Mar 5, 2021 | International, Politics
The Judiciary will put in place special public attendance arrangements to facilitate the orderly conduct of the bail reviews involving 11 defendants at the High Court tomorrow (March 6).
The information of the hearings has already been uploaded onto the Judiciary website at https://e-services.judiciary.hk/dcl/view.jsp?lang=en&date=06032021&court=CACFI. The hearings are listed in three separate sessions, to commence at 10am, not earlier than 11.30am and 2.30pm respectively.
In anticipation of excessive demand for seats, the Judiciary will make available as many seats as possible to ensure open justice. Taking into account the capacity of available courtrooms and broadcasting facilities of the whole court building, the Judiciary will arrange three court extensions to broadcast the court proceedings. A total of 100 press seats/standing places and 156 public seats/standing places will be provided for different groups of court users to observe the proceedings. There will be 12 family seats, eight press seats and eight public seats in the courtroom. The court extensions are located at 3/F, 4/F and 5/F lobbies.
All broadcasting facilities will include both audio and visual presentation of court proceedings inside court extension areas.
Courts users who wish to observe the hearings will be required to line up at designated areas at the LG4/F podium outside the High Court Building. All tickets for all three hearing sessions during the day will be distributed at 8am. Court users should follow the instructions of the Judiciary staff and security personnel.
To ensure fair and optimal use of the limited number of seats during the hearings, any seat which has been left vacant for 15 minutes or more during the court hearings will be re-allocated to another court user. This requirement is generally in line with the existing condition prescribed in the admission tickets of the High Court that the ticket will be no longer valid if the ticket holder has left his/her seat/place for 15 minutes or more.
Court users are reminded that all persons who enter the Judiciary premises are required to use the “LeaveHomeSafe” mobile app, or to have their names, contact numbers and the dates and times of their visits recorded on a registration form.
Mar 4, 2021 | Business, Politics
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has today written a letter to Chief Secretaries of all States and Administrators of all Union Territories (UTs) clarifying that the powers under Part III of the rules are administered by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The letter has also underlined that these powers have not been delegated to the State Governments or District Magistrates or Police Commissioners.
It has also been requested that this information be brought to the notice of all concerned persons in States and UTs.
The letter has again clarified the provisions of the rules under Part III which relate to publishers of digital news and current affairs and publishers of online curated content (OTT platforms). The rules, the letter states, provide for a Code of Ethics to be followed by digital news publishers and publishers of OTT content, which includes five age based classification. Further, the rules require a three-level Grievance Redressal Mechanism consisting of the publisher (Level-1), self-regulating body constituted by the publishers (Level-II) and an Oversight Mechanism of the Government (Level III), with time bound grievance disposal mechanism. Finally the rules require furnishing of information by the publishers to the Government and periodical disclosure of information regarding grievance redressal in public domain.
The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 under Information Technology Act, 2000 were notified on 25th February, 2021.
Mar 3, 2021 | International, Politics, Regional
The Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement:
“Canada strongly supports the decision made by the United States and the European Union on the adoption of sanctions against Russian officials responsible for the arbitrary detention, prosecution and attempted assassination of Alexey Navalny using a chemical weapon. It is important to note that two of the four individuals targeted by the European Union have already been sanctioned by Canada.
“The sanctions announced today by the U.S. and EU are part of an important and incisive diplomatic effort to end impunity for those responsible for gross human rights violations in Russia, including those committed against Mr. Navalny and his supporters in the exercise of their basic democratic rights.
“The Russian government has violated a constitutional obligation to its citizens and obligations under international law, including access to fair and impartial treatment under the law. We call on Russian authorities to immediately release Mr. Navalny and all those detained for exercising their rights to freedom of speech and of assembly.
“Mr. Navalny’s ongoing persecution, along with an unwillingness to adequately investigate his poisoning, further contributes to the deterioration of the rule of law in Russia and underscores the political motivations behind his imprisonment.
“Canada will continue to work with its international partners and through multilateral organizations to apply pressure on Russia to bring to justice to those responsible for these human rights violations, for the reprehensible treatment of Mr. Navalny and for the use of chemical weapons.”
Mar 1, 2021 | Business, Politics
The Income Tax Department conducted searches on a prominent business group located in Chennai on 26.02.2021. Search was conducted at 11 premises and surveys in 9 premises of the group in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Kolkata. This business group is engaged in the business of manufacture and sale of Tiles and Sanitary-ware and are leaders in Tiles business in South India.
In the course of search, unaccounted sale and purchase of tiles were detected. Due to the efforts of the search team, details of unaccounted transactions were unearthed in the secret office and the software maintained in the cloud. In fact, it was found that the transactions to the extent of 50% were out of books. Considering the previous turnover, the suppression of income may be in the range of Rs 120 crore. This is in addition to Rs 100 crore of undisclosed income introduced by the group as share premium through shell companies.
Total undisclosed income detected so far comes to Rs. 220 crore. Cash of around Rs 8.30 crore was also found and seized.
Search action is still on & investigations are in progress.
The Department is fully prepared to check and monitor the role of money in influencing voters. It remains committed to track the generation of unaccounted cash and its movement in Tami Nadu and Puducherry.
Feb 28, 2021 | International, Politics
Today, the Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Foreign Affairs, met virtually with Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State, to advance work on the Roadmap for a Renewed U.S.-Canada Partnership launched by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Joe Biden following their virtual meeting on February 23, 2021.
The meeting reinforced that Canadians and Americans are stronger when they work together.
Minister Garneau and Secretary Blinken discussed the challenges facing people in North America and the world due to COVID-19. They acknowledged the unprecedented action required in Canada and the United States to combat the pandemic, support citizens, stabilize economies and address climate change.
As Canada and the United States build back from the pandemic, Minister Garneau and Secretary Blinken reaffirmed the need to reject protectionism and preserve their countries’ shared prosperity by protecting the integrity of cross-border supply chains.
Agreement was found on the need to coordinate approaches to the current global challenges, notably those presented by China and the Middle East, including Iran. Minister Garneau underlined the importance of getting answers and justice for the families of the victims of flight PS752.
As agreed upon by President Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau, both leaders are working on a future joint meeting of foreign and defence ministers and secretaries in which continental security cooperation will be discussed in greater depth.
Minister Garneau and Secretary Blinken also agreed on a shared commitment to achieve collective action and promote democracy, human rights and the rule of law through regional and multilateral institutions. This includes working together toward a global democracy summit aimed at reversing negative trends affecting democracies and supporting multilateral organizations that promote democracy as part of their mandate.
As outlined in the roadmap, Minister Garneau and Secretary Blinken looked for ways to more closely align both countries’ approaches to China, including to address the challenges it presents to our collective interest and to the international rules-based order, including its coercive and unfair economic practices, national security challenges, and human rights abuses, while cooperating with China on areas where it is in our interest, such as climate change. They agreed to work together to secure the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor who are being arbitrarily detained in China.
Furthermore, Minister Garneau and Secretary Blinken discussed the importance of Canada-United States cooperation in the Americas.
The two discussed the dire situation in Venezuela and agreed to work together alongside the international community supporting Venezuelans to address this crisis and the human suffering it is causing.
Both reaffirmed a commitment to address human rights and needed reforms in Cuba and to ensure the upcoming electoral process in Haiti is credible, inclusive and transparent. Minister Garneau and Secretary Blinken look forward to the next Summit of the Americas, which the United States will host, as an opportunity to work together and with others in the hemisphere to set a unifying agenda focused on recovering from the pandemic’s multi-dimensional impacts and reinforcing democratic governance. Minister Garneau offered Canada’s support in addressing the root causes of irregular migration in the hemisphere.
Feb 28, 2021 | International, Politics
The governments of Canada, British Columbia and the Tlowitsis Nation have signed a new agreement that will further advance reconciliation and treaty negotiations.
Chief John Smith of the Tlowitsis Nation, the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, federal Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, and Murray Rankin, provincial Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, signed the Tlowitsis Nation Transition to Stage 5 Memorandum of Understanding.
The Memorandum of Understanding advances treaty negotiations to the final stage and will guide the parties to conclude a treaty that supports the Tlowitsis Nation’s right to self-determination and defines a new relationship between Tlowitsis Nation, Canada and British Columbia.
Canada, British Columbia and the Tlowitsis Nation will begin the last stage of work together to finalize a treaty that supports a thriving future for Tlowitsis community members for all the generations to come. This work is creating the foundation for a renewed relationship based on recognition of rights, cooperation, respect and partnership.
The Memorandum of Understanding commits the parties to establish a new approach to their treaty negotiations which will be guided and informed by the Recognition and Reconciliation of Rights Policy for Treaty Negotiations in British Columbia that was collaboratively developed and released by the Government of Canada, the Province of British Columbia and the First Nations Summit in September 2019.
This new approach to negotiations ensures agreements align with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and B.C.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. This includes the recognition and continuation of rights without those rights being modified, surrendered, or extinguished when a treaty is signed and that treaties are flexible and able to adapt to changing circumstances over time.
This new collaborative approach supports the shared goal of advancing reconciliation and supporting healthy and prosperous Indigenous communities in Canada, which will benefit Tlowitsis Nation citizens and all British Columbians and Canadians alike.
“We have reached another achievement in this long, arduous journey to ensure the survival of the Tlowitsis Peoples,” said Chief John Smith of the Tlowitsis Nation. “Though I am not pleased with the pace of negotiations, I appreciate the hard work that has been done. Thanks to the Ministers for moving on this occasion. We have had a continuing struggle for 60 years. Our old village – where I was born – was very tiny, and we hope to move more quickly to establish our new community, Nenagwas, on the new land that we’ve purchased.”
Chief John Smith
Tlowitsis Nation
“The signing of the Tlowitsis Nation Transition to Stage 5 Memorandum of Understanding is a key step on our path of reconciliation with the Tlowitsis Nation and their members. By working together as partners we create the foundation for a renewed relationship that supports the Tlowitsis Nation right to self-determination and supports them in building a better future for their community”
The Honourable Carolyn Bennett, M.D., P.C., M.P.
Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations
“This MOU is an important step forward in the relationship our government shares with Tlowitsis Nation. It is a tangible expression of our commitment to implementing flexible agreements that are better suited to addressing the needs of individual Nations. Almost 60 years after being forced from their homes and land, Tlowitsis members are establishing a community they can call home. This treaty work supports the Nation’s vision of self-determination, which will help Tlowitsis to build a thriving community for future generations.”
