A "We Moved!" sign marks Sip Snack's former storefront on York Boulevard, pointing customers to owner PJ Roden's new location at 5110 York.
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Courtesy of PJ Roden
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Topline:
While residential renters enjoy state eviction protections, a 39-year-old rule allows acquisition firms to buy neighborhood property, triple rents overnight and issue 60-day notices to vacate.
The backstory: That legal gap dates back to the Costa-Knee-Seymour Commercial Property Investment Act of 1987, which prevents California cities from capping commercial rent increases. The state also does not have a just-cause eviction standard for commercial tenants, meaning landlords can raise rents or end leases with few restrictions.
L.A. small businesses: Los Angeles County has more than 236,000 microbusinesses with nine or fewer employees, according to 2021 Census data. Those are the types of businesses SB 1103 was designed to protect, but the law only generally applies to businesses that have five or fewer employees, restaurants with no more than 10 and small nonprofits up to 20. More importantly, it sets no ceiling on how large an increase can be.
PJ Roden had been on a month-to-month lease at her storefront, Sip Snack, on York Boulevard for seven years when her landlord called in April to say someone was coming to measure the building.
“I asked him, are you selling?” Roden told The LA Local.
He admitted he was, for around $4 million, though the building ultimately sold for $5.1 million in cash within a few weeks.
“Mom-and-pop landlords in L.A. give you a one-year lease and then never give you another one,” she said. “They want you month-to-month because that way, if they sell the building, they can raise the rent by a lot, or kick you out.”
Roden had begged her landlord for a lease before the sale closed.
“He wouldn’t,” she said. “He just told me not to worry, that my rent would probably just be raised.”
A few weeks later, a law firm representing the new owners sent a letter giving tenants on the block 60 days to vacate.
Dr. Donald Abraham, who is listed in property records as the owner of the building that housed Sip Snack, did not respond to requests for comment. Specialized Realty, the management company that took over the property, also declined to comment.
Roden and her fellow business owners faced a stark realization. While residential renters in California enjoy state eviction protections, a 39-year-old legal loophole allows acquisition firms to buy neighborhood property, triple rents overnight and issue 60-day notices to vacate.
PJ Roden, owner of Sip Snack on York Boulevard, at work.
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Courtesy of PJ Roden
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‘We don’t get to negotiate.’
That legal gap dates back to the Costa-Knee-Seymour Commercial Property Investment Act of 1987, which prevents California cities from capping commercial rent increases. The state also does not have a just-cause eviction standard for commercial tenants, meaning landlords can raise rents or end leases with few restrictions.
“Nobody will talk to us. There’s no communication. We don’t get to negotiate — we’re just being kicked out,” Roden said. “That’s devastating for a small business. I put my life savings into Sip Snack, close to $100,000, building out the space, the equipment, the liquor license to sell wine, and now I have to start all over again.”
Roden said it could take her up to a year to regain her wine license if the city grants one. She made many of these investments five years ago and is still paying them off.
She wasn’t alone. Two Sons, a shop Roden had encouraged her friend Annika to expand into the building two years earlier, was evicted too. As was Junior’s, a 99-cent party-supply store run by Sylvia Flores. And so was Crazy Scissors, a hair salon whose owner had operated there for 25 years.
“He has no place to go,” Roden said. “It’s not easy to move a hair salon. He’s going to have to close and work out of somebody else’s.”
Judith Goldstein, co-owner of Luca Essentials, an eco-friendly commercial drugstore in Highland Park, also got pushed out of her space.
Both Roden and Goldstein have since relocated — Sip Snack a block down York Boulevard, Luca Essentials across the street from its old address — landing on their feet only because a nearby space happened to open at the right moment.
But Goldstein said she’s fearful the Costa-Knee loophole could get her again if this new space is sold to a new landlord. “There’s no cap,” Goldstein said. “They can literally say tomorrow your rent is $30,000 — it sounds crazy, but they can do that.”
“Legally, we have no standing,” Roden said, “and that’s why we’re trying to change the law at a legislative level.”
A new state law offers some protections, but only for certain small businesses and only in limited situations.
‘It’s a farce.’
Senate Bill 1103, the Commercial Tenant Protection Act, went into effect in January 2025 and requires landlords to give “qualified” microbusinesses 90 days’ notice before a rent increase of more than 10%. It also requires 60 days’ notice before terminating a lease.
But Goldstein said, “It’s a farce.”
Los Angeles County has more than 236,000 microbusinesses with nine or fewer employees, according to 2021 Census data. Those are the types of businesses SB 1103 was designed to protect, but the law only generally applies to businesses that have five or fewer employees, restaurants with no more than 10 and small nonprofits up to 20. More importantly, it sets no ceiling on how large an increase can be.
Bell Gardens locksmith Ernesto Torres, who has leased his storefront for 13 years, has called the law “lukewarm” for that reason.
“If a 30% rent increase happens and the tenant can’t pay, the eviction notice arrives. There’s nothing a tenant can do,” Torres said.
Public Counsel attorney Ritu Mahajan told The LA Local that her organization has represented commercial tenants whose rent rose as much as 200% in a single year.
Judith Goldstein (center right), co-owner of Luca Essentials, with her team outside the shop’s new location on York Boulevard.
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Courtesy of Judith Goldstein
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‘This should be illegal.’
Goldstein’s fight has been slower and less about a single notice than about a landlord she said let her building fall apart with no legal obligation to fix it. Pegasus Management Company manages her building.
“Our toilet burst into our bathroom,” she said. “They refused to clean it. They refused to pay to fix it. Right now I have about 20 leaks in our ceiling every time it rains, and they refuse to do anything.”
Pegasus Management Company declined to comment.
Goldstein said problems began after the vacant unit next door was leased to a cannabis business that gutted the space and later abandoned the build-out. She said the management company rarely addressed the resulting rodent and insect issues and charged her thousands of dollars when it did.
“Every lawyer I spoke to said the same thing,” Goldstein noted. “You’re completely right, this should be illegal. But there is zero protection for you.”
Her rent was capped by lease terms at 2% annual increases, but she said the landlord’s real leverage was simply refusing to offer her a new lease once the old one lapsed.
Goldstein said Pegasus is part of a much larger pattern of consolidation.
“They’re an acquisition firm,” she said. “They find old owners, buy them out; it’s happening everywhere.”
Both Goldstein and Rodan said the number of women-owned businesses displaced along the same corridors isn’t incidental.
Women own about 20% of all businesses in the Los Angeles region, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, but LAEDC’s own research found those businesses disproportionately lack the “financial health, resources, and workforce” to weather a shock such as a sudden rent increase that a larger firm could absorb.
“A lot of the businesses on York being kicked out are women-owned,” Roden observed. “Small retail tends to be run by women. Most of my neighbors on this block are women.”
Goldstein went further, tying it to how women are treated when they push back.
“It’s easier to be predatory to a woman in every way, because there’s such a stigma against standing up for yourself,” she said. “We’re so used to having our world taken from us that we just say, ‘OK, I’ll figure it out.”
‘Harassment and coercive leasing tactics’
Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who previously worked as a tenant rights attorney, has argued that tax rules can create an incentive for landlords to keep commercial spaces vacant. Owners of multiple properties may be able to claim an empty unit as a loss rather than lower the rent to keep a small-business tenant.
That analysis is now moving toward policy. On April 22, 2026, Jurado, along with Councilmembers Eunisses Hernandez and Heather Hutt, introduced a motion to explore a first-of-its-kind Commercial Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance for Los Angeles, modeled on the city’s existing residential Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance.
“Small businesses are part of what makes our neighborhoods feel like home,” Jurado’s office said in an official press release. “We are seeing local businesses, many of them family-run and immigrant-owned, pushed out not because they’re failing, but because of harassment, sudden rent increases and coercive leasing tactics that exploit a lack of protections. Small businesses should not be forced out simply because they lack the power to fight back.”
If approved, the motion directs city departments to study a Commercial Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance that would include enforcement mechanisms, accountability measures and a private right of action for affected businesses, closing at least part of the gap that left Roden and Goldstein with no recourse.
The ordinance, known as TAHO, remains in committee. The City Council is on summer break.
In the meantime, Roden worries her neighborhood is losing the mom-and-pop shops that made it.
“Sip Snack was open to serve the families in the neighborhood,” she lamented. “[Community members] could walk to my store, buy milk, buy eggs, buy a popsicle for their kid, and go across the street to the park. There was a whole vision behind it: people staying out of their cars, being part of their own neighborhood.”
The best-case scenario for the planet is now 1.7 or 1.8 degrees Celsius of warming (roughly 3 degrees Fahrenheit), according to a recent United Nations study. If fossil fuel emissions stay on their current path, the world would be around 2.8 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter by the end of the century.
Why now: Countries have gathered at the annual climate change negotiations at the COP31 summit in Turkey to discuss how to achieve a goal that is increasingly unachievable. A decade ago, countries agreed to limit climate warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). Now, that goal is out of reach. Globally, average temperatures are already close to 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than they were before the Industrial Revolution. Heat-trapping emissions from burning fossil fuels are still rising in the atmosphere, and most countries are not on track to meet their climate pledges to cut emissions by transitioning to cleaner energy.
The backstory: Heat waves are already causing heavy death tolls, like in Europe, where an estimated 50,000 people died of heat-related causes this past summer. Heat is particularly dangerous for those with chronic health conditions, as well as for people who are elderly or pregnant. The real toll of heat waves is often hidden, since many heat-related deaths are undercounted.
Countries have gathered at the annual climate change negotiations at the COP31 summit in Turkey to discuss how to achieve a goal that is increasingly unachievable. A decade ago, countries agreed to limit climate warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). Now, that goal is out of reach.
Globally, average temperatures are already close to 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than they were before the Industrial Revolution. Heat-trapping emissions from burning fossil fuels are still rising in the atmosphere, and most countries are not on track to meet their climate pledges to cut emissions by transitioning to cleaner energy.
The best-case scenario for the planet is now 1.7 or 1.8 degrees Celsius of warming (roughly 3 degrees Fahrenheit), according to a recent United Nations study. If fossil fuel emissions stay on their current path, the world would be around 2.8 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter by the end of the century.
While the difference between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius may seem tiny, scientific research shows those increments can produce dramatically different outcomes for the planet. More warming raises the risk of extreme weather globally and could lead to the collapse of some of the planet's most sensitive ecosystems.
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"The crucial point is that every fraction of a degree matters," says Tim Lenton, climate professor at the University of Exeter. "Every fraction of a degree that we avoid is really able to do a huge amount of limiting harm."
Coral reefs already close to the edge
Corals are architects of an entire ecosystem. As they grow, they create the framework that supports vast numbers of other species, making reefs biodiversity hotspots. They're also vital to hundreds of millions of people who depend on them for food and livelihoods.
Corals are also highly vulnerable to heat. Prolonged marine heat waves cause corals to bleach, turning them white, which can eventually kill corals. Since the late 1990s, there have been four global bleaching events. With a historically strong El Niño now raising water temperatures, scientists say the fifth global bleaching event is likely unfolding.
Even before the previous bleaching event from 2023 to 2025, researchers found that 44% of coral species globally are at risk of extinction.
"These are incredibly worrying statistics, but they also emphasize that time matters," says David Obura, director of the coral research organization CORDIO East Africa, who worked on the study published last month in the journal Nature. "Every ten years, every five years counts."
Given their susceptibility to heat, the survival of most coral reefs depends on the difference between 1.5 and 2 degrees of warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that beyond 2 degrees Celsius of warming, 99% of corals would be lost.
"At 2 degrees of warming, we anticipate most corals just won't survive, not in functional ways to build a reef ecosystem," Obura says. "So you might still find some of the species, but many of them may be so rare or so compromised that they will have gone extinct by then."
With the dire forecasts for the future of coral, conservation groups and coastal communities are working to make reefs as healthy as possible in many areas so they can better withstand climate change. That includes restoring corals, reducing water pollution and even breeding more heat-tolerant corals.
"Most people around the world don't have the luxury of giving up on degraded ecosystems, because that's where they live," Obura says. "That's all they have. So we have to work out how to make them function again."
Millions more exposed to extreme heat
The goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius is an average temperature, measured across the planet. What it masks is the increasingly extreme heat events that are raising the average.
Researchers have found that for every tenth of a degree of warming, an additional 140 million people are exposed to dangerous levels of heat.
Heat waves are already causing heavy death tolls, like in Europe, where an estimated 50,000 people died of heat-related causes this past summer. Heat is particularly dangerous for those with chronic health conditions, as well as for people who are elderly or pregnant. The real toll of heat waves is often hidden, since many heat-related deaths are undercounted.
"You could think of it a bit like a tipping point for the human organism or body," Lenton says. "At some point, our physiology kind of reaches a tipping point and the worst tipping point is death."
Powerful storms
Every degree of climate change also affects the intensity of storms. Warmer air can produce heavier downpours because it holds 7% more water vapor for every degree. Rainstorms are already getting more intense in most of the U.S.
Scientific research also shows higher levels of warming could lead to other risky tipping points, like the collapse of Antarctic glaciers. If they destabilize, the melt would add vast volumes of water to the ocean, raising sea levels globally.
"We're never exactly sure where the tipping point is until we cross it, but we can be 100% confident that, for most of them, more warming is a bigger likelihood of crossing them," Lenton says. "Less warming is controlling that risk and that's why we should fight for every fraction of a degree that we can stave off."
At the ongoing climate negotiations in Turkey, countries are not expected to make major new commitments to cut climate emissions. Discussions are focusing on a new goal for electrification, meaning more cars and homes would run on electricity instead of fossil fuels. That would help reduce overall emissions, since a growing share of the world's electricity comes from cleaner sources, like solar and wind.
California will change its election recall process after voters approved Proposition 5, a ballot measure backed by Democrats who argued the process was too open to partisan exploitation.
Why it matters: The recall process will now take place in two parts: Voters will first decide in an election whether an official should be removed from office. If successful, they’ll vote again in a follow-up election on who should replace the recalled official. Under the previous system, voters were asked both questions at the same time.
The backstory: Democratic lawmakers placed the constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2024, arguing the current system leads to unnecessary state expense, confuses voters, and can lead to ‘undemocratic’ outcomes, since the winner does not need a majority to win.
California will change its election recall process after voters approved Proposition 5, a ballot measure backed by Democrats who argued the process was too open to partisan exploitation.
The recall process will now take place in two parts: Voters will first decide in an election whether an official should be removed from office. If successful, they’ll vote again in a follow-up election on who should replace the recalled official. Under the previous system, voters were asked both questions at the same time.
About 52% of voters approved the measure and 48% were against it with about 91% of the vote counted Thursday, 9 days after Election Day.
Democratic lawmakers placed the constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2024, arguing the current system leads to unnecessary state expense, confuses voters, and can lead to ‘undemocratic’ outcomes, since the winner does not need a majority to win.
Republicans used the recall process in recent years to challenge Democratic politicians. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who survived his own attempted recall in 2021, endorsed the ballot measure to change the rules.
Voters in Democratic enclaves such as San Francisco, Alameda and Los Angeles counties passed the measure by a wide margin. More rural, Northern California counties like El Dorado and Shasta favored keeping the current system.
The origins of Prop. 5
Democratic lawmakers and Secretary of State Shirley Weber began advocating for changes in the aftermath of the failed recall of Newsom in 2021. The recall effort cost taxpayers about $200 million and the campaigns on both sides spent another $100 million. Newsom walked away unscathed, with 62% of voters electing to keep him in office.
The measure got on the ballot after lawmakers passed Senate Constitutional Amendment 1 in 2024. Democratic Sen. Josh Newman, who was recalled himself in 2018, carried the proposal in the Legislature.
Republican lawmakers voted against it, arguing the reform was not needed, would dilute the power of voters and lead to additional special election costs because of the need to hold two elections.
Unlike some of the tax measures on the ballot that spurred multimillion-dollar spending sprees, no group spent any money on the effort.
Although recalls are often initiated, they rarely make it to voters. Only 11 recalls have made it to the ballot in California since 1913, and only six have been approved by voters. The current recall process is how Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger came into power, replacing Gray Davis in 2003.
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Mauricio Pochettino, who took over an ailing U.S. men's national soccer team in 2024 and led the squad to a Round of 16 finish in the 2026 World Cup, is departing to take over as coach of famed Manchester United.
The backstory: Pochettino was the highest-profile manager the U.S. had ever hired. His aggressive attacking style of play won praise from his players and fans alike. At the 2026 World Cup, the USMNT finished first in its group and won its first knockout-round game since 2002. Pochettino's three wins were the most at any World Cup by a USMNT coach.
What's next: Pochettino will lead the U.S. for two more games — against Haiti in the coming days — before departing for Manchester United.
Mauricio Pochettino, who took over an ailing U.S. men's national soccer team in 2024 and led the squad to a Round of 16 finish in the 2026 World Cup, is departing to take over as coach of famed Manchester United.
Pochettino was the highest-profile manager the U.S. had ever hired. His aggressive attacking style of play won praise from his players and fans alike. At the 2026 World Cup, the USMNT finished first in its group and won its first knockout-round game since 2002. Pochettino's three wins were the most at any World Cup by a USMNT coach.
As a player, he represented Argentina in the 2002 World Cup and played in soccer leagues in Spain and France. As a coach, he managed some of Europe's most recognizable clubs: Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain. Last August, he signed an extension to lead the USMNT through the 2030 World Cup, giving him a full four-year cycle to build the team into a true contender.
Pochettino will lead the U.S. for two more games — against Haiti in the coming days — before departing for Manchester United.
The Micrsoft logo is seen outside the Microsoft Visitor Center are seen at the company’s headquarters Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Redmond, Wash.
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Lindsey Wasson
/
Associated Press
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Topline:
Microsoft said progress is being made in bringing its popular workplace software back online as a global outage enters its second day, disrupting business communications, police crime reporting, court operations, AI tools and many other services. The outage, which affected a wide range of Microsoft 365 services including Outlook, Teams and AI assistant Copilot, left people, institutions and businesses across the world without access to email and other platforms.
What to know: The company reported “broader improvements” in North America and “sustained improvements across much of Europe,” as well as “encouraging recovery signals” in the Asia-Pacific region. Users may have “intermittent access issues or delayed email delivery as mitigation progresses across the remaining affected infrastructure,” Microsoft said. The total number of people affected is not clear, but the company said in January that it had more than 450 million paid Microsoft 365 commercial subscriptions.
The backstory: The Redmond, Washington, company first flagged technical issues just before 1 p.m. Eastern time Thursday. So far, there is no indication that the outage was caused by malicious activity, the company said. Microsoft engineers struggled to bring systems online early. “Our actions taken thus far have not provided the anticipated relief,” the company wrote as part of a series of 22 posts on X. By Friday morning there were signs that the situation was stabilizing.
Microsoft said progress is being made in bringing its popular workplace software back online as a global outage enters its second day, disrupting business communications, police crime reporting, court operations, AI tools and many other services.
The outage, which affected a wide range of Microsoft 365 services including Outlook, Teams and AI assistant Copilot, left people, institutions and businesses across the world without access to email and other platforms.
Microsoft said it was making headway as it tried to restore services Friday.
“We’re seeing encouraging recovery progress, with service availability and email delivery performance improving across a growing portion of affected Microsoft 365 infrastructure,” the company said, as some users started reporting that their emails were restored.
The company reported “broader improvements” in North America and “sustained improvements across much of Europe,” as well as “encouraging recovery signals” in the Asia-Pacific region.
Users may have “intermittent access issues or delayed email delivery as mitigation progresses across the remaining affected infrastructure,” Microsoft said.
The total number of people affected is not clear, but the company said in January that it had more than 450 million paid Microsoft 365 commercial subscriptions.
Microsoft scrambles to recover services
In its latest status update, Microsoft reported that it was continuing to see improvements in service with “email queues significantly reduced and approaching normal levels.”
The Redmond, Washington, company first flagged technical issues just before 1 p.m. Eastern time Thursday.
So far, there is no indication that the outage was caused by malicious activity, the company said.
Microsoft engineers struggled to bring systems online early. “Our actions taken thus far have not provided the anticipated relief,” the company wrote as part of a series of 22 posts on X.
By Friday morning there were signs that the situation was stabilizing.
“Some users may still experience intermittent access issues or delayed email delivery as recovery continues,” it said in its latest post.
Europe woke up to disruptions
In Britain, the outage brought a halt to a trial in Manchester. Judge Maurice Greene sent jurors home because of delays that he said illustrated the danger of the court’s reliance on technology.
The British government said it is “working closely” with Microsoft to assess any impact on public services but that “robust contingency plans” are in place to minimize disruption.
British police forces said they’re unable to receive crime reports online and are urging people to phone in urgent requests.
The National Pharmacy Association said people could face delays getting their prescriptions because the outage is affecting the email systems of the state-run National Health Service.
In Norway, the government said the outage affected several ministries and had not received any indication about when the problem would be resolved.
Greece’s Minister of Digital Governance Dimitrios Papastergiou said government ministries using Outlook, Teams and Copilot were affected but not to the degree that would significantly hamper their work.
Asian businesses and governments were affected
In Australia, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Friday that Microsoft had likened the disruption to the 2024 CrowdStrike outage, which stemmed from a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows. That outage grounded flights and disrupted hospitals, banks and retailers.
Burke said he had spoken to Microsoft’s top executive in Australia and the government’s national cybersecurity coordinator about the disruption.
“They (Microsoft) don’t believe they are dealing with a cyberattack. They believe that they are dealing in some ways (with something) similar to what we saw with respect to CrowdStrike where there is an update that has gone awry,” Burke told reporters in Sydney.
Hong Kong businessperson Danny Lau, who runs an aluminum firm, said his company couldn’t receive updates from its U.S. customers through Outlook. If the situation dragged on further, this could “impact the production timeline,” he said. Some banks in Hong Kong, an Asian financial hub, also saw some operations disrupted.
Air India and IndiGo said their flight operations were unaffected. IndiGo reported email support services were disrupted, affecting its ability to receive customer queries.
Air India temporarily rerouted its email services so customer queries could get through without interruption, the company said in a statement.
The Singapore government said emails were down and that the agency is working with Microsoft to resolve the issue. The Philippines’ Supreme Court said some operations were affected, including email responses.
In Japan, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masanao Ozaki said the government’s IT infrastructure was affected and that officials were “keeping a close eye on the developments.” Japanese authorities had taken steps including securing alternative communication tools such as telephones, the government said.
U.S.-based industrial technology company Workhorse Group Inc. delayed a quarterly earnings call.
OpenAI and Anthropic reported problems connecting with Microsoft 365 tools, underscoring the ripple effects as more people use artificial intelligence platforms to interact with other companies’ software.
The widespread disruptions highlight dependence on a single tech company
The widespread impact highlights how reliance on one company and its suite of services can be crippling during such an outage, experts and officials said.
Papastergiou in Greece said government ministries using Outlook, Teams and Copilot were affected.
He told private Skai television that underscores how countries should develop technological alternatives for services considered crucial for the smooth operation of government.
Florian Druckenthaner, a spokesperson for Germany’s digitization ministry, said the government’s IT security agency believes German business was widely affected, but there were no reports of major disruption at government level.
He said that the federal government doesn’t use Microsoft in the cloud, and that the federal administration also uses an email client that was stable.
Regardless of the cause, Druckenthaner said, the incident shows “the significance of building up redundancies and alternatives – we are working on that.”
“With no emails coming or going, many office workers feel like they are having a virtual snow day,” said Jeremy Singer, a professor at the University of Glasgow’s School of Computing Science.
“This problem serves to emphasize the dependence we have built on one company’s digital infrastructure, and may lead us to question whether we need more resilience in our IT ecosystem.”
Governments and institutions in Western Europe have been trying to reduce their reliance on services provided by a few big U.S. tech services in their continuing push for “digital sovereignty.”
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AP journalists Adam Schreck in Bangkok, Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Rod McGuirk in Melbourne, Australia, Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi, Mayuko Ono in Tokyo, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Menalaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, and Pan Pylas and Brian Melley in London contributed.
