Upper house

The chairman of various standing committees of the upper house presented five reports on Wednesday on drug control, information technology, telecommunications, federal education and vocational training, national heritage and culture and human rights. the man.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – September 29, 2021): The chairman of various standing committees of the upper house on Wednesday presented five reports on drug control, information technology, telecommunications, federal education and vocational training, national heritage and culture and human rights.

The reports were presented by Ejaz Ahmad Chauhdary, Kauda Babar, Irfan ul Haque Siddiqui and Walid Iqbal respectively to the House.

The Chairman of the Standing Committee on Narcotics Control presented the report of the committee on the Bill to Amend the Narcotic Substances Control Act 1997 (Narcotic Substances Control Bill 2020 (Second Amendment) and the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications presented the report of the committee on the bill aimed at ensuring the development of the scientific and technological ecosystem through the development of areas to accelerate technological development in the country ( The Special Technology Zones Authority Bill, 2021) in the House.

Likewise, the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Federal Education and Vocational Training, Irfan Ul Haque, presented the committee’s report on the bill to reorganize the Pakistan Air Force Air War College into a degree-granting institute. (The PAF Air War College Institute Bill, 2021) and the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Human Rights, Walid Iqbal, presented the committee’s report in the bill to regulate the employment of domestic workers in the territory of the capital of Islamabad (the Domestic Workers Bill of the Capital Territory of Islamabad, 2021) and a report on the Bill to Arrange to Prohibit Corporal Punishment against Children (The Islamabad Capital Territory Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill, 2021 in the House.

Residents of the El Paso area can provide feedback on the flooding they have experienced in their home or business Upper Rio Grande Regional Flood Planning Group (URGRFPG) at a public open house meeting in October.

Participation in the planning process helps ensure that flood mitigation projects, strategies and priorities are represented in the Upper Rio Grande Regional Flood Plan and ultimately in the National Flood Plan from 2023.

“Going forward, only projects listed in the 2023 state flood plan are eligible for financial support through TWDB’s Flood Infrastructure Fund,” officials added.

Public open house type meeting

Wednesday, October 27, 2021 | 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. MDT

Carlos M. Ramirez TecH₂O Water Resources Learning Center | 10751, avenue du Montana | El Paso, Texas

Additional public open house type meetings will be held in Presidio and Pecos in early 2022. When these meetings are scheduled, they will be posted. here.

No formal presentation will be given at these open houses. These are opportunities for the public to review the exhibits and provide feedback to planners, engineers and others.

Written comments can be left at the El Paso meeting or sent by mail to: Barracuda Public Relations, Attn. : Region 14 Flood Planning, 2531½ East Yandell Drive, El Paso, TX 79903.

Posted comments must be received between October 13 and November 12, 2021. Similar windows for providing written comments will be provided for meetings held at Presidio and Pecos.

Here are some other ways to share comments:

• Attend regional flood planning group meetings and subcommittee meetings in person or online. Click on here for meeting information.
• To end this online survey to provide feedback to your community or to report the impacts of flooding on your home or business. The survey is also available in Spanish by clicking on here.
• Review the online data collector and submit observations for areas prone to flooding in your community and other information.

As part of the Texas Water Development Board statewide flood planning process, the Rio Grande Council of Governments sponsored the URGRFPG to ensure that West Texans in the 23-county region have a voice in helping the state prioritize flood control projects.

The Ongoing Flood Planning Group in Upper Rio Grande (Region 14) identifies and assesses projects to mitigate flooding for people, property and businesses in the El Paso region.

For any questions or additional information, please contact Annette Gutierrez, Executive Director, Rio Grande Council of Governments, 8037 Lockheed Drive, El Paso, TX 79925, (915) 533-0998 or [email protected]

For more information visit URGFPG.org. | For our full coverage, click here.

Published on: 09/28/2021 – 9:28 PMAmended: 09/28/2021 – 9:26 PM

Santiago (AFP)

Chile’s lower house of Congress on Tuesday approved a bill to decriminalize abortion within 14 weeks of pregnancy, a major step towards legalizing a procedure still permitted in a handful of Latin American countries.

The proposal has yet to be approved by Chile’s ultra-conservative upper house or Senate.

Tuesday – International Safe Abortion Day – lawmakers in the Chamber of Deputies gave the green light with 75 votes in favor, 68 against and two abstentions, according to the parliamentarian’s Twitter account.

The bill, introduced in 2018 by opposition MPs, aims to amend the existing law which only allows elective abortion in three scenarios: when there is a threat to the life of the pregnant woman, if the fetus is not viable, or if the pregnancy was the result of rape.

These legal abortions represent only about three percent of the thousands of clandestine abortions that take place in the country, according to activists.

Until 2017, Chile maintained an outright ban on the procedure, still denied to most women in Latin America.

“This is for all the women … who have been persecuted and criminalized,” tweeted Communist MP Camila Vallejo, one of the authors of the bill.

“Down with the patriarchy which will fall, will fall!” she added. “Instead feminism, who will win, will win!”

Among other Latin American countries, abortion is legal only in Uruguay, Cuba, Argentina – since January – and Guyana, as well as Mexico City and three Mexican states.

It is banned in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti, and most other countries only allow it for medical reasons or in cases of rape.

© 2021 AFP

ESCANABA, Mich. (WLUC) – Delta County Central Dispatch is recruiting now, and the manager says every day is different.

“Some days it’s pretty quiet and we don’t have a lot to do other than normal traffic stops and minor calls, then there are other days when both people are really multitasking, doing a lot. things at once, ”said Jen Peterson, director of Delta County Central Dispatch.

Dispatch recently promoted from the inside opening a full time position. Two people will be hired, one full time and one part time.

“We’re going to hire two people, and then whoever performs the best in our in-house training will have the option of going into the full-time position if they want to,” said Peterson.

To be considered for the position, applicants only need a high school diploma. All professional skills will be taught in a 14 week training course.

“There are a few sections. There are several trainers that you spend time with and then we just have minimum requirements that need to be met to be successful in this training program, ”said Peterson.

Policies and procedures, prioritization of calls and learning to multitask are some of the topics of the training. The deadline to apply is this Friday October 1st.

Delta County Central Dispatch is also seeing a change in leadership.

“Our management has been managed by the city of Escanaba for many years now, so basically the only thing that changes is who manages us. It is therefore the management that will be entirely entrusted to the board of the 911 Authority, ”said Peterson.

The distribution will remain with Escanaba Public Safety, but only as tenants. This is an internal change, and the audience won’t notice a difference

Copyright 2021 WLUC. All rights reserved.

The Senate adopted on Monday at third and final reading the bill paving the way for the sustainable development of the city of Baguio.

With 23 affirmative votes and zero negative votes, the upper house gave its last word to Bill 8882 or the revised Charter of the city of Baguio.

The sponsor of the bill, Senator Francis Tolentino, said that with this measure, the city would continue its legacy “as a symbol of sustainable progress and the country’s rich history.”

“As one of the most beloved cities for Filipinos and foreign tourists alike, Baguio City, with its revised charter, will surely ensure lasting progress that will benefit not only the residents of Baguio, but the wider community as well. of the country, especially its indigenous peoples. community, ”Tolentino said.

The bill, which revises the city’s 112-year-old charter, aims to create new offices within the city’s government structure, including the addition of an environmental management official. and city parks, a responsible for urban planning and sustainable development, and urban traffic. and transport management officer.

Tolentino said this version is “probably the best to date,” adding that the current version of the measure with amendments guarantees the sustainable development of the city of Baguio while preserving the rights of indigenous peoples enshrined in the law of the Republic No. 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Act. Rights Act 1997.

The bill also aims to institutionalize the production of renewable energy from waste through energy recovery from waste and other technologies in accordance with RA No. 9003 or the law on the ecological management of solid waste. and RA No. 9513 or the Renewable Energy Law 2008.

The city government, in coordination with the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, the National Water Resources Board and the Baguio City Water District, has also been mandated to protect, conserve, develop and substantially manage its forest lands and Watershed.

Once promulgated, councils such as the City Creative Council, Smart City Council, E-Governance Council and other bodies will be created in pursuit of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The city’s original charter was drawn up in 1909 by the late Judge George Malcolm as an area of ​​rest and relaxation for Americans.

The bill passed third reading in the House of Representatives on March 22. – DVM, GMA News

The flag of Switzerland (left) and the country’s largest city, Zurich (right) waving a pride flag in the city center on September 4, 2021.Photo credit: Robert Buchel / Shutterstock

In a nationwide referendum on marriage equality held today, called “Marriage for All,” Swiss citizens voted overwhelmingly in favor of legalizing same-sex marriages and equal heterosexual marriages.

The majority of the 26 cantons, or member states, of the Swiss Federation voted in favor of marriage equality. Final figures show that 64.1 percent of voters, or nearly two in three, supported the measure.

Related: Vote Now For Your LGBTQ Nation Hero of the Year

In December, Switzerland became the 29th country on the planet to legalize marriage equality. The Swiss National Council – the lower house of the Alpine country’s legislature – has approved a bill allowing same-sex couples to marry and lesbian couples to have access to sperm banks.

The previous month, the Council of States – the upper house of the legislature – passed the same bill with 22 to 15 votes, the first time that marriage equality legislation has been amended since it was first passed. first proposed by the country’s Green Party in 2013.

When the bill was passed, a national referendum was not necessary, but anti-LGBTQ groups and politicians staged enough signatures by April 2021 to force a referendum on the law.

While the polls showed marriage equality to be in the majority, most polls before the referendum underestimated the support he had among Swiss voters. Much of the opposition focused on the proposed code of law affecting lesbian couples and sperm banks.

From 2007 until today, same-sex couples in Switzerland have been allowed to form domestic partnerships with limited rights, especially in matters of adoption and immigration. Many opponents of marriage equality have argued that it should serve same-sex couples enough, but LGBTQ advocates across the country have argued otherwise.

The Associated press reports that Switzerland is a “traditionally conservative” nation with a population of 8.5 million, noting that it only extended the right to vote to all women in 1990. At the same time as the referendum “ Marriage for all, ”a similar majority of Swiss voters – 64.9 percent – voted against an increase in the tax on investment and capital returns.

ABUJA – Nigeria said it aims to produce 1.88 million barrels per day of crude oil next year and that the budget will be based on the benchmark price of $ 57 per barrel, calling it a production target. ” very conservative “while the country’s economy is struggling.

Africa’s most populous country has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, insecurity and falling global oil prices, vital to its oil-dependent economy.

The government said on Wednesday that a Senate committee had approved spending plans for the next three years, called the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), which projected gross domestic product growth of 4.2 percent and inflation of 13% for 2022.

The upper house has also given the green light for daily crude oil production of 1.88 million barrels per day (mbpd) for next year, 2.23 mbpd for 2023 and 2.22 mbpd for 2024 “in sight averaging 1.93 mbpd over the past few years “.

These numbers represent an increase from oil production of 1.47 mbd this year, when the budget was based on $ 40 a barrel.

The upper house said that “a very conservative oil production benchmark has been adopted in the medium term in order to ensure greater budgetary realism”.

The Senate committee recommended the MTEF, saying it was “deliberately designed to minimize the negative socio-economic consequences of the relentless COVID-19 pandemic and other crises unique to our country.”

The estimates were reviewed by the Senate ahead of the presentation of the 2021 Appropriations Bill by President Muhammadu Buhari later in the year.

As economic growth has rebounded from being hit by the pandemic, insecurity, kidnappings and criminal attacks have increased this year in northwestern and central states and food inflation remains stubbornly high.

Annual inflation stood at 17.01 percent in August, driven largely by rising food prices.

Nigeria has sought local and external loans to fund its 2021 budget, execute critical infrastructure projects, tackle Covid-19 and tackle growing insecurity.

Last week, Buhari sought parliamentary approval for nearly $ 5 billion in additional external borrowing.

Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, the two Canadian men arrested almost three years ago by the Chinese Communist regime, are on their national soil after the legal dispute involving Huawei leader Meng Wanzhou was partly resolved by the American prosecutors.

Shortly after his announcement Friday night that Kovrig and Spavor had been released by Chinese authorities, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Minister Marc Garneau boarded an overnight flight aboard a jet from the government to greet the two men back on the Calgary airport tarmac.

A government official with first-hand knowledge of the situation said the delegation was “very inspired by the resilience” of the two Michael’s and the “truly remarkable” happy ending to a situation that looked bleak just days ago.

The pair were in good spirits, sometimes even jokingly, as Trudeau and Garneau greeted them and Canada’s Ambassador to China Dominic Barton, back home after the grueling ordeal, the source said. After cups of coffee and other light refreshments in an airport hangar, Spavor remained in Calgary while Kovrig boarded another flight to Toronto to reunite with his family.

The timing of Kovrig and Spavor’s release contradicts Beijing’s claim that their 2018 arrests had no connection to the Meng case, experts said. The coordinated release makes it clear that the two men, once accused of spying by Beijing, were detained in retaliation for Meng’s arrest on charges of fraud in the United States.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Trudeau dodged questions about how the affair and the release affected Canada’s relations with China, saying “there will be time for reflection and analysis in the days and weeks to come “.

“It’s really a slap in the face against Beijing”

But China watchers say the incident irreparably damaged Canada’s relations with the Asian superpower – deteriorating bilateral ties that seemed to be strengthening only four years ago when Trudeau attempted to strike some sort of trade deal with the Asian superpower. diet.

“This is really a slap in the face to Beijing. They refused to admit that this is hostage diplomacy, but it is now completely undeniable that the two Michael’s were unfairly detained due to Meng’s arrest. said Lynette Ong, associate professor of political science at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, and an expert on China and authoritarian politics.

“I don’t think Canada-China relations can be mended. We now live in an entirely different world,” Ong said.

As the country celebrates the end of this 1,020-day nightmare and the safe passage of Kovrig and Spavor, discussions in official circles now turn to how Canada will grapple with an increasingly China. hostile – a country that had no qualms about jailing innocent people to protest the actions of a foreign power.

Throughout Meng’s dispute, Ong said, Canada has been on the sidelines as other Western partners like Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States strengthen their multilateral relations through a new pact of security called AUKUS to challenge China’s hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region.

Leaders of the “Quad” group of countries – Australia, India, Japan and the United States – also met on Friday to continue discussions on how best to counter the growing influence of China in a region that is critically important to China. global security and prosperity.

“Canada is considered an outlier among Western democracies. We’ve been very reluctant, very reluctant to take a tough stand one way or another. I guess the Liberal government was waiting for the outcome of the two Michaels. Since this matter is now settled, we must state our Chinese policy loud and clear, ”Ong said in an interview.

“China is a rising world power. We just cannot afford to be caught in this situation again, to be passive, without a strategy,” she said. “China may have underestimated the cost of detaining the two Michael’s. I think the ramifications will be very long lasting.”

Strengthening sanctions against hostage-takers, according to a former ambassador

In an interview with CBC Radio The House, Guy St-Jacques, former Canadian Ambassador to China, said Ottawa’s top priority must be to strengthen the Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State Relations negotiated by Canada. The agreement, signed by 57 other countries in February, was drafted to send a message to China and other warring countries, such as Russia, Iran and North Korea, that the democratic West will not tolerate this form. of “diplomacy” and conflict. resolution.

Now that the two Michael’s are at home, St-Jacques said, Canada and its allies must impose tough penalties on those who dare to defy international standards in the future.

“We have to agree on the sanctions we could apply against China if it ever resorts to this hostage diplomacy,” St-Jacques said. “This is sending a very powerful message that this kind of bullying cannot continue. We need to bite it.”

“We have to make sure that China does not practice hostage-taking again, because to some extent they will say it worked,” added Colin Robertson, a former Canadian diplomat. “Meng is coming home because of what they did. There will be people in China who say, ‘It works, we have to do it again. “We must now agree that there will be sanctions.”

But Robertson said imposing sanctions on potential hostage-takers should not mean the end of diplomatic relations with China.

“We have to engage with China – it’s the rising power. We don’t agree with them on human rights and surveillance, but we still want to trade with them,” he said. declared. “We have to work with them. Otherwise the world will become very difficult.”

Jérôme Beaugrand-Champagne, lawyer and lecturer in Chinese law at McGill University’s Faculty of Law, said that, for too long, Canada had put its economic interests ahead of other considerations, preferring to maintain financial ties with the most populous country in the world rather than denounce it for mischief.

“Unfortunately, the federal government has no Chinese policy. They have been pressured to do so, but they prefer to continue their trade missions to China,” he said in an interview.

“We saw them trying to buy vaccines from a Chinese company. It’s time to put aside only a trade policy with China and consider our other interests,” he said, saying reference to a possible Chinese interference that would have occurred in the recent federal elections and the mysterious debacle of the Winnipeg microbiology laboratory as justification for a more aggressive attitude towards China.

Parliament has already indicated that it is ready to go further than Trudeau and his cabinet in condemning China not only for its aggressive political art, but also for its continued abuses against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province and its crackdown on democratic rights in Hong Kong.

“China’s violence has been fully exposed” (Senator)

Earlier this year, the vast majority of lawmakers voted in favor of a conservative motion calling China’s actions against Uyghurs and other Turkish Muslims “genocide.”

“Free” and “just a labeling exercise”.

In a Friday tweet, Woo said it was a happy day for “#MichaelKovrig #MichaelSpavor #mengwanzhou and their families,” prompting a reaction from some who saw the social media post as equating what The two Canadian men endured in the Chinese prison at Meng’s home arrest in his multi-million dollar mansion in Vancouver.

Conservative Senator Leo Housakos, who has been one of Canada’s leading voices calling for a tougher approach to China, said on Saturday that the hostage-taking of Spavor and Kovrig requires a strong response from Ottawa.

“Now that the two Michael’s are at home and the brutality of the Chinese Communist regime has been fully exposed for what it is – what we have known from the start – Canada can no longer continue to deal with this regime as it is. ‘honest brokers,’ Housakos said. in a statement to CBC News.

“We need to act quickly and decisively to send the message that what happened here will no longer be tolerated,” he said. “We must stand up against uncontrollable tyrants who so blatantly and proudly flout the rule of international law.”

For starters, Housakos said, Trudeau must “immediately announce that he is banning Huawei from our 5G network” and pledge to boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. He said Canada needs to start weaning itself off “cheap goods” made in China and instead pursue trade ties with countries that are more ideologically aligned.

While Canada’s largest wireless carriers have previously shied away from doing business with Huawei, there has been no formal Ottawa executive order prohibiting the Chinese telecommunications giant from building the country’s critical infrastructure. As for an Olympic boycott, Garneau said it’s a decision best left to the Canadian Olympic Committee.

“China is a very real and growing threat,” Housakos said. “Canada needs to start treating it like one.

Thiruvananthapuram, September 25 (IANS): Superstar Suresh Gopi’s name as the new President of Kerala BJP has been in the air for a while now and it seems to have gained momentum following news of his departure for Delhi on Sunday.

And according to knowledgeable sources, Gopi will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah next week.

Gopi was appointed to the Upper House in April 2016 and in between contested two elections – the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Trissur and the recent 2021 Assembly polls, from the Assembly constituency of Trissur – on a BJP ticket, but had to bite the dust at once.

Since the BJP lost its only seat in the Kerala Assembly polls held on April 6 and also saw its share of the vote decline, the national leadership of the BJP has been cut off from the current leadership led by the chairman of the ‘State K. Surendran.

Besides, for a long time the Kerala unit of the BJP has been a house divided with leaders attached to factions playing to spoil the fortunes of the party and it is here that Gopi’s name is heard.

In addition, Surendran is currently entangled in a few cases including an electoral case, in which he has already been questioned and a new summons has been sent to him asking him to represent himself, as well as in another case, which concerns money transactions. During the recent parliamentary elections on April 6, a court asked him to give his sample of votes, after an audio clip surfaced where his sound is heard talking about money to another boss of left.

And joining the fray for the impeachment of Surendran was 74, once a powerful former organizing secretary of Kerala BJP – PP Mukundan.

“It is better that Surendran withdraws following the prosecution against him. And as his name is cleared, he can always come back. The scene today is that the BJP is in trouble,” said Mukundan.

The only big advantage of Gopi is that he is an acceptable person to the large number of apolitical supporters of the BJP and that is where the eyes of the national leadership lie, because throughout Kerala the frontline leaders of the BJP and the leadership have failed to progress and also Gopi has a good relationship with the Catholic Church.

So the next few days will reveal whether Gopi is destined for new heights, while the leaders of the BJP states will have a few moments of anxiety.