WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden is asking states and localities to offer unvaccinated residents $100 to get their COVID-19 shots.

The cash reward for vaccination was one idea in Biden’s latest plan to boost lagging vaccination rates in many parts of the nation.

Rolled out Thursday, the core of his new plan is a requirement for federal workers to disclose their vaccination status to their agencies.

Biden is pointing to anecdotal evidence that a $100 reward will get results.

The White House says the Kroger grocery store chain tried it and saw vaccination rates jump to 75% from 50% among employees.

New Mexico, Ohio and Colorado have also experimented with the idea.

Biden says states and localities can use money from his COVID relief law to pay for the incentive programmes.

TOKYO: Japanese officials sounded an alarm on Thursday, July 29, 2021, after Tokyo reported record-breaking coronavirus cases for two straight days with the Olympics well underway. 

“We have never experienced the expansion of the infections of this magnitude,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters. He said the new cases were soaring not only in the Tokyo area but across the country. 

Tokyo reported 3,177 new cases on Wednesday, up from 2,848 on Tuesday, setting an all-time high and exceeding 3,000 for the first time. 

Japan has kept its cases and deaths lower than many other countries, but its seven-day rolling average is growing and now stands at 28 per 100,000 people nationwide and 88 in Tokyo, according to the Health Ministry. This compares to 18.5 in the United States, 48 in Britain and 2.8 in India, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

“While almost nothing is helping to slow the infections, there are many factors that can accelerate them,” said Dr. Shigeru Omi, a top government medical adviser, noting the Olympics and summer vacation. “The biggest risk is the lack of a sense of crisis and without it, the infections will further expand and put medical systems under severe strain.”

Tokyo has been under its fourth state of emergency since July 12, ahead of the Olympics, which began last Friday despite widespread public opposition and concern that they Games could worsen the outbreak.

People are still roaming the streets despite stay-at-home requests, making the measures largely ineffective at a time the more infectious delta strain is spreading, he said. “We have never seen the infections spread so rapidly.”

Alarmed by the surge in Tokyo, the governors of three prefectures adjacent to the capital said they plan to ask Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to place their areas under the state of emergency too. 

Experts say Tokyo’s surge is being propelled by the delta variant of the virus and there is no evidence of the disease being transmitted from Olympic participants to the general public.

Tokyo officials said Thursday that two foreign Olympic athletes are currently hospitalized and 38 others are self-isolating at designated hotels in the city. Gov. Yuriko Koike urged the organizers to make sure not to burden Tokyo’s hospitals. 

Nationwide, Japan reported more than 9,500 confirmed cases, a new record, on Wednesday for a total of about 892,000, with about 15,000 deaths.

As of Wednesday, 26.3% of the Japanese population has been fully vaccinated. The percentage of the elderly who are fully vaccinated is 70%, or 24.8 million people.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand on Monday agreed to repatriate an alleged Islamic State militant and her two young children, who have been detained in Turkey since February.

The decision follows a bitter dispute with Australia over which country needed to shoulder responsibility for the woman, who had been a dual citizen of both countries until Australia stripped her citizenship under its anti-terrorism laws.

The woman and her children were arrested when they tried to illegally cross from Syria into Turkey, according to Turkey’s Defense Ministry. Turkey identified her only by her initials, S.A., while New Zealand media say she is Suhayra Aden, who was 26 at the time of her arrest.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said New Zealand had taken into account its international responsibilities and could not remove citizenship from anybody if it left them stateless.

“I made very strong representations to Australia that she should be permitted to return there. Her family moved to Australia when she was 6 and she grew up there before departing for Syria in 2014 on an Australian passport,” Ardern said in a statement. “Unfortunately, Australia would not reverse the cancellation of citizenship.”

Australian Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said the woman lost her citizenship as a result of her own actions, and that ending citizenship for dual nationals engaged in terrorist conduct was an integral part of Australia’s response to terrorist threats.

“The government’s first priority is always to protect the Australian community,” Andrews said in a statement. 

Ardern said the safety and wellbeing of New Zealanders was the government’s paramount concern. She said there had been extensive planning with the police and other agencies. 

“I can assure people great care is being taken as to how the woman and her young children are returned to New Zealand and how they will be managed in a way that minimizes any risk for New Zealanders,” Ardern said.

Authorities declined to say when the family would be repatriated, citing legal and security concerns.

Ardern said anybody suspected of being associated with a terrorist group should expect to be investigated under New Zealand laws, although the case remained a matter for the police. 

New Zealand police confirmed an investigation was underway but declined further comment on whether the woman would face any criminal charges.

Beijing: China’s military has blasted a dam to release floodwaters threatening one of its most heavily populated provinces, as the death toll in widespread flooding rose to at least 25.

The dam operation was carried out late Tuesday night in the city of Luoyang, just as severe flooding overwhelmed the Henan provincial capital of Zhengzhou, trapping residents in the subway system and stranding them at schools, apartments and offices.

Another seven people were reported missing, provincial officials said at a news conference.

A video posted on Twitter by news site The Paper showed subway passengers standing in chest-high muddy brown water as torrents raged in the tunnel outside. Transport and work have been disrupted throughout the province, with rain turning streets into rapidly flowing rivers, washing away cars and rising into people’s homes.

At least 10 trains carrying about 10,000 passengers were halted, including three for more than 40 hours, according to Caixin, a business news magazine.

A blackout shut down ventilators at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, forcing staff to use hand-pumped airbags to help patients breathe, according to the city’s Communist Party committee. It said more than 600 patients were being transferred to other hospitals.

The precise times and locations of the deaths and disappearances weren’t immediately clear, although the province said more than 100,000 people have been evacuated to safety.

Henan province has many cultural sites and is a major base for industry and agriculture. It is crisscrossed by multiple waterways, many of them linked to the Yellow River, which has a long history of bursting its banks during periods of intensive rainfall.

State media on Wednesday showed waters at waist height, with rain still coming down.

To the north of Zhengzhou, the famed Shaolin Temple, known for its Buddhist monks’ mastery of martial arts, was also badly hit.

China routinely experiences floods during the summer, but the growth of cities and conversion of farmland into subdivisions has worsened the impact of such events. 

Kathmandu: Nepal’s new Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Sunday comfortably won a vote of confidence in the House of Representatives, ensuring continuity of the twice dissolved lower house of Parliament for the remaining duration.

Deuba, the 75-year-old chief of the Nepali Congress who was appointed as the prime minister as per the Article 76(5) of the Constitution on July 12 following Supreme Court’s intervention, secured 165 votes in the 275-member house on Sunday.

A total of 136 votes were required for Deuba to win Parliament’s confidence.

As many as 249 lawmakers participated in the voting process and 83 of them voted against Deuba while one lawmaker remained neutral.

“I hereby declare that the motion of the vote of confidence tabled by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has been endorsed with a majority, House Speaker Agni Sapkota announced.

The proposal for the vote of trust was registered in the Parliament Secretariat on Sunday, the very first day of the session of the reinstated lower house.

Previously, Deuba has served as the prime minister on four occasions; first from 1995 to 1997, then from 2001 to 2002, again from 2004 to 2005, and from 2017 to 2018.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Deuba on his success.

“Congratulations Prime Minister @DeubaSherbdr and best wishes for a successful tenure. I look forward to working with you to further enhance our unique partnership in all sectors, and strengthen our deep-rooted people-to-people ties,” Modi tweeted.

Deuba took the oath of office and secrecy for a record fifth time on July 13, a day after a five-member Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives for the second time in five months.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari had dissolved the lower house for the second time in five months on May 22 at the recommendation of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and announced snap elections on November 12 and November 19.

Deuba had staked the claim to form the government as per the Article 76(5) with the support of 149 lawmakers but President Bhandari had invalidated the claim, along with that made by Oli saying both claims were insufficient.

After the apex court’s intervention, President Bhandari had summoned the meeting of both the Houses of the Parliament on Sunday.

In the lower house of Parliament, the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) has 61 members while its coalition partner CPN (Maoist Center) has 48 members, excluding Speaker Sapkota.

The main Opposition CPN-UML, which is Oli’s party, has 121 members in the lower house, the JSP has 32 members and the other three fringe parties have a member each. There is an independent lawmaker as well.

The Nepali Congress, CPN Maoist Centre and Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal lawmakers voted in favour of Deuba. The Thakur-Mahato faction of the JSP-N also decided to support Deuba at the last minute.

Close to a dozen lawmakers of the UML left the House after Deuba’s victory was certain. However, the remaining 22 lawmakers, including Madhav Kumar Nepal himself, voted for Deuba.

Interestingly, as many as 8 lawmakers from the Oli faction voted in Deuba’s favour. All in all, around 30 lawmakers from the opposition party defied the party whip to vote against Deuba.

Former prime minister and senior leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) Jhalanath Khanal, who is undergoing treatment at a hospital in New Delhi, had issued a statement, asking his party’s lawmakers to vote in favour of Deuba.

With his victory, Deuba is set to remain prime minister for a year and a half, until elections are held.

Nepal plunged into a political crisis on December 20 last year after President Bhandari dissolved the House and announced fresh elections on April 30 and May 10 at the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli, amidst a tussle for power within the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP).

On February 23, the apex court reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives, in a setback to embattled Prime Minister Oli who was preparing for snap polls.

New Delhi: Most three-years-old may find it difficult to even form a sentence, but not child prodigy Chryseis Knight who holds the rare distinction of being one of the youngest authors in the world.

“The Great Big Lion”, drawn and written by child prodigy Knight, is a story about lion and two children. It talks about friendship, inclusivity, wildlife conservation and the world of imagination.

Earlier published independently abroad, the book was released on Monday for the first time in India under Penguin Random House India’s ‘Puffin’ imprint.

Knight, who is currently residing in Canada, learnt how to read at the age of one, started writing the story of “The Great Big Lion” in her notebook when she was three years old. She then shared it with her family and became determined to do the artwork with the motivation of getting the book published.

Now seven-years-old, she hopes to inspire children all around the world to embrace the magic in books.

“Tremendously excited that we are publishing this unique book that was written and illustrated by Chryseis when she was merely three! Her writings have an endearing quality; it speaks to children and resonates with them, and the themes she covers are wide-ranging: from wildlife conservation to developing empathy. It is not surprising that she was inducted into Mensa at age two for her linguistic talents. She’s exceptionally gifted and we look forward to her writing career as she grows up,” said Arpita Nath, commissioning editor, Penguin Random House.

New Delhi: Ahead of a likely organisational and government reshuffle in Punjab, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday met poll strategist Prashant Kishor at his residence.

Other party leaders like Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, AICC general secretary Punjab-in-charge Harish Rawat and KC Venugopal were also present during the meeting where they are learnt to have discussed the party’s overhaul in Punjab and efforts to end factionalism in the state unit ahead of assembly elections.

Kishor had earlier met Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on the impending changes in the Punjab Congress.

Amarinder Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu, who have been at loggerheads, have made a number of public statements against each other in recent months. Amid the tiff, the Gandhis have met the Punjab chief minister and Sidhu separately.

There was no official word on what was discussed at the meeting with Kishor which lasted about an hour, but sources said the new Punjab Congress body would be announced in the next few days and the discussions were focused on it.

There have been hectic deliberations over the past few days over the likely changes in the Punjab government and the party’s state unit.

Both Sidhu and Amarinder Singh have also met the three-member AICC panel headed by Mallikarjun Kharge. The panel had earlier submitted its report to the Congress chief with its recommendations.

The CM had then said any decision taken by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi would be acceptable to him and the party.

The role for Sidhu in the organisation has remained a sticking point from the beginning as he is keen on the post of PCC chief, which is not acceptable to the chief minister, according to party sources.

KABUL: A high powered Afghan government delegation, which will include the head of the country’s reconciliation council, is to meet the Taliban in Doha to jump-start a long-stalled peace process, two Afghan officials said Tuesday.

The two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said the Taliban were expected to bring their senior leaders to the table when the two sides meet, possibly on Friday.

The Taliban maintain a political office in the Qatar capital of Doha.

The latest attempt to revitalize peace talks comes as the U.S. all but winds up its ‘forever war’ in Afghanistan.

The development comes after outgoing U.S. commander Gen. Scott Miller warned that increasing violence seriously hurts Afghanistan’s chances of finding a peaceful end to decades of war.

It a also comes as Taliban fighters surge through district after district taking control of large swaths of the country.

Although the exact number of districts now under Taliban control is not known, it is believed they now rule in more than a third of Afghanistan’s 421 districts and district centers.

Several of the districts are strategic, bordering neighbors Iran, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

The surge has also exposed weaknesses within the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces as many districts fell without a fight and more than 1,000 soldiers fled to Tajikistan.

There have been repeated reports of troops not receiving resupplies or being left without reinforcements, often outgunned and outnumbered by their Taliban adversaries.

While the Taliban have sought to show images of soldiers peacefully surrendering, there have been reports of killings and atrocities being committed.

The talks planned for Doha will be led by Abdullah Abdullah, who heads Afghanistan’s reconciliation council.

They are reportedly intended to plot a way forward that could end the violence that has steadily increased since the U.S.

signed a deal with the insurgent movement in February last year.

Former president Hamid Karzai, who is expected to be among the Kabul delegates to participate in the Doha talks, held a news conference Tuesday in the capital saying peace was coming to Afghanistan and urging the country’s youth to stay in the country.

Karzai’s urging came as France urged its citizens to leave Afghanistan and announced it was arranging a special flight Saturday to evacuate them from Kabul.

There was no indication the French Embassy would be closed.

Australia has closed its embassy.

While the U.S. has downsized, it says it has no plans to evacuate and announced its visa section had re-opened after temporarily closing due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

Meanwhile, Karzai called on the government to seize the moment and press ahead toward peace.

“I want to call on the Afghan government to not miss the opportunity for peace, do your best to make peace and create a national government through peace,” Karzai said.

“I want to say on both sides that you are the owner of this land, sit with each other and make peace.”

He expressed hope that one day Afghanistan would have a woman as president.

“This country has everything, youths, educated people….I call on the young generation to not leave your country, stay here…..You must trust in your country, peace will come,” he said.

“I call on women to continue working in offices and continue your educations….I hope the day comes that a woman will become the president of Afghanistan.”

But even as the former president spoke of peace, another explosion rocked the capital Kabul on Tuesday, killing four people and wounding 11 others, according to police spokesman Ferdaws Faramaz.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Taliban and government accuse each other of carrying out attacks in the capital, while the Islamic State group often is the only one to claim an attack.