Category Archives: India

Trudeau: India made ‘horrific mistake’ in violating Canadian sovereignty

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Canada prime minister testifies at public inquiry amid worsening diplomatic row over murder of Sikh separatist

Justin Trudeau has accused India of making a “horrific mistake” in violating Canadian sovereignty, amid an escalating diplomatic row over the murder of a Sikh separatist in British Columbia and allegations of a broader campaign of threats and violence against Indian exiles.

Testifying at a public inquiry into foreign interference on Wednesday, the Canadian prime minister accused Delhi of rebuffing efforts to cooperate and causing the increasingly bitter public feud that resulted in the mutual expulsion of senior diplomats on Monday.

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UK says India’s cooperation with Canada’s legal process is ‘right next step’

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Growing diplomatic row as police say they have evidence of Delhi’s links to murder of Sikh leader in Canada

Britain joined its Five Eyes intelligence partners on Wednesday in saying India’s cooperation with Canada’s legal process was “the right next step” in the deepening diplomatic row between the two countries, adding that it had full confidence in Canada’s judicial system.

Canadian police said on Monday they had credible evidence that Indian agents including India’s high commissioner to Canada were linked to the murder of the Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil in June 2023 and accused Delhi of a broader effort to target Indian dissidents in Canada.

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Air India flight escorted by Singapore fighter jets after latest hoax bomb threat

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The Air India flight landed at Changi Airport after being escorted by air force F-15SG jets, in what was the third threat to the national carrier in recent days

Singapore’s air force mobilised two fighter jets late on Tuesday in response to a bomb threat on an Air India Express flight bound for the city-state, its defence minister said.

Two Singapore air force F-15SG jets scrambled and escorted Air India flight AXB684 away from populated areas after the airline received an email that there was a bomb on board its plane, Ng Eng Hen said in a Facebook post.

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Air India plane makes emergency landing in Canada after bomb threat

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Abrupt landing comes a day after flight from Mumbai to New York was diverted to Delhi after a false bomb threat

An Air India plane bound for Chicago has made an abrupt landing in the Arctic city of Iqaluit, after a false bomb threat. The emergency stop before sunrise on Tuesday, came less than a day after Canada and India expelled senior diplomats in a widening feud between the two countries.

The flight’s 211 crew and passengers disembarked at the Iqaluit airport some 300km (186 miles) north of the Arctic circle, the Royal Canadian Mounted police said in a news release. According to local media in Iqaluit, an “unspecified bomb threat from a person in India to Air India” was relayed to the flight’s captain.

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Canadian police accuse India of working with criminal network to kill dissidents

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Modi government agents alleged to have collaborated with syndicate run by mob boss Lawrence Bishnoi

Canadian police have accused the Indian government of working with a criminal network run by one of India’s most notorious gangsters, Lawrence Bishnoi, to carry out targeted killings of dissidents in Canada.

A diplomatic row broke out between India and Canada on Monday after Canadian police accused Indian diplomats of “criminal” activities in the country, including extortion, intimidation, coercion and harassment, and involvement in targeted killings of Canadian citizens.

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Canadian police accuse Indian diplomats of ‘criminal’ activities including homicides

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Accusations made hours after both countries expel senior diplomats in escalating row over killing of Sikh activist

Canadian police accused Indian diplomats and consular staff of “clandestine” and “criminal” activities in the country on Monday night, hours after senior diplomats were expelled from both countries in an escalating geopolitical row.

Speaking to reporters at a hastily organised press conference, the head of the Royal Canadian Mounted police (RCMP) said the force had evidence of “agents” acting on behalf of the Indian government engaging in extortion, intimidation, coercion and harassment.

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Muslims in India face discrimination after restaurants forced to display workers’ names

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Muslim business owners in two states fear policy will lead to targeted attacks or economic boycotts

Muslims in India say they have been fired from their jobs and face the closure of their businesses after two states brought in a “discriminatory” policy making it mandatory for restaurants to publicly display the names of all their employees.

The policy was first introduced by Yogi Adityanath, the hardline Hindu monk who is the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Last month the state of Himachal Pradesh, governed by the opposition Congress party, announced it would also make it compulsory for all names of workers and employees to be put on display.

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Indian tycoon Ratan Tata dies at age 86

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Tata, described as ‘a truly uncommon leader’, credited with transforming Tata Group into a global conglomerate

The Indian business tycoon and former Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata has died, aged 86.

Tata, who had headed India’s largest conglomerate for over 20 years, had been receiving intensive care at Mumbai hospital, according to Reuters.

Additional reporting by Reuters

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Opposition Congress party wins power in Indian-administered Kashmir

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Narendra Modi’s BJP loses first election since stripping the region of its autonomy and statehood

The Indian prime minister’s hopes of his party gaining power in Kashmir were dashed on Tuesday as it emerged that his BJP had lost the first election held since the national government stripped the region of its autonomy and statehood.

The elections instead delivered a resounding victory to India’s main opposition party, Congress, and its regional partner, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC), which had come together in a alliance to defeat Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), which also rules at the national level.

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Indian police charge man over doctor’s rape and murder in Kolkata hospital

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Sanjay Roy charged with crime that prompted nationwide anger and protests over violence against women

A man has been charged in the high-profile case of a doctor’s rape and murder in a Kolkata hospital, a crime that prompted widespread anger and protests over the threat of sexual violence faced by women in India.

The suspect, Sanjay Roy, was arrested the day after the young doctor’s bloodied body was discovered on 9 August in a room at RG Kar hospital, where she had gone to rest after a 36-hour shift.

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Mountaineers who were stranded in Himalayas describe loss of their gear

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British climber Fay Manners, who was stuck for three days, says: ‘There was a big, big, long sense of silence between us’

A British mountaineer and her American companion who were stranded in the Himalayas for three days without food have described the long silence between them after the bulk of their equipment plunged into a ravine.

Fay Manners, 37, and Michelle Dvorak, 31, had been climbing the Chaukhamba mountain in northern India, when they issued an SOS message on Thursday, with nothing further being heard from them.

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‘Life is pretty brutal’: concerns in India over high-pressure corporate jobs

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The death of a young chartered accountant has highlighted a work culture of overworked employees and bullying bosses

For the average Indian, the working week is now longer than ever – totalling almost 47 hours.

According to recent labour data, India now has one of the most overworked labour forces in the world, enduring longer hours than in China, Singapore and even Japan, a country renowned for its relentless work culture. On average, Indians work 13 hours longer every week than an employee in Germany.

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Indian police investigate ticket resales for Coldplay Mumbai gigs

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After tickets quickly sold out, some began to reappear on unauthorised third-party websites for more than £750

Indian police have opened an investigation after touts bought up tickets for Coldplay’s upcoming Mumbai shows and put them back on sale for more than £750 each.

India is often missed off global tours by popular western artists and news that Coldplay would be coming to India for the first time in January to perform two nights of their world tour in Mumbai had been greeted with wild excitement by music fans.

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Weather tracker: Flooding in Mexico and India as Europe prepares for cold spell

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Hurricane John is moving along Mexico’s north-east coast, while India experiences monsoon levels of rainfall

On Monday, Hurricane John hit the southern Pacific coast of Mexico, having intensified from a tropical storm to a category 3 hurricane in less than 24 hours.

John made landfall with sustained winds of 120mph, causing destructive storm surges. However, it quickly weakened back to a tropical storm, with sustained winds falling to 50mph by Tuesday morning. John moved relatively slowly, leading to more than 400mm of rainfall in a few days. This rain brought widespread flooding, leading to mudslides in which two people are reported to have died.

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Dozens of children drown in India during Hindu festival

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At least 46 people, most of them children, drowned in the eastern state of Bihar while bathing in rivers swollen by recent floods in observance of Jivitputrika Vrat.

At least 46 people have drowned, most of them children, while bathing in rivers and ponds swollen by recent floods, during the observance of a Hindu religious festival celebrated by millions in India.

The dead include 37 children and seven women who drowned in the eastern state of Bihar in scattered incidents across 15 districts, authorities said on Thursday.

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China ‘testing us’ across the region, Biden tells leaders at Quad summit

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US president is recorded on hot mic singling out Beijing, saying it ‘continues to behave aggressively’ in areas including the South China Sea

Joe Biden has been recorded on a hot mic telling the leaders of Australia, India and Japan that an aggressive China is “testing us”, in remarks at a Quad summit that risked undercutting the group’s declaration that carefully avoided referring to Beijing by name.

The comments came as Biden opened a farewell summit in his home town of Wilmington, Delaware, with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida and Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese.

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British activist denied bail after years in Indian jail without trial

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Jagtar Singh Johal is being arbitrarily detained and targeted for his human rights activism, say campaigners

Delhi’s high court has denied bail to the British activist Jagtar Singh Johal, who has been imprisoned in India for nearly seven years, in seven cases brought against him by the country’s National Investigations Agency.

The ruling has shocked family and supporters who claim it should jolt the British government into recognising that Johal is not receiving justice at the hands of the Indian legal system.

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Indian opposition leader Arvind Kejriwal released on bail

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Delhi chief minister had been in jail since being arrested in March in corruption case he says is politically motivated

One of India’s most prominent opposition leaders has been granted bail after spending almost six months in jail for a corruption case he alleged was politically motivated.

On Friday, India’s supreme court ruled that, Arvind Kejriwal, who is the chief minister of Delhi, should be immediately released from jail in Delhi, where he has been held since his arrest in March.

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Weather tracker: Heat to ease in central and eastern Europe

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Cooler temperatures expected to replace record highs in Estonia, while China braces for Super Typhoon Yagi

Since the start of September, swaths of central and eastern Europe have experienced temperatures well above average, with some places up to 10C (50F) above the seasonal norm.

A date temperature record was set in Estonia on Wednesday, where it hit 29.8C in Haapsalu. The September peak in the country is 30.3C, reached on 1 September 1992.

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Bangladeshis taking refuge in emergency shelters after heavy flooding

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Nearly 300,000 people forced to flee after monsoon rains, which have killed 42 people in India and Bangladesh

Nearly 300,000 Bangladeshis are taking refuge in emergency shelters from floods that inundated vast areas of the country, disaster officials said.

The floods were triggered by heavy monsoon rains and have killed at least 42 people in Bangladesh and India since the start of the week, many in landslides.

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