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The national airline of Cyprus has ceased operations after the European Commission ordered that it must repay €65 million in illegal state aid. The Commission ruled that the airline, which has been losing money for some time and is 94% government-owned, must pay back €65 million of the €103 million that it received in state aid in 2012 and 2013. The airline has been receiving money from the government since 2007. …

For years, it was thought that Israel had destroyed Syria’s nuclear weapons capability with its 2007 raid on the Kibar complex. Not so. New intelligence suggests that Bashar al-Assad is still trying to built the bomb. And he may be getting help from North Korea and Iran. […] Analysts say that the Syrian atomic weapon program has continued in a secret, underground location. According to information they have obtained, approximately 8,000 fuel rods are stored there. Furthermore, a new reactor or an enrichment facility has very likely been built at the site—a development of incalculable geopolitical consequences. Some of the...

Sunday's Der Spiegel had a massive expose on the continuing efforts of Bashar al-Assad to build a nuclear weapons plant, which included evidence that Iran is constructing such a plant for Syria in Qusayr, less than two kilometers from Syria's border with Lebanon. The issue came up in the State Department's Monday daily briefing. Disturbingly, spokeswoman Marie Harf said that the United States did not plan to raise the issue in the Iranian nuclear talks, claiming that those talks only deal with Iran's nuclear capabilities and not with Syria's. According to findings of Western intelligence agencies, however, the situation...

A huge quantity of olive stones on an ancient shipwreck more than 2,000 years old has provided valuable insight into the diet of sailors in the ancient world, researchers in Cyprus said Thursday. The shipwreck, dating from around 400 B.C. and laden mainly with wine amphorae from the Aegean island of Chios and other north Aegean islands, was discovered deep under the sea off Cyprus's southern coast. Excavation on the site, which started in November 2007, has determined that the ship was a merchant vessel of the late classical period. "An interesting piece of evidence that gives us information on...

An ancient, two-sided amulet uncovered in Cyprus contains a 59-letter inscription that reads the same backwards as it does forwards. Archaeologists discovered the amulet, which is roughly 1,500 years old, at the ancient city of Nea Paphos in southwest Cyprus. One side of the amulet has several images, including a bandaged mummy (likely representing the Egyptian god Osiris) lying on a boat and an image of Harpocrates, the god of silence, who is shown sitting on a stool while holding his right hand up to his lips. Strangely, the amulet also displays a mythical dog-headed creature called a cynocephalus, which...

Stripping all the political correctness, what Goldman said is that unless Greece quickly folds back in line and does as unelected Brussels eurocrats demand, there may well be a Cyprus-style bank closure coupled with preemptied bank runs. Oops. Because if that was the doubled-down bluff, then Greece just called it, and the "downside scenario" is now in play. Which means Greece now has to scramble to avoid precisely what Goldman warned would happen if the Greeks dared to put their (meagre) savings at risk. And, case in point, here is the Greek finance minister rushing to squash the next steps,...

Cyprus said on Wednesday an offshore prospect where exploratory drilling is under way contains an estimated 5 to 8 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, a first for the island which could make it self-sufficient in the commodity for decades. Based on the exploratory drill by US-based Noble Energy, the prospect, which lies south of the island, contains a gross mean of 7tcf of gas, Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias said in a statement. "The discovery of natural gas in the exclusive economic zone of our country opens great potential for Cyprus and its people, which with prudence and in...

The threat to close the Bosphorus to Russia comes from a report by Hvylya, citing a Turkish diplomatic source. According to the source, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan yesterday spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone and warned of the consequences for conflict with Ukraine. The Hvylya source was also reported on by UNIAN. bosporus-wiki-gnu-map Concerns were also raised about the possible threat to ethnic Crimean Tatars in the region, citing recent murders and communications with Tatar leadership. Erdogan’s call to Putin warned that if Russia invades Ukraine, and so-called ‘Crimean self-defense’ forces engage in violence against the...

Only twelve years ago, the Republic of Turkey was correctly seen as a stalwart NATO ally, the model of a pro-Western Muslim state, and a bridge between Europe and the Middle East. A strong military bond with the Pentagon undergirded broader economic and cultural ties with Americans. For those of us who work on the Middle East, time in Istanbul, Ankara, and other Turkish cities was a refreshing oasis from the turmoil of the region. And then, starting with the still-astonishing election of 2002, the country dramatically changed course. Slowly at first and then with increasing velocity since mid-2011, the...

Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria and allied rebel groups have taken control of two key army bases in the northern province of Idlib, activists say. Members of al-Nusra Front, supported by those from Jund al-Aqsa, captured Wadi al-Deif base on Monday after launching a fierce offensive on Sunday morning. Ahrar al-Sham later joined their assault on the nearby Hamidiya base. Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had until now managed to repel a number of assaults on the facilities. Situated outside the town of Maarat al-Numan and next to the country's main north-south motorway, they have been surrounded since 2012. A...

In an impromptu sermon at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheik Omar Abu Sara called to slaughter the Jews, whom he called "the most evil of Allah's creations." The sermon was posted on the Internet on November 28, 2014. Transcript is pending. Following are excerpts from a Friday sermon delivered by Palestinian preacher Sheik Omar Abu Sara at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was posted on the Internet on November 28, 2014: Omar Abu Sara: Let me start by saying that talking about the traits of the Jews requires one to get into a special mode, because we are dealing with people to...

...its lowest levels against the dollar for almost a year, amid investor nervousness about emerging markets. By evening trade in Istanbul the currency had fallen beyond TL2.30 to the US dollar, more than 1 per cent down on the day and the weakest level since January, when the Turkish central bank moved to increase interest rates -- a dramatic shift in policy that at the time halted a precipitous drop in its value. ...Turkey is far from alone in being affected by strong US economic data that has heightened expectations of a US Federal Reserve interest rate rise and so...

EU commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has warned Greece against electing “extreme forces” into power and said he would prefer “known faces”—so far the strongest intervention of the EU top brass in the Greek campaign. “I think that the Greeks—who have a very difficult life—know very well what a wrong election result would mean for Greece and the eurozone,” Juncker said during an Austrian public TV debate with EUobserver and several other Brussels-based journalists. He steered clear of explicit political advice ahead of presidential elections in Greece next week, but said: “I wouldn’t like extreme forces to come to power.” The...

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that the sharp fall in global oil prices is the result of “treachery,” in an apparent reference to regional rival Saudi Arabia, which opposed production cuts. Oil prices have plunged by more than 40 percent since June to around $65 a barrel, placing severe strain on Iran’s economy, which is already hobbled by international sanctions imposed over its nuclear program. An OPEC meeting last month failed to reach agreement on production curbs, mainly because of Saudi opposition. Rouhani told a Cabinet meeting Wednesday that the fall in prices is at least partly “politically motivated,”...

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that the sharp fall in global oil prices is the result of "treachery," in an apparent reference to regional rival Saudi Arabia, which opposed production cuts. Oil prices have plunged by more than 40 percent since June to around $65 a barrel, placing severe strain on Iran's economy, which is already hobbled by international sanctions imposed over its nuclear program. An OPEC meeting last month failed to reach agreement on production curbs, mainly because of Saudi opposition.

The latest, spectacular “Exit South Stream, Enter Turk Stream” Pipelinistan gambit will be sending big geopolitical shockwaves all across Eurasia for quite some time. This is what the New Great Game in Eurasia is all about. In a nutshell, a few years ago Russia devised North Stream – fully operational – and South Stream – still a project – to bypass unreliable Ukraine as a gas transit nation. Now Russia devises a new sweet deal with Turkey to bypass the “non-constructive” (Putin’s words) approach of the European Commission (EC) concerning the European “Third Energy Package”, which prohibits one company from...

President Vladimir V. Putin said Monday that he would scrap Russia’s South Stream gas pipeline, a grandiose project that was once intended to establish the country’s dominance in southeastern Europe but instead fell victim to Russia’s increasingly toxic relationship with the West. It was a rare diplomatic defeat for Mr. Putin, who said Russia would redirect the pipeline to Turkey. He painted the failure to build the pipeline as a loss for Europe and blamed Brussels for its intransigence. The decision also seemed to be a rare victory for the European Union and the Obama administration, which have appeared largely...

An oil and gas group exploring offshore Israel said on Sunday it may have discovered a field that contains an estimated 2.5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas and 255 million barrels of oil. About 30 tcf of gas have been discovered off Israel's Mediterranean coast in recent years, turning the country once dependent on energy imports into a potential exporter. The latest announcement, which was based on 3D seismic data from 2012, covers the Oz license some 50 km (30 miles) from the coastal city of Herzliya in water 1,150 meters (yards) deep.

One of the more surprising news to hit the tape yesterday was that Saudi Arabia, exasperated and desperate by Russia's relentless support of the Syrian regime and refusal to abandon the Syrian army thus facilitating the Qatari plan to pass its natgas pipeline to Europe under Syria, had quietly approached Putin with a proposal for a huge arms deal and a pledge to boost Russian influence in the Arab world if only Putin would abandon Syria's Assad. It will hardly come as a surprise to anyone that in the aftermath of yesterday's dilettante mistake by Obama which alienated Putin from...

The Department of Antiquities has announced the completion of the 2014 excavation season of the Kourion Urban Space project (KUSP) under the direction of Dr. Thomas W. Davis of the Tandy Institute for Archaeology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. This year’s excavations uncovered the remains of more victims of the massive earthquake that destroyed Kourion in the fourth century AD. According to an official announcement, initial analysis indicates the remains consist of two adults, a juvenile, and an infant. The family was found huddled together; the infant was found under the right arm of one of...