Kanon Ito, the youngest artist at this year’s ArtCargo Festival, is a 12-year-old Japanese slackline champion ranked world No.1 in women’s freestyle tricklining for 2025/2026. She will bring her acrobatic skills to Nicosia this October for three performances and a workshop, as part of the festival’s Youth Programme, alongside a graffiti workshop, local slackliners and DJ sets.

Ito is the first girl to land a Rikuto flip on a slackline, an International Gibbon Pro Rider and the Women’s World Champion at the Trickline World Cup in Munich, Germany.

Performing on a line just a few centimetres wide, Ito will showcase her jumps and aerial tricks, including her signature move, ‘Cannon Ball’. The performances take place on October 24 at 13:00 and 15:00, and October 25 at 17:00, at the square in front of the old Nicosia City Hall, near Eleftheria Square.

Ito will also lead a slackline workshop on October 25 at 13:00, introducing participants to the basics of balance, movement and tricklining at the old Nicosia City Hall.

The performance forms part of the ArtCargo Youth Programme, supported this year by its primary partner, VF Foundation, and the Embassy of Japan in Cyprus. Bringing together sport, circus and street culture, the programme aims to introduce young people in Cyprus to these urban art forms and encourage participation in creative and physical activities.

“Urban spaces belong to everyone, especially the youth,” says the VF Foundation. “Bringing young artists and athletes into public spaces creates opportunities for inspiration and connection. Kanon Ito is an incredible young artist whose skills challenge expectations and inspire people of all generations. We are thrilled to bring her to Cyprus for the first time and grateful to the Embassy of Japan for its support.”

“We are delighted to support Ms Kanon Ito’s participation in Art Cargo in Cyprus,” says the Embassy of Japan. “It is wonderful to welcome such a talented young slackline athlete, bridging the geographical and cultural distance between our two countries. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the organisers of Art Cargo for making her journey from Japan possible and look forward to witnessing her inspiring performance.” The Youth Programme also features a Spot Tagging workshop led by George Kyrou, in collaboration with Spot Art Supplies, on October 25 at 15:30. Participants will practise creating their tags in notepads using markers designed for tagging. DJ sets and street performances by local slackliners will take place across both days, spreading the celebration of urban street culture.

With the support of Exness and bbf:, all performances and workshops have free admission, giving children, teenagers and audiences of all ages the opportunity to see an internationally recognised young athlete perform live in the heart of Nicosia.

www.artcargofest.com

Moscow has released retired American teacher Stephen Hubbard after more than four years in detention, following President Donald Trump’s personal intervention with Vladimir Putin and amid renewed US-Russian negotiations over Ukraine.

Russia has released Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old American citizen imprisoned since 2022, as US special envoy Steve Witkoff holds talks with President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Wednesday, 21 October.

Putin announced the release during his meeting with Witkoff, saying Hubbard had already been transferred to Pulkovo Airport in St Petersburg in preparation for his return to the United States. Witkoff thanked the Russian president for securing the American’s freedom.

The development follows direct intervention by President Donald Trump, who confirmed on Tuesday that he had personally raised Hubbard’s detention with Putin and requested his release.

Hubbard, a retired English teacher from Michigan, had spent decades living abroad before moving to Izium, in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, in 2014. Russian forces detained him in April 2022, during their occupation of the city following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In October 2024, a Moscow court sentenced him to six years and ten months in prison after finding him guilty of serving as a mercenary for Ukrainian forces.

Russian prosecutors alleged that Hubbard had joined a Ukrainian military unit and received approximately $1,000 a month for his activities, including guarding military checkpoints.

His family rejected the accusations. His sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox, maintained that he had never participated in military operations, while his American lawyer, Martin De Luca, said the charges were fabricated.

The US State Department subsequently designated Hubbard as wrongfully detained, making his release a priority in Washington’s negotiations with Moscow.

Release coincides with renewed Ukraine diplomacy

Hubbard’s release comes during another round of intensive diplomatic contacts involving Washington, Kyiv and Moscow.

Witkoff arrived in St Petersburg following talks in Oslo on Tuesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb. Jared Kushner, another representative of Trump’s administration, participated remotely.

The discussions addressed security arrangements, energy and economic questions connected with Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Witkoff travelled directly from Norway to Russia, where he was received by Kremlin representative Kirill Dmitriev before his meeting with Putin.

The release provides a concrete outcome from the latest US-Russian contacts, although no indication has emerged that it forms part of a broader agreement concerning Ukraine.

It also follows several previous cases in which American citizens detained in Russia have been released through negotiations between Washington and Moscow.

In August, former US Marine Robert Gilman was released on humanitarian grounds amid serious concerns about his deteriorating health.

Hubbard was the only American prisoner in Russian custody officially classified by Washington as wrongfully detained at the time of his release.

Neither side has announced whether Moscow received any concessions in exchange for his freedom, while the outcome of Witkoff’s wider negotiations with Putin remains unclear.

Former MP of neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, Ilias Kasidiaris was released from Domokos Prison at noon on Tuesday after serving the lengthy sentence imposed on him for his actions as the ‘first lieutenant’ within the criminal organisation Golden Dawn, a neo-Nazi group that had entered Parliament at the height of the Greek crisis. Kasidiaris supporters […]

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