Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau is in Singapore for this year’s Asean summit. He’s on a mission to reaffirm Canada’s reputation as a key economic player in the region. It’s been a mixed year for Trudeau’s push to make Canada a leader in global trade: an ill-fated visit to India in February yielded little and trade talks with China have also stalled. He will try to resuscitate the latter in an annual forum between Canadian and Chinese diplomats later today. In doing so he should emphasise his successes with the Nafta renegotiation and the Canada-EU trade agreement, both of which are widely regarded as coups for Canada. They are also templates for how international trade negotiations should be conducted in the future as economises such as the US and UK turn their gazes inward. 

India’s Space Research Organisation (Isro) will launch a satellite today to help provide a high-speed broadband connection to vast swathes of the country’s rural areas. Gsat-29 is designed to bring the internet to India’s northeastern regions, including Jammu and Kashmir, as part of an initiative to increase access to digital services. The satellite will also collect data for Isro’s push towards a manned space mission, which the organisation hopes to conduct by 2022. The drive to bridge the so-called “digital divide” is laudable but India should prioritise basic amenities. Modern housing, sanitation and clean drinking water ought to trump space travel – and broadband connection speeds.