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1051. SMS not needed for Holy Week churchgoers

Eastern Orthodox churchgoers in the Republic of Cyprus no longer need to send an SMS before attending service during Holy Week, based on an FAQ issued by the government on Monday revising and clarifying the latest lockdown measures...

1052. S7 looking to drop Cyprus Airways

The future of Cyprus Airways is once again up in the air following reports that its Russian private shareholder S7 is looking to sell its entire stake in the Larnaca-based Charlie Airlines...

1053. Greek, Turkish ministers stand their ground

Greek and Turkish foreign ministers Nikos Dendias and Mevlut Cavusoglu hailed the relaunch of exploratory talks between Athens and Ankara and called for a de-escalation of tension, but both stood their ground on key issues dividing the two sides in an unusually frank press conference following their meeting in Ankara on Thursday...

1054. Syrian boy allowed to reunite with parents

A young Syrian boy stuck in the north for over a month was reunited with his parents, following pressure on the government to allow the unaccounted minor to cross over to the south...

1055. EU court backs Czech Republic's requirement to vaccinate children

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) accepts the Czech Republic’s position on mandatory vaccinations for children, it said in a landmark ruling on Thursday that rebuffed parents’ complaints that the government violated their rights....

1056. Cyprus hurries to clean up company registry

Energy Minister Natasa Pilides has called on business stakeholders in Cyprus to embrace a new effort of recording and updating true information about beneficiaries of companies, saying a new digital registry can bolster transparency on the island...

1057. EC head taken aback as Erdogan and Michel snap up the chairs

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was taken aback to find her fellow top EU official taking the only chair available next to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan when the duo visited Ankara, and her spokesman made that clear on Wednesday....

1058. Anastasiades: Cyprus won't hesitate to veto EU-Turkey customs union

1059. Top EU officials head to Turkey in bid to improve ties

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council chief Charles Michel are headed to Turkey on Tuesday on an official visit aimed at improving ties between Brussels and Ankara....

1060. Damning State Dep. report highlights Cyprus human rights issues

A US State Department country report on human rights practices in 2020 proved damning for Cyprus which was found to have had significant human rights issues last year....

1061. Borrell determined to carry out EUCO mandate on Turkey

President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades said clarifications about the EU’s role at the informal conference of Cyprus set to take place in Geneva in late April may arise after the visit expected to be paid to Turkey by EU officials....

1062. EU presidents to go to Turkey next week

The presidents of the European Council and the European Commission will meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey on April 6, an EU spokesman said on Monday, in the latest sign of improving ties....

1063. EU27 open up to Turkey but with a caveat

European Union leaders made good on Thursday on a 2016 promise to deepen trade ties with Turkey, but also warned Ankara to expect sanctions if it restarts exploration over disputed hydrocarbons in the eastern Mediterranean...

1064. Cyprus rejects EU draft on Turkey which seeks to deepen trade ties

Cyprus has rejected a draft prepared for a summit of EU leaders this week which seeks to deepen trade ties with Turkey, describing it as “totally unacceptable.” ...

1065. Gloves are off in EU-China relations

The United States, the European Union, Britain and Canada imposed sanctions on Chinese officials on Monday for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, in the first such coordinated Western action against Beijing under new US President Joe Biden...

1066. Germany: Turkey sending wrong human rights signals

Turkey is sending the wrong messages to the European Union by withdrawing from a pact designed to counter violence against women and closing down the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned on Monday....

1067. Anastasiades stays focused on getting EU at Geneva table

President Nicos Anastasiades delved extensively into the substantive role the EU has to play at upcoming Cyprus peace processes during a teleconference convened Friday by the European Council President Charles Michel with EU leaders....

1068. EU frontline ministers talk migration in Athens

Cypriot Interior Minister Nicos Nouris is in Athens this weekend where he is attending a MED5 meeting on immigration, with some of the bloc’s Mediterranean members tackling issues stemming from Brussels’ new migration proposals that divide the union...

1069. EU will be present in Cyprus issue negotiations, senior EU official says

The EU will be present at the conference on Cyprus to be convened by the UN in Geneva in late April and at the formal negotiations that may follow, a senior EU official said at a press conference in Brussels ahead of the forthcoming Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) of Monday....

1070. Cyprus scrambles to reduce asylum backlog

Interior Minister Nicos Nouris says the government is moving forward with rejections of asylum applications under new, faster procedures to clear a system backlog, with Europe seeking a comprehensive solution and a commissioner calling on Cypriot authorities to investigate illegal pushbacks...

1071. Greece, Turkey resume preliminary talks on maritime dispute

Greece and Turkey began another round of exploratory talks in Athens on Tuesday, seeking common ground on a long-standing maritime boundaries dispute before a European Union summit later this month...

1072. Minister points finger at north over barbwire

Cypriot Interior Minister Nicos Nouris has fired back at critics in the north over the south’s decision to install barbwire near the UN buffer zone to halt illegal crossings, blaming the need for a fence on lack of action on the part of Turkish Cypriot authorities...

1073. Cyprus to assume first Presidency term of EMGF

Cyprus will assume its first official Presidency term of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF) starting on January 2022, participants at the fourth EMGF ministerial meeting decided on Tuesday....

1074. Borrell: Cyprob solution must come from Cypriots

"The European Union fully supports the resumption of a settlement process under UN auspices, as soon as possible," and stands ready to provide whatever assistance both parties and the UN would find most useful, the EU’s Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell said Thursday....

1075. Two states in Cyprus? Why not, then, a unitary one?

An informal summit on Cyprus is scheduled to take place in Geneva in late April, coming at a time when Greek-Turkish relations are anything but good and tensions are high in the broader region. The aim of the meeting, according to the United Nations, “will be to determine whether common ground exists for the parties to negotiate a lasting solution to the Cyprus problem within a foreseeable horizon.”...

1076. Jehovah witness wins case against army

A man in the Republic of Cyprus has won an appeal against an army decision after military officers failed to prove they had acted impartially in his request for alternate military service due to religious convictions...

1077. Analysis: The Cyprus issue today

Over the past 30 years, Turkey, and its friends in the society of nations, sought, and partially succeeded, in obscuring the importance of the Cyprus issue’s international dimension, that is the Turkish invasion and the illegal occupation of the island. The aim was to present the Cyprus issue as a one-dimensional, internal affair that exclusively concerns the relations and the rights of the two communities, Greek- and Turkish-Cypriots....

1078. Akar: Turkey determined to defend rights across ‘Blue Homeland’

Turkey is determined to defend its rights across the “Blue Homeland,” the country’s defense minister, Hulusi Akar, said Friday, invoking an expansionist doctrine that envisages Turkish control over the waters of the eastern Aegean and the northern Mediterranean....

1079. Probe into police brutality has three-month deadline

The independent authority for the investigation of allegations and complaints against the police said Thursday that it instructed the four criminal investigators probing complaints of police brutality at last Saturday’s protest to wrap up investigations within three months....

1080. Defying clampdown, Cyprus activists to protest again over graft

Anti-corruption campaigners in Cyprus will protest again on Feb. 20, they said on Tuesday, after a violent clampdown by police at an event on Feb. 13 drew widespread condemnation....