Qatar has shown interest in taking on the running of the Larnaca port. President Nikos Christodoulides wants the issue to be handled immediately. Kition sent notice of dismissal to all its workers at the port on Tuesday night.
– British retail sales bounced back in May after a slump in April that could have been caused by the timing of Easter and bad weather.
– The Confederation of British Industry’s monthly retail sales balance recovered to +8 this month after tumbling to -44 in April.
– More retailers felt sales were normal for the time of year than at any other time in the past eight months.
– The CBI’s measure of selling price inflation was its slowest since August 2020 and was below its long-run average.
– The British Retail Consortium said its measure of shop prices showed the weakest increase in two-and-a-half years this month.
– Falling inflation and continuing real wage growth will contribute to a healthier consumer outlook, supporting the retail sector further.
Israeli tanks continued to raid Rafah for a second day, defying the World Court’s order to end attacks on the city. The United States did not believe a major ground operation was underway, despite Israel’s incursion into Rafah. Residents reported Israeli tanks entering various areas before retreating towards the border with Egypt. The Palestinian health ministry called for immediate healthcare assistance in Rafah and northern Gaza, where hospitals had stopped functioning. UNRWA reported that around a million Palestinians had fled after Israeli evacuation orders. The Red Crescent Society evacuated medical teams due to ongoing bombardments. The World Court criticized Israel for not ensuring the safety and well-being of the evacuees from Rafah. Israel proposed a ceasefire and hostage release to Qatar, but Hamas insisted talks were pointless unless Israel ended its offensive on Rafah. Over 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s Gaza offensive.
The Cyprus-Greece ferry service resumed on Wednesday with the Cypriot-flagged Daleela departing from Limassol port. The service will have a total of 22 itineraries throughout the summer, with the last one departing on September 1. As of last week, the service received 8,500 bookings, including 6,600 passengers, 1,750 cars, and 150 pets.
The threatening email sent to schools in Cyprus on May 17 appears to have been sent using services from a Swiss company, as indicated by the response provided by Russian authorities to Cypriot authorities.
The idea of euthanizing healthy donkeys in Karpasia, Cyprus is “absolutely out of the question,” according to Tashkent nature park director Kemal Basat. In the “Karpasia donkeys management plan cooperation protocol,” not a single stakeholder mentioned euthanizing the donkeys. Basat emphasized that the nature park is executing the protocol and urged the public not to trust superficial and unfounded news. The article in question was criticized for using donkeys as proxies to influence public opinion in Turkey in favor of euthanizing stray dogs. A research station has been established in Karpasia to devise a “donkey management plan” with the support of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (Tika).
The fact described in the text is that the monument ‘In The Service of Peace’ in Cyprus honors 150,000 uniformed personnel who have served in Cyprus, 187 of whom have died there.
Fact: The new tax thresholds and hike in corporation tax in Russia are expected to raise about 2.6 trillion rubles (bn) a year.
The board of the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) is set to award contracts for two projects worth €45 million to beef up the electricity transmission system. The EAC’s top priority is the stability of the system and providing uninterrupted power to consumers. The EAC is also working on increasing infrastructure projects to help with the penetration of renewables in the energy mix. The layout of the grid is not to blame for discarding energy generated from renewables, as the cutbacks are due to demand being less than the generated electricity. It is currently unfeasible to have a transmission grid that allows the connection of renewables from anywhere in Cyprus due to the high cost of building a new network. Strengthening transmission lines would require a major investment of hundreds of millions of euros, which consumers would have to pay for. Acquiring permits for new transmission lines also takes a long time.
Temperatures in Pakistan’s southern province of Sindh rose above 52 degrees Celsius, the highest reading of the summer and close to the country’s record high.