Canada has extended the ban on direct flights from India until September 21 due to risks posed by the Covid -19 pandemic. "Based on the latest public health advice from the Public Health Agency of Canada, Transport Canada is extending the Notice to Airmen that restricts all direct commercial and private passenger flights to Canada from India until September 21," the department said in a statement. The ban was first imposed on April 22 and has already been rolled over several times. It is the fifth time the ban has been extended. The ban was set to expire on August 21, but will now remain in place till September 21.
China recalls envoy from Lithuania
China recalled its ambassador to Lithuania and expelled the Baltic Sea nation’s top representative to Beijing over the country’s decision to allow self-governing Taiwan to open an office in Lithuania under its own name. Beijing claims Taiwan as its territory without the right to diplomatic recognition, although the island maintains informal ties with all major nations through trade offices that act as de facto embassies, including in the United States and Japan. Chinese pressure has reduced Taiwan’s formal diplomatic allies to just 15. Taiwan and Lithuania agreed last month that the office in the capital Vilnius will bear the name of Taiwan rather than “Chinese Taipei,” the term used in other countries in order not to offend Beijing. The Chinese Foreign Ministry statement called on Lithuania to “immediately rectify its wrong decision, take concrete measures to undo the damage”.
China sends Canadian to 11 years’ jail
A Canadian entrepreneur was sentenced to 11 years in prison in a spying case linked to Beijing’s effort to push his country to release an executive of tech giant Huawei, prompting an unusual joint show of support for Canada by the US and 24 other governments. China is stepping up pressure as a Canadian judge hears final arguments about whether to send the Huawei executive to the US to face charges related to possible violations of trade sanctions on Iran. Earlier, a court rejected another Canadian’s appeal of his sentence in a drug case that was abruptly increased to death after the executive’s arrest. Entrepreneur Michael Spavor and a former Canadian diplomat were detained in what critics labelled “hostage politics” after Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou was arrested on December1, 2018, at the Vancouver airport. Spavor was sentenced by a court in Dandong. The government has released few details other than to accuse Spavor of passing along sensitive information to the former diplomat, Michael Kovrig, beginning in 2017. Both have been held in isolation.
US military makes vax must for troops
Members of the US military will be required to get the Covid-19 vaccine beginning next month under a plan laid out by the Pentagon. In memos to all troops, top Pentagon leaders said the vaccine is a necessary step to maintain military readiness. Defence secretary Lloyd Austin said the mid-September deadline could be accelerated if the vaccine receives final FDA approval or infection rates continue to rise. President Biden said he strongly supports Austin's message.
US reports 35% increase in new Covid
In its weekly epidemiological report, the UN health agency said that the US, India, Iran, Brazil, and Indonesia reported the most number of Covid-19 cases now. The United States reported the highest number of Covid-19 cases among all countries, registering a worrying 35% increase in new infections from the previous week, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The highly contagious Delta variant of coronavirus has become the dominant strain across the globe as many countries are reimposing restrictions to contain the virus. In its weekly epidemiological report, the UN health agency said that the US, India, Iran, Brazil, and Indonesia reported the most number of Covid-19 cases. While India, Brazil and Indonesia witnessed a decline in infections from the previous week, the United States and Iran reported a huge spike with 734,354 and 248,102 new Covid-19 cases respectively.
US to release some still-secret files on Saudi & 9/11
The Biden administration, under pressure from families of victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks, said that it intended to disclose some long-classified documents that the families think could detail connections between the government of Saudi Arabia and the hijackers who carried out the attacks. In a court filing in long-running litigation brought by the victims’ families against Saudi Arabia, the justice department said the FBI “recently” closed a portion of its probe into the terrorist attacks and was beginning a review of documents that it had previously said must remain secret with an eye toward disclosing more of them. It provided no further details in its letter to two federal judges in Manhattan overseeing the case. The decision came after a group representing more than 1,600 people directly affected by the attacks called last week for President Joe Biden to not participate in any memorial events for the 20th anniversary of the attacks unless he promised to review the documents for possible declassification and release.
Vaccinated Denmark says bye to masks
Masks will no longer be mandatory on Danish public transport, the government told citizens as the Nordic country lifted the last of its compulsory face-covering regulations. “We are now in a situation... where a large part of the population has been vaccinated and we are returning to a more normal everyday life,” transport minister Benny Engelbrecht said in a statement. The change was originally scheduled for September 1. The health authorities also loosened social-distancing regulations in the Scandinavian kingdom of 5.8 million people, which has seen about 1,000 new infections a day. More than 60 per cent of the population has received a full course of the vaccine. “We now have good control of the infection across society,” Helene Bilsted Probst, deputy director of the national health agency said in a statement. “Therefore, we can adapt the prevention recommendations in such a way that people can maintain a normal daily life while respecting the principle of prevention.”
Russia asks BBC journalist to leave
Russia has asked a BBC journalist working in Moscow to leave the country by the end of this month in retaliation for what it called London’s discrimination against Russian journalists working in the UK, reports the state TV. In an unusual move that signals a further deterioration in already poor ties between London and Moscow, the Rossiya-24 TV channel said that Sarah Rainsford, one of the British broadcaster’s two English-language Moscow correspondents, would be going home in what it called “a symbolic deportation.” The measure, which amounts to a de facto expulsion, follows a crackdown before parliamentary elections in September on Russian-language media at home whom the authorities judge to be backed by malign foreign interests intent on stoking unrest. Rossiya-24 said Russian authorities had decided against renewing Rainsford’s accreditation to work as a foreign journo.
Malaysia's cabinet-led by PM Yassin resigns
Malaysia's prime minister and his government resigned after just 17 months in office, throwing the country into fresh political turmoil as it battles a serious coronavirus outbreak. Muhyiddin Yassin's tumultuous period in office came to an end after allies withdrew support and a last-ditch bid to cling to power failed, and he becomes the shortest serving premier in Malaysian history. After a final cabinet meeting, the 74-year-old headed to the national palace to submit his resignation to the king. Science Minister Khairy Jamaluddin confirmed on Instagram that the entire cabinet had quit. "Thank you for the opportunity to, once again, serve the nation," he wrote. There is no clear successor to Muhyiddin but an election looks unlikely as the country faces its worst Covid-19 wave yet and an economic downturn
New charges against Russia oppn leader
Russian investigators charged jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny with a new crime that could prolong his time behind bars. The Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes in Russia, said that as part of its investigating of the Kremlin critic’s organisations, it had charged him with “creating a non-profit organisation that infringes on the rights of citizens.”
Turkey flood toll climbs to 70
Rescuers recovered more bodies from the site of severe flooding that devastated a town in northern Turkey on Monday, bringing the death toll to 70, officials said. Torrential rains battered the country’s northwestern Black Sea provinces on August 4, causing floods that demolished homes and bridges, swept away cars and blocked access to numerous roads. The Turkish disaster management agency, AFAD, said at least 60 people were killed in the province of Kastamonu, nine died in Sinop and one in Bartin. Emergency crews on Monday pressed ahead with efforts to locate at least 47 people who were still reported missing in Kastamonu and Sinop. AFAD said some 8,000 personnel, backed by 20 rescue dogs, are involved in the rescue and assistance efforts. About 2,400 people were evacuated across the region amid the floods – scores of them lifted to safety by helicopters. Many are being temporarily housed in student dormitories. Around 40 villages remain without power, according to AFAD.
Sydney records deadliest day of Covid
Australia's biggest city of Sydney recorded its deadliest day of the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday, while residents in Melbourne face a nightly curfew and a further two weeks of lockdown amid a surge in infections. Sydney, which is in its eighth week of lockdown, is the epicentre of Australia's third Covid-19 wave that threatens to push the country's A$2 trillion ($1.5 trillion) economy into its second recession in as many years. New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said seven people in Sydney had died from Covid in the past 24 hours, surpassing the state's previous record daily toll from earlier this month. Berejiklian said New South Wales has also detected 478 infections, the highest one-day rise since the pandemic begun. "Our community transmission numbers are disturbingly high," Berejiklian said. "Every death is a person who has loved ones, who has died in tragic circumstances and our heartfelt condolences to all of those loved ones and families."
Iran imposes 6-day ‘general lockdown’ over Covid
Iran has imposed a six-day-long “general lockdown” in cities across the country after being hit by what it describes as its fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, state media reported. The lockdown includes all bazaars, markets and public offices, as well as movie theaters, gyms and restaurants in all Iranian cities. The lockdown began on Monday and will last through Saturday. The national coronavirus taskforce, which issued the decision, also ordered a travel ban between all Iranian cities from Sunday to Friday. Also on Saturday, Iran reported 466 deaths and 29,700 new cases of coronavirus patients in a single day. That brought the total pandemic death toll to 97,208, and total confirmed cases to 43,89,085.
China's wandering jumbos may be heading home
An elephant herd that fascinated locals and people around the world by making a yearlong journey into urbanised southwest China, raiding farms and even a retirement home for food, appears finally to be headed home. The 14 Asian elephants of various sizes and ages were guided across the Yuanjiang river in Yunnan and a path is being opened for them to return to the nature reserve where they lived in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture. The elephants left the reserve more than a year ago for unknown reasons and roamed more than 500km north.
