Taliban Claims It Now Controls 85% Of Afghanistan Territory

 

FILE PHOTO: Members of the Taliban delegation gather ahead of an agreement signing between them and U.S. officials in Doha, Qatar

The Taliban claimed on Friday to be in control of 85 percent of Afghanistan, including a key border crossing with Iran, following a sweeping offensive launched as US troops pull out of the war-torn nation.

Hours after President Joe Biden issued a staunch defence of the US withdrawal, the Taliban said fighters had seized the border town of Islam Qala — completing an arc of territory from the Iranian border to the frontier with China.

In Moscow, a delegation of Taliban officials said they controlled some 250 of Afghanistan’s 398 districts — a claim impossible to independently verify and disputed by the government.

Separately, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP the Islam Qala border crossing was “under our full control”, while government officials in Kabul said a fightback was under way.

“All Afghan security forces including the border units are present in the area, and efforts are under way to recapture the site,” interior ministry spokesman Tareq Arian told AFP.

Hours earlier, Biden said the US military mission would end on August 31 — nearly 20 years after it began — having “achieved” its goals.

But he admitted it was “highly unlikely” Kabul would be able to control the entire country.

“The status quo is not an option,” Biden said of staying in the country. “I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan.”

With the Taliban having routed much of northern Afghanistan in recent weeks, the government is holding little more than a constellation of provincial capitals that must be largely reinforced and resupplied by air.

The air force was under severe strain even before the Taliban’s lightning offensive overwhelmed the government’s northern and western positions, putting further pressure on the country’s limited aircraft and pilots.

Biden said the Afghan people alone should determine their future, but he acknowledged the uncertainty about what that would look like.

Asked if a Taliban takeover was inevitable, the president said: “No, it is not.”

But, he admitted, “the likelihood there is going to be one unified government in Afghanistan controlling the whole country is highly unlikely”.

The Taliban, for their part, welcomed Biden’s statement.

“Any day or hour that US and foreign troops leave earlier is a positive step,” spokesman Suhail Shaheen told AFP.

Afghan commandos have clashed with the insurgents this week in a provincial capital for the first time, with thousands of people fleeing Qala-i-Naw in northwest Badghis province.

President Ashraf Ghani said the government could handle the situation, but admitted difficulties lay ahead.

“What we are witnessing is one of the most complicated stages of the transition,” he said in a speech in Kabul.

“Legitimacy is ours; God is with us.”

The Taliban have been emboldened by the troop withdrawal and, with peace talks with the government deadlocked, appear to be pressing for a full military victory.

Still, on Thursday, a member of the negotiating team in Doha insisted the insurgents were seeking a “negotiated settlement”.

“We do not believe in monopoly of power,” spokesman Shaheen told AFP.

In Moscow, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said the Taliban controlled about two-thirds of the Afghan-Tajik border as a delegation from the insurgents wound up a visit.

Some “85 percent of Afghanistan’s territory” was under the group’s control, said Taliban negotiator Shahabuddin Delawar.

This week more than 1,000 Afghan troops fled into Tajikistan in the face of a Taliban onslaught.

The Curious Case Of The War In Afghanistan

FILE PHOTO: Foreign troops with NATO-led Resolute Support Mission investigate at the site of a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan on September 5, 2019

"What was the point of all the destruction, killing and misery they brought us? I wish they had never come," said Malek Mir, a mechanic at the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, according to a Reuters report. Mir was left wondering what purpose did the decades-long foreign military presence serve in his country, which is now as susceptible to being taken over by the Taliban as it was in 2001, when U.S. troops first landed in Afghanistan.

So, what really was the point of the longest war in U.S. history?

Defeat of extremism?

Well, that hasn't happened since the Taliban have regrouped and rearmed and remain as potent a force in 2021 as they were 20 years ago. More than 3,500 foreign troops have been killed in a two-decade war, which has claimed over 100,000 civilians since 2009 alone, according to United Nations records. And if they had to eventually sit down for 'peace' talks with the 'dreaded' Taliban in Qatar last year, what was the rationale behind taking up arms against them in the first place?

Emancipation of Afghan women?

Not in any lasting sense. The threat of the Taliban's return and the concomitant imposition of cultural 'mores' and religious 'traditions' looms large over the female population of Afghanistan. Many are fearful that access to education and employment opportunities will be denied them and they run the risk of reverting to the dark days of the Taliban rule before 2001.

Economic regeneration?

The only parties to have benefitted from this once seemingly-unending war are the defence contractors in the U.S. and other allied nations. All the Afghans have to show for the past 20 years is regret and bitterness. As Sayed Naqibullah, a shop owner in Bagram puts it in this Reuters report, "The Americans leave a legacy of failure, they've failed in containing the Taliban or corruption. A small percentage of Afghans got so rich, while the vast majority still live with extreme poverty."

Given all of the above, one wonders who really gained from this conflict? Not the U.S. government, not the Afghan government (accused by many of being stooges of western powers) and certainly not the Afghan people.

The United States descended on Afghanistan and its Taliban government in 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 attacks by Al Qaeda, which had sought sanctuary in the country. By November 2001, about 1,300 American soldiers were on the ground, rising to almost 10,000 the next year.

But in 2003, the U.S. waded into another conflict - in Iraq, to overthrow Saddam Hussein. This worked to the advantage of the now-fragmented Taliban and other Islamist groups, which re-organised and launched an insurgency. In 2008, there were 48,000 U.S. troops deployed in this war-torn nation, sanctioned by President Bush and his Pentagon advisors.

By 2010, despite being elected on a promise to end the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, President Barack Obama boosted U.S. presence in Afghanistan to about 100,000 troops.

The purported objective of this decision was strengthening Afghan institutions and crushing the expanding Taliban insurgency. After the 9/11 attack mastermind - Osama bin Laden - was eliminated by US Special Forces in Pakistan's Abbottabad in 2011, the US and NATO forces lost their raison d'etre for remaining in Afghanistan.

Although the NATO alliance ended its combat mission there by the end of 2014, troops remained on Afghan soil, to conduct anti-terror operations and train Afghan troops to 'take over' the country. What happened, however, was that in the following years, the Taliban insurgency spread and the Islamic State became active in South Asia.

When Donald Trump took over as U.S. President in 2017, he scrapped the withdrawal plan and committed thousands more troops, even as Taliban attacks against Afghan soldiers multiplied and the U.S. stepped up airstrikes in retaliation.

In 2018, with the war becoming increasingly unpopular in the U.S. and the Taliban insurgency showing no signs of letting up, the Trump administration opened 'peace' talks with the Taliban. He offered to withdraw troops if the Taliban promised not to allow Afghanistan to be used as a safe haven for jihadist groups like Al Qaeda.

By 2020, a historic deal had been signed, with the US offering to pull out troops by May 2021, if the Taliban gave security guarantees and held peace talks with the Afghan government. Although these talks began in September 2020, they stalled after the Taliban attacked women, activists and journalists.

With Joe Biden as US President since January 2021, the offer has altered to troop pullout by September 2021, a four-month delay from the original May 2021 deadline. Violence by the Taliban has surged since, with the extremist group taking over rural districts near major Afghan cities and leaving Afghan security forces potentially facing a rout.

Last week, the US forces departed from the Bagram airbase without informing the new Afghan commander. The US shut off the electricity and slipped away in the night but did not notify the base's new commander, who discovered the Americans' departure more than two hours after they left, according to Afghan military officials.

It doesn't get more dishonourable than this, a textbook ignominious exit.

Cui Bono?

Which brings us back to the question - cui bono (to whom is it a benefit, who gains)?

The 'top-down' strategy of funding employed by the West has created a corrupt, privileged class of Afghans, much like the Military-Industrial Complex (MIC) in the US. These Afghans are warlords, contracted businessmen and politicians, all of whom made money from keeping the war going. And they are not alone.

In December 2019, The Washington Post made public a “confidential trove of government documents” — interviews with key figures involved in the Afghan War by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). The documents revealed the degree to which senior Pentagon leaders and military commanders understood that the war was failing, yet, year after year, they provided “rosy pronouncements they knew to be false,” while “hiding unmistakable evidence that the war had become unwinnable.”

It seems there will be no reckoning where the U.S.' endless wars and military establishment is concerned, whoever occupies the post of President -- Bush, Obama or Trump, Republican or Democrat. The Pentagon has sunk billions of taxpayer money into endless wars but continues to evade both a comprehensive audit of all its programs and a re-evaluation of its expenditures.

However, this is not news to people who have even an iota of idea about the MIC.

Among the damning reports released by SIGAR was one which said that between $10 million and $43 million had been spent constructing a single gas station, $150 million had gone into luxury private villas for Americans ostensibly supposed to be helping bolster Afghan economy and millions more were wasted on programs to 'improve' Afghan industries involved in extracting the country's natural resources.

In his memorable farewell address in 1961, former US President (and five-star General) Dwight Eisenhower had warned Americans about the "unwarranted influence" of the MIC. Six decades later, this entity continues to thrive, even as the U.S.' national security interests are made subservient to the profits accrued by defence/military contractors, both in the US and elsewhere (including Afghanistan).

Unending, long drawn-out, nugatory wars -- in Vietnam, Korea as well -- only highlight the fact that war for war's sake is profitable for some very powerful entities and their ancillary segments. These include lobbyists, columnists, defence 'experts', defence analysts, researchers -- a majority of whom are bankrolled by the MIC and its subsidiaries.

For lasting peace to prevail, it is critical to first unmask this set-up, then acknowledge its power and reach, and finally, expose its nefarious influence over war machines and war-mongers, all working towards prolonging conflicts and keeping the MIC in business.

 

Coronavirus Can Infect, Replicate In Salivary Gland Cells

 

Researchers at the University of Sao Paulo analysed samples from three types of salivary glands and discovered that SARS-CoV-2 infects and replicates in these glands

Brazilian researchers have found that tissues which specialise in saliva production and secretion can serve as reservoirs for SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing Covid-19, magnifying its infectious potential.

Researchers at the University of Sao Paulo (USP) analysed samples from three types of salivary gland obtained during a minimally invasive autopsy procedure performed on 24 patients who died from complications of Covid-19 and discovered that SARS-CoV-2 infects and replicates in the salivary glands.

The discovery, reported in an article published in the Journal of Pathology, helps explain why the virus is so abundant in saliva and has enabled scientists to develop saliva-based diagnostic tests for Covid-19.

“This is the first report of a respiratory virus’s capacity to infect and replicate in salivary glands. Until now it was thought that only viruses that cause highly prevalent diseases such as herpes used salivary glands as reservoirs. The discovery may help explain why SARS-CoV-2 is so infectious,” said Bruno Fernandes Matuck, doctoral candidate at USP’s Dental School.

As SARS-CoV-2 is highly infectious compared with other respiratory viruses, they raised the hypothesis that it may replicate in cells of the salivary glands and hence be present in saliva without coming into contact with nasal and lung secretions.

For the study, the team extracted tissue samples from the parotid, submandibular and minor salivary glands from 24 patients who died from Covid-19 and molecular analysis detected the presence of the virus in more than two-thirds.

Further examination by an electron microscope detected not just the presence of the virus but also its replication in cells and the type of organelle it uses to replicate.

“We observed several viruses clustering in salivary gland cells, which showed that they were replicating there. They weren’t in these cells passively,” Matuck said.

The researchers now plan to examine whether the mouth can be a direct point of entry for SARS-CoV-2, given that ACE2 and TMPRSS2 receptors are found in various parts of the cavity, as well as in gum tissue and oral mucosa. In addition, the mouth has a larger contact area than the nasal cavity, which is widely considered the main way in for the virus. (IANS)

Twitter Loses Immunity Over User-Generated Content In India

 

The IT ministry told the High Court in New Delhi that Twitter’s non-compliance amounted to a breach of the provisions of the IT Act, causing the US firm to lose its immunity

Twitter Inc no more enjoys liability protection against user-generated content in India as the US microblogging giant has failed to comply with new IT rules, the Indian government said in a court filing.

The statement is the first time Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has officially said Twitter has lost its immunity after repeatedly criticising the company for non-compliance.

The dispute and the public spat has raised concern that American firms will find it difficult to do business amid a more stringent regulatory environment.

India’s IT ministry told the High Court in New Delhi that Twitter’s non-compliance amounted to a breach of the provisions of the IT Act, causing the US firm to lose its immunity, according to the filing dated July 5.

The filing came in a case filed by a Twitter user who wanted to complain about some allegedly defamatory tweets on the platform, and said the company was not complying with the new law that requires appointment of certain new executives.

Twitter declined to comment. The company has previously said it was making all efforts to comply.

India’s new IT rules, which became effective end-May, are aimed at regulating content on social media firms and making them more accountable to legal requests for swift removal of posts and sharing details on the originators of messages.

Technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has slammed Twitter for deliberately defying the law and said all social media firms must abide by the new rules.

In recent weeks, as acrimony grew between New Delhi and Twitter, Indian police have filed at least five cases against the company or its officials, including some related to child pornography and a controversial map of India on its career page.
Police in two Indian states have named Twitter India chief Manish Maheshwari in complaints. Separately, the state of Uttar Pradesh has challenged in the Supreme Court a bar on police action against Maheshwari, after a lower court protected him against arrest over an accusation that the platform was used to spread hate.

“Learn To Live With” The Virus, Boris Johnson Tells Britons

 

The British Prime Minister’s Office says the latest figures indicate that the number of cases will continue to rise as restrictions are lifted

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will on Monday unveil a plan to lift coronavirus restrictions from July 19, while urging the population to "learn to live with" the virus.

Johnson had initially aimed for a full reopening on June 21 but was forced to push back the date because of a surge in the highly contagious Delta variant. That variant now accounts for nearly all new Covid cases in Britain.

The Prime Minister will give a press conference and Health Minister Sajid Javid is scheduled to address Parliament on the issue.

After Russia, Britain has the highest coronavirus death toll of any European country, at more than 128,000. It is gradually ending a third lockdown period, although some restrictions remain.

Night clubs have not been allowed to open, large-scale events do not run at full capacity and service is still restricted in pubs.

The Prime Minister's Office says the latest figures indicate that the number of cases will continue to rise as restrictions are lifted, but also that "the link to hospitalisations and deaths has been weakened" thanks to vaccinations.

In December 2020, Britain was one of the first countries to roll out an innoculation programme and around 64 percent of the adult population has now received two doses of a Covid vaccine.

"Today we will set out how we can restore people's freedoms," Johnson was quoted as saying in a statement released ahead of his press conference.

MASK RULES CONTROVERSY

But he nevertheless stressed that the pandemic was not over -- that people must "begin to learn to live with this virus" and "exercise judgement" when going about their lives.

For several days, the government in London has suggested it would appeal to people's common sense and might make wearing masks optional in public, although the Scottish government is taking a more cautious line.

Some academics who advise the government have sharply criticised easing the rules on wearing masks.

Stephen Reicher, a Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Saint Andrews in Scotland considered it "frightening to have a 'Health' Secretary who wants to make all protections a matter of personal choice when the key message of the pandemic is 'this isn't an 'I' thing, it's a 'we' thing.

"Your behaviour affects my health," Reicher said.

Susan Michie, a Psychology professor who specialises in behaviour change, was also critical. "Allowing community transmission to surge is like building new 'variant factories' at a very fast rate," she said.

Over the weekend, the British Medical Association urged the government to maintain some restrictions owing to an "alarming" increase in the number of Covid cases, which are nearly at 30,000 a day.

Air Chief Responds After CDS Rawat Calls Air Force ‘Supporting Arm’

 

Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria said,"It is not a supporting role alone. The air power has a huge role to play in any of the integrated battle roles." (PTI)

Air power has a huge role to play in any of the integrated battle roles, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria said on Friday, asserting that the Indian Air Force was “fully committed” to the theaterisation of the armed forces.

Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria’s comments on air power came soon after Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat talked about the IAF’s air defence charter as well as its role as a ‘supporting arm’ to the ground forces just as the artillery or engineers support the combatants within the Army.

Referring to the situation in eastern Ladakh, the Chief of Air Staff said China has bolstered its infrastructure in the past few months, though the two sides have carried out a disengagement process in the Pangong Lake area.

Gen Rawat’s comments about the supporting role of the Air Force came at a conference when asked about the growing perception that the Indian Air Force was not keen on setting up the proposed theatre commands integrating the capabilities of the three forces.

Elaborating on the IAF’s role, the Chief of Defence Staff talked about its air defence role and said one of the theatre commands will look at the overall management of the air space in the country.

“Do not forget that the Air Force continues to remain a supporting arm of the armed forces, just as the artillery or engineers support the combatants within the Army. They have an air defence charter and support the ground forces in time of operations,” Gen Rawat said, adding the force has to understand its basic charter.

Both Gen Rawat and Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria were speaking at separate sessions of a conference organised by the Global Counter-Terrorism Council (GCTC) – a think-tank.

When asked about Gen Rawat’s comments, the Air Chief Marshal said: “It is not a supporting role alone. The air power has a huge role to play in any of the integrated battle role.”

Asked about the IAF’s views on the theaterisation of the armed forces, he said it was fully committed to the proposed setting up of the integrated theatre commands.

At the same time, he added, “We must get it right.”

To a question on argument that IAF could have reservations for the theaterisation process as it does not want to split its assets which are fewer, Gen Rawat referred to the five operational commands of the force that manage its resources.

“In an overall assessment, it is a known fact that there is resistance to change. One needs to be conscious of that and fight that inherent resistance. The nature and character of conflicts will continue to change,” Gen Rawat said.

According to the plan, theatre commands will have units of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force and all of them will work as a single entity looking after security challenges in a specified geographical territory under an operational commander.

At present, the Army, Navy and the Air Force have separate commands.

The theatre commands are being set up under a larger mandate of ensuring synergy among the three service chiefs to deal with future security challenges.

Gen Rawat took over as India’s first Chief of Defence Staff on January 1, 2020, with a mandate to bring in convergence among the three services and restructure military commands to effectively deal with future security challenges.

When asked about the situation in eastern Ladakh, Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria said the Chinese side has enhanced its infrastructure in the region.

“After the initial disengagement which has happened, there is virtual kind of status quo. Many of the infra that were developed particularly from the perspective of air assets… except for some aircraft that they have taken back from forward deployments, rest of the infrastructure has been strengthened,” he said.

The Chief of Air Staff said the IAF has been carefully monitoring the situation in the region.

“We are monitoring across very carefully and very closely. We are aware of what kind of assets are there and what needs to be done from our point of view; deployments and whatever action needed to be taken have been taken,” he said.

India and China were locked in a military standoff at multiple friction points in eastern Ladakh since early May last year. However, the two sides completed the withdrawal of troops and weapons from the North and South banks of the Pangong Lake in February, following a series of military and diplomatic talks.

The two sides are now engaged in talks to extend the disengagement process to the remaining friction points. India has been particularly pressing for disengagement of troops in Hot Springs, Gogra and Depsang.

India has been insisting on returning to the status quo of April 2020 in the region.

According to military officials, each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the Line of Actual Control in the sensitive sector.

There was no visible forward movement in disengagement of troops at the remaining friction points, as the Chinese side did not show flexibility in their approach on it at the 11th round of military talks.

US Hands Over Bagram Airfield To Afghans After Nearly 20 Years

 

FILE PHOTO: A US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft takes off for a nighttime mission at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan (Reuters)

After nearly 20 years, the US military left Bagram Airfield, the epicentre of its war to oust the Taliban and hunt down the al-Qaida perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America, two US officials said on Friday.

The airfield was handed over to the Afghan National Security and Defense Force in its entirety, they said on condition they not be identified because they were not authorized to release the information to the media.

One of the officials also said the US top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Austin S Miller, “still retains all the capabilities and authorities to protect the forces.”

The withdrawal from Bagram Airfield is the clearest indication that the last of the 2,500-3,500 US troops have left Afghanistan or are nearing a departure, months ahead of President Joe Biden’s promise that they would be gone by September 11.

It was clear soon after the mid-April announcement that the US was ending its “forever war,” that the departure of US soldiers and their estimated 7,000 NATO allies would be nearer to July 4, when America celebrates its Independence Day.

Most NATO soldiers have already quietly exited as of this week. Announcements from several countries analyzed by The Associated Press show that a majority of European troops has now left with little ceremony — a stark contrast to the dramatic and public show of force and unity when NATO allies lined up to back the US invasion in 2001.

The US has refused to say when the last US soldier would leave Afghanistan, citing security concerns, but also since the protection of Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport is still being negotiated. Turkish and US soldiers currently are protecting the airport. That protection is currently covered under the Resolute Support Mission, which is the military mission being wound down.

Until a new agreement for the airport’s protection is negotiated between Turkey and the Afghan government, and possibly the United States, the Resolute Support Mission would appear to have to continue in order to give international troops the legal authority.

The US will also have about 650 troops in Afghanistan to protect its sprawling embassy in the capital. Their presence it is understood will be covered in a bilateral agreement with the Afghan government.

The US and NATO leaving comes as Taliban insurgents make strides in several parts of the country, overrunning dozens of districts and overwhelming beleaguered Afghan security Forces.

In a worrying development, the government has resurrected militias with a history of brutal violence to assist the Afghan security forces. At what had all the hallmarks of a final press conference, Gen. Miller this week warned that continued violence risked a civil war in Afghanistan that should have the world worried.

At its peak around 2012, Bagram Airfield saw more than 100,000 US troops pass through its sprawling compound barely an hour’s drive north of the Afghan capital Kabul.

The departure is rife with symbolism. Not least, it’s the second time that an invader of Afghanistan has come and gone through Bagram.

The Soviet Union built the airfield in the 1950s. When it invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to back a communist government, it turned it into its main base from which it would defend its occupation of the country. For 10 years, the Soviets fought the U.S.-backed mujahideen, dubbed freedom fighters by President Ronald Reagan, who saw them as a front-line force in one of the last Cold War battles.

When the US and NATO inherited Bagram in 2001, they found it in ruins, a collection of crumbling buildings, gouged by rockets and shells, most of its perimeter fence wrecked. It had been abandoned after being battered in the battles between the Taliban and rival mujahideen warlords fleeing to their northern enclaves.

The enormous base has two runways. The most recent, at 12,000 feet long, was built in 2006 at a cost of USD 96 million. There are 110 revetments, which are basically parking spots for aircraft, protected by blast walls. GlobalSecurity, a security think tank, says Bagram includes three large hangars, a control tower and numerous support buildings. The base has a 50-bed hospital with a trauma bay, three operating theaters and a modern dental clinic. Another section houses a prison, notorious and feared among Afghans.

There was no immediate comment from Afghan officials as to the final withdrawal from Bagram Airfield by the US and its NATO allies. (AP)

Hundreds Killed In Historic Northwest US Heatwave

 

A 24-hour emergency cooling shelter operated by the Salvation Army at the Fisher Pavilion in the Seattle Center is fairly empty during a heat wave in Seattle, Washington, US on June 27, 2021 (Reuters)

Hundreds of deaths in Canada, Oregon and Washington may have been caused by the historic heatwave that baked the Pacific Northwest and shattered all-time temperature records in usually temperate cities.

Oregon health officials said late on Wednesday that more than 60 deaths have been tied to the heat, with the state's largest county, Multnomah, blaming the weather for 45 deaths since the heatwave began last Friday.

British Columbia's chief coroner, Lisa Lapointe, said her office received reports of at least 486 “sudden and unexpected deaths” between Friday and 1 pm on Wednesday. Normally, she said about 165 people would die in the province over a five-day period.

“While it is too early to say with certainty how many of these deaths are heat related, it is believed likely that the significant increase in deaths reported is attributable to the extreme weather,” LaPointe said in a statement.

Like Seattle, many homes in Vancouver, British Columbia, don't have air conditioning.

“Vancouver has never experienced heat like this, and sadly dozens of people are dying because of it,” Vancouver police Seargent Steve Addison said in a statement.

Washington state authorities had linked more than 20 deaths to the heat, but that number was likely to rise.

The heatwave was caused by what meteorologists described as a dome of high pressure over the Northwest and worsened by human-caused climate change, which is making such extreme weather events more likely and more intense.

Seattle, Portland and many other cities broke all-time heat records, with temperatures in some places reaching above 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 deg. Celsius).

While the temperatures had cooled considerably in western Washington, Oregon and British Columbia by Wednesday, interior regions were still sweating through triple-digit temperatures as the weather system moved east into the intermountain West and the Plains.

Environment Canada issued heat warnings on Wednesday for southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. Heat warnings also were in place for parts of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

In Alberta, “a prolonged, dangerous, and historic heatwave will persist through this week,” Environment Canada said.

The very high temperatures or humidity conditions posed an elevated risk of heatstroke or heat exhaustion.

In a statement, Oregon's Multnomah County medical examiner blamed 45 heat deaths there on hyperthermia, an abnormally high body temperature caused by a failure of the body to deal with heat. The victims ranged in age from 44 to 97.

The county that includes Portland said that between 2017 and 2019, there were only 12 hyperthermia deaths in all of Oregon.

“This was a true health crisis that has underscored how deadly an extreme heat wave can be, especially to otherwise vulnerable people," Dr. Jennifer Vines, the county's health officer, said in a statement.

The King County medical examiner's office, which covers an area including Seattle, said at least 13 people died due to the heat. The victims were between 61 and 97 years of age.

In eastern Washington, the Spokane Fire Department found two people dead in an apartment building on Wednesday, who had been suffering symptoms of heat-related stress, TV station KREM reported.

The heat led a power company in Spokane to impose rolling blackouts because of the strain on the electrical grid. Avista Utilities says it's trying to limit outages to one hour per customer.

Renee Swecker, 66, of Clayton, Washington, visited a splashpad fountain in downtown Spokane's Riverfront Park with her grandchildren on Wednesday, saying they are going everywhere where there is water.”

“I'm praying for rain every day,” Swecker said.

 

 

Hong Kong Freedoms Fade As Security Law Muzzles Dissent

 

FILE PHOTO: Riot police raise a warning flag as they disperse anti-government demonstrators in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is still China's wealthiest, most capitalist city. Its vistas of skyscraper and sea framed by dragon-backed emerald peaks are as stunning as ever.

But a year after Beijing imposed a harsh national security law on the former British colony, the civil liberties that raised hopes for more democracy among many of its 7 million people are fading.

The June 30, 2020, rollout of the law accelerated a rolling back of freedoms promised to Hong Kong when China took over in 1997. That process was punctuated earlier this month with the shutdown of the city's last pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily.

The authorities first came for Apple Daily's outspoken billionaire founder Jimmy Lai. He's in jail serving a 20-month sentence and facing charges of foreign collusion to endanger national security.

Last week, some 500 police officers raided the newspaper's headquarters.

At least seven of its journalists and executives have been arrested and $2.3 million worth of assets linked to the paper frozen, preventing it from paying salaries and other costs. For its final edition, Apple Daily printed a million copies — more than 12 times its usual print run. It sold out to crowds who lined up at newsstands for hours.

Apple Daily's coverage was often “sensationalist,” but it also uncovered corruption and won awards for its investigative reporting, Yuen Chan, a journalist lecturer at the University of London and formerly head of Hong Kong University's journalism school, said in a commentary on online news portal Citizen News.

It also was a “barometer of Hong Kong's press freedom and freedom of expression,” she wrote.

The paper's closure comes as the Chinese Communist Party celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding in Shanghai in 1921 by Mao Zedong and others. Over the last year, the Chinese government has tightened its grip over semi-autonomous Hong Kong following months of anti-government protests that brought hundreds of thousands of people into the streets.

The demonstrations against proposed extradition legislation that would have allowed suspects to face trial in mainland Chinese courts sometimes turned violent, and encompassed other demands, including calls for universal suffrage and investigation into police tactics. Now, protesting or publishing anything that might be construed as a violation of the security law can land them in jail in Hong Kong.

Traditionally, the city has been considered one of the most attractive places for expatriates, thanks to its low tax rates and ease of doing business. It's still a major business and financial hub. But some multinational companies have begun relocating their operations and staff. The American Chamber of Commerce says 2 out of 5 expats it surveyed in May were considering leaving the city. The top concern was the national security law.

In private conversations, many in Hong Kong lament the loss of their freedoms, but life goes on. On the weekends, shopping malls are still crowded. People still line up for hours to get seats in popular dim sum and noodle restaurants or take weekend strolls on scenic Victoria Peak. On the surface, daily life hasn't changed much.

What has changed are the special privileges that Hong Kong was promised for a half-century after control of the territory was handed to Beijing on July 1, 1997 — the autonomy of its courts and legal system, civil liberties that included a free press, freedom of speech and the leeway to take to the streets and other public spaces in protest.

With the space for dissent shrinking, the online news platform Stand News said it would remove commentaries published on its site before June, stop its fundraising efforts and stop accepting new subscribers.

With the handover 24 years ago, Hong Kong became a semi-autonomous territory, promised independent economic and legal status under a “one country, two systems” arrangement that led many in the city to expect more, not less democracy despite the Communist Party's lack of tolerance for dissent across the border in the Chinese mainland.

Like millions of others who left the mainland seeking more opportunity in Hong Kong in past decades, 40-something Wang Wai says she migrated there because wages were “in the thousands but in China still in the hundreds.”

“The health care system, education and work to be found in Hong Kong is much better than in China,” said Wang, who is married with two children.

Ever since its days as a hub in Britain's trading of opium from India for silk, tea and porcelain from China, Hong Kong has mainly been about moneymaking. The city flourished in the years after the 1949 Communist Revolution, as industrialists from Shanghai relocated to the colony, bringing what they could of their salvaged fortunes.

After the city's garment and electronics manufacturing moved across the border, back into China, Hong Kong's colonial legacy left it well placed to thrive as a financial center for what has become the world's No. 2 economy. For many in the city, the handover to Beijing was just a welcome switch of flags.

Hong Kong was meant to help lead China's ascent as an economic power, enjoying the best of both East and West, as its first chief executive, shipping tycoon Tung Chee-hwa, often would say. It remains home for scores of billionaire business people and many other wealthy Chinese who have invested in choice property after prospering on the mainland.

Despite the massive pro-democracy protests that paralyzed parts of the city in 2019 and the blows to tourism and trade from the pandemic, the city's stratospheric property market has surged still higher.

Even modest apartments under 100 square meters (1,100 square feet) have more than doubled in price since 1997, said Derek Chan, head of research at real estate firm Ricacorp Properties.

“Even though prices have soared, the wealthy in Hong Kong are still willing to buy property at these prices, making it increasingly inaccessible for regular residents to buy homes,” Chan said.

Such costs have made the city unaffordable for many: the share of Hong Kongers living in poverty has doubled to 1 in 5 since the handover.

Such pressures have added to frustrations as Beijing has tightened the screws.

Even before the handover, China and Britain quarreled over how much democracy Hong Kong should have. When election results made it clear that the public preferred more, Beijing moved to ensure it would stay in control, mandating less.

Hong Kong's last colonial governor, Chris Patten, left the territory declaring that, "Now Hong Kong people are to run Hong Kong."

"That is the promise — and that is the unshakeable destiny," he said as he boarded the Royal Yacht Britannia and sailed away after the handover.

A city of Chinese people accustomed to a free press, rule of law, freedom of assembly had hoped in time to gain more say over how they were governed. Instead, one distant ruler has replaced another.

The weakening of the city's civil liberties is “not a good thing,” said Wang, who moved to Hong Kong from her hometown in southeastern China's Fujian province. “I came to Hong Kong also because it had freedom, and there is rule of law and more democracy. Now it is looking more and more like a city in China." (PTI)

Another Tragedy Raises Ire At Hydro Projects In Himachal Pradesh

 

The Parbati II hydroelectric project in Himachal Pradesh, where 27-year-old Amar Chand was killed recently in an accident (Image: Sumit Mahar)

The village of Palgi is mourning 27-year-old Amar Chand. He died on 21 May in an accident inside a tunnel at the 800 MW Parbati II hydroelectric project (HEP), where he was working. The project is being built in the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, in Kullu district, where Palgi village is also located. Three other people died in the same accident; they were from Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh, Darjeeling in West Bengal, and Nepal.

National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC), an Indian government-owned utility, is building the hydropower station. LK Tripathi, the project head, told The Third Pole that a huge “wedge” fell on the victims from the roof of the tunnel during drilling work. “Normally all the wedges are tightly secured with rock anchors and steel girders, and cemented. But it seems this wedge was somewhat loose, which caused the accident.”

District authorities and NHPC have promised compensation. Richa Verma, the top official in Kullu district, has ordered an inquiry into the accident.

Amar’s family remains inconsolable. His brother Roop Chand, 20, said no one had come from NHPC to offer condolences. “We lost our mother young. My father brought us up with great difficulty. We barely survived, with little income from a small farm.”

Amar had been working at the Parbati project for about eight months. He leaves behind a four-month-old child.

Moti Ram Katwal, secretary of the local farmers’ council, said: “These accidents at the HEP site are not new. Not long ago, we lost two other locals who got electrocuted while they were repairing a transmission line at the site.”

ACCIDENT PROMPTS WIDER QUESTIONS

Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of NGO the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, told The Third Pole: “Several such accidents at HEP sites and incidents of loss of lives and property have been happening in the Himalayan region due to landslides, massive soil erosion, illegal muck dumping, slope cutting etc, all triggered by these projects. But there is no central and state authority or monitoring mechanism in place. No punitive action is taken against HEP companies for their negligence.”

In August 2013, the Himachal Pradesh department of power and multipurpose projects passed a notification to create such a monitoring authority, Thakkar pointed out. No such body has yet appeared.

Manshi Asher is a member of Himdhara, a Himachal Pradesh-​based environmental research and action collective. Asher said: “These projects are not financially viable as there are time and cost overruns. Then water depletion during winter, siltation during the monsoon and the impacts of climate change like glaciers receding and irregular rainfall cycle make them a losing proposition in the future. Companies have suffered significant revenue losses from these HEPs over the years.”

But Sreedhar Ramamurthi, a geoscientist who has been working in this region of the Himalayas for three decades, said hydro companies are still making large profits. “After paying loans and liabilities in the first few years, the companies only make a profit thereafter, as they get water as a free raw material.” He gave the example of Jaypee, a private engineering company that sold two hydropower plants – Baspa II (300 MW) and Karcham Wangtoo (1,091 MW) – for 97 billion Indian rupees (USD 1.3 billion) in 2015. “The firm made a huge profit while local people are still suffering.”

India does not need the electricity from the hydro projects, Ramamurthi pointed out. “There is already 25,000 MW of surplus energy. We don’t need to create more energy, especially in the Himalayas.”

LIVELIHOODS WRECKED

There are complaints about hydropower project sites across Himachal Pradesh. Geeta Gyani is the former head of Urni village, close to the Karcham Wangtoo project site. “This project upturned our lives,” Gyani told The Third Pole. “The reckless muck dumping destroyed 32 apple orchards, which people had nurtured like small children. We depended on the orchards for our livelihoods."

“The water flow in the [village] stream was disrupted at many places and the water pipe was broken too. Women had to fetch water from far away for a long time, until we got the pipe repaired with collective labour of youngsters in the village.” She also said that the reverberations from tunnelling have caused many houses to develop cracks.

Jiya Negi, who lives in the Kalpa area of Kinnaur district, described how the 450 MW Shongtong Karchham project affected residents’ livelihoods. The engineering work to the river impacted crops of apples and pine nuts, Negi said, adding, “the plantations were spoiled”.

In 2019, Himdhara, the local NGO, published a report on environmental hazards caused by hydropower in Himachal Pradesh. The report lists four major impacts:

• Geological impacts – triggering of landslides/slope failures leading to damage of roads, farms, houses
• Hydrogeological impacts – drying of springs and underground water sources
• Muck dumping along rivers leading to increased siltation in forests and pastures
• Safety negligence leading to accidents

NO BENEFIT TO RESIDENTS

Anshul Sharma, senior executive engineer at the Himachal Pradesh Directorate of Energy, said the state government’s policy is that companies executing hydro projects must share the benefits with local people for 10 years after commissioning. This includes 1.5% of the profit for the local area development fund and another 1% as cash incentives.

Geeta Gyani from Urni village said the policy remains only on paper. “There are 225 families living here. Those who got no compensation for losses are fighting for it since 2014. Our village continues to be vulnerable. The company did no development work here.”

HYDROPOWER RISKS ACROSS HIMACHAL PRADESH

The risks from hydropower projects extend to the trans-Himalayan part of Himachal Pradesh, the Lahaul and Spiti region, that is geographically part of the Tibetan Plateau. There are 20 hydroelectric projects planned in this region, according to the Indian government’s Central Electricity Authority. The entire region used to be cut off by heavy snowfall every winter. Since the opening of an all-weather road tunnel, it is now connected at all times to the rest of India. Residents fear this will make it easier to build hydropower plants, despite their opposition.

Rigzin Heyreppa is president of Jispa Dam Sangharsh Samiti, a group of residents opposing the Jispa dam project in Lahaul and Spiti. He said: “We have been fighting against Jispa HEP (300 MW) for over a decade. Under this project a 9-km tunnel will go under 14 villages. The blasting and the tunnel will cause immense damage to our houses, agricultural land and environment… The state government should allow us to live in peace and prosper through tourism.”

Seema Sharma (The Third Pole)

Withdraw Cases Lodged Against Farmers For Protest Marches: SKM

 

FILE PHOTO: Farmers listen to a speaker during a protest against the contentious farm bills at Singhu border near Delhi

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Sunday demanded the withdrawal of cases registered against farmers during their protest marches on June 26 to mark seven months of their agitation against the Centre's three farm laws.

SKM, the umbrella body of farmer organisations spearheading the agitation, said the Chandigarh Police has booked several farmer leaders on various charges.

Farmers on Saturday marched towards the Raj Bhavans in different states to submit memoranda, addressed to the President, and to Governors to mark seven months of protests against the Centre's three farm laws.

"In Chandigarh, it is reported that FIRs have been filed against several SKM leaders and many other protestors under IPC sections 147, 148, 149, 186, 188, 332 and 353," the SKM said in a statement.

It alleged that after barricading the roads, the "police also resorted to using water cannons and lathicharge on the protestors".

"On top of this kind of undemocratic and authoritarian behaviour, cases are now being filed against SKM leaders. Samyukt Kisan Morcha condemns this and demands that the FIRs be withdrawn immediately and unconditionally," it said.

In many places, farmers were not allowed to even take out rallies to Raj Bhavans and there were detention and lock-ins of SKM leaders, it said.

"SKM condemns this and points out that this itself is an illustration of the failure of democracy and the undeclared emergency that we are going though," it said in the statement.

Noting that cases have been filed against 15 farmers in Hisar who had taken part in a protest against a BJP meeting on June 25, the SKM said the FIRs should be withdrawn immediately.

The farmers started their stir against the contentious farm laws in November 2020 by camping at Singhu border between Delhi and Haryana, besides at Tikri and Ghazipur borders.

The protesting farmers have demanded the withdrawal of the Centre's farm laws and that a new law be made to guarantee minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.

(PTI)

 

George Floyd Murder: Chauvin Sentenced To Over 22 Years

 

With good behavior, Chauvin could serve just two-thirds of any prison sentence, with the remaining third on supervised release

 

Former policeman Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison on Friday for the murder of African American George Floyd, the killing that sparked America's biggest demonstrations for racial justice in decades.

The white, 45-year-old Chauvin gave his "condolences" to the Floyd family in a Minneapolis court, without apologizing, before Judge Peter Cahill handed down a lesser sentence than the 30 years the prosecution had sought.

"This (jail term) is based on your abuse of a position of trust and authority and also the particular cruelty shown to George Floyd," Cahill told Chauvin, who listened impassively.

The decision was read out at the end of a tense hearing in which the court watched a recorded message by Floyd's seven-year-old daughter and heard from Chauvin's mother.

The Floyd family's lawyer called the sentencing a "historic" step towards racial reconciliation in the United States.

"(It) brings the Floyd family and our nation one step closer to healing by delivering closure and accountability," Ben Crump tweeted.

President Joe Biden said: "I don't know all the circumstances that were considered but it seems to me, under the guidelines, that seems to be appropriate."

Civil rights activist Al Sharpton said it sent "a message of accountability," despite being less than what the family wanted.

Chauvin, who has been behind bars since being convicted on three counts of murder and manslaughter two months ago, wore a light gray suit as he learnt his fate following a trial that captivated the world.

He spoke briefly, after declining to testify during his six-week trial.

"I do want to give my condolences to the Floyd family," Chauvin said after removing his face mask.

"At this time due to some additional legal matters at hand, I'm not able to give a full formal statement at this time."

"There's going to be some other information in the future that would be of interest and I hope things will give you some peace of mind," he added.

Before he spoke, Carolyn Pawlenty said her son, Chauvin, was a "good man."

"I have always believed in your innocence and I will never waver from that," she said.

Earlier, the court watched a moving video from the late Floyd's daughter, Gianna Floyd.

"I miss you and I love you," the girl said when asked in the recorded message what she said would say to her father today.

Chauvin and three colleagues arrested Floyd, 46, in May 2020 on suspicion of having passed a fake $20 bill in a store in Minneapolis, a northern city of around 420,000. They handcuffed him and pinned him to the ground in the street.

Chauvin then knelt on the back of Floyd's neck for nearly 10 minutes, indifferent to the dying man's groans and to the pleas of distraught passers-by.

The scene, filmed and uploaded by a young woman, quickly went viral. After weeks of home confinement due to the Covid-19 pandemic, hundreds of thousands of people poured onto streets across the country and overseas, to demand an end to racism and police brutality.

It took weeks for the mass demonstrations to taper off, but the debate around the pressing social issues remains vivid in the United States, where Biden has been slow to come up with the police reforms he promised during his campaign.

Minnesota law provides for a minimum sentence of 12.5 years but Floyd's brother, Terrence Floyd, his voice choking, told the court Cahill should hand Chauvin the stiffest term possible.

'PARTICULAR CRUELTY'

"Why? What were you thinking? What was going through your head when you had your knee on my brother's neck?" demanded Floyd, urging Chauvin to explain the reason for the murder.

Cahill said his sentence was "not based on emotion or sympathy," but the law, and in a 22-page sentencing memorandum identified aggravating circumstances that brought a heavier punishment.

They included that Chauvin's offense occurred in front of minors and that he "committed the crime as a group with the active participation of at least three other" officers.

Chauvin's trial was closely followed across the country.

His lawyer said Chauvin had followed police procedures in force at the time and that Floyd's death was due to health problems exacerbated by drug use.

The jurors took less than 10 hours to convict. Their decision was greeted with a huge sigh of relief across the country. Many had feared an acquittal would lead to worse unrest, while others worried that once again a white police officer would get away with what they saw as murder.

With good behavior, Chauvin could serve just two-thirds of any prison sentence, with the remaining third on supervised release.

The defense will appeal the verdict, Nelson has said, citing doubts over the impartiality of some jurors.

On the eve of sentencing, the judge denied the defense's request for a new trial.

Neither will the case end with Chauvin: his three former colleagues will face trial in March 2022 on charges of complicity in homicide.

In parallel, the four men also face federal charges of violating Floyd's constitutional rights. No date has yet been set for that trial.

PM’s Meeting With J&K Leaders ‘Positive’ Step: Karan Singh

 

FILE PHOTO: Former Jammu and Kashmir Governor and Congress leader Karan Singh said statehood must be restored before holding assembly polls in J&K

Describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with top political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir as a “very positive step”, veteran Congress leader and former J&K governor Karan Singh on Friday said statehood must be restored before holding Assembly polls there and asserted that such a move would go a long way in helping to “heal the wounds” of the people.

Mr. Singh, the son of Maharaja Hari Singh, who signed the terms of Kashmir’s accession in 1947, also said his personal opinion is that prima facie the revocation of special status under Article 370 seems “irreversible” but asserted that the matter was before the Supreme Court and it must be decided by the top court.

In an interview with PTI, the last Sadr-e-Riyasat and first governor of the erstwhile state also demanded that the Centre must provide a “financial-cum-developmental package” to the people whose livelihoods were badly affected during the last two years following the Centre’s move to bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories and revoke its special status.

His remarks come a day after Modi held talks with top political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir and told them that the Centre’s priority is to strengthen grassroots democracy there for which delimitation has to happen quickly for polls to be held.

Reacting to the Prime Minister’s meeting with 14 political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir, including four former chief ministers, Mr. Singh said, “I definitely think it is a very positive step. First of all, because everybody was involved and people who once were discarded as anti-national, they all came -- National Conference and People's Democratic Party both.”

He added, “I believe everybody spoke their mind very frankly and the Prime Minister listened very attentively to everybody. Three and a half hours of the meeting was there and my own view is that it is a very positive move because something was needed to break the ice.”

The whole situation after the change of status had become “ossified politically”, Mr. Singh said, adding that the meeting was the start of a political process that is to be welcomed.

Asked about the demand of most of Jammu and Kashmir leaders of restoration of statehood, he said it was a unanimous view because after being in special status for 70 years, to suddenly be demoted to a Union Territory is “something nobody in Jammu and Kashmir has appreciated”.

“So statehood is a universal demand, the question is timing. Now as I understand the situation, the first step now is delimitation. The delimitation commission is already working, they should submit their report very soon. After delimitation then the next step is elections. My own view is that...we should have elections as a full state,” Mr. Singh said.

He asserted that full statehood for Jammu and Kashmir should definitely be restored before assembly elections because if it goes to polls as a Union territory and then becomes a state, that would not make any sense because the situations are different with difference in status.

“As soon as possible, we should get statehood, I mean if we get it tomorrow there is nothing like it but in any case when we fight the next elections we must fight them as a full-fledged state,” the 90-year-old leader said.

Mr. Singh also lamented that it was a “strange irony” that his father signed the instrument of accession for the whole state and “today we are having to fight for statehood”.

Asked if statehood could reduce “dil ki doori’ — a term used by Prime Minister Modi at the meeting, Mr. Singh said restoring statehood will go a long way to help “heal the wounds”.

“By itself, it won’t be enough but it would definitely be a major step,” he added.

Asked about calls from a section for restoring Article 370 provisions that granted special status to J&K and were abrogated in 2019, Mr. Singh said, “My personal belief in this is that it seems to me prima facie that the changes are irreversible but the matter is before the Supreme Court so we shouldn’t unnecessarily make any detailed comment on it what should be done and what should not be done.”

The veteran Congress leader urged the Supreme Court to take up the matter soon, asserting that it was a very crucial and important issue that should be given priority. Asked about divergent views struck by Congress leaders on the Article 370 issue, Singh said he was not a Congress spokesperson and would not want to speak on behalf of the party.

“I expressed my personal view that it did not seem to me that Article 370 can be restored...My view may be slightly divergent from others. But the consensus is what Ghulam Nabi (Azad) said and the matter is before the Supreme Court and they will decide on it," he said.

Asked what were his expectations from the Centre on J&K going forward, Singh said he expected that they would move forward as they say on delimitation, elections and statehood.

Demanding a financial-cum-developmental package for the people of J&K, Singh said for two years the state suffered very heavily.

“The whole Kashmir Valley, the horticulture was destroyed, tourism which is our mainstay was destroyed, so tens of hundreds of crores of losses were suffered,” he said, adding that in Jammu also heavy losses were incurred.

“So they should first compensate those people who lost during those two years,” he said.

Mr. Modi’s J&K outreach saw the Prime Minister conveying to the 14 political leaders from the union territory during their face-to-face meeting in New Delhi that he wanted to end the ‘Dilli ki Doori’ as well as ‘Dil ki Doori’ (distance from Delhi as well as the distance of hearts) with Jammu and Kashmir, which has witnessed a prolonged spell of militancy and unrest.

The four former chief ministers of the erstwhile state who participated in the discussions were Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah of the National Conference, Congress’ Ghulam Nabi Azad and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti.

Four former deputy chief ministers were in attendance too - Congress’ Tara Chand, People’s Conference leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig and BJP’s Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta.

CPI(M) leader Mohammed Yusuf Tarigami, Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) chief Altaf Bukhari, Sajjad Lone of the People’s Conference, J-K Congress head G A Mir, BJP’s Ravinder Raina and Panthers' Party leader Bhim Singh also formed part of the delegation.

This was the first interaction between the top leadership of the Union government and mainstream parties in J&K since August 5, 2019, when the Centre revoked its special status provided under Article 370 and bifurcated the border state into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. (PTI)

Mamata Writes To PM For Expediting WHO Nod To Covaxin

 

The West Bengal CM said that many countries are allowing entry to only those people who have taken WHO-approved vaccines

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention for early approval of Covaxin by the World Health Organisation, without which people who have taken the Bharat Biotech jab may face problems travelling abroad.

The CM, in her letter, stated that her government has been “receiving both Covishield and Covaxin” from the very beginning.

Even the private sector in the state has procured and administered both the vaccines, she said.

“A large number of students from all over the country travel abroad every year for higher studies and many of them have got themselves vaccinated with Covaxin. They came to learn later on that their vaccination certificate is not valid abroad. These students are now in a fix regarding their next course of action and their career is at stake,” Banerjee wrote to Modi on Thursday.

Many countries are allowing entry to only those people who have taken WHO-approved vaccines, she noted.

“It is learnt that Covaxin is still not approved by WHO and it is not possible to travel abroad as many countries are allowing only those people who are fully vaccinated with WHO-approved vaccines. Hence, I request for your kind intervention so that an early approval is received for Covaxin from WHO so that students do not face any problem. This will also benefit people travelling abroad for job, education, business and any other purposes as well,” she added.

Banerjee had, on Wednesday, asked Chief Secretary H.K. Dwidevi to write to the Union Health Secretary and Cabinet Secretary on this matter.

She had also urged the Centre to take steps to ensure that people inoculated with Covaxin do not face any restrictions during their overseas travel.

Countries Relying On Chinese Vaccines Reporting Covid Surge

 

FILE PHOTO: A medical professional holds a small bottle labeled with a 'Vaccine COVID-19' sticker and a medical syringe, in this illustration picture

Countries like Mongolia, Seychelles and Bahrain had relied on the easily accessible Chinese COVID-19 vaccines to combat the coronavirus pandemic and bring back normalcy. These countries are now battling a surge in infections.

Examples from several countries suggest that the Chinese vaccines may not be very effective at preventing the spread of the virus, particularly the new variants, reported The New York Times (NYT).

In Seychelles, Chile, Bahrain and Mongolia, about 50 to 68 per cent of the populations have been fully inoculated with Chinese vaccines, outpacing the United States, according to Our World in Data, a data-tracking project. They are also among the top 10 countries with the worst COVID-19 outbreaks as recently as last week.

"If the vaccines are sufficiently good, we should not see this pattern," said Jin Dongyan, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong. "The Chinese have a responsibility to remedy this."

Amid uncertainty over how countries with relatively high inoculation rates are suffering new outbreaks, scientists have pointed out to relaxing of social controls and careless behaviour.

Israel, which has the second-highest vaccination rate in the world with shots from Pfizer after Seychelles, reports 4.95 new COVID-19 cases per million. On the other hand, in Seychelles, which relied mostly on Sinopharm, that number is more than 716 cases per million.

China, as well as the more than 90 nations that have received the Chinese shots, may end up as a country that is fully vaccinated but partly protected from the virus, contending with rolling lockdowns, testing and limits on day-to-day life for months or years to come. Moreover, economies could remain held back, reported NYT.

Beijing saw its vaccine diplomacy as an opportunity to emerge from the pandemic as a more influential global power. China's top leader, Xi Jinping, pledged to deliver a Chinese shot that could be easily stored and transported to millions of people around the world.

Mongolia, relying on Chinese aid, quickly rolled out an inoculation program and eased restrictions, vaccinating 52 per cent of its population. However, it recorded 2,400 new infections on Sunday, quadrupling from a month before.

In a statement, China's Foreign Ministry said it did not see a link between the recent outbreaks and its vaccines. It cited the World Health Organization as saying that vaccination rates in certain countries had not reached sufficient levels to prevent outbreaks, and that countries needed to continue to maintain controls, according to NYT.

"Relevant reports and data also show that many countries that use Chinese-made vaccines have expressed that they are safe and reliable, and have played a good role in their epidemic prevention efforts," the ministry said.

While the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have efficacy rates of more than 90 per cent, China's Sinopharm vaccine has an efficacy rate of 78.1 per cent and the Sinovac vaccine has an efficacy rate of 51 per cent.

Moreover, the Chinese companies have not released much clinical data to show how their vaccines work at preventing transmission. Data on breakthrough infections has not been made available, either, though a Sinovac study out of Chile showed that the vaccine was less effective than those from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna at preventing infection among vaccinated individuals.

William Schaffner, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University, said the efficacy rates of Chinese shots could be low enough "to sustain some transmission, as well as create illness of a substantial amount in the highly vaccinated population, even though it keeps people largely out of the hospital".

Despite the spike in cases, officials in both Seychelles and Mongolia have defended Sinopharm, saying it is effective in preventing severe cases of the disease.

Nikolai Petrovsky, a professor at the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University in Australia, said that with all of the evidence, it would be reasonable to assume the Sinopharm vaccine had minimal effect on curbing transmission. He said that a major risk with the Chinese inoculation is that vaccinated people may have few or no symptoms and still spread the virus to others.

In Indonesia, where a new variant is spreading, more than 350 doctors and healthcare workers recently came down with COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated with Sinovac, according to the risk mitigation team of the Indonesian Medical Association.

Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates were the first two countries to approve the Sinopharm shot, even before late-stage clinical trial data was released. Since then, there have been extensive reports of vaccinated people falling ill in both countries, NYT reported. (ANI)

Why The 'World's Happiest Country' Seeks Migrants

 

Workers are needed "to help cover the cost of the greying generation", a recruiter explained (Photo: VisitFinland)

Repeatedly dubbed the happiest nation on the planet with world-beating living standards, Finland should be deluged by people wanting to relocate, but in fact it faces an acute workforce shortage.

"It's now widely acknowledged that we need a spectacular number of people to come to the country," recruiter Saku Tihverainen from agency Talented Solutions told AFP.

Workers are needed "to help cover the cost of the greying generation", the recruiter explained.

While many Western countries are battling weak population growth, few are feeling the effects as sharply as Finland.

With 39.2 over-65s per 100 working-age people, it is second only to Japan in the extent of its ageing population, according to the UN, which forecasts that by 2030 the "old age dependency ratio" will rise to 47.5.

The government has warned that the nation of 5.5 million needs to practically double immigration levels to 20,000-30,000 a year to maintain public services and plug a looming pensions deficit.

Finland might seem like an attractive destination on paper, scoring high in international comparisons for quality of life, freedom and gender equality, with little corruption, crime and pollution.

But anti-immigrant sentiment and a reluctance to employ outsiders are also widespread in Western Europe's most homogenous society, and the opposition far-right Finns Party regularly draws substantial support during elections.

TIPPING POINT

After years of inertia, businesses and government "are now at the tipping point and are recognising the problem" posed by a greying population, said Charles Mathies, a research fellow at the Academy of Finland.

Mathies is one of the experts consulted by the government's "Talent Boost" programme, now in its fourth year, which aims to make the country more attractive internationally, in part through local recruitment schemes.

Those targeted include health workers from Spain, metalworkers from Slovakia, and IT and maritime experts from Russia, India and Southeast Asia.

But previous such efforts have petered out.

In 2013, five of the eight Spanish nurses recruited to the western town of Vaasa left after a few months, citing Finland's exorbitant prices, cold weather and notoriously complex language.

Finland has nonetheless seen net immigration for much of the last decade, with around 15,000 more people arriving than leaving in 2019.

But many of those quitting the country are higher-educated people, official statistics show.

Faced with the OECD's largest skilled worker shortage, some Finnish startups are creating a joint careers site to better bag overseas talent.

"As you can imagine, this is a slow burner," Shaun Rudden from food delivery firm Wolt said in an email, adding that "We try to make the relocation process as painless as possible."

SYSTEMIC PROBLEM

Startups "have told me that they can get anyone in the world to come and work for them in Helsinki, as long as he or she is single," the capital's mayor, Jan Vapaavuori, said to AFP.

But "their spouses still have huge problems getting a decent job."

Many foreigners complain of a widespread reluctance to recognise overseas experience or qualifications, as well as prejudice against non-Finnish applicants.

Ahmed (who requested his name be changed for professional reasons) is a 42-year-old Brit with many years' experience in building digital products for multinational, household-name companies.

Yet six months of networking and applying for jobs in Helsinki, where he was trying to move for family reasons, proved fruitless.

"One recruiter even refused to shake my hand, that was a standout moment," he told AFP.

"There was never a shortage of jobs going, just a shortage of mindset," said Ahmed, who during his search in Finland received offers from major companies in Norway, Qatar, the UK and Germany, and eventually began commuting weekly from Helsinki to Dusseldorf.

Recruiter Saku Tihverainen said shortages are pushing more companies to loosen their insistence on only employing native Finnish workers.

"And yet, a lot of the Finnish companies and organisations are very adamant about using Finnish, and very fluent Finnish at that," he said.

CHANGING PRIORITIES

For Helsinki mayor Jan Vaaavuori, four years of Finland being voted the world's happiest country in a UN ranking have "not yet helped as much as we could have hoped."

"If you stop someone in the street in Paris or London or Rome or New York, I still don't think most people know about us," he mused.

Mayor Vapaavuori, whose four-year term ends this summer, has turned increasingly to international PR firms to help raise the city's profile.

He is optimistic about Finland's ability to attract talent from Asia in future, and believes people's priorities will have changed once international mobility ramps up again post-coronavirus.

Helsinki's strengths, being "safe, functional, reliable, predictable -- those values have gained in importance," he said, adding: "Actually I think our position after the pandemic is better than it was before."

(AFP)