Cyprus

AKROTIRI, Cyprus Jan 14 (Reuters) - Pro-Palestinian activists protested at the gates of RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus on Sunday, angry that the British base was used as a launch pad for strikes against the Houthi militia in Yemen.

U.S. and British warplanes, ships and submarines launched dozens of air strikes against Houthi forces in Yemen overnight Thursday to Friday in retaliation for attacks on Red Sea shipping that the Iran-backed group says is a response to the war in Gaza.

RAF Akrotiri was used as a staging point for Typhoon fighter jets involved in the operation.

NICOSIA, December 18. /TASS/: Ersin Tatar, leader of the Turkish Cypriots, asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to consider establishing direct diplomatic relations between Russia and the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

“We would like our relations with Russia to develop and expand, so I express my gratitude to all Russians, and I also ask Russian authorities and President Putin personally to consider the issue of relations with Northern Cyprus,” Tatar, who holds the office of the President of Northern Cyprus, told TASS.

NICOSIA, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-six countries have requested Cyprus' assistance in repatriating their nationals from both Israel and the Gaza Strip, Konstantinos Letymbiotis, spokesman for the government of Cyprus, said here on Monday.

"We are responding to the best of our abilities," Letymbiotis said.

Earlier on Monday, Cyprus' National Council examined the situation in the region and possible developments that could affect Cyprus.

NICOSIA, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) said on Monday that an understanding had been reached on the construction of a road that prompted a confrontation between Turkish military personnel and UN peacekeepers in August.

The incident took place inside the buffer zone near Pyla (Pile in Turkish), a village near the southeastern coast of Cyprus inhabited by both Greek and Turkish Cypriots.

05 September 2023; MEMO: A group of Israeli men has been taken into custody in Cyprus following allegations of gang-rape made by a 20-year-old British woman who was on vacation in Ayia Napa.

The five Israeli men, aged 19 and 20, have been placed in detention for an additional eight days, as ordered by a district court magistrate in Famagusta following their arrest on Sunday night.

NICOSIA, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus, Greece and Israel agreed on Monday to intensify cooperation on an energy corridor from the Eastern Mediterranean to Europe, leaders of the three countries said after meeting in Nicosia.

"In light of the growing need for energy diversification and interconnectivity due to geopolitical developments, we reaffirmed the common interest to advance prospects for a reliable energy corridor from the Eastern Mediterranean basin to Europe," they said in a joint statement.

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus said Wednesday it dismantled a criminal human smuggling ring responsible for bringing boatloads of Syrian migrants from Syria, Lebanon and Turkey. The eastern Mediterranean island nation has seen almost daily migrant boat arrivals in recent days.

Cypriot police said three months of investigative work resulted in the arrest of five suspects following a raid by a combined force of 40 officers on several homes in the island’s southeast.

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus police on Monday rescued 18 Syrian migrants after their boat started taking on water some 3.5 miles off the Mediterranean island nation’s southeastern coast.

Police said the 11 men, three unescorted minors, one woman and her three children had set sail from Tartus, Syria and were brought ashore aboard a police patrol vessel.

State-run Cyprus News Agency reported that the woman and her children were taken to the hospital after one of the kids had fainted. The migrants’ boat reportedly sank.

09 August 2023; MEMO: Pro-democracy demonstrators gathered in the Cypriot city of Paphos to protest outside the hotel where Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was staying during his vacation, Israeli media reported.

"It must be nice to sleep in a democracy," the demonstrators shouted at the far-right extremist Israeli minister.

NICOSIA, June 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Cypriot emergency services rescued 45 Syrian migrants from two boats after receiving information that they were in distress near a coastal tourist resort, authorities said Friday.

The eastern Mediterranean island’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said it had brought ashore 29 men, five women and 11 children who had been afloat off Cape Greco on Thursday evening.

Police said they were in good health and had been transferred to a migrant reception centre on the outskirts of the capital Nicosia.