Новости за 11.05.2017

THE Greek Cypriot side does not rule out a new Geneva-style international conference on Cyprus, but the necessary groundwork for success must first be laid, President Nicos Anastasiades said late on Thursday. Commenting on a reporter’s observation that UN Special Advisor Espen Barth Eide spoke of the possibility of a new Geneva-style international conference on […]

An Italian court has said divorce settlements should no longer guarantee spouses their previous standard of living but rather simply make sure they were financially independent. The top appeals court ruling could bring an end to the huge settlements seen in some break-ups, such as the €1.4m a month that former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi […]

India’s top court on Thursday began examining whether it was legal for a Muslim man to dump his wife by saying “I divorce you” three times, raising hopes among women campaigners of a long-awaited end to the ‘quickie’ divorce. The practice of ‘triple talaq’ is banned in most Muslim countries but allowed under India’s constitution […]

President Donald Trump created a commission on Thursday to investigate voter fraud and suppression, the White House said, a move that follows Trump‘s unsubstantiated claims of massive voter fraud in the 2016 US election. Trump signed an executive order creating the bipartisan Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which would be chaired by Vice President […]

Lebanese Hezbollah said on Thursday that any future conflict between the Shi’ite group and Israel could take place inside Israeli territory, as tensions rise between the arch foes. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, also said in a speech televised live that the group was dismantling all its military positions along Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria, […]

Police said on Thursday they were evaluating a new email sent to the mother of four-year-old old Marie Eleni Grimsrud who was abducted some two weeks ago and is still missing. The email was reportedly sent by the girl’s father, Torkel Grimsrud, 49. In it, he informs the mother that Marie Eleni is well and […]

Police on Thursday arrested two persons on suspicion of assault and battery at a football game in the minor leagues. The two, aged 41 and 31, are accused of attacking and striking the referee of Wednesday’s match in Limassol between Orfeas Nicosia and Posidonas Yiolou. The referee filed a complaint to police that following the […]

World number one Andy Murray crashed out of the Madrid Open in the third round on Thursday to 20-year-old Borna Coric in straight sets (6-3 6-3). The Briton, who was thrashed 6-3 6-1 by the Croatian in the Dubai Championships in 2015, performed poorly in the first set and after recovering in the second he […]

Britain’s main opposition Labour Party will promise to renationalise rail and mail services and take some of the energy sector into public hands, betting that a shift to the left will win over voters before next month’s election. According to a leaked copy of its draft manifesto, Labour, under its leader Jeremy Corbyn, will return […]

THEO PANAYIDES meets the president’s right hand man, who is charged with a vision for a new Cyprus in the future   The youngish man with forceful, lupine features walks to the bar at Babylon Pub in Nicosia and orders a beer. ‘Which beer would you like?’ asks the barmaid. He leans in with an […]

International organisations agreed on Thursday that in the event of reunification in Cyprus they would seek to coordinate support for the economy and their plans for financial assistance and investment. President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Suma Chakrabarti, chaired a meeting of international organisations to facilitate a better understanding and alignment […]

The European Union has demanded urgent talks with the United States over a possible extension to some European countries of a US ban on airline passengers taking laptops into cabins, saying any security threats faced are common. The Trump administration is likely to extend the ban already applicable to flights originating from 10 specific airports […]

A solar plant financed by the EBRD was inaugurated on Thursday, on the sidelines of its annual meeting, which concluded in Nicosia. The park in Nisou, in the outskirts of Nicosia, includes five solar plants and when all are on stream, they will account for 12 per cent of the country’s solar energy production. On Thursday, […]

We are now at the time of year when most of Europe is making plans to get together with friends for Eurovision night on Saturday. We all know that the Eurovision Song Contest has its own type of feel and sound so, if you’ve had your fill of what the contest has to offer and […]

THE Farmers Union (Eka) on Thursday urged President Nicos Anastasiades to make May 12 an annual commemoration of the struggles of Cypriot serfs and of their leader Re Alexis against the Frankish rulers of the island in the medieval period. The general secretary of Eka, Panikos Champas, said he sent the president a letter asking him […]

President Donald Trump blasted ousted FBI chief James Comey as a “showboat” and “grandstander” on Thursday even as the agency’s acting leader contradicted the president’s account that the agency had been in turmoil before he fired Comey. In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, acting FBI director Andrew McCabe promised to tell the panel of […]

A former London oil and gas trader has been ordered to pay his estranged British wife £453m – 41.5 per cent of his wealth – in one of the biggest divorce settlements in English legal history. The 61-year-old man, who has not been named, met his wife, now aged 44, in 1989 in Moscow where […]

Spain’s opposition parties voted on Thursday to move the remains of fascist dictator Francisco Franco out of a state-funded mausoleum, in a non-binding parliamentary motion the government is likely to resist. The motion, backed by parties on the left and centre, reflected growing pressure from campaign groups and politicians to turn the site into a […]

Human remains were found on Thursday in a military zone in Ayios Ilarionas on Pentadaktylos mountain range in the north. The discovery was made by crews working for the committee on missing persons. Greek Cypriot member of the CMP Nestoras Nestoros said the remains were found north of a furnace in which bones were discovered […]

Uber provides a transport service and must be licensed, an adviser to the European Union’s top court said on Thursday, in a potential blow to the US firm which says it is merely a digital enabler. The non-binding opinion means the smartphone app can be regulated by European countries as a transport service, subjecting it […]

Italy’s Eni, the energy giant which made the largest gas discovery in the Eastern Mediterranean off the coast of Egypt in 2015, expects that Cyprus will play a key role in the development of the region’s gas resources, an official said. “We consider this country as a potential pivot for gas development,” Lapo Pistelli, international […]

The United Nations still has a million questions about a Syria deal struck last week by Russia, Turkey and Iran, with aid convoys almost totally stalled despite a reported reduction in the fighting, a UN aid official said on Thursday. “Russia and Turkey and Iran explained to us today and yesterday … that they will […]

Two Greek Cypriot men denied charges on Thursday relating to an assault against a Turkish Cypriot taxi driver in November last year. The pair, aged 22, are facing eight charges including assault with actual bodily harm and incitement of violence and hatred against an ethnic group. According to the Turkish Cypriot taxi driver, Ali Karapasa, […]

The health ministry and the trade unions of healthcare professionals are close to a deal on most labour matters relating to the national health system (Gesy) and the two government bills introducing universal healthcare will be brought to the plenum next month after months of haggling, minister Giorgos Pamboridis said on Thursday. Speaking after a […]

The world’s cities must prepare better for mass migration if they are to cope with a leap in inflows of people uprooted by conflict and, increasingly, the effects of climate change, said an international city network. Cities need to lessen the shock to “fragile urban eco-systems” by using their limited resources flexibly to improve how […]