Day: May 11, 2024

TORONTO — A fourth person has been arrested and charged with the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year, Canadian police said on Saturday, in a case that strained diplomatic relations with India.

Canadian police earlier this month arrested and charged three Indian men in the city of Edmonton in Alberta and said they were investigating whether the men had ties to the Indian government.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team announced Saturday that Amandeep Singh, 22, has been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in Nijjar’s killing.

Singh, an Indian national who resided in Brampton, Surrey and Abbotsford, was already in custody for unrelated firearms charges out of Peel, Ontario, IHIT said.

Nijjar, 45, was shot to death in June outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population. A few months later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cited what he said was evidence of potential Indian government involvement, prompting a diplomatic crisis with New Delhi.

Nijjar was a Canadian citizen campaigning for the creation of Khalistan, an independent Sikh homeland carved out of India. The presence of Sikh separatist groups in Canada has long frustrated New Delhi, which had labeled Nijjar a terrorist. 

RIO DE JANEIRO — The death toll from heavy rains in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state has climbed to 136, the local civil defense government body said on Saturday, up from 126 in the previous day, while another 125 people remain unaccounted for.

Storms and floods battering the South American country’s southernmost state have also left around 537,000 displaced, according to the local civil defense body, a significant increase from the 340,000 reported a day earlier.

About 446 urban centers have been impacted, affecting the lives of more than 2.1 million people in a state whose population is about 10.9 million.

Weather forecaster Metsul has reported that after a short respite, rains that started coming down over the state on Friday have begun to fill rivers in what it called a “worrying” situation.

“Accumulated precipitation is occurring in the worst possible region given the current flood scenario, along the basins and in the sources of the main rivers that are still full,” said the meteorological service in a public statement.

The state is at a geographical meeting point between tropical and polar atmospheres, which has created a weather pattern with periods of intense rains or drought.

Local scientists believe the pattern has been intensifying due to climate change. 

MALMO, Sweden — Switzerland on Saturday won Eurovision 2024 in the Swedish host city Malmo, beating runner-up Croatia, after having been among bookmakers’ top-three to win the competition. 

Billed as a feel-good celebration of European diversity, this year’s contest has been thrust into the political spotlight with calls for Israel to be excluded over its military campaign in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’ deadly attack on October 7 in Israel. 

Swiss rapper and singer Nemo, 24, won the contest with “The Code,” a drum-and-bass, opera, rap and rock song, about Nemo’s journey of self-discovery as a non-binary person. 

Croatia’s Baby Lasagna, real name Marko Purisic, 28, came second with “Rim Tim Tagi Dim,” a song about a young man who leaves home aspiring to become a “city boy” with better opportunities. 

Israel’s Eden Golan, 20, finished fifth in the contest despite demonstrators’ calls for a boycott of the country. 

The female solo artist emerged Thursday as one of the leading contenders to win after qualifying for the final. 

Booing was heard during Golan’s performance but also applause, a Reuters photographer in the auditorium said. The noise was partly audible in the broadcast viewed by tens of millions of people in Europe and around the world. 

There was also booing when the points of the Israeli jury were presented. 

Several thousand protesters gathered in central Malmo ahead of Saturday’s final, waving Palestinian flags and shouting “Eurovision united by genocide” — a twist on the contest’s official slogan “United by music.” 

A few hundred people later also protested outside the venue, chanting “Eurovision, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide.” 

Protesters have been pointing to double standards as the EBU banned Russia from Eurovision in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine. 

Police hauled away some protesters before surrounding and ushering them away, a Reuters reporter outside the arena said. Some protesters were seen lying on the ground after police used pepper spray to disband the demonstration. 

Twenty-five countries competed in the final after Dutch artist Joost Klein was expelled earlier Saturday due to a complaint filed by a production crew member. 

Viewer votes made up half of Saturday’s final result, while juries of five music professionals in each participating country made up the other half. 

The Eurovision winner is awarded the contest’s official glass trophy, which is shaped like a classic, old-fashioned microphone, with sand blasted and painted details. The winner also gets to host the competition the following year.