Monkeypox cases in Europe tripled in 2 weeks as WHO calls for action

Jul 2 2022

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) European chief warned last Friday that monkeypox cases in the region have tripled in the last two weeks.

The health organisation urged countries to do more to ensure that the previously rare disease does not become entrenched and endemic on the continent.

To date, well over 5000 monkeypox cases have been reported from 51 countries worldwide. The number of infections in Europe represents around 90% of the global total, with 31 countries in Europe having identified cases.

Meanwhile, African health authorities have said that they are treating the growing outbreak as an emergency. They are now calling on rich countries to share limited vaccine supplies to avoid equity problems which were seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Hans Kluge, WHO Europe chief, said in a statement that the increased efforts were needed, despite the UN health agency’s decision last week deeming the outbreak as not warranting being declared a global health emergency.

Kluge said that urgent and coordinated action is imperative if ‘we are to turn a corner in the race to reverse the ongoing spread of this disease.’ No deaths have thus far been reported, and about 10% of patients were hospitalised for treatment or had to be isolated.

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You will have to pay between €3 to €10 to enter Venice as of January 2023

Jul 2 2022

As of January 16th 2023, visitors to Venice, which is one of Italy’s major tourist hubs, will have to pay to set foot in the city.

Venice is set to become the first city in the world to require an entrance free, with the launch date announced by Venice’s tourism councillor Simone Venturini on Friday.

Venturini called this a great revolution as well as a solution for the over-tourism problem which has been heavily impacting the lagoon city for decades. The costs will range from €3 minimum to €10.

The price will not be fixed, but it will be varying according to the number of visitors. The more requests for entry, the higher the cost will soar. The goal is not to close off the city, the councillor explained, but to get people to book their presence.

This, he argued, will reduce the tourist peaks as Venice ‘is a living city and it has to stay that way.’ However, there are many exceptions to the entrance ticket mandate.

Residents and children under six will be exempt, as well as people with disabilities, home owners, people visiting for health reasons or to visit relatives, or even those coming to attend cultural or sport events.

It was explained that this is not a system to make cash flow but to instead manage tourism flows. The proceeds will go to lowering the taxes of Venetians which are already soaring quite high to manage the volume of tourists. Fines for ticket violations will vary between €50 to €300.

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Netflix crashed right after Stranger Things 4 Volume 2 released

Jul 2 2022

A few moments after the highly anticipated Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2 released on Netflix, many reported that the streaming service had crashed.

Now, we won’t immediately blame it on Vecna, but it does seem as though as the influx of people hopping onto Netflix to watch the final 2 episodes caused a bit of traffic congestion.

According to global uptime-monitoring site Downdetector, user reports of problems with Netflix spiked around 3am ET, which is when the series went live. Thankfully, the problem seemed to be resolved within half an hour but complaints peaked at nearly 13,000 at a point.

This didn’t come as much of a surprise as the fourth season already set the record as the number 1 English-language series on the service in its first four weeks of release.

And with the last two episodes being almost feature length films in their own right, with the finale clocking at 150 minutes, it seemed inevitable that the anticipation would cause some overflow of streaming. But as the adjustments were being made, social media was of course blowing up with memes about the whole ordeal.

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Charles Polidano ‘ic-Caqnu’ and son interrogated over money laundering suspicions

Jul 2 2022

Local construction magnate Charles Polidano, who is known as iċ-Ċaqnu, was arrested and interrogated along with his son on Friday morning over money laundering and corruption suspicions.

Polidano was arrested at his home and taken in for questioning at the Financial Crime Investigation Department.

Times of Malta were informed that Polidano had been taken in after a very lengthy investigation and is suspected to have corrupted a senior official at a large entity through a property sale.

The same newsroom was also informed by Polidano Bros on Saturday that it was assisting the authorities to verify payments made to the company in a transaction in 2014 which involved a public deed.

Any wrongdoing was categorically denied by the company, which went on to claim that the authorities will be satisfied once these verifications have taken place.

The 62-year-old magnate’s Polidano Group is one of the leading construction firms on the island and is regularly involved in major infrastructure projects.

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