Canada's domestic spy agency concluded that China interfered in the last two elections, an official probe heard on Monday, the firmest evidence so far of suspected Chinese meddling in Canadian politics. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party won both the elections, held in 2019 and 2021. Under pressure from opposition legislators unhappy about media reports on China's possible role, Trudeau set up a commission into foreign interference. The commission was shown a slide on Monday containing an extract of a February 2023 briefing from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). "We know that the PRC (Peoples' Republic of China) clandestinely and deceptively interfered in both the 2019 and 2021 elections," it said. "In both cases, these FI (foreign interference) activities were pragmatic in nature and focused primarily on supporting those viewed to be either 'pro-PRC' or 'neutral' on issues of interest to the PRC government." The existence of the assessment had previously been reported by Global News. China denies it interferes in Canadian politics. Erin O'Toole, who led the Conservatives during the 2021 campaign, estimated Chinese interference cost his party up to nine seats but added it had not changed the course of the election. A legislator for the left-leaning minority New Democrats told the inquiry that once she started criticizing Beijing's Hong Kong policy, invitations to events held by the politically influential ethnic Chinese community started to dry up. According to the official 2021 census, Canada is home to around 1.7 million people of Chinese descent, just under 5% of the total population. The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the CSIS statement. Last year, Canada said a Conservative legislator with family in Hong Kong had been targeted in an online disinformation operation, and kicked out a senior Chinese diplomat. "State actors are able to conduct foreign interference successfully in Canada because there are few legal or political consequences. FI is therefore low-risk and high-reward," said the CSIS assessment. Intelligence analysts and the Conservatives say Trudeau's government has not done enough to combat Chinese interference. Trudeau is due to testify to the commission on Wednesday. The Conservatives, who generally take a harder line on China than the Liberals, campaigned in 2021 on a platform that condemned Beijing's treatment of its Uyghur minority and vowed to ban Chinese mobile giant Huawei from the 5G network.   Source: Reuters  

The Prominent songwriter Shinsadong Tiger in the Korean pop (K-Pop) music industry, has been found dead in Seoul. Police found his dead body on Friday (February 23). The death was reported by the semi-official Yonhap News Agency. Police have not yet confirmed where, when or how Shinsadong died. Shinsadong Tiger, whose real name was Lee Ho-yan, lost consciousness at his workplace in Seoul, according to music industry sources quoted by Yonhap News.

Election Commissioner Ahsan Habib Khan on Wednesday (Dec 27) said that the entire team including the presiding officer of a polling centre will be suspended if vote rigging incidents are reported.  "People must be able to say that I have cast my vote peacefully after coming out of the centre. No one can cast a fake vote. No person can say that my vote has already been cast,” he said. The whole team, including the presiding officers, will be suspended immediately and other measures will be taken, including their dismissal, said the election commissioner.  He said this to reporters after exchanging views with returning officers, assistant returning officers, law enforcement officials and candidates of Patuakhali and Barguna districts in the Patuakhali Deputy Commissioner’s conference room in Patuakhali on Wednesday afternoon. Ahsan Habib said: "The outside world is watching the election, but we are not under any pressure. We want to show them that the voting takes place in a fair environment.” Therefore, the Election Commission has a zero-tolerance policy regarding holding free and fair polls, he added.  

French prosecutors said the five victims were a woman and her four children. After an overnight manhunt, French media reported that the father of the family was arrested on Tuesday morning. Five dead bodies were found on Christmas Day in an apartment near Paris, a mother and her four children, French prosecutors said on Tuesday. The incident occurred in the town of Meaux, some 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) east of the center of Paris, in the northern Ile-de-France region. French media including newspaper Le Figaro and the AFP news agency all reported on Tuesday morning, citing police sources, that the father of the family had been arrested following an overnight search.  They said that the 33-year-old was already known to authorities for a history of domestic violence and psychiatric problems.   What else do we know about the crime? Police were alerted to a possible disturbance at around 9 p.m. local time (2000 UTC/GMT) on Monday, Meaux public prosecutor Jean-Baptiste Bladier said in a press conference on Tuesday. People reported that the occupants were not responding, and said that "traces of blood in small quantities" were visible under the door, according to Bladier.  Police broke into the premises to discover a major crime scene, he said, with the corpses of a Haitian-born mother, her two daughters and two sons.  Bladier said the three female victims had been stabbed multiple times, while the two boys did not exhibit obvious external injuries, but rather indications of probable suffocation or drowning.  

The case has put a spotlight on the problem of sexual violence and harassment within the Japanese military. A court in Japan on Tuesday found three former soldiers guilty of sexually assaulting a female colleague and gave them suspended jail terms. The case of 24-year-old Rina Gonoi relates to a 2021 incident during her time in the army. After joining the Japanese Self Defense Forces in 2020, she said she experienced daily harassment. "When walking down the hallway, someone slaps you on your hip, or holds you from behind," she told AFP. "I was kissed on the cheek, and my breasts were grabbed." And then in 2021, during a drill, she said three of her colleagues pinned her to the ground, forced her legs apart and pressed their crotches against her in simulation of a sex act. She said other colleagues present at the time watched and laughed. Even though she complained to her superiors at the time, no action was taken, prompting Gonoi to leave the military. In 2022, Gonoi took to YouTube to share her account. After she went public, Japan's Defense Ministry issued a public apology to her and announced that five men connected to the incident had been dismissed and four others punished. Attracting recognition as well as vitriol Gonoi's decision to go public also grabbed public attention and put a spotlight on the issue of sexual assault and harassment in a society where women rarely hold positions in the upper echelons of politics, business and military. It also inspired others to file complaints about sexual harassment and bullying. In the military, for instance, over 1,400 women and men have submitted their allegations following a special inspection by the Defense Ministry. This June, Japan passed legislation redefining rape, including removing the requirement that victims prove they had sought to resist their attacker. Gonoi's battle has even attracted international recognition: Time Magazine named her on its list of 100 emerging world leaders while the British Broadcasting Corp included her among its 100 most influential women globally. But she has also been a target of online vitriol. "I have gotten many derogatory comments. But I know the world values what I'm doing," she told Reuters. Separately, Gonoi has lodged a civil case against her former peers and the government, seeking damages for the alleged assault and the subsequent inaction despite her complaints.

The World Health Organization on Thursday said several contaminated syrups and suspension medicines had been identified in countries in the WHO regions of the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean, South-East Asia and the Western Pacific. The affected products were manufactured by Pharmix Laboratories in Pakistan, the WHO said, and were first identified in the Maldives and Pakistan. Some of the tainted products have also been found in Belize, Fiji and Laos. Pharmix was not immediately available for comment. The medicines, liquids containing active ingredients to treat various conditions, contained unacceptable levels of the contaminant ethylene glycol, WHO said. The alert is the latest in a line of warnings from WHO about similarly contaminated medicines made in India and Indonesia, which were linked to the deaths of around 300 children worldwide last year. No adverse events have been reported to the WHO regarding the Pakistan-made syrups, the agency's statement said, but it urged countries to step up vigilance and test products made by the company between December 2021 and December 2022. The contamination was found in Alergo syrup in a routine examination by the Maldives Food and Drug Authority in November, and confirmed by the Australian regulator. A follow-up inspection at Pharmix manufacturing facilities, conducted by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, found that a number of other products were also contaminated. It has ordered the company to stop making all oral liquid medicines and issued a recall alert in November. A total of 23 batches of Alergo syrup, Emidone suspension, Mucorid syrup, Ulcofin suspension and Zincell syrup are affected, the WHO said. Only Alergo so far has been found outside Pakistan. The contamination levels ranged from 0.62% to 0.82%, compared to the accepted level of not more than 0.10%, according to the alert. The products are variously designed to treat allergies, coughs and other health issues. "The substandard products referenced in this alert are unsafe and their use, especially in children, may result in serious injury or death," the WHO warned.   Source: REUTERS

A new variant of the coronavirus called BA.2.86 has been detected in Germany for the first time, the Robert Koch-Institut (RKI) said on Wednesday. In its weekly report, the federal government agency said the variant, also known as Pirola, had been found in the week leading up to August 27. Acute respiratory infections have been on the rise in Germany since July, the RKI further reported. What do we know about new variant? BA.2.86 has so far been detected in several countries, including Denmark, the USA, the UK and Israel. The World Health Organization (WHO) has labeled BA.2.86 one of seven "variants under monitoring," the lowest of three tiers in the UN body's tracking system. Is COVID making a comeback? Last week, the WHO warned of "concerning trends for COVID-19 ahead of the winter season in the northern hemisphere" at a virtual press conference. It said a new Coronavirus variant called EG.5, also known as Eris, was on the rise globally. The WHO has categorized it as a "variant of interest" – one above BA.2.86, but not yet a  "variant of concern." Data on Coronavirus infections is currently limited as many countries have stopped reporting deaths and hospitalizations. Experts warn that it is vital nations continue to report Covid-related statistics. Experts say it is notable because it shows multiple differences from previous versions of the Coronavirus. This may affect how immunized or vaccinated people react to it. "BA.2.86 may be more capable of causing infection in people who have previously had COVID-19 or who have received COVID-19 vaccines," according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preliminary data suggests vaccines will give protection against it, the WHO says.

Greek authorities said on Tuesday that 18 burned bodies were found in a remote area in northeastern Greece, where wildfires have been raging for days.  Fire department spokesman Yiannis Artopios said in a televised address that they were found near the national park of Dadia. The region bordering Turkey is a frequent entry point for migrants, Greek media reported. What do we know about the fatalities? Greek police activated the country's Disaster Victim Identification Team, in an effort to identify the discovered bodies. They were found near a shack in the Avanta area, Artopios said. Since no reports of missing people had been filed in the area, authorities were investigating the possibility that they were "people who entered our country illegally," possibly from the nearby Turkish border, Artopios said. The discovery pushed the death toll from the latest wildfires to 20. On Monday, another suspected migrant was also found dead, as well as an elderly shepherd who is believed to have suffocated while attempting to save his livestock north of Athens. Fires continued to spread on Tuesday, detected in northeastern Greece as well as the islands of Evia and Kythnos and the region of Viotia. Wildfires scorch Greece Wildfires near Alexandroupolis, close to the Turkish border, have been raging for days. On Tuesday, eight villages and the city's hospital were evacuated after flames raced through the forest toward the northeastern port city overnight. Around 65 of over 100 patients had to be ferried to the port town of Kavala, where they were transferred to another hospital. Others were moved to hospitals in northern Greece. "I've been working for 27 years, I've never seen anything like this," nurse Nikos Gioktsidis at the University Hospital of Alexandroupolis told the Reuters news agency. "Stretchers everywhere, patients here, IV drips there ... it was like a war, like a bomb had exploded." Emergency services also urged residents of various communities around Alexandroupolis to evacuate, issuing a warning which read: "Forest fires in your area." Two villages near the city also witnessed damage to a school, several homes and a cemetery. Fires also continued to rage in the area around the capital, with a new fire breaking out westwards in the Aspropyrgos area. Authorities issued evacuation orders for two villages in the area. Greece suffers destructive wildfires every summer, but officials say they have been exacerbated by climate change, with many other countries in the region also suffering from more fires blamed on warming temperatures.

Bangladesh’s next general election, which is widely perceived as being important due to the role it is expected to play in determining the country’s political future, is barely six months away. Incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her ruling Awami League (AL) party have battled an aggressive campaign led by the primary opposition party the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) as well as economic difficulties that the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brought upon the country. The problems of the AL government were compounded earlier this year when the United States (US) began exerting escalating pressure on it to prove its democratic credentials even after 15 years in power. In this backdrop, the recent findings of the national survey conducted by the International Republican Institute (IRI) that while Bangladesh citizens were pessimistic about the economy and elections, policies on infrastructure and development had buoyed Sheikh Hasina’s public support and added to her popularity would have come as a pre-election shot in the arm for the AL. The IRI is an American nonprofit organization that is funded and supported by the US federal government, and the conclusions of a survey conducted by it would have been taken careful note of by Sheikh Hasina and her team. In an article titled ‘Bangladesh: Survey Reveals Premier Remains Popular Despite Growing Public Discontent’ that was posted on 9 August on the website of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), David Hoogstra, a program manager at the IRI, and Geoffrey Macdonald observed that although political tension was rising in Bangladesh ahead of the country’s next national elections, due by January 2024, with both the ruling AL and opposition BNP holding large rallies across the country to mobilize their supporters, there was little polling data publicly available that could put in focus the state of race. For a country of 170 million people, there was remarkably little credible public opinion data in Bangladesh. Most observers’ assessment of political strength was driven by impressions of grassroots enthusiasm and crowd size at rallies, which are highly unreliable measures. That changed a little when the IRI recently released its national survey and focus group discussion (FGD) study that shed light on Bangladesh’s political, economic, and social dynamics. The authors wrote, “This research shows that though citizens are pessimistic about the state of the economy and elections, the government’s policies on infrastructure and development have buoyed the prime minister’s public support. Furthermore, while the opposition’s popularity is growing and its calls for a caretaker government are breaking through, Bangladeshis appear skeptical of its boycott strategy”. The IRI survey found that economic issues had been driving the pessimism in Bangladesh, and 51 percent of the respondents said that the economy was doing poorly. Bangladeshis are also frustrated with politics, and ordinary citizens believe that political and civic institutions are not protecting their interests. Others cited corruption, a serious issue across all of South Asia, as the single most important problem in the country. Even civil society was viewed negatively, with 62 percent saying civic groups represent the interests of elites. The article pointed out that the most contentious debate in Bangladesh’s politics currently centered on election administration. The BNP is boycotting all elections until the restoration of Bangladesh’s caretaker government (CTG) system, which installs a politically neutral government before election day. The AL — which scrapped the system after Bangladesh’s high court ruled it unconstitutional in 2011 — says the Election Commission can competently oversee fair elections. AL supporters point to the BNP’s massive Dhaka rally in December 2022 and other opposition political events held freely around the country. In 2022, non-AL candidates won in local elections, lending credibility to the process. Recent municipal elections have encountered some problems but have also been lauded for relatively high turnout, reduced violence and open competition in some locations. Furthermore, the government has consistently said it welcomes international election observers in January. In May, the AL also floated the idea of a bipartisan election time government including the BNP, and a senior AL official recently said the party is open to internationally mediated political dialogue. Nevertheless, Bangladeshis are divided on this issue. While 92 percent say they are very or somewhat likely to cast their vote, 56 percent of Bangladeshis say the opposition should compete in the election even if the CTG is not reinstated. In focus groups, many BNP supporters urged their party to run. The article concluded that “The Bangladeshi public’s pervasive pessimism appears to be boosting the opposition’s popularity but has not yet substantially weakened the Sheikh Hasina government. About 70 percent of Bangladeshis say the prime minister is doing a good job, and majorities approve of the government’s performance on various policy issues from access to drinking water to improving education”. International opinion on the issue of democracy and rule of law in Bangladesh has been divided and inconsistent. Over the past year, several senior US government officials — including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Hass and State Department Councilor Derek Chollet — have publicly called for free and fair elections in Bangladesh. Al Jazeera reported in May this year that Antony Blinken had said that the US was adopting a new policy to restrict visas for Bangladeshis who undermined the democratic election process at home. Blinken said the US was supporting “free, fair and peaceful national elections” and would target either pro-government or opposition supporters in the deeply polarised nation. Blinken added that he was “announcing this policy to lend our support to all those seeking to advance democracy in Bangladesh”, and that the move could affect current or former officials and politicians and members of law enforcement, the judiciary and security services “believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic election process in Bangladesh”. He asserted that “The holding of free and fair elections is the responsibility of everyone – voters, political parties, the government, the security forces, civil society and the media”. Other western-aligned governments have followed the US’ lead on Bangladesh. The United Kingdom (UK), Japan and others have echoed US calls for free and fair elections, and the European Union (EU) sent a six-member Election Exploratory Mission that visited Bangladesh from July 8 to July 22 and held several dozen meetings with various stakeholders, including political parties, media representatives and civil society members, to assess the political situation in the country and to decide on the possibility of sending EU election observers to monitor the January 2024 polls. A high-level US delegation, including Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu and Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Uzra Zeya, also visited Bangladesh in July and discussed a range of issues, including “free and fair elections”, labor issues, human rights and combating human trafficking with senior Bangladeshi officials. In its response to Blinken’s comments, the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry issued a statement assuring of free and fair elections in January next year. It said, “The government apparatus will take necessary measures to prevent and address any unlawful practices or interference … to compromise the smooth and participatory conduct of the elections. The electoral process will remain under strict vigilance, including by international observers as accredited by the Election Commission”. It stressed that the Election Commission retained the ability to perform its functions in full independence, credibility and efficiency. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reacted angrily to the new visa rule, which was widely perceived as a warning to the ruling administration, and said it amounted to an attempt to topple her government. Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha shortly after Blinken’s statement, Sheikh Hasina assured that “I am here to ensure our people’s voting rights because people should decide who will run the country. It is people’s power. I want to ensure people’s power. I am not here to grab power, rather I want to empower our people. They should have that right to choose their government. So under our government, definitely elections will be free and fair”. Taking a dig at the US’ own imperfect experience with democracy, Hasina had added, “As for the US, you can see that Mr Trump didn’t accept the results. What do they have to say now? We have told everybody, if they want to send observers they can do it”. Some analysts believe that the US pressing Bangladesh on democracy has more to do with gaining leverage in business and trade deals and countering rival China’s growing influence in the country. Washington, they say, has done little to push for free elections in Pakistan which is mired in its own deep political crisis. They argue that under proxy military rule, mass arrests, disappearances, murders and torture have become a regular feature in Pakistan. Delwar Hossain, a professor of international relations at the University of Dhaka, was quoted by the Bangladeshi media as saying that “The US approach to Bangladesh needs to be changed. In the case of Pakistan’s political instability, the US is silent while in Bangladesh’s case they are highly active”. Among regional powers, India has consistently extended its unqualified support to the Sheikh Hasina regime. Ali Riaz, non-resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center, noted in his article titled ‘Bangladesh election 2024: What role will India play?’ that “Under the Hasina regime, India has received Bangladesh’s support in rooting out insurgency in India’s Northeastern region, securing transit through Bangladesh, gaining permanent access to two main ports in the Bay of Bengal, signing an energy deal which ensures that Bangladesh buys electricity with the highest cost, inking an agreement which allows India to install a surveillance system in the Bay of Bengal, agreeing to a water-sharing deal which provides India control over the river Kushiyara and engaging in close defense cooperation to name but a few significant bilateral achievements”. Riaz opined that it was, therefore, not surprising that “Despite the intense discussions in the media, there hasn’t been any official word from New Delhi regarding the new United States policy or the growing tension between the United States and Bangladesh. New Delhi has remained studiously silent”. India’s support for Sheikh Hasina is on account of many factors, most significant among which is the terrorism promoted by the BNP during its period in power in Dhaka that Hasina has helped virtually eliminate. Equally weighty is the Indian desire to keep China at bay. For its part, China has sought to foster close economic and defense cooperation with Sheikh Hasina’s government, while remaining politically neutral. The US-led West, which has for several years been sensitive to India’s position on Bangladesh, also recognizes the perils of pushing Sheikh Hasina too far. As Jasmin Lorch, South Asia analyst and guest lecturer at the Humboldt University in Berlin put it while commenting upon the possibility of EU sanctions on Bangladesh, “It is also unclear whether such restrictions would be effective because they might just push Bangladesh closer to China, which is a highly authoritarian patron”. From the US perspective, adopting too tough a stance against Bangladesh at this juncture could actually run counter to its broader geopolitical interests in South Asia and the Indo-Pacific. As Geoffrey Macdonald pointed out, “Internationally, the United States, India and China will be watching closely. Bangladesh’s long border with India, strategic location on the Bay of Bengal and economic potential make it an attractive ally for Indo-Pacific competitors”, which includes China. The Awami League, meanwhile, will take solace that the desire of the US to build a close relationship with India will, to a lesser or greater extent, serve to dilute democracy-promoting pressure upon Dhaka from Washington.

A journalist for one of Mexico's top newspapers has been found dead in the western state of Nayarit, La Jornada said on Saturday. "A body found in the village of Huachines... in the municipality of Tepic was identified as Luis Martin Sanchez Iniguez, 59 years old, correspondent for La Jornada," the newspaper said on its website. 'Signs of violence' on body Sanchez Iniguez had been missing since Wednesday and his wife filed a missing persons report with Mexican authorities on Friday. He was last seen in Xalisco, a Nayarit town that has long been linked to the smuggling of heroin and opium. The prosecutor's office said on Saturday that relatives identified the body, which had been dead for at least one or two days. "The body was found with signs of violence, and two handwritten signs were found on it," prosecutors said in a statement. Authorities did not reveal what the messages said, but such notes are frequently left by drug cartels with the bodies of victims. The prosecutor's office said the motive in the killing was still under investigation. Journalists under attack in Mexico La Jornada correspondents have been targeted in the past, including Miroslava Breach, who was murdered in Chihuahua in March 2017, and Javier Valdez, who was murdered in Sinaloa in May of the same year.  The murders are part of a wider spate of violence against journalists in Mexico which has spiked under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Press-related killings have increased 85% in the first half of his term compared to that of his predecessor. Meanwhile, 2022 was among the deadliest ever for Mexican media workers, with 15 killed. If police confirm Sanchez Iniguez was murdered, he would be at least the second journalist to be killed in Mexico this year. In February, news photographer Jose Ramiro Araujo was stabbed and beaten to death in the northern Mexico border state of Baja California.