The Final stage! 5 day negotiations about the Cyprus problem in Switzerland
The negotiations about the reunification of Cyprus seem to have reached the final stage. The two sides never been so close to resolution of the ongoing problem.
For the entire week, the two sides were discussing the main aspects of the Federative Cyprus in Mont Pelerin. The negotiations were opened personally by Ban Ki Moon, who is very interested in the soonest possible reunification of the island – he is about to leave from his position and he want to be remembered by achieving such an important goal.
However, there isn’t much that is dependent upon Ban Ki Moon himself. The actual obstacle in the negotiations is the matter of property ownership and territorial matters. Moreover, the process is slowed down by the presence of the Turkish military troops in the Northern part of the island.
At the beginning of the year, the two sides have agreed to enter the new 2017 year as a united State and there is not much time left, so both sides still have to put a lot of efforts in.
What did Anastasiades write to Donald Trump?
The President of Cyprus has requested assistance in the resolution of the Cyprus problem from the US President-elect Donald Trump. Nicos Anastasiades also congratulated Mr. Trump and suggested to expand the cooperation of the two countries en the energy, trade and combating terrorism. The President of Cyprus also expressed his hope that US will strengthen its position in the reunification process.
Anastasiades is apparently one of very few European leaders, who did not openly criticised Donald Trump. As opposed to Angela Merkel or Francois Holland, he doe not feel ashamed when he congratulated Trump with victory.
3 years of imprisonment! The Court found a Russian citizen guilty of illegal firearms possession
A citizen of Russia will spend the next 3 years in Cyprus prison. Boris Satushiev was found guilty of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
He failed to explain why he needed the weapons, however confirmed that all the found items were his. Worth noting that only due to Satushiev’s willingness to cooperate with the authorities the sentence was so soft, but probably it is not the last one.
The Interpol has reported that he is a wanted person for over 2 years as suspect in fraud. Therefore, another Court proceedings can be initiated against him.
The EU published the data about the education levels across the Union.
According to the report of the European Commission, Cyprus is dragging behind in the rating of the education levels across the EU. According to the relevant research, almost 1/3 of pupils of 15 y.o. have problems with reading. The computer literacy rates are behind the mean European results by about 6%. Moreover, only 43% of the population of the island have some basic computer knowledge skills, which can slow down the introduction of the computerised systems in the country.
The report is based on the data acquired in 2012, but the current situation in schools does not significantly differ.
As far as Tertiary education is concerned, some significant changes are coming. The ratings of the Cyprus Universities is growing. This week it was announced that two new buildings for the medical school will be built on campus of the university of Cyprus.
Cyprus demonstrates good results in the life quality ratings
The Life quality rating is quite high in Cyprus. During this week the results of the new research were published, where the specialists of Legatum Institute have gathered in one table more than 100 factors affecting the quality of life, such as level of education and GDP, ecology and so on.
According to that research, Cyprus is in 33rd place in the whole world. It is a very high rating, especially consdering that Russia is on the 95th place and Ukraine is on 107th.
The rating is led by New Zealand.