NICOSIA: Cyprus further eased its coronavirus entry restrictions Friday, adding hard-hit EU partners Italy and Spain, and nearby Lebanon, to a list of countries allowed entry, but holding back on its two biggest markets.
Flights will now be allowed from over 30 countries across two categories, up from 19 when a commercial passenger flight ban ended earlier this month.
According to the Health Ministry, 22 countries are now considered low-risk, including Greece, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, South Korea and Australia, while another 12, including France, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Lebanon and Israel, are in a higher-risk category.
From Saturday, only travelers arriving from countries in the second category will be required to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test undertaken within 72 hours of travel, or on arrival if unavailable in the departure country.
That requirement had previously applied to arrivals from both lists.
But Cyprus’s two biggest tourist markets, the United Kingdom and Russia, have yet to be included in either category.
“It’s a dynamic list based on the (epidemiological) data registered for each country,” Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou told a press conference Friday.
If novel coronavirus cases rise in a country in the first category, “it will be downgraded to category B, and vice versa.”
The categories are updated weekly.
Israel was recently relegated to the higher-risk category after it saw an increase in cases.
The health minister said there would also be random coronavirus checks on arrival.
“We’re expecting 1,500 travelers to arrive daily, so we will carry out around 300 random tests every day,” Ioannou said.
“This is to get a better understanding of the situation and to review our decisions concerning some countries, if necessary.”
Cyprus has reported 985 total coronavirus cases and 19 deaths, and is looking to restart its vital tourism sector.
Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos told state radio that he expected the number of flights to increase to around 500 per week in July.
But the government expects visitor numbers to be down by 70 percent this year due to the pandemic, after counting almost four million arrivals in 2019.
As part of a further easing of restrictions, Nicosia said it would reopen most crossings along the divided Mediterranean island’s cease-fire line to Cypriot citizens and residents on Sunday.
It said those crossing would have to provide proof they were free from COVID-19.
Cyprus allows entry to arrivals from Lebanon, Italy, Spain
https://arab.news/zjcyx
Cyprus allows entry to arrivals from Lebanon, Italy, Spain
- Flights will now be allowed from over 30 countries across two categories, up from 19 when a commercial passenger flight ban ended earlier this month
- Cyprus’s two biggest tourist markets, the United Kingdom and Russia, have yet to be included
2 people were killed in a knife attack in Germany and a suspect has been detained, police say
Train services in the town were temporarily interrupted
BERLIN: Two people, including a child, were killed and two others were severely injured in a stabbing attack in Bavaria on Wednesday, German police said.
Police said a suspect was detained in the knife attack, which occurred in a park in the southern German town of Aschaffenburg.
Police said they did not immediately know the motive for the attack, but that it was not terrorism.
Train services in the town were temporarily interrupted as the suspect tried to flee along the tracks, German news agency dpa reported. However, he was quickly detained, police wrote on the social media platform X.
Police asked possible witnesses to come forward. They did not release any details about the identities of the victims or the suspect.
Macron says Europe must protect sovereignty in face of Trump’s return
- Macron made the remarks at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz
PARIS: More than ever, Europeans, including France and Germany, must protect their sovereignty in the face of the return of US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday.
He made the remarks at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Paris, adding that it was important to support the automobile, steel, chemical sectors, among others.
“After the inauguration of a new administration in the United States, it is necessary more than ever for Europeans and for our two countries to play their role of consolidating a united, strong and sovereign Europe,” Macron said.
Malaysia’s Anwar says don’t single out China in sea tensions
- There will always be border disputes in Asia, and China should not be singled out because of tensions in the South China Sea, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Wednesday
DAVOS: There will always be border disputes in Asia, and China should not be singled out because of tensions in the South China Sea, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Wednesday.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Anwar said that Malaysia had border issues with Singapore and its other neighbors in Southeast Asia but they still managed to cultivate good relations.
While Malaysia also has maritime issues with China, it will push ahead with improving ties because it is an important country, he said.
“We have excellent relationship with Singapore. We still have border issues with them,” Anwar said.
“I treat the Thais as my family members, the leaders, but still we have some border issues with them. So it is with Indonesia, with the Philippines.
“(But) we don’t go to war, we don’t threaten. We do discuss. We get a bit... angry, but we do focus on the economic fundamentals and move on,” he added.
“Why is it that we must then single out China as an issue?” Anwar asked.
“That’s my only contention. Do I have an issue about it? Yes, but do I have a problem? No. Do we have any undesired tensions? No,” he said.
He said that while Malaysia has strong ties with the United States, China is an important neighbor that it must also engage with.
“Of course, people highlight the issue of the South China Sea... But may I remind you that Malaysia is a maritime country,” he said.
China has been “very reasonable” in dealing with Malaysia, Anwar added.
“They take us seriously, more seriously than many of the countries of our old allies and friends,” he said, without mentioning any country.
China has ruffled diplomatic feathers in Southeast Asia because of its assertion that it owns most of the strategic waterway despite an international ruling that the claim has no legal basis.
This has pitted it against Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, which have partial claims to the sea.
In recent years, China and the Philippines have seen an escalation of confrontations, including boat-ramming incidents and Chinese ships firing water cannons on Filipino vessels.
The clashes have sparked concern they could draw the United States, Manila’s long-time security ally, into armed conflict with China.
Washington’s UN nominee supports Israeli biblical claim to West Bank
- ‘It’s going to be very difficult to achieve peace if you continue to hold the view that you just expressed,’ senator tells Elise Stefanik
- Republican congresswoman for New York accuses international body of being ‘cesspool of antisemitism’
LONDON: The new US nominee for UN ambassador has backed Israeli biblical claims to the entire West Bank.
Elise Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman for New York, was being questioned on her stance by Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen during a Senate confirmation hearing.
“You told me that, yes, you shared that view,” Van Hollen said. “Is that your view today?” Stefanik said: “Yes.”
Her stance is at odds with international law, multiple UN Security Council resolutions, and a longstanding international consensus on the issue.
“It’s going to be very difficult to achieve peace if you continue to hold the view that you just expressed,” Van Hollen said.
During the hearing, Stefanik criticized the UN for its alleged anti-Israel bias, claiming that the organization is a “cesspool of antisemitism.”
She said: “Our tax dollars should not be complicit in propping up entities that are counter to American interests, antisemitic, or engaging in fraud, corruption or terrorism.”
The US is the largest funder of the UN and houses its secretariat in New York City. Washington pays about 22 percent of the UN’s regular budget.
India and US trying to arrange Modi meeting with Trump next month, sources say
- Washington sees India as a strategic partner of the United States in its efforts to counter its rival China
- Trump’s return to office has raised worries among officials in New Delhi about imposition of tariffs on India
NEW DELHI: Indian and US diplomats are trying to arrange a meeting in February between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump in Washington, two Indian sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters.
India, a strategic partner of the United States in its efforts to counter China, is keen to enhance trade relations with the US and make it easier for its citizens to get skilled worker visas, two topics that will be on the agenda if the leaders meet, the sources said.
Trump’s return to the White House has raised worries among officials in New Delhi about imposition of tariffs on India, which he has listed as one of the countries that has high tariffs on US products and has indicated that he favored reciprocating them.
But the sources said New Delhi was willing to offer some concessions to Washington — although it has not been officially informed of any plans by US to impose reciprocal tariffs — and was also open to offering incentives to attract more US investment in India.
Officials hope that an early meeting between the pair will help get ties off to a positive start in Trump’s new term, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Trump visited India in February 2020 during his previous term in office. Then, he was cheered by more than 100,000 Indians at a cricket stadium in Modi’s political homeland in Ahmedabad, where he promised India “an incredible trade deal.”
In 2019, Trump held a “Howdy Modi” rally with Modi in Houston, drawing 50,000 people, mainly Indian Americans.
Laying the groundwork for a new Modi-Trump meeting is also on the agenda of Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who attended Trump’s inauguration on Monday and met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The United States is India’s largest trading partner and two-way trade between the two countries surpassed $118 billion in 2023/24, with India posting a trade surplus of $32 billion.
Other topics of discussion between the two leaders would be enhancing partnership in technology and defense sectors, the sources said.
Migration would be another area of discussion, as Trump has pledged a crackdown on illegal immigration but has said he is open to legal migration of skilled workers.
India, known for its massive pool of IT professionals, many of whom work across the world, accounts for the bulk of the skilled worker H-1B visas issued by the United States.
Rubio discussed with Jaishankar concerns related to “irregular migration” on Tuesday, the US State Department said.
