Sunday Mail newspaper

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PRIVATE EDUCATION ON

GNARLED GLORY INSIDE

Twenty-page supplement looks at what is available on the island from kindergarten to university

Pricey, ancient olives have become the latest trendy tree

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www.cyprus-mail.com

March 10, 2013

TV and lifestyle supplements to see you though the week

€1.60

COFFEESHOP: RETURN OF THE TROIKA’S DELIGHTFUL DELIA PAGE 17 INSIDE Cyprus Waging war on ‘safe’ electronic cigarettes 4

World Kenyatta wins Kenyan presidential election 9

Reportage Drones are changing the way we see the world and each other centre

Lifestyle Meeting the man behind the Moshi Monsters 20

Sport Everton shell shocked after Wigan blitz back

State’s hands tied over SGOs Election pledges they will be safe are being put to test by the troika By Elias Hazou

W

ITH THE troika at the gates, election campaign declarations are taking a back seat to the exigencies of salvaging the economy. Pledges that the so-called ‘profitable’ semi-governmental organisations (SGOs) would be left untouched are now being put to the test. Lines drawn in the sand before the elections are now being swept away by the tide of bailout talks. Publicly at least, the goalposts on what constitute acceptable terms of a bailout seem to be shifting by the day, by the hour. Mere talk of a haircut on deposits which the government has rejected - means that priorities must be re-jigged. On February 14, three days before the first round of the presidential elections, candidate Nicos Anastasiades met with the bosses of the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CyTA). “We are steadfastly opposed to privatisations,” he told them. “We shall fight, making use of new reports concerning the recapitalisation needs of the banks, to avoid what is being threatened and what has been agreed,” Anastasiades had said, alluding to a clause in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) struck between the previous administration and the troika. And in an interview with the Financial Times conducted on the day of the runoff vote, Anastasiades signalled he

was not prepared to accede to some of the demands made by international lenders, particularly sweeping privatisations, which some in Brussels believe can raise as much as €2 billion and thus reduce the bailout figure. “We’d like to discuss whether we can postpone [privatisation] for perhaps three years, depending on the pace of recovery and progress with other reforms,” Anastasiades told the FT. “There are several possible scenarios . . . but we have to preserve social cohesion and peaceful labour relations.” That was before. On February 27 finance minister Michalis Sarris appeared not to rule out privatisations, even displaying a certain bias on the subject. He told reporters that consumers pay high prices and demand good services for public utilities, adding: “Who owns [the SGOs] is less important, and I think what is needed is to improve pricing and the quality of services offered.” He did hasten to add, however, that the possibility of privatisations is linked to whether the national debt is sustainable. Communist AKEL immediately pounced, prodding the new government to clarify its position vis-a-vis the SGOs. Anastasiades was apparently forced to repeat his pre-election pledge; he assured staff at SGOs that their jobs were secure and their rights protected whatever happened.

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Tibetan mastiff puppies for sale at a mastiff show in Baoding, China yesterday. Fetching up to $750,000, mastiffs have become a prized status-symbol among China’s wealthy. Owners say the mastiffs, descendants of dogs used for hunting by nomadic tribes in central Asia and Tibet, are fiercely loyal and protective. Breeders still travel to the Himalayan plateau to collect young puppies (AFP)

Britons back Falkland Islands action says poll MOST British adults believe its government should be ready to consider military action in the face of an invasion threat to the Falkland Islands, according to a study. Ahead of a referendum today and tomorrow asking islanders if they want the area to remain a British overseas territory, an opinion poll found that 77 per cent of UK voters believe the future of the Falklands should be decided by those who live there. More than half questioned for the ComRes poll for ITV News disagreed with suggestions that it was not Britain’s job to defend the islands.

The research also found six in 10 adults believed the UK should keep all options - including the possibility of military action - open when deciding how to respond to a threat of invasion while just 16 per cent disagreed and 24 per cent did not know. Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has ramped up the rhetoric over the sovereignty of the islands, which her nation calls Las Malvinas, in recent months. Authorities in Port Stanley hope the upcoming vote will send a clear message to Argentina that residents wish to remain British.


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Sunday Mail newspaper by Cyprus Mail Co Ltd - Issuu