Foreign News
India recalls top Canada envoy as row over Nijjar killing deepens
India says it is withdrawing its top envoy to Ottawa and other diplomats because the Canadian government is investigating them as “persons of interest” in an investigation, reigniting a diplomatic row over the killing of a Sikh separatist leader last year.
India – Canada relations have been tense since September 2023 when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada had credible evidence to link Indian agents to the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil earlier that year.
Nijjar supported a Sikh homeland in the form of an independent Khalistani State and was designated by India as a “terrorist” in July 2020.
India has repeatedly denied the allegation that its agents killed him, challenging Canada to share evidence to back its claim.
On Monday, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said it had summoned the Canadian charge d’affaires to denounce the “completely unacceptable” and “baseless targeting” of the Indian high commissioner and other diplomats and officials.
“We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security. Therefore, the Government of India has decided to withdraw the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials,” it said in a statement.
In its earlier statement, the ministry said India “strongly rejects these preposterous imputations and ascribes them to the political agenda of the Trudeau Government” and reiterated Canada has not provided any proof “despite many requests from our side”.
“This latest step follows interactions that have again witnessed assertions without any facts. This leaves little doubt that on the pretext of an investigation, there is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains,” the statement added.
India now reserves the right to take further steps in response to these latest efforts of the Canadian Government to concoct allegations against Indian diplomats,” said the statement.
The Indian government also alleged the Trudeau government “has consciously provided space to violent extremists and terrorists to harass, threaten and intimidate Indian diplomats and community leaders in Canada”.
Canada pulled out more than 40 diplomats from India in October 2023 after New Delhi asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence.
In June this year a committee of Canadian parlimentrians named Indial and China as the main foreign threats to its democratic institutions, based on input from intelligence agencies.
India’s envoy in Ottawa, Sanjay Kumar Verma, called the report politically motivated and influenced by Sikh separatist campaigners.
The assassination plots against Sikh separatist leaders in Canada and the US have tested their relationship with India, as the Western nations hope to forge deeper ties with New Delhi to counter China’s rising global influence.
(Aljazeera)
The United States-Israeli war on Iran is estimated to have cost Washington $3.7bn so far in its first 100 hours alone, or nearly $900m a day, driven largely by the huge expenditure of munitions, according to new research.
An analysis by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) underlined the colossal cost of the war, which entered its seventh day on Friday, as the US attacks Iran with stealth bombers and advanced weapons systems.
Researchers Mark Cancian and Chris Park said only a small amount of the estimated $3.7bn cost of the war in the first 100 hours – or $891.4m each day – was already budgeted for, while most of the costs – $3.5bn – were not.
That meant the Pentagon would likely need to request more funding soon to cover the unbudgeted costs, they said, which was likely to prove a political challenge for the Trump administration and provide “a focal point for opposition to the war,” they said.
Domestic cost-of-living concerns, inflation, and now a knock-on effect of rising gas prices due to the conflict are likely to further diminish support among US citizens for the war. It is also dividing Trump’s “America First” base, which he had promised in his presidential campaigns to not enter “foreign wars”.
Noting that the US Department of Defense had released limited specifics on its operations, the researchers said their analysis drew on Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates of the operations and support costs for each unit, adjusting for inflation and unit size, and adding 10 percent for costs of “a higher operational tempo”.
Their analysis said the US had expended more than 2,000 munitions of various types in the first 100 hours of the war, and estimated it would cost $3.1bn to replenish the munitions inventory on a like-for-like basis, with the costs increasing by $758.1m a day.
(Aljazeera)
Britney Spears has been arrested in California under suspicion of driving under the influence.
The singer was detained by California Highway Patrol at around 21:30 local time (05:30 GMT) on Wednesday. A representative for her told the BBC: “This was an unfortunate incident that is completely inexcusable.”
She was released in the early hours of Thursday morning and is due to appear at Ventura County Superior Court on 4 May.
The reason for the singer’s arrest was confirmed to CBS, the BBC’s US partner, by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office in southern California.
Spears’ representative told the BBC: “Britney is going to take the right steps and comply with the law and hopefully this can be the first step in long overdue change that needs to occur in Britney’s life.
“Hopefully, she can get the help and support she needs during this difficult time.
“Her boys are going to be spending time with her. Her loved ones are going to come up with an overdue needed plan to set her up for success for well being.”
The pop star appeared to have deleted her Instagram account on Thursday as news of her arrest broke.
Spears is one of the most successful pop stars ever, with hits such as Baby One More Time, Toxic, Everytime, Gimme More, Womanizer, and Stronger.
The singer said in January 2024 that she would “never return to the music industry”. Her last song was a duet with Elton John in 2022.
However, in a since-deleted social media post from earlier this year, Spears indicated that, although she would not perform in the US again, she was hoping to play live in the UK and Australia in the near future.
For 13 years until 2021, Spears was in a conservatorship – a legal guardianship that saw her finances and personal life controlled by her father.
The singer published her memoir in 2023 titled The Woman in Me, which saw her reflect on her career and detail her struggles living under the conservatorship.
Her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, released his own memoir, You Thought You Knew, at the end of 2025.
[BBC]
“It’s so good to be home.”
The statement sums up how almost 400 people felt after their flight from Dubai arrived in Dublin on Wednesday night.
The Emirates flight was the first in a number of days after the United States-Israeli attacks on Iran led to the closure of nearly all airspace in the Middle East.
One of the passengers, Norita Geary, said: “Everyone clapped when the plane landed and we all cheered.”
“It was unreal. I mean you see these things on television, you see them in movies but you just don’t think you’ll end up there yourself,” she added.
A second flight directly to Dublin from Dubai is scheduled for Thursday, with a further 400 passengers on it.
Rushali Lakhani said she is feeling “very happy” to be back [BBC]
Rushali Lakhani said she is “very happy” and “very grateful” to be back.
“It was quite a stressful time but grateful and thanking our lucky stars really.”
She said was “it was quite nerve wracking, we couldn’t really sleep much”.
“A lot of sleepless nights, a lot of bangs. There were no airplanes flying so whenever we heard some noises we knew that it wasn’t good news.”
So far 25,000 Irish citizens in the region have registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs – 2,000 of them have said they want to leave.
The Irish government has chartered a flight for Irish citizens from Muscat in Oman on Friday.
The Irish Embassy in the UAE thanked all those had registered but warned that registration is not an expression of interest in a flight.
Meanwhile, a flight chartered by the UK government which had been due to bring back some Britons stranded in the Middle East on Wednesday night did not take off as scheduled..
British citizens stuck in the Middle East have told the BBC there has been a lack of information about available routes to travel home.
The Foreign Office said two more chartered flights would depart by the end of the week.
Foreign Office officials said 138,000 British nationals in the Gulf had registered their presence, of whom 112,000 were in the UAE.
[BBC]
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Tiny possum and glider thought extinct for 6,000 years found in remote West Papua
Maldives Coast Guard Ship Huravee departs island
Cost to US for war on Iran is $3.7bn in first 100 hours, says think tank
More than 120 killed in Israel’s Lebanon attacks as Beirut, south, east hit
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