Current Events

Crime has been on the rise in Cyprus, and the latest incident proves how serious the situation is.

In the last series of happenings, 2 criminals were expedited from the island nation. One of these was a suspect in the theft of thousands of Bitcoin, while the other was a notorious money launderer with Hezbollah links.

The Cypriot Department of Justice (DOJ) explained how one of the suspects is in fact wanted in the US states of Arizona and Georgia for extortion and cybercrimes. The other is a wanted man in Florida for conducting money-laundering activities on behalf of Hezbollah.

The first man, Joshua Polloso Epifaniou, is a Cypriot national. He has been charged with wire fraud, along with conspiracy to commit computer fraud. He is also wanted for extortion and identity theft. According to the DOJ, Mr. Epifaniou along with his accomplices had stolen personal information from a variety of people including a New York-based hardware company, a California-based an online game publisher, a an online sports site owned by Turner, and an employment website based out of in Virginia. He has been accused of stealing over $56,850 in Bitcoin through his fraudulent activities.

The second extradited man,  Ghassan Diab is a Lebanese citizen, who has allegedly laundered over $100,000. He has also been identifies as a potential Hezbollah member.

In what is being called a very symbolic move that shows the solidarity between France and Cyprus, French President Emmanuel Macron posted a very important message in Greek language, as opposed to the standard French and English.

The message, which was posted on Facebook, said how President Macron supports the plight of the island nation as well as Greece, which have recently come under distress due to Turkey’s aggressive maritime tactics.

The statement added how said tactics were nothing short of a human right violation, and that such threatening treatment with an EU member state shall not be tolerated.

Macron went on to explain how the mounting security and energy issues in the Mediterranean area are being caused by other powers, over whom the EU itself has little to no influence.

That being said, a solution must be made to settle the issue. To that end, a meeting of the EU’s southern members will soon be called.

According to a report by the Pancyprian Association of Cancer Patients and Friends (Pasykaf), as many as 78 new cases of head and neck cancer get reported annually.

Most of the recorded cases have been known to occur in the laryngeal area. Most of the patients constitute men, with the male to female ratio lying between 2:1 to 4:1.

Pasykaf says that most of these cases have their cause in health-risking activities alcoholism and smoking, and pre-existing conditions such as EBV (Epstain-Barr virus), HPV (human papillomavirus).

The report further mentioned the various symptoms of head and neck cancer, which include change in voice, hoarseness, ear pain, persistent nasal congestion, nosebleeds, and issues with swallowing.

Pasykaf advised that if people experiencing these symptoms must contact their physician immediately.

The term ‘head and neck cancer’ defines a specific set of cancer types which strictly develop in the nose, throat, mouth, salivary glands, and other places in the neck or head.

Currently, these are over 550,000 recorded cases of these with over 380,000 deaths.

In what is being considered alarming news, an amber alert has been issued in observance of the sudden and sharp rise in temperatures.

The alert, issued by the Cyprus meteorological service, has been issued for what is the 49th temperature warning for 2020. According to the alert, the temperatures are set to go as high as 43 degrees Celsius in the plains, and over 35C in the mountainous areas during the peak period of 11am to 5pm.

According to the weather forecast, the rise in temperature has happened due to a heated atmospheric mass that has been affecting the area, effectively raising the temperature by several degrees.

The Met Office further declared said that while it will be considerably breezy in the coastal, the inland areas would remain hot and dry.

Temperatures in the night time, however, should cool down to around 25C inland, 23C in the coasts other coastal areas.

The novel coronavirus has caused many delays, and Cyprus is now on its way to make up for these delays.

One of these developments comes in the form of the island nation fast-tracking the issuing of building and planning permits.

The new plan, which will go into effect from October 2020, will have the waiting time slashed to around 20 days – right from the previous average of 14 to 18 months.

Nicos Nouris , Cyprus’ Interior Minister who announced the news, revealed thanks to the new fast-track process, the time used to process applications for building and planning will be greatly reduced, which will help expedite construction work on the island nation.

The Interior Minister acknowledged how the current system, though otherwise efficient, would be a hindrance in the potentially post-pandemic situation, when workload will be more and several projects will be put on hold.

Currently, most applications are about general homes, and have been submitted by civilians. These make up for over 62% of the total number of permits.

The fast-tracking applies to all of the planning department’s district offices, along with the island nation’s major municipalities – Larnaca, Limassol, and Nicosia.

For now, however, Nouris explained that applications can only be submitted online and only to the District Offices of Urban Planning.

Submission to the major municipality offices is yet to be ready.

In a new step towards military cooperation between the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, Cypriot defense minister Charalambos Petrides has revealed that Cyprus has been considering buying more weapons from France.

In a statement to the press, Minister Petrides emphasized on how different systems and weapons were being assessed by the Cypriot military. He further added how the scenario of this potential purchase falls under the larger spectrum of improving upon the military bilateral relations between the Cypriot and French forces.

Said improvement in military cooperation was originally announced by Cyprus’ President Nicos Anastasiades on his Paris visit. Minister Petrides had accompanied president Anastasiades on the visit, where he was in a closed-door meeting his French defense minister Florence Party.

Many topics have said to been discussed in this meeting – including Turkey’s aggressive tactics, and of course a general cooperation between Cyprus and France.

In view of recent developments as regards the novel coronavirus, the government of Cyprus has made several changes to its ‘safe list’ countries for travel.

The first remarkable step is removing Algeria and Bulgaria, after a recent surge in COVID-19 cases in both countries. The countries in question have reported over 200 cases in the last week, which has led to the revision of their travel safety status.

On the other hand, the United Kingdom has been brought in to the safe list – after a consistent and marked decline in the number of new coronavirus infection cases. The country currently lies in category B, which implies that travelers from the UK entering the island nation will have to show a negative COVID-19 test to gain entry into the island nation. Quarantine will not be necessary.

In the meantime, Georgia has been upgraded from category B to A, with incoming travelers from the country no longer needing negative tests or quarantines.

The safe list systems works by placing various countries in one of 3 categories – A, B, or C, depending on their current epidemiological situation.

Countries on the A-list need are the safest, and need not show a negative COVID-19 test or undergo quarantine. Those on the B-list need not quarantine, but must show a negative test result. Those in category C, will have to show a negative test and undergo mandatory 14-day quarantine.

In what is considered bad news for military arrangement and coordination in the Mediterranean, the United States’ Washington has expressed being troubled by Turkey’s maritime developments.

The latest of these developments has Barbaros, a Turkish research vessel sailing off of the coast of Cyprus – soon after Ankara issuing a navigational telex that reserved parts of the island nation’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

The vessel, called the Barbaros, which left Tasucu port in Turkey, was first seen off Famagusta’s coast at 6 in the morning (local time). The vessel, which followed the Navtex, reserved blocks 2, 3, and partially, 13. All these blocks fall with Cyprus’ EEZ.

This provocative development has come after Ankara’s earlier decision to put its seismic research plans on hold in the off of Kastellorizo in Greece till the talks with Athens is complete.

To cushion the devastating economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Cyprus has announced a massive support package worth €150 million.

The package, which was announced by Labor Minister Zeta Emilianidou and Finance Minister Constantinos Petrides, will be offering over €3 billion to support businesses and workers for the next 4 months.

The numbers of beneficiaries for the plans are slated to reach at least 50,000.

The biggest plan in the package is made for hotels and tourism-related establishments, and other entities that have been subjected to mandatory suspension of operations. There are other schemes as well, however – ones those unemployed professionals, as well as businesses which have lost at least 40% of their annual turnover.

The monthly cost for the plans is slated to be between €35 to €40 million. This, is not, however, a strict figure, as the turnover depends on the actual amount of reduction.

To check migration, the Cypriot government has launched a “blitz” SMS campaign to keep incoming migration to the island nation in check.

The campaign, which comes after dispelling the notion of the island nation becoming a “gateway” to the European Union for migrants, was announced by the country’s Interior Minister Nicos Nouris.

According to a report by the Associated Press, the campaign is meant to filter migrants who are tricked by migrants to believing that they would get EU access once Cyprus grants them political asylum.

The reality, however, is far from this – Nouris explained that migrants who arrive to Cyprus are, in reality, in a worse position by entering Cyprus. This is because while the island nation is part of the European Union, it is not a part of the Schengen area. The EU is meant more for political mobility, whereas it is Schengen which allows frictionless borders and the lack of internal controls.

The Cypriot cabinet is slated to undergo a major reshuffle.

The first to be reappointed was the former Justice Minister George Savvides, who will now serve as the attorney general.

He was followed by Defense Minister Savvas Angelides, who will be serving as the deputy attorney general.

The third to join the list is George Lakkotrypis, who will be standing down from his position as Energy Minister.

The reshuffling comes after the pending expiration of Costas Clerides’ term as attorney general.

While Savvides and Angelides will be sworn-in on 10 July, their successors have not been identifies as of yet. While former Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou was offered the position, he turned it down after members of the opposition party objection to his suitability.

In an announcement to the public, Agriculture Minister Costas Kadis has announced the results of a major European study that reveals Cyprus to have the cleanest bathing waters in all of Europe.

The study, which was conducted by the European Environment Agency, has put Cyprus in the first place, accounting for the island nation to have over 99.1% clean, excellent-quality bathing waters.

Cyprus’ position was followed by Austria, Malta, and Greece at 98.5%, 97.7% and 95.7% respectively.

In his announcement, Mr. Kadis explained how the quality of bathing water directly affected that amount of tourism. The better the quality of the waters, the better is the quality of the sea and the level of tourism.

The in-depth report which studied over 21 000 bathing waters, reported that 112 out of 113 bathing water sites were excellent in quality.

In a bid to give the retail sector a much-needed reboot, Cyprus’ apex mall has announced the beginning of an early summer sale, where shops are slated to offer discounts of over 50%.

Having reopened to customers on June 9, the Mall of Cyprus has already begun its ‘Summer 2020’ collection.

The collection includes various season-suited clothing items –shoes, bags, beachwear, casual clothes and athletic wear.

Shops will remain open from 10am to 8pm every day.

A recent Eurostat study has revealed that Cyprus has the second-largest number of non-nationals living in the country within the European Union.

The island nation has 18% of its population coming from foreign countries – second only after Luxembourg, the same figure lies at 47%.

Malta takes the third place at 17%.

Besides these three, other EU countries that have recorded a high proportion of foreign nationals included Spain, Estonia, Austria, Ireland, Latvia, Germany and Belgium. For each of these countries, the proportion of foreign national is over 10%.

Contrastingly, Romania and Poland had the least percentage of non-national workers, at under 1%.

In what is being considered good news after the intense lockdown due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, budget aircraft carrier Wizz Air has introduced 5 new routes, expanding its presence in Cyprus.

Besides the new routes, Wizz Air is building a third aircraft at its latest base in Larnaca.

Scheduled to start on August 1, the budget carrier will increase the number of flights to Athens, while introducing new ones to Prague, Paris Beauvais, Heraklion, Gdansk, and Eindhoven.

With the new additions, Wizz Air is now offering 36 routes to over 20 countries from its base in Larnaca, with a yearly seating capacity of 280,000.

In a statement to the press, Chief executive Jozsef Varadi announced the news, explaining how the new flights and routes have been added weeks within the opening of the Larnaca base. The further added that the airlines is delighted with the new development, and is currently making arrangements to add as many routes as is safely possible in the near future.

Just as the novel coronavirus pandemic was about to die down in Cyprus, 2 new cases were detected on the island nation. The cases were detected on the very day the last remaining COVID-19 patient was discharged.

According to the health ministry, the new development leads to the total number of confirmed cases now standing at 988.

Both the cases in question were among incoming passengers and repatriated Cypriot nationals. The ministry said that their contacts are currently in the process of being traced.

Apart from these two, there are no other coronavirus patients in treatment in any state hospitals.

The last patient to be discharged before the 2 new infections was an 80-year-old gentleman.

The health department has currently kept at least 40 beds on standby in the event a second wave of the disease strikes.

Furthermore, all health, hygiene and social distancing measures are being maintained to ensure that the spread of COVID-19, if any, remains as minimal as possible.

Booking flights post-Covid has been increasing steady, and the latest data only proves this to be true.

According to Easyjet, flights from London to Cyprus that are slated to run in July have mostly been sold out.

The airline further explained how this development has partially happened due to the fact that the flight capacity has reduced to maintain social distancing measures. More and more seats will be opened up as and when the pandemic eases.

According to an Easyjet spokesperson, the airlines’ customer care department is currently writing to waiting customers that they are doing the best they can to maintain the schedule and accommodate as many persons as they can without putting anyone in jeopardy.

They explained that every passenger who gets a ticket will be contacted at least 21 days before their scheduled flight.

They also assured that they will maintain all safety precautions necessary to keep the contagion at bay. This includes social distancing, luggage handling, and of course masks being compulsory throughout.

In what is considered a worrying statistic, especially for gender inequality, a Eurostat report has revealed that around 1 in 3 women over the age of 65 are living alone and unassisted.

This is a stark contrast to men, as only 1 in 10 of those are living in similar conditions.

In the same age bracket, those living with just one more adult is also 30 percent for women, which is the same as the over-65 bracket. In the case of m en, however, the figure is much high – at over 33 per cent.

The data in question here applies exclusively to those who are living in private homes.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the tourism industry the most, and countries are taking the safest possible routes to get back on track as the spread eases.

According to a report by KAN News, the island nation will now allow Israeli nationals for tourism purposes without them having to undergo any kind of quarantine.

This, however, applied only on the condition that travelers would have to take and test negative for a COVID-19 test within 72 hours of arriving on the island.

The move comes after a sharp decline in active cases and steadfast recoveries in both countries. Cyprus has shied away from reaching the 1,000 mark in coronavirus cases and has thus far reported only 17 deaths.

Meanwhile Israel too is making its way to normalcy with the economy’s staggered reopening, and only 2,600 pending active cases. The rate of infection in the country is progressively dropping daily.

The media in Cyprus has reported Turkish aviation authorities preventing a chartered airplane with medical supplies reaching Cyprus.

The Cypriot government-chartered airplane, which contained over 36 tones worth of mask, gowns, gloves, and other medical equipment from China was blocked by Turkey.

According to Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos’s statement to the press, Turkey’s disallowance of aircraft enter Cyprus via the Turkish airspace resulted in the pilot having to recalculate his course. Added to this was the issue of lack of fuel.

The issue was finally solved with the pilot redirecting to Moscow airport in Russia. The plane will refuel here before embarking to Cyprus via a different route that does not include the Turkish airspace.

He further added that The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was informed of this interruption so as to take proper actions against concerned parties as and when required.