Planned nuclear plant in a Kenyan top tourist hub and home to endangered species sparks protest

Local residents and environmentalists on Friday rallied in Kilifi in Kenya against a proposal to build the country’s first nuclear power plant near the coastal town. (AP video: Fred Ooko)

Demonstrators hold banners reading in Swahili “Sitaki nuclear” (I don’t want nuclear), during an anti-nuclear protest in Kilifi, Kenya Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Chris Obiero)

Updated 11:26 AM MDT, October 14, 2024Share

KILIFI, Kenya (AP) — Dozens rallied against a proposal to build Kenya’s first nuclear power plant in one of the country’s top coastal tourist hubs which also houses a forest on the tentative list of the UNESCO World Heritage site.

Kilifi County is renowned for its pristine sandy beaches where hotels and beach bars line the 165-mile-long coast and visitors boat and snorkel around coral reefs or bird watch in Arabuko Sokoke forest, a significant natural habitat for the conservation of rare and endangered species, according to the U.N. organization.

The nuclear plant, proposed last year, is set to be built in the town of Kilifi — about 522 kilometers (324 miles) southeast of the capital, Nairobi. Many residents have openly opposed the proposal, worried about what they say are the negative effects of the project on people and the environment, leading to a string of protests which at times turned violent.

The Muslims for Human Rights group (MUHURI) took part in a march Friday in Kilifi to the county governor’s office where protesters handed him a petition opposing the construction of the plant.

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Some chanted anti-nuclear slogans while others carried placards with “Sitaki nuclear”, Swahili for “I don’t want nuclear.”

The construction of the 1,000MW nuclear plant is set to begin in 2027 and be operational by 2034, at a cost of 500 billion Kenyan shillings ($3.8 billion).

Francis Auma, a MUHURI activist, told the Associated Press that the negative effects of the nuclear plant outweigh its benefits.

“We say that this project has a lot of negative effects; there will be malformed children born out of this place, fish will die, and our forest Arabuko Sokoke, known to harbor the birds from abroad, will be lost,” Auma said during Friday’s protests.

Juma Sulubu, a resident who was beaten by the police during a previous demonstration, attended Friday’s march and said: “Even if you kill us, just kill us, but we do not want a nuclear power plant in our Uyombo community.”

Timothy Nyawa, a fisherman, participated in the rally out of fear that a nuclear power plant would kill fish and in turn his source of income. “If they set up a nuclear plant here, the fish breeding sites will all be destroyed.”

Phyllis Omido, the executive director at the Centre for Justice Governance and Environmental Action, which organized the protest, said Kenya’s eastern coastal towns depended on eco-tourism as the main source of income and a nuclear plant would threaten their livelihoods.

“We host the only East African coastal forest, we host the Watamu marine park, we host the largest mangrove plantation in Kenya. We do not want nuclear (energy) to mess up our ecosystem,” she said.

Her center filed a petition in Nov. 2023 in parliament calling for an inquiry and claiming that locals had limited information on the proposed plant and the criteria for selecting preferred sites. It raised concerns over the risks to health, the environment and tourism in the event of a nuclear spill, saying the country was undertaking a “high-risk venture” without proper legal and disaster response measures in place. The petition also expressed unease over security and the handling of radioactive waste in a country prone to floods and drought.

The Senate suspended the inquiry until a lawsuit two lawyers filed in July was heard. The suit is seeking to stop the plant’s construction, claiming public participation meetings were rushed. It urges the Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (Nupea) not to start the project.

Nupea said construction would not begin for years and environmental laws were under consideration, adding that adequate public participation was carried out.

The nuclear agency also published an impact assessment report last year that recommended policies be put in place to ensure environmental protections, including detailed plans for the handling of radioactive waste, measures to mitigate environmental harm, such as setting up a nuclear unit in the national environment management authority, and emergency response teams.
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The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

SPACE/COSMOS

Starship performs subsonic belly flop into Indian Ocean

Oct. 13, 2024 / UPI

The fifth test flight of SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft successfully ended Sunday with a controlled “subsonic belly flop” into the Indian Ocean after the 20-story-tall Super Heavy booster returned to the launch site where it was “caught” by a special launch tower nicknamed “Mechazilla." Photo courtesy of SpaceX/X


Oct. 13 (UPI) -- The fifth test flight of SpaceX's Starship spacecraft successfully ended Sunday with a controlled "subsonic belly flop" into the Indian Ocean.

The spacecraft was launched just before 8:30 a.m. Sunday after controversial billionaire Elon Musk's space exploration company received regulatory approval.

Shortly afterward, the 20-story-tall Super Heavy booster return to the launch site where it was "caught" by a special launch tower nicknamed "Mechazilla" after the Mechagodzilla robot created by aliens to destroy Godzilla in the famed film franchise.

"This is absolutely insane!" SpaceX engineer Kate Tice said on the live stream.

That maneuver has already been heralded as a breakthrough in sustainability heralding a new future for spaceflight. But the star of the performance was the splashdown procedure for the Starship spacecraft after reaching space during its hourlong flight.

"Starship is in a subsonic belly flop," SpaceX posted on Musk's X platform, formerly Twitter. Later, the company confirmed the splashdown and called the results of the test flight "exciting."

The company previously called Flight 4 a "tremendous success." That launch had included a fully successful ascent followed by the first-ever booster soft-landing in the Gulf of Mexico and Starship making it through a brilliant re-entry.

"Congratulations to @SpaceX on its successful booster catch and fifth Starship flight test today!" NASA administrator Bill Nelson said on X.

"As we prepare to go back to the Moon under #Artemis, continued testing will prepare us for the bold missions that lie ahead -- including to the South Pole region of the Moon and then on to Mars."

In an engineering feat, mechanical SpaceX arms catch Starship rocket booster back at the launch pad

The moon rises over SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship as it is prepares for a test launch Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Boca Chica, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

BY MARCIA DUNN
October 13, 2024

SpaceX pulled off the boldest test flight yet of its enormous Starship rocket on Sunday, catching the returning booster back at the launch pad with mechanical arms.

A jubilant Elon Musk called it “science fiction without the fiction part.”

Towering almost 400 feet (121 meters), the empty Starship blasted off at sunrise from the southern tip of Texas near the Mexican border. It arced over the Gulf of Mexico like the four Starships before it that ended up being destroyed, either soon after liftoff or while ditching into the sea. The previous one in June had been the most successful until Sunday’s demo, completing its flight without exploding.

This time, Musk, SpaceX’s CEO and founder, upped the challenge for the rocket that he plans to use to send people back to the moon and on to Mars.

At the flight director’s command, the first-stage booster flew back to the launch pad where it had blasted off seven minutes earlier. The launch tower’s monstrous metal arms, dubbed chopsticks, caught the descending 232-foot (71-meter) stainless steel booster and gripped it tightly, dangling it well above the ground.

“The tower has caught the rocket!!” Musk announced via X. “Big step towards making life multiplanetary was made today.”

Company employees screamed in joy, jumping and pumping their fists into the air. NASA joined in the celebration, with Administrator Bill Nelson sending congratulations.

Continued testing of Starship will prepare the nation for landing astronauts at the moon’s south pole, Nelson noted. NASA’s new Artemis program is the follow-up to Apollo, which put 12 men on the moon more than a half-century ago.

“Folks, this is a day for the engineering history books,” SpaceX engineering manager Kate Tice said from SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

“Even in this day and age, what we just saw is magic,” added company spokesman Dan Huot from near the launch and landing site. “I am shaking right now.”

It was up to the flight director to decide, in real time with a manual control, whether to attempt the landing. SpaceX said both the booster and launch tower had to be in good, stable condition. Otherwise, it was going to end up in the gulf like the previous ones. Everything was judged to be ready for the catch.

The retro-looking spacecraft launched by the booster continued around the world, soaring more than 130 miles (212 kilometers) high. An hour after liftoff, it made a controlled landing in the Indian Ocean, adding to the day’s achievement. Cameras on a nearby buoy showed flames shooting up from the water as the spacecraft impacted precisely at the targeted spot and sank, as planned.

“What a day,” Huot said. “Let’s get ready for the next one.”

The June flight came up short at the end after pieces came off. SpaceX upgraded the software and reworked the heat shield, improving the thermal tiles.

SpaceX has been recovering the first-stage boosters of its smaller Falcon 9 rockets for nine years, after delivering satellites and crews to orbit from Florida or California. But they land on floating ocean platforms or on concrete slabs several miles from their launch pads — not on them.

Recycling Falcon boosters has sped up the launch rate and saved SpaceX millions. Musk intends to do the same for Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built with 33 methane-fuel engines on the booster alone.

Musk said the captured Starship booster looked to be in good shape, with just a little warping of some of the outer engines from all the heat and aerodynamic forces. That can be fixed easily, he noted.

NASA has ordered two Starships to land astronauts on the moon later this decade. SpaceX intends to use Starship to send people and supplies to the moon and, eventually Mars.

The 400ft rocket blasted off at sunrise, completing its fight, and separated its first stage booster, which was caught back on the pad to applause from the team. A jubilant Elon Musk called it “science fiction without the fiction part.”

This image provided by SpaceX shows SpaceX’s mega rocket booster returning to the launch pad to be captured during a test flight Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Boca Chica, Texas. (SpaceX via AP)

This image provided by SpaceX shows SpaceX’s mega Starship rocket upon its return during a test flight, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, over Boca Chica, Texas. (SpaceX via AP)

SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship lifts off from Starbase for a test flight Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Boca Chica,, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

This image provided by SpaceX shows SpaceX’s mega rocket booster returning to the launch pad to be captured during a test flight Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Boca Chica, Texas. (SpaceX via AP)

This image provided by SpaceX shows SpaceX’s mega rocket booster returning to the launch pad to be captured during a test flight Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Boca Chica, Texas. (SpaceX via AP)

People take photos as the sun sets behind SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Boca Chica, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

This image provided by SpaceX shows SpaceX’s mega Starship rocket, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, over Boca Chica, Texas. (SpaceX via AP)

This image provided by SpaceX shows SpaceX’s mega Starship rocket returning during a test flight, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, over Boca Chica, Texas. (SpaceX via AP)

This image provided by SpaceX shows SpaceX’s mega Starship rocket seconds before landing in the water in the Indian Ocean after returning during a test flight, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (SpaceX via AP)

This image provided by SpaceX shows smoke and fire from SpaceX’s mega Starship rocket after landing in the water in the Indian Ocean after returning during a test flight, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (SpaceX via AP)

This image provided by SpaceX shows SpaceX’s mega Starship rocket, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, over Boca Chica, Texas. (SpaceX via AP)

A Tesla Cybertruck passes as the sun sets behind SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Boca Chica, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

The sun sets behind SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Boca Chica, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Noah Jansko watches as the sun sets behind SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Boca Chica, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

PRISON NATION U$A

Prison operator under federal scrutiny spent millions settling Tennessee mistreatment claims



A sign outside Trousdale Turner Correctional Center operated by CoreCivic is seen Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Hartsville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

BY JONATHAN MATTISE, TRAVIS LOLLER AND KRISTIN M. HALL
October 13, 2024

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The leading private prison company in the U.S. has spent more than $4.4 million to settle dozens of complaints alleging mistreatment — including at least 22 inmate deaths — at its Tennessee prisons and jails since 2016.

More than $1.1 million of those payouts involved Tennessee’s largest prison, the long-scrutinized Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, which is now under federal investigation.

Details of nearly 80 settlements provided to The Associated Press through public records requests allege brutal beatings, medical neglect and cruelty at CoreCivic’s four prisons and two jails in Tennessee.

In one case, a Trousdale inmate who feared for his life beat his cellmate, Terry Childress, to death to get transferred to a different prison, the federal lawsuit says. No guards came to Childress’ aid at the chronically understaffed facility, the suit claims. Childress’ family received a $135,000 settlement.

The family’s attorney, Daniel Horwitz, was ordered by a judge to stop publicly disparaging CoreCivic and to take down tweets calling it a “death factory.” He is suing over the gag order.

The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced an investigation of Trousdale, noting that reports of violence have been endemic since its 2016 opening. The investigation comes after years of well-documented “reports of physical assaults, sexual assaults, murders and unchecked flow of contraband and severe staffing shortages,” U.S. Attorney Henry Leventis has said.

“It does certainly appear as though settling lawsuits is a cost of doing business, rather than an alarm, a wake-up call, a siren,” said Mary Price, general counsel of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, which advocated for the Trousdale investigation.

CoreCivic, headquartered in Brentwood, Tenn., has a value of $1.44 billion as measured by market capitalization.

Many took a long road to a small settlement

Surviving inmates or grieving families have often fought for years to reach settlements. Some advocated publicly for their cases, speaking to news outlets and participating in demonstrations. But accepting a settlement generally required quieting down. And, typical of settlements across industries, CoreCivic did not admit any wrongdoing.

The largest settlement was for $900,000 over a South Central Correctional Facility inmate’s suicide where staff falsified records. Three others were for about $300,000 apiece.

But those payouts were the exception. Half the settlements were for $12,500 or less. Some involved no money at all.

“In a lot of these cases, unfortunately, victims and family members of victims are in this position to choose between some amount of money, which is probably more than they’ve seen in a long time, or speaking their truth and sharing their stories and really being able to do something that brings this to an end,” said Ashley Dixon, a whistleblower who worked less than a year as a Trousdale corrections officer.

A CoreCivic spokesperson, Ryan Gustin, declined to comment on specific settlements, saying most have confidentiality terms. He said the corrections industry generally has had staffing issues and pointed to CoreCivic’s hiring incentives and strategies to backfill with workers from other facilities nationally. He said CoreCivic facilities offer “comprehensive medical and mental health care” and are closely monitored by the state.

The settlements make up a fraction of the lawsuits CoreCivic has faced over its Tennessee facilities. The 22 death settlements are also only a fraction of the 300-plus deaths in the four CoreCivic prisons since 2016.

More than half the hundreds of deaths were deemed natural, including Jonathan Salada, who lay on his cell floor at Trousdale crying in pain after being denied diabetes medication, according to a 2018 lawsuit. He was taken to the infirmary but returned to his cell twice before being found unconscious three days later and pronounced dead at the hospital. The lawsuit was settled for $50,000.
‘I feel unsafe at all times’

The settled lawsuits claim that even critical staff positions are sometimes unfilled at CoreCivic prisons, leaving inmates unprotected and unable to get help when attacked.

Adrian Delk received a $120,000 settlement after seven gang members nearly beat him to death for “between 20 minutes and one hour” with no one to intervene at Hardeman in 2016, according to his lawsuit. He was later stabbed and beaten again, suffering several permanent injuries.

Prison workers are not immune from the violence. At Trousdale in 2019, a counselor lost an eye and suffered other permanent injuries when an inmate attacked her with a homemade knife and raped her. Officials had withheld the inmate’s antipsychotic medication as punishment for illegal drug use.

In a 2023 state audit, a guard noted: “While at Trousdale, I feel unsafe at all times.”

Leventis, the U.S. attorney, noted that Tennessee has known of problems at its CoreCivic facilities. The state’s corrections agency has fined CoreCivic $37.7 million across four prisons since 2016, including $11.1 million for problems at Trousdale. The violations include failures to meet staffing requirements. The state comptroller released scathing audits in 2017, 2020 and 2023.


Yet state leaders have consistently downplayed the problems and renewed contracts with CoreCivic, a company that figures prominently in political spending. Tennessee is CoreCivic’s largest state customer, accounting for 10% of total revenue in 2023, according to a corporate filing. CEO Damon Hininger has even floated running for governor in 2026.

“CoreCivic has been a very important partner to the state,” Republican Gov. Bill Lee told reporters after the Trousdale investigation announcement.

When Dixon, the former Trousdale guard, testified to state lawmakers in 2017 about the deaths of Salada and a second prisoner, Jeff Mihm, the committee chairman tried to cut her off at a two-minute limit.

“She just told you about a death in one of our facilities, and we’re going to cut her off?” replied Democratic Rep. Bo Mitchell, prompting applause.

Mihm also had been denied psychiatric medication and treatment at Trousdale and killed himself in 2017, according to a lawsuit that eventually settled for $5,000.

“I think it’s very sad that it’s a small amount that they receive, because those people’s lives were worth much more than that,” Dixon told the AP after learning about the settlements.
Lack of medical care played a role

Many of the settled cases claim inmates were denied basic preventive care — diabetes medication, an inhaler, a walking cane, seizure drugs. Often the inmates were either not allowed to see a provider or the provider dismissed their concerns, the suits claim. They describe horrifying outcomes, including deaths from undiagnosed cancers and pneumonia, a suicide, a leg amputation and a brain injury.

At the Metro-Davidson County Detention Facility, Belinda Cockrill had extreme abdominal pain for months, unable to keep food down and losing more than 30 pounds (13.6 kilograms), but was treated primarily with diarrhea medication, according to a 2016 federal lawsuit brought by her mother.

Cockrill eventually became unresponsive and was rushed to the hospital, where she went into cardiac arrest and died. Only then was it discovered she had rectal cancer that spread to several organs.

Cockrill’s mother received a $45,000 settlement.

Kathy Spurgeon’s son Adam died in November when he developed an infection after heart surgery while an inmate at Trousdale. Spurgeon said she was misled about her son’s condition and he was denied medication, despite her requests.

Spurgeon didn’t sue CoreCivic because she feared retribution against her other son, Millard, who was moved to Trousdale after Adam’s death. She said prison gang members called, threatening to hurt Millard if she didn’t pay thousands in protection money, which she did.

“I couldn’t take a chance on getting my son killed,” Spurgeon said.

KRISTIN M. HALL
Hall is an Associated Press video journalist based in Nashville, Tennessee. She helps lead the video report in the Mid-South region.

Trousdale Turner Correctional Center operated by CoreCivic is seen Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Hartsville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Trousdale Turner Correctional Center operated by CoreCivic is seen Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Hartsville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Trousdale Turner Correctional Center operated by CoreCivic is seen Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Hartsville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)


A sign outside Trousdale Turner Correctional Center operated by CoreCivic is seen Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Hartsville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Trousdale Turner Correctional Center operated by CoreCivic is seen Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Hartsville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Trousdale Turner Correctional Center operated by CoreCivic is seen Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Hartsville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

India recalls ambassador from Canada in growing dispute over assassination of Sikh activist


Canada’s Deputy High Commissioner to India Stewart Wheeler, left, leaves after meeting with officials at the Indian government’s Ministry of External Affairs, in New Delhi, India, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo)

Canada’s Deputy High Commissioner to India Stewart Wheeler, speaks to media personnel after meeting with officials at the Indian government’s Ministry of External Affairs, in New Delhi, India, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo)

 October 14, 2024

NEW DELHI (AP) — India said Monday it is recalling its ambassador and other diplomats from Canada, hours after it rejected a Canadian notification that the ambassador was a “person of interest” in the assassination of a Sikh activist last year.

India’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it had also summoned the top Canadian diplomat in New Delhi and told him that “the baseless targeting” of the Indian high commissioner, or ambassador, and other diplomats and officials in Canada “was completely unacceptable.”

“We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security,” it said. “Therefore, the Government of India has decided to withdraw the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials.”

In September last year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were credible allegations that the Indian government had links to the assassination in that country of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India rejected the accusation as absurd.

In Ottawa, messages left for Canada’s foreign ministry, foreign minister and the prime minister’s office seeking comment were not immediately returned.

Canada and India expel each other’s diplomats in escalating dispute over a 2023 assassination

BY AIJAZ HUSSAIN, SHEIKH SAALIQ AND ROB GILLIES
 October 14, 2024

TORONTO (AP) — Canada and India each expelled six diplomats Monday in tit-for-tat moves as part of an escalating dispute over the June 2023 assassination of a Sikh activist in Canada.

Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said that Canada was expelling six Indian diplomats, including the high commissioner, after police uncovered evidence of a targeted campaign against Canadian citizens by agents of the Indian government.

Shortly afterward, the Indian foreign ministry said that it was expelling six Canadian diplomats, including the acting high commissioner and the deputy high commissioner. It said in a statement that the diplomats were told to leave India by the end of Saturday.

The ministry had said earlier Monday that India was withdrawing its diplomats, after rejecting Canada’s diplomatic communication on Sunday that said the Indian ambassador was a “person of interest” in the assassination.

A senior Canadian official said that Canada expelled the Indian diplomats first before they withdrew. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Joly said in a statement that police gathered information that established links between criminal investigations and Indian government agents. Joly said that India was asked to waive diplomatic and consular immunities and to cooperate in the investigation.

“Regrettably, as India did not agree and given the ongoing public safety concerns for Canadians, Canada served notices of expulsion to these individuals. Subsequent to those notices, India announced it would withdraw its officials,” Joly said.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last year that there were credible allegations that the Indian government had links to the June 2023 assassination in Canada of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

“The decision to expel these individuals was made with great consideration and only after the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) gathered ample, clear and concrete evidence which identified six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case,” Joly said in her statement.

“We continue to ask that the Indian government support the ongoing investigation in the Nijjar case, as it remains in both our countries’ interest to get to the bottom of this,” she said.

RCMP Mike Duheme said that police have evidence allegedly tying Indian government agents to other homicides and violent acts in Canada.

He declined to provide specifics, but also said there have been well over a dozen credible and imminent threats that have resulted in police warning members of the South Asian community, notably the pro-Khalistan, or Sikh independence, movement. He added that attempts to have discussions with Indian law enforcement were unsuccessful.

“The team has learned a significant amount of information about the breadth and depth of criminal activity orchestrated by agents of the government of India, and consequential threats to the safety and security of Canadians and individuals living in Canada,” Duheme said.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Brigitte Gauvin called it extremely concerning.

“Indian diplomats and consular officials are there to protect the interests of their nationals based in Canada and their national interest and not to be part of criminal activity or intimidation, so we take that very seriously. That is without a doubt a contravention of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” Gauvin said.

India has rejected the accusation as absurd.

Nijjar, 45, was fatally shot in his pickup truck in June 2023 after he left the Sikh temple he led in the city of Surrey, British Columbia. An Indian-born citizen of Canada, he owned a plumbing business and was a leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland.

India designated him a terrorist in 2020, and at the time of his death had been seeking his arrest for alleged involvement in an attack on a Hindu priest.

In response to the allegations, India told Canada last year to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country. Ever since, the relations between the two countries have been frosty.

The pro-Khalistan movement is a thorny issue between India and Canada. New Delhi has repeatedly criticized Trudeau’s government for being soft on supporters of the Khalistan movement who reside in Canada. The Khalistan movement is banned in India, but has support among the Sikh diaspora, particularly in Canada.

India has been asking countries like Canada, Australia and the U.K. to take legal action against Sikh activists. India has particularly raised these concerns with Canada, where Sikhs make up nearly 2% of the country’s population.

The Indian foreign ministry said Monday that “India reserves the right to take further steps in response to the Trudeau government’s support for extremism, violence and separatism against India.”

The ministry also summoned the top Canadian diplomat in New Delhi and told him that “the baseless targeting” of the Indian high commissioner, or ambassador, and other diplomats and officials in Canada “was completely unacceptable.”

“We have no faith in the current Canadian government’s commitment to ensure their security,” it said.

Stewart Wheeler, the Canadian diplomat who was directed to leave India, told reporters after being summoned that his government has shared “incredible and irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.”

Wheeler said India must investigate the allegations and that Canada “stands ready to cooperate with India.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department said in a statement Monday that an Indian enquiry committee set up to investigate a plot to assassinate another prominent Sikh separatist leader living in New York would be traveling to Washington on Tuesday as part of their ongoing investigations to discuss the case.

“Additionally, India has informed the United States they are continuing their efforts to investigate other linkages of the former government employee and will determine follow-up steps, as necessary,” it said.

Last year, U,S, prosecutors said that an Indian government official directed the plot to assassinate Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil and announced charges against a man they said was part of the thwarted conspiracy.


The Indian government official was niether charged nor identified by name, but was described as a “senior field officer” with responsibilities in security management and intelligence, said to have previously served in India’s Central Reserve Police Force.

New Delhi at that time had expressed concern after the U.S. raised the issue, and said India takes it seriously.
___

Sheik Saaliq reported from New Delhi, and Aijaz Hussain from Srinagar, India.

AMERIKA

Indigenous Peoples Day celebrated with an eye on the election

AKA COLUMBUS DAY

Performers from the Native American Hoop Dance of Ballet Arizona dance at an Indigenous Peoples Day festival, Oct. 9, 2023, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

 Khalako Lloyd, 2, of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes, beats on a drum while carried on the shoulder of his father, Julius Lloyd during a celebratory march for Indigenous Peoples Day, Oct. 9, 2023, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)

- An American Indian Movement flag is flow during a march for Indigenous Peoples Day, Oct. 12, 2015, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

- Hopi children dance in front of City Hall on Indigenous Peoples Day in Flagstaff, Ariz., Oct. 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca, File)

Tatanka Gibson of the Haliwa-Saponi/Nansemond Tribal Nations leads attendees in song and dance during a gathering marking Indigenous Peoples Day at Penn Treaty Park, Oct. 11, 2021, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

BY HALLIE GOLDEN
Updated 8:54 AM MDT, October 14, 2024Share


As Native Americans across the U.S. come together on Monday for Indigenous Peoples Day to celebrate their history and culture and acknowledge the ongoing challenges they face, many will do so with a focus on the election.

From a voting rally in Minneapolis featuring food, games and raffles to a public talk about the Native vote at Virginia Tech, the holiday, which comes about three weeks before Election Day, will feature a wide array of events geared toward Native voter mobilization and outreach amid a strong recognition of the power of their votes.

In 2020, Native voters proved decisive in the presidential election. Voter turnout on tribal land in Arizona increased dramatically compared with the previous presidential election, helping Joe Biden win a state that hadn’t supported a Democratic candidate in a White House contest since 1996.

Janeen Comenote, executive director of the National Urban Indian Family Coalition, which is involved with at least a dozen of these types of voting events across the country, said this year it’s especially important to mobilize Native voters because the country is selecting the president. But she cautioned that Native people are in no way a monolith in terms of how they vote.


Native Americans in Montana ask court for voting sites on reservation


“We’re really all about just getting Native voters out to vote, not telling them how to vote. But sort of understanding that you have a voice and you’re a democracy, a democracy that we helped create,” said Comenote, a citizen of the Quinault Indian Nation.

In Arizona, her coalition is partnering with the Phoenix Indian Center to hold a town hall Monday called “Democracy Is Indigenous: Power Of The Native Vote,” which will feature speakers and performances, along with Indigenous artwork centered on democracy.

In Apex, North Carolina, about 14 miles (23 kilometers) southwest of Raleigh, the coalition is working with the Triangle Native American Society for an event expected to include a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 and a booth with nonpartisan voter information and giveaways.

While not a federal holiday, Indigenous Peoples Day is observed by 17 states, including Washington, South Dakota and Maine, as well as Washington, D.C., according to the Pew Research Center. It typically takes place on the second Monday in October, which is the same day as the Columbus Day federal holiday.

Imprisoned Belarus activist who was a symbol of defiance hasn’t been heard from for months

Belarus opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova stands behind bars in a defendants’ cage in a court in Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 4, 2021. (Ramil Nasibulin/BelTA pool photo via AP, File)

BY YURAS KARMANAU
October 13, 2024


TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The last time any of Maria Kolesnikova’s family had contact with the imprisoned Belarusian opposition activist was more than 18 months ago. Fellow inmates at the penal colony reported hearing her plead for medical help from inside her tiny and smelly cell.

Her father, Alexander Kolesnikov, told The Associated Press by phone from Minsk that he knows she’s seriously ill and tried to visit her several months ago at the facility near Gomel, where she is serving an 11-year sentence, but has failed whenever he goes there.

On his last attempt, he said the warden told him, “If she doesn’t call or doesn’t write, that means she doesn’t want to.”

The 42-year-old musician-turned-activist is known to have been hospitalized in Gomel in May or June, but the outcome was unclear, said a former prisoner who identified herself only as Natalya because she feared retaliation from authorities.

“I can only pray to God that she is still alive,” Kolesnikov said in an interview. “The authorities are ignoring my requests for a meeting and for letters — it is a terrible feeling of impotence for a father.”

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Kolesnikova gained prominence when mass protests erupted in Belarus after the widely disputed August 2020 election gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office. With her close-cropped hair, broad smile and a gesture of forming her outstretched hands into the shape of a heart, she often was seen at the front of the demonstrations.

She became an even greater symbol of defiance in September of that year when Belarusian authorities tried to deport her. Driven to the Ukrainian border, she briefly broke away from security forces in the neutral zone at the frontier and tore up her passport, then walked back into Belarus. She was convicted a year later of charges including conspiracy to seize power.

Natalya, whose cell was next to Kolesnikova’s before being released in August, said she had not heard her talking to guards for six months. Other inmates heard Kolesnikova’s pleas for medical assistance, she said, but reported that doctors did not come for “a very long time.”

In November 2022, Kolesnikova was moved to an intensive care ward to undergo surgery for a perforated ulcer. Other prisoners become aware of her movements because “it feels like martial law has been declared” in the cellblock, Natalya said. “Other prisoners are strictly forbidden not only to talk, but even to exchange glances with Maria.”

Her sister, Tatiana Khomich, said she was told by former inmates that the 5-foot-9-inch Kolesnikova weighed only about 45 kilograms (100 pounds).

“They are slowly killing Maria, and I consider that this is a critical period because no one can survive in such conditions,” said Khomich, who lives outside Belarus.

The last time Kolesnikova wrote from prison was in February 2023. Letters to her “are ripped up before her eyes by prison personnel,” her sister said, relaying accounts from other former inmates.

Kolesnikova, who before the 2020 protests was a classical flautist who was especially knowledgable about baroque music, is one of several major Lukashenko opponents to disappear behind bars.

The prisons department of the Belarusian Interior Ministry refused to comment on Kolesnikova’s case.

The U.N. Human Rights Committee has repeatedly demanded Belarusian authorities take “urgent protective measures” in relation to Kolesnikova and other political prisoners held incommunicado. In September, the European Parliament demanded that Belarus release all political prisoners.

Former inmates say Kolesnikova wore a yellow tag that indicates a political prisoner. That marks them for additional abuse by guards and officials, rights advocates say.

The human rights group Viasna counts about 1,300 political prisoners in Belarus, including the group’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning founder, Ales Bialiatsky. At least six have died behind bards.

“It was too late to save Alexei Navalny (from prison in Russia), and it was too late for six people in Belarus. We and the Western world don’t have much time to save Maria’s life,” Khomich said.

Amnesty International has begun a campaign to raise awareness about Kolesnikova’s fate, urging people to take up her plight with Western officials and politicians.

Other prominent opposition figures who are imprisoned and have not been heard from in a year or more include Siarhei Tsikhanouski, who planned to challenge Lukashenko in the 2020 election but was imprisoned; his wife, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, took his place on the ballot and was forced to leave the country the day after the vote.

Aspiring opposition candidate Viktar Babaryka also was imprisoned before the election as his popularity among prospective voters soared. Kolesnikova was his campaign manager but then joined forces with Tsikhanouskaya. Prominent opposition figure Mikola Statkevich and Kolesnikova’s lawyer, Maxim Znak, are imprisoned and have not contacted the outside world since the winter of 2023.

Lukashenko denies Belarus has any political prisoners. At the same time, in recent months he has unexpectedly released 115 prisoners whose cases had political elements; those released had health problems, wrote petitions for pardons and repented.

Belarus is deeply integrated with Russia and some observers believe Lukashenko is concerned about the extent of his dependence on Moscow, hoping to restore some ties with the EU by releasing political prisoners ahead of a presidential election next year.

“Minsk is returning to the practice of bargaining with the West to try to soften sanctions and achieve at least partial recognition of the results of the upcoming presidential election,” said Belarusian analyst Alexander Friedman. “Lukashenko’s regime is interested in not becoming part of Russia and therefore wants at least some communication with the West, offering to talk about political prisoners”

Lukashenko’s critics and human rights activists say they see no real change in government policy, since all leading pro-democracy figures are still behind bars and authorities have seized three times as many opposition activists to refill the prisons.

“It is difficult to consider these pardons as a real thaw, since the repressions continue, but the West should encourage Lukashenko to continue releasing political prisoners,” Khomich said. “The regime is sending clear signals to Western countries about its readiness to release people, and it’s very important that (the signal) is heard, and the opportunity is seized.”

 Activist Maria Kolesnikova, right, presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, center, and Veronkika Tsepkalo, left, wife of unregistered candidate Valery Tsepkalo, gesture at a rally in Minsk, Belarus, on July 19, 2020. (AP Photo, File)

THE DICKTATOR IN CIVIES

 Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko addresses supporters at Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 16, 2020. (AP Photo, File)

 Belarus opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova gestures on the way to the Belarusian Investigative Committee in Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 27, 2020. (AP Photo, File)

 Opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova greets protesters at a rally in front of a government building in Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 22, 2020. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)

 In this image made from video provided by the State TV and Radio Company of Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko greets riot police near the Palace of Independence in Minsk, Belarus, amid street protests on Aug. 23, 2020. (State TV and Radio Company of Belarus via AP, File)

Belarus opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova gestures during a rally in Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 30, 2020. (AP Photo, File)

Belarus opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova gestures during a rally in Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 30, 2020. (AP Photo, File)

 Belarus opposition activists Maria Kolesnikova attends a court hearing in Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 4, 2021. (Ramil Nasibulin/BelTA pool photo via AP, File)

YURAS KARMANAU
Karmanau is an Associated Press journalist covering Belarus and the CIS countries. He has worked in Belarus and Ukraine, as well as other countries in the region, for more than 20 years. He is part of the team that covers the Russia-Ukraine war.

In Denmark, 50 well-preserved Viking Age skeletons have been unearthed, a rare discovery

Archaeologists in Denmark say they have unearthed a Viking Age burial ground, containing 50 “exceptionally well-preserved” skeletons. The skeletons are so complete, experts hope to conduct special DNA analyses, perhaps reconstructing detailed life histories as well as looking into social patterns in Viking Age Denmark. (AP video shot by James Brooks)

Skeletons and skulls sit in graves at an excavation site of a 10th century Viking burial ground in Aasum, Denmark, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

Skeletons and skulls sit in graves at an excavation site of a 10th century Viking burial ground in Aasum, Denmark, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

Skeletons and skulls sit in graves at an excavation site of a 10th century Viking burial ground in Aasum, Denmark, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

BY JAMES BROOKS
 October 14, 2024


AASUM, Denmark (AP) —

In a village in central Denmark, archeologists made a landmark discovery that could hold important clues to the Viking era: a burial ground, containing some 50 “exceptionally well-preserved” skeletons.

“This is such an exciting find because we found these skeletons that are so very, very well preserved,” said archeologist Michael Borre Lundø, who led the six-month dig. “Normally, we would be lucky to find a few teeth in the graves, but here we have entire skeletons.”

The skeletons were preserved thanks to favorable soil chemistry, particularly chalk and high water levels, experts from Museum Odense said. The site was discovered last year during a routine survey, ahead of power line renovation work on the outskirts of the village of Aasum, 5 kilometers (3 miles), northeast of Odense, Denmark’s third-largest city.
Experts hope to conduct DNA analyses and possibly reconstruct detailed life histories, as well as looking into social patterns in Viking Age, such as kinship, migration patterns and more.

“This opens a whole new toolbox for scientific discovery,” said Borre Lundø as he stood on the muddy, wind-swept excavation site. “Hopefully we can make a DNA analysis on all the skeletons and see if they are related to each other and even where they come from.”


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During the Viking Age, considered to run from 793 to 1066 A.D., Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raids, colonizing, conquering and trading throughout Europe, even reaching North America.

The Vikings unearthed at Aasum likely weren’t warriors. Borre Lundø believes the site was probably a “standard settlement,” perhaps a farming community, located 5 kilometers from a ring fortress in what’s now central Odense.

The 2,000-square meter (21,500-square foot) burial ground holds the remains of men, women and children. Besides the skeletons, there are a few cremated bodies.

In one grave, a woman is buried in a wagon -- the higher part of a Viking cart was used as a coffin — suggesting she was from the “upper part of society,” Borre Lundø told The Associated Press.

Archeologists also unearthed brooches, necklace beads, knives, and even a small shard of glass that may have served as an amulet.

Borre Lundø said the brooch designs suggest the dead were buried between 850 and 900 A.D.

“There’s different levels of burials,” he explained. “Some have nothing with them, others have brooches and pearl necklaces.”

Archeologists say many of the artefacts came from far beyond Denmark’s borders, shedding light on extensive Viking trade routes during the 10th century.

“There’s a lot of trade and commerce going on,” said Borre Lundø. “We also found a brooch that comes from the island of Gotland, on the eastern side of Sweden, but also whetstones for honing your knife … all sorts of things point to Norway and Sweden.”

The burial site was discovered last year, and the dig, which started in April, ended Friday. Boxes of artefacts have shipped to Museum Odense’s preservation labs for cleaning and analysis

Conservator Jannie Amsgaard Ebsen hopes the soil may also hold other preserved organic material on the backs of brooches or knife handles.


“We’re really hoping to gain the larger picture. Who were the people that were living out there? Who did they interact with?” she said. “It’s a little bit like a jigsaw puzzle: all the various puzzle parts will be placed together.”