Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 03-02-27

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

Thursday, February 27, 2003

CONTENTS

[01] Draconian security for Annan visit

[02] British jets stuck in Cyprus on their way to the Gulf

[03] Pensioners' despair at benefit cut

[04] Beware the Spanish lottery fraud

[05] Bank shares massacred after slump in profits

[06] The demonstrations Annan never saw

[07] Snakes stolen

[01] Draconian security for Annan visit

UNITED Nations Secretary-general Kofi Annan arrived yesterday amid heavy security involving hundreds of police officers and his personal bodyguards.

Police spokesman Christakis Katsikidis said yesterday that several police departments were involved in the operation.

He did not disclose details of the number of officers used for protecting Annan from the moment he landed on the island.

Police have drafted a special plan involving hundreds of officers from several police departments, including the anti-terrorist squad, marine police, and the air-wing.

A special role would also be played by traffic police tasked with clearing the roads during the Secretary-general's every move for the next 48 hours.

The measures came into effect from Tuesday, with police patrolling all the areas around Larnaca airport while the front of the Hilton Hotel where Annan is staying is off limits for everyone.

Police snipers were on the hotel roof scouring the area, while Annan's suite is guarded around the clock.

It is understood that the whole floor where the suite is has been reserved and that no one can enter the floor without authorisation.

The measures became quite obvious yesterday, when Annan met outgoing President Glafcos Clerides at his residence in Nicosia, just 300 metres down the road from the Hilton.

A convoy of around 12 vehicles, most carrying police and Annan's personal bodyguards turned into the narrow street, while officers outside the residence tried to keep journalists and camera crews at bay.

Authorities were not taking any risks as the motorcade included a special rescue vehicle manned by hospital doctors and fitted with all necessary medical equipment for emergency situations.

But efforts to keep the media away from the convoy were not entirely successful, as camera crews and photographers managed to approach the Secretary-general, prompting some pushing and shoving from overzealous heavies from Annan's personal guard.

Annan left from Clerides' residence around 50 minutes later and headed for the Nicosia airport for further meetings.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Thursday, February 27, 2003

[02] British jets stuck in Cyprus on their way to the Gulf

BRITAIN'S Ministry of Defence yesterday refused to comment on BBC reports that 12 Tornado fighters were grounded in Cyprus after being refused permission to fly over Muslim countries on their way to Kuwait.

According to a report on the Radio 4's Today programme yesterday, only a fraction of the 100 RAF planes, including 75 fast jet fighters or bombers, have reached their destination in the Gulf, with 12 stranded at RAF Akrotiri and the rest still stuck in the UK.

MoD spokesman Paul Sykes said yesterday the British government would not go into detail of its deployment of military aircraft to the Gulf.

“We are not prepared to discuss the military deployment of our aircraft,” Sykes told the Cyprus Mail.

“There is a build-up of military aircraft in the Gulf in preparation for a possible attack on Iraq and our aircraft are deployed where they are required. But I can neither confirm nor deny the reports.”

The RAF deployment announced by the British government three weeks ago was supposed to be its largest for years, but according to the BBC, only six fast jets have so far managed to get to the region from the UK.

Twelve of the aircraft - all Tornados - are stuck in Akrotiri while another 35 have been unable to leave the UK because they were refused overflight permission from countries in the region opposed to a US-led war against Iraq. A further 10 aircraft are in Turkey.

According to the BBC, the Defence Ministry said some of the jets stranded on the island would soon be on their way but there would still be a big blockage.

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said there was no rush to war, and refused to be drawn on the possible timetable for any military action.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Thursday, February 27, 2003

[03] Pensioners' despair at benefit cut

PENSIONERS receiving welfare benefits have had their monthly allowance cut, leaving many elderly people struggling to make ends meet.

Welfare recipients were recently dismayed to discover that their monthly benefit of £192 had been reduced by £47. The discovery came as a shock to many pensioners, who had spent more than usual in the past few months, after being given £300 as a 'gift' from the government before Christmas.

One pensioner from Nicosia, who did not wish to be named, told the Cyprus Mail that she felt she and other pensioners had been tricked.

“The government told us they were giving us £300 as a present, which we believed would be in addition to our usual welfare cheque of £148.

“I was very happy at the time because I have grandchildren and I thought that for once I had some money to spend on them at Christmas. But I would have refused the money had I known it wasn't really a 'gift', and that they would be cutting our monthly benefit afterwards.”

“When I called up the welfare service to find out why this had happened they said the cuts were necessary due to the £300 we had received before Christmas. But we all thought this was a present! We didn't expect to pay for it later.

“There is no proper explanation given -- the Finance Ministry deny it's their responsibility. Everyone is trying to avoid responsibility for this.”

The pensioner is worried she will not be able to afford her expenses for the month as a result.

“My rent is £160 per month, I have to spend £40 on medicines a month and I wonder how I am going to manage.”

She stressed there were many other pensioners in the same situation.

“I went to the supermarket yesterday and I saw an old lady crying. I went over to her to ask what the matter was and she said her benefit had been cut and she couldn't afford to make ends meet.”

But Welfare Service Director Evanthia Papasavva yesterday refuted suggestions that pensioners had been deceived.

“They all know the explanation, but they just won't accept it. We have had many calls about this and social workers explained why the deductions were made.

“The government decided to increase pensions but there was some conflict between the ministries of Labour and Finance and in the end they decided instead to give pensioners an amount at the end of the year for six months, lasting until July. It was an amount of between £260-300, depending on the individual's circumstances.

“But according to public assistance law, we had to cut an amount of around £40 from the monthly supplement.

“The reductions were necessary because of the £300 or so given at Christmas. If we had not deducted this amount from the monthly supplement then we would have had to claim it back anyway.

Papasavva was anxious to stress that there had not been any deception involved.

“We had to stick to the law, we could not do otherwise.

“But pensioners receiving welfare benefit will get another £300 for the next six months. We hope that pensions and benefits will be raised by the government soon though.”

But Costas Ioannides, President of the Association of Old People's Homes Owners, said the situation was problematic.

“These people were led to believe they were getting a present -- it's no good… they are tricking people.

“But what the government gives them is very low anyway. You cannot live on £10 a day, especially if you are sick.

“Old people's homes are struggling too. We get between £282 and £305 per month for providing a full service for one person. But it actually costs us £365 per person a month. And in government institutions it costs more than £450 per month to keep a person in an old people's home.”

Representatives of the Labour and Finance Ministries were yesterday unavailable for comment.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Thursday, February 27, 2003

[04] Beware the Spanish lottery fraud

THE Spanish Embassy in Nicosia yesterday warned that criminals acting in a number of countries were defrauding the public by posing as representatives of the Spanish State Lottery.

The warning came after numerous enquiries were received from Cypriot citizens in the last few days regarding the authenticity of letters allegedly sent by the Spanish Lottery.

In a statement released yesterday, the Embassy said that groups of criminals of various nationalities were using the commercial names of the Spanish Lottery to defraud people in countries in South-West Asia, the Pacific, the USA and Europe.

The method used by the criminals generally consists of informing potential victims via a letter that they have been the lucky winner of a substantial amount of money (even if they had not participated in the lottery draw), and requesting winners to pay an amount towards taxes, bank and delivery charges before they can receive their 'prize'.

The fraudsters use provisional false addresses (including the real addresses of official organisations) as well as names reminiscent of prestigious institutions such as “El Gordo”, “La Primitiva” and “European Lottery Commission.” They also forge the signatures and printed sheets of various banks.

Some members of the criminal groups, operating from Spain, have already been arrested.

The embassy is urging the public to inform the Spanish Lottery of any such crimes and to forward any false documentation to the following address:

LOTERIAS Y APUESTAS DEL ESTADO, LEGAL ADVICE SERVICE

C/ Guzman el Bueno no. 137

28003 Madrid, Spain

Fax no. 0034 91 5335136.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Thursday, February 27, 2003

[05] Bank shares massacred after slump in profits

BANK shares were slaughtered yesterday after Bank of Cyprus (BoC) and Laiki announced catastrophic results for 2002, dragging the all-share index to a new year-low and the blue chips FTSE/CySE index down 4.7 per cent.

The banking sector fell 5.63 per cent as BoC dropped five cents to £1.24 with almost £1 million worth of shares traded, and Laiki plunged 11 cents to £1.11 after nearly half a million worth of its stocks changed hands.

The bank slaughter seeped over into the insurance sector, which fell 2.2 per cent while the all-share index closed 3.0 per cent down at 86.39, a new year-low. Total volume stood at £1.4 million.

On Monday, BoC reported a 70.1 per cent drop in pre-tax profit to £17.5 million due to higher provisions and investment write-downs, the bank said while Laiki revealed a £48.1 million pre-tax loss for the year, down from a profit in 2001 of £2.09 million, due to the slump in the stock market and an increase in its bad-debt provision, it said.

BoC's said its bad debt provisioning for the period rose 142 per cent to £80.1 million and Laiki made provision for £53.8 million.

However, analysts seemed to agree that the banks' results were not entirely responsible for the general ills of the market.

“The day-after jitters caused investors to dump the two banks from their portfolios and consequently dragged the entire market down,” said the xak.com analyst. “The losses that the banks reported cannot go unnoticed and they certainly did not in today's session but overall they were not bad, taking into consideration that major banking institutions throughout the globe share similar woes.”

Stockbroker Stavros Agrotis told the Cyprus Mail that the annual results announced by the two banks were not unexpected, at least within the financial community. “So I don't think whatever drop we had in the stock exchange today… I wouldn't particularly correlate it to the results of the banks,” he said, although he admitted that the general public might have received a bit of a shock.

Agrotis said external factors, such as the Iraq war scenario and the Cyprus talks, were also still playing a role in the market and that he would not be surprised if prices improved today.

“These sort of factors are more important to the market than bank results, which were expected,” he said.

He believes the bank results were caused by the general negative climate of the local and the global economy and new regulations from the Central Bank, accounting for the huge figures the banks have to set aside for bad debts.

“They (the regulations) are obliging the banks to create higher provisions, ” Agrotis said. “I believe we will have further negative effects because of he provisions of the Central Bank, but at the same time we see an improvement in the operating profits, therefore I expect the figures we will be given in due course will be getting better and better.”

Agrotis said that in general the results from listed companies in recent days were showing a better picture than 2001. “So we are probably on an improvement course concerning the results of some of the listed companies. In terms of results, maybe we saw the worst in 2001,” he said.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Thursday, February 27, 2003

[06] The demonstrations Annan never saw

DEMONSTRATIONS for and against the Annan plan were held in the capital yesterday to mark the arrival of UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan, but the UN leader missed both as he spent the day directing efforts for a Cyprus solution at the Nicosia airport.

The Pancyprian Movement of Citizens gathered outside the Presidential Palace around 4.30pm, sending a message to Annan that they were against any solution that was in direct violation of the UN charter, the European Convention of Human Rights or its subsequent case law.

A member of the movement, Georgios Kendas, told the Cyprus Mail that around one hundred people turned up for an hour and a half outside the palace as a symbolic gesture to show Annan that people were concerned about the violation of their rights in a Cyprus solution. The group sent a resolution addressed to Annan expressing their concerns to the UN office. Meanwhile, around 300 members of the 'Platform for Solution/Reunification Now' group gathered at the entrance to the Hilton in Nicosia, where Annan is staying, to express their support for the Secretary-general and his plan solution, holding candles in the chill.

“Our aim is to send a message to Annan that the people are interested and longing for a solution and reunification. But we also want to encourage our political leadership to work towards this aim,” said group member, Demetris Papapetrou. Amongst the demonstrators for peace and reunification were Cyprus's chief negotiator for EU accession, Georgios Vasiliou, Government spokesman, Michalis Papapetrou, Agriculture Minister, Kostas Themistocleous and former DISY deputy, Katie Clerides.

According to Turkish Cypriot newspaper Kibris, around 2,000 people took part in a march in occupied Famagusta on Tuesday organised by the platform 'This Country is Ours' to express their will for a solution to the Cyprus problem and joining the EU. The participants held placards calling for the resignation of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.

Meanwhile, a group of youths gathered outside Denktash's residence in the north also calling for his resignation. They named the gathering 'Operation to save our future', and repeated calls for a solution and EU accession, the paper reported.

Kibris released the results of a recent poll which highlighted that only 26.6 per cent of Turkish Cypriots support Denktash's policy on Cyprus, while 37.3 per cent believe the policies followed by Denktash are wrong. A total of 1,349 people took part in the poll taken this month.

More demonstrations are planned today on both sides of the island. A large protest march is scheduled for 11am at Inonu Square in occupied Nicosia, the theme of the march being support for a solution and accession to the EU.

On a more international front, members of the Stop the War Alliance, supported by the Greens party are planning a demonstration to coincide with Annan's visit, outside the Hilton hotel at 6.30pm today. The Alliance is protesting what they describe as the hypocrisy of the 'big powers' and the double standards shown by the UN. They are objecting to a war against Iraq with or without UN backing and are calling for the disarmament of Israel and the liberation of Palestine.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

Thursday, February 27, 2003

[07] Snakes stolen

THIEVES slipped away with two snakes and two fish tanks from a Nicosia pet shop yesterday. Shop owner, Georgios Pallas, told police that two pythons, each one about a metre in length, and two decorated fish tanks, worth an estimated £800 in total were stolen from his pet shop on Larnaca Avenue in Aglandjia. The pythons are brown with beige stripes.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2003

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