LEFT-WING opposition party AKEL are set to win the May parliamentary elections hands-down, according to an opinion poll commissioned by state broadcaster CyBC.

THE 10,000 Cypriots who study abroad were the focus of the latest electioneering wrangles as the political parties yesterday scrapped over whether or not to set up election booths in foreign countries.

CYPRUS police have asked for the extradition of Cabaret owner Sotiris Athinis, who was arrested in Poland on Thursday by the local Interpol bureau.

The 47-year-old from the village of Kilani has been wanted by Cyprus police since last February in connection with an attempt to destroy property, illegal possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit a felony.

EMBATTLED DIKO deputy Nicos Pittokopitis was yesterday attacked ‘from within’, with two would-be DIKO deputies urging the party to distance itself from a loans scandal involving Pittokopitis.

DRIVERS around Nicosia yesterday questioned the effectiveness of a new law allowing cameras to photograph drivers committing traffic offences, after deputies ruled police would have to put up signs warning of the cameras’ presence.

ONE IN every two people killed on the roads is under the age of 40, eight out of ten of them were not wearing seat belts and half of all fatal accidents are caused by speed.

These stark statistics are spurring the government to redouble its efforts in targeting schools and army camps in an education campaign aimed at cutting down on the carnage.

INTERCOLLEGE is negotiating a series of agreements with universities around the world in order to convince the government to approve its plans for a private medical school.

A MEETING was held yesterday between parents associations, police officials and the Minister of Education to discuss the recent spate of explosions at high-school premises in Limassol and Nicosia.

POLITICAL parties flew into a rage yesterday over a document circulated at a conference of European right-wing parties in Nicosia, and blamed ruling DISY for the insulting comments directed against them.

LAST week, I related the response of a group of pupils from a high school in Larnaca to their parents’ alarm at the possibility of a drugs therapy unit opening a kilometre away from their school.