Russia sent paratroopers into Kazakhstan on Thursday to help put down a countrywide uprising
Slovakia plans to send hospitality vouchers worth 500 euros (around 13,000kc) to seniors who are fully inoculated against Covid-19 in a bid to increase one of the European Union’s lowest vaccination rates and prevent future lockdowns. The cabinet of Prime Minister Eduard Heger approved the bonus for all residents over the age of 60 who have received shots, including the booster, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The vouchers will be redeemable at hotels, restaurants, hair salons, gyms and cultural venues. Slovakia is in a full lockdown as its rate of new infections on per capita basis is among the worst in the world now. The bonus roughly equals an average monthly pension. The plan is estimated to cost the state budget 500 million euros and could boost next year’s deficit by about 10%. The second largest coalition party, the fiscally-conservative Freedom and Solidarity, opposed the measure as cumbersome and too expensive. The premier’s faction will need to rely on opposition lawmakers to push the motion through in parliament. The Slovak measure runs counter to those being put in place elsewhere in Europe. Greece, which is making vaccines mandatory for all citizens above 60 years of age,...
On February 7, 2000, the United Nations (UN) officially designated November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. As in previous years, the day will be commemorated through 16 days of activism starting today and ending on December 10, International Human Rights Day. This will include a series of events, digital initiatives as well as ‘making orange’ some iconic buildings and landmarks as a reminder of the mission to end violence against women. A new UN Women report, due to be published today, gathered data from 13 countries* which revealed that COVID-19 has eroded women’s feelings of safety, both at home and in public spaces, with significant negative impacts on their mental and emotional well-being. As countries went into lockdown to stop the spread of the virus, violence against women intensified, especially domestic violence, and the challenges of reporting it grew. In the Czech Republic, the organisation Rosa, which provides counselling for victims of domestic violence and gender-based violence, has reported that the number of calls received has doubled during the pandemic, and the length of calls has increased threefold. Safety Line has seen an increase of 25% in contacts by online chat, many of which...
The Austrian government on Friday announced that the country will go into its fourth nationwide lockdown and will make Covid-19 vaccines compulsory. The nationwide lockdown will start on Monday, for at least ten days but for “a maximum” of 20. Heath Minister Wolfgang Mückstein said: “The lockdown will break the fourth wave; the way out of the fifth wave is vaccination, vaccination, vaccination.” “Our shared goal needs to be getting unvaccinated people, rather than shutting away the vaccinated,” said Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg, but he added that despite extensive efforts, “we have not succeeded in getting enough people vaccinated. He criticised the “irresponsible” anti-vaccine campaigns from Austrian politicians, saying: “There are too many political forces in this country, that have campaigned against [vaccination]. The consequences of this are overfilled intensive care stations and enormous human suffering.” “This decision does not come easily to us. None of us enjoys bringing in measures that put limits on freedom,” said Schallenberg. He said that the decision was necessary because “too many among us have acted without solidarity”. The lockdown will follow the rules that are already familiar to people in Austria. Reasons under which it is possible to leave the house include attending work...
France has tightened restrictions on unvaccinated visitors from several European countries as the continent sees a new surge in COVID-19 cases. Unvaccinated travelers from Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary and Greece need to show a negative PCR test taken within 24 hours of their departure for France, according to the new rules announced late Friday. Previously, tests could be taken within 48 hours. The measure comes as European countries struggle to contain a new surge in COVID-19 blamed on low vaccination coverage and the relaxation of social and public health measures. German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday pleaded for citizens to get vaccinated. “These are very difficult weeks ahead of us,” Merkel said in a video speech. “I am asking you: Join us, and try to convince relatives and friends as well [to get vaccinated].” She also called on vaccinated Germans to get booster shots. “If we stand together, if we think about protecting ourselves and caring for others, we can save our country a lot this winter,” the chancellor said. Germany reinstated free rapid COVID-19 testing on Saturday, two days after the country’s daily number of new coronavirus cases rose above 50,000. In the Netherlands, three people remained in custody after violence at a protest in...
Austria is expected to impose lockdown restrictions on millions of unvaccinated people in the coming days. Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg told a press conference Friday that his government wanted to give the “green light” to such measures by Sunday, Austria Press Agency reported. Lawmakers will meet over the weekend to discuss the move, according to the news agency. The chancellor rejected the notion of a nationwide lockdown being applied to all of Austria’s citizens, telling reporters on Friday that two-thirds of the population who had accepted the immunization would not be forced to show “solidarity” with the unvaccinated. However, he did caution that there may be some tightening of other restrictions. Covid patients currently take up 20% of ICU beds in Austria, according to Reuters, and that level is rising fast. The country saw 67,148 new cases of Covid-19 over the past seven days — a new record weekly high, Johns Hopkins University data shows. “We have just days until we have to introduce a lockdown for unvaccinated people,” Schallenberg told a press conference on Thursday. The chancellor also said Thursday it was “probably inevitable” that Austria would have to impose a lockdown for those who were not vaccinated, adding that there...
On-demand delivery giant DoorDash announced Tuesday it was acquiring food delivery company Wolt in an all-stock deal valued at €7 billion, or $8.1 billion. Talking about the acquisition, Tony Xu, co-founder and CEO of DoorDash said in a statement that the move “will accelerate our product development, bring greater focus to each of our markets and improve the value we provide to consumers, merchants, as well as Dashers and couriers around the world.” Finland-based Wolt was founded in 2014 by Miki Kuusi, who, upon the deal closing, will run DoorDash International and report to Xu. The company has over 4,000 employees across 23 countries and its technology enables users to easily discover and receive food via its platform by selecting a restaurant, placing the order and hitting send. Wolt has raised over $850 million to date, according to its Crunchbase profile. Its most recent funding round was $530 million in January, led by Iconiq Growth, with participation from Tiger Global, DST, KKR, Prosus, EQT Growth and Coatue. Wolt represents DoorDash’s sixth acquisition according to Crunchbase data and its second in 2021, which includes an acquisition of Chowbotics earlier this year. The latest transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2022. DoorDash was one of...
Slovakia on Monday expanded strict coronavirus restrictions including hotel, bar and restaurant closures to almost a half of the country amid a record surge of infections. The government is expected to discuss additional measures as the country’s health minister joined medical personnel who treat Covid-19 patients in urging Slovaks to get vaccinated. “Only vaccination can take us through the pandemic,” Health Minister Vladimír Lengvarský said. The measures will affect 36 of the country’s 79 counties. Indicative of how fast infections are spreading, only five counties had imposed the measures three weeks ago, and another five a week later. On top of the hotel, bar and restaurant closures, people will be allowed to only buy takeout meals. Fitness, wellness and aquatic centers also have been shuttered. The maximum number allowed at public gatherings has been reduced to 100 fully vaccinated people. Face masks are compulsory indoors and outdoors. Slovakia, which has a population of nearly 5.5 million people, is one of the countries in the European Union that have been hardest hit by the pandemic. It has registered around 457,431 cases and 12,917 deaths. Daily infections have set three new records within last week, with the most recent of 6,805 cases...
Only the vaccinated or those who have recovered from COVID-19 will be allowed to access bars, hotels and cultural events from Monday, the Austrian government announced on Friday. “The dynamic is extraordinary, and the occupancy rates of intensive care units are rising faster than expected,” Chancellor Schallenberg said in a press conference on Friday. He added that the restrictions for the unvaccinated must be toughened to avoid a future general lockdown – especially during the Christmas holidays and the upcoming tourist season. In late October, Austria introduced a five-phase plan, explicitly targeting the unvaccinated to avoid future lockdowns for the general population. However, with the dramatic surge in new infections, the government has moved straight to the fourth phase – which effectively bans the unvaccinated from most cultural, social and sports activities. The fifth and final phase would introduce a fully-fledged lockdown for all unvaccinated. Infection rates have been rapidly increasing in recent days. On Saturday, new infections reached an all-time peak, with 9,943 new documented infections. The seven-day average is now at 7,148 infections per day. With around one-fourth of intensive care units occupied by vaccinated persons, the government is trying to incentivise people to get their third vaccination. The...
Germany has been named the world’s best-regarded country for the fifth-year running in an international soft-power survey that asked 60,000 people to score states on categories including culture, governance and exports. Each year since 2008 Simon Anholt, a British political scientist and the pollster Ipsos have assessed countries’ “nation brands” by measuring how they are perceived on six different scales, including the country’s governance, friendliness, culture and quality of life. Germany was followed by Canada, Japan, Italy and the UK. In this year’s rankings, Germany retained its first-place position for the fifth time in a row and seventh time overall. Their score improved to 71.1 per cent this year, compared to 69.1 per cent in 2020. Germany’s reputation has benefited massively by people feeling positive about German products and the government’s work to fight poverty. About Simon Anholt Simon Anholt designed and launched the Nation Brands Index in 2005. Since 1998, he has advised the presidents, prime ministers and governments of 56 countries, helping them to engage more imaginatively and effectively with the international community. He is recognized as the world’s leading authority on national image. Professor Anholt also publishes the Good Country Index, a survey that ranks countries on...
Slovakia extended tight coronavirus restrictions to more parts of the country on Monday as the latest surge of infections intensified. The number of counties affected by the measures doubled in just one week, from five to 10. They are mostly located in northern Slovakia, on or near the border with Poland and the Czech Republic. Slovakia has 79 counties. The measures include the closure of hotels, bars and restaurants, with people only allowed to buy meals at takeout windows. Fitness, wellness and aquatic centers also have been closed. The maximum number allowed to attend public gatherings is reduced to 100 fully vaccinated people. It´s also mandatory to wear face coverings both indoors and outdoors. Slovakia, which has a population of nearly 5.5 million people, is one of the countries in the European Union that have been hardest hit by the pandemic. It has registered around 457,431 cases and 12,917 deaths. Almost 80% of 1,144 people who currently need hospitalization in Slovakia have been only partially vaccinated or haven´t received a shot at all. Slovakia has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the EU. Less than 2.4 million people have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Havel’s corner, unveiled in Brussels on Tuesday, should be reminiscent of the legacy of the former Czech president and writer Václav Havel and at the same time entice people to sit and talk. Two chairs and a round table, through which a tree grows, stand in the park in sight of the European Parliament. According to the Czech Ambassador to Belgium, Pavel Klucký, the space can serve, for example, as a meeting point for citizens and politicians. “We want it to become a real place where various ideas, often controversial, are expressed,” Klucký told reporters, according to whom the space, despite its small size, could become the Brussels form of London’s Hyde Park. Since the place is on the road leading to the meeting place of seven hundred politicians, it could serve the purpose well. The Czech Embassy in Brussels plans to revitalize the site by organizing some events, for example in connection with the upcoming Czech Presidency of the European Union. Similar monument stands in Prague since 2014 The monument, designed by Havel’s presidential architect Bořek Šípek, was created based on cooperation between Prague and Brussels’ City Halls. It is almost identical to the two chairs and table which since 2014...
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