Khalistan referendum held in Canada
Toronto, Sep 11: Sikhs turned up in large numbers at a Khalistan referendum event in Canada just as Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed New Delhi’s strong concerns the same day about continuing anti-India activities in the North American nation to his counterpart Justin Trudeau at the G20 Leaders’ Summit. The vote to weigh support for Khalistan, a separate homeland for Sikhs in India, was held on Sunday in the British Columbian province of Surrey at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara where its former president Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead in June. The outlawed Pro-Khalistani group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), which organised the referendum, said more than 100,000 people attended the event, the Global News channel reported. The vote was supposed to be held at a school in Surrey, but was cancelled after images of weapons on the poster were brought to the school authorities’ notice by concerned residents. In a strongly-worded condemnation, Modi told Trudeau on Sunday that the extremist elements are promoting secessionism and inciting violence against Indian diplomats, damaging diplomatic premises, and threatening the community in Canada and their places of worship. In a media interaction after meeting his Indian counterpart, Trudeau said that the actions of the few do not represent the entire community or Canada. (IANS)
B’desh, France sign bilateral deals
Dhaka, Sep 11: Bangladesh on Monday inked a deal with France for the purchase of 10 Airbus aircraft worth USD 3.2 billion and a letter of intent was exchanged for an earth observation satellite system as French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina held wide-ranging talks to boost bilateral ties. Macron, whose visit to Dhaka, the first by a French president in 33 years, is widely seen as a move by Paris to consolidate its Asia-Pacific strategy and counterbalance a “new imperialism” in this part of Asia where China’s influence is growing steadily. “Based on democratic principles and the rule of law, in a region facing new imperialism, we want to propose a third way – with no intention to bully our partners or to lead them to an unsustainable scheme,” Macron told Hasina in a veiled reference to China. (AP)
UK rolls out top-up vaccines amid fresh COVID fears
London, Sep 11: The UK health authorities began rolling out their winter vaccine schedule for the most medically vulnerable on Monday, brought forward from a planned early October rollout amid concerns around the new COVID variant BA.2.86. The National Health Service (NHS) said residents of older adult care homes and people who are housebound will begin receiving their COVID and flu vaccinations from this week and other high risk groups will begin to be invited to get their “top up protection” ahead of winter from next week. While the variant, BA.2.86, has not been classified as a “variant of concern” by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), it is being monitored closely due to its proclivity to mutate. (PTI)