Current Events

People using their cellphones while driving has become a major problem – leading authorities on the island nation to resort to increasing fines.

The Road Safety Council of Cyprus has announced that they are making sharp increases in fines awarded for people committing traffic violations.

Based on the proposal from Marios Hartsiotis, the Justice Minister, an increase in fines have been recorded for the three most common – and detrimental traffic violations.

The fine for riding a two-wheeler without a helmet has increased from €200 to €250, with repeat violators being to be fined €500 unless they go without offence for 3 years.

The fine for using a cell phone whilst driving has increased from €150 to €200. Repeat violations shall be fined €400, as opposed to the previous €300.

Those not wearing their seatbelts shall be fined €150, up from €200. Repeat violators will be awarded €400 in fines.

Two-wheelers without a valid number will be fined €100 (as opposed to the previous €80) for their first violation, and €200 for any subsequent ones, if committed within 3 years of the first one.

Increasing numbers of children are being hospitalized due to contracting the flu.

The Makarios III Hospital for Children in Nicosia, for instance, is over 85% capacity.

Avraam Elias, the head of the pediatric department of the hospital has mentioned that the situation is now under control. He further added that twenty-six children were admitted in the wards, four children were in the ICU.

Most of these children are less than a year in age. However, some older children with chronic health issues were also admitted.

The children were admitted for contracting influenza A, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) as well as and microbial pneumonia.

According to Elias, the primary reason for children being admitted was the RSV. He also mentioned that one of these children was hospitalized for having Covid-19.

Philippos Tymvios, the Director of the Meteorology Department said that the cold weather is all set to subside.

He further explained that the reason for this is the weather system gradually moving towards the center of the island, after being particularly active in its southwestern & western regions.

The current forecast predicts thunderstorms along with snowing in the mountains and hail inland. The intensity, however, is expected to be lesser.

Isaac Herzog, the President of Israel is going to visit the island nation of Cyprus.

President Herzog’s visit’s main purpose is to discuss matters of region-specific diplomacy. This includes the Cyprus-Egypt-Greece Trilateral Summit as well as the Cyprus-Egypt Intergovernmental Summit – both to take place in Cairo.

Both of these will discuss stability & cooperation within the region, as well as serious matters like the situation in Syria.

According to several sources, the trip is meant to promote strengthening of relationships between the countries in the area – especially in light of the changing world and U.S. policy shifts.

Currently, Eastern Mediterranean countries are facing a variety of challenging situations, including energy crisis, security matters, and the value of joining forces.

‘Teknofest’ the premier Turkish tech festival shall be held in Turkish Cyprus.

The organizers of the fest have revealed that the fest shall be held at Ercan Airport over a 4-day-period.

The fest shall include tech-based contests across 7 main categories, as well as fourteen subcategories. Showcased fields will include cybersecurity, social innovation & autonomous flight systems, among others.

Teknofest is usually held in different cities across Turkey during even years, and in Istanbul in the odd ones.

The previous edition took place in Adana, with over a million visitors.

So far, the first ten editions of Teknofest have had over ten million individuals as participants and four million prospective competitors.

The 2023 was held thrice – in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. The upcoming edition will also be held in Istanbul and Turkish Cyprus.

Every participant shall receive 5.5 million Turkish liras ($155,000) worth of prize, as well as financial aid and support.

HH Sheikh Abdullah, the UAE’s Deputy PM as well as its Foreign Affairs Minister, sat down for a meeting with Nikos Christodoulides, the President of Cyprus.

Several topics – including that of the Middle East’s current situation – were discussed in the meeting, which was held in Nicosia. Topics included local as well as international matters.

President Christodoulides in the meantime did not miss the chance to praise the UAE, the relations between the two countries, and also wished the country all the best in its current and future.

In return, Sheikh Abdullah extended the well wishes from their President, stating how the UAE wants Cyprus to enjoy nothing short of prosperity and progress. He also expressed his happiness on the good relations among the two nations.

UAE’s Foreign Ministry Office also took to social media platform X (formerly, Twitter) to announce the event.

A 4.8 magnitude earthquake has occurred in the sea – between Turkey and the island nation of Cyprus.

The earthquake happened in the early hours of morning.

It was originally reported as a 5.1 magnitude earthquake by the European-Mediterranean seismological center (EMSC), but was later revised to 4.8.

Specifically, the earthquake happened over sixty kilometers off of the Turkish city of Alanya.

2 electronic store workers have been arrested for stealing cell phones worth over six thousand Euros.

The theft was originally reported by the manager of the store, who said 8 phones had disappeared.

Assistant Director of Operations of the Police, Michalis Nicolaou, said that the Police’s inquiry led them to arresting the store workers, aged 32 and 22.

The two men were found and arrested on separate days and in separate places.

They are under Police custody, as further investigation is underway.

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.