Current Events

In what appears to be an attack motivated by racism, the Cypriot Police have arrested a 30-year-old man for striking another man with a pipe over the head.

The victim, a 27-year-old man was seriously injured, and subsequently taken to the emergency department of the Limassol general hospital, but later got a discharge. over the head with a pipe.

The attack, which happened at the city center near Kitiou Kyprianou street, appears to be racially motivated.

The police have announced their arrest, declaring that the suspect has been taken in custody and will not be permitted bail, while the police is investigating the case. The charges being investigated at the moment include public intoxication, bodily harm, and of course racial discrimination.

A new group of immigrants have been spotted trying to cross over into Greek Cyprus.

The migrants were seen arriving in the village of Kato Pyrgos, who’s leader Nikos Kleanthous says that this is actually a frequent phenomenon.

In the latest instance, the group of migrants, which had a total number of 29 people including two children, came to the coastal village on foot in search for better opportunities.

Several locals spotted them walking in the village at around 2.30am.

The police are currently handling the situation. They have refused to give a statement, based on humanitarian grounds.

Unal Ustel, the Turkish Cypriot leader or self-proclaimed ‘prime minister’ of Northern Cyprus has revealed to Turkish Cypriot media that he has fired two people for using the wrong photo on their lottery tickets.

The mistake happened as the ticket, which was supposed to depict Turkish Cypriots, was in reality portraying an image of Greek Cypriot Eoka members celebrating after having captured an area previously occupied by the Turkish Cypriots.

The inclusion of this image led to a bitter political war in the media, and led to officials landing in hot water.

The two people being fired are Osman Uzun – who will now be replaced by Turgut Sunalp as the head of the lottery division; and Huseyin Cahitoglu – who will now be replaced by Berhan Ongan as the head of the sports division.

The lottery tickets, which were issued in memory of the battle of Tylliria, are now being recalled on a mass scale.

The fire that had broken out near the Mosfiloti village has been brought under control.

The forest department had earlier issued a warning about the same fire, claiming it had already burned through wooded land worth 4 hectares – mostly composed of wild olive and pine trees.

A total of 47 members of the forestry department battled the blaze with the help of 4 planes and 10 vehicles. Firefighting services, on the other hand, dispatched 4 fire trucks and 12 personnel.

Despite the fire being under control now, firefighters will continue to stay on site to make sure that flare ups don’t spread.

Investigations on what caused the fire is currently underway.

The Larnaca Criminal Court has released information that the 22-year-old man who has been charged with the rape of three tourists in the Ayia Napa area will appear in court on August 31.

The original hearing for this was meant to take place on July 14. However, the man ended up requesting legal aid, which led to the process of a defense counsel being appointed the following Monday.

That Monday was also the day the court received the report from the welfare office, before the date for the next hearing was set.

The man is currently facing charges in relation to having abducted and sexually assaulted three tourists. He was arrested after a citizens recognized him from a photograph and forwarded his details to the police.

The Cypriot Meteorological Department has issued a fresh Yellow Warning in anticipation of high temperatures prevailing in the island nation.

Temperatures in the week are expected to rise as high as 40C in the interior areas.

The warning shall remain in effect for around one and a half days, and might be extended if the situation continues to prevail.

A tourist from the UK was found dead in a swimming pool in a hotel in Cyprus.

The tourist, a 21-year-old man was found floating in the water in a prominent Paphos hotel at around 6pm.

The lifeguards, who initially spotted his body, hauled him out of the pool and tried their best to revive him – which included emergency CPR. They were, however, unsuccessful in their efforts.

The man was then rushed to Paphos General Hospital, where he was intubated, but still could not be revived.

He was then pronounced dead at around 9pm the same evening.

Cyprus Police arrested a man on grounds of public nuisance. The man, 24, was intoxicated and in state of near-undress, disturbing passers-by.

The man continued to behave offensively towards police officers when they approached to warn him about his conduct.

The police then arrested the man and took him into custody. They proceeded to charge him in writing and then released him, subject to being summoned at a later date.

The government of Cyprus is getting rid of the mandatory requirement for visitors to show up with their vaccination or recovery certificates for COVID-19.

The government is also removing the requirement for people to wear face masks in all indoor spaces. This of course does not include hospitals, nursing homes or any other indoor medical facilities.

According to Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos, the removal of restrictions is being done for a smooth transition of the island nation to a system of post-pandemic normalcy.

The Cyprus police has arrested a 33-year-old man in connection with the fire which broke out in the night near the village of Dierona in Cyprus’ Limassol District, near to the state forest.

According to the Cyprus News agency, the firefighters went on scene almost immediately after the fire broke out and were successfully able to douse the blaze. Their investigations, however, revealed that the fire was a case of arson.

Further investigations by the police found incriminating evidence against the 33-year-old man, who was then arrested. His appearance in court is currently pending.

The Cyprus government is putting the full strength of its aviation capabilities into its firefighting efforts in Kantara.

The country has sent a helicopter and two firefighting planes after the Turkish Cyprus authorities requested help to fight the disaster, which is taking place on the eastern part of the Kyrenia mountain range.

In response to the request, the Cyprus police first sent a helicopter which joined the aircrafts sent by Britain and Turkey.

The aerial firefighting ceased at 7:30 PM, but is expected to resume at 5:00 AM the next morning.

In the meantime, ground-based firefighting forces are still actively fighting the disaster.

This was a natural fire that broke out in the afternoon and became stronger due to winds. So far, it has affected the villages of Ayios Iacovos, Ardana, Mandres, Flamoudi, and Ayios Andronikos.

The Cypriot government has launched an inquiry into the alleged accusations from the country’s prisons’ director. The allegation in question is about a senior police officer who recruited an inmate for the purpose of gathering information about her private life and using the same to blackmail her.

Lawyer Achilleas Emilianides has been appointed by Attorney General George Savvides to conduct the investigation into Prisons’ chief Anna Aristotelous’s allegations, along with that of Athena Demetriou, her deputy. Savvides is of the opinion that the investigation should come to a conclusion within a month.

While Aristotelous has not specified any ulterior motives on the part of the police officer to decode the inmate, he has admitted to something sinister going on beneath the surface.

The inmate in question is currently serving a long sentence on drug conviction. According to the Prisons’ Director, he had been communicating with the police officer via an illegal cell phone.

It is not yet clear if the senior officer has been suspended, however Aristotelous has said that it should be done on account of the risk his not being arrested poses to the investigation.

According to Marios Pelekanos, a spokesperson for the government, further steps will be taken after the investigation is complete to make sure that the proper responsibility is assigned.

The Cyprus police has arrested two people, aged 41 and 40 in Paphos for physically assaulting a 46-year-old man.

According to a spokesman for the police, the incident came to the police’s attention after the 46-year-old filed a complaint explaining how he was attacked by the two people while he was spending time with his friend on the beach of Lemba.

After being attacked, the man was taken to the hospital where he was diagnosed with a hematoma on his head and a broken left leg.

The police arrested the two people, who were first accused in writing and later released.

The Pournara Reception Center in Kokkinotrimithiathe saw two fires breaking out within the span of a single day.

The incidents, each of which took place on consecutive mornings, had the fire service sending out fire engines with expert personnel. While they did manage to put out the fires, the building sustained major damages.

Investigations are currently underway. The investigators are saying that the first fire was in all possibility caused due to arson.

The recent spate of strong winds that have been blowing all over the island nation have intensified, greatly increasing the chance of vehicular accidents.

For this reason, the Cyprus police are actively urging people to drive slower and be extra careful when on the road. According to them, a vehicle with higher velocity makes it vulnerable to be thrown off course.

The results of the spring Eurobarometer of the European parliament has revealed that as less as 54% of participants in the island nation of Cyprus agree with the sanctions against Russia, as opposed to European Union average of 80%.

Parallelly, as many as 80% of Cyprus citizens also believe that the Russian invasion in Ukraine will affect their daily lives. This is by far the biggest percentage after Greece (86%), as opposed to the much lower European Union average of 61%.

Interestingly, 36% of participants said they had a positive view on Russia, quite higher than the European Union average of 10%.

Meanwhile, 42% of Cypriots said they have a positive image of the EU, which is not very far behind the 52% EU average.

Other percentages recorded from Cypriot participants include guarantee of freedom and democracy (48%), and the feeling that the European volume and should pay attention to Cyprus’ public health (58%).

The island nation of Cyprus has established a sea link with Greece – something that hasn’t been done in the last 21 years.

According to president Nicos Anastasiades, who attended the ceremony that marked the launching of the sea link, the event is indeed historic. He called the connection between Cyprus and Greece an “umbilical cord,” and that having the modern ships will further strengthen both countries.

According to Xinhua news agency, the last ferry that moved between these two countries was in October 2001.  So far, only international cruise ships and cargo vessels have moved between them.

While a sea link did exist till 2001, the more affordable 90-minute flights to Athens became more common, effectively putting the former out of business.

Daleena – a Cyprus-based cruiser will be operating on the route. Each trip will last 30 hours, and carry 100 cars and 270 passengers.

A major traffic accident that occurred this morning in Limassol has left a 59-year-old woman in critical condition.

The accident in question, which took place at Promachon Eleftherias street involved a car hitting said woman, who at that time was crossing the road.

The woman, who was gravely injured on spot was first transferred to the Limassol general hospital. But she was later admitted to the Nicosia general hospital on account of her critical condition.

Investigation of the accident is currently underway. The Limassol traffic police is appealing to people to contact them if they have any useful information about the accident.

The District Court in Limassol, Cyprus has sentenced a 23-year-old man to a 15 months prison term for negligence that led to a major car accident.

The accident in question, which occurred right after 12am on the 14th of September in 2020, had the 23-year-old as the driver of a car with an 18-year-old woman as his co-driver moving towards the south of the Kyvides-Kantou road. It was here that he lost control of his car, which then proceeded to overturn and hit a house fence. The collision caused the 18-year-old to be thrown straight out of the vehicle and die on the spot.

In addition to his sentencing, the man’s driving license will be suspended for 24 months.

A 72-year-old man in Paphos is in serious condition in the hospital after falling from his balcony.

The man, a pensioner, was trying to climb up his balcony, which stood at two-meter-high, to get into his home as he had accidentally locked himself out.

After neighbors informed the police, he was found and taken to Paphos general hospital’s A+E department, where the doctors diagnosed him with facial fracture and a head injury.

His condition has been described as serious.