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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

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Eurogroup throws the ball back at us Euro ministers want to spare smaller savers, but hit richer harder By Stefanos Evripidou

UROZONE FINANCE ministers last night urged Cyprus to protect small savers’ deposits while still coming up with €5.8 billion from a deposit levy so the island’s €10 billion bailout could go ahead. The Eurogroup appeared to show flexibility on the details of how Cyprus should implement the unprecedented haircut on bank deposits, following the blowback caused by its decision last Saturday to take 6.75 per cent from insured depositors with under €100,000 in a Cyprus-based bank, and 9.9 per cent from deposits over that amount. The Cyprus deal sent shockwaves through financial markets yesterday, with shares, the euro and the bonds of southern eurozone countries sliding. Uncertainty reigned as a Cypriot parliamentary vote on Saturday’s deal was postponed twice - from Sunday to Monday and then to Tuesday - with the government nowhere near certain of winning a majority vote. The ongoing confusion led the Central Bank to announce yesterday that all banks will be closed today and tomorrow, likely in fear of a depositor’s bank run. Ahead of a plenary session in the legislature, scheduled for 6pm today, the eurozone’s finance ministers held a teleconference call for one and a half hours last night to take a second look at their initial decision. According to Reuters, the EU finance ministers said they favoured a higher, 15.6 per cent hit for richer savers

so more modest accounts could be spared. Various reports suggest it was exactly this kind of deal that the Cypriot delegation in Brussels rejected at the weekend, fearing the destruction of their banking model which lures money from rich Russians and others. It was not clear if Nicosia will accept it now but if it does, it would still need to raise €5.8 billion from the bank levy as planned, a Greek finance ministry source said, as well as get the levy passed through parliament. “All Eurogroup ministers said (last night) they wished there was no tax below €100,000 but you can’t force a country to not do that,” the Greek source told Reuters. “Cyprus doesn’t want to impose a large tax above €100,000 because the money will flow out. Two thirds of deposits are from abroad,” he added. Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem released a statement after the teleconference recalling that the weekend’s controversial decision was the product of “consensus” between the Cypriot government and the Eurogroup.” He reiterated that the stability levy on deposits is a “oneoff measure” to restore the viability of the Cypriot banking system and safeguard financial stability in Cyprus, adding that without it, deposit holders would be “significantly worse off”. “The Eurogroup continues to be of the view that small depositors should be treated differently from large depositors and reaffirms the importance of fully guaranteeing

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Irate demonstrators outside the House of Representatives yesterday. FULL STORY PAGE 4

(CNA)

Russia wants future involvement on Cyprus after ‘dangerous’ levy By Lidia Kelly and Alexei Anishchuk A LACK of coordination with Russia in future on Cyprus could affect a decision by Moscow on restructuring its €2.5 billion euro loan to the island, the Russian ﬁnance minister said yesterday. Russian President Vladimir Putin branded as “dangerous” a weekend decision by the European Union to impose a levy on Cypriot bank accounts as part of a €10 billion bailout. The EU agreed the move without involving Russia which has strong ﬁnancial ties with the country. Russians account

for much of the billions of euros held in Cypriot banks by foreign depositors and its banks are heavily exposed to the island. As part of a package of support for Cyprus, EU officials expect Russia to extend its existing loan by five years and refinance terms. But Moscow was frustrated that it was not consulted on the levy proposal. “We had an agreement with colleagues from the eurozone that we’d coordinate our actions (on Cyprus),” Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told Reuters. “So, we will consider the issue of restructuring of the loan taking into account our (future) participation in the coordinated

actions with the European Union to help Cyprus.” Amongst the host of calls for alternative measures to be taken over the weekend was that of an alleged counterproposal by Russian giant Gazprom. Reports claimed that in exchange for ﬁnancial support, Gazprom would be given the right to extract natural gas from Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone. Those reports were denied, both by Gazprom spokesman, Sergey Kupriyanov, and Government Spokesman, Christos Stylianides. “Reports of a deal are not correct,” Stylianides said yesterday.

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Tuesday, March 19, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

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Weather 13

Paralimni

Nicosia 19

Troodos T

20 20

Larnaca

20 2

Paphos

LLimassol

TODAY: Cloudy, with isolated showers over the mountains. Temperatures will reach 19C inland, 20C along the coasts and 13C over higher ground OUTLOOK: Finer weather over Wednesday and Thursday gives way to cloudy patches and a small dip in temperatures on Friday YESTERDAY:

Max Temp Nicosia 17 Larnaca 18 Limassol 18 Paphos 18 Paralimni 17 Prodromos 12

Min 5 7 10 8 8 1

Humidity 33% 37% 46% 46% 31% 74%

SUNRISE: 05:52am

SUNSET: 5:57pm

Pollution Low/Medium Low/Low Low/Low Low Low No data

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

Worldwide 15 33 -2 6 3 36 -2 8 0 2 16 9

Light Rain Cloudy Light Snow Cloudy Cloudy Haze Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy

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

9 6 -1 -5 5 -3 11 -3 0 -2 36 1

Cloudy Rain Light Snow Cloudy Cloudy Snow Cloudy Light Snow Light Rain Sunny Cloudy Cloudy

EXCHANGE

€

1.3083

€

0.8675

For a full list of exchange rates, see page 6

CHEMISTS NICOSIA M. Antoniou, 21A Prodromou Ave. Tel: 22664442, 22436752 (H) K. Christodoulou, 25A Kapenisiou St. Tel: 22376960, 22378494 (H) M. Paranis, 28D Lycavitou St, Makedonitissa. Tel: 22355715, 22354282 (H) D. K. Kokkinou, 124 Limassol Ave. Tel: 22422470, 22428499 E. A. Antoniades, corner Athalassa & 2A Hadjijoseph Ave, Acropolis. Tel: 22314634, 22491526 (H) LIMASSOL M. P. Kantonidou, Franklin Roosevelt St, Zakaki. Tel:

There are fears of angry crowds when banks open By George Christou

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

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Banks stay closed but ATM’s are stocked up

25390354, 25388448 (H) Y. Tooulia, 28 Nafpliou St. Tel: 25350829, 25715141 (H) Ch. Agamemnonos 131 Vas. Konstantinou Tel: 25870748, 25737455 (H) LARNACA L. Vernis, 29 S. Timayia Ave. Tel: 24638470, 24533055(H) M. Tamboulis, 50. 52 Ayiou Lazarou St. Tel: 24628869, 24362890 (H) PAPHOS C. Papadopoullou,83 Ellados Ave. Tel: 26931339, 26653684 (H) PARALIMNI I. Pittatzis, 7 Ay. Georgiou St. Tel: 23822577, 23827058 (H)

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BANKS will remain closed today and tomorrow, the Central Bank announcing yesterday that “March 19 and March 20 have been declared bank holidays.” “We could not have opened, with the bill for the deposits levy still pending,” said a senior bank executive who added that nobody knew what the levy would eventually be. The angry reaction, caused by the bail-in of small depositors had forced the government to re-consider how the haircut would be applied. On Sunday night the Central Bank had informed commercial banks that the levy percentages had changed. For deposits up to €100,000 the levy would be 3 per cent, between €100,000 and €500,000 10 per cent and above €500,000, 12.5 per cent. At yesterday morning’s House Finance Committee meeting, the Governor of the Central Bank Panicos Demetriades suggested that there should be no levy on deposits of up to €100,000, but he could not say what percentages would have to be cut from bigger deposits to make up the €5.8 billion that had to be raised from the haircut. In spite of the banks being closed, ATMs will be

stocked up with cash for people wanting to make withdrawals. Banks had to re-supply the machines with euro-notes several times over the long weekend, especially after the announcement of the bailin early on Saturday morning. “ATMs usually run out of money on Monday evening when it is a long weekend, but last Saturday they ran out by 8.30 in the morning,” said the bank executive. There were instructions from the Central Bank to keep re-supplying the ATMs, but by Monday most branches had no more money and had to ask for extra cash from the Central Bank. In an announcement issued yesterday, the Association of Cyprus Banks said that “in cooperation with the Central Bank of Cyprus, banks are making every effort to ensure that the increased needs of cash among the public will be continuously satisﬁed through the ATMs.” Meanwhile, the banks have been trying to agree a uniform policy for dealing with customers once the banks ﬁnally open to the public. Although there has been no agreement, the maximum amount of same-day cash withdrawal is expected to be €10,000. Sums up to €200,000 would be available the next day. No uniform policy has

Banks are due to stay closed until Thursday been agreed on how to deal with customers wanting to cash fixed-term deposits. Breaking a fixed-term deposit is at the discretion of the bank which usually imposes a hefty fine when it is cashed, but it is unlikely banks would be very obliging when such a request is made. The biggest concern of

QUICK CROSSWORD 2341 Across

Down

1 Peak (4) 8 Chastised (10) 9 OT prophet (4) 10 Parental (anag.) (8) 12 Traitor (5) 13 Bend (3) 16 Manly (6) 17 Meat from entrails (6) 18 Your (archaic) (3) 21 Mind (5) 22 Feeble person (8) 24 Not gross (4) 25 Deposing (10) 26 Vortex (4)

2 Official report (10) 3 Wildly happy (8) 4 3-D (6) 5 Great pain (5) 6 Let it stand (4) 7 Hero (4) 11 Mitigated (10) 13 Gamble (3) 14 For what reason (3) 15 Alienate (8) 19 Sharpening (6) 20 Renown (5) 22 Broad (4) 23 Neat (anag.) (4)

For cryptic crossword and answers to the previous quick crossword see page 14

the banks, once they open their doors to the public, is security. There are fears that they may have to deal with angry crowds entering branches and will have security staff stationed outside the big branches to control the number of people allowed in at any time. Security guards would also be patrolling branches.

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Home ECB says it’s up to Cyprus to decide structure of levy By Annika Breidthardt and Michelle Martin IT IS UP to the Cypriot government to decide the structure of a levy on depositors in its banks, but its contribution to the bailout must amount to €5.8 billion, European Central Bank board member Joerg Asmussen said yesterday. Under a €10 billion rescue agreed in the early hours of Saturday in Brussels, savers with deposits in Cypriot banks below €100,000 would be hit with a 6.7 per cent levy, while those above that threshold would take a 9.9 per cent hit.

Cyprus delayed a parliamentary vote on the deal until today, giving the Nicosia government time to build support for it by softening the blow to smaller savers, tilting more of the levy towards those with larger deposits. “It is the Cypriot government’s reform programme. It is up to the government alone to decide if it wants to change the structure of the ... contribution (from) the banking sector,” Asmussen told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Berlin. “The important thing is that the ﬁnancial contribution of €5.8 billion remains. It is of course in the hands of the Cypriot government and its parliament to decide on the structure.”

Asmussen stressed that Cypriot banks had access to emergency liquidity through the Cypriot central bank and would regain access to normal liquidity operations of the euro system again as soon as the programme was approved and banks recapitalised. “I want to stress that in the current situation, Cypriot banks have access to emergency liquidity of the central bank of Cyprus according to the rules of the euro system,” he said. “The liquidity provision is generally there for all banks of the euro system. We make liquidity available for solvent banks,” Asmussen added. Asmussen said there was no easy or risk-free decision in dealing with Cyprus’s heavily in-

debted banking sector, and he stressed the importance of the tiny Mediterranean island for the wider eurozone. “We have always said the country is systemically relevant for the eurozone as a whole. There could be contagion, especially via the banking system to Greece and possible contagion for countries which are currently getting towards the end of their programmes like Ireland and Portugal,” he said. Cyprus accounts for just 0.2 per cent of eurozone gross domestic product. Asked later if the deal might hit depositors in other countries, Asmussen said Cyprus was a special case.

Eurogroup throws the ball back in Cyprus’ court after tense day (continued from frnot page) deposits below €100,000,” he said. Dijsselbloem said the Cypriot authorities “will introduce more progressivity in the one-off levy compared to what was agreed” last Saturday, provided that it still raises the €5.8 billion demanded to release the €10 billion rescue package. The decision taken at the weekend in Brussels to raise €5.8 billion from Cypriot-held deposits across the board was widely viewed by foreign media and analysts as a bad decision that will lead to further uncertainty and undermine what little confidence there was in the eurozone and its banking system. The Economist described the decision as “unfair, short-sighted and selfdefeating”, while Forbes said the German-led group of EU officials who engineered the Cyprus bailout did a botch job after violating the principle pillar of modern banking - deposit insurance. “If I were a saver, certainly in Spain or maybe Italy, I think I’d be looking askance at these measures and think this could yet happen to me,” said Peter Dixon, global financial economist at Commerzbank. In Cyprus, the majority of people and parties were first in shock and then uproar, questioning why small Cyprus should be the first country in the eurozone to force a hit on depositors, and especially insured ones. As the full effect of the initial decision hit home, EU leaders and banking officials appeared to show some flexibility on the details of a deal, while also trying to pass the buck on who’s decision it was to force losses on insured depositors. “What happened at the weekend was a big buckle in confidence,” Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter told a panel discussion on the future of Europe yesterday. She argued that the European Central Bank (ECB) and Cyprus rejected a sliding scale one-off

Finance ministers said they favoured a higher, 15.6pct hit for richer savers, so more modest accounts spared

President Nicos Anastasiades is mobbed by reporters outside parliament yesterday tax on deposits going from 3.5 to 12.5 per cent, preferring instead to cap the levy at under 10 per cent. “It is up to the government alone to decide if it wants to change the structure,” ECB policymaker Joerg Asmussen, who was pivotal in the weekend negotiations, told reporters in Berlin. “The important thing is that the ﬁnancial contribution of €5.8 billion remains.” President Nicos Anastasiades last night chaired a meeting at the Presiden-

tial Palace including Central Bank governor Panicos Demetriades, cabinet members and finance ministry officials. According to the Cyprus News Agency, finance ministry sources said the new formula will be fairer on small savers but not too prohibitive for big depositors. It remains to be seen what deal the government will present parliament today and whether it can be passed. As for the longterm, Cyprus will just have to wait and see what the

ﬁnal impact of the last few days will be on its economy and future. Mixed reports doing the rounds yesterday suggested various scenarios where, in one case, depositors with under €20,000 or €25,000 would be spared the levy, while in another scenario all insured depositors would be taxed 3 per cent, 10 per cent would be slapped on depositers with €100,000 to €500,000 and accounts exceeding €500,000 would see a 15 per cent levy.

(Christos Theodorides) The last scenario to be heard came after last night’s Eurogroup meeting, and it follows the view that insured depositors be spared while the remainder get a 15.6 per cent levy. “Essentially parliament is called to legalise a decision to rob depositors blind, against every written and unwritten law,” said House Speaker and EDEK leader Yiannakis Omirou earlier in the day, adding, “We refuse to subscribe to this”. CB governor Demetriades told parliament yester-

day: “The most important question is what would happen the following day if the bill isn’t voted.” He added: “What would certainly happen is that our two big banks would need to be consolidated. This doesn’t mean that they would be completely destroyed. We will aim for this to happen in a completely orderly way.” Demetriades is reportedly against taxing insured depositors to raise the funds demanded by the troika as a precondition for the bailout, noting that this undermines trust in the banking system. Earlier yesterday, Finance Minister Michalis Sarris commented on his role in the weekend’s shock decision. Sarris reminded MPs that the government was adamantly against any haircut, adding that Cyprus had proposed taxation on interests for a three-year period, yielding an amount that would be close to the funds required, but the IMF and countries such as The Netherlands, Finland and Germany insisted on a levy on all deposits. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble deﬂected blame for the hit on small savers yesterday saying this solution “was not the creation of the German government”. Schaeuble added that the Cypriot business model of attracting capital with low taxes and favourable legal regulation had proven to be unsustainable. But it had been “imperative in the interest of defending our common currency” to offer Cyprus aid. The Presidential Palace yesterday categorically denied that Anastasiades ever had the choice of not taxing deposits under €100,000. In a written statement, government spokesman Christos Stylianides said Anastasiades fought to avert this “unprecedented development” which “has been imposed in a coercive manner by those who try today to justify their own decisions”. Their position was that by not taxing insured depositors Cyprus would not secure the necessary bailout sum, he added.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

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House vote will be a close call Junior coalition partners DIKO says it will not accept terms as they stand By Peter Stevenson and George Christou A SIMPLE majority in the 56-member House of Representatives would be required for approval of the government bill on the deposits haircut, assuming the twice-postponed vote is held today. However the numbers simply do not add up to a majority. Three parties AKEL (19 seats), EDEK (5) and the single-seat Greens decided on Sunday that they would vote against the haircut. This leaves President Anastasiades relying on his party DISY (20 seats) and his government’s coalition partner DIKO (8). Even if he ensures that all DISY members would back the bill the support of the eight members of DIKO that would give the government a ﬁghting chance of passing it, is far from certain. At least three DIKO deputies had indicated they would not back the bill. Yesterday, another DIKO member, chairman of the House Finance Committee, Nicholas Papadopoulos, reportedly called for the rejection of the bill, the closure of the banks for a week and the re-negotiation of the deal reached at Friday’s Eurogroup meeting. It is unclear in which direction the European Party, which has two seats, would go. Its leader Demetris Syllouris said he was opposed to the haircut after Saturday night’s meeting at the presidential palace, but appeared to have softened his stance

since then. Finally, there is one independent deputy, who is an unashamed populist and is unlikely to back the bill. In the best case scenario the government would have 26 deputies backing its bill. Its only hope of passing it through the legislature is that at least ﬁve of the anti-haircut camp’s deputies would not attend today’s plenum. There was no shortage of opposing voices yesterday. EVROKO deputy, Nicos Koutsou called on the public to resist the measures and to express their feelings, in a peaceful manner, outside the House today. He also said that the President’s address to the nation on Sunday did not offer-up anything new.

‘YES MAN’ “It conﬁrmed that he operates as a conveyor belt bringing extortionate terms from ‘his friends’,” Koutsou said. He said Anastasiades was the number one ‘yes man’ in the Cypriot political system. Greens MP, George Perdikis, said Cyprus required leadership that would resist the ‘fatal procedure’ which the country was being put through. “I have come to the conclusion that beyond any doubt, our partners in Europe are untrustworthy,” he said. Junior government partners, DIKO said the party could not support the proposed haircut bill as it stands. “DIKO considers the outcome of the Eurogroup decision as cata-

strophic for Cyprus and the Cypriot economy,” a party statement said. The party has given President Nicos Anastasiades certain suggestions and set certain conditions for the acceptance of any deal, it added. The executive ofﬁce will meet again today at noon to look over any possible changes to the proposal in order to make a ﬁnal decision before the House Plenum. DIKO leader Marios Garoyian, said Cyprus was being used as a guinea pig. “The European Central Bank, as well as everyone else, is trying to go about their business as best they can, as we are too in trying to protect the interests of our country,” he said. “We are in a state of emergency and we are required to take all the measures that we feel are essential, important and vital to protect our country’s interests,” he added. Main opposition party AKEL, decided on Sunday that it would vote against any proposed haircut bill after a meeting of its central committee. The party has prepared an alternative solution that it will present to the President and the parliamentary parties it said. Speaking to the Cyprus Mail yesterday, former Labour Minister and AKEL deputy, Sotiroulla Charalambous said that the party would vote against any haircut proposal regardless of any possible changes that could be made. “Our suggestion is that a solution is found without troika’s assistance,” she said.

Protesters carry a sign with the word ‘thieves’ in Greek, English and German

Hundreds protest despite postponement AROUND 1,000 people gathered outside Parliament yesterday despite a vote on the proposed haircut being postponed until today at 6pm. Around half of the protesters dispersed quite quickly after receiving news that the vote had been put back, planning on regrouping outside the House today. “I’m here for the same reason as everyone else, to protest the bill and we will come tomorrow and the next day if required,” 56-yearold insurance salesman Lambros Kannaouros said. “The decision to make the people pay is unfair,” he added. Petros Heracleous a 26year-old unemployed protester believed that

attempts to restructure the haircut were preplanned to make the people think that the politicians were trying to change something. “We prefer to keep our pride instead of suffering the repercussions of a haircut,” he said. Forty-year-old telecommunications regulator, Yiannos Demetriou felt that a haircut would go against human rights and against the Cyprus constitution. “They are trying to take advantage of us so they can take our natural gas and impose a solution to the Cyprus problem that will suit foreign powers,” he said. “If Anastasiades is assuming the political cost of the haircut then he should call for a referendum or a general election,” he added.

Russia wants future involvement on Cyprus after ‘dangerous’ levy (continued from front page) A host of private jets arrived in Cyprus late on Sunday and early on Monday morning as Russian businessmen gathered on the island to discuss possible moves with consultants this week in light of the weekend’s developments. With a vote by the Cyprus parliament on the measure now delayed until today, the government in Nicosia was working on a plan to soften the blow for smaller savers. There are almost €70 billion euros in deposits held in Cyprus. A little less than half that is held by non-residents, most believed to be Russian, prompting the strong comments from the Kremlin. “While assessing the proposed additional levy on bank accounts in Cyprus, (President) Putin said that such a decision, should it be made, would be unfair, unprofessional and dangerous,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. Putin called a special Kremlin meeting

yesterday to discuss developments. Cyprus’ Finance Minister Michael Sarris will visit Moscow tomorrow for meetings to try to pin down new loan terms, a Russian government source said. Ofﬁcials have also said Russian investors are interested in buying a majority stake in Cyprus Popular Bank and increasing their holdings in the Bank of Cyprus - the two biggest banks on the island. Cyprus is a favoured offshore centre for Russian big business, thanks to its low taxes and light regulation. It ranks as the largest source of foreign direct investment into Russia - money that is largely Russian in origin. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the euro zone decision seemed to be aimed at conﬁscating someone else’s property. “This practice, unfortunately, was well known and familiar in the Soviet period,” Medvedev was quoted as saying by Russian media.

Although Russia has never imposed an ofﬁcial levy on deposits in post-Soviet history, during its 1998 crisis it imposed a moratorium on exchanging hard currency bank deposits, which hit bank deposits hard. At the end of last year, Russian banks had around $12 billion on deposit with Cypriot banks and corporate deposits accounted for another $19 billion, according to Moody’s credit-rating agency. That ﬁgure is more than twice the size of the bailout, which has been repeatedly delayed amid concerns from other EU states that the close business and banking ties with Russia made Cyprus a conduit for money-laundering. Most of Russia’s largest banks have some credit exposure to Cyprus. VTB, Russia’s second-largest bank by assets, had $13.8 billion in assets and $374 million through its Cypriot subsidiary, Russian Commercial Bank, at the end of 2011. A trader in a large foreign bank operating in Russia

said VTB’s Cyprus deposits amount to several billions through its Cyprus subsidiary RCB. “Assuming $3 billion in deposits and an 8 per cent tax hit, VTB’s clients would lose around $240 million, but no exposure to the bank itself,” the trader said. Russians have stashed away huge sums in Cyprus since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, making the most of low taxes and light regulation to keep their money safe and, in some cases, to launder it. But Russian banks, companies and individuals will be hit hard if Cyprus imposes the one-off levy on bank deposits as part of a European Union bailout, and some started withdrawing their money even before the weekend deal was agreed. “Corporate clients have been calling and emailing asking what is happening and they are quite concerned to say the least, because they need to know what to do,” said Thomas Keane,

co-founder of Cyprus-based law firm Keane Vgenopoulou & Associates LLC, which has Russian corporations amongst its clients. “They are considering discussing looking at other jurisdictions.” Keane said that in the past ten days since rumours surfaced about such a move, Russian depositors had taken around €2 billion out of Cyprus. A Moscow-based adviser said: “People will start looking at London, Zurich, maybe the Far East, Switzerland.” Michael Pugh, partner at law firm Hogan Lovells in Moscow said he expected the move to provoke turmoil in the markets and could lead to people withdrawing their deposits, which in turn may destabilise Cyprus further. “When I heard about it, my first thought of course was ‘Oh God, I have money there.’ And I got scared. Really scared,” said a panicky customer who declined to give her name outside a

branch of Uniastrum Bank in Moscow. She poured scorn on an ofﬁcial statement by the bank that client deposits were secure. Uniastrum, a bank best known for providing payments services, is controlled by Bank of Cyprus, in which Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev owns a minority stake. One Russian bank, Alfa Bank, estimates that $70 billion of illegal capital ﬂight from Russia in the past two decades may have found its way to Cyprus. Ivan Tchakarov, Chief Economist, Russia & CIS at Renaissance Capital, said the moves were “obviously manageable from a macro perspective but will be very painful for individual depositors.” “Russians can ask a fair question - we have a deep relationship with Cyprus and have been helping them with loans ... In terms of the Russian reaction - they are not happy,” he said.

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Home British expats’ pensions delayed amid banking crisis SEVERAL thousand expat Britons with Cypriot bank accounts have had their pension payments frozen to ensure they receive them after a proposed bank deposit tax, Britain’s treasury minister Greg Clark said yesterday. Clark told MPs the government was putting pension payments on hold until “at least tomorrow” to

“ensure that any payments made by Her Majesty’s Government to banks in Cyprus get to the intended recipient”. His statement came as the Cypriot government postponed a vote on the unprecedented one-off bank deposit tax, part of a wider bailout package, until tomorrow. Clark said several thousand UK

pensioners in Cyprus would have their payments temporarily frozen, adding that it is possible to change the designated bank account to receive payments online. “Any UK pensioners in Cyprus can be assured that their future pension payments are being held safely and a normal payment service will resume as soon as the situ-

ation in Cyprus becomes clear,” he said. “However, recipients of these payments are able of course to switch the bank account to which payments are made with immediate effect.” Clark urged anyone wishing to do so to contact the International Pension Centre online.

Hard-hit expats blame Downer is among those EU and stand by Cyprus Downer has a local account

hit by levy UN ENVOY Alexander Downer will be among those who will lose money under the deposit levy, according to The Australian newspaper. The paper said Downer holds a personal bank account in Cyprus. He told the paper he used the account when in the country in his capacity as the UN Secretary-General’s special adviser on Cyprus. He was in Cyprus for all of last week. Yesterday he spoke from New York where he brieﬁng the Security Council on the Cypriot elections. “The economic situation is not my area of expertise - but I know all about it because I have a bank account in Cyprus,” Downer told the newspaper. “They (Cypriots) have no choice. They don’t have any other option, and that’s the issue. They need to raise this money - the banks need to be recapitalised or they’ll go broke.” Asked how many people in Australia might be affected by the new tax, Downer said: “There’s me. There could be quite a lot.”

6.75% TAX He declined to reveal how much he held in his account, but said he would be levied at 6.75 per cent, which applies to deposits up to €100,000. Downer told the paper he was not particularly upset because “the alternative is that the bank would go broke, and I’d lose all my money that I have in the bank”. “I am realistic enough to realise that under this plan I will save all but 6.75 per cent of my money. But if you are in a bank that goes broke, it can be quite a problem,” he said. “These are conditions that have been laid down by the troika - the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the IMF - and the Cypriots have had no choice but to accept them. They won’t be thinking very good things about it, and they’re apparently terribly worried about it, but they’ve only just had a presidential election. The Cypriots themselves will have to put up with some excruciating pain over the possible collapse of the banks,” Downer said.

‘We’ve been legally robbed and are powerless to do anything about it’ By Bejay Browne AFTER the initial shock reaction to the news of a oneoff levy on bank deposits in Cyprus to meet the bailout terms, British expats living in Paphos seemed mostly resigned to the situation yesterday. Paphos has the highest number of expat residents of any town in Cyprus. Many of them are retirees and have invested in homes and have lump sums deposited in local banks. Others have businesses and children at schools in the area. Any account - both deposit and current accounts - in credit will be subject to the levy. People with less than €100,000 in Cypriot bank accounts will have to pay a onetime tax of 6.75 per cent, while those with more will have to pay 9.9 per cent. Mike and Christine Bingham retired to Cyprus three years ago and have just deposited a substantial amount of money into their account- a ﬁrst time buyer rebate. They hold accounts with both the Bank of Cyprus and Popular Bank. Bingham and his wife live in Peyia in Paphos, an area where hundreds of British savers will be affected. “We’re not happy about this news but it seems that it’s what the government has to do,” he said. “We chose to come and live here and so we have to abide by the rules. It’s not the government’s fault, it’s down to the EU. They have imposed these rules.” The Binghams said that they believe that the EU has taken completely the wrong approach. “They should have said here’s the bailout - see what you can do to help save money.” But the expat retirees do think that Cyprus has been wrong in the past in actively

Mike and Christine Bingham: ‘it’s a no-win situation for the general public’ helping people avoid tax. “If the parliament votes no, we don’t get the bailout. It’s a no-win situation as far as the general public is concerned.” Yvette Hardman, a 68-yearold retiree from Paphos was less sanguine. “I think this is a disgusting situation and the entire country has gone to the dogs. How everyday people can be punished for the fact that the government is unable to run the country properly is beyond me,” she said. “Cyprus is being punished for being too friendly with Russia - and it’s the ordinary people who are

going to suffer.” Hardman said the one-off levy was like “being held up by Dick Turpin without the mask”. “I shall be taking my money out of the country and am seriously considering my future here. I think it’s time to leave,” she added. But some residents feel that a knee jerk reaction is not the answer and the conditions imposed for the bailout are the fault of the Germans. Tala resident, Richard Mack said: “I think this needs to be put into perspective. Whilst the situation is a huge shock

to us all, I believe the levy is the lesser of two evils. I think the big-wigs in Europe have got Cyprus by the ba**s and the ramiﬁcations caused by these conditions are enormous. The Germans are to blame for this situation. “ He said none of the other countries who received bailouts had to take from the people in such a direct way. “This levy shouldn’t be allowed and will not help conﬁdence in Cyprus as a whole,” he said. Jenny Georgiou, a 37-yearold mother of two said she and her husband, an English Cypriot, had a large sum of money

in their savings account. “This will have a serious impact on the lives of my children, the money is for their future and we have worked hard for it,” she said. Robert Clayton has lived in Paphos for the last decade. He said one of the effects of the levy would be that British expats would no longer want to retire to Cyprus and the property market, which is already down will grind to a halt. “I think this move will mean many people will leave the island- especially Brits. But there will be some who have no choice but to stay as all of their money is tied up here,” he said. “We are being legally robbed and are powerless to do anything about it. But the government has been put in a very difﬁcult position and I do sympathise.” Many expat residents believe that if parliament votes against the levy, thousands of businesses will close, people will lose their jobs, power supply will be limited and fuel costs will be astronomical. “I hope that parliament votes in favour of this option (the one-off levy) it seems like the lesser of two evils. It’s disgusting treatment of an EU member state by the EU,” said another Paphos resident who did not wish to be named. “I will personally lose a substantial sum of money which I am quite prepared to do to help a county which I am happy to now call home. Only rats leave a sinking ship. We need to stand together and give the government our support and show the rest of the world that Cyprus can come through this. This is the way to keep our pride and self respect. I only hope that foreign investors and depositors will feel the same.”

Cyprus-based British troops and civil servants will be compensated BRITISH troops who face having their savings raided because of the European bailout of Cyprus will be compensated, the UK government has said. Around 3,000 military personnel and 250 civil servants will be protected should their savings be subject to the levy on bank accounts in Cyprus, the treasury said. A spokeswoman for the treasury said: “How much it will cost will be something that will be worked out

over the next few days. It’s obviously dependent on the number of service personnel who have bank accounts and then, because it’s very personal information, it will depend on how much money they have in their bank accounts. And that’s obviously something that takes time to work out. “Those that will be compensated will be armed service personnel and anyone who is working out there on behalf of the government.”

There are also 59,000 British residents in Cyprus and 1.1 million Britons visit the island every year, the Foreign Ofﬁce said. Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, British Chancellor George Osborne said: “For people serving in our military, for people serving our government out in Cyprus - because we have military bases there - we are going to compensate anyone who is affected by this bank tax. People who are doing

their duty for our country in Cyprus will be protected from this Cypriot bank tax.” Foreign Secretary William Hague reiterated Osborne’s pledge and said “we have to look after” any British personnel affected. The MoD said that how it would go about contacting personnel in Cyprus is “subject to further work” due to having to ask personal details about how much money people have in their bank accounts.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

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Anastasiades: there Delay to bank levy risks sales was no other option of Greek units ‘I was strongly opposed to specific provisions’ By George Christou PRESIDENT Nicos Anastasiades insisted in Sunday night’s televised address, that his decision to accept the haircut of deposits was the least painful of the two options he had and urged the political parties to approve it. Flanked by the Cyprus and EU flags, the sombrelooking but composed president stood behind a podium in a black suit and burgundy tie as he explained the choice he had had to make at Friday’s Eurogroup meeting was between disorderly bankruptcy and a “a very difficult but controlled and manageable situation”. “It was with a sense of historical responsibility that I took a decision, even though I was strongly opposed to specific provisions,” he said. “I had to decide which of the two would cause the least painful consequences and would safeguard the prospects of saving the Cyprus economy.” Rejecting the Eurogroup proposal would have led to the closure of one bank (Laiki), as the European Central Bank would have stopped providing liquidity assistance, and subsequently led to the suspension of operations of another (Bank of Cyprus) and the collapse of the banking sector. People would not be able to access their bank deposits and be hit by big losses, while thousands of small to medium businesses would be bankrupt; thousands of

President Anastasiades addressing the nation on Sunday banking sector jobs would also be lost. Bankruptcy could force Cyprus to leave the euro and lead to a “signiﬁcant devaluation of our currency and our national

wealth”. The president said he could not honour his commitment that he would “not accept, on any account, a bail-in of deposits”, when

the alternative would have led to “much more painful consequences for depositors and the economy”. The chosen solution was less painful in the circumstances because it allowed us to keep control of the management of the economy, he concluded. He also tried to explain that we could live with the levy on deposits, as “it does not exceed two years of interest earnings”. More importantly, this was a one-off contribution which “irrevocably secured the sustainability of the public debt, sparing future generations of suffering from our mistakes”. Some sweeteners were also offered by the president. Depositors would be compensated with shares in the banks that would require assistance, while those who kept their money in Cyprus’ banks would receive bonds (representing the value of half their losses from the haircut) linked to the state’s future earnings from natural gas. These were not the only positive points of Friday’s agreement, according to Anasatsiades. The provident and pension funds had been saved and no additional austerity measures, such as wage and pension cuts would be needed. “But most importantly, we will avoid the vicious circle of a second memorandum.” While the road ahead was not easy, the president said: “I have complete conﬁdence in the tenacity, determination and desire for hard work of Cypriot Hellenism. With collective and responsible decisions, I am certain we will make it.”

By Harry Papachristou and George Georgiopoulos DELAYS in approving a Cypriot bank levy risk derailing a plan for Greek banks to take over the local units of Cypriot lenders before a three-day weekend ends today, bankers said. Athens has been sounding out interest among local banks in taking over the Greek units of their Cypriot peers since the island’s bailout deal, of which the proposed tax on deposits is a part, was announced on Saturday. But Nicosia’s second postponement of a vote on the levy until today means a deal may not be finalised quickly. “A transfer might be impossible as long as Cyprus has not approved the deal,” a senior Greek banker involved in the takeover talks told Reuters yesterday. Greece has rushed to reassure its citizens they will not lose any money from the Cypriot levy. But bankers fear it could reverse the trend of deposits trickling back to Greek banks after fears eased that Greece would have to exit the euro. Leaders of Greece’s three-party ruling coalition will meet today to discuss the debt-laden country’s own bailout, but officials said Cyprus would also be high on the agenda. Greek units of Cypriot banks account for about a tenth of the country’s banking market. Eurogroup finance ministers excluded them from the controversial levy imposed as part of Cyprus’s international bailout, on condition that they would be transferred to other lenders. The deposit tax has exacerbated wider fears of a flight from the Greek banking system if confidence evaporates among savers. Failure to sell the Cypriot banks quickly could trigger such concerns.

CLOSED BANKS “The last thing we need is TV showing queues outside a closed Cypriot bank on Tuesday,” a second senior Greek banker said. Large withdrawals at a branch or online are practically impossible during the bank holiday in Greece. Senior bankers said they had not received any alerts from the central bank on deposits due to the Cypriot levy plan. Cyprus’s three top lenders, Bank of Cyprus, Popular Bank and Hellenic Bank all have branches in Greece. Greek operations accounted for more than a quarter of total group operating income at the Bank of Cyprus and 10 per cent at Popular, according to their nine-month 2012 results. A third senior banker involved in the talks said Greece’s Piraeus Bank and Alpha Bank have expressed interest in purchasing at least some of the assets on sale. Piraeus or Alpha were not available for comment. Hellenic Postbank, a small lender controlled by the country’s bank bailout fund Hellenic Financial Stability Fund, stands ready to jump in if interest by other lenders is deemed unsatisfactory, the banker added.

BANKING CRISIS IN QUOTES Sunday March 17

Monday March 18

“The decision to impose losses on depositors may have come as a shock to many both inside and outside Cyprus, but it didn’t come out of a clear blue sky: the possibility has been widely discussed in the domestic and international ﬁnancial press. And even as the new government publicly dismissed depositor haircuts as a “stupid idea,” it was learning that its bargaining power was virtually nonexistent. Nicosia appears to have been taken entirely by surprise when presented with an ultimatum at Friday’s Eurogroup meeting in Brussels. Yet with two of the country’s major banks reliant on emergency liquidity support from the European Central Bank, the eurozone always had the option to pull the plug on Cyprus at any time.” Wall Street Journal

“The hope of righting the eurozone’s listing ship relies on divorcing the debt problems of a sovereign from those of the country’s banks. With unsustainable public ﬁnances and a banking sector about seven times the island’s annual economic output, the stark choice was between sovereign restructuring and forcing losses on bank creditors. Choosing the latter course was correct. But instead of restructuring broken banks at the unfortunately necessary price of creditor losses, this package pays the price without the beneﬁt.” Financial Times editorial

“You can sort of see why they’re doing this: Cyprus is a money haven, especially for the assets of Russian beeznessmen; this means that it has a hugely oversized banking sector (think Iceland) and that a haircutfree bailout would be seen as a bailout, not just of Cyprus, but of Russians of, let’s say, uncertain probity and moral character.” Paul Krugman, New York Times

“Right now, I would argue that the risk of an EMU exit by Cyprus is real. And this is much more of a clear and present danger than anything happening in Italy or Spain. And even without passage of the tax, the potential for a bank run is very real. As a consequence, these events are MUCH MORE important than the Italian election results, or frankly any other issue in Europe.” David Zervos Jefferies, Strategist, Business Insider “What is happening in Cyprus is disgrace-

ful. The principle that there is no division between your private property and communal property which may be appropriated by the government whenever it sees ﬁt is an outrageous one in any system other than Communism. The idea that a government which has chronically misspent may order the banks to close and deduct a sum of its choosing from a person’s balance before allowing it to re-open is beyond parody.” Thomas Pascoe, Telegraph

A protester at the weekend

“There was a route to avoid this debacle. The EU, after the ﬁnancial crash, should have agreed to forgive much of the debts, not just in Cyprus, but also Ireland et al. The Germans, who are blocking debt forgiveness with the Finns, the Dutch and the Austrians, would have been repaid in full from economic growth over the past three years. Instead they face a prolonged depression and growing resentment from southern Europe towards their hardline policies.” Phillip Inman, Guardian “In Cyprus, the eurozone’s leaders are yet again gambling the future of the currency zone through an excessively risky move. As is too frequent in the euro crisis, cruelly binding political constraints blocked the

most sensible approach. Instead, they have chosen a path that may get them through the next period while laying the seeds of worse trouble down the line.” Douglas J. Elliott, Brookings Institution

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Business

Shares tick lower on Cyprus deal concerns German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the agreement was ‘not the creation’ of Berlin

German lawmakers slam Cypriot deal, fin min ducks blame LEADING figures from across the German political spectrum criticised Europe’s bailout deal for Cyprus yesterday, describing plans to impose a levy on small savers in the Mediterranean island’s banks as a major mistake. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who represented Germany in the rescue talks in Brussels, tried to deflect blame for the agreement however, saying it was “not the creation” of the German government and that he was open to changes. Under the €10 billion rescue agreed in the early morning hours of Saturday, savers with deposits below €100,000 would be hit with a 6.7 per cent levy, while those above that threshold would take a 9.9 per cent loss. The deal sent the euro, stock markets and the bonds of southern eurozone members sharply lower yesterday morning. Amid the backlash, Cypriot authorities were considering changes to reduce the burden on smaller savers. “Small savers cannot be made responsible for the debt crisis,” Daniel Bahr, a member of the ruling Free Democrats (FDP) and health minister in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government, told Reuters. “Mr Schaeuble is going to have to move on this.” Stanislaw Tillich and Volker Bouffier, influential premiers of the states of Saxony and Hesse and members of Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), both urged changes to the deal. And opposition parties, who face a struggle to unseat the popular Merkel in a September election, were withering in their criticism. Carsten Schneider, a budg-

et policy expert for the Social Democrats (SPD), said the decision to hit savers with funds under €100,000 who would normally beneﬁt from a deposit guarantee threatened to “undermine trust in the whole eurozone”. “They are creating uncertainty for all investors, even those in Germany,” Schneider told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Berlin. Juergen Trittin, parliamentary leader for the Greens, told German television: “Why don’t we take 15 per cent from those with lots of money and completely exclude those with deposits under €25,000 from the levy?” Germany’s lower house of parliament must approve the bailout deal for it to go ahead. Chancellor Merkel has a majority in the Bundestag but has counted on the support of the opposition in past bailout votes. Speaking on Sunday evening on German public television, Schaeuble said he had been prepared to respect the deposit guarantee for accounts up to €100,000, but had faced resistance from the Cypriot government, the European Commission and the European Central Bank. ECB board member Joerg Asmussen, speaking in Berlin yesterday, appeared to contradict Schaeuble’s account. “I want to emphasise that it wasn’t the ECB that pushed for this special structure of the contribution which has now been chosen. It was the result of negotiations in Brussels,” he said. “We provided technical help with the calculations, as always, but we didn’t insist on this special structure.”

Euro recovers after drop below $1.29 By Ryan Vlastelica GLOBAL stock markets edged lower yesterday as concerns over European sovereign debt returned to the forefront after the eurozone’s decision on partially funding a bailout of Cyprus by taxing bank deposits. The declines gave US equities investors the opportunity to lock in profits after an extended rally last week, but losses were limited as buyers came in after the early selling. Financial shares were among the day’s biggest losers. The Cyprus move hit confidence in the European banking sector, sparking concerns that authorities might go after depositors in other eurozone nations. The euro and bonds of troubled European sovereign debtors also fell. The bloc struck a deal on Saturday to give Cyprus rescue loans worth 10 billion euros ($13 billion), but defied warnings - including from the European Central Bank - and imposed a levy that would cost those with cash in the island’s banks between 6.75 and 9.9 per cent of their money. Cyprus’ parliament put off a vote on the measure, which has shaken depositors’ confidence in banks across the continent, until today. With public anger at the deal widespread, the government said it was looking to reduce the losses for small savers. “The issue ultimately for investors is: ‘Is this going to cause contagion?’” said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey. European officials “have got to make clear this is Cyprus-specific and contain the risk”. The deal staved off a default, which would have undermined the promise that last year’s Greek debt write-down was a onetime event. But the move to hit depositors takes the eurozone crisis into unprecedented territory.

Unprecedented territory: a trader reacts on the IG Group trading ﬂoor in London yesterday The initial response of investors was unambiguous. European shares followed Asian indexes lower and the euro fell to a threemonth low, while safehaven assets such as gold and German and US government bonds jumped. Italian and Spanish bond yields both rose sharply, reﬂecting anxieties about the weakness of the two eurozone economies, as well as the size of their debt burdens. European shares closed 0.3 per cent lower, having at one point been down as much as 1.4 per cent. London’s FTSE 100, Frankfurt’s DAX and Paris’s CAC-40 were down 0.5 per cent, 0.4 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively, leaving MSCI’s global share index down 0.8 per cent.

In the United States, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 6.80 points, or 0.05 per cent, at 14,507.31. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 3.16 points, or 0.20 per cent, at 1,557.54. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 2.11 points, or 0.06 per cent, at 3,246.96. Financial shares were among the weakest, with the S&P ﬁnancial index down 0.6 per cent, while eurozone bank shares lost 2.6 per cent. Some in the markets drew support from views that safety measures put in place at the European Central Bank should contain the fallout from Cyprus. In addition, three of the world’s biggest central

European investors look beyond storm generated by surprise bank tax EUROPEAN investors said a surprise bank tax in Cyprus was not a reason for a sustained market drop and some saw yesterday’s weakness as an opportunity to buy stocks and the euro. The weekend announcement that Cyprus would tax bank deposits as part of a €10 billion ($13 billion) bailout by the European Union broke with previous practice that depositors’ savings were ring fenced.

“It’s affecting my portfolio this morning because I am a bit overweight ﬁnancials. I am not doing anything about it. My initial thoughts are that this is a circumstance that is peculiar to Cyprus,” said Kevin Lilley, European equities fund manager at Old Mutual Asset Management. “I don’t have any cash in my portfolio but, if I did, I probably would have used it as a buying op-

portunity.” He added that the worst case scenario for European stocks - and the one that would prompt him to reconsider his holdings - would be if the Cyprus parliament rejects the bailout when it votes today. Neil Dwane, chief investment ofﬁcer for Europe at Allianz, Didier Duret, global chief investment ofﬁcer at ABN-AMRO Private Banking, Nicola Marinelli, fund manager at

Glendevon King, and Lorne Baring, managing director at B Capital, all said they were sticking to their current investments in Europe. “Selling positions or taking protection now is trying to close the door after a horse has bolted,” said Baring, whose holdings include a long bet on the German DAX index. “In the end, probably Europe and global markets will ride through this okay.”

banks are expected to signal this week that they plan to keep monetary policy loose for the foreseeable future. “Clearly this (Cyprus deal) is a negative development for European assets, but in the terms of contagion, we think it is quite limited,” said Guillermo Felices, head of euro asset allocation at Barclays in London. Other analysts noted shares are trading at historically lofty levels, and are therefore ripe for a pullback. Efforts by policymakers to revise the Cyprus plan to spare small savers from losses also supported the market. The euro staged a slight recovery after dropping to a three-month low of $1.2882 in Asian trading. It was down 1 per cent overall on the day, but was ﬂat for the European session at $1.2950. The dollar, which investors often seek when tensions in Europe rise, gained 0.5 per cent against a basket of currencies. The eurozone’s bond market has been the chief lightning rod of its troubles over the last three years. While Italian and Spanish bond yields jumped, the widespread anxiety drove up German government bonds, the traditional favourite of risk-adverse European investors, and boosted the cost of insuring against a sovereign default in the eurozone’s southern rim. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was up 9/32, with the yield at 1.9581 per cent. In commodity markets, US crude futures rose 0.3 per cent to $93.72 per barrel while Brent crude was down 0.3 per cent at $109.49 per barrel

Rates These Bank of Cyprus rates for telegraphic transfer transactions (spot deals) apply to yesterday, but provide a good guide to today’s value against the euro. Buying Selling Pound St

0.8675 0.8589

US Dollar

1.3083 1.2953

Australian $

1.2708 1.2394

Canadian Dol.

1.3477 1.3145

Swiss Fr

1.2405 1.2257

Denmark Kr

7.5509 7.3645

Japan Yen

125.9110 124.4090

Norwegian Kr

7.6251 7.4369

Polish Zloty

4.2105

4.1065

Romanian Leu 4.4829 4.3071 Russian Ruble 40.4494 39.4506 Swedish Kr

8.4661 8.2571

Tuesday, March 19, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

World

Deadly attack in Mogadishu

WORLD TODAY Deadly strike in Peshawar MILITANT gunmen and at least one suicide bomber attacked a court complex in north-western Pakistan yesterday, killing at least three people and wounding more than two dozen, a government ofﬁcial said. The attackers may have been trying to free militant colleagues jailed in the compound in the city of Peshawar, said Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for surrounding Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Security forces waged a gun battle with the militants, and Hussain initially suggested that the attackers may have taken some hostages. He later said the situation was under control, without providing details. A suicide bomber who was part of the attack detonated his explosives, said Hussain. At least three people were killed and 27 others wounded, he said.

Al Qaeda-linked rebels claim responsibility By Feisal Omar and Abdi Sheikh

Six in court over rape attack SIX men accused of raping a Swiss tourist who was cycling with her husband in central India have appeared in court charged with gang rape. Police said the men were arrested in Datia district of Madhya Pradesh state and are poor farmers from nearby villages. The men were arrested on Sunday. The attack occurred on Friday night as the couple camped in a forest in Datia district. They told police that the woman had been raped by seven or eight men, but that it was dark and they could not be sure of the exact number. The attack came three months after the fatal gang rape of a woman on a New Delhi bus, causing outrage across India.

Clinton support FORMER U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, said yesterday she backs marriage rights for gay Americans. In a video for the gay rights advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, Clinton said she supports gay marriage “personally and as a matter of policy and law.” Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender “Americans are our colleagues, our teachers, our soldiers, our friends, our loved ones, and they are full and equal citizens and deserve the rights of citizenship. That includes marriage,” Clinton said in the ﬁveminute-long video posted on YouTube (http://youtu. be/6RP9pbKMJ7c).

Worst attack this year: a Somali soldier stands guard at the scene of an explosion near the presidential palace in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu yesterday

A SUICIDE car bomber killed at least 10 people yesterday in the worst attack in the Somali capital this year when he tried to kill Mogadishu’s security chief near the presidential palace, police and rebels said. Al Qaeda-linked Islamist militant group al Shabaab said it carried out the attack along Maka al Mukarram road that runs between the palace and the national theatre, a route lined by tearooms that were engulfed in fire from the blast. A public minibus driving along the road burst into flames, when the suicide bomber set off explosives packed into his car in an attempt to kill Khalif Ahmed Ilig, the Mogadishu security chief, police and the rebels said. Ambulance sirens wailed through the city’s congested streets and a Reuters witness at the scene saw pools of blood on the ground. Residents joined in the rescue operations, pulling victims from the tea-houses and the minibus. Police said seven civilians, three government security officers, and the bomber died in the blast that brought part of the city to a standstill. At least seven others were injured. “The suicide car bomber targeted a senior national se-

curity officer whose car was passing near the theatre,” senior police officer Abdiqadir Mohamud told Reuters, adding that the official had been injured. “Most of the people who died were on board the minibus - civilians. This public vehicle coincidentally came between the government car and the car bomb when it was hit. Littered at the scene are human hands and flesh.” The explosion could be heard several kilometres away in Mogadishu’s central business district.

PRESIDENT SAFE Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, elected last year in the country’s ﬁrst national vote since dictator Siad Barre’s overthrow in 1991, was in another part of the city during the blast, police said. The presidential palace stands about 100 metres from where the explosion struck. Civil war followed the fall of Barre, which left Somalia without effective central government and awash with weapons, ushering in two decades of turmoil. Security in Mogadishu has improved greatly since a military offensive drove Islamist rebels allied to al Qaeda out of the city in August 2011. But bombings and assassinations in Mogadishu, blamed on militants, still occur often. The attack yesterday was

the worst so far this year, police said, a stark reminder of two decades of civil strife, in a war-torn country where the central government depends heavily on a 17,600-strong African Union peacekeeping force for its survival. “A wall, a tea-shop and two small shops collapsed from the blast. I could see injured people being pulled from under these places. There are pieces of human flesh and blood on the scene,” resident Farah Abdulle told Reuters. Al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said the group was behind the attack. The group, which wants to impose its strict version of Islamic law, or Sharia, said the strike was in revenge for the killing of people believed to be its members over the past few weeks. “A car bomb by a mujahid targeted Khalif, the Mogadishu national security chief. He is seriously injured,” Rage, told Reuters. “Many of his body guards and other security officials died and many others were wounded. It was revenge.” On Sunday, al Shabaab fighters regained control of Hudur, the capital of Bakool province near the Ethiopian border, after Ethiopian troops who have been part of an African offensive against the militants withdrew from the dusty town. It was not immediately clear why the Ethiopian troops pulled out.

Kenyatta case in tatters - lawyers LAWYERS for Kenya’s president-elect Uhuru Kenyatta said charges of crimes against humanity against him should be withdrawn after the collapse of the case against his coaccused, but prosecutors at the International Criminal Court said they had new evidence. Kenyatta, whose election earlier this month is being challenged by his rival, faces charges at the ICC over bloodshed in the aftermath of Kenya’s 2007 election. Yesterday, his lawyers said these were clearly now based on hearsay after a key witness in a linked case against former civil servant Francis Muthaura retracted their testimony. Kenyatta and Muthaura were among six suspects initially charged by ICC prosecutors with orchestrating violence after the 2007 election, when some 1,200 people were killed. The two prosecutions are based on a lot of the same evidence and both men have always denied any wrongdoing. Steven Kay, the British barrister defending Kenyatta said prosecutors should have dropped his case when they withdrew charges against Muthaura in a decision announced yesterday. “What was withdrawn against Mr Muthaura should have been withdrawn against Mr Kenyatta,” Kay, who heads Kenyatta’s defence team,

told a hearing at the Hague-based court. Prosecutors responded that their case was strong enough to go to trial even without the key witness, especially if they were allowed to introduce new evidence they said they had collected since the case had first been allowed to proceed. “If we open the door to new evidence it will quite quickly become a flood,” Sam Lowery, for the prosecution, said, quoting a prosecution witness describing how he had been given money to buy guns. “Your honours, you don’t need guns for election campaigning,” Lowery said. The Kenyatta case is an important test for the ICC, which was set up more than a decade ago as the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal but has only secured one conviction. The son of his country’s founding president, Kenyatta is set to become the first head of state to be actively defending charges at the ICC, making his case one of the highest-profile it has dealt with. His election victory has presented a dilemma to Western leaders who see Kenya as a bulwark in a regional struggle against militant Islam. The defence said the charges against him were maintained because of his prominence.

Uhuru Kenyatta, whose election earlier this month is being challenged by his rival, faces charges at the ICC over bloodshed in the aftermath of Kenya’s 2007 election

Nigeria president says foreign hostages might be alive NIGERIA’S President Goodluck Jonathan said yesterday that some of the seven hostages believed to have been killed by Islamist group Ansaru this month might actually still be alive and the government has been working to rescue them. Ansaru said earlier this month it

had killed the seven foreign construction workers it had been holding since February, posting a video of what it said was their bodies on the internet, in what would be the deadliest single attack on foreigners in Nigeria since the 1960s Biafra war. Italy and Greece conﬁrmed that a

Briton, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese abducted in northern Nigeria’s Bauchi state had been killed by their captors. Britain said only that it was likely they had been killed, whereas Nigerian authorities had so far not commented.

“Analysis of the information we have does not give us the conclusive position that they have all been killed, but we suspect that some probably might have died of health-related causes or direct killing,” Jonathan said during a visit by Lebanon’s President Michel Suleiman.

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, March 19, 2013

World

Falklands request made to Pope

Pope Francis welcomes Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner at the Vatican yesterday

ARGENTINIAN President Cristina Fernandez has asked Pope Francis to intervene in support of Buenos Aires in a dispute with Britain over the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic, she said yesterday. Fernandez had lunch with the former Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio in the Vatican shortly after arriving in Rome to attend his inaugural papal mass today. “I asked for his intervention on the question of the Malvinas,” she told reporters afterwards, using the Argentinian name for the islands. “I asked for his intervention to avoid problems that could emerge from the militarisation of Great Britain in the south Atlantic,” she said. “We want a dialogue and that’s why we asked the pope to intervene so that the dialogue is successful.” Fernandez who has led Argentina for six years, has mounted an increasingly vocal campaign to renegotiate the sovereignty of the archipelago, which Britain has resisted, causing a series of diplomatic rows. British Prime Minister David Cameron said last week that Pope Francis, the ﬁrst Latin American pontiff, had been wrong to say in 2012 that Britain had “usurped” the disput-

ed islands from Argentina. The year before Bergoglio said that the islands were “ours”, a view which most Argentinians share. Cameron said the people of the islands had made their view clear in a referendum last week in which they overwhelmingly voted in favour of remaining British. Argentina is 300 miles (500 km) to the west of the islands, which it has claimed for almost 200 years. In 1982 Argentina invaded but was repelled after a 74-day war with Britain. The left-leaning Fernandez, and her late husband and predecessor as president Nestor Kirchner, have had a frosty relationship with Bergoglio, who they have accused of taking sides with the opposition against them. Some analysts say that Bergoglio’s surprise election as pope last week at a conclave where he was not even mentioned on media lists of the favourites, had wrong-footed Fernandez, who would now want to patch up ties with the Roman Catholic Church before mid-term elections in October. Bergoglio’s election caused mass emotional rejoicing in Argentina. Fernandez wore a black suit and brimmed hat with a matching bow for the meeting with Francis, at which they exchanged gifts.

British parties reach deal on regulation of the press Regulation system to be voluntary, but strong incentives to opt into it By Andrew Osborn BRITAIN’S main political parties agreed yesterday to create a new system to regulate the news media, hoping to end an era when tabloid newspapers trawled through people’s mobile phone messages to dredge up salacious stories. Public outrage over phone hacking, which went beyond celebrities to include victims of crime and abducted children, pushed the government to act, but it said it had done so in a way that still protected press freedom. The compromise agreed by the three main parties and expected to pass through parliament later yesterday, will establish a new press regulator, introduce ﬁnes of up to £1 million ($1.5 million) and oblige newspapers to print prominent apologies where appropriate. The system will be voluntary,

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said he was satisﬁed with the outcome of the crossparty efforts to agree on a new system of press regulation but there will be strong ﬁnancial incentives to encourage newspapers to opt into it. “I have today reached cross-party agreement on a royal charter that will help deliver a new system of independent and robust press regulation in our country,” Prime Minister David Cam-

eron told parliament. “It is right we put in place a new system of press regulation to ensure that such appalling acts can never happen again.” The government came under pressure to create a new regulatory system after The Guardian newspaper ex-

posed phone hacking by tabloid papers. The hacking of a murdered schoolgirl’s phone led to a judge-led inquiry which laid bare the scale of the problem. But concerns that a new system could imperil press freedom delayed agreement, with some press barons

threatening to boycott a new regulatory regime and campaigners for tougher regulation accusing Cameron of being in thrall to the press. Yesterday’s deal spares Cameron what was shaping up to be an embarrassing political defeat in parliament that would have deepened rifts in his coalition government. The three parties had been divided over whether a new press regulator should be enshrined in law and over how its members would be chosen. But they reached a compromise after agreeing to enact legislation to ensure the new system cannot be easily altered later. Cameron said he was satisﬁed with the outcome. “It ... ensures that for generations to come government ministers cannot interfere with this new system without explicit and extensive support from both houses (of parliament). That is an important step forward,” he told members of parliament. “We stand here today with a cross-party agreement for a new system of press regulation. It supports our great traditions of investigative journalism and free speech. It protects the rights of the vulnerable and the innocent.” Ed Miliband, the leader of the opposition Labour party, also said the compromise struck the right balance. “The regulator will be independent of the press. Secondly, it is a regulator with teeth. This is a system that will endure,” he told parliament.

Europe’s Airbus grabs record $24-billion order from Indonesia EUROPE’S Airbus grabbed a record order worth $24 billion at list prices from Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air yesterday, shaking arch-rival Boeing’s grip on one of the world’s fastestgrowing airlines. The blockbuster order for 234 medium-haul jets underscored the rise

of a powerful new breed of Asian carrier and was immediately hailed for its impact on European jobs in contrast to turmoil over a disputed bailout to Cyprus. “Thanks to this contract, Airbus will be able to secure 5,000 jobs over 10 years,” French President Francois

Hollande said at an ornate signing ceremony at the Elysee Palace. Hollande, whose approval ratings have sunk to around 30 per cent amid worries about unemployment, oversaw the deal before leaving for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on further industrial co-operation

modelled on Europe’s planemaker. The contract trumped a record deal Lion Air had struck with Airbus’ US rival Boeing in front of President Barack Obama in 2011. The planemakers are locked in a battle for global orders in the 150-seat category estimated at $2 trillion over 20 years.

WORLD TODAY Pro-settler presence in Israeli cabinet ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new governing coalition took ofﬁce after a parliamentary vote yesterday with powerful roles reserved for supporters of settlers in occupied territory. While the new line-up includes more moderates than in the outgoing government, the predominance of legislators who are either settlers or among their staunchest supporters could hamper any efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. But, presenting his new government to parliament and using a phrase he has used in past major policy speeches, Netanyahu said his administration “extends its hand in peace” to the Palestinians. New Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, opposes any curbs on settlement-building that Palestinians say must stop before they can return to the US-sponsored negotiations, which collapsed over the issue.

‘Historic’ PKK leader call due JAILED Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan said he would make a “historic” appeal on Thursday, raising expectations of a ceasefire in the 28-year-old conflict which has riven Turkey, killing some 40,000 people, and batter its economy. Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) leader Selahattin Demirtas, a member of parliament, conveyed Ocalan’s statement on his return to Istanbul yesterday from a visit to his prison on the island of Imrali. A ceasefire could cement talks with the government that have been progressing tentatively since October. There was no immediate comment from the Turkish government, which says it seeks but will continue to counter PKK operations until they lay down their arms.

Opposition meet SYRIA’S main opposition group yesterday launched its most serious attempt yet to form a rival government to President Bashar Assad’s regime, convening in Turkey to choose an interim prime minister for areas the rebels control. Twelve candidates were in the running, including economists, businessmen and a former Syrian cabinet minister.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

Opinion

There was so much more Anastasiades could have done PRESIDENT Anastasiades had obviously underestimated the reaction there would be to the bail-in of bank deposits which he agreed to on Saturday morning. He did not bargain for such public anger nor could he have expected that he would have been unable to pass it through the legislature. Being a pragmatic and rational politician, he assumed that the political parties, presented with the dilemma between a deposit haircut and bankruptcy of the economy, would opt for the former. It did not cross his mind that there would be so many politicians and economists arguing in favour of leaving the euro and allowing the struggling banks to collapse instead. There was an element of the irresponsible, defiant populism that we know only too well in this stance, but there were also strong grounds to be dissatisfied with the deal the president had secured. He had not protected the interests of small depositors, imposing a 6.75 per cent levy on all deposits under €100,000; he had not opposed the hair-cut and had no plan B. This criticism seemed well-founded when it transpired yesterday that it was the Cyprus government’s idea to bail-in small depositors. The Eurogroup wanted the bail-in to raise €5.8 billion and did not care who would be contributing. Anastasiades thought that by keeping the levy on big deposits relatively low, just under 10 per cent, he would be able to stop the outflow of foreign capital and maintain Cyprus as an international business centre. Yet the reality is that a haircut of deposits would have finished Cyprus as a business centre anyway. This is why the government, which must have suspected this was on the cards, should have looked at other options. For instance, it should have challenged PIMCO’s grossly inflated figure for the banks’ capital requirements and made more of an issue of the fact that the amount was the result of wrong assumptions agreed to by the Cyprus Central Bank. It had a very strong case, considering that the AKEL-appointed governor had been on a mission to blame all the country’s economic woes on the banks and absolve the government of any responsibility. Why had the government decided against challenging the PIMCO figure, backing a governor who made no secret of his plan to destroy the banks? Had it done so, using concrete evidence, it could have reduced the bailout figure by between three and four billion euros. By not trying to have the PIMCO figure reduced, and instead agreeing to a bail-in without a fight, Anastasiades did himself no favours. He has put himself and his government in a very weak position and it is highly unlikely, he will now be able to get the haircut bill through the legislature. And once again, there does not seem to be a plan B.

Want to send a letter? Send letters to the Cyprus Mail by email, fax or post. They should include a full postal address (email address is not sufﬁcient), daytime phone number and reference to any relevant article. Names and addresses 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.

Punished for daring to take on the big boys Comment Constantinos Messios

E ARE in the middle of the worst financial crisis our island has seen since the Turkish invasion of 1974 and it will take arguably greater sacrifices and much more strength to come out at the end of this latest catastrophe. Our banking and political leadership is hugely responsible for this, and I sincerely hope that every single one of those responsible is held accountable. But surely one cannot discount the role our former colonial masters as well as our current partners in the European Union and its sub club the European Monetary Union has had to play in this mess. We dared to ask for our independence after the Second World War and were grudgingly given it by Britain only after ensuring the constitution they imposed on us was bound to fail. We had the audacity to survive for 14 years until the Turks invaded in 1974 wiping out 60 per cent of our income producing capabilities. Yet we still carried on, managed to rebuild our economy to the point where Cyprus had (and still has) one of the largest commercial shipping fleets flying its flag in the world and became a viable alternate international business centre which dared to compete with London, Frankfurt and Amsterdam as a centre for operations for large multinationals. This for a country in the middle of nowhere and a population of fewer than 840,000. The cheek of it! Good God we even managed to get in the European Union in 2004 and the eurozone in 2008! The cherry on the cake or the straw that broke the camel’s back (or whatever other cliché you want me to use) for our partners and friends was the gas discovered offshore which belongs to our little godforsaken chunk of rock in

Cyprus dared to provide services that rival those of the big finance centres like Frankfurt the Eastern Mediterranean. Yes, the Russians came but who has decided and which unbiased and non politically motivated forum has adjudged that foreign funds in Cyprus are the product of money laundering? Why has there not been a massive imposition of penalties on our banks for harbouring ill gotten funds or manipulating interest rates affecting hundreds of millions of people around the world? Why are we the financial rescue guinea pigs and why are we the first people anywhere in the world whose depositors are being asked to bail in (even this term is a contradiction in terms for goodness sake) to save the admittedly asinine banks who put all their bets on Greece

and expanded uncontrollably there? However negligent these banks were, were they more negligent than the US and European bankers who bet the bank (literarily in so many cases) on the sub prime loan swaps and other weapons of mass ﬁnancial destruction as Warren Buffet so aptly described these exotic derivatives elsewhere in the world? What about our newly found natural resources? Why even with those are we not good for the money necessary for our rescue package? We dared to get too big for our boots. We dared to provide services that rival those of the established big international ﬁnance centres. We dared to compete and succeed in convincing some very prosperous business and indi-

viduals to trust us. Surely this got up someone’s nose and much like any young upstart doing well at the expense of the competition we are being slapped about just to knock us down a peg or two. I have no idea what the future holds for Cyprus as I am not sure we have the wherewithal to deal with what is coming up ahead both in terms of enormous socio economic and political problems as well as opportunities. But we are a nation of survivors and as long as we do not panic we may just pull through with or without the help of our friends and partners. Constantinos Messios is an advocate and managing director of Madrigal Corporate Services Ltd messios@messios.com

LETTERS to the Editor No vote yet still robbed I’ll never trust the banks again VIS-A-VIS the government’s threatened raid on individual citizens’ bank deposits, I note that this subject has been ﬂoating around for months. Also that the ﬁnance minister took the time as recently as March 4 to deny categorically that this would happen (understanderbly, in his defence, only that doing otherwise would have initiated a run on bank account withdrawals). Can the authorities assure that leading up to the agreement to apply the “one-off” tax, there has been no unusual withdrawals from accounts belonging to “fat cats” in the know (or their friends). Furthermore, while fully sympathising with the predicament of Cyprus and the Cypriot people, why should illegal raiding of private personal accounts be imposed upon dis-enfranchised expatriates who have no vote and no responsibility for electing the clowns who got the country into this mess? Ben Cooper

I WRITE to express with what little freedom I have left that I am a retired Brit who moved to this lovely island almost seven years ago. Since then, I have seen my property price plummet to almost half the value I paid in 2006. I have seen electricity, food and fuel prices climb way above inﬂation. I now struggle to make my pension support myself and my wife. Only our life savings allow us to maintain a reasonable lifestyle. This is Green Monday and I know the ﬁnal decisions are yet to be made. But whatever the outcome, the damage has been done. The knowl-

edge that the Cypriot and European leaders can and are willing to steal part of our savings is enough for me to not be able to trust the banks or government again. Call it a levy, call it a tax, but it’s nothing but out and out theft. First thing this morning we will be giving the required notice to withdraw what’s left of our precious savings and move it back to the UK, where things are hard but honesty still prevails. I love Cyprus and its people and feel for the pensioners and people like ourselves who have to shoulder the burden placed on us by greedy bankers and politicians. LFB, Larnaca

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Opinion The IMF and Eurogroup failed in their handling of Greek debt. Cyprus paid the price

Paying for the gross mistakes of Greece Comment Erol Riza

HE vindictive nature of the decision for collective punishment of all depositors in Cyprus banks is likely to sow the seeds of the end of the eurozone as we know it. While Cyprus may be a small country and the Eurogroup can allude to the size of the banking system, this comes after the “uniqueness” of Greece. The real question which the Eurogroup should have addressed is whether the debt amount and the issue of “debt sustainability” which the IMF cast in stone, was really worth taking the big gamble of imposing the haircut on Cyprus, a small member of the European Union. And what message is the Eurogroup sending to other countries such as Italy and Spain. The Eurogroup and IMF’s imposition of the unprecedented measure of a deposit haircut is the outcome of those groups’ failings in Greece, and to a lesser extent Cyprus is a victim of the domestic politics in Germany. The Eurogroup cannot show any success in its handling of the Greek debt problem and has moved the goalposts several times since the ﬁrst days of the crisis. The Euro-

group did not diagnose Greece’s problem as one of solvency (as the Bank of England governor said) but instead started by dealing with it as one of liquidity. When Christine Lagarde was ﬁnance minister of France in 2009 she never contemplated a debt forgiveness of 80 per cent for Greece since French banks had much to lose. She waited until she was at the IMF to support the measure giving French banks ample time to sell their Greek exposure. The Greek debt sustainability programme prepared by the IMF to justify debt forgiveness included privatisations in Greece providing €50 billion by 2020. Can Mrs Lagarde and the IMF explain to the world how much they expect now? Is it not true that because Greece could have contaminated the rest of the eurozone they bent over backwards and forgave Greece hundreds of billions of euros. Cyprus did not ask for forgiveness and needed to borrow €13 billion using the basic scenario of PIMCO. How does this compare with the €160 billion Greece was forgiven by the Eurogroup. Can the Eurogroup claim success in Greece? By pumping billions of euros into the banks, which bought their countries’ respective bonds, Mr Draghi has postponed the day of reckoning. By delaying the much needed reforms which come with bitter

Christine Lagarde never considered debt forgiveness for Greece while she was France’s ﬁnance minister austerity the ECB has managed the markets well but when the markets wake up to reality and see that nothing has changed (Italy is even worse off after the recent elections) they will punish the Eurogroup and there will be little left of the eurozone.

GERMANY Germany may have its own reasons not to unravel the euro as it suits Germany to have a weak currency and does not want to be blamed for destroying Europe again. The question for the Eurogroup though is that Italy, Spain and Portugal have problems of adjustment and high unemployment. Why should any politician have faith in the Eurogroup if they can blackmail the country into submission to prescriptions

which are untested? Clearly, Cyprus faced with the treat of bankruptcy and the haircut has been cornered and made to accept the terms set by the IMF and not the EU. The IMF threatened that unless its terms were accepted it would not participate and this was the excuse given by some eurozone countries not to participate either. Hence the IMF held all the cards to give Cyprus some breathing space in adopting a flexible repayment of the debt, especially when the gas reserve revenues could meet the debt payments after five years. The Cyprus government has been harshly treated by its so called partners and there is no guarantee at all that the prescription will work. If the Eurogroup has the confidence that it could succeed it should

underwrite the future increase in the Cyprus debt that will result from their decisions. Judgement without consequences is undoubtedly unfair and undemocratic. The Eurogroup, and the architects of the haircut may live to regret the day they imposed on Cyprus such a harsh decision for what is clearly an unknown result and without any consequence on the people who take such decisions. The EU Commission had stated that a haircut of deposits was not on the table and yet since the decision has gone totally quiet on the subject. How can Spain and Italy have any conﬁdence in what EU ofﬁcials tell them? Erol Riza is manager of SME Markets Limited in London

LETTER to the Editor

The bankrupt road to economic enosis CYPRUS’ current crisis, which has literally robbed citizens of their money is the next phase of a bankrupt self-defeating political orientation that has sacriﬁced Cypriot interests in pursuit of following Greece no matter the consequences. This enosismindset led indirectly to 1974 and now an economic enosis that has caused the EU bailout conditions that will severely undermine Cyprus’ service economy. This is the economic equivalent of 1974 but with an invasion of EU diktats. Much has been made of Cyprus’ small size that made it ready to be exploited. But Singapore is a small country (a city-state) that has a sound economy and is seen as a model nation with a thriving education/banking sector. Why did Cyprus, which had the same potential (strategic location, a British system, educated population) end up on the road to partition and bankruptcy instead of the road to Singapore?

At the heart of the economic crisis is the echo of the political miscalculations of old: an unwillingness for this country to think first and foremost as ‘Cyprus’. Emotional attachments to the ‘Motherland’ have underpinned a taboo: Cyprus’ alliance with Greece has been both a political catastrophe (as in 1974) and an economic blunder (the crass exposure of Cypriot banks to Greek debt even when the dangers were apparent). This has been paralleled over the years with a vilification of all things British, rather than a pragmatic approach which would take the best of the British system and integrate it with Cypriot needs to promote the island globally as a tourist, financial and education hub - the bridge between Europe and Asia. Again, Singapore offers us the salutary lesson. It is mainly ethnically Chinese, yet feels no need to unite with the ‘Motherland’, or wave Chinese flags down every street to

prove its Chinese identity. Ethnic ties were never allowed to over-rule national selfinterest. By preserving the best of British (in law, commerce and education) it has become both more global but also more Chinese. Obsession with Greece and being ‘European’ led to Cyprus abandoning its chance of becoming a regional hub and safe haven. The rush to ditch the Cypriot pound (which had served the island well) was brought on by the ‘Europhoria’ of joining the EU with the false panacea for all of Cyprus’ problems. In fact, does anyone seriously believe the euro has been a beneﬁt to Cyprus? The currency was used to push up prices signiﬁcantly, making the service economy in tourism expensive and uncompetitive whilst yielding little in return. Meanwhile the false security afforded by being in the EU led Cypriot governments to think they could plunge into debt with no reckoning.

Cyprus is now paying the price for such delusion. It needs to rebuild its banking sector and dramatically improve its infrastructure and tourism. But more fundamentally it needs to realise that the whole political culture that has existed since 1960 is quite literally bankrupt. It is ironic that people cite ‘nationalism’ as destroying Cyprus - perhaps a stronger sense of ‘Cypriot’ (rather than Greek or Turkish) nationalism would have stopped the overexposure of Cypriot banks to Greek debt or avoided the menace of junta intrigues. Cyprus should now examine its other international links and start thinking more globally, using the British system legacy more positively and looking to Singapore, rather than Athens and Brussels for inspiration Nick Biskinis, London

Tuesday, March 19, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

Insight The big hit to ordinary savers was an outcome that nobody seemed to be seeking but no one could find a way to prevent. By Annika Breidthardt and John O’Donnell UST THREE weeks after being elected president of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades travelled to Brussels for his European debut last Thursday. His fellow leaders were all friendly enough.

Hours before he was due to attend his first European summit, he met Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and other new colleagues at a cocktail reception. At the meeting for centre-right politicians in a swanky hall opposite the Belgian king’s palace, Merkel congratulated him on his election victory. According to one person who attended, Anastasiades asked his new friends to make sure any bailout for Cyprus was fair. Less than 48-hours later, when the deal was finally announced by exhausted officials in the predawn hours of Saturday morning, it seemed anything but. According to insiders who attended the negotiations, the big hit to ordinary Cypriot savers was an outcome that nobody seemed to be seeking but no one could find a way to prevent. Merkel’s government and EU officials were determined to make depositors pay. Anastasiades was determined to cap the levy on the wealthiest depositors at no more than 10 per cent. That meant that small savers in Cyprus were forced to pay a levy as high as 6.75 per cent of their deposits, a move that effectively rips up the protection savers thought they enjoyed on insured deposits of up to 100,000 euros. European and Cypriot officials are trading blame for a decision which threatens to undermine confidence in the financial system across the continent. Although eurozone leaders were all in town for their summit, they left the most fateful decisions until after they went home on Friday night. Instead, it fell to their finance ministers, who gathered in the emptying red marble European Council building after their bosses cleared out. With the leaders’ summit over, there were just a few journalists left, clustered at the long empty tables in the building’s huge atrium. Finance ministers met five floors up. From the outset, the Cypriot delegation seems to have misunderstood the determination of Merkel and other leaders to force Cypriot depositors to pay. Merkel’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble had gone to Brussels with a firm mandate from Berlin: “no bail-in, no bailout”, said a member of her government. That meant: unless depositors took a hit, there would be no agreement and Germany would not contribute towards a package for Cyprus. European officials set on a figure of 5.8 billion euros to come from depositors, and refused to budge. What they had not decided in advance was how much of that should come from big, uninsured depositors, and how much from ordinary savers. Under a promise which still appears on the website of the Central Bank of Cyprus, deposits in its banks are insured up to 100,000 euros. Cyprus has about 30 billion euros in insured deposits, a large amount for a country of under one million people. But because of its status as an offshore financial hub for foreigners - including large numbers of rich Russians - it also has 38 billion euros in uninsured deposits in bigger accounts. Cyprus could have offered full protection to those with insured deposits up to 100,000 euros and still reached the 5.8 billion euro target

IMF head Christine Lagarde and Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem at the press conference announcing the bailout early Saturday morning

How EU and IMF stumbled into a scheme to punish the small savers

Nicos Anastasiades and Angela Merkel meeting last week. The Cypriot delegation seems to have misunderstood the determination of Merkel and other leaders to force depositors to pay

‘When they finally announced the bailout, the financial officials who signed on to the deal seemed so embarrassed by the deposit levy that they spoke without mentioning it at all’

by taxing uninsured deposits at a rate above 15 per cent. According to three sources, European Central Bank board member Joerg Asmussen and eurozone finance ministers’ representative Thomas Wieser had worked on a plan that would require just that - a high levy on only uninsured deposits. But when the plans were presented to Anastasiades, several participants said, he balked at any suggestion that uninsured depositors should pay more than 10 per cent. Since his limit meant uninsured depositors would pay no more than 3.8 billion euros, those with small savings would have to pony up the other two billion euros. The meeting was contentious, participants say. Schaeuble, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem and negotiators for the ECB, EU and International Monetary Fund broke off several times to talk separately with the Cypriots. Other ministers hung around in the corridors, playing games on their mobile phones. In the early hours of Saturday morning, Dijsselbloem, who serves as head of the eurozone minister’s group, proposed that uninsured depositors pay 12.5 per cent, a level which would require insured depositors to pay only 3.5 per cent or so. Anastasiades stormed out of the meeting in anger. He returned only when senior negotiators told him that if he left, Cyprus would have to default and shut its banks altogether. Finally he agreed to the levy, but insisted on capping the fee for uninsured depositors at no more than 9.9 per cent. Exhausted officials did the sums. To raise the other two billion, insured Cypriot depositors with small accounts would have to pay a 6.75 per cent levy on their savings. The deal was done. When they finally announced the bailout at a 4:00 a.m. news conference on Saturday morning, the financial officials who signed on to the deal seemed so embarrassed by the deposit levy that they spoke without mentioning it at all. A tired-looking Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, appeared to have lost track of the calendar and wished weary reporters a “happy St Patrick’s Day” a full day early. She made no reference to a deposit levy, talking only of “burden sharing”. Dijsselbloem referred only to “certain unique measures”. But news of the deposit levy was already out. Only when reporters pressed him about it did Dijsselboem acknowledge it, growing irritated. “We found it justified,” he said. One senior EU official who attended the negotiations said when he realised the outcome he wanted to vomit. Several EU officials blamed Anastasiades for insisting on low contributions from uninsured deposits, hurting his country’s small savers to protect wealthy depositors, many foreigners. They say he was trying to protect Cyprus’ status as an off-shore financial haven, even by punishing ordinary Cypriots. Anastasiades’ government scrambled yesterday to find a new formula that would ease the pain for small savers, but by hurting confidence, the initial deal already did damage, and not just to Cyprus. “The spirit of protecting deposits has been completely sidestepped. Hitting depositors is no longer hypothetical,” said one official from a eurozone country. “The Cypriot government was keener to protect its banking model, which has turned out to be a disastrous political mistake.”

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Television CYBC 1 06.45 08.15

Proti Enimerosi Kali Sas Mera Early morning entertainment magazine featuring segments on cooking, fashion, lifestyle issues and more.

11.00

CYBC 2 07.00 08.00 17.00

Kaftes Piperies (rpt) Istories Tou Horkou (rpt) Local comedy series, which happens to be the longest-running show on TV.

12.00

18.00 18.50 19.00 19.10

Apo Mera Se Mera Entehnos Local cultural show.

16.00 18.00 18.15 18.45

Mazi Sto CyBC News Kaftes Piperies Paizoume Kypriaka

20.00 21.00

Moiraia Fengaria Local drama series inspired by Maro Kranidioti’s book ‘Otan i Moira Apofasizei’.

20.00 21.15

News Vimata Stin Ammo

23.00

Friends (rpt) American comedy about the lives and loves of six New Yorkers.

22.30 23.30 23.45

Eponymos News Repeats

MINI-Series: La Commanderie French series showing the Middle Ages as a dark and turbulent period when religion ran society and led to tragic results. Historical drama, starring Clement Sibony. 2010. Part 8 of 8.

Local period drama, based on true events.

22.00

NRG Zone FILM: Collateral A Los Angeles taxi driver endures the longest night of his life when his cab is hijacked by a a ruthless hit-man who’ll stop at nothing to get the job done. Thriller, with Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. 2004.

Local game show, asking questions having to do with the Cypriot dialect.

19.20

Biz/Emeis News In English News In Turkish Somewhere On Earth (rpt) A series of documentary ﬁlms whose aim is to shine the spotlight on some of the few places on earth where nature and man exist in harmony.

Current affairs show.

15.30

NRG Zone Kids’ TV Kati Psinetai (rpt) Greek version of the show where contestants try to outdo each other by throwing the perfect dinner party, which is then judged on its merits by their rivals.

Cookery show.

11.30

ANTENNA

23.45

Repeats

05.30 06.20 06.50 07.00 07.50 08.40 09.30 10.25 11.15 12.10 13.00 13.20 14.00 14.50 15.40 16.40 17.30 17.40

Erotas (rpt) Proini Enimerosi Me Agapi Strivein Dia Tou Arravonos (rpt) Akros Oikogeneiakon (rpt) Lyke, Lyke Eisai Edo (rpt) Einai Stigmes (rpt) Pansellinos (rpt) Ekeino To Kalokairi (rpt) Niose Me (rpt) News Mera Mesimeri Konstantinou Kai Elenis (rpt) To Kafe Tis Haras (rpt) Deliyianneio Parthenagogeio (rpt) Aiyia Fuxia (rpt) Lefta Sto Lepto Vals Me 12 Theous (rpt)

MEGA 06.00 06.30 07.00 10.00 12.45 14.00 15.00

Current affairs show.

16.00

Tin Patisa (rpt) Niose Me News Vals Me 12 Theous Ekeino To Kalokairi Enopion Tou Laou News Sports News Radio Arvila

18.00 18.20 19.30

Klemmeni Zoi (rpt) Erotas Kleftis (rpt) News Deal (rpt)

News Greek Series TBA Oi Vasiliades New daily family comedy based on the Argentinian sitcomtelenovela Los Roldan, replacing I Zoi tis allis.

20.20 21.15

News Klemmena Oneira Two episodes of Greek drama series.

22.30

00.00 00.10

News Gimnoi Angeloi (rpt) Local drama series, based on true events.

01.00 03.00 04.30

07.00 08.20 10.00 10.50 12.00 14.30 15.20 17.10 18.00 18.05 18.40

Protoselido Eleni Vasiliki (rpt) Aspra Balonia (rpt) Mesimeri Kai Kati Efta Ourani Kai Sinnefa Alites (rpt) Magazino Siga Min To’ Xeres (rpt) News Ti Tha Fame Simera Mama Anna Paola Latin American telenovela.

19.30

Efta Ourani Kai Sinnefa Alites

20.20 21.15 22.20

News Aspra Balonia Al Tsantiri News

PLUS TV 07.20 08.30 09.05 10.00 10.45 11.40 12.30 13.00 15.30 17.00 17.50

A highly successful live satirical comedy show that features Lakis Lazopoulos giving ‘his version’ of the news.

00.20 00.25 01.20 02.00 02.40 03.00 03.30

News Istories Tou Astinomou Beka (rpt) Siga Min To’ Xeres (rpt) Mono Mia Fora (rpt) Se Fonto Kokkino (rpt) Ta Hrisopsara (rpt) Eleni (rpt)

Yia Sena (rpt) Enimerosi Tora (rpt) Proino Mou (rpt)

Fotis - Maria Live Best Of Exelixeis Sti Showbiz Mesimeriani Meleti Best Of I Kouzina Me Ti Dina (rpt) Mila (rpt) To Kleidi (rpt) Star News Mesimeriani Meleti Kids’ TV To Kleidi Fotis - Maria Live Entertainment magazine featuring segments on cooking, health, fashion, lifestyle issues and more.

Local comedy series.

FILM: Wild Wild West The two best hired guns face a series of dangers while investigating an evil genius who is hatching a plot to assassinate the US president. Sci-ﬁ Western comedy, starring Will Smith, Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh. 1999.

Greek parody show.

01.40 02.30 03.20 04.40

Yia Sena Local talk-show.

With News at 18.00.

18.40 19.30 20.15 21.15 22.10 23.00 00.00 00.05 00.30

Ta Epta Kaka Tis Moiras Mou Retire Nea Mera Proino Mou Enimerosi Tora Klemmena Oneira (rpt) Eheis Meson

SIGMA

19.40 21.15 22.15

Mila Exelixeis Sti Showbiz FILM: Wedding Daze A man spontaneously proposes to a waitress, a year after losing his girlfriend in tragic circumstances, in an attempt to overcome his depression. Romantic comedy, starring Jason Biggs. 2006.

23.15

08.15 08.40 09.20 10.00 11.00 11.30 12.30 13.25 14.25 15.35 16.30 17.05 17.25 18.15 19.15 19.50 20.05 21.00

LTV Sports News Star News Repeats

Magikos Kosmos S’ Agapo (rpt) Akti Oneiron (rpt) Ston Asterismo Tis Imeras Kouzina Me Apopsi Remington Steele (rpt) Milagros Kids’ TV Telemarketing Top Models S’ Agapo Sabrina, To Koritsi Tis Agapis Akti Oneiron Paciﬁc Blue News Sports News Igeia & Zoi FILM: She’s Too Young A woman discovers her 14-year-old daughter is sexually active - and resolves to bring the matter to the attention of other parents. Drama, with Marcia Gay Harden. 2004.

22.45

FILM: Killing Down An army veteran’s life is turned upside down, when an assignment in Nicaragua leads to his capture at the hands of a paramilitary unit. Action, starring Sherre J. Wilson. 2006.

Eleventh Hour (rpt) First season. ‘Subway’. Hood is called in when seemingly unrelated people from across Philadelphia exhibit the same symptoms of toxic exposure and ofﬁcials suspect a possible poison cluster..

00.00 00.50 01.50

CAPITAL

01.00

FILM: After The Rain In apartheid-era South Africa, an Afrikaner soldier catches his mate in bed with her black friend. Drama, starring Ariyon Bakare. 1999.

We Bought a Zoo (Novacinema1, 22.00)

01:25 dinnerladies 01:55 The Green Green Grass 02:25 Ideal 02:55 The Weakest Link 03:40 EastEnders 04:15 Doctors 04:45 The Impressions Show With Culshaw &... 05:15 Ideal 05:45 The Green Green Grass 06:15 The Weakest Link 07:00 3rd & Bird 07:10 Me Too! 07:30 Boogie Beebies 07:45 Tellytales 07:55 Tweenies 08:15 3rd & Bird 08:25 Me Too! 08:45 Boogie Beebies 09:00 Tellytales 09:10 Bobinogs 09:20 dinnerladies 09:55 The Green Green Grass 10:25 The Weakest Link 11:10 EastEnders 11:40 Doctors 12:10 32 Brinkburn Street 12:55 Fawlty Towers 13:25 The World’s Toughest Driving Tests 14:20 The Green Green Grass 14:50 The Weakest Link 15:35 EastEnders 16:05 Doctors 16:35 32 Brinkburn Street 17:20 The Green Green Grass 17:50 dinnerladies 18:25 The Weakest Link 19:10 EastEnders 19:40 Doctors 20:10 The World’s Toughest Driving Tests 21:00 Fawlty Towers 21:30 The Impressions Show With Culshaw &... 22:00 32 Brinkburn Street 22:45 As Time Goes By 23:15 Lab Rats 23:45 Outcasts 00:35 Fawlty Towers

07:00 How It’s Made 07:25 Wheel-

er Dealers 08:15 American Chopper 09:10 Dirty Jobs 10:05 Deadliest Catch 10:55 Ultimate Survival 11:50 How Do They Do It? 12:15 How It’s Made 12:40 Extreme Engineering 13:35 Overhaulin’ 14:30 Wheeler Dealers 15:00 Wheeler Dealers 15:25 American Chopper 16:20 Mythbusters 17:15 Dirty Jobs 18:10 Deadliest Catch 19:05 Ultimate Survival 20:00 How It’s Made 21:00 Mythbusters 22:00 You Have Been Warned 23:00 Strip The City 00:00 Penn & Teller Tell A Lie 01:00 An Idiot Abroad 01:55 Mythbusters 02:50 You Have Been Warned 03:50 Strip The City 04:50 Penn & Teller Tell A Lie 05:45 How Do They Do It? 06:10 Overhaulin’

09:30 Fitness: The Box 09:45 Curling: World Women’s Championship 11:30 Ski Jumping: World Cup Norway 12:30 Biathlon: World Cup Russia 13:15 Football: Eurogoals 14:00 Tennis: Mats Point 14:30 Curling: World Women’s Championship 16:30 Cycling: Tour Of Catalunya 18:00 Snooker: Players Tour Championship Finals Ireland 19:15 Football: Next Gen Series 22:00 Boxing 00:00 Fia World Touring Car Championship 00:30 Ski Jumping: World Cup

Norway 01:15 Biathlon: World Cup Russia 02:00 Cycling: Tour Of Catalunya

Man 23:00 Flypaper 00:35 Hustler TV 02:15 Faces In The Crowd 04:15 Miracle 06:30 LTV Sports News

Neighborhood 22:00 We Bought A Zoo 00:10 Perfect Sense 01:50 Payback 03:30 The Devil Inside 04:55 Let Me In

Nhl: Minnesota Wild At Vancouver Canucks 00:00 Golf Central International

05:40 Desperate Housewives 06:25 Bones 07:10 Raising Hope 07:35 Scrubs 08:00 Grey’s Anatomy 08:50 Tough Love: Miami 09:40 Desperate Housewives 10:25 Bones 11:10 Raising Hope 11:35 Scrubs 12:00 Modern Family 12:25 New Girl 12:50 Glee 13:40 Grey’s Anatomy 14:30 Masterchef 15:20 Desperate Housewives 16:05 Bones 16:50 Raising Hope 17:15 Scrubs 17:40 Grey’s Anatomy 18:30 Masterchef 19:20 Desperate Housewives 20:10 Bones 21:00 Modern Family 21:25 New Girl 21:50 Glee 22:40 Raising Hope 23:05 Scrubs 23:30 Modern Family 23:55 New Girl 00:20 Glee 01:10 Bones 02:00 Desperate Housewives 02:45 Raising Hope 03:10 Scrubs 03:35 Surviving Suburbia 04:00 Grey’s Anatomy 04:50 Masterchef

07:00 Kids TV 15:45 Justice League Unlimited 16:10 Legion Of Super Heroes 16:35 Young Justice 17:00 Nba Action 17:30 Barclays Premier League World 18:00 Liga Bbva 2012-13 20:00 2011 Reebok Crossﬁt Games (Men’s) 20:30 Planet Speed 21:00 La Liga Review 2012-13 22:00 Barclays Premier League 2012-13 00:00 2012 American Le Mans Series 01:00 Liga Bbva 2012-13 03:00 Pba World Championship 03:30 Espn Films 05:00 Barclays Premier League 201213

05:55 O Annivas Pro Ton Pilon 07:40 My Super Ex-Girlfriend 09:20 Beastly 10:50 Cine News 11:25 Tower Heist 13:10 Pal Joey 15:00 The English Patient 17:45 Hollywood Buzz 18:20 The Story Of Us 20:05 Perfect Stranger 22:00 The Jackal 02:20 Hanna 04:10 Cine News 04:35 The Son Of No One

06:00 Only Hits 08:00 MTV GreekLips 09:00 MTV Hollywood Heights 10:00 MTV Plain Jane (Commissioned Version) 11:00 Pure Local 12:00 MTV VHI Pop up Video 13:00 MTV Made 14:00 MTV Big Time Rush 14:30 MTV Victorious 15:00 MTV Hollywood Heights 16:00 MTV Crash Canyon 17:00 MTV Pranked 18:00 MTV GreekLips 19:00 Only Hits 20:00 MTV The Hard Times Of RJ Berger 21:00 MTV Underemployed 22:00 MTV Catﬁsh 23:00 MTV The Inbetweeners 00:00 MTV Jersey Shore 01:00 Only Hits

07:30 Action Zone 08:00 True Crime 10:10 In The Valley Of Elah 12:15 First Deadly Sin, The 14:15 Rite, The 16:15 Barbarian Princess 18:00 Roxanne 20:00 LTV Sports News 21:00 I Love You,

07:15 One Tree Hill 08:00 How To Make It In America 08:30 Strike Back 10:20 According To Jim 10:45 Eastbound & Down 11:15 Hawaii Five 12:45 Harry’s Law 13:30 One Tree Hill 14:15 Strike Back 16:00 Friends 16:25 Privileged 17:10 Closer, The 17:55 Five Days 2 19:00 Harry’s Law 19:45 According To Jim 20:30 Big Bang Theory The 21:00 Mentalist The 21:45 Southland 22:30 Ncis: Los Angeles 23:15

Supernatural 00:05 Deception (2008) 01:50 Lost & Found 03:30 Friends 03:55 Privileged 04:40 Closer, The 05:25 Five Days 2 06:30 Harry’s Law

08:30 Phenomenon (1996) 10:40 Il Ciclone 12:15 Last Night 14:00 Beyond Borders 16:10 Magic Men 17:45 Red (2010) 19:45 Bonﬁre Of The Vanities, The 22:00 Expendables, The (2010) 00:05 Daring! TV 04:05 Fine Madness, A 06:00 Centurion

05:40 Operation: Endgame 07:05 Wings Of The Dove 08:50 Cine News 09:10 Jane Eyre 11:10 Films And Stars 11:40 The Muppets 13:30 The Art Of Getting By 15:00 Hitch 17:05 Cine News 17:50 Margin Call 19:40 Hollywood 1on1 20:15 A Distant

19:05 The Company Men 21:00 Animal Kingdom 23:00 How I Met Your Mother 00:20 Cine News 01:30 Mesmerized

19:35 My Future Boyfriend 21:00 Bad Teacher 22:40 The Cake Eaters 00:15 The Beaver

17:00 Nhl: Minnesota Wild At Vancouver Canucks 18:00 Pre Game 18:45 Cup 2012-13: Aep Vs Ael 20:45 Post Game 21:30 Snapshots Cyprus Football 21:45

07:00 The Angry Hills 08:45 Elvis On Tour 10:20 Johnny Eager 12:05 They Drive By Night 13:40 Telefon 15:20 Mr.Imperium 16:45 Until They Sail 18:20 The LeftHanded Gun 20:00 East Of Eden 22:00 Pink Floyd - The Wall 23:50 Jailhouse Rock 01:25 Telefon 03:05 The Angry Hills 04:50 They Drive By Night

By Preston Wilder

‘Happy Birthday’ Bruce Willis (Novacinema2, from 18.20) Where do you begin with Bruce Willis (who turns 58 today)? He’s done action, comedy, sci-fi - and even brought his bruised, weary presence to dramas and small, arty indies. Both LTV and Nova pay tribute tonight - and I realise they have to choose from what’s available (and affordable), but Nova’s three selections seem designed to prove that Bruce Willis never made a good film in his life (the double-bill on LTV3 is better, though it does include notorious turkey The Bonfire of the Vanities). We kick off at 18.20 with The Story of Us, a well-meaning but synthetic semi-comedy about a marriage in trouble, move on to the forgettable Per-

fect Stranger - a feeble thriller pairing Bruce with Halle Berry - and end with The Jackal, misjudged action hokum with Willis as an elusive assassin. I know it must be hard to find Pulp Fiction, 12 Monkeys and Moonrise Kingdom (my pick for a Bruce Willis treble), but surely we can do better than this? Happy birthday anyway, Bruce Willis. Made in 1999, 2007 and 1997, respectively.

I Love You, Man (LTV, 21.00) What would you say to Bruce Willis, if you met him tonight on his birthday? Maybe you could say ‘I love you, man!’ Wouldn’t that sound a bit gay though? That’s the tension at the heart of this comedy, which isn’t brilliant - puerile and crass, like most Hollywood comedy

I Love You, Man

aimed at the college crowd - but does star Paul Rudd, an actor of superb comic timing. Paul is getting married, but is one of those metrosexual types without any close male friends, making it hard to find a best man for the wedding; then he meets Jason Segel, and the two guys bond - but the bond gets a bit intense and they start hanging out all the time, even threatening Paul’s relationship with his fiancée. Will a male friendship turn into more (viz. a ‘bromance’)? And will we get to see that in a Hollywood comedy? Don’t hold your breath - and there’s lots of raunchy humour to endure (or enjoy) while being teased, but Rudd does add a touch of class to the proceedings. In other news: Happy birthday, Bruce Willis. Made in 2009.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

CRYPTIC CROSSWORD 2341 1

PREVIOUS DAY’S SOLUTIONS

8 9 10

12 13 16

HOW TO PLAY: Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1-9. There’s no maths involved, you solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic. With the ‘X’ sudoku, the shaded X must also contain the numbers 1-9.

17 18 19 20

EASY

HARD

MEDIUM

HARD

24 25

2 Night-watchman! (10) 3 Jumpy creature? (8) 4 More than one patrol leader on the river (6) 5 Making second-hand (5) 6 Chaps holding a base (4) 7 Trouble in sight (4)

youth (10)

9 School in the Tonbridge area! (4) 10 Survey that maps out the artillery (8) 12 Behold state pub (5) 13 Model-making wood (3) 16 “Care of” written twice on envelope (6) 17 Wily union leader in dishevelled state (6) 18 Dull but not raining (3) 21 & 22 Key exercise (5,8) 24 Potential risk from a Malay dagger (4) 25 Like the youngest daughter perhaps at the end of the queue (4,2,4) 26 Number batting in Tyneside (4)

11 Satisfied before I take on a point argued (10) 13 Object achieved at last (3) 14 Can be part of spring (3) 15 Awful stinker, about 100, was afflicted (8) 19 Remember to telephone again (6) 20 Take off one’s belt (5) 22 Vote for a parrot! (4) 23 From Laos, too (4)

Rating EASY

1 Where to deposit money by the river (4) 8 Unemployment benefit included in rise for a

Rating HARD

Down

Rating EASY

Across

Rating MEDIUM

Answers to crossword 2340

HOROSCOPE

CRYPTIC: Across – 1 Elastic band; 9 Run on; 10 Matador; 11 Noblest; 13 Maria; 14 Few; 15 Helot; 16 Bee; 17 Rebus; 19 Paprika; 21 Estonia; 23 Learn; 24 Engaged tone. Down – 2 Longbow; 3 Since; 4 Ism; 5 Bath-mat; 6 Nadir; 7 Frankfurter; 8 Greasepaint; 12 Tulip; 15 Hosanna; 16 Britain; 18 Baton; 20 Pilot; 22 Ape.

QUICK: Across – 1 Imagination; 9 Folio; 10 Warrior; 11 Omitted; 13 Famed; 14 Eve; 15 Annoy; 16 Gym; 17 Hefty; 19 Mission; 21 Amassed; 23 Depot; 24 Illmannered. Down – 2 Malaise; 3 Gloat; 4 New; 5 Thrifty; 6 Opium; 7 Off one’s head; 8 Predominate; 12 Denim; 15 Alyssum; 16 Glimpse; 18 Frail; 20 Sidle; 22 Din.

ARIES March 21 - April 20

LEO July 23 - August 22

SAGITTARIUS November 23 - December 21

It may be best to put social plans aside for a while, as you may need a chance to rest and recharge. At the same time, the presence of Mars in your sign could be spurring you on to greater things. This isn’t a time for major accomplishments, but it is helpful for doing the ground work for a later date when you’ll be more in command of your future.

Today could be a winner in so many ways! You’ll do fabulously well in group encounters or meetings, in which your charismatic personality helps make the event meaningful and special. With Mars now encouraging you to set off on a long journey, you may be getting itchy feet. Whet your appetite with travel movies or books, then make a plan.

So many fortunate things could happen, that you might have trouble keeping up with it all. Today, it may be conﬁdence rather than luck that generates so much positivity. It’s a good time to trust yourself and take up opportunities. With a focus on fun and adventure, this may be your chance to indulge yourself by exploring the unknown.

TAURUS April 21 - May 21

VIRGO August 23 - September 23

CAPRICORN December 22 - January 20

The current focus puts the accent on the meaning of friendships. Currently, your friends may not only be inspiring and fun to be with in so many ways, they may also provide lots of spiritual support. It’s possible you might also attract some needy types as you’re in a compassionate mood. You’ll need to be polite but ﬁrm, otherwise they’ll exhaust you.

Luck may be with you today at a time when relationships and social contacts seem to ﬂourish. You may be liaising or collaborating with various people on plans and projects. It’s a good day to pursue practical matters and make career choices. Currently, your health seems to be linked with your emotions. A positive boost in one enables the other.

Once again, the current focus suggests you need to spell things out and clarify your communications with others, especially those associated with contracts or money-spinning deals. Banish anxiety and brush off worrying thoughts as they may be consuming a lot of your energy. Instead, face up to problems and determine to resolve them.

GEMINI May 22 - June 21

LIBRA September 24 - October 23

AQUARIUS January 21 - February 19

Friendship and business seem to work together in helpful and pleasant ways. You may start the day off with new hope for ﬁnancial progress and on-the-job success. Though you may be feeling pressure at work, stick with it, as you may get a promotion by doing so. Mars brings a buzz to your social zone which is excellent for fun and networking.

It may be a good day to advance at work, make holiday plans and enjoy a friend’s welcome company. Let your imagination ﬂow, as your inspired ideas could earn you a pay rise or some well-deserved praise. At work, you seem to do best in situations in which you can use your creative skills and talents, yet be competitive. Don’t let these go to waste.

Zesty and happy-go-lucky inﬂuences make for a ﬁne day to go on an outing and enjoy fun and recreation. If you’re single and looking for romance, or married and want to rekindle that spark, you can do it. However, some practical concerns like money may put a damper on your fun. Don’t let vague fears affect you. It’s time to take positive action.

CANCER June 22 - July 22

SCORPIO October 24 - November 22

PISCES February 20 - March 20

A tendency to give into pleasures and a laissez-faire attitude, may prompt you to forget duties in your search of personal enjoyment. It’s important to compromise, even if you do feel in an escapist mood. Make an effort to get work done early, so you can enjoy yourself later on. When it comes to setting career goals, you may be aiming for the stars.

The desire to achieve and show your competitive side may clash with a tendency to wonder what the point is. You may prefer to watch a movie or relax, rather than get involved in the cut and thrust of the world. It’s a good time to blast through obstacles and see what you can achieve. Set yourself a deadline and get going - aim for success.

Jupiter in your home zone may be encouraging you to throw caution to the wind, and to bask in activities that make you feel good. However, don’t allow it to derail your efforts to stick to a diet or health regime. If you’ve noticed yourself putting on the pounds, it may be time to work out or do more exercise than you currently do.

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, March 19, 2013

ADVERTISER

Advertiser Only

helps you find what you’re looking for

€14 (plus VAT)

a week for classifieds (up to 40 words)

Send your classified by fax or email and pay by credit card, cheque or cash. It couldn’t be simpler! Nicosia - email: classified@cyprus-mail.com Limassol - email: limassol@cyprus-mail.com Paphos - email: paphos@cyprus-mail.com make a difference. Please bring your donation to our clinic’s or charity shop in Limassol. Telephone 26946461 (Paphos), 97894005 (Polis), 25543304 (Limassol)

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES EXPERIENCED PADI INSTRUCTORS WANTED for a 5* IDC in Limassol. MUST be ﬂuent in BOTH Russian and English, with at least 5 Instructor Specialties. Please do not apply if you are not able to teach in both Russian and English. E-mail: Jonathan@primehouse.com

***************************** WANTED: Experienced Dog Groomer - Full/Part time hours For wellestablished business in Limassol. For more info please contact: 96578094

LESSONS PRIVATE TUITION experienced, UKqualiﬁed teacher offers full-time or part-time private home tuition in Maths, English, the Sciences, I.C.T., Geography, History, Business Studies and Economics, from KS3 to iGCSE, AS and A2 levels. 9 years experience in Cyprus; references available. Telephone 99318796 – Paphos ART AFTERNOONS Drawing Thursdays Painting Fridays Sketching Saturdays 14.30 – 17.30 IDC at Art Studio 55, Heroes Square, Limassol. Tel 99 409 829 info@idclimassol.org ART ARCHITECTURE DESIGN CONSTRUCTION

MISCELLANEOUS WANTED OF: COUPLES OF EU CITIZENS LIVING IN CYPRUS We are currently conducting research as regards European families living in Cyprus. If both you and your spouse come from the same or a different country of the EU (except Cyprus and Greece, e.g. both from Germany, or Germany and France), if you have children over 6, and if you are interested in taking part in some research ﬁnanced by the University of Cyprus please contact us 96530033. Participants will complete a questionnaire and participate in a face-to-face interview. They will also receive a symbolic amount of money. NOTICE is hereby given that.SERGY LYSOV of KOILANEMOY STREET 4 BLOCK D ART 303 LIMASSOL , CYPRUS, has applied to the minister of the Interior for naturalisation and any person who knows any reason why naturalisation should not be granted is hereby invited to send a written and signed statement of the facts to the Minister of Interior, Nicosia PAPHIAKOS CHARITY SHOP (Limassol) open 7 days a week 9.00-13.00. Donations required of bric a brac, clothes, electrical goods, household goods, soft furnishings etc. Telephone Jackie 25543304 PASTA APPEAL. We need your help! Every day we feed our cats and dogs with a hearty meal of pasta. Please donate a bag of pasta to

Nicosia - tel: 22 818583 fax: 22 676385 CONDITION AT REDUCED PRICES. PLEASE CALL : 99622678

SERVICES

MURDER MYSTERY NIGHT at Alﬁe T’s, 29 Tomb of the Kings Road, Paphos 7pm, 23rd March €25 per person includes 3 course meal telephone 99099254.

Meeting at the following locations/ days. Call to speak to an AA member. Ayia Napa Monday 97798043

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

ALCOHOLICS CYPRUS

ANONYMOUS

Is drink costing you more than just money? AA could be the answer.

Larnaca Tuesday (Polish spk) 96616589 Thursday 24645523 / 99259264 Limassol Tuesday / Wednesday / Friday / Saturday 25368265 / 99559322

PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH PAINTER AND DECORATOR City and Guilds Advanced 46 years experience of interior and external ﬁnishes. Quality work, reliable, estimates and advice freely given. Tala based Phone Terry 96407703

Details of meetings are available on www.aa-europe.net

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.kdﬂ yscreens.com

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

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

Nicosia 99013596

Wednesday/Sunday

Paphos Tuesday / Thursday / Saturday 99916331 / 99399240

FOR SALE MISCELLANEOUS

SALE IN KATO PAFOS 96sq.m The shop is within the ‘’Limnaria Complex’’ and faces the main road Melina Mercouri Avenue It’s in good condition with suspended ceiling, recessed lighting, VRV AC, ﬁtted carpet, motorised shutters, CCTV and more. Tel: 96885030 owner

***************************** PROFESSIONAL UPHOLSTERY CLEANING, also carpets, rugs and mattresses. Special offers now available. FREE STAIN GUARD FOR LIMITED TIME For a quote call Rickys Cleaning Services on 99131044 (all areas) info@rcs-cyprus.net / www.rcscyprus.net

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

Limassol - tel: 25 761117 fax: 25 761141

SWIFT SERVICE AND REPAIRS air-cons, commercial and domestic fridges and freezers, ice machines, cool rooms, supply and ﬁ t air-cons VRV S. Call Nik on 99579602 Limassol

LAND FOR SALE MITSERO. 7 skalas. 10% build. South facing, unobstructed views. Access road, water, electricity. Fenced compound with 48sq.meter timber framed 2 bedroom unit, septic tank, grey water system, storage, workshop. €135,000 mobile 99594205 pumpitch@hotmail.com PLOT FOR SALE IN KATO PLATRES in a pine tree area. It comes with title deeds, 1095 square feet. Tel. 99881051. DOG GROOMING BUSINESS FOR SALE Do you like animals? If you do you would love doing this. Well established client base for 7 years. Willing to train if needs require. Open to offers for a quick sale this includes training, equipment and transport. For more information please call: 96301768

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

PETS

************************** ***************************** FOR SALE: SUZUKI VITARA Saloon 1.6 benzini, dark green from 2002, mileage: 135.500 km. MOT till 2015. Road Tax paid all 2013. €2.200 Electric Cooker, Bosch 4 ceramic hotplates and oven, used 1 1/2 year, €350 Washing Machine LG 7 kg, silent, used 1 1/2 year €200 Big Electric heater, Matestar, used 8-10 times €25 For further information contact phone 9918 2310

DO YOU WANT A SHINY LOOKING FLOOR? Full repair & restoration of chipped, scratched, dull and stained, Marble, Terrazzo, Stone & Ceramic tiled ﬂ oors and surfaces. Professional cleaning, repair & sealing of internal/external ceramic tiles & grout lines. For a free professional consultation & demonstration contact Mark at Premier on 70006766 All areas

HONEY is a 3 month old pincher/ terrier mix. She is very small sized and very sweet and playful. Honey is looking for a loving family to be hers forever! She will remain small sized so she is ideal for a family with an apartment! For adoptions call 99 520 511 Monday-Friday between hours 10-2 or email ndsadoptions@gmail.com

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

1. ECO Desk 160x80x71 – 8 units/ €96. 2. Extention 120x60x71 – 6 units/ €76. 3. Small under-desk Cabinet with 3 pullout drawers – 7 units/ €99. 4. ECO Low cabinet with 2 low doors - 8 units /€107. Tel: 25 200 600, 99 316 582

***************************** FOR SALE – PAPHOS CATERING EQUIPMENT 1. Industrial freezer – CORECO Height 200cm, width 68cm, depth 58cm 2.

Electrolux Freezer, model EUC3109X, width-595mm, height1800mm, depth- 623mm, freezing capacity-24kg/24hours, energy class A

3. CONVOTHERM OVEN modelOBG 6.10Combi Oven-Steamer with Gas Steam Generator Extra: Stand with stainless steel shelving, extractor fan, water supply system and gas installation connections, PLUS CHAFING TRAYS & THERMO BOXES, ALL IN EXCELLENT

people. He is looking for a forever home. For adoptions call 99 520 511 Monday-Friday between hours 10-2 or email ndsadoptions@gmail. com. Visit by appointments only AGAPI is now in a foster home! She is very sweet and playful! Agapi is looking for a permanent home! For adoptions call 99 520 511 MondayFriday or email ndsadoptions@ gmail.com

FOR SALE MOTOR VEHICLES HONDA 400 TWIN, blue, 1984 in very good condition, chrome exhausts, only 38.000 kms, road tax up to date, €900 o.n.o, please call : 99266282 - Paphos area.

***************************** TOYOTA IQ 2009. Automatic 1ltre. White pearl, 33.000km. Medium tinted windows, Zenon lights. Perfect condition only €8500.00. Call 99511737

***************************** BLACK HONDA CBR1100XX SUPERBLACKBIRD registered new in June 2011 as new condition with 12000 km. Any inspection welcome. €6950. Call Philip 99680747

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

PROPERTY TO LET NICOSIA FOR RENT One bedroom apartment in Lycavitos area near Hilton Hotel – Covered parking – Air-conditioning – Electrical appliances – Under ﬂoor heating – Parquet ﬂoor – Blinds. Call: 99673008

Larnaca - tel: 24 652243 fax: 24 659982

classified contents Employment Opportunities pg 15 Employment Miscellaneous 15 Pets 15 Lessons 15 Health & Fitness -Personal -Services 15 For Sale Miscellaneous 15 For Sale Land/ Property Business 15 For Sale Motor vehicles 15 Properties Wanted -To Let Nicosia 15 To Let Limassol 17 To Let Larnaca 18 To Let Paphos 18 To Let Protaras, Ayia Napa, Paralimni -For Sale Nicosia 20 For Sale Limassol 20 For Sale Larnaca -For Sale Paphos 20 For Sale Ayia Napa -For Sale Famagusta Protaras 20 For Sale Athens -Property& Home Services display ads --

abbreviations

***************************** HOUSES/FLATS

FOR SALE BUSINESS/ PROPERTY/LAND

Mak/ssa lux., pool, 4 bedr., attic, ofﬁ ce, maid’s room, modern style, c/h a/c €2000

***************************** OFFICE FURNITURE FOR SALE with 50% discount, price per unit:

Paphos - tel: 26 911383 fax: 26221049

Engomi 4 bedr., house ff €1200 without €1000

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

Acropolis 4 bedr.,house, c/h a/c only €850

LIMASSOL 1) GREAT INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY PLOT OF LAND FOR SALE 1,789 sq.m, IN THE AREA OF AGIA ZONI BUILDING FACTOR 140% WITH TITLE DEED. The land is located at a central point in the city, very close to various amenities and has excellent accessibility. Tel: 96885030 owner 2) RESIDENTIAL LAND FOR SALE GREAT INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY The plot of land is located in the area of Foinikaria Total area 5,686 with a 20% Building Factor Tel: 96885030 owner

***************************** PAFOS 1) PLOTS OF LAND FOR SALE ANAVARGOS AREA GREAT INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY The plots can be sold as a single unit or individually. From 626 sq.m up to 776 sq.m with building factor 60% and title deeds. Mountain and sea view with nice villas developing around the area. Tel: 96885030 owner 2) COMMERCIAL PROPERTY FOR

LOST HUSKY – PAPHOS Answers to the name of Chico went missing on Monday the 4th of February around the International School area chipped Paphiakos Animal Welfare have advised that many large dogs have been taken from the Mesogi/ Anarvagos/Ttremithousa areas. Please call 99622678 if you have seen him

***************************** ENGLISH COCKER puppies for sale ( black girl and black and tan boy). Will be available for sale at the beginning of April, with an excellent pedigree, vaccinated, microchipped, free from eye cataract, kidney failure and hips dysplasia. Living with a family with kids, other dogs and a cat( 450 euros). Also an adult black and tan female, fully vaccinated is given for free to the right home. For photos look at www.costopa.net or call 99884578 Anna ( Nicosia) or e mail to costopa@gmail.com DILAN is a male dog approximately 2 years old. He is nice with kids and

Whole ﬂ oor apart., Agios Andreas, Acropolis, Engomi from €1000 Photos www.markidesestates. com Markides 22- 378898 / 99464764 Reg.No. 487 E 16

***************************** LUXURIOUS APARTMENT FOR RENT - A luxurious one floor apartment situated in central Nicosia in an area of exceptional Beauty at 3 Museum Street, is available to let. It has been recently renovated and consists of four bedrooms, two bathrooms, big dining and sitting rooms, kitchen and a huge veranda. Approximate covered area 250 sqm. Tel: 99622370. TO LET 1 bedroom upper floor house, large veranda near restaurant Periyiali in Acropolis 5 Aeantos Street €370 call 99680208 NEW LUXURIOUS spacious (130m²), 2 bedrs flat, 2 balconies, 2 WC, indep. CH, solar system, A/C, granite floors, shutters, Italian kitchen and appliances, storeroom, covered parking in small quiet building (4 flats) in Ay. Dhometios 1.5km

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

Tuesday, March 19, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

Advertiser TO LET NICOSIA form Alfa-Mega Engomi. €590 p.m. Same building very large ONE bedr ﬂat (75m²) with similar amenities €480 p.m. TEL:99 544141

***************************** FLATS/HOUSES FOR RENT Ag. Andreas studio €290, Kennedy €300, 1bdrm Str/los €400, Makarios av. €500, 2 bdrm European University furnished top floor €600 Ag. Dometios ground floor + garden €450, Lycavitos furnished €530, Ag. Paylos rear house newly built €450, 3bdrm M/ssa ground floor €700, Archangelos detached with pool €1,200, 4bdrm Kosta Theodorou new house €1,100, Ag. Andreas g/f €900, Ag. Omologites colonial traditional house pool €2,500. 21 property Finder Ltd. 99474839, 99646822, A.M.627 A.A.108/E

***************************** LUXURY HOUSES: 1. 4 bedr luxury detached house built in 3/4 of a plot, ofﬁce space, central heating, full a/c, big sitting and dining area, separate big kitchen with family room and all the electrical appliances, blinds and curtains on all windows, aluminium shutters, big garden with grass, 3 wc, covered parking, in a quiet area – Strovolos €1000 (H4ST10051-R), (photos in the website)

FOR RENT 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment in Larnaca near new hospital. €400 per month including service charge and refuse collection Call 99358916

TO LET NICOSIA 2. 3 bedr luxury terraced house, 210sq.m,central heating, full a/c, marble floor in the sitting areas and solid parquet floor on stairs and bedrooms,4 wc,3 bathrooms, 2 en suite, big verandas, electrical appliances in the kitchen, 3 covered parking spaces, roof garden access, in a quiet neighbourhood on Mon Parnas hill – Engomi €800 (photos in the website). 3. 3 bedr detached house with extra room for office, 250sq.m, central heating independent, 4 a/c, big renovated kitchen with cooker and oven, big sitting and dining room with parquet floor and fireplace, 1 bathroom, 2 shower, 3 wc, 2 covered parking, double glazed windows and shutters in bedrooms, big verandas surrounded by trees and bushes off 28th October street IN the central part of Makedonitissa – €1100 (H3MAK0004-R) (photos on the website) 4. 3 bedr luxury semi-detached house with character, 200sq.m, central heating, full ac, sitting and dining room with fireplace, big kitchen with cooker and oven, dishwasher and refrigerator, nice mature garden with flowers, trees and small garden with grass, covered parking, 3wc, 2 bathrooms in a quiet neighbourhood. Available

English-Painter & Decorator Fully Qualified 30 years’ Experience SUMMER OFFER 30% OFF ALL AREAS • External & Internal painting • Damp Damage Repairs • Spritez Repairs • Free Estimates + very clean work • All areas. All types of woodwork stained and preserved • All work guaranteed

Tel. Tony on 99176557

TO LET NICOSIA middle of January. Agios Andreas - €1200 - H3AAD0001-R (photos on website). 5. 3 bedr luxury house, office space, attic room, with central heating, full a/c, separate kitchen, NICELY MODERN FURNISHED, 2 verandas, in a quiet area – Lakatamia €680 (H4LAK009-R), (photos in the website). 6. 3 bedr + attic room with shower and wc luxury detached house with central heating, a/c, fireplace, modern kitchen open plan with expensive electrical appliances, blinds, garden with grass, over flow swimming pool, covered parking in a quiet area. – Makedonitissa €1600 (H4MAK0023-R), (photos on the website). 7. 4 bedr luxury detached house with big sitting and dining room with parquet floor, separate big kitchen with family room and all the electrical appliances, small garden with grass and bbq area,3wc, central heating, full a/c, covered parking, in a very quiet neighborhood – Archangelos €1200 (H4AR0017-R), (photos in the website). 8. 3 bedr +office space partially renovated detached ground floor house, 280sq.m, central heating with oil, full a/c, 3wc, separate tv

TO LET NICOSIA room, big sitting and dining area, big verandas around the house, bbq area, covered parking, private yard near the parking.– Strovolos €1200 (H4ST10048-R), (photos in the website). 9. New modern luxury very good quality finished semi detached house built in 3 levels. Upstairs 1st level 3 bedrs all en suite+ laundry room, 2nd level big attic room which can be used for office space or bedroom. Ground floor with 2 sitting areas ,dining area and breakfast area, kitchen with all the electrical appliances, central heating, full a/c units. Basement with kitchen with cooker and oven, dishwasher, microwave and 2 refrigerators, sitting room with fireplace, and 2 bedrooms with one bathroom. Outside private fenced garden with artifi cial grass, bbq area and covered veranda. The house has blinds and shutters on all windows, false ceiling with spot lights throughout house, pressure system, covered parking, satellite dish, central music and network system, storage room, very good double glazed windows. Behind General flooring in the centre of Makedonitissa - €2000 (H4MAK0001-R), (photos on the website). 10. 4 bedr semi detached house with

SELECT Fencing & Decking Specialist For all your Garden and Security Fencing ♦ Quality approved workmanship ♦ 15 years experience + guaranteed work ♦ English workers ♦ also garden gates ♦ sheds ♦ chain link fencing ♦ free estimates ♦ all types of fencing & decking

Roofing flat & tired roofing repairs and construction Tel. SELECT fencing 99176557

TO LET NICOSIA central heating, 4 a/c, 3 wc, 2 bathrooms, 180sq.m, electrical appliances, small yard, bbq area, off Kostantinoupoleos street near French ambassador residence.- STROVOLOS €700 (H4ST10043-R), (photos in the website). 11. 4 bedr new luxury finished detached house with central heating independent, full a/c, 3wc, 2 bathrooms, big kitchen with cooker oven, dishwasher and big family room, aluminium shutters in all the house, separate big sitting and dining room with parquet floor, 2 covered parking, alarm system, big covered patio, SWIMMING POOL, in a newly built area near Falcon school – Strovolos €2000 (photos in the website). 12. 3 bedrs luxury 2 storey, FULLY RENOVATED LISTED HOUSE with high ceilings in the centre of Nicosia, 260sq.m, 2 small attic rooms, big sitting room upstairs, big sitting room and dining area downstairs, wooden floor,

TO LET NICOSIA kitchen with all the electrical appliances, 2 bathrooms(one en suite),3wc,CH independent, A/C, big garden – Nicosia Centre €1400 (H4NIC0002-R), (photos in the website). 13. 3 bedr upstairs and 2 separate bedrooms in the basement luxury detached house (all the bedrooms with en suite bathrooms/shower), also separate kitchen and sitting room in the basement which also has separate entrance from the house, central heating, full a/c, solid parquet floor throughout house, big sitting and dining room with fireplace, big fully equipped kitchen with breakfast area and family room, big over flow, 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).

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CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Advertiser TO LET NICOSIA 14. 4 bedr very big luxury semi detached house 350sq.m, with big separate basement 80sq.m with 2 rooms, sitting room, kitchen and bathroom. Consists of big sitting and dining areas upstairs, big kitchen with big family room and breakfast area, big bedrooms, 3 showers, 1 bathroom, central heating, full a/c, black out blinds on all windows, cooker and oven in the kitchen, covered parking and patio with bbq in a very quiet neighbourhood close to Makarios football stadium.CAN BE RENTED FURNISHED, PARTIALLY FURNISHED OR UNFURNISHED - Makedonitissa €1500(H4MAK0032-R), (photos in the website) 15. 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, 6wc, 2 covered parking, yard with tiles and SWIMMING POOL, bbq area in a very quiet neighbourhood near CYBC ( RIK) station and near a neighbourhood park – Platy Aglantzias €2500 (H4AGZ0005-R), (photos in

TO LET NICOSIA

website).

the website) For many more properties with photos visit our website at w w w.landtouristest ates.com which is updated daily. LANDTOURIST ESTATES LTD 22422225/96 - 422225/96422226, www.landtouristestates.com

***************************** LUXURY FLATS: 1. 3 bedr luxury finished spacious floor apartment with very big sitting and dining areas with family room with fire place, solid parquet floor all through, central heating independent, full a/c, all the bedrooms with en suite shower/bathroom, 4wc, big kitchen with all the electrical appliances, blinds on all windows, big covered veranda, covered parking, big storage room, on a small 3 storey building in a quiet neighbourhood – Agios Andreas- €1300 – A3AAD0005-R (photos on website). 2. 1 bedr spacious fully luxury renovated apartment,60sq.m, big sitting and dining room, big bedroom, fully newly modern furnished with LCD TV 32’, covered veranda, covered parking, storage heaters, full a/c, near Cyta, Laiki and Hellenic Bank headquarters – Dasoupolis €550 (photos in the

3. 2 bedr penthouse apartment, 100sq.m + 80sq.m veranda with flowers and bbq, big sitting and dining room with big 60” TV, storage heaters, full a/v, 2 wc, en suite bathroom/jacuzzi, roman blinds, cooker, oven, microwave, washing machine and refrigerator in the kitchen, covered parking, near Metro supermarket – Aglantzia €600 (photos in the website). 4. 2 bedr luxury ground floor apartment with central heating-independent, full a/c, structure cabling internet and satellite network, FULLY MODERN EXPENSIVE FURNISHED, with 46”LCD TV, covered parking, double glazed windows, aluminium shutters, on Pericleous street near Klimataria traffic lights – Strovolos €650 (A2ST10054-R) (photos in the website) 5. 4 bedr new spacious luxury finished floor apartment with floor heating independent, full a/c, 3wc, electrical appliances in the kitchen, blinds on all windows, very big 50sq.m covered veranda, fireplace, covered parking and big over floor heated covered swimming pool on the ground floor, on a small 3 storey building in a quiet neighbourhood near a playground and near Ippokration private hospital – Engomi €1500 (A4ENG0003-R) (photos in the website) 6. 1 bedr new luxury apartment in a modern building(TSENTAS),with central heating ind, 2 a/c, cooker and oven, refrigerator and washing machine in the kitchen, parquet floor, NICELY FURNISHED big covered veranda, big sitting room off Kyriakou Matsi street, 1 km from the centre €460 (A1AOM0002-R), (photos in the website). 7.

1 bedr cozy luxury apartment,60sq.m,parquet ﬂoor, nicely furnished ,all ﬁtted electrical appliances (cooker, oven,

TO LET NICOSIA

microwave, washing machine, dishwasher, fridge), roman blinds, provisions for home cinema, big covered verandah, storage heaters, 2 a/c ,covered parking in Dasoupolis near Alpha Mega supermarket and Areteion hospital. – Dasoupoli €470 (A1DAS0009-R) (photos in the website)

machine and dishwasher in the kitchen, CH independent, full a/c, big reception areas opening to the verandas, pressure system and 2 Pcovered with remote control entrance, walking distance to the centre very close to Debenhams €1300 (A3NIC0028-R), (photos in the website)

8. 2 bedr spacious renovated apartment 100sq.m with separate big kitchen, air condition for hot and cold in all the rooms, covered veranda, nicely newly fully furnished , off Kyriakou Matsi street very close to the centre on foot– Agioi Omologites €500 (A2AOM0003-R) (photos in the website)

12. 2 bedr new modern luxury finished apartment with parquet floor, central heating independent, 2 a/c, modern kitchen with all fitted expensive electrical appliances, blinds on the windows, big covered veranda, FULLY NICELY FURNISHED, covered parking in a quiet neighbourhood off Kallipoleos Street - Lykavitos €700 (A2LYK0024-R) (photos on the website)

9. New top quality 2 bedr apartment, 93sq.m+20sq.m veranda, on a small modern building with 6 flats only. Central heating independent, full a/c, 2 bathrooms, 2wc, fully fitted kitchen with all the electrical appliances, water pressure system roller blinds and shutters on windows, big sitting and dining room, big bedrooms, covered parking and storage room, in a quiet neighbourhood near Akropolis park. AVAILABLE end of March – Acropolis €800 A2ACS0002-R (photos in the website) . 10. New luxury finished 1 bedr penthouse apartment with big verandah with nice view, in a small modern building,55sq.m,storage heaters,2 a/c, blinds on the windows, expensive electrical appliances(cooker, oven, extractor, refrigerator, washing machine, dryer),covered parking and storage room, off Kalippoleos street opposite Dessange Day Spa near the University – Lykavitos €420 (A1LYK0002-R), (photos in the website). 11. 3 bedrs luxury penthouse one floor apartment in a small building with 3 apartments,250sq.m plus big covered verandas, fire place, solid parquet floor,2 bathrooms,3 wc, cooker, oven, fridge, washing

13. 3 bedr luxury penthouse apartment with central heating independent, full a/c, 2wc, big sitting and dining room with fireplace, separate kitchen, NICELY MODERN FURNISHED, big covered and uncovered veranda, covered parking, in Strovolos near the Municipal building - €650 (A3ST10014-R) (photos on the website) 14. 3 bedr spacious luxury finished apartment 150sq.m+30sq.m covered veranda, central heating independent with petrol, full wall a/c units, solid parquet floor, expensive electrical appliances in the kitchen, 3wc, curtains and blinds on windows, 3 COVERED PARKING, storage room, near Pizza Hut in Strovolos €1100 (photos in the website). 15. 3 bedrs luxury penthouse,165sq. m+80sq.m verandah with bbq, central heating ind, full AC, 3 wc, 2 bathrooms, solid parquet floor all the flat, big kitchen with dining area, fully MODERN FURNISHED, covered parking off Athalassa Avenue near Stephanis Electrinics and English school – Strovolos €800 (A3ST10013-R) (photos in the website)

TO LET NICOSIA 16. New luxury finished 4 bed PENTHOUSE apartment in a small modern building, 186sq. m+90sq.m big veranda with nice view, separate floor heating, fully air conditioned, 4wc, 2 en suite bedrooms with shower,1 bathroom, solid parquet floor all through, big sitting and dining areas with electric modern shutters opening to the veranda, fully equipped kitchen with expensive electrical appliances, 2 parking places (1 covered), in a very quiet neighbourhood ,near the Russian Embassy. AVAILABLE END OF MARCH –Engomi €1900 (A4ENG0005-R) (photos in the website) For many more properties with photos visit our website at w w w.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.

LIMASSOL FOR RENT office of around 85m2, with partitions, kitchenette and parking in a peaceful, green yet central area at Helladion House(off. 302; 3rd floor), 5 Andrea Kalvou Str. For viewing, please call Ms. Jenny on 25-340987(3rd flloor of building; office hours). For further details, please call 25-521873 after 8:00pm. FOR RENT IN IPSONAS near highway, first floor house, 3 bedrooms, C/H, A/C, fitted kitchen with all electrical appliances, and TV room. Roof garden with extra kitchen, BBQ, pergola. Rent €600pm. Tel 99672925

Tuesday, March 19, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

Advertiser TO LET LIMASSOL

TO LET LIMASSOL

UN-DETACHED HOUSE for rent in Apshiou village, 2 bedrooms, kitchen, sitting room, bathroom with solar water heater. A/C, satellite, 15mins to roundabout. €350. Tel 25369219, work 10.30-17.30 25542968 home 99773151 TO LET Large 4 bedroom unfurnished house in the village of Asomatos nr Akrotiri Limassol. Fully A/C & Heating (storage heaters). 5 wc’s, large kitchen/diner, lounge and sitting room. Large loft with own shower/ wc (suitable for ofﬁce/playroom/ gym). Carport - prominent position in cul-de-sac - lots of parking. €850 pcm (negotiable). Available from April 2013. Tel. 99831431 FOR RENT 1,2,3,4,5 bedroom houses, ﬂats and villas furnished or unfurnished and in some cases with swimming pool in all areas of Limassol town, Erimi, Episkopi, Kolossi, Ypsonas, Souni, Kivides, Agios Tihonas, Pyrkos, Pareklisia, Trahoni, Zakaki and Yermasoyia Tel: 99675752

***************************** FOR RENT 4 bedroom detached house situated in a quiet area of Erimi, with spacious, living area, kitchen, guest WC downstairs, and four bedrooms upstairs with en-suite master bedroom, and bathroom. It has central heating,

and air-condition. beautiful garden and parking. €800. 99675752 FOR RENT 4 bedroom detached house in Episkopi, on top of a hill with panoramic views of Curium Beach and garden all around (very private). It has a spacious living area, separate kitchen, utility room, guest WC downstairs and four bedrooms with bathroom upstairs. Central heating, air-conditioning, parking. €750. (negotiable) Tel: 99 675752 FOR RENT five bedroom villa for rent in Agios Sylas (7 minutes from town of Limassol) detached with beautiful panoramic mountain and sea views. It has large sitting dining area, separate kitchen, utility room, office, laundry shoot, four w/c, en-suite master bedroom with walk-in-wardrobe. Small kitchen area upstairs between bedrooms, large bedroom balconies. Central heating, air-conditioning, barbaque area. Also has a separate apartment below the house with small kitchen and shower with WC. A nice large gargen and covered parking. €1300. 99675752 TRADITIONAL VILLAGE STONE HOUSE IN APESHIA. Very quiet village, 20mins from Limassol. Road to heritage school/Troodos. 2 bedrooms, office available top

STUDIOS FOR RENT

TO LET LARNACA

TO LET LIMASSOL ﬂoor with veranda great view of mountains. Small courtyard with trees. Electric solar water. A/Ctoilet in main bedroom. Semi/ full furnished. Fitted kitchen with electrical appliances, ﬁreplace. Toilet/shower. €550pm negotiable. Tel 96891800.

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

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

2. Superior Real Estate Larnaca. 2 bedroom fully furnished apartment, nr the Metro/American Academy Larnaca. Ref. TLL1654

LARNACA

1. Superior Real Estate Larnaca. 3 bedroom detached unfurnished property set on a fantastic development in the village of Tersefanou. Available for immediate occupation. Ref. TLL973. Tel 24815926

Please call to arrange a viewing Tel. 24815926 3.

HOUSE FOR RENT 3 Bedrooms, 3 WC, A/C, C/H, white goods, VERGINA Larnaca. €570 per month Tel. 99 478749 FOR RENT fully furnished 1 bedroom flat near Larco hotel Larnaca. Price €370. Tel 99202543 1 BEDROOM flat in Ermou Square area Larnaca - 2 bedroom flat in Phaneromenis area Larnaca. Call 96693375

www.superiorrealestatelarnaca.com – LARGE RANGE OF RENTAL PROPERTIES. From studio apartments to 5 bedroom villa’s for rent, all properties have detailed descriptions, professional photographs. Interactive Virtual/Video Tours. Please visit our website. www.superiorrealestatelarnaca.com www.superiorrealestatelarnaca.com - License No. 419. LANDLORDS AVERTISE YOUR PROPERTY WITH US FOR FREE. Tel. 24815926 Email. info@supe-

Are you looking to meet an Attractive, Beautiful, Gorgeous, Successful lady who has a lot to offer, love, beauty and personality. Very energetic, sweet, pretty and stylish lady. She is divorced 42. Scientist self employed, well-off financially. She prefers to spend her free time playing tennis, swimming and exploring nature. ID-ALAN

Tel: 25-324800 (office hours)

If interested please call 99 314108, 70005150, Email: singles@kronos2.net

EMBA

Fully furnished renovated studios for rent at Dassoudi beach Limassol. They have air-condition, balcony and private parking area.

INDOOR MARKET & CAR BOOT SALE FRIDAY – SATURDAY – SUNDAY 8:00AM – 2:00PM ALL YEAR ROUND VISIT US NOW FOR:

ba m ch Le ur Ch

FRESH VILLAGE FRUIT AND VEGETABLES WATCH REPAIRS & JEWELLERY POTTED FLOWERS NEW & USED HANDBAGS & CLOTHES SECOND HAND BOOKS COMPUTERS & TELEPHONE ACCESSORIES SECOND HAND FURNITURE & ANTIQUES INDIAN TAKE AWAY HOME MADE FRESH CAKES & PIES FROZEN FISH CHILDREN’S TOY’S AND MUCH MORE ….

GREAT PRICES FOR ALL !!! STALLHOLDERS & CAR-BOOTERS WELCOME COFFEE SHOP ALL ENQUIRIES CALL: 96533839/99771532

TO LET LARNACA riorrealestatelarnaca.com

PAPHOS FOR RENT KATO PAPHOS spacious 2 bed F/F garden apartment. Enclosed garden with 2 covered patios next to green area, cul-de-sac setting. AC, SAT TV, comm. pool. Superb location with private covered parking and entrance. Quiet yet close to all amenities. €400 p/m. Contact 26 911540 or 99955302.

***************************** TOK’s – 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, Immaculate, very high spec top ﬂoor apartment, Luxury furnished with Flatscreen TV’s in living room and bedrooms, lift, pool, beautiful development, fantastic location €425 pm

TO LET PAPHOS Lower Peyia – 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom Modern Unfurnished Villa with beautiful sea views. Spacious villa with wood burner, utility room, white goods, storage area, alarm system, low maintenance manicured garden & private pool €1100 pm Lower Peyia – Good size detached 3 bedroom Villa in lovely residential no through road, separate kitchen, well maintained, large balcony, private pool and garden with sea views €750 pm Universal - 2 bedroom fully furnished ground ﬂoor apartment, a/c, large bedrooms, communal pool, o/s parking €350 Please contact us whatever your rental requirements as we have many other properties available. LANDLORDS/OWNERS – We always require more properties to list for

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Advertiser TO LET PAPHOS waiting clients. Please call NOW: 96241965

***************************** PEYIA, luxury villa, 3 double bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, fully or part furnished, private pool, quiet location, paved garden area, sea and mountain views. Sky satellite, euro 650 ono, please call: 99771532 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; no agents KILI â&#x20AC;&#x201C; PAPHOS, 3 bedroom villa, with swimming pool and garden, unfurnished, gas central heating, large verandas, lovely mountain views, very quiet and tranquil area, â&#x201A;Ź475 per month o.n.o. Call : 99479006

***************************** LOW COST, long term 3 bedroom bungalow, Polis area, Gialia village, on 3 acres of property, large variety of fruit trees, extremely private with panoramic mountain and sea views, unfurnished, swimming pool, a/c and ďŹ replace, fence around the property â&#x201A;Ź550 per month ono â&#x20AC;&#x201C; available from 1st of April For more info call: 99 442485

***************************** KISSONERGA - Beautiful Detached U/F 3 Bedroomed Villa, Large Pool, 2 Bedrooms Upstairs Master En-suite, Family Bathroom, modern Fitted Kitchen, Down-

TO LET PAPHOS stairs Bedroom with En-suite Shower room, Low maintenance Garden, Large Terraces and Separate Storage Room â&#x201A;Ź600. TALA - Modern 2 and 3 bedroom apartments U/F, P/F and F/F, some with communal pool, A/C, Separate Storage and own Parking â&#x201A;Ź325. TREMITHOUSA - Traditional Spacious 3 Bedroom, 2 Bathroom, and Large Mature enclosed Garden, Open Fireplace, Beautiful Fitted Kitchen, A/C, Wonderful Family Home â&#x201A;Ź400. EMBA - Spacious 2 Bedroom Corner house ,U/F, Separate Downstairs Cloakroom, Balcony, no garden â&#x201A;Ź300. URGENTLY WANTED â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2/3 Bedroom F/F Properties MORE PROPERTIES AVAILABLE FOR INFORMATION PLEASE CALL 99862922

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

TO LET PAPHOS

1. UNIVERSAL AREA â&#x201A;Ź370 spacious 2 bedroom ground ďŹ&#x201A;oor apartment in the sought after complex Paradise Gardens, offering luxurious communal pool & gardens. Fully furnished with good furniture, fully equipped modern kitchen with American fridge freezer. Solar panels for free hot water. Fully enclosed patio garden. Covered parking. Pets allowed at owners discretion. Website reference number: RTL_305

4. MESOGI â&#x201A;Ź700 spacious 4 bedroom villa plus playroom or ofďŹ ce including gas central heating. One bedroom & bathroom on ground ďŹ&#x201A;oor. Available unfurnished. Enclosed low maintenance garden with private pool offering privacy & views over countryside. Situated in a quiet residential area. Website reference number: rtl_618

2. ANARITA â&#x201A;Ź375 beautifully furnished modern 2 bedroom townhouse situated in a quiet complex with air conditioned spacious gym also communal pools & well tended gardens. Townhouse offers modern quality furniture & ďŹ ttings. Guest wc and small patio garden. Viewings highly recommended. Website reference number: RTL_667 3. PEYIA â&#x201A;Ź550 modern detached 2 bedroom villa situated on private road. Available unfurnished though includes central heating throughout, pressurised water & security alarm system. Modern ďŹ tted kitchen & bathrooms. Roof terrace with sea views & private pool. Website reference number: rtl_447. Also available modern detached 3 bedroom villa on this private road. Website reference number: RTL_572

5. LOWER CHLORAKA â&#x201A;Ź750 spacious detached 3 bedroom villa offering stunning views of the sea. Situated in a quiet residential street opposite orange groves. Gated entrance enclosed good sized low maintenance mature garden with fruit trees & private pool. Spacious living area with real ďŹ replace. Downstairs guest wc. Master bedroom with ensuite. Available fully furnished. Website reference number: RTL_550 6. KATO PAPHOS â&#x201A;Ź800 large 4 bedroom detached villa situated in the sought after residential area of Limnaria. Walking distance to the beach and the many amenities of Kato Paphos. Spacious living accommodation offering an enclosed garden with c/pool. Fully furnished with modern furniture & solar panels. Website reference number: RTL_442

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS offer this ultra modern 4 bedroom villa with luxury furnishings & ďŹ ttings. Offering spacious accommodation with breathtaking sea views. Finished to a very high quality. Spacious living area with modern ďŹ tted kitchen & utility area. One bedroom on ground ďŹ&#x201A;oor with ensuite & kitchenette. Guest wc. Private inďŹ nity pool & enclosed low maintenance garden. A must to see! Website reference number: RTL_670 8. CHLORAKA â&#x201A;Ź2,200 substantial luxury 4 bedroom villa, spacious (350 sq meters), beautifully designed with unique detail. Conservatory with views of landscaped gardens. Large modern ďŹ tted kitchen, living room with working ďŹ replace. Circular dining room with vaulted dome ceiling. Stunning private pool area. Available unfurnished. Website reference number: RTL_579 Tel: 97790883 Tel: 99133422 ofďŹ ce: 26271858 visit our website for many more properties www. mrrent-paphos.net email: info@ mrrent-paphos.net

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Tuesday, March 19, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

Advertiser TO LET PAPHOS screens, private pool, enclosed and fenced garden. Ref: 1199 €900 MESOGI 4 bedroom villa with private pool, nice quality fi xtures, granite work tops, separate utility room, downstairs bedroom with en suite, fireplace, ac, 3 upstairs bedroom master en suite, separate bath, nice views, pets welcome, offered unfurnished Ref 783 €700 CHLORAKA 4 bedroom large villa with quality fittings , furnished to a very high standard, downstairs bedroom, 3 upstairs, en suites, bathroom, private pool, decking, fantastic sea views, near Tombs of the Kings Ref: 806 €850 SECRET VALLEY 2 bed villas furnished or unfurnished with private pool, downstairs bedroom, kitchen , sitting/dining area, guest wc, upstairs large master bedroom with en suite bath, large veranda. Nice location with sea views and off street parking: Ref: 1198 €450 PEGEIA 4 bed villa unfurnished, 2 downstairs bedrooms, large sitting/dining area, Italian kitchen with white goods, 2 bedrooms upstairs with outside large veranda. Property is of a high standard with central heating, full AC, off street parking, private pool, stun-

TO LET PAPHOS ning views, quiet location. Ref: 765 €900 MESOGI Large 3 bedroom apartment with full AC, bathroom, kitchen, separate utility room, clean and tidy building with without communal area, walking distance to all local amenities. Offered unfurnished Ref: 818 €400 SEA CAVES 2 bedroom town house, furnished with central heating, fire place, nice sea views, walking distance to Paphos the sea Ref 819 €300 Please call for a free viewing on Office 26600450 Mobile: 97614070 many more properties on our website at www. flowron.com - Your Vision is our Mission LANDLORDS IF YOU HAVE A PROPERTY FOR RENT, PLEASE CALL US!!!!!!

***************************** PEYIA – 3 bedroom villa with modern quality furniture and ﬁnishes. Central heating, sky, alarm, inﬁnity pool and stunnning sea and mountain views €700 per month, call: 99389426

***************************** BRAND NEW APT, opposite Poseidonio Gym, near Carrefour, F/F, a/c, great quality, 1 bdrm, from €340p.m.Tel 99403261

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Cello & piano duet wide repertoire available for bars, cafes, hotels, receptions etc. 99947442 or 99418282

RENTAL POINT - PAPHOS ***** PROPERTIES AVAILABLE TO RENT IN THE PAPHOS DISTRICT. JUST A SMALL SAMPLE OF AVAILABLE PROPERTIES. ALL TYPES OF PROPERTY URGENTLY REQUIRED FOR LONG TERM RENTAL. CALL 97648440 FOR MORE INFORMATION. LANDLORDS CALL IF YOU HAVE A PROPERTY FOR RENT.!!! 1. MESA CHORIO– 2 bed 2 bath fully furnished ground ﬂoor apartment set on an elevated position on this prestigious development. Open plan living area.

TO LET PAPHOS 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. Euros 400.00 per month 2 FYTI 3 bed, 3 bath furnished villa in a very quiet location. The property offers stylish accommodation and has many luxury features. Open plan living area with feature fireplace. Dining area. Large fully fitted L shaped kitchen with appliances and breakfast bar Doors out to rear garden and pool. Guest WC. Stairs up to 3 very spacious bedrooms. Master with ensuite. Family bathroom and storage cupboard. Stairs up to roof garden with panoramic views. Outside there is a feature pergola, swimming pool and landscaped gardens. Euros 700.00 a month. 3. OLYMPUS ESTATE, NR TSADA – 3 bed, 2.5 bath furnished bungalow set on this prestigious estate. The house has central heating, A/C, fireplace, shutters & flyscreens. Spacious open plan living area with dining space. Large “L” shaped kitchen. 3 double bedrooms all leading to pool and gardens. Master with en-suite. Covered patio with sea and rural views, swimming pool and garden areas. Feature outside dining area. Breakfast area to the side of the property. Easy care gardens. Pool with Roman steps. Parking for 3 cars. Bargain price!!! Euros 800.00 per month furnished, unfurnished by arrangement at lower cost. 4. TALA - 3 bed 3 bath quality furnished villa. Set in enclosed gardens the villa consists of open plan living area with dining space. Fully fitted kitchen with all appliances, door to rear

TO LET PAPHOS garden. Storage room. Ground floor bedroom with adjacent shower. Stairs to two double bedrooms both en-suite, one with Jacuzzi tub. Small seating area with adjacent balcony. Pool and off street parking. Landscaped gardens Euros 650.00 per month 5. AYIOS DEMITRIANOS (POLEMI) – 3 bed, 2 bath furnished villa (bungalow style) set in a private and quiet location. Open plan living area with fireplace. Fully fitted kitchen with quality appliances. Utility room and storage. Master bedroom with adjacent shower. Two more double bedrooms with family bathroom with Jacuzzi bath. Garden areas, large terraces with outstanding views. Private pool 10x5, Covered parking. Euros 700.00 per month furnished, 650 unfurnished. 6. UNIVERSAL AREA. 2 bed, 2 bath fully furnished penthouse apartment. Living area with dining space. Doors out to massive balcony area overlooking the pool and gardens. Fitted kitchen. 2 double bedrooms, master bedroom has ensuite shower. Family bathroom. A/C, Comm pool and parking. Euros 450.00 a month or offers. 7. LOWER PEYIA - 3 bed, 2.5 bath unfurnished villa situated in quiet cul du sac. Open plan living and dining area with doors out the to pool and garden. Very large breakfast fitted kitchen. Doors out to garden and pool. Separate guest WC. Stairs to 3 double bedrooms. Master bedroom very large with en-suite shower. Family bathroom. Private pool, gardens, shutters. Euros 550.00 per month or close offers only. 8. CHLORAKAS – 2 bed 1 bath large furnished apartment in quiet area. Spacious open plan living area with doors out to bal-

Tel: 99753334

GALOW. Pano Kivides. 110 sq.m. 2 beds. Gas CH. Double glazing. Mains drainage. Plot 730 sq.m. Fruit trees ﬂower beds. Large workshop. Jacuzzi. Car port. Open view. Easy drive to Limassol. TITLE DEEDS 187500 Tel 99995906.

cony. Good sized modern fitted kitchen and breakfast area. Small balcony off the kitchen. Two double bedrooms. Family bathroom. Off-street parking, comm pool. Euros 380.00 per month. FOR FULL LISTINGS OF APARTMENTS/TOWNHOUSES AND VILLAS, PLEASE SEE www. rentalpointpaphos.com ALL TYPES OF PROPERTY URGENTLY REQUIRED FOR LONG TERM RENTAL LANDLORDS/OWNERS PLEASE CALL WITH DETAILS PLEASE CALL 97648440 or email:- inforentals@aol.com

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PROPERTY FOR SALE NICOSIA ***************************** STROVOLOS, Symi street, Tseriou new one bedroom apartment, 55 sqm, large sunny balcony, airconditioned, private parking, lift, title deeds, reduced price €95.000 (including VAT) (no offers) tel: 99266282 (no agents)

***************************** FOR SALE upper ﬂoor house 210 sq.m built on 301 sq. m land, Lapatsa area, Pereous 1a. 4 bedrooms with attic room (not ﬁnished), c/h ,4 a/c, aluminium doors& window, covered parking and storage room. Price €310.000 pm call 22431095 99330632.

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ARIS EMPIRE BINGO Address: Paphos street 207, next to Carrefour Kato Polemidia, Limassol Email: arisempire@yahoo.com

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**************************** EXECUTIVE PENTHOUSE for sale in central Limassol (Glastonas Street area). Five minute walk to the beach. 4/5 bedrooms. Private rooftop walk-in swimming pool with large terraces and conservatory. Total area: 800m2 (300m2 covered) €825,000 negotiable Tel: 99169485 Photos & more info: http://penthouse-forsalecyprus. blogspot.com/

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PAPHOS ***************************** 2 BEDROOM top ﬂoor apartment built in 2006, 75 sqm, large sunny balcony with sea views, 2 bathrooms (en-suite), communal pool, air conditioning. Small block of 9 apartments, located behind darmart store, near the debenhams roundabout, underground private parking, storage room and lift, reduced price: €98.000 (including VAT) with title deeds (no agents) please call: 99266282

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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.

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A new and very different place has opened its doors today to the bingo world, inviting people to come and try their luck. Aris Empire Bingo is impressively and luxuriously decorated and can host up to 1000 people providing all the comforts for a night of fun or relaxation. Visitors can have fun, playing bingo, trying to win one of the big money prizes that are handed out each time. People can also choose from the large choice of food on the menu, which is reasonably priced. The meticulous work done by the owner is apparent at every corner, even in the kitchen which is HACCP certified, with everything designed by the CTO. Bingo has now taken-on a different character of being more enjoyable and of more quality for all those who love the game but have kept their distance as they could not find a place that expressed them. The spacious hall has good ventilation and Aris Empire Bingo has a large parking, making it easier for any visitors.

Opening hours is from 8pm till 2am Restaurant hours from 8pm Bingo starts at 9pm

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Sport England’s skipper Cook praises team for response Tourists’ bowling attack was in top form By Greg Stutchbury ENGLAND captain Alastair Cook was pleased with the way his side responded to being outplayed by New Zealand in the first test and said the tourists’ bowling attack had been finding top form before rain forced the second match to finish in a damp draw yesterday. Umpires abandoned play at the Basin Reserve at 1405 local (0105 GMT) without a ball being bowled on the final day with the hosts 162 for two in their second innings following on and still 49 runs away from making England bat again. England had dominated from the outset, batting New Zealand out of the match on the opening day when Nick Compton and Jonathan Trott scored centuries, before their bowlers dismissed the hosts for 254 in their first innings, allowing Cook to enforce the follow on. It was the turnaround Cook had expected from the No. 2 test side in the world, who had been outplayed by New Zealand in the rainaffected drawn first test at University Oval in Dunedin.

Fully confident: England’s Stuart Broad was the most successful of the bowlers in New Zealand’s first innings when he took six for 51 “We got ourselves into a really good position to win the game. We can take a lot from that from our first performance,” Cook told reporters after the match was abandoned. “In Dunedin we were behind the eight ball because

we didn’t bat well for two sessions and we did well to ﬁght and hold on for that game. “This game we played some really good cricket and gave ourselves a really great opportunity to win this game but the weather didn’t allow

us to do that. “As I said, I don’t think we have been too far off, especially in this game.” Cook singled out England’s pace bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad for praise after they had helped the visitors hammer

home their first innings advantage when they bowled New Zealand out for 254 in three sessions. “To bowl New Zealand out for 250 on that wicket was a great effort,” Cook added. “The guys were back to their best in putting New Zealand under pressure and not getting away from us. “That is one of our hallmarks as a bowling attack and we managed to do that.” Broad, who is still recovering from a heel injury that forced him home from India late last year, was the most successful of the bowlers in New Zealand’s first innings when he took six for 51. Anderson did a superb job running into the prevailing nor-wester wind at the Basin Reserve, putting pressure on New Zealand’s batsmen and allowing Broad to take the wickets at the other end. “I think that was his seventh five for (wicket haul) and he ran in the best I have seen him run for a while,” Cook said of Broad. “I think he’s fully confident now with his heel and as a senior bowler it’s great to see him back. “I think Jimmy Anderson, though he didn’t get the wickets, I think he bowled 30 overs into that wind and ... did such an outstanding job into that wind. “Stuff like that goes unnoticed. If you’re watching on TV you don’t realise how strong that wind is. “He never complained, well not on the pitch anyway, so it was an outstanding effort.”

Warburton: I felt like a rockstar after win WELSH forward Sam Warburton said he felt like a rock star after his team-mates inflicted a record 30-3 defeat on England in Cardiff to retain their Six Nations championship crown on Saturday. “Walking around the ground with my winners’ medal is something I shall never forget. The noise coming back from the crowd was immense. I felt like a rock star,” Warburton wrote in his column in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph. Wales swarmed all over England to finish level on eight points with the 2003 World Cup winners but comfortably ahead on points difference. The hosts had needed to win by at least eight points to take the title, or seven provided England did not outscore them by three tries, and Warburton said he was always confident his side would achieve that. “I always believed that we could beat England by the seven or eight points required to win the championship, but to win by 27 was not something that anyone had seen coming,” said Warburton, who led Wales to the grand slam in 2012. “It was quite ruthless really. We never let our feet off the pedal at any stage. Everybody seemed to have their best games of the tournament.”

Warburton said a short motivational video was shown to the team in the bus on the way to the jam-packed and buzzing Millennium stadium which ended with the message ‘Our Trophy, Our Stadium’. “That stuck in everyone’s minds and then we walked into the dressing room to see the trophy itself sitting there on a table in the middle of the room. “That was a surprise but again the message was strong and powerful. We realised: ‘That is ours and England are coming here to try to take it off us in our backyard.’ We would do everything to ensure that didn’t happen.” England captain Chris Robshaw was left to pick up the pieces for his shattered side. “There were a lot of heads down in the changing room afterwards and a lot of the guys were very upset. It was not a nice place to be,” Robshaw wrote in his Telegraph column. “As a group, we always talk about learning from the experience, whether it is good or bad, and there will be a lot of learning done after this result. “That may be a hard concept to accept when the pain of the defeat is still so raw and we had to watch Wales lift the Six Nations trophy. But we have to learn from this. If we do not, then it will have been a bad day for us.”

IN BRIEF Baghdatis pulls out of Miami event MARCOS Baghdatis was forced to withdraw from the ATP World Tour 1000 Sony Ericsson Open Masters in Miami with right shoulder impingement syndrome that has been bothering him for over a week now. The 27-year-old Cypriot took part in the Dallas Tennis Classic Challenger last week, after previously losing in the opening round in Indian Wells, and he had to retire due to his shoulder problem in the opening round against Dutchman Igor Sijsling. At the last season’s edition of the tournament, Baghdatis was defeated in the second round by world number one Novak Djokovic, so he will lose 25 points for skipping the event which should not signiﬁcantly inﬂuence his Emirates ATP Rankings.

Dhoni hails duo after Mohali win CAPTAIN Mahendra Singh Dhoni paid tribute to the batting effort which led India to a series victory over Australia. The home side beat the tourists by six wickets in Mohali yesterday to go 3-0 up in the four match series, as they chased down their fourth innings target of 133 with ease. Dhoni himself clobbered three consecutive fours to end the game, but had a special mention for Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan. The pair put on 289 for the first wicket in the first innings, with Dhawan’s 187 the highest score by an Indian on debut, and the first Test hundred by a debutant Indian opener.

Japan baseball crown lost

Wales’ ﬂanker Sam Warburton (left) is tackled by England’s ﬂanker Chris Robshaw during the clash on Saturday

JAPAN fell short for the first time at a World Baseball Classic but manager Koji Yamamoto handled Sunday’s 3-1 semi-final loss to Puerto Rico with grace despite their inexperience with an elimination defeat. “In this case, our opponent was really superior, both in pitching and hitting,” said Yamamoto. “So we were cornered, in a sense.” Japan had won the first two WBC titles in 2006 and 2009 and were gunning for a third before the Puerto Rican giant-killers worked their magic.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

Sport

Cavani ends drought, Balotelli nets brace EDINSON Cavani’s goal drought ended when he scored twice for Napoli in a 3-2 win over Atalanta on Sunday as Mario Balotelli notched twice for AC Milan and stalwart Francesco Totti produced a masterclass for AS Roma. Napoli, who had coach Walter Mazzarri sent off at the end, nearly undid Cavani’s work by gifting Atlanta two goals with defensive howlers but stayed second in Serie A after Goran Pandev scored the winner four minutes from time. Balotelli gave third-placed AC Milan a 2-0 win over joint bottom club Palermo, who have ﬁred three coaches in their last six games and had Giuseppe Sannino starting his second stint of the season in the hot seat. Serie A’s leading scorer Cavani, who had not scored in his last eight games, took his league tally to 20, while Balotelli has netted seven

times in six appearances since his move from Manchester City.

INSPIRED TOTTI Totti inspired Roma to a 2-0 win over Parma with a repertoire of skills including a stunning backheel pass, a free kick smashed against the crossbar from an improbable angle and his team’s second goal. Erik Lamela had put Roma ahead after seven minutes. Roma went level on points in sixth place with neighbours Lazio who lost 1-0 at Torino in driving snow after defender Michel Ciani was sent off in the 16th minute after receiving two yellow cards within 43 seconds. Jonathas scored a late winner for the hosts. Pescara stayed level at the bottom with Palermo after conceding two goals in the last ﬁve minutes and los-

ing 2-0 at home to Chievo while Siena missed a chance to move out of the relegation zone when they were held 0-0 at home by Cagliari. Fourth-placed Fiorentina emulated Napoli as they twice surrendered the lead at home to Genoa before a Mattia Cassani own goal gave them a 3-2 win. They were helped by a blunder from Genoa goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas who fumbled a cross in the run up to Fiorentina’s second, allowing Juan Cuadrado to tap in. Napoli, who have 56 points, stayed nine behind leaders Juventus, 2-0 winners at Bologna on Saturday, and two ahead of Milan, who are in the Champions League qualifying round spot. Fiorentina are a further three points behind while ﬁfth-placed Inter Milan’s match at Sampdoria was postponed due to heavy rain.

Masterclass: Francesco Totti inspired Roma to a 2-0 win over Parma with a repertoire of skills

Ancelotti pleased despite loss of 2-0 lead

Barcelona’s Messi and Villa showdowns Rayo Vallecano

CARLO Ancelotti refused to criticise his expensivelyassembled squad despite watching them squander a 2-0 lead at St Etienne. PSG appeared set to extend their lead at the Ligue 1 summit to seven points when a Javier Pastore strike and a Zlatan Ibrahimovic penalty put them in complete control at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. But in-form St Etienne produced a spirited response which resulted in an Alex own goal and a Francois Clerc equaliser. PSG did move five points clear of second-placed Lyon over the weekend following Remi Garde’s side’s shock 4-1 thrashing at Bastia and Ancelotti preferred to focus on the positives rather than dwell on their wastefulness. The Italian told the club’s official website: “I think it’s a good result. It’s not easy to win away to St Etienne. They are high on confidence at the moment. “But we are a little disappointed because we were leading 2-0. “We played very well in the first half and then things got a little tougher after the break. “Perhaps that goal we conceded just before half time turned the game.” Defender Christophe Jallet said: “We’ve got mixed feelings because we were up by two goals and we had the game under control. “We sort of stopped playing and then ... we handed the confidence back to this St Etienne side. They gave it everything and they managed to equalise.”

Messi scores twice in 3-1 win over Rayo By Mark Elkington LIONEL Messi scored twice, netting in his 18th consecutive league match, as Barcelona overcame Rayo Vallecano 3-1 at the Nou Camp to restore their 13-point lead at the top of La Liga on Sunday. The World Player of the Year was in devastating form along with David Villa, laying on the first for the Spain striker before Villa returned the favour twice, either side of the break. Messi took his La Liga tally for the season to 42 goals and he last failed to find the net in the league at Celta Vigo on November 3. Barcelona moved on to 74 points with 10 games left, ahead of champions Real Madrid in second who came from behind to beat Real Mallorca 5-2 at home on Saturday. “We have recovered the intensity, we are in the Champions League quarter-finals, and now we welcome the break for the March internationals,” Barca sports director Andoni Zubizarreta told Spanish television. “Villa is feeling better every day on the pitch and he has fought really hard to be able to enjoy these moments.”

Devastating form: World Player of the Year Lionel Messi (right) brought his La Liga tally for the season to 42 goals by notching a brace against Rayo for Barca Atletico Madrid were a point further back in third after Diego Costa scored twice in a 2-0 victory at Osasuna that kept them hot on the heels of their King’s Cup ﬁnal opponents. Messi had already hit the crossbar with a free kick when he laid on the opener for Villa to sweep in Barca’s ﬁrst after 25 minutes. Villa, steadily cementing his place back in the side, re-

leased Messi on a breakaway to score just before halftime and he repeated the feat in the 57th, leaving the Argentine to burst past his marker and lob the keeper. Substitute Raul Tamudo pulled one back for Rayo with his ﬁrst touch in the 70th minute as chances fell to both sides in an open ﬁnal period when Messi almost completed his hat-trick.

The only downside for Barca was a ﬁrst-half hamstring injury to defender Adriano Correia that will rule him out for up to six weeks. Atletico’s combative frontman Costa, called up to Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Brazil squad for their friendlies against Italy and Russia, ﬁnished off a counter-attack at the second attempt in the 35th minute at Osasuna.

Just after the re-start he guided Koke’s free kick into the net from close range and he came close to completing a hat-trick in a typically bruising encounter in Pamplona. Costa was forced to limp off with an ankle injury midway through the second half. Earlier, Malaga’s joy at qualifying for the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time was cut short when Espanyol condemned them to a 2-0 home defeat. Manuel Pellegrini’s side, on their first venture into Europe’s top club competition, came back to beat Porto 2-1 on aggregate at a festive Rosaleda on Wednesday, but they struggled against a wellorganised Espanyol. Goalkeeper Willy Caballero made a rare mistake when he fumbled a corner in the 49th minute and Diego Colotto volleyed the visitors in front against the run of play. The hosts were undone again in the 66th when Mubarak Wakaso burst down the left and crossed for Sergio Garcia to volley a superb second into the top corner. The defeat left Malaga, who have not won in their last four league outings, in sixth place with 44 points. Real Sociedad and Valencia won on Saturday to climb above them into fourth and fifth respectively. Sevilla are 10th with 38 points after hammering 10man Real Zaragoza 4-0 at home, when Alvaro Negredo’s 15th goal of the campaign made him the highest scoring Spaniard in La Liga. Levante were 11th after a 1-1 draw at Granada.

Germany coach Joachim Low wants smaller nations to pre-qualify

Positive: PSG’s Ancelotti

GERMANY coach Joachim Low believes international football would beneﬁt if smaller nations had to earn the right to take part in qualifying for major tournaments. Germany face Kazakhstan home and away in their next two World Cup qualiﬁers and will be expected to cruise to comfortable wins in both

ﬁxtures. Low says games like these could be avoided if the majority of lowerranked nations were sifted out of qualifying by battling it out for a limited number of places in advance. “I think it can be discussed whether it makes sense to play twice against countries like Kazakhstan, Andorra,

San Marino or the Faroe Islands,” he said in Kicker magazine. “I personally would be in favour of a pre-qualiﬁcation event. The calendar is already saturated and some help is needed.” Germany travel to Astana on Friday night before welcoming Kazakhstan to Nuremberg next Tuesday. The two games give Low’s side the

opportunity to extend their six-point advantage over Sweden at the top of Group C against a side who have lost three of their four qualifying matches already, drawing the other against Austria. However, Low is not going to be able to count on Sven Bender or Toni Kroos, who both pulled out of his squad yesterday.

CYPRUS MAIL Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Sport

Ferdinand pulls out of the England line-up But insists he wants to continue his international career FERDINAND has pulled out of the England squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers with San Marino and Montenegro as he manages his fitness, Roy Hodgson announced yesterday. But the Manchester United defender, who earned his first call-up under manager Hodgson for the double header and was due to join up with the squad yesterday, insisted he wants to continue his international career. Hodgson, who met Ferdinand in London on Sunday, said: “I’m disappointed Rio will not be available, but due to the detailed pre-planned training and medical programme he must follow it’s not possible.” Tottenham defender Steven Caulker, originally in the Under-21 squad, has been called up as a replacement. Hodgson added: “I was pleased that Rio called and asked to meet with me. It was important to hear from him personally about the way he must manage his body between games. “This is not to say he cannot play back-to-back games - he can and has proven so. “He’s out this time due to particular pre-planned details already in place for his programme. “I must place on record how I was impressed with his commitment to playing for England and I look forward to hopefully selecting him for squads in the future.” The last of Ferdinand’s 81

The last of Ferdinand’s 81 England caps came in a Euro 2012 qualiﬁer at home to Switzerland in June 2011 England caps came in a Euro 2012 qualiﬁer at home to Switzerland in June 2011. The 34-year-old said: “It

was important for me to be able to speak with Roy face to face and explain the situation, and one thing I made

clear was that my passion and commitment to represent my country is as strong as ever. “It is disappointing that I won’t be able to play a part in the upcoming games, but I told Roy that I want to continue to be available for England and I look forward to working with him in the future.” England travel to face San Marino on Friday before heading on to Montenegro, the Group H leaders, for a crucial clash the following Tuesday. Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson admitted last week he was “surprised” by Ferdinand’s call-up, which came after a tortuous 12 months, in which the Ferdinand family was at the centre of the long-running racism row with John Terry. Ferdinand believed the Terry situation was the real reason behind his omission from Hodgson’s Euro 2012 squad. There appears to have been a change of plan since the weekend, though, with Ferguson conﬁrming after his side’s win over Reading on Saturday night that Ferdinand would join up with England. The United boss has repeatedly spoken of Ferdinand’s battle to overcome a longstanding back injury, and the treatment required to get him on the ﬁeld regularly. Given Ferdinand’s regular presence in the United squad over the past three seasons, it does appear the policy has worked and there was no desire to risk a deterioration.

APOEL open up a three-point gap at top of Cyprus League By Nemanja Bjedov

AEL coach Jorge Costa, whose team is currently in fifth place with 48 points, two points behind Omonia in the final championship playoffs spot. “I am proud of my players. They were passionate and we did really well when we held the ball at our feet. “Both teams needed to win today and after this result only a miracle can get us into the top four.” Toni Savevski’s Omonia defeated Olympiakos 4-1 and everything is now in their hands as they host Nea Salamina in the final round of the regular season. “Our goal was to get all three points from this match and that is what we did,” said Savevski. “We managed to score four goals against a very organised team that was pushing us really hard from time to time. I believe that the final score is a bit unfair to them. “However, I also believe that there is quality difference between the two teams as we never really felt like we could lose the match. Congratulations to my players as we made another big step to the top-four finish.” Elsewhere, AEK, who are currently third with 52 points, 11 points behind the league leaders, scored five secondhalf goals to beat Enosis Neon Paralimni 5-0, while Ethnikos Achnas defeated Doxa Katokopia 3-1. Alki celebrated a 3-0 victory away from home to Ayia Napa, while Nea Salamina topped Apollon 2-0.

APOEL pulled three points clear of Anorthosis at the top of the national football league after trouncing AEP Paphos 6-0, while Omonia kept their championship playoffs hopes alive with a convincing 4-1 victory over Olympiakos. “I want to congratulate the players and the coaches of AEP. Only they know what they have been through this season,” said APOEL manager Jovanovic whose men moved a step closer to the regular season championship title after their seventh consecutive win. “Everyone should be really focused on their efforts on the pitch as it is extremely hard to find motivation under the circumstances they find themselves in on a daily basis. “We played well. Obviously quality and talent were on our side and we deservedly won,” he added. APOEL gained top spot after beating AEL 2-0 last weekend and, with Anorthosis held by AEL to a 1-1 stalemate at the Tsirion Stadium, a result that did not suit either of the teams, the Nicosia outfit now holds a three-point lead ahead of the ultimate round showdown against Anorthosis at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium in Larnaca. “We had a lot of difficulties at the beginning of the match because Anorthosis came out very offensive, but I believe that for an hour or so we played very well,” assessed

Lampard eyes strong end to the season for Chelsea FRANK Lampard hopes Chelsea can ﬁnish the season on a high after climbing to third place in the Barclays Premier League with a 2-0 victory over West Ham. Lampard’s 200th Chelsea goal and Eden Hazard’s second-half strike saw last season’s Champions League winners leapfrog Tottenham and move within four points of second-placed Manchester City. Both Spurs and City lost at the weekend and Rafael Benitez’s side will have their three remaining targets ﬁrmly in their sights when the season resumes following the international break. “We are in good form and everyone is at it,” Lampard told the BBC. “There is a good feeling around the place and we need to carry it on until

the end of the season. “It is one of my best days. Obviously, winning the Champions League and championships are the best, but personally getting 200 goals for the club, I never thought I would touch that so I am pleased to get it. “(But) I would rather people kept quiet ... The important thing is trying to score goals to win games.” Chelsea dominated against the Hammers, as they carried on the momentum from the second half of the FA Cup quarter-ﬁnal with Manchester United, which they drew to force a replay on Easter Monday, and the Europa League defeat of Steaua Bucharest. “The good thing is we have had three very good games, but the bad thing is we have the international break now,”

Benitez said. “Hopefully, mentally, they will relax, they will change their environment and they will come back with a fresh mind and fresh legs.” West Ham, who inﬂicted Benitez’s ﬁrst defeat as Chelsea boss in December, were second best throughout, but had chances. Manager Sam Allardyce said: “We were always in the game if we could score, but this year away from home scoring has been a massive problem for us.” Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police are investigating after missiles were hurled from the away end in the direction of Chelsea’s players as they celebrated Lampard’s goal. The incident could lead the Football Association to take disciplinary action.

Inter charged over Spurs taunts FA to study footage of tackle UEFA has charged Inter Milan over the racist behaviour of their fans during the Europa League match against Tottenham last week. Inter fans taunted Spurs striker Emmanuel Adebayor and other black players with monkey chants, and the abuse was reported to UEFA by the match delegate and anti-discrimination body FARE. “It’s very easy to hear the chanting so I’m sure UEFA will act on it,” Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas had told reporters after Thursday’s match, when the London side went through after a 4-4 aggregrate scoreline. The Italian club has also found itself charged with insufﬁcient organisation and throwing of missiles and/or ﬁreworks. The case will be dealt with on April 19.

THE Football Association will study all the available TV footage of Wigan forward Callum McManaman’s challenge on Newcastle’s Massadio Haidara before deciding if retrospective action can be brought against the 21-year-old. FA disciplinary ofﬁcials are also waiting for the report of referee Mark Halsey before making a decision. Usually, on-the-ball incidents cannot be dealt with retrospectively as it is seen as

challenging the referee’s view. If however, Halsey reports he did not see the studs-up lunge by McManaman because he was unsighted then there is the possibility the Wigan player could be charged. Haidara suffered potential knee ligament damage and the incident resulted in Newcastle assistant manager John Carver and Wigan coach Graham Barrow being sent to the stands after a melee developed at the end of the ﬁrst half.

APOEL trounced AEP Paphos 6-0 on Sunday

Cyprus Standings Team 1 APOEL 2 Anorthosis 3 AEK 4 Omonia 5 AEL 6 Apollon 7 Doxa 8 Paralimni 9 Nea Salamina 10 Alki 11 Ethnikos 12 Olympiakos 13 Ayia Napa 14 AEP Paphos

25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25

20 18 16 15 13 10 8 6 6 5 4 5 2 4

3 6 4 5 9 7 6 10 5 7 10 9 2 3

2 1 5 5 3 8 11 9 14 13 11 11 21 18

54 57 44 45 44 30 24 22 18 27 23 31 14 17

A Pts 10 19 19 22 25 23 34 33 30 41 34 44 57 59

63 60 52 50 48 37 30 28 23 22 22 21 8 6

Tuesday, March 19, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

Sport

Cook praises side for response to first test 21

Ferdinand pulls out of the England squad 23

Nadal sets his sights on Paris Indian Wells victor once more the one to beat

Euphoric: Nadal’s victory at the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday was his third title in just four events since making his comeback

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

Easy win: Raikkonen and Lotus on Sunday proved they would be more than just a threat this year, with victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix

Raikkonen convinced Lotus can challenge KIMI Raikkonen is convinced Lotus have the ﬁnancial resources to go the distance in this year’s Formula One world title race. On his return to F1 last season, following a two-year sabbatical to try his hand at rallying, Raikkonen was within sight of main duellists Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso for the majority of the campaign. At one stage after the Belgian Grand Prix, Raikkonen was 33 points adrift of then-leader Alonso, but beyond that he never managed to get within striking distance, despite a win in Abu Dhabi. The Finn ended the year 74 points behind Vettel in third place, which was still a remarkable achievement for him and the Enstone-based team. With winter testing positive, Raikkonen and Lotus on Sunday proved they would be more than just a threat this year with victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. Raikkonen described his 20th career win as “easy”, yet despite the success, it is fair to say the team lack the ﬁnancial clout of their main rivals. The 33-year-old, however, is convinced Lotus can slug it out with Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren over the next 18 races. “There was a big question mark against us last year as to whether we could keep up with the bigger teams,” admitted Raikkonen. “It’s not going to be easy for us. We have the people, all the tools to make it, but

money is a big part of it. “We don’t have the same budget as Ferrari, Red Bull or Mercedes, but we saw last year we did well with money and the things we have. “If we could get more money that would help, and it will give us a better chance and more fair play against the bigger teams. “We have good plans, and if we can follow them up it might be good, it might not. “If you do things right it will go nicely, but then one thing can change the whole year. “If you do a few things a little bit wrong it can turn around and go downhill after that. “So we just have to do the normal things, like we did last year, and put good effort into new parts. If we’re happy we keep them, if not we have to look more closely. “So far it has been good, so there is no reason why we can’t keep it up.” One of Lotus’ key problems is a lack of a title sponsor, unlike the other four teams, as having a major brand behind them would bring in the additional ﬁnances required. Team principal Eric Boullier insists negotiations are ongoing with a number of potential backers. “We’re doing everything we can,” said Boullier. “We’re talking to many major partners, and I believe - even if they don’t say anything - that they feel we are a top team now, not a one off that has got lucky.”

THE fist pump was back, along with the crunching forehand crosscourt winners, energetic movement and the never-say-say-die attitude. Most significantly, the ‘W’ was there as Rafa Nadal on Sunday won his third title in just four events since making his long-awaited return to the ATP Tour after seven months out with an injured left knee. The Spaniard’s pulsating 4-6 6-3 6-4 victory over Juan Martin Del Potro in the final of the BNP Paribas Open served as a timely reminder that the claycourt specialist will once again be the player to beat at the French Open starting in late May. “He’s like always, like in the past, he’s playing so solid, so strong,” purred Argentine Del Potro who, while bitterly disappointed after his defeat at Indian Wells, felt Nadal was back to his very best. “He’s very strong mentally. He has big talent, as well. He beat very good players here at Indian Wells. He’s gonna be fighting for the first position (in the rankings) very soon.” A few weeks ago, claycourt specialist Nadal was not even sure if he would be able to play on the punishing hard courts at Indian Wells, a surface where his all-action, counter-punching game has often been least effective. However, the world number five decided to return to the California desert venue where he had previously clinched the BNP Paribas Open in 2007 and 2009, and he ended a week of steady progress by landing his 22nd ATP Masters title. The Spanish left-hander may initially have had his doubts over how his knee would stand up to his most rigorous test since returning to the ATP circuit last month, but those soon abated as he passed the test with flying colours. “It’s sort of expected, considering the success throughout his career that he had on all the surfaces,” world number one Novak Djokovic said of Nadal’s comeback form before the Serb was ousted by Del Potro in the semi-finals. “Obviously he’s building the confidence. He feels good, and he’s very motivated, I’m sure, to perform his best. He’s been playing great tennis.” Roger Federer, crushed by

his long-time rival Nadal in the last eight, never doubted that the Spaniard would thrive and move fluently on his return to the ATP circuit. “He’s not going to come back if he’s not well,” the 31year-old Swiss said. “He’s not going to come back half broken. I expected him to tear through the clay. I expected him to be tough here.” Nadal was euphoric after winning his third Indian Wells title, having dispatched second-ranked Federer and sixth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych along the way. “That makes an emotional week for me,” the 11-times grand slam singles champion smiled after beating 2009 U.S. Open champion Del Potro, the seventh seed, in a fluctuating match lasting two hours 29 minutes. “It’s a very important victory for me, winning against the best players of the world on a surface that is good for them. Seriously, it’s impossible to have better comeback, no?” Nadal, who had won two ATP titles on the clay of South America last month after reaching three finals in his first three comeback events, was delighted to erase memories of his low points while on the sidelines last year. “In terms of competition, the worst (moment) was for the Olympics, when I had to take the position to not go to Olympics,” said the Spaniard, who had to skip the London Games after his 2012 campaign came to an abrupt end

last year following a defeat to Czech journeyman Lukas Rosol at Wimbledon. “In terms of the injury, the last couple of months were the worst because I worked a lot, I tried different treatments. And when you feel that you are doing everything and the results are not being very satisfactory, you go down a little bit, no? “The doubt of when and where you will be able to be back on a tennis tournament is hard, no? And when you are there and you wake up every morning and test yourself and the test is negative, that’s not nice.” All of that is now thankfully in the past for Nadal who will take a month off while he strengthens his left leg on the advice of his doctors. He will then return to action on the clay of Monte Carlo, followed by Barcelona, Madrid and Rome, as he prepares to win his eighth French Open title in nine years. “I’m going to go to Monte Carlo with the same expectations as ever, and I’m gonna try my best to arrive there healthy and in good shape, playing well,” said Nadal. Ominous words as far as his rivals are concerned.