Nicosia

Cyprus on Thursday dismissed concerns emanating from the Geek Defense Ministry that Turkey will provoke a dangerous escalation in tension when France's Total company begins extracting natural gas in the island's territorial waters this coming June.

I was recently in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) for one of the "Explore" tours that daily Hürriyet carried out with the Association of Turkish Travel Agents (TÜRSAB). It was my first visit to the island as a "tourist," though I have visited it many times over the years for work.

Bank of Cyprus expects modest profitability in the next quarters and will not pay a dividend this year, its chief executive said on Thursday, speaking as its shares were listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The listing in London was a vote of confidence in the City despite Britain's looming exit from the European Union, CEO John Hourican said.

Nikos Anastasiades asked for a “truce” in the interior of Cyprus, as the negotiations for the resolution of the Cyprus issue are on a critical point.

After last week's conference in Geneva about Cyprus, Athens has now shifted its focus on Wednesday's talks between Greek and Turkish technical teams, in the hope they will pave the way for a resumption of political negotiations aimed at reunifying the ethnically-split island.

Greece wants to ramp up the pressure on Turkey to be more constructive in the bid for a settlement to the Cyprus dispute by trying to enlist the support of its European Union partners.

Bank of Cyprus, which was forced to recapitalize by seizing customer savings in 2013, said on Thursday that it has fully repaid emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) to the island's central bank.

The lender said it had repaid 11.4 billion euros in total.

Most of it was a legacy of Laiki, a lender that was shut down during the financial crisis that gripped Cyprus in March 2013.

Nicosia insisted on Tuesday that the Republic of Cyprus will not be dissolved to make way for a federation with constituent Greek and Turkish states, and that the multilateral summit in Geneva, slated for January 12, that will seek to seal a reunification deal must include the participation of the permanent members of the UN Security Council to ensure its successful outcome.

The discovery of natural gas is a significant incentive to get Ankara's backing for a resolution to the Cyprus issue, says the country's President Nicos Anastasiades, who believes that the prospect of using some of the fuel lying beneath the seabed off the island's shores to cover a large part of Turkey's energy needs and transform the country into a regional energy hub could convince Turkish P

Washington will send a representative to the upcoming Cyprus talks in Geneva, should this be required by the United Nations, a US envoy has said.