
-
Altomare hangs on to tie defending champ Korda at LPGA Match Play
-
Paraguay gold rush leaves tea producers bitter
-
Health concerns swirl as Bolivian city drowns in rubbish
-
Syria says deadly Israeli strikes a 'blatant violation'
-
Financial markets tumble after Trump tariff announcement
-
Starbucks faces new hot spill lawsuits weeks after $50mn ruling
-
Europe riled, but plans cool-headed response to Trump's tariffs
-
'Shenmue' voted most influential video game ever in UK poll
-
New coal capacity hit 20-year low in 2024: report
-
Revealed: Why monkeys are better at yodelling than humans
-
Key details on Trump's market-shaking tariffs
-
'A little tough love': Top quotes from Trump tariff talk
-
US business groups voice dismay at Trump's new tariffs
-
Grealish dedicates Man City goal to late brother
-
US tariffs take aim everywhere, including uninhabited islands
-
Trump sparks trade war with sweeping global tariffs
-
Israeli strikes hit Damascus, central Syria; monitor says 4 dead
-
Slot 'hates' offside rule that gave Liverpool win over Everton
-
US stocks end up, but volatility ahead after latest Trump tariffs
-
Barca oust Atletico to set up Clasico Copa del Rey final
-
Mourinho grabs Galatasaray coach's face after losing Istanbul derby
-
Grealish strikes early as Man City move up to fourth in Premier League
-
Reims edge out fourth-tier Cannes to set up PSG French Cup final
-
Liverpool beat Everton as title looms, Man City win without Haaland
-
Jota wins bad-tempered derby as Liverpool move 12 points clear
-
Inter and Milan level in derby Italian Cup semi
-
Stuttgart beat Leipzig to reach German Cup final
-
Trump unveils sweeping global tariffs
-
Italian director Nanni Moretti in hospital after heart attack: media
-
LIV Golf stars playing at Doral with Masters on their minds
-
Trump unveils sweeping 'Liberation Day' tariffs
-
Most deadly 2024 hurricane names retired from use: UN agency
-
Boeing chief reports progress to Senate panel after 'serious missteps'
-
Is Musk's political career descending to Earth?
-
On Mexico-US border, Trump's 'Liberation Day' brings fears for future
-
Starbucks faces new hot spill lawsuit weeks after $50mn ruling
-
Ally of Pope Francis elected France's top bishop
-
'Determined' Buttler leads Gujarat to IPL win over Bengaluru
-
US judge dismisses corruption case against New York mayor
-
Left-wing party pulls ahead in Greenland municipal elections
-
Blistering Buttler leads Gujarat to IPL win over Bengaluru
-
Tesla sales slump as pressure piles on Musk
-
Amazon makes last-minute bid for TikTok: report
-
Canada Conservative leader warns Trump could break future trade deal
-
British band Muse cancels planned Istanbul gig
-
'I'll be back' vows Haaland after injury blow
-
Trump to unveil 'Liberation Day' tariffs as world braces
-
New coach Edwards adamant England can win women's cricket World Cup
-
Military confrontation 'almost inevitable' if Iran nuclear talks fail: French FM
-
US stocks advance ahead of looming Trump tariffs

Cyprus minister pins blame for migration 'emergency' on Turkey
The small Mediterranean island of Cyprus has an outsized problem with irregular migration, says the interior minister of the EU member state located closest to the Middle East.
"For us, this is a state of emergency," Nicos Nouris told AFP, adding that 4.6 percent of the country's population now are asylum seekers or beneficiaries of protection, the highest ratio in the EU.
The Greek Cypriot minister accused Turkey, whose troops have since 1974 occupied the island's northern third, of encouraging much of the influx of Syrian refugees and arrivals from sub-Saharan Africa.
Rights groups and observers have criticised Cyprus for squalid conditions in its overcrowded main migrant camp, which was rocked by clashes this month, and for alleged brutal treatment of some arrivals.
But Nouris shot back that "brutal is what Turkey has been doing to us" as new asylum applications had multiplied to over 13,000 last year in the country of 850,000.
"The migration issue in Cyprus is a huge problem because it's been instrumentalised by Turkey," the minister from the conservative Democratic Rally party charged.
The Republic of Cyrus remains sharply at odds with Turkey, which under a deal with the EU hosts millions of Syrian refugees, and which contests potential offshore oil and gas reserves claimed by Cyprus.
Nouris charged that every day some 60 to 80 irregular migrants, guided by smugglers, cross the UN-patrolled 184-kilometre (114-mile) long Green Line that dissects the island, with 85 percent of asylum seekers last year having arrived in this way.
- 'Trapped on island' -
The top country of origin for pending asylum applications in 2021 remained Syria, but next came Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Somalia, according to the ministry.
Many of the newcomers, Nouris said, fly via Istanbul to the northern breakaway statelet recognised only by Ankara. "From there, with the smugglers, they find a way through the Green Line."
It is only once they have crossed south that many discover they are not inside the European Union's visa-free Schengen area.
"They are trapped on the island," said Nouris. "They cannot travel to Germany or to France, where they want to go, because Cyprus is not a member of the Schengen zone."
Cyprus stresses that the Green Line is not a border but merely the ceasefire line, beyond which lie "areas not under government control".
Nonetheless, said Nouris, his government -- having recently fortified one section of the line with razor wire -- will soon build fencing, step up patrols and, from the summer, install an Israeli-made surveillance system.
The head of EU border agency Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri, is due to visit Cyprus Wednesday, the minister said.
Nouris said Cyprus would like Frontex to patrol waters south of Turkey, "from where every night, especially during summertime, we had illegal departures of migrants" -- but he acknowledged that this would require Ankara's approval.
- Migrant camp violence -
Cyprus is also asking the EU to expand the list of so-called safe countries of origin for migrants, and to strike deals to facilitate repatriations.
Nicosia recently sent back more than 250 Vietnamese migrants on a special flight, and cooperated with Belgium to repatriate 17 Congolese.
A joint flight with Germany is planned for March 8 to take back a group of Pakistanis, Nouris said, in what would be a "forced" rather than voluntary return.
Human Rights Watch and other groups have accused Cyprus of sometimes heavy-handed methods against migrants, including pushing back asylum seekers at sea.
Nouris insisted that "Cyprus has never, never made a pushback" but had exercised its right to intercept boats, which were usually escorted to Lebanon.
A flashpoint site of the Cyprus migration issue has been the Pournara reception centre outside Nicosia, where tents and prefabricated structures initially set up for several hundred people now house around 2,500.
Tensions exploded last week into violence involving Nigerian, Congolese and Somali men, leaving dozens injured. Police were also searching for a 15-year-old boy accused of stabbing a 17-year-old.
The incident proved that Cyprus needs EU "solidarity" and assistance, said Nouris.
"In a place that is overcrowded with so many people, and especially so many nationalities, it's something that was expected," he said.
P.Mathewson--AMWN