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Australia will participate in Malabar naval exercise with India, US and Japan: Govt

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For the last few years, Australia has been showing keen interest in participating in the high-end naval exercise.

MELBOURNE: Australia will participate in the Malabar naval exercise next month involving India, the US and Japan that will bring the four key defence partners and democracies in the region together, demonstrating their collective resolve to support an open and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

In a significant move that comes amid a Sino-India border row, India on Monday announced Australia’s participation in the upcoming Malabar exercise along with the US and Japan, effectively making it the first military-level engagement between the four-member nation grouping — the Quad.

The invitation by India to the Australian navy for the exercise came two weeks after the foreign ministers of the Quad held extensive talks in Tokyo with a focus on enhancing their cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, a region that has been witnessing increasing Chinese military assertiveness.

In a joint statement with Australian Defence Minister Linda Reynolds, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the announcement was another important step in Australia’s deepening relationship with India.

The government said that following an invitation from India, Australia will participate in the Malabar-2020 exercise, which is likely to take place next month in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.

The exercise will bring together four key regional defence partners India, Japan, the United States and Australia in November, it said.

Reynolds said Malabar-2020 marked a milestone opportunity for the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

“High-end military exercises like MALABAR are key to enhancing Australia’s maritime capabilities, building interoperability with our close partners, and demonstrating our collective resolve to support an open and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Reynolds said.

For the last few years, Australia has been showing keen interest in participating in the high-end naval exercise. Australia will be returning to the joint manoeuvres after its participation in 2007.

The US has been pushing for a deeper military collaboration with Japan, India and Australia against China’s growing regional influence.

Beijing claims almost all of the 1.3 million square-mile South China Sea as its sovereign territory.

China has been building military bases on artificial islands in the region which, in parts, is claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Beijing has impeded commercial activity like fishing and mineral exploration by neighbouring nations in recent years, saying the ownership of the resource-rich maritime territory belongs to China for hundreds of years.

Foreign Minister Payne said that the Malabar exercise also “showcases the deep trust between four major Indo-Pacific democracies and their shared will to work together on common security interests”.

“This builds on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, to which Prime Minister (Scott) Morrison and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi agreed on June 4, 2020, and which I progressed with my counterpart, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, this month when we met in Tokyo,” she said.

“It will bolster the ability of India, Australia, Japan and the United States to work together to uphold peace and stability across our region,” Payne asserted.

Participation in the naval exercise demonstrates Australia’s enduring commitment to enhancing regional security, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific, and increasing the capability and interoperability of the ADF, she said.

Johnson & Johnson pauses COVID-19 vaccine trial as participant becomes ill

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The pause means the online enrollment system has been closed for the 60,000-patient clinical trial while the independent patient safety committee is convened.

“We have temporarily paused further dosing in all our Covid-19 vaccine candidate clinical trials, including the  Phase 3 ENSEMBLE trial, due to an unexplained illness in a study participant,” the company said in a statement.

The pause means the online enrollment system has been closed for the 60,000-patient clinical trial while the independent patient safety committee is convened.

J&J said that serious adverse events (SAEs) are “an expected part of any clinical study, especially large studies.” Company guidelines allowed them to pause a study to determine if the SAE was related to the drug in question and whether to resume study.

The J&J Phase 3 trial had started recruiting participants in late September, with a goal of enrolling up to 60,000 volunteers across more than 200 sites in the US and around the world.

The other countries where the trials were taking place are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and South Africa.

Second Cabinet minister in Nepal tests positive for coronavirus

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Pokharel, who was admitted to Patan Hospital on Saturday evening after developing mild fever, tested positive for the virus on Sunday afternoon during a PCR test, MyRepublica reported on Sunday.

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s education minister Giriraj Mani Pokharel has tested positive for COVID-19 — the second Cabinet minister to have contracted the deadly viral infection.

Pokharel, who was admitted to Patan Hospital on Saturday evening after developing mild fever, tested positive for the virus on Sunday afternoon during a PCR test, MyRepublica reported on Sunday.

His health is stable, according to a member of the minister’s secretariat.

Pokharel is the second minister in the Cabinet of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli to have contracted the contagion, which has so far infected over 107,750 people and claimed 636 lives in the Himalayan nation.

On Saturday, Nepal’s tourism minister Yogesh Bhattarai announced on social media that he has tested positive for the COVID-19 and requested all those who came in his contact to be on alert.

According to a report in The Himalayan Times, both Bhattarai and Pokharel had attended a meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday.

Bhattarai had also met India’s Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra on Friday to discuss ways to promote tourism in both countries.

Kwatra has quarantined himself.

However, his health is good and he has not developed any symptoms of infection, Indian Embassy spokesperson Abhishek Dubey said on Sunday.

Trump free of COVID-19 symptoms since 24 hours, didn’t show fever in four days: Doctor

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The president is confronted by dire polling numbers ahead of the November 3 election, which comes as the economy struggles to recover from COVID shutdowns.

US President Donald Trump removes his mask as he stands on the Blue Room Balcony upon returning to the White House in Washington

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has been free of COVID-19 symptoms for 24 hours and has not had a fever in four days, his doctor said Wednesday. “The president this morning says ‘I feel great,'” doctor Sean Conley said in a brief update.

Trump tested positive last week and was hospitalized at the Walter Reed military medical center late Friday evening, returning to the White House on Monday evening. “His physical exam and vital signs, including oxygen saturation and respiratory rate, all remain stable and in normal range,” the doctor’s statement said.

Canada to ban single-use plastics such as bags, straws by end of 2021

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According to Ottawa, Canadians throw away three million tonnes of plastic waste each year — including 15 billion bags annually, and 57 million straws daily.

PLastic straws

OTTAWA: Checkout bags, straws and four other single-use plastic items will be banned in Canada by the end of 2021, the environment minister announced Wednesday, while acknowledging the nation is trailing Europe in recycling efforts.

The ban – which also targets stir sticks, six-pack rings, cutlery, and food ware made from hard-to-recycle plastics – is part of a broader plan to eliminate plastics waste by 2030, which is at the heart of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s climate and environmental agenda.

But Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson acknowledged, “We are not leading the world in this. Many countries in Europe, including the United Kingdom, have gone down this path and we’ve certainly learned from the work that they have done.”

According to Ottawa, Canadians throw away three million tonnes of plastic waste each year — including 15 billion bags annually, and 57 million straws daily. Only nine percent of it is recycled. Ottawa, said Wilkinson, aims to hike that to 90 percent, in line with European targets for 2029.

Wilkinson said that of the six plastic items that will be prohibited, there are already “readily available and affordable alternatives”. “There are lots of (plastics) that are going to have to continue to be single use,” he added, “But they need to be the kinds of things that we are able to recycle, that we are able to keep in the economy and not end up in the environment where they cause problems,” he said in a news conference.

Plastic lids on coffee cups was highlighted as the most visible plastic garbage in city dumps. Wilkinson said he’s still working on a fix.

Ottawa proposed as well to establish recycled content requirements in products and packaging, hoping to boost recycling and invite better product design to extend the life of plastic materials. “This could include a minimum requirement of recycled content in new products and greater responsibility for producers and sellers to collect and recycle plastics,” he said.

Brazil’s coronavirus cases top five million

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Coronavirus cases, deaths on rise in Brazil, Mexico

The state of Sao Paulo, the epicentre of the national epidemic with 36,669 deaths and 1,016,755 cases, reopened schools on Wednesday.

SAO PAULO: Brazil on Wednesday said 31,553 COVID-19 cases were reported over the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total to 5,000,694.

And 734 more patients died of the disease, raising the national death toll to 148,228.

On Feb. 26, Brazil reported its first case and also the first in Latin America in the city of Sao Paulo, South America’s largest city.

Brazil has the world’s second-highest death toll, after the United States, and is the third-worst hit by the pandemic after the United States and India.

The state of Sao Paulo, the epicentre of the national epidemic with 36,669 deaths and 1,016,755 cases, reopened schools on Wednesday, with social distancing rules in place.

The state government announced that it will carry out tests starting next week on 19,300 people within the educational system in 20 cities to track the virus as in-person classes begin.

More than 36 million cases were reported worldwide as of 0100 GMT, Oct.8, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

India to overtake China as world’s largest LPG residential market by 2030

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Driven by environmental and health concerns, the government has also been implementing schemes to help lower-income families cope with the cost of switching from dirtier biomass to LPG.

NEW DELHI: India is expected to overtake China as the world’s largest cooking gas LPG residential sector market by 2030, Wood Mackenzie said on Tuesday.

“Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) demand in the residential sector will continue to see sustainable growth at a cumulative annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.3 per cent, reaching 34 million tonnes (MT) in 2030 as households’ dependence on solid biomass diminishes in the long run supported by rising average household incomes and urban population,” it said in a report.

Driven by environmental and health concerns, the government has also been implementing schemes to help lower-income families cope with the cost of switching from dirtier biomass to LPG.

The Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG (DBTL) gives out subsidies to the vulnerable population, while the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) provides families living below the poverty line access to free LPG stoves.

Wood Mackenzie research analyst Qiaoling Chen said: “Although nationwide LPG coverage has reached 98 per cent, up 42 per cent from 2014, usage is still low. Average annual cylinder refills have not kept up with the pace of new connections, with average consumption remaining below the benchmark of 12 cylinders.”

Even with subsidy and the initial cost of set-up covered by the government, LPG is more expensive than biomass.

Still, the Indian government is committed to roll out plans to further address affordability and infrastructure challenges in the LPG sector.

These include smaller-size LPG cylinders which reduce upfront cash payment required for each refill, more LPG distributors as well as the ‘Give it Up’ campaign where households can voluntarily give up their LPG subsidies from the DBTL scheme to benefit lower-income families.

Chen said: “Assuming the government continues to subsidise residential LPG throughout the decade, total subsidy for LPG could reach USD 5.7 billion annually by 2030.

“By then, it will overtake China as the world’s largest LPG demand centre for the residential sector.”

However, the lack of infrastructure continues to restrain piped natural gas (PNG) penetration in areas outside of top tier cities and retail PNG prices continue to be at a premium to subsidised LPG prices, making PNG a less attractive alternative to LPG before 2030, Wood Mackenzie said.

Wood Mackenzie senior analyst Vidur Singhal said: “Between 2020 and 2030, PNG demand will primarily be from urban households in tier I and tier II cities awarded under CGD bidding rounds.

City gas companies will increase PNG connections and its related infrastructure, which typically takes five to eight years to construct and commercialise fully.”

“In addition, growing LPG demand in the residential sector requires more subsidies, which will increasingly become a huge burden for the government,” Singhal said adding it is likely that subsidies will taper off over time, as growing income allows more households to pay the unsubsidised price.

The combination of ready PNG infrastructure and less policy support for LPG help to support PNG demand growth post-2030.

“We expect PNG demand in India’s residential sector to grow at a CAGR of 12.7 per cent, reaching 2.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) by 2030 from 0.8 bcm currently,” Singhal said.

By the end of 2030, India’s LPG demand in the residential sector will account for 82 per cent of the country’s total LPG demand while natural gas demand in the same sector will only account for 3 per cent of total natural gas demand in India, Wood Mackenzie added.

Trump doing well, undergoing Remdesivir therapy for COVID-19 treatment: White House doctor

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The Trump administration had issued an emergency use authorisation for Remdesivir after the drug showed moderate effectiveness in improving outcomes for patients hospitalised with virus.

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump, who was shifted to a military hospital after being tested positive for COVID-19, is undergoing Remdesivir therapy and is “doing well”, the White House physician has said.

The Trump administration had issued an emergency use authorisation for Remdesivir earlier this year after the drug showed moderate effectiveness in improving outcomes for patients who were hospitalised with the coronavirus.

Trump, 74, was flown to Walter Reed Military Medical Centre in Bethesda, a Maryland suburb of Washington DC, on Friday.

White House physician Sean Conley said medical specialists have recommended Remde Sivir therapy to treat the president’s COVID-19 infection.

“This evening, I am happy to report that the President is doing well,” Conley said in a health bulletin on Friday night, the first after the president was moved to the military hospital as a precautionary measure.

“He is not requiring any supplemental oxygen, but in consultation with specialists we have elected to initiate Remdesivir therapy. He has completed his first dose and is resting comfortably,” he said.

Conley, in a White House memorandum, said he recommended Trump be moved to Walter Reed Military Medical Centre “for further monitoring”.

Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, 50, were tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.

While the president was taken to the military hospital, the First Lady stayed back at the White House.

Sikhs in US safe under Trump; Biden’s election campaign ‘demoralising’: Community leaders

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The Biden campaign, which launched the ‘Sikh Americans for Biden’, in a press release on Sunday said that Sikh-Americans experience bullying at rates twice the national average.

WASHINGTON:Asserting that Sikhs are safe under the Trump administration, a group of prominent Sikh-American leaders have alleged that the Biden campaign is trying to “demoralise and demotivate” the community.

It is because of President Donald Trump’s initiatives to ensure religious freedom and liberty that so many Sikh youths are serving in the US military today with their turbans and beard intact, said Harmeet Dhillon, a Sikh-American attorney and co-chair of Lawyers for Trump.

According to Jasdip Singh, co-chair of the Sikhs for Trump, the community members in the US have never been as safe as is under President Trump.

“We are a martial community, no one can bully us. By saying so (that the Sikh community is not safe in US), the Biden campaign is trying to demoralise and demotivate us,” he said.

The Biden campaign, which launched the ‘Sikh Americans for Biden’, in a press release on Sunday said that Sikh-Americans experience bullying at rates twice the national average and have reported a spike in these encounters since 2017.

The Biden campaign vowed to address the unique challenges, including xenophobia, being faced by the Sikh community in the US.

Singh claimed that a Biden-Harris administration would be “anti-Sikh”.

In the November 3 presidential election, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris will challenge incumbent Republican President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

Singh said Harris, during her tenure as California Attorney General, was against the employment of a Sikh man, Trilochan Singh Oberoi, who refused to shave off his beard.

“Harris asked him to shave his beard and choose between faith and livelihood. Despite being of Indian-origin, she is anti-Sikh,” he said.

“We cannot support Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. Those are not Sikh values,” Singh said.

In 2005, Oberoi cleared the written test, vision test, a physical abilities test, and every other test required by the state of California to get him a corrections officer job but was denied the position when he refused to shave his beard.

The department rejected him, saying the state-mandated wearing a gas-mask during jail emergencies and that keeping beard would be a hindrance.

Finally in 2011, after a six-year-long legal battle, Oberoi was appointed as a correctional officer in the prison and won USD 295,000 in damages.

Singh said, “I want to address all my Sikh brothers and sisters who are questioning me that how being a Sikh I am supporting Trump. I want to ask them a question. How they being Sikh are supporting Joe Biden and Kamala Harris who are supporting and promoting weed and drug culture, who support abortion, same-sex marriages.

“Are these Sikh values?” Singh, who is also a businessman, said as part of the 2020 election campaign he has been travelling to some of the remote parts of the US and his turban and beard have never posed any problem.

“Everywhere I go — from Pennsylvania to Ohio, even in the remote parts of the country — people welcome us. Trump supporters have given me so much love and affection like never before. I represent Sikh and India with my turban,” he said on Monday.

Singh, who had launched ‘Sikhs for Trump’ in 2016, claimed Trump has very strong support from the community.

“Sikh truckers in the US are now supporting President Trump. President Trump has personally acknowledged and thanked the support of the Sikh/Indian American community,” he said, claiming that this year more than 50 per cent of the community members are supporting Trump.

Trump’s policies and vision for America resonated with Indian and Sikh values, he said.

Kanwaljit Singh Rekhi, a Sikh leader, said all minority groups in US have benefited from Trump’s economic recovery plan.

“Small minority businesses mostly owned by South Asians survived during the pandemic due to President Trump’s aggressive economic recovery plan,” he said.

According to Baljinder Singh, another Sikh leader, Trump signed the Religious Freedom Act, which opened doors for Sikh members to serve in the US military and other law enforcement agencies, keeping their turbans and beard intact.

WHO, partners roll out faster COVID-19 tests for poorer nations

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GENEVA: The World Health Organization announced Monday that it and leading partners have agreed to a plan to roll out 120 million rapid-diagnostic tests for the coronavirus to help lower- and middle-income countries make up ground in a testing gap with richer countries – even if it’s not fully funded yet.

At USD 5 apiece, the antigen-based rapid diagnostic tests for which WHO issued an emergency-use listing last week, the program initially requires USD 600 million and is to get started as early as next month to provide better access to areas where it’s harder to reach with PCR tests that are used often in many wealthier nations.

The rapid tests look for antigens, or proteins found on the surface of the virus.

They are generally considered less accurate ” though much faster ” than higher-grade genetic tests, known as PCR tests.

Those tests require processing with specialty lab equipment and chemicals.

Typically that turnaround takes several days to deliver results to patients.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hailed the program as “good news” in the fight against COVID-19.

“These tests provide reliable results in approximately 15 to 30 minutes, rather than hours or days, at a lower price with less sophisticated equipment,” he said.

“This will enable the expansion of testing, particularly in hard-to-reach areas that do not have lab facilities or enough trained health workers to carry out PCR tests.

“”We have an agreement, we have seed funding and now we need the full amount of funds to buy these tests,”he said, without specifying.

Dr. Catharina Boehme, chief executive of a non-profit group called the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, said the rollout would be in 20 countries in Africa, and would rely on support of groups including the Clinton Health Initiative.

She said the diagnostic tests will be provided by SD Biosensor and Abbott.

Peter Sands, the executive director of the Global Fund, a partnership that works to end epidemics, said it would make an initial USD 50 million available from its COVID-19 response mechanism.

He said the deployment of the quality antigen rapid diagnostic tests will be a “significant step”to help contain and combat the coronavirus.

“They’re not a silver bullet, but hugely valuable as a complement to PCR tests, since although they are less accurate, they’re much faster, cheaper and don’t require a lab,”he said.

Many rich countries have also faced problems rolling out accurate tests, and testing itself is no panacea — countries like France and the United States have all faced backlogs and hiccups at times, and rapid tests in Britain and Spain turned out to be inaccurate.

But rolling out testing in poorer countries aims to help health care workers get a better grip on where the virus is circulating, in hopes of following up with containment and other measures to stop it.

Sands said high-income countries are currently carrying out 292 tests per day per 100,000 people ” while the lowest-income countries were conducting 14 per 100,000 people.

He said the 120 million tests would represent a “massive increase”in testing, but were still a fraction of what is needed in those countries.

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