Madonna retained the title Queen of Pop by taking the throne of the Billboard 200 album chart for the eighth time on Tuesday, as her latest album "MDNA" beat Lionel Richie's country themed "Tuskegee" to the top of the weekly sales list. Madonna's 12th studio album, dedicated to club-friendly dance tracks, sold 359,000 copies in

General Kenan Evren, symbol of an era when the military dominated Turkish politics, goes on trial on Wednesday for his role leading a 1980 coup that shaped the country for three decades until reforms cut back the power of the "Pashas". Fifty people were executed, half a million arrested, hundreds died in jail, and many

Real Madrid and Chelsea look set to join Barcelona and Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-finals when they complete their last eight ties at home to APOEL Nicosia and Benfica respetively on Wednesday. Barring what would be the greatest upset since European club soccer began in the 1950s, Real will advance and face Bayern

Cypriot and US scientists are involved in research which raises hopes for people who suffer from a serious eye disease, called ''solar-related macular degeneration''. Scientists from the University of Cyprus, the University of California at Riverside and Princeton University are involved in a promising new drug that could cure this eye disease, which sometimes causes

Greek Prime Minister Loucas Papademos will be paying an official visit to Cyprus on April 5 and 6, accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Stavros Demas, Minister of State Pantelis Kapsis and government officials. President of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Christofias will be welcoming Papademos on April 5 at the Presidential Palace, where talks

**Indexation pushes earnings up 3% y/y ** As the unemployment rate soared to 9.3% according to Eurostat definitions, wage indexation ensured that labour costs continued to rise for employers, with earnings increasing on average by 3% in the fourth quarter, when compared with the same period of 2010. According to the preliminary estimates, average monthly

**Serious repercussions for other statistics ** Fellow data maniacs eagerly awaiting the release of March tourism data will have been severely disappointed that the Statistical Service of Cyprus (CYSTAT) will not be producing any tourism data for March. “The Statistical Service announces that for March 2012 the surveys at Larnaka and Pafos airports were not

**Prices up 8.1% in first two months ** The decline in industrial production moderated in January, falling by 9.7% over the year earlier after a drop of 11.7% in December and 10.9% in November. The manufacturing subindex in the same period dropped by 10.3% in January 2011, after falling 13.4% in December and 11.7% in