Women's wall attacked at Kasaragod
Kasaragod, Jan 1: The Women's Wall was attacked, allegedly by some BJP-RSS workers, at Chettukund in Kasaragod district Tuesday as they lined up at the National Highway here to form the human chain.
The workers hurled stones at the women and policemen, injuring three personnel, police said.
Police fired in the air and burst teargas shells to disperse the workers.
The incident occurred just as the human wall initiative was coming to a close Tuesday evening.
Media personnel of two television channels were also attacked by the activists, who reportedly forced them to delete the visuals of the incident.
Abdul Kareem, District Police chief in charge, told PTI that the BJP-RSS workers first set fire to some dried grass and shrubs near the National Highway where the women were standing.
When police tried to chase them away, they pelted stones at the women and police, he said.
Chettukund is a BJP stronghold.
In another incident, some pro-wall activists damaged the window panes of a private bus at Palakkad when it refused to ferry women to participate in the event.
The 620 km-long human 'wall' was formed from the northern end of Kasaragod to the southern tip here as part of a state-sponsored initiative to uphold gender equality.
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Canada's top envoy to US will resign before review of free trade agreement
Toronto (AP): Canada's ambassador to the US for the last six years said Tuesday she's resigning next year as the two major trading partners plan to review the free trade agreement.
Ambassador Kirsten Hillman said in a letter it is the right time to put in place someone who will oversee talks about the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that is up review in 2026.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Hillman “prepared the foundations for Canada in the upcoming review" of the agreement.
Carney noted she's one of the longest-serving ambassadors to the United States in Canada's history.
Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent Hillman to the embassy as deputy ambassador in 2017. She became the first woman to represent Canada as ambassador in the US in 2019.
Hillman helped lead the trade negotiations during US President Donald Trump's first term as deputy and as ambassador worked with US and Chinese officials to win the release of two Canadians detained in China.
Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-US trade, and Hillman had been leading trade talks with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said on social media that Hillman has been an “awesome and well-respected” contributor to the US-Canada relationship.
“I value your friendship and wish you all the best in your next adventure. You will be missed,” Hoekstra said.
Trump ended trade talks with Carney in October after the Ontario provincial government ran an anti-tariff advertisement in the US, which upset the US president. That followed a spring of acrimony, since abated, over Trump's insistence that Canada should become the 51st US state.
Asked this week when trade talks would resume, Trump said, “we'll see.”
Canada is one of the most trade-dependent countries in the world, and more than 75% of Canada's exports go to the US Most exports to the US are exempted by the USMCA trade agreement but that deal is up for review.
Carney aims to double non-US trade over the next decade.
About 60% of US crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of US electricity imports as well.
Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the US and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and investing in for national security.
