HUMAN rights campaigners planning to picket the Israeli ambassador when he comes to Cardiff tomorrow have attacked a university debating society’s decision not to invite any Palestinian representative to an event they have branded a “PR initiative”.
Cardiff Stop the War Coalition have indicated they will be staging a protest when the Israeli ambassador visits the city tomorrow evening to give a speech at Cardiff University Debating Society.

WHEN most people hear the words unlicensed boxing they think of illegal, underground, bare-knuckle bouts like those seen in Snatch or Fight Club.

But on Saturday, 1000 fight fans will descend on the Cardiff City Stadium for the ground’s first boxing event. Like professional boxing, unlicensed boxing has all the same regulations; there is a referee, a round system, gloves and Queensbury rules, the only difference is that it is not covered by the British Boxing Board of Control.

The traditional day of rest could be a thing of the past for a group of Cardiff residents, following an application by their local supermarket to receive deliveries on Sundays.

Lidl in Maindy Road has applied to Cardiff Council to increase its deliveries from six days a week to seven. This could see articulated lorries turning up to the site, which is on a residential road, from eight in the morning until 10pm.

Lilo Grill House
City Road, Cardiff
*****
A smoky haze hangs, heavily laden with the aromas of garlic and the chargrill stove in the Cardiff’s Lilo Grill House. The Lebanese restaurant on City Road has a reputation for its delicious, tender shish and friendly atmosphere. Lebanese food pretty much coins everything from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, and can be a winner due to its simplistic approach of skewered meats, flatbread and fresh flavours of lemon juice and cracked black pepper.
Perhaps one of the most enticing smells around is that of meat, …

A CARDIFF shop owner’s new alcohol delivery service has drawn criticism from charities and local residents.
Arjuna Gunesekera, 23, will launch the Bargain Booze delivery service on Friday with the aim of selling alcohol in the city’s Cathays area.
The scheme, which is the first Bargain Booze has ever run, will target central Cardiff’s large student population and deliver cheap alcohol as late as 4am. This has led to criticism from safe drinking campaigners.
Mr Gunesekera owns Bargain Booze in Splott Road, but will move his business to Cathays to target its large …

A newly-married couple who were threatened with a knife when their shop was burgled last week are moving back to India because they are too frightened to stay in Cardiff.

A tax consultant from Cardiff has written a novel in a bid to become an independent MP. Alun Mathias, 49, distributed 1,200 free copies of his book Vicky and the Pit to homes in Cathays at a personal cost of nearly £3,000.

If you have only ever thought of Lebanese food in the context of strip-lit, sticky-floored kebab shops, the warm and welcoming Mina Restaurant and Cafe Bar will make you think again. Houmous and falafel are familiar names, but Mina, which has been running in the heart of Cathays since 1990, goes far beyond those to produce a huge range of dishes from this often-overlooked region.
For a Tuesday night, it was comfortably busy, with a broader range of customers than its student-ville location might suggest. Red-painted walls and glowing candles helped …

Two vehicles collided at the junction between Colum Road and Corbett Road today at about 10.10am.
Three people were involved in the accident and both cars were damaged. One of the cars involved was seriously damaged and the driver of the vehicle was seen by ambulance crew at the scene. The driver and passenger of the other vehicle involved were treated for shock.
An ambulance, a fire engine and police were called to the scene.
More news will follow.

Staff at a Cardiff community centre have paid tribute to a former youth worker who passed away last year.

At an annual general meeting, staff and volunteers at Cathays and Central Youth and Community Project, Cathays Terrace, praised the work of Tony Clarke, who had been involved with the centre for 20 years.

It could be described as an own goal by Cardiff Council. Their flagship alley gating scheme, which this year had a £110,000 budget, has been widely praised by residents for its role in cutting crime. But the gates have another use, too – as playthings for youngsters.

A Cardiff community centre played host to breaker dancers from across the UK as the third “B-Boy jam”, run by Cardiff City Kings, break-dancing competition took place on Saturday.
The event saw 16 groups from across the UK compete for the champion title through knock-out rounds throughout the day. Teams travelled from as far away as Valencia and Barcelona to compete at the packed out community centre in Cathays.

CARDIFF theatre mini-troupe Dirty Protest are all about being spontaneous. Tonight’s show at Cardiff Arts Institute, Out With the Old, saw them reading from their scripts on stage after only two nights’ practice.

Cardiff University’s Act One went for laughs over substance at their performance of Much Ado About Nothing at the YMCA theatre in The Walk, Roath.
It was a risky choice, and one made even more questionable by the programme blurb, which told us: “There isn’t really anything we cut out… Okay, so maybe two characters and two scenes, but trust us… they were rubbish.”
After such a casual dismissal of none other than Shakespeare,  I watched the curtain rise with more than a little scepticism. But the gamble payed off – mostly. Their …

Some lighter goings-on in Cardiff this week.

Residents in poorly-maintained properties in Cathays could be in line for improvements in their living standards.

The council is seeking to introduce additional requirements for landlords who manage houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).

Councillors met with the landlords’ forum this week to present the proposals, which will be debated by the full council shortly.

A high-speed car chase shattered the calm of Llandaff High Street this afternoon as a stolen quad bike ploughed into a parked car.

A police helicopter and six police cars raced after the quad bike when they were alerted to a vehicle behaving suspiciously. They chased the bike to the junction between Bridge Street and Fairwater Road where the thief crashed into the parked Audi.

A Cardiff bar is planning to extend its opening hours until 1.30am.

Mr Smith’s, on Woodville Road, Cathays, is currently open until 12am on weekdays and 12.30am on Fridays and Saturdays but they want to be open for an extra hour every evening.