WORLD BRIEFING: June 2, 2024
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party is set to win a decisive majority in India’s election for the third time in a row, several exit polls showed, extending his decade in power atop the world’s fastest-growing major economy. The polls showed his Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance will win substantially more seats than the 272 needed for a majority in India’s 543-seat lower house of parliament. Official election results will be released June 4. Modi claimed victory for the BJP-led alliance based on the exit poll results, saying the ruling party’s track record resonated with voters, especially the poor. “I can say with confidence that the people of India have voted in record numbers to reelect the NDA government,” he said in a post on social media platform X. He also criticized the opposition alliance’s campaign for failing to provide a vision for the country. - Bloomberg
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has warned China not to cross a red line in the South China Sea, where a standoff between the countries continues to escalate. If any Filipino died as a result of China’s wilful actions, he said on Friday, the Philippines would consider it as close to “an act of war” and respond accordingly. Mr Marcos was speaking at a security forum in Singapore attended by defence chiefs from around the world, including the US's Lloyd Austin. He stressed the region remained a main focus for Washington, and that the US was only secure if Asia was too. In recent months the longstanding dispute between China and the Philippines over territory in the South China Sea has sharpened into aggressive clashes. Manila has complained vociferously about Chinese patrol ships firing water cannon at Philippine boats and supply vessels. Beijing has said that it is defending its sovereignty. At the summit, a Chinese military spokesman accused the Philippines of making “provocations”. - BBC
After launching roughly 260 balloons on Tuesday and Wednesday, North Korea again launched over 600 Balloons carrying trash and sewage across the border into South Korea today, with a majority of them falling in and around Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province. The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) state that this marks a significant edcalation on the Peninsula, and that they will take unspecified measures against the North
Energy infrastructure in five regions across Ukraine was damaged in the latest Russian attack, Ukrainian officials said on June 1, causing injuries and prompting President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to appeal for the delivery of more air defenses. Energy facilities were damaged in the eastern Donetsk and southeastern Zaporizhzhya and Dnipropetrovsk regions, as well as the central Kyrovohrad and western Ivano-Frankivsk regions, Ukrainian power grid operator Ukrenerho said. Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov said 12 people, including eight children, were hospitalized after a strike close to two houses where they were sheltering. Synyehubov also said the death toll had risen to seven from a Russian air strike on an apartment building in the city of Kharkiv on May 31. - RFE/RL
At least seven Russian, Belarusian, Latvian, and Israeli journalists and activists have been targeted with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware within the EU. The revelations follow last year’s joint investigation into the use of the spyware against Galina Timchenko, co-founder, CEO, and publisher of Meduza. The investigation was conducted by Access Now, the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto (“the Citizen Lab”), and independent digital security expert Nikolai Kvantiliani. One victim, who has chosen to remain anonymous, is a member of Belarusian civil society currently based in Vilnius, Lithuania. After receiving an Apple threat notification on June 22, 2023, that their device had been targeted with a state-sponsored attack, they reached out to the Citizen Lab for digital security support, who analyzed the device and confirmed that it was infected with Pegasus spyware on or around March 25, 2021. Another Russian journalist living in exile in Vilnius since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and who has also chosen to remain anonymous, received two Apple threat notifications on October 31, 2023, and on April 10, 2024.
Nicki Minaj’s upcoming show in Amsterdam has been cancelled following her arrest last weekend. The “Super Bass” rapper, 41, was slated to perform at the Ziggo Dome in the Netherlands’ capital on Sunday night while on her Pink Friday 2 World Tour. “Due to the events of last week, the Nicki Minaj show on Sunday, 2nd June at Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam will no longer be taking place,” the venue announced on its website. “Tickets will be refunded at the point of sale.” - NY Post
