Cyprus Beat

In today’s episode, parliament on Thursday approved a constitutional amendment lowering the voting age to 17, with the change to take effect from July 1, 2027. The first election to include 17-year-old voters will be the 2028 presidential election.

Elsewhere, Cyprus spent €500 million on migration management between 2021 and 2024, a third of which came from EU funds, Auditor-general Andreas Papaconstantinou told the House audit committee on Thursday. Around 41,000 asylum applications were filed during this period, 78 per cent via the north and 22 per cent by sea.

All this and more in today’s Daily News Briefing brought other you by the Cyprus Mail.

The Cyprus Beat briefing brought to you by the Cyprus Mail.

In today’s episode, the cabinet approved a general action plan on Tuesday which will be presented in London today to encourage Cypriot experts living there to return to the island by offering tax cuts and other benefits.

Also, forty-six-year-old Costas Soteriou was on Tuesday sentenced to life with a minimum term of 28 years in prison at the court on the British base of Dhekelia for the murder of Charalambos Constantinides.

Elsewhere, the Forestry Department has failed to protect Cyprus against fires in terms of both sufficient air and land equipment, auditor-general Andreas Papaconstantinou said in a report made public on Tuesday.

All this and more in toady’s Daily News Briefing brought to you by the Cyprus Mail.

The Cyprus Beat briefing brought to you by the Cyprus Mail.

In today’s episode, police in Paphos arrested a 39-year-old man under suspicion of attempted murder and robbery, while three other persons were arrested for the offence of providing asylum to a wanted person.

Elsewhere, president Nikos Christodoulides said on Sunday he will have a meeting with the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Cyprus, María Angela Holguín Cuellar, next Saturday, May 25, reiterating the readiness of the Greek Cypriot side to continue efforts to restart negotiations.

Also, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Constantinos Kombos, represented on Sunday the president at the enthronement ceremony of Pope Leo XIV.

All this and more in today’s Daily News Briefing brought to you by the Cyprus Mail.

In today’s episode, a House audit committee session investigating how defunct company Blue Ocean left behind €14 million in unpaid taxes ended abruptly on Thursday, following heated clashes and accusations of obstruction by a state attorney.

Elsewhere, medical students at the University of Cyprus have decried years-long delays in establishing university clinics, saying the lack of progress is pushing them to seek specialist training abroad — often without returning.

All this and more in today’s Daily News Briefing brought to you by the Cyprus Mail.

The Cyprus Beat briefing brought to you by the Cyprus Mail.

The Cyprus Beat briefing brought to you by the Cyprus Mail.

In today’s episode, most authorities backed the creation of a national financial sanctions implementation unit, meeting Cyprus’ obligations to EU law, but lawyers bucked the trend and pointed to problems with the underlying legislation.

Meanwhile, The Electricity Authority of Cyprus and the energy regulator will meet sometime this week in a bid to settle on a formula on how to bring down the price of electricity, the government spokesman said on Monday.

Also, two boats carrying Syrian migrants to Cyprus were intercepted and returned to Syria without entering the Republic’s ports, via an agreement between the Cypriot government and the transitional Syrian regime of Ahmed al-Sharaa, it was reported on Monday.

All this and more in today’s Daily News Briefing brought to you by the Cyprus Mail.

In today’s episode, Cyprus will join the Schengen zone in 2026, President Nikos Christodoulides said.

Meanwhile, Greece’s independent transmission system operator Admie denied that it has plans to build an electricity interconnector to the country’s Dodecanese islands rather than to Cyprus.

Also, President Nikos Christodoulides said he is to meet United Nations envoy Maria Angela Holguin before the end of May.

All this and more in today’s Daily News Briefing brought to you by the Cyprus Mail.