CANBERRA: Australia plans to halve commercial passenger arrivals due to virus risks as parts of the country emerged from lockdowns Friday.
Australia will reduce its cap on arrivals from 6,000 passengers a week to 3,000 by July 14 to reduce pressure on hotel quarantine, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said after a meeting with state and territory leaders.
Australia already has some of the world’s tightest border restrictions aimed at keeping COVID-19 out of the country. The new restrictions add to obstacles faced by 34,000 Australian citizens and permanent residents stranded overseas and registered with the government as wanting to come home.
The government will charter more airliners to repatriate Australians, but the reduced limit on commercial passenger arrivals could continue until next year.
“If medical advice changes between now and then, if medical advice suggests that we can alter that, then of course the National Cabinet has always been receptive to that advice and we’ll continue to monitor that,” Morrison told reporters, referring to his decision-making meetings with the state and territory leaders.
“We wouldn’t want to keep those caps in place any longer than we had to,” he added.
Almost half the Australian population locked down since last week due to clusters mostly of the delta variant of the coronavirus that is thought to be more contagious.
Several cities in Queensland state and the Northern Territory came out of lockdown on Friday. The Queensland capital Brisbane and the neighboring Moreton Bay area would remain in lockdown until Saturday after a mother and daughter tested positive in Brisbane.
The biggest cluster is in Sydney where 31 new cases were reported on Friday, the largest daily tally of the current emergency. Sydney’s two-week lockdown is due to end on July 9.
Australia has been relatively successful in containing clusters throughout the pandemic, registering fewer than 31,000 cases in a population of 26 million and 910 deaths total.
The higher infection rate of the delta variant has exposed the vulnerability of the Australian population in which, according to government data, only 8 percent are fully vaccinated.
Morrison said a vaccine would be made available to every Australian who wanted one by the end of the year.
The government has proposed fewer restrictions for vaccinated people, such allowing them to quarantine at home for a week after traveling overseas instead of two weeks in a hotel for the unvaccinated.
“A lot of people say: ‘Well, why should I get vaccinated?’ They go: ‘There’s not much COVID around in Australia. I’ve got more chance of, I don’t know, getting run over by a car than catching COVID,’” Morrison said.
“We’re prisoners of our own success in this. If you get vaccinated, you get to change how we live as a country. You get to change how you live in Australia. And I think this is a very powerful message,” he added.
Australia introduced extraordinarily tough border restrictions in March 2020 that prevent Australian citizens and permanent residents from leaving the country as well as foreigners from arriving except under limited circumstances.
Australia further coronavirus curbs new arrivals due to risks of Delta variant
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Australia further coronavirus curbs new arrivals due to risks of Delta variant
- Australia has some of the world’s tightest border restrictions aimed at keeping COVID-19 out of the country
Man in critical condition after stabbing on London’s Westminster Bridge
- Authorities have said that the incident is not being treated as terrorism-related
LONDON: A man is in critical condition after being stabbed during a reported fight on Westminster Bridge in central London, the Metropolitan Police confirmed on Sunday.
Emergency services, including the London Ambulance Service and an air ambulance, were called to the scene at about 10:45 UK time and an injured man was rushed to hospital for treatment.
A London London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We were called today (Sunday) at 10.46 a.m. to reports of an incident on Westminster Bridge, SW1.
“We sent a number of resources including ambulance crews, an advanced paramedic, an incident response officer and London’s air ambulance.
“We treated a man at the scene before taking him to hospital,” they added.
Three individuals have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, while a fourth has been detained for affray, the BBC reported.
Two of the arrested suspects sustained minor facial injuries and were also taken to hospital, according to police.
Authorities have said that the incident is not being treated as terrorism-related.
In March 2017, Briton Khalid Masood drove a car into pedestrians who were walking on the pavement along Westminster Bridge and Bridge Street, injuring more than 50 people, four of them fatally, before killing an unarmed police officer in the grounds of the Palace of Westminster.
He was then shot by an armed police officer, and died at the scene.
Bangladesh prepares to send trained nurses to Saudi Arabia in 2025
- Authorities are preparing to fulfill a Saudi request for 150 Bangladeshi nurses
- Migration of skilled Bangladeshi workers has been on the rise this year, government data shows
DHAKA: Bangladesh is preparing to send the first batch of trained nurses to Saudi Arabia by early next year, the country’s state-owned recruiting agency told Arab News on Sunday.
Bangladeshi nationals make up the largest group of expatriates in Saudi Arabia, with nearly 3 million working and residing in the Kingdom. But only a few dozen clinicians are among the group, according to Bangladesh Medical Association data.
In 2022, the two countries signed an agreement on the recruitment of health workers, targeting the large numbers of certified doctors, nurses and medics from Bangladesh’s more than 100 medical colleges.
Bangladeshi authorities are now preparing a batch of over 100 nurses to send to Saudi Arabia, said the Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Ltd., a recruitment agency under the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment.
“We got a request to send 150 nurses to the Kingdom … If everything goes alright, we can expect the first batch to (fly out) to the Kingdom early next year,” BOESL Executive Director Shawkat Ali said.
In Saudi Arabia, nurses must undergo the Saudi Prometric Exam in order to practice in the Kingdom. Though Bangladesh has many nursing school graduates, most do not have the required Prometric certifications, he added.
“Our nurses are very skilled and industrious … We have received huge queries for the nurses. But here they need to have the Prometric certification. If we can prepare them in line with the Saudi requirements, it will open new opportunities for our nurses.”
Only around 2 percent of Bangladeshi workers in the Kingdom are skilled professionals, but the number has been on the rise since the beginning of the year, according to data from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training.
Though most Bangladeshi migrant workers are seeking employment in Saudi Arabia’s giga-projects under its Vision 2030 transformation plan, there has also been a growing demand for health workers from the South Asian nation.
“For our economy, exporting trained nurses to the Kingdom is a big opportunity. We are mostly an import-dependent country, so we need huge amounts of dollars to meet the import bills,” Ali said.
“If we can export a significant number of trained medical staffers, they would be able to send back more remittances.”
Ukraine shows fragments of new Russian missile after ‘Oreshnik’ strike
- Russia on Thursday carried out a strike on the city of Dnipro last week
- Use of IRBM in response to Ukraine’s firing US ATACMS and UK Storm Shadow missiles
Russia on Thursday carried out a strike on the city which President Vladimir Putin said was a test of its new Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM).
Ukraine’s SBU security service displayed metal fragments, ranging from bulky to tiny, on fake grass in front of camouflage netting at an undisclosed location Sunday, AFP journalists saw.
The SBU did not name the missile used but said it was a type they had not seen before.
Oleg, one of its investigators, told journalists that “this is the first time the debris of such a missile has been found on the territory of Ukraine.
“This item had not been documented by security investigators before,” he added.
Oleg said that investigators are examining the fragments and will later “provide answers” on the characteristics of the missile.
He said that the missile was ballistic and had caused damage to civilian and “other infrastructure” in Dnipro.
In a televised address Thursday, Putin said Russia used the IRBM in response to Ukraine’s firing US ATACMS and UK Storm Shadow missiles into Russian territory, after the Kyiv allies lifted a ban on it using long-range weaponry to fire into Russia.
Putin said the missile flies at 10 times the speed of sound and cannot be intercepted by air defenses.
The president said it hit a defense industry production facility in Dnipro “which still produces missile equipment and other weapons.”
A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman was heard answering a phone call about a strike on Yuzhmash during a press briefing. Yuzhmash is the Russian name of an aerospace manufacturer in Dnipro now called Pivdenmash.
Neither Kyiv nor Moscow has confirmed whether this was the target.
Putin has promised more combat testing of the Oreshnik missile and said it will go into serial production.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called the strike “the latest bout of Russian madness” and appealed for updated air-defense systems to meet the new threat.
The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence has said Kyiv knew several prototypes of the missile had been produced before it was fired.
Indonesia’s Prabowo seeks UAE cooperation in industrialization efforts
- Indonesia’s new leader also visited Abu Dhabi in May as president-elect
- Indonesia, UAE signed new agreements covering energy, tech, healthcare
Jakarta: Indonesia’s new leader, President Prabowo Subianto, is seeking closer cooperation with the UAE on Jakarta’s industrialization efforts as he made his first official trip to Abu Dhabi since taking office last month.
Indonesia’s relations with the UAE grew under former President Joko Widodo, who in 2021 secured a more than $46 billion investment commitment from the Gulf state. The two countries signed a free trade deal a year later, which came into force last September.
The UAE was Prabowo’s last stop in his first foreign trip since becoming Indonesia’s new leader in October.
“Now that I have earned the trust from my people to lead Indonesia, I want to continue our good relations,” Prabowo told UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan during their first official meeting in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Jakarta’s priorities are focused on defense, food security and energy security, he said, adding that the government also wants to implement a downstream policy that includes domestic processing of raw materials.
“This means we want to perform a massive industrialization,” Prabowo said. “In this context, we see that the UAE and Indonesia have similar priorities. We can work together across different sectors and we want to invite the UAE to actively participate in our economy.”
The two leaders also presided over the signing of several agreements as part of their meeting, covering areas such as technology, renewable energy, infrastructure and health.
“They agreed to increase trade between the two countries, specifically by optimizing the utilization of Indonesia-UAE CEPA,” Indonesian foreign ministry spokesperson Roy Soemirat told Arab News on Sunday.
“President Prabowo welcomed the UAE president’s invitation to strengthen cooperation in infrastructure and collaboration in international forums to resolve global issues, including peaceful conflict resolution.”
Prabowo’s visit to Abu Dhabi was his second this year, following a trip in May as president-elect.
He was concluding his first overseas trip as president, which also included stops in China, the US, and the UK.
Trumps names two Arab Americans for his Cabinet
- President-elect Donald Trump nominated Dr. Janette Nesheiwat to be US surgeon general
- He also nominated Dr. Marty Makary as head of the US Food and Drug Administration
CHICAGO: President-elect Donald Trump has named two Arab Americans to serve in his Cabinet once he is sworn into office in January.
Trump nominated Dr. Janette Nesheiwat to be US surgeon general and Dr. Marty Makary as head of the US Food and Drug Administration.
The appointments were applauded by Dr. Bishara Bahbah, chairman of Arab Americans for Trump, who helped the former president to win nearly half of the Arab American vote in the Nov. 5 election against US Vice President Kamala Harris.
“We are delighted with President Trump’s nomination of the first two Arab Americans to be part of his administration,” Bahbah said in a message to Arab News on Saturday.
“This is a testament to the hard work of Arab Americans for Trump and recognition of President Donald J. Trump of the role Arab Americans played in his election as the 47th president of the United States. AAFT looks forward to additional Arab American appointments in President Trump’s administration, particularly in the political field.”
Dr. Makary is a British American surgeon of Lebanese background. He is a public policy researcher at Johns Hopkins University serving as a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a professor, by courtesy, at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.
His current research focuses on the underlying causes of disease, public policy, health care costs, and relationship-based medicine. Dr. Makary previously served in leadership at the World Health Organization patient safety program and has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine.
Clinically, Dr. Makary is the chief of Islet Transplant Surgery at Johns Hopkins. He is the recipient of the Nobility in Science Award from the National Pancreas Foundation and has been a visiting professor at more than 25 medical schools. He has published more than 250 peer-reviewed scientific articles and has served on several editorial boards. He is the author of two New York Times bestselling books, “Unaccountable” and “The Price We Pay.”
Dr. Makary is also an anti-vaxxer who refused vaccination for COVID-19, a view shared by many of President-elect Trump’s conservative and Republican supporters.
Dr. Nesheiwat is a double board-certified medical doctor described on her website as “bringing a refreshingly no-nonsense attitude to the latest medical news, breaking down everything you need to know to keep you — and your family — healthy at all times.” She is also the author of “Beyond the Stethoscope: Miracles in Medicine.”
A graduate of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, UAMS, Dr. Nesheiwat has been “shaped by her faith and her upbringing.”
Born in Carmel, New York, she is the daughter of Christian Jordanian immigrants and one of five children raised by her widowed mother, Hayat Nesheiwat. Her siblings are Julia Nesheiwat, Jaclyn Stapp, Dina Nesheiwat and Daniel Nesheiwat.
