Top Asian News 3:59 a.m. GMT

India’s Modi elected as leader of coalition and set to form new government

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday was formally elected leader of the National Democratic Alliance coalition, which won the most seats in the national election after his political party failed to win a majority on its own. The 73-year-old leader, who will be sworn in as prime minister on Sunday for a rare third term, will now form a coalition government. Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has governed India as part of the NDA coalition over the past decade, but this is the first time under his leadership that the party has needed support from its regional allies to form a government.

22 Chinese nationals sentenced to long prison terms in Zambia for multinational cybercrimes

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — A Zambian court on Friday sentenced 22 Chinese nationals to long prison terms for cybercrimes that included internet fraud and online scams targeting Zambians and other people from Singapore, Peru and the United Arab Emirates. The Magistrates Court in the capital, Lusaka, sentenced them for terms ranging from seven to 11 years. The court also fined them between $1,500 and $3,000 after they pleaded guilty to charges of computer-related misrepresentation, identity fraud and illegally operating a network or service on Wednesday. A man from Cameroon also was sentenced and fined on the same changes. They were part of a group of 77 people, the majority of them Zambians, arrested in April over what police described as a “sophisticated internet fraud syndicate.” Director-general of the drug enforcement commission, Nason Banda, said investigations began after authorities noticed a spike in the number of cyber-related fraud cases and many people complained about inexplicably losing money from their mobile phones or bank accounts.

Third term for Modi likely to see closer defense ties with US as India’s rivalry with China grows

NEW DELHI (AP) — Fresh from declaring victory in India’s election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered few details on the agenda for his third term, but went out of his way to underline he would continue to focus on raising the country’s military preparedness and clout. That should come as good news to the United States and its other allies, as they focus increasingly on keeping China’s sweeping maritime claims and growingly assertive behavior in the Indo-Pacific region in check. “The government will focus on expanding defense production and exports,” Modi told a crowd of supporters at his party’s headquarters after election results came in.

Will North Korea fly trash balloons into South Korea again? A look at rising tensions between them

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Koreans were alert Friday for possible new launches by North Korea of balloons carrying rubbish into the South, a day after Seoul activists flew their own balloons to scatter political leaflets in the North. Any resumption of trash balloon launches by North Korea would likely prompt South Korea to respond, possibly with anti-North Korean loudspeaker broadcasts or live-fire exercises along their heavily fortified border. North Korea would probably retaliate with its own measures, further escalating tensions between the rivals. Here is a look at the soaring animosities between the Koreas over the balloon launches: Last week, South Korean authorities discovered about 1,000 North Korean-flown balloons carrying manure, cigarette butts, scraps of cloth, waste batteries and vinyl in various parts of South Korea.

Swedish defense chief says actions against Philippines in South China Sea threaten global security

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Sweden’s defense chief has expressed alarm over Beijing’s repeated dangerous maneuvers against Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, saying such actions threaten global security, undermine stability and underscore the need to invest “for our security and freedom.” Defense Minister Pål Jonson spoke Thursday night in a diplomatic reception in Manila for Sweden’s national day after meeting his Philippine counterpart, Gilberto Teodoro Jr., on expanding defense relations. Sweden is one of the possible sources of supersonic fighter jets that the Philippines plans to acquire as its military shifts focus from decades of fighting communist and Muslim insurgencies to territorial defense.

Vietnam national security police confirm arrest of prominent writer Truong Huy San for Facebook post

BANGKOK (AP) — Authorities in Vietnam announced Friday that they have charged prominent journalist and historian Truong Huy San with violating a national security law because of writing he had posted on Facebook, the website of the newspaper Tuoi Tre and other state media reported. The reports citing the Security Investigation Agency of the Ministry of Public Security said San, better known by his pen name Huy Duc, was charged with “abusing the rights of freedom and democracy to infringe upon the interests of the State, the rights and legitimate interests of organizations and individuals.” A lawyer, Tran Dinh Trien, was also charged under the same Article 331 of the Penal Code, according to the reports, which said both men were ordered detained for prosecution and that security officials were to carry out searches of their workplaces and homes.

Samoan author accused of killing Samoan writer who was aunt of former US politician Tulsi Gabbard

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — An author in Samoa has been charged with murdering another prominent Samoan writer, who was also the aunt of former U.S. congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, authorities in the South Pacific island nation said. Papalii Sia Figiel, 57, is accused of killing Caroline Sinavaiana-Gabbard 78, after an argument last month, officials told The Associated Press. Both women were prominent figures in the Pacific literary community, and Sinavaiana-Gabbard’s family is involved in U.S. politics. Figiel is in custody awaiting a court appearance next week. She has not entered a plea to the charge of murder. Figiel is not yet represented by a lawyer, police said, and could not be contacted for comment.

The UN says more aquatic animals were farmed than fished in 2022. That’s the first time in history

ROME (AP) — The total global volume of fish, shrimp, clams and other aquatic animals that are harvested by farming has topped the amount fished in the wild from the world’s waters for the first time ever, the United Nations reported Friday. The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, in its latest report on fisheries and aquaculture — or farming in water — says the global catch and harvest brought in more than 185 million tons of aquatic animals in 2022, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Experts say the milestone in human history had been expected, as the hauls from fisheries have largely stagnated over the last three decades — largely because of limits in nature.

China says it is willing to upgrade economic corridor with Pakistan and deepen ties with Brazil

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing is willing to work with Islamabad to build an upgraded version of an economic corridor linking the two countries, China’s leader Xi Jinping told visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday. Sharif pledged to ensure the safety of Chinese workers in Pakistan, according to a report on their meeting posted online by state broadcaster CCTV. The report said that Sharif offered his government’s condolences for the deaths in March of five Chinese engineers in a suicide bombing in Pakistan. They were working on a dam project in the South Asian country. The Pakistani leader, near the end of a five-day visit, is making his first trip to China since his election in March.

Malaysian state officials defend demolitions that left hundreds of ‘sea gypsies’ homeless in Borneo

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Rights activists have slammed the displacement of hundreds of sea nomads after their stilt homes in a Malaysian marine park on Borneo island were demolished. But the state government Friday defended its move to tear down the unauthorized settlements, saying it was aimed at bolstering security. Social advocacy group Borneo Komrad said on its Facebook page that the Bajau Laut people, a semi-nomadic community that is mostly stateless, have been left homeless after authorities destroyed and burned their homes and boats. Known as sea gypsies, the Bajau Laut community live in stilt huts in floating villages or on wooden longboats off the east coast of Sabah state.