Christchurch's Lancaster Park, one of the venues for next year's rugby World Cup, has been closed to check for damage from earthquake that struck New Zealand.
The stadium's US$43 million (Dh158m) facelift has been put on hold while engineers survey potential structural damage at the ground where five World Cup pool games and two quarter-finals will be played, the Sunday Star Times reported. "There is a lot of damage and breakage to fixtures and fittings," said Bryan Pearson, the venue's chief executive. "But in terms of major structural damage, from our preliminary assessment, there is no indication yet that there is an issue."
The venue was closed after Saturday's magnitude 7.1 quake. "It was a major shake and we have to be certain that the structural integrity of these buildings has been maintained before we let the public back in them," Pearson said.
The earthquake struck hours after thousands of rugby fans had left the stadium following a provincial game between Canterbury and Bay of Plenty on Friday.
Elsewhere, Peter de Villiers' job as the Springbok coach is safe for now although South African Rugby Union will review his side's poor run of form and some of his controversial comments.
Australia's Saia Fainga'a, meanwhile, has been suspended for two weeks for a dangerous tackle during Saturday's 41-39 Tri-Nations win over South Africa.
The hooker, was cited by SANZAR commissioner Steve Hinds for tipping Flip van der Merwe, the Springbok replacement lock.
Australia host New Zealand in the final match of this year's Tri-Nations in Sydney on Saturday.
Bath established their Aviva Premiership title credentials with a comfortable bonus-point 32-16 victory against Leeds.
And Soana Tonga'uiha, the prop forward scored twice as Northampton beat Leicester 27-16.
* Agencies
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SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
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ASHES SCHEDULE
First Test
November 23-27 (The Gabba, Brisbane)
Second Test
December 2-6 (Adelaide Oval, Adelaide)
Third Test
December 14-18 (Waca Ground, Perth)
Fourth Test
December 26-30 (Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne)
Fifth Test
January 4-8, 2018 (Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney)
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
- Joan of Arc
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
More from our Neighbourhood series:
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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The specs
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Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)