Category Archives: India

India resumes visa services in Canada after row over killing of Sikh separatist

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Tensions between the two countries peaked after Hardeep Singh Nijjar was murdered in Canada earlier this year

India’s embassy in Ottawa has announced that it will reopen visa services for Canadians, a move that could reduce tensions in a bitter dispute over the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil.

Relations between India and Canada plunged after Justin Trudeau, the prime minister, last month publicly linked Indian intelligence to the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, allegations New Delhi called “absurd”.

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Indian schoolboy invents affordable smart spoon for trembling hands

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A 17-year-old with a passion for robotics has produced a cheaper utensil that uses sensors to cancel out hand tremors

The motivation for his invention came to Aarrav Anil last year when he saw his uncle Arjun, who has Parkinson’s disease, struggle to eat. Some food spilled out of his mouth, the rest splattered on his clothes. Arjun attempted to keep his dignity but the frustration forced the retired civil servant, who is in his 70s, to give up and call his helper to feed him.

The sight of his uncle’s tremors shaking the spoon so violently inspired Aarrav, 17, from Bengaluru, south India, to turn to robotics. He locked himself in his room with microcontrollers, sensors, motors, and a 3D printer. What emerged was a prototype of a smart spoon that is now undergoing trials at the RV College of Physiotherapy in Bengaluru.

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‘The fight will continue’ for India’s LGBTQ+ campaigners for equal marriage

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Homosexuality was decriminalised in 2018 but the supreme court has declined to change marriage laws

Utkarsh Saxena had been secretly planning the proposal for weeks. He had secretly measured his boyfriend’s finger while he was sleeping and bought a pair of matching steel rings from a Delhi market. They had been together for 15 years, having fallen in love on the university debating team, and Saxena felt optimistic that this would be an auspicious moment to ask the love of his life to marry him – the same day that India’s supreme court ruled on whether same-sex couples would be allowed to get married.

Yet when the verdict came out on Tuesday, Saxena’s heart broke. Even as India’s chief justice, DY Chandrachud, spoke of India’s long history of LGBTQ+ people and their right to equality, he ruled that changing marriage laws was beyond the scope of the court and that marriage was not a fundamental right. It was the job of parliament, not judges, to make such decisions, Chandrachud said.

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Canada withdraws 41 diplomats from India embassy amid murder dispute

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Country forced to reduce diplomatic presence amid tensions over Sikh separatist killing and says it will not take retaliatory steps

Canada has withdrawn 41 diplomats from India amid a dispute over the murder of a Sikh separatist, announced foreign minister Melanie Joly, adding that Ottawa would not take retaliatory steps.

New Delhi last month asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence after prime minister Justin Trudeau said there was credible evidence of a potential link between Indian agents and the murder in June of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, who was shot outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia.

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India’s supreme court declines to legally recognise same-sex marriage

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Judges say decision should be made by parliament but stress that such unions should not face discrimination

India’s top court has declined to grant legal recognition to same-sex marriages, saying it is beyond its scope and should be decided by parliament, but emphasising that queer relationships should not face discrimination by the state.

The marriage ruling will be a disappointment for LGBTQ+ people in India, who had hoped the supreme court judges would recognise their constitutional right to marriage equality.

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Author Arundhati Roy may face prosecution in India over 2010 speech

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Top official sanctions case against Booker prize-winning novelist for comments about Kashmir

The Booker prize-winning Indian novelist Arundhati Roy could be prosecuted for a 2010 speech about Kashmir after a top official signed off on the move, according to reports in India.

Roy, 61, is one of India’s most famous living authors but her writing and activism, including her criticism of the prime minister Narendra Modi’s government, have made her a polarising figure in the country.

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Italian police investigate Indian tycoon over fatal supercar collision

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Vikas Oberoi named as suspect after Swiss couple die in collision between Lamborghini and Ferrari

An Indian billionaire is under investigation in Italy after his Lamborghini collided with a Ferrari during a supercar tour in Sardinia, leaving two people dead.

Vikas Oberoi was driving the car accompanied by his wife, Gayatri Joshi, a model and actor, when the collision occurred on Monday in southern Sardinia, an official from the carabinieri told Agence France-Presse.

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India floods: 14 killed and 102 missing after lake overflows and highways washed away

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Catastrophic overflow of Lhonak Lake in state of Sikkim caused a dam to partially collapse and submerged army bases

At least 14 people have been killed and 102 are still missing in the north-east Indian state of Sikkim after heavy rain caused a glacial lake to burst its banks, triggering flash floods down a mountain valley.

The disaster, which took place on Wednesday, has affected more than 22,000 people, according to the authorities, and 22 army personnel are among the missing. It has also left over 3,000 tourists stranded after the floods washed away the main highways and bridges.

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India orders Canada to remove 41 diplomats from Delhi embassy

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Relations between countries continue to fracture over alleged assassination of Sikh separatist in British Columbia

India has told Canada it must remove 41 diplomats from its embassy in Delhi amid a continuing diplomatic spat over Canadian accusations that India may have been involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist leader.

According to officials who spoke to the Financial Times, the Indian foreign ministry has given Canada a week to repatriate two-thirds of its diplomats stationed in India, reducing the number to 21. India’s ministry of external affairs declined to comment. An official familiar with the matter confirmed the report to the Associated Press.

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Delhi police search journalists’ homes in latest raids on media

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Search also carried out on office of news website under investigation for allegedly receiving funds from China

Police have carried out early morning raids on a news portal office and the homes of almost 50 journalists, activists and comedians across India under anti-terrorism laws, deepening concerns over a crackdown on freedom of expression in the country.

Delhi police carried out the searches on numerous locations on Tuesday morning. Several journalists were detained, with their phones and laptops confiscated, and some were taken in for questioning. Delhi police confirmed that two journalists had been arrested in the case.

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Sikh separatists gather in London to protest after activists’ deaths

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Demonstrators stage protest outside Indian high commission questioning UK government’s response to killings

Supporters of the Sikh separatist Khalistan movement gathered outside the Indian high commission in central London to call for the UK government to stand alongside Canada after the killing of a prominent Sikh leader.

Monday’s protest on Aldwych came two weeks after Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said his government was looking at “credible allegations potentially linking” India with the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in British Columbia. Nijjar, who was 45, was killed on 18 June in a hail of gunfire outside his place of worship.

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Pro-China candidate Mohamed Muizzu wins Maldives presidency, upending relationship with India

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Runoff vote was widely seen as a referendum on whether to pursue closer ties with China or India, both vying for influence in the island nation

Pro-China candidate Mohamed Muizzu won Saturday’s presidential election in the Maldives, a result set to once again upend the archipelago’s relationship with traditional partner India.

Muizzu helms a party that presided over an influx of Chinese loans when it last held power in the atoll nation, better known for its luxury beach resorts and celebrity tourists.

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Maldives vote: runoff for presidency begins in shadow of India-China tussle for influence

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Pro-Delhi incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih faces uphill battle against Beijing-leaning frontrunner Mohamed Muizzu as contest remains on knife’s edge

The Maldives started voting on Saturday to decide their next president, in an elections widely seen as a referendum on whether to hitch their fortunes to China or India, both vying for influence in the island nation.

Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, 61, faces an uphill battle to secure a second mandate after a term that saw renewed ties with New Delhi, the archipelago’s traditional benefactor.

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Maldives election run-off pitched as fork in the road between India and China

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Pro-China presidential candidate Mohamed Muizzu accuses incumbent Mohamed Solih of allowing traditional benefactor India too much influence

As the archipelago of the Maldives goes to an election run-off on Saturday, it will not just be two presidential candidates on the ballot.

This election is being pitched as a larger geopolitical battle between India and China, which over the past decade have been engaged in a tug-of-war to gain influence over the Maldives.

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FBI warned prominent US Sikhs of threats after murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada

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Revelation comes days after prime minister Justin Trudeau blamed the assassination of the Sikh activist on the Indian government

The FBI warned at least three Americans active in the Sikh community that their lives were in danger in the immediate aftermath of the murder of a Sikh activist in Canada last June.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has blamed the apparent assassination on the Indian government, as assessment that has reportedly been backed by Canadian and US intelligence sources and has created a rupture in Ottawa’s relationship with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s government.

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India-Canada row: Blinken calls on Delhi to cooperate in push for ‘accountability’ over killing

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Secretary of state says US takes ‘very, very seriously’ incidents of transnational repression amid dispute over killing of Sikh separatist in British Columbia

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has called on India to cooperate with Canada and ensure “accountability” over the killing of a Sikh separatist, after Ottawa accused Delhi of involvement.

Blinken said the United States has been in touch with both India, with which it has warming ties, and Canada, a close ally, after the two countries engaged in tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.

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Rhino numbers rebound as global figures reveal a win for conservation

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Tally rises to 27,000 but is still a far cry from former half a million, and Javan and Sumatran rhino remain critically endangered

Global rhinoceros numbers have increased to 27,000 despite populations being ravaged by poaching and habitat loss, new figures show, with some species rebounding for the first time in a decade.

Rhinos numbered about 500,000 across Africa and Asia in the 20th century but their populations have been devastated. Last year, they began showing signs of recovery in some areas, although two species – the Javan and Sumatran – remain close to disappearing.

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India suspends visa services for Canadians in further decline in relations

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Announcement of ‘security threats’ follows Justin Trudeau’s claims India was involved in Sikh activist’s killing

Relations between India and Canada have further deteriorated after Delhi announced it was suspending visa services for Canadians due to “security threats” faced by its embassy and consulates in Canada.

BLS International, which runs the Indian visa offices in Canada, put a notice on its website stating that all visa services for Canadians were suspended until further notice, citing “operational reasons”.

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How should UK, US and Australia respond to Canada-India row?

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Justin Trudeau’s accusation that India may be behind Sikh separatist killing puts western leaders in awkward position

Canada’s accusation on Monday that India may have been behind the car park murder of the Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Najjar in June – which New Delhi rejects outright – comes at an uncomfortable and unwelcome time for Britain, the US and Australia.

London, Washington and Canberra have all been prioritising closer ties with New Delhi, seeing it not just as a strategic bulwark against the fast-rising China, but also as a partner in the economic isolation of Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.

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India urges its citizens to exercise ‘extreme caution’ in Canada

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India’s foreign ministry issues warning after rejecting Trudeau’s allegations government played role in murder of Sikh activist

The diplomatic row between India and Canada over the murder of a Sikh activist has continued to escalate as New Delhi warned its nationals of “growing anti-India activities and politically condoned hate crimes” in Canada.

Justin Trudeau alleged on Monday that there were “credible allegations” that the Indian government played a role in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was connected to a Sikh separatist movement, in British Columbia in June.

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