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Canada Border Guards Vote To Strike Days Ahead Of Reopening To US Tourists

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Canada Border Guards Vote To Strike Days Ahead Of Reopening To US Tourists" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-07/s1aql0v_us-customs-and-protection-vehicle-650_625x300_28_July_21.jpeg?im=FaceCrop,algorithm=dnn,width=650,height=400" title="Canada Border Guards Vote To Strike Days Ahead Of Reopening To US Tourists" /></div>
A US Customs and Protection vehicle stands beside a sign reading that the border is closed.
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Vancouver:
Canadian border guards and customs officials voted on Tuesday to go on strike just days before fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents will be allowed into Canada, unions representing the workers said, a move that could potentially cause disruptions and hurt businesses emerging out of the pandemic-driven economic downturn.
A strike would slow down commercial traffic at the land border, the unions said, as well as impact international mail and collection of duties and taxes. But a spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) said 90% of the front-line border services officers have been identified as "essential" so will continue to work in the event of a strike.
Last week, Canada announced plans to allow fully vaccinated Americans on Aug. 9, and fully vaccinated international travelers starting on Sept. 7. The border has been shut for non-essential travel for more than 16 months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the Customs and Immigration Union (CIU) said in a joint statement that strike action could begin as soon as Aug. 6 after 8,500 members voted in favor of the action. Contract talks reached an impasse in December 2020, the unions said.
Prior to the pandemic, tourism was the fifth-largest industry in Canada, contributing C$105 billion ($83.4 billion) to the GDP and providing one in ten jobs, according to the Tourism Industry Association of Canada.
Corinne Pohlmann, senior vice president of national affairs for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said a strike would compound issues faced by small businesses throughout the pandemic - slow shipping times, lack of customers, rising costs.
"It's not favorable at all for a lot of small businesses relying on either goods coming across the border or people coming across the border," Pohlmann said, calling the timing of the strike "extremely unfortunate."
But CIU President Mark Weber told Reuters that the union didn't plan this strike to coincide with the reopening of the U.S. border, pointing out that the unions began the strike vote "before we even knew what day the borders would be opening on."
Weber is still hopeful they'll be able to make a deal with the federal government without going on strike. Their demands include higher pay, the ability to carry their guns in areas like airports and to address issues of "toxic" workplaces, he said.
The federal government is "disappointed" that PSAC rejected a "fair offer for its members," but remains "open to returning to the bargaining table at any time," a government spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
CBSA spokesperson Judith Gadbois-St-Cyr said officers have proven their resilience since the beginning of the pandemic by helping to prevent the spread of the virus and its variants.
"We expect that our officers will continue to fulfill their duties with the highest level of integrity and professionalism."
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/canada-border-guards-vote-to-strike-days-ahead-of-reopening-to-us-tourists-2496535">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/canada-border-guards-vote-to-strike-days-ahead-of-reopening-to-us-tourists-2496535</a>

news world Canada Border Guards Vote To Strike Days Ahead Of Reopening To US Tourists

A US Customs and Protection vehicle stands beside a sign reading that the border is closed. Vancouver: Canadian border guards and custo...

US Concern Over China Nukes Buildup After New Silos Report

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="US Concern Over China Nukes Buildup After New Silos Report" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-07/d8r1erbg_df5b-intercontinental-ballistic-missiles-650_625x300_28_July_21.jpeg?im=FaceCrop,algorithm=dnn,width=650,height=400" title="US Concern Over China Nukes Buildup After New Silos Report" /></div>
Military vehicles carrying DF-5B intercontinental ballistic missiles travel past Tiananmen Square.
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Washington:
The Pentagon and Republican congressmen on Tuesday aired fresh concerns about China's build-up of its nuclear forces after a new report saying Beijing was building 110 more missile silos.
An American Federation of Scientists (AFS) report on Monday said satellite images showed China was building a new field of silos near Hami in the eastern part of its Xinjiang region.
The report came weeks after another on the construction of about 120 missile silos in Yumen, a desert area about 240 miles (380 km) to the southeast.
"This is the second time in two months the public has discovered what we have been saying all along about the growing threat the world faces and the veil of secrecy that surrounds it," the U.S. Strategic Command said in tweet linked to a New York Times article on the AFS report.
The State Department in early July called China's nuclear buildup concerning and said it appeared Beijing was deviating from decades of nuclear strategy based around minimal deterrence. It called on China to engage with it "on practical measures to reduce the risks of destabilizing arms races."
Republican Congressman Mike Turner, ranking member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, said China's nuclear build-up was "unprecedented" and made clear it was "deploying nuclear weapons to threaten the United States and our allies."
He said China's refusal to negotiate arms control "should be a cause for concern and condemned by all responsible nations."
Another Republican, Mike Rogers, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said the Chinese build-up showed the need to rapidly modernize the U.S. nuclear deterrent.
A 2020 Pentagon report estimated China's nuclear warhead stockpile in "the low 200s" and said it was projected to at least double in size as Beijing expands and modernizes its forces. Analysts say the United States has around 3,800 warheads, and according to a State Department factsheet, 1,357 of those were deployed as of March 1.
Washington has repeatedly called on China to join it and Russia in a new arms control treaty.
The report on the new silos comes as Assistant Secretary of State Wendy Sherman is due to hold arms control talks with Russia in Geneva on Wednesday.
Sherman was in China earlier this week for talks at which Beijing accused Washington of creating an "imaginary enemy" to divert attention from domestic problems and suppress China.
Beijing says its arsenal is dwarfed by those of the United States and Russia and it is ready to conduct bilateral dialogues on strategic security "on the basis of equality and mutual respect."
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-concern-over-china-nukes-buildup-after-new-silos-report-2496488">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-concern-over-china-nukes-buildup-after-new-silos-report-2496488</a>

news world US Concern Over China Nukes Buildup After New Silos Report

Military vehicles carrying DF-5B intercontinental ballistic missiles travel past Tiananmen Square. Washington: The Pentagon and Republi...

Man Robs Iconic Parisian Jeweller Using Stand-Up Scooter As Getaway

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Man Robs Iconic Parisian Jeweller Using Stand-Up Scooter As Getaway" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-07/avf5q904_chaumet-afp-650_625x300_28_July_21.jpg" title="Man Robs Iconic Parisian Jeweller Using Stand-Up Scooter As Getaway" /></div>
A passer-by walks past a Chaumet jewellery store located close to the Champs-Elysee avenue in Paris
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Paris, France:
An armed man using a stand-up scooter Tuesday robbed famed Parisian jeweller Chaumet of up to three million euros worth of jewellery in an audacious evening heist, a source close to the case said.
The robber stole between two million and three million euros ($2.4-$3.6 million) worth of jewellery and precious stones after bursting into the shop near the Champs-Elysees avenue around 5 pm, the source said.
Without using his weapon, the man also made his getaway on the scooter from the store on Rue Francois 1, the source said.
Chaumet, now part of the world's leading luxury goods maker LVMH, is best known for its store on Place Vendome, which was robbed in 2009 with 1.9 million euros worth of gems stolen.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/man-robs-iconic-parisian-jeweller-using-stand-up-scooter-as-getaway-report-2496471">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/man-robs-iconic-parisian-jeweller-using-stand-up-scooter-as-getaway-report-2496471</a>

news world Man Robs Iconic Parisian Jeweller Using Stand-Up Scooter As Getaway

A passer-by walks past a Chaumet jewellery store located close to the Champs-Elysee avenue in Paris Paris, France: An armed man using a...

Sydney Lockdown Extended By 4 Weeks As Australia COVID-19 Cases Spike

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Sydney Lockdown Extended By 4 Weeks As Australia COVID-19 Cases Spike" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-07/rudkf4sg_sydney-extends-virus-lockdown-650_625x300_07_July_21.jpeg" title="Sydney Lockdown Extended By 4 Weeks As Australia COVID-19 Cases Spike" /></div>
New South Wales, of which Sydney is the capital, on Tuesday reported 172 new cases (File)
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Sydney:
The Australian city of Sydney extended a lockdown by four weeks on Wednesday after an already protracted stay-at-home order failed to douse a COVID-19 outbreak, with the authorities warning of tougher policing to stamp out non-compliance.
Far from a planned exit from lockdown in three days, the city of 5 million people and neighbouring regional centres spanning 200 km (120 miles) of coastline were told to stay home until Aug. 28 following persistently high case numbers since a flare-up of the virulent Delta variant began last month.
The state of New South Wales, of which Sydney is the capital, reported 177 new cases for Tuesday, from 172 on Monday. That is the biggest increase since an unmasked, unvaccinated airport driver was said to have sparked the current outbreak. The state also reported the death of a woman in her 90s, the 11th death of the outbreak.
Of particular concern, at least 46 of the new cases were people active in the community before being diagnosed, raising the likelihood of transmission, said the authorities, who have cautioned that active community transmission must be near zero before relaxing the rules.
"I am as upset and frustrated as all of you that we were not able to get the case numbers we would have liked at this point in time but that is the reality," said NSW State Premier Gladys Berejiklian at a televised news conference.
"We have to deal with the cards before us and the situation before us and that is why we have taken the action we have."
Berejiklian added that police would boost enforcement of wide-ranging social distancing rules and urged people to report suspected wrongdoing, saying "we cannot put up with people continuing to do the wrong thing because it is setting us all back".
In one case, a mourning ceremony attended by 50 people in violation of lockdown rules resulted in 45 infections, she said.
The extension turns what was initially intended to be a "snap" lockdown of Australia's most populous city into one of the country's longest since the start of the pandemic, and may spark the second recession of the A$2 trillion ($1.47 trillion) economy in two years, according to economists.
To minimise the economic impact, the NSW government said it would lift a ban on non-occupied construction in most of Sydney. However, it expanded a list of local government areas within the city where the ban would stay because of the prevalence of COVID-19 cases there.
The popularity of the federal government may suffer from the extended lockdown. Polls show slipping support for the government amid criticism of a slow vaccination roll-out that has been blamed on changing regulatory advice and supply shortages.
On Wednesday, the NSW government said it was redirecting Pfizer Inc vaccine doses, which have so far been restricted to people aged 40 to 60, from relatively unaffected regional areas to final-year school students in the worst-affected Sydney neighbourhoods.
The state and federal governments also said they were expanding a relief funding package to enable affected companies to keep paying wages through the closure.
In contrast to NSW, the states of Victoria and South Australia began their first day out of shorter lockdowns that halted outbreaks there. Victoria reported eight new cases, all of them isolated throughout their infectious period, and another case still under investigation.
Queensland state reported one new case, a man who completed the country's mandatory two weeks of hotel quarantine then tested positive nine days later. The authorities said they were trying to track down people who may have been in close contact with him, including occupants of a youth hostel where he stayed.
Australia has kept its COVID-19 numbers relatively low, with just over 33,200 cases and 921 deaths out of a population of about 25 million since the pandemic began, but the fast-moving Delta strain and low vaccination coverage have frustrated residents.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/sydney-braces-for-extended-covid-19-lockdown-as-rest-of-australia-opens-2496469">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/sydney-braces-for-extended-covid-19-lockdown-as-rest-of-australia-opens-2496469</a>

news world Sydney Lockdown Extended By 4 Weeks As Australia COVID-19 Cases Spike

New South Wales, of which Sydney is the capital, on Tuesday reported 172 new cases (File) Sydney: The Australian city of Sydney extende...

Joe Biden Accuses Russia Trying To Disrupt 2022 Elections

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Joe Biden Accuses Russia Trying To Disrupt 2022 Elections" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-07/5bbo57m_joe-biden_625x300_26_July_21.jpg" title="Joe Biden Accuses Russia Trying To Disrupt 2022 Elections" /></div>
The US leader also expressed concern about the recent increase in cyberattacks (File)
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Washington, United States:
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday accused his Russian counterpart of seeking to disrupt the 2022 congressional elections by spreading "misinformation."
"Look at what Russia is doing already about the 2022 elections and misinformation," Biden said during a trip to the office of the director of national intelligence near Washington, referring to information he receives during his daily briefing.
"It's a pure violation of our sovereignty."
He also lashed out at Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin has "a real problem, he is sitting on top of an economy that has nuclear weapons and nothing else," Biden said. "He knows he is in real trouble, which makes him even more dangerous in my view."
The US leader also expressed concern about the recent increase in cyberattacks, including via ransomware, which typically see hackers encrypting victims' data and then demanding money for restored access.
"If we end up in a war, a real shooting war, with a major power, it's going to be as a consequence of a cyber breach," Biden said.
The United States will hold midterm elections in fall 2022, in which all seats in the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate seats will be on the ballot.
Washington recently accused Beijing of carrying out the massive hack in March of Microsoft Exchange, and the White House has also repeatedly called on Russia to take action against ransomware attacks originating from within the country.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/joe-biden-accuses-russia-trying-to-disrupt-2022-elections-2496468">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/joe-biden-accuses-russia-trying-to-disrupt-2022-elections-2496468</a>

news world Joe Biden Accuses Russia Trying To Disrupt 2022 Elections

The US leader also expressed concern about the recent increase in cyberattacks (File) Washington, United States: US President Joe Biden...

Podcaster Says He Was Offered “Significant” Money by UK Government to Push COVID Info

Professor Neil Ferguson, the controversial epidemiologist who predicted there would be as many as 200,000 COVID cases a day in the UK if restrictions were lifted, is facing scrutiny after infections continued to drop for the 6th day in a row.
The day before so-called ‘freedom day’ in England, where most mask mandates and social distancing restrictions were lifted, Ferguson was asked by the BBC’s Andrew Marr where the country was heading as a result.
“It’s very difficult to say for certain, but I think 100,000 cases a day is almost inevitable,” said Ferguson, adding, “The real question is do we get to double that or higher? We could get to 200,000 cases a day.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="6.9882352941176">
Neil Ferguson, July 18: "100,000 cases a day is almost inevitable."<a href="https://t.co/kYw3jhHcl1">pic.twitter.com/kYw3jhHcl1</a> <a href="https://t.co/9dgimVEGks">https://t.co/9dgimVEGks</a>
— Michael P Senger (@MichaelPSenger) <a href="https://twitter.com/MichaelPSenger/status/1419719097080635392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 26, 2021</a>
</blockquote>
The professor went on to warn of “major disruption” to the NHS and the interruption of elective surgeries.
Ferguson is being proven wrong by the statistics once again, which today showed there were 24,950 new coronavirus cases, the sixth consecutive daily fall.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="4.1">
Epic graph. <a href="https://t.co/a9r1JxRST2">pic.twitter.com/a9r1JxRST2</a>
— SecondOpinion (@DaFeid) <a href="https://twitter.com/DaFeid/status/1419631695737786376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 26, 2021</a>
</blockquote>
“Lockdown zealots will attribute this decline to the vaccines, but that begs the question of why they weren’t confident the vaccines would prevent cases from surging when they predicted armageddon last Monday?” <a href="https://dailysceptic.org/2021/07/26/do-the-u-k-s-falling-case-numbers-prove-lockdowns-dont-work/">asks</a> Toby Young.
As Christopher Snowdon highlights, the scientists who claimed England’s unlocking represented “a threat to world” are also being proven spectacularly wrong. SAGE government advisers who claimed that relaxing restrictions was “a dangerous and unethical experiment” also face embarrassment.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="10.181818181818">
In a superb touch, the graph under that quote in the Guardian article headlined 'England’s Covid unlocking is threat to world, say 1,200 scientists' automatically updates once a day. <a href="https://t.co/eRXqybDxja">https://t.co/eRXqybDxja</a> <a href="https://t.co/ByHhFCDVer">pic.twitter.com/ByHhFCDVer</a>
— Christopher Snowdon (@cjsnowdon) <a href="https://twitter.com/cjsnowdon/status/1419708776379191296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 26, 2021</a>
</blockquote>
The issue once again begs the question; Why does the government continue to follow advice given by arch-lockdown advocates who have got it wrong time and time again?
Don’t forget that it was Ferguson who infamously <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8759609/Professor-Lockdown-stands-doomsday-forecast-sent-Britain-lockdown.html">warned</a> that half a million Brits would die without a draconian lockdown, despite the fact that countries like Sweden which didn’t impose lockdown had similar waves and infection rates.
Not only has Ferguson repeatedly proven himself to be totally unreliable (after having already disgraced himself during the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak), but he infamously betrayed what he really thought about the severity of the pandemic via his own behavior.
During the first lockdown, when Ferguson himself was predicting up to half a million deaths, the professor took the threat of the virus so seriously, he allowed his mistress to <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/05/exclusive-government-scientist-neil-ferguson-resigns-breaking/">violate the rules</a> by traveling back and forth across London to continue the pair’s sordid affair.
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source <a href="https://summit.news/2021/07/27/podcaster-says-he-was-offered-significant-money-by-uk-government-to-push-covid-info/">https://summit.news/2021/07/27/podcaster-says-he-was-offered-significant-money-by-uk-government-to-push-covid-info/</a>

revolution summit Podcaster Says He Was Offered “Significant” Money by UK Government to Push COVID Info

Professor Neil Ferguson, the controversial epidemiologist who predicted there would be as many as 200,000 COVID cases a day in the UK if res...