Visitors can continue to apply for work permits inside Canada: IRCC.
Visitors applying under this public policy who held a work permit within the last 12 months will also continue to be able to request interim work authorization…reports Asian Lite News
Foreign nationals who are in Canada as visitors and who receive a valid job offer will be able to apply for and receive a work permit without having to leave the country, the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has announced.
The move, an extension of a Covid-era temporary public policy that was set to expire today, has now been extended by two years, until February 28, 2025.
Visitors applying under this public policy who held a work permit within the last 12 months will also continue to be able to request interim work authorization to begin working for their new employer more quickly.
Prior to this temporary policy change, those applying to work in Canada would typically need to apply for their initial work permit before they came to Canada.
If they were already in Canada with visitor status when they were approved for a work permit, they would need to leave the country to be issued their work permit.
With this policy in place, leaving Canada isn’t necessary.
Foreign nationals who are in Canada as visitors and who receive a valid job offer will continue to be able to apply for, and receive, a work permit without having to leave the country until February 28th, 2025.
Those looking to benefit from this temporary public policy must have valid status in Canada as a visitor on the day they apply, and have a job offer that is supported by a labour market impact assessment (LMIA) or an LMIA-exempt offer of employment.
An LMIA is an application that an employer makes to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to evaluate if hiring foreign workers will have a positive, neutral or negative impact on the Canadian economy.
If ESDC deems the impact is negative, the employer will not be eligible to hire foreign nationals, according to CIC News.
Under the policy, applicants must also submit an application for an employer-specific work permit no later than February 28, 2025.
IRCC said that continuing this policy makes visitors an option for employers in Canada, many of whom are facing significant labour shortages during a period of economic expansion.
There was an overall decrease in the number of vacancies to 848,000 from over one million, according to Statistics Canada data from December 2022.
However, key sectors like healthcare, food and social assistance still need more employees to fill in-demand positions.
In addition to the recent layoffs announced by Facebook owner Meta and Twitter, other companies such as Netflix, Salesforce, Spotify, Tencent, and others have cut tens of thousands of jobs in recent months…reports Asian Lite News
Amazon confirms more layoffs
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has warned employees that there will be more layoffs at the company in early 2023 “as leaders continue to make adjustments”.
The e-commerce giant publicly confirmed some layoffs on Wednesday and now, Jassy has said more layoffs are coming as Amazon’s annual planning process extends into the new year.
“Those decisions will be shared with impacted employees and organisations early in 2023,” he said in a statement late on Thursday.
“We haven’t concluded yet exactly how many other roles will be impacted (we know that there will be reductions in our Stores and PXT organisations), but each leader will communicate to their respective teams when we have the details nailed down,” Sassy added.
Amazon will prioritise communicating directly with impacted employees before making broad public or internal announcements.
“This year’s review is more difficult due to the fact that the economy remains in a challenging spot and we’ve hired rapidly the last several years,” said Jassy.
The company did not reveal the exact number of employees being hit although earlier reports put the number at 10,000 employees or 3 per cent of its workforce.
The massive job cuts have hit several divisions, especially the Alexa virtual assistant business and the Luna cloud gaming unit.
“We communicated the difficult decision to eliminate a number of positions across our Devices and Books businesses, and also announced a voluntary reduction offer for some employees in our People, Experience, and Technology (PXT) organisation,” Jassy further said.
“I’ve been in this role now for about a year and a half, and without a doubt, this is the most difficult decision we’ve made during that time,” the Amazon CEO added.
Dave Limp, Senior Vice President of Devices and Services, also wrote an internal post, saying that “after a deep set of reviews, we recently decided to consolidate some teams and programmes”.
“One of the consequences of these decisions is that some roles will no longer be required,” Limp said.
Zomato joins global trend
Online food delivery platform Zomato on Saturday said it is planning to lay off nearly 3 per cent of its workforce on account of cost-cutting efforts and to turn profitable.
The decision comes after many tech giants and social media sites announced layoffs.
Zomato stated that layoffs will be based on regular performance.
“There has been a regular performance based churn of under 3 per cent of our workforce, there’s nothing more to it,” said a Zomato spokesperson.
The company currently has nearly 3,800 employees.
In May 2020, Zomato laid off about 520 of its employees, or 13 per cent of its staff, in response to a slump in business following the Covid pandemic.
Meanwhile, Zomato’s co-founder Mohit Gupta quit the organisation on Friday.
Moreover, the food delivery platform announced earlier this week that Rahul Ganjoo had ended his 5-year tenure as Head of New Initiatives.
Earlier in the month, Zomato’s Vice President for global growth Siddharth Jhawar announced his departure as well.
Carvana fires 8% of its workforce
Carvana, a US-based online used car retailer, has laid off about 1,500 employees, or 8 per cent of its workforce, as it attempts to cut costs amid weakening demand for used cars on the back of rising interest rates.
According to CNBC, company CEO Ernie Garcia stated in an internal memo that higher financing costs were causing economic headwinds.
“Today is a difficult day. The world around us has continued to get tougher and to do what is best for the business, we have to make some painful choices to adapt,” Garcia was quoted as saying.
The layoffs add to an increasing number of tech-related job cuts in the face of rising interest rates, persistent inflation, and economic downturn fears.
Carvana has also experienced rapid growth, but has made some mistakes during the coronavirus pandemic in order to capitalise on an unprecedentedly strong used vehicle market, according to the report.
Online used car retailer Carvana lays off 8% of its workforce(credit: twitter)
The layoffs primarily affect employees in Carvana’s corporate and technology departments, as well as some operational positions where the company is “eliminating roles, locations, or shifts to match our size with the current environment”, the report added.
Employees who were affected will receive separation and severance pay, extended healthcare coverage for three months, and other benefits.
“To those impacted, I am sorry. As you all know, we made a similar decision to this one in May. It is fair to ask why this is happening again, and yet I am not sure I can answer it as clearly as you deserve,” Garcia added.
GoTo too!
Indonesia’s biggest Internet company Goto has cut 1,300 jobs, or 12 per cent of its workforce, citing efforts to reduce costs and improve finances.
According to TechCrunch, GoTo joins scores of local and global peers in its decision to cut the workforce to navigate the economic slowdown and rising interest rates.
“Achieving financial independence more quickly has a profound cost for us, because when we take a hard look at how we fundamentally need to change (business focus and ways of working), it also includes you, the people who are the backbone of this company,” GoTo Group chief executive Andre Soelistyo was quoted as saying.
“It pains me to say that, as a result of our organisational review, we have to part ways with some of you. I know you are filled with many emotions right now, pain, anger, sadness, and most of all, grief. I feel the same way,” he added.
A GoTo spokesperson told that the move is part of its growing attempts to “accelerate its progress towards becoming a truly sustainable and financially independent business, centred on its core offerings of on-demand, e-commerce and financial technology services”, according to the report.
“GoTo has been making steady progress in this area underpinned by its strategic focus on high-quality cross-platform users, reduced incentive spending, and driving deeper synergies across its ecosystem,” the spokesperson added.
In addition to the recent layoffs announced by Facebook owner Meta and Twitter, other companies such as Netflix, Salesforce, Spotify, Tencent, and others have cut tens of thousands of jobs in recent months.
Cisco in a ‘rebalancing’ move
Joining the Big Tech layoff season, networking giant Cisco is reportedly laying off over 4,000 employees, or about 5 per cent of its workforce, in a “rebalancing” act while “rightsizing certain businesses”.
According to a report in the Silicon Valley Business Journal, the move will result in approximately 4,100 jobs cut at Cisco which has a 83,000-strong workforce globally.
In its first quarter earning report (Q1 2023) this week, Cisco reported $13.6 billion in revenue, up 6 per cent year over year.
Indian cyber agency warns users of more bugs in Cisco products
Chuck Robbins, Chairman and CEO of Cisco, did not divulge any detail on laying off employees, saying he would “be reluctant to go into a lot of detail here until we’re able to talk to them. I would say that what we’re doing is rightsizing certain businesses”.
“You can just assume that we’re going to — we’re not actually — there’s nothing that’s a lower priority, but we are rightsizing certain businesses,” he told the analysts.
Cisco Chief Financial Officer Scott Herren described the move as a “rebalancing” act.
“Don’t think of this as a headcount action that is motivated by cost savings. This really is a rebalancing. As we look across the board, there are areas that we would like to invest in more, Chuck just talked about them. Security, our move to platforms and more cloud-delivered products,” Herren said during the company’s earnings call.
He said that if we look at the number of jobs that the company has opened in the areas that it is trying to invest in, “it is just slightly lower than the number of people that we believe will be impacted”.
“We’re going to be working really hard to help match our employees to those roles to the extent there’s a skill match. So, we’re going to work really hard at that,” said the company CFO.
Cisco joins a growing list of tech companies like Meta, Twitter, Salesforce and others which have laid off thousands of employees to weather the rough macroeconomic conditions.
Guterres noted that the elimination of nuclear weapons would be the greatest gift “we could bestow on future generations”…reports Asian Lite News
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the use of every means to eliminate the nuclear threat.
Guterres made the appeal at a UN General Assembly high-level meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, which falls on September 26.
“We come together on this international day to speak with one voice. To stand in defence of our world — and our future. And to reject the claim that nuclear disarmament is some impossible utopian dream,” he said on Monday.
He noted that the elimination of nuclear weapons would be the greatest gift “we could bestow on future generations”.
In late August, the 10th Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons failed to result in the adoption of an outcome document.
Expressing disappointment about the conference’s failure to reach a substantive outcome, Guterres vowed that “we will not give up”.
“I urge all states to use every avenue of dialogue, diplomacy and negotiation to ease tensions, reduce risk and eliminate the nuclear threat,” he said.
Guterres also called for a new vision for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, Xinhua news agency reported.
He highlighted the need to take into account the evolving nuclear order, including all types of nuclear weapons and their means of delivery, as well as the need to address the blurring lines between strategic and conventional weapons, and the nexus with new domains of cyber and outer space.
The UN chief urged General Assembly delegates to seize the opportunity and make new commitment to work toward a peaceful future.
“Without eliminating nuclear weapons, there can be no peace. There can be no trust. And there can be no sustainable future,” he added.
That Russia would never be accepted as part of the ‘common European family’ by France, Britain and Germany was never comprehended by Gorbachev, writes Prof. Madhav Nalapat
His repeated forgiving of the efforts of Mahmud Ghori to bring down his kingdom and take away his life ensured that Prithviraj Chauhan was the tragic idealist who initiated the process of destroying the India that had endured for many millennia. He failed to recognise that in Ghori, he faced an opponent who sought nothing less than the destruction of an entire system of governance and its concomitant way of life.
Each time Prithviraj spared his life, Ghori went back determined to succeed against the merciful ruler the next time around. Finally, Ghori’s day came with a pre-dawn attack that caught Prithviraj’s army unawares, most being deep in sleep. The Rajput princes of the time fought wars in a manner reminiscent of cricket, with set rules designed to make the contest a battle between chivalric foes.
Their error was that as a collective as well as individually, the princes of the day failed to comprehend the systemic, the civilizational nature, of the battle that their foe to the north west was intent on waging. That easy, indeed facilitated and assisted plunder, created in their implacable foe an appetite to control the land and its people. In such a conflict, only a single side wins, and eventually that was not the side of Prithviraj.
In his final moments, as he was facing death at the hands of a foe who had from the start been implacable, the luckless Samrat may have understood the fatal error he had made in sparing the life of a foe with the ambition to transform the land and the people in his own image.
Even after more than seven centuries of domination by the Mughals, that did not happen. In villages across India, in minds and in the homes of tens of millions, their belief systems remained intact in a manner that had not been the case in any other country taken over by those who had linked their confidence in victory to their belief and fealty to what they believed to be the message of the Almighty. Later, the Rubicon of cruelty was crossed by Aurangzeb, who as a consequence found himself not the protector of Mughal rule but its destroyer. The Marathas in particular, led by the charismatic military tactician Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, proved to impossible to subdue.
Wars within India opened the doors to conquest by the European powers, with the British establishing dominance over the subcontinent through the use of any means that they judged to be effective for the purpose. The age of chivalric combat had perished with the defeat and execution of Prithviraj, and from then onwards, wars were fought not by another version of the Marquis of Queensbury rules but freestyle. Anything was permitted to subdue the rival. It took the blow to the loyalty towards the British Raj of the Indian armed forces effectuated by Subhas Chandra Bose through the Indian National Army to make Whitehall realise that their time was up in India.
Had it been Subhas Bose who had headed the freedom struggle rather than the hand-picked lawyer chosen by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, there may not have been a partition of India in 1947, nor perhaps the peeling away of Sri Lanka, Myanmar and other territories that had earlier been an intrinsic part of the subcontinent. Until Partition, Nehru had been adamant that he would not accept any status for the Muslim community different from that which existed for Hindus, aware of the harm that had been done by the separate electorates and partitions that had earlier been agreed to by the Bose-less Congress leadership.
Only after Partition did Nehru transition to a policy that in many ways sought the separation from the majority of the minorities in India. He instituted a difference in treatment that many regard as a repudiation of secularism while others claim that such an across-the-board separation of the Hindu majority and the rest of the population was on the contrary the essence of secularism. Thus was born Nehruvian secularism, in which rather than accept their common cultural DNA, Muslims and Hindus in particular were subjected to messaging that they were different from each other, an obviously erroneous notion that had been the foundation of M.A. Jinnah’s call to the British to divide the country before exiting it.
This past quarter, the rate of growth of the economy has been 13.5%. This is the natural growth rate of the economy, given the abundant qualities of the people of India, although under its initial rulers, the growth rate hovered around 2% annually, breaking free of this only when P.V. Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister. Incidentally, Rao was disliked, indeed despised, by the matriarch since the tragic death of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, Sonia Gandhi.
Any individual who had the effrontery to argue that she should work to help Rao in his reforms rather than weaken him became an instant object of irritation and worse in her. Ultimately, the fissures in the Congress Party that resulted in the weakening of Narasimha Rao ensured the rise of the BJP. Understandably, A.B. Vajpayee had a soft corner for Sonia Gandhi throughout his six years in the PMH, the Prime Minister’s House.
Returning to Gorbachev, from the start of his ascent to the General Secretaryship of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he refused to accept the existential nature of the USSR-US battle that was waged during Cold War 1.0. This was much the way President Biden and some of the other leaders of the Atlantic Alliance have failed to understand the existential nature of the challenge being thrown by the CCP to the US-led alliance, a challenge most visible in the era of the supremacy of Xi Jinping over the CCP.
When faced with the economic crisis caused by the statist policies inherited from the Brezhnev era, Gorbachev turned for assistance to the very countries intent on the downfall of the Soviet system. While there was indeed Glasnost, greater freedom of expression, during his time, the only Perestroika (reform) introduced under Gorbachev was to preside over one unconditional, unilateral surrender of USSR interests to the Atlantic Alliance.
That Russia would never be accepted as part of the “common European family” by France, Britain and Germany was never comprehended by Gorbachev, although it was by Vladimir Putin, after nearly six years of effort seeking to enter on honourable terms “our common European home” (Putin’s view at the time) proved fruitless. The USSR was eventually destroyed by its lack of substantive Perestroika, but that demise was speeded up by the folly of Gorbachev in handing over the keys to the survival of the USSR to the hands of its most implacable foes. Small wonder that the Gorbymania unleashed by the demise of the last CPSU General Secretary is not shared within his own country.
Kamboj was earlier posted as Counsellor at India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from 2002-2005, where she dealt with a wide range of political issues, including UN Peacekeeping…reports Asian Lite News
The Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday appointed Ruchira Kamboj as the next Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations. Kamboj is IFS 1987 batch and is presently Ambassador to Bhutan, and is expected to take up the assignment shortly.
Kamboj was earlier posted as Counsellor at India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from 2002-2005, where she dealt with a wide range of political issues, including UN Peacekeeping, UN Security Council Reform, the Middle East crisis. Upon release of Secretary General Kofi Annan’s Blue Ribbon Panel Report in December 2014, she was part of the G-4 team that worked on the reform and expansion of the United Nations Security Council, which is a work in progress.
Kamboj joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1987. She was the All India women’s topper of the 1987 Civil Services batch. She began her diplomatic journey in Paris where she was posted as the Third Secretary in the Indian Embassy to France from 1989-1991.
During this period, she studied French at the Institut Catholique, Paris and at the Alliance FranAaise Paris. Upon completion, she served as Second Secretary in the Indian Embassy to France dealing with political issues.
In this period, she also doubled as the Mission’s Head of Chancery and dealt successfully with four Prime Ministerial visits coinciding with the opening of the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly in September every year.
From 2006-2009, she was India’s Consul General in Cape Town, South Africa which involved close liaison with the Parliament of South Africa. She was the Deputy Head of the Office of the Secretary General at the Commonwealth Secretariat London.
From 2011-2014, she was India’s Chief of Protocol, the first and only lady so far in Government to have held this position. In this capacity, she directed all outgoing visits of the President of India, the Vice President of India, the Prime Minister of India and the External Affairs Minister of India. She also dealt with all incoming Heads of Government and State to India. As Chief of Protocol, all High Commissioners/ Ambassadors to India worked closely with her on day to day administration issues including delicate issues surrounding the Geneva Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
The index that measures changes in the international prices of a basket of food commodities hit 140.7 in February, an all-time high in real terms since 1961…reports Asian Lite News
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that “a sword of Damocles hangs over the global economy” because of the ongoing war in Ukraine, adding that developing countries were most at risk.
Calling the war “an assault on the world’s most vulnerable people and countries”, Guterres on Monday drew a dismal picture of the global situation.
“Food, fuel and fertilizer prices are skyrocketing. Supply chains are being disrupted. And the costs and delays of transportation of imported goods e when available e are at record levels.
“The FAO’s (Food and Agriculture Organisation’s) global food prices index is at its highest level ever,” the UN chief said,adding that and all these could portend political instability and unrest around the world.
The index that measures changes in the international prices of a basket of food commodities hit 140.7 in February, an all-time high in real terms since 1961.
Gutteres also announced the formation of a Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance in the UN Secretariat to deal with these threats.
“We will be consulting with Member States willing to champion the actions needed to carry forward the global emergency response that will be required for these looming crises.
“This war goes far beyond Ukraine” hitting the recovery from the two-year onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Even before the conflict, developing countries were struggling to recover from the pandemic e with record inflation, rising interest rates and looming debt burdens (and) their ability to respond has been erased by exponential increases in the cost of financing.
“Now their breadbasket is being bombed. Russia and Ukraine represent more than half of the world’s supply of sunflower oil and about 30 per cent of the world’s wheat,” he added.
35th Ordinary Session of African Union kicks off in Addis Ababa
The 35th Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Assembly kicked off in Addis Ababa, as African leaders met physically for the first time since the onset of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic…reports Asian Lite News
The AU Assembly session began on Saturday. Issues such as rebuilding Africa from the brunt of the devastating impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, ensuring continental peace and security, socio-economic development, as well as representation of Africa in multilateral international institutions took centrestage at the AU Assembly Summit.
The two-day summit, slated from February 5 to 6 at the headquarters of the AU in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, is being held under the theme of the year “Building Resilience in Nutrition on the African Continent: Accelerate the Human Capital, Social and Economic Development”.
Chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, told African leaders the need to exert concerted efforts towards effectively responding to challenges such as Covid-19, expansion of terrorism and insecurity while strengthening and preserving multilateralism.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has challenged mankind deep down in its conscience. We cannot, when we meet physically for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, avoid asking ourselves, about ourselves, our doubts, anxieties, concerns for our organisation and our Africa,” he said.
Mahamat said the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in a contraction in growth of 2.1 per cent in 2020 and increased the debt ratio by 10 points of the continent’s GDP, Xinhua news agency reported.
“The two major scourges that are Covid-19 and terrorism on a continental level, must added to our intrinsic fragilities,” he added.
He said Africa’s security situation is deeply marred by the metastasis of terrorism and the dangerous resurgence of unconstitutional changes of government.
Felix Tshisekedi, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), who is also the outgoing Chairperson of the AU, on his part echoed Mahamat’s assertion as he emphasised the need to exert concerted efforts in realising Africa’s 50-year continental development Agenda 2063.
Tshisekedi, in particular, emphasised the need to silence the guns across the African continent.
“Silencing the guns in the continent is still a major imperative. However, we have to walk the talk. It is high time that we consolidate the African architecture of peace and security and to ensure the general operationalisation of the African Standby Force,” he said.
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also addressed the AU Assembly summit through a video link.
“We need to ignite the engine of peace across Africa. Conflicts and violence have many roots — from economic inequalities and competition for scarce resources to ethnic and religious tensions, among others,” Guterres told African leaders.
“African states are proudly multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural. The AU is about showing how people can co-exist, even flourish, by working together,” he added.
The UN Secretary-General emphasised that achieving the sustainable development goals depends on supporting massive investments in strong health and education systems, in job-creation, especially in the green and care sectors, and in universal social protection, gender equality, and opportunities for young people, among others.
During the summit, Senegalese President Macky Sall took over the one-year term rotating AU chairmanship from DRC’s President Tshisekedi.
In his acceptance speech, the Senegalese President stressed the need to accelerate Africa’s short and long-term targets, which includes the fight against the pandemic as well as building an Africa that can withstand current and future socio-economic and political shocks.
African leaders also acknowledged the 20th anniversary of the founding of the AU this year as a successor to the former Organisation of African Unity, reiterating realisation of the major aspirations of the pan-African bloc.
DViO digital closed off 2021 on a high, after making enormous business gains, which including the KT Digital 2.0 business…reports Asian Lite News
The deal was won after a multi-agency pitch. The new partnership will focus on various scopes such as digital-first creative and content creation and its expansion using emerging tech, data, and media solutions for the newly developed website and application across the Khaleej Times verticals, reported Campaignme.com.
DViO Digital (Twitter)
In addition, DViO has also won Aster Retail business which includes Aster Pharmacies, Aster Opticals, and Aster Online. The scope includes creative, content, and social media responsibilities for all businesses and performance marketing for the online platform.
Sowmya Iyer, Founder, and CEO, DViO: “Khaleej Times and Aster are market leaders in their respective fields and we are very excited to get the opportunity to work with them. KT has been a pioneer and a leader when it comes to digital news publishing in the region and we are thrilled to be associated with them in this journey of repositioning and refreshing their communications across their digital assets. With Aster, our strengths and track record of transitioning offline businesses to online businesses across Landmark Group, Apparel Group, Lulu, Red Tag, and Eros Digital helped win the omnichannel scope across their retail brands. This is another full-funnel scope which we are championing with many of our clients. Both these are the most prominent wins for us in the region in 2021 where the best of our Creative & Content team combined with our Tech capabilities are working on building these brands across channels.”
DViO Digital, also plays a good role in both the Entertainment and Education space with leading brands such as MBC, Shahid, Manipal University, BITS Pilani and Amity University amongst others.
The UAE government has announced the Covid-19 protocol for Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations in the country…reports Asian Lite News
According to the protocol, the capacity of celebration venues will be 80 percent. Participants must provide a Green Pass in the Al Hosn application, with a negative PCR test result taken within 96 hours, and undergo a mandatory body temperature check, Dr. Taher Al Ameri, Official Spokesman of the National Crisis and Emergency Management Authority (NCEMA) said.
He urged the organisers of events to regulate the entry and exit of people, avoid overcrowding and use barriers at entrances and exits. He also urged the public to wear face masks in enclosed spaces, prevent overcrowding and leave a 1.5-metre safe distance.
UAE announces Covid measures for Christmas, NY celebrations
He then stressed the importance of sanitising areas regularly and providing sanitisers at the entrances and exits of restrooms, in addition to practising social distancing during celebrations and refraining from shaking hands.
“The protocol also includes allowing members of the same family to sit together without the need to practice physical distancing. Moreover, the organisers of events will form teams to verify the implementation of preventive measures,” he said.
Dr. Al Ameri stressed that the UAE, upon the directives of its leadership, is keen to offer unlimited support to all sectors to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has managed to limit infections and offer the most advanced means of prevention and treatment through a strategic policy for integrating vital sectors.
He noted 100 percent of the population had received the first dose of the vaccine, and 91.26 percent are fully vaccinated.
Upon the directives of the UAE’s leadership, vaccines have been offered to all eligible categories of the population in the UAE, he added. He thanked the community’s members for taking the vaccine, establishing a sustainable collective immunity, and lauded the role of frontline defenders.
“People’s health and safety are prioritised by the country. Therefore, receiving the booster shot of the vaccine is key to getting the necessary antibodies to prevent the spread of coronavirus variants and genetic mutations,” Dr. Al Ameri stressed.
Studies and research conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) showed people who have received a booster shot are less vulnerable to infection compared to those who have not, he further added.
He then highlighted the importance of social responsibility and the pivotal role of community members in preserving the country’s achievements during the crisis. He urged the public to cooperate and adhere to the COVID-19 precautionary measures by wearing face masks, avoiding crowded places and do frequent sanitising.
The Turkish police on Wednesday launched a nationwide operation to arrest at least 60 suspects for producing counterfeit liquor after 12 people died of alcohol poisoning…reports Asian Lite News
The police teams, acting upon the arrest warrants issued by prosecutors, are simultaneously carrying out the operation called “Poison” in all the 81 provinces, Anadolu said.
So far, more than 31,000 litres of fake liquor have been seized and the raids are going on to capture the suspects, it added, Xinhua news agency reported.
Turkish authorities reportedly aim to prevent bootleg booze from reaching the end consumers before New Year’s Eve when alcoholic drinks are expected to be consumed in large quantities.
