India shuts over half of Kashmir tourist spots in security review

VANCOUVER: As members of the Le family headed out the door to enjoy music, food and camaraderie at a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver, British Columbia, their 16-year-old son decided to instead stay home to finish homework.
Then news began arriving of a car plowing through the crowd.
The teen’s father, Richard Le, his stepmother Linh Hoang and his 5-year-old sister Katie Le, were among 11 people killed, said Richard Le’s brother, Toan Le, in the world’s latest vehicle ramming attack.
The teenage boy is in a state of shock, Le said. His sister Katie Le was nearing graduation from kindergarten and was described as a vibrant and joyful child in a GoFundMe page posted by Toan Le.
The black Audi SUV sped down a closed, food-truck-lined street Saturday evening and struck people attending the Lapu Lapu Day festival, which celebrates Datu Lapu-Lapu, an Indigenous chieftain who stood up to Spanish explorers in the 16th century.
Thirty-two people were hurt. Seven were in critical condition and three were in serious condition at hospitals Monday, Vancouver police spokesperson Steve Addison said.
Those killed include nine females and two males ranging in age from 5 to 65, according to Addison. All of them lived in the Vancouver metropolitan area, he said.
Mourners including Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney remembered the dead at vigils before Monday’s national election.
The crash came just two days before another vehicle smashed through a building in a town outside of Springfield, Illinois, during an after-school program, killing four children and injuring several others, police said.
A ‘significant history’ of interactions with police
Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, was charged with eight counts of second-degree murder in a video appearance before a judge Sunday, said Damienne Darby, spokeswoman for British Columbia prosecutors. Lo has not yet entered a plea.
A woman who answered the phone Monday at the home of Lo’s mother, Lisa Lo, said that the mother was too distraught to speak to a reporter.
Investigators said more charges were possible. They said Lo had a history of mental health issues. Interim Police Chief Steve Rai said there was no indication of a motive but that the suspect has “a significant history of interactions with police and health care professionals related to mental health.”
Lo had contact with police the day before the vehicle attack in a neighboring jurisdiction, Addison said Monday.
“That contact was not criminal in nature and it did not rise to the level where a mental health intervention was required,” Addison said.
The Associated Press could not immediately reach an attorney representing Lo. Online records showed that Vancouver Provincial Court issued a publication ban barring the release of details about the legal case against Lo. Such bans are common in Canada to protect the rights of the accused to a fair trial as well as the privacy of crime victims.
Lo’s brother, 31-year-old Alexander Lo, was the victim of a homicide at his home last year. Kai-ji Lo started an online fundraising effort, since deleted, seeking donations to bury his brother.
He said he was “burdened with remorse for not spending more time with him,” according to an archived version of the webpage. Their mother had taken out significant loans to build Alexander a home, leaving her financially strained.
Screaming and bodies hitting a vehicle
Noel Johansen was searching for dessert at the festival with his wife Jenifer Darbellay, an artist, and their two children, ages 7 and 15, when the attack happened. They lived only about a block and a half away and were visiting for the third time.
“It hit us before we knew. I was falling in slow motion trying to save my head from smashing in the pavement,” Johansen said. “It’s like a giant tidal wave.”
Darbellay, 50, was killed, while the rest of the family survived. Johansen described her as selfless, creative and empathetic.
Johansen said the day before she was killed, the couple was talking about politics and the many situations in which people seek revenge toward the person who hurt them.
He said she told him: “That’s the whole problem. We need to forgive the perpetrators of the crimes that are committed against us.”
Johansen said that he’s trying to honor that philosophy.
Hours before the attack, Makayla Bailey saw her friend Kira Salim, a teacher and school counselor, for the first time in a while and Salim had apologized for not being out and about more.
“I told them, ‘It’s OK it’s been crappy out, the weather sucks, summer’s coming so I’m sure we’ll see each other a lot more,’” Bailey said, recalling in an interview Salim’s drag king performances that audiences loved.
“I didn’t think it would be the last conversation we would ever have,” said Bailey.
Salim was among those killed in the attack, according to the New Westminster School District, where Salim worked.
Investigators were collecting evidence at the scene Monday and had executed a search warrant at a Vancouver property, Addison said. Investigators were also going through bystander video from the scene.
Officials will review the situation, and it may change how they approach such events, Addison said.
“This was intended to be a safe, fun, family-friendly community block party for people to celebrate their community and culture,” Addison said. “The actions of one person stole that away from them.”

TORONTO: Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party won Canada’s federal election on Monday, capping a stunning turnaround in fortunes fueled by US President Donald Trump’s annexation threats and trade war.
The Liberals are projected to win more of Parliament’s 343 seats than the Conservatives, though it wasn’t clear yet if they would win an outright majority, which would allow them to pass legislation without needing help.
The Liberals looked headed for a crushing defeat until the American president started attacking Canada’s economy and threatening its sovereignty, suggesting it should become the 51st state. Trump’s actions infuriated Canadians and stoked a surge in nationalism that helped the Liberals flip the election narrative and win a fourth-straight term in power.
The opposition Conservative Party’s leader, Pierre Poilievre, hoped to make the election a referendum on former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose popularity declined toward the end of his decade in power as food and housing prices rose.
But Trump attacked, Trudeau resigned and Carney, a two-time central banker, became the Liberal Party’s leader and prime minister.
Trump was even trolling Canada on election day, suggesting on social media that he was in fact on the ballot and repeating that Canada should become the 51st state — an assertion that Canadians find deeply insulting. He also erroneously claimed that the US subsidizes Canada, writing, “It makes no sense unless Canada is a State!”
Poilievre, who has been criticized for not taking a firmer stance against Trump, responded with a post of his own.
“President Trump, stay out of our election. The only people who will decide the future of Canada are Canadians at the ballot box,” he posted hours before polls closed. “Canada will always be proud, sovereign and independent and we will NEVER be the 51st state.”
Until Trump won a second term and began threatening Canada’s economy and sovereignty, the Liberals looked headed for defeat. But Trump’s truculence has infuriated many Canadians, leading many to cancel US vacations, refuse to buy American goods and possibly even vote early. A record 7.3 million Canadians cast ballots before election day.
Trump’s attacks also put Poilievre and the opposition Conservative Party on the defensive and led to a surge in nationalism that helped the Liberals flip the election narrative.
“The Americans want to break us so they can own us,” Carney said recently, laying out what he saw as the election’s stakes. “Those aren’t just words. That’s what’s at risk.”
Election day came as the country grappled with the fallout from a deadly weekend attack at a Vancouver street fair that led to the suspension of campaigning for several hours. Police ruled out terrorism and said the suspect is a local man with a history of mental health issues.
Trump became the main issue
Poilievre and his wife walked hand-in-hand to vote in their district in the nation’s capital, Ottawa. “Get out to vote for a change,” he implored voters.
Sisters Laiqa and Mahira Shoaib said they did just that, with Laiqa, a 27-year-old health care worker, voting for the progressive New Democratic Party, and Mahira, a 25-year-old bank worker, backing the Conservatives.
The sisters, who immigrated from Pakistan a decade ago, said the economy has worsened and job opportunities have dried up under Liberal rule.
After the sisters voted at a community center in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, Mahira Shoaib said she thinks Poilievre is best equipped to improve Canada’s finances.
“He is business-minded, and that’s what we need right now,” she said.
After Trump became the election’s central issue, Poilievre’s similarities to the bombastic American president might have cost him.
Reid Warren, a Toronto resident, said he voted Liberal because Poilievre “sounds like mini-Trump to me.” And he said Trump’s tariffs are a worry.
“Canadians coming together from, you know, all the shade being thrown from the States is great, but it’s definitely created some turmoil, that’s for sure,” he said.
“He appeals to the same sense of grievance,” Canadian historian Robert Bothwell said of the Conservative leader. “It’s like Trump standing there saying, ‘I am your retribution.’”
“The Liberals ought to pay him,” Bothwell added, referring to the American president. “Trump talking is not good for the Conservatives.”
Foreign policy hadn’t dominated a Canadian election as much since 1988 when, ironically, free trade with the United States was the prevailing issue.
Big challenges await the Liberals
Carney and the Liberals cleared a big hurdle in winning a fourth-straight term, but they have daunting tasks ahead.
In addition to the sweeping US tariffs on Canadian goods, Canada has been dealing with a cost-of-living crisis for some time. And more than 75 percent of its exports go to the US, so Trump’s tariffs threat and his desire to get North American automakers to move Canada’s production south could severely damage the Canadian economy.