The Asian Star October 8 2022

Jinny Sims Mayoral candidate for City of Surrey

Asian Star reached out to all the and one of the first to agree is Jinny Sims. Here is what Jinny Sims wants to do for the residents of Surrey now and into the future. Asian Star: There are eight people running for mayor. Why should Surrey residents vote for you?

Continued on page 11

Another South Asian man appointed head of large global tech company

In Paresh Rajwat‘s 20-year journey across the tech landscape, he’s held leadership positions at Apple, Criteo, Yahoo!, and Microsoft.

For the past eight years, Rajwat has worked in numerous areas at Meta, overseeing the early days of the Facebook video team, leading monetization of the Facebook app and now as a VP and head of product for virtual reality.

Meta announced Tuesday that Rajwat has been named the newest

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says September’s home sales dropped by 46% from last year and 10% from August as interest rate increases cooled buyer sentiment. The B.C. board says sales in the region totalled 1,687 last month, down from 3,149 the September before and 1,870 in August.

Vancouver home sales down 46% from last September

the lower sales levels to the Bank of Canada hiking interest and mortgage rates in an effort to tamp down inflation.

and a roughly three per

Last month’s sales were almost 36 per cent below the 10-year September sales average.

Andrew Lis, the board’s director of economics and data analytics, attributed

Those hikes have contributed to the market’s composite benchmark price reaching $1,155,300 last month, up 3.9 per cent from last September but down 2.1 per cent from August.

The number of homes currently listed for sale in the area is 9,971, an eight per cent increase compared with September 2021

Second ‘referendum’ on Khalistan in November to test India-Canada ties

India-Canada diplomatic ties will be tested after the Sikhs for Justice said that they would hold a second referendum on Khalistan in Toronto on November 6. India had reacted sharply to the first so-called

Khalistan referendum held in Brampton on September 19.

The separatists have said that since the referendum is a peaceful process, they will continue to hold it at various locations.

Sims accuses Dhaliwal of collecting pay as MP while campaigning to be next Surrey Mayor

Two old Surrey political rivals are trading blows in a new ring, this time over who’s pulling down pay as an MLA or MP while campaigning to be the next Surrey mayor.

Surrey Forward mayoral

candidate Jinny Sims, also the NDP MLA for Surrey-Panorama, accuses Sukh Dhaliwal –mayoral candidate for United Surrey and also Liberal MP for Surrey-Newton – of continuing to collect his MP’s pay while

Continued on page 7

cent jump from August. “With fewer homes selling and new listings continuing to come to market, inventory is beginning to accumulate, providing buyers with more selection compared to last year,” Lis said, in a news release.

“With more supply and less demand within this market cycle, residential home prices have edged down in the region over the last six months.”

New Hindu temple inaugurated in Dubai

The new Hindu temple in Dubai is set for its grand official opening tomon Tuesday, October 4. “With the benevolence of the Rulers of the UAE and the gracious support of the Community Development Authority (CDA), we are holding the official inaugural ceremony of the Hindu Temple Dubai tomorrow evening,” Raju Shroff, one of the temple trustees, said.

ProgramTM

Surrey students recognized for educational achievement

Students across the province have been recognized for their resilience, including five recipients who began their educational journeys in the Surrey school district.

Coast Capital’s Standing Tall Education Awards are earned annually since 2004. This year, the corporation has named a total of 44 students across B.C.

Selena Senghera, a recent grad from Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary has been named the recipient of the Beth Hutchinson Education Award of $5,000 for her educational achievement while battling cancer. This award was named after a past winner of an education award — Beth Hutchinson — who lost her life to brain cancer.

Senghera was diagnosed with cancer at the

age of 10, leading her down a challenging road towards finishing school. Now, she is studying to obtain her BA in psychology, getting one step closer to her dream of becoming a clinical psychologist.“I am extremely proud to be a recipient of the Coast Capital Beth Hutchison Education Award,” Senghera notes in a release.“Winning this award shows children, particularly those who have suffered from cancer, that despite a seemingly devastating diagnosis we are not defined by our illness. This award allows me to pursue my educational path towards becoming a Clinical Psychologist.”

Sunshine Coast’s water supply ‘dire’ as drought hits BC

People in places such

Sechelt, on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast, could soon be in trouble.

The director of emergency operations for the Sunshine Coast Regional District says a prolonged stretch of dry weather has pushed the water supply to a dire level.

Remko Rosenboom says the region’s primary water source, the Chapman watershed, has almost dried up and has enough water to last until early November if it doesn’t get any rain.

Where’s the rain? Vancouver on track for driest September in years Rosenboom says the district is pulling water

from two other alpine lakes, but those water levels are also lower than they’ve ever been.

Other regions experiencing severe drought include the Lower Mainland, all of Vancouver Island, and the Fort Nelson basin in northeastern B.C.

The warning comes as the Metro Vancouver region only saw about seven millimetres of rain in September, significantly less than the average of 51 millimetres for the month.

As of Sept. 22, both the Lower Mainland and Sunshine Coast basins have a drought level of four out of five.

OPINION

B.C. Liberals call for MLA wage freeze amid rising costs for British Columbians

As British Columbians struggle with the rising cost of gas, food and housing, provincial politicians should freeze their wages next year, B.C. Liberal House Leader Todd Stone said Thursday. Stone will introduce a private member’s bill

calling for a one-year wage freeze on MLA salaries, which next year could rise by up to 10 per cent since the wages are tied to inflation. “It just isn’t right,” said Stone for MLAs to receive up to an $11,000 wage hike “considering the significant

sacrifices British Columbians are making. British Columbians expect … their elected officials to lead by example.”

Members of the Legislative Assembly make $115,045 a year, while cabinet ministers earn $172,567. The premier makes $218,587 annually. B.C.’s consumer price index (CPI) was up 7.3 per cent in August, the most recent figures available, compared with August 2021. During question period, Finance Minister Selina Robinson said she’ll consider the proposal but at the same time criticized the B.C. Liberals for hypocrisy given that the minimum wage for the lowest paid workers didn’t rise for years when they were in power.

Robinson was incredulous at “the chutzpah to suggest that when (the B.C. Liberals) were in government, they took care of people.”

Robinson said many British Columbians will begin getting their inflation relief rebates this week through the climate action tax credit. The one-time rebate for low- and moderate-income British Columbians went out Oct. 5 and amount to $164 per adult and $41 per child.

NDP House Leader Mike Farnworth said the proper channels to discuss the wage freeze is the Legislative Assembly Management Committee, which at the end of the year will analyze the CPI and decide on salaries for the fiscal year starting April 1, 2023.

MLAs accepted a wage freeze during the first year of COVID-19 and last year received a 2.8 per cent wage hike. The B.C. Liberal government instituted a wage freeze for MLAs from 2010 to 2013 in response to the global financial crisis.

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Sims promising soccer stadium, entertainment district for Surrey if elected

Surrey mayoral candidate Jinny Sims says if she and her Surrey Forward slate are elected on Oct. 15 the city will get a 10,000seat soccer stadium and performing arts centre as part of a new arts, entertainment and sports district to be completed by 2026, in the area of Tom Binnie Park in Whalley.

That’s the planned location for now. “It depends on if a better location can be found,” she told the Now-Leader.

Sims said during a campaign presser Tuesday that the proposed project would also include office buildings and residential towers.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity

to put Surrey in the world’s eye, one that we cannot pass up by short-sighted politicians fighting over decisions made in the past decade,” Sims says.

The performing arts centre, she said, would feature two theatres, the largest with between 800 to 1,400 seats and will be designed to accommodate “large touring shows such as cultural dance performances, Broadway shows, musical acts and the like.”

The second theatre would be between 200 and 400 seats be designed to “accommodate community theatre and foster the development of professional dance and theatre companies in Surrey.”

David Eby accuses B.C. Liberal housing critic of flipping properties

NDP leadership hopeful David Eby is accusing the B.C. Liberals’ housing critic of flipping houses in Dawson Creek, the type of activity the former housing minister says drives up real estate costs for families and should be taxed. Mike Bernier, B.C. Liberal MLA for Peace River South, says he’s not flipping houses, rather he bought houses that were abandoned and uninhabitable, renovated them and then put them on the market at a rate that’s still affordable for first-time homebuyers. Bernier sold three Dawson Creek properties within 14 months of buying them and made more than $500,000 in returns on the three properties since 2018. However, Bernier said that doesn’t take into account the at least $400,000 in renovation costs which means any profits he and his wife made are “minimal.”

“What I’ve been doing is I’ve been buying these old houses that nobody else wants, that look like they should be torn down. And

I’ve been fixing them up and then selling them as affordable housing,” Bernier said Bernier said people in his community are happy about what he’s doing, which he said is a “very good service.”

According to property records provided by Eby’s camp, Bernier bought a house at 1509 101 Ave. for $110,000 on Oct. 1, 2018 and sold it for $260,000, more than doubling his money with a return of $150,000.

Bernier, through his company Jomic Enterprises, bought a home at 9001 8 St. on March 11, 2020 for $75,000 and sold it a year later on March 15, 2021 for $324,000, a return of $249,000.

The company also purchased a house at 1425 100 Ave. on April 16, 2021 for $50,000.

On March 31, Bernier shared the real estate listing for the blue two-bedroom bungalow on Facebook with a price of $229,000.

Report co-authored by Theresa Tam claims Canada’s COVID-19 measures avoided 800,000 deaths

A new paper from scientists at the Public Health Agency of Canada, coauthored by Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, estimates that with absolutely no public health measures and no vaccines, 800,000 people would have died from COVID-19 in Canada.

The paper was published in the Canada Communicable Disease Report, a peerreviewed medical journal published by PHAC. The article, which appeared in the July/August edition, presents a series of several counterfactual scenarios, from an approach with no public health measures or vaccines to scenarios where public health measures, like lockdowns and masks, were simply lifted earlier. According to the

paper, which had several authors including Tam, the worst-case scenario would have seen 34 million Canadians get the virus had it been allowed to run free. Two million of those people would have ended up in hospital and 800,000 would have died.

The paper used information up to April of this year, by which point 150,000 people had been hospitalized and 38,783 had died, a number which rose over the summer and now sits at just over 45,000 deaths. The modelling information is only estimates of what would have happened, but is based on what agency data about how easily the virus spreads, how fatal it can be and how many people have ended up in hospital.

Surrey Council’s final land-use meeting draws vow of public inquiry

The final land-use meeting to conclude this Surrey council’s fractious four-year term was, to no great surprise, saturated in controversy Monday as council dealt with the 4,800-page package before it.

Following the meeting, held just 12 days before the civic election, the Surrey First slate led by mayoral candidate Gordon Hogg promised, if elected, to hold a public inquiry into “Doug McCallum’s four-year approach to approving development applications in the city.”

“Last night’s stampede to approve more than 50 land use applications showed that Doug McCallum does not care what the public thinks when it comes to developing Surrey,” Hogg charged in a press release. “At the same time, there was a complete disregard for any sort of fair

or ethical process around approving development applications. Last night was the last straw and it’s time to shine a light on the last four years.”

Linda Annis, the lone Surrey First councillor this term, said council “normally” sees 10 to 15 applications during such a meeting.

“We normally have 10 to 15 applications on any given council night, but last night had nothing to do with good planning or community consultation,” she said. “Last night Doug McCallum went too far with his friends first approach, and the voters of Surrey have had enough. A lot of people made a lot of money last night with those approvals and a public inquiry will shine a very bright light on what was a very dark night for our city.”

“Authorized by Tobi Abisoye, Financial Agent”

Sims accuses Dhaliwal of collecting pay as MP while campaigning to be next Surrey Mayor

From page 1

stumping for the city job.

Dhaliwal was Liberal MP for NewtonNorth Delta from 2006 to 2011, when Sims defeated him during the NDP’s so-called “orange crush.” Sims was then defeated by Dhaliwal in 2015 during the so-called Liberal “red tide.” Sims says she took a leave of absence without pay as MLA on June 8 to run for mayor.

“We have an MP who is still collecting his salary and nobody is saying, thinking anything is wrong with it,” Sims said.

“I took a leave without pay because I thought as long as I was getting paid, I wouldn’t be able to differentiate, ‘am I here as an MLA?’ Because no matter how clean you try to be, there is the murkiness of the lines, right?”

Sims said her staff, “that works off their feet,” are running her constituency office in the meantime.

“It’s being supervised by Victoria, so anything they can’t deal with is being dealt with in Victoria, and I have been on leave since the 8th of June. And you’ve got all these turkeys running around, you know, without any ethical considerations at all.”

Sims reiterated she has “taken a leave without pay and without benefits. I deliberately on that day (June 8) handed in my computer, my technology, everything is at my constituency office and I’ve never walked into my constituency office since then.

“I have no regrets. It’s an ethical decision I made because I can live with it myself and I did not want my constituents to feel that I was using government resources to do that.”

But Dhaliwal says Sims has got it wrong.

“I’m going to put 0-0-0” for his attendance as MP on roll call, he told the Now-Leader, “so it will take the money off, otherwise I’m going to donate my salary to one of the organizations. Charity.”

Win or lose on Oct. 15?

“It doesn’t matter,” Dhaliwal said. “I will put 0-0-0 that I was not present, so if I’m not present for a certain time I’ll tell them to take my salary off. If they could not take the salary off, right, then I will be donating that salary to the charity.”

Dhaliwal says Sims’ criticisms are “hollow.”

“She does not know what I’m doing.”

“On top of it,” Dhaliwal continued, “I’m still working as an MP, I’m not going to abandon my constituents as she did, right. She abandoned her constituents not to perform her duties but I’m serving my constituents as I go but at the same time I’m not taking the benefit that an MP should take in service.”

office for the company’s significant hub in the Pacific Northwest.

Rajwat said he’s bullish about the role more than 8,000 employees in the Seattle region will play on Meta’s big bet on the metaverse, the immersive, futuristic internet that the company calls the next evolution in social connection.

“We have an internal saying that the road to the metaverse passes through the Pacific Northwest,” Rajwat said.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly told employees last week that the company was reducing headcount for the first time ever as part of a reorganization amid the larger economic downturn. Meta’s stock is down nearly 60% this year.

“We had a growth projection which was pretty steep,” Rajwat said. “And looking at the economic environment and how the market is trending, we will drastically reduce growth.”

Rajwat added that the company is taking another look at its real estate projections, “especially now with remote work.” Meta said last year it would allow anyone to request remote work.

The company has been gobbling up office space across the Seattle area, including several new buildings at Bellevue’s Spring District.

GeekWire caught up with Rajwat to discuss Meta’s growth in the region, his views on hybrid work and more. Keep reading for our Q&A, edited for length and clarity.

What’s the biggest change in your eight years at Meta — for you and the company?

Paresh Rajwat: “When I joined it was still a very small company. The way the company has evolved and grown has been just incredible to see. A large part of the culture is still the same — people thinking creatively, people being very passionate about the projects that they work on. They think big, they move fast, smaller teams, less processes, more coding, more doing. I feel a lot of that sentiment is still there.

Another

man

Surrey RCMP investigating death-threat sprayed on garage door in Clayton Heights

Ivan Scott says residence belongs to KTRIS supporter and suspects crime tied to election .

Surrey Mounties are investigating a death threat that was spray-painted on the garage door of a residence in Clayton Heights over the weekend.

Ivan Scott, founder of Keep the RCMP in Surrey, says the resident is a “supporter” of KTRIS but he wouldn’t reveal who.

“I’m not going to say who that is, we’ve got really not too much to say right now regarding that. The police are looking into it,” Scott said. Asked if he think it’s connected to the civic election, Scott replied, “it seems more than just

coincidence that this would happen.

“I would assume that it is connected with the election, yes.”

“It is horrible.”

KTRIS has been a vociferous opponent of the city’s transition to the Surrey Police Service from the RCMP and has also endorsed mayoral candidate Brenda Locke and her Surrey Connect slate heading into the election.

For her part, Locke stated in a press release that “This is reprehensible behavior.

It’s utterly unacceptable and I hope the police find the criminal and deal with it in the strongest way possible” and “Our hearts go out to the volunteer and their family.”

Kelowna ER doctor punched

Brennan Hoda pleaded guilty to assault and mischief and appeared in Kelowna court Monday for sentencing.

Court heard Dr. Mathew Petrie was assaulted on Dec. 23, 2020 after running to the aid of a nurse Hoda was approaching aggressively.

Hoda was in the minor treatment area of the hospital for a hurt foot and grew unhappy with the time he was waiting.

Crown prosecutors say Hoda started to yell and approach a nurse when Dr. Petrie intervened.

Hoda then tried to swing at Dr. Petrie, but missed, and hit computers and plexiglass.

Dr. Petrie tried to restrain Hoda, but wasn’t successful. Hoda threw another punch and hit the doctor in the jaw and behind his left ear. Security arrived, and Hoda lunged at the doctor again.

Dr. Petrie sustained a concussion and was forced to take two months off of work.

Damage to the computers and plexiglass totalled over $5,000.

The doctor shared a victim impact statement in court Monday, outlining how the incident

affected his personal health and well-being.

“I was both emotionally and physically impacted. Emotionally I was upset and stressed by the physical and verbal aggression showed by Mr. Hoda. It was difficult to finish my shift and continue to care for the patients in the emergency department who were also traumatized by witnessing this event and experienced subsequent delays of their care.”

“I suffered physical pain from the impact of two punches and more importantly suffered a concussion which took months to recover from. I suffered from such symptoms as headaches, sleep disruption, irritability, and emotional dysregulation.”

Dr. Petrie said the attack is part of a spectrum of growing violence experienced in health care settings.

“Dealing with verbally and physically aggressive behaviour by patients and family members has become a daily occurrence in the emergency department in what is already a challenging work environment.”

Man with knife arrested and charged after refusal to leave Kamloops school property

An alarming incident at a Kamloops, B.C., school has resulted in a man being arrested and charged.

Kamloops RCMP said officers were called to a school on McGill Road. They were told a man was refusing to leave the school property.

Officers quickly recognized the suspect as “being on release conditions which included not to be at a school or playground,” police said.

Once the man was arrested, police said they found a knife.

Kamloops’ Samuel Robert Theodore Moller, 35, is charged with mischief, possession of a knife for dangerous purposes, failure to comply with an undertaking by attending a school or playground and failure to comply with an undertaking by possessing a knife.

Dog killed, woman injured in shooting at Maple Ridge home: RCMP

Mounties are investigating a shooting that killed a family pet and injured a woman in Maple Ridge on Wednesday night.

Police said they were called at about 9 p.m. to a home on Lougheed Highway near Spilsbury Street. When they arrived, officers found a 52-year-old woman and a dog had both been shot.

The woman was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The dog died, however, despite attempts to get emergency medical treatment.

About an hour later, officers from Abbotsford police and the Lower Mainland Integrated Emergency Response Team arrested a 38-year-old man. Police said the incident isn’t connected to Lower Mainland gang conflict and everyone involved knows each other. “The rapid and highly coordinated response and communication between police jurisdictions, integrated teams, the forensic identification support and Emergency Health Services was instrumental in the timely arrest of the suspect,” said Supt. Wendy Mehat in a news release.

Two family members of man pleaded guilty to fatal shooting acquitted

Two family members of a man who pleaded guilty to fatally shooting a Surrey teen were acquitted Monday of helping the killer cover up the crime.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Jeanne Watchuk found Gurvinder Singh Deo, the brother of Harjot Singh Deo, and Talwinder Singh Khun Khun, a member of Deo’s extended family, not guilty of being accessories-afterthe-fact in the manslaughter of Bhavkiran (Kiran) Dhesi. In February, Harjot Deo, a former boyfriend of the victim, had pleaded

guilty to the August 2017 manslaughter of the 19-year-old victim. He had initially been charged with second-degree murder.

Court heard that Deo had accidentally shot the victim in Deo’s family home on 147th Street in Surrey after she had travelled to the home in a BMW. The body of the victim, who was shot in Deo’s bedroom, was wrapped in a comforter and placed in the trunk of the BMW, and then driven to a location on 186 B Street, where the vehicle was set on fire.

Canadian businesses will now charge you their side of credit card fees

With record-high inflation, Canadian shoppers are well aware that the cost of just about everything is going up.

But they can soon expect to see a new demand for their dollars when they shop, because starting Thursday, retailers and other businesses will be allowed to charge them a fee every time they swipe their credit card once notice is provided to card companies.

How will this affect the way you use your credit card? Tell us in an email to ask@cbc. ca or join us live in the comments now. While consumers love the convenience and rewards of paying with credit cards, they have raised the ire of retailers for years because as part of the original card agreements, stores had to give a percentage of every sale to the card providers for making

the transaction happen. The fee can range from fractions of a per cent to more than two per cent for some premium cards.

As part of their card agreement, merchants were forbidden from passing on that cost to consumers. But that all changed earlier this year, when Visa, MasterCard and other card providers settled a long-running lawsuit on the issue in Canada — agreeing to rebate merchants $188 million for what are known as interchange fees that merchants were charged in the past decade.

“Credit cards are one of the most expensive means of payment for merchants,” said Luciana Brasil, a partner at Vancouver-based law firm Branch MacMaster LLP, which worked on the class-action lawsuit that led to the settlement.

BC breaks dozens of temperature records amid unseasonably dry conditions

British Columbia broke two dozen temperature records Sunday, marking the latest in a stretch of unseasonably warm days.

The latest broken records come after what Environment Canada is calling the warmest September on record for many parts of the province including Metro Vancouver.

“We should be switching to rainy season. However we haven’t seen that so far this year,” Yimei Li of Environment Canada.

The following areas set a daily maximum temperature record on Oct. 2, according to preliminary data from Environment Canada: Abbotsford: New record of 27.5, old record of 27.0 set in 1993 Agassiz: New record of 27.4, old record of 27.2 set in

1935 - Ashcroft: New record of 28.6, old record of 27.0 set in 1987 - Clearwater: New record of 26.1, old record of 25.0 set in 1923- Clinton Area: New record of 25.0, old record of 23.3 set in 2020Comox: New record of 22.7, old record of 22.2 set in 1952- Courtenay: New record of 22.7, old record of 22.2 set in 1952- Esquimalt: New record of 25.3, old record of 25.0 set in 1935- Gibsons: New record of 23.7, old record of 22.2 set in 1962

Gonzales Point: New record of 25.3, old record of 25.0 set in 1935- Kelowna: New record of 25.9, old record of 25.6 set in 1932- Lytton: New record of 28.1, old record of 27.8 set in 1963

PM Trudeau announces $300 million recovery fund after storm Fiona

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the federal government is setting up a $300-million “Hurricane Fiona recovery fund” to help Atlantic Canadians rebuild from the deadly and destructive post-tropical storm.

As a result of storm surge and high winds from what’s been cited as one of the strongest storms ever to make landfall in Canada, a number of homes were swept out to sea. Businesses, bridges, airports and other infrastructure were also severely damaged.

“This funding will support projects to repair and rebuild storm-damaged

critical infrastructures such as wharves, support the cleanup of fishing gear so that boats and marine life can once again safely navigate these waters, and of course help local businesses and communities rebuild and recover,” Trudeau said Tuesday. The fund will provide “up to an additional $300 million over two years, starting this year,” according to the government, with the money to be administered through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) in coordination with the Canada Economic Development Agency for Quebec Regions (CED) as well as other related departments.

Canada to change ‘Express Entry’ rules from 2023

Canada Immigration: In the latest express entry draw, Canada issued permanent residency invitations to 3,750 candidates.

Canada express entry is likely to see changes aimed at addressing the labour shortage in the country. The changes could come into motion in 2023. In addition to this, Canada could also issue Invitations to Apply for Permanent Residence (ITAs) to candidates with specific work experience and education. Job vacancies are at a record high in Canada.

“Canada’s high immigration targets, including those through Express Entry programs, stem from several factors including a job vacancy rate that currently stands at 5.7%,” a CIC report said.

Here are top points on the changes that can be expected in Canada’s express entry rules:

1. In the latest express entry draw, Canada issued permanent residency invitations to 3,750 candidates, an increase of 500 invitations issued in the previous draw.

2. Invitations were issued to eligible candidates from the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP).

3.WhiletheSeptember14drawinvited3,250 candidates, the August 31 draw invited 2,750.

4. Over the first five draws, scores decreased by eight or nine points for each draw.

5. Express entry all-program draws were paused for around 18 months starting December 2020 due to a backlog in applications owing to the Covid pandemic.

Jinny Sims: I have the experience and passion along with strength to bring about the change Surrey needs. Surrey city hall is broken and its time to fix it.

I am running to bring transparency, openness, and accountability to city hall. I am running to bring fairness to city hall. There is a strong feeling that there is a level of corruption whereby people behind the current mayor, whoever they are, are the ones who running the city. And the development community has become very dependent on those individuals.

Asian Star: You are saying that right out very confidently.

Jinny Sims: Right out that there is a very strong – everywhere I go in Surrey - I hear city hall is broken and that it only works for a few people who have an inside track to the man. And it’s time everybody had equal access. We want fairness at the way investments are done in Surrey so every part of Surrey gets to grow and blossom.

Secondly, we are running for affordability. For the last four years the Doug McCallum and Brenda Locke have been fighting over colour choice for police uniforms, and they have spent no time talking about safety and security. They have ignored the real needs of families in Surrey. People living in Surrey are worried about housing, they are worried about transportation, about childcare, about recreational facilities, they are worried about their everyday life. Doug McCallum and Brenda Locke have been fighting and they failed to access the wealth of resources from the province to help people in Surrey.

On housing candidate Jinny Sims has this to say Jinny Sims: We are going to double the number of permits in the first two years for new housing, that is for both rental and purchase. Up to 25% being affordable, low and middle income, and supportive housing. This is going to be achieved by working with the provincial government on the nine billion dollars they have there and we are going to bring our share of resources into Surrey so families can afford to live and work here.

Asian Star: Do we have enough inspectors from city hall to monitor new builds in the future with double the construction?

Jinny Sims: We will hire staff as necessary to get the jobs done. For housing working with non-profits, David Eby, if he becomes premier - which I know he will, has already announced he is going to help. If people have shovels in the ground, they have ready projects, they are going to get a huge financial support to get those built straight away. They is also monies going into affordable, low-income and middle-income. These monies are for non-profit housing projects.

Jinny Sims: “On transportation - We are going to have a Skytrain from King George all the way through to Newton into South Surrey. The population has grown so much as we go south and when you look at it, there is a train coming from Portland if that train comes up 99 Hwy, which it is likely, then it will be a perfect stop making Surrey a destination city.

In the last election Doug McCallum won the election by saying people of Newton are not second-class citizens, that they deserve a Skytrain. It went to Langley instead. We will have rapid buses that run every 10 minutes in all the main corridors until midnight. More rapid bus routes and running more often and with extended hours. We also need bus service off the rapid routes into all the communities. For example, areas like Clayton Heights where all those new manufacturing and warehouses are, there’s no public transportation! Today I met about a hundred of the workers there

– their main issue is public transportation.

There is only 1 stand-alone senior center in all of Surrey.

We have an aging population and a young population.

Along with the senior centers in every community we are also going make sure there is childcare as well.

We are going to bring back the Surrey development corporation and its time Surrey got into the business of developing what it owns and keeping ownership.

The current mayor, Doug McCallum and his council also failed to live up to building a performance center in Surrey. For a city our size, we are the second largest city in BC and we have no fine arts performing center. We haven’t created a culture of fine dining, or nightlife, or a culture of the arts. When you build a community just building houses is not enough, we need to build a community where the residents can live, work and play.

Unless you do all three it’s not a very happy community. Our children spend so much money going to Vancouver downtown, don’t get me wrong - we have some amazing Indian restaurants in Surrey but most of the non-Indian restaurants have almost disappeared. Where do our kids go when they go downtown – they are looking for Italian and French cuisine! It has changed, the next generation’s palate is far more diverse.”

Jinny Sims also pointed out City Centre’s residential units have increased, but not services – for example, there is no firehall in City Centre with extra expertise in fighting fires in high-rises. We have committed to building a firehall. City has added only four firefighters in a decade. We have announced additional firefighters to be hired straightaway, thirtytwo. Retail and commercial space was also not factored in the planning of the high-rises.

Jinny Sims’s Surrey Forward announced they will be building an entertainment center and a stadium for Surrey’s downtown. It’s going to be a 10,000-person stadium put together with a partnership between the public through the Surrey Development Corporation and private corporations –turning it into an entertainment and shopping district around the outside of it with an arts center attached with 1400 seats and a potential small 500 seat theatre. And start a soccer team in the CSL. All of this will be situated around the Tom Binnie Park and University Drive.

Jinny Sims last words on Brenda Locke’s record in public office -

“Brenda Locke has not served the people of Surrey well. In the current council, she voted for Surrey police, then she changed her mind, and it sent us down a very messy road, she voted to get the Skytrain to Langley when it was promised to Newton and betrayed Newton area residents.

When she was in the provincial government with the Liberals, she voted to get rid of Human Rights Commission, she voted to get rid of sports budget for special needs, she voted to get rid of class sizes and class composition.

Brenda Locke made a frontal attack on jobs that were paying decent wages, of mainly immigrant women, in jobs in the health sector. Brenda Locke contracted those jobs out. Because of her votes, the hospital laundry got sent out, before that laundry was done inhouse, same with the food that was made in the hospitals, contracted out. Women making $18 to $20 dollars an hour were reduced to $8 dollars an hour without job security.

These jobs were contracted out from under health care and we are just bringing those jobs back into Fraser Health now.

Brenda Locke’s record is very clear, when she was with the provincial government, she attacked our kids, they didn’t build schools,

they sold the land for the hospital, and she got rid of the human rights commission and decent paying jobs to women.

We do not want to see that in Surrey. We don’t want to have jobs contracted out of Surrey. We want to grow a city where people can live, work and play. I have the experience, I’m a fighter, I can negotiate, I’m well known in the

provincial government, I have the contacts, I know how the federal government works, and I will be able to deal with other mayors, with other jurisdictions, to get Surrey what it needs.

Surrey never had a mayor that could fight for Surrey and I’m telling you right now out of eight of us who are running, I’m the one with the experience to get things done for Surrey.”

Jinny Sims - Mayoral candidate for City of Surrey

Surrey soccer stadium concept

Guru Nanak Food Bank

The establishment of Guru Nanak Food Bank, affectionately called the Guru’s Modikhana on July 1, 2020 in Surrey was a very timely and noble move by some of our community’s dedicated volunteers. One of the founders and General Secretary of the Guru Nanak Food Bank is Jay Minhas. He, along with Giani Narinder Singh Walia, Inderjit Singh Dhillon, Anoop Singh Loodu, Bill Sandhu, Surinder Manj and Neeraj Walia responded to the special needs of the community brought on by the pandemic. Since its inception, Guru Nanak Food Bank has been doing a commendable job in helping those who need it the most.

Before establishing Guru Nanak Food Bank, this group of volunteers were providing Welcome Packages to international students, victims of the pandemic and anyone else who needed help. These Welcome Packages consisted of mattresses, blankets, bedsheets and pillows etc. About the same time, the nearby Gurdwara Dukh Nivaran was getting large donations of groceries like sugar, atta, salt, lentils and spices etc. The Gurdwara management offered these groceries to Guru Nanak Food Bank for onward transmission to the needy clients of the food bank. In this process, Guru Nanak Food Bank was handing out groceries and other items worth close to $9,000 per week. As the demand increased the organizers felt the need for a permanent venue for the

food bank and make it more sustainable.

With this in mind, the group decided to fully incorporate Guru Nanak Dev ji’s philosophy of universality. Consequently, they incorporated Guru Nanak Food Bank as a charity in May/ June 2020. It was registered as a charity designed to help everyone who came to it for help. One of its members, a prominent property developer, Mr. Anoop Singh Loodu was kind enough to provide the food bank a place for free from where it could operate. Its growth has been amazing. It had begun serving about 200 individuals and families in the early stages. However, on its second anniversary on July 1, 2022 it had served more than 6,500 families.

Here it needs to be stressed that Guru Nanak Food Bank receives no grants. Donations form philanthropists and the community are its only and main source. During this short period, this food bank has become a multi- million dollar enterprise totally from donations and the Guru’s blessings. Its clients, once registered can access its services any time without being questioned. Guru Nanak Food Bank’s popularity reached even Ottawa.

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

Sudesh Bhosle

One of the best play back singers and mimicry artist

Sudesh Bhosale is one of the best play back singers and mimicry artist who primarily started mimicry since his school age. He is refined play back singer for Bollywood films. Sudesh Bhosle got game by his mimicry for actor Amitabh Bachchan, and his world famous song “chumma” he sung many other songs for Amitabh Bachchan.

Sudesh Bhosle was born on July 1, 1960 to Sumantai Bhosale. He studied in Ambedkar College, Wadala.

He got his first major break through in song “jumma chumma de de” for film HUM (Amitabh Bachchan, Kimmi Katkar) His first film was Zalzala in 1988.

He used mimicry to become professional dubbing artist for several singers and actors like SD Burman, RD Burman, Hemant Kumar, KL Sehgal, Kishore Kumar, actors Sanjeev Kumar, Raj Kimar, Anil Kapoor, Shakti Kapoor and many more.

He dubbed for Sanjeev Kumar when

he died prematurely before completing the film Professor Ki Padosan. He has sung songs for the movie Ghatothkach in 2008. Sudesh Bhosle also perofrmed with singers Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle, and music director RD Burman and many leading music directors and singers.

Sudesh Bhosle was also the producer and judge in program K For Kishore, a singing cometition on Sony ent., tv. He has sung many famous Bollywood songs such as “Meri Makhna Meri Soniye” from film Baghban and many others.

He can also mimic numerous Bollywood stars including Ashok Kumar (Dadamoni), Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, Anil Kapoor, Sunil Dutt and others.

He was honoured with Mother Teresa Millennium Award for his contribution to music in Kolkata in 2008.

Sudesh Bhosale is married to Hema Bhosle. Sudesh has one son named

Kiara Advani

The young talent who gave some backto-back super hit movies Kiara Advani is nowadays noted among the top 10 Bollywood actresses. She was born on 31 July 1992 in Mumbai. She changed her name from Alia Advani to Kiara Advani suggested by Salman Khan before release of her debut film Fugly (in 2014).

Kiara has given some successful Bollywood films in recent times including Lust Stories, M.S. Dhoni: The Untold

Story, Indoo Ki Jawani, Good Newwz, Kabir Singh, etc. She has outstanding acting skills along with an attractive figure and beautiful face. So definitely, she is a rising star of Indian Cinema who could be a preeminent actress of Bollywood in upcoming days.

Kiara’s next feature was Dharma Production’s Shershaah (2021), based on the life of army officer Vikram Batra (played by Sidharth Malhotra), in which she played the role of Batra’s girlfriend. The film released digitally on Amazon Prime Video,

Community news

For Seniors new game - Bean Bag Toss or Corn Hole Game, New Game at Shanti Niketan on October 9th 2022 (Sunday) from 2,00 pm to 3.30 pm.

The game will start at 2.00 pm to 3.30 pm at Shanti Niketan hall of Lakshmi Narayan Temple 8321 - 140th street Surrey V3W 5K9 BC. Some of the seniors can engage themselves with Playing Cards for keeping the brain active & healthy.

Tea and light snacks will be served to all after the game is over. Please keep social distance to protect

yourself and others.

Yoga Classes will continued at Shanti Niketan hall every Monday and every Thursday by expert Yoga Instructor Mr. Ashwini Bansal from 10.00 am to 11.15 am both the days. Mr. Mahender Kumar Juneja, Yoga Expert will also be there to help & advice corrections to make sure all seniors are doing correct Yoga.

Lakshmi Narayan Temple, 8321140th St., Surrey, BC, V3W 5K9 Tel: 604 - 507 - 9945

Surrey Forward Commits to Safety Charter Police and Fire Services to be Improved to Protect Residents and Businesses

When elected, Jinny Sims are her Surrey Forward team will act immediately to stop spending money on the misguided effort to change policing from the RCMP to the Surrey Police Service. Instead, money will be invested in crime and fire protection. Surrey Forward will demand a community safety plan from the integrated police service that will reduce violent crime, arrest and prosecute perpetrators of petty crime and eliminate gang activity. In addition, Surrey Forward will invest in a new fire hall, add muchneeded safety equipment to protect residents of high rises from fires and medical situations and dramatically increase the number of firefighters.

“For too long, the conversation about safety in Surrey has been about the colour of the uniforms of the police service,” said Jinny Sims, Mayoral candidate for Surrey Forward. “Enough.

We need to invest in actual community safety. The people of Surrey want criminals arrested. They want organized crime pushed out of Surrey. They want firefighters to be able to respond to any emergency.”

“The costly boondoggle that was started by Brenda Locke and Doug McCallum must end now. Funds have been pulled from the City Corporation to pay for the millions and millions of dollars committed to this folly.” “Brenda Locke now wants to spend even more to undo her action. People have told me they want a Mayor who makes the right choice the first time, not a Mayor who tries to spend her way out of mistake after mistake.”

“By creating a safety charter, the residents of Surrey can rest easier knowing that the Surrey Forward team is committing to their personal safety. No more investing in a personal police service for Doug McCallum or Brenda Locke. Surrey Forward will invest in you.”

Celebration of National Seniors Day 2022

BC Cultural Diversity Association (BCCDA) Celebrated National Seniors Day on October 1. BC Cultural Diversity Association (BCCDA), with the mandate in building harmony between cultures, celebrated and recognized the contributions of seniors to the society at its Annual Seniors Day event on Saturday, October 1, 2022, at the Marine Bay Restaurant in Richmond. BCCDA has organized Seniors Recognition events in October 2018, 2019, and 2021. In 2020, due to Covid-19, no event was held. 2020 was also the year when AntiAsian Racism has reportedly increased significantly in the major cities of British Columbia. The 2022 Seniors Recognition

celebration featured recognition of 10 Senior Honorees (80+ years) from diverse cultural backgrounds who have made great difference in their communities. They are Mr. Arthur Shuren Cheng, Sergeant Sukhdev Singh Gadri, Dr. Robert Krell, Ms. Sophia M. Leung, C.M., Dr. Eddie Lo, Mr. Ralph Long, Mr. Peter Praegel, Dr. Doo Ho Shin, Dr. Jan Walls, Me. Wu Shiyin.

Dave S. Hayer, Vice President - Phone: 604-833-4000 E-mail: Dave.S.Hayer@gmail.com

New rules coming for mortgage brokers following B.C.’s money laundering probe

The British Columbia government is bringing in new laws to replace the outdated Mortgage Brokers Act as it follows recommendations from an inquiry into money laundering.

Finance Minister Selina Robinson introduced the bill in the legislature on Tuesday, saying B.C. residents deserve better consumer protection and more transparency in the mortgage broking industry.

The government says in a statement the act will give the BC Financial Services Authority the ability to make rules for the industry, as non-traditional lenders emerge, and more people turn to brokers and online technology to arrange residential mortgages.

It say that the act will provide a framework to address issues singled out by the Cullen Commission of Inquiry

into Money Laundering that wrapped up in May, aimed at reducing the problem in the real estate sector.

One pending change is increasing fines to a maximum of $500,000 for those caught breaking the rules, while those with more than one conviction could face fines of up to $2.5 million.

The statement estimates the earliest the new rules could be introduced is late 2023.

A comprehensive package of the news you need to know about the region and its place in the issues facing Canada.

A house that sold for more than the listing price in Westend Toronto, Sunday, April 24, 2022.

After fuelling Canada’s economy through the COVID-19 pandemic, the real estate market is showing signs of weakness as home prices fall and bidding wars dissipate.

B.C. housing plan great ‘in theory’ but questions linger: Experts

Real estate watchers have both praise and unanswered questions about British Columbia NDP leadership hopeful David Eby’s sweeping proposal to bring more affordable housing to the province.

“There are a lot of big ideas and not a lot of detail. So it’s hard to get into the minutiae with some of this,” Rhiannon Foster, the owner of the Opportunity Homes Collective under Century 21 In Town Realty in Vancouver, told Yahoo Finance Canada in a phone interview.

“In theory, everything’s great - we just need to have conversations about what this actually looks like, and how it actually affects things and maybe, you know, draw small boundaries around some of these big ideas.”

Eby’s housing platform includes a $500 million fund to provide grants to non-profit organizations, co-ops and First Nations to buy affordable rental buildings that come up for sale and

a B.C. Builds initiative aimed at fasttracking approvals and construction of multi-family housing developments.

“The opportunity here is for the provincial government to bring together all of the partners, whether it’s non-profit organizations, whether it’s homebuilders, cities, other levels of government, to use public land to build actually attainable housing for the middle class in our province,” Eby said of the B.C. Builds strategy during a press conference in North Vancouver where he revealed the proposal this week.

The leadership candidate, who previously served as the province’s attorney general and housing minister, is also proposing a tax on property flippers, or those who sell a home within two years of purchase, with exemptions for those going through a major life event such as a divorce or job loss. He didn’t specify how much the tax would be.

Concerns about implementation

Sales of condos, row houses increase as Calgarians seek affordable housing, says CREB

Calgary property sales cooled in September by nearly 12 per cent when compared with last year, but the market for more affordable housing options is making gains, the Calgary Real Estate Board said Monday.

Demand for detached housing slowed for the sixth month in a row, CREB said in a report on September’s sales, and the decline is being attributed to a narrowing segment of the market: homes priced around $500,000.

A “significant” reduction in supply has left few options for potential purchasers, while condos and row houses have seen increased sales activity, CREB said. “Purchasers are still active in the

affordable segments of the market, cushioning much of the impact on sales,”

CREB’s chief economist, Ann-Marie Lurie, said in a report released Monday.

“At the same time, we are seeing new listings ease, preventing the market from becoming oversupplied and supporting more balanced conditions.”

A shift to ‘more balanced conditions’

CREB reported that Calgary’s benchmark house price continues to rise year-overyear and is now sitting at $527,400.

It also said that overall, there were 1,901 sales in September — activity that is still far stronger than it was prior to the pandemic.

Bank of Canada: A Sweet Spot In The Canadian Mortgage Market

Author’s note: All figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted investment work

I have recommended the National Bank of Canada (OTCPK:NTIOF) in the past for its industry-leading dividend growth and total return profile. In the current climate of rising interest rates and the prospect of a 2023 recession, the National Bank is distinguished by its geographic focus on the Canadian domestic market. Although domestically focused on the Canadian market, the National Bank has avoided significant exposure to those segments of the Canadian housing market that are most vulnerable to rising interest rates. With 85% of revenue coming from the domestic market, the National Bank will benefit from Canada’s above-average GDP growth in 2023. company profile

National Bank operates through four primary business segments: Personal and Commercial Banking, Wealth Management, Financial Markets, and US Specialty Finance and International. The National Bank provides personal and commercial banking and investment solutions, as well as securities broking, insurance and wealth management services. As of Q3 2022, National Bank has approximately $700 billion in assets under management or under management and total assets of $387 billion. The National Bank, headquartered in Montreal, is the dominant lender in the province of Quebec. With approximately 2.7 million customers and 460 branches, the bank has a growing presence in other Canadian regions, as well as a growing US and international presence. With a market capitalization of approximately US$29 billion, the National Bank of Canada is the smallest of the six systemically important banks in Canada. National Bank trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker “NA.TO” and over the counter as “NTIOF” with an average daily trading volume of 1.55 million shares.

National Bank shares are down 11% year-to-date and offer a dividend yield of $0.92/quarter. The National Bank’s current yield of 4.25% is above the 5-year average yield of 3.78%.

Current Results

In the last quarter, the National Bank improved its efficiency ratio to 54.1% from 53.0% in the second quarter of 2022. The National Bank continues to have the best return on equity of any Canadian bank. In that most recent quarter, the National Bank delivered a 22% return on equity. Bank Table ROE (RBC Capital Markets)

The SNB continues to diversify its geographic base. In 2020, 54% of revenue came from the province of Quebec, Canada’s second largest with a population of around 8 million. As of Q3 2022, expansion into the Atlantic and western Canada has brought that share down to 52%.

Driven by a strong wealth management

segment, Morningstar estimates that noninterest income will grow 3% annually over the next few years. Underscoring this growth are assets under management and fee-based revenue, which are up 17% and 22% year over year, respectively. Even as interest rates rose into 2022, the National Bank delivered strong total loan growth of 12.9% year over year.

At National Bank’s recent Q3 2022 conference call, President and Chief Executive Officer Laurent Ferreira discussed the benefits of National Bank’s geographic focus in the Quebec mortgage market. In the third quarter of 2022, the National Bank reported commercial lending growth of 17% yoy and retail mortgage lending growth of 8% yoy.

Anddespitetherecentdrop-off,year-to-date sales remain 15 per cent higher than last year.

But new listings declined by 10 per cent, which CREB said was “enough to prevent any gain in inventory levels, which declined over last month.”

“The shift to more balanced conditions is causing some adjustments to home prices,” the report said.

“While prices have slid from the highs seen in May, as of September, benchmark prices remain 11 per cent higher than last year and six per cent higher than levels

reported at the beginning of the year.”

Condo, row house sales make gains

The report also said that sales for detached homes improved for those priced between $600,000 and $999,9999.

This range group also reported the largest growth in new listings and overall supply levels, CREB said.

Meanwhile, row houses had a “year-to-date record high pace of sales,” while apartment condominiums had year-to-date sales of 5,026 — a 60 per cent gain over last year.

India is testing samples of cough syrups produced by Maiden Pharmaceuticals for exports after the World Health Organization said its products were linked to the deaths of dozens of children in Gambia, the country’s health ministry said on Thursday.

The deaths of 66 children in the West African country is a blow to India’s image as a “pharmacy of the world” that supplies medicines to all continents, especially Africa.

The WHO on Wednesday said laboratory analysis of four Maiden products - Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup - had confirmed “unacceptable” amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, which can be toxic and lead to acute kidney injury.

Diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol are used in antifreeze and brake fluids and other industrial applications

but also as a cheaper alternative in some pharmaceutical products.

India’s health ministry said samples of the same batch manufactured by Maiden for all four drugs has been sent for testing to a federal laboratory and the results would “guide further course of action as well as bring clarity on the inputs received/to be received from WHO.”

It asked the WHO to share its report on “establishment of causal relation to death with the medical products in question.”

The WHO did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Anil Vij, the health minister of Haryana state where Maiden has its factories, warned of “strict action if anythingisfoundwrong”afterthetests.

Naresh Kumar Goyal, a Maiden director, told Reuters that it heard about the deaths only on Thursday morning

and were trying to find out details. “We are trying to find out the situation because it cropped up only today,” he said

by phone. “We are trying to find out with the buyer and all that what has happened exactly. We are not selling anything in India.” He declined to speak further.

India awaits WHO information on any cough syrup link to Gambia deaths

Modi says ready to contribute to peace efforts in Ukraine

PM Modi on Tuesday told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that his country is ready to contribute to peace efforts in the ongoing conflict with Russia that has raged for seven months.

“He expressed his firm conviction that there can be no military solution to the conflict and conveyed India’s readiness to contribute to any peace efforts,” the Indian prime minister’s office said in a statement after a telephone conversation between Modi and Zelenskiy. India is

articulating its position against the Ukraine war more robustly to counter criticism that it is soft on Russia, but it still has neither held Moscow responsible for the invasion nor altered its policy on importing cheap Russian oil and coal. Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The “Prime Minister emphasized the importance India attaches to the safety and security of nuclear installations, including in Ukraine,” the statement said.

4 Indian-Americans in Forbes-400 rich list

Indian-Americans Vinod Khosla, Romesh Wadhwani and Rakesh Gangwal made it to the Forbes 2022 list of 400 wealthiest Americans with Zscaler CEO Jay Chaudhry leading the pack with a net worth of $8.2 billion. Overall, Tesla’s

Elon Musk earned the top spot for the first time, unseating former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who had held the top spot for four consecutive years. As a group, the 400 wealthiest Americans are worth $4 trillion, $500 billion less than last year, Forbes noted.

Eknath Shinde targets Uddhav Thackeray at Dussehra rally

Two factions of Shiv Sena – led by Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde – addressed Dussehra rallies in Mumbai on Vijay Dashami. There are two factions of Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and the fight is going on between the two as to who is the real Shiv Sena.

Shiv Sena has been holding a rally on Dussehra for a long time. In this rally, all the issues are talked about by the Shiv Sena chief. In the year 2022 but the situation is not the same as before. This time the situation is different. The Dussehra rally festival of Shivaji Park, which is called the pride of

Shiv Sena, went through a lot of struggle. Who’s faction had to make a lot of effort for this by rallying in Shivaji Park. After a long struggle, Uddhav Thackeray was allowed to hold a rally at Shivaji Park. Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray holds a Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park in Dadar, Mumbai. On the other hand, the faction of Eknath Shinde organized Dussehra rally at BKC ground.

Bal Thackeray’s son Jaydev appeared on stage with Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde at a Dussehra rally at BKC Maidan in Mumbai.

Killing of Sikh family in USA sends shock waves in native village in Punjab

Sherrif says ‘special place in hell’ for suspect; believes at least one more person involved in killings

“There’s a special place in hell for this guy,” the Sheriff of Merced County in California has said of the suspect who abducted four members of an Indian-origin Sikh family, including an eight-monthold baby girl, found dead in an orchard.

“There are no words right now to describe the anger I feel and the senselessness of this incident,” Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke said on Wednesday night after authorities confirmed the death of four members of the family, who were missing since Monday.

“There’s a special place in hell for this guy,” Warnke said of suspect Jesus Manuel Salgado, who was convicted of armed robbery in 2005 and spent 11 years in prison.

The 48-year-old on Tuesday attempted suicide in the nearby town of Atwater after being arrested for the murder.

The sheriff said while there is no evidence at this time to indicate another person was involved, “I still think that we’re by the time we get done here we’ll be able to tie in at least one other person.”

A farmworker called around 5.30 pm (local time) to report the bodies of the family, including an eight-month-old baby, whose abduction was captured on surveillance video.

Sheriff Warnke said detectives when arrived at the spot determined the remains were those of eight-month-old Aroohi Dheri; her mother Jasleen Kaur, 27; her father Jasdeep Singh, 36; and her uncle Amandeep Singh, 39, originally from Harsi Pind in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, were kidnapped from their newly-opened trucking business in Merced County, California, on Monday.

The suspect on Tuesday attempted

suicide in the nearby town of Atwater after being arrested for the murder.

Warnke, refraining from providing much information citing the ongoing investigation, said investigators had spoken with Salgado who was convicted in 2005 of armed robbery, which involved false imprisonment.

The sheriff’s office said the suspect’s own family contacted authorities reporting that Salgado had admitted to being involved in the kidnapping.

“The suspect has been talking off and on, based upon his condition. And we still have investigators with the suspect and we are gleaning information from that,” Warnke said, adding that the investigation was “now gearing towards putting this rotten son of a gun in prison”.

“I can tell you that every time he has even come near consciousness he has been violent,” Warnke added, elaborating that doctors had sedated him as they did not want him “thrashing around”.

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said he was released from prison in 2015 and discharged from parole three years later.

He was also convicted of possession of a controlled substance, the corrections agency said.

The family’s relatives have been notified, the sheriff said, adding: “A whole family wiped out, and we still don’t know why.”

Warnke added there was no evidence currently to indicate Salgado knew the family prior to the kidnapping.

“As of right now, we believe it was random,” Deputy Alexandra Britton said.

U.S. imposes sanction against Indian petrochemical company for ‘clandestine’ Iran oil purchases

In the first such move against oil shipments to India, the U.S. Treasury department announced it had imposed sanctions against a Mumbai based petrochemical company amongst several entities accused of selling Iranian petroleum products.

The company, Mumbai based Tibalaji in particular that was accused of purchasing shipments that were then sent to China, is the first Indian entity to face the U.S. designation under unilateral sanctions passed in 2018-19, after the U.S. Trump administration’s decision to walk out of the nuclear deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran. While India has officially refused to endorse the “unilateral sanctions” of the U.S., the Modi government agreed to end all oil imports

from Iran in 2019, that made up about 11% of India’s intake, rather than face the sanctions.

Announcing the move on Thursday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said it had sanctioned the “international network of companies” that were involved in the sale of “hundreds of millions of dollars” worth Iranian petrochemical products to South Asia and East Asia.

“Today’s action targets Iranian brokers and several front companies in the UAE, Hong Kong, and India that have facilitated financial transfers and shipping of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products,” the treasury department said, accusing the sanctioned companies of “concealing the origin” of the shipments from Iran.

In the afterglow of Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying ‘this is not the era for war’ in his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit at Samarkand, India was feted at the international fora for taking a principled yet neutral stand. That brought in loads of responsibilities, especially since India is set to assume

rotational presidentship of not just the SCO but also the G20 grouping for a year amid lobbying for a permanent seat at the UN Security Council. It’s a given that the seizure of any country’s territory by force is a flagrant violation of the UN Charter and international law.

The law should apply equally across the board—from China’s aggressions in Ladakh to Russia’s in Ukraine. Yet,

An Indian expat based in Dubai won the grand prize of Dh20 million in Big Ticket’s raffle draw series 244 held in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

Pradeep KP, who hails from the south Indian state of Kerala, works as a helper in a car company in Jebel Ali. The 24-year-old has been buying tickets for the past year and finally won the big prize with ticket number 064141.

Pradeep and his 20 colleagues purchased the ticket online on September

13 and will split the prize money.

When the draw hosts contacted him to inform him about his big win, the new multi-millionaire said he was on night duty.

“Yes. I am on duty, night duty,” he responded.

Pradeep, who has been living in Dubai for the past seven months, later revealed that he was so thrilled to win the jackpot and could not believe his luck.

Asked how he would be spending his prize, Pradeep said he is yet to make

Exclusive-Banks divert gold supply from India to China, Turkey: Report

Gold-supplying banks have cut shipments to India ahead of major festivals in favor of focusing on China, Turkey and other markets that offer better premiums, three bank officials and two box office operators told Reuters. That could create scarcity in the world’s second-largest market for

gold and force Indian buyers to start paying big premiums for supplies in the upcoming peak demand season.

Leading gold suppliers to India –which include ICBC Standard Bank, JPMorgan and Standard Chartered ( STAN.L ) – usually import more gold ahead of festivals and store it in vaults.

Putin threat, Modi speaks to Zelenskyy about safety of nuclear installations in Ukraine

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday spoke to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and reiterated his call for “dialogue and diplomacy” to solve the conflict with Russia.

The Prime Minister’s Office said Modi stressed a quick end to hostilities between the two countries, and also underscored the need to respect the UN Charter, international law, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states.

He told Zelenskyy about the importance India attaches to the safety and security of nuclear installations, including those in Ukraine. He underlined that the

endangerment of nuclear facilities could have far-reaching and catastrophic consequences for public health and the environment.

Modi also expressed his firm conviction that there could be no military solution to the conflict and conveyed India’s readiness to contribute to any peace efforts, the PMO statement said.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has recently raised the spectre of a nuclear attack and warned the West not to threaten the “territorial integrity” of his country. “We will without doubt use all available means to protect Russia and our people — this is not a bluff,” Putin said in a televised

India’s take on Putin land grab could have been better worded

Dubai-based Indian expat hits the jackpot, wins Dh20 million in Big Ticket Abu Dhabi draw

Jail minister suspends senior police officers after on-trial escapes from Patiala hospital

On instructions from Punjab Prisons Minister Harjot Singh Bains to take strict action in the event of a prisoner escape, the Punjab Prisons Department on Thursday suspended the Deputy Superintendent of Security at Patiala Jail, Warrant Officer Patiala and two guards.

According to the orders issued in this regard, DSP (Security) Varun Sharma was assigned to prison security, Deputy Superintendent of Patiala Prison

and Warrant Officer Harbans Singh, Prison Warden suspended the ballot

Satpal Singh’s No. 707 and Mandeep Singh’s Ballot No. 562 were suspended.

Apart from this, show cause notice was sent to Superintendent of Patiala Prison Manjit Singh Tiwana and Deputy Superintendent of Patiala Jail Jagjit Singh.

It is worth mentioning here that Amrik Singh, a resident of Dedna village of Ghagga block of Patiala district,

AIG Ashish Kapoor arrested in 2016 corruption case

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Thursday arrested an assistant inspector general of police and booked two other personnel in a ₹1-crore bribery case from 2016, officials said.

The money allegedly exchanged hands when AIG Ashish Kapoor, currently posted as the commandant

of the 4th Indian Reserve Battalion in Pathankot, was the superintendent of Amritsar Central Jail in 2016.

A spokesperson for the bureau said on Thursday the two policemen booked in the case are Deputy Superintendent of Police Pawan Kumar and Assistant Sub-inspector Harjinder Singh.

Slain singer Sidhu Moosewala’s father urges people to refrain from leaking his unreleased songs

Late Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala’s father Balkaur Singh has urged people to refrain from leaking his son’s unreleased songs.

Taking to Instagram, Balkaur Singh issued a statement where he can be heard saying that he’s noticed that Moosewala’s

recorded songs were being leaked.

Singh asked the late singer’s fans to identify the miscreants and help the family bring them to the fore. He said Moosewala’s recorded songs and the written content was all that the family had as the latter’s memories and if even those were leaked, it was hurtful.

Pakistan

Prime Minister refuses to inaugurate flood relief information dashboard called it a ‘joke’

PM Shehbaz Sharif issued a rebuke and expressed visible frustration after finding inadequacies in information dashboard built to monitor flood relief assistance, pointing out that it lacked real-time updates and was not of international standards.

The prime minister left federal ministers

Ahsan Iqbal, Aminul Haque, Marriyum Aurangzeb and Tariq Cheema red-faced as he refused to inaugurate the event and remained seated as he outlined his primary objection with the dashboard — designed by the IT ministry — saying that it was not being updated in real-time.

Chief cop was locked in PM house’s washroom on former PM Imran Khan’s order: report

Former Director General of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Mr Bashir Memon has confirmed a hacker’s claims that he was locked in a washroom based on the orders of ex-prime minister Imran Khan, media reports said Wednesday.

The hacker, in a series of tweets, which have now been deleted, shared inside details of the meeting

between former Prime Minister and Mr Memon. Memon confirmed the hacker’s claims, saying he responded harshly towards Imran Khan for hurling abuses at Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz, according to some media reports. Following his outburst, the then-principal secretary of PM Imran Khan, Azam Khan grabbed the former cop’s hand and locked him in the washroom, the report said.

Govt issues nationwide alert amid heightened risk of terror attacks by TTP

The Pakistan government has issued a nationwide alert to authorities to maintain “extreme vigilance” amid a heightened risk of terrorist attacks by the Tehreeki-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) after peace talks with the dreaded terror group have stalled, a media report said on October 6.

The federal government said it had learnt that the TTP high command met recently in Paktika, Afghanistan, to discuss the deadlock in peace talks and the fate of the negotiations with the Pakistani government after the killing of TTP commanders Omar Khalid Khorasani and Aftab Parkay.

The letter urged all authorities in four provinces to heighten security and exercise enhanced vigilance to avoid any untoward incident, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement, instructing forces that targeted search and strike missions be carried out wherever militant activity is reported.

In a letter circulated last month, the Ministry of Interior warned that more than year-long peace negotiations between the TTP and the government of Pakistan “had come to a standstill”, which has led to unease within the TTP’s ranks, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Qatar Airways expands its flights to Fiji

Qatar Airways has appointed Airline Rep Services as its General Sales Agent (GSA) for its passenger business in Fiji.

The appointment will assist Qatar Airways in strengthening its presence and outreach to potential customers in the South West Pacific market and will feed into Qatar Airways’ Australia and New Zealand flights to/from Doha,

and its extensive network beyond.

This partnership includes providing sales, marketing, and overall sales support services to the travel trade in Fiji.

Gabrielle Vicari, general manager of Airline Rep Services said they represented a multiple award winning airline and respected brand in the global airline scene.

Teacher wins case against ministry

A secondary school teacher has won an employment case against the Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts (MEHA).

Savitri Shankaran filed a case against MEHA’s permanent secretary through her lawyer, Damodaran Nair.

She was holding the position of acting vice principal of Bucalevu Secondary School when

she was issued a final warning letter by MEHA which included the decision that she would not be considered for an acting role in 2020.

Shankaran then filed the action seek- ing certain orders such as:

A declaration that the PS MEHA has acted contrary to the employment contract.

A declaration that the said final warning letter was unlawful, unfair, and unjustified.

House owner requests Police assistance in evicting tenants

Police have established the owner of the Vitivou house along Flagstaff and the owner has requested Police assistance in vacating people residing at the residence.

Police Commissioner, Brigadier General Sitiveni Qiliho says they are also working on establishing ownership of another property of interest as a proactive means to ensure

the persons of interest do not regroup.

Qiliho had confirmed earlier this week that an Incident Management Task Force team is in place to investigate the occupants of the home located in Flagstaff who are alleged to have been instigators of violent attacks against youths from Raiwai.

2 year old girl dies after being hit by a taxi

A 2-year-old girl has died after being hit by a taxi along the Jerusalemi and Nabaci Village Highway in Savusavu after 6pm last night.

It is alleged that while crossing the road with a relative, the girl was hit

by a taxi driven by a 36-year-old man.

The victim was rushed to the Savusavu Hospital where she was unfortunately pronounced dead on arrival.

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MLA Banman calls for more transparency from the NDP government

Bruce Banman, MLA for Abbotsford South and Official Opposition Critic for Citizens’ Services, used the opening day of the fall Legislative session to discuss the importance of transparency to democracy, and to highlight how the B.C. government’s worsening transparency ratings must be fixed immediately.

Banman referenced the Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy awarded to the NDP government in

2021 by the Canadian Association of Journalists, as well as the recent “D” rating in government fiscal transparency it received from the C.D. Howe Institute.

“Without transparency, there can not be true democracy,” said Banman. “More and more people are being forced to choose between food on the table or gas in the car to drive their kids to school, all while being unable to find a family doctor – now more than ever, transparency from this government is essential,” said Banman.

NDP calls on Liberals to waive normal Employment Insurance rules for Atlantic workers

“Last weekend, post-tropical storm Fiona caused widespread damage and left hundreds of thousands in the Atlantic provinces without power. In some of the hardest hit regions of Atlantic Canada, entire homes were swept out to sea.

One week after the storm hit Atlantic Canada and eastern Quebec, tens of thousands of homes and businesses are still without power. This has meant that people have been unable to leave their homes and, in many cases, unable to work. Canadians in these provinces are looking for more urgent help as they continue the long recovery and rebuilding process.

Last week, I spoke with elected leaders in the Atlantic provinces who shared that cell and internet service was down for thousands of people. They raised that people needed an emergency wage supplement or access to Employment Insurance as they haven’t been able to work

since the storm hit. And they shared that more help was needed from the Canadian Military with urgent clean-up efforts.

Considering that many Canadians can’t work because of the impacts of hurricane Fiona, we ask your government to waive normal Employment Insurance rules like was done for the extreme flooding last year in British Columbia. It’s now been more than a week since the storm and people are looking for support without a plan – and in the middle of a costof-living crisis. You must act quickly.

We also urge your government to immediatelyprovidemoreCanadiantroops to urgently help the regions impacted.

Canadians from across the country are urging this government to act quickly to help our neighbours in the Atlantic provinces and are deeply concerned for the recovery process.”

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