While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Sept 26
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
About 100 protesters in Toronto burned an Indian flag and struck a cut-out of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Mod with a shoe.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Canadian Sikhs stage protests against Indian government over murder
Canadian Sikhs staged small protests outside India’s diplomatic missions on Monday, a week after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there may be a link between New Delhi and the murder of a Sikh separatist advocate in British Columbia.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a week ago stood in parliament to say that domestic intelligence agencies were actively pursuing credible allegations tying New Delhi’s agents to the shooting of Canadian citizen Hardeep Sing Ninja, 45, in June.
About 100 protesters in Toronto burned an Indian flag and struck a cardboard cut-out of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Mod with a shoe. About 200 protesters also gathered outside the Vancouver consulate.
Government shutdown risks food benefits for 7 million, Biden aide warns
REUTERS
US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack warned on Monday that a government shutdown risks nutritional assistance for the nearly 7 million low-income women and children who rely on benefits.
Vilsack said some benefits could be affected within days or weeks if Congress fails to provide funding for the fiscal year starting Oct 1.
The aide to President Joe Biden said the “vast majority” of participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC programme, would see an immediate reduction in benefits, with cuts happening in the days and weeks after a shutdown starts.
Antarctic winter sea ice hits ‘extreme’ record low
REUTERS
Sea ice that packs the ocean around Antarctica hit record low levels this winter, the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said on Monday, adding to scientists’ fears that the impact of climate change at the southern pole is ramping up.
Researchers warn the shift can have dire consequences for animals like penguins who breed and rear their young on the sea ice, while also hastening global warming by reducing how much sunlight is reflected by white ice back into space.
Antarctic sea ice extent peaked this year on Sept 10, when it covered 16.96 million square kilometres, the lowest winter maximum since satellite records began in 1979, the NSIDC said. That’s about 1 million square kilometres less ice than the previous winter record set in 1986.
UK police investigate sex assault allegations following Russell Brand reports
REUTERS
British police said on Monday they had launched an investigation into a number of allegations of non-recent sexual offences following media reports that four women had accused actor and comedian Russell Brand of a string of sexual assaults.
Earlier this month, the Sunday Times newspaper and Channel 4 TV’s documentary show “Dispatches” reported the women had accused Brand, 48, of sex offences, including a rape, between 2006 and 2013.
Brand has rejected the “very serious criminal allegations”, saying on his social media channels that he had never had non-consensual sex.
Rybakina withdraws from Pan Pacific Open
REUTERS
Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina on Monday pulled out of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, days after slamming the WTA for the introduction of performance byes at the tournament.
Byes are usually awarded to top-seeded players, but performance byes allow for players who have played well in the previous week to move directly into the second round of the following tournament.
Byes for the Pan Pacific Open were given to Maria Sakkari, who won the Guadalajara Open title on Saturday, and Caroline Garcia, who reached the semi-finals. Both players are ranked lower than Rybakina, who was drawn against Linda Noskova in the first round.
