Daily Briefing: US-Iran ceasefire ends; Operation Hardball; New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon interview

In what marks the latest escalation in the war between the United States and Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed that a US cruise missile struck the Aq Taka Khan bridge area in Aqqala, in Iran’s northern Golestan province. According to Iran’s Fars news agency, while there were no casualties, the IRGC’s Golestan branch vowed a “crushing” response. The latest strike comes as the US military confirmed it had launched fresh attacks on Iran, hours after US President Donald Trump declared that the interim Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at ending the conflict with Tehran was “over”. Condemning the attacks that began on Wednesday, India said that it was “deeply concerned” over the “escalation of tensions” in West Asia which underlines regional peace and security.

Follow live updates here.

With that, let’s move on to the top stories from today’s edition:

US charges Bishnoi, Brar in Nijjar killing

New Zealand PM interview

FIFA controversy

🚨 Big Story

Nearly three years after the then Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau alleged a “potential link” between Indian government agents and the killing of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the United States has charged gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and aide Goldy Brar with ordering the assassination. The Canadian police also declared there was “no evidence” of any official involvement from India in the killing. Called “Operation Hardball”, this coordinated action by law enforcement from the US, Canada and Europe led to the arrest of 24 people connected to three Indian crime syndicates, now charged with a series of crimes including Nijjar’s assassination.

In the run-up to Operation Hardball, the US law enforcement officials held several meetings with multiple central agencies in India, sharing and verifying information on gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar, Rohit Godara, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and their associates. Indian agencies, through the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), also shared a list of gangsters based in the US and other foreign countries, along with evidence, sources said.. The meetings gained pace over the last one-and-a-half months, before the coordinated crackdown by law enforcement agencies in the US, Canada and Europe.

Extortion: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the US has implicated an alleged “corrupt Punjab police officer” in fabricating murder charges and running extortion rackets on behalf of a ruthless India-based transnational crime syndicate. The federal indictments unsealed in Los Angeles, as part of the operations, reveal that Gurinderjit Singh Nagra, a law enforcement officer in Punjab, worked hand-in-glove with members of the Jaggu Bhagwanpuria organised crime group to target perceived rivals with false accusations and demands for money.

⚡ Only in Express

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“New Zealand, working with India and other like-minded friends, needs to remake the case for a rules-based system.”

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s arrival in Auckland on Friday – the first such visit by an Indian PM to New Zealand in four decades – New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he is confident of the strength and potential of ties between his country and India. In an exclusive interview with The Indian Express, Luxon outlined economic, defence, security, and people-to-people ties as the three pillars of India and New Zealand ties. He also set these against the “inflection point” in global geopolitics where the world has moved from “a rules-based system to a power-based system, a multilateral system to a multipolar system”.

📰 From the Front Page

Living in fear: For two days after he was assaulted inside the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation’s (KDMC) Shastrinagar Hospital by Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre, the 26-year-old resident medical officer (RMO) says he lived in fear, constantly changing locations after receiving threatening phone calls and messages and alleging that unknown persons were following him. Shaken by the incident, he and the other assaulted staff submitted their resignation letters on Tuesday. This was followed by the arrest of Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre. The doctor said he felt a sense of relief but rejected Mhatre’s claim that he had not assaulted a woman doctor.

Search on: The Delhi government has now commissioned a survey of the 48 recently declared ‘urban villages’ to identify land for the relocation and expansion of the capital’s prison infrastructure. This comes as the three prison complexes in Delhi are bursting at the seams — according to official figures, their 14 prisons together house 19,500 prisoners, almost double the sanctioned capacity of 10,026. Tihar is one of the largest prisons in the world. The Rohini Central Jail was established in Badli, northwest Delhi, in 2004 as an extension of Tihar. A third jail complex with six prisons and a capacity of 3,776 inmates opened in Mandoli in northeast Delhi in 2016.

📌 Must Read

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In our Opinion section today, Pratap Bhanu Mehta delves into the pervasiveness of institutional corruption in India – from repeated examination paper leaks, to theft from temples. Mehta writes: “At the moment, there is no major elite defection to amplify the concerns of ordinary people. From Bofors to 2G, elite and media amplification was a necessary condition for creating an effective movement. This the BJP still manages to control and suppress effectively. But those expecting the PM to do a clean-up will be disappointed. The silence and abdication are likely to be followed by more repression, not a real cleaning of the stables.”

War: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that the interim ceasefire with Iran was “over”, although he added that he would allow negotiations to continue. However, he said, “They can talk, but I think they’re wasting their time.” These exchanges between the US and Iran are an immediate effect of the differences between Tehran and Washington over the Strait of Hormuz’s future administration. But that’s hardly the only factor at play here. My colleague Bashir Ali Abbas explains the prevailing uncertainty.

⏳ And Finally…

Scandal: Lionel Messi might be the World Cup’s overwhelming protagonist, shaping moments and defining games. However, a background crew comprising Gianni Infantino, Donald Trump, enraged managers, referees, and the error-checking mechanism are putting in heavy shifts as support cast. Add conspiracy theories, corruption and rigging allegations, and the World Cup has the intrigue of a spy movie! It all came together when Egypt manager Hossam Hassan remarked, after Argentina’s controversial 3-2 turnaround, that officials had been pressured to keep Messi in the tournament. The decisions divided the football world. Here’s the World Cup’s long history of scandals, layered with this many subplots: political, sporting, ethical.

🎧 Lastly, don’t forget to tune in to today’s episode of our 3 Things podcast, where we discuss the controversy over Punjab’s anti-sacrilege law; changes to the Agnipath scheme; as well as the suspension of a staff member at Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee amid allegations of mishandling donations.

That’s all for today. Have a wonderful day!

Until next time,

Ariba

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