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October
Sydney to welcome overseas arrivals without quarantine, but citizens first
Written by nuke
A Qatar Airways crew member is seen at Sydney international airport. (Photo: AFP/Peter Parks) -
Sydney will allow the entry of fully vaccinated travellers from overseas from Nov 1 without the need for quarantine, authorities said on Friday (Oct 15), although the easing of strict entry controls will initially benefit only citizens.
The decision comes as New South Wales state, of which Sydney is capital, is expected to reach an 80 per cent first-vaccination dose rate on Saturday, well ahead of the rest of Australia, which will enable it to bring forward the entry of overseas arrivals by several weeks.
"We need to rejoin the world. We can't live here in hermit kingdom. We've got to open up," New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet said.
Australia closed its borders in March 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic, allowing entry almost exclusively to only citizens and permanent residents who are currently required to undergo two weeks of hotel quarantine at their own expense.
As well ditching plans for home quarantine, which had been expected to replace the hotel stays, Perrottet said New South Wales would welcome all overseas arrivals.
But he was quickly overruled by Prime Minister Scott Morrison who said the government would stick with plans to first open the border to citizens and permanent residents.
"This is about Australian residents and citizens first," Morrison told reporters in Sydney.
"The (federal) government has made no decision to allow other visa holders ... to come into Australia under these arrangements," he said.
New South Wales will allow 210 unvaccinated people to enter the state each week, Perrottet said, but they would have to enter hotel quarantine upon arrival.
Australians have been unable to travel internationally for more than 18 months without a government waiver, and thousands of citizens and permanent residents in other countries have been unable to return after Canberra imposed a strict cap on arrivals to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Many of these are now expected to return via Sydney, even though some COVID-19 free states in Australia have closed their borders to New South Wales.
Qantas Airways said it would bring forward the restart of international flights from Sydney to London and Los Angeles by two weeks to Nov 1 and would consider bringing forward some other destinations that had been expected to start in December.
Major airlines like Singapore Airlines, Emirates and United Airlines have continued to fly to Sydney throughout the pandemic but due to strict passenger caps, most of their revenue has been from cargo. The announcement should allow them to begin selling more seats on those flights and potentially adding more services.
New South Wales, meanwhile, reported 399 COVID-19 cases on Friday, well down from the state's pandemic high of 1,599 in early September.
Neighbouring Victoria state, where vaccination rates are lower, reported 2,179 new locally acquired cases, down from a record 2,297 a day earlier.
The capital Canberra on Friday exited its more than two-month lockdown, allowing cafes, pubs and gyms to reopen with strict social distancing rules.
The country's overall coronavirus numbers are still relatively low, with about 139,000 cases and 1,506 deaths//CNA
October
Japan PM Kishida launches flagship panel to look into wealth redistribution
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, Japan October 14, 2021. Eugene Hoshiko/Pool via REUTERS -
Japan's new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida launched a flagship council on Friday (Oct 15) to work out a strategy to tackle wealth disparities and redistribute wealth to households, in what he describes as a "new form of capitalism".
The move is a crucial part of Kishida's economic policy that combines the pro-growth policies of former premier Shinzo Abe's "Abenomics" stimulus measures and efforts to more directly shift wealth from companies to households.
It also came in the wake of Kishida's decision on Thursday to dissolve parliament and set the stage for an election where fixing the pandemic-hit economy will be the focus.
"In order to achieve strong economic growth, it's not enough to rely just on market competition. That won't deliver the fruits of growth to the broader population," Kishida told a news conference on Thursday, calling for the need for stronger government-driven steps to distribute more wealth to households.
The panel will hold its first meeting later this month and aim to come up with interim proposals by year-end so they can be reflected in tax reform discussions for next fiscal year, Economy Minister Daishiro Yamagiwa told reporters on Friday.
Headed by Kishida, the panel consists of cabinet ministers and 15 private-sector members including academics and representatives from business lobbies, labour organisation and private companies.
It replaces the government's council on growth strategy, which helped lay out plans for implementing the policy priorites of Kishida's predecessor Yoshihide Suga such as promoting digitalisation//CNA
October
Paris Promised to tackle Climate Change, Glasgow Must Deliver
Written by nuke
COP26 in Glasgow, UK held on October 31st until November 12th 2021 -
In December 2015 the world came together and agreed the Paris Agreement, a landmark in the global efforts to tackle climate change. In this binding agreement, 196 countries – including the UK and Indonesia - committed themselves to limit the rise in average global temperature to well below 2 degrees and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.
COP26 in Glasgow, UK, aims to gather and review these commitments – encouraging all countries to be ambitious so as to meet the goals set out in the Paris Agreement. The UK is hosting the climate change summit in partnership with Italy.
In his speech, the COP26 President Designate highlighted four elements for COP26 to deliver the level of ambition required: 1) climate action plans to significantly reduce emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by mid-century, and to support adaptation to tackle climate threats; 2) concrete action to deliver these plans, including agreements on reducing coal, electric cars, protecting trees and reducing methane emissions; 3) to honour the $100bn dollar pledge; and 4) a negotiated outcome that paves the way for a decade of ever-increasing ambition.
Mr Sharma will echo the call from the countries most vulnerable to climate change, for all G20 countries and major emitters of greenhouse gases to come forward with enhanced, ambitious 2030 climate action plans (Nationally Determined Contributions). The leaders of the G20 countries will meet in Rome at the end of this month.
He will also urge world leaders to take the lead from those climate vulnerable countries which are taking action in the most difficult circumstances to protect the planet and its people.
“COP26 is not a photo op, nor a talking shop. It must be the forum where we put the world on track to deliver on climate. And that is down to leaders. It is leaders who made a promise to the world in this great city six years ago. And it is leaders that must honour it.
“Responsibility rests with each and every country. And we must all play our part. Because on climate, the world will succeed, or fail as one.”
Alok Sharma was also clear that we must see new commitments on public and private finance to support the countries most vulnerable to climate change and progress on adaptation to the effects of our changing climate, accounting for the loss and damage that it can cause.
He also spoke about the work done ahead of COP26 to make it the most inclusive COP to date, despite the unprecedented challenges the world faces in hosting an event during the COVID-19 pandemic. He set out the measures in place to make the Summit safe, including the vaccine offer to developing countries, daily testing regime and social distancing in the venue.
"At COP26 we will also start deliberations on the post 2025 finance goal. And, more broadly, we must address issues such as fiscal space. So I hope we will hear progress on SDR channelling to developing and vulnerable countries at the IMF and World Bank Annual meetings this week" Sharma said//VOI-NK
October
US Navy says sailors who refuse COVID-19 vaccine will be expelled
Written by nuke
This US Navy photo obtained May 19, 2020 shows the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) as it is moored pier side at Naval Base Guam on May 15, 2020. (Photo: AFP/Conner D Blake/US Naby) --
The US Navy said on Thursday (Oct 14) that personnel who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19 will be expelled from the force, ahead of the Nov 28 deadline for the injection.
"With COVID-19 vaccines now mandatory for all military members, the Navy has announced plans to start processing for discharge those who refuse vaccination without a pending or approved exemption," it said in a statement.
It was the first clear indication by the Pentagon of what would happen to service members who reject the vaccines, which became mandatory at the end of August.
Until now military officials had avoided answering what would happen to those who refuse to be vaccinated.
The navy said that 98 per cent of its 350,000 active duty members had begun or completed the vaccination process.
For the US military overall, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday that 96.7 per cent of the nearly 1.4 million active duty personnel had received at least one dose, and 83.7 per cent two doses.
Including military reserves, though, the level was just 80 per cent with at least one dose.
If all the services take the same hard line that the navy is taking, it risks losing as many as 46,000 troops, though presumably more will accept vaccinations before the deadline.
Vice Admiral John Nowell, the chief of naval personnel, said the navy force has been hit with 164 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.
Of them 144 were known to have not been immunised, while the status of the other 20 was unclear.
People expelled for refusing the vaccine will receive a general honourable discharge, but could lose certain benefits or be forced to repay the cost of training and education in some cases, the statement said.
Navy personnel who can claim an exemption from mandatory vaccines, for health or other reasons, can be reassigned from their current duties.
The navy has been particularly sensitive to the pandemic, because of the risk that a single COVID-19 case could infect an entire ship or submarine at sea, forcing it out of action.
Last year the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt was struck by an outbreak that infected around a quarter of the 4,800 crew, forcing the warship to remain in port in Guam for disinfection for several weeks//CNA
October
Norway says bow-and-arrow attack appears to be an 'act of terror'
Written by nuke
Police work at the scene where an arrow was shot into a wall in Kongsberg, Norway, Oct 13, 2021. A man armed with a bow and arrows killed several people Wednesday near the Norwegian capital of Oslo before he was arrested, authorities said. (Photo: Torstein Bøe/NTB via AP) -
Norway said on Thursday (Oct 14) a bow-and-arrow attack that killed five people appears to have been an "act of terror," with the suspect a Danish Muslim convert previously known to police over fears he had been radicalised.
Four women and a man were killed, and three other people wounded during the rampage on Wednesday in the south-eastern town of Kongsberg in Norway's deadliest attack in a decade.
"There is no doubt that the actual act appears as if it could be an act of terror, but it's important that the investigation continues and that we establish the motive of the suspect," the head of Norway's intelligence service PST, Hans Sverre Sjovold, told a news conference.
Police official Ole Bredrup Saeverud had told reporters earlier in the day the man was believed to be a Muslim convert, adding: "There were fears linked to radicalisation previously."
Police have identified the suspect as Espen Andersen Brathen, a 37-year-old Danish citizen who was a resident of the area, and said he had confessed during questioning.
Reports that linked him to radicalisation pre-date this year, Saeverud said, and police followed up at the time. "We haven't had any reports about him in 2021, but earlier," he said.
"We're relatively sure that he acted alone."
PST also confirmed the suspect was known to them but declined to disclose further details.
A judge will rule Friday morning whether to remand him in custody and a psychiatric evaluation had begun on Thursday.
Police prosecutor Ann Iren Svane Mathiassen said the evaluation could take "maybe a couple of months".
"This is a person who has been in and out of the health system for some time," Sjovold also told the news conference, confirming the man's mental health was a potential issue.
Norwegian media reported that Brathen was subject to two prior court rulings, including a restraining order against him regarding two close family members after threatening to kill one of them and a conviction for burglary and purchasing narcotics in 2012.
Kongsberg, a picturesque town of 25,000 people with wooden facades and the foliage changing colour for the autumn, was largely quiet on Thursday.
Knut Olav Ouff, 54, told AFP he was about to light a cigarette on the doorstep when he found himself in the middle of the tragedy.
"I saw a friend of mine cowering behind a car and then suddenly heard a 'thung'," he said. "I could hear the tinkling of the arrow hitting the streets. And after that I could see a man drawing a kid out of a car and running towards my house."
Streets were almost empty Thursday with only a light police presence.
A few police officers stood outside a store where part of the attack took place. A glass door there was chipped by a shot.
Candles flickered outside the town's church.
Norwegian media questioned why it took police more than a half-hour to arrest the suspect after the first reports of the attack.
Police were informed of the attack at 6.13pm and the suspect was arrested at 6.47pm. He fired arrows at police, who responded with warning shots, Saeverud said.
Norwegian police are not normally armed, but after the attack, the National Police Directorate ordered that officers be armed nationwide.
Norway rarely experiences such violence, but 10 years ago Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in the country's worst massacre since World War II.
Several planned militant attacks have also been foiled by security services//CNA
October
Poland passes legislation allowing migrant pushbacks at border
Written by nuke
Polish Army soldiers are seen in front of the Border Guard headquarters in Michalowo, Poland October 11, 2021. REUTERS -
Poland's parliament passed legislation on Thursday (Oct 14) that human rights advocates say aims to legalise pushbacks of migrants across its borders in breach of the country's commitments under international law.
Poland, Lithuania and Latvia have reported sharp increases in migrants from countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq trying to cross their frontiers from Belarus, in what Warsaw and Brussels say is a form of hybrid warfare designed to put pressure on the EU over sanctions it imposed on Minsk.
Rights groups have criticised Poland's nationalist government over its treatment of migrants at the border, with accusations of multiple illegal pushbacks. Six people have been found dead near the border since the surge of migrants.
Border guards argue they are acting in accordance with government regulations amended in August and now written into law. The legislation must now be signed by President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the ruling nationalists, to take force.
The amendments include a procedure whereby a person caught illegally crossing the border can be ordered to leave Polish territory based on a decision by the local Border Guard chief.
The order may be appealed to the commander of the Border Guard, but this does not suspend its execution.
Additionally, the bill allows the chief of the Office of Foreigners to disregard an application for international protection by a foreigner immediately caught after illegally crossing the border.
Under international law, migrants have a right to claim asylum and it is forbidden to send potential asylum-seekers back to where their lives or well-being might be in danger.
The EU's home affairs commissioner has said EU countries need to protect the bloc's external borders, but that they also have to uphold the rule of law and fundamental rights.
Critics such as Poland's Human Rights Ombudsman and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights say the new law does not guarantee effective recourse for people - migrants or refugees - seeking international protection.
"If there are people who have a legitimate request to seek asylum, there should be a way to allow that to happen," ODIHR director Matteo Mecacci told Reuters.
"I understand there are also security concerns ... but security concerns cannot completely overrun the need for international protection."//CNA
October
Spain plans 'additions' to controversial power bill claw-back law
Written by nuke
High-voltage power lines and an electricity pylon are pictured at dusk outside Madrid, Spain, on Sep 29, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Susana Vera) -
Spain plans to introduce "additional measures" to a newly approved Bill, opposed by some firms and investors, which reclaims some power company profits in a bid to protect consumers from sky-high energy prices, Prime Minster Pedro Sanchez said on Thursday (Oct 14).
"We will achieve (reasonable prices) with the measures we've taken and others we could yet take," Sanchez said, adding utilities which do not derive extraordinary profits linked to gas prices will be spared from the decree ratified on Thursday.
The idea of a centralised buying process in which European countries negotiate and acquire gas reserves jointly is gaining ground in Brussels, Sanchez said in a TV interview, noting that the process was "unfortunately still slow."
Sanchez's comments regarding possible additional measures to be adopted in the future echoed those of his Energy and Environment Minister Teresa Ribera earlier on Thursday.
Companies including wind energy leader Iberdrola have complained to the European Union about the decree, part of Spain's response to a global spike in power prices caused in part by high demand from economies recovering from COVID-19, and low gas stocks.
"Gas supplies from Algeria are guaranteed - although we do have a geopolitical conflict," Sanchez said. "It would be more guaranteed if we had a strategic European reserve."
The claw-back bill originally envisaged skimming some 2.6 billion euros off the companies' earnings, but the cost is now likely to be higher because it is linked to gas prices that have climbed even further since it was introduced.
Ribera told lawmakers she hoped to come up with "additional measures" in the coming weeks, adding on Twitter that these would give "reasonable prices to industry and more protection to vulnerable consumers".
She gave no further details on what the additional measures could be but shares in the most-affected companies nonetheless recovered some of the ground they had lost since the decree was unveiled.
Iberdrola shares traded up more than 2 per cent, having previously shed 7.5 per cent of their market value since mid-September. Enel unit Endesa, which unlike Iberdrola operates only in Spain, climbed more than 3per cent, having previously lost more than 10 per cent.
"It is a positive message to give regulatory security and speed up the energy transition, but my question is whether the approved regulation could bring about precisely the opposite," said Fernando Garcia, director of European utilities equity research at RBC Capital Markets.
After a heated debate, Congress ratified the decree with 182 votes in favour and 150 against, although the regulation was technically already in vigour//CNA
October
Residents of Canadian Arctic capital told city water is unsafe to drink
Written by nuke
General view of Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada, on Oct 8, 2019. (Photo: REUTERS/Stephane Mahe) -
The capital of Canada's Arctic territory has ordered its 7,000 residents not to drink the city's water due to suspected fuel contamination.
Iqaluit, the capital of Canada's northernmost territory Nunavut, which borders Greenland, declared a state of emergency on Tuesday night, telling residents to stop using city water for drinking and cooking.
Residents reported fuel odours in the water over the weekend, but the source was not clear. The water would not be safe even after boiling, the city said.
Investigators found potential hydrocarbon contamination at a water treatment plant. Analysis of samples sent out of the territory were due back in five business days.
Some people in Iqaluit normally receive piped water and others get truck delivery. During the water emergency, the city is sending treated water by truck, but that water should still be boiled for at least one minute, the city said. Other residents could get water in jugs at a pickup point in Iqaluit.
Although Canada has 20 per cent of the world's fresh water within its borders, 45 indigenous communities across the country currently have boil-water advisories. Nunavut's population is 86 per cent indigenous.
Canada's indigenous people experience the country's highest rates of poverty, with 25 per cent estimated to be living in poverty, according to the Canadian Poverty Institute.
Water is a contentious issue for Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was first elected in 2015 with a promise to end all boil-water advisories within five years.
Groceries - including bottled water - are extremely expensive in Canada's North, due in part to high shipping costs.
Iqaluit has had two different boil-water advisories since August due to repairs to water infrastructure//CNA
October
Macron wants 2024 Olympics to turn France into a sportier nation
Written by nuke
French President Emmanuel Macron visited construction sites for the 2024 Paris Olympics. (Photo: AFP) -
President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday (Oct 14) he hoped the 2024 Paris Olympics would give a huge boost to participation in sport in France.
"The aim is not simply to get medals, it will be to put sport at the heart of the nation," Macron said, as he visited Olympic building sites and existing sports facilities in northern Paris.
Macron said €200 million (US$232 million) of funding would be made available to create up to 5,000 new sports facilities for public use by the time of the Games.
Macron, who is widely expected to seek re-election next year, was criticised for comments he made after this year's Tokyo Olympics when he urged French competitors to win "many more" medals in 2024 than the 33 they won in Japan.
That haul, which included 10 gold medals, was nine medals fewer than France won at the 2016 Rio Games.
The president says France should aim to finish among the top five nations in the medals' table at the Paris Olympics - in Tokyo they were eighth in terms of gold medals but tenth when ranked by total medals won.
He said: "We took stock and went again. That is what every coach does every day with their team, it's what high-level sport is all about. I didn't see many athletes shaken by what I said."
Accompanied by now-retired French NBA star Tony Parker, Macron also visited the construction site for the Olympic Athletes' Village in Saint-Ouen in northern Paris and was expected to take part in a football match later in the day.
"I will try to make a good showing," said the 43-year-old president//CNA
October
EU starts real-time review of AstraZeneca COVID-19 antibody cocktail
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO: The logo for AstraZeneca is seen outside its North America headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., March 22, 2021. REUTERS/Rachel Wisniewski -
Europe's drug watchdog said Thursday (Oct 14) it has started evaluating AstraZeneca's anti-Covid cocktail called Evusheld, which could eventually lead to the authorisation of its use in the EU.
The move comes after AstraZeneca this week said trials showed that the drug, made from a combination of two monoclonal antibodies, reduced severe Covid-19 symptoms and deaths.
The decision to start the rolling review "is based on preliminary results from clinical studies, which suggest that the medicine may help protect against the disease," the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said.
It can take several months between the start of a rolling review by the EMA and any eventual green light.
Monoclonal antibodies - which recognise a specific molecule of the target virus or bacteria - are synthetic versions of natural antibodies.
They are administered to people already infected, to make up for deficiencies in the immune system.
This is different from a vaccine, which stimulates the body to produce its own immune response.
AstraZeneca's separate Covid vaccine is one of the four jabs currently approved for the EU.
The company said on Monday that it had seen "positive results" from the new drug, also known as AZD7442, with a "statistically significant reduction in severe COVID-19 or death" in non-hospitalised patients with mild-to-moderate symptoms.
The trial involved 903 participants and 90 per cent of them were people at high risk of progression to severe COVID-19.
Evusheld is yet another tool in the arsenal to fight COVID-19, which has now killed at least 4.8 million people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019.
Swiss pharma giant Roche applied to the EMA on Monday to authorise its anti-COVID cocktail called Ronapreve, while the agency last week said it could soon start reviewing Merck's new COVID-19 pill//CNA