Wednesday, July 8, 2026
b80eee7c-db50-4f5f-9bdc-ccb9d6139f5a
| Summary | ⛅️ Mostly clear until night. |
|---|---|
| Temperature Range | 22°C to 30°C (71°F to 85°F) |
| Feels Like | Low: 76°F | High: 95°F |
| Humidity | 76% |
| Wind | 13 km/h (8 mph), Direction: 242° |
| Precipitation | Probability: 52%, Type: No precipitation expected |
| Sunrise / Sunset | 🌅 05:42 AM / 🌇 08:03 PM |
| Moon Phase | Waning Crescent (77%) |
| Cloud Cover | 19% |
| Pressure | 1008.02 hPa |
| Dew Point | 71.08°F |
| Visibility | 5.88 miles |
On July 1, 2026, we announced Kimi K2.7 would be available to Copilot Pro, Pro+, and Max plans.
The model is now additionally available on Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise plans.
Kimi K2.7 Code, an open-weight model, is now generally available in GitHub Copilot. This is the first open-weight model offered as a selectable option in the Copilot model picker, giving you more choice and a lower-cost option for your coding workflows.
Kimi K2.7 Code is hosted by GitHub on Microsoft Azure.
This model is billed at provider list pricing under usage-based billing. See GitHub Copilot’s pricing for models and requests for details.
Kimi K2.7 Code is off by default for Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise. Plan administrators must enable the Kimi K2.7 Code policy in Copilot settings before anyone in their organization can select it. If the policy is left off, the model stays unavailable to that organization.
We recommend administrators review open-weight models against their own security, compliance, and data-governance requirements before enabling them.
The post Kimi K2.7 now available for Copilot Business and Enterprise appeared first on The GitHub Blog.
Enterprise admins can now create cost center user-level budgets directly in the billing UI where you manage cost centers and budgets. This feature is available for GitHub Enterprise Cloud. This gives you the same per-user AI credit budget controls that were previously only available through the REST API.
With this release, you can add enterprise teams or individual users to a cost center, set one per-user budget for that cost center, and have it automatically apply to everyone in it. As membership changes, budget coverage stays in sync, so you don’t need to reconfigure budgets when people move teams.
To learn more, see Budgets for usage-based billing and Control GitHub costs at scale.
The post Per-user budgets for cost centers in the billing UI appeared first on The GitHub Blog.
To help you understand ownership and impact of a leaked secret, GitHub secret scanning surfaces enriched metadata for supported secret types. Extended metadata checks are now generally available, including support for multipart validators with supplementary metadata.
These updates expand on existing validity checks to give more actionable context for triage and remediation, enabling development and security teams to assess exposure faster and prioritize remediation.
Secret scanning already performs validity checks for most secret providers, verifying whether a detected secret is active. You can now extend those checks to include additional metadata from supported providers, including details about a secret’s owner, secret creation and expiry dates, and project or organization context.
Metadata is surfaced across list and detail views, including alert list filters, security campaign creation, webhook events, and the REST API. GitHub makes a best effort to display metadata for the secret—metadata availability can vary by secret provider, token type, and possibly even for a specific secret at different points in time.
In addition, some secret types require more than the secret literal itself to determine its validity. When possible, GitHub will leverage supplementary metadata in order to determine if a secret is still active. Multipart validity checks now cover key credential formats across major providers.
Coverage includes Alibaba Cloud, Databricks token and workspace URL combinations, multiple Microsoft Azure key and host or endpoint pairs, and more.
GitHub will continually add support for additional secret types on a rolling basis.
Learn more about securing your repositories with secret scanning and see the full list of supported secrets in our documentation.
The post Secret scanning extended metadata and multipart validation appeared first on The GitHub Blog.
You can now restrict who can dismiss pull request reviews directly in GitHub repository rulesets. This capability is generally available and gives you precise control over who can clear an approval before changes merge.
The setting lives alongside the other review options in the Require a pull request before merging rule. Rulesets are the recommended way to protect your branches, and this setting lives inside a rule you already use.
With this rule, you can:
Open any repository-level ruleset, enable Require a pull request before merging, and select Restrict who can dismiss reviews.
This capability is generally available for repository rulesets on github.com.
Learn more in our documentation about rulesets.
Join the discussion within GitHub Community.
The post Restrict who can dismiss reviews in rulesets appeared first on The GitHub Blog.
The GitHub Copilot app is now available on every Copilot plan. Sign in with your GitHub account to start agent-driven development from your desktop. Available on macOS, Windows, and Linux platforms.
With this release:
Ready to try it? Download the GitHub Copilot app to start your first session.
Want to learn more? Check out our docs about getting started with the GitHub Copilot app.
To access the GitHub Copilot app on a Copilot Business or Enterprise plan, your organization or enterprise admin must have the Copilot CLI enabled in the policy settings.
The post GitHub Copilot app available to all appeared first on The GitHub Blog.
The Copilot Billing Preview app will be retired on August 3, 2026. If you use it to review your GitHub Copilot spend, you can get even greater visibility directly in your GitHub billing settings.
The app was built to help you understand your bill as Copilot moved to usage-based billing. Since then, your billing settings have grown to cover details the app’s underlying reports can’t show (e.g., user-level budgets, cost centers, and how usage pools are allocated). Rather than leave you with an incomplete picture, GitHub is retiring the app in favor of the built-in experience.
You can review and manage your Copilot spend without the app:
To learn more, see GitHub Copilot billing.
The post Copilot Billing Preview app will be retired on August 3 appeared first on The GitHub Blog.
The scheduled European Parliament vote on a report into the sexual violence suffered by Cypriot women during Turkey’s invasion of 1974, which is set to take place on Wednesday, is “incomprehensible”, German MEP Irmhild Bossdorf, of far-right party the Alternative for Germany, said on Tuesday.
“The Cyprus conflict is one of the topics at today’s Nato summit. Tomorrow, the president of the European Council, the president of the European Commission, and Turkish President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan will meet to discuss it. A solution to the Cyprus conflict is not expected,” she told the day’s plenary session.
She added that “while Turkey is demanding a two-state solution as the basis for further negotiations, the EU prefers moving closer to a confederation model”.
“We Germans, in particular, know how difficult it is to reconcile decades after the outbreak of a conflict, to resume dialogue, and to forgive one another. We have made considerable progress in this with our Polish neighbours. We are now working together in the European Parliament for a Europe of sovereign nations,” she said.
As such, she added, “it is all the more comprehensible, therefore, that the European Parliament’s [gender equality committee (Femm)] has chosen to issue a resolution today concerning the 1974 attacks by Turkish armed forces on Cypriot women and girls”.
“No one wants to downplay or trivialise the suffering and crimes of that era, yet here is another attempt to link an ongoing geopolitical conflict to EU directives on gender mainstreaming,” she said.
To this end, she said that “a hearing involving gender-sensitive [non-government organisations] to formally recognise past witness testimony within the EU’s institutional framework, a retrospective justification of abortions to place them within the international legal context, and EU financial and technical support for gender-sensitive counselling are not the pressing issues between Turkey and Greece”.
“Once again, the Femm committee is overstepping its authority and wants this conflict to be interpreted through a gender lens. What an outrage! Let us instead work on improving cooperation between these two Nato partners,” she said.
Thirty-nine undeclared salaried employees were identified by the labour inspection department in April following checks at 156 locations, the department said on Tuesday.
Sixteen fines, totalling to €88,200, were given.
The department said that the purpose of the inspections was to raise awareness of the consequences of undeclared work.
Of the 156 premises, 147 were employers and nine were self-employed individuals, with 434 workers checked altogether.
Under Cyprus law, if an undeclared worker is identified by the Social Insurance department, a €1,000 fine is imposed on each employee for every month of the violation, with a €500 increase every six months.
If repeat violations are found within two years, the fine increases to €2,000 for the second infraction within the time frame and €3,000 for the third and further infractions.
According to the department, of the 434 workers inspected, 142 were Greek Cypriots, four were Turkish Cypriots, 110 were European Union citizens and a 178 were third country nationals.
A middle age woman who got her high school leaving certificate (apolytirio) with top honours decades after she left school was on Tuesday congratulated by Education Minister Athena Michaelidou.
Anastasia Constantinou who graduated by attending classes at night school.
Michaelidou said she was a source of inspiration for every citizen.
Constantinou said completing her education had been “a lifelong dream”, one that “everyone is capable of achieving, as long as there is a will”.
The minister emphasised the importance of strengthening the evening school as part of the overall educational system, as it gives a second chance and opens the door to people whose circumstances denied them the completion of their education.
“When personal effort meets a government that creates real opportunities, then education becomes a force for change for individuals and for society,” Michaelidou said.
Evening school represents one of the most significant manifestations of this aim, and is thus “a key pillar of social cohesion and personal development”, she added.
“Education never ends,” Constantinou said.
The welfare services are undergoing a “restructuring” making them more responsive to people’s needs, the government said on Tuesday, but skeptical MPs countered that the proof is in the pudding.
Briefing the House labour committee, Deputy Social Welfare Minister Clea Hadjistefanou-Papaellina spoke of an ongoing effort “to boost social cohesion, protect vulnerable groups and build a society of equal opportunity, inclusion and solidarity”.
She said the social welfare services are being restructured to make them “more modern and effective”.
Hadjistefanou-Papaellina cited the various bills being pushed forward concerning children under the custody and care of the social welfare services, the new adoptions law, and the new legislative framework governing the operation of nurseries, children’s carers and child protection services.
At the same time, the welfare benefits department is being beefed up and is transitioning to digital technology.
The deputy minister made special mention of a law passed this year regarding the inclusion and independent living of people with disabilities, calling it “an historic reform that radically changes the way we approach the rights of the disabled”.
The government is meanwhile striving to improve disability assessment processes, and expand employment opportunities and social integration.
“The Christodoulides administration and the deputy ministry of social welfare remain committed to implementing our commitments, aiming at a modern, effective and people-centred system of social protection that ensures no one gets left behind,” Hadjistefanou-Papaellinasaid to the media afterwards.
Opposition MPs though had their doubts.
Akel’s Giorgos Koukoumas said: “We’re waiting to see about the restructuring of the welfare services.”
The issue has been studied since 2019, he added.
Regarding people with disabilities, Koukoumas noted that Cyprus holds a low rank compared to other EU countries.
“We’re waiting for the new law passed by parliament, with all its drawbacks, to be implemented in practice and bring results,” he said.
“We can’t disregard the fact that disabled people themselves say that their real needs are far larger than the benefits approved by the government.”
Elam MP Linos Hadjigeorgiou took it in a different direction. He said his party asked the deputy minister about the welfare benefits given to non-EU nationals.
“The deputy ministry was not able to answer, since no distinctions are made. Every year some €200 million is spent on illegal migrants, and we are asking for the exact amount given in benefits and that it should immediately cease, especially to those who are here illegally.”
Greek member of the European Parliament Eleonora Meleti on Tuesday told her fellow MEPs that she had promised that “someone will finally take care of these open wounds” as the parliament debated her report into sexual violence committed against women and girls during Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974.
“This is not just a resolution on Cyprus which I am asking you to support. It is the story behind the resolution. It is the women, the girls, those who left, those who are still here, those who we met a year ago on our mission, those who told us the darkest stories of violence, despair, humiliation, and abuse,” she said.
She added that many of those who suffered sexual abuse “were still underage girls, pregnant women, newlywed daughters, mothers, grandmothers”, and that they were “tortured, raped, and abused by the Turkish invaders”.
Last year, Meleti, who belongs to Greek ruling party Nea Dimokratia, had led a factfinding visit to the island where she had met sexual abuse victims, and she explained on Tuesday that “the women we met last year broke their silence for the first time in 51 years”.
“Many of them saw us without letting their husbands and children know. They admitted that they had never spoken, either out of fear or shame,” she said, adding that “their rape did not end then” but instead “continued through stigma, isolation, marginalisation, rejection, loneliness”.
The people whom she interviewed, she said, “spoke for all those who will forever remain condemned to silence”.
“Before leaving Cyprus, we made a promise; that we would make the cries of these women heard everywhere and heard loudly, that we would give our all so that they … would be recognised as victims of war crimes, so that someone would finally take care of these open wounds, even if slowly,” she said.
She added that she hopes that “rape will be recognised as a weapon in conflict zones”, and for “Turkey to pay compensation for the victims”, as well as “to send a strong message that everything it did cannot be forgotten because it belongs in the past”.
“We made a promise that the pain of these women, the collective trauma of the Cypriots, will not remain silent or invisible. Therefore, it is not the resolution that I call on you to support, it is the history which has already been written. It is the soul, the need for vindication of the victims, the promise we made, the women of Cyprus,” she said.
She had given her address on behalf of the European People’s Party, the centre-right grouping to which both Disy and President Nikos Christodoulides belong, and next to speak was Italian MEP Cecilia Strada, representing the centre-left Socialists and Democrats, the grouping to which Diko belongs.
“The Turkish invasion turned the island into a theatre of massacres and horrors against the civilian population, with unprecedented ferocity. Rape was used extensively as an instrument of war, and the women and girls of the island paid the price,” she said.
She did, however, note that the violence experienced on the island was not a one-way street, saying that while “Turkish forces systematically gang raped and assaulted Greek Cypriot women aged 12 to 70”, the “fascist paramilitary forces of Eoka-B raped and massacred the female population of entire Turkish Cypriot villages”.
“As in too many war zones, the perpetrators went unpunished and the victims, in most cases, lacked access to adequate health and social care,” she said.
Greek MEP Afroditi Latinopoulou, speaking on behalf of the far-right Patriots for Europe group, took a different angle, accusing her fellow MEPs of “wanting to put these cowardly murderers, who continue to this day to threaten Greece, our Cyprus, and Israel, in the European Union”, adding that “you are not ashamed”.
“For the Russian invader, we know how to speak and do the right thing. For the Turkish invader, however, we know only how to turn a blind eye, and what of our Cyprus, Famagusta, Kyrenia, Karpasia, Morphou, Karavas, Rizokarpaso? Still, there, our blood-sanctified lands lie under the Turkish invader,” she said.
She added that her fellow MEPs had chosen “silence” and had been “stuffed with the dirty money of the conqueror”.
Likewise, Elam MEP Geadis Geadi, speaking on behalf of the far-right European Conservatives and Reformists’ group, complained that “while we should be speaking about the obvious, we are here to restore some common sense”.
“It is a shame that senior officials of the European Union, [foreign policy chief Kaja] Kallas and [Enlargement Commissioner Marta] Kos, chose a few days ago to present Turkey as a key strategic partner, talking about deepening cooperation,” he said.
He said that “this attitude of theirs is an insult to the women whom we today declare that we are defending” and “an insult to the very values of the European Union”.
Estonian MEP Jana Toom, speaking on behalf of the centrist Renew Europe group, said that “these women were attacked for the simple fact that they were women” and that “they were put [through] this terrible suffering as a way to demoralise the population and achieve a military goal”.
“We have to recognise publicly the harm that the women of Cyprus went through. We have to ask for a better support system that can help women deal with the trauma. And we have to continue advocating for a permanent solution for Cyprus,” she said.
Next, Akel MEP Giorgos Georgiou, speaking on behalf of leftist group The Left, said that “in 1974, the Turkish armed forces in Cyprus systematically organised sexual violence against Greek Cypriot women and men of all ages”, and that this constitutes “another heinous crime [committed] by Turkey which remains unpunished”.
“However, we must be honest. Barbarities were also committed by Greek Cypriot paramilitary groups against Turkish Cypriot women. Rape has no colour, race, or religion. Wounds are difficult to heal,” he said.
He added that “Cyprus and the European Union have an obligation to ensure the rights, dignity, and historical memory of all women in Cyprus”, and called for “the common pain [to] become a driving force for bicommunal cooperation and peace on our island”.
The report will be put to a vote on Wednesday.
The family liaison officer who was assigned to Stylianos Constantinou, the 15-year-old boy who ended his life by suicide in 2019, on Tuesday told the Nicosia district court that “many alarm bells” had been raised regarding his living conditions in the years leading up to his death.
She was speaking as a prosecution witness in the trial of 11 people – Constantinou’s parents and nine employees of the social welfare services department – regarding the circumstances surrounding his death, and told the court that he had been subject to a “very serious” case of neglect.
Her involvement in Constantinou’s life began in 2010 when she was assigned to provide special education and speech therapy to him, and she told the court that “from the first session”, she had “realised that this was not a simple case of learning or speech therapy difficulties, but a very complex case”.
She said that just five days after she had been assigned to work with him, the question of whether he should be held back a year at pre school was raised, and that while most people involved were in favour of the idea, his mother did not agree.
Then, she said, in January 2011, she had been told that the children in his house were “very dirty” and that “there were mice, cockroaches and dogs in the house”.
Additionally, she said, “the father was brutally beating the mother, and the mother was beating Stylianos”.
She also told the court that the teaching assistant assigned to him had “considered resigning” as she had “developed rashes which were attributed to dirt”, while the child who sat next to him in class had “developed similar skin problems”.
On one occasion, she said, she had “become emotional” after seeing him at school, as his appearance exhibited an “incredible lack of care”.
She said that he “smelled” and had black marks on his hands, fingernails, and face.
Regarding his attainment at school, she said that he had “learning difficulties, fine motor difficulties, outbursts of anger, disorganisation, aggression and difficulties in relationships with other children”.
As such, she added, it was “obvious” that there were “issues of violence and neglect”.
She went on to say that he had reported that his father had “slaughtered” his “favourite goats” as a punishment.
Later, she said, following a conference with his mother in February 2011 in which “goals [had been] set [regarding] cleanliness, food security and confidentiality”, his relationship with his teacher and his teaching assistant had “collapsed” after he learned what had been discussed at the conference.
She said that he had begun to call his teachers “liars” and exhibit “very aggressive behaviour”, and also had shouted “not home!” when he was told that his parents would pick him up from school.
Her final conference with his parents came in May that year, when she said that “efforts had begun to improve the [child’s] living conditions” and that “there was a better picture of the child’s relations with the school environment”.
The trial will continue on Wednesday.
Constantinou was found dead at his family farm on September 5, 2019.
The government empowered ombudswoman Maria Stylianou Lottides to launch an investigation into the matter in September that year.
In her report, she found that both the police and the social welfare services department had failed to recognise the psychological violence directed at Constantinou by his father, as well as a pattern of violent behaviour towards his mother.
She said the social workers assigned to the case had showed “utter criminal negligence” and that as such, they may bear criminal responsibility for his death, while also saying that police officers had violated their own regulations and failed to inform the relevant government department about incidences of domestic violence.
After Constantinou’s death, his two younger siblings were removed from the family home.
Trade unions at the Electricity Authority of Cyprus have suspended strikes planned for Thursday following a meeting at the presidential palace on Tuesday afternoon.
The meeting was attended by the leadership of the four Eac Unions – Epopai, Sidikek, Sepaik and Sybaik – as well as Energy Minister Michalis Damianos, Deputy Minister to the President Irene Piki and EAC chairman Giorgos Petrou.
Epopai chairman Kyriacos Tafounas told the Cyprus News Agency that the unions had raised the issues that concern them during the meeting.
“I want to believe they were fully understood,” he said.
He added that the two sides will meet again on July 22, giving the government time to hold contacts with other ministries involved.
Depending on what is discussed at the next meeting, the unions will decide on their next steps, Tafounas said.
Earlier on Tuesday he had said essential safety personnel would be on duty at the authority’s power stations as part of the measures, ensuring electricity production remains stable throughout the industrial action.
He explained that if electricity demand increased or other operational needs arose, responsibility for managing the system and any potential power cuts would rest with the Transmission System Operator (TSO).
Tafounas said the threatened action follows previous protest measures and is intended to highlight what unions describe as serious concerns over electricity supply adequacy and the high cost of electricity for consumers.
He argued that the EAC should be allowed to purchase cheaper electricity from private renewable energy producers, saying this would help reduce costs.
He also stressed that the continued expansion of photovoltaic installations should be accompanied by adequate energy storage systems to ensure the stability and efficiency of the electricity network.
Prior to the meeting at the palace, the TSO has warned that the strike would lead to rolling power cuts as the amount of available power would be reduced.
Livestock farmers objected on Tuesday on hearing that the government is leaning toward local herds to replenish the animal stock destroyed amid measures taken to contain the spread of foot and mouth (FMD) disease.
In parliament, agriculture ministry permanent secretary Andreas Gregoriou said the government had initially considered importing animals from abroad to replace the around 10 per cent of the animal stock culled.
But later authorities decided that would take too long, and are now considering local herds for replenishment.
In addition, Gregoriou informed MPs that a special committee for the reconstitution of the animal stock will deliver a report by the end of July on the best way forward.
Hearing this, a representative of the Voice of Livestock Farmers group disagreed, arguing that inevitably samples would need to be taken from non-infected farming units designated for replenishment. The farmers oppose this, because if any livestock test positive for FMD they would have to be put down.
The farmers therefore insisted on bringing in animals from overseas.
The last case of FMD was recorded on June 10.
To date, 121 farming units have tested positive for the highly contagious disease. In 119 of these establishments, all the animals were culled.
Overall, 52,632 sheep and goats have been destroyed, corresponding to 11.5 per cent of the stock. In addition, 3,018 cattle (3.5 per cent of the stock) and 24,483 pigs (7.8 per cent of the stock).
Meanwhile the veterinary services continue testing, both inside and outside the affected areas.
Vaccination is ongoing. So far, the programme (first and second vaccinations) has covered 87 per cent of cattle, 67 per cent of sheep and goats, and 41 per cent of pigs.
Regarding compensation to farmers, Gregoriou said that to date €12.75 million has been paid out. This includes compensation for the destruction of milk and for animal feed.
However, there are 17 compensation applications that are pending. In seven of these cases, said senior veterinary officer Sotiria Georgiadou, authorities suspect that the farmers may have contributed to the spread of FMD – so payment is being withheld until a final determination is made.
Head of the Veterinary Association Demetris Epaminondas said that vaccinations and bio-security measures have played a big part in containing the spread of FMD.
“We believe that, after four months, we’re on a good path, but we must continue the effort to protect the remaining 90 per cent of the healthy animal population,” he said.
Hundreds of young swimmers will head to the pool in Larnaca this week for world aquatics day, celebrating the enthusiasm and talent of the next generation of Cypriot athletes.
The event will take place on July 8 and 9 at the Larnaca Olympic swimming pool, with 384 boys and girls aged between nine and 12 taking part.
The swimmers will represent ten nautical clubs and regional teams from across Cyprus.
The largest group will come from Famagusta North Coast with 75 athletes, followed by Larnaca with 64 and Limassol with 54.
The Cyprus Swimming Federation said the strong participation reflects the growing interest in competitive swimming among young athletes.
The programme includes individual races in freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly, as well as relay events.
Races will begin at 6.30pm on both days.
Increasing the lowest pensions and reducing the cut in pensions for early retirement were the two main items discussed by Labour Minister Marinos Mousiouttas with the House of Elders, it announced on Tuesday.
The meeting, which is part of an ongoing dialogue surrounding the quality of life for elders in Cyprus, was facilitated by Pancyprian Volunteerism Coordination Council. The PSSE said Mousiouttas was generally receptive to the major points raised.
According to PSSE, Mousiouttas said he supports pension increases, with a special focus on better supporting low-income pensioners.
He added that plans are in place to reduce the 12 per cent cut in pensions for those who retire early at 63, but with additional criteria introduced.
However, he was less supportive of extending the widow’s pension to men because the cost of implementing such a measure would be high.
On the topics of helping the elderly with digital skills and the Holiday Grant for low-income pensioners, Mousiouttas noted ongoing efforts in those areas and said they would continue.
A 28-year-old man was remanded for eight days on Tuesday after he was arrested for smuggling cocaine into Cyprus by concealing the drugs inside his body.
The suspect was stopped by officers from the drug squad (Ykan) and customs officials at Larnaca airport after arriving on a flight on Monday evening.
Police said the man admitted carrying drugs internally and was taken to Larnaca general hospital, where scans revealed multiple foreign objects inside his body.
So far, he has expelled six egg-shaped packages containing around 60g of cocaine.
He remains under police guard in hospital while Ykan Larnaca continues its investigation.
Two men, aged 29 and 21, were remanded for six days on Tuesday after police found drugs and cash in their possession and at their home in Paphos.
The pair were arrested after officers from the drug squad (Ykan) stopped their vehicle in Kato Paphos on Monday afternoon following a tip-off.
Police said officers found 3g of cannabis, 0.5g of methamphetamine and €700 in cash during the search.
A subsequent search of the suspects’ home uncovered 1g of cocaine, 10g of methamphetamine, 73 Captagon tablets, 197 grammes of cannabis and €4,250 in cash.
Ykan Paphos is continuing its investigation into suspected drug trafficking and money laundering.
Questions were raised on Tuesday regarding potential links between the lawyer of journalist Makarios Drousiotis, Leto Cariolou, and the investigator appointed by the anti-corruption authority to examine the allegations he had levelled in his book, Australian lawyer Gabrielle McIntyre.
Cariolou represented Drousiotis in a libel case filed against him by Victor Papadopoulos, who had served as deputy government spokesman and presidential press office director under Nicos Anastasiades, and now serves as presidential press office director under incumbent President Nikos Christodoulides.
She also represented him in the Drousiotis v Cyprus case, wherein he took the Republic of Cyprus to the European Court of Human Rights in 2022 after being found liable for defamation by the Supreme Court.
According to news website Sigma Live, in addition to representing Drousiotis, Cariolou had worked as a legal officer for the United Nations’ international residual mechanism for criminal tribunals.
In this capacity, she had worked on international criminal cases including the war crimes trials of Bosnian Serb officer Ratko Mladic, former Republica Srpska president Radovan Karadzic, and the trial of Rwandan politician Augustin Ngirabatware for inciting the Rwandan genocide.
The website reported that McIntyre had served as head legal counsel at the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the ad hoc UN court set up to try Mladic and Karadzic, among others, and of the international residual mechanism for criminal tribunals.
She, too, had therefore worked on the trials of Mladic, Karadzic and Ngirabatware, suggesting that the pair may have had some professional interaction. Ngirabatware was convicted in 2012, Karadzic in 2016, and Mladic in 2019.
McIntyre was appointed by transparency commissioner Harris Poyiadjis to lead the anti-corruption authority’s investigation into allegations made in Drousiotis’ book Mafia State in February 2024.
She was then last year appointed as director of the secretariat of the assembly of states parties to the Rome Statute, the treaty which established the International Criminal Court. The assembly of states parties is the International Criminal Court’s oversight and legislative body.
This appointment was made a few days after Anastasiades had testified before her and her fellow investigators, though on this front, assembly of states parties president Paivi Kaukoranta was keen to stress that due process had been followed in allowing her to undertake both that role and the role in Cyprus at the same time.
She told the Cyprus Mail that McIntyre had first “sought informal authorisation to complete her professional obligations” in Cyprus before accepting the position as director of the secretariat, before then filing a formal request to do so upon assuming her duties at the Hague. This request was accepted eight days after she took the job.
Additionally, she explained that McIntyre had worked on the investigation in Cyprus “outside her regular working hours and during periods of leave” until the report was submitted on April 30 this year.
She also denied reports that McIntyre had received €800 per working day for the investigation, with this figure having been widely reported in Cyprus at the time. Newspaper Phileleftheros, for example, wrote that she was “set to receive” €170,000 in total for her work in Cyprus.
“While permitted under the staff rules, Gabrielle McIntyre did not request authorisation to receive remuneration after taking up her position at the secretariat, and she did not receive remuneration from the Cypriot authorities for any work carried out following the taking up of her duties with the secretariat,” she said.
She then stressed that “McIntyre’s completion of an investigation into allegations of corruption in Cyprus on behalf of the [anti-corruption authority] was assessed as constituting no conflict of interest with her duties with the court”.
The European Parliament on Tuesday approved the allocation of over €9 million from the European Union solidarity fund for Cyprus to help rebuild infrastructure destroyed by the wildfire which tore through the Limassol district and killed two people last year.
A total of 642 MEPs voted in favour of the funds’ allocation, with 13 votes against and one abstention. All six Cypriot MEPs voted in favour, with Cyprus now set to receive €9.21m.
Following the vote’s passage, the parliament said that Cyprus had already received an advance payment of €2.3m to “assist [its] recovery effort”, and that now, “EU support will help finance emergency response measures”.
This, it said, will include “the restoration of essential infrastructure and public services, the clean-up of disaster-affected areas, and the provision of temporary accommodation, rescue services and other urgent recovery measures”.
It added that “thousands” of people were displaced as a result of last summer’s wildfire, and that more than 900 private properties were destroyed, while “education and healthcare services” were also disrupted.
As well as the funds for Cyprus, the parliament approved as part of the same package a total of €120.55m in funding for Spain in the aftermath of “several major wildfire outbreaks” last year, as well as €14.34m for Romania after severe flooding in May and June last year.
Like Cyprus, Spain had also received an advance payment, totalling €30m.
A recycling initiative launched during this year’s Mari and Kalavasos festivals successfully collected recyclable waste and will now be expanded to other community events across the Larnaca district, organisers said in a press release issued on July 7.
The initiative was organised by the Larnaca district local government organisation in collaboration with the Larnaca-Famagusta development agency during the Mari Festival on June 26 and the Kalavasos Festival on July 3.
Throughout the events, organisers collected recyclable materials separately from general waste, including plastic water bottles, aluminium drinks cans and cardboard juice cartons, with the aim of reducing the amount of waste sent for disposal.
The organisers emphasised that “the initiative is part of a broader effort to promote recycling, the circular economy, and environmental awareness among citizens,”
It also sought to encourage waste separation at source and demonstrate practices that could be adopted at similar community events.
Organisers said visitors actively participated in the initiative, which also promoted the principles of the “pay as you throw” waste management system.
Following the programme’s success, the Larnaca district government organisation reiterated that “the initiative will continue at future festivals across the Larnaca district, as part of wider efforts to increase recycling, reduce waste, and achieve national and European environmental targets”.
The local government organisation thanked the development agency, the community councils of Mari and Kalavasos, event organisers, volunteers and members of the public who supported the initiative.
Cyprus could face rolling power cuts from Thursday as strikes by Electricity Authority of Cyprus workers are expected to reduce available power, the Transmission System Operator Cyprus warned on Tuesday.
The TSO said electricity supply may have to be interrupted on a rotating basis for consumers for as long as the industrial action remains in force.
It also announced that the Competitive Electricity Market will be suspended throughout the duration of the measures because of the exceptional circumstances.
Trade unions intend to limit the number of available generating units and will not carry out the start-up or shutdown of generation units.
The operator warned that if a generating unit breaks down, there is no guarantee it can be replaced by another unit.
As a result, the TSO said it may be forced, in cooperation with the Distribution System Operator, to implement controlled load shedding during periods when available generation is insufficient to meet demand.
Based on current forecasts, electricity shortages are expected to occur between 5.30pm and 1am, with the highest demand between 7.30pm and 9.30pm.
During those peak hours, up to 25 per cent of total electricity demand may have to be disconnected through rolling outages.
The schedule of planned power cuts by area will be published on the TSO website the day before they are due to take place. However, the extent of the outages will depend on real-time electricity demand, weather conditions and the availability of generating units.
Curtailments of electricity generated from renewable energy sources are expected to increase during the industrial action.
The TSO said it has informed the energy ministry and the Energy Regulatory Authority and remains in constant coordination with the relevant authorities to manage the situation.
It apologised for the disruption consumers may experience and said every effort would be made to minimise the impact.
Going on a weekend getaway no longer has to involve queuing at the airport, booking an expensive flight, or making months-long preparations.
Instead, more and more Cypriots are engaging in what travel experts call “darecations” and “micro adventures,” short trips that revolve around outdoor activities, physical challenges and exploring places within their own country.
From mountain biking and rock climbing to hiking, camping and nature based sports, outdoor adventure companies say they have observed increased interest from locals looking to take a break from routines and connect with nature.
According to founder of EcoTour Adventures Andreas Tsokkalides, this development has become especially noticeable in the last few years.
“Especially since the pandemic, I’ve seen the Cypriots for the first time trying to get to know their own country, but also many foreigners who reside permanently here.”
He says many are familiarising themselves with areas of the island that they never knew existed. “Now, apart from joining our tours, we meet the locals in many places that were unknown to them till recently, and I’m happy to see them exploring nature trails, the natural monuments, etc., and many bring their children, which is of course, great!”
At Adventure Mountain Park in Kyperounta, the same trend has been observed. “Over the last few years, we have seen a noticeable increase in Cypriots looking for outdoor experiences, particularly activities that can be enjoyed as a day trip or a weekend getaway,” says the team’s Jenny Schauroth.
According to the park, visitors are increasingly interested in adventures as opposed to simply visiting a destination.
“Many locals are discovering that adventure, beautiful landscapes, and memorable experiences do not necessarily require travelling abroad”.
For many, it is not just about engaging in an activity but more about being able to get away from the stress of everyday life. Adventure Mountain Park says that visitors tend to come to the park with a desire to combine adventure and spending time with their family while getting away from technology.
“A common theme is that people want a break from routine. They want to spend time outdoors, disconnect from screens, be active, and experience something different from their everyday environment.”
One reason the trend continues to grow is the sheer variety of experiences available within a relatively small area. Within an hour or so of Cyprus’ major cities, visitors can swap traffic for forests, mountain villages and coastal wilderness.
The Troodos region alone offers hiking, camping, mountain biking, rock climbing and archery, while Adventure Mountain Park also runs e-mountain bike tours, orienteering, Tyrolean traverse experiences and a forest puzzle challenge.
For those seeking more remote landscapes, EcoTour Adventures leads nature based 4×4 tours into areas that are difficult to reach by conventional vehicles, including parts of the Akamas peninsula and the Paphos forest.
“There are so many different places, and more activities nowadays,” says Tsokkalides of EcoTour Adventures. “Hundreds of kilometers of nature trails for all different styles, levels of difficulty, etc, can all be found at the Forestry Department website.”
He also highlights the increasing interest in kayaking, canoeing and independent exploration through hiking and navigation apps, an indication that more people are enjoying outdoor pursuits, whether they are locals or tourists.
This is because the activities offer the chance to discover Cyprus is a new light. “Many people are rediscovering Cyprus and realising how diverse the island really is,” Adventure Mountain Park notes. “They are finding hidden villages, mountain trails, forests and landscapes that they may never have visited before.”
Although the scenery may draw people in, operators say the lasting impact often does beyond spending a few hours outdoors.
According to Adventure Mountain Park, the activity itself often becomes secondary to how people feel afterwards. Many visitors leave physically tired but mentally refreshed, having stepped away from emails, deadlines, and everyday responsibilities.
“Nature has a way of simplifying things,” the team says. “When people spend time outdoors, their attention shifts away from emails, deadlines, and everyday responsibilities.”
They note that activities such as biking, climbing and navigation through forest environments need sufficient concentration for one to stay grounded in the present moment.
“Combined with fresh air, physical movement and natural surroundings, this often creates a sense of calm and mental clarity that can be difficult to find in daily life”.
For climbing guides, this experience can be even more transformative. “One of the most rewarding moments as a guide is seeing people overcome fears they have carried for years,” says Climb Hike Cyprus, run by Jenny Schauroth and Andreas Rossidis.
The company often deals with people who believe there is no way they would be able to climb a rock face or who are genuinely afraid of heights. “By the end of the day, many of them have achieved things they never imagined possible.” According to the guides, the change is usually visible. “People stand a little taller, smile a little more, and leave with a new sense of confidence.”
If the guides had to recommend one experience in Cyprus, their answer would be rock climbing. “One of the things that makes climbing so special is that it allows you to experience places from a completely different perspective.” They point to climbing areas in Akamas, where climbers can look out over Lara Bay, “surrounded only by birds, the sound of the wind and the natural beauty of the coastline.”
In a time of packed schedules and rising travel costs, escapes don’t always require a passport; sometimes they begin simply by saying yes to something new.
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The government is following the roadmap it drafted in 2025 to establish Cyprus as an all-year-round tourist destination with clear aims and priorities to develop alternative forms of tourism, highlight Cyprus’ nature, culture and people, and rejuvenate remote areas, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Tuesday.
Addressing the Cyprus Hoteliers Association (Pasyxe) annual meeting in Nicosia, during which Yiannis Pantazis took over the organisation’s reins from Thanos Michaelides, the president said the contribution of tourism to the economy recorded an increase from 12.8 per cent in 2023 to 14 per cent in 2025.
Furthermore, tourist arrivals have increased by 41.6 per cent since 2022, while revenue from tourism increased by 51.5 per cent during the same period.
The year 2025 was a record year with 4.5 million arrivals and €3.7 billion revenue generated by tourism, he said.
The president pointed out that this did not happen by chance, but was the result of cooperation between the public and private sector, as well as improvements made to decisive parameters, such as air connectivity and deepening relations with strategic partners and countries.
One of the current goals is to achieve connectivity with India, while flights to Kazakhstan have recently begun.
He did point out, however, that although 2026 kicked off well for tourism, it did not last due to the regional crisis.
Christodoulides explained that efforts are ongoing to restore the feeling of safety for travellers and in the meantime hoteliers had been supported with targeted measures, made possible due to “our responsible fiscal policy”.
“Today, evaluating the data so far, we can say that, under the circumstances, the losses … remain manageable,” he said, adding that efforts were being made to extend the tourist period till November to cover the losses accrued in March and April.
Christodoulides said Pasyxe, which is celebrating 90 years of contribution to tourism and the economy, “knows better than anyone that tourism is a sector facing continuous changes and developments”.
“Apart from the external factors that have affected, affect and will continue to affect tourism, it is equally important to acknowledge that its development is determined by our choices, the policies we implement and the decisions we make.”
Christodoulides said the tourism sector was “one of the main pillars of our economy, with a particularly important contribution to economic activity and the labour market”.
He furthermore highlighted the support Pasyxe offered during Cyprus’ EU presidency during the first half of the year, saying that “the hotel industry proved once again that it has the necessary infrastructure and know-how to provide high-level services.”
Addressing the meeting, outgoing president Michaelides presented proposals on behalf of Pasyxe to enhance the resilience of the tourism sector, including setting up a crisis management team, establishing a standing advisory body with representatives from the private sector and the deputy tourism ministry and creating a one stop shop to simplify procedures and attract investments.
During the meeting, Pasyxe presented its new platform Xenios Analytics, which gathers and analyses information concerning the performance of hotel businesses and their cost.
Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas on Tuesday urged newly commissioned officers of the Cyprus National Guard to pursue lifelong learning, lead with humanity and play their part in strengthening Cyprus’ deterrence capabilities.
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony for the 2026 class of second lieutenants, ensigns and pilot officers, Palmas congratulated the graduates on completing four years of military education, describing the occasion as both recognition of their efforts and the beginning of a career carrying greater responsibilities.
He said their education had combined academic excellence, specialised military training, physical and mental preparation and leadership development, equipping them for their future roles as National Guard officers.
Turning to the demands of military leadership, Palmas cited the ancient Athenian statesman Alkiviades’ maxim, ‘to command is to foresee’, saying effective leadership requires foresight, sound judgement and careful planning to anticipate challenges, assess developments and make decisions that safeguard both the mission and personnel.
He also quoted the philosopher Aristotle’s observation that “to govern is laborious”, telling the new officers that leadership demands continuous effort, constant vigilance and personal sacrifice.
Palmas said these timeless principles are even more relevant today as armed forces face rapid technological change, hybrid threats and an increasingly complex security environment. He stressed that preparedness, anticipation and adaptability are essential qualities for modern military leaders.
The minister also called on the graduates to lead with humanity, setting an example through their own conduct, demanding no more from their subordinates than they expect from themselves.
Palmas also welcomed the decision to name the 2026 graduating class of the Greek Military Academy after the late Tassos Markou, describing it as the first time in the academy’s history that a class has been named after a Cypriot officer.
He said the decision honoured Markou’s sacrifice while highlighting the enduring historical ties between Cyprus and Greece.
Palmas said investing in modern military capabilities, maintaining a high level of operational readiness and adapting to new forms of threats were essential to safeguarding Cyprus.
The government consulted the anti-corruption authority before appointing Ilias Anagnostopoulos as the second criminal investigator in the Mafia State case, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Tuesday.
Commenting on reactions to the appointment, Christodoulides said “some people limit themselves to expressing concern” and pointed out that this was “done primarily out of opposition-driven spite, and nothing else”.
“We are interested in the essence and this is to investigate everything the anti-corruption authority has publicised on seven charges,” he said.
The president added that before Anagnostopoulos was appointed, the government had contacted the anti-corruption authority and “made sure there is no problem”.
“So, let us leave the investigative committee to do its job, to produce a result and we will be here to comment on it.”
Their appointment follows the completion of the anti-corruption authority’s investigation into allegations contained in journalist Makarios Drousiotis’ book Mafia State.
On July 2, the government named a team of five criminal investigators to examine the anti-corruption authority’s findings.
The authority concluded that former president Nicos Anastasiades and other may be criminally liable for abuse of power.
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So I have just started learning Go I am stuck in closures part with this snippet, I asked Ai but I am more confused now :(
func myFunction() func(int) int { sum := 0 return func(v int) int { sum += v return sum } } ... add := myFunction() add(5) fmt.Println(add(10)) ... I’ve been experimenting with running wake-word inference directly in Go and just open-sourced a small package built around that idea:
Context: this came out of a speech/voice project where we needed a lower memory footprint and simpler deployment than the usual Python stack. The goal wasn’t to reinvent models — just make openWakeWord-style detection feel native in a Go audio pipeline.
Current focus:
* Streaming inference (mic or pipeline input) * ONNX / TFLite wake word models * Minimal dependencies, predictable latency * Works well for always-listening agents running on edge hardware
Not trying to position this as a replacement for the Python ecosystem — more like an option if your runtime is already Go and you don’t want to bridge languages.
Would genuinely appreciate feedback from folks building speech systems:
* API design choices * performance tradeoffs * anything missing that you’d expect in a production wake-word engine
Excelize is a library written in pure Go providing a set of functions that allow you to write to and read from XLAM / XLSM / XLSX / XLTM / XLTX files. Supports reading and writing spreadsheet documents generated by Microsoft Excel™ 2007 and later. Supports complex components by high compatibility, and provided streaming API for generating or reading data from a worksheet with huge amounts of data.
GitHub: github.com/xuri/excelize
We are pleased to announce the release of version 2.11.0. Featured are a handful of new areas of functionality and numerous bug fixes.
A summary of changes is available in the Release Notes. A full list of changes is available in the changelog.
The most notable changes in this release are:
golang.org/x/netAddChart, AddChartSheet and AddShape functions Title field data type of Chart from []RichTextRun to ChartTitleLine field data type of Shape from ShapeLine to LineOptionsChartDashType to LineDashTypeChartLineType to LineTypeChartLine to LineOptionsChartTitle data typePivotTableShowValuesAs data typePivotTableShowValuesAsType enumerationErrPivotTableShowValuesAsBaseField, ErrPivotTableShowValuesAsBaseItem and ErrUnsupportedPivotTableShowValuesAsTypeShowValuesAs in PivotTableField data typeSelectedItems in PivotTableOptions and SlicerOptions data typesAutoFitColWidth to support auto fit columns width, related issue #92SetSheetName function allow sheet rename for invalid source names, related issue #548CalcCellValue function supports tilde wildcard criteriaCalcCellValue function supports implicit intersection and fixes regex criteria anchoringCalcCellValue function supports 3D references across sheet ranges, related issue #2303CalcCellValue function supports returning formula calculation result with raw cell value, related issue #2316AddPivotTable function supports checking whether the same data field appears in pivot table column, rows and filter fields, to prevent generating a corrupted workbookAddPivotTable and GetPivotTables functions support setting and getting show values as of pivot table data fields, related issue #2340AddPivotTable, AddSlicer, GetPivotTables and GetSlicers functions support setting and getting selected items for pivot table and pivot table slicer, related issue #2154AddChart and AddChartSheet functions support setting chart title with formulaAddChart and AddChartSheet functions support setting chart title and chart axis title's layoutAddChart and AddChartSheet functions support setting line format for chart title and chart axis titleAddShape function supports setting line format of shapesNewStyle function supports auto foreground and background color when creating solid fill style when no custom color value is specifiedAddChart function panic when adding a chart with no fill seriesCalcCellValue function panic on invalid row reference in some cases, resolved issue #2266CalcCellValue functionCalcCellValue function calculation accuracy issue for formula functions BINOM.INV, CHIINV, CHISQ.DIST, IMSECH, IMSQRT and NEGBINOM.DISTCalcCellValue function returning incorrect calculation result of FREQUENCY in some casesCalcCellValue function returning incorrect calculation result when error values inside parentheses or operators, resolved issue #2344AddComment function assigning incorrect author ID for all comments when author already exists in authors list, resolved issue #2289SetCellFormula function not clearing shared formula metadata when overwriting with a normal formula, resolved issue #2337ColumnNumberToName function memory allocation reduced by about 90%CoordinatesToCellName function memory allocation reduced by about 13%isNumeric function memory allocation reduced by about 68%Thanks for all the contributors to Excelize. Below is a list of contributors that have code contributions in this version: