Greeks over 60 warned about punishment for non-compliance with vaccination rules
The Greek prime minister has made a final appeal to the country’s senior citizens to get inoculated before monthly punishments for violating the country’s vaccination mandate kick in next week.
“Our fellow citizens who are over 60 and still unvaccinated – I encourage them today: take this step,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during a visit to a health center in Megara, near Athens, on Saturday.
“Protect your life and the lives of those you love, and understand that the vaccine is safe and saves lives.”
Citizens aged over 60 will be fined €50 ($57) from Monday and €100 ($114) each month from February unless they get vaccinated. All proceeds will go to the country’s health system, Greek media said.
Those with Covid recovery certificates and proven medical exemptions will not be subject to the fines. People vaccinated abroad will be able to register their vaccination through a government website.
The AMNA news agency cited government sources as saying that 90% of citizens aged over 60 have already been vaccinated or have booked an inoculation appointment.
Secretary-General António Guterres expressed his deep concern after reports of a tsunami and ash affecting Tonga following the eruption of an undersea volcano near the Pacific nation.
The UN Office in Geneva is celebrating a 60-year collaboration with the European Broadcasting Union of public-service broadcasters, which has helped transparent, fair and impartial television news to be seen around the world.
Read the full story, “UN in Geneva celebrates 6 decades supporting impartial TV newsâ€, on globalissues.org →find more fun & mates at SoShow now !
There has been on ongoing public campaign in Pakistan for the release of Aafia Siddiqui from US prison
The suspected gunman who took a Texas synagogue hostage on Saturday has claimed to be a brother of Aafia Siddiqui, who was convicted of attempting to kill US personnel in Afghanistan.
While the identity of the hostage taker is yet to be confirmed, multiple US media reported that the suspect told police that he was a brother of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist serving an 86-sentence in the US. The woman who was dubbed“Lady al-Qaeda” by the western media was convicted in 2010 “for the attempted murder and assault of U.S. nationals and U.S. officers and employees in Afghanistan.”
The reports about the man’s supposed identity came shortly after the beginning of the hostage situation in Colleyville, Texas which was partially livestreamed on Facebook.
During the livestream, a man now tentatively identified as Muhammad Siddiqui referenced his sister and threatened that he was ready to die and kill hostages if anyone entered the building, which was holding Shabbat services shortly before he entered it.
The man has reportedly been negotiating with police for Siddiqui’s release. Aafia is currently serving her sentence in Fort Worth, Texas, which is only a short distance from Colleyville. The hostage taker has said he is armed with explosives, according to sources speaking to ABC News.
Siddiqui had been arrested in 2008 and charged with allegedly shooting at FBI agents and US soldiers looking to interrogate her in the Ghazni province in Afghanistan.
The FBI questioned the woman a day after she was arrested by Afghan authorities on July 17, 2008. The agency claimed that Afghan forces discovered a bunch of handwritten notes on her that cited a “mass casualty attack” and mentioned an array of important locations around the US, including the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, as well as the Brooklyn Bridge. The FBI claimed that Siddiqui managed to grab a US officer’s rifle while she was being held “unsecured, behind a curtain” in a room at an Afghan police compound as her interview was about to start. Siddiqui then allegedly fired at an US army officer and several other servicemen before she was rounded up. Siddiqui ended up being shot in the stomach by a soldier, while nobody else was hurt in the incident, which ultimately paved the way for her extradition to the US.
Siddiqui is also believed to have been married to Ammar Al-Baluchi, nephew of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The US government alleged she had disappeared after he was brought into custody in 2003, prompting them to place her on the FBI’s’ Most Wanted’ list.
There has been an ongoing public campaign in Pakistan for the woman’s return back home. In October, a crowd of protesters gathered outside the Pakistan Consulate in New York to demand her release, while calling her a “political prisoner” and an innocent victim of the US’ war on terror. Activists have also claimed Siddiqui may be being mistreated in prison, with her being attacked in July, resulting in burns and solitary confinement.
The Pakistani Senate passed a resolution calling her ‘Daughter of the Nation’ in 2018, while Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed support for her release and even reportedly discussed the issue with former US President Donald Trump.
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