Even as it battles with COVID-19, Uzbekistan is maintaining strong momentum to reform its health system and provide quality, affordable health services to the entire population.
Dilshod Soliev, a 40 year-old patient, who requires hemodialysis, is just one person who has benefitted from these reforms.
, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/eu-affairs/20210325STO00805/
Europol supported the Italian Postal and Communication Police (Polizia Postale e delle Comunicazioni) in arresting an Italian national suspected of hiring a hitman on the dark web. The hitman, hired through an internet assassination website hosted on the TOR network, was payed about €10 000 worth in Bitcoins to kill the ex-girlfriend of the suspect.
Europol carried out an urgent, complex crypto-analysis to enable the tracing and identification of the provider from which the suspect purchased the cryptocurrencies. The Italian police then reached out to the identified Italian crypto service provider, who confirmed the information uncovered during the investigation and provided the authorities with further details about the suspect. The timely investigation prevented any harm to be perpetrated against the potential victim.
Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) and the Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce (J-CAT) hosted at Europol supported this investigation with operational analysis and expertise.
The Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce (J-CAT) at Europol is a standing operational team consisting of cyber liaison officers from different countries who work from the same office on high profile cybercrime investigations.
Headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands, Europol supports the 27 EU Member States in their fight against terrorism, cybercrime, and other serious and organized crime forms. Europol also works with many non-EU partner states and international organisations. From its various threat assessments to its intelligence-gathering and operational activities, Europol has the tools and resources it needs to do its part in making Europe safer.
“I’m not too sure that I want to go back to school because I’ve lost my will to learn. But I’m also not so sure that I want to stay at home; I am just really confused at this time.”
This is the reflection of one young person in the WHO European Region who took part in a survey looking at the experience of being a student during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The survey was run voluntarily by students Emilia, Frida and Malika, and included a total of 927 responses from 10- to 19-year-olds from 16 countries collected over 4 months. Pupils responding to the survey also called attention to problems with online learning and the sacrifices they have made to support the wider community. These are some of their responses.
“[Online learning] … isn’t the same as in-class learning. It feels like some of the teachers and students very rarely have enough energy to give to the lesson, and to let the information be absorbed properly.”
“Our education system is not ready for online learning, and the problems we have now online are the same we had a year ago. Sometimes you don’t even hear the teacher … I know that teachers are also sad about the situation.”
“Of course, we don’t want our grandparents to die or intensive care units (ICUs) to be overburdened. Of course, we want to do our share for our community and protect it. But we also need to see our community do their share for us. How can we justify the closing of schools while shops or hairdressers and restaurants reopen?”
These were just some of the responses shared at the 4th meeting of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Safe Schooling During the COVID-19 Pandemic, held on 9 March 2021. The TAG pointed out that children and adolescents have missed 22 weeks of school on average, due to partial or complete closures caused by COVID-19.
A status report presented at the meeting noted that as of 8 March 2021, 31 countries in the Region have suspended in-person teaching at some levels or for specific age groups. Ten countries have suspended schooling at all levels and have moved entirely to distance education. Eleven countries have in-person teaching but require adaptations such as masks, physical distancing and hand hygiene.
There is also variation across the Region in terms of rapid diagnostic testing, with 16 countries having either a standing recommendation or a requirement for students, teachers, staff or home communities to complete a rapid diagnostic test. Six countries require rapid diagnostic testing for teachers only, 1 country requires students to provide negative COVID-19 tests when travelling to school, and 2 countries require parents to present tests when dropping off or picking up their children.
Thirteen countries in the Region have a standing recommendation or requirement for students, teachers or staff to wear masks when in the school environment.
The TAG was set up to provide advice to WHO/Europe on matters relating to schooling in times of COVID-19. This includes advice on the epidemiology of school transmission, infection prevention and control, and public health measures and their effects on the development and well-being of school-aged children.
It aims to identify findings from emerging evidence to inform policy decisions on educational, social, developmental and health outcomes for children and adolescents. Based on their review, the TAG noted that:
The TAG also reiterated points raised in earlier meetings, including that:
“I came to the centre to get my second dose of vaccine – I am happy to get any. I have heard of COVID, how could I not? Everyone is talking about it on the streets, in the centre. I hear about it on the radio, I see it on TV,” says Alexandru, aged 53, from Bucharest. After working for 35 years as an operator in a chemical plant, he is now without work and, following a family break-up, is also homeless.
Alexandru is one of the dozens of people dealing with underlying health conditions and living in difficult circumstances who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, thanks to joined-up health services in Romania’s capital that seek to leave no one behind.
“Romania appreciates the essential contribution of the WHO Regional Office for Europe in these difficult times generated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” says President of Romania Mr Klaus Werner Iohannis. “The cooperation and solidarity of the entire international society is our common response to a challenge of this magnitude, and the World Health Organization is a cornerstone in guiding this process.”
This chain of care begins with community outreach undertaken by the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Carusel. Its staff speak to people living and working on Bucharest’s streets, advising them on when and where they can receive health services, including vaccinations, and referring them to social-care centres to register for the COVID-19 vaccination.
Established a decade ago, Carusel focuses on harm reduction and seeks to improve the quality of life for drug and alcohol users, sex workers, people who live on the streets, socially and economically challenged people, and those at risk of illness or facing social exclusion.
Vaccination sessions take place at social-care institutions such as Sfântul Ioan, the largest in the city. Both a day and a night centre, Sfântul Ioan provides health and social services and shelter to up to 450 people. Capacity has now been reduced by half because of COVID-19 restrictions. The centre’s 45 staff, comprising social workers, health-care professionals, a chef, a driver, cleaning staff and security services, are employed by the Bucharest General Directorate for Social Assistance, a specialized institution under Bucharest’s General Mayoralty.
A mobile medical team from Saint Pantelimon Hospital was assigned to Sfântul Ioan, and during 2 sessions it administered COVID-19 vaccines to over 150 people. The team’s activities are managed and financed by the Ministry of Health.
By bringing together a community-level NGO, municipal health services and coordinated support from several national ministries, Bucharest can provide accessible, tailored services to people most in need.
WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge is currently on an official visit to Romania, where he is witnessing this chain of care and the importance of ensuring that health services and support are available to everyone, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Tackling health inequities is at the top of my agenda. It is more important than ever as we rebuild after the pandemic,” Dr Kluge explained at a high-level dialogue on climate change, the human–nature relationship and public health, held today.
“One of the goals of WHO’s European Programme of Work until 2025 is to leave no one behind. That is a centrepiece of the work of the Regional Office as it strives to support Member States in building back better. We do this through technical support, capacity-building, partnerships and alliances – aiming for fairer, healthier recoveries and further investments in what has been coined well-being economies,” he added.
On this year’s World Health Day – 7 April – WHO’s focus is on promoting health equity. COVID-19 has hit all countries hard, but its impact has been harshest on communities that were already vulnerable. These groups are more exposed to the disease, less likely to have access to quality health-care services, and more likely to experience adverse consequences as a result of measures implemented to contain the pandemic. Yet these inequities – due to living conditions, social and human capital, access to quality health care, and employment and working conditions – are not new.
Alexandru’s greatest wish is to find a job. “It’s very difficult to have no activity and no money of your own. I’ve been working since I was a kid. Sitting around doing nothing is not good,” he concludes.
Today, there is an urgent need to protect, test and treat the whole global population: only when this happens can we end the pandemic. As well as assuring an equitable supply of vaccines, tests and treatments, we must strengthen health systems to deliver them. A strong health workforce and primary health care are key to ensuring people can obtain services when and where they need them, as close to home as possible, without financial hardship.
Through its chain of care, Romania offers a positive example of how vulnerable people can receive appropriate support and health services, and some hope, during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.
<em>Pakistan’s<strong> Aisam ul Haq Qureshi</strong> and India’s Rohan Bopanna, the 2010 US Open doubles runners up, recently announced the resumption of their partnership after a gap of seven years for a tournament held last month. Qureshi spoke to<strong> Siddharth Saxena</strong> about it:</em>
What does this partnership mean in the larger context of animosity between the two countries?
The feedback, the positivity, we have received from everybody has been unbelievable. I never thought us getting together for just one tournament would create such a buzz and goodwill. The fact that we are getting such positive feedback from everybody – the fans, the media – means that everybody wants us to play, everybody wants us to do well together and perhaps, everybody loves to see an Indian and a Pakistani play together, as a team. I think the message there is clear enough. Both Rohan and I are ambassadors of peace for our countries, we do our best to promote peace between the neighbours. If someone can see this partnership for what it is, in a positive way and it can help change their thinking about India or Pakistan or Pakistanis or Indians, I would see it as a big win in itself.
You and Bopanna started the Stop War, Start Tennis campaign. Could you talk a bit about that?
We started the Stop War, Start Tennis initiative to promote peace across the border and across the world as well. The idea was trying to promote peace through our sport, our friendship, our partnership. I still stand by it, in fact I’ve turned it into a charity now, with the same name, which aims to help and support people all over the world affected by war and natural disasters. I try to provide tennis equipment and tennis-specific wheelchairs for those who lost their limbs to war. The foundation was very active during the Covid time with food ration packets.
But Stop War, Start Tennis isn’t just narrow in scope to tennis alone. It includes other sports as well, because we believe if every person on this planet is involved in some sport of any kind, war becomes a distant memory. Sport teaches you to interact with each other on a human level and not because of the culture, religion or country they are from.
Do you think it’s possible for the two countries to continue playing each other even when things are turbulent?
For me, it’s an obvious thing to do, it’s definitely possible. To me, playing each other is never off the table. I’ve always believed one shouldn’t be mixing politics or religion with sports or the arts. The governments shouldn’t be doing the cancelling and banning. It’s sad that India has imposed this ban on Pakistani artistes and sportspersons to come to India to perform or play. Discrimination towards a certain nation or country or a group of people is a very unfortunate fallout. I love coming to India, whenever I have visited or to play or compete. I don’t think sports, the arts and culture should ever be affected by political differences.
You boycotted the tie when India refused to travel to Pakistan for the Davis Cup and a neutral venue was being proposed.
People are different, certain things we believe in, and stand by that. As a sportsman, I always tried never to mix sports with politics or religion and I really stand by it, when I played with the Jewish guy (Amir Hadad in 2002), when I played with Rohan also. For me, it was very unfortunate, sad and disappointing when the Indian team decided not to come to Pakistan. It was more of a political reason, as they had no threat whatsoever coming to play in Pakistan. So many Indians are allowed to come to Pakistan for the Kartarpur Sahib pilgrimage, so a seven or ten-member Davis Cup team had no threat whatsoever.
After the Davis Cup episode, what made you turn to him again?
This had nothing to do with the Davis Cup issue. Rohan ‘Bops’ is a very good friend of mine, on and off the court. I’ve known him for a very long time. Nothing changed in our relationship, our friendship stays the same as always.
Now that the partnership with Rohan is over, where does it go from here?
It was great fun partnering Rohan again in Mexico. Rohan and I didn’t get to speak too much about the future. I think he’s already set with certain players to play with this season and the Mexico Open was just a one-off.
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
<h6><span>END OF ARTICLE</span></h6>
<!-- Blog End -->
<!-- opinions -->
<!-- /opinions -->
… joints!
Solgar® Earth Source® Organic Flaxseed Oil is a vegan … grows primarily in central and southern Europe and frequently used in … calcium can be found in foods such as dairy products, … edible bones, and leafy green vegetables like broccoli and kale, …
European Parliament member (MEP) Francois-Xavier Bellamy (France) visited Yerablur Military Pantheon in Yerevan and published photos from there.
“Yerablur military cemetery. Under each of these thousands of flags is buried a soldier who died last year defending Armenia from [military] aggression. Most of them were barely 20 years old. The whole of Europe must open its eyes and finally break the silence,” the French politician wrote, in particular, on Facebook.
Cimetière militaire de Yerablur. Sous chacun de ces milliers de drapeaux, un soldat mort l’an dernier pour défendre…
Опубликовано François-Xavier Bellamy Понедельник, 5 апреля 2021 г.
HOW many books have been written about the Beatles down the years? I reckon – and this is, fair warning, only the roughest of guesstimates – the answer must be somewhere in the region of “lots”. I might even go so far and suggest it’s “lots and lots”.
You want numbers? Well, hundreds at least. Maybe it stretches into the thousands now. I haven’t got time to count them. More than you could work your way through on a bank holiday weekend, that’s for sure. I mean, Mark Lewisohn’s The Beatles: All These Years alone is the best part of a 1,000 pages long. And it’s only the first volume of three.
Clearly, we can’t get enough of the Fab Four. And yet none of these books are from the horses’ (should that be insect’s?) mouths.
None of the Beatles has written a memoir. George Harrison published I Me Mine, a record of a conversation he had with the Beatles press officer Derek Taylor about his past and the inspirations behind his songs, in 1980. Ringo Starr has published a couple of photography books. And John Lennon? Well, he was killed before he could get around to it.
So, yesterday’s announcement that Paul McCartney (I can’t imagine he asks anyone to call him Sir Paul) is to publish a two-volume book – another 900 odd pages – this autumn may be the closest we’re going to get.
Read More: Boris Johnson’s government versus historians
But this is not a memoir either. The Lyrics tells the story of 154 of Macca’s songs, from his teens to his solo work, with a commentary on each based on conversations he’s had with the Irish poet Paul Muldoon.
It’s quite a coup for the publisher Allen Lane and it looks like it’s going to be a handsome book (at £75 it should be). The involvement of the Pulitzer and TS Eliot prize winner Muldoon should be a bonus and maybe his involvement will guide the book beyond McCartney’s (understandable) tendency to keep burnishing his own long-established, primarily matey take on the band he was once in. Time – November to be exact – will tell.
Given those hundreds (maybe thousands) of books already published do we need another book on The Beatles, you might ask? In this case, probably, given the source.
And it’s another thing to own, of course, another item to join the box sets, vinyl reissues and limited-edition hardbacks we baby boomers are so keen on.
We still love the idea of ownership, don’t we? Of having the physical object, even in this age of streaming.
Read More: Missing commuting? Me too
Maybe it’s just habit. But I wonder if it’s more than that. I wonder if those of us born between the 1950s and 1970s are using the formats we grew up with as a way to try to hold onto the past. To comfort ourselves that these things still matter and therefore so do we, as retirement and old age loom?
Still, we could do worse than take McCartney as a role model. He’ still going strong at 78. He’s even got a new book coming out. Had you heard?
Our columns are a platform for writers to express their opinions. They do not necessarily represent the views of The Herald.
ARADIPPOU, Cyprus — Cyprus is getting protected status for its prized halloumi, giving its producers the sole right to sell the rubbery cheese in the European Union.
Later this month, the European Union is set to formally give halloumi, or “hellim” in Turkish, the protected designation of origin (PDO) status, which will come into effect from October, according to Cyprus’ agriculture ministry.
The move reaffirms what the industry and state have said for years, said cheesemaker George Petrou, general manager of Petrou Bros. Dairy Products which has about 25% of Cyprus’ export market: that halloumi is Cypriot, with historical accounts suggesting production as early as around 1500.
“Unfortunately in recent years, many countries tried to copy us so the registration will help very much, in that other countries will not produce halloumi or something similar which misleads consumers,” he said.
As a child, Petrou learned the secrets of making halloumi from his late mother, Kakkoulou, who sold it at farmers’ markets. As she gently stirred the milk to separate the curds in a vast “hartzin” or cauldron, he would mill around the kitchen, observing her.
In 1982, Petrou started selling halloumi under the Alambra brand to supplement his income as a first-division footballer, and he hasn’t looked back.
From using 250 liters of milk a day to make halloumi, Petrou’s company, initially set up with an elder brother, now processes 250 tons of milk per day, employing 220 people and exporting to 40 countries.
Its expansion mirrors that of Cyprus’ halloumi production.
Now the country’s second-most valuable export after pharmaceuticals, the industry has grown between 20% and 22% annually for the past five years, according to official data. The agriculture ministry says it has now set its sights on penetrating the China market.
There were hurdles to overcome in securing the prized PDO status, including disagreements on the ratios of goat, sheep, and cows’ milk in the recipe.
Until 2024, the ratios will be set by decree, and after that at least 50% will be made up of sheep and goats’ milk, with the rest supplemented by cows’ milk.
Though recipes for halloumi abound online, for locals, enjoyment is in the versatile cheese’s simplest form – tossed in the frying pan or on a barbecue, eaten raw with melon in the summer, or cubed and thrown in to boil with trahana, a cracked wheat and yoghurt soup eaten in winter.
“A lot of tourists come here looking for it,” said Evroulla Ioannou, who serves up grilled halloumi at her popular restaurant in Nicosia, Cyprus’s capital.
“Some … only know it by name so they come to try it, and from what I see, they really like it,” she said.
© FRVS+MPCP 2022. The European Times® News is registered as an EU Trademark. All rights reserved. The European Times® and the logo of The European Times® are EU trademarks registered by FRVS+MPCP.
MADRID
DISCLAIMER OPINIONS: The opinions of the authors or reproduced in the articles are the ones of those stating them and it is their own responsibility. Should you find any incorrections you can always contact the newsdesk to seek a correction or right of replay.
DISCLAIMER TRANSLATIONS: All articles in this site are published in English. The translated versions are done through an automated process known as neural translations. If in doubt, always refer to the original article. Thank you for understanding.
DISCLAIMER PHOTOS: We mostly used photos images that are readily available online, from free sources, or from the people promoting the news. If by any chance it happens that we have used one of your copyrighted photos, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will take it down without question. We do not make profits as this is a not for profit project to give voice to the voiceless while giving them a platform to be informed also of general news, and it is completely free.
