WALKING INTO the reception area of the recently opened Columbia Beach resort one instantly recognises the presence of a real professional polish: not a superficial Mr Sheen type surface application, but a deep lustrous lovingly applied French lustre.

Quick, grab the mop, Mum’s coming!

MUM and dad are visiting for the day. They’re both pretty easy-going people. Mum doesn’t put on white cotton gloves to run her fingers along surfaces and check for dust. And she doesn’t complain if the towel I’ve put in the bathroom appears to have been run over by a tractor. Nor does she sniff the inside of our toilet bowl.

By George Kassianos

Trophée Ruinart du Meilleur Sommelier D’ Europe

“QUESTION No. 5: Give the name of one of the possible concentration techniques used in the wine cellar (not in the vineyards)” or “Question No. 28: In which country and in which region do you find Oremus”?

HERO **1/2

DIRECTED BY Zhang Yimou

STARRING Jet Li, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung

China 2002 96 mins.

In Chinese, with Greek subtitles.

L’EMPLOI DU TEMPS ****

DIRECTED BY Laurent Cantet

STARRING Aurélien Recoing, Karin Viard, Serge Livrozet

France 2002 134 mins.

By Preston Wilder

CANNES is only half-over at time of writing (the awards will be handed out tonight), but already many of the big guns have come out, and critics have weighed in accordingly.

By Jennie Matthew

HARIS SOPHOCLIDES looks like a teddy bear. No irreverence intended: it’s just easy to imagine him tucked into a leather chair, nursing a whisky and puffing on a cigar, in a London gentleman’s club.

By Stefanos Evripidou

WITH EU enlargement just round the corner, Cyprus will no longer be just another tourist destination offering sea, sand and sun. It will become a place to work, raise a family, do business and retire… for a potential half a billion people.

By Alexia Saoulli

ON April 23, the Turkish Cypriot regime opened the Green Line allowing Greek Cypriots to return to the occupied north for the fist time in 29 years. After almost three decades, refugees could finally return home, walk along old, familiar roads and meet up with past acquaintances.

By Alex Mita

THE SHOWDOWN between current DISY President Nicos Anastassiades and former Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides for the leadership of the party will be settled by 11pm today as more than 31,00 party members vote in Cyprus and abroad.