• Sparkling beaches: Cyprus has cleanest waters in EU
• Turtle conservation hits the SPOT in North Cyprus
• Endangered Green, Loggerhead turtles make comeback in Cyprus

• Cyprus: MKC City College embraces Transcendental Meditation, Consciousness-Based programmes
• Consciousness-Based Education tour connects with universities in Cyprus
• Cyprus tour aims to improve education, quality of life throughout Middle East

• Cyprus crisis ruins dying father's plans for kids
• Cyprus' banks to remain closed until Thursday
• Bank closure leaves Cyprus businesses high and dry

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Positive Trends
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Sparkling beaches: Cyprus has cleanest waters in EU
1 June 2021 - Tourism in Cyprus got a shot in the arm Tuesday [1 June] after Europe's environmental watchdog ranked the country first among the European Union's 27 nations for having the cleanest swimming waters. (more)

Turtle conservation hits the SPOT in North Cyprus
24 March 2021 - Green and loggerhead turtle nest counts have increased by 162 percent and 46 percent respectively in less than two decades on North Cyprus in the Mediterranean. Conservation begun by enthusiasts in 1983 is now organized by a local NGO, the Society for the Protection of Turtles (SPOT), in collaboration with scientists from the University of Exeter in the U.K. and the local Department of Environmental Protection. (more)

Endangered Green, Loggerhead turtles make comeback in Cyprus
16 August 2018 - After being hunted to near extinction in the first half of the last century, the Mediterranean's endangered Loggerhead and Green turtles are making a comeback thanks to pioneering conservation efforts, Cypriot marine biologists say. For these ancient reptiles, a stretch of beach on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus has been their home for thousands of years. (more)

Hopes high about 'once in a lifetime' chance to reunify Cyprus
24 September 2016 - The prospect of a breakthrough ending the decades-old division of Cyprus could be delivered at a much-anticipated meeting between the leaders of the island's two estranged communities. Reunification hopes are expected to be reinvigorated on Sunday when the president, Nicos Anastasiades, who heads Greeks in the south, and Mustafa Akıncı, who heads Turks in the north, hold talks in New York with the United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon. That the meeting is taking place at all is a breakthrough in itself. (more)

Cyprus peace talks appear to be back on track
27 May 2016 - Talks to reunify the ethnically divided island of Cyprus appeared to be back on track Friday when its president said he's ready to pick up where things left off following a halt after a perceived attempt to diplomatically upgrade the island's breakaway Turkish Cypriot north. A Turkish invasion in the wake of a 1974 coup aiming at union with Greece split Cyprus into an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north. Much progress has been achieved in a year of talks and both leaders say they aim to reach a deal reunifying the island as a federation by the end of 2016. (more)

Christian, Muslim leaders in Cyprus support peace talks
10 February 2016 - Christian and Muslim leaders in Cyprus on Wednesday repeated their full support for ongoing talks aimed at reunifying the ethnically-split country, saying their united stand for peace serves as a strong example of cooperation in a region where conflict is often fueled by religion. Cyprus was split into an internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup aiming at union with Greece. (more)

UN official: Further progress made in Cyprus peace talks
25 November 2015 - Talks aimed at reunifying ethnically divided Cyprus have made further progress and the island's rival leaders are confident remaining issues can be resolved soon, a U.N. envoy said Wednesday, 25 November. Envoy Espen Barthe Eide said Nicos Anastasiades, the Greek Cypriot President of the island's internationally recognized government, and the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots, Mustafa Akinci, remain committed to reaching a peace accord 'as soon as possible.' (more)

Britain says 'stars beginning to align' on Cyprus unification
19 November 2015 - Momentum towards ending Cyprus's four-decade-old partition is building, and now is the right time for Greek and Turkish Cypriots to do a deal, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Thursday. 'The stars are beginning to align, but of course there are some very challenging issues,' Hammond said after talks in the island's capital with the leaders of both communities. Cyprus, a former British colony, was ethnically split in a Turkish invasion in 1974 following a brief Greek Cypriot coup. (more)

Cyprus closest to unification in 40 years, say Turkish Cypriots
18 November 2015 - Cyprus is closer than ever to ending its four-decade-old partition and the two sides could agree on the text of a deal by May, followed by a referendum, a senior Turkish Cypriot official said on Wednesday (November 18). The island's Greek and Turkish communities have lived apart since 1974, when Turkey invaded the north after a brief Greek-inspired coup. The seeds of partition were sown soon after independence from Britain in 1960. (more)

Turkey, Greece see window of opportunity on Cyprus
18 November 2015 - The Prime Ministers of Turkey and Greece on Wednesday (November 18) said they saw an opportunity to move toward a solution on the 40-year division of Cyprus, and Athens indicated it would lend support to Ankara's bid to join the European Union. Cyprus has been split along ethnic lines since a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief, Greek-inspired coup. (more)

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Success of Maharishi's Programmes
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Cyprus: MKC City College embraces Transcendental Meditation, Consciousness-Based programmes
18 July 2013 - MKC City College in Cyprus has begun hosting consciousness-based programmes. Owners of the college have learned Transcendental Meditation and on several occasions they have made the campus available for 'open days' for related activities. College administrators have also offered a scholarship for a student from Cyprus to earn a degree in Business Administration while helping to promote Consciousness-Based Education in the country. (more)

Consciousness-Based Education tour connects with universities in Cyprus
12 May 2012 - During his recent tour of Cyprus, Dr Bevan Morris visited five universities. Dr Morris, President of Maharishi University of Management, said that in meeting with faculty and university administrators, his presentations on Consciousness-Based Education met with very positive responses including the desire to work with MUM in various forms of exchanges and cooperation. (more)

Cyprus tour aims to improve education, quality of life throughout Middle East
12 May 2012 - During a recent tour of Cyprus, Dr Bevan Morris, President of Maharishi University of Management, spoke to five different universities on the island about Consciousness-Based Education. Teachers of the Transcendental Meditation Programme in Cyprus said that many students there come from Middle Eastern countries and Africa, and that practising Transcendental Meditation will help not only Cyprus but the whole region. (more)

Cyprus: TV, radio interviews bring Transcendental Meditation to a wide audience
12 May 2012 - While on a recent tour of Cyprus, Dr Bevan Morris, President of Maharishi University of Management, gave several television and radio interviews. One of the television shows 'goes out on cable television in Turkey and anywhere Turkic people are, which is all through central Asia,' Dr Morris said. The interview covered Transcendental Meditation, Consciousness-Based Education, and many other aspects of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's programmes to promote coherence, harmony, and progress in nations. (more)

Cyprus: Diverse audiences welcome programmes for education, peace
11 May 2011 - A recent Consciousness-Based Education tour in Cyprus included not only presentations to students and educators, but also presentations at a symposium, and a new focus on coherence-creating programmes in both northern and southern Cyprus. (more)

Cyprus: University students, professors enthusiastic for Consciousness-Based Education
11 May 2011 - Lectures at universities and schools drew great interest throughout Cyprus in Consciousness-Based Education, the Transcendental Meditation Programme, and programmes to create harmony and coherence in national consciousness. (more)

University students in Cyprus can create invincible peace, harmony, and progress for their nation
10 January 2010 - Support from educational leaders for Consciousness-Based Education at the university level could lead to national invincibility for Cyprus. (more)

Reviving the ancient tradition of knowledge in Cyprus through Consciousness-Based Education
19 December 2009 - There is a long tradition of knowledge in Cyprus, extending back to antiquity--from the Greeks and Romans, to the Phoenician and Ottoman Empires. This beautiful island has been under many foreign influences. Now the intention is to create a group of 100 Yogic Flyers on the island, to transform the destiny of the nation to coherence, harmony, and invincibility. (more)

Cyprus: Meditators from north and south come together to create a peaceful, invincible nation
22 October 2009 - Earlier this month, a peace conference was held in the UN buffer zone of Cyprus, presenting the peace-creating programmes of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Dr Albert Baruh and Dr Theodore Pizanis, leaders of the Global Country of World Peace in Turkey and Cyprus, along with Transcendental Meditation practitioners from both the north and south regions of Cyprus, enjoyed a celebration that included a Maharishi Gandharva Veda concert. A university in northern Cyprus is offering courses on Transcendental Meditation and Creating an Ideal Society. (more)

Initiative launched to unify Cyprus through 100 Yogic Flyers
12 October 2009 - A new initiative is underway to unify northern and southern Cyprus through the programmes of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The initiative was inaugurated on 3 October in the United Nations buffer zone, with people from both the Turkish north and the Greek south attending. The goal is to unify the divided nation through a permanent group of 100 Yogic Flyers who will create an influence of peace, harmony, and reconciliation. (more)

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Flops
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Cyprus crisis ruins dying father's plans for kids
9 April 2013 - A multibillion-euro bailout that cash-strapped Cyprus agreed with international creditors has rendered Bank of Cyprus shares effectively worthless, their value wiped out under the terms of a complicated recapitalization scheme. The deal spells out financial disaster from many ordinary people who built up savings are the ones facing real disaster. Cypriot authorities agreed that all bondholders, investors and savers with over 100,000 euros tied up in the country's two biggest banks -- Bank of Cyprus and Laiki -- will take massive losses as part of bailout terms. The deal with Cyprus' euro area partners and the International Monetary Fund would secure the country 10 billion euros ($12.83 billion) in rescue money. Many have felt that Cyprus became ground zero for economic experimentation of the most radical kind: allowing international creditors to raid Cypriot savings in order to protect taxpayers elsewhere from having to pay for banking mistakes. (more)

Cyprus' banks to remain closed until Thursday
25 March 2013 - Cyprus has extended the closure of its banks for two more days -- until Thursday -- a sudden postponement that comes after the country's leaders spent days struggling to come up with a plan to raise the money needed to secure an international bailout. Banks in the country have already been closed for more than a week to prevent a run on deposits. All except the country's two largest lenders had been due to open Tuesday morning after the country clinched an eleventh-hour deal with the 17-nation eurozone and the International Monetary Fund to provide Cyprus with a bailout. Without that deal, the country's banks would have collapsed, dragging down the economy and potentially pushing it out of the eurozone. Under the deal reached in the early hours of Monday morning in Brussels, Cyprus agreed to slash its oversized banking sector and inflict hefty losses on large depositors in troubled banks to secure the 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout. (more)

Bank closure leaves Cyprus businesses high and dry
22 March 2013 - In Cyprus, an ever increasing lack of cash is one of the many problems that are having a crippling effect on the economy as a bailout crisis keeps banks closed for more than a week. While ATMs still function and people can get cash, they run out frequently. More and more stores no longer accept credit and debit card payments. Businesses have found themselves unable to pay suppliers or their employees -- and few people want to shop in a crisis like this. The mounting problems are slowly stifling this country of just over 800,000 people. The banks have been shuttered since last weekend as frantic politicians try to avert a run on savings while they come up with a better plan to stave off bankruptcy than the one imposed by international creditors: seizing part of bank deposits. The idea that suddenly the state could dip into people's accounts and just take their money sparked outrage and fear. (more)

Ghost town hostage to Cyprus stalemate
2 August 2012 - Cyprus has been ethnically separated since Turkey invaded on 20 July, 1974, and seized the northern third of territory, five days after a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at union with Greece. Varosha, part of the ancient port town of Famagusta, was taken in a second operation on 14 August, after a ceasefire. Mindful of United Nations resolutions barring resettlement, Turkey fenced off the six square km (2.3 sq miles) area, leaving it to rot. The town that once drew luxury-seeking Hollywood stars like Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor is now an eerie collection of derelict high-rise hotels, churches and residences, and the ultimate bargaining chip in the decades-long stand-off between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. In recent months, both sides have mooted re-opening Varosha, with its white sand beaches, to help break a deadlock in UN-backed reunification talks between Demetris Christofias, president of Cyprus, and Dervis Eroglu, the head of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot region. As Greek Cypriots wrangle with a banking crisis and await a February presidential election in which Christofias has said he will not run, little progress can be expected on Varosha, or any aspect of the peace negotiations. (more)

Cyprus: Need for bailout widely viewed as all but inevitable
25 June 2012 - Cyprus moved to the brink of a financial bailout on Monday, announcing emergency talks on the economy that may determine whether the country seeks aid from its EU partners or looks further afield. The euro zone's third-smallest economy needs to raise the equivalent of 10 per cent of its GDP by 30 June to recapitalize its second largest bank, heavily exposed to debt-crippled Greece. With a bailout widely viewed as all but inevitable, Cyprus has for weeks been trying to juggle its options. If Cyprus -- which assumes the rotating EU Presidency on 1 July -- signs up for the EU rescue programme it will join the ranks of Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain, becoming by far the smallest EU state to receive aid. The recapitalization bill for Cypriot banks could potentially reach 4 billion euros. (more)

Fight for Cyprus skies invites disaster
5 August 2011 - One divided Mediterranean island. Two air traffic control centres that don't communicate. Tens of thousands of airline passengers flying popular tourist routes. That potentially disastrous math hovers over Cyprus every day. Confidential reports by international aviation authorities obtained by The Associated Press warn of 'a high risk of accident' in the airspace where Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot air controllers give overlapping and contradictory instructions, confusing pilots on increasingly busy routes. The AP has uncovered details of four near misses in a large swath of Cypriot airspace sandwiched between Turkey and Egypt. Aviation analysts say that Cyprus poses a unique safety risk. 'It's unprecedented to have competing or conflicting flight instructions that have resulted in many near misses over the years,' said Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation of Alexandria, Virginia. Experts point out that Cyprus' already busy skies are getting busier -- making it an ever greater challenge to keep track of flights. (more)

Cyprus negotiators running out of time - report
30 September 2009 - Greek and Turkish Cypriot negotiators are running out of time to avoid partition of the island that would have a huge cost and increase instability in the Mediterranean, a think tank said Wednesday. The two sides launched talks last September aimed at reunifying Cyprus, divided along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to a brief Greek-inspired coup. Diplomats want a deal before a Turkish Cypriot election next year expected to bring hardliners to power. 'Failure will mean an indefinite partition, leading to more strains in EU-Turkey relations, new frictions in the east Mediterranean, less EU-NATO cooperation, acceleration of the centrifugal forces scattering the Turkish Cypriots, and new risks to the prosperity and security of Greek Cypriots,' The International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a report. (more)

Cyprus runs risk of desertification: geophysicist
12 January 2009 - Cyprus runs the risk of desertification by the end of this century as it feels the brunt of climate change and drought, an expert warned. Studies project a rise in summer temperatures on the east Mediterranean island of between two and four degrees this century, compared to the 1960 to 1990 reference periods. By the end of this century, Cyprus can expect an extra two months of days with temperatures exceeding 35 degrees centigrade (95 Fahrenheit) on top of the present summer months of June, July, and August. The Cyprus Institute is examining the use of concentrated solar power to co-generate electricity and potable water through desalination, technology Lange said could be used elsewhere. (more)