Current Events

Flash floods have been a recurring problem all over Europe, and Cyprus is no exception. The island nation has been suffering the effects of flash floods, and the latest of developments is the closure of part of the Larnaca-to-Paralimni road that lies near Sotira.

The move was made to mitigate damage and ensure public safety; both directions of the road was closed all the way from Sotira exit till Xylophagou.

All the same, drivers are being encouraged to be alert maintain vigilance at all times.

The flash floods happened due to the unwanted accumulation of excess water after the heavy rain and hail, which in turn caused flooding on the streets of Xylophagou.

The union of State doctors, popularly known as Pasyki has confirmed that its members would be going on a three-hour strike, during which they will not be working.

The protest in question is against the lack of change in stance of Okypy (the state health services organization) on the matter of making incentives for specialists’ services.

Soteris Koumas, the union leader said in a statement that all members of the Pasyki will not be working in their respective state hospitals in the morning for protests. He further defended the Payski, saying how protesting is a course of action they had to take up due to the lack of suspension by of certain rules by Okypy. The explained how the union is upset over various issues such as incentives given to state specialists, the lack of doctors and other medical staff in state hospitals, the abject lack of vocational training, among others.

Okypy’s spokesman Charalambos Charilaou, on the other hand, claimed that they were highly surprised to see Pasyki’s decision especially since dialogues and negotiations were underway with all state doctors’ unions.

The records have revealed that the island nation’s GDP has increased quite a bit since the last quarter.

According to the Cyprus Statistical Service’s data, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the fiscal year’s third quarter has increased by 3.4 percent since the last one.

In a statement, the Statistical Service revealed the figures, adding that the GDP growth rate is in real terms and is based upon both working day and seasonally adjusted data.

Credits to the increase in GDP growth rate is being given to key areas, from administrative and support service systems, technical, scientific and professional activities, and even the arts, recreation, and entertainment.

The only area where there was a negative growth rate was in the insurance and financial activities sector.

The police has arrested two more men in its investigation into a spate of fake marriages that help third-country citizens stay on the island illegally.

The men, aged 32 and 43, were the latest among the 27 people who were found guilty in connection to the investigation, and against whom was found compelling evidence.

The conclusion of the investigation was that of the 13 marriage cases that happened at the town hall (the one that was the focus of the investigation), the employment papers for the third-country citizens for registration was in fact fake.

Before the above 6 people, three of whom were women aged 19, 27 and 33, and three men aged 24, 25 and 47, have been arrested.

Nicos Nouris, the country’s Interior Minister recently announced that authorities would be introducing additional security measures in order to regulate migrant influx.

Measures to be introduced will include 24-hour-long patrols along the 185-kilometer long buffer zone by both soldiers and the police. Said buffer zone is very strategic since it is what separates Greek Cyprus from its Turkish counterpart. It is currently controlled by a UN peace keeping force.

The island nation has claimed several times about a dramatic increase in the incoming of unregulated immigrants from, who cross over the buffer zone (called the ‘Green Line’) in order to ask for Asylum.

While most of them are from the heavily conflict-ridden Syria, there are other migrants from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and even the African countries Nigeria and Cameroon.

According to statistics, migrants make up approximately 4 percent of the population.

The American Congress will be sitting to approve the lifting of ban of arms on Cyprus – one that was originally instated 1987.

The move comes as a part of the National Defense Authorization Act for the financial year of 2020, in the aftermath of an agreement between Democrats and Republicans on the bill’s more divisive aspects.

According to reports, the bill will serve to repeal the existing restrictions on the United States when it comes to exporting weapons, defense articles and other defense-related services to and/or via the island nation.

The ban was lifted by the US Senate in the previous summer.

Cyprus has begun the creation of what will be the country’s first ever artificial reef by sinking a 63-meter cargo ship off of its coast.

The move comes after the island country’s concerns of coral reefs being endangered due to climate change; authorities and scientist believe that the latest attempt will help combat the situation and helping marine life to thrive as well as attract divers from abroad.

In a statement to the press, Costas Kadis, the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment for Cyprus, explained how pursuing sustainable development project which has a positive contribution to the ecosystem is one  of the their biggest priorities, and that they plan to see them through to fulfill their goal of helping both enrich and protect marine biodiversity, while furthering the country’s economy and touristic products.

The sunken vessel, called Elpida, which was originally destined for scrap, is now going to be the beginning of a reef.

The Elpida will be joined by another smaller one in the span of a few days.

The Hilton Park hotel in Nicosia has been renamed as simply ‘Hilton Nicosia.’ This makes it the single-most hotel of that brand in all of Cyprus.

Located in Engomi, the Hilton Nicosia has made renovations to match its change in names – the owners of the property Louis Hotels announced how the hotel had only recently refurbished all of its rooms, upgraded all common rooms, and started a brand-new bar as well.

The company went on to highlight how Hilton International, which had proved its its trust in Louis Hotels is once again renewing its partnership for a minimum for 10 years.

The President of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, has announced that he will be reshuffling his cabinet in order to make up for the absence of his long-serving finance minister.

Outgoing Finance Minister, who is credited for overseeing the rebound of the Cypriot economy from its debilitating financial crisis will be replaced in his post by now outgoing Interior Minister Constantinos Petrides.

Mr. Petrides will be taking over after a 6-year term by Harris Georgiades, who was appointed immediately after a multibillion-euro rescue deal that Cyprus had to sign after having to face a severe banking crisis that almost bankrupted the country’s banking system.

The move has not been a surprising one, given Georgiades’ announcement earlier this year that he would be vacating his position after an inquiry into the end of the one the Cyprus’ banks partially put him to blame.

There were other moves in the shuffling as well, including making Democratic Rally party lawmaker Nicos Nouris take the Interior Minister post, and having government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou take up the post of the Education Minister.

Two women were arrested in Paphos for staying on the island illegally, in addition to forging documents as well as circulating forged ones.

The police revealed in a statement that the immigration police, while carrying out a search in a Coral Bay hotel found two women from Georgia staying illegally.

The women, aged 49 and 41, were working as cleaning staff when they were arrested.

Upon being questioned, their employer told the police that said that they were from Latvia when they were being hired, and that they had ID cards while they were identifying themselves. He admitted to having no clue that said IDs were actually fake.

Meanwhile, the ladies, when questioned, admitted that the forged documents they were using were bought overseas for €100 each.

A man and a pregnant woman – both Congo nationals were arrested at Larnaca airport after they were caught trying to travel to Munich with false IDs and passports.

While the man was remanded for 4 days post-court appearance, the woman was released and places in a hotel.

The police said in a statement that the couple was trying to fly out from the Larnaca airport when they were caught. While the man was holding a 19-year-old French national’s ID card and passport, while the woman was holding 35-year-old French national’s document.

They were intercepted by passport control officers once they determined that the people in fact did not look anything like the photos on their documents, and thus came to the conclusion that the pair arrived in Cyprus on an illegal basis in the first place.

The island nation’s authorities have arrested and charged over two dozen individuals for living and working in Cyprus illegally.

The arrests were made in the aftermath of a raid conducted at a construction site in the city of Larnaca. Where the police arrested 25 nationals from outside the European Union for working on the island nation sans permit. Upon being charged, they were released pending their court appearance.

Additionally, the police fined four employers for illegal employment.

The European Commission is seeking clarification from Cypriot authorities regarding the granting of citizenship to 26 individuals under its newly minted investor scheme.

While there were no spokesmen available from the Cyprus government, the European Commission did send a to Nicosia asking if it would be investigating what could a possible misconduct when it comes to granting people with “high-risk” profiles citizenship only on the basis of investment. A deadline for January 6, 2020 has been reportedly set for a response.

In addition to Cyprus, the European Commission has additionally asked Malta to clarify on how it would be addresses the shortcomings of the Bank of Valletta over its lack of monitoring of foreigner who have allegedly taken undue advantage of the Maltese “golden passport” citizenship scheme.

The police rushed to an Engomi nightclub after being alerted of a victim’s relative of an attempted murder being present at the nightclub.

According to a statement by the police, officers reached the night club upon being alerted another 30 people besides the relative was present. Meanwhile the relative himself was accompanied by a second person.

The officers went to the nightclub with the intention to preventing another potential incident. Given that, they conducted checks on all people, including the relative and the individual and gave them permission to leave once the checks were carried out.

2 men are currently in custody in connection with said attempted murder after an altercation with the victim and his brother – which took place at the Engomi club.

The Larnaca district court has remanded a 30-year-old man who was arrested in for conducting multiple burglaries in the Larnaca and Nicosia region.

The man is one out of two suspects who were arrested after the police found that the jewelry in their possession was in fact not theirs.

The men, aged 33 and 33, were caught whilst attempting to sell jewelry for cash in a Larnaca gold shop by Nicosia police officers who were en route to investigate a jewelry theft case. When asked as to how they could have come in possession of the jewelry, the men failed to give a suitable explanation – putting them on the police’s radar.

Other objects found with the remanded 30-year-old included some clothes, a knife, and three credit cards that were found to have been reported as stolen in Nicosia.

Upon questioning, the man ultimately allegedly admitted to carrying out one burglary in Nicosia and ten in Larnaca.

A surprisingly concerning statistic has revealed that children in Cyprus fall below the average line when it comes to math, science and reading.

According to a report that was published by the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) after studying scores by comparing those of 2018 with those of 2015, the organization found that children in 2018 have scored quite a bit worse that what they did in 2015.

When it comes to reading, scores on an average have gone down from 442 in 2015 to a 424 average as of 2018 – which is quite the downward trend.

As far as science as math is concerned, these have shown an improvement – with scores for science having improved from 433 in 2015 to 439 in 2018; and that of math having gone up from 437 in 2015 to 451 in 2018 – all of the scores still fall well below the average of the 79 nations that were part of the study.

On the top of the list were Eastern Asian countries, especially China, followed by Singapore (which had previously topped the chart in 2015), both of which outperformed almost every other country. The top performer in Europe was a title bagged by Estonia.

Pisa is an international survey that triennially evaluates education systems all over the world via testing 15-year-old children’s knowledge and skills.

The Cyprus Refugee Council will be organizing the first ever careers fair meant exclusively for refugees, International Protection candidates and asylum-seekers.

Known as the ‘Refugees@Work Career Fair,’ the event, which will bring employers and the aforementioned category of jobseekers under the same roof, will be held at the Nicosia Multipurpose Centre. As of now, there are at least twenty-five companies and organizations from all over the island nation working as registered participants.

According to a statement on the website of the Cyprus Refugee council, one of the best ways to increase productivity of Cyprus while benefitting people at large would be to employ refugees and asylum seekers. Not only would it help them become economically independent, it would also help with the current workload that the island is currently facing and utilize the domestic human resource that is available at hand.

The event will be held in conjunction with Nicosia Municipality and the UNHCR in Cyprus.

Well-known Burger King will now operate in Turkish Cyprus under its own name in an official capacity, marking the end of the years-long blockade posed by its Greek counterparts.

Whilst Burger King has been operating there for as long as 20 years, it has been doing so under wraps and using the name “Burger City” to combat the pressure that the Greek Cypriot administration had created.

After several key negotiations, however, it is now decided that Burger King will now operate under its original and official banner – starting with a brand-new branch that it opened along the Nicosia-Kyrenia highway.

Reports are saying that with time, all of the restaurants that are operating under the name ‘Burger City’ will be changing to the entire official branding template of Burger King.

The Cypriot president has said that the island nation’s authorities is all set to launch legal action against Turkey at the Hague’s International Court of Justice.

In a statement to the press, President Nicos Anastasiades explained how the Cypriot government has its full intentions to utilize every legal mean that it possibly can in order to defend the rights of Cyprus and its ethnic situation. He further added that Turkey has been given a notification of said legal actions via the Turkish embassy in Athens.

Turkey has acted as a great disdain to Cyprus by not recognizing the country as a state and using that as a “reason” to drilling in waters where of Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone since July 2019. Thus far, it has claimed over half of said exclusive economic zone, which it claims is being done in the interest of “defending the rights of the Turkish on the island.”

Compounding the Cyprus issue of separation and reunification is the fact that Cyprus has now approached the UN Security Council to help reach an agreement on the issue of Varosha.

The Security Council will begin planning of the discussion of the threat of Turkey to settle in the fenced town of Varosha in Famagusta. This was done after Andreas Mavroyiannis, the Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the UN sent an official request to the international organization. Once the discussion will be conducted during a closed session, the date of the official discussion shall be finalized.

Once the official discussion is done, a presidential statement will be issued to reaffirm the relevant resolutions on the matter.

In addition to the official request, Mavroyiannis will be sending letters to the General Assembly President as well as the Security Council President detailing how the Turkish are threatening to make Varosha their personal settlement. Said letters will be circulating as official documents of the UN.