Foreign News
US thwarts plot to kill Sikh separatist on American soil – report

The US has raised an alleged plot to kill a Sikh separatist on American soil at the “senior-most” levels with India, the White House says.
According to the Financial Times, the target was Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US-Canada dual national. Pannun is a vocal advocate for an independent Sikh homeland and has been designated a terrorist by India.
The report comes weeks after Canada said India may have been behind the murder of another Sikh separatist.
The Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources, that US authorities thwarted a conspiracy to kill Mr Pannun and have issued a warning to India over concerns it was involved in the plot.
The White House said Indian officials “expressed surprise and concern” when approached by the US about the allegations. “They stated that activity of this nature was not in their policy,” spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement. “We understand the Indian government is further investigating this issue and will have more to say about it in the coming days.”
Ms Watson added that the US has “conveyed our expectations that anyone deemed responsible should be held accountable”.
It is unclear whether the US protest to India resulted in the operation being called off, or whether it was disrupted by US authorities, the Financial Times reported.
Mr Pannun is the general counsel for Sikhs for Justice, an organisation based in the US that supports the broader Khalistan movement, which calls for an independent homeland for Sikhs in India.
In a statement to the BBC, Mr Pannun called the “foiled attempt” on his life “transnational terrorism which is a threat to the US sovereignty”. “I will let the U.S. government respond to this threat,” he said.
The Khalistan movement was at its peak in the 1980s in the Indian state of Punjab but it has lost steam over time. Politics in modern Punjab has shifted away from the movement and it is no longer a majority position.
But supporters in the Sikh diaspora have continued to advocate for a separate state, with calls for independence intensifying in recent years.
On Wednesday, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said that the US had “shared some inputs pertaining to the nexus between organised criminals, gun runners, terrorists and others”. “India takes such inputs seriously since it impinges on our own national security interests as well,” spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a statement.
The statement made no mention of Pannun.
The Sikhs for Justice group was labelled an “unlawful association” by Indian authorities in 2019, and Pannun was listed as an “individual terrorist” the following year.
Pannun most recently angered Indian officials with a video warning Sikhs not to fly on Air India on a day earlier this month because it could be “life threatening”.
India’s National Investigation Agency filed a case against him for those remarks this week. Pannun has since said that he was referring to a boycott of the airline and not making a threat.
US officials reportedly shared details of the alleged plot to kill Pannun with some of its allies after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in September the country was investigating “credible allegations” that Indian agents may have been involved in the death of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The 45-year-old was shot and killed by two gunmen outside a Sikh temple in a Vancouver suburb on a June summer evening this year.
India has repeatedly denied any involvement in the murder. Canadian authorities are still investigating his death.
Relations between Canada and India deteriorated sharply after Mr Trudeau’s allegation, with both countries expelling envoys in a tit-for-tat diplomatic row.
Canada has not publicly shared the evidence or intelligence that led it to believe India was involved.
(BBC)
Foreign News
‘Mass casualty incident’ as car driven into Vancouver street festival

Police are investigating a “mass casualty incident” in which “several people were killed” after a car was driven into a crowd in Vancouver.
Authorities in the Canadian city said “multiple others” were injured during the incident, which occurred at approximately 20:14 local time on Saturday (03:14 GMT on Sunday) at a street festival.
Police said a 30-year-old male suspect was in custody and that they were “confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism”. It is unclear how many people have been killed.
Police said the suspect had driven into pedestrians at the annual Lapu Lapu festival, which celebrates Filipino culture, at East 43rd Avenue and Fraser, in the south of Vancouver.
Steve Rai, Vancouver Police’s interim chief, told a news conference that there had been one vehicle and one suspect involved in the incident. He said more details would be released in the morning.
The owner of a food truck selling bao buns at the festival, Yoseb Vardeh, told the BBC World Service that the attack happened right in front of his van.
“This guy, he killed some of my customers,” he said. “There was people waiting for their buns that got hit.”
Mr Vardeh added: “I stepped outside of my food truck and I just saw bodies underneath people’s food trucks, husbands crying out for their wives or their kids… It was just horrible.”
Unverified footage posted on social media showed a number of police cars, ambulances and fire engines at the scene, with injured people lying on the ground.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement on X that he was “devastated to hear about the horrific events at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver”.
He continued: “I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver. We are all mourning with you.”
He also thanked emergency responders for their “swift action”.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said he was “shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident”, adding in a post that his “thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time.”
One of Vancouver’s city councillors, Peter Fry, told the BBC that local residents were struggling to process what had happened.
“This celebration was a huge, fun, vibrant, family-orientated street party, and it was a fantastic event. To see it turn so horrible so quickly and unexpectedly has, I think, our entire city is in shock,” he said.
Lapu Lapu Day is celebrated every year in the Philippines on 27 April to commemorate Lapu-Lapu, a national hero who resisted Spanish colonisation.
The festival was officially set up in Vancouver in 2023. Its website says it “symbolises the cultural harmony and mutual respect that thrive in the province of British Columbia”.
In the wake of the attack, leaders of different political parties have also been sharing messages of condolence.
Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, called the incident a “senseless attack”, while the leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party, David Eby, said he was “shocked and heartbroken”.
New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh – who had attended the festival but was not present when the incident occurred – said he was “horrified to learn” that innocent people had been killed and injured.
“As we wait to learn more, our thoughts are with the victims and their families – and Vancouver’s Filipino community, who were coming together today to celebrate resilience,” he added.
Singh, Poilievre and Carney are all running in Canada’s federal election on Monday. Singh’s constituency of Burnaby Central lies just east of where the incident took place.
[BBC]
Foreign News
Trump questions Putin’s desire for peace after meeting Zelensky at the Vatican

Donald Trump has questioned Vladimir Putin’s willingness to end the war in Ukraine following his meeting with the country’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral.
Posting on social media after leaving Rome, Trump said he feared Putin was “tapping me along” after Moscow’s strikes on Kyiv earlier this week, adding there was “no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas”.
Earlier in the day Trump and Zelensky were seen in deep discussion in St Peter’s Basilica shortly before the funeral began.
The White House described the 15-minute meeting with Zelensky as “very productive”. The Ukrainian president said it had the “potential to become historic”.
It was Trump’s first face-to-face encounter with the Ukrainian president since February’s acrimonious Oval Office showdown.
Writing on his Truth Social account, Trump said the Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities “makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?'”.
Trump had previously said Russia and Ukraine were “very close to a deal” following three-hour talks between his envoy Steve Witkoff and the Russian president on Friday.
The Kremlin meanwhile said on Saturday that Putin had confirmed Russia’s readiness to enter into direct talks with Ukraine “without preconditions” to Witkoff.
During their last face-to-face meeting at the White House, Trump had told Zelensky “you don’t have the cards” and that he was not winning against Russia.
Trump repeated that message this week, saying the Ukrainian leader had “no cards to play”. He has previously blamed Ukraine for starting the war and has accused Zelensky multiple times of being an obstacle to peace negotiations.
But the White House struck a more positive tone about Saturday’s meeting, while Zelensky described the sit down as a “very symbolic” and one which could prove significant “if we achieve joint results”.
Two images were released of the meeting, showing the US leader in a blue suit and Ukrainian president in a black top and trousers, locked in intense conversation while sitting opposite each other.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also posted an image of the meeting on X with the caption: “No words are needed to describe the importance of this historic meeting. Two leaders working for peace in St. Peter’s Basilica.”

Another image posted by the Ukrainian delegation from inside St Peter’s showed the two men standing alongside UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, whose hand is on Zelensky’s shoulder.
The implication was that the two European leaders – who have regularly acted as intermediaries for Trump and Zelensky – had helped to bring the two together against the sombre backdrop of the funeral.
After the meeting, Trump and Zelensky walked down the steps of the basilica, where Zelensky’s arrival was met with applause from the crowds, and took their seats in the front row.
During the service, the pair sat a short distance from each other, with Macron and other heads of state in between.
In his homily, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re spoke of Pope Francis’s incessant calls for peace. “‘Build bridges, not walls’ was an exhortation he repeated many times,” said the cardinal.
Ukrainian officials had talked of a possible second meeting, but Trump’s motorcade drove away from St Peter’s immediately afterwards and his plane left Rome a short time later.
Zelensky, however, later met Macron in the garden of Villa Bonaparte, home to the French embassy to the Holy See.
He also met Sir Keir at Villa Wolkonsky, the British ambassador’s residence, as well as holding separate talks with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Macron said ending the war in Ukraine was an objective that “we share in common with President Trump” in a post on X, adding that Ukraine was ready for “an unconditional ceasefire”.
A Downing Street spokesperson said Starmer and Zelensky discussed the positive progress that had been made recently to “secure a just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” adding that the pair had agreed to “maintain momentum” and “speak again at the earliest opportunity”.
During February’s heated White House exchange, Trump accused the Ukraininan president of gambling with World War Three by not going along with ceasefire plans led by Washington.
Kyiv has been on the receiving end of growing pressure from Trump to accept territorial concessions as part of an agreement with Moscow to end the war.
These concessions would reportedly include giving up large portions of land, including the Crimean peninsula which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
Zelensky has repeatedly rejected the idea in the past. He suggested to the BBC on Friday that “a full and unconditional ceasefire opens up the possibility to discuss everything”.
[BBC]
Foreign News
Six police officers killed in Thailand plane crash

Six police officers have been killed in Thailand after their plane crashed into the sea during a test flight for parachute training, police have said.
The small plane was seen crashing into the water at around 08:00 local time (01:00 GMT) on Friday in the Cha-am district, a coastal resort area some 130km (80 miles) southwest of Bangkok.
Royal Thai Police said in a statement on Facebook that five of the officers died at the scene, with a sixth later dying in hospital.
Authorities are examining the aircraft’s black box data recorder to determine the cause of the crash.
(BBC)
-
Features6 days ago
RuGoesWild: Taking science into the wild — and into the hearts of Sri Lankans
-
News5 days ago
Orders under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruptions Act No. 9 of 2023 for concurrence of parliament
-
Features7 days ago
New species of Bronzeback snake, discovered in Sri Lanka
-
News5 days ago
Prof. Rambukwella passes away
-
Business21 hours ago
Pick My Pet wins Best Pet Boarding and Grooming Facilitator award
-
News7 days ago
Photo of Sacred tooth relic: CID launches probe
-
Opinion6 days ago
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Policy amid Geopolitical Transformations: 1990-2024 – Part IX
-
Features7 days ago
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Policy amid Geopolitical Transformations: 1990-2024 – Part VIII