Current Events

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.

The police in Cyprus have arrested 5 men – all between the ages of nineteen and twenty, on the basis of a complaint by a tourist from Britain.

The tourist, a woman, aged 20 told the police that the men sexually assaulted her in a hotel room.

They have already been produced before the district court in Paralimni, where they were remanded in custody for 8 days, while the preliminary investigation is underway.

Once the police got a testimony from a witness, they formally arrested the group.

Further investigation, including medical examinations of both the accuser and the accused is currently underway.

Organic farming in Cyprus has made big advances in the past 20 years.

Petros Xenophontos, the Minister of Agriculture of the island nation made said announcement at Denia’s yearly organic farming celebration.

He further elaborated how the numbers of organic farming have moved up from 0.22% of total farming in 2003, to 5.87% of total farming in 2023; meanwhile the number of farmers in the industry has grown from 85 to over 1500 in this time period.

He then mentioned how their goal is to reach at least 7.5% by the year 2025, and commended the efforts of our organic farmers.

He went on to state the various obstacles that organic farmers face – most of which is rooted in the lack of budget.

He also said, however, that the country at large is trying to move past it through strategic programs and plans aimed to encourage the growth of chemical-free cultivation.

Stefanos Kasselakis, the new leader of the Syriza party has announced his maiden overseas visit to Cyprus.

Aged 35, Kasselakis became the leader of Syriza, winning against Efi Achtsioglou – both of who scores 56.69 and 43.31 percentages of the votes respectively.

More recently, Kasselakis was criticized for calling Northern Cyprus as a “statelet” of Turkey.

He, however, apologized – and attributed his error to tiredness from the campaign, further adding how his own move to Greece comes after living in the United States for over two decades.

An entrepreneur in the shipping line, Kasselakis was formerly an associate of Goldman Sachs.

Tensions between the divided regions of Cyprus have always been present on the larger scale, but the recent series of event proves this exists on the smaller scale as well.

In the latest incident, a citizen of Greek Cyprus will be produced in a court of Turkish Cyprus over the use of fake vehicle insurance papers whilst entering the territory via Ayios Dometios.

The police apprehended the man in the late house of the night, as he was making his attempt to enter Turkish Cyprus using insurance papers, he was claiming to have received from the Creditwest bank, which operates in the north.

However, a quick examination by the Turkish Cypriot police detected the documents to be counterfeit. The man was soon arrested.

After his arrest, it was discovered that the man had in fact done this seventeen times before getting caught. He also confessed to have fabricated the documents himself.

The man shall remain in custody pending further investigation and court appointment.

In a bid to work with the shipping and maritime industries, Italy’s Cisalpina Tours has opened their new office in Cyprus’ Limassol.

This development is part of the company’s plans for international expansion, and is their fifth office being opened since December 2022.

Owned by the Bluvacanze Group (which in turned is owned by shipping conglomerate MSC Group), CEO Domenico Pellegrino mentioned how the presence of Cisalpina will help their parent companies establish a stronger system of business travel to cater customers in the maritime industry.

Vaso Nikola Leonidou, the MD of Cisalpina Tours Cyprus added to this, saying how they know the specific requirements of corporate travelers, and aim to fulfill them.

Asian entertainment superpower Melco has opened ‘The City of Dreams’ Mediterranean in Cyprus, which will now hold the title of being Europe’s biggest casino.

According to CEO Lawrence Ho, the idea to build the casino and resort has been his dream for over a decade and a half, when he visited the island nation for a wedding.

Located in Limassol, the casino cost over 637 million Euros and took more than 3 years to be built.

It is now fully in operation and employs more than 2,000 people as staff.

City of Dreams is now being eyed by many as a major game-changer in the country’s tourism scene, attracting visitors from Gulf countries, Israel and the world at large.

A one-of-a-kind resort, the property lies on the sea in Limassol, and resembles an Inca temple. It has 14 floors, with more than 7,500 sq. m. of gaming space equipped with 1,000 slot machines and 100 tables.

This is Melco’s first venture outside of Asia – having endured further delays due to the COVID pandemic and by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and resulting restrictions and sanctions.

In a bid to help their fellow nation, Jordan has sent three of its helicopters to help Cyprus fight its wildfires.

Said fires have been creating a major ruckus these days, having killed a minimum 4 people, and displaced scores of others.

The most recent of these fires have occurred in the forests of Alassa in Limassol’s northwest – they burnt across more than 3 sq. kms worth of land and rendered over a 100 people homeless.

In response, Jordan’s Air Force sent an MI26 and two Super Pumas to help put out the fires.

Said helicopters first landed at Andreas Papandreou airbase near Limassol, before leaving for the spot.

Trained directly by the US Marines, the military forces of Jordan today are much better equipped to handle natural disasters.

Volunteers teamed up to collect more than a hundred kilos of trash from Lady’s Mile beach in Limassol in Cyprus.

Cyprus Ecological Movement (CEM), the non-profit which organized the event in collaboration with the Green Party Youth Wing, RESET Cy and NGOs Centre for Social Innovation (CSI), said in a press release how the volunteers collected over 107 kilos of trash in almost an hour.

The event is meant to highlight the plight of debris collection – this was seen from 68% of the total trash collected being plastic materials. Cigarette butts made up a major portion of this – and overall constituted 43% of the trash.

According to Natasa Ioannou, CEM’s General Secretary, this collection of waste, while a win in and of itself is also a major warning with regards to the management of waste products in and around coastlines.

She further emphasized that the fact that over 40 kilos worth of bulkier materials really stresses the need for people, corporations and the government at large to be on a much higher level of awareness – both for the safety of humans and animals, and for the better health of the environment.

The British man was arrested for killing his terminally sick wife has been released from prison in Cyprus.

David Hunter, 76, a retired miner who had been serving 19 months in prison for the crime, was released after Paphos’ apex court ruled the time to be “enough” given the circumstances.

This development comes within a month of Hunter being cleared of charges of premeditated murder, which were then replaced by manslaughter charges and an accompanying 24-month sentence.

He first went on trial in 2021, for killing his wife, Janice (then 74), who had been suffering from a rare manifestation of blood cancer. She was constantly in pain, and tired of being in that position, had been repeatedly asking her husband, to whom she was married for over five decades – to assist in her death.

Mr. Hunter proceeded to listen to her, suffocating her with his own hands in their home. He then tried to commit suicide using alcohol and pills.

Andreas Hadjikyrou, prosecutor for the state, said in a statement to the press that he and the court did understand that the act, despite everything, did come from a place of love.

The court also It also considered other factors, like his advanced age and lack of any prior criminal records.

The news was well-received by Lesley Cawthorne, his daughter, who began a fundraising campaign to aid in her father’s predicament.

The legal system in Cyprus does not allow assisted deaths so far.

Russia is set to open a new consular office in Turkish Cyprus.

This comes after a major push from Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey to for legally and internationally recognizing Cyprus as a sovereign entity – a status that has never been fulfilled since the Turkish army’s invasion of the area in 1974.

According to Ersin Tatar, the Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed nation, they are welcoming Russia’s decision to open their office.

So far, the UK already has an office in the region.

Meanwhile, Tahsin Ertugruloglu, the foreign minister said to TRT Haber about Russia’s intentions to open their office being on the cards for a while now.

They have, however, made it clear that this is not in any way instrumental in recognizing the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as an independent entity.

Robert Paschall, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Affairs of the United States’ Department of Homeland Security has issued a statement regarding Cyprus’ status via-a-vis their Visa Waiver Program.

Mr. Pascall said that while Cyprus has fulfilled certain key requirements, it needs to fulfill some more to be truly eligible.

These remarks were made while Paschall was in Cyprus on an official visit, which included meeting with Constantinos Kombos, Cyprus’ Minister of Foreign Affairs.

He also gave an interview to the CNA, explaining how both the US and Cyprus are dedicated to achieving results on the matter as early as possible.

He also emphasized on the program’s importance, mentioning how it can both enhance security, help facilitate travel, and generally speaking strengthen the ties between people and communities.

The Visa Waiver is a special US program, which allows citizens from participating nations to travel to the United States with a 90-day term – for either tourism or business.