Category Archives: Cyprus

Rights groups urge Cyprus to drop false rape case against Briton

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Woman, 19, to go on trial after revoking claim she was raped by 12 Israeli tourists

Human rights and feminist groups are calling for Cypriot authorities to drop the case against a British teenager accused of falsely claiming she was raped by 12 Israeli tourists in a hotel room.

The 19-year-old, who reported the alleged assault almost three months ago but was then arrested after revoking her criminal complaint, is due to go on trial on Tuesday on a charge of public mischief. She has pleaded not guilty to fabricating the accusation of rape, but could be imprisoned for up to a year if found guilty.

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Cypriot bishop faces hate speech inquiry over homophobic remarks

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Greek Orthodox cleric claimed gay men recognisable from ‘particular odour’

Police in Cyprus have opened an investigation into homophobic remarks made by a controversial bishop.

At the request of the island’s attorney general, investigators will examine whether the Greek Cypriot Orthodox prelate, known popularly by his first name, Neophytos, violated hate speech laws after he claimed that homosexuality could be passed on when pregnant women had anal sex.

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Israelis held over alleged rape freed as British accuser is arrested

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19-year-old UK tourist to appear in Cypriot court on suspicion of making false complaint

Police in Cyprus have released seven Israeli tourists from detention and said the British teenager who accused them of gang rape would face court on suspicion of making a false allegation.

“All seven Israelis have been released, since 10am,” a police spokesman said. “The young woman will be taken to court tomorrow morning.”

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Stray missile from Syria-Israel clash lands in Cyprus – video

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A stray missile has exploded in mid-air over villages in northern Cyprus, thought to have been fired by Syrian forces in response to an Israeli attack. Hours after the projectile struck the area at about 1am local time (11pm BST) debris was still being discovered in Turkish Cypriot villages

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Cyprus begins lionfish cull to tackle threat to Mediterranean ecosystem

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Voracious fish are bleeding into ocean ‘like a cut artery’, says top marine biologist

Cyprus has held its first organised cull of lionfish after numbers of the invasive species have proliferated in recent years, threatening the Mediterranean ecosystem and posing a venomous danger to humans.

“They’re actually very placid,” said Prof Jason Hall-Spencer, a marine biologist, after spearing 16 of the exotic specimens in the space of 40 minutes in the inaugural “lionfish removal derby” off the island’s southern coast. He added: “The problem is they are not part of the natural ecosystem and we are seeing them in plague proportions.”

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Turkey insists on right to drill for energy reserves off Cyprus

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Dispute likely to escalate after Nicosia said it would seek to arrest anyone caught drilling

Tensions over energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean have risen sharply after Turkey said it would “exercise its sovereign rights” to drill off Cyprus in flagrant defiance of warnings from western allies.

As the dispute over potential gas reserves intensified, Ankara insisted its state-of-the-art drilling ship, the Fatih, and its support vessels would begin operations in waters viewed by the EU as being within the island’s exclusive economic zone.

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Northern Cyprus judge acquits two journalists of insulting Erdoğan

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Press freedom watchdog hails ruling by court in Turkish-occupied territory

Press freedom defenders have reacted with jubilation after a judge in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus acquitted two journalists accused of insulting Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

A court threw out charges of defamation against Şener Levent and Ali Osman Tabak brought after the small-circulation daily Afrika published a cartoon depicting a Greek statue urinating on Erdoğan’s head.

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Man suspected of Cyprus serial killings ‘has confessed in writing’

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Nikos Metaxas, 35, has reportedly admitted killing five women and two children

An army officer suspected of murdering at least seven people in Cyprus reportedly confessed to the serial killings in writing, saying he wanted “to go to prison”.

As Scotland Yard detectives joined police in investigating crimes described as unprecedented in scale, local media said the Greek Cypriot suspect decided to confess to the deaths of five foreign women and two children when he realised the evidence against him was unassailable.

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Cyprus: likely gas field find raises prospect of tension with Turkey

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Expected announcement by ExxonMobil of discovery off island’s south coast seen as potential game changer

Tensions between Cyprus and Turkey over energy could soon come to a head, with ExxonMobil apparently poised to announce a significant natural gas find off the divided island’s southern coast.

After more than three months of deep-water exploration in the eastern Mediterranean, the US firm is expected to unveil findings this week in what is being described as a seminal moment in the race to tap potentially profitable underwater resources.

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