In a tragic incident, an Indian student who was the daughter of Punjab Aam Aadmi Party leader Devinder Singh, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Canada after she went missing four days ago. The Indian High Commission in Ottawa has confirmed the development saying that it has it has taken up the matter with Ottawa authorities. 

According to reports, she was a native of Dera Bassi in Punjab and was in Canada to pursue a diploma course. Taking to X, High Commission of India in Ottawa said, “We are deeply saddened to be informed of the death of Ms. Vanshika, student from India in Ottawa. The matter has been taken up with concerned authorities and the cause is under investigation by local police. We are in close contact with the bereaved kin and local community associations to provide all possible assistance.”

Earlier, the High Commission had sought public help in getting any information about Vanshika after she went missing. “HCI Ottawa is in touch with local partner Indo-Canadian community associations and concerned authorities regarding a missing person alert for an Indian student in Ottawa,” it said. 

According to media reports, Vanshika’s body was discovered on a beach. The cause of death remains unclear, and an investigation is currently ongoing.

NEW DELHI: India on Monday hit out at Pakistan at the United Nations, highlighting Pakistani defence minister Khawaja Asif’s “open confession” about his country’s role in supporting and training terrorists.
Speaking at the UN, India’s Deputy Permanent Representative Yojna Patel condemned Pakistan for misusing the international platform to spread propaganda and make unfounded allegations against India. She specifically referenced Asif’s televised confession about Pakistan’s history of terrorist support.
“It is unfortunate that one particular delegation has chosen to misuse and undermine this forum. To indulge in propaganda and make baseless allegations against India. The whole world has heard Pakistan’s Defence Minister, Khwaja Asif, admitting and confessing Pakistan’s history of supporting, training and funding terrorist organizations in a recent television interview,” Patel said.
“This open confession surprises no one and exposes Pakistan as a rogue state, fueling global terrorism and destabilizing the region. The world can no longer turn a blind eye,” she added.
Also read: Pahalgam massacre: Pakistani terrorist former para commando, says probe
Patel highlighted India’s status as a victim of cross-border terrorism, noting that the recent Pahalgam attack resulted in the highest civilian casualties since the 2008 Mumbai attacks. She also expressed gratitude for the international community’s solidarity and support following the Pahalgam incident, which claimed 26 lives.
“India deeply appreciates and values the strong unequivocal support and solidarity extended by leaders and governments across the world in wake of the recent terrorist attack at Pahalgam Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. This is a testimony to the international community’s zero tolerance for terrorism. The Pahalgam terrorist attack represents the largest number of civilian casualties since the horrific 2611 Mumbai attacks in 2008,” Patel said.
“Having been a victim of cross border terrorism for decades, India fully understands the long lasting impact such acts have on victims, their families and society. As the UN Security Council in its statement has said, perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of reprehensible acts of terrorism must be held accountable and brought to justice,” she added.
This comes days after Pakistan defence minister Khawaja Asif admitted on Sky News that Pakistan harbours and funds terror organisations, saying that it has been “doing the West’s dirty work for decades”. He also said the Pakistan-based terror groups are “not multiple organisations” but “one single organisation religiously organised with different faces”.
He said terror groups in Pakistan were “used as proxies by the USA”, and earlier the same terror groups had been treated like VIPs in Washington. “When we were fighting the war on their side in the ’80s against the Soviet Union, all these terrorists of today, they were wining and dining in Washington. Then came 9/11. Again the same situation was created. I think our government then made a mistake.
Asif also said that his country would respond “in kind” to any attack by nuclear rival New Delhi in retaliation for Pahalgam and called on US President Donald Trump to “bring sanity to the situation”.
After the Pahalgam attack claiming 26 lives, the government implemented several diplomatic responses, including shutting down the Attari ICP, cancelling the SVES for Pakistani nationals with a 40-hour departure notice, and reducing diplomatic staff at both High Commissions.

Rajeev K. Varshney from Murdoch University with a clutch of peanuts.
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement

A team of 19 researchers from Australia and China have unlocked the genetic key to developing higher-yielding varieties of peanut or groundnut, a major food and oilseed crop in India.

Their pan-genome analysis, revealing the structural variation associated with seed size and weight traits in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.), was published in the latest edition of Nature Genetics, a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

The researchers from Western Australia’s Murdoch University, Henan Agricultural University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences assembled a pan-genome of peanut expected to serve as a fundamental resource for the genetic enhancement of legume crops.

A pan-genome represents the entire range of genes within a population or species, encompassing both unique and shared genetic material.

The study marks three Chinese lead authors – Kunkun Zhao, Hongzhang Xue, and Guowei Li – as equal contributors. Among its other authors are Annapurna Chitikineni and Rajeev K. Varshney from Murdoch University.

The researchers studied the genome-wide diversity of 269 peanut accessions, including 61 wild species, landraces and improved species. They found significant genomic variations and highlighted two of the most critical traits that affect peanut yield: seed size and weight.

Accession refers to a distinct sample or group of plant material, typically representing a single species or cultivar, collected from a specific location at a particular time. A landrace is a local cultivar improved by traditional agricultural methods.

Tracing the evolution of domesticated peanut varieties from their wild relatives, the researchers discovered that the gene likely responsible for regulating cell division and yield size was absent in all the wild species analysed.

Gene deletion

The researchers also found that deleting a gene that negatively regulates the seed size makes the seeds bigger.

“Our understanding of the molecular mechanisms and evolutionary factors that influence peanut pod size and weight used to be limited. This study offers the most comprehensive genomic variation resource of the globally important peanut and will be an invaluable tool for crop breeding efforts,” Prof. Varshney said.

The lack of clarity about genomic rearrangements like structural variations underlying seed size and weight – critical traits for domestication and breeding – led to the study.

The researchers presented a comprehensive pan-genome analysis, utilising eight high-quality genomes (two diploid wild, two tetraploid wild, and four tetraploid cultivated peanuts) and resequencing data of 269 accessions with diverse seed sizes.

“We identified 1,335 domestication-related [structural variations] and 190 structural variations associated with seed size or weight. Our study revealed that structural variations could influence gene expression, functional dynamics, and uneven domestication between two sub-genomes, ultimately affecting seed size and weight,” the study said.

The most notable part of the study was the deletion of the AhARF2-2 gene, which results in the loss of two other genes, reducing the inhibitory effect on a third and promoting seed expansion.

Beyond peanuts

The researchers said structural variations, along with single-nucleotide polymorphism and epigenetic differences, are emerging as important variation features contributing to the genetic and phenotypic diversity observed in and between species. “Understanding the impact of structural variations on plant phenotypic variation is crucial for breeders aiming to develop superior cultivars,” they said.

The comprehensive peanut pan-genomes they developed resulted in an extensive resource of genomic variations that contribute to key agronomic traits in peanuts. The study said these “will facilitate advancements in crop science and peanut breeding, thereby potentially improving global food security”.

“What makes this research especially exciting is that it offers new information that can be applied to numerous crops of economic importance, such as cotton and rapeseed,” Peter Davies, the Director of Murdoch University’s Food Futures Institute, said.