The Asian Star July 24 2021

www.theasianstar.com

Vol 20 - Issue 24

Saturday, July 24, 2021

NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware used in India to hack into phones of journalists and others A powerful surveillance tool licensed only to governments was used to infiltrate mobile phones belonging to at least seven people in India and was active on some of their devices as recently as this month. The hacks — confirmed by forensic analysis of the phones — represent a tiny fraction of what may be a vast surveillance net, intensifying concerns about the erosion of civil liberties in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hundreds of Indian phone numbers appeared on a list that included some selected for surveillance by clients of NSO Group, an Israeli firm.

Continued on page17

Indian American teen creates fire suppression extinguisher to combat wildfires An Indian American teen in the San Francisco Bay Area has parlayed the tragedy of a 2018 wildfire to hopefully prevent the spread of future disasters.

Arul Mathur, a rising senior at Monte Vista High School in Danville, California, says he has the solution to help combat California wildfires, allowing regular citizens to take fire protection into their own hands. Inspired by the 2018 Camp Fire, Mathur says he developed FACE, or Fire Activated Canister Extinguisher.

Continued on page 6

Say the word “millionaire” and the stereotypical image that pops up is probably of a suit-wearing, briefcase-wielding businessperson with an affinity for fine wine, flashy jewellery, plush homes, and private jets.

But turns out, India has hundreds of ordinary citizens who are secretly millionaires, hiding in plain sight as they challenge class stereotypes

and… the Income Tax (IT) department. The IT department has now identified over 250 street food vendors and scrap dealers who are actually millionaires in the northern Indian city of Kanpur. These included fruit and vegetable sellers, owners of small pharmacy shops, grocers, ragpickers, and sanitation workers who have managed to evade taxes for years.

US govt asks court to extradite Pakistan Canadian Rana to India The Biden administration has urged a federal court in Los Angeles to extradite Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana to India where he is sought for his involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. Rana, 59, has been declared a fugitive by India, where he is facing multiple criminal charges for his involvement in the

Mumbai terror attack in which 166 persons, including six Americans, were killed. He was rearrested on June 10, 2020, in Los Angeles on an extradition request by India in a submission before the US District Court, Central District of California in Los Angeles, the US government argues that India’s extradition request contains Continued on page 7

India’s Covid-19 death toll could be 10 times the official count, research suggests India’s excess deaths during the pandemic could be a staggering 10 times the official COVID-19 toll, likely making it modern India’s worst human tragedy, according to the most comprehensive research yet on the ravages of the virus in the South Asian country. Most experts believe India’s official toll of more than 414,000 dead is a vast undercount, but the government has dismissed those concerns

Introducing Telus #StandWithOwners Winners: FABCYCLE.Shop

By Harvinder Sandhu

Telus is doing it again! Giving back to the community is big with Telus. This time they are committing $1M in funding to small local businesses that impact positively the communities they are in. Their new initiative is called #StandWithOwners.

Selected recipients will receive $10,000.00 cash to use where needed in their business, including local advertising and mentorship to showcase their incredible stories in the community there are in. Meet Irina Mackenzie of

Tel:604-591-5423

Hundreds of Indian street vendors found to be secret Millionaires

FABCYCLE, she’s one of the 10 selected recipients of this initiative to receive the $10,000.00. Irina shared her thoughts on this win, “We are so so so thrilled to have been chosen to be one of the 10 grand prize winners for Telus #StandWithOwners contest and we are super grateful for their support with funding, mentorship and this advertising opportunity that recognizes our contribution to the local community

Continued on page 10

as exaggerated and misleading. The report released Tuesday estimated excess deaths — the gap between those recorded and those that would have been expected — to be 3.4 million to 4.7 million between January 2020 and June 2021. It said an accurate figure may “prove elusive” but the true death toll “is likely to be an order of magnitude greater than the official count.” The report was published by Arvind Continued on page 6

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Saturday, July 24, 2021 BC reports no deaths but 89 new cases, highest daily total in over a month British Columbia reported 89 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, the highest daily total in more than a month.

It pushed the seven-day average for new cases up to 63, the highest it has been since June 27, after a week of upward growth.

In a written statement, health officials reported 781 active cases in B.C., the most since July 1.

Of the new cases, 30 were in the Fraser Health region, 18 were in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 37 were in the Interior Health region, one

was in the Northern Health region and three were in the Island Health region.

There were no deaths reported Thursday.

Nearly 3.72 million British Columbians — 80.2 per cent of those eligible and 72.2 per cent of B.C.’s whole population — have had at least one dose of vaccine.

Of them, 2.63 million people — 56.9 per cent of those eligible and 51.2 per cent of B.C.’s population — have been fully immunized.

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OPINION

By Alan Freeman

Accounting firms and tax lawyers who spend their days figuring out aggressive ways of reducing taxes for their corporate clients no longer have to conjure up schemes that involve sending assets to the Isle of Man or other tax havens. Thanks to the Parliament of Canada, they’ve been handed a series of loopholes in

Saturday, July 24, 2021 Forget the Isle of Man. Ottawa is our latest tax haven the Income Tax Act that could allow a rush of tax-free transfers of shares between business owners and their children. It’s called Bill C-208, and it’s the worst public-policy failure I’ve seen in a long time, demonstrating everything wrong about how MPs, government, and the bureaucracy work — or, more precisely, don’t

work — together. The result is a train wreck that could cost the treasury hundreds of millions of dollars. There’s plenty of blame to go around.

First, we’ve got MPs of every party, anxious to outdo each other in pre-election pandering to special interest groups, who barrelled ahead to pass a private member’s bill so poorly drafted and rife with loopholes that the government has vowed to replace it as soon as possible.

The legislation is also a humiliation for Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and her brand-new Deputy Minister Michael Sabia, who started his long career in Finance Canada’s tax-policy branch, only to see its senior bureaucrats ignored when they brought up serious concerns before MPs on the Finance committee. The cabinet, and most Liberals, voted against the bill. But despite its fundamental defects, the government turned it into a free vote, and 19 Liberals voted to pass the thing, along with MPs from every other party. Among those voting for the bill was none other than Wayne Easter, chair of the Finance committee, a former minister who should have known better. When the legislation got royal assent at the end of June and went into immediate effect, Freeland and the government panicked, issuing an ill-considered statement that effectively said they were going to ignore Parliament and delay implementation until Jan. 1. All hell broke loose, and Freeland was forced to backtrack this week, announcing that the new law would be in force at least until Nov. 1, and work would start immediately on a loophole-blocking replacement. Bill C-208 is an anomaly, a private member’s bill on tax policy, something that almost never happens.

Constitutional convention insists that tax measures include a royal recommendation, which means it must be a government bill.

C-208 actually cuts taxes, so it could be go forward as a private bill. But this, too, is rare.

In Canada, tax legislation is written by the Finance department, and for good reason. Tax measures are complex, and having a single pen, guided by seasoned professionals, is essential to making sure that a new quirk in the tax code doesn’t conflict with existing laws. And the process is lengthy.

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LOCAL

Saturday, July 24, 2021 Forty-six cops sworn in to Surrey Police Service The Surrey Police Service had a special swearing-in ceremony on Friday afternoon at city hall, but even that generated controversy.

individuals who have joined the Surrey Police Service. They have all chosen to come to the Surrey Police Service in its early days to be a part of building a modern, innovative, and progressive

All told, 46 police officers were swornin to the new force poised to replace the Surrey RCMP, welcomed in by Mayor Doug McCallum, Chief Constable Norm Lipinski and Judge Kimberley Arthur-Leung.

The founding members took their oath as required under Section 70 of the Police Act. Eleven civilian employees were also formally welcomed into the organization.

This was the fledgling police force’s first swearing-in ceremony as it continues to embark on the biggest policeforce transition in Canadian history.

“This was an important event for our officers and civilian staff. There is something truly special about taking an oath to protect and serve your community,” Lipinski said, adding the “SPS continues to move forward and the dedication of all of our staff is inspiring.”

Mayor McCallum, who also serves as chairman of the police board, said he’s “so impressed by the

police service for the citizens of Surrey.”

The ceremony was held in Council Chambers at city hall. Surrey resident Debi Johnston expressed dissatisfaction that the public wasn’t informed about the timing of the event beforehand. She called it a “secret ceremony.”

“Doug McCallum has refused to allow councillors to meet in-person for council meetings citing ‘Covid’ yet allowed this smoke and mirrors ceremony to take place with many in attendance including only four of the eight elected city councillors,” she said. “You are not operational meaning you have sworn in folks for administrative duty.”

Ian MacDonald, spokesman for the SPS, said they’d done a “dry run’ on Wednesday and realized there wouldn’t be enough seating for the public because of COVID-19 rules. Family members were also not able to attend, he said.

“It was a really difficult decision,” he said. The ceremony was live-streamed to family, though.

Continued on page 8

Fraser Health warns Metro Vancouver residents to prepare for wildfire smoke B.C.’s largest health authority is warning residents of Metro Vancouver to prepare for a smoky summer.

With close to 300 wildfires burning across the province, smoke has been billowing north and east, blanketing 23 regions of the province in air quality warnings from the southern Interior to the Peace River.

“As we anticipate our region will be impacted by wildfire smoke, I encourage those at higher risk to plan ahead, including identifying a place to go that has cleaner air,” says Dr. Ingrid Tyler, Fraser Health’s executive medical director of population and public health and a medical health officer.

Meteorologists say a change in wind, though not on the immediate horizon, could quickly envelop the Lower Mainland

and Fraser Valley in thick smoke.

“We do know with reasonable accuracy that we don’t expect substantial smoke in the next 72 hours,” says Arvind Saraswat, senior project engineer with Metro Vancouver’s air quality and climate group.

“It’s hard to tell what’s going to happen after the weekend.”

Lisa Erven, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, says her models predict westerly winds will continue to push smoke across the Prairies for the next 10 days. That is, barring any new fires.

“There are fires burning to all sides of us — the Yukon, Interior B.C. and south of the border,” she says. “It wouldn’t take much for smoke to be transported to the coast.”

Worldwide, air pollution kills roughly

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Brenda Locke running for Surrey mayor, promises to halt police transition Surrey city councillor Brenda Locke is running for mayor in the next municipal election, and opposing the transition to a municipal police force is a major plank in her platform. Locke’s announcement Wednesday comes about 15 months ahead of the Oct. 18 2022 vote. If elected, Locke says she would put an immediate halt to the Surrey Police Service, which has already hired a chief and appointed a board.

“Hopefully we will win. And right away we will stop that process immediately. It is not planned. The process is flawed, and it is becoming a runaway train in terms of the expenses,” she says.

“Moving forward, we certainly need to have better dialogue in the city of Surrey, we

have to have better public engagement, and certainly the RCMP issue is significant and concerning to the residents of Surrey — they want it stopped. Loke notes that last month, Elections BC approved a petition that could force a binding referendum on the move to replace the RCMP with the municipal force, and she thinks the public is largely on her side.

“The public will will support that because this is an ongoing expense. This is a generational expense that we’re talking about, and sometimes you just have to cut your losses. I think this is one of those times”.

Continued on page 7

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Saturday, July 24, 2021 India’s Covid-19 death toll could be 10 times the official count, research suggests From page 1 Arvind Subramanian, the Indian government’s former chief economic adviser, and two other researchers at the Center for Global Development, a nonprofit think tank based in Washington, and Harvard University.

It said the count could have missed deaths that occurred in overwhelmed hospitals or while health care was disrupted, particularly during the devastating virus surge earlier this year.

Worst tragedy since Partition of India “True deaths are likely to be in the several millions not hundreds of thousands, making this arguably India’s worst human tragedy since Partition and independence,” the report said. The Partition of the British-ruled Indian subcontinent into independent India and Pakistan in 1947 led to the killing of up to 1 million people as gangs of Hindus and Muslims slaughtered each other. One Canadian expert said the report’s overall conclusions are likely right, but its methodology is problematic.

“They did the best they can,” Prabhat Jha, a doctor and epidemiologist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, said in an interview with CBC News. “They end up with a big number, well over 3 million deaths, but they end up with [the] somewhat implausible idea that the first viral wave, which was in September of last year, was bigger than the current viral wave, which was in April to May or April to June.”

He said that the researchers included data from unreliable sources, which will lead to pushback from the Indian government about their findings. Still, Jha said he agreed that India’s death toll is much greater than 400,000, which he said would mean the country had a death rate about one-eighth of the death rate in the United States. “No one really seriously believes that the Indian death rates from the infection are so low.” The report on India’s virus toll used three calculation methods: data from the civil registration system that records births and deaths across seven states, blood tests showing the prevalence of the virus in India alongside global COVID-19 fatality rates, and

From page 1

an economic survey of nearly 900,000 people done thrice a year. Researchers did caution that each method had weaknesses, such as the economic survey omitting the causes of death.

So the researchers also looked at deaths from all causes and compared that data to mortality in previous years. Researchers also cautioned that virus prevalence and COVID-19 deaths in the seven states they studied may not translate to all of India, since the virus could have spread more in urban versus rural states and since health care quality varies greatly around India. Other nations are also believed to have undercounted deaths in the pandemic. But India is thought to have a greater gap due to having the world’s second highest population of 1.4 billion and because not all deaths were recorded even before the pandemic. The health ministry did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment on the report. Dr. Jacob John, who studies viruses at the Christian Medical College at Vellore in southern India and was not part of the research, reviewed the report for the AP and said it underscores the devastating impact COVID-19 had on the country’s underprepared health system. “This analysis reiterates the observations of other fearless investigative journalists that have highlighted the massive undercounting of deaths,” Jacob said.

‘Collective complacency’ The report also estimated that nearly 2 million Indians died during the first surge in infections last year and said not “grasping the scale of the tragedy in real time” may have “bred collective complacency that led to the horrors” of the surge earlier this year. Over the last few months, some Indian states have increased their COVID-19 death toll after finding thousands of previously unreported cases, raising concerns that many more fatalities were not officially recorded.

Several Indian journalists have also published higher numbers from some states using government data. Scientists say this new information is helping them better understand how COVID-19 spread in India.

Indian American teen creates fire suppression extinguisher to combat wildfires

FACE is an autonomous fire suppression device that releases retardant when it detects fire.

When placed in strategic locations, FACE can p r e v e n t homes from burning down, according to the teen.

M a t h u r launched a Kickstarter campaign to make FACE available to the public for the impending fire season.

He says all the revenue generated will be donated to install FACE devices in fireprone areas that need

them the most.

F.A.C.E. is designed to put out fires automatically when it detects extreme heat.

Mathur lived in New Jersey for the first eight years of his life, where wildfires are essentially unheard of.

After moving to California in 2012, he said he began to hear about the destruction that wildfires caused, on TV and overhearing conversations with his parents for the first time, seemingly every year.

“However, I still thought that the problem was distant, and would never affect me or my family personally,” he said.

“As I grew older, I began to understand the severity of the wildfire problem in California and just how damaging these fires were to people in my community. I heard about the hundreds of thousands of people who evacuated their homes every year to flee from wildfires, but I still never thought that I could be one of those people,” he said.

Finally, in the summer of 2019, a wildfire spread so fast, coming from 10 miles away, it threatened to force his family to evacuate their home.

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Saturday, July 24, 2021

Brenda Locke running for Surrey mayor, promises to halt police transition McCallum had promised the Surrey Police Service would be up and running

by Spring of 2021. The chief was hired in November of 2020, but the police transition will not be complete until some time in 2022. The plan to set up a city force was a key part of McCallum’s 2018 election campaign.

Replacing the RCMP has faced resistance from some residents, with critics largely echoing Locke’s concerns about the cost and what they say was a lack of consultation.

Locke has been one of council’s most outspoken opponents of the transition, tabling multiple motions calling for a pause to the process. In January of 2020, she and colleague Jack Hundial formed a new civic party, Surrey Connect. In addition to Locke for mayor, and Hundial for council — the slate of candidates for 2022 includes two newcomers Ramona Kaptyn and Sebastian Sajda. They are seeking five more candidates to run for council. Asked what else she would prioritize if elected, Locke says she also thinks Surrey residents are concerned with a “lack of transparency” at city hall and climbing taxes. Dissatisfaction with the current government, where McCallum’s Safe Surrey Coalition has a majority.

US govt asks court to extradite Pakistan Canadian Rana to India From page 1 contains sufficient evidence of probable cause on each of the criminal charges for which India seeks Rana’s extradition. “The court certifies the extradition of Rana to the Secretary of State and commits him to custody pursuant,” stated a draft order proposed by the US attorney in hissubmission before the court last week.

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Saturday, July 24, 2021 Forty-six cops sworn in to Surrey Police Service From page 1

Asked why not live-stream to the public as well, MacDonald said he expected some “blowback” for not doing that but noted some of the officers will work in covert units. “This is what we were up against.”

“We couldn’t live-stream, in live time, to the public because we had several officers, because of their experience, that were in those covert units, or at least had been, and with all likelihood that they’re going to continue their careers in those same

kind of capacities,” MacDonald said.“You’re not going to go okay live-stream, okay now we’ve got to shut down the live-stream where we have to go to black stream for the next two swearing ins, and then we’re back to the live screen again, and then we cue the MC to not announce the next name, we’re going to go to blackness and play muzak, elevator muzak while we take a little break – it’s just, it would have been a logistical nightmare.”

New Canada immigration programme to benefit thousands of families NOW ORDER ONLINE:

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A record number of 40,000 immigrant families will be allowed to sponsor their parents and grandparents to bring them to Canada in 2021.

This means 30,000 additional applications will be accepted as against the annual intake of 10,000 under the Parents and Grandparents Programme (PGP), which is aimed at family reunification.

Applications can be submitted online over a two-week period, starting September 20.

Using the random selection process, those whose applications are accepted would be allowed to bring their parents and grandparents to Canada.

Since the sponsors have to show a certain minimum income requirement, the Canadian government has allowed them to

include state benefits received during the Covid lockdown towards their income. This will ensure that applicants are not penalised for lost income during the pandemic.

Unveiling the programme, Canadian Immigration Minister Marco E.L. Mendicino said, “The importance of family has never been clearer than during the pandemic. That is why we are delivering on our commitment to help more families reunite in Canada.

“By strengthening the Parents and Grandparents Programme, inviting a record number of sponsors to apply, and by adjusting our requirements to adapt to the current times, we are once again proving our commitment to helping Canadian families stay together, and thrive together.”

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Saturday, July 24, 2021 Vancouver police say major spike in vandalism after 13 churches targeted since June 2 Vancouver police are calling on witnesses to report suspicious activity around churches, following a major spike in vandalism at religious properties this summer. Police said Thursday they are concerned these incidents could escalate into a situation where someone could get badly hurt.Since June 2, there have been 13 incidents of mischief and vandalism at churches, including rocks being thrown through windows, buildings being defaced with paint, and threats being made to set buildings on fire, Sgt. Steve Addison of the VPD said in a release. Since news broke in late May of the discovery of what are believed to be the remains of 215 children in unmarked graves

at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, five churches have burned to the ground on First Nations land around the province, including four old Catholic churches and one Anglican church. On Monday, the St. George Coptic Orthodox Church in Surrey burned down in what RCMP called a suspicious fire. “Fortunately, nobody has been hurt in these Vancouver incidents and most of the damage has been minor,” Addison said in a release. “However, we’re growing more concerned each day by the escalation of these crimes and their brazen nature, and we’re calling on the people responsible for these crimes to stop.

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Saturday, July 24, 2021

9 new Covid-19 cases in Ottawa area Ottawa Public Health (OPH) reported nine more COVID-19 cases Thursday, but no new deaths. Key COVID-19 indicators continue to rise.

The R(t) — or number of people infected by a single COVID-19 case — remains above 1.0 for second straight day. There are 34 known active cases.

2.7: The weekly incidence rate, a rolling seven-day total of new COVID-19 cases expressed per 100,000 residents. The number of Ottawa residents being treated for COVID-19 in an Ottawa hospital. The number of people infected by a single COVID-19 case, or R(t). The spread of the coronavirus is considered under control if that figure is kept below one. The number of active COVID-19 outbreaks in Ottawa. The number of COVID-19 cases since late December that

are either confirmed or suspected to involve a variant of concern. These variants have made up a significant portion of Ottawa’s new COVID-19 cases since mid-March.

The level of COVID-19 in Ottawa’s wastewater remains low, which continues a trend seen over the past three weeks. (613covid.ca) Across the region There are currently fewer than 75 known active cases in eastern Ontario and western Quebec, which has risen slightly. Health authorities in the Outaouais have not yet reported their COVID cases for Thursday.

Most eastern Ontario health units are generally reporting a handful of new cases per week, but the number of active cases is increasing in some areas, including Hastings Prince Edward and the Eastern Ontario Health Unit.

Introducing Telus #StandWithOwners Winners: FABCYCLE.Shop From page 1

and innovation through the pandemic. ” Her business is a textile waste re-use center and is based in Chinatown, Vancouver.

“We collect fabric waste from Vancouver’s apparel manufacturers, like factories, fashion design schools, and independent designers. We collect and reuse the material.

We are kind of the agent in the middle – between people that have the waste and the people that can use that waste.”

Irina’s clarifies the fabric collected is not garbage but full rolls, not waste material, but ‘useable fabric’ that the factories don’t want anymore, or apparel factories where the business is now closed. They call ‘useable material’ any fabric that is over a meter.

And, it’s not only material, but also buttons, zippers, a myriad of things associated with the textile industry. Their website has all the info in what they have in stock and how much of it, plus they are also open to public between 11 am – 5:30 pm, Wednesday to Friday.

“Our mission is to only collect material that is in good condition and forward it to people who can use the material, to sewers, like hobbyists, design students, etc. We do this to stop the material from ending up in landfills.” They collect the donated material, and for scraps – small pieces that are expansive to recycle, they charge a small fee to collect those from the manufactures.

During the pandemic, FABCYCLE, had to limit walk-in shoppers, so they turned to the internet to reach customers. They

created a website, and set-up social media to reach those who could use the reusable material. They also just recently opened a Facebook Group to enable a better connection with their community of makers in Canada that is called FABCYCLE Sewing Group and are also offering a 25% online only discount code until August 31 to thank their community for their support (promo code: #STANDWITHOWNERS). You can shop at www.fabcycle.shop Irina heard about the Telus’s Stand With Owners initiative through a friend who knew how she was struggling in the business because of the pandemic. Irina quickly filled out the forms and is now very happy to get that breathing room to push forward in her business of keeping useable material from filling the landfills.

Irina’s advice to all small business owners is to apply for Telus’s #StandWithOwners initiative. “You not only get the money, but also help in local advertising and mentorship.” #StandWithOwners is Telus’s way of championing small business owners with incredible stories of resilience and community impact. Successful recipient will receive $10,000.00, personalized local ad campaign to promote their business, and get one-on-one support and mentorship from Telus’s partners and industry experts.

To small business owners interested in this initiative, go to Telus.com/ standwithowners.

More than 4,300 properties under evacuation order across BC as wildfires continue Strong gusts forecast in BC and wind set to change direction, creating new challenges for wildfire crews. More than 4,300 properties under evacuation order across province, 18,000 more on alert. Wind speed and direction have dramatically affected the wildfire situation in B.C. over the past two days, and Thursday’s forecast shows it will continue to play a major role in fire behaviour. The B.C. Wildfire Service has issued a wind advisory for the province’s Interior, southern Interior and southeast regions that extends to Thursday night.

“Wind activity may significantly impact fire growth in these regions,” the advisory says.

“The rate of fire spread will likely increase, and the direction of fire growth may change quickly on some wildfires.” Winds are expected to shift direction Thursday, and gusts could reach up to 40 km/h in parts of the southern Interior and 50-70 km/h in the southeast. This would create potentially dangerous situations for firefighting as the heads of the fires shift and wind speeds cause fires to spread and fuel to become even drier. Soldiers from Edmonton to aid in B.C. wildfire fight The wind will likely calm on Friday, but could return over the weekend. Fire ecologist Robert Gray said wind essentially feeds wildfires, which means Thursday will be a challenging day for firefighters. “The fuels are already dry,” he said. “So we will see quite significant spread rates, long range spotting and very, very dangerous conditions.”Officials urge tourists to be aware of local wildfire conditions before travelling in B.C. Though fires tend to burn uphill, Gray said wind could influence the fire to move downhill.

The “heat dome” that blanketed much of We s t e r n Canada in late June and early July, raising temperatures to record levels, prompted the start of the wildfire season about a month early, Gray said. “We’re going to see things change year after year after year, trending to the worse situation,” he said. “We’re also going to see more of these exceptional events like what we saw in July with the heat dome and those trigger tipping points that occur sooner down the line. We’re going to see things constantly changing and, unfortunately, changing for the worse.”

Fire information officer Noelle Kekula said they’re always watching the weather to determine what might happen with wildfires.

Wind tore through the Interior yesterday, causing the Lytton Creek fire to spread north.

This prompted a new evacuation alert for 94 properties north of Lytton, which was destroyed by wildfire on June 30. “We of course have our crews on it,” she said.

As of Thursday morning, more than 4,300 properties in B.C. have been ordered to evacuate, including residences in a neighbourhood in Seymour Arm, a community on Shuswap Lake.A further 18,000 properties are on evacuation alert, meaning they must be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice. On Thursday afternoon, an evacuation oder was expanded in the Oliver-Osoyoos area due to the Nk’Mip Creek wildfire. RCMP will help to expedite this order. At noon on Thursday, an evacuation order was issued for 169 properties in the Spences Bridge area, as a result of the growing Lytton Creek fire.

Saturday, July 24, 2021

Mark Carney says climate commitments prevent him from running for Liberals in next election Mark Carney won’t be on the Liberal ticket if there’s an election this fall. The former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England told The Canadian Press he’s made commitments to help in the global fight against climate change and he can’t walk away from them just a few months before a crucial United Nations conference.

“I thought long and hard on this because I believe strongly in public service and in the government’s agenda, which I fully support,” Carney said in an interview Tuesday.

“In the end, despite the temptation to running and the wrestling with it, a commitment’s a commitment.”

Carney is the UN special envoy on climate action and finance and also chairs the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, which aims to bring together banks and asset management firms worldwide to accelerate the transition to an economy based on net-zero carbon emissions.

His work will be crucial to the success of the UN climate conference, known as COP26, which is scheduled to run from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12 in Glasgow. “It’s a critical time in the COP26 process. I made commitments to the (UN) secretary-general and the U.K. prime minister to

organize the private sector for net zero, for a net-zero economy and we have tremendous momentum and I don’t want to break that momentum,” Carney said.

“I think this is the best contribution I can make right now for Canada, arguably the world, but also for Canada because this matters. This matters hugely to us and this is something I can do, I’m in the middle of and I need to see it through.” Carney did not rule out running for the Liberals at another time.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is widely expected to call an election for this fall. If he does, Carney said he wanted to put an end to rampant speculation that he would run in a riding in Ottawa, where he lives.

Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna announced last month she would not seek reelection in Ottawa Centre. Her surprise decision opened up some prime political real estate that could have become a launching pad for Carney.

There had also been speculation that Ottawa South MP David McGuinty or Kanata-Carleton MP Karen McCrimmon might step aside to open up their Liberal ridings for Carney.

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Star & Style

Saturday, July 24, 2021

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan resumes shooting for Ponniyin Selvan Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is known to only do projects that challenge her and bring something new to the table now. She has been in the business of movies for decades and it is only fair for her to do what she thinks is creatively satisfying after all these years. Aishwarya recently shared the poster and release date of her upcoming film Ponniyin Selvan which is being

helmed by Mani Ratnam.

Now latest reports suggest that the actress has resumed shooting for the movie in Puducherry where the cast and crew is already present.

Ponniyin Selvan, originally written by Kalki, tells the story of Arulmozhivarman, one of the kings of the Chola dynasty during the 10th and 11th centuries. The movie will have Aishwarya playing a double role. Well, we are super stoked for this one, what about you?

Paresh Rawal believes film industry is now focussing on homegrown stories Paresh Rawal, who was recently seen in Toofaan and will be seen again in Hungama 2, has said in an interview that Bollywood has begun focussing on homegrown stories, rather than plagiarising international films.

Veteran actor Paresh Rawal is thrilled that Bollywood is now chronicling untold stories rooted in the country and not “plagiarising” international films, a trend, he said, was dominant until a few years ago.

The 66-year-old, who has been working in the industry for close to four decades, said the new crop of filmmakers have infused a certain freshness in Hindi cinema.

Paresh Rawal particularly cited the Ayushmann

Khurrana-starrer dramedy Badhaai Ho! (2018) and this year’s Netflix film Pagglait, fronted by Sanya Malhotra, as examples of novel storytelling.

“Earlier, we would plagiarise foreign stories and then later they (the original makers) would file cases against us.

Now that doesn’t happen. So now we are focusing on our homegrown stories, which are far more superior, dramatic and challenging. Stories like Pagglait, Badhaai Ho! are wonderful examples,” Paresh said.

The change in Bollywood has also allowed artistes a chance at consistent quality work, he said.

Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif resume shooting The new schedule, which began at YRF Studios in Mumbai, will take place reportedly at a closely guarded set with no picture leaks. The Salman Khan-Katrina Kaif starrer will also be shot overseas from midAugust. Actors Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif resumed shooting for their upcoming outing Tiger 3 on Thursday. The actors are up for a physically challenging shoot that will push their bodies to the limit. The shooting is taking place at the YRF Studios in Mumbai.

“The new schedule of Tiger 3 has started today in Yash Raj Films Studios. It is a closely guarded set and one can expect no picture

to leak from here. Salman and Katrina’s fitness will be tested in this schedule as well as the extensive overseas schedule that is set to start from midAugust,” a source said.

The source added, “Salman teased his physique in Tiger 3 on his social media and it is evident that he is building the best body that he has ever showcased on screen. Katrina, on the other hand, has been keeping an extremely low profile with hardly any revelation of how good she is looking currently. There’s a reason for this also. She has worked like a beast to be her fittest best and people will have to wait to see her fittest best on-screen when Tiger 3 is set to release.”

Twinkle Khanna shares video of Nitara playing Senorita: ‘My little guitarist’ Twinkle Khanna has shared a video of Nitara playing Senorita on the guitar. She is the daughter of Twinkle and her husband actor Akshay Kumar.

Actor-turnedauthor Twinkle Khanna on Wednesday shared a video clip of her daughter Nitara strumming a guitar. Taking to Instagram, Twinkle dropped the video in which Nitara is heard playing Senorita, by singers Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello.

Though the video doesn’t show Nitara’s face, she was seen wearing a black t-shirt while

playing the instrument inside a room. Nitara is the daughter of Twinkle Khanna and her husband actor Akshay Kumar.

Twinkle captioned the clip, “My little guitarist and her tiny concerts. I would not have believed that you could learn how to play an instrument largely online, but she did with @swirlmusicindia and it gives her so much joy. #musictherapy.” The clip ends with the applause of the people present in the room.

Arjun Kapoor recalls ‘crumbling from inside’ when his films weren’t working Arjun Kapoor has spoken about the body shaming that he has had to endure in his career, and allowing the negativity to mount during a rough patch in his career.

Actor Arjun Kapoor has said that he understands when certain audiences criticise his body type, because they expect actors to look a certain way, and aren’t familiar with his struggle. In an interview, Arjun Kapoor said that his ‘condition’ makes it difficult for him to achieve ‘quick results’ -- he wasn’t merely overweight growing up, but had a medical condition. He also said that the negativity was magnified when he was going through a rough patch in his career.

He told a leading daily, “Not many know, but I have been battling obesity for the longest time. I was just not a fat kid, it was a health issue. It hasn’t been easy. My underlying health condition has always made it a struggle for me to constantly stay a certain size.

While I have been criticised a lot for my physique, I have taken it on the chin because people expect actors to be seen in a certain body type. I understand that. They haven’t understood the struggle that I have gone through and it’s alright. I have to only prove it to myself and to people who believe in me.”

Star & Style

Saturday, July 24, 2021

Deepika recollects the time when she broke down Deepika Padukone has been vocal about mental health. She has often spoken that there was a phase in her life when she felt directionless and lost despite having it all. Deepika recently spoke about it and how her mother realized that she needs help to deal with it.

Deepika recently hosted a Clubhouse session where she recollected the time she broke down in front of her mother.

She says it was 2014 where she felt empty and directionless, and felt that her life had no meaning or purpose. “I couldn’t feel anything physically or emotionally. I just felt this void...

I felt this for days, weeks and months until one day my family was here and they were going back home and when they were packing their bags, I was sitting in their room and suddenly broke down.

That’s when my mother realised for the first time that something was different.

My cry was different. It wasn’t the usual boyfriend issue or stress at work. She

kept asking me if it was this or that. I couldn’t pinpoint one specific reason. It was her experience and presence of mind that she encouraged me to seek help.”

After working on herself the actress says that till today she keeps a check on various aspects of her life that help keeping her mental state healthy, “I keep saying that there’s not a day that goes by without me thinking about my mental health.

To ensure I don’t go back into that space, it’s very important for me to focus on the quality of my sleep, nutrition, hydration, exercise, how I process stress and my thoughts and mindfulness. These are the things I have to do on a daily basis not because they are fancy words or it’s cool to do this but I won’t be able to survive if I don’t do all these things.”

Deepika talking about mental health means a lot and will surely enlighten people to deal with depression in the right way and seek help when needed.

Krishna Shroff grabs eyeballs as she goes topless for the cover of H&H Magazine Jackie Shroff and Ayesha Shroff ’s daughter Krishna Shroff is an absolute stunner and a fitness enthusiast just like her actor brother Tiger Shroff. She often shares stunning pictures of herself flaunting her toned body on Instagram. This time, Krishna took it a notch up when she posed for the August issue of H&H magazine. Krishna Shroff has set the temperature soaring with a topless picture for the cover of H&H Magazine.

She is seen wearing black faux leather pants and gloves made of the same material as her pants. Krishna flaunts her perfectly toned body and her body tattoos on the cover.

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LOCAL / NATIONAL

Saturday, July 24, 2021

BC declares state of emergency due to wildfires The B.C. government finally declared a provincial state of emergency Tuesday because of the threat of an escalating spread of wildfires.

The emergency declaration goes into effect across the province Wednesday and will provide the government with special powers, for example, to secure accommodation spaces if they are necessary for fire evacuees, or to restrict travel. Premier John Horgan’s government had faced mounting pressure from representatives of municipalities, First Nations and the Liberal opposition to declare the state of emergency.

Until now, the government had said it was not necessary to declare an emergency to muster resources to fight fires, including fires that threaten properties in the Okanagan. Mike Farnworth, B.C.’s minister of public safety, said Tuesday he made the decision to declare a state of emergency based on information from provincial officials that weather conditions this

week will lead to more severe fire behaviour and the potential for more evacuations.

“We will be facing some days of very difficult weather in the Interior,” he said.

“What we’re concerned about is wind events, dry lightning.” Later on Tuesday, federal Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan announced that Ottawa is sending 350 members of the Canadian military to help with firefighting efforts around the province. Sajjan said the forces will be used to extinguish hot spots on fires that are already contained, as well as help with logistics and monitoring operations.

The B.C. Wildfire Service issued a warning Tuesday that wind activity forecast until Thursday may significantly impact the growth of fires in the southern Interior and southeastern B.C. The rate of fire spread will likely increase, and the direction of fire growth may change quickly on some wildfires, said firefighting officials.

BC will be raising the minimum employment age from 12 to 16 this fall News was released today that British Columbia is making changes to its employment standards legislation this fall. This change will result in raising the general working age for young people from 12 to 16 years old.

It is understood that the new rules will take effect on Oct. 15 and will bring the province in line with international youth employment standards, as outlined by labour ministry in a statement today. The delay in implementing the changes is intended to allow employers and young workers to adjust to the new requirements.

“Work experience can be a rewarding

growth opportunity for young people, but it should never compromise their safety,” B.C. Labour Minister Harry Bains said in the statement. “We know that most employers make safety their top priority for all their workers, and these changes clarify what types of employment are age-appropriate for young workers.”

The province says workers aged 14 and 15 will be able to do “light work” with the permission of a parent or guardian.

In some cases, children aged 14 and 15 may be permitted to do work outside the definition of light work with a permit from the Ministry of Labour’s Employment Standards Branch, the ministry said.

Two dead after Burnaby crash: RCMP Two people have died after a crash in Burnaby Wednesday afternoon, according to the RCMP. Mounties say they were called to the scene of a twovehicle crash of Duthie Avenue and Montecito Drive at 5:20 p.m.

“Two people have died as a result of this collision. There were no

other injuries,” says Cpl. Mike Kalanj in a statement.

“The investigation is in its early stages and we are trying to piece together what occurred.” Anyone who was in the area and has dashcam footage, or who witnessed the crash is asked to call the Burnaby RCMP at (604) 646-9999.

Firefighting support set to arrive in BC as officials report ‘extremely volatile’ wildfire conditions More resources are making their way to British Columbia to help with wildfirefighting efforts, as wind and heat look likely to cause more extreme fire behaviour in coming days. More than 3,100 people are currently involved in firefighting efforts, including firefighters from Alberta, Quebec and New Brunswick. Another 500 are expected to arrive this weekend,

including 100 firefighters from Mexico.

The federal government is also sending up to 350 military personnel to join the firefighting efforts.

Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says he welcomes the help from the military because B.C.’s available resources are fully assigned.

“Air support from Canadian Forces has already proved invaluable in moving

Teen dead, girl injured after being struck on sidewalk during vehicle collision in Kelowna A 15-year-old girl is dead following a collision with a motorcycle in Kelowna Monday night.

RCMP say a Toyota car was making a left hand turn from Harvey Avenue into the northbound lanes of Dilworth Drive when it collided with a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

The westbound motorcycle then struck two pedestrians at the intersection.

Two girls, one aged 13 and the other 15 were taken to hospital with injuries.

RCMP spokesperson, Cpl. Jocelyn Noseworthy says the older girl succumbed

to her injuries “a short time later.”

The driver of the motorcycle was also transported by B.C. Emergency Health Services with serious and potentially life-threatening injuries.

The scene of the crash closed the highway for several hours.RCMP are hoping to hear from witnesses, especially anyone with video footage of the incident.

Anyone who does have information is asked to contact the Kelowna RCMP at 250-762-3300

LOCAL / NATIONAL

Saturday, July 24, 2021 Former Burnaby man who fled to China charged in CRA phone scam A 27-year-old former Burnaby resident has been charged in relation to an “elaborate” telemarketing scam that bilked seven victims of a total of nearly $200,000, according to police.

The charges stem from a multijurisdictional fraud investigation launched in June 2019 by the B.C. RCMP’s federal financial integrity team.

The investigation targeted interprovincial and transnational crime groups that were reaching out to unsuspecting Canadians and pretending to be representatives of the Canada Revenue Agency, banks, police investigators or software companies, according to a recent RCMP news release.

The victims were instructed to send the scammers cash via

courier companies, the release said.

The investigation led to a 27-year-old Burnaby resident who was allegedly part of a telemarketing scheme involving four associates who communicated on encrypted/unencrypted social messaging platforms, according to the release.

The fraud and related money laundering involved seven victims who collectively lost $198,700, but $90,000 of that was intercepted and returned to the victims, police said.

Haoran Xue, also known as Charlie Xue, has now been charged with fraud, theft, identity theft, possession of property obtained by crime, dealing with identity documents without lawful excuse, personation with intent to gain advantage, and multiple counts of uttering forged documents.

BC records 78 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday but no additional deaths B.C. health officials announced 78 new cases of COVID-19 and no additional deaths on We d n e s d a y as the seven day rolling average of new cases, now at 58, continues its slow upward creep.

In a written statement, the province said there are currently 729 active cases of people infected with the novel coronavirus in B.C., the highestnumberofactivecasesinthelastfewweeks.

A total of 48 people are in hospital with the disease, the lowest hospitalization count since Sept. 10 of last year. Sixteen people are in intensive care, up from 11 a week ago.

Overall hospitalizations, which typically

lag behind spikes and dips in new cases, are down by 26.2 per cent from last Wednesday, when 65 people were in hospital with the disease. The provincial death toll from the disease is currently 1,763 lives lost out of 148,641 confirmed cases to date.

Currently, there are two active outbreaks in the province, both in Fraser Health. One is in acute care at Laurel Place at Surrey Memorial Hospital and the other is in longterm care at Holyrood Manor.

So far, 6,297,149 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, including 2,552,325 second doses.

Is B.C.’s COVID-19 death rate really as low as official numbers show?

As of Wednesday, 80.1 per cent of people aged 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose of the vaccine and 55.6 per cent have received a second dose.

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US land border to remain closed, but Canada border to open for America The closure of the Canada-U.S. border has been extended to at least Aug. 21, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday.

The countries’ shared border has been closed to most non-essential traffic since March 2020.

However, American citizens and permanent residents who’ve received two doses of a Health Canada-approved COVID vaccine at least 14 days prior will be allowed to visit Canada for non-essential reasons starting Aug. 9, which the Canadian government announced on Monday. Nor will those who are vaccinated and permitted to enter Canada have to quarantine upon arrival, as long as they fulfill other requirements, such as providing their proof of vaccination through the ArriveCAN app and taking pre- and on-arrival COVID tests.

The federal government’s hotel quarantine program, which had been mandatory until recently for returning

international travellers who flew into Canada, is also being axed in early August.

It remains unclear when Canadians will be allowed to drive to the U.S. for non-essential reasons, but most land crossings from Canada and Mexico won’t be permitted until at least Aug. 21.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said Wednesday that, before its announcement, the U.S. had advised him of its intention to prolong the border closure.

“We continue to work very, very closely with our friends and colleagues in the United States,” Blair told reporters at an unrelated announcement in Thornhill, Ont. “We have great respect for the decisions they will make … in the best interest of their citizens, just as we make decisions in the best interest of ours.”

The two countries are taking a “no surprises at the border” approach, and are working co-operatively, Blair added.

‘Long COVID’ clinics expanding as thousands of British Columbians struggle with symptoms The number of new COVID-19 infections has dropped from its peak during the third wave, but the medical system is only now ramping up supports and medical treatment for thousands of British Columbians who continue to experience symptoms months after getting sick with the coronavirus.

Four post-COVID recovery clinics are now accepting patients in the Lower Mainland, offering teams of experts including lung specialists, psychologists, rheumatologists and physical therapists to better care for people experiencing the long-lasting effects of an

illness that’s still being analyzed and unravelled.

One of the leading doctors involved in treating “long COVID” patients says that while the multi-disciplinary approach may sound expensive, he believes it’ll actually be more cost-effective for the health-care system in the long-term. “That’s the intention, to save a lot of money because instead of having an individual jump around from one specialist to the next in an uncoordinated way, we’re intending to do it and we’ve put these systms in place so that that care is better coordinated,” said Dr. Chris Carlsten, UBC’s head of respiratory medicine and Post-Covid Recovery Clinic lung specialist.

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NORTH DELTA! - Starter family home or holding property - 2 level 4 bedroom home has been was been well maintained - 3 bedroom up and 1 bedroom down. Fully finished basement with great suite potential - separate entry. Lots of parking for cars and RV - private yard with large covered deck - great patio area.

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Absolutely gorgeous family-home with TWO mortgage helper suites and plenty of room on the main floor with 4 large bedrooms, master bedroom with a walk-in closet and ensuite bathroom, multiple living areas with 2 fireplaces, and a spacious kitchen. Kitchen lets out to a large covered sun-deck to enjoy a cup of coffee in the summer or host a BBQ. Large backyard with a brand new fully-surrounded fence with plenty of room for children or pets. Entire property is beautifully landscaped with a large decorative palm tree and multiple fruit trees including fig, apple, pear and cherry trees.

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This well-maintained family home w/3-beds up, suite-potential down and a detached workshop/garage has everything you and your family needs, all located centrally. It's a 5 -10min drive to Guildford Town Centre & Hwy 1; only a 3min drive to Gateway Skytrain Station. The 2level home has a brand-new furnace, dishwasher & washing machine +plenty of other extras including a mobile accessible alarm system and a cozy living room gas fireplace for winter nights. The back deck located off the dining room is perfect for summer barbecues! In addition to the carport and the driveway that fits up to 4-5 vehicles, the 10,200sf lot (60x170) has a massive 1100sf detached workshop that will hold 3 cars, an RV or boat, and meet all of your storage needs.

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Saturday, July 24, 2021

INDIA

Saturday, July 24, 2021 From page 1

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NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware used in India to hack into phones of journalists and others

The list contained numbers for Rahul Gandhi, India’s main opposition leader; Ashok Lavasa, a key election official considered an obstacle to the ruling party; and M. Hari Menon, the local head of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Others included on the list were journalists, activists, opposition politicians, senior officials, business executives, public health experts, Tibetan exiles and foreign diplomats. A group of Modi critics accused of plotting to overthrow the government also appeared on the list.

The spyware that infiltrated seven of the analyzed phones is called Pegasus. It secretly unlocks the contents of a target’s mobile phone and transforms it into a listening device.

NSO says it licenses the tool exclusively to government agencies to combat terrorism and other serious crimes.

In India, use of the spyware appears to have gone well beyond those objectives. Five of the phones infiltrated in India belonged to journalists and one to a high-profile political adviser working for Modi’s opponents.

More than 1,000 phone numbers in India appeared on the list, according to a months-long collaborative investigation by The Washington Post and 16 media partners in 10 countries. The consortium verified the identities of the people associated with more than 300 of the numbers in India. It is not known how many of the phones on the list were actually targeted for surveillance or how many attempts were successful. Forensic analyses performed on 22 smartphones in India

whose numbers appeared on the list showed that 10 were targeted with Pegasus, seven of them successfully. Eight of the 12 inconclusive results involved Android phones, which do not

log the information needed for the method used to uncover infection. Sushant Singh, an Indian journalist whose phone number first appeared on the list in 2018, reported extensively on

a controversial purchase of fighter jets from France by the Modi government. Pegasus was active on Singh’s iPhone as recently as this month, a forensic analysis showed.

Vaidehi Dongre from Michigan crowned Miss India USA Tw e n t y - f i v e - y e a r - o l d Vaidehi Dongre from Michigan was crowned Miss India USA 2021 while Arshi Lalani from Georgia was declared the first runner up at the beauty pageant held over the weekend.

Dongre, 25, graduated from the University of Michigan, majoring in international studies. She works as a business development manager with a major corporation. “I want to leave a positive lasting impact on my community and focus on women’’s financial independence and literacy,” Vaidehi said. She also won the ‘’Miss Talented’’ award for her flawless performance of Indian classical dance Kathak. Lalani, 20, dazzled everyone with her performance and confidence and was declared the first runner up.

She suffers from brain tumour. North Carolina’’s Mira Kasari was declared the second runner up.

Diana Hayden, Miss World 1997, was the chief guest and chief judge for the pageant.

As many as 61 contestants from 30 states participated in three different pageants - Miss India USA, Mrs India USA and Miss Teen India USA. Winners of all three categories get complimentary tickets to travel to Mumbai to take part in worldwide pageants.

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INDIA

Saturday, July 24, 2021

‘India to have world’s first DNA vaccine’, here’s how the ZyCoV-D shot works These vaccines work by inserting a piece of the virus’s genetic information into the body to prompt cells to produce a key component of the virus which the immune system then recognises and attacks by producing antibodies Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya told Parliament that India is set to become the first country in the world to roll out a DNA vaccine against the novel coronavirus . Developed by the Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila, ZyCoV-D will be yet another homegrown addition to India’s vaccine arsenal.

How Soon Will The Vaccine Become Available?

Earlier this month, Zydus Cadila said it had sought emergency use authorisation from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for the world’s first plasmid DNA vaccine after preliminary results from Phase-

III clinical trials showed it had a 66.6 percent efficacy rate against the novel coronavirus . The New York Times said the company announced that “none of the vaccinated volunteers in the trial developed severe disease or died, making ZyCoV-D the first DNA-based vaccine shown to work against COVID-19 “.

The Phase III trials were conducted at 50 sites across the country and involved over 28,000 volunteers, the company said, adding that with the trial having been conducted during the peak of the second wave of COVID-19 in the country, it was confident about “the vaccine’s efficacy against the new mutant strains especially the delta variant”. Moreover, the vaccine was also trialled among children in the 12-18 years age group and was found to be safe.

Latest reports say that the drugs regulator has sought additional data from the company

and, once it is satisfactorily reviewed, could extend the nod for the release of ZyCoV-D in August. Once launched, it will become the second indigenously made vaccine after Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.

The company had said it plans to manufacture between 10-12 crore doses of its vaccine annually.

What Kind Of Vaccine Is ZyCoV-D? The Zydus Cadila shot belongs to a category known as genetic or nucleic acid vaccines.

These vaccines work by inserting a piece of the virus’s genetic information into the body to prompt cells to produce a key component of the virus which the immune system then recognises and attacks by producing antibodies. Genetic vaccines can be based both on RNA -- like the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA shots being used in the US -- or DNA.

According to US-bases think tank Milken Institute, “DNA-based vaccines work by inserting a genetically engineered blueprint of viral gene(s) into small DNA molecules (called plasmids) for injection into vaccinated people”.

Once inside the human body the “cells take in the DNA plasmids and follow their instructions to build viral proteins, which the immune system recognises as foreign, triggering the immune response that protects against the disease”.

While they have become the frontline vaccine against the novel coronavirus in many countries across the world, it is the first time that any genetic vaccines have been rolled out for human use. Gavi, a public–private global health partnership working on vaccine access for poorer countries, says that “several DNA vaccines are licenced for animal use, including a horse vaccine against West Nile virus”.

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INDIA

Saturday, July 24, 2021

Protests erupt in India’s parliament over Israeli spyware scandal India’s parliament erupted in protests on Tuesday as opposition lawmakers accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of using military-grade spyware to monitor political opponents, journalists and activists. The session was disrupted repeatedly as opposition lawmakers shouted slogans against Modi’s government and demanded an investigation into how the spyware, known as Pegasus, was used in India “This is a national security threat,”

an opposition Congress party official, Kapil Sibal, said at a news conference. The protests came after an investigation by a global media consortium was published on Sunday.

Based on leaked targeting data, the findings provided evidence that the spyware from Israel-based NSO Group, the world’s most infamous hacker-for-hire company, was used to allegedly infiltrate devices belonging to a range of targets, including journalists, activists and political opponents in 50 countries.

USA eases Covid-19 travel advisory for India, Pakistan

The U.S. State Department has lowered its COVID 19-related travel advisory for India to “Level 3 – Reconsider Travel,” the department said in a statement on Tuesday.

The advisory for Pakistan was similarly eased, it said.

The COVID-19 advisories were previously the highest Level 4, “Do not travel.” India’s daily coronavirus cases have fallen https:// www.reuters.com/world/india/india-govtsurvey-shows-two-thirds-have-coronavirusantibodies-2021-07-20 to four-month lows after a second wave that crippled the healthcare system. But experts have warned the authorities against swiftly reopening cities and voiced concerns about overcrowding

at tourist sites. The decision does not impact travel restrictions imposed in May that bar nearly all non-U.S. citizens from entering the United States who have been in India within the last 14 days.

Similar travel restrictions are in place for South Africa, China, Iran, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Ireland and 26 countries in Europe that allow travel across open borders.

Permanent U.S. residents and family members and some other non-U.S. citizens, such as students, are exempted.

The White House is holding a new round of high level meetings this week about the travel restrictions, sources told Reuters, but given no indication it plans to quickly lift them.

At least 900 converted by accused in 23 UP districts The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Monday claimed to have verified that a group led by two Delhi-based clerics now in police custody had illegally converted at least 900 people to Islam in 23 districts.

The two clerics — Umar Gautam and Mufti Qazi Jehangir Qasmi — are among nine people arrested for allegedly converting more than 1,000 people after luring them with offers of money, marriage, and jobs. Of the accused, three each are from

Maharashtra and Delhi, and one each is from Haryana, Jharkhand and Gujarat.

The ATS said verification was going on in four more districts. The list, with names of around 1,000 people, was prepared during the interrogation of the accused. The names were then sent to the 27 districts for verification.

“On the basis of the list, police verification is going on. Several districts have sent the report. Four districts have yet to submit it,” said ATS Inspector-General GK Goswamy.

Over 30 US organisations urge Biden to sanction India On 15 July, more than 30 interfaith organisations in the United States jointly passed a resolution urging the US Department of State to designate India as a country of “particular concern”.

The resolution claims that the Indian government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party is promoting policies adhering to the agenda of Hindutva and thus, in turn resulting in systemic violations of religious freedoms and persecution of religious minorities especially the Muslims. It also accuses the government of oppressing dissenting voices of human rights advocates and

“others speaking out against the violations”.

The resolution mentions the nationwide protests in response to Citizenship Amendment Act which led to violence in North East Delhi in early 2020, that largely targeted Muslims. It also talks about the constitutional right of religious freedom being limited by the recent anti-conversion laws passes by various state governments.

It claims that the government on one hand is curbing press freedoms through “harassment, physical force and other means” and using social media to spread disinformation.

As promised in press conference, pay rent for poor tenants: High Court tells Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal On 22 July, the Delhi High Court has directed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to pay the rent of poor tenants, as promised by him during a press conference. The Bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh noted that assurance/promise given by the chief minister is enforceable, both under the legal doctrines of promissory estoppel and legitimate expectations. While holding that the promises made by the chief minister are enforceable under law, the court directed the Delhi government to frame a policy to implement the promise of

paying rent of poor tenants. The court further stated that the said policy shall bear in mind the larger interest of the persons to whom the benefits were intended to be extended in CM’s statement, as well as other overriding public interest concerns. Calling the fulfillment of the CM’s promise a ‘solemn duty’ of the government, the court said: The petitioners were relying upon the chief minister’s press conference dated 29 March 2020, wherein he had requested all landlords to postpone the demand/collection of rent from those tenants who are poor and poverty stricken.

Leaked snoop list suggests surveillance may have played role in toppling of Karnataka govt in 2019 In the run up to the toppling of the opposition-run state government in Karnataka in July 2019, the phone numbers of deputy chief minister G. Parameshwara and the personal secretaries of chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and former chief minister Siddaramaiah were selected as possible targets for surveillance, according to The Wire’s review of records of numbers that were of interest to an Indian client of Israel’s NSO group.

The numbers form part of a leaked database accessed by the French media non-

profit Forbidden Stories and shared with an international media consortium as part of what is called the Pegasus Project. NSO sells its Pegasus spyware – whose use involves the crime of hacking into a smartphone under Indian law – only to governments.

Neither NSO nor the Modi government has denied that India is a customer.

The records indicate that the phone numbers of some of the key political players in Karnataka appear to have been selected around the time when an intense power struggle

Melbourne couple jailed for keeping Indian woman as slave for eight years A woman who has shown no remorse, regret exploited a vulnerable person for which you or sorrow for holding another woman captive should be ashamed ... I am quite convinced as a slave for eight years in Melbourne has been that you both believe you did nothing wrong.” sentenced to a jail term of the same length.

The victim came to Australia twice to live with Kumuthini Kannan was found to be the Kannans in 2002 and 2004 before returning more morally culpable than her husband, again on a one-month tourist visa in 2007.

Kandasamy Kannan, who was described in The woman left school before the end of court as being susceptible to a her first year degree of domination by his wife of formal and having a weak character. education at The pair was convicted age six. She of enslaving a vulnerable worked in Tamil woman from India in fields from their Mount Waverley home the age of between 2007 and 2015.

12, took on Kumuthini Kannan, 53, menial work must serve at least four years on building of her eight-year maximum sites and sentence while Kandasamy later moved Kannan, 57, must serve at least into cooking. three years of his six-year term.

S h e “No one has expressed married and any sense of regret or sorrow four Khandasamy (left) and Kumuthini Kannan had – it’s a fairly remarkable have been jailed for keeping a Tamil woman as children but absence of humanity,” Justice was widowed slave for eight years.

John Champion told the young and Victoria supreme court on Wednesday. left to raise her family alone. Her life in The couple persistently failed to come India was dominated by financial struggle to grips with the reality of their situation and deprived circumstances, the judge said. including not arranging care for their three Despite desperate pleas to be allowed special needs children, the court heard. to return to her family, the woman was “Your primary focus seems to have been on forced from 2007 to work up to 23 hours yourselves,” the judge said. “You both grossly a day caring for the couple’s children,

21

Saturday, July 24, 2021

Punjab Capt Amarinder’s ‘chai pe charcha’ with leaders before Navjot Singh Sidhu’s installation ceremony In indications of a truce between Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu, the former will host a tea party for all party leaders, including MLAs, before the installation ceremony of the latter as the PCC Chief, here on Friday.

Newly appointed Congress working presidents, Kuljit Nagra and Sangat Gilzian met Capt Amarinder Singh at about 3

p.m and handed over the invite to him for attending the installation ceremony.

At least 58 MLAs, besides Navjot Singh Sidhu have signed the request letter.

Soon after, Raveen Thurkal, the media advisor to the CM tweeted informing about the tea party being hosted by Capt Amarinder before heading to the installation ceremony. ``Punjab @capt_amarinder has invited all @INCPunjab MLAs, MPs and senior party

Security beefed up at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar as farmers begin protest Following the call of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), farmer leaders on Thursday staged a protest against the three central farm laws.

As many as 200 protesting farmers from various organisations led by union leaders, including Hanan Molla, Rakesh Tikait, Yogendra Yadav, Manjeet Singh

Rai, Ruldu Singh Mansa and Shiv Kumar ‘Kakka’, reached Jantar Mantar in five buses.

Farmers of various organisations from Punjab, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and other states have also moved towards Delhi.

Rakesh Tikait, SKM leader, reiterated that the protests would be peaceful and they would

Attack on journalist condemnable - CM Even as he condemned the alleged attack on a journalist at the farmers’ protest site at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday demanded immediate resignation of Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi for dubbing the farmers as ‘hooligans’.

Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader for using derogatory language for the farmers, who have been peacefully agitating against the central Farm Laws for the past

nearly eight months, the Chief Minister said it reflected the party’s anti-farmer mindset.

Given the ruling party’s brazen attempts to stifle all voices of dissent and protest, the fact that it had failed to break the spirit of the farmers was clearly rankling, said Captain Amarinder, lambasting the NDA government for its continued efforts to suppress every single voice that dares to speak against them, as in the latest instance of the IT

Pakistan PM Khan trolled for blunder after blunder in Uzbekistan Prime Minister Imran Khan came under the brunt of heavy trolling during the Central-South Asia conference in Uzbekistan after he committed a series of blunders from claiming to know more about the history of Uzbekistan than Uzbek people, to his alleged refusal to shake EAM Jaishankar’s hand at the conference.

Imran Khan refuses to shake hands

with EAM Jaishankar On Friday, Tashkent held a ‘Central and South Asia 2021: Regional Connectivity Challenges and Opportunities,’ conference which was attended by the leaders of several countries including India and Pakistan. After the conference, several reports in the Pakistan media claimed that Imran Khan had refused to shake the hands of India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Maryam Sharif and Jemima Goldsmith Twitter fight after PM Khan’s remark about Nawaz Sharif Nawaz League’s vice-president Maryam Nawaz and PM Imran Khan’s British bron, former wife Jemima Goldsmith engaged in Twitter battle.

The controversy started when Imran Khan took a shot at former prime minister Nawaz Sharif attending his grandson Junaid’s polo match in the UK while he was there in 2019 for medical treatment.

Responding to Imran Khan’s remarks

about her son, Maryam Sharif in a rally in PoK said that Khan’s children were being “raised in the lap of Jews”.

“My kids are “being raised in the lap of the Jews,” announced Maryam Sharif today.” She went on to add, “I left Pakistan in 2004 after a decade of anti-semitic attacks by the media and politicians (weekly death threats and protests outside my house). But still, it continues,” she tweeted.

Rain-related incidents kills 14 people, injures 26 others in Pakistan At least 14 people were killed, and 26 others injured in rain-related incidents in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in the last 24 hours, officials said on Thursday.

The Provincial Disasters Management Authority (PDMA) said that incessant monsoon rain stuck various parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and inundated low-lying areas in the province’s

Dera Ismail Khan, Hazara and Malakand divisions and resulted in the complete damage to four houses and partial damage to 21 others.

“Houses were damaged due to the continuous monsoon rain that struck Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, resulting in the death of 14 people and injuries to 26 others in the last one day,” a senior official from the PDMA said.

Daughter of Afghan envoy kidnapped and tortured The daughter of Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan was briefly kidnapped and injured by unknown assailants, officials say.

Silsila Alikhil was seized on her way home in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Friday and held for several hours.

Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said she was

“severelytortured”.Lateritsaidseniordiplomats including the ambassador had been recalled.

Relations between the two neighbours have long been strained.

Pakistani officials said Silsila Alikhil, who is in her 20s, was assaulted by assailants who got into a car she was travelling in and beat her up.

FIJI 7-day average of new Covid-19 cases per day is worrying 1207 cases per million population per day The 7-day average of new COVID-19 cases per day is a worrying 1068 cases per day or 1207 cases per million population per day.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says with the high number of new daily cases we are also seeing increasing cases of severe disease and deaths.

A total of 239,996 samples have been tested since this outbreak started in April 2021, with 282,857 tested since testing began in March 2020.

The national 7-day average daily test positivity is 29.7%.

Doctor Fong also says people in the Suva-

Fiji’s worsening COVID-19 Delta outbreak claims the lives of two pregnant women Two pregnant woman have died from COVID-19 in Fiji as part of a worsening outbreak over the last week. The country’s Health Secretary James Fong said the women presented to hospital in a serious condition.

“Both women had been unwell at home with COVID symptoms before presenting to health facilities in severe respiratory distress,” he said.

Doctors then made the decision to perform emergency surgery.

Emergency caesarean sections were performed to rescue the babies and assist with the care of the mothers.

“Sadly, despite the best efforts of the attending physicians, both mothers passed away,” he said.

“However, the fast actions of the obstetrics team saved both babies.”

Covid-19 positive cases back to four digits in Fiji The government also confirmed 12 more deaths between 13 and 19 July, taking the death toll to 125 with 123 of these from the latest outbreak that began in April.

Health Secretary James Fong said seven of the 12 victims had died at home, with one patient receiving one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The rest were unvaccinated.

There are now nearly 15,000 active cases in isolation. * A 70-year-old woman from Tamavua in Suva presented to the Colonial War Memorial

Hospital in severe respiratory distress.

Her family reported that she was feeling unwell with Covid-19 symptoms at home four days earlier. Her condition worsened at the hospital and she died on 14 July. * A 53-year-old woman from Nasinu, outside the capital Suva presented to the CWM Hospital in severe respiratory distress.

Her family reported that she was unwell with a fever and cough for a week prior. She died on the same day in hospital on 13 July.

22

INDIA

Saturday, July 24, 2021

Shilpa’s husband Raj Kundra became wealthy by producting and selling porn films Raj Kundra landed in troubled waters when he was arrested by the Mumbai Police on Monday. On Tuesday, the entrepreneur was present in court and sent to judicial custody until 23 July. Several details of Raj Kundra and his businesses have emerged since he was arrested in an adult film racket. He is accused of distributing pornographic films via subscriptionbased apps under several production houses.

One such production house is Armsprime Media which seems to be the center of this controversy along with a couple of other production houses. According to an IANS report, Armsprime Media is a registered company with an authorised share capital of Rs 10 lakh. The company has two directors, Sanjay Kumar Tripathy and Saurabh Kushwah.

Armsprime Media is reportedly involved in several activities but has now

come under the scanner of the Mumbai Police for creating and distributing adult films. This also led to Raj Kundra’s arrest.

Raj Kundra, on the other hand, has been listed as a director in as many as nine companies.

One of them is wife Shilpa Shetty’s Shilpa Yog Private Limited. The other companies where Kundra is listed as a director include Cinemation Media Works, Bastian Hospitality, Kundra Constructions, J.L. Stream, Aqua Energy Beverages, Viaan Industries, Whole and Them Some Private Limited and Clearcom Private Media.

Both Kundra and Shetty were directors in Kundra Constructions but the company has now been struck off the rolls. Shilpa Shetty is listed as a director in as many as 23 companies.

She has been director of some companies in the past, which have been struck off the rolls now.

Categorically stand by findings of Pegasus Project: Amnesty International Amnesty International on Thursday said it “categorically stands” by the findings of the Pegasus Project and asserted that the data is irrefutably linked to potential targets of NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. The comments

by Amnesty International came after some media reports quoting a few Israreli journalists said that the human rights group has claimed that it never said that the recently leaked phone numbers was specifically a list of numbers targeted by Pegasus spyware.

Amnesty claimed that the “false rumours” being pushed on social

media are intended to distract from the widespread unlawful targeting of journalists, activists and others that the Pegasus Project has revealed.

“Amnesty International categorically stands by the findings of the Pegasus Project, and that the data is irrefutably linked to potential targets of NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. The false rumours being pushed on social media are intended to distract from the widespread unlawful targeting of journalists, activists and others that the Pegasus Project has revealed,” Amnesty International said in a statement.

Indian tax officials raid newspaper that took on Narendra Modi over the pandemic Tax authorities in India raided several offices of one of the world’s biggestselling newspapers on Thursday, a move journalists and leading opposition politicians described as an attack on press freedom.

The newspaper, Dainik Bhaskar, said that tax inspectors visited its offices in the capital New Delhi and the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan in the early morning.

The paper shocked India with its reporting of dead bodies in the river Ganges during the brutal second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic this spring. It criticized authorities for underreporting Covid-19 deaths and challenged state officials and the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over their handling of the crisis.

“The government has clamped down on the group that represented an accurate picture

of what happened to the country during the second wave of Covid-19,” the paper wrote in a report on the tax raid published Thursday on the homepage of its Hindi edition.

The 63-year-old company also publishes newspapers in Gujarati and Marathi languages.

In its report, the paper added that tax officials also raided the homes of several Dainik Bhaskar employees, and seized the phones of those who were present in its offices.

“The government is doing its job, and we are doing our job,” Om Gaur, the national editor at Dainik Bhaskar told CNN Business. “The truth is always bitter, but we crosscheck all our facts before publishing,” In May, Gaur had led the paper’s coverage of corpses floating in the Ganges, as the official death toll from Covid-19 began crossing 4,000 a day.

23 Saturday, July 24, 2021

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