Current Events

Conflicting news of the abduction of Israel’s ambassador in Cyprus has been doing the rounds.

Several Cypriot media outlets reported that the Ambassador, along with his 2 bodyguards, was kidnapped from the coast and taken to another location. They further said that Cypriot security forces have confirmed this and that the source of the news is Reuters itself.

Reuters, however, has refuted the news, flatly denying that anything of this kind has happened.

Furthermore, the Zionist Foreign Ministry Office has said no abduction has taken place.

In recent news, the Cyprus Police has arrested a man for blackmailing.

The Famagusta resident, aged 51, was systematically blackmailing another man, aged 37 from the month of November in 2023 till his arrest in the month of October 2024.

He was threatening the 37-year-old for money that he claimed was owed to the older man’s son.

The charges for the arrested also included possessing a weapon against the law.

A court in Cyprus has ordered that the 8 Syrians nationals who were arrested shall be detained for at least 6 days on grounds of them conspiring the funding of a terrorist outfit in Syria.

Christos Andreou, a spokesman for the Police said that the eight people – comprising 7 men & 1 women are currently facing terrorism-related charges, including conspiracy and being part of a criminal group.

Their arrest happened as a part of a series of raids done in Paphos and Limassol.

The raids were initiated due to a tip-off, but did not give any specifics on which “organization” they were trying to fund.

According to Andreou, authorities did not have any clue about an impending attack prior to this.

Further police investigation is currently underway, to find out how the detained might have been able to raise the funds in the first place.

After the 4.9 magnitude earthquake that happened off the Cypriot coast, the island nation saw 2 aftershocks.

Geological Survey Department Director Christodoulos Hadjigeorgiou has revealed that the aftershocks, while unsettling, are a normal part of the Cyprus’ seismic activities.

The main earthquake’s epicenter was 18 kms near Paphos, 13 kms below ground. Its tremors were felt in various places in Limassol and Paphos, as well as a few other sections.

Hadjigeorgiou remarked that the area is noted for producing earthquakes, as it links the arc of Cyprus with a Southern Paphos’ transform fault, which in turn extends all the way to Polis Chrysochous.

This makes light earthquakes a result of the normal seismic activity in the region.

The Cyprus Police have arrested a young man for illegal residency and for stealing a cell phone.

According to Steve Theodoulou, a spokesperson for the Cyprus Police in Famagusta, the man, aged 25, was arrested at 3 A.M. in the morning after a tourist made a report to the Police in Ayia Napa and identified said man as the perpetrator.

She said that the man had duped her into letting him take her cell phone under the pretext of asking for help, then proceeded to run away with it.

The police found the man with the stolen phone, which further cemented their suspicions. They then discovered that he had in fact been living on the island nation with no visa from 2022.

The man shall remain under police custody, pending trial.

Most cars, restaurants and cafes reached at least 90% of their capacity in the month of August.

Federation of Leisure Centre Owners (Osika) President Neophytos Thrasyvoulou revealed the numbers, mentioning how August served as a boom month for most eateries on the island nation.

There have been certain exceptions, like Polis Chrysochous, which got lesser-than-average traffic.

He also mentioned how other recreational centers received an influx of locals visiting their joints.

Thrasyvoulou expects the rise in flights in September & October to push the trend, and hopes that there shall be more visits from tourists alongside the locals.

He imagines that if this continues as expected, the high traffic shall continue all the way till the first half of November – right until the winter closing.

Meanwhile, he recommended that the tourist season should be extended; in order to help it and the economy enjoy its major potential benefits.

The mountain areas of Cyprus have been witnessing a series of storms and rain.

The heavy downpour has caused massive water logging in some areas. In others, many can hear thunder, see darkened skies and thickened clouds – all signals that heavier rains are about to arrive.

These series of weather events are expected to continue for the next couple of days, and the inland is expected to suffer these effects as well.

According to the Meteorology Department, right now the storm and rain is most effective in the north and west areas of the Troodos Mountains, starting at Larnaca and ending roughly at Machairas.

For now, a yellow warning has been issued, in anticipation of storms, rain and perhaps hail.

The Embassy of Cyprus in the UAE is now open for business.

Markos Kyprianou, Cyprus’ Foreign Affairs Minister inaugurated it back in April 2024. He was the guest of his UAE counterpart Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the latter having invited him to see the F1 race.

The embassy premises are located in Abu Dhabi, near Abu Dhabi Secondary School.

Costas A. Papademas, the Ambassador of Cyprus to the UAE expressed his happiness on the development, and remarked how it will serve as the basis for strengthening commercial, economic, cultural and of course political relations.

The embassy shall function at full capacity, offering all consular services such as issuing of passports and visas and attestation documents.

There are around 500 Cypriot citizens living and working in the UAE, and they are mostly concentrated in Abu Dhabi & Dubai.

The dead body of a woman has been found floating in Dasoudi beach in Cyprus’ Limassol.

Initial investigation reveals that there is no suspicious activity, but has so far failed to find out anything about her identity.

Several passers-by on the beach found the woman’s body, and informed the Police of the same.

The Police soon arrived on the scene, pulled the body from the water, loaded her in an ambulance, which took her to General Hospital in Limassol.

She was pronounced Dead on Arrival.

The woman’s clothing was near her body and so far, no marks or injuries suspecting foul play has been found.

The full-scale autopsy is currently underway.

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.