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Day: 21 May 2021

Lifting of EU quarantine rules likely by July

by: Cassandra Tanti
21/05/2021

European Union citizens will soon be able to travel freely throughout the bloc’s 27 nations without the need to quarantine, under a new deal signed on Thursday.
European Union legislators and member countries found a compromise Thursday for launching Covid-19 certificates before the height of the summer holiday season, a move aimed at boosting travel and tourism following the restrictions of the coronavirus pandemic.
The various players managed to reconcile their differences during another round of discussions, paving the way for the trans-border travel passes to be introduced. Officials said the system should be up and running by 1st July.
“This agreement is the first step to get the Schengen Area back on track,” European Parliament rapporteur Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar said, referring to Europe’s passport-free travel zone. “It will make all the difference, and it won’t be repeating the nightmare of Summer 2020.”
The European Commission said the certificates will be issued in digital format and designed to be shown either on smartphones or paper. It guaranteed that “a very high level of data protection will be ensured.”
When it proposed the certificate plan in March, the executive commission said the documents would be given to EU residents who can prove they have been vaccinated, as well as those who tested negative for the virus or had proof they recovered from COVID-19.
EU lawmakers and nations agreed on that, but the European Parliament insisted that COVID-19 certificates should be enough to allow EU citizens to move about freely in all member countries, and that governments shouldn’t be allowed to impose extra restrictions on certificate-holders, such as quarantines and more tests.
Since border controls are a national responsibility, EU member nations were not ready to relinquish their prerogatives. Another roadblock was the price of tests, as lawmakers insisted the tests should be free of charge,
Under the compromise sealed Thursday, the European Commission said it would allocate 100 million euros in EU funds for the purchase of virus tests compatible with the certificates.
“This should particularly benefit persons who cross borders daily or frequently to go to work or school, visit close relatives, seek medical care, or to take care of loved ones,” the parliament said.
Negotiators agreed that, if necessary, additional funding should be mobilized, subject to approval by the budgetary authorities.
As for the extra travel requirements that EU members might be tempted to introduce, the 27 nations agreed “they shall refrain” from imposing additional restrictions “unless they are necessary and proportionate to safeguard public health.”
The proposal should now go to member states for formal adoption and to the European Parliament for ratification during its next plenary session in June. The EU’s executive branch has already started working on the initiative’s technical aspects with EU countries.
“Work still remains,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “At EU level, the system will be ready in the next few days. It is now crucial that all member states press ahead with the roll-out of their national systems to ensure that the system can be up and running as soon as possible. This is what EU citizens rightly expect.”
All vaccines authorised by the European Medicines Agency — currently, that’s the ones made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson – will be automatically recognised. National governments will be allowed to include other vaccines which haven’t received EU market authorisation.
Under the provisional agreement, the certificate regulation would be in place for 12 months.
 
(AP)
 
Photo by Dennis Gecaj on Unsplash
 
 
 

New F1 ‘Spirit of Grace’ award revealed

by: Cassandra Tanti
21/05/2021

The Princess Grace Foundation announced during the Monaco Grand Prix that a new Grace Influential Impact Award will be handed out during next year’s event to the F1 team or organisation that demonstrates the highest commitment to positive impact through sustainability.
Grace Influential is an initiative led by the Princess Grace Foundation USA which oversees Princess Grace’s charitable legacy. The foundation is recognised for its prestigious awards program celebrating excellence and positive change.
Now, it is initiating the Grace Influential Impact Award, named for and inspired by Princess Grace of Monaco in honour of her commitment to excellence, the global culture of philanthropy she ignited from Monaco, and the enduring example she set, as an iconic global leader, for positive impact.
“The Grace Influential Impact Award is a prime example of our dedicated commitment to continuing Princess Grace’s legacy of positive change and we applaud Formula One for its leadership in impact and sustainability,” said Brisa Carleton, CEO of the Princess Grace Foundation USA and Grace Influential.
According to Brisa Carleton, Grace Influential recognises Formula One’s commitment to and investment in pioneering technology and innovation toward sustainability, philanthropic initiatives, and positive societal impact. The Grace Influential Impact Award celebrates the Formula One team or related organisation which best embodies these values and strives to make the world a better place.
A judging panel of independent luminaries with a focus on global social responsibility will be announced in the coming months. The first Grace Influential Impact Award will be presented at a dedicated ceremony during the Monaco Grand Prix 2022.
 
READ ALSO: Grace Kelly, the influencer
 
 
 

Monaco celebrates World Bee Day

by: Stephanie Horsman
21/05/2021

The United Nations designated 20th May as World Bee Day and in honour of our little pollinating pals, Monaco has revealed the secrets of its “pollinator hotels”.
Since 2013, the Principality, in association with the French National Forestry Office (ONF), has been monitoring pollinator “hotels”. Six such hotels were set up in 2020 in the area between Monaco and Mount Agel and were observed between March and September by an ONF technician.
Each hotel was inspected during the visits and samples of visiting insects were captured and sent to the Office for Insects and their Environment for scientific analysis.
Last year’s special circumstances made it impossible to carry out all the surveys intended, notably at the bee hotel located in Saint Martin Gardens, but nonetheless, results have been encouraging.
Some of the findings from 2020 include the presence of 18 species of bees, nine species of spheciform wasps and one species of vespoid wasp. The local domestic species of bee, Apis Mellifera, was not part of the survey, as they do not use this type of habitat.
Wild, or solitary, bees, of which more than a thousand species are known to exist, are different from domestic bees in the way they organise and the fact that they do not produce honey. Wild bees are primarily solitary creatures and do not follow a queen. They stick close to their food sources and have a range of a mere 10 metres.
The bees spotted at the hotels are not honey-makers, either. They are more collectors, who mix pollen with nectar to form tiny balls of food that are stored for future bees. These bees live less than one year and usually die in winter after they lay their eggs. They are also not aggressive to humans and over half of them do not even possess a stinger.
Bees’ quiet work helps maintain biodiversity in plants and agriculture, though it is a delicate balance. Some bees pollinate a single plant, and if that plant disappears, so do the bees.
At the insect hotel in the Saint Martin Gardens, there was a high occupancy rate in drilled logs. The presence of a small wasp (Trypoxylon kolazyi) from southern Europe, which had not previously been reported in the Alpes Maritimes/Monaco area, was observed for the second time. This wasp makes its nest in various cavities but never digs holes itself. It captures and paralyses its prey, which consists mainly of immature spiders, to feed the young in its nest.
 
 
Photo by Jenna Lee on Unsplash
 
 
 
 

Roca team's wild night in Le Mans

by: Stephanie Horsman
21/05/2021

It was an eventful evening in Le Mans as Roca Team Coach Zvezdan Mitrovic was sent off before the end of the first quarter with two technical fouls in a row, giving the opponents a whopping five free throws in a row for his sins, but even this couldn’t stop AS Monaco from coming out on top.

AS Monaco Basketball took on the first of three away games in five days in Le Mans on Thursday night. They were without Mathias Lessort, who is still out with an ankle injury, but despite that, and the early loss of the head coach to temper tantrums, they still were able to seal the deal, winning 86 to 71.

The first quarter was a corker for the Roca boys. They were trailing miserably, and coach lost it not once, but twice, getting him sent off unceremoniously, giving the team from Le Mans five free throws.

But once settled in, Monaco came out swinging and clawed their way back up thanks in part to a tighter defence, two stolen balls and some pretty spectacular work by the team. By halftime, the score was an almost even 49 to 52.

After returning from the locker room, Captain Dee Bost, who was on fire, led the way and within minutes, ASM had the lead. This slipped away momentarily at the 30 minute mark but was quickly reversed and it was fairly smooth sailing from there.

“To concede 52 points at halftime, I don’t think that has happened to us this season, said Assistant Coach Mikro Ocokoljic. “We weren’t as aggressive as usual. We made a lot of mistakes and Le Mans put in a lot of away shots. The good thing is that we were able to come back. Of course, we had the advantage of having more rotations tonight and we managed to put the pressure on them. In the second half, Le Mans scored only 19 points, the face of the meeting was not the same.”

Monaco made 35 shots out of 69, going 12 for 30 in three-point range. They had 27 rebounds, recovered seven stray balls, had 15 assists and an equal number of steals.

Dee Bost was undisputed king of the night with 24 point to his credit, Marcos Knight was no slouch with 18 and Brenden Frazier and Rob Gray both racked up 11 each.

Monaco are still safely in the top of the Jeep Elite standings, but they will go up against Limoges on Saturday night who will no doubt be determined to win after losing to second seeded Limoges Thursday.

 
 
Monaco Life with AS Monaco Basketball press release, photo by AS Monaco Basketball