Cyprus does not require additional financial aid
Cyprus does not need the financial aid. The government has officially declined the help provided by the International Monetary Fund. The IMF has already congratulated the citizens of Cyprus with positive changes – the economy of the island is growing yet again, bank system appears to be reliable, budget has stabilized and the national debt is decreasing. However, the analysts have warned the government that it is too early to relax: reforms must continue.
According to the financial aid program, the IMF was supposed to provide 10 billion Euros to Cyprus over 3 years. The last transfer was not even necessary, which became very good news for the leaders of the EU.
The President of Cyprus called in for the dialogue with Moscow
The EU must restore the relationship with Russia as stated by the President of Cyprus – Mr. Nicos Anastasiades. He sees Moscow as one of the most important partners of the European countries – as it has been historically. It is clear that mainly he means economic partnership. After the imposition of the mutual sanctions and restrictions, the EU (including Cyprus) and Russia are losing billions of Euros. The farmers, industries, tourism sector – all suffer losses. The government of Cyprus has always declared that they are against conflicts with Russia, even though that it is forced to follow the foreign policy of the European Union.
Russians join the UN troops in Cyprus
Russian police forces have reported for duty to maintain peace in the buffer zone near Nicosia. They joined the UN peacekeeping troops. So far, only three female officers have joined the forces; however, they are the first to join them. To welcome their arrival and to celebrate the 8th of March, the Russian flag was raised in the UN HQ in Nicosia.
Gambling legislation in Cyprus
The gambling business in Cyprus will be strictly regulated-this is how the MPs are commenting on the legislation, which was considered in the House of Representatives. This particular piece of legislation must open the possibility for the construction of the first and only casino in Cyprus. For example- the future employees will have to have clean criminal record and must provide their fingerprints. The owners will have to advertise the establishment in order to attract tourists from all over the world. The tender for the construction is not over yet. The governmental commission has chosen three applicants and only one of them will get the license.
Weather forecast for spring and records set in February
The weather forecasters have announced that the spring in Cyprus will be hot. According to ther data, the precipitation over the next 3 months is expected to be almost twice as less than normal. Moreover, the last month was also very dry and has set several new meteorological records. The February of 2016 was declared the hottest February in the entire history. Sunny and still weather in Cyprus has allowed the air to warm up to the surprising high levels for winter period. For example in Polis, the temperature reached +28°C, almost the same was recorded in Nicosia, and in Troodos (where normal temperature is +4°C for February), the temperature reached +19°C.
Cyprus is one of the most educated countries of the world and UCY is in the best 200 in Europe
Cyprus has earned the 33rd place in the list of the most educated countries in the world – as per a study conducted by one of the Universities in USA. The study itself was conducted for almost 40 years! The countries were evaluated by 15 parameters, such as: number of libraries, accessibility to the higher education, publication of newspapers and books and even computer literacy of the population. Interestingly enough, in the upper part of the rating, together with Cyprus, there are mainly Old World countries. Furthermore, it was recently announced that the University of Cyprus was included in the rating of the Best 200 Universities of Europe.