Friday, August 21, 2026
5feb4438-4e7e-447d-a3dd-a6a25ebdd13c
| Summary | ⛅️ Clear throughout the day. |
|---|---|
| Temperature Range | 24°C to 32°C (75°F to 89°F) |
| Feels Like | Low: 81°F | High: 105°F |
| Humidity | 71% |
| Wind | 9 km/h (6 mph), Direction: 160° |
| Precipitation | Probability: 0%, Type: No precipitation expected |
| Sunrise / Sunset | 🌅 06:12 AM / 🌇 07:28 PM |
| Moon Phase | Waxing Gibbous (30%) |
| Cloud Cover | 6% |
| Pressure | 1009.6 hPa |
| Dew Point | 72.46°F |
| Visibility | 5.98 miles |
Nicosia municipality has launched an architectural competition for the regeneration of the historic Municipal Gardens, with entries for the first stage due by November 10.
The competition seeks proposals for the architectural, environmental and construction work needed to restore and upgrade the garden while protecting its historic character.
The first-prize winner will be awarded the contract to complete the study and oversee the project.
The estimated cost is €4.1 million, plus VAT.
The municipality said the project would focus on protecting, conserving, restoring and improving the garden while respecting its architectural character.
Where appropriate, changes should also be reversible to help preserve the site’s authenticity.
The Municipal Gardens date back to 1901, when Nicosia municipal council acquired the site.
It was initially named Victoria Garden after Queen Victoria.
The garden was later reconstructed in 1968 and 1969 by Cypriot architect Neoptolemos Michaelides and formally inaugurated in 1972.
It was designed as a much-needed public space for families and recreation, with children’s play areas, greenhouses, ponds, bird enclosures and landscaped areas.
Many of these features remain today.
Mayor Charalambos Prountzos said the garden had been part of Nicosia’s history for more than a century and had served as a place for meeting, relaxation, culture and daily life.
He said the regeneration must respect the garden’s historic and architectural character while ensuring the space is safe, functional, accessible and environmentally friendly.
Municipal secretary Myria Pilakouta said the project was about more than renewing a public space, describing it as the “rebirth of a place” closely linked to the city’s identity.
The municipality said the competition would be conducted under Cyprus’ architectural competition and public procurement rules.
The project is part of the municipality’s wider focus on urban greenery.
It said more than 22,500 trees and other plants had been planted across Nicosia over the past two years.
Average rainfall recorded in August reached 498.5mm, equivalent to 255 per cent of the monthly average in areas controlled by the Republic, the Met Service said on Thursday.
Rainfall exceeded the monthly average at every measuring station, reaching more than 10 times the normal amount at some locations.
The highest figure was recorded at Panayia bridge, where rainfall reached 1,593 per cent of the monthly average, followed by Lythrodontas at 1,270 per cent, Kornos at 1,108 per cent, Larnaca airport at 800 per cent and Platania at 471 per cent.
Since October 1, average rainfall has reached 585.7mm, equivalent to 117 per cent of the normal amount for the period, with all measuring stations recording more than 100 per cent of their respective averages.
Defence sources on Thursday declined comment on media reports that a police probe into last month’s fire sparked by the destruction of munitions at a firing range has found no criminal liability.
Earlier in the day, Politis said the criminal probe does not assign criminal responsibility.
The police dossier has been forwarded to the attorney-general’s office, which will determine whether to prosecute or not.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, the military said they would not comment until the AG announces his decision.
The same source likewise declined to comment on reports that the National Guard’s own investigation has tracked disciplinary offences.
Politis said the military’s findings point to the 70th Engineers Battalion, responsible for the destruction of the munitions on the day.
It was reported earlier that once the findings of the military inquiry are formally considered, decisions on any disciplinary sanctions would be taken by National Guard chief Lieutenant-General Emmanouel Theodorou.
But our defence sources stressed that disciplinary sanctions are “not automatic” – military personnel have the right to defend themselves in a military tribunal.
Generally speaking, in extreme cases, and depending on the infraction, an officer could face discharge from the military.
Initially, sanctions are decided by the commanding officer of the unit concerned; but this is later reviewed higher up in the National Guard’s chain of command.
The fire broke out on July 27 during the destruction of munitions at the Kalo Chorio firing range. It spread rapidly in the dry conditions, burning around 120 hectares and prompting the evacuation of nearby Ayia Anna and Psevdas.
During the operations, warheads from RPG anti-tank rounds were destroyed through controlled detonations.
Questions subsequently centred on why explosive ordnance disposal was taking place during the summer fire-risk period, particularly given restrictions on heavy explosions at firing ranges between May and September.
Communities affected by the wildfire renewed calls for the firing range to be relocated. The defence ministry also pledged to cover all damage caused by the wildfire.
Iranian diplomatic sources said Thursday that Cyprus faces no threat as long as British bases on the island are not used in operations against the Islamic Republic.
The official comments, made to daily Politis, came a day after the Financial Times cited Iranian “insiders” as saying Tehran is considering scenarios that could extend a future conflict beyond the Middle East to European territory used against Iran, including Cyprus.
According to the FT, Iranian forces have assessed options for striking US military targets in south-eastern Europe as part of preparations for a possible renewed US offensive.
Two people described by the newspaper as regime insiders said Bulgaria was among the countries considered, after Sofia approved the use of Bezmer air base by US refuelling aircraft last month.
One of the sources told the FT that Cyprus was also among potential targets for retaliation.
Later on Wednesday, Cypriot government sources downplayed the story, telling the Cyprus Mail the island is not a target for Iran.
Sources at the foreign ministry said similar reports and claims had emerged in the past, adding that Nicosia remains in communication with Tehran.
On Thursday, Iranian diplomatic sources sought to reassure Cyprus that the island is not at risk of Iranian strikes, provided that the British Sovereign Base Areas are not used against Iran.
The sources confirmed that diplomatic channels between Nicosia and Tehran remain “open and active”.
Asked about the FT report specifically, the same sources said statements attributed to Iranian insiders “are not always reliable and often reflect speculation or reactions to threats from other parties”.
They said Iranian authorities are aware of concerns expressed by the Cypriot side regarding residents and employees living within the boundaries of the British bases.
But they added that Iranian concerns, and the risk to Iranian lives from acts of aggression, should also be understood.
Asked to comment on the original FT report, a geopolitical analyst told the Cyprus Mail that it appears to be a case of signaling.
“To me it looks like signaling from within Iran, for deterrence, rather than an actual credible threat,” said Zenonas Tziarras, lecturer in the Department of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cyprus.
“It’s intended to increase the pressure on the Americans via pressure on third parties. The message is: if you [the United States] continue doing this, we will raise the cost for you.”
Tziarras noted that the sources speaking to the FT appear to have an agenda, but they do not necessarily reflect the official position of Tehran.
“More likely, it’s part of psychological warfare.”
The price of school supplies remains at the same level as last year, with items available to suit all budgets, executive secretary of the supermarket’s association Andreas Hadjiadamou said on Thursday.
Hadjiadamou told the Cyprus News Agency that prices of other products were continuously rising, however supermarkets were keeping school supply prices stable either by collaborating with importers or importing supplies themselves from markets not under inflationary pressure.
The association has been visiting shops and supermarkets over the past few days and found that school supplies were already on display at “the best possible prices”.
The highest demand was for school bags, followed by exercise books and stationery, while consumers have a broad selection of goods to choose from.
“We make sure there are options for every need and every budget,” he said.
Emphasis, he added, was being placed on cheaper or mid-range price items, with many supermarkets offering loyalty points and reward programmes for customers.
Hadjiadamou said that in the past stationery was mostly available at specialised shops and large supermarkets, however today smaller retailers stock school necessities, giving consumers a broader variety to choose from.
Both sides of Cyprus’ divide agree in principle that meetings between President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman should take place on a more frequent basis going forward, with a view to organising an enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem, the Cyprus Mail has learned.
Following Thursday’s meeting of Greek Cypriot chief negotiator Menelaos Menelaou and Erhurman’s undersecretary Mehmet Dana, competent sources informed the newspaper that both representatives expressed the view that leaders’ meeting should take place more frequently.
As such, it is now expected that the exact frequency of those meetings will likely be decided when both leaders next meet on Wednesday next week.
Previously, Erhurman had called for leaders’ meetings to take place once a week so as to complete what he described as the “homework” set by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during his visit to the island last month.
Guterres had said after his visit that a new enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem will be convened “after adequate progress” is achieved on the matters of confidence-building measures, the meeting’s methodology, and the substance of the talks. This is the “homework” to which Erhurman has since referred.
Following Erhurman’s call for Christodoulides to meet him once a week, presidential press officer Victor Papadopoulos had said that Christodoulides is “ready” to hold weekly meetings with Erhurman with the aim of achieving the requisite progress for an enlarged meeting to be convened.
“Anything that can lead us to the goal of resuming talks and resolving the Cyprus problem, the president of the republic is ready to do so,” he said.
Aside from the matter of weekly meetings, the sources told the Cyprus Mail that “nothing which would change the situation on the ground” was decided at Thursday’s negotiators’ meeting, and that Menelaou and Dana had also discussed the agenda of next Wednesday’s leaders’ meeting.
With Thursday’s meeting now having been held, no further negotiators’ meetings are planned ahead of next week’s leaders’ meeting, though the sources told the newspaper that both Menelaou and Dana will remain on standby and ready to convene another meeting with one another “should needs arise” between now and next Wednesday.
Earlier, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis had promised that Christodoulides will approach that meeting with a “constructive attitude”, with it hoped that next week’s meeting will constitute a step towards the convening of an enlarged meeting.
That meeting will involve the island’s two sides, its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, and the United Nations.
On the matter of what Guterres described as “adequate progress”, Papadopoulos had initially said that while confidence-building measures “naturally help create a climate”, they are “not a prerequisite” for an enlarged meeting to be convened.
However, UN Cyprus problem envoy Maria Angela Holguin then pushed back on this, saying that the implementation of confidence-building measures is an “indispensable condition” to be fulfilled ahead of an enlarged meeting.
“Confidence-building measures should not be seen merely as symbolic steps which improve the atmosphere between the two communities, but rather as practical tools which test the viability of a future political order,” she told Turkey’s Anka news agency.
She added that confidence-building measures are “important in demonstrating whether cooperation works in practice” and said that “such initiatives help create the collaborative habits which a future solution will need”.
Chief among those possible confidence-building measures is the possible opening of crossing points between the island’s two sides, on which talks remained deadlocked over the question of whether to break up the package of four locations upon which the sides had agreed last year.
On this matter, the Greek Cypriot side proposed removing Louroujina, northwest of Larnaca, from the package of four, instead opening crossing points near Athienou, and in the eastern Nicosia suburbs of Mia Milia and Aglandjia, and the Turkish Cypriot side flatly refused to entertain any discussions which did not include all four agreed upon locations.
The presence of Turkish aircraft in Cypriot airspace is a “longstanding and recurring operational fact”, the civil aviation authority said on Thursday, after the Cyprus air traffic controllers’ union had earlier warned that flight safety in and around the island is “affected” by Turkish aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles in the region.
Air traffic controllers, the authority said, are “called upon to manage” the presence of Turkish aircraft in Cypriot airspace “on an almost daily basis”.
It said that therefore, issues such as actions taken by air traffic controllers to prevent a British Tui Airways Boeing 737 passenger jet and a Turkish air force Airbus A400M military transport aircraft from flying too close to one another are “not … unprecedented or unforeseen”.
As such, it said, “it is therefore important to distinguish the existence of a recurring operational phenomenon from the actual aviation safety situation”.
“The problems caused by Turkey in Cypriot airspace, whether the illegal operation of Tymbou airport and the interference with flights, or with military aircraft flights, are known and continuously managed, requiring increased vigilance in order to maintain the requisite level of flight safety,” it said.
It added that “the timely recognition and effective management of such situations by the personnel is precisely an indication of the effectiveness of the air traffic control system”.
“Safety remains the absolute priority of the competent services and operational personnel have the training, experience, and procedures required to safely manage even particularly demanding situations,” it said.
Airspace in and around Cyprus is disputed, with the Turkish Cypriot authorities operating their own air traffic control system out of northern Nicosia, and the Republic of Cyprus’ civil aviation authority nonetheless claiming responsibility for the airspace covering the whole island and its vicinity.
In addition, the Turkish Cypriots have since 1975 operated Tymbou (Ercan) airport as a passenger airport, with the exception of a 20-month period between 2002 and 2004 when it was closed for renovations and the Lefkoniko airbase was used. The airport’s operation is considered illegal by the Republic of Cyprus.
The “interference” to which the authority alluded allegedly took place in June, when the Republic of Cyprus accused the Turkish Cypriot authorities of “interfering” with communication between air traffic control and aircraft carrying ministers from Greece, France and the Netherlands to the island for a summit of EU defence ministers in Nicosia.
The Turkish Cypriots denied this at the time, with Turkish Cypriot air traffic controllers’ trade union leader Kursad Hudaverdioglu telling the Cyprus Mail that the allegation constitutes “a completely politically motivated, misrepresentation of a news story”, and that “the matter has nothing to do with harassment”.
Earlier on Thursday, the union had said that Turkish aircraft and drones are “operating almost constantly along critical routes and near the two aerodromes of Cyprus”, Larnaca and Paphos airports.
Disputed airspace above and around Cyprus has caused disputes in the past, with both Turkey and the Republic of Cyprus issuing notices to airmen (Notam) regarding possible military activities in the skies above and around the island in March after both Turkey and Greece deployed F-16 fighter jets to the island following a drone strike on the British Akrotiri air force base.
Initially, the Republic of Cyprus had issued a Notam regarding “possible military operations” in the skies off the coast of the Karpas peninsula, irking the Turkish Cypriot authorities, who then issued their own Notam.
That Notam advised “all aircraft in the region” to “take maximum precautions to ensure flight safety, carefully follow the published aeronautical information, and act in coordination with the relevant air traffic units”.
At the same time, the north’s ‘transport ministry’ had expressed disappointment that it had been issued without the Turkish Cypriot authorities’ consent, saying that “the TRNC … is the sole authorised authority responsible for providing air traffic and aeronautical information systems within its airspace”.
Later, Turkish defence ministry spokesman rear admiral Zeki Akturk declared the initial Notam to be “null and void”, saying that the Turkish Cypriot authorities had issued a “counter-Notam” which “invalidated the aforementioned Notam”.
More recently, the Turkish defence ministry has announced the conducting of training flights in the eastern Mediterranean, stating on July 21 that one such flight had been operated “in the international airspace of the Mediterranean, south of the island of Cyprus”.
Other such Turkish air force training flights have taken place in the skies south of Cyprus in previous months, with the Turkish defence ministry having announced the conducting of such flights both in February this year and in November and December last year.
The air traffic controllers’ union’s statement comes after Greek newspaper Kathimerini had reported on Tuesday that Turkish military aircraft and drones had “violated Greek airspace on 25 occasions” during that day.
“All the violations took place over the Aegean Sea, while eight involved Turkish F-16 fighter jets – two of which were armed – and 17 were committed by drones. Greek officials said the incoming aircraft were all identified and intercepted,” the newspaper reported.
It added that on one occasion, a “simulated dogfight” had broken out between Turkish and Greek fighter jets, with both pilots manoeuvring to try to secure an advantage which in wartime would allow them to shoot their opponent down.
Tuesday’s incident, the newspaper reported, was the eighth such simulated dogfight to have taken place this year.
As in the case of Cyprus, Turkey and Greece disagree over the limits of their respective airspaces in the Aegean Sea.
The autopsy carried out on the five-month-old infant that died in Limassol on Tuesday has yielded no results with the exact cause yet to be determined, the police said on Thursday.
Authorities said that scientific tests and samples taken during the autopsy are expected to provide further insight regarding the cause of death of the infant.
The exact causes will be determined through genetic, histopathological, toxicological and virological tests of the samples taken from the infant.
The autopsy was carried out at the Nicosia general hospital by state pathologists Angeliki Papetta and Orthodoxos Orthodoxou.
The five-month-old infant was found unresponsive in his crib by his mother on Tuesday evening.
The child was then taken to a private hospital in Limassol where it was pronounced dead.
Police in Larnaca are investigating a complaint filed by a mother who alleged that a man approached and embraced her five-year-old child without her consent, authorities confirmed on Thursday.
The incident occurred while the child was seated on a sunlounger on a beach, where according to police, the man approached the child and hugged him without permission.
The mother became aware of the incident and asked the man for an explanation before reporting the matter to police.
The man later attended a police station to give a statement regarding the allegations.
Authorities have confirmed to the Cyprus Mail that the suspect is a foreign national.
He has not been arrested, with police continuing their investigation to establish the exact circumstances surrounding the incident.
Police are investigating a case of arson after three vehicles and an apartment building were damaged by a fire in Ayia Marinouda in the Paphos district on Wednesday.
According to the fire service, it was alerted at around 2pm to a vehicle on fire in the car park of an apartment building.
The vehicle was extensively damaged, while two adjacent vehicles and the nearby building were also affected by the blaze.
Two fire engines responded to the scene, with firefighters bringing the blaze under control by 2.45pm.
A fire that broke out on the third floor of an apartment building in the Ayios Antonios area of Nicosia on Wednesday night was caused by an electric scooter, the fire service said on Thursday.
According to the authorities, the blaze was first noticed by a resident, who attempted to extinguish it before firefighters arrived.
The fire damaged the electric scooter and sections of the building’s paintwork.
Investigations into the incident are ongoing.
The environmentalists’ union (Opok) voiced strong anger on Thursday after bathers set up umbrellas and tents on the protected Lara bay in Akamas, a day after images of the breach were made public.
The group called for strict enforcement of the law and questioned whether checks carried out by state services were indeed thorough enough.
Bathers flouted rules banning such activities from the beginning of June to the end of September, a period set aside to protect nesting and hatching sea turtles.
Within the Lara-Toxeftra protected area, umbrellas, sunbeds, tents and caravans are all banned during this time.
Visitors are also barred from staying on the beach at night from an hour before sunset and from fishing anywhere except from the shore.
“The images that are being made public are not consistent with an area that is under strict protection,” Opok remarked in a written statement.
The group said the breach raised “reasonable and serious questions” about how it happened despite earlier patrols, and how often checks are carried out.
Opok described Lara as one of the most important breeding sites in Cyprus and the Mediterranean for the green and the loggerhead turtle.
The area has been protected since 1989 under the fisheries law, forms part of the Natura 2000 network and has been listed since 2013 as a specially protected area of mediterranean importance.
“Its protection is not an optional political choice, nor can it depend on the sensitivity of visitors or be limited to the existence of information signs,” the statement said.
Opok called on both the fisheries and environment departments, to fully investigate the violations, remove any unauthorised structures and increase the presence of officers patrolling the area.
“Tolerance of violations creates an extremely dangerous precedent, not only for Lara and Akamas, but also for all protected areas in Cyprus,” the group warned, calling on the state to enforce the law equally, “without exceptions”.
The police will stop issuing individual invitation sheets to reservists for National Guard service, under a decision taken by Police chief Themistos Arnaoutis on Thursday.
The change ends a process in which police officers were responsible for finding and delivering the documents to reservists.
Under the previous system, officers at local police stations notified reservists in their area to collect the papers, which required them to report for military exercises with their units.
The arrangement had drawn repeated criticism from police union members in recent years, who argued that officers already carried increased duties and should not be responsible for matters concerning the military.
A directive sent to all heads of police departments states that the police will phase out issuing the papers for a transitional period of six months, limited to crossing points, airports and ports.
This arrangement remains in place until February 28, giving the army time to find an alternative solution.
From that date, the responsibility of police officers to serve the documents will cease entirely.
Until then, members of the police had been tasked with delivering the papers to reservists who avoided receiving them, a provision that will no longer apply once the transitional period ends.
Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman on Thursday moved to defend the Immovable Property Commission (IPC), with plans having been mulled in the Republic of Cyprus’ parliament in recent months for an alternative fund to be created for Greek Cypriot displaced persons.
He also pointed out that the Republic of Cyprus has thus far not created an equivalent mechanism through which Turkish Cypriot displaced persons can be compensated for property they fled during and after Cyprus’ intercommunal conflicts.
“In the south, press commentaries are mentioning efforts by the Greek Cypriot leadership to obstruct or hinder Greek Cypriots’ applications to the Immovable Property Commission. As we have always said, a complete solution to the property issue in Cyprus is only possible with a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem,” he said.
He added that “by establishing the Immovable Property Commission, we have created a mechanism through which Greek Cypriots can apply regarding their property rights claims during the period leading up to a solution”.
“Furthermore, this mechanism, the Immovable Property Commission, has been recognised by the European Court of Human Rights as an effective domestic legal remedy in accordance with international law,” he said.
He added that “maintaining such a mechanism unilaterally under such conditions is certainly not easy”, but stressed that “while not directly affecting the core issue, we have addressed any shortcomings which have emerged”.
On this front, he also promised to “rapidly strengthen the Immovable Property Commission even more”.
“Moreover, there is no similar mechanism in the south for evaluating Turkish Cypriots’ claims regarding their immovable properties remaining in the south. Those who try to use other mechanisms are generally told to wait until ‘after the solution’ to gain access to their rights,” he said.
Given this to be the case, he asked “why are applications to the Immovable Property Commission, which has been approved by the European Court of Human Rights, being obstructed?”.
“Furthermore, why are attempts being made to resolve the property issue on the island through criminal law instruments, resorting to methods which would lead to consequences restricting individuals’ liberty?” he asked.
He then asked whether “such initiatives lead to the establishment of trust between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, or to tensions”.
“Under these circumstances, does law become an instrument of protecting individuals’ rights, or of politics? We are explaining this tirelessly, relentlessly, to all our counterparts in the international community, and we will continue to do so, much more, and much more effectively,” he said.
His reference to “criminal law instruments” comes with the Republic of Cyprus having made a series of arrests of individuals it accuses of having participated in the development and sale of real estate in the north which belonged to Greek Cypriots prior to 1974.
A number of individuals, including Israeli national Simon Aykut, have now been convicted in these cases, while a German national has been held in custody for over two years after having been arrested at Larnaca airport in 2024. Her case caused the German embassy in Nicosia to issue a “strong protest” and demand her release.
Established in 2005, the IPC handles claims for compensation, restitution of Greek Cypriot-owned property in the north and land exchanges filed by Greek Cypriot displaced persons and their descendants.
According to its latest figures, released on August 14, a total of 8,755 applications have been lodged with the IPC, of which 3,592 have been concluded.
The IPC has awarded exactly £662,933,062 (€773,480,465) in compensation and has also ruled for exchange and compensation in two cases, for restitution in seven cases, and for restitution and compensation in eight cases.
Additionally, it has delivered a decision for restitution after the Cyprus problem in one case, and in another ruled for partial restitution.
In September last year, the Republic of Cyprus’ House refugees committee mulled the creation of a new national fund to reimburse Greek Cypriots who lost access to their immovable property in 1974.
The plans had been brought to parliament by Disy. It was then discussed again in February, though no formal proposal has yet been put to a vote on the House floor.
A Mediterranean monk seal was spotted swimming in Kato Paphos harbour on Thursday, drawing the attention of passersby.
The animal remained near the shore for some time, carrying out a series of dives and playful movements before onlookers.
The Mediterranean monk seal, known scientifically as Monachus monachus, is considered one of the rarest marine mammal species in the world and is classified as endangered.
Cyprus lies within the species’ historic range, with sightings occasionally reported around the sea caves along the Akamas peninsula.
The species faces threats from habitat loss, fishing net entanglement, disturbance from coastal development and boat traffic, with sightings in areas such as Paphos harbour remaining rare.
The transport ministry on Thursday announced that traffic lights at the junction of October 28 Avenue and Makarios III Avenue in Nicosia have been temporarily taken out of service due to “serious technical problems”.
In the meantime, motorists wishing to access Makarios III Avenue can use nearby junctions.
The traffic lights are expected to be operational again from Monday, August 24.
The public works department apologised for any inconvenience and urged motorists to comply with temporary road signs and instructions from police.
Fiscal council chairman Andreas Charalambous on Thursday called on the government to be responsible with its plans to invest the social insurance fund’s cash reserves in the hope of growing those reserves, saying that “we should not embark on adventures which endanger the social insurance fund”.
Instead, he told the Cyprus News Agency, “we must create realistic expectations of what the return of such a fund can be, given that it must be low-risk”.
Then asked whether the government’s plans to terminate state borrowing from the social insurance fund, he said that “the termination of borrowing and the repayment of the amount already borrowed should be done gradually”, so as to ward off the risk of a financial crisis.
“For example, as a first step, there could be no additional borrowing. In practice, this would mean that the state, instead of having the two- or three-per-cent surpluses foreseen in the coming years, would have balanced books,” he said.
He said that from that point onwards, “the return of the amount borrowed to the reserve must be done very gradually so as not to have any impact on the state’s public finances and so that it can be managed prudently”.
At present, the amount borrowed by the state from the social insurance fund stands at around €12 billion.
Charalambous also made reference to demographics, stating that with Cyprus’ ageing population, “social insurance funds alone cannot ensure the adequacy of pensions”.
“That is why it is very important to launch a major project gradually, to begin implementing it as soon as possible, so as to provide additional support for pensioners, mainly to ensure long-term sustainability,” he said of the plans to encourage people to also pursue private pensions through provident funds.
Demographics, he said, are also a driving reason behind the government’s insistence that it will not abolish the 12-per-cent downward adjustment of pension payments for people who take early retirement at 63 years of age. The government instead plans only to reduce it to 7.5 per cent, with the standard retirement age remaining set at 65.
“It is not possible, as the conditions are today and based on the demographic data worldwide and in Cyprus, to reduce the retirement age. Such a thing would, without doubt, affect the adequacy of pensions,” he said.
Larnaca has been ranked the third-best destination in southern Europe for an autumn shoulder-season getaway, according to a new travel index examining sunshine, temperatures, rainfall and accommodation costs.
The Cypriot town placed ahead of several established Mediterranean destinations in the 2026 Shoulder Season Index, compiled by UK travel insurance comparison company Quotezone.
Larnaca was ranked behind Antalya in Turkey and Tenerife in the Canary Islands, while Greece’s Crete and Malta completed the top five.
The ranking comes as almost half of travellers appear increasingly willing to move their main holidays away from the peak summer months, amid concerns about extreme heat and rising holiday costs.
Quotezone found that 48 per cent of travellers would consider taking their annual holiday in autumn rather than during the peak summer season.
Meanwhile, 52 per cent said they would actively avoid southern Europe during the summer because of high temperatures.
The shift is taking place across age groups, with travel trade association ABTA describing the growing popularity of shoulder-season holidays as “Super September”.
The trend follows an exceptionally hot summer across parts of Europe, with western Europe experiencing its hottest June-to-July period on record, while wildfires affected parts of countries including France and Spain.
This came only a year after the European Union experienced its worst recorded fire season.
For some travellers, however, the appeal of autumn holidays goes beyond avoiding the heat.
Quotezone found that 26 per cent were influenced by cheaper prices, while 42 per cent said they were willing to wait for a last-minute price reduction before booking an autumn holiday.
A further 11 per cent said they always wait for an autumn deal.
Avoiding crowds was cited as the main reason for autumn travel by 21 per cent of respondents, while 16 per cent valued the smaller number of children travelling at that time of year.
Only 3 per cent said having an easier time securing leave from work was their main reason.
The index assessed popular southern European destinations according to factors including sea and air temperatures, sunshine hours, average rainfall and accommodation costs.
Larnaca’s third-place position was supported by particularly favourable autumn weather conditions.
Visitors can expect average temperatures of 25.5°C during September and October, while the average sea temperature stands at 27°C.
The destination also recorded only 12mm of rainfall across the two months in the index’s assessment, making it one of the drier options among the destinations studied.
The ranking specifically highlighted the opportunity to continue enjoying beach holidays well into autumn, including trips to Nissi Beach.
Antalya took first place, with the Turkish destination recording 9.5 hours of sunshine per day and average temperatures of 27.6°C across September and October.
Its average sea temperature was 27.5°C, while rainfall averaged 42mm over the two months.
The index also placed a three-night stay at a three-star hotel in Antalya at a lowest price of £127.
Tenerife ranked second, helped by warm temperatures, limited rainfall and a reported lowest three-night three-star hotel price of £108.
The Canary Islands destination also offers access to Teide National Park, where cooler autumn conditions can be more suitable for hiking and other outdoor activities.
Crete ranked fourth, with around eight hours of sunshine a day, while Malta took fifth place, helped by warm sea and air temperatures late into the season.
The remaining destinations in the ranking continued to offer temperatures above 18°C, providing conditions considered suitable for outdoor activities and sightseeing.
Budva in Montenegro ranked ninth, while Dubrovnik in Croatia came tenth, with the latter recording the highest likelihood of rainfall, fewer average sunshine hours and slightly more expensive accommodation.
Helen Rolph, a travel insurance expert at Quotezone, said autumn was increasingly becoming an attractive alternative as extreme summer temperatures influenced holiday decisions.
“As extreme summer temperatures become an increasing consideration for travellers, autumn is emerging as one of the most popular times for holidaymakers to enjoy a getaway,” Rolph said.
“The shoulder season can offer the best of both worlds, with plenty of sunshine and warm temperatures, but without the intense heat and high prices found during peak season,” she added.
“Antalya’s combination of sunshine, warm temperatures, sea conditions and affordable accommodation makes it a particularly strong choice for holidaymakers, but our index shows there are plenty of alternatives across southern Europe for those looking for some late-season sun,” Rolph continued.
She also urged travellers booking late autumn breaks to arrange insurance promptly.
“Those travellers jetting off on last-minute trips should be careful not to forget to book travel insurance as soon as they book the trip, to help ensure they are covered for any issues in the build-up to their autumn break,” Rolph stated.
For Cyprus, the ranking provides another indication of the island’s potential to extend its tourism season beyond the traditional summer peak, with Larnaca’s combination of warm temperatures, warm seas and limited autumn rainfall placing it among the strongest options assessed.
The additional €50 million per year which the government’s planned pension reform will cost the taxpayer for the first five years after the reform’s implementation falls “within the framework of the state’s financial capabilities”, employers’ and industrialists’ federation (Oev) director-general Michalis Antoniou said on Thursday.
“The first impressions are that this is a serious effort, within the framework of the country’s economic capabilities, at first glance,” he told the Cyprus News Agency, before adding that “a comprehensive approach is being taken, but we need to look carefully at the details”.
Asked about the discussion held on Wednesday when the government first presented its plans to employers’ organisations and trade unions, he said that it was “the first time it was so productive since this effort began, since the issues were now concrete, with numbers, scenarios and understandable examples”.
On the matter of the €50m per year expense for the taxpayer, he said that it will be examined “with the help of our advisors”.
“This expenditure, provided that it is combined with the rationalisation of distortions, is at first glance a manageable expenditure,” he said.
Nonetheless, he said, “we still need some clarifications from the labour ministry regarding what it is proposing”.
Cyprus chamber of commerce and industry (Keve) secretary-general Philokypros Rousounides said of Wednesday’s discussion that “some initial views were exchanged”, but that “several questions and concerns arose” and stressed that as such, “we will need further clarifications in the coming days”.
“The positive thing is that this time, everyone’s goal is the same: to find convergences so that the reform is as good as possible and protects the macroeconomic impact on the local economy and ensures the sustainability of the social insurance fund,” he said.
Asked whether the question of how the reform will be financed was answered at Wednesday’s meeting, he said that it was not, and that instead, “it is one of the things we are waiting for to be clarified by the technocrats, so that we all know where the additional cost may come from”.
Meanwhile, trade union Peo leader Sotiroula Charalambous said that according to the government’s current proposal, the number of years of social insurance contributions required for one to be able to take early retirement at 63 years of age will “gradually” rise from its current 33 to 38.
She also said that the government’s current plans “do not address the issue of a widow’s pension for men [whose spouses died] before 2018”, saying that this is “problematic” and a “social injustice”.
Nonetheless, she said that her union wishes to “study the issues of changes in disability pensions and widow’s pensions” foreseen by the reform.
“Some changes have more positive signs, some more negative,” she added.
To this end, she said that “even with the reform and after the increases [to pensions], by the government’s own admission, there will still be pensioners below the poverty line”.
Fellow trade union Sek leader Andreas Matsas reiterated his own union’s reservations regarding the reduction in the downward adjustment of pension rates from 12 per cent to 7.5 per cent, saying that this figure should be reduced further.
He also said that the government’s plans to submit the bills to parliament are “a bit dreadful”, given that all the stake-holding organisations “must raise the issue in their collective bodies”.
“For us, the essence is to complete the process as efficiently as possible so that what will be submitted to parliament is as agreed upon as possible,” he said, before adding that “under certain conditions”, it may still be possible for the reform to be implemented by the beginning of next year.
Labour Minister Marinos Mousiouttas had on Wednesday said that “of the 123,000 old-age pensioners around today, all are positively affected” by the reform, adding that around 50,000 pensioners will receive an increase in excess of €100 per month.
Additionally, he said, future pensioners who earned low salaries during their working life may receive increases of up to 60 per cent compared to the current system.
He said that the reform will “mean immediate income support for thousands of families at a time when the cost of living is putting more pressure on the elderly and houses with lower incomes”.
“The most important social choice of the reform is to give the greatest support to [those on] the lowest pensions,” he added.
Despite these increases, he said that the retirement age and employees’ social insurance contributions will not increase.
Music was meant to bring people together, not place communities on opposing sides, EXIT said on Thursday as it formally announced its withdrawal from the planned Nexus festival near Kyrenia castle in the north.
The Serbian festival company said it had initially believed music could provide a meeting point for people on a divided island, drawing on its own roots in the Balkans as a movement for freedom and peace.
It apologised for the disruption caused by its participation in the event and said it had come to understand that the historical and political context surrounding Kyrenia was more sensitive than it had initially realised.
“From the beginning, our intention was to bring people closer together,” EXIT said, insisting that it did not want an event bearing its name to become “yet another reason for people to find themselves on opposing sides”.
The Nexus festival was due to take place in September as part of EXIT’s international programme.
Its proposed location near Kyrenia castle prompted political opposition in the Republic, with officials and political figures arguing that an international event at the historic site could contribute to the normalisation of the situation in the occupied north.
EXIT said it had been aware of the Cyprus conflict and the division of the island for more than five decades, but acknowledged that it had not fully understood the depth of its continuing consequences.
“We did not fully understand how deeply its consequences are still felt today,” the company said.
The organisers said they had seen international artists and global brands holding events in the north in recent years and believed that music could serve as a space where people could meet and connect, as it had done in the Balkans.
Following the announcement of the Nexus event, however, EXIT said it listened to concerns from people representing different perspectives and consulted institutional bodies in Cyprus before reconsidering its participation.
It said it had particularly come to understand the “deep historical and emotional significance” of Kyrenia and Kyrenia castle in particular for the Greek Cypriot community.
Although the festival had not been planned inside the castle itself but in its immediate vicinity, EXIT said this did not alter the significance or symbolism of the location.
“For all these reasons, we express our sincere and deep regret that we agreed to participate in this project,” it said, confirming its withdrawal.
The company said the decision carried “serious legal and financial consequences” because the project was already underway but argued that withdrawing was the responsible course after taking the concerns surrounding the event into account.
EXIT also placed the decision in the context of its own recent history. It was founded 26 years ago as a student movement in Serbia focused on freedom and peace following the conflicts in the Balkans during the 1990s.
It later developed into an international music festival and presented itself as a platform for tolerance, reconciliation and coexistence between different nations, cultures and religions.
The company said its position in Serbia had become increasingly difficult after it supported student protests following the deaths of 16 people in the collapse of the Novi Sad railway station canopy in November 2024.
“We hope that there will be another opportunity to meet under conditions in which the focus can be on the people, the music and the experience we share,” the company said.
Disy MEP Loukas Fourlas, who said he intervened with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, welcomed the withdrawal, remarking that the move reflected an understanding of “the deep historical and emotional significance that Kyrenia and its castle have for the Cypriot people”.
Fourlas also addressed claims of credit made by others over the outcome, understood to be a reference to remarks from Elam MEP Geadis Geadi.
“I want to be clear, in these cases there is no room for personal property, petty political disputes or a fight over who will take credit for success,” he said.
“The desire of some to appear as the sole contributors to a development that emerged through the coordinated efforts of many parties does not correspond to either the reality or the seriousness of the issue.”
He said, “the issue was not who would get the credit” but rather that “the event not take place in occupied Kyrenia”.
You can now pin saved views to the repository issues sidebar, making the views you use most just one click away, even when the sidebar is collapsed.
You can now see profile avatars for reactions on issues.
You can now adjust the Issues Dashboard density to see more issues at once
The issue dependency REST API endpoints (blocked_by, blocking, and relates_to) now filter results based on the token’s granted scope.
Join the discussion within GitHub Community.
The post Pinning saved views to the repository issues sidebar is generally available and more appeared first on The GitHub Blog.
The Windows 11 arm64 image with Visual Studio 2026 is now generally available on standard and larger GitHub-hosted runners. To use it in GitHub Actions, update your workflow file to runs-on: windows-11-vs2026-arm.
GitHub will gradually update the windows-11-arm image to use Visual Studio 2026 by default beginning September 21, 2026. GitHub will complete the rollout by September 30, 2026. During this period, your workflows will gradually move to the new image.
Breaking change: The move to Visual Studio 2026 may break workflows that depend on Visual Studio 2022.
You don’t need to take any action if you want your workflows to move to Visual Studio 2026. Update the runs-on: target in your workflow file to windows-11-vs2026-arm to test the new image before the migration.
If you no longer want to use the Windows 11 arm64 image:
For more information or questions, visit the runner-images repository.
The post Windows 11 arm64 VS2026 image generally available appeared first on The GitHub Blog.
You can now dismiss a code scanning alert with the reason Mitigated when a vulnerability remains in the code but external controls, such as a web application firewall or network policy, mitigate its risk.
The new dismissal reason helps you distinguish mitigated vulnerabilities from alerts marked Won’t fix, align dismissals with formal exception and risk-acceptance processes, and reduce the need to track these decisions outside GitHub.
For more information, see resolving code scanning alerts.
The post Code scanning adds a mitigated alert dismissal reason appeared first on The GitHub Blog.
A dedicated workflow path for code quality CodeQL actions workflows is now generally available. Your workflow run history and your Actions usage reports now tell GitHub Code Quality runs apart from GitHub code scanning runs. Code Quality analysis runs on dynamic/github-code-quality/codeql and shows github-code-quality as the actor, instead of sharing the dynamic/github-code-scanning/codeql path and the github-advanced-security actor with code scanning.
Code Quality itself doesn’t need reconfiguration, and your enabled repositories keep scanning as they are. If you’ve built anything on the old path or actor, you need to update it:
dynamic/github-code-scanning/codeql so they also account for dynamic/github-code-quality/codeql.github-advanced-security actor.GitHub Code Quality is available on GitHub Enterprise Cloud and GitHub Team, as well as on GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency. To learn more, see GitHub Code Quality billing.
Join the discussion within GitHub Community.
The post Separate GitHub Actions path for GitHub Code Quality appeared first on The GitHub Blog.
GitHub Code Quality now writes an audit log event whenever someone enables, disables, or changes its settings on a repository. Three new events give you that history:
repo.code_quality_enabled records when someone turns on Code Quality for a repository.repo.code_quality_disabled records when someone turns it off.repo.code_quality_updated records when someone changes the configuration of a repository that already has Code Quality enabled.Each event captures the repository, the actor who made the change, and when it happened. Because Code Quality billing counts active committers on enabled repositories, you can now see exactly when a repository entered or left that scope.
You’ll find these events in your organization audit log and enterprise audit log, and you can query them with the audit log API.
Code Quality is available on GitHub Enterprise Cloud, GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency, and GitHub Team. To review or change where you’ve turned it on, see enabling GitHub Code Quality.
Join the discussion within GitHub Community.
The post Track GitHub Code Quality enablement changes in the audit log appeared first on The GitHub Blog.
Coming from rust, is there a real alternative to sqlx for postgres and sqlite?
What do you people use?
Just a thought I had... Nothing special.
Go 1.27 now comes with the new experimental portable simd package.
Previously you could only do SIMD things using assembly (not portable) or with a external package (which stdlib wouldn't use).
The fact that future Go versions will (hopefully) ship with this portable simd package means future stdlib functions will be able to use it, making it even easier to write efficient cryptography algorithms, hash functions, and so on.
Go is evolving in a pretty nice direction!
go type Book struct { PublishedDate time.Time `json:"published_date,format:'2006-01-02'"` CreatedAt time.Time `json:"created_at,format:RFC3339" gorm:"autoCreateTime"` }
It's official! a future version of Go will remove the format tag entirely and no GOEXPERIMENT to re-enable support for the format tag.
https://github.com/golang/go/issues/79071#issuecomment-5351571588
Hi r/golang, I'm sharing my experience of porting a large rust project (polyglot SQL) to golang. In the last few days I used gpt 5.6 Luna and gpt 5.6 Sol in order to do a full rewrite of the project in go. I didn't write a single line of code.
First of all: why would anyone do this, isn't that a bad idea? Tbh I wasn't sure at the beginning and time will tell, but at least it was very insightful and I learned a lot doing this. Prior to this migration, my other project was already depending on a WASM build polyglot SQL running on wazero. This was working okay-ish, but it had a really terrible warmup cost
While I was able to tweak the warm wasm performance significantly, I consistently hit a limit with cold parsing times. This is why I thought I should take a shot at just letting a coding agent rewrite the library into rust. The main reason why I was able to pull this of so even with gpt 5.6 luna is that this specific library is perfectly suited for this kind of rewrite. There is a large suite of 143,610 tests available for polyglot sql (which itself is already a rewrite from python based sqlglot). That way I could just let the agent work until all 143,610 test cases succeeded. Luna did quite some good work there, though I had to make a few comments regarding the fact, that it should run the entire sqlglot fixture test suite. Before it had only written about 900 tests, that it made succeed. The largest amount of time went into getting the large test suite running.
This whole post would be kinda pointless without comparing the performance between the native rust polyglot implementation and the golang based version. Therefore I also had codex run a benchmark and here are the results:
| Benchmark | Golyglot (ours) | Polyglot | Speedup (95% paired bootstrap CI) |
|---|---|---|---|
| parse/complex | 88.387 us/op | 125.171 us/op | Golyglot 1.42x (1.40-1.44x) |
| parse/medium | 22.737 us/op | 31.348 us/op | Golyglot 1.38x (1.35-1.40x) |
| parse/simple | 4.297 us/op | 4.630 us/op | Golyglot 1.07x (1.06-1.09x) |
| transpile/complex | 65.910 us/op | 215.687 us/op | Golyglot 3.27x (3.26-3.29x) |
| transpile/medium | 31.057 us/op | 215.687 us/op | Golyglot 2.75x (2.73-2.77x) |
| transpile/simple | 6.453 us/op | 85.437 us/op | Golyglot 1.99x (1.96-2.03x) |
The geometric mean across cases showed: Golyglot was on average 1.83x faster.
Now my takeaways:
- despite garbage collection golang can be significantly faster than rust. (Maybe that was clear before, I was surprised at least).
- having a large test suite can speed up your agentic coding significantly, because you don't need to verify results manually
- my main takeaway is: the go standard lib is amazing, because all of this was built without a single production dependency
Edit: I know many people here are sceptical of the high AI usage, and to be fair for a reason. I didn't intend to step on anyone's foot, so I'm trying to do my best to clarify everything that might have been unclear.
- the speed comparison was between the native rust binary and the go binary, I'm not comparing native go to the WASM I was using for the library. My bad, I could have made this more clear. (The wasm build was way slower)
- the heavy use of AI for this project, I know this is controversial and I'm well aware that there's way too much slop out there. I hope you can acknowledge that I'm trying to show that by using large test coverage the level of slop can be reduced.
- my communication regarding what I wanted to point out: To be honest I was just really happy with the results, I attribute a lot to golang. Basically that's what I wanted to share.
I'm not an expert, but I've written a few scrapers in Go and the fetching part has been great. Fast, easy concurrency, simple to deploy as one binary. Where I start to struggle is the parsing. Once a site has messy HTML or I need to pull data from a lot of different layouts, I miss how quick this is in Python with BeautifulSoup and the rest of that ecosystem.
So I keep going back and forth on whether Go is worth it for this. The speed is nice, but I spend more time on the parsing code than I would in Python. Do you keep everything in Go even when the parsing gets ugly, or do you switch to Python at some point? And if you stay in Go, what do you use that makes the parsing less painful?
| submitted by /u/ErneuerbareEnergien [link] [comments] |
also is there performance difference between go run and directly running binary after go build?
A lot of US job postings now include salary ranges, which makes it possible to compare compensation across technologies using actual job postings rather than developer surveys.
I’ve been collecting US job postings with disclosed salary ranges and structuring the data so I could compare compensation across technologies.
One result I found interesting: Go has the highest salary premium among programming languages in the dataset.
The median across US roles is $177k. For roles mentioning:
Go: $203k (+$26k)
Rust: $198k (+$21k)
C++: $193k (+$16k)
TypeScript: $193k (+$16k)
Python: $190k (+$13k)
CUDA ($240k) and PyTorch ($221k) are higher overall, but I categorize those as AI/ML technologies rather than programming languages.
I built Jobhose (using Go) to extract things like technologies and salary ranges from job postings into structured data using LLMs. The primary use case is job search, but having the structured dataset makes this kind of analysis pretty interesting as well.
Obviously this doesn't mean using Go causes a $26k salary increase. My guess is that a significant part of the premium comes from the kinds of roles where Go is common infrastructure, distributed systems, cloud/backend, etc. Also the numbers are skewed towards the states where salary ranges in postings are mandatory.
Curious whether that matches what people here are seeing in the Go job market.