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Governor Tim Walz eulogizes Melissa Hortman, killed with husband, as ‘most consequential speaker’ in state’s history

Killed ex-Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman lies in state alongside husband and dog

Democratic former Minnesota state house speakerMelissa Hortmanwas honored for her legislative accomplishments and her humanity during a funeral on Saturday that was attended byJoe BidenandKamala Harris.

The former president and vice-president were joined by more than 1,000 other mourners.

Hortman was shot to death during a pair of attacks two weeks earlier by a man posing as a police officer. Minnesota’s chief federal prosecutor has called the killing an assassination. The shootings also left her husband, Mark, dead and a state senator and his wife seriously wounded.

“Melissa Hortman will be remembered as the most consequential speaker in Minnesota history. I get to remember her as a close friend, a mentor and the most talented legislator I have ever known,” Minnesota’s governor,Tim Walz, said in his eulogy.

Walz, who was Harris’s running mate in the 2024 White House election won by Donald Trump, added: “For seven years, I have had the privilege of signing her agenda into law. I know millions of Minnesotans get to live their lives better because she and Mark chose public service and politics.”

Neither Biden nor Harris spoke, but they sat in the front row with Walz. Biden was also one of more than 7,500 people who paid their respects on Friday as Hortman, her husband and their golden retriever, Gilbert,lay in statein the Minnesota capitol rotunda in St Paul. Gilbert was seriously wounded in the attack and had to be euthanized. Biden also visited the wounded senator in a hospital.

Dozens of current and former state legislators from both parties and other elected officials who worked with Hortman also attended.

As House speaker, Hortman helped pass an expansive agenda of liberal initiatives such as free lunches for public school students along with strengthened protections for abortion and trans rights during a momentous 2023 legislative session. With the House split 67-67 between Democrats and Republicans this year, she yielded the gavel to a Republican under a power-sharing deal, took the title speaker emerita and helped break a budget impasse that threatened to shut down state government.

Walz said Hortman – who was first elected in 2004 – saw her mission as “to get as much good done for as many people as possible”. And he said her focus on people was what made her so effective.

“She certainly knew how to get her way – no doubt about that,” Walz said. “But she never made anyone feel that they’d gotten rolled at a negotiating table. That wasn’t part of it for her, or a part of who she was. She didn’t need somebody else to lose to win for her.”

The governor said the best way to honor the Hortmans would be by following their example.

“Maybe it is this moment where each of us can examine the way we work together, the way we talk about each other, the way we fight for things we care about,” Walz said. “A moment when each of us can recommit to engaging in politics and life the way Mark and Melissa did – fiercely, enthusiastically, heartily, but without ever losing sight of our common humanity.”

A private burial for the Hortmans will be held at a later date.

The Hortmans were proud of their adult children, Sophie and Colin Hortman, and the lawmaker often spoke of them.

In a voice choked with emotion, Colin said his parents embodied the “Golden Rule”, and he read the prayer of St Francis, which his mother always kept in her wallet. He said it captures her essence. It starts: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.”

After the service, Walz presented the children with US and Minnesota flags that flew over the state capitol on the day their parents were killed.

The man accused of killing the Hortmans at their home in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park on 14 June, and wounding Democratic state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their home in nearby Champlin, surrendered near his home the night of 15 June.

Vance Boelter, 57, of Green Isle, remains jailed and has not entered a plea to charges that could carry the federal death penalty.

Felipe Orduna-Torres and Armando Gonzales-Garcia abandoned locked truckload of people in summer heat with no AC in 2022

Two men face spending the rest of their lives in prison after a federal judgesentencedthem on Friday for their roles in the deaths of 53 people – including six children – who were found dead in an abandoned tractor-trailer in Texas in 2022.

A federal jury inTexashad found the two men, Felipe Orduna-Torres and Armando Gonzales-Garcia, guilty of various charges at the conclusion of a trial in March. Federal judge Orlando Garcia sentenced Torres to life in prison and Ortega to 83 years of incarceration, essentially a life sentence.

The judge also imposed a $250,000 fine on each of the defendants.

Five other men have also pleaded guilty for their role in the smuggling operation and are scheduled to be sentenced later.

The truck washolding64 migrants from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The vehiclehada broken air conditioner and no water, which amounted to suffocating conditions in the Texas summer.

Only 11 of those who were in the tractor-truck survived an ordeal that grimlyillustratedthe risks migrants are willing to take to cross the US border in order to escape violence or financial turmoil in their countries.

The migrants had paid the smugglers between $12,000 to $15,000 each to be taken across the US border, according to thecase’s indictment. They were placed in the vehicle in Laredo, a town at the border, and then headed to San Antonio, which is a three-hour drive away.

As temperatures rose inside the truck, the people inside screamed and banged on the walls. Many eventually passed out. When the truck was found on 27 June 2022, more than a dozen of them were taken to the hospital, where five more died.

The men had known the air conditioning in the truck was broken, according to prosecutors. And they had discovered dozens of the people inside had died when they opened the back of the truck at the end of the three-hour trip.

“Three years to the day after these two smugglers and their co-conspirators left dozens of men, women and children locked in a sweltering tractor-trailer to die in the Texas summer heat, they learned that they will spend the rest of their lives locked away in a federal prison,” said a statement from the US attorney for the western district of Texas, Justin Simmons.

Prosecutors said that Orduna-Torres was the leader of a group of men who smuggled people from Mexico and South America between December 2021 and June 2022. He and Gonzales-Garcia shared routes, vehicles, stash houses and transporters to “consolidate costs, minimize risks and maximize profit”, according to a statement from the justice department.

Migrant smuggling has become a multibillion-dollar industry that is often run in coordination with some of Mexico’s most violent cartels. While the number of migrants apprehended at the border has dropped since Donald Trump’s second presidency began in January,reportshave said people are still being smuggled into the US through methods and routes that are even more dangerous.

Clearing an important procedural hurdle, the Senate voted 51 to 49 to open debate on the legislation

The Republican-controlled US Senate advanced president Donald Trump’s sweeping tax-cut and spending bill in a key procedural vote late on Saturday, raising the odds that lawmakers will be able to pass his “big, beautiful bill” in the coming days.

The measure, Trump’s top legislative goal, passed its first procedural hurdle in a 51 to 49 vote, with two Republican senators voting against it.

The result came after several hours of negotiation as Republican leaders and vice president JD Vance sought to persuade last-minute holdouts in a series of closed-door negotiations.

The procedural vote, which would start debate on the 940-page megabill to fund Trump’s top immigration, border, tax-cut and military priorities, began after hours of delay.

It then remained open for more than three hours of standstill as three Republican senators – Thom Tillis, Ron Johnson and Rand Paul – joinedDemocratsto oppose the legislation. Three others – Senators Rick Scott, Mike Lee and Cynthia Lummis – negotiated with Republican leaders into the night in hopes of securing bigger spending cuts.

In the end, Wisconsin Senator Johnson flipped his no vote to yes, leaving only Paul and Tillis opposed amongRepublicans.

Trump on social media hailed the “great victory” for his “great, big, beautiful bill.”

The megabill would extend the 2017 tax cuts that were Trump’s main legislative achievement during his first term as president, cut other taxes and boost spending on the military and border security.

But the controversial bill has caused division, withElon Musk, the billionaire Trump donor again coming out in strong opposition to the House version of the bill, denouncing the Senate draft on his social media platform, X, on Saturday.

“The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!”Musk wroteabove a comment from a green energy expert who pointed out that the bill raises taxes on new wind and solar projects.

“Utterly insane and destructive,” Musk added. “It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.”

Nonpartisan analysts estimate that a version of Trump’s tax-cut and spending bill would add trillions to the $36.2-trillion US government debt.

Democrats fiercely opposed the bill, saying its tax-cut elements would disproportionately benefit the wealthy at the expense of social programs that lower-income Americans rely upon.

Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, demanded that the bill be read aloud before debate could begin, saying the Senate Republicans were scrambling to pass a “radical bill”.

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Trump is pushing Congress to wrap it up, even as he sometimes gives mixed signals, allowing for more time.

The legislation is an ambitious but complicated series of GOP priorities. At its core, it would make permanent many of the tax breaks from Trump’s first term that would otherwise expire by year’s end if Congress fails to act, resulting in a potential tax increase on Americans. The bill would add new breaks, including no taxes on tips, and commit $350bn to national security, including for Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

Some lawmakers say the cuts go too far, particularly for people receiving healthcare through Medicaid. Meanwhile, conservatives worried about the nation’s debt are pushing for steeper cuts.

The final text includes a proposal for cuts to a Medicaid provider tax that had run into parliamentary objections and opposition from several senators worried about the fate of rural hospitals. The new version extends the start date for those cuts and establishes a $25bn fund to aid rural hospitals and providers.

Most states impose the provider tax as a way to boost federal Medicaid reimbursements. Some Republicans argue that is a scam and should be abolished.

Thenonpartisan congressional budget officehas said that under the House-passed version of the bill,some 10.9 million more peoplewould go without healthcare and at least 3 million fewer would qualify for food aid. The CBO has not yet publicly assessed the Senate draft, which proposes steeper reductions. Top income-earners would see about a $12,000 tax cut under the House bill, while the package would cost the poorest Americans $1,600,the CBO said.

Seven-year-old girl dies in hospital after incident at Chalkwell park in Southend-on-Sea involving five children

A young girl has died and another is in a critical condition after a tree fell in a seaside park in Essex on Saturday.

The girls, aged seven and six, suffered serious injuries and were taken to hospital. Police said the seven-year-old girl died in hospital.

Three other children suffered minor injuries following the incident in Southend-on-Sea.

Essex police said they were called to Chalkwell park shortly before 3pm, where they found “a number of casualties”.

Ch supt Leighton Hammett said: “Families are facing unimaginable hardship this evening and all of our thoughts are with them at this time.

“I cannot begin to put into words how difficult today’s events have been, and continue to be, for them.

“It’s also not lost on me how traumatic it must have been for the members of the public who witnessed this awful incident.”An East of England ambulance service spokesperson had earlier said: “Two children were transported by road to Southend university hospital.“A further three children were later transported by road to the same hospital with minor injuries.”Police advised the public to avoid the area.

Ishan Madan, 39, from Westcliff-on-Sea, was playing in a cricket match nearby when he heard a “horrendous, screeching scream”.

Madan, an accountant, said: “Everyone ran towards the clubhouse, where the tree is.

“The tree had snapped and I think there were four children, the fifth one was slightly further away, I think she’d been hit by a branch.

“Two of them were under a smaller branch, they were rescued easily, and unfortunately, the other two girls, they were stuck under this massive tree.

“So we got bystanders to help, it must have been 40 to 50 people who then tried to lift the fallen tree up and to our horror, these two little girls, poor girls, were stuck underneath it.

“Their mother was on the corner. It was horrendous.”Adam Hutchins, 47, told the EssexLive website: “I heard there were kids playing on the tree. They heard a big crack.

“It must have [been] pretty loud. They went running over and there were kids underneath the tree.“All the cricket guys ran over and tried to loft the tree up. I think it’s one of the oldest trees. It had metal stands propping it up.”David Burton-Sampson, Labour MP for Southend West and Leigh, said: “The news of the sad death of one of the children involved in the incident at Chalkwell park today is truly devastating.

“I am sure I reflect the thoughts of all our residents here in Southend in sending my deepest condolences to the child’s family and friends.

“My thoughts are also with the other children injured and I wish them a full and speedy recovery.

“At the time of the incident, the park was very busy and a number of people witnessed what happened.”

Daniel Cowan, the leader of Southend’s city council, said on Saturday: “I’m aware of this very serious incident. We’re working with Essex police, the ambulance service and fire service, who are still at the scene.“I do understand that a tree has fallen, there’s a number of casualties and we’re just asking the public to avoid the area while those services carry out their work, and my thoughts are with those affected.”

Jonathan Reynolds to hold talks with carmaker after reports suggested its UK factory could close

The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, will hold talks with Lotus after the carmaker appeared to shelve plans to shut its UK operations.

After reports that Chinese owner Geely was planning tostop manufacturing at the Hethel plant in Norfolk, putting 1,300 jobs at risk, Lotus issued a statement saying it had “no plans” to close the factory.

Reynolds will speak to the company on Sunday, the PA news agency understands.

The British sportscar brand has been majority-owned by Chinese multinational Geely since 2017.

The Financial Times had reported it was considering shutting up shop in the UK in favour of a new plant in the US.

On Saturday, Lotus sought to ease concerns with a statement that it remains “committed” to the UK, which it called its largest commercial market in Europe and the “heart” of the brand.

“Lotus Cars is continuing normal operations, and there are no plans to close the factory,” it said.

“We are actively exploring strategic options to enhance efficiency and ensure global competitiveness in the evolving market.

“We have invested significantly in R&D and operations in the UK over the past six years. Lotus remains committed to the UK, and its customers, employees, dealers, suppliers, as well as its proud British heritage.”

A government spokesperson said: “The government does not comment on speculation or the commercial affairs of private companies.”

Government sources say ‘umbrella’ structure now more likely after plans for independent body found to be too complex

Keir Starmer’s flagshipnew ethics and integrity commissionmay be a rebrand of existing watchdogs brought together under a new “umbrella” rather than creating an entirely fresh regulator, government sources have said.

A year afterLabourmade its manifesto promise, ministers are mulling the idea of a new oversight structure above current regulators to avoid the need for starting from scratch.

They are also considering abolishing some regulators, with one option being to get rid of the lobbying watchdog, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) and splitting its functions between the independent adviser on ministerial standards for former politicians and the civil service commission for former officials.

Acoba has widely been criticised for being toothless, so any redistribution of its responsibilities could be an opportunity for new penalties for thoseflouting lobbying rules.

Another possibility is formalising the regular meetings of standards watchdogs, convened by the committee on standards in public life, chaired by former military chief Doug Chalmers.

However, asked last week whether he wanted responsibility for a new ethics and integrity watchdog, Chalmers told a panel that he did not want the role.

Sources suggested the new commission could have its own website “signposting” to existing ethics structures and providing an overarching governance.

Several Whitehall sources said the process of coming up with a new ethics structure had proved more complex than initially thought and that ministers were increasingly reluctant to add a whole new body at a time when they are trying to shrink the civil service rather than expand it.

There are multiple bodies with elements of standards as part of their remit including the independent adviser on ministerial standards, Acoba, the CSPL, the parliamentary standards commissioners, the civil service commission, the independent complaints and grievance service, the House of Lords appointments commission, the electoral commission, the UK parliamentary standards authority (Ipsa), the UK statistics authority and the registrar of consultant lobbyists. Part of the complication is that their responsibilities are fairly distinct and some report to parliament while others are responsible to the government.

Tim Durrant, programme director at the Institute for Government (IfG), said: “Labour committed to creating an ethics and integrity commission in their manifesto but more important than the structure is how the standards system works. If all they do is create a new organisation that doesn’t fix the underlying issues.”

The government has faced criticism over the length of time it has taken to establish the new commission, which was originally championed by deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, who no longer has the brief.

Earlier this month, parliament’s public administration committee launched a new inquiry to examine the seeming lack of progress and to push the government on what has happened to its ethics commitments.

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It was one of Keir Starmer’s flagship manifesto pledges that the new Labour government would “establish a new independent ethics and integrity commission, with its own independent chair, to ensure probity in government”.

The party promised to “restore confidence in government and ensure ministers are held to the highest standards”, and to enforce restrictions on ministerslobbyingfor companies they used to regulate, with meaningful sanctions for those breaching the rules.

However, there was no blueprint for a commission ready to go when Starmer formed the government last year. It has barely been mentioned by ministers since last July. The prime minister published a new ministerial code last year, allowing the independent adviser on ministerial standards to start his own investigations into misconduct without requiring permission from the prime minister.

It is understood the government is hoping to come forward with proposals soon for a new ethics structure.

A government spokesperson said: “This government is committed to establishing the right structures to uphold the highest standards in public life. We have already taken steps to improve probity and transparency, including through introducing a new ministerial code which emphasises the principles of public life, by strengthening the terms of reference for the independent adviser, and by introducing a new monthly register of gifts and hospitality.”

Exclusive: Doctors say clean air zones need expanding, after 45,458 visits in first half of this year – up from 31,376 last year

The number of patients being treated byGPsfor asthma attacks has increased by 45% in a year, prompting calls for urgent action to tackle toxic levels of air pollution.

There were 45,458 presentations to family doctors inEnglandbetween January and June this year, according to data from the Royal College of General Practitioners research and surveillance centre. Across the same period in 2024, there were 31,376 cases.

The figures come a week aftera damning report by the Royal College of Physiciansrevealed that 99% of the UK population was now breathing in “toxic air”. Air pollution was killing 500 people a week and costing £27bn a year in ill health, NHS care and productivity losses, the research showed.

New data from the RCGP research and surveillance centre shows the rate of asthma attacks in 2025 has consistently been above the five-year average.

Exacerbations of asthma – attacks which cause breathlessness and chest tightness – were, alongside other environmental and lifestyle factors, closely linked to air pollution as patients’ airways could be irritated by exposure to harmful matter, the RCGP said.

The college is calling on ministers and the mayors of major cities to expand existing clean air zones to combat the health consequences of air pollution.

In an interview with the Guardian, Prof Kamila Hawthorne, the chair of the RCGP, said: “GPs have long been sounding the alarm on the detrimental effects of air pollution on patients’ health and these latest figures on asthma exacerbations are extremely concerning.

“Air pollution is a major public health crisis which is often overlooked, but we know it can be responsible for a range of serious physical and mental conditions and will often exacerbate existing conditions in patients.

“We have been very encouraged by the efforts of the mayors in major cities such as Birmingham and London to reduce air pollution exposure through schemes such as the Ulez initiative, which are reporting very positive results.

“But these latest statistics show that we need to go further, expanding the focus on reducing air pollution in the worst affected communities.”

The Department ofHealthand Social Care has said its 10-year health plan, due to be published next Thursday, will shift the NHS from treatment to prevention.

Tackling air pollution must be a key part of the plan, Hawthorne said. “If we don’t take measures to address this, it is patients who will suffer the consequences – particularly those in more economically deprived areas with already limited access to healthcare services.

“As well as the devastating human cost, this will ultimately also result in a greater burden on an already overstretched NHS.”

Sarah Sleet, the chief executive ofAsthma+ Lung UK, said the “huge increase” in asthma attacks was “extremely worrying”.

“While there may be multiple factors at play, we know that air pollution can be deadly for the millions of people in the UK living with lung conditions like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,” she said.

“It can trigger life-threatening attacks and exacerbate symptoms, leaving people fighting for breath. It stunts the growth of children’s lungs, and being exposed to high levels of air pollution over a long period of time can also cause lung conditions.

“Yet still the government has shown no political will to tackle toxic levels of air pollution, which across the UK are much higher than the recommended safe levels set by the World Health Organization.”

Prof Steve Turner, the president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said he was “alarmed” by the rise in asthma attacks and urged ministers to “act quickly”.

About one in 10 children in the UK have asthma.Previous studies show steep risesin visits to doctors by children with asthma after a week of raised air pollution levels.

“These attacks are distressing, serious and life threatening, but they are also preventable,” Turner said. “Exposure to high concentrations of air pollution increases the risk of both developing asthma and triggering attacks.”

Dr Harry Apperley, a clinical fellow at the RCPCH, said the impact of toxic air on children’s health was “particularly profound” because their lungs were smaller and they breathed faster than adults, so inhaled a larger volume of air in a shorter period.

“In hospital, I’m increasingly seeing children and families living in or near environments that harm their health … Politicians and policymakers need to act. It shouldn’t take a clinician’s letter, or even a child’s death, to make change happen,” he said.

A government spokesperson said: “Air pollution is a serious public health issue, and we are committed to tackling this issue across the country.

“We have already provided £575m to support local authorities to improve air quality and are developing a series of interventions to reduce emissions so that everyone’s exposure to air pollution is reduced.”

Organisers issue advice about drinking water, and point to medical facilities, as amber heat warning issued

Glastonbury festivalgoers are bracing themselves for what is expected be the hottest day of the huge gathering with 30C forecast across Somerset.

Across a site with little shade, about 200,000 ticket holders were deploying what measures they could to cool off or avoid the sun, from parasols, sombreros and ice-creams to handheld battery-powered fans.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued its second amber heat health alert in two weeks, which covers the festival and the south-west of England as well as other parts of the country and will last until 6pm on Tuesday.

An amber alert means heat impacts are likely to be felt across the whole health service, and may affect the wider population, not just the most vulnerable.

Festival organisers have issued advice online and via its app, including drinking plenty of water from the site’s 800-plus taps and pointing to medical facilities across Worthy Farm.

As temperatures reach their peak, Sir Rod Stewart will be performing the legends slot on the Pyramid Stage, the largest area of the festival – and one of the most open and least shaded.

Nicky Evans, from Aberdare in south Wales, was sheltering from the sun under a hot pink umbrella. Was it helping? “Oh absolutely, yes.”

He combined the umbrella – “for sun or rain!” – with a hat, sunscreen and water, which would make his shifts volunteering in the car park safer and easier.

“We’ve been coming 10 years, and it used to be notoriously wet but the last few years that seems to have changed,” he said. “We now bring three sets of clothes, just in case.”

Jack Cessford, 28, from Suffolk, who works in logistics, was sharing a paper fan bought on site with his university friend Robbie Gillum, who lives in Riyadh, where he works in consultancy.

Cessford said: “I’m getting a good tan on, just topping it up. No, it can be quite sticky. We’re trying to drink three litres of water a day.”

“You really need showers here, and there aren’t that many, in this situation it’s cold water that you need,” Gillum added. “The tents are so hot too, they’re so insulated.”

“There’s not much shade either,” said Cessford, sitting under the trees on the edge of the site near the Stone Circle. “But we have to listen to the music.”

Nick Strang, 35, and his partner, Mollie Kneeshaw, 30, from Nottingham, were clutching ice-creams while pushing their one-year-old daughter in a well-shaded trailer.

“It has been difficult,” said Kneeshaw, “but we’ve been forced to feed her water, keep [the trailer] shaded, keep air coming in.”

The couple said there were some areas such as the Green Kids field, with open-sided tents for shade.

Making sure their daughter has the right clothing on and using plenty of sun cream was also part of their strategy, Strang added.

There are fears the crackdown against ‘outsiders’ is driving widespread persecution as expelled Indians are returned by Bangladesh border guards

The Indian government has been accused of illegally deporting Indian Muslims toBangladesh, prompting fears of an escalating campaign of persecution.

Thousands of people, largely Muslims suspected of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, have been rounded up by police acrossIndiain recent weeks, according to human rights groups, with many of them deprived of due legal process and sent over the border to neighbouring Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

Indian citizens are among those alleged to have been deported illegally, according to lawyers and accounts by deportees. Those who tried to resist being “pushed back” were threatened at gunpoint by India’s border security force, according to several accounts.

About 200 people have since been returned to India by Bangladeshi border guards after being found to be Indian citizens, with some forced to walk miles across treacherous terrain to get home.

“Instead of following due legal procedure, India is pushing mainly Muslims and low-income communities from their own country to Bangladesh without any consent,” said Taskin Fahmina, senior researcher at Bangladesh human rights organisation Odhikar. “This push by India is against national and international law.”

Bangladesh’s foreign ministry said it had written letters to the Indian authorities urging them to stop sending people over the border without consultation and vetting, as was previous official procedure, but they said those letters had gone unanswered.

Among those deported and returned was Hazera Khatun, 62, a physically disabled grandmother. Khatun’s daughter Jorina Begum said they had documents to prove two generations of her mother’s family had been born in India. “How can she be a Bangladeshi?” said Begum.

Khatun was picked up by police on 25 May and the next day was pushed into a van with 14 other Muslims who were then driven to the border with Bangladesh in the middle of the night. There, Khatun said officers from India’s Border Security Force (BSF) forced them to cross the border.

“They treated us like animals,” said Khatun. “We protested that we are Indians, why should we enter Bangladesh? But they threatened us with guns and said, ‘We will shoot you if you don’t go to the other side.’ After we heard four gunshots from the Indian side, we got very scared and quickly walked across the border.”

The group were taken into custody by Bangladesh’s border guards, and held in a makeshift camp in a field. However, Khatun said the authorities in Bangladesh would not allow the group to stay as their documents showed they were Indian citizens. They were driven a truck to the border and told to walk to India.

“When we returned, it was terrible,” said Khatun. “We had to walk through forests and rivers … We were so scared, we thought if the BSF officers found us coming back, they would kill us. I was sure we were going to die.” Eventually she made it back to her village on 31 May. According to her family, she was covered in bruises and deeply traumatised.

The escalating crackdown against so-called “illegal Bangladeshis” by the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) government comes in the wake of an attack by Islamist militants in the Indian-administered region of Kashmir in April whichkilled 25 Hindu tourists and a guide, after which the BJP government vowed to expel “outsiders”.

The mass detentions increased with the launch of Operation Sindhoor in May, when India launched strikes at neighbouring Muslim-majority Pakistan, which it blamed for the Kashmir militant attack and vowed to wipe out terror groups targeting India.

Over its 11 years in power,the BJP government has been accusedby rights groups and citizens of persecuting, harassing and disenfranchising the country’s 200 million Muslims as part of its Hindu nationalist agenda, charges the government denies.

The most widespread targeting and deporting of Muslims in recent weeks has been in the north-eastern state of Assam, as the BJP-run state government has escalated its long-running campaign against those it calls “infiltrators”. About 100 people who have been recently detained in the state are missing, according to activists.

The expulsions were described by activists as a worrying escalation of along-running exercisein Assam to expel “illegal infiltrators”, in which Muslims are routinely called before “foreigners tribunals”, quasi-judicial courts, to prove they were born in India, or arrived before 1971. Acontroversial citizenship surveyalso took place in the state in 2019, resulting in thousands being put into detention centres.

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Only Muslims have to prove their citizenship after Hindus, Sikhs and other religions were made exempt from the exercise by the state government.

This week, the hardline BJP chief minister of Assam, Himanta Sarma said it was now a policy of the state to automatically expel “illegal foreigners”. “This process will be intensified and expedited,” he said.

Not all those deported who claim to be Indian citizens have been able to return. Among those still stuck in Bangladesh is 67-year-old Maleka Begam,67, from Assam, who was detained by police on 25 May.

Speaking over the phone from a Bangladeshi border village in a state of distress, Begam – who is physically infirm and cannot walk unassisted – said she had been the only woman in a group of about 20 Muslims sent over to Bangladesh in the middle of the night on 27 May. She said they were ordered at gunpoint by the BSF to cross the border.

Begam’s son Imran Ali said his mother had documentation to prove she was born in India, and that all seven of her siblings also had proof. “Her deportation to Bangladesh is completely illegal. However, I cannot understand now how we can bring her back from Bangladesh. She is old and sick. We are very anxious about her,” said Ali.

Assam police and the BSF did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Hundreds of people, mostly Muslims, have also been deported from the capital, Delhi, as well as the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. In Gujarat, the police claimed to have detainedmore than 6,500suspected “Bangladeshi citizens”, and thousands were paraded through the streets, but it was later declared that only 450 of them were found to be illegal. Last week, Bangladesh’s border guards turned backfour Muslim menpicked up by police in Mumbai and deported, after it was found they were Indian migrant workers from the state of West Bengal.

Maj Gen Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui, director general of Border Guard Bangladesh, condemned India’s pushback policy as “a deviation from humane governance”.

“It contradicts international law and the dignity of the affected individuals,” said Siddiqui. “Acts such as abandoning people in forests, forcing women and children into rivers, or dumping stateless refugees at sea are not consistent with human rights principles.”

Army chief’s effusive welcome in Washington hints at strategic recalibration amid Middle East turmoil

After years in the diplomatic deep freeze, US-Pakistan ties appear to be quickly thawing, with Donald Trump’s effusive welcome for Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, signalling a possible major reset.

Once snubbed so badly that former prime minister Imran Khan had to board an ordinary airport shuttle after arriving in the US rather than being whisked off in a limousine,Pakistanis now enjoying top-level access in Washington, including a White House lunch for Munir on Wednesday and meetings with top national security officials.

Trump’s perceived friendliness with Munir, coupled with whatIndiaconsiders to be a glossing over of Pakistan’s record on terrorism, has raised Indian eyebrows, especially amid sensitive trade negotiations with the US.

In a phone call with Trump on Tuesday, the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, strongly rejected the US president’s repeated claims that he had personally brokered peace in the four-day conflict between India and Pakistan in May.

The next day, while calling Modi a “fantastic man”, Trump described Munir as “extremely influential” in halting the brief but intense war. “I love Pakistan,” Trump said, before repeating: “I stopped the war between Pakistan and India.”

In the phone call, Modi made it “absolutely clear”, said India’s foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, that hostilities ceased only after Pakistan requested a ceasefire, and that no third-party mediation took place. “India has not accepted mediation in the past and never will,” Misri said.

Adding to the confusion, a White House press officer said Munir had been invited after suggesting Trump be nominated for the Nobel peace prize for ending the conflict, which followed a terror attack that killed 26 mainly Hindu holidaymakers in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Munir’s red-carpet treatment in Washington and high praise from US Central Command hint at a strategic recalibration.

Gen Michael E Kurilla, the head of Central Command, recently called Pakistan a “phenomenal” counter-terrorism partner, citing Islamabad’s role in helping to capture the alleged Islamic State Khorasan Province planner behind the 2021 Abbey Gate bombing at Kabul airport, an attack that killed 13 US troops and more than 170 Afghan civilians.

Munir’s five-day US tour includes meetings at the Pentagon, the state department, and Central Command headquarters in Florida. Such access is extraordinary for a Pakistani general.

“Senior US officials often meet with Pakistani generals. But they don’t get entertained at the White House,” noted Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based south Asia analyst. “Ayub Khan and Zia ul-Haq were exceptions but they came as heads of state.”

The shift in tone is stark. India has long positioned itself as the more reliable partner for the US as the world’s largest democracy, a bulwark against China, and a hub for expanding trade and intelligence-sharing. Pakistan, by contrast, has been dogged by accusations of sheltering terrorists and undermining civilian rule.

Just a few years ago, Trump himself accused Pakistan of offering “nothing but lies and deceit”. Joe Biden later called it “one of the most dangerous nations in the world”.

Indian officials continue to point to Pakistan’s links to major terror attacks, including on its parliament in 2001 and in Mumbai in 2008. Against that backdrop, Washington’s embrace of Munir strikes a jarring note in Delhi, where critics say the US is engaging with the same military establishment long accused of enabling cross-border militancy.

Analysts say the pivot may be driven by more than just strategic cooperation. For Trump, it could be personal. “He has a thing for strongmen,” said one US analyst.

“He sees something in Munir – the mystique, the military credentials, the aura of control. Trump responds to dominance, and Munir projects it.”

That may help to explain why Munir was granted access usually reserved for heads of state. “He probably relished the opportunity to size Munir up,” Kugelman said. “Trump knows that in Pakistan it’s the army chief who really runs the show.”

But Munir’s visit is taking place as the Middle East is in turmoil, with Israel striking Iranian targets and Iran firing missiles in retaliation. The US may be hoping that Pakistan, one of the few countries with diplomatic ties to Tehran, could play a role in de-escalation.

There’s also a more delicate calculation, with Israel pushing the US to join its military campaign against Iran, which shares a 900km border with Pakistan. That geography puts Islamabad in a pivotal position. Some analysts believe the US may be probing whether Munir would allow surveillance flights or logistical cooperation.

But Pakistan’s room for manoeuvre is limited, with public opinion strongly pro-Iran. “Even privately, Pakistan’s military would likely balk at the risks,” Kugelman said. “They can’t afford to be dragged into this. The backlash would be enormous.”

For Indian officials, Munir’s reception has revived old memories of the US tendency to tilt towards Pakistan at critical junctures, such as in the cold war moments or post-9/11. But this time, analysts say, the reset may also involve commercial opportunity.

Pakistan is actively courting US investment in two of the most volatile and potentially lucrative global commerce sectors: cryptocurrency and critical minerals.

“The Trump-Munir meeting shouldn’t be seen only through the lens of the Israel-Iran war,” Kugelman said. “There’s been US-Pakistan engagement on crypto, minerals and counter-terrorism, and Trump takes a deep personal interest in all of these.”

He added: “This is classic Trump: ‘What can you do for me? What can I get out of this?’”