01-10-2021 The Asian Independent

16 01-10-2021 to 15-10-2021 NEWS
www.theasianindependent.co.uk
Aus to reopen int'l border in Nov
Canberra : Australia's international
border will reopen in
November after being closed for
18 months amid the coronavirus
pandemic, Prime Minister Scott
Morrison announced on Friday.
According to Morrison, international
travel to and from
Australia will resume as states
and territories approach 80 perc
ent of the adult population fully
vaccinated against Covid-19,
reports Xinhua news agency.
Under the reopening plan,
fully vaccinated Australian citizens
and permanent residents
will be able to quarantine at
home for seven days on arrival
in the country rather than for 14
days at hotels.
It is reliant on states and territories
reaching the 80 percent
vaccination milestone for their
over-16s and agreeing to implement
home quarantine, trials of
which are currently underway in
South Australia (SA) and New
South Wales (NSW).
"It's time to give Australians
their lives back," Morrison told
reporters.
"We must work together to
ensure that Australians can
reclaim the lives that they once
Taliban's ability to use Pak
as a sanctuary in 20 yrs
major issue: US generals
New Delhi : General Mark Milley, Chairman of
the US Joint Chiefs of
Staff, described the
Talibans alleged ability
to escape to
Pakistan during the 20
years of American
presence in
Afghanistan as a
major strategic issue,
Dawn news reported.
"Not effectively
dealing with Pakistan
as a sanctuary, major
strategic issue that we
are going to have to really unpack," he told the US
Senate committee.
Gen Milley made a similar demand in a Senate
hearing on Tuesday, saying: "We need to fully examine
the role of Pakistan sanctuary."
The US military chief has informed American
lawmakers that the loss in Afghanistan was a cumulative
effect of 20 years of wrong decisions and bad
planning and was not caused by any single factor,
such as the Taliban's alleged sanctuary in Pakistan,
the Dawn news report said.
In their latest testimony before the House Armed
Services Committee on Wednesday, top US generals
also blamed the administration of former President
Donald Trump's agreement with the Taliban for
accelerating the fall of Kabul on August 15.
He also cited some major decisions, by successive
US administrations, that he believed contributed
to the loss. Those include letting Osama bin
Laden escape from Tora Bora.
"We knew where he was. He was a thousand
metres away, could have ended perhaps right there,"
he said. Another mistake, according to him, was
shifting focus from Afghanistan to Iraq in the early
stage of the war. "Pulling all the troops out of
Afghanistan with the exception of a few others,
major strategic decision. Pulling off intelligence
advisers (and by doing so) we blinded ourselves to
our ability to see" how the war was going, he added.
had in this country."
The changes mean that fully
vaccinated Australians will be
able to freely leave and enter the
country for the first time since
March 2020.
It marks an end to international
arrival caps that have left tens
of thousands of Australians
stranded overseas unable to
secure flights home.
The Therapeutic Goods
Administration (TGA) has
advised that China's Sinovac and
India's Covishield will be considered
"recognised vaccines",
paving the way for the return of
Ottawa : Canada marked its
first National Day for Truth and
Reconciliation to honoUr lost children
and survivors of the notorious
indigenous residential school system
in the country. The day was
made a federal statutory holiday
by the government earlier in June,
as the truth and Reconciliation
Commission (TRC) recommended
in its 94 calls to action in 2015. It
will be observed annually on
September 30, reports Xinhua
news agency.
An estimated 150,000 indigenous
children attended residential
schools, which were designed to
strip them of their culture and language,
between the 1860s and
1996.
The TRC documented stories
from survivors and families and
issued a report in 2015. The report
detailed mistreatment at the
schools, including emotional,
physical and sexual abuse of children,
and at least 4,100 deaths.
Hundreds of people gathered at a
ceremony held on Parliament Hill
in Ottawa to mark the day on
Thursday.
Wakerakatste Louise
McDonald Herne, a condoled Bear
Clan Mother for the Mohawk
Nation Council, called on
Canadians to "know the history of
this country and the corruption it
was built upon," saying "You need
to correct the wrongs and you have
to own your own truth". Algonquin
Elder Claudette Commanda said
the discovery of unmarked graves
international students to the
country.
Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca
and Janssen vaccines have previously
been approved by the
TGA.
Morrison said the federal
government would provide support
to states that follow SA and
NSW in implementing home
quarantine.
"To maximise the number of
Australians who can return, our
government is also offering
facilitated flights into any state
or territory that agrees to commence
seven day home quarantine
trials for returning
Australians," he said.
In a media release on Friday,
Australian Airports Association
(AAA) Chief Executive James
Goodwin said airports would be
ready to welcome back increasing
numbers of Australians from
overseas when quarantine
arrangements begin to ease and
passenger caps are lifted from
November. "This is just the first
step to reopen Australia with
work needed now on the next
phase of the framework where
we can welcome back international
tourists and other important
cohorts such as business
people, students and skilled
workers," he said.
near former residential school sites
has awakened the country to its
history. "Two-hundred and fifteen
little voices woke the country, 215
voices spoke to the world,"
Commanda said in reference to the
remains of 215 children that were
first discovered near a former residential
school site in Kamloops,
Canada in May.
Hundreds more graves have
been found since near other former
school sites, prompting calls for
justice that have resonated beyond
Canada's border.
She called on Canadians to
open their hearts and listen to the
truth to move forward with reconciliation.
Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau released a statement on
Thursday, pointing to the hundreds
of unmarked graves near former
school sites that have been discovered
in May and June this year.
"The tragic locating of
unmarked graves at former residential
school sites across the
country has reminded us of not
Russia, US hold 2nd round
of strategic stability talks
Geneva : Russia and the US on Thursday held the second
round of their bilateral strategic stability dialogue in Geneva,
some two months after their first such meeting in the Swiss city
on July 28. The dialogue, led by Russian Deputy Foreign
Minister Sergey Ryabkov and US Deputy Secretary of State
Wendy Sherman, was held here behind closed doors, Xinhua
news agency reported. In a joint statement issued after the meeting,
the two sides said that the discussion was "intensive and
substantive." "The two delegations agreed to form two interagency
expert working groups -- the Working Group on
Principles and Objectives for Future Arms Control, and the
Working Group on Capabilities and Actions with Strategic
Effects," the statement said. It also informed that the delegations
have agreed that the two working groups would commence their
meetings, to be followed by a third plenary meeting.
In a joint statement issued following their Geneva summit on
June 16, US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart
Vladimir Putin reaffirmed their commitment to arms control and
risk reduction. The two leaders also agreed that diplomats and
military experts from both countries would meet for what was
called a "Strategic Stability Dialogue" to lay the groundwork for
future arms control and risk reduction measures.
Canada marks first National Day
for Truth and Reconciliation
only the impacts of colonialism
and the harsh realities of our collective
past but also the work that
is paramount to advancing reconciliation
in Canada," Trudeau said
in the statement. "Today, we also
recognize the harms, injustices,
and intergenerational trauma that
Indigenous peoples have faced -
and continue to face - because of
the residential school system, systemic
racism, and the discrimination
that persists in our society.
"We must all learn about the
history and legacy of residential
schools. It's only by facing these
hard truths, and righting these
wrongs, that we can move forward
together toward a more positive,
fair, and better future," Trudeau
said in the statement. Mary Simon,
Canada's first indigenous governor
general, said that the holiday is a
poignant one for her.
Simon said Canada's legacy of
colonization is "hard to accept,"
but necessary to address as the
country works towards reconciliation.
"Reconciliation is a way of life,
continuous, with no end date,"
Simon said. "As we strive to
acknowledge the horrors of the
past, the suffering inflicted on
Indigenous peoples, let us all stand
side-by-side with grace and humility,
and work together to build a
better future for all."
The UK's Queen Elizabeth II
issued a statement to mark the holiday,
saying that Canada's history
in regards to its treatment of
indigenous people is "painful".
"I join with all Canadians on
this first National Day for Truth
and Reconciliation to reflect on the
painful history that Indigenous
peoples endured in residential
schools in Canada, and on the
work that remains to heal and to
continue to build an inclusive society."
In a joint statement from
Indigenous Services Canada, several
Canadian ministers called residential
schools a "shameful part
of damaging racist and colonial
policies" and acknowledged that
the government has "more work to
do" in addressing the calls to
action outlined by the TRC.
Despite the marking of
September 30 as a national holiday,
several provinces, including
Alberta, Saskatchewan, New
Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario,
have chosen not to recognise it,
meaning that schools and provincial
offices in these provinces will
remain open, according to CTV on
Thursday.