Emirates cuts flights as Victoria eases bans on visitors from Brisbane

17/1/2021

(See translation in Arabic section)

Sydney- M E Times Int'l:  Emirates has announced late on Friday night that all flights to and from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane would be suspended until further notice.

Emirates said the decision was “due to operational reasons”.

The decision will remove 19 flights per week that the United Arab Emirates carrier had been running.

New South Wales recorded one new case of coronavirus to 8pm yesterday, the state’s health department announced.

 The case is a man from western Sydney, and was locally acquired. NSW had recorded two consecutive days with no new cases of community transmission.

Queensland has reported no new cases of community transmission, and one in hotel quarantine – a returned traveller from South Africa

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews says his government will remove the “red zone” designation on Brisbane, meaning Victorians stranded in Queensland can return home.

Travellers can enter Victoria but must get a Covid test within 72 hours of arrival and isolate until receiving a negative result.

Big changes are coming on Australia's borders

Canberra: The Federal Government has announced an additional 20 repatriation flights from "priority areas" overseas to get Australians back home.

An estimated 37,000 people are trying to get back into the country.

Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Birmingham on Saturday said the 20 scheduled flights will be organised over the next couple of months and are in addition to 90 repatriation flights previously facilitated.

He said they will be “over and above” arrival caps recently narrowed by National Cabinet and travellers will be taken to Howard Springs in the Northern Territory, Tasmania and Canberra.

Meanwhile, Victorians stuck in Brisbane will be allowed home from 6pm tonight with a permit after Premier Daniel Andrews announced the affected local government areas of Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Ipswich, Logan and Redlands will be turned from “red” to “orange”.

He said he hopes to do the same with a “strong majority” of Greater Sydney’s 35 Local Government Areas in the next couple of days.

“But, again, it has to be based on advice. This is not a matter of locking Victorians out of their own state. It is about keeping the virus out of our state,” he said.

The COVID-19 death toll has also passed two million worldwide.

Sydney COVID bans could be lifted in days, says NSW Premier

Sydney:  NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian intends on easing restrictions for Greater Sydney “in the next few days” after the state recorded zero locally acquired coronavirus cases for a second straight day.

The Premier revealed on Friday that NSW had no locally acquired transmissions and two cases recorded in returned overseas travellers.

“I do want to say to the community of NSW, in particular to Greater Sydney, that we are very much considering what restrictions we can ease in the next few days,” Ms Berejiklian said.

That would depend on low case numbers and higher rates of testing, she added.

“So, we are really pleading with the community, please come forward and get tested if you have the mildest of symptoms.”

Current restrictions in Greater Sydney include mandatory wearing of masks in indoor settings such as public transport and shopping centres. Failure to do so can result in a $200 fine.

Kubis met with Hezbollah, the latter committed to Hariri

Lebanon: The online new service indicated that on the political front, the stubbornness is the same, there are no indications of new efforts to produce a settlement that leads to the formation of the government.

Various data indicate the international interest in Lebanon has diminished. Countries are not showing their enthusiasm to intervene, as long as the officials are distracted by their minorities and narrow interests. The absence of this interest is also reflected in the decision to transfer the Special Coordinator of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Jan Kubis, from Lebanon to Libya. Meanwhile there will be a transitional phase that will be undertaken by a UN employee in Lebanon awaiting the appointment of a replacement person.

The information also indicates that Kubis met with Hezbollah a few days ago, and discussed with him the file of forming the government. According to the information, the party affirmed its adherence to Saad Hariri’s choice, without the President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, being defeated, and the party was clear in refusing to repeat Hassan Diab’s experience. The issue of border demarcation was also discussed during the meeting, and Hezbollah’s position was clear in terms of commitment to what the Lebanese state decided. The party, however, made it clear to the UN official that the decree that the President of the Republic Michel Aoun intends to unilaterally pass on the border demarcation “will not be approved.”- "Electronic news"

Man arrested for breach of anti-terrorism control order

Sydney:  A Sydney man, 25, was arrested on Saturday after allegedly failing to comply with a condition of a control order by accessing online material that supported executions, beheadings and torture.

The man, who was released from jail on January 1, was subject to the control order until December 30. 

The Australian Federal Police High Risk Terrorist Offenders team arrested the man at his Denistone home.

“The man has an extremist ideology aligned to the ISIS terror network,” said AFP Acting Commander Alex Nicholson.

“While we are continuing to see high risk terrorist offenders breach their control orders, police are ensuring offenders who breached their orders are arrested, charged and face the consequences of their actions.

“AFP offices continue to work with our state and territory counterparts and security agencies to protect the community from extremist material and the violence it promotes.”

NSW’s Wollemi Pines dinosaur trees given extra legal protection

Sydney:  The NSW Government has announced the Wollemi Pines, in the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, will be the first site in the state to be declared an Asset of Intergenerational Significance.

The declaration is a legal mechanism to bolster existing measures that protect the species.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the historic declaration recognises the extraordinary global significance of the Wollemi Pines, with some of the adult trees estimated to be up to a thousand years old.

“This declaration enables us to take existing protections up another notch, and set specific legislative requirements including a dedicated fire management strategy to secure the survival of the species for generations to come,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“Prior to their discovery in 1994, Wollemi Pines were only known to us in fossil records with fossil evidence pointing to the species' existence up to 90 million years ago.”

Editor’s note: Vision available https://bit.ly/3qlvr8G

China delivers new threat to Australia over Hong Kong joint statement

Beijing has threatened a “counterstrike” against international moves to preserve the democracies of Hong Kong and Taiwan. And Australia’s on its hit-list.

Foreign ministers from the United States, Canada, Britain and Australia condemned the arrest of over 50 opposition parliamentarians and democracy activists in Hong Kong in a joint statement on Sunday.

The four members of the Five Eyes agreement (New Zealand did not sign the condemnation) have called upon China to respect the freedoms these island peoples enjoy.

“It is clear that the National Security Law is being used to eliminate dissent and opposing political views,” the foreign ministers said in the joint statement issued by Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne.

“We call on the Hong Kong and Chinese central authorities to respect the legally guaranteed rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong without fear of arrest and detention.”

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is incensed.

Beijing has responded by declaring it “strongly condemns and firmly opposes” meddling in its “domestic affairs” by the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia.

The problem is the definition of “domestic affairs”.

Taiwan is an independent democratic state.

Hong Kong is the subject of a handover treaty as it transitions from British colonial rule.

“The Chinese people’s resolve to defend our sovereignty and territorial integrity is unshakeable and we will not permit any person or force to stop the process of China’s reunification,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a press briefing on Monday.

“Any actions which harm China’s core interests will be met with a resolute counterstrike and will not succeed.”

‘WITHOUT END IN SIGHT’

Canberra’s willingness to contradict Beijing on the world stage has unleashed a torrent of abuse from the rising world power in recent weeks.

“Many Chinese people feel as if they have swallowed a fly when hearing about Australia,” the CCP-controlled Global Times declared last month.

“Australia treats China’s goodwill with evil. It is not worthy to argue with it. If it does not want to do business with China, so be it.

“Its politics, military and culture should stay far away from China – let’s assume the two countries are not on the same planet.”

A senior Chinese academic advisor to the Chinese Communist Party says the worsening relationship with Australia and Japan is proving a hurdle to improved relations between Beijing and other ASEAN nations.

But he added the diplomatic spat “is without end in sight”.

Dr Shi Yinhong told a forum hosted by Singapore’s Straits Times Beijing’s efforts to improve its standing with South East Asian nations would continue, regardless.

Dr She tacitly conceded that Beijing’s economic actions towards Canberra were “sanctions” in response to Canberra’s call for an investigation into the origins of COVID-19.

The University of China international studies academic went on to say China’s stand-off with the West was unlikely to abate any time soon.

“Disputes and occasionally low-intensity conflict over the South China Sea will continue as before,” he said.

“There will be no sufficiently significant difference between Mr Biden and Mr Trump … over the major issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, South China Sea, Xinjiang, Tibet, China’s religious and human rights situations.”