Asia
Myanmar junta dissolves Suu Kyi's party, much of opposition
Myanmar’s military government took another major step in its ongoing campaign to cripple its political opponents on Wednesday, dissolving dozens of opposition parties including that of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi for failing to meet a registration deadline ahead of elections.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, or NLD, was one of 40 parties ordered dissolved in an official announcement by the election commission published Wednesday in the state-controlled press. The NLD governed Myanmar with overwhelming majorities in Parliament from 2015 to 2021 before being overthrown by the military.
The NLD had already announced that it would not register, denouncing the promised polls as a sham.
The party, and other critics, say the still-unscheduled polls will be neither free nor fair in a military-ruled country that has shut free media and arrested most of the leaders of Suu Kyi’s party.
The NLD won a landslide victory in the November 2020 election, but in February 2021, the army blocked all elected lawmakers from taking their seats in Parliament and seized power, detaining top members of Suu Kyi’s government and party.
The army takeover was met with widespread popular opposition. After peaceful demonstrations were put down with lethal force, many opponents of military rule took up arms, and large parts of the country are embroiled in conflict.
Suu Kyi, 77, is serving prison sentences totaling 33 years after being convicted in a series of politically tainted prosecutions brought by the military. Her supporters say the charges were contrived to prevent her from participating in politics.
Kyaw Htwe, a member of the NLD’s Central Working Committee, told The Associated Press on Tuesday night that the party’s existence does not depend on what the military decides, and it “will exist as long as the people support it.”
His statement was a reference to a message Suu Kyi sent to her supporters through her lawyers in May 2021 when she appeared in court in person for the first time after the military seized power, She said “Since the NLD was founded for the people, the NLD will exist as long as the people exist.″
“The party will continue to fulfill the responsibilities entrusted by the people.” Kyaw Htwe said in a text message.
The army said it staged its 2021 takeover because of massive poll fraud, though independent election observers did not find any major irregularities. Some critics of Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who led the takeover and is now Myanmar’s top leader, believe he acted because the vote thwarted his own political ambitions.
The new polls had been expected by the end of July, according to the army’s own plans. But in February, the military announced a six-month extension of its state of emergency, delaying the possible legal date for holding an election. It said security could not be assured. The military does not control large swaths of the country, where it faces widespread armed resistance to its rule.
“Amid the state oppression following the 2021 coup, no election can be credible, especially when much of the population sees a vote as a cynical attempt to supplant the landslide victory of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy in 2020,” said a report issued Tuesday by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group think tank.
“The polls will almost certainly intensify the post-coup conflict, as the regime seeks to force them through and resistance groups seek to disrupt them.”
The military government enacted a new political party registration law in January that makes it difficult for opposition groups to mount a serious challenge to the army’s favored candidates. It sets conditions such as minimum levels of membership and candidates and offices that any party without the backing of the army and its cronies would find hard to meet, especially in the repressive political atmosphere.
The new law required existing political parties to re-apply for registration with the election commission by March 28.
Ninety parties ran in the 2020 election, of which just under half have been dissolved. The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Wednesday published the election commission's list of 50 existing parties that had registered by the Tuesday deadline, and 40 that had not, meaning they would be dissolved as of Wednesday.
The surviving parties are unlikely to pose a meaningful electoral challenge to the junta: they won only a handful of seats in the 2020 election, and most will not mount national campaigns.
“Among these 63 parties, 12 parties will launch election campaigns across the nation and 51 parties only in one region or state,” the state-run paper reported.
The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, which ran a distant second to the NLD in 2015 and 2020, registered again. The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, and NLD ally that won the third largest number of seats in 2020, did not.
Thirteen new parties registered, and the announcement said the opportunity for new parties to register was still open.
The National League for Democracy was founded in 1988 in the wake of a failed uprising against military rule. It won a 1990 general election that was invalidated by the country’s military rulers. It was technically banned after it boycotted a 2010 election held under military auspices because it felt it was not free or fair, but was allowed to register when it agreed to run in 2011. It took power after a landslide victory in the 2015 general election.
Myanmar junta dissolves Suu Kyi's party, much of opposition
Myanmar’s military government took another major step in its ongoing campaign to cripple its political opponents on Wednesday, dissolving dozens of opposition parties including that of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi for failing to meet a registration deadline ahead of elections.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, or NLD, was one of 40 parties ordered dissolved in an official announcement by the election commission published Wednesday in the state-controlled press. The NLD governed Myanmar with overwhelming majorities in Parliament from 2015 to 2021 before being overthrown by the military.
The NLD had already announced that it would not register, denouncing the promised polls as a sham.
The party, and other critics, say the still-unscheduled polls will be neither free nor fair in a military-ruled country that has shut free media and arrested most of the leaders of Suu Kyi’s party.
The NLD won a landslide victory in the November 2020 election, but in February 2021, the army blocked all elected lawmakers from taking their seats in Parliament and seized power, detaining top members of Suu Kyi’s government and party.
The army takeover was met with widespread popular opposition. After peaceful demonstrations were put down with lethal force, many opponents of military rule took up arms, and large parts of the country are embroiled in conflict.
Suu Kyi, 77, is serving prison sentences totaling 33 years after being convicted in a series of politically tainted prosecutions brought by the military. Her supporters say the charges were contrived to prevent her from participating in politics.
Kyaw Htwe, a member of the NLD’s Central Working Committee, told The Associated Press on Tuesday night that the party’s existence does not depend on what the military decides, and it “will exist as long as the people support it.”
His statement was a reference to a message Suu Kyi sent to her supporters through her lawyers in May 2021 when she appeared in court in person for the first time after the military seized power, She said “Since the NLD was founded for the people, the NLD will exist as long as the people exist.″
“The party will continue to fulfill the responsibilities entrusted by the people.” Kyaw Htwe said in a text message.
The army said it staged its 2021 takeover because of massive poll fraud, though independent election observers did not find any major irregularities. Some critics of Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who led the takeover and is now Myanmar’s top leader, believe he acted because the vote thwarted his own political ambitions.
The new polls had been expected by the end of July, according to the army’s own plans. But in February, the military announced a six-month extension of its state of emergency, delaying the possible legal date for holding an election. It said security could not be assured. The military does not control large swaths of the country, where it faces widespread armed resistance to its rule.
“Amid the state oppression following the 2021 coup, no election can be credible, especially when much of the population sees a vote as a cynical attempt to supplant the landslide victory of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy in 2020,” said a report issued Tuesday by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group think tank.
“The polls will almost certainly intensify the post-coup conflict, as the regime seeks to force them through and resistance groups seek to disrupt them.”
The military government enacted a new political party registration law in January that makes it difficult for opposition groups to mount a serious challenge to the army’s favored candidates. It sets conditions such as minimum levels of membership and candidates and offices that any party without the backing of the army and its cronies would find hard to meet, especially in the repressive political atmosphere.
The new law required existing political parties to re-apply for registration with the election commission by March 28.
Ninety parties ran in the 2020 election, of which just under half have been dissolved. The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Wednesday published the election commission's list of 50 existing parties that had registered by the Tuesday deadline, and 40 that had not, meaning they would be dissolved as of Wednesday.
The surviving parties are unlikely to pose a meaningful electoral challenge to the junta: they won only a handful of seats in the 2020 election, and most will not mount national campaigns.
“Among these 63 parties, 12 parties will launch election campaigns across the nation and 51 parties only in one region or state,” the state-run paper reported.
The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, which ran a distant second to the NLD in 2015 and 2020, registered again. The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, and NLD ally that won the third largest number of seats in 2020, did not.
Thirteen new parties registered, and the announcement said the opportunity for new parties to register was still open.
The National League for Democracy was founded in 1988 in the wake of a failed uprising against military rule. It won a 1990 general election that was invalidated by the country’s military rulers. It was technically banned after it boycotted a 2010 election held under military auspices because it felt it was not free or fair, but was allowed to register when it agreed to run in 2011. It took power after a landslide victory in the 2015 general election.
Do Adani's woes matter for India's clean energy transition?
When the bidders for India's multibillion-dollar incentive to make solar components were announced in early March, the absence of corporate behemoth Adani Group was conspicuous.
The group — which set up a gigantic factory to make solar equipment in 2016, more than tripled its capacity to make solar panels since 2017 and have begun making silicon materials needed to convert the sun rays to electricity — was expected to "bid in a large way," said Chiranjeev Saluja, the managing director of Premier Energies, an Indian solar components manufacturer.
The absence is another indication of the holding pattern the group has been in since U.S. short-selling firm Hindenburg Research alleged in late January that the businesses had engaged in fraud and stock price manipulation. Spooked investors dumped tens of billions of dollars in shares, while the company's purported proximity to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has dominated politics in past weeks.
The group has a considerable stake in India's clean energy future: Adani's renewable energy ambitions account for 10% of the country's clean energy goals. But some analysts say the group's woes won't hurt India's energy transition, especially in the medium and long term. And with a big government-favored player like Adani forced to scale down, companies that were reluctant to bid for clean energy projects in India are likely to step up now, leading to a more competitive market and bigger investments in green energy in India, market watchers say.
The Adani Group, led by founder Gautam Adani, influences the lives of millions in India. It builds roads and runs airports, operates some of its biggest ports, makes defense equipment, and sells cooking oil.
More recently, the tycoon who made his fortune betting on coal in an energy-starved nation in the 1990s and remains the largest private developer of new fossil fuel projects in India, had set his eyes on becoming its biggest renewable energy player by 2030.
The group has a clean energy portfolio of over 20 gigawatts of renewable energy, including 10 gigawatts of solar power, accounting for about 5% of clean energy nationwide. Its renewable energy portfolio is spread across 12 Indian states and includes one of the world's largest solar power plants in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Last September, Gautam Adani said the group would invest $70 billion in clean energy projects by 2032.
What appears to have changed, at least in the short term, is the group's ability to raise funds for its ambitious expansion plans.
Adani is still working on existing renewables projects but not those in the pipeline. France's TotalEnergies paused a $4 billion investment plan to develop green hydrogen with the Adani Group. It's also not bid for any new projects since the Hindenburg report.
But India's power minister R. K. Singh dismissed concerns in February that the stock for Adani's green companies along with the rest of his portfolio plummeting could affect the country's green ambitions in any way.
Vinay Rustagi, managing director at the renewable energy consultancy Bridge to India, agrees that long-term effects will be minimal, but said there may be short-term hits. And there may be benefits to opening space for other companies, said Tim Buckley, director of Australia-based Climate Energy Finance who has been tracking the Adani Group's growth for decades.
Buckley said there are other Indian companies interested in investing in renewable energy and now there could be an acceleration of India's transition to cleaner energy. India is the largest emitter of planet-warming gases behind China, the U.S. and the EU, and aims to produce 450 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030. That would require that a little more than half of India's total installed capacity be clean by the end of the decade.
But Adani Group's continuing interest in new fossil fuel projects put the Indian government under pressure to deliver a fossil fuel agenda and "less pressure to deliver on renewables," said Buckley.
"At the end of the day, it's about removing the biggest single private developer of new fossil fuel projects in India, reducing their impact on the political system and democracy in India," he said.
The company has consistently aligned itself with India's national priorities and was an early mover into sectors like hydrogen or storing power that were important for the government. Since the report, India's opposition parties have demanded a probe into the company and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proximity to Gautam Adani.
Outside of the Adani Group, major Indian clean energy companies like Renew power, Tata power, Greenko energy holdings and the government-funded National Thermal Power Corporation are aggressively increasing their renewable energy capacity.
Analysts say India's renewables market is also attractive for foreign investors given the enormous potential for fast growth. The country needs to build 35 to 40 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity each year to meet its 2030 targets.
With so many players keen to invest in India, Rustagi said any ripple effects of the Adani ordeal on the sector will "likely be temporary."
Suu Kyi's party faces dissolution in military-ruled Myanmar
The political party led by Myanmar's ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to face automatic dissolution by the military-appointed election commission on midnight Tuesday because it declined to register for a planned general election it denounced as a sham.
Critics say the polls will be neither free nor fair in a country ruled by the military that has shut free media and arrested most of the leaders of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.
"We absolutely do not accept that an election will be held at a time when many political leaders and political activists have been arrested and the people are being tortured by the military," said Bo Bo Oo, a former party lawmaker.
Suu Kyi, 77, is serving prison sentences totaling 33 years after being convicted in a series of politically tainted prosecutions brought by the military. Her supporters say the charges were contrived to keep her from actively taking part in politics.
The party won a landslide victory in the November 2020 general election, but less than three months later, the army kept her and all the elected lawmakers from taking their seats in Parliament, and top members of her government and party were detained.
The army said it acted because of a massive poll fraud, though independent election observers did not find any major irregularities. Some critics of Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who led the takeover and is now Myanmar's top leader, believe he acted because the vote thwarted his own political ambitions.
No date has been set for the new polls. They had been expected by the end of July, according to the army's own plans. But in February, the military announced an unexpected six-month extension of its state of emergency, delaying the possible legal date for holding an election. It said security could not be assured. The military does not control large swaths of the country, where it faces widespread armed resistance to its rule.
"Amid the state oppression following the 2021 coup, no election can be credible, especially when much of the population sees a vote as a cynical attempt to supplant the landslide victory of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) in 2020," said a report issued Tuesday by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group think tank.
"The polls will almost certainly intensify the post-coup conflict, as the regime seeks to force them through and resistance groups seek to disrupt them."
The military government enacted a new political party registration law in January that makes it difficult for opposition groups to mount a serious challenge to its favored candidates. It sets conditions such as minimum levels of membership and candidates and offices that any party without the backing of the army and its cronies would find hard to meet, especially in the repressive political atmosphere.
The new law declared that existing political parties had to re-apply for registration with the election commission within two months after it took effect — by March 28 — and those that fail will be "automatically invalidated" and considered dissolved. It also says the party has to entrust its properties to the government if it is dissolved of its own volition or when its registration is canceled under the law.
The National League for Democracy rejected the law just days after it was announced, saying at the same time that the military-planned polls are illegal and amount to a "sham election." It declared that any individuals and entities cooperating in the polls with the military will be deemed as accomplices in high treason.
Bo Bo Oo said that a March 21 meeting of the party's Central Working Committee reaffirmed the decision not to register, and considers the election commission and registration law illegitimate.
The state-run Myanma Alinn daily newspaper reported on Saturday that a total of 52 political parties had applied to the election commission for registration under the new law. Twelve applied to contest at the national level and 40 at the level of regions and states. The commission must approve their applications.
Netanyahu delays judicial overhaul after mass protests
Bending to a wave of mass protests, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed his contentious judicial overhaul plan Monday and said he wanted "to avoid civil war” by making time to seek a compromise with political opponents.
The announcement appeared to calm some of the tensions that have fueled three tumultuous months of unrest. But it failed to address the underlying issues that have polarized the nation, and the anti-government protest movement vowed to intensify its efforts.
In his prime-time address, Netanyahu, who had previously rejected calls to delay the legislation, took a more conciliatory tone than in recent speeches. He acknowledged the deep divisions in the country and said he was hitting the pause button “to prevent a rift in the nation.”
“When there’s an opportunity to avoid civil war through dialogue, I, as prime minister, am taking a timeout for dialogue,” he said. He vowed to reach a “broad consensus” during the summer session of parliament, which begins on April 30.
He spoke after tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated outside parliament, and the country’s largest labor union launched a nationwide strike in a dramatic escalation of the mass protest movement against his plan.
Netanyahu and his religious and ultranationalist allies presented the overhaul in January just days after forming their government, the most right-wing in Israel’s history.
The proposal has plunged Israel into its worst domestic crisis in decades. Business leaders, top economists and former security chiefs have all come out against the plan, saying it is pushing the country toward an autocracy. Fighter pilots and military reservists have threatened not to report for duty, and the country’s currency, the shekel, has tumbled in value.
The plan would give Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, and his allies the final say in appointing the nation’s judges. It would also give parliament, which is controlled by his allies, authority to overturn Supreme Court decisions and limit the court’s ability to review laws.
Netanyahu has argued that the overhaul is needed to rein in a liberal and overly interventionist court of unelected judges. But his opponents say the package would damage the country’s system of checks and balances by concentrating power in the hands of Netanyahu’s allies. They also say that he has a conflict of interest as a criminal defendant.
Tens of thousands of people, largely secular, middle-class Israelis, have regularly joined mass protests against the plan.
Those demonstrations ramped up Sunday night after Netanyahu abruptly fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who had urged the prime minister to put his plan on hold, citing concerns about damage to the Israeli military.
The firing sparked a spontaneous outburst of anger, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets in just one hour.
Chanting “the country is on fire,” they lit bonfires on Tel Aviv’s main highway, closing the thoroughfare and many others throughout the country for hours.
Demonstrators continued Monday outside the Knesset, or parliament, turning the streets surrounding the building and the Supreme Court into a roiling sea of blue-and-white Israeli flags dotted with rainbow Pride banners.
“This is the last chance to stop this move into a dictatorship,” said Matityahu Sperber, 68, who joined a stream of people headed to the protest outside the Knesset. “I’m here for the fight to the end.”
Israel’s main trade union, the histadrut, declared a general strike in what it said was the first time it has carried out such an action over a political issue.
The chaos shut down much of the country and threatened to paralyze the economy. Departing flights from the main international airport were grounded, stranding tens of thousands of travelers.
Large mall chains and universities closed their doors, and the union called for its 800,000 members to stop work in health care, transit, banking and other fields.
Diplomats walked off the job at foreign missions, and local governments were expected to close preschools and cut other services. The main doctors union announced that its members would also strike.
In a sign of easing tensions, the union said late Monday that it was halting the strike in response to Netanyahu’s delay.
The announcement appeared to buy the embattled Netanyahu several weeks of quiet. But it was far from clear whether the disputes could be resolved.
The country’s figurehead president, Isaac Herzog, said pausing the legislative blitz was “the right thing.”
“This is the time for frank, serious and responsible discussion that will lead urgently to calming spirits and lowering the flames,” he said.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said he was willing to hold a “genuine dialogue” under Herzog’s sponsorship.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, an ultranationalist who has pushed for quick passage of the package, said he would respect the delay but showed few signs of compromise.
“The reform will pass,” he tweeted. “No one will scare us.”
The first of a series of laws — giving the coalition control over judicial appointments — had been scheduled to pass this week.
Before Netanyahu’s speech, some 20,000 right-wing Israelis attended a counter demonstration in support of the prime minister. That demonstration also took place near parliament and passed without violence.
“They won’t steal the election from us,” read a flyer for event, organized by Religious Zionist party. Netanyahu said he was “moved” by the show of support.
Shikma Bressler, one of the leaders of the anti-government protest movement, said the campaign would continue until the legislation is canceled.
“This is just an attempt to weaken the protests in order to enact Netanyahu’s dictatorship,” she said. “Now is not the time to reduce the pressure, but to increase it.”
Dozens of protesters from rival sides faced off late Monday in central Tel Aviv. The sides, kept apart by police, exchanged insults, but there was no violence. Police used a water cannon to disperse anti-government protesters.
Israel’s Palestinian citizens have largely sat out the protests. Many say Israel’s democracy is tarnished by its military rule over their brethren in the West Bank and the discrimination they themselves face.
The Biden administration, which has been uneasy with Netanyahu and the far-right elements of his government, welcomed the announcement as “an opportunity to create additional time and space for compromise,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
Kim wants N. Korea to make more nuclear material for bombs
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for his nuclear scientists to increase production of weapons-grade material to make bombs to put on his increasing range of weapons.
The report in state media Tuesday followed a series of missile launches — seven launch events in this month alone — and rising threats to use the weapons against his enemies. North Korea’s weapons tests and U.S.-South Korea military exercises have intensified in a tit-for-tat cycle, underscoring heightened tensions in the region.
Officials say North Korea could further up the ante in coming weeks or months with more provocative displays of its military nuclear program, possibly including its first test detonation of a nuclear device since September 2017.
The Korean Central News Agency said Kim during a meeting on Monday with officials and scientists at a state nuclear weapons institute stressed the need to ramp up bomb fuel production to meet his goals to expand his nuclear arsenal “exponentially,” and issued unspecified “important tasks” for his nuclear industry.
Kim also examined the country’s established plans for nuclear counterattacks as scientists briefed him on the North’s latest nuclear-capable weapons systems and progress in technologies for mounting nuclear warheads on missiles, the agency said.
The agency’s photos showed Kim talking with officials inside a hall that displayed what appeared to be various types of warheads, including around 10 khaki-green capsules with red tips. Other weapons included devices that looked like a black-and-white cone with fins or a large torpedo.
A wall poster near one of the green devices described a warhead called “Hwasan-31,” based on the Korean word for volcano. The poster’s graphics implied that the weapon could fit on some of North Korea’s short-range ballistic systems, cruise missiles and a purported nuclear-capable underwater drone the country first unveiled last week. State media didn’t identify any of the devices in the photos.
The size and shape of the Hwasan-31, which some experts estimated was around 50 centimeters (19 inches) in width and 90 centimeters (35 inches) in length, suggested progress in North Korean efforts to create a miniaturized warhead that could fit on various delivery systems, said Kim Dong-yub, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
Lee Sung-jun, spokesperson of Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the South’s military was analyzing the warhead unveiled in the North Korean photos but didn’t offer specific assessments.
Kim Jong Un’s calls for boosting bomb fuel production came days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, in what was seen as a warning to the West as it increases military support for Ukraine.
While aligning with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, North Korea has stressed three-way cooperation with Moscow and Beijing to confront a “new Cold War” waged by “U.S. imperialists,” who it accuses of bringing the conflict to Asia by stepping up military activities with Seoul and Tokyo.
Following six nuclear tests since 2006, North Korea likely has dozens of warheads that can probably be mounted on some of its older systems, like Scuds or Rodong missiles. But there are differing assessments on how far North Korea has come in miniaturizing and engineering those warheads so that they could fit on a variety of new weapons it developed at rapid pace in recent years, which may possibly require further technology upgrades or nuclear tests.
A biennial South Korean defense document released in February said North Korea is estimated to have 70 kilograms (154 pounds) of weapons-grade plutonium, which some observers say that’s enough for about 9-18 bombs. The document estimated that North Korea has “a considerable amount of” highly enriched uranium as well.
North Korea’s main nuclear complex in Yongbyon has facilities to produce both plutonium and highly enriched uranium, the two main bomb fuels used to build nuclear weapons. North Korea is believed to be operating at least one additional covert uranium enrichment facility, in addition to the one at its Yongbyon complex.
In separate reports, KCNA said the North again detonated mock warheads during tests of nuclear-capable missiles and a purported underwater attack drone this week. The reports came a day after neighboring militaries detected the North firing two short-range ballistic missiles toward waters off its eastern coast.
Monday’s launches came hours before a nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier and its battle group engaged in joint training with South Korean warships in waters near Jeju island, in the allies’ latest show of strength against the North’s rising threats. The USS Nimitz and the other warships pulled into the South Korean mainland port of Busan on Tuesday.
KCNA said the missiles tested Monday were tipped with mock nuclear warheads that detonated as intended 500 meters (16,40 feet) above their sea targets. A frontline unit fired the missiles as part of an exercise familiarizing the troops with executing nuclear attack orders, the agency said.
North Korea earlier said some of its ballistic and cruise missile tests this month involved mock nuclear warheads detonated above their targets, communicating that it could control the height above ground to maximize an explosion’s potential damage.
KCNA also said North Korea this week conducted another test of an alleged underwater nuclear attack drone capable of setting off a “radioactive tsunami” to destroy enemy naval vessels and ports. North Korea had not indicated it was seeking such a capability before announcing last week that a previous test conducted on similar conditions was successful.
Analysts, however, are skeptical whether such a device would be a meaningfully new threat, and South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday it believes the North Korean claims regarding the weapon are likely “exaggerated or fabricated.”
Still, the drone underlines Kim’s commitment to spur the expansion of his nuclear arsenal as he seeks to force the United States to accept the North as a legitimate nuclear power and negotiate economic concessions from a position of strength.
North Korea already is coming off a record year in weapons testing, launching more than 70 missiles in 2022. It had set into law an escalatory nuclear doctrine that authorizes pre-emptive nuclear strikes in a broad range of scenarios where it may perceive its leadership as under threat.
Opposition disrupts Indian Parliament after Gandhi's ouster
Members of opposition parties dressed in black disrupted India's Parliament on Monday and protested in the capital, New Delhi, after Rahul Gandhi, a key opposition leader and fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was expelled from the legislature last week.
Hundreds of supporters of Gandhi's Congress party demonstrated in the heart of New Delhi and dozens were detained by police. Lawmakers from 18 opposition parties also protested together outside Parliament, donning black clothes to symbolize mourning and waving posters that warned India's democracy is in danger.
Gandhi's expulsion on Friday came a day after a local court convicted him of defamation and sentenced him to two years in prison for mocking Modi's surname in an election speech in 2019. The actions against Gandhi, the great-grandson of India's first prime minister, were widely denounced by opponents of Modi as assaults against democracy and free speech by a government seeking to quash dissent. His removal from Parliament also delivered a major blow to the Congress party ahead of national elections next year.
"The government wants to suppress the opposition and their voice," said Mallikarjun Kharge, president of the Congress party.
Over the weekend, Gandhi said he is being targeted for raising questions about Modi's relationship to Gautam Adani, a coal tycoon who until recently was Asia's richest man.
Hindenburg Research, a U.S. financial research firm, accused the Adani Group in January of stock price manipulation and fraud running into billions of dollars. Since then, Gandhi has pushed for an investigation into Adani's sprawling businesses, whose market value has since plummeted by tens of billions of dollars. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party says he has no links to Adani.
The protesting opposition lawmakers backed Gandhi on Monday by renewing calls for a parliamentary probe into the Adani Group.
Gandhi said he was not bothered about losing his seat in Parliament. "My job is to defend the institutions of the country and the voice of people," he said over the weekend.
A court in Modi's home state of Gujarat convicted Gandhi last week over a 2019 speech in which he asked, "Why do all thieves have Modi as their surname?" Gandhi then referred to three well-known and unrelated Modis: a fugitive Indian diamond tycoon, a cricket executive banned from the Indian Premier League tournament and the prime minister.
Under Indian law, a criminal conviction and prison sentence of two years or more are grounds for expulsion from Parliament. Gandhi was granted bail for 30 days to allow him to appeal the decision, which Gandhi says he will do.
Suicide bomber kills 6 people near foreign ministry in Kabul
A suicide bomber struck on Monday near the foreign ministry in Kabul, killing at least six people and wounding several, according to officials. It was the second time this year that there has been an attack near the ministry.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing but the regional affiliate of the Islamic State group has increased attacks since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in mid-August 2021. IS has targeted Taliban officials and patrols, as well as members of the country’s minority Shiites.
According to Khalid Zadran, a spokesman for the Kabul police chief, Taliban security forces spotted the bomber before he was able to reach a checkpoint at the Malik Asghar intersection, near the ministry.
The attacker then detonated his explosives, killing at least six civilians. Three members of the Taliban security forces were among those wounded in the attack.
The Kabul hospital run by the EMERGENCY non-governmental organization said it received two fatalities from the explosion and 12 wounded, including a child.
“Among the injured, who are all male, is a child," said Stefano Sozza, the NGO’s country director in Afghanistan. "Once again we are reminded that although the war has ended, we continue to treat victims of violence.”
In mid-January, an IS attack near the ministry killed at least five people and wounded several others. Checkpoints line the fortified route to the ministry, which is on one of the roads leading to the presidential palace. Guards stop and search vehicles and people along the way.
The Islamic State group has also claimed other recent attacks in Kabul, including a bombing near a checkpoint at the city’s military airport that killed and wounded several people and also an assault on a Kabul hotel in mid-December.
Prince Harry in court for privacy suit against tabloid
Prince Harry was in a London court on Monday as the lawyer for a group of British tabloids prepared to ask a judge to toss out lawsuits by the prince, Elton John and several other celebrities who allege phone tapping and other invasions of privacy.
The hearing involves one of several lawsuits Harry, also known as the Duke of Sussex, has brought against the media. It is expected to last four days.
Harry's presence at the High Court in London is a sign of the importance he places on the case.
Associated Newspapers, which publishes titles including the Daily Mail, is asking the High Court to end claims brought by a collection of high-profile individuals who are seeking damages for misuse of private information. Other plaintiffs include John’s husband, David Furnish, and actresses Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost.
END/AP/UNB/JHR
Taiwan's former leader Ma begins China visit
Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou departed for a tour of China on Monday, in what he called an attempt to reduce tensions a day after Taiwan lost one of its few remaining diplomatic partners to China.
The ex-president is visiting in a private capacity, bringing a delegation of academics and college students for exchanges, as well as members of his family, but the trip is loaded with political meaning.
Ma’s policies brought Taiwan and Beijing to their closest relationship ever, but his exit from office was overshadowed by massive protests against a trade deal with the mainland and his successor has focused on bolstering ties with the U.S. and defending the autonomy of the democratically governed island that China claims as part of its own territory.
Current President Tsai Ing-wen is expected to launch a 10-day diplomatic tour of her own Wednesday, ostensibly to visit the island's remaining allies in Latin America. She will stop in the U.S., Taiwan’s biggest unofficial partner and supplier of arms.
Ma's visit comes amid rising tensions. Beijing has stepped up pressure against Taiwan in recent years, poaching its diplomatic allies while also sending military fighter jets flying towards the island on a near daily basis. On Sunday, Honduras established diplomatic relations with China, leaving Taiwan with only 13 countries that recognize it as a sovereign state.
Ma, a member of the opposition Nationalist Party (Kuomingtang), will land in Shanghai before starting his visit in nearby Nanjing. He is expected to tour the mainland from March 27 to April 7, stopping in Wuhan and Changsha, as well as other cities. He is bringing college students from Taiwan to meet with fellow students from Shanghai’s Fudan University and Changsha’s Hunan University.
Ma has framed the visit as a bid to lower the tensions in cross-strait relations through people to people exchange. “I hope through the enthusiasm of the youth and their interactions to improve the cross-strait mood, so bring peace faster, and earlier,” he said to reporters ahead of his departure on Monday afternoon. He also said it would be his first time visiting China.
His trip has not drawn much controversy in Taiwan, where the public is used to seeing Kuomingtang politicians visit China. However, it has been criticized by some political opponents and activists.
A former mainland student leader in the 1989 Tiananmen square protests called on Ma to cancel his trip. “If you have even a strand of affection for Taiwan ... you should announce the cancellation of your trip,” said Wang Dan, a Chinese dissident who previously lived in Taiwan, on his Facebook page.
A handful of protesters from a pro-independence group held a demonstration at the departures area at Taoyuan airport before Ma's departure. “Ma Ying-jeou is humiliating our nation and forfeiting its sovereignty," they shouted before police carried them out. “You are a stinky beggar.”
On the other side, a small group of people from the pro-unification camp also came to the airport to show their support. “Cross-strait relations are like flowers blossoming in spring and both sides are a family," they shouted.
The trip is also a chance for him to honor his ancestors, ahead of Tomb Sweeping Day on April 5. During the festival, which is celebrated in Taiwan and China among other countries, families visit ancestral graves to maintain the burial grounds and remember the dead.
Ma will not go to Beijing, but may meet with Chinese officials.
Ma met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Singapore in 2015, while he was still in office. The meeting was the first between the leaders of the two sides since Taiwan split from mainland China in 1949 during the Chinese civil war, but was considered more symbolic than substantive.
In 2016, the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party won national elections and Beijing cut off contact with Taiwan’s government, citing Tsai's refusal to endorse the idea that Taiwan and China are one country.