Huginn Daily

Tuesday, August 4, 2026

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• ‘There were no formal burial protocols. It was summer, and they had to be laid to rest’

  Hours of bombing at Nicosia’s Athalassa hospital in July 1974 left a crater in the ground while a series of makeshift burials took place of those who had died, leading a team of investigators in 2017 to begin a search there for missing people.

  Archaeologist Michalis Iacovides on Monday described to the Cyprus News Agency what he had seen during this operation.

  “Some were found with shards of glass embedded in their bodies. One was still clutching a Serenace medicine ampoule in his folded hand. We recovered as many as 30 such ampoules. They were exactly as witnesses had described them – their bodies wrapped in blankets and sheets. One female patient’s red dress had not deteriorated at all because it was made of nylon,” he said.

  The excavations began in November 2017 and continued for several weeks, seeking to recover the remains of patients killed when the Turkish Air Force bombed two wards of the hospital on July 20, 1974, claiming the lives of 33 people.

  Thirty-one of those killed were patients, including three Turkish Cypriots, while two nurses also lost their lives in the bombing. The remains of two victims were returned to their families at the time and buried in their home villages.

  The intended target is believed to be a nearby military camp used as an ammunition depot, explaining why the greatest loss of life occurred in Wards 1 and 2, the buildings closest to the military storage facilities.

  Iacovides said the exhumations were the culmination of years of determined efforts by the late Xenophon Kallis, who campaigned for excavations to locate the remains of missing persons with the support of then Presidential Commissioner Photis Photiou.

  “Xenophon Kallis had placed the Athalassa hospital exhumations among his highest priorities,” the archaeologist said.

  The bombardment of the hospital lasted continuously from 9am until 1.30pm on July 20, 1974.

  When the attacks finally ceased, the nurses on duty realised that Ward 1 had been completely destroyed, while Ward 2 contained numerous injured patients.

  “One of the bombs that struck Ward 1 weighed 500 pounds. It left behind a crater that swallowed almost half the ward, and decades later we excavated it,” Iacovides said.

  Around ten or eleven of the victims died instantly and were buried in a makeshift grave behind what is now the mortuary of Nicosia general hospital.

  “The crater had been created by the bomb itself. When we excavated it, we found evidence of intense burning. The earth still smelled of sulphur,” he said.

  Hospital staff had kept meticulous records and documented all 33 fatalities.

  “They wrapped the dead in those brown woollen blankets that never seem to wear out. They moved them onto beds in other wards before wrapping them again in sheets. Because of the summer heat, the bodies quickly began to decompose and they had to be buried. In those circumstances there were no formal burial protocols. It was summer, and they had to be laid to rest. Many had been burned. The smell was indescribable.”

  Witness testimony later proved invaluable to the excavation team. The victims were buried together in the crater, and the excavation revealed that some had been dismembered by the blast, with skeletal remains scattered throughout the impact site.

  The long process that led to the 2017 exhumations began in May 1993 with Takis Agathocleous, a nurse who had been on duty during the bombing, returned to the site with former colleagues and planted 11 cypress trees, believed to correspond to the number of victims buried in the crater.

  “It was a way of marking the area,” Iacovides said. “When we carried out the excavation, we found the remains of ten individuals, possibly 11 if the skulls discovered are taken into account. The final figure will only be confirmed once the pending anthropological examinations are completed.”

  An initial exploratory trench was opened at the site on August 3, 2017.

  “Three archaeologists carried out a trial excavation to determine whether the witness testimony was accurate. It was there that they first uncovered the blankets and human remains,” Iacovides recalled.

  The full-scale excavation began on November 1, 2017. “The manual recovery of the skeletal remains was completed on November 16.”

  Following the excavation, Kallis remained troubled because one witness had provided a list naming 31 victims.

  The archaeological team therefore expanded its research, including the cemetery’s archival records, in which funeral contractor Andreas Kekkouris identified several locations where additional victims from the hospital were likely to have been buried.

  “Six of them died between July 23 and 25, 1974, while the others died as late as October. They were most likely injured during the bombing and later succumbed to their wounds. This suggests that only ten or eleven victims died instantly. The casualty list, however, included many more people,” Iacovides explained.

  Although it was well known patients were killed in the bombing, for decades few searched for them, largely because of the stigma attached to psychiatric illness at the time.

  In February 2023, a memorial bearing the names of all those who died in the attack was erected near the mortuary of Nicosia general hospital, on the site where the hospital wards and other buildings once stood in 1974.

  Commissioner Photiou, under whose tenure the exhumations began, publicly apologised “for the way the cases of the Athalassa Hospital patients, as well as the burial sites in the surrounding area, were handled.”

  He acknowledged that answers for the victims’ families “could and should have been provided many years ago, but unfortunately that did not happen.”

• Christodoulides declines to comment on cabinet reshuffle reports

  President Nikos Christodoulides on Monday night declined to reveal when he will announce a cabinet reshuffle, insisting that government changes will only be made public once his decisions have been finalised.

  Speaking in an interview with Ant1, Christodoulides dismissed weeks of speculation over changes to his cabinet, saying reports circulating in recent months did not reflect official decisions.

  “A reshuffle is not leaked in advance. It is announced when the decisions have been made,” he said.

  The president confirmed only that Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou had decided to leave the government but declined to comment on any other potential departures or appointments.

  Christodoulides insisted he would not be drawn into responding to daily reports naming prospective appointees.

  He acknowledged that continued public discussion surrounding the reshuffle had created difficulties for both serving ministers and those reported to be under consideration for government positions.

  “The public debate, especially the way it is being conducted, does not help anyone involved,” he said.

  Christodoulides added that previous administrations had adopted a similar approach, referring to former president Glafcos Clerides, whose governments did not publicly discuss cabinet changes before they were formally announced.

  The president also explained that recent developments in the Cyprus issue had taken precedence over domestic political matters, particularly during the visit of United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and efforts to advance the peace process.

  “The reshuffle is important, but it was not my priority while the Secretary General was in Cyprus and discussions on the Cyprus issue were taking place,” he said.

• UN rejects Israeli journalist’s comparison to Cyprus and Syria occupations

  The UN on Monday rejected suggestions that Secretary General Antonio Guterres had applied different standards to Cyprus and Syria, saying references to parties involved in the Cyprus issue are made when they are considered helpful to advancing the peace process.

  UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq was responding to a question from Israeli journalist Mike Wagenheim of I24 News, who compared Guterres’ recent public remarks on Syria with those made during his visit to Cyprus.

  Wagenheim pointed out that Guterres had said Syria’s “sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity must be fully respected” and that Israel’s violations of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement were “unacceptable and must stop”.

  He contrasted this with the Guterres’ comments in Cyprus, where he spoke of supporting “the Cypriot communities in their search for a comprehensive and sustainable settlement of the Cyprus problem” without mentioning Turkey, “despite its military occupation” in the north since the Turkish invasion of 1974.

  Asked whether “Turkey is off limits“, Haq dismissed the comparison, saying the two situations are fundamentally different.

  “I would need hours, possibly days, to fully explain the differences between the situation in Cyprus and the situation in the Golan Heights,” he said.

  Haq referred to the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and discussions held at the United Nations during the 1970s, saying each conflict has developed within its own legal and political framework.

  “Each case has its own dynamics and the positions expressed by the Secretary General are consistent with the policies followed by the UN, essentially, over the last 50 years in each of these cases,” he said.

  Addressing the absence of any reference to Turkey in Guterres’ recent remarks, Haq said the Secretary General has referred to “all the different parties involved in Cyprus” on numerous occasions.

  “He does it when it is useful to make such reports,” Haq said, adding that Guterres had been in Cyprus with the specific aim of encouraging dialogue between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities.

  The comments came after Guterres announced plans to convene another expanded informal meeting on the Cyprus issue following preparations centred on confidence building measures, methodology and substance, with the UN seeking to create conditions that could improve the prospects for progress in future negotiations.

  The Golan Heights is a strategic plateau captured by Israel from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and effectively annexed in 1981.

  The UN regards the territory as occupied Syrian territory and continues to support the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement, which established a UN monitored buffer zone between Israeli and Syrian forces.

• Perseid meteor shower to light up Cyprus skies next week

  The astronomical organisation on Monday announced that Cyprus will have an opportunity to observe the annual Perseid meteor shower under particularly favourable conditions next week, with the display expected to peak overnight between next Wednesday and Thursday.

  The organisation said the peak will coincide almost exactly with the new moon, creating darker skies and improving visibility for observers away from the city centres.

  Despite their popular description as “shooting stars”, the Perseids are not stars but tiny particles of debris left behind by the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle.

  As the Earth passes through the comet’s trail each year, the particles enter the atmosphere at speeds of around 59 kilometres per second, burning up and producing brief streaks of light across the night sky.

  The meteor shower is active from July 17 until August 24, although the highest activity is expected during next Wednesday night into the early hours of Thursday.

  The organisation said the best time to observe the display from Cyprus will be after midnight, when the constellation Perseus, from which the meteors appear to originate, rises higher above the horizon and the Earth’s rotation places Cyprus in the direction of travel through the debris field.

  The organisation encouraged members of the public to observe the phenomenon from locations away from unnecessary artificial lighting.

• Turkey to bolster military readiness in north, citing ‘regional threats’

  Turkey is bolstering its military readiness in the north amid “growing regional tensions”, Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler said on Monday.

  In a written response to a parliamentary question, Guler said Ankara was closely analysing developments in Cyprus and reviewing its military posture to address what it described as “potential threats”.

  “Taking care to preserve the sensitive balances on the island, our military readiness posture aimed at ensuring the security”, of both Turkey and the north, are “being updated”, Guler said.

  The comments came in response to questions regarding Nato’s evolving security architecture and increasing cooperation between the US, Israel, Greece and Cyprus.

  Guler said Turkey was monitoring “Israel’s activities” in the Republic and assessing their possible implications for regional security.

  He added that “the necessary military and political measures” continued to be taken against any potential threat.

  The defence minister also referred to Israel’s operations in southern Syria, saying Ankara was monitoring developments there and taking action where it considered Turkish national security could be affected.

  Cyprus has strengthened defence ties with Greece, Israel, France and the United States through military exercises and security agreements in recent years, while Turkey has repeatedly argued such cooperation ‘alters the status-quo’ in the Levant.

  Guler did not specify what changes were being made to Turkey’s military posture or whether additional troops or military assets would be deployed in the north, already estimated to host some 35,000 soldiers.

• Blood centre appeals for donors as daily demand more than doubles

  Cyprus’ Blood Centre on Monday appealed to the public to donate blood, warning that daily demand has risen to around 350 units and that stocks must be continually replenished to meet patients’ needs.

  Head of the Blood Centre, Androula Panayiotou, urged people who have not yet left for their summer holidays, or who have already returned, to donate blood.

  She said the drop in donations during August is a recurring problem each year, as many regular donors are away on holiday.

  Panayiotou said the Blood Centre opened its donation stations over the weekend, with the public responding positively, but warned that stocks would begin to decline again if donations did not continue over the coming days.

  “The military gave us significant support last week, but we need the backing of society as a whole,” she said, adding that the centre is particularly in need of new blood donors.

  She stressed that demand for blood does not fall during the holiday period.

  “Illnesses, accidents and patients who require regular transfusions do not go on holiday,” she said. “The pressure is constant and the need for blood has increased considerably.”

  According to Panayiotou, daily demand has more than doubled since the Covid-19 pandemic, rising from around 150 units to approximately 350 units a day.

  She attributed the increase to a rise in the number and complexity of surgical procedures carried out in both public and private hospitals, which require larger quantities of blood.

  She also said patients with thalassaemia are living longer and therefore require blood transfusions over a longer period.

  The blood groups currently under the greatest pressure are O positive, O negative and A negative, she added.

  Panayiotou said limited blood supplies primarily affect scheduled operations and transfusions for patients who depend on regular treatment, including people with thalassaemia, blood disorders, leukaemia and other forms of cancer. She added that needs are assessed continuously to ensure the most urgent cases are prioritised.

  While the Blood Centre continues to organise blood donation drives at shopping centres and in mountain communities, where participation from visitors has been encouraging, Panayiotou said these efforts are not enough to meet consistently high demand.

  She noted that many scheduled workplace and community blood drives are suspended during August because of the holiday season, although collections continue in some mountain areas.

  To make donating easier, the Blood Centre also plans to keep donation stations open on Saturdays.

  The blood donation centres in Yeri and Engomi operate every Saturday from 8am to 2pm, while other centres open according to the schedule of mobile blood donation drives and staff availability.

  Panayiotou stressed that there is currently no blood shortage, but said maintaining adequate supplies requires a steady flow of donors throughout the summer.

• Acting Paphos mayor urges stronger local government

  Strong and financially sustainable municipalities benefit all residents, acting Paphos mayor Angelos Onesiforou said on Monday, arguing that local authorities play a vital role in public administration.

  Speaking during the three-hour work stoppage staged by municipalities across the island, Onesiforou voiced his support for efforts to strengthen local government through dialogue and cooperation between all stakeholders.

  A similar protest was also held at Yeroskipou municipality.

  “The protest is being held as a sign of opposition to the central state’s intervention in the principles of local government, particularly the administrative and financial autonomy of municipalities,” Yeroskipou mayor Nikos Palios said.

  Palios called for fair funding for municipalities to prevent the cost of the reform from being passed on to residents. He argued that, instead of supporting local authorities, the government was attempting to shift the financial burden onto municipalities.

  “Through its attitude, actions, positions and omissions, the central state is effectively calling on municipalities to increase fees and charges for citizens, something municipalities neither want nor consider fair. Citizens should not become the final recipients of insufficient state support for local government,” he said.

  The Union of Cyprus Municipalities on Monday proceeded with a three-hour work stoppage in protest at the government’s latest funding proposal, arguing it would shift the burden of local government reform onto citizens.

  The union said the proposal could force municipalities to cut services or increase taxes and fees, rejecting the government’s claim that state funding will double.

• Welfare minister inspects care homes during heatwave

  Deputy Welfare Minister Clea Hadjistefanou-Papaellina carried out on site inspections of care homes on Tuesday to ensure measures protecting elderly residents during the current heatwave are being implemented.

  The deputy ministry said the visits were intended to verify compliance with guidance issued to care home operators last month regarding air conditioning systems.

  Papaellina assured that protecting the elderly remained a priority for the deputy ministry.

  “Protecting the dignity, safety and quality of life of the elderly is a top priority for the deputy ministry,” she said.

  She added that the inspections aimed to ensure “every senior living in a shelter enjoys conditions of safety, dignity and quality care, particularly during periods of extreme weather events such as high temperatures”.

  “Prevention and early intervention are the best form of protection,” she said.

  According to the deputy ministry, the inspections are being conducted on a sample basis to assess compliance with written instructions issued by social services.

  During the visits, Papaellina also met residents, staff and management to discuss the facilities’ day-to-day operations as well as the quality of care being provided.

  The deputy ministry said inspections will continue in all districts while authorities monitor compliance and work with providers to maintain standards of care for elderly residents.

• Armeftis: Reform needs more funding

  The local government reform cannot succeed without adequate state funding, Limassol mayor Yiannis Armeftis said on Monday.

  Speaking during the Union of Cyprus Municipalities’ three-hour work stoppage held across the island, Armeftis described the protest as “a last-ditch effort” to ensure the local government reform functions properly and serves the interests of residents.

  He emphasised that municipalities were seeking “adequate funding, not privileges” and rejected government claims that state funding had increased.

  According to Armeftis, much of the reported increase in funding merely reflected the transfer of new responsibilities, such as road maintenance, rather than additional financial support.

  “Funding per citizen has decreased. According to data from the Union of Municipalities, it has fallen from €188.35 per citizen in 2010 to approximately €155 today because of the increase in the population of the new municipalities,” he said.

  Armeftis said that although state tax revenues had more than doubled, government funding for municipalities had remained largely unchanged. At the same time, newly created municipalities had inherited the financial obligations of former communities, placing additional pressure on their budgets.

  “The reform of local government cannot succeed without the necessary financial support from the state,” he said.

  He reiterated that the Union of Municipalities opposed any increase in taxes or fees for residents and proposed linking state funding to a fixed percentage of state revenues to ensure municipalities’ long-term financial sustainability.

• Man arrested over attempted forest arson in Larnaca

  A 26-year-old man has been arrested in connection with an attempted arson case in Larnaca.

  According to police, the fire broke out on Sunday at around 7pm in Kornos after motorists passing through the area noticed two individuals entering a vehicle and leaving the location.

  The witnesses also observed a fire in the nearby forest, which they managed to extinguish themselves before it spread further.

  Police said testimony gathered during the investigation led to an arrest warrant for the 26-year-old for conspiracy to commit a felony, attempted arson and other related offences.

  The suspect was taken into custody and is expected to appear before the Larnaca district court on Wednesday, where police will request his remand.

  Police are continuing their investigations into the case.

• British pensioner burnt to death after vehicle caught fire in Avgorou

  An 88-year-old British national died after being trapped in a vehicle fire in Avgorou, with a postmortem examination confirming on Monday that he burnt to death.

  The man’s body was found outside the front passenger door of his vehicle on a dirt road on Saturday, indicating he had managed to get out of the driver’s seat and was attempting to escape.

  Police said the man, a resident in Pachna, had travelled to the area accompanied by his care worker and his dog to visit an animal shelter.

  The pair are believed to have become lost and driven onto a dirt road, where the vehicle became stuck in mud.

  The man repeatedly tried to free the vehicle before sparks ignited nearby dry reeds, causing the fire to spread quickly to the car.

  The care worker managed to get out safely and urged the man to leave the vehicle.

  According to her statements to police, the driver urged her to go and get help while he remained behind.

  Emergency services later found him dead beside the vehicle after the fire had been extinguished, and his dog also died in the blaze. Police are continuing to investigate the exact circumstances that led to the fire

• State to recover towing costs from insurers under new road clearance plan

  The government will assume responsibility for removing vehicles involved in serious traffic accidents under a new rapid response system, Justice Minister Costas Fitiris said on Monday, with insurance companies expected to reimburse the state after roads have been cleared.

  The measure forms part of the proposed “Nestor” plan which was developed following last month’s seven-hour closure of the Nicosia-Limassol highway after an overturned lorry brought traffic to a standstill.

  Speaking to Politis radio, Fitiris said planning for the scheme is expected to be completed this week, with a live exercise involving cranes and drones scheduled for August before the system is introduced.

  “In practice, this means that the road will be opened as soon as possible and they will not wait for the insurance companies to decide which crane to bring,” he explained.

  The plan will place responsibility for coordinating the removal of damaged vehicles with the state, replacing the current system under which recovery can be delayed while insurers arrange towing services.

  Before any vehicle is moved, authorities will fully document the accident scene using photographs, video recordings and, where necessary, drones to preserve evidence required for the police investigation and insurance claims.

  The scheme will also apply to lorries or trucks, with the state arranging specialist cranes where required to remove overturned heavy goods or other large vehicles from the road.

  Fitiris said the government would initially cover the recovery costs before seeking reimbursement from insurance companies.

  “The state will proceed with the removal of the vehicles and then, based on the photographs and other details of the accident, will claim the relevant costs from the insurance companies,” he said.

  The proposals build on a rapid response framework unveiled after the highway disruption in July, when the ministry announced plans to establish emergency teams in every district involving police, the fire brigade as well as private contractors.

  Under that plan, a designated coordinator will oversee the response, police will manage road closures and diversions while civil defence will issue public warnings through the CY Alert system.

  The government also plans to establish advance agreements with private companies capable of supplying specialist equipment when state resources are insufficient, with contracts setting out response times and costs to speed up mobilisation.

• Cyprus ranks second in EU for land under desertification conditions

  Cyprus has the second highest percentage of land under desertification conditions in the EU, according to a European Commission report published on Monday.

  The report by the commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) found that 45 per cent of Cyprus is affected, behind Spain with 53 per cent and ahead of Greece with 36 per cent.

  Cyprus also has the highest proportion of people living in areas affected by desertification.

  The report says 61 per cent of the population, around 700,000 people, live in these areas.

  Greece follows with 47 per cent of its population affected, followed by Spain with 43 per cent, Romania with 39 per cent and Bulgaria with 37 per cent.

  Across the EU, drylands cover around 611,000 square kilometres, about 15 per cent of the bloc’s territory.

  Around 530,000 square kilometres are affected by desertification, impacting about 42 million people.

• Nicosia mayor backs funding protest

  Nicosia mayor Charalambos Prountzos on Monday backed the municipalities’ protest over local government reform, calling for increased state funding and saying the capital was receiving at least €12.5 million less than it needed in government grants.

  Describing Monday’s protest organised by the Union of Cyprus Municipalities as “highly symbolic”, Prountzos said inadequate funding directly affected residents’ quality of life rather than simply municipal operating costs.

  “We want to do as much as we can, not just the basics,” he said, adding that staff costs accounted for around 40 per cent of the municipality’s expenditure.

  Prountzos said a recent study concluded that Nicosia should receive at least €35 million in annual state funding, leaving a shortfall of €12.5 million compared with its current allocation of €22.5 million.

  He reaffirmed that municipalities were prepared to make difficult decisions but insisted the government must also do its part.

  Prountzos called on the state to introduce an indexation mechanism to adjust municipal funding in line with inflation and operating costs, while rejecting the interior ministry’s proposal to increase municipal fees.

  “We have no problem with rationalisation; we are ready to make difficult decisions,” he said.

  Strovolos mayor Stavros Stavrinidis echoed calls for increased state funding and greater administrative independence for municipalities.

  “The state has two weapons: it can cut state funding if it disagrees with the figures submitted and it can refuse to approve municipal budgets,” Stavrinidis said.

  He argued that the objectives of the local government reform had not been met and said the cost of providing services should not be passed on to residents through higher taxes or fees. He also warned that municipalities could take further action if no agreement was reached with the interior ministry.

  “We are one of the countries that allocates a very low percentage of its state budget to local government,” he said.

  According to Stavrinidis, municipal funding in Cyprus accounts for less than 2 per cent of the state budget, compared with between 4 and 5 per cent in many European Union countries and as much as 20 per cent in some cases.

  He stressed that municipalities were not seeking additional funding because of poor financial management but because responsibilities had been transferred to them without the corresponding resources.

  “The goal is not just to cover expenses. We also need to develop our cities, and without this support we cannot deliver what we have promised,” he said.

• Man stabs woman at supermarket in northern Nicosia

  A man stabbed a woman inside a supermarket in northern Nicosia on Monday.

  The incident occurred inside the Metropol supermarket in the suburb of Taskinkoy, with the man first stabbing the woman, and then stabbing himself.

  Both the man and the woman suffered serious injuries and were taken to northern Nicosia’s Dr Burhan Nalbantoglu hospital for treatment.

  The Turkish Cypriot police’s investigation into the matter is ongoing.

• Larnaca criminal racket case adjourned until September

  Proceedings against four defendants accused of involvement in an alleged criminal syndicate in Larnaca were adjourned on Monday, with the next hearing scheduled for September 18.

  The Larnaca permanent criminal court was expected to hear the charges against the four defendants, aged 42, 44, 45 and 49, but postponed the case.

  The court also reserved its decision on an objection by the 44-year-old defendant against his continued detention, with a ruling due on Thursday.

  The case stems from an investigation by Larnaca CID into allegations of organised criminal activity, including extortion, threats, financial exploitation and money laundering.

  The court heard that the 45-year-old woman and the 42-year-old man had previously been released on bail, while the 49-year-old defendant remains in custody in the central prisons in connection with separate cases before the same court.

• Union accuses ministry of ‘retaliatory dismissal’ over prison officer

  The prison officers’ branch of the Isotita (Equality) union renewed its attack on the dismissal of Giorgos Maltezos on Monday.

  In its statement, the union said Maltezos, a prison officer and vice president of Equality’s prison guards’ branch, had been unfairly targeted due to his trade union activity.

  The statement further alleged Maltezos “was targeted because he vigorously defended the rights of workers and denounced corrupt practices”, arguing that his dismissal amounted to “a direct attack on trade union freedom”.

  It also described the decision as an attempt to “terrorise those who resist arbitrariness”.

  The union insisted that it could “not be bought with state sponsorships nor yield to pressure “, while demanding the immediate withdrawal of the dismissal, and Maltezos’ reinstatement.

  Speaking to Politis radio, Maltezos rejected the justice ministry’s position that his dismissal followed a disciplinary process unrelated to his union activities.

  “They didn’t fire me because I wasn’t doing my job. They fired me because I was an obstacle to their plans,” he said, describing the decision as “illegal and vindictive”.

  Addressing allegations over repeated absences, Maltezos said the time away from work had been used for legally protected trade union duties and that prison authorities had been informed in writing beforehand.

  “They called the legally protected time I had as an elected person of Equality an unjustified absence,” he said.

  He also rejected claims that his absences disrupted prison operations, saying he had already been transferred away from shift work.

  Maltezos said he would challenge the dismissal before the courts and continue his trade union activities, adding that “they beheaded me to send a message to every worker”.

  Justice Minister Costas Fitiris rejected suggestions that the dismissal was connected to trade union activity, insisting the case concerned repeated non-compliance with workplace regulations.

  Fitiris said trade union activity remained protected but required authorisation during working hours.

  He added that the disciplinary investigation had been carried out by the ministry and that the findings justified termination of employment, while stressing that Maltezos retained the right to challenge the decision through the courts, “should he so wish”.

• US Cypriot federation donates €30,000 for volunteer firefighters’ protective gear

  A donation of around €30,000 from the Federation of Cypriot Organisations of America will be used to purchase protective gear for volunteer firefighters serving wildfire-affected communities in the Limassol mountains, officials said on Monday.

  A delegation from the federation visited Pachna, where they met Commissioner for the Development of Mountain Communities Charalambos Christofinas, chief fire officer Nikos Longinos, and local community leaders. They were briefed on reconstruction efforts and measures taken following the devastating 2025 wildfire.

  Thanking the federation for its contribution, Christofinas said that, one year after the fire, the state had made significant progress in responding to the needs of affected communities.

  “I believe we can now say that, as a state, we have made every effort to respond to the needs of all these communities,” he said.

  He added that the recovery effort is ongoing and noted that, of approximately 980 homes that suffered either total or partial damage, only eight cases remain unresolved under the compensation schemes already approved by the cabinet.

  “Our aim is to ensure that everyone is covered,” he said, adding that the interior ministry is preparing a report to be submitted to the cabinet so that the remaining cases can also be examined.

  “Where claims are found to be justified, you can be certain that they will be covered,” he added.

  Christofinas also noted that the cabinet had already approved measures in 2024 to strengthen the protection of volunteer firefighters, saying the federation’s donation would support that effort by funding the purchase of protective uniforms.

  Longinos welcomed the donation, saying it would strengthen the recently established volunteer firefighter scheme in local communities, which has also been approved by the cabinet and provides insurance cover for volunteers.

  He said volunteers receive training from both the fire service and the forestry department and, together with the deployment of small fire engines, provide the critical first response to wildfire incidents.

  “The first few minutes are crucial,” he said.

  Warning that climate change has become a reality, Longinos said authorities must focus on preventing fires while remaining fully prepared to respond whenever they occur.

  “We must prevent these incidents wherever possible, and we are doing everything we can to be as prepared as possible and address any weaknesses, because there is always room for improvement,” he said.

  “We will do everything possible to reduce the likelihood of wildfires starting and, if they do occur, ensure they are brought under control as quickly as possible through effective coordination.”

  Federation president Kyriakos Papastylianou reaffirmed the support of the Cypriot diaspora, saying that although expatriates live thousands of miles away, they remain committed to helping Cyprus.

  “We hope these uniforms will never be needed, but it is better to have them available in case of an emergency,” he said, describing the donation as a small token of appreciation for the homeland and for the work being done to prevent future wildfires.

• Cyprus problem ‘on life support’, Michaelides says

  The Cyprus problem is “on life support”, Alma leader Odysseas Michaelides said on Monday, as he exited the day’s National Council meeting.

  “We did not pull the plug, but it did not come out of intensive care either,” he said, before acknowledging that “certainly, the United Nations secretary-general’s mention … of the convergences is a positive element”.

  This, he said, “indicates both his own knowledge of the Cyprus problem and his commitment that his powers stem from the resolutions of the United Nations”.

  He then said he is “concerned” that there is now “a peak in expectations”, but that “in practice, if the effort does not bear fruit, the picture which will be given after the secretary-general will be even more pessimistic”.

  “The overall picture will be given that there is essentially no longer any prospect of the problem being managed,” he said.

  He later said that since March last year, “we have essentially accepted that communiques are issued without any reference to the agreed framework for a solution”.

  “The bottom line is that we should focus on putting pressure on Turkey, also using the tool of relations between Europe and Turkey, so that it returns to the negotiating table on the basis of the agreed framework,” he said.

  Regarding the matter of crossing points, he said that while he believes President Nikos Christodoulides to be “correct” in “linking the opening of the Mia Milia crossing point to the Athienou crossing point”, which, he said, is “very important to the residents there”, there could be “room for a different approach”.

  “The president could propose that if there is a resumption of negotiations on the basis of the agreed framework, then we could accept the opening of Mia Milia alone, but at the same time as the resumption of negotiations,” he said.

  At last week’s tripartite meeting between UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Christodoulides, and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, the Greek Cypriot side proposed removing Louroujina, northwest of Larnaca, from the package of four crossing points which had been agreed upon at last year’s enlarged meeting in New York.

  Instead, the suggestion was that crossing points near Athienou, and in the eastern Nicosia suburbs of Mia Milia and Aglandjia would be opened. However, the Turkish Cypriot side flatly refused to entertain any discussions which did not include all four agreed upon locations.

• Cyprus Red Cross calls for quality donations to support vulnerable families

  The Cyprus Red Cross on Monday urged the public to donate clean, usable items as it highlighted the year-round effort behind distributing essential goods to people facing financial and social hardship.

  In a statement, the organisation said humanitarian assistance through the collection of clothing, food and other essential items remains one of its longest-running and most important activities.

  Behind every donation, it said, is a carefully organised process supported largely by volunteers, from receiving and sorting items to preparing and distributing them with dignity to those in need.

  While clothing donations are often the most visible part of the initiative, the Red Cross said it collects a much wider range of essential goods.

  Collection points across all district branches accept non-perishable food such as pasta, rice, legumes, canned goods, cereals, cooking oil and coffee, as well as personal hygiene products including soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, baby nappies and adult incontinence products.

  The organisation also accepts clothing and footwear, bedding, baby formula and food, school supplies, children’s books and toys, hospital beds and mobility aids such as wheelchairs, walking sticks and crutches.

  Kitchenware, furniture, electrical appliances, children’s equipment and bicycles are also accepted by prior arrangement.

  The Red Cross stressed that the success of the programme depends on the condition of donated items, as each one must be inspected, sorted and prepared for immediate use.

  For that reason, it urged members of the public to donate only clean, functional items in very good condition.

  Clothing should be new or in excellent condition, washed and separated into men’s, women’s and children’s items, as well as summer and winter clothing. Bedding, footwear and other household goods should also be in good condition and ready for immediate use.

  Nicosia branch coordinator Demetris Fylaktou said the public’s willingness to donate has always been one of the organisation’s greatest strengths.

  “For an item to have real value, it must be suitable for immediate use and able to meet the specific needs of the people we support every day,” he said.

  “At the same time, our volunteers dedicate countless hours to receiving, sorting and preparing every donation. When items are delivered according to our guidelines, we can respond more quickly and effectively to the requests we receive. With the cooperation of the public, every donation can become a genuine act of kindness.”

  The Red Cross said its volunteers remain the driving force behind the programme, ensuring donations reach those who need them most.

  Donations are accepted throughout the year during opening hours at district branches, while the organisation’s purple recycling bins are intended exclusively for clothing collections.

  It added that anyone wishing to donate specialist equipment or bulky items should contact their local branch in advance to confirm whether the donation can be accepted. Branches reserve the right to refuse items that do not meet the required standards or where storage capacity has been reached.

  The organisation said the collection of essential goods is carried out throughout the year and remains a cornerstone of its humanitarian work.

Github

• Enterprise team specialization for managed settings

  Enterprise administrators can now customize managed settings by targeting enterprise teams with itemized configuration files. Large enterprises can scale governance without bottlenecking every configuration change through central administrators or one-size-fits-all policies. Teams gain the flexibility to adapt Copilot to their workflows while staying within the boundaries you’ve defined.

  The AI ecosystem evolves frequently and maintaining effective guardrails is a shared responsibility. Set your AI standards source .github-private repository to internal visibility and let your users open pull requests to suggest changes that keep their specialized governance configuration up to date.

  What you can do

  After you’ve configured your managed-settings.json file, you can make individual keys eligible for team-specific values.

  • Mark keys as overridable: In your copilot/managed-settings.json file, use the { "overridable": } syntax to specialize the key’s configuration on a per-team basis. An overridable key uses the team’s value when set or falls back to your enterprise default when the team leaves it unset. Keys you don’t mark overridable remain an enterprise-level decision that teams can’t modify. In practice, you can set "disableBypassPermissionsMode": "unmanaged" and "model": "unmanaged" in a team settings file, providing a specialization that takes precedence over managed-settings.json for members of that team.

    For example, let your AI Pioneers team pick their own default model and bypass permissions, while every other team inherits your enterprise defaults.

  • Team-based plugin extensibility: Let plugins and marketplaces grow team-by-team, not shrink. enabledPlugins and extraKnownMarketplaces are additive (i.e, your enterprise baseline is guaranteed everywhere, and individual teams can layer on the extras they need for specific job roles without weakening the floor).

  • Map settings files to teams: Ship different policies to different teams from one place. Map each team settings file to one or more team slugs in team-mappings.json. Each entry pairs a settings file with the teams that use it, so you can apply one file across multiple teams.

    For example, a single ai-users.json file can be applied to all teams that have completed training. Additional specializations can be applied for other job roles like devs.json.

  • Create the team settings file: Add the team’s configuration under copilot/teams/. Only include the keys you marked as overridable. Anything else falls back to your enterprise platform decision.

  • Trust that enterprise decisions always win: Keys you don’t mark overridable set a ceiling, so compliance-critical settings stay locked down by default. Unmanaged or overridable keys set a floor. If a user belongs to multiple teams, the team-level settings are combined using the least restrictive value for each key, then applied beneath the enterprise file.

  Supported clients

  Today the configuration defined in managed-settings.json is enforced in VS Code, Copilot CLI, the Copilot App, and Copilot cloud agent whenever a user has a Copilot Business or Copilot Enterprise license issued from the enterprise or one of its organizations. We are working to extend this support across all Copilot clients through the Copilot SDK.

  To learn more, see configuring enterprise managed settings.

  Join the discussion within GitHub Community.

  The post Enterprise team specialization for managed settings appeared first on The GitHub Blog.

• Triage role can bypass issue creation restrictions

  If your repository restricts issue creation to collaborators only, users with the triage role can now create issues.

  Previously, the restricted setting only allowed users with write access to create issues. With this update, trusted contributors with the triage role are also included. This helps teams keep issue creation restricted while still enabling triage-role users to more effectively support intake and repository maintenance.

  Drop your questions or feedback in our Community discussion.

  The post Triage role can bypass issue creation restrictions appeared first on The GitHub Blog.

• Migrate from GitLab to GitHub with GitHub Enterprise Importer

  Migrations from gitlab.com and GitLab Self-Managed to GitHub Enterprise Cloud with GitHub Enterprise Importer (GEI) are now generally available. You can now self-serve these migrations using GEI and the gh gl2gh command-line extension.

  With this release, you can now:

  • Migrate repositories from gitlab.com and currently maintained versions of GitLab Self-Managed.
  • Run single-repository migrations or scripted bulk migrations with the gh gl2gh extension.
  • Stage migration archives in GitHub-owned blob storage (--use-github-storage) or your own AWS S3 or Azure Blob storage account.

  This capability supports migrations into organizations on GitHub Enterprise Cloud on github.com and ghe.com. Migrations from GitLab to GitHub Enterprise Server are not supported.

  To start migrating your GitLab repositories, check out our documentation on migrating from GitLab to GitHub, and if you’d like help planning your migration, contact our Expert Services team.

  The post Migrate from GitLab to GitHub with GitHub Enterprise Importer appeared first on The GitHub Blog.

• Upcoming August 2026 model deprecations in GitHub Copilot

  We will deprecate the following models across all GitHub Copilot experiences (including Copilot Chat, inline edits, ask and agent modes, and code completions), on September 1st, 2026:

  Model	Deprecation date	Suggested alternative
  Gemini 3.1 Pro	9-1-2026	Gemini 3.6 Flash
  Claude Opus 4.5	9-1-2026	Claude Opus 4.7, Claude Opus 4.8, or Claude Opus 5
  Claude Opus 4.6	9-1-2026	Claude Opus 4.7, Claude Opus 4.8, or Claude Opus 5
  Claude Sonnet 4.5	9-1-2026	Claude Sonnet 5
  Claude Sonnet 4.6*	9-1-2026	Claude Sonnet 5
  Raptor Mini	9-1-2026	MAI-Code-1-Flash

  Claude Sonnet 4.6 will remain available to individual GitHub Copilot subscribers on annual plans so they retain a Sonnet offering. The deprecation of Claude Sonnet 4.6 does not apply to these customers.

  Please update your workflows and integrations to use the supported model before these dates. Copilot Enterprise administrators may need to enable access to the alternative model through their model policies in Copilot settings. As an administrator, you can verify availability by checking your individual Copilot settings and confirming that the policy is enabled for the specific model. Once enabled, you’ll see the model in the Copilot Chat model selector in VS Code and on github.com. No action is required to remove the models once they have been deprecated.

  GitHub Enterprise customers with questions or concerns are encouraged to reach out to their account manager for further assistance.

  Share your feedback

  To learn more about the models available in Copilot, see our documentation on models and get started with Copilot today.

  Join the GitHub Community to share your feedback.

  The post Upcoming August 2026 model deprecations in GitHub Copilot appeared first on The GitHub Blog.

Reddit

r/golang

• pdfcpu v0.14.0 released — hardened error handling, fewer dependencies, and 30+ fixes

  Hi Gophers,

  pdfcpu v0.14.0 is now available.

  pdfcpu is a pure Go PDF processing library and CLI tool supporting validation, optimization, encryption, merging, splitting, stamping, booklet creation, attachments, forms, and more.

  Highlights of this release:

  • Hardened API and CLI error handling
  • Clearer errors with better source context
  • Improved batch-input and edge-case handling
  • Reduced external dependency footprint
  • Better cross-platform portability
  • More regression coverage and fixes for over 30 reported issues

  Install or update:

  go install github.com/pdfcpu/pdfcpu/cmd/pdfcpu@v0.14.0 

  Release notes and binaries:
  https://github.com/pdfcpu/pdfcpu/releases/tag/v0.14.0

  Feedback and real-world test cases are always welcome.

  submitted by /u/hhrutter
  [link] [comments]
• Going Backward

  submitted by /u/Charming_Skin_8549 [link] [comments]

• Anyone have experience with complex HTMX projects?

  My default stack for full-stack web applications is Go for the backend and vanilla JS with Bun for the frontend. I'm about to start a new project that's a bit more complex and will require significant work on both the FE and BE.

  I'm thinking about switching to HTMX for this project, mainly to reduce context switching. However, I'm not sure how well it holds up as a project grows in complexity. Does anyone here use HTMX as their go-to approach for larger applications? How has your experience been?

  submitted by /u/boo-bie-boo
  [link] [comments]
• Small Projects

  This is the weekly thread for Small Projects.

  The point of this thread is to have looser posting standards than the main board. As such, projects are pretty much only removed from here by the mods for being completely unrelated to Go. However, Reddit often labels posts full of links as being spam, even when they are perfectly sensible things like links to projects, godocs, and an example. r/golang mods are not the ones removing things from this thread and we will allow them as we see the removals.

  Please also avoid posts like "why", "we've got a dozen of those", "that looks like AI slop", etc. This the place to put any project people feel like sharing without worrying about those criteria.

  submitted by /u/AutoModerator
  [link] [comments]
• URL validation

  What are the current best practices for backend URL validation? How do you guys usually handle it in production?

  submitted by /u/Perfon_
  [link] [comments]
• ssh ssh.place

  ssh ssh.place 

  It drops you straight onto a shared 200x60 canvas with everyone else who's connected. Arrow keys / wasd to move, 0-9 to pick a colour, space to place.

  Go, using Charm's wish and bubbletea.

  https://ssh.place

  submitted by /u/jeninbutsigmaer
  [link] [comments]