India opposition leader loses Parliament seat on defamation charge
NEW DELHI — India’s top opposition leader and fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was expelled from Parliament on Friday, a day after a court convicted him of defamation and sentenced him to two years in prison for mocking the surname Modi in an election speech.
The actions against Rahul Gandhi, the great-grandson of India’s first prime minister, were widely condemned by opponents of Modi as the latest assaults against democracy and free speech by a ruling government seeking to crush dissent. Removing Gandhi from politics delivered a major blow to the Indian National Congress, the opposition party he led, ahead of next year’s national elections.
A court in Modi’s home state of Gujarat convicted Gandhi on Thursday for a 2019 speech in which he asked, “Why do all thieves have Modi as their surname?” Gandhi then referred to three wellknown and unrelated Modis in the speech: 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 is out on bail for 30 days and plans to appeal.
Opposition lawmakers rallied to his defense Friday, calling his expulsion a new low for India’s constitutional democracy.
Modi’s critics say India’s democracy — the world’s largest with nearly 1.4 billion people — has been in retreat since he first came to power in 2014. They accuse his populist government of preoccupying itself with pursuing a Hindu nationalist agenda, a charge his administration has denied.
“I am fighting for the voice of this country. I am ready to pay any price,” Gandhi, 52, wrote on Twitter.
Nkorea drone test: North Korea claimed Friday to have tested a nuclear-capable underwater drone designed to generate a gigantic “radioactive tsunami” that would destroy naval strike groups and ports. Analysts were skeptical that the device presents a major new threat, but the test underlines the North’s commitment to raising nuclear threats.
The test this week came as the United States reportedly planned to deploy aircraft carrier strike groups and other advanced assets to waters off the Korean Peninsula. Military tensions are at a high point as the pace of both North Korean weapons tests and U.s.-south Korea joint military exercises have accelerated in the past year in a cycle of tit-for-tat responses.
The report came hours before South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged to make North Korea pay for its “reckless provocations” as he attended a remembrance service honoring 55 South Korean troops killed during major clashes with the North near their western sea border in past years.
Rwanda commutation:
Rwanda’s government has commuted the 25-year sentence of Paul Rusesabagina, who inspired the film “Hotel Rwanda” for saving hundreds of countrymen from genocide but was convicted of terrorism
offenses years later in a widely criticized trial.
Government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo said Friday that the presidential order was issued after a request for clemency, and Rusesabagina, a 68-year-old U.S. resident and Belgian citizen, is expected to be released Saturday.
Nineteen others also had their sentences commuted. Under Rwandan law, commutation doesn’t “extinguish” the conviction, Makolo added.
Rusesabagina’s case had been described by the U.S. and others as unfair. He disappeared in 2020 during a visit to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and appeared days later in Rwanda in handcuffs. His family alleged he was kidnapped and taken to Rwanda against his will to stand trial.
China threat: China threatened “serious consequences” Friday after the United States Navy sailed a destroyer around the disputed Paracel Islands
in the South China Sea for the second day in a row, in a move Beijing claimed was a violation of its sovereignty and security.
The warning comes amid growing tensions between China and the United States in the region, as Washington pushes back at Beijing’s increasingly assertive posture in the South China Sea, a strategic waterway it claims virtually in its entirety.
On Thursday, after the U.S. sailed the USS Milius guided-missile destroyer near the Paracel Islands, China said its navy and air force had forced the American vessel away, a claim the U.S. military denied.
The U.S. on Friday sailed the ship again in the vicinity of the islands, which are occupied by China but also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam, as part of what it called a “freedom of navigation operation” challenging requirements from all three nations of either advance notification or permission before a military vessel sails by.
Russian crackdown: Police in Russia placed a former speechwriter for President Vladimir Putin on a wanted list of criminal suspects, the latest step in a sweeping crackdown on dissent.
Abbas Gallyamov wrote speeches for Putin during the Russian leader’s 20082012 stint as prime minister. Gallyamov later became an outspoken political consultant and analyst who was frequently quoted by Russian and foreign media. He has lived abroad in recent years.
On Friday, Russian news outlets and an Associated Press reporter discovered Gallyamov listed in the Interior Ministry’s database. His entry said he was wanted “in relation to a Criminal Code article” but did not include the law he was accused of breaking.
Russia’s Justice Ministry added Gallyamov last month to its register of foreign agents, a designation that brings additional government scrutiny and carries
strong pejorative connotations aimed at undermining the recipient’s credibility.
California drought: California Gov. Gavin Newsom ended some of the state’s water restrictions Friday because a winter of relentless rain and snow has replenished the state’s reservoirs and eased fears of a shortage after three years of severe drought.
Most of California is no longer in drought, according to a U.S. Drought Monitor update from Thursday.
But water shortage concerns remain for some areas of the state, including the Klamath River basin along the California-oregon border and in Southern California, which relies on the struggling Colorado River system to help supply millions of people.
“Are we out of a drought? Mostly — but not completely,” Newsom said Friday from a farm northwest of Sacramento that has flooded its fields to help replenish groundwater.