Current Events

The phone call which was previously set to take place between UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides has been postponed by one day.

The alteration in schedule was announced on X (previously, Twitter) by Victoras Papadopoulos, the Director of the Press Office for the President of Cyprus.

The president, who is currently in Berlin to attend the working dinner with Olaf Scholz (the Chancellor of Germany) as host and Charles Michel (the president of the European Council) as the convenor.

The aforementioned dinner is one out of the four working dinners President Michel is convening for the discussion of the European Union’s 2024 agendas.

In the latest incident, the Paphos Police has arrested a man for stealing a machine used for construction purposes.

The police said that the theft in question was reported by the company’s owner, 55. He reported the theft of an assortment of tools and materials, which were kept in the open within the premises.

The investigation thereupon conducted then led to the issue of a warrant and the arrest of the man, 39, a Paphos resident.

The high dust levels in Cyprus have been a major issue in the past couple of weeks, but that is set to go away very soon.

The Cyprus Meteorology Service has informed that the fine particles of dust in the air are present at the moment but will soon disappear.

Additionally, the weather will clear up further and be warmer for the next few days, before falling. Winds shall range from mild to moderate over somewhat rough seas and with a force of 3-4 on the Beaufort scale.

The rise in temperature is expected to go to 29 degrees Celsius inland, 28 degrees Celsius – 29 degrees Celsius in the coasts, and 21 degrees Celsius in the mountains.

Furthermore, these 3-4 days shall be largely clear, with the possibility of partial cloudiness and potentially isolated incidents of mild rain in the western region and/or mountains.

The number of those who are unemployed have reduced by a major number.

According to the Office of Statistics, as of October 2023, the island nation has seen an unemployment rate lowered by 17.4% – which equals over 1,951 people. This has made the total number of those who have been registered as unemployed stand at 9,232 – a far cry from 2022’s 11,183 individuals.

Speaking specifically with season-wise fluctuations in view, October this year recorded 11,747 individuals who were officially unemployed – which again is less than 11,897 in September of the same year and 13,695 from 2022 October.

Several factors are being considered among the reasons for the rather sharp decline – this includes lower people entering the workforce and a hiring boom in sectors like construction, administration, food, accommodation and trade.

All of these factors indicate that the employment scene in Cyprus is set to undergo a positive transformation.

A young man riding a scooter was run over by a vehicle.

The young man, aged 17, was riding his scooter between Chlorakas and Coral Bay when a car ran him over.

The car in question left the hotel car park and moved into the road, which is how it hit the scooter.

The injured man was taken to Paphos General Hospital’s A&E wing, where doctors treated his broken left femur and tended to his various injuries. He is expected to recover.

The police in Paphos are currently making their investigation into the matter.

The Cyprus Police has announced that they have arrested twelve people for living and working in Cyprus illegally.

The arrests, which happened as part of a police raid of three properties in their campaign against illegal staying and working, was done in cooperation with the immigration services of Cyprus.

The police found eleven individuals working in catering services, and a twelfth staying in the country illegally.

The employers of all three places were told by officials from the labor office that they will be fined for employing undeclared workers.

A a young Invernesian boy who was found in a swimming pool unconscious has passed away.

The boy, aged six, was vacationing with family (specifically his sister and their mother) in Cyprus’ Paphos, when the unfortunate incident occurred.

According to the Cypriot police, the boy (who shall remain unnamed) apparently accidentally fell in the pool and lost consciousness.

He was given first aid by the pool lifeguard, and then taken to the hospital in the state of unconsciousness.

Given his condition, here was then taken the Makarios III specialist hospital, where he later passed away.

Police investigation is currently underway.

The migrant crisis has intensified incredibly. This latest of development includes the incident of a man setting himself on fire near the office of migration services in Larnaca after his asylum application was rejected by the authorities.

The man did survive, however, and is being treated for burns at the A&E department of Larnaca’s General Hospital.

The man, 24, did this act to protest the rejection of his application for asylum. He even brought the flammable substance in the bottle to make it happen, thus anticipating such a development.

In a bid to strengthen the relationship between Turkey and (Turkish) Cyprus, the former has announced the issuance of 2 Navtexes to conduct military exercises.

The exercises will be conducted in two phases – the first of which will take place from the first covers the period from October 16th to 20th, and the second from October 23rd to 27th.

Turkish news sources have revealed that the first phase will involve the military base in Antalya, where a training exercise will commence – this will include a live firing at Morphou bay.

The second phase will include search & rescue exercise at an undisclosed location in Turkish Cyprus.

Many Israeli citizens are abandoning Israel and arriving in Cyprus for better opportunities, due to the war with Hamas.

A spokeswoman for Cypriot airports revealed that various international airlines have suspended their flights which have Tel Aviv as their destination or departure point.

However, several ‘emergency’ flights have been scheduled – including over 20 arrivals and departures within the space of 48 hours.

Maria Kouroupi, Hermes Airports’ Senior Director, Aviation Development & Communication said in a statement to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) about these flights, filled with Israeli nationals escaping the country, along with some foreign nationals – all of whom are seeking shelter in the island nation of Cyprus.

Kouroupi further added that Larnaca Airport which lies forty minutes away from Tel Aviv by air, will function as a transitory point should evacuating foreign nationals become absolutely necessary.

According to Nikos Christodoulides, the President of Cyprus, the authorities have increased the level of controls in various parts of Cyprus to brace themselves against any attacks against Israelis living on the island nation.

Cyprus has jumped one place ahead to land at the 21st place in the European Institute for Gender Equality’s (EIGE) rankings.

The ranking list, which is annually published in the Gender Equality Index (published by the EIGE) had the island nation scoring 60.7 out of 100 total.

According to a statement by Josie Christodoulou, the Commissioner for Gender Equality, the Index is a necessary instrument to help improve issues pertaining gender equality.

She further added that while the island nation (and the European Union at large) has seen significant progress, there has been made on gender equality, there are several strides yet to be made when it comes to achieving true equality.

The University of Cyprus (UCY) has received the honor of being featured in the top universities worldwide list issued by the Times Higher Education international ranking.

The organization ranks universities by their capabilities and advancement in science.

The UCY announced the news in a press release, elaborating how it is one of the world’s best universities in 9 (out of 11) fields in science.

Precisely speaking, the UCY stands between the ranks of 201 and 250 in health, clinical and education; between 301 and 400 in psychology, between 401 and 500 in social sciences, computer science, physical science, humanities and the arts and humanities, social sciences, physical sciences and computer science; between 501 and 600 in engineering; and between 601 and 800 in economics and business.

This development arrives the University being included the ranks between 501 and 600 overall among various universities all over the world by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

Professionals are still on the lookout to find the diver who went missing from the Larnaca coast.

The diver in question initially went under water near the shipwreck in Zenobia in the morning with their partner, but did not come back to the surface with them.

The partner reported the diver missing, whereupon the authorities were notified, and the Larnaca Search and Rescue Coordination Centre (LSRCC) immediately activated their “Nearchos” protocol for search & rescue missions.

The LSRCC says that investigations are still underway but have no results thus far.

The Cyprus Police have remanded two people over the death of the Serbian national who had been run over on the road.

The Police say that the incident will be assumed as a case of manslaughter.

The arrested, aged 39 and 28, allegedly got into a fight with the Serbian man, 29, on the footpath near seafront pub.

While both the accused have admitted the confrontation, they are both denying having any involvement in his death.

The victim was run over by a car at 3:00 AM in the morning, and was confirmed Dead-On-Arrival the moment he reached Limassol general hospital.

Tetraplegic painter Kyriacos Kyriacou, famous for making marvelous painting with his mouth, has sadly passed away at the age of 67.

The gifted artist’s passing comes over 10 months after his hospitalization in Nicosia’s General Hospital.

His wife Blanche spoke to the press, emphasizing how his fighting spirit did not fade throughout the time he was suffering.

Kyriacou lived in Liopetri, where his family continues to reside.

Kyriacou lost his ability to walk after he was injured while diving in 1973, when he was all of 16. This accident led to him losing the use of both his legs and most of his arms.

He started to paint using his mouth and became famous in 1981 as a ‘mouth painter.’ He used a combination of his O-Levels in art skills and hours of hard work to get into the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (MFPA) organization.

The Swiss organization gives every member a monthly stipend regardless of their output, and collects proceeds by collecting paintings and making and selling Christmas calendars and cards out of them.

Within weeks of the first detected incident, a second Greek Cypriot national has been arrested over the use of forged documents.

The person, 42, was making an attempt to cross the point at Ayios Dometios using fake vehicular insurance papers.

The police arrested him once they determined the papers being fake, and he was produced in front of the district court in north Nicosia for circulating forged documents.

This is the second such arrest after another Greek Cypriot citizen was arrested for using documents that were claimed to have been issued by Creditwest, but were in fact forged.

As the deadly fires that broke out between Limnati and Doros are under control, the fire service has finally begun its investigation into the same.

Andreas Kettis, a spokesman for the fire service, informed the CNA that the forces on the ground managed to contain the flares and small fires, while the airborne team was activated in the morning to ensure that the fire had been doused.

The fire caused a lot of damages, including burning off trees, dry grass and over 1 sq. km. of vegetation, potentially started on from a pile of garbage on the side of a road in the rural areas.

According to spokesman Kettis, the fire started in a location that was remote and tough to pinpoint.

The fire services had to execute their “Ikaros II” plan, which included the 7 aerial vehicles, ground firefighters from every district in Cyprus, the department of forests, Emak, the district office, the game fund, the civil defense, and of course, several volunteers.

To the surprise of many, the men who stand accused for murdering two men in a fight in a bar in Limassol have pleaded not guilty.

The accused men, aged 49 and 54, have allegedly murdered Marios Onisiforou, 44 and Michalis Michail, 51, and injured their mutual friend, aged 43.

In addition to the not guilty plea, the lawyer of one of the accused has requested the court to release the men up until the beginning of the trial.

The court is yet to make its decision on this matter. Meanwhile, however, the other defendant shall remain in custody till the trial starts.

Apparently, the incident involved the men stabbing the deceased which was the result of an altercation – presumably related to the 43-year-old survivor.

The finance ministry of Cyprus has extended 2022’s tax return deadlines till the end of the month of October, 2023.

The ministry announced the information on social media platform X (previously known as Twitter).

They said that the announcement comes after the submission of a proposal to the council of ministers on the topic.

Previously, the deadline for filing the returns was the 2nd of October, 2023.

This applies to all citizens, where retired, actively employed or self-employed, with a gross total income than €19,500 for the year of 2022.

Temperatures are set to soar in Cyprus – with numbers predicted to go as high as 39 degrees Celsius, and potentially higher in the following week.

Specifically, the temperature will go up to 39 degrees Celsius inland, 34 degrees Celsius in the east and south-east coastal areas, 32 degrees Celsius in the rest of the coast, and 28 degrees Celsius in the mountainous areas.

The nighttime, however, will see them drop to 20 degrees Celsius inland, 22 degrees Celsius in the coastal areas and 18 degrees Celsius on the side of the mountains.

Sunday’s weather shall largely be clear, but it might be cloudy in the mountainous region.