NEW DELHI (AP) — Thousands of people on Sunday attended a rally by an alliance of India’s opposition parties that criticized the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of stifling opponents and undermining democratic institutions ahead of a national election next month.
The “Save Democracy” rally was the first major public demonstration by the opposition bloc INDIA against the arrest of New Delhi’s top elected official and opposition leader Arvind Kejriwal on March 21.
Kejriwal was arrested by the federal Enforcement Directorate, which is controlled by Modi’s government, on charges that his party and state ministers had accepted 1 billion rupees ($12 million) in bribes from liquor contractors nearly two years ago. The Aam Aadmi Party, or Common Man’s Party, denied the accusations and has said Kejriwal would remain as New Delhi’s chief minister while the court decides on the next step.
“This battle is to safeguard the nation, democracy, constitution, future of the nation, youth, farmers and women. This battle is for justice and truth,” Deepender Singh Hooda, a lawmaker of the opposition Congress party, told reporters at the rally.
Kejriwal’s arrest is seen as a setback for the opposition bloc that is the main challenger to Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, in the elections to be held over six weeks starting April 19.
Opposition leaders have criticized Kejriwal’s arrest as undemocratic and accused the BJP of using the federal agency to undermine them, pointing to a series of arrests and corruption investigations against key opposition figures.
The BJP denies targeting the opposition and says law enforcement agencies act independently.
“Narendra Modi wants to strangle democracy and take away the option from the people to choose the government of their choice,” opposition leader Rahul Gandhi from the Congress party, who took part in Sunday’s rally, wrote on X.
Ahead of India’s general elections that begin April 19, critics of West Bengal state leader Mamata Banerjee shared a photo collage they falsely claimed depicted her faking an injury. But the pictures — one showing her with a bloodied forehead while the other showing a different part of her face bandaged — were from two separate incidents. A spokesman for Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress party told AFP she was wounded when she slipped and fell at her home in March.
Warning: This story contains images of an injured woman
“What kind of drama is this? The injury is in the middle of forehead and the bandage has been applied on the side,” said the Hindi-language caption to the collage shared on Facebook on March 16, 2024.
Banerjee, a fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been in power for over a decade in West Bengal state that is home to 90 million people.
Her Trinamool Congress (TMC) will battle Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for seats in the lower house of parliament in upcoming elections that start mid-April.
Screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken on March 22, 2024
The photo collage was also shared alongside a similar false claim on Facebook here and here, and on social media platform X here.
Comments on the posts indicated social media users believed the claim.
“Election gimmick,” one wrote. Another said: “Why does such drama happen just before elections?”
Separate incidents
Reverse image searches on Google found the pictures in the collage were taken from two separate incidents that happened in different months.
The picture that showed Banerjee with blood from a wound on her forehead was among the three photos published by her party on X here on March 14, 2024 (archived link).
The post said: “Our chairperson @MamataOfficial sustained a major injury. Please keep her in your prayers.”
Below is a screenshot comparison of the picture in the false posts (left) and the one shared by TMC (right):
Similar pictures were published by local news websites here and here which reported Banerjee fell in a room at her house on March 14 and was rushed to a hospital (archived links here and here).
The image showing her with the bandage on her face, however, was from an incident that happened over a month prior. It corresponds to a photo published by news website Indian Express on January 25, 2024 (archived link).
The report said the West Bengal chief minister sustained a head injury at the time when her car made a sudden halt to avoid hitting another vehicle.
A video report uploaded on regional Bengali-language news outlet ABP Ananda’s YouTube channel on January 24 showed Banerjee briefing the media about the incident (archived link).
The visuals from the 2:05 mark of the report showed her with the same bandage as in the picture in the collage.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the false posts (left) and the video uploaded on ABP Ananda’s YouTube channel (right):
Responding to the posts, Trinamool Congress spokesman told AFP on March 28 the collage showed “two very different incidents”.
“Mamata Banerjee hit her head on the windshield and sustained minor injury on January 24,” Dutta said, referring to the picture of her with the bandage.
The more recent injury, caused by her slipping and falling at home in March, caused “a major gash on her forehead” and several other cuts. “There were four stitches that were applied to her. Later she was at home, under treatment,” Dutta added.
AFP had previously debunked misinformation targeting Banerjee here and here.
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South Korea’s main opposition leader Lee Jae-myung did not wear a red face mask emblazoned with a Chinese flag while running for president in 2022, contrary to false claims by Facebook posts sharing a doctored photo of him days before parliamentary elections on April 10, 2024. The posts compared Lee to his election rival South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, pictured wearing a plain white mask. However, the original photo shows Lee wearing a mask with a slogan supporting South Korea’s finance industry — not a Chinese flag. Footage from the event in January 2022 shows Yoon donning the same red mask later at the event to celebrate the opening of the country’s stock market in the new year.
“During the presidential election, Lee Jae-myung insisted on wearing a red mask symbolising Communist China,” reads a Korean-language Facebook post shared on March 25.
“Candidate Yoon said he would wear a white mask.”
The post includes a side-by-side shot of Lee and Yoon signing a guestbook. While Yoon’s face mask is white, Lee is seen wearing a red mask adorned with a Chinese flag.
Screenshot of the misleading claim shared on Facebook. Captured March 26, 2024.
Lee is the head of South Korea’s largest opposition Democratic Party. He lost by a razor-thin margin to Yoon in the country’s previous presidential election in May 2022.
The opposition leader now aims to fend off challenges to his party’s parliamentary majority from Yoon’s ruling People Power Party in a nationwide election on April 10 (archived link).
The posts surfaced days after Lee was criticised for saying South Korea should remain neutral between China and Taiwan by saying “xie xie” to both sides — using the Chinese word for “thank you” — according to a local report (archived link).
The ruling party slammed Lee’s comments as “obsequience” to China, calling Lee’s party “anti-state forces that should not be allowed to gain power” (archived link).
The doctored image was widely shared by Facebook pages expressing support for Yoon’s People Power Party, including here, here, here and here.
Altered image
A reverse image search on Google found the original image published by the South Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo on January 3, 2022, in a report about Lee and Yoon attending a New Year’s ceremony at the Korea Exchange to mark the opening of the stock market (archived link).
The report features various photos of Lee wearing a red mask decorated with a tiger illustration and the slogan “South Korea’s capital market will lead the world” — not a Chinese flag. Yoon is also seen wearing the same mask in some photos.
The third image in the report corresponds to the original photo of Lee and Yoon, clearly showing Lee’s mask with no Chinese flag.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the doctored image (left) and the original image published by the JoongAng Ilbo in January 2022 (right):
Screenshot comparison between the doctored image (left) and the original image published by the JoongAng Ilbo in January 2022 (right)
“Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung (left) and People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk Yeol (right) each sign a guestbook ahead of the 2022 securities and derivatives market opening ceremony held at the Korea Exchange in Seoul on the morning of the 3rd,” the photo’s caption reads.
Lee and Yoon can be seen wearing the same red masks in photos of the ceremony published in multiple other local reports, including here, here and here (archived links here, here and here).
The one-hour event was also streamed live on Korea Exchange’s official YouTube account on January 3, 2022, showing Lee singing the guestbook at its 30-second mark (archived link).
Yoon can be seen signing the same guestbook while wearing a white mask at the 4:36 mark, but later donning Korea Exchange’s red mask over his white one before posing for a group photo at the 53:21 mark.
Lee has been a frequent target of disinformation leading up to the April parliamentary races, which AFP has debunked here, here and here.
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As South Korea geared up for elections in April, social media posts shared a photo of a stack of ballot papers they misleadingly claimed was evidence of vote rigging in the country’s 2020 polls. The picture was taken by a lawyer who alleged votes cast for the Democratic Party in the city of Guri did not have any fold marks, suggesting they were fraudulently filled out. However, the Supreme Court ruled ballots without clear fold marks were not proof of fraud. A legal bid to challenge election results in Guri was dismissed.
The photo, which was shared on Facebook on March 8, 2024, shows a bundle of ballot papers.
The top one shows a vote cast for the Democratic Party’s Yun Ho-jung, who was elected member of parliament for Guri in 2020 (archived link).
Yun’s party won in a landslide and secured the most number of seats in the National Assembly.
Korean text below the picture says police must “prevent the emergence of piles of printed ballots like these during the April 10, 2024 poll”.
Screenshot of the Facebook post, taken on March 15
A reverse image search on Google found the photo was originally posted on Facebook by lawyer Park Joo-hyun on May 21, 2020.
“Evidence preserved from the Guri Election Commission,” he wrote in Korean.
“How come the ballot papers inside the early absentee voting envelope are so stiff? They’re as stiff as newly printed banknotes!”
He told South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo that the “stiff” early voting ballots — those that looked fresh and without apparent creases — were suspicious as voters would have to fold them in half to fit the return envelope (archived link).
Similar posts misleadingly claiming the photo was evidence of fraud have circulated online since the 2020 vote here, here and here.
Court cases
However, Korea’s Supreme Court rejected a similar argument in a case it heard alleging fraud in the 2020 elections.
The case — filed in a district in Incheon, southwest of the capital Seoul — argued ballots without fold marks should be considered forgeries.
The court ruled in July 2022 that the absence of fold marks alone did not provide evidence of irregularities (archived link).
It noted the ballots were small enough to be put in the ballot box without folding or placed in the return envelope for absentee, early voters.
Moreover, the court said it used a microscope to examine the ballots that the plaintiff claimed to have no fold marks and in fact found marks on a significant number of them.
The plaintiff was not identified in the ruling.
In addition, the election commission said in its invalid ballots guideline that unfolded ballots were considered valid unless the voter intentionally disclosed their vote (archived link).
As of March 22, 2024, no evidence of rigging in the 2020 election emerged, despite multiple cases filed in court.
According to South Korea’s election commission, 126 lawsuits sought to nullify various poll results in 2020 but no vote rigging was substantiated to date (archived link).
In Guri city, where the picture circulating online was taken, two legal bids challenged the results, a representative from the commission told AFP on March 18.
One of the bids was dropped while the court dismissed the other due to the applicant’s failure to follow proper civil procedure, the representative added.
Ballot paper
Ballot papers have “better crease recovery” compared to regular paper, the election commission representative also said.
A representative from Moorim SP — one of two paper manufacturers that supply ballot paper in South Korea — separately told AFP on March 20: “If ballots are folded, they are unfolded before being put into a sorter. If the ballot paper’s ability to recover from creasing is poor, it causes jamming and hinders the automated sorting process.”
The election commission confirmed to AFP the same type of paper will be used for ballots in the upcoming April poll.
Opposition leader Bassirou Diomaye Faye has emerged as favourite to win Senegal’s presidential election, after several rivals conceded.
Millions took part in a peaceful vote on Sunday, following three years of turbulence and opposition protests against the incumbent, Macky Sall.
Voters had a choice of 19 candidates.
However, the ruling coalition’s choice, Amadou Ba, rejected reports of defeat and said he expected to contest a run-off vote to decide a winner.
Mr Faye, 44, a member of the Pastef party led by Ousmane Sonko, had been in jail only days before the vote. Mr Sonko was disqualified from the race because of a defamation conviction.
The first set of tallies announced on television showed Mr Faye had won the majority of votes, triggering widespread street celebrations in the capital Dakar.
Supporters set off fireworks, waved Senegalese flags and blew vuvuzelas.
The results also led to five opposition candidates declaring Mr Faye the winner. Anta Babacar Ngom, one of the front-runners, wished Mr Faye success in a statement.
Mr Sonko backed Mr Faye, the co-creator of his now dissolved Pastef party, who was also detained almost a year ago on charges including defamation and contempt of court.
An amnesty law passed this month allowed their release days before the vote.
They have campaigned together under the banner “Diomaye is Sonko”. Some high-profile politicians and opposition candidates have backed Mr Faye’s candidacy.
“The population is choosing between continuation and rupture,” Mr Faye said after casting his vote, urging contenders to accept the winner.
Prepare for run-off
Mr Sall, the incumbent, was not on the ballot for the first time in Senegal’s history. His ruling coalition picked Mr Ba, 62, a former prime minister.
Mr Ba’s campaign said that “considering the feedback of the results from our team of experts, we are certain that, in the worst case scenario, we will go to a run-off”.
About 7.3 million people were registered to vote in the country of around 18 million.
It is not clear how many of the 15,633 polling stations have been counted so far. Final provisional results are expected by Tuesday.
The election had been due to take place last month but Mr Sall postponed it, triggering deadly opposition protests.
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Dozens of flights and ferry services were grounded in South Korea on Wednesday ahead of a tropical storm that has dumped rain on Japan’s southwestern islands for more than a week.
Khanun’s heavy rains and winds were expected to arrive in South Korea’s southern and eastern regions Wednesday afternoon, South Korea’s weather agency said. It is expected to reach the southern resort island of Jeju hours later and then make landfall near the mainland port of Tongyeong early Thursday.
The agency says Khanun could have a punishing impact as it will likely slice through the center of the country over several hours while packing winds blowing at 90 to 154 kph (56 to 97 mph) before moving to North Korea early Friday.
The Korean Meteorological Administration measured Khanun at typhoon strength with maximum winds of 126 kph (78 mph) as of 9 a.m. Wednesday, as it passed through waters 360 kilometers (223 miles) southeast of Jeju while moving northward at a speed of 12 kph (7.4 mph).
Japan measured Khanun as a severe tropical storm with sustained winds of 108 kph (67 mph) and higher gusts. Warnings for stormy conditions, potential flooding and other risks were issued for the southwestern part of Japan’s southern island of Kyushu and nearby areas.
As a stronger typhoon last week, Khanun lashed Okinawa and other Japanese islands, causing injuries and damage.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has called for officials to be aggressive with disaster prevention measures and evacuations while stressing the perils posed by the storm, which comes just weeks after the country’s central and southern regions were pounded by torrential rain that triggered flashfloods and landslides that killed at least 41 people.
The Korea Airport Corporation said at least 144 flights going in and out of Jeju were canceled as of 11 a.m. as Khanun approached. Ferry services connecting the island with mainland ports were also cancelled while authorities shut down at least 39 roads, 26 riverside parking lots and 613 hiking trails nationwide as part of broader preventive measures.
Khanun has forced South Korea to evacuate the World Scout Jamboree that had been taking place at a coastal campsite in the southwestern county of Buan. Officials on Tuesday mobilized more than 1,000 buses to transfer 37,000 global scouts to university dormitories, government and corporate training centers and hotels in the capital Seoul and nearby areas.
