The Cyprus News Digest

The EU Parliament will vote in a month on legislation that will enable 'Big Brother' style snooping on every mobile phone - except for those of politicians - how can we protect our privacy? New research has discovered previously unseen marine life in Cyprus' coastal waters.

'Cyprus in the Grave New World' was the title of a presentation in the buffer zone this week: we discuss the ramifications of the new global reality, and how manufactured insecurity affects our thinking and actions.

Rolling power cuts in an August heatwave show just how fragile Cyprus' energy security is; we talk to the chairman of the house energy committee about what needs to be done - and he won't be drawn on whether the liberalisation of the market will take place in October, as promised.

Despite government assurances in the Spring that Cyprus was better prepared than ever before for the wildfire season, we clearly weren't: two people dead, hundreds of homes and hectares of protected forests destroyed. We discuss what should have been done - and what needs to be done the soonest to avoid another catastr

The destruction of the Pentakomo coastline continues unabated pending another court hearing at the end of August; a symbolic demonstration took place at the Palestinian embassy in Nicosia this week; music fans head to Katydata this weekend for the Windcraft Festival

There's no end in sight for the Vassiliko project: past mistakes have left many tricky issues to resolve and we can expect to continue paying exorbitant electricity prices for several years; there's anger at a proposed new bill before Parliament that will muzzle citizens' opposition and their right to demonstrate.