Your World Tonight - Bishnoi gang charges, changes in the Senate, mind-controlled chip, and more

Episode Date: July 7, 2026

Dozens of people, three different gangs, and indictments describing extortion, drug trafficking, kidnapping, and shootings. Police in the U.S. and Canada have announced the results of major investigations, including ties to the murder of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.Also: Prime Minister Mark Carney signals another departure from the policies of his predecessor — this time over Senate appointments.And: Imagine checking the latest news — using nothing but your thoughts. For a Vancouver police officer battling terminal ALS, a Neuralink brain implant is making that science fiction a reality.Plus: An AI tool “stars” in its own feature film, flooding in Manitoba, Canadian drones to Ukraine, and more.

With the help of Google AI, Access Now is mapping Canada's accessible places, empowering the disabled community to explore with confidence. Innovation is Canada's story. Let's tell it together. Find out more at g.co slash Canadian Innovation. This is a CBC podcast. The gang used this assassination and other high-profile acts of violence to terrorize Sikh and other Indian communities. A cross-border crackdown with arrests across Canada, the U.S. and Europe, including the leaders of three prominent organized crime groups.

The head of one of those gangs charged with ordering the assassination of a prominent sick separatist activist in B.C. three years ago. This is your world tonight. I'm Martina Fitzgerald. It's Tuesday, July 7th, coming up on 6 p.m. Eastern. Also on the podcast. Mr. Martell will be sitting as an independent senator, and so we value his work. New senators and a new direction for how they're chosen. The Prime Minister says partisan appointments are back. His picks include one of his closest advisors. He's also chosen a conservative MP

leaving Pierre Polyev's caucus even smaller. A huge international crackdown on organized crime has led to charges against 37 people across Canada, the U.S., and Europe. All are accused of working for India-based organized crime groups that have been terrorizing and extorting people in the Indian diaspora around the globe.

Lawrence Bishnoy, the leader of the notorious Bishnoy gang, is among those charged. Caroline Bargut has our top story tonight. Shootings, murders, kidnappings, extortions, assaults, weapons and drug trafficking. This is how U.S. authorities say three transnational Indian crime syndicates have been terrorizing and extorting members of their diaspora around the world. The Lawrence Bishnoi gang, the Jagu Bang. Woporia organized crime group and the Revinder Singh Danda Gang, whose leader is a Canadian now facing a minimum penalty of life in prison for running a drug trafficking operations as assistant

U.S. Attorney for California Bill Assaley. We will use the full weight and power of the United States federal government to identify, target and dismantle these organized crime groups who prey on American communities. The investigation is called Operation Hardball, a multi-year collaboration. between the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI, the L.A. Police Department, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. 24 people have been arrested, three of them in British Columbia. They're now charged with multiple crimes, including murder, extortion, weapons, and drug trafficking. Three Canadian accused, expected to appear in court in B.C. this afternoon. Mike Du Hemp is the Commissioner of the RCMP.

All these individuals played a significant leadership role in directing criminal activities, impacting multiple countries. Our work today makes a question. our communities, cities, provinces, states, and countries much safer. Bishnoi has been behind bars in India since 2015, and authorities say was still able to direct the targeted assassination of prominent sick activist Hardip Singh-Nidjer outside of Gurdwara, a sick place of worship in Surrey in the summer of 2023. Bishnoy's gang allegedly recruited disadvantaged youth

and sent loyal members to countries like Canada and the U.S. on student and foreign worker visas. An unsealed indictment alleges he had thousands of operatives around the world, including hundreds in the U.S. and Canada. Look, the United States is unique in that we have the power to reach people outside our borders. We can charge, some of these guys are already in jail cells in India, so obviously that's not enough to restrain their activities. When they come to a federal penitentiary here in the United States, I guarantee you, he won't be extorting any more victims once he's in our custody for hopefully a very long time. Officials say the three gangs had overlapping criminal activity, they shared territory and had shifting alliances.

13 people are still wanted in connection with this investigation. Police say they'll continue to pursue them to bring them to justice. Caroline Bargut, CBC News, Vancouver. Prime Minister Mark Carney is appointing four new members to the Senate. They include one of his top advisors and a sitting conservative MP. Also, Carney says, partisanship appointments are now allowed. That's a shift. from his predecessor, Justin Trudeau.

David Thurton has more from Ottawa. The Senate, a chamber steeped in tradition and ceremony, often called the chamber of sober second thought. Now the government is taking a different approach to how it appoints members to the Red Chamber. For the past decade under the Trudeau Liberals, the government relied on a special committee to appoint senators. It required candidates to be politically independent.

Today, Prime Minister Mark Carney reversed the new, non-partisan criterion, appointing Quebec Conservative MP, Richard Martel, and three others. Mr. Martel, I had the chance to talk to him again last night. Industry Minister Melanie Jolie said she looks forward to working with her former conservative counterpart in his new role. Mr. Martel will be sitting as an independent senator. He could have chosen to be part of the Conservative Party. Joining Martel and the Red Chamber are, Guter Tucker, an accountant

from Manitoba, Dr. Rodney Roulette, a physician and scientists, and Tom Pittfield, when our Carney's top political advisors. Carney also announced he will be establishing a new independent board to appoint senators. Donald Savois was involved in the previous committee under Trudeau. He supports Carney's changes. When I reflect back, I think we put forward a number of names that in hindsight, we overlooked that they had no understanding of parliament, no understanding of the legislative process,

and it did seriously handicap them. The new appointment board will prioritize candidates with regulatory and economic expertise. Manitoba Senator Merrillume McFedrin fears the Senate will become an echo chamber for Kearney's agenda. We will see capital L liberals, we will see more men, we will see also much more emphasis

on corporate affiliations. Today's changes have big implications for the Senate and also the House of Comments. As polling analyst Eric Grenier points out, it's a loss for the Conservatives still reeling from defections to the Liberals. It is another blow against Pierre Poliev for him to lose one of his few Quebec conservative MPs, even if it isn't a same kind of floor crossing as we've seen earlier this year. The departure of Martel leaves the Liberals with a slightly bigger majority. The seat he's vacating now means.

there will soon be seven open seats awaiting by-election calls from the Prime Minister. David Thurton, CBC News, Ottawa. Coming right up, boosting military spending on the minds of world leaders at the NATO summit in Turkey. Canada and other member countries are on a defense shopping spree, but experts are warning it needs to be done strategically. Plus, cleaning up heavy flooding in large parts of Manitoba. It could be too late for farmers with crops underwater. And later, we'll have this story.

That's Tilly Norwood. The world's first so-called AI actor will now be starring in a feature film. The news has got some in the film biz bashing the idea, while others say it was inevitable. I'm Magde Gepra Salase. I'll have that story coming up on your world tonight. It was Greenland and it continues to be. That should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark. U.S. President Donald Trump used the NATO summit today in Turkey to renew some old threats against European leaders who are supposed to be allies.

Mark Carney had no meeting scheduled there with Trump. Instead, the Prime Minister talked to other leaders about his idea for a World Defense Bank and Canada's new submarine plans. Murray Brewster reports from Ankara. Prime Minister Mark Carney, German Chancellor Friedrich Murs and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gar Stur. were all in a celebratory mood. We made the right decision for Canada. We made the right decision for NATO. MERS says Canada's decision to choose a German supplier

for its new submarine fleet is not just a military procurement. This is something which is really fundamental for our cooperation between Canada, Norway, Germany, and this goes far beyond submarines. Going into the summit, Canadian officials had indicated that Carney would also meet with South Korean President Li J. Myeong. And even though Carney reiterated that South Korea's bid was strong, that formal bilateral meeting was abruptly cancelled and in its place a casual encounter.

I know the Prime Minister just had a bump-in meeting with President Lee, and they had a very good exchange. Defense Minister David McGinty, who insists the Canada-South Korea relationship, remains strong. Obviously, when you have two bidders, one bidder's going to be chosen, the other will not, although the second bidder is in reserve right now, depending on the negotiations for the contract. At the same time today, Canada announced it and eight other small, mostly European nations will be joining Carney's push

to create a defense, security, and resilience bank. Think of it like a world bank for defense, where countries can access private capital to make critical security investments. With so much money sloshing around in defense, some experts are growing concerned. It doesn't matter how much you spend if you don't spend it in the right way. And that has been a problem that NATO has had. over the years.

Rachel L. Hughes is with the UK-based Royal United Service Institute, who says NATO countries need to set clear, collective spending priorities. If I were advising European leaders in Canada about how you get your act together and spend this money well in the near term, number one, again, would be those critical enablers, not long-term developmental programs.

I get it, everybody wants to be the first to create a next-generation fighter, but there are real gaps now today. The most critical gap NATO faces easing drones and air defense. Although it'll take several years, Canada's purchase of submarines fills an important gap because the U.S. has signaled it will no longer provide submarines to NATO in a crisis. Murray Brewster, CBC News, Ankara, Turkey. Ukraine's army of drones has proven to be a major thorn in the side of Russia's military.

Drones in the sky have become a regular site in several Russians. Russian cities. But making those drones is difficult in a country at war. Now, they'll be made in Canada as part of a new partnership between two companies. The CBC's Jennifer Yun has that story. A Ukrainian war drone catapulted into the air as it goes for a test flight. From the ground, using what looks like an Xbox controller, you can identify and track targets from up to 100 kilometers away. But we're not in Ukraine or on the front lines. We're in rural Ontario. At an undisclosed location, CBC is not identifying for security purposes. So this drone is made for reconnaissance missions. Dmitro Pietrin is with the Ukrainian

Defense Company Air Logics. Some of his company's drones will now be manufactured in Canada and sent straight to the front lines so that the high-tech and expensive equipment needed to produce tons of these drones will be far from Russian drones and missiles. We cannot invest heavily into advanced machinery which could cost millions of US dollars. because it could be destroyed any day. So that's why we are partnering with the foreign companies to bring the technologies to their facilities. Ukraine's been outwitting Russia with drone technology in many ways,

slowing down Russian troops and hitting Russian oil infrastructure. But Pietrin says his country needs more. They're trying to kill enough Russian soldiers until the country runs out of men to send to the front. They will lose so much people by, by advanced technologies which we are using, utilizing on them. So they will eventually go to the peace agreement and it will end. Drones are the future of warfare, says Walter Dorn,

who teaches defense studies to military officers at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto. And Canada should be trying to learn from Ukraine who are at the cutting edge of drone technology. They're going to be so central to the defense of Canada and on our international operations when we are abroad. So we have to be aware not only how to use drones, but also to protect ourselves against drones. Katzenz and agrees her Hamilton-Ontario-based company, Sentinel R&D, is the Canadian half of the agreement to manufacture Ukrainian drones. Working with companies with battle combat proven systems is key to the future of our own defense. Her company is also manufacturing its own drones.

The long game for both Air Logics and Sentinel is to sell these systems. to the Canadian Armed Forces, instance says. Helping your partner and your ally in their time of need earns you the privilege of working with them and learning from them in the future. But there's still much to do before then. There's a war on, and she'd like to help Ukraine win it first. Jennifer Yun, CBC News, Toronto.

The International Olympic Committee has provisionally lifted its suspension of the Russian team. Russia was suspended after it invaded Ukraine and set up local Olympic councils in occupied areas of the country. IOC President Kirstie Coventry says it coincides with the start of qualifying events for the 2028 games in Los Angeles. We wanted to ensure all athletes have the possibility to compete at the Olympic Games

and not be held responsible for their government's actions. And I believe that this is what this decision speaks to. It allows for Russian athletes to take part in sport competitions. but we've also been very clear that we do not condone any violence and war around the world. Russian athletes competed as neutrals at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics and at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Games. The U.S. military says it launched a series of attacks on Iran after three tankers were struck by projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz.

Central Command says Iran is targeting commercial shipping and innocent civilians. It's unclear how the back and forth will affect the delicate ceasefire talks between Washington and Tehran. The U.S. is also focusing on Iranian oil by reinstating sanctions. Washington was allowing the sale of some oil until August 21st, but that will now end on July 17th. The BC government is preparing legal action against OpenAI. The province says the company played a role in February's mass shooting at Tumblr Ridge. Eight people were killed that day, most of them school children. The shooter died by suicide shortly after.

Attorney General Nikki Sharma says OpenAI failed to notify law enforcement of the shooter's repeated violent prompts on its platform chat GPT. I think we were all shocked when we heard that there might have been an opportunity to prevent the loss of life that this province suffered. That there was a group of people that were aware of messages on OpenAI that were alarming enough to them to say we should report to the police, and you know that never happened. In a statement to CBC, OpenAI says it has already strengthened its safeguards

in response to the tragedy. Rising rivers have Manitobans on high alert for flooding. Nearly half of the province's rural municipalities and six First Nations are under local states of emergency. Heavy rains have already damaged infrastructure and destroyed crops. As Karen Pauls tells us, people are tired, angry. and asking for help. That's water, rushing through a massive washout

in a highway near the village of Pine River. Last week, parts of Western Manitoba got up to two months worth of rain in just hours. This after devastating storms earlier in June. Anger and tensions are starting to build up here because there's just too much bureaucracy holding people back to help individuals in our community, and I'm really tired of it.

Lance Jacobson is the mayor of Swan River. This is already now day four of the cleanup with no help from the provincial government, boots on the ground or the feds. People are getting burnt out. I can't say it anymore. We need help. One of the main hospitals in the region had to evacuate patients because of flooding. Doffin pharmacist, Barrett Procission, says everyone is pitching in to help those still in the community,

using helicopters, boats, even drones. Doing whatever we can to get people, medications in. in urgent times. Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett says crews are building up dikes along the Assiniboyne River in Manitoba's second biggest city. The crest is probably likely on Sunday. And that was the reason for the state of emergency call. With the weather, we can act really quickly.

Crews from the nearby Sioux Valley Dakota Nation are using drones to monitor water levels. Chief Jennifer Bone says the community is working around the clock to prepare. They started sandbagging on Saturday morning and they worked. throughout the day. They're continuing on. For many farmers, crops are already underwater. We had a pounding rain right after we had seeded the canola. Jill Verwe is president of the Keystone Agricultural Producers. Huge devastation in crops where they're just going to have to wait and see

and recover what is left. Okay, so these berries were hit with hail. Danielle Boonstra is a berry farmer north of Winnipeg. Her strawberries and raspberries never recovered from the storm that dumped 280 millimeters of rain and then hail in early June. We think it's about 60% of our farm that's been affected and that has wrecked for the season. The military is assessing the hardest hit areas. Ottawa has also deployed team Rubicon Canada, a veteran-led disaster response organization.

Misha Kaplan is the CEO. I think it's completely understandable that people would find it frustrating. We are doing everything we can to get out there as quickly as possible. and that's that level of urgency is all that I'm seeing across the other partners as well. An urgency residents are feeling acutely. Karen Paul's CBC News, Winnipeg. Imagine checking the latest news using nothing but your thoughts. For a Vancouver police officer with ALS,

what seems like science fiction is now reality. He's one of the first Canadians with the disease to receive a neuralink brain implant. Lindsay Duncombe reports on how the technology works, and why the trial is facing sharp criticism. I hear that chime. That's the chip waking up. Oh, here it goes connecting. Lee Martin's wife, Lisa,

holds a charging device to his head, linking the chip embedded in his brain. And now I'm controlling the cursor. His hands rest on his wheelchair. Using his thoughts alone, the 48-year-old brings up the Blue Jays score on his laptop. I know it seems like science fiction, but here I am, and it works.

Martin is a sergeant with the Vancouver Police Department. Last year, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. The disease kills nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. There is no cure. In May, Martin received a neuralink brain implant, part of a clinical trial at Toronto Western Hospital. The device uses Bluetooth. Yes, the same Bluetooth that works with a wireless speaker

to help people who cannot physically move, use their thoughts to communicate through a computer. Getting a terminal diagnosis, you don't really have a lot to look forward to. And this is going to maybe improve my time that I've left and will allow me to be kind of a trailblazer for anyone else going through this. Under the supervision of neurosurgeons,

a two-meter-tall robot insertion, more than a thousand tiny electrodes, each thinner than a human hair, into Martin's motor cortex. Martin is the 26th person in the world to receive the implant. Two other Canadians, both with quadriplegia, had a similar procedure last year in Toronto, and an ALS patient from Edmonton with dual citizenship received an implant in the U.S. But Martin's surgery was even more experimental. For the first time, the electrodes were inserted through the Dura. That's the layer of thick protective tissue around the brain.

Dr. Andreas Lazano is the lead neurosurgeon at Toronto Western Hospital. We think that this is the first step towards scaling the operation to make the operation simpler, less invasive, safer, which means that we might be able to offer this operation to hundreds and thousands of people that might benefit. We're starting off with reducing human suffering. Controversial trillionaire Elon Musk is behind Neurrelink. Toronto Western has been criticized for working with the company owned by a man who led cuts to global health care

while he was the head of the short-lived U.S. Department of Government Efficiency. And Neurrelink has faced scrutiny for not being open with its data. Dr. Lazzano says the hospital reviewed the trial thoroughly before participating. It has gone through a series of ethical screens and has passed a hospital. all of them. Martin's wife Lisa says she hopes the device will help Lee communicate with his children ages 11 and 14 after he is no longer able to physically speak. She says that will help with medical decisions, including those about a medically assisted death. So I'll take the gas work out of things. We can get his true feelings on what he wants to do. What do do do? Martin is planning

on making playlists for his kids, even playing video games as his disease progresses, and his colleagues have teased the police officer with a new nickname. Robocop. Lindsay Duncombe, CBC News, Vancouver. Prince Harry, Elton John and several other high-profile Brits have lost a lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mail. Their lawsuit alleged that from the 90s to 2011, associated newspapers used illegally obtained information

in dozens of published stories. The judge ruled the claimants had failed to prove their allegations, saying suspicion is not enough. In a statement, Harry called the decision a whitewash. Associated newspapers called it an overwhelming victory for the Daily Mail and its journalists. Job losses to AI are on the rise and may be coming soon to a theater near you.

An AI-generated actor has landed its first starring role in a feature film, And as Maktagabra Salasa reports, it's becoming a hot-button issue in Hollywood and beyond. That's Tilly Norwood, declared the world's first so-called AI actor last year. Now Norwood is set to be in a film. Particle 6, the company that created Norwood, says it's making misaligned, a coming-of-age AI movie. The company says it's a hybrid project using real. directors and writers along with the AI. But some in the film biz are bashing this. The National

Director of Actra, the Union representing actors in Canada, said there's no place in the industry for replacing performers with synthetics. And last year, actor Emily Blunt, amongst others, was not a fan of the Norwood News, as expressed on the Variety Awards Circuit podcast. That is really, really scary. But Toronto film critic Jason Gorber is among those that say this was bound to happen. He says the use of AI in the film biz is just getting started. So what we're seeing here is a very negative reaction

to the sort of peak use of this type of AI, namely creating an actor out of full cloth that one could use a human for versus what's inevitably going to happen in the broad sense of artificial intelligence that is going to transform not only the way films are made, but the way films are showcased, the way they are presented, the way they are responded to.

Now, this isn't the first time AI is making waves on the silver screen. Dreams of Violets, a movie about the Iranian resistance made completely with AI tools debuted at the Tribeca Festival last month. Then there's the movie that features an actor that is no longer living. Val Kilmer from movies like Top Gun died last year. And yet, an AI version of him stars in the movie as deep as the grave. Don't fear the dead and don't fear me.

Its trailer came out months ago. I don't want AI to take away creative output. Karras Butcher is an actor in Toronto who's worked on some independent and student films. This AI news has her questioning the future for actors. It feels dehumanizing in a way that what is purely human creation and creativity that can be enjoyed by other humans is now being interfered by something without that soul. Richard Latchman, a digital media professor in Toronto, says in the end, it will be. up to the audience to decide. Are we going to show up at the box office for things with a certification of human only, or are we going to show up for anything that looks kind of

interesting to us? And really, we think of this as inevitable. That's going to play out in public opinion. Any public opinions on how misaligned turns out will have to wait. No word on when the film will hit screens. Makta Geberra Salas, CBC News, Toronto. And finally, it is the end of an era for the man known as the Groat, the greatest raptor of all Jurassic parks all over the country. We knew what we were planned for. We were planning for the city of Toronto and the country of Canada. Kyle Lowry announced his retirement from professional basketball this morning in a video

retrospective of his life and career posted to Instagram. The 40-year-old is ending his NBA career as a Toronto Raptor by signing a one-day contract with the team. I always said that, you know, I would retire a Toronto Raptor, and that was everything. There's places. I call it home. I mean it. Lowry played nine seasons with the Raptors joining the team in 2012. With Lowry, they made the playoffs for seven straight seasons winning the NBA championship in 2019. He left Toronto five years ago for the Miami Heat.

The six-time All-Star told reporters in Toronto this morning why his time in Canada was so special. You're not just playing for Toronto. You're playing for Halifax, Calgary, B.C. you're playing for across a whole country. And who you are doesn't just show up in one place. It shows up in every place. Lowry's return and retirement comes amid reports.

The Raptors are reacquiring star forward Kauai Leonard. He was there today to support Lowry, who said he hoped Leonard would help bring another championship title to the team. Lowry's number seven jersey will be retired. His main message was one of thanks. Thank you, Toronto. Thank you, Canada. And as I always told, y'all, this officially happened.

I'm retiring as a Toronto Raptor. 20 years and one day. Seven forever. I love y'all. Peace. Thanks for being with us. This has been your world tonight for Tuesday, July 7th. I'm Martina Fitzgerald.

Good night. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca.