Limassol

Cyprus' telecoms authority said on Tuesday unknown arsonists have torched a second mobile telephone antenna despite government efforts to quell "groundless" fears that it's moving to install a 5G antenna network.

By Friday morning, Cypriot police had managed to track down 14 of the churchgoers who had taken part in an illegal service at Ayios Georgios Spileon Monastery in Limassol's Erimi village on Thursday, which soon turned into a fiasco as participants had locked themselves in rooms upon the sight of the police while some managed to escape.

The Islamic State group remains active in Syria and Iraq despite major territorial losses, necessitating French air support for troops mainly in Iraq, the commander of a French aircraft carrier strike group said Friday.

The current president of the Turkish Cyprus announced on Feb. 5 that he will contest the 2020 presidential election to be held on April 26.

Mustafa Akıncı told reporters in the capital Lefkoşa that he will run as an independent candidate.

Cyprus' government spokesman on Thursday backpedaled on a claim that Turkey may have stolen technical data it used to pinpoint a target for gas drilling in waters where the island nation has exclusive economic rights.

Leading cruise operator MSC Cruises announced on Wednesday in Athens a first for the Swiss-based operator: the launch of a new route across the Aegean and the East Mediterranean that will have Piraeus as its home port.

Cypriot Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos has been promised a change of policy at DP World Limassol, with the company saying it would service more than two cruise ships in a given day following complaints.

The frigate "Regele Ferdinand" arrived at the Egyptian port of Alexandria for a two-day call on October 28 and 29, which makes it the first Romanian military ship to moor in this port, the Romanian Navy General Staff (SMFN) said in a release on Tuesday.

Turkey is sending an oil and gas drilling ship to waters off southern Cyprus where Greek Cypriot authorities have already awarded exploration rights to Italian and French companies, according to Turkish statements on Thursday.

An oil company registered in Cyprus has been blacklisted by US officials who blocked a total of four vessels for transporting Venezuelan oil to Cuba.
According to Reuters, Caroil Transport Marine Ltd was among a number of companies accused of continuing "to circumvent sanctions by receiving oil shipments from Venezuela."