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Togolese woman caught with drugs worth Rs 2 crore at Kochi airport

Security teams at Cochin International Airport have stopped a major drug smuggling attempt and arrested a foreign national, officials said here on Tuesday. They said around 6 pm on Monday, alert screeners at the Domestic Terminal noticed something wrong with a suitcase belonging to a woman from Togo.

The passenger had just arrived from Doha and was planning to fly to Delhi on an Air India flight. When officers took her bag to a separate area for a physical check, they discovered a secret "false bottom" hidden under the lining of the suitcase.

Tucked away inside this hidden space were two packets of a banned drug called Methaqualone. The drugs weighed nearly 4 kg and are estimated to be worth about Rs 2 crore. Following the discovery, airport officials immediately handed the woman and the seized packets over to the Customs department.

Activists say at least 6,126 people killed in Iran's crackdown on nationwide protests

Activists said on Tuesday that at least 6,126 people were killed in Iran's crackdown on nationwide protests and many more are still feared dead.

The new figures came from the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in multiple rounds of unrest in Iran. The group verifies each death with a network of activists on the ground in Iran.

The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll given authorities cutting off the internet and disrupting calls into the Islamic Republic.

Iran's government has put the death toll at a far lower 3,117, saying 2,427 were civilians and security forces, and labelled the rest “terrorists.” In the past, Iran's theocracy has undercounted or not reported fatalities from unrest. 

Health impacts due to plastics worldwide may double by 2040: Lancet study

Adverse effects on health due to emissions from the world's plastics system, including greenhouse gases, air-polluting particles and toxic chemicals released from production, could more than double by 2040, compared to levels in 2016, if current trends continue, according to a study.

The study, published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal, also highlighted that the global production of plastics may not peak until beyond 2100, worsening environmental and health burdens in an already overwhelmed system.

Plastic pollution and emissions released across its lifecycle are increasingly recognised for their potential impacts on human health, yet the overall scale of the impact is only beginning to be fully quantified, researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and institutes in France, said.

Quantifying health impacts throughout plastics' lifecycles can inform global action against pollution, promoting sustainability across the environment, economy and health, they said.

Death toll from US strikes on alleged drug boats reaches 126 people

The death toll from the Trump administration's strikes on alleged drug boats is up to 126 people, with the inclusion of those presumed dead after being lost at sea, the US military confirmed Monday.

The figure includes 116 people who were killed immediately in at least 36 attacks carried out since early September in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, US Southern Command said. Ten others are believed dead because searchers did not locate them following a strike.

Eight of the presumed dead had jumped off boats when American forces attacked a trio of vessels accused of trafficking drugs on December 30, the military said.

The number was not released previously, though the military said when announcing those strikes that the US Coast Guard had searched for survivors. The two other people presumed dead were on boats that were attacked on October 27 and last Friday.

Carney calls Trump's tariff threats bluster ahead of US-Canada free trade talks

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday some of US President Donald Trump's threats should be viewed as prepositioning ahead of negotiations to renew the free trade pact between the two large trading partners.

Carney noted they are entering a review of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement this year and said he expects a "robust review”. “The president is a strong negotiator, and some of these comments and positioning should be viewed in the broader context of that,” Carney said.

Trump threatened this past weekend to impose a 100% tariff on goods imported from Canada if America's northern neighbour went ahead with a trade deal with Beijing, something Carney said Canada has no interest in.

Carney has said his recent agreement with China merely cuts tariffs on a few sectors that were recently hit with tariffs.

In 2024, Canada mirrored the United States by putting a 100% tariff on electric vehicles from Beijing and a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum. China had responded by imposing 100% import taxes on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25% on pork and seafood.

Breaking with the United States this month during a visit to Beijing, Carney cut its 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on those Canadian products.

India more than good friend, a trusted strategic partner: Israeli minister

At a function marking India's 77th Republic Day, Israel's Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar said his country attaches utmost importance to its ties with New Delhi, describing India as a strategic partner.

Zohar on Monday told the gathering that India’s Republic Day celebrations had also become a special day for Israelis, as Israel announced recovering the remains of the last hostage in Gaza from the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.

"Today is also a special day for us. Our last hostage, Ran Gvili, came back home. This is something that all of the country is so happy about and it comes with your special day. I think it means a lot about the great relationship between the countries. Your happiness is also our happiness," the Israeli minister said.

In a dastardly terror attack, Hamas killed about 1,200 Israelis and took 251 living and dead people as hostages on October 7, 2023.

"India is a nation with a story of freedom, resilience, and spirit that inspires so many Israelis. For us, Israelis, India is far more than a good friend. India is a strategic partner that we can trust," Zohar told the gathering of about three hundred people.

8 killed in fire at twin warehouses in Bengal's South 24 Parganas

At least eight people were killed and several others went missing after a fire erupted in two adjoining warehouses in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district on Monday, police said.

The blaze in the twin units in the Najirabad area within Narendrapur police station limits, on the outskirts of Kolkata, was brought under control after a seven-hour firefight. However, pockets of fire in certain parts still raged, a senior police officer said.

While three badly charred bodies were recovered around 5 pm during a search operation in the adjacent godowns, five more bodies were discovered later, the officer said.

Baruipur police district SP Shubhendu Kumar said the identity of the eight deceased could not be ascertained as the bodies were charred beyond recognition. "Whether more people were trapped and killed in the blaze will be known only after the debris is completely cleared and the pockets of fire are completely put out by the fire brigade", he said.

Initially, six people were reported missing, but families of those trapped said the number could be more than, 10 as the two warehouses housed labourers employed by a decorating firm and a popular momo chain, police said.

Punjab: Parents of gangster Goldy Brar arrested in extortion case

The parents of foreign-based gangster Goldy Brar have been arrested in a 2024 extortion case in Punjab's Muktsar district on Monday, a senior police official said.

Muktsar SSP Abhimanyu Rana said Brar's father Shamsher Singh and his mother Preetpal Kaur have been arrested. They have a house in Adesh Nagar in Muktsar, the SSP said. Originally, the family hails from Faridkot district.

The FIR was registered on the complaint of a Muktsar resident in 2024. Goldy Brar is one of the main accused in the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Mooselwala in 2022. Brar had earlier claimed responsibility for Moosewala's murder.

The Punjab Police action came amid its ongoing crackdown against gangsters in the state. Police had identified and mapped locations linked to 1,200 associates of 60 foreign-based gangsters and their 600 family members allegedly involved in criminal activities under this crackdown.

Satinderjeet Singh alias Goldy Brar is believed to be in the US at present.

US aircraft carrier arrives in Middle East as tensions with Iran remain high

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and three accompanying warships have arrived in the Middle East, bringing a renewed potential that President Donald Trump could opt to order airstrikes on Iran over its crackdown on protesters.

The carrier, along with three destroyers, “is currently deployed to the Middle East to promote regional security and stability,” US Central Command said Monday on social media.

The strike group was in the Indian Ocean, Central Command said, and not in the Arabian Sea, which borders Iran. It will bring thousands of additional service members to the region, which has not had a US aircraft carrier since the USS Gerald R Ford was ordered in October to sail to the Caribbean as part of a pressure campaign on then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Trump told reporters last week that the ships were sent to the region “just in case”. “We have a massive fleet heading in that direction, and maybe we won't have to use it,” he said.

Trump earlier had threatened military action if Iran carried out mass executions of prisoners or killed peaceful demonstrators during a crackdown on protests that began in late December. At least 5,973 people have been killed and more than 41,800 detained, according to activists. The official Iranian death toll is far lower, at 3,117 dead.