Current Events

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.

The problematic CrowdStrike update has crippled IT systems worldwide, and Cyprus is no exception to this.

According to the Cyprus Telecommunication Authority (CYTA), all stores, call centers and other digital channels have been affected by the disruption in IT services.

The CYTA has said that they are trying to collaborate with their suppliers to come up with a suitable solution. They added the provision of their services & products remain unaffected.

Public service elements depending on IT also remain unaffected at this time. Airports are still operating without issue, while bank systems are running as usual – with no changes in the quality of their customer service capacity. The Health Insurance Organization (HIO) has also reported no issues being faced by both providers and beneficiaries.

In the meantime, Cyprus Mail has reported disruption due to server problems and issues with connecting to the internet.

This is not very surprising, as most major media organizations such as the Associated Press and Sky News have all reported facing issues.

A drive-by shooting targeted at Retail FX and CFDs broker occurred in Limassol.

in-Cyprus & Cyprus Mail reports that the shooters, who were wearing helmets and were on a black motorcycle with no license plates.

They fired six times in total, and ended up damaging the windows in front.

No other damage or injuries have been reported thus far.

The Cyprus Police are conducting their investigation into the matter.

Croatian electrical engineering firm Koncar Elektroindustrija has signed an agreement with the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC).

The contract approves the former to conduct an overhaul many of Cyprus’ high-voltage substations

Worth over €13.7 million, the contract will have Koncar officials supply as well as install the necessary equipment for 132kV electric substations at the New Limassol Port, Papacostas and Ipsonas.

The aim of this cooperative act is to strengthen Cypriot’s power supply system and boost its ability to disperse and distribute electricity, while also allowing for newer capacities to include sources of renewable energy.

As the island nation is set to grow substantially in the next couple of years, this would be the ideal time to upgrade their power supply system.

Koncar has said in its statement that the company, with its first project in Cyprus is set to expand its range of offerings, including providing solutions based on eco-friendly renewable energy.

Meanwhile the share price of Koncar went up to €298 – roughly 1.36% more than its previous price at Zagreb Stock Exchange.

Marija Pejčinović Burić the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE) is on an official visit to the island nation of Cyprus.

She has already met with Nikos Christodoulides – the Cypriot President, Constantinos Kombos – the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Annita Demetriou – Speaker of the House of Representatives, among other important political figures.

She also presented a lecture in the Diplomatic Academy.

Several topics were included in the discussions held between Secretary General Burić and Cypriot leaders, including the Reykjavik Summit, the ongoing support being offered to Ukraine in the war, the European Court of Human Rights and their judgements, the AI Framework, democracy, laws and the Social Charter.

The Ukraine issue itself included several important topics, such as the civil rights protection, the forceful transferring of children and the Register of Damage.

Secretary General Burić talked about the CoE’s 75th anniversary, and exchanged ideas with Charalambos Prountzos – Nicosia’s Mayor.

The Consumer Association of Cyprus has revealed that there are major differences between the price of petrol in different areas of the island nation. In fact, some of these amount to as much as fourteen cents every liter.

According to the report published by the association, where prices per area have been compared between 2021 and 2024 – Nicosia saw the biggest difference this year – over fourteen cents between the highest and lowest price points.

Limassol saw the largest difference in 2022, with a 15.3 cents worth difference between the highest and the lowest price points.

The association says that since the supplier-offered profit margin stands at around six to six-and-a-half cents per liter, a fourteen-cent difference is near-impossible.

The association is calling in to investigate why such a difference in pricing policy could actually exist.

The latest development in the ongoing heat wave includes the death of an elderly woman from heat stroke – the second of its kind.

The woman, aged 84, experienced heat stroke symptoms, which led to her being hospitalized for treatment. Unfortunately, she passed away within a day of this.

Charalambos Charilaou, a spokesperson for the State Health Services Organization said that there are three more elderly individuals in a similar position, currently under treatment in the hospital for severe heat stroke symptoms.

The island nation has been heating up, with temperatures as high as 40 degrees Celsius (or 104 degrees Fahrenheit). These are accompanied by strong winds.

Besides affecting the daily lives of people, the weather situation has greatly interfered with the work of firefighters – as they are under enormous workload due to neutralizing wildfires. The high temp and wind have also hampered firefighting efforts, including a, area with mountains near Nicosia, where miles of forest growth was burned.

The wildfires destroyed over 3.2 square kilometers of forest land, and led to the evacuation of forty-nine residents from 2 different communities.

Aircrafts from Jordan and Greece joined the Cypriot firefighters in their efforts to douse the fire.

An injured individual, who had been claiming to be a passenger in a major traffic mishap has been revealed to be the driver.

In fact, the man who was arrested had only claimed to have been driving the car – when the one claiming he was the passenger was the one who was driving when the accident occurred.

After this discovery, both individuals are now in police custody.

The man claiming to have been the driver now has more charges levied against him, namely offering wrong information to law enforcement and obstructing a law enforcement investigation.

The other man (who was the driver) has also been charged with the same set of crimes.

Both of them have not answered the reason for their behavior thus far.

The Cypriot Police has issued arrest warrants for 5 people who are wanted in the US for committing finance fraud.

According to Christos Andreou, spokesperson for the police, arrest warrants had been issued the moment the court’s verdict overturned the prior release order.

Four among these five have been arrested so far. One of them, a UK citizen is yet to be caught.

The Police are making an active effort to find him, and depending on the circumstances, might ask for international assistance.

These 5 men were already in police custody in Cyprus for committing finance fraud in the US, when the Cypriot Supreme Court order to release them was issued.

It is only after an appeal was made by the Attorney General that the Supreme Court decided to review and subsequently reinstate the arrest warrants.

The arrested shall be extradited to the United States, charges levied against them shall include identity theft, conspiracy, laundering money, and of course, fraud.

The suspects used a Cyprus-based bank account to carry out the fraudulent activity.

The demand for electricity in Cyprus has skyrocketed due to the ongoing heat wave.

According to Chara Kousiappa, a spokesperson for the Transmission Department, the development is hardly surprising as more people are indoors and require assistance to keep cool.

She added how the maximum demand stood at around 1,150 Megawatts in the afternoon.

This is the closest so far to 2023’s 1243 Megawatts demand.

An oncoming thunderstorm has led to the Met Office issuing a yellow warning.

The warning, which shall remain in place for around 6 hours, starts at noon and ends at around 6 pm.

Met Office scientists are predicting moderate-to-heavy storms, especially concentrated inland and along the mountains.

The storms will have thunder, lightning and potentially – hail.

They are expecting rains between thirty-five and fifty-five millimeters per hour.

A man got injured while hiking in Avakas Gorge.

The man, 69, was hiking with his friend, 57, when he lost control of his balance and fell through the rocks. After the fall, he could not move.

Michalis Nicolaou, Paphos Police’s Assistant Police Director of Operations says that the police received the distress call from the friend at around 2:15 pm in the afternoon.

The police then alerted the police in Peyia, the Fire Department, who along with paramedics arrived at the scene.

It took them roughly 45 minutes to find the injured man.

They proceeded to transport him to the ambulance, which then took him to the General Hospital in Paphos.

The man was found to have sustained a gash on his thigh.

Cypriot origin YouTuber Fidias has secured a seat in this year’s European Parliament elections.

The elections, which had candidates receiving votes from all over the EU, had the YouTuber receiving seventy-one thousand votes (roughly nineteen percent).

Fidias Panayiotou is well-renowned for his work as a YouTuber – where he has hugged celebrities, played pranks and updates on his travels where he does not spend any money.

He is one of the six Members of European Parliament who shall represent the Greek and Cypriot area in the pan-European administration.

Elections for this were held between June 6th and 9th in all twenty-seven of EU member countries. Seven hundred and twenty deputies have been elected, as opposed to seven hundred and five the last time around in 2019.

Elections are valid for a period of five years and take place via direct universal suffrage.

The government ordered the stoppage of all types of outdoor-based services, including food delivery – to protect people from the unforgiving heat wave.

The island nation’s meteorological department has issued an orange alert – with the temperatures having reached 34 degrees Celsius in the hills, 43 degrees Celsius in the capital, and over 38 degrees along the coastline.

For this reason, the Cypriot Labour department issued an order mandating the stop of any kind of work involving the outdoors between the hours of noon and midday 4 pm.

The ban is binding on all types of delivery that involves construction and the use of two-wheelers.

Additionally, the health ministry has asked elders, children, and those otherwise vulnerable to stay indoors.

There is also a high chance of forest fires occurring – which is why the fire services have also been put on red alert.

The island nation is seeing lesser rainfall – 2024 being the tenth most parched in the last one-hundred-and-twenty-three years.

Wednesday’s temperatures were around 10 degrees above normal for June and climbed from Monday’s yellow alert when the thermometer peaked at 40 degrees.

The Meteorological Department is calling this series of events “unusual” and believe it has much to do with the situation of the weather in the eastern Mediterranean regions.

The education minister of Cyprus has announced that the use of mobiles will henceforth be banned in schools, on grounds of them enabling distractions and general anti-social behavior.

The ban will officially come into motion upon the completion of its discussion in the parliament.

The island nation is the most recent of several EU countries to ban cellphones in schools – all by recommendation from UNESCO.

According to minister Athena Michaelidou, students using mobiles takes them away from studying, and encourages anti-social habits.

While students will still be allowed to physically bring their phones to school, they will not be allowed to keep them on.

There are over 1.4 million cellphones in use in Cyprus – far higher than its near-one-million population.

The center of Cyprus’ capital Nicosia has been hit by storms.

The storm was short, with the skies set to clear up by next morning.

Cypriot social media platform ‘Kairofiloi Kiprou’ says that the storm started in Ayios Dometios and Engomi, and then proceeded towards the rest of the city.

The storm winded down towards the evening, with temperatures falling to 10 degrees Celsius in the mountainous regions and 17 degrees Celsius inland.

The Cyprus police has issued a warning about the fact that some roads could be suddenly closed on account of the Emir of Qatar’s official Cypriot visit.

What is special about these is that no announcement shall be made prior to closure, primarily to preserve the security of the emir and his delegate.

The police have apologized for the inconvenience caused to the public in advance, but is also requesting them to comply with the police and co-operate in what is a temporary situation.

A teenage boy has been grievously injured in a traffic mishap in Limassol.

The boy, aged 13, is currently in the ICU at the General Hospital, also in Limassol.

The Cyprus police says that mishap occurred at 2100 hours at Kolonakiou Street, when a thirteen-year-old who was trying to cross the street on an electrical scooter was badly hit.

Preliminary investigations reveal that he was hit by a car with another young man, aged 19, as the driver.

Paramedics took the young boy to general hospital in Limassol, where he was diagnosed with a broken leg, a broken arm, several injured ribs and fracture on the skull.

Surgery was performed to save the boy’s life – he is still under serious condition.

Further investigation by the traffic police is currently underway.