MARCOS Baghdatis advanced to the semi-finals of the Sydney Open yesterday after coming back from a set down to beat home favourite Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Fourth seed Hewitt was on course to reach his fifth semi-final appearance at the event after breaking the Cypriot’s serve in the third game of the opening set, which he went on to win after 51 minutes.

But Baghdatis then reeled off five straight games to level the match and continued in the same way in the decider by breaking Hewitt’s serve to take a 3-1 lead which he never looked back on.

AFTER three days of marathon meetings, President Christofias and Mehmet Ali Talat will take a 10-day break from the intensive talks that began on Monday in a climate of negativity and pessimism. After the second day, UN Special Representative, Alexander Downer, said he was “happy with the way the negotiations have been proceeding” and that they were “very open and frank”.
This is a peculiar development, considering that 24 hours before the start of the talks Christofias had a meeting with all the parliamentary party leaders and they unanimously decided to reject the proposals submitted by the Turkish side.

STROVOLOS Municipality has been strictly enforcing the law on abandoned cars and has recently announced that dozens of abandoned vehicles will be removed by the local authority, unless owners respond to the call to move them.
This stricter approach, afforded by a recent amendment to the law has brought about remarkable results in terms of the speed and effectiveness with which abandoned cars are removed.
“The amendment to the relevant law has speeded up the process and citizens are no longer forced to tolerate abandoned cars in their neighbourhoods,” Giorgos Tsiakkas, Strovolos Municipality officer told the Cyprus Mail.
“In 2009 alone, 740 abandoned cars were successfully removed either by their owners or by the municipality,” Tsiakkas added.

A BICOMMUNAL peace movement went public in Nicosia yesterday, with the stated aim of rallying support for a unified federal state.
The United Cyprus Bi-Communal Peace Initiative, was founded three months ago in Limassol, decided to make itself known to the wider public “to give support to the ongoing negotiation process”.
The group used yesterday’s news conference to outline their five primary principles, including what they believed were the current hindrances to reunification. Citing issues of property and demographic change as being serious issues that require both sides’ attention, the group also believes both communities must be continually informed about the ongoing negotiations.

THE CYPRUS Tourism Organisation (CTO) yesterday announced plans to tap into the Russian market for religious tourism on the island.
CTO representatives attended the Fifth International Pilgrimages Conference in Moscow, where the general conclusion was that there is great interest from Russians for religious tourism in Cyprus.
“The Cyprus representation realised that there is a lot of interest by Russians to visit religious monuments in Cyprus and participate in religious rituals. The need was identified for specific programmes to be compiled in co-operation with the Church of Cyprus and their presentation to the Moscow Patriarch,” a CTO statement read.

A 29-YEAR-OLD Palestinian man lost his temper with a Nicosia district judge when he was found guilty of threatening a woman with assault and battery.
Mandy Al Nagar Gazy told Judge Charalambos Charalambous that the woman who had made the charges against him was a liar and had fabricated the entire story.
He was found guilty of threatening to kill a policewoman with whom he’d become obsessed in March 2008, after tracking her down to where she lived.
Reports said when he showed up at her house one night and the officer refused to invite him in, he threatened to leave his mark on her by either dousing her in petrol and setting her alight, pouring acid over her or carving up her face.

FRENCH CIVIL aviation expert Philippe Plantin de Hugues yesterday concluded his testimony in the ongoing Helios trial.
The second day of his cross-examination concluded in just over an hour, which was considered brief for the usually thorough George Papaioannou.
The defence lawyer repeatedly asked Plantin de Hugues the same questions which the Frenchman couldn’t answer.
“Are you sure the data of the FDR (Flight Data Recorder) and CVR (Cockpit Voice Recording) are in sync?”
Plantin de Hugues could not say he was 100 per cent sure because it wasn’t his responsibility to determine that.
“Do you know that this particular FDR records autopilot disengagement?”
“I don’t know because I didn’t do the FDR readout,” the Frenchman said.

THE OFFICIAL two-day visit to Cyprus by Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman offers the opportunity for “very honest discussion” on matters of common concern, and an improvement in financial and commercial relations, Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou said yesterday.
Speaking to reporters after yesterday morning’s meeting with Leiberman, which marked the start of the official visit, Kyprianou said that the meeting allowed discussion on matters that would help Cyprus and Israel to improve on “excellent” relations.
“Although financial and commercial relations between the two countries are good, there is the possibility of greater improvement”, he said.