Cyprus

Cyprus said Sunday that it has successfully thwarted a digital attack aimed at blocking access to the government's central online portal, the latest in a string of similar attacks over a three-day period against state-run utilities and the Cypriot subsidiary of a Greek energy company.

Cyprus is grappling with a severe water shortage as the ongoing drought pushes the country's dam capacity to worryingly low levels. According to Yianna Economidou, senior executive engineer at the Water Development Department, the dams are currently at just 27% capacity, down from 49% at this time last year, with levels continuing to drop due to a lack of rainfall.

As if by a quirk of fate—or perhaps DNA, something he would explore extensively in his adult life—Demis Hassabis did not inherit a talent for music or the arts from his Cypriot father. In what seems to contradict genetic predisposition, he was instead endowed with a rare mathematical mind and an extraordinary ability to understand the sciences.

Cyprus' House of Representatives has ratified an agreement between the government and trade unions to implement a general 1.5% wage increase for public and semi-public sector employees. The decision was reached with 25 votes in favor and 17 against, following a lengthy debate that revealed deep divisions within the legislature.

Tourism arrivals in Cyprus reached 3.27 million between January and September 2024, marking a 4.2% increase compared to the same period in 2023, according to data from the Statistical Service of Cyprus (CyStat).

This figure also represents a slight 0.23% rise from 2019, the year Cyprus saw its all-time record in tourist arrivals.

Cyprus' banks have said their exposure to Russian and Ukrainian businesses shrunk by more than 13,000 clients and 35,000 accounts, amounting to €2 billion euros, in the year after Moscow's 2022 invasion of its neighbor as they adhered to sanctions that the UN, the European Union, the US and Britain have imposed on Russia.

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides reiterated that “there can be no solution to the Cyprus issue or discussion that falls outside the framework of United Nations resolutions,” in an interview with Euronews.

He emphasized, “I know where we want to go. We know very well. We know what our red lines are.”

Cyprus' Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou presented on Wednesday solutions for resolving issues faced by "stranded buyers" to the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs, addressing about half of the nearly 9,500 pending cases.

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during a European People's Party summit on Thursday to discuss the EU's role in resuming negotiations on the Cyprus issue, which have been stalled since 2017.