Scientists find signs of missing 'God Particle'

2011-12-13

INTERNATIONAL scientists said on Tuesday they had found signs of the Higgs boson, an elementary particle believed to have played a vital role in the creation of the universe after the Big Bang.

Scientists at the CERN physics research centre near Geneva said, however, they had found no conclusive proof of the existence of the particle which, according to prevailing theories of physics, gives everything in the universe its mass.

“If the Higgs observation is confirmed…this really will be one of the discoveries of the century,” said Themis Bowcock, a professor of particle physics at Britain’s Liverpool University. “Physicists will have uncovered a keystone in the makeup of the Universe…whose influence we see and feel every day of our lives.”

Where are the prosecutions?

2011-12-13

A NEW report from London and President Barack Obama’s statements to the “60 Minutes” programme show financial crimes spreading like wildfire and governments failing to stop them.

Tax evasion equals 18 per cent of global tax collections, a new report by British accountant Richard Murphy shows. His report for the Tax Justice Network cleverly lined up a World Bank Report on the size of shadow economies with a Heritage Foundation report on average tax burdens by country to reach that figure. 

Murphy’s $3 trillion estimate, 5 per cent of the global economy, shows how a combination of weak rules on accounting and disclosure combined with inadequate budgets to enforce tax laws impose a terrible cost on honest taxpayers and the beneficiaries of government service.

Iran says Obama should apologise for downed drone

2011-12-13

US President Barack Obama should apologise for sending an unmanned spy plane into Iranian territory rather than asking for it back after it was seized, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday. 

Iran announced on December 4 it had downed the spy plane in the eastern part of the country, near Afghanistan. It has since shown the plane on television and said it is close to cracking its technological secrets.

On Monday, Obama told a news conference: “We have asked for it back. We’ll see how the Iranians respond.” Iranian officials had already said they would not return the drone.

Air traffic controllers set to strike on Thursday

2011-12-13

LARNACA and Paphos air traffic controllers have announced a 12-hour strike on Thursday, from 9am to 9pm, as a result of the expected vote by parliament to adopt austerity measures without making special provisions for air traffic controllers.

The Pancyprian air traffic controllers union (PASEEK) said that on the day of the strike the air traffic controllers will abstain from working overtime at the Nicosia Area Control Centre, and that measures may escalate according to developments.

The strike will affect all flights to and from Larnaca and Paphos airports, except for VIP, military, hospital or relief flights.

Flights with technical problems and emergency and search and rescue flights will also be unaffected.

2012 budget debate underway

2011-12-13

Parliament started this afternoon the three-day debate on the 2012 state budget, with a vote expected late on Thursday.

Tomorrow morning, parliament will discuss additional measures to shore up the economy, agreed between the government and parties on December 2.

The measures include a two-year freeze of the public payroll and contributions by private sector workers.

Discussion of the 2012 budget will continue on Wednesday afternoon.

House President Yiannakis Omirou said every effort will be made to vote on the budget on Thursday but if not, the process will conclude on Friday morning.

The state budget for 2012 foresees income, excluding loans, of €6,220 million compared to 2011 revised income of €5,648 million.

Unannounced port workers strike costs taxpayer €4,000

2011-12-13

 

DESPITE assurances that workers in essential services would not be affected by the three-hour broader state sector strike today, drivers of one union at the Limassol port decided, without notice, to take part in the action, disrupting the smooth operation of the harbour and costing taxpayers €4,000 in overtime pay.

According to Yiannakis Kokkinos, the ports authority general manager, the decision of crane workers belonging to left-wing PEO, affected four cargo ships, which were due to be unloaded between 4pm and midnight today at an additional overtime cost of €4,000.

The chairman of licensed stevedores Stavros Stavrou said he was surprised by the decision.

Gunman kills three, then himself in Liege attack

2011-12-13

A gunman shot dead three people at a busy central square during a Christmas market in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday and then killed himself, a justice official said.

More than 75 people were injured in the attack, some of them seriously, Liege’s prosecutor told a news conference. As well as firing from a rifle, the gunman also threw explosives, officials and witnesses said.

Gaspard Grosjean, a journalist for a local Liege newspaper, was in the square moments after the attack.

“We saw people with bullet wounds in their shoulders, their hands,” he said, adding that he had seen one dead body. “I see people completely scared, people are crying, everyone is on their phones.”

Viciousness in the Kitchen

2011-12-13

Be prepared for a theatrical experience unlike any other as the ODC Ensemble presents its new work Viciousness in the Kitchen at the ARTos Foundation tomorrow and Thursday. 

The performance is part of Third X-Dream Festival, which offers the possibility of dialogue and exchange between artists of various art forms. As the final event planned in the festival’s agenda it at first may seem more like a dinner invitation than theatre performance. 

The performance is based on a rarely performed work from the revered poet/writer Sylvia Plath.

In 1962, Plath wrote her first and only drama of a sort: a radio play for the BBC’s Third Programme entitled Three Women.

AEK looking for their own place in history

2011-12-13

AEK Larnaca will make further history for Cyprus in Europe tomorrow night if they beat Steaua Bucharest in the Europa League, coupled with Schalke avoiding defeat in the other Group J game.

After an impressive, even if completely unexpected European campaign this season, AEK could close their historic Europa League group stage participation in the best possible manner, by emulating APOEL in qualifying for the knockout phase of a major European competition.

Despite sacking coach Ton Caanen four months into their most successful ever season, AEK have been buoyed by the arrival of new manager Leon Vlemmings and a good run of recent results.

Iced Earth come to Rock Cyprus

2011-12-13

 

Love it or hate it, as the world of metal began its rapid evolution out of the early rock-influence of the 70s, it wasn’t just a new and innovative form of music; it was an interactive lifestyle for its fans, and a groundbreaking pop-culture movement that grabbed a hold of a disgruntled section of society. 

Forty years on and the heavy guitar riffs, the frenetic drumming, and the deafening nearly illegible screaming that makes up what most people today know as heavy metal, is still live and kicking. Cyprus has a steady following of devoted fans and this year alone we’ve already seen the likes of Sodom, Arch Enemy, Deep Purple and many more drive crowds wild with their energetic sweat-soaked live performance. 

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.