Ahead of the inauguration of Taiwanese President-elect Lai Ching-te, residents and analysts share their expectations for the new administration and the challenges ahead. As Taiwan’s fifth directly elected president, Lai will face growing pressure from China at a time when the world is increasingly divided. VOA’s William Yang has more from Taipei.
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Islamabad — Pakistan’s popular former Prime Minister Imran Khan appeared before the Supreme Court via video link from prison Thursday in connection with a lawsuit he has filed against disputed amendments to the country’s anti-corruption laws.

It was Khan’s first court appearance since his arrest in August 2023. The 71-year-old former Pakistani prime minister has since been prosecuted inside the prison near the capital, Islamabad.

Khan has been sentenced on highly controversial charges of graft, a fraudulent marriage, and leaking state secrets. Media crews have been barred from accessing the trials to cover and film them.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court ordered the government to make arrangements for Khan’s participation in the hearing on Thursday through video link, acknowledging his request to represent himself in the case instead of using a lawyer. 

His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, party posted on social media images from inside the courtroom of what it said was the “illegally incarcerated” former prime minister. It said the pictures were screen grabs from Khan’s virtual appearance.

The Supreme Court adjourned Thursday’s hearing, with Khan not getting an opportunity to speak.

The judicial proceedings were due to be streamed live on the Supreme Court’s website and YouTube as usual, but the broadcast was canceled just before the judges convened under Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s leadership.

Neither the court nor Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government explained why the hearing was not broadcast to the public.

“The judicial process demands fairness and openness. Transparency can only be ensured through public view of proceedings; refusal to stream proceedings advances unfairness and non-transparency and must be condemned,” said a PTI statement. 

Khan was ousted from office in 2022 through an opposition-led parliamentary vote of no-confidence. The succeeding Pakistani government amended the anti-graft law, limiting the National Accountability Bureau’s powers to investigate corrupt practices of public office holders.

The deposed prime minister has filed a petition claiming that the amendments were intended to dismiss corruption cases against influential figures, including the prime minister, the president, and other top officials in Pakistan’s current coalition government.

Since his removal from office, Khan has faced scores of lawsuits, which he rejects as frivolous. He alleges that Pakistan’s powerful military was behind them to keep him from returning to power, charges both government officials and the military deny.  

Khan has appealed his convictions in higher courts, resulting in suspended prison terms and bail in some cases, but he remains in jail and faces prosecution in connection with several other state-instituted lawsuits.

His PTI-backed candidates won the most seats in national elections in February this year despite Khan being in jail, but they could not get enough seats to form a government. The split mandate allowed Sharif and allied parties to cobble together a coalition government. 
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MANILA, Philippines — A Philippine group leading a civilian supply mission in the South China Sea delivered food and fuel to Filipino fishermen despite being shadowed by Chinese  vessels, its officials said Thursday, calling it a “major victory.”

Atin Ito (This is Ours) said a 10-member team sailed to the Scarborough Shoal a day before the civilian flotilla, composed of five commercial vessels and 100 small fishing boats, began its voyage.

“The mission achieved a major victory when its advance team reached the vicinity of Panatag Shoal on May 15 (and) was able to supply the fishers in the area,” said Emman Hizon, Atin Ito spokesperson, using the local name of Scarborough.

Located inside Manila’s 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone, the Scarborough Shoal is coveted for its bountiful fish stocks and a turquoise lagoon that provides safe haven for vessels during storms.

China said on Wednesday it has sovereignty over the shoal, which it calls Huangyan Island, and its adjacent waters. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said the Chinese Coast Guard conducted “routine rights protection and law enforcement activities” in waters around the shoal Wednesday.

Hizon told Reuters the advance team was part of the group’s contingency plan in case China blocked the main flotilla, which he said would make its way back to port Thursday after having sailing to a point about 93 kilometers from the shoal.

Hizon said the larger flotilla was not needed because the fishermen, already supplied by the advance ships, left the area after being driven away by Chinese vessels.

A Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) aircraft deployed to monitor the situation at Scarborough Shoal on Wednesday spotted 19 Chinese vessels, including one Chinese navy ship, in the area where. The PCG said it was also monitoring two floating barriers at the southeastern entrance of the shoal.

The PCG was not part of the mission, but deployed vessels to provide safety and security for the civilian volunteers. The PCG said two Chinese Coast Guard ships shadowed Atin Ito boats.

China claims almost all the South China Sea, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam, despite a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration found that its sweeping claims have no legal basis.
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NEW DELHI — As India holds a phased election, Pavni Mishra, an undergraduate student at Delhi University, would prefer to watch the country’s leaders focus on issues relevant to young voters like her, but she fears those issues are getting lost in the din of a polarized campaign.

“We should have a healthy competition in our politics rather than talking about religion,” said Mishra. “We should talk about education, we should talk about employment, about how to empower our women and enlarge the startups in the country.”

At the start of his election campaign last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of his vision of making India a developed country by 2047 and of welfare programs during his decade in power that had helped poor people.

But at his election rallies in recent weeks, the Hindu nationalist leader has accused the Congress Party of plans to give more benefits to Muslims if voted to power and warned women that the opposition would confiscate their gold and redistribute it to India’s largest minority. The divisive rhetoric is seen as a bid to galvanize support in the Hindu majority country as he seeks a third term in office.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is facing off with an alliance of opposition parties that includes the Congress Party, whose leader Rahul Gandhi is seen as the prime minister’s main rival.

Modi has denied criticism that he is stoking divisions between Hindus and Muslims to win. Gandhi has denied Modi’s charges of plans to favor Muslims, who make up India’s largest minority group.

India’s 18 million first-time voters in the general elections include millions of undergraduate students. For many of them, the top issue is how the next government will create more employment opportunities in a country where despite a growing economy, finding suitable jobs for graduates has become a key challenge.

“I want a fair government that ensures employment for everyone,” said 19-year-old Shreyas Sood. Another student, who did not want to be named, said even finding an internship was a challenge. “I think the concern is about getting jobs which pay you a good decent amount to live. Everyone is stressed,” she said.

They have reason to worry. According to a recent report by the International Monetary Fund, the unemployment rate for graduates is 29.1% — nine times higher than for the lesser educated.

Despite such concerns, Modi’s image as a strong leader who delivers results and has improved India’s image overseas has won him the support of many young students.

“You can trust on Modi. I feel the country is in safe hands with him,” said B. Prerna, an undergraduate student. Several students echoed that sentiment.

A survey among first-time voters by Lokniti research institute and the Center for Developing Societies indicated that Modi was the first choice for many who felt he could address youth-related challenges such as creating employment opportunities. Two-thirds of those surveyed said they would vote for Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and that Modi was best suited to lead the national government.

“In younger people, there is a natural tendency to veer towards someone who is very visible, strong, seen as an iconic figure, and as someone trying to deliver results. In that sense Modi ticks off most of the boxes,” according to political analyst Rasheed Kidwai.

Some students say a weak opposition has limited their choices. Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi has flagged the issue of employment in his campaign rallies, promised internships to college students and says his party will take steps to address growing economic inequality in the country.

But many perceive the Congress Party, which has been dislodged by the BJP as India’s dominant party in the last decade, as an ailing party that has not rejuvenated itself.

“We have to vote for the Modi government because currently he is the only one who is looking good, who has a good face,” said college student Satvik Sharma. “To be honest, opposition in the country right now is very weak.”

Analysts say many young voters do not see any alternative to Modi. “The opposition is fragmented and although several parties have strong leaders, they are not pan-Indian leaders. Rahul Gandhi is not a prime ministerial candidate,” pointed out Kidwai.

However, students like Sharma worry about divisive rhetoric and growing polarization during the BJP’s decade-long stint in power. “The country and the youth are becoming religiously too radical, be it any religion,” he said. “I want the government to be a little liberal, the youth to be a little liberal and think about the country as a whole and not their religion as supreme.”

The use of issues such as caste and religion by political parties, has disillusioned some students in the world’s youngest country – more than half of India is under 25.

“We are still fighting about mythical creatures and gods and religions. Rather, we should rather focus on the development of the country,” said Amaldev K. He could not travel to his home state, Kerala, to cast his ballot, but he said that had he voted, he would have chosen an option that India allows on the ballot – NOTA or “None of the Above” which indicates a voter’s dissatisfaction with all the candidates in the fray.
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Bangkok — Thailand has grown increasingly dangerous for foreign dissidents seeking shelter in the country over the past decade, and more repressive of its own dissidents abroad, Human Rights Watch says in a new report.

The U.S.-based human rights group dates the start of the surge to Thailand’s 2014 coup, which swapped the country’s democratically elected government for an authoritarian military regime. Tainted elections in 2019 returned Prayut Chan-ocha, the ex-general behind the coup, to power at the head of a military-backed government for another four years.

Though Prayut’s party lost last year’s general elections, it remains a part of the ruling coalition with senior members in the cabinet.

“For a long time, Thailand has been somewhat of a sanctuary for people fleeing persecution in neighboring countries,” Elaine Pearson, Human Rights Watch’s Asia director, told VOA ahead of the report’s launch in Bangkok on Thursday.

“But since 2014 we noticed an escalation in arrangements with other countries and an escalation in the harassment, surveillance and intimidation of those exiles living in Thailand, often asylum seekers or refugees awaiting resettlement in third countries,” she said.

A spokesman for the Thai government did not reply to VOA’s request for comment. Two former spokespersons for the previous Prayut government also did not reply to VOA.

The report, We Thought We Were Safe: Repression and Forced Return of Refugees in Thailand, recounts 25 cases since the coup ranging from assault by gangs of masked men to the abduction, deportation and murder of dissidents in Thailand and its neighbors, mainly Laos and Cambodia.

“In terms of the level of state involvement, it does really vary. But we are concerned that in a number of cases there is clear collaboration between the Thai authorities and officials from other countries in terms of apprehending and sending back people at risk in Thailand,” Pearson said.

One of the first cases following the 2014 coup was also the largest.

In 2015, Thailand deported 109 ethnic minority Uyghurs to China, which the United States and others have accused of committing genocide against the mostly Muslim ethnic minority. China denies the accusations.

The Uyghurs were arrested the year before for entering Thailand illegally on what they hoped would be their way to Turkey, where the Uyghurs claim to have roots.

Thai authorities at the time defended the move as “per protocol.”

Other cases have been more mysterious but bearing what advocates believe to be the hallmarks of foreign state involvement.

In 2023, Duong Van Thai, a Vietnamese activist and journalist taking refuge in Thailand while making plans to resettle abroad, was kidnapped by unidentified men in front of his rental home just north of Bangkok. Human Rights Watch says the abduction was caught on video. Days later, Vietnamese authorities said Duong had been arrested entering Vietnam illegally, a claim his friends dismissed as far-fetched. He has since been put on trial for conducing “propaganda against the state.”

Human Rights Watch and others say such cases, with or without the states’ admission, appear to be part of a long-running “swap mart” among the Mekong River countries, a quid pro quo arrangement by which they agree to return each other’s political dissidents regardless of their potential persecution back home.

The groups say the deals are largely kept out of sight. In 2018, though, Thailand and Cambodia announced a bilateral pact to monitor and help return the other’s “fugitives.”

While sold as a deal to help bring wanted criminals to justice, Pearson said, “The reality is that this basically provided a green light to track down political dissidents.”

Human Rights Watch says at least 12 foreign dissidents taking refuge in Thailand, including a number of Cambodians, have reported being surveilled by unidentified men since 2014, and confirmed at least four attacks.

Thai dissidents seeking shelter abroad from their own government have not been safe, either.

Nine have gone missing or died under suspicious circumstances over the past decade in Laos alone. They include two known activists whose bodies were found in January 2019 on the banks of the Mekong where the river divides the two countries. Their hands were tied behind their backs, their abdomens cut open and filled with concrete in an apparent attempt to weigh them down in the water.

All the cases chronicled in the report occurred before Thailand’s new government took office in September.

Pearson said it was too soon to say whether Thailand would change tack but added that it had new incentives to try.

“Particularly at a time when Thailand is both courting more foreign investment from Western governments but also seeking a seat at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, then it really needs to show that it is addressing human rights violations that occur on its soil,” she said.

Thailand also enacted a new law last year explicitly outlawing enforced disappearance. And while the government does not officially recognize refugees, it has launched a program that lets foreign asylum seekers apply to the Thai government for “protected persons” status and, in theory, spare them from forced return.

Both moves have raised hopes that foreign political dissidents in Thailand and Thai dissidents abroad will be safer, Pornpen Khongkachonkiet of the Cross Cultural Foundation, a Thai rights group that has independently investigated some of the cases highlighted in the new report, told VOA.

She said the Thai government also appears more willing of late to let foreign dissidents picked up on immigration charges resettle in third countries rather than deport them to the countries they fled, citing a few examples over the past year.

Still, a group of at least 43 Uyghurs continue to languish in a Bangkok detention center some 10 years after they were arrested for illegal entry, without charge or any indication from the new government of whether they too will be sent home or allowed to resettle elsewhere.

Pornpen said the new government has also demonstrated no more motivation than the last to thoroughly investigate the harassment, attacks, abductions and disappearances of dissidents reported over the past decade.

“Without political will of the current government … the investigations will go nowhere,” she said.

“We as civilians, we cannot look for evidence,” she added. “We need the power of the DSI [Department of Special Investigation], we need the power of prosecutors, we need the power of the police to look into all those reports…. But [there is] not political will.”
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islamabad — China on Wednesday hailed its “ironclad” relationship with Pakistan and vowed to further enhance economic and anti-terrorism security cooperation between the neighboring countries at a bilaterial strategic dialogue in Beijing.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi renewed the pledge at a news conference after hosting formal talks with his Pakistani counterpart, Ishaq Dar, who concurrently serves as deputy prime minister.

Broadcast live by Pakistan’s state-run TV, the media talk comes just weeks after a suicide car bombing in northwestern Pakistan killed five Chinese engineers who were working on a hydropower project. Their local driver also was killed.

The Pakistani military said this month that its probe into the March 26 attack revealed that an Afghan national carried it out and terrorists based in Afghanistan had planned it.

Wang stated that the Pakistani side promised to make every effort to arrest the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Chinese state media quoted him as expressing hope that Islamabad would ensure “the safety of Chinese personnel, projects, and institutions in Pakistan, and eliminate the worries of Chinese enterprises and personnel.”

Dar said that the dialogue with Wang also reviewed the Afghan situation, and both sides agreed that peace and stability in the war-ravaged neighboring country are crucial for regional development, connectivity, and prosperity.

“We are concerned about the continued presence of terrorist entities operating in Afghanistan and call upon the Afghan interim government to take credible and verifiable actions against such elements using Afghan soil to threaten the peace and security of the neighboring countries,” the Pakistani foreign minister said.

Wang calls for ‘united front’

Islamabad maintains that the Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, was behind the car bombing and other attacks in the country, alleging that the terrorist outfit is being facilitated by Taliban authorities in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban leaders reject allegations that Afghan soil was used in the attack against the Chinese workers. They reiterated that no one is permitted to threaten other countries, including Pakistan, from Afghanistan.

Wang said, without mentioning Afghanistan, that Beijing “is willing to further deepen counter-terrorism security cooperation” with Islamabad. Without elaborating further, he called on the international community to “eradicate the breeding ground for terrorism” through a “united front” against the threat.

The China-Pakistan dialogue comes one day after a new report warned that power vacuums in Afghanistan created in the wake of U.S.-led allied troop departures are fueling the resurgence of transnational terrorist groups, including TTP.

“The post-U.S. withdrawal environment in Afghanistan offers terrorist groups a range of new opportunities for regrouping, plotting, and collaborating with one another,” said the study conducted by the U.S. Institute for Peace, based in Washington.

Beijing ‘ready to work’

Wang said Wednesday that Beijing is ready to work with Islamabad to advance the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor or CPEC. The Chinese-funded multibillion-dollar collaboration has built roads, highways, power plants, and ports as part of President Xi Jinping’s global Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Dar insisted the decade-long CPEC undertaking “has transformed Pakistan’s economic landscape by eliminating power outages and developing a robust infrastructure network, thus laying a strong foundation for Pakistan’s future development.”

Pakistan’s foreign minister noted that the two sides agreed to “further upgrade and expand” CPEC cooperation.

In a recent speech in Islamabad, Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong referred to CPEC as a pilot project of BRI and said it had brought more than $25 billion in direct investment, created 155,000 direct job opportunities, and built 510 kilometers (316.8 miles) of expressways, 8,000 megawatts of electricity, and 886 kilometers (550.5 miles) of core transmission grids to Pakistan.

Some critics attribute cash-strapped Pakistan’s deepening economic challenges to CPEC-related Chinese investments and loans. A $3 billion International Monetary Fund loan helped the South Asian nation narrowly avoid default on its foreign debt payments last year.
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Chattogram, Bangladesh — The 23 crew members of MV Abdullah, which was released on April 14 after 33 days of captivity by Somali pirates, met their families Tuesday afternoon as the vessel reached the Chattogram Port in Bangladesh. 

The crew members received a warm welcome when vessel MV Jahan Moni-3, carrying them from Kutubdia in Cox’s Bazar, reached New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT)-1. 

Relatives waiting for the sailors’ safe return had gathered at the port jetty with flowers. 

Abdun Nur Khan Asif, younger brother of the chief officer, Atiqullah Khan, said, “I can’t express in words how happy we are that my elder brother is back. The whole family was waiting for this day.” 

Ibrahim Khalilullah, a sailor, thanked the Bangladeshi people and the authorities for ensuring their safe return. 

State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury told VOA that all the sailors on the ship are in sound health. “After being freed, they went to Dubai, from there they came to Bangladesh with the goods. The sailors are physically and mentally healthy and very well,” he said. 

Mizanul Islam, media adviser of KSRM, owner of the hijacked vessel, said the crew members will go to their respective homes and that care was taken to send them to their destinations safely. 

The ordeal began on March 12 when the MV Abdullah was seized by Somali pirates about 600 nautical miles off the Somali coast en route from Mozambique to Dubai. 

The pirates took control of the vessel and its crew, holding them until a ransom of $5 million facilitated their release on the night of April 13. 

The vessel, which was hijacked for 33 days, first arrived at the outer anchorage of the Al-Hamriya Port in the United Arab Emirates on April 21 and anchored at the UAE port on the evening of April 22.  

It departed for Bangladesh on April 28 after unloading 55,000 metric tons of coal. 

When asked about the process of rescuing the ship, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury said, “We are an international maritime country. We have friendly relations with everyone, including the U.S. Coast Guard, the European Union. When a ship using an international route falls under the hands of pirates, all kinds of agencies and countries, including maritime, cooperate.” 

The state minister added, “And the pirates of the country that hijacked it also have a security issue. So, the pressure that was created by combining everything was of great help in saving the ship. Our dialogues, the pressure of the international community contributed to the rescue of the ship.” 

On behalf of Deputy Managing Director of KSRM Group Shahriar Jahan, Mizanul Islam told VOA, “It was a challenge for us to bring back the ship and the sailors safely and soundly. … We had past experience. In 2010, one of our ships was captured by Somali pirates. Using this experience, we were able to bring the sailors back unharmed.” 

New crew members took charge of the MV Abdullah on Tuesday and sailed for the United Arab Emirates. 

This story originated in VOA’s Bangla Service. Some information for this report came from UNB Wires.
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WASHINGTON — The White House will send an unofficial delegation to Taiwan this weekend for the inauguration of the island’s democratically elected president, the Biden administration announced Wednesday, in a move that is certain to upset China but unlikely to draw excessive responses from Beijing as the two countries try to stabilize relations.

A senior White House official said the move is in line with longstanding U.S. practice to send the delegation — which includes two former senior officials and a scholar — to the inauguration ceremony Monday. Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party will take office, succeeding Tsai Ing-wen of the same party.

Beijing, which sees Taiwan as part of Chinese territory and vows to seize the island by force if necessary to achieve unification, sees Lai as a supporter of Taiwan’s independence and has long opposed any official contact between Washington and Taipei.

“In what ways the U.S. deals with the new Taiwan authorities on May 20 and afterwards will affect (the) cross-Strait situation and also the China-U.S. relations in the future,” Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said Tuesday before the announcement, referring to the Taiwan Strait.

“So we urge the U.S. side to act on President Biden’s commitment of not supporting Taiwan independence,” he said.

The U.S. delegation will be in Taipei “to represent the American people,” the White House official told reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the trip before it was announced. The official called Taiwan “a model for democracy not only in the region but also globally.”

Despite an absence of formal relations with Taiwan, the U.S. is the island’s strongest ally and is obligated under a 1979 law to help Taiwan protect itself from invasion.

It’s unclear how Beijing would respond to an unofficial U.S. delegation at the Taiwanese inauguration, but “Beijing will be the provocateur should it choose to respond with additional military pressure or coercion,” the U.S. official said, adding that the administration is not predicting how China would respond.

Beijing has repeatedly warned Washington not to meddle with Taiwan’s affairs, which it says are a core interest for China because it is a matter of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Beijing sees Washington’s support for Taiwan as provocative.

The U.S. insists any differences be resolved peacefully and opposes any unilateral changes by either side to the status quo. “We do not support Taiwan independence,” the administration official said. “We support cross-Strait dialogue.”

Taiwan has topped the agenda in U.S.-China relations, which have soured over issues ranging from trade, cybersecurity and human rights to spying. The Biden administration, in its competition with China, has engaged in “intense diplomacy” aimed at preventing tensions from spiraling out of control.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have recently visited China in the administration’s latest effort to keep communications open and minimize misunderstanding.

Shortly after Lai was elected in January, President Joe Biden sent an unofficial delegation to Taipei to meet Lai, drawing protests from Beijing. Members of Congress also have traveled to Taiwan to meet the president-elect. Plans are underway for a congressional delegation to visit Taiwan shortly after the inauguration.

Beijing reiterated its claim over Taiwan immediately after Lai was elected and said “the basic fact that Taiwan is part of China will not change.” Days later, Nauru, a tiny Pacific nation, severed its diplomatic ties with Taiwan, which now is recognized by 12 governments, including the Vatican.

Since then, Beijing has criticized a U.S. destroyer’s passage through the Taiwan Strait. The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said the USS Halsey “conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit on May 8 through waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law.”

Navy Senior Capt. Li Xi, speaking for China’s Eastern Theater Command, accused the U.S. of having “publicly hyped” the passage of the ship and said the command “organized naval and air forces to monitor” the ship’s transit.

Meanwhile, in a push to avoid Taiwan’s global recognition, Beijing said this week that it would not agree to Taiwan’s participation in this year’s World Health Assembly, an annual meeting by the World Health Organization that could boost Taiwan’s visibility on the world stage.

“China’s Taiwan region, unless given approval by the central government, has no basis, reason or right to participate in the World Health Assembly,” said Wang Wenbin, speaking for the Chinese foreign ministry.

Wang also said Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party, which came into power in 2016, has been “hellbent on the separatist stance” of Taiwan’s independence and that Beijing has “sufficient reason and a solid legal basis” to bar Taiwan from the global organization.

Here’s the bipartisan delegation that the White House is sending to Taiwan this weekend:

— Laura Rosenberger, chair of the American Institute in Taiwan, a nonprofit, private corporation established under a 1979 law to manage America’s unofficial relations with Taiwan.

— Brian Deese, a former director of the National Economic Council in the Biden administration.

— Richard Armitage, a former deputy secretary of state under President George W. Bush.

— Richard Bush, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who previously served as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan.
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Washington —  In a move that contrasts with the United States, South Korea had its ambassador in Moscow attend Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration, seemingly leaving its options open for maintaining diplomatic relations with Russia amid Moscow’s deepening ties with Pyongyang.

Seoul said it based its decision for Ambassador Lee Do-hoon to attend Putin’s inauguration “after considering all circumstances surrounding South Korean-Russian bilateral relations.” 

A South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson made the remark to VOA’s Korean Service on Friday.

The U.S. and most European Union countries boycotted Putin’s inauguration held May 7 at the Grand Kremlin Palace.

He was reelected in March for his fifth term in office as Russia’s war in Ukraine raged on for more than two years since its invasion in 2022. Moscow has turned to Pyongyang to replenish its stockpile of arms to fight Ukraine.

“The U.S. directed our embassy not to attend the inauguration in protest of Russia’s war against Ukraine,” a State Department spokesperson said Thursday in an email sent to VOA’s Korean Service.

Japan also did not send a representative to the ceremony. Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Kobayashi Maki said during a news briefing held in Tokyo the day after the inauguration that its decision was “based upon comprehensive consideration of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.”

VOA contacted the Russian Embassy in Seoul for comment on Lee’s attendance. Its spokesperson, Mira Dzhamalidinova, emailed that it has “no comments for VOA.”

Robert Rapson, who served as charge d’affaires and deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul from 2018 to 2021, said, “Ambassador Lee’s attendance at Putin’s inauguration was a small but symbolically significant step by Seoul to signal to Moscow its interest in improving, or at least more effectively managing, deteriorating bilateral relations.”

He continued, “It put [South] Korea clearly out of a public messaging step with the U.S. and its like-minded partners,” and demonstrated “adjustments to its ‘signature value-based’ foreign policy.”

Relations between South Korea and Russia have declined as military ties between Moscow and Pyongyang deepened since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Russia in September.

In April, South Korea sanctioned two Russian vessels involved in delivering military supplies from North Korea to Russia. In response, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called Seoul’s move “an unfriendly step” that “will affect South Korea-Russia relations in a negative way.”  [[ https://www.voanews.com/a/us-pushes-back-at-russia-s-protest-over-south-korean-sanctions/7563881.html ]] 

“Washington was likely displeased with South Korea’s decision to send a representative to Putin’s inauguration,” said Dan DePetris, a fellow at Defense Priorities, a Washington-based think tank.

“This is a subtle, low-cost way for the Yoon government [of South Korea] to signal to Moscow that differences over Ukraine and North Korea notwithstanding, it’s not going to mimic the U.S. policy of diplomatic isolation” toward Russia, he continued.

DePetris added that Seoul likely allowed its representative to attend Putin’s inauguration “precisely because North Korea-Russia bilateral ties have strengthened over the last two years” and wants to “keep all options on the table.”

Pyongyang-Moscow ties have expanded to include several visits to Russia by North Korean delegations recently. On Tuesday, North Korea sent a science and technology delegation to Russia to attend a meeting on trade, economy and science to be held in Moscow, according to North Korea’s state-run KCNA.

Also, passenger train services between the two countries resumed since they were suspended after the COVID-19 pandemic, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap, citing Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of Russia’s northeastern region of Primorsky Krai, bordering North Korea.

Robert Manning, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center’s Reimagining U.S. Grand Strategy Project, said, “Moscow’s new partnership with North Korea may have been a factor” that prompted Seoul to make its representation at Putin’s inauguration.

He continued, however, “I doubt Seoul has illusions about its ability to restrain Russia’s ties with Pyongyang” but is “perhaps focused on maintaining economic ties” with Moscow.

South Korea’s exports to Russia totaled $6.33 billion in 2022, while its imports from Russia amounted to $12.8 billion in the same year, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, an online platform for data collection and distribution. South Korea’s investment in Russia reached $4.16 billion in the same year, according to the South Korean Foreign Ministry.  
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Bangkok — Defiance and grief poured out Tuesday after a 28-year-old democracy activist in pretrial detention for allegedly defaming Thailand’s powerful monarchy died from heart failure after a two-month hunger strike.

Netiporn Sanesangkhom, better known by her nickname “Bung,” was a prominent youth leader of pro-democracy group Thaluwang, which emerged during anti-government protests in 2020-22 and was strident in its calls for reform of the monarchy, an institution seen as untouchable before those rallies rocked the country.

She was detained and denied bail in January on charges including royal defamation after she was accused of conducting two public polls on the monarchy as protests raged across Thailand, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.

She spent nearly four months in detention awaiting trial, entering a hunger strike for the last two months of that period, her lawyers said.

The Corrections Department released a statement saying she went into cardiac arrest Tuesday morning and “wasn’t responsive to the treatment, which led her to die peacefully at 11:22 a.m.” It promised a thorough autopsy.

Candlelit memorials were held in Bangkok and the northern cities of Chiang Mai and Lampang on Tuesday night as a stunned democracy movement digested the news of the young woman’s death.

Outside the Criminal Court in Bangkok several dozen mourners gathered around a large candle memorial in the shape of Bung’s name.

“Nobody should die because of the unjust Thai justice system,” 19-year-old Noppasin Treelayapewat told VOA, noting he was a minor some two and a half years ago when he was charged with violating Section 112, or royal defamation.

“Today, I believe many can see that someone has died because of Section 112 of the criminal code,” said Noppasin, who faces up to 15 years if convicted.

U.S. Ambassador to Thailand Robert F. Godec was among several Western envoys to swiftly express their condolences over the activist’s passing, saying in a post on X he was “saddened by the tragic death of Bung,” highlighting the diplomatic questions likely to face the government in Bangkok over coming days.

Irene Khan, U.N. Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression, added her voice to the mounting outcry.

“Saddened & distressed at death of detained political activist Bung Thaluwang,” Khan said in a post on X. She also urged Thailand to “abolish lese majeste & detention/prosecution for exercising” freedom of expression.

Royal defamation carries up to 15 years in jail for each conviction.

It has been used against 270 mainly young pro-democracy activists who rocked Thailand with massive rallies calling for systemic reforms of the country’s economy, politics and — most controversially — the role of the monarchy in one of Asia’s least equal countries.

Many of them have been denied bail automatically by the courts, as the establishment ties up key protest leaders in legal cases.

There are believed to be at least two other women activists on hunger strikes while in detention for charges including royal defamation.

“Her [Bung’s] death is a shocking reminder that Thai authorities are denying activists their right to temporary release on bail and using detention to silence the peaceful expression of dissent,” Amnesty International Thailand said in a statement.

Reform and division

Reform of the royal defamation law is now a clear dividing line between many young Thais who voted in the millions for the progressive Move Forward Party (MFP) and older conservatives, many of whom revere the monarchy and the status quo.

The monarchy is backed up by business tycoons, politicians and Thailand’s army, which has carried out 13 coups in under a century.

MFP stunned the establishment by winning an election a year ago with a radical reform agenda, including reform of the 112 law.

But MFP was blocked from forming a government by the conservative Senate.

Now, over the coming weeks the MFP faces a court ruling that may see it dissolved for its campaign pledge to reform the law.

In its place, and leading the government, is a coalition of conservatives patched together by the poll runners-up Pheu Thai party, founded by billionaire ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The ruling coalition vowed not to touch the royal defamation law. Experts say that was part of a pact with the royalist establishment to help it elbow aside the MFP in exchange for a royal pardon for Thaksin, who returned to Thailand last year after a 15-year self-exile to serve a reduced sentence for corruption convictions but did not sleep one night in jail before being released on parole.

Pheu Thai’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, a real estate mogul and Shinawatra ally, last September told the United Nations General Assembly in New York that Thailand was ready to join the Human Rights Council as Southeast Asia’s candidate for 2025-2027, reaffirming his government’s “sincere commitment to the advancement of human rights at home and abroad.”

But free speech advocates say Bung’s death while in pretrial detention is an example of why Thailand is not ready to join the global rights forum.

“We will continue campaigning for our demands to be met and one of them is that Thailand should not be allowed to stand for election to the U.N. Human Rights Council,” a tearful Kittitach Sriamrung, a friend of Bung’s, told reporters.

The issue is likely to be awkward for Srettha’s government, as the 112 law comes back under scrutiny just as he seeks to drive through his government’s economic plans and put distance between his administration and the political troubles caused by last year’s divisive election.

New rounds of protests may also be possible in Thailand’s messy politics.

“Bung died, but her quest to see the change hasn’t. … we will continue our work to see it through for her,” pro-democracy leader Panusaya ‘Rung’ Sithijirawattanakul, who gave the first monarchy reform speech in 2020 and also faces royal defamation charges, said in a video post on social media.

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse.
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Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir — Voter turnout in Indian Kashmir neared record highs Monday as residents swarmed polling stations across Srinagar in the first national election since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2019 nullification of the Himalayan region’s semi-autonomous status.

Marking the second-highest voting percentage in more than three decades, Monday’s turnout of at least 36% reverses a long-running trend of unusually low vote counts. More than double the 2019 election turnout of 14.43%, Monday’s turnout, according to regional election officials, remains lower than India’s national average of 62%.

“Overall, the polling process was peaceful, with no negative incidents occurring during the voting process as well as during the campaigning period,” said Jammu and Kashmir’s Chief Electoral Officer Pandurang Kundbarao Pole, who said none of Srinagar’s 2,135 polling booths went unused.

Roiled by a 35-year insurgency against Indian rule that has killed tens of thousands, turnout in past elections was impacted by boycotts and threats of militant attacks.

Pole said security throughout the Kashmir Valley, which Modi’s 2019 ruling bifurcated into two federally governed territories of Jammu-and-Kashmir and Ladakh, has improved, resulting in increased turnout.

“I arrived at 6 a.m. to cast my vote. This is the first time I have voted because I want to see the change,” Srinagar resident Muzamil Rashid Mir told VOA. “Our rights and dignity were snatched from us by the central government. I have shown faith in democracy by exercising my franchise. I want to see the rolling back of the special status.”

While some polling stations saw enormous and demographically diverse crowds waiting in long lines amid tight security, others had a picnic-like atmosphere with people serving tea, bread and biscuits.

With Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) skipping elections in Kashmir for the first time since 1996, saying it will support regional parties instead, the main players are the National Conference (NC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which have focused on restoration of semi-autonomy in their campaigns.

Mir says he’s backing NC’s Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi and PDP’s Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra.

“Mehdi has been vocal about our special status while on the other hand, Parra has been vocal, too, about the rights people of Kashmir have been demanding for years,” Mir said. “I want one among the two to win the seat.”

Some locals, such as 80-year-old Fata Begum, say BJP’s style of governance has left voters no choice but to reject “forceful decisions imposed” upon them.

“Inflation has surged and smart meters have been installed in our homes even though the economic conditions are weak and our youth are unemployed. This is all because of Modi,” Begum told VOA.

NC Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani told VOA that all prominent candidates are prepared take a tough stance in parliament to represent the will of Kashmir Valley voters.

“The outcome is the result of a 2019 decision taken by the BJP,” Wani said. “The candidates will fight for the rights that people have been demanding.”

Meanwhile, President Modi praised members of the Srinagar Parliamentary Constituency for the high turnout, which he called “significant and better than before.”

“The abrogation of Article 370,” the constitutional clause granting Jammu and Kashmir special status “has enabled the potential and aspirations of the people to find full expression,” Modi commented on the X social media platform. “Happening at the grassroots level, it is great for the people of J&K, in particular the youth.”

Kashmir is disputed by India, which rules the populous Kashmir Valley and the Hindu-dominated region of Jammu, and Pakistan, which controls a wedge of territory in the west. China holds a thinly populated high-altitude area in the north.

The highest Kashmir Valley voter turnout of 40.94% was recorded in 1996, according to regional election officials. Despite large-scale allegations of “coercive voting,” according to Indian journalist Anuradha Bhasin, that election cycle was largely touted by Indian government officials as “progress towards democracy after decades of separatist insurgency in Kashmir.”

Wasim Nabi contributed to this report. Some information came from Reuters.
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GENEVA — U.N. agencies are banding together in coordination with Afghanistan’s de facto Taliban rulers to aid hundreds of thousands of survivors of devastating flash floods that struck northeastern Afghanistan Friday.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, reported Monday that search and rescue operations continue. It said that 14 U.N. teams have been deployed to jointly assess the damage and needs, and that humanitarian partners “have identified available emergency stocks in the region.”

Speaking to journalists in Geneva from Kabul Tuesday, World Food Program official Timothy Anderson stressed the critical need to provide emergency food aid in the worst-affected areas, which were already facing multiple crises.

“There has been widespread destruction, death and injury in areas where people are least able to absorb shocks,” said Anderson, the WFP’s head of program in Afghanistan. “On our current information, about 540 people are dead and injured, around 3,000 houses fully or partially destroyed, 10,000 acres of orchards destroyed, and 2,000 livestock killed.

“Many of those who have survived have nothing left, no homes to return to and no food,” he said, adding that the full impact of this disaster will not be known until U.N. personnel are able to reach currently inaccessible areas.

“We are taking food via donkeys, as that is the only way we can reach some of these districts. … So far, WFP provided the survivors with emergency food assistance, and we are planning to distribute blanket cash assistance in the coming days, which is enough to cover their basic needs for a month,” he said.

WFP reports that two of the hardest-hit areas, Baghlan and Badakhshan, are in so-called “hunger hotspots” — areas where the seasonal harvest has been destroyed and little food is available.

“These communities will still need food assistance over the summer just to survive,” Anderson said. “Our staff on the ground tell me everyone they speak to is worried less about the homes they lost and more about their destroyed agricultural land. As subsistence farmers, it is their sole source of livelihood — and already marginal to meet their basic needs.”

UNICEF reports 3.2 million Afghan children under the age of 5 suffer from malnutrition, a figure that “is set to climb.” UNICEF says undernutrition is responsible for nearly half of all deaths in children under 5 as it puts them at greater risk of dying from common infections.

Anderson said this worries him because WFP is suffering from a severe funding shortfall. He said WFP has received only 30% of the $1 billion it needs for its operation this year, forcing the agency to make drastic cuts in food aid.

Anderson said the agency is currently serving about 2 million people in Afghanistan, down from 12 million previously.

The World Health Organization reports the heavy rainfall that triggered the violent flooding has rendered several health facilities nonoperational, making it difficult for people to access essential services.

“The full extent of the damage caused by the floods is still being assessed, and WHO and local health authorities are closely looking into the situation on the ground to see what we can identify,” said Christian Lindmeier, WHO spokesperson.

He noted that WHO so far has delivered seven metric tons of essential medicines and medical supplies and has “immediately deployed a surveillance support team and other experts for flood-response activities.”

Prior to the disaster, he said, WHO had already provided enough medication for pneumonia and acute watery diarrhea, as well as enough malnutrition treatments for some 20,000 people, plus supplies for 500 trauma cases.

Additionally, he said, “Seventeen mobile health teams were deployed by WHO and health partners to support the delivery of health care.”

WFP’s Anderson said that to date, there have been no reported problems with the Taliban regarding “the integration of our female staff members” into WFP’s humanitarian operation.

“We are always very keen to ensure that all beneficiaries, all affected populations, male or female, are adequately and equally covered in our response mechanisms and processes,” he said.

While acknowledging the many competing crises in the world, the WFP official said this was no time to abandon Afghanistan. He repeated his appeal for international support, saying, “You cannot just stop feeding starving people.”
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SYDNEY — Australia says it will impose limits on the number of international students coming into the country to ease stress on housing and to reduce immigration.  

The government in Canberra has said that international education programs, under which foreign students come to study in Australia, were fertile ground for immigration and visa fraud.

In 2023, official figures show that 787,000 international students studied in Australia, exceeding levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Canberra government plans to cap the number of overseas students to ease stress on rental accommodation and to curb levels of immigration.

Senior government ministers have said caps for education would be part of a broader plan to manage migration, increase the availability of housing and to address skills shortages in the economy.

However, the university sector has insisted the proposals would damage Australia’s global reputation as a welcoming, safe and world-class destination for students from other countries.

Education has been one of Australia’s most lucrative exports, but the left-leaning government in Canberra has said the international education sector, which includes many smaller private English language colleges, vocational and training institutions as well as larger universities, has been used as a way for unskilled migrants to stay in Australia.

Michael Wesley, the deputy vice chancellor at the University of Melbourne, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Tuesday that he hopes the government will target unscrupulous education providers.

“We welcome the crackdown on non-genuine education providers, which provide a backdoor into permanent residency for people who are not genuine students,” Wesley said. “We are confident that all of our international students are genuine students and, so, we would hope that the impact of these visa caps will be at the non-genuine end of the education sector.”

Rental accommodation in many of Australia’s larger cities is often expensive and in short supply.  

Analysts have said that surging prices are the result of years of underinvestment in affordable housing.

Education institutions would be required to build accommodations for their students if they wanted to exceed limits of the caps.  Specific quotas for international students have not yet been made public.

The government in Canberra said it will change Australia’s Education Services for Overseas Students Act to give the education minister the authority to set limits on student enrolments for each education establishment, including specific courses or locations.

The majority of overseas students in Australia come from five countries: China, India, Nepal, the Philippines and Vietnam, according to government data.  They contribute billions of dollars to the Australian economy.
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New Delhi — India and Iran have signed a 10-year contract to develop and operate the Iranian port of Chabahar, which New Delhi envisages as a strategic trade route to landlocked Central Asian republics, allowing it to bypass rival Pakistan.

India said the deal has unlocked new avenues for trade. But the United States, whose ties with Iran have worsened, has warned of the potential risk of sanctions on anyone considering business deals with Tehran.

Analysts in New Delhi say the threat of sanctions could dampen hopes of turning the port into a trading hub.

The agreement was signed Monday in Iran’s Chabahar town by India’s Shipping Minister, Sarbananda Sonawal and Iran’s urban development minister Mehrdad Bazrpash.

“Chabahar Port’s significance transcends its role as a mere conduit between India and Iran. it serves as a vital trade artery connecting India with Afghanistan and Central Asian countries,” Sonawal said after the signing.

The agreement gives India 10-year access to use the port.

“We are pleased with this agreement, and we have full trust in India,” Iranian minister Bazrpash said.

India began helping to develop Chabahar port by building new cargo berths and terminals in 2016 after Washington eased sanctions on Iran – they were reimposed by the Trump administration in 2018.

After India and Iran signed the 10-year deal, U.S. State Department spokesperson, Vedant Patel, told reporters that U.S. sanctions on Iran remain in place, and that Washington will continue to enforce them.

“Any entity, anyone considering business deals with Iran, they need to be aware of the potential risk that they are opening themselves up to and the potential risk of sanctions,” he said.

Chabahar is India’s first major overseas port venture and for New Delhi, it is an important part of its strategy to improve links with resource-rich Central Asian republics and Afghanistan, access to which has been hampered due to the decades long hostile relations between India and Pakistan.

But Indian analysts say U.S. sanctions on Iran have long cast a shadow on the project and hampered New Delhi from realizing the port’s potential. While the Trump administration had exempted the Chabahar project due to the role India was playing in Afghanistan’s reconstruction, Washington’s ties with Iran have again worsened due to Tehran’s support for Hamas since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last October.

“Chabahar has long-term potential. But due to U.S. sanctions on Iran, it has not turned out to be the gamechanger that India had hoped because private Indian companies have been and will be reluctant to use the port,” according to Manoj Joshi, Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi. “There has been no real sharp rise in India’s trade with Central Asia.”

However, Indian stakes in Chabahar have strategic significance — they are part of India’s outreach to Iran. “Where India is concerned, good ties with Iran are a pushback against Pakistan, which has a land blockade where India is concerned,” said Joshi.

Chabahar is also seen as a counter to China’s development of the Gwadar port in Pakistan. Located close to Iran’s southeastern border with Pakistan, the deep water Chabahar port is less than 100 kilometers from Gwadar.

Beijing’s investments in ports and infrastructure in India’s neighborhood as part of its Belt and Road Initiative have raised concerns in New Delhi and prompted it to expand its maritime footprint.

Indian officials expressed optimism about the ten-year deal that India and Iran have inked. “It will clear the pathway for bigger investments to be made in the port,” foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told reporters Monday.

India will invest $120 million in infrastructure development and extend a $250 million line of credit to Iran.

The “long-term contract symbolizes the enduring trust and effective partnership between India and Iran,” Indian minister Sonawal said.
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ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN — A court in Kazakhstan on Monday sentenced a former economy minister to 24 years in prison for the murder of his wife, in a case that led the patriarchal Central Asian nation to toughen its domestic abuse laws.

Kuandyk Bishimbayev was found guilty of torture and murder in the November 2023 beating death of Saltanat Nukenova.

The trial of Bishimbayev, which began in March, has been broadcast live. He will serve his sentence in a maximum-security prison.

The former minister beat Nukenova in a family restaurant in the Kazakh capital, Astana, on Nov. 9. His cousin Bakhytzhan Bayzhanov was found guilty of helping him to cover up the murder and was sentenced to four years in prison.

Both men have 15 days to appeal the ruling.

“I hope this non-human would be given a life sentence,” Nukenova’s father, Amengeldy Nukenov, told journalists before the verdict was read.

During the trial, thousands of people urged the authorities to adopt harsher penalties for domestic violence. 

The 24-year-long sentence has taken the public, especially rights activists, aback.

“Of course, we all expected a life sentence because the woman was killed deliberately with inconceivable violence,” Zhanar Sekerbayeva, cofounder of Kazakhstan’s LGBTQ women’s right group called, Feminita, told VOA after the verdict.

Sekerbayeva said her group held a march Monday along Almaty streets to protest a lack of “the strictest punishment” for Bishimbayev.

Bishimbayev served as an aide of the former president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and as national economy minister until his arrest in 2017 for corruption crimes.

In March 2018, Bishimbayev was sentenced to 10 years in prison but was released on parole in September 2019.

The murder trial drew parallels to the “trial of the century” of former U.S. football star O.J. Simpson, who in the 1990s was charged with the murder of his former wife. He was acquitted in 1995 in Nicole Brown Simpson’s death.

The Bishimbayev case brought attention to the wider topic of domestic violence in Kazakhstan and elsewhere in the region.

During the case, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev weighed in early and ordered the Interior Ministry to keep the case under special scrutiny.

“Everyone should be equal before the law,” he said last November in reference to Nukenova’s death. “Justice in society is citizens’ solidarity for the sake of strengthening the rule of law. A just Kazakhstan is a country where law and order triumph.”

Nukenova’s death highlighted the precarious position that victims of domestic violence can end up in and added urgency to the adoption of legislation against such abuse. 

As a result, the Kazakh parliament adopted a new bill on domestic violence in April, which the president immediately signed into law.

The country registers around 300 complaints about domestic violence every day, and at least 80 women die from domestic abuse every year, according to figures from Kazakh prosecutors. 

But a 2018 study backed by U.N. Women found about 400 women die from domestic violence each year in Kazakhstan, although many cases go unreported.

Last October, Culture and Information Minister Aida Balayeva said that “869 people had died as a result of domestic violence in the past 4.5 years,” without specifying gender or age.

The new law offers better protections to victims of domestic violence, such as shifting the responsibility for the collection of evidence from the victims to the police.

Police also now must register and investigate all domestic violence cases, even those not reported by a victim but by the media or on social media. 

The New York-based group, Human Rights Watch, hailed the new law as an improvement, but said it “fails to explicitly make domestic violence a stand-alone offense in the criminal code or elsewhere.” 
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mumbai, india — At least four people are dead, 61 injured and more than 40 feared trapped after a massive billboard fell during a rainstorm in India’s financial capital of Mumbai on Monday, local officials said.

The rainstorm was accompanied by gusty winds, causing the billboard, located next to a busy road in the eastern suburb of Ghatkopar, to collapse on some houses and a gas station.

A rescue operation for the people remaining trapped under the billboard is ongoing. Fire services, police, disaster response officials and other authorities are all involved in the rescue efforts, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the civic body that runs Mumbai, said on X.

News channels and posts on social media showed the towering billboard billowing in the wind for a while before it gave way and crashed to the ground.

The local weather department had predicted that moderate spells of rain, accompanied by gusty winds reaching 40-50 kilometers per hour were likely to occur in parts of Mumbai district on Monday.

There were temporary flight disruptions at the Mumbai airport, with 15 flight diversions and operations suspended for a little over an hour, Asian News International, in which Reuters has a minority stake, reported.

Mumbai, like several Indian cities, is prone to severe flooding and rain-related accidents during the monsoon season, which usually lasts from June until September every year.
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