Current Events

S high blanket made of dust was recorded across Cyprus skies. This affected those with pre-exiting conditions and allergies more serious.

The Air Quality Monitoring Network, which is monitoring the situation from the ground, has warned the public to keep themselves and especially those in vulnerable groups ( such as sick persons, older persons, children, and pregnant women) to move in open areas since the respirable particles in dust might affect their health adversely.

Of course, with the COVID-19 lockdown in place, most persons already do not travel and are only allowed to get out for essential travel. With the dust, however, it is not advisable for people to go outside – even if said place is their own backyard.

The law says that daily average dust concentrations should not go beyond 50 μg/m3 (i.e. micrograms per cubic meter). Among the worst affected were the areas of Paralimni and Larnaca.

The  Cypriot cabinet has approved a bill that amends the spot fines law to fine all “quarantine-breakers” a 150 Euro fine.

The health minister has stated that the police will impose said fine to any patient who violate the rule on quarantining for the coronavirus by not adhering to circulation restrictions and bans issued in public interest to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

According to Justice Minister Giorgos Savvides, that depending on the circumstances the police may also bring more serious charges to some offenders, especially repeat ones. The police can also take the offenders to court if necessary, where they will be awarded higher fines and even jail sentences.

The bill, which still requires the approval of the Parliament, will award fine quarantine breakers for a minimum of €3,000 and/or a jail sentence of up to 6 months.

The movie, directed by Greek-American movie director Dimitris Logothetis is continuing despite the outbreak, even as the Cypriot government is shutting down most businesses and setting up as many quarantine facilities as is possible.

According to Mr. Logothetis, they are being patient, but they understand that their work must continue regardless of the circumstance. He elaborated how it is important for him and his crew to continue as per schedule, since they have more than the movie in question to shoot.

The Highland Film Group distribution company, which is producing the film, is currently undertaking the pre-production process as it scouts for various locations on the island.

To maintain law and order amidst the crisis posed by the novel coronavirus, the government of Cyprus has frozen the pending eviction of all tenants who are unable to pay their rent till May 2020.

The executive order was made after the rapid passed of a bill by the Cabinet. Said bill amends the Rent Law and freezes any and all eviction notices and court proceedings for a period of time. Any owner who evicts their tenant during this period will thus be going against the law.

The decision was taken taking into account the difficulties faced by business and households after the various lockdowns that have been put in place due to the crisis posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. All businesses and stories except kiosks, supermarkets and bakeries are currently closed.

The amendment to the bill will cover tenants failing to pay rent till May 1.

Interestingly, this amendment to the Rent Control Law comes very soon after the one that was made in January this year. This first amendment made it easier for landlords to evict those tenants who did not pay their dues on purpose. Under this, landlords can file a suit and evict tenants who have failed to pay their rent despite having the means to do so.

In an exigent circumstance such as COVID-19, however, this amendment has been put on hold on grounds on maintaining law and order and helping business and families best keep afloat.

In an ongoing chain of events promoting better military cooperation between countries in the Mediterranean, Italy and Cyprus have recently conducted joint military exercises of the course of Larnaca.

The Cyprus Navy participated in various drills along with the” Virginio Fasan” as Italian Navy Frigate. The Fasan was docked at Larnaca port for this purpose.

The Italian Embassy in Nicosia issued a press release stating that the frigate is conducting joint exercises for the purpose of better patrolling and surveillance in the Eastern Mediterranean. They added that the activities are totally within the interests of both nations, and in full compliance with international statutes.

Notably, ENI, the Italian energy company conducts drilling for possible gas and oil deposits in the island country’s EEZ.

The Fasan joins a slew of Italian ships that have visited Cyprus ports in the last few months. The frigate had originally come into service in 2013 in the Italian. It currently serves with the First Marine Division Command in La Spezia.

A massive house fire that broke out in Konia has led to its occupant – a woman, being hospitalized with severe burns.

According to a report by The Cyprus News Agency, the fire, which broke out at approximately 11.30 am in the morning, originated in the kitchen from cookware that was left unattended on a gas stove.

The woman did try to remove it to prevent a mishap but was unsuccessful and suffered severe burns to her left foot and her hands. She was hospitalized to be treated for first as well as second degree burns.

A newly published study has revealed that Cyprus has the second lowest rate overcrowded households populated by non-EU citizens among all countries of the European Union.

The study, which was conducted and published by Eurostat, revealed that the island nation stands second only to Ireland, which has the lowest rate of non-EU citizens who live in overcrowded homes.

The study further revealed that around 35% of non-EU citizens who lived in EU countries dwelled in overcrowded homes. In other words, the number of rooms in most of these households did not correspond to the family sizes. The name rate for EU nationals, on the other hand, stood at 17 per cent.

In all EU countries, the member states to have the highest rates for non-EU citizens living in overcrowded homes included Bulgaria (the highest of these at 60%), followed by Croatia, Poland, and Greece at 59%, 56% and 55% respectively.

In what is touted as one of Cyprus’ most groundbreaking laws, the island nation is finally bringing the law of phone tapping into force.

The development, which happened after a three-member committee was appointed, will serve to submit requests for removing telecommunications data confidentialities.

According to a report by Phileleftheros, the requests will be approved by the attorney general. The court order, on the other hand, will be issued once the court has fully determined that conditions are met.

Notably, the only ones eligible to carry out the surveillance will be some specific authorized members of the intelligence services and the police.

While the committee members’ names were not revealed for safety reasons, Phileleftheros has reported that the appointees were all personally chosen by the President.

The migrant crisis has left several countries in Europe in a scurry to manage the situation, and Cyprus is no exception. In the latest incident involving migrants, 14 of them who had arrived from Syria were picked up in the buffer-zone village of Athienou in Larnaca district.

The migrants, all of whom were found wandering in the village, were picked up by the police at around 2.30am in the morning. The group comprised of 2 children, 3 women and 9 mine men were then questioned by the police.

Upon being questioned, the migrants reported that while they understood that they had arrived to the village through the north, they could not re-identify the exact place from where they had entered the island.

At the end of the day, the migrant group was transported to the Kokkinotrimithia processing centre on the outskirts of Nicosia.

In the latest incident, a 34-year-old in Limassol was arrested on suspicion of physically assaulting his own mother.

The man, who was sitting in the passenger seat in a car that was being driven by his mother, allegedly made her stop, got out of his seat, removed his clothing and began to hit his mother with a pen-knife after opening her side of the door. After this, he even pulled her out of her sear to further hit her and kick her head.

Notably, the man did not stop even after his stepfather intervened in the scene to stop him. In fact, the man ran away in his stepfather’s car after threating him with the pen knife as well.

He was arrested after being spotted by the police around one-and-a-half hours after the incident.

In the meantime, his mother was hospitalized and taken to a private hospital. She sustained eye injuries, as well as face and neck as abrasions. Both appeared to have been made with sharp instruments.

News outlet Philenews has reported that pharmacies all over Cyprus have a severe shortage of surgical masks after they were all sold out due to coronavirus fears.

While the island nation has not seen any cases of the rapidly spreading coronavirus so far, the panic related to the global crisis has surely overtaken it. Despite high-level screening being done at all ports of entry, people have panicked enough to buy surgical masks in large quantities – an act that has caused a severe shortage of the same.

According to Eleni Piera Isseyeg, president of the Pharmacists Association, the coronavirus outbreak has superseded the pharmacies extra stock that is generally kept in anticipation of the flu season. Much like the rest of Europe, masks have practically sold out as people are in panic over contracting the disease.

Ms. Isseyeg, who explained that most of the mask buyers are travelers and tourists (especially Chinese tourists) buying extra masks to take home to relatives, has urged the public to exercise discretion while buying them.

In the meantime, another item whose stocks have suffered are antiseptic gels. Heightened concerns over the coronavirus outbreak has caused scores of people to buy these gels in large quantities, which has caused a shortage in their supply.

In under a week after the progress of the €550m City of Dreams Mediterranean project, popular entertainment company Melco Resorts and Entertainment has launched its 4^th satellite casino in the island nation.

The casino, named Cyprus Casinos Paphos has already begun to welcome guests. As mentioned earlier, it is the fourth of its kind to open after Melco’s other satellite casinos that were opened in Larnaca, Nicosia, Ayia Napa and Larnaca.

The casino is located in Geroskipou near Paphos International Airport, has 25 individuals under its employment, and is graced with over 50 high-end gaming machines.

A head-on collision between a car and a motorcyclist has left the latter in serious condition and hospitalized.

The accident, which happened in Dasaki Achnas in the British base area of Dhekelia, led to the closure of the main Achnas road for investigation purposes.

The motorcyclist, who was described as about 27-28 years old, suffered injuries to his shoulder and leg, and was transported to Larnaca general via ambulance.

The spread of coronavirus disease has caused panic all over the world, and Cyprus is no exception. The island nation has closed four of its checkpoints for a weeklong period for the first time.

Closed for the first time since 2003, the decision for the closure was made despite the fact that it would have political ramifications for the divided island. The island has had a tough history being divided into Greek and Turkish Cyprus after Turkish forces made in coup in 1974.

Although the island nation has not reported any coronavirus cases, Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou said that the checkpoints will be closed for a period of 7 days to prevent even the chance of the rapidly-spreading pandemic entering Cyprus.

The only checkpoint that was not closed was the one in Ayios Dhometios – contrary to initial reports of the checkpoint being curbed, the checkpoint will continue to operate.

Over 12.2% of people in Cyprus are unable to pay their utility bills within the stipulated time, making the island nation to have one of the highest number of individuals in the EU in this position.

A study by Eurostat has revealed that as of 2018, over 7% of households could not pay their utility due to financial problems. This included water, gas, heating, and electricity.

The island nation is currently 6^th on the list, other countries above it being Slovenia, Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Greece. Greece tops the list, with over 36% of its citizens defaulting on bills regularly in 2018, followed by Bulgaria at 30%.

The lowest percentage of households which defaulted on timely payment of utility bills were Czechia, Sweden, Austria and the Netherlands – it is around 2% for all of them.

In a bid to improve their financial status, the Hellenic Bank and the Bank of Cyprus will be selling-off their bad loans worth a combined total value of €4 Billion.

Constantinos Herodotou, the governor of Central Bank of Cyprus recently announced in a brief to the House Financial and Budgetary Affairs Committee that the move is being made in light of the fact that the quantity of non-performing loans (NPLs) remain practically unchanged over the last few months. He went on to highlight how the offloading would help both of Cyprus’ largest lending institutions improve their portfolio dramatically.

Sales for the Bank of Cyprus will expectedly happen by the end of February, while that for the Hellenic Bank will happen at a slightly later date. The offloading will help both banks expel over 10% of their non-performing loans and help them concentrate on other more dynamic issues.

Cypriot Foreign Minister Nicos Christodoulide and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud met in Riyadh and discussed various topics pertaining to the improvement of relations between the two countries they represent.

Furthermore, they discussed how they could boost co-operation in other areas where mutual cooperation was needed – this included defense, finance, security and tourism. The launching of planned direct flights between the two nations was also heavily discussed. They also discussed the relations between Saudi Arabia and the European Union, especially in light of recent developments in the Middle East and in the Gulf area at last.

Mr. Christodoulides then went on to inform his counterpart regarding the recent developments of the island nation’s relations with Turkey, both in light of the unification matter and the Cyprus EEZ issue.

Cyprus joins the international organization “The Mars Society”.

The Cyprus Space Exploration Organization (CSEO) will become a member of The Mars Society after the Cyprus chapter of the latter organization will be established. This will serve to help promote Mars-related research on a domestic level and increase cooperation with other countries working domestically.

The Mars Society’s website says that it is the largest space advocacy organization in the world that is committed to exploration and subsequent colonization of Mars. It was founded in 1998 by Dr. Robert Zubrin along with his associates, and serves to educate the media, government and the public on the plus sides of the exploration and creation of settlement on Mars.

The Police are on the hunt for two men for reportedly conducting a robbery at a bakery in Larnaca.

Two men with their faces covered in masks entered the bakery at around 0.45am and demanded money from one of the employees at knifepoint.

The men managed to steal €300 from the scene before they fled.

The employees did manage to get some detailed descriptions – they described one of the perpetrators as 1.85 to 1.90m tall, wearing dark clothes and having a normal physique. He was speaking English during the robbery. The second man was described as around 1.50 to 1.55m tall, and also wearing dark clothes.

The Cyprus Greens party heavily criticized the Paphos Municipality for building an illegal building in Sodap beach.

According to the Green Party’s announcement, the municipal authorities of Paphos removed the rocks to have a canteen built illegally, violating the Barcelona protocol regarding the protection of the coastal Mediterranean region. Despite outraged and angry messages and letters from the locals, the Municipality has refused to listen.

The Green Party has called upon the Paphos Municipality to answer if a permit had been obtained.