Day: April 26, 2022

A Resurrection Service will be conducted on Wednesday, 27 April at Turkish occupied Ayia Triada village.

In a press release, the Ayia Triada community council said the service will be conducted at 0700 on Wednesday at the occupied church by Archimandrite Isaak of Limassol Bishopric, who comes from Ayia Triada.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

A hiking and nature activities programme, which includes hiking tours, led by experienced tourist guides is offered by the Cyprus Tourism Deputy Ministry.

“The selected trails wend their way through sprawling forests and plains, breathtaking hills, astounding terrain, colourful villages, captivating shorelines and lush meadows. This program is suitable for experienced hikers and enthusiasts,” a press release published in the heartlandoflegends website says.

Most of the trails have been marked as being of “high difficulty” and have great elevation changes therefore participants willneed a good bit of endurance and proper gear, such as durable boots, trekking poles, hat, sunscreen, snacks and plenty of water.

It is further clarified that no transportation will be provided therefore, all participants are required to be at the designated meeting point on time.

List of hiking and nature activities

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27/04/2022

Body and spirit connection with nature through stretching, breathing and relaxation exercises. – Stavros tou Agiasmati picnic site (spaces limited)

27/04/2022

A guided hike connecting the two listed UNESCO World Heritage sites, Panagia tou Araka (1192 AD) and Stavros tou Agiasmati (1494 AD)

30/4/2022

A guided geology tour in the Troodos UNESCO Geopark Visitors Centre in the Amiantos old asbestos mine, a visit and tour of the Troodos «?.G. Leventis» Botanical Garden and short nearby hike in beautiful surroundings.

8/5/2022

Guided tour of the Troodos Environmental Centre in Troodos Square and environmental hike on “Persephone” trail – option for long/short loop

15/5/2022

Guided tour of the UNESCO Cultural Heritage Monument of Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis in Kakopetria village and hike the “Kannoures – Agios Nikolaos” trail

Interested parties may reserve a place here.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The final plenary of the Conference on the Future of Europe will be held from 29-30 April in Strasbourg to finalise its proposals.

A European Parliament press release said following two sessions (in late March and early April) during which it discussed draft documents tabled by the nine Working Groups, the Conference Plenary is set to approve its final set of proposals. These will be adopted on a consensual basis. The Plenary meeting on Saturday will revolve around feedback from citizens’ representatives and their positions on the proposals.

The proposals cover the themes of health, European democracy, migration, values and rights, rule of law, security, education, culture, youth, stronger economy, social justice and jobs, climate change and the environment, EU in the World, digital transformation.

The Plenary’s draft proposals have been based on the recommendations made by the European Citizens’ Panels, input from national panels, and ideas gathered through the Multilingual Digital Platform, as well as the exchanges held during previous Conference Plenary sessions and Working Group meetings.

The Executive Board will deliver the final report of the Conference to the Presidents of the EU institutions on 9 May in Strasbourg.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Motor vehicles, toys and electrical appliances are the three categories of non-food products with the most alerts on Safety Gate, the EU rapid alert system to protect consumers, according to the European Commission’s latest report for 2021.

In this annual report, for the first time, cars are at the top of the list of notified products, followed by toys. Also, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, protective equipment like face masks still makes up a substantial part of the products notified.

The new report, presented by Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders covers alerts notified during 2021 and the actions taken by national authorities in response.

Alerts are available to the public on the Safety Gate (https://ec.europa.eu/safety-gate) in all EU official languages.

The Commission also launched a new e-surveillance tool called web crawler that will help national authorities detect the online offers of unsafe products signaled in Safety Gate.

The tool will support national authorities in the detection of online offers of dangerous products signalled in Safety Gate. This tool will identify and automatically list any of these offers, allowing enforcement authorities to track down the provider and order the effective withdrawal of these offers.

Reynders said that Safety gate should be “adapted to fit into the new consumer environment”, in order to remain an efficient tool for the Single Market, protecting consumers in all circumstances.

“It has also helped ensuring that equipment used in the fight against the pandemic is of the highest standards,” he added.

In 2021, authorities of the participating countries of the Safety Network (the 27 member states plus Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway) exchanged 2,142 alerts through the system. For the first time, the highest number of alerts was notified in the category “motor vehicles” category, followed by “toys” and “electrical appliances and equipment”.

As regards motor vehicles, actions taken mainly concerned recalls following the detection of technical problems while for toys, they focused on the presence of dangerous chemicals, as well as button batteries. Furthermore, the most common problems reported for electrical appliances and equipment related to the exposure of live parts and overheating issues.

As the pandemic continues, surveillance actions featured a range of COVID-19 related products. There were many alerts related to protective equipment, with protective masks particularly under the spotlight.

The five most common risks reported were personal injuries, chemicals, fire, choking and electric shocks. In total, 4,965 follow-up notices circulated in Safety Gate, showing that Member States closely monitor the alerts and often follow-up with additional measures taken in their own countries.

Since 2003, the Safety Gate enables quick exchange of information between EU/EEA member states, the UK (Northern Ireland) and the European Commission about dangerous non-food products posing a risk to health and safety of consumers.

To date, eleven online marketplaces have agreed to cooperate with Member States to remove dangerous products from their websites: bol.com, eMAG, Wish.com, AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Rakuten France, Allegro, Cdiscount, Etsy and Joom.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Cyprus’ health professionals are ready to deal with a case of an acute hepatitis on the island, Head of Cyprus Paediatric Society Dr Michalis Anastasiades told the Cyprus News Agency.

He was invited to comment on the number of acute hepatitis cases of an unknown aetiology which appeared in infants and toddlers mostly in the UK the last days and whether Cyprus is ready to deal with cases. Dr. Anastasiades said that so far no such incident was detected or reported in Cyprus, adding that most of these cases will develop mildly. He reassured the public saying that these incidents do not cause any serious, permanent damage to the liver.

Dr. Anastasiades said that is most likely that the conditions of pandemic foster the outbreak of viral infections. He explained that because of the pandemic and the restrictions in place many of these infections did not appear and now due to the lift of restrictions they come back in an endemic form.

Asked if such cases are likely to be diagnosed in Cyprus, Dr. Anastasiades said that no one can be certain about it. He added however that he does not personally think that any cases will have an epidemic outbreak similar to Covid.

Dr. Anastasiades also said that last summer and beginning of Autumn we were faced with infections which mostly appear during winter and the same will most probably happen with viruses such as adenovirus which has high transmissibility. He said that symptoms include gastroenteritis and respiratory problems.

He said that so far 169 cases were detected around the world, 112 of which in the UK.

Dr Anastasiades said that the authorities globally are studying whether there is a certain mutation of a particular strain. He added that the situation is under assessment by World Health Organization and EU authorities. He also said that there is no correlation with COVID 19 vaccinations.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Total imports and exports of goods to and from EU states and third countries recorded an annual increase in January 2022, according to the Statistical Service of Cyprus, adding that there was an increase in the trade deficit.

A press release issued on Tuesday says that total imports of goods (from EU Member States and from third countries) in January 2022 amounted to €746.0 mn as compared to €590.6 mn in January 2021, recording an increase of 26.3%.

Total exports of goods (to EU Member States and to third countries) in January 2022 were €222.4 mn compared to €156.3 mn in the same month of 2021, registering an increase of 42.3%.

The trade deficit was €523.6 mn in January 2022 compared to €434.3 mn in the corresponding month of 2021.

Meanwhile, the European Union was the main source of supply of goods to Cyprus with a share of €520.8 mn of total imports, while imports from all other European countries totalled €47.7 mn in January 2022. Imports from the rest of the world amounted to €177.5 mn.

In addition, exports to the European Union accounted for €70.7 mn, while exports to all other European countries for €22.5 mn in January 2022. Exports to the rest of the world amounted to €129.2 mn.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

President Nicos Anastasiades travels to Estonia on Wednesday on an official visit during which he will hold consultations with the President and the Prime Minister and will sign an updated MoU on digital transformation.

A press release by the Cyprus Presidency says that the President, head of a delegation, and his spouse Andri , will be welcomed by the President of Estonia, Alar Karis, at the Presidential Palace on Thursday, to be followed by talks between the delegations of the two sides and press statements.

The two delegations will discuss the Cyprus issue and Turkish provocations, bilateral ties, the situation in Ukraine, EU-Turkey relations, energy, green economy and digital transformation.

On the same day the President will meet with the mayor of Tallinn and will attend an official luncheon to be hosted by President of the Parliament Jüri Ratas.

The President of Estonia will be hosting an official dinner for Cyprus President and his spouse in the evening.On April 29 the President will meet with Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. During the meeting an updated MoU on digital transformation will be signed which aims at enhancing Cyprus’ efforts for digital reforms in sectors such as Civil registry and migration and cybersecurity.

The President and his delegation will also visit CybExer Technologies, a company which specializes in cybersecurity issues.

Deputy Minister of Innovation who will be accompanying President in Estonia will also hold bilateral meetings.

President Anastasiades returns home on April 29.

The delegation comprises Government Spokesperson Marios Pelekanos, Deputy Minister to the President Kyriacos Koushos, Deputy Minister of Innovation Kyriacos Kokkinos and other officials.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The hope that the tourism movement that started during the Easter holidays will continue, so that this year will be better than the last, expressed on Tuesday Director General of the Cyprus Hotels Association, Philokypros Roussounides.

Roussounides told CNA that there has been tourism movement in April, mainly in the Pafos district and the mountainous areas, where bookings, on average, are expected to reach 50% of the overall capacity this month, while bookings during the Easter week were at around 60%.

As regards other districts, Roussounides said bookings were at lower levels.

He said that it seems, however, there are also tourist arrivals, that are expected to gradually increase, and, given the weather conditions, this could be the official start of the summer season.

Asked about how 2022 compares to last year so far, Roussounides said that in the first half of last year, due to restrictive measures in general due to the pandemic, there was almost no tourist traffic.

“Judging by the first half of 2021, I think we are at a better level, and we hope that this trend will continue in the coming months so that we can achieve our goal this year which is none other than having a better year than the previous one,” he said.

The head of the Pafos Hotels Association, Thanos Michaelides, told CNA that, during the Easter holidays the district’s hotels saw bookings rise to 60% of their capacity while, in addition to British tourists, there has been increased interest from locals as well. He said that the district has had visitors from the UK, Poland, Germany, Israel and other countries.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Roberta Metsola, the recently elected President of the European Parliament, has reiterated the body’s “full solidarity” with Cyprus in a letter to Dr Vassilis Mavrou, President of the Famagusta Association of Great Britain.

In the letter, seen by the Cyprus News Agency, Metsola has also reiterated the EP’s position regarding the reunification of Cyprus: it supports a fair, comprehensive and viable settlement on the basis of a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation with a single international legal personality, single sovereignty and single citizenship and with political equality between the two communities.

“We firmly believe that the sustainable resolution of the Cyprus issue would benefit all countries in the region and reiterate our call on Turkey to commit and contribute to a comprehensive settlement in line with the relevant UNSC resolutions. The EP regrets that the highest Turkish authorities have endorsed the two-state solution for political and nationalistic purposes and urges the Government of Turkey to commit to the UN Secretary-General’s call for renewed negotiations in concrete terms,” her letter reads.

Roberta Metsola has also pointed to the European Parliament’s condemnation of Turkey’s activities in Varosha and the warning that its partial “opening” weakens prospects of a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem, exacerbating divisions and entrenching the permanent partition of the island.

“The EP called on Turkey to transfer Varosha to its lawful inhabitants under the temporary administration of the UN, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 550 (1984), and to refrain from any actions that alter the demographic balance on the island through a policy of illegal settlement,” she has added.

The European Parliament President was responding to a congratulatory letter by Dr Mavrou on her election, in which he was also calling for a continuation and intensification of efforts to bring justice to Cyprus.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Cypriot Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday said Turkish businessman Osman Kavala should be immediately released pursuant to the European Court of Human Rights judgement.

Kavala was sentenced for life yesterday facing charges associated with the events of the Gezi park back in 2013.

“#OsmanKavala should be immediately released as per the legally-binding judgement of European Court of Human Rights,” the Cypriot MFA said in a post on Twitter, adding that “as an #EU candidate country and a #CoE member, #Turkey is obliged to abide by international commitments and respect human rights & international conventions.”

Source: Cyprus News Agency