Event: Vikas Pandey

Vikas Pandey,India editorandNadine Yousif,Senior Canada reporterAFP via Getty ImagesPrime Minister Mark Carney is in India for a pivotal trip aimed at repairing ties with the world's largest democracy, as both countries seek to reduce their trade reliance on the US.Carney began his visit in Mumbai, where he is meeting with business leaders. He will then travel to New Delhi for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.The trip marks a remarkable turnaround in relations, which had collapsed when Canada accused India of carrying out an extrajudicial killing of a Canadian Sikh separatist on Canadian soil — an allegation India strongly denied.Both sides now appear ready to move forward. Here's what has changed, and what each country hopes to gain as Carney's trip gets underway. Squeezed by US tariffs, Canada repairs ties with former foesFor Carney, this trip is strictly business, aligned with his broader goal of diversifying Canada's trade partners to reduce economic dependence on the US.A big focus will be making progress on a comprehensive free trade agreement with India, which has been discussed on-and-off for the last 15 years.The latest derailment in trade talks occurred after former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a bombshell public accusation against India in 2023, alleging it was involved in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist, who was gunned down in British Columbia. Four men were later charged in his death, and their case is still before the courts. India has repeatedly denied any involvement.Now faced with US tariffs, and under Carney's more "pragmatic" approach to foreign policy, Ottawa is repairing ties with Delhi.Still, the allegations remain a point of contention for some members of Canada's Sikh community, who say they continue to be targeted by India through transnational repression, and have criticised Carney for prioritising economic interests over their safety.It…

United States President Donald Trump said he is directing every federal agency to immediately cease work with artificial intelligence lab Anthropic, adding there would be a six-month phaseout for the Department of Defense and other agencies that use the company’s products.“I am directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology. We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Friday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Indian university faces backlash for presenting Chinese robot as its ownlist 2 of 3Video: OpenAI and Anthropic CEOs refuse to hold hands at India AI summitlist 3 of 3Anthropic vs the Pentagon: Why AI firm is taking on Trump administrationend of listTrump’s directive came during a weeks-long feud between the Pentagon and the San Francisco-based startup over concerns about how the military could use AI at war.Spokespeople for Anthropic, which has a $200m contract with the Pentagon, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Trump’s decision stopped short of threats issued by the Pentagon, including that it could invoke the Defense Production Act to require Anthropic’s compliance.The Pentagon had also said it considered making Anthropic a supply-chain risk, a designation that previously targeted businesses tied to foreign adversaries.Trump’s comments came just over an hour before the Pentagon’s deadline for Anthropic to allow unrestricted military use of its AI technology or face consequences – and nearly 24 hours after CEO Dario Amodei said his company “cannot in good conscience accede” to the Defense Department’s demands.Calling the company “left-wing nut jobs”, the president said Anthropic made a mistake trying to strong-arm the Pentagon. Trump wrote on Truth Social that most agencies must immediately stop using Anthropic’s AI, but gave…

Nadine YousifSenior Canada reporterAFP via Getty ImagesCanadian officials have criticised OpenAI for failing to report the suspect's ChatGPT account to police, and say they believe the shooting could have been preventedOpenAI says it will strengthen its safety measures after the company failed to alert police about the Tumbler Ridge shooting suspect's ChatGPT account despite it being flagged internally months before the attack.In an open letter to Canadian officials, the company said the suspect was able to create a second account after the first was banned, slipping past its internal detection systems.Canada's AI minister said on Friday that he will meet OpenAI CEO Sam Altman next week "to seek further clarity" on the safety commitments made by the tech firm. An account linked to the suspect, 18‑year‑old Jesse Van Rootselaar, was banned by OpenAI in June 2025 — seven months before the shooting.Eight people were killed in the 10 February attack, which took place at a residence and the local secondary school in Tumbler Ridge, a small town in British Columbia, Canada. The victims included the suspect's mother and 11‑year‑old stepbrother, as well as five young school children and an educator. Van Rootselaar died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. The shooting was one of the deadliest in Canadian history. Canada summons OpenAI senior staff over Tumbler Ridge shootingWho were the victims of the shootings in Tumbler Ridge, Canada?Canadian officials met OpenAI senior staff earlier this week in Ottawa, after the company revealed it had shut down a ChatGPT account used by the suspect in June 2025 for violating usage terms.That account was not reported to police, however, because it did not at the time meet its threshold for "credible and imminent planning" of serious violence, the company said.In its letter to Canadian officials on Thursday, penned by OpenAI's vice-president…

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address was a long and rambling preparation for the congressional midterm elections in November.If, as Trump claims, America “is back, bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before”, what does it mean for the rest of the world?Is the global economy as a whole bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever? Or are we in what Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney argued in his stunning speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month: “a rupture in the world order, the end of a pleasant fiction and the beginning of a harsh reality, where geopolitics … is submitted to no limits, no constraints”.Who is writing fiction and who is increasingly recognising harsh reality?Those used to Trumpian language and behaviour accept the truth of Carney’s quote from former Czech president Vaclav Havel, that everyone is “living within a lie”. Everyone is entitled to live with their own lies, but Trump’s words and actions have brutally awakened many to accept that living within a lie is to accept one’s fate as vassal or serf.Those who wake up will have to strengthen themselves, seek new allies or partners, diversify and help co-create a new order. Even the meek Europeans have finally woken up to accept the dictum that “there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests”.

The shooter’s first ChatGPT account was shut down in June 2025, the letter said, after a violation of its usage policy [File] | Photo Credit: REUTERS ChatGPT-maker OpenAI said Thursday the shooter in one of the worst school shootings in Canada's history got around a ban on her problematic use of the service by having a second account.The revelation came as the San Francisco tech company outlined in a letter to Canada's government some “immediate steps” it was taking in response to the killings, and that if these had been in place at the time, police would have been informed of the activity on the account.OpenAI's vice president for global policy, Ann O’Leary, said the company only discovered the second account after Jesse Van Rootselaar’s name was announced by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who said Van Rootselaar killed eight people and then herself in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, on February 10.She said the shooter somehow evaded systems to prevent banned users from creating new accounts, and Van Rootselaar’s second account was shared with law enforcement upon its discovery.The letter said OpenAI is committed to strengthening its detection systems to better prevent attempts to evade its safeguards and “prioritize identifying the highest risk offenders.”The shooter’s first ChatGPT account was shut down in June 2025, the letter said, after a violation of its usage policy. The letter said OpenAI’s automated system detected the account, and it was then sent to human review to determine whether its policies were violated and whether the account warranted referral to law enforcement.“Based on what we could see at that time the account was banned in June 2025, we did not identify credible and imminent planning that met our threshold to refer the matter to law enforcement,” O’Leary said.Speaking to reporters on Thursday, British Columbia Premier…