Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman will be visiting Cyprus next month, to prepare for an official state visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The ratio of non-performing loans in Cyprus’s banking system rose slightly to 47.7% in August 2014 compared to 46.9% the month before, even as the number of non-performing loans fell by more than €55.5m, the Central Bank of Cyprus said recently.

The decision to cut carbon dioxide emissions in shipping should be taken at an international level and not just by the European Union as any unilateral step by Brusselswould affect the competitiveness of the European and Cypriot shipping industries, a Cyprus Shipping Chamber (CSC) official said.

Work is expected to get underway on a 5-star luxury hotel in the heart of the Larnaca seafront, a project that is “greatly desired by everybody”, said the town’s mayor.

During the seven-month period January – July, 2014, some 3,009 building permits were issued, registering a decrease of 6.6% compared to the same period of 2013, official data showed recently.

Cyprus, Malta and Greece are considering to broaden their dialogue on maritime issues with the inclusion of the UK and Denmark, Minister of Communications and Works Marios Demetriades said recently.

Hotel-management chain Aqua Sol, owner and administrator of 15 hotels in Cyprus, Rhodes and Crete, along with its nine subsidiaries has been placed under receivership for its failure to comply with its contractual obligations with the Bank of Cyprus, it was announced recently.

Within the next two months all communities on the island will have free access to wireless internet hotspots, chairman of the House commerce, Lefteris Christoforou said recently.

President Nicos Anastasiades will next month attend a three-way summit in Cairo with his Greek and Egyptian counterparts to discuss ways of further boosting cooperation and relations among these three Mediterranean nations, and, from Nicosia’s perspective, as a bulwark against recent Turkish provocations inside Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Cyprus’ Presidential envoy to Russia, Sotos Zackheos, met with the Russian Association of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Moscow to discuss trade relations between the two countries, a press release said recently.