Current Events

Paris Demetriades of Kathmerini has reported that Limassol might be heading to a major housing problem, thanks to a sharp rise in the price of properties.

The report includes how the both house prices & rent have increased to up to two – and sometimes three times their value. Although this does not bother homeowners, it is a major pain for tenants and those who have been planning to buy a home.

These sharp increases in prices far surpass the growth in incomes, which makes people struggle to successfully maintain their expenses.

This disparity is only growing, and has given rise to people being concerned that in the near future, only the rich will be able to afford to live in the city.

Demetriades further reported that the situation makes the youth even more vulnerable and exposed to not having any growth.

This makes proper urban development the need of the hour to ensure that the urban center remains open and accessible to all.

A report by the Cyprus News Agency says that while Greek Cyprus has submitted their proposal to open fresh crossing points, their counterparts in Turkish Cyprus have not thus far.

The proposal in question discussed opening up crossing points at Kokkina & Pyroi-Athienou. It was officially submitted by Menelaos Menelaou, a negotiator for Greek Cyprus.

However, his Turkish counterpart Guner Onar – or anyone else for that matter has not responded at all.

Given the circumstances, President Christodoulides has said that he is ready to step in to speed discussions along.

So far, the only known factor is the Turkish Cypriot’s leader Ersin Tatar discussing the opinion difference between Turkish & Greek Cyprus with regards to the location of said crossing points. They also want to open more than just two of them.

A woman died only 2 days after she gave birth.

Stella Michael, aged 36, gave birth to her second child via C-section at the private nursing home. While the C-section itself was a success, she suddenly died – only two days after.

Due to the death being sudden, it is being investigated. While an autopsy was done, the results have been inconclusive so far.

A funeral for Stella shall be held at the Holy Church of St. Minas in Geri, with loved ones and several members of the community in attendance.

She worked at the Cyprus Presidency Secretariat of the EU Council – on secondment via the Department of Water Development.

Nikos Christodoulides, the President of Cyprus has expressed his discontentment at the attack made at the Christmas Market in Magdeburg, Germany.

The island nation’s president took to social media platform X (formerly, Twitter) where is wrote how he felt highly shocked & devastated” because of the attack.

The attack in question has left 2 killed and several injured.

The President further elaborated that he publicly condemns the act, and that his thoughts are with the families of the victims and the citizens of Germany at large.

Cyprus’ House of Representatives has approved a bill that was sent in by the country’s Education Ministry.

The bill in question was about introducing stricter provisions about operating and establishing foreign university branches on the island nation.

While establishing the branches themselves is allowed as of 2015, but the law that the bill shall enunciate how the branches will be established and run.

Peter Andre, most famous for his song, The ‘Mysterious Girl’ has said that he would like to retire on the island nation of Cyprus.

While the artist was born and raised in the UK, he is of Greek-Cypriot origin (both his parents are Cypriots) and even owns a house in Cyprus.

Andre says that he has taken quite a liking to Cyprus and might sell his UK house to spend his later years on the island nation.

His column in the OK! Magazine spoke about his house in Cyprus, and he could either move there if his family was alright with it, or use it as a suitable retirement destination.

Fow now, he is spending Christmas with his family the traditional way, but is also looking to visit Australia to see his mother, Thea. She suffers from Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s disease.

He plans to see both his parents and is traveling with his brother, Michael to spent time with their parents and their sister.

The remains of eleven different individuals, who went missing during 1963-64 and in 1974 have been successfully identified.

A dual communal organization dedicated to finding out what happened to Greek as well as Turkish Cypriots who went missing during these time periods when the island nation went through turbulent times.

The Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus’s representative Leonidas Pantelides presented the data pertaining to this matter – further clarifying that in that case all eleven were Greek Cypriots.

7 of these were found on the missing people’s lists, whereas 4 others are assumed to be fallen soldiers.

In 2024, the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) in Cyprus conducted diggings at one-hundred-and-two different locations.

The remains were found in the unexplored areas of Lapithos, Trachoni, Aroa, Bellapais and Karavas – this includes both military and civilian areas.

The CMP has so far identified one-thousand-and-fifty-one individuals out of over two thousand who had gone missing during the aforementioned periods.

Two-hundred-and-sixteen of these are not listed in an official capacity. Investigation for the remainder is currently underway at varying levels of success.

In 2024, Cyprus participated in the World Travel Market.

The international event, held in London had fifty-five exhibitors – and the island nation was one of them.

Held over a period of three days, the event is attended by scores of owners and operations within the global tourism industry worldwide, so as to find room for collaboration and for opportunities, with the prime focus being the successful promotion of all countries’ products.

The Cypriot delegation to the event includes Cypriot tourist organizations, tourism companies, hotels, and member of Cyprus’ nation and state tourism boards.

The event shall be headlined by Costas Koumis, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, who shall meet with the UK’s best tourism companies and air carriers, along with those from other countries.

Mr. Koumis shall also attend the Ministerial Summit, which will discuss the relationship between evolving AI technology and tourism development.

Nikos Christodoulides, the president of Cyprus has congratulated US President-Elect Donald Trump on his triumph in the elections, while also speaking about his wish to fortify the bilateral relations between them.

On social media platform X (formerly, Twitter), Christodoulides mentioned how he is looking forward to working with the US under the upcoming administration to expand their partnership, and to advance trans-Atlantic interests at large.

The congratulations come right after the Cypriot President’s meeting with US counterpart the current President Joe Biden, where topics of discussion included opportunities for investments, cooperating on energy matters, making and strengthening partnerships in the security and defense spaces, Cyprus being potentially included in the Visa Waiver Program, and of course the reunification issue.

Cyprus has joined ninety-four other countries, while its Pharmaceutical Services has joined 107 other partner companies – to participate in the 9th Med Safety Week worldwide campaign.

This week-long campaign will focus on using medicines properly and reporting any adverse incidents related to them.

People are being encouraged to promote the campaign through the hashtag #MedSafetyWeek, and reposting social media posts by Pharmaceutical Services.

The public are being made aware of authorities’ pharmacovigilance activities, that put in place systems for tracking the safe use of medicines and reporting any misuse of the same.

A great benefit of this system is that it allows authorities to understand more about possible side effects & safety matters, to better help shape the types of warnings that can be put on a medicine.

All patients, care givers, and of course health care professionals can report unexpected reactions via the Yellow Card reporting system, available to all in Cyprus.

These reports are thoroughly reviews and evaluated, so that suitable measures can be made the right course of action can be taken in time.

Cyprus has publicly criticized the DPRK launching their intercontinental ballistic missile.

The foreign ministry expressed their views on social media platform X (formerly, Twitter), stating that they are calling on the DPRK to fulfill their obligations according to the UNSC guidelines.

They quoted a statement given by Josep Borrell, a High Representative for the European Union. He had recently criticized the DPRK himself.

Borrell said how the launch, which had no legal basis, showed how the DPRK is continuing to deliver WMDs and violating several UNSC resolutions.

A teenage student took thousands worth of cash to his school, and triggered a police investigation.

The teenager had over 15,000 Euros, some of which was distributed to his class fellows.

Alpha News said that the student presented €3,500 to one classmate, who intended to use the money. He presented €500 to another classmate, and lesser amounts to yet others.

The parents of one of the other students reported the matter to the Strovolos police station, the area’s local law enforcement.

The school got in touch with the children’s parents and asked them to give the money back.

The parent’s complaint further alleged that a teacher was also among the recipients, having accepted 50 Euros.

The matter is currently under investigation by the Ministry of Education as well as the Police.

The island nation of Cyprus was hit by a huge storm that caused widespread disruption to life and work.

The storm, which hit Paphos by around 5:30 PM in the evening, brought with it hail, rain and strong wind forces, causing major damage in the area.

The storm caused a lot of littering, with the streets filled with hail and the remains of several trees.

Because of this, many vehicles were forced to stop in the midst of the road.

The storm also caused damage to property as many streets were completely flooded.

The storm also affected Limassol – as the strong winds uprooted trees and caused the fire department to work on overdrive.

Cyprus’ Meteorological Department has issued a yellow warning due to the ongoing strong winds.

Details of the warning reveal that Cyprus will face strong winds of over 7-8 on the Beaufort scale in the coastal areas and 6-7 everywhere else on the island.

Another yellow warning was issued for incoming storms, which has since been withdrawn.

Expected situations include clouds, some localized showers, a potential temperature drop inland, and some snowfall in the mountainous areas.

Larger quantities of snow and rains are expected to continue through the night and well into the coming week. The temperature is then expected to rise but shall still remain at lesser-than-average levels.

To maintain safety, the Cypriot Civil Defense services have asked people to remove any and all objects that the winds could blow away, including holiday season decorations.

A joint study has revealed the shocking statistic of nearly half of all Cypriot women being victims of violence.

The study, done by the collaborative efforts of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and Eurostat, revealed that this distressing average stands higher than those of other EU countries.

According to the study, roughly 44.5 percent of women in Cyprus are victims of partner-initiated sexual, psychological and/or physical violence.

This is far higher than the European Union 31.8 percent average.

Cyprus also scored higher on being sexually harassed in the workplace, with over 39.9 percent having reported being victims, as opposed to the 30.8 percent EU average.

The Cyprus Police has announced that they have arrested over eighty people as a part of their raids.

The police made said as a part of a Cyprus-wide joint operation, with various police divisions and the Aliens and Immigration Service as major participants.

The authorities have deported one-hundred-and-forty-six people, who were living illegally (i.e. did not have any permits). They were all deported to their country of origin – and 5 of them were transported via a FRONTEX-coordinated return flight, with the Belgian government, Coast Guard Agency and European Border as organizers.

This is the fourteenth FRONTEX operation that has the island nation’s police force as a participant.

The Larnaca Police has arrested a man for assaulting a sailor from a ship temporarily stationed on the island nation.

The arrest came after the sailor lodged a complaint with the police, claiming that a man waved his pistol, shouted at him, shoved said pistol in a bag and went forward to attack him.

The sailor hit back and ran, only to be followed by another 3 individuals who started throwing stones at him. He did manage to run away to safety on his boat.

The doctor on board who examined him found that he had sustained various head injuries.

The police’s investigation led them to finding the man with the pistol who initially attacked them. They then arrested him on the basis of a court-issued warrant.

The man, aged 47 has been charged for multiple offenses – including possessing explosives without any license, possessing and transporting a firearm illegally and physical assault.

A bomb exploded while it was in a car.

The car was being driven by an elderly man with no passengers in the early morning before it suddenly exploded.

The explosion happened at around 3 AM in the morning, and alarmed locals living in Limassol’s Agios Athanasios.

Police arrived on the scene soon after, sealed the crime scene and had the Fire Department assist them.

The Limassol CID is investigating the case, which is still in its preliminary press.

No information has been revealed thus far, but the Police has promised to release updates as soon as they have solid materials.

In the meantime, they are expecting statements from the old man’s family members.

The man, aged 78, died on the spot. Some of his remains have been recovered.

The Cyprus Police has arrested a man for trafficking illegal narcotics.

The man, aged 27, was trying to get into the country via Larnaca Airport with several bags of such drugs.

The Police has reported that they found Twenty-Four kgs of cannabis distributed across Forty-One packets upon conducting their search of the man’s belongings.

The young man has been arrested and booked for trafficking narcotics and attempting to import illegal drugs.

As he remains in police custody, further police investigation is underway.

In the wake of large-scale diversion of flights to Cyprus, the airports in the island nation have been put on high alert citing security concerns.

The development comes after Iran launched a missile attack with Israel as its target, which caused several flights to be diverted to Cyprus.

Specifically, 2 Israel-bound flights that took off at Prague and Milan have landed at the Airport in Larnaca.

All airports in Cyprus are currently on standby in case any other Israel-related flights need to be safely landed to avoid additional undesirable circumstances in the already tense current situation.