Huginn Daily

Saturday, July 18, 2026

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• Despite a fence at Cape Greco, people just keep jumping

  By Alexandra Epifaniou and Oliver Wu

  A popular jumping location at the Cape Greco sea caves was fenced off in May over safety and environmental concerns. However, during a recent visit, the Cyprus Mail observed multiple groups of people bypassing the fence and taking the potentially dangerous plunge into the sea.

  The fence was erected specifically to deter such jumps, primarily because of the number of injuries and even deaths over the years. But not all are dissuaded.

  Over the course of an hour, two women stepped easily around the fence before one of them jumped. An Ayia Napa municipality employee seated in a natural arch in the caves just below the top came up to warn the women.

  He called someone on his phone, and soon after, another municipal employee came to the scene. But by this time, several young men had also entered the fenced-off area.

  The second employee opened a gate in the fence and called for those inside to leave. Only some did. The rest jumped from the cliffs.

  Forestry department spokesman Glafkos Kyriacou told the Cyprus Mail that municipal employees do not have authority to stop those who bypass the fence beyond warning them of the risks and calling the police if necessary.

  He noted that, even though the fence is not completely effective, the number of people jumping has drastically reduced, and said the situation was under control.

  When the fence was erected, the forestry department cited the need to protect the public and rescue teams, as there have been multiple reported deaths and injuries at the sea caves in recent years.

  The department also said the rock formation had shown signs of instability and could crumble, but that the fence was temporary.

  People visiting the sea caves expressed mixed feelings about the fence.

  “It’s just keeping most people safe from the dangers that you have here, so I think it’s a good idea,” one visitor said, a sentiment that several others echoed.

  Another said the fence would be better placed if it was “pushed more to the edge, so that it’s safe but you can take more photos here”.

  One went as far as suggesting that people should be allowed to jump if they signed a waiver beforehand to acknowledge they were aware of the risks.

  Future safety measures at the location have not yet been determined, Kyriacou said, and there is no set plan for the fence to be removed.

• Suspect extradited from Romania over 3kg cannabis case

  A 29-year-old man has been arrested following his extradition from Romania to Cyprus in connection with a 2024 drug case involving more than 3kg of cannabis, police said on Friday.

  Police said the suspect was wanted over the possession of 3.22kg of cannabis with intent to supply.

  He was arrested in Romania under a European warrant and extradited to Cyprus, where he arrived early on Friday and was immediately taken into custody.

  The Larnaca district court ordered that he remain in custody for six days to facilitate investigations.

  The case dates to February 1, 2024, when officers stopped a vehicle for a routine check in Larnaca and discovered the cannabis.

  Three other men, aged 28, 40 and 51, were previously arrested, convicted and sentenced to prison terms of five-and-a-half, four and seven years respectively.

• Supreme Court allows certiorari in illegal data case

  The Supreme Court has allowed a person being investigated for illegal access to information systems, illegal interference with data and illegal interception, to file an application for a certiorari privileged writ, to determine the legality of an order allowing access to his telecommunications data, the court said on Friday.

  In its decision on Thursday, the Supreme Court said that prima facie the offences under investigation did not fall within the concept of a serious offence, which would justify access to telecommunications data.

  The order to investigate the telecommunications data was issued by the Nicosia district court in April. The suspect was arrested in June, remanded for four days and then released. He was later informed of the order and requested permission to apply for a certiorari.

  The defence lawyer said such orders can be issued in cases of serious offences, which carry a prison sentence of at least five years. His client’s offences, the lawyer said, did not fall within this category.

  The court clarified that it was not examining the substance of the case, but that there was a prima facie issue that allowed for the procedure to begin.

• Witness in Zavrantonas retrial repudiates defence in cross examination

  Court proceedings in the ‘Zavrantonas’ case continued on Friday with the cross examination of key prosecution witness Yiannis ‘Maronas’ Andreou, who on Thursday had told the court he had initially lied to the authorities.

  The defence lawyer for Giorgos ‘Zavrantonas’ Christodoulou said in court on Friday that Andreou had been given preferential treatment by the authorities and had been released before serving his prison sentence in full following an agreement with the authorities and testimony against Christodoulou.

  Christodoulou is facing charges of importing 15kg of cocaine with intent to sell.

  The case is being re-tried after the appeals court overturned the conviction of Christodoulou, who in December 2022 was sentenced to 22 years in prison. The appeals court had ordered the case to be retried from scratch.

  Andreou himself had initially been sentenced to 16 years in prison for the same case. Having served four, he was subsequently granted a presidential pardon, and has turned witness for the state.

  Having already been sentenced once for the same case, and having a presidential pardon, he cannot now implicate himself due to double jeopardy.

  Andreou’s cross examination was completed on Friday and the next hearing has been set for July 21, when new witnesses will be called in.

  Christodoulou’s defence lawyer Christos Poudjouris said it was not a coincidence that both key witnesses were in a protection programme.

  Poudjouris also mentioned that the witness had been reported by then prison director Anna Aristotelous for insulting and threatening her, adding that senior police officer Michalis Katsounotos had also been involved.

  The witness confirmed a complaint had been filed, but denied having insulted or threatened anyone.

  Andreou also denied having any knowledge about Katsounotos.

  Poudjouris presented CCTV footage on Friday from the witness’ residence, indicating that in January 2019 Aristides (Aristos) Kyprianou had visited him and left with an envelope, which the defence said contained cash, as well as a military holdall.

  The witness said Kyprianou was indeed holding something but said he was unaware of the contents.

  The defence then stated that the witness had set up a poker game on the day before his arrest. Andreou confirmed the game but denied he had anything to do with it, as he “did not know how to play”.

  Poudjouris also said that while he was being held at Pera Chorio police station in Nicosia, there had been “a party with ambelopoulia” – songbirds, the trapping of which is illegal. The witness denied this statement.

  The cross examination continued with statements by the defence that while in prison Andreou was ordering food, had celebrated his birthday with expensive champagne and had access to a mobile phone.

  When told by Poudjouris that he had eight mobiles in prison, the witness confirmed three, one of which operated with a Turkish number.

  The phones were not presented in court and Poudjouris said the witness had discarded them deliberately.

  To all subsequent questions by the defence, Andreou insisted that his second testimony was true.

• 46 beaches, two marinas currently flying Blue Flag

  Forty-six beaches and two marinas are currently flying the Blue Flag of quality and sustainable management of coasts, and 25 of these beaches offer facilities for people with disabilities, the Cyprus Marine Environment Protection Association (Cymepa) said on Friday.

  The programme is run by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) and is implemented in more than 50 countries worldwide.

  The Blue Flag award is based on strict criteria, including excellent quality of bathing waters, environmental management, safety, services provided, environmental information and education, and the sustainable management of coastal areas.

  Of the 46 awarded beaches in Cyprus, 27 are located in Famagusta, three in Larnaca, three in Limassol and 13 in Paphos. The two marinas are Limassol Marina and Ayia Napa Marina.

  Cymepa said accessibility was also a priority and at least one beach per municipality was obliged to offer access and WCs for people with disabilities.

  Out of the 46 beaches awarded, 25 offer special facilities and infrastructure for people facing mobility difficulties, offering safe access to the sea. Of these, 16 are in Famagusta, three in Larnaca, two in Limassol and four in Paphos.

  Eight of these beaches are equipped with the Seatrac system, which allows autonomous access to the sea.

• Polis Chrysochous urges public to help prevent fires

  The municipality of Polis Chrysochous urged residents on Friday to take extra care as high temperatures increase the risk of wildfires.

  Residents were called on to refrain from activities that may cause fires, such as using spark-producing equipment or burning dry grass and waste.

  The municipality also advised residents to stay alert and report any suspicious behaviour on rural roads or in forests by taking note of vehicle registration numbers and contacting the authorities.

  Anyone who spots smoke or a fire should immediately call the fire service on 112 or the forestry department on 1407.

  The municipality stressed that protecting lives, property and the environment is everyone’s responsibility.

• Appeals court upholds attempted murder sentence

  An appeal lodged against a prison sentence imposed for two accounts of attempted murder has been dismissed by the court of appeals, which ratified the 16-year sentences as not being excessive, it was announced on Friday.

  In its decision issued on July 9, by which it upheld the ruling of the court of first instance, the court of appeals said the criminal court had taken into account the seriousness of the offences, during which a man and a six-year-old boy had been injured, as well as the mitigating evidence.

  The man had faced seven charges for offences in December 2022 in Larnaca, including conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and carrying a class A firearm and ammunition.

  The appellant had admitted all charges before the criminal court, which had sentenced him to seven years for conspiracy to murder, 16 each for the two charges of attempted murder and six years each for the firearm and ammunition.

  In his appeal, the man said the criminal court should not have imposed the same sentence for both charges of attempted murder and that 16 years in prison was an excessive sentence.

  The court of appeals dismissed both reasons for the appeal.

  It also pointed out that both the target and the child in the car had been seriously injured and that the boy was still being monitored by a clinical psychologist.

• Fire in Kokkinotrimithia buffer zone under control

  A fire close to an abandoned shoe factory in the buffer zone of Kokkinotrimithia, Nicosia, that started at noon on Friday, has been placed under control.

  In a post on X, fire brigade spokesman Andreas Kettis said four fire engines, two more from Atlas and Support Cy volunteer groups and a UN tanker had operated in the area to extinguish the fire, supported by a firefighting plane.

  Kettis said the fire burned approximately five hectares of wild vegetation, waste and wooden pallets.

  The firefighting forces also preventively cooled two large old gas cylinders in the area.

• Christodoulides announces ‘developments’ in Isaac, Solomou case

  President Nikos Christodoulides on Friday said there have been “developments” regarding the case of Tasos Isaac and Solomos Solomou, who were both killed during two separate demonstrations in the buffer zone near Dherynia during August 1996.

  “I want to say that for us, for our government, what happened in August 1996, the murders which took place, because they are murders and nothing else, we must say things as they are, we all saw them, it is neither an assessment nor an impression, but we saw them, two murderous actions, the matter is not closed,” he said.

  He added that “there are developments on this issue about which the right and proper thing is not to speak publicly”, before adding that he can “inform the families”, but only “away from the spotlight”.

  “We are doing what we have to do for those responsible for the murders,” he said.

  He was speaking upon the arrival of a group of motorcyclists who have in recent weeks toured Greece to mark the 30th anniversary of both men’s deaths, and told the group that he “followed” their trip through the media and through social media.

  “I was following this journey, and the first thing I thought was that what you were doing was like that trip which Evangelos Pallikarides took while at school, after which he described the most beautiful trip of his life, when he went to Greece with his classmates,” he said.

  He said that his own father had accompanied Pallikarides on the school trip to Greece, and that “he often talked to me about this trip and what they felt”. Pallikarides was an Eoka fighter who hailed from Paphos. He was executed by the British authorities in 1957 after being convicted of illegal firearms possession.

  Christodoulides on Friday said that “the second thing which particularly impressed me while following your journey was the route you followed”, and added that “the route you followed was very targeted”.

  The motorcyclists had visited the village of Karavas, on the island of Kythera, in the village of Keryneia, which is located in the Achaea regional unit, and on the island of Salamis, just off the coast of Piraeus. All three locations share the names of locations in the north, namely the Kyrenia district village of Karavas, Kyrenia itself, and ancient Salamis.

  Christodoulides also pointed out that the motorcyclists have “been doing this since 2008”, and that “we have an obligation to honour the memory of Isaac and Solomou”.

  “It is the least we have to do, which we as a society and as a state have an obligation to do, to honour their memory,” he said, before adding that “we will truly honour their memory if we follow their example”.

  Of Isaac and Solomou themselves, he said that “they sacrificed themselves for some specific purposes and some specific ideals”, and added that “what they were demanding was no more than being able to move freely in their country, as every citizen moves in a European state”.

  “They fought for the liberation of this country and the end of the occupation. These ideals, the principles and values which led them to these specific actions are what define our fight to this day. If we truly want to honour their memory, we must continue their fight,” he said.

  He went on to say that he will travel to Dherynia with the motorcyclists on August 8 to mark the anniversary of both men’s deaths, and stressed that this is “a minimum obligation, but also … my personal desire as the president of the Republic of Cyprus”.

  In addition, he said that the government is “here to do whatever you consider useful to further strengthen your effort”.

  “Previously, I was a diplomat, and many say that Greece does not need enlightenment on the Cyprus issue, but I think that enlightenment on the Cyprus issue must always start from Greece,” he said.

  To this end, he added that “what you did and what you achieved through this trip … requires years of diplomatic work or work at a governmental level to have the results which your own effort brought”.

  Isaac was killed on August 11, 1996, when Greek Cypriot motorcyclist protesters were met in the buffer zone by Turkish Cypriot counter-protesters who, according to the United Nations report on the incident, were “joined by members of the Grey Wolves who had come from Turkey”.

  As demonstrators from both sides broke into the buffer zone, the incident became violent. Isaac found himself entangled in barbed wire in the buffer zone and was beaten to death by Turkish Cypriots and Turks who had also entered the buffer zone.

  Solomou was killed three days later when, following Isaac’s funeral, Greek Cypriot demonstrators once again travelled to Dherynia.

  He distanced himself from his fellow protesters and walked towards a Turkish military post, attempting to climb a flagpole to remove a Turkish flag, before being shot dead by a Turkish soldier.

  Given Solomou’s cause of death, Christodoulides’ mention of Pallikarides may have been a move to link the pair’s actions, given that on April 1, 1953, Pallikarides had climbed a flagpole in Paphos and removed a British flag which had been raised ahead of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

• Minister urges hepatitis testing, vaccination

  By Rebekah Gregoriades

  Viral hepatitis remains a “silent epidemic” despite progress in prevention and treatment, often causing serious liver damage before symptoms appear, Health Minister Neophytos Charalambides said on Friday.

  Speaking at a press conference organised by the liver patients’ association Promitheas ahead of World Hepatitis Day on July 28, Charalambides stressed the importance of prevention through the national vaccination programme, saying it had delivered positive results and placed Cyprus among the better-performing EU countries.

  Hepatitis C, he said, can now be cured through early diagnosis, while hepatitis D can be cured indirectly by immunisation against hepatitis B.

  The minister pointed out that Cyprus was striving to meet the World Health Organisation goal for the “eradication of viral hepatitis as a public health threat by the year 2030”.

  He said the health ministry was continuing to improve access to diagnosis, monitoring and treatment, while also working to tackle the stigma associated with the disease.

  “No one should hesitate to get tested or seek medical assistance out of fear or prejudice. Proper awareness is the most effective means to debunk the myths and encourage more people to take care of their health,” he added.

• Konia road to open to traffic on Tuesday

  The completion of roadworks in Konia will be delayed a few days due to technical problems encountered by the contractor laying the asphalt, Paphos acting mayor Angelos Onisiforou said on Friday.

  Onisiforou told the Cyprus News Agency that laying asphalt would resume on Monday and the road would be fully open to traffic on Tuesday.

  Following complaints by motorists over the delays, Onisiforou assured the municipality was closely monitoring works so that a high quality and safe project was delivered.

• Police seize 7kg cannabis posted to Cyprus, suspect arrested

  The police drug squad (Ykan) on Friday seized 7kg of cannabis in Larnaca that arrived by post from abroad in two separate packages and a 30-year-old man has already been arrested.

  During a search of the man’s residence, the police found 10g of cannabis and 10g of cocaine, as well as items for drug use and trafficking, including precision scales.

  The police said the operation was carried out in the framework of cooperation between Ykan and services of other countries, as well as the Cyprus customs department, following the evaluation of information.

  Police investigations are ongoing.

• Nicosia launches competition to restore historic municipal garden

  Nicosia municipality has launched an architectural competition for the €4.1 million redevelopment of the historic municipal garden, with the tender expected to be published at the end of summer.

  The project, presented at the Nicosia town hall on Friday, carries an estimated cost of €4.1 million, excluding VAT, and aims to restore and modernise one of the capital’s oldest public spaces while preserving its historical character.

  Mayor Charalambos Prountzos heralded the initiative as “a substantial investment in the future of the city, and in the preservation of its historical and cultural heritage.”

  He said the municipal garden has served as “a point of meeting, culture and daily life” for more than a century and remains a place of deep historical and emotional significance for generations of Nicosia residents.

  Prountzos stressed that any redevelopment must respect the site’s architectural identity while addressing the needs of a modern city.

  “Every intervention must respect the historical and architectural character of the space, and, where required, be reversible, so as to preserve its authenticity for future generations,” he said.

  He added that public spaces should be “safe, functional, accessible to all and environmentally friendly”, while referring to the municipality’s mandate to increase green spaces.

  According to the mayor, more than 22,500 new tree plantings have been carried out across the city over the past two years.

  Municipal secretary Myria Pilakouta said the project represented more than the renovation of a public space, describing it as “the rebirth of a place” closely associated with the city’s identity and the memories of its residents.

  Pilakouta recalled that the garden, designed by modernist architect Neoptolemos Michaelides, is a listed structure of significant architectural and historical value.

  She expressed hope that the redevelopment would transform the municipal garden into a modern, welcoming and fully accessible public space where “older generations may recall their memories, and younger generations will create their own.”

• Pensioners to see higher incomes in early 2027

  Pension reforms are progressing as planned, with pensioners expected to see higher payments from February 1, 2027, Labour Minister Marinos Mousiouttas said on Friday.

  The minister said the bill covering the first pillar of the pension system, relating to the social insurance fund, will be presented to the social partners “very soon”. After receiving their feedback and cabinet approval, it is expected to be submitted to parliament when MPs return from their summer recess in September, with implementation planned for early 2027.

  “On February 1, 2027, the people will feel the increase in pensions,” Mousiouttas said.

  Presenting the labour ministry’s work during Cyprus’ presidency of the Council of the European Union, Mousiouttas said the Labour Advisory Body would meet in early August to finalise the remaining details before the bill is circulated to the social partners.

  He said the meeting could not be held earlier because of the absence of Finance Minister Makis Keravnos.

  He pointed out that any increases in one benefit would mean reducing others, as “priorities must be set”.

  “Since it is generally accepted that the retirement age will not be increased and thus the contributions will not increase … the revenue of the fund will remain stable,” he added.

  He added that the actuarial study underpinning the reform projects the social insurance fund’s sustainability over a period of around 50 years.

  “Any change or suggestion is welcome,” he said, adding that “we are open to discussion, not only with the social partners.”

  The minister said the government remained open to suggestions from the social partners and political parties before the bill is debated in parliament.

  “Everyone must keep in mind that the fund has specific resources, it has specific revenue and so anything we do must be within these specific limits. Anything else cannot be met because there is not enough money,” Mousiouttas pointed out.

  He added that the human-centered philosophy of the reform should not be altered. The aim, he said, was to increase pensions and correct distortions.

  In general terms, Mousiouttas said he was confident a common ground would be found with the social partners.

  Turning to the second pillar, covering provident funds, the minister said reform would take considerably longer. Even if the legislation were completed within four years, he said, it would take a further five to ten years for workers to build up meaningful savings.

  He added that trade unions want discussions on the second pillar to begin in September, despite the longer implementation timetable.

  The minister also said there were two schools of thought regarding the second pillar. One was the trade union point of view that the provident funds should be mandatory and the other supported by the employers was that they should be optional and implemented on a voluntary basis.

  “This is black and white. Reaching grey, the common ground, is more difficult. What we want is for the first pillar to move forward and at the same time discuss the second pillar,” he said.

• Disy, CTP back Guterres visit

  Both Disy and Turkish Cypriot political party the CTP on Friday stressed that the forthcoming visit of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to the island is an opportunity which must not be wasted.

  Disy leader Annita Demetriou described the visit as a “particularly important development” and “an opportunity which we must seize with seriousness, responsibility and national understanding”.

  “It requires a common commitment to our national goal: the achievement of a comprehensive and sustainable solution to the Cyprus problem. The resumption of negotiations is the necessary step to get there,” she said.

  She added that her party will “continue to support every substantive effort which will create the conditions for the resumption of negotiations and real progress” towards “a solution without occupying troops, anachronistic guarantees, and intervention rights”.

  Such a solution, she said, “will ensure conditions of security and prosperity for all legal residents of the Republic of Cyprus”.

  CTP deputy leader Asim Akansoy, meanwhile, said that Guterres’ visit is evidence that the Cyprus problem “has regained importance within the changing regional and global balances”.

  “Today, the world is going through a historical period marked by wars, security crises, and geopolitical restructuring on a scale not seen for many years. The eastern Mediterranean has become one of the most critical centres of transformation in terms of energy, security, trade routes, and regional balances,” he said.

  As such, he added, Guterres’ visit “demonstrates that the Cyprus issue is being addressed not only as a problem between the two communities, but also as a strategic topic which directly affects regional stability”.

  “For precisely this reason, the political stance adopted by the Turkish Cypriot people at a time when the will for a solution has regained strength is of paramount importance. Our people’s expectations for the future are focused on a mutually acceptable, lasting, and sustainable solution,” he said.

  He added that that solution must be “based on UN security council resolutions, international law, and guaranteeing political equality”.

  However, not all actors were pleased with the news of Guterres’ imminent arrival, with the north’s ‘foreign ministry’ stressing that UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin had in July last year said that no common ground for a solution exists between the island’s two sides.

  The state of affairs has changed since then, with pro-federal solution candidate Tufan Erhurman being elected as Turkish Cypriot leader in October last year, with he and President Nikos Christodoulides agreeing in December last year that “the real aim is a solution … with political equality”, and Guterres having undertaken a “new initiative” to bring about talks in recent months.

  Despite this, the ‘ministry’ asserted that “the TRNC entirely rejects these new developments as initiatives aimed at mortgaging the will of the Turkish Cypriot people”, and warned that “bringing back previously failed models in different forms does not contribute to the search for an agreement”.

  Instead, it said, it “only serves to perpetuate the current status quo which benefits the Greek Cypriots”.

  It therefore called on the UN to “recognise the just and legitimate status of the Turkish Cypriot people, to lift the isolation of the TRNC without further delay, and to respect the existence of two sovereign, equal states and two peoples on the island of Cyprus”.

  Guterres will arrive on the island on the evening of July 27, before meeting both Christodoulides and Erhurman at their official residences, visiting the Committee on Missing Persions (CMP), and holding an evening meal with both leaders on July 28. He will then hold a trilateral meeting with both leaders on July 29.

• More inspectors to tackle illegal work

  The number of inspectors responsible for tackling undeclared and illegal work will be doubled following cabinet approval, Labour Minister Marinos Mousiouttas affirmed on Friday.

  Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency, Mousiouttas said the ministry’s inspection service currently operates with a team of eight inspectors, with additional positions expected through either this year’s or the next state budget.

  “We are trying with the controls that are carried out to ensure that the legislation is complied with, whether regarding undeclared work, illegal work, or employment conditions,” he said.

  He added that increasing the number of inspectors would allow the service to carry out more workplace checks, while conceding that “it is humanly impossible to be everywhere”.

  The announcement came after a police raid targeting undeclared workers at 16 catering establishments, during which 47 people were arrested for illegal employment or illegal residence.

  Labour relations department director Andis Apostolou said some of those identified were legally residing in Cyprus but were working in breach of employment regulations, including students and asylum seekers.

  He added that following amendments to immigration legislation, the inspection service plans to introduce administrative fines for illegally employed persons in the coming months, alongside additional penalties for employers.

  The ministry said undeclared work rates have declined from around 15 per cent in 2017 to 5 per cent in 2025.

  Apostolou said the reduction had reached the target set by the authorities, although he warned that illegal employment remains an ongoing concern.

  The service carried out approximately 8,000 inspections in 2025, identifying around 19,000 workers during workplace visits.

  Apostolou said the target was to increase capacity to 10,000 inspections annually by the end of 2027.

  He said authorities had identified particular concerns in sectors such as construction, where the level of illegal employment was estimated to have exceeded 20 per cent.

• Erhurman expects Cyprus’ sides to ‘understand each other better’ after Guterres visit

  Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman on Friday said that United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ forthcoming visit to the island will allow the island’s two sides to “understand each other better”.

  He said he “welcomes” Guterres’ forthcoming visit, and that he has “previously stated our support for [his] efforts”.

  “This visit is also significant because it marks the first time in 16 years that a UN secretary-general will visit the island and meet the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot leaders,” he said.

  He added that “as is known, since taking office, we have emphasised the importance of addressing many issues in Nicosia”, and that as such, “we believe it is appropriate that this be planned at the highest level, with the participation of the secretary-general”.

  “Of course, confidence building measures and the ideas expressed by the secretary-general after [the most recent round of negotiations in earnest in] Crans-Montana, regarding his ‘this time it must be different’ approach will also be evaluated in these meetings,” he said.

  The meetings involving Guterres, he said, “will be meaningful in terms of both parties understanding each other better, the United Nations understanding the sides’ positions, its taking note of them, and determining the efforts’ direction”.

  “Speaking on behalf of the Turkish Cypriot side, I deem it necessary to reiterate that we support the secretary-general’s efforts and will continue to contribute to these efforts with sincerity and seriousness,” he said.

  Guterres will arrive on the island on the evening of July 27, before meeting both Christodoulides and Erhurman at their official residences, visiting the Committee on Missing Persions (CMP), and holding an evening meal with both leaders on July 28. He will then hold a trilateral meeting with both leaders on July 29.

• Police officer suspended for drunk driving after Nicosia crash

  A 44-year-old police officer has been suspended following a road collision in Nicosia on Thursday after testing positive for alcohol, with criminal and disciplinary investigations now underway.

  The suspension was ordered by Deputy Police Chief Panikos Stavrou after the officer, off duty at the time, was involved in a three-vehicle collision at the Nicosia general hospital roundabout.

  According to police, the 44-year-old was driving his vehicle when, under circumstances still being investigated, he collided with a car driven by a 43-year-old woman.

  The impact pushed the woman’s vehicle into another car driven by a 38-year-old man.

  The collision caused the vehicles driven by the officer and the woman to burst into flames, while the third vehicle sustained damage to its rear.

  Firefighters extinguished the blaze, while ambulances transported all three drivers to the nearby Nicosia general hospital, where they received first aid treatment.

  Police said breathalyser tests were carried out on all three drivers, with the 44-year-old recording a final reading of 59 micrograms, well above the legal limit of 22 micrograms.

  A further check found that the officer had been driving without a valid MOT certificate.

• Edek ‘not informed’ of Panayiotou’s departure from govt

  Edek has not been informed of any intention for Agriculture Maria Panayiotou to leave the government, either on her part or the government’s, party spokesman Giorgos Georgiou said on Friday.

  “We have no such information. Our objective since this government came to power, since 2023, is to have ministers from our party in the government, so as to implement the government’s programme,” he told the Cyprus Mail.

  He added that this has been the subject of recent meetings between outgoing party leader Nikos Anastasiou and President Nikos Christodoulides, and that as such, the party intends to continue in government.

  Deputy government spokesman Yiannis Antoniou had said earlier in the day that Panayiotou was to leave the government and “take a position in the education sector”.

  Panayiotou, a philology teacher, was included on the educational service commission’s list of appointees to teaching roles in February for the coming September.

  Rumours of a cabinet reshuffle have been rife since May’s parliamentary elections, which saw Edek, as well as fellow government-supporting party Dipa, lose all their seats in the House.

  It is believed that Diko, which, with its eight seats in parliament, is now the only government-supporting party in the legislature, may wish to use this fact to grow its stake in the current government.

  At present, three ministries are run by Diko, with Finance Minister Makis Keravnos, Energy Minister Michael Damianos, and Health Minister Neophytos Charalambides belonging to the party.

  Dipa and Edek currently control three ministries between them, with Labour Minister Marinos Mousiouttas and Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas belonging to Dipa, and the departing Panayiotou belonging to Edek.

  Edek had expressed dissatisfaction with Christodoulides’ most recent cabinet reshuffle, which was carried out in November last year, and which saw no new ministers appointed who belonged to Edek, leaving Panayiotou as the party’s only minister.

  Anastasiou said at the time that “we expected that the president … would see Edek in a better light”, though now the party is without seats in parliament, it finds itself in a weaker position.

  Both House President Annita Demetriou and Akel leader Stefanos Stefanou both demanded that she be relieved of her duties earlier this year, with the former saying that “patience” with Panayiotou “has its limits”, and Stefanou saying that it is “incomprehensible” that Panayiotou remains in post.

  Last year, too, it was reported that she may lose her job after the wildfire, after having made comments which were deemed insensitive. She said of the fire that “the only way we could have prevented [it] was for it not to have started”.

  Meanwhile, then Disy MP Kyriakos Hadjiyiannis said that she and Gregoriou had both misled parliament in their testimonies before a joint session of the House interior, agriculture, and environment committees which was convened to examine the state’s response to the fires.

• Small parcel orders to Cyprus remain high despite €3 tariff

  Cypriot consumers continued to place large numbers of orders through online platforms such as Shein and Temuafter the introduction of a temporary €3 customs duty, with more than 100,000 parcels recorded during the first 15 days of this month.

  The volume of packages is expected to increase further, with authorities estimating that monthly shipments could reach between 200,000 and 250,000 parcels.

  Speaking to Alpha TV on Friday, Customs Department spokesman George Constantinou said the duty had not significantly affected consumer demand, as purchases from the platforms remained financially attractive despite the additional charge.

  “This is what we were saying from the beginning, that this temporary three-euro tariff will not significantly affect consumer purchases, because it is still advantageous to buy from these platforms,” he said.

  The temporary charge applies at a rate of €3 per product category for certain low value imports, meaning a single parcel containing several items from different categories may incur multiple charges.

  Constantinou explained that where consumers have not already paid the duty during the ordering process, the charge may be collected by courier companies or the post office upon delivery or collection.

  However, he said consumers would not be required to pay the fee if products were shipped from a warehouse within another European Union member state where customs duties had already been paid.

  Since July 1, more than 100,000 parcels containing around 400,000 product categories have entered Cyprus, with each parcel containing an average of four to five items.

  “Since we have the first fifteen days, we have around 400,000 already times €3, if you calculate it we are around €1.2 million in the first fifteen days,” Constantinou said.

  He added that 75 per cent of the revenue would be allocated to the EU, while 25 per cent would remain in Cyprus as administrative costs associated with enforcement.

  According to customs data, clothing accounts for the largest proportion of shipments arriving through the platforms, while plastic products also represent a significant portion of imported items.

  Constantinou said the increase in declarations for low value packages followed the introduction of a new automated import system, under which platforms submit declarations directly to Cyprus.

  Previously, he explained, some companies submitted declarations in other EU member states before parcels were released and transported to Cyprus, meaning they did not require direct declaration to Cypriot authorities.

  The customs department said the continued volume of imports demonstrates that the introduction of the temporary tariff has so far had limited impact on consumer behaviour.

• Self-Host Weekly (17 July 2026)
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Github

• Repository-level GitHub Copilot usage metrics generally available

  The Copilot usage metrics REST API now reports repository-level activity. Two new endpoints return a daily, per-repository breakdown of pull request activity for Copilot coding agent and Copilot code review. They do this for both enterprise and organization reports.

  What’s new

  Two new endpoints return a per-repository report for a single day:

  • GET /enterprises/{enterprise}/copilot/metrics/reports/repos-1-day?day=YYYY-MM-DD
  • GET /orgs/{org}/copilot/metrics/reports/repos-1-day?day=YYYY-MM-DD

  Each response returns the following activity:

  • Pull requests created and merged by Copilot coding agent.
  • Pull requests reviewed by Copilot code review, with suggestion counts broken down by comment type.

  Why this matters

  Until now, Copilot usage metrics stopped at the organization and user level. Repository-level reporting lets you see exactly where Copilot coding agent and Copilot code review are driving pull request activity across your codebase. This is the foundation for repository insights and AI-readiness reporting, so you can target enablement at the repositories that stand to benefit most.

  Important notes

  Enterprise owners and billing managers, organization owners, and anyone with a custom organization or enterprise role that grants the View Copilot Metrics permission can access these reports. The Copilot usage metrics policy must be enabled to support this functionality.

  Visit the Copilot usage metrics API documentation to get started.

  The post Repository-level GitHub Copilot usage metrics generally available appeared first on The GitHub Blog.

• GitHub Copilot app now available in the usage metrics API

  The Copilot usage metrics API now reports the GitHub Copilot app usage in the enterprise and organization 1-day and 28-day reports. This gives enterprise and organization admins visibility into the app’s activity alongside the IDE, chat, code review, and coding agent metrics they already retrieve.

  What’s new

  The enterprise and organization reports now include two new fields:

  • daily_active_copilot_app_users: The number of distinct users active in the Copilot app on a given day.
  • totals_by_copilot_app: A dedicated GitHub Copilot app section reporting session_count, request_count, prompt_count, and a token_usage breakdown (i.e., output_tokens_sum, prompt_tokens_sum, and avg_tokens_per_request).

  Why this matters

  The GitHub Copilot app activity was not previously represented in usage reporting. With these fields, enterprise and organization admins can see how broadly the app is being adopted (e.g., distinct active users, session and request volume, and token consumption) in the same API they already use for the rest of their Copilot usage metrics.

  Important notes

  • These fields appear in the enterprise and organization 1-day and 28-day reports.
  • The GitHub Copilot app usage is reported in its own totals_by_copilot_app section and is kept separate from the generic feature, model, and language totals, as well as from lines-of-code metrics.
  • Enterprises or organizations with no GitHub Copilot app activity report null for both daily_active_copilot_app_users and totals_by_copilot_app, so existing integrations are unaffected.

  Visit the Copilot usage metrics API documentation to get started.

  The post GitHub Copilot app now available in the usage metrics API appeared first on The GitHub Blog.

• Copilot code review: Customization and configurability improvements

  Copilot code review now utilizes a firewall, custom setup steps, and independent runner configurations. It now reads custom instructions from the head branch to allow for easy testing and validation of custom instructions. These changes give administrators and developers more control over how Copilot code review runs in their environment.

  Expanding custom instructions, now easier to validate

  📝 Custom instructions now read from the head branch

  Custom instructions are now read from the head branch of the pull request instead of the base branch. This includes copilot-instructions.md, *.instructions.md, agent skills, and AGENTS.md. This means you can iterate on and test custom instructions in a feature branch without needing to merge them first.

  📄 Expanded custom instructions file support

  Copilot code review now reads REVIEW.md, GEMINI.md, and CLAUDE.md files from your repository, so your customizations are understood regardless of where they live. If your team already maintains review guidelines or model-specific instructions in these files, Copilot code review will automatically pick them up and incorporate them into its review process.

  🔧 Custom setup steps

  You can now configure the environment available to Copilot code review during runtime using a copilot-code-review.yml file in your .github/workflows/ directory. This lets you install dependencies, configure runners on the repository level independently of Copilot cloud agent, set up tooling, or run any preparation steps that Copilot code review needs to produce the reviews you desire for your repository.

  • Add a copilot-code-review.yml file to your repository to define setup steps specific to Copilot code review.
  • If no copilot-code-review.yml file exists, Copilot code review will fall back to your existing copilot-setup-steps.yml file if one is present.

  To learn more about how to set up a copilot-code-review.yml file, see our documentation on setting the Copilot code review environment.

  🛡️ Firewall support

  Copilot code review now runs behind a firewall by default, restricting network access during a review. The firewall is configurable separately from Copilot cloud agent in repository and organization settings, giving you independent control over each agent’s network access.

  • The firewall is enabled by default for all repositories.
  • To configure this setting in your repository, navigate to your repository settings, then go to Copilot → Internet access.

  ⚠️ Self-hosted runners do not currently support the firewall. If you have self-hosted runners configured for Copilot code review, your reviews will continue to run as usual without the firewall.

  ⚙️ Organization runner configuration updates for Copilot code review

  Copilot code review and Copilot cloud agent previously shared a single runner configuration at the organization level. That configuration is now split into two separate sections on the Runner type settings page in your organization settings, allowing you to independently choose different runner types for each agent.

  To update your configuration, navigate to your organization settings, then go to Copilot → Runner type.

  The post Copilot code review: Customization and configurability improvements appeared first on The GitHub Blog.

• GitHub Mobile: Fix pull request comments with Copilot cloud agent

  You can now select Fix with Copilot directly from Copilot code review pull request comments in GitHub Mobile. The button is available both on the pull request’s main view and on individual review comments, giving you multilpe ways to start a Copilot-assisted fix.

  Copilot cloud agent helps you respond to review feedback without requiring you to manually compose a prompt, making it easier to get started in one tap. Whether you’re away from your desk or reviewing changes on the go, this new entry point helps you address comments more quickly and keep pull requests moving forward.

  This is now available on the latest production build of GitHub Mobile on iOS and Android.

  Join the discussion within GitHub Community.

  The post GitHub Mobile: Fix pull request comments with Copilot cloud agent appeared first on The GitHub Blog.

Reddit

r/golang

• Goph v2 - New Version Released

  Hey all,

  Just shipped Goph v2, a rewrite of my little SSH client library. The goal was always to keep it simple and dependency light and still nothing beyond sftp.

  What's in it:

  - Functional options API (feels a lot cleaner than v1)
  - Context aware command execution
  - SOCKS5 proxy
  - Jump hosts, and proxy + jump chaining
  - Keyboard interactive auth for OTP/2FA
  - Script execution from an io.Reader or File with support for custom interpreter
  - SFTP file ops, known hosts helpers, and a reusable Dialer and more..

  Also pushed v1.5.2 on the v1 branch, security update bumping x/crypto for anyone still on v1

  Repo: https://github.com/melbahja/goph

  Feedback and issues welcome!

  submitted by /u/melbahja
  [link] [comments]
• How do you inline func calls that return an error?

  Let's say I have a string someNumber that I know for sure contains a number, so I can be sure that a call to strconv.Atoi(certainNumber) will not return an error as the second return value.

  Since I don't need to check the error value, and since strconv.Atoi is a trivial function, I'd like to inline this into another call, e.g.

  fmt.Printf("result: %d\n", strconv.Atoi(someNumber))

  It seems to me this isn't possible in Go. Unless there is a way to select the first value from the (int,error) tuple? I tried strconv.Atoi(someNumber)[0] but that's not allowed.

  submitted by /u/Shyam_Lama
  [link] [comments]
• I tested code-health analysis on Hugo’s Go codebase and compared the results with its real bug-fix history

  Hi r/golang,

  I have been working on Repowise, an open-source tool that analyses a repository using its source code structure, Git history, documentation and relationships between files.

  One part of Repowise assigns every file a code-health score from 1 to 10. I recently tested this system on Hugo to understand whether files with lower scores were also more likely to appear in bug-fix commits.

  How the file score is calculated

  The analysis uses 25 measurable code-health markers.

  A marker represents a specific condition that may make a file harder to understand, test, modify or maintain. Examples include:

  * Functions that are unusually long, deeply nested or difficult to follow
  * Repeated blocks of similar logic
  * Frequently changed files with limited test coverage
  * Files modified by many developers without clear ownership
  * Files that repeatedly change together despite having no direct import relationship
  * Important code whose original maintainers are no longer active in the repository

  The tool examines two main sources of information:

  * The abstract syntax tree, or AST: a structured representation of the code that allows the tool to identify functions, conditions, nesting and other language-level elements.
  * Git history: the record of how files changed over time, including who changed them, how often they changed and which files were commonly edited together.

  The health analysis does not call a large language model while scoring a repository.

  The scoring process uses fixed rules and fixed weights. Running it twice on the same commit produces the same result, which makes the score suitable for continuous integration checks and historical comparisons.

  What I tested on Hugo

  I analysed 946 files from the Hugo repository.

  For this test, I classified a file as recently involved in a bug when it had been modified by a bug-fix commit during the previous six months.

  I then examined the 20 files with the lowest health scores.

  Seventeen of those 20 files had been touched by a recent bug fix. Across the repository as a whole, approximately 15% of files had been touched by such a fix.

  This means the lowest-scoring files were around five times more likely to have recent bug-fix activity than an average file in the repository.

  The lowest-scoring 20% of files also contained roughly 60% of all files associated with recent fixes.

  Example from the report

  The lowest-rated file was:

  config/allconfig/allconfig.go

  It received a health score of 1 out of 10.

  The report found a function containing:

  * 269 lines
  * A cyclomatic complexity value of 60
  * Seven levels of nesting
  * Three bug-fix commits during the six-month test period

  Cyclomatic complexity estimates how many independent execution paths exist inside a function. A higher value usually means that the function contains more branches and requires more cases to understand and test.

  Two particularly useful markers were:

  * Untested hotspot: a file that changes frequently or plays an important role while having limited test coverage
  * Developer congestion: a file edited by many developers, which can indicate distributed ownership and coordination difficulty

  These markers performed better in this test than measurements such as nesting depth or cyclomatic complexity alone.

  The Hugo result above measures the relationship between the current score and the repository’s existing history.

  I also ran a time-based evaluation across 21 repositories and nine programming languages.

  For each repository, Repowise scored the code at an earlier point in time. I then checked which files received bug fixes during the following six months.

  The evaluation produced an AUC of approximately 0.74 across all tested repositories and approximately 0.81 for Go repositories.

  AUC, or area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, measures how well a system ranks files that later receive bug fixes above files that do not. A value of 0.5 represents random ranking, while a value of 1.0 represents perfect ranking.

  Links

  Repository:

  https://github.com/repowise-dev/repowise

  Hugo code-health report:

  https://www.repowise.dev/repo/gohugoio/hugo/health

  Each file in the report includes its detected markers, the relevant functions and line ranges, the supporting measurements and the number of points deducted from its score.

  Feedback, questions and contributions are welcome.

  submitted by /u/aiandchai
  [link] [comments]
• DDD: I wrote a free 9-chapter tutorial on Domain-Driven Design in Go, anchored to an (opinionated) working codebase

  Most DDD material is either theory with no runnable code or a huge codebase with no explanation. I tried to do both halves: a tutorial that teaches DDD from zero (entities, value objects, aggregates, repositories, CQRS, domain events with a transactional outbox, race-safe idempotency, testing strategy), where every chapter links to real files in a enterprise/production-grade template you can clone and run with docker compose.

  Code/Template: https://github.com/sklinkert/go-ddd

  It's opinionated (sqlc over ORM, integer cents for money, testcontainers for integration tests), and I tried to be honest about trade-offs... including when DDD is overkill.

  Happy to answer questions or hear where the explanations fall short!

  submitted by /u/rgnrldbrk
  [link] [comments]
• Closures but no function-local static variables

  I was wondering today, why would the Golang designers have chosen to support closures, but not function-local static variables as in C?

  Effectively, closed-over variables are function-local statics that arise when the surrounding scope disappears, and remain for as long as the function instance isn't GC'ed. At least that's my mental model of them.

  But because they arise implicitly, and multiple copies can exist of what lexically appears to be a single variable (analogous to multithreaded execution), closed-over variables are, in my opinion, quite a bit harder to grok than explicit function-local statics, which are conceptually very simple.

  This seems strange to me: to support the subtler, harder-to-understand concept but disallow the simpler, explicit equivalent. Only thing I can think of is that function-local statics invite multi-threading problems if the static is a "true" static instead of a thread-local static, but that's a choice the designers would have had if they'd wanted to support them.

  Of course various other languages (e.g. Java) have made the same choice to support closures but not function-local statics, so perhaps I should post this in r/Programming. Still, I thought I'd try here first.

  submitted by /u/Shyam_Lama
  [link] [comments]
• oapi-codegen 2.8.0 is out: OpenAPI 3.1, fewer assumptions, and a giant bug hunt

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

• we interviewed Thorsten Ball in go podcast(), you might be interested.

  Hey,

  Thorsten joined us in our last go podcast() episode, we talk about Amp, LLM, AI, what it means to software engineering, we do not always have the same vision and opinion and that's fine ;).

  I know there's an AI fatigue, but kind of innevitable to talk about this from time to time. Hopefully you find the episode entertaining, Thorsten is great speaker as always.

  https://gopodcast.dev/episodes/093-agentic-engineering-is-here-to-stay-with-thorsten-ball

  submitted by /u/dstpierre
  [link] [comments]
• Vendoring broken

  HI,

  I have a golang project (kubebuilder Kubernetes Operator) and I wanted to ask, why my Golang packages vendoring is broken.

  I get the message:

  0.138 go: inconsistent vendoring in /workspace: 0.138 github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2@v2.32.0: is explicitly required in go.mod, but not marked as explicit in vendor/modules.txt 

  Ginkgo is defined in modules.txt as:

  # github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2 v2.32.0 ## explicit; go 1.25.0 github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2 github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/config github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/formatter github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/ginkgo github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/ginkgo/automaxprocs github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/ginkgo/build github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/ginkgo/command github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/ginkgo/generators github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/ginkgo/internal github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/ginkgo/labels github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/ginkgo/outline github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/ginkgo/run github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/ginkgo/unfocus github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/ginkgo/watch github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/internal github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/internal/global github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/internal/interrupt_handler github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/internal/parallel_support github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/internal/reporters github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/internal/testingtproxy github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/reporters github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2/types 

  It it is defined as explicit. What's wrong here?

  submitted by /u/Electronic_Bad_2046
  [link] [comments]
• Compile time Otel instrumentation for Go is now v1

  This is pretty big. Unlike Python/TS, OTel makes a mess out of Go services because you can't auto-instrument. Instead, you have to pepper your code with cross-cutting instrumentation code.

  Now, there are some cases where it's unavoidable and you need custom telemetry code occluding the actual code to some extent, but much of the basic instrumentation should be done automatically without polluting your code.

  Now you can do that. The tool hooks into your build and uses standard -toolexec to inject instrumentation at build time. This way, your code stays clean and you don't pay as much runtime cost for instrumentation.

  Give it a spin!

  https://opentelemetry.io/blog/2026/go-compile-time-instrumentation-v1/

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

Movie Trailers

• Behemoth! Movie Trailer
• The Mongoose Movie Trailer
• The Uprising Movie Trailer