Section: Cyprus
IMF dismisses hope of grace period on Greek loans (Update 2)
By Paul Carrel and Angeliki Koutantou The IMF dashed any hope on Thursday that Greece could avert default if it fails to repay a 1.6 billion loan by the end of June, piling pressure on leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who showed no sign of yielding to creditors’ demands. Euro zone finance ministers descended on Luxembourg for a...
World’s displaced hits record high of 60 mln, half of them children
By Joseph D’Urso Almost 60 million people worldwide were forcibly uprooted by conflict and persecution at the end of last year, the highest ever recorded number, the UN refugee agency said on Thursday, warning that the situation could deteriorate further. More than half the displaced from crises including Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia were...
EU agrees to extend Russia economic sanctions by six months
By Adrian Croft European Union governments agreed on Wednesday to extend economic sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine by six months until Jan. 31, diplomats said, maintaining unity in the West’s tough stance towards Moscow. The six-month extension was agreed by ambassadors from the 28 EU nations meeting in Brussels. Ratification...
Cost of violence hits $14 trillion in increasingly divided world
By Magdalena Mis The cost of violence around the world reached a record $14.3 trillion in 2014, equivalent to the combined economies of Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, a global security report said on Wednesday. The divide between the most and least peaceful regions deepened with many Middle Eastern and African...
Putin says Russia is beefing up its nuclear arsenal
By Maria Tsvetkova President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday Russia would add more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles to its nuclear arsenal this year and a defence official accused NATO of provoking a new arms race. Putin made his announcement a day after Russian officials denounced a US plan to station tanks and heavy weapons in...
Malaysia Airlines makes emergency landing in Melbourne
A Malaysia Airlines flight returned safely to Melbourne airport on Friday, having turned back within minutes of take-off after an engine fire alert went off, airport and airline officials said. The Airbus A330 aircraft MH148 was carrying 300 passengers and heading from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur. “There was an emergency declared, there was an...
Russia says US coerces Kiev and violates arms treaties
By Timothy Heritage Russia accused the United States on Thursday of coercing Kiev into pressing on with the conflict in east Ukraine and urged Washington to fully implement a treaty on eliminating intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles. In a statement responding to a US State Department report accusing Russia of violating its arms treaty...
Italian PM Renzi welcomes Putin but mentions differences
By Denis Dyomkin and Giulio Piovaccari ITALIAN Prime Minister Matteo Renzi welcomed visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday but offered no sign of breaking ranks with international partners over European Union sanctions against Moscow. Two weeks before the EU is due to decide whether to extend economic sanctions over Russia’s...
Firemen missing after explosion at fuel depot fire in Ukraine
Two Ukrainian firemen were missing after a fire they had been battling through the night at a fuel depot outside Kiev triggered a powerful explosion, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Tuesday. At least sixteen tanks, most of them storing petrol, were on fire and sending a huge pall of smoke over the area surrounding the depot near Vasylkiv,...
Near East Uni Hospital to boost health tourism
Near East University Hospital (YDU) has signed an international cooperation agreement in the field of health tourism with 15 Russian speaking countries. Among the countries are Russia, Ukraine, Moldavia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Uzbekistan and others. According to a statement issued by YDU’s press and foreign relations...
