Tag Archive for: minister

TikTok faces national security review in Canada: minister

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TikTok faces national security review in Canada: minister

by AFP Staff Writers

Ottawa (AFP) Mar 15, 2024






Canada is conducting a national security review of Chinese-owned TikTok’s proposed expansion of the popular video app in this country, Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said Friday.

In a teleconference from Italy after meeting with his G7 counterparts, Champagne said the review under the Investment Canada Act had been quietly initiated in September 2023.

“We have launched a national security review (of TikTok),” he told reporters.

“Once we have completed that,” he said, “we’ll inform Canadians about any actions that we decide to take with respect to that particular topic.”

“I’ll have more to say when our review is completed,” the minister added without saying when that would be.

Champagne noted a March 2023 announcement that foreign investments in Canada’s interactive digital media sector would face “intense scrutiny.”

Those found to be “propagating disinformation or manipulating information in a manner that is injurious to Canada’s national security” could face mitigation measures or even a ban, according to the policy statement.

The Canadian review is not related to a proposed US bill that would force its Chinese owners to sell or see it banned in the United States.

That bill is partly fuelled by concerns over Chinese national security laws that compel organizations to assist with intelligence gathering.

TikTok is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese technology firm ByteDance Ltd.

“We’re watching, of course, the debate going on in the United States,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday after the US House of Representatives passed the bill, which still needs approval from the Senate.

Ottawa banned TikTok from federal government mobile devices in February 2023.

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Minister says verdict almost ready, advises racketeers to exit service

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The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, has, for the umpteenth time, reacted to the lingering crisis at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH) over the alleged job racketeering which has led to the nonpayment of some workers for almost a year.

Mr Pate, in a statement shared on the X handle of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, explained reasons for the delayed action on the matter, saying the ministry is working out the possibilities of addressing the issue.

Earlier in November 2023, PREMIUM TIMES reported that the ministry issued a statement signed by its Director of Press, Patricia Deworitshe, confirming the indictment of some officials of the hospital including a former Acting Chief Medical Director, Afolabi Owojuyigbe, of engaging in job racketeering.

The ministry said an investigative panel led by Aderemi Azeez found that Mr Owojuyigbe carried out over-employment in the hospital, without provision in the personnel budget.

FIRS

According to the statement, the panel disclosed that Mr Owojuyigbe, a Consultant anaesthetist, employed over 1,973 staff as against the waiver for 450 vacancies granted to the hospital by the federal government in the 2022 employment process.

Mr Owojuyigbe and “his accomplices” are therefore culpable of job racketeering, according to the panel.

Workers murmur

Meanwhile, as a result of the development many of the employed workers have not received their salaries for about a year since their employment. However, the government is insisting that the employment is illegal and that the government has no money to pay the “illegal” employees.

However, the affected workers have taken to social media to accuse the government of subjecting them to penury.

They said the ministry is deliberately delaying the process to frustrate them out of the job.

Minister responds

The minister has, however, said the ministry is still working to resolve the issue, saying many of those illegally engaged are non-clinical workers “and there is no money in the hospital to pay for them.”

In a statement shared Monday on X, Mr Pate alleged that many of the job seekers and their sponsors influence…

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Visit by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan to the Cook Islands for the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting, 9 to 11 November 2023

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Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan visited Cook Islands from 9 to 11 November 2023 to attend the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Meeting, marking the first time that Singapore participated in the PIF Leaders Meeting as a Dialogue Partner.

 

Minister Balakrishnan delivered remarks at the 2050 Pacific Prosperity High-Level Thematic Dialogue on 10 November 2023. He highlighted that Singapore viewed relations with the PIF as strategic. As fellow Small Island Developing States, Singapore and the Pacific Islands share a commitment to tackling global challenges, particularly the existential issue of climate change. Over the past 30 years, Singapore has shared our development experience with more than 5,800 Pacific officials under the Singapore Cooperation Programme.

 

Minister Balakrishnan announced the launch of a three-year customised technical assistance package for the Pacific named the “Singapore-Pacific Resilience and Knowledge Sharing” (SPARKS) package. The SPARKS package comprises courses in climate resilience, cybersecurity and international law. These courses will support the Pacific’s capacity building efforts in priority areas under the PIF’s 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, the blueprint for charting the region’s future. The transcript of Minister Balakrishnan’s remarks and a factsheet on the SPARKS package are at Annexes A and B.

 

During his visit, Minister Balakrishnan met several leaders from the Pacific, including PIF Chair and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, French Polynesia President Moetai Brotherson, Kiribati President Taneti Maamau, New Caledonia President Louis Mapou, Tonga Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni, Palau Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Gustav Aitaro, Solomon Islands Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade Jeremiah Manele, and PIF Secretary General Henry Puna. Minister Balakrishnan had good discussions with these leaders on the Pacific’s priorities as well as how Singapore can work with them both bilaterally and multilaterally.

 

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE

11 NOVEMBER…

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Luukas Ilves, Gulsanna Mamediieva, and David Eaves, with Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov

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David: Ukraine offers a window into a collective future about how we might face the coming crises. Ukraine happens to be facing an existential crisis created by an illegal war committed by its neighbor, but all countries are facing climate change crises, financial crises, and possible future pandemics. So, a country’s responsive capacity – Sana talked about her government’s resilience – to those things is going to be core to determining trust in government. If we want democracies to survive, they have to perform well. We need digital-era governments to respond to 21st-century problems. That means having the flexibility and the capacity to be able to do that. That’s what the Estonians have and it’s what the Ukrainians are showing us: how digital fits into that capacity building. For me, a big takeaway from the convening was how much climate change is going to drive this need. If there are going to be 10 million internationally displaced people in 50 countries around the world over the next 20 years, we’re going to need some capacity to serve those people when they lose their houses and are roaming around your country. The only way a country is going to be able to do that is if it has a digital solution.

Luukas: We hope these stories are inspiring for people interested in digital public infrastructures. Many countries in the world tend to be very pessimistic about the public sector’s capacity to do these things. That becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The most important thing is, whatever your position, be demanding of your government. Because there’s no inherent law that says the government has to be bad at technology. The more positive pressure there is from the people to do better, the greater the country’s chances of success.

Sana: I’d encourage people to find energy and inspiration in democracy. Citizens should have higher expectations from the government for the services that they receive. Especially in terms of convenience and user experience. But for those people who work specifically in this sphere, it requires a lot of energy, persistence, and flexibility to overcome obstacles. What I took from the convening was that everyone, on every level, has to…

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