Current Events

A prominent local competition has made the gesture of honoring local wines of Cyprus.

Speaking at the 12th Cyprus Wine Competition, Costas Kadis the Agriculture Minister of Cyprus praised the Cyprus wine industry’s efforts to restore the island country’s reputation on the international level. He added that to further the cause, a sum total of €23 million will be made available through the National Viticulture Support Programme from 2019 to 2023.

Mr. Kadis went on say how it is a state’s duty to support genuine efforts strengthen the wine sector, especially local ones, and how Cyprus, by fulfilling this duty allowed Cypriots to develop the local character of their wines, that are reflective of their country’s terroir.

The competition has 194 different wines from 36 wineries taking part in it – the largest to have taken part in the event. It is being considered landmark on account of its success in reflecting the uniqueness of Cypriot local wines. They managed to win an overall total of 5 Grand gold medals and 60 gold medals along with and 5 special mentions.

Cyprus, the island country has made its intentions known for participating in the bid to help in the reconstruction of Iraq. This happened during the recent trilateral meeting in Jordan, where the Iraqi foreign was present.

While the actual level of inclusion of Iraq is yet to be clear (according to geopolitical analyst Zenonas Tziarras), the intentions of Cyprus to utilize its ties with Jordan and gain access to construction contracts in Iraq certainly is, especially with Jordan already being actively involved with the reconstruction scene in Iraq.

Mr. Tziarras further speculatively suggested that Iran, having gained a good number of inroads to the Iraqi government, might also be seeking its own place among the trilaterals that currently include Egypt, Israel, Greece, Cyprus, and Jordan.

The meeting in question was held in Amman between the foreign ministers Iraq, Greece, Cyprus, and Jordan in order to discuss issues that concern trade, commerce and tourism cooperation. Also discussed was how Cyprus and Greece, could help in the Iraqi reconstruction, especially as part of the European Union.

Meanwhile, an Honorary Consul of Cyprus has been appointed in Iraq, with efforts being made by Cypriot construction companies to participate in said reconstruction process.

The island nation has been ranked 28th out of the 180 countries which are part of the International Organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF)-compiled 2019 World Press Freedom Index.

The country has gone down three spots from being the 25^th in 2018, and four spots from the 24^th place in 2013, which was its record ranking.

The RSF says that despite being constitutionally granted press freedom in Cyprus, the press is often heavily influenced by commercial parties, political parties, and the Orthodox Church, among other influential factors. The most pressing of these is the concern of the intolerance of most politicians to see themselves being criticized in the press. The organization cited the example of a voluntary glossary that was prepared by two Greek Cypriot and two Turkish Cypriot authors, which drew extended criticism from almost all politicians in Greek Cyprus, the President included. Furthermore, no attempt was made to follow-up on the rape and death threats issued to the authors.

The RSF also mentioned the issue of journalists being unable to report on Cyprus’ citizenship program to the best of their ability, given the resistance they receive from authorities when they do so, along with the unfavorable state reaction to Politis’ publishing of hacked emails between the Russian prosecutor-general’s office and Cypriot prosecutor Eleni Loizidou.

Meanwhile, press freedom has declined across the world as well – a worrying trend that continues to increase as the time passes.

According to the 2019 World Press Freedom Index, 11% countries have a serious situation when it comes to press freedom, 29% are said to be difficult with journalists, while another 37% have become and are becoming increasingly problematic.

Scandinavian countries continue to dominate the rankings, with Norway being ranked first three times in a row, Finland moving up by two places to take the second place; the Netherlands, which was formerly in the 2^nd is now occupying the 4^th position.

The bottom of the Index consists of Turkmenistan at the 180th place going down by two places, and North Korea at 179^th, having gone up one place.

Among recent deviant activity, cash and Items thousands of Euros have been reported stolen from a tourist in a shop in Larnaca.

The items belonged to a Palestinian woman, who had arrived from Jordan, and had left her handbag outside the changing room as she was trying clothes in said shop, located in central Larnaca. She found the bag disappeared upon coming back from the changing room.

The woman says that the bag contained some Israeli shekel, some Jordanian dinars, $2,160 and €1,600 in cash, along with mobile phones and rings collectively worth €3,000. The bag in question was itself worth €2,000.

So far, police action taken includes seizing of some items and evidence and collection of security camera footage, the latter of which will be checked to find the perpetrator.

Harris Georgiades, the island country’s Finance Minister has confirmed the Cypriot government’s ahead-of-schedule partial repayment of a 2.5 billion-euro Russian loan going back to 2012. The Minister was speaking during the ninth Nicosia Financial Conference, where he made the confirmation of the same.

The Minister expressed his gratitude to Russia, explaining how Cyprus has been grateful of Russia’s help, but have since become stronger and now rely on their own strength.

The CAN says that the repayment has started, with Cyprus paying Russia two instalments annually; the outstanding is currently at 1.57 billion euros.

It has been determined that the value of outgoing Russian Deposits have shot up to a surprising €5 Billion.

Amidst the trending action of Russian depositors taking their money out of banks in the island nation, the Central Bank of Cyprus has released data that shows a steady decline in monthly deposits of Russian origin.

The decline in deposits and increasing in withdrawals have happened as a result of Cypriot banks making their effort to combat money laundering in the EU since 2013. Before this, Cyprus was more or less a safe haven as far as Russian deposits were concerned.

With Russian customers scrambling to close down their bank accounts in Cyprus in a bid to “save” their money, withdrawal deposits have averaged to around €93 million within a month. Within two months, this figure shot up to €140 million.

According to the data from the Central Bank, Russians deposits bottomed to were €11.76 billion at the end of 2013, and since then has gone down by €4.95 billion as of February 2019. From the 2015 year until the February of 2019, €5 billion in total withdrawn funds from Cypriot banks were Russian.

Dozens of new butterfly species have been spotted passing through Cyprus in large numbers, making for an amazing show for laymen, enthusiasts and nature experts alike.

The butterflies, which are migrating from Africa to further north, have had Cypriots seeing millions of the beautiful insects navigate their way from coast to coast.

Among the many species the famous Vanessa cardui – an medium-sized outgoing butterfly species that is adorned with several colors. The type is considered as one of the most beautiful to look at.

The species tend to migrate in large groups of millions and even billions and go on their journey during the beginning of springtime. Some, however, are known to migrate during summer.

Some of these butterflies are expected to stay behind in Cyprus and give birth, spawning an entire generation of caterpillars on the island nation.

An official of Cyprus’ law enforcement has announced that that a Norwegian national and U.S. national have both been fined 6,000 euros (around $6,730) each for searching for an old shipwreck off of its coast without legal basis.

The official, who spilled the details anonymously due to not being allowed to disclose case details in publicly has revealed that the arrest was made on the basis of a tip that the police received in February, which said that the men – a 44-year-old Norwegian and a 36-year-old American were illegally looking for the shipwreck. The men in question were arrested two charges – attempting to illegally search for antiquities without formal authorization, and conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor.

Cyprus is no stranger to seafaring, having wreck searches made to as long as 5^th Century BC. That being said, wreck searches today require going through proper bureaucratic channels and having the right paperwork before embarking on a search.

A resident of Nicosia who was suspected of indulging in child pornography has been arrested.

The 35-year-old man was a suspect in the case of viewing child pornography, which is a highly punishable offense and without a doubt, against the law. He has been remanded for at least four days in police custody.

An initial search of the suspect’s home (that was made on the basis on a tip received by the cybercrime unit), child pornography was indeed downloaded using a certain e-mail ID. Further search revealed the existence of a hard drive as well as two computers – all of which had pornographic content on it.

With the second discovery in picture, the police took no time in arresting the man to be brought before court. Keeping in view the sensitive nature of the offense, the in-court session was taken place behind closed doors.

Famed Hollywood actor and Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage has announced that his next movie will be exclusively filmed in Cyprus in a bid to highlight the value of the island on the global scene.

According to The Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency (also known as Invest Cyprus), the martial arts and science fiction-themed movie will be directed by Dimitri Logothetis and produced by Logothetis and Martin J. Barab on a budget of €24.6m. The cast includes JuJu Chan, Rick Yune, Marie Avgeropoulos, Frank Grillo, and Alain Moussi thus far.

In a statement to the press, Invest Cyprus applauded the development, stressing on how decisively importance it was to the island nation’s audiovisual sector and the economy and will have multiple benefits to help portray itself better on an international scale.

It is to the organization’s credit that it managed to attract such mainstream attention not much long after it assigned the task of having to promote Cyprus as a suitable and viable international location for filming. The organization itself was made by the Cabinet to help develop the film sector. The Cabinet also appointed a chair of the evaluation committee the Cyprus Film Scheme, which would help the film sector gain several good incentives.

In October 2018, Invest Cyprus along with the Cyprus Tourism Organization and the Press and Information Office organized the first ever Cyprus Film Summit 2018 that was held in Nicosia. The summit had some of Hollywood, Bollywood and Pinewood’s leading figured attending it, along with participants from all over Europe. Dubai, Russia, Egypt, Egypt and Australia, among others.

It was at this event that that then Senior Officer for Invest Cyprus, Lefteris S. Eleftheriou presented announced the christening of the Cyprus’ film industry as Olivewood.

In a bid to renew its branding and give it some much needed freshness, the Deputy Ministry of Tourism has decided to lose its Love Cyprus’ logo and in about a year’s time will be coming up with a brand-new image that will represent the wonders of traveling on the popular holiday Mediterranean island.

Deputy Minister Savvas Perdios has revealed that besides a new logo Cyprus will debut with new color schemes and photos at the 2020 tourism exhibition in Berlin.

He added that while they are making this change highlight the unique selling points of the island nation, the most important factor here is to find the funding that will finance the tender call worth €2 million. While the amount will come from of national funds, The House of Representatives will have to approve the relevant amounts that will be included in annual budgets. For this to happen, the Deputy Ministry of

The contractor in question will be responsible for preparing and creating any and all creative materials to bring the new branding to action, along with designing and producing said material for commercial and advertising purposes.

Demetris Samuel, spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of Cyprus has revealed that the island nation has intensified its preparations for the possible eventuality of a hard Brexit.

Mr. Samuel expressed the opinions of the government through a public statement, which said that while the island nation does respect the House of Commons’ sovereign decision, they are disappointed by the direction of voting in London, which portrays a less-than- orderly Brexit. He continued to add how Cyprus, like its sister European nations as well as the European Commission itself were assured of an orderly Brexit. However, what are seeing now seems chaotic at best.

All said and done, it is being hoped that despite any and all disagreements, there will be positive developments that would help Cyprus and other EU countries deal with their losses better and in a smoother manner. In the meantime, Cyprus will continue to intensify preparation should they face the harsh and difficult eventuality of a no-deal Brexit.

Harris Georgiades, the finance minister has revealed that he will be resigning from his current and aforementioned post by the end of the year. The minister is set to vacate the position he has occupied since 2013 on account of the controversy created by the findings of an inquiry that has at least partially blamed him for the demise of one of Cyprus’ biggest banks.

According to the Finance Minister Georgiades himself, he felt it the right time to move on having spent almost seven years in the same post and having to fiercely defend himself findings that are inaccurate and unjust.

He proceeded to add how the Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades gave him his full backing – even amidst the opposition party constantly calls for his dismissal, going on to explain how the economy of the island nation has rebounded positively under his administration and guidance.

According to Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, there were no actual grounds that the inquiry had to level blame to Georgiades for what clearly appears to be billions in ill loans that that bank itself has accumulated over decades before Georgiades ever came to power. As a matter of fact, The whole point of Georgiades being appointed was to make the then volatile Cypriot economy stable in the face of the Euro rescue deal worth billions that Cyprus had to accept after a massive banking crisis that almost got the island nation bankrupt.

The inquiry, however, painted things in a much different light, blaming senior executives for making ill-informed judgments, not taking adequate action and taking virtually no stance whereas dealing with the bank’s bad loan portfolio was concerned. It proceeded to mention how Georgiades was responsible for not firing the executives in question when the time was right.

According to the recently-published U.N. World Happiness Report, Cyprus is the world’s 49^th happiest country. The island nation rose by 11 places – from being in the 61^st position in 2018, and 15 places from being in the 65^th position in 2017.

Produced by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network along with famed economists Jeffrey Sachs, John F. Helliwell and Richard Layard, the report uses raw data obtained from the Gallup World Poll and provides valuable insights in which countries and happy and the reasons behind the same.

The title of the happiest country went to Finland, which has retained the title since 2018, and leads the five Nordic countries that are among the top ten. Following Finland is Denmark, Norway, Iceland and the Netherlands at second, third, fourth and fifth places respectively.

The UK went up 4 places to be ranked at placed 15th, while the US reached its lowest ever at 19th.

The bottom-most spot on the index was taken up by South Sudan. Others in the bottom ten include Zimbabwe, Yemen, Botswana, Central African Republic, Tanzania, Syria, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Haiti and Malawi.

Turkey’s bid to enter the European Union has been quite the controversial one, having garnered opinions that differ severely. Amidst the controversy, however, both Greece and Greek Cyprus have showed their unanimous support for the nation’s impending entrance into the EU.

According to George Katrougalos, Greece’s foreign minister, Turkey entering the EU would work in the best interest of not just Greece, but of Cyprus and even the EU as a whole, adding that they should do their best to keep the bid on track.

The statement came after Katrougalos had a meeting with Nikos Christodoulides, Greek Cyprus’ foreign minister, during which Katrougalos also said that while having a nation that is hostile in nature wouldn’t look the best, it would ultimately work in favor in the long run.

Meanwhile, Christodoulides supported Greece and said that Greek Cyprus to would support Turkey’s bid to enter the EU, which, among other things, would help reunite the divided groups of Mediterranean island nation.

A rare moment of peace is being celebrated as two new border crossings have been opened on the island nation.

The first of the two crossing was opened in Dherynia, where scores of people were seen moving on to both sections of the divide within moments of it being opened at around noon. Notably, one the first who crossed the divide – a Turkish Cypriot was carrying a small branch of an Olive. In a statement to the press, the man expressed his happiness on being able to see even a glimmer of a possibility that they could be united again. He added that he hopes that border keep on opening till a day when there are no borders and division on the island nation.

The second crossing was opened in Aplici at around the same time as the one in Dherniya.

According to commentators, these new crossings and their opening will help ease the friction between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, especially after the fallout of peace talks in July 2018.

The UN appears to be optimistic on the matter, though, and believes that Greek-Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish-Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci will be resuming talks soon. Elizabeth Spehar, special representative of the UN in Nicosia has said that the crossing points will help in increasing the scale of face-to-face contacts, which in turn will help build more trust and confidence within the two major communities in Cyprus.

The Cyprus issue has been on the most long-standing and troublesome issues faced in the history of the United Nations. Despite 44-years of division and some very bitter arguments, however, the U.N. firmly believes that it is possible to arrive at an agreement provided there is enough political will.

In what is being considered an interesting turn in what was being touted as one of the most serious alleged sexual abuse cases, the father the five-month-old girl who has allegedly abused her was released on Monday without any charges.

The man was initially brought before the Nicosia district court, where a closed-door hearing was conducted. The result of the hearing was that he was to be remanded for five days pending police investigations.

After the legal services’ examination of the case, however, the remand order was not renewed. The infant and her family, however, continued to remain under close monitoring although Social welfare services were instructed to continue to monitor the infant and her family.

The father of the infant had been arrested after her mother took her to the Makarios children’s hospital in Nicosia upon noticing inflammation in her genital area. She told the police it that she was at work and had left the baby girl alone at home with her father. She noticed the inflammation after coming back home.

After being examined by 3 doctors, a gynecologist, and a pediatrician, along with state pathologist Eleni Antoniou, the medical professionals came to the conclusion that the infant had been sexually abused.

Around 3,500 have been caught speeding during a week-long campaign carried out by the police.

According to the Cyprus Police, 3,453 people were caught for driving above speed limit, with 5 being booked within hours before the end of the campaign.

Notable defaulters include two drivers, aged 21 and 23, who were stopped by the police at around 8.15pm for driving at 139km/h on a road in Limassol where the speed limit itself is 50km/h. The two kept speeding away even after the police signaled them to stop but were finally apprehended 5 minutes later.

After a thorough checking of their papers, it was found that neither of the drivers had valid MOT. Their road tax too was expired.

Another driver was apprehended in a similar manner evading traffic officers while driving at 103km/h on 65km/h permitted road on the Cape Greco – Ayia Napa road in Famagusta. The 35-year-old man also did not have valid MOT and insurance or MOT.

Others include an 18 and a 20-year-old, who were booked in the early morning hours. While the first was driving at 174km/h on 80km/h road, the second was driving at 112km/h on a 50km/h road.

A court in Cyprus has ordered that a 42-year-old man be detained in police custody for three days for the purpose of facilitating an investigation into a complaint that goalkeeper Francis Odinaka Uzoho was unfit and ineligible to play for Anorthosis Famagusta.

In a statement to The Associated Press, Stelios Stylianou, spokesman for the Cyprus Police said that the suspect, who will not be named for legal reasons, will be subject to facing serious charges that include circulation of a forged document as well as forgery, among others.

This development happened after Apollon Limassol’s complaint that Uzoho was ineligible to play courtesy its 1-0 defeat to in the previous week in the Cypriot league’s top tier.

According to Apollon, Uzoho’s health certificate was probably obtained with the help of forged medical documentation – which of course is strictly against the rules.

In the meantime, The Cyprus Sports Organization – the issuer of Uzoho’s health certificate has announced that it is conducting its own investigation into the matter and will take the appropriate action needed.

Most Muslim and Christian in Cyprus have actively begun are urging to have the 15th century partially collapsed church speedily repaired.

The Church, which is housed inside a United Nations-controlled buffer zone, cuts across the capital city of Nicosia.

Religious leaders, which include Mufti Talip Atalay, Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostomos II, as well as the leaders of the Latin, Maronite, and Armenian churches have made and repeated their joint plea to have the St. James Church and the adjoining 17th century church of St. George repaired as swiftly as possible.

In their plea, they have said that they “stand together as brothers” to make sure that any and every place of worship is and remains well-protected.

Repair work is stalled on the churches, as they are located in what is a disputed area within the buffer zone. Work crew access with in the area is therefore restricted.