Cyprus president to be released from hospital on Friday following readmission

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades was on Friday expected to be discharged from a hospital in Brussels to which he was admitted after suffering nosebleeds caused by high blood pressure.

Anastasiades, who had been due to attend a European Council meeting, was admitted to the hospital, discharged and then readmitted on Thursday as high blood pressure problems persisted.

The Cypriot leader spent Thursday night in the hospital and was due to leave on Friday, according to government spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos who said doctors advised Anastasiades to rest over the next few days.

The president's health problems appeared as Turkey intensified its violations of Cyprus's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), sending a research vessel and war ships into an area south of the island where Nicosia was already conducting research for hydrocarbons.