Day: August 2, 2022

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Health Ministry prepares protocols for management of suspected and confirmed Monkeypox cases

The Ministry of Health has prepared the protocols for the management of suspected and confirmed cases of Monkeypox and their contacts in the Republic of Cyprus.

A Ministry press release said the protocols include a description of the virus, how it is transmitted, symptomatology, ways to protect against the transmission of the disease, as well as a chart and the procedures necessary for vaccination against the disease, should there will be a need for vaccination.

The protocols for the management of suspected and confirmed cases of Monkeypox can be found on the following link

https://www.pio.gov.cy/assets/pdf/other/02082022–Protocol-Management-Monkeypox-Cases.pdf

Source: Cyprus News Agency

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Commission announces funding opportunities for sport and promoting sustainability through sport

The European Commission has announced two new funding opportunities in the area of grassroots sport and sports infrastructure, as well as the promotion of sustainable behaviours through sport publicity.

The two calls for proposals issued are for the preparatory action for “Grassroots sport programmes and infrastructure innovation” with a total budget of 1.95 million euro and the pilot project “Sport for People and Planet, a new approach on sustainability through sport in Europe” with a total budget of €1.44 million.

In a statement, Commissioner Mariya Gabriel said that the two calls “show our willingness to encourage innovative and more sustainable ways of practicing sports”.

“I look forward to the innovative ideas that the grassroots sport movement will put forward” she added.

The Preparatory Action “Grassroots sport programmes and infrastructure innovation” aims to encourage the sport sector to improve its activities through creativity, innovation and new practices.

The objectives of the new pilot project “Sport for People and Planet – a new approach on sustainability through sport in Europe” are to inspire EU citizens to actively participate in sustainable behaviour thanks to the communicative power of sport, its major events and leading role models.

The calls for proposals are managed by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). The calls will be open until 12/10 for submission. ? list of projects funded under previous Pilot Projects and Preparatory Actions is available on the EACEA PPPA website.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

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Birmingham 2022: First gold for Cyprus with Georgios Balarjishvili in Judo

The delegation of the Cyprus Commonwealth Games Committee celebrates its first gold medal at the 22nd Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Georgios Balarjishvili won the gold medal in Judo, in the 66kg category, beating in the final the Scottish judoka Finlay Allan.

Petros Christodoulides secured fourth place in the 60kg category, losing out in the bronze medal match to India’s Vijay Kumar Yadav by ippon. In the semi-final held earlier on Monday, Balarjishvili defeated Alexander Short, also from Scotland, again by wazari.

In his first match on Monday morning, Balarjishvili efeated Callum Nash of Northern Ireland by ippon. Then, in the “8” stage, the young athlete defeated Australia’s Nathan Katz by wazari to qualify for the best “4” of his class.

The Cypriot judoka defeated Short in the semi-finals with a wazari, securing a medal for the Cypriot delegation, and went on to win the gold in the final of the 66kg category, beating his 20-year-old opponent from Scotland with a wazari.

The only previous medal for the sport of Judo at the Commonwealth Games, which was silver, was won by Balarjishvili’s current coach, Christos Christodoulides, in 2002 in Manchester.

This is the fourth medal for the Cyprus Commonwealth Games Committee delegation to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

For his part, Petros Christodoulides, competing with an injury problem, managed to reach the semi-final of the 60kg category, losing to England’s Samuel Hall by ippon. Then, in the bronze medal match, Christodoulides lost to India’s Yadav also by ippon.

In his first match for the ’32’ stage, Christodoulides beat Kenny Williams of Sierra Leone and then went on to beat Cameroon’s Bernadin Tsala Tsala in the ’16’ stage. In the quarter-finals, the young judoka beat Simon Zulu Zam of Zambia.

In women’s Judo, Sophia Asvesta reached the “8” stage in the 52kg category, placing 7th.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

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Birmingham 2022: Cyprus wins gold and bronze medal in Men’s Horizontal Bar

Cypriot gymnasts Ilias Georgiou and Marios Gergiou secured the gold and the bronze medal respectively in Men’s Horizontal Bar final, a huge success for Cyprus delegation at the 22nd Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Ilias Georgiou with an amazing performance scored 14,466 points, with a difficulty score of 5,900 and an execution score of 8,566, taking the top spot and the gold medal.

Marios Georgiou, who scored 14,133 points, with difficulty score 5,800 points and execution score 8,333 points secured the 3rd place and the bronze medal. Australian Tyson Bull, who scored 14,233 points won the silver medal.

This is the seventh medal for the Cyprus Commonwealth Games Committee delegation to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, with two gold, one silver and four bronze.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

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Czech Republic refers to achievements of first month of its EU Presidency

Czech diplomats in Brussels have achieved a number of successes during the first month of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU.

According to the Presidency, the greatest success was achieved by Czech negotiators at the end of July. They succeeded in negotiating an agreement on gas demand reduction in a record six days from the presentation of the Commission’s proposal. According to the agreement, the fifteen per cent gas savings are only voluntary for now, but they will become mandatory if there is an acute shortage. “The goal of the adopted Council regulation is to reduce the EU’s dependence on Russian gas, which is being used as a weapon to divide the EU-27,” the Presidency says in a statement.

Among others, it notes that under Czech leadership the ambassadors of the Member States approved the seventh sanctions package against Russia that should further weaken Russia economically and thus support Ukraine in its struggle.

In addition, it says that Czech diplomats also succeeded in negotiating a common position by all Member States on the FAST-CARE proposal which aims to further assist EU regions that have received large numbers of refugees from Ukraine or are facing adverse economic impacts due to Russia’s aggression.

The Czech Presidency adds that it will forever be associated with a historic day for the Western Balkans since on 19 July, an intergovernmental conference kicked off accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania.

After years of waiting, the two candidate countries can finally start negotiating their respective accession chapters, a major step on their path to the European Community. The integration of the Western Balkans into the EU is one of the priorities of the Czech Presidency, it says.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

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Cypriot poet Giorgos Christodoulides featured in Ireland’s Hopkins International Festival

The 34th edition of the Gerard Manley Hopkins International Festival took place in Newbridge, Kildare between 22-29 July. One of Ireland’s foremost literary events, the Festival celebrates the life and work of Hopkins, English poet and Jesuit priest (1844–1889) who in 1884 was appointed professor of Greek Literature at University College, Dublin. Even though only few of Hopkins’s verses were printed before his untimely death of typhoid fever, his collected works were published in 1918 by Robert Bridges, then poet laureate, and went on to exert significant influence on such eminent poets as T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden and Dylan Thomas. Hopkins’s innovative use of the prosodic element of “sprung rhythm” as well as his vibrant synthesis of personal experiences, astute observation of nature and engagement with the divine mystery are commemorated to this day, poignantly revisited by contemporary poets and scholars alike.

In addition to comparative analyses of Hopkins’s poetry, which this year included presentations of his literary rapports with Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson – by William Adamson (Bamberg Uni.) and Brett Millier (Middlebury College, USA) respectively – the Festival offered visits to Ireland’s cultural sites and ancient monuments, perhaps the most impressive of which was the 18 ft. Celtic Cross of Moone in County Kildare, an 8th or 9th c. richly-carved granite monument. A Youth Programme, directed by Derek Egan, ran in parallel with the main events, alongside book launches and international poetry readings. This year, Cyprus was featured among the participating countries, as Armida’s Giorgos Christodoulides Selected Poems 1996-2021 was launched by the Festival’s Artistic Director, acclaimed Irish poet Desmond Egan.

Egan has been acquainted with Christodoulides’s poetry since 2005, but the Cypriot poet’s recent English edition, in a vibrant translation by Despina Pirketti, has shed new light on his body of work. The book features poems drawn from eight collections of poetry as well as anecdotal poems — all of which, according to Egan, “exemplify the mature Christodoulides style: that distinctive mixture of the whimsical and a Cypriot version of the surreal, where a drawer may hold bones or a lollipop.” Christodoulides addressed the Festival’s participants with remarks on the poet’s task, followed by readings of his work in both Greek and English.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

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Issues affecting Ukrainian refugees and students on agenda of Johansson’s visit to Kyiv

Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson is visiting Kiyv in Tuesday, to help assess the needs for people fleeing the war, as well as for those going back to Ukraine, the European Commission has announced.

Johansson will meet with Ukrainian authorities as well as with beneficiaries of the temporary protection directive, under which about 3.9 million Ukrainians have registered since the proposal was adopted on March 4th.

Commissioner Johansson will also exchange views on the need of around 500 thousand Ukrainian children that have registered in school systems across the EU, in view of the incoming winter and the start of the new school year.

During the visit, the Commissioner will participate in a signing ceremony to mark Ukraine’s observer status in the European Migration Network, the EU network of migration and asylum experts.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

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EU disburses new €1 billion macro-financial assistance operation for Ukraine

The European Commission, on behalf of the EU, disbursed on Monday the first half (€500 million) of a new €1 billion macro-financial assistance (MFA) operation for Ukraine.

A press release by the Commission says that the second tranche (another €500 million) will be disbursed today.

This additional MFA of €1 billion is part of the extraordinary effort by the EU, alongside the international community, to help Ukraine to address its immediate financial needs following the unprovoked and unjustified aggression by Russia, the press release says.

It notes that it is the first part of the exceptional MFA package of up to €9 billion announced in the Commission’s communication of 18 May 2022 and endorsed by the European Council of 23-24 June 2022. It complements the support already provided by the EU, including a €1.2 billion emergency MFA loan paid out in the first half of the year. Taken together, the two strands of the programme bring the total MFA support to Ukraine since the beginning of the war to €2.2 billion.

The MFA funds have been made available to Ukraine in the form of long-term loans on favourable terms. The assistance supports Ukraine’s macroeconomic stability and overall resilience in the context of Russia’s military aggression and the ensuing economic challenges. In a further expression of solidarity, the EU budget will cover the interest costs on this loan. As for all previous MFA loans, the Commission borrows funds on international capital markets and transfers the proceeds on the same terms to Ukraine. This loan to Ukraine is backed for 70% of the value set aside from the EU budget.

This financial assistance comes in addition to the unprecedented support provided by the EU to date, notably humanitarian, development and defence assistance, the suspension of all import duties on Ukrainian exports for one year or other solidarity initiatives, e.g. to address transport bottlenecks so that exports, in particular of grains, could be ensured.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

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Transparent and predictable working conditions’ Directive an important step, Commission says

The deadline for EU Member States to transpose the Directive on transparent and predictable working conditions into national law expired on Monday.

According to the European Commission, the Directive provides more extensive and updated labour rights and protection to the 182 million workers in the EU.

With the new rules, workers will have the right to more predictability in their working conditions, for instance regarding assignments and working time.

They will also have the right to receive timely and more complete information about the essential aspects of their job, such as place of work and remuneration.

This marks an important step for a strong social Europe and contributes to turning the European Pillar of Social Rights into a tangible reality for people across the EU, the Commission says.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

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Extremely high temperature on Tuesday, authorities on alert for forest fires

A yellow warning for extremely high temperature, which is valid from 11.00 to 17.00 on Tuesday, was issued by the Cyprus Department of Meteorology.

According to the warning issued by the Department, the inland maximum temperature is expected to reach around 41 degrees Celsius.

The public is urged to be aware of the expected high temperatures.

“Some health risks amongst vulnerable people, e.g. the elderly and very young, are possible”, the department notes in its warning.

In the meantime, the risk of forest fires will be on a “red alert” level on Tuesday, according to a statement by the Department of Forests.

The announcement emphasises that lighting a fire without permission is prohibited and constitutes an offense which, according to the Forestry Law of 2012, is punishable by imprisonment of up to 10 years or a fine of up to €50,000.00 or both penalties together and according to the Fire Prevention in the Countryside Act of 1988 up to 5 years or with a fine of up to €20,000 or both penalties together.

Lighting a fire for food preparation is only allowed in the grills of the picnic areas.

The announcement urges the public to be especially careful during their excursions and completely avoid actions and activities that are likely to cause a fire, such as the use of tools or agricultural machinery that produces heat, sparks or flame, such as emery, oxygen welding and electric welding.

In the event of smoke or fire, people are invited to call immediately 1407 (Department of Forests) or 112 (Fire Service), the announcement concludes.

Source: Cyprus News Agency