Paphos

Nearly 400 passengers traveling between Cyprus and Crete experienced delays and a good deal of hassle after gale-force winds caused their flights to be rerouted on Tuesday.

Both incidents concerned a Ryanair flight from and to the resort city of Paphos on the southwestern coast of Cyprus, state broadcaster ERT reported.

New major investment plans in Cyprus are under way by Fattal Hotel Group, the largest hospitality organization in Israel and one of the fastest-growing hotel groups - with 270 units in 117 destinations. It is now further expanding its portfolio in Cyprus. 

The company owns nine hotel units in Paphos, Larnaca, Protaras and Limassol. 

A Cyprus criminal court on Tuesday rejected a defense argument that a British man's confession to killing his ailing wife was unlawfully obtained, because he was in no frame of mind to speak to police without a lawyer present.

A 10-year-old Bulgarian died in Cyprus after being hit by a car on a crosswalk.

The tragedy took place in the Cypriot city of Paphos yesterday, around 14:00 pm-14.30pm, when the girl was crossing the zebra of Thassos Papadopoulos Blvd on her way back from school.

The girl was hit in front of the eyes of her grandfather

European Council President Donald Tusk says the European Union "stands united" behind Cyprus as tensions between the Mediterranean island nation and Turkey escalate over offshore gas drilling.

Speaking Thursday after an informal EU summit in Romania, Tusk said the EU "expects Turkey to respect the sovereign rights" of its member nation and the bloc will closely monitor the situation.

In an apparent bid to entrench what it sees as its rights in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, Ankara has reserved an area stretching south from the Aegean island of Rhodes to the western coast of Cyprus to explore for oil and gas. 

Leading real estate investment company NBG Pangaea signed an agreement on Monday for the acquisition of a portfolio of 21 properties, mainly in Cyprus and totaling 120,000 square meters, from CYREIT Variable Investment Company Plc, a subsidiary of Bank of Cyprus.

Among Ryanair's winter flight schedule cancellations affecting 34 destinations that the company announced Wednesday were all services to and from Hania. All Ryanair's winter flights between the Cretan airport and Athens, Thessaloniki and Paphos have been suspended, but the airline did say it would provide those who have already booked their flights with a full refund.

Translated from the original Greek by George Gilson

Israeli commandos were wrapping up a large-scale military drill in Cyprus’s Troodos Mountains on Wednesday.

The drill, the first of its kind to take place in Cyprus, involved hundreds of combat soldiers from the Egoz special forces unit as well as Black Hawk helicopters and Super Hercules transport plans.