Cyprus

The UN peacekeeping forces in Cyprus have begun their training on fire safety ahead of this year’s summer season

Candidates for political office must name their donors, or they would break the law - said auditor-general Odysseas Michaelides in an outcome that many think addresses the President who did not do so during his most recent, successful campaign

The EU’s goal for biodiversity strategy in Cyprus - to plant three million new trees by 2030, about 1.000 saplings a day - is impossible to meet, according to Green party leader Charalambos Theopemptou

The new online tax payment system Tax For All went live today, replacing the old Taxisnet system; to allow users to familiarise with it, the new submission date for filing tax returns from Q4 last year has been extended to April 26

After the period to renew road tax expired at midnight on Saturday, police on Sunday warned they will start checking for those who have not paid up and eventually report them

The new government has put on hold a budget request of around €3 million earmarked for the purchase of state vehicles, including 35 limos for officials

The Bank of Cyprus released its preliminary financial results for 2022, posting a profit after tax of €71 million for the entire year; after-tax profit generated in 2021 was €30 million

Nikos Christodoulides won the presidential election, promising a unity government tasked with advancing peace talks with estranged Turkish Cypriots; Christodoulides, 49, took 51,9% of the vote, runoff independent rival Mavroyiannis, 66, took 48,1%

Over 470.000 passengers travelled through Larnaca and Paphos airports in this January, +105,6% on 2022 and +12% on the passenger traffic of January 2019, a record year; the largest traffic was coming from Greece, the UK, Israel, Poland and Germany

The recent spike in flu type A cases has led the Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantela to call on the people to get the flu vaccine, especially the elderly and the fragile

A powerful wave of bad weather has battered Famagusta, were over 35 people were rescued while mud tinted the sea a vivid red; Paralimni municipality is completing the stormwater master plan, a €7 million project funded by the EU which will start in 2023

Turkish Cypriot medias report the police seized several packets containing a total of 75 kilograms of cannabis that washed up on the beach between Dec 18 and Jan 1; authorities ask the public not to handle any such packets they may spot on the beach

Prisons Director and her assistant announced they will quit, following the Attorney-General’s decision not to prosecute a drug squad chief amid the corruption investigation on the prisons