www.theasianstar.com Vol 20 - Issue 20
Saturday, June 19, 2021
Indian-origin journalist wins Pulitzer Prize for expose on China’s Muslim detention camps Megha Rajagopalan, an Indian-origin journalist, along with two contributors has won the Pulitzer Prize for innovative investigative reports that exposed a vast infrastructure of prisons and mass internment camps secretly built by China for detaining hundreds of thousands of Muslims in its restive Xinjiang region. Ms. Rajagopalan from BuzzFeed News is among two Indian-origin journalists who won the U.S.’ top journalism award on Friday. Tampa Bay Times’ Neil Bedi won for local reporting. Ms. Bedi Continued on page 6
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BC public health officials to manage Covid-19 differently in future The future of COVID-19 could look a lot like seasonal flus or other common illnesses like measles or pneumonia, British Columbia’s deputy provincial health officer says. Dr. Reka Gustafson said it’s hard to speculate on the longevity of COVID-19 but public
health officials are preparing for a shift to more typical communicable disease management based on the characteristics and behaviour of the virus. “We certainly wouldn’t be surprised if this virus turns into one of the circulating coronaviruses Continued on page 6
Tories to force House of Commons vote on motion to censure the defence minister Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole says his party will force the House of Commons to vote on a motion targeting Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan. Sajjan has been under heavy criticism since former military ombudsman Gary Walbourne revealed that he first flagged an allegation of sexual misconduct involving thendefence chief Jonathan Vance to the minister
in March 2018. While Sajjan and the Liberal government say he followed all proper procedures, O’Toole says the minister has consistently failed victims of sexual misconduct in the military. O’Toole alleges Sajjan has also misled Canadians about his military service and the need to buy second-hand fighter jets from Australia, and oversaw the Continued on page 13
Elections BC approves application for referendum on Surrey policing transition Surrey residents will have their say on a binding referendum on Surrey’s controversial policing transition after Elections BC has approved an initiative petition application that has been launched by the widow of a Surrey murder victim.Darlene Bennett, whose husband Paul Bennett was shot dead in front of their home in Cloverdale in 2018 in what police believe was a case of mistaken identity, must collect the signatures of at least 10 per cent Continued on page 7
Canada should speed up vaccine rollout to stop Covid-19 Delta variant Canada is on the cusp of hitting its first national vaccination target, but chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says the Delta variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 might mean the country has to up its vaccine game again. Federal modelling done in April and May suggested that if 75 per cent of eligible Canadians — those 12 years old and above — had at least one dose of a
Microsoft names Indian origin CEO Satya Nadella as chairman Microsoft Corp on Wednesday named Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella as its new chairman, in place of John Thompson. Nadella, who took over as CEO in 2014 from Steve Ballmer, has been instrumental in scaling up its business including billion-dollar acquisitions like LinkedIn, Nuance Communications and ZeniMax. The company said Thompson, who took over as chairman from the software giant’s co-founder Bill Gates in 2014, will serve as lead independent director. The top-level executive change comes just over a year after Gates stepped down
from the board, saying he would focus on philanthropic works of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the world’s biggest charities. The company had last month said it conducted a probe into Gates’ involvement with an employee almost 20 years ago after it was told in 2019 that he had tried to start a romantic relationship with the person. Microsoft had declined to comment on whether its board had decided Gates should go. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of 56 cents per share payable Sept. 9.
COVID-19 vaccine, and 20 per cent had two, provinces could safely begin easing restrictions on public movement without overwhelming hospitals again. When 75 per cent of eligible people are fully vaccinated, the modelling suggested personal measures like physical distancing and wearing masks could also begin to loosen.