Cyprus

The moment our plane landed the Lefkoşe (Nicosia) airport, I realized how much I missed the island. North Cyprus used to be a regular stop for me, especially in early spring when it was just the right time for wild asparagus, the so-called "Ayrelli" in Cypriot Turkish.

Greece and Cyprus have overcome the crisis of the previous decade and are heading forward to steady growth, said National Economy and Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis as he visited Nicosia on Wednesday and met with the Cypriot Finance Minister Makis Keravnos.

Events celebrating Europe Day and the 20th anniversary of Cyprus' accession to the EU are being organized this week by the European Parliament Office in Cyprus and the European Commission Representation in Cyprus, with the participation in two of them, of the Cypriot president Nikos Christodoulides, and the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides.

The UN secretary-general's special envoy for Cyprus, Angela Holguin Cuellar, is expected to visit the island on Tuesday for a new round of contacts.

This will be her third mission to Cyprus since she assumed office; the UN has announced she will stay until the 14th of May.

Cyprus' Energy Ministry announced on Thursday that it has rejected the proposal Chevron, the managing company of the "Aphrodite" natural gas field, submitted on March 29, about the optimization of the approved development and production plan of the field. 

This summer will mark 50 years since Turkey's invasion of Cyprus, and for the last five decades tens of thousands of Turkish occupation troops have been present in the northern part of the island. 50 years later, the US still refuses to officially recognize Turkey's illegal occupation as an occupation.

ENI's discoveries in Cyprus' exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and the scenarios for the utilization of the confirmed drillings as well as the preferred solutions to efficiently meet domestic energy priorities were discussed in a meeting of the president of the republic, Nikos Christodoulides, with ENI's Chief Executive Officer Claudio Descalzi on Tuesday in the presence of the ministers of energy

The European Union will offer economic aid to Lebanon when the European Commission and Cypriot presidents jointly visit Beirut on Thursday, a Cypriot official has said.

Cyprus has grown increasingly concerned at a sharp increase in the number of Syrian refugees making their way to the island. Lebanon, a mere 185 km away from Cyprus, hosts hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees.

The "Blue Homeland" doctrine which envisages Turkish influence over large swaths of the Mediterranean and other seas at the expense of other countries in the region, including Greece, will be taught during the next school year, local media revealed.

Cyprus' Shipping Deputy Minister, Marina Hadjimanolis, met last week in Guangzhou, China, with executives of shipping companies, shipping agencies, financial institutions as well as local officials, according to a press release by the Deputy Ministry.