Have faith in facts

from Miracle 589-Jan 27, 2023

Hours after major outage hits Pakistan, govt says power restoration under way

interests. How can journalism ever support any institute that so flagrantly disregards people’s right to information?

Unfortunately, folks posing as journalists have done more to destroy the institute they pretend to serve. That’s why I’m recommending they, their handlers, and anyone interested in journalism read Maria Ressa’s How to Stand Up to a Dictator. The Nobel laureate’s book is part memoir and, as the Guardian noted, “part manifesto” on journalism’s role in exposing misuse of power. For Ressa, this means shining a light on the abuse of power by former president Rodrigo Duterte and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. It’s disconcerting to learn how Facebook undermined democracy in the Philippines and how Duterte used social media’s engagement algorithms to his advantage and society’s detriment.

This is what makes social media so dangerous, especially if you rely on it as your primary source of news. Social media platforms want you to keep scrolling on their sites because that’s what earns them the big bucks. They favour moneymaking over public safety, she writes. Facebook revenues were $120.18 billion, up by 40 per cent from the year before. What social media is doing is similar to rewarding children for lying. Facts are just

The grid should be fully functioning by 10pm, Dastgir told Reuters, adding: “We are trying our utmost to achieve restoration before that.” In a televised address, the minister said that there had been a widespread power breakdown in the country, adding that officials were working on restoring electricity. “Today at 7:34am, there was unusual voltage and frequency fluctuation in the North-South transmission corridor because of which the national grid’s system frequency was affected and a widespread breakdown was caused.”

He said that the country’s transmission system had not been affected but explained that electricity was required to get power

News Cont from Pg 1 not cool. Because facts don’t get the same amplification that opinions do, you see results like Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos come to power nearly 30 years after his father was ousted following a massive civilian resistance movement in 1986. While the Philippines is not the only country where people are voting for illiberal leaders, Rappler’s reporting shows how information shared on social media networks from 2014 paved the way for Marcos’ ascent. The same is true for Trump, Modi, Khan etc. The PTI social media juggernaut is unstoppable and doesn’t let facts get in the way of its indomitability. I mean, it has its own set of facts. Other parties are no different. Everyone is in their own silos. Journalists are the enemies unless they’re parroting the party (of your choice) line. This doesn’t sound like democracy.

In its report last year, Freedom House found “autocracy is making gains against democracy and encouraging more leaders to abandon the democratic path to security and prosperity”. This is just one consequence of a business model that profits from the spread of hatred over accurate information. Ressa’s book proves how social media platforms’ insidious manipulation wreaks havoc. There’s no legislation to tackle Silicon Valley’s designs either. What then can be done? Could we take a leaf from China which created a different version of TikTok for its citizens with safeguards in place for children? “And exported the opioid version to the rest of the world,” Ressa said last month. Since bans are futile, what can regulation look like? Can it be as simple as Ressa proposes which is changing the design of how news/information is delivered?

Ressa’s rallying cry may not have created the impact she hoped for but on Wednesday, she and Rappler were acquitted of tax evasion. “Today, facts win, truth wins, justice wins,” she told the media. The victory is a reminder that journalists can become gatekeepers of information again, they can reclaim space from big tech. We need to remind people that there is accountability in journalism unlike in social media. I hope Shahid Aslam and other journalists can take some solace knowing their important work can wield results and it’s a battle worth fighting for. Our credibility depends on it.

Courtesy by: muna Khan

The writer is a co-producer and cohost of On/Off The Record, a podcast on the news media landscape in Pakistan.

What do you think?

Laysa Lil Insana illa ma’ sa’aa

That man can have nothing but what he strives for.

Hours after major outage hits Pakistan

plants and dams up and running.

Talking about the steps taken to address the outage, he said that there was a power plant in Uch which was currently operational. He said that power generated from the plant, which was providing electricity to several areas in Sindh, was also being diverted to Balochistan and parts of Punjab.

He further said that electricity from the Thar coal power project was partially being provided to K-Electric which was working on restoring operations.

He assured the nation that he was personally overseeing the matter at the National Power Control Centre (NPCC) and that the officials concerned were working hard to restore power. He expressed the hope that power would be restored across the country by tonight. The minister said that the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) had been directed, on the orders of the prime minister, to get all power plants up and running even if they were dependent on expensive furnace oil. He further said a three-member team had been formed by the premier to probe the incident...

“In winter, the demand for electricity reduces nationwide, hence, as an economic measure, we temporarily close down our power generation systems at night.

Source: dawn.com

B.C.’s long-awaited payment plan for family physicians released

paperwork, reviewing lab results or updating patient charts. That will change come Feb. 1 when the new payment model is implemented. The payment model will see family physicians paid roughly $130 per hour for the time they spend working, whether they’re meeting with patients in person or virtually, reviewing test results, or managing their practice.

Physicians will also still bill the province for each patient interaction, receiving between $25 and $110 depending on the type of interaction. An annual “panel payment” for each patient a family doctor looks after will also be paid, with the payment for a patient of “average complexity” netting about

$34 per year. The payment will be higher or lower depending on each patient’s actual complexity. The province first announced the payment plan in October. Full-time doctors will receive about $385,000 per year under the new model, up from $250,000 currently, according to the province.

That increase is expected to make a significant difference, since doctors in B.C. must find and lease their own space, hire their own staff and source their own equipment.

In B.C., Greggain said, there are about 6,500 family physicians, roughly 3,500 of whom do the kind of “longitudinal care” – looking after the same patients for many years – the model is designed for. During the pandemic, he said, many doctors were either retiring early or leaving to work in other provinces where the payment structure made financial sense. He’s hoping the plan will entice doctors to come back to B.C. and rejoin family medicine.

“Longitudinal family physicians really feel that there’s hope now where there wasn’t before,” he told CTV News.

Vancouver resident Kate Ferguson has been hoping the number of family doctors in B.C. will increase. She’s been off work for two months due to a back injury and has called nearly 200 clinics in search of help, some of them as far away as Fort St. John...

Source: bc.ctvnews.ca

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Authorities alerted after drone comes close to UN aircraft

Imran open to going to IMF toshore up economy if he returns to power:

Russia announced on Tuesday it would ban oRAWALPINDI: Islamabad airport’s management have asked the police to ban drone activities around the runway after one came dangerously close to an aircraft.

The directives were issued after a UN aircraft en route from Kabul came across a drone flying at about 3,400 feet and eight nautical miles from the runway on Jan 16. The airport manager, in his intimation to the police and district administration, said the UN aircraft B-190 with flight number UN-355H was approaching around 2:30pm when it observed a drone flying at approximately 3,400ft while the aircraft’s altitude was 3,700ft. According to the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA), the area where the drone was flying has been identified to be Bahria Town’s Phase VIII in Rawalpindi.

Islamabad International Airport Chief Operating Officer Syed Aftab Ali Shah Gilani has sought help from the Rawalpindi regional police officer (RPO) and commissioner after a second complaint of flight hazard was received within a month.

On Jan 8, the pilot of a Pakistan International Airlines’ flight from Dubai reported that a green laser light was pointed towards the aircraft as it positioned to land at runway

28L, six NM away from the airport.

The airport COO said drones not only pose a threat of collision with the aircraft but also cause security concerns if equipped with surveillance gadgets or improvised explosive devices. The Rawalpindi police chief has been requested to increase patrolling and combing operations to detect violators in the funnel areas, which extend beyond each end of the runway used by aircraft to land and take off. The COO has also suggested enforcing Section 144 on drone activities around the airport. The PCAA has also asked the Rawalpindi RPO to take action against such activities which could result in a tragic accident.

According to aviation experts, laser lights and drones were among the foremost flight safety hazards for civil aviation operations. In August 2021, security agencies were alerted and a search operation was launched after a drone-like device was sighted in Banigala and Bhara Kahu areas of Islamabad. The device was seen in the sky around the prime minister’s residence and other important buildings in the area. This was not the first time an unauthorised drone flight alerted the authorities. Source: dawn.com

Former prime minister Imran Khan believes that Pakistan cannot shun the idea of reaching out to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an economic bailout any sooner and says his party, if returns to power, will “have no choice” except to stick to the lender’s support.In an interview with Bloomberg, the former premier minced no words while sharing his “radical plan” to shore up the ailing national economy with the IMF also having a part of it. “If we get into power, we won’t have much time,” Imran told the interviewer. When asked if his plan would involve sticking with the IMF, the PTI chief replied: “We have no choice now.”

The incumbent government — PTI’s opponents — has been making hectic efforts to convince the IMF to complete the review, pending since Sept 2022 — which will be followed by the release of funds. However, the strings attached to the move have been a sticking point between the global lender and Pakistan.The conditions include the withdrawal of subsidies of electricity subsidies, rationalising of gas tariffs in line with prices in the international market, market-determined exchange rate and removal of the ban on the opening of LCs.

Canada says it will repatriate 23 of its citizens from Syria

Canada is set to repatriate 23 of its citizens currently detained in camps for ISIL (ISIS) family members in northeastern Syria, according to officials and lawyers representing the citizens. The repatriation, which represents the largest group of ISIL family members repatriated to Canada at one, was determined in two actions on Friday. First, the foreign ministry said it had decided to repatriate six Canadian women and 13 infants who had been living in the locked camps. Later, a federal court ruled that four men seeking repatriation as part of that group must also be sent back to Canada. “I’ve spoken to the parents and they’re really, really happy,” said lawyer Barbara Jackman, who is representing one of the men.

In his ruling on Friday, federal judge Henry Brown directed Ottawa to request repatriation of the men as soon as reasonably possible and provide them with passports or emergency travel documents.

The union representing Canada Revenue Agency workers is proposing a series of pay bumps worth more than 30 per cent of current wages to keep up with inflation — a move described by observers as both “unprecedented” and “crazy.”

The Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) is proposing the following wage increases, on top of a one-time nine per cent wage adjustment:

• 4.5 per cent effective Nov. 1, 2021.

• 8 per cent effective Nov. 1, 2022.

• 8 per cent effective Nov. 1, 2023.

When compounded over three years, the four proposed hikes would result in a “historic” wage increase for the largest workforce within the federal public service, at nearly 55,000 employees in 2022, said union president Marc Brière.

About 35,000 of those employees are represented by UTE.

Brière said the proposal aims to address an imbalance between CRA employees represented by UTE and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), which has approximately 14,000 employees.

The two agencies used to function as one between 1999 and 2003 where employees were paid the same rate. Once they became independent of each other, it created a wage gap of nine per cent because CBSA uses the Excise Act. “They used to sit side-by-side in the early 2000s. They were the same group and occupation, the same classification, and then making the same amount of money,” Brière said. As of 2021, wages at the CRA have ranged between $41,658 and $121,923, compared to the CBSA which range from

$64,849 and $135,509.

The proposal comes at a time when Canada’s Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson is dealing with a historic amount of public complaints about the CRA over delays in people receiving benefits, tax returns and access to CRA accounts. However, it appears CRA employees’ wages may also lag behind other federal agencies deemed outside the government’s core public administration.

Direct comparisons are difficult to pinpoint due to differences in roles and salary designations. This chart does show what a midlevel CRA employee makes after three years, compared to administrative counterparts in the next three largest federal agencies. he discrepancy doesn’t add up with the work CRA employees have been asked to do, said Brière, especially in recent years because of the pandemic. “We have people that are specialized. The Income Tax Act is complex and they are doing great work. They have proven it during the pandemic, not only administering the income tax programs but even the emergency programs, which is not in our portfolio,” he said. Source: cbc.ca

It was not immediately clear when the 23 individuals would be repatriated, or if they would face any legal consequences for alleged associations with ISIL. Lawyers representing the citizens have argued that Ottawa is obligated to repatriate the group under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

According to Human Rights Watch, since ISIL’s territorial defeat in 2019, more than 42,400 foreign adults and children with alleged ties to the group have been held in camps in Syria run mostly by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The rights group warned in a 2020 report on Canadians in the camps, “The innocent, such as the children who never chose to be born or live under ISIS, have no hope of leaving. Meanwhile, any detainees potentially implicated in ISIS crimes may never face justice.” At the time, Human Rights Watch said the Canadians in the camps included eight men, 13 women, and 26 children.

In 2020, Ottawa allowed the return of a fiveyear-old orphan girl from Syria after her uncle initiated legal action against the Canadian government. Last October, Canada brought back two women and two children from the camps. Among the men set to be repatriated following the most recent ruling is Jack Letts, a dual UK-Canadian citizen whose British citizenship was reportedly revoked in 2019. Australia, Germany, France, Spain, the US, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have all repatriated citizens from Syria.

Source: aljazeera.com

Canada’s passport application backlog has been ‘virtually eliminated’ minister says

TAfter months of delays and the federal government saying it moved “heaven and earth” to speed up passport processing, the minister responsible says the backlog in applications has been “virtually eliminated.”

Wait times for Canadians to receive their passports are back to pre-pandemic standards, Karina Gould announced Tuesday during a federal cabinet retreat in Hamilton, Ont. This comes, Gould said, as a result of increasing passport offices’ “processing capacity” and “streamlined operations.”

Passport delays stretched to several months and led to canceled plans and travel headaches over the summer. There were also extended wait times to submit applications at passport offices, leading to many being held up for hours — and in some cases, camping out for days outside offices — to submit their paperwork. The delays led to criticism and questioning of the federal government’s ability to deliver services to Canadians.

Gould said Tuesday that those who have submitted their passport applications after Oct. 3, 2022, have seen pre-pandemic processing times, while extra staff continues to tackle the backlog from the summer and into September.

“Approximately 90 percent of the backlog of applications have been processed, and the backlog is virtually eliminated,” Gould said. For those who applied before Oct. 3, the wait time still varies to receive their passport, but clients can now have their application expedited without having to show proof of imminent travel. According to Employment and Social Development Canada, the high application volume in the early half of last year, plus pandemic health and safety measures, lead to the buildup of applications and the backlog. Source: cbc.ca

MP Sarai holds Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Award Ceremony at Surrey library

MP Sarai held the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Award Ceremony at Surrey Central Library. We marked the 70th anniversary of Her Majesty’s accession to the throne. In light of her long-standing service, a limited number of Platinum Jubilee pins were created. We opened the applications on November 14, 2022 and closed them on December 5, 2022. It was an exquisite ceremony in which exceptional members of the Surrey Centre community were recognized for their outstanding work in Surrey. There were approximately 60 guests, 31 of which were award recipients and rest being their family and friends. The awardees were recognized for their excellence demonstrated in the categories of entrepreneurialism, sports, community leadership, law enforcement, and philanthropy.

Awardees names as follows:

• Samir Ali • Marc Bains • Iqbal Cheema

• Dr. Gulzar Cheema • Dr. Sandy Dhami

• Amar Dhesi • Karm Dhillon • Zora Heer

• Stephen Dooley • Tanweer Ebrahim

• Nafees Feroz • Upkar Gohalwar

• Surendra Handa • Mohinder Jaswal

• Safari Kabumbe • Baljinder Kaur

• Sameer Kaushal • Jag Khosa • Jaanveer Lalli

• Saverio Lattanzio • Elizabeth Model

• Shahnaz Rahman • Martin Rooney

• Tony Moore

• Anmol Sahota • Manreet Sandhu

• Prabhleen Sandhu • Jaspreet Sidhu

• Iris Solorzano • Colette Trudeau

• Neeraj Walia

MP Sarai opened with a warm welcome and sincere message, “There are many extraordinary individuals living in Surrey Centre and/ or have impacted the people of Surrey Centre, but we will be giving out these awards to those individuals who were nominated in that time period. He also shared that, “A beautiful part of this event is that the diversity, passion and unity within Surrey is present in the room as our awardees originate from a variety of ethnic backgrounds who are youths all the way through to seniors, they all put their heart and soul into their work, and there is a tremendous amount of support here today to show for their outstanding service in our community.”

After the awardees were honored, MP Sarai concluded with, “It is gratifying to see this caliber of talent and commitment in all of you to make Surrey the most desirable city in the world to live, learn, work and play. I am truly proud to represent and serve you as well as this community.”