Current Events

A large group of people were seen having picnics outside restaurants Limassol and Nicosia to protest the new rules.

The protest, which was organized by United for Justice Cyprus – a social media group, had people protesting against banning the unvaccinated from public establishments such as coffee shops, restaurants and pubs.

It began at Ledras street and the Limassol castle in Nicosia, with people laying down mats and blankets and sitting down with their containers of drinks and meals. Some were also carrying cool bags and coolers.

Videos were taken on social media, which had several people dancing and celebrating their freedom.

According to the official announcement, the aim of the event was to encourage people to live happily and without fear.

The new rule in place will mandate all those aged 12 and above who are not vaccinated with even a single dose to be banned from all outdoor and indoor public places.

The incident involving the abduction of an Israeli boy has already proven itself as a complicated case.

The man who allegedly kidnapped the child, and who has an Italy-issued warrant for him – was found and arrested in Cyprus.

According to the prosecutors in Italy, Gabriel Abutbul Alon helped Eitan Biran’s grandfather to take the boy to Israel, without any prior consent from his paternal aunt, with whom he was living.

Biren went to live with his aunt after his entire family passed away in a fatal cable car crash in Italy.

The political parties in Turkish Cyprus have agreed to hold the election ahead of time on January 22, 2022.

According to the Parliament Press Office of North Cyprus, the decision was taken after the chairmen of the country’s 6 political parties discussed the issue – under the guidance of Önder Sennaroğlu, the Speaker of the Parliament. They also decided to form a committee which will be working on the changes to be brought forth by the election law.

The new cabinet formed by a coalition government was approved by Ersin Tatar, the President of Turkish Cypriot Nov. 5. Members included the Democrat Party (DP) and the National Unity Party (UBP), with Faiz Sucuoğlu, of the latter acting as the coalition’s chairman.

The first act for Mr. Sucuoğlu was the announcement of his first statement.

The police in Cyprus have arrested 19 civilians as well as 5 business owners on grounds of violating the measures in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

According to a statement by a spokesperson for the Cyprus police, the cops carried out more than three thousand checks – and the actual levels of rule violations were quite alarming. Most people were not wearing masks and using the SafePass when being in crowds and public places.

He further explained the breakdown of checks by district. No violations were reported in Larnaca and Morphou, where 572 and 180 checks were made, respectively. Nicosia saw 1,295 checks and two fines – including one business-person and one citizen, while Famagusta had 461 checks and had 5 citizens fined. Paphos has 290 checks, with 3 citizens and 4 business owners fined. Limassol had the greatest number of bookings, with 10 citizens fined out of a total of 296 checks.

The Cypriot traffic department also carried out 35 checks at airports and ports – however no cases were reported.

A major accident in Limassol has left a driver struggling for his life.

The driver, 49, was gravely injured after crashing into another vehicle being driven by a 19-year-old on Philellinon Street.

The latter sustained a broken nose and was held back for observation, while the former was immediately admitted for surgery after being transferred to Nicosia General Hospital.

The Cyprus government has revealed that it will revoke the passports of 45 citizens who obtained the same under the now-defunct passport scene.

Around 7,000 persons were awarded citizenship under the scheme, in exchange for sizable investments in the country.

It was only after a major expose by Al Jazeera revealed the corruption behind the scheme, the government was forced to cancel the program. However, those who had already obtained citizenship remained in the country.

According to a statement by Marios Pelekanos, spokesman for the government, the cabinet has suspended the citizenship passports of 45 persons, and is currently investigating an additional 47.

The Cyprus Police has fined 4 businesses and 8 people for COVD rule violations within a span of 24 hours.

The Police fined 2 people out of 1,273 checks in Nicosia, 1 person out of 179 checks in Limassol, 3 persons out of 182 checks in Paphos, and 2 people out of 141 checks in Famagusta.

The Police also fined 4 small business owners in Paphos.

No violations were found in Larnaca, Morphou and in the checks made by the Marine and Traffic departments.

Cyprus’ YKAN anti-narcotics squad has apprehended a vehicle driven by a man, 34. Upon searching, they found 2kgs of cannabis and immediately arrested the man.

They then searched his home, where they found more cannabis as well as some relevant tools.

The YKAN squad also separately stopped another car that they perceived to have been moving suspiciously. The passenger in the car tried to run but was caught and arrested. The police recovered 3 Kgs of cannabis along with some relevant tools.

The police also arrested a 4th man, who was found to have been storing 310 grams of the narcotic in his home along with some other evidence of usage.

All the four have been charged and detained, pending further investigations.

As Russia is facing some of toughest measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, many Russian national are fleeing to seaside destinations to escape the perceived life of drudgery at home.

The best example of this can be seen on Russian travel company Orange Sun Tour, whose slogan is “Don’t quarantine, but holiday on the beach!”  Among other destinations, the travel agency has Cyprus on its list.

According to Polina Bondarenko, a travel agent, people are flocking to go to Cyprus, even as the prices have shot up. More interestingly, over 70% of these are fully vaccinated – which is much more than the 33% currently vaccinated in Russia.

The Police in Cyprus has issued an alert asking people to be vigilant about a new scam doing the rounds that intends to get people’s bank account details.

The police say that people are complaining about receiving false messages and alerts of people “hacking” their bank account and being asked to verify their details via phishing websites.

The police clarified questions by stating the no bank ever asks for passwords – no matter what the situation is.

They urged people to stay alert and not reveal any sensitive data to anyone, even if they claim to represent the bank. And if they are entering passwords, they must do so after checking whether the bank website is indeed authentic.

The Cyprus Health Ministry has announced that 2 samples of the Covid-19 Delta+ variant have been detected.

The 2 samples were found out of the 297 that were tested – all of which was done within the sequencing of all new variants of SARS-CoV-2 in samples of positive COVID-19 cases from September to October.

185 of these 279 samples were sent to a special ECDC lab, whereas 94 were sent to a private lab that works as a government contractor.

\While the Delta variant itself was traced in all 279 samples, only 2 showed the Delta+ variant.

While the Delta+ is arguably more infectious, it has not made any significant effects to effect hospitalisation and epidemiological and indices.

The ministry aims to monitor the situation closely and locate newer variants before they spread in the public.

As the world is returning to a sense of normal in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, citizens are now beginning to go back to getting loans and mortgaging their properties.

Within this context, a study by the Land and Survey Department has revealed that Limassol and Nicosia have the largest numbers of mortgages in the island nation.

The study says that as of September 2021, Nicosia had 581 mortgages (worth 84.73 million), in comparison to 2020’s 535 mortgages (worth 112.48 million.

Meanwhile, Limassol showed higher numbers in terms of worth, with 373 mortgages (worth 99.78 million), compared to last year’s 484 mortgages (worth 113.01 million).

Other districts had varying numbers – Larnaca had 238 mortgages (worth 30 million) in comparison to 278 mortgages (worth 36.73 million) in 2020. Paphos had 133 mortgages (worth 18.09 million) compared to last year’s (23.35 million), while Famagusta has the lowest number of mortgages – 72 (worth 16.34 million) this year in comparison to last year’s 77 mortgages (worth 9.94 million).

The Turkish Cyprus government had already been on shaky grounds, which have now shattered as said government collapsed as a result of a political deadlock.

The coalition government finally stepped down after months’ worth of deadlock in the parliament that occurred right after 2020’s presidential elections.

According to a written statement by Ersan Saner, the Turkish Cypriot Premier, the coalition partnership between the Democrat Party (DP), Rebirth Party (YDP) and National Unity Party (UBP) now ceases to exist.

He has quoted the parliament’s inability to agree and the absence of decorum as the reasons for the resignation.

A 58-year-old Russian national behaved improperly and stirred up trouble in a flight from Moscow headed for Cyprus.

The passenger was accounted for his behaviour and was arrested after the plane arrived in Larnaca.

He has been charged with triggering unrest and attacking an officer of the law. The police are currently investigating the case.

The man will be presented before the District Court of Larnaca, where the warrant for his imprisonment is set to be issued.

The Cyprus Police has found a body floating in the sea off of the Lady’s Mile area.

The Cypriot Sovereign Base Areas (SBA) police has stated that the body belonged to a 65-year-old man. The man was a Cypriot citizen and resided in Limassol.

The cause of his death will be determined once the autopsy is complete.

The Cyprus Police has arrested 3 persons at the Paphos and Larnaca airports over using fake IDs to travel to Europe.

One of the 3 persons was carrying an identity card that was in fact reported as stolen since 2017. Meanwhile the other two were using documents that were forged.

All of these three have been placed in prison holding and will be brought before court for their hearing and sentencing.

These arrests include ones in a long line of individuals being detained while travelling via Cyprus with stolen and/or fake documents.

Cyprus is all set to open its primary schools and will welcome more than fifty thousand students.

This will make it the the second school term that will begin during the pandemic, and the third school term affected by it overall.

According to Marios Stylianides, the primary education director of the education ministry, despite the ongoing situation with the pandemic, it is important to be hopeful, while maintaining hygiene and practicing social distancing. He further added that the experiences gained in the last 2 years will help educators understand and navigate the present better.

He went on to say that the health of the children will of course be the primary and most important priority.

Prodromos Prodromou, the Cypriot Education Minister added that there will be some adjustments to the system. This includes (but is not limited to) setting 9:30am as the arrival time and the parents being able to accompany first graders till the first day.

A total of 330 primary schools, along with 119 special units, and 9 special schools are included in this reopening.

The Cyprus Police has arrested 11 businesses and 40 persons within 24 hours for breaking the rules set to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

According to a spokesperson for the police, the arrests came from over 3,652 checks carried out within the 24-hour-period.

Most of the rule-breakers were fined because they were not wearing a mask while moving in public areas.

1,373 of these checks were conducted in Nicosia, 386 checks in Limassol, 572 in Larnaca, 280 in Paphos, 84 and Morphou and 734 in Famagusta.

In the latest incident, three people were injured and one died after a vehicular collision in Kato Moni.

According to a statement by the Cyprus Police, Nicosia resident Doros Fterousios was driving on Arediou-Ayios Ioannis Malountas-Kato Moni at around 2am in the night, when he was hit by a car. The latter of the vehicles has a 61-year-old man at the wheel, and a 14-year-old boy in the passenger seat. Fterousios then slammed his car into a pick-up truck that had a 60-year-old on the wheel.

Fterousios had to be extracted from his car. He was then taken to Nicosia general hospital, where the doctors declared him dead-on-arrival.

The Cyprus Police has entered the final stages of its investigation into the administering of fake COVID-19 vaccines by a Larnaca-based doctor.

The Larnaca CID, which is the lead handling authority of the investigation has requested 7 citizens – all of whom were “vaccinated” by the doctor to testify against him in court.

While the seven claim that they were administered the AstraZeneca vaccine, and were even recorded as such by the doctor, specialized tests held at the Institute of Neurology and Genetics showed that they had almost no antibodies.

The police is also intent on calling the doctor in question to explain why two of the patients that were administered the vaccine under his supervision tested positive for Covid-19, had no antibodies, and did not have any other family or relatives who were vaccinated. Both patients eventually died of the disease.

Once these testimonies are done, the investigation file will be handed over to the Legal Service.