JUKEBOX BINGO - Carpe Diem Lounge, Mesogi Road - 23 October

 

JUKEBOX BINGO

Carpe Diem Lounge, Mesogi Road

Friday 23 October - 7pm

€5 entry.  Cash prizes - raising funds for charities.

Food and drink available.

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MID LIFE CRISIS - O'Neill's Irish Bar & Grill - 10 October

  

MID LIFE CRISIS

O'Neill's Irish Bar & Grill, Tomb of the Kings Road

Saturday 10 October - 9pm

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JUKEBOX BINGO - Carpe Diem Lounge, Mesogi Road - 9 October

 

JUKEBOX BINGO for Tala Cats

Carpe Diem Lounge, Mesogi Road

Friday 9 October - 7pm

A unique fun game the crosses a music quiz with bingo. Loads of laughs and cash prizes, and raising funds for Tala Cats. One Friday a month. To book a table message Carpe Diem or call 26911005

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QUIZ - THE MANSION OF STAVROULA, KONIA - 5, 12, 19 & 26 October

   

QUIZ

TO ARXONTIKO THS STAUROYLAS - THE MANSION OF STAVROULA, KONIA

Monday 5, 12, 19 & 26 October - 6.30pm

Free entry.  Prizes.  Singles and teams welcome 

 

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BORIS JOHNSON'S US TRADE DEAL HOPE FACE NEW BLOW AS PEERS SET TO BLOCK CHLORINATED CHICKEN IMPORTS

 The Independent 12 September 2020 - by Rob Merrick

© Provided by The Independent

Boris Johnson is facing a damaging defeat that would block imports of chlorinated chicken and hormone-fed beef, in a fresh blow to his hopes of a post-Brexit trade deal with the US.

Peers are poised to slam the brakes on any watering down of food and animal welfare standards – to stop ministers selling the country “down the river”, one former government adviser told The Independent.

The move, in a vote as early as this week, would give teeth to a new advisory body, handing it the power to ensure the longed-for deal with Washington does not allow in low-quality food.

“We are all confident that our amendments will go through,” said Baroness McIntosh, a Conservative peer and former shadow minister.

The revolt is also being led by Lord Curry of Kirkharle, who carried out a landmark policy review on farming and food in 2002 – and who cast doubt on ministerial pledges not to dilute standards.

“They want to leave their options open, they don’t want to have their hands tied – that’s the bottom line,” the crossbench peer warned.

“We don’t want our food supply undermined by imported food from countries with poorer animal welfare standards, selling our food production down the river by negotiating cheap deals.”

The House of Lords clash on the Agriculture Bill is a fresh headache for the prime minister – already entangled in the furious row over his plans to renege on his Brexit agreement and deadlocked trade talks with the EU.

The US has made opening the door to its lower-grade agricultural goods a red line in separate talks – Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, insisting during a visit in January that it must be part of any deal.

It prompted Liz Truss, the trade secretary, to propose lifting the ban on acid-washed chicken and hormone-fed beef, with higher – but gradually reducing – tariffs as a sop to critics.

The consumer group Which? has branded a US deal the greatest risk to food safety since mad cow disease 20 years ago, warning the UK’s “food safety revolution” is in jeopardy.

Hopes of a US trade deal are already in deep trouble, with furious Congressional leaders insisting they will block it if the Brexit agreement on Northern Ireland is unravelled.

Now UK peers are confident the government will struggle to overturn a defeat giving effective blocking powers to the new Trade and Agriculture Commission, when the bill returns to the Commons.

Unease is growing on the Conservative benches, where 18 Tory MPs staged an unsuccessful revolt in May in an attempt to impose a strict legal bar on any diluting of standards.

The Agriculture Commission has been criticised for being advisory only, and for lasting for only six months, despite admiration for its chair Tim Smith, a former head of the Food Standards Agency.

The amendments would ensure the commission is retained for at least four years, make it independent of the Department of Trade – and require it to sign off any trade agreement.

It reflects the confidence that the body will never sanction lower standards, achieving the “same objective” as an outright legal guarantee, one peer said.

Baroness McIntosh said ministers would otherwise be able to slip through changes using regulations – without full scrutiny – with environmental safeguards and workers’ rights also at stake.

“There is an absolute need for this, so the government can’t change food safety or animal welfare standards at the stroke of a pen,” she said.

“Consumers want to see these high standards in place and farmers want to know that if they meet these high standards – which they are willing to do – they are not going to be undercut.”

Labour’s Lord Grantchester, who will push for an outright block on lowering standards, said: “The government claims to have taken on the concerns of parliamentarians – as well as supermarkets and consumers – by establishing a new commission.

“But it is toothless, will only exist for a few months, and has no powers to stop the import of inferior products.”

But a government spokesperson said: “Our manifesto commitment could not be clearer – we will not compromise on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards.

“It is illegal to import chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-fed beef into the UK and any changes would require new legislation to be brought before this parliament.

“We remain focused on getting a deal that works in the best interests of our farmers and consumers.” 

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THREE NEW CASES TODAY - ALL FROM AIRPORT TESTING

 Filenews 12 September 2020

The Ministry of Health informs that, according to an update received today by the Epidemiological Surveillance Unit from contracting laboratories, a total of 2,320 laboratory diagnoses identified 3 new cases of COVID-19 disease.

The virus-positive individuals were derived from 989 samples taken as part of a passenger and repatriated check.

• 2 concern mother and daughter from Austria (11/9) who came for tourism. They were taken to Eden and the rest of their family members to a quarantine hotel.
• The 3rd person lives permanently in Cyprus and came from Belgium (11/9). He was transferred to Eden.

In addition, the following laboratory tests were carried out, without the detection of a case:

• From samples taken through a private initiative, 322 laboratory tests were carried out,
• From samples taken through the process of tracing contacts of already confirmed cases, 95 laboratory diagnoses were completed,
• From samples taken from the Microbiological Laboratories of the General Hospitals, 132 laboratory tests were completed,
• From samples taken as part of the migrant structure control programme, 25 laboratory diagnoses were carried out,
• Samples taken as part of the control programme for pupils, teachers and school staff completed 383 laboratory diagnoses,
• Of the samples taken by the residents of Kato Pyrgos Tylliria, 9 laboratory diagnoses were completed,
• From the student control program, 2 laboratory tests were carried out,
• From the laboratory testing programme of 5,000 people aged 18-40 years in places with a high confusion of individuals, 136 laboratory tests were completed, and
• From samples taken as part of the programme of referrals from Personal Physicians and control of special teams through the Public Health Clinics, 227 laboratory diagnoses were completed.

Therefore, and on the basis of the data so far, the total number of cases amounts to 1,523.

In addition, three people positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus are being treated at Famagusta General Hospital, one of whom is in the Increased Care Unit. A COVID-19 patient is being treated outside the Intensive Care Unit of nicosia General Hospital.

Source: Eyenews

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PDs - 'GHS BENEFICIARIES IN NEED OF TRAINING'

 in-cyprus 12 September 2020 - by Josephine Koumettou

GHS Personal Doctors (PDs) are unhappy with the system’s beneficiaries at a rate of more than 80%, a new survey by the International Institute for Compassionate Care (IICC) has found.

The survey, published on Saturday by Phileleftheros, was conducted in June-July 2020 among GHS Personal Doctors and aimed at recording doctors’ experiences and recommendations one year after the implementation of the system in order to identify ways to improve care to beneficiaries.

The anonymous questionnaire was sent electronically to 365 Personal Doctors in June 2020, while focus groups comprising Personal Doctors were also put together in order to gather qualitative data and recommendations.

Doctors responded to all questions posed in the survey at a rate of 25.5%.

Results show a general dissatisfaction with a number of GHS issues. In particular, 80.59% of participants said they are not satisfied by the information sent out to beneficiaries while 81.72% said that they are not satisfied with beneficiaries’ demands.

Moreover, 57.16% of doctors said that they are often obligated to work outside normal hours and 59.9% said there is an absence in the system of criteria for referring patients as well as clinical guidelines.

However, doctors also said that they are happy with the system’s software at a rate of 54.84%, although some mentioned that they would like additional features.

As regards remuneration, doctors said they are pleased at a rate of 64.52%.

George Samoutis who headed the survey told Phileleftheros that “what the data shows is that GHS has achieved its goal to a great extent, specifically as regards the two of its three pillars; citizens’ access to services and equality. We found issues in the pillar of efficiency and the survey is pointing us to what we need to address.”

He added that overall, Personal Doctors in Cyprus believe that there is plenty of room for improvement of primary healthcare and call on healthcare policy officials to act imminently to ensure the system’s sustainability.

The demands of Personal Doctors

• Inform beneficiaries properly on the role of the Personal Doctor
• Compile the criteria for referrals to specialist doctors
• More freedom with prescriptions

Researchers’ recommendations

• Imminent implementation of clinical guidelines
• Need for criteria for referrals to specialist doctors
• Obligatory instructions to Personal and Specialist Doctors
• Ability for Personal Doctors to prescribe low risk front-line medication to take pressure off Specialist Doctors
• All beneficiaries to receive monthly statements on their use of services that mention the cost
• Obligatory online training of Personal Doctors on clinical guidelines
• Training of beneficiaries to use GHS services appropriately

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BREXIT OVERRIDE PLAN WOULD BREACH VIENNA CONVENTION, QC SAYS

 The Guardian 11 September 2020 - Owen Bowcott Legal affairs correspondent

© Instytut Pamięci Narodowej Philippe Sands said: ‘To opine that parliament is sovereign is, in this sense, hopeless’.

The government’s use of domestic legislation to override international treaty obligations with the EU would breach the Vienna convention, to which the UK is a signatory, as well as the ministerial code, the government has been warned.

Brexit talks with the EU were thrown into chaos this week after the UK government introduced its internal market bill, which would override portions of the Northern Ireland protocol in the event of there being no trade deal with the EU.

However the weight of legal opinion is shifting against advice from the attorney general, Suella Braverman QC, and the solicitor general, Mark Ellis, who backed the plan. Senior lawyers have expressed amazement at their conclusions.

In a three-page letter seen by the Guardian that summarised advice from Braverman and Ellis, the pair in effect dismissed duties contained in the ministerial code as irrelevant and concluded that “international law is subordinate to the much more fundamental principle of parliamentary sovereignty”.

Philippe Sands QC, a professor of international law at University College London, said: “Every international lawyer is familiar with the Vienna convention on the law of treaties, and its article 27, which reflects a general principle: ‘A party may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty’.

“There is simply no way around this binding rule – to opine that parliament is sovereign is, in this sense, hopeless.”

Ann Taylor, the chair of the Lords select committee on the constitution, wrote to the justice secretary, Robert Buckland, on Friday cautioning that: “Any breach of international law threatens to undermine confidence in future treaty commitments made by the UK government and increases the likelihood that the governments of other countries will breach their international law obligations.”

She also referenced the Vienna convention, saying article 60 states that a “material breach of a bilateral treaty entitles the other party to invoke that breach as a ground for terminating or suspending the operation of the treaty ‘in whole or in part’”.

Lady Taylor said the internal market bill put the entire withdrawal agreement, and other related agreements, at risk and “this would have far-reaching consequences”.

She also cited the cabinet manual, which says “ministers are under an overarching duty to comply with the law, including international law and treaty obligations…”, and the ministerial code, which states that there is an “overarching duty on ministers to comply with the law”.

In 2010 the code was more explicit, stating that there was an “overarching duty on ministers to comply with the law, including international law and treaty obligations”. This second part was removed in 2015 under David Cameron’s administration, although the former Conservative minister Edward Faulks told the Lords at the time: “The obligations on ministers under the law, including international law, remain unchanged.”

A court of appeal judgment in 2018 confirmed that the code included the duty to comply with “international law and treaty obligations”.

Braverman and Ellis, however, claim the ministerial code only applies to UK law, putting them at odds with their fellow law officer, Richard Keen, the advocate general for Scotland, who advised that ministers would be breaching the code if they defied international law.

Mark Elliott, a professor of public law at Cambridge University, told the Guardian: “The attempt to suggest that [the code] does not now extend to international law is an attempt to shift the debate. It’s disingenuous to suggest that it’s consistent with the ministerial code [to break international law].

“Respect for the rule of law includes respect for international law, as the UK ministerial code used to make explicitly, and as is still – as the court of appeal has held – implicitly, clear in the current iteration of the code. The promotion by the UK government of [the internal market] bill that expressly breaches the UK’s international obligations is thus nothing short of extraordinary.”

The government also sought external legal advice before making its decision. It is unclear what advice they gave, but two of the three barristers chosen by the government to give advice on the legality of breaching treaty obligations – Prof Richard Ekins and Prof Guglielmo Veridame QC – had previously made their views public.

In 2015, they co-authored a paper for the UK Constitutional Law Association advocating precisely the approach now adopted by the government. It said: “It would be wrong for ministers to be required to treat international legal obligations, including unincorporated treaties, as of equal standing to acts of parliament or common law duties.

“The rush to apply for such judicial control, as well as the assumption that international law should take precedence over constitutional law, tells us much – and none of it good – about modern legal thinking.”

A statement issued by the Cabinet Office on Thursday, defending government legislative plans, declared: “Parliament is sovereign as a matter of domestic law and can pass legislation which is in breach of the UK’s treaty obligations. Parliament would not be acting unconstitutionally in enacting such legislation.”

On Saturday, the attorney general may face sharp criticism over her stance on respecting international law when she chairs the Bar Council’s annual general meeting.

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TEN EU COUNTRIES TO TAKE 400 UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN FROM DESTROYED LESBOS MIGRANT CAMP

 Sky News 11 September 2020 

Ten EU countries have agreed to take in more than 400 unaccompanied children who were staying in a now-destroyed migrant camp in Greece.

© Getty Migrants leave as a fire burns in the Moria camp on Wednesday

The Moria facility on the island of Lesbos was gutted in fires on Tuesday and Wednesday, forcing its 12,000 inhabitants to sleep in nearby fields or on roadsides.

© Getty Migrants protesting in front of a police blockade near the town of Mytilene

Emergency medical teams will arrive on Saturday and Monday, the World Health Organisation said, after Greece requested assistance.

Greek authorities have said the fires were set deliberately by residents angry about isolation orders, imposed after 35 people were found to have COVID-19.

Germany's interior minister, Horst Seehofer, said his country and France would take about two-thirds of the 406 teenagers and children without parents or guardians.

© Getty A migrant sits on his belongings as others protest at Moria camp

The other countries taking part are Finland, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Croatia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium and Switzerland, German officials said.

The youngsters are already off the island, having been flown to the Greek mainland and placed in hotels on Wednesday night.

Government spokesman Stelios Petsas says none of the other camp residents will be allowed to leave Lesbos.

Those that remain, mostly from Syria or Afghanistan, have been cutting down reeds to make rudimentary shelters, while others have only a sleeping bag to protect them.

"We have spent three days here without eating, without drinking," said Freddy Musamba, a migrant from Gambia.

"We are in conditions that are really, really not very good."

He called for the EU to "come and support us, to not leave us", adding: "We are like abandoned children. We have endured things we didn't know could happen."

Thousands of those now left without shelter held a protest on Friday, demanding to be allowed to leave.

Aid agencies have described conditions at the over-crowded camp - which had a capacity of just over 2,750 people - as dire.

European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas, who oversees migration for the 27-nation bloc, said Moria is a "sharp reminder to all of us for what we need to change in Europe".

He added: "The clock has run out on how long Europe can live without a migration policy."

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CHANGES AFOOT RE LICENSING, PARTICULARLY FOR THOSE WHO RIDE A MOTORCYCLE

Filenews 12 September 2020 - by Vasos Vassiliou 

Thousands of applicants to obtain a normal vehicle saloon driving licence will have to go through ten compulsory driving lessons, while applicants to obtain a normal motorcycle driving licence will have to pass up to 17 courses paying hundreds of euros each. Approximately 25,000 student licences are issued each year for all types of vehicles.

Those who ride a motorcycle, even for 40-50 years, will be surprised, since at some stage the student driving licence will cease to be valid and will be replaced by a normal licence, after the candidates pass practical courses of an approved driving school. Many of the drivers have never been in the process of securing a normal motorcycle driving licence, which they will be obliged to do in the future.

The issue of compulsory courses was discussed yesterday before the parliamentary Transport Committee and the Deputy Director of the Department of Road Transport, Giannis Nikolaidis, said that the issue was discussed with the associations of driving schools involved and common positions emerged which are reflected in the bill under discussion.

Referring to category B, i.e. the category in which saloon vehicles are classified, Mr Nikolaidis said that instead of five courses that were the original intention, after consultation they increased to ten. When someone is rejected in the examination that will be submitted, they will be required to attend another five courses.

With regard to motorcycles, Mr Nikolaidis said that compulsory training (lessons) would be introduced, which currently applies only to large-scale motorcycles over 600cc (A3). There are no courses for motorcycles in the category of 125cc or even in the category up to 400cc, said Mr Nikolaidis who clarified that interested parties must first obtain a 125cc licence, then a licence with which they can ride a 400cc motorcycle and finally a licence without a cubic restriction.

Special reference was made to delivery men who drive on a student licence, which is considered dangerous. There was a feeling in the bystander position that someone who has been driving on a student licence even for several years doesn't know how to drive, so he has to go through classes.

It is noted that every year the state collects hundreds of thousands of euros from the issue and/or renewal of marketing authorisations. Many of the drivers because they do not intend to switch to a higher category have never attempted to obtain a normal licence, since they did not need them.

 

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