Hundreds of refugees have already arrived, but this is not the limit.
The gas is much smaller than expected! The shelf of Cyprus did not live up to expectations.
Anastasiadis wants a second term! The president decided to participate in the elections.
Refugees
More than 300-refugees had to be taken in the week of Cyprus. This is the largest group in three years. For comparison: from the beginning of 2017 only a little more than seven hundred illegal migrants arrived on the island. Two boats packed full of people were found by rescuers near Kato Pirgos, 134 people were in one, in the second 171, including many women and children. Rescuers hardly arrived, one vessel was already collecting water and could sink at any moment. Now the refugees will be accommodated in a special detention center, later the authorities will decide their fate. It is not excluded that some of them will be deported, and someone may be given refuge on the island. However, the special services do not exclude that a few more groups of refugees may soon move from Turkey to Cyprus.
Gas production
Not very pleasant news for the Cypriot authorities came in the week off the island’s shelf. Drilling companies reported on the first results of the search for gas off the coast of Cyprus, and it turned out that the fuel reserves are much less than predicted initially. And this means that the idea of exporting Cypriot gas to Egypt was threatened. For understanding: only one of the sites was supposed to find about 130 billion cubic meters, but in reality it turned out to be 4 times less. And given the almost twofold drop in gas prices – its extraction and export are not appropriate. While none of the energy giants involved in trial drilling, work does not turn off – you need to check other sites. And the Cypriot government is already thinking about how to reduce the costs of gas production.
Anastasiadis goes for a second term
Nikos Anastasiadis officially announced his participation in the presidential company in 2018. On Thursday, the head of Cyprus confirmed that he wants to go for a second term. But whether voters support it is a big question. I recall that the presidential elections will be held in Cyprus on January 28 – this is the date of the first round. If you need a second – it will be held on February 4. By the way, the timing of the presidential elections was shifted by three weeks, so that they did not coincide with the closure of the Carnival of Cyprus and the Great Parade.
New lighting
Nicosia will play at night with new colors. In the week it became known that in the capital will replace street lighting. The City Hall announced a tender for the installation and maintenance of new equipment. Instead of obsolete lamps and fixtures, modern LED lights should appear. As you know, the life of such lamps is much longer, plus energy efficiency is higher. So the city authorities expect to quickly recoup their costs.
Dust storm
In the week, Cyprus was in the center of a dust storm. The cloud came from Africa. The concentration of harmful substances in the air temporarily exceeded the permissible values practically on the whole southern coast and the capital of the country. And although this phenomenon is almost ordinary for Cyprus, the Ministry of Health calls on such days to observe basic security measures. On the street appear as rarely as possible, if you need to go out – use protective masks. Smokers are asked to minimize the amount of tobacco consumed. And in general, it’s better to quit smoking!