Current Events

The Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) has suspended the meeting that was supposed to take place with the Electricity Market Association (EMA).

The Cyprus News Agency (CNA) has found out the reason for this cancellation is EMA’s violation of the agreement between the two organization, which was found out through the latter’s announcement the previous week.

Said agreement was about not making statements in public before meeting and discussing concerns. The arrangement of the facilitation process was done by the Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEB), which lists both organizations as members.

This is the second change to the meeting – the first was its preponement.

The High Commission of Cyprus has filed a complaint against GB News for introducing Ersin Tatar, the head of Turkish Cyprus as the TRNC’s President.

The UK news channel presented Ersin Tatar as the “president” of the de facto state on a program hosted by Martin Daubney.

Theodoros Gotsis, a spokesperson for the Cypriot Foreign Office said that both Cyprus’ local diplomatic missions and their London-based High Commission are taking necessary steps to ensure that such misappropriations do not take place in future dates.

Gotsis mentioned how journalists and media persons should know better than falling for what are essentially fake titles.

Tatar spoke with Dominic O’Connell, a journalist with the Times on topics like trading and direct flights; the latter remarked how recognizing the north could serve as a bad example.

Tatar, on his appearance in GB News’ program, passed comments on the reunification issue, deeming it could never be possible. He instead proposed a situation where the “two nations” could exist side-by-side. He argued that if a federal solution did not work for half-a-century, nothing else would.

In a bid to foster better bilateral relations, Shri Manish, the Indian High Commissioner made an official visit to the headquarters of the Cyprus Ports Authority (CPA) in Nicosia.

The aim of said visit was to find out more and better opportunities for development & investment that would involve the two countries.

High Commissioner Manish had already been briefed on the powers and scope of the CPA’s work. Said briefing was done at the office of the CPA.

The other officials at this briefing included CPA General Director Anthimos Christodoulides and Board of Directors Chairman Zenonas Apostolou.

First Secretary of Economic Affairs, Subhash Jangala was also present at the visit.

The Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority (CERA) has awarded the Cyprus Electricity Authority (CEA) the license to set up a brand-new commercial power storage system.

The license, which shall remain in effect for five years, will allow the CEA to install a system having a 160MWh maximum storage capacity & 40MW maximum output power.

The system will have its hardware HQ at Larnaca’s Dekelia – specifically on P/Sh. -/2-268-372 (Plot 88; Sec 6).

The license shall the officially issued in around a month-and-a-half from the date of announcement.

The CERA made the decision to award the license based on the article 26 of the Electricity Market Regulation Laws (2021-23). The license’s terms shall follow Article 30’s criteria and shall be available on their website, in addition to being sent to the CEA.

A woman has been awarded a 5-day remand for having stolen over €40,000 from a Paphos department store.

The woman, aged 45, had been arrested the week prior, according to a statement by Michalis Nikolaou, chief of the Paphos police.

Chief Nikolaou said that the store’s owner made a report to the Police, claiming a cash shortage worth €38,831 from their receipts.

Preliminary investigations itself revealed that a woman, a former employee of the store had done the deed, and immediately issued an arrest warrant.

Further investigation by the CID in Paphos is currently underway.

For the first time in years, Cyprus is seeing a major drop in first-time applications from asylum seekers.

In a surprising 80% decrease from the month prior, Eurostat has revealed that the rate of applications has dropped to 29.9 for every 100,000 people.

While this is still the highest rate in the EU, the drop indicates a trend that should help reduce this.

The European Union saw 76,795 asylum applications, 5% less than the number in May 2023.

The rate drop in Cyprus is the largest one in all of the European Union, demonstrating a change in the asylum situation.

Germany is the current leader in this regard, accounting for over twenty four percent of the total number of applications, while the largest percentage of applications come from Syrian nationals.

Cyprus received over thirty-five applications from sole minors, a high rate albeit one much lower than the 125 in May and 160 in the month of April.

As of May 2024, Cyprus had 29,920 applications for asylum.

The Paphos Police has confirmed that the dead men found in the burnt had been murdered.

The vehicle, found in a burnt condition in Listovounos, had the bodies – burnt along with the car.

According to the autopsy, the victims were killed by getting shot in the head. They believe that it was a high caliber weapon, such as a hunting rifle.

The Police found the car on fire on a dirt road after 12 AM. The fire was doused by firefighters, who then found two bodies in it.

The Police are conducting an investigation into why this has happened.

The island nation of Cyprus is dispatching their support crew with two firefighting airplanes to North Macedonia to help them combat the large wildfires burning down large areas in Sveti Nikole and Chashka.

Said airplanes, which have since left Paphos International Airport, have top-shelf technology that are aimed at dousing small- and large-scale wildfires. They are expected to reach North Macedonia by the evening. Here, they will be briefed about the operational details; they will commence the day after.

The aircrafts are set to remain in North Macedonia for 3-5 days.

The team consists of some of most experienced of ground support officers and pilots, who will work with their counterparts in North Macedonia to extinguish the wildfires and prevent it from creating further damage.

Cyprus joined the rescEU mechanism in 2024 – this dispatch is the first within the program.

The Paphos Police released a statement to the press, revealing how they have been taking an initiative to reduce the level of noise pollution in the island nation.

In the span of a single weekend, they visited twelve places to investigate instances of noise pollution.

Michalis Nikolaou, Assistant Director of Operations for the Paphos Police said that the places visited includes one located on central Kennedy Square, where people were playing music when they did not have the permission to do so. The police disbanded the group and seized their sound box and speakers to store them as evidence.

The manager of the place was awarded a 170 Euro fine. The man, aged 37, had allowed the group to play music without permission and was even serving them alcohol.

The heatwave in Cyprus is nowhere close to slowing down – on the contrary, it might just see a major increase for the first time in years.

The middle of the week will see clearer clear skies in most places, and low-lying clouds in patches. The latter might get rainfall around noon, especially in mountainous regions.

Temperatures are set to stand at around 40°C inland, 33 – 37°C in the coasts, and 32°C in the mountains.

Wind speeds are expected to range from slight till moderately high, and shall move in a northeast-to-southwest direction.

The sea will be mostly slight and smooth during the early hours, and get more slight starting at noon, especially in the north, south & west.

From 11 AM till 4PM, the yellow weather warning shall remain in effect.

Cypriot national and athlete Elena Kulichenko is all set to compete in the high jump finals of the Olympics.

Kulichenko, 22, broke into the final round by scoring 1.92 & 1.88 on her first & second attempts, respectively.

The final round features twelve competitors.

In the qualifiers, Kulichenko gained the seventh position. While her 1.95 meters jump attempts were unsuccessful, the rest of her work helped her qualify.

Kulichenko has so far reached the closest to Russian athlete Yelena Slesarenko’s 2.06 meters World Record in 2004.

A strike by employees of Gold Air at the Airport in Larnaca affected flights operating in the afternoon.

The staff, whose job was to take care of the loading process protested against the lack of staff which has allegedly caused them to overwork.

Without their services, both arriving as well as departing flight passengers were practically stranded, not knowing how they should proceed to get the luggage they own.

The protest lasted two hours, from noon till 2 PM and only ended once Gold Air management assured them that they would take adequate action. The action ended at 2 p.m. after the company pledged to address the workers’ concerns.

George Ioulianos, the PEO rep said that Gold Air will have a special meeting where they will discuss said issue with the Ministry of Labor.

The Nordic country of Sweden has closed its embassy located in Beirut due to safety concerns.

However, the embassy is not closed for good – it will be moved to the island nation of Cyprus.

Tobias Billstrom, the Foreign Minister of Sweden has made an announcement of the development, saying how the country’s embassy in Lebanon shall be closed temporarily.

For now, this closure will apply to August, with a possibility of extension to the following months – depending on the peripheral conditions.

The island nation of Cyprus has decided to amend its rules for obtaining the coveted EU Blue Card.

This includes relaxing certain eligibility pathways. In terms of work status, applicants must be legally employed or at least have received an offer letter for at least a period of six months. In terms of educational status, they must have a three-year-long minimum university degree, and in rare cases have equivalent work experience over a course of seven years. Professional experience was previously not considered.

This also includes simplifying the pathway to residence and citizenship, allowing current Blue Card holders to become permanent residents after thirty-three months, if they have full proficiency in Cypriot’s local language and are contributing to any pension account. They may also obtain citizenship after 5 years, as opposed to the previous 7.

The validity has also doubled from 12 months to 24, which will allow Blue Card holders to stay in the country for longer and avoid extra annual paperwork on the employers’ part.

Ararat Mirzoyan, Armenia’s Foreign Minister is on an official visit to the island nation of Cyprus.

He has been invited by Constantinos Kombos, the foreign minister of Cyprus.

The counterparts will have a meeting, followed by larger consultations including Armenian and Cypriot delegations.

Once this is over, statements to the press shall be made.

Topics to be discussed will include Armenian-Cypriot relations, the Cypriot reunification issue and other common issues plaguing the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Nikos Christodoulides, the President of Cyprus, will personally receive Mirzoyan.

Mirzoyan will also speak at the annual meeting of diplomatic missions’ leaders to be held in Nicosia.

The air ambulance helicopter with the National Guard conscript has taken off from the airport in Larnaca.

The National Guard conscript, aged 17, was admitted in a hospital after he admitted to feeling ill while participating in an exercise.

He is being taken to France, where he will be admitted in Paul Brousse Hospital – which functions as a transplant center as well as a university hospital.

Right now, the young man is in a critical condition, but remains stable.

According to Demetris Constantinou, spokesperson for the health ministry, the air ambulance left a day after its intended flight, as it had already finished its flight hours on that day.

The anticipated reduction in tourism could lead to up to 30,000 lesser visitors, which in turn could result in loss of up to €25 million in revenue.

Thanos Michaelides, president of the hotelier’s association (Pasyxe) has made a statement to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), where he talked about the need to extend the tourist season window and increase the overall capacity of hotels – these two alone would help the industry weather the season-wise variations in employment and help keep revenue consistent.

He added that introducing these measures will help offer those working within the industry a more stable income, and make tourism an attractive career for jobseekers.

His arguments stem from the dependence of the island nation’s economy on tourism – roughly fifty-three-thousand people work in the industry, which amounts to around 11% of the total population that is employed. Professionals employed include a wide range of people – from lawyers to chefs and from engineers to artists.

Michaelides continued to add how one of the biggest reasons is the reduction in hotel bookings – much of which can be traced to the Russia-Ukraine war and the turbulence in the Middle East. Coupled with a stumbling economy in the UK, a March Easter and shutdown of airlines resulting in fewer flights – mean there are more than 150,000 less tourists incoming.

FTI’s bankruptcy has further added to the woes, with the tour operator having been one of Cyprus’ biggest sources of income.

The CrowdStrike update that caused a major IT outage globally has disrupted the Cypriot operations of Wizz Air.

The airline company’s Cypriot office issued a statement, explaining how the IT outage has affected most of its digital operations, including call center, online check-ins, the online booking platforms, the mobile app and the website itself.

They added that customers might find themselves not being able to access their usual suite of services.

In the meantime, Wizz Air is allowing its customers a check-in free-of-charge – with strong advice that they reach the airport 3 or more hours prior to time of departure.

So far, Wizz Air has not given any specifications on when the technical issues will be solved.

The weather is set to see a dip in temperatures, albeit with an increased frequency of rain.

Slight-to-medium cloudy afternoons are to be expected, along with isolated incidents of rain showers or even thundershowers, especially in the southeast, the mountains, and inland areas.

The wind shall blow in a southwest-to-northwest direction. They may start an a weak 3 on the Beaufort scale, then move up to an approximate medium 4, and progress to a strong 5 in latter phases.

The southern part of the nation is set to expect winds going up to over 6 on the Beaufort scale.

Slight and/or smooth seas are expected. Temperatures are expected to be 34 degrees Celsius in the southwestern coast, 36 degrees Celsius in the east and northern sections of the coast, 33 degrees Celsius in the rest of the coast, 29 degrees Celsius in the mountainous regions and 38 degrees Celsius inland.

All operations at the Cyprus Broadcast Corporation (CyBC) shall cease for 60 minutes, starting at 2000 hours local time – as workers are protesting against the non-payment of pensions for those who retired post-January 2023.

Sek & Peo – the trade unions who announced the strike, also made the decision on the date and time, coinciding it with the main news broadcast timing.

They also sent the employees’ grievances in writing to the labor, interior and finance ministers, along with the Office of the President.

Sek & Peo have warned that should they not get a solution soon, they will take additional measures.