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France first EU member to start COVID-19 digital travel certificate testing

France first EU member to start COVID-19 digital travel certificate testing
Apr 21 2021 Share

The first EU member state to initiate the testing of a digital COVID-19 travel certificate will be France. As part of a Europe-wide scheme, Brussels hopes it will allow people to travel more safely and freely within the bloc by summertime. Part of France’s contact tracing programme is an app called TousAntiCovid, and it has been upgraded to store negative COVID-19 test results on travellers’ phones.

 

The trial will be extended from April 29th to include vaccination certificates, with the system eventually being adopted for public events such as festivals and concerts, with an exception being bars and restaurants. The French trial will form one part of a ‘reinforced, consolidated, and standardised Europe-wide system. Such certificates and systems are crucial for various EU countries whose economies have been immensely impacted by the pandemic.

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Featured Photo: The Guardian

PN proposes 7% VAT for restaurants and bars in new proposal

PN proposes 7% VAT for restaurants and bars in new proposal
Apr 21 2021 Share

The Nationalist Party has issued new proposals which propose to give airlines €10 per seat filled in summer, boosting it up to €20 for winter. The working document includes more than 100 proposals and are structured over two years for recovery and eight more years to enjoy the successes and profits post COVID-19 Apart from this, the PN is recommending that Malta examines the possibility of linking to new airports and that two testing centres should be set up in Malta and Gozo to cater to tourists due to COVID-19’s ongoing concern.

Il-Viżjoni tal-PN għat-Turiżmu

Qed inniedu l-viżjoni tal-Partit Nazzjonalista għat-turiżmu bbażata fuq sentejn ta' rkupru u tmien snin sabiex insaħħu din l-industrija tant importanti għal pajjiżna.

Posted by Bernard Grech on Wednesday, 21 April 2021

Apart from this, the PN is also issuing a proposal for a reduction in VAT for bars, restaurants and any operators providing tourist services. The reduction being proposed is 7% in VAT. The proposals also include a one-time grant of up to €25,000 for tourist operators promoting Malta abroad.

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Featured Image: Bernard Grech FB

GUEST POST: Sport Culture in Malta: When will it change?

GUEST POST: Sport Culture in Malta: When will it change?
Apr 21 2021 Share

Edward Falzon is a freelance writer who is passionate about sports and well-being and enjoys exploring topics around sport culture, development through sport and the importance of adhering to a balanced healthy life-style.

For a long time now, sports and physical activity have traditionally served as a global mediator. Race, religion, politics, socioeconomic status, and gender differences are all thrown out in the gutter when sport enthusiasts link up together to practice their favourite sport or unite to celebrate a victory. Sport or any type of physical activity to a certain extent, has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite and strengthen people in the most difficult times. We are living in difficult times.

With the world riding through the challenges of the pandemic; people feeling more isolated than ever with restrictions and stay-at-home mandates in place, law regulators and medical specialists – could have seized the moment to avoid a sense of déjà vu of last year where sport was put to an abrupt end once more. We know what sport can bring to society and yet, we could not adhere to the safe practice of sport through careful planning and assessment. Forget competitive or elite sport for a minute. The necessary priority for the government should have been recreational sport and exercise and how that could have been kept operational in a safe manner.

Reliable data exists which time and time again has proved that outdoor and contact sports such as football, basketball or even swimming, are a very low risk of spreading the virus. It is also well documented that most of the transmissions take place outside of the stadiums or outdoor facilities. In the simplest of terms, if you have adequate measures in place, both competitive and recreational sport remain low risk. Transmission rate during games is very low and even if athletes were affected, while spread remains possible, the protocols put forward by various sport associations and endorsed by the health authorities meant that the domestic competitions were well positioned to resume.


Allowing sport altogether to go ahead – with protocols and necessary checks in place was a risk worth taking which the government failed to take. This was an opportunity to provide hope, to give back to society and to truly show that not all is gloom and doom. While people anxiously await the steady return of sports, its role and true meaning within society continues to pull away during these trying and challenging times. Sports are and should be more than hobbies and entertainment. They are more than an escape from reality. They are a manifest for change. A manifest to help, inspire, and educate upcoming generations.

Unfortunately, there has and probably always will be this tip-toe kind of dance around politics and crisis when it comes to sports. It is easier that way. It is easier to keep sports at the very bottom of the pile. People with power want to keep sports simply about sports and that is that, but there should also be a consciousness behind it that sports have a larger responsibility to society.

We are living in the 21st century and the mentality that sport is a hobby needs to switch and that starts with our country’s leaders being able to come together not only with a national plan, but also a way to galvanize people and the sports our society passionately craves.

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Featured Photo: Joe Ambrogio / Malta Football Association – 1500

TikTok sued for excessive and sinister children data collection worth billions

TikTok sued for excessive and sinister children data collection worth billions
Apr 21 2021 Share

The social media platform TikTok is facing a lawsuit over its ‘excessive’ and ‘sinister’ collection of children’s data which could be worth billions. The Chinese-owned social network was ordered to pay a $5.7 million fine in 2019 for hosting underage content. The fine by the Federal Trade Commission was aimed predominantly at Musical.ly and subsequently incorporated into TikTok.

The video sharing app is no stranger to criticism and accusations of using data unlawfully, with a potential class-action lawsuit worth billions in damages. The suit alleges that children who used the app since May 25, 2018 may have had their personal information collected by TikTok’s parent firm, ByteDance, and used for the benefit of third parties. England’s former children’s commissioner Anne Longfield described it as ‘data collection service thinly veiled as a social network.’

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Featured Photo: Lawyer Monthly