Nicosia (Cyprus), Dec 13 - At first glance, the water flowing into Cyprus' largest reservoir looks like a raging torrent. But in reality, the volume of water that runs from the Kouris river into the dam represents a trickle of what the nearby city of Limassol actually needs.

Huge sand dunes dot the landscape and the fish and birds have disappeared as a crippling drought has made reservoirs, like the Kouros dam, resemble parched dirt bowls during the summer.

Athens/Nicosia  - Cyprus opened a new airport Saturday with the vision of it becoming a regional transport hub in the coming decades.

Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias inaugurated the new Larnaca terminal, built by a consortium of French and Cypriot companies at a cost of 656.3 million euros (977.5 million dollars).

The ceremony was attended by Cypriot and foreign officials, including French European Affairs Minister Pierre Lellouche.

Nicosia, Nov 1 - Cyprus has expressed its support for a permanent seat for India in an expanded UN Security Council.

Cyprus President Demetris Christofias while speaking Saturday at a state banquet in honour of visiting Indian President Pratibha Patil said his country considers India a very important country at the regional and international level, Xinhua reported.

Nicosia (Cyprus), Oct. 31 : On the last day of her six-day state visit to London and Cyprus, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil met Cyprus President Demitris Christofias at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, and was told that Cyprus supports India''s bid for permanent membership in the UNSC. India has the world''''s second largest population and is the world''''s largest liberal democracy. It is also the world''''s twelfth largest economy and fourth largest in terms of purchasing power parity. Currently, India maintains the world''''s third largest armed force.

Nicosia (Cyprus), Oct. 31: President Pratibha Patil has asked NRIs in Nicosia to participate in social welfare programmes launched by the Indian government, especially the education and health care sectors which are essential pillars of a society.

"We are expanding our education and health care sectors as essential pillars for building a human resource that is educated and healthy," Patil said at a reception hosted for her by Indian High Commissioner to Cyprus, Ashok Kumar, on Saturday.

Nicosia (Cyprus), October 5 : The survey of a Roman shipwreck dating back to the 2nd century AD has revealed the presence of over 130 ceramic jars, likely to have been carrying wine or oil, which indicates that the Romans may have liked French wine.

According to a report in Cyprus Mail, the survey of the Roman shipwreck near Cape Greco on the Island's southeast coast, has been done by the Department of Antiquities in Cyprus.

"Its location in shallow waters, suggest that either the vessel was nearing an intended port-of-call, or else was engaged in a coasting trade, moving products to market over short distances up and down the coast," said a press release from the Department of Antiquities.

Athens/Nicosia  - Rival leaders in Cyprus launched a second round of UN-led reunification talks on Thursday, aiming to reach a solution to the decades-old division of the eastern Mediterranean island.

Governance and power sharing are the among the top issues Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat hoped to reach agreement on by the end of October.

"Despite the disagreements and problems we should not be pessimistic," Greek Cypriot government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou told state television RIK.

"Problems exist but so does the project ahead of us and we will work hard in order to reach a solution based on a bizonal bi-communal federation," he said.

Athens/Nicosia - Rival leaders in Cyprus said Thursday they will resume peace talks next week after a new round of reunification talks was postponed following a row over Greek Cypriot pilgrims.

The Greek Cypriot government cancelled scheduled talks with Turkish Cypriot side on Thursday after more than 650 Orthodox pilgrims were turned back from an attempt to visit the Agios Mamas church in northern Cyprus for a service.

Athens/Nicosia  - The remains of five Greek Cypriot prisoners of war missing for more than three decades were discovered in a mass grave in the Turkish-controlled part of the divided island of Cyprus, reports said Monday.

Their remains, found in exhumations being carried out by the Investigative Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) in a mass grave in the village of Tziacs, were identified through DNA testing.

Athens/Nicosia  - Rival leaders on Cyprus have made "significant" progress to reunite the divided Mediterranean island in renewed peace talks after a year-long effort, a UN envoy said Thursday.

"The first reading has now been completed," said Alexander Downer, UN special advisor to the secretary general. "Certainly from the perspective of the United Nations, we would say that this is good progress and it shows that there have been significant progress in these negotiations."

Brussels - Greece and Cyprus said Monday that violations of their airspace by Turkish aircraft could derail that country's European Union membership ambitions.

"Turkey continues to violate our airspace and is planning surveillance activities of our waters," said Cypriot Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou. "If Turkey continues this way, there could be consequences for Turkish membership.

The comments came as EU foreign ministers met in Brussels on Monday.

Athens/Nicosia - Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders on the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus agreed on Friday to open a new checkpoint linking the sides during the latest round of reunification talks, UN official said.

UN officials said the Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat decided during their 34th meeting in the context of direct negotiations for the opening of the Limnitis checkpoint.

Athens/Nicosia  - The European Commission urged Cypriots Thursday to seize a "historic chance" to reunite and end the conflict that has been plaguing the divided island for decades.

"There is a historic chance now to end this conflict once and for all," EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said.

"The time is now. Do not allow a situation where the younger generation will accept the status quo," he told journalists during a brief once-day visit to Nicosia.

Athens/Nicosia - The key tourism sector for Mediterranean country Greece fell by 11.6 per cent in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2008, according to data from the Central Bank of Greece Thursday, highlighting the impact of the global economic slowdown.

The statistics were also gloomy for the eastern Mediterraean island of Cyprus were tourism fell by 7.5 per cent compared to the same period last year.

DS Kulkarni Developers Limited (DSKDL), a well known Property Development and Construction Company, has informed that it has terminated its agreement with GTC Cyprus Holding Pune Ltd for development of a special economic zone (SEZ) project.    

The company stated in an official release that, the agreement which was executed on July 3, 2008, between the company and GTC Cyprus Holding Pune Ltd for joint development of SEZ project has been annulled and terminated.

However, DSKDL will continue with the development of the proposed SEZ.    

Athens/Nicosia - The main opposition centre-right party DISY has received the largest share of votes in the European Parliament election in the Republic of Cyprus, according to exit polls released after voting booths closed at 8 pm (1800 GMT) on Saturday.

The conservative party won 35.5 per cent of the votes, earning two seats in the European Parliament while the ruling left-wing AKEL party received 33.7 per cent and two seats.

Athens/Nicosia  - Polling started Saturday in the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus, as the divided island's Greek Cypriots cast their votes in the European Parliament elections.

Forty-seven candidates compete for six seats on the eastern Mediterranean island.

Nicosia, May 27 : Flydubai, the state-owned low cost airline of Dubai, has announced that the Emirates Post Office, which has more than 100 offices all over the United Arab Emirates, will act as the airline''s selling agent.

In this innovative move, the Post Office will offer booking facilities, accept payment for reservations made on-line and make or change booking preferences.

In June, the new airline will start flights to Beirut, Amman, Damascus and Alexandria.

Nicosia, May 22 : The United Arab Emirates announced on Wednesday that it decided to withdraw from a planned Gulf Arab Monetary union, something with has been debated for the last 30 years. The decision does not affect UAE's broader membership in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The decision casts doubts over the future of the project, although the other four countries- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain- reiterated their intention to participate. Two years ago, GCC member Oman announced that it would not join the planned single currency.

Nicosia, May 9 : The Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO), which wholly owned by the government of Bahrain, has just completed the feasibility studies for four to five projects expected to cost five billion dollars.

BAPCO is involved in oil prospecting, drilling, production and distribution, sales and exports of petroleum products, natural gas and refined products. It also has storage facilities for more than 14 million barrels, a marine and a marketing terminal.