The construction of a tramway in Limassol could cost as much as €95 million per kilometre, the city’s mayor Yiannis Armeftis said on Thursday, as he evaluated the prospects for a tramway to be built in Cyprus’ second city.

“Preliminary estimates vary significantly depending on the technology to be used, with the cost ranging from €25m to €95m per kilometre,” he told television channel Sigma, though he did stress that “such an investment should not be evaluated solely based on construction costs”.

Instead, he said, “the equation should take into account the benefits which could arise from upgrading transit areas, increasing the value of land and real estate, and improving people’s quality of life”.

On this front, he made reference to “the economic cost caused by traffic delays through lost working hours and people’s travel time”, with Limassol frequently subject to long rush-hour tailbacks on its road network.

He said that Cyprus is “excessively dependent on the private car”, and that that makes his own city’s traffic issue “particularly difficult to deal with”.

“No city has solved its traffic problem when dependence on the private car reaches around 90 per cent. Traffic can be managed properly when public transport is also used,” he said.

Govt currently spends €100m per year on public transport

At present, he said, the government spends around €100m per year on public transport, of which around a quarter is spent on Limassol.

However, he added, “despite these significant expenditures, the use of buses remains limited”. To this end, he pointed out that only three to five per cent of journeys undertaken across Cyprus involve a bus, and said that “long delays and time-consuming routes discourage people” from using the bus to travel.

“It is not convenient because it has also lost its credibility,” he said, though he did stress that on the other hand, when a bus route is both reliable and useful, the public may take to it.

He gave the example of Limassol’s number 30 bus route, which runs along its coastal road, and said that “frequent and fast routes are a basic requirement for people to choose the bus instead of the car”.

On the matter of the possibility of constructing a tramway, he said that he had attended a meeting at the transport ministry on Monday, during which “the first steps of the studies were presented, as well as preliminary data on the possibility of installing a tram in Limassol”.

“The aim of the process is to examine whether this is a realistic and sustainable option, which could function complementarily to other means of public transport,” he said.

Availability of space ‘one of the main challenges’

Asked how a tramway could be installed in a city where “available road space is already limited”, he said that “this is one of the main challenges of the project”.

Nonetheless, he pointed out that bus lanes have already been installed in Limassol, and that they could be “used as tram corridors”.

He also pointed out that “other European cities” with “even smaller populations or dense construction” have also managed to build tramways.

“Behaviour changes when there are appropriate routes and when there is appropriate infrastructure,” he said.

Prountzos had called for tramway in Nicosia

His comments come after Nicosia mayor Charalambos Prountzos had last month renewed his call for a tramway to be built in the capital, saying that the Nicosia municipality had initially prepared a study for a 14-kilometre tram line, and that after he took office in 2024, the length of the planned line grew to 20km.

Regarding how the plans could be financed, pointed out that the European Union’s next multiannual financial framework – the bloc’s budget for the period covering the years between 2028 and 2034 – enters force “in about a year”, and said that as such, discussions about a tramway “should have already started” with a view to securing EU funding.

“What exactly are we waiting for to intervene?”.

Six people were injured in a traffic accident in Limassol on Friday evening.

Police said the incident occurred on the old Limassol-Paphos road, near Pissouri at around 7.45pm when a car driven by a 58-year-old man collided with a car driven by a 50-year-old man.

The 58-year-old was driving with his wife, a 65-year-old woman, and a man and a woman aged 53 and 60, while the 50-year-old was driving with his 49-year-old wife.

The six passengers of the two vehicles were taken to the general hospitals in Limassol and Paphos.

The 49-year-old was later transferred to Nicosia general hospital for further treatment, having possibly suffered an aortic rupture.

The 50-year-old husband of the woman is being treated at Paphos general hospital where he is undergoing treatment for a serious spinal injury.

The 65-year-old woman suffered serious injuries to her face and hip and was transferred to a private hospital, while her 58-year-old husband remains at the hospital for further treatment.

The 53-year-old was injured in the sternum and taken to Limassol general hospital for treatment. Her 60-year-old husband was discharged from the hospital after receiving first aid.

The five people hospitalised are considered to be out of danger.

Investigations into the exact circumstances of the accident are ongoing.

La Fiscalía de Marbella ha solicitado un año y 11 meses de prisión para el alcalde de Estepona (Málaga, 78.413 habitantes), José María García Urbano (PP) al que acusa de un delito de prevaricación y otro de malversación de caudales. La fiscal Alejandra Gómez pide la apertura de juicio oral y sostiene su petición argumentando que el regidor, que lleva en el cargo desde el año 2011, contrató como cargo de confianza municipal a una mujer con la que mantenía una relación sentimental “a sabiendas de que no iba a desempeñar actividad laboral alguna” y que, a pesar de ello, esta cobró algo más de 5.000 euros. El ministerio público también pide para García Urbano cinco años de inhabilitación como cargo o empleo público.

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Limassol district court on Wednesday ordered the eight-day remand of five suspects arrested in connection with an armed robbery at a couple’s home on October 8, during which cash and jewellery worth more than €100,000 were stolen.

Police are searching for two additional suspects in connection with the case.

The five men, aged 29, 27, 25, 24 and 20, appeared before the court on Wednesday morning, where they requested and were granted legal aid. Their defence lawyers did not object to the eight-day remand.

The vehicle was intercepted on Tuesday afternoon, while a subsequent search of a residence in Limassol, where some of the suspects were staying, uncovered clothing and tools believed to have been used during the robbery.

The court heard that only the first suspect has been questioned so far, with the remaining four yet to be interviewed. Investigators have taken eight witness statements and are expected to obtain another 39.

The robbery took place at a house in the Sfalangiotissa area of Limassol, where a 43-year-old man and his 36-year old wife, both foreign nationals, were asleep in the bedroom.

The assailants allegedly restrained her husband with adhesive tape before demanding that she open a safe located in the bedroom.

They reportedly stole €5,000 in cash, $1,000 and jewellery valued at more than €100,000.

Before fleeing the scene, the intruders also tied up the woman with adhesive tape.

Investigations are continuing, with police seeking to locate the two additional suspects, recover the stolen property and find the firearm used in the robbery.

Antes del día 15 de cada mes las generadoras eléctricas deben comunicar al operador del sistema (Red Eléctrica de España) las “indisponibilidades” previstas en sus instalaciones térmicas (nucleares y centrales de ciclo combinado de gas) e hidráulicas, con el detalle de las fechas de inicio y fin de las paradas y la potencia afectada. Se trata de las plantas que dan energía firme al sistema, esto es, proporcionan control dinámico de tensión (en mayor medida, los ciclos combinados) y facilitan la tarea del operador para garantizar la seguridad del suministro eléctrico y evitar incidentes. De hecho, tras analizar la información que le proporcionan las empresas, que actualizan cada mes a través de la plataforma del operador, Esios, y se refiere a todo el año móvil, este publica el resultado de dicho análisis en los 10 primeros días del mes siguiente.

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A second arrest was made on Tuesday over the kidnapping and assault of a 24-year-old Turkish Cypriot man in Limassol, police said.

The arrested man is 45, with the police already having arrested a 30-year-old man early on Tuesday morning, while the police said that the two, as well as a third individual who is wanted, are Greek Cypriots.

According to police, the victim had said that at around 7pm on Friday, while he was in a park, three people approached him, and that following an argument, they had asked that he get into their car.

He said he was then taken to an unknown rural location, where he was stabbed in the right leg.

The three perpetrators then fled, while the victim was found by a passerby, who took him to the Limassol general hospital.

On Monday, Limassol police deputy operations chief Lefteris Kyriacou said that the perpetrators kidnapped the victim, and then “hit him and injured him with a knife”, as “they believed him to be a suspect regarding recent cases of dog thefts”.

He later added that the police are investigating “a case of kidnap and causing grievous bodily harm”, and that “developments are expected in the coming period”.

The police’s investigation into the matter is ongoing.

Former deputy attorney general Loukis Loucaides pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to embezzlement charges concerning the appropriation of property worth €117,000.

The hearing has been set for February 9, 2027.

The case emerged after the administrator of a deceased woman’s property filed a complaint that the appropriation money paid by the Limassol municipality, which Loucaides received, had not been transferred to the estate administrator.

Loucaides, who served as deputy attorney-general from 1975 to 1998 and later as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), appeared before the Limassol criminal court on Tuesday to answer to the charges of theft by proxy and money laundering, relating to compensation paid for the expropriation of a deceased woman’s property.

The complaint was filed in July last year by the administrator of the deceased’s estate and concerns €177,108.12.

Loucaides has consistently rejected the allegations, describing his indictment as “malicious” and insisting that “there is no crime on [his] part.”

He has said the case dates back to 2008, when he was assigned by the estate’s then administrator to sue the municipality over the expropriation after it failed to compensate for the demolition of the woman’s house, which was pulled down to make way for a road.

A district court initially dismissed the lawsuit, but Loucaides appealed and the court of appeals ordered the municipality to settle out of court, with Loucaides negotiating on his client’s behalf.

Once a settlement was reached, Loucaides has claimed, he received the money intending to hand it to his client, but the administrator had since changed and could not be traced.

A new estate administrator was appointed last year and Loucaides said he was then contacted and instructed to transfer the funds, an offer he said he made in writing, but which went unanswered.

Twenty people were arrested during a police operation at an apartment complex in central Limassol on Tuesday for staying illegally in Cyprus.

The morning operation formed part of a large-scale campaign of checks in the city centre, police said.

The 20 individuals were taken into custody, while members of the Aliens and Immigration Service began procedures for their repatriation in cooperation with the deputy ministry of migration.

The fire service and local municipal authorities also took part in the operation.

Hadassah Hospital is under scrutiny after Israeli media reported that it opened a medical centre in Limassol without informing Israel’s health and finance ministries, which oversee its finances and operations.

The Israeli health ministry informed that the plan “has not yet been conveyed to the ministry”.

Both ministries said they had not been given notice of the project in advance and called for an examination of its effect on Hadassah’s finances and healthcare services in Israel.

Israeli media reported that Hadassah received 162 million shekels (Over €46.5 million) in state support last year.

Hadassah has insisted that the hospital itself “did not invest a single shekel” towards the Limassol centre, which was financed by Cypriot investors.

Hadassah said it would contribute medical expertise and clinical guidance, and that the venture would “help improve Israel’s international image”.

Israeli media questioned what the hospital earns from the use of its brand, expertise and doctors’ time, and reported that it plans to expand further in Cyprus.

Hadassah Medical Centre’s opening in Limassol was ratified in Israel by Hadassah’s governing bodies, including the Women’s Zionist Organisation of America, which founded the hospital.

The centre, based in Ayios Tychonas, began seeing patients in July and was formally inaugurated last Thursday, with local investors financing the project.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog described the centre as “an important new chapter in relations between Israel and Cyprus”.

Carol Ann Schwartz, president of the Women’s Zionist Organisation of America, which founded Hadassah, said the Cyprus venture showed that “medicine serves as a bridge to peace.”

The centre currently has no operating theatres or inpatient beds, instead offering MRI, X-ray and ultrasound imaging, cardiac assessment, neurological rehabilitation and physiotherapy.

Second opinions from Hadassah specialists in Jerusalem are provided privately, with patients told the cost in advance, while local doctors and staff work with support from Hadassah specialists in Jerusalem.

From November 21, all referrals from Cyprus to Hadassah in Jerusalem will be handled exclusively through the Limassol centre.

Laboratory and physiotherapy services are available through the general health system (Gesy), and the centre is awaiting approval for its imaging department.

A planning application for a larger Nicosia project followed in December 2022, yet approval delays led the partners to proceed in Limassol.

The planned Hadassah Healthcare Park in Lakatamia, to be built by Osopil Ltd, exceeds €150 million and includes a private hospital with 156 beds and a medical university for up to 900 students.

Hadassah has said construction of its largest hospital in Cyprus is planned within three years.

The Cyprus Mail approached Hadassah medical centre as well as the Israeli health and finance ministries for comment.

A 30-year-old man was arrested early on Tuesday in connection with the kidnapping of a 24-year-old man on Friday in Limassol and causing grievous bodily harm. The police are searching for two other suspects.

On Monday, the police confirmed that a 24-year-old Turkish Cypriot man was kidnapped and attacked with a knife in Limassol.

The police said on Tuesday that all three suspects are Greek Cypriots.

According to the police, the incident was reported at around 10am on Monday, following a phone call to the police by a friend of the victim.

The man said that at around 7pm on Friday, while in a park in Limassol with a friend, three people approached him. Following an argument, the three asked him to get into their car.

The suspects allegedly took the 24-year-old to an unknown rural location, where they assaulted him.

According to the complaint, the man was stabbed in the right leg.

The perpetrators fled the scene and the 24-year-old was found by a passerby who took him to Limassol general hospital, where doctors found he had multiple injuries.

He was admitted to hospital and discharged on Sunday.

On his way to hospital, the man claimed he had been injured in a car accident.

He later told the police the perpetrators believed he was responsible for dog thefts.

The three suspects had reported the dog thefts to the police days before the incident, but had not named the victim as a suspect.

Police investigations are ongoing.

A 24-year-old Turkish Cypriot man was kidnapped and attacked with a knife in Limassol, the city’s police’s deputy operations chief Lefteris Kyriacou confirmed on Monday, following widespread reports of an attack.

“We were informed that a 24-year-old … was kidnapped in the evening [of Friday] in the Ayios Antonios area by three other people, who took him violently to an agricultural area, where they hit him and injured him with a knife and they believed him to be a suspect regarding recent cases of dog thefts,” he said.

He later added that the police are investigating “a case of kidnap and causing grievous bodily harm”, and that “developments are expected in the coming period”.

Earlier in the day, newspaper Phileleftheros reported that the man lives in Limassol, and that he had been attacked by “a group of Greek Cypriots”.

It also reported that the man underwent surgery on Friday night.

A equipe paulista subiu para o 14º lugar, com 36 pontos. São quatro de vantagem para o próprio Colorado, primeiro time na zona de rebaixamento - que envolve as quatro piores campanhas da competição (o Z-4).

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A missão colorada em Mirassol (SP) ficou mais difícil do que já seria com 14 minutos de jogo. O goleiro Matheus Cunha saiu da área para tentar se antecipar ao atacante Bruno Santos, mas chegou atrasado e derrubou o adversário, levando cartão vermelho direto.

O Mirassol demorou a fazer valer a superioridade numérica. A melhor chance da etapa inicial foi com Eduardo, no rebote de uma cobrança de falta do lateral Reinaldo que o goleiro Kauan Jesus - que entrou em campo devido à expulsão de Matheus Cunha - defendeu. O meia acertou o travessão.

No começo do segundo tempo, porém, Eduardo teve melhor sorte. Aos dois minutos, o meia aproveitou o cruzamento rasteiro do atacante Edson Carioca pela direita e chutou no canto de Kauan Jesus.

Mesmo com um a menos, o Inter tentou a reação e pressionou os donos da casa. Aos 31, o zagueiro Bruno Gomes acertou o travessão. Aos 37 e aos 38 minutos, o atacante João Bezerra teve duas grandes chances, parando no goleiro Walter e, depois, no zagueiro João Victor, que salvou em cima da linha.

No contra-ataque, o Mirassol liquidou a partida. Aos 41, Fernandinho acionou o também atacante André Luis, que bateu na saída de Kauan Jesus para assegurar os três pontos à equipe do interior.

Nos acréscimos, Reinaldo poderia ter ampliado, mas cobrou pênalti no travessão. Acabou não fazendo falta.

L’Italia ha introdotto la valutazione di impatto generazionale delle leggi. Perché non resti un adempimento formale, deve rendere visibili costi, benefici e rischi che le politiche trasferiscono avanti nel tempo. Cosa insegna l’esperienza internazionale.

L'articolo Una misura del conto lasciato ai giovani proviene da Lavoce.info.

El domingo 27 de septiembre, cuando las primeras tiendas de campaña de la madrileña Puerta del Sol no llevaban ni 24 horas levantadas, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón visitó la acampada naciente. Repartió kilos de plátanos y empanadas a los jóvenes que no pensaban moverse de ahí en los próximos días. Saludó a su hijo mayor, el cantante Teo Lucadamo, quien había pernoctado con ellos. Grabó un vídeo para sus redes sociales: “Si estáis por Madrid, en vuestras ciudades, organizaos, acampad y haceos oír. Todas y todos juntos creo que podemos conseguir grandes cosas”, pidió a sus seguidores. Y se fue a trabajar, a Alcalá de Henares, donde esos días representaba la obra Malquerida, actualmente de gira. Mientras actuaba, el vídeo se viralizó y su visita se convirtió en uno de los momentos más comentados de aquel primer día de acampada. Lo que estaba sucediendo en Sol, esa rabia acumulada, no era solo cosa de jóvenes.

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Estilismo:

Beatriz Machado

Maquillaje y peluquería:

Alba Esteban (TEN Agency)

Manicura:

Lucero Hurtado para OPI

Producción:

Cristina Serrano

Asistentes de fotografía:

Maitane Huidobro y Ayub El Kadmiri

Asistente de estilismo:

Paloma Gutiérrez

Asistente de producción:

Marina Marco