Good morning. Let’s take a break from HS2, but in case you aren’t aware, Rishi Sunak yesterday confirmed the line from Birmingham to Manchester has been scrapped, but it will extend to central London. Find all the details here, and reaction from Tory MPs at the conference – “it feels like a really boozy wake” – here.
Instead, today we will take a deep dive into the full-blown diplomatic row between Canada and India, which threatens to force the UK, US and other western countries to pick a side. The choices aren’t great.
Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau has accused “agents of the government of India” of involvement in the assassination of Canadian citizen and Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil. Trudeau has called on Canada’s allies to come together to challenge India. “It is extremely serious and it has far-reaching consequences for international law and order,” he said.
India has dismissed the allegation as “absurd” and denied any connections to Nijjar’s death. It also accused Canada of sheltering “extremists and terrorists” who “threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” It comes as western nations are desperately courting India – the world’s fifth largest economy – as an alternative source of growth to China.
After the headlines, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, the Guardian’s south Asia correspondent, will explain everything.
Five big stories
Housing | England is now “the most difficult place to find a home in the developed world”, with an industry group finding that the country has the lowest percentage of vacant homes per capita in the OECD, with a greater proportion of people also living in substandard properties than the EU average.
Environment | Global temperatures soared to a new record in September by a huge margin. The hottest September on record follows the hottest August and hottest July, with the latter being the hottest month ever recorded.
Crime | Police have launched a corporate manslaughter investigation into the Countess of Chester hospital after the neonatal nurse Lucy Letby’s convictions for the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others.
US news | Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio, both hardline conservatives, emerged as leading contenders to succeed Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the US House of Representatives, after the Californian was brutally removed with the help of his own Republican party on Tuesday.
UK news | Police have arrested the rightwing commentator Laurence Fox at his home after comments encouraging people to vandalise Ulez cameras. After the arrest, the broadcaster GB News, which last week suspended Fox after he made misogynistic remarks about a political journalist, said it had “ended its employment relationship” with him.
In depth: ‘Governments are picking their words carefully, considering how to respond’
At 8.27pm on 18 June, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a plumber in Vancouver, was shot dead outside a Sikh temple at which he served as president.
The police report says Nijjar, 45, “suffered from multiple gunshot wounds” and died at the scene inside his pickup truck. The police also said two heavy-set men, in face coverings, fled the scene in a silver 2008 Toyota Camry with the help of a third suspect. All three suspects remain at large.
“There were suggestions on social media that India may have been behind the killing,” Hannah says. “But it wasn’t getting any pickup in mainstream media, and it kind of died down.”
That all changed on 18 September, when Trudeau told the Canadian parliament in an emergency statement that his government was “actively pursuing credible allegations” of India’s involvement in Nijjar’s murder, which he said was “an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty”.
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Why would India allegedly assassinate Nijjar?
To answer this, Hannah, says we need to rewind to the partition of India in 1947. The British Raj was dissolved, creating India and Pakistan. As part of this, the region of Punjab – where many Sikhs live – was split between India and Pakistan.
“As Muslims began fighting for their own homeland, which would eventually become Pakistan, a small section of Sikhs also began to push for their own independent state: Khalistan. After Punjab was split in partition, support for the Khalistan movement continued to grow until the 1980s when it hit its peak both in India and within the diaspora abroad.”
In 1984, the Indian army launched Operation Blue Star to remove Sikh separatists from the Golden Temple, the holiest site in Sikhism. More than 400 people died. In revenge, then prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards. That led to anti-Sikh riots that claimed thousands of lives.
Fearing for their safety, hundreds of thousands of Sikh’s left India. Many of them went to Canada. Today there are 771,790 people who identify as Sikh in Canada, according to the 2021 census. That makes Canada the second-most populous nation for Sikhs after India – there are actually more Sikhs per head of population in Canada than India (2.1% vs 1.7%).
“While the separatist Khalistan movement has fallen down the list of priorities among Sikhs in India, the diaspora abroad feel very strongly about it,” Hannah says. “The cause has been taken up by many second generation Sikhs who may never have been to India but see Khalistan as a connection to their roots.
“And they have made it a political issue in Canada.” Several Canadian MPs – on both sides – are Sikhs.
Nijjar, who was born in Punjab and moved to Canada in 1997, was a vocal advocate for the creation of Khalistan. Meanwhile, India labelled Nijjar a terrorist and accused him of being the “mastermind” behind the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), a militant group that India banned as a terrorist organisation in February 2023. His supporters deny the accusations.
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What might happen next?
Relations between India and Canada, which have been strained for some years, are, Hannah says, at an all-time low. “India has ordered Canada to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats from its embassy in Delhi, and suspended all visa applications for Canadians.”
Trudeau responded: “We’re taking this extremely seriously, but we’re going to continue to engage responsibly and constructively with the Indian government.”
The row has reignited the Khalistan debate in several other countries, with protests outside the Indian High Commission in London, as well as several US and Australian cities.
The response among analysts has been one of disbelief, with many saying that foreign killings have not previously featured as part of India’s intelligence playbook. “If these allegations are true, then there is a radical reimagination of Indian intelligence …,” Yogesh Joshi, a research fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore, previously told Hannah.
Yet, as Joshi emphasised, India’s position on the world stage has never been as influential, as a geopolitical counterweight to China and a growing economic powerhouse. As a result, India has aggressively pursued a foreign policy that often runs counter to western interests, while still being courted by leaders from the US, UK, Australia and Europe.
“Western governments are picking their words very carefully, and considering how to respond,” says Hannah. “The US is Canada’s closest ally, but at the same time India is extremely important geopolitically especially as relations with China deteriorate.
“It’s not just the US, France just signed a big fighter jet deal with India, and of course Rishi Sunak is desperate to sign a free trade deal with India.”
What else we’ve been reading
Ehsan Khoshbakht wrote about the man who stood up to Iran’s fanaticism against “unsuitable” films. Ahmad Jorghanian preserved countless volumes of film heritage and kept the underground cinema scene alive in the country for decades. Nimo
The bus leaves Monday to Friday at 8.30am sharp outside the Sant Antoni market in Barcelona, but this is no ordinary vehicle; it has hundreds of wheels, dozens of drivers – and no passengers. Stephen Burgen takes a ride on the bicibús (bicycle bus) – a fun, safe mode of transport that makes going to school feel like a party. Rupert
Founded by Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, the anti-trafficking organisation Thorn has generated headlines over the years because of its sophisticated digital tool designed to identify potential victims of trafficking. But many have started scrutinising the software after issues with privacy were raised: for New York magazine (£), Angelina Chapin raises the curtain on this elusive organisation. Nimo
The escalator riddle: would we all move faster and more safely if we stopped walking on them? You know those headlines that pose a question? I feel very strongly that the answer to this one is: no. Rupert
Yesterday, Rupert recommended an article looking into what makes someone a cat person. For those who prefer a more unquestioning, boundless loyalty and love, Zoe Williams wrote a mirror piece explaining why so many of us love hanging out with dogs. Nimo
Sport
Football | For long spells Celtic were by far the more threatening side in their match against Lazio, but a late goal from Pedro was enough to secure victory for the Italian side. Newcastle’s first home Champions League game for 20 years concluded amid unbridled geordie joy, after beating Paris Saint-Germain 4-1. Two late strikes were enough to give Manchester City a 3-1 win at RB Leipzig.
Football | The 2030 World Cup is to be played on three continents after Morocco, Portugal and Spain won the race to host the 48-team tournament but Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay were gifted three matches.
Cricket | The much-anticipated rematch between England and New Zealand, the finalists of the 2019 World Cup, in the 2023 tournament’s opening game is likely to take place without Ben Stokes, who is set to join Kane Williamson on the sidelines after suffering a hip injury.
The front pages
The Conservative party conference in Manchester once against dominates the front pages. The Guardian leads with “Sunak ignites Tory civil war after declaring he is ‘change’ candidate”. The Telegraph quotes the prime minister’s speech in its headline “‘Huge decisions to change Britain’”. The Times says “Son of a pharmacist casts himself as Thatcher’s heir”.
The i reports “Sunak turns on 13 years of Tory rule with spending trap for Starmer”. The Mail characterises Sunak’s speech as a “common sense revolution”, under the headline “Day Rishi gave Tories a reason to believe he can save us from Keir’s wokery”.
The Financial Times reports “Sunak axes HS2 northern leg in bid to paint Tories as party of ‘change’”, while the Mirror labels that same decision as a “Train wreck”. Finally, the Sun looks at the decision to host the 2030 Fifa World Cup across three continents with “They think it’s all over the place”.
Today in Focus
All change: do Rishi Sunak’s new policies add up?
Rishi Sunak approached his first party conference speech behind in the polls and heading towards a general election campaign that many in his party are dreading. The prime minister’s mission was to begin turning things around and his strategy for the Conservative party was clear: become the enemy of what he called the ‘30-year status quo’ while not taking too much blame for it.
Political correspondent Kiran Stacey tells Nosheen Iqbal that Sunak announced some significant new policies, but asks if it all adds up to a vision of change that can win an election?
Cartoon of the day | Steve Bell
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
A controversial plan to plant a strawberry farm on one of Europe’s most important and threatened wetlands has been paused after an unexpected agreement was reached between Spain’s caretaker government and the regional authorities in Andalucía. Environmental groups have long campaigned to protect the area, which sustains millions of migrating birds and is home to a major population of endangered animals. Details of the deal have not been finalised yet, but they will probably include actions that will further protect the area from being turned into irrigable land.
Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday
Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow.
