Gulf Times

Wednesday, June 23, 2021 9

WORLD
OPPOSITION CRIME COMMENT APPOINTMENT CRACKDOWN

UN stance on Great Barrier
Reef angers Australia
Australia yesterday said it will strongly oppose a
Unesco plan to list the Great Barrier Reef as being
“in danger” over deterioration caused by climate
change. The UN body released a draft report on
Monday recommending the reef’s World Heritage
status be downgraded because of its dramatic coral
decline, after years of public threats to do so. “It’s a
warning to the international community and all of
humanity that the coral ecosystem is in danger,”
Fanny Douvere, the head of Unesco’s World Heritage
marine programme, told an online press briefing.
The reef is one of seven sites threatened with being
added to the endangered heritage list over ecologi-
cal damage, overdevelopment, or security concerns.
Singaporean jailed for
killing Myanmar maid
Singapore’s high court sentenced a woman to 30
years in prison yesterday for killing her Myanmar
maid after more than a year of abuse that included
starving, torturing and beating her. Singaporean
Gaiyathiri Murugayan pleaded guilty in February
to culpable homicide among 28 charges related to
her abuse of Piang Ngaih Don, who was 24 and sub-
jected to 14 months of beating that culminated in her
death in 2016. Judge See Kee Oon said that though
Murugayan, 40, suffered significant psychiatric prob-
lems, the offences she committed were abhorrent
and with purpose. Murugayan’s lawyer said a family
member of his client had asked him to file an appeal
seeking a shorter prison term of 15 to 16 years.
US misinterpreting
signals: North Korea
The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un
warned the US yesterday not to seek comfort
in comments by her brother as this would end
in disappointment, while a US envoy met South
Korea’s president aiming to revive talks with North
Korea. Kim Yo-jong, who is also a senior official in
North Korea’s ruling party, released a statement
in state media saying the US appeared to be in-
terpreting signals from North Korea in the “wrong
way.” She was responding to US national security
adviser Jake Sullivan, who on Sunday said he saw
as an “interesting signal” a recent speech by Kim
Jong-un on preparing for both confrontation and
diplomacy with the US.
N Ireland’s DUP names
Donaldson as new leader
Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party
(DUP) named Jeffrey Donaldson as its new leader
yesterday, the third person in a matter of weeks
to lead the region’s largest party during crucial
post-Brexit talks. Lawmakers in the pro-British party
ousted then leader and the province’s first minister
Arlene Foster in late April in favour of Edwin Poots,
who stepped down last week after just three weeks
in the job. Donaldson has pledged to pressure the
British government to ditch post-Brexit trade rules
agreed with the European Union that effectively
treat British-run Northern Ireland as part of the EU
for customs purposes. His unopposed candidacy
will be formally ratified by party officials next week.
India watchdog probes
Google in smart TVs row
India’s antitrust watchdog ordered an investigation
into allegations that Alphabet’s Google abused its
Android operating system’s position in the country’s
smart television market. The Competition Commis-
sion of India, which last year began looking into a
case filed by two lawyers against the US tech giant,
said its initial review found Google had breached cer-
tain anti-competitive laws. The CCI said that based on
information available, including submissions made by
Google, it was “convinced that a case is made out for
directing an investigation” by the CCI director general.
Google has denied wrongdoing. In a statement it said
the emerging smart TV sector in India was thriving in
part due to Google’s free licensing model.

Elephant in the room

Duterte
threatens
vaccine
New Covid
decliners
with jail variant is
a concern,
Reuters
Manila

P
hilippines President Rodri-
go Duterte, frustrated by the
slow pace of Covid-19 vac-
cinations in his country, threat-

says India
ened people who refuse to get in-
oculated with jail or an injection of
Ivermectin, an anti-parasite drug
widely used to treat animals.
Ivermectin has been touted
as an alternative treatment for
Covid-19 but US and European
regulators and the World Health
Organisation (WHO) have rec- Reuters in car parks raised questions over more than 8mn residents had yet
ommended against it. Bengaluru the chaotic vaccine rollout. to receive a first dose and inocu-
“You choose, vaccine or I will Since May, vaccinations have lating all adults there would take
have you jailed,” Duterte said in averaged fewer than 3mn doses a more than a year at the current

a televised address, following
reports of low turnout at several
vaccination sites in the capital
Manila. “But for as long as you
are here and you are a human be-
ing, and can carry the virus, get
vaccinated.
“Otherwise, I will order all the
village captains to have a tally
of the people who refuse to be
vaccinated. Because if not, I will
have Ivermectin meant for ani-
mals injected into you.”
Duterte is famous for his bel-
licose rhetoric and his remarks
contradicted those of his health
officials, who have said getting
vaccinated against Covid is vol-
untary. “Don’t get me wrong,
there is a crisis in this country,”
Duterte said.”I’m just exasper-
ated by Filipinos not heeding the
government.” With over 1.3mn
cases, the Philippines is fight-
ing one of Asia’s must stubborn
Covid-19 epidemics.
In the same televised address,
he took a swipe at the Interna-
tional Criminal Court, after an
ICC prosecutor sought permis-
sion from the court for a full in-
quiry into thousands of killings
by police in a war on drugs or-
dered by Duterte.
Duterte, who cancelled the
Philippines’ membership of the
ICC’s founding treaty, said he
would not co-operate with the
probe.
“Why would I defend or face
an accusation before white peo-
ple. You must be crazy,” he said.
I
ndia yesterday declared a new
coronavirus variant to be of
concern, and said nearly two
dozen cases had been detected in
three states.
The variant, identified locally
as “Delta plus”, was found in 16
cases in the state of Maharashtra,
Federal Health Secretary Rajesh
Bhushan told a news conference.
The ministry said Delta plus
showed increased transmissibil-
ity and advised states to increase
testing.
On Monday, India vaccinated a
record 8.6mn people as it began
offering free shots to all adults,
but experts doubted it could
maintain that pace.
“This is clearly not sustain-
able,” Chandrakant Lahariya, an
expert in public policy and health
systems, said.
“With such one-day drives,
many states have consumed most
of their current vaccine stocks,
which will affect the vaccination
in days to follow.”
With the currently projected
vaccine supply for the next few
months, the maximum daily
achievable rate is 4mn to 5mn
Some families living in a jungle may be fearful of things going bump at night, but for one doses, Lahariya added.
household in Thailand, the sight of an elephant rummaging through their kitchen was not The effort has so far covered
a total shock. “It came to cook again,” wrote Kittichai Boodchan sarcastically in a cap- about 5.5% of the 950mn people
tion to a Facebook video he shot over the weekend of an elephant nosing its way into his eligible, even though India is the
kitchen. Likely driven by the midnight munchies, the massive animal poked its head into world’s largest vaccine producer.
Kittichai’s kitchen in the early hours of Sunday, using its trunk to find food. Kittichai and A devastating second wave
his wife live near a national park in western Thailand, by a lake where wild elephants often during April and May over-
bathe while roaming in the jungle. The elephant had actually destroyed their kitchen wall in whelmed health services, killing
May, he said, creating an open-air kitchen concept reminiscent of a drive-through window. hundreds of thousands.
Images of funeral pyres blazing
day, far less than the 10mn health
officials say are crucial to protect
the millions vulnerable to new
surges.
Particularly in the countryside,
where two-thirds of a population
of 1.4bn lives and the healthcare
system is often overstretched, the
drive has faltered, experts say.
Maintaining the pace will prove
challenging when it comes to in-
jecting younger people in such ar-
eas, Delhi-based epidemiologist
Rajib Dasgupta said.
The capital is also facing dif-
ficulties.
Authorities in New Delhi said
Volunteers spread word on vaccines to poor
Volunteer groups are spreading
the word about getting Covid
shots to India’s poor and eld-
erly, and ferrying some to vac-
cination centres in rickshaws
and cabs following a surge in
infections that killed hundreds
of thousands. SEEDS, an or-
ganisation that does relief work
during natural disasters, has
focused its efforts on poorer
communities, where it says
many lack even basic informa-
tion about the vaccines. “We
found out that a whole lot of
people above 60 weren’t even
aware that they could vacci-
nated and protect themselves,”
co-founder Dr Manu Gupta
said. SEEDS members are going
door-to-door in the poorer
pace.
India has been administering
AstraZeneca’s vaccine, made lo-
cally by the Serum Institute of
India, and a homegrown shot
named Covaxin made by Bharat
Biotech.
Last week, Serum Institute
had said it planned to increase
monthly production to around
100mn doses from July.
Bharat now estimates it will
make 23mn doses a month.
Yesterday, television chan-
nel CNBC-TV18 reported that
phase-3 data for Covaxin showed
an efficacy of 77.8%.
parts of Delhi and the villages
of north and west India, helping
citizens register their details on
the government’s vaccination
portal and transporting some
of them for free to inoculation
centres. A second NGO, Robin
Hood Army, has partnered with
Uber to provide free rides to
vaccination centres in Delhi and
Mumbai. Its co-founder, Neel
Ghose, urged the government
to speed up the process by
taking its vaccination drive to
people’s homes. “For this to be
really effective, it needs to be
like the way we thought about
polio 20 years back, where
we reached the doorsteps of
people with vaccines and not
the other way around.”

Royal visit
Concerns raised about Scotland looks to lift
Covid curb by Aug 9
China at UN rights council Guardian News and Media country to move “beyond zero”
Edinburgh in early August.
AFP end the “arbitrary detention” of designed to counter extremism. The eventual move to level 0
Geneva Uyghurs and other Muslim mi- Bachelet told the council on will see the limits for household

S
norities, it said. Monday she hoped at last to visit cotland should see the re- gatherings indoors increase, and
“Credible reports indicate that Xinjiang this year and be given moval of all major legal up to 200 people able to attend

M
ore than 40 countries
led by Canada voiced
grave concerns at the
UN Human Rights Council yes-
terday about China’s actions in
Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet –
triggering a fierce backlash from
Beijing.
The widely anticipated joint
statement had been in the pipe-
line for several days and was de-
livered on day two of the 47th
session of the council in Geneva.
“We are gravely concerned
about the human rights situation
in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autono-
mous Region,” Canada’s ambas-
sador Leslie Norton said.
The statement was backed by
Australia, Britain, France, Ger-
many, Italy, Japan, Spain and the
US, among others.
Beijing must allow UN rights
chief Michelle Bachelet and oth-
er independent observers “im-
mediate, meaningful and unfet-
tered access” to Xinjiang, and
over a million people have been
arbitrarily detained in Xinjiang
and that there is widespread sur-
veillance disproportionately tar-
geting Uyghurs and members of
other minorities and restrictions
on fundamental freedoms and
Uyghur culture,” it said.
The statement cited reports of
torture or cruel, inhumane and
degrading treatment or punish-
ment, forced sterilisation, sexual
and gender-based violence, and
forced separation of children
from their parents.
The number of signatories is
an increase from the 22 ambas-
sadors who wrote to Bachelet in
2019 condemning China’s treat-
ment of the Uyghurs.
China denies mistreating the
Uyghurs, once a clear majority
in their ancestral homeland until
the state helped waves of ethnic
Han Chinese migrate there.
Beijing insists it is simply run-
ning vocational training centres
“meaningful access”.
Yesterday’s statement was
bound to further enrage Beijing,
which decries what it says is the
interference by foreign powers in
its internal affairs.
The move came after US Presi-
dent Joe Biden’s first foreign
trip, in which he garnered G7
and Nato unity in pushing back
against Beijing, with Washington
identifying China as the pre-em-
inent global challenge.
Aware that the statement was
coming, China had responded
before it was even delivered.
Beijing’s representative read
out a statement on behalf of a
group of countries “deeply con-
cerned about serious human
rights violations against the in-
digenous people in Canada”.
Belarus, Iran, North Korea,
Russia, Sri Lanka, Syria and Ven-
ezuela were among the co-sig-
natories, according to the United
Nations.
coronavirus restrictions on
August 9, Nicola Sturgeon has
said, as she confirmed that the
move to level O of her govern-
ment’s five-tier system of Covid
controls would be delayed until
July 19, the same date as meas-
ures are to be lifted in England.
This pause would allow more
time for people to be vaccinated,
the first minster said, with the dai-
ly case rate in Scotland 40% higher
than it was last week as the Delta
variant surges across the country.
Sturgeon told MSPs yesterday
“normal life is much closer”, as
the Scottish government faced
criticism over the lack of scru-
tiny of Covid announcements it
affords the Holyrood parliament.
The Scottish government has
always been clear that level 0 is
not the end point of restrictions
Britain’s Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, visits the – limits on indoor household
Urban Nature Project at the Natural History Museum in gatherings will remain, for ex-
central London yesterday. ample – and yesterday Sturgeon
set out a further stage for the
weddings and funerals.
The general indoor physical
distancing requirement should
be reduced from two metres to
one metre, and the outdoor re-
quirement to physically distance
should be lifted altogether.
Sturgeon said she hoped it
would be possible to end “ma-
jor remaining legal restrictions”,
including social distancing in-
doors, from August 9, by which
time all over-40s should have
had their second vaccine for at
least two weeks and signalling a
“return to almost complete nor-
mality in our day-to-day lives”.
However, she warned that
some measures, such as the use
of face coverings in schools,
shops and on public transport
and regular hand-washing,
would be required “at least for
a period”, and said that her gov-
ernment would not advise an im-
mediate return to office-working
from that date.