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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

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BoC staff panic after confusion Misunderstood Central Bank announcement sparks protest

By Stefanos Evripidou

T

HE GOVERNMENT yesterday ran to put out the fire it accused the Central Bank of starting over the future of the Bank of Cyprus (BoC), highlighting the growing rift between the presidential palace and the CB governor.

A short Central Bank announcement on the appointment of a special administrator for the BoC yesterday morning sparked all-out panic among Bank of Cyprus employees that the island’s largest lender awaited the same fate as Laiki (Popular) Bank - a wind down.

Within hours, hundreds of distraught BoC employees gathered outside the Bank of Cyprus’ headquarters in Nicosia before moving their demonstration to the neighbouring Central Bank building, shouting for the resignation of CB governor Panicos Demetriades.

Finance Minister Michalis Sarris rushed to the Central Bank to bang out a short announcement clarifying that the Bank of Cyprus would undergo restructuring and internal recapitalisation, converting big depositors’ savings into shares.

As a result of this process, the European Central Bank (ECB) was committed to provide liquidity for BoC so the bank’s liquidity

will not be affected by the transfer of Laiki’s effective debt to the ECB, amounting to €9.2 billion sucked out of the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) programme to keep Laiki afloat.

Government spokesman Christos Stylianides said the confusion created in the morning by the CB’s failure to clarify the difference between the winding down of Laiki and the restructuring of the BoC was a “big mistake”.

“Unfortunately, there were communication errors. A Central Bank temporary order was issued effectively marrying winding down and restructuring as if they were the same thing.

“This issue was not properly explained and created panic not only among BoC employees but also the wider public,” said Stylianides.

He noted that it also created problems with the bank’s international partners, inevitably causing problems to its prestige and prospects.

“The government would have liked to see a clarification in the CB statement on appointing a special administrator (for BoC) so we wouldn’t have to see what happened as a result,” said the spokesman.

Later in the day, Demetriades and Sarris held a joint press conference to

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STUDENTS ALSO HIT THE STREETS

Thousands of secondary-school and university students marched against the bailout in Nicosia yesterday shouting slogans against Germany and the troika (AFP) FULL STORY PAGE 4

Russians consider lawsuits over Cyprus losses

By Megan Davies and Katya Golubkova RUSSIAN businesses and banks that face losses from the European Union’s bailout of Cyprus are considering legal action but may have a hard time making a case, say lawyers who are combing through treaties to find strategies to recover funds.

Big depositors - many of them Russian - face losses of up to 40 per cent as the result of a so-called ‘bail-in’ to back €10 billion in EU financial

aid to stabilise the Cypriot banking system.

“It’s worth trying, it’s not going to be easy, its not going to be a one-off, 24-hour court case, but the nature of the action itself sounds like expropriation,” said Andrey Goltsblat, managing partner at Moscow-based law firm Goltsblat BLP. There could be a basis to sue either Cyprus or individual banks, say lawyers who have been contacted by current and prospective clients seeking redress.

“People are just frustrated and ... are trying to find a way to get their

money off Cyprus,” said Goltsblat, who said that two clients - one in Russia and a second Russian client residing in Cyprus - had inquired about legal options.

Steven Philippsohn, partner at London-based law firm PCB Litigation, said three major banks based in or around Russia had asked about the possibility of legal action.

“We have been contacted and we are monitoring the situation and will respond to them when we have further news,” he said.

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

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Home PICTURE OF THE DAY

Weather Paralimni

Nicosia 22

17 Troodos

20 20

Larnaca

20

20

Paphos

Limassol

TODAY: Mostly overcast, with light rainfall possible in places. Temperatures will reach 22C inland, 20C along the coasts and 17C over higher ground OUTLOOK: Becoming more settled throughout the week

YESTERDAY:

Max Temp Nicosia 23 Larnaca 22 Limassol 23 Paphos 24 Paralimni 21 Prodromos 19

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Min 9 11 12 11 13 10

Humidity 49% 66% 66% 74% 54% 33%

SUNRISE: 05:40am

SUNSET: 6:04pm

Pollution Low/Low Medium/Low Medium/Low Low Low Medium

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

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

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Penitents of the ‘La Paz’ brotherhood wait in Sevilla during Holy Week. Christian believers around the world mark the Holy Week of Easter in celebration of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ (AFP)

QUICK CROSSWORD 2349 Across

Down

1 Fright (5) 4 Using few words (7) 8 The box (10,3) 9 Chorister (8) 10 Occurring in unison (informal) (4) 12 Lessen (6) 13 Strength (6) 16 Hood (4) 18 Distinguish (8) 21 Unheard-of (13) 22 Small open pie (7) 23 Delay (5)

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

ON THIS DAY MARCH 27 1958

25 years ago, Sunday March 27, 1988

Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev replaces Nicolay Bulganin as Soviet premier, becoming the undisputed leader of the USSR’s party and state.

Screaming in despair and shouting “we want our children back”, hundreds of black-clad Cypriot mothers demanded yesterday the right to be informed about the fate of their relatives whose whereabouts were unknown after the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974. In his first open meeting with relatives of some 1,600 missing Greek Cypriots since his election, President George Vassiliou was shocked by the drama.

1964 Measuring 8.4 on the Richter scale, America’s largest ever earthquake hits Alaska, killing 125 people and injuring thousands more.

1973 Marlon Brando refuses his Oscar for The Godfather in protest at Hollywood’s treatment of Native Americans.

Tel: 22-818585, Fax: 22-676385 email: mail@cyprus-mail.com

1977

LIMASSOL 5A Nicolaou, Pentadromos Centre, Thessaloniki St,

583 people are killed in Tenerife as two jumbo jet planes crash into each other on the runway.

Tel: 25-761117, Fax: 25-761141 email: cyprusmail@cytanet.com.cy LARNACA Tel: 24-652243, Fax: 24-659982 PAPHOS 62 Apostolou Pavlou Avenue, Office 2, 8046 Paphos, Tel: 26 911383 Fax : 26 221049 email: paphos@cyprus-mail.com

WHAT THE MAIL SAID

1989 In the Soviet Union, the first general election is held where people can vote for candidates from parties other than the Communist Party.

35 years ago, Monday March 27, 1978 Some 7,000 government workers are staging a 24-hour warning strike today, from 7am, to support demands for wage increases, a Christmas bonus and reduced working hours. This is the first strike of its kind since the coup and the invasion.

45 years ago, Wednesday March 27, 1968 Procedural matters are holding up the start of the proposed talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, it was learned yesterday. Consultations are still going on at the UN headquarters in New York and in Nicosia to try to resolve these difficulties and get the talks underway now that the atmosphere is considered propitious for such meetings.

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, March 27, 2013

3

Home Administrators of the two banks both experienced accountants

BoC staff in a panic following confusion Growing rift between new government and CB boss (continued from front page) bring the point home that the Bank of Cyprus would not suffer the same fate as Laiki. Seeking to justify the apparent lack of coordination between the CB and the government, Demetriades said people were working under immense pressure until the early morning hours in a bid to complete the procedures.

“Coordination between the authorities becomes a bit more difficult under such conditions,” the governor said, adding that efforts were being made to do everything in two days.

With chants for his resignation heard from the angry crowd of BoC employees below, Demetriades told a packed room of reporters that the rescue deal for BoC, which will merge with part of Laiki, will produce a “very strong bank”.

The attempt to show a united front by the government and supervisory authority to calm jittery employees and depositholders comes not only after the government chastised the governor for his laconic early morning announcement, but also following mixed messages on when the banks will finally open again.

According to sources, President Nicos Anastasiades postponed his address to the nation at least three times on Monday after learning that the CB governor had announced that

the banks - excluding BoC and Laiki - would open yesterday and without any capital controls imposed.

Anastasiades and Demetriades clearly have different views on whether the banking system would survive without capital controls.

Sources told the Cyprus Mail that the CB governor was keen to get the banks open as soon as possible, believing all other banks not undergoing a wind down or restructuring did not need capital controls.

Hence, the CB announcement on Monday that those other banks would open yesterday. Anastasiades had a different view, preferring controls at least for the first few weeks.

On the same day, and just a few minutes to midnight, a second announcement was released saying all banks would remain closed yesterday and today.

Demetriades confirmed as much yesterday saying the initial plan to open the smaller banks yesterday would not have included capital controls.

However, since their opening date was pushed back two days, this changed the situation and the level of trust in the banking system, resulting in the need to impose “temporary” and “loose” capital controls on all banks on the island, said the governor.

All banks have been closed since March 15.

Both Sarris and Demetriades said yesterday that everything was being done

CB Governor Panicos Demetriades (left) with Finance Minister Michalis Sarris to prepare for the opening of the banks tomorrow though neither could guarantee for sure that they would. Sources said Anastasiades was “furious” with Demetriades over his unilateral decision to open the ‘untroubled’ banks two days earlier than the other banks and without capital controls.

When asked to confirm reports that the governor does not have the confidence of the president, Stylianides dodged the question, saying instead: “The institutions, particularly in such difficult times, have to operate in a way that serves the common good.”

Asked later whether consultations between the governor and government were problematic, he replied: “Yes, when you have such errors in coordina-

tion then you have a problem that you have to deal with.”

According to sources, the government has considered removing Demetriades from office but has reached a stumbling block over provisions within the constitution.

Defending his handling of the crisis, Demetriades said that from the day he took office, he warned the previous government that Laiki was facing a serious risk of collapse and pushed the Demetris Christofias administration to apply for an EU bailout as soon as possible.

Asked why he did not order its winding down, the CB governor – a Christofias appointee - argued that the legislation was not in place at the time, meaning the only option was liquidation which would have

(AFP)

led to bankruptcy of the bank and state.

Following parliament’s approval of the resolution and recovery bill last week, the instruments are in place to protect insured depositors and restructure both of the island’s biggest banks, he said.

Asked whether he would consider resigning following the government’s failure to provide comforting words of support for him, Demetriades said this was not the time for bravado, and expressed pride in the fact that the ECB has trust in him.

He also defended the ECB’s decision to keep Laiki on a “respirator” for many months, allowing Cyprus to hold elections and bring in a new government that would be willing to reach a bailout agreement.

THE CENTRAL Bank announced yesterday that in it had appointed Dinos Christofides as the special administrator to run the Bank of Cyprus.

This comes a day after the Central Bank announced the appointment of Andri Antoniades as the special administrator for the restructuring of Laiki Bank.

“The Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) announces that its capacity as the Resolution Authority, it has, as of today, appointed Ms Andri Antoniades as the Special Administrator to implement the restructuring of Laiki Bank,” the bank said in a statement.

Antoniades is a member of the Institute of Certified Chartered Accountants with 28 years of banking experience, 25 years with HSBC, acting as CEO for the last five years and three years as General Manager with NBG Cyprus Ltd. Her CV says she is an experienced and versatile Senior Executive Banker with a proven track record of success and all round banking expertise.

She has strong leadership skills, is results driven and is customer and people focused.

She is self-motivated with an excellent reputation for meeting objectives. She has excellent communication, negotiation, mediation, analytical and people skills. She also has experience working in a highly competitive environment with tight deadlines and also successfully promoting team work and co-operation between different areas of business.

Christofides is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, with nine years’ experience in international firms of accountants and 32 years’ experience with two international banks in Cyprus.

Outside his business activities Christofides was involved in many professional, educational and charitable organisations in Cyprus and abroad and currently he is the Treasurer and Secretary of EFPA (European Financial Planning Association, The Netherlands) and the Treasurer and a Council Member of the Cyprus Red Cross Society.

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

4

Home Thousands of students take to the streets

By Maria Gregorou THOUSANDS of school and university students in Nicosia protested against the bailout and the troika yesterday outside parliament and at the presidential palace.

Students met at Solomou Square in old Nicosia at 10am and marched from Diagorou Street to parliament and then on to the presidential palace.

They were escorted by police as protesters held banners reading: ‘People fight. They are drinking our blood’, and ‘You have destroyed our future and our dreams.’ Protesters also shouted slogans like ‘Troika go home’ and ‘Troika out of Cyprus’, substituting the usual word ‘Turks’ in the more-familiar version of the chant: ‘Turks out of Cyprus’ “They’ve just gotten rid of all our dreams, everything we’ve worked for, everything we’ve achieved up until now, what our parents have achieved,” one student who gave his name as Thomas, told Reuters.

The students arrived outside the presidential palace at around 11.15am where police officers stood guard outside.

Some students climbed over the railing and some threw oranges and plastic bottles at officers, while one student burnt a German flag. At

around 12 noon the protest dissolved peacefully.

Zina Poulli, head of middle education, stated on Monday that “all students that will leave class tomorrow (Tuesday) will receive an absence.”

In order for a student not to receive an absence from school due to protest, the Cypriot Student Coordinating Committee must agree that students are allowed to protest.

“The ministry of education sent a fax to all headmasters explaining the situation and asking them to talk to the students and discourage them from leaving school premises,” Eleni Karou, an officer in charge at the ministry of education said.

The European University students union had a meeting with the student organisation on Sunday, where it was decided that university students would also participate in the protest.

“We had to protest to send a message to the troika and to Europe that we will not accept their terms lying down,” George Antoniou, an organiser at the European University Student Union, said.

The Cypriot Student Coordinating Committee released a statement saying: “The Cypriot Student Coordinating Committee would like to clarify that it had no say in today’s

Students marched in Nicosia yesterday to protest against the bailout protest, as we consider that such protests should not have to do with political parties and also that this kind of behaviour is not in our country’s best interest at the moment. Despite our opposition to today’s protest, we will contact the min-

istry of education to ask that today’s absences be justified and we are sure that the ministry will reply positively. We would also like to add that any further protests will not be approved by our committee and all responsibilities lie

with the students and teachers themselves. Therefore we urge the Provincial Student Coordinating Committee of Limassol to cancel the protest they have planned for tomorrow (Wednesday), so that all students can sit together and

(Christos Theodorides) find ways in which we can act with dignity,” it said.

The statement added: “During these critical times, students should remain united and show a good example.

This is the only way that we can succeed.”

‘No stone will be left unturned’

By Elias Hazou THE CABINET is to swiftly appoint an investigative commission to seek out those responsible for the economic crisis, the government spokesman said yesterday.

The probe’s scope and mandate will be determined by the Cabinet in the coming days perhaps even today - Christos Stylianides told newsmen.

“The President’s position is that the commission shall investigate possible criminal, civil and political offences,” he said.

“This commission will be set up in order to investigate all the phenomena that have brought us to this point.”

President Nicos Anastasiades first announced his intention to launch an investigation during a televised address to

Those who brought the country to disaster to be punished the nation on Monday night.

The investigation would have a “clear and wide-ranging mandate,” the President said.

In his address, a sternlooking Anastasiades spoke of appointing criminal investigators, but has apparently settled on a more-inclusive panel.

The decision on what shape the probe should take was made after consultations between the President and the Attorney-general at the Presidential Palace yesterday.

“Not only must we satisfy the people’s desire for justice, but also to make a new beginning so that henceforth our country can decisively implement transparency and punish

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those who lead the country to disaster,” the spokesman said.

In response to a question, Stylianides pledged that the administration would not balk at going after big bankers.

The government would leave “no stone unturned” to find those responsible for this unprecedented economic tragedy, he added.

Details about the probe will emerge over the next few days, although it’s likely the commission would include legal and financial experts.

It comes amid simmering public resentment over the impact of a bailout deal that will see thousands of bank jobs lost and a knock-on effect on the business world.

In a research note released last Monday, investment bank Nomura said the decision to force bank depositors in Cyprus to contribute towards a eurozone bailout could mean the country’s economy could shrink by 15 per cent over the

next two years. But Nomura’s assessment was based on a previous proposal to impose a one-off levy taxing every depositor in a Cypriot bank under €100,000 at 6.75 per cent and those over that amount at 9.9 per cent. Under the latest deal, however, the repercussion are more daunting: big deposits in the island’s second-largest bank Laiki will be all but wiped out, while those held in the Bank of Cyprus are expected to take a hit of up to 40 per cent.

As streets swell with angry demonstrators demanding “justice”, the government may well be pandering to public sentiment.

There are those who think the investigation is just “for show”. One man interviewed yesterday by the state broadcaster had serious doubts the probe would get anywhere: “We all know what needs to be done, but the politicians are all in on it, so in the end

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nothing will happen as always,” he said.

Time will tell whether the government is serious about getting to the bottom of the truth, said political commentator Louis Igoumenides.

Still, he thinks there is a case to be made as far as the billions in overdraft taken by cash-starved Laiki over the past year or so. Funds from the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) now have to be dumped onto the Bank of Cyprus, itself struggling to stay afloat.

“This is a key issue: the predicament of Laiki was known both to the Central Bank and the [previous] government since last year,” he said.

Ricos Erotocritou, an MP and lawyer by profession, listed four points which in his view merit investigation: “Laiki bank’s operations in Greece gave out loans that were 50 per cent more than their collateral. Then there

are claims that loans worth hundreds of millions were given out to bigwigs in Greece in the midst of the credit squeeze. Where did the €9 billion in ELA funds end up? Did it go toward growth?

“And last but not least, why did the Central Bank governor allow branches of Cypriot banks abroad to continue transactions and transfers after the capital controls law was passed?”

Lawyer Pavlos Angelides said the paper trail was there, so it was up to authorities to demonstrate they had the will to pursue the matter.

One course of action, he said, would be to determine who was responsible for buying Greek government bonds back in late 2010 which suffered a massive write down in July of 2011.

“There are former bank executives and financiers hiding out in Greece right now.

If hard evidence should arise, they could conceivably be brought here via a European arrest warrant. Whether authorities have the guts to do it is another question.”

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, March 27, 2013

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Home House wants names of those who moved their money prior to March 15 PARLIAMENT yesterday demanded a list of names of people who transferred money out of Cyprus before a March 15 Eurogroup decision to impose a tax on depositors that sparked a crisis that threatens to kill the island’s banking system.

Speaking after a five-hour meeting, the chairman of the House Institutions Committee said they needed more information on the matter.

“An investigation is also needed on whether the government was informed – both the former and the current administrations – about many important issues that, which created the problem the banking system, especially at Laiki,” Demetris Syllouris said. The committee will send a letter to the Central Bank governor asking for a list of individuals who had transferred money out of Cyprus before March 15, Syllouris said.

The personal data commissioner said it was up to the governor to decide whether to publish the list but he was obliged to hand it over to parliament. Attorney-general Petros Clerides agreed that it was up to the governor.

“If the list exists, the authority to decide is the Central Bank governor. The governor should ask two questions: if he has the authority, which he does, and if publication of the list serves public interest,” Clerides told lawmakers.

A letter will also be send to the Laiki Bank administrator, asking for information regarding the branches in Greece.

BoC to be ‘strong’ Reassurances from Sarris and Demetriades

By George Psyllides FIVE Bank of Cyprus (BoC) board members, including chairman Andreas Artemis, submitted their resignations yesterday but they were not accepted.

“The resignations will only apply if not withdrawn within one week,” a BoC statement said later in the day. Reports said Artemis resigned because the manner BoC would be recapitalised and the sale of its Greek operations, had been decided by the CB without consulting the board.

Greece’s Piraeus Bank has agreed to buy the operations of stricken Cypriot banks in Greece for €524 million, The Central Bank also announced yesterday that in it had appointed accountant Dinos Christofides as the special administrator to run the BoC. This comes a day after the Central Bank announced the appointment of Andri Antoniades, also an accountant as the special administrator for the restructuring of Laiki (Popular) Bank.

The news of the BoC resignations came amid the panic by staff who thought the bank was going down the same road as Laiki after a CB order

A distraught bank employee at the demo yesterday (CNA)

Extra security to be laid on when banks reopen

By Peter Stevenson TOMORROW morning when the banks are due to re-open there will be an extra 180 licensed private security guards making sure there are no outbreaks of violence. According to a member of police, they have also been put on alert to be extra vigilant outside the island’s banks.

Private security firm G4S is responding to extra demand by the banks by posting an extra 180 of its employees both outside and inside branches from tomorrow until order is restored to the banking sector.

“Our purpose, in close co-operation with the police, is to keep order and to help bank employees,” managing director of G4S security solutions John Arghyrou told the Cyprus Mail.

The extra security guards who will be posted are current employees who will work some extra days and hours to meet the needs of the bank, Arghyrou said.

He added that his firm was in constant contact with the police and that he believes they have taken the necessary measures to ensure there will be no trouble inside or outside any banks come tomorrow.

“Because of the growing uncertainty over the whole sector and over people’s deposits we have had to increase the amount of security at banks, as understandably, banks want to protect their property,” he said. As well as of-

fering transportation and protection services G4S also provides a vaulting facility which allows both private and commercial customers to place any amount of cash or valuables in a safe storage facility.

“We have had a slight increase recently with current events in the amount of customers using our vaulting facility,” Arghyrou said. He revealed the facility is guarded at all times by armed police.

“We run a big operation on the island, employing 750 people and we have been working round the clock since the banks closed last week,” he added.

The Popular Bank will be taking every possible measure to prevent any disruptions and disturbances at its branches once they re-open.

“One of the first things we discussed about our re-opening was people’s reaction and so we have spoken to the police and security firms to ensure order is kept at our branches islandwide,” Popular Bank spokesman Costas Archimandrites said.

He added that measures will be purely preventative in the hope that customers will show respect and understanding towards bank employees.

“We hope people understand the whole situation is not the employees’ fault and understand that the employees too face an uncertain future,” he said. Police spokesman Andreas Angelides was unable to comment on the situation.

became public referring to the “sale of the BoC’s operations”.

Central Bank (CB) Governor Panicos Demetriades rushed to allay the staff’s fears as soon as the demonstration began yesterday saying it was only part of the procedure.

“All that is being done aims at strengthening the Bank of Cyprus and after this procedure it will have very high capital ratios and access to funding from the eurosystem, not Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA), but normal financing,” he said.

As part of its bailout deal, Cyprus agreed to fold small deposits of Laiki Bank, into BoC. Laiki will be shuttered under the terms of a €10 billion rescue package agreed on Monday in Brussels with international lenders.

“The merger with Popular will give us a very strong bank,” Demetriades said.

Both Demetriades and Finance Minister Michalis Sarris, told reporters that the special administrator appointed for BoC would be there for a few days.

His duty would be to oversee the separation of BoC’s Greece operations, the lender’s recapitalisation by converting a percentage of uninsured deposits – over €100,000

- to shares, and absorbing part of Laiki. The rate has not been decided yet but officials said it could be around 40 per cent.

This would mean depositors will become the lender’s new owners, who will then select a board.

“Because these are very unusual times, these points create concern and misunderstandings,” Sarris said. A large chunk of the around €9 billion in ELA owed by Laiki would now be assumed by BoC. BoC CEO Yiannis Kypri took it upon himself to calm down worried employees, telling them that the plans aimed at not only making the lender viable but also profitable.

However, he warned that under the current circumstances, everyone must make sacrifices. Like the bank’s customers, Kypri said, “all of us, more for the high-ups and less for those lower down, must accept some cuts. At least we will secure our jobs.”

Kypri said the bank’s insurance branches – Eurolife and General Insurance – would remain with the lender but an investor would be sought.

The objective would be for BoC to maintain 20 to 30 per cent of the insurance companies’ share, Kypri said.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

6

Home No more UK pensions payments to Cyprus accounts Property BRITISH pensions will not be paid into Cypriot bank accounts for the foreseeable future and expats are advised to open UK accounts, the British Department for Work and Pensions said yesterday.

A spokeswoman said a “watching brief ” was in place on the situation but payments into Cypriot bank accounts would not resume when banks on the island reopen - currently planned for Thursday.

In a statement to MPs, Pensions Minister Steve Webb said the government was advis-

ing people to either switch their payments to a British account they already have or to open a new one. About 6,000 of the 18,133 British expats in Cyprus use a British bank account already and so are not affected by the freeze.

Webb said: “We are advising customers to change the bank account into which payments are made, for example by nominating an alternative bank account or the account of a ‘trusted friend’ which is permissible under our current rules on benefit payment.

“This is a practical measure to ensure that

payments reach our customers promptly, and we are not advising these customers to close their Cypriot bank accounts.

“Customers who do not currently have another bank account may wish to open one. HM Treasury have also worked with Barclays to put in place a process so that individuals can open a bank account quickly if they wish to do so.”

Webb said the Government will continue to monitor the situation closely and aims to minimise disruption for those affected.

Russians mulling lawsuits after big losses But if both banks allowed to ‘die’ no chance of action (continued from front page) Russians are believed to account for most of the €19 billion of non-EU, nonbank money held in Cypriot banks at the last count by the central bank in January.

While insured deposits of up to €100,000 are safe, big depositors in Cypriot banks could lose about 40 per cent of their money, Finance Minister Michalis Sarris said yesterday. Hiring a lawyer may help depositors reduce their losses.

“If you file a suit they are going to be concerned and hopefully come to an arrangement that would be more satisfactory than if you didn’t,” said Philippsohn.

“There may be a chance of recovery too.” Still, there is scepticism about the likelihood of success. An earlier

plan to impose a state levy on deposits, which was described by Russian officials as “expropriation”, has been ditched in favour of a plan that restructures banks and exchanges non-guaranteed deposits for shares.

If Cyprus’ two biggest banks are simply allowed to “die, without passing the law on taxing deposits, there will be no chance to take legal action”, said Goltsblat.

Vladimir Gidirim, partner with Ernst & Young in Moscow, noted that large depositors would not have investments directly confiscated but see them exchanged for equity stakes in a “good bank” to be carved out in the rescue.

“This is not a total expropriation,” said Gidirim. “After a year, the stake might

There is a growing feeling out there of unfairness and injustice over the losses be worth more than the initial deposit.”

“Russian depositors who suffered from Cypriot authorities’ actions may, in theory, file lawsuits but I don’t see substantial reasons for it,” he added.

Thomas Keane, co-founder of Cyprus-based law firm Keane Vgenopoulou & Associates LLC, said a plaintiff could argue in Cypriot

or European court that restrictions on the free movement of capital violated EU law.

“Clients have not come up and raised this but there is a growing feeling out there of unfairness and injustice that the depositors are being forced to carry the can,” said Keane, whose firm has Russian corporations amongst its clients. State-

(AFP)

controlled VTB, the Russian bank with the greatest exposure to the island, said it was premature to comment on whether it planned to sue the Cypriot authorities.

VTB has said that in a worst-case scenario losses in Cyprus could reach “tens of millions of euros”. Sberbank, Russia’s top bank, declined to comment.

Luxembourg minister says Germany seeks eurozone ‘hegemony’

By Andreas Rinke LUXEMBOURG’S foreign minister accused Germany yesterday of “striving for hegemony” in the eurozone by telling Cyprus what business model it should pursue.

Like Cyprus, Luxembourg has a large financial sector, whose comparatively light-touch tax and regulatory regime has long irked its much bigger neighbours Germany and France.

Germany, the European Union’s biggest and most powerful economy, had insisted that wealthy depositors in Cyprus’ banks contribute to the island’s bailout and said the crisis has killed a “business model” based on low taxes and attracting large foreign deposits.

“Germany does not have the right to decide on the business model for other countries in the EU,” Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told Reuters.

“It must not be the case that under the cover of financially technical issues other countries are choked.”

“It cannot be that Germany, France and Britain say ‘we need financial centres in these three big countries and others must stop’.”

That was against the internal market and European solidarity, and “striving for hegemony which is wrong and un-European,” he said.

Cyprus had faced bankruptcy and possible ejection from the eurozone without a rescue deal with international lenders that was finally sealed in the early hours of Monday and included a clause penalising large

bank depositors.

The Cyprus crisis has revived criticism of Germany in parts of the eurozone, especially the austerity-battered south where voters and commentators have long complained of what they see as Berlin’s domineering attitude and insensitivity to their pain.

But criticism from core northern states such as Luxembourg - a founder member of the EU and eurozone - is less common.

Asselborn said it was crucial that smaller EU states in particular were allowed to develop certain economic niches.

Germany should also keep in mind it was a prime beneficiary of the eurozone crisis because its borrowing costs have plunged as nervous investors seek safe havens, Asselborn add-

ed. The tough stance on the banking and taxation policies of countries such as Cyprus crosses Germany’s political divide.

On Tuesday, Joachim Poss, deputy leader of the main opposition Social Democrats in parliament, said the EU must insist on reforms in other financial centres guilty of “tax dumping” in the eurozone such as Luxembourg, Malta and Ireland.

Responding to Asselborn’s comments, Poss said: “In the long term no business model can be tolerated in a market economy that circumvents fair competition. Of course Luxembourg belongs to the group of problem countries.”

German politicians have stepped up their attacks on tax evasion ahead of federal elections in September.

valuers suspend work as more price falls loom

By Tom Bill PROPERTY valuers in Cyprus have suspended work as they come to terms with a financial bailout that is likely to deepen price falls of recent years, the chairman of the country’s Property Valuers Association told Reuters.

The association, which represents about 90 per cent of valuers in the country, advised its members last week not to carry out valuations for banks or individuals until the terms of a financial bailout become clear, Charalambos Petrides said.

A €10-billion euro rescue deal was agreed between Cyprus and the European Union on Monday after the country’s outsized financial sector ran into trouble with soured investments in neighbouring Greece.

Valuers are likely to resume work once the banks re-open on Thursday after a closure of almost two weeks designed to prevent a run on deposits.

Prices have already fallen by half for residential property in some parts of Cyprus and 35 per cent for some commercial real estate since the last peak at the start of 2009, Charalambos said.

Any further falls will magnify the pain felt by the Cypriot economy as a whole, which has relied heavily on the second-home market among British and Russian buyers.

“This is a very big shock for Cyprus that could lead to double-digit price drops in some areas,” said Eri Mitsostergiou, a director of European research at property consultant Savills who has advised on development deals in Cyprus.

Charalambos said it was too early to predict how large falls would be.

In addition to Russian and British buyers who have dominated the Cyprus residential market, the island has seen emerging interest from the Chinese in the western coastal town of Paphos.

Many Britons sold their holiday homes in the wake of the financial crisis in 2009 and 2010 and Russians may head for the door after suffering losses on their bank deposits and as scrutiny on Cyprus as an offshore base grows, Mitsostergiou said.

“This is the end of an era for Cyprus. It is another real estate-driven economy that faces falling demand,” she said.

While some Cypriots may now choose to invest in London or Athens real estate over banks, bargain hunters are lining up for Cyprus property.

“There will be some great deals,” said Kostas Kazolides, a London-based investor who has been buying property and advising on deals in Cyprus since the 1970s, before the bailout deal.

“People that are stuck may need to sell up their land very quickly.”

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, March 27, 2013

7

Home

Businesses facing the abyss Unlikely wages will be paid on time this month

By Peter Stevenson COMPANIES are no longer receiving payments and neither will their employees be paid at the end of the month because of bank closures according to the Employers and Industrialists Federation, OEV. It called on the government and the Central Bank to open the banks, as every day that passes the damage to businesses and the economy increases. It also recommended that business owners take suitable measures in facing the new situation and that people to be calm and patient.

“Businesses should not make hasty decisions and should look carefully at their financial situation in order to do the best to save their own business as well as the jobs of their employees,” director of OEV Michalis Pilikos said. He said people should not try to figure out which measures are fair and which are not as most measures which will be taken will be unfair.

“The fact that companies are not being paid for services they are providing means that employees will not be able to be paid on time at the end of the month, which in itself causes problems in our society and to our economy,” OEV’s Constantinos Christofides said. He added that there were continuous meetings to discuss how the current situation would be dealt with.

“We are preparing to meet to discuss the measures that the Central Bank will put in place on banks from Thursday,” he said.

Christofides said OEV had

contacted the Central Bank and were awaiting final instructions. “We will most likely have a meeting with the Central Bank tomorrow (Wednesday afternoon) to see what decisions they will make regarding Bank of Cyprus and Laiki as well as the other banks,” Christofides said.

He added that the number of businesses that could no longer accept payment by credit card or cheque was increasing although it was still a small number.

“I hope that banks open on Thursday at the latest because as we said last week, every day that passes the damage to our economy and our businesses increases,” he said.

Christofides said OEV was not in official contact with trade unions but they had spoken regarding certain businesses that have been unable to stay open due to the closure of banks. He said it was mainly businesses which dealt with importing and exporting goods, which use the banks for all transactions.

“Businesses need to take the appropriate measures to face the new circumstances and by that I mean they need to mediate, make correct and smart investments and explore strategic partnerships,” Christofides said.

There will undoubtedly be a rise in unemployment and businesses will shut according to the Chamber of Commerce (KEVE) general secretary Marios Tsiapis. “Unfortunately we cannot avoid the situation as many businesses that had their money in the ‘bad bank’ will be unable to access it and will be unable to oper-

Shop owners in Laiki Yitonia in old Nicosia stand outside their empty premises ate,” he said. Tsiapis believes the correct restrictions on banks need to be put in place by the government and Central Bank, which would not restrict transactions within the island. “I don’t believe there should be any restrictions within Cyprus because the reason any measures are being taken is to prevent people moving their money abroad,” Tsiapis said. “The correct measures need to be put in place so they do not affect Cyprus’ international transactions,” he added.

Nicosia municipality worried about its obligations THE BAILOUT deal and continued closure of the banks are putting a financial stranglehold on Nicosia municipality and are putting the smooth running of its services at risk, it said yesterday.

Nicosia Mayor, Constantinos Yiorkadjis, called on the government to exclude municipality accounts from being hit by a levy on deposits. “The majority of the municipality’s deposits are in the Popular Bank and Bank of Cyprus and it is a possibility, that despite our efforts, we will be unable to meet our responsibilities,” he said.

Yiorkadjis stated that public health could be at risk as the municipality was unable to collect rubbish and dispose of it. Public safety could also be put at risk as traffic lights across the island will not be properly

maintained and the removal of hazardous buildings will also become extremely difficult according to the Mayor. “Developmental projects are also under the threat of closure as our financial contribution has been frozen and a large part of it will be cut,” he said.

Yiorkadjis called on the government to exclude local authorities from the levy under the same conditions that provident funds and pensions have been excluded, to ensure they continue to have a cash flow.

“In the event that municipalities are seen as regular depositors or investors and any denial or delay of their cash-flow will result in the possible victimisation of their employees as they will not receive a salary,” he said.

CSE stays closed Petrol stations say sales are down THE Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) yesterday announced the continuation of last week’s trading suspension in an attempt to ensure a proper functioning of the stock market and to protect investors, it said.

The decision was made because banks remain closed and cannot carry out transactions related to securities, and to avoid any further risk to the system from the recent economic developments as a result of the bailout deal.

THE SALE of petrol has fallen since Monday as many people filled up their cars during the weekend and have limited their travels, which has resulted in a “stagnant market,” according to Stefanos Stefanou, head of the petrol station owners’ association.

Stefanou said petrol stations would not run out of petrol, as their supply was continuous but on a cash basis.

He also said some petrol

stations were still accepting credit cards, depending on their policy.

He expressed fear that a possible domino effect may cause some stations to close down as many owners may lose money from their deposits or from credit payments from companies which may go bankrupt.

Stefanou did say this was an opportunity for the system of easy credit acceptance from customers to be corrected.

(AFP)

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

8

Europe

Italy parties still far from deal says Berlusconi ally

By Naomi O’Leary FORMATION of a new Italian government is still a long way off and unless political differences can be overcome, the country may be headed for fresh elections, a senior official of Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right party said yesterday.

Last month’s elections created a political deadlock, but pressure to form a government to address It-

aly’s heavy debt burden and sluggish economy increased this week, when a difficult bailout of Cyprus rattled markets and stirred concerns about the return of crisis to the eurozone periphery.

“What I can tell you is that our positions are still very distant from each other, and if they remain distant in the next 48 hours we will affirm that the only way is to go back to vote,” People of Freedom (PDL) party secretary Angelino Alfano

told reporters after talks with centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani.

Bersani, whose alliance won the largest share of the vote in February but fell short of a parliamentary majority, is meeting officials from rival parties to try to muster support to form a government.

“As you have seen and heard, certainly the problems remain, we need to keep working,” Bersani said after yesterday’s consultations.

The leader of the Democratic Party, a long time rival of the PDL, Bersani has so far rebuffed approaches by the centre-right to form a coalition. He is due to finish talks with parties today and is likely to present his results to the Italian president tomorrow.

Today, Bersani will meet with deputies of the 5-Star Movement led by former comic Beppe Grillo.

Grillo has repeatedly and rudely rejected suggestions his group

could support a Bersani government.

Speaking beside Alfano, Roberto Maroni, the leader of the Northern League party that is in alliance with the PDL, said he would not accept another technocrat government like the outgoing administration led by economist Mario Monti.

This has been considered as an option if Bersani fails to gather enough support.

Pope wants to stay in simple residence for now

EU clears Croatia for July entry, to keep eye on corruption

POPE Francis wants to stay for the time being in a simple Vatican residence instead of moving into the spacious and regal papal apartments, the Vatican said yesterday.

The former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina is still living in the Domus Santa Martha, a modern hotel-style residence inside the Vatican City where he stayed during the conclave that elected him on March 13.

Although the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace - which consist of more than a dozen rooms as well as quarters for staff and a terrace - are available, he shows no desire to move in any time soon, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said.

In the past few days Francis has moved out of a single room in the residence, which has some 130 rooms, into a suite so he could have more space to work and to receive people, Lombardi said.

THE European Commission gave Croatia a clean bill of health yesterday in its final check before the Balkan state joins the EU in July, but said it would keep watch over corruption and crime.

Marking the end of Zagreb’s decade-long effort to join mainstream Europe, European Union Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said Croatia had met expectations.

“Croatia has fulfilled all the conditions for joining...

I think it is an excellent example to other candidate countries,” Fuele told a Croatian government session where he presented the final monitoring report.

Croatia will be the bloc’s first new member since Bulgaria and Romania joined in 2007. The other EU hopefuls in the Balkans - Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, and Kosovo - have yet to start entry talks.

AUSTERE Francis has set a more austere tone for the papacy than his predecessor Benedict XVI, who gained a reputation for sumptuous costumes. Lombardi says the new pope enjoys the residence’s community atmosphere where he lives alongside other clergy.

The pope says Mass in its chapel every morning and invites Vatican workers and other guests to attend.

“I can’t make long-term predictions, but for now it seems he is experimenting with this type of simple co-habitation,” Lombardi said.

“It is still a period of getting used to things, of experimentation. Certainly in this phase he has expressed the desire to stay where he is,” he said.

Lombardi said the pope will be using the offices in the Apostolic Palace and its grand, frescoed reception rooms to meet heads of state and delegations, and will continue to appear each Sunday to deliver a blessing from the window of the papal apartments overlooking St. Peter’s Square.

Southern Rockhopper Penguins seen at the new Polar World at Hellabrunn Zoo in Munich, Germany yesterday

Knox to face retrial in Kercher murder New trial over killing of UK student to be held in Florence

By Virginia Alimenti and Catherine Hornby ITALY’S top court yesterday ordered a retrial of American Amanda Knox and former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, re-opening a case that prompted harsh criticism of the Italian justice system.

Kercher’s half-naked body, with more than 40 wounds and a deep gash in the throat, was found in the apartment she shared with Knox in Perugia, where both were studying during a year abroad in 2007.

Prosecutors accused Knox and Italian Sollecito of killing the 21-year-old Leeds University student during a drug-fuelled sexual assault that got out of hand.

The two, who always protested their innocence, were initially found guilty in 2009 and sentenced to 26 and 25 years in prison respectively after a trial that grabbed headlines around the world.

In 2011, their convictions were quashed after forensic experts challenged evidence in the original trial, prompt-

ing accusations of a botched police investigation and leaving many aspects of the killing unexplained.

They were released after four years in prison and Knox returned to her family home near Seattle immediately afterwards.

Yesterday, the Court of Cassation overturned the acquittal and accepted a request for a retrial from prosecutors and Kercher family lawyers who had criticised the earlier ruling as “contradictory and illogical”.

Unlike law in the United States and some other countries, the Italian system does not contain so-called “double jeopardy” provisions that prevent a defendant being tried twice for the same offence.

The new trial will be held in an appeals court in Florence, rather than Perugia, where the original trials were conducted.

The decision was immediately welcomed by the Kercher family lawyer Francesco Maresca who said it would provide an opportunity to find out what happened to Meredith.

“This is an important day

for the Italian justice system,” he said outside the court, criticising the earlier judgment acquitting Knox and Sollecito as “extremely superficial”.

“I’ve spoken to the family and Stephanie, her sister, is very happy, she’s trying to understand what happens now.”

Knox released a statement through her spokesman David Marriott describing the court’s decision as “painful” and said the prosecution’s theory had repeatedly been revealed as “unfounded and unfair”.

She has not yet discussed whether she will return to Italy for the trial, Marriott said.

Knox, dubbed “Foxy Knoxy” in many early media reports, was initially portrayed as a sex-obsessed “she devil” by prosecutors but a lobbying campaign by her family helped change perceptions and she is due to publish a book of memoirs in April.

“She was very sad, she thought that this nightmare was over,” Carlo della Vedova, one of her legal team told reporters after speaking to

Knox. “At the same time she is ready, we went through all this before, we are strong enough and strong enough to fight again.”

For now Knox was free to decide herself whether to return to Italy or not but the Italian government could request extradition if she is found guilty of the murder and her conviction is backed by the Court of Cassation.

Much of the attention of the case was focused on the carefree image of foreign students enjoying a year abroad in the medieval town in central Italy as well as on lurid stories of sex and heavy partying.

Prosecutors had said that Kercher was held down and stabbed after she resisted attempts by Knox, Sollecito and a third man, Ivorian Rudy Guede, to involve her in an orgy in the apartment the two women shared in the town.

However their case was weakened by forensic experts who undermined the credibility of DNA evidence provided by police and made strong criticisms of their first response procedures at the scene of the killing.

TREATY Zagreb concluded EU accession talks in June 2011 and will join on July 1, once its accession treaty has been ratified by all current 27 members. In the past two years, the government was required to complete the restructuring and sale of its ailing shipyards and resolve a banking dispute with Slovenia.

While the Commission’s report was largely positive about Croatia’s readiness to become the 28th EU member, its language on fighting organised crime was less glowing.

It said Croatia’s legal framework to deal with organised crime and corruption was adequate, but some changes to the legal system had not been fully implemented or were being used half-heartedly.

Croatia needed to use tougher sentencing to deter crime, the report said, noting that convicted criminals often face only suspended sentences.

An EU official said the Commission would watch corruption, but the bloc was convinced Croatia was on the right path.

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, March 27, 2013

9

Britain Lecturer soars to fame on Chinese TV

Just do it says Yahoo’s teen app millionaire

A BRITISH university lecturer has become a must-see TV celebrity across China with an array of renditions of red revolutionary songs.

Cardiff-born Iain Ingles shot to fame after appearing on China’s Got Talent and delighting millions with his novelty act.

Dressed in a Red Army uniform and singing songs extolling the virtues of chairman Mao and socialism, he reached the show’s semifinal.

Now he is riding a lucrative wave of celebrity appearances and pocketing £5,000 a time for singing on local and national TV in China.

When Ingles opens his mouth his efforts are often met with laughter.

“I’m a tall, white foreigner from Wales singing songs about Communism in Chinese,” he told the WalesOnline website.

“It was a bit of fun to start off with but the more performances I did, the more I was hooked.

“For some reason the Chinese people seem to find it quite hilarious.”

Despite the reaction, the 30-year-old has captured the hearts of Chinese TV audiences and is in demand across the country.

Ingles, a Russian and German language graduate, lives on the tropical Chinese island of Hanya with his wife, Yu Yanling.

His unusual choice of singing material stems from a CD of red songs bought while on holiday in China and which he later learned.

He went on to reach the last 16 on China’s Got Talent and boosted the show’s already high ratings in the process.

More trust PM on econ than rivals DESPITE a stagnating economy, an austerity drive, and a squeeze on living standards, more of the British public trust Prime Minister David Cameron to make the right economic decisions than his opposition rivals, a poll showed yesterday.

Public perceptions about the economy and how it is being managed are closely tied to Cameron’s political fortunes as the Conservative party is banking on a slow but steady economic revival to help it win the next election in 2015.

Support for Cameron and George Osborne, the finance minister, to make the right decisions on the economy is low, at 29 per cent, the poll

by ComRes for The Independent newspaper found.

The main opposition Labour party - which has long enjoyed an overall lead of about 10 per cent in polls - does not appear to be winning the economic argument.

The poll found only 22 per cent of voters trusted Ed Miliband, its leader, and Ed Balls, its financial spokesman, to make the right decisions on the economy.

17-year-old is paid $30 million for app

By Paul Sandle

A photographer takes a picture of a wax figure of British actor Emma Watson at Madame Tussauds in central London yesterday during a photocall to unveil her waxwork (AFP)

GOT a tech idea and want to make a fortune before you’re out of your teens? Just do it, is the advice of the London schoolboy who’s just sold his smartphone news app to Yahoo for a reported $30 million.

The monkey is there, just waiting for clever new moves, said 17-year-old Nick D’Aloisio, who can point to a roster of early backers for his Summly app that includes Yoko Ono and Rupert Murdoch.

“If you have a good idea, or you think there’s a gap in the market, just go out and launch it because there are investors across the world right now looking for companies to invest in,” he told said.

The terms of the sale, four months after Summly was launched for the iPhone, have not been disclosed and D’Aloisio, who is still studying for school exams while joining Yahoo as its youngest employee, was not saying.

But technology blog AllThingsD said Yahoo paid roughly $30 million.

D’Aloisio said he was the majority owner of Summly and would now invest the money from the sale, though his age imposes legal limits for now on his access to it.

“I’m happy with that and working with my parents to go through that whole process,” he said.

D’Aloisio, who lives in the prosperous London suburb of Wimbledon, highlights the support of family and school, which gave him time off, but also, critically, the ideas that came with enthusiastic finan-

Just a normal teenager: Nick D’Aloisio cial backers.

He had first dreamt up the mobile software while revising for a history exam two years ago, going on to create a prototype of the app that distils news stories into chunks of text readable on small smartphone screens.

He was inspired, he said, by the frustrating experience of trawling through Google searches and separate websites to find information when revising for the test.

Trimit was an early version of the app, which is powered by an algorithm that automatically boils down articles to about 400 characters. It caught the eye of Horizons Ventures, a venture capital firm owned by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, which put in $250,000.

That investment attracted other celebrity backers, among them Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher, British broadcaster Stephen Fry, artist Ono, the widow of Beatle John Lennon, and News Corp

media mogul Murdoch.

That all added up to maximum publicity when Summly launched in November 2012, but the backers brought more than just cash for an app that has been downloaded close to a million times.

“It’s been super-exciting, (the investors) found out about it in 2012 once the original investment from Li Ka-shing had gone public,” said D’Aloisio. “They all believed in the idea, but they all offered different experiences to help us out.”

His business has worked with around 250 content publishers, he said, such as News Corp’s Wall Street Journal.

People reading the summaries can easily click through to the full article, driving traffic to newspaper websites.

“The great deal about joining Yahoo is that they have a lot of publishers, they have deals with who we can work with now,” D’Aloisio said.

He taught himself to code at age 12 after Apple’s App Store was launched, creating several apps including Facemood, a service which analysed sentiment to determine the moods of Facebook users, and music discovery service SongStumblr.

He has started A-levels in maths, physics and philosophy, and plans to continue his studies while also working at Yahoo’s offices in London.

He aims to go to university to study humanities.

Although he has created an app worth millions, D’Aloisio says he is not a stereotyped computer geek.

“I like playing sport,” he said. “I’m a bit of a design enthusiast, and like spending time with my girlfriend and mates.”

Battle rages over bones of England’s Richard III

By Michael Holden KING Richard III is at the centre of a new fight over the location of his final resting place, just weeks after the remains of the last English king to die in battle were found underneath a council car park.

Archaeologists announced one of the most remarkable finds in recent English history last month when they confirmed the discovery of the body of Richard, who was slain at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, during excavations in Leicester.

The discovery generated massive interest internationally as the monarch was famously cast by William Shakespeare as a deformed tyrant who murdered his two nephews, known as the princes, in the Tower of London.

He has long been one of the

most controversial characters in English history, with passionate supporters claiming he was wrongly maligned after his death and was in fact an enlightened ruler. Now, more than 500 years after his death, he is still generating division.

The University of Leicester,

which led the project to find and exhume Richard, was given permission to reinter the king’s remains at the cathedral in Leicester, which is close to Bosworth in central England.

But descendants of the monarch, who was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty,

are seeking a legal challenge to have his body laid to rest instead in York, the northern English city with which he had close links during his life.

“We have now written officially to the Ministry of Justice and University of Leicester, notifying them that we plan to issue these claims,”

‘ALFRED’ BONES EXHUMED AT CHURCH BONES that could belong to King Alfred the Great have been exhumed from a churchyard over fears that they might be stolen or vandalised.

Archaeologists carried out the exhumation of an unmarked grave at St Bartholomew’s Church in Winchester, Hampshire, yesterday morning on church orders.

There has been speculation the bones of the legendary 9th-century king - who is said to have burnt the cakes and defeated the Danes - could be buried there and the church felt there was a heightened risk of theft.

No permission has been given to analyse the

bones to see if they are those of the Saxon monarch and they are now in safe storage.

“Following the completion of work we can confirm that skeletal remains were discovered and have been exhumed from the grave,” Winchester Diocesan spokesman Nick Edmonds said.

The whereabouts of the remains of Alfred has long been a mystery.

It is thought the exhumed grave may hold the bones of the king after a possible earlier burial of him under the nearby ruined Hyde Abbey was dug up in the 19th century and then reburied in the churchyard.

said Matthew Howarth, the lawyer representing the Plantagenet Alliance which is spearheaded by 15 of Richard’s descendants.

“We will follow up by issuing the judicial review and other proceedings as soon as possible, but certainly within the next few weeks.”

They will argue that the Ministry of Justice failed to consult them over the exhumation and the licence allowing the university to rebury the king, and this failure breached the European Convention on Human Rights.

“We have every hope that Matthew and his colleagues will succeed in these cases and help us significantly in our quest to have Richard’s remains buried at the most appropriate site, York Minster,” said Stephen Nicolay, a 16th great-nephew of the monarch.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

10

World

N. Korea says it is ready for combat

WORLD TODAY Australia’s first climate change victim?

US says prepared for any contingency as Pentagon believes rocket could hit them

By Jack Kim and Ju-min Park

its mainland, Hawaii and Guam,” the North’s KCNA news agency said.

The order was issued in a statement from the North Korea’s military “supreme command.”

The Pentagon condemned North Korea’s rhetoric, saying it was designed to “raise tensions and intimidate others.”

“They need to stop threatening peace on the peninsula. That doesn’t help anyone... and we stand ready to respond to any contingency,” Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters.

would lose.

Officials said Japan and Australia plan to sanction North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank as part of US-led efforts targeting Pyongyang’s funding for its nuclear programme.

Pyongyang’s aggressive rhetoric appears to mark a further attempt to boost the military credentials of Kim Jong-un, who took power in December 2011 after the death of his father. He has cemented the role of the military and the North’s nuclear weapons and missile ambitions with the nuclear test and two long-range rocket launches.

KCNA said yesterday that Kim had guided a landing operation by combined units including the North Korean navy.

“This is a mythmaking for the (military) commander,” said Jeung Young-tae, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute of National Unification in Seoul.

On March 22, South Korea and the United States signed a “counter-provocation plan” meant to fine tune joint reaction to any future North Korean military strikes. The Pentagon said details of the plan were classified.

A ONE-degree rise in temperature could spell doom for a rare Australian possum within a decade, potentially making the tiny, long-tailed marsupial the continent’s first victim of climate change, researchers said.

The possums hibernate in rock piles for the six months of the year when snow blankets the mountains.

The snow serves as an insulator that prevents the rock piles from growing too cold and keeps the animals from freezing.

“With even a one degree rise in annual average temperature, we’re likely to lose the snow,” Michael Archer, a palaeontologist and naturalist at the University of New South Wales said. “The insulation is the difference between life and death in that habitat.”

NORTH Korea repeated threats yesterday to target US military bases as Washington and its allies tightened economic sanctions against the isolated country by targeting Pyongyang’s main foreign exchange bank with new measures.

The rhetoric from North Korea - which has threatened the United States with nuclear war and rehearsed drone attacks on South Korea - and Washington’s hardening reaction, drew more concern from China, Pyongyang’s only major ally, which said the situation was “sensitive”.

Pyongyang says United Nations sanctions, agreed after North Korea carried out a third nuclear test in February, are part of a Washington-led plot to topple its leadership.

“From this moment, the Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army will be putting into combat duty posture No. 1 all field artillery units, including longrange artillery units and strategic rocket units, that will target all enemy objects in US invasionary bases on

The Pentagon has declined to define the range of North Korea’s rockets, saying it is classified. But Admiral James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged on March 15 that one type of North Korean missile likely had the range to reach the United States.

South Korea’s defence ministry said it saw no sign of imminent military action by North Korea and most military analysts say Pyongyang will not risk a conflict with the United States that it

Looters, gunmen roam CAR capital after coup

In blow to Assad, the opposition takes Syria’s Arab summit seat

LOOTERS and gunmen roamed the streets of Central African Republic’s capital yesterday as rebels and regional peacekeepers struggled to restore order two days after a coup plunged the mineral-rich country into chaos.

The ousting of President Francois Bozize and the political turmoil around it has raised fears of a humanitarian crisis in the former French colony - and embarrassed regional power South Africa which had sent troops to defend the government.

About 5,000 Seleka rebel fighters poured into the capital on Sunday, brushing aside a 400-strong South African force which attempted to block their path. At least 13 South African soldiers were killed and 27 wounded.

Rebel leader and self-proclaimed president Michel Djotodia - who had accused Bozize of breaking past peace accords - on Monday asked regional peacekeepers stationed in the country to help him restore order.

Having run out of supplies during the rebel takeover, hungry residents flocked to markets yesterday. But sporadic gunfire rang out across the sprawling riverside capital, home to 600,000 people.

TO applause from Arab heads of state, a foe of Bashar al-Assad took Syria’s vacant seat at an Arab summit yesterday, deepening the Syrian president’s diplomatic isolation and diverting attention from opposition rifts.

Speaking at an annual gathering of Arab leaders in the Gulf state of Qatar, Moaz Alkhatib said he had asked US Secretary of State John Kerry for American forces to help defend rebel-controlled northern parts of Syria with Patriot surface-to-air missiles now based in Turkey. NATO swiftly rebuffed the idea.

The insurgents complain that they have few weapons to counter Assad’s helicopter gunships and warplanes.

“It was a historic meeting.

You could feel the grandiose nature of the meeting,” said opposition spokesman Yaser Tabbara.

“It’s a first step towards acquiring full legal legitimacy.”

Alkhatib said the United States, which has given nonmilitary aid to Syrian rebels, should play a bigger role in helping end the two-year-old conflict in Syria, blaming Assad’s government for what he called its refusal to solve the crisis.

“I have asked Mr Kerry to

CLASSIFIED

extend the umbrella of the Patriot missiles to cover the Syrian north and he promised to study the subject,” he said, referring to NATO Patriot missile batteries sent to Turkey last year to protect Turkish airspace.

“We are still waiting for a decision from NATO to protect people’s lives, not to fight but to protect lives,” he added, addressing a body that barred Assad’s government in late 2011.

Congo denial

South Korean activists burn North Korean effigies yesterday during a rally to mark the third anniversary of the sinking of a naval vessel claiming the lives of 46 sailors

Responding to Alkhatib’s remarks, an official of the Western military alliance at its headquarters in Brussels said: “NATO has no intention to intervene militarily in Syria.”

Turkey said it would be up to the rest of NATO to decide if members wanted to expand the remit of the Patriot batteries.

Michael Stephens, a researcher based in Qatar for Britain’s Royal United Services Institute, said acceding

SWEDISH SCIENTIST NAMED TO HEAD UN CHEMICAL WEAPONS PROBE U.N. Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has named Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom to head the UN investigation into allegations that chemical weapons were used in Syria, Ban’s spokesman said yesterday.

“He is an accomplished scientist with a solid background in disarmament and international security,” UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

It was not immediately clear who else would be on his team.

Russia said on Monday that Russian and Chinese experts should be part of the investigation, but Moscow’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Russia would “most likely not” be represented.

Sellstrom was a chief inspector for UNSCOM, the UN inspection team that investigated and dismantled Iraq’s biological and chemical weapons programs in the 1990s.

He also worked with UNMOVIC, the UN group that returned to Iraq in 2002 and found no solid evidence Baghdad had revived its banned arms programmes before the 2003 US-led invasion.

to Alkhatib’s request would effectively put NATO at war with Damascus.

NATO’s current deployment of three Patriot missile batteries in southern Turkey is intended to be purely defensive, shielding Turkey from possible attack from Syria.

The Patriots are designed to shoot down hostile missiles in mid-air.

Alkhatib, a Sunni Muslim cleric, took Syria’s seat at the summit for the first time despite announcing on Sunday that he would step down as leader of the Syrian National Coalition.

Behind him sat Ghassan Hitto, the prime minister of a provisional opposition government that plans to run rebel-held area, and fellow senior opposition official George Sabra.

Alkhatib made a blunt call on other Arab leaders to “fear God in dealing with your people” and free political prisoners - a departure from anodyne tradition at the League.

But he also criticised what he called Western failure to bring an end to the conflict, and said an influx of foreign Islamist fighters should not be used by the West as a pretext to deny the Syrian people meaningful help.

BOSCO Ntaganda, a Congolese warlord known as “the Terminator” who evaded arrest on war crimes charges for seven years, denied guilt when he appeared for the first time at the International Criminal Court yesterday.

Ntaganda unexpectedly gave himself up to diplomats at the US Embassy in Rwanda last week, walking in off the street and demanding to be handed over to the ICC. Within days he was put on a plane to The Hague.

He is accused of murder, rape and other crimes over a 15-year-period of fighting in Rwandan-backed rebellions in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

He confirmed his name, gave his age as 39, and told the court he was not guilty of the charges, but a judge interrupted and said this was not the occasion for discussing his guilt.

Picasso sale HEDGE fund manager Steven A Cohen has bought a famous Picasso painting from casino mogul Steve Wynn for a record price, according to a report in the New York Post yesterday.

Cohen purchased ‘Le Rêve’, a 1932 oil painting of Picasso’s mistress, for $155 million, the New York Post said, citing an unnamed source.

Cohen and Wynn, who are both billionaires and wellknown art collectors, have a history with this particular Picasso painting.

In 2006, Wynn put his elbow through the canvas of Le Rêve while showing it to several friends, reportedly a day after agreeing to sell it to Cohen for $139 million.

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, March 27, 2013

11

World

‘Shameful’ sexist Ford car ads spark outrage

US Supreme Court wary of broad gay marriage ruling

Those responsible for campaign in India have been sacked

By Lawrence Hurley and David Ingram

A SERIES of car ads, including one showing women bound and gagged in the trunk of a Ford driven by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, has prompted internet outrage in India and prompted an apology from Ford India.

The ads came just days after India approved a tougher new law to punish sex crimes, following the fatal gang rape of a student in December. That attack sparked unprecedented protests over the treatment of women in the country.

The ads, uploaded on an industry website, were created by individuals within JWT India, a unit of the world’s biggest advertising group WPP. They did not go through the normal review and oversight process, Ford India said.

“We deeply regret this incident and agree with our agency partners that it should have never happened,” the company said in a statement.

“These posters are against the standards of professionalism and decency within Ford and our agency partners, and weren’t part of any projects that Ford and WPP are working on, or for any commissioned commercial use.”

Ford India did not comment on whether it was taking any action against the

One of the ads shows Berlusconi with three women in the boot agency.

One of the ads shows Berlusconi, charged in Italy with paying for sex with a minor, sitting in the front seat of a Ford Figo hatchback flashing a victory sign, with a trio of half-dressed women tied up in the trunk.

Another ad in the same series featured a caricature of celebrity Paris Hilton in the driver’s seat, and three women resembling the Kardashian sisters bound in the trunk with the tagline “Leave your worries behind with Figo’s extra large boot”.

“This was the result of individuals acting without proper oversight and appropri-

ate actions have been taken within the agency where they work to deal with the situation,” WPP said.

“These were never intended for paid publication, were never requested by our Ford client and should never have been created, let alone uploaded to the internet.

The agency has since sacked those who worked on the ads.

Comments on Twitter and Facebook dismissed the ads as “shameful” and “disgusting”.

“If this is what Ford represents, I will never buy Ford again, and try my best not to sit in one,” a Facebook user said.

China first lady in fashion frenzy CHINA’S new first lady Peng Liyuan’s choice of attire has sparked a flurry of excitement over an independent homegrown label.

The fashion frenzy is an unusual phenomenon in a country where political figures are more frumpy than fashionable and wives usually shy away from the spotlight.

Images of Mrs Peng, 50, stepping off a plane with her husband President Xi Jinping in Moscow on Friday have circulated widely on the Chinese internet, prompting praise of her style as understated and sophisticated.

Eagle-eyed fashion-savvy bloggers identified the leather handbag she carried and smart, double-breasted black trenchcoat she wore as items designed by Guangzhoubased label Exception. The brand has been described as one of China’s leading independent labels.

“First ladies are ambassadors of the culture and the design and of the soft power of a country. I’m glad that

Understated and sophisticated: Mrs Peng in Moscow

she chose to wear Chinese and take up that role of spokesperson for Chinese design here,” said Hong Huang, publisher of the fashion magazine iLook and one of the most popular microbloggers in China.

Hong said it was too early to tell if Mrs Peng’s highprofile public appearance signalled that she would be playing a more significant role in Chinese politics than her predecessors, who - unlike many of their Western counterparts - have been largely unseen.

The impact Mrs Peng, a celebrated performer on state television, is having on fashion bears some similarity to trends sparked by the former Kate Middleton, who helped bring Brazilian-born designer Issa to the world’s attention before her marriage to Britain’s Prince William.

American first lady Michelle Obama has also lent cachet to designer Jason Wu by wearing a gown he custom-made to last month’s inauguration.

U.S. Supreme Court justices signaled a reluctance yesterday to rule broadly on the fundamental right to marriage for gays and lesbians, suggesting a potentially anticlimactic outcome in the first of two related cases before the high court.

As sign-waving demonstrators massed outside, the court completed an hour and 20 minutes of oral argument on whether to let stand a California ban on same-sex marriage, without indicating a clear path forward by the end of the session.

It was the first of two days of argument. Today, the court will consider the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denies federal benefits to married samesex couples. Rulings in both cases are expected by the end of June.

The narrower DOMA case does not give the court the same opportunity to issue a broad ruling because the case relates only to a federal law that limits the definition

of marriage to opposite-sex couples for the purposes of federal benefits.

Only the California Proposition 8 case gave the court the option of finding a constitutional right for samesex couples to marry. Polls show growing support among Americans for gay marriage.

But during the argument, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is considered a swing vote, raised concerns about the court entering “uncharted waters” on an issue that divides the states.

None of the justices indicated support for the Obama administration’s favoured solution, which would strike down Proposition 8 and require the eight states that already recognise civil unions or domestic partnerships to allow gays and lesbians to marry.

Outside the court, hundreds of demonstrators from both sides gathered. Anti-gay marriage protesters marched past the imposing Supreme Court building accompanied by police on motorcycles, drawing jeers and shouts from a progay marriage rally, but there were no physical confrontations.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

12

Business

US data helps UK’s FTSE rise despite Cyprus uncertainty

By Alistair Smout BRITAIN’S top share index rose yesterday, as traders latched on to encouraging data from the United States while awaiting further news about the wider implications of a Cyprus bailout.

Financial and energy stocks were among the top gainers as investors sought to add equities, which rise and fall with optimism on the economy.

Demand for long-lasting US manufactured goods surged in February and single-family home prices posted their biggest year-on-year gain in January in six-and-a-half years, fuelling demand for riskier British stocks.

The FTSE 100 companies derive nearly a quarter of revenues from the United States, and the news helped to distract attention from mixed signals out of the European Union over whether Cyprus set a template for the rest of the region.

“In the absence of any firm bad news over Cyprus, the market is pressing higher on the back of decent data out of the US,” said Toby Morris, senior sales trader at CMC Markets.

“People are trying to get

stuck into economic data which won’t change a few hours later, instead of trying to pick up the pieces of the mixed messages out of the EU.” Stocks fell on Monday after the head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said that future rescue deals should first ask banks to recapitalise themselves, as in Cyprus, only to later say Cyprus was a specific case.

The European Central Bank also said Cyprus was a unique case, although the FTSE pared gains yesterday after an EU lawmaker said that the bloc’s parliament would demand the involvement of big savers in deals to save troubled banks, like in Cyprus.

The FTSE 100 yesterday closed up 20.99 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 6,399.37 points, finding direction in afternoon trade after a choppy morning session.

Banks rose 0.6 per cent, gaining for the first time since March 14. They had lost 5.3 per cent since the first plan to bail out Cyprus, which involved a levy on all deposits rather than just on large, uninsured ones, was unveiled a week ago.

Swiss regulator won’t curb potential Cyprus fund flows SWITZERLAND’S financial regulator has no plans to impose curbs on possible inflows of money from Cyprus, which is leaking euros even as its banks remain closed.

“Currently, we don’t see any special requirements regarding Cyprus or any other country beyond the general rules governing what money Swiss banks are allowed to accept,” said Patrick Raaflaub, head of Swiss financial regulator FINMA. While Cyprus negotiated its EU bailout, large amounts of euros fled in the form of notes from cash machines and exceptional transfers for “humanitarian supplies”, medicines and fuel.

Switzerland lies outside the European Union and its franc is perceived as a safe investment. It is a likely destination for some of the money now leaving the island.

Under pressure from cash-

strapped governments cracking down on tax evaders, the Swiss government in December proposed legislation for a “white money strategy” to try to clean up the country’s image as a haven for untaxed assets.

FINMA’s Raaflaub said events in Cyprus were not as clear-cut as the Arab Spring, during which Switzerland blocked nearly one billion Swiss francs ($1.06 billion) in stolen assets linked to dictators in four countries at the centre of the uprisings - Egypt, Libya, Syria and Tunisia.

“Sometimes there are events like the Arab Spring where we remind banks to comply with PEP (politically exposed persons) rules. I don’t want to rule anything out, but currently, we expect all flows of money to be evaluated to prevent further risks arising,” Raaflaub said.

People walk outside the Bank of Cyprus in Athens yesterday

Piraeus buys Cyprus local units for €524m GREECE’S Piraeus Bank agreed to buy the operations of stricken Cypriot banks in Greece for €524 million, the lender said yesterday, in a deal hastily cobbled together to protect the Greek banking sector from the island’s debt crisis.

The deal, funded by Greece’s bank bailout fund HFSF, means 312 local branches of the three Cypriot banks will reopen today after being shut since March 19 as Cyprus scrambled to strike a bailout deal to prevent an economic meltdown.

The transfer of the branches, which represent about a tenth of Greece’s banking market, was part of Cyprus’ international bailout deal to help shield Greek lenders from the island’s crisis and allow Cyprus to shrink its bloated banking sector.

Piraeus beat out rival Alpha Bank to acquire the Greek operations of Bank

Deal for all three Cypriot banks in Greece make it second biggest lender of Cyprus, Cyprus Popular Bank and Hellenic Bank.

“Customer deposits with the Greek branches of Bank of Cyprus, Cyprus Popular Bank (CPB) and Hellenic Bank are not subject to any bank levy or haircut that has been agreed in Cyprus,” Piraeus said.

The deal will make Piraeus Greece’s second-largest bank with combined assets of €95 billion, overtaking current number two Alpha Bank, and a network of 1,660 branches and 24,000 employees. It will have deposits of €50 billion and net loans of €74 billion, meaning a loans-to-deposits ratio of 120 per cent.

A bank source with direct knowledge of the deal said the enlarged Piraeus would have too many branches and could achieve synergies by closing as many as 500 over the next three years.

“The message is yes there are going to be branch closures, that will clearly affect headcount, but headcount will be rationalised in a socially responsible manner,” the source said.

Piraeus, which was advised by Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Lazard on the deal, said its ratio of non-performing loans will rise to 26 per cent from 21 per cent after the branch

takeover.

Greek banks including Piraeus will themselves be recapitalised to shore up their solvency ratios. Most of the cash injection will be provided by a state bank bailout fund - the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF).

Piraeus’ capital needs have been estimated by Greece’s central bank at €7.3 billion. The €524 million for the Cypriot acquisitions will be supplied by the HFSF in exchange for shares, an official at the fund told Reuters.

Piraeus has already taken over the healthy part of state lender ATEbank and French lender Societe Generale’s Greek unit Geniki as part of a wave of consolidation in the sector to cope with the debt crisis and a deep recession.

The group is also in talks to acquire the Greek unit of Portugal’s biggest bank, Millennium BCP.

EU is set to push for losses on big savers at bloc’s failed banks

By John O’Donnell The European Parliament will demand that big savers take losses if their banks run into trouble, a senior lawmaker told Reuters, adding momentum to a policy unveiled as part of a Cypriot bailout.

Although some policymakers have sought to portray Cyprus and the losses suffered by depositors at two of its banks as a one-off, many experts believe it marks a dramatic change in tack in how Europe deals with troubled banks, to spare taxpayers who have been on the hook for previous bailouts.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance

ministers, said on Monday that in future, the currency bloc should first ask banks to recapitalise themselves, then look to shareholders and bondholders and then “if necessary” to uninsured deposit holders.

Now the likelihood is rising that tough treatment of big depositors will be written into a new EU law, making losses for large savers a permanent feature of future banking crises.

“You need to be able to do the bail-in as well with deposits,” said Gunnar Hokmark, an influential member of the European Parliament, who is leading negotiations with EU countries to finalise a law for winding up problem banks.

The European Parliament has an equal say alongside EU countries when deciding who must bear the brunt of future bank failures such as those now being seen on Cyprus.

“Deposits below 100,000 euros are protected ... deposits above 100,000 euros are not protected and shall be treated as part of the capital that can be bailed in,” Hokmark told Reuters, adding that he was confident a majority of his peers in the parliament backed this line.

The law, which will also introduce means to impose losses on bondholders, is due to take effect at the start of 2015. Germany wants provisions for bailing in bondholders and others in the same year, though that may be delayed.

The European Commission wrote the first draft of the law but left it to member countries and the parliament to decide whether and when savers should face losses, when a failing bank is being salvaged or shuttered. Earlier yesterday it said only that such a step was possible.

Hokmark urged savers to check their bank’s health before taking the risk of depositing money.

“If you put your money in Royal Bank of Scotland ... or Deutsche Bank, depending on how that bank is working you are taking a risk,” he said. “You need to be aware that you are taking a risk.

“I want us to legislate in a way that makes investors aware of the risk,” said Hokmark, adding that

savers should be asking whether their bank is solvent. “The bail-in instrument is creating thousands and thousands of supervisory authorities.”

President Nicos Anastasiades agreed in a last-ditch deal to close down the second-largest bank, Cyprus Popular, and inflict heavy losses on big depositors, many of them Russian, after Cyprus’ financial sector ran into trouble when investments in Greece went sour.

“The markets may be shocked but some principles have to be laid down,” said one EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity, adding that it would be “unfair” for the new EU law to take a different approach to that used in Cyprus.

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, March 27, 2013

13

Opinion

An investigation must go ahead even if no one is ultimately jailed IN HIS TELEVISED address on Monday night, President Anastasiades said that his government would appoint criminal investigators “with a clear and wide-ranging mandate” to identify all those responsible for the current situation. There was a “justifiable sense of anger” among the people, he said and pledged to put those responsible in the dock.

Earlier in the day, Archbishop Chrysostomos had demanded that “all those who were responsible must be put in the dock”.

Someone had to be held accountable for the economic shock the country had suffered, said the Archbishop adding that he was not being vindictive, but felt that the crime could not go unpunished.

It should not go unpunished and the president would be doing the right thing in appointing criminal investigators. According to the government spokesman, Anastasiades was in consultations with the Attorney-general yesterday to discuss how the investigation would be conducted. We have our doubts whether it would be possible to pin criminal responsibilities on members of the previous government, which allowed the economy’s descent to chaos.

It would be very difficult to establish intent and criminal responsibility in the case of politicians. Is it a criminal offence for a president to be an incompetent and unintelligent populist, clueless about how an economy works, ignorant about the importance of the banking sector and determined to pander to the unions at any cost?

The previous president, who would almost certainly be treated as the prime suspect, could claim, in his defence, he was protecting the interests of the working people.

Would the Governor of the Central Bank also be a suspect under investigation while remaining in his post and exercising his powers? He would repeat what he said during yesterday’s news conference, that he enjoyed the full confidence of the European Central Bank. And he could argue that everything he did was in the knowledge, and with the support, of the ECB. He may not be investigated, even though his failure to resolve Laiki eight months ago, allowing it instead to draw billions in emergency liquidity assistance, was grossly irresponsible.

It may be extremely difficult to bring criminal charges against those who led the economy to the brink of total collapse, but the investigation should still be carried out, because we are sure it would reveal the magnitude of the previous president’s irresponsibility and expose his inclination to put the interests of his party above those of the country, at all times. Most people are aware of all this, but reading it in the findings of an official investigation is different, even if the Attorney-general eventually decides against pressing charges.

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Where things stand after Cyprus bailout IN BAILING out Cyprus and taking funds from savers instead of taxpayers, the eurozone has crossed a Rubicon with implications for future banking rescues in other countries despite assertions that the crisis in the island nation is unique.

ONE-OFF OR TEMPLATE? Eurogroup Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem caused uproar in financial markets by saying in an interview with Reuters and the Financial Times that the Cyprus solution gave a flavour of how Europe would handle future bank crises, by making banks solve their own problems rather than using European taxpayers’ money.

Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen supported him, saying that bail-in thinking should guide a planned European banking union, but clarified that he did not necessarily mean depositors should be hit in future.

ECB policymakers sought to calm the ensuing storm and reassure savers throughout Europe by pointing out that Cyprus was unique in that its banks were largely funded by deposits rather than by issuing bonds and shares.

The European Commission said it might be possible for large uninsured depositors to be bailed-in as part of the future resolution of a bank under a new draft EU law, but savers with less than 100,000 euros would not be hit.

Under existing rules, shareholders and bondholders are the first to take losses. The exception so far has been senior bondholders. The European Central Bank blocked any haircut, or debt write-down, for them in Ireland’s bailout programme but has since dropped its opposition in future cases.

Dijsselbloem’s comments made clear that the idea of using the eurozone’s European Stability Mechanism (ESM) rescue fund to recapitalise banks directly, agreed by EU leaders last June, is increasingly remote and may never come to pass.

His thinking gave some insight into how policymakers may be looking at new ways to deal with banking crises in the future.

WHAT NEXT IN CYPRUS? Banks are due to reopen in Cyprus on Thursday after a closure of nearly two weeks, but withdrawals will be limited “for a matter of weeks”, its finance minister has said.

The government has yet to spell out restrictions on capital movements and there are fears of a bank run.

The British security firm G4S that transports cash for Cypriot banks is working round the clock, sending teams out with police protection to stock bank machines and readying guards for when banks reopen.

Cyprus Popular Bank will be among banks to reopen for

Analysis Paul Taylor limited business even though it is due to be wound down under the terms of the bailout deal, with insured deposits under 100,000 euros to be transferred to Bank of Cyprus.

The Cypriot parliament holds its weekly session on Thursday, the first since the bitterly resented bailout deal, which may inflict losses of some 40 per cent on deposit accounts of more than 100,000 euros in the two banks, many of them held by Russians and savers from outside Cyprus.

Parliament does not need to ratify the bailout deal because it already adopted bank resolution legislation last week.

However, it will have to approve privatisation laws for state assets due to be sold under the EU/IMF programme.

The banks face big layoffs that may cause labour unrest.

Parliament, which rejected an earlier plan to impose a levy on smaller bank deposits, may also seek to legislate to shield pension funds, such as those of Cyprus Popular Bank workers, from losses.

Critics have accused Cyprus Central Bank Governor Panicos Demetriades, a fierce critic of austerity in his former role as an economics professor at Leicester University in Britain, of mismanaging the crisis and questioned whether he is capable of implementing the bank resolution that covers the bailout.

WHAT NEXT IN EUROZONE?

The European Central Bank has vowed to do “whatever it takes” within its mandate to save the euro, notably by buying the bonds of troubled eurozone countries that accept an EU/IMF assistance programme, but that pledge has yet to be tested.

Eurozone finance ministers say there is no other country which needs a bailout after Cyprus joined Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain in receiving emergency loans from the currency area’s rescue fund.

‘The Commission said it might be possible for large uninsured depositors to be “bailed-in” as part of the future resolution of a bank under a new draft EU law’

The banks face big layoffs that may cause labour unrest (AFP) Ministers hope both Ireland and Portugal will manage to exit their adjustment programmes and return to market funding this year. Ireland has already issued its first 10year bond since 2010. Portugal is some way behind but has also made its first bond issue in January since the mid-2011 bailout.

EU governments and lawmakers agreed last week on the key rules for a single banking supervisor for the euro- zone, based at the European Central Bank. The new supervisory body is due to enter into force gradually by mid-2014.

The European Commission says it will propose laws this summer for a single resolution mechanism for banks covered by the supervisor.

The EU executive has also promised proposals at a later stage to connect national deposit guarantee schemes, although EU paymaster Germany and its northern allies have opposed any joint liability for deposit insurance.

One possible model could be to make national guarantee schemes take out reinsurance contracts with the eurozone rescue fund.

NEXT SHOE TO DROP? Slovenia’s central bank chief Marko Kranjec said last week he was sure his small eurozone country would not need a bailout in the footsteps of Cyprus. Banks in Slovenia are nursing some 7 billion euros in bad loans, equal to about 20 per cent of GDP, but the banking sector’s assets represent just 135 per cent of Slovenian GDP, compared to 800 per cent in Cyprus.

Slovenia has experienced

political instability, with a new centre-left government taking office last week after the previous conservative administration lost its majority in parliament in January over a corruption scandal.

Dijsselbloem said yesterday there has been no sign of higher-than-normal withdrawals of bank deposits in the eurozone or of abnormal shifts in deposits from peripheral to core countries following the Cyprus deal.

Analysts say European savers and companies may diversify their holdings to keep accounts under 100,000 euros.

Both Luxembourg and Malta have higher ratios of banking sector balance sheets to GDP than Cyprus, but neither is seen as carrying the same risks.

Before the Cyprus bailout drama, market attention was focused on political uncertainty in Italy, where centreleft leader Pier Luigi Bersani is struggling to form a minority government after a general election that gave the radical anti-system 5-Star movement the balance of power in the Senate.

However, after an initial spike following last month’s vote, Italian borrowing costs have fallen again and markets seem unfazed by the prospect, if Bersani fails, of another short-lived technocratic government and an early return to the polls.

The main threat to eurozone stability is now seen as the absence of economic growth in southern Europe and the risk of rising social unrest and political radicalisation over record unemployment.

Popular anger could topple Greece’s fragile governing coalition, analysts say.

(R)

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

Showbiz

CBS apologises to US veterans for Amazing Race TV episode

By Eric Kelsey US TV network CBS has apologised after its Emmy-winning reality series The Amazing Race angered veterans with an episode featuring Vietnamese communist propaganda.

The show’s host, Phil Keoghan, apologised before the start of Sunday’s show for the March 17 episode in which participants in Hanoi were required to memorise a pro-communist song and use a downed US B-52 bomber aircraft in the city as a prop.

“We want to apologise to veterans -

particularly those who served in Vietnam - as well as to their families and any viewers who were offended by the broadcast,” said Keoghan, reading from a statement.

The Amazing Race is a competition in which teams travel around the world to complete challenges and vie for a $1 million cash prize.

About 58,000 US troops were killed during the Vietnam War (1964-1975) against communist North Vietnam.

More than 7 million US Vietnam veterans are still alive.

James E. Koutz, a Vietnam veteran and head of the American Legion

veterans group who demanded an apology last week from CBS, said on Monday he believed the network’s statement was “sincere and heartfelt”.

“America is a forgiving country,” Koutz said in a statement. “When you make a mistake, you own up to it”.

US Senator John McCain of Arizona, a former prisoner of war in North Vietnam and one of the country’s most prominent Vietnam veterans, said CBS “did the right thing by apologising”.

“We all make mistakes - the issue is closed,” McCain said on Twitter.

Senator John McCain, (left), has accepted an apology from The Amazing Race and host Phil Keoghan, for an episode that featured wreckage from the Vietnam War

Dido is Girl Who Got Away in first album in five years Sold more than 29 million albums

By Patricia Reaney

By Roselle Chen ACOUSTIC pop singer Dido shot to fame a decade ago as the soft crooner on US rapper Eminem’s hit song, ‘Stan’.

After what she calls “disappearing” for while, she is back this week with her first album in five years - with a more electronic sound.

The London-based singer, 41, has sold more than 29 million albums since her debut album No Angel in 1999, She released Girl Who Got Away in the United States yesterday.

“It’s a little comment on the fact that I disappeared a bit.

That’s what everyone else was pointing out to me that ‘it’s a perfect title for you’,” Dido told Reuters.

“The song is about so many things for me. It’s about that restlessness and having a dream of another life that you can’t quite get to,” she added.

Girl Who Got Away features an updated sound from the singer with heavier bassline beats, folk and electronic influences, which Dido attrib-

Girl Who Got Away features an updated sound from the singer with heavier bassline beats, folk and electronic influences uted to her brother and producer, Rollo Armstrong.

“A great producer is someone that can facilitate the artist and make them the best that they can be,” the singer said.

“That’s where Rollo is so good. He pushes me to the point where I can’t do any better. And then he’ll take over and make it even bet-

ter.”

Dido found mainstream success in 2000 after rapper Eminem featured a sample of her track ‘Thank You’ on his hit song ‘Stan’.

The exposure helped the singer’s 2003 Life For Rent album to land at No.4 on the Billboard 200 album chart that year, fuelled by singles ‘White Flag’ and ‘Life

For Rent’, and earned her a Grammy nomination.

Her 2008 album Safe Trip Home was less successful albeit critically acclaimed. Her song for the soundtrack of Danny Boyle’s 2010 film 127 Hours earned her an Academy Award nomination.

In 2011, the singer become a mother for the first time with husband Rohan Gavin to son

Stanley - not named after the Eminem song, Dido was quick to clarify.

She drew on her pregnancy when she returned to the studio for the new album.

“I loved feeling him kicking around while I was singing and certain songs he’d really kick to. It just felt like I had a little friend in there with me,” the singer said.

Singer Dionne Warwick files for bankruptcy

By David Bailey

The American is a five-time Grammy winner

Hollywood photos to be auctioned in New York

GRAMMY Award-winning singer Dionne Warwick has filed for bankruptcy in New Jersey, citing tax liabilities she has attributed to financial mismanagement, her publicist said.

Warwick, 72, known for many popular songs, filed the petition on March 21 in the US Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey, the state where

she was born and currently lives. She listed total assets of $25,500 and total liabilities of more than $10.7 million, nearly all tax claims by the Internal Revenue Service and the state of California, according to the filing.

The personal bankruptcy filing was due to “negligent and gross financial mismanagement” in the late 1980s through mid-1990s, Warwick’s publicist, Kevin Sasaki, said in a statement.

The IRS and California tax claims total more than $10.2 million, mostly from the 1990s, according to the petition, which listed Warwick’s average monthly income as $20,950 and expenses at $20,940.

Sasaki said the actual back taxes owed had already been paid, but the penalties and interest has continued to accrue.

“In light of the magnitude of her tax liabilities, Warwick

has repeatedly attempted to offer re-payment plans and proposals to the IRS and the California Franchise Tax Board for taxes owed,” Sasaki said. “These plans were not accepted, resulting in escalating interest and penalties.”

A five-time Grammy winner, Warwick took her first in 1968 for Do You Know the Way to San Jose? and her second two years later for the album I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.

TENS of thousands of photographs and negatives from a large collection of Hollywood images will be sold during a two-day auction in New York next month, Guernsey’s auction house said yesterday.

The Movie Star News Collection, which photographer Irving Klaw started in 1939 after striking a deal with film studios, includes nearly three million posters, negatives and photos of stars. They include Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Rudolph Valentino, Judy Garland, Steve McQueen, Charlie Chaplin and Audrey Hepburn, among others.

Some 1,900 lots of photos and film memorabilia will go under the hammer on April 6 and 7.

Pre-sale estimates range from $60 to $100 for some of the pictures to as much as $10,000 for a pair of highheel shoes worn by model Betty Page, known as the ‘Queen of Pin-Ups.’ “This is probably one of the world’s largest collections of Hollywood images,” said Joanne Grant, an archivist and auctioneer at Guernsey’s who estimated that it is worth millions of dollars.

“This sale is all about black and white (prints) because it is mostly about Hollywood of the 20s, 30s and 40s, although Marilyn Monroe is from the 50s,” Grant said.

The auction at The Arader Galleries will be the first time in 75 years that the archive will be open to the public, according to Guernsey’s.

The collection includes original Movie Star News signs and pictures from movie sets of The Wizard of Oz, King Kong and The Godfather as well as 600 photographs of Monroe.

It is being sold by Stuart Scheinman, a co-owner of the Las Vegas-based Entertainment Collectibles, who bought the collection last year from Ira Kramer, Klaw’s nephew.

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, March 27, 2013

15

Education EU wants more foreign students THE European Commission wants to speed up the visa process for foreign students and allow them to work despite record unemployment and a stagnating economy, arguing Europe has many skilled jobs that go unfilled.

The Commission proposed on Monday setting a 60-day time limit for EU countries to decide whether foreign students are eligible for an EU visa to end the current system that varies across countries and that Brussels says is complex and unclear.

Under the proposal, foreign students would also be allowed to remain in the European Union for up to one year after their studies end to try and find a job, rather than being required to have a work visa or leave the bloc.

Despite unemployment of 26 million people, many EU countries struggle to fill skilled positions in areas including hospitals and hi-tech such as computer programming.

The United States, Australia and Japan all have better incentives to attract talented young foreign workers to their job markets, the Commission says.

“It is vital that we attract the brightest and best researchers and students because they contribute to a successful knowledge economy in the EU,” Androulla Vassililou, the commissioner in charge of education, said in a statement.

Teachers blame parents for increasingly unruly pupils More than 50% of teachers say behaviour worse than 10 years ago

By Alison Kershaw A LACK of boundaries at home is fuelling naughty behaviour in the classroom, teachers in the UK have warned.

Schools are being forced to deal with the fall-out of parents failing to set rules for their children and a breakdown in family life, according to the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL).

A new survey, conducted by the union ahead of their annual conference, also suggests that behavioural and emotional problems, attention seeking and a dearth of positive role models are contributing to bad behaviour in schools.

Teachers have been forced to deal with youngsters - in some cases pre-schoolers - pushing, scratching, punching, kicking and spitting, the poll suggests.

More than half (53 per cent) of the school staff questioned said that student behaviour has worsened in the last 10 years, with a similar proportion (53.2 per cent) indicating that it has got worse in the past five years.

At the same time, there has been a rise in the numbers of children with

Disruptive attention-seeking by pupils is a major complaint emotional, behavioural or mental health problems, the survey suggests, with over half (55.5 per cent) saying they have seen an increase in the last five years.

Many of the school staff questioned laid blame for poor behaviour on parents.

Over three quarters (78.7 per cent) said that a lack of boundaries at home was the reason for challenging, disruptive and abusive behaviour by pupils.

Just over two thirds (68.3 per cent) blamed emotional problems,

and the same proportion said it was down to behavioural issues.

Around six in ten (63.9 per cent) said it was caused by pupils trying to get attention from other students, 61.2 per cent cited lack of role models at home and 60.8 per cent blamed family breakdowns.

“Regrettably teachers and support staff are suffering the backlash from deteriorating standards of behaviour,” said ATL general secretary Dr Mary Bousted.

“They are frequently on the receiving end of children’s frustration and

unhappiness, and have to deal with the fall-out from parents failing to set boundaries and family breakdowns.”

She said that the huge funding cuts to local services mean that schools often have to deal with children’s problems without any help.

Overall, the vast majority of school and college staff (88.7 per cent) said they had dealt with challenging or disruptive behaviour this academic year.

Of these, more than two thirds said they had dealt with bad behaviour directed at them, while nearly three quarters had dealt with poor behaviour aimed at another pupil.

One primary teacher in West Sussex told researchers: “I have a five-year old boy in the reception class who has recently been taken into care. His behaviour ranges from being very caring and wanting a lot of attention to swearing at staff, punching, kicking, hitting staff and other children, smashing up furniture and equipment.”

And a primary teacher from Salford said: “I faced challenging behaviour from a three-year-old child in the first weeks of him entering the school. Being in our nursery has changed this child completely; he knows what is expected of him and where the limits are.”

ATL is due to debate two resolutions at its annual conference next week, one of which calls for more support for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

The other calls on the union to continue to campaign to ensure teachers are working in a safe environment.

schoolsreport Exploring the joy of books at the Falcon

American Academy and Ayios Kassianos students with the Commissioner for Children’s Rights Leda Koursoumba

A lesson in children’s rights YEAR 5 students of American Academy Nicosia visited the Commissioner for Children’s Rights last month when they took part in a series of activities to teach them the meaning of rights for children.

The educational programme “Dikaiwmatochwra” (Land of Rights) offers children the opportunity to learn about their rights through enjoyable activities and games. This year the American Academy children were joined by pupils from the fourth grade of the state primary school Ayios Kassianos in Nicosia.

Students of both schools had the opportunity to meet and participate in various group activities. They played the game of acquaintance, danced, painted, built puzzles and dreamcatchers, discussed and decided that their basic rights included health, happiness and safety. All the students had the chance to interact with Commissioner Leda Koursoumba and share their opinions with her. But above all, they learned that the most important thing is to show dignity and respect because “the rights of others is their obligation”.

THE FALCON School in Nicosia held its annual three-day reading promotion exhibition earlier this month, which saw the display of the Falcon Reading Tree and the launch of the Falcon Family Feast Cookbook.

The Falcon School, together with the Academic and General Bookshop in Larnaca, exhibited books on the school premises. The idea behind the event is to promote a culture of reading within the school’s community. Many genres were on display, including novels, poetry, plays and reference books. This encouraged variety and diversification.

Primary school students were given the opportunity to enter a competition by designing a leaf and writing a description of their favourite book on it. The leaves were showcased on the Falcon Reading Tree and members of the Academic and General Bookshop picked a winner from each class. Each winner received a €20 book voucher from the bookshop.

The school also put together the Falcon Family Feast Cookbook, which was on sale for €10. The book was produced by students throughout the school. It includes family recipes that have been built up over the years.

“Cooking is something that families do together. It is an activity that can be done within the family unit and within the home. We also made sure that the book would be laminated so it won’t be damaged if you spill your pasta sauce on it!” said Tony Balkwill, the school’s

Falcon primary students add to the reading tree as others inspect the books deputy head.

“Everyone knows each other at the school. We have around 410 students so we are a kind of tight-knit family.

Students who have graduated usually come back for a visit. They grow-up here and come to see it as their second

home.”

He explained that the Falcon has held the book days’ exhibition for the past five years.

“It is a great opportunity to encourage young people to read and get involved in the adventure of books,” he said.

CYPRUS MAIL Wedn

16

Lifestyle ‘IT’S ALL ABOUT Robin Wright’s evolution from fairy-tale princess to wife of Sean Penn, to resplendent über-bitch in House of Cards has not always been an easy one. She talks to William Georgiades about her 25-year career, her new relationship and that divorce

S

QUIRES in New York has to be the least glamorous place to meet a celebrity. An understated diner located at the lower tip of Manhattan, most of its patrons are OAPs, and it’s situated in what appears to be a housing project. But this is the venue chosen by Robin Wright, the resplendent movie star whose appeal has not waned for almost three decades.

She is leaning against a pillar in a far corner, Buttercup herself, incognito under a chunky-knit sweater and scarf, her Californian goldengirl looks bundled against the February chill, her short blonde hair peeking out from a woolly hat.

Wright, 46, has emerged and withdrawn from view a number of times over the past 26 years, since first bursting into the public consciousness in The Princess Bride. She popped up vividly in State of Grace, Forrest Gump and Unbreakable, and in 1996, began playing the role she is still living down, as the wife of Sean Penn. Since their divorce three years ago, when she shed his last name, she has “peeled back a few layers”, and begun a steady climb back into her career.

In the past two years, deft, small turns in Moneyball with Brad Pitt, Rampart with Woody Harrelson and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, in which she played Daniel Craig’s lover, have re-established her as a formidable woman of grace and dignity.

And now she has emerged, fully formed, as the star of House of Cards, the Netflix remake of the revered 1990 Westminster drama of deceit and dissemblance.

All 13 episodes have been released simultaneously on Netflix, a new way of transmitting television. Unsurprisingly, the show has received a lot of attention. It cost £60 million to make, is directed

by David Fincher, stars Kevin Spacey and is a glossy Washington update of the original.

The one big difference is the role of Claire Underwood. In the BBC version she was a shadowy wife, politely enduring her husband’s infidelities. In the remake, Wright has co-star billing alongside Spacey, and her character, a politically astute charity boss who matches her husband’s infidelities, is central to the intrigue.

Many think she is the best thing in an already terrific show, her more subtle mach-

With Gary Oldman and Sean Penn in State of Grace.

inations overshadowing Spacey’s venality. Not only is she stylish, perverse and casually cruel, but she has an imperial quality that is truly terrifying. Does she think her Claire is a bitch? “That’s an interesting word,” she says, her face resting in her hand.

“She’s calculating but not

my kids grown [Dylan Frances, 21, and Hopper Jack, 19] and I really wanted to sink my teeth into movies. I didn’t want to commit to a TV show.

But David is very persuasive and said, ‘This won’t be like television and we can build this together.’ And then he told me his only real direc-

Many think she is the best thing in an already terrific show, her more subtle machinations overshadowing Spacey’s venality venal. It would be like calling Lady Macbeth bitchy. She’s an empress.”

The genesis of the part came about when Wright was shooting David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in 2011. She told the director that she didn’t do television, and besides, “I was just beginning this new path with

In The Princess Bride with Cary Elwes

tion, ‘You are Lady Macbeth, and Kevin will be Richard III.’” And so she was sold.

Was her recent resurgence by design, or did she just start saying yes? “It was a combination of the kids getting older - one was essentially out of the house; she graduated from high school and took off for Europe - so there

was more time on my hands.

But there was this streak of gift giving, really, it’s the only way to perceive it.”

Wright was born in Dallas, Texas, and raised in San Diego, California. Her father, Freddie, was a pharmaceutical executive, and her mother, Gayle, sold cosmetics. Her parents divorced when she was two and her mother remarried when she was eight.

She had a lively, ever-moving childhood with her older brother, Richard, who is now a photographer. “My mother liked to buy houses, fix them up, and turn them over,” she recalls. “We’d live somewhere for a few months and then move to another house, sometimes just two blocks away.” Was that fun? “In retrospect, yes, I guess so,” she allows. “It made me a very capable young adult. I mean, I wasn’t a social retard.

“She took us on these trips.

We’d go to Mexico for a while.

Or we’d just drive. My mother would say ‘Come on, we’re going to Indiana.’ She bought this little Fiat two-seater, we got a map, she took us out of school and we just drove.

She’d say, ‘Wanna see Mount Rushmore?’ or ‘Let’s go to the Grand Canyon!’ It was very adventurous.”

While still in high school, Wright became a model, working in Tokyo and Paris.

After school, she went on to act in the soap opera Santa Barbara, from which she was cast in the film Denial alongside Jason Patric. Soon after she got the role of Buttercup in The Princess Bride, an enduring archetype of courtly beauty that has remained in the psyches of the millions

who loved the film. She was subsequently offered the role of Maid Marian in Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves but turned it down because she had met Sean Penn (on the set of State of Grace in 1990, the year after he divorced his first wife, Madonna), and was pregnant with his child.

Wright and Penn first tried to raise their son and daughter in Los Angeles.

“Being married to Sean... I had just never experienced that kind of existence,” she says. “The paparazzi were a f***ing nightmare. You feel like you’re being attacked,

like you’re a zoo’d animal.

It makes you want to attack. It’s animalistic. We are prey. Then one day I was carjacked.” This was in May, 1996. Two men approached her Toyota Land Cruiser in the driveway of her Santa Monica home pretending to have guns in their pockets.

Wright convinced the men to allow her to take her two children, then aged five and three, out of the car before surrendering her keys. “And that was it,” she declares.

The family moved to Marin County, north of Los Angeles, to a sprawling £1.4 million house close to the local

esday March 27, 2013

17 Television

20

Crossword

27

Sport

POWER

28-32

With partner Ben Foster

In Forrest Gump as Tom Hanks’ one true love

With Kevin Spacey in House of Cards

police station. “We raised our kids there for 15 years,” she says. They went to the local public (state) school. “And I’m so happy we did that. I have very well-established children.”

Dylan is now in college; Hopper finishing high school. “I learned about men from my son,” she says. “More than any man I was ever with. [My children] wear their souls on their skin. There hasn’t been any damage, is what I mean to say,” she laughs. “And then they acquire it and we’re all f***ed up because of our parents.” She throws up her hands.

In Manhattan and Los Angeles it is more common to see women of her age with newborns than teenagers.

Wright made a decision to forgo acting work for a time, in order to be a more present mother. She was 25 when she had her daughter, and 27 when she had her son. That must be gratifying now. “It is the inverse of what most people do. And it is great because I do feel that age. My knees don’t, but I do. It’s not like I feel the need to sow my oats, but I feel young inside.

And I’m glad I spent that time raising my kids and being a wife.”

It must have been exhausting to be married to Penn.

They were together for 20 years, tying the knot in 1996, at a surprise ceremony in LA attended by Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando. At the time, Wright’s nickname for Penn was ‘the loving nightmare’.

Their emotional roller-coaster saw them filing for divorce in 2007, reconciling in 2008, separating in 2009, and then divorcing in 2010. At the time Penn told Vanity Fair, “She is a ghost to me now,” and most recently declared that he had never been loved. For her part, Wright has remained quiet. The one firm statement she has made about the divorce came shortly after it was finalised: “I hit that crossroad a while ago. I know what I don’t want.

“It was my destiny to have these children with Sean, and that’s beautiful,” she says. She confirms, without elaboration, that she is now with the 32-year-old actor Ben Foster (whose film credits include 3:10 To Yuma with Christian Bale, and The Mechanic with Jason Statham) who she met on the set of Rampart, and that she is very happy. They have been together for over a year.

It is both inspiring and just that a middle-aged woman with grown children, who was an iconic beauty a quarter of a century ago, should now find herself to be yet more powerful and graceful, a confident fashion icon and the star of a new medium that is not quite television and not quite film. It is suggested that she knows how to pace herself. “Well, I didn’t blow out,” she agrees.

“There’s this fine line with ambition - you can shortcircuit.” She fiddles with her iPhone for a while, and then

slides it over the table. A line appears, “What will happen in one’s life is already written but one must choose to be there.” Who wrote that?

“It’s a Japanese proverb, but it says more clearly what I’m trying to say.”

Despite her Californian New Age tone, Wright is very down-to-earth, even friendly. I remind her that when I interviewed her over a decade ago, she was downright hostile, answering benign questions with one word answers, as if affronted. “Oh, we’re all like that when we’re young,” she

With Daniel Craig in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

shrugs. It comes as a surprise to hear that she only recently gave up smoking. “I’ve been a light smoker my whole life,” she says. “One or two a night.

Put the kids to bed, check the email, have one or two. On a Saturday night, it was a big blowout - have three glasses of champagne, smoke ten cigarettes. But it increased with age, so I quit a few months ago.” Spacey also quit recently - how do the actors tackle those end-of-episode sharing-a-smoke scenes? “We have these herbal cigarettes, and they are so vile – I have to be statuesque while dryheaving...” she trails off, then suddenly brightens. “Maybe they’ll quit on the show, and end up having sex!”

Despite the effervescence with which she first burst on to our screens, this grown-up version of herself suits Wright better - she’s comfortable in her own skin, strident and content. The occasional existential ramblings don’t so much suggest a midlife crisis as someone who has come out the other side of life all the stronger. Surviving with dignity intact. “A great life is to be able to ebb and flow.

I’ve just been very blessed,” she says.

Her next project will see her starring opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman in A Most Wanted Man, Anton Corbijn’s adaptation of John le Carré’s novel about the war on terror.

The second season of House of Cards begins shooting in a month. Given her gracious perspective on her marriage and career, does the cynical take that House of Cards has on politics reflect her own view of the entertainment business? “It’s all about power,” she says, while asking the waiter to wrap up the remainder of her club sandwich. “It is that aspect of the industry that’s disheartening. It makes me sad. There’s a part of you that never really learns, even though I know how it works.

There are great people in this business, and there’s a bunch of mafia. You just have to be cautious. You have to be an animal with your eyes wide open.”

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

18

What’s on

films

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

NICOSIA Jack the Giant Slayer (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 1) at 5.40, 7.55 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3.25pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 1) at 5.40, 7.55 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 11am, 1.10pm and 3.25pm Hitchcock (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 4) at 5.30, 7.50 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3.30pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 4) at 5.30, 7.50 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 11.10am, 1.20pm and 3.30pm The Last Stand (15) K-Cineplex (Screen 5) at 5.40, 7.50 and 10.10pm, weekends also at 3.30pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 5) at 7.50 and 10.10pm Identity Thief (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 2) at 7.55 and 10.15pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 2) at 7.55 and 10.15pm

Warm Bodies (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 6) at 10.05pm Lincoln (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 6) at 7.15pm Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (15) K-Cineplex (Screen 3) at 7.45pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 3) at 7.45pm Barbie in the Pink Shoes (K) K-Cineplex (Screen 3) (in Greek) at 5.25pm, weekends also at 3.30pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 3) (in Greek) at 5.25pm, weekends also at 11.30am, 1.20pm and 3.30pm Sammy’s Great Escape (K) K-Cineplex (Screen 6) (in Greek) at 5.25pm, weekends also at 3.20pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 5) at 5.25pm, weekends also at 11.20am, 1.15pm and 3.20pm

Monsieur Lazhar (in French, with Greek subtitles) Cine Studio, tonight and Thursday at 9pm, presented by the Friends of the Cinema Society. Tel: 96-420491, www. ofk.org.cy

LIMASSOL Jack the Giant Slayer (12) Rio 2 at 7.45 and 10pm, weekends also at 3 and 5.20pm; K-Cineplex (Screen 1) at 5.40, 7.55 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3.25pm Hitchcock (12) Rio 1 at 7.45pm; Rio 4 at 10pm, weekends also at 5.20pm; K-Cineplex (Screen 4) at 5.30, 7.50 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3.30pm The Last Stand (15) Rio 5 at 7.45 and 10pm, weekends also at 5.30pm; K-Cineplex (Screen 5) at 7.50 and 10.10pm

Oz the Great and Powerful (12) Times are subject to K-Cineplex (Screen 2) at change, so check first 5.30pm, weekends also at with cinemas before you 3pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 2) at 5.30pm, weekhead out ends also at 11am and 3pm

Telephone no: K-Cineplex: 7777-8383

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

Hitchcock

Identity Thief (12) Rio 3 7.45 and 10pm; K-Cineplex (Screen 2) at 7.55 and 10.15pm Oz the Great and Powerful (12) Rio 3, weekends only at 3 and 5.20pm; K-Cineplex (Screen 2) at 5.30pm, weekends at 3pm Mama (15) Rio 1 at 10pm; K-Cineplex (Screen 3) at 10.10pm

The Last Stand (15) K-Cineplex (Screen 5) at 5.40, 7.50 and 10.10pm, weekends also at 3.30pm Identity Thief (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 2) at 7.55 and 10.15pm

Warm Bodies (12) Rio 4 at 7.45pm, weekends also at 3.30pm

Oz the Great and Powerful (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 2) at 5.30pm, weekends also at 3pm

Lincoln (12) Rio 6 at 7.30pm, weekends also at 4.30pm

Mama (15) K-Cineplex (Screen 3) at 10.10pm

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (15) K-Cineplex (Screen 3) at 7.45pm Barbie in the Pink Shoes (K) Rio 1 (in Greek), weekends only at 3, 4.30 and 6pm; K-Cineplex (Screen 3) (in Greek) at 5.25pm, weekends also at 3.30pm A Good Day to Die Hard (15) Rio 6 at 10.10pm Sammy’s Great Escape (K) Rio 5 (in Greek), weekends only at 3.30pm; K-Cineplex (Screen 5) at 5.25pm, weekends also at 3.20pm

Mama (15) K-Cineplex (Screen 3) at 10.10pm; K-Cineplex, Mall of Cyprus (Screen 3) at 10.10pm

Jack the Giant Slayer (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 1) at 5.40, 7.55 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3.25pm

LARNACA

Warm Bodies (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 6) at 10.05pm Lincoln (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 6) at 7.15pm Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (15) K-Cineplex (Screen 3) at 7.45pm

Rio Paphos: 26-207000

Jack the Giant Slayer (12) Rio 1 at 5.45, 8 and 10.10pm, weekends also at 3.30 and 5.45pm Hitchcock (12) Rio 7 at 6, 8 and 10pm The Last Stand (15) Rio 4 at 5.30, 7.30 and 9.45pm, weekends also at 3.30pm Identity Thief (12) Rio 5 at 5.30, 7.30 and 9.45pm, weekends also at 3.30pm Oz the Great and Powerful (12) Rio 6 at 5.15, 7.30 and 9.45pm, weekends also at 3pm Mama (15) Rio 2 at 9.45pm Warm Bodies (12) Rio 3 at 5.30 and 7.30pm Lincoln (12) Rio 3 at 9.45pm

Barbie in the Pink Shoes (K) K-Cineplex (Screen 3) (in Greek) at 5.25pm, weekends also at 3.30pm

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (15) Rio 2 at 7.30pm, weekends at 5.30pm

Sammy’s Great Escape (K) K-Cineplex (Screen 6) (in Greek) at 5.25pm, weekends also at 3.20pm

Barbie in the Pink Shoes (K) Rio 7 (in Greek), weekends only at 3 and 4.30pm Sammy’s Great Escape (K) Rio 3 (in Greek), weekends only at 3.30pm

Hitchcock (12) K-Cineplex (Screen 4) at 5.30, 7.50 and 10.15pm, weekends also at 3.30pm

Rio Limassol: 25-871410

PAPHOS

listings Today Exhibitions Wonderful Travels Solo art and sculpture exhibition by Fotos Dimitriou. Opens March 27, 7.30pm until April 13. Apocalypse Gallery, 30 Chytron Street, Nicosia.

Monday- Friday: 10.30am-1pm and 5pm-8pm. Saturday: 10.30am-1pm.

Tel: 22-766655 Pathways in Blue Exhibition by Earth Art group of the Nicholas Panayi Art Studio from their trip in Greece. March 27, 8pm until March 30. Famagusta Gate Cultural Centre.

Visiting hours: 10am-1pm, 4pm-8pm.

Saturday 4pm-8pm. Tel: 99-511509 www.artlessonscyprus.com www. nicholaspanayi.com

Music The Firebirds America’s 1950s greatest hits played live. March 27. Old Kamaroudi Tavern, Konia, Paphos. 8.30pm. €10. Tel: 99832538/ 99-857851

Theatre Woyzeck Multi-media performance one of the most performed and influential plays in contemporary German theatre. March 27. Polihoros Cultural Centre - Old Electricity Authority, 8 Vladimiros Heracleous Street, Paphos. 8.30pm. €15/10. In Greek Language with English songs and text fragments. Tel: 99-655796 Dream On… An event that combines music, dance and theatre. March 27-28. Latsia Municipal Theatre, 57 Yiannos Kranidiotis Avenue, Latsia, Nicosia. 8.30pm. The net proceeds of the performances will be given to charity. In Greek. Tel: 22878688/ 96-277101

Tomorrow

Theatre

Exhibitions

The Harley Jacket THOC’s New Stage presents play

by Vasilis Katsikonouris. March 28.

Larnaca Municipal Theatre. 8.30pm. €12/10. In Greek. In Greek. Tel: 77772717/ 24-665795

Uninterrupted Stare Solo art exhibition by Nina Sumarac.

March 28, 7.30pm until April 6. Rouan Gallery, 28 Dodekanisou, Limassol.

Monday-Saturday: 10.30am-1pm and 4.30pm-7.30pm. Tel: 25-350845 The Incomplete Circle Solo art exhibition by Giorgos Erotokritos.

Opens March 28, 7.30pm until April 13.

Gallery Gloria, 3 Zinonos Sozou Street, Nicosia. Monday-Friday: 10.30pm12.45pm and 5pm-8pm. Saturday: 10.30pm-12.45pm. Tel: 22-760286

Tone Clusters The Second Stage of ETHAL presents work of famous American author Joyce Carol Oates. March 27 & 29-30. THOC THOC New Theatre Building, 9 Gregori Afxentiou, Nicosia. 8.30pm. In Greek.

Tel: 22-0480300

Atrapos Solo art exhibition by Mikella Psara.

Opens March 28, 7.30pm until April 17. Argo Gallery, 64E D. Akrita Avenue, Nicosia. Monday-Friday: 10am-1pm and 5pm-8pm. Saturday: 10am-1pm.

Tel: 22-754009. www.argogallery.org

Other Events

Music

Glyn Hughes - A Small Chalk Short film screening by Stella Georgiou, exhibition of manuscripts and documents from his time teaching. In addition there will be a donation box going towards the care of the artist. March 27. ResArt, 70, Agioi Omoloyites Avenue, Nicosia. 8pm. Tel: 22-445455

Baroque, Classicism, Romanticism The Cyprus Symphony Orchestra Foundation presents afternoon family concert especially for children between 7-15 years old and their parents.

March 28. Pallas Theatre, old Nicosia.

6pm. €5 for adults/free for children.

Tel: 22-410181

Below Zero Drama directed by Photis Georgidis.

March 28 & 30-31. Melina Merkouri Hall, Famagusta Gate, Athina Avenue.

8.30pm. €15. In Greek. Tel: 70007410/99-308232 How to Rob a Bank Skala Theatre presents a three act comedy by Samy Fayad. March 28.

Rialto Theatre, Limassol. 8.30pm. In Greek. €12/7. Tel: 77-777745

Other Events ENGAGE – on the Move Limassol Join ENGAGE – on the Move for a day of useful giveaways and handouts, music compilations, activities for the children, public awareness campaign on gender-related issues and more.

March 28. Dikoitirion Square in the town centre, Limassol. 11am-5pm. Tel: 22-875099. kristy@ngo-sc.org

Ongoing Other Events Fifth International Cartoon Exhibition Exhibition of cartoons by Greek, Turkish Cypriots and foreign cartoonists on the theme of Troika. Until March 27. Journalist’s House, 12 CyBC (RIK) Avenue, Aglantzia, Nicosia. Open daily: 10am-1pm and 5pm-8pm. Tel: 96683786. cartoonscy@gmail.com

Theatre Shakespeare in an Hour Pirasmos Productions presents comedy directed by popular actor and director Loris Loizides. Until March 29.

Pantheon Art Cinema, 29 Diagorou Street, Nicosia. Thursday and Friday at 8.30pm. In Greek. Tel: 70-001910 The Children of Cain Theatro Ena presents the psychological thriller by Andreas Thomopoulos.

Until March 31. Theatro Ena, 4 Athinas Avenue, Nicosia. Every Friday through Sunday at 8.30pm. In Greek. €15/12.

Tel: 22-348203 The Switch Theatro Ena presents play by Argiro Toumazou. April 3. Theatro Ena, 4 Athinas Avenue, Nicosia. Every Wednesday at 8.30pm. In Greek. €15/12. Tel: 22-348203

The Firebird Theatro Versus presents drama based on the play by Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman. Until April 7. B Municipal Market (Theatro Ena), Limassol.

Wednesday, Fridays and Sundays.

8.30pm. In Greek. Tel: 96-458399

Exhibitions Andreas Savvides Solo painting and sculpture exhibition. Until March 27. Gallery Gloria, 3 Zinonos Sozou Street, Nicosia.

Monday-Friday: 10.30pm-12.45pm and 5pm-8pm. Saturday: 10.30pm-12 .45pm. Tel: 22-760286 Art is not a Luxury Cypriot Artists in Silkscreen Limited edition, numbered silkscreens signed by the artists and with a certificate of authenticity. Until March 30. Loukia and Michael Zampelas Art Museum, Kaimakli, Nicosia. Monday to Thursday: 10am-1pm and 4pm-7pm. Friday: 10am-1pm and 4pm-8pm.

Saturday: 10am-7pm. Tel: 22-456099 Constantinos Partsilis Solo painting exhibition. Until March 30. Opus 39 Gallery, 21 Kimonos Street, Nicosia. Monday: 5pm-8pm.

Tuesday-Friday: 10.30am-12.30pm and 5pm-8pm. Tel: 22-424983

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, March 27, 2013

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

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

Tonight Exhibition A trip through Greece A STRONG education in the visual arts is not complete without firsthand interaction with great works of art, culture and architecture.

That’s why every year the Art Studio Nicholas Panayi, as part of its educational programmes, includes a class trip to different parts of the world, all in search of the art and culture that identify the peoples they visit.

Some of the destinations so far inlcude the Czech Republic, the UK, France, Holland, Portugal, Russia, Greece, USA and Cuba. In the summer of 2012 the group Earth Art toured the islands of Hydra, Tinos and mainland Athens and Piraeus. The seas of Greece are sprinkled with over two thousand islands and islets. With their unique topography, history and culture, the Greek islands attract millions of visitors from around the world every year.

This year the Studio is cooperating with the Embassy of Greece in Cyprus to present a fine art event that reflects the colours and culture of Greece through experiences captured through the different artworks by the group.

Students are given many opportunities to mingle with local artists and to visit museums, galleries, fine art schools and other sources of inspiration. After each trip

On The Scene Theatre Bus transfers for the people ENJOY some of the most talkedabout productions from London’s National Theatre live via satellite on your very own doorstep.

Filmed in high definition and broadcast for one night only, NT Live screenings and recordings put you in the best seats in the house – without having to get on a plane to pay London’s Southbank visit. While some find the notion of filmed live theatre counterintuitive, the programme has seen strong audience numbers outside the UK. From Shakespeare to new drama, you can experience all the excitement and atmosphere of an evening at one of the world’s greatest theatres.

This week, the NT Live programme continues at the Rialto Theatre with People by Britain’s most celebrated comic playwright Alan Bennett (The History Boys, Habit of Art). Set in a crumbling stately home, the play

participants work hard to produce artwork that is presented in the form of an exhibition each year.

The exhibition which opens this evening at Famagusta Gate in old Nicosia and runs for just three days will showcase at least 60 works of different dimensions. For example, crowds can explore a survey regarding the windmills of Tinos and selected photographs by the Ambassador of Greece to Cyprus Vassilis Papaioannou who will also open the exhibition.

In addition, the opening evening will be enriched with the music of Alex Panayi and Kostas Tsoumenis.

Pathways in Blue Exhibition by Earth Art group of the Nicholas Panayi Art Studio from their trip in Greece.

Opens March 27, 8pm until March 30. Famagusta Gate Cultural Centre. Visiting hours: 10am-1pm, 4pm-8pm.Saturday 4pm-8pm.

Tel: 99-511509. www.artlessonscyprus.com.

Engage in peace stars Frances de la Tour as the impoverished owner resisting its sale to the National Trust. People is the second play so far this year to be broadcast in the NT Live programme.

In a bid to try and entice more crowds through its doors, the Cyprus Centre of International Theatre Institute is now arranging special charter busses for transportation from Nicosia to the Rialto Theatre for its LIVE projections, including NT Live.

The sum amount, including transportation and entrance ticket, is a mere €15 for NT Live projections.

Departure for People performance is at 7.15pm from the parking area across the street from St. Andrew’s Church in Plati Aglandjia. Information and reservations for transportations should be organised by tomorrow midday at Cyprus Centre of International Theatre Institute.

People – National Theatre Live The UK’s National Theatre live broadcast via satellite of Alan Bennett’s latest play. March 29.

Rialto Theatre, Limassol. 8.30pm. €8/5. With Greek and English Subtitles Tel: 77-777745.

Online ticket: www.rialto.com.cy. Transportation for viewers from Nicosia until March 28 midday.

Tel: 22-674920/99-388160

ENGAGE – on the Move is packing up and going off on another road trip this week.

Discarding the traditional conferences and seminars in favour of an all-inclusive approach, the ENGAGE team is now coming to you through the ENGAGE – On the Move campaign.

During the first phase of ENGAGE, a series of public discussions/presentations were held both bi-communally and communally, in an attempt to raise awareness on specific issues related to the federal system of governance.

However, ENGAGE soon came to realise that people living in rural or distant areas were not as involved as those in the cities and as a result the project decided to launch a campaign that entails the team’s direct physical transportation to communities outside Nicosia.

The aim is to increase dialogue with local people in selected locations and work to encourage people to engage in the process of reconciliation within their localised context. This campaign has seen the team join in various festivals across the island as a way of interacting with the local community and taking part in local festivities while actively promoting reconciliation.

To date, ENGAGE has ‘drummed’ with the children in Famagusta with DrumInspire at the Famagusta Walled City Association’s 4th Annual Children’s Festival. They have immersed themselves in the rose waters of Agros at the 6th Annual Rose Festival and ridden donkeys while dancing for peace at the Buyukkonuk/ Komi Kebir 10th Eco Day Festival. Most recently, the ENGAGE on the Move campaign had a chance to travel with locals from Kontea village and the Messaoria region to participate in the celebrations for the restoration of the St. Charalambos church courtyard in the northern part of Cyprus.

Next stop is the city of Limassol where the team will meet with the Cyprus Youth Clubs Organisation (CYCO) and set up an entertaining info-desk at Dikoitirion Square in the town centre. While CYCO informs the public about anti-racism issues and behaviours the ENGAGE – Do your part for Peace team will join up with the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies, Cyprus Family Planning Association and Aequitas to inform the public about

women’s rights and support structures on the island.

This Thursday ENGAGE – on the Move will be at the heart of Cyprus’ most vibrant city.

The event will include a live link from Kanali 6 radio station, useful giveaways and handouts, music compilations throughout the event as well as various activities for children.

The public awareness campaign on genderrelated issues is taking place due to the publication of the new policy paper developed by ENGAGE entitled Gender and Diversity, which highlights the equality issues women face in Cyprus.

These issues were raised by the women of Cyprus themselves during Active Dialogue Networks coordinated in urban and rural areas across the island. As women stated they needed more awareness of their rights and how to protect them, ENGAGE felt the need to let them know that there are various NGOs across the island designed specifically to support and empower them.

As ENGAGE’s efforts are always focused on peace and reconciliation issues between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, they will also be informing women of the Greek Cypriot community about the needs of women from the Turkish Cypriot community. By assessing these needs, they aim to inspire a sense of familiarisation to give Greek Cypriot women the opportunity to identify with Turkish Cypriot women’s priorities.

During the events the ENGAGE – On the Move team will be distributing flyers and goodies, discussing how locals can get more involved with the project through the active citizenship campaign and through the Active Volunteer Engage Teams. The programme will also encourage the audience to voice their opinions on the peace process.

ENGAGE – on the Move Limassol Join ENGAGE – on the Move for a day of useful giveaways and handouts, music compilations, activities for the children, a public awareness campaign on gender-related issues and more. March 28. Dikoitirion Square in the town centre, Limassol. 11am-5pm.

Tel: 22-875099. kristy@ngo-sc.org

By Ledha Socratous

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

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

20

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 15.30 15.35

Apo Mera Se Mera Lottery Draw Entehnos

18.00 18.50 19.00 19.10

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

23.00

News Vimata Stin Ammo

22.00

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

22.30 23.30 23.45

I Kypros Konta Sas News Repeats

23.45

07.50 08.40 09.30 10.25 11.15

14.50 15.45

NRG Zone FILM: A Cry In The Dark

16.40

Brothers & Sisters (rpt) Fourth season. ‘From France With Love’.

Sarah returns from overseas and tries to distract Kitty from her chemotherapy treatment by telling her about her romance with a French artist.

Justin is struggling with his course and is forced to ask his lecturer for extra help.

Local period drama, based on true events.

05.30 06.30 06.50 07.00

12.10 13.00 13.20 14.00

A mother, whose child was killed in a Dingo attack in outback Northern Territory, Australia, fights to prove her innocence.

Fact-based starring Meryl Streep. 1988.

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

19.20

Kato Apo Ton Idio Ourano News In English News In Turkish Passage To Malaysia (rpt) Documentary that explores some of the threads that weave the rich fabric that is modern Malaysia.

Local cultural show.

16.00 18.00 18.15 18.45

Euronews Kids’ TV Kati Psinetai (rpt) Greek version of reality gameshow 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 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 Ta Koritsia Tou Baba (rpt) Aiyia Fuxia (rpt) Local comedy series, with village setting.

17.30 17.40

Lefta Sto Lepto Vals Me 12 Theous (rpt)

18.40 19.30 20.15 21.15 22.10 23.00 00.00 00.05 00.20 01.40 02.30 03.20 04.40

Tin Patisa (rpt) Niose Me News Vals Me 12 Theous Ekeino To Kalokairi Oikonomahies News Sports News Ola Bahalo Fetos Klemmeni Zoi (rpt) Angigma Psihis (rpt) News Deal (rpt)

With News at 18.00.

MEGA 06.00 06.30 07.00 10.00

Ta Epta Kaka Tis Moiras Mou Retire Nea Mera Proino Mou Lifestyle programme features entertainment, music and more.

Hosted by real-life couple Giorgos Liagas & Fay Skorda.

12.45 14.00 15.00 16.00

Enimerosi Tora Klemmena Oneira (rpt) Eheis Meson Yia Sena Local talk-show.

18.00 18.20 19.30

News Erastis Ditikon Proastion (rpt) Oi Vasiliades Daily family comedy based on the Argentinian sitcomtelenovela Los Roldan.

20.15 21.20

SIGMA 07.00 08.20 10.00 10.50 12.00 14.30 15.20 17.15 18.00 18.05 18.40 19.30 20.20 21.15 22.20 23.20

Fifth season. ‘She’s Not There’. The murder of a Ukrainian man who was searching for his missing daughter leads the detectives to uncover a sex-trafficking ring involving teenagers.

News Klemmena Oneira Two episodes of Greek drama series.

22.30

Piso Sto Spiti New season of Greek drama series.

23.30 00.00 00.10 01.00 03.30

Omorfo Kosmos News Gimnoi Angeloi (rpt) Yia Sena (rpt) Proino Mou (rpt)

Protoselido Eleni Vasiliki (rpt) Aspra Balonia (rpt) Mesimeri Kai Kati Efta Ourani Kai Sinnefa Alites (rpt) Magazino Siga Min To’ Xeres News Ti Tha Fame Simera Mama Anna Paola Efta Ourani Kai Sinnefa Alites News Oikogeneiakes Istories 60 Lepta CSI: NY

00.10 00.15 01.20 02.10 02.40

News Istories Tou Astinomou Beka (rpt) Siga Min To’ Xeres (rpt) Mono Mia Fora (rpt) More Repeats

PLUS TV 07.20 08.30 09.05 10.00 10.45 11.40 12.30 13.00 15.30 17.00 17.50 19.40

Fotis - Maria Live Best Of Exelixeis Sti Showbiz Mesimeriani Meleti Best Of I Kouzina Me Ti Dina (rpt) Mila (rpt) Berdema (rpt) Star News Mesimeriani Meleti Kids’ TV Berdema Fotis - Maria Live Mila Discussions about various issues based on a woman’s life (men, relationships, sex, kids etc.) with showbiz guests.

21.15 22.00

Exelixeis Sti Showbiz The Closer Sixth season of detective drama. ‘Heart Attack’. At the request of Mikki Mendoza, the squad investigates a string of murders that seems to suggest a Mexican drug cartel may be operating in the city.

22.45

Vathi Kokkino

23.30

Nistikoi Praktores (rpt)

CAPITAL 06.45 09.00 09.30 10.00 11.00 11.30 12.30 13.25 15.35

Latin American telenovela.

16.25 16.50 17.40 18.15 19.15 19.50 20.05 21.00

00.15 01.15 02.20

LTV Sports News Star News Repeats

Repeats

Kouzina Me Apopsi (rpt) Sabrina, To Koritsi Tis Agapis Akti Oneiron Pacific Blue News Sports News Epi Topou FILM: Creature A researcher, his estranged wife and their son battle a deadly amphibious creature in the Caribbean. Horror, starring Colm Feore.

1998.

00.15

FILM: Impostor A weapons designer is suspected of being an extraterrestrial android sent by alien forces to weaken Earth’s defences. Sci-fi drama, starring Gary Sinise.

2001.

Greek drama series.

Cooking show, with helpful tips on eating well and nutrition.

Kids’ TV Magikos Kosmos Akti Oneiron (rpt) Ston Asterismo Tis Imeras Kouzina Me Apopsi Igeia & Zou (rpt) Milagros Kids’ TV Top Models

01.50

FILM: Kleptomania A passion for impulsive theft brings together an unhappy socialite and a homeless runaway.

Thriller, starring Amy Irving and Patsy Kensit 1995.

This Must Be the Place (Novacinema1, 19.50)

01:15 The Weakest Link 02:00 The Impressions Show With Culshaw &... 02:30 EastEnders 03:00 Doctors 03:30 Doctor Who Confidential 03:45 South Riding 04:40 Lab Rats 05:10 The Impressions Show With Culshaw &... 05:40 Fawlty Towers 06:15 The Weakest Link 07:00 3rd & Bird 07:10 Fimbles 07:30 Boogie Beebies 07:45 Tellytales 07:55 Tweenies 08:15 3rd & Bird 08:25 Fimbles 08:45 Boogie Beebies 09:00 Tellytales 09:10 Tweenies 09:30 Fawlty Towers 10:05 Lab Rats 10:35 The Weakest Link 11:20 EastEnders 11:50 Doctors 12:20 The World’s Toughest Driving Tests 13:15 Great Ormond Street 14:10 Fawlty Towers 14:45 The Weakest Link 15:30 EastEnders 16:05 Doctors 16:35 The World’s Toughest Driving Tests 17:30 Great Ormond Street 18:25 The Weakest Link 19:10 EastEnders 19:40 Doctors 20:10 Casualty 21:00 ‘Allo ‘Allo! 21:30 Little Britain 22:00 Outcasts 22:50 One Foot In The Grave 23:20 Alan Carr: Chatty Man 00:10 Lennon: Naked

07:00 How It’s Made 07:25 Wheeler Dealers 08:15 American Chopper 09:10 Dirty Jobs 10:05

Deadliest Catch 10:55 Ultimate Survival 11:50 How Do They Do It? 12:15 How It’s Made 12:40 Extreme Engineering 13:35 Fast N’ Loud 14:30 Wheeler Dealers 15:25 American Chopper 16:20 Mythbusters 17:15 Dirty Jobs 18:10 Deadliest Catch 19:05 Ultimate Survival 20:00 How It’s Made 21:00 Gold Rush 22:00 Gold Divers 23:00 Jungle Gold 00:00 Deadliest Catch 01:00 Swords: Life On The Line 01:55 Gold Rush 02:50 Gold Divers 03:50 Jungle Gold 04:50 Deadliest Catch 05:45 How Do They Do It? 06:10 Overhaulin’

09:30 Snooker: China Open Beijing 13:45 2014 Fifa World Cup Qualifiers 14:30 Snooker: China Open Beijing 18:30 Cycling: 3 Days Of The Panne/France 19:30 2014 Fifa World Cup Qualifiers 21:00 2014 World Cup World Tour 22:00 Football: Brazilmania 22:15 All Sports: Wednesday Selection 22:20 Equestrian Sports: Riders Club 22:25 Golf: U.S. P.G.A. TourTampa Bay Championships 23:25 Golf: U.S. P.G.A. Tour-Arnold Palmer Invitational Usa 00:25 Golf: The European Tour-Malaysian Open Kuala Lumpur 00:55 Golf: Golf Club 01:00 Sailing: Yacht Club 01:05 All Sports: Wednesday Se-

lection 01:15 2014 Fifa World Cup Qualifiers 02:00 Snooker: China Open Beijing

05:40 Desperate Housewives 06:25 Bones 07:10 Raising Hope 07:35 Scrubs 08:00 Grey’s Anatomy 08:50 Masterchef 09:40 Desperate Housewives 10:25 Bones 11:10 Raising Hope 11:35 Scrubs 12:00 Grey’s Anatomy 12:50 Private Practice 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 Grey’s Anatomy 21:50 Private Practice 22:40 Raising Hope 23:05 Scrubs 23:30 Grey’s Anatomy 00:20 Private Practice 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

07:30 Roxanne 09:20 Magic Men 10:55 Summer Of ‘42 12:40 Heyday! 14:15 Education, An 16:00 Faces In The Crowd 17:45 Primal Fear 20:00 LTV Sports News 21:00 In The Valley Of Elah 23:15 Taking Lives 01:15

17:35 Chicken With Plums 19:15 Action Zone 19:50 This Must Be The Place 22:00 Witchville 23:40 Happy Few 01:30 Cine News 02:05 The Sitter 03:30 The Tomb

Hustler TV 03:00 I Love You, Man 04:50 Class Act 06:30 LTV Sports News

07:00 Kids TV 15:45 Justice League Unlimited 16:10 Legion Of Super Heroes 16:35 Young Justice 17:00 2013 Indy Car Series 19:30 2010 World’s Strongest Man 20:00 Volvo Ocean Race 21:00 Pba All-Star Shootout 22:00 Grand American Series 2012 23:00 Espn Films 00:00 2011 Reebok Crossfit Games (Men’s) 00:30 2009 Us Figure Skating 02:30 K9 Nation 03:00 E-60 06:00 Planet Speed 06:30 K9 Nation

07:15 According To Jim 08:00 Big Bang Theory The 08:30 Mentalist The 09:15 Southland 10:00 Friends 10:30 Privileged 11:15 Closer, The 12:00 Five Days 2 13:05 Closer, The 13:50 According To Jim 14:35 Mentalist The 15:20 Southland 16:10 Friends

16:35 Gossip Girl 17:20 Fringe 19:00 Closer, The 19:45 According To Jim 20:30 Eastbound & Down 21:00 Hawaii Five 22:30 Ncis: Los Angeles 23:15 Supernatural 00:05 Extract 01:45 Peacemaker, The 03:50 Friends 04:15 Gossip Girl 05:00 Fringe 06:30 The Closer

08:00 Veronica Guerin 09:45 Assassination Games 11:30 80 Minutes 13:15 Friday After Next 14:45 Wild Things 16:40 Fine Madness, A 18:30 Fair Game 20:20 Centurion 22:00 Ma Part Du Gateau (My Piece Of The Pie) 00:05 Daring! TV 04:05 Beyond Borders 06:20 Private Benjamin

05:45 Quarantine 2: Terminal 07:10 Perfect Sense 08:45 The Adjustment Bureau 10:30 Hollywood 1on1 11:00 War Horse 13:30 Doctor Dolittle 15:00 Kate And Leopold 17:05 Cine News

05:40 The Artist 07:20 The Double 09:00 The English Patient 11:45 Cine News 12:05 Man Of The House 13:50 Ola Tha Pane Kala! 15:35 Runaway Jury 17:45 Films & Stars 18:20 Beastly 19:50 Glory 22:00 Retreat 23:50 Chasing Amy 01:45 Blitz 03:25 Albert Nobbs

19:10 Starsky & Hutch 21:00 Your Highness 23:00 Person Of Interest 23:50 Street Kings 2: Motor City 01:30 Le Casting De Candice

‘My piece of the cake’ is the literal translation of that title - though in English we’d say ‘pie’ instead of ‘cake’, not being as big on patisserie as those hedonistic French. Alas, France too is feeling the recession, and our heroine (whose name is France!) is a single mum who finds herself jobless when the factory where she works closes down. France (Karin Viard) picks herself up and finds a new job as a cleaning lady, her employer (Gilles Lelouche) being an arrogant financier with an eye for the ladies - and our heroine soon becomes indispensable, but what will she do when she learns that her new friend is the corporate raider who closed down the factory? A little-seen French film

which, by all accounts, tries to marry rom-com with topical Euro-indignation, ending on what the Village Voice called “a simple-minded power-to-the-people finale” - though of course the Voice is American, and we all know that America is the enemy of the proletariat. To quote some French queen or other: “They have no bread? Let them eat gâteau”. Made in 2011.

Witchville (Novacinema1, 22.00) A time of war. A time of cloaks and cowls and swords.

A time of torchlight flickering on warriors’ stubbled faces. A time when former pop stars (Luke Goss, once of 80s pop band Bros) return to their homeland to find the King their father dead, and the land devastat-

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 S7S Lockdown Top10 18:30 Only Hits 20:00 MTV Movies & Stars 21:00 MTV Awkward 22:00 McCafé Music Project 22:30 MTV Awkward 23:00 MTV Underemployed 0:00 MTV Jersey Shore 1:00 Only Hits

19:15 Chalet Girl 21:00 Bright Star 23:05 Amnesty 00:35 A Far Off Place

17:00 Nhl: New York Rangers At Philadelphia Flyers 18:00 Pre Game 18:45 Championship 2012-13:Aep Vs Alkh 20:45 Post Game 21:30 Snapshots

By Preston Wilder

Ma part du gâteau (LTV3, 22.00)

Cyprus Football 22:00 Lucas Oil On The Edge Powri Midgets 22:30 Wrecked Off-Roading In Chicago 23:00 Sports Unlimited

ed. Luke is reluctant to take over, but the other warriors tell him it’s his “birthright” - and besides there are witches to be vanquished, the evil Red Queen being the mad hag responsible for all the destruction. Mediaeval-looking fantasy is trendy these days (Game of Thrones, anyone?) but this made-for-TV trifle is a pretty naff addition to the genre - though apparently not awful, if you like this kind of thing. “The plot is identical to dozens of others, [but] this movie offers more in the way of shirtless tied-up guys, women with swords, cross-bows, etc,” says someone at the Internet Movie Database - which also informs us that the film contains “witch burning”, a “bare-chested male” and a “dead rabbit”. Poor little rabbit. Made in 2010.

Witchville

07:00 Mr.Skeffington 09:05 The Human Comedy 11:00 Giant 14:15 The Prize 16:25 Never So Few 18:30 Dodge City 20:15 Dial M For Murder 22:00 Splendor In The Grass 23:45 The Night Of The Iguana 01:55 Mr.Skeffington 04:00 The Prize

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, March 27, 2013

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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.

11 12

13

14

15 16

17

18

19

20

EASY

EASY

MEDIUM

HARD

21

1 Boxed but not in the ring (5) 4 One of a number of penalties in the game (7) 8 Sharp comment? (7,6) 9 Nearly ten times as much! (8)

1 Bird in a hat? (5) 2 Top bowler (7) 3 Where there is no obligation to shop? (4-4) 4 Violin swindle (6) 5 Was sorry some was untrue, dreadfully (4) 6 Muse in summer at Oxford (5) 7 Escort belligerent Kate in the open-air (4,3)

10 Marco’s game (4) 12 Closer to discovery nearer the fire (6) 13 Garbo becoming model for another film star (6) 16 Like this repeatedly indifferent (2-2) 18 Brought up after spring, having good manners (4-4) 21 How verbose speeches are made explicitly?

(2,2,4,5) 22 Behind ring of light is first book on a chemical element (7) 23 Controlled with lines (5)

11 Attendant coming after (8) 12 To want a snake to appear inside is stingingly spiteful! (7) 14 Of Dawn or Laura in disguise (7) 15 Write name on flag (6) 17 Type of fibre sails can be made out of (5) 19 Large number of odes rewritten, given treatment (5) 20 Officer will go up when there is poor visibility (4)

Rating EASY

Down

Rating HARD

Across

Rating MEDIUM

23

Rating MEDIUM

22

Answers to crossword 2348

HOROSCOPE

CRYPTIC: Across – 1 Reduced; 5 Pagan; 8 Cellist; 9 Tunisia; 10 Manager; 11 Road-map; 14 Kindred; 16 Puritan; 18 Incisor; 19 Cutting; 20 Esher; 21 Tonight. Down – 1 Rafter; 2 Doing a stretch; 3 Consume; 4 Decamp; 5 Pylon; 6 Going for a song; 7 Nature; 12 Knock-on; 13 Specie; 14 Knight; 15 Direct; 17 Trier.

QUICK: Across – 1 Wagered; 5 Mafia; 8 Admiral; 9 Huddled; 10 Leather; 11 Deanery; 14 Hangman; 16 Baroque; 18 Aerated; 19 Untried; 20 Tonal; 21 Retired. Down – 1 Washed; 2 Good Samaritan; 3 Replied; 4 Deadly; 5 Mamba; 6 For that matter; 7 Allure; 12 Entrust; 13 Abduct; 14 Header; 15 Nudged; 17 Quill.

ARIES March 21 - April 20

LEO July 23 - August 22

SAGITTARIUS November 23 - December 21

The Full Moon may occur monthly, well, sometimes bimonthly when there is a blue Moon, but today’s Full Moon is particularly unique due to the continuing combination of the Sun and Venus - which can be very beneficial. This may bring a relationship issue into a focus, but even if honest views are exchanged, the tie can then go on.

New avenues, or even people, seem richly enticing, and you may be rapt with some of the possibilities that beckon. You just may have to guard against a tendency to pitch into these without giving them enough forethought.

Something or someone unusual or glamorous could be captivating, but are they for real? More research may be needed.

Beneath the laughter and sociability of life, often lies politics, and you need to be attuned to those in your circle at this time. If you have recently met someone and are smitten, be conscious a friend could feel pushed out.

Whilst it’s also possible that a partner may have resentment about the amount of time you spend with others or on your interests.

TAURUS April 21 - May 21

VIRGO August 23 - September 23

CAPRICORN December 22 - January 20

It’s best not to take any relationship at face value during the next two weeks, Taurus. Something you may not want to look at could be a feature of this, or it could be something is brewing which is unbeknownst to you in another person’s attitude. Be conscious that any discontent may be masked behind a seemingly pleasant facade.

Are you in control of your urge to splash out? Whatever our income, we have to stay within it to make sure we stay on the right side of things, debt wise. But if you have a flexible friend, the desire to bend it today may be greater than usual. Then again, you may find out some very good news financially. A time of mixed possibilities.

If you have been spending a lot of time on domestic, family or emotional issues, have you been neglecting other pulls and commitments? If so, the next two weeks can be a good time to get the balance back. Then again, something can happen at work which upsets the tranquillity and peace you have been creating in your personal life.

GEMINI May 22 - June 21

LIBRA September 24 - October 23

AQUARIUS January 21 - February 19

You simply can’t please all of the people all of the time. Yet equally, today’s Full Moon also encourages you to have the confidence to make changes, but to adroitly handle the people side of these. For example, don’t feel you can’t say no. No-one owns us, and if you feel a new course is better, then have the courage of your convictions.

You may find yourself struggling with a dilemma. There may be someone you really enjoy knowing, but at another level, this may have sown seeds of discontent. Perhaps you want it to be more than them, or the problem is vice versa. Then again, a relationship may be about to go to a new level of commitment. A big day for all sorts of involvements.

You can make a very compelling case if you’re trying to get your point across to anyone. There may even be someone that you’re chatting to regularly who is more than just impressed, they are positively smitten. With words being the main currency you have at your disposal just now, the trick is to use them carefully. If you do, good things will flow.

CANCER June 22 - July 22

SCORPIO October 24 - November 22

PISCES February 20 - March 20

You may well be in vogue professionally, and key worldy relationships may be occupying a lot of your time and energies. And yet when was the last time you had some “you time”? A moment to pause, catch breath and assess where you stand emotionally amongst all this? If the answer is some while, look to create this as soon as possible.

Someone may be all smiles to your face, but what do they really think? Look beneath the veneer Scorpio. Or is it you who is masking their true feelings? Or it may be that you are finding the best way to deal with an awkward person is to flatter them. Be careful though, because there is a thin line between this and seeming insincere.

You could find yourself really drawn towards life’s goodies.

Whether this is sugar rich snacks or someone who you are finding to be delectable, just remember that when you were a kid, eating too much confectionary could leave you feeling ill at ease, and there can be too much of a good thing now. Dull as it may seem, do try to moderate your desires!

22

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

Advertiser

ADVERTISER helps you find what you’re looking for

Only

€14 (plus VAT)

a week for classifieds (up to 40 words)

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

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

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

PERSONAL

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

***************************** GERMAN MAN, 50 years, searching a nice women.

Mobil:00491736590562 *****************************

SERVICES LESSONS ***************************** PRIVATE TUITION experienced, UK-qualified teacher offers fulltime 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 *****************************

MISCELLANEOUS ***************************** WANTED: 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. ***************************** ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS CYPRUS Is drink costing you more than just money? AA could be the answer.

Meeting at the following locations/days. Call to speak to an AA member.

Ayia Napa Monday 97798043 Larnaca Tuesday (Polish spk) 96616589 Thursday 24645523 / 99259264 Limassol Tuesday / Wednesday / Friday / Saturday 25368265 / 99559322 Nicosia Wednesday/Sunday 99013596 Paphos Tuesday / Thursday / Saturday 99916331 / 99399240 Details of meetings are available on www.aa-europe.net

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

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. rcs-cyprus.net 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 K.D.FLYSCREENS LTD. We manufacture top quality sliding screens, opening doors and roller systems. We also do repairs.

For a FREE QUOTE please contact Phone: 99119582 Website: www.kdflyscreens.com SWIFT SERVICE AND REPAIRS air-cons, commercial and domestic fridges and freezers, ice machines, cool rooms, supply and fit air-cons VRV S. Call Nik on 99579602 Limassol DO YOU WANT A SHINY LOOKING FLOOR? Full repair & restoration of chipped, scratched, dull and stained, Marble, Terrazzo, Stone & Ceramic tiled floors and surfaces. Professional cleaning, repair & sealing of internal/external ceramic tiles & grout lines. For a free professional consultation & demonstration contact Mark at Premier on 70006766 All areas

PETS *****************************

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

Nicosia - tel: 22 818583 fax: 22 676385 call 99622678 if you have seen him

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

FOR SALE MISCELLANEOUS ***************************** FOR SALE: 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 ************************** OFFICE FURNITURE FOR SALE with 50% discount, price per unit: 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, height-1800mm, depth623mm, freezing capacity24kg/24hours, energy class A 3.

CONVOTHERM OVEN model-OBG 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 CONDITION AT REDUCED PRICES. PLEASE CALL : 99622678 **************************

FOR SALE MOTOR VEHICLES HONDA 400 TWIN, blue, 1984 in very good condition, chrome exhausts, only

Limassol - tel: 25 761117 fax: 25 761141

38.000 kms, road tax up to date, €900 o.n.o, please call: 99266282 - Paphos area.

SUZUKI VITARA Saloon 1.6 benzini, dark green from 2002, mileage: 135.500 km.

MOT till 2015. Road Tax paid all 2013. €2.200. Call 99182310. ************************** 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 *****************************

WANTED ***************************** WANTED: Toyota RAV or Nissan Quasquai built 2007 or younger in a very good condition only. Nonsmoker car, accident free and with full service history is a must. Tel: 99906823 or 26-813975. Email: info@terramarna.com ****************************

FOR SALE BUSINESS/ PROPERTY/LAND ***************************** FOR SALE plot of land with sea view. In Chlorakas area. Very quiet and private location. Title deed. Tel. 99519370. **************************** 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

Paphos - tel: 26 911383 fax: 26221049

2) COMMERCIAL PROPERTY FOR 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 **************************** 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. *****************************

PROPERTY TO LET NICOSIA ***************************** FOR RENT a spacious two bedroom apartment, near Hilton and Central Bank. Living/dining room, sitting room, large veranda, kitchen, c/h, s/h, covered parking. Title deeds. Tel. 99519370. ***************************** HOUSES/FLATS 2 bedr. lux. flat, Ayioi Omoloyites, wooden floors €800, 3 bedr.

Acropolis c/h a/c wooden floors €650, Mak/ssa 3 bedr., modern, open plan €1000 f/f €1200, Nicosia 3 bedr., f/f, luxury €1000 f/f, Latsia 2 bedr., pool €430, Strovolos f/f house 4 bedr €1300, Mak/ssa ground floor house detached €850 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

Larnaca - tel: 24 652243 fax: 24 659982

classified contents Employment Opportunities pg 22 Employment Miscellaneous 22 Pets 22 Lessons 22 Health & Fitness -Personal 22 Services 22 For Sale Miscellaneous 22 For Sale Land/ Property Business 22 For Sale Motor vehicles 22 Properties Wanted -To Let Nicosia 22 To Let Limassol 25 To Let Larnaca 25 To Let Paphos 25 To Let Protaras, Ayia Napa, Paralimni -For Sale Nicosia 27 For Sale Limassol 27 For Sale Larnaca -For Sale Paphos 27 For Sale Ayia Napa -For Sale Famagusta Protaras 27 For Sale Athens -Property& Home Services display ads --

abbreviations bdrm c/h a/c s/pool f/f apt pm pw sw nw st rd p/s c/l swb r/cass e/w

bedroom central heating air conditioning swimming pool fully furnished apartment per month per week south west north west street road power steering central locking short wheel base radio cassette electric windows

Please note tel nos. that begin with: 22 = Nicosia 23 = Paralimni/Protaras 24 = Larnaca 25 = Limassol 26 = Paphos

23

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Advertiser TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

sqm. Tel: 99622370. ***************************** TO LET 1 bedroom upper floor house, large veranda near restaurant Periyiali in Acropolis 5 Aeantos Street €300 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 form AlfaMega 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 Theod-

orou 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:

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)

FOR RENT

English-Painter & Decorator

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

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) 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).

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

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 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

TO LET NICOSIA 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 neighbourhood – 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 room, big sitting and dining area, big verandas

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 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 artificial grass, bbq area and covered veranda. The house has blinds

TO LET NICOSIA 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 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

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24

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

Advertiser TO LET NICOSIA 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, 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).

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. Con-

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

***************************** LUXURY FLATS: 1. 3 bedr 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,

TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA 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)

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 website).

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 heatingindependent, 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,

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 a p a r t m e n t ,6 0 s q.m,p a r q u e t floor, nicely furnished ,all fitted electrical appliances (cooker, oven, 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)

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)

TO LET NICOSIA 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 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) 12. 2 bedr new modern luxury

TO LET NICOSIA 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) 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) 16. New luxury finished 4 bed

25

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Advertiser TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET LIMASSOL

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 www.landtouristestates.com which is updated daily. LANDTOURIST ESTATES LTD 22422225 / 96-422225 / 96422226 www.landtouristestates.com

***************************** 2 BDRM flat in the centre of Nicosia. Rent €450. For information call 99453663, 99663927. *****************************

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 25340987(3rd flloor of building; office hours). For further details, please call 25-521873 after 8:00pm.

EMBA

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

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 ***************************** TRADITIONAL VILLAGE STONE HOUSE IN APESHIA. Very quiet village, 20mins from Limassol. Road to heritage school/ Troodos. 2 bedrooms, office available top floor with veranda great view of mountains. Small courtyard with trees. Electric solar water. A/C-toilet 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

TO LET LARNACA room 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 ***************************** 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 2. Superior Real Estate Larnaca. 2 bedroom fully furnished apartment, nr the Metro/ American Academy Larnaca.

Ref. TLL1654 Please call to arrange a viewing Tel. 24815926 3.

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

4.

www.superiorrealestatelarnaca.com - License No. 419.

LANDLORDS AVERTISE YOUR PROPERTY WITH US FOR FREE. Tel. 24815926 Email. info@superiorrealest atelarnaca.com

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

PAPHOS LARNACA FOR RENT fully furnished 1 bed-

***************************** FOR RENT a selection of 1 to 5

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 PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

bedroom houses & apartments F/F & U/F Universal, Peyia, Tomb of the Kings, Tsada, Timi, Kato Paphos & Kissonerga Landlord & Owners please call 99329357 Or please view at our website www.cyprussands.com Fully Registered Company in Cyprus ***************************** FOR RENT a selection of 1 to 5 bedroom houses & apartments F/F & U/F Universal, Peyia, Tomb of the Kings, Tsada, Timi & Kato Paphos Landlord & Owners please call 99329357. Or please view at are website www.cyprussands.com ***************************** 3 BEDROOM luxury house for rent, 2 bathrooms, furnished, fire place, central heating, a/c, panoramic view, large kitchen and sitting room in Paphos, Armou village. €500 per month.

Tel: 99613556 ***************************** CHLORAKAS: 3 Bedroom unfurnished villa private swimming pool, utility room, walking wardrobes, en suite shower 180 m2 covered area fenced garden fully a/c, € 575 p/m For more in-

formation’s phone 99400697 ***************************** KISSONERGA - Beautiful Detached U/F 3 Bedroomed Villa, Large Pool, 2 Bedrooms Upstairs Master En-suite, Family Bathroom, modern Fitted Kitchen, Downstairs Bedroom with En-suite Shower room, Low maintenance Garden, Large Terraces and Separate Storage Room €600.

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 €325.

TREMITHOUSA - Traditional Spacious 3 Bedroom, 2 Bathroom, and Large Mature enclosed Garden, Open Fireplace, Beautiful Fitted Kitchen, A/C, Won-

FULL TIME DOMESTIC WORKER WANTED HOUSEWORK + GARDENING + CARER DRIVERS LICENCE REQUIRED PAPHOS AREA TEL : 99047855

TO LET PAPHOS derful Family Home €400.

EMBA - Spacious 2 Bedroom Corner house ,U/F, Separate Downstairs Cloakroom, Balcony, no garden €300.

URGENTLY WANTED – 2/3 Bedroom F/F Properties MORE PROPERTIES AVAILABLE FOR INFORMATION PLEASE CALL 99862922 ***************************** 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 Lower Peyia – 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom Modern Unfurnished Villa with beautiful sea views. Spa-

26

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

Advertiser TO LET PAPHOS cious 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 oor 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 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 – no agents

***************************** KILI – PAPHOS, 3 bedroom villa,

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

with swimming pool and garden, unfurnished, gas central heating, large verandas, lovely mountain views, very quiet and tranquil area, â‚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‚Ź550 per month ono – available from 1st of April For more info call: 99 442485 ***************************** MR RENT PAPHOS, THE LEADING PROPERTY RENTAL AGENCY IN PAPHOS OFFICE: 26271858 (00357) IF YOU HAVE A PROPERTY TO RENT WE ARE THE RENTAL AGENCY TO CONTACT OFFERING FULL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT & RENT COLLECTION SERVICE 1.

ANARITA â‚Ź375 beautifully furnished modern 2 bedroom townhouse situated on 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 2. PEYIA â‚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 3.

KISSONERGA â‚Ź650 stunning detached 3 bedroom villa situated in quiet residential area with sea & rural views. Private drive with car port. Enclosed low maintenance garden with sea water private pool. Modern villa, master with ensuite plus downstairs guest wc. Beautifully furnished with good quality furnishing & ďŹ ttings, including black out blinds, nilesat satelitte

TO LET PAPHOS & pressurised water system.

Pets allowed at owners discretion. Website reference number: RTL_497 4. MESOGI â‚Ź700 spacious 4 bedroom villa plus playroom or ofďŹ ce including gas central heating. one bedroom & bathroom on ground 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 5. LOWER CHLORAKA â‚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. KAMARES TALA â‚Ź850 a stunning detached villa offering 4 bedrooms plus ofďŹ ce in a quiet & private residential area with

In Op ves p o tm r t en un t ity

Watch Your Capital Grow 68.3% NET GROWTH since launch in July 2008

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS large parking bay for numerous cars and covered off street parking. Offering spacious living accommodation and breathtaking views of the sea. This property includes a lift to all 4 oors.

Lovely garden with spacious veranda & private pool. Available unfurnished. Website reference number: RTL_669 7. PEYIA â‚Ź950 we are delighted to 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 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‚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

***************************** MANDRIA PAFOS 2 bedroom furnished bungalow within walking

distance of the village. Large bedrooms, kitchen, sitting room/ dining area with ďŹ re place, large bathroom. Outside gated area and fenced off, pets welcomed Ref: 1217 â‚Ź450 AYIA MARINOUDA PAFOS 2 bedroom furnished bungalow in lovely quiet complex with communal pool. Property has ďŹ replace, off street parking, nice stone features, character property. Ref: 1224 â‚Ź500 MESOGI PAFOS 4 bedroom house offered furnished, near all amenities. Property has sitting,dining area, kitchen, storage, downstairs bedroom, guest wc. Upstairs 3 additional bedrooms, master en suite, family bathroom. Off street parking, back garden with lawn Ref 1211 â‚Ź690 SEA CAVES PAFOS modern bungalow offered furnished or unfurnished, 3 bedroom, master en suite shower, family bathroom, kitchen, sitting area, outside private pool, roof garden, outside shower-toilte, yscreens nice location with sea views. Ref: 1213 â‚Ź750 MELANOS/CHLORAKA PAFOS Part-furnished, modern 4 bedroom villa, with private pool and amazing sea views. Has modern appliances, off-street covered parking in a nice quiet location.

Pets welcome. Ref: 1206 â‚Ź800 PEGEIA PAFOS 3 bedroom unfurnished villa with great sea and mountain views. Property has sitting/dining area, kitchen, 3 bedrooms, master en suite, private pool, covered parking. Ref:

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27

CYPRUS MAIL Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Advertiser TO LET PAPHOS 1214 €550 CORAL BAY PAFOS 3 bedroom Villa offered furnished or unfurnished in a lovely private and peaceful location. Property is cosy with a small kitchen, sitting room and dining area with a fire place, ac, guest wc, 3 bedrooms master en suite, family bathroom. Nice views Ref: 842 €750 CHLORAKA PAFOS 2 and 1 bedroom apartments in a lovely modern complex offered furnished or unfurnished with fly screens, nice large kitchen, bathroom, communal pool, nice location. Ref 1219 from €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

***************************** 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. LAND-

TO LET PAPHOS LORDS CALL IF YOU HAVE A PROPERTY FOR RENT.!!!

1. MESA CHORIO– 2 bed 2 bath fully furnished ground floor apartment set on an elevated position on this prestigious development. Open plan living area. Good sized kitchen.

2 double , bedrooms, master with en-suite shower room.

Family bathroom. Large patio areas with enclosed gardens and lovely sea views. Covered parking and security gates..

Comm swimming pool. 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

TO LET PAPHOS 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 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

TO LET PAPHOS 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 balcony. 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

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

PROPERTY FOR SALE NICOSIA ***************************** FOR SALE a very nice, large, two bedroom apartment near Hilton and Central Bank. Living, dining

room, sitting room, large veranda. Spacious kitchen, c/h, s/h, covered parking. Title deed. Tel. 99519370. ***************************** FOR SALE OFFICES, ground floor space, suitable for offices or any other business. Centrally located, off Arch. Makarios Avenue, in the Commercial Centre of Nicosia, near Hilton. Also mezzanine, basement, small kitchen, a/c, parking. Title deeds. Tel. 99519370.

***************************** STROVOLOS, Symi street, Tseriou new one bedroom apartment, 55 sqm, large sunny balcony, air-conditioned, 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. *****************************

Tel: 99753334

PAPHOS ***************************** FOR SALE large, beautiful, nice designed, sea view house. In Chlorakas area, very quiet and private location. 4 en-suite bedrooms. Spacious living - dinijng room, sitting room, kitchen with all electrical appliances, breakfast room, two fireplaces, builtin bookcases, eletrical shutters, a/c, swimming pool, garden, patio, garage, store room. Option for second floor. Title deed. Adjacent to above. Sold separately plot of land, with sea view. Title deed. Tel. 99519370. ***************************** 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

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

LIMASSOL ***************************** SMART EASILY MAINTAINED BUNGALOW. 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. *****************************

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

FOR SALE PAPHOS

FOR SALE NICOSIA

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. *****************************

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

28

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

Sport Grand National jockeys urged to curb speed

Lewis Hamilton, who was on the podium for Mercedes for the first time in his second race with the team, says he would never request favoured status

Hamilton hits out at Red Bull

By Alan Baldwin LEWIS Hamilton has turned his fire on Formula One rivals Red Bull for suggesting after a controversial Malaysian Grand Prix that he has joined Mercedes as their clear number one.

The race at Sepang was dominated by controversial team orders issued by champions Red Bull and Mercedes but Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko said afterwards that his team had a different approach from Hamilton’s.

“The team will have a word because we have to control the drivers,” the Austrian told Sky Sports television after world champion Se-

‘You have to be able to look yourself in the mirror and say that you won fair and square’ bastian Vettel had won by ignoring instructions to remain behind team mate Mark Webber.

“It’s not like at Mercedes where it’s a clear number one and number two. Basically we treat the drivers the same,” added Marko.

Speaking to British reporters, Hamilton said that was nonsense and he and Germany’s Nico Rosberg had equal status.

“They (Red Bull) have a clear one and two, they always have,” he said. “And

that is why they have always had the problems they have had.

“We don’t have a one and two here (at Mercedes). I have always said, from the moment I was speaking to the team, that I wanted equality.

“I am not a driver that comes and requests that (favoured status) like a lot of other drivers do. You have to be able to look yourself in the mirror and say that you won fair and square.”

Hamilton finished third at Sepang, the 2008 world champion’s first podium for the team since his move from McLaren at the end of last season, while Rosberg was fourth after being told to stay behind.

The team, whose title sponsor is Malaysian oil company Petronas, explained that was because fuel levels were low and they had to manage the pace.

The German did as he was told but Hamilton said on the podium after that race

that he felt Rosberg should have been up there instead of him.

“In Malaysia I don’t feel like I won my spot fair and square,” said Hamilton. “Although I did drive a decent race, I don’t feel spectacular about it.”

Hamilton also addressed a newspaper report in Britain on Sunday quoting Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone saying the Briton had asked him last year to broker a move to Red Bull before he signed the deal with Mercedes.

“I’m not quite sure why Bernie keeps making comments about me,” he said.

“It makes me a little bit nervous because we have quite a good relationship.”

Hot Heat make the Magic vanish

By Steve Keating

Chris Bosh helped Miami extend their winning streak to 27 games - the second-longest in US pro sports history

FOR Chris Bosh, the entire NBA season has felt like one big playoff game and there was no easing up yesterday as the Miami Heat dumped the Orlando Magic 108-94 to extend their winning streak to 27 games.

As the reigning NBA champions, the Heat are used to seeing the best from the opposition but the target has grown a little bigger as they close in on the Los Angeles Lakers’ record of 33 consecutive wins.

“It’s kind of like 82 playoff games especially now since this streak happened,” said Bosh, who contributed 12 points and nine rebounds.

“We know that guys bring their best against us, that’s the world we live in.

“When you get used to that and you’re challenged, you don’t have room for error every night and you get better.

“It’s our normal.”

Certainly, the Heat had more than many might have expected from the lowly Magic.

While Orlando own the second worst record in the NBA with just 18 wins and are a staggering 38.5 games back of their state rivals, the Florida Derby has not been as lop-sided

as the records would suggest.

Earlier in March, the Heat almost saw their run halted at 15 games until James hit a layup with just three seconds to play, securing Miami a 97-96 win. On New Year’s Eve the Magic took Miami to overtime before falling 112-110.

“It’s another day to play basketball, we’re living our dream, just having fun with these guys,” said Bosh. “It’s another day at the job but we enjoy doing it.

“We know that when we go out there we do our job and we do it well.”

As the Heat’s streak has picked up steam, so has interest.

Seats for the Magic game were being offered for $1,125 just hours before tipoff on ticket resale sites. There were plenty of seats for Friday’s contest against the Washington Wizards available for $10-$12.

While James, Bosh and Wade came together at Miami to win titles, it was always understood they might make a little history along the way.

Their winning streak is now the secondlongest among all North American major professional sports and is now just six away from the Lakers’ mark set in 1971-72.

JOCKEYS in the Grand National are being urged to curb their speed and keep calm at the start of the race.

This year’s contest at Aintree, on Saturday April 6, comes after two horses died in each of the last two runnings.

Riders are being told to be calm at the beginning of the race and that false starts “create an awful impression.”

“We are all ambassadors for the race,” said a note issued by the racecourse and Professional Jockeys’ Association.

“We all need to savour the day and together you can do your profession and our sport proud.”

Changes already announced for this year’s race include shortening the distance to four miles and three-and-ahalf furlongs from four-anda-half miles and changing the core of fences - which are dressed in spruce - from wood to a more forgiving, flexible plastic material.

DIED After last year’s race, in which According To Pete and Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Synchronised died, the British Horseracing Authority wrote to all 40 riders in the race expressing its disappointment at the jockeys’ conduct at the start.

There were two false starts and jockeys breached rules by not abiding by instructions on lining up.

The advice for this year includes the following: “The start has been moved forward 90 yards to create a quieter environment and hopefully reduce the tension for all concerned.

“The line will be well back from the tape and jockeys will be requested to line up at or on the line, prior to the starter starting the race.”

Runners haring off at high speed is considered a contributory factor to statistics which show that on average, more than half the falls in the 30-fence National occur in the first 90 seconds of a race which lasts more than nine minutes.

While jockeys accept they have a public responsibility, privately some are concerned continued changes could cause more problems.

A shorter trip might encourage horses and riders to go faster.

And there is an argument that any more tinkering with the race will mean it is no longer the kind of spectacle which traditionally attracts more than 500 million television viewers worldwide.

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Murray recovers to see off Dimitrov in tight battle

Track great Lewis backs Tokyo’s 2020 bid

By Patrick Johnston

Serena fights back from brink of defeat ANDY Murray felt his ability to adjust to conditions was the key to his last-32 victory over Grigor Dimitrov in the Sony Open in Miami.

The second seed was under the cosh for much of the opening set but turned things around to win 7-6 (7/3) 6-3 in one hour and 54 minutes.

“It was obviously way cooler with much slower conditions,” Murray told www.atptour.com. “The ball wasn’t going as quick. I was leaving the ball a bit short.

“Once I started to improve my depth a bit, I made it tough for him and he started to make more mistakes after that.”

Nonetheless, Murray will be looking for a much improved performance when he takes on 16th seed Andreas Seppi in the fourth round, having struggled for form against world number 32 Dimitrov.

Murray, who won the title here in 2009, had beaten the Bulgarian in both of their previous encounters but battled with his first serve from the off and found himself a break down in game four after some confident returning from his opponent.

The Scot broke back the very next game when Dimitrov missed an attempted lob but the Bulgarian opened up another lead straightaway, with a forehand volley at full stretch which left Murray stranded.

Dimitrov then held serve to go 5-2 ahead and saw two set points saved in the next game as Murray clung on by his fingertips.

However, luck was on the Briton’s side in game nine when Dimitrov, serving for the set, dished up three double faults to gift Murray a route back in.

The opening set was eventually settled by a tie break, where a couple of unforced errors from Dimitrov played right into the hands of the world number two.

That knocked some of the confidence out of the Bulgarian and he dropped game two of the second set, putting a weak forehand into the net.

Murray wasted two further break points in the sixth game. However, the Briton soon found himself serving for the contest, and although his first two match points went begging, it was third time lucky for Murray as Dimitrov put a backhand into the net.

In the women’s draw, Maria Sharapova powered her way past another opponent as the Russian world number two remains on target to finally claim a tournament that has brought her plenty of heartbreak.

The third seed shrugged off the challenge of Klara Zakopalova, easing to a 6-2 6-2 victory over the Czech to advance to the quarter-fi-

nals and inch closer making it fifth time lucky in Florida.

Sharapova was beaten in the last two finals after also falling in the tournament decider in 2005 and 2006, and her determination to go one better this year was evident against Zakopalova, who was helpess in the face of the Russian’s power.

Earlier, top seed Serena Williams stared defeat in the face before mounting an exciting comeback to overcome Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova.

Williams trailed by a set and 4-1 before she reeled off the next five games and ultimately took the match 2-6 6-4 6-2.

“This particular time I just thought to myself, ‘I’ve been down worse. It’s nothing new. Just keep fighting,’” Williams told reporters.

“I never give up. It doesn’t matter whether it’s in life or on the tennis court, I keep fighting. That’s what I kept doing today.”

Williams closed out the contest with her 14th ace in a battle that lasted a little less than two hours. The American is bidding to become the tournament’s first six-time winner, and claim her first title here since 2008.

For Cibulkova, it was another missed opportunity.

Last year, she had then topranked Victoria Azarenka down 6-1 5-2 but could not finish the job.

Second seed Andy Murray was under the cosh for much of the opening set before adjusting to the slower conditions

Thrashed Australia can be No.1 again, says Arthur

By Ian Ransom and Amlan Chakraborty

Captain Michael Clarke, who oversaw Australia’s first four-Test whitewash in 43 years, is struggling with injury

AUSTRALIA can bounce back from their 4-0 humbling away to India and become the top Test nation within two years, according to head coach Mickey Arthur.

Australia slumped to their first four-Test whitewash in 43 years and were outplayed in every facet of the game in a major reality-check before back-to-back Ashes series this year.

Arthur drew a storm of criticism in Australia for standing down four players for the third Test for indiscipline, but said the punishments were necessary.

“Hopefully this is the foundation for something good,” Arthur told reporters in Perth yesterday.

“We could have gone and just carried on and we would have been third in the world comfortably.

“We don’t accept that.

“We want to get ourselves to number one in the world and

give ourselves the best possible opportunity to do that.

“We’ve put some stuff in place that we think can get that team there over the next 24 months.”

India was Australia’s final taste of Test cricket before they tour England for the first Ashes series in the northern hemisphere summer.

England won the Ashes on home soil in 2009 and retained the trophy with a convincing 3-1 triumph in 2011, their first series win in Australia for nearly a quarter of a century.

Australia captain Michael Clarke meanwhile will need a minimum of seven weeks before he can resume training but Cricket Australia (CA) expect him to recover from his lower back and hamstring injuries before the Ashes series against England starting in July.

Clarke missed the final Test in India to return home after the nagging back injury flared up in addition to a hamstring problem.

“Michael is having intensive rehabilitation for both his

back and hamstring but is still 7-10 weeks away from returning to training and playing,” CA chief medical officer Justin Paoloni said.

“We are confident that it will not affect his Ashes preparation but will know more over the coming weeks.”

Clarke will miss the April 3-May 26 Indian Premier League and looks doubtful for the June 6-23 Champions Trophy in England.

Australia will stay back for the Ashes series, starting on July 10 with Nottingham’s Trent Bridge hosting the first of five Tests.

Paoloni said Clarke’s back injury, if allowed to aggravate, could turn serious.

“Michael Clarke had scans that confirmed his current lower back injury is an exacerbation of previous issues he has had with his spine,” Paoloni added.

“As always, we need to manage this carefully as there are potentially serious consequences with further aggravation. He still has pain with basic activities.”

MULTIPLE Olympic gold medallist Carl Lewis has backed Tokyo’s bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games, hailing the Japanese city’s strong pedigree for organising big sporting events.

Tokyo is competing with Istanbul and Madrid to host the Olympics for a second time after becoming the first Asian city to host the multisport event in 1964.

Lewis, the nine-time Olympic champion, visited Japan’s National Stadium this week, a venue where he set two world records in the 1991 world athletics championships and narrowly lost arguably the greatest long jump final to compatriot Mike Powell.

“I have obviously tremendous memories of that and that was without question my best track meet ever,” Lewis told Reuters Television on the track.

“But for me it was more fitting because Japan had been the one place I’ve been to the most in my career, they’ve been the most supportive in my career outside the United States.

“I will be at the 2020 Games wherever it is, and I hope it’s here.”

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will decide on the hosts at a meeting in Argentina in September with Tokyo’s bid strengthened by having the majority of the proposed venues already built.

The 80,000 capacity national stadium, though, will undergo a $1 billion space-age makeover and be completed in time to host the 2019 rugby World Cup with the famed sprinter looking forward to seeing the results.

“Japan has always been a high-tech community and I think it would be a showcase for stadium, probably more high-tech than any stadium that’s ever been made, and I think it will be a great place to be,” the 51-year-old said.

Having lost out to Rio de Janeiro in the 2016 bid, Japanese media have been wary to jump on early praise received this month by IOC officials who said they were “hugely impressed” by the Tokyo bid.

Lewis, though, offered to reassure those connected with the Japanese bid that they had a strong offer and did not need to make drastic changes to their proposals.

“I don’t think you have to recreate the wheel here; everyone knows they can do a tremendous job,” said the 1984 and 1988 Olympic 100 metre champion.

“Build on the legacy that you’ve shown in the past, whether it’s the world championships or the Olympics in the past or other events.

“Just continue to stay on that legacy that you’ve shown how great you are and just update it to the times.”

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Sport

FOOTBALL IN BRIEF Barca coach Vilanova set to return to Spain BARCELONA coach Tito Vilanova will return to Spain this week after two months of cancer treatment in New York, the La Liga club said.

“Tito Vilanova will this week leave the city of skyscrapers to return to the Catalan capital,” Barca said in a statement on their website (www.fcbarcelona.es). The club did not say whether he would be well enough to return to work.

The 44-year-old former Barca player (right) needed a second round of surgery in December following an initial operation to remove a tumour from his saliva glands in November 2011.

His assistant Jordi Roura took charge while he relocated to New York for a course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Barca stuttered in Vilanova’s absence and they were eliminated from the

King’s Cup and beaten in La Liga by arch-rivals Real Madrid.

However, they managed a stirring comeback against AC Milan to secure a place in the Champions League quarter-finals and are 13 points clear of Real in La Liga with 10 games left.

Barca’s next match is at Celta Vigo on Saturday and they play at Paris St Germain in their Champions League last eight, first leg on April 2.

Costa Rica snowstorm protest FIFA have confirmed that they have received a protest from Costa Rica who were furious at being forced to play Friday’s World Cup qualifier away to the United States in a snowstorm.

Furious Costa Rica coach Jorge Luis Pinto said the match was an “embarrassment to football” after his side lost 1-0 in Denver on a snowy field with a covering that became deeper as the game wore on.

The Costa Rica Football Federation (Fedefutbol) said the conditions were a threat to “the physical integrity” of the players and said stadium officials had come on to the pitch to clear the snow while the ball was in play.

Furthermore, the pitch markings “disappeared” and the “the movement of the ball became impossible due to the quantity of snow on the pitch”.

Fedefutbol also demanded sanctions for “all the officials who were involved in the decision to keep playing this game.

“The complete opposite happened in Europe where the snow forced the match between Northern Ireland and Russia in Belfast to be postponed,” it added in a separate statement.

“We don’t want to create false expectations but we are fighting for rights which we think we violated during this match,” said Fedefutbol treasurer Rodolfo Villalobos.

Costa Rica could retaliate by staging the return fixture in the Saprissa stadium, a notoriously hostile arena where the fans are close to the pitch, rather than the new National Stadium, which has a running track around the field.

Balotelli says not enough is being done on racism ITALY striker Mario Balotelli, a high profile victim of racist abuse from the stands, says world football is not doing enough to combat the problem.

The 22-year-old was born in Italy to Ghanaian parents and has long had to deal with insults from fans of Juventus, who were forced to play a game behind closed doors in 2009 after supporters sang “a black Italian does not exist”.

Juve fans still chant “jump up and down and Balotelli will die” but the song is deemed not to be racist by Italy’s Serie A, who did fine

his former club Inter Milan after monkey chants were heard in the derby with his new club AC Milan last month.

“It annoys me, it makes me angry and I don’t like it. However, we are making too little progress on this issue,” Balotelli told a news conference ahead of last night’s World Cup qualifier in Malta.

A 30,000 euro sanction was also dished out by Serie A to Genoa after fans sang racist chants against Milan and Croatia were hit with an 80,000 euro fine by UEFA at Euro 2012 for racist abuse towards Balotelli.

Frustrated: ‘Big Phil’ is still winless three matches into his second stint in one of the sport’s most high-pressure jobs

Scolari’s charisma not matched by dour Brazil Samba Kings abandoning their traditional attacking style

By Brian Homewood LUIZ Felipe Scolari talked of topless pitch invaders and pulled faces at the interpreter during the news conference which followed the 1-1 draw with Russia but the Brazil coach’s obvious charisma was not matched by his team.

Scolari’s predecessor Mano Menezes had spent two years attempting to build a team which could play a Barcelona-style possession game with a Brazilian touch.

With Brazilians demanding their team win a sixth world title in style when their country hosts next year’s World Cup, Menezes appeared to be making good progress until he was astonishingly fired last November.

Three matches into his second stint in one of the sport’s most high-pressure jobs, and still winless, it is already clear that Scolari is heading in a different direction with the

emphasis on a solid defence, work-rate and team spirit.

Even when talking about players such as attacking left-back Marcelo, playmaker Kaka and flamboyant forward Neymar, Scolari emphasised the importance of coming back to tackle rather than their creative assets.

“Kaka’s performance was what we expected, but the most important thing that I wanted him to do was to come back and mark the Russian number eight, who was dictating the rhythm of the game,” said Scolari.

“Marcelo’s performance was balanced, he attacked when he had to attack and marked well.”

Scolari has used more or less the same recipe wherever he has been and has a proven record of success with Gremio, Palmeiras, Brazil and Portugal.

The basics are all there again with Fernando and Hernanes, two robust, hardtackling midfielders in front

of the back four, and Fred as the physical number nine.

All three of those players already look as if they will be fixed establishments, with former Lyon striker Fred having scored in all three games under Scolari.

The worry for Brazil is that Scolari’s recent results have been less impressive and the recipe is no longer so effective.

He was sacked after only seven months with Chelsea in 2009 and last year quit as coach of Palmeiras when they were in the Brazilian championship relegation zone.

Scolari’s team will clearly be well-organised and difficult to beat but there is already a feeling they lack the panache of South American rivals Argentina and a resurgent Colombia.

Despite moments of inspiration from players such as Marcelo, Kaka and Oscar, their attacking play against Russia was disjointed and struggled to prise open the

Brazil defence.

Neymar again looked lightweight against European defenders. It was a generally joyless performance, a far cry from Scolari’s own jovial personality.

Impatient at having to have his answers translated into English, he pulled faces which suggested exasperation while the interpreter was speaking, then set off on a rambling anecdote after opposite number Fabio Capello said a pitch invader had affected Russia’s concentration.

“When I was coach of Portugal, we were playing in Estonia or one of those countries over there, maybe it was Latvia, and a girl came onto the pitch and she didn’t have anything up top,” Scolari recounted.

“Everyone was looking at her. The score was 0-0 at the time and we won 2-0. Maybe their players were distracted by her, but I certainly was.

What can I tell you? She was good-looking.”

Lyon advisor angers women’s coach with radio ‘cooking’ jibe

By Julien Pretot

Lyon’s women’s coach Patrice Lair is not a happy man

AN advisor of Olympique Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has angered the coach of the club’s successful women’s team by telling a French radio show that he would not discuss football with women.

During a talk show on RMC this week, a female listener called in and criticised France striker Karim Benzema and Aulas’ advisor Bernard Lacombe replied: “I do not discuss football with women, that’s how I see it. They should get back to cooking.”

The former France international’s words infuriated women’s team coach Patrice Lair, whose side have won the French league title for the past six years and the last two editions of the Champions League.

“I’m very disappointed. He has no right to say that,” Lair told 20 Minutes’ website (www.20minutes.fr) yesterday.

“It’s not going to help the development of women football. It’s a lack of respect for the president’s work and the girls’ efforts.

“They (the OL women) know what he thinks about women’s football.”

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Sport

Reading look to the future with appointment of Adkins

Luiz relishing fixture pile-up

Former Saints boss replaces sacked Brian McDermott

DAVID Luiz has no issue with Chelsea’s fixture pileup as the Blues do battle on three fronts over the end-of-season run-in.

The Brazilian insists a hectic schedule of some six games in just 16 days following the international break can be met head on.

Chelsea will be out to cement their place in the top four of the Premier League at Southampton on Saturday, before then tackling Manchester United in an FA Cup quarter-final replay on Easter Monday.

They then host Rubin Kazan in the Europa League on Thursday night ahead of a trip to Sunderland next weekend, which is followed up by the second leg of their European tie in Moscow.

Luiz, however, maintains those challenges must be faced with a positive attitude.

“I love to play games, I prefer to play games than training for sure. I want to play both games against Southampton and Manchester United and I want to win both matches,” Luiz told reporters.

“All the games are important to us - you know that at Chelsea.”

By Toby Davis READING chose to put a steady hand on the tiller and look to the future rather than try their luck with a relegation quick-fix by unveiling former Southampton boss Nigel Adkins as their manager yesterday.

In contrast to Adkins’ former club, who replaced him with Argentine Mauricio Pochettino, Reading have opted for a man with Premier League experience who also knows his way around the lower divisions should they fail to beat the drop.

Adkins, whose sacking by the promoted south-coast outfit two months ago came as a shock since his team had lost just twice in 12 league games, has eight matches to rescue his new club.

On paper, it looks an almost impossible task with Reading second from bottom in the table and seven points adrift of safety but Adkins is ready for the challenge.

“We’ve got to believe we can do it, I’ve joined Reading Football Club and I want to be in the Premier League,” the 48-year-old, who has signed a three-year-deal, told a news conference.

Reading were looking for a

Nigel Adkins was surprisingly sacked by Southampton two months ago, despite his side only losing twice in 12 games new manager after parting company with Brian McDermott on March 11 following four consecutive Premier League defeats.

They have since lost to league leaders Manchester United and face a difficult trip to Arsenal in their next Premier League outing on March 30 followed by a match at home to Adkins’ former club Southampton a week later.

“This is an appointment we have made both with the short and long term in mind and Nigel can take our club forward,” Reading’s Russian owner Anton Zingarevich said in a statement on the club’s website (www.readingfc.co.uk).

“I am delighted to bring Nigel to our club because he is perfect for us.

“He has great respect within the game, his CV speaks for itself and he has many attributes as a manager, he is progressive, he develops players, his teams play attacking, passing football but most of all he knows how to win games at all levels.”

Adkins’ dismissal by Southampton in January came just after his side had fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with European champions Chelsea.

The sense of shock was heightened because Southampton chose to replace him with a manager who did not speak English and had

enjoyed a largely unspectacular time in charge of La Liga side Espanyol.

Adkins joined Southampton in 2010 and oversaw back-to-back promotions from League One (third division) and the Championship (second division) to take them back to the top flight for the first time since 2005.

A string of Premier League managers rallied behind him to condemn the decision with Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson saying it was a “crazy world”.

Adkins, who had not spoken publicly since his departure from Southampton, did not want to dwell on the past and said he simply wanted to take the opportunity to

thank his previous club’s staff, players and fans.

He said he was excited about the prospect of managing Reading and that he was taking the job having gathered more experience in his short time away from the game.

“I’ve had two months out, I’ve gone round Europe, seen different things and I’m excited about the future now,” he said.

Several managers had been linked with the job at Reading with Brighton boss Gus Poyet reportedly having talks before deciding to stay put.

Former Swindon Town manager Paolo Di Canio was also a potential candidate.

Taylor backs retrospective action on diving and tackles

By Martyn Ziegler PLAYERS’ chief Gordon Taylor will argue for rules on retrospective action to be widened to allow both diving and dangerous tackles to be dealt with at English footballer’s stakeholders’ annual meeting this summer.

The Football Association is going to look at the issue surrounding retrospective action again after the furore that followed the decision to take no action against Wigan’s Callum McManaman for his tackle on Newcastle’s Massadio Haidara.

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore has said the incident should have been regarded as “exceptional” which would allow retrospective action to be taken and Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Taylor agrees - but wants to

Shocking: Callum McManaman’s (left) challenge on Massadio Haidara went unpunished, while players regularly get away with diving go still further.

Taylor told Press Association Sport: “We are not saying matches should be re-refereed on a Monday morning

but my feeling is there has got to be room to review such incidents.

“If there is a high-profile incident and the referee has

not seen it and the referee’s assistant has not seen it clearly then that should be dealt with.

“We could have a review

panel made up of experienced people from within the game and it could also look at incidents of simulation, which I feel is another big problem in the game.

“If we are not careful we will get into areas of ambiguity and saying a dangerous tackle is ‘not exceptional enough’.

“If there is any doubt for such incidents, for red cards that are being challenged and for simulation there is no reason why they shouldn’t be looked at.”

The FA is keen to look at the issues again, while Scudamore believes the rules do not need to be changed, but that incidents such as McManaman’s tackle should be regarded as exceptional.

The Football League may prove the sticking point however as it is understood it was the body most opposed to any move to review more incidents after matches.

FIFA World Cup Qualifying Serbia Scotland

2 0

Belgium Macedonia

1 0

Wales Croatia

1 2

Armenia Czech Republic

0 3

Denmark Bulgaria

1 1

Malta Italy

0 2

Germany Kazakhstan

4 1

Rep. of Ireland Austria

2 2

Estonia Andorra

2 0

Turkey Hungary

1 1

Netherlands Romania

4 0

Azerbaijan Portugal

0 2

Northern Ireland Israel

4 0

Ukraine Moldova

2 1

Poland San Marino

5 0

Montenegro England

1 1

France Spain

0 1

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

32 Murray recovers to see off Dimitrov in Miami 29

Sport Woods heads to Masters basking in renewed success

By Steve Keating TIGER Woods’ renewed success has him back on top of the world rankings but questions thrown at him after Monday’s triumph at Bay Hill were about something he has not done for a long time, win the Masters.

While all signs point to Woods being close to his best after years of struggling with injuries, personal strife and a tedious swing overhaul, his comeback will not be complete in many minds, including his own, until he snaps a drought in the majors that dates back to the 2008 US Open.

Woods’ 77th PGA Tour victory moved him within five of Sam Snead’s career record but it is another mark, Jack Nicklaus’ 18 majors, that has been the 37-year-old American’s ‘Holy Grail’ since he burst onto the professional golf scene.

With 14 major titles on his resume, Woods will get a chance to add to his total and confirm his comeback is complete at next month’s Masters at Augusta National, where he has four wins but none since 2005.

Asked what Monday’s Arnold Palmer Invitational victory at Bay Hill, his final competitive tune-up before Augusta, meant to him Woods had a brief answer: “more media interviews.”

Woods has collected three wins in five starts this season, the earliest he has captured three titles in a season since 2008, making him the clear favourite going into the Masters.

But success in his final Masters tune-up has never translated into victory at the year’s first major.

Three-times Woods has won

his final event before the Masters (2000, 2003, 2008) and each time failed to reach the Augusta winner’s circle.

Still, few will be betting against Woods slipping into a fifth green jacket next month.

“I enjoy competing, I enjoy winning golf tournaments and especially major championships,” said Woods. “To have, at one point in my career, had all four of them on my coffee table in a row was a pretty neat feeling.”

With all parts of his game coming together and his personal life seemingly back on track, Woods looks unstoppable heading into Augusta.

Yes indeed, life is good again for Woods, whose whirlwind week began with him announcing he had a new love interest in Olympic skiing champion Lindsey Vonn and ended with him atop the world rankings for the first time since October 2010.

At a point in most careers where most athletes’ best years are behind them, Woods has set about redefining the parameters of his sport, insisting that his best is yet to come.

Looking every bit his familiar dominating self so far this season, Woods had a warning for his fellow golfers, explaining that his overhaul was not yet quite complete.

“I’m getting there. I’m getting there,” assured Woods.

“I’m very pleased that some of the shots that I struggled with last year are now strengths.

“One of the things that we need to continue to work on is getting it more refined because my good ones are really good. Just making sure the bad ones aren’t that bad.”

Funny business: Tiger Woods enjoys his triumph with tournament host Arnold Palmer

Scolari’s charisma not matched by dour Brazil 30

ENGLAND ONLY THIRD SIDE TO BAT OUT FINAL DAY WITH FOUR WICKETS DOWN

We’ve done it: Matt Prior (left) is congratulated by Monty Panesar after the pair defied New Zealand to save England

Amazing Prior inspires England’s great escape A

LASTAIR Cook was unable to watch the final nerve-wracking overs as England somehow scraped a Third Test draw yesterday to end the series all-square.

Matt Prior hit an unbeaten 110 and ensured England avoided humiliating defeat with the help of Ian Bell (75), Stuart Broad (61 balls before getting off the mark) and, at the death, Monty Panesar.

The No.11 came to the wicket with 19 delieveries remaining and, at that point, Cook retreated to a dark corner of the dressing room.

He said: “I watched 95 per cent of it - the last 18 balls I didn’t watch, but I was having a running commentary.

It was quite a nerve-racking day, when you can’t do anything about it. Matt Prior’s knock was just outstanding.”

Kiwi skipper Brendon McCullum said the result was “heartbreaking” but, reflecting on England’s failure to win a series they were expected to dominate, Cook added: “We’re disappointed we haven’t done that. We haven’t played as well as we needed to. That’s the bottom line.”

Locked 0-0 after two rain-

affected draws, yesterday’s final day of the series promised so much.

New Zealand had not beaten a major cricketing nation since they overcame West Indies 2-0 at home in 2006 and the England series had been an attractive advertisement for the longer form of the game that ebbed and flowed throughout.

Tension gradually ratcheted up throughout the day as Ian Bell and Joe Root battled through the first 105 minutes and neighbours began to look nervously at each other wondering if England may get to the break without losing a wicket.

The second new ball, however, gave the hosts renewed hope.

Paceman Trent Boult steamed in and with a delivery that nipped back from middle stump, he had Root trapped in front for 29.

In his next over, the final one before lunch, Bell was dropped by Dean Brownlie at fourth slip before Jonny Bairstow was spilled by Kane Williamson in the gully two balls later.

The match was crackling with tension with Bairstow’s dismissal after the break as New Zealand’s bowlers, knowing the Bell-Prior partnership was the one to

break, charged in, seeking that one delivery that would tip the game in their favour.

Southee hit Prior on the pads twice in one over. One appeal was turned down, the next was successful, but the England wicketkeeper immediately asked for a review, knowing that he had nicked the ball into his legs first.

Less than 10 minutes later, Prior mistimed a pull shot from a Southee bouncer and Neil Wagner turned at midon, bolted 20 metres in a desperate attempt to make the catch that would place the hosts under huge pressure.

His diving effort fell just short, however.

Wagner then hit Prior in the helmet and the ball dropped down the face of the stumps, bounced and spun back and nestled at the foot of the wickets but failed to dislodge the bails.

The left-armer ultimately had the final say when a tired-looking Bell fell in the final over before tea and New Zealand’s players celebrated as if they had won the match.

Play after the tea break only heightened the drama.

Every ball that zipped past the bat was greeted with an almighty ‘Oooooohhh’

from the crowd, while cries of ‘Catch it!’ from the field and deliveries thudding into pads periodically brought them to their feet.

Prior, as is his style, counterpunched, while Broad simply stayed put, taking 102 minutes to get off the mark.

The introduction of parttime spinner Williamson, however, changed the match when he had Broad and Anderson caught by Ross Taylor at slip in the same over, sending Panesar out to join Prior for the final 19 deliveries.

Panesar almost chopped his first delivery onto the stumps, fell over himself trying to give the strike back to Prior and played and missed at two deliveries before he managed to push a single off Boult to leave his partner to face the final three deliveries.

On the third, Prior blocked it away, raised his arms and the travelling Barmy Army rose to their feet in jubilation.