Daily News Briefing

In today’s episode, President Nikos Christodoulides hastily convened a meeting at the palace on Thursday evening to discuss US and UK sanctions that have led to a punishing blow to Cypriot individuals and companies deemed ‘financial fixers’ for Russian oligarchs. The government has called the matter “especially serious” as local banks also moved to immediately freeze the accounts of the individuals in order to uphold their own credibility, a number of sources confirmed to the Cyprus Mail.

Elsewhere, hundreds of needy Cypriot families are receiving support from volunteers or local communities to put food on their table this Easter but demand is up while donations are down at least in Nicosia as inflation continues to bite across the board.

In other news, Energy Minister George Papanastasiou on Thursday floated the idea of importing natural gas quantities from reservoirs in Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone, to be used for power generation, coupled with exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) via a small terminal on the island.

All these and more in your Daily News Briefing, brought to you by the Cyprus Mail.