England rankings lead slashed after whitewash

2012-02-07

ENGLAND captain Andrew Strauss said there would be no knee-jerk reaction to the 3-0 series defeat by Pakistan that has seen his team’s lead at the top of the test rankings slashed to one point.

Another disappointing batting performance from England ended in a 71-run defeat in the third and final test in Dubai on Monday.

Only wicketkeeper Matt Prior averaged more than 30 for the series in which all of England’s batsmen struggled for runs.

While they performed admirably with the ball, England only once scored more than 300 in an innings and suffered the ignominy of being dismissed for 72 in the second test.

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2012-02-07

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Second round of licensing to be announced next week

2012-02-07

 

 

The second round of licensing for hydrocarbon research within Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) will be announced in eight days, commerce minister Praxoula Antoniadou said today.

“We are only eight days away from the official announcement for the second round of licensing”, Antoniadou told the House Commerce Committee.

Commerce Ministry permanent secretary Zeta Emileanidou said that the Ministry was informed by the Cypriot Permanent Representation to the EU that the official announcement for the licensing will be published in the EU gazette on February 13.

Up to twelve blocks in the eastern Mediterranean off southern Cyprus will be included in the round, officials have previously said.

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2012-02-07

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MPs want new charge on power bills suspended

2012-02-07

 

FOR EVERY €100 of an electric bill, only about €70 accounts for the actual cost of electricity, the remaining €30 covering various fees imposed by the power utility, an opposition MP said yesterday.

Lefteris Christoforou, chairman of the House Commerce Committee, was commenting on the rising number of complaints by consumers over their high bills.

Surcharges levied after the Mari blast of last July (6.96 per cent), fees for carbon emissions and for renewable sources of energy, as well as other tariffs, account for as much as 30 per cent of any electrical bill, Christoforou said.

Our View: AKEL hypocritical in accusing DISY head of ‘transformations’

2012-02-07

THERE is still one year to go before the presidential elections but it appears that the two big parties, AKEL and DISY, have already begun campaigning. 

DISY’S campaign is more conventional, as its leader Nicos Anastassiades has declared he would be a candidate and is already talking about what he would do if elected. He has given several interviews in the last couple of weeks, in which he attacked President Christofias’ handling of the Cyprus talks and outlined his plan to appoint a negotiator under the authority of the party leaders.

Over 300 teachers absent every day

2012-02-07

SECONDARY SCHOOL teachers recorded 25,856 absences in the first quarter of the school year, an average of 319 a day, according to education ministry figures. 

The first four months of the current school year, from September to December 2011, has a total number of 81 working days when one excludes weekends, national holidays and Christmas holidays. During that period, statistics published by Phileleftheros yesterday reveal that from the 5,486 permanent state secondary school teachers, on average 319 were absent per working day, or six per cent of the total permanent staff. 

These figures do not include teachers who were absent for training, away at conferences or seminars or European programmes. 

New action plan to combat crime

2012-02-07

 

JUSTICE Minister Loucas Louca yesterday announced a six-year National Action Plan to combat increasing crime, which contains 221 specific steps, he said.

Louca was speaking at a Crime Committee meeting, on the day of an attempted murder at a Strovolos petrol station and only two days after a murder in Nicosia, and grenade was thrown at the home of former police spokesman, Michalis Katsounotos in Limassol.

Referring to the fact that there were two murders in the past three months, Louca said: 

“This is an all-encompassing programme.. it is a long-term six year programme that we will reap the benefits of over the next twenty years.”

‘Spirit’ of slain media boss in courtroom

2012-02-07

THE HIGH-profile trial for the murder of media boss Andis Hadjicostis took another turn for the bizarre yesterday with a witness claiming the “spirit” of the slain Sigma boss was present in the courtroom.

“Andis was here on Friday, and he is here today,” prosecution witness and psychic Kathleen Zachariou said under cross-examination.

Zachariou was being grilled by the defence lawyer representing Elena Skordelli – alleged mastermind behind the murder – over her testimony last Friday.

Zachariou had then told the court that Skordelli had asked her (Zachariou) to use her powers to send out positive vibes to Hadjicostis that would lead to a love affair between himself and Skordelli.

Disagreement over milk sees halloumi application withdrawn

2012-02-07

CYPRUS has withdrawn its application to register halloumi as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), after dairy producers failed to see eye to eye on the milk quantities for the prototype.

Cleary deflated, Agriculture Minister Sophocles Aletraris yesterday said Cyprus was now in serious danger of missing out and the cheese being registered by another state, with all the economic consequences this would entail.

The minister, who met the Cyprus Dairy Products Manufacturers Association earlier in the day, said cow and goat milk producers had asked for the application to be withdrawn after failing to agree on the percentages of milk that should be used to manufacture the local cheese.

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.