Relaxed All Blacks prepare for date with destiny

2011-10-22

The All Blacks looked calm and relaxed at training on Saturday in their final appearance in front of the cameras before they have their chance to claim a place in New Zealand rugby history.

Mere mortals as they conducted their final Captain’s Run of the World Cup, they have been left in no doubt that victory in Sunday’s final against France will elevate them to a place in the pantheon of New Zealand sporting greats.

Under the headline “Those Who Went Before”, the New Zealand Herald on Saturday published the names of the 192 players who have played in the famous black shirt but failed to win the Webb Ellis Cup since the country’s single 1987 triumph.

Pedrosa roars to pole in Malaysia

2011-10-22

Honda’s Dani Pedrosa blazed to pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix ahead of newly crowned MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner in qualifying on Saturday.

The Spaniard clocked a fastest lap of two minutes, 1.462 seconds on a bumpy Sepang circuit to edge team mate Stoner and claim only his second pole of 2011 for Sunday’s race.

Pedrosa is currently fourth in the world championship standings on 208 points, chasing Italian Andrea Dovizioso (212) with two races left this season.

“I was trying hard for the pole,” Pedrosa told reporters. “In one section I was going faster, but then I had some traffic and couldn’t improve my lap time.

“I was still able to be on pole for the second time (in 2011) and that’s good, but I’m hoping to do even better in the race.”

Caught: 7,000 drunk drivers

2011-10-22

 

ON ANY given weekend the police arrest 150 drunk drivers and with the year coming to an end, over 7,000 drivers have been charged with drunk driving, head of traffic police Demetris Demetriou said yesterday. 

Demetriou was talking on occasion of the annual road safety conference. 

“If we had more staff out on the streets we could arrest many more, even 1,000,” Demetriou said adding that number of drunk drivers is “extremely high”. 

“After 2am on weekends, anyone we stop is drunk,” Demetriou told the Mail. 

Driving under the influence has been persistently blamed as the primary reason for traffic deaths since 2007, Demetriou said.

Our View: Discouraging IPC applications neither helpful nor responsible

2011-10-22

ONLY TWO months left for Greek Cypriots, with property in the north, to apply to the Immovable Property Commission (IPC) for compensation, a human rights lawyer reminded on Wednesday. The Commission, set up by Turkey in 2006 as a domestic remedy to Greek Cypriot property claims, won’t accept any claims after December 21, this year. 

Should English be EU’s official language?

2011-10-22

Down in the south of Italy, a quiet revolution is taking place. 

State school teachers, – not language teachers, but PE teachers, history teachers, IT specialists – are being funded by the CLIL EU project to become qualified in another EU language and deliver one class a week in that language; pay and promotion will depend on it. Almost all are choosing English. 

Under PON projects, also EU funded, Italian school pupils are spending up to three weeks, expenses paid, in UK language schools. Essential they believe to speak English.

Whether the grandees of Europe like it or not, English is increasingly the global language of professionals and the young: much, of course, encouraged by the Internet, social media, the music and gaming industries. 

‘Like it or not we’re going to New York’

2011-10-22

THE PRESIDENT is going to New York to meet the UN Secretary-General whether he has the support of the parties or not, said government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou last night. 

President Demetris Christofias briefed the parties on the latest developments in the peace talks last night in a three-hour meeting of the National Council. 

Earlier in the day Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu met for the last time before both head off to New York next week to meet with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Speaking after the Council meeting, Stefanou clarified that the president had taken a clear position on the two-day meeting with Ban and Eroglu at the end of the month. 

Number of EU municipal voters triples

2011-10-22

EU CITIZENS could play a key role in the forthcoming municipal elections, after the Interior Ministry announced the number of registered voters has more than tripled since 2006.

Interior minister electoral department boss Demetris Demetriou said: “The participation of foreigners since 2006 has more than trebled. The final number on the electoral list will be finalised at the end of the month and it is expected to reach 12,000”

Most of these registrations are British or Greek nationals, and mostly concentrated the majority in the Paphos area, where locals have rallied expats to have a say in the running of their municipality.

In several areas the number of expats is now sufficient to secure several representatives on municipal councils. 

‘They never think it will happen to them’

2011-10-22

REGULAR beatings and sex with strangers round the clock were only some of the experiences noted down in a police statement by a Bulgarian victim of human trafficking, according to the Office for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings’ head, Rita Superman.

She was speaking at a news conference yesterday on the role of the media in combating human trafficking.

“I’m sure that statement explains it all and this is one of the cases that we deal with on a daily basis,” said Superman, adding that the issues were not easily dealt with as they involved cross-border crime, mainly Bulgaria and Romania.

Bar owner remanded in trafficking case

2011-10-22

A 55-YEAR-OLD Greek Cypriot pub owner was remanded in custody for five days by Larnaca District Court yesterday in connection with human trafficking, sexual exploitation of adults, pimping and exploitation of prostitutes.

The man, along with a 31-year-old Romanian were arrested on Thursday following a police raid on a pub.

According to police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos the 31-year-old was later released.

Katsounotos said that the pair were arrested in connection with alleged crimes committed between March and October 2011.

‘Protect marine life from drilling while there is still time’

2011-10-22

A RESEARCHER at the University of Cyprus, specialising in conventional energy and low carbon release technologies, has called on the state to be pro-active in its environmental policy, by acquiring the specialised knowledge and training on the use of special equipment required in an emergency.

Dr Constantinos Hadjistasou said that the exploratory drillings for hydrocarbons in Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) posed serious threats to marine flora and fauna.

“Bearing in mind that the potential hydrocarbon reserves are offshore and rather deep, this makes the task of protecting the marine environment even more difficult in the case of an accident” said Hadjistasou.

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.