks, Cyprus’ need for help, and how Greece, Portugal and Ireland are faring in meeting their bailout obligations.

Paphos 2017 Paphos was, on Friday, selected over Nicosia as the European Capital of Culture in 2017 by an independent selection panel.

Paphos will get a €5 million boost from the education ministry to help cover costs.

“This is the greatest honour for the city I am privileged to represent,” Paphos mayor Savvas Vergas said. “It’s a departure point for a hard journey ahead that will formally end in 2017.”

He said Paphos wanted to work with all of Cyprus’ cities to accomplish the task ahead.

17 SUNDAY MAIL • September 16, 2012

Coffeeshop

Say ‘no’ to the troika and cement ‘yes’ to bankruptcy COMRADE Tof turned on the charm on Thursday night when he met elegant IMF chief Christine Lagarde at the palazzo de poppolo.

Lagarde was driven to the 9.30 meeting straight from the airport and told the comrade, in front of the cameras, she was sorry she had not had the time to freshen up. The crafty comrade seized the opportunity to display his charm.

“Mbut you are mbyoutifool,” he told his guest, who thanked him with a rather bewildered smile. The compliment by comrade charmer paid high dividends. After the mbyoutifool Lagarde’s departure he told waiting hacks they had a “very friendly and warm meeting” and that “she showed understanding for our positions”.

The man sure knows how to win over the ladies. When Angela Merkel visited, after her “very warm and friendly meeting” with the comrade ladies’ man, she made a statement about the Cyprob that had the Turks ranting and raving against her for days.

Had he told her she was mbyoutifool as well, or did he win her over with the bag of lemons he gave her as a gift?

UNFORTUNATELY he did not have a chance to use his villager charm on the head of the Euro Group JeanClaude Juncker, whom he met after the Luxembourg politician had publicly censured the government’s inaction and failure to engage in bailout negotiations with the troika.

Juncker exposed the lies the comrade and his liar-in-chief Stef-Stef have been telling us about the consultations with the troika that were supposedly ongoing.

“We invite the Cyprus authorities to clarify their intentions with a view to resuming and concluding the negotiations regarding the possible financial assistance programme,” Juncker said in his news conference. If the negotiations were ongoing, why had he asked for their resumption?

On Tuesday, Stef-Stef categorically denied that that government was stalling and delaying responding to the troika. He was responding to comments made on Monday to Cypriot hacks by a Euro Group official who demanded that Nicosia made its position clear regarding the bailout. Who to believe is a no-brainer.

If only the government had been as economical with state funds as it is with the truth.

FINANCE minister Vasos Shiarly was given a hard time by his colleagues over the government’s filibustering at Friday’s ECOFIN meeting. Fortunately for him, the attacks did not last long as there were more important issues to discuss.

He was told Cyprus should have made its position clear with regard to the troika proposals the government had been sitting on since July without providing any response.

There were also critical comments about the government’s leaking of the document containing the troika proposals and marked ‘strictly confidential’, to the media a couple of days before the ECOFIN meeting.

The hapless Shiarly had hoped to ease tensions at the meeting by announcing a date for the troika’s arrival in Kyproulla – before the meeting hacks had been told by the finance ministry that a date would be given – but failed to do so. Obvi-

ously, the comrade delay tactician vetoed the idea.

Instead Shiarly made a commitment, at the meeting, to contact Brussels, Frankfurt and New York on Monday and arrange a date for the arrival of the troika. It would not be the first commitment made to ECOFIN that he has failed to honour, because it was subsequently vetoed by his comrade boss.

THE LEAKING of the confidential document with the troika’s proposals would never have happened without the personal approval of our comrade leader. And it was no coincidence it was leaked a couple of days before the ECB, IMF, Euro Group head honchos were due to arrive in Kyproulla.

Aware that they would turn the heat on him for his government’s failure to negotiate with the troika, the austerity proposals were leaked not just as a diversion tactic but to justify his inaction. Public parasites would congratulate him for snubbing the troika after seeing proposals that included the abolition of CoLA, suspension of 13th salaries for three years, taxation of retirement bonuses and obligatory monthly contributions to the social insurance fund for everyone.

This was the only part of the proposed measures that was initially leaked, to ensure a hysterical public reaction. Other proposals that everyone would have welcomed, such as the scrapping of multiple pensions, the taxation of the representation allowances granted to state officials and deputies and the taxation of retirement bonuses, were leaked the next day.

By then all the political parties, with the commendable exception of DISY, were acting as if the Annan plan had been re-tabled, declaring the proposals ‘unacceptable, unfair and one-sided’. Was the crafty comrade trying to create a hysterical anti-bailout climate, like the one created against the satanic plan by the late Ethnarch?

I can see him on the TV screen, tears pouring down his fat cheeks, urging us to say a resounding ‘no’ to the troika so that we can cement our ‘yes’ to bankruptcy.

PARASITES’ leader Hadjiklamouris, was more miserable than usual, speaking about the unacceptable measures on a radio show on Friday.

He was so subdued and calm you’d have thought he was on tranquilisers.

He avoided defending parasites’ privileges, adopting a Marxist line in an effort to turn the bailout into a class issue. Employers were exploiting the economic situation to attack the rights and conquests of

Charm offensive: Comrade Tof had a friendly and warm meeting with IMF chief Christine Lagarde the workers he said, warning that CoLA was at risk in the private sector. “Capital is showing a very bad face,” warned Hadjilenin.

From what he said, it appeared that he had been recruited to help in the comrade’s stalling tactics. Pasydy was preparing its own proposals, in relation to the bailout, which he would present once the union had studied the government’s proposals that are not yet ready.

And then of course, the unions will have to have the social dialogue with the government and the employers, without asphyxiating time-frames because as the comrade says, there can be no measures without consensus.

SPEAKING of unions, AKEL-controlled Peo suffered a bit of an embarrassment when Politis revealed last Sunday that it was the beneficiary of unprecedented bank generosity.

Earlier this year, the Bank of Cyprus decided to write off loans of close to €3 million that had been given to a company of Peo. The charitable BofC decided not to sue the personal guarantors of the loan, all of whom were AKEL members.

Normally, when it comes to pursuing guarantors of loans, the banks are merciless. They will take a guarantor of a loan to court, regardless of how small the amount is. If the person has assets they will seize them and if he does not and does not have the money to pay the bank has a bankruptcy order issued against the hapless guarantor.

A bank will do this for an unpaid debt of a couple grand, but if you are an Akelite guarantor of loans worth a few million, you are laughing all the way to the bank. Most amazing is the ingratitude of the Akelites, who have been doing nothing else for the last few months, but attacking the greedy bankers.

Any normal person who was shown such generosity by a bank would never say a bad word against it again, but as we all know incorruptible, morally pure Akelites do not obey the same rules of social

behaviour as the rest of us weak human beings.

PEO ISSUED a statement claiming there was a conspiracy against it. “It is obvious that the manufacture of mud and distortion started by Politis has precise and clear targets,” said a union statement and added: “The newspaper, with lies and halftruths is seeking to undermine the prestige and dignity of Peo and its officials.”

It also accused the paper of “trying to present a morally and legally, absolutely logical decision by the Bank of Cyprus as the product of pressure and political interventions and as a scandalous ‘favour’ for Peo.” The statement went on and on about the banking crisis and other irrelevant emotional issues, showing utter contempt for rational argument.

Nowhere in the statement did Peo inform us which bits of the story were lies and which half-truths.

I really like the bit which described the decision of BofC to write off a €3 million loan as a “morally and legally, absolutely logical decision.” Was this a lie or a half-truth?

I need to know because I am writing to the BofC tomorrow to ask it to write off a friend’s 100 grand debt, which I foolishly guaranteed, on the grounds that this would be “a morally and legally, absolutely logical decision.”

POPULAR Bank, which is being kept afloat by increasing our national debt by a couple of billion, has been showing its gratitude to the taxpayer and its customers by charging interest rates that compete with the rates of loan sharks.

One of our customers was appalled when he saw his statement and discovered that he was being charged 10.5 per cent interest on an overdraft facility. “Why are we paying to keep afloat a bank that is screwing us so badly,” he asked and nobody could come up with an answer.

And as if this were not bad enough, Popular is now advertising its annual charity extravaganza, Radiomarathon, by which it takes people’s

donations and poses as the great benefactor (while charging loan shark interest rates) of children with special needs.

In an act of great kindness, children with special needs have said that all this year’s Radiomarathon receipts could go towards the recapitalisation of the Popular Bank, which needs the money much more than they do.

NEVER say with one word what you can say with 100, has always been the philosophy of deputy AG Akis Papasavvas. So when a website reported this week that he was being urged by the comrade to resign so an Akelite a long way away from retirement age could be appointed in his place he avoided the obvious one word answer – nonsense.

He told Haravghi that the story was a “figment of a sick imagination” adding that “the President of the Republic has never, but never expressed, directly or indirectly any such wish. Perhaps these are the woeful wet dreams ( ) of some.”

Commenting about Papasavvas’ metaphor, in his glossary column in Alithia, Alecos Constantinides wrote that the deputy AG had used the wrong adjective, as “wet dreams are not woeful but pleasurable.”

I totally disagree. A wet dream may be pleasurable, generally speaking, but when it is triggered by seeing Papasavvas resigning as deputy AG it is not just woeful but it is proof, as Freud would have said, that the dreamer is a big pervert.

STAYING on the subject of word usage, I loved the tag used by Demetris Georgiades in Politis to describe the comrade. He called him the ‘non-executive president’.

THREE, foreign, suspected hired killers were arrested in Ayia Napa last Sunday night. After the murder of five men in the centre of the tourist resort, earlier in the year, we were considering asking the CTO if assassin tourism is the future for our ailing economy?

18 September 16, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

World in pictures

A woman sits on a grass-made sofa in Frankfurt, western Germany. The so-called Main-Sofa highlights the upcoming Day of Sustainability on Wednesday (AFP)

Cows during the Viehscheid cattle drive in the Germain Alps

(AFP)

Pakistani rescuers carry a factory worker after a sudden fire trapped workers in Lahore (AFP)

A surveillance aircraft deployed by the Indian Coast Guard flies over hundreds of anti-nuclear activists as they take to the water during a protest (AFP)

A model in a creation by Corrie Nielsen during the 2013 spring/summer collection catwalk shows at London Fashion Week

A policeman secures the area before proceeding to pick up a child crack addict sleeping on the sidewalk in Rio (AFP)

Villagers from the local Pashtun tribe transport grain near the Kandahar Air Field during a joint patrol between US soldiers and members of the Afghan National Police (AFP)

A woman places flowers on a memorial during a commemoration ceremony by the North Pool at World Trade Center to mark 11 years since the 9/11 attacks (AFP)

An Indian artist works on an idol of the Hindu god Biswakarma, the Hindu god of architecture and machinery who will be worshipped tomorrow (AFP)

19 SUNDAY MAIL • September 16, 2012

Lifestyle

The internet, gossip mags, Twitter… before the topless pictures emerged, the Duchess of Cambridge’s putative pregnancy began trending everywhere.

Jasmine Gardner reports on the business behind those great expectations

A

DD ONE woman who drank water at dinner to a man who admits he wants two children and what do you get? A pregnant Duchess of Cambridge. No, those weren’t the elements required for conception that any of us learned about in biology lessons, but the rife speculation spreading through the Twitterverse, the celebrity gossip web-

Much interest has been shown this week in the cut of Kate’s clothes

are those boobs? Add to this the fact that Kate completely ignored a glass of burgundy Faiveley Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru Garennes (2008) and toasted the Queen with water at a formal dinner on Tuesday and that when Wills was asked by a crowd member how many children he planned to have and answered “two” (if you know your sums, that means he has got to have

Royal bumpwatch gathers pace sites and the world’s news as one first) and the world has Kate and Wills entered day decided it’s got to mean three of their Far Eastern something.

Certainly, Twitter is abuzz. tour was that those two factoids mean the royal couple “I bet Kate is pregnant! I are having a baby. Well, it is bet she is!!!” writes one royal about time, isn’t it? Cather- rumour enthusiast. “Duchine became a duchess more ess Kate passed on wine at than a year ago. We’ve had an event in Singapore - is the wedding - now we want she pregnant? Or just the designated driver?” asks anthe baby.

It seems the ever-reliable other. Indeed, it could well US gossip magazine Star be that the duchess likes to had the “scoop” first, stating stay sober on official busion this week’s cover that: ness (knowing how rumours “It’s official! Kate’s preg- abound, if she were really nant.” Don’t get excited just pregnant wouldn’t she sureyet, however, since in the ly have gone for the double past 14 months the Star has bluff and sipped once on her also printed the coverlines wine?) and that Wills would “Pregnant Kate collapses”, like to have two children - in “The official announcement: the future.

The truth is that we don’t Kate pregnant with twins”, “Pregnant Bride! … If it’s a know the truth - and when girl they’ll name her Diana”, they want us to know it, we and “Kate 95lbs hav5lbs and hav will. But everyevery ing a baby”, clearly learly working body loves to on the premise se that if you examine a keep making it up, one picday you’ll hit the truth.

So for the purposes urposes of integrity, let’s examine the “evidence”. First, rst, the outfits. Yes, the waistlines aistlines are cinched, but the jacket of the white Alexander McQueen skirt kirt suit does have a rather convenient flare below the belt.

And what is that hat under the band nd of her geomettric print Raoul ul skirt? Could itt be the slow incline of a Just the two of curve on a them?: William usually stickand Kate in the straight Far East body?

Now the duchess’s hair is always glossy, so pregnancy hormones s must be idenntified elsewhere, ere, but perhaps her cheeks are lookoking peachier ier than normal. al.

Wait a second: d:

ture of Kate. We are all guilty of it. If you sigh in exasperation at her image on the cover of magazines, you’re not just lying to your friends, you’re lying to yourself. “Kate must be even more supernaturally serene than we first suspected,” says Kate Reardon, editor of Tatler magazine. “Pretty much everyone in England is passionately interested in when she’s going to get up the duff. Normal women with nosey mothers and a couple of mildly interested friends find ‘imminent/ overdue pregnancy announcement watch’ excruciating.

Kate must have the inner calm of a yogi to cope.” A sentiment backed up by her calm appearance in the Far East the day after the topphotos were printed. less p Tatler ran a In February F cover featuring a picture of Duchess of Cambridge the D with the words, “Kate, what when you’re exto expect ex pecting,” across it. “Strainpecti at the leash is every ing a women’s magazine in the wom country - they can all smell coun that delicious uplift in circulation ‘Kate’s Baby News’ culat adds Reardon. will bring,” b ever since Kate and In fact, fa Wills were married - correction: even before they were tion married – several magama zines have been declaring, zin or at the very least suggesting, that Kate is pregge nant. Star magazine (again) announced “William’s Princess bride PREGNANT!” in June 2010, and despite US weekly gossip magazine inTouch saying that a “Royal doctor in confirms: she can’t get co pregnant”, just days afpr ter the wedding, it had no trouble claiming this year trou June that it was showin J ing “Kate’s first bump photos”. pho UK magazines are, of U course, more subtle. co OK! may have written, O ““A royal baby” on its

March cover, but qualified that line with, “How having a baby will transform her life”, and although Hello! had a picture of Kate on its cover this month, the story, “How the ‘K-Team’ is preparing the duchess for her toughest role yet”, was about the Jubilee tour.

“We watch all of the duchess’ public engagements with great enthusiasm,” says Hello! editor Rosie Nixon.

“Kate is the dream cover girl for us - she has style, grace, oozes star quality, and at the same time is also warm, fun and approachable with an ability to relate to everyone she meets. Our readers have shown an insatiable appetite for her too, hence her appearance on more of our covers than any other per-

sonality in the past year, and we see a significant uplift in sales when she graces our cover.”

UK Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman agrees that her ideal cover star would be Kate, saying earlier this year at a talk that: “I assure you it is not for want of asking.”

“Of course there is a fascination in when Kate and William might have some happy baby news to share and they have openly talked about their desire to start a family - but we would wait for an official announcement from St James’ Palace before we raise a glass to them,” adds Nixon. “I’m very much looking forward to that moment, whenever it may be!”

It’s just not yet, folks.

UK ROYALS SUE FRENCH MAG

Feeding frenzy: gossip magazines are making ludicrous claims about the Duchess of Cambridge to boost sales

BRITAIN’S royal family began legal action against a French magazine on Friday for a “grotesque” breach of privacy after it published topless photographs of Prince William’s wife Kate Middleton.

Celebrity gossip magazine Closer published a dozen shots of the Duchess of Cambridge on holiday in southern France as she slipped off her bikini top, relaxed on a sun lounger and at one point pulled down the back of her bikini bottoms while William rubbed sun cream on her lower back.

“St James’ Palace confirms that legal proceedings for breach of privacy have commenced in France by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge against the publishers of Closer Magazine France,” the couple’s office said in a statement.

A court in Nanterre near Paris said the royal couple’s lawyer had filed a motion to expedite the procedure, and Closer’s publishers would be heard Monday.

Under the headline “Oh my

God!”, the photos show the couple, whose regal yet natural conduct since their April wedding has won them fans worldwide, soaking up the sun on the balcony of a 19th century hunting lodge, oblivious to lurking paparazzi.

Closer’s editor-in-chief Laurence Pieau described the photos as a “beautiful series” showing a couple in love and were in no way degrading. She said the magazine had more intimate shots from the same series that it opted not to publish.

“There’s been an over-reaction to these photos. What we see is a young couple, who just got married, who are very much in love, who are splendid,” Pieau told French BFM television.

William and Kate were staying at the Chateau d’Autet near Aixen-Provence in the Luberon region, whose picture-postcard villages, rolling lavender fields and vineyards have made it a favourite getaway spot.

Meanwhile Italian magazine Chi has said it will print a 26-page spread of the photos this week.

20 SUNDAY MAIL •

Reportage

The man to mastermind the O is a green-fingered British land with very grand plans, says Lu

A CGT image of how the new park will look

Vision for a new London: James Corner

The Olympics are over. No OST-Olympics, typically all that remains are bloated multimillion-pound venues and an eerie silence. “The scale of the buildings and plazas is so huge and they are so disconnected from their surroundings, there is nothing you can do with them,” says British-born, New Yorkbased landscape architect James Corner. Corner is the man charged with transforming London’s 55-acre south plaza into part of the future Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, which will open piecemeal from next year.

London is the first Olympic host city seriously to consider the post-Games impact on the surrounding urban environment, says Corner. It is largely thanks to the sustainable vision of Seb Coe that instead of becoming an epic wasteland, there is a strong plan in place for the Olympic Park’s future. The sports buildings will be scaled down: the wings will come off Zaha Hadid’s swooping Aquatics Centre, reducing its seating capacity from 17,500 to 2,500; the collapsible ‘flat-pack’ stadium could downsize from 80,000 to 25,000 seats (no decision about its final size or use has yet been made). And planned from the start is that

P

the vast plaza in the south of the park, which was used to funnel 8.8 million visitors in and out of the Games, will be ripped up and given the 21stcentury star-park treatment

by Corner’s company, Field Operations.

Corner, 50, who lives in Manhattan with his Welsh wife Anne Marie and daughters Chloe, 20, and Olivia, 17,

moved to the US in 1984. He had studied landscape architecture at Manchester’s Metropolitan University and did a brief stint with Richard Rogers, working on developing London’s Docklands, an experience he found dispiriting. “All the architects knew how to do was to put awnings on existing buildings; all the landscape architects

Popular: the High Line park in Manhatten

knew how to do was put trees everywhere; all the traffic engineers knew how to do was to optimise getting cars in and out of the development.

Our training didn’t work on a large scale. There was no comprehensive or holistic approach. That’s why I came to the US to study urban design.” Battery Park City, the 92-acre park and miniature

city on reclaimed land at the southern tip of Manhattan, became his model for a better solution.

Now Corner has made his own mark on Manhattan, as the landscape architect responsible for the city’s hugely popular new High Line park.

Nearly four million visitors oohed and ahhed their way along its 1.5-mile stretch last year, and the park isn’t even finished yet (phase three, in which it sprouts a hanging garden, a children’s play area and a raised lookout, opens in 2014). The High Line is situated on an old elevated railway line that snakes through Manhattan’s Meatpacking and Chelsea districts, offering cinematic views of the Empire State Building, the Hudson River and the surrounding neighbourhoods.

It hasn’t just attracted an incredible number of visitors to this once-grotty part of the city, it has spurred a massive urban regeneration with new stores, restaurants, hotels and incredible leaps in real-estate values. According to a study by the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the value of residential property near the High Line has jumped 103 per cent since its development.

Bespoke parks are the new

catalysts for urban transformation, says Corner. “Cities that want to be more competitive and attract tourists and new businesses are discovering that their calling card is the distinction of their public spaces. If they are just the same as everywhere else, they are not distinguishing themselves. That’s why landscape architects have

Now Corner h own mark on as the landsc responsible for t popular new H boomed in the past decade; we are trained to do something one-off with the local ecology, as opposed to architects who tend to have one style that they transport from place to place.”

Six blocks from the end of the High Line, in Hell’s Kitchen - one of Manhattan’s last gritty neighbourhoods - is the headquarters of Field Operations. Next door to Corner’s elegant office in an old print

21 September 16, 2012

Big job: the Olympic park dominates an area of London but it will be all change

lympic Park’s legacy dscape architect cie Young

ow what? factory are two huge truck depots, the noisy entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, the Long Island Rail Road train depot and a petrol station. To say that Corner thrives on gritty post-industrial landscapes is an understatement. Since the High Line, his 40-person team is now engaged in transforming the old Navy Pier in Chicago, rundown wa-

has made his n Manhattan, ape architect he city’s hugely High Line park terfront areas in Seattle and Miami, creating a new water-based city in Shenzhen, China, and transforming the massive Fresh Kills garbage dump in New York into a public attraction three times the size of Central Park.

In London, one of the biggest challenges of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is that it is set in one of the bleakest parts of the city.

The urban views won’t be

anywhere near as appealing as those from the High Line, or on the beachfront in Santa Monica, which Corner is also redeveloping. Instead, visitors will have views of the Westfield Stratford City shopping centre, the Lea River and Anish Kapoor’s 377ft Orbit tower, which is still a bit of a puzzle. Corner is politically correct when talking about the sculpture: “Um, I think it’s supposed to look like a trumpet facing the ground.”

Fortunately, the London Legacy Development Corporation’s brief for Corner was to focus on creating interest within the space itself.

The result will be a series of “pleasure gardens” - eight outdoor event rooms, each with its own character, which will double as concert, theatre, performance and corporate event spaces. Each will lead off from a different point along a tree-lined promenade, which Corner describes as “a little bit of a High Linetype space”. The promenade is to be a kind of modern, outdoor catwalk, with areas for repose, privacy, socialising and eating (it will be full of food kiosks). “It’s all about theatricalising social space,” he says. “It’s like a sidewalk.”

One of the most popular are-

as of the High Line is a series of big wooden chaise longues: “We designed it so you could sit front and centre, or where it recedes into the planting.

Either way, in front of you is this constant procession of people. Our job is a bit like stagecraft.”

The ‘event rooms’ off the main promenade in London will range in size from a huge lawn accommodating 20,000 people to smaller spaces for around 100, such as the water labyrinth whose jets will reconfigure as you run through them, a carousel, a theatre room, a play room, a music room and a set of stadium-style wooden steps extending over the top of Carpenter’s Road Lock (“People can sit there and watch the views or take in the sun”).

At the southern end will be a visitor centre with a large café, a roof deck and booths where tickets can be bought for trips up the Orbit or for events in the surrounding gardens.

It is well known that the Olympic Park sits on what was once a highly polluted industrial area. One million tons of soil were decontaminated to make the park safe for public use but, explains Corner, “the south park is actually a sealed site. Once you get past 30cm of soil there is a cap.

You can’t go below that without remediating the soil.” As a result, his High Line partner, the Dutch horticulturalist Piet Oudolf, has selected only shallow-rooting plants - his vision is all wild grasses and swathes of meadow and plants, which are as much about shape and texture as colour. “It will be seasonally very dynamic,” promises Corner. “Every month it will have a different feel. In winter you don’t cut it down, you keep the texture, so it will be golden reddish brown.” Each ‘room’ will be demarcated and enclosed by walls of wild grasses.

Corner has established a small office in London to

oversee the job and hopes to land more UK projects soon. Talking to him in New York, surrounded by impressive multimillion-dollar plans for cities around the world, one suspects that he is a bit trapped by his own success. “Everyone wants a High Line,” he admits. Even London. The Mayor’s office, in conjunction with the Landscape Institute and the Garden Museum, is currently running a competition titled ‘A High Line for London’. The winning design will be picked in early October. Corner has not submitted a proposal.

What he would like to do next is something more than just an urban catwalk. He wants actively to help poor communities via their public spaces. At the Liverpool

The result will be a series of ‘pleasure gardens’ - eight outdoor event rooms, each with its own character, which will double as concert, theatre, performance and corporate event spaces Biennial this month he will showcase a proposal to redevelop the city’s Everton Park: “It won’t be so much a park as a series of pathways that reach out and connect with the rest of the city and

Spring meadows will feature in the new park

propagate ideas [and objects] throughout the city.”

Small trees and deckchairs can be picked up at no cost and transported by visitors to other parts of the city, and anyone can start a garden within the park to grow their own fruit and vegetables. It is a utopian vision, taking the idea of parks as spaces for social engagement one giant leap further.

In the meantime, now the Paralympics have finsihed, workers will start pulling up the asphalt that currently covers much of the south plaza site, and the first phase of its transformation will begin.

Boris Johnson is undoubtedly counting on Corner’s skill as a catalyst for economic growth and urban renewal when he says, “The park will help drive the growth London needs to steer it out of recession and on to longterm prosperity.”

Corner’s own hope is that the park will eventually turn into a 21st-century Battery Park City for London, albeit one with a generous quantity of affordable housing (11,000 homes are currently planned) as well as starchitect residences. “In 30 years’ time, the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will be fully enmeshed with its surrounding neighbourhoods and become a real city, not a development enclave,” he promises.

In other words, not another Docklands.

22 SUNDAY MAIL • September 16, 2012

Property LEGAL ISSUES WITH GEORGE COUCOUNIS

Developers are now advertising properties in Chinese

Approval/disapproval of administrative act THE town planning permit is an administrative act which authorises the development of a piece of land and its terms constitute an inseparable part of it, making it undivided. Any person affected thereby can object to the permit as a whole by filing an appeal/recourse before the Supreme Court claiming the annulment of the decision granting or refusing the permit. On the other hand, any affected person who objects and disapproves the decision cannot use the town planning permit to obtain the building permit and proceed with the development. By doing so, he is considered to have approved the town planning permit and that he has benefited from it, while at the same time he challenges the legality of its terms. In such a case, the legal doctrine of the parallel approval and disapproval applies, depriving the affected person of his legal interest and making his recourse unacceptable. The law does not permit for an administrative act to be used selectively for a person to obtain benefit and at the same time to disapprove it. Therefore, when an affected person challenges the legality of the terms of a town planning permit granted to him, he should file a recourse against it, wait for the judgment of the Court and thereafter apply for the issue of the building permit.

The principle of approval and disapproval has been examined in a number of administrative acts whereby it has been held that an affected person is not entitled to choose whether he will object to an act he has already accepted and has benefited from according to how his interest is served. The said principle was recently examined by the Supreme Court, where it was decided that the behaviour of the applicant constituted simultaneous approval and disapproval of the rights deriving from the town planning permit. Particularly, a town planning permit was granted to the applicant through which a specific term was imposed;

the applicant did not comply with it, he obtained the building permit and he carried out the development.

Thereafter, he applied for the issue of the certificate of final approval and the competent authority refused to grant it, insisting on him to comply with the specific term set out in the town planning permit.

Due to this, he filed the recourse before the Supreme Court, which approved the behaviour of the competent authority, stating that given the fact that the specific term was part of the town planning permit and both its validity and the terms included therein were not challenged, the authority acted correctly to insist in his compliance with the said term, to examine his application for the issue of the certificate of final approval. Moreover, it was held that it was not right to allow the applicant to use selectively the building permit and on the other hand to ignore the specific term imposed which was still applicable. The competent authority could not ignore the said term and issue the certificate of final approval contrary to the town planning permit.

In another case, the Supreme Court observed that the applicants, despite disapproving the terms of the town planning permit, at the same time they used it to obtain the building permit and proceed with the development. In this manner, they benefited by the town planning permit whereas through their recourse, they challenged the legality of its terms. Their behaviour brought up the application of the doctrine of the parallel approval and disapproval of the town planning permit to obtain benefit, constituting their recourse unacceptable.

It is obvious that no one is entitled to approve an administrative act to gain profit and at the same time to disapprove and challenge it.

George Coucounis is a lawyer specialising in the Immovable Property Law, based in Larnaca, Tel: 24 818288, coucounis.law@cytanet.com.

WHAT YOU GET FOR

How we can benefit from Chinese sales

By Antonis Loizou FRICS THERE is a lot of talk about an influx of Chinese nationals/real estate buyers in Cyprus. There are reports that approximately 100 sales were concluded over recent months, but these are unconfirmed.

Even if we are to discount the 100 purchases by 50 per cent, sales of 50 units are not bad from a new market over a short period of time. Our experience so far with the Chinese market is that: The main reason of attraction is that with a home buy over €300,000, a Chinese can ask for a permanent residency visa.

Chinese do not necessarily speak or understand English. So care and patience is required, whereas differing attitudes cause some misunderstandings from time to time.

There are some organised estate agents and regular international exhibitions in China (costing approximately €20,000/trip).

Local Banks will not readily finance Chinese buyers and for this reason one must be looking for cash buyers or cash buyers with say 70 per cent cash and sellers loans/repayment by a maximum of 30 per cent.

In order to secure a permanent visa the Chinese buyer must prove that they have the means to support himself and his dependants. Approximately €30,000 p.a. per couple.

Chinese buyers must keep a minimum of €50,000 bank deposit in Cyprus for at least three years.

All cash must come from abroad.

In addition, a clean criminal record is required from the Chinese authorities.

€100,000

How much: €99,000 What you get: This two-bedroom, two-bathroom ground floor apartment in Paralimni includes 76m² of covered area and 57m² of veranda. It also within walking distance of the sea.

From: www.buysellcyprus.com, Tel: 26 200000

This, together with the available funds requirement, might raise questions to Chinese officials regarding taking money out of the country on an individual basis.

The visa attraction has been used extensively by Malta and Spain but there is now a turn towards Cyprus because both countries have decided to limit that market’s permits.

Visa securing companies in China are active for the purpose. A fee of €50,000/ visa (in addition to the €300,000) is required by the Chinese visa firms from the buyers in addition to any commission etc.

Whether a permanent resident of Cyprus of Chinese origin can travel in other EU countries is still debatable. A recent council of ministers decision says they can (but it is not up to Cyprus to say so).

From what we understand in China a family can have only one child and any excess attracts penalties. An exemption is that if a family has more children abroad, they can return with all their children with no limitation. It is understood that if this requirement is in fact true, maternity clinics must be very happy in Cyprus.

A recent Chinese visa firm entered into negotiations regarding the purchase of around 50 units in Limassol.

The firm was happy to proceed with the purchase notwithstanding the fact that their Cypriot advocate advised them that the developer could not secure a mortgage release from the bank.

The deal fell through because of other reasons, with the Chinese ignoring the developer’s problem. However if this is

the standard of the Chinese visa firms, you do appreciate that in a few years we will be met with a similar problem that we have now with the foreign (mainly) purchasers – lack of titles etc.

Developers/sellers means use the measure of the reduced transfer fees and VAT reduction as an added attraction. Also remind that permanent residency a house which is used by its buyer during the foreign buyer’s stay in Cyprus. The old interpretation that the buyers should stay in Cyprus for more than 183 days p.a. has been abolished.

Chinese require units of the maximum cost benefit i.e. €300,000(+). So do not waste your time showing them lower (they will not be eligible for the visa) or much higher price. Target apartments and small villas but make sure that these buyers understand what common expenses are.

Pafian developers who were the first to visit China, have projected Paphos as ‘the place to be’ in Cyprus. A bus driver told us the other day, that on his way from Larnaca airport to Paphos with prospective Chinese clients, instead of driving them directly to Paphos, he made a detour along Limassol’s seaside road, explaining to them the various projects and the town’s attractions. The bus interpreter made the comment that if Paphos is much better than Limassol imagine how beautiful Paphos is! Needless to say he was told off upon arrival at Paphos and reposted!

Antonis Loizou & Associates Ltd – Real Estate Valuers & Estate Agents, www.aloizou.com.cy, ala-HQ@aloizou. com.cy

Compiled by Natalie Hami

How much: €100,000 What you get: This one-bedroom, one-bathroom renovated village house in Ayios Georgios, Limassol boasts a fireplace and upstairs verandas.

From: www.kaimarconsulting.com, Tel: 25 318712

How much: €99,000 What you get: This three-bedroom, one-bathroom traditional Cypriot home in Pera Orinis, Nicosia comes with a large garden and is just 20 minutes from Nicosia.

From: www.cyprusprop.com, Tel: 99 537985

23 September 16, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

Property

Europe’s developers avoid unlucky homes to tap demand from Far East Good feng shui can help apartment sales, banks and retailers take note

By Brenda Goh

T

HIS September, work starts on a development of 22 homes around a Chinese-style courtyard, pavilion and pond. Enclosed by high white walls, it will have Chinese symbols adorning an entrance gate topped with a roof reminiscent of a Far Eastern temple.

It is being built not in China but Fuenlabrada, an industrial suburb 27km south of Madrid, the capital of debt-ravaged Spain where thousands of construction projects have stopped in their tracks.

“The Chinese have a saying; crisis is synonymous with opportunity,” said Jose Parra, chief executive of the Spanish developer Grupo MAIN, referring to his decision to tap the local immigrant Chinese population after the financial crisis sapped demand among his fellow Spaniards.

“We’re building for the Chinese because they are a very wealthy community in Spain and the rest of the world.”

Parra is one of a growing number of European property developers using Chinese tastes and traditional beliefs such as feng shui, a system designed to maximise positive energy flow, to entice rocketing numbers of cash-rich Far East buyers.

All of the Fuenlabrada homes, which were designed and laid out according to the laws of feng shui, have been reserved with a €5,000 deposit and Parra plans to build another 70 once the scheme completes in 2014.

The trend has even more momentum in London, where a third of the best new-build homes were sold to Far East buyers last year, up from just four per cent in 2009, property consultancy Savills said.

While British buyers have struggled to get mortgages from banks crippled by the global financial crisis, strong economic growth in Asia has created immense wealth, fuelled by manufacturing, construction and commodities. The number of US dollar millionaires in Asia outnumbered North America for the first time in 2011.

Should restrictions barring

Chinese citizens buying more than $50,000 worth of foreign money be lifted, a wave of buyers from mainland China could boost prices for the best London homes by 15 per cent, Savills said.

“We’ve all had to become aware of what the Chinese look for and what will stop them from buying,” said Sebastian Warner, partner in residential development at property consultancy Knight Frank.

Feng shui is a 4,000-year-old Chinese land management system that attempts to increase health and wealth by boosting the flow of positive energy in a given environment and adherents reject properties upon the advice of feng shui practitioners.

“Most Chinese grow up with certain cultural beliefs,” said Philip Yong, a 60-year-old Malaysian Chinese who is flat hunting in London. “It’s like you instinctively know what kind of food you should eat.”

Yong, who owns homes in Toronto, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur with good feng shui, is looking for a property near the River Thames due to his belief that water channels positive energy.

“There’s a certain sort of energy level that one looks for and you can sense when it’s in the neighbourhood,” he said, adding that narrow streets, busy road junctions and houses with little natural light all entail poor flows of positive energy.

London developer Native Land was unable to sell a string of flats in a Chelsea block to Far Eastern buyers

last year due to their layout.

“We were scratching our heads trying to work out why they wouldn’t sell. We were eventually told the bathroom door was too close to the front door, which meant the good fortune flowed out of the property,” said chief executive Alasdair Nicholls, who said he would avoid similar layouts in future.

A belief that certain numbers bring good or bad luck is also relevant. Some buildings in China change floor numbers to omit the number four because it sounds like the word for ‘death’ in Chinese, while the number eight is considered lucky as it sounds like the word for ‘prosperity’.

Native Land’s 227 luxury apartments in a Richard Rogers-designed scheme on the opposite side of the River Thames from St Paul’s Cathedral in London do not contain the number four for that reason, Nicholls said.

Harry Handelsman, chief executive of UK developer Manhattan Loft Corporation, has used a feng shui master on seven of his company’s properties, including the 200 million pound restoration of a hotel next to London’s St Pancras International train station.

The company added crystal furnishings, which are believed to help channel positive energy, and altered interior layouts to counter the negative effect that departing trains have on the site’s energy under the principles of feng shui.

Meanwhile, Berkeley Group imported tons of marble and

Feng shui at St Pancras hotel.

Above left: the Spanish homes

Chinese granite for the interiors of a 50-storey apartment tower south of the River Thames, one of many developers that push their Far Eastern credentials in their marketing material.

While feng shui adherents believe ponds and fountains help positive energy flow, they dislike sharp angles as they break the path of energy.

A pillar in the main lobby of the Heron tower skyscraper in London was changed from square to round for this reason before it opened in 2011.

Feng shui masters can charge up to two per cent of the building’s development cost depending on their reputation, with bigger schemes typically costing tens or hundreds of millions of pounds.

Feng shui master Michael Oon, a former forensic scientist with London’s Metropolitan Police, cited Apple’s London Regent Street store, as

an example of a building with good feng shui.

“For London, the energy flows from Regents Park, Hyde Park and Green Park,” Oon said. “Energy flows down Regent Street, straight through Piccadilly and to the River Thames. The Apple store is on a bend on the road so the energy goes straight through the door,” Oon said.

A decision by six Chinese banks to set up London offices close to the Bank of England in the City financial district was likely related to feng shui, property agents said. The Bank is seen as an authority figure and therefore a source of good energy.

Beliefs in feng shui manifest most strongly in the designs of buildings in Hong Kong and Singapore. For instance, a residential block facing Hong Kong’s Repulse Bay waterfront has a hole in the middle purportedly to allow

dragons that live on a mountain behind to drink water from the bay.

Younger more westernminded buyers can pay less attention.

Those buying as an investment were keener to get a good bargain than good feng shui, said Michelle Zhang, head of property consultancy DTZ’s China desk, who changed her telephone number to include more number eights after taking the job.

“It’s something nice to have, but not a must-have. As a priority on their shopping list, it comes after price and location,” she said.

Either way, many developers still err on the side of caution.

“I cannot say I’m an absolute believer but if millions of people believe in a particular thing and it doesn’t affect the aesthetic of what we’re doing, I don’t see why not,” Handelsman said.

Olympics fever ‘distracted British house viewers’

By Jamie Grierson THE number of potential home buyers looking to view properties dipped in August as the Olympics provided a distraction - although overall sales held firm, surveyors in the UK reported this week.

In the three months to August, chartered surveyors sold on average 7.5 per cent of the homes on their books per month, a figure which has remained consistent throughout 2012, the latest RICS UK housing market

survey said.

With the London 2012 games taking place, a net balance of nine per cent more surveyors reported falls in demand, compared to four per cent more in July, RICS added.

Ian Perry, RICS spokesperson, said: “Little changed in the housing market last month. Despite the Olympics taking centre stage throughout much of August, it didn’t have any real impact on the proportion of sales going through.

“Understandably, the amount of people out looking at property

fell away slightly but, generally speaking, demand held up fairly well.”

The housing market has struggled since the stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers was withdrawn at the end of March, and confidence was hit by the weakening economy and the ongoing eurozone debt crisis.

The firmer August report comes as housebuilders have enjoyed a rise in sales and profits in recent months, with Barratt Developments this week expected to report stronger profits and unveil a special dividend for

shareholders.

But many housebuilders have mainly seen gains through focusing on building larger family homes in the south of England as they seek to reduce exposure to first-time buyers struggling to clamber on to the ladder.

Elsewhere, RICS said the number of new instructions was unchanged on the July figure, while prices continued to edge lower in August, albeit at a slower pace than in previous months.

A net balance of 19 per cent more respondents reported price

falls rather than rises, from 23 per cent in July.

London was the only part of the country to report a positive reading for prices, while surveyors in Northern Ireland, the West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humberside reported the weakest readings.

Looking ahead, chartered surveyors across the country predict transaction levels to pick up slightly as autumn approaches, with 12 per cent more respondents expecting sales to rise rather than fall over the coming three months.

24 September 16, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

Business & Jobs Despite several reasons to be cheerful delegates wary of dressing down

By Robin Emmott THEY could have been forgiven for just a little celebrating.

Days after a favourable German court ruling, surprisingly smooth Dutch elections and the unveiling of an unprecedented bondbuying plan, Europe’s financial leaders meeting in Cyprus might even have taken off their jackets.

But whatever relief they felt at their meeting on Friday and Saturday in the heat of Nicosia, it did not seem to show as ministers sweated in their dark, woollen suits, their ties as tight as ever, even by the swimming pool over dinner.

Markets have rallied sharply in Europe, with stocks up and yields on government bonds falling, thanks in large part to the European Central Bank’s decision to launch a conditional bond-buying programme.

The ruling by Germany’s top court allowing Berlin to take part in the euro zone’s permanent bailout fund has also lifted spirits, all giving rise to a sense in some quarters that the worst of the eurozone debt crisis may be over. Hence, perhaps, a moment to

breath a sigh of relief. But no such chance.

Quiet handshakes, rather than congratulatory back slapping, seemed in order at the hotel. Mario Draghi, the ECB’s president, breakfasted alone at the hotel restaurant, occasionally looking up from his table to greet his colleagues.

And at dinner on Thursday evening, while Draghi ate outside, his table illuminated only by the dim pool lights, the Greeks, the Irish and the French talked quietly, keeping to themselves on nearby tables.

Only Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the monthly meetings of euro zone finance ministers, shared a joke with Draghi as he arrived that night and pulled the Italian’s ears. But then he sat down on a different table, lost in serious conversation with the International Monetary Fund’s head Christine Lagarde.

One minister, Spain’s Luis De Guindos, was briefly taken back to the hotel on Friday suffering from a fever. Talks on emergency financing for Spain had to wait for him to return.

“People remain very cautious,” said a senior European official present at the two days of talks.

“We’ve come very far. But

Nicosia Family Court Divorce Jurisdiction Application No 232/012 Between.KATYA EVTOMOVA, from Strovolos Applicant -andDHRUBA KHARAL, from Nepal and now at unknown address in Cyprus Respondent REMEDY APPLIED FOR (a) Judgement of the Court and /or Order of the Court, dissolving the civil marriage of the Applicant with the Respondent, which was celebrated on 11th March, 2010 at Aradippou Municipality, Larnaca, for irretrievable breakdown of their conjugal ralationship. (b) Any other supplementary or consequential order or remedy. (c) Costs and fees of the present Application.

FACTS The substantial facts which the Applicant invokes for the issue of the remedy applied for are contained in the Application.

Address for Service.-The Law Office of Messrs Nicos A. Loizou & Christos G.Christoudias, Ledra str. No 57,Phaneromenis Court, 1st floor, Office 3, P.O.Box 20044 1600,Nicosia,Court Box 240.

Filed on 10th April, 2012 Fixed on 9/10/2012 REGISTRAR To.- DHRUBA KHARAL, of Nepal and now at unknown address in Cyprus.

Nicosia Family Court Divorce Jurisdiction Application No 515/012 Between.AIJA BREZA, from Nicosia Applicant -andMUHAMMAD TUFAIL, from Pakistan and now at unknown address in Cyprus Respondent REMEDY APPLIED FOR (a) Judgement of the Court and /or Order of the Court, dissolving the civil marriage of the Applicant with the Respondent, which was celebrated on 24th September, 2010 at Waterford City Municipality, Ireland, for irretrievable breakdown of their conjugal ralationship. (b) Any other supplementary or consequential order or remedy. (c) Costs and fees of the present Application.

FACTS The substantial facts which the Applicant invokes for the issue of the remedy applied for are contained in the Application.

Address for Service.-The Law Office of Messrs Nicos A. Loizou & Christos G.Christoudias, Ledra str. No 57,Phaneromenis Court, 1st floor, Office 3, P.O.Box 20044 1600,Nicosia,Court Box 240.

Filed on 30th July, 2012 Fixed on 9/10/2012 REGISTRAR To.- MUHAMMAD TUFAIL, of Pakistan and now at unknown address in Cyprus

NICOSIA FAMILY COURT DIVORCE JURISDICTION

NICOSIA FAMILY COURT DIVORCE JURISDICTION

BEFORE.-

Application No 232/012 G.Serghides Pr.Fam.Ct. Chr. Demetriou, J.Fam.Ct. P. Constantinou, J.Fam.Ct.

BETWEEN.KATYA EVTIMOVA, of Strovolos

BEFORE.-

Application No 515/012 G.Serghides Pr.Fam.Ct. Chr. Demetriou, J.Fam.Ct. P. Constantinou, J.Fam.Ct.

BETWEEN.AIJA BREZA, of Nicosia Applicant

-andDHRUBA KHARAL, of Nepal and now at unknown address in Cyprus Respondent

Applicant -andMUHAMMAD TUFAIL, of Pakistan and now at unknown address in Cyprus Respondent

Interim Application dated 14/8/2012 Upon the application of Messrs Nicos A. Loizou & Christos G. Christoudias, Counsel for the Applicant, THIS COURT, after having read the affidavit which was produced by or on behalf of the Applicant, DOTH HEREBY GRANT ORDER by which substituted service of the Application and of the present Order IS ALLOWED by Publication in an Anglophone Newspaper of wide circulation in Cyprus.

In the publication mention should only be made of the remedy applied for and that the substantial facts which the Applicant invokes for the issue of the remedy, applied for are contained in the Application . .The Respondent may file a Defence within 30 days from service on him of the Application for dissolution of the marriage, as above. ln case of failure to file a defence by the Respondent within the above period of time ,any other subsequent notice shall be deemed as well served if same is appended on the Court’s notice board for five consecutive days.

The costs of the Application shall be costs in the cause.

(Sgd) G.A.Serghides Pr.Fam.Ct. (Sgd) Chr. Demetriou,J.Fam.Ct. (Sgd) Ph. Constantinou J.Fam.Ct. Given on 10/9/2012

Interim Application dated 14/8/2012 Upon the application of Messrs Nicos A. Loizou & Christos G. Christoudias, Counsel for the Applicant, THIS COURT, after having read the affidavit which was produced by or on behalf of the Applicant, DOTH HEREBY GRANT ORDER by which substituted service of the Application and of the present Order IS ALLOWED by Publication in an Anglophone Newspaper of wide circulation in Cyprus.

In the publication mention should only be made of the remedy applied for and that the substantial facts which the Applicant invokes for the issue of the remedy, applied for are contained in the Application . .The Respondent may file a Defence within 30 days from service on him of the Application for dissolution of the marriage, as above. ln case of failure to file a defence by the Respondent within the above period of time ,any other subsequent notice shall be deemed as well served if same is appended on the Court’s notice board for five consecutive days.

The costs of the Application shall be costs in the cause.

(Sgd) G.A.Serghides Pr.Fam.Ct. (Sgd) Chr. Demetriou,J.Fam.Ct. (Sgd) Ph. Constantinou J.Fam.Ct. Given on 10/9/2012

Sombre: it was dark suits all round for a family photo

Cyprus sun lightens the sombre mood of Europe’s ministers it is not because finance markets are picking up a little that we can relax,” he said.

On the same day as Germany’s Constitutional Court gave approval for the country to ratify the new bailout fund, Dutch voters shunned anti-EU radicals in parliamentary elections.

Now many officials and investors see a framework finally emerging to resolve a three-year debt crisis that has sucked the region into economic recession.

“I’m not sure whether we are in the eye of the storm where it’s obviously quite calm, or whether we’ve actually left the storm behind,” said one official.

Over local delicacies of lamb and Campari sorbet that ministers were served at lunch on Friday, aides and officials - who also had their share of chilled Cypriot white wine - said the mood was clearly more re-

Moment of levity: IMF’s Christine Lagarde and German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble laxed than a year ago.

Draghi had a siesta after Friday’s lunch. Some of the delegates came to Cyprus with their spouses and children.

It was very different last September. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was so concerned by Europe’s inability to act that he flew to the meeting in

Wroclaw, Poland, but then was berated by euro zone ministers for interfering.

“In Wroclaw, there was an atmosphere of the end of the world,” said one senior euro zone diplomat.

“Today, it’s much better.

Draghi has helped us a lot to be a bit more relaxed about the future of the currency.”

Europe still faces obstacles on all fronts, from a banking sector crippled by years of runaway lending to Spain’s potential request for aid and an economic depression in Greece, the cradle of the European sovereign debt crisis.

So the dress code is set to remain dark suits and ties for the men and sombre attire for the women because ministers are wary of dressing down, aides said.

But there is optimism.

“There is a sense that now we can cope, we can handle the challenges,” said one euro zone official in Nicosia. “There still are challenges, but they can be dealt with... eventually.”

25 SUNDAY MAIL • September 16, 2012

Business & Jobs

The unemployed generation Young people are finding that a good education doesn’t guarantee a job

By John Lloyd ESTERN youth are not what they used to be. Richer, better educated, more independent-minded than their forebears -they were once equipped for all conceivable futures.

But now, what future can they conceive?

These are the young men and women for whom the forward march of the generations has halted. Social normalcy was once defined as things only getting better. But now, not. What mixture of circumstances, what global alchemy, can put them back on that track once more?

For us in the older generations (40 years old and up), it is heartbreaking, even guiltmaking, to hear of friends’ sons and daughters failing to find or to keep work. We see some of this firsthand, as increasing numbers of young people rely on or move in with their families, sometimes by preference and often out of necessity.

Richard Settersten, a professor of human development at Oregon State University, says his research shows the young are: “not hooked into jobs that provide decent wages, that provide insurance, that are stable and secure the need to provide for growing adults is placing new and significant strains on a lot of American families, even middle-class families.”

One couple I know, medical researchers in London, have their early- and mid-twenties son and daughter at home.

Two of their kids’ friends have also joined them, caught homeless when they could no

W

longer afford an apartment and could not live with distant parents if they were to keep up the unpaid internships they hope will be transmuted into paying jobs.

Some working-class kids got an education their fathers and mothers did not have - and are now finding it doesn’t guarantee a job. For others, even the service and clerical jobs that have largely replaced manual and skilled work are shrinking relentlessly.

The rain in Spain is much harder on the young. More than half of Spanish young people - over 53 per cent - have no job and little prospect of getting one in an economy in negative growth.

The UN’s International Labour Organisation’s figures, out this past week, showed a youth jobless rate of 17.5 per cent this year in developed economies: That figure is due to fall a little, the ILO forecasts, but largely because “discouraged” kids give up on jobs altogether. The ILO had earlier called these people, worldwide, a “scarred” generation for whom jobs were no longer thought even an option - or if they were, they were precarious and low paid.

The West has been, and in some places still is, a great new jobs machine, and remains inventive, entrepreneurial and driven. Yet Indian and Chinese companies are poking into the old Western heartlands: Land Rover and Jaguar, British brands for decades, are now owned by the Indian company Tata; and Volvo, which defined itself as Swedish in its solidity and security, belongs to the Chinese company Zhejiang Geely, which plans to put future factories in China and to headquarter the company in

Shanghai.

We are reduced to hoping that the large contradictions that run through Chinese society - a slowing economy, a vast gulf in wealth, a restive working class, an empowered middle class and a monopolistic Communist Party - will cause a period of turmoil, which will give us some respite from their relentless economic success.

Yet to see only the fundamental and possible fatal flaws in Chinese politics is to ignore the gathering crisis in our own. Western democratic practice presupposed an active electorate - one generally satisfied with the political arrangements as they are, content to leave most details, even strategies, to a political class without interfering too much. It was willing and able to rationally choose between competing political offers according to government performance.

That isn’t what we have now.

The distrust and dislike expressed by Western electorates for their governing and most opposition parties is now intense. Everywhere, if in different degrees of intensity, the crisis is being addressed by cuts to what had been social entitlements. Even where one concedes their necessity, the obvious result is that those with not much get less.

And there seems nothing those who are getting less can do as the rich remain rich and usually take care to get richer.

We are at a critical stage.

What to do?

First, start at the other end from the young - at the older middle-aged, who are stepping into pension and other entitlements that will load burdens on to their kids. In a much-discussed column, New

Jobless youth should not blame ‘society’ as this could result in crime and violence York Times writer and former Executive Editor Bill Keller argued that “we should make a sensible reform of entitlements our generation’s cause.”

Stanford University founded a Longevity Centre six years ago with the explicit mission “to redesign long life,” so that men and women can contribute to (rather than take from) the economy deep into their eighties. Laura Carstensen, the director, says that “to the degree that people reach old age mentally sharp, physically fit, and financially secure, the problems of individual and societal aging fall away” - a statement redolent of American optimism, and a great goal.

Second, we should try to get

at the rich. (Some have been got at already, most successfully by themselves.) They should be asked to give large portions of their wealth to help solve national and global problems. But many haven’t.

We should make sure they know that their vast wealth will, increasingly, put society - and them - at danger: that increased impoverishment will inflame anger and that the social base for their enjoyment of great wealth will erode.

Wealth is often the result of hard work and risk-taking, but coal miners, fishermen and nurses know about that too, and usually die in modest circumstances. Guilt and fear are not to be scorned as engines of

change.

And for the youth generations themselves: You have more to fear from despair than from life itself. It’s you who need to generate the energy that turns your collective plight into a space for creativity and innovation. Blaming “them” - the politicians, the elders, the teachers, “society” - is deadly. Deadliest is a turn into crime and violence that sets group against group, the scared majority against the angry minority. Above all, your discouraged generation needs courage.

John Lloyd is a Reuters columnist and his opinions are his own

26 September 16 , 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

Business & Jobs

The perils of banking breaches

Investment Bill Blevins Bill Blevins is Financial Correspondent at Blevins Franks International.

According to reports from Bloomberg, people at two Swiss banks passed client data to the UK tax authorities

The latest security breach involved the Swiss banking group Julius Baer

Actionglobal

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Action is currently seeking an experienced Public Relations specialist (over 3 years) to join our global client services team and manage international clients from our management hub in Nicosia, Cyprus. This exciting and challenging role will require a candidate that has experience in strategic communications consultancy and MUST have the following: • EXPERIENCE IN MANAGING COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGNS CYPRUS AND INTERNATIONALLY • EXCELLENT SPOKEN AND WRITTEN ENGLISH COMMUNICATION SKILLS • BE CREATIVE AND BE KNOWLEDGEABLE OF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION TRENDS For interested candidates, please send your resume to Kathy Christodoulou at kathy.c@actionprgroup.com

Currencies USD GBP CHF JPY AUD CAD SEK

14-Sept-2012

1,2992 0,8020 1,2116 100,74 1,2189 1,2451 8,4627

1,3070 0,8068 1,2213 101,55 1,2433 1,2700 8,6320

07-Sept-2012

1,2601 0,7908 1,2005 99,35 1,2127 1,2283 8,4428

1,2677 0,7955 1,2101 100,14 1,2370 1,2529 8,6117

BANKING security has been compromised again.

While Switzerland’s banking secrecy has been under attack from international tax authorities, it has also been facing a second threat – stolen data. What typically happens is an employee copies confidential client data onto a disc and then either hands it over to a foreign tax authority or, in some cases, sells it to them.

The latest case involves Swiss private banking group Julius Baer. On August 26 Swiss newspaper Sonntags Zeitung reported that an employee of the bank had stolen data on accounts owned by German clients. The bank then admitted it had discovered a case of data abuse.

The employee has been fired and arrested. Under Swiss secrecy laws bank employees can face a jail term if they divulge client information.

It is reported that the data was acquired by the German tax authorities, who paid an undisclosed sum for it.

If this is true, the German authorities are likely to use the information to investigate tax evasion and prosecute where they find evidence. The state in question has a history of buying stolen data and using it to collect unpaid taxes.

Julius Baer already has a troubled relationship with the German authorities.

Last year it paid €50 million to end an investigation over undeclared assets.

Earlier in August German officials reportedly raided Julius Baer clients over tax evasion. This followed

31-Aug-2012

1,2474 0,7898 1,1961 97,73 1,2029 1,2287 8,2685

1,2549 0,7945 1,2057 98,51 1,2270 1,2533 8,4339

1wk 1mth 2mth 3mth 6mth 1yr

USD 0,18 0,22 0,31 0,39 0,68 1,00

EUR 0,03 0,07 0,11 0,16 0,41 0,71

raids on Credit Suisse clients in July.

The use of stolen data to track down and prosecute tax evaders may be controversial, but tax authorities in various countries are increasingly offered confidential bank data and are using it to aid their antitax evasion efforts.

According to reports from Bloomberg in May, people at two Swiss banks passed over client data to the UK tax authority HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). The banks were not named, other than to say one is foreign owned and has clients based in over 100 jurisdictions. The UK tax authority was reported to be checking the data before beginning to contact the taxpayers in question, and to be sharing the information with other countries.

When questioned HMRC neither confirmed nor denied the story, simply stating: “We get information from a wide variety of sources which we carefully examine to make sure everyone pays the right tax.

Tackling tax evasion is a top priority and the days of hiding money offshore to evade UK tax have gone.”

HMRC has already been actively investigating tax evasion using information from a previous case of data theft where an IT employee of HSBC Geneva made a disk containing information on 79,000 HSBC clients from 180 countries.

He handed it over to the French authorities who passed it on to several tax departments in Europe.

HMRC is believed to have

GBP 0,51 0,52 0,56 0,66 0,91 1,39

CHF 0,00 0,01 0,03 0,05 0,16 0,36

JPY 0,11 0,14 0,16 0,19 0,33 0,54

received over 6,000 names and has been working through them ever since.

Its most high profile prosecution so far involved a wealthy property developer, who in July was found guilty of using an undisclosed Swiss bank account to evade tax and made to pay around £830,000.

Data theft is not the only way Swiss banking secrecy is being breached.

The Swiss banking industry will be more concerned about the way international tax authorities have been able to force them to disclose private client information.

Most famously UBS agreed to pay a $780 million penalty in 2009 and hand over data on 4,700 American owned accounts, to settle a tax dispute with the US. Eleven Swiss financial firms being investigated by the US authorities for allegedly helping their US clients hide assets away from the Internal Revenue Service.

Swiss banks are not the bastion of security they once were.

The consequences for anyone failing to declare assets held in Switzerland are likely to be very costly.

It is essential that you only ever use legitimate tax planning arrangements.

You should seek advice from an international tax planning and wealth management firm on which arrangements are effective and compliant in your country of residence.

To keep in touch with the latest developments in the offshore world, check out the latest news on our website www.blevinsfranks.com

CAD 1,03 1,09 1,18 1,28 1,56 2,03

LIBOR RATES (London Interbank Borrowing Rates) AS AT 17/09/2012

AUD 3,61 3,73 3,86 3,97 4,16 4,46

27 SUNDAY MAIL • September 16, 2012

ADVERTISER helps you find what you’re looking for

Advertiser Only

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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!

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Telephone: mobile 99894139 landline 26621343.

SECRETARY WANTED full/part time job. Language: English Russian Greek preferable Expert in Microsoft Office & computers. Hard working responsible, long term. Email your CV with personal photo & contact www.citycellwifi.com info@citycellhotspot.com

MISCELLANEOUS

set a requirement of 1,000,000 signatures on a petition before it makes this conversation a prerequisite for Turkey’s admission into the European Union. You are requested to cast your vote by logging on to a link at www. hagiasophiablog.com. This is an opportunity for each of you to have an impact on world events. Get as many Greek Orthodox, other Orthodox and Christian friends of yours to sign the petition and make history.

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 ****************************** DOES SOMEONE ELSE’S DRINKING CAUSE YOU A PROBLEM? Al - Anon is for family and friends of those with a drinking problem. Call Nicosia 99 877205 for more information and details of meetings.

Nicosia - tel: 22 818583 fax: 22 676385 etal injury especially lower back pain, sacro-iliac pain and neck pain. More info on 22446988. ******************************

PETS VERY CUTE AND ADORABLE PUGS puppies for sale, €350, please contact Tel. 99490424. ***************************** FRIENDS OF ANIMALS ORGANISATION, has many beautiful puppies ready to go to loving families, golden retriever (brown), fox terrier, Osalot, and many more breeds. Call 99595171 ******************************

BILLY IS A HANDSOME, YOUNG, BLACK TOM. He’s been neutered and needs a good home. A tough start to life has made him a little nervous but he is very affectionate and loving. Please help. Call Mick 9764 9993 ******************************

Limassol - tel: 25 761117 fax: 25 761141

around 1.5 years old. He is sweet natured and very friendly.

He needs permanent or temporary foster home. Has not been tested with cats. He is looking for a forever home! At the Nicosia Dog Shelter, many more dogs and puppies like this one are looking for forever homes!

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

TAG 9 is a female terrier mix, around 6 months old. She will be a medium sized dog. She is very quiet and she never barks.

She is very friendly with children and cats. She is looking for a forever home. At the Nicosia Dog Shelter, many more dogs and puppies like this one are looking for forever homes!

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

PERSONAL I BUY post stamps of Australia and Malaysia before 1960. Unmounted, mint only. 99651923 WHOEVER HAS UNWANTED CD/DVD, books, decorative items and homeware in good condition can donate it to the Hiv Cyprus Foundation so we can re-sell them at the Gynaikopazaro in Nicosia every first Saturday of the month in support of these families. We can even collect them from your house or if you dont live in Nicosia you can send them via Akis/Travel Express and we can pay the fare.

For further info please contact 99 55 95 94. Thank you!

CASTLE AUCTIONS – Specialist Antique Sale on 15th SEPT @ 5pm. Auction includes: Jewellery, collectables, art, arms & militaria, grandfather & long case clocks, vintage watches, icons, specialist toys & models, gramophones, porcelain, metamorphic chairs and much more.

Tel: 7000 78 89, find us on Facebook or www.castle-auctions. com O ALL OF YOU WHO ARE GREEK ORTHODOX: The European Union Parliament is pressuring the Turkish Government to restore Saint Sophia Cathedral from a museum into a Greek Orthodox Church.

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PUPPY FOUND - UP FOR ADOPTION the vet said it is a 3-month old female. Had red collar on. She was found between acropolis park and niki’s avenue so it must have escaped from somewhere near the area as she is so young and cannot have wandered far from home.

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PONGO is a male pointer or Dalmatian mix, around 1,5 years old. He is a handsome and friendly dog. She is looking for a forever home! At the Nicosia Dog Shelter, many more dogs and puppies like this one are looking for forever homes !

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Paphos - tel: 26 911383 fax: 26221049

cats and children and loves to run and play. She is desperate to please and learns fast. Gracie is in a temporary foster home who cannot keep her. Please can you give this dog the home and affection she deserves. Telephone : 99853125 if you would like to meet her ******************************

LESSONS PRIVATE TUITION Experienced, UK-qualified teacher and tutor offers full or part-time private home tuition in Maths, English, the Sciences, Geography, History, Business Studies and Economics to iGCSE, AS and A2 levels. Tel 99318796. ****************************** ENGLISH LESSONS with qualified teacher, €17 per lesson in student’s home. Nicosia. Contact Katerina 99710226 ****************************** GREEK AND TURKISH LESSONS: If you are tired of grammar-based classes and would like to learn one of these fascinating languages in a stimulating, friendly and interactive environment in Nicosia, contact us at ckoran@mc-med.eu. ****************************** SPANISH, FRENCH, ITALIAN AND GERMAN LESSONS: If you would like to learn one of these fascinating languages in a stimulating, friendly and interactive environment in Nicosia, contact us at ckoran@mc-med. eu. ****************************** PRIVATE ENGLISH TUITION – UK university graduate (postgraduate 1975), native English speaker, Limassol-based, offers part-time tuition at all secondary school levels, up to and including IGCSE/O-levels. For further details phone 99312567 ****************************** FOUNDATION IN ART ARCHITECTURE CONSTRUCTION& DESIGN. Drawing& Painting, beginners& improvers. (BTEC Visual Recording portfolio) Thursday 17.00–19.00 Art Architecture History; Time Line Journal Tuesday 17.00–19.00 IDC@ Herodotous Institute, 7Afroditis, 4620, Episkopi, Limassol 99409829 www.idclimassol.org info@idclimassol.org ****************************

SERVICES

TAG 93 is a male poodle mix,

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classified contents Employment Opportunities pg 27 Employment Miscellaneous 27 Pets 27 Lessons 27 Health & Fitness 27 Personal 27 Services 27 For Sale Miscellaneous 28 For Sale Land/ Property Business 28 For Sale Motor vehicles 28 Wanted 28 To Let Nicosia 28 To Let Limassol 31 To Let Larnaca 31 To Let Paphos 32 To Let Protaras, Ayia Napa, Paralimni -To Let Athens -Land For Sale Bulgaria -For Sale Nicosia 33 For Sale Limassol 33 For Sale Larnaca 33 For Sale Paphos -For Sale Ayia Napa -For Sale Famagusta Protaras 33 For Sale Athens -Property& Home Services display ads 34

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

28 September 16, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

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Also keeps your home warmer in winter. Call Ian on 99979671 ***************************** HOME/ OFFICE professional security systems at affordable prices catered for your needs, call now on 99841265 to arrange a free quotation in the

Paphos area ***************************** 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 ***************************** JURIDICAL SERVICES Contracts, sales agreements, conveyancing, wills, administration of estates, general litigation, power of attorney, land registry matters, companies, translations, immigration etc... And all legal matters. Call: Natalia Michealidou – jurist, Paphos Tel: 26 933159 – 99523231 (office hours) *****************************

tress €100 child’s bike €40 Child’s easy chairs €30 Easel €20 gas BBQ 80 vacuum cleaner Miele €80 Abstract canvasses from €10 ENGOMI 22355790 ***************************** 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\

€150,000= Paramytha: 550 sq. m.-760 sq. m. Green valley and Mountain views. . From €250,000= Foinikaria: 700 sq. m.- 1300 sq. m. Forest and Yermasoyia lake views. From €170,000= Theomaria e-mail: theomaria@ cytanet.com.cy Tel:25372917, 99681422, 99624272, www. theomaria.com ***************************** FOR SALE OR RENT - Kato Paphos – full moon bar, fully furnished and equipped, large flat screen TV’s + projector, fits 120 people comfortably, incredible opportunity for ready business!

Please call: 99493579 *****************************

original stereo, MOT until 2013, Serious calls only. €18500.00.

Call 99090118 ***************************** NISSAN TIIDA, new, automatic, white, for sale Limassol call 97795696 Sia. ****************************

area) with reception area, open plan kitchen with dining room and TV room. Pressure pump system, fitted kitchen and covered parking. Price €750. Tel. 99606482. ***************************** HOUSE FOR RENT on first floor in Pallouriotissa, 3 bedrooms, big sitting room, big fitted kitchen, big verandas, a/c, fully furnished, very good furniture and very close to supermarkets, elementary school, gymnasium.

Price €500. Tel: 99464178 ***************************** VILLA LATSIA 900 sq.m. build in 6 donum inside pool lrg garden, Strovolos villa pool 330 sq.m. underfloor heating patio €2500 Latsia 5 bedr.pool f/f €2500, Acropolis modern flat 180 sq.m. €1100, 3 bedr., Mak/ssa modern flat wooden floors €1200 Upper house Archangelos f/f modern €1000 Costas Markides 22378898 / 99 464764, Reg. No. 487, E16 ***************************** 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

FOR SALE MISCELLANEOUS ***************************** QUICK SALE: two Italian sofas, beige, removable covers, dark wooden feet, 180 cm and 200 cm. €250. Nicosia. Contact Katerina: 99710226. ***************************** FURNITURE HOUSEHOLD ITEMS: Childs cot / mattress €50 play table and stools €50 Bunk Bed set with ladder/ mat-

FOR SALE BUSINESS/ PROPERTY/LAND ***************************** PLOTS FOR SALE: Ayios Tychonas. 1000 sq.m.

-1300 sq,m. .Walking distance to sea. Unobstructed sea view.

From €350,000= Asgata: 560 sq. m.-900 sq. m. Beautiful place. From:

CHILDCARE From a Cypriot - with 20 years experience in a kindergarten - looking after infants and children at her house in Nicosia

For information call 99781943

FOR SALE MOTOR VEHICLES BMW Z4, 2008, M-package, black all over, Electrical Soft Top, manual, 6 gear, leather seats, electrical windows, electrical locking, sports suspension,

WANTED TO RENT **************************** 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. *****************************

PROPERTY TO LET NICOSIA TO LET large down stairs house 300sq.m at Platy Aglantzia (RIK

English-Painter & Decorator

SELEC Fencing & Decking Specialist

Fully Qualified 30 years’ Experience

For all your Garden and Security Fencing

SUMMER OFFER 30% OFF ALL AREAS • External & Internal painting • Damp Damage Repairs • Spritze Repairs • Free Estimates + very clean work • All areas. All types of woodwork stained and preserved • All work guaranteed

Tel. Tony on 99176557

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

Tel. SELEC fencing 99176557

29 SUNDAY MAIL • September 16, 2012

Advertiser

TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

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TO LET NICOSIA

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place for one car, recently painted. Rent €650pm. (furnished if required). Tel: 97773358. ***************************** FLATS/HOUSES RENT studio Strovolos 280, Ag. Andreas 295, 1 bdrm Ag. Andreas 450, Makarios Av. 490, Ag. Antonios 380 2 bdrm Lykavito furnished 600 Acropolis new 650, Ag. Omologites 500, Engomi near universities 540 Strovolos furnished 650 3 bdrm central 700, Kennedy 650, US Embassy independent house gardens 850.

POSPORIDES ESTATES REG. 338 99474839 99646822 **************************** FOR RENT 3-bedroom luxury apartment over 200 sq.m. Very spacious living area extending to a large veranda overlooking the green of the river area.

Bathrooms all marble (one ensuite), modern kitchen. Fully air-conditioned, with underfloor heating, garage for 2 cars and large store. Situated in the exclusive gated development of J&P Glastonos, one of the oldest classy residential areas of Nicosia. Call 99630320 ***************************** ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT, in small quiet building, new, very spacious, fully furnished and air conditioned. Very good location between Strovolos and Engomi, close to The European University (Cyprus College) and all amenities. Covered parking. Rent €495/m. Please call 99695382 ***************************** TO LET 3 bdrm flat Kaimakli area near Frederic. Tel. 99606665. ***************************** 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. 3 bedrs luxury ground floor renovated semi detached house,210sq.m, with central heating, air conditions, solid parquet floor, fire place, big kitchen with all the electric appliances, 2 wc curtains, big veranda, big patio on the back with bbq area, 2 covered parkings in a quiet neighbourhood close to the Embassies –Engomi €900 (H3ENG0002-R), (photos in the website) 3. 4 bedr + separate office space + maid’s room luxury detached house, split level, big open space sitting areas,400sq.m,a/c for hot and cold in all the rooms, NICELY MODERN FURNISHED, swimming pool, big verandas, 2 covered parking, in a very quiet area near Lidl – Latsia €2500 (H4LAT0008-R), (photos in the website).

4. 3 bedr ground floor semi detached house, 170sq.m, central heating, 3 a/c, 2wc, big kitchen with cooker, oven, big front veranda, small yard, in a very quiet neighbourhood near Areteion hospital and Alpha Mega supermaket. Available

end of September - Dasoupoli €650 (H3DAS0007-R), (photos in the 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 which can be used as a bedroom/office, detached house, central heating, full a/c,3wc, 2 bathrooms, big sitting and dining room, separate kitchen with all the electrical appliances, small garden and patio with bbq area, covered parking, near Apollonion hospital. – Makedonitissa €1200 (H4MAK0016-R), (photos in the website) 7. 4 bedrs new luxury detached house, 330sq.m, central heating, full ac, 2 covered parking’s, big kitchen with sitting room and all expensive electrical appliances, blinds on the windows, lighting fixtures, 2 bedrs with en suite shower and wc, main bathroom with jacuzzi,3rd bedroom with only shower ,swimming pool with wooden deck around, covered patio with nice covered bbq area, opposite a green area in a very quiet area – Strovolos €2600 (H4ST10040-R), (photos in the website).

8. 4 bedr luxury detached house + big separate maid’s room, central heating, full a/c, big sitting and dining area, big separate family room with fire place,

big kitchen with breakfast area, 4wc, parquet floor all the house, mature garden on the front and back of the house, 3 covered parking, in a quiet area - PARISSINOS €2300 (H4PA20006-R), (photos in the 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 new luxury finished top quality detached house, 290sq.m, central heating, full a/c, master bedroom with ensuite shower/jacuzzi, guest bedroom with shower, main bathroom with jacuzzi, 4wc, fully expensive furnished with 3 LCD televisions, kitchen with very expensive electrical appliances and family room, garden with grass, big covered patio with bbq area,2 covered parking’s, alarm system, pressure system, - Strovolos €2700 (H4STI0039-R), (Photos on the website).

11. 4 bedr luxury detached house built in 3 plots of land. Separate maid’s room outside the house,

big basement with playroom, office and guest room with separate entrance. The house has big sitting and dining room, separate family room, separate kitchen, big bedrooms, internal elevator, central heating, full a/c, big yard with tiles, covered kiosk and trees, 2 covered parking, in a quiet area in a dead end opposite Cineplex – Strovolos €3000 (H4STI0042-R), (photos in the website).

12. 5 bedr new luxury finished detached house with separate maid’s room, one of the bedrooms with shower and wc and can be used as guest room,4 wc, solid parquet floor all the house, separate family room with fire place, big sitting room, separate dining room, big kitchen with breakfast area, big outside patio with tiles and bbq area,2 covered parking, electrical appliances in the kitchen, in a very quiet neighbourhood close to CYBC station. Can be rented furnished or not. – Platy Aglantzias €3000 (H5PAG0001-R), (Photos on the website).

13. 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,1 shower,2wc, 2 covered parking, big verandas surrounded by trees and bushes off 28th October street - Makedonitissa €1300 (H4STI0043-R), (photos in the website).

14. 3 bedr luxury house, nicely modern furnished with big sitting and dining areas with bar, central heating, full a/c, big fitted kitchen with TV room, office

space, patio area with bbq, covered parking, 3wc, solid parquet floor in bedrooms and granite in the sitting areas, near the MEGA TV station – Archangelos €1300 (H3AR0002-R), (photos in the website).

15. 3 bedr luxury semi detached house with central heating independent, a/c, 3wc, parquet floor, fire place, electrical appliances in the kitchen, curtains, in a very quiet neighbourhood in the area near Falcon school – Strovolos €1500 (H3STI012-R), (photos in the website).

16. 5 huge bedrooms luxury detached house(2 bedrooms downstairs+3 upstairs) all of them en suite with bathrooms, separate maid’s room, big sitting areas and big separate dining room, big kitchen, central heating, full a/c, extra sitting room upstairs, big swimming pool with cover, big covered patio around the pool and bbq area, covered parking, in a very quiet area near Alpha Mega supermarket. Price negotiable - ENGOMI €4000 (H5ENG0002-R), (photos in the website).

17. 4 bedrs new luxury detached house, all the bedrooms very big and all with big bathroom/ shower, sitting room upstairs, attic room with shower and wc, office space/maid’ s room with shower and wc, central heating, full AC,450sq.m, big sitting and dining areas, big kitchen with sitting area and fitted cooker and oven,6 wc, 2 covered parking’s, big yard with tiles and garden with grass, bbq area in a very quiet neighbourhood near the CYBC ( RIK) station and near a neighbourhood park – Aglantzia €2000(H4AGZ0005-R),

30 September 16, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

Advertiser TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

(photos in the website).

18. 4 bedr semi detached house with central heating, 4 a/c, 3 wc, 2 bathrooms, 180sq.m, small yard, bbq area, FULLY FURNISHED, off Costantinoupoleos street near French Ambassador residence – Strovolos €900 (H4STI0043-R), (photos in the website).

19. 4 bedr + 2 separate rooms with showers and wc (120sq.m) detached house with big sitting and dining areas, big kitchen with dining area and family room with fire place, very big swimming pool with bbq area, covered patio, garden with grass, central heating in 4 zones, full a/c, 6wc, 5 covered parking’s, pressure system, opposite Apoel training field. Can be rented furnished or not. AVAILABLE END OF AUGUST – Archangellos €4000 (H4AR0007-R), (photos in the website).

20. 4 bedrs luxury detached villa built in 5 plots of land, 600sq., central Heating, full a/c, very big garden with grass, big swimming pool 5 x 13, bar with bbq area, office space, TV room with fire place, marble floor, all the bedrooms en suite shower/ bathroom, separate self contained apartment for the maid, 2 covered parking in a nice area with easy access to the Limassol road. Can be rented also partially furnished – Latsia €5000(H4LAT0007-R), (photos in the website).

21. 4 bedr luxury detached house, separate maid’s room, 600 sq.m, central heating, full a/c, 6 wc, 4 bathrooms, big sitting and dining areas opening on to the garden, big kitchen with electrical appliances, built in 2 big plots of land with huge

garden with grass, swimming pool, 2 covered parking, in a quiet neighbourhood close to Alpha Mega supermarket Engomi - €3700 (H4PA20005-R), (photos on the website).

For many more properties with photos visit our website at www.landtouristestates.com which is updated daily. LANDTOURIST ESTATES LTD 22422225/96-422225/96422226, www.landtouristestates.com ***************************** LUXURY FLATS: 1. 3 bedr furnished apartment, 140sq.m, near Cyprus Hilton, kitchen, bathroom and extra guests toilet, large sitting room, opposite a small park, recently renovated independent oil central heating, air conditions, solar heater, covered parking – Acropolis €630 (A3ACS0040-R), (photos in the website).

2. 2 bedr luxury apartment, 3 a/c for hot and cold, covered veranda, NICELY FURNISHED, covered parking on a small building 200 METRES from Akropolis Park. Price includes common expenses – Dasoupolis €650 (A2DAS0027-R), (photos in the website).

3. 1 bedr luxury spacious apartment with big sitting room, separate kitchen with electrical appliances, central heating independent with diesel,2 a/c, aluminum shutters in the bedrooms, covered veranda, covered parking, storage room, on a small quiet building in a quiet neighbourhood – Agios Dometios €450 (A1ADO0004-R), (photos in the website).

4. 3 bedr luxury PENTHOUSE apartment with storage heaters, full a/c, office space, very big

veranda 100sq.m with nice view and bbq area with bar, NICELY MODERN FURNISHED, 2 bathrooms, 2 storage rooms, covered parking, in a small building near Hilton park and Ippokration hospital – Engomi €1000 (A3ENG0023-R), (photos in the website).

6. 2 bedr Brand new luxury finished apartment on a small modern building with storage heaters, full Daikin air conditions, electrical appliances in the kitchen, top quality double glazed windows with electrical shutters, 1 showers, 1 bathroom, 2 wc, big sitting and dining room, Very big covered veranda, pressure system, covered parking, big storage room, near Acropolis park – Dasoupolis €670 (A2DAS0028-R), (photos in the website).

7. 2 bedr brand new luxury finished apartment on a small modern design building with 2 bathrooms, a/c for hot and cold (Mitsubishi), storage heaters can be installed if needed, electrical shutters in the bedrooms, pressure system, water serculation system, solar, electrical appliances in the kitchen, blinds, covered veranda, 2 COVERED PARKING, storage room, near the centre and near traffic lights of Honda showroom. – Agioi Omologites €700 (A2AOM0007-R) 8. 1 bedr, fully furnished and equipped apartment, 50sq.m, 2 a/c for hot and cold, covered verandah, covered parking, ice view off Makarios Avenue between Hilton and DEBENHAMS shop – Nicosia Centre €460 (A1NIC0006-R), (photos in the website).

9. 3 bedr new luxury penthouse

apartment on the last floor of a 3 storey building, CH ind, full a/c, pressure system, cooker and oven in the kitchen, blinds in the living room, 2 bathrooms, 130sq.m, big veranda with view, covered parking, 200m opposite Akropolis park. Acropolis €850(A3ACS0039-R), (photos on the website).

10. 2 bedr new( 5 years old) luxury ground floor apartment,85 sq.m, storage heaters, full ac, fully modern expensive furnished and equipped ,expensive silver appliances in the kitchen with dishwasher, small garden and big yard in a quiet neighborhood behind Burger King. MINIMUM CONTRACT 2 YEARS – ENGOMI €650 (A2ENG0002-R), (photos in the website).

11. 2 bedr spacious luxury finished apartment in a small modern building with electrical floor heating independent, full a/c, 2wc, big bedrooms, big sitting and dining room, FULLY NICELY MODERN FURNISHED, big covered veranda, covered parking and storage room, off Kennedy avenue in a quiet area – ACROPOLIS €800 (A2ACS0030-R), (photos in the website).

12. 2 bedrs big luxury flat, 110sq. m+big covered veranda, CH ind, 3 a/c, cooker, oven in the kitchen, roller blinds, 2 bathrooms, 2 wc, parquet and granite floor, big bedrooms, big sitting and dining room, covered parking, intercom, on a small building with 6 flats only near Coca Cola factory 2 km from McDonalds in Egomi – Agios Dometios €550 (A2ADO0013-R), (photos in the website).

13. New luxury 2 bedr apartment

with nice view, 100sq.m, big sitting & dining area, big separate kitchen with cooker and oven, big covered verandah, 2 wc, storage heaters, 2 a/c, electric shutters in the bedrooms, covered parking and storage room on the 11th floor of a small building with 6 flats only 200 meters for Akropolis park and opposite a small neighbourhood park – Dasoupolis €550 (A2DAS0001-R), (photos in the website).

14. New 2 bedr luxury apartment, 90sq.m, storage heaters, 3 a/c, cooker and oven, covered verandah, 2 wc, NICELY FURNISHED, covered parking and storage room of Kyriakou Matsi street near the centre – Agioi Omologites €650 (A2AOM0008-R), (photos in the website).

15. 3 bedr +separate maid”s room (with shower and wc) & luxury apartment with central heating independent, full a/c, 3wc, 2 bathrooms, big separate kitchen with breakfast area and electrical appliances, big sitting and dining area with solid parquet floor, big covered veranda, blinds, alarm system, 2 parking, in a quiet area off Makarios Avenue near Hilton – Nicosia Centre €1100 (A3NIC0023-R), (photos in the website).

16. 2 bedr luxury modern penthouse apartment 125sq.m +40sq.m veranda with very nice view and bbq area, solid parquet floor all the flat, fully modern furnished and equipped central heating independent, full a/c, 2 bathrooms, big sitting and dining areas, covered parking in a very quiet neighborhood in a dead end, off Athalassa Avenue near Eng-

lish School behind Stephanis Electronics – Strovolos €770 (A2ST10010-R), (photos in the website).

17. 3 bedr luxury apartment with central heating independent, full a/c, 2 bathrooms, parquet floor, big covered veranda, covered parking, storage room, electrical appliances in the kitchen, off Makarios avenue near the centre – NICOSIA Centre €820 (A3NIC0025-R), (photos in the website).

18. 3 bedr luxury spacious floor apartment on the 4th floor of award winning building,200sq. m+big covered veranda, central heating independent, full built in air conditions, lighting fixtures, curtains and blinds on all windows, big spacious living room with fire place, big kitchen with double cooker, oven and microwave and breakfast area, double glazed windows, all the bedrooms with en suite shower/bath, big satellite dish with sky decoder,2 covered parking and storage room, close to American embassy and other amenities – ENGOMI €1600 (A3ENG0025-R), (photos in the website).

19. 3 bedr luxury spacious floor apartment on the 4th floor of award winning building,200sq. m+big covered veranda, central heating independent, full built in air conditions, lighting fixtures, curtains and blinds on all windows, big spacious living room with fire place, big kitchen with double cooker, oven and microwave and breakfast area, double glazed windows, all the bedrooms with en suite shower/bath, big satellite dish with sky decoder,2 covered parking and storage room, close to

31 SUNDAY MAIL • September 16, 2012

Advertiser

TO LET NICOSIA

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TO LET LIMASSOL

TO LET LARNACA

TO LET LARNACA

American embassy and other amenities – Engomi €1600 (A3ENG0025-R), (photos in the website).

20. 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 neighborhood in a dead end street, off Athalasas Avenue behind Stephanis near English School €800 (A3ST10030-R), (photos in the website).

21. 2 bedr new luxury apartment with central heating independent, full a/c, 2wc, big sitting and dining room, separate kitchen with cooker and oven, blinds on all windows, covered veranda, solar heater, pressure system, covered parking, storage room, on a small building in a quiet neighbourhood next to a playground, near Central offices of Cyta and Laiki Head quarters – Dasoupolis €600 (A2DAS0018-R), (photos in the website).

22. 4 bedr new luxury finished apartment, 160sq.m+35sq.m covered veranda, big sitting and dining room, NICELY MODERN FURNISHED, Daikin air-conditions for hot and cold in all the rooms, 2 bedrs with en suite shower/wc, 4wc, 2 covered parking, in a small modern building off Makarios Avenue in a quiet neighbourhood – Nicosia Centre €1400 (A4NIC0001-R), (photos in the website).

23. New luxury spacious 3 bedr quality apartment, 165sq.m+

big covered verandah, separate floor heating, full a/c, 3 wc, 2 bathrooms (one en suite), solid parquet floor all the flat, big sitting and dining area (can fit 2 sitting rooms and dining table), electrical appliances in the kitchen which has a breakfast area,2 covered parking, storage room in a very quiet green neighbourhood near the centre and Ag. Andreas - Nicosia Centre €1450 (A3NIC0004-R), (photos in the website).

24. New luxury 2 bedr apartment, open plan kitchen, 3 a/c for hot and cold, blinds on all the windows, nicely expensive full furnished with real leather sofas, double bed, big dining table, LCD 32”, satellite dish with receiver, internet, very big bedrooms with big and many wardrobes, covered parking and storage room, in a quiet area near BMH – Aglantzia €590 (A2AGZ0001-R), (photos in the website).

25. 2 bedr new luxury finished and FURNISHED ground floor apartment, 80sq.m +120sq.m veranda and garden, separate floor heating, full a/c, 2wc, aluminum shutters outside the windows, pressure system, fully expensively fitted with electrical appliances in the kitchen, big covered parking and big storage room, off Athallassa Avenue near English School in a small modern building – Strovolos €800 (A2ST10023-R), (photos in the website).

26. 3 bedr luxury spacious fully renovated apartment with separate central heating, full a/c, 2 bathrooms, 3 wc, parquet floor all the flat, big sitting and dining areas with fire place, big covered veranda, covered parking, blinds, cooker and oven in the kitchen, covered parking, on a small 2 storey building, walking

distance to the centre – Lykavitos €1000 (A3LYK0009-R), (photos in the website).

27. 3 big bedrs +office space luxury penthouse floor apartment, renovated, central heating independent, full a/c, 230sq.m, double glazed windows,3wc, 2 bathrooms (one en suite), solar heater, pressure system, SKY satellite dish, big sitting and dining areas, solid parquet floor all the flat, big kitchen with cooker and oven and breakfast area, very nice view of the old city,40sq.m private roof garden area ,covered parking on a small building in the centre of Nicosia near the Museum and the old Hospital. Available middle 15th of SEPTEMBER –Nicosia Centre €1200 (A4NIC0005-R), (photos in the website) 28. 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 + Hellenik bank headquarters and French school. CAN BE RENTED ALSO expensive furnished for higher rent – Dasoupolis €1200 (A3DAS0019-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 22422225 / 96-422225 / 96422226 www.landtouristestates.com ***************************** 2 BDRM flat in the centre of Nicosia. Rent €450. For information call 99453663, 99663927. *****************************

tourist area, opposite the sea, in “Lordos Beach Garden”, 2nd floor. Rent €250 per month. For infomration tel. 25378504. ***************************** FOR RENT 3 bedroom ground floor house near Agios Nectarios Church Limassol. 2 w/c, 1 bathroom, a/c in all bedrooms. Big veranda & garden.

In good condition. Call George 99187480. ***************************** GROUND FLOOR HOUSE, furnished renovated this year.

Laminated parke floor, and big wardrobes in the 3 bedrooms.

Rent €590.00 Tel 99497576 99886775 ***************************** FOR RENT in Apshou village undetached – 2 bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, sitting room, parking. satellite, solar water.

10minutes from round about . €400 per month Tel: 25 369219 99 773151 ***************************** FOR RENT one bedroom furnished flat in Katraki building, 100 metres form the sea and Debenhams Olympia. Price € 430 (included common expenses) Tel: 99406415 Andreas, fax: 25582963 ***************************** OFFICE FOR RENT opposite sea with amazing sea views. 120sqm, 2 bathrooms, kitchen. Security system, cabling and server room ready. Price € 1400/month negotiable tel. 99 330 908 www.cyprusre. com/listing-LIM-0103 *****************************

***************************** SPACIOUS two bedroom apartment (one en-suite) on Euro Lodge building Drousia Larnaca. It has a/c and c/h (under floor). Separate kitchen with oven and hob. Covered parking and storage room. Call Despina 99310015 ***************************** FOR RENT PHINIKOUDES PROMENADE, one bdrm apartment on the 4th floor, f/f, a/c, in the most exlusive area on the sea front of the city centre. A panoramic view of the Marina and the sea. Situated right on the sea. Makes life a holiday all year round. For long term rent only €380. Tel. 99222197, 99541828. ***************************** LARNACA FLATS TO LET Fully furnished, spacious 2 bedrooms in central Larnaca. Near Saint Lazaros Church, 4 minutes walk to Phinicoudes sea front. Small block 2 years old (6 apts) From €400 - to €500.

Tel. 99388901 FOR RENT 2 bed, 2 bath, new built apartment, in a quiet scenic location In Alethriko, Larnaca 5 min. to Larnaka, 5 min. to the beach Fully furnished, A/C, communal pool, under covered parking, Long term rent, €350.00 per month For more info pls call 99639378 ***************************** PROTEA APTS LARNACA Residential and holiday apts for rent monthly or weekly Larnaca – Dhekelia road, close to Golden Bay Hotel 1 & 2 bedroom apts,

furnished and with low rent with swimming pool, 2 minutes walking distance from the beach, with a new pedestrian crossing in front of the building. Contact us on 99672466, 99404522, and 99078590 ***************************** LARNACA FLAT FOR RENT: Fully-furnished spacious 2-bedroom first floor flat in central location near Metro supermarket, A/C, private parking, intercom system, en-suite bathroom, small block. Phone: 99354789 ***************************** FULLY FURNISHED one bedroom flat near Larco hotel Larnaca. Price €370. Tel: 99202543 ***************************** 1. K.S.L LETTINGS – APARTMENT FOR RENT Fully Furnished ground floor 2 bedroom apartment, overlooking pool.

Beautifully furnished throughout. 350 Euros per calendar month. Larnaca District. Quote TLL884. Tel. (00357) 24815104 2. K.S.L LETTINGS – Properties Required for waiting Long Term Tenants. We desperately require 2/3 & 4 bedroom villa’s with private swimming pools for waiting tenants in the Larnaca District. Please call us for a free valuation. Tel.(00357) 24815104 3. K.S.L LETTINGS – largest range of properties. Over 200 rental properties in the Larnaca district at the most competitive rates! Flexible contracts avail-

ACT’s summer production of The Rivals will now be performed on 26/28/29 September in the grounds of St Paul’s Cathedral, Byron Avenue, Nicosia. Performances start at 7.30pm prompt. Tickets are €15 - pls book early as seats are limited. Tel: 96 504284 or 99 924363 for ticket reservations. Don’t forget your coolbox for your picnic under the stars Or why not take advantage of the Get Fresh sandwiches and wraps which will be on sale during the interval along with wine, beer, soft drinks and coffee.

U SEFUL PHONE NUMBERS POLICE DIVISION HQ

HOSPITALS ........ 1400

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

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

Drug Law Enforcement Unit ......................................... 1498 (Confidential Information) Rescue Co-ordination Centre ............................. 1441 (Immediate Response Service for Aeronautical or Maritime Accident & Incidents) Game Fund Service: (Wildlife and hunting) Central offices (Nicosia): 22867786, 22-867897 Nicosia: 22-664606, 99-445697 Limassol: 25-343800, 99-445728, Larnaca/Famagusta: 24-805128, 99-634325 Paphos: 26-306211, 99-445679 Forest Fires ..................... 1407

Narcotics Helpline ......... 1410 (Outside hours.............. 22-304160) AIDS Advisory Bureau ................................ 22-302826

LIMASSOL FOR RENT in Limassol furnished studio with small veranda, air conditioning (hot/cold), in the

CORAL BAY THREE BEDROOM HOUSE To let furnished or unfurnished with panoramic view to sea and mountain a st0nes throw from coral beach, rent 600 euros monthly, negotiable tel 99431415 (available first November) Mob: 99604658.

LARNACA TWO BEDROOM FULLY FURNISHED, modern furniture, sea front flat, uninterrupted views, in complex with large grass gardens, communal pool, tennis court, underground parking, electric gate. 40’’LCD TV, satellite. Rent €1000 per month incl. water & common use. Negotiable for over 12m. Contact Garo on 99657055.

Available for immediate

RENT Luxury furnished 4 bedroom house 210 sq m at Ayias Phylas, Limassol.

Telephone 99307499, 99832085.

TO LET ON THE BEACH STUDIO FLAT WITH SUPERB SEA VIEW Newly renovated, fully air-conditioned one bedroom flat, comprising open-plan living room, fully equipped kitchen, bathroom and veranda with direct sea view on the beach next to the Larnaca fishing harbour. Covered parking in gated garage. Long-term rental, furnished €650 or unfurnished €575/month.

Call 99441499, 99431873

Domestic Violence Centre .......................................... 1440 (Emergency Centre for Victims)

Friends for Life Limassol Hospice Care Appeal requires new Friends and Volunteers to help operate their Charity Shops in both Limassol and Larnaca.

Drug Info & Poison Control ............... 1401

This is to help our large volunteer group to expand in the near future.

Cyprus Samaritans ... 77777267

Our aim is to open a Third Shop in the Limassol area due to popular demand.

Police Duty Officer ......... 1499 (Confidential Information)

Please do not forget when clearing your wardrobes and cupboards to remember us.

Airports Larnaca ..........................77778833 Paphos ...........................77778833

Shop hours Mon-Sat. 9.30 -12.30 Contact Anne 25632446 99269016

OFFICE/WAREHOUSE FOR RENT 735m² of office space and 1200m² warehousing available for long term rent on Yianni Kranidioti Avenue very close to Carlsberg Brewery.

Easy access to Nicosia-Limassol highway (only 200 metres).

Loading bays for warehouses and parking space for more than 40 cars. Hidden fuel tank plus car mechanics station.

For more information please call 99218866

32 September 16, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

Advertiser TO LET LARNACA

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

able. Tel. (00357) 24815104 4. www.KSLlettings.com – Villa For Rent Fully furnished 3 bedroom Villa with a good-sized rear garden & Communal pool, located in the village of Oroklini. Call for further information quoting Ref. TLL1189.

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

TREMITHOUSA - Spacious 2 bed Corner Townhouse + office U/F, large private rear garden with fruit trees, BBQ, Parking - 350 Euros TREMITHOUSA - 2 bed Ground Floor Apt, newly decorated, quiet location, patio, garden, parking - 250 Euros TSADA - Secluded large 3 bed Detached House, U/F, A/C, master en-suite, large terrace and mountain views - 550 Euros For more information call Katherine: 99862922 ***************************** FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION 1. KATHIKAS AREA €450 a modern 2 bedroom, stone walled villa with sea views, large swimming pool and 650 sq metres garden. On a quiet cul de sac, available unfurnished or furnished. Solar panels and pressurised water system. A great villa in a fabulous village. Will accept pets.

2. TREMITHOUSA €275 situated in a quiet cul de sac, this furnished modern 3 bedroom detached house with small garden is available, a/c throughout and satellite broadband. Offering fantastic views of the sea.

3. TREMITHOUSA €250 luxury 2 bedroom maisonette. Fully furnished with modern furniture and satellite broadband.

Modern furniture with new appliances. & A/c throughout.

Good sea views. Located in a fabulous village. A must to see!

4. CENTRAL PAPHOS €250 modern 1 bedroom top floor

apartment, opposite bowling, master with walk-in wardrobe.

Fully furnished with all appliances. Lift to all floors. This complex offers a lovely communal pool area and security barrier entrance. Close to amenities, a great central location.

Call Val on 99166563 ****************************** PROPERTY TO RENT Peyia: 2 bed F/F town house, A/C, Nilesat, Communal Pool, €375 p/m REF: JAP2T221 Tombs Of The Kings: ground floor f/f apartment, 1 bedroom, A/C, BBQ area, centrally located €280 per month REF: JAP1A220 Anavargos: 3 Bed F/F Townhouse, comm pool, undercover parking. Close to hospital, schools, post office. Ideal for Limassol commuter. €500 per month REF: JAP3T133 Emba: 3 Bedroom U/F house, A/C, white goods, communal pool €450 per month REF: JAP3V053 Peyia: 1 Bed traditional stonehouse, furnished, ideal for single person, village location close to shops and amenities €250 p/m Ref:JAP1H214 Tomb of the kings: 2 Bedroom f/f 1nd floor apartment, A/C, large communal pool. €500 per month. Close to all pubs, restaurants Macdonalds. On Royal Seacrest sought after position.

REF:JAPHR009 Kissonerga: 2 Bed 1st floor apartment, f/f, a/c, large kitchen, comm pool, undercover parking, €350, Ref: JAP2A217 Peyia: 2 Bedroom, 2 bathroom,

ground floor apartment, f/f, com pool, under cover parking, gym, shutters, a/c €350 per month.

REF: JAP2A126 We urgently require properties in all areas for waiting clients. Property management only €25 per month. John Alice Properties TEL: 00357 99984681 WEB: www.johnalice-properties.com ****************************** PAPHOS RENTAL CHLORAKA – 3 bed villa – u/f, a/c, 1 bedroom downstairs, fire, private pool, large balcony with sea views,quiet location – 600 euros EMBA – 3 bed villa – u/f, a/c, 1 bedroom downstairs, 3x ensuite bathrooms, private pool, garden, storage, quiet location and close to all amenities – 650 euros MESOYI - 3 bed detached house – u/f, spacious family home, garden, storage, quiet location – 450 euros MESOYI – 4 bed detached house – u/f, a/c, new property, very quiet location with views, this property can also be furnished – 600 euros FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL - 9977 4314 OR 9962 1875 ****************************** BRAND NEW APARTMENT block in the centre of Paphos

(near Papantoniou supermarket) with fantastic views offers to rent, 2 bedroom apartment spanning the entire 3rd floor, unfurnished with a/con, and office for rent spanning the entire first floor, 130 sqm, both are offered at very reasonable rents, please call: Vasilis 99553624 ***************************** PROPERTY RENTALS From 250 Euros per month. Villas and apartments available. Also wanted for waiting clients. www. johnalice-properties.com johnalicecy@gmail.com Tel: 00357 99984681 ****************************** FOR RENT A selection of 1 to 5 bedroom houses & apartments F/F & U/F Universal, Peyia, Tomb of the Kings, Tsada, Timi & Kato Paphos Landlord & Owners please call 99329357 Or please view at are website www.cyprussands.com Fully Registered Company in Cyprus ***************************** ONE BEDROOM fully furnished apartment for rent in Kissonerga. Near Cynthiana Beach hotel and close proximity to Coral Bay. Overlooking the sea and 100 metres from beach. AC in bedroom. Tel: 99-492521/ 99673276 ***************************** PEYIA – 3 bedroom villa with modern quality furniture and finishes.

Central heating, sky, alarm, in-

finity 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 ****************************** 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. KAMARES €625 we are delighted to offer this 2 bedroom 2 bathroom bungalow offering magnificent sea views. Lovely enclosed garden & private pool.

Available unfurnished though includes central heating throughout plus modern gas fire for those winter months. Outdoor storage facilities, shaded patio area, fly screens & shutters.

2.TALA €650 modern 3 bedroom detached villa with garage.

Situated in a small quiet cul de sac. Includes underfloor heating plus real fire. Master with ensuite. Separate utility room.

Shutters & flyscreens. Covered veranda, garden with mature plants & private pool offering stunning sea views. Available unfurnished.

PAPHOS ***************************** GEROSKIPOU beautiful brand new, unfurnished, 2 bedroom apartment €330p/m. Fully a/c, vertical blinds, cooker oven, fan extractor, situated in quiet area, very modern, near Kato Paphos, near Neapolis University close to supermarkets. Call 99370845 ***************************** SHOP FOR RENT main road Makariou 113 Geroskipou, opposite Cosmo Plast. Near Thrasos Supermarket. Call 99370845 ***************************** TOMB OF THE KINGS - Studio Apt, F/F, A/C, Balcony, Communal pool, Parking, Quiet location, Modern building - 250 Euros

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33 SUNDAY MAIL • September 16, 2012

Advertiser

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

3.PEYIA €750 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 villas 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.

4.KONIA €750 spacious 3 bedroom 2 bathroom bungalow (168 sq m) on plot size of 707 sq m. Situated in a quiet residential area offering enclosed easy maintenance garden with no pool. Separate kitchen, utility room, and master with ensuite. Off street parking for a number of cars. Available fully furnished or part/unfurnished.

5.MESOGI €800 fantastic modern 4 bedroom 3 bathroom detached villa. One bedroom

& bathroom on ground floor.

Storage room.

Beautifully finished to a high standard.

Quality modern kitchen with granite worktops & modern bathrooms. Gas central heating & real fireplace. Beautiful landscaped garden with private pool. Undercover parking on drive. Available unfurnished. Wonderful property.

6.PEYIA €850 spacious detached 4 bedroom luxury villa, offering stunning sea views.

Private pool enclosed garden, garage, basement for storage & separate utility room. Modern fitted kitchen with Miele kitchen appliances & granite work tops. Private drive.

Available unfurnished or part furnished. Fantastic property!

7.TALA €900 a charming detached 4 bedroom villa with character situated on a corner plot in a quiet residential area with stunning sea views. Spa-

cious living rooms with central heating. Separate kitchen & dining room. Good-sized garden offering private pool and stone built barbeque area.

Undercover parking.

8.SEA CAVES €1500 a substantial 4 bedroom villa set in landscaped grounds of 1111 sq meters. Separate ground floor annex. Private drive to garage with automatic door.

Outdoor area consists of large private pool, undercover stone built bar area and dining area. a must to see!

Tel: 97790883 office: 26271858 visit our website for many more properties www.mrrent-paphos.net email: info@ mrrent-paphos.net **************************** RENTAL POINT - PAPHO 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 on 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. Euros 450.00 a month. 2 bed apartment same complex Euros 425.00 a month.

2. GEROSKIPOU 2 bed 1.5 bath furnished duplex apartment in quiet location with outstanding sea views. Open plan living area and dining area. Fully fitted kitchen with appliances .

Guest WC. 2 double bedrooms.

Family bathroom. Balcony & covered parking. Comm pool.

Rent includes free internet.Euros 430.00 a month.

3. SEA CAVES – 5/6 bed fully furnished luxury villa with no immediate neighbours. Open plan formal living area with dining area for 12. Separate family room. Outstanding fitted kitchen with breakfast area.

Separate utility /2nd kitchen.

Ground floor office/bedroom 6. Shower-room with sauna.

4 double bedrooms, master with en-suite and large dressing room with safes. Family bathroom. Garage, parking & gardens. Separate 1 bed suite plus maids quarters. Swimming pool with massive outside BBQ/kitchen. A/C, C/H and fireplace in family room.

An outstanding luxury home with many internal features.

Very quiet area. Euros 4000.00 a month 4. LOWER PEYIA – 3 bed 3bath unfurnished villa. Quiet location. Open plan living area,dining space. Fully fitted kitchen inc D/W. Utility room.

Ground floor bedroom with en-suite shower. Stairs to 2 double bedrooms both with en-suite. Balconies and roof garden. Private pool and gardens. Off street parking. Euros 650.00 a month OVNO 5. LOWER PEYIA – Spacious 2 bed 1.5 bath furnished townhouse. Open plan living area.

Fitted kitchen. Guest WC. Stairs to 2 double bedrooms with family bathroom. Com-

munal pool and parking. Pretty complex and sensibly priced.

Euros 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 euros per month.

7. CORAL BAY - 3 bed, 3.5 bath unfurnished villa situated very near to the centre and within easy walking of beaches and restaurants. Open plan living area with fully fitted kitchen.

Doors out to garden and pool.

Ground floor bedroom with ensuite. Separate guest WC. Stairs to 2 double bedroom both with en-suite and balcony areas. Private pool, gardens, BBQ area and covered verandas. Central location.Euros 750.00 per month or close offers.

8. POLEMI – 4 bed 2.5 bath massive unfurnished apartment with own entrance in large landscaped gardens.

Spacious open plan living area with feature fireplace and dining space. Huge fitted kitchen and breakfast area. Guest WC with storage area.4 double bedrooms. Master with en-suite bathroom. Family bathroom. Pretty landscaped gardens, shared pool and off street parking. Quiet rural property.. Euros 550.00 per month. OVNO FOR FULL LISTINGS OF APARTMENTS/TOWNHOUSES AND VILLAS PLEASE CALL FOR DETAILS. ALL TYPES OF PROPERTY URGENTLY REQUIRED FOR LONG TERM RENTAL LANDLORDS/OWNERS PLEASE CALL 97648440 or email:inforentals@aol.com **************************** 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.

20 YEARS ANNIVERSARY MARGARITA LIASIDOU FOUNDATION FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION IN MEMORY OF ISMINI LIASIDOU, MAGICIAN MR CADABRA, , GAMES, FACE PAINTING, CHILDREN’S WORKSHOP, MANICURE, HAIRDRESSER ETC.

FROM 10.00 A.M UNTIL 07.00 P.M (FRONT OF THE ROAD OF THE SCHOOL)

NOTICE OF DISSOLUTION SHOW-MUSIC-DANCE, SALES OF HANDMADE OBJECTS, FAUX BIJOUX, BOOKS, FLOWERS, PET SHOP ETC. TRADITIONAL FOOD, KEBAB, PIZZA, HOT DOGS, DONUTS, SWEETS, DRINKS, STARBUCKS COFFEES FOR MORE INFORMATION : TEL NO 26962533, MARGARITA LIASIDOU FOUNDATION, 17 MARGARITAS LIASIDOU, KOLONI, PAPHOS.

WIN A TRIP FOR 2 TO SOUTH AFRICA IN AID OF PAPHOS HOSPICE Organised by SACY NEWS The SACY NEWS was launched early 2012, and has within a short period, become a popular and well-liked publication among the South African community, and other expatriates living on the island of Cyprus. With the support of the South African Consulate, the SACY NEWS has become a prime media source for all South African Cypriots living in Cyprus.

“We wanted to create a ‘voice’ for all South Africans in Cyprus. The South African community has increased in number, and it was only a matter of time before we had our own community paper,” says Paul Charalambous, editor of the SACY NEWS. The high-quality publication is produced on a bi-monthly basis and is distributed all over the island, free of charge.

On September 10th, 2012 in accordance with Section 14.81.1 C of the Liberian Business Corporation Act Hinchinbrook Shipping Company (“Company”) with registration number C-113093 doing business at 9 Marikas Kotopouli Street, 3030 Limassol the shareholders have agreed to dissolve the Company.

1. All claims against the assets of the Company must be made in writing and include the claim amount, basis and origination date.

2. The deadline for submitting claims is 11th April 2013 3. Any claims that are not received by the company prior to the date set forth above will not be recognized.

5. All claims and payments must be sent to P. O Box 53766, 3317 Limassol, Cyprus Dated: September 10th, 2012 Camilla Strømstad Liquidation board.

The SACY NEWS’ presence as a media sponsor for almost all South African events has spread extensively throughout the island. In recognition of the strong and supportive South African community, the SACY NEWS will be organising the South African New Year’s Eve Ball at the ‘Fifth Floor Restaurant’ in Paphos. This event will become an annual affair on the SACY NEWS calendar. “Everyone is welcome,” says Paul. “We want to revive the traditional South African Greek events we were accustomed to in South Africa.”

The SACY NEWS will be organising competitions on a regular basis to support the many charities on the island. After months of planning, and the support from many sponsors in Cyprus and South Africa, the SACY NEWS recently launched the ‘Win a trip for 2 to South Africa Competition’ in aid of the Paphos Hospice.

This unique prize package, which includes two return tickets to Johannesburg with Etihad Airways and Century Travel, will be complimented by seven nights at the 5-Star Peermont D’oreale Grande at Emperors Palace Hotel, Casino and Convention Resort. The prize includes an additional two nights at Sandton’s premier Michelangelo Hotel, and a further two nights at the Thabana Safari Lodge for an exceptional full board safari experience.

SAFARIS 4 U – A leading group tour operator based in Johannesburg, will provide unique tours to top attractions in Johannesburg, during the course of your stay.

Tickets are on sale from all Paphos Hospice Charity Shops, participating outlets (island wide) and private individuals for the price of € 3 per ticket. The winner will be announced at the South African New Year’s Eve Ball on the 31st December 2012.

For more information on this unique eleven nights prize package to South Africa, contact the SACY NEWS on 96 343 687. You can also visit their page on Facebook.

NOTICE OF DISSOLUTION On May 21st, 2012 in accordance with Section 14.81.1 C of the Liberian Business Corporation ActDogonLtd (“Company”) with registration number C-37274 doing business at 9 Marikas Kotopouli Street, 3030 Limassol the shareholders have agreed to dissolve the Company.

1. All claims against the assets of the Company must be made in writing and include the claim amount, basis and origination date.

2. The deadline for submitting claims is 23rd November 2012 3. Any claims that are not received by the company prior to the date set forth above will not be recognized.

5. All claims and payments must be sent to P. O Box 53766, 3317 Limassol, Cyprus Dated: March 22nd, 2012.

Camilla Strømstad Liquidation board

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

FOR SALE LIMASSOL LIMASSOL FOR SALE Phinikaria: 8’ to L/ssol: a) 3 bedroomed house with swimming pool. Corner plot 500 sq.m. €250,000= Monagroulli: 6’ to L/ssol beach hotels. New 5 bedroom two storey villa. Plot 1000 sq. m. €350,000= Eptagonia: 18’ to L/ssol . a) 4 bedroom new bungalow. Plot 873 sq. m. €350,000= b) Cosy renovated stone built 3 bedroom village house. €180,000= Theomaria e-mail: theomaria@ cytanet.com.cy Tel:25372917, 99681422, 99624272, www. theomaria.com ****************************

SALE LIMASSOL 2 bed flat on beach road; light, airy with balcony. New flooring, a/c units, lift 2nd floor, windows 3 sides, own car space. TITLE DEEDS. €115,000.

Tel 99178141 www.homesinternational.info (Les Bois) ****************************

LARNACA ARADIPPOU, Larnaca Magnificient Villa fully furnished reduced by thousands to €280,000. 3 - 4 bedrooms, lounge (marble floors), dining/ sitting, utility, kitchen, ensuite, bathroom. Many extras. Walk in condition e-mail: weetotie@cytanet.com.cy or phone 97851329 **************************** PERVOLIA 4 Bed house for sale with Full Title Deeds. 160m covered on a 285m plot. Private swimming pool, aircon, flyscreens, carport. Built 2007, 5 min walk to Pervolia square, 3 min drive to Faros beach. €220,000, 99051706 ****************************

PROTARAS **************************** 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.

34 September 16, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

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.

PAPHIAKOS & C.C.P. ANIMAL WELFARE URGENTLY NEEDS PASTA TO HELP FEED THE DOGS AND SOFT FOOD FOR ALL THE CATS. DONATIONS CAN BE MADE AT THE CLINIC. PLEASE SPONSOR AN ANIMAL OR BECOME A MEMBER TO ENSURE PAPHIAKOS CAN CONTINUE WITH THEIR NECESSARY WORK. Telephone Jan 26946461 ex 114 or 97614008 THE DONKEYS AT PAPHIAKOS WOULD BE DELIGHTED TO HELP YOU GET RID OF YOUR UNWANTED CAROBS. PLEASE DELIVER TO THE CLINIC AND GIVE THE DONKEYS A SPECIAL TREAT! FORTHCOMING EVENTS FOR PAPHIAKOS CHARITY NO. 1529 September 15th Paphiakos Stall at Episkopi Fete.

September 15th Sights & Sounds of the 60s & 70s Live Music & Dancing Trimithousa Community Hall at 8pm €5 tickets from Ollies Bar Trimithousa Pre Show Suppers at Ollies ring 96354182 September 27th Legends of Rock Pissouri Ampitheatre €10 tickets from Pissouri Pools, Markos Internet Café & all Paphiakos Charity Shops Tel 99905624/99955431 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

CHEMISTS NICOSIA SUNDAY 16/09/2012 T. Nicolaou, 35 Stasinou Ave. Tel: 22345116, 22432916 (H) M. Menikos, 73A Larnaca Ave, Anglanja. Tel: 22332165, 22330865 A. Hadjiioannou & E. Antoniou, 14C Naxou St, Lycavitos. Tel: 22755999, 22429210, 22429429 L. Varelia, 6C Achaion St. Tel: 22776861, 22770981 (H) G. Ploutarchos, 34C Tseriou Ave, Strovolos. Tel: 22311995, 22325995 (H) LIMASSOL K. Michael, 18C Sibelius St. Tel: 25576833, 25578521 (H) G. Konstantinou 127A Melinas Mercouri K. Polemithia Tel: 25711505, 25391475 (H) Gr. Gregoriou 37B Kosti Palama Tel: 25754111, 25566818 (H) LARNACA P. Apostolides, 20 K. Lysiotis St. Tel: 24627213, 24423271 (H) Z. Perikleous, 24 Gr. Digheni Ave., Tel: 24624374, 24645918 PAPHOS H. Irakleous, 62C Ellados Ave. Tel: 26942343, 26954204 (H) PARALIMNI Ch. X. Alapai, 8 Gr. Dighenis Ave. Tel: 23742002, 23744155 (H)

NICOSIA MONDAY 17/09/2012 M. Kyriakoudes, 6B. C Pindarou St. Tel: 22344877, 22773127 (H) D. Sergiou, 18 Delfon St. Tel: 22775613, 22778449 (H) E. Frangouli, 58A Athenon St, Strovolos. Tel: 22314660, 22492935 A. Hadjiapostolou, 36D K. Matsis Ave. Tel: 22311416, 22510679 (H) G.S. Charalambides, 64B Ayiou Eleftheriou St, Strovolos. Tel: 22371177, 22353584 (H) LIMASSOL M. P. Kantonidou, Franklin Roosevelt St, Zakaki. Tel: 25390354, 25388448 (H) E. L. Petrakis, 135 Makarios Ave. Tel: 25730050, 25755516 (H) C. Pantelas, 97 N. Pattichi St. Tel: 25736646, 25734005 (H) LARNACA A. Evlavis, 34 Gr. Afxentiou Ave. Tel: 24651317, 24662689 (H) E. Papaioannou, 52. 54 Stratigou Timayia St., Tel: 24633150, 24813135 PAPHOS S. Varnavidou, 62B N. Nicolaides Ave. Tel: 26943424, 26949727, PARALIMNI E. Michael, 175 Protara Ave, Tel: 23811031, 23824471

DOCTORS ON DUTY NICOSIA Pathologist: Costas Schizas, Tel: 22311077, 99606611 Gynaecologist: Grigoris Solomou, Tel: 99468368 Paediatric Surgeon: Panicos Theodorou, Tel: 22469000, 99612311 Dentist: Antonis Antoniou, Tel: 22492288, 99793223 LIMASSOL Pathologist: Polikarpos Evripidou, Tel.: 99514910, 25251919 Surgeon: Akis Pezikis, Tel.: 25733473, 99649943.

Neuro-Surgeon: Michalakis Spirou, Tel: 99624939 Paediatric: Ntora Stephanou, Tel.: 25382933, 99525716 Paediatric Surgeon: Elka Christophi, Tel: 25762586, 99306678 Doctor: Lampros Theodosiou, Tel: 25581712, 99624372

35 September 16, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

Motoring ‘Break free’ with Freddie Mercury Twizy Compiled by Rosie Ogden

RENAULT’S unique two-seat Twizy attended arguably its most star-studded UK event recently, as a show-stealing, four-wheeled lifestyle accessory to help raise money for the rocking charity ‘Freddie For A Day’.

Resplendent in a white and yellow livery, and complete with trademark moustache, the one-off creation was designed to pay homage to Freddie Mercury, the iconic former Queen frontman, with all proceeds helping in the fight against AIDS, which claimed Freddie’s life in 1991.

The fully electric compact two-seater (left) was donated to his charity, Mercury Phoenix Trust, for the glittering

annual event at The Savoy in London and helped the event raise over £7,000 during the course of the evening’s celebrations.

The undisclosed winning recipient on the night now has the enviable task of choosing their very own Twizy, including the must-have scissor doors, for delivery in a few months’ time.

Renault UK’s Managing Director, Thierry Sybord, said: “We are very proud to support Freddie For A Day and happy to donate such an eye-catching Twizy to the charity. It looked incredible with its moustache on the front and wrapped in the design of the iconic ‘Live Magic Freddie’

yellow jacket and white trousers outfit he famously wore at Wembley Stadium in 1986. The Mercury Phoenix Trust is doing a great job in educating and raising awareness of HIV and AIDS in the areas of the world where it is most needed and Renault is delighted to be involved with such a worthy charity.”

Freddie For A Day is now in its third year, while the Mercury Phoenix Trust was founded in 1992 by Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor and Queen manager Jim Beach to help distribute money raised from the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS awareness. Since then, the trust has raised over $15 million.

Peugeot’s Onyx concept uses bold ‘raw’ materials ‘Supercar of the 21st century’ PEUGEOT’S supercars have always brought a glint to the eye, and the French car maker has now come up with what it calls “the supercar of the 21st century”: the Onyx.

Sculpted using materials that are processed as little as possible, the Onyx has been created by enthusiasts who drew their inspiration from the world of competition.

With its V8 engine in a central rear position, the Onyx “propels its admirers into a world of high performance, controlled in all circumstances thanks to intuitive instruments and controls”.

It also explores new ‘raw’ materials, ‘to take efficiency to another level’.

One of the oldest marques in the motor industry, in its 202-year history Peugeot is the only one to have offered a comprehensive range of personal means of transport, from bicycles, scooters and cars to light utility vehicles.

The Onyx Concept Bike and Onyx Concept Scooter are also expressed with this vision of the future and will preview on Peugeot’s stand at the Paris Motor Show later this month.

“Onyx has the strength of a supercar, with extremely aerodynamic lines. It is made unique by its sculpted, chiselled style and by the innovative materials and structure” says Gilles Vidal, Peugeot Style Director.

The bodywork is striking, with a contrast of materials and colours. Fashioned by hand by a master craftsman, the wings and doors are pure copper sheet. Over time, its appearance will change, gaining a patina. The other bodywork panels are carbon fibre, painted matt black.

The front face has a vertical grille and full LED lamps, which are tapered: their surface area reduced to a mini-

Peugeot says the Onyx ‘exudes new techniques and innovative materials to produce a stylish design with extreme performance that inspires excitement and desirability, while providing a glimpse of the theme of thinking with the future in mind’ mum. The rear lamps adopt a ‘light signature’ with the three claws that are now characteristic of Peugeot.

They also support small spoilers which direct the upper and side air flows. With a Cd of 0.30, the aerodynamic impact of the Onyx “is inversely proportional to its visual impact”.

The Onyx incorporates the present by paying tribute to the RCZ through its ‘doublebubble’ roof and aluminium arches. With complete transparency, revealing the carbon fibre structure and the passenger compartment, the windows and roof are made of PMMA (PolyMethyl MethAcrylate).

Enclosing the cocoon, they guarantee the occupants’ optimum protection due to PMMA’s ultra-resistant structure.

The chassis of the car is innovative, developed with the expertise of Peugeot Sport and the Group’s Research and Development Department. In monolithic carbon, this central structure consists of only 12 parts. It in-

corporates the front and rear chassis legs, which makes it possible to eliminate the connected plates. The torsional stiffness and weight of the structure is optimised, at barely 100kg.

Bolted onto the carbon fibre shell, the 3.7-litre V8 hybrid HDi FAP engine and the suspension bear all the experience of Peugeot Sport, acquired and confirmed on tracks all over the world.

Cooled by ducts which begin at the roof via NACA takeoffs, the V8 transmits its 600bhp to the rear wheels via a six-speed sequential gearbox. Fitted with tyres specially developed by Michelin, 275/30 at the front and 345/30 at the rear, the 20” wheels see their hub retained on the structure by a double wishbone and an in-board controlled suspension, both at the front and at the rear.

Intelligent, the HYbrid4 technology recovers the kinetic energy which is usually lost during braking. Stored in lithium-ion batteries, this energy is then delivered au-

tomatically on acceleration, boosting the power by an additional 80bhp.

With less than 2kg per horsepower, the Onyx achieves high performance; it is fitted with a flat carbon fibre floor, which creates a powerful ground effect.

Braking is provided by four carbon discs, 380mm at the front and 355mm at the rear.

The doors offer easy access thanks to their ‘twomovement kinematics’. On opening, the outer copper skin separates from the door inner panel and moves laterally by a few centimetres before pivoting around its axis of rotation.

The passenger compartment is bathed with natural light, from floor to roof.

Like the bodywork, it has the minimum amount of material, retaining only that necessary to make the components and retain them.

The result is an uncluttered passenger compartment, in close proximity to the occupants.

“We sought materials fit for

a supercar, then they presented themselves of their own accord by their obvious suitability. Carbon for high performance, copper and glass for tradition, felt and paper, natural and used every day” says Sophie Gazeau, Peugeot Colour & Materials Stylist.

Made of felt, compressed and stretched, the passenger compartment is formed as a one-piece pod, with no stitching or joins. It creates a real cocoon around the occupants and fitted into the carbon structure, visible in places, fulfils the functions carried out in the past by several components: soundproofing, floor, upper console, roof, bucket seats.

“The occupants become one with a uniform part, which also reduces weight.

Their sporting comfort has been incorporated with the insertion of foam, under the felt, in the areas of contact with the body”.

Felt is obtained from boiled wool, with intertwined fibres; it is fully recyclable and

“provides excellent thermal insulation. It also improves the quality of the surrounding air by dehumidifying it”.

On board, the driver finds each control without having to take his eyes off the road.

The small steering wheel with felt rim falls naturally into the driver’s hands and gives an immediate feeling of agility. On its carbon hub, the aluminium controls operate the functions of the Onyx, while paddles control the gearbox.

The dashboard is made of a new type of “wood”, Newspaper Wood. It is produced from used newspapers, assembled and compressed to create new ‘logs’ from which the parts are made. The illusion is perfect, with grains which run across the surface. On closer inspection it reveals the secret, with the appearance of printed characters.

The dashboard houses the instrument panel in a headup position. On the instrument panel surround, the engine speed and vehicle speed are indicated by metal parts, appearing or disappearing like the keys of a piano. The operation of the hybrid engine is indicated by digital screens.

A panel of aluminium toggle switches is installed in the roof, including the engine starting switch. Immediately behind this, a strip displays the images from the rear view cameras: two located in the mirrors, the third, panoramic, in the rear capping.

Also made from Newspaper Wood, the console features a unique fuel indicator, shaped from blown-glass by a master craftsman. This fuel chamber, displays the level of fuel visible against finely chiselled indication marks.

Onyx, says Peugeot, “exudes the skills of talented engineers and designers, introducing new techniques and innovative materials to produce a stylish design with extreme performance that inspires excitement and desirability, while providing a glimpse of the theme of thinking with the future in mind”.

36 September 16, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

Sport

Murray’s US triumph is the antithesis of British failure

Cyprus basketball team is implicated in match-fixing

Scot puts tennis back on map for a nation where the sport was born

By Nemanja Bjedov

By Martyn Herman

IN BRIEF

BRITISH tennis was savouring its first male grand slam champion for 76 years this week but Andy Murray’s extraordinary feat in New York was actually the antithesis of decades of failure from the nation where the sport was born.

The 25-year-old’s refusal to accept second best in Monday night’s US Open final against Serbian ironman Novak Djokovic, to stare defeat in the face and still find the will to outlast one of sport’s greatest warriors are not qualities to be found in any of Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association coaching manuals.

If they were, Scot Murray might not be ploughing a lone furrow in the world’s top 100 in which he is the only British male.

Thanks to the hugely profitable Wimbledon championships, British tennis enjoys a budget that is the envy of the rest of the world, yet its failure to provide a crop of players capable of competing at the highest echelons of men’s tennis has long been a cause for embarrassment and amusement.

Before a scrawny, teenage Murray announced himself as a major talent by winning the US Open juniors in 2004, Wimbledon nearly-man Tim Henman had shouldered the nation’s hopes year after year along with Canadian-born Greg Rusedski.

Henman grew up with a tennis court in his back garden and Rusedski on the other side of the Atlantic. Like Murray, they were not products of

Repaying the faith: Murray’s mother Judy had the courage and foresight to pack her son off to Barcelona aged 15 to acquire a proper tennis education a failing system.

When Henman and Rusedski, a former US Open runnerup, neared retirement, British tennis was staring at an alarming black hole. However, Murray’s mother and coach Judy had the courage and foresight to pack her son off to Barcelona aged 15 to acquire a proper tennis education.

Already blessed with a razor sharp tennis mind and a natural feel for ball on strings, it was at the Sanchez Vicario Academy that Murray honed the metronomic groundstrokes that did for Djokovic with thousands of hours of relentless hitting drills.

Still growing into his 18-yearold frame, Murray’s physical conditioning was clearly lacking, while his messy hair and whiskers, dishevelled appearance and teenage scowl did not endear him to a British public still yearning for that “nice chap Tim” to come up trumps.

Not that Murray really cared. Clearly prepared to go it alone, he focused all his

‘He focused all his energy on getting fitter and stronger, rather than indulging in popularity contests’ energy on getting fitter and stronger, rather than indulging in popularity contests.

Murray reached his first grand slam final in 2008, losing to Roger Federer at Flushing Meadows.

He lost to Federer again in the 2010 Australian Open final and 12 months later fell to Djokovic, meaning that in his first three grand slam finals he had failed to win a single set - prompting unfair suggestions that he was too passive and “choked” when it came to the crunch.

When Djokovic, a few weeks younger than Murray, broke the grand slam domination of Federer and Rafa Nadal,

culminating in the Serb’s incredible 2011 when he was almost unbeatable, the focus on Murray’s perceived underachievement grew more intense.

Murray responded by hiring Ivan Lendl at the start of 2012, the poker-faced Czechborn multiple grand slam champion who made a career out of winning titles rather than friends.

It has proved to be a masterstroke with Murray proving beyond doubt he is a bonefide member of the ‘big four’.

Few doubted that Murray had what it took to break his grand slam duck but Lendl appears to have eradicated

Camelot denied the Triple Asian players dominate ICC Crown by Encke in St Leger one-day team of the year CAMELOT failed in his bid to become the first Triple Crown winner since 1970 as 25-1 shot Encke took victory in the St Leger at Doncaster.

Camelot, the 2-5 favourite, raced at the back of the field in the early stages but looked to be making good progress with half a mile to go.

He challenged two furlongs from home, but Encke went clear.

Camelot gave chase, but finished three quarters of a length back.

Encke’s win prevented Camelot from becoming the first Triple Crown winner since Nijinksy.

SEVEN Asian players including India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sri Lanka’s wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara were selected in the International Cricket Council’s one-day team of the year.

Dhoni, who was included in the team for a fifth year in succession, was named captain.

India’s Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir, Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga, Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal and all rounder Shahid Afridi were also named in the team.

England captain Alastair Cook and paceman Steven Finn, Australian skipper Michael Clarke and South African fast bowler Morne Morkel completed the line-up.

the demons that often haunted the Scot on the biggest of stages.

The British public took Murray to their heart after his emotional defeat to Federer in this year’s Wimbledon final and he rewarded them a month later when he returned to the All England Club to beat Djokovic and then Federer on his way to Olympic gold.

Failure to back that up and beat Djokovic in the cauldron-like atmosphere on Arthur Ashe Stadium would have given more ammunition to the doubters.

Instead, like a true champion, he found another gear to clinch a momentous five-hour triumph as the New York crowd roared its approval.

With the monkey finally off his back, Federer in the twilight of his career and Nadal’s knees creaking, 2013 promises even greater rewards for Murray whose rivalry with Djokovic is already shaping up to become one of the sport’s most entertaining.

The Cyprus Basketball Federation is seriously considering whether to launch an inquiry into allegations that big bets were placed on Croatia’s blowout win of over 50 points against Cyprus when the two teams met on August 18 in the FIBA EuroBasket 2013 qualifications in Makarska.

Citing what they claim to be reliable sources, various media outlets in Cyprus are stating that bets were placed on the game and that Croatia would cover a 50-point spread. The Croats easily won 93-38.

Feeling that the allegations are serious the Cyprus Basketball Federation is now looking into its options, one of which is to commence a full investigation to perceive if any member of their squad was involved.

“I think there were rumours of big bets made for the first round game. The thing I want to clarify is that no player of the national team bet on the game. That should be made very clear,” said Cyprus national team captain Panayiotis Trisokkas on a local radio talk show.

Although the difference in quality between the two teams is indisputable, Croatia were leading by 30 points after three quarters and then went on an incredible 28-3 run in the final period to finish the game with a 55-point margin.

“I challenge anyone to take a look at all the bank accounts of the players to check. I ask the Cyprus Basketball Federation to launch an inquiry and if a player is found guilty to dismiss him from the team,” Trisokkas added.

“This is unheard off. We beat them convincingly in Cyprus too, by 49 points.

I was personally present at the game in Makarska, but honestly I do not know Cypriot players nor what is the level of basketball they usually play at, so it is hard to tell if they were letting us win so easily,” said the general secretary of the Croatian Basketball Federation Zeljko Draksic.

Khan parts company with renowned trainer Roach AMIR Khan has confirmed he has parted with trainer Freddie Roach.

Khan has lost his last two fights and rumours he would split with Roach - who also guides Manny Pacquiao - emerged after July’s defeat to Danny Garcia.

“Officially I have left Freddie Roach,” the 25-year-old tweeted. “Maybe in the future we will work together.”

Roach told ESPN: “I wished him luck. I have been fired before.”

Tensions appeared following the defeat to Garcia after Khan issued an ultimatum that Roach concentrate his efforts on him.

37 SUNDAY MAIL • September 16, 2012

Sport Australia rally to deny Pumas first victory

All Blacks sneak win over S. Africa Springboks rue a host of missed kicks

By Greg Stutchbury NEW Zealand flyhalf Aaron Cruden kicked two late penalties as the All Blacks edged South Africa 21-11 at Otago Stadium and leave them on the verge of winning the inaugural Rugby Championship.

The victory for the unbeaten All Blacks leaves the Springboks having to win their final two games with bonus points and hoping New Zealand lose both of their remaining games to give them an outside chance of taking the title.

Both New Zealand and South Africa have plenty to work on in their weeks off before their next matches in two weeks when the All Blacks head to Argentina and the Springboks host the Wallabies.

The All Blacks, hoping to play the game at a pace and width probably not seen since their 1995 World Cup side, again committed too many errors when they had the ball and gave away too many penalties.

It was not until the second half when their forwards managed to get sufficient ground over the gain line that gaps opened and they were able to clinch victory after Aaron Smith’s try and Cruden’s two late penalties.

The Springboks, who had drawn and lost their previous two games in the Rugby Championship, will also be

frustrated they didn’t seize the opportunities they created, missing 20 points from poor goal kicking under the roof in Dunedin.

“They were long range (kicks) and normally those kickers will put them over so we’re thankful for that,” New Zealand captain Richie McCaw said in a pitchside interview.

“They played a very physical game and took it to us early on. That’s exactly what we expected, that type of match from the Boks. It always seems to be like that.

“But towards that latter part of the second half we started getting a wee bit of control and the guys stuck to what we were after and we started to put a bit of pressure on.

“I was proud with the way the guys held their composure but the match was a good old ding dong... and yeah, just happy with the win.”

The Springboks had been criticised prior to the match for their one-dimensional game plan that involved flyhalf Morne Steyn hoisting the ball high into the air and hoping the All Blacks would commit errors inside their own territory.

The tactic, however, was effective as the Springboks were awarded several kickable penalties and could have had a handy 18-5 lead by the break had Steyn and inside centre Frans Steyn not combined to miss five penalty

attempts in the first half.

All Blacks fullback Israel Dagg scored the home side’s only first half points when he backed up an initial break he made and lock Sam Whitelock and number eight Kieran Read both managed to pop the ball free in the tackle.

Springbok winger Bryan Habana showed his world class finishing abilities early in the second half when he received a flat pass from scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar, burst through a tackle, chipped ahead over Julian Savea and gathered the ball again to score his 43rd test try and give the visitors an 8-5 lead.

Cruden levelled the scores with a 53rd minute penalty and the All Blacks finally took better control of the ball, with replacement scrumhalf Smith scoring his try to give the home side a 15-8 lead when Cruden converted.

Replacement Johan Goosen kicked a mammoth 70th minute penalty for the Springboks to make the last 10 minutes interesting.

“I don’t think many people gave us a chance,” Springboks captain Jean de Villiers said.

“Our goal kicking wasn’t great. Yeah we had opportunities, but at this level you can’t make that many mistakes, not capitalise on your opportunities and think you’re going to win the game.”

AUSTRALIA needed tries from Pat McCabe and Digby Ioane in the last quarter to overturn a 13-point deficit and edge Argentina 23-19 in a dramatic Rugby Championship encounter at Skilled Park yesterday.

The Pumas looked to be on their way to a first victory in their maiden season in the southern hemisphere’s international championship after tries from Tomas Leonardi and Julio Farias Cabello inside two minutes early in the second half.

The error-prone Wallabies, however, dug deep and battled back with centre McCabe finally breaching the Argentine defence on the hour mark and winger Ioane following suit after a break from scrumhalf Nick Phipps nine minutes later.

“Credit to them, they really put us under a lot of pressure at 19-6 but there is a great deal of courage and commitment to come back ... and finish so strongly,” skipper Nathan Sharpe said in a pitchside interview.

“We’re not happy with the close game but there was some good commitment from the guys.”

RUNAWAY LEADERS

New Zealand flyhalf Aaron Cruden kicked two late penalties as his side were given a tough examination

Faldo: Ryder Cup stalemate could be on the cards

By Tony Jimenez

Colin Montgomerie holds the trophy after Europe won the 2010 edition of the team event 14 1/2-13 1/2 in Wales

FORMER world number one Nick Faldo believes the first 14-14 Ryder Cup tie in 23 years could be on the cards when holders Europe meet United States in Illinois at the end of this month.

The biennial event has not ended in stalemate since the European team captained by Tony Jacklin tied with Ray Floyd’s US side at The Belfry in 1989 and Faldo said the September 28-30 match at the Medinah Country Club was again too close to call.

“You’ve got 12 guys on both teams playing really well,” the beaten 2008 Ryder Cup captain in Valhalla told Reuters in an interview. “On paper I think it’s incredibly evenly matched.

“Half-jokingly I said at the beginning of the season that we haven’t had a tie for quite a while but suddenly now that notion doesn’t seem so far off. Maybe a tie could be the result this year.”

The Americans were the

Ryder Cup favourites earlier in the campaign after Bubba Watson triumphed at the US Masters and Webb Simpson won the US Open.

Europe, who won the 2010 edition of the team event 14 1/2-13 1/2 in Wales, then restored some pride in the majors thanks to Rory McIlroy’s eight-shot victory at the US PGA Championship last month.

McIlroy’s win took him to the top of the world rankings and since then he has registered two back-to-back victories in the US Tour’s FedExCup playoff series.

“We have definitely turned it around,” said the Ryder Cup’s record points scorer as he took a break from watching the young competitors at his Faldo Series event at the Lough Erne Resort in Northern Ireland.

“Lee Westwood has found some form again recently and I like our dark horses too - people like Paul Lawrie and Nicolas Colsaerts,” added Faldo.

“The Americans will set up the course for long hitters and we’ve got Rory, Westwood and Colsaerts

as our long hitters so, as I say, everyone looks evenly matched.”

McIlroy and women’s world number one Yani Tseng of Taiwan are former graduates of the Faldo Series which was established in 1996 and now features more than 7,000 up-andcoming young golfers competing in 28 countries.

“It’s pretty darn cool that Rory and Yani are now number one in the world,” said Faldo.

The six-times major winner is proud at the way McIlroy has developed since he was a teenager and said the 23year-old Northern Irishman had now replaced Tiger Woods as the man to beat.

“Rory is on a roll now, it’s all been very impressive,” said the 55-year-old Englishman, who featured in 11 Ryder Cups as a player.

“Whenever he is in the field the other guys look to him as the one who is setting the pace.

“That’s obviously changed considerably in recent times because it was Tiger who previously dominated for a decade or so.”

The victory put the Wallabies second in the championship standings with eight points from four matches behind runaway leaders and world champions New Zealand, who have secured 16 points after winning all four of their matches.

Argentina remained bottom of the standings with three points but, along with the 16-16 draw with the Springboks and an encouraging performance against the All Blacks, the match was further evidence they will be competitive in the championship.

“It was close, we’re very disappointed,” said captain Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe.

“We got a good lead but this has to be another step forward. We need to try and learn how to close these types of games. These types of teams don’t stop until the last minute. That’s why we are disappointed, but we must keep going forward.

“We thought we had it, but they’re a really good team.”

The Wallabies, who also came from behind to beat the Springboks last week after two defeats to the All Blacks to open their campaign, went 3-0 down to a Juan Martin Hernandez penalty in the third minute and will be happy to forget much of the next 20.

Berrick Barnes hit the right upright with his first two penalty attempts, centre McCabe was sinbinned after a try-saving tackle on Puma winger Gonzalo Camacho and number eight Radike Samo dropped the ball forward as he was trying to touch down.

38 September 16, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

Sport

I’m not out to hurt AVB, says McDermott ahead of clash

Moyes frustrated

by Gibson absence

Spurs still without a win after three games

By Carl Markham

By Mark Bryans READING boss Brian McDermott insists he will not be motivated by the opportunity to heap pressure on Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas when the clubs meet this afternoon.

Spurs travel to the Madejski Stadium without a league victory after three games under Villas-Boas, and the team were jeered from the pitch following their 1-1 draw with Norwich at White Hart Lane before the international break.

Reading have also still yet to taste victory in the Barclays Premier League this season but have only played twice so far.

McDermott is concentrating on getting his own team firing and said: “I don’t want to inflict pain on anyone, I just want to do the right thing for us.

“What we have to do is prepare ourselves and get a good performance from our team and that is the only thing that I’m looking to do.

“We are playing against Spurs - a fantastic side - and I know Andre quite well so I’m not looking to inflict pain, we are just looking to play our game and put on a performance for our fans.”

Reading opened the season with a 1-1 draw against Stoke before falling to a 4-2 defeat at Chelsea.

Their fixture at Sunderland was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch and they have now gone three-

‘We are playing against Spurs - a fantastic side and I know Andre quite well so I’m not looking to inflict pain’ and-a-half weeks without a league fixture.

McDermott has revealed his squad are champing at the bit to kick-start their league campaign.

He said: “I can just sense that the lads are desperate to get back and I’ve got all the internationals back, we will train, prepare the team and be right for Sunday and be ready.

“Obviously we had the Peterborough game (in the Capital One Cup) in between and we had to find a game which we went to Dublin and played against Bray, which we were very grateful to have, and now we play Sunday so by the time everyone else has played four games we have played only two.”

Several other Premier League managers have is-

sues with the international breaks during the season but McDermott accepts them and has also benefited from a lot of his players getting a run-out in competitive games.

“They have World Cup qualifiers and they have to play them so there is nothing we can do about that,” he said.

“The one that really gets to me is before we even kick off, in the week leading up to the start of the season.

Apart from that I have got no real problems with it.

“Some of my players have played games, Alex Pearce played the other night, Kaspars Gorkss, Adrian Mariappa has played some games, Churchy (Simon Church), (Hal) RobsonKanu and Chris Gunter too, so we are fine and happy enough with it.”

The 51-year-old McDermott also refuted suggestions his players will be lacking match sharpness in the clash with Spurs and stressed they will be ready to push for the three points.

“We just have to do the best we can - we have to have enough recovery,” he said. “We have to have enough training sessions, obviously we had the Bray game, so we just counted back from the Tottenham game to make sure they are right for that game.

“The training has been really good and the lads are just ready now and waiting to play and we know it will be a massive crowd at the Madejski, a full house.”

A frustrated figure: Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas is already under pressure following a poor start to the season

We’ve still got allies at the top, says Rangers boss

By Lisa Gray

The Glasgow giants have been forced to play in the Irn-Bru Third Division

ALLY McCoist believes many of the Scottish Premier League clubs would be happy to welcome Rangers back once their progression through the Scottish Football League is complete.

Ibrox chief executive Charles Green suggested earlier in the week that the Light Blues may not seek re-entry to the top-flight, saying: “Unless the SPL welcome us with open arms, why would we go back there?”

Ten clubs voted against his newco Rangers being granted entry to the top division, while Kilmarnock abstained from the voting process, with the Glasgow giants subsequently voted into the IrnBru Third Division.

McCoist can understand Green’s comments but believes Rangers still have “very, very good friends” in the SPL and also suspects some may now regret their

decision to block his club`s application.

He said: “I can totally see where he (Green) is coming from.

“Nobody would want to go back to a home that they’re not welcome in, no matter what walk of life you’re in.

“I firmly do not believe that the 10 who voted against us were totally against us.

“I think a few of them were maybe railroaded into that decision.

“That’s only my personal opinion. It might be wrong but it’s the way I felt at the time, being at one or two of the meetings.

“I certainly don’t feel that all the SPL clubs are against us - far from it.

“We’ve got some very, very good friends in the SPL and that will continue in years to come.

“One or two clubs within the SPL were well within their rights to vote us out of the SPL for their own reasons but I firmly believe we’ve got

some very good friends in the SPL. “I don’t have a crystal ball but I would say a lot of the clubs would welcome us back.

“I’ve got my own personal views on one or two that maybe wouldn’t be too keen on us coming back but they will remain with me because that’s just my own opinion and I don’t think it would do any good naming them.”

Asked why “one or two” would not be keen to see Rangers back in the SPL, McCoist added: “They’ve got their own reasons for that.

You would have to ask them.

“I just feel there was maybe a knee-jerk reaction and a decision that some of them said they took from their fans, which I can understand.

“But, was it the best for their own clubs and, indeed, Scottish football? I’m not so sure it was.

“They’ll never admit it but maybe one or two of them made a mistake.”

EVERTON manager David Moyes admits the loss of key midfielder Darron Gibson gives him a problem for the next few weeks.

The former Manchester United man sustained a thigh injury in the Toffees’ defeat at West Brom, their last Premier League match.

And with Moyes having let highly-rated young midfielder Ross Barkley go out on a month’s loan to Sheffield Wednesday he admits his squad is slightly stretched ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Newcastle.

“Darron’s got a thigh strain and will probably be out for four to five weeks,” said the Scot.

“He’s had two weeks now so hopefully we are a couple of weeks down the line already because of the international break so he may have only a couple of weeks to miss.

“It is a concern for me because he has been very consistent and very good.

“It is a blow but we will have to find ways of getting around it.

“The Ross Barkley situation leaves us a bit tight in certain areas but I’ve taken that decision.”

Earlier in the day Barkley made his temporary move to Hillsborough and despite knowing the extent of Gibson’s problem Moyes felt it served the 18-year-old’s best interests - even if it weakened his own options.

“It would have been ideal if I had got another midfield player in during the transfer window because I wanted Ross’s development to continue,” added Moyes.

“He is now ready, as I see it, to go into men’s football after a few games for us but he needs to go play regularly.”

Fellow midfielder Marouane Fellaini returned from international duty to find the manager waiting to have a word with him about comments he made while away with Belgium.

The 24-year-old told journalists from his homeland: “This will be one of my last seasons. I have seen everything. In January, or at the end of the season, I will look for another club or league.”

Moyes felt Fellaini had been naive but insisted the matter was now closed.

“I think sometimes the players, when they go away on international duty, have their egos massaged and things are said when they maybe think they are talking to a different audience,” he said.

“They think maybe they can say things which don’t matter - well, it does matter and I’ve made Marouane aware of that.

“The transfer window shut a while ago so it doesn’t really matter.

“These things happen, I’ve had a word with him and we move on.”

39 SUNDAY MAIL • September 16, 2012

Sport FERDINAND SNUBS BOTH TERRY AND COLE AT PRE-MATCH RITUAL

Ignored: Anton Ferdinand walks past John Terry, who was cleared in court of racially abusing him last season

Shake on it? No chance!

QPR 0 Chelsea 0

By Ben Rumsby IN the end it was almost all about the handshake as Chelsea and QPR produced a dire goalless draw in yesterday’s west London derby.

Both sides failed to ensure John Terry and Ashley Cole’s reunion with Anton Ferdinand would not remain the main talking point of the game as the Blues dropped their first points of the Barclays Premier League season.

Better finishing from Eden Hazard, Park Ji-Sung and Bobby Zamora might have

changed that - as might different verdicts on two penalty calls.

Otherwise, the two clubs simply appeared unable to move the agenda on from what happened at Loftus Road almost a year ago, something that saw Terry cleared in court of racially abusing Ferdinand but blanked by his fellow defender today.

The handshake itself went as well as could be expected.

Fears of a mass boycott

by QPR’s players proved unfounded but Ferdinand made a real show of snubbing both Terry and Cole - who also spoke in court much to the delight of the home fans.

They, too, made their feelings about the pair crystal clear.

Along with the usual abuse of Terry, came chants of, ‘John Terry, we know what you said’, and, ‘Ashley Cole, you’re John Terry’s bitch’.

Terry, who denies the Football Association charge he still faces over last year’s altercation, almost silenced them inside two minutes when he just failed to get telling contact on Frank Lampard’s corner.

Hazard had no such excuses two minutes after that when he fired Ramires’ cross straight at Julio Cesar, who was handed his debut in the QPR goal.

Rangers were far from overawed and, despite their high turnover of personnel since the clubs last met, their players seemed acutely aware of what was at stake.

By the second half, even QPR’s fans were losing in-

Fans urged to turn over a new leaf

By Martyn Herman THE behaviour of English fans is under the microscope this weekend in the wake of calls for an end to sickening chants at matches following the publication of the Hillsborough report.

Wednesday’s report, which found that Liverpool fans had been entirely blameless for the crush at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final that left 96 of them dead, was widely welcomed, although it remains to be seen whether their deaths will stop the club being mocked with hateful songs by rival fans.

A minority of Manchester United fans still sing about Hillsborough while some Liverpool supporters continue to gloat over the 1958 Munich air crash which dec-

imated the United team.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said he hoped the findings of the independent panel, which caused shock among all English fans, would mark the end of the taunts.

CHANTS “In terms of the chants, I speak as a human being and I never like to hear anything like that, whatever clubs it is, that associates people and other people’s tragedies and death,” Rodgers told Liverpool’s website.

“Unfortunately you have a very, very small percentage of idiots at every club that will always try and smear a club’s reputation. So, of course, it’s obvious that these are certainly chants that no-one wants to hear

about any club.”

The north west rivals clash in the Premier League at Anfield in eight days and United counterpart Sir Alex Ferguson echoed the views of Rodgers.

“You would hope that maybe this is a line in the sand in terms of how the supporters behave with one another,” Ferguson said on Friday.

“We are two great clubs and we should understand each other’s problems in the past. Certainly the reputation of both clubs doesn’t deserve it.”

It is hoped that the fallout from the Hillsborough report, which disclosed a police cover-up and serious failings by the authorities on the day of the Britain’s worst football disaster, will lead to more goodwill among fans.

terest in abusing Terry and Cole, although Jamie Mackie gave them something to cheer about when he tested Petr Cech at the end of a neat move early in the half.

But it was Terry’s attempts at showboating in the Rangers half that really turned up the volume and Rangers responded, captain Park wasting a glorious chance to nod them in front from Esteban Granero’s cross.

Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo responded by sending on Victor Moses for his debut, in place of Ryan Bertrand but QPR continued to enjoy the upper hand, albeit with some wasteful finishing.

But with three minutes remaining, Hazard should have won it when he blazed over completely unmarked, as if it was always destined to be about the handshake.

Messi fascinates me the most, says Brazil great Ronaldo FEW players, pundits or fans would argue who the best two players in the world currently are. Trying to choose between them is another matter. But not for former Brazil striker Ronaldo.

“I give preference to Messi, because he’s a player who fascinates us more, who shows more creativity - even though he’s from Argentina, which has a big rivalry with Brazil!” the Brazilian great told CNN’s Shasta Darlington.

He admires both players he says, but “Messi is a little above Cristiano Ronaldo.”

Like Messi (below), the 35-year-old is a three-time winner of FIFA’s Ballon d’Or and enjoyed a highly successful club career including spells at Barcelona, Inter Milan and Real Madrid - winning two league titles with the reigning La Liga champions.

The 35-year-old who finished his playing days at Corinthians in February 2011 was plagued by knee injuries during an illustrious career which reached its peak at the 2002 World Cup in Japan.

Ronaldo, the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer with 15 goals, inspired Brazil to their fifth victory in the competition, claiming the Golden Boot award with eight goals - with two coming in the final against Germany.

“It was an incredible specially experience. Especially because after 1998 when we lost the o final match to France,” said Ronaldo.

Hours before that final in 1998 Ronhiis aldo had whatt his teammates described at the time as a convulsive attack at the

Premier League standings Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Chelsea Manchester United Manchester United Chelsea Arsenal Manchester City Swansea Liverpool West Brom Hotspur Tottenham West Ham Utd Everton Fulham Stoke City Everton Bolton Wanderers Stoke City West Brom Aston FulhamVilla Newcastle United Wigan Athletic Sunderland Norwich City Aston Villa Sunderland Blackburn Rovers Tottenham Hotspur Wolves QPR Birmingham Reading Blackpool Liverpool Wigan Athletic Southampton West Ham United

P

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F

4 37 4 36 4 36 4 36 4 36 4 36 4 37 4 36 3 37 4 37 4 36 3 36 4 37 4 36 2 37 3 37 4 36 2 37 3 36 4 36

3 22 3 21 2 19 2 19 2 17 2 14 2 12 2 13 2 12 0 12 1 10 1 11 1 11 0 10 0 10 0 11 0 8 0 10 0 7 0 7

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team hotel and was rushed to hospital.

Nonetheless he played against France - making little contribution - as the hosts coasted to a 3-0 win.

“Brazilians and players were left with that bitter taste in our mouths,” added Ronaldo.

“Then came the World Cup of 2002 with big expectations and thank God we managed to make it to the final and beat Germany.

I scored two goals in the final, it was truly unforgettable.”

With all eyes on Brazil as it prepares to host the next FIFA World Cup in 2014, Ronaldo says his country faces challenges on two fronts.

“First, the organisation of a World Cup, which is the biggest challenge in terms of country-wide organisation. The World Cup today is a very complex event to organise,” he says.

But it will also be a challenge to satisfy the expectations of a football-mad nation, he says.

“The Brazilian people have high expectations about winning the cup in our own country and I’m certain that by the time we get to the cup, our team is going to be competitive.”

Adding a sixth gold star to the famous yellow and green jersey will be difficult - Brazil lost to Netherlands at the quarterfinal stage at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa -- but not impossible, imposs Ronaldo s says.

“I think in i the last victories victo we had in the World Cup Cu (1994 and 2002), the team w was traditionally created c in the last year.

So I thi i think we stilll have h ti ime m time,” he said said.

Results Norwich West Ham

0 0

Arsenal Southampton

6 1

Aston Villa Swansea

2 0

Fulham West Brom

3 0

Man United Wigan

4 0

QPR Chelsea

0 0

Stoke Man City

1 1

Sunderland Liverpool

L L

Playing Today Reading v Tottenham, 6pm Playing Tomorrow Everton v Newcastle, 10pm

40 September 16, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL

Sport

Murray’s US Open triumph the antithesis of British failure 36

It’s all about the handshake in West London 39 derby

Scholes celebrates milestone in United romp Manchester United 4 Wigan 0

By Simon Stone

Paul Scholes broke the deadlock on his 700th appearance

PAUL Scholes marked his 700th Manchester United appearance by sending the Red Devils to their biggest win of the season after victory over Wigan at Old Trafford.

Sir Alex Ferguson described Scholes’ cameo at Southampton last month as like someone “opening a door”.

Yesterday, the veteran midfielder did not just open it. He sent it crashing off its hinges.

Mixing a typically astute performance with some of those thunderous challengers for which he is noted, Scholes also broke the deadlock with his 155th United goal.

Few could have been converted in such ease as he tapped home after Ali Al Habsi had pushed Nani’s low cross straight into his path.

Javier Hernandez, who missed a firsthalf penalty, bagged a second when he turned home Alexander Buttner’s misdirected shot, then the Dutchman capped a fine debut by driving home the hosts’ third, putting more pressure on an underperforming Patrice Evra, who watched from the stand.

Robin van Persie was introduced 19 minutes from time but it was his fellow

substitute Nick Powell who wrapped up the win on his debut, blasting in from 20 yards.

Although he declared Van Persie and Shinji Kagawa fit on Friday, Ferguson opted to leave both men on the bench as he cast an eye towards the start of his side’s Champions League campaign against Galatasaray on Wednesday.

“I am happy we won the game and to score in my first game,” Buttner told BBC Sport afterwards.

“I want to score and give assists to my team-mates. We played well in the second half “It is unbelievable, when I came on the field it was beautiful,” he added.

“I was nervous when I came on. It is a dream and I am enjoying it.”

Sorry Saints gunned down New boys hit for six at the Emirates Arsenal 6 Southampton 1

By Simon Peach

G

ERVINHO’S brace helped Arsenal romp to an impressive Barclays Premier League victory against Southampton yesterday.

The visitors resembled a rabbit in the headlights for most of the first half as they failed to deal with Arsenal’s pace and directness - epitomised as early as the 11th minute as Jos Hooiveld accidentally put into his own net.

Lukas Podolski bent in a 25-yard free-kick as the onslaught continued, before Gervinho rifled home and Nathaniel Clyne netted an own goal to make it 4-0 inside 37 minutes.

Wojciech Szczesny’s clanger denied the north Londoners a fourth successive clean sheet to start the season as the returning Poland international flapped at a cross late in the first half and Danny Fox lashed home.

It proved a mere consolation, though, as Gervinho and former Southampton winger Theo Walcott netted in a more even second period to condemn Nigel Adkins’ side to a fourth league defeat.

Arsenal made three changes coming into the game, with Szczesny the standout returnee after missing recent

Rampant: Arsenal extended their unbeaten start to the season with a one-sided victory against Southampton matches with a rib injury.

Saints, meanwhile, stuck with the same starting team that fell to a harsh 3-2 defeat to Manchester United before the international break, while new signings Gaston Ramirez and Maya Yoshida were named on the bench.

The latter was brought in to shore up a weak Southampton defence that found itself under pressure from the outset in north London.

Podolski tested Kelvin Davis with a stinging effort inside three minutes, before former Southampton winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s dangerous cross was inexplicably scooped over the

bar by Santi Cazorla.

The early pressure continued as Southampton regularly gave away possession as they failed in their attempts to get a foothold on proceedings.

Arsenal capitalised on the visitors’ early ineptitude as Podolski took possession in the middle and played through Kieran Gibbs, whose low effort squirmed through Davis’ legs and was inadvertently turned home

by Hooiveld.

The hosts’ dominance continued after the 11th-minute opener and came close to doubling their advantage soon after.

Davis flapped at a Cazorla corner and had to be on his toes to prevent Per Mertesacker heading home when the ball was played back into the box.

Gervinho was the next to threaten, nodding wide and then bursting forward to send a driven effort just wide of the right-hand post.

The early exchanges made bleak viewing for the travelling fans and Adkins was forced into his first change after 28 minutes, bringing on Yoshida for his debut in place of Hooiveld, who had been struggling with a calf injury this week.

The Japan defender could

do nothing, though, to prevent Podolski scoring three minutes later.

After Francis Coquelin was upended, the Germany international exquisitely curled a 25-yard free-kick over the wall into the top corner past the helpless Davis.

However, the Southampton goalkeeper - and defence should have done much better with Arsenal’s third that came after 35 minutes.

Gervinho connected with an excellent Mikel Arteta dink over the top and the Ivorian lashed home, finding time and space to beat Davis at his near post.

It was proving a nightmare

first half for Saints as they failed to cope with Arsenal and it got worse eight minutes before half-time with a second own goal.

Another break ended with the being ball played out left to Gibbs, who again saw his cross directed home by a player in yellow - this time Clyne the unfortunate party.

It was not just Southampton making errors, though, as the returning Szczesny spilt a high cross from the right under pressure from Rickie Lambert, allowing Fox to lash home on the stroke of half-time.

It was one of a handful of chances for the visitors in the second half, leading Adkins to bring on record signing Ramirez for his debut in a bid to create more going forward.

Saints looked far more confident and composed following the introduction of the Uruguay international, who tested Szczesny five minutes after coming on.

Ramirez soon turned provider as he played through Lambert, but he could only direct wide under pressure.

Oxlade-Chamberlain bundled wide a Gervinho cross as Arsenal looked to extend their advantage - which they managed to do in the 71st minute.

Cazorla, impressing once again in midfield, played through substitute Aaron Ramsey, whose exquisite turn was followed up by a shot that came back off the post for Gervinho to tap home.

Davis was forced into a fine save to prevent former teammate Oxlade-Chamberlain netting, before substitute Walcott capped a fine day for Arsenal by netting late on after the Saints goalkeeper parried.