Landforms

The danger of a "hot incident" with Turkey is ever-present, former Prime Minister Costas Simitis warns in an article in Greek Kathimerini.
Referring to the "Imia crisis" which brought Greece and Turkey to the brink of war a few days after he became Prime Minister in January 1996, Simitis says  that "it is not excluded that the present Turkish leadership has similar designs."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country is determined to protect Turkish Cypriots' rights to gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean.

A Nepalese government expedition removed 11 tonnes of garbage from Mount Everest. Bodies of four dead mountaineers were found.

The climbers of the government expedition shared that the stacks of waste had been collected for decades. Human excrements, used oxygen cylinders, broken tents, ropes, canes, and plastic materials were concentrated mostly in the Camp 2 and Camp 3 areas.

The US has been deeply concerned by Turkey's announced intention to begin drilling in the waters off Cyprus and has urged Turkish authorities to halt these operations, US Ambassador to Cyprus Judith Garber said on Thursday evening.

Cyprus' government spokesman says a partnership between Greece, Cyprus and Israel in which the US is participating is seen by Washington as contributing to security and stability in the eastern Mediterranean.

The three countries have forged an energy-based partnership that has steadily grown following the discovery of gas deposits in the east Mediterrenean.

Greek Defense Minister Evangelos Apostolakis reiterated his concern over Turkey's decision to carry out illegal drilling inside Cyprus' exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and called on the country to refrain from further unilateral actions that violate international law and undermine region's stability.

Referring to the escalation of tension between Greece and Turkey in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, the director of the US State Department's Office of Southern European Affairs, Yuri Kim, said on Wednesday that Washington is doing its best to prevent conflict between the two countries.

The European Commission on Wednesday released a report on Cyprus' high debt of 102.5 percent of gross domestic product, but refrained from taking measures against the country, deeming that Nicosia's efforts to address the concerns were sufficient.
[Reuters]

Cyprus struck a preliminary agreement with Noble, Shell and Delek for the allocation of revenues from the utilization of the Aphrodite deposit and the transfer of natural gas by underwater pipeline to the Idku LNG terminal in Egypt.

The foreign ministers of Cyprus, Greece and Armenia say they have laid the foundations to forge closer ties and help promote stability and prosperity in the region.
The three men said in their first three-way talks in the Cypriot capital Tuesday that they're exploring ways to boost relations on sectors including the economy, crisis management, health care and tourism.