San Diego's Darren Sproles tries to evade Pittsburgh's Casey Hampton during Sunday's play-off clash.
San Diego's Darren Sproles tries to evade Pittsburgh's Casey Hampton during Sunday's play-off clash.

Sport

Steelers end the Chargers hopes

The Pittsburgh Steelers stormed into the AFC championship game with a convincing win over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday.

The Pittsburgh Steelers stormed into the AFC championship game with a convincing win over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. The Steelers fell behind 10-7 in the second quarter, but rallied with 21 unanswered points to set-up a home meeting with the Baltimore Ravens next Sunday. "We've got a mentally tough group in there and they were able to display it today," said the Steelers coach Mike Tomlin.

Willie Parker ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns and the quarterback Ben Roethlisberger passed for another score for the Steelers. Philip Rivers passed for three touchdowns for San Diego, but two of the scores, including a 62-yarder to Darren Sproles, came when the game was won. The Steelers dominated the decisive third quarter by restricting the Chargers to just a single offensive play. "We wanted to come out of the locker room and establish a tone," Tomlin said.

The Steelers, who led 14-10 at half-time after Parker's three-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter, stretched the lead to 11 points on Heath Miller's eight-yard pass play from Roethlisberger. Rivers was intercepted on the first play after Miller's touchdown, enabling Pittsburgh to keep the ball. Even when Pittsburgh were forced to punt they wound up with the football. The punt bounced off the helmet of the Chargers' Eric Weddle and the Steelers recovered to run out the quarter.

A one-yard run by Gary Russell made it 28-10 early in the fourth before Rivers passed for a pair of touchdowns either side of Parker's second touchdown on a 16-yard run. "We came into this game wanting to keep the defence off the field," Parker said. "That's what we did." Rivers had opened the game with a 41-yarder to Vincent Jackson, but Pittsburgh struck back in dramatic fashion with a 67-yard punt return from Santonio Holmes.

San Diego (9-9) went back in front on Nate Kaeding's 42-yard field goal early in the second, but never threatened again until it was too late. * Reuters

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UK's plans to cut net migration

Under the UK government’s proposals, migrants will have to spend 10 years in the UK before being able to apply for citizenship.

Skilled worker visas will require a university degree, and there will be tighter restrictions on recruitment for jobs with skills shortages.

But what are described as "high-contributing" individuals such as doctors and nurses could be fast-tracked through the system.

Language requirements will be increased for all immigration routes to ensure a higher level of English.

Rules will also be laid out for adult dependants, meaning they will have to demonstrate a basic understanding of the language.

The plans also call for stricter tests for colleges and universities offering places to foreign students and a reduction in the time graduates can remain in the UK after their studies from two years to 18 months.

It's up to you to go green

Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.

“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”

When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.

He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.

“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.

One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.  

The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.

Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.

But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”

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