CANADA
Sikh activist’s home targeted
Shots appear to have been fired at the home of a Sikh separatist activist, police said on Monday, following recent allegations by Ottawa and Washington that Indian dissidents living abroad in both countries have been targeted for assassination. Constable Tyler Bell-Morena said Peel Regional Police were alerted by construction crews about what appeared to be “a bullet hole in a window of the home” of Inderjit Singh Gosal in Ontario, and are investigating. Gosal is also a close associate of prominent Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US Sikh activist in New York whom US authorities say was the target of a thwarted assassination plot in the US last year. There were no injuries in the shooting as the Ontario home is under construction and currently unoccupied.
UNITED STATES
Kennedy apologizes
Robert Kennedy Jr’s presidential ambitions resulted in public family drama after a political action committee aired a Super Bowl advertisement invoking the Democratic family’s legacy to implicitly compare the independent candidate to his assassinated uncle, former president John F. Kennedy. The 30-second spot, financed by the American Values 2024 Super Political Action Committee (PAC) that is backing Kennedy, featured a shortened version of a campaign song that the 35th president used in his 1960 campaign. The spot also mimicked cartoon and newsreel effects using black-and-white pictures of Robert Kennedy Jr similar to the former president. However, in a notable departure from John F. Kennedy’s bygone Democratic Party dynasty, the ad urged Americans to “Vote Independent.” After the game, Robert Kennedy Jr responded to online criticism, including from one of his cousins, emphasizing that his campaign did not produce the spot, which cost an estimated US$7 million. “I’m so sorry if the Super Bowl advertisement caused anyone in my family pain,” Kennedy wrote late on Sunday night on X, formerly Twitter.
UNITED STATES
Pastor arrested for narcotics
A Connecticut pastor has been arrested on allegations that he sold crystal methamphetamine out of his church’s rectory, police said. The reverend of a United Methodist Church in Woodbury was taken into custody on Friday last week after police received a tip about the drugs, authorities said. The pastor was charged with possession of narcotics with intent to sell, possession of a controlled substance and use of drug paraphernalia, among other charges. The reverend was released on US$10,000 bail and was ordered to appear in Waterbury Superior Court on Friday next week.
GREECE
Gunman kills three
A man shot three people dead at the premises of a shipping company in a coastal suburb of Athens on Monday before killing himself, a Greek police source said. The shooter broke into the building in Glyfada belonging to European Product Carriers and killed two men and a woman before barricading himself inside, the source said. Greek media reported the gunman was an Egyptian employee of the company who had been made redundant and that he was found dead in the basement with his weapon next to him. A police source said that preliminary findings pointed to a suicide. Police earlier said officers entered the building and evacuated two women the shooter had locked in the toilets. Nearby roads were closed and a large police presence surrounded the building.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
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