Current Events

Veteran Cypriot journalist Yiorgos “Kokos” Leonida passed away in Cyprus. He was 87.

Regarded as one of the stalwarts of the journalism scene in Cyprus, Leonida was a founding member of the Cyprus Union of Journalists.

He has a long and illustrious career, working at various positions, including Agon, Eleftheria, To Vima, Mesimvrini, and Kathmerini. He was also was a correspondent for the Athens New Agency between 1974 and 2004 and worked for the New York edition of the Greek diaspora Proini.

The Cyprus Police has arrested a man over possessing illegal drugs.

The man, 24, was arrested after the police found the drugs during a search of his residence in Larnaca.

The police, acting off an anonymous tip, arrived at the home of the suspect to investigate. They caught the man, who was trying to escape via the back door, and threw out 2 nylon bags.

The police apprehended the man and the confiscated the bags. They found 29 gms of cannabis and 15 gms of cocaine.

They also found traces of cocaine and cannabis at other places in the house.

The Cyprus Police has arrested a man over the hit-and-run which led to the death of a 60-year-old woman.

The victim, Androula Papachristoforou was going across Paphos’ Priamou street in the evening when she was hit by a car. She was taken to the Paphos hospital in an ambulance, but ultimately succumbed to her injuries in the hospital. The driver of said car fled the scene.

Upon investigation, the police arrested a 44-year-old man. He is now under investigation for manslaughter and fleeing the scene of the accident.

The Cyprus Cabinet of Ministers are currently discussing ways to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Headed by Michael Hadjipantelas, the Health Minister, the cabinet met with the Scientific Advisory Committee to discuss these issues.

According to various sources, various topics were discussed, which included extending school holidays, the duration of the validity of tests, the protocol for rapid testing for the vaccinated.

So far, no major changes have been made – the restriction on social gathering remains capped at 20 people, and required all vaccinated and unvaccinated to test negative 24 and 48 hours prior to the test respectively.

The Cypriot government authorities have transferred a group of irregular migrants to a new location.

The migrants, who were at Pournara reception center in Kokkinotrimithia, were moved to a new camp located in Limnes, near Kofinou in the Larnaca district.

It is being assumed that the shuffle was made to reduce the load of overcrowding at the Pournara camp, where the refugees were living in increasingly darn conditions.

According to several reports, over 80 of their camp residents tested positive for COVID-19 in the span of 48 hours.

The facility in Limnes, on the other hand, was empty up until recently.

The Cyprus Police fined 18 individuals and 6 businesses over the violation of COVID rules – out of a total of 2,952 number of conducted checks.

According to a statement from the police made to the Cyprus News Agency, those fined includes a man at a cafeteria without a SafePass, and one where the owner did not have it. Yet another business was fined for having more people than allowed, while a fourth one had an employee without their SafePass.

A total of 1,452 inspections were done in Nicosia, where one business manager and one customer were fined. Larnaca saw 482 inspections, and 6 people fined. 215 checks were conducted in Limassol, where 8 members of the public were fined.

Paphos had 136 checks and 2 reported violations, while Famagusta had 390 checks and 2 people fined. Morphou was the only area that did not have any reported violations after over 196 checks.

Zero violations were also reported from the 81 checks made by the port and traffic police forces.

The Cyprus police has arrested a 19-year-old man over the assaulting 2 others with a knife.

The victims, both men aged 18 and 21, reported the case to the police, explaining how they got into an argument with a man unknown to them at Limassol’s old port.

The man injured them with his knife, but they eventually managed to get hold of the weapon. The man then fled – walking away to an unknown location.

The injured men received treatment at the district general hospital.

Police investigations led them to the teenager, who has been arrested and will stand trial for his actions.

To ease the burden on Cyprus as regards the refugee crisis, Pope Francis has announced that all asylum seekers will get refuge in the Vatican itself after the Pope has completed his visit to the island nation.

This is the second instance of such an action – after 2016, when the Pope has offered Syrian refugees from Lesvos a chance to live in the Vatican.

According to news platform Deutsche Welle, both the Pope and his staff as well as the Interior Ministry of Cyprus are making arrangements for travel.

Pope Francis is set to visit Cyprus along with Greece from December 2-6.

Cyprus’ ground stations in the Air Quality Monitoring Network have detected an unusually high concentration of dust in the air.

To that end, the government has issued a warning, explaining how the vulnerable groups (like children, older persons, and others with comorbidities) – should stay in shelter and away from dust.

They further added that the dust contains several micro particles, which if breathed in will have a detrimental effect on human health.

The warning also urged employers to take adequate technological and organizational measures – especially for those employees who work in open spaces.

Dust is this case refers to any particulate matter in the air that has a diameter of less than 10 μm.

6 individuals are set to stand trial over the alleged plot to attack Israeli citizens.

All of the six in question are facing serious charged – including document forging, terrorism, illegally carrying firearms and taking part in a criminal enterprise.

While the police have not revealed the subjects’ identities, it is widely believed that four of them include a Lebanese-origin Cypriot and a Pakistani national.

All of the four were said to work as food delivery drivers prior to their arrest.

The case originally started when an Azerbaijani hitman was found possessing a silencer and a pistol.

The trial will be held behind closed doors due to security issues, and the suspects shall remain under strict police custody until that point.

The new restrictions to curb the spread of the new Omicron variant has had everyone uneasy, and parents are no exception to this rule.

In yet another incident related to this, the Cyprus police arrested a parent who was protesting outside their child’s school.

The protest, that had been going on for more than 3 days, had a group of parents protesting outside Limassol’s Education Ministry district office on Franklin Roosevelt Avenue – calling out the new measures in place for schools.

The parent in question was arrested after they were found obstructing traffic and the police, and even threatened a policeman after the fact.

The police have arrested a 24-year-old man trying to leave Cyprus on a fraudulent passport.

The man, an Afghan national, was arrested from the airport at 8:30 pm, after the authorities detected fraudulent features on his security documents.

Upon further checking, it was determined that the man was in fact had presented what was a fake Spanish passport.

The man was charged with forgery – his statement to the police revealed that he was in fact an asylum seeker.

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.