Current Events

A huge wildfire that took place in the south of Cyprus led to the death of two people, and emergency evacuations of thousands of people.

The fire in question destroyed more than 38 sq mi (or 100 sq. km) of land in a place located north of Limassol, famous for wine production.

The fire started in the middle of the day and continued for days, razing over a dozen different villages to the ground and causing great grief and loss.

The fire department found 2 people dead in a burned down car -presumably trapped in the fires. Ten others have sustained injuries – and two of these are in critical condition.

The fire was further exaggerated by the hot weather – the temperature went up to 109.4 degrees Fahrenheit and later 111.2-degree Fahrenheit – the hottest in 2025 so far. Coupled with unruly and forceful winds, the effect was the derailment of several containment initiatives.

Cyprus’ Interior Ministry ordered evacuations in a mountain region spanning fourteen kilometers. Evacuation efforts also included moving camp-going children near the village of Lofou to a safe space.

Several videos of the fire are circulating on social media, showing the stark destruction of vegetation, trees, and of course houses, along with a heavy permeation of dense smoke.

Over 250 firefighters have worked to curb the firefighters. The efforts also include thirteen air planes – which include those sent from Spain, Jordan and the RAF Cyprus-based Chinook.

Authorities are investigating the exact reason why the fire happened in the first place.

The authorities in Cyprus have conducted an emergency medical evacuation by transporting a gravely ill ship crew worker by air.

According to a statement by the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC), the operation started at 9:20 PM in the evening as a part of the National Search and Rescue Plan (NEARCHOS) after receiving a distress signal.

The relevant authorities then went to evacuate said patient from the ship he was on in the Nicosia FIR region of Cyprus’s search and rescue responsibility area.

The evacuation involved a police helicopter, which was used for transporting the patient as well as the medical crew and ambulance nurse.

Authorities have confirmed that the patient reached the hospital on the island safely and was treated for his condition.

Boris Demash, the owner and founder of Cyprus Daily News (CDN) and its associated platforms was recently arrested by the police.

The arrest warrant was issued as part of the ongoing investigation regarding a defamation case, which involved a disinformation campaign launched against businessman Alexey Gubarev.

Courts issued the arrest warrant after they found that Demash in fact was not in compliance with the prohibitory injunction terms and had not made his scheduled court appearance to give his response to the application of contempt.

The above-mentioned developments happened after Gubarev fought back against the claims made against him

Cyprus Daily News, a self-professed online publication highlighting social and political issues in Cyprus, does not have any official registration with Cyprus’ Press and Information Office.

Cyprus has officially launched its European Union Blue Card scheme for non-European and non-EU nationals who are seeking employment and residence in Cyprus.

The Blue Card is a highly coveted document sought by non-EU professionals who have in-demand skills and are looking to live and work in the region.

The Deputy Ministry of Immigration and International Protection made the announcement – thus marking the first ever occasion where Cyprus is extending support to talent outside of the EU region.

Getting the Blue Card will allow skilled non-EEA and/or non-EU workers to reside and work in the island nations with many of their rights at par to that of the country’s citizens. It allows card holders to move in all EU countries bar Ireland and Denmark (since they are not part of this scheme).

Right now, Cyprus is issuing Blue Cards for those working in shipping (bar crew and captains), pharma research, and information and communication technology (ICT). Applicants need to have a minimum annual salary of over €44,000, and fulfill the professional and/or academic requirements.

Aside from having the right to work and reside in Cyprus, the Blue Card will provide its holders the right to claim equal status in work situations, education and learning and social security. It will also allow them to have their family members, provided they have suitable permits for residence.

If card holders have spent other years in EU countries (covered in the scheme), they will be able to combine them to qualify for further residency. They can also freely travel within the EU region (bar Ireland and Denmark) so long as they have the card.

The ExxonMobil-and-QatarEnergy-led consortium has discovered yet another deposit of natural gas.

This will mark their second discovery since their first one on Block Ten in 2019.

It was also made in Block 10, but this time it was in the “Pegasus-1” area of the larger Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Cyprus.

Specifically, the site is situated around 190 south-west from Cyprus, and contains over 350m of gas-led reservoir.

A statement from the government of Cyprus revealed that the drilling was done by the drillship Valaris DS-9 in over 1,921m of water.

The specific composition of the shall be revealed once the samples have been fully analyzed.

According to several experts in this area, this discovery will help boost energy supply in Europe, which will be especially helpful as it is decreasing its dependence on Russia.

As mentioned earlier, this is the second discovery made in the area by the consortium – the first was made in 2019 at Block 10’s Glaucus-1 – situated over 180km southwest of the port of Limassol.

The discovery revealed over 133m of gas reserves. A successful drilling operation was conducted, which reached over 4,200m in depth and was done in waters over 2,000m deep.

The ExxonMobil-and-QatarEnergy-led consortium currently has the rights to operation within 2 blocks of Cyprus’ EEZ.

The Cyprus Police is actively looking for cars and other vehicles experiencing overheating – something that has been common lately thanks to the elevated temperatures.

In the latest incident, the Police responded to a call made at the Limassol-Nicosia highway, where a mini-bus caught fire for this very reason.

Local news sources said the mini-bus’s passengers where National Guard soldiers being transported to their respective units.

The mini-bus was totally destroyed.

Specifically, the incident happened near Parekklisia. The silver lining was that the soldiers managed to escape with zero injuries. Although, traffic was disrupted due to either capital-bound lane being shut down for multiple hours until the bus was taken away and the scene was thoroughly investigated.

All operations have since resumed to normal.

Cypriot hypermarket giant Alphamega is all set to acquire online quick commerce service Foody Market.

While Alphamega has completed the paperwork, including signing the agreements – the actual transaction process remains subject to the approval of the Commission for the Protection of Competition (CPC).

Acquiring Foody Market does not give Alphamega access to other dimensions of Foody’s scope of operations.

When the actual transaction is complete, Foody Market shall be fully integrated within the larger retail network of Alphamega. It will migrate to operating within the larger ‘Alphamega Express’ – allowing the larger company to expand its presence in the island nation’s burgeoning online shopping scenario.

Specifically, the Foody Market stores set to join the network are the ones in Limassol and Nicosia. They will be filling out orders from the supermarket via the Foody platform.

This development will allow customers to get their order more seamlessly and get their deliveries quicker – thus creating a much better overall experience.

For Alphamega, this expansion will help them offer more options to their customers, and will help them understand and navigate online store operations better.

People will have the option to either schedule their delivery via the online store on the Alphamega website or order for a quick delivery via the Foody Market online store.

George Theodotou, the CEO of Alphamega has expressed his happiness on the development, mentioning how the expansion is a win-win for everyone involved. He remarked that it will make both businesses stronger by offering more options to today’s consumers and their time-bound lifestyle.

Theodotou further added that the partnership will not end here – and that more plans are on the way. And that it all starts with serving customers who for any reason are unable to physically reach a store.

Meanwhile Srdjan Stankovic, the CEO of Foody called the agreement a major milestone as the company makes a stronger and better partnership with the Cypriot retail giant.

The UN held a five-party meeting regarding the Cyprus reunification issue at their NY headquarters.

The event was originally announced by Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General at the press conference.

The convening of the Secretary-General happened after the first of such meetings in 2025 in the month of March. Here, the leaders of both Turkish and Greek Cyprus, along with leaders of other major powers in the area such as Turkey, Greece and the UK met yet again to discuss the issue of the divided island nation at length.

While the talks were not the most encouraging, those who attended the meeting agreed that it was a good opportunity to keep the communication channel open and hold out on the possibility for things to improve in the future.

The island nation of Cyprus has been a divided one since 1974, sparked off by Turkey invading Cyprus and then staging a coup with the Greek military regime at that time. As of July 2025, Turkey is the sole nation to recognize Turkish Cyprus as an independent nation, and keeps over 35,000 soldiers on standby there.

The Cyprus-based investment firm Exclusive Change Capital has reached a settlement with Forty Thousand Euros with the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).

The reached settlement is about the potential violation of 2017’s Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law – in the way it has been amended.

In specific terms, an investigation was made in the time period of January to August 2021 about the company’s situation regarding compliance of Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law’s Article 22(1) and the conditions of authorization under article 17(5)(b) – also of the same law.

As an investment firm based out of Cyprus, Exclusive Change Capital is obligated to adhering to these organizational rules – which it did not.

Exclusive Change Capital has paid the settlement amount. CySEC has acknowledged the same and noted that the amount paid shall be considered income of the Cypriot Treasury and not of the CySEC itself.

Cyprus’ AKEL party has expressed its objection over the rising number of properties being purchased by Israeli nationals.

Stefanos Stefanou, the leader of the party, spoke about the matter at a congress meeting, explaining how this “looks a lot like” the “tactics” used in the former Palestinian areas, and if left unchecked might cause demographic issues.

He further added that such issues may include a rise of synagogues and “Zionist” educational institutions, along with a broader presence of foreign culture. He then resorted to saying he was worried that the country “is going to be taken away,” eventually.

Stefanou even accused the current ruling government of being negligent and urged them to tighten up their controls on whom they are selling their properties to.

Several locals supported Stefanou’s claims, saying that property sales left unchecked could cause economic problems to the already sensitive island nation and might even undermine its sovereignty down the line.

In contrast, Oren Anolik, the Ambassador of Israel in Nicosia, criticized the claims, calling Stefanou and his supporters as people promoting antisemitism in an otherwise peaceful nation. Stefanou responded to his accusation with a counter argument that that was never his intention and that Israeli politics must never be mixed with antisemitism.

Cyprus has over 2,500 Israeli nationals residing – although many believe the actual count to lie somewhere upwards of twelve to fifteen thousand.

Many areas in Paphos reported shortage of water on account of the damage caused to the main pipeline supplying water to Paphos and its suburbs,

The pipeline, which is situated upwards of Yeroskipou, attracted a team from the Water Development Department to mitigate the situation.

Harris Kasioulis, Paphos Water Development Department’s District Engineer explained to the Cyprus News Agency how the damage affected not just Paphos but also the nearby areas of Akamas, along with Lemba and Chlorakas communities.

He also mentioned that since the damage has occurred on the deeper end, the restoration works will also be complicated and shall take time, despite the mitigation team working on it from the moment it was detected.

The damaged took almost a day and half to be fully repaired, after which water supply was gradually restored.

Charalambos Pittokopitis, the Governor of Paphos District visited the site and explained that the damage was caused to the pipeline being blocked by a soil block.

The pipeline in question is responsible for transporting over thirty-thousand cubic meters of water daily – and supplies more than 2/3rds of the area’s overall consumption.

A father died while attending his own son’s destination wedding in Cyprus’ Paphos district.

The man’s family has set up a page on fundraising platform GoFundMe to raise money to be able to bring his body to the United Kingdom.

His family has described him as a “very loved & missed” man who was a husband, father, grandfather, uncle, & friend.

The GoFundMe page also contained the details of the circumstances, explaining how the man, Named John, unexpectedly passed away. The page also mentioned how he was enjoying time with his family and friends when he passed, and while that is extremely sad, they hold some solace in the fact that he spent his last moments being happy.

Finally, the support of all near and dear were sought for the family to be able to afford the unexpected high cost of taking John’s body back to England for his funeral.

This was followed by several pictures and John and his family, and of the family preparing to leave for the wedding.

Several users proceeded to share the GoFundMe page on popular social media platform Facebook.

So far, over 3,000 GBP out of the target 10,000 GBP has been raised.

Several people have commented and expressed their grief – both on the fundraising page and on social media.

Cypriot authorities have launched a national campaign on the occasion of World Hypertension Day to help people gain better awareness of the disease.

The Cyprus Society of Internal Medicine & the Cyprus Society of Cardiology, in collaboration with pharma company Medochemie and backed by the Cyprus Medical Association launched the initiative to show people how deadly a situation of untreated hypertension can be.

Often called a “silent killer” due to often being both asymptomatic and deadly, the disease affects almost thirty percent of all adults in Cyprus – with over 70% of this number comprising people over the age of sixty.

Yet, many people are not remotely aware of the risk it poses.

The goal of the campaign is to spread better awareness via regular check-ups, education, and changes in lifestyle. After all, simply checking one’s BP regularly can avoid the many deadly complications that can arise from hypertension.

The Cyprus Police has arrested a British national for allegedly committing espionage as well as terrorism-related activity.

The individual was produced before court, where an eight-day-long detention was ordered, pending inquiry.

The police has refused to divulge any further details on grounds of national security.

A British Foreign Office spokesman has confirmed that the arrested individual is indeed a British national. They also confirmed that their office is in touch with Cypriot authorities on this matter.

Many news outlets in Cyprus have reported that the man, who was arrested in Limassol’s Zakaki is of Azerbaijani origin.

This news comes as a surprise to many, even with the current tensions in the middle east – especially given as there are very few terrorism-related offences in the island nation of Cyprus.

Airliners in Cyprus have cancelled several flights in response to the airstrikes in Iran.

Ten flights have been confirmed to be canceled – all of which go from Cyprus’ Larnaca International Airport to Israel.

While airports remain open, several other flights have also been affected due to growing tensions in the Middle East region. According to radar images, most civilian flights in the airspace lying between Israel and Iran at large have been cleared.

Meanwhile airlines running flights between Israel and Cyprus are taking strict precautionary measures in response to the situation. Ben Gurion Airport, however, has suspended all of its upcoming flights.

Finally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus has issued their travel advisory for Cypriots currently in Israel – asking them to be fully compliant with local rules and regulations. They have asked Cypriots to not travel unless absolutely necessary, keep themselves as secure as possible and stay fully aware of current affairs – especially in light of Israel declaring a state of emergency.

Both Paphos and Larnaca have been put on emergency standby, upon requests to have several Israel-bound airplanes to make emergency landings on the island nation. The airports have successfully executed said request.

For the first time since 2021, Cyprus has entered into deflation.

The Statistical Service of Cyprus has revealed that the island nation’s yearly rate of inflation has gone down to the negatives up to -0.2%, This previously happened in 2021, when the Consumer Price Index (CPI) went on a year-on-year decrease to stand at -0.72% inflation.

While the CPI did slightly increase in May 2025 – going up of 117.57 units instead of April 2025’s 117.31 – the prices were much lower than that of the same time in 2024.

Prices increased the most for services (by 3.5%) and agro products (by 4.7%), where is they decreased for things utilities such as power (by 8.6%) and gas (by 12.8%). The latter especially played a major role in making said deflation happen.

Footwear and clothing saw a decline of 5.3% in prices, whereas transport was a 6.6% decrease. Meanwhile the prices of education, restaurant & recreation increased by 3.7%, 4.9% and 4.0% respectively.

Speaking of month-on-month increase, footwear and clothing increased the most (by 2.4%), whereas transport reduced by -2.4%.

The lowered cost of gas and transport is believed to have contributed to the deflation, despite the pressure exerted by the rising costs of food & beverages and hotels & restaurants.

Over sixty-four beaches and two different marinas in the island nation of Cyprus have collectively won sixty-six Blue Flags on account of their high-quality and clean atmosphere.

The flags, awarded by Maria Panayiotou, Cyprus’ Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment – are a prestigious award for beaches that maintain a high order of cleanliness.

Minister Panayiotou went on to deliver her speech at the ceremony, which was held at Famagusta’s Fig Tree Bay, where she hailed the Blue Flag as one of the most internationally recognized symbols of good-quality beaches. She further added that winning the award is no small feat, since it requires adherence to very specific criteria, along with impeccable quality control.

Factors taken into consideration for evaluating an island’s cleanliness include bathers’ safety, availability of proper and helpful visitor information, the level of protection that can be provided to the surrounding flora and fauna, and of course how clean and in order the coast is.

Eighteen Blue Flags were awarded to Paralimni – Deryneia Municipality, sixteen were awarded to Ayia Napa Municipality, nine were awarded to the Amathus Municipality, six were awarded to Paphos Municipality, three were awarded to Hierokipia Municipality, where the Municipalities of Larnaca Akamas received three and two, respectively.

One blue flag was awarded to each of the community councils of Episkopi, Pentakomo, Zygi, Lempa, Oroklini, Pissouri, and Parekklisia. Ayia Napa and Limassol marinas were also awarded Blue Flags – one for each region.

George Nicolettos, Paralimni – Deryneia’s mayor, remarked on how much these awards mean to them and to the Cyprus tourism industry at large.

President of the National Blue Flag Judge and Secretary General of Cymepa Michalis Ierides announced that a further evaluation visit will be made at the award-winning beaches for verification. Any beach be found not fulfilling the criteria at any point will have their Flags suspended.

In light of its acquisition by Eurobank Cyprus, Hellenic Bank has officially changed its name to Hellenic Bank.

The decision was made by the board of directors at the end of May 2025, and announced a few days later.

It took a few weeks to make the actual change happen, due to securing the required supervision approvals.

This new chapter in the bank’s functioning was highly anticipated, and is being looked at by key officials in a good light – especially now that they are part of one of the biggest banks in the EU and an important one in the world.

The official statement from the bank called the event more than a simple change of name – they called it a promise to offer new and improved finance solutions and proactive services, to help Cyprus develop more, economically and socially.

Michalis Louis, the CEO called the change of name as a “promise” to their customers for a much brighter future.

The island nation of Cyprus is making a bold, yet kind move by offering money and resources to Syrian families in order to help them re-settle in their country.

To help ease the transition, they are allowing breadwinners of families on the island to stay, work and earn for up to three years, in order to provide a stable income and ease the burden of such a large repatriation process.

Nicholas Ioannides, Cyprus’ Deputy Minister for Migration mentioned that this is a voluntary program, with one of the main requirements being that the families in question have to withdraw their asylum claim and/or their international protection status (if they received the latter before Jan 1 2025).

He further added that the program will provide qualifying families a 2,000 euros lumpsum per adult, and 1,000 euros per child.

While the main focus is on families, couples without children may also apply. The application window started on 2nd June and will end on the 31st of August.

As mentioned before, the family’s breadwinner will be given a special work permit, so that they can complete their jobs and get a head start once their family is fully re-settled in Syria.

This move comes after the government’s observation that several Syrians do wish to return to their nation, but are in no position to do this due to the uncertainty of how they will be able to live a financially and socially secure life.

Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India – received a warm welcome on his latest visit in Cyprus. In addition to a highly positive reception, he had his feet touched by one of the government officials.

Specifically, Michaela Kythreoti Mhlapa, who works as a Member of Council of Nicosia, touched PM Modi’s feet to show their respect for him.

PM Modi reciprocated the gesture by praising the act and appreciating the awareness they had about the intricacies of the Indian culture.

Several videos and reports of the greeting have been made since. Pralhad Joshi, the Union Minister of Indian lauded it as a “heartfelt” interaction on social media, saying how Indian values such as reverence and humility are now being felt and worldwide.

The government of the island nation has awarded Modi with the Grand Cross of the Order of Makarios III. Named after the country’s first president, this is Cyprus’ highest civilian award. It is typically given to the head of a state and/or other people who have made significant strides in serving their country.

While accepting the award, PM Modi said that the honor bestowed upon him is not just his, but of all the 140+ crore Indians.

His Cyprus visit was a part of his latest three-nation tour, which included the G7 summit.