Cyprus Mailwww.cyprus-mail.com

GERMANYS lower house of parlia-ment voted over-whelmingly yes-terday to grant Cyprus a 10 billion bailout that is designed to avert bank-ruptcy and keep the island in the eurozone.

We must avoid turn-ing the problems in Cy-prus into new problems for other euro countries, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told lawmakers in a speech be-fore the vote.

Cyprus is in a dramatic situation. If we dont help Cyprus, then Cyprus inevi-tably faces sovereign de-fault. Schaeuble warned lawmakers that a failure to offer Cyprus aid would un-leash contagion across the 17-nation single currency bloc.

Step by step we are win-ning back con dence. If you look at the markets, there is still nervousness and uncertainty. But it is considerably less than three years, two years or one year ago, Schaeuble said in his speech.

The aid for Cyprus se-cures the successes weve already achieved in the eu-rozone. We must prevent the problems in Cyprus from unleashing new prob-lems in other eurozone countries.

Of the 602 lawmakers in the Bundestag chamber, 487 backed the rescue, under which Cyprus has agreed to impose major losses on depositors, shut-

ter its second largest bank and raise its corporate tax rate. The Cyprus vote was not in doubt given wide-spread support from with-in German Chancellor An-gela Merkels centre-right coalition and backing by many opposition lawmak-ers from the Social Demo-crats and Greens.

After the vote, Schaeu-ble said in an email state-ment: We arent over the hump, but after compre-hensive reforms Europe and the euro are in bet-ter and more stable shape than ever before.

The gap between north and south is closing.

Responding to Schaeu-ble, the leader of the cen-tre-left Social Democrats in parliament, Frank-Wal-ter Steinmeier said his party would support the bailout, but attacked the government for initially backing a plan to hit small savers in Cypriot banks.

That proposal was scrapped after being re-jected by the Cyprus par-liament, and subsequently re-negotiated with inter-national lenders to leave deposits under 100,000 untouched. Mr. Schaeu-ble, whether you asked for this or simply joined oth-ers in supporting it, it was a huge mistake. It stoked fear and insecurity in Eu-rope, said Steinmeier.

Separately, German par-liamentarians also backed seven-year loan extensions for bailout victims Portu-gal and Ireland.

CYPRUSQuestion mark over House and bailout

4

1Friday, April 19, 2013

Schaeuble warns German MPs of contagion risk if island was allowed to go bankrupt

Bundestag yes to Cyprus bailout

Message in a bottle finally arrives ... 28 years laterA CANADIAN mans message in a bot-tle honouring his promise to write to a woman named Mary has nally washed ashore 28 years later in Croatia.Surfers cleaning the debris from a beach at the mouth of the Neretva river in the southern Adriatic came across a half-broken bottle with a piece of paper inside, Croatian news-paper Dubrovack Vjesnik said on its website this week.A 23-year-old local surfer, who gave her name as Matea Medak Rezic, nearly threw the bottle away when she spotted a wet piece of paper in-

side, which contained a message from Jonathon in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, which lies on Canadas eastern coast.

IDENTITIES UNKNOWN

Mary, you really are a great person. I hope we can keep in correspond-ence. I said I would write. Your friend always, Jonathon, Nova Scotia, 1985, said the message, which the daily car-ried in English. Its not known where Mary is from, or how the two knew each other 28

years ago. The letter contained no last names, so Jonathons identity is also unknown.According to CBC News, Rezik posted a photo of the letter to her Facebook account and said she hopes to nd out what happened to Jonathon and Mary.If the bottle was launched in Nova Scotia, it would have travelled about 6,000 kilometres across the Atlantic Ocean before likely squeezing into the Mediterranean Sea between southern Spain and northern Morocco. It would have then drifted up the Adriatic Sea before washing up on the beach.

Rescuers search for survivors of Texas plant blast

11

WORLD FILMCatch an A-list cast as Broken City hits big screens today

centre

1

ast ts

ay

re

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble chat at the German Bundestag, the parliament, in Berlin yesterday where the Cyprus bailout was being debated (EPA)

2 Friday, April 19, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

Home

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

QUICK CROSSWORD 2369

1.3108 0.8603For a full list of exchange rates, see page 12

EXCHANGE

TODAY: Unsettled with rain likely. Temperatures will reach 19C inland and in the south and east, 18C in the west and 9C over higher groundOUTLOOK: Remaining unsettled until Monday

YESTERDAY: Max Temp Min Humidity PollutionNicosia 23 - 10 79% Low/LowLarnaca 21 - 12 57% Low/LowLimassol 22 - 13 52% Low/LowPaphos 21 - 12 60% LowParalimni 23 - 12 44% LowProdromos 9 - 5 98% Low

Worldwide

19

19

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

Weather

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

SUNRISE: 06:09am SUNSET: 7:22pm

Paphos

Larnaca

Paralimni

Troodos

19

19

18

9Nicosia

Limassol

Cyprus MailEstablished 1945. Number 21,512

NICOSIA 24 Vass. Voulgaroctonou, P.O. Box 21144, 1502 NicosiaTel: 22-818585, Fax: 22-676385 email: mail@cyprus-mail.comLIMASSOL 5A Nicolaou, Pentadromos Centre, Thessaloniki St, Tel: 25-761117, Fax: 25-761141 email: cyprusmail@cytanet.com.cyLARNACA Tel: 24-652243, Fax: 24-659982PAPHOS 62 Apostolou Pavlou Avenue, Of ce 2, 8046 Paphos, Tel:26 911383 Fax : 26 221049 email: paphos@cyprus-mail.com

Athens 17 ClearBudapest 22 ClearBucharest 19 CloudyBrussels 15 CloudyCairo 22 CloudyCopenhagen 14 CloudyDamascos 19 CloudyDublin 11 CloudyFrankfurt 21 CloudyGeneva 24 CloudyIstanbul 13 CloudyLondon 14 Cloudy

Madrid 25 ClearManchester 12 Light RainMoscow 18 CloudyOslo 7 CloudyParis 16 CloudyPrague 23 CloudyRome 21 ClearSarajevo 21 ClearSofia 15 CloudyStockholm 8 RainTel Aviv 20 CloudyVienna 24 Cloudy

CHEMISTSNICOSIAI. Kitiris, 63 Metochiou St. Tel: 22774950, 22774368 (H)N. Nouris, 33 A. B D. Akritas Ave. Tel: 22751801, 22374323 (H)M. Charalambous, 48A Armenia Ave, Acropolis. Tel: 22426655, 22492968 (H)A. Christodoulou, 73C Stadiou St, Strovolos. Tel: 22590396, 22512252 (H)Ch. Kari, 50 Andrea Avraamide, Tel: 22771999, 22351072LIMASSOLNt. Georgiou 48B N. Pattichi Tel: 25338831, 25432167 (H)P. Michaelides, 117 Gr. Digheni

Ave., Tel: 25587780, 25386449 (H)M. Stephanidou, 6 Bishop Laurentiou St. Tel: 25333726, 25382177 (H)LARNACAP. Apostolides, 20 K. Lysiotis St. Tel: 24627213, 24423271 (H)N. Aspri, Artemidos Ave. Tel: 24624928, 24622102 (H)PAPHOSD. Constantia, 29 E. Venizelou St. Tel: 26935133, 26653809 (H)PARALIMNIR. Kefala, 111 1st April St. Tel: 23730116, 23821516 (H)

Across

1 Commission (9)8 Reptile (abbrev.) (4)9 Halving (9)10 Opposed to (4)13 Crave (5)15 Compound plant (6)16 Milk-food (6)17 Love of cruelty (6)19 Ballet-______ (6)20 Shy (5)21 Part (4)24 Boycott (9)25 Burden (4)26 Undergrowth (9)

Down

2 Track (4)3 Agog (4)4 Putrid (6)5 Landowners (6)6 Articulate (9)7 Sacred writings (9)11 Teaching area (9)12 Rather sour (9)13 As yet (anag.) (5)14 Rover (5)18 Grain processor (6)19 Field event (6)22 Scratch (4)23 Norwegian capital (4)

11

PICTURE OF THE DAY

A South Korean activist burns a placard showing a caricature of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un during an anti-North Korea rally in Seoul yesterday (AFP)

ON THIS DAY APRIL 191956

Prince Rainier III of Monaco marries lm actress Grace Kelly in a religious ceremony at the Cathedral of Mona-co.

1961The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba ends in success for the defenders.

1987The Simpsons premieres as a short cartoon on The Tracey Ullman Show.

1995Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, is bombed, killing 168. That same day convicted murderer Richard Wayne Snell, who had ties to one of the bombers, Timo-thy McVeigh, is executed in Arkansas.

1999The German Bundestag returns to Berlin, the rst Ger-man parliamentary body to meet there since the Reich-stag was dissolved in 1945.

WHAT THE MAIL SAID26 years ago, Sunday April 19, 1987

The Soviet Union carried out its third nuclear test yes-terday since ending a self imposed 19-month freeze that failed to persuade the US to agree to a complete ban on nuclear weapon tests. The underground detonation was carried out at the test site near Semipalatinsk in the cen-tral Asian Republic Kazakhstan.

36 years ago, Tuesday April 19, 1977The UN special representative for Cyprus Perez de Cuel-lar has started his round of meetings to pave the way for intercommunal talks in Nicosia next month. He saw yes-terday the Greek Cypriot negotiator, Tassos Papadopou-los, and is planning to see the Turkish Cypriot negotiator Umit Suleiman Onan today.

46 years ago, Wednesday April 19, 1967South Vietnam today proposed pulling back from the six-mile buffer zone dividing Vietnam as a rst step towards ending the war. The pullback was proposed in a Foreign Ministry communiqu issued today. It was South Viet-nams response to a four-point peace plan put forward by Canadas External Affairs Minister, Paul Martin.

1

Troo99

L

L

3CYPRUS MAIL Friday, April 19, 2013

Home

The Gan Guarantee. Simple, if you find a better price, cover and service elsewhere, we guarantee to beat it.

Why Compromise?More for Less. Guaranteed.The acceptance of your proposal is subject to terms and conditions and we reserve the right not to accept it

- EasySwitch | we will take care of all the annoying paperwork for you.- 24hr Assistance | in any emergency, we will be there for you promptly. - 24hr FastClaim | why wait? Your claim settled within 24 hours. Either by choosing to use one of our Network Approved Suppliers, or by cheque.

Taxman chases sports organisation KOA over travel expensesBy Peter Stevenson

THE ISLANDS tax authorities will begin con-tacting people hired between 1999 and 2004 by the Cyprus Sports Organisation (KOA) as they attempt to recoup around 200,000 in unpaid taxes.

KOA paid the individuals between CYP200 and CYP300 a month depending on their trav-el costs but never declared it to the taxman.

KOA had the responsibility of paying income tax on travel expenses between 1999 and 2004 for people not on the organisations books, al-though it was merely an oversight and not done

knowingly, KOA accountant and deputy-head Vassos Koutsiountas said. He told the Cyprus Mail that individuals were hired by KOA to visit clubs that had received sponsorship from the organisation to ensure the money was not squandered elsewhere, and were compensated for their travel expenses, although Koutsioun-tas revealed that the majority had full-time jobs elsewhere.

The tax authorities contacted us and in-formed us that they were owed around 200,000 in pay-as-you-earn income tax from KOA, which had covered travel expenses for certain people, he said. The amount of money is still outstanding from those persons involved and tax authorities will be contacting each individ-

ual in their attempts to recoup the amount, he added.

Koutsiountas explained that despite reports in the local media, KOA had not initiated legal action against anyone. He said that KOA had changed its procedures since 2004 and had be-gun paying income tax on travel expenses, de-ducting it from the salaries it was paying.

This appears only to be the tip of the iceberg as sources within KOA were more scathing of the Organisations policies regarding the hir-ing of already employed personnel. Wanting to maintain his anonymity, the Mails source revealed that knowingly, KOA has been hiring civil servants who were employed elsewhere.

KOA is a Semi-Governmental Organisation

(SGO) and knows the law regarding civil serv-ants and that they can only have one job but still proceeded in giving high-ranking jobs to people who were already working in the gov-ernment, he said. He revealed that there is a high level of back-scratching going on within the organisation with one case in particular seeing an inspector from the education minis-try receiving a large salary from KOA also.

With the vast numbers of unemployed, KOA could have easily hired someone to ll posi-tions within the organisation but because of the relationship of certain high-ranking indi-viduals with others within the government, they decided to give big salaries to people who were already well-paid, he added.

Two bike deaths in separate accidentsANASTASIOS Terizi, 41, from Greece died yesterday after crashing his motorbike in Oroklini at around 6am, police said. Terizi arrived in Cyprus two weeks ago in search of work and would have celebrated his birthday today. He was living in the nearby village of Ormidia.

The 41-year-old was found more than three hours later by a passerby who informed police. Terizis body was found next to his high-pow-ered motorbike which did not have a licence-plate and had not been registered since 2007.

Larnaca police spokesman Christos Andreou said that after initial investigations, and after obtaining an eye-witness report, the police believe Terizi, was thrown from his motorbike after los-ing control on a bend. He was thrown 100 metres.

It would appear the man died instantly and police in-vestigations indicate he was not wearing a helmet, An-dreou said.

Another man, Neophy-tos Georgiou, 52, died on Wednesday night when his motorcycle collided with a car in Limassol. The accident occurred at around 9pm on Archbishop Makarios III Av-enue.

The car driven by a Limas-sol man collided with the mo-torbike causing it to overturn. Georgiou died instantly.

The driver of the car was ar-rested and breathalysed but had not been drinking. The exact cause of the collision is being investigated.

Airport fees still a thorny issue in tourism industry Hermes Airports says that a general cut in charges would be diffi cult and ineff ectualBy George Psyllides

INCENTIVES and liber-alisation of ights could increase the tourist ow to Cyprus by 400,000 people per year, the House Com-merce Committee heard yesterday.

Lawmakers and the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) asked for a reduction in air-port fees in a bid to attract more airlines to Cyprus but airports operator Hermes said a general cut would be dif cult and ineffectual.

Airport fees were not de-cided arbitrarily by Hermes; there was a speci c time-frame and pricing policy, Hermes spokesman Adamos Aspris said.

This is an integral part in the concession agreement, which has been approved by parliament, he told report-ers.

Commerce Minister Gior-gos Lakkotrypis said airport fees must be reduced, add-ing that his Lebanese coun-terpart had told him that charges in Cyprus were dou-ble than in Lebanon.

CTO director Marios Han-nides said a way must be

found to reduce fees.Hannides said the CTO had

a study that said Larnaca and Paphos airports charged double the fees airports in Spain, Turkey and Athens did.

The communications minis-try however, said that impos-ing a reduction would mean the state footing the bill.

And an across-the-board reduction could be consid-ered a state subsidy and land Cyprus in trouble with the European Union.

Hermes representatives pointed out that targeted incentives and liberalisation would be much more effec-tive.

Maria Kouroupi, Hermes marketing manager, said Cy-prus could increase its tour-ist ow by 400,000 a year.

She said companies like Easyjet, Wizz Air, and Ger-manwings had already ex-pressed an interest in bring-ing more passengers to Cyprus provided that certain agreements were struck re-garding central and eastern Europe.

Some destinations re-mained closed, reserved through bilateral agreements for Cyprus Airways (CY),

which does not even have scheduled ights for those countries.

Those destinations includ-ed UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Sau-di Arabia and Kuwait.

A bilateral agreement with Russia allows only two com-panies one from each coun-try to carry out scheduled ights to Moscow and Saint Petersburg while two airlines service eight other destina-tions.

A similar agreement is in place with Israel one air-line from each country car-ried out scheduled ights, although the neighbouring countrys skies will be opened in 2017 when an agreement with the EU will come into effect.

Communications ministry of cial Iakovos Demetriou said 80 per cent of passenger traf c in Cyprus came from the EU the rest from third countries.

Hermes of cials stressed that any effort to increase tourist arrivals must be col-lective and focused in the same direction the opera-tor for instance cannot strive to strike a deal with a Ger-man airline while the CTO campaigned in Poland.

CTO believes that if more incentives and lower fees were offered to airlines, it would boost tourism to the island

By Elias Hazou

ALTHOUGH the House yes-terday passed more tax bills deemed key for Cyprus to qualify for a foreign aid pack-age, a question mark still hung over whether a fractious parliament would sanction the actual loan agreement to be concluded soon between the government and interna-tional lenders.

The plenum last night gave the nod to a series of govern-ment bills designed to raise state revenues: a corporate tax rate hike by 2.5 points to 12.5 per cent; doubling the tax rate on interest and dividend income (capital gains tax) to 30 per cent, via the defence contribution tax; and an increase in the bank levy on deposits raised by banks and credit institu-tions from 0.11 per cent to 0.15 per cent with 25/60 of the revenue earmarked for a special account for a Finan-cial Stability Fund, applying retroactively as of January 1 of this year.

A revised tax on immovable property aiming to ensure additional revenues from

property taxation of at least 70m by updating 1980 prices through application of the CPI index for the period 1980 to 2012 was not brought to the plenum yesterday but is expected next week.

Implementation of the IPT is one of the preconditions set by international lenders for the release of a 10bn loan.

Parliament postponed a vote on a bill for additional scaled pay cuts (from 0.8 per cent to 2 per cent) in the broader public sector.

Also delayed was an item containing further restrictions to those entitled to free public healthcare. Under the bill, to be eligible a person must have made contributions to the rel-evant fund for at least three years, and must have submit-ted a tax declaration prior to applying for free care. It also provides for a 1.5 per cent con-tribution to the fund by civil servants.

The House meanwhile passed an amending law whereby any future changes to excise duties would need parliaments approval; so far this required only a decree is-sued by the nance minister.

And a legislative proposal

by DISY freezing all promo-tions in the public sector dur-ing 2013 passed by a majority vote, with AKEL abstaining.

Cyprus this month struck a memorandum of understand-ing with the troika of inter-national lenders European Commission, European Cen-tral Bank and International Monetary Fund.

The MoU is not the same as the actual loan agreement, which is akin to an interna-tional treaty between the Republic and foreign govern-ments.

Under the constitution, the treaty is subject to parlia-ments approval. Once the loan agreement is drafted, it will be reviewed by the cabi-net, which will then forward it to parliament for discussion and the vote. Its understood the MoU and the loan agree-ment would be bundled into a single document as a rati ca-tion law.

But a shadow has been cast over whether the loan deal will muster enough votes in the House: so far only ruling DISY and junior coalition partners DIKO have come out openly in support of the loan agree-ment. Combined, the two par-ties do not have the required majority in the House.

The rhetoric from AKEL and socialists EDEK has been hostile to the troika. Its been suggested, however, that the two parties could abstain rather than vote against.

The loan still has to be ap-proved by the national par-liaments of some eurozone nations, with Germanys Bundestag taking the lead by backing the bailout yesterday.

Reports yesterday suggest-ed the loan agreement could be brought before Cyprus parliament late next week, for tactical reasons.

Its probably a wise moveshould our parliament do the unthinkable and reject it

rst, why should the foreign-ers then bother with it at all? commented one MP belong-ing to the government camp.

At a news conference yester-day, new DISY leader Averof Neophytou sent out a warning shot to dissenting quarters. The choice before Cyprus is clear, he said: either accept the bailout or face bankruptcy.

He added: Those who want to get rid of the troika should tell us how we can come up

with 30bn; if they do that, we will be the rst to kick the troika out.

Asked to clarify, Neophytou said the cost of leaving the euro would be 30bn, because in addition to its 23bn -nancing needs, Cyprus would also need to pay back the some 10bn its banks have borrowed from the Emergen-cy Liquidity Assistance. The ELA is underwritten by the government.

4

Home

Friday, April 19, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

735m of of ce space and 1200m warehousing available for long term rent on Yianni Kranidioti Avenue very close to

Carlsberg Brewery. Easy access to Nicosia-Limassol highway

(only 200 metres).Loading bays for warehouses and parking

space for more than 40 cars. Hidden fuel tank plus car mechanics station.

For more information please call 99218866

OFFICE/WAREHOUSEFOR RENT

N E W C A B I N E T OF AT THE I A S I S HOSPITAL Dr. CHRISTOS S. LOUKOPOULOS Degree in Medicine and Surgery, university of Turin (Italy) Degree in Emergency Medicine, university of Nice (France) Degree in Homeopathy of the French Homeopathic Fed, Paris (France) For information and appointments: IASIS HOSPITAL, PAFOS 8 Voriou Ipirou Street Tel: +357 26848484 Doctors cell: +357 97894038

Vgenopoulos fails to show at court in Paphos By George Psyllides

CITING what appeared to be a technicality, former Laiki strong-man Andreas Vgenopoulos failed to show up in a Paphos court yes-terday to answer charges that he had misled investors into buying high-risk securities.

Vgenopoulos and former Laiki CEO Efthimios Bouloutas, both Greek nationals, argued through their lawyers that the charge sheet had not been delivered to

them in the correct manner.Their lawyers raised a pre-trial

objection suggesting that the papers had been delivered under the provisions of the Schengen Agreement, which Cyprus had not rati ed.

Joining Schengen entails elim-inating internal border con-trols with the other Schengen members, while simultaneously strengthening external border controls with non-Schengen states.

The islands division is the

reason why Cyprus has not yet joined Schengen.

Claiming he was defrauded of 108,000, a Paphos-based man has led a private criminal case against the Laiki as a legal en-tity, the banks former brass, and former Central Bank (CBC) gov-ernor, Athanasios Orphanides.

The plaintiff s lawyer countered that the summons had not been delivered under the provisions of the Schengen Agreement but in accordance with a relevant bilat-eral agreement between Greece

and Cyprus. The Paphos district court is expected to issue its de-cision on the matter on Monday. Three other Laiki of cials named in the suit were scheduled to ap-pear in court on May 16.

Former CBC governor Orpha-nides has not yet received a sum-mons. The plaintiff, Stavros Ma-vrosavvas, is one of hundreds of depositors who claim they were misled by the banks into putting their savings in high-yield securi-ties.

Mavrosavvas claims the de-

fendants had falsely stated that the securities would fetch high-yields knowing that this was un-true.

Thousands of people were af-fected when the islands two big-gest lenders, the Bank of Cyprus and Popular Bank, stopped pay-ing interest and blocked access to the investors capital follow-ing losses on a Greek sovereign debt write-down in late 2011. The total amount put in securi-ties is said to be around 1.4 bil-lion.

Question mark over parliament and bailout dealKey tax bills passed related to loan deal but several issues were put on hold

Much of the rhetoric from MPs towards the troika and bailout is still hostile

Home

5CYPRUS MAIL Friday, April 19, 2013

International Day of Monuments and SitesEducating Heritage in Nicosia during the Period of British Administration

Saturday, April 20, 201311:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Guided tours by students in the museum in English and GreekLight refreshments in the open courtyard

American International School in Cyprus in collaboration with ICOMOS Cyprus

Cyprus Department of AntiquitiesLeventis Municipal Museum in Nicosia

On Saturday, April 20 from 11:00 to 1:00, our AISC Middle School and High School students will give guided tours at the Leventis Museum fo-cusing on the history and architecture of the period of the British Admin-istration of Cyprus. Our students have been preparing for this leadership role for several weeks. Tours are geared towards adults, families and elementary-aged children. Every year, countries around the world celebrate the International Day of Monuments and Sites through a variety of events. The American Interna-tional School in Cyprus, along with our parents, is committed to Interna-tional Mindedness. As such, our community celebrates the history and culture of the Eastern Mediterranean.

In preparation, middle school students studied Nicosia during the period of British Administration. They visited the Leventis Museum and prepared research presentations on the history of two of the buildings that house the museum: the Main Building and the Constantine Leventis Wing. Con-structed in 1882, these buildings reflect changes in Nicosia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Grade eleven International Baccalaureate students focused on the Brit-ish galleries of the museum. Over the past few weeks, they visited the exhibitions, chose objects on display, and read primary texts. Their tours will begin with a discussion of the transition from Ottoman to British Ad-ministration and continue with an examination of the text Cyprus: Our New Colony.

The museum is located within the walls of the old city at 15-17 Hippocrates Street.

Creation of LNG plant looks certainBy Elias Hazou

PRESIDENT Nicos Anasta-siades is today likely to an-nounce his governments for-mal policy decision to press ahead with the construction of a lique ed natural gas (LNG) plant on the island.

Sources told the Mail the de-cision was taken at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, but was not immediately made known as the President in-tended to announce it today along with a raft of planned measures designed to jump-start the economy.

A decision for an LNG facil-ity had been taken by the pre-vious administration of Dem-etris Christo as; the current DISY-led administration was understood to also support the project, but an of cial an-nouncement was pending.

A clear commitment from the government would now allow US energy rm Noble Energy to move forward with plans to extract the gas from its offshore licence and de-clare commerciality on the project.

If Noble deems the project commercially viable follow-ing appraisal drilling slated for this summer - it will un-dertake the cost of the sub-sea infrastructures (including the pipeline) to bring the gas ashore.

However it all hinges on the existence of an LNG plant, which will process and store the gas for export.

The LNG plant itself is to be nanced by the government and other partners.

Of cials say natural gas could be brought ashore for domestic consumption in late 2018, and for exports in 2019.

Earlier this week, a senior executive with Noble Energy said one option being con-sidered by the company was to channel through Cyprus the gas to be extracted from Israels massive Leviathan prospect. Gerald Peereboom, Director of LNG development at Noble Energy, made the comments at the LNG 17 gas conference held in Houston, Texas.

Israel is yet to decide its gas export policy, and there is op-position by environmental groups there against an LNG facility. At the same time, the recent thaw in Turkish-Israeli relations has seen increased talk of a gas pipeline connect-ing the two countries.

Speaking at an energy con-ference in Limassol yesterday, Charles Ellinas, the chairman of the Cyprus National Hydro-carbons Company (CNHC), said that by 2025 the island could generate 25 million tonnes of LNG a year, cover-ing nearly 50 per cent of the EUs additional energy needs and making Cyprus an impor-tant player on the global en-ergy market.

The two-day Annual Cyp-riot-Greek Oil & Gas 2013 Summit is organised by In-ternational Research Net-works.

BoCs viability a priority DISY leader calls for boards appointmentBy George Psyllides

THE viability of the Bank of Cyprus (BoC), the islands biggest, is a national prior-ity, new ruling DISY leader Averof Neophytou said yes-terday, as he called for the immediate appointment of a board to oversee the lend-ers restructuring following a Eurogroup decision to im-pose hefty losses on its unin-sured depositors.

The Cypriot economys sal-vation goes through the res-cue of BoC, Neophytou said.

Everyone must understand this. The new BoC, after the merger with Laiki, has a lo-cal share that exceeds 60 per cent, Neophytou said.

The majority of businesses were BoC customers, he said, adding that the absence of a leadership at the lender had cost the economy a lot.

The lenders board and CEO had resigned and an adminis-trator was appointed after a Eurogroup decision to impose a haircut on deposits over 100,000 to pay for the BoCs recapitalisation.

The decision also called for winding down Laiki, Cyprus second biggest, with certain assets to be taken over by

BoC. The Central Bank had said that the administrator would only be in place for sev-eral days but it has now been several weeks and the rate of the haircut has not been de-cided yet.

Uninsured deposits in BoC over 100,000 currently face a 37.5 per cent cut although an additional 22.5 per cent, which have been frozen, could also suffer the same fate.

Of the remainder, the CBC has only released 10 per cent.

The government had decid-ed to exempt various entities from the scheme, such as mu-nicipalities, charities, schools, and insurance companies, but Finance Minister Harris Georgiades told parliament recently that the list would be reviewed.

Various groups have also de-manded their provident funds be exempted.

Of cials have warned that more exemptions would mean a deeper haircut on deposits.

If the state wanted to ex-empt certain entities we have the humble opinion that it should not do so at the ex-pense of depositors at Laiki and BoC, Neophytou said. It is unfair for depositors in the two banks to be saddled with additional burdens. For

every 100 million exempted, you add (a loss of) 1.0 per cent on BoC depositors. Neophy-tou said he understood the systemic nature of insurance companies and the workers concerns over their provident funds, but I think it is socially unjust to put our hand deeper in the pocket of depositors.

Cyprus introduced curbs on money movements when banks reopened on March 28 after a two-week shutdown while the government negoti-ated a 10 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund and the European Un-ion. Its capital controls are a rst for the eurozone, intro-duced in an effort to prevent a cash drain.

Neophytou said restrictions must be lifted as soon as pos-sible because the market was near paralysis.

He said BoC could be pro-tected while controls were lifted in the rest of the sector.

The new DISY leader cau-tioned other banks to refrain from taking advantage of the BoCs predicament.

They should forget that it is the time for them to in-crease their (market) share, Neophytou said. They too must respect and support the BoC.

Bank is still under an administrator, not a board

6 Friday, April 19, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

Home

Nicosia municipality joins eight others in new barter systemBy Maria Gregoriou

NICOSIA municipality has joined eight others in the new barter sys-tem being launched by the Nico-sia District Development Agency (ANEL)

The programme is also aimed at helping the unemployed to become a part of society again.

Nicosia municipalities are sup-porting their citizens by creating a social solidarity programme, Lat-sia Mayor and President of ANEL, Panayiotis Kyprianou said.

Kyprianou stressed that the pro-gramme was based on exchanging products and services rather than money. When we think about these kinds of programmes we cant help but remember the past when eve-ryone lent a helping hand when someone was building a house in a village. These kinds of values, this

kind of solidarity is what we are try-ing to bring back to our society. We do not expect to solve the economic crisis but to help citizens through these dif cult times, Kyprianou said.

The programme promotes equal-ity, a collective effort, solidarity, collaboration and healthy human relationships. We believe the pro-gramme will harvest positive re-sults and bring many people back to the job market, while also con-tributing to the family unit, Kypri-anou added.

The barter programme is open to anyone who is a resident of the Latsia, Strovolos, Engomi, Agland-jia, Lakatamia, Tseri, Yeri, Dali and Nicosia municipalities.

The Nicosia municipality joined the effort yesterday. People who are interested can register on the website free of charge. Registra-tions will remain pending until

proof of residence is established through presenting an ID card and a utility bill to either their munici-pality or to ANEL.

The programme is based on sim-ilar ones that were used in Greece. It works on a points system. Once a registration has been approved a credit gure of 300 points will be deposited into the individuals ac-count.

We estimate that this gure will be enough for a starting point. If we see the need to increase or decrease this amount we will do so after we inform members. Anyone who is a part of the system can then ask for bids on something they need or advertise services or goods they are offering for a certain amount of points, said Panayiotis Mountou-kos, nancial director at ANEL.

The website will be monitored by a system administrator on a daily basis to make sure members are

not being taken advantage of, or the system is not being misused. Members who have accumulated points but have not exchanged them for goods or services for some time, will also be monitored. They will be asked to use up their points in order to keep the system run-ning properly.

Because the system does not use money as an exchange rate, mem-bers do not have to pay tax for serv-ices or goods given. We have asked for legal advice on this matter, Kyprianou said.

The idea behind this is that peo-ples everyday needs will be met. So we urge members to advertise products or services that may be a necessary need. For example, a family may not have enough money to buy their children a computer for their studies and another mem-ber may have an old computer that they are not using. Also, there are

many educated individuals who can currently not nd work. They can use their knowledge to give les-sons, Mountoukos said.

As more people use the system, more goods and services can be exchanged. This will attract more people, more different types of services, and a feeling of trust will be created, Mountoukos added.

Flyers will be distributed to homes and as of Monday anyone interest-ed can visit their local municipality and receive help on how to register for the programme.

After a six-month period all crite-ria from the website will be collect-ed and examined. Any necessary changes will then be made.

For further information call the Nicosia district development agen-cy on 22489105 or send an email to info@anel.com.cy. A working link to the website has not yet been pro-vided.

Private schools caught up in crisis Many private schools are now off ering discounts By Maria Gregoriou

THE ECONOMIC crisis will force some parents to remove their children from private schools while new enrollments are expected to drop.

Many private schools are of-fering discounts and renegoti-ating fee payment structures in an attempt to stem the ow.

Even the islands most fa-mous fee-paying school, The English School in Nicosia, is facing vast economic dif cul-ties, according to Andreas Lordos, a member of the board of governors.

A recent letter from the par-ents association to The Eng-lish School board and head-master urged the board to press for a reduction in fees.

Certain measures must be taken now to provide the necessary support to parents that will enable them to con-tinue to send their children to the English School next year. We have been the recipients of numerous letters and phone calls requesting your immedi-ate actions as regards reduc-tions in school fees, the letter said.

The English Schools chair-man Antonis Valanides was more upbeat, saying it was too soon to tell if parents would have problems paying tuition fees next year. Students have already taken the entrance exam and classes have been organised. Up until now we have not heard of parents who

are thinking of taking their children out of the school, he said.

But he added the school had allowed an extension for fees to be paid. Fees that should have been paid by the end of March can now be paid at the end of April, he said.

The Pascal English School was one of the rst private schools to announce the re-duction of fees due to the eco-nomic crisis.

The school will offer a re-duction of 2,000 for students who will enter the rst class next year and this reduction will continue until they gradu-ate, said Pantelis Andreou, executive chairman of the Pascal English School.

If parents are having prob-lems paying fees, we will offer them a ten per cent discount for the school year, he added.

Despite the discounts, An-dreou said he did expect the number of new enrollments to fall as a result of the crisis.

A teacher at another pri-vate school in Nicosia, who did not wished to be named, said their school did not have actual gures yet for registra-tions for next year but many parents were thinking of tak-ing their children to public schools because they cannot pay the fees.

Students have not left dur-ing the year, but we have heard that parents with two children in the school will be removing the youngest. Students who are towards nishing school are more likely to stay on and their younger siblings will be

taken out, said the teacher.Emilios Hadjipetris, director

of the GC School of Careers said that his school is also tak-ing measures to help parents with any nancial dif culties.

We will give an increased discount to families that have more than one child in the school. Also, we will deduct some extra charges from cer-tain subjects such as, science, he said. Chairman of the Jun-ior School and Senior School board Nick Papandreou said the board is currently review-ing what they can do to reduce school fees.

We have to be wise about how we will reduce fees as we are a non pro t organisation. It is a balancing act situation as any cuts we make to the school budget will have an ef-fect on the students and may

reduce their learning experi-ence, Papandreou said.

The school was hit particu-larly hard as it had deposits of above 100,000 euros in Laiki Bank and was originally sub-ject to a haircut under the terms of the islands bailout.

The government has said educational institutions were to be exempt from the hair-cut but, according to Papan-dreou, the school has received no con rmation of this.

At tertiary level, the future of private education is less bleak, though universities are still taking precautions.

Fees for private universities in Cyprus are not cheap, aver-aging around 9,000 per year (though some charge as little as 6,000). Universities in Brit-ain, for example, charge only a little more, 9,000 or 10,500.

But the cost of rents and oth-er living expenses pushes the overall bill for those studying abroad much higher, and this is to the advantage of local private universities.

Before they would send them to a university abroad without going over the budg-et in detail but now this will all change. Many students will prefer to stay in Cyprus because the overall expenses are cheaper, said managing director of the European Uni-versity Cyprus, Christoforos Hadjikyriacou.

He said fees at the university have stayed the same for the last four years but in response to the crisis, the university board is to meet and discuss how fees could be reduced or paid in smaller intervals.

(see editorial page 13)

Even the islands most famous fee-paying school, The English School in Nicosia, is fac-ing vast economic dif culties, according to one board member

Community garden planned in YeroskipouBy Bejay Browne

A COMMUNITY garden which will produce vegeta-bles to help feed the poort looks set to get underway in Yeroskipou in Paphos.

The initiative has the sup-port of the Green Party, the Environment Commissioner and Yeroskipou municipality.

The idea will see volunteers working on donated land to grow produce which will go towards helping the needy families and individuals resid-ing in the municipality.

Mayor of Yeroskipou, Michael Pavlides, who is backing the scheme, told the Cyprus Mail : Following a recent discussion on food self-suf ciency, saving seeds, al-ternative currencies and feed-ing the poor, we have decided to start a food allotment pro-gramme to grow food for the needy on municipal and gov-ernment land or land donated by the community.

Pavlides said that a local woman had already donated a piece of land measuring about 7,000 square metres. He expressed his thanks, add-ing: we would like to have around another four of a simi-lar size.

In addition, the mayor will meet with the minister of the interior on April 29 to request that some of the government owned elds in the area be given to the scheme so that the land may be tilled and planted.

Pavlides added that the mu-nicipality would sponsor any irrigation which may be re-quired at the elds.

He said: This is a practi-cal and solid way in which we can all help the people who are suffering as a result of the economic crisis.

According to the Green Party these community gar-dens have been established in other European countries for quite some time.

There are around 60 city gar-dens for the poor in Barcelo-na in Spain. They are hoping to expand the initiative to the whole of Cyprus.

If you would like further information about the com-munity garden please contact Nicos Palios :- 26 962 324 or email info@geroskipou-mu-nicipality.com

Home

7CYPRUS MAIL Friday, April 19, 2013

CING marks another year of scientific accomplishmentImportant discoveries made in research into genetics By Peter Stevenson

TO MARK International DNA Day on April 25, The Cyprus Institute of Neurol-ogy and Genetics (CING) announced ten of its most important achievements in the last year, including the discovery that Cypriot wom-en are more susceptible to breast cancer if they do not follow the Mediterranean diet.

The research for this dis-covery was done by Professor Kyriacos Kyriacou and was published in the Biomed Cen-tral Cancer magazine.

2013 marks the 60th an-niversary of the discovery of the double helix of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick and the 10th anniver-sary of the rst sequencing of the human genome, chief executive Medical Director, Professor Philippos Patsalis said.

International DNA Day commemorates the day in 1953 when James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin and colleagues published papers in the journal Nature on the structure of DNA. On the same day in 2003 it was declared that the Human Ge-nome Project was very close to completion.

The Human Genome Project was the international, collab-orative research programme whose goal was the complete mapping and understanding of all the genes of human be-ings. All our genes together are known as our genome.

Patsalis went on to reveal the other major discover-ies the institute had made including the start of gene therapy to cure inherent neu-ropathy and encephalopathy with the use of virus that can replace the missing genes. The study was developed by

Professor Kleopa Kleopa. Dr. Savvas Papacosta and

his team worked on pain re-lief for Parkinsons Disease sufferers. They completed the rst two operations in Cyprus to implant electrodes into the brain to combat pain which cannot usually be cured with the use of pharmaceuticals, Patsalis said.

A team of doctors headed by Dr Marios Pantzari have internationally patented a pharmaceutical supplement which helps battle multiple sclerosis, with their research published in the British Med-ical Journal.

Dr. Marina Kleanthous team applied a prenatal cure for the prevention of thalas-saemia by replacing faulty genes with genes taken from the mothers umbilical cord of a previously born child. They also managed to apply the non-operational diagno-sis of thalassaemia in preg-nant women, Patsalis added. Their work was published in the European Journal of Hu-man Genetics.

By using the molecular technique, array-CGH, Dr. Carolina Sismanis team managed to detect chromo-somal defects in unborn chil-dren, proving more effective than pathological diagnosis of such defects. Biomedical Research International pub-lished their work.

Professor Leonidas Fylak-tous research team found genes in the blood linked with muscle degeneration that are linked to muscular dystrophy. This discovery will help doctors diagnose the problems earlier and will help sufferers deal with it more effectively.

A team from the depart-ment of neurogenetics head-ed by Professor Kyproulla Christodoulou have recently nished a study on Char-cot-Marie-Tooth syndrome,

which is a genetic disorder of the peripheral nervous system characterised by pro-gressive loss of muscle tissue and touch sensation across various parts of the body. Their research on the incur-able syndrome was published in the European Journal of Medical Genetics.

Patsalis team recently n-ished their clinical trial on non-invasive the prenatal di-agnosis of Downs Syndrome, with 175 cases and almost a 100 per cent success rate. Their work was published in Prenatal Diagnosis and Na-ture Medicine.

Only through better knowl-edge will we be able to make quick and exact diagnoses to prevent or radically cure the diseases which are the scourge of mankind, he con-cluded.

Refugee was driven to suicideBy Poly Pantelides

A REFUGEE who left behind his wife and four children in Syria was driven to suicide on Wednesday, in what migrant support group KISA said was just another example of the inability of Cypriot authorities to respond to desperate calls for help.

Mohammed, a Kurdish resident of Syria, ed from Syrian authorities and sought asylum in Cyprus some three months ago. He lived in the Paphos village of Arodes and was given the run-around by the labour of ce and the social welfare department, KISA said.

What seems to have led the unfortunate ref-ugee to suicide was the heartlessness to which Cypriot authorities responded to his desper-ate call for help, but also his intense worry for his life and his familys fate, KISA said.

Asylum seekers do not have access to the la-bour market for the rst six months of their stay in Cyprus, but are instead entitled to ben-e ts, according to KISAs information guide to asylum seekers. After six months in the coun-try, they are allowed to work in farming and agriculture.

But KISA said some people have to wait for months to receive bene ts payments because of Parliaments racist decision to examine the list of refugees receiving bene ts, includ-ing those whose asylum applications have been accepted.

The migrant support group said Moham-meds suicide was indicative of the situation for refugees and asylum seekers in Cyprus, especially the Syrians who are often forced to ee their country and are the most vulnerable of all social groups in (Cyprus).

The state is making it increasingly hard for people to obtain asylum in Cyprus, KISA add-ed, claiming that the authorities try in various ways, not all of them legal, to prevent assign-ing people with asylum status.

People such as Mohammed become isolated, humiliated, and desperate, KISA said.

Many are eventually forced to leave to seek protection in other countries in Europe, KISA stared.

KISA said they understood the nancial and social situation in Cyprus, but said that de-mocracy and human rights was in danger from racism and discrimination splitting groups into two: Cypriots and all others.

The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics in Nicosia counts ten important achievements in the past year

8Britain

Friday, April 19, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

Nomination for Marie ColvinVETERAN American war correspondent Marie Colvin who was killed in Syria last year was nominated yesterday for the Orwell Prize, a British literary award for political writing.Colvin, a US reporter for Britains Sunday Times newspaper, was killed alongside French pho-tographer Remi Ochlik as Syrian government forces attacked the town of Homs in February last year and rockets hit the house where they were staying.On the Front Line: The Collected Journalism of Marie Colvin was pub-lished in April last year. The book ends with her nal written dispatch from Homs.Colvins book was one of seven shortlisted from 210 nominations for the Orwell book prize that was set up 10 years ago to award work that comes closest to George Orwells ambition to make politi-cal writing into an art.

Former Sun editor chargedTHE former deputy edi-tor of Rupert Murdochs Sun tabloid has been charged with authoris-ing illegal payments to a public of cial to get stories, prosecutors said yesterday.Fergus Shanahan is ac-cused of authorising a reporter on the paper to make two payments total-ling 7,000 to an unnamed of cial in return for infor-mation between August 2006 and August 2007.Following a careful review of the evidence, we have concluded that Fergus Shanahan, who served as an editor at the Sun newspaper, should be charged with an of-fence of conspiring to commit misconduct in public of ce, said Alison Levitt, Legal Advisor to the Director of Public Prosecutions.Shanahan will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on May 8.

Measles cases pass 800 markMEASLES cases in a region battling one of the biggest epidemics in the UK for a decade have passed the 800 mark.An extra 43 cases of mea-sles were recorded in the Swansea area of South Wales since Tuesday, Pub-lic Health Wales said.The number brought the total to 808, up from 765 since Tuesday, as special vaccination sessions were to continue at schools in the area.

BRITAIN TODAY

Paralysed man taking up the right-to-die legal fightInsists cruel law that bars assisted deaths must be changedA PARALYSED man from Leeds is taking up a legal challenge for the right to die with the help of a doctor, saying he should be able to end his life with dignity.

Paul Lamb, 58, has taken on the case begun by Tony Nicklinson, saying the cru-el law that forbids assisted deaths must be changed.

Nicklinson, 58, died last year shortly after he lost his legal bid to end his life with a doctors help, but his family won permission to continue his campaign.

Lamb, who has waived anonymity to speak out, has joined the challenge, with the two cases to be heard in the Court of Appeal on May 14 and 15.

Nicklinsons widow, Jane, said she was over the moon that her late hus-bands cause will continue - and said he would have been equally pleased.

After being told he can take on Nicklinsons ght, Lamb, a former builder and father-of-two, said in a statement: I hope that this is the next step towards the ultimate goal of changing this cruel law, which keeps people like me alive when I want to have

a digni ed death.To be given this chance

of being involved in the case makes me very proud. I have always been an extremely strong character and when I believe in something, I can take on the world.

So, for the sake of everyone in this country who deserves the right to have a digni ed death, I hope that we can make this happen.

Lamb was severely injured in a car accident in 1990 but remembers virtually noth-ing about the moment that changed his life.

For the last 23 years he has been unable to use any of

his limbs apart from slight movement in his right hand, is in constant pain and needs round-the-clock care.

As the Court of Appeal heard Lambs request last month for the right to pick up where Nicklinson left off, he said in a statement that life was pointless and he would like a doctor to help him die by lethal injection, preferably in his own home.

Lamb added: I consider that I have lived with these conditions for a lot of years and have given it my best shot. Now I feel worn out and I am genuinely fed up with my life.

I feel that I cannot and do not want to keep living. I feel trapped by the situation and I have no way out. I am not getting any younger and I cannot carry on as all that my life consists of is being fed and watered.

I feel that the truth is that I have had enough. I have been in pain since July 1990 and there is no way of getting rid of the root pain. My daily routine is tedious, monoto-nous and pointless. I often go to bed early at 5pm - such is the pointlessness of it all.

I am 58 years of age and I am fed up of going through the motions of life rather

than living it. I feel that enough is enough.

People tell me that I must keep trying - but there is only so much that a person can take.

I wish I could end my own life but I cannot.

He said he felt genuinely terri ed by the prospect of having no control over his life or death and said: What I would like to do is be able to hug those people who are closest to me and say good-bye to them.

I wish to end my life in a digni ed way, preferably without pain. I wish to nd peace.

Following Lambs deci-sion to waive his anonymity, his lawyer Saimo Chahal, of Bindmans LLP, said: He is clear and determined in his wish to see a change in the law which he considers whol-ly wrong and out of date for a person in his situation, and for others like him.

Mrs Nicklinson, 57, of Melk-sham, Wiltshire, told the Press Association her late husband would be very pleased with Lambs deci-sion.

She said: Im over the moon that hes joined the cause and has agreed to go public because seeing the person helps people under-stand the argument.

This keeps it going - we needed someone like Tony to be able to carry on the case, asking for a doctor-assisted death.

Mrs Nicklinson, who has two daughters with her late husband, added: It was the one thing he wanted to see through, but in the end he just couldnt carry on.

Paul Lamb was severely injured in a car accident in 1990 and for the last 23 years has been unable to use any of his limbs apart from slight movement in his right hand

Top row left to right: Zahid Iqbal, Mohammed Sharfaraz Ahmed. Bottom row left to right: Umar Arshad with Syed Farhan Hussain

Four jailed over bomb plotBy Michael Holden

FOUR Britons were jailed yesterday for plotting al Qaeda-inspired bombings across the country, which included an attack on an army base using a remote-controlled toy car packed with explosives which they planned to drive under the gates.

Prosecutors said the men, who were captured after an operation involving Londons Counter Terrorism Command and the MI5 domestic spy agency, were dangerous and committed terrorists.

Zahid Iqbal, Mohammed Sharfaraz Ahmed, Umar Arshad and Syed Farhan Hussain, from Luton, north of London, had all pleaded guilty last month to pre-paring for acts of terrorism.

Prosecutors said Iqbal was a terrorist facilitator who arranged for people, in-cluding Ahmed, to travel to Pakistan for extremist purposes.

Meanwhile Ahmed, who with others also underwent training in the Snowdonia mountainous region of North Wales, had recruited Arshad and Hussain.

British of cials have said that while al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and Afghani-stan are less capable of organising mass attacks along the lines of the July 2005 suicide bombings on London which killed 52 commuters, the threat from homeg-rown Islamists remains.

All four men have shown a deep com-mitment to engage in violent jihad, said Deborah Walsh, deputy head of Counter-

Terrorism at Britains Crown Prosecu-tion Service.

In April 2011, Iqbal and Ahmed dis-cussed an attack on the Territorial (re-serve) Army base in Luton using explo-sives placed on a remote controlled car. Independent forensic evidence has con- rmed the device was viable.

Police said the group had taken advan-tage of information provided by an Eng-lish language online magazine posted by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and had talked about making a bomb and procuring rearms.

Washington and other Western govern-ments regard AQAP as one of the most dangerous offshoots of the militant net-work. The group has planned attacks on international targets including airliners and pledges to topple Saudi Arabias rul-ing family.

They discussed plans to carry out at-tacks in the UK - at a territorial army base as well as multiple sites at one time, said Stuart Osborne, the senior national co-ordinator for counter terrorism.

The actions and intentions of these men starkly demonstrate what we have re-peatedly said - that terrorists live among us while they carry out their plans, doing all they can to conceal their activities, he added

Iqbal and Ahmed were jailed for 11 years with the possibility these terms could be extended, while Arshad was imprisoned for almost seven years and Hussain for more than ve years.

9Europe

CYPRUS MAIL Friday, April 19, 2013

Foremen huntedGREEK police were hunting three foremen yesterday who were suspected of shooting and wounding more than 20 migrant workers at a strawberry farm.The supervisors were be-lieved to have opened re on Wednesday at a crowd of about 200 mostly Bang-ladeshi immigrants who were demanding wages that had not been paid, police said. The wounded were taken to hospital but none of the injuries were serious.Anti-foreigner sentiment has been rising in Greece, where one in four workers is unemployed after ve years of recession.Police said they had ar-rested the owner of the farm, in the southwestern town of Manolada, and were still hunting the foremen.One of the immigrants in-volved in the protests told Greek Skai TV that they had been promised wages of 22 euros ($28.70) a day. They keep telling us that we will get paid in a month, and this has been going on for more than a year, said the worker, who was not identi ed. We dont talk about it because we are afraid that we will be killed or kicked out.

Slap to BersaniITALYS parliament failed to elect a new state presi-dent in the rst two votes yesterday, with a centre-left rebellion against leader Pier Luigi Bersani torpedoing his of cial candidate and prolonging political stalemate.Until the new president is elected, the paralysis hobbling attempts to form a government since Febru-arys inconclusive general election will continue but a chaotic day of voting yesterday showed how fractured the political landscape remains.Bersanis candidate Fran-co Marini, a former Senate speaker, fell far short of the required two-thirds majority of the 1,007 elec-tors in the rst vote and in the second he won no votes at all, with many members of both centre-left and centre-right blocs casting blank ballots.

Stimulus alertTWO senior Russian of- cials warned political leaders yesterday against rushing into more spending to stimulate a struggling economy at the risk of higher in ation.Russias $2.1 trillion econ-omy expanded by just 1.1 per cent in the rst quarter, signi cantly below the Kremlins target of 5 per cent, prompting President Vladimir Putin to urge the government to boost social spending and aid ebbing growth.

EUROPE TODAY

Serbia EU bid falters over Kosovo UN seatNegotiations continue in Brussels todayBy Aleksandar Vasovic and Fatos Bytyci

SERBIAS hopes of start-ing talks this year on joining the European Union hung in the balance yesterday after it balked at demands from its former province of Kosovo for a seat at the United Nations.

Kosovo said the EU had summoned both sides back to Brussels for further talks today, before the EUs 27 members consider on Monday whether to recommend the start of accession talks with Serbia, a process crucial to unlocking its potential as the largest market in the former Yugoslavia.

The talks are aimed at nd-ing a way to guarantee Kos-ovos viability as a separate entity without requiring Ser-bia to recognise the independ-ence of a territory that it sees as the cradle of its identity.

But after 14 hours of talks on Wednesday, Serbia said

a UN seat for Kosovo would amount to just such a recog-nition, while Kosovo said the issue was non-negotiable.

ASHTON REQUEST

Both sides headed home, only for Kosovo to announce that its prime minister, former guerrilla commander Hashim Thaci, had turned back from Slovenias Ljubljana airport at the request of EU foreign poli-cy chief Catherine Ashton.

Delegations back to Brus-sels! Dialogue to continue tomorrow! tweeted Kosovos EU integration minister, Vlora Citaku.

The Serbian state news agency Tanjug said Belgrade had received the invitation to return, and would respond during the day. There was no of cial word from Prime Min-ister Ivica Dacic.

Agreement would mark a seminal moment in the re-gions recovery from the col-lapse of federal Yugoslavia.

Kosovo broke away from

Belgrade in 1999 after 78 days of NATO air strikes halted the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians by Serb forces try-ing to crush a guerrilla rebel-lion.

The province declared in-dependence in 2008 and is recognised by more than 90 countries, including the Unit-ed States and 22 of the EUs 27 members.

Dangling the prospect of membership talks, the EU says Serbia must help to end an ethnic partition of Kosovo between the 90-per cent Alba-nian majority and a northern pocket of some 50,000 Serbs where Belgrade still has a fragile grip.

The two sides have edged to-wards a deal on the status of the north, including what pow-ers it would wield, through six months of talks mediated by Ashton. But negotiations on Wednesday, billed as make-

or-break, stalled over Point 14 of the plan.

That calls for Serbia to stop obstructing Kosovos acces-sion to international organi-sations, implicitly the United Nations.

Removing that point would undermine the entire agree-ment, Bekim Collaku, an ad-viser to Thaci, told Reuters. What kind of normalisation are we talking about if after this deal Serbia will continue

blocking Kosovo on its Euro-Atlantic path?

Serbias Dacic said all was not lost, but nonetheless ac-cused Thaci of trying to scup-per the deal.

Serbia is supposed to let Kosovo be a member of inter-national organisations? Well then lets just write down that we recognise Kosovo as inde-pendent, he told reporters. We couldnt accept that, and we will never accept that.

Kosovos Prime Minister Hashim Thaci (pictured) was called back to Brussels for further talks today

Lagarde to be quizzed in misconduct caseINTERNATIONAL Mon-etary Fund chief Christine Lagarde will be questioned by a French magistrate in May over an arbitration pay-ment made to a wealthy sup-porter of former President Nicolas Sarkozy, her lawyer said yesterday.

Lagardes lawyer in France, Yves Repiquet, con rmed a report by news website Medi-apart that the former French nance minister was to be heard in the case involving billionaire businessman Ber-nard Tapie.

I con rm that its at the end of May, Repiquet told Reu-ters, asked about Mediaparts report that the hearing would be on May 23.

It is the rst time Lagarde has been called in for ques-tioning in an investigation launched in 2011 which could become uncomfortable for her and the International Mon-etary Fund if she is placed un-der formal investigation.

Lagarde has denied she did anything wrong when she ended a long-running court battle between the state and Tapie by agreeing to arbitra-tion to settle the dispute.

But a court specialised in cases involving ministers sus-pects her of complicity in mis-using public funds when, as -nance minister, she overruled objections from advisers to go ahead with the arbitration.

Lagarde, who has been designated as a suspect de-spite never pro ting person-ally from the affair, could be placed under formal investi-gation after the hearing, her

lawyer said.A formal investigation

would be more serious than Lagardes current status. An-other outcome is her designa-tion as an assisted witness, an intermediary status mean-ing Lagarde would speak to magistrates with a lawyer but would not be detained.

Repiquet said her sum-mons was routine. Its a non-event, he said. Its normal that she is questioned ... I am not at all nervous about it.

Lagarde said in January that arbitration was the best solution at the time and stood by her decision. Leftwing lawmakers led a complaint which led to the current legal case.

Lagardes decision to accept arbitration meant the state paid Tapie 285 million euros ($371.70 million).

On Wednesday, an IMF spokesman said it would not be appropriate to comment on a case that was still being examined by a French court.

IMF chief Christine Lagar-de was previously nance minister for France

10

World

Friday, April 19, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

Pakistani special security commandos escort a vehicle carrying former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf as he leaves the court premises following the order for his arrest in Islamabad on April 18, 2013. Musharraf ed a courtroom yesterday after judges or-dered his arrest to answer allegations he committed trea-son in 2007, an ignominious retreat for a man who once dominated Pakistan and had hoped to revive his political fortunes.Pakistani television broadcast footage of Musharraf dashing from Islamabad High Court in a black SUV as several lawyers made half-hearted attempts to pursue his vehicle - a scene that would have been unthinkable when Musharraf was at the height of his powers.It was another blow to his hopes of resurrecting his polit-

ical career after election of cers barred him from stand-ing at next months general elections, in part due to the various legal challenges he faces. The bid had garnered widespread popular scorn.Musharraf retreated to a farm in an exclusive residential estate on the outskirts of Islamabad where police set up a cordon restricting access to the area. It was unclear whether the of cers were preparing to detain him.As police moved to seal off access, Mohammad Amjad, Musharrafs spokesman, called a news conference to announce that his lawyers would petition the Supreme Court today to withdraw the order.We will le an appeal against the arrest order in the Supreme Court tomorrow, Amjad said. He added that Musharraf was composed and in good spirits. (AFP)

Chinese Internet abuzz about cab ride that wasntBy Terril Yue Jones and Eleven Du

CHINAS Internet was abuzz yesterday over a report that President Xi Jinping, who is striving to portray him-self as a humble man, had hailed a cab in Beijing last month. The report was later dismissed by state media as being false.

Many Chinese news por-tals, which had carried the story, removed it, including the website of the newspa-per that wrote the original piece.

The report, which rst appeared in the Beijing-backed Ta Kung Bao news-paper of Hong Kong, went viral on Chinese microblogs and the Internet before the of cial Xinhua news agency stepped in to say it was all untrue.

The Ta Kung Pao later posted an apology on its website.

Because of our lapse, a signi cant false report ap-

peared, the newspaper said. For this, we sincerely apologise to our readers, We take this as a warning, and will return to producing ac-curate and rigorous report-ing for the public.

The story had portrayed Xi, who has been keen to break from the stiff and aloof style of past leaders, as a man who takes random taxi rides and gives moder-ate tips.

The Ta Kung Pao said that Chinas new leader hailed a cab in the capital last month to take him to the Diaoy-utai Hotel, part of the well-guarded state guesthouse.

Taxi driver Guo Lixin said he picked up two men, one of whom turned out to be Xi, who at the time was Chinese Communist Party secretary and was two weeks later named Chinas president.

This is hilarious. It shows that people will believe any-thing, wrote one user on Sina Weibo, Chinas answer to Twitter, after Xinhuas denial.

Travelling incognito? Chinese President Xi Jinping

North Korea offers list of conditions for talksBy Jack Kim

NORTH Korea offered the United States and South Ko-rea a list of conditions yester-day for talks, including the lifting of U.N. sanctions, but Washington said it was await-ing clear signals Pyongyang would halt its nuclear weap-ons activities.

In a sign of a possible end to weeks of heightened hostil-ity on the Korean peninsula, the Norths top military body said the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula would begin when the United States removed nuclear weapons that the isolated state said Washington has deployed in the region.

The move was likely a con-ciliatory gesture to China, North Koreas only major sup-porter, which has signalled its unease over Pyongyangs escalating threats and said talks were the only way to end the tensions.

Dialogue and war cannot

co-exist, the Norths Nation-al Defence Commission said in a statement carried by the of cial KCNA news agency.

If the United States and the puppet South have the slight-est desire to avoid the sledge-hammer blow of our army and the people ... and truly wish dialogue and negotiations, they must make the resolute decision, it said.

The United States has of-fered talks, but only on the pre-condition that they lead to North Korea abandoning its nuclear weapons ambi-tions.

Although North Korea signed a denuclearisation-for-aid deal in 2005, it later backed out of that pact and now deems its nuclear arms a treasured sword that it will never give up.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest told report-ers North Korea would rst need to show it is serious about abandoning its nucle-ar ambitions for talks to be meaningful.

Were open to credible, authentic negotiations, but thats going to require clear signals from the North Kore-an regime, signals we havent seen so far, he told reporters aboard Air Force One.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who this week ended a trip to the region that was dominated by concern about North Korea, has stressed his interest in a diplomatic solution.

He told a US Senate hearing that Pyongyangs offer was at least a beginning gambit, but added that it was not accept-

able, obviously, and we have to go further.

One thing were not going to get into is .. Heres a little food aid, heres a little this, then well talk. Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a rejection of previous patterns of negotia-tions with North Korea.

South Korea which has an-gered North Korea by con-ducting annual military exer-cises with US forces, has also proposed talks. Pyongyang rejected the offer as insincere.

North Korea stepped up its de ance of UN Security Council resolutions in Decem-ber when it launched a rocket that it said had put a scienti c satellite in orbit.

That was followed in Febru-ary by the Norths third test of a nuclear weapon. That test triggered new UN sanctions in March, toughening exist-ing measures, which in turn led to a dramatic intensi ca-tion of Pyongyangs threats of nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States.

UAE says that it has arrested the plotters linked with al QaedaTHE United Arab Emirates said yesterday it had arrested a sev-en-member cell linked to al Qaeda that was planning attacks on the Gulf oil and business hub, the second time this year it has alleged a concrete threat from the militant group.

The UAE, an important military, counter-terrorism and busi-ness partner of the West, said the seven were Arab nationals who had been helping al Qaeda with recruitment, nancing and logistical support.

The cell was planning actions to target the countrys security and the safety of its citizens and residents, and was carrying out recruitment, and promoting the actions of al Qaeda, WAM news agency said. It was also supplying it (al Qaeda) with money and providing logistical support and seeking to expand its activities to some (other) countries in the region, WAM added.

The UAE, a federation of seven emirates including Dubai and Abu Dhabi, has been spared an attack by al Qaeda and other militants; some analysts say the groups nd it too useful as a communications and nancial hub.

But in December, the UAE said it had arrested a cell of Emirati and Saudi Arabian members of a deviant group that was plan-ning to carry out militant attacks in both countries and other states. The term deviant group is often used by authorities in Saudi Arabia to describe al Qaeda members.

Dubai police chief Dhahi Khalfan told a local newspaper in January that some of the group had links to al Qaeda in the Ara-bian Peninsula (AQAP), which uses Yemen as a base for inter-national operations. There was no immediate word on whether yesterdays arrests were related.

Some of the emirates have seen a rise in Islamist sentiment in recent years, and in the past year the federal government has started to crack down on alleged sympathisers of Islamist groups such as Egypts Muslim Brotherhood.

US awaits signals Pyongyang will halt nuclear arms activity

Musharraf flees after court orders his arrest

11

World

CYPRUS MAIL Friday, April 19, 2013

WINTHIS WEEK IN YOUR SundayMail

ENTER OUR COMPETITION (living page 28)

A NIGHT FOR TWO WITHBREAKFAST AT

The remains of a fertiliser plant smoulder after a massive blast in the town of West, near Waco, Texas yesterday

Rescuers hunting for survivors after blastBy Corrie MacLaggan

RESCUE teams were search-ing the charred rubble of homes in a small Texas town yesterday for survivors of a ery explosion at a nearby fertiliser plant that killed as many as 15 people, injured more than 160 and destroyed dozens of buildings.

Three to four volunteer re ghters were among the missing following the blast on Wednesday night, said Sgt. William Patrick Swanton of the Waco, Texas, police de-partment.

Fire ghters had been ght-ing a re at the West Ferti-liser Co for about 20 minutes before the 8pm blast rocked West, a town of 2,700 people about 20 miles (32 km) north of Waco.

The plant had tanks of vola-tile anhydrous ammonia, in-cluding what initial reports said was a tanker-sized con-tainer like those hauled on freight trains, Swanton said at a news conference yester-day. However, the immediate

threat from fumes appeared to have abated, he said.

The blast destroyed 60 to 80 houses, of cials said. It reduced a 50-unit apartment complex to what one local of- cial called a skeleton stand-ing up and left a horri c land-scape of burned-out buildings and blackened rubble.

It looks like a war zone with all the debris, McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNa-mara said.

Amid such devastation, the death toll remained a rough estimate of ve to 15 people, Swanton said. He said more than 160 people were injured and that number was likely to rise.

Emergency crews were mov-ing from house to house in a search and rescue operation, Stanton said.

Thats good news to me, meaning that theyre probably

still getting injured people, he said. They have not gotten to the point of no return where they dont think that theres anybody still alive.

The re ghters had been battling the re and evacuat-ing nearby houses and a nurs-ing home out of concern about possible dangerous fumes be-fore the explosion occurred, Swanton said.

Texas Public Safety De-partment spokesman D.L. Wilson said half the town, eight to 10 blocks, had been evacuated. Of cials said 133 people were removed from the nursing home.

There are still re ghters missing, Swanton said. They were actively ghting the re at the time the explosion oc-curred.

The re ghters were mem-bers of a large volunteer corps who had arrived on the scene.

One law enforcement of cial who also served as a re ghter was found alive but in critical condition in a local hospital, Swanton said.

The cause of the re re-mained unknown and it was being treated as a crime scene, which was standard procedure, Swanton said.

The explosion came two days before the 20th anniver-sary of a re in Waco that en-gulfed a compound inhabited by David Koresh and his fol-lowers in the Branch Davidian sect, ending a siege by federal agents. About 82 members of the sect and four federal agents died at Waco.

In West, witness Kevin Smith told CBS News he had just climbed the stairs to the sec-ond oor of his home when he felt the blast.

The house exploded. It was just a bright ash and a roar, I thought it was lightning strik-ing the house, Smith said. I felt myself ying through the air about 10 feet, and it took a second or two to realise that the roof had caved in on me so I knew it wasnt lightning.

Up to 15 dead, over 160 hurt in Texas plant blast

We will find Boston culpritsPRESIDENT Barack Obama told a memorial service for the Boston bombing victims that we will nd whoever carried out the attack that killed three people as inves-tigators search for two men seen on a video of the scene shortly before the blasts.

Obama said Americans would not be intimidated by the twin blasts, which also injured 176 people in a crowd of thousands at the nish line of the world-famous marathon on Monday.

If they sought to intimidate us, to terrorise us, to shake us from those values ... that de- ne us as Americans, it should be pretty clear by now that they picked the wrong city to do it to. Not here in Boston, Obama said at the memorial yesterday. While investiga-tors have made no arrests yet, Obama said of the perpetrator or perpetrators of the attack, We will nd you and you will face justice.

Homeland Security Secre-tary Janet Napolitano earli-er yesterday in Washington con rmed that the FBI was searching for people seen on a video taken near the nish line.

The Boston bombings put Americans on edge and se-curity was tightened in ma-jor cities across the United States. Mail sent to Obama and federal of cials that au-thorities believed contained the deadly poison ricin, re-minded Americans of anthrax mail attacks in the wake of the September 11, hijacked plane attacks nearly 12 years ago.

The memorial service took place a day after the FBI ar-rested a Mississippi man in connection with the letters. The FBI said there was no indication of a connection between the ricin letters and the Boston bomb attacks.

Justice promised: US Pres-ident Barack Obama

Saddams former deputy pursuedIRAQI special forces are closing in on the most senior member of Saddam Husseins inner circle still on the run since the 2003 invasion, security sources said yesterday.Troops backed by heli-copters were searching for Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, head of Saddams now-outlawed Baath party, in villages around the former rulers hometown of Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad.Capturing the most promi-nent Baath leader would be a major victory for the Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki before provincial elections that will measure his political muscle for the 2014 parliamentary ballot.We have solid information that he is in Dour since last night, now we have closed the area, announced a curfew and are search-ing house by house, said one senior security of cer involved in the operation.Douri was long believed to be living outside Iraq, and he was last seen in January in a video message encouraging Sunni Muslim protesters to resist Malikis government.

Veto unlikelyFRANCE, Moroccos tra-ditional protector on the U.N. Security Council, is unlikely to use its veto to block a U.S. proposal to have U.N. peacekeepers monitor human rights in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, envoys stated.The US proposal was contained in a draft UN Security Council resolu-tion Washington circulat-ed to the so-called Group of Friends on Western Sahara, which includes the US, France, Spain, Britain and Russia, UN diplomats said this week on condi-tion of anonymity.We dont expect France will block, a diplomat from one of the Group of Friends countries said on condition of anonymity on Wednesday. The diplomat was con rming a French media report. Another UN diplomat yesterday con- rmed the remarks.

WORLDTODAY

Business

12 Friday, April 19, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL

RatesThese Bank of Cyprus rates for telegraphic transfer trans-actions (spot deals) apply to yesterday, but provide a good guide to todays value against the euro.

Buying Selling

Pound St 0.8603 0.8517

US Dollar 1.3108 1.2978

Australian $ 1.2826 1.2510

Canadian Dol. 1.3554 1.3220

Swiss Fr 1.2208 1.2062

Denmark Kr 7.5487 7.3623

Japan Yen 128.4662 126.9338

Norwegian Kr 7.6596 7.4704

Polish Zloty 4.1683 4.0653

Romanian Leu 4.4574 4.2826

Russian Ruble 42.0365 40.9985

Swedish Kr 8.6016 8.3892

Data points to slowing US econTHE number of Americans ling new claims for unem-ployment bene ts rose last week and factory activity in the nations Mid-Atlantic re-gion cooled in April, further signs of a moderation in U.S. economic growth.

Underscoring the soften-ing growth outlook, another report yesterday showed a gauge of future economic activity fell in March for the rst time in seven months. It was the latest data to in-dicate a step-back in the US economy after a brisk start to the year as tighter scal policy began to weigh.

The evidence is mount-ing that the economy lost momentum in March and that has carried to April, said Ryan Sweet, a sen-ior economist at Moodys Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Economic data for January and February has suggested growth accelerated in the rst quarter after activity almost stalled in the nal three months of 2012.

But in a replay of the prior two years, the economy ap-pears to have hit a speed bump at the end of the quar-ter, with data ranging from employment to retail sales and manufacturing weaken-ing signi cantly in March.

Initial claims for state un-employment bene ts rose 4,000 to a seasonally ad-justed 352,000 the Labour Department said. The four-week moving average for new claims, a better meas-ure of labour market trends, rose 2,750 to 361,250.

While claims rose last week, they were still at lev-els economists normally as-sociate with average month-ly job gains of more than 150,000. That helped ease concerns of a deterioration in labour market conditions after nonfarm payrolls post-ed their smallest increase in nine months in March.

Diamond era finishes at Barclays with Ricci exit

By Steve Slater

RICH Ricci, the boss of Bar-clays investment bank who collected $26 million in de-ferred bonuses last month, is leaving the scandal-hit bank as its new chief executive seeks to cut back executive pay and repair its image.

The American-born Ricci, a star performer at Barclays known for his love of horse racing, was a key lieutenant of Bob Diamond, the former chief executive who left Brit-ains third largest bank last year after a Libor interest rate-rigging scandal.

Tom Kalaris, head of Bar-clays wealth management and Americas business and the other remaining execu-tive close to Diamond, will also leave.

New CEO Anthony Jenkins has been trying to put his stamp on the bank since he took over in August and pledged to reform its aggres-sive, high-risk reputation which led to Diamond and Ricci being pilloried in parts of the British media.

Speculation intensi ed that Ricci, 49, who is estimated to have earned at least 80 mil-lion ($122 million) from his 19 years at Barclays, would go after Jenkins failed to publicly back him when he unveiled a new strategy in February.

Its part of the ongoing cul-

tural revolution at Barclays, said Simon Maughan, analyst at Olivetree Securities. There will be a few more Diamond acolytes edged out over the next 12 months, though obvi-ously not as high pro le.

Ricci, who has one of the most memorable names in banking, is known for his im-maculately cut green tweed suits, dark glasses and felt hat he wears to watch his top racehorses compete.

British people angered by large fat cat executive pay packets in tough economic

times derided the naming of one his horses Fatcatinthehat after a newspaper pro le of Ricci headlined Whos the fat cat in the hat?

More criticism greeted his sale of shares worth more than 17 million ($25.9 mil-lion) last month straight af-ter receiving them as part of previous deferred bonuses or long-term awards.

British opposition Labour member of parliament John Mann urged him yesterday to pay it back or give it to charity.

Ricci was among 25 people named by the High Court in London as listed in regula-tory documents concerning the Libor investigation which referred to internal politi-cal pressure to set borrow-ing rates low to paint a rosier picture of the banks nancial health.

He has said he had been a witness in the investigation but was cleared.

His pay does not have to be disclosed as he is not on the board, but the 2011 Sunday Times Rich List estimated

he had a 54-million fortune and he has since received and sold more than 27 million of shares.

Ricci joined Barclays in 1994 and led its acquisition of Leh-man Brothers in 2008, becom-ing co-head of investment banking in 2009 and sole head of corporate and investment banking (CIB) last June.

Barclays said he will step down as CIB boss at the end of this month and retire from Barclays at the end of June, the same day that Kalaris, 57, retires.

Departure comes as Jenkins tries to repair banks image

Aviva to cut 2,000 jobsBRITISH insurer Aviva Plc is to cut 2,000 jobs and sl