MP tells RBS boss to refuse £1m bonus

2012-01-27
A £963,000 bonus for the boss of a taxpayer-funded bank has been attacked as “out of touch” by Labour, as a government minister claimed he had a public duty to refuse it.
Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester’s payout was limited to around 60 per cent of the maximum following intense political pressure.
The senior City figure, who has a salary of £1.2 million, could get 3.6 million shares in the bailed-out financial institution, which is 83 per cent state owned.
It is less than half the value of last year’s all-shares bonus and comes after Prime Minister David Cameron made clear he expected the bonus to be “a lot less” than in 2011.
Treasury sources said they were pleased at the reduction on the previous bonus and that the govern

Iran could ban EU oil exports next week – lawmaker

2012-01-27

A law to be debated in Iran’s parliament on Sunday could halt exports of oil to the European Union as early as next week, the semi-official Fars news agency quoted a lawmaker as saying on Friday.

“On Sunday, parliament will have to approve a ‘double emergency’ bill calling for a halt in the export of Iranian oil to Europe starting next week,” Hossein Ibrahimi, vice-chairman of parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, was quoted as saying.

Parliament is pushing for the export ban to deny the EU a 6-month phase-in of the embargo on Iranian oil that the bloc agreed on Monday as part of a raft of tough new Western sanctions aimed at forcing Iran to curb its nuclear programme.

UK treasury to take charge in next bank crisis

2012-01-27
Britain’s finance ministry will have the power from next year to take charge in any future banking crisis, including being able to tell the Bank of England (BoE) to pump money into the financial system.
Finance minister George Osborne published a draft law on Friday reforming the way Britain’s financial system is regulated and setting out who has ultimate authority in a crisis.
The legislation is an attempt to draw a line under the regulatory failings that forced taxpayers to stump up hundreds of billions of pounds to shore up the banking sector in 2008.
It will scrap the Financial Services Authority from 2013 and hand power to supervise banks and insurers to the central bank.
“When taxpayers’ money is at risk in a crisis this legislation gives

Spike in deaths blamed on 2003 New York blackout – study

2012-01-27

A vast electricity blackout in the United States and Canada in 2003 led to the deaths of nearly 100 people, a study found, linking the deaths – higher than official estimates – to not only accidents caused by lack of power, but also underlying diseases.

Researchers said the study published in the journal Epidemiology was the first to show that the death toll of such a power outage comes not only from accidents, such as carbon monoxide poisoning from using generators, but also from chronic health issues such as cardiovascular and respiratory problems.

“Our results from this study indicate that power outages can immediately and severely harm human health,” said lead author Brooke Anderson, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University.

Heartbreak for Murray as Djokovic wins classic

2012-01-27

World number one Novak Djokovic fought off what appeared to be breathing problems and fatigue to advance to the final of the Australian Open following an epic five-set semi-final victory over Britain’s Andy Murray.

The defending champion, who said he had breathing problems in his quarter-final against David Ferrer, looked tired throughout the match but still managed to win 6-3 3-6 6-7 6-1 7-5 in four hours, 50 minutes and deny Murray a third successive Melbourne Park final.

“It’s difficult to describe. I was trying to focus on every point,” Djokovic, who meets Rafa Nadal in Sunday’s final, said in a courtside interview.

“It was a physical match. It was almost five hours. It was one of the best matches I played. Emotionally and mentally it was hard.

London Olympics 2012 reveals “Isles of Wonder” opening ceremony theme

2012-01-27

London 2012’s Olympic organisers today announced the theme of their opening ceremony, entitled: “Isles of Wonder”.

The theme’s unveiling by Oscar winning artistic director and Danny Boyle and creative director Stephen Daldry took place today at a briefing six months ahead of the Games.

Boyle said the ceremony, which is expected to attract a billion TV viewers, would be about a land that has been poisoned by industrial legacy and the recovery of that land.

“We’ll be celebrating the whole of the country… there are so many ‘Isles of Wonder'” said the Slumdog Millionaire and Trainspotting director.

Even better than the reel thing?

2012-01-27

CELLULOID 35mm has been the format of choice for the film industry, but 2012 will signify an end to the era and the beginning of something new.

This month, there will be more digital-cinema screens in the world than 35mm ones for the first time since the technology conversion began in 1999, with the last celluloid cinemas expected to shut up shop in 2015. Digital technology has already taken over much of the home entertainment market. It seems strange, then, that the vast majority of theatrical motion pictures are shot and distributed on celluloid film, just like they were more than a century ago. 

Segway seduction

2012-01-27

NICOSIA’s Segway Station hosted its first treasure hunt this month and is about to host another tomorrow afternoon.

Imagine a feeling like hovering above the ground at speed with complete control over any terrain. These two-wheel electrical personal transporters are fast, fun and highly manoeuvrable, steering is easy, you lean forward to go forward and lean back to go backward. Segways are a marvel of technology and offer an entirely new and unique experience that’s thrilling, great fun and full of excitement. 

Mediterranean countries consortium promotes biodiesel production

2012-01-27

A consortium of 12 organisations from Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Lebanon and Egypt has been set up to study biodiesel production from algae in selected Mediterranean countries.

The consortium is coordinated by the Agricultural Research Institute of Cyprus in collaboration with the Cyprus Energy Agency. The project ”Production of biofuels from microalgae in selected Mediterranean Countries” is funded by the Programme ENPI European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) Mediterranean Sea Basin Joint Operational Programme.

According to a press release, on 19-20 January 2012 the kick off meeting of the MED ALGAE project was held in Nicosia, launching this technologically important project that will provide valuable data for future of biofuel production

ECHR: Low conviction rate for Cyprus

2012-01-27

 

Cyprus, along with Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Belgium, San Marino and the Czech Republic, ranks low in the list of countries found guilty of human rights violations by the European Court of Human Rights.

Cyprus features in the last places among the 47 member-states of the Council of Europe which have been convicted by the European Court for at least one human right violation.

Turkey tops the bill with 159 convictions in as many cases, followed by Russia with 121, Ukraine with 105 and Greece with 69. Romania with 58 and Poland complete the first six spots of the ECHR statistics for 2011.

The statistics as well as the Court’s activities for 2011 were presented by the ECHR President Nicolas Bratza.

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.