Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 00-11-08

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cyprus-mail.com/>

Wednesday, November 8, 2000

CONTENTS

[01] Market plays it safe on Athens listing

[02] Greek woman killed in car crash

[03] Thieves steal £22,000 from company safe

[04] Kaisis: 'If I'd known the trouble, I wouldn't have bothered with IMC stock market move'

[05] Bomb wrecks broker's car

[06] The softly-softly approach

[07] Denktash: stop playing EU games

[08] Acupuncturist defends his record after new Medical Association allegations

[09] EAC defends coal-burning option

[10] Annan will be 'closely involved' in talks

[11] Man threatens to sue neighbour over 'dog rape'

[01] Market plays it safe on Athens listing

The all-share index lost ground from the opening of yesterday's session and headed into a steep decline from which it never recovered. Prices dropped 0.84 per cent with the index closing at 289.6 points while volume stood at a mere £13.1 million reflecting a mainly selling trend.

All but four of the 12 sectors ended in losses of between 0.23 per cent for construction companies to a whopping 2.37 per cent in the tourism sector where all five listed companies suffered losses.

Gainers included the insurance sector, up 1.87 per cent, financial 1.33 per cent, fisheries 1.24 per cent and hotels 0.91 per cent. Here Dome jumped 39 cents to £13 and Aqua Sol added one cent to 44 cents.

Last week's newcomer Tsokkos continued to defy the odds to add two cents to end at 40 cents with 1.3 million shares traded. The banking sector ended one per cent in the red with BoC shedding another eight cents to end at £5.31, nine cents above its ASE listing price of £5.22. Laiki also felt the pinch, dropping nine cents to close at £6.89.

The two banks plus GlobalSoft accounted for over one third of the day's volume, the IT giant alone garnering some 20 per cent, £2.3 million, although the stock lost five cents, ending at £5.87. Logicom also lost big, shaving off 14 cents to close at £4.26.

Of the few winners yesterday, Liberty Life Insurance gained eight cents to close at £1.91 and Laiki investments added six cents to £1.09. Yesterday's debut from Aristo Developers failed to shake either the market or the construction sector, opening at 67 cents, three cents under its IPO price.

The share traded on a volume of nearly a million before closing at 62 cents. The company's investment arm fared little better shedding four cents to close at 53 cents. Brokers are reluctant to make predictions about today's BoC listing. "Unless things go drastically wrong I doubt there will be much of an effect here," said one. "Actually getting the whole thing over with will be a relief in itself with all the hype that's been surrounding it."

[02] Greek woman killed in car crash

A 21-YEAR-OLD Greek woman from the Nicosia district was killed yesterday morning when her car smashed head-on into a cement mixer.

Thomais Papadopoulou, a permanent resident of Cyprus, was driving her car on the Palehori to Anthoupolis road when the accident occurred. Papadopoulou, who lives in Ayios Ioannis Maloundas and was engaged to a Cypriot, was killed near the Ergates industrial estate at around 8.45am when she apparently lost control of her car and veered into the right lane, crashing head-on into the cement mixer.

Traffic police are investigating the circumstances of the accident. In a separate accident, a 20-year-old student was critically hurt when she was run over in Nicosia as she tried to cross the road.

The accident happened in Lakatamia at 6.50pm on Monday, when Georgia Georgalidou from Anthoupolis was hit by a car driven by a 35-year-old man. She was rushed to Nicosia hospital, where she is being treated for a fractured skull and internal haemorrhage.

[03] Thieves steal £22,000 from company safe

LIMASSOL police were yesterday looking for two thieves who burgled the offices of a company over the weekend and took off with £22,000.

Employees of Amathus Navigation went to work as usual on Monday morning, but failed to notice the safe was not in its usual place. They didn't realise anything until the afternoon, when they called police, who dispatched a forensic team to scan for clues.

According to police, the burglars used an outside staircase to break into the offices on the fourth floor of a building near Limassol's old port. The thieves carried the heavy safe into a storage room and used a blowtorch to cut it open.

Inside, they found £22,000 in cash, which they took before making their escape. On the way out, police said, the burglars decided to break into an adjacent office, but beat a quick retreat after triggering the alarm. In their haste, they apparently dumped their tools, which police later found.

[04] Kaisis: 'If I'd known the trouble, I wouldn't have bothered with IMC stock market move'

The CSE plans to leave its cramped quarters on Grivas Dhigenis Avenue in central Nicosia and head for the spacious Strovolos site, but the move has been an uphill battle dogged since January by controversy and legal disputes.

"Yes the CSE move brings my building prestige, but all these problems are not worth it. The IMC building is the most prestigious commercial building in Cyprus anyway. If I weigh up the benefit and the loss and the five months of fighting, and if I had known what I know now six months ago, then I won't have bothered," Kaisis told the Cyprus Mail.

Nicosia mayor Lellos Demetriades and the technology chamber ETEK have condemned the move, citing "illegal" breaches in planning regulations. In addition, Demetriades is furious that one of the nation's principal financial institutions is leaving the city centre.

But Kaisis yesterday hit back at the mayor's anger. "The Central Bank is in Strovolos, so is the Ministry of Justice and the new General Hospital. They're building the new Electricity Headquarters over the road as well," he pointed out. "As mayor, I understand his work, but there are 18,000 citizens in the old centre, compared to 130,000 living in greater Nicosia," Kaisis added.

But aside from location quibbles, the major row has been over the suitability of the IMC building, which Kaisis argues is the most sophisticated and up-to-date commercial construction on the island.

Demetriades, however, is claiming that the standards have not been met, a statement Kaisis says in "not true". Kaisis has spent £700,000 on renovating the building to meet the specific requirements laid out by the Council of Ministers, decking it out with the most modern infrastructure. And he has spent an extra £40,000 to bring the roof down, getting rid of a "mini-floor" not in line with the licence arrangements.

A peculiarity in the legislation, he claims, would allow him to later re- construct the level, but he has decided to get rid of it now to quell discontent from his opponents. The final green light for the move is expected any day.

The draft was not presented today as expected. The Council of Ministers has inspected the premises and approved them down to the letter, Kaisis told the Mail. He said conditions at the current Stock Exchange building were Third World.

The CSE has branded its Grivas premises as wholly inadequate and cramped. "Here we've got lots of space. All the machinery and equipment is in place. There's a standby energy unit 10 times more powerful, and 120 km of digital structuring cable," he added. He said the facilities were world class.

Brokers are hoping that the IMC building will boost the credibility of the CSE in the eyes of foreign investors. After all the delays, that is a hope shared by Kaisis. Demetriades has appealed to the Supreme Court over the move and a hearing is expected next month. FINANCE Minister Takis Klerides yesterday announced that a special committee would meet regularly and continuously to discuss problems related to the Cyprus Stock Exchange.

He made the announcement after a meeting with political parties, and agreed to set up the special committee to meet regularly to discuss Stock Market problems. The first meeting will be on Monday at midday. A foreign expert recruited by the government to assess the CSE predicament is arriving tomorrow.

[05] Bomb wrecks broker's car

On Saturday, police had received an anonymous phone call telling them there were drugs under the passenger seat of the broker's Mitsubishi Pajero.

Police looked into the case, then arrested two Limassol men suspected of trying to frame the broker. The two men were up in court yesterday. Earlier yesterday, a pipe bomb placed under Antonis Miltiadous' brand new BMW exploded, causing extensive damage to the engine.

The car was parked on the parking lot at the apartment building on Alexandroupoleos Street where Miltiadous lives. The blast also damaged two other cars and shattered the windows of adjacent flats and houses.

Terrified residents rushed out of their homes wondering what had happened, while the more composed tried to put out the fire in the engine with extinguishers before it spread.

Residents said it was a miracle no one had been hurt in the blast. If the bomb had gone off a few minutes later, it would have caught a resident who had just got off work and who usually parked his car next to the broker's BMW.

Police suspect the same people are behind both incidents. Yesterday, Paphos district court ordered the eight-day remand of George Georgiou, aged 30, and Renos Kyriacou, 30, both from Limassol, in connection with the drugs found in Miltiadous' car.

After Saturday's tip-off, police had found 51 grams of cannabis and one-and- a-half grams of a substance thought to be heroin under the passenger seat of the broker's second car. Police said the Pajero had been broken into, and that Miltiadous was not in any way connected to the drugs found.

[06] The softly-softly approach

"The negotiating team -- the UN, the US and Britain -- studied what didn't work before and tried to avoid some of those pitfalls. Talks mediator Alvaro de Soto is not going to be rushed," a foreign diplomat told the Cyprus Mail.

The feeling among diplomats is that past peace talks broke down because President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash were made to sit across the table from each other before they were ready.

The UN now appears to have found the right man to orchestrate this new softly-softly approach. "De Soto is unflappable about this it seems. He does not want to rush it because the talks fell apart before by rushing it, he is going to wait till he has hit a point where he believes he can move to something besides proximity talks," the diplomat said, suggesting the next step would be "something between" indirect and direct negotiations.

The talks procedure, currently in its fifth round in Geneva, is an example of the step-by-step approach to solving thorny political problems often favoured by international mediators, with one difference. Normally, lower level officials from the two sides would spend a few months ironing out lesser differences, leaving only the tougher issues for the big guns.

"In Cyprus, that does not happen because Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots do not speak on a working level…so the only level we can talk at is between Clerides and Denktash and with their staffs," the diplomat said. "It is clumsy, but the procedure can still can get us to the next step."

De Soto's modus operandi for the talks is by now well known. "He is taking what they say, putting it back to them, they react, he goes back again," is how the diplomat describes it. The whole thing is done with unofficial non- papers, to avoid either side blowing up over proposals it deems unacceptable.

The sides are bombarded with one revised paper after another until they are comfortable with the contents of the documents before them. The aim is to arrive at some form of agreement on the four key issues: the constitution, security, territory and property and refugees.

"The purpouse of the exercise is to draft a legally binding text of a comprehensive settlement, covering all aspects and issues, to which the two sides will say 'yes, I can live with that, even though it might be difficult to sell it'," another foreign diplomat told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) in Geneva.

Diplomats believe Clerides and Denktash have the standing within their own communities to get a settlement accepted, even though it is unlikely to meet each side's aspirations in full. Greek Cypriot parties may fear "deviations" from UN resolutions during the talks, but diplomats are unanimous in insisting the sought-after settlement is a bi-zonal, bicommunal federation, as set out in Security Council resolutions.

With the positions of the two sides so well known and well documented, what hope is there of the current talks process breaking the deadlock? According to diplomats, things have changed enough since the last talks collapsed -- in 1997 -- that it is well worth going over the same ground again.

"Things have changed in the region, the atmosphere is different, which makes it necessary and worthwhile going over things again," one diplomat said. The key new factors are Greco-Turkish rapprochement and Turkey's newfound EU candidacy status. "Turkey's candidacy changes everything, it offers new possibilities.

It gives a reason why Turkey might want a Cyprus settlement," the diplomat told the Cyprus Mail. "The Turkish Cypriot side has to understand that Turkey is moving closer to Europe and is therefore unlikely to put up for too long with Turkish Cypriot positions it considers unhelpful to its accession course," another diplomat told CNA.

This same change of "atmosphere" is what makes diplomats cautiously optimistic about actually achieving a settlement. The talks are now delving into core issues and the UN is expected to present some, as yet undefined, form of "comprehensive proposals" towards a settlement in June, after a further round of proximity talks in late January and early February.

[07] Denktash: stop playing EU games

Commenting in Geneva on the National Guard's participation this month in a joint European military exercise, Denktash said the Greek Cypriots` ultimate aim was not a settlement but EU accession.

Four Greek Cypriot military officers left for Austria yesterday to take part for the first time in the European exercise, held within the framework of the 'Partnership for Peace'.

The exercise, under a simulated state of war and involving 13 countries (including several non-EU members), will be held on November 9 and 10. Speaking before his meeting with UN envoy Alvaro de Soto yesterday, Denktash repeated his view that Cyprus should not join the EU before a settlement to the Cyprus problem.

Referring to Cyprus` discussions with the EU on a future European army, Denktash questioned who Defence Minister Socrates Hasikos was. "Either he doesn't know what is happening here, or he is deceiving the talks, or he is deceiving the EU," Denktash said. "Both sides have agreed that the National Guard will be disbanded: this is where we are heading, but instead you promised the EU the Cypriot army.

Are the Greek Cypriots playing with us, the EU or the UN?" he said. Hasikos hit back at Denktash's quip on his status saying: "This gentleman is the Defence Minister of the Cyprus Republic who is acting with the remit of legality and democracy under the instructions of his government."

President Glafcos Clerides had made a proposal for the demilitarisation of the island under which National Guard should be disbanded and the Turkish occupation army should be withdrawn and an international force formed to monitor peace on the island.

"The EU should not be given priority," Denktash added. "The priority should be settling the Cyprus problem, to establish the status of the Turkish Cypriots. Then one Cyprus can enter the EU," Denktash told the press, claiming that "Mr Clerides gives priority to accession."

He said that with the Republic's EU talks, the Greek Cypriots were denying the fact that Cyprus should be united before it enters the EU. "You cannot put into that Union a divided country," he said.

As the Turkish Cypriot leader was criticising the Greek Cypriot participation in the EU exercise, the north was preparing to join Turkey's 'Barbaros' exercise, which is running from November 3 to 13.

The exercise is being held in the northern Mediterranean off Cyprus, with the participation of Turkish Naval and Air Forces. Four frigates, two submarines and one fuel-oil supply ship are expected to dock today in the occupied port of Famagusta to take part in the exercise.

[08] Acupuncturist defends his record after new Medical Association allegations

According to a complaint made by an anonymous woman, the man is really a car mechanic, who vanished for a few months only to return as an acupuncturist.

However, sources told the Cyprus Mail that the acupuncturist was a fully trained, registered practitioner, with six years experience. The acupuncturist himself, who wished to remain anonymous, denied he had ever been a "car mechanic," saying he owned the largest breakdown service in Cyprus.

But he had put his business on hold, he told the Cyprus Mail, and paid thousands of pounds to study at the College of Oriental Medicine in London, an institution recognised by the European Union.

He has all the necessary diplomas and regularly attends seminars all over the world, to update his knowledge. He went to China on a scholarship from the government in 1995 and has furthered his studies with a professor in Cyprus.

Pharmacist George Ktenas considers him one of his best friends and the acupuncturist treats his wife. "He is a wonderful and dedicated man who has been working in this field for seven years. He is an acupuncturist, a doctor of Chinese medicine, a homeopath and carries the title of naturalopath. I go to all his seminars," Ktenas told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.

The woman's complaint that the acupuncturist promised to cure a patient with a skin disease, which got worse and was subsequently diagnosed as skin cancer, were passed on to the police by the President of the Medical Association, Antonis Vassiliou.

But the divisional commander responsible for police investigations into similar cases involving alternative healers told the Cyprus Mail he knew nothing about the matter. Vassiliou said he had consulted a different police officer when he came to collect evidence from him on another matter.

The acupuncturist himself cannot remember the case and told the Cyprus Mail he had never treated skin cancer. Vassiliou said the MA could only approve acupuncture practised by medical doctors.

But the acupuncturist said UK colleagues who were medical doctors worked together with naturalopaths. "Why not here? I always know what I do. I always seek medical advice from doctors and send patients back to their specialists.

Natural medicine works in conjunction with medical medicine," he added. The Medical Association is pursuing a series of cases against alternative healers it claims are practicing illegally in Cyprus. Police have yet to make any arrests.

[09] EAC defends coal-burning option

But Commerce Minister Nicos Rolandis insisted there were questions needing answers and ordered an immediate probe. The "scandal" of the "unused" boilers surfaced at Monday's House Finance Committee session.

The EAC yesterday insisted the committee had quite simply got its facts wrong. On Monday, both deputies and Rolandis came down hard on the EAC decision to shell out £100 million on building two boilers capable or running on both oil and coal.

The committee heard that the coal-burning capability had never been used and the authority was now proposing to spend an additional £50 to £60 million on support infrastructure for bringing coal to Vassiliko.

Rolandis told the committee coal was polluting and the island was now veering towards the natural gas option instead. Deputies were outraged at what they saw as a case of the EAC wishing to throw good taxpayer's money after bad. The committee called for an investigation.

But the EAC put a rather different slant on things yesterday. Talk of £100 million being spent to give Vassiliko coal-burning capability was totally inaccurate, the authority said. "We spent only about eleven million extra to get bigger boilers that could burn coal too," an EAC source told the Cyprus Mail, adding that the expenditure had been approved by parliament.

The coal-burning option might provide a power lifeline if crude prices continue to rise, the authority argues. "What could be wiser, especially now that we are all worried about the price of crude? I say we should have been attacked if we had not taken such a precaution," the EAC source said.

The boilers' coal-burning capacity could be brought into play whenever the state took the "political decision" to invest in on-site facilities for receiving and crushing coal, the authority stated. The EAC expressed exasperation that the issue of the idle boilers had resurfaced.

"It must be stressed for the umpteenth time that there is not and never has been any unused machinery at Vassiliko power station," an EAC statement read. The two boilers, built in 1994, are being fully used for burning oil, the EAC stated.

But Rolandis came back at the EAC with a statement issued later in the day. The Minister acknowledged that the controversial boilers were being used and that the cost paid for the coal-burning capability had been about £10 million. But he added that it would cost £100 million to enable Vassiliko actually to use coal.

"The reason that the additional investments were made was for there to be an alternative solution in the event of problems with oil supply. But the non completion of the project makes the above investment void, especially when one takes into account the massive additional sum of £100 million needed to complete the project," Rolandis stated. "In view of the questions raised at yesterday's House finance committee, I have given instructions for a full, written report on the issue to be submitted to my office by 30 November," the Minister added.

[10] Annan will be 'closely involved' in talks

The Deputy UN Spokesman in Geneva, Jamel ben Yahmed, made the announcement yesterday while briefing reporters on the talks, which wrap up this weekend. Yahmed said Annan would remain in Geneva until Saturday morning, when he leaves for Qatar for the Islamic Conference.

"He will participate in the talks," Yahmed said, but added no final programme had yet been drawn up. Asked to comment on reports that Annan would make a statement or a move on the course of the talks, Yahmed said he did not have such information.

"We have to wait until he arrives here and takes part in these talks, and then we will see what he is going to do," he said.

Meanwhile, the talks continued yesterday under the direction of UN special envoy Alvaro de Soto, who met President Glafcos Clerides early in the day. Speaking after the hour-long meeting, Clerides said: "We continued the discussion on issues of powers and competences".

Clerides said he would be meeting Annan this afternoon. Asked if De Soto had given him any new non-papers or ideas, Clerides said: "No, we are still discussing". Outgoing US President Bill Clinton's bi-monthly report on Cyprus was also issued yesterday.

In the report, Clinton said the United States had remained steadfast in its efforts to bring about a negotiated Cyprus settlement based on a bizonal, bicommunal federation. Clinton said that he had conveyed the views of the American government to Turkish President Ahmed Sezer during a meeting at the United Nations Millennium Summit, emphasising the importance of a just and lasting solution for all Cypriots.

He added that Secretary of State Madeline Albright "delivered a similar message to her Greek and Turkish counterparts during the United Nations General Assembly and that Special Presidential Emissary Alfred Moses, Special Cyprus Coordinator Thomas Weston and US Ambassador to Cyprus Donald Bandler continued to provide diplomatic support to the UN-sponsored proximity talks in July and early August in Geneva and again in September in New York. "The UN reports that this process has taken 'a qualitative step forward', the report said.

[11] Man threatens to sue neighbour over 'dog rape'

A NICOSIA man has threatened to sue his neighbour over allegations that the man's mongrel raped his bitch.

According to yesterday's Phileleftheros, the bitch got pregnant after an alleged sexual encounter with the dog on the other side of the fence, which her owner is claiming was rape.

He rushed his dog to the vet, who aborted the unborn puppies on the grounds the puppies were too large to be born safely to such a small dog.

The vet told him that the father of the puppies must be huge. The neighbour's dog is apparently massive, the paper said. The problems started when the owner demanded £150 in compensation from his neighbour to cover the vet's bill, claiming his mongrel dog was responsible for all.

The neighbour refused, and the man is now threatening legal action. He is trying to find out from veterinary sources whether a case for "dog rape" can be made.

But a Nicosia vet yesterday told Cyprus Mail he'd never heard of rape between domestic pets, and doubted it was possible. "But, then again, everything goes if you know what I mean," he joked.

Cyprus Mail 2000

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