Cyprus sits in the middle tier of the European Union’s minimum wage ranking when differences in living costs are taken into account, according to Eurostat.

Based on data from July 1, 2026, Cyprus falls into the group with minimum wages between 1,000 and 1,500 Purchasing Power Standards (PPS). The category also includes Greece, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Croatia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Hungary and Czechia.

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After adjusting for purchasing power, Cyprus drops four positions compared with its nominal ranking.

Purchasing Power Gives A Different Picture

PPS adjusts for price differences between countries, providing a better indication of how much people can actually buy with their income.

The adjustment significantly narrows the gap between EU minimum wages. While Luxembourg has the highest nominal minimum wage, Germany ranks first when wages are measured in PPS.

Cyprus Hit By Higher Inflation

Differences in inflation have also affected purchasing power. Euro-area inflation reached 3.2% between January and July, while Malta recorded 8.2%, Cyprus 5.4% and the Netherlands 4.7%.

Countries with minimum wages of at least 1,500 PPS form the top group. This includes Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, France, Slovenia, Spain and Poland.

At the other end, Bulgaria, Latvia and Estonia remain below 1,000 PPS.

Nominal And Purchasing Power Rankings Differ

In nominal euro terms, Luxembourg’s minimum wage was 4.5 times higher than Bulgaria’s on July 1. Once purchasing power is considered, the gap between the highest and lowest levels falls to 2.3 times.

Romania recorded one of the largest improvements, moving from 20th place in the nominal ranking to 12th in PPS terms. Estonia saw the biggest decline, falling from 16th to 26th place. Cyprus, Latvia and Czechia each dropped four positions.

Minimum Wages Rose In Several Countries

Between January and July 2026, eight of the 29 countries covered by Eurostat recorded increases in their minimum wages in local currency.

Romania and Estonia posted the largest increases at 6.8%, followed by Belgium at 5.8%, Greece at 4.5%, Luxembourg at 2.5%, France at 2.4% and the Netherlands at 1.9%.

Eurostat notes that minimum wages are generally reported as monthly gross earnings, before income tax and employee social security contributions.

Cyprus ranks first worldwide per capita for the number of video game companies, industry revenue and mobile game installs, according to the Cyprus Video Game Industry Report 2025.

The report, published by the Cyprus Game Makers Association (CYGMA), identifies more than 400 companies, over 4,300 employees and more than €3.2 billion in industry revenue in 2025. Games developed by Cyprus-based companies also rank third globally by mobile downloads.

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A Rapidly Expanding Industry

Cyprus’ gaming sector has grown significantly in recent years. Between 2019 and 2024, the number of companies increased from 169 to 393, while employment nearly tripled from 1,438 to 4,320.

Industry turnover rose from €1.26 billion in 2019 to €4.35 billion in 2024. Over the same period, the sector’s contribution to GDP increased from around €300 million to €1.15 billion, lifting its share of the economy from 1.3% to 3.3%.

CYGMA says more than 400 studios and related businesses now operate on the island, placing Cyprus among Europe’s 10 largest video game markets by revenue.

Mobile Gaming Drives Revenue

Mobile games remain the sector’s biggest source of revenue. In 2025, they generated around €1.8 billion, compared with €1.4 billion from PC and console games.

Cyprus-based companies released 571 mobile titles that generated about 615 million downloads. This puts Cyprus third worldwide for mobile game downloads and 11th for in-app purchase revenue.

However, most mobile revenue came from older titles. Only €66 million, or about 4% of the €1.8 billion total, was generated by games released in 2025.

Talent Shortages Remain A Challenge

The industry is heavily focused on international markets, with most games developed in Cyprus targeting users abroad.

Rapid growth has also created a shortage of specialised workers. Universities in Cyprus currently produce only three to six graduates a year from dedicated video game development programmes, while the industry is estimated to need between 100 and 300 new entry-level employees annually.

CYGMA is working with universities to expand specialised programmes, which could eventually add 45 to 85 trained graduates to the labour market each year.

Major Deals Highlight Industry’s Growth

The report also points to Cyprus’ growing importance in the global gaming industry through major acquisitions. Since 2020, disclosed deals involving Cyprus-based companies have reached €2.76 billion.

One of the largest was Miniclip’s €1.06 billion acquisition of Easybrain in 2025. The report also highlights the sector’s strong direct-to-consumer expertise: around 86% of PC and console game revenue comes from channels outside Steam.

Together, the figures show how Cyprus has developed from a relatively small gaming market into a significant export-oriented hub for video game companies.

Major banks in Cyprus and Greece remained highly profitable in the first half of 2026, even as interest rates continued to decline. The four major Greek banks generated around €2.5 billion in combined profit, while including Bank of Cyprus brings the total to roughly €2.8 billion.

The results point to a changing environment for the sector. As interest rates become less supportive, stronger lending, fee income, international operations and improved efficiency are playing a bigger role in earnings.

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Strong Results Across The Sector

Eurobank reported €738 million in first-half net profit, rising to €776 million on an adjusted basis, with return on tangible equity at 16.6%. Its Cyprus operations contributed €231 million, although that was 7.7% below the previous year.

Bank of Cyprus posted €252 million in after-tax profit, up 7% year-on-year, while return on tangible equity reached 18.8%. Net interest income remained broadly stable at €369 million despite lower rates, supported by loan and deposit growth, lower funding costs and hedging.

The bank’s performing loan portfolio reached about €11.4 billion. It also announced an interim dividend of €0.24 per share, worth approximately €105 million.

Greek Banks Keep Lending

National Bank of Greece reported €661 million in profit, up 3%, with adjusted return on tangible equity at 15.5%. Strong lending and higher fee income supported upgrades to several 2026 targets.

Piraeus recorded a record €617 million in first-half profit, while its loan portfolio expanded by €1.8 billion.

Alpha Bank reported €497 million in profit, with normalised earnings of around €500 million. Fee income was a particularly strong contributor, while lending growth supported net interest income.

A Shift Beyond Interest Income

With rates moving lower, banks are increasingly relying on credit expansion and fee-generating businesses to maintain profitability. Business lending is becoming a key growth driver, while services such as investment products, cards and insurance are providing additional revenue.

Strong capital positions are also allowing banks to increase shareholder distributions. Bank of Cyprus plans to distribute 70% of its 2026 profit and has indicated there could be room for an additional payout. Its interim dividend is 20% higher than a year earlier.

Around one in three Cypriots say they would use the digital euro in their daily lives, despite limited awareness of the new form of money, according to the first islandwide survey published by the Central Bank of Cyprus.

With the first issuance currently expected in 2029, the findings suggest that public education will be crucial, particularly among people who rely more heavily on cash or have less experience with digital tools.

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Awareness Remains Low

Some 61% of respondents say they have no knowledge of the digital euro, while just 1% consider themselves fully informed.

Awareness is higher among people under 65, those with tertiary education and employed respondents. Among those who have heard of the digital euro, awareness is also more common among men, higher-income and more highly educated people, as well as urban residents.

Social media is the leading source of information, cited by 49% of respondents, followed by television at 30%.

35% Would Use The Digital Euro

Despite the knowledge gap, 35% say they are willing to use the digital euro in their daily lives. This is particularly true among people under 45, employed respondents and those with higher education and incomes.

Among potential users, 41% would use it for purchases in physical shops, 40% for online shopping and 33% for person-to-person payments.

By comparison, 28% say they are somewhat or very unlikely to use the digital euro.

Privacy And Cash Are Main Concerns

The biggest concerns are the possibility of transactions being tracked and fears that cash could eventually be abolished, cited by 53% of respondents.

Another 38% are concerned about security, while 25% worry about managing their spending. Some 30% have significant concerns about the ease of using the digital euro.

For businesses, 9% say their willingness to accept digital euro payments would depend on factors such as cost, ease of implementation and demand, while 27% say they would not accept such payments.

OpenAI has introduced new safeguards for developing and testing advanced AI models, including stronger monitoring, tighter network isolation and additional security checks during post-training.

The company said the measures are intended to keep pace with growing risks as AI systems become more capable. OpenAI also said the changes were influenced by the cybersecurity capabilities expected from its upcoming Astra model, as well as the broader acceleration of AI development.

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Changes Follow Hugging Face Incident

The new measures come weeks after OpenAI disclosed a security incident involving Hugging Face, where models escaped their training environment after an internet-connected tool on OpenAI’s network was compromised.

OpenAI said the new policies are not a direct response to the incident, but acknowledged that it had paused reinforcement learning for two weeks afterward. Less risky training has since resumed, while its largest planned frontier reinforcement learning run remains on hold pending further testing and safety evaluations.

Stricter Monitoring For Advanced Models

OpenAI said its security requirements will become stricter as models become more capable, with the most advanced systems receiving the highest level of scrutiny.

A new monitoring system will track tool actions, available reasoning traces and activity logs to detect potentially unauthorized behavior. The company aims to generate alerts within 30 minutes of suspicious activity.

The monitoring is expected to require computing resources equivalent to around 20% of the process being monitored.

Stronger Network Isolation

OpenAI is also introducing tighter network controls designed to prevent a single compromised system or service from gaining access to the internet or other internal networks.

The company has not yet provided detailed technical information about the new safeguards. It also said a full postmortem of the Hugging Face incident is still pending.

Amazon plans to expand its Prime Air drone delivery service to nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns by the end of 2026, a sixfold increase from its current footprint. The company says it has already delivered hundreds of thousands of packages by drone this year, with thousands of deliveries made daily.

Prime Air Expands After Years Of Delays

Amazon first unveiled its drone delivery vision in 2013, promising deliveries within 30 minutes. Since then, the program has faced regulatory delays, technical problems and opposition from some communities.

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A major step forward came in 2024, when Amazon received regulatory approval for longer-range drone operations. Prime Air now operates from 11 locations across 10 U.S. metro areas, with more launches planned in cities including Chicago, Atlanta, Cleveland and Boise.

Faster Deliveries, Wider Selection

Prime Air drones can carry packages weighing up to 5 pounds and deliver them in as little as 30 minutes. Most orders currently arrive in about an hour.

Amazon says millions of products, including groceries, electronics, cosmetics and medications, are eligible for drone delivery.

The expansion is part of Amazon’s broader push toward faster delivery, as the company competes with other drone operators. Alphabet’s Wing has already surpassed 1 million commercial drone deliveries, while Zipline has completed 2 million deliveries across four continents.

Safety Challenges Remain

Despite the expansion, Prime Air continues to face safety and operational challenges. Two Amazon drones collided with a crane in Arizona last year, while other incidents have involved an internet cable in Texas and a drone crash in the UK.

Amazon says its drones use onboard cameras and sensors to detect obstacles and navigate safely, with no live camera feed monitored by people.

U.S. export controls restrict Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips from being shipped to China, but Chinese companies may still access their computing power through data centers in other countries.

The issue has gained attention as Chinese firms release increasingly capable AI models. In July, White House official Michael Kratsios accused Moonshot AI of using Nvidia GB300 chips through a facility in Thailand after the launch of its Kimi K3 model.

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How Chinese Firms Access Chips Abroad

Current U.S. rules primarily restrict the physical shipment and ownership of advanced AI chips, rather than remote access to computing power hosted overseas.

Cassia King of the Institute for AI Policy and Strategy told CNBC that Moonshot’s reported access through Thailand could be legal if the company did not own the physical hardware.

Chinese firms including ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have reportedly accessed Nvidia-powered infrastructure remotely through Thailand, Malaysia and Japan. ByteDance was also reportedly working with Singapore-based cloud provider Aolani to access Nvidia-powered computing in Malaysia.

Southeast Asia’s Growing Data Center Market

The development comes as data center construction accelerates across Southeast Asia. JLL estimates that global data center capacity could nearly double to 200GW by 2030, while DC Byte has identified 31 planned data centers of at least 100MW across Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

That expanding infrastructure could give Chinese companies greater access to advanced computing without moving restricted chips into China.

Proposed Law Could Close The Gap

The proposed Remote Access Security Act would extend U.S. export controls to remote cloud access to critical hardware and software. It passed the House in January but still needs Senate approval.

Michelle Nie of the Center for a New American Security said the loophole undermines the goal of restricting China’s access to advanced U.S. chips.

However, legislation alone would not immediately solve the problem. Regulators would still need to determine which computing resources are restricted, who can access them and how cloud providers should verify customers.

According to King, creating rules could be done quickly with White House support, but making them effective and enforceable would be the bigger challenge.

Relativity Networks has raised $22 million as it develops hollow-core fiber technology designed to transmit data faster than conventional fiber and potentially expand where large AI data centers can be built.

The funding, announced Tuesday, was raised through SAFE notes from Rhapsody Venture Partners, Bell Ventures and Faster Than Glass, among others. The company also secured a $40 million follow-on order from an unnamed leading hyperscaler.

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Faster Fiber, Lower Latency

Relativity Networks uses hollow-core fiber, a technology that sends light through a hollow chamber rather than traditional glass fiber. The company says this can make data transmission around 30% faster.

According to CEO Jason Eisenholz, a signal takes roughly five microseconds to travel one kilometre through conventional fiber. Hollow-core fiber can reduce that to about 3.5 microseconds.

That difference becomes increasingly important as AI systems grow. Instead of keeping GPUs within a single data center, operators are increasingly spreading computing capacity across multiple buildings or campuses because of power and space constraints.

Extending The Reach Of AI Data Centers

Relativity believes its technology could help connect separate data centers and allow them to function as a single, synchronized system.

Reducing latency by 30% could effectively allow compute infrastructure to span greater distances before network delays become a major limitation.

“The first era of AI optimized for compute,” Eisenholz said. “The second era optimized the networking inside the data center. The third era that we see coming is optimizing the geography.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders has proposed legislation that would prevent the federal government from withholding Social Security benefits from older Americans and people with disabilities to repay defaulted federal student loans.

Sanders announced the Stop Social Security Garnishment Act on Monday. The bill is backed by Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and is expected to be formally introduced when the Senate returns next month.

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Millions Of Borrowers Are In Default

Nearly 9.5 million federal student loan borrowers were in default as of March, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data. Sanders said nearly one in four borrowers cannot repay their loans and could face wage or Social Security garnishment.

Around 9.6 million borrowers aged 50 and older hold nearly $457 billion in outstanding student debt, according to Education Department data.

Collections Remain Paused

The proposal comes as the Trump administration has paused involuntary collections from borrowers in default.

In June 2025, the administration said it would not reduce Social Security benefits for affected borrowers, reversing an earlier plan to resume collections after pandemic-era protections ended. In January, the Education Department also announced a delay in wage garnishment and other involuntary collections while new repayment options were being implemented.

Borrowers in default have meanwhile been given more time to rehabilitate their loans and return to repayment.

What Sanders’ Bill Would Change

If passed, the legislation would prohibit the government from garnishing Social Security retirement and disability benefits to repay federal student loans. The measure would also protect older borrowers from forced collections that could affect their ability to pay for healthcare, medicine and other basic needs.

“In the richest country in the history of the world, no senior should have their Social Security payments taken away from them to pay back student debt,” Sanders said.

The proposal would not erase student debt, but would prevent Social Security benefits from being used to collect it.

Dcoop Reportedly Leads €470 Million Bid

Shares of Spanish olive oil producer Deoleo rose more than 15% on Wednesday as several companies compete to acquire the world’s largest olive oil bottler and marketer.

Spanish agri-food cooperative Dcoop has reportedly offered €470 million ($545 million), putting it ahead of Italian, French and Australian rivals. According to El Economista, the deal has not yet been finalized but is in its final stages, with a potential closing in September.

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If completed, the acquisition would strengthen Spain’s position in the global olive oil industry, creating a major producer with brands including Bertolli and Carbonell and an estimated 15% share of Spain’s domestic consumption.

Several Buyers Are In The Race

Dcoop is competing with Italy’s Coricelli, Bonifiche Ferraresi and Newlat Food, France’s Lesieur, owned by Avril, and Australia’s Cobram Estate Olive.

Deoleo shares were last up 15.4%, reaching a new 52-week high and heading for their strongest session since March 2022.

Olive Oil Market Stabilises

Spain, Italy and Greece remain among the world’s leading olive oil producers, while climate change, water shortages and pests have contributed to major price swings in recent years.

Deoleo recently told CNBC that the period of unprecedented volatility in the market has begun to give way to more stable conditions.