Top News – Page 2737 – Safir News Agency

Top News

Justin Trudeau's Return From India May Be Delayed Further. Here's Why

admin Sep 12, 2023 0

Justin Trudeau's Return From India May Be Delayed Further. Here's Why

Justin Trudeau’s visit for the G20 summit was lower-key than his counterparts

New Delhi:

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s departure from India could further be delayed after the replacement aircraft – which was on its way to Delhi to fly him home – was diverted to London, his country’s media reported.

“The replacement plane, which initially was routing through Rome on its way to India, has since been diverted to London, England,” the CBS News said quoting Mr Trudeau’s office.

No reason was given for the unscheduled diversion, the news report said.

Justin Trudeau arrived in India on Friday to attend the G20 summit.

Mr Trudeau, his son Xavier and the Canadian delegation were forced to extend their stay in Delhi after their plane suffered a technical glitch. They were set to leave India on Sunday night.

The backup plane is also carrying the spare parts needed to repair the plane they arrived on, officials said.

“The Canadian Armed Forces continue their best efforts to get the Canadian delegation home. Their latest update shows an earliest possible departure of Tuesday late afternoon. The situation remains fluid.” said a statement from Trudeau’s office yesterday,

“These issues are not fixable overnight, our delegation will be staying in India until alternate arrangements are made,” it said.

Mr Trudeau’s visit for the G20 summit was lower-key than some of his counterparts, and came against a backdrop of tensions between his government and India over Canada’s handling of Khalistan sympathizers.

Top News

Gadkari seeks 10 per cent additional GST on diesel vehicles as pollution tax

admin Sep 12, 2023 0

Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said he will seek a “pollution tax” in the form of additional GST of 10 per cent on diesel vehicles

Published Date – 01:05 PM, Tue – 12 September 23

Gadkari seeks 10 per cent additional GST on diesel vehicles as pollution tax

New Delhi: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said he will seek a “pollution tax” in the form of additional GST of 10 per cent on diesel vehicles and gensets in order to cut down on air pollution.

Speaking at the 63rd Annual SIAM convention here, the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister said the rising level of pollution is a health hazard for citizens.

“I am going to handover a letter to the Finance Minister this evening stating that an additional 10 per cent GST be put on diesel-powered vehicles,” Gadkari said.

Most of the commercial vehicles in the country currently run on diesel.

In the passenger vehicle segment, various carmakers including Maruti Suzuki India and Honda have already stopped manufacturing diesel cars.

Gadkari said the contribution of diesel cars has already come down drastically in the country and the manufacturers need to stop selling them in the market.

Terming diesel as a hazardous fuel, he noted that the country has to import the fuel to meet the demand.

“Say goodbye to diesel… Please stop making them, otherwise we will just increase the tax so much that it would become difficult to sell diesel cars” Gadkari said. He said he will propose additional GST on diesel-powered generators as well.

Automobiles are currently taxed at 28 per cent GST, with additional cess ranging from 1 per cent to 22 per cent depending on the type of vehicle.

SUVs attract the highest GST at the rate of 28 per cent along with a compensation cess at 22 per cent. Gadkari also asked the industry to focus on environment-friendly alternative fuels like ethanol.

He also asked the industry to focus on green hydrogen.

Top News

Over 60 still missing a month on from deadly Hawaii wildfires

admin Sep 12, 2023 0

A month after a ferocious fire razed a town in Maui, 66 people remained unaccounted for as workers continued to remove toxic debris from the burn site, a process that could take almost a year, Hawaii Governor Josh Green said on Friday.

The official death toll of the Aug. 8 fire that left the historic town of Lahaina in charred ruins still stands at 115 people, a number unchanged in more than two weeks.

Only 60 of those victims had been identified as of Thursday, according to the Maui Police Department.

Officials have said some victims may have been cremated in the blaze, leaving no remains to recover; a final death toll is uncertain, as is the future of the land where Lahaina stood.

Earlier in September, county and federal officials circulated a list of more than 380 people still unaccounted for; by Friday, the list had been reduced to 66 people, the governor said in remarks broadcast online.

While some families wait in limbo, relatives of those confirmed dead face additional difficulties.

Tim Laborte’s stepfather, Joseph Lara, was killed in the fire, his body found a short drive from Lara’s house in his native Lahaina. Now the family are trying to piece together whether a mortgage is owed on Lara’s ruined property and what kind of insurance polices he held.

“His affairs are a mess,” Laborte said. “He didn’t have a will, he didn’t have a trust.”

The family have tried to get Lara’s remains released from a temporary morgue, but Laborte said they had been told that none would be released until officials were sure the burn area had been cleared of all human remains, and that obtaining a death certificate could take months.

Hawaii’s Department of Health, which issues death certificates in the state, did not respond to questions about how officials are certifying the fire’s victims.

Survivors of the fire have not been allowed to return to survey the ruins of their homes and businesses, though some have managed to make their way in on brief forays.

The governor said on Friday that residents and business-owners would soon be allowed to go into the burn zone on scheduled supervised visits.

“The ash, we are told, is quite toxic, so we need to be careful,” Green said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are leading the removal of toxic debris from Lahaina, a clean-up that Green said would take “the better part of a year” and cost about $1 billion.

The state was asking the owners of short-term rental properties on the island to consider renting their properties long-term to people left homeless by the fire, and was speaking with several hotels about leasing their entire properties for the displaced, Green said.

More than 6,000 survivors of the fire are still sheltering in hotel rooms, Green said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was helping the state provide housing grants and rental assistance for displaced people for the next 18 months, he said.

Lahaina was built along the shore where Maui’s western volcano slopes down into the Pacific Ocean, and it was the former seat of the Hawaiian Kingdom before becoming a popular tourist destination. How it might be rebuilt remains unclear.

“The people of Maui must have as much time as they need to heal and recover and will begin to rebuild only when they are ready,” Green said. “I want to emphasize this again: The land in the Lahaina is reserved for its people as they return and rebuild.”

(Source: Reuters)

Top News

Indian Football Team Picked On Basis Of Astrologer's Suggestions: Report

admin Sep 12, 2023 0

A sensational claim has rocked the Indian sporting fraternity, with a report claiming that the national football team’s squad was picked by head coach Igor Stimac on the basis of an astrologer’s suggestion. Stimac is said to have shared players’ data with an astrologer, who responded by picking the names of players who were recommended for a particular day and those who should be avoided. In fact, the report claims that the head coach was put in touch with the astrologer by the All India Football Federation general-secretary Kushal Das.

Worried whether the Indian team would qualify for the Asian Cup, Das sought an astrologer’s help and put him in touch with the head coach of the team, Stimac. As names were shared by Stimac with the Astrologer, responses of “good”; “can do very well. Needs to avoid overconfidence”; “a below-average day”; “a very good day for him but might get over aggressive”; “not recommended for the day” came, as per a report in Indian Express.

The report claims that about 100 messages were exchanged between Stimac and the astrologer between May and June last year. During this period, India played a friendly against Jordan as well as three Asian Cup qualifiers, against Cambodia, Afghanistan and Hong Kong.

The messages, as per the report, didn’t just feature inputs over selection matters in the team but also saw Stimac discuss injury news and substitution strategies with the astrologer.

“Hi dear Bhupesh, it was a pleasure meeting you and discussing future work! I would kindly ask you to provide opinion on the following players,” one of the messages read, as per the report.

For a game against Jordan, Stimac allegedly sought advice over the selection of an attacking midfielder. After the astrologer gave his preference of selection, Stimac is said to have gone with the inputs received.

Even Kushal Das admitted that he put Stimac in touch with the astrologer.

“I met him at a meeting. He (Sharma) had worked for a lot of telecom companies and Bollywood personalities. What they presented was that astrological timings and the current phase of players can help motivate people into taking the right decisions,” Das told the paper.

“That time, I was worried if India would qualify for the Asian Cup and so was Igor, let me be very honest. It was not a comfortable situation. For me, the most important thing was that India should qualify. So I told him (Sharma) that I will put you in touch with the coach and if he likes it, he thinks your services can be utilised, he can get back to me. Igor was very convinced and they were in Kolkata throughout,” he added.

Das also revealed that the astrologer was paid INR 12-15 lakh for his services over two months.

Topics mentioned in this article