Cyprus Mail www.cyprus-mail.com
Friday, February 22, 2013
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Bailiffs come for state cars
Sylikiotis caught in crossfire as they demand his vehicle’s keys By Stefanos Evripidou
C
OURT bailiffs armed with a warrant issued in connection with unpaid state debts attempted to seize a ministerial car outside the finance ministry yesterday but were prevented by the car’s driver, a policeman, who drove the car into the basement parking and out of reach. The bailiffs reported the officer to the police for obstructing efforts to execute a court-approved seizure warrant. The Attorney-general, who incidentally gets to decide on state prosecutions, argued the attempted seizure was wrong and unfair. This is the second time in a week that bailiffs attempted to seize moveable property of the state in connection with money owed by the state over a specific €5m-worth land expropriation. According to Attorney-general Petros Clerides, earlier this week and armed with the same seizure warrant, bailiffs attempted to seize the property of the Accountant-General but were stopped after Clerides’ intervention. Yesterday’s bizarre scenes unfolded before media crews and were quickly posted on the internet for public viewing. Media crews were waiting outside, documenting events unfold, as the bailiffs first entered the ministry’s basement parking, recording the registration plates of six luxury state-owned cars, which they planned to seize in lieu of the unpaid debt. The ministry’s permanent secretary told them they
would not be allowed to take the cars so the bailiffs took a pick-up truck and parked it at the exit point of the basement parking, while they stood at the entry point, waiting to seize any state car going in or out of the building. When Commerce Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis unknowingly made his way in his ministerial car to the finance ministry for a meeting, bailiffs flagged down the car and asked the driver to hand over the keys. A verbal altercation followed between the driver and the bailiffs. At one point Sylikiotis joined in the fray, giving one of the bailiffs a gentle shove while encouraging him to cease and desist. The bailiffs insisted on taking the car at which point the minister reminded them that his driver was a police officer. “It doesn’t matter what he is Mr Minister,” said the bailiff, turning to the other and shouting, “Get the pick-up truck.” Sylikiotis muttered something along the lines of what was going on and why were the cameras rolling, after which he made his way to the ministry, leaving behind his driver who took the opportunity to drive the car away from the bailiffs and safely into the gated parking of the basement. The bailiffs had arrived at the ministry in the morning armed with a warrant related to a €5m debt owed to a Nicosia landowner whose land was initially expropriated by the state for CY £600,000 for the purposes of building a school. According to Clerides, when
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Commerce Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis (left) argues with a bailiff who has just told the minister’s driver to hand over (Christos Theodorides) the keys of his car outside the finance ministry yesterday morning
Mini planet found far beyond earth’s solar system ASTRONOMERS have found a mini planet beyond our solar system that is the smallest of more than 800 extrasolar planets discovered, scientists have said. The planet, known as Kepler-37b, is one of three circling a yellow star similar to the sun that is located in the constellation Lyra, about 210 light years away. One light year is about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion km). “We see very large planets and they’re uncommon. Earth-sized planets seem to be pretty common, so our guess is that small planets must be even more common,” said Thomas Barclay, with NASA’s Ames Research Centre in Mountain View, California.
The smaller the planet, the more difficult it is to find. Kepler-37b, as well as two sibling planets, were discovered with a NASA space telescope of the same name, which studies light from about 150,000 sun-like stars. The Kepler telescope works by detecting slight dips in the amount of light coming from target stars caused by orbiting planets passing by, or transiting, relative to the observatory’s line of sight. The smaller the planet, the less pronounced the dip. Of the 833 confirmed planets found beyond the solar system, 114 were discovered by the Kepler science team, according to the project’s website. Nearly 3,000 more Kepler candidate planets
are being analysed. Planets located in “habitable zones” around their host stars, where water can exist on their surfaces, are of particular interest. Water is believed to be necessary for life. A planet positioned about where Earth orbits the sun would take a year to fly around its parent star. At least two, and preferably three or more orbits are needed to confirm a transit spotted by the Kepler telescope is indeed a planet and not a star flare or some other phenomenon. Kepler-37b flies about 10 times closer to its star than Earth circles the sun, which gives it a surface temperature of about 800 degrees Fahrenheit (427 degrees Celsius).