Day: December 22, 2022

The condition of the 4-year-old girl who was transferred to Israel with streptococcus A remains stable but critical, a Ministry of Health spokesman told CNA on Thursday.

He said that based on the latest information received at 12.30 midnight Wednesday to Thursday by Health Ministry Permanent Secretary Christina Giannaki, the 4-year-old had been admitted to the large intensive care unit of the Tel Ha’ Shomer University Hospital, adding that no problems were encountered during the air transfer.

The little girl’s health condition remains critically stable, the ministry spokesman continued, adding that there will be further communication this afternoon with doctors in Israel regarding any progress during the day, which will continue on a daily basis.

In addition, he said that the child’s parents have been diagnosed positive for coronavirus, as a result of which the 4-year-old was accompanied by her aunt during her transfer, and as soon as they are able to travel, they will go directly to Israel to be with their child.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The Turnover Value Index of Wholesale Trade (Division 46) during the third quarter of 2022 recorded an increase of 26.1% compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year, according to data published by the Statistical Service on Thursday.

For the same quarter, the Turnover Value Index of Sales and Repair of Motor Vehicles (Division 45) recorded an increase of 9% compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

For the period of January to September 2022 the Wholesale Trade increased by 29%, in comparison to the same period of 2021, while the sales and repairs of Motor Vehicles increased by 13.8%.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The Ministry of Health issued a clarification statement on the measures in place against COVID-19 on Thursday.

As stated, the use of protective masks is compulsory for employees and visitors over 12 years of age in hospitals, nursing homes, closed structures for vulnerable groups, outpatient clinics of hospitals, medical centres, clinical laboratories, rehabilitation centres, pharmacies and public transport, while the use of masks in crowded spaces is recommended for people belonging to vulnerable population groups and for people who interact with people at high risk.

It is further noted that the Safe Pass is mandatory for visits to patients in public and private hospitals and to residents in nursing homes and closed structures, and a 24-hour Rapid test or 48-hour PCR for persons over 6 years of age (2 persons per day, 1 person per visit).

It is added that in extremely urgent cases the number of persons and visits may be increased, subject to approval by the management of the hospital or facility, while it is noted that mobile units of the Ministry of Health provide free rapid tests in SHSO nursing homes for the convenience of patients, visitors and employees during the hours 07?00 – 19?00.

With regard to outpatient visits to hospital outpatient clinics, medical and diagnostic centres, dispensaries, rehabilitation centres and accommodation centres, the Ministry clarifies that a 48-hour rapid test or 72-hour PCR is required for persons who do not hold a valid certificate of vaccination or infection, while there is no requirement for persons who hold a valid certificate of vaccination or infection or for persons under the age of 6 years.

The Ministry of Health also recommends that all citizens, regardless of vaccination history, undergo a self-test or rapid test test once a week.

It is added that citizens who present symptoms against COVID-19 or possess a self-test with a positive reading should contact their Personal Physician and will be referred for free PCR testing, while citizens who are reported as a close contact of a confirmed positive case will receive a message from the Ministry of Health to have free testing performed on the 3rd and 5th day of contact, which will be performed at clinical laboratories contracted with the Ministry of Health.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

On Christmas Eve, the Holy Synod will elect a new Archbishop of the Church of Cyprus, it was decided on Thursday.

The election will take place after the Saturday’s Holy Mass, the members of the Holy Synod unanimously decided earlier today.

Speaking to the media after the meeting of the Holy Synod, Paphos Bishop Georgios, the caretaker of the throne said two objections that were submitted concerning Sunday’s elections were rejected after examination.

He also said the Synod ratified the results of the 18 December elections and the three candidates that form the triumvirate chosen by the people. Bishop Athanasios of Limassol secured the lead in Sunday’s electoral process for the new Archbishop, followed by Bishop Georgios of Paphos and Bishop Isaiah of Tamassos and Orini.

Asked if the church mechanisms are ready for Saturday’s election, the Paphos Bishop said the procedure is simple as there will only be voting among the members of the Holy Synod.

He also said that the Bishop who is elected will decide when the enthronement will take place. However, time will be given to allow other autocephalous churches to send representatives to attend the ceremony which will probably take place after Epiphany.

Bishop of Paphos could not comment reports about possible cooperation amongst bishops to elect a new archbishop. Saturday, he said, is only two days away, we will see, he added.

He added that “each and everyone has their own perception of what they will do on election day”.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The main products of domestic origin exported from Cyprus in 2021 were mineral fuels and oils, pharmaceutical products, halloumi cheese, waste and scrap and potatoes, according to an infographic on foreign trade of Cyprus for year 2021, published by the Statistical Service, on Thursday.

According to the infographic, total imports of goods from EU Member States and from third countries in 2021 amounted to €8,651.7 mn while total exports were €3,373.4 mn. The trade deficit was €5,278.3 mn in 2021.

Mineral fuels and oils exports amounted to €380.4 mn, or 26.3%, pharmaceutical products were €326.9 mn, amounting to 22.6%, halloumi cheese exports amounted to €263 mn or 18.2%, waste and scrap of paper, glass, metal were up to €75.1 mn or 5.2% and potatoes exports were up to €42.1 mn, or 2.9%.

The main products imported in Cyprus in 2021 were mineral fuels and oils amounting to €1,571.7 mn or 18.2%, vessels €898.9 mn or 10.4%. Motor cars, other vehicles and parts amounted for 6.1% of all imports, with €528.3 mn, electrical machinery, devices, materials were at €517.1 mn or 6%, other machinery, boilers, appliances and their parts €497.6 mn or 5.8%.

The share of intra-EU imports for year 2021 constituted 65.1% of the total compared to 54.2% in year 2015, while extra-EU imports for year 2021 constituted 34.9% compared to 45.8% in 2015. The share of intra-EU exports for year 2021 was 27.4% compared to 40% in year 2015, while extra-EU exports for year 2021 constituted 72.6% compared to 60% in 2015.

The share of exports of domestic goods reached 42.9% of the total exports in 2021 compared to 27.6% in 2015.

The main partner countries in imports for 2021 were Greece with €2,076.3 mn, Italy with €883.7 mn, Germany with €539.4 mn, the Netherlands with €445.7 mn and China with €431.1 mn, whereas the main partner countries in exports of domestic goods were Lebanon with €257.3 mn, the United Kingdom €171.8 mn, Greece with €106.3 mn, Kenya with €66.2 mn and Israel with €64.6 mn.

The main share in imports for home consumption by economic destination consisted of consumer goods with 30.8% followed by intermediate inputs (e.g. cereals, building iron) with 29.1% and transport equipment with 22.7%. Industrial products of manufacturing origin with 40.9% constituted the main part of exports of domestically produced goods followed by industrial products of mineral origin with 29% and industrial products of agricultural origin with 23.4%.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

NEW YORK: DriveWealth, LLC, a global fintech investment rail and pioneer in fractional investing, today announced that following its milestone year of rapid global expansion, customer growth, and product innovation, the company has been recognized for its achievements as the category leader that is redefining investing through 10 of the most prominent industry awards. Each of these lists recognize the world’s most innovative and influential businesses and include:

Industry awards: This year, the firm was named to the CB Insights Fintech 250 for the second consecutive year, the 2022 Deloitte Technology Fast 500, the 2022 Forbes Fintech 50, the WealthTech 100, and the Benzinga 2022 Global Fintech Awards, among others. Emily Ellis, Head of People, was also recognized with an Inspiring Fintech Female Award from NYC Fintech Women.

Product awards: DriveWealth recently partnered with Adaptive Financial Consulting to build a new proprietary order management system (OMS) to address increased demand in its retail brokerage business. This high-throughput, low-latency OMS, which leverages Aeron technology, was recognized as 2022’s Best Collaboration/Alliance Initiative by Waters Technology’s American Financial Technology Awards.

Workplace awards: The firm was listed as a 2022 New Jersey Top Workplace. Built In also honored the firm in its Best Places To Work Awards as one of its Best Midsize Companies to Work For and Best Paying Companies in New York City for the second consecutive year.

“Our solutions are transforming the investing landscape and we’re honored to see such positive industry recognition for our work,” said Bob Cortright, Founder of DriveWealth. “DriveWealth’s significant global growth this year can be directly attributed to the flexible scalability and customization of our platform’s APIs. We look forward to remaining the primary industry choice for fintechs who are looking to empower their customers with innovative investing solutions worldwide.”

These industry accolades built upon a number of milestones that DriveWealth achieved in 2022, including:

Grew its global footprint: DriveWealth built upon key partnerships in Europe (Bank of Georgia) and Asia Pacific (Toss Securities), in addition to launching new partnerships in underserved markets such as Africa (Chipper Cash) and Latin America (Sproutfi) to expand affordable access to investing. In addition to notable new partnerships, DriveWealth expanded its global footprint by establishing presences in Singapore, London, Dublin, Lithuania, and Brazil to support partners and retail investors globally.

Bolstered its innovative suite of services: DriveWealth’s Fracker®, its proprietary OMS that has reinvented the retail investing experience for millions worldwide, was granted a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In addition to launching two wholly-owned subsidiaries, DriveDigital and DriveLiquidity, to offer cryptocurrency capabilities to partners and their retail investors, the company launched its Developer Dashboard to enable developers to gain free, instant access to the same resilient and scalable APIs that DriveWealth’s partners access in a sandbox environment. Finally, the firm expanded its DriveAdvisory platform, a technology infrastructure solution that empowers partners to fully integrate financial advisory products into their existing apps.

DriveWealth anticipates significant opportunities for growth in 2023, supported by results included in its proprietary DriveTrends report, which showed that digital trading became increasingly popular this year among global Millennials even amid 2022 market lows – a trend expected to continue into 2023. The study analyzed data from more than 12 million investors worldwide who trade fractional shares of U.S. equities through DriveWealth’s network of 100+ global partners, including MoneyLion, Revolut, Grupo Bursátil Mexicano (GBM), and Goalsetter, among others.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Economic uncertainty in November remained at the same levels as in the summer months of 2022, according to the Economic Research Center of the University of Cyprus.

It says that during the last quarter, the level of uncertainty measured by the Cyprus Economic Policy Uncertainty index (EPU) is very close to that during the summer months much lower compared to spring, when economic uncertainty in Cyprus reached unprecedented levels due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

“During the last quarter, the level of uncertainty measured by the Cyprus EPU index is very close to that during the summer months. Specifically, the EPU index in August was 248.28, while in November it was 246.88, much lower compared to spring, when economic uncertainty in Cyprus reached unprecedented levels due to the Russia-Ukraine war”.

It adds that during the autumn of 2022, the EPU index was equal to 281.22, 256.67, and 246.88 in September, October, and November, respectively.

Uncertainty in September had a temporary small peak, partly due to the political instability in the United Kingdom, while in October and November uncertainty fell back to a lower level.

The Cyprus EPU index shows that uncertainty is still at higher levels compared to those during the pre-pandemic era, it points out.

The European EPU index is also rising during September. Contrary to the Cyprus EPU, the European EPU peak in September is relatively higher than the one in March due to the Russia-Ukraine war in spring.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

DALLAS: Mary Kay recently announced its sustainability strategy – Enriching Lives Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow ­– which encompasses five pillars, 15 commitments, and over a decade of action. This strategy was developed with Mary Kay’s key stakeholders and is aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, making Mary Kay an essential part of a global coalition to ensure a better future.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221222005031/en/

Mary Kay Inc. partners with local and global organizations to further their mission to enrich women’s lives and bring education opportunities to young women around the world.

As part of this overarching strategy and to continue its decades-long advocacy for women’s empowerment, education and entrepreneurship, Mary Kay is committed to providing 250,000 young women education opportunities by 2030. To further its mission of enriching women’s lives, partnerships and scholarships with local and global organizations in 2022 ensured young women around the world are provided with exceptional education opportunities to pursue their dreams.

2022 Mary Kay Inc. Partnerships/Programs included:

Young Women in STEAM Grants – Six recipients received grants created to elevate young women in STEAM fields and encourage them to continue their passions and career pursuits. The 2022 recipients were from N. Macedonia, Germany, the Philippines, China, and Australia pursuing careers in everything from app development and architecture to physics and geothermal inventions.

Young Women in STEAM Continuing Education Grant – As an extension of Mary Kay’s Young Women in STEAM grants and social campaign, Ivanna Hernandez, a 2021 grant recipient, was awarded a second grant to help further pursue her dream of becoming the first Latin American woman astronaut to go to Mars. She was featured in a documentary created to inspire young women to shoot for the stars – or Mars in this case!

Society of Cosmetic Chemists Madam C. J. Walker Scholarship – Established to honor Walker, the first female, self-made millionaire who made her fortune by developing a line of cosmetics and hair care products for Black women. At the SCC 75th Annual meeting, Ms. A’Lelia Bundles, the great-great-granddaughter of Madam C.J. Walker, and Michelle Hines, Ph.D., Director of Product Formulation at Mary Kay, presented the Madam C. J. Walker Scholarships for under-represented minority students pursuing higher education in STEM disciplines related to the cosmetics and personal care industry. The award is supported by the Society of Cosmetic Chemists and partnered and funded by Mary Kay. The winning recipients included: Joy Rutherford, fifth-year PhD student and NIH Research Fellow; and Imani Elaine Porter, Hampton University, second-year undergraduate in biochemistry.

Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship – Partnering to provide 47,000 youth globally with entrepreneurship curriculum and innovative thinking opportunities. Through support of 1) the Aspiring Entrepreneurs Program (U.S.) core program; 2) World Series of Innovation; and 3) World Series of Innovation Challenge Innovation Days, Mary Kay is helping to empower youth to reach their entrepreneurial dreams. In the 2021-2022 school year, Mary Kay sponsored the NFTE World Series of Innovation (WSI) where 21 teams of emerging social entrepreneurs won a total of $16,800 for their proposed solutions to seven challenges, each of which focused on advancing a Sustainable Development Goal. Sponsors of the seven innovation challenges included: Bank of the West, Citi Foundation, Mary Kay, Saint-Gobain North America, Ernst & Young, LLP (EY), Maxar Technologies, and PIMCO. The 2022 World Series of Innovation Challenge launched in September 2022 and Mary Kay is participating for a third year tackling SDG 14: Life Below Water.

City of Lewisville, IncubatorEDU – In partnership with the Lewisville Independent School District (LISD), IncubatorEDU offers a robust entrepreneurship curriculum to Lewisville High School students. Community mentors and an end-of-year pitch event provide the students with real-life entrepreneurial experience and education opportunities.

Academy of Marketing Science – For more than 25 years, Mary Kay has supported the Mary Kay Dissertation and Dissertation Proposal Awards at the annual Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) conference where doctoral student participants showcase their successfully defended dissertations and receive a monetary award and critical peer feedback to improve their chances of publishing their work in academic journals in the future.

Ursuline Academy of Dallas – Mary Kay Ash Endowed Scholarship – Scholarship awarded annually to support girls with an education that equips them with the skills and confidence needed to do great things.

Army Scholarship Foundation – Mary Kay Corporation Honorary Scholarship – Scholarship awarded annually to deserving sons and daughters of US Army soldiers and Army veterans, and to spouses of enlisted active-duty soldiers.

Hispanic Scholarship Fund – Scholarship awarded annually to support and empower students and parents with the knowledge and resources to successfully complete a higher education, while providing support services and scholarships to as many exceptional students, HSF scholars and Alumni as possible.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The growing preference of Cypriots for digital means of payment, but also the desire to maintain the ability to pay with cash and checks, are the main conclusions of the report of the Central Bank of Cyprus on Retail Payments in Cyprus for the years 2014-2021, which was published on Thursday on the basis of data collected by the CBC on payment statistics and the publicly available report of the European Central Bank on the use of cash in 2016.

According to the report, Cypriots still perceive important to always have the option to pay with cash and cheques. Consumer preferences favour digital payment methods, as manifested by the following: the increased use of cards, which is mainly driven by debit cards. It says that in fact, Cypriots consistently choose debit over credit cards (2021: 84%; 2019: 77%; 2014: 66%).

It notes that access to cash is not as easy as in 2014, due to the reduction and consolidation of the banking sector. The number of banks’ offices decreased by 42% (2021: 260; 2014: 615) and the decrease in the number of automated teller machines (2021: 451; 2015: 526).

The report says that consumer habits indicate a clear preference for making purchases using cards at physical POSs (81%) rather than online. In specific it says that the pandemic had no major impact on the volume of card transactions (online or at physical POSs) and that the pandemic mainly affected the value of online card payments since 2019 with a sharp increase of 58% to EUR 2,9 bln in 2021 compared to EUR 1,9 bln in 2019. Card payments at physical POSs decreased by only 6% to EUR 3,7 bln in 2021 from EUR 4 bln in 2019.

It says that the aforementioned effect of the pandemic was only short-term, as the value of online card payments had stabilised in 2021.

The report says that e-commerce transactions using payment cards are gaining popularity and have increased by more than 5 times in volume and in value terms from 2014 up until 2021. The culture of using digital methods for retail payments is not yet as widespread in Cyprus as in the EU as a whole. In 2021, the average value per card transaction is almost twice the EU average (CY: EUR 60; EU: EUR 36).

Consumer behaviour for Cyprus’ population of just under one million citizens is shifting towards digital payment methods at double the pace compared with the EU average (5-year CAGR: 18% in CY vs 9% in the EU) the report notes.

It further points out that this is only expected because Cypriots still pay in cash and via cheques, therefore any shifts towards digital payments have a greater impact compared to the EU average and that the pandemic has accelerated profoundly this shift. Concluding, it notes that since 2019 digital payments have increased by 40% in Cyprus as opposed to 18% in the EU.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

SANTA CLARA: Hillstone Networks, a leading provider of innovative and accessible cybersecurity solutions, announced that Hillstone Networks has been again recognized in the 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Network Firewalls for the 9th consecutive year and named as a Visionary for the second time.

The Hillstone Networks solutions have evolved from a network security platform into a robust cybersecurity portfolio that delivers on cyber resilience, from edge to cloud, and everything in between. From SMB to carrier-class network requirements, across all major verticals globally, the portfolio today leverages the foundational Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) to include the following solutions:

Hillstone Secure SD-WAN solution for distributed enterprises.

Hillstone ZTNA solution, enabling Zero Trust access from any device, anywhere.

Hillstone CloudArmour delivering cloud workload protection.

Hillstone CloudHive micro-segmentation solution for virtualized datacenters.

Hillstone sBDS server protection integrated with network detection and response (NDR) solution against multi-stage, multi-layer threats targeting critical servers and hosts.

Hillstone iSource, an AI-powered Extended Detection and Response (XDR) platform that includes NDR features and input from 3rd party platforms.

“We are happy to return a 9th year in recognition of our completeness of vision and ability to execute,” states Tim Liu, CTO and co-founder, Hillstone Networks. “In today’s hybrid multicloud world, our cloud-first strategy resonates with customers and partners alike. We continue to leverage the award-winning and industry-leading NGFW platform and integrate advanced features to unlock SD-WAN and ZTNA capabilities and deliver additional solutions that meet gaps in the market as well as address the needs of our growing customer base.”

A cloud-first approach is a mandate to deliver effective cyber-resilient solutions that protect enterprise critical assets and infrastructure. Beyond on-premises, private and hybrid cloud environments, the Hillstone Networks solution repertoire includes IoT security that helps the IoT sector proactively detect, protect, and manage risk across IoT devices.

Download a copy of the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Network Firewalls here.

Gartner, Gartner Magic Quadrant for Network Firewalls, Rajpreet Kaur, Adam Hils, Thomas Lintemuth, 19 December 2022

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s Research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner and Magic Quadrant is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

About Hillstone Networks

Hillstone Networks’ innovative and accessible cybersecurity solutions reshape enterprise security, enabling cyber resilience while lowering TCO. By providing comprehensive visibility, superior intelligence, and rapid protection to see, understand, and act against multilayer, multistage cyberthreats, Hillstone is favorably rated by leading analysts and trusted by global companies. To learn more visit www.hillstonenet.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221222005397/en/

Contacts

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Source: Hillstone Networks

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Source: Cyprus News Agency