Foreign News
US charges Indian national in Sikh separatist murder plot
The United States has charged a former Indian intelligence officer for allegedly directing a foiled plot to assassinate an American citizen who advocates for Khalistan – an independent Sikh state carved out of India.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said on Thursday that it had registered “murder-for-hire and money laundering charges” against Vikash Yadav for trying to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
The indictment of Yadav, for the first time, implicates the Indian government directly in the attempted assassination of a dissident.
The Indian government has said that it was co-operating with the US’ ongoing investigation. It has not responded to the specific charges against Yadav yet.
Earlier this year, Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national also charged in the case, was extradited to the US from a prison in Prague.
Washington has accused Indian agents of involvement in an assassination attempt on Pannun, a dual US-Canadian citizen. India has labeled Pannun a terrorist, though he denies the allegation, claiming to be an activist advocating for Khalistan.
On Thursday, India’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, stated that the individual referred to as “CC-1” in the US Justice Department’s indictment is no longer employed by the Indian government. However, he did not provide a specific name, leaving it unclear whether he was referring to Yadav, who is widely speculated to be the same person.
According to the indictment, Yadav was the mastermind behind the plot to murder Pannun and he recruited Gupta in May 2023 to orchestrate the assassination in exchange for getting a case against him in India dismissed.
“In or about June 2023, in furtherance of the assassination plot, Yadav provided Gupta with personal information about the victim, including the victim’s home address in New York City, phone numbers associated with the victim, and details about the victim’s day-to-day conduct,” the indictment states.
Yadav’s indictment comes days after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alledged that Indian agents were involved in the killing of Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, setting off a new row that led to both countries expelling diplomats.
India has rejected the allegations as “preposterous”, accusing Trudeau of pandering to Canada’s large Sikh community for political gain.
The indictment describes Yadav as a “citizen and resident of India”. He has also been referred to as Vikas and Amanat.
It states that he was part of the Government of India’s cabinet secretariat, under which the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) – the country’s top intelligence agency – operates. RAW falls under the authority of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
The indictment further states that Yadav had described his position as “Senior Field Officer” with responsibilities in “security management” and “intelligence”.
It adds that he has also served in India’s paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and had received training in “battle craft and weapons”.
The US State Department has said that it was satisfied with India’s co-operation in the investigation of the alleged murder plot.
Meanwhile, India’s relationship with Canada continues to deteriorate with both Delhi and Ottawa firing a salvo of accusations against each other.
Mr Jaiswal said on Thursday that India had repeatedly asked Canada to extradite individuals believed to be part of jailed Indian gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s group but had received no response.
The Canadian police have alleged that agents of the Indian government were using members of Bishnoi’s gang to carry out “homicides, extortion and violent acts” and target supporters of the pro-Khalistan movement. India has denied the allegation saying that Canada has not provided any evidence regarding them.
India’s accusations came in response to Mr Trudeau’s claims that India had made a “massive mistake” if it was behind the death of a Sikh separatist leader on Canadian soil.
[BBC]
Two people have died and several are feared buried after landslides in New Zealand’s North Island.
The deaths were reported at Welcome Bay, while rescue workers are still searching through rubble at a different site in a popular campground on Mount Maunganui.
There are no “signs of life”, authorities said, adding that they have a “rough idea” of how many people are missing but are waiting for an exact figure. They provided no other details except that the group includes “at least one young girl”.
The landslides were triggered by heavy rains over the last few days, which led to flooding and power outages across the North Island. One minister said the east coast resembled “a war zone”.
New Zealand is “heavy with grief” after the “profound tragedy” caused by recent weather, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on X.
Footage from the campsite on Mount Maunganui, an extinct volcano, shows a huge slip near the base of the volcanic dome, as rescuers and sniffer dogs comb through crushed caravans and flattened tents.
Authorities said that the search would continue through the night. “This is a complex and high-risk environment, and our teams are working to achieve the best possible outcome while keeping everyone safe,” said Megan Stiffler, the deputy national commander for the Urban Search and Rescue team,
The extinct volcano is a sacred Māori site and one of the most popular campgrounds in New Zealand, with a local holiday website describing it as a “slice of paradise”. But it has been repeatedly hit by landslides in recent years.
“I heard this huge tree crack and all this dirt come off, and then I looked behind me and there’s this huge landslide coming down,” Australian tourist Sonny Worrall told local broadcaster TVNZ.
“I’m still shaking from it now… I turned around and had to jump out of my seat and just run,”he added. He saw it happen while swimming in a hot pool.
Hiker Mark Tangney told the New Zealand Herald he heard people screaming from under the rubble. “So I just parked up and ran to help… We could hear people screaming: ‘Help us, help us, get us out of here’,” he said.
Those calls persisted for about half an hour and then went silent, Tangney said.
A surf club in another part of Mount Maunganui has been evacuated following fears of more landslides.
A state of emergency has been declared in the Bay of Plenty where Mount Maunganui sits, and various parts of the North Island, including Northland, Coromandel, Tairāwhiti and Hauraki.
Several areas reported their wettest days on record on Thursday. Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty, for example, received three months worth of rain within a day, according to local media.
Some 8,000 people were without power as of Thursday morning, Radio New Zealand (RNZ) reported.
The wife of a man who was swept away in the Mahurangi River is holding out hope that he will survive.
“I know his personality is strong, wise,” she told RNZ, adding that he was a fisherman back home in Kiribati and knew how to swim and dive.
The man, 47, was driving to work with their nephew when the car they were in fell into the river.
He had pushed the nephew towards a branch so the nephew could hoist himself onto land; but the older man did not manage get back up himself, according to the report.
“It’s been a very big event for us as a country, really hitting almost our entire eastern seaboard of the North Island,” said Minister for Emergency Management Mark Mitchell.
“The good news is that everyone responded really quickly, and there was time to get prepared. That helps to mitigate and create a very strong response,” he told RNZ.
December to February are typically the sunnier months in New Zealand but in recent years heavy rains and storms have become more frequent.
In February 2023, parts of the island were devastated by Cyclone Gabrielle, which is to date the costliest cyclone to hit the Southern Hemisphere, with damage amounting to NZ$13.5bn ($7.9bn; £5.9bn).
This week’s flooding has added to the toll for the local communities that are still rebuilding.
[BBC]
Usha Vance, the wife of Vice-President JD Vance, has announced she is pregnant with her fourth child.
In a post on X, the second lady said she is looking forward to welcoming a boy in late July.
“Usha and the baby are doing well,” a statement posted on Tuesday to the second lady’s social media account read.
Vance and his wife, Usha, 40, have three young children: Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel.
Usha Vance (née Chilukuri) was born and raised in the working-class suburbs of San Diego, California, to a mechanical engineer father and a molecular biologist mother who had moved to the US from Andhra Pradesh, India.
She met JD Vance as a student at Yale Law School in 2010, when they joined a discussion group on “social decline in white America”.
Before becoming second lady, Usha Vance had a legal career, including a job as a corporate litigator at firm Munger, Tolles & Olson in San Francisco. She also worked for conservative judges, Chief Justice John Roberts on the Supreme Court and appeals court judge Brett Kavanaugh, before he was appointed by Trump to the Supreme Court.
Usha Vance is the first to have a baby as second lady, though other first ladies have had children while their husbands were in office.
First lady Frances Cleveland, wife of President Grover Cleveland, gave birth to daughter Esther in the White House in 1893, followed by a second child, Marion, who was born outside the White House.
JD Vance has been one of the most vocal members of the Trump administration in calling for higher birth rates in the US.
“Let me say very simply: I want more babies in the United States of America,” he said in 2025.
(BBC)
Italian fashion designer Valentino Garavani, known as Valentino, has died at the age of 93.
One of the giants of 20th Century fashion, Valentino’s creations were worn by celebrities and well-known figures including Elizabeth Taylor, Nancy Reagan, Sharon Stone, Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow.
He co-founded the Valentino fashion house in 1960 and ranked alongside Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld at the top of the profession.
In a statement posted on Instagram, the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation said: “He passed away peacefully in his Roman home, surrounded by the love of his family.”
The foundation said Valentino will be lying in state at Rome’s Piazza Mignanelli between 21 and 22 January.
Valentino’s funeral service will be held the following day at the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels and Martyrs, the foundation said.
Born in Lombardy in May 1932, Valentino was known for his collections that displayed luxury, wealth and opulence.
He moved to Paris to study at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne when he was just 17, and went on to work with designers Jacques Fath, Balenciaga, Jean Dessès and Guy Laroche.
His adoption of his signature colour “Valentino red”, inspired by a trip to Spain, helped elevate the brand to global fame with the debut of the iconic fiesta dress.
It became so meaningful for the house that for Valentino’s last collection in 2008 all the models wore red dresses for the finale.
Valentino designed the wedding dress of Princess Madeleine of Sweden when she married British-American financier Christopher O’Neill in June 2013.
In December 2023, he was honoured with the outstanding achievement award at the British Fashion Awards which were held at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
(BBC)
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