Former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, scion of Republican family, backs Democrat Sherrod Brown for Senate

JULIE CARR SMYTH
Sun, October 20, 2024 



COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, scion of one of the state's best-known Republican families, threw his support Sunday behind Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in his hotly contested reelection race against GOP nominee Bernie Moreno.

Taft, 82, made known his intention to vote for Brown over Moreno, a Donald Trump-backed Cleveland businessman, in a letter to the editor of the Dayton Daily News.

The grandson of “Mr. Republican” Robert A. Taft Sr. and great-grandson of William Howard Taft, the only person in American history to have been president and chief justice of the United States, praised Brown in the letter without mentioning Moreno.


Taft cited, among the reasons for his decision, Brown’s collaboration with U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, on behalf of the Dayton area, including Wright-Patterson Air Force Base; Brown's 25 years of experience in public office; and Brown's committee assignments as a result of his senior status in the Senate.

“Although not in agreement with Senator Brown on every policy issue, I believe Ohioans very much need a highly effective, experienced advocate in the U.S. Senate — someone who is squarely focused on both Ohio's and America's needs,” Taft wrote.

It remained unclear how Taft’s backing might play at the ballot box given Ohio’s hard shift to the right in recent elections. The endorsement comes as Brown works to attract independent and Republican crossover voters in the record-setting $400 million-plus contest.

Moreno’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.

Trump supporters now hold sway within the state GOP and the former president's endorsements have eclipsed those of mainstream Ohio Republicans in recent elections.

Trump's backing elevated Moreno to victory in a crowded primary field this spring, despite both GOP Gov. Mike DeWine and recently retired Republican Sen. Rob Portman endorsing a rival candidate, for example, and boosted first-time politician JD Vance to a Senate victory over the objections of a cadre of state Republican leaders.

The endorsement is particularly noteworthy, though, given that Bob Taft is the only politician in Brown's long political career to ever defeat him in an election. Taft beat Brown in his 1990 bid for reelection as secretary of state.

Brown slams Moreno for abortion comments during Powell campaign stop

Natalie Fahmy
Fri, October 18, 2024


POWELL, Ohio (WCMH) — Candidates in Ohio’s race for U.S. Senate are full speed ahead on the campaign trail as Election Day draws closer.

The race is between incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is hoping to clinch his fourth term, against Republican businessman Bernie Moreno, who is looking to hold elected office for the first time.

Whitehall police body camera footage shows fatal arrest of man with disabilities

On Friday, Brown was in Powell to tell voters why he deserves their vote. His event centered around women’s reproductive rights.

“These decisions should not be made by politicians,” Brown said. “These decisions, intensely, intensely personal decisions, should be they made by women and their doctors, period. It’s not a partisan issue. Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen Republicans and Democrats speaking out for women.”

During the event, Brown slammed Moreno for comments he made last month about women being single-issue voters on abortion.

“Bernie Moreno has made it clear he thinks he knows better than Ohioans,” Brown said.

Brown said women “understand the stakes of this election,” and that Moreno is pro-life with no exceptions.

In a statement, spokesperson for Moreno’s campaign Reagan McCarthy said, “Bernie has made clear that he believes abortion policy should primarily be decided by the states and that exceptions for cases of rape, incest, and the life of the mother must always be included. Sherrod Brown is misrepresenting Bernie’s view on exceptions to scare voters because he cannot defend his own record.”

Back in July — this is what Moreno said about his stance on abortion.

“I think we can get to a place where after 15 weeks, there’s just some commonsense restrictions, which is the opposite of a ban, by the way, a ban is when you don’t allow something,” Moreno said.

Moreno’s campaign has focused on topics like crime, the economy and the southern border. Immigration is something Brown also said is important.

“To Ohioans, it’s securing the border and to Ohioans, especially, its keeping fentanyl out of the country,” Brown said.

Why attorneys want cellphone tower records in trial over Ohio Uber driver’s death

Brown said anyone who has committed a crime should be deported. He did not provide a definitive plan for other illegal immigrants, but did take a stance.

“I don’t agree that we should do mass deportation of 10 million people. That will never work,” Brown said.

Brown also pointed to his work to provide healthcare to veterans who were exposed to burn puts in Iraq and ensuing workers receive their full pensions.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 

Ohio senator opposes Cleveland Browns’ plan to move stadium outside city

Jon Rudder
Fri, October 18, 2024



CLEVELAND, Ohio (WKBN) – Another day, another twist in the Cleveland Browns stadium saga.

On Friday, Senator Sherrod Brown weighed in on the team’s plans to leave downtown Cleveland for nearby Brook Park.

On Thursday, both the Browns and Cleveland city leaders confirmed that the team had pulled out of a $1.2 billion plan to renovate the current stadium in favor of moving the team’s home.

Brown opposes the Browns’ move and is asking for all parties to reconsider.

“I think anything is a realistic possibility. It’s not a done deal. They’ve not gotten subsidies from the state that they think they’re going to get yet. They can make this decision like that, they can change their mind. I know that, overwhelmingly, people want them to stay in Cleveland but greedy billionaire sports owners think they can do whatever they want, and put their hand out and get more help from the public,” he said.

The team purchased a parcel of land in Brook Park, and released renderings of a domed stadium and a mixed-use residential area.

“I call on the family, the Haslam family, to keep the Browns in Cleveland. I encourage my opponent to put politics aside and join me in encouraging the Haslams to stay there in Cleveland. My opponent has gotten a lot of money from them. He’s very close to the family. He’s got connections to the family with these billionaires. They should listen to him and keep the team in Cleveland, period,” Brown said.

The Browns’ current lease with the city expires in 2028.

No public funding has been pledged to the project just yet.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Freedom of expression threatened more seriously in Gaza than in any recent conflict, UN expert says

EDITH M. LEDERER

AP
Fri, October 18, 2024 

FILE - United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression Irene Khan gestures during a press conference in Mandaluyong, Philippines, on Feb. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Freedom of expression has been threatened more seriously in Gaza than in any recent conflict, with journalists targeted in the war-torn territory and Palestinian supporters targeted in many countries, a United Nations expert said Friday.

Irene Khan, the U.N. independent investigator on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, pointed to attacks on the media and the targeted killings and arbitrary detention of dozens of journalists in Gaza.

“The banning of Al Jazeera, the tightening of censorship within Israel and in the occupied territories, seem to indicate a strategy of the Israeli authorities to silence critical journalism and obstruct the documentation of possible international crimes,” she said.


Khan also sharply criticized the “discrimination and double standards” that have seen restrictions and suppression of pro-Palestinian protests and speech. She cited bans in Germany and other European countries, protests that were “crushed harshly” on U.S. college campuses, and Palestinian national symbols and slogans prohibited and even criminalized in some countries.

The U.N. special rapporteur also pointed to “the silencing and sidelining of dissenting voices in academia and the arts,” with some of the best academic institutions in the world failing to protect all members of their community, “whether Jewish, Palestinian, Israeli, Arab, Muslim, or otherwise.”

While social media platforms have been a lifeline for communications to and from Gaza, Khan said, they have seen an upsurge in disinformation, misinformation and hate speech — with Arabs, Jews, Israelis and Palestinians all targeted online.

She stressed that Israel’s military actions in Gaza and its decades of occupation of Palestinian territories are matters of public interest, scrutiny and criticism.

Khan earlier presented her report on “the global crisis of freedom of expression arising from the conflict in Gaza” to the General Assembly’s human rights committee.

She said Israel responded to it, explained the country’s laws, and “took the position that the conflict in Gaza was not really of global significance, and my mandate should not engage with it.” Israel’s U.N. mission declined to comment on her press briefing.

The surprise attacks in southern Israel led by Hamas militants who controlled Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, killed about 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and led to the abduction of about 250 others, around 100 of whom are still hostages. Israel’s military offensive in retaliation has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority were women and children.

Khan, a former secretary-general of Amnesty International, stressed that “no conflict in recent times has threatened freedom of expression so seriously or so far beyond its borders than Gaza.”

She said attacks on the media “are an attack on the right to information of people around the world who want to know what is happening there.”

Khan said she has called on the U.N. General Assembly and Security Council to take measures to strengthen the protection of journalists “as essential civilian workers.”

“ Journalism should be seen as essential as humanitarian work,” she said.

The information industry has changed, Khan said, and the issue of access to conflict situations by international media representatives — who have been banned from Gaza by Israel — must also be affirmed. “It has to be clarified that it is not okay to just deny access to international media,” she said.

Without naming any countries, Khan asked why nations that pride themselves as champions of the media have been silent in the face of unprecedented attacks on journalists in Gaza and the West Bank.

“My main message is that what is happening in Gaza is sending signals around the world that it is okay to do these things because it’s happening in Gaza and Israel is enjoying absolute impunity — and others around the world will believe that there will be absolute impunity, too,” Khan said.

Justin Trudeau Testifies That Russia Funded Tucker Carlson and Jordan Peterson in Support of Their Anti-Vax Covid Claims | Video

Stephanie Kaloi
Sat, October 19, 2024 


Conservative political analyst Tucker Carlson and Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson were among those who were funded by the Russian state-owned news outlet RT to boost anti-vax claims in 2022, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed while under oath during testimony delivered Wednesday at the Foreign Interference Commission.

The claims were made during the so-called “Freedom Convoy” protests staged by truck drivers in Canada that year. The country began requiring all cross-border truck drivers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in January 2022. In response some truck drivers as well as citizens in their private vehicles held protests outside Parliament.

Though Freedom Convoy is finished, Trudeau said, “these messages are still being sent to nowadays.”

He continued, “Answer, yes, we have seen that anti-vax messages during the convoy and during the pandemic were amplified by Russian propaganda, especially in the media of the right, and it was continued by message from the people who were sharing anti-vax messages.”

“It doesn’t mean that there weren’t people who were legitimately anti Vax, but that was hugely amplified by Russian propaganda,” Trudeau added. “And once Russia, Ukraine was invaded, we saw a lot of those channels become a pro-Putin propaganda channels. And as I said, we’ve recently seen that RT is currently funding bloggers and other tube personalities at the right, such as Jordan Peterson, other names that are well known. Tucker, Carson, as well, to, in order to amplify messages that are destabilizing democracies.”

Trudeau, who did not offer evidence to back up his claims, was testifying as part of an independent commission’s look into foreign interference in Canada’s elections. In April, the commission heard evidence from the country’s domestic spy agency that China had interfered with the last two elections held in Canada.

Tucker Carlson has not directly addressed the claims by Trudeau. Peterson took to X, where he wrote, “Hey Russians! Where the hell is my money?! @justintrudeau strikes again Whiffing at a foul ball.”

The post Justin Trudeau Testifies That Russia Funded Tucker Carlson and Jordan Peterson in Support of Their Anti-Vax Covid Claims | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

India ex-official charged in US murder plot had been arrested in Delhi attempted murder case

Shivam Patel
Sat, October 19, 2024





FBI poster for wanted former Indian intelligence officer Vikash Yadav


By Shivam Patel

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A former Indian government official charged in the United States this week for allegedly directing a foiled murder plot had been arrested in New Delhi in December in an attempted murder case, according to court records and a police officer.

The U.S. Justice Department unsealed the indictment of Vikash Yadav, 39, on Thursday, alleging he led a plot to murder a Sikh separatist in New York.


From May 2023, the U.S. indictment alleges, Yadav, described as an Indian government employee at the time, worked with others in India and abroad to direct a plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen.

Delhi Police had arrested Yadav on Dec. 18 in the Indian capital, the police officer told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Yadav and an associate were charged with attempted murder and other crimes, according to a filing in a Delhi district court.

Yadav's lawyer, R.K. Handoo, called the Indian charges "fallacious", adding there was "an international plot to bring shame on the government of India and my client".

Handoo declined to comment further.

He and the police did not respond to questions on Yadav's whereabouts. The Washington Post, citing American officials, reported on Thursday that Yadav was still in India and that the U.S. was expected to seek his extradition.

Yadav's arrest was based on a complaint by an Indian businessman, who alleged Yadav and an associate kidnapped him in December, assaulted and robbed him, according to details in a Delhi district court order dated Feb. 23.

"The accused persons tortured and manhandled the complainant and demanded money in the name of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi," said the Feb. 23 court order, summarising the complaint.

Bishnoi, in jail in India's Gujarat state, is an organised crime gang leader, according to India's National Investigation Agency. Bishnoi's lawyer says he is contesting more than 40 cases on charges including murder and extortion, with many trials yet to begin.

Indian government agents were separately accused by Canada this week of having links to Bishnoi's gang and running a campaign to target Indian dissidents in Canada. India's government denies the allegations.

In Yadav's Delhi case, the court order citing the complaint said: "The accused persons also brought bank cheque book from the cafe of the complainant and got his signature on blank cheques and later on dropped him near his car, threatening to remain silent."

(Reporting by Shivam Patel in New Delhi)

Drive-by shootings, arson and murder: is the Indian government trying to silence Canada’s Sikh activists?

Leyland Cecco in Toronto
Sat, October 19, 2024 

A photograph of Hardeep Singh Nijjar is seen outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib, in Surrey, British Columbia, on Tuesday.Photograph: Canadian Press/REX/Shutterstock


On one summer night in Ontario, a Canadian Sikh activist received a panicked call from his wife: police had come to the family home and warned her that his life was at risk.

Two weeks later and thousands of kilometers away, a gunman in the province of British Columbia filmed himself firing a volley of bullets into the home of a prominent Indo-Canadian singer as two vehicles burned in the driveway.

Both instances – together with a string of arsons, extortion schemes, drive-by shootings and at least two murders – are now believed to be part of a wide-ranging and violent campaign of intimidation across Canada orchestrated by India’s government.

Last September, the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, suggested there were “credible allegations potentially linking” Indian officials with the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen and Sikh activist, who was shot dead in British Columbia.

Until recently, the scope and depth of those allegations were not clear. This week, however, Canadian police made the explosive accusation that Indian diplomats had worked with a criminal network led by a notorious imprisoned gangster to target Sikh dissidents in the country.

India rejected the allegations as “strange” and “ludicrous”.

But Canadian officials point to a string of cases over the past few years they suspect are part of a broader, India-sanctioned campaign to intimidate, coerce and kill.

In September 2023, only two days after Trudeau’s initial suggestion of a link to the Indian government, a fugitive Indian gangster called Sukhdool Singh Gill was killed in a hail of gunfire in a Winnipeg home.

Gill, a member of the Bambiha gang, was wanted in India on charges of extortion, attempted murder and murder. But Indian officials also said he was also linked to the separatist Khalistan movement, which aspires to establish a Sikh homeland in Punjab.

Inderjeet Brar, who lived nearby, says he and his wife heard nearly a dozen shots fired that morning and footage from a security camera facing his backyard captured three men fleeing Gill’s house.

A year later, police on Vancouver Island were called to the house of AP Dhillon, a prominent singer and producer who was born in Punjab and grew up Canada. The building had been peppered with gunfire, and two vehicles were charred ruins.

Footage of the attack – apparently filmed by one of the assailants – was later posted online and shared widely in India. The British Columbia public safety minister called the attack “absolutely outrageous”.

Both attacks were claimed by members of a notorious gang run by India’s most feared crime boss, Lawrence Bishnoi, whose network has been linked to some of the most high-profile crimes in the country – despite the fact that Bishnoi has been imprisoned since 2014.

Canadian police say the government of Narendra Modi has been using organized crime syndicates such as the Bishnoi gang, as part of its strategy to pursue opponents and rivals.

“There can be overlapping motivations to target certain people or groups,” said Harjeet Singh Grewal, an assistant professor of Sikh studies at the University of Calgary. “And I think that’s what we’re seeing right now: overlapping interests for both the gangs – who might want to settle scores and gain an ‘economic benefit’ – and [the Indian government, which is] targeting activists.”

In the case of Dhillon, whose stardom spans multiple countries, a recent decision to feature Bollywood star Salman Khan in a music video apparently angered Bishnoi, who has pledged to kill the actor over a longstanding feud.

Grewal says Dhillon also lent his support to Punjabi farmers during their months-long protest in 2021, with Indian media suggesting his song Farmer spread “pro-Khalistan” messages that angered the Modi government.

“There’s a deep tradition in Punjabi music and lyrics that speak to the powers that be about disenfranchisement,” said Grewal. “Some of these artists [in India] who spread these messages are now dead – and their deaths are connected to crime syndicates.”

Related: Lawrence Bishnoi: the feared Indian mob boss implicated in Canada killings

A 2022 report from Canada’s intelligence agency flagged a growing concern over organized crime, warning gangs with entrenched operations represented a “significant” public safety and societal threat.

“Their structure and membership are increasingly fluid, often creating opportunistic criminal relationships with national and international networks and associates,” the report said.

Trudeau made an explicit connection between Bishnoi and the Indian government during his testimony at a commission investigating foreign interference this week.

But for those living close to the violence, links between the Indian government and organized crime doesn’t come as a surprise.

“I think there’s a way in which Modi helps the Bishnoi gang and the Bishnoi gang helps Modi,” said Brar. “If Bishnoi is giving interviews and overseeing his gang from a jail cell, it means the government is likely involved in some way. Otherwise, how could he do this?”

Brar turned his video footage over to the police, but now worries his family could face recriminations when they visit India.

“We’re just trying to go about our lives and yet we worry if we too will pay some cost for speaking up,” he said.

India has long accused the Canadian government for being soft on supporters of the Khalistan movement, which is banned in India but is more prevalent among the diaspora in Canada. New Delhi has argued that Canada has for decades failed to confront what it says are Sikh militants and failed to extradite gang members for prosecution at home.

But experts say that India’s rapid rise from developing nation to global superpower has also come with a growing sense it can act with relative impunity – both domestically and outside its borders.

Earlier this year, the increasingly pugnacious Indian prime minister made an extraordinary public boast that he was able to extract retribution for dissent, saying: “Today, even India’s enemies know: this is Modi, this is the New India. This New India comes into your home to kill you.”

In the case of its covert Canada operation, agents working out of India’s high commission in Ottawa and consulates in Vancouver and Toronto are alleged to have used a mix of diplomatic pressure and coercion to compel Indians living in Canada to spy on the Sikh community.

Canadian officials have long known of India’s efforts to threaten and coerce diaspora population. And given Delhi’s mounting frustration with Ottawa’s refusal to crack down on pro-Khalistan groups, officials suspected vocal figures like Nijjar were targets for intimidation.

“People in the Sikh community, who have lived experiences of violence and intimidation in the Punjab, are aware of these patterns and can read and understand them quickly,” said Grewal. “More quickly, perhaps, than our law enforcement and intelligence officers.”

Related: ‘Police said I’m in danger’: Sikh activists on edge worldwide after Vancouver killing

This week Trudeau said his government acted “to disrupt the chain of operations that go from Indian diplomats here in Canada to criminal organizations, to direct violent impacts on Canadians right across this country”.

Canadian police have arrested at least eight people, including three believed to have killed Nijjar, in connection with homicide cases and nearly two dozen in connection with extortion investigations.

On Friday, Mélanie Joly, Canada’s foreign minister, warned the country would “not sit quietly as agents of any country are linked to efforts to threaten, harass or even to kill Canadians”.

RCMP commissioner Mike Duheme said police had uncovered “well over a dozen credible and imminent threats to life” leading police to issue “duty to warn” notices, including to the brother-in-law of New Democratic party leader Jagmeet Singh.

The Guardian has spoken with four people who have received such warnings, all of whom describe tightlipped police operating on “credible” evidence of possible attempts on their lives.

Inderjeet Singh Gosal, a close friend of Nijjar, received a panicked call form his wife while he was traveling: police were at their house, with a message that his life was in danger.

Gosal, who took over efforts to hold a global, non-binding referendum as part of an effort to create the Sikh homeland of Khalistan after his “brother” Nijjar was killed last year, says there is little doubt India is behind the threats.

“When I stepped into this role and over this activism, I knew there was a moment when they’d come after me,” he said. “It’s never going to stop. But this is what I signed up for. I’m not afraid of death at all.”

Months earlier, a property owned by Gosal was struck with a bullet, which he took as a warning sign.

When US prosecutors revealed on Thursday that they had charged a former Indian intelligence officer for co-ordinating a foiled murder-for-hire plot targeting a prominent Sikh activist in New York, the unsealed indictment laid out in black and white the extent to which Indian officials were allegedly involved in the scheme.

“But for Sikhs here, we know what India is capable of: we’ve seen it for years,” said Gosal. “We have no illusions. We know they have vast resources and no mercy.”

Sikhs call for India's consulates to be closed in Canada

Updated Fri, October 18, 2024



STORY: :: October 18, 2024

:: Toronto, Canada

:: Sikh protesters call for India's consulates to be closed in Canada

:: Ottawa accuses New Delhi of involvement in the murder of a Sikh separatist leader last year

Kuljeet Singh, Spokesperson, Sikhs for Justice

"We believe India remains a threat to Canada's sovereignty, Canada's freedom of speech and Canada's freedom of expression. They will remain a threat to all Canadian citizens, and we will not stop until these consulates are removed permanently."

"This is not a diplomatic tit-for-tat. This is a tyrant dictatorship trying to impose its values on a democratic, peaceful nation such as Canada."

Kuljeet Singh, a spokesperson for Sikhs for Justice, called on Canada to shut the country’s Indian consulates down.

"We believe India remains a threat to Canada's sovereignty, Canada's freedom of speech and Canada's freedom of expression," Singh said.

A protester, Bisman Dhillon, said "This is not a diplomatic tit-for-tat. This is a tyrant dictatorship trying to impose its values on a democratic, peaceful nation such as Canada."

Canada's Sikhs have been in the spotlight since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last year accused India's government of involvement in the June 18, 2023, murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader in Canada and Moninder Singh's friend, who was shot in Surrey.

India's government has denied involvement in the killing of Nijjar. India has accused Canada of providing a safe haven for Sikh separatists.

Canada said on Monday it expelled six Indian diplomats, linking them to Nijjar's murder and alleging a broader effort to target Indian dissidents in Canada through killings, extortion, use of organized crime and clandestine information-gathering. India retaliated by ordering the expulsion of six Canadian diplomats and called the allegations preposterous and politically motivated.

Trudeau has wrecked Canada-India political relations, says expelled envoy
Reuters
Sun, October 20, 2024 

High Commissioner of India to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma gestures during an interview in Ottawa

OTTAWA (Reuters) - India's envoy to Canada, who is being expelled over what Ottawa says are links to the murder of a Sikh leader, insisted in an interview he was innocent and said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had wrecked bilateral political ties.

Both countries on Monday ordered out six diplomats in tit-for-tat moves over Ottawa's allegations that New Delhi was targeting Indian dissidents on Canadian soil.

Trudeau specifically tied the six to the murder of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year in British Columbia. Sanjay Kumar Verma, India's envoy to Canada, told CTV that Trudeau had been relying on intelligence rather than evidence.


"On the basis of intelligence, if you want to destroy a relationship, be my guest. And that's what he did," Verma said in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

Asked whether he had had anything to with Nijjar's murder, Verma said: "Nothing at all. No evidence was presented. (This is) politically motivated."

Canada is home to the highest population of Sikhs outside their home state of Punjab and demonstrations in favor of a separate homeland carved out of India have irked New Delhi.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Allegations suggest India is now part of the assassination club

Hannah Ellis-Petersen South Asia correspondent
Sat, October 19, 2024 a

Canada's PM, Justin Trudeau, at a press conference about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's investigation into ‘violent criminal activity in Canada with connections to India’ on Monday.Photograph: Blair Gable/Reuters

A gruelling week for Indian diplomacy began with an explosive Canadian press conference on Monday. Senior Canadian police officials accused Indian diplomats of being involved in “criminal” activities on Canadian soil, ranging from homicide and targeted assassinations to extortion, intimidation and coercion against members of the Canadian Sikh community.

They alleged that Indian diplomats – including the high commissioner himself – were implicated not only in the high profile killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh activist who was gunned down outside a gurdwara in a suburb of Vancouver last June, but also linked to other murders on Canadian soil. The diplomats had even worked with a gang run by India’s most notorious mob boss to get their dirty work done, they alleged.

Two days later, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau doubled down on the claims. Testifying before a public inquiry, he said Canada had clear intelligence linking Indian diplomats to “drive-by shootings, home invasions, violent extortion and even murder in and across Canada”. India, added Trudeau, had made a “horrific mistake” in violating Canadian sovereignty.

It was a considerable escalation of a diplomatic row that has torpedoed India-Canada relations, beginning last year when Trudeau stood up in parliament and said there were “credible allegations” linking the Indian government to the killing of Nijjar – an accusation India rejected as “absurd”.

Since then, allegations of an India campaign of transnational violence and harassment have emerged not only in Canada but in the US, UK and Pakistan, where prominent Sikh activists say they have received threats to their lives.

Western officials and the Sikh community claim that what has been laid bare is a far-reaching – if often clumsily implemented – policy of transnational repression targeting the Sikh diaspora by the government of prime minister Narendra Modi. Canadian officials reportedly say they have evidence that orders of alleged threats and harassment came from the very top levels of Indian government, right up to the powerful home minister Amit Shah, who is considered Modi’s right hand man.

India has repeatedly rejected all the allegations, emphasising that such killing are not government policy , and Canada’s latest allegations were met with a flurry of outraged denials. New Delhi described the claims as “preposterous imputations” and “ludicrous” statements, and accused Trudeau of a political vendetta. They have also accused Canada of providing a safe haven to Sikh terrorists.

But by Friday morning, India had woken to fresh allegations, this time from the US. An “Indian government employee”, named as Vikash Yadav, was being charged over a plot to murder a prominent Sikh activist and US citizen, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, in New York last year. At the time the murder was planned, Yadav was working as an intelligence official under the office of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and had been a longtime employee of the Indian government.

The new indictment added further details to the alleged assassination plot against Pannun, initially revealed by US department of justice prosecutors late last year.

In what read like the script of a B movie, US investigators alleged that an Indian agent in New Delhi – previously referred to just as CC1 but now revealed as Yadav – had hired an Indian middleman in New York to help orchestrate a plot to murder Pannun. Panuun, a lawyer and US citizen, is a known fireband Sikh separatist and has been designated as a terrorist by the India government.

However, it is alleged the plot was foiled after the assassin Yadav and his middleman recruited to kill Pannun awkwardly turned out to be an undercover US officer. The suspected middleman, named as Nikhil Gupta, fled to the Czech Republic, where he was arrested and later deported back to the US, where he has entered a not guilty plea. On Friday, the FBI released a wanted notice for Yadav and it believed the US will seek his extradition from India, where he is still believed to be “at large”.

India has sought to portray the Indian and Canadian incidents as unconnected but, according to US investigators, they are inextricably linked. As the Pannun murder plot was being planned out, Gupta had mentioned a “big target” in Canada, just days before Nijjar was gunned down, it is claimed. Then, hours after Nijjar’s death, Yadav allegedly sent his middleman a video clip of Nijjar’s dead body.

The justice department made it clear they believed Pannun’s killing was “a grave example” of an increasing trend of transnational repression – a term defined as foreign governments taking violent and illegal actions beyond their own territory. Without directly mentioning the geopolitical implications evidently at play, they also emphasised that they would hold those responsible to account “regardless of their position or proximity to power”.

India is now scrambling to reject allegations that it has become a rogue international actor that has illegally violated the sovereign territory of not one but two of its western allies. Not long ago, such killings were never considered part of India’s intelligence playbook. But since he came to power a decade ago, Modi’s muscular nationalist agenda has come to define his agenda both at home and abroad, as he seeks to push India to superpower status.

Related: Indian government ordered killings in Pakistan, intelligence officials claim

In a previous Guardian investigation, which linked India to up to 20 killings over the border in Pakistan since 2020, intelligence officials described how the Modi government had become emboldened to carry out attacks on dissidents on foreign soil. They said Israel’s notorious spy agency the Mossad and the assassination of the Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in the Saudi embassy in 2018 had been directly cited as examples to follow.

“What the Saudis did was very effective,” an intelligence officer told the Guardian earlier this year. “You not only get rid of your enemy but send a chilling message, a warning to the people working against you. Every intelligence agency has been doing this. Our country cannot be strong without exerting power over our enemies.” Officially, the Indian government has repeatedly denied this is their policy.

In both Canada and the US, the allegations have yet to be proved in a court of law, and Canada has yet to press charges against any Indian government officials, simply naming them as “persons of interest” in the case.

But any authentication of the allegation would confirm there has been a radical reimagining of the role of Indian foreign intelligence agencies under the Modi government. It indicates that Modi’s longstanding domestic suppression of dissent – targeting everyone from opposition politicians to activists and even NGOs – has now transcended international borders, particularly to target Sikhs associated with the separatist Khalistan movement, which is far more prevalent among the diaspora.

There has been a markedly sharp contrast in how India has responded to both cases, which observers say is symptomatic of differing geopolitical agendas. In the case of Canada, where India has bullishly maintained there is no evidence, analysts say relations have sunk so low that India has little to lose by refusing to co-operate with the investigation.

However, India can ill-afford to make a similar enemy of Washington. In the wake of the Pannun indictment, they set up a high level inquiry in to the US allegations, which travelled to Washington this week. India’s foreign ministry also confirmed that Yadav is no longer a government employee.

So far, the White House has sought to tread a similarly careful diplomatic line, in an apparent bid not to alienate India who is an important strategic and economic ally. But in its indictment, the justice department made it clear that it would not let geopolitics interfere in the pursuit of the case.

“To the governments around the world who may be considering such criminal activity and to the communities they would target,” said attorney general Matthew G. Olsen, “let there be no doubt that the Department of Justice is committed to disrupting and exposing these plots.”

Tbclrarebooks.comwww.tbclrarebooks.com/pages/books/33143/jack-london-robert-l-fish/the-assassination-bureau

THE ASSASSINATION BUREAU | Jack London, Robert L. Fish

New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963. 1st Edition. Inscribed by Robert L. Fish. THE ASSASSINATION BUREAU was completed after the death of Jack London by mystery ...

Imdb.comwww.imdb.com/title/tt0064045/

The Assassination Bureau (1969) - IMDb

The Assassination Bureau: Directed by Basil Dearden. With Oliver Reed, Diana ... Jack London · Robert L. Fish · Stars · Oliver Reed · Diana Rigg ·...

The Assassination Bureau - Trailers From Hell

The Assassination Bureau, Ltd. Jack London, Robert L. Fish Penguin, Oct 1, 1994 - Fiction - 208 pages London’s suspense thriller focuses on the fine distinction between state- justified murder and criminal violence in the Assassination Bureau—an organization whose mandate is to rid the state of all its enemies. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

IT'S A BLUE WAVE A COMIN'

Opinion: Trump's MAGA base might want to brace themselves – Harris could win

Rex Huppke, USA TODAY
Sun, October 20, 2024 


Despite all the faux clairvoyance of pollsters and political pundits and the endless babble from social media Nostradamuses, there isn’t a soul in this country who can look at next month’s presidential election and accurately guess which way the mop will flop.

But what I hear from the chattering class on both sides of the political aisle is predominantly: Liberals, you better brace yourselves for the possibility that Donald Trump might win.

That’s technically fair. There’s a solid chance Trump will win, and even if there weren’t, folks on the left are still too traumatized from his surprise 2016 presidential victory to ever again feel confident he’ll lose.

Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump looks on as he participates in a town hall presented by Spanish-language network Univision, in Doral, Florida, on Oct. 16, 2024.
MAGA folks may want to start considering the fact that Trump could lose

But what about the other side? What about all the MAGA fans whose world revolves around Trump, the ones who attend the rallies and proudly wear the red hats, wave Trump flags and believe he’s infallible?

They should begin to reckon with something few are saying out loud: Kamala Harris might win this election.

That’s right, I just wrote the words most liberals dare not utter.

It’s not a prediction, but it’s at least as much a possibility as saying Trump might win.
Liberals are prepping for a Trump win. Shouldn't MAGA fans be ready for a Harris victory?

Flags supporting Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump blow in the wind as they are on sale by a roadside vendor in Fallbrook, California, U.S., August 27, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Nobody on Fox News or in the right-wing blab-o-sphere is preparing Trump supporters for the possibility of defeat. I suppose that’s hard, given that most still believe the ludicrous fiction that he won the 2020 election.

But still, if the MAGA crowd wants to avoid another Jan. 6, 2021, – and all the incarceration that would go with it – and not spend the next however many years whining about a stolen election, they might consider wrapping their minds around the idea of a President Kamala Harris.

Opinion: Vance's refusal to admit Trump lost 2020 election shows he's an opportunistic clown

Before President Joe Biden stepped aside, around the time of the Republican National Convention, Trump’s campaign took on an air of inevitability, with polls moving in his direction following Biden’s disastrous debate performance.

But no sensible person can say that aura of dominance has held. Polls are largely worthless, but Harris is up in them by about the same average amount Trump was leading Biden back when folks were talking about a crushing Trump victory.
Trump's campaign just wrapped up another terrible, embarrassing week

It’s hard to look at how the two candidates are performing right now and not objectively see the vice president having an advantage.

Here are some Trump lowlights from the past week:

On Monday night in Pennsylvania, Trump was supposed to hold a Q&A with voters but wound up standing on stage and bizarrely swaying to an assortment of songs played over the loudspeaker for about 40 minutes. It was a profoundly weird WTF moment and again raised the question of his mental acuity.

U.S. Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump dances during a campaign rally at Findlay Toyota Center on October 13, 2024 in Prescott Valley, Arizona.

On Tuesday, Trump demeaned autoworkers during an interview at the Economic Club of Chicago, saying children could do their jobs.

That night, he taped a Fox News town hall in which he again described Democrats as the “enemy from within,” saying “they’re so sick, and they’re so evil.”

Opinion: Harris did with Fox News what Trump can't do anywhere: Handle tough questions

At that same town hall, which aired the next day, Trump mocked the family of a young Georgia woman whose death has been linked to the state’s draconian abortion ban.
Jan. 6 was a 'day of love'? C'mon, man.

On Wednesday, he held a town hall with Latino voters on Univision. The biggest takeaway was a moment when Trump told one man that the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was “a day of love,” leaving the man with a look of disbelief and dismay that made the exchange go viral.

On Thursday night, he spoke at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York City, a Catholic fundraiser. As The New York Times reported: “He made raunchy jokes about adultery and menstruation and swore while standing feet from a cardinal. He praised Rush Limbaugh and talked about ‘the China Virus,’ and the ‘Democrat party’ and he emphasized Barack Obama’s middle name (Hussein).”

New York Archbishop Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump and Melania Trump attend the 79th annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York City, U.S. October 17, 2024.

On Friday, Trump went to the friendly confines of a Fox News studio and said that as president, he would close the Department of Education and withhold federal funds from any school districts that have a curriculum he doesn’t agree with.
Trump too 'exhausted' to keep up with interviews?

By the end of the week, in the wake of Trump canceling a number of planned interviews while also refusing another debate with Harris, news outlets were reporting that he was exhausted, giving her a perfect opportunity to highlight his advanced age: 78.

"I've been hearing reports that his team at least is saying he's suffering from exhaustion,” Harris said Friday. “And that’s apparently the excuse for why he’s not doing interviews and of course he’s not doing the CNN town hall. He refuses to do another debate. ... Being president of the United States is probably one of the hardest jobs in the world and so we really do need to ask if he's exhausted being on the campaign trail, is he fit to do the job?”

Vice President Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris poses for a photo with a supporter after speaking at University Wisconsin-La Crosse during a campaign event in La Crosse, Wis., on Oct. 17, 2024.

Trump’s increasingly xenophobic and rambling rhetoric stands in stark contrast to the focused and positive campaign Harris has been running. She’s drawing large, enthusiastic crowds while showcasing a wide array of prominent Republicans who are backing her.

She successfully handled a wildly combative interview Wednesday with Fox News host Bret Baier, highlighting her desire to reach people outside the Democratic base.
This election could go either way. Both sides should be ready.

So does this mean Harris will win? Absolutely not. It means she could win, and many would rather be in her position in this race than in Trump’s.

So, to all the residents of MAGA world, liberals like me have been hearing “Trump might win the presidency” over and over again, a warning to prepare us for that eventuality. It’s high time you all consider the opposite, and gird your loins for this reasonable possibility: Harris might win the presidency.

That’s not me being overconfident. It’s me stating a fact.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on X, formerly Twitter, @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Opinion: Why is nobody telling MAGA fans Trump might lose?

Annapolis Royal elects all-women council, mayor

Founded in 1605, Annapolis Royal is no stranger to 'firsts' in municipal elections. For example, it elected Daurene Lewis as Canada's first Black woman mayor in 1984.

CBC
Sun, October 20, 2024 

Annapolis Royal has its all-women council and mayor after Saturday's municipal election. (Robert Short/CBC - image credit)

Annapolis Royal, N.S., has elected an all-women council and mayor for the first time in its history.

Founded in 1605, Annapolis Royal is no stranger to 'firsts' in municipal elections. For example, it elected Daurene Lewis as Canada's first Black woman mayor in 1984.

Newly elected councillor Adele MacDonald says she is happy to be part of another historic first.


"I think it's just going to be another kind of historic moment for a very historic community," said MacDonald, who moved there with her husband in 2012.

Lynn Myers, Heather Sadkowski and Sybil Skinner Robertson were also elected councillors. Mayor Amery Boyer was re-elected. The town has just over 500 voters.

Gender disparity in local politics

Historically, women have been underrepresented in municipal politics compared to men.

According to a 2023 report by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, women represented 31 per cent of all municipal elected representatives in the country.

In Nova Scotia, fewer than a third of candidates running for a contested district were women during the last elections, which was a slight two per cent increase from the 2016 municipal elections.

Boyer said the women in this new council were elected for more than their gender.

"I honestly believe that people voted according to how they felt people would perform," Boyer said. "And it's not a surprise to me that certain of them got noticed because they were very active in the community."

'Fresh ideas'

In the past, the town has had all-men councils. When Boyer began in 2002 it was a 50/50 split.

She said "it's lovely" to get to work with the new councillors.

"It'll be interesting as we're bringing fresh eyes," she said. "It's nice to see the next generation step up. They'll have fresh ideas, a new way to look at things."

B.C. wakes to election uncertainty, with Conservatives, NDP in tight race
Chuck Chiang
Sun, October 20, 2024 


VANCOUVER — British Columbia woke up Sunday to a reshaped political landscape but no clear winner of a provincial election marked by the rise of the B.C. Conservatives from the political fringe to centre stage.

Neither the Conservatives, led by John Rustad, nor the incumbent NDP of Premier David Eby reached the 47 seats needed to form a majority government after initial counting ended on election night, with a handful of seats undecided.

Elections BC said counting was set to resume Sunday morning.


But regardless of the outcome, the election represented a stunning moment for the B.C. Conservatives, who received less than two per cent of the vote last election.

They are now elected or leading in 45 ridings, the NDP was elected or leading in 46, while the BC Greens won two seats in the legislature.

"This is what happens when you stand on values," a triumphant Rustad told supporters in Vancouver late Saturday.

"If we are in that situation of the NDP forming a minority government, we will look at every single opportunity from day one to bring them down … and get back to the polls."

Eby said in a muted speech that a "clear majority" of voters supported "progressive values."

But he acknowledged that Rustad "spoke to the frustrations of a lot of British Columbians" when it came to costs of living and public safety.

"We've got to do better," Eby told supporters. "That was our commitment to British Columbians. We've got to do better, and we will do better."

He said he was committed to working with Green Leader Sonia Furstenau, whose party could hold the balance of power.

What happens next hinges on nine seats that were undecided when election-night counting ended, in particular Surrey City Centre and Juan de Fuca-Malahat, where the NDP was ahead by fewer than 100 votes.

If the Conservatives flip the lead in both of them, and hang onto the others where they lead, they will win with a one-seat majority in the 93-riding legislature.

If not, and assuming the NDP is unable to pass the Conservatives in any other undecided races, Westminster tradition means the incumbent party gets the first opportunity to try to form a minority government — in this case, the NDP, with the help of the Greens.

But the final outcome may not be confirmed for about a week.

Elections BC said automatic recounts would take place on Oct. 26 to 28 in districts where the margin was 100 votes or fewer after the initial count ends.

The election agency said more than 99.7 per cent of votes were counted on election night, but ballots cast by voters outside their district were still to be tallied, while "election official availability and weather-related disruptions" delayed some preliminary results.

Furstenau lost her seat but said her party was nevertheless poised to play a "pivotal role" in the legislature.

The Green victories went to Rob Botterell in Saanich North and the Islands and Jeremy Valeriote in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky.

Furstenau lost to the NDP's Grace Lore after switching ridings to Victoria-Beacon Hill, but said she was "so excited" for her two colleagues, calling their wins "incredible."

"This is a passing of the torch and I am going to be there to mentor and guide and lead in any way that I can," she told her supporters in Victoria.

Botterell, a retired lawyer, said it was an “exciting day” for him and he was “honoured” for the opportunity to serve his constituents.

"Tonight's a night for celebration," he said. "There will be lots of discussion over the upcoming weeks, but I am totally supportive of Sonia and I'm going do everything I can to support her and the path forward that she chooses to take because that's her decision."

Rustad said his party had "not given up this fight" to form government.

"I am optimistic that people in this province are hungry for that change."

Royal Roads professor David Black said the Greens retaining official party status by winning two seats could give them “some real bargaining power” in what is shaping up to be a very tight legislature.

“The Greens are going to be the kingmakers here whatever happens, if the race is as close as it is right now between two larger parties,” he said in an interview on election night.

B.C. Conservatives president Aisha Estey called her party's showing "the ultimate underdog story" and relished what she called a "historic campaign."

"Whether it's government tonight or official opposition, we're not going anywhere. There's a Conservative Party in B.C. now finally," she said. "We're back."

Rustad's unlikely rise came after he was thrown out of the Opposition, then known as the BC Liberals, joined the Conservatives as leader, and steered them to a level of popularity that led to the collapse of his old party, now called BC United — all in just two years.

Outgoing New Democrat MLA George Heyman, who did not run for re-election, said it was always "going to be a tight election."

"It's reminiscent of 2017," Heyman said, referring to the last B.C. election where no party reached majority. "The message is clear, people have been struggling. They're having a hard time."

The B.C. Conservatives set to enter the legislature include Brent Chapman in Surrey South, who had been heavily criticized during the campaign for an old social media post in which he called Palestinian children "inbred" and "time bombs."

A group of former BC United MLAs running as Independents were all defeated, with Karin Kirkpatrick, Dan Davies, Coralee Oakes and Tom Shypitka losing to Conservatives.

For the NDP, Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship Nathan Cullen lost to Conservative Sharon Hartwell.

When election night counting ended, the NDP had received 44.6 per cent of the total vote, the B.C. Conservatives 43.6 per cent and the Greens 8.2 per cent.

Preliminary figures show 2,037,522 valid votes were cast, the first time the 2 million mark has been passed in a B.C. election, with turnout of about 57.4 per cent.

It was a rain-soaked election day for many voters, who braved high winds and torrential downpours brought by an atmospheric river weather system.

Two voting sites in Cariboo-Chilcotin in the B.C. Interior and one in Maple Ridge in the Lower Mainland were closed due to power cuts, Elections BC said, while several sites in Kamloops, Langley and Port Moody, as well as on Hornby, Denman and Mayne islands, were temporarily shut but reopened by mid-afternoon on Saturday.

— With files from Brenna Owen, Dirk Meissner, Brieanna Charlebois, Ashley Joannou and Darryl Greer

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2024.

Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press


When will we know more about B.C.'s tight provincial election?

CBC
Sun, October 20, 2024 


B.C. NDP Leader David Eby and B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad are pictured delivering their final speeches on election night in the province on Sunday. (Darryl Dyck, Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press - image credit)


The full results of the 2024 provincial election in B.C. may not be known for up to a week, as officials tally a number of close races and the B.C. NDP and B.C. Conservatives are in a dead heat.

As of 8 a.m. PT on Sunday, the NDP were leading or elected in 46 seats, the Conservatives in 45 seats and the B.C. Greens were elected in two seats. In the B.C. Legislature, 47 seats are required to form a majority government.

However, based on preliminary results, CBC News has not projected the winners of 11 ridings — with the NDP leading in six of those, and the Conservatives in five.

Some of those ridings are likely to be subject to an automatic recount — in any ridings where the margin of victory is 100 votes or less.

The winners of those recounts will be determined during the final counting period between Oct. 26 and 28, according to Elections B.C.

In addition, Elections B.C. says that it will tally mail-in ballots and out-of-district votes in a number of ridings. As of midnight PT on Sunday, officials said that less than 0.3 per cent of preliminary results remained to be reported.

"Sixteen districts are continuing to count out-of-district ballots. These ballots take longer to count for several reasons," wrote an Elections B.C. spokesperson in a midnight statement.

"With B.C.'s vote anywhere model, some districts are reporting out-of-district results from dozens of other contests. Write-in ballots also take longer to count than ordinary ballots."

Voters are pictured at a voting place in the riding of Vancouver-Quilchena on the last day of advance voting in Vancouver, British Columbia on Wednesday, October 16, 2024.

Voters are pictured at a voting place in the riding of Vancouver-Quilchena on the last day of advance voting in Vancouver on Oct. 16. The full results of the B.C. election may not be known for a week. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

Officials said "election official availability and weather-related disruptions" delayed some preliminary results.

Elections B.C. is set to continue counting votes on Sunday morning, and CBC News will update this story if it is able to project a winner.

Once the amount of mail-in ballots are revealed in each riding, CBC News may be able to project the results for some close ridings before final counting on Oct. 26.

Echoes of 2017 election

The NDP's Adrian Dix, incumbent health minister and the winner of the Vancouver-Renfrew riding, said that Saturday's election mirrored the 2017 election — which eventually saw the NDP form a minority government through a confidence and supply agreement with the Greens.

The results of that election were not known for a few days afterwards, but Dix cautioned that counting would still take place on Sunday morning.

"This is an extremely close election. The elections in B.C., really all my lifetime, have been four per cent either way — and this was no exception," he told the CBC's Rosemary Barton.

Health minister Adrian Dix is pictured during an announcement regarding at-home self-testing HPV kits in Vancouver, British Columbia on Tuesday, January 9, 2024.

NDP candidate Adrian Dix won his riding of Vancouver-Renfrew again — but he acknowledged the party lost a number of seats south of the Fraser River. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

Dix said that the NDP's preliminary popular vote share, at 44.5 per cent, was the third-highest in the party's nearly century-long history.

"When you look at the NDP and the Green votes, there is a significant progressive majority in the province," he said.

"But all of that said, it is very very disappointing of course when you lose such outstanding colleagues."

 

       

What remains of the dried-out Aral Sea, a man-made ecological disaster?

FOCUS © FRANCE 24

Issued on: 19/10/2024 - 

The Aral Sea was once the fourth-largest lake in the world, but today all that remains of it is a vast desert wasteland. In the 1950s, the Soviet Union began diverting the rivers that fed the Aral Sea for cotton production, and over time, it dried out. Sixty years later, it has lost 90 percent of its volume, which is having a devastating impact on local communities. Yet some are trying their best to bounce back from this man-made ecological disaster. Our France 2 colleagues travelled to the vast reaches of the Aral Sea to meet some of these tenacious individuals. They bring us this report, with FRANCE 24's Lauren Bain.