Syria
Syria and Turkey seal gas agreement to ease power crisis
Syria and Turkey have reached a deal to supply Syria with six million cubic meters of natural gas per day, Syrian Energy Minister Mohammad al-Bachir announced Friday.
Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot political parties appealed to their respective leaderships on Thursday to open more crossings to facilitate better communication between the island's rival communities.
Border checkpoint in Northern Cyprus © Mena Today
Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot political parties appealed to their respective leaderships on Thursday to open more crossings to facilitate better communication between the island's rival communities.
Ethnically divided Cyprus has nine crossings along the 180 km (116 mile) ceasefire line that separates Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Thousands use them daily with long queues and traffic jams a regular occurrence.
The two sides are now engaged in discussions on opening up more crossing points.
Thirteen Greek and Turkish Cypriot political parties attending an event organised by the Slovak embassy in Nicosia endorsed a call to their communities' political leaders to move forward.
"This is a must in order to preserve our common cultural heritage, and to make people's life much easier," said Mehmet Harmanci, mayor of the Turkish sector of Nicosia.
His Greek Cypriot counterpart Charalambos Prountzos concurred.
"The opening of crossings is not an objective by itself, but it's a necessary move pending the resolution of the Cyprus issue, to ensure that the two communities meet, the two communities increase their understanding and their empathy towards each other," he said.
Cyprus was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974 after a brief Greek-inspired coup.
The ceasefire line was completely sealed until April 2003, when Turkish Cypriot authorities opened one crossing, triggering a surge of tens of thousands of Cypriots to areas off-limits to them for decades.
Reporting by Michele Kambas
Syria and Turkey have reached a deal to supply Syria with six million cubic meters of natural gas per day, Syrian Energy Minister Mohammad al-Bachir announced Friday.
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) held a congress this week and made "historic" decisions after a call by its leader to dissolve, a news agency linked to the group said on Friday - a potentially key step in resolving a long conflict with Turkey.
The Bahraini king's media adviser, Nabeel al-Hamer, said on Thursday that Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz has invited leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to attend a Gulf-U.S. summit in Riyadh.
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