Foreign News
Key wins boost Indian PM Modi’s re-election bid
Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is poised to win three of the four key state elections in India ahead of the crucial general elections next year.
The BJP has a commanding lead in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The Congress is comfortably ahead in the southern state of Telangana.
More than 160 million people or a sixth of India’s electorate were eligible to vote in the polls held in November. Counting of votes for a fifth state, Mizoram, is due on Monday.
Did these elections serve a litmus test for Mr Modi’s prospects in securing a historic third term in the upcoming general elections next year? In simpler terms, would a stronger performance by the Congress have indicated a potential setback for the BJP?
Not quite. In 2018, the Congress won three key state elections – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Three months later BJP swept the general elections nationally and in all the three states. State elections in India are fought over state or region specific concerns, while general elections revolve around more national-level issues.
Despite this dynamic, Sunday’s results come as a significant boost for PM Modi, who is already setting his sights on a record third term next year. The win is also significant because the BJP has frequently fallen short in state elections. Until today, the party – which enjoys a comfortable majority in parliament – governed 15 of India’s 28 states – and only nine of them directly. The rest were in coalition with smaller partners.
Regaining control of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the Congress and retaining Madhya Pradesh for a record fifth term means that the BJP is looking virtually unassailable in the “Hindi heartland” of northern and central India. Ten states in this Hindi-speaking belt send 225 MPs to the parliament – and BJP won 177 of the seats in 2019.
On the other hand, the elections were more important for the Congress.
An improved performance would have come as a huge morale booster and positioned the party as the natural leader of a fledgling alliance comprising 28 opposition parties, collectively known as INDIA. At one point, the party appeared to be leading in the race to win Madhya Pradesh and subsequently lost momentum as the BJP gained ground. The party has struggled to convert state victories into success in national elections in the past, and now it is failing to retain its state governments as well. Anti-incumbency is harsher on Congress.
But there is one silver lining. The Congress managed to wrest the southern state of Telangana, where the regional BRS party suffered from anti-incumbency. After a resounding win in Karnataka in May, it continues to make inroads into southern India.
So what were the factors that shaped voting behaviour in the recent polls? Beyond a track record of governance, considerations such as caste, identity, and the allure of BJP’s Hindu nationalism, welfare promises also seem to exert influence on voting patterns.
During his campaign, PM Modi announced that a scheme to provide 5kg of free grain a month to 800 million of India’s poorest people would continue for the next five years. The resurgence of his party in Madhya Pradesh was also credited to a programme offering a monthly stipend of 1,250 rupees [$16; £12] to eligible women from poorer families – women comprise some 47% of the 50 million voters in the state.
Many commentators called such welfarism by all parties competitive populism, but in reality it also underscored the vulnerable lives of millions of Indians who depend on state handouts to eke a decent living.
A nationwide poll by India Today magazine survey in August showed Mr Modi’s popularity remained intact after a decade in power: more than half of the respondents felt he should continue to lead India.
Adding to the BJP’s formidable arsenal are its massive resources, a mammoth 24/7 party organisation, governance anchored in a robust welfare architecture, and a largely supportive media. It’s hardly surprising that Mr Modi and his party appear to be in a pole position to win a stunning third term next year.
(BBC)
China has executed four members of the Bai family mafia, one of the notorious dynasties that ran scam centres in Myanmar, state media report.
They were among 21 of the family’s members and associates who were convicted of fraud, homicide, injury and other crimes by a court in Guangdong province.
Last November the court sentenced five of them to death including the clan’s patriarch Bai Suocheng, who died of illness after his conviction, state media reported.
Last week, China executed 11 members of the Ming family mafia as part of its crackdown on scam operations in South East Asia that have entrapped thousands of Chinese victims.
For years, the Bais, Mings and several other families dominated Myanmar’s border town of Laukkaing, where they ran casinos, red-light districts and cyberscam operations.
Among the clans, the Bais were “number one”, Bai Suocheng’s son previously told state media after he was detained.
The Bais, who controlled their own militia, established 41 compounds to house cyberscam activities and casinos, authorities said. Within the walls of those compounds was a culture of violence, where beatings and torture were routine.
The Bai family’s criminal activities led to the deaths of six Chinese citizens, the suicide of one person and multiple injuries, the court said.
The Bais rose to power in Laukkaing in the early 2000s after the town’s then warlord was ousted in a military operation led by Min Aung Hlaing – who now leads Myanmar’s military government.
The military leader had been looking for co-operative allies, and Bai Suocheng – then a deputy of the warlord – fitted the bill.
But the families’ empires crashed in 2023, when Beijing became frustrated by the Myanmar military’s inaction on the scam operations and tacitly backed an offensive by ethnic insurgents in the area, which marked a turning point in Myanmar’s civil war.
That led to the capture of the scam mafias and their members were handed to Beijing.
In China, they became subjects of state documentaries which emphasised Chinese authorities’ resolve to eradicate the scam networks.
With these recent executions Beijing appears to be sending a message of deterrence to would-be scammers.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked to run online scams in Myanmar and elsewhere in South East Asia, according to estimates by the United Nations.
Among them are thousands of Chinese people, and their victims who they swindle billions of dollars from are mainly Chinese as well.
(BBC)
The US federal government has partially shutdown despite a last-ditch funding deal approved by the Senate.
The funding lapse began at midnight US eastern time (05:00 GMT) on Saturday, hours after senators agreed to fund most agencies until September. The bill includes just two weeks’ funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement, instead of shutting it down entirely.
The bill has yet to be approved by the House of Representatives, which is out of session.
US President Donald Trump struck the deal with Democrats after they refused to give more funding for immigration enforcement following the fatal shooting of two US citizens in Minneapolis by federal agents.
It is the second such government shutdown in the past year and comes just 11 weeks after the end of the previous funding impasse that lasted 43 days, the longest in US history.
That shutdown in 2025, which spanned 1 October to 14 November, had widespread impacts on essential government services including air travel and left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without pay for weeks.
This shutdown, however, is unlikely to be that long or widespread as the House of Representatives is set to be back in session on Monday.
The White House, though, has directed several agencies, including the departments of transportation, education and defence to execute shutdown plans.
“Employees should report to work for their next regularly scheduled tour of duty to undertake orderly shutdown activities,” a White House memo to agencies said. “It is our hope that this lapse will be short.”
Trump has urged Republicans, who hold the majority of seats in the US House, to vote for the deal.
Lawmakers plan to use the fortnight in which the DHS will continue to be funded to negotiate a deal. Democrats want that deal to include new policies for immigration enforcement agents.
“We need to rein in ICE and end the violence,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“That means ending roving patrols. It means requiring rules, oversight, and judicial warrants… Masks need to come off, cameras need to stay on, and officers need visible identification. No secret police.”
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have sharply criticised tactics used by immigration agents in the wake of the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis last weekend.
Pretti, an intensive care nurse, was shot by a US Border Patrol agent after an altercation in which several agents tried to restrain him.
On Friday, the Justice Department launched a civil rights investigation into the shooting.
[BBC]
Sustained heavy gunfire and loud explosions have been heard in Niger near the international airport outside the capital, Niamey.
Multiple eyewitness accounts and videos showed air defence systems apparently engaging unidentified projectiles in the early hours of Thursday.
The situation later calmed down, reports say, with an official reportedly saying the situation was now under control, without elaborating.
It is not clear what caused the blasts, or if there were any casualties. There has been no official statement from the military government.
The gunfire and blasts began shortly after midnight, according to residents of a neighbourhood near the Diori Hamani International Airport, the AFP news agency reports. They said calm returned after two hours.
The airport houses an air force base and is located about 10km (six miles) from the presidential palace.
Niger is led by Abdourahamane Tiani who seized power in a 2023 coup that ousted the country’s elected civilian president.
Like its neighbours Burkina Faso and Mali, the country has been fighting jihadist groups who have carried out deadly attacks across the region.
It is also a major producer of uranium.
A huge uranium shipment destined for export has been stuck at the airport amid unresolved legal and diplomatic complications with France after the military government nationalised the country’s uranium mines.
“The situation is under control. There is no need to worry,” the Anadolu news agency quoted a Foreign Affairs ministry official as saying, without elaborating.
The official told the agency they were trying to determine whether the gunfire was linked to the uranium shipment.
[BBC]
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