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Modi Visits Kashmir’s Main City For The First Time Since Revoking Region’s Semi-Autonomy
NEW DELHI — On Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid his first official visit to Kashmir’s major city since New Delhi removed the disputed region’s semi-autonomy and gained direct control of it in 2019.
Addressing a crowd at a soccer stadium in Srinagar, Modi unveiled development projects and accused previous governments of misleading people about the region’s now-defunct special status.
“The success story of Jammu and Kashmir will be the center of attraction for the world,” he told the audience, noting that the region has thrived since the 2019 shift. “I’ve always claimed that the reason I work so hard is to earn your hearts. I shall continue to concentrate on earning your hearts.”
Modi Visits Kashmir’s Main City For The First Time Since Revoking Region’s Semi-Autonomy
Modi and his party have accused Kashmir’s pro-India parties of corruption, deceiving Kashmiris, and encouraging separatists in the region. Kashmiri politicians, who claim their special status is a constitutional guarantee, have labelled Modi divisive and anti-minority.
Thousands of armed paramilitary forces and police in flak jackets maintained increased vigilance across the Kashmir Valley, the epicentre of the ongoing revolt against Indian control in the majority-Muslim territory, where many locals passionately support independence or a union with Pakistan. Modi’s two earlier travels to Kashmir after its status was altered were to Jammu, a Hindu-dominated city.
Modi made no mention of holding elections in the region or restoring Kashmir’s statehood, which are both desired by pro-India political groups. The previous regional assembly election was held in 2014, although the government elected that year was dismissed in 2018.
In 2019, Modi’s Hindu-nationalist government withdrew the region’s semi-autonomous status, abolished its constitution, divided it into two federal regions (Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir), and repealed inherited land and job protections. Unelected politicians and bureaucrats currently govern the Muslim-majority territory.
Modi Visits Kashmir’s Main City For The First Time Since Revoking Region’s Semi-Autonomy
Amit Shah, India’s powerful home minister, has consistently stated that the area will achieve statehood following elections.
In December, India’s Supreme Court affirmed the 2019 ruling and directed the government to hold elections by September.
The region has been on edge since 2019 when authorities implemented a host of new legislation that many locals worry will change Kashmir’s demographics. The move was widely hailed in India, as supporters applauded the Modi government for delivering a long-standing Hindu nationalist commitment.
In its efforts to construct what it calls a “new Kashmir,” India has shown no tolerance for criticism, curtailing civil freedoms and intimidating the media.
Before Modi visited Srinagar, government personnel installed razor wire and set up checkpoints on the roads leading to the venue. They randomly frisked citizens and inspected vehicles as naval commandos on motorboats patrolled the Jhelum River, which runs through the city.
Authorities required thousands of government personnel, including teachers, to attend the meeting, and most schools in the city were shuttered for the day.
Modi Visits Kashmir’s Main City For The First Time Since Revoking Region’s Semi-Autonomy
Thursday’s event is part of Modi’s campaign ahead of the national elections in April and May.
Such security measures have been prevalent in Kashmir since 1989 when insurgents began opposing Indian rule.
Kashmir is partitioned between India and Pakistan, claiming the entire Himalayan area. India claims that the Kashmir insurgency is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the claim, and most Kashmiris see it as a legitimate freedom movement. The battle has killed tens of thousands of civilians, rebels, and government soldiers.
SOURCE – (AP)
News
BC Supreme Court Stops MAID Death of Woman from Alberta
A Supreme Court Judge in British Columbia has given a rare, last-minute injunction prohibiting a woman from receiving medical assistance in dying (Maid) after physicians in her home province refused to approve the request.
The lady’s common-law partner received the injunction, which prohibits Vancouver physician Ellen Wiebe or any other medical professional from “causing the death” of an Alberta woman within the next 30 days.
The court judgment came as the country remains embroiled in a contentious debate over extending medical assistance to dying or Maid.
Earlier this week, Quebec became the first province to enable people to make the decision years in advance, in breach of federal legislation.
While official records show that the vast majority of people who use Maid have terminal diseases, critics are concerned that a tiny but growing proportion of cases reflect poverty and social inequity, which drives people to end their lives.
According to the Canadian Press, the injunction in the British Columbia case comes after the woman’s partner filed a notice of civil claim alleging Wiebe negligently approved the procedure for a patient who does not legally qualify and that administering Maid would constitute wrongful death and possibly a criminal offense.
According to court documents, the 53-year-old lady flew from Alberta to BC to obtain Maid after doctors in her native province refused to approve it. The woman had requested Maid, alleging akathisia, a movement disorder associated with altering doses of psychotropic or antipsychotic medication.
The woman had “distressing side effects” after reducing her dose of a bipolar illness medication.
Symptoms include “an inner sense of terror all day long, the inability to sleep at night, nightmares, the inability to lie down during the day due to a feeling of falling, the inability to sit or remain still suicidal thoughts”.
According to court records, the woman and her partner were assured that the disease was curable and that the symptoms would resolve within a few months. As a result, doctors denied her request for assisted death.
The woman found Wiebe and connected with her via Zoom. “At the end of the first meeting, Dr Wiebe approved [the woman] for Maid,” the allegations state. Wiebe, a clinical professor at the University of British Columbia, has emerged as a staunch supporter of Maid, claiming that current laws recognize “basic human rights.”
According to the British Columbia lawsuit, Wiebe failed to consult with the woman’s doctors or obtain the patient’s complete medical information. Instead, Wiebe is accused of email reviewing only a fraction of the woman’s medical records.
In Canada, the euthanasia framework comprises two “tracks” – one for terminal diseases and another when “natural death is not reasonably foreseeable”. Applicants with a medical condition involving mental illness will be ineligible until at least March 2027.
Federal law requires a second, independent doctor to accept a request for treatment when the petitioner has a chronic, irreversible physical condition. The complaint claims that it did not occur in the case of the Alberta woman.
British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Simon Coval stated in his decision that the woman looked to have a mental health illness rather than a medical one. He said he allowed the plea since the case was “clearly a situation of extreme irreparable harm” if she carried out her plan to die on October 27th.
Justice Coval recognized that the order “is a severe intrusion” on the woman’s personal and medical autonomy.
“I can only imagine the pain she has been experiencing and I recognize that this injunction will likely make that worse,” stated the lawyer.
However, he questioned if the Maid standards were correctly applied, given that her condition “may not only be remediable, but remediable relatively quickly”.
Source: The Canadian Press
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RCMP Take Down Fentanyl “Super Lab” in British Columbia
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has dismantled the largest and most sophisticated illicit drug “super lab” in Canadian history, seizing a record quantity of illegal firearms, synthetic drugs, and precursor chemicals.
The RCMP believes organized crime was behind the operation, which involved the mass production and distribution of fentanyl and methamphetamine throughout Canada and worldwide.
Last Monday, officers executed search warrants on a drug lab in Falkland, British Columbia, and related facilities in Surrey, Metro Vancouver.
The RCMP posted several images of the operation, including officers in protective suits taking objects from the “super lab.”
They also found a total of 89 firearms, including handguns, AR-15-style rifles and submachine guns — “many of which were loaded and ready to be used.” They also discovered minor explosive devices, ammo, silencers, high-capacity magazines, body armor, and $500,000 Canadian (US$359,000) in cash.
According to police investigators, Mr. Gaganpreet Randhawa has been arrested and is facing several narcotics and firearms-related crimes.
“This is undoubtedly a major blow to the transnational organized crime groups involved, and a great step towards ensuring the safety of Canadians, and the international community,” said Jillian Wellard, spokesperson for the RCMP.
According to the Canadian authorities, fentanyl is a common constituent in many of the lethal illicit substances that killed approximately 48,000 people in Canada between January 2016 and March 2024.
The bust comes just two weeks after Canadian police announced arrests related to another multinational organized crime gang.
The RCMP said it had worked with the FBI for over a year to target a Mexican cartel-linked criminal network that had been moving large amounts of methamphetamine and cocaine from Central and South America via the United States to Canada and overseas.
Canadian authorities said that the network had also been commissioning murders across North America and laundering significant amounts of money.
The alleged leader of that network, Canadian Ryan Wedding, remains at large and is wanted by the United States and Canada, authorities said.
Police reported seizing 54 kilograms of fentanyl, “massive” amounts of precursor chemicals, 390 kilos of methamphetamine, and smaller amounts of cocaine, MDMA, and cannabis.
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McDonald’s E. Coli Case Count Rises, Officials Suspect Onion Grower
Washington—Federal officials confirmed new cases of E. coli illness among McDonald’s customers on Wednesday, as investigators looking for the outbreak’s origins discovered an “onion grower of interest” in Washington state.
The Food and Drug Administration reported that 90 people in 13 states have become ill as a result of the incident, up from 75 at the end of last week. The number of individuals hospitalized rose by five to 27. A single death has been linked to the outbreak.
Officials have stated that raw, slivered onions on McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers are the most likely source of E. coli. McDonald’s stated the onions came from a single supplier, Taylor Farms of California. The company has since recalled the yellow onions it distributed to McDonald’s and other restaurant chains.
McDonald’s E. Coli Case Count Rises As Federal Officials Inspect An Onion Grower
The FDA announced Wednesday that it has begun checking Taylor Farm’s processing facility in Colorado Springs and an “onion grower of interest” in Washington state. It did not name the grower.
According to the FDA, more than 80% of persons with E. coli who federal investigators interviewed reported consuming McDonald’s dishes with fresh, slivered onions.
McDonald’s announced last week that onions from its Colorado Springs facility were supplied to about 900 restaurants, including several in transit hubs like airports. After tests determined that beef patties were not the source of the epidemic, the restaurant chain said it would resume serving Quarter Pounders at hundreds of its locations.
McDonald’s E. Coli Case Count Rises As Federal Officials Inspect An Onion Grower
The kind of E. coli causing the outbreak can cause deadly diarrhea, renal failure, and other serious complications. It causes over 74,000 infections in the United States each year, resulting in over 2,000 hospitalizations and 61 fatalities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to FDA officials, the current risk of sickness “is low because the onions have been recalled and should no longer be available.” They highlighted that all recorded incidents happened before Taylor Farms and McDonald’s took the onions off the market.
SOURCE | AP
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