Sunday Mail newspaper

CYPRUS LIFE

CLEVELAND GIRLS INSIDE

95-year-old Elsie Slonim started her life over many times, mostly in Cyprus

No fanfare for longest held captive whose family gave up searching for her

Pages 6-7

Page 10

www.cyprus-mail.com

May 12, 2013

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TALES FROM THE COFFEESHOP: STRANGE DAYS AT THE BANKS INSIDE Cyprus EU: erratic Christofias was ‘irritating at best’ 3

World Bloodshed blights Pakistan elections 9

Lifestyle Two films to look at complicated life of YSL centre

Property What to do in the garden this month 23

Sport Lampard breaks record in Blues win back

PAGE 17

Electricity cash quicker than gas Exporting electricity from gas power stations would yield profits far sooner than pricey LNG plant

By Elias Hazou

A

N ISRAELI-led joint venture’s proposal to produce and export lucrative electricity from possible gas reserves within offshore Block 3 is being “considered” by the government, the Sunday Mail has been told.

The venture had bid for Block 3 but was not picked, the exploration licence ultimately awarded to the ItalianKorean consortium of ENIKOGAS. But Dr Eli Barnea, CEO of Sigma Explorations Holdings Limited - which has a 75 per cent stake and was the designated operator in the Israeli joint venture - said this week that their offer still stands.

The Israeli-led group’s proposal on Block 3 incorporated the construction of a power plant on the island for exporting electricity to Israel and for generating electricity for Cyprus’ local consumption, by linking the two countries’ grids via a subsea cable.

Due to their geography, both nations are currently isolated in energy terms and vulnerable to failures at their main power plants, argues Barnea, citing the Mari disaster of 2011.

In that respect, a 1500MW capacity plant in Cyprus would be a win-win for everyone.

Barnea says the Cyprus government and the ENI-KOGAS consortium could be persuad-

ed to ‘farm-in’ the Israeli-led joint venture.

One option might be for the Israelis to purchase part of the Block 3 gas from the Italian-Korean consortium. They would then finance a natural gas-powered plant on the island and sell the bulk of the generated electricity to Israel.

In addition to the jobs created in building a facility, Cyprus would benefit from charging a fee for the export of electricity to the neighbouring country.

Barnea sees Block 3 as being ideal for the project, because of the prospect’s close proximity to Cyprus shores - some 65km from Cape Greco.

Moreover, drilling there would cost far less - about US$40 million compared to US$100 million in other prospects - because of the lower sea depths.

Lower development costs in turn would yield lower electricity prices, making them attractive to the Israeli market.

“With electricity, you need only be competitive on a regional basis. With natural gas, on the other hand, you’re competing on a global level,” Barnea argues.

And electricity exports from Cyprus to Israel could begin from late 2015 or early 2016; by contrast, the option of exporting gas via a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant cannot be achieved sooner than 2020 or 2021.

Barnea holds that exporting

TURN TO PAGE 5

President Anastasiades attending the DISY party conference

(Christos Theodorides)

President: ‘We will feel proud again’

By Stefanos Evripidou IN A conscious effort to raise the country’s dampened spirits, President Nicos Anastasiades yesterday pledged Cyprus would get out of the quagmire and once again be a proud nation with dignity.

In a rousing speech before the 15th congress of the ruling Democratic Rally (DISY), where he was made honorary party president, Anastasiades acknowledged the country was going through challenging times.

“We are without doubt living through the

most difficult period since the 1974 invasion. Never before have we had to deal with so many cumulative challenges and impasses at the national, political and economic level.

“Never before were the feelings of disappointment, uncertainty and insecurity experienced by our fellow citizens so strong,” he said.

“I want to tell you something I feel very strongly. We’ll make it, we’ll make it, I promise you we will make it because I have the same tenacity, the same will and

TURN TO PAGE 2

2 May 12, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

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Energy a tool for regional cooperation ‘once the Cyprus problem is solved’

Weather

Nicosiaa

25

Troodos 14 Limassol Paphos

25 Larnaca

25

3 23

TODAY: Cloudy with isolated showers. Temperatures will reach 25C inland and in the south, 23C in the west and 14C over higher ground.

OUTLOOK: Instability continues over Monday to Wednesday, with temperatures remaining steady

ENERGY CAN be used as a tool to bring about regional cooperation and integration in the eastern Mediterranean, said Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides, following his meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington on Friday.

In an interview with Athens News Agency, Kasoulides said it became clear after his meeting with Kerry, requested by the State Department, that the economic crisis is not being linked with a solution to the Cyprus problem or explorations for hydrocarbon reserves in Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

He noted that Kerry seeks to get personally involved in efforts to solve the Cyprus problem.

On the issue of hydrocarbons, he said both men agreed that “it could act as a positive vehicle for all protagonists once the Cyprus problem has been solved, and that energy should not become a source of conflict, but a tool, a motive for cooperation and regional integration”.

“To use (energy) in the form of threats would be the worst development,” he added.

During his visit to the US capital, Kasoulides also brought the issue of the return of the fenced off part of Famagusta back on the table, proposing that Turkey put words into action and undertake a meaningful confidence-building measure. In exchange, Cyprus would agree to di-

rect trade between the EU and the north and unblock a number of frozen chapters in Turkey’s EU accession talks.

Kerry reportedly agreed to raise the issue with the Turkish prime minister and foreign minister during their visit to Washington next week.

Turkey’s PM Tayyip Erdogan will reportedly raise the issue of energy in the eastern Mediterranean during his meeting with US President Barack Obama.

Regarding his meetings with Congress, Kasoulides said a lot of interest was shown in the role Cyprus could play in the region through its EEZ, and shared maritime borders with Israel, Egypt and Lebanon.

President Anastasiades hands over the DISY leadership to Averof Neophytou

(Christos Theodorides)

YESTERDAY

Nicosia Larnaca Limassol Paphos Paralimni Prodromos

max/min temp 23 - 15 26 - 16 25 - 17 23 - 16 26 - 17 12 - 8

SUNRISE: 05.45 am

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SUNSET: 19.41 pm

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Anastasiades: ‘We will feel proud again’ Averof Neophytou takes over DISY leadership (Continued from front page) determination like all our people have,” he added.

The president said a second package of measures to kickstart the moribund economy would be announced in the coming weeks.

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measures” to modernise the state, eliminate bureaucracy and corruption, embed meritocracy and the prestige of the institutions and restore trust in politicians.

“And I want to assure you that we will all feel proud one day, because we will not give up on principles, we will not abandon values, and we will not betray our formulated positions.

We want a state worthy of the expectations of our citizens, all of them, without exception, and we will make this a reality because we have the will, the strength and the faith,” said Anastasiades.

During the party congress, the president handed over the reins as party leader to his former number two, Averof Neophytou.

After 37 years in the party and 16 years as its leader,

Anastasiades said it was impossible not to feel moved.

“But it was a conscious decision because I want to serve as president of all Cypriots,” he added.

DISY deputy Lefteris Christoforou was appointed deputy head of the party, while Soteris Sampson, Stella Kyriakidou and Giorgos Georgiou were all made vice-presidents.

Josefina Antoniou was named head of the women’s section of the party.

At the time of printing, voting continued yesterday afternoon to elect the 20 members of the ruling party’s political bureau.

Addressing the congress as new party leader, Neophytou yesterday said that implementing the loan agreement with the troika was a one-way road involving painful sacrifices to get Cyprus out of the storm

and on to dry land.

“In this country, all of us, some less, others more, postponed critical and necessary reforms of the state, the banking sector, the pension system, the size of the public service and the health system,” he said.

Like Anastasiades, he avoided pointing the finger as to who was responsible for Cyprus’ current predicament, noting the Cypriot public was well aware of the road which had led to economic chaos.

“Now is the time for joint efforts of all political forces to create the greatest possible unity, the search for common objectives and avoid unnecessary conflict,” he said, adding that it was the job of the committee of inquiry appointed to look into the causes of the economic catastrophe and to apportion blame.

3 SUNDAY MAIL • May 12, 2013

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ERRATIC CHRISTOFIAS WAS ‘IRRITATING AT BEST’ ● ANASTASIADES KNEW OF BAIL-IN PLAN

Bailout the price for falling out with EU

By Nathan Morley in Brussels A TOP EU official has claimed that the humiliating raid on Cypriot bank accounts was a punitive measure for excessive time wasting and increasingly strained relations with the government of Demetris Christofias.

The disclosure was the latest twist in what appears to be an intensified war of words between Nicosia and Brussels, as the fallout from the bailout crisis continues.

In an interview with the Sunday Mail at the European Commission, the senior official speaking on strict condition of anonymity, said the financial rescue plan would have been ‘like any other’ if Christofias’ administration had listened to countless warnings of economic meltdown, avoided employing a haphazard obstructionist policy and toned down antiEU rhetoric.

“We warned more than once that political decisions on the Cyprus rescue plan needed taking urgently, but every single suggestion we made, everything we advised was ignored,” the official said, whilst admitting that the bailout was tantamount to gang-stomping Cyprus for its

behaviour.

He added a bailout for Cyprus was all but inevitable from 2011, but Christofias appeared less interested in relations with Brussels as he was holding out hope for a bilateral loan from either Moscow or Beijing.

“If I’m straight with you, I can say the Cypriots pissed off everyone,” he added.

The official, who worked within the Eurogroup at the highest level, gave a withering assessment of the previous president accusing him of opting for a policy of negligence and arm-wrestling by “stuffing the economic problems of Cyprus into a cupboard and slamming the door”.

The escalating spat between Brussels and Nicosia comes just days after EU commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn confirmed that Cyprus was censured for its foot-dragging from as early as November 2011. That was when the first warnings of the stricken economy were issued, with Cyprus applying for a bailout last June.

“It is unfortunate that it took Cyprus more than half a year to accept the gravity of the situation and the unsustainability of its business model. And it is similarly un-

fortunate that it took Cyprus another nine months to reach an agreement with the Eurogroup,” Rehn told MEPs from the European Parliament’s monetary affairs committee on Wednesday.

Aside from losing patience, another point of contention amongst EU politicians and technocrats was Christofias’ increasing erratic behaviour and public outbursts against Brussels, which were described as being ‘irritating at best’.

DISCONTENT The rumbles of discontent from the troika were amplified in January, when Christofias said: “It’s my firm conviction that unilateral policies of austerity are a guaranteed recipe for failure, only succeeding in making the rich richer and the poor poorer.”

A change in tone was reflected by the enthusiastic welcome extended to Nicos Anastasiades when he arrived in Brussels as the newly sworn in president.

It was thought that differences would be put aside, setting the seal on a new relationship, with Anastasiades promising to work for a quick deal hours after being sworn into office.

However, the same official

harshly rejected President Anastasiades’ insistence that he was unaware that a bail-in plan on bank deposits would be pushed through at the first Eurogroup meeting on March 15, claiming many people were left perplexed by such claims.

“The president of Cyprus gives a very good impression of someone who did not know what was going to happen,” the official told the Cyprus Mail.

He added that relations between Nicosia and Brussels nosedived after MPs from Anastasiades party refused to vote for the first bailout the following week, then snubbed a pre-arranged conference call with troika technocrats.

Among other criticisms were false public hints by the Cypriot government that Britain was willing to discuss helping with the rescue and the dispatch of Finance Minister Michalis Sarris to Moscow.

President Anastasiades denies accusations of having prior knowledge of the bailout terms, or of having passed along sensitive information from the eurozone negotiations prior to the freeze on bank withdrawals and transfers.

Nicosia also rejects claims that the original agreement

Deputy finance minister: Russia hasn’t yet agreed to extend loan for Cyprus RUSSIA has not yet agreed to extend the terms of its 2.5 billion euro loan to Cyprus, Russia’s deputy finance minister said yesterday.

“There was a request ... to change the duration of the loan, we promised to think about it,” Sergei Storchak told reporters, on the sidelines of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development annual meeting, speaking through an interpreter.

“This was a kind of promise - if somebody wants to see it as a done deal, there is nothing I can do about it.”

He added that any changes to the terms of the loan would need parliamentary ratification.

“For that to be a done deal, we need to have it on paper.”

Cyprus’ foreign minister said this week that Russia had agreed to extend the terms of the loan as part of its participation in the bailout.

A document prepared by international lenders also reported that Russia agreed to extend the maturity of the loan to Cyprus by two years and cut the interest rate.

Russia lent Cyprus 2.5 billion euros in 2011 for five years, with an annual interest rate of 4.5 per cent. Extending the loan and reducing the interest would ease debt servicing costs for Nicosia and help it regain financial stability.

Christofias accused of ‘stuffing the economic problems of Cyprus into a cupboard and slamming the door’ - which included a tax of 6.75 percent on smaller deposits was concocted by Anastasiades and his aides.

“We were flabbergasted

when they said this was not their idea, it is distorting facts”, said another diplomat who was also at the Eurogroup meeting.

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4 May 12, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

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The NHS really is on its way, minister insists Health contributions and private doctors’ volte face make NHS a few steps closer

By Poly Pantelides

S

ITTING around a stately oval table in his office last week, the health minister said that recent criticism from the medical association on the future of the National Health System has left behind a bitter taste.

“The bitter taste is not there because they opposed the government’s or my own thoughts and goals,” Petros Petrides said.

Rather, it comes because the medical association has not appreciated an important step on the long road to realising a National Health System (NHS) to which all workers contribute and all can use. That step, he said, is that public sector workers now have to contribute towards their healthcare.

“What is happening is that there is a partial implementation of the NHS,” he said.

This is a grand statement that needs some unravelling to make sense, because on the face of it, the reality of a state healthcare system that is fairly available to all is as far away as ever.

The medical association, the umbrella organisation that looks after the interests of doctors in both the state and private sectors, had taken issue with this “partial implementation” that secures subsidised health care for public servants and their dependents in return for their contributing 1.5 per cent of their gross salary. Although the new measures mean that for the first time this sector will now contribute to their healthcare - previously it was completely free - the medical association has described it as unfair on those working in the private sector which is largely ineligible.

“It is showing favouritism against the rest of our co-citizens, working in the private sector and possibly earning less,” the association announced late last month.

The health ministry negotiated healthcare coverage for civil servants and those who re-

Health Minister Petros Petrides

ceive state pensions as part of the latest draft memorandum of understanding agreed with the troika as part of the island’s bailout. The troika had wanted civil servants to lose their automatic access to state healthcare.

The new measures still allow some coverage for those in the private sector and actually lower some of the income criteria for eligibility which already existed. Five-member families may voluntarily contribute the same 1.5 per cent of their gross salaries to ensure coverage.

Some sufferers of chronic diseases will be automatically entitled to healthcare. For those not asked to make contributions, there will be sliding income criteria which have been lowered to €15,400 yearly for individuals, and €30,750 yearly for four-member families, plus an extra €1,700 per additional dependent.

Most private sector pensioners will continue being eligible for state healthcare based on income criteria, and even non-beneficiaries will have access to the system, on charges that are set to rise by 30 per cent but are still attractive compared to the private sector.

For the minister, the inclusion of civil servants means healthcare coverage has been secured for more people than the troika initially wanted while gently nudging civil servants into realising they will have to pay even more in the future.

LEARNING TO PAY And learning to pay for healthcare paves the way for when (and if) parliament updates the now outdated and never-implemented 2001 law which was to form the basis of an NHS which saw everyone paying a bigger part of their salaries.

It was obvious, during a recent news conference announcing the new measures, that Petrides was very proud of the “hard negotiations” with Cyprus’ lenders that have secured state healthcare for a larger segment of the population than would have otherwise made the cut, even though this is less than the 660,000 people who were - in theory - previously eligible.

Parliament has passed the bill and the changes are streamlined to take effect within the next few months. To qualify for state healthcare, beneficiaries need to have been paying in social insurance for three consecutive years.

This last measure will go some way to limit the demand for state healthcare which has grown rapidly over the years, first with the opening of crossing points when Turkish Cypriots living in the north - but paying no contributions to the republic - started using the system in 2003.

Demand has also been fuelled by the 2004 EU accession which saw a new influx of nonCypriot EU residents. And in recent years, there has been a growing number of Cypriots who can no longer afford private healthcare.

While successive governments and stakeholders have proclaimed their love and commitment to a NHS, Cyprus remains the sole EU country without a state health scheme that covers all members of the public and ra-

Demand for state healthcare has grown rapidly in recent years tionalises costs.

It took the ongoing recession to force stakeholders to start discussing the NHS seriously, and it took the troika of lenders to force the government to start taking necessary actions.

Meanwhile, health costs have risen so much since that first 2001 law that the troika of lenders has said there can be no tenders on the vital IT system, for example, before the government updates an actuarial study to reflect true (and rising) costs.

But now the political will is in place, Petrides said. Crucially, the traditional resistance from the powerful private health sector is rapidly crumbling as the recession bites deeply into the once massive profits private doctors enjoyed. Private doctors have traditionally opposed the NHS because up until now it would have meant either less money or a less secure source of income. If they opted to be part of the NHS, they would have to accept lower pay as part of a standard tariff across the board for family doctors akin to the UK’s GPs and for specialists getting patients referred to them via a GP. In addition, a properly functioning NHS would be a better competitor to those private sector doctors who opted to continue in private practice.

The head of the medical association, Andreas Demetriou, conceded that private sector doctors have changed their views.

“Over the years, many doctors - especially the big doctors - were against (the NHS). But now there is no choice,” Demetriou said.

From nearly 100 private clinics and hospitals, there are now a little over 70, Demetriou said. The private sector used to work at an average 50-60 per cent capacity but now operates closer to 20-30 per cent, he added. According to Demetriou, prices have dropped and private doctors sometimes choose not to charge or to offer discounts to vulnerable groups.

Demetriou said that doctors needed to acknowledge their profit margin would drop.

There are after all he said, 2,000 doctors in the private sector compared with 800 doctors in the state sector. Meanwhile, health insurance companies have not dropped their premiums, Demetriou added.

But a hint at the real reason behind their criticism of state servants’ coverage comes from the umbrella body of private laboratories whose board has suggested discounted prices for the beneficiaries that should be covered by state sector - not for the uncov-

ered private sector. “While the private sector is driven to bankruptcy, the state sector is using taxpayers’ money to comply with necessary measures... and compete with the private sector,” the association said. Cue a statement about the need to implement an NHS as soon as possible “so that patients’ safety is guaranteed in both the private and public sector,” a dig at the overworked state sector’s long waiting time for lab test results leaving patients’ doctors with incomplete information in the meantime.

It’s quite a reversal of roles with the private sector now united in their love for the NHS.

GUARANTEED LIVING An NHS would indeed guarantee a living for everyone in the medical sector, curb rising expenses, regulate the average cost of treatment and get a standard tariff for both state and private services. A family doctor would act as a gatekeeper to prevent abuse of the system (e.g. seeing a specialist with no need).

And the IT system, which will be built on a Built-Transfer-Operate model to alleviate costs, will also reduce bureaucracy.

Meanwhile, the health ministry is busy implementing measures that the troika said need to be adopted before the country gets any bailout help. This includes restructuring hospitals, addressing waiting lists, and coding healthcare costs according to kinds of medical procedures.

And the government has decided to pay €6m to the private sector for certain services to help the private sector and alleviate pressure from state hospitals, President Nicos Anastasiades said.

But that figure is comparatively tiny. Last year the cost to set up a NHS was edging close to €1.0 billion, a figure reflecting contributions by the government, and employees and pensioners over a year. And this is before the actuarial study is updated. And a lone sentence in the latest draft of the memorandum speaks of what could happen should the financial costs turn out to be prohibitive: “If needed, a comprehensive reform with the aim of establishing the long-run viability of the system, will be carried out”. What this reform may need to be, it is not yet clear. But everyone agrees that something needs to be done.

“I’m not saying we will have the NHS this year or the next, but gradually we will have it,” Petrides said.

5 SUNDAY MAIL • May 12, 2013

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Gas should be used for electricity exports Funds would pour in years before LNG plant complete, says power station investor (Continued from front page) natural gas is not the best option for Cyprus because the added value is not that high. According to his own estimates, Cyprus would stand to make $10 per million BTU from exporting electricity, compared to just $3 per million BTU from exporting gas via an LNG terminal.

The proposal is not a new one. It was brought to the attention of the Cyprus National Hydrocarbons Company (CNHC) back in January through a detailed presentation.

And a month ago, Barnea

expounded on the plan’s merits during a meeting with President Anastasiades in Nicosia; the response from the president was “generally positive”, says Barnea.

It’s also likely the idea was discussed between Anastasiades and Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu during the former’s visit to Israel this week.

What’s changed since January is the financial crisis here, which has taken a sharp turn for the worse.

“Before 2020 - and that’s being optimistic - LNG won’t be making a penny for

A gas-powered electricity plant could complement an LNG terminal, but the profits would be felt far sooner Cyprus. But if Cyprus can cash in on hundreds of millions of euros from electricity exports as of 2016, for a period of 20 years, that’s a hell of an incentive,” Barnea says.

In the meantime, the CEO continues to lobby Tel Aviv.

Barnea aims to persuade the Israeli state to issue a conditional statement of intent to purchase around €1bn of electricity a year from Cyprus.

And in an unmistakeable display of can-do attitude,

the entrepreneur thinks he can get that “in a month”.

To finance the approximately €5bn project, Barnea will be seeking an offtake agreement backed by the state of Israel. An offtake agreement is a deal between a producer of a resource and a buyer of a resource to purchase/sell portions of the producer’s future production. It is normally negotiated prior to the construction of a facility (such as a mine) in order to secure a market for the

future output of the facility.

If lenders can see the company will have a purchaser of its production, it makes it easier to obtain financing to construct a facility.

Offtake agreements are frequently used in natural resource development, where the capital costs to extract the resource are significant and the company wants a guarantee that some of its product will be sold.

Barnea also suggests the Electricity Authority of Cyprus and the Israel Electric

Corporation could be invited to co-finance and be stakeholders in the project.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an energy official here called Barnea’s pitch “both serious and worthy of consideration.”

What makes the proposal interesting, the source said, is that it does not rule out the LNG project - the stated cornerstone of Cyprus’ energy plans.

“Rather, the two can be complementary,” the source said.

6 May 12, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

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It has been a long and varied life for Elsie Slonim, a life in which all the

A life of beginnings

By Poly Pantelides LSIE SLONIM’S book of almost a century of twists and turns is so incredible and poignant that it could be a work of fiction. But the 95-year-old whose Nicosia home - where she still lives - became engulfed in a restricted military zone in the Turkish-occupied part of the city in 1974 has quite simply lived an extraordinary life.

A newly wed Elsie first arrived in 1939 in Limassol where her husband, David, managed a citrus farm in Fassouri. Through both choice and need, Elsie waded through the world and a long, difficult marriage, living in the USA, Romania, Austria, Palestine/Israel and France. But Cyprus was to become the returning point time and time again.

Slonim’s recently released autobiography Lemons from Paradise not only tells the astonishingly frank life story of a beautiful Jewish girl born in 1917, but also recreates a very personal history of 20th century Cyprus, first as a British colony, then as an independent nation and finally as two communities split into two after the Turkish invasion. All of these events impacted directly on the family’s many business ventures.

Elsie’s life was peripatetic from the start. She was born in Brooklyn, New York to a German-speaking Hungarian family that moved back to Europe soon after she was born, first to a family estate in Sivac, that later became part of Yugoslavia, then Romania, where her father had a factory, and also Austria where Elsie and her sister, Stella, went to school.

By 20, Elsie had already been married and divorced, a gutsy move in the 30s when divorce was still taboo.

Her father was livid.

“Not only had I married a man who could not bring any money, now I was disgracing the family by getting a divorce,” she said.

Elsie’s father was happy for her to immigrate to America in 1939 to stay with extended family “not because of the threat of war which was increasing every day, but because of the gossip about me which, he said, had to stop.” So Elsie and her sister, who decided to accompany her, booked tickets for the grand RMS Queen Mary (now a tourist attraction in California) and Elsie was given $70, which was all she had.

During that voyage she met her future husband, David Slonim, a Jew from Palestine, born in Siberia in 1905 and living in Cyprus where he was a manager of a fruit plantation.

Following a brief romance, David proposed.

Elsie’s family were not impressed.

“None of them knew where Cyprus was, and when they discovered it was in the eastern Mediterranean and a British colony, that, in other words, it would be in a war zone if, as expected, war broke out, their opposition to my going there with

Some of the locals thought she was one of the Jewish women who escaped from the Nazis and worked in cabarets

E

Clockwise from top: Lmassol harbour in 1939; David and Elsie on the top of Troodos shortly after they arrived; the house where Elsie now lives in the Turkish military zone in Nicosia; harversting the grapes on the Fassouri plantation in the 1940s David increased,” she recalls in her autobiography.

Despite family opposition and a shocking ‘post-nuptial’ agreement she married David within months.

Just hours after their marriage David demanded she sign an agreement in front of a lawyer that gave him the right to divorce her if she was unsatisfactory as a wife. She would lose all claims to his property and be returned to the US with 50 pounds sterling.

“The foundation of our marriage had been shattered. Even now, I cannot forget or forgive that dreadful day,” she said. Even so, she signed it and went on to have a long, turbu-

lent yet sometimes happy marriage.

Under such inauspicious beginnings, David and Elsie landed in Limassol in July 1939. They were greeted by one of David’s partners at the Fassouri plantation who wore what “English colonists almost everywhere the climate was conducive to such attire, namely, khaki shorts, matching half-hose, a straw hat, and a white short-sleeve shirt”.

In Cyprus, David soon proved to be the workaholic he was to remain, and Elsie was mostly alone in a house with no refrigerator or ice box, and no closets or chairs in the bedroom. In the kitchen, a cage attached to an iron chain hang from

the ceiling to keep the ants from getting to perishables, such as milk and butter that were often defeated by the heat.

“Was it known in Cyprus that heat rises, and that the air close to the ceiling is always warmer than the air elsewhere in the room? I never found out.”

Going around on a used bike in small Limassol and getting lost in its winding streets, she later realised that some of the locals thought she was one of the Jewish women who escaped from the Nazis and worked in cabarets.

Without family or friends, unable to talk to her husband whose life

was consumed by the growing plantation at Fassouri, and just months after arriving, Elsie attempted suicide. She made a painful recovery and in the process made friends with English ladies who had heard through the grapevine of her failed suicide attempt.

“One by one each lady wearing a hat and glove arrived in a coach… beautifully attired in clothes that fitted her upper class status. In accordance with custom, each stayed about ten minutes with me chatting about the weather and other innocuous topics, and then departed, leaving with me visiting cards. … I was to call within two weeks.”

Life improved as Elsie became part of “a friendly circle of elderly ladies” and the proud owner of the first refrigerator in Limassol.

Her autobiography describes visits to Kyrenia at the beginning of the war, where the couple stayed at The Dome whose guests included retired high-ranking British army officers, commissioners and “wellto-do people who liked the colonial life and all that went with it”. During dinner, “almost every other lady wore an eye-catching, sleeveless long evening gown with a conspicuous décolleté.”

In 1941 with Cyprus expecting a German attack, Elsie and her husband were evacuated along with other Jews to Palestine where Elsie’s parents and her sister now lived.

The years that followed were hard.

Within weeks of their arrival in Palestine, a restless David returned to his farm in Cyprus, risking his life to make the dangerous journey, while Elsie, now pregnant, raised their son, Reuven, until she could return to Cyprus in 1945.

Inspired by a need to help the new state of Israel with his agricultural know-how, David relocated the family back to Israel in 1948, when their daughter, Rachel Daphne, was born.

When their life there failed to go as planned, the family returned yet again to Cyprus in 1953. With his

Summer campaign to halt motorbike deaths Arson suspected in car fires TRAFFIC POLICE chief Demetris Demetriou yesterday launched a police campaign aiming to record zero road deaths of motorcyclists this summer, aptly named Target Zero.

Speaking to reporters, Demetriou noted that the number one cause of death for motorcyclists is driving under the influence followed by speeding. He highlighted one case

were a motorcyclist was caught by police going 276km per hour on the Nicosia-Larnaca highway.

According to the traffic chief, in the last ten years, from the 235 motorcyclists killed on the road, 112 were under 25 years of age, while 142, counting for 60 per cent, were not wearing a helmet.

Police estimate that at least 100 of

those who died would be alive today had they worn a helmet, he argued, In the last ten years, 2,500 motorcyclists have sustained injuries as a result of road accidents. The summer campaign for zero road deaths is being jointly organised by the non-profit organisation Reaction, the Ledra motorcycle club and the police force.

A FIRE in a used car dealership in Paphos early yesterday morning caused extensive damage to three used cars worth €10,000.

The fire was spotted by passersby at 2.30am yesterday in a car dealership on Nikiforos Brettakou Street in Paphos. The Fire Service rushed to the scene and put out the fire before it spread but not before it had engulfed three cars.

Following examination of the scene, police have concluded that the fire was a result of arson.

7 SUNDAY MAIL • May 12, 2013

Home

major events of 20th century Cypriot history have featured heavily would visit up to three times a year but after he suffered a stroke on one visit, she returned to Cyprus with him. David died in his sleep in 2007, aged 101.

Even then, financial security eluded her. Elsie lost all her savings in an American bank that defaulted in 2008, and she started selling her silver to survive until a Swiss family friend caught wind of her situation, cleared her debt and persuaded her to accept money so she could get back on her feet. Elsie then discovered an old pension application, and now gets by on a pension from the Austrian government.

Elsie lost her daughter to cancer in 2009 and her son in 2011 from a massive stroke.

The clue that Slonim’s book has been the sum of her experiences is in what she leaves out, such as how four generations of her relatives came to die in the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz. Was it too painful to write about? “Yes,” she nods. But she is willing to tell the story.

“Do you want to hear it?”

It is a harrowing tale, but she is not sure if she should relay it during a book reading next week.

“Do people want to know? They have their own troubles,” she said.

Elsie and David in Tel Aviv in 1941 (left) and in Nicosia in 2003

position at the Fassouri plantation no longer available, they moved to Nicosia determined to make a fresh start. But Cyprus had changed.

Waiting in the wings was EOKA and the push for Enosis.

“We were little prepared for the civil strife that eventually would change life forever,” Elsie recalled.

Animosity between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots grew, and the

family noticed the growing hostility towards the British. David’s business venture - another plantation failed, partially because the troubles made the transport of his produce so difficult. When he was offered a job in Paris, it seemed sensible to accept, but by 1967 he was eager once again to return to Cyprus where he aimed to invest in tourism, real estate and another plantation.

At first, all went well. Business boomed. They built a house in Nicosia to which David with astonishing prescience added an air raid shelter.

In 1974, the family hid in it while fighting raged and when it stopped, they were allowed to stay in what was now a restricted military zone.

“It is a lonely house. … The mansions of those who were our friends and neighbours stand empty and

are gradually falling apart,” she says of the place where she still lives.

The family lost virtually everything in the invasion. Leaving David behind to spend his days desperately and fruitlessly trying to find ways of regaining access to his property in the north, Elsie finally returned to the United States in 1975 where she worked for many years as a companion to wealthy elderly people. David

Lemons from Paradise is available from the Moufflon bookshop for €19.97. A book reading under the auspices of Limassol mayor Andreas Christou is due to take place in Limassol this Tuesday at 6pm at the Historical Archives and Research Centre. Elsie Slonim is also due to talk about her adventures at the Goethe-Institut in Nicosia on June 12, at 7pm.

8 May 12, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

World WORLD TODAY ‘Attack averted’ EGYPTIAN security forces have captured an al Qaeda-linked militant group that was on the verge of carrying out a suicide attack against a foreign embassy in the country, the interior minister said yesterday.

Mohamed Ibrahim, speaking in a televised news conference, declined to say which embassy had been targeted. He named three suspected members of the cell now under arrest.

“The Interior Ministry was able to direct a qualitative blow to a terrorist cell that was planning suicide operations against vital, important and foreign facilities in the country,” he said. These included the planned suicide attack on a foreign embassy, he said.

New mural sale A BANKSY mural which was withdrawn from a controversial auction at the 11th hour has been put up for auction again in the U.K., to the dismay of local campaigners.

Slave Labour, which shows a young boy hunched over a sewing machine making Union Jack bunting, appeared on a wall in Wood Green, north London, last May, just before the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

It disappeared from the side of the Poundland store in February and then appeared in Miami for auction, but was withdrawn at the last minute after protests from Haringey Council.

But the work is now up for sale at an auction in Covent Garden on June 2 by the Sincura Group.

Former Egypt leader back in court for retrial Mubarak charged with complicity in murder

By Alexander Dziadosz and Yasmine Saleh FORMER Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was back in court yesterday for a retrial on charges of complicity in the murder of protesters, reopening a case that has shown the difficulty of transitional justice in postrevolutionary Egypt.

Mubarak and his former interior minister, Habib elAdli, were convicted and sentenced to life in prison last June for failing to stop the killing during the 2011 uprising that swept him from power. But a court ordered a retrial in January after accepting appeals from both the prosecution and the defence.

Each cited different shortcomings with a trial that was criticised for the weak evidence offered by the prosecution.

After a three-hour session broadcast live on state television, during which the charges were read and the prosecution made a statement, the proceedings were adjourned. The next hearing was set for June 8.

The prosecution promised to offer new evidence including some taken from the re-

port of a fact-finding committee set up by President Mohamed Mursi in 2012.

The findings were not made public as promised by Mursi, but leaks published by Britain’s Guardian newspaper last month alleged the military was involved in torture, killings and forced disappearances during the uprising, which it denied.

‘BUTCHER’ Mubarak, 85, sat upright on a hospital gurney as he was wheeled into a cage where defendants appear. As he entered, some in the courtroom chanted: “The people want the butcher executed.”

Wearing aviator sunglasses, he raised his arm to confirm his presence as Judge Ahmed al-Rasheedy read a list of the accused and said, “Present.”

He waved his arm in denial when asked by the judge to respond to the charges.

His two sons, Alaa and Gamal, stood alongside him dressed in white prison uniforms. They face charges of corruption.

The retrial at a police academy on the outskirts of Cairo had been due to begin last month but was delayed when the previous judge recused himself.

An image grab taken from Egyptian state TV shows ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak sitting behind bars during a three-hour session of his retrial at the Police Academy in Cairo yesterday (AFP)

Deadly car bombs at border town

CO2 milestone THE amount of climatewarming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere topped 400 parts per million at a key observing station in Hawaii for the first time since measurement began in 1958, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said.

The 400 ppm threshold has become an important marker in UN climate change negotiations, tagged as a dangerous level by most climate scientists.

Rafsanjani entry FORMER president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani threw himself into Iran’s election race ysterday as a flurry of heavyweight candidates rushed to beat the registration deadline in the most unpredictable contest for decades.

Iranian media reported that Rafsanjani - a relative moderate - had registered for the June 14 election with just minutes to spare. His candidacy radically alters what was previously seen as a contest between rival conservative groups.

Mubarak is being held at Torah Prison on the outskirts of the capital. He remains in jail despite release orders because he faces charges in a separate corruption case.

Mubarak, Adli and four of his former top aides are accused of involvement in the killing of more than 800 protesters who died in the 18day uprising. Two other Interior Ministry officials face lesser charges.

Mubarak’s imprisonment last June was a historic moment - he was the first ruler toppled by the Arab Spring revolts to stand trial in person. But the case exposed the difficulties of attaining justice when the judiciary and security forces are still largely controlled by figures appointed during his era.

Adli’s four aides were exonerated due to the weakness of the evidence, and the judge convicted Mubarak and Adli on the grounds of their failure to stop the killing, rather than actually ordering it.

The prosecution had complained that the Interior Ministry had failed to cooperate in providing evidence.

Outside the court, a small group of protesters gathered under a baking sun held aloft banners demanding justice.

Residents evacuate a wounded woman to hospital after car bombs exploded yesterday near the town hall in Reyhanli, near the main border crossing into Syria

TWIN car bombs killed at least 20 people near Turkey’s border with Syria yesterday, increasing fears that Syria’s civil war was dragging in neighbours and drawing a swift warning from Ankara not to test its resolve.

Turkey supports the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said it was no coincidence the attacks in the town of Reyhanli came as diplomatic moves to end the conflict intensify.

“There may be those who want to sabotage Turkey’s peace, but we will not allow that,” Davutoglu told reporters during a trip to Berlin. “No-one should attempt to test Turkey’s power, our security forces will take all necessary measures.”

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

NATO member Turkey has been one of Assad’s harshest critics and has harboured both Syrian refugees and rebels during the uprising against him, now in its third year.

Prospects appeared to improve this week for diplomacy over the civil war, in which more than 70,000 people have been killed, after Moscow and Washington announced a joint effort to bring government and rebels to an international conference.

But a Russian official said yesterday that

there was already disagreement over who would represent the opposition and he doubted whether a meeting could happen this month.

Smoke rose above Reyhanli, which lies in Turkey’s southern Hatay province, after the blasts, which occurred close to local administrative buildings.

“We have around 20 dead and 46 people were injured, but we have to note that many of the injuries are severe, which means the death toll could unfortunately rise,” Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said in comments broadcast on Turkish television.

Erdogan said this week that Turkey would support a US-enforced no-fly zone in Syria and warned that Damascus crossed President Barack Obama’s “red line” on chemical weapons use long ago.

A no-fly zone to prohibit Syrian military aircraft from hitting rebel targets has been mentioned by American lawmakers as one option the United States could use to pressure Assad.

Erdogan is due to meet Obama in Washington on May 16.

Violence has spilled over the border before.

Most recently in February, a minibus blew up at a border crossing near Reyhanli, killing 14 people and wounding dozens more.

Osborne claims ‘improved’ world econ outlook after G7 meet THERE is an “improved outlook” for the world economy but it remains fragile, George Osborne said after hosting “successful and constructive” talks with G7 finance ministers and central bank chiefs.

The Chancellor said there was more agreement between the rich nations making up the group on how to nurture the recovery than was often sug-

gested - citing areas such as tackling tax avoidance and ensuring banks are no longer “too big to fail”.

But he declined to give any details of the talks, which were held on an informal basis in a country hotel in Buckinghamshire.

He said he recognised that the larger G20 group - which includes emerging economic powers such as China, In-

dia and Brazil - was now the “primary economic forum for setting the global rules of the game”. But he insisted the G7 nations - the US, Germany, Japan, the UK, Italy, France and Canada - still wielded “major economic firepower” as they represented around half the global economy between them.

Speaking at the close of the twoday gathering, Osborne said: “we all

agreed that growth prospects remain uneven and we can’t take the recovery for granted.

“So we focused our discussions on the necessary actions that we, as advanced economies, indeed economies which account for half of the entire world economy, can take to nurture the global recovery and ensure it is sustainable and lasting.”

9 SUNDAY MAIL • May 12, 2013

World

Bloodshed blights Pakistan’s election

Former Guatemala dictator is found guilty of genocide

Early count figures show Sharif, Khan well ahead

FORMER Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt has been found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity during the bloodiest phase of the country’s 36-year civil war and was sentenced to 80 years in prison.

Hundreds of people who were packed into the courtroom on Friday burst into applause, chanting, “Justice!” as Rios Montt received a 50-year term for the genocide charge and an additional 30 years for crimes against humanity.

It was the first time a former head of state had been found guilty of genocide in his or her own country.

Rios Montt, now 86, took power after a coup in 1982 and was accused of implementing a scorched-earth policy in which troops massacred thousands of indigenous villagers thought to be helping leftist rebels. He proclaimed his innocence in court.

“I feel happy. May no one else ever have to go through what I did. My community has been sad ever since this happened,” said Elena de Paz, an ethnic Maya Ixil who was two years old in 1983 when soldiers stormed her village, killed her parents

By Katharine Houreld and Mehreen Zahra-Malik THE parties of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan appeared to be well ahead of their rivals in Pakistan’s election, according to a partial count of votes cast yesterday.

The election, in which 86 million people were eligible to vote, will bring the first transition between civilian governments in a country ruled by the military for more than half of its turbulent history.

Despite pre-election violence, and attacks yesterday which killed at least 17 people, millions turned out to vote.

The partial count showed that while Sharif was in the lead, his party could lose 15 of its seats in the critical province of Punjab to Khan, whose emergence on the political stage has up-ended a system dominated by two parties.

Television channels showed Khan’s party was ahead in more than 50 of the 272 seats in the election.

Khan, Pakistan’s bestknown sportsman who led a playboy lifestyle in his younger days, is seen by many as a refreshing change from the dynastic politicians who long relied on a patronage system to win votes.

His Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) appeals mostly to young, urban

A Pakistani soldier mans the turret of an armoured personnel carrier during a patrol in Karachi yesterday, amid polls marking a landmark test of the country’s democracy voters because of his calls for an end to corruption, a new political landscape and a halt to US drone strikes on Pakistani soil. About one-third of the country’s population is under the age of 30.

Sharif’s party, the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N), looked set to win the most seats in parliament, but it was yet unclear if Khan could deprive it of a majority and dash Sharif’s hopes of a return to power, 14 years after he was ousted in a military coup, jailed and later exiled.

The strong performance of Sharif and Khan will likely deal a blow to the outgoing Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), placing it third.

Power in Pakistan has for decades alternated between the PML-N and the PPP, whose most prominent figure

is President Asif Ali Zardari, widower of assassinated former premier Benazir Bhutto.

Opinion polls have suggested that disenchantment with the mainstream parties could mean that no one group emerges with a parliamentary majority, making the next government unstable and too weak to push through muchneeded reform.

Voters were electing 272 members of the National Assembly. To win a simple majority, a party would have to take 137 seats.

However, a further 70 seats, most reserved for women and members of non-Muslim minorities, are allocated to parties on the basis of their performance in the contested constituencies. To have a majority of the total of 342, a party would need 172.

Space walk bid to fix station leak TWO astronauts aboard the International Space Station began a spacewalk yesterday to try to fix an ammonia leak in a cooling system on one of the station’s solar arrays that provide electricity to the orbital outpost.

The crew spotted a steady stream of small, white frozen ammonia flakes floating away from a coolant line outside the station on Thursday, according to NASA. Mission managers reviewed images and data before deciding to send American astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn out yesterday morning to try to stop

the leak by replacing a pump on the cooling system.

“The crew is not in danger, and the station continues to operate normally otherwise,” NASA said in a statement.

Ammonia is used to cool the power systems that operate each of the station’s eight solar arrays.

The leak is on the far left side of the station’s truss structure, in an ammonia loop that astronauts previously tried to troubleshoot during a spacewalk in November 2012.

Pakistan’s Taliban, who are close to al Qaeda, have killed more than 120 people in election-related violence since April. The group, which is fighting to topple the USbacked government, regards the election as un-Islamic.

Sentenced: Rios Montt and burned her home.

Prosecutors say Rios Montt turned a blind eye as soldiers used rape, torture and arson to try to rid Guatemala of leftist rebels during his 1982-1983 rule, the most violent period of a 1960-1996 civil war in which as many as 250,000 people died.

He was tried over the killings of at least 1,771 members of the Maya Ixil indigenous group, just a fraction of the number who died during his rule.

A throng outside the court chanted “Justice! Justice!” when the guilty verdicts were handed down on Friday.

The human rights group Amnesty International hailed it as the trial of the decade.

10 May 12, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

World

Michelle Knight’s name long ago removed from FBI missing data base

No fanfare for longest-held Cleveland girl

Michelle Knight (left) is estanged from her grandmother Deborah and mother Barbara

Joy at the DeJesus household as Gina returns. The family have offered Michelle a home

By Daniel Trotta and Kevin Gray

never had even before she was allegedly kidnapped by Ariel Castro.

“They’re a loving family, a giving family. Felix and Nancy will take care of her and make sure she gets the helps she needs,” Collins said.

Two days ago, Gina triumphantly returned to the neighbourhood and walked into her home as hundreds of neighbours and well-wishers cheered.

By contrast, Michelle’s homecoming had no fanfare.

Neither Knight’s grandmother nor her mother, who moved to Florida but flew back to Cleveland this week, have seen her.

MICHELLE Knight, freed earlier this week as the longest held of four captives in a dungeon-like Cleveland house, has been discharged from the hospital and gone into seclusion.

Two other women held with Knight - Amanda Berry, 27, and Gina DeJesus, 23, along with a 6-year-old girl left the hospital earlier this week and have been reunited with their families.

Knight, 32, who is estranged from her mother and other members according to her grandmother, was released

early Friday afternoon from MetroHealth Medical Center, which issued a plea to respect her privacy.

The Daily Mail reported yesterday that DeJesus’ family is planning to ‘adopt’ Michelle and look after her as their daughter after Michelle rejected a meeting with her own mother, a friend of Felix and Nancy DeJesus.

The paper said Michelle was taken to Gina’s house after her release from hospital.

Lupe Collins, a neighbour who helped the DeJesus family look for Gina since she disappeared in 2004, told the newspaper that Nancy

DeJesus told her in a phone call on Thursday that she and her husband are trying to convince Michelle to stay with them.

“She was Gina’s sister for ten years in that house and she’s still her sister now,” Collins said.

“They’re going to take her in as their own family member and help her.

“Michelle doesn’t want to go back to her own family because they abused her before she was kidnapped and they only want the money now.”

Collins told the Daily Mail that the DeJesus family will be able to offer Knight the loving household that she

“No, we haven’t - on her request. She does not want to be seen by family,” Deborah Knight, the grandmother, told Reuters.

One of Michelle’s two brothers, Freddie Knight, did go to the hospital and visited with his sister immediately after the three women were found.

“Her skin was white as a ghost,” said Freddie Knight.

“She told me she was excited to start a new life.”

He has since spoken to her once by phone but said he would leave her alone at the request of the hospital.

DNA tests released on Friday, meanwhile, identified their tormentor Ariel Castro, 52, a former school bus driver charged with kidnap and rape in the decade-long abduction ordeal, as the father of the girl, who was born in captivity to Berry, the Ohio attorney general said on Friday.

The Cuyahoga County prosecutor vowed on Thursday to seek murder charges, which could carry the death penalty, against Castro because police say there is evidence Knight suffered forced miscarriages.

Knight had at least five miscarriages that she told police were intentionally caused

by Castro starving her and beating her in the abdomen, according to an initial police report.

Knight was a 20-year-old single mother when she vanished in 2002 after losing a custody battle with child welfare authorities over her son, who was about 3 or 4 years old, Deborah Knight said.

“They took him and she went out and took off and never came back,” said the grandmother, noting the family believed she ran away.

During the women’s captivity, CNN reported, their tormentor showed them televised coverage of vigils held by the Berry and DeJesus

families, who have said they never gave up hope the girls would return home alive.

Knight’s family did not hold vigils and her grandmother said they were certain Michelle was dead.

“We didn’t think we would see her again,” Deborah Knight said.

Michelle Knight’s mother filed a missing persons report after she disappeared.

Before her discharge from the hospital, Knight was described as “in good spirits” in a statement released by MetroHealth.

“She is especially thankful for the Cleveland Courage Fund,” said the statement, referring to a charity set up to gather funds for the kidnapping victims. “She asks that everyone please continue to respect her privacy at this time.”

During their captivity, police said, the women endured beatings, rapes and at times confinement in ropes and chains.

Investigators have found a lengthy note written by Castro in the house detailing his own sexual abuse and talking about suicide, a city councilman said on Friday.

“He alluded to his own sexual abuse.... Presumably it was when he was young,” said Councilman Brian Cummins, who said he was briefed by someone who read the note. “And if he was to carry out his suicide, he wanted to split the money from his house between the three women.”

Castro also wrote “it was the victims’ fault” that they were abducted, “deflecting the blame away from himself,” Cummins said.

Police removed Knight’s name from an FBI missing persons database 15 months after she was reported missing in 2002 because they were unable to contact a family member to find out if she had been found, The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.

11 SUNDAY MAIL • May 12, 2013

News Review A new era

Central Bank governor Panicos Demetriades smiles above a sign indicating his position during a press conference on Thursday (Christos Theodorides)

COMMON interests between Cyprus and Israel render the two nations natural allies, President Nicos Anastasiades said on Tuesday on the last day of his state visit to the neighbouring country.

“We are inaugurating a new era in relations between our two countries,” he added at a working lunch with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem.

“Cyprus is Israel’s most reliable neighbour,” he added. “The two countries are committed to collaborating - we have historic ties and a common culture, but also a common blessing that are the hydrocarbons.”

Cyprus to blame THE HEAD of the Eurogroup, the eurozone’s finance ministers who negotiated Cyprus’ bailout deal, was on Tuesday grilled by members of the European parliament (MEPs) over Cyprus’ bailout.

Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem was asked by MEPs in the committee on economic and monetary affairs to explain the exact circumstances of what was referred to as a “debacle” and “a fiasco” of a bailout, and was even scolded by French MEP Sylvie Goulard.

Dijssebloem said Cyprus’ overgrown financial sector caused the indebted island’s problems, defending the controversial bailout agreement as “the best possible way” to handle the situation.

8,000 jobs THE government on Tuesday rolled out three schemes worth over €30 million to boost employment as Cyprus experiences its worst jobless rates in three decades.

Labour Minister Zeta Emilianidou said the schemes aimed at providing work for 8,000 people, the majority in the wider tourism sector. “Statistics show a large number of unemployed Cypriots,” the minister said. “With everyone’s cooperation our fellow citizens will be able to find jobs.” Around 45,000 people were registered as unemployed in April, with 33,500 being Cypriots.

Church millions AFTER promises of mortgaging Church property and donating Churches’ valuables to kick-start the economy, Archbishop Chrysostomos II has now pledged to employ thousands of people through “millions’ worth of development projects. Speaking on Monday during a visit to the general hospital of Paphos, the Primate said the Archbishopric was going to invest between €60 million and €70 million to build a hotel in Paphos, on land belonging to the Archbishopric. He also said that he would invest over €100 million to build a 75MW photovoltaic park just outside Nicosia, and said he was also planning to build a private 75MW power plant in collaboration with

Blame game continues The government has rolled out schemes to boost employment as Cyprus faces its worst jobless rates in three decades

Russian and Israeli partners that would cost “several millions”.

Russia loan RUSSIA has agreed to extend the maturity and reduce the interest on its loan to Cyprus, it emerged on Tuesday, providing financial relief to the island on top of an EU-IMF bailout. Cyprus had complied with all conditions set by international lenders for the first €3 billion of the €10 billion bailout to flow to Nicosia later in May, said an April 30 document, drawn up by the troika of the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the IMF. Russia lent Cyprus €2.5 billion in 2011 for five years, with an annual interest rate of 4.5 per cent. Extending the loan and reducing the interest will ease debt servicing costs for Nicosia and help it regain financial stability.

Dog attack PEOPLE islandwide were left shocked and horrified this week after a five-yearold boy was killed by an Akita dog while visiting a family friend’s home in the

QUOTES OF THE WEEK “You are the most optimistic undertaker I’ve ever encountered” French MEP Sylvie Goulard to head of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijssebloem on the Cyprus bailout “With a bit of hard d work we will bounce back”” Archbishop Chrysosrysostoms “Dog owners must st take precautionary measures easures to prevent such incidents dents from happening, like keeping eeping their dogs on a leash eash even in open spacces because even if their pets don’t have a history of attacking people you never know what might happen or how any animal could react” Police spokesman Andreas Angelides

“It is unfortunate it took Cyprus more than half a year to accept the gravity of the situation and the unsustainability of its business model.

And it is similarly unfortunate that nine it took Cyprus another ano reach an agreemonths to reac ment with the Eurogroup. Indecisiveness, decisiveness delays and a very constraint ve ery firm financial na the options severely limited limi available” Commissioner European C Economic and Monfor Econom etary Affairs Olli Rehn have provided “We ha Turkish Cypriots Turkis with free healthcare and benefits, is that not enough, tha they want to use the halloumi to help ha a reconciliation” re e Head of the H cattle breedc ers assoe ciation Nicos Papakyriacou

“It is a sin to take advantage of a child’s pain just to boost ratings” Cyprus Radio and Television Broadcasting Authority Director General Neophytos Epaminontas “It is imperative that the leadership of the Cyprus Jewish Community, or any of its members, refrain from undertaking or encouraging any activities related with the illegal entity in the occupied areas of the Republic. To this end, allow me to comment that it is vital that the required respect and gratitude towards the country that is hosting the Jewish Community is demonstrated and that the principles of international law and the laws of the Republic of Cyprus are adhered to” President Nicos Anastasiades “I would not say I am satisfied with the progress at the BoC” Finance Minister Harris Georgiades (left)

village of Skarinou on Easter Monday.

The dog’s owner was released without charge until police complete their investigations, while the one-year-old dog has been put down. The incident happened on Monday at around 1.30pm in front of the boy’s 20-year-old half-sister. Statepathologist Sophocles Sophocleous said the boy, Eantas Loizou, had died from shock after having his carotid artery severed. Sophocleous also revealed the child had other bites on his neck, his right arm, his head and his back.

Indecisiveness CYPRUS was censured by top EU officials on Wednesday for its foot-dragging over a bailout from as early as November 2011 when the first warnings were issued, to the clinching of a deal some 16 months later, a timeframe, which had only made things worse, they said. European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, and vice president of the European Commission, Olli Rehn was briefing members of the European Parliament (MEPs) at the committee on economic and monetary affairs. Rehn said the Commission warned Cyprus about its accumulating problems early on but they were ignored.

Spending FORMER finance minister Charilaos Stavrakis on Wednesday blamed the banks and their regulator for the collapse of the economy as he portrayed himself as the “bad” minister who was always trying to curb government spending. Testifying for the second time before a committee of inquiry looking into the economic debacle, Stavrakis frequently repeated that Cyprus went bankrupt because of the huge losses incurred by the banks. The former minister said every week he used to raise objections to expenditure increases and he had also communicated his concerns over the state of the economy to former president Demetris Christofias.

Say cheese BRITAIN believes the European Commission could use halloumi as a confidence-building measure to improve Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot relations.

According to the Independent the British Foreign Office (FCO) told the Euro-

pean Commission that its ultimate verdict on Cyprus’ protected designation of origin (PDO) application for halloumi must “ensure that its decision takes due account of inter-community relations”.

The Turkish Cypriot side objects to having the Greek Cypriot side unilaterally making a PDO application on their behalf for hellim.

Ratings abuse CHILD Commissioner Leda Koursoumba on Thursday called on the media to act with more responsibility and critical judgement when broadcasting stories of any kind about children. The comments came after TV channels aired news stories about a ten-year-old Romanian girl and her grandparents who were evicted by their landlord on Easter Sunday and forced to sleep on the street. Koursoumba, who was speaking at a press conference yesterday with Cyprus Radio and Television Broadcasting Authority Director General Neophytos Epaminontas, had previously criticised the police’s handling of the situation and has asked the justice and labour ministers for a report on the incident.

CBC boss CENTRAL Bank of Cyprus (CBC) Governor Panicos Demetriades said on Thursday he had no intention of resigning, as a rift with the government appeared to persist over the way he was handling the island’s banking crisis. “There is no such issue,” Demetriades told a news conference. “I said it in the past and I would like to close this matter. As the CBC we did everything possible… to avoid much worse, catastrophic scenarios, which we actually had before us.”

Lesser evil Ex-finance minister Kikis Kazamias said on Thursday he was not aware whether former President Demetris Christofias either sought or received guidance before sanctioning a 2011 euro-area decision to write down Greek debt – a pivotal moment now widely acknowledged as having broken the back of Cyprus’ two largest banks. Kazamias said that during his stint no governmental meeting was held in 2011 or subsequently to discuss specifically the impact on the economy from the Greek PSI (Private Sector Involvement), also known as the Greek ‘haircut’.

12 May 12, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Opinion President must stop letting AKEL set the agenda THE SHAMELESS audacity of AKEL knows no bounds. The party which annihilated a oncethriving economy and drastically reduced the living standards of the entire population has come up with a proposal for ridding the country of the troika and the memorandum. The full consequences of the destruction caused

by Christofias and his comrades have not been felt yet, but AKEL has already started posing as the saviour of the country, coming up with a proposal that would supposedly rid the country of the troika and allow it to renounce the memorandum of understanding.

It is very easy according to this joke proposal. All we have to do is to negotiate our withdrawal from the eurozone with our partners and start printing Cyprus pounds as this would give us back our national sovereignty and presumably enable the government to give pay rises to the public servants once again. The superficiality of the proposal defies belief

but it is nothing less than we have come to expect from a party that based all its decisions for the economy on populist considerations, always putting the interests of AKEL above the country’s.

We doubt its proposal is meant to be taken seriously as it seems more like another piece of populist opportunism. The communists know that the troika and its austerity measures are deeply unpopular and it is positioning itself against the bailout in order to expand party support. If, eventually, there is public support for an exit from the euro, AKEL will claim it had been vindicated, but if there is not it will still make political capital out of its opposition to the hated memorandum, sustaining the myth that it had nothing to do with it.

The government and DISY have questioned the proposal and explained the dire consequences of an exit from the euro, but much more should be done to counter AKEL’s cynical populism. For decades, AKEL has been allowed

SundayMail to set the political agenda and dictate the political consensus, with the rest of the parties afraid to challenge it for fear of losing votes. For instance, keeping semigovernmental organisations under state control is AKEL dogma which all parties have embraced; giving in to the diktats of public sector union bosses and protecting the privileges of public sector workers is also communist dogma that all parties subscribe to.

We had hoped that President Anastasiades would have had the courage to break with this odious tradition, but so far he has been a disappointment. He has been pandering to public employees and their union bosses, pledging no more pay-cuts, agreeing to extra-generous redundancy payoffs for Cyprus Airways workers and putting back the privatisation of SGOs, while promising

their underworked staff no redundancies. It does not matter that one of the reasons we asked for a bailout was because Christofias obdurately refused to cut pay and privileges of overpaid public sector workers.

In fact, Anastasiades was acting like an AKEL president in promising no more pay cuts to public employees, who suffered the lowest pay cuts in the country despite their wages being, on average, 40 per cent higher than those of the private sector in which wage reductions have been twice as high. Wage differences between public and private sectors are even higher now, but the president is intent on protecting the privileged because he is too scared to challenge the AKEL propaganda about social cohesion and consensus.

But what social cohesion and harmony can there be in a country with two disparate classes of workers, when the politicians only care about protecting the parasitic, privileged class at the ex-

pense of the disadvantaged class?

The president should allow the communists of AKEL to defend privileged labour and he should start championing the interests of the have-nots that nobody seems to care about. He should consider that the self-proclaimed defender of the proletariat, AKEL, made the poorest workers poorer, while it was governing.

It is time the people who care for this country started to challenge AKEL’s dogmas, which it has been imposing on politics for years. It is time the motives behind the party’s declarations were questioned instead of embraced.

We should remember that AKEL allowed a manageable situation to veer completely out of control, leading the economy to ruin because the party’s populist agenda always came first. Anastasiades and the government need to keep reminding people of this at every opportunity, instead of sitting back and allowing the opportunistic communists to carry on calling the political shots.

Letters to the Editor Tourists don’t want to walk in the middle of the road Cyprus is going through a very difficult time. We all know and feel it. If tourism is so important for Cyprus, why are people not doing their jobs properly?

My family was over from the UK for the holidays, staying in Coral Bay. The hotel was fine but someone just opened a rental shop and is treating the pavement outside as a showroom for his quad bikes.

My family with small children had to walk on the middle of the road to be able to reach the main street in Coral Bay. I complained to Peyia municipality and the police but nothing has been done about this. My family and many others in the hotel were complaining.

Why does Cyprus give the tourist the chance to complain back home? People will not come back.

This seems a small issue but people don’t like to walk on the street. They want to walk on the pavement. If Cyprus cannot handle all the small issues what about the real problems?

Please realise that tourism is important. Let´s try not to give them a reason to moan or complain... and shopkeepers, a pavement is not a showroom for quad bikes.

JL Paphos

Where are those so-called job opportunities for our children?

A lot has been said recently about new schemes, funds and initiatives to help our youth find work in this current climate but I have yet to see any real advances in this area.

My son was trying to find any work by walking from business to hotel to pub -- through union offices and of course the unemployment office and yet nothing came out of it for him.

Five appointments were given him at the union office and every single one told him they had no idea who told him that

there were any vacancies.

Eleven hotels said that Russian was a prerequisite (this is not taught in the local schools as part of the curriculum) The unemployment office offered no appointments and no insight into any of the purported schemes and also told him that he was not entitled to any unemployment benefits as he had not worked the previous year (difficult to do as he didn’t finish school until July last year and then went straight into the army for six months.

Name and address withheld

Who would you rather believe?

Ironic that on the same day EU monetary affairs chief Olli Rehn was blaming the previous government’s stalling and delays for the harsh bailout, one of Demetris Christofias’ many former finance minsters was sitting in an inquiry blaming the banks and the explosion at Mari yet again. Who would you rather believe? So far this whole investigation has been a sham.

JM, Nicosia

Voting with our feet after humiliation I’ve recently got back from holiday to Cyprus with my wife. I thought I would email you to offer my thoughts on an experience we had very recently at a trendy bar on Mackenzy Beach in Larnaca in connection with the theme of how elements of local tourism, business and services are behaving in the current climate.

The trendy bar in question is one of those few places that makes the visitor wonder “wow, crisis, what crisis?”

Still people show up in flash modes of transport, wearing flash clothes, bling and flashing the cash.

The bar has installed some flashy lighting and other features to portray itself as Monaco by the East Med. The prices are there to match, and far from being thin on custom,

it is as busy as ever. Those who want to be seen, get seen there, out of anywhere in Mackenzy, or indeed most parts of Larnaca. We have generally enjoyed going, mostly because of fairly decent music and nice cocktails.

What happened to us was really quite remarkable and a first for me in my 34 years.

Arriving at around 8pm, we chose (deliberately) a reasonable, appropriate sized table for the two of us and one that was clearly not reserved as others were. A couple of hours into the evening, and a few cocktails later, the place was very busy.

It was then that two waiters approached, and one spoke to us to explain in very vague and unclear terms that the table was needed for others, that he thought we’d only be there for

a couple of drinks and could we go to the table in the corner (not a good spot at all, it was by the glowering bit near the bar where waiters rush to and fro taking orders.)

In our confusion and in my polite naivety, I automatically assumed we ought to go so we agreed. Taking our new seats, I then looked on as a group of trendy wannabees, one wearing dark sunglasses indoors when it was dark outside, sat down and were quickly feted by waiters armed with menus.

Either they wanted to fill the prime spot with diners who would be spending more than us, or they were part of a pretentious clique with connections, or both and were far more important than us two stragglers. The fact is, it is astonishing any business could

think that was appropriate and acceptable, but more so in an industry like this where goodwill is everything.

Shortly after moving tables, I requested the bill to leave.

We were only then offered 10% off our bill and an ‘apology’. Not before.

The insult was therefore worth in their eyes under 10 euros. Some recompense given the humiliating and offensive way we were treated I wonder whether the emperor’s new clothes will become disrobed once the crisis really bites, the hubris of the pretentious wanes and people with status suddenly find other things to do.

Needless to say, we will be voting with our feet. Let the market do its work, I guess.

Peter Hunt, UK

Does anyone know what Respect your tourists more need to show some respect for tourists. We do not the hell is going on here? Cypriots like to be run over by your little cars, when we have the right I worked many years in Switzerland and therefore now have a Swiss State Pension.

When living in Germany (before moving to Cyprus) nothing was ever deducted from my British or Swiss Pension Bank Transfers.

Now after two years living in Cyprus and not having anything deducted from my Pensions before, the Hellenic Bank has suddenly, in April (after the Bank crisis!) without notice deducted a hefty €10 from my Swiss Pension Transfer, their reason being that ‘Switzerland is not part of the EC’.

According to the leaflet from the British Pension service CF-N-701 O8, Switzerland has a reciprocal agreement with the rest of the EC, and European Community regulations apply there, so their

reason is invalid.

Also my pension is converted at source to Euros. I have written two strong letters of complaint with a copy of the leaflet CF-N-701 O8, stating that State Pensions within the EC are inviolable, and demanding reimbursement and cancellation of this incorrect and unjustified procedure.

Surely being under close financial scrutiny by the rest of Europe at the moment, they do not want to attract more negative criticism.

I would be grateful for any advice. There are probably many other people who would also appreciate an expert update on present permitted transfers of funds into and out of Cyprus bank accounts, and legal charges.

Carol Bean, Paphos

of way. Bus drivers should learn to speak clearly in English as we try to pay our fare. Restaurants that want our money should at least try to smile when we place an order or pay our checks. There may be a nice gratuity in it for you.

Tourists vote with their feet. And remember that one bad experience will influence at least ten other people negatively as well. We do talk amongst each other. And internet and SMS etc will make these opinions heard quicker. In the end our spent monies will support your ailing pension plans and give Cyprus a better change to survive.

Eric Castelein, via email

Giving acupuncture a bad name The title of the article “Acupuncturist cleared of double rape charges” on April 26 is misleading in that the accused is a Medical Doctor (Anaesthesiologist), who also practices acupuncture.

It should be especially noted that acupuncture, which is the insertion of fine, sterilized needles into specific points on the body, does

NOT involve the use of sedation, anaesthesia or drugging. For more information regarding Acupuncture as a profession and the standards of training, see guidelines set

by WHO (http://apps.who. int/medicinedocs/pdf/whozip56e/whozip56e.pdf).

Pancyprian Association of Acupuncturists, Ltd.

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13 SUNDAY MAIL • May 12, 2013

Opinion Since much of Eastern Europe has joined the EU, Germany has become unstoppable

The rise of the Fourth Reich Comment Sarah and Gerhard Pross “There was the First Reich with all the Habsburgian Emperors, then the Second Reich with the Prussians and Bismarck; Hitler called his dictatorship the Third Reich and now we have the Fourth Reich with Angela Merkel.” I had to think for quite some time, but finally I nodded. The young Cypriot lady was right.

Petroula studies history, archaeology, and German at the University of Cyprus. Like her brother, she wants to continue her studies in Germany. There are five bright kids in the family and due to EU membership, Cypriots pay no university fees in Germany. It is enough to be a good student. Petroula and her brother will make it. They have a future.

“It doesn’t make sense to deny dominance, that is if it exists,” said the German president Joachim Gauck a few days ago. I had to think for quite some time, but finally I nodded. To be aware of power structures is the foundation of rational politics. “Do not expect justice where might is right,” President Anastasiades told a European audience in Limassol by quoting Plato. Why is it such a problem to accept ancient Greek wisdom?

There is a new Reich in the centre of Europe with its empress Angela Merkel who is surely a nice example for Protestant honesty. But how did it happen? Why is a protestant German housewife suddenly the leader of Europe?

Basically we should start after the unconditional surrender of the criminal Third Reich in 1945 but we skip the first 40 years. We begin with Jacques Delors, so far the most successful president of the European Commission.

When he was appointed to the position in 1985, the European Union was largely irrelevant. It was the “period of eurosclerosis”. Delors overcame the stalemate and within a few years he transformed a weak Economic Union into the Single European Market (SEM) with its four basic freedoms: the free movement of people, capital, goods and services.

Delors was not only a convinced European but also a highly intelligent member of the French elite. Therefore, according to the old logic of European power games, we might summarise his subconscious intentions with the slightly modified sentence a British diplomat once coined for NATO: “to keep the English in, the Russians out, and the Germans down.”

For quite some time it worked. A good example is the First Gulf War. After the liberation of Kuwait, the Germans were forced to take out their cheque book and four billion deutschmark moved into the pockets of the US, the UK, and France. The US could play its leading role on the world stage without any foreign

support, but England and France needed German money. The division of labour within the European Union was clear. The English and French delivered the heroes for our TV screens while the Germans paid for the show.

The game changed after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. One result was German reunification which actually weakened the German economy. And of course, the Germans had to pay an external diplomatic price for their reunification too. Although the Americans were happy that they could move the border of their NATO alliance next door to Moscow, the Russians demanded upper limits for the strength and armament of the German army plus 15 billion deutschmark. The Germans agreed swiftly and a gentle rain of hard currency laid the groundwork for many Russian fortunes which later would be used to buy houses and football clubs in England.

As usual, the French approach was more sophisticated. Already during the 1970s the European monetary policy was mainly decided by the German central bank. Whenever the inflation-scared Germans put up their interest rates, the French had to follow in order to avoid a huge outflow of capital. And because French productivity never matched the one of their protestant neighbour, the pathological German anti-inflation policy was pure poison for the French economy.

The brilliant idea to soften the deutschmark was the euro. A European Monetary Union (EMU) would give Paris the chance to break the financial dominance of Germany. In a ‘coup de nuit’ the French president Francois Mitterrand submitted the idea to the German Chancellor Helmut Kohl who agreed immediately. Kohl wanted to become the chancellor of German reunification and by keeping the national goal firmly in mind he never cared about the lowlands of financial feasibility.

Of course he knew that a vast majority of German voters was not prepared to give up the symbol of their productivity and pride: die Deutsche Mark! It was quite a gamble, but in their national delirium the Germans ignored the price they would pay to the French. They re-elected Kohl and the euro was born.

The soft solution worked perfectly for nearly ten years. From the very beginning the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt - to establish the European Central Bank in Germany was the only concession the Germans could wrest from the French - made clear that there would be no longer a European monetary policy dominated by German angst. Above all, the euro saved not only France but also all the other Mediterranean countries a lot of money.

For quite some time the financial markets made nearly no difference between northern and southern European countries and everybody could borrow money at the much lower northern interest rate. The slogan was - and

And at the moment the Slavic-German Empire has a fitting leader: Angela Merkel

that has not only been true for Cyprus - “Buy now, pay later!” It worked well until the Americans ruined the credit bubble with excessive lending and the bankruptcy of the Lehman Brothers bank.

But the euro is only a tool and not the economic backbone of the Fourth Reich. The crucial development - we have to admit - was initiated by an English lady: Margaret Thatcher.

She massively opposed German reunification and she stubbornly pursued the old English policy of balancing the powers on the Continent. It was her idea to integrate the ‘cordon sanitaire’ into the European Union as quickly as possible. Due to their terrible experience in WWII, the people living there didn’t like the Germans and a quick EU membership of all Eastern European nations would thwart ‘an ever-closer union’ as envisaged by leading German politicians such as Wolfgang Schaeuble.

Again, there was no escape for the poor Germans who were plagued by the fear that hordes of cheap Slavic workers might enter the German labour market. The only concession the Germans could get from the Iron Lady was that the EU commissioner responsible for enlargement should be a German. But Guenther Verheugen, the German with the Dutch name, quickly became a traitor. Instead of slowing down the process of ‘Bringing-in-the-East’, he pushed forward the EU enlargement. Verheugen even nodded when the British came up with the idea to integrate their former colonies Malta and Cyprus into the European Union.

The Reich’s authority now extends to the shores of Cyprus, a constellation we last had in 1228, when Frederick II, Emperor of the First Reich, landed in Limassol with his Arabic guard.

But of course, the important expansion happened in the centre of Europe. If we count together the heads of the eastern newcomers from Estonia down to Bulgaria we reach a figure of 111 million people. We add the 82 million people who live in Germany - three million Turks included - and we get a population of 193 million for the Fourth Reich. These are 51 million more inhabitants than those in Russia,

the power which always has had the biggest population in Europe.

Please no misunderstanding, I know about the diversity of all these nations. My family comes from the East and I worked there for twenty years. It is still the most divided part of Europe and there will never be a national state; it will always be a ‘Reich’. But the citizens of the new empire are united by a simple and therefore powerful purpose: to prosper better than the rest of Europe.

The economic backbone of the Fourth Reich is cheap production in the Slavic east and solid engineering in the German West. Most parts of the cars and other machinery the Reich sells to the rest of the world are produced somewhere in the east with wage levels five times lower than those in France or in England. This matchless cheap supply chain gives the Fourth Reich its competitive advantage on the world markets.

And at the moment the Slavic-German Empire has the fitting leader. As a woman she has a basic advantage in Slavic countries with their tradition of the matriarchate. Slavic males are used to listening to wise women. In addition, Angela Merkel grew up in communist East Germany and therefore she has exactly the same very special life experience as all the other members of the eastern elites. Their ‘lingua franca’ is Russian because they all had to learn it at school.

Therefore it works smoothly with Merkel’s administration and there is a peaceful silence in the East. With her motherly steadiness Merkel has orchestrated an amazing reconciliation between the Germans and their Slavic neighbours. Looking back one day, it will be her crucial achievement which has made the Fourth Reich possible. As long as the Germans don’t play the nutty ‘Uebermenschen’ again, I cannot see what might remove them from the driving seat of the new European empire. Without the East, the rest of Europe will not have the power to do so.

Dr Gerhard Pross is an economist based in Cyprus. Sarah is his daughter

History games: a solution would suit us now Comment Loucas Charalambous THE CONDITIONS created by developments in the last 12 months - the discovery of natural gas deposits and the bankruptcy of the Cyprus Republic - have given rise to suggestions that now is the right time for a settlement of the Cyprus problem.

Of course when someone talks about a settlement he should bear in mind that the discussion is academic, because the Greek Cypriots do not want to hear about it. They have come to terms with partition, which they consider the best settlement.

It is no accident that whenever someone talks about a solution he comes under fire from our super-

patriots. ‘Settlement’ has become a dirty word which is guaranteed to spark mass hysteria. The AKEL leadership, for instance, in an announcement it issued a few days ago to declare its anti-Troikan sentiments, warned that those who were hell-bent on destroying us economically also had an ulterior objective - the imposition of an ‘anti-popular’ settlement through the return of the Annan plan.

Needless to say, all people with a brain know that if it were possible to bring back the Annan plan, the Greek Cypriots should be dancing with joy. But the AKEL leadership has no need to worry because now the Turkish Cypriots would not accept it. The only possible solution now is partition, as cemented by AKEL in 2004.

I would say that even partition - if

legalised - would be, under the circumstances, a solution. I think it is the worst possible solution, but if it is the choice of the majority then we should accept it. It is definitely better than the current situation which hides dangers so big they would give Greek Cypriots many sleepless nights, if they were aware of them.

A settlement in today’s conditions could prove beneficial particularly for our side. Many have noted the positive effect it would have on the efforts to cash in on our hydrocarbon deposits, as a settlement would end the risky confrontation with Turkey. Our side, with its unilateral moves in this direction, is constantly playing with fire and if someone is going to get badly burned in this high-risk game, it is more than likely to be the weak party.

There is another reason for supporting a settlement now. A settlement, partition included, would help the recovery of the economy more than any other measure. The re-building of areas that might be returned, especially of Famagusta, would boost investment and business activity which are the only remedy for unemployment.

There would be very big investments in the tourism sector, investments financed by foreign capital, as the Cyprus banks would be unable to provide funding. And there is little doubt that, in a few years this unrivalled tourist resort would generate huge income for the country.

In 2004 the Greek Cypriots rejected the Annan plan because they felt it was not in their interest, economically. One of the main arguments used against it was that a settle-

ment would force Greek Cypriots to ‘feed’ the poorer Turkish Cypriots.

But history plays strange games.

Today, it would be the Turkish Cypriots that have a good reason to reject a settlement, out of fear that they would have to ‘feed’ the bankrupt Greek Cypriots. How ironic, that the Greek Cypriots, who rejected the settlement for economic reasons in 2004, today have a real incentive to accept it, for economic reasons.

But, I repeat, the discussion is academic. The Greek Cypriot, even impoverished, does not want to hear of a settlement. Even President Anastasiades does not like bringing it up any more because he does not want to upset his government partner Garoyian, and he sent his foreign minister to the US to persuade the Americans and the UN that now was not the time for a settlement.

14 May 12, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Opinion

The land of Draconia The economic measures are sketchy and fail to answer how much we actually owe or how we intend to pay Comment Hermes Solomon

T

HE TROIKA haircut allied with draconian banking restrictions from a government which cannot confidently predict an upturn in the economy before 2016, concocting catchphrases like ‘together we can’, without telling us ‘what we can’, will return Cyprus to its pre-1950s Third World economy status. The new catchphrase, redolent of the 1974 ‘then xechno’ (I will not forget) is all our politicians have to offer while our economy nosedives.

Many of us still have term deposits held ‘in trust’ by our banks, but even if we wanted to invest in an economic recovery, we can’t get at our deposits on maturity in any substantial way. Restricting depositors to ‘hand-outs’ is no less than theft.

The pain is always worse the day after receiving a punch in the face. The troika punch will be followed by body blows (further memoranda) bruising our pride and destroying any remaining hope of an early economic upturn. By this time next year, we will end up punch drunk from increased taxation unless ways are found to cushion further troika blows.

President of the EU Commission, Manuel Barroso and Luxembourg Prime Minister (former Eurogroup chief) JeanClaude Juncker are urging reduction in austerity measures which means printing money and increasing loans/subsidies to struggling EU member states in an effort to create employment through investment in infrastructure - the US road to recovery. But the ECB and Germany would prefer not, even though austerity is now crippling the hearts and souls of many EU citizens.

Just where is this government’s exit plan, and I don’t mean isolated measures like the ones already announced? I mean a plan drawn up by professionals, stating exactly where we are now, where we aim

to go and how and when we will get there.

Even AKEL produced a 73 page exit plan that was comprehensive, whether we agree with it or not.

For a start, we should be told how much we actually owe and to whom, and how we intend to repay it. Has anybody put a monetary value on this government’s recovery ‘measures’, or are they shots in the dark? Does anybody know?

I understand that one of these “measures” provides for the building of a train service from Nicosia to Larnaca airport and another for a tram service in Nicosia.

As if tens of oversized empty buses wasting diesel and creating traffic problems at a cost of 75 million euros a year of taxpayers’ money wasn’t enough!

Of course, cynics will suggest that there are huge commissions, “mizes” to be made out of such projects, while others say that they would create employment, although contracts won by international companies will employ mostly foreign labour; the benefits will leave Cyprus either in the form of company profits or wages for the foreign workers.

And why do we need a new motorway connecting Paphos to Polis other than to hugely increase the value of certain property developers’ land book assets?

Would it not be better to subsidise our farmers to employ more workers and increase food production, thus reducing imports? To invest in self-sufficiency in power generation and water, tourism,

‘Sixty years ago there were two car owners in Strovolos, my grocer uncle owning a Morris Traveller, and a highly placed civil servant driving an Austin Cambridge. The rest of the villagers rode bicycles or donkeys’

Do we really need ten TV channels to report the same news at the same time in exactly the same order?

start-ups in small manufacturing units, encourage tradesmen, artisans and small enterprises? Do we really need to import perfect looking but tasteless Dutch tomatoes? We must replace what was there before the financial sector destroyed pre1990s Cyprus.

Do we need ten TV channels to report the same news at the same time in exactly the same order, followed by ten similar soaps? Do we need tens of radio stations, newspapers and hundreds of magazines producing little of real value? Is this the private sector’s equivalent of our overstaffed and under-productive civil service?

Despite all that has happened to Cyprus over the past few months, the biggest problem is that party politics still takes precedence over the good of the country; no decisions for the good are ever taken at the cost of ‘the party’.

Lack of trust and confidence in our politicians is causing depositors to remove their savings, albeit piecemeal, at an unsustainable rate. Rumours abound that a demise of the Bank of Cyprus will lead us out of the eurozone, returning us to a worthless Cyprus pound.

The president has affirmed his wish for Cyprus to remain in the EU. But then again, he also said that he would never permit a haircut of depositors’ savings nor condone privatisation of SGOs - he

forgot to mention banking restrictions at the time.

Returning to a worthless Cyprus pound and exit from the eurozone would make our tourist industry as competitive as that of Turkey and Egypt. But then our treasury will have to super-tax imported goods and we’ll pay through the nose for oil. What to do, that is the question?

We are strengthening ties with Israel, but just why is the University of Nicosia suddenly offering a language course in Hebrew when most educated Israelis and Cypriots speak English?

Sixty years ago there were two car owners in the village of Strovolos, my grocer uncle owning a Morris Traveller, and a highly placed civil servant driving an Austin Cambridge. The rest of the villagers rode bicycles or donkeys. Do we really want to return to the ‘good old days’?

It’s beginning to seem as though Archbishop Chrysostomos, this government’s ‘back seat’ driver, has taken a hold of the reins and is now driving the donkeys, having announced the Church will finance the construction of a hotel complex in Yeroskipou and a 75 megawatt solar power plant outside Nicosia among other investments for growth totalling 200 million euros. And why solar panels when we will have all that gas? Perhaps he knows that the gas is not for us unless we solve the Cyprob, already!

Reader’s letter: editor’s choice

We need visionaries to define our future role IN MY lifetime there have been only about half a dozen successful political game changers, the recently departed Margaret Thatcher, Gerhard Schroeder, Mikhail Gorbachev, Brian Clarke and maybe Ronald Reagan, if you couple him with ‘Gorby’. Each of these people confronted different scenarios, but they all came to the same conclusions. First, that the world was changing around them at an ever faster rate, whether they liked it or not. Second, that a failure to acknowledge and to adjust to meet the trend would be more painful than the pain of change.

Cyprus is a very traditional, conservative, and some may say, superstitious society. The present state was very badly set up, viewed in retrospect, but a series of ‘for-

tunate accidents’ occurred that have allowed successive political leaders to behave as if Cyprus is different. Tourism, shipping, holiday home development, offshore finance, (and possibly oil and gas in the future) have provided a revenue stream that has allowed this society to continue as if nothing had changed in the world. All these benefits have been far more short lived and under utilised than they might have been.

Today, tourism is worn out and increasingly only satisfies those who don’t know any better, yet.

It is now actually under serious threat from measureable improvements in northern Cyprus, in particular. The ‘property market’ burst spectacularly and is flat lining. Shipping is not doing so badly,

but we must wait and see with this one whether fee cutting will help or hinder it. As to offshore finance, I don’t need to rub it in.

We are coming to a point similar to the examples that I first gave at the beginning. Either way it is going to hurt, and for a long time, but ‘the answer’ is not to spend, in advance, the supposed benefits of hydrocarbons, because that is by no means secure, in fact the better the estimated potential, the more seriously Turkey must become involved to feed the needs of its German style economy. A way forward is to effect those structural changes to our economy and governance, including the Church, that are long overdue and to our society and to our own attitudes.

Who has the vision and the will

to see this through?

I see lots of people who really do not have the first idea about what is happening to our economy and our way of life, let alone how to deal with it. Many are in government. Look at the parliament last week with 27 MPs proposing, variously, a ‘No!’, a return to the Cyprus pound and exiting the EU. All that says is that we were so blind to the origin countries of our tourist industry, most of whom did not have the euro that we rushed into the euro and added spectacularly to our lack of competitiveness. We didn’t do anything to fix our long time brewing banking crisis, which was in part enabled by our euro membership. Turkey doesn’t want to join anymore, so we lost our so called pressure

point. Now we want to get out and go back to the Cyprus pound. Sorry boys that train left the station in 2004.

So the observation is that the world is changing around Cyprus.

We thought that we could avoid all that and continue to milk the next goat to come along and carry on regardless. We are just learning that we cannot.

We need the visionaries who can define our future role and can deliver on the essential ingredients, and if Cyprus doesn’t have them, or cannot find them - the new governor of the Bank of England is not an Englishman - we had all better start learning about herding goats Philip Beardwood Protaras

15 SUNDAY MAIL • May 12, 2013

Opinion How my plan to look professional backfired

uotes of the week

Y

OU KNOW those people who fall over in the street and make an ass of themselves? I do, because I’m one of them. In fact, I’m so used to it, that I can now laugh, pick myself up and walk on. Naturally on the inside I’m dying a thousand deaths, but do I show that to the world? I most certainly do not. Far too proud for that; even if they do say pride comes before a/nother fall.

Recently I had another one of those moments of public embarrassment.

Only this time, I didn’t even have to venture very far. Instead, it was all from the safety of my very own home, courtesy of social media.

Basically I decided that I was going to get ‘with it’ and join LinkedIn. It’s a professional social network used by 200 million people around the world and an increasingly common way to get your CV out there and noticed by recruiters.

You can apply for jobs posted directly by employers and therefore circumvent the recruitment company route; join groups and share experiences/communicate with other like – minded professionals; and expand your network and hopefully further your career. Unlike Facebook, which currently boasts 1.06 billion and includes users sharing his or her photos from Saturday night’s drunken stag/hen do, LinkedIn tends to be used by white collar professionals who want to share information about their professional lives/experiences.

You are not ‘friends’ with every Tom, Dick and Harry on LinkedIn. In fact, I’ve read it’s advisable to connect with people who know you and not total randoms who tickle your fancy.

Having decided to take the plunge and embrace this world of social media for all it’s worth, I even went so far as to set up a Twitter account. However I have yet to tweet anything as I don’t think anyone out there is too fussed about what @AlexiaSaoulli has to say in 140 characters. Saying that, however, I might just have to bite the bullet and take the plunge because any self-respecting journalist, writer, columnist, blogger and so on, has a Twitter account these days. And it doesn’t just stop with people. Businesses are jumping on the Twitter bandwagon with even the likes of road chef, at motorway service stations, boasting their Twitter accounts when you stop off for a pee break.

Anyway, back to LinkedIn. So, I’ve filled in all the information about my education and career. I’ve even written a small summary of what I’ve been up to recently and my experience to date. I’ve joined a few groups so that I look interesting. I also put up a profile photo. I don’t want to put up a really minging one, but I don’t want it to be too posy either. I settle for the one I have on Facebook, which is natural but weighing on the side of

“Up and down like a whore’s drawers”.

Ronnie O’Sullivan, interviewed after winning the world snooker championship, describing his mood swings

“It is hard being a lonely and joyless high achiever. I wish I could be mediocre”.

Writer Amy Molloy who signed a lavish book deal at the age of 23 “I think if I became a serial killer people would say ‘Well, they deserved it’”.

TV’s Michael Palin tries to shrug off the tag that he is “the nicest man in showbusiness”

Ex-boyfriends and my gynaecologist were included in my LinkedIn invitation

LinkedIn and my naked in public moment Letter from London Alexia Saoulli ‘having a good day’ natural, rather than ‘having a bad day’ natural. Then I have to send out invites to connect to people. From what I’m able to surmise it is linked to my gmail and has picked up the names of people in my address book.

It goes without saying I do not want to connect to everyone in my address book, because I don’t know everyone in my email address book. Gmail has the uncanny habit of memorising every single email address you’ve composed a message to or even replied to.

I have repeatedly tried, and failed, to delete some of these. Anyway, the first few times I manage to send invites to a few people I know well. After all, I’m a bit of a novice at this social media stuff and I don’t really like this whole concept of ‘connecting’ or ‘friending’ people. It all feels a bit surreal and alien to me. I remind myself that this is ‘busi-

ness’ though and that it might open doors for me.

And then it happens. I’m on there one day, clicking away at stuff, when suddenly an old flame accepts my invite. I’m like, WTF? I didn’t add HIM. Then I get a couple of more ‘acceptances’. Suddenly I feel the colour drain from my face and a familiar anxious knot forms in my stomach as the horror of what I think I’ve done starts to register.

“Please God no. Please, please, please God don’t let this be so.” My mind is in a bit of a panic and I ring my boyfriend who is a bit more computer savvy than me. I give him the gist of what’s happened and he logs into my account only to confirm that yes, I’ve sent over 200 invites.

“Pants.” I try to uninvite those invites. Can’t be done.

“Double pants.”

I want to be sick. I have one of those appearing in public naked moments.

My brother tells me not to sweat it and that it happens all the time. If he says so.

As the afternoon goes on I realise I have sent out invites to all sorts of inappropriate people. Ex-boyfriends, people I no longer

speak to, people I’ve applied to jobs for, people who have rejected me for jobs, and even, my gynaecologist. I actually have to stop thinking about who I have sent an invite to or I’ll physically throw up.

Two weeks on and I’m still getting the odd email from people I haven’t heard from in years apologising for not accepting my invite but explaining that they are not on LinkedIn. I have also been accepted by people who I know are wondering who the heck I am, because I’m wondering the same about them.

All in all the experience has been embarrassing and has taught me to be paranoid about clicking on stuff willy nilly. Although my embarrassment has waned since it first happened, I still want to cringe when I think how some of the recipients will have reacted to my ‘invite’. But, as I keep telling myself, in the grand scheme of things this is no real biggie, and in five years it won’t even matter, just like that time I fell flat on my face in Heathrow’s crowded Terminal 1 in March 2002 no longer matters...

“He is the only person who is more obsessed with punctuation than I am. It is the secret of a good marriage: sex and punctuation”.

Commentator Julie Burchill on her husband, Dan Raven “My unmade bed was a seminal artwork that changed people’s perspective on how they viewed life. I have done my bit for history. Now I can settle down and really paint some personal work that is a challenge for me”.

Artist Tracey Emin “You just do not think about sex at all. It is no longer an issue. The hormones are just not there”.

Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who says that sexual frustration is not a problem on expeditions

“Shut the f*** up”.

Alleged remark by Dame Helen Mirren, who, dressed as the Queen, emerged from the Gielgud Theatre in London’s West End to silence drummers disturbing her performance

“I am intrigued by the strength of Sir Alex Ferguson’s jaw after chewing gum for 26 years” Jamie Roberts, the Wales and British Lions rugby centre, pays tribute to the outgoing Manchester United manager “She never puts pressure on me to deliver or achieve. She has just been there very solidly in the background. Unfortunately for her, I have chosen a path that is quite big. Nothing is bloody small or simple”.

TV chef Jamie Oliver on his wife Jools “The ordained woman is a mother. She must be a mother and not an old maid”.

The Pope to hundreds of nuns in the Vatican

“I am not interested in vacuous blondes.. I love highly intelligent women who will beat me up and give me a hard time”.

Lord (Jeffrey) Archer

“Completely useless”.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy slams his successor, Francois Hollande

16 May 12, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

World in pictures

A placard featuring children victims of gun violence is displayed during a demonstration in front of the White House calling for stricter gun laws (AFP) Puppets of ABBA members at the world’s first permanent ABBA museum, on the eve of its official opening in Stockholm. ABBA dominated the 1970s disco scene with their catchy melodies and kitsch dance routines (AFP)

A paraglider flies over the Albanian coastal town of Vlora during the Paragliding Albania Open 2013 (AFP)

Friends and relatives stand in front of the family house of Gina DeJesus, one of the three women held captive for a decade, decorated by well wishers after her release (AFP)

People walk through the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Spring 2013 Costume Institute exhibition ‘PUNK: Chaos to Couture’. Featuring 100 designs, the show examines punk’s impact on high fashion (AFP)

Belarus WWII veterans dance during Victory Day celebration in Minsk (AFP)

Tulips and primroses in front of the Eiffel Tower

(AFP)

Sarah Jessica Parker attends the Costume Institute Gala for the PUNK: Chaos to Couture exhibition in New York (AFP)

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II delivers her speech during the State Opening of Parliament at the House of Lords, alongside Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh (AFP)

17 SUNDAY MAIL • May 12, 2013

Coffeeshop

Strange days indeed when you want politicians to run a bank APART from the energy-sapping heatwave, things did not get any worse in the fortnight our establishment had been closed, which must be something to rejoice about.

It is true that nothing got better, but the banks are still open, the euro is still our currency, Cyprus Airways is still flying, the Cyprob is still unsolved, Panicos is still running the B of C, there was no resignation at the investigative committee and the trains are still running on time.

The end of the tunnel might still look pitch-black, but we should be happy that Kyproulla still wakes up every morning and opens for business as usual. As any member of alcoholics anonymous would tell you, we should take each day as it comes and not worry that we will not enjoy another drink for the rest of our life.

There was even one big positive in the last fortnight. People completely ignored the calls of the anti-bailout demagogues - Yiorkos Lillikas and AKEL - to attend a mass protest rally outside the legislature while deputies were voting on the memorandum of understanding.

Only 300 people, including Mrs Comrade Tof and her kids who went along because she promised to take them to Macdonald’s afterwards, turned up to the lame rally - a resounding defeat for the anti-bailout demagogues and their cheap lies.

THE REAL stupidity was on show inside the legislature with AKEL and EDEK, the parties that refuse to grow up, voting against the memorandum. So did the bashpatriotic turtle lover Giorgos Perdikis who was devastated by the approval of the deal.

“Today’s ‘yes’ of the Cyprus House of Representatives constitutes the biggest defeat of the Cypriot people in their 8,000-year history,” said a distraught Perdikis, after the vote.

But if our deputies voted ‘no’ and the banks collapsed, the state defaulted on its payments, we left the euro and had no money to import anything it would have been another big victory of the Cypriot people, as glorious as the legislature’s other recent triumph, its heroic ‘no’ to the first bailout deal.

Diminutive DIKO defector Zacharias Koulias, who is being tipped to become the representative of the Lillikas party in the House, was on fire during the debate and issued the following warning: “If the memorandum and loan agreement are approved, which would mean ceding state sovereignty, the House would have no role and all deputies must resign.”

Koulias has not resigned and will carry on collecting his fat pay check every month despite serving in a House that has no role and therefore no work for him to do. Perdikis will also stay on, because the biggest defeat in our 8000-year history is no reason to sacrifice his big salary.

TWO DAYS before the memorandum vote the self-appointed spokesman of the citizens, the unlikeable Lillikas held the conference for the founding of his movement, the Citizens’ Alliance, which he plans to turn into a political party he categorically denied, before the elections, he would set up. Koulias will be its deputy, if he does not resign by

the time the party is formed.

The Alliance had one ambition, said the mega-ambitious Paphite – to become the resistance front of the people, because we need to free ourselves of ‘economic occupation and German hegemony’.

The poor turn-out at the protestrally outside the legislature showed how seriously the citizens took their brave leader’s calls to attend. Did he show up, because I did not spot him in any of the TV pictures?

It would not have been Lillikas’ conference if the representative of the citizens did not tell at least one big lie. In his speech he said “we have learnt today that the President of the Republic has in his hands a proposal from China to pre-sell natural gas worth €10 billion and he is refusing to do so.”

The smart Paphite’s assumption was that the citizens listening to him were dumb enough to believe the Chinese themselves could be so dumb to pay €10 billion now for gas that would be supplied at an unspecified future date.

Tough week for ministers Haris Georgiades and Zeta Emilianidou, with the one deadlocked with the Central Bank governor and the other trying to persuade employers to employ Cypriots in EU-funded schemes

SPEAKING of China, why is our government using Chinese women to sell state lottery tickets in the old part of Nicosia, when there are so many unemployed Cypriots?

Was the employment of Chinese lottery ticket-sellers a condition for the €10 billion deal?

And what does our blonde labour minister, with the deep, gravelly, smoker’s voice, Zeta Emilianidou, think about the Chinese depriving Cypriots of jobs? She may as well have not bothered to advise businesses, when announcing the ministry’s three schemes for wage subsidies worth €30 million on Tuesday, to hire Cypriots.

In fairness, she was a bit more diplomatic than that because the schemes were co-funded by the EU and, as she pointed out, were for European citizens, such as Cypriots. She could not publicly tell employers not to hire Bulgarians or Romanians, but Zeta expressed the hope that “with everyone’s co-operation as many of our Cypriot compatriots as possible would be employed” under the schemes.

suspicions that he is calculatingly delaying the restructuring, completion of which would allow the new shareholders to vote a new board to run the bank, in order to keep control.

Under normal circumstances, nobody would want the politicians to run the bank, but when the alternative is Panicos, who has been on a mission to destroy our banking sector, you have to side with Haris. The B of C would be safer being run by clueless DISY placemen than a scheming, selfaggrandising AKEL apparatchik, acting as the local enforcer of the ECB. The members of the interim board he appointed support the theory that his main concern is control of the bank as they are all his people. On Friday, Panicos attended the bank board meeting presumably to remind the directors who was in charge.

Even the chairman of the interim board, the self-regarding Sophoclis Michaelides, had spent his undistinguished career as a Central Bank technocrat – not a track record to inspire confidence that he is capable of providing the strong leadership, desperately needed by the struggling bank.

One thing in his favour, which made him the ideal man for job in the Professor’s eyes, was that when he was at the Central Bank he was on bad terms with the previous governor. Spyros Stavrinakis was made deputy governor

by Panicos for the same reason.

FINANCE minister Haris Georgiades took another swipe at the Akelite Central Bank Governor, Professor Panicos Demetriades on Thursday, expressing dissatisfaction with the slow pace of the Bank of Cyprus’ restructuring.

While Haris had a point, he also had an ulterior motive. It is obvious he wants to take control of the dear B of C from Panicos, who is on a mega power-trip and insists on calling all the shots at our biggest lenders. There are

THE PROFESSOR should also inform us why he appointed Costas Hadjipapas to the interim Bank of Cyprus board? Hadjipapas was the only member of the old, discredited board that kept his seat. Worse still, he is one of the senior managers of the B of C (Paphos district manager), who should have been kept off the board.

But Hadjipapas has one thing going for him - he is a member of the bank employees’ union ETYK which wanted him to remain its representative

on the board. However the almighty Panicos was afraid to stand up to ETYK boss Loizos Hadjicostis (Vgenopoulos’ cheerleader) and reject the union appointee.

Being a loyal Akelite, the governor does exactly what the union orders him to do. It was also the union’s demand for the B of C to hire all of Laiki’s employees and Panicos satisfied it immediately, ignoring horrific rows that this would cause when the bank has to get rid of more than a thousand employees.

Hadjicostis, who originally claimed that no bank job would be lost, now insists that B of C staff would have to be made redundant to make way for employees of bankrupt Laiki that the former was forced to hire. His daughter is a Laiki employee, but more important for him is that he will have the power to decide which employees will work for the B of C. Panicos will certainly not stand in his way.

IN SHORT, Hadjicostis who was applauding his great friend Vgenopoulos even after he had bankrupted Laiki, still has a big say in the running of the banks, via his comrade Panicos. His close links with Vgenopoulos have never counted against him.

As for his representative on the interim board, Hadjipapas, he has been promising staff that ETYK would get B of C to cover the losses suffered by their provident funds from the bail-in.

Only in Kyproulla could such things happen. And only in Kyproulla could the governor of the Central Bank appoint as director of a bank a man who openly says he wants to take company’s money for his personal benefit and that of his union’s members.

Conflict of interest, which Panicos wanted to ensure against when appointing the interim board, did not apply to his ETYK partners.

THE COMMIES appear to have re-discovered their old love for Stalinism. AKEL issued a statement to mark the WWII, Day of Victory on May 9, and of course

reserved its greatest praise for the Soviet Union.

While acknowledging that all countries in the “anti-Hitler coalition” contributed to the victory it added: “The big and incontrovertible truth is that the main burden of the war, the biggest share of sacrifices and the most decisive contribution to the crushing of Hitlero-fascism is owed to the Soviet Union and the Soviet people. This truth cannot be ignored or deleted....”

It omitted to mention that after the crushing of Hitlero-fascism, half of Europe and the Soviet people had to live for 45 years under the equally inhuman Stalino-fascism which AKEL remains a great fan of to this day.

THE LEFT-WING rhetoric was stepped up in the last week, AKEL using Europe Day to issue another statement slamming the “inhuman neo-liberal model that is being enforced in the countries under a memorandum yoke” and repeating its call for an exit from the euro.

I would just like to remind AKEL of its stance with regard to the events of 1974. After that national catastrophe Akelites insisted that anyone who had played a part in bringing it about (supporters of Grivas, members of Eoka B and Greek officers), did not have the right to speak and if anyone dared open his mouth the commies would fall upon him like a pack of hungry wolves.

By the commie logic, the people who played a big part in causing the latest national catastrophe (the AKEL leadership, Christofias, the bankers) should not have the right to speak in public, especially about the economy.

WE HAVE run out of space and cannot write about the latest findings of Bambos Vasilas, the Phil investigative reporter who monitors the prices being charged for sex in the Kokkinochoria and Larnaca.

We promise to have a full report with Vasilas’ latest revelations about sex-rates next Sunday.

18 SUNDAY MAIL

Lifestyle

ALL ABOUT YVES Couture genius or drug-addicted manic-depressive? 1960s socialite or solitary introvert? There are many stories to be told about Yves Saint Laurent, and the facts and fictions of his life are zealously contested. Five years after his death, two films are in the making and their creators are locked in a battle over the reputation of the man who reinvented fashion. Kim Willsher reports 1957: the 21-year-old designer at work in Maison Dior

HE fashion world loves a good spat.

But to have two surrounding one superbrand - Yves Saint Laurent - in less than 12 months cannot be good for business.

Or can it? Last autumn the man credited with reviving the skinny jean, 44-year-old Hedi Slimane, took the reins at the French powerhouse and promptly dropped the ‘Yves’ from the brand name, causing much consternation and confusion in the press.

He then barred Cathy Horyn, the fashion critic of The New York Times, from his first show because of a long-running grudge. She reviewed it anyway by looking on Style. com and awarded a predictable nul points. Slimane, in retaliation, wrote her an open letter via his Twitter feed calling her a “schoolyard bully”. The fashion world was titillated and terrified in equal measure.

Today, it is riveted by another Saint Laurent squabble. The argument centres on two Yves Saint Laurent films one ‘official’ and one not - being produced in the next few months, and planned for release next year. They will depict the designer’s most successful and creative period, from the 1960s to the 1970s, and from what has been reported will offer two very different takes on the man who single-handedly made trouser suits sexy. The competing projects have sparked a very public war of words, rival publicity campaigns, threats of lawsuits, scraps over vintage frocks, and claims and counter-claims that one portrait will be a whitewash and the other a hatchet job.

They have also pitted

T

Rival designers: Pierre Niney plays one and Gaspard Ulliel (right) the other

Pierre Bergé, the designer’s former lover, billionaire businessman, philanthropist and guardian of the Saint Laurent flame, against FrançoisHenri Pinault, the billionaire head of PPR. PPR’s portfolio includes the Gucci group, which has owned the Yves Saint Laurent company (now known as Saint Laurent Paris, though the haute couture line remains Yves Saint Laurent) since 1998.

Both projects have signed up big-name French actors, along with award-winning designers and supporters including Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who is distributing the Bergé-endorsed version. All this is guaranteed to put bottoms on cinema seats when the two films are released, but may leave moviegoers little wiser about the

real Saint Laurent.

Bergé - who shared his life for half a century with the notoriously fragile designer and kept both Saint Laurent and his fashion house on their feet by acting as a protective ‘big brother’ - insists he knows the real Saint Laurent. He approved the screenplay for Yves Saint Laurent, to be directed by the César-winning actor Jalil Lespert, which begins in January 1958 when Saint Laurent presented his first haute couture collection (for Dior) and met Bergé.

The €12 million production stars Pierre Niney as Saint

Laurent and focuses on the long love affair between the two men, though Lespert insisted Bergé did not interfere in the project.

Part of the film will be shot at the designer’s former atelier in the imposing Second Empire building on the chic Avenue Marceau, in the even more chic 16th arrondissement of Paris. It was here that a Who’s Who of wealthy and famous clients would order their outfits each season. Today, it houses a foundation run by Bergé, along with 5,000 YSL garments (including those worn by

1992: with lifelong friend Catherine Deneuve after a fashion show

some of the world’s top models), 15,000 accessories and 35,000 sketches; a collection described by Bergé as the “complete works of Yves Saint Laurent”.

The second film, by French director Bertrand Bonello and also with the working title Yves Saint Laurent, has a €15 million budget and stars Gaspard Ulliel, who played the young Hannibal Lecter in 2007’s Hannibal Rising.

It will concentrate more on Saint Laurent’s rise to global fashion icon. Bergé, who says he has the “moral” rights over the late designer’s body of work, has threatened to sue if the rival film attempts to reproduce any of YSL’s designs without his authorisation. Since tweeting the threat on January 18, however, he has said nothing. “He doesn’t want to talk about the films at all,” his spokeswoman said. “We are not behind either project so it’s down to the directors to sort it out.” Meanwhile, the Parisbased production company Mandarin Cinema, making the Bonello film, says that PPR has given it permission to recreate Saint Laurent’s most celebrated clothes.

Bonello’s team wrote to Bergé saying they would not be seeking his approval and would be going it alone in the name of “freedom of expression”.

Bonello’s screenwriter Thomas Bidegain has accused Bergé of tailoring the Saint Laurent image to suit him-

2009: Pierre Berge, Saint Laurent’s former partner and co founder of his couture house self and avoiding the darker, less glorious side of the designer’s character and life, including his well-documented battles with the triple demons of depression, drink and drugs. PPR, said to be taking a ‘neutral stance’, was saying nothing.

If there is one thing everyone agrees on, it is that there is enough material in the extra-ordinary story of Yves Saint Laurent’s life to make several films. It was no secret that his character contained many colourful threads.

There was Yves the designer, described by Bergé and fashion editors as an ‘artist’ and a ‘genius’. Yves the party animal, with the in-crowd of the late 1960s including Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, John Paul Getty Jr and his beautiful wife Talitha in Marrakech, or in the celebrated Palace, Sept and Regine’s nightclubs in Paris and Studio 54 in New York, where he met and became friends with Andy Warhol. There was Yves the tortured artist, who latterly lived alone with only a dog for company, a desper-

19 • May 12, 2013

1969: outside the New Bond Street shop with muses Betty Catroux and Loulou de la Falaise ately unhappy egocentric.

“My solitude has become such a part of me that I’m incapable of loving or being loved,” he told Time magazine in 1983.

There was Yves the workaholic, who would run up four collections a year, two couture and two prêt-à-porter, from 1973 until 2002 when he retired; and the fragile Yves, who at times was incapable of rising from his bed, riddled with self-doubt and paralysing anguish. Yves the intellectual, an art collector with eclectic tastes who liked to read Proust; and Yves the angry maniac, who threw ashtrays at his closest friends.

Frenetic bouts of creative genius were offset by drink and drug binges: whisky by the litre, amphetamines and cocaine, consumed in a fug of up to 150 Kool cigarettes a day.

Marie-Dominique Lelièvre author of the unauthorised biography Saint Laurent: Mauvais Garçon (‘bad boy’), says Saint Laurent had such difficulty accepting his homosexuality he once asked a star model to sleep with him, and once asked his father: “Perhaps you would have preferred a real boy?” There were seasons when fashion editors held their breath at the end of his shows, not knowing if it would be Monsieur Yves, with his heavy tortoiseshell spectacles and timid, childlike smile, or Saint Laurent so near collapse he had to be

propped up by his models, who would appear on stage to support him.

Lelièvre describes the designer as a “great hysterical child”, incapable of doing anything with his own hands unless creating marvellous clothes, and an eternal paradox. “He was a warrior: fragile and combative, he was hyper-aggressive, very intelligent and used his shyness

spring order at full price, including a $14,000 dress.

Yves Saint Laurent was born in Oran in Algeria, then a French colony, the eldest child and only son of Charles Mathieu-Saint-Laurent, president of an insurance company and owner of a chain of cinemas, and his wife Lucienne. Saint Laurent was adored by his mother and sisters Brigitte and Michèle,

Frenetic bouts of creative genius were offset by drink and drug binges: whisky by the litre, amphetamines and cocaine, consumed in a fug of up to 150 Kool cigarettes a day like a weapon. Few people could resist him,” she writes.

Little wonder, then, that Bergé, highly protective of the designer’s reputation and legacy, and nicknamed ‘the dean of Yves Saint Laurent’, might prefer a frothier love story than a film that focuses on the warts and all.

But despite all the contradictions, YSL was, and is, fashion gold dust. Slimane’s S/S 2013 collection may have been slated by critics but it is flying off the shelves. Barneys New York said last month it had sold 60 per cent of its

for whom he designed paper dolls and clothes at a young age. The comfortably welloff family’s home, complete with servants, was a haven.

However, school, where he was relentlessly bullied for his effeminate demeanour and called a “poof”, was hell. “While they were bullying me, I would say to myself continuously: ‘One day, you’ll be famous.’ It was my way of getting back at them,” he said in an interview in 1991.

After winning a design competition and moving to Paris, Saint Laurent was employed

by Christian Dior, taking over the haute couture house at the age of 21 when the celebrated designer died suddenly. His first collection in spring 1958 gave the world what later became known as the ‘Trapeze’ - an A-line dress with narrow shoulders and a gentle flare that updated Dior’s New Look and was an success. His 1959 collection was also well received, but the 1960 collection, which took its influence from Beatnik trends, was not.

Saint Laurent then received his military service call-up papers. Alice Rawsthorn, design critic of the International Herald Tribune and author of Yves Saint Laurent: A Biography, wrote that there was speculation at the time that Marcel Boussac, the owner of the House of Dior and a powerful press baron, had asked for the designer to be conscripted after the 1960 collection so he could be replaced. Saint Laurent spent just 20 days in the army before the stress of being harassed, humiliated and abused by fellow soldiers saw him sent to a military hospital in Paris, where he was pumped with sedatives and other psychoactive drugs and underwent electroshock therapy. Later, Saint Laurent would trace his mental and addiction problems back to his time in hospital. “In two and a half months, I was so scared I only went once to the toilets,” he said. “At the

end, I must have lost 35 kilos and I had disturbances in my brain.”

It was Bergé who rescued Saint Laurent from hospital and persuaded the designer, fired

by Dior in his absence to set up his sence, own haute couture house. The rest is fashion history. Saint Laurent led a revival of shapes and silhouettes from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, and became the first French haute couturier to launch a full prêt-à-porter line.

But just as more recently with John Galliano at Dior, Saint Laurent’s health and mental stability crumpled under the responsibility of having to produce multiple collections and he increasingly turned to drink and drugs.

Exasperated by his partner’s mood swings, excesses and infidelities, Bergé moved out of their home in 1976, but remained CEO of the YSL company and close to Saint Laurent, who died in 2008, aged 71, of brain cancer.

At Saint Laurent’s funeral, attended by 800 people including the then president Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, the former YSL model Carla Bruni, a tearful Bergé spoke of his enduring love for the man he could not live with, or without. “I remember your first collection under your name and the tears at the end. Then the years passed.

Oh, how they passed quickly.

The divorce was inevitable but the love never stopped,”

1996: with Claudia Schiffer and Carla Bruni (right) at his couture show

he said. There was not a dry eye in the church. Today, Saint Laurent is regarded, along with Coco Chanel, as one of the greatest fashion designers of all time.

“Saint Laurent is an endless source of fascination, both to the French and the fashion industry. He was incontestably the most influential fashion designer of the late 20th century, whose innovations defined the modern wardrobes of both men and women,” Rawsthorn said.

“Throughout his adult life he was haunted by illness and addiction, but those struggles reinforced the romanticism of him as a gifted, sensitive man wrestling with his demons. And to the French, Saint Laurent is a national treasure. Not only did he revitalise one of France’s most important industries, but the French feel a deep emotional bond with him, having watched him grow.”

Lelièvre, who has refused to sell the rights to her biography, sums it up: “The rivalry between the films isn’t important. What matters is that they tell us the truth and show us the real Saint Laurent story.” Maybe that is what Pierre Bergé is most afraid of.

2002: with Letitia Casta and Catherine Deneuve at his retrospective couture show

20 May 12, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Lifestyle

The 5:2 fasting diet is a publishing sensation and has catapulted journalist Mimi Spencer to the top of the UK bestsellers list. Will she be as big in the US, asks Richard Godwin

‘On fast track to making my fortune’

Think thin: Spencer and Dr Michael Mosley, authors of Fast Diet

The fast-diet phenomenon

I

N March 2009 Mimi Spencer wrote a thoughtful article for the Observer under the headline The End of Thin. Taking her cue from Susie Orbach’s Fat Is a Feminist Issue and Christina Hendricks’ bosom, she concluded that “size-zero mania” may have peaked.

“Deprivation diets” seemed to be going out of fashion.

Diet book sales were falling.

Since Spencer had spent most of her career investigating these issues, she saw this as good news - but one psychiatrist tempered her optimism. “There’s a lifecycle in the weight-loss industry,” he warned. “I guarantee that within the next five years there will be a new ‘miracle-diet’ product, another way to keep people purchasing. A new generation of girls will discover a culture that vilifies fat and worships thin.”

Well, it’s four-and-a-bit years later and that miracle cure is with us. And in rather a strange turn of events, it is Spencer who is its loudest champion. As the co-author of The Fast Diet - written in collaboration with Dr Michael Mosley - Spencer, 45, has turned from diet-sceptic into dietician overnight. She is the spokeswoman for the 5:2 diet, which says you can eat whatever you want for five days of the week and then “fast” on the remaining two (you are allowed to consume 500 calories if you are a woman and 600 if you are a man).

Released just in time to

ing Arabic, Taiwanese and Bulgarian. Spencer is about to tour the US, and is even allowing herself to dream of a low-calorie cooking show.

Which is not bad for a former Evening Standard fashion editor.

We meet at a restaurant in Kensington, where she has just finished lunch (she is now on a 6:1 version of the diet, but since it is a “feast” day she has helped herself to bread, butter and tiramisu).

She professes herself “blown away” by the success - and cites her own size eight figure as evidence that it really works.

“That’s the reason the book is selling,” she says.

“It’s not because it’s some great work of literary genius.

It’s because it’s good. My father, who is 75, phoned me this morning to say he’s lost 29lb. It works - then people tell their friends and it works for them too.”

‘I’ve written about diets for 25 years but this is the first time that I’ve found something that works on a psychological as well as a physiological level’ catch the annual January season of self-loathing, it sailed to the top of the Amazon bestseller list where it has remained ever since. It has sold 350,000 copies in the UK and 100,000 in the US, and has been translated into 30 languages, includ-

Certainly, it’s working its way around. “It’s amazing,” says one female friend, shortly to be married. “I get to have huge amounts of cheese and wine and still lose weight.

I just go to bed at 8pm the other days – but what’s the point of being awake if you

Size matters: Mimi Spencer dropped two dress sizes after following the 5:2 diet can’t have wine and cheese?”

Another reports: “It’s the best diet ever for five days.

And the other two you get through by saying ‘it’s only a day, I can eat tomorrow’.”

The formula appeals to men, too. “It’s a nice blokey kind of diet,” says one friend, though he does advise against going to a heavy metal gig when you’ve made up your 600 calories with two pints of Guinness and an orange.

Spencer herself was just such a convert. “I’ve written about diets for 25 years but this is the first time that I’ve found something that works on a psychological as well as a physiological level.” Still, it’s one thing to write an article about a diet, another to write the book on it and spend four months at the top of the bestseller chart.

Her transformation began when she saw Mosley present an edition of the BBC’s Horizon last summer in which he tried the 5:2 diet - with miraculous results. She was dispatched by a weekend newspaper to investigate further. She was the natural choice since she had tried every grapefruit, cayenne pepper, Dukan, At-

kins and cabbage soup regime going in the name of journalism.

This time, however, the biology and the psychology convinced her. “There is a lot less deprivation than the other diets I’ve tried, where you can’t go out for a meal with your family. You don’t feel trapped by your eating.

Most of the time you’re not thinking about it.” And so her entrepreneurial streak kicked in. “I got on with Michael, so I asked if he had considered writing a book.

Then I said he should write it with me.”

The pair clicked. “He has the gravitas and the medical background; I can fix little balloons to it and show what it is actually like to do it,” she says. And then things moved “extremely fast”. They wrote the book in eight weeks. It was released on Boxing Day. By January 4 it was number one on Amazon, where it remained until it was supplanted by the Fast Diet Recipe Book two weeks ago. “I knocked myself off the top spot!”

Now slow down, Mimi.

Doesn’t every diet claim to be unlike all other diets

and offer fantastic results in weeks? “The fact is the Fast Diet isn’t a quick fix,” she says, even if its name may give you the wrong idea.

Then she delivers a scientific spiel about insulin levels and metabolism - though this runs counter to NHS guidance, which warns that a lack of long-term, peerreviewed studies means we should treat these claims with caution.

Spencer is proud of having dropped two dress sizes but is being size eight really healthier than being size 12?

“It might not be healthier.

I think your body finds the place where it feels right.”

Of course, she is aware of all the issues such as the “thigh gap” and thinspiration. She talks thoughtfully about how women look at their bodies, both in relation to a past ideal (how they looked when they were 17) and a perceived ideal (how Rita Ora and Cara Delevingne look). “There is a constant refrain of disappointment with our bodies. I was subject to that just as much as anybody else. But I’ve got to be honest with you: losing the weight has made me

The idea is that fasting for two non consecutive days each week and eating normally for the rest of the week is beneficial. Scientists in the US have shown that the body’s reaction to periodic fasting – the changes it produces at a metabolic level - can help you lose weight as well as cut the risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes. It can boost brain power too.

But it’s not actually a fast.

You’re allowed to eat 500 calories a day (men are allowed 600). Most of those calories should be from protein, leafy veg and a bit of fat. Studies show that people who eat freely on non-fast days lose more weight than those who continue to be abstemious on their days off.

For those in good health it should have no side-effects but if you are on any medication consult your doctor before embarking on the regime. happier. I know that’s banal.

I get it. I’m not an idiot. But I get pleasure from feeling good in my clothes.”

She plays down my estimate of the amount of money she has made from the book - for the moment there are no plans to move away from Brighton, where she lives with her husband and two children. However, she has treated herself to a brand new Mini and has a tan from a recent holiday in Madagascar. Isn’t it weird to be handsomely rewarded by an industry that she has railed against in the past?

“What can I say? It’s something that I adopted as a journalistic enterprise to write about it. It worked brilliantly. In Madagascar I wore a bikini with pleasure for the first time in 12 years.

I have two children and I’m at an age when I don’t want to be carrying around extra weight. It has changed my life. And if that means I’m going to fly the flag for it then so be it.”

The Fast Diet Recipe Book

by Mimi Spencer, with Dr Sarah Schenker, is published by Short Books

21 SUNDAY MAIL • May 12, 2013

Business & Jobs

The euro is overvalued The euro is not an appropriate currency for the EU south Comment Costas Apostolides T IS remarkable that in all the debate which is taking place over whether Cyprus should consider leaving the eurozone, there has been very little mention of the fact that the euro is basically the currency appropriate for Germany and Austria, and perhaps the Netherlands, but for none of the other 16 member states. This comes out clearly from the consideration of how the value of the currency has fluctuated since 2001.

The value of a currency should reflect the state of the economy and also the current account balance of the state, that is the relative values of imports and exports of both goods and services. If a country has a balance of imports and exports on current account, or is gaining from a strong inflow of capital on capital account, its currency increases in value because bank notes and funds in international markets are hard to find, and therefore scarce and their value is driven up by the markets.

One can perceive the effect of this by just a quick look at the “Economic and Financial Indicators” of The Economist. There it is estimated that over the past 12 months the eurozone as a whole had a net current account balance of a net +$153 billion, resulting in a relative scarcity of the euro in international markets.

The Chinese (surplus +$193 billion) and Japanese (+ $54 billion) also maintain current account surpluses, as do Sweden (+$38 bln) and Denmark (+ $18 bln), countries that are in the EU but outside the eurozone. Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea , Taiwan and Switzerland

I

Germany’s surplus and that of Austria and the Netherlands, skews the picture for the rest of the eurozone also have substantial surpluses. Not all states can be in surplus concurrently, and the big spenders are the USA with a massive deficit of -$475 billion, the UK (-$92 bln) and Canada (-$67 bln). Australia, India, Turkey, Argentina and South Africa all have substantial deficits.

The problem in the eurozone is that despite Germany, Austria and the Netherlands having a combined surplus on current account of +$325 bln, most of the rest of the eurozone is in deficit because the estimated surplus for the combined eurozone balance is only $153 bln. France has a massive deficit of about -$62 bln, while Spain and Italy are estimated to be about $10bln each, and Greece and Belgium, both around -$7bln each. Given the surplus of trade the omens are that the euro will remain relatively strong, though other factors may affect the market assessments. One such factor is the fact that the zone as a whole was in recession in 2012, and even Germany appears to be in stagnation and that may continue. Negative assessments could reduce market confidence in the euro, which would be good for the struggling south.

Essentially this means that the euro is not an appropriate currency for the EU south, though

it may be an appropriate valuation for Germany and Austria. In the case of the Netherlands, which is in favour of a hard euro and the austerity policies, but is in recession, its prospects are not encouraging and a strong euro is not to its advantage. This demonstrates the crux of the problem: one currency cannot meet the requirements of all the member states, because the circumstances in the various countries differ so much. By concentrating on austerity the EU is unable to deal with the various problems arising from different economic structures in the diverse continent, or to develop appropriate policies on the euro that meet the requirements of all the states.

It is also clear that money transfers such as cohesion and structural funds cannot redress the balance for countries suffering from a relatively strong euro.

The table below shows the trend of the euro against five currencies: the pound sterling, which is the major market for tourism and house purchases in Cyprus; the US dollar which is the currency for the world outside the EU and the Middle East; the Russian rouble which is a very important currency in Cyprus; the Swedish krona, again important for tour-

EURO FLUCTUATIONS AGAINST MAJOR CURRENCIES 2008 TO MAY 2013 Currency

2008 January

2009 January

2010 January

2011 January

2012 January

2013 January

2013 April

€1=S£ UK

0.74

0.92

0.88

0.85

0.87

0.83

0.85

€1=USD

1.47

1.36

1.43

1.32

1.27

1.32

1.30

€1=RUBLE

36

41

43

40

41

40

41

10.77

10.02

8.9

8.8

8.62

8.43

7.45

7.44

7.45

7.43

7.46

7.46

€1=SWED-K 9.42 €1=DKK

7.45

Costas Apostolides is chairman of EMS Economic Management Ltd, Costas.a@Highwaycommunications.com

Source: OANDA Currency Converter: Monthly Averages

USD GBP CHF JPY AUD CAD SEK

1,2989 0,8408 1,2299 130,95 1,2781 1,2983 8,4388

1,3093 0,8476 1,2447 132,53 1,3105 1,3311 8,6524

1,3120 0,8437 1,2152 127,34 1,2694 1,3111 8,4160

1,3226 0,8505 1,2298 128,88 1,3016 1,3443 8,6290

1,2986 0,8402 1,2226 128,06 1,2481 1,3126 8,4866

1,3090 0,8470 1,2374 129,60 1,2797 1,3458 8,7014

1wk 1mth 2mth 3mth 6mth 1yr

USD 0,17 0,20 0,24 0,28 0,43 0,70

EUR 0,03 0,06 0,09 0,12 0,20 0,39

ism, and the Danish krona. In 2008 a sharp rise in the value of the euro against sterling of over 20 per cent took place, negatively affecting the major tourism and housing markets in Cyprus.

At the same time the euro gained against the rouble and Swedish krona. The following years the two most important tourist markets, the UK and Russia, showed sharp falls in tourist arrivals. Though sterling recovered somewhat in 2010, the UK tourist numbers have never recovered. In the case of Russia it seems that after falling against the euro in 2008, a policy of pegging the rouble to the euro is in place which enabled Russian numbers to more than triple from 2009 to 2012.

In contrast eurozone tourist arrivals have, as one would have expected, remained relatively stable despite the international financial crisis at around 20 per cent of tourist arrivals to Cyprus. Given tourist revenues of €2,464,908 mlns in 2012, and the relatively high expenditure levels of Russians, this means about 80 per cent of such revenues, or €2 billion, enter the country from outside the eurozone. This is much more than total exports of goods.

As the Central Bank of Cyprus states in its Economic Survey, the loss of competitiveness in Cyprus has come mainly from the high value of the euro. But at the same time the British market for houses has collapsed in Cyprus and the rest of Europe, because of the combined effects of the depreciation of sterling and the economic recession in the UK. The question posed therefore, is whether the costs of staying in the eurozone exceed the benefits of a stable currency. This analysis suggests that dogmatic adherence to a currency has tremendous costs and that a more flexible approach is required. It is time a thorough study of the advantages and disadvantages of leaving the eurozone are studied seriously and openly discussed.

GBP 0,49 0,49 0,50 0,51 0,59 0,88

CHF 0,00 0,00 0,01 0,02 0,08 0,25

JPY 0,10 0,12 0,14 0,16 0,24 0,44

LIBOR RATES (London Interbank Borrowing Rates) AS AT 13/05/2012

CAD 1,00 1,05 1,12 1,18 1,38 1,77

AUD 2,79 2,88 2,93 2,97 3,08 3,38

22 May 12, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Business & Jobs

Valuable lessons to UK inheritance tax is complex be learnt from top but must not economists’ mistake be left too late A research error has called into question the austerity model so beloved of many western governments

Investment

Comment Lawrence Summers HE economics commentariat and no small part of the political debate in recent weeks has been consumed with the controversy surrounding the work of my Harvard colleagues (and friends) Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff (RR).

Their work had been widely interpreted as establishing that economic growth was likely to stagnate in a country once its government debt-to-GDP ratio exceeded 90 per cent.

Scholars at the University of Massachusetts have demonstrated and RR have acknowledged that they made a coding error that resulted in their omitting some relevant data in forming their results and also have noted that using updated data for several countries reduces substantially the strength of some of the statistical patterns they asserted.

Issues have also arisen with respect to how RR weighted observations in forming the averages on which they base their conclusions.

Many have said that the questions raised undermine the claims of austerity advocates around the world that deficits should be quickly reduced. Some have gone so far as to blame RR for the unemployment of millions, asserting that they provided crucial intellectual ammunition for austerity policies.

Others believe that even after re-analysis the data support the view that deficit and debt burden reduction is important in most of the industrialised world. Still others regard the controversy as calling into question the usefulness of statistical research on economic policy questions.

Where should these debates settle?

From the perspective of someone who has done a fair amount of econometric research, consumed such research as a policymaker and participated as an advocate in debates about fiscal stimulus and austerity, here would be my takeaways.

First, the RR experience should accelerate the evolution of mores with respect to economic research. Rogoff and Reinhart are rightfully regarded as careful, honest scholars. Anyone close to the process of economic research will recognise that data errors like the ones they made are distressingly common. Indeed the JP Morgan risk models in use when the “London Whale” trade was placed had errors not unlike those made by RR. In the future, authors and journals and commentators need to devote more effort to replicating significant results before broadcasting them widely. More generally, no important policy conclu-

Bill Blevins Bill Blevins is financial correspondent for Blevins Franks International.

T

Common sight: Protesters take part in a demonstration against the government’s cost-cutting reform plans in education as part of austerity measures, during a nationwide general strike called by the education sector in Madrid sion should ever be based solely on a single statistical result. Policy judgements should be based on the accumulation of evidence from multiple studies done with differing methodological approaches.

Even then, there should be a reluctance to accept conclusions from “models” without an intuitive understanding of what is driving them. It is right and understandable that scholars want their findings to inform the policy debate. But they have an obligation to discourage and on occasion contradict those who would oversimplify and exaggerate their conclusions.

Second, all participants in policy debates should retain a healthy skepticism about retrospective statistical analysis.

Trillions of dollars have been lost and millions have been unemployed because the lesson learned from 60 years of experience between 1945 and 2005 was that “American house prices in aggregate always go up.” This was no data problem or misanalysis. It was a data regularity until it wasn’t.

The extrapolation from past experience to future outlook is always deeply problematic and needs to be done with great care. In retrospect, it was folly to believe that with data on about 30 countries it was possible to estimate a threshold beyond which debt became dangerous.

Even if such a threshold existed, why should it be the same in countries with and without their own currency, with very different financial systems, cultures, degrees of openness and growth experiences? And there is the chestnut that

correlation does not establish causation and any tendency for high debt and low growth to go together reflects the debt accumulation that follows from slow growth.

Third, while RR’s work, even unqualified by the recent replication efforts, did not support the claims made by the prominent figures on the right in the US and UK regarding the urgency of deficit reduction efforts, much of the joy taken on the left in their embarrassment is inappropriate.

It is absurd to blame them for austerity policies. The authors of those policies chose the policies first and only then cast about for intellectual ballast.

While there may be no threshold beyond which debt automatically becomes catastrophic, and while the British and American experiences are both suggesting that fiscal contraction in a slack economy where interest rates are near zero is inimical to growth, it is a grave mistake to suppose that the debt can or should be accumulated with abandon.

On all but the most optimistic forecasts, further actions will be necessary almost everywhere in the industrial world to assure that debt levels are sustainable after economies recover.

Now is not the time for austerity, but we forget at our peril that debt-financed spending is not an alternative to cutting other spending or raising taxes but only a way of deferring these painful acts.

Lawrence Summers is a columnist for Reuters

INHERITANCE tax follows British expatriates around the world. It is based on domicile rather than residence, so even though you may now be non-UK resident, your estate could be liable for this tax, even if you do not have any assets in the UK. British expatriates need to keep up to date as any changes may affect their estate planning.

UK inheritance tax is a combination of a death duty and in some circumstances a gifts tax. If you are a British domicile, it is charged on your worldwide estate at the time of your death, plus any assets you have given away as gifts over the last seven years. It is also payable on certain lifetime gifts.

Non-domiciles are only liable on assets situated in the UK. The current “nil rate band” or “inheritance tax threshold” - the amount of your estate that can be inherited tax free - is £325,000 per individual.

As announced in the UK March budget, the threshold will be frozen until at least 2018. It has been frozen since 2010, and was expected to increase to £329,000 in 2015, so this latest announcement is bad news for many families.

The threshold would normally increase each year in line with inflation, so freezing it is effectively a tax rise.

More families will be drawn into the tax net and the tax bills could end up considerably higher than would have been the case.

Transfers from one spouse to another are exempt from inheritance tax. However, if you are domiciled or deemed domiciled in the UK and your surviving spouse is not, then the spousal exemption does not apply. In this case spouses only received an extra £55,000 tax free amount, on top of the usual nil rate

band.

This finally changed from April 6, 2013.

The £55,000 limit has increased to match the nil rate band, so currently £325,000.

The total that can be transferred tax free is therefore now £650,000.

Non-UK domiciled individuals married to UK domiciles, or in a civil partnership with one, can now elect to be treated as a UK domicile for inheritance tax purposes. The election enables them to receive the full spousal exemption. This would however mean their worldwide assets are now taxable.

Loans are generally deducible from an estate for inheritance tax purposes, but there are some changes on the way. Any outstanding debts at death will be scrutinised by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and heirs to the estate will need to be able to demonstrate that there is a commercial reason, other than that of obtaining a tax advantage, to retaining that debt going forward. Failing this, the loan will not be allowed to create a reduction in the value of the estate.

Loans which were taken out to purchase assets not subject to inheritance tax will not be deductible.

Where a loan has been incurred in order to acquire assets on which a tax relief is due, the loan will reduce the value of those assets only, rather than set off against the whole estate. Inheritance tax is often described as a “voluntary tax due to the number of measures which may be employed to mitigate or avoid this potentially onerous tax.

It is a very complex matter. Many people leave estate planning until it is too late, or do not appreciate how it affects them, or get their domicile wrong, leaving their heirs with an unexpected tax bill.

Professional advice from a specialist firm like Blevins Franks is essential to ensure you get it right and save tax for family and other heirs where possible.

To keep in touch with the latest developments in the offshore world, check out the latest news on our website www.blevinsfranks.com

Greece’s Alpha Bank swings to Q1 profit as rate of NPLs slows GREECE’S third-largest lender Alpha Bank swung to a net profit in the first quarter after it wrote up the value of a rival lender it acquired last October and lowered its reliance on a costly emergency funding mechanism.

Net profit was 2.88 billion euros ($3.75 billion), compared to a loss of 82.5 million in the same period a year earlier, the bank said on Friday. Earnings were boosted further by a 427 million euro tax credit.

Alpha Bank acquired Emporiki Bank from Credit Agricole for a nominal consid-

eration of 1 euro.

The French lender pumped in 2.9 billion euros to recapitalise Emporiki under the deal. Alpha, consolidating Emporiki’s results for the first time, booked most of that amount as a goodwill write-back.

Alpha said net interest income rose 12 percent quarter-on-quarter to 321 million euros as reduced recourse to the Greek central bank’s costly emergency liquidity funding mechanism (ELA) eased funding costs.

Greek banks resumed funding directly

from the European Central Bank in December. ECB funding is about 2 percentage points cheaper than ELA funding.

Excluding the 2.6 billion euro positive contribution from the consolidation of Emporiki, Alpha’s net profit came to 244 million euros.

With Greece’s economy in its sixth consecutive year of recession and more than one in four Greeks without jobs, credit impairments continue to pound loan books, forcing banks to provision for losses.

The economy is projected to shrink by

4.2 to 4.5 percent, this year, meaning nonperforming loans could rise further.

Alpha’s provisions in the first quarter rose 58 per cent year on year to 505 million euros, with its ratio of non-performing loans (NPLs) rising to 30.1 percent of its loan book.

“We are seeing a slowdown in the rate of increase in NPLs, which is consistent with our projection that in absolute numbers they may peak in the beginning of 2014,” Alpha’s Chief Operating Officer Spyros Filaretos told Reuters.

23 May 12, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Property Hibiscus can make a stunning garden backdrop but beware the bugs attracted to it

Garden pests I

DO enjoy meeting up with other gardeners and at a garden morning recently while we were talking about hibiscus and all the problems that they have been giving gardeners I was gifted a book on Hibiscus, published in Australia. While there were lots of wonderful plants to gaze upon, there were also some useful hints on dealing with pests contained within the pages.

We usually give our hibiscus and lavender prunings to a propagation unit but this year they wouldn’t take the hibiscus due to the dreadful scourge of scale insects and mealy bugs which has been around for about three years now. I have been inundated with pleas on how to get rid of them and in some cases whole hedges have had to be grubbed up in an attempt to rid the garden of these dreadful pests. One of the interesting facts contained within the book suggested that feeding with compost was far better than using chemical fertilisers and the author is quite right as too much nitrogen can give very soft leaf growth which encourages the onslaught of pests. In Australia they even have a special hibiscus beetle, looking rather like our pollen bugs, which here only seem to attack Rosa damascena bushes when they bore into the unopened flower buds to get at the pollen. Fortunately the Hibiscus Beetle is mostly confined to South Australia.

Some of the remedies suggested for dealing with these awful bugs are a garlic spray where the recipe is very complicated but I will send it to anyone who would like to try it out (mail@gardenclubofcyprus.com). Along with sprays of home made chilli or onion, the use of Neem oil was suggested, which has been used here with some success, but alas Neem trees do not grow here, being mainly grown in India. A far more reasonable spray can be made of equal

GARDENING with

Patricia Jordan le oil parts of vegetable and dishwashing liquid, diluted at the ns rate of 2 teaspoons mixed in with 4 cups of water and he sprayed on the y. plants regularly.

It could only be advice from Australia that suggests using diluted Marmite or maybe Vegemd ite spread around the garden (no it ol’s is not April Fool’s Day) to attract hovngs. Aperflies and lacewings. parently hoverflies can cont off aphids hid sume vast amounts and also include mites and scale insects on their menu list as well.

The success in growing hibiscus depends mainly on location. They are sun loving plants and will thrive here at least up to 300 metres elevation, although fresh new growth can be zapped by low night temperatures in early spring and sometimes they suffer a complete leaf fall during the winter. Nearer to the coast they should remain in full leaf during the year, but when the leaves turn yellow it is not because they are short of iron, but that they have come to the end of their natural life.

Hibiscus Rosa sinensis, literally Rose of China, has wonderful red flowers but many more hybrids in different

Hibiscus flowers come in a range of colours

colourations are now available. However, lovely though they a are, the hybrids are n as hardy as the red not ones, so care should be taken choo to choose a good place for them to grow. Some gardeners use hibiscus as hedging plants b but you would lose the lovely flowers when frequent

amongst flower beds for its wonderful flowers. All these plants belong to the very big plant family of Malvaceae.

I can’t wait for my next ‘Garden Morning’ which is on June 1 at Garden Plus in Dherynia when I will be meeting up with more avid gardeners. I look forward to seeing you there.

PLANTOFTHEMONTH Grevillea Robusta AGM THIS plant belongs to the Protea family and is commonly known as the Southern Silky-Oak. Although a lot of Proteas come from South Africa, this tree is a native of the coast of Eastern Australia. Fast growing grevilleas can reach 35 metres so they are not always suitable for the domestic garden. These evergreen trees are extremely eye-catching however, and their silky golden flowers, similar to callistemon flowers, are deep golden in colour contrasting well with the darkgreen frondy foliage. The underside of the leaves can be greyish white or rusty rather like some magnolias.

Grevilleas do not like low temperatures so it is best not to grow them where there is any likelihood of that occurring.

Planting should be done to ensure that

the tree is firmly established before the onset of any winter weather. They are drought tolerant and any winter rains will certainly result in lots of flowers, while some additional deep watering in summer may be necessary too. They need very little feeding but you could feed them with a low phosphorus fertiliser. Pruning after flowering to keep the shape will help produce abundant flowers next season. They prefer a sheltered but sunny position with a light, freedraining soil. Propagation can be from the winged seeds or from soft tip cuttings during late summer.

Birds and butterflies are attracted to the flowers which have some toxic cyanide in their content, so you should take care when handling them.

THINGSTODOINTHEGARDENTHISMONTH Watch out as there are millions of bugs about this month which are all on the search for luscious fresh young growth.

My husband called me to look at our almond tree recently where it looked like a ring of moss had encircled the trunk at the base of the tree, with thin green lines running along the trunk and into the branches.

It was an enormous mass of aphids! I have never seen so many, all hustling and bustling up the tree to get at the new

clipping takes place. Our autumn gardens are graced by Hibiscus mutabilis, known as the Changeable Rose, as the flowers change from white through pink to red all in one day. Another member of this family is Okra or Hibiscus esculentus, sometimes known as Abelmoschus esculentus and I have seen it growing in

growth. This called for serious action, which was promptly taken. Aphids were also on the Damascena roses, which are best sprayed with a soapy water solution. Rather like the advice about the hibiscus, it might be a good idea to add a little vegetable oil to the solution so that it sticks to the stems and doesn’t just run off. Try it and see. It’s not a good idea to run your fingers, gloved or not, along the stems as the Damascena rose stems are particularly prickly.

Butterflies, pretty as they sometimes are, are likely to lay their eggs wherever they find food and that may be your cabbages or lettuces or even tender annuals like nasturtiums. Ours were devastated this year and we were left with just the stalks and veins protruding from the roots. It’s always good to provide fodder for the butterflies but their offspring can cause us many a heartache.

After the coldish spring which had several stops and starts, the weather had warmed up considerably and daily watering will have to take place if you are to enjoy your garden from now on.

Ideally we should all be growing plants which enjoy the heat and require the minimum of water.

Remember that even if a plant is labelled or known as drought proof, it only becomes so once it has settled into your garden and has matured. I find the best way to encourage this is not to flail about with a hose pipe, but to insert half of a plastic bottle with the bottom cut off behind each plant, and for the first year at least put the water in that so

Mealy bugs and (below) Leucophyllum frutescens that it goes straight to the roots where it is most needed. I promise you this is the best way.

A good plant for the hot garden is Leucophyllum frutescens, which is being widely grown as a hedging plant in towns nowadays, as its cool grey leaves can filter the heat. The bonus is when humidity is high or there is shower of rain, the top of the shrub is crowned by soft pink flowers, which are most attractive to bees and butterflies. Other grey leaved plants like lavenders and chrysanthemoides (which is great for colonising a bank) can also cope with the heat that is fast approaching.

Don’t forget to feed your fruit and nut trees this month with 20.10.10 – 900g for large trees and 300g for young trees. Enjoy the early summer flowers while you can as they will soon go over, and keep picking sweet peas and don’t let them make seed pods until their flowering season is nearly coming to a close. If you let them drop their seeds where they grow

then they will germinate much earlier than those freshly bought next year. Begin to bring your outdoor pot plants into a shady spot to protect them from the fierce sun. A little tip I heard recently was that gardenias, plants which I have never been successful with, should be watered with cooled boiled water, as they do not like the lime content in our water here.

24 SUNDAY MAIL • May 12, 2013

Property LEGAL ISSUES WITH GEORGE COUCOUNIS

Specific performance of a sale contract

The first home in Cyprus will not be entered into a forced sale before 24 months

Renegotiating loans Now is the time to sort out your finances, especially mortgages

By Antonis Loizou FRICS RECENT measures have been introduced by the Government/Central Bank, which are of special interest to debtors. The main points are: The measures include a grace period of approximately two months starting from 16.4.2013 and ending on 30.6.2013 during which time delayed payments will not be charged the “killer” rate of 12-13% and the loan will not be considered as a defaulting loan.

During this two-month time the banks are encouraged (as well as of course the debtors) to enter into a negotiation to provide a repayment schedule based on the ability of the debtor to pay. This could mean, for example, lower installments at the beginning and higher ones later on, elongating the repayment period, lowering of interest rate etc.

For those who cannot agree rearranged loan terms, the measures introduce a kind of arbitrator between the two parties to help find a solution. The arbitration extends to all loans with no time limits.

Banks etc are directed to lower lending rates and at the same time however deposit rates. So if one has a deposit amount with interest

of 4-5% pa upon the expiry of the deposit period, it will be lowered to around 3-3½% (or even less). In this way lending rates will be also reduced, but not expected to come into full effect earlier than 1-1½ years.

Notwithstanding the above some banks have announced already the lowering of lending rates by 0.250.50%.

FORCED SALE First house buyers (locals and foreigners – the latter even if it is the only holiday/retirement home and even if they own a home back in their own country) will not be engaged into a forced sale procedure earlier than 24 months - for others within 18 months.

First home buyers will be given the option for the bank to take over the property and lease it back to the owner/buyer. This formula, we understand, goes like this. The loan amount is not reduced (but it is subject to negotiations e.g. if overcharges are made to be taken off etc) but the interest and capital due to be charged for the period of the lease – as agreed. Out of the total amount the rent is taken off. This is of good help to those borrowers who

WHAT YOU GET FOR

have a relatively low balance and a rent which can cover the interest and capital during the lease period.

Upon the termination of the lease, the property is returned to the borrower. This is an innovative idea based on the Spanish model, but you must understand it might not work for everybody. Details are awaited.

It is now the time for those people who are capable to respond, of good news. Do not feel that the financiers have necessarily the upper hand.

The financiers are also worried with this situation, since their option is to proceed with a forced sale procedure. A procedure which will take years and at a substantial cost to them. Better for them to lose some interest charges, but make sure that they will collect whatever it is agreed, as opposed to wait and wait for a collection of a rather unknown amount in the future.

What we are concerned about is that these measures might not come to the attention or understanding of thousands of desperate borrowers (locals and foreigners).

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

A SALE contract, like any other contract, imposes certain obligations to the parties and defines their rights, mainly the vendor to sell and transfer the property and the purchaser to pay the price.

The clauses stemming the rights of the parties are normally considered the essence of the agreement and any breach of any term gives the right to the innocent party to claim the other party’s compliance.

Time is always the essence of an agreement and when a party fails to exercise his rights, the term ceases to be essential. It is up to the party effected to make such a term of the agreement by giving to party in breach reasonable notice in writing calling on him to comply. With regard to sale contracts, they should be deposited at the Land Registry to create an estate in land over the property purchased. Their deposition must be made within six months from signing.

The deposition protects the purchaser, giving him the right of specific performance in the event the vendor refuses or omits to transfer the property.

The issue of the specific performance of a sale contract is now regulated by law and applies not only to sale contracts deposited after it came into force but also those already deposited despite any litigation pending before the court.

To be entitled to claim the issue of a court order for the specific performance of his sale contract a purchaser must call on the vendor in writing to appear before the Land Registry at a certain date to transfer to him the property purchased. As long as the purchaser has fulfilled his obligations under the agreement and the vendor does not respond or fails to issue the separate title deed, the purchaser is entitled to file an action against the obliged vendor not only for the specific performance of

the sale contract but also for an order directing the vendor to take all necessary steps for the issue of all the required permits and the separate title deed. The court will issue the orders provided it is proven that the purchaser gave the vendor notice to transfer the property to him prior to the action, the property is registered in the name of the vendor, the agreement is written containing adequate information about the parties’ identity, describing the immovable property sold, stating the purchase price, the agreement is signed by the parties and deposited at the Land Registry.

The deposition of a sale contract at the Land Registry gives the purchaser the aforesaid rights and the new law further provides that in the event there is a mortgage registered prior to the deposition of the sale contract the purchaser may pay to the mortgage creditor the amount of the debt corresponding to his property. In such a case the mortgage creditor is obliged to accept the said payment and the estate in land created by the deposition of the sale contract ranks in priority to the mortgage.

It should be noted that not only a sale contract can be deposited at the Land Registry, but also an assignment agreement and an exchange or buy-back agreement. The assignment agreement is commonly used for resales accommodating the original purchaser and the new purchaser without the need for the vendor to participate, thus the original vendor cannot claim the payment of cancellation fees, except the relevant taxes for the property.

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

€800,000 compiled by Peter Stevenson

How much: €800,000 What you get: This three-floor, five-bedroom house in Limassol, close to schools and amenities. It has a spectacular sea view and private swimming pool.

From: www.buysellcyprus.com Tel: 80000222

How much: €800,000 What you get: This four-bedroom house on the outskirts of Nicosia, in Latsia, surrounded by open spaces and sweeping views.

From: www.aloizou.com.cy Tel: 25 871552

How much: €800,000 What you get: This three-bedroom house in Protaras has air-conditioned units and an Italian fitted kitchen with its own private pool and sea views from the top balcony.

From: www.foxrealty.com.cy Tel: 80080082

25 SUNDAY MAIL • May 12, 2013

ADVERTISER helps you find what you’re looking for

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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 **************************** TONY & GUY are hiring. We require Stylists, Technicians and Apprentices for our Nicosia and Limassol salons.

Training will be offered to the right candidates. For more information, please send your CV along with a cover letter to hr@toniandguy.com.cy Closing date for applications 01/07/2013. **************************** TONY & GUY are hiring. We require Beauticians and Technicians for our Nicosia and Limassol salons, to work on a partnership basis. For more information, please send your CV along with a cover letter to hr@toniandguy.com.cy Closing date for applications 01/07/2013. **************************** OVERSEAS PRIVATE EQUITY / Foreign Capital is seeking a female representative and administrator based in Nicosia with relevant Finance background and education with or without experience (fresh graduate). Application with C.V. to: anthony.pmc@gmail. com **************************** JPW DIVE IN LIMASSOL LTD, Social Insurance no.

1947699/5/8551, is seeking to hire a Padi Master Scuba Diver Trainer who must speak and teach in Russian and English. Interested parties are asked to contact the Limassol District Employment office on 25827320. ****************************

MISCELLANEOUS **************************** MODEL FOR LIFE DRAWING WANTED. Female required to pose nude for a weekly drawing class, in a professional college environment for a group of artists and students in Larnaca. 99 494779 **************************** “TRANSLATIONS from Greek to English and English to Greek. €5 a double-spaced page (Arial - 12). Specialised translations €7 a page.

95110524” **************************** HELP WANTED and commission paid for advice regarding purchase of surplus Russian military items from Cypriot military. Please reply your details to info@rme-ltd.eu

*************************** WANTED: COUPLES OF EU CITIZENS LIVING IN CYPRUS We are currently con-

ducting 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 Sunday 99013596 Paphos Tuesday / Thursday / Saturday 99916331 / 99399240 Details of meetings are available on www.aa-europe. net ***************************

LESSON I’M A QUALIFIED ENGLISH TEACHER with a PhD in English Literature and 8 years experience in teaching A-Level English Literature, ESL and IELTS, preparing students for exams and marking dissertations. If interested in private lessons, please contact me: 99377257.

Limassol **************************** PRIVATE TUITION Experienced, UK-qualified teacher offers full/part-time private home tuition in Maths, English, Science, I.C.T.,Geography, History, Business Studies and Economics, from KS2 to iGCSE, AS and A2 levels. 9 years experience in Cyprus; references available. Telephone 99318796 ****************************

HEALTH & FITNESS **************************** FOR PRETTY WOMAN: anticellulite treatment, reflexology, aromatherapy massage against stress, back pains,

Nicosia - tel: 22 818583 fax: 22 676385 headache. Also spa for nails.

Tel: 99986991 Nicosia area near Hilton ****************************

PERSONAL **************************** GERMAN MAN, 50 years, searching for a nice women.

Mobile: 00491736590562 ****************************

SERVICES ***************************** UK TV CHANNELS IN CYPRUS! Watch all your favourite UK TV Channels including Sky Sports, Sky Movies ITV, BBC & Channel 4&5 in Cyprus! 65 Channels in all! Visit www.uktvcyprus.net for details or Telephone 95116359 **************************** KEEP YOUR HOME COOLER THIS SUMMER by having Windowfilm professionally fitted. Stops up to 86% of heat from entering your home!

Windowfilm increases privacy, blocks harmful uv-rays which cause fading, reduces glare and saves energy costs on air-con. Also keeps your home warmer in winter. Call Ian on 99979671

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

Limassol - tel: 25 761117 fax: 25 761141

PETS LOOKING FOR A NEW LOVING HOME; Beautiful and healthy 11 year old white female cross Labrador. Neutered, obedient, house trained, can stay alone in house, does not bite. Perfect family dog. Microchipped and vaccinated. For info call 99320436 **************************** RHODESIAN RIDGEBACK Quality pedigree puppies for sale, Kennels club registered.

An excellent hunter, a good family dog, as well as a good guard dog. Lovely to have around, both parents can be seen. Price €500 for more info pls call 99046966 **************************** 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, €300 For further information contact phone 99757511 *************************** 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 capacity-24kg/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 ****************************

MOTOR VEHICLES ***************************** 2008 OPEL ASTRA twin top

Paphos - tel: 26 911383 fax: 26221049 convertible 1.6, silver paint, black leather, one british owner.

Regularly serviced. In excellent condition. 38000 kms only.

MOT until July 2014. taxed for 2013. Great bargain, first offers over €10,000 tel: 99954461 – Paphos

FOR SALE BUSINESS/ PROPERTY/LAND ***************************** PLOT FOR SALE IN KATO PLATRES in a pine tree area. It comes with title deeds, 1095 square feet. Tel. 99881051. ***************************** FOR SALE LAND in Anthoupoli (half plot) 288 sq.metres. for information 99621554. *****************************

PROPERTY TO LET NICOSIA ***************************** FLATS/HOUSES FOR RENT studio Makarios Av. €300, Kennedy furnished €300, 1 bdrm Str/ los €400, Hilton €400, 2 bdrm Lycavitos €480 fully equipped, Ag. Dometios ground floor + garden €450, Ag. Paylos rear house newly built €390, Acropolis furnished €450, 3 bdrm Ag. Omologites garden €700, Nikis Av. Furnished €500, Archangelos detached with pool €1,200, Acropolis independent ideal for office/residence €750, 4 bdrm Kwsta Theodorou new house €1,100, Mosfiloti unique villa with pool/landscaping €2,500.

99474839, 99646822.

21 PROPERTY FINDER LTD. Licenced & Registered Estate Agents A.M.627 A.A.108/E ***************************** TO LET 1 bedroom upper floor house, large veranda near restaurant Periyiali in Acropolis 5 Aeantos Street €300 call 99680208 ***************************** LUXURY HOUSES: 1. 4 bedr luxury detached house built in 3/4 of a plot, office space, central heating, full a/c, big sitting and dining area, separate big kitchen with family room and all the electrical appliances, blinds and curtains on all windows, aluminium shutters, big garden with grass, 3 wc, covered parking, in a quiet area – Strovolos €1000 (H4ST10051-R), (photos in the website) 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

Larnaca - tel: 99 634725

classified contents Employment Opportunities pg 25 Employment Miscellaneous 25 Pets 25 Lessons 25 Health & Fitness 25 Personal 25 Services 25 For Sale Miscellaneous 25 For Sale Land/ Property Business 25 For Sale Motor vehicles 25 Properties Wanted -To Let Nicosia 25 To Let Limassol 28 To Let Larnaca 28 To Let Paphos 29 To Let Protaras, Ayia Napa, Paralimni -For Sale Nicosia 30 For Sale Limassol -For Sale Larnaca 30 For Sale Paphos 30 For Sale Ayia Napa -For Sale Famagusta Protaras 30 For Sale Athens -Property& Home Services display ads -Churches 29

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

26 May 12, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Advertiser TO LET NICOSIA the kitchen, 3 covered parking spaces, roof garden access, in a quiet neighbourhood on Mon Parnas hill – Engomi €850 (photos in the website).

3. 3 bedr luxury semi detached house, a/ c for hot and cold in all the rooms, blinds, electrical appliances in the kitchen,2wc, big patio with tiles, in a quiet area in a dead end – Strovolos €550 (H3ST10002-R) (photos in the website) 4. 4 bedrs new luxury detached house,230sq.m,big sitting and dining area with solid parquet floor, big kitchen with cooker and oven,3wc,2 bathrooms, curtains on all windows, small garden, patio, central heating, full A/C, covered parking in a dead and near French Ambassador house- Strovolos €950 (H4ST10012-R) (photos in the website)

TO LET NICOSIA with electrical appliances sitting room and breakfast area, 3 bathrooms, floor heating independent with grass, a/c units, garden with grass and covered patio, in a quiet area near the International fair in the central part of Makedonitissa - €1500 AVAILABLE END OF MAY –(H4MAK0018-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 €1500 (H4MAK0023-R), (photos on the website).

5. 4 bedr+ very big attic room separated in 2 rooms +separate room for the maid in the basement luxury fully renovated detached house with big sitting and dining room with fire place, big kitchen

7. 4 bedr luxury detached house with 2 big extra rooms on the attic with shower and wc, central heating, air condition units, 360sq.m, solid parquet floor all the house except the kitchen, big sitting and dining areas with fire place, big separate kitchen with family room and breakfast area, big mature garden with

FOR RENT

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TO LET NICOSIA grass and swimming pool, covered parking, in a quiet neighborhood close to Alfa Mega supermarket – Dasoupoli €2000 - Available middle of June (H4DAS0001-R) (photos in the website) 8. 3 bedr +office space luxury detached house with storage heaters, full a/c, 3 wc, 260 m², big kitchen with big family room opening to a big garden with grass, electrical appliances, covered parking, in a very quiet neighborhood in a dead end - Makedonitissa €2000 (H4MAK0034-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,

TO LET NICOSIA 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 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 bedrs new luxury detached house, 450sq.m, central heating, full a/c, office space, separate maid’s room, big kitchen with sitting room and fire place and all the electrical appliances, all the sitting areas viewing the garden with grass, blinds on all windows downstairs, very big bedrooms with parquet floor, main bedroom with jacuzzi,2 covered parking’s near Alpha Mega supermarket and English School. AVAILABLE END OF

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

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TO LET NICOSIA MAY 2013 – Strovolos €2200 (H4ST10001-R) (photos in the website)11. 4 bedr new luxury finished detached house with central heating independent, full a/c, 3wc, 2 bathrooms, big kitchen with cooker oven, dishwasher and big family room, aluminium shutters in all the house, separate big sitting and dining room with parquet floor, 2 covered parking, alarm system, big covered patio, SWIMMING POOL, in a newly built area near Falcon school – Strovolos €2000 (photos in the website).

12. 3 bedrs luxury 2 storey, FULLY RENOVATED LISTED HOUSE with high ceilings in the centre of Nicosia, 260sq.m, 2 small attic rooms, big sitting room upstairs, big sitting room and dining area downstairs, wood-

TO LET NICOSIA en 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. 4 bedrs luxury renovated detached house built in 3 plots of land,550sq.m aprox, central heating, full a/c, all the bedrooms with en suite shower/ bathroom, extra room upstairs for sitting room/office space/ bedroom, solid parquet floor in bedrooms, big kitchen with granite and all the electrical appliances, maid’s room, big sitting areas with fire place and internal yard, big swimming pool 6 x 12,big mature garden with grass and big trees surrounding the house giving privacy, in a very quiet neighborhood near

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27 SUNDAY MAIL • May 12, 2013

TO LET NICOSIA Acropolis park. Available in August €5500 – (H4DAS0006-R) (photos in the website) 14. 4 bedr very big luxury semi detached house 350sq.m, with big separate basement 80sq.m with 2 rooms, sitting room, kitchen and bathroom. Consists of big sitting and dining areas upstairs, big kitchen with big family room and breakfast area, big bedrooms, 3 showers, 1 bathroom, central heating, full a/c, black out blinds on all windows, cooker and oven in the kitchen, covered parking and patio with bbq in a very quiet neighbourhood close to Makarios football stadium.

CAN BE RENTED FURNISHED, PARTIALLY FURNISHED OR UNFURNISHED - Makedonitissa €1500 (H4MAK0032-R), (photos in the website)

Advertiser TO LET NICOSIA

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 22-

TO LET NICOSIA 422225/96-422225/96422226, www.landtouristestates.com ***************************** LUXURY FLATS: 1. 3 bedr luxury finished spacious floor apartment with very big sitting and dining areas with family room with fire place, solid parquet floor all through, central heating independent, full a/c, all the bedrooms with en suite shower/bathroom, 4wc, big kitchen with all the electrical appliances, blinds on all windows, big covered veranda, covered parking, big storage room, on a small 3 storey building in a quiet neighbourhood – Agios Andreas- €1100 – 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 €500 (photos in the website).

3. 1 bedr luxury GROUND FLOOR

TO LET NICOSIA apartment with very big verandas and garden,2 a/c for hot and cold, cooker, oven, washing machine, fridge in the kitchen, big bedroom, covered parking, storage room, off Kallipoleos street in a quiet area – Lykavitos €360(A1LYK0021-R), (photos in the website).

4. 2 bedr FULLY RENOVATED spacious apartment with laminate parquet floor, a/c for hot and cold in all the rooms, big sitting and dining room, separate kitchen, big bedrooms, FULLY NICELY FURNISHED, covered veranda with nice view, near the American Embassy - €450 (A2ENG0018-R) 5. 4 bedr new spacious luxury finished floor apartment with floor heating independent, full a/c, 3wc, electrical appliances in the kitchen, blinds on all windows, very big 50sq.m covered veranda, fireplace, covered parking and big over floor heated covered swimming pool on the ground floor, on a small 3 storey building in a quiet neighbourhood near a playground and near Ippokra-

KIOSK FOR SALE 20.000 EUROS (OVNO) PAPHOS

TO LET NICOSIA

TO LET NICOSIA

tion private hospital – Engomi €1500 (A4ENG0003-R) (photos in the website)

€500. AVAILABLE END OF APRIL (A2ENG0014-R), (photos in the website).

6. 1 bedr new luxury finished apartment with parquet floor, a/c for hot and cold, big bathroom, covered veranda, NEWLY MODERN FURNISHED, parking, off Kennedy Avenue near the centre – Nicosia Centre €450 (A1NIC0021-R), (photos in the website).

9. New top quality 2 bedr apartment, 93sq.m+20sq.m veranda, on a small modern building with 6 flats only. Central heating independent, full a/c, 2 bathrooms, 2wc, fully fitted kitchen with all the electrical appliances, water pressure system roller blinds and shutters on windows, big sitting and dining room, big bedrooms, covered parking and storage room, in a quiet neighbourhood near Akropolis park. – Acropolis €700 A2ACS0002-R (photos in the website) .

7. 2 bedr new luxury apartment with central heating independent, full a/c, 2wc, big sitting and dining room, separate kitchen with cooker and oven, blinds on all windows, covered veranda, solar heater, pressure system, covered parking, storage room, on a small building in a quiet neighborhood next to a playground, near Central offices of Cyta and Laiki Head quarters – Dasoupoli €500 (A2DAS0018-R), (photos in the website).

8. 2 bedr new modern luxury apartment with separate central heating, full a/c, 2bathrooms(one en suite), blinds on all windows, electrical appliances in the kitchen, big sitting & dining room, big covered veranda, covered parking near Alpha Mega – Engomi

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. 2 bedr luxury apartment with

PRICE INCLUDES ALL STOCK AND EQUIPMENT FOOD, DRINKS, CHILLED PRODUCTS, PET FOODS, CIGARETTES FROZEN PRODUCTS, HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS, TOILETRIES. FREEZERS, CHILLER CABINET, ELECTRONIC TILL SYSTEM, SHELVING ETC INTERESTED PARTIES SHOULD E-MAIL – midnight011963@gmail.com

CityCell WiFi

1ST IN CYPRUS

Internet Only €25/Month NO PHONE LINE , NO DEPOSIT, NO CONTRACT PAY AS YOU USE . UNLIMITED USE , 25-100 999

28 May 12, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Advertiser TO LET NICOSIA a/c for hot and cold, separate kitchen, big covered veranda, FULLY NICELY FURNISHED, covered parking, near the Ministry of Education – Acropolis €550 (A2ACS0036-R), (photos in the website) 12. 2 bedr new modern luxury apartment with floor heating, full a/c, big sitting and dining room, big covered veranda 30sq.m, fully fitted kitchen with expensive electrical appliances, blinds, covered parking, on the 6th floor with plenty of view and nice breeze, in the centre off Kennedy avenue – Nicosia Centre €700 (A2NIC0031-R), (photos in the website).

13. New luxury finished 3 bedr penthouse (floor apartment) on the 5th floor,165sq.m+ big verandas(one bigger with bbq), solid parquet floor all the flat,3wc,2 bathrooms, central heating ind, full a/c, big separate Italian kitchen with electrical appliances and dining area, big sitting room, covered parking and storage room off Makarios Avenue walking distance to the centre €850 (A3NIC0030-R), (photos in 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

TO LET NICOSIA 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 Electronics and English school – Strovolos €800 (A3ST10013-R) (photos in the website) 16. New luxury finished 4 bed PENTHOUSE apartment in a small modern building, 186sq. m+90sq.m big veranda with nice view, separate floor heating, fully air conditioned, 4wc, 2 en suite bedrooms with shower,1 bathroom, solid parquet floor all through, big sitting and dining areas with electric modern shutters opening to the veranda, fully equipped kitchen with expensive electrical appliances, 2 parking places (1 covered), in a very quiet neighbourhood ,near the Russian Embassy. AVAILABLE END OF MARCH –Engomi €1900 (A4ENG0005-R) (photos in the website) For many more properties with photos visit our website at 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.

TO LET LIMASSOL

TO LET LIMASSOL

rent in Potamos Germasogia, 3 bedroom, kitchen, dining/ sitting room, 2 wc, garden with trees and verandas, A/C, parking available & covered garage for 2 cars. €700pm Tel 99185490

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

2 BDRM furnished flat, in Katraki building, 100 metres from the sea and Debenhams Olympia.

Price €480 (included common expenses) Tel: 99406415 Andreas.

***************************** 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/Ctoilet in main bedroom. Semi/ full furnished. Fitted kitchen with electrical appliances, fireplace. Toilet/shower. €550pm negotiable. Tel 96891800.

FLAT FOR RENT near Debenhams (300m from sea) f/furnished, 2 bedrooms, parking space, quiet building. €450pm.

Tel 99958781 or 99712344 ***************************** TO LET Hebrew homes, by Limassol twin towers, Kosher or Free, 3 monthly let. Call 035799036312. ***************************** 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.

Cello & piano duet wide repertoire available for bars, cafes, hotels,

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

receptions etc.

LIMASSOL

99947442 or 99418282

GROUND FLOOR HOUSE for

piano-arco-duet.blogspot.com/

***************************** 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 LARNACA TO LET SEAFRONT STUDIO, fully furnished, sleeps 2 adults, all amenities including satellite, common pool and tennis court, basement parking, spacious verandas. Rent €1000 pm incl utilities. Available 1st June 2013. Better rate for full season or year booking. Tel 99657055 TO LET SEAFRONT 2 BEDROOM FLAT, modern fully furnished, easily sleeps 4 adults, all amenities including satellite, common pool and tennis court, basement parking, spacious verandah. Rent €2000 pm incl utilities. Available 1st June 2013. Better rate for full season or year booking. Tel 99657055 ***************************** FOR RENT fully furnished 1 bedroom flat near Larco Hotel Larnaca. Price €370. Tel 99202543 ***************************** 1 BEDROOM flat in Ermou

Lanes and courtyards of Lania During the weekend 18 & 19 May 2013 the women of Lania will be pleased to welcome you to walk along the picturesque lanes and visit their open courtyards 10.00 – 19.00.

Sunday 18.00 raffle, 18.30 – 20.00 Music at the Museum

TO LET LARNACA 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

29 SUNDAY MAIL • May 12, 2013

TO LET LARNACA 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.superiorrealestate-

Advertiser TO LET LARNACA larnaca.com - License No. 419. LANDLORDS AVERTISE YOUR PROPERTY WITH US FOR FREE. Tel. 24815926 Email. info@superiorrealestatelarnaca.com

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

PAPHOS ***************************** PEYIA, luxury villa, 3 double bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, fully or part furnished, private pool,

TO LET PAPHOS quiet location, paved garden area, sea and mountain views.

Sky satellite, €550 ono, please call: 99771532 – no agents **************************** REDUCED TO 300K. Detached modernised stone bungalow in peaceful Paphos village, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, large kitchen/diner and large separate lounge. Open views to the coast and Troodos, a real must see. contact 99246121 or jimicyprus@gmail.com for further info. ***************************** LEYTIMBOUv- Stunning 2 Bedroom Traditional Stone House that’s been completely Modernized to a very high standard although all the Original Features remain, Beamed ceilings, Under Floor Heating Flagstone floors, 2 en-suites

TO LET PAPHOS with power showers, Large Enclosed Courtyard, Double Glazed Windows with Shutters, Open Fireplace €350 TREMITHOUSA - Superb Detached 3 Bedroom Villa with Large Pool, F/F to a very High Standard, Mater En-Suite, Family Bathroom with Jacuzzi, Beautifully Fitted Kitchen, Utility, Separate Shower room, Spectacular Mountain and Sea views, Quite Cul-De- Sac location €700 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

TO LET PAPHOS

TO LET PAPHOS

KALEPIA - Fabulas Detached 3 Bedroom F/F OR U/F Villa, 2 En-suites, Great Views, Large Pool, Gated Driveway, Garage €600

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

URGENTLY WANTED – 3 Bedroom U/F Detached Villas 600/700 MORE PROPERTIES AVAILABLE FOR INFORMATION PLEASE CALL 99862922 ***************************** 1. Sea Caves Paphos, luxury 3 bed unfurnished villa with private pool on a big plot. One bed downstairs, kitchen white goods include dish washer.

Spacious bedrooms, dressing room, balconies, separate outdoor storeroom, enclosed garden. €1000 2. Secret Valley, 3 bed un/furnished villa with private pool on a big plot. Spacious living space, good sized bedrooms.

Pool and garden maintenance included in rent. Lovely sea and country side views. €700 3. Peyia, Beautiful 3 bed un/furnished villa with amazing sea views. Private pool, lovely garden, double bedrooms, master en suite. €500 4. Koili, brand new 4 bed unfurnished villa. Finished to a very high quality in a very quiet location. Italian kitchen, fire place, under floor heating, shutters, fly screens, pool, one bed downstairs. €850 PAPHOS TO RENT Tel: 99389198. For listings and many other properties please visit our web www.paphotorent.com and give us a call. ***************************** FOR RENT a selection of 1 to 5

1. MESOGI €500 we are delighted to offer this beautifully restored traditional stone village house set in a picturesque courtyard with stone built barbeque & covered veranda. This spacious character home offers a modern fitted kitchen, separate dining room & separate living room with modern gas fire, guest wc. Gas central heating throughout. 2 bedrooms both with ensuite bathrooms & walkin wardrobe. Plus an additional room perfect for an office or 3rd bedroom. This property is full of charm & unique detail and it is well worth taking a look.

2. KONIA €600 this fantastic price includes pool cleaning & gardening. Modern detached 3 bedroom villa, master with ensuite. Real fire in living area for those winter months. Good sized storage room & guest wc.

Available unfurnished though includes, a/c throughout, blackout blinds, pressurised water system, flyscreens & shutters.

CHURCHES GRACE CHURCH, LARNACA 8 Ayiou Neofytou St Sundays 10 a.m.

Also Midweek Meetings Details: Colin 24530700 HOLY CROSS CATHOLIC CHURCH, PAPHOS GATE, NICOSIA Sunday Masses: Saturdays 6.30 pm, Sundays 8.00am, 9.30am & 6.30pm Weekday Masses: 6.30 pm Monday to Friday Tel: 22662132 Email: holcross@logos.cy.net

LARNAKA COMMUNITY CHURCH APHRODITE STREET, LARNAKA 10.00 AM MORNING SERVICE and SUNDAY SCHOOL For more details ring Fred 24365152

International EVANGELICAL CHURCH (Reformed) Limassol 352 St. Andrew’s Street (1½ blocks from Starbucks/Fat Boy) Sunday worship 10:30am Wednesday Bible Discussion 7pm For info: 99384742 ALL ARE WELCOME

St Helena’s Anglican Church, Larnaca St Helena’s Court, Grigoris Afx Sunday Service: Holy Communion 9.30 am

NICOSIA CHRISTIAN CENTRE 10 PINDOU STR, ENGOMI, NICOSIA, TEL. 22464375 SERVICES: SUNDAY 10AM, WEDNESDAY 8PM

Family oriented evangelical church Contemporary Christian Worship Sunday 10am (Holy Communion - 1st Sunday of the month) Sunday School (Juniors and Teens) Outreach and Evangelism Bible Studies

Tel. 99 293489, 99 279960 Email: immanuel.church.nicosia@gmail.com Website: www.immanuelchurchnicosia.org

ALL WELCOME Tel:24651327 office@sainthelenas.com

THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF ST ANDREW AND ST JOHN THE BAPTIST MESA GEITONIA, LIMASSOL The Orthodox Liturgy in English served fortnightly on Saturdays at 9.00 am. We also hold a Discussion Group every Thursday evening at 7.30 pm For information please call Fr. Christopher Klitou Mobile: 99957144 Fax: 25710318 You can email us at: klitoux@logos.cy.net or visit our website: www.christopherklitou.com

THE REFORMED CHURCH OF LIMASSOL Clear exposition of the Bible in the presence of God, and relevant to our lives.

Our Sunday services start at 10:30 am sharp, and the Wednesday Bible discussion at 7 pm.

International Evangelical Church (Reformed) is located at 352 St. Andrew’s Street. 1½ blocks from Starbucks / Fat Boy, and 1 block from the Municipal Gardens, Zoo. For further information call Steve at 99384742, or email: iee.limassol@gmail.com All are welcome!

PROPHETIC CALL-OUT Grieved by preachers living in sin ? Pastors collaborating with idolaters?

Bored with just being a spectator?

In Prophecy there is no ‘us and them: Everyone contributes (1 Cor 14:26) 10am start 9/2/2013 God willing, Meet: Entrance Palaiopafos, Kouklia Instruments/shofars welcome

Open Door Baptist Church

St Barnabas’ Anglican Church 153 Leontiou A Street Limassol www.stbarnabas-cyprus.com Telephone: 25362713 - All welcome ALL SAINTS GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH (ENGLISH) Sunday Divine Liturgy 8-10am. Followed by Fellowship hour (coffee) Services are now being held at the underground Chapel of All Saints of Cyprus at St. Panteleimonos Church Makedonitissa Archangelos (Engomi) For more info please contact Fr. Joseph Coleman Tel. 99938924

THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF AGIOS ARSENIOS, LIMASSOL (near Tsirion Stadium) The Orthodox Liturgy in English Saturday, 4 February at 8:30 am For information please contact: Father M. Spanou at 99 – 401365 (msspanou@googlemail.com)

9 Larnakos Street Katholiki Area Limassol Sundays: 9:45, 11:00 AM, 1:30 PM Wednesdays: 7:30 PM 25 751193 or 99 758729 www.cbm-odbc.org

GRACE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH Invites you to COME AND EXPERIEBNCE THE LOVE OF GOD WITH US Int. Christian Business Fellowship Meeting Centre Sundays: 10.00am Sunday School 11.00 am Main Service (Dine with us centre services) Wednesdays: Prayer meeting 6pm Address: To Arsinois Str., 1010 Nicosia (Next to Western Union Office to KISA) Contact: 99988900 or 97667932. \VISITORS ESPECIALLY WELCOME!!!

The Anglican Church of Paphos Ayia Kyriaki (St. Paul by the Pillar) Sunday 8.15am Holy Eucharist 6.00pm Sung Eucharist th 4 Sunday 6.00pm Choral Evensong Wednesday 9.00am Holy Eucharist 3rd Wednesday (BCP) St. Stephen’s, Tala st rd 1 & 3 Sunday 11.00 am Holy Eucharist 2nd & 4th Sunday 11.00am Morning Worship St. Luke’s, Prodromi 1st & 5th Sunday 9.30am Morning Worship 2nd , 3rd & 4th Sunday 9.30am Holy Eucharist 1st & 3rd Wednesday 9.30am Holy Eucharist 1st Sunday 6.00 p.m. Peace & Wholeness with Holy Eucharist 4th Sunday every quarter 9.30 am Holy Eucharist from BPC Church Office: 26-953044 Fax: 26-952486 Email: anglicancofp@cytanet.com.cy for directions to each church

DEUTSCHE GOTTESDIENSTE IN ZYPERN Nikosia: Am 1. und 3. Samstag im Monat in der St. Paul’s Cathedral um 18 Uhr Limassol: Am 2. Sonntag im Monat im Gemeindehaus in Germasogeia um 11 Uhr Am 4. Sonntag im Monat in der St. Barnabaskirche um 18 Uhr Paphos: Am 2. Samstag in der Kirche an der Paulussaeule um 16 Uhr Agia Napa: Am 4. Sonntag im Monat im Hof des Klosters um 9.30 Uhr Näheres Informationen durch Pfarrer Dr. Herold, Tel 25-317092 oder im Internet www.ev-kirche-zypern.de

St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral Byron Avenue, Nicosia, 22 445221/22 677897 www.st-pauls-nicosia.com

Sunday 0930 : Holy Communion Sunday School in the hall 1800 : Evening Prayer Monday/Tuesday/Thursday 0830: Morning Prayer Wednesday 1030 : Holy Communion First Monday of each month 1930 : Guild of St Raphael Parish Office : Mon-Fri : 0900 – 1100 Saturday 1000-1200

Bookshop and Thrift Shop

30 May 12, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Advertiser Situated on a corner plot with large beautifully landscaped garden, offering a lovely private pool, mature plants & fruit trees.

Gated entrance & covered off street parking.

3. KAMARES TALA €750 a spacious 3 bedroom bungalow, master with ensuite.

Living area with real fireplace for those winter months. Separate utility room. Good sized low maintenance garden with private pool offering breathtaking panoramic sea views. Large outdoor storage room. Covered car port.

Available furnished with good furniture. Situated in a quiet residential area with free membership to the Kamares club. website reference number: RTL_471 4. SECRET VALLEY €750 spacious modern detached 3 bedroom villa situated on a corner plot in a peaceful residential area. Offering large private pool with a low maintained enclosed garden with sea views.

Off street parking. Fully furnished with modern furniture and includes gas central heating throughout. Modern fitted kitchen with granite worktops.

One bedroom on ground floor with bathroom. Pets allowed at owners discretion. Viewings highly recommended. website reference number: RTL_561 5.KAMARES TALA €850 a stunning 4 bedroom 3 bathroom detached villa in this peaceful sought after residential area.

Beautifully furnished with modern furniture. Gas central heating throughout plus real fire for those winter months. Low maintenance landscaped garden with private pool offering the most beautiful sea views.

TO LET PAPHOS Only 15 minutes drive to the International School of Paphos & includes free membership to the Kamares club.

6. LOWER PEYIA €900 price includes pool cleaning, gardening, water and community tax bills. This 4 bedroom detached bungalow all with ensuite bathrooms, offers spacious accommodation of 200 sq metres.

Available unfurnished. Situated in a quiet residential area. A lovely enclosed garden with fruit trees, a gazebo & private infinity pool with sea views. website reference number: RTL_683 7. SEA CAVES €1,200 price includes pool cleaning & gardening. situated in this sought after residential area we offer this suburb 3 bedroom detached villa set in stunning landscaped gardens on a 1200 sq metre plot, offering a private kidney shaped swimming pool with sea views. Separate kitchen and spacious living area with conservatory. Master bedroom with ensuite. Downstairs guest wc. Available furnished or part furnished with classic furniture.

Large garage/storage area and covered car port. website reference number: RTL_684 8. AGIA MARINOUDA €1,800 luxury modern 4 bedroom villa with additional office plus maid’s quarters and separate annex for guests. This amazing property offers an ultra modern fitted kitchen, sitting room & living room. Beautifully presented with modern furniture. Includes gas central heating. Entrance with electric gates leading to a spacious landscaped garden with private pool & entertainment area. Situated close to the Elea golf course with sea and

TO LET PAPHOS country side views. Viewings highly recommended. website reference number: RTL_681 Tel: 97790883 Tel: 99133422 office: 26271858 visit our website for many more properties www.mrrent-paphos.net email: info@mrrent-paphos. net **************************** FLOWRON PROPERTY RENTALS : Offering a full range of property services, the company you can TRUST.

TO LET PAPHOS living room, large kitchen, dining area and guest cloakroom.

Upstairs 4 bedrooms, Family bathroom. Private pool and great sea/mountain views.

REF 1001 Amount €900 Secret Valley 4 bedroom large unfurnished villa in nice residential road. Private pool, gated, covered parking. Downstairs bedroom, sitting room, kitchen. Upstairs 3 bedrooms all with ensuite shower rooms.

REF 1241 Amount €900

Melanos 2 bedroom fully furnished top floor apartment with exceptionally large veranda and amazing views. Sitting/dining area, kitchen and guest WC. Family bathroom.

Outside veranda.

Covered parking and communal pool.

Includes communal fees. REF 1147 Amount €300 SPECIAL OFFER

Peyia 3 bedroom villa, unfurnished. Bedrooms all with fitted wardrobes and family bathroom. Airconditioning, flyscreens, fans and sat TV. Sitting/dining area, kitchen with white goods and guest cloakroom. Outside private pool with shaded offstreet parking and great mountain and seaviews. REF 1214 Amount €550

Lower Peyia 3 bedroom furnished older style villa in a small cul-de-sac. 3 bedrooms upstairs, family bathroom. Sitting room, spacious kitchen downstairs in a quiet location.

Private pool and BBQ area.

REF 1242 Amount €600

Tala 3 bedroom part-furnished modern villa with quality interior Italian kitchen, central heating, private pool and great seaviews in peaceful residential location. REF 988 Amount €750

Timi 4 bedroom furnished large house on outskirts of Timi Village in its own private grounds surrounded by fruit trees. Very nice standard and lots of living space. Large quality kitchen. 3 large bedrooms upstairs, master with ensuite, family bathroom. Additional room used as office and upstairs loft. REF 1049 Amount €650

TO LET PAPHOS in centre of Sea Caves/Coral Bay property with central heating double garage and downstairs bedroom. Outside – large grounds with private pool and beautiful seaviews.

REF 9999b Amount €1,800 Please call for a free viewing on 26600450 – 97616070 many more properties including commercial lettings on our website at www.flowron. com – Your Vision is our Mission LANDLORDS FLOWRON PROPERTY RENTALS WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU, WE WELCOME ALL PROPERTIES FROM STUDIOS VILLAS **************************** PEYIA – 3 bedroom villa with modern quality furniture and finishes.

Central heating, sky, alarm, infinity pool and stunning 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 €340 p.m. Tel 99403261 *****************************

Sea Caves 5 bedroom modern, fully furnished luxury villa

ST. PAUL’S ANGLICAN CATHEDRAL BYRON AVENUE, NICOSIA

Armou 4 bedroom modern villa offered unfurnished. Woodburner and airconditioning throughout. Dowstairs is large

FOR SALE NICOSIA

PROPERTY FOR SALE NICOSIA ***************************** FOR SALE BEAUTIFUL VILLA, Nicosia, Strovolos 550sqm build in two lots 1250sqm. 6 bds, 6 bath, under floor heating, A/C, basement, two car garage, beautiful landscape, well, pool, quiet area, great for families.

Motivated seller. Price reduced 1.500000.Call 99432074 mpapadmd@gmail.com **************************** 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. *****************************

PAPHOS ***************************** EXO-VRISI – 2 bed townhouse in quiet cul-de-sac. Panoramic sea views, car port, a/c, ceiling fans, tastefully furnished, plus all white goods, €105.000 o.n.o with title deeds Call : 26954147/ 99137828 *****************************

LARNACA

Saturday 18 May 2013 from 4.00-7.00pm Grand Raffle!!

Win a return air ticket to London - and many other prizes!

Music: Local School Choirs Dancing: Maypole Dancing, Cypriot Dancing, Food: Cakes & Preserves, Refreshments & hot dogs, International Cuisine, Ice cream Games and Attractions: Art Exhibition, Games & Sideshows, Bottle Stall, Plants, Books & Gifts stalls, Massage, White Elephant, Bric-a-brac & Clothes, Bouncy Castle, Fire engine and Police display.

Something for everyone, fantastic bargains fun for all the family!

In aid of Cathedral funds and The Pregnancy Care Centre, Nicosia

EMBA

TO LET PAPHOS

***************************** AMAZING SEASIDE WATERFRONT BEACH APARTMENT immaculate and unusually spacious open plan living, 2 double bedrooms, fantastic sea views, big veranda, parking, exclusive location. Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity for your own dream property.

Title deeds. Realistic offers invited after highly recommended viewing. Telephone 99890128. *****************************

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.

INDOOR MARKET & CAR BOOT SALE FRIDAY – SATURDAY – SUNDAY FRI 8:00AM – 2:00PM

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

STALLHOLDERS & CAR-BOOTERS WELCOME ALL ENQUIRIES CALL: 96533839/99771532

31 May 12, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Compiled by Rosie Ogden

Motoring

Girl power shines on Flying Scotsman rally THE fifth Flying Scotsman Rally, which sees enthusiasts drive from London to Edinburgh in a pre-war car, proved to be a vintage event, with a nail-biting finish that saw two ladies snatching second place overall, thought to be the highest position for any all-female crew on an international Historic Rally.

The winning crew of Gareth Burnett and Jeremy Haylock brought their 1934 Talbot 105 across the finish line a mere seven seconds ahead of Sue Shoosmith and Trina Hartley, who had hauled their big Bentley up the leader-board for nearly 1,000 miles over the threeday event.

“One more day of this and we could have beaten all the blokes,” said an exhausted Trina at the finish line. In a true old-school demonstration of girl power, the ladies beat all previous winners of

the event, and were the highest-placed of the Bentley contingent, but couldn’t quite make it past the front-runners.

The top ten finishers featured four Bentleys and three Talbot 105 Alpines. Interlopers among the Bentleys and Talbots were an Alfa Romeo 6C, a 1500cc Riley 12/4 and a Lagonda M45R. The oldest car taking part, a 1912 Chalmers 10 crewed by Robert Abrey and Brad Webb, boasted the secondlargest engine in the event at 7500cc, just 500cc short of the 8000cc engine in the ex-Jack Sears 1931 Bentley Speed Six entered by Neil Corner and Dick Crossthwaite.

Leaving Hertfordshire with almost 1,000 miles in three days ahead of them, more than 100 vintage cars from 18 different countries took on the challenge to journey to Gleneagles Hotel north of

Edinburgh.

This year’s route threaded its way up the backbone of England to the Scottish borders over remote roads through the Derbyshire Peak District and Yorkshire Moors.

Twenty seven different makes of cars were entered – making inter-marque rivalry inevitable.

“This has been the best-designed route so far,” said Jayne Wignall, who has entered all previous Flying Scotsmans in her 20hp Sunbeam.

The rally is organised by the Endurance Rally Association (ERA), whose next event is the Peking to Paris Rally, which will start on May 28th. Competitors face thirty-three days ‘of living an extraordinary adventure driving through some of the remotest places on earth’.

Sue Shoosmith and Trina Hartley hauled their big Bentley up the leaderboard for nearly 1,000 miles over three days

go Aston Martin secures its Don’t parking up place in the history books wrong tree First hydrogen-fuelled zero CO2 emission lap of Nordschleife circuit ASTON Martin has secured its place in the history books with a world first hydrogenfuelled zero CO2 emission lap of the 24 km Nordschleife circuit in Germany.

The lap was completed on Saturday 27th April with Aston Martin Chief Executive Officer Dr Ulrich Bez at the wheel of the prototype Aston Martin Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S, and was a perfect test run ahead of a formal record-breaking attempt at the ADAC Zurich 24 Hours of Nurburgring (N24) next month.

Aston Martin engineers were using the four-hour ADAC ACAS H&R-Cup VLN series race as a shakedown and test session ahead of the gruelling 24 hour race next month in which the Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S will line-up alongside a world-class field.

Development of the ground-breaking hybrid system – created by technical partners Alset Global and pioneered by Aston Martin in the race – has exceeded expectations, leading to the historic hydrogen-only lap of the infamous ‘green hell’ on Saturday afternoon.

Dr Bez said: “I am incredibly proud of the Aston Martin team, and our partners Alset Global. We have written a little motorsport history with this qualifying lap as well as finishing the four-hour race on hydrogen and, of course, it bodes extremely well for our participation in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in three weeks’ time.

“To have run full laps on hydrogen gas alone during the four-hour event is an exceptional ‘first’, and I now hope that we can stabilise the system and further improve the Rapide S so we can complete the 24-hour race on May 19 with many zero emission laps.”

David King, Director of Special Projects at Aston Martin and the man leading the Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S project, said: “This achievement should leave

The prototype Aston Martin Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S completed a perfect test run ahead of a formal recordbreaking attempt at the ADAC Zurich 24 Hours of Nurburgring (N24) next month no one in any doubt that the system we have developed with Alset Global is a viable and exciting option for the future.

“The creation of the Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S was, for Aston Martin, another high profile way for us to mark our centenary in 2013, and to demonstrate our engineering capabilities in the most demanding environment of a major endurance race. This is the ultimate expression of our long term strategy of using

the Nürburgring 24h race to publicly demonstrate the abilities of our cars and our people.”

When it competes at N24 the Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S, which is based on Aston Martin’s new four-door, four-seat sports car, will become the first hydrogenpowered car to compete in an international event as well as the first zero CO2 emissions sports car to complete a race pace lap at the Nurburgring 24-hour race. The car will compete

in an experimental class (E1-XP) having passed rigorous technical and safety assessments by the German motorsport authority to be granted approval to race.

It will be able to complete full laps with zero CO2 emissions and will be refuelled after each stint with 3.5kg of hydrogen as well as gasoline.

Aston Martin’s engineers have developed a prototype twin turbocharged 6.0-litre V12 engine that powers the Nurburgring car which is

capable of running on pure gasoline, pure gaseous hydrogen, or a blend of both.

In pure hydrogen mode the car emits virtually only water from the exhaust.

The Hybrid Hydrogen system comprises a hydrogen fuel rail, storage tanks and proprietary engine management system. Safety is paramount and the system includes four ultra-high strength carbon fibre tanks holding a total of 3.5kg of hydrogen stored at a pressure of 350bar.

HOW carefully do you park?

Judging by the sight of most car parks in Cyprus, the answer would appear to be ‘don’t care’.

But correct parking isn’t just a matter of courtesy to other motorists (why take up two spaces simply because you can’t be bothered to reverse and straighten up?) it’s also a matter of safety because you can see clearly when driving out.

The Institute of Advanced Motorists, a British road safety charity, this week issued some tips that might improve the way drivers here view this everyday manoeuvre.

IAM chief examiner Peter Rodger says “parking is now part of the L-test, and it can be quite surprising to see how often people struggle with it, and see the task as particularly stressful. It’s important that you take your time and don’t succumb to pressure by other drivers around you when you are parking – it’s far better to do it right than to do it quickly.

Practice is the real key – if you do it often you should be able to do it well.”

His tips: Park on the left-hand side of the road if possible – make it always if it’s at night.

In a car park you should reverse into parking spaces.

This will make it safer when you’re driving out and more fuel efficient as you’ll be manoeuvring with a warm engine. Also, it’s easier to steer into a small space backwards rather than forwards – steering effectively with the rear wheels is better for manoeuvring.

If reversing into a space, try to start by manoeuvring the car so that the space is straight behind you – the less turning you have to do backwards, the easier most people find it to judge.

Car sides are often not straight, so watch other things than just the car next to you when lining up in a space.

A higher seating position inside the car makes it easier to manage knowing where the corners are when in a tight space.

Use your mirrors as well as looking over your shoulder.

32 May 12, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Sport Miller and Lester produce one-hitters ROOKIE Shelby Miller retired 27 straight after giving up a lead-off single to Eric Young Jr as he pitched a onehit shutout in the St Louis Cardinals’ 3-0 win over the Colorado Rockies.

Young was the only man to get on base for the Rockies as Miller fanned 13 in the first complete game of his young career. Carlos Beltran went yard for the Cardinals, while Matt Holliday and Pete Kozma each drove in a run.

Jon Lester also hurled a onehitter to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 5-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. Lester struck out five in his third career shutout to help the Sox end a three-game losing streak.

Daniel Nava led the Boston offence with two runs and a pair of RBIs. Lyle Overbay had a home run and five RBIs as the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 11-6.

Ichiro Suzuki also homered, while Phil Hughes got the win despite allowing six runs in 5 2/3 innings.

Alex Cobb struck out 13 in just 4 2/3 innings before the Tampa Bay Rays beat the San Diego Padres 6-3.

Ryan Roberts and Ben Zobrist each drove in a pair, while reliever Jake McGee was credited with the win.

Angel Pagan homered as the San Francisco Giants overcame Atlanta 8-2, defeating Braves starter Tim Hudson for the first time in 10 attempts.

Hudson had been 6-0 in his last nine starts against the Giants, stretching back to his last defeat against them in 2006.

Ian Desmond had three hits including a home run, drove in three and scored three times in the Washington Nationals’ 7-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

Manny Machado’s tie-breaking RBI single led a three-run 10th for the Baltimore Orioles as they beat the Minnesota Twins 9-6.

Raul Ibanez cracked a three-run homer off Oakland rookie Dan Straily as the Seattle Mariners beat the Athletics 6-3.

Garrett Jones belted a threerun shot in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 7-3 win over the New York Mets and Brandon Phillips went yard to help the Cininnati Reds edge out the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3.

Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera homered in the Detroit Tigers’ 10-4 win over the Cleveland Indians, while Jeff Baker’s long ball led the Texas Rangers to a 4-2 victory over the Houston Astros.

The Los Angeles Angels beat the Chicago White Sox 7-5, the Arizona Diamonbacks edged out the Philadelphia Philles 3-2 and the Miami Marlins were 5-4 winners over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Both Swann (L) and Bresnan have been back in action for their counties this season, and their return to the England reckoning this week is as expected

Graeme Swann, Tim Bresnan both back in England squad

By David Clough GRAEME Swann and Tim Bresnan are both back in England’s squad for the first Investec Test after their recoveries from elbow surgery.

Off-spinner Swann and seamer Bresnan, who both last played Test cricket in the series-clinching December Test against India in Nagpur, were yesterday morning included in a 12man squad for next week’s match against New Zealand at Lord’s.

Bresnan underwent surgery on his bowling arm, after England announced

Duo included in 12-man line-up against NZ he would be rested from the three-Test tour of New Zealand, and it was decided on the eve of the first of those matches in March that Swann would also need an operation in the United States.

Both bowlers have been back in action for their counties this season, and their return to the England reckoning this week is as expected.

The remainder of Alastair Cook’s squad, announced by the England and Wales

Cricket Board, is also predictable.

The same six specialist batsmen who featured in England’s last Test - the drawn match in Auckland two months ago - remain, in the continued absence of the injured Kevin Pietersen.

Swann replaces his fellow spinner Monty Panesar, and England have resisted the belt-and-braces policy of naming an extra seamer - as they did before the first Test against West Indies this

time last year, when Graham Onions was included.

National selector Geoff Miller said: “Both Graeme Swann and Tim Bresnan have worked hard to regain fitness following elbow surgery and have demonstrated through their performances for their counties that they are ready for the challenge of international cricket.”

England’s squad will be notable for many as confirmation of selection policy at the start of this Ashes summer.

But after the disappointing 0-0 stalemate in New Zealand, the hosts have a score to settle against the Kiwis in the two-match series at Lord’s and Headingley. Miller added: “We are anticipating another very competitive series against New Zealand and know that we will need to improve significantly on our performances in the recent Test series against them if we are to start the international summer on a positive note.

“This series provides a good opportunity for the players to show that they have learnt from the experiences over the winter.”

Domingo will take over from Kirsten at South Africa helm

Domingo already coaches the Proteas’ Twenty20 side

RUSSELL Domingo has been appointed as the successor to outgoing South Africa coach Gary Kirsten.

The 38-year-old, who already coaches the Proteas’ Twenty20 side, will take over from Kirsten after next month’s Champions Trophy in England, with a limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka providing his first assignment.

Domingo said: “This is a very big day in my life. It has to be the highlight in anybody’s coaching career to be given the honour and responsibility of being put in charge of your national side.

“I feel it has come at the right stage of my coaching career, having spent the last two years working with Gary.

“I would like to thank the board of Cricket South Africa for the faith they

have shown in me and also the many people who have helped me to live my coaching dream.”

Domingo has previously led the Chevrolet Warriors to a domestic limitedovers double and CSA President Chris Nenzani said: “We have no doubt that Russell will do an excellent job.

“He has built up an excellent career record over a short period of time and he has played an important part in the success that Gary has achieved for us over the past two years.

“Continuity is very important both in terms of player selection and the management team and this will enable us to have a seamless transition from one coach to another.

“Russell inherits a world-class group of

players who have performed consistently at the highest level and he will continue to build the Proteas as a world-class brand.”

Despite his relatively low public profile, Domingo’s appointment does not come as a surprise after Kirsten yesterday talked up his credentials.

“My relationship with Russell has always been a close one,” Kirsten said during his retirement press conference.

“He is passionate and clinical and he has done a lot of coaching. I have no doubt that he is very capable of doing high-level coaching jobs.”

Domingo takes over a strong team, with Kirsten having led them to number one in the International Cricket Council Test rankings during his two years in charge.

33 SUNDAY MAIL • May 12, 2013

Sport IN BRIEF James gives Heat edge over Bulls LEBRON James scored 25 points as the Miami Heat beat the Chicago Bulls 104-94 to establish a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semi-final series.

Chris Bosh had 20 points and 19 rebounds, while Norris Cole added 18 points from the bench to help the Heat pull away with a 34-24 fourth quarter.

Carlos Boozer paced the Bulls with 21 points.

Tony Parker poured in 32 points as the San Antonio Spurs held off the Golden State Warriors for a 102-92 victory and a 2-1 series advantage.

The Spurs led 32-23 at the end of the first quarter and never trailed thereafter, though the Warriors did briefly level in the third and pulled to within a point in the fourth.

Tim Duncan had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Spurs, while Klay Thompson led the Warriors with 17 points.

Nadal through to Madrid final RAFA Nadal is one win away from a fifth title since returning from injury after the Spanish world number five thumped compatriot Pablo Andujar 6-0 6-4 yesterday to reach the Madrid Open final.

With his customary strapping on the troublesome left knee that sidelined him for seven months until February, home favourite Nadal was in scintillating form as he raced through the first set on the sundrenched clay of Manolo Santana centre court.

Andujar, a tournament wildcard ranked 113 in the world, put up more of a fight in the second but Nadal secured a fourth break in the ninth game and served out to move a step closer to his third title at the Masters event.

Nadal was to meet either sixth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych, runner-up last year to Roger Federer, or Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka, the 15th seed, in today’s final.

Melbourne to be golf host AUSTRALIA’S Royal Melbourne Golf Club will host this year’s edition of the World Cup of Golf, which has been played in China since 2007, the tournament’s promoters said yesterday.

Mission Hills Group, which has hosted the tournament five times in China, said the 57th edition would be held in Melbourne in November to ensure it maintained its global status.

Rosberg leads the lockout for Mercedes with Spanish pole Vettel third on grid, Raikkonen fourth

By Alan Baldwin GERMANY’S Nico Rosberg handed Mercedes their third pole position in succession yesterday with team mate Lewis Hamilton sealing a front row lockout at the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix.

The pole was Rosberg’s second in a row after Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, took pole in China last month.

Red Bull’s triple world champion and series leader Sebastian Vettel qualified third, with Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen, currently second overall and 10 points behind the German, alongside on the second row for Lotus.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, the local favourite at his home race, will start fifth, with Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa next to him.

“I had a really good lap in the end ... it’s always a good motivation, especially for the team. Front row. Fantastic.

But of course we have to be a bit cautious because of what we saw in Bahrain,” said Rosberg, who finished ninth in that race.

“So it’s nice, but to be enjoyed with caution.”

Mercedes last swept the front row in China last season, a race won by Rosberg while then team mate Michael Schumacher failed to finish.

Yesterday was the first time

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg celebrates his second pole in a row after the qualifying session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona yesterday since 1955, when Argentina’s Juan Manuel Fangio and Britain’s Stirling Moss were racing for the ‘Silver Arrows’, that a Mercedes works team had chalked up three poles in a row.

The German manufacturer left Formula One as a works team in 1955, however, and only returned in 2010 after buying the title-winning

‘Boring’ Serena will face Sharapova for Madrid title SERENA Williams’ tactic of staying in her hotel room and being “boring” appears to be paying off after the world number one swept past Sara Errani yesterday to set up a Madrid Open final against rival Maria Sharapova.

Chasing a 50th career title at the clay event in the Spanish capital, defending champion Williams was far too strong for Italian seventh seed Errani on the Manolo Santana show court, winning 7-5 6-2 before Sharapova made short work of 16th seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia to win their semi-final 6-4 6-3.

The Russian second seed and world number two, 26, will replace 31-year-old American Williams at the top of the rankings if she gets the better of her in today’s title match.

Williams, whose interests away from tennis include fashion and acting, said she had been avoiding “too many extra-curricular activities” to concentrate on match preparation.

“I usually just stay in my room really and be the most boring person you can ever imagine,” she told a news conference.

“That’s kind of the way I get focused.”

Sharapova will be a different proposition to Errani as the French Open champion, who beat the Italian in last year’s Roland Garros final, is among the players on the Tour who can come close to matching Williams for power.

However, she has only beaten the American twice in 14 attempts, and never on clay, and both those victories came almost a decade ago.

“I look forward to it,” Williams said.

The two women last played in Miami this year when Sharapova won the first set before going down 4-6 6-3 6-0.

Brawn GP. “Am I confident for tomorrow? Not entirely,” said team principal Ross Brawn.

“I could see from fuel work, that we’re not on top of it as much as we are in qualifying, but we’ve done a lot of work on that. Can we win? I don’t know.”

The statistics suggests Mercedes have a strong chance,

given that only once in the last 22 years has a driver won in Barcelona without starting on the front row - and that was Schumacher in 1996 from third.

Hamilton, denied pole in Spain with McLaren last year due to a fuel irregularity, was fastest in the first two phases of qualifying, but Rosberg made sure of the pole with

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a time of one minute 20.718 seconds. Hamilton’s best was 1.20.972.

“He did a great job ... but as Nico said, we are going to approach it with caution because tomorrow it’s going to be tough,” said the Briton, third in the championship.

“I didn’t have two option sets (of tyres) at the end which would have helped a little bit, but I think Nico was just quicker today.”

There was despondency at Hamilton’s former team McLaren, struggling to extract performance from their car, with 2009 world champion Jenson Button failing to make the final stage of qualifying for the first time this year.

The Briton will start 14th, with the new upgrade package brought to this race failing to live up to expectations more than anyone could have feared.

The only glimmer of hope for McLaren was provided by Mexican Sergio Perez, who qualified ninth.

“For Jenson, it’s a disappointing outcome,” said principal Martin Whitmarsh.

“We’ve not analysed the data yet, but there is some evidence that the tyre pressures were too high, otherwise we hope he would have snuck through.”

Further back, former champions Williams - last year’s race winners with Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado - were in even deeper trouble.

A year on from the only win of his F1 career, Maldonado qualified 18th, with Finnish rookie team mate Valtteri Bottas 17th.

“We’ve got to improve,” said deputy principal Claire Williams.

“You never panic in these situations. The grid is so tight, we were only one tenth off getting into Q2, so I don’t think it’s time to panic.”

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34 May 12, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Sport Pochettino predicts bright future for Southampton MAURICIO Pochettino believes the future is bright for Southampton, but will not be getting ahead of himself with survival yet to be secured.

Saints have impressed since the Argentinian controversially replaced Nigel Adkins in January, with wins over the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea.

Sir Alex Ferguson is one of the many to have been impressed by Pochettino’s high-energy pressing game and there is increasing talk from those at the club of soon making Europe.

However, those plans could be derailed as a poor recent run has left them in danger of an immediate return to the second tier.

Southampton are four points off the

drop zone heading into today’s penultimate game at Sunderland - a situation that means Pochettino has put future plans on the back burner.

“I think we have enough time to speak about next season’s goals,” the Saints boss said. “We’ve first got these two games coming up.

“We need to be very much respectful of this season, which has not yet finished.

“We will have ample time to speak about next season’s goals once this season’s goals have been achieved.

“I have not spoken about transfers or made any plans regarding that yet.

“But if we look back at previous seasons I am pretty sure the chairman will have an investment plan to bring in new players and reinforce the squad.”

That squad could be stretched at the Stadium of Light today, with Gaston Ramirez and Danny Fox both suspended.

Meanwhile, Morgan Schneiderlin, Maya Yoshida and Emmanuel Mayuka are doubts for the match against a side Pochettino has been impressed by since Paolo Di Canio’s arrival. “(Sunderland) are a team that plays very compact, very much together and they have been able to play out the concepts that (Di Canio) has been establishing for the team, so he has been doing quite well ever since he arrived at that club.

“I think we both have that fighting spirit, I think both teams have that fighting spirit,” he added.

Fighting spirit: Pochettino’s Saints are still four points off the drop zone heading into today’s clash at Sunderland

Clarke defends his right to experiment

Gerrard absence is chance to shine

STEVE Clarke has defended his right to experiment with his West Brom side, despite the impact it may have on the Barclays Premier League relegation scrap.

The Albion head coach took advantage of his team’s comfortable position by trying a new formation and giving runouts to several fringe players in the 1-0 midweek defeat at Manchester City.

Boaz Myhill came in for Ben Foster in goal while Craig Dawson, Markus Rosenberg and Gabriel Tamas all started at the Etihad having rarely featured for much of the season.

Clarke may opt to do something similar against Norwich at Carrow Road today, where victory for Albion will plunge their hosts further into the relegation mire.

The Scot has no moral quandaries about taking the opportunity to change things up.

“I put my best team out against Manchester City,” he said. “It was the best team for that night. What I do with my team shouldn’t be any concern for anyone else. I’ve got a squad of players that I use, but I’ve used them all season.

“Anybody who watched us against Man City the other night will know it was a good performance. I only made four changes. It wasn’t wholesale changes.

“But we know we’ve got a duty to the rest of the teams in the league to go out there and try our best.”

Rodgers urges youth to showcase talents

By Carl Markham

Reds and England captain Steven Gerrard is set to undergo surgery on his left shoulder today after it was rescheduled from Thursday due to illness

LIVERPOOL manager Brendan Rodgers has urged his younger players to embrace the challenge of Steven Gerrard’s absence and use it to showcase their own talents.

The Reds and England captain is set to undergo surgery on a troublesome left shoulder today after it was rescheduled from Thursday because of illness.

Gerrard - who had not missed a league match this season up to this weekend - will not return until pre-season, so there are two games remaining for someone else to fill the void.

Jordan Henderson, 22, and Jonjo Shelvey, 21, are the leading candidates to line up alongside Lucas Leiva in the holding midfielder role.

And while Rodgers accepts his younger players gain more benefit from playing alongside the vastly-experienced Gerrard, he knows there will come a time when they will have to get used to being without him.

“If you are a young player playing alongside Steve Gerrard or Jamie Carragher that is a benefit for you,” said the Reds boss.

“What you are looking for when they come into the team

if Steven is not playing is to take on extra responsibility and just have the chance to go and flourish.

“Where they have the comfort here is we rely on the collective not just one player and when they come in they are not on their own, they are part of the team.

“But there is no doubt if you are playing with Steven Gerrard his quality and experience can help you and if he is not playing that can be a miss.

“You can’t compare (players). You are asking them to do different things.

“Steven has his way of working which has made him one of the best players in the world for a number of years.

“Everyone knows Steven’s status on the game and his performance level this season has been outstanding.

“But it (his absence) provides an opportunity for the players coming in to show they can contribute to the team.”

Shelvey has found first-team chances limited in the last couple of months, making just three appearances as a substitute since his last start against West Brom on February 11.

However, the midfielder scored a brilliant goal in an under-21 match against Manchester United at Old Trafford earlier this week which did not

go unnoticed by Rodgers.

“Jonjo is a talented player. He came here with big expectations and it is sometimes difficult but he has played quite a lot this year, although the last few months he has not bee in the team,” said the manager.

“But you saw his goal in the week for the reserves against Manchester United was fantastic quality.

“He will come into contention to play as will some of the other players who have been outstanding in training trying to demonstrate they want to play in the team.

“We are trying to create that competition and improve it in the summer because there hasn’t been enough of it.

“When you bring in good players it makes a reaction for other good players.

“Jonjo has worked well but the form over the second half of the season has made it difficult because we’ve only lost three times in 2013.

“All they (players not in the team) can do is do what he’s done, work hard and work well and if the chance comes you have to take it.”

Liverpool face Fulham at Craven Cottage today in a match with very little riding on it for the Reds, although one point from six matches, means their hosts are not quite mathematically safe from relegation.

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35 SUNDAY MAIL • May 12, 2013

Sport

Laudrup is ready to spoil party at United

Mabbutt convinced Bale to shun Real, stay on at Tottenham

Hoping Fergie focus will favour his team

GARY Mabbutt is convinced Gareth Bale will shun Real Madrid this summer and remain at Tottenham for many years to come.

Bale was the toast of English football again on Thursday when he picked up his Footballer of the Year award after topping a poll by the Football Writers’ Association.

The accolade came less than two weeks after Bale’s peers in the Professional Footballers’ Association had voted the Welshman Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year, thanks to his amazing 30-goal tally for club and country.

The Tottenham forward continues to be linked to Real Madrid and other big European clubs, who can offer him guaranteed Champions League football.

Upon collecting his FWA award, Bale spoke in glowing terms about his seven-year spell at White Hart Lane, affirming Mabbutt’s opinion that the player is more than happy with life at the north London club.

“Everyone asks about Gareth Bale and his future, but let’s look at the facts,” said Mabbutt, who played 611 times for Spurs.

“Gareth is 23, he is on an incredible salary, he will probably get a new contract in the summer, he has got a beauti-

By Andrew Gwilym MICHAEL Laudrup hopes all the attention on Sir Alex Ferguson will allow Swansea to spoil the Manchester United party at Old Trafford.

Today’s fixture is set to be a celebration of Ferguson’s remarkable stint in charge of United, during which time he has won 38 trophies.

Swansea will be Ferguson’s final Old Trafford opponents as he steps down at the end of the season, with current Everton boss David Moyes the man facing the unenviable task of succeeding him.

Laudrup believes there will be little pressure on his side, who secured a first win in eight games against Wigan in midweek, and hopes that can work to Swansea’s advantage.

The Swans boss said: “You can look at this game from two angles.

“One is they may lose focus with all the things going on around this game, the other is his players will want to give him the best goodbye present at Old Trafford. I hope that is not the case because that will be very bad for us.

“I hope they will be thinking more about winning the Premier League trophy, about Sir Alex Ferguson and about the crowd - and less about us and the ball.

Today’s fixture against Swansea will be the last at Old Trafford for outgoing United manager Sir Alex Ferguson (C), creating a distraction that may aid Laudrup’s side “Whatever happens, we will try and do our best, but every team at Old Trafford - especially smaller teams have everything to win and very little to lose.

“We are very close to staying in top half after beating Wigan and even if we don’t get something out of this game we have a good possibility of finishing in the top half so we can be relaxed going there, with no pressure, and try and get something out from it.”

Moyes’ departure has

seen Laudrup linked with the vacancy at Goodison Park.

The Dane has been quick to distance himself from the speculation, and defender Ashley Williams says the Swansea squad are unconcerned.

“We haven’t spoken about it,” said the Wales captain.

“Players and managers get linked to other clubs and, especially here, we’re used to having different managers.

“It’s nothing we’re too

worried about. If it does happen, we’ll address the situation but, for the minute, we’re not too fussed.

“The manager is definitely happy here. He’s had a good first season with us and it seems he’s enjoyed it.

“We won the League Cup and we’re in a good position in the league.

“I’m sure he’s happy. I don’t know how he feels about staying or leaving but, at face value, he seems happy enough.”

Team

WAYNE Rooney has hit back over claims he removed the name Manchester United from his Twitter homepage.

On Thursday it was noted the 27-year-old did not have the words Manchester United on his Twitter page, and instead referred to himself as an “athlete”.

Following confirmation earlier this week that Rooney submitted a transfer request a fortnight ago, which was subsequently rejected by the Old Trafford outfit, the lack of United’s name was taken as a sign Rooney sees his future away from the Red Devils, despite David Moyes’ arrival as manager.

Yet, on his Twitter page, Rooney stated the stories were “rubbish”. And then, on his official Facebook page, he added: “There’s a load of rubbish being written about me

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Firing back: Wayne Rooney changing twitter bio saying I have deleted Manchester United from it.

“I have never deleted Manchester United from my Twitter bio no matter what the papers are saying because it was never on there.

“All that happened was that I was asked by Nike to add @

nikeuk to it - the same as many other sportspeople they sponsor. “Funny no one’s written about that though.

“That change was made three weeks ago and yet people are talking about it as if it was something that was put up yesterday.”

Little wonder Rooney is so annoyed given the frosty reception he is already facing from United fans in today’s Premier League encounter with Swansea. A relationship that cooled since his high-profile demand to leave in 2010 can only worsen given news of his latest transfer request.

A spokesman for Nike confirmed: “In April we asked Wayne Rooney and other Nike sponsored athletes to add @ nikeuk on to their profiles due to changes in ASA guidelines relating to athletes and social media.”

Bale (L) picked up Footballer of the Year on Thursday

Premier League standings

Rooney hits out over Twitter claims

Manchester United Manchester City Chelsea Chelsea Arsenal Arsenal Manchester City Tottenham Liverpool Hotspur Everton Tottenham Hotspur Liverpool Everton West StokeBrom City Swansea Bolton Wanderers West Ham BromUtd Stoke FulhamCity Fulham Newcastle United Aston Villa Sunderland Southampton Aston Villa Sunderland Blackburn Rovers Norwich Wolves City Newcastle United Birmingham Wigan Athletic Blackpool Reading Wigan Athletic QPR West Ham United

ful girlfriend, he has a lovely six-month-old daughter, every time he plays football he has a smile on his face, and he also swept the honours board this season.

“You look at that and you think: ‘is he happy?’ I’d say he is.

“There is always speculation, but he signed a new four-year contract at the start of the season.

“All his comments on the stage at the FWA awards were about how much he is enjoying his football here. As far as I am concerned, he will be here for a long time.”

Mabbutt, who now works as an ambassador for Tottenham, thinks Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas has developed a strong bond with his players after learning from his mistakes at Chelsea, where his sacking was put down, in part, to a lack of squad unity at Stamford Bridge.

Nonetheless, Tottenham are no longer masters of their own destiny after their 2-2 draw at Chelsea left them one point behind Arsenal with two games left.

Spurs can put the pressure back on their neighbours today though when they play at Stoke - two days before the Gunners host Wigan.

“It’s out of our hands now unfortunately,” Mabbutt said.

P

W

D

L

F

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27 22 22 21 21 19 19 19 17 15 14 14 12 14 13 11 12 11 12 9 10 10 11 10 11 9 10 9 10 8 11 10 8 9 10 6 7 4 7

4 11 9 7 9 10 10 8 9 7 15 14 13 15 6 7 13 10 10 14 15 10 11 10 11 12 11 10 14 7 8 15 8 9 10 15 13 12

5 4 5 8 7 7 9 8 12 6 8 9 10 16 12 15 15 13 11 16 14 17 15 15 14 16 17 14 19 18 13 19 18 20 14 19 17

79 74 62 67 73 69 67 55 63 59 52 51 67 50 48 46 46 52 41 53 32 45 46 51 45 42 47 45 40 43 34 44 43 36 44 53 41 36 29 41

A Pts 37 35 31 30 38 39 36 33 45 41 38 45 42 45 48 44 46 54 49 68 42 41 57 52 67 56 58 52 57 56 63 66 54 67 74 67 59 57 64

85 77 75 70 72 67 67 65 66 58 60 56 55 51 48 46 46 43 46 41 45 40 44 40 44 39 42 38 40 38 40 38 39 35 39 28 36 25 33

Premier League Aston Villa Chelsea

1 2

Playing today Stoke v Spurs, 3.30pm Everton v West Ham, 5pm Fulham v Liverpool, 5pm Norwich v West Brom, 5pm QPR v Newcastle, 5pm Sunderland v Saints, 5pm Man United v Swansea, 6pm Cyprus Championship AEL E.N Paralimni

3 0

Alki 1 Ethnicos Achnas 3 Nea Salamina Olympiakos

3 0

Playing today Doxa v Apollon 5pm AEK v Anorthosis 6pm APOEL v Omonia 6pm

36 May 12, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Sport

Rosberg leads Mercedes lockout with Spanish pole 33

Laudrup ready to spoil party at United 35

Frank Lampard rescues Blues Surpasses all-time score record with a brace Aston Villa 1 Chelsea 2

By Tony Jimenez

F

Threat contained: the Greek side easily advanced to the championship match for a second straight year, after recording a 69-52 win over CSKA

Olympiakos will battle Real in Euroleague final

By Michael Szabo OLYMPIAKOS Piraeus will defend their Euroleague basketball title against Real Madrid in the final today after both teams recorded victories at London’s 02 Arena on Friday.

In a rematch of the climax to last year’s European season, Olympiakos pulled clear of CSKA Moscow in the first quarter and eventually won 69-52.

Real then came back from nine points down in the last quarter to overpower arch-rivals Barcelona 74-67 in the other semi-final.

“We played great defence all the way and that helped us to beat a really tough opponent,” Olympiakos captain Vassilis Spanoulis told reporters. “After a very hard season we are back in the final.”

Strong defending by forward Kyle Hines helped the Greek side thwart a secondhalf comeback attempt by CSKA and they easily advanced to the championship match for a second straight year.

Six-times winners CSKA were trying to avenge last year’s defeat in the final in Istanbul where they blew a 19-point lead in the second half and lost to a game-winning shot at the buzzer by Georgios Printezis.

CSKA’s Sonny Weems, formerly of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, and Olympiakos duo Pero Antic and Hines led all scorers with 13 points each.

“I haven’t seen us play like that in a long time,” said Weems. “Some of the guys did not show up and it is the worst game we’ve

played the whole season.”

Olympiakos contained CSKA to 14 of 45 shots from the field and did a great job of neutralising Serbian playmaker Milos Teodosic.

Having averaged 13 points and five assists up to the Final Four, he recorded just five points and an assist on Friday.

“The shooting percentages are not always high in a game like this, but in the end defence won the game,” said Olympiakos coach Georgios Bartzokas.

Barcelona took an early lead over Real in the all-Spanish ‘El Clasico’.

Sharp shooting by power forward Felipe Reyes then helped Real notch 26 points in the final quarter and they stole the lead for good with less than four minutes remaining.

Reyes finished with 17 points, two shy of Barcelona’s Marcelinho Huertas, the game’s top scorer.

The Catalan side sustained injuries and their top Croatian centre Ante Tomic had to play 36 of the 40 minutes.

“We knew they only had one centre so the plan from the start was to run him around, bump him a bit, and it worked,” said Real’s American-born forward Marcus Slaughter.

“By the fourth quarter he was tired.”

Barcelona take on CSKA for third place this afternoon before Real and Olympiakos clash later in the day.

“It will be a tough game. Olympiakos played great today and they have the heart of a champion but we’ll take our time and plan like we did today,” Slaughter said.

rank Lampard broke Chelsea’s all-time scoring record with two goals as the European champions all but secured a top-four finish in the English Premier League with a 2-1 win in an incident-packed game at Aston Villa yesterday.

Christian Benteke put Villa in front in the first half with his 19th league goal of the season and Chelsea looked in real trouble when midfielder Ramires was sent off for a second caution just before halftime.

The Londoners looked flat and lethargic but the turning-point came in the 58th minute when Benteke was dismissed for a second booking.

Lampard equalised with a crisp left-foot shot two minutes later and the England midfielder went past Bobby Tambling’s record of 202 Chelsea goals when he slid in for the winner in the 88th minute.

“People have been talking about the record a lot and it’s great to get it finally especially in an important game,” an emotional Lampard told Sky Sports television.

“But I didn’t want to celebrate too much because Bobby has been ill lately and I wanted to be respectful to a great man.”

Visiting captain John Terry was carried off on a stretcher in the 72nd minute with his left leg in a brace after being injured following a collision in Villa’s penalty area.

Interim manager Rafael Benitez said Terry had twisted his ankle and the defender would need a scan to determine the full extent of the injury.

Chelsea occupy third position with 72 points and one game to go, five points ahead of Arsenal and six clear of Tottenham Hotspur who both have two matches left.

Villa’s defeat meant they are still not certain of avoiding relegation.

Record finish: Lampard cancelled out the opener by Benteke (below) just after the hour mark before sealing the points - and the milestone - three minutes from time Paul Lambert’s team are 13th in the table on 40 points, five ahead of Wigan Athletic who are in the third and final relegation place with two matches remaining.

Villa’s young side, hammered 8-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in December, seemed hell-bent on avenging that defeat early on and it came as no surprise when Benteke ran beyond Gary Cahill before calmly beating keeper Petr Cech in the 14th minute.

Benteke celebrated by lifting his shirt and revealing a tee-shirt emblazoned with ‘Petrov 19’, saluting former Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov who announced his retirement in the week after being diagnosed with leukaemia last year.

Petrov, 33, whose illness is in remission, was given a standing ovation when he and his family went on a lap of honour at the end of the game.

But the day belonged to Lampard who equalised Benteke’s first-half strike by burying a left-foot shot in the corner of the net on the hour.

The 34-year-old Chelsea vice-captain headed over when well placed in the

77th minute, but he made no mistake from close range 11 minutes later.

A smiling Lampard was engulfed by his team mates at the final whistle before he climbed onto the shoulders of Cech to applaud a raucous group of Chelsea supporters.

The victory will put the Londoners in great heart ahead of Wednesday’s Europa League final against Benfica in Amsterdam, the 68th fixture of a gruelling season for Benitez’s team.