World

A security personnel patrols outside the Canadian High-Commision in New Delhi, India September 19, 2023. — ReutersCanada-India relations hit rock bottom after Nijjar assassination.HC expresses gratitude for "service" of its local staff in India.PM Trudeau alleged India was behind Nijjar’s assassination.LONDON: Ties between Canada and India have deteriorated further as the former has dismissed dozens of Indian staffers from service who were working at its diplomatic missions in India over the Indian regime’s plan to assassinate pro-Khalistani Sikhs on Canadian soil.Relations between Canada and India started deteriorating last year when tens of thousands of Canadian Sikhs voted for Khalistan Referendum in several Canadian cities on the call of Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), led by Gurpatwant S...

Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany tried to strike a delicate balance on a trip to China this week, promoting business ties with his country’s biggest trading partner while criticizing its surge of exports to Europe and its support for Russia.Mr. Scholz met with China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Tuesday, the culmination of a three-day visit with a delegation of German officials and business leaders. He was also expected to meet with Premier Li Qiang, as the two countries navigate relations strained by Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s rivalry with the United States, Germany’s most important ally.Throughout his trip, Mr. Scholz promoted the interests of German companies that are finding it increasingly hard to compete in China. And he conveyed...

NEW DELHI (AP) — Raj Sud, 94, has voted in almost every election held in independent India, bearing witness to the eventful journey of a diverse, and now the world’s most populous, democracy over the last 76 years.Nearly 970 million people are eligible to vote in India’s 6-week national election starting Friday, and the elderly homemaker has a clear favorite in the race.Most polls have predicted a victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party for a third straight five-year term.“I like Modi very much. Modi is working honestly. And he is doing very good work and wants to make the whole country absolutely beautiful,” said Sud.Modi is considered a champion of the country’s Hindu majority and has overseen rapid economic growth during his last two te...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia and Ukraine on Monday traded blame before the United Nations Security Council for the attacks on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said have put the world "dangerously close to a nuclear accident."Without attributing blame, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said his agency has been able to confirm three attacks against the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant since April 7.UKRAINE DENIES RUSSIAN CLAIM OF DRONE STRIKES ON EUROPE'S LARGEST NUCLEAR PLANT"These reckless attacks must cease immediately," he told the Security Council. "Though, fortunately, they have not led to a radiological incident this time, they significantly increase the risk … where nuclear safety is already compromised." The ...

Is Chris Sununu supporting an 'insurrectionist'? — Reuters/FilesNew Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu has been criticising former United States president Donald Trump for causing GOP doom and facing numerous investigations.In a June 2023 column, Sununu, 49, criticised Trump, 77, for promoting the conspiracy theory that he won the 2020 presidential election. However, he now seeks to let bygones be bygones, including an insurrection and a potential criminal conviction, according to the Daily Beast.Sununu, who endorsed Nikki Haley in the primaries, faced questions from TV host George Stephanopoulos in an interview on Sunday about his support for the twice-impeached former president despite having held him reponsible for the deadly January 6 insurrection in 2021."For me, it’s not about him a...

“Together with our partners, we defeated that attack,” Mr. Biden said in his first public appearance since the strikes, speaking from the Oval Office where he was hosting Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani of Iraq.“The United States is committed to Israel’s security,” he added, and was continuing to work toward a deal that would halt the war in Gaza, free the hostages there and prevent “the conflict from spreading beyond what it already has.”Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesman, noted on Monday that Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken had spoken to officials in Britain, Egypt, Germany, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey in an effort to ease tensions.“We continue to make clear to everyone that we talk to that we want to see de-escalation, that we don’t want to see this conflict f...

(Bloomberg) -- Mexico’s leading presidential candidate would spend around $13.6 billion to boost her country’s use of renewable energy while still adding gas-burning power plants, according to a plan she presented to business leaders.Most Read from BloombergThe plan from frontrunner Claudia Sheinbaum would increase wind and solar power generation, modernize hydroelectric stations and add about 3,850 kilometers (2392 miles) of transmission lines. It would represent a significant shift from the policies of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who prioritized backing state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos rather than renewable power.Sheinbaum, who is leading opposition candidate Xochitl Galvez by a wide margin in polls ahead of the June 2 election, has vowed to continue supporting Pemex whi...

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The mayor of Colombia's capital on Monday announced new measures to reduce water consumption in the city of eight million people, where a drought associated with the El Niño weather pattern has already prompted officials to ration water in most neighborhoods and ask residents to change their showering habits.In a statement aired by local media, Bogotá's Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán said homes that use more than 22 cubic meters of water per month will have to pay additional fees. He also threatened to impose fines of up to $300 on people who wash their cars on the streets or conduct other activities that are deemed to be a waste of water.COLOMBIAN MAYOR ISSUES 6-MONTH PROSTITUTION BAN IN TOURIST-HEAVY NEIGHBORHOODSThe mayor said that city buses, which are usually wa...

Suspect of Sydney stabbing apprehended from Wakeley, western Sydney on April 15, 2024. — Screengrab/ABC NewsDays after a massacre in a Sydney shopping mall, authorities reported that at least four people including a Bishop were stabbed Monday in the south west of the city, leaving the residents terrified of such a heinous act.The suspect has been apprehended from Wakeley, western Sydney, after multiple stabbing reports. The condition of the victims is said to be non-life threatening. NSW Ambulance said that a man in his 50s had been taken to Liverpool Hospital for stabbing injuries.The other three are being given medical assistance at the scene.The incident comes nearly three days after a suspect started stabbing people in Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre in the bustling city o...

Donald Trump’s trial beginsJury selection began yesterday in New York City, where Donald Trump faces charges that he falsified business records to cover up a sex scandal while serving as president. It is the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president, and the first of four indictments that Trump faces in the coming months.The initial pool of prospective jurors dwindled rapidly. More than half of the first group of 96 were dismissed in short order after indicating that they did not believe they could be impartial. As Trump’s lawyers and prosecutors hashed out pretrial motions, the former U.S. president seemed alternately irritated and exhausted. He smirked and scoffed, and also seemed to nod off a few times before jolting back awake.Last month, the judge imposed a gag order on Trump, ...