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.

Forking out £5.50 everyday to get home seems extreme but it is a reality hundreds of Welsh people who work across the Severn estuary face on a daily basis.
Since 1966 the Severn Bridge has allowed easy passage between Wales and England and as a result it has connected Wales with the rest of the UK, but this has come with a high price tag for those who use the bridge on a regular basis. In November 2009 an e-petition was started in an attempt to gain support for a campaign to get tolls on the Severn Crossing reduced.

This school year, a new scheme has been set up allowing the youth of Penarth to give something back and dispel the myths associated with their age bracket.

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.

Birthdays only come around once a year and when you’re young this can be one of the most important days of the year. What makes it special, apart from gifts and parties, is the birthday cake.

It can be hard for parents suffering financial pressures to take the time and money to bake something but luckily a Cardiff group has a team of bakers ready to cater to all needs.

Walking into the dining room of Cardiff’s latest food venture, it is the smell of fresh and rich ingredients which first awakes the senses. Diners are guided into a room adorned with candles and a crystal-decorated table as the centrepiece.
As a gentleman relieves guests of their coats and shows people to their seats, visitors are offered a cocktail of their choosing. However, there is a twist in the tale. This is no ordinary restaurant. It is the grand opening of Cardiff’s first ever secret supper club.

THERE is no smoke without fire for a local historian looking to brush up on his family tree.
Genealogy enthusiast and former steam train fireman Graham Williams, 63, is appealing to the descendants of a family of chimney sweeps to come forward and help him with his research.
Mr Williams, chair of the Canton Historical Society, thinks he may have distant relatives in Roath who are descended from his great-great-grandparents, who were Charles Elliott’s family of chimney sweeps.
He said: ”There’s lots of Elliotts in Roath and they are all descendants of these …

A CARDIFF Assembly Member hit out today at suggestions all primary school children should receive free school meals, saying the scheme would be unaffordable for Wales. Jenny Randerson AM slammed a study by trade union GMB which suggested trials of free school meals for all primary school pupils in two English councils should be extended across the UK.

The tapping of laptop keys is a sound which has come to characterise cafés such as Starbucks, as freelance workers and entrepreneurs settle themselves in these spaces as an alternative to forking out high prices for their own offices. But accountant Mark Hooper is turning this culture on its head.
Mr Hooper has brought the growing craze of co-working, which has become massive in America, to Cardiff as an alternative to working alone in cafés.
Indycube is a concept Mr Hooper has been developing for the past five years, but the space itself has been situated in the ITV media centre at Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff, for the past six months.

Its rich, enticing aroma gives the whisky a lot to live up to in the flavour column, but it does not disappoint. Harsh and peaty yet enjoyable on the tongue, Ardbeg possesses a sweetness and depth which is difficult to quantify.

PROPERTY investors who have benefited from a 50 per cent council tax discount have targeted Butetown and Grangetown as prime locations for purchasing second homes in Cardiff.

The two districts south of the city centre have more than a quarter of the capital’s unoccupied furnished properties. Butetown has 553 and Grangetown 295. At the other end of the scale, St Mellons and St Fagans have only 11 and six second homes.

Up to now these second homes and those properties unoccupied between lets have been eligible for a 50 per cent reduction in their council tax. But from next month the city’s 2,795 unoccupied furnished properties will be liable for the full amount.

St Patrick’s Day celebrations began early in Cardiff city centre as world champion Irish dancers took to the streets with staff from O’Neill’s pub to raise money for local Welsh charity LATCH.
Cardiff is one of four cities taking part in the national “Join the Jig” campaign, which is one of many fundraising activities taking place across the 62 O’Neill’s pubs in the UK in the run up to St Patrick’s Day on Wednesday.

Two Cardiff men are embarking on a new venture to connect local businesses in Cardiff and give something back to local charities through a new online business directory with a twist.
Cardiff Business Online will launch at the end of March and is the first part of a three-stage-plan to help connect Cardiff-based businesses. The online directory will offer businesses the opportunity to place their profile online for just £10 a month and advertise to consumers in a new way through the use of Twitter.

Unstaffed tanning salons could soon be outlawed after a proposal by Cardiff North MP Julie Morgan today moved a step closer to becoming law.

The Sunbeds (Regulation) Bill would also make it illegal for people under the age of 18 to use sunbeds, with a fine of up to £20,000 for any salons caught breaking the law.

City life can be stressful and exhausting. The daily nine to five work routine can wear anyone out, so if life’s pressures are getting too much, we have picked out two Welsh holiday retreats for you to get out of Cardiff and away from it all.

Heartspring (www.heartspring.co.uk) retreat in Llansteffan, Carmarthen, is in the heart of the Welsh countryside and set among acres of stunning coastal scenery. It provides nurturing mini-breaks to escape the hustle and bustle of urban life and has everything you could possibly want to reconnect with your inner self and relax.

Emer Martin spoke to the National Poet of Wales about her career and her family.

Musing on “How we came to live in unforgiving despair,” the incomparable stylings of Dan le Sac and Scroobius Pip effortlessly produce the thought-provoking social commentary many have failed to elucidate.

A decade-old empty building on a housing estate was demolished on the request of Cardiff Council this week, despite protests from its owner and a petition with more than 150 signatures from nearby residents to save it.

Cardiff Council could be in line for a major shake up following draft proposals to redraw ward boundaries, in a move which one councillor labelled “gerrymandering”.

Deep in the heart of the South Wales countryside, a handful of men gather once a month at what they like to call the headquarters of the Welsh space agency. But this secret location is not an underground bunker, or a darkened room filled with maps. It is the Rose Inn in Redwick. This quiet village pub is home to the country’s top rocketeers.

A Cardiff Bay sports centre has had to put up new fencing after a spate of break-ins resulted in more than £12,000 worth of equipment being stolen, including a tandem bike. The Cardiff Bay Water Activity Centre in Jim Driscoll Way, Grangetown, has been broken into three times in the last month. Five Raleigh mountain bikes and four black Ridgeback NX3s worth £300 each and a silver tandem bike worth between £500 and £600 were stolen in the early hours of March 1.

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.

Cardiff Devils head into the biggest game of their season tonight riding on a wave of confidence after their late comeback against Newcastle Vipers on the weekend.

The Devils play Nottingham Panthers in the second leg of the Challenge Cup final and they must battle back from two goals down, after a 4-2 first leg defeat.

But they are full of confidence after beating the Vipers 7-4 on Sunday, despite being 3-0 behind eith 21 minutes to play.

Two of Penarth’s most prominent sports clubs have received a welcome boost with the news that their long-term future looks to be secure.
Both the Penarth Gymnastics and Boxing clubs were facing uncertain futures, but they will now be housed in St Paul’s Church on Arcot Street.
The Gymnastics Club which is run by 75-year-old former Olympian, Gwynned Lingard faced being left homeless as a result of the Pavilion Project which is coming into fruition. The club, which was set up by Mrs Lingard in 1961, has been based in the Grade II listed building on Penarth’s Pier for the last 10 years. But with the redevelopment of the Pavilion, the club was facing an uncertain future.
Dave Nebitt, the Vale of Glamorgan Borough Council’s Operational Manager for Leisure and Tourism, said: “We’re at an exciting time in terms of the Penarth Pavilion development and the art centre there.
“But obviously that means the Gymnastics can no longer be there. St Paul’s Church is now vacant and housing the gymnastics club there is an option, with the possibility of including the boxing club in this.”
The Penarth Boxing Club has been housed at the church, which overlooks the Billybanks housing estate, for more than 35 years, and used to run alongside a martial arts club, whic has subsequently moved on.

A HISTORIC Cardiff pub is to be demolished to make way for a Tesco, an industry insider has revealed.
The Carpenters Arms, in Newport Road, Llanrumney, was originally built in 1872 as a coach house and has been a pub since the 1960s.
Since being shut down more than a year ago it has been the subject of intense speculation among residents.
Although the company handling the sale, Horace John, Forse & Co, have only dealt with the buyer’s representative, a sales negotiator at a nation-wide estate agent has confirmed Tesco have finalised …

Hidden between the close-knit terraced roofs of inner-city Cardiff are the white domes of a cultural gem.

Prayers at the Shree Swaminarayan temple in Merches Place, Grangetown, begin at sunrise just after 7am. Step into the long prayer room, a former nightclub floor, and you hear the jangling of bells and musical chanting.

The temple is the third biggest for the Swaminarayan (corr) Hindu denomination in Britain, after two in London, and the only one of its kind in Wales.

THE CARDIFF Devils scored six times in the final period to end a hat-trick of consecutive defeats as they beat Newcastle Vipers 7-4 last night.

Goals from Max Birbraer, Tylor Michel (2), Ryan Finnerty, Matt Miller, Phil Hill and Mark Smith helped cement their fourth-place position, and widen the gap with Sheffield Steelers who are now eight points below them in the Elite League.

Jamie Hayes enjoyed some extra game-time during last week’s clash with the Sheffield Steelers and the Devils youngster has set his sights on progressing further in the Welsh Capital.

“It’s been really good getting some time on the ice and I’m really enjoying it,” said Hayes.

The 19-year-old has come through the ranks at the Devils and is relishing the opportunity he has been given in his first full season as a professional.

Children from schools across Cardiff visited their local libraries this week to celebrate World Book Day.

And these year five pupils from St Paul’s Church in Wales Primary School, Grangetown, were one of 19 groups set loose in Grangetown Library, Havelock Place.

A LIBRARY which will celebrate its 50th birthday this summer has been promised a £150,000 upgrade by the deputy leader of Cardiff Council. But the funding has not yet been secured.

Councillor Neil McEvoy told residents at a Partnership and Communities Together (PACT) meeting at Pentrebane Community Centre they would see a refurbishment of Faiwater library in Doyle Avenue over the coming year. But the council budget for 2010-11 shows the funding for Coun McEvoy’s announcement has not yet been approved.

Entering the large, over-polished restaurant in Cardiff’s Brewery Quarter, the impossibly white linen and delicate floral displays might make you think you had entered an art gallery instead of an eatery.

Thai Edge is the epitome of contemporary oriental design. It looks flawless, and even if the atmosphere is slightly pretentious, the food lives up to the high price tag.

When given the challenge to go belly dancing I couldn’t help but scoff a little. This was going to be a piece of cake. Whenever I have seen belly dancing in restaurants or on holiday I have always thought how easy it looked. Surely it is just a case of shaking your hips, waving your arms above your head and showing your belly a bit. Oh, how wrong I was.

The platform for Asian music in Wales has been put under threat by the proposed axing of the Asian Network by the BBC director-general, Mark Thompson, this week.
The station, which has come under severe criticism recently for falling listener numbers, plays a vital role in the promotion of Asian music across Wales but without its powerful backing, Welsh Asian music will find it difficult to reach the mainstream audience.

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 …

ALTHOUGH pop’s newest superstar, Lady Gaga, may have stunned the Cardiff International Arena on Wednesday night, it seems she is still not immune from pre-performance jitters.
According to Alphabeat, who are supporting Gaga on her tour, the singer still gets very nervous before big shows.
This will carry a certain irony for those familiar with Lady Gaga’s penchant for relishing media spotlight — as detailed in songs such as Poker Face and Paparazzi.
Alphabeat singer, Anders SG, said: “We have seen her a few times on this tour, she was really nice. She …

THE FAMILY of the Cardiff woman who was found dead earlier this week have paid tribute to her, saying she “still had a lot to give.”
Fifty two-year-old Karen Welsh was found in her home in Lowfield Drive, Thornhill, on Tuesday after police forced entry.
She had fatal injuries and her death has prompted a police murder investigation.
The family, paying tribute to Mrs Welsh, said: “We’re a small family who have suffered a big loss.
“She was a wonderful, career-driven woman who gave a lot and still had a lot …

Danish pop outfit Alphabeat have been filling their diaries of late, with any available slot seeming like an affront to their current work ethic.
This said, the group’s vocal duo, Stine Bramsen and Anders SG, seemed surprisingly relaxed as they sat in a dingy office above Cardiff’s HMV this week.
Surprising, that is, because their second album, The Beat Is…, was released on Monday, mid-way through their UK tour with chart impresario Lady Gaga, leaving them just enough time to squeeze in a spate of in-store performances around the country.
But this visit …

On the face of things, physical violence towards a team-mate should be at least on a par with putting a colleague through emotional turmoil.

So why is Craig Bellamy being hailed as a paragon of virtue for vilifying John Terry a mere three years after attacking John Arne Riise with a golf club?

A TEACHER who donned traditional Welsh dress to celebrate St David’s Day and tried to write a message of peace in chalk on the Senedd steps was moved on by security guards.

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.

The Welsh Communist Party will contest the Cardiff South and Penarth parliamentary seat at the next general election.
Rob Griffiths, the party’s general secretary in Britain since 1998 , has been chosen to run against controversial Labour MP Alun Michael, who was embroiled in the MPs’ expenses scandal.
Mr Griffiths currently lives in Splott and attended Bryn Hafod primary school in Llanrumney, where he grew up. He has been an activist for the Communist Party across Wales and England since 1983, and has also attended party conferences throughout the world, recently returning …

PROTESTORS picketed outside a Cardiff nightclub last night against the final of the Miss University GB final which was being held inside.
The protest, organised by the National Union of Students women’s campaign, was a continuation of their campaign against objectification in student unions. About 25 people, men and women, gathered outside Oceana nightclub in Cardiff city centre, with placards and leaflets with slogans such as “Mark my essays not my looks” and “Lectures not letching”, before the final was due to begin at 6.30pm.

It is Cardiff as you have never seen it before – transformed into a toy town by a keen photographer.

Mark Rosoman snapped alternative landmarks like the IKEA store and the Royal Mail sorting office in Penarth Road, Grangetown, using a special technique called “tilt shift” to make them look as if they had been shrunk.

Cardiff council has moved to curb the soaring number of taxis in the city today – against the legal advice of its own officers.
The decision was made at a meeting of the council’s Public Protection Committee this afternoon. The public gallery was crammed with taxi drivers, who had organised a protest about the issue outside County Hall before the meeting started.
Current policy is to issue a taxi license to any applicant with a vehicle that meets the council’s standards. But drivers say this has led to a huge rise in the number of taxis in the city over the past two years, to almost 1,000.

Cardiff Devils forward Tylor Michel hit both goals in Sunday’s 4-2 Challenge Cup final first leg defeat to Nottingham Panthers – but he can’t get the mistake he made out of his head.
With the Devils trailing 3-2 late in the third period, Tylor’s misplaced pass on the powerplay led to a shorthanded goal for Panthers skipper Danny Meyers.
And the Canadian is struggling to shake-off the frustration.

Inside the 17th century smithy, a blacksmith hammered away at a strip of metal glowing from the heat of the forge. Sparks flew off the hot iron as a hinge slowly took shape beneath the soot-darkened beams – and Cheryl Cole stared out from a copy of the day’s Metro nestled in the corner.
The mix of eras is typical of the modern, hands-on approach of St Fagans National History Museum, Wales’s most popular tourist destination.
Founded in 1948, the open air museum is set in the grounds of St Fagans castle …

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.

The drop-in lounge at Inroads, one of two of Cardiff’s drug rehabilitation projects, could be the back room of any residence save the drug-related literature peppering the wall and coffee-table. This is what they pride themselves on. Avoiding regressive semantics about whether drug addiction is a disease or a poor lifestyle choice, Inroads make no claim to ‘curing’ people, they are their to offer help and support.

The Cardiff Devils saw their grip on the Challenge Cup loosened by an in-form Nottingham offense at the Bay Arena last night.
In a hot-tempered affair, the Devils struggled to impose themselves beyond the blueline despite a brace from Tylor Michel.
The Panthers scored three in the third period, including an unassisted short-handed goal from Danny Meyers, to dent the Devils hopes of a second Challenge Cup.
Simple mistakes
But player-coach Gerad Adams was positive about his side’s performance but said simple errors had gifted Nottingham victory.
He said: “It’s one of those things. We …