A new government report has shown that the aeronautical operations of Australia’s four major airports returned to profit in 2022-23, the first full financial year since the end of COVID-19 travel restrictions. In its Airport Monitoring Report, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission confirmed that Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney airports saw 100.7 million passengers in total passing through in 2022-23, up 127.4 percent from the previous year. But the number of domestic passengers was still 10.4 percent below pre-pandemic levels, with international passengers 31 percent below ..read more

The Turkish economy is expected to grow at 3.4 percent this year and 3.2 percent in 2025, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said Thursday, revising up its February projection of 2.9 percent for 2024. In its economic outlook report, the OECD said Türkiye’s real GDP growth was projected to slow from 4.5 percent in 2023 to 3.4 percent in 2024. Tighter financial conditions and the adverse impact of inflation on purchasing power in the country will subdue household consumption, the report said, reminding that inflation peaked at the beginning of this year but will rem ..read more

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed Russia’s readiness to contribute to the efforts of the UN Secretary General’s personal envoy to Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar, after a meeting between the two in Moscow. In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noted the aim is to create conditions for the resumption of negotiations between the communities of the island. Moscow reaffirmed Russia’s position, according to which the settlement model should be fair and sustainable, based on the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and determined by the Cypriot parti ..read more

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler has ruled out the possibility of transferring the Russian-made S-400 missile defense system to any other country, including Ukraine. “Giving our S-400 system to any other country is out of the question,” the minister said in an interview with the CNN Türk broadcaster when asked if Ankara had received any proposal to transfer the S-400 system to Ukraine. The United States had proposed Türkiye to send the S-400 system to Ukraine, but Ankara rejected the proposal, former Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in May last year. Tensions between the Unit ..read more

Statement to the press by the President Nikos Christodoulides, at the joint press conference with the Prime Minister of Lebanon and the President of the European Commission, in Beirut It has been less than a month since my last visit to Lebanon and today I am pleased and privileged to visit Beirut once again; this time together with the President of the European Commission. At the outset, I would like to thank Prime Minister Mikati for the warmth of his hospitality. Lebanon is Cyprus’ geographically closest neighbour and we share traditionally very warm and very friendly bilateral relations. B ..read more

 Around 693,000 children were born in Germany in 2023, the lowest level since 2013, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Thursday. The number also marked a 6.2 percent drop compared to the previous year, according to figures published by Destatis. Meanwhile, the proportion of births to third and more children has increased while the proportion of births to first children has fallen. Destatis attributed the trend to an increasing number of mothers with a foreign nationality who tend to have three or more children. In addition, the number of marriages in Germany hit the second ..read more

An unrelenting layer of dust continues to plague Cyprus, according to the Meteorological Service. Exacerbated by low pressure, the dust – which keeps the sky a grayish -brown shade – has lingered in the atmosphere for the last week and is causing problems for those with respiratory problems. Meanwhile, the temperature in Cyprus will rise to 31 degrees inland, to 25 on the western coasts, around 27 on the rest of the coasts and to 20 degrees in the higher mountains. Conditions may chance on Sunday when cloud, rain and isolated storms are expected at intervals ..read more

1970 – ALM Flight 980 ditches in the Caribbean Sea near Saint Croix, killing 23. 1972 – In the early morning hours a fire breaks out at the Sunshine Mine located between Kellogg and Wallace, Idaho, killing 91 workers. 1982 – Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano. 1986 – Chernobyl disaster: The City of Chernobyl is evacuated six days after the disaster. 1989 – Cold War: Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect. 1995 – During the Croatian War of Independence, the ..read more

Authorities in Cyprus have detailed the challenges faced by illegal immigration. According to the data of the Ministry of the Interior 2,471 immigrants arrived by sea in the first four months of 2024. In January, 459 arrivals were recorded, in February 710 immigrants arrived by sea and in March 835 immigrants arrived on the shores of Cyprus. In the first two days of April, a total of 467 other arrivals by sea were recorded. Specifically, on April 1, 136 arrivals were recorded and on April 2, another 68 were recorded in the first phase, while another 263 immigrants arrived in the evening of the ..read more

 The Palestinian Islamic Movement (Hamas) said on Wednesday that the ceasefire negotiations with Israel would be suspended if Israel attacks the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Osama Hamdan, a senior official of Hamas, said in an interview with Lebanon-based al-Manar TV that Hamas would halt all indirect negotiations with Israel if it launches military operations against Rafah. Accusing Israel of seeking “to blackmail all the parties by its threats of attacking Rafah,” the Hamas official stressed that “the resistance is still having its power to defend our people.” Hamdan noted ..read more