Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS) is expressing deep concern over the recent acquittal of a man who attacked a woman in 2019 while under the influence of magic mushrooms and cannabis. Leon-Jamal Barrett was charged with break and enter to commit the indictable offence of sexual assault, sexual assault, resisting or wilfully obstructing a peace officer in the execution of their duties, and public nudity, all concerning a bizarre series of events that occurred in the early morning hours of March 9, 2019, in Surrey.
The public nudity charge
Khalistanis active on our soil: Canada intel
A report by the Canadian intelligence agency has acknowledged the use of country’s soil by Khalistani extremists as a base for “promotion, fundraising or planning” of violence in India, but also accused New Delhi of foreign interference.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) report on activities in 2024 came out a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi left the country after attending the G7 Summit.
The report said Canada-based Khalistani extremists (CBKEs) were seeking to use and support violent means to create an independent nation state — Khalistan — largely within Punjab, India.
“A small group of individuals are considered Khalistani extremists because they continue to use Canada as a base for the promotion, fundraising or planning of violence primarily in India,” it said.
While there were no attacks by such elements in Canada in 2024, their ongoing involvement in violent activities continued to pose a “national security threat” to Canada and its interests, the report said. Continued on Page 13...
was stayed before trial. In a ruling posted online in March, Judge Hinkson said this was an unusual case. “There is no doubt as to whether or not Mr. Barrett did what he is accused of,” Hinkson wrote. However, Barrett was acquitted on all charges as the judge ruled he was too high on mushrooms to know what he was doing when he violently attacked a stranger.Barrett described a complex hallucination from the mushrooms in which he concluded that humanity was corrupt and destined to be punished.
Continued on Page 3...
Originally from the GTA, she played on Canada’s youth national soccer team. At 16, she entered university in the U.S. on athletic scholarships, where she excelled on the pitch and in the classroom and earned the first of five postsecondary degrees. A coach told a Connecticut TV station her competitive drive could easily lead her to becoming a lawyer, a doctor, or “a UN ambassador.”
Continued on Page 7...
A day after he organized a public forum to talk about extortionists targeting South Asian business owners in Surrey, organizer Satish Kumar says, “My life is on the line. My family’s life is on the line.” Kumar, the president of the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir Temple and owner of Reflections Banquet Halls, said authorities are not
doing enough for South Asian businesses and individuals receiving threats from extortionists. Kumar’s life was threatened after he said he wouldn’t pay $2 million to an extortionist. He has since been targeted by two shootings. “Nobody in Canada has $2 million in cash,” said Kumar.
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A number of temporary residents and foreign students in Canada drops drastically, leading to lower population growth
Canada’s population rose at a slower pace in 2024 than in previous years as a series of steps taken by Ottawa to reduce the total number of temporary residents seem to be taking effect, according to Statistics Canada’s latest estimates. The population increased by 744,324 people in 2024, a growth rate of 1.8 per cent, according to Statistics Canada, which is lower than the 3.1 per cent rate posted in 2023 and 2.5 per cent in 2022. “This may reflect a transition back to the population growth patterns seen before the start of the pandemic,” Statistics Canada said on
March 19.
Continued on Page 10...
www.gabaautodetaling.com
Police arrest 18 South Asians in Toronto tow truck bust
Peel Regional Police describe Paritosh Chopra and Inderjit Dhami as the 'leaders' of a criminal network that targeted members of the South Asian business community.
Police in the Greater Toronto Area have arrested 18 people who they say are part of an organized network tied to the towing industry that is responsible for alleged acts of extortion and violence.
Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah on Monday announced the results of their operation, Project Outsource, from a podium encircled by seized tow trucks, firearms and a crossbow in a parking lot in Brampton, Ont.
Chief Duraiappah alleged that the criminal network used violence to threaten and extort drivers, and also staged vehicle collisions to defraud insurance providers. The violence included arson, threatening online messages and drive-by shootings, he said.
Peel police launched the investigation in July, 2024. Among those charged are Paritosh Chopra and Inderjit Dhami, whom Chief Duraiappah described as the “leaders” of the criminal network. He said the alleged crimes targeted members of the South Asian business community through two towing companies, which he identified as Humble Roadside and Certified Roadside.
Corporate records indicate that Mr. Chopra
and Mr. Dhami are listed as directors of Humble Roadside. Mr. Chopra is also listed as director of Certified Roadside.
Social-media accounts for both companies include the same telephone number. A woman who answered the phone told The Globe and Mail that she worked for Certified but said she did not know anything and hung up.
“The individuals were also involved with other criminal activities. The same people with access to the same means are doing a variety of different things, inclusive of fraud to the extent where a whole tow industry was exploiting vulnerable people,” Chief Duraiappah said.
The alleged crimes by the towing companies
“have been done in the name of international ties,” Acting Detective Sergeant Brian Lorette said, though police have yet to establish a direct link to anyone
A losing B.C. Conservative candidate who filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court claiming alleged election "irregularities" in the October provincial election has filed an amendment to that petition that contains what he describes as significant new evidence.
Singh and his lawyer, Sunny Uppal, held a press conference Tuesday (June 17) outside of Vancouver's Robson Square courthouse.
"The amended petition seeks a declaration that the election of Garry Begg is invalid and that the office should be declared vacant, along with other relief as deemed appropriate by the Court," stated Sunny Uppal, Randhawa's lawyer, in a press release Tuesday (June 17).
asking the Supreme Court of British Columbia to declare Begg's election invalid under Section 150 of the Election Act.
"The amended petition alleges substantial irregularities and violations of the Election Act, including voter intimidation, undue influence, and unauthorized use of mail-in ballots at a Surrey care facility, Argyll Lodge, affecting vulnerable residents," Uppal said. The amended petition also "flushed out the legal basis" to the facts Randhawa had stated in the original petition.
Honveer Singh Randhawa, who lost SurreyGuildford by 22 votes to New Democrat Garry Begg following a judicial recount, filed a petition at the New Westminster Supreme Court on Jan. 13
The petition details Randhawa's efforts to obtain information from Elections BC about who voted in Surrey-Guildford and the delays he encountered. It also lays out details about 18 alleged nonresident voters and two cases where it's alleged that an individual voted twice under slightly different names, as well as going into detail about Randhawa's previous allegations that voting at Argyll Lodge, a mental health facility in Surrey, may have been carried out improperly.
The petition is between Honveer Singh Randhawa and respondents Anton Boegman, the chief electoral officer; Rana Malhi, the district electoral officer; Surrey-Guildford MLA Garry Begg; and candidates Kabir Qurban and Manjeet Singh Sahota. Begg, Qurban and Sahota, along with Randhawa, ran in the October 2024 provincial election in the Surrey-Guildford riding. Randhawa said in a June 17 news release that, “Voters in Surrey-Guildford deserve transparency and accountability. This isn’t about politics—it’s about upholding the democratic rights of every voter and ensuring elections are conducted lawfully and transparently.”
The mother of a terminally ill nine-year-old girl said she is still processing news she received from the B.C. government on Wednesday.
Her daughter, Charleigh Pollock, has a neurological disorder called Batten disease that leaves her with recurring severe seizures and mobility loss, and will eventually cut her young life short. The B.C. government had been funding a drug called Brineura, which the family said has stabilized Charleigh’s condition and radically improved her quality of life since her 2019 diagnosis. On Wednesday, the government told Charleigh’s family that “Charleigh has met the
discontinuation criteria” and her last governmentfunded dose would be given on Thursday.
“I wholeheartedly did not think that this was going to be the outcome after the last five months,” Fales said. “So we’re still processing. Emotions have gone from sheer heartbreak to anger to sadness. It’s just, we’ve been on a roller coaster the last 24 hours. Today is a really sad day, taking Charleigh to the hospital for her last infusion.
“It’s been six years of doing this with my daughter. It’s tough.” Fales said Charleigh did not deserve this disease or this outcome and all they can do is love her and make every day count.
Air India Pilot's last words to air traffic control are a chilling prelude to tragedy
The plane slammed into a medical building in Ahmedabad, killing all but one of its 242 passengers. At least 24 people died on the ground, according to Reuters.
Sabharwal, 60, was just a few months away from retirement, his neighbors told the Indian Express. He had planned to take care of his 90-year-old father. He had a sister in Delhi whose sons are also commercial pilots, according to the outlet.
The lone survivor aboard, 38-year-old Vishwashkumar Ramesh, who lives in Leicester, England, said he suffered “impact injuries” to his chest, eyes and feet.
“When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran,” he told Hindustan Times. “There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.”
NDP formally asks RCMP to probe Rustad’s claim of MLA blackmailers
The chair of British Columbia’s NDP caucus has written to the RCMP requesting an investigation into allegations that former members of the BC Conservative Opposition tried to blackmail their ex-colleagues.The letter from Stephanie Higginson to Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald comes after BC Conservative Leader John Rustad wrote a letter to his caucus warning about the alleged blackmail by three MLAs and their staff.
One former party member said he welcomed the probe, saying Rustad made the blackmail allegations to “distract and change the conversation” about how his leadership was reconfirmed at the annual general meeting of the party. Independent Jordan Kealy said he had already asked for an independent audit of the leadership review.
“Maybe the Conservative Party, if they’ve got nothing to hide, will then open their books and actually show to their constituents, voters and members, that they’re telling the truth,” Kealy said in an interview.
Higginson said in the open letter written on behalf of the NDP caucus that there’s a significant public interest in determining the facts.
She said if any MLA or their staff are engaged in blackmail, British Columbians deserve to know, and perpetrators should be prosecuted.
On Monday, Rustad confirmed that he wrote a letter obtained by The Canadian Press in which he tells his caucus that their former colleagues and staff were threatening to release “blackmail materials,” including secretly recorded phone conversations and text messages. Rustad said in an interview then that he did not personally have recorded evidence of blackmail, but would not say if the party possessed it. “As I said earlier, I am not sure what has been provided to our legal staff around it. I don’t personally have it,” he said.
Asked if Rustad was available for an interview on Thursday, the BC Conservative Party said it had received advice not to comment further on the matter.
Anger after BC man acquitted in sex assault case
because he was high on drugs
Continued from Page 1...
“He was fixated on a belief that all life had started from one cell splitting into two and that he was a descendant of half of that cell,” Hinkson wrote.
“He believed God was commanding him to find the other half, a woman chosen by God, and that God would sacrifice both of them during an act of sexual congress in order to save humanity.”
When a woman did not come to his house, Barrett left his home and that’s when he saw the victim getting out of her car and go around the back of her house.
The victim testified that Barrett pushed her down and assaulted her.
She was able to get into her house and lock the door, eventually attracting the attention of neighbours who called the police.
Barrett was found not criminally responsible with
Hinkson accepting the defence of automatism, or actions performed without conscious thought or intention.
“This ruling is devastating. It tells survivors that their pain is real, but their pursuit of justice may be futile,” Angela Marie MacDougall, executive director of BWSS said in a statement.
“This woman fought for her life — biting, screaming, resisting — and yet the legal system sided with the man who harmed her, because he chose to get high. We cannot allow intoxication to become a shield from responsibility when it comes to sexual violence.”
In 2022, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down Section 33.1 of the Criminal Code, which had previously barred the use of extreme intoxication as a defence in cases involving sexual assault.
Dinesh K Patnaik likely to be India’s next high commissioner to Canada
Seasoned diplomat Dinesh K Patnaik is likely to be appointed as India’s new high commissioner to Canada with both sides looking at rebuilding bilateral ties that came under severe strain following the killing of a Sikh separatist in 2023, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
Patnaik, a 1990-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, is currently serving as India’s ambassador to Spain.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney on Tuesday agreed to pursue “constructive” steps to restore stability in India-Canada ties including the early return of envoys to each other’s capitals.
an all-time low following a diplomatic spat over the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The people cited above said Patnaik is likely to be succeeded in Spain by Jayant Khobragade. Khobragade is currently serving as India’s ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
In their meeting on the sidelines of G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Modi and Carney focused on repairing the frosty bilateral ties.
Ties between India and Canada plummeted to
The India-Canada relations hit rock bottom following then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations in 2023 of a potential Indian link to the killing of Nijjar. In October last year, India recalled its high commissioner and five other diplomats after Ottawa attempted to link them to the Nijjar case.
Ottawa unveils steel and aluminum measures to counter U.S. tariffs
Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday announced a series of measures to protect the Canadian steel and aluminum industries from the impacts of recently doubled U.S. tariffs, including steep anti-dumping quotas for foreign products that may be diverted to Canada.
Carney said the federal government will also introduce new rules on June 30 to ensure Canadian steel and aluminum and tariff-free products from “reliable trading partners” are prioritized for federal procurement.
As well, the government will ensure the auto industry and other supply chains are given the chance to prioritize domestic materials through remission processes that will be reviewed in the coming days.
“The steel and aluminum workers are on the front lines of this trade crisis,” Carney told reporters.
“In short, the government is responding to the impact of the unjust U.S. tariffs with multiple tools.”
Canada will establish new tariff rate quotas of 100 per cent of 2024 levels on imports of steel products from non-free trade agreement partners in order to prevent oversupply of those metals, the government said in a news release.
The anti-dumping measures have been among the top asks from industry and union leaders to protect the domestic sector. Carney told reporters the measures weren’t done at the request of the U.S. but were “a consequence of the U.S. actions.”
“As you know, the U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum are global tariffs,” he said.
“They’re not targeted specifically at Canada, but they of course affect our steel industries and our workers. And one of the consequences of that … is that steel from other countries, from third countries, starts to come into Canada if we don’t protect our industries.”
Carney said new tariffs will be imposed in the coming weeks to protect Canadian industries from unfair trading practices and overcapacity.
For all the importance of G7, Canada’s fortunes truly lie with China and India
Mark Carney’s meteoric rise to power unearthed a neglected fact of politics in the 21st-century: international relations matter.
The Trudeau Liberals did not understand this and governed according to the outdated maxim that “all politics is local.” And that has come up against the violent flux of a complex world where geopolitics and commerce are increasingly intertwined.
The heel-turn of the United States, a long-time trading partner and ally, has forced a recognition that good governance requires tactful design and maintenance of global interdependencies.
The Prime Minister didn’t waste any time travelling to Europe to shore up the transatlantic relationship and signal an intention to deepen security ties. And Mr. Carney went into this week’s G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alta., with great ambitions of building energy security and partnerships for infrastructure investments – “to meet challenges with unity, purpose and force.”
These are welcome developments, but Europe and the rest of the industrialized world will not provide the economic engine to drive diversification – the Indo-Pacific will play that role. The government must now make tough decisions and sacrifice limited domestic political capital for the country to reap economic rewards from the region, particularly China and India.
Mr. Carney has taken two positive initial steps on each of these relationships. The announcement this month that Canada and China will restart the defunct Joint Economic and Trade Commission
signals that the Carney government is ready to find a negotiated solution to the current trade dispute. Shortly thereafter he invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the G7 Leader’s Summit.
However, these initiatives are only the start as much more work remains to be done.
For too long, foreign policy was treated as fodder for domestic politics. Specifically, formidable challenges with China and India – the world’s two largest countries – were met with theatre and diplomatic negligence. When nuance was needed to balance interests, the government opted to follow rather than lead.
Now Mr. Carney has a technocratic tool kit that stands unrivalled amongst recent Canadian leaders. But meeting the moment will require more than knowing which levers to pull and dials to turn. Wayward foreign policy damaged relationships with key growth markets critical for any meaningful trade diversification strategy, most importantly China and India. Fixing this will require reconciling the tension between values and interests.
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OPINION
Why Canada invited India to the G7 Summit
When Canada reversed its initial decision and extended a last-minute invitation to India for the G7 Summit in Alberta, it sent ripples through diplomatic circles. What began as a notable omission has become a case study of how geopolitics and economic pragmatism can outweigh bilateral tensions.
India’s invitation is more than a symbolic gesture—it reflects a growing global consensus: in a fragmented world order.
An Unexpected Reversal
India was not on Canada’s original list of invitees for the 2025 G7 Summit, despite having attended the last three summits hosted by Germany (2022), Japan (2023), and Italy (2024). This absence initially appeared deliberate, especially in light of the ongoing diplomatic row between Canada and India.
However, diplomatic pressure from other G7 members, especially in Europe, reportedly led Canada to revise its stance.
In today’s era of shifting alliances and multipolarity, the cost of excluding India—a rising economic and strategic partner— was too high.
One of the central reasons for India’s late but crucial inclusion is its rising importance in Europe’s and the West’s geopolitical calculations.The war in Ukraine, combined with the unpredictability of American foreign policy under President Donald Trump has shaken Europe’s faith in its traditional partners. As the EU finds itself squeezed between a resurgent Russia and a disruptive China, it is looking eastward toward stable, democratic, and economically dynamic IndoPacific countries. India fits perfectly in that calculation.
This sentiment was echoed in February 2025, when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited India with a full delegation. Before this, in 2022, President Ursula and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the India-EU Trade and Technology Council, only the second such platform globally (the other being with the US).
Alarmed by Trump’s tariff policy, India and the UK have already signed an FTA while India-EU FTA negotiations are ongoing. This strategic engagement signals Europe’s growing recognition of India as a key partner in securing supply chains, tech standards, and regional balance in the Indo-Pacific.
Both the EU and UK see India as a counterweight to an assertive China, as well as a lucrative market with a burgeoning middle class. According to Eurostat, EU-India trade in goods reached €120 billion in 2023, making India the EU’s 9th largest trading partner.
Premier David Eby acknowledged concerns Tuesday about B.C. Ferries’ contract with a Chinese state-owned shipyard, but he said there is little his government can do to change it and the four new vessels being procured are urgently needed.
Speaking to reporters at the legislature, Eby said the contract with Weihai Shipyards is the result of a five-year procurement process and that it would cost billions of dollars to force the ferry provider to find another supplier.
At the same time, Eby said he is planning to work with the federal government and Prime Minister Mark Carney to ensure any future vessels can be built
either in the province itself or at least somewhere else in Canada. “I am going to be reaching out to the prime minister to work with him to ensure that we’re building capacity so that ships 5, 6, 7, and 8 can be built right here in British Columbia. It’s important to me that wherever we can, we’re building Canadian we’re creating Canadian jobs,” said the premier.
“But it’s equally vital to me that when there’s no Canadian company willing to bid on the contract, that we don’t leave families sitting on the tarmac waiting for a ferry because the propeller fell off, because it’s 50 years old. We need the ferries urgently, and we’ve got to go.”
Driver in BC hit and run sentenced in unrelated sexual assault of a minor
A man already behind bars for a high-profile hit and run in which an Irish student was killed has been sentenced to three more years in jail in an unrelated case.
Alexandre Romero-Arata is set to be sentenced for the sexual assault of a minor in a separate case. This sentence comes on the third anniversary of a collision in Kitsilano that left 24-year-old Eoghan Byrne dead.
Romero-Arata pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death in that 2022 case and was sentenced to five years in prison and an eight-year driving ban. On Thursday, he was sentenced in an unrelated sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl. He was convicted by a jury in December 2023 for the incident that took place in a Vancouver hotel in 2021.
The jury heard that the assault involved choking the victim, pulling her hair and slapping her on the face and breasts.
In a statement, the victim’s mother said that what was done to her daughter was inexcusable and shattered their lives. In the crash that killed Bryne, the court heard that Romero-Arata had been drinking, was driving at speeds of up to 152 km/h and ran multiple red lights. Video recorded by a passenger in his vehicle showed him, at one point, saying, “I ain’t stopping for no red light.”
After the deadly collision, Romero-Arata fled the scene and then falsely reported his vehicle as stolen. In the sexual assault case, the Crown and defence agreed that any sentence should be served after he is finished serving his sentence for the fatal hit and run.
British Columbia’s forestry industry isn’t doing enough to help prevent cut the risk of wildfires, a new report has found.
The report, released Thursday, caps a two-year investigation by B.C.’s Forest Practices Board, and concluded that much of the problem is based on outdated rules and unclear responsibilities.
The probe looked at forestry activities between 2019 and 2022 in the Sea to Sky, Chicotin and Peace regions, specifically in interface areas deemed “high” or “extreme” wildfire threats.
The wildland-urban interface is a roughly twokilometre area where human development, such as homes and infrastructure, meets or intermingles with wildland vegetation.
standards, according to the report.
The report also raised concerns about fire abatement work at logging sites, a process that includes chipping, piling and burning debris to reduce fire risks.
It found that while a majority of operators are meeting their obligations, about one-third of the cutblocks the board reviewed failed to meet their legal requirements or else needed more work to comply on time.
It also raised concerns about the current Wildfire Regulation, which allows companies to leave logging debris on sites for up to 30 months, meaning flammable debris can be on the ground through multiple fire seasons.
“It’s been a well-known area of concern in the province for making communities safe from wildfire,” Keith Atkinson, chair of the Forest Practices Board, told Global News.
“Is our work helping or hurting risk reduction in the wildland-urban interface? Fewer than a quarter of such assessments were completed on time, while 30 per cent didn’t meet legal content
“In today’s environment, we know the risks are high, we know the climate, the drought conditions really bring attention to that risk as being too high, and we think that should change,” Atkinson said.
“Policies should change to require them to abate that problem as soon as possible.”
Municipalities, meanwhile, are not currently included in the province’s legal definition of interface zones.
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“We don’t have the money to pay these guys.”
Surrey police say they have received at least 10 reports of extortion threats targeting South Asian businesses and individuals, and that the issue is not limited to their city.
When the first calls came five or six months ago, Kumar ignored them and blocked the number. They began again a few weeks ago.
Most of the calls appear to come from New Zealand or Italy, said Kumar.
“This time, I picked up the phone, they asked me for the money and said we are going to kill you and kill my family,” said Kumar.
He knows that refusing to pay, speaking out and organizing a safety forum only puts him in harm’s way.
“When you stand up against violence, you may suffer from it,” said Kumar.
At 2:15 a.m. on Saturday, Kumar’s business Satish Accounting Services in Surrey was shot at. A business he sold several years ago, Hub Insurance, was shot at on June 10.
Kumar’s Reflections Banquet Hall in Surrey was shot at in the early hours of June 7. Bullets broke a $23,000 window.
Fear increased after Satwinder Sharma, a 56-year-old Abbotsford resident whose company supplies farm labour in B.C., was shot to death in a Surrey office building on June 11.
Authorities have not said whether the killing is
linked to extortion threats.
At Sunday’s safety forum, Kumar announced a $100,000 reward for tips leading to arrests in the extortion cases.
“We’re done waiting,” said Kumar. “We’ve gone to the police, to our MLAs, to our MPs. Today was not a plea. It was a declaration. If you’re in a position of power and still not acting, we’re going to start calling you out by name.”
Sunday’s safety forum was attended by political and policing leaders including Sukh Dhaliwal, MP for Surrey-Newton, Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke, Public Safety Minister Gary Begg, Surrey Police Chief Norm Lipinski and RCMP Supt. Wendy Mehat.
Dhaliwal said he is deeply concerned about the growing number of threats and extortion attempts targeting local businesses. I have spoken directly with the Minister of Public Safety and the Secretary of State for Combatting Crime as well as provincial and municipal authorities. Surrey Police Services said they have launched a dedicated extortions investigations team with serious crime investigators and surveillance-trained officers.
“This team will operate independently but also work with other agencies and task forces,” said Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton of Surrey Police. Also involved is the RCMP unit that helps police Surrey as the new Surrey force continues to recruit officers.
For years, Canada’s housing market was a sprint – rapid price increases, bidding wars, and frenzied speculation. But in the last year or so, the mood shifted: Sales slumped, headlines warned of stagnation, and dinner-party chatter turned away from house flipping and toward tariffs.
Despite fears, Canada’s housing market has not collapsed – it’s just caught its breath. It’s a much-needed reset toward something healthier and more sustainable – and it’s long overdue. While the timing of the market cooldown is causing pain for some owners and investors, the more rational market is healthier overall for Canadians. After two decades of unprecedented growth in the housing sector, we’re now entering a new era where housing may actually lose its value as a speculative asset and regain its role as a place to live, grow and
Continued from Page 1...
She graduated from law school, where she won awards and worked summers at the Crown law office in Toronto. After passing the bar exam, she landed a dream articling position at a sports law firm. It allowed her to work remotely and play professional soccer in Norway. Then came the rumblings online; her life fell apart — and she had to pick a new name.
Two years ago, Nadya Gill and her twin, Amira, now 26, were outed as “pretendians,” first by online sleuths and then a reporter in Nunavut, for falsely claiming to be Inuit to receive scholarships and grants. In September 2023, the RCMP charged the sisters and their mother, Karima Manji, with fraud.
Last year, it was Manji alone who pleaded guilty, admitting she sent enrolment forms to Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI) with the false information that she’d adopted her own daughters from an Iqaluit woman.
The forms were approved and she was provided enrolment cards that entitled the twins access to benefits earmarked for Inuit students.
Manji had in fact given birth to her daughters in Mississauga in 1998. In court, it was revealed that the girls had received more than $158,000 for their education from September 2020 to March 2023.
To many, Nadya’s successes were a slap in the face and a reminder of the harm caused by more famous Canadians who’ve been exposed for falsely claiming to be Indigenous. In March 2024, Toronto Life magazine published an exposé on the family under the headline, “The Great Pretenders: How two faux Inuit sisters cashed in on a life of deception.”
It went to press before a judge in Iqaluit sentenced Manji to three years in prison and called the twins “victims.” On a warm sunny morning this past week in an Etobicoke park not far from where she grew up, the Star spoke with Nadya Gill under her new
invest sustainably.
According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, national home sales in April were down nearly 10 per cent from the previous year. The national average sale price declined 3.9 per cent year-over-year. In May, sales crept up a bit, but the overall market remained tepid. This might sound like bad news, but it’s not. In some regions, prices surged over 50 per cent from 2020 to 2022. That pace was never sustainable, and today’s price levelling is a natural reset. Affordability remains a significant challenge for new buyers seeking to enter the market, and further price escalation would only exacerbate the issue.
The result is a more rational market – and that’s a good thing. Buyers no longer have to fear blind bidding wars. Sellers are pricing based on fundamentals.
name, Jordan Archer, about her involvement in Canada’s first criminal case of Indigenous identity fraud.
In the basic facts, Archer’s story is this: She’s a first generation Canadian, born to a mother who immigrated from Tanzania and lived for only a brief period in Nunavut. Her father, Gurmail Gill, is British. No member of the family is Inuit, nor of Indigenous background.
Still, Archer says, the story the public thinks they know is wrong — not that her version will convince everyone who sees her as a villain. “How would you have expected me to know,” Archer says, referring to her teenage self while sitting on a park bench in athletic wear after jumping off an old hybrid bike.
“Put yourself in my shoes. If your mom came up to you, gave you the story, with proof.”
“Proof,” Archer says, was the Inuit enrolment card her mother applied for — by outright fraud — in February 2016, when Archer was 17 and already going to school in the U.S. Like many teens, Archer says she was only too happy to let her mother handle all her applications, finances and logistics.
Manji was controlling, the kind of “soccer mom” who would scold her daughter after a match if she hadn’t performed up to her standards. She was also someone a judge would call a “habitual and persistent fraudster.” At the time she filed the false applications, Manji was already facing serious fraud charges.
In August 2017, she was sentenced for defrauding the charity March of Dimes, her longtime employer, of $850,000, for which she received a noncustodial sentence after reimbursing $650,000.
As unlikely as it may sound — the case was publicized — Archer says she wasn’t aware of those charges until much later. At the time, she was living in the U.S. and had distanced herself from her mom, who still controlled many of her life decisions.
Police are investigating three separate fatal collisions in the last week involving pedestrians across the province.
Early Wednesday morning, a pedestrian was killed in a crash that shut down several lanes of the Lougheed Highway in Pitt Meadows.
Ridge Meadows RCMP said officers responded around 2:40 a.m. to reports of a serious vehicle incident that involved a pedestrian in the 18900 block of the highway. They said the female pedestrian was deceased when they arrived. Lougheed Highway's westbound lanes at Harris Road were shut down until just before 11 a.m., when DriveBC said they had reopened.
Notorious BC pimp, trafficker has sentence reduced on appeal
Reza Moazami, a B.C. man who was convicted of 30 crimes involving the trafficking, pimping, sexual assault and exploitation of 11 young female victims, has had his prison sentence reduced.
Moazami’s 23-year-sentence – originally handed down in 2015 – was reduced to 20 years and eight months by B.C.’s Court of Appeal Thursday. Moazami was the first person ever convicted of human trafficking in B.C. His victims ranged from 14 to 19 years old, his crimes spanning a two-anda-half-year period.
“It is important to point out, and indeed to stress, that the appellant’s criminal conduct was grave and morally reprehensible. He engaged in predatory and exploitative criminal behaviour toward a large number of vulnerable young victims. His conduct was punctuated by coercion
Two
and sexual violence toward a number of them,” Justice Janet Winteringham wrote in a unanimous decision of the three-judge panel.
“Every one of the appellant’s victims was an individual who suffered indignity at the hands of the appellant. All were traumatized, some severely, to the point that they continued to struggle years afterward.”
Moazami appealed his sentence on multiple grounds and sought to introduce “fresh evidence” about the misconduct of the lead detective on the case, Jim Fisher – who pleaded guilty of breach of trust and sexual exploitation involving one of the victims. The application to introduce this evidence was dismissed, as was Moazami’s bid for a “sentencing remedy” on constitutional grounds due to “egregious misconduct by state agents,”
BC men fined $40,000 for illegal prawn harvest off Vancouver Island
Two men have been fined more than $40,000 for illegally harvesting prawns and other fishing offences.
In separate cases, commercial fishers Scott Castle and Terry Lorenz were accused of harvesting illegally in a closed area of Stuart Channel near Ladysmith off the south coast of Vancouver Island in 2022.
On April 29, Castle was found guilty in Nanaimo provincial court of remotely instructing vessel master Lorenz to fish in the closed area over several days.
The illegal harvest was reported to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans on May 30, 2022, during a commercial prawn fishery closure in the area. Castle was also found guilty of the sale of the illegally harvested prawns and for failing to
complete mandatory forms as required under the Fisheries Act.
Lorenz was convicted of the same offences on May 15 in Nanaimo court.
Castle was fined $30,000 for fishing during a closure and for the licence violations and $8,228 from the proceeds of the sale of the illegally caught harvest. Lorenz was fined $3,000 and banned from fishing for five years.
Fisheries and Oceans said illegal harvesting harms B.C.’s lucrative commercial prawn fishery, which was worth over $50 million in 2022, and threatens conservation efforts. Fishing in closed areas could deplete the population of female prawns needed for reproduction, said the federal agency. In B.C., female prawns typically spawn between January and April.
Surrey police vow to tackle extortion threats 'head on'
Concerned that not all victims of an extortion scheme targeting members of B.C.’s South Asian community have come forward, Surrey police are urging anyone who has received threats to contact them. “It is critical to all of us … that we tackle this trend of extortions head on, with significant police resources and intelligence-led investigative work,” Surrey Police Service Chief Norm Lipinski said Friday. “It is equally important that we collaborate with the victims and the broader community so we can deal with this issue together.”
The extortion scheme, which has been reported in cities across Canada, often involves a letter, phone call or social media message demanding money and threatening violence. The person often references criminal connections and activities outside Surrey, said police. Over the past six month, there have been 10 reports of extortion attempts in Surrey. But the scheme goes back farther than that, with threats and drive-by shootings first reported
in B.C. in 2023.
The murder of businessman Satwinder Sharma at his Fleetwood office on Wednesday afternoon has heightened tensions even more. Homicide investigators believe the shooting was targeted, and have not linked it to the extortion scheme.
Satish Kumar, another Surrey businessman whose banquet hall was shot at earlier this week after he received a threatening phone call, is helping to organize a public safety forum at Reflections Banquet Hall on Sunday. He said it is important not to give in or the demands will escalate.
“I’m not afraid. The maximum they can do is kill me. I’m ready for that shot, and my family is ready for that shot. What happens, happens. You die one time, what are you going to do?” he told Postmedia on Thursday. “We discourage anyone from responding to such demands. Officers are working to prevent these traumatizing situations and to hold those responsible to account,” she said.
Surrey man killed in hit and run in South Okanagan
A 22-year-old Surrey man is dead after a hitand-run crash near Oliver on Sunday afternoon. The incident happened at around 4 p.m. when
Oliver RCMP were called about a pedestrian who was struck by a vehicle. The pedestrian, who was pronounced dead at the scene, was walking southbound on the side of Highway 97 near the Cassini Cellars Winery, about six kilometres south of Oliver. The driver of the vehicle didn’t remain at the scene and police have asked the individual or individuals involved to contact them.
Police are also asking for the public’s assistance in the investigation. If you have any information or dashcam footage, please contact the B.C. Highway Patrol in Keremeos at 250-4992250.
Peel, York residents among 11 suspects charged in Toronto ‘taxi scam’
Five people from Peel Region and a Vaughan resident are among the 11 suspects charged in connection with an alleged fraud scheme Toronto police have referred to as a “taxi scam.”
Investigators say the suspects posed as taxi drivers in vehicles modified to look like licensed cabs and defrauded hundreds of victims of more than $500,000. The charges follow a nearly yearlong investigation dubbed Project Fare, launched in July 2024 after police received multiple complaints about suspicious transactions involving fake taxis. Investigators linked together 61 reported incidents at the start of the investigation, but that figure grew to more than 300.
Police allege victims were picked up and asked to pay their fare using a credit or debit card.
“During the transaction, the suspects discreetly swapped the victim’s card with a card that looked like theirs,” Det. David Coffey of Toronto police’s Financial Crimes Unit stated in a news release.
“The real card and their PIN was then passed on to their accomplices. These fraudsters used the stolen cards and PINs to withdraw funds from ATMs, deposit fraudulent cheques to artificially inflate account balances and made high-value purchases, including electronics, gift cards and luxury clothing.”
Four men from Brampton — ages 22, 23, 24 and 25 — as well as a Mississauga man, 24, were among those arrested and charged. A Vaughan woman, 19, is also facing criminal charges in connection with the investigation. Other suspects from Toronto and Newfoundland were also charged.
Along with the arrests, police say multiple point-of-sale terminals, high-end clothing, electronics, artwork, numerous bank cards and vehicles resembling taxis were seized.
Two men who police say are believed to be suspects remain outstanding. Anyone with information is asked to call 416-808-2510.
4.8M new homes need to be built over next 10 years to restore affordability, CMHC says
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) says up to 4.8 million new homes will need to be built over the next decade to restore affordability levels last seen in 2019, based on projected demand.
The national housing agency released its latest supply gaps estimate report today, which says between 430,000 and 480,000 new housing units are needed per year across the ownership and rental markets by 2035.
That would represent around double the current pace of home construction in Canada, with 90,760 housing starts recorded so far this year, through May. CMHC deputy chief economist Aled ab Iorwerth says doubling the pace of housing construction is achievable, "but not without a significantly larger and modernized workforce, more private investment, less regulation, fewer delays and lower development costs."
In 2023, CMHC estimated Canada would need to build an additional 3.5 million housing units by 2030, on top of 2.3 million that were already projected to be built by that year, to reach affordability levels seen in 2004.
The agency's latest update also includes regional breakdowns, which show Ontario and Nova Scotia have the most significant housing supply gaps by province, while Montreal faces the largest gap of any major city.
Indian student dies in Canada
An Indian student at the University of Calgary in Canada has died, the Consulate General of India in Vancouver said on Thursday.
The Consulate said it was “saddened by the sudden demise” of the Indian student, identified as Tanya Tyagi.
It was immediately not clear how the Indian student died and under what circumstances.
“We are saddened by the sudden demise of Tanya Tyagi, an Indian student at University of Calgary,” it posted on X.
“The Consulate is in touch with the authorities and will provide all required assistance to the bereaved family. Our heartfelt condolences and prayers are with his family and friends of the deceased,” it added.
Canada's population growth rate slows amidst drop in the number of temporary residents
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“Because of low levels of natural increase (births minus deaths), international migration still accounted for 98.5 per cent of the total growth in the fourth quarter of 2024 and 97.3 per cent of the growth over the full year.”
Canada’s economic growth has generally relied on immigration, but more than two million newcomers are expected to leave the country in 2025 and 2026 as their permits expire, which is part of the federal government’s plan to reduce the overall number of temporary residents and cut population growth.
The number of temporary residents increased more than usual after the pandemic ended in an effort to fill a record number of job vacancies. But Ottawa tightened its immigration policies last year after job vacancies declined and the unemployment rate rose.
On a quarterly basis, Canada’s overall population was estimated to be about 41.5 million as of Jan. 1, 2025, a 0.2 per cent increase,
or 63,382 people, compared to Oct. 1, 2024.
This growth rate is the slowest since the 0.1 per cent rate recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020, when border restrictions linked to the pandemic were in place. Growth rates in the fourth quarter are typically slow, Statistics Canada said, because international migration and births tend to decline and deaths rise during the colder months. It was also the first quarter in the past three years that reported a decrease in the number of non-permanent residents (NPRs), such as students, temporary workers and asylum claimants. There were 28,341 fewer NPRs on Jan. 1, 2025, compared to Oct. 1, 2024.
Overall, there are now about 3.02 million NPRs in Canada, making up about 7.3 per cent of the total population, which is a slight decrease compared to the previous quarter.
But the number of asylum claimants, protected persons and related groups increased by more than 25,000, the 12th consecutive quarterly increase.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad confirms that the income tax threshold will remain at $30,000 in the upcoming national budget.
Professor Prasad says this decision is consistent with last year’s approach and reflects the government’s commitment to protecting household disposable income, especially for lowerto middle-income earners.
The Deputy Prime Minister says they have made a conscious decision not to reduce the threshold last year and they will maintain that same approach this year.
He adds at a time when many families are facing
rising living costs, this measure ensures that more money stays in the pockets of those who need it the most.
Professor Prasad will announce the 2025-2026 National Budget next Friday at 10am.
Aidong Zhang’s $1.2 million worth of properties forfeited to the State after court ruling
Aidong Zhang, who was convicted of deceptively obtaining property and engaging in money laundering of more than $1.2 million, has had his properties forfeited to the State following a Suva High Court ruling on a non-conviction based forfeiture application.
The Suva High Court has granted the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions application for a non-conviction based forfeiture regarding properties suspected to be proceeds of crime.
The ODPP says they had filed a non-conviction based civil forfeiture pursuant to section 19C with section 19E of the Proceeds of Crimes Act in the case of State-v- Aidong Zhang.
Zhang was found guilty on charges of obtaining property by deception and money laundering.
They say between 1st June 2014 and 31st January 2016, he had deceptively obtained
property and engaged directly or indirectly in money laundering in the amount of $1.2 million.
He had obtained the money by deception from the complainant who was his business partner on the pretext that the said properties were being sold at $5.5 million instead of its actual price of $3.3 million. The Suva High Court has ordered that the assets which were acquired through illicit means, be forfeited to the State.
The ODPP says these assets, which include a mix of properties will be sold and the corresponding proceeds will be forfeited in accordance with the High Court’s ruling. They add the judgment underscores their ongoing commitment to ensuring that criminals are deprived of the proceeds of crime and they will relentlessly pursue and target properties derived from criminal operations.
Women in media speak out against online abuse and gender-based harassment
Young people in the media industry holding positions are victims of online platforms, receiving negative comments every day.
This has been highlighted by Navtarang/Radio Sargam Editor, Rashika Kumar during the panel discussion at the Women in Media conference. Kumar shared the impacts and consequences of technology-facilitated gender-based violence on women in media, and that she has personally been a victim of such violence.
She says people comment on the way announcers dress, their appearance, behaviour, speaking style, and even the size of their foreheads.
Kumar also acknowledged the Human Resources mechanism at their workplace, where they can speak to their managers and then to HR, who can connect them with counsellors for professional support. She adds that in her case, she always discussed the issue with their News Director, and once
Fiji rated ‘systematic rights violator’ in global ITUC index Income
they had a conversation about it, that was usually the end of the matter.
Internews representative Arianne Olegario says misinformation and defamation are common forms of online attacks targeting women in the media. Olegario says many people claim women journalists should stay home because they are not good writers.
She says the attacks are not about who they are, what they report, or why, they are being targeted simply because of their gender.
Meanwhile, Tajeshwari Devi from the Online Safety Commission says for their strategies, they liaise with the platforms for the removal of the content for any online abuse which is the first approach. Devi says that at first, they need to ask the survivor how they would like to proceed, and if they want the post removed, the commission can assist in removing the content, because in some cases, survivors do not wish to take the matter any further.
Fiji has been given a rating of four in the 2025 International Trades Union Congress (ITUC) Global Rights Index, denoting the country has systematic violations of rights.
The ITUC states this ranking is based on a number of laws and legislations that still hinder workers rights in Fiji. The ITUC says there is excessive civil or penal sanctions for workers and unions involved in non-authorised strike actions.
“Organisers must provide the Ministry of Labour with information concerning the date, time and location of a strike, together with a list of the participants,” said the ITUC.
“The Minister has the power to declare a strike illegal.”
“The possibility of fines being imposed where there is only a “reasonable suspicion” that the employee is engaging in unlawful strike action is likely to undermines the right to strike.’
“Unions are required to give 21 days’ notice to the Registrar of Trade Unions (who reports to the Minister of Labour) before putting a strike to the ballot. With respect to “essential” industries, a further 28 days’ notice must be given.”
“The Minister of Labour has the right to declare existing or proposed strikes unlawful. If s/he does so, the dispute is referred to a Permanent Arbitrator and workers are obliged to return to the workplace.”
SOUTH ASIA
Trump meets Pal army chief instead of PM Pakistan says no request from Iran for 'military assistance'
US President Donald Trump has expressed “keen interest” in developing a “mutually beneficial” trade partnership with Pakistan based on long-term strategic convergence and shared interests, the army here said on Thursday.
In a statement after a meeting between Trump and Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir at the White House Wednesday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) — the media wing of the Pakistan Army — said they also discussed joint counterterrorism efforts.
During the high-level engagement, the discussions also encompassed avenues for expanding bilateral cooperation in multiple domains, including trade, economic development, mines and minerals, artificial intelligence, energy, cryptocurrency, and emerging technologies, the ISPR said.
“President Trump expressed keen interest in forging a mutually beneficial trade partnership with Pakistan based on longterm strategic convergence and shared interests,” said the statement.
In the first formal reaction by the Pakistan government, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday said the meeting between Army Chief Munir and President Trump helped to highlight the Pak-India conflict.
In a post on X, Asif said the meeting is a milestone in Pak-US relations because “this is the first time that a US President has invited and met a Pakistani Army Chief.”
Describing the Trump-Munir meeting as “the most important turning point in the 78-year history of relations”, Asif said the development is the success of the “current hybrid model of governance”, involving the elected government and the army.
Pakistan on Thursday said it has received no request for any “military assistance” from Iran in the ongoing war against Israel while stressing that the Islamic Republic has the right to defend itself.
“Pakistan's position on Iran is clear and transparent: We provide full moral support to Iran; we strongly condemn the aggression against Iran,” Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said at the weekly press briefing here.
Khan said no request has been received from Tehran to provide asylum to Iranian refugees in Pakistan, which borders the Islamic Republic.
“Nor has Iran asked us for any kind of military assistance so far,” he added.
"Iran has the right to defend itself under the UN Charter," Khan said. He stated that 21 Muslim countries rejected the Israeli aggression against Iran in a joint statement, calling the Israeli actions against international law and the UN Charter.
resolution to the Iran-Israel conflict.
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar held telephonic contacts with the foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom and highlighted that Israeli actions against Iran can have dangerous effects in the region and beyond, Khan added.
The spokesperson said that the situation in Iran was a cause for grave concerns for Pakistan and asked for ending the Israel attacks. He also said that Pakistan supported a negotiated
The spokesperson also stressed that targeting Iranian nuclear facilities was a violation of IAEA safeguards and other international laws. He also said that the Pakistani Embassy in Tehran and the consulates in Mashhad and Zahedan were assisting in the evacuation of Pakistani nationals. He added that so far 3,000 Pakistanis have been brought back.
PUNJAB
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It went on to accuse India of meddling, saying: “In particular, real and perceived Khalistani extremism emerging from Canada continues to drive Indian foreign interference activities in Canada.”
The report referred to Canada’s public inquiry into foreign interference (PIFI), saying: “Foreign interference violated Canadian sovereignty and led to the expulsion of six Government of India officials.” Ottawa has accused China, India, Russia and Iran of espionage in the past.
The report cited the PIFI findings and said “the extent of the Government of India’s involvement in foreign interference became clearer”.
Indian officials, including their Canada-based proxy agents, engaged in a range of activities that
Canada intel Arms, explosives smuggling from Pakistan sees upward trend
sought to influence Canadian communities and politicians, it alleged.
On Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was killed in June 2023, the report said: “Criminal proceedings are ongoing. In midOctober, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced that evidence pointed to a link between agents of the Government of India and criminal networks to sow violent activity in South Asian communities in Canada.”
“Links between the Government of India and the Nijjar murder signal a significant escalation in India’s repression efforts against the Khalistan movement and a clear intent to target individuals in North America,” the report alleged.
The CSIS noted that transnational repression played a central role in India’s activity in Canada.
After killing social media influencer Kanchan Kumari, suspects visited religious shrine
After allegedly murdering social media influencer Kanchan Kumari, also known as Kamal Kaur Bhabhi, a resident of Ludhiana, on June 10, suspects Jaspreet Singh and Nimaratjeet Singh visited a religious shrine at Talwandi Sabo to pay obeisance, sources said.
Bathinda SSP Amneet Kondal also confirmed that Jaspreet and Nimaratjeet went to Talwandi Sabo, Kharar and Mohali before being arrested on June 13.
The SSP further said the duo, now in judicial custody, claimed during their police remand that they were unaware of the whereabouts of the main accused,
them to flee after the murder and assured help later. It is unclear whether they were brainwashed or genuinely unaware of his location,” said the SSP.
Kanchan’s decomposed body was found on the rear seat of a car parked outside Adesh University along the BathindaChandigarh highway on the night of June 11.
The police have issued lookout circulars for Amritpal, who, as per the police claim, fled to the UAE hours after the murder, and his alleged accomplice Ranjit Singh of Sohal village in Tarn Taran district. A suspect remains unidentified.
According to the police,
The Punjab border alongside Pakistan has witnessed an upward trend in the trafficking of sophisticated weapons and explosives apart from drugs, leaving the Punjab Police and various security and intelligence agencies in a tight spot. Despite taking measures to intercept the flying machines carrying drugs and weapons, the smuggling continued unabated even during the escalation of hostilities between the two neighbouring nations in the aftermath of the Pehalgam terror attack.Since January, 220 weapons, including Austria-made Glock and Turkey-made Zigana pistols, have been seized from Amritsar district alone, while the Border Security Force (BSF) seized 74 pistols from the entire Punjab border during the past six months. Forty pistols were also seized from Tarn Taran, it was learnt.
The Amritsar and Tarn Taran border belt is
considered the favourite route for trafficking for drones used by the Pakistan-based state and nonstate actors. According to senior police officials, the increased trafficking has directly affected the drug consumption patterns in the border state, apart from aiding gun violence among youths, creating law and order and security concerns in the state.
A senior BSF official said there had been a considerable shift in the border strategy by Pakistan since the new ISI chief took over in September 2024. They are pushing arms and explosives more aggressively in order to destabilise India and aiding operatives of various Pakistan-based terror groups, he said. Also, the use of China-made drones has added a new dimension to the illicit trafficking from across the international border, he said. “Since January, the pushing of arms into the Indian territory through drones from Pakistan has increased manifold.
Five criminals linked to Bishnoi gang held
The Patiala police have arrested five henchmen of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and seized seven weapons from them. They were in direct contact with a jailed gangster, the police said.
Addressing the media, Patiala SSP Varun Sharma said those arrested were Tejinder Singh Fauji, Rahul, Vipal Kumar, Sukhchain Singh and Dev Karan.
“We have seized three .30 bore pistols, three .32 bore pistols and one .315 bore country-made pistol, besides 10 magazines and 11 rounds. These criminals were involved in targeted killings. They had attacked a key witness
on the directions of a jailed gangster,” said the SSP.
The SSP said Tejinder was in jail from where he allegedly ordered an attack on a Patiala resident, following which the investigations led to the arrest of these accused. “Weapons were bought from Madhya Pradesh and we are trying to nab the weapon dealer too,” he added.
For the third time, India pushes back against Trump’s dubious boasts
The first example came in mid-May, though it generated very little attention. During Donald Trump’s trip to the Middle East, tensions flared between India and Pakistan, though the president boasted that he helped resolve the escalating tensions with a strategy he considered brilliant.
“I said, ‘Come on, we’re going to do a lot of trade with you guys. Let’s stop it. Let’s stop it. If you stop it, we’ll do a trade. If you don’t stop it, we’re not going to do any trade,’” the Republican claimed. “And all of a sudden, they said, ‘I think we’re going to stop.’” Though Trump seemed quite pleased with himself, India wasted little time in pushing back. As NBC News reported, the Indian government said the American president’s version of events simply wasn’t true, and the conversation that Trump publicly described never actually occurred.
Soon after, while still in the Middle East, Trump
acknowledged the tariffs he’d imposed on India, adding that Indian leaders, in response, had offered the United States a deal in which “they’re willing to literally charge us no tariff.”
Once again, as NBC News reported, officials in New Delhi publicly disputed the Republican’s claim. In the weeks that followed, Trump repeatedly claimed that he deserved international credit for his brilliant diplomatic work. Earlier this week, for example, by way of his social media platform, the American president wrote that he singlehandedly brought “reason, cohesion, and sanity into the talks” with India and Pakistan, which “quickly” led to deescalation. At a White House event on Wednesday, his claim was even more direct: “I stopped the war between Pakistan and India.”
Trump’s strategy, in contrast, appears rooted in repeatedly annoying India, which seems unwise.
In a chilling incident, a woman in Rajasthan's Alwar district allegedly conspired with her lover and four others to murder her husband.
She reportedly met Kashi through Instagram. The crime came to light after the couple's nine-yearold son witnessed the murder and recounted the events to police.
The victim, Viru Jatav, was suffocated to death on the night of June 7. His wife Anita, along with her lover Kashi and four hired men, carried out the crime. Anita unlocked the house gate to let them in and silently watched as her husband was brutally killed.
watches in silence
Initially reported as a heart attack, the truth emerged after the boy’s statement and CCTV footage confirmed foul play.
DSP Kailash Chand said: "Kashi reportedly paid Rs 2 lakh to the killers. Anita and Kashi have been arrested, while three accused are still on the run."
The crime is a reminder of Raja Raghuvanshi's chilling murder by his wife Sonam, her lover and three other on May 23 when they were on honeymoon in Meghalaya. Raghuvanshi's mutilated body was found in a deep gorge near a waterfall in Sohra area (also known as Cherrapunji) of East Khasi Hills district on June 2.
A miracle in seat 11A: How Viswash survived the air crash
In a catastrophe that reduced a gleaming aircraft to charred debris and claimed 241 lives, one man walked out alive -- Viswash Kumar Ramesh.
The 40-year-old British-Indian businessman was seated in 11A on Air India Flight AI-171 when it lifted off from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai
Patel International Airport at 1:38 pm on Thursday.
Minutes later, the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner — bound for London Gatwick — plunged from the sky, tearing through the southern wing of a residential doctors’ hostel in Meghaninagar.
Rescue workers were stunned to find him alive.
“I still don’t know how I’m breathing. How I am even alive..Everyone around me died,” Viswash whispered to a nurse at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad. Seated near the emergency exit, Viswash believes the location saved his life.
Moments after take-off, the aircraft shuddered violently. Passengers screamed. The fuselage was split open due to the impact with the hostel building. And then came the defining moment of barely a second when Ramesh’s seat, still bolted to
a portion of the cabin floor, was hurled free of the disintegrating plane. “I didn’t jump. The seat flew out with me strapped in,” he said. Then came a deafening explosion. Thrown clear of the fireball, his seat slammed into soft ground just yards from the wreckage. Dazed, burned, and soaked in blood, he unbuckled himself and limped through the smoke. Above him, flames consumed the aircraft and everyone on board, including, he fears, his elder brother Ajay, who had been seated just across the aisle in 11J.
The Supreme Court-appointed inquiry committee has recommended the removal of Justice Yashwant Varma of the Allahabad High Court after concluding that “bundles of cash” were indeed recovered from the storeroom of his official residence in Delhi and later removed under suspicious circumstances.
The report, accessed by The Tribune, stated, “This committee is firmly of the view that there is sufficient substance in the allegations raised in the letter of Chief Justice of India dated March 22 and the misconduct found proved is serious enough to call for initiation of proceedings for the removal of Justice Yashwant Verma, judge of the Allahabad High Court.” Notably, the SC panel had submitted its findings to the then CJI
on May 4. The controversy began with a fire at Justice Varma’s Tughlaq Road bungalow on March 14, which prompted the dispatch of two fire tenders. Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze but discovered burnt currency notes amidst stationery and domestic items in a storeroom. The discovery triggered national outrage and judicial scrutiny.
The three-member inquiry panel, comprising Chief Justices Sheel Nagu (Punjab & Haryana High Court), GS Sandhawalia (Himachal Pradesh High Court), and Anu Sivaraman (Karnataka High Court), found that the cash, reportedly stacked up to 1.5 feet high, was kept in the storeroom and removed from the premises during the early hours of March 15, hours after the incident.
"Delighted to enlist his support to spread Telangana's ambition globally": CM Revanth Reddy after meeting former UK PM Tony Blair
Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy met former United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair in London and presented the "Telangana Rising 2047" vision document, outlining the state's ambition to emerge as one of the world's top regions by 2047.
In a post on X on Thursday, CM Reddy wrote, "It was great pleasure to meet and present the #TelanganaRising2047 to former Prime Minister of United Kingdom, Mr Tony Blair, and founder @ InstituteGC."
Highlighting the significance of the meeting, he added, "We are delighted to enlist his support as a global leader & influencer on world-scale to spread the word about Telangana's ambition to become
one of the best regions in the world."
Further underlining the positive outcome of the interaction, Revanth said, "I am happy Mr Blair expressed great admiration for our vision and has expressed his keen willingness to help take our mission and its message to the world."
According to an official statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office, Tony Blair was enthralled by the Telangana Rising 2047 presentation made by the Chief Minister. In his interaction with Blair, during his visit to Delhi, Reddy spoke of the key highlights of Telangana Rising, including the rapid growth from a USD 200 billion State GDP to a USD 1 trillion by 2035, and a further three-fold peaking to USD 3 trillion by 2047, as per the statement.
Indian embassy hosts Yoga session at Lincoln Memorial
The Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, on Thursday (local time) organised a vibrant Yoga session at the iconic Lincoln Memorial ahead of the International Day of Yoga on June 21. The event saw enthusiastic participation from a large number of people, including members of the Indian diaspora and local residents.
Speaking at the event, India's Ambassador to the US, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, said, "We are all here to celebrate the 11th International Day of Yoga. An enormous, great, fun-filled celebration of India's ancient civilisation heritage in the form of Yoga. A large number of extended Indian families and the Indian diaspora are present with us here, along with the other citizens of the US. It's a wonderful day, a wonderful experience for us...I want to thank everybody for being here with us this morning to celebrate this heritage from
India..."
Yoga and meditation instructor Acharya Govind Brahmachari, who led the session, highlighted Yoga's deeper purpose beyond physical fitness.
"Yoga is widely popular already. We want to bring yoga to every household worldwide because it has many benefits. The deeper aspects of yoga are perhaps not so much known yet. We are here to spread awareness of the original purpose of yoga to actually attain a sense of freedom or oneness with the universe. So that's a deeper aspect of yoga that's very much related to meditation. Then the yoga postures, which are known as yoga asanas, are a part of the practice, part of a holistic system to support the mind, to attain freedom from unpleasant feelings and emotions and thoughts," he said.
India to evacuate nationals from Israel
In view of the recent developments between Israel and Iran, the Indian government has decided to evacuate from Israel those Indian nationals who wish to leave, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement on Thursday.
According to the MEA, their travel from Israel to India will be facilitated through the land borders and thereafter by air to India.
The Embassy of India in Tel Aviv would be making arrangements for the evacuation of Indians. The Embassy also reiterates its earlier advisories urging all Indian citizens in Israel to remain vigilant and strictly follow the safety guidelines issued by Israeli authorities and the Home Front Command: (https://www.oref.org.il/eng).
"Indian government accords the highest priority to the safety and security of Indian nationals abroad. The Government will
continue to monitor the situation closely," the MEA said, adding that the embassy remains continuously in touch with the community with a view to extending all feasible assistance.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Indian government evacuated 110 Indian students from Iran through Armenia under Operation Sindhu.
In a post on X, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal wrote, "India launched Operation Sindhu to evacuate Indian nationals from Iran. India evacuated 110 students from northern Iran who crossed into Armenia under the supervision of our Missions in Iran and Armenia on 17th June. They departed from Yerevan on a special flight and will arrive in New Delhi in the early hours of 19th June 2025. India accords the highest priority to the safety and security of her nationals abroad."
Dreamliner well-maintained, had no issues ahead of flight: AI CEO
The ill-fated Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was “well-maintained” and had undergone a major check in June 2023, while the next was scheduled for December this year, Air India CEO and Managing Director Campbell Wilson said on Thursday. In a message to flyers, the Air India chief also said the 15 per cent reduction in Air India’s international wide-body fleet operations for the next few weeks was a temporary move and it might affect its customers’ travel plans.
“The plane was well-maintained, with its last major check in June 2023 and the next scheduled for December 2025. Its right engine was overhauled in March 2025 and the left engine was inspected in April 2025. Both the aircraft and the engines were
regularly monitored, showing no issues before the flight,” he said.
The airline chief said the loss of 241 passengers and crew members, along with 34 people on the ground, “has left us all in deep sorrow”.
“Words cannot express the pain we feel for the families and loved ones affected by this devastating event. We are fully committed to doing all we can to support the families impacted and are also working closely with the authorities to understand the cause of this tragedy. Our thoughts are with everyone touched by this loss,” Wilson said in the message. He said the airline as well as the entire aviation industry was awaiting the official investigation report to understand more.
