The Asian Star September 25 2021

www.theasianstar.com Vol 20 - Issue 33

Two men shot in Surrey, one of them already targeted, police say Two men were taken to hospital after being shot in Surrey‘s Newton neighbourhood early Thursday morning.

Surrey RCMP said it happened around 5 a.m. in the 8800-block of 104B Street. The victims were taken to hospital with nonlife threatening injuries, Surrey RCMP Cpl. Vanessa Munn said. “One of them is a 23-year-old male who was previously shot in an incident in July. He is known to police and we are currently exploring possible motives,” she said. The earlier shooting occurred in a driveway at the same home, according to police.

Mounties believe the shooting was targeted, and have not ruled out a connection to the ongoing Lower Mainland gang conflict.

“Anytime there’s a shooting in public, it places the members of our community at risk,” Munn said.

Ontario Police charge South Asian couple over $11M COVID-19 theft

Saturday, September 25, 2021

Tel:604-591-5423

Liberals set to form minority govt after election win Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government was reelected for a third term in Monday’s parliamentary elections, but preliminary results show it failed to win a majority. Why it matters: Trudeau has governed

Canada with a minority of legislative support in parliament for the past two years. Last month, he called for an election two years earlier than scheduled in the hope of forming a majority government. The Liberal Party Continued on page 8

Trudeau humbled, but O’Toole the big loser The Liberals didn’t get their majority, but billed as the guy to deliver Ontario to the Conservatives the knives are already out for O’Toole. Much ado about nothing? #Elxn44 was like 2019 all over again with the Liberals holding on to a minority. There’s still much to pick through. Most political observers looking at Monday night’s election results came away

thinking it was all for naught. The final seat count would seem to support that thesis. The Liberals (158), Conservatives (119), NDP (25) and Bloc (34) ended up where they started before the election, give or take a handful of seats. But it was Conservative party leader Erin O’Toole who was the big loser on the night. The Trudeau Liberals didn’t get their majority.

Minor House shakeup sees more than 40 new faces preparing to enter in Parliament The 2021 election results saw at least 44 fresh faces ready or projected to enter Parliament, including new Indigenous, women, and racialized candidates, according to preliminary results from Elections Canada. Overall, the election’s results did not change the makeup

of the House by much. The Liberals and NDP both gained a total of one seat, the Conservatives lost two, the Bloc Québécois gained two seats, and the Greens lost one. Of the 16 seats that flipped parties, Continued on page 3

15-year-old girl kidnapped & gang-raped for 9 months in India A 15-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped multiple times at different places in Thane district of Maharashtra over the last eight months, and police have arrested 24 persons

Ontario Provincial Police have charged a married couple linked to the alleged theft of $11 million in provincial COVID-19 relief funds. Sanjay and Shalini Madan face money laundering and possession of stolen property charges. They appeared in a Toronto bail court on Sunday. Sanjay has been remanded in custody until a hearing Wednesday while Shalini was released.

Police charged Sanjay Madan, 56, with two counts of fraud and two counts of breach of trust. He and Shalini Madan, 52, were also charged with laundering Continued on page 6

Parm Bains elected from Richmond is among 24 South Asians to Canada’s parliament Former BC Liberal govt spoksperson, Parm Bains beat one-term Conservative MP Kenny Chiu. Parm Bains has been declared the winner for Steveston-Richmond East.

Bains will be part of a federal Liberal minority government. Bains is among 24 South Asians who have beene elected in Canadian parliament, last week, this include 14 South Asian Liberals in Ontaria; 7 in BC (6 Liberals, 1 NDP); 3 in Alberata( 2 Conservatives, 1 Libral) and 1 Liberal MP elected in Quebec. Seat projections across Continued on page 7

and detained two minors in this connection so far, a senior official said on Thursday.

Continued on page 20

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Saturday, September 25, 2021

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Saturday, September 25, 2021

People’s Party leader Maxime Bernier has Twitter account frozen after targeting journalists After Maxime Bernier sent out the contact info of journalists and told his followers to “play dirty,” the information was reposted by white nationalists and the journalists were set upon by 4chan trolls.

The leader of a fringe far-right party in Canada had his Twitter privileges temporarily revoked after he directed his followers to harass specific journalists asking questions about his party.

Since getting 5 percent of the popular vote (but losing everywhere they ran) the People’s Party of Canada has been

receiving requests for comment regarding his supporters, a hot topic of discussion following Monday’s federal election. Instead of putting together a response or ignoring it all together, Maxime Bernier, the party’s leader, and his communication team decided to screenshot the requests, post them on Twitter, and sic his followers on the journalists.

“If you want to write to these idiots to tell them what you think of their disgusting smear jobs, here are their email addresses,” he wrote in one of his posts listing three emails. “They want to play dirty, we will play dirty too.”

Covid-19 school exposures starting to mount in BC There were 878 cases of COVID-19 reported in those aged 17 and under from Sept. 9 to 15, of whom four were hospitalized. BC School COVID-19 Tracker is a Facebook page that was set up last school year by Richmond mother Kathy Marliss and includes data based on exposure and case information submitted by teachers, parents

and administrators. The page was created because the provincial government wasn’t providing that data in a collated manner last school year and, until earlier this week, wasn’t going to release any exposure notices to parents at all this school year — only notices if there had been COVID spread at a school (a cluster or outbreak).

Five more deaths, 832 new cases in BC amid surge in Fraser Health British Columbia reported 832 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, along with five additional deaths according to the Ministry of Health.

The update brought the seven-day rolling average for new cases to 658.

According to the dashboard, a whopping 377 of the new cases were in the Fraser Health region.

One-hundred and fourteen were in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 153 were in the Interior Health region, 117 were in the Northern Health region and 71 were on Vancouver Island.The number of active cases climbed to 5,697.

There were 330 people in hospital, an overnight increase of six, and 148 people in critical or intensive care, and overnight decrease of nine.

More than 4.04 million British Columbians, accounting for 87.3 per cent of those eligible and 78.6 per cent of B.C.’s entire population, has had at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

Of them, more than 3.7 million people, accounting for 79.9 per cent of those eligible and 71.9 per cent of B.C.’s population, have had two doses.

Since the start of the pandemic, B.C. has reported 181,798 cases, while 1,915 people have died.

From pg 1

More than 40 new faces to enter in Parliament seven were previously held by Liberals, four by Conservatives, two by Independents, two by the Greens, and one by the NDP. Of those seats, six were won or were leading in tight races by Conservatives, three by Liberals, and one each by the NDP and Greens. The seats that were projected to flip were Coast of Bays-Central-Notre Dame and St. John’s East in Newfoundland and Labrador; Cumberland-Colchester and South Shore–St. Margarets in Nova Scotia; Peterborough-Kawartha, Aurora– Oak Ridges–Richmond Hill, Kitchener Centre, Hastings-Lennox and Addington, King-Vaughan and Hamilton Mountain in Ontario; Edmonton Griesbach and Calgary Skyview in Alberta; and Vancouver Granville, Port Moody–Coquitlam, and Nanaimo–Ladysmith in B.C. Three Liberal cabinet ministers— Maryam Monsef, Bernadette Jordan, and Deb Schulte—lost their seats in this election. The Hill Times photographs

by Andrew Meade A total of six seats that didn’t have incumbents—out of 34 ridings—flipped this election. These included St. John’s East, N.L., where New Democrat Jack Harris decided not to run in June; Kitchener Centre, Ont., where Liberal Raj Saini dropped out mid-campaign after allegations that he harassed female staffers; Miramichi-Grand Lake, N.B., where Liberal MP Pat Finnigan announced in June that he would retire; Hastings-Lennox and Addington, Ont., which Conservativeturned-Independent Derek Sloan left behind to try his luck at winning a seat in Alberta; Vancouver Granville, B.C, where Independent MP Jody Wilson-Raybould announced in July 2021 that she would not seek re-election due to Parliament Hill becoming “toxic and ineffective”; and Hamilton Mountain, Ont., where the NDP’s Scott Duvall announced in March he would not seek re-election. Based on preliminary results from Elections Canada, a total of three Liberal cabinet ministers were unable to hold on to their seats. Bernadette Jordan (South ShoreSt. Margarets, N.S.), minister of fisheries, oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard, lost to Conservative Rick Perkins, winning just 37 per cent of the vote to his 41 per cent.

Mr. Perkins was also on the ballot in 2019, where he lost to Ms. Jordan by more than 7,000 votes. Deb Schulte (King-Vaughan, Ont.), seniors minister, won just 43 per cent of the vote to Conservative Anna Roberts’ 45 per cent. Ms. Schulte, who was first elected in 2019, faced Ms. Roberts in 2019, beating her by 1,100 votes. And Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development Minister Maryam Monsef (Peterborough-Kawartha, Ont.)

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OPINION

By Alexandre Massaux Research associate Frontier Centre for Public Policy

Saturday, September 25, 2021

COVID-19 has driven governments into debt trap

The financial consequences of COVID-19 and the shutdown of economies are difficult to evaluate. But some of those consequences have begun to appear and could hinder economic recovery. Inflation is one of these harmful consequences. In the United States,

consumer prices jumped 4.2 per cent in the 12 months through to April, up from 2.6 per cent in March, marking a considerable increase since September 2008. The same trend is happening in Canada, where inflation rose to 3.4 per cent in April, up from 2.2 per cent in March, the highest

level since May 2011. Inflation can occur when the money supply increases faster than economic growth. For economist Milton Friedman, “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon in the sense that it is and can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output.”

When a central bank prints too much money, that money loses its value. In some countries, profound effects are already present: in Turkey, food inflation jumped by more than 20 per cent in a year after its central bank’s bondbuying program drove its currency to record lows. Similar situations have occurred in Latin American countries like Argentina.

These situations can lead to hyperinflation – high and accelerating inflation. One of the recent and the most famous instances occurred in Venezuelan. In the face of economic difficulties, the government chose to print more money.

This contributed to hyperinflation. The same phenomenon happened in Zimbabwe in the early 2000s. In both countries, the strategy to print money was linked to high governments debt. The need to repay that debt and the mismanagement of national finances can be blamed.

This situation hasn’t occurred in Western countries during the pandemic because their economies were more robust before the crisis.

But even if hyperinflation isn’t a concern for those nations, its appearance elsewhere shows the danger of manipulating the money supply.

And even minor inflation can hinder economic recovery. In Canada, according to Equifax, per capita consumer debt declined amid reduced spending activity. If the overall consumer debt has risen due to mortgage balances, household indebtedness fell due to the COVID-19 crisis.

In September 2020, Statistic Canada reported a 10.8 per cent increase in household disposable income. This increase, coupled with a 13.7 per cent decline in household spending (in nominal terms), pushed the household saving rate to 28.2 per cent from 7.6 per cent in the previous quarter and 3.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019.

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LOCAL

Saturday, September 25, 2021

BC man who killed stranger on bus finishes prison sentence and arrested again Within months of finishing a prison sentence for the fatal and unprovoked 2014 stabbing of a Kelowna man, Tyler Jack Newton has again been accused of breaking the law. According to court documents, on July 21 Newton allegedly was driving dangerously in West Kelowna and attempted to evade RCMP when they were in pursuit. He’s not in custody but scheduled to stand trial on two charges relating to that incident on March 10, 2022.

Six months earlier Newton completed four years and six months of prison time for the manslaughter death of Caesar Rosales, though parole documents indicate he had been far from an ideal prisoner since June 2016, when he started his sentence. In a parole document dated Oct. 19, 2020, Newton is described as having “anti-authority and pro-criminal attitudes and values” and was deemed a risk of reoffending.

Newton’s criminal history is described on file as “appalling,” the parole board wrote, adding it was “reflective of someone with serious drug convictions.” His criminal record includes the dangerous operation of a vehicle, breach, and drug convictions from before he killed Rosales,

and Kelowna RCMP already considered him a “prolific offender.” Since then, Newton completed his sentence. He’s “violated probation and bail conditions, gone Absent Without Leave and reoffended” when on conditions, the board said. “You continue to engage in high-risk and risk-relevant behaviour while supervised.

You have a significant court history and have demonstrated a consistent disregard for the law. Because of this, you have proven unreliable and unpredictable when in the community,” the parole board told Newton at that time.

“In addition, the Board finds that given the nature and gravity of your index offence, you have also shown a willingness to use weapons.

You are assessed as a high risk and high needs offender and have not mitigated that risk despite having had the benefit of programming.”

Rosales was commuting home on Kelowna’s No. 8 bus on Oct. 30, 2014, after finishing his shift at KF Aerospace. Newton, also on the bus, was in a drug-fuelled psychosis, according to parole documents, when he stabbed Rosales in the neck and ran away.

Chilliwack elementary school temporarily closes to in-person learning amid outbreak An elementary school in Chilliwack is taking break from in-person learning following a COVID-19 outbreak.

The Chilliwack School District said in a statement Wednesday that Promontory Heights Elementary will move to remote learning starting Thursday through the end of next week.

The district said it expects the school will resume in-person instruction on Oct. 4.

A note from Fraser Health said an outbreak was declared at the school on Wednesday.

“Out of caution, our Fraser Health officer and their team have determined that we break from in-person learning in

an effort to put a stop to the current spread of the virus,” the statement said.

B.C.’s top doctor said Tuesday that the province is reversing course on notifying parents about COVID-19 exposures at schools after she previously said reporting of single cases caused too much anxiety.

Dr. Bonnie Henry said on Tuesday that parents and teachers from across the province have let it be known they need to be informed about the transmission of the virus and that a new system is expected to be in place by the end of the week.

Three defeated Trudeau cabinet ministers miss out on pensions That’s how close three defeated Liberal cabinet ministers were to qualifying for lifetime pensions afforded to MPs with at least six years of service.

Gender Equality Minister Maryam Monsef (Peterborough-Kawartha,) Seniors Minister Deb Schulte (King-Vaughan) and Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan (South Shore-St. Margarets) were all turfed by voters in their ridings on Monday.

Under the Members of Parliament Retiring

Allowances Act of 1985, all MPs are entitled to lifetime pensions upon reaching the age of 65 — with final values calculated as a percentage of their salary, which for entry-level MPs is $185,800 per year. That base salary goes up when MPs are paid extra for being cabinet ministers, parliamentary secretaries and committee chairs. But if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had called the election on Oct. 19, instead of Monday, the three former cabinet ministers would have found themselves

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British Columbia looking at rules to ban protests on school and hospital grounds B.C. Premier John Horgan says his government is looking to follow Quebec’s lead and put in rules banning protests at hospitals, schools and COVID-19 vaccination or testing sites. Horgan says attorney general David Eby and solicitor general Mike Farnworth are currently working on legislation or perhaps policy changes to existing regulations to protect workers and those that are accessing essential services. This comes after protests last week in Salmon Arm where people barged into a school to protest a vaccination clinic. Health care workers have also been verbally harassed and were blocked from doing their jobs during protests on Sept. 1 by people concerned about the province’s vaccination rules.

Click to play video: ‘B.C. premier on urgent need for health-care funding from Ottawa, moving shared priorities forward’ 2:59 B.C. premier on urgent need for healthcare funding from Ottawa, moving shared

priorities forward B.C. premier on urgent need for health-care funding from Ottawa, moving shared priorities forward “I think all BCers are perplexed that people who have a different point of view, a minority view, would choose to disrupt children in education settings or patients in health care settings to get their point across. I’m hopeful that we’ve seen the last of that type of behaviour,” Horgan said.

“We want to ensure that that doesn’t happen again. It is something that we don’t do lightly but we do, in the interests of the vast majority of BCers who want to know that they can go about their business free from intolerance from a select few.”

The Quebec bill, if passed, would stop protests within 50 metres of schools, daycares, hospitals, clinics, COVID-19 vaccination sit

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Saturday, September 25, 2021 From page 1

Ontario Police charge South Asian couple over $11M COVID-19 theft

proceeds of crime and possession of stolen property. Defence lawyer Stephen Hebscher said the couple was arrested on Saturday. The charges came after a yearlong investigation by seven detectives from the OPP’s anti-rackets squad. mWhile the Madans and their adult sons, Chinmaya and Ujjawal, have been in

civil court since last fall, police did not charge their children. In Ontario Superior Court filings, the province alleges that “some or all of ” the Madans and associate, Vidhan Singh, funneled millions to thousands to TD, Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Tangerine, and India’s ICICI accounts in spring 2020.

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Saturday, September 25, 2021

Liberals Parm Bains wins Steveston-Richmond East riding From page 1 while the Conservatives appear to have won 122 seats. Bains said the voters in Steveston-Richmond East sent an “extremely clear” message that they want a representative “who will work for everyone and be inclusive of everyone.” “That’s who I am – that’s the message that came through, they want someone who’s local (and) who’s going to really work for the needs of the community,” Bains said.

While Richmond Centre has been held

by Alice Wong for four terms – most likely losing it to the Liberal Wilson Miao this time – Steveston-Richmond East was a Liberal riding before Chiu won in 2019.

Chiu, however, told the Richmond News that he’s been told there are still thousands of ballots that were cast in the advance polls as well as 3,000 mail-in ballots that haven’t been counted.

He is waiting for the final numbers before he makes any kind of announcement regarding the election result in StevestonRichmond East.

With 186 out of 188 election day polls counted, Bains received 14,936 votes (42.8 per cent) while Chiu had 11,599 votes (33.2 per cent).

The NDP’s Jack Trovato had 6,694 votes (19.2 per cent).

As part of a minority government, Bains said it will be necessary to determine the party’s next course of action when they get to Ottawa. Bains said his top priorities in Ottawa will continue to be what he’s been talking about during the campaign, that is, housing, the “missing middle” – housing for middle classes – and the future of young professionals in Richmond.

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Liberals set to form minority govt after election win

needed to win 170 seats in the 338-seat House of Commons to form a majority government.

Preliminary figures at 3a.m. ET showed the party had won 158 seats, with over 97% of polling stations reporting. Background: The Liberal Party was ahead in the polls and Trudeau was banking on Canadian voters rewarding his government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic when he called the snap election.

But the Liberals later lost ground in the polls to hold a slim lead over Erin O’Toole’s Conservative Party. This was reflected in Monday’s election, with initial results showing the Conservatives were set to win 119 seats.

O’Toole conceded defeat as it became clear the

Liberals had won.

What they’re saying: Trudeau acknowledged in a speech from Montreal early on Tuesday the unpopularity of his decision to call an early election.

“I hear you when you say you want to get back to the things you love, not to worry about the pandemic or the election,” he said.

But Trudeau said that voters were sending the government “back to work with a clear mandate to get Canada through this pandemic and to the brighter days ahead.”

“What we’ve seen tonight is that millions of Canadians have chosen a progressive plan,” he added.

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Saturday, September 25, 2021

4th wave of COVID-19 hitting formerly unhoused people hard in provincial capital, says non-profit The province provided housing when the pandemic hit. Now the delta variant has moved in too. When COVID-19 struck British Columbia in the spring of 2020, concerns about it tearing through the homeless population motivated the province to purchase hotels and move unsheltered people indoors.

Now, a Victoria non-profit society providing services in these congregate settings says the delta variant has moved indoors too — making life difficult for people living in these places and the people trying to help them.

The Victoria Cool Aid Society provides medical and food support for people living in temporary supportive housing. Mary Chudley,

director of health and support services, says while the vaccine does offer a layer of support for staff and clients that people did not have in 2020, overcoming vaccine hesitancy has been a challenge. “We’re working really closely with public health these days to do outreach,” said Chudley. She said a public health nurse has been going to visit people with an outreach worker from the society to try to have a familiar face available to field questions and encourage vaccinations. For privacy reasons, Chudley did not say how many people receiving society supports are currently infected, but did say cases have risen over the last couple weeks, that there are clusters among this demographic and that the cases are spread out among more than

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Saturday, September 25, 2021

Liberals John Aldag wins back Cloverdale-Langley after losing in 2019 Liberal John Aldag won back his seat in Cloverdale-Langley City in the 2021 federal election.

Surrey didn’t see much change to their ridings Monday night, except for one. Cloverdale-Langley City was flipped from Conservative to Liberal. John Aldag was able to win back the seat after losing it to Tamara Jansen in 2019. “She served the community, pursuing the things that she felt were important to her,” Aldag said of Jansen. “I commend her for having served. She embraced the position.” He

said it’s a “humbling experience” to be selected to represent his community in Ottawa. Asked his thoughts on being the only riding to flip in Surrey, he said he was pleased. “I had hoped that South Surrey-White Rock would be able to flip and get Gordie Hogg back with us, but I’m happy to be there,” Aldag said.

Hogg, a longtime politician and Liberal, lost to Conservative incumbent KerryLynne Findlay.

Massive wildfire causes $77 million in insurance damage in BC A wildfire that began on Aug. 2 in British Columbia and grew to more than 833 square kilometres is now estimated to have caused $77 million in insurance damage.

The cost estimate from the Insurance Bureau of Canada says the so-called White Rock Lake fire destroyed 78 properties in the Central Okanagan. Everything you need to know about wildfire season in Canada The bureau says the fire was one of the most destructive blazes in the province this year and they are expecting more than 800 claims related to the disaster.

Aaron Sutherland, vice-president of

Canada’s Western region at the bureau, says the growing frequency and severity of wildfires are costing more for both insurers and taxpayers.

The damage toll is comparable to the wildfire that destroyed much of Lytton, B.C., in June, causing about $78 million in insured property damage.

Saturday, September 25, 2021

BC Nurses’ Union president resigns abruptly amid mandatory vaccine debate In a sudden move amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the president of the BC Nurses’ Union (BCNU) has resigned.

The update, buried on the union’s website late on election night, said president Christine Sorensen was stepping down “for personal reasons” and her desire “to pursue other opportunities.”

On Tuesday, the BCNU didn’t respond to CHEK’s multiple requests for further comment, but Sorenson’s resignation comes less than a week after the union said it didn’t support mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for health care workers.

“If they’re implementing this mandate and saying that if you’re unvaccinated that you will be placed on unpaid leave. How are you going to replace those nurses?” said BC Nurses Union Vice-President Aman Grewal to CHEK News on Thursday, Sept. 15.

The union was concerned the mandate would lead to staffing crunches in an already strained system.

But not all nurses in B.C. agreed with the position.

“Nurses are ideally suited to provide evidence-based informed decisions regarding vaccine confidence, and we base those decisions on facts and science.

Unvaccinated woman battling Covid-19 in ICU dies from the virus A Kamloops woman who was battling COVID-19 in the ICU has passed away.

Tyrone Joseph’s sister, Anna, who was not vaccinated against the disease, was battling the virus in the hospital with her adult son.

She passed away on September 21.

Joseph said in a tweet that his sister passed away at Vancouver General Hospital surrounded

by her sons, siblings and cousins.

He said the team at the hospital also invited the family to attend over Zoom, which he called “a blessing.”

He also praised the ICU team at the Vancouver hospital.

He said since he shared his story, he knows of other vaccine-hesitant people, including members of his family, who have changed their minds and received the vaccine.

Defeated Conservative MP fears attacks by pro-Beijing forces swung votes against him When Kenny Chiu introduced a private member’s bill that would set up a registry for agents of foreign governments, he may well have painted a target on his back.

The bill was inspired largely by China’s suspected interference in Canada and the B.C. Conservative says he was attacked over it in Chineselanguage media throughout the election.

Some of the bashing bled into mainstream social media, with one poster on Twitter this week saying “I’ve never seen a more self-hating Chinese person in my life.”

Much of the criticism, Chiu says, misrepresented what that legislation really stated, but it had its effect.

Constituents in his Steveston-Richmond East riding who had previously voted for Chiu suddenly gave him the cold shoulder.

“When I go door knocking … there have been supporters of mine who just shut the door in my face,” said the politician.

“There is so much hatred that I sense.”

And then on Monday, Chiu lost to Liberal Parm Bains by almost 3,000 votes, just two years after he was first elected, even as the Liberals more or less duplicated their 2019 performance.

His defeat — and that of other Conservative MPs in ridings dominated

by Chinese Canadians, – has raised the question of whether proxies for the People’s Republic government managed to influence the election – just as security agencies and other watchdogs have warned could happen.

Chiu stresses that his issue is with China’s

regime, but said online critics implied that meant he was opposed to the country itself and even the race, despite his own Chinese heritage.

He said Chinese-Canadians — even if they ended up disliking him – are victims themselves of such disinformation.

Charles Burton, a former diplomat in Beijing who’s fluent in Mandarin, said he tried to help Chiu by seeking out and warning him about disinformation on WeChat, the popular Chinese social media site, and elsewhere online.

But there seemed little they could do about it.

“It spread like a cancer over his campaign,” said Burton, a fellow with the Macdonald Laurier Institute and prominent critic of Beijing. “He just saw his campaign disintegrating over the last couple of weeks.”

Burton said Canadian authorities should investigate the online campaigns to determine if the Chinese government itself was behind the attacks.

He is not the first to raise the issue. David Vigneault, head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said in a speech in February that attempts by foreign states to influence Canadian politics and politicians were among the agency’s “most paramount concerns.”

Bains could not be reached for comment Tuesday, and there is no suggestion he had anything to do with the online sniping Chiu faced.

In fact, the Liberals themselves have been the target of harsh attacks from the Chinese government and state-run media in the ongoing feud over the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.

LOCAL / NATIONAL

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Star & Style

Saturday, September 25, 2021 Aditya Chopra rejects 400 Crores offer from Amazon Coronavirus pandemic led many films to be released on OTT. Salman Khan’s Radhe to Ajay Devgn’s Bhuj: The Pride of India, most of the films opted for a direct to digital premiere. However, there’s one producer who has stood by Exhibitors was none other than Yash Raj films Headhoncho Aditya Chopra.

Yashraj films have held on to films like Bunty Aur Babli 2, Shamshera, Prithviraj,

Jayeshbhai Jordaar for over 18 months amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Chopra received several offers from multiple OTT players but he refused the offers.

According to some media reports, “The giants are keen to collaborate with Aditya Chopra and strike a direct to digital deal. However, he has been clear about the fact that YRF films are meant to be consumed on the big screen and has time and again rejected the offers.”

Katrina and Tiger 3 The shooting schedule of Tiger 3 looks like Katrina Kaif is on the world tour. After wrapping work commitments in Turkey, Katrina Kaif is now touring Austria, glimpses of which she has been sharing on her Instagram stories. On Thursday, Katrina Kaif shared a snippet of her morning routine from Vienna and it involves a fruity breakfast spread.

Katrina Kaif checked into Instagram

from the luxurious Palais Hansen Kempinski in the Austrian capital with a photo, in which she can be seen chilling in a lounge robe. Do you think Katrina Kaif woke up like this? Not really. Even for her breakfast routine, Katrina Kaif had her hair and make-up on spot - she assigned credit for her morning look to celebrity stylist Anaita Shroff Adajania.

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Saturday, September 25, 2021 International Emmy Awards 2021:

Sushmita Sen, Nawazuddin Siddiqui bag nominations The nominations for the 2021 International Emmy Awards were announced and it was happy news for Indians. Comedian Vir Das, Ram Madhvani’s show Aarya starring Sushmita Sen, Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui were Indians who bagged nominations. Disney + Hotstar’s original show Aarya starring Sushmita Sen has been nominated for the Best Drama Series category alongside Chile’s El Presidente, Isreal’s Tehran, And British show There She Goes.

The show marked Sushmita’s return to the screen. Reacting to the news, Sushmita wrote, “OMGGGGGG!!!! AARYA is nominated for Best Drama Series at the #InternationalEmmyAwards2021 @

iemmys Was busy dubbing for AARYA2… just got the news!!!! Yipppeeeeeee!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS @madhvaniram @amitamadhvani @ officialrmfilms @sandeipm @ vinraw @disneyplushotstar @ endemolshineind #teamaaryaa & THE MOST AMAZING CAST & CREW EVER!!!!

To see INDIA on this list fills my heart!!! Thank you wonderful people….your love & appreciation for #Aarya is the very soul of this celebration!!! This Team truly deserves it!! Congratulations to @ nawazuddin._siddiqui and @virdas for their respective nominations & for adding to India’s pride!! I love you guys!!! #duggadugga.”

Sunny Leone shares secret of fit body in mid-week gym post Sunny Leonne runs on treadmill and shares the secret behind her fitness.

When she is not serving fashion moments or entertaining her fans with funny clpis on social media, she hits the gym to work on her body and achieve her fitness goals.

She took to the Instagram to share pictures from workout and revealed the secret to her fit body.

Sunny shared a picture of herself post an exercise session and another captured midworkout. The actor’s mid-week

gym post motivated us to hit the grind. Sharing the secret to her healthy lifestyle, Sunny captioned the clip, “Eat, Work, Sleep, Workout, Repeat.”

The first picture shows Sunny posing at the gym while leaning on equipment.

In the second image, the star can be seen running on the treadmill. Dressed in all-black gym attire, Sunny looked like she was enjoying the routine.

Star & Style

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LOCAL / NATIONAL

Liberal incumbent Randeep Sarai wins third term for Surrey Centre Seven candidates competed for MP office for this riding. Randeep Sarai, 46, has scored a third term in public office as the Liberal MP for Surrey Centre. As was before this election, he’ll be sitting on the power side of a minority Liberal government. Sarai thanked his campaign team, family and “all of the volunteers” that “worked day and night” in their effort to get him re-elected.

“I’m feeling great, it’s really a big honour to serve the constituents of Surrey Centre and for them

to give me a third mandate,” he told the NowLeader on Monday night. “They’ve given me a third mandate with an even bigger margin and I’m very honoured and very humbled about that.

I just want to continue to serve Surrey residents and Surrey Centre residents in particular to make sure they get a fair share of services, of post-secondary education and government services and I’ll fight for then every step of the way to make sure their needs are addressed

Saturday, September 25, 2021

Surrey RCMP seize 29 kilos of ‘magic mushrooms’ from Clayton Heights home Surrey RCMP seized nearly 30 kilograms of ‘magicmushrooms’fromaClaytonHeightshome.

In a news release issued Sept. 20, police say they were alerted to the grow operation after Surrey Fire Services attended a home, located on the 7000-block of 196 Street, in response to a carbon monoxide alarm.

“Once inside the residence, signs of illicit drug activity were noted and Surrey RCMP was called to assist,” Surrey RCMP said in the release. “Frontline police officers attended and discovered what they believed to be a psilocybin mushroom drug laboratory.”

Police said one woman was arrested and later released, “pending further investigation.”

Regina grandmother of hospitalized 5-year-old pleads for caution against COVID-19 The grandmother of a five-year-old Regina boy is pleading for continued vigilance against COVID-19 after her grandson was admitted to hospital earlier this week.

“My grandson’s five. He shouldn’t be getting his heart checked at five years old,” Kerry Bellegarde-Opoonechaw said Thursday.

“It’s time to be careful now. Us, as leaders, parents and caregivers, should be totally vigilant about taking care of our young people. We should be vaccinating, wearing masks and not going out if we don’t have to.

Maverick Bennett woke up feeling sick

Tuesday with symptoms of COVID-19.

That day, both he and his mother Janis were admitted to hospital testing positive.

“He was swollen. His eyes were really dark and were shut. He was lethargic and wasn’t really responding,” Bellegarde-Opponechaw explained.

“And he wasn’t eating. They both haven’t eaten in a while. Their appetites are gone.

The sickness isn’t allowing them to eat.”

She said as of Thursday, Maverick is on an IV for nutrition, and his heart is being monitored as well as he deals with an inflammatory response.

Conservative Findlay maintains hold of South Surrey-White Rock

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It appears Conservative KerryLynne Findlay will hold onto her seat as MP for South Surrey-White Rock.

With nearly all of the riding’s pollingstation results in as of Tuesday – and a voter turnout of almost 60 per cent – Findlay had a solid lead over her main challenger, Liberal Gordie Hogg, with 22,528 votes (42.7 per cent) to Hogg’s 20,299 (38.5 per cent), and said she is “just thrilled” to be re-elected.

“It looks like we bucked some political trends here,” she told Peace Arch News late Monday.

“I think it’s due to the fact that people understand that I work hard, they know how much I care and my team has been wonderful at connecting with voters along with me and doing what needs to be done to get our message out.”

NDP candidate June Liu finished with a strong hold on third place in the polls, with 7,811 votes, well ahead of fourth-place People’s Party of Canada candidate Gary Jensen (2,101 votes).

The final tallies will change, as counting of mail-in ballots only got underway Tuesday (Sept. 21). It was expected to take a number of days to complete.

LOCAL / NATIONAL

Saturday, September 25, 2021 O’Toole comes up short, but happy to hold Trudeau to another minority It

was O’Toole’s first campaign as Conservative leader since being chosen in August 2020.

But Conservative party leader Erin O’Toole came up short trying to dislodge the Liberals with the most seats in Parliament, however he highlighted that Canadians have denied Justin Trudeau the majority he was seeking. At the end of his first campaign as party leader since he was selected leader in August 2020, O’Toole said the Conservative party should be proud of the growth it showed in the election in appealing to more voters. After the whirlwind and snap 36day campaign, O’Toole ended his campaign hoping for growth in the critical 905 region around Toronto where he watched the results come in.Conservative Party Leader

Erin O’Toole along with wife Rebecca and children Jack and Mollie, watch early election results in Oshawa September 20, 2021. In his home riding of Durham, O’Toole jumped out to an early lead which grew as the evening progressed. In Atlantic Canada, O’Toole’s Conservatives were hoping to build on the four seats his party won in 2019.

They appeared to do that this time. His party built only marginally on the 10 Quebec seats it won two years ago.

The Conservatives pressed to deepen support in Quebec – highlighting throughout the campaign what it called a “contract with Quebec” – promising to work closely with the provincial government and not infringe into its jurisdiction.

Liberal MP Ken Hardie projected to retake seat Fleetwood - Port Kells riding Liberal incumbent Ken Hardie is the projected winner of the Fleetwood-Port Kells riding. As of Tuesday (Sept. 21) morning, 209 of 210 polls are reporting Hardie in the lead with 19,834 votes, while Conservative Dave Hayer has 13,621 votes. NDP’s Raji Toor has 8,233 votes, Green Party’s Perry DeNure has 823 votes, People’s Party Amrit Birring has 1,240 votes and Independent Murali Krishnan has 137 votes. In an interview with the Now-Leader shortly after he was declared the projected winner, Hardie said one of his focuses will be foreign money coming into the Canadian real estate market.

“Before the election I was speaking with the Prime Minister’s Office, making a real pitch to get more tough measures against foreign

money coming in and buying Canadian real estate. You can see that that made its way into the platform,” Hardie said. “One of my first priorities is to see action on that one.” Hardie said he will also focus on drugs, guns and gangs.

“It’s definitely something that hasn’t been fixed by any means, so I want to see more work there and progress.” Hardie said the win means a lot to his team and he thanked his volunteers. “For a long time I’ve operated on the theory that if you look after individual people well, somehow you hit a critical mass and the community kind of knows what you stand for and what you’re prepared to do for them,” Hardie said. “Our office has been outstanding. It’s not just me, it’s the whole team especially here in Surrey, but the two people we have in Ottawa as well.”

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SNC-Lavalin hit with fresh charges related to Montreal bridge contract The SNC-Lavalin legal saga was thrust back into the spotlight Thursday after the RCMP announced they’ve charged two former executives and the engineering company itself for allegedly paying bribes to obtain a Montreal bridge repair contract.

Former SNC-Lavalin vice-president Normand Morin and former SNC-Lavalin International Inc. vice-president Kamal Francis, along with SNC-Lavalin and its subsidiary, have each been charged with forgery, conspiracy to commit forgery, fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud,

fraud against the government, and conspiracy to commit fraud against the government.

The two former executives have been released from custody and are due to appear in a Montreal court on Sept. 27 along with representatives from SNC-Lavalin and SNC-Lavalin International.

The Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) has agreed to send an invitation to negotiate a remedial agreement with SNC-Lavalin and SNC-Lavalin International Inc. The invitation went out on Thursday.

Neither executive is eligible for such an offer.

Ottawa promises to step up after Alberta asks for help with airlifting COVID-19 patients Public Safety Minister Bill Blair says the federal government will pitch in after Alberta asked for help with airlifting COVID-19 patients, ICU-registered nurses and respiratory therapists.

Alberta’s Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver formally requested federal aid in a letter to Blair Tuesday.

Alberta’s hospitals are struggling to keep pace with a devastating fourth wave of the pandemic. The province recorded 20,304 active cases on Wednesday — more than twice as many as any other province or territory.

Surging COVID-19 cases force doctors to ration care in Alaska, a step Alberta officials say is last resort Blair said federal assistance could come in the form of Canadian Armed Forces’ medical resources “and/or aero-medical evacuation capability,” Canadian Red Cross resources and other federal health resources.

“Our Liberal government will always be there to support Canadians in their time of need,” he tweeted.

The Canadian Armed Forces also sent out a media statement confirming Alberta’s call for help. “The CAF will be providing nurses specialised in intensive care unit operations, aircraft and crews for the air transport of patients as part of Op LASER,” says the statement. “The details of the mission, including location, exact composition, number of nurses and the type and number of aircraft, [are] being developed now and further granularity will be available soon once mission specific planning has concluded.”

Alberta’s ICU capacity is sitting at 87 per cent. Without the added surge beds — which health care workers have said are not adequately staffed — the province would be at 169 per cent of its baseline ICU capacity.

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Truly delightful fully renovated 6 bedroom basement entry home sits on rectangular 7920 sf flat lot in most demanding area Aldergrove Langley.Main floor features 3 bed ,2 bath with new kitchen /island ,new flooring,new tiles , new woodwork,new fixtures,splash back,granite counters,new tiles,new cabinet, new windows,new zebra drapes,4 new washrooms & much more .Newly built 3 bedroom unauthorized basement suite with rear separate entry.Excellent renovated covered 333 sf Patio & deck.Landscape front & fully fenced back yard. Storage shed.Walking distance to both schools,shopping,community center with pools,water Park,ice arena,playing fields& to all major routes.

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Saturday, September 25, 2021

17

Saturday, September 25, 2021 Press release

With the resignation of Capt. Amarinder Singh as the Chief Minister of Punjab on Saturday, September 18, 2021 and giving it to the Governor Mr. Banwari Lal Prohit and its acceptance and subsequently Charanjit Singh Channi who had joined hands with Navjot Sidhu, President Punjab Pradesh Congress, taking the oath as CM Punjab, it appears that the crisis in Punjab is over.

But those who think so are grossly mistaken.

Since Captain Amrinder Singh took over as the Chief Minister of Punjab on March 16, 2017 Navjot Sidhu had not been cooperating with him and always fomenting trouble for him by creating a group of dissidents who stood with him. He insisted on becoming the CM, but the Congress High Command ignored his intention. Sidhu is not the person who should be willing to be content with the position he occupies now. Pak Prime Minister Imran Khan seems to be his role model, both being cricketers of the national teams. This is vividly apparent as we recall to attend the Swearing in Ceremony of Mr. Khan he went to Pakistan on August 17, 2018. Sidhu called, “Imran is a man of character, who can be trusted.” On August18, he even hugged Pak Military Commander Qamar Javed Bajwa. This was a gross violation of all the known protocols.

Crickter Kapil Dev, and Sunil Gavaskar declined to go there in view of the continued strained relationship of Pak with India.

Pulwama Attack when 40 CRP’s were martyred

by Pakistan -based Jaishn-eMohammad on Feb. 14, 2019 that steeped the whole country into a pall of gloom, the trustworthiness of Imran as claimed by Sidhu got a rude shock.

I wonder what did Sonia Gandhi find in Sidhu by making him the President of PPCC, who for a long time didn’t stop his frivolous roles in Kapil’s Comedy shows even though Captain had been dissuading him from such activities, calling it undignified for the minister of cabinet rank to do so.

Another fact cannot be effaced which is: On December 27, 1998, Mr Sidhu and his friend Rupinder Singh Sandhu had entered into an argument with the victim, Gurnam Singh, over parking space in Patiala. The two allegedly dragged Mr. Gurnam Singh out of his car and hit him. He died soon after.

A trial court had discharged Mr Sidhu, but the Punjab and Haryana High Court held him guilty of culpable homicide in 2006 and sent him to jail for three years in the road rage case. Ultimately Supreme Court acquitted him due to the lack of evidence.

I recall Gurnam Singh as my class fellow. Two brothers namely Mohan Singh and Gurnam Singh became my class fellows in grade 4 in Arya High School Patiala. They used to come from village Khalaudi situated in the outskirts of Patiala.

Capt. has all the qualities of a leader. He has been a fighter, he dares to say what he feels is

The political crisis in Punjab wrong. He is a seasoned politician. Kanwar Vijay Partap Singh Ex IG asserts that he is the best CM in India. He is the author of a book: The Last Sunset:The Rise and Fall of the Lahore D u r b a r .

Leaders emerge because of their inherent qualities. Capt. has colossal qualities, before him Charanjit Singh Channi appears to be a shadow and lacks those qualities.

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Saturday, September 25, 2021

Canadian elections vs elections in Gobind Sarvar School

Press release

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et again, eligible Canadians walked out to polling booths to vote for a party leader they would like our beloved nation to be led by. Across Canada, the results headed in the same direction as in the last federal election in 2019.

When the eligible Canadians citizens were

voting to choose their leader, Gobind Sarvar School students were building their skills and habits of becoming active and engaged citizens.

Led by their grade 10 teacher Harvinder Sahai Ph.D., students took the oath of secrecy and conducted elections in school.

The elections in Canada were used as

a teachable moment to bring democratic processes alive among the Gobind Sarvar students. The students learnt about their rights and responsibilities, the levels of governments in Canada, informed citizenship, political parties, campaign communications, candidates, and post-election analysis.

The students

felt empowered and could relate more with their nation by getting exposed to the biggest celebration of democracy. Gobind Sarvar School wishes all the winning candidates very best.

To everyone’s surprise, result of the nation was not that different from the student vote.

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Saturday, September 25, 2021 Press release

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ndia Cultural Centre of Canada Gurdwara Nanak Niwas, 8600 Number 5 Road, Richmond, BC is proud to be an active member of the South Asian community and the City of Richmond. It has always taken an active role in the betterment of the community.

Whenever there is a need for help it is there.

Take for example, Richmond Hospital Foundation’s appeal for help. Richmond hospital sorely needs a new acute care tower. Consequently, Richmond Hospital Foundation has been actively involved in raising funds for this project. In that context, it invited Gurdwara Nanak Niwas to participate. The Gurdwara management and congregation were very generous and raised close to $50,000 for the hospital.

The Richmond Hospital Foundation and hospital officials were very thankful to the management committee and the congregation of the Gurdwara for their generosity. As a gesture of goodwill the hospital administration agreed to our request for Punjabi language signage in the hospital. Now the entire Richmond Hospital has Punjabi signage throughout.

Gurdwara Nanak Niwas tries to maintain good relationship not only with the hospital officials but also with the City of Richmond, Richmond RCMP and other organizations in the community. With this objective in mind the Gurdwara management used to invite their reprentatives for Langar at the Gurdwara occasionally. In this regard the

Richmond mayor & councillors visit Gurdwara Nanak Niwas Gurdwara officials were pleased to invite representatives of these organizations and the City of Richmond for Langar on Tuesday, September 14. The main objective was to thank them for the work they are doing in serving this community.

It is due to the efforts of these people that Richmond is considered to be the healthiest, cleanest, most multicultural, well managed and one of the safest communities in BC. They deserve our thanks for all of their hard work and dedication. Thus, it was a privilege for us to thank them all on behalf of the management committee and congregation of Gurdwara Nanak Niwas.

On behalf of the City of Richmond, Mayor Malcolm Brodie thanked the Gurdwara management for this nice gesture and assured his and City’s full co-operation.

Similarly, Richmond RCMP Police Chief, Superintendent Will Ng thanked the

Gurdwara management for its on-going support and co-operation. In the same vein, Richmond Hospital/Foundation’s Vice president Candace Hernandez also expressed her sincere thanks and appreciation to the Gurdwara management and its congregation. This kind of mutual co-operation goes a long way in keeping the lines of communication open and

helping each other. Some of the other community well-wishers of Gurdwara Sahib also expressed their thanks and appreciation before enjoying a delicious vegetarian lunch (Langar).

Balwant Sanghera, General Secretary, India Cultural Centre of Canada Gurdwara Nanak Niwas Richmond, BC

20

INDIA

Saturday, September 25, 2021 India at ZAPAD-2021:

What does Russia & China ties mean for India India concluded its participation in war games taking place in Russia’s Nizhniy district on 16 September this year. Russia had welcomed a 200-personnel contingent of the Indian Army for its multi-nation military exercise ZAPAD-2021.

The Indian contingent personnel were from the Naga regiment and Mechanized Infantry, and commandoes of the Indian Air Force.

However, a much-highlighted fact in some Indian media outlets during the two-weeklong exercise was that China and Pakistan were observers and not full participants, when India and Russia showcased their joint skills. This leads

to a genuine question that whether ZAPAD-2021 had any strategic signalling by India, or India and Russia together, like many of the military exercises happening around the world often do.

What is ZAPAD-2021?

Basically, ZAPAD is one of the four major training events for the Russian military, which happen on a rotational basis every year. The names of these events correspond to the geographical location of these military districts. While ZAPAD means ‘west’ in Russian, the other exercises are Vostok (east), Tsentr (centre), and Kavkaz (Caucasus).

Girl gang-raped multiple times in Maharashtra 24 arrested, 2 minors also detained A 15-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped multiple times at different places in Thane district of Maharashtra over the last eight months, and police have arrested 24 persons and detained two minors in this connection so far, a senior official said on Thursday.

Based on the girl’s complaint, the Manpada police at Dombivli in Kalyan have registered a case on Wednesday night against 33 accused under IPC sections 376 (rape), 376 (n) (repeated rape), 376 (d) (gang-rape), 376 (3) (rape on a woman under sixteen years of age) and provisions of the Protection of Children

from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said.

Talking to reporters, Additional Commissioner of Police (East Region), Dattatray Karale, said the offences were committed between January 29 this year and September 22.

“It all started when the lover of the girl raped her in January and made a video of the incident.

He started blackmailing her on the basis of that video. Later on, his friends and acquaintances gang-raped her at least on four to five occasions at different places, including Dombivili, Badlapur, Murbad and Rabale in the district,” he said.

Haryana Government orders special ‘girdawari’ to assess crop damage Haryana Agriculture Minister J P Dalal on Thursday ordered a ‘special girdawari’ (revenue survey) for the assessment of crop damage caused by heavy rain in some parts of the state.

To compensate the farmers on time, he said the officials have been directed to complete the process of girdawari at the earliest.

Notably, moderate to heavy rains have lashed many parts of Haryana during the past few days.

The minister said the Haryana government has decided to cover farmers growing horticultural crops under the

‘Mukhyamantri Bagwani Bima’ scheme.

He said the Haryana government has been making efforts to take welfare decisions for farmers.

Moreover, efforts have been made to connect the youth with the business of beekeeping, mushroom, milk processing, fisheries etc, he said.

He said 8-10 per cent of the area is under horticulture crops in the state and earlier there was no insurance scheme for these crops.

Fully jabbed Indians considered unvaccinated in UK, have to undergo 10-day quarantine Fully jabbed Indians will not be considered vaccinated in the United Kingdom, as per the new travel rules in the UK, and will have to undergo 10 days of quarantine.

Reacting to the new rules, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “Absolutely bizarre considering Covishield was

originally developed in the UK and The Serum Institute, Pune has supplied to that country too! This smacks of racism.”

The UK government has said if a person has been vaccinated in Africa, or South America, or countries including UAE, India, Turkey, Jordan, Thailand, Russia, they are considered unvaccinated and will have to follow quarantine rules.

Defence Ministry places order for 118 Arjun Mk-1A tanks worth Rs 7,523 crore The Ministry of Defence on Thursday placed an order for supply of 118 tanks of the Arjun Mk-1A for the Indian Army. The order is worth Rs 7,523 crore.

The tanks will be made by the MoD’s Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF), Avadi, Chennai.

The state-of-the-art ‘Arjun Mk-1A’ is the latest variant of original Arjun Tank inducted a decade ago. The new one is

designed to enhance fire power, mobility and survivability. It has 72 additional features and will have greater indigenous content.

The tank would ensure effortless mobility in all terrains, besides precise target engagement during day and night. The Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) has designed the tank by incorporating numerous upgrades on the ‘Arjun’.

Supreme Court to set up expert panel to probe Pegasus row The Supreme Court on Thursday said it would set up an expert committee to probe into the allegations that politicians, journalists and activists were snooped on using Pegasus spyware.

A Bench led by Chief Justice NV Ramana -- which had on September 13 reserved its order on petitions seeking an SIT probe into the allegations -- said a detailed order to set up the committee could be expected next week.

The court wanted to pass an order this week but it couldn’t as some of the experts it had in mind for the committee didn’t want to participate due to personal reasons, CJI Ramana told senior advocate CU Singh, who represented some of the petitioners in the case.

The Supreme Court had on September 13 said it would pass an interim order on petitions seeking a court-monitored SIT probe into the alleged snooping.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had said the government didn’t want to file any additional affidavit to publicly clarify if Pegasus spyware was used for snooping or not even if he maintained that the Centre had nothing to hide.

“You have repeatedly been saying that the government doesn’t want to file an affidavit.

We also don’t want any security issues to be put before us. You say that a committee will be formed and the report will be submitted...

We have to look into the whole issue and pass an interim order,” the Bench had said.

2 killed in police firing during eviction drive Staccato sounds of gunfire broke the fragile peace of Sipajhar in Assam’s Darrang district on Thursday as police tried to evict “encroachers”, leaving two people dead in police firing, around 20 injured in clashes, and a shocking video where an apparently dead man with a bullet wound on his chest lay motionless but was still hit by a man slinging a camera.

The state government announced a judicial inquiry into the circumstances leading to the incident amid mounting public anger.

An order issued by the Home and Political

Department’s Secretary Debaparasad Misra said the government has decided the inquiry will be conducted by a retired judge of the Gauhati High Court.

The incident drew condemnation, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi calling the police action “state-sponsored fire”.

The public protest had erupted over the demand for rehabilitation of nearly 800 families evicted from the land they were living on for decades.

Darrang Superintendent of Police Sushanta Biswa Sarma, a younger

Covid-19 vaccine at home for disabled The government on Thursday said twothird of India’s 94 crore adults had received at least one dose of the Covid 19 vaccine and one-fourth had received both the doses in a significant ramp up of both the scale and speed of the national inoculation drive.

As of today, 62 crore people have received the first dose and 21.55 crore have received both.

“Sixty-six per cent of all adults have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine and 23 per cent have received both,”

Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said today.

Sharing disaggregated data, Bhushan said 63.7 per cent of all Covid 19 doses have been administered in rural vaccination centres (45.75 crore) and 35.4 (25.42 crore) per cent in urban centres. Of all the doses given so far, 52.2 per cent (43.39 crore) have been administered to males, 47.8 per cent (39.72 crore) to females and 0.02 per cent (1,82,208 doses ) to the third gender.

“In September India had daily administered 82 lakh average doses,

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FIJI

CM Charanjit Channi called by Congress high command to Delhi

First Indian descent judge ascends to New South Wales Supreme Court

Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi arrives for a meeting at Punjab Bhawan, in New Delhi on Thursday. Amid pending Cabinet expansion, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has been called by the Congress party high command to Delhi.

Earlier, joined by former PCC chief Sunil Jakhar at the Chandigarh airport, Congress

leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka left for Delhi on Wednesday evening, a significant development in the wake of the impending Cabinet expansion of the Charanjit Singh Channi-led government.

Jakhar may be placated with an important positioninthepartyafterhedeclinedtoaccept the position of Deputy CM, say sources.

Congress has no comment on report that Captain may quit party In a major rebuff to former Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, the Congress on Thursday said it had no comment if someone wanted to leave the party.

Speculation as Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka, Jakhar leave for Delhi“There is no place for anger, jealousy, envy, personal comments or a sense of revenge in politics,” the Congress said reacting

to Singh’s comment on Wednesday that he would not let Navjot Sidhu become chief minister of Punjab at any cost and would field a strong candidate against him.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate, considered close to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, on Thursday said Singh hopefully would reconsider his remarks in light of the fact that the “Congress made him CM for nine and a half years”.

30 passengers not allowed to board Sharjah bound flight Ruckus was witnessed at the Chandigarh International Airport as about 30 passengers, who were to board the flight to Sharjah were not allowed to by the immigration check officials on Thursday evening as they did not fulfil the Covid guidelines.

The airport authorities had to call the police after the passengers raised hue and cry for being denied permission to board the Sharjah flight.

DSP Amroz Singh said the police intervention prevented the deterioration of the law and order situation at the airport. He said that the passengers were not fulfilling the Covid guidelines issued by UAE because of which they were not allowed to board the flight.

The departure flight was operated according to the new Covid guidelines issued by UAE. The Rapid PCR tests for all

Pakistan Pakistan to call for preventing Afghanistan’s economic collapse at UN Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi arrives in New York for the 76 session of the UN General Assembly during which Pakistan will join the United Nations in urging the world to prevent an economic collapse in Afghanistan.“The situation in Afghanistan is

unpredictable,” said UN Secretary General António Guterres in an interview to UN News. “Because of all the different measures and sanctions that exist, there is a risk of completely strangling the economy,” he warned.

Taliban scorn Imran Khan’s call for inclusive Afghan govt In another shocker to Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Taliban on Monday said that Pakistan or any other country has no right to ask the insurgent group to establish an ‘inclusive’ government in Afghanistan. The statement of the Taliban comes after Imran Khan held a meeting with leaders of ‘Afghanistan’s neighbours’the Tajiks, Hazaras & Uzbeks and insisted that the insurgent group include them all to form an ‘inclusive, broad-based government’,

and even initiated a dialogue for the same.

‘Like Pakistan, we reserve the right to have our own system’ Miffed by Pakistan’s statement, Taliban leader Mohammad Mobeen said that “We don’t give anyone the right to call for an inclusive government.” Speaking on Ariana TV, asked: “Does the inclusive government mean that neighbours have their representatives and spies in the system?” The current government is inclusive, he insisted. “We have got freedom.

New Zealand tour abandoned after alert from ‘Five Eyes’ alliance about a ‘serious’ threat: PCB CEO The New Zealand tour of Pakistan was abandoned after the New Zealand government received an alert from the “Five Eyes” intelligence group about a “direct and imminent” threat to its team, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief executive Wasim Khan said on Sunday.

The Black Caps devastated Pakistan’s cricket fraternity on Friday after opting out of their tour of Pakistan minutes before the first ODI was to be played. They had cited a “security threat” as the reason without divulging any further.

In a virtual call with reporters, Khan said

New Zealand had set a “very wrong example” by unilaterally ending the tour. He said the last 48 hours had been very difficult for Pakistan cricket and he wanted to bring some facts to light.

On Friday morning at 3am, Khan said, he received a call from ESI head of security Reg Dickinson — the security consultant for New Zealand, who said that “a report had landed on the New Zealand government’s desk through their government security agencies stating that there was a threat on the New Zealand team, and that threat was direct and imminent on that particular day”.

Sri Lanka express anger over demolition of Buddhist heritage sit For several months now, Islamabad has vandalised and defaced Buddhist heritage in the Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan region that has angered Sri Lankans. Sri Lankans have lodged a strong protest, and expressed widespread angst on Sunday at the reports of destruction of the

Buddhist heritage sites in Pakistan, sources said.

While the civil activists and human rights activists slammed govt for such derogatory acts aimed at wiping out cultural and religious heritage.

Barrister Hament Dhanji has become the first Australian of Indian descent to be appointed a judge to the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Australia. His family is originally from Fiji. The newly appointed judge says a growing number of people from the Indian community are practising law in New South Wales.

“The advice I give to all lawyers, be it Indian or otherwise, is as a lawyer the most valuable thing to you is your reputation,”

Mr Dhanji, a practicing criminal lawyer for 30 years, told SBS Hindi.

“Of course, you need to work hard and know the law, but above all, you need to protect your reputation through honesty and integrity,” he added.

Barrister Hament Dhanji will begin his new role on 20 September Mr Dhanji was born in Sydney and has been practising law for more than 30 years Mr Dhanji’s father migrated from Fiji to Australia in the early ‘50s

‘Accident’ victim was murdered The post mortem for the late Saleshni Devi, who died in a car incident this week, has been completed and classified as a murder case. This was confirmed

by Police Media Officer Wame Bautolu.

“The case is now being classified as murder; investigations are currently underway. We cannot reveal any information regarding the post mortem, but other details regarding the case will be released later,” he said.

Only fully vaccinated allowed to attend Churches Only fully vaccinated people will be allowed into churches when places of worship open their doors on October 4.

This is a statement that has been supported by church leaders around the country as they prepare for the re-opening of churches.

A message by the Methodist Church President Reverend Ili Vunisuwai that was read out on the Church’s “Raici Jisu Matua” programme, said no one was spared from this requirement, including divisional heads, church ministers, church stewards and all church workers.

Fake vaccination card worry for Fiji FA Football may be on the front foot in getting players and officials vaccinated, but there are revelations that some players and districts are trying to beat the system by producing fake vaccination cards The issue has come to Fiji Football’s attention, however, those involved will not get

away with it as the sport’s governing body is working closely with the Health Ministry to verify information before taking any action.

Fiji FA was the first sporting body to implement the no jab no play policy and its President Rajesh Patel says they understand some players have refused to take the jabs.

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