Current Events

A high school mathematics teacher has been arrested after 2 students filed formal complaints, alleging having suffered sexual harassment from him.

The students, both female, aged 16 and 13 filed the complaint against the math teacher, aged 49 – elaborating how he made less-than-appropriate gestures at them.

The man was immediately arrested and kept in police custody for 8 days – with 28th may being the last day. The police, however, have determined to extend the remand on grounds of the nature of the crime.

Further investigation is currently underway.

Several schools were evacuated in Cyprus after they received anonymous emails with threats of them being targeted with bombs. Scared and panicked, authorities led evacuating students from their schools on a large scale.

The emails, later made public by the media were very graphic, containing pledges saying things like “drown you in your blood” & “sever your necks;” they are suspected of having their background in Islamist extremist beliefs.

Some kindergartens, as well nearly every secondary and primary school received this threat.

According to Christos Andreou, the spokesperson for the Cyprus Police, the evacuations were executed without incident, and no bomb has been found.

Several panicked parents collected their kids straight from the schools.

The email threats made references to the Sharia Islamic law, with the email’s author saying that those who did not believe in it deserved to be punished.

The message was in Greek, but the structure appeared to have been translated on the internet. Investigators are doing their best to find out the source of the email.

A man has sustained major injuries after falling out from his bedroom on the residential building’s 2nd floor.

The man, aged 56, fell out of his bedroom early in the morning from the second floor of his three-floor apartment building.

The man landed in the courtyard, where he was visibly gravely injured. Bystanders called paramedics, who picked the man up and took him to Paphos Hospital. He is still receiving treatment there.

The police are currently investigating the matter, and have the area sealed to be able to continue their examinations as to why the incident happened in the first place.

So far, they have revealed that the man lives with his twin brother in said apartment.

A sudden fire broke out in the rear side of a university-affiliated bus in the north side of Nicosia in Cyprus.

The bus seemed to have caught on fire while it was behind some traffic lights in Mandres, Nicosia.

The fire brigade was immediately notified, who arrived quickly and doused the fire before it had a chance to spread.

It is not yet known why the fire happened in the first place; police investigation into the matter is still underway.

The Cyprus Research and Innovation Centre (CyRIC) has unveiled its product “MultiLab” – a first-of-its-kind lab-on-chip platform with sensors enabled.

These sensors (important in the fields of environmental monitoring and medical diagnostics) are small yet powerful, and can detect and provide a wide range of biochemical and chemical information.

While several conventional methods are still widely used in labs for microscopy and chromatography, also come with their set of limitations, namely being slower and requiring people technically qualified to use them.

MultiLab aims to tide over these problems by making intuitive sensors, which even a lay man can easily use.

Although led by CyRIC, MultiLab is now a section of the Horizon Europe Programme of the European Union.

It was officially launched on the 1st of January this year, and shall run for 4 years from now.

The CyRIC has a number for partners for this mission, which include several private companies and government-funded institutions from EU countries Germany, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Greece, along with Switzerland.

The ultimate goal here is to manufacture the chip on a mass level, so that everyone who needs it can access it at an affordable rate.

For now, MultiLab has 2 major applications – finding early warning signs of harmful algae proliferations, and improving the diagnosis of unknown-origin fevers.

More than ten thousand people have reportedly visited Cyprus’ Travel Expo.

The event, held on the fairgrounds, had visitors from all over the country as well as the world – all of whom were excited and impressed to see the available travel packages.

A collaborative effort by Display Art Plc and the Association of Cyprus Travel Agents (ACTA), the expo was indeed a resounding success – having civilians and stakeholders of the tourism industry coming together to explore tourism further.

The ACTA’s press release said that attendees were able to browse through a myriad of travel packages – and got clarity on things like experiences and destinations, and of course choosing the packages most suited to them.

The organizers, who themselves were very impressed, expressed their emotions by calling the Expo a “triumph.” Several have remarked that they would be happy to play the same, if not a better role in the event in the following year.

The event has several famous participants, including the Cyprus Agrotourism Company, the Cyprus Deputy Ministry of Tourism, regional Cypriot boards, and of course, the Greek National Tourism Organization. Several niche tourist organizations were also present, as were tourism specialists from other European countries such as Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary. Travel agency reps, airline official, cruises and local municipalities were also among the hundreds who participated.

Israel’s Geological Institute has discovered a canyon under the water near the Cypriot coast.

The canyon in question, which has been named Eratosthenes (being near to a famous now-underwater mountain with the same name) has been estimated to be as old as five-and-a-half-million-years-old, around the time the Messinian event happened.

Said to have been buried at the dawn of the Messinian times, the canyon has been measured to lie five-hundred meters deep and ten-kilometers-wide.

Geologists say that the canyon must have formed when the Mediterranean Sea level lowered due to rising salt levels. This led to the creation of gravity currents i.e. the proliferation of thick solutions that ultimately caused the seabed to subsidize and destabilized the slopes.

They further mentioned how the discovery of the Eratosthenes canyon puts the Messinian event in a more detailed light.

Often called the salinity crisis – this was an epic geological happening where the Mediterranean Sea fell into a state of total or partial desiccation state.

Singer Silia Kapsis is all set to go to Malmö in Sweden to participate in Eurovision 2024 – where she will be representing the island nation.

Kapsis, aged 17, shall be performing her song titled “Liar.”

Speaking at the Eleftherios Venizelos Airport, where she had her photos taken while holding the flag of Cyprus, Kapsis expressed her immense excitement at the opportunity.

She mentioned that while there is some anxiety, it is an opportunity of a lifetime and she will do her best to stay as relaxed as possible.

Kapsis will be representing Cyprus at Eurovision’s first semi-final’s first half.

Several predictions are already being made on the eurovisionworld.gr website, where “Liar” stands away from the top 10 songs.

Meanwhile, odds for betting suggest the song will land at approximately twenty-fourth place.

Greek musician and composer Dimitris Kontopoulos produced and composed the “Liar” song himself.

The Criminal Court of Larnaca has found a man guilty of trafficking drugs, and subsequently sentenced him to serve 5 years in prison.

The man, aged 29, was stopped by drug squad (Ykan) members of the Cyprus Police on a road in rural Larnaca during the afternoon.

The police found his movement suspicious, and proceeded to make a search of the car – this is where they found 1600 grams of cannabis, packed within 2 nylon packets.

Ykan law enforcement proceeded to make a search of the man’s home; they uncovered 10 more similar packages full of cannabis – these weighing 269 grams in total.

The man was already booked at this point and the case was registered for trial on an immediate basis at the criminal court, where the rest of the proceedings and sentencing took place.

A child’s death at the Makarios hospital is being claimed as one stemming from medical negligence, according to the parents.

Kessariani Piripitsi, aged 8, passed away in suspicious circumstances at the hospital. The exact conditions under which she was placed are currently under investigation.

According to a statement to AlphaNew by police spokesman Christos Andreou, Miss Piripitsi’s mother is making an official claim that her daughter died due to mistakes made by staff from the medical team.

Right now, officers are investigating the issue; just as the body itself is being examined for clues.

According to Ioannis Generalis, the lawyer of the Piripitsi family, Kessariani’s kidneys had failed – the main reason why she had undergone multiple rounds of hospitalization.

A young man lost his life after his car went off a cliff and into a ravine in Agia Fyla in Limassol.

Marios Charalambous, the chief of Limassol Traffic Police said that they received a call from a driver in distress. The fire brigade, an ambulance and of course the police were immediately dispatched along with rescue teams.

The latter soon discovered the car in the ravine’s base, and the man was found in the wreckage.

Firefighters finally extracted his body from the destroyed car and took him to Limassol General Hospital, where he was declared dead-on-arrival.

Police investigation showed that the car he was in collided with a guardrail and went right into the ravine, which was 50 meters deep.

In a much awaited development, singer Tom Jones is all set to perform in Cyprus in July as part of his ongoing “Ages & Stages” Tour in 2024.

The event, regarded to stand as a one-of-a-kind experience for audiences in Cyprus will feature some of the Welsh singer’s albums over the years.

Sir Tom Jones is regarded as a giant of the global music industry – with over thirty-six Top 40 hits, several Grammys, the Music Industry Trust Award and over one hundred million in record sales.

“Ages & Stages” will showcase the highlight of Tom Jones’ creation in their entirety – and will include all types of his songs in a sequence personally arranged by him.

Marina Hadjimanolis, Cyprus’ Deputy Minister of Shipping has revealed that the missile-hit ship True Confidence no longer any Cyprus nationals on it.

Deputy Minister Hadjimanolis (who is in Brussels attending the Belgian President’s seminar on EU Council on the living conditions of the seafarers) revealed that the ship in question does not hoist the Cypriot flag, is not publicly or privately owned by the island nation. That said, it does have a company that manages it – one that has its offices in Cyprus.

This news comes after Reuters recently revealed that at least 2 sailors lost their lives in the attack by the Houthis.

In a bid to further its diplomatic stance, Armenia is set to start its mission in the island nation of Cyprus.

According to a statement by Ararat Mirzoyan, the Armenian Foreign Minister made in a joint press conference with his Cypriot counterpart in Yerevan, the Armenian government plans to open their mission within the year.

He further added that this development will help forge better relations between the two countries, and better cooperation in the region in general.

A worrying trend reveals that over 25% of all students have been victims of bullying.

A statement by the “Hope for Children” CRC Policy Center, which conducted the study that makes this reveal – said that that many students have admitted to have been bullied – either physically or online.

The Policy Center made these findings in its study on school violence conducted, which it conducted for the National Strategy for Prevention and Management of School Violence (held between 2018 and 2024).

The results of the research reveal that verbal and social bullying are the most rampant, followed by cyberbullying.

The study also urged for finding better methods of interventions and establishing more comprehensive support structures for both prevention and management of such situations.

The weather in the coming days, dubbed ‘Stinky Thursday’s’ is likely to have partly cloudy skies, and might have people experience isolated episodes of rain showers and generally stormy weather.

While the inland is most likely to experience the turbulence, Cyprus’ east and south could also get rain and storms.

Temperatures inland are expected to go up to 21 degrees Celsius, while those in the hills as well as coasts are expected to go up to 10 degrees Celsius.

Winds could go up to 5 on the Beaufort scale, with winds going north-westwards.

The mountainous areas might get frost during the night time.

Two monks from the Monastery of Saint Avvakoum (Habbakuk) in the village of Fterikoudi have been booked for embezzlement and sexual assault.

The monks in question have been found to have engaged in sexual activities in the monastery itself.

The matter became worse when, in the face of their denial, hard evidence emerged in the form of CCTV footage that pretty much proves the allegation to be true.

The development spurred the Bishop of Tamassos and Oreinis – the jurisdiction to which the Saint Avvakoum Monastery belongs, to close shut down the establishment and communicate with the Holy Synod.

The Synod, in return, will most likely defrock said monks. The monks themselves have asked for the same to keep more scandal at bay.

The monks’ offenses also include exploitation of finances.

Specifically, they were instrumental in luring thousands claiming “miraculous” events, such as dripping of myrrh and tears coming from photos. The monks were actively promoting this via both social media and mainstream one. They even encouraged people to donate offering – which was found in a cumulating “stash” of valuable items and money – with a combined worth of one million Euros.

Furthermore, the monks each had bank accounts with huge balances, and even used some of the money to buy property in Cyprus and in Piraeus, to use as they saw fit.

A Syrian national who arrived to Cyprus with his 4 children on a migrant boat is burying one of them, who died in the boat from starvation.

According to Christos Andreou, a spokesperson for the Cyprus Police, the boat which left Syria in the middle of February used up its fuel tank and continued to sail on the seas with no destination in sight before ultimately being spotted by Cypriot Coast Guard.

The man said that he had wrapped his son in a blanket roughly 2 days before being found, only to be horrified once Cypriot authorities mentioned that the number of children found were not equal to the number declared.

It was then that he realized that his son had in fact died.

Three others could not be located and have been declared missing. Meanwhile two more are currently under Intensive care in the hospital.

Eleven minors on the boat, though, are safe and in good health.

The Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs is accusing Cyprus of actively supplying “weapons from Western nations” to Israel to use against Gaza.

This development, which is happening weeks after the island nation working as a home for UK’s military base and by extension “helping out” Israel to continue its “atrocities” on the Gaza Strip.

Minister Hakan Fidan spoke about Cyprus’ role in the war at the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC), adding that Turkish Cyprus shall not support these endeavors and will aim to serve Gaza’s humanitarian needs.

Fidan continued to mention the UK’s increasing presence in Cyprus – chiefly the RAF Akrotiri, which serves as a collection-and-distribution point for delivering supplies to Israel.

Temperatures are set to rise in the week, along with some dust circulation.

According to the Cypriot Meteorological Office, temperatures are expected increase overall, standing at around 22 degrees Celsius in the mountainous regions, 29 degrees Celsius inland and 25 degrees Celsius in the coastal areas.

Temperatures post-sunset is set to stand at around 12 degrees Celsius in the mountainous regions and 16 degrees Celsius inland and in the coastal areas.

The week is expected to become progressively warm followed by temperatures reaching 36 degrees Celsius i.e. the seasonal average by the latter end of the week.