Current Events

7 whales showed up dead on the shoreline of the northern coast of the island nation of Cyprus.

Yet another 3 dead whales from the same whale species were found washed up in the eastern side of Turkish Cyprus.

This the largest large-scale deaths of whales of the same species in Cyprus, which occasionally sees whales despite them not being common in the area.

All of the dead whales belonged to the Cuvier’s beaked whale species (scientific name: Ziphius cavirostris) – famous for having the capacity to dive larger depths and go on longer than other mammals.

According to a statement by Ioannis Ioannou, an official of the Department of Fisheries and Marine Research, an autopsy of the whales is being done to determine the cause of death.

The last such incident happened in 2022, although that involved one animal.

Cyprus and Lebanon have recently signed a military cooperation to increase teamwork and expertise between the two nations.

According to a statement by the Lebanese Armed Forces, Cypriot Army’s Colonel Loukas Hadjikonstantas and Lebanese Armed Forces’ Deputy Chief of Staff (Planning) Youssef Haddad signed the agreement in Cyprus itself.

Overall, the objective of the agreement is to improve mutual cooperation in all sorts of military operations which include (but are not limited to) infrastructure protection, emergency and/or joint operations, search and rescue and sea and air operations.

This agreement functions as a continuation of sorts for the one signed in 2021.

The island nation of Cyprus kicked off its Grand Carnival Parade in Limassol’s Central Makarios Avenue. The parade started shortly after noon and had a live broadcast on state TV.

The event started from the round of Ayios Nikolaos and ended near the Polemidia (Fairways) traffic lights.

The Cyprus Carnival is a nationwide festival, but the one celebrated in Limassol is arguably the most famous.

The carnival is known for people to participate in it by showing up in fancy dresses, people enjoying themselves and an abundance of confetti.

The event caused some traffic jams in Limassol, and on the Limassol-Paphos and Nicosia-Limassol highways.

A 5.5 earthquake has hit central Turkey at around 12 PM, with tremors being felt in neighboring Cyprus.

According to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, the earthquake happened 10 km below ground near Emigrazi city.

The quake is being considered as an aftershock coming after three weeks after the major earthquake which hit southern Turkey and claimed the lives of thousands. It also left more than 2 million people without homes and living in container houses, tents and other temporary facilities within the region.

Many are panicking in Turkish Cyprus in the aftermath of the multiple quakes which devastated southern Turkey and happened due to movement over the very Faultline that Cyprus lays upon.

Fearing aftershocks and/or other earthquakes, the government of Turkish Cyprus has speeded up the evaluation of earthquake resistance for all public buildings, especially hospitals & schools.

The party leader Ünal Üstel even had a high-priority meeting with all the eighteen mayors of the island nation to devise a series of measures needed to be taken should an earthquake occur.

An earthquake audit committee was established as a result of this, which started its activities by launching a countrywide building audit, which would start with public buildings.

Additionally, the Civil Defense Directorate demarcated assembly for people in the scenario of a potential earthquake.

The Faultline, popularly called “The Cyprus Arc,” is situated on Hatay’s continuation on the Faultline of Eastern Anatolia, and is a major cause for scare among Turkish Cypriots.

Turkish Cypriot President Ersin Tatar and Nikos Christodoulides, the new President-elect of Greek Cyprus had their first meeting in the buffer zone. They, however, could not come to any conclusions regarding reunification and peace negotiations.

According to a statement by the UN Peace Keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), while the “informal” talk did not have any concrete conclusions, it was a constructive one overall.

The “buffer” zone where they met was in fact the residence of Canadian diplomat Colin Stewart, who additionally holds the post of the Deputy Special Advisor at the UN Secretary General, Cyprus. The residence itself lies in the UN-administered buffer zone which divides the island nation’s capital, Nicosia.

Several issues were addressed at the informal meeting, which includes (but is not limited to) the Ukraine war and the Turkey-Syria earthquakes. Both expressed their condolences and acknowledged the death of Turkish Cypriots who lived in Turkey.

In the latest incident, the Cyprus police have arrested 10 people who were found gambling in a Paphos pub.

The police carried out the operation, after a citizen tipped them about the activity.

The ten people in question are currently in custody and being charged; their court appearance is due. They were found playing Texas Holdem Poker.

Further investigations revealed that five of these ten people already had outstanding warrants.

A road accident claimed the life of the Romanian woman who was a permanent Cypriot resident.

The woman, Adriana Mocanu, 53, was in the rear seat of a car which collided with a different car at the intersection of Neofytos Nicolaides Avenue and Gregori Afxentiou Street. Adriana was killed on the spot.

The car in question was being driven by a 31-year-old, another Paphos resident, with another woman, 29, as co-passenger. Neither of them was injuries.

Meanwhile, the other vehicle, being driven by a 53-year-old, sustained minor injuries.

Both drivers tested negative on a blood alcohol test.

Cyprus Airways has been a mainstay of the Cypriot aviation sector, and its long history and legacy has now been celebrated in a brand new exhibition.

The exhibition was inaugurated in Nicosia on January 9 – the date of the company’s shutdown in 2015. It continued to operate till January 13, whereupon gave visitors a tour of Pallouriotissa’s Old Market.

The legacy and history of Cyprus Airlines was shown through various photographs, which include, but are not limited to – the logo of Cyprus Airways, iconic achievements and milestones and rare mementos.

The opening night also saw the screening of an hour-long film, features employee interviews and airline contributions, along with major incidents such as the accident in Ankara in 1961, the final landing of 1974, the Beirut hijacking in 1985 and the plane explosion in 1967.

All visual content has been created by Alexis Sophocleous, a producer, who worked as a flight attendant at Cyprus Airways for over 25 years.

Larnaca-based KENTHEA (Centre for Education about Drugs and Treatment of Drug Addictions) has revealed that no less than 150,000 Cypriots over the age of twelve are clinically suffering from substance addiction.

Said substance ranges from alcohol and nicotine to psychotropic drugs & illegal substances.

KENTHEA also found that this number is significantly higher than the total number of people suffering from a chronic heart ailment, cancer and diabetes combined – which they believe is a major cause for concern.

It is estimated that only one out of ten people suffering from addiction issues actually seek out any treatment.

A total of six road deaths have been recorded in all of twenty-four days.

The latest of these casualties is a 24-year-old man, Kyriakos Oxynos, a recent university graduate, who was killed when his car collided first with an island, and thereafter a tree nearby.

The loss of Oxynos, who was a champion footballer and exceptional swimmer, was mourned by Olympiakos football club in Nicosia as well as the Cyprus Swimming Federation.

It was only a cruel irony that this development happened hours after the Cypriot Ministry of Transport reported an 18% reduction in road accident deaths in the previous year.

The Meteorological department issued a warning, stating that the air all over Cyprus will have high dust concentrations.

They further advised people to spend as less time as possible in open areas.

According to the Department of Labour, the dust levels per square meter at noon are as high as 85.4 μg, 133.8 μg, 65.4 μg, 45 μg, and 49.6 μg in Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, Paralimni, Paphos respectively.

They advised the vulnerable – especially those with chronic health issues, the elderly and children to stay indoors and keep themselves protected from dust particles. They also urged employers to take adequate measures for their organizations and assess and rectify any risks their employees might face should they need to work in open spaces.

The Mediterranean Island nation of Cyprus has not held back in expressing its grief over the synagogue in Jerusalem, Israel.

Cyprus’s foreign minister expressed his horror over a tweet, mourning and loss of lives and echoing the sentiments of thousands of Cypriots.

In what is being considered the worst attack right at the onset of the new year, 7 people were killed and 3 others were wounded after a Palestinian gunman opened fire in a synagogue in Jerusalem.

After the shootout, the Palestinian attempted to flee the scene but was pursued, found and shot dead by the local police.

Cyprus Police has arrested two men who were trying to kidnap another adult male.

In a statement to the press, the police stated that the two men, aged 27 and 26 were in the process of kidnapping a 30-year-old man.

According to the victim, the 26-year-old man approached him, asking for his help with some issue his “friend” apparently had. The 30-year-old then agreed he would speak with them.

The 26-year-old left the house, and soon after returned with two others, which is when all the three tried to force him away from the home.

Fortunately, the man, with some help from his friend, aged 41, fought the assailants off, who then fled the scene.

The victim’s statement to the police said that the assailants were wield knives, crowbars and a club as well. He also mentioned that his car, which was parked outside was attacked.

The police have apprehended the two people, while search for the third is ongoing.

The island nation of Cyprus was hit by a major earthquake.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) reported that the earthquake, recorded 5.9 on the Richter scale, actually originated near the city Rhodes in Greece.

The organization further reported that tremors of the quake were felt within a 500 km radius as far as Turkey, Egypt, Greece, and of course Cyprus.

No reports of damage, casualties or injuries have been reported so far.

A country-wide three-hour strike is set to take place in the afternoon over the Cost of Living Allowance (CoLA) issue.

The strike will involve gathering and protest marches in all major cities of the island nation, in support of indexing wages according to inflation rates automatically.

The labor movement will include workers from the public, private as well as semi-government sectors. This is a deliberate move to demonstrate how this issue unites workers from all walks of life, literally.

The strike itself shall affect almost every public life function, from air traffic to public transport and from schools to (of course) offices of all sort.

The Cyprus Police have finally found a man guilty of murdering his girlfriend by pushing her off a cliff.

The man, aged 30, was presented before a Mixed Jury Court in Syros, which collectively judged the man as guilty of committing premeditated murders.

According to the case history, the man and his girlfriend, then 26, were arguing while driving till their vehicle swerved and went off-road. They then left the car and walked but continued to argue.

The argument ended with the woman falling off the cliff on Folegandros – which the man initially claimed was an accidental occurrence.

However, he later confessed that he had in fact followed his girlfriend to the cliff and then pushed her.

A high-end car was destroyed in a fire in Pegeia.

The car in question belonged to a Cypriot citizen, aged 31, living in an apartment complex in the same area. It was parked right outside the apartment where the owner resides.

According to initial investigations by the fire department, the disaster seems to be an act of arson.

The car’s worth is estimated to be around 40,000 Euros.

Another suspect has been arrested in the attempted murder case in Oroklini.

The Police has arrested a man, 34 in Famagusta, and are currently searching further connected with said suspect.

They have also issued an arrest warrant for another man, 35, who was initially reported missing.

Prior to this, another man, 31, was put in custody for 8 days. He admitted being involved in the case, despite initially claiming that he did not know anything.

The case in question had a moving car with three passengers being attacked by (then) unknown gunmen.

Passengers included two men, aged 42 and 40, along with a 6-year-old boy.

A secondary school in Limassol was attacked and vandalized.

The attackers – a group of youths, threw firecrackers, Molotov cocktails, and smoke bombs. They also attacked a parked car nearby with the same weapons, which caught fire but was extinguished by a civilian before it could spread.

The Police arrived on the scene not long after the disturbance had started – they immediately uncovered the fact that the group was led by some senior school students, who had enlisted the help of some outsiders.

The group fled the scene by the time the officers reached the location. Investigation is currently underway.