CLIMATE CHANGE ADDS TO PLIGHT OF ENDANGERED SEA TURTLES IN CYPRUS

 Reuters 9 September 2020

By Yannis Kourtoglou

PAPHOS, Cyprus (Reuters) - Hatched baby sea turtles on the island of Cyprus struggling to crawl to the sea now face the added threat of climate change as they dig their way out of nests in the sand, scientists say.

The endangered species has faced decades of threats to its survival, including coastal development for tourism and fishermen's nets.

According to Medasse, the Mediterranean sea turtle protection association, climate change has caused a rise in sea levels and more frequent, severe storms, jeopardizing the turtles' nesting grounds.

"This year is a little bit of a strange year, because of the climatic changes we see very, very strange weather," said marine biologist Myroula Hadjichristoforou, in charge of the Cyprus Fisheries Department's marine turtles protection programme.

"We had very, very extreme climatic phenomena, a lot of strong winds, big waves covering the beaches, and I think we lost a lot of nests."

Instead of once or twice in the entire summer, very rough seas have been observed every two weeks, sometimes every week.

Hatched baby turtles can get disoriented by artificial lights or tyre tracks and face an elevated risk of dying in the sun or being eaten by foxes. Even if they make it to the sea they are prey to birds and fish.

HOT WEATHER A RISK

Changes in temperature affect the sex of a turtle, with hotter weather producing more females. High temperatures can also hinder eggs from hatching.

Even if their nests on the beach remain unscathed, few survive the annual ordeal of getting safely into the sea.

"Out of every 1,000 babies that go to sea, one or two will survive to become mature and to come back to the beach where they were born to lay their own eggs," said Hadjichristoforou.

Due to an imprint mechanism, which scientists call a turtle's GPS, female turtles return to the same beach where they were born to lay their eggs.

Cyprus is home to two endangered turtle species - the Green Turtle and the loggerhead Caretta Caretta.

In the island's Paphos district, the Lara beach reserve is a protected area, stretching along 10 kilometres (six miles) of coastline. Nests are protected with cages and hatching areas on the beach are fenced off.

Successful conservation efforts on Cyprus have led to an increase in nests to around 2,000 today from just 300 four decades ago.

(Additional reporting by Deborah Kyvrikosaios, writing by George Georgiopoulos; Editing by Gareth Jones)

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GATHERINGS OF MORE THAN SIX BANNED IN ENGLAND AS COVID-19 RESURGES

 France 24 - 9 September 2020 - News Wires

© Toby Melville, Reuters

Britain's government is banning gatherings of more than six people in England, as officials try to keep a lid on daily new coronavirus infections after a sharp spike across the U.K. that has been largely blamed on party-going young adults disregarding social distancing rules.

Downing Street said urgent action was needed after the number of daily laboratory-confirmed positive cases hit nearly 3,000 on Sunday. The figure dipped Tuesday to 2,460.

Officials said that starting Monday, the legal limit on all social gatherings in England will be reduced from the current 30 people to six. The new law applies both indoors and outdoors, including private homes, restaurants and parks. Failure to comply could result in a 100-pound ($130) fine.

Weddings, school, funerals and organized team sports are exempt, and larger gatherings will also be allowed if the household or “support bubble” is larger than six. 

Government ministers and scientists took to the airways to urge Britons not to let down their guard.

“We’ve been able to relax a bit over the summer ... but these latest figures really show us that much as people might like to say ‘Oh well, it’s gone away’ — this hasn’t gone away," said Dr. Jonathan Van-Tam, the government’s deputy chief medical officer.

He said while the rise in infections is “much more marked” among people between 17 and 21, he was concerned about a “more general and creeping geographic trend” across the U.K.

“People have relaxed too much,” he said. “Now is the time for us to re-engage and realize that this is a continuing threat.”

The U.K. has Europe’s worst death toll from the virus, with nearly 41,600 deaths within 28 days of testing positive. The actual toll is believed to be far higher as the government tally does not include those who died without having been tested.

The spike in U.K. cases follows big daily case increases in Spain and France, both of whom have seen rising numbers of COVID-19 patients being hospitalized. Spain saw an average of 8,800 new cases a day over the weekend, and France has been recording over 5,000 a day.

The worry is that the U.K. will also start seeing increases in virus patients being hospitalized and dying.

“While young people are less likely to die from this disease, be in no doubt that they are still at risk,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock told lawmakers, adding that six months after getting infected, some previously fit people are still laid low by chronic fatigue, muscle pain and breathing difficulties.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative government has faced strong criticism for its mixed messages since it started easing the coronavirus lockdown in late spring. It spent much of the summer encouraging people to eat out to help the hard-pressed hospitality sector and is now urging workers to return to their offices to help hard-hit businesses in city centers.

John Edmunds, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said cases are rising, though “not spectacularly,” but he's worried about what will happen following the reopening of schools and universities.

“There are big movements afoot in the country and these will inevitably accelerate transmission,” he told Sky News. ”I'm not sure we have to go back to work when we can work from home."

The government has also been criticized for testing problems, prompting an apology from Sarah-Jane Marsh, director for the National Health Service’s Test and Trace program.

“All of our testing sites have capacity, which is why they don’t look overcrowded. It’s our laboratory processing that is the critical pinch point,” she said. “We are doing all we can to expand quickly.”

“The testing team work on this 18 hours a day, seven days a week," she said.

Still, the U.K. is testing tens of thousands more people than it did in the early months of the pandemic. On Monday, it processed around 175,000 tests. 

A local lockdown, meanwhile, went into effect Tuesday in the Welsh district of Caerphilly. Under the new restrictions, people there will not be allowed to enter or leave the area without a reasonable excuse, everyone over 11 must wear masks in shops and indoor meetings between different households are banned.

Hancock also announced new lockdown restrictions for Bolton, a city in northwest England that has the highest number of per capita coronavirus cases in the U.K. Most new cases there involve people between 18 and 49. Among the restrictions, Hancock said restaurants, cafes and pubs in Bolton now can only offer takeaway services.

(AP)

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PM PRESSES AHEAD WITH NEW LAWS TO 'ANNUL' PARTS OF BREXIT DEAL

 Sky News 9 September 2020 - by Sam Coates, Deputy Political Editor

© PA Boris Johnson is set to push ahead with the controversial Brexit legislation

Boris Johnson is pressing ahead with plans to publish new laws which would "annul" parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, despite a Tory backlash led by predecessor Theresa May.

The government will outline controversial Brexit legislation to give themselves the powers to limit checks and EU influence in Northern Ireland in the event that no trade deal can be struck between the UK and EU by the end of the year.

Under the treaty struck with the EU last year, the UK agreed to determine the issue jointly with the EU, but ministers now claim they need to take unilateral powers to avoid jeopardising peace in Northern Ireland.

Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, admitted it "does break international law" in limited ways and the head of the government legal service, Jonathan Jones, quit over the issue.

Ministers will allow MPs at least four days to debate the issue on the floor of the Commons.

This move, which will highlight the internal critics of the plan, is an attempt to flush out more details of Labour's policy on Brexit.

Ministers will claim there are precedents for breaking international law, including during Canada's moves to legalise cannabis.

Downing Street has sought to play down the changes in the Internal Market Bill - to be tabled on Wednesday - insisting they were simply "limited clarifications" to protect the peace process if they failed to secure a free trade deal with the EU.

However, sources say that the bill will go ahead with the plans to annul parts of the Withdrawal Treaty.

The measures to be published later will specifically override last year's treaty, which passed parliament in January.

It gives ministers the power to unilaterally determine the type of export declarations and procedures for goods leaving the country - one of the most fraught issues currently in the EU-UK talks.

It will also limit the ability of the EU to determine state aid rules in Northern Irish companies which operate on the mainland.

Britain's chief negotiator David Frost (L) and EU's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier arrive for a working breakfast after a seventh round of talks, in Brussels on August 21, 2020. (Photo by YVES HERMAN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by YVES HERMAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Measures to allow ministers to determine which goods travelling between Great Britain and Northern Ireland must face checks will be included in the Finance Bill later this year.

The controversial changes have triggered a huge row with the governments of Scotland and Wales over who should exercise what powers from next year.

Tory committee chairs including Bob Neil, Tom Tughendhat, Simon Hoare and Tobias Ellwood have all criticised the plan.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: "For centuries the UK's internal market has been the cornerstone of our shared prosperity, delivering unparalleled stability and economic growth across the Union.

© 2020 Getty Images LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 01: Alok Sharma, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, arrives for a cabinet meeting in Downing Street on September 1, 2020 in London, England. MPs returned to Westminster today following the summer recess. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

"Today's bill will protect our highly integrated market by guaranteeing that companies can continue to trade unhindered in every part of the UK after the transition period ends and EU law falls away.

"By providing clarity over rules that will govern the UK economy after we take back control of our money and laws, we can increase investment and create new jobs across the United Kingdom, while maintaining our world-leading standards for consumers, workers, food and the environment.

"Without these necessary reforms, the way we trade goods and services between the home nations could be seriously impacted, harming the way we do business within our own borders.

"Now is not the time to create uncertainty for business with new barriers and additional costs that would trash our chances of an economic recovery."

© PA Wire/PA Images Former prime minister Theresa May asks Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove a question during a session in the House of Commons, London, on the appointment of the National Security Adviser. (Photo by House of Commons/PA Images via Getty Images)

Mrs May said ministers were now seeking to change the operation of an agreement which the government had signed up to and parliament had passed into UK law.

"Given that, how can the government reassure future international partners that the UK can be trusted to abide by the legal obligations of the agreements it signs?" she demanded.

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WALES ACCUSES UK GOVERNMENT OF ATTACKING DEMOCRACY

 Cyprus Mail 9 September 2020 - Reuters News Service

Wales said the British government’s internal market bill, which breaks international law over Brexit, will sacrifice the union of the United Kingdom by stealing powers from the devolved administrations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

“Let me be clear – the UK government plans to sacrifice the future of the union by stealing powers from devolved administrations,” Jeremy Miles, Wales’ counsel general and minister for European transition, said of the bill which will be published on Wednesday.

“This bill is an attack on democracy and an affront to the people of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, who have voted in favour of devolution on numerous occasions.”

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CORONAVIRUS - NORTH ANNOUNCES 38 NEW CASES, CLOSES SCHOOLS UNTIL OCTOBER 1

 Cyprus Mail 9 September 2020 - by Evie Andreou

The north on Tuesday announced 38 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily number so far, as it postponed the opening of schools until October 1 and said they were closing casinos and night clubs until the same date.

Of the 38 new cases 15 are local, 19 are contacts of people who already tested positive and are in quarantine, and the rest are people who arrived from abroad.

This brings the total of cases to 475.

Following the increased numbers in coronavirus cases recorded in the north in recent days, new measures were announced after a ‘cabinet’ meeting.

According to reports in the north, all schools will open on October 1. Primary education pupils in first and second grade who went back to school on Monday will be the only ones to continue going to classes. Private teaching institutes, study centres and nurseries will also remain open.

Casinos, night clubs, discos and other music and dancing places will too close until October 1.

Weddings are being postponed until after October 1, and election rallies and mass meetings are cancelled until after that date.

The new measures also concern the closure of playgrounds. Sports events will be held without spectators until October 1 but there no restrictions for individual sports.

It was also announced that people who need to quarantine will bear the cost themselves, expect for university students and people who travel abroad for health reasons.

Private sector employees who belong to vulnerable groups and need to stay at home will receive an allowance just as people working in the public sector.

In the meantime, parents of children going to the first and second grades have been reluctant to send them to school. According to Turkish Cypriot media, several schools saw only up to half of the expected numbers of pupils arriving for classes.

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POLICE LOOKING FOR PALESTINIAN FOR HOME BURGLARIES

 in-cyprus 9 September 2020 - by Annie Charalambous

Police are looking for Abudahroul Ramsi H.S., aged 44, from Palestine, in connection with the burglary of two homes, possession of break-in tools and cause of malicious damage.

Police also said on Wednesday that the suspect (photos) is of average build with short dark hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Nicosia CID on 22-802222 or the closest police station or the citizens’ hot line on 1460.

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PERSON SOUGHT IN CONNECTION WITH SHOPLIFTING AND THEFT

8/9/20

As part of an investigation into cases of shoplifting and theft from cash registers investigated by the Famagusta Crime Detection Department, photographs of a suspected person (tattooed on his right hand) are released, obtained by CCTV.

Anyone who knows anything that can help locate them is kindly requested to contact Famagusta POLICE at 23-803039 or the Citizen's Contact Line at 1460 or the nearest Police Station.

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PAUSE IN ASTRAZENECA VACCINE TRIAL NOT NECESSARILY A SETBACK, SAYS HANCOCK

in-cyprus 9 September 2020 - by Annie Charalambous

 

Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Wednesday that AstraZeneca’s decision to pause its coronavirus vaccine trials was a challenge but would not necessarily set back efforts to develop a vaccine.

AstraZeneca Plc said it had paused global trials, including large late-stage trials, of its experimental coronavirus vaccine due to an unexplained illness in a study participant.

“It is obviously a challenge to this particular vaccine trial,” Hancock said on Sky News when asked about the pause in the trial. “It’s not actually the first time this has happened to the Oxford vaccine.”

Asked whether it would set back the vaccine development process, he said: “Not necessarily, it depends on what they find when they do the investigation.” (Reuters)

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THOUSANDS FLEE AS FIRE RIPS THROUGH OVERCROWDED GREEK REFUGEE CAMP IN LESBOS

 in-cyprus 9 September 2020 - by Annie Charalambous

Thousands of migrants fled fires on Wednesday that tore through a camp under coronavirus lockdown on Greece‘s island of Lesbos, while the prime minister called an emergency meeting with ministers though there were no immediate reports of casualties.

The fire broke out at the overcrowded migrant camp of Moria just after midnight Tuesday, fire brigade officials said.

By early morning, most of Moria was reduced to a smouldering mangled mass of burnt containers and tents, with a few people picking over the debris for their personal possessions, TV images showed.

There were no reports of injuries or fatalities, while the cause of the blaze which burned tents and containers was not immediately clear.

Moria was “probably totally destroyed”, Migration Ministry official Manos Logothetis told the state-run Athens News Agency.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called a crisis meeting for early Wednesday.

Initial reports suggested fires broke out at different locations in the sprawling camp after authorities tried to isolate a number of individuals who tested positive for COVID-19.

“The fire is still raging, the camp has been evacuated. All these people are on the national road towards Mytilini. There are police out who are not letting them through. These people are sleeping left and right in the fields,” said Panagiotis Deligiannis, a witness from Moria.

At least 25 firemen with 10 engines, aided by police, battled the flames both inside and outside the facility, the fire brigade said, adding that firemen were pushed back by migrants during their efforts.

People were seen leaving the camp, carrying their luggage, Reuters witnesses said.

“The situation was out of control,” policeman Argyris Syvris told Open TV, adding that police were forced to release about 200 persons detained in a separate quarter of the camp who were to be repatriated to their countries.

The Moria facility, which hosts more than 12,000 people – more than four times its stated capacity – has been frequently criticised by aid groups for poor living conditions.

The facility was placed under quarantine last week after authorities confirmed that an asylum-seeker had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Confirmed infections have risen to 35 since then.

Lesbos, which lies just off the Turkish coast, was on the front line of a massive movement of refugees and migrants to Europe in 2015-2016. Due to the pandemic, since March 1, all migrants reaching the island have been quarantined away from the camps.

In the Moria camp, aid groups have warned that social distancing and basic hygiene measures are impossible to implement due to the living conditions.

(Reuters)

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PUBLIC POOL LEGISLATIVE AMENDMENT STILL PENDING AFTER WHOLE 10 YEARS

 in-cyprus 9 September 2020 - by Maria Bitar

A legislative amendment on public swimming pools is finally coming under discussion before Parliament 10 years after initial debate on the issue, Philenews reported on Wednesday.

Last year, when health authorities had asked to be briefed on where the process stood they were told, among other, that some documents relevant to the issue were lost.

The Health Service have sent a reminder to the Ministry of Interior and informed MPs as well that “the issue is being examined by the Ministry without, however, any development being observed, for quite a long time”.

The current Legislation for public swimming pools dates back to 1992, while relevant regulations date back to 1996, the Service added.

The incumbent legislation is described as “anachronistic” and includes many distortions, which create serious problems not only for officials called upon to implement it, but also for citizens.

Health Services informed Parliament that the first meeting to discuss the issue took place on June 3, 2010 at the Ministry of Interior and an ad hoc committee was then set up to handle the whole issue.

The ad hoc committee had a meeting with then Minister of Interior Neoclis Sylikiotis during which it was decided that new legislation that reflects today’s reality should be promoted.

The amendments proposed in essence were to categorise the pools depending on the housing units they serve and their use, as well as to modify some technical regulations that concern the quality and characteristics of water, the way of checking its quality, etc.

Some steps alongside a first draft of the amended legislation were completed and moved along and then the process completely stalled from 2017 onward.

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