Cyprus

Turkey on Friday called on major international oil and gas companies seeking a license to search for gas deposits off of Cyprus to withdraw their bids, saying it will not allow exploration to go ahead and threatening to ban them from Turkish energy projects. Companies such as Russia's Novatec, Italy's ENI, France's Total and Malaysia's Petronas are among 15 firms and consortiums seeking a license to carry out exploratory drilling off southern Cyprus despite Turkey's strong objections.

Turkey on Friday called on major international oil and gas companies seeking a license to search for gas deposits off of Cyprus to withdraw their bids, saying it will not allow exploration to go ahead and threatening to ban them from Turkish energy projects. Companies such as Russia's Novatec, Italy's ENI, France's Total and Malaysia's Petronas are among 15 firms and consortiums seeking a license to carry out exploratory drilling off southern Cyprus despite Turkey's strong objections.

NICOSIA, Cyprus - Tassos Papadopoulos, the hardline former president of Cyprus who ushered the divided island into the European Union after rallying Greek Cypriots to reject a United Nations peace deal, died Friday of lung cancer. He was 74. Mr. Papadopoulos served as president from 2003 to March 2008. A longtime chain smoker, he was hospitalized last month with severe breathing problems. His successor, President Dimitris Christofias, called him "one of the protagonists of our country's modern history.

Cyprus' second-largest bank says that it is in talks with the island's finance ministry and central bank on a possible recapitalization. Cyprus Popular Bank said in a statement Monday that it is discussing the possibility of a government guarantee on a capital issue to help attract private investors and minimize the amount that the state would have to cover. Cyprus Popular was the most exposed to Greek debt of the country's top three banks. It posted record losses for 2011 of around (EURO)

UNITED NATIONS -- In a major breakthrough, Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders agreed yesterday to resume full negotiations next week to end the 30-year division of Cyprus before it joins the European Union on May 1. The agreement caps a lengthy, often tortuous effort by Secretary General Kofi Annan to end one of the world's longest and most intractable disputes. It was reached after three days of grueling talks, including a marathon session that dragged on into the early hours yesterday among the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders as well as Greek and Turkish diplomats.

Cyprus: Crime here remains low, but a recent press report confirmed that theft, especially from vehicles, has risen sharply, tenfold in recent years. Many of these incidents are crimes that can be prevented with common sense precautions, such as locking valuables in trunks or leaving them in your hotel. On a political note, hopes are as high as they have ever been for a power-sharing deal to settle the decades-long division of the island into Greek and Turkish sectors. The catalyst is Turkey's push toward membership in the European Union.

BEIRUT — Another blockade-busting ship with activists and aid on board could embark within days on a new attempt to reach Gaza after Lebanese authorities granted permission yesterday for it to sail first to Cyprus. Israeli navy commandos raided a blockade-busting international flotilla bound for Gaza on May 31, killing nine pro-Palestinian activists. An international outcry over the raid pressured Israel to ease its three-year-old blockade of the territory. “We have been granted permission to go to Cyprus, and we are now in the process...

Cyprus will raise its borrowing capacity by 50 percent so that it can quickly tap foreign lenders for large amounts of money to support organizations that may run into trouble, the island’s finance minister said Thursday. Charilaos Stavrakis didn’t specify which organizations could potentially need such support. But he said raising the borrowing limit on medium term euro bonds from euro6 billion to euro9 billion ($12.8 billion) this year will give the island “flexibility’’ to borrow large sums quickly.

NICOSIA, Cyprus - Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, paid a historic visit to Cyprus yesterday, aiming to strengthen what he declared to be a "natural relationship" between the countries in a volatile and quickly changing region. The visit was the first by an Israeli leader to the nearby island nation, which along with Israel has natural gas interests in the Mediterranean and is coping with rising tensions with Turkey. Hours before Netanyahu's arrival, the Turks threatened to halt Cyprus from exploring in waters that Turkey says do not belong to Cyprus.

Cyprus' president says U.S. firm Noble Energy will soon begin exploratory drilling to confirm oil and gas deposits beneath the sea bed off the island's southern coast. Dimitris Christofias on Tuesday didn't specify a date for the start of drilling. He says surveys have so far shown a "very great possibility" of hydrocarbon deposits inside an 800,000-acre (1,250-square-mile) area that Cyprus licensed Noble to explore. Christofias says decisions on how the hydrocarbons will be exploited will be made once drilling confirms their quantity and quality.

Cyprus' Finance Minister says more austerity measures will be needed to cover a small shortfall from a deficit target of 2.5 percent of gross domestic product this year. Vassos Shiarly said Monday that he'll begin talks with trade unions on ways of covering the (EURO)150 million-(EURO)200 million ($198-264 million) deviation from the promised target to convince investors that Cyprus can pull through the financial crisis. Shiarly said the shortfall is relatively small thanks to better-than-expected revenues and restrained expenditures in the first quarter this year.

Cyprus' president has appointed banker Vassos Shiarly as the new finance minister following the resignation of the incumbent Kikis Kazamias due to health reasons, an official said Monday. Government Spokesman Stefanos Stefanou also said that Neoklis Sylikiotis moves from the Ministry of the Interior to Commerce after the post was vacated following the resignation of Praxoulla Antoniadou. Stefanou said President Dimitris Christofias has tapped former Nicosia mayor Eleni Mavrou to take over the Interior Ministry.

Cyprus' president will reshuffle his Cabinet after the finance minister resigned for health reasons, a government spokesman said Friday. Stefanos Stefanou said Finance Minister Kikis Kazamias insisted on his resignation, despite the important role he has been playing during the nation's economic crisis and President Dimitris Christofias' plea for him to remain at his post. "I'm afraid I can't put aside matters of health because things can get worse very easily and this requires lots of time and rest," Kazamias said, dismissing media reports that differences with Christofias over policy...

Cyprus' finance minister says a longstanding tax dispute with the island's influential Orthodox Christian church has been resolved under a new deal taxing future church property transactions and writing off tens of millions of euros in back taxes. Kikis Kazamias says the deal, which the Cabinet approved Wednesday, improves on a stalled 2005 accord and obligates the church to pay tax once it buys, sells or exchanges a property from now on. It also scraps the perk of clergy buying tax-free cars.

Cyprus' attorney general has dropped gambling charges against about 40 elderly women, including a 98-year-old, whose weekly poker-and-bridge party had been raided by police. The women, mostly in their 70s, had became a local cause celebre after receiving a court summons this week. Interviews with 98-year-old Eftychia Yiasemidou appeared in several media outlets. An assistant for Attorney General Petros Clerides said Friday the official had been unaware of the case and only found out about it through media reports.

The daughter of a 98-year-old woman says her mother is among some 40 elderly ladies ordered to appear in a Cyprus court later this month to face a gambling charge after police raided their poker party more than two years ago. Yioula Diakonti told state radio Thursday that the women, most of them in their 70s, were stunned to receive a court summons this week. Diakonti said the women are surprised that they are being prosecuted for what she said was penny ante gambling. She said two of the women have since died and another two are now in a nursing home.

Cyprus' president has appointed banker Vassos Shiarly as the new finance minister following the resignation of the incumbent Kikis Kazamias due to health reasons, an official said Monday. Government Spokesman Stefanos Stefanou also said that Neoklis Sylikiotis moves from the Ministry of the Interior to Commerce after the post was vacated following the resignation of Praxoulla Antoniadou. Stefanou said President Dimitris Christofias has tapped former Nicosia mayor Eleni Mavrou to take over the Interior Ministry.

NICOSIA, Cyprus - Communist leader Dimitris Christofias won Cyprus's crucial presidential runoff yesterday, pledging to restart moribund talks to reunify the island, and immediately agreed to meet the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots. Jubilant supporters flooded the streets of Nicosia, Europe's last divided capital, waving Cypriot and Che Guevara flags, honking car horns and lighting flares. "We have a common vision . . . to reunite our people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots," Christofias said in his victory speech.

Cyprus' Marfin Popular Bank said Wednesday that it's being courted by several strategic investors despite posting a huge loss of euro2.5 billion ($3.36 billion) for 2011 after taking a 60 percent writedown of its Greek government bond holdings. The island's second largest lender said that it would need euro1.35 billion ($1.82 billion) to meet the required capital buffer of 9 percent, according to a capital raising plan submitted to regulators. "Yes, there is interest from foreign strategic investors.

The Bank of Cyprus has reported an after-tax loss of euro1.01 billion ($1.34 billion) for 2011 after including a 60 percent writedown on its Greek government bond holdings. In announcing its preliminary results for 2011 on Tuesday, the eurozone member's largest bank said that excluding the writedown, it made an after-tax profit of euro312 million ($412.5 million) — a two percent increase over the previous year. But it says its final audited results "could potentially be materially different" depending on the outcome of Greece's debt-reducing bond swap with private creditors...