Canada elects, India reflects
In the annals of democratic theatre, few performances offer as much off-script intrigue as Canada's recent federal election. Held amid a backdrop of global economic tremors and nationalist tremolos, the contest culminated in a narrow but consequential victory for Mark Carney—the suave technocrat-turned-Liberal Party leader—who now finds himself not just prime minister, but accidental protagonist in a geopolitical pas de trois with India and the US.
Carney's ascent from spreadsheet sage to political steward is the stuff of Westminster whisperers. Dismissed until recently as an urbane interloper with the charisma of a mortgage bond, he confounded pollsters by securing 168 of 343 seats—as close to a majority as a later of mille-feuille, but sufficient for governance. His background at the helm of the Bank of England and Bank of Canada gave him a veneer of macroeconomic gravitas that proved irresistible to voters weary of populist pyrotechnics and ideological slapstick.
Canada's 2025 vote was more than a domestic reset; it was a referendum on performative rage. The Conservatives, led by Pierre Poilievre, entered the fray with bombast, but exited in embarrassment. Poilievre's penchant for polemic, flirtations with fringe ideologies, and a mystifying attempt to align with Indian Hindutva currents alienated the centrist masses. His campaign, once billed as an unstoppable juggernaut, became a cautionary tale of ideological indigestion. A party once poised for power found itself dining alone—at the kids' table of Canadian politics, muttering about 'freedom' while the adults passed policy.
But no political obituary is more poignant than that of Jagmeet Singh. The NDP's telegenic but pro-Khalistani leader, long accused of serving as the diaspora's grievance concierge, lost his own seat in Burnaby Central. His party, reduced from 25 seats to single-digits, also forfeited official party status for the first time since 1993. From power broker to political bystander, Singh's fall is less a footnote than a full-throated repudiation of identitarian overreach.
Singh's persistent tirades against India, including vocal advocacy for Khalistani separatism and a conspicuously theatrical outrage over the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023 may have won applause in niche echo chambers—but proved electorally enervating. Canadian voters signalled a preference for peace over provocation, governance over grievance. For all his symbolic resonance, Singh failed the smell test of mainstream leadership. Burnaby didn't just reject his politics, it uninvited him from the party.
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Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
How Israel-aligned hackers hobbled Iran's financial system
While Israel and the U.S. were bombing Iran's nuclear sites, another battlefield emerged behind the scenes: the financial infrastructure that keeps Tehran connected to the world. Israeli authorities, and a pro-Israeli hacking group called Predatory Sparrow, targeted financial organizations that Iranians use to move money and sidestep the U.S.-led economic blockade, according to Israeli officials and other people familiar with the efforts. U.S. sanctions, imposed off-and-on for decades due to Tehran's nuclear program and support for Islamist groups, have aimed to cut Iran off from the international financial system. Predatory Sparrow, which operates anonymously and posts updates of its activities on X, said this past week that it crippled Iran's state-owned Bank Sepah, which services Iran's armed forces and helps them pay suppliers abroad, knocking out its online banking services and cash machines. Iranian state media acknowledged the damage. The group also breached Nobitex, Iran's largest cryptocurrency exchange, popular with locals for transferring money overseas. The hackers extracted about $100 million in funds and forced the platform to shut down, according to the exchange. Iran's government pulled the plug on much of the country's online activities to prevent further attacks and keep a lid on dissent. Non-Iranian websites were blocked. Citizens were warned against using foreign phones or messaging platforms that it claimed could collect audio and location data for Israeli spies. Government officials were banned from using laptops and smartwatches. Predatory Sparrow said the two hacks were directed against the 'financial lifelines" of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the most powerful faction of Iran's military that also controls swaths of the economy. 'Noble people of Iran! Withdraw your funds before it is too late," it tweeted. Both targeted companies remain hobbled. Nobitex said it faced serious challenges in restoring services and was aiming to relaunch trading this coming week. Some Bank Sepah users say online they still aren't receiving deposits. The group didn't say if it was acting on behalf of Israeli authorities. 'The group's sophistication, target selection and geopolitical messaging fit the profile of an Israel-aligned, state-sponsored cyber actor," said Deddy Lavid, chief executive of Cyvers, a Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity firm. Predatory Sparrow didn't respond to requests for comment sent to the administrator of its Telegram group. The cyberattacks hit an economy already battered by U.S. sanctions that bar the purchase of Iran's oil or interactions with its banks. Iran's economy is highly dependent on a select few trading partners, notably China. Annual inflation runs above 40%, according to the World Bank. A constant flight of skilled workers has also throttled Iran's economic growth. Israel confirmed a cease-fire with Iran on Tuesday. But cybersecurity experts and Israeli officials expect the cyberwarfare to continue. 'Israel will likely keep launching precision cyberstrikes against the regime's power centers," said Lavid. Officials at Israel's National Bureau for Counter-Terror Financing said they didn't have information on links between Predatory Sparrow and Israeli authorities. They said Israel was broadly targeting the economic infrastructure that allowed Iran to finance its military and proxies, imposing sanctions earlier this month on its central bank and other banks used by the IRGC. The NBCTF, which is overseen by the defense ministry, plans to issue orders to exchanges outside Iran to help it seize more of Nobitex's crypto holdings. It has identified a further $150 million in funds held by Nobitex, the officials said. Pro-Iran cyber groups have hit back, targeting Israeli government websites with denial-of-service attacks, in which hackers aim to overwhelm computers that route internet traffic with a flood of requests, and sending phishing messages to Israelis in a bid to compromise their phones. The Israel National Cyber Directorate said Iran's cyberattacks hadn't caused damage in recent weeks. Paranoia swept through the Iranian population as the attacks, both physical and cyber, mounted. 'It's better to cut [the internet] off. Israel can see everything," said Mohammad Ghorbaniyan, a Tehran-based money changer whom the U.S. sanctioned several years ago for allegedly aiding Iranian hackers, an accusation he denies. The Bank Sepah hack last Tuesday halted payments, including salaries owed to military retirees, according to Fars News Agency, which is controlled by the IRGC. Many of its cash machines stopped working. The U.S. Treasury Department said last year that Bank Sepah, which has branches on Iranian military bases, helps Iran's defense ministry pay foreign suppliers via a sprawling shadow-banking network. Nobitex went offline the next day. The Tehran-based crypto exchange has processed transactions in excess of about $22 billion for users since its 2017 launch, according to blockchain research firms and the officials from Israel's NBCTF. 'This attack had political motives to create emotional distress and damage the Iranian people's property," Nobitex's chief executive, Amir Rad, said in a video posted on its Telegram channel. As in Russia and other countries cut off from international finance, cryptocurrencies, in particular dollar-pegged stablecoins such as tether, have emerged as a vital workaround in Iran, providing a medium through which users can shift money between local and foreign banks. Nobitex's 11 million customers use the platform to swap Iranian rials for tether, which they can convert into other traditional currencies abroad. Rad has said on his LinkedIn account that Nobitex's goal is to allow Iranians to trade crypto despite 'the shadow of sanctions." 'Nobitex has been the main option for the Iranians to skip the sanctions," said Amit Levin, a former Israeli prosecutor and ex-investigator at the Binance crypto exchange who now advises companies on financial-crime compliance. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had also turned to Nobitex for international payments, according to the Israeli officials and blockchain researchers. Crypto analytics firm Elliptic has found that two IRGC operatives, whom the U.S. accused of conducting ransomware attacks on American companies, used Nobitex to make transfers. Rad said he didn't believe that the IRGC was moving money through Nobitex because he operated a transparent platform that was closely monitored. Predatory Sparrow has been wreaking havoc on Iran since at least 2021. In earlier hacks, the group disabled gas-station payment systems across the country and triggered a fire at an Iranian steel plant. For their operation against Nobitex, the hackers managed to obtain the keys for the exchange's cryptocurrency wallets, which were held by key personnel within the company, said Rad. Predatory Sparrow then 'burned" the stolen $100 million by sending the tokens to other digital wallets the group itself couldn't access. These wallets' addresses, which are made up of long strings of numbers and letters, contained profane phrases like 'F—IRGCterrorists." Nobitex's initial investigation into the breach indicated that Israel's government had likely supported it, Rad said, though he declined to provide proof of his claim. He said Nobitex was a private, independent company with no affiliation to the Iranian state, including the IRGC. Write to Angus Berwick at
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
Laundering of Rs 540 crore of ‘drug money': Majithia's conduct was doubtful, says former ED deputy director
Former deputy director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) Niranjan Singh, who probed the alleged money laundering charges against former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia and also recorded his statement in connection with the Jagdish Bhola drug-racket case before being transferred, on Saturday said the conduct of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader in the entire case was 'doubtful.' This came a day after former Punjab director general of police (DGP) Siddharth Chattopadhyaya met a Vigilance Bureau team on Friday and shared his 'experience and knowledge' with its members regarding the drugs case registered against the former Akali minister in 2021. Singh, who appeared before the Vigilance Bureau in connection with their investigation into the alleged money laundering case against Majithia, said he had recorded his 'verbal statement' with the Bureau. 'Being with ED, I started the investigation in the case in 2013, and it went on till 2017. I was not able to complete that because I was transferred and promoted. I cannot reveal everything to the media as the investigation is pending. We gather a lot of evidence in financial investigations. I can just add that there is a doubtful conduct,' he said, referring to Majithia. The bureau on June 25 arrested Majithia in the case allegedly involving the laundering of Rs 540 crore of 'drug money'. The former Punjab minister was sent to a seven-day custody by a Mohali court on June 26. He also accused Majithia of getting him transferred out of Jalandhar when he was in the midst of the investigation. 'What the Punjab government is saying about linking drug money with disproportionate assets case, I have no link with that. There is no evidence of this link at this juncture. The investigation was delayed. The credit for the delayed investigation goes to Majithia. He got it done. I am saying this on record. I was transferred several times,' Singh said. 'The ED has a clear mandate: if an FIR is lodged under the NDPS Act case and recovery is made, then the agency enters into it and takes details about how crime money was generated, laundered and investigated. There were 102 accused, and they were investigated. I was not able to complete it. I had the support of the department for many years. When I summoned Majithia in 2014, I was transferred to Kolkata. The HC later cancelled this transfer. There was non-cooperation by the department after that, and some steps were taken by the authorities which do not go in favour of the investigation.' 'I told them that now I am retired. I have no documents. They can get copies of those documents from the ED. I will come and certify those,' Singh said. Recalling the case, he said, 'The initiation of investigation was done as a case of drugs. I investigated for the ED and submitted the status report to the high court. The HC examined the report and gave it to the STF. The STF examined it and gave its observation to the HC. The court then directed the Punjab government to take action, but the government did not take action.' He said the 2021 FIR was based on the status report filed by him and the STF. 'Now, the Vigilance is investigating the money laundering. Because the initiation of the investigation was done by me, they wanted me to come and help them. I can say the documents in both cases are the same. It is the same story and the same facts. The money laundering is linked. They have to do the investigation now,' Singh said. 'When we started the investigation, drug kingpin Jagdish Bhola's statement was recorded. Majithia's name is mentioned in his statement. Later, I investigated Bittu Aulakh. He, too, wrote his name. Bhola has been convicted. I got 17 accused convicted, and their illegal property was attached and confiscated. This case has the same ground. The guilty are behind bars,' Singh said. He said, 'The matter is still under investigation. Whatever is in the court and public domain, I can tell. Some people in contact with him were in Canada. We sought an investigation report about them from the Canadian government. The government never sent it to us. They were Satpreet Satta, Amrinder Singh Laddi, Parminder Singh Pindi and many others.' 'I have recorded statements in which his name figures. I have submitted the report to the court. Based on those statements only, 17 persons were convicted. That means the court agreed with my statements and evidence,' he said. He said, 'The challan was to be presented by the SIT, but they did not. I can only help whenever an agency seeks my help.' He said that the Vigilance had never contacted him earlier. 'I have given a verbal statement. The police have to record it. I gave the details of the Bhola drug case and what came into the investigations about Majithia. I had submitted the statements of Bhola and Aulakh in the trial court. The contents of their statement were required by the VB. I have told them about it.' 'I am neither in favour nor against anyone. I am only responsible for the investigation I have done. There is no politics as far as my investigation is concerned. There are many statements, there are revelations, and the accused has named him. Since the investigation is pending, it is not fair to say anything. The investigation is going on, and is live and in progress. It has not been closed,' he added.
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
Trump Implicitly THREATENS Israel With $3.8 BN Military Aid SUSPENSION Over Netanyahu Trial
Rajnath Singh Refuses To Sign SCO Draft Statement- What is Its Significance for India? In a landmark visit to China—the first by an Indian Defence Minister since the deadly 2020 Galwan clash—Rajnath Singh made headlines by standing firm on one issue: Terrorism cannot be ignored. At the SCO Defence Ministers' meeting in Qingdao, Singh slammed "state-sponsored terrorism," referencing the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, where 26 Indian civilians were killed. When the SCO draft statement failed to even mention this attack, India refused to sign. With the SCO operating on consensus, India's refusal scrapped the entire statement. Singh also invoked Operation Sindoor, India's retaliatory military operation, warning that silence on terrorism equals complicity. This move signals a clear shift in India's foreign policy posture: diplomacy with spine. Find out why this wasn't just a meeting—it was a message.#rajnathsingh #sco #india #china #scomeeting #indiavschina #terrorism #operationsindoor #sco2025 #foreignpolicy #toi #toibharat #bharat #breakingnews #indianews 184 views | 21 hours ago
