Новости за 14.12.2017

The US Federal Communications Commission voted along party lines on Thursday to repeal landmark 2015 rules aimed at ensuring a free and open internet, setting up a court fight over a move that could recast the digital landscape. The approval of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s proposal marked a victory for internet service providers like AT&T Inc, […]

A round of Syria peace talks that ended on Thursday was a big missed opportunity but there may more talks next month if ideas can be found to encourage President Bashar al-Assad’s government to engage, UN mediator Staffan de Mistura said. He said neither side had actually “sabotaged” the latest talks by refusing to attend […]

Wednesday’s agreement to sell nine cooperative companies to its past owners will help the bailed-out Cyprus Cooperative Bank recover some lost ground in its capital basis, an executive said. “The transaction will improve the core equity tier 1 capital (CET1) ratio by up to 0.15 percentage points,” Yiannos Stavrinides, the bank’s head of strategy and […]

Nicosia and Athens are in complete sync in so far as any new conference on Cyprus should be preceded by thorough preparation, the government said on Thursday. In a meeting held on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras briefed President Nicos Anastasiades on the outcome of the former’s […]

Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci said on Thursday it was up to the new ‘government’ to create funds and speed up the application process for the Immovable Property Commission (IPC). “One of the first tasks of the new government should be the commission. Funds need to be found and the process sped up. It should […]

Swiss technology is due to hit new heights on Friday when the world’s steepest funicular line opens at one of its Alpine resorts. Swiss President Doris Leuthard will officially open the 52 million-Swiss franc ($52.6 million) project running from Schywz to the mountain village of Stoos, which lies 1,300 metres above sea level in central […]

European Union nations, now unfettered by Britain’s decision to quit, achieved a 70-year-old ambition on Thursday to integrate their defences, launching a pact between 25 EU governments to fund, develop and deploy armed forces together. European Council President Donald Tusk deemed the move “bad news for our enemies”. First blocked by the French parliament in […]

One in six businesses in the European Union sold on the web in 2016, while in Cyprus only 11 per cent of those businesses with a corporate webpage carried out online sales, according to data released by Eurostat. According to the press release, last year 16 per cent of enterprises located in the EU and […]

Cyprus still lags far behind its goals for recycling batteries, electronics and electronic devices, an audit office report said. The report also found that there is insufficient supervision of the licenced companies that arrange to recycle these items by the environment department. It said that Cyprus had failed to meet the minimum recycling goals set […]

The tax department is currently processing some 6,000 applications concerning the settlement of taxes in arrears, with the amount concerned coming to just over €190 million. According to the Cyprus News Agency, the latest data (up until December 12) show there are 5990 active applications for the settlement scheme. This relates to €191.6m, which after […]

Tripartite cooperation between Cyprus, Greece and Egypt is strengthening efforts to address common challenges and threats, Defence Minister Christophoros Fokaides said on Thursday after a meeting with his Greek and Egyptian counterparts. Fokaides, along with the defence ministers of Greece and Egypt, Panos Kammenos and Sedki Sobhy, had a tripartite meeting in Larnaca at the […]

The local band Trio Levante are getting ready to present their first album entitled Astika Laika Tragoudia in Nicosia and Ayia Napa tomorrow and Saturday. The trio, Petros Kouloumis (voice, lute, guitar, piano), Pavlos Michaelides (voice, violin) and Pantelis Ionas (voice, guitar, banjo, oud), will be accompanied on both nights by folk musician and internationally established […]

Four children were killed and seven seriously injured after a train smashed into a school bus, splitting it in two, outside the town of Perpignan in southwestern France on Thursday, the interior ministry said. Television images showed a long line of ambulance and emergency service vehicles near the crossing where the collision occurred, with the […]

A train collided with a school bus outside the town of Perpignan in southern France on Thursday and emergency services were at the scene, a local official said. “All emergency services have been mobilised and a crisis coordination unit set up,” an official at the local Millas townhall told Reuters. There was no immediate word […]

European Union nations are set to achieve a 70-year-old ambition to integrate their defences on Thursday, signing a pact between 25 EU governments to fund, develop and deploy armed forces together after Britain’s decision to quit the bloc. First blocked by the French parliament in the 1950s and later by Britain, which feared an EU army, […]

The Nicosia criminal court on Thursday found Bank of Cyprus (BoC) and its former CEO Andreas Eliades guilty of the charge of market manipulation through misleading statements to investors about the lender’s capital shortfall in June 2012. The other defendants – former deputy CEO Yiannis Kypri, former board chairman Theodoros Aristodemou, his successor Andreas Artemi, […]

The Nicosia criminal court on Thursday found Bank of Cyprus (BoC) and its former CEO Andreas Eliades guilty of the charge of market manipulation through misleading statements to investors about the lender’s capital shortfall in June 2012. The other defendants – former deputy CEO Yiannis Kypris, former board chairman Theodoros Aristodemou, his successor Andreas Artemis, […]

Poland’s new prime minister said on Thursday he expects the European Commission to launch an unprecedented punishment procedure against Warsaw next week after months of wrangling over the rule of law. Mateusz Morawiecki, who took over as Poland’s premier this week, has defended judicial changes pushed over two years by his predecessor from the same […]

The recovery of the Cypriot economy, which is forecast to expand by four per cent this year, has failed to produce the expected drop in delinquent loans, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) official said, the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) reported on Thursday. “Clearly, there is a strong growth, but this has not led to the […]

Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome has denied breaking any rules after a urine test he gave during the Vuelta a Espana in September showed excessive levels of an asthma medication. Froome, who became the first British rider to win the Vuelta, had double the allowed level of the legal asthma drug Salbutamol in […]

President Nicos Anastasiades expressed his satisfaction on Thursday over the approval by the House plenum of next year’s state budget. The budget, he said, is one of ‘responsibility and growth’. In an announcement, Anastasiades said that next year’s budget ‘rewards society with the fruits of its sacrifices’. The basic goals of the 2018 state budget, […]

A crocodile park rejected by the Psevmatismos and Athienou communities may yet find a home in Cyprus as Israeli company TSA Crocopark has now approached the Achna district to discuss opening the theme park in the area. It is far from sure that the community council will vote in favour of the plan, and community […]

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he was confident that Russia would have everything ready to host the 2018 Fifa World Cup as it has a vast experience in holding major sports events. “I am sure that everything will be up to standard and on time,” Putin told an annual press conference.

British Prime Minister Theresa May will urge European Union leaders on Thursday to approve an agreement to move Brexit talks on to a second phase, hours after an embarrassing parliamentary defeat at home that weakens her hand. At the beginning of a dinner in Brussels, May will repeat her case for unlocking talks to unravel […]

The recovery of the Cypriot economy, which is forecast to expand by four per cent this year, has failed to produce the expected drop in delinquent loans, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) official said, the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) reported on Thursday. “Clearly, there is a strong growth, but this has not led to the […]