Murray pleased with mental focus after beating Federer

2013-01-25

Andy Murray showcased his new mental strength after blowing the opportunity to serve out his Australian Open semi-final against Roger Federer on Friday by demolishing the Swiss in the fifth set.

The 25-year-old Briton had been two points away from a final against Novak Djokovic when serving at 6-5 in the fourth set only for Federer to force a tiebreak and then a decider.

Murray, however, has discovered a mental toughness in the last 12 months under coach Ivan Lendl and instead of brooding about losing the set the Scot sat quietly while Federer took a toilet break and figured out what he needed to do at the start of the fifth.

Omonia looking to end Anorthosis streak

2013-01-25

After winning six out of their last eight league matches, Omonia host the only team yet to taste defeat this season, league leaders Anorthosis, in the national football championship Round 19 opener on Saturday, with kick-off set for 2.30pm at Nicosia’s GSP Stadium.

“We face Anorthosis in what should be a great match. They are still undefeated this season, but we certainly aim to come out victorious from this match,” said Omonia coach Toni Savevski who has no injury worries ahead of the clash. 

‘Somebody needs to care about them’

2013-01-25

 

MORE than 50 of the 250 families in the outlying areas of Paphos who volunteers say need urgent help, have had their electricity cut as they are unable to pay their bills, it emerged yesterday.

The volunteer group headed by local businesswoman Pavlina Patsalou and Paphos councillor, George Sofokleous, who also owns a hairdressing salon, issued an urgent plea earlier in the week to help the families involved but they can only do so much.

Sofokleous, said: “I spend most of my time trying to find food and clothing for about 250 families in Paphos who have big problems. Somebody needs to care about these people- at the moment it’s only us.”

Our View: Britain has always had a different vision of the EU

2013-01-25

PRIME Minister David Cameron’s speech on Europe may have been welcomed by Conservative backbenchers and British euro-sceptics but on the continent, understandably, it sparked a hostile reaction from top politicians. Two French cabinet minister accused Cameron of treating Europe like an ‘a la carte’ menu from which he could choose only what he like, while German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle said that “cherry-picking is not an option.”

A €150m boost for the economy

2013-01-25

 

THE GOVERNMENT sealed a deal yesterday granting an Italian-Korean joint venture a concession to drill for hydrocarbons in three offshore blocks.

Three separate agreements, one for each of the prospects, were signed on behalf of the government by commerce minister Neoclis Sylikiotis and finance minister Vassos Shiarly.

The three blocks (2, 3 and 9) licensed to the ENI-KOGAS consortium lie north of a gas field that holds an estimated 5 to 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

“The discovery of hydrocarbons…creates new realities and prospects for transforming Cyprus into a regional energy hub,” Sylikiotis said at the signing ceremony.

Hospital wrongly told woman she had miscarried

2013-01-25

THE health minister has ordered an investigation into a complaint that doctors at a state hospital had wrongly diagnosed a woman as having had a miscarriage, it emerged yesterday.

Health Minister Androulla Agrotou said there would be disciplinary action if it was determined beyond any doubt that offences had been committed in this and two other unrelated cases currently under investigation.

Twenty-six-year-old Maria Stylianou, in her eighth week of pregnancy, lodged a complaint after she was told by doctors at the Makarios hospital on Tuesday

that she had had a miscarriage.

“She (the doctor) was absolute about what she was saying,” Stylianou told Sigma television. “She announced it was a miscarriage.”

Church asked to mediate for Russian loan

2013-01-25

THE government has asked the Church to mediate so that a loan application to Russia is viewed favourably, Archbishop Chrysostomos said yesterday.

The archbishop said he had been asked to seek the help of the Russian Church with the Russian government.

“We are always at the disposal of the government … anything the Church can do it always does with pleasure since it here to serve the people and the country,” Chrysostomos said, adding that the Church had done its duty.

The government had applied to Russia for a €5.0 billion loan in a bid to avoid resorting to the European support mechanism.

Russia has so far declined to give Cyprus the money although on Wednesday Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signalled that it may do so under certain conditions.

Building works grind to a halt

2013-01-25

CONSTRUCTION work stopped across the board yesterday during the first day of an islandwide strike over job losses and insecurity in the sector. 

The strike is due to continue today, while the unions have not ruled out extending it indefinitely.

Unions SEK, PEO, and DEOK, have assigned patrols which have been going round construction sites looking for strike-breakers, SEK’s Yiannakis Ioannou said.

PEO issued an announcement bashing contractors who were  “hurting employers, their conquests and their families”.

People are being fired and are getting replaced by “cheap labour”, PEO said. 

Contract signed for Larnaca hospital

2013-01-25

COMMUNICATIONS minister Efthymios Flourentzos yesterday signed a €20m contract for the expansion of Larnaca general hospital using the design-build-maintain method. 

According to Flourentzos, the contract worth €20m plus VAT provides that the contractor must design and construct a new four-floor building in the hospital grounds within the next three years, which will have the capacity to have another four floors added on in the future. The contractor also has to provide maintenance for the first 12 years of the building. 

The new building will have two underground floors and two over ground, and will be constructed on the site where the hospital canteen currently stands near the entrance to the complex.

Upgrade for bone marrow registry

2013-01-25

THE PLANNING Bureau has signed a contract with the Karaiskakio Foundation to finance the improvement of the Cyprus Bone Marrow Donor Registry with the aim of improving public health and reducing health inequalities.

The project contract was signed on Wednesday and will be implemented under the Norway Grants 2009-2014 programme. 

The total budget is €756,808, with Norway Grants providing 90 per cent of the total and Karaiskakio Foundation the remaining 10 per cent. 

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.