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Morning Digest | China releases new official map, showing territorial claims; Assam Rifles files defamation suit against Manipur politician, and more

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An Indian Army jawan looking at the India-China border through his telescope in Arunachal Pradesh. File.
| Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR

Assam Rifles files defamation suit against Manipur politician, seeks apology

Assam Rifles, the oldest paramilitary force in the country, has slapped a legal notice against a Manipur politician for causing “considerable harm to the reputation and standing of the organisation in the public eye.” It said the notice is being served for tarnishing the reputation and “discouraging and demoralising” the Central armed police force. Assam Rifles sought a “written” and “public” apology for the false allegation and defamation asking him to retract the statement he made at ‘Condolence of Meitei Martyrs’ in Delhi on June 30.

China releases new official map, showing territorial claims

China’s government released the “2023 edition of the standard map of China”, which continues to show the entire State of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region within China’s borders. The latest map follows Beijing in April announcing it would “standardise” the names of 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh, including a town close to the Arunachal Pradesh capital of Itanagar. This was the third such list “renaming” places in Arunachal Pradesh, and was seen by observers as a response to India holding events in the lead-up to the G-20 summit in the State, which Beijing had opposed. Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to attend the September 9-10 summit in New Delhi.

Only Centre can conduct census, Union tells SC in Bihar caste survey case

The Union government saidonly the Centre is entitled to conduct census, in its reply to the Supreme Court on the Bihar government’s caste-based survey. The Centre had filed an affidavit earlier on August 28 morning which said in its penultimate paragraph that “no other body is entitled to conduct the exercise of either census or any action akin to census”. Earlier, the Supreme Court had refused to stay the uploading of data collected in the recently concluded Bihar caste-based survey while debunking claims that the Nitish Kumar government had violated the fundamental right to privacy by compelling people to reveal their caste.

Rajnath Singh to visit Sri Lanka this weekend, say defence sources

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka over the coming weekend, defence sources confirmed. The visit comes at a time when the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry is considering a fresh request from China to allow the visit of a research ship. Last week, the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry acknowledged receiving a request from the Chinese Embassy. The research vessel Shiyan-6 is expected to arrive in October. 

Article 35A took away fundamental rights while giving special rights to permanent residents of J&K, says CJI

Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said Article 35A, which empowered the Jammu and Kashmir Legislature to define “permanent residents” of the State and provide them special privileges, denied fundamental rights to others. “Article 35A gave special rights and privileges to permanent residents and virtually took away the rights for non-residents. These rights included the right to equal opportunity of State employment, right to acquire property and the right to settle in Jammu and Kashmir,” Chief Justice Chandrachud, heading a Constitution Bench, observed on August 28.

India’s population growth alone is not enough to make its economy stronger, says Moody’s

India’s population growth would raise its labour force availability but that alone won’t be enough to make the economy stronger or improve fiscal outcomes, due to the quality of education in the country, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report on Monday. In a report on Sovereigns in South and South East Asia, titled ‘Population growth alone will not drive credit benefits for emerging economies’, the rating major said it expects continued population growth in the region to support economic expansion as working-age populations will remain large compared with younger and older citizens.

Warming Pacific points to rise in cyclones over India: Study

Tropical cyclones that originate near the Equator, while being devastating, have been unusually subdued in recent decades. The last major cyclone of this kind in the Indian neighbourhood was the 2017 Cyclone Okchi which devastated Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. However, a combination of global warming and a cyclical event called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) that repeats every 20-30 years, could make such cyclones more frequent in the coming years, a study published on Monday in the journal Nature Communications said.

Federal Judge sets March 4 date for historic Donald Trump trial

A federal judge has set a date of March 4, 2024, for Donald Trump’s election subversion conspiracy trial — placing one of the biggest criminal cases in American history at peak election season. Special counsel Jack Smith had asked for the trial of the 45th US president to begin on January 2, while Mr. Trump’s attorneys countered with a proposed date of April 2026 — 17 months after the election.

Fire in coach: Five from Uttar Pradesh arrested in Madurai by Tamil Nadu Railway Police

The Tamil Nadu Railway Police, have arrested five persons from Uttar Pradesh in connection with the fire that broke out in a coach and claimed nine lives near the Madurai railway junction on Saturday. The arrested persons have been accused of having carried inflammable articles on the train, in violation of Section 164 of the Railway Act.

U.S. raises concerns on India’s decision to curb tech imports

With the U.S. flagging concerns over India’s decision to impose import restrictions on certain electronic devices, both countries have agreed to find a solution to the issue that addresses the concerns of both nations, according to a statement of USTR. The issue was flagged during a meeting between Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai here on August 26.

Foxconn billionaire Terry Gou says he will seek Taiwan’s presidency as independent candidate

Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of the electronics giant Foxconn, declared that he will run as an independent candidate for president in Taiwan’s 2024 election, ending months of speculation. Mr. Gou’s Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., is a major supplier to Apple and has factories in China. He has long had presidential aspirations. He ran in the 2019 election but lost as Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party easily won re-election.

I have no personal desire to hold any post in INDIA, says Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday categorically said that he had no “personal desire” to hold any post in the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) ahead of the upcoming third meeting of the Opposition bloc in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1. The buzz in political circles was that Mr. Kumar might be appointed as INDIA convener at its Mumbai meeting. Earlier, Mr. Kumar had initiated the meeting of Opposition parties in Patna on June 23 in which altogether 16 parties, including Congress, participated. The second meeting was held in Bengaluru on July 18.

WB fireworks blast: toll climbs to nine, one arrested

The death toll in an explosion at an illegal fireworks factory at Mochpol area under Duttapukur police station in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district rose to nine on Monday with one more person succumbing to injuries. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her disappointment at a meeting of the State Cabinet today. She wanted to know why steps were not taken after she had sought action following an explosion at Egra in Purba Medinipur district. An explosion at an illegal fireworks factory at Egra on May 16 claimed 12 lives.

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Trump charged in U.S. special counsel probe in efforts to overturn 2020 election

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Former U.S president Donald Trump on Tuesday, August 1, 2023 was hit with criminal charges for a third time in four months – this time arising from efforts to overturn his 2020 U.S. election defeat – as he campaigns to regain the presidency next year.

The four-count indictment alleges Mr. Trump conspired to defraud the U.S. by preventing Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory and to deprive voters of their right to a fair election.

Mr. Trump was ordered to make an initial appearance in federal court on Thursday, August 3.

The charges stem from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into allegations Mr. Trump – the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination – sought to reverse his loss to Biden, his Democratic rival.

The indictment alleges Mr. Trump conspired with six other unnamed individuals to overturn the results. Prosecutors wrote that Mr. Trump knew his claims that the election was fraudulent were false, but repeated them anyway to “create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger and erode public faith in the administration of the election.”

In a statement, the Trump campaign said he has always followed the law and characterised the indictment as a political “persecution” reminiscent of Nazi Germany.

Officials have testified that Mr. Trump pressured them based on false claims of widespread voting fraud. His supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a bid to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s victory.

The indictment accused Mr. Trump and co-conspirators of organising fraudulent slates of electors in seven states, all of which he lost, to submit their votes to be counted and certified as official by Congress on Jan. 6.

The co-conspirators were not named, but one of them appeared to describe former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, the former head of the civil division who tried to get himself installed as attorney general so he could launch voter fraud investigations in Georgia and other swing states. Clark did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Another alleged co-conspirator appeared to describe attorney John Eastman, who erroneously suggested that Vice President Mike Pence could object to certifying the electoral results. Both Eastman and Clark had their phones seized and searched in the investigation last year.

Mr. Trump already had become the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges. He has sought to portray the prosecutions as part of a politically motivated witch hunt.

These represent a second round of federal charges by Smith, who was appointed a special counsel in November by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Mr. Trump pleaded not guilty after a federal grand jury in Miami convened by the special counsel charged him in June in a 37-count indictment over his unlawfully retention of classified government documents after leaving office in 2021 and obstructing justice. Prosecutors accused him of risking some of the most sensitive U.S. national security secrets.

Last Thursday, prosecutors added three more criminal counts against Mr. Trump, bringing the total to 40, accusing him of ordering employees to delete security videos as he was under investigation for retaining the documents.

The first charges brought against Mr. Trump emerged in March when a grand jury convened by Manhattan’s district attorney indicted him. Trump in April pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts accusing him of falsifying business records concerning a payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she said she had with him. Trump has denied the encounter.

Mr. Trump, 77, leads a crowded field of Republican presidential candidates as he seeks a rematch with Biden, 80, next year. Biden in April launched his re-election campaign.

Mr. Trump, who served as president from 2017 to 2021, has shown an ability to survive legal troubles, political controversies and personal behavior that might sink other politicians. Many Republicans – elected officials and voters – have rallied behind Trump, portraying the charges against him as selective prosecution and a Democratic plot to destroy him politically.

Strategists said that while the indictments could help Mr. Trump solidify support within his base and win the Republican nomination, his ability to capitalize on them may be more limited in next year’s general election, when he will have to win over more skeptical moderate Republicans and independents.

Meanwhile, his legal woes are mounting. In addition to the three indictments, Mr. Trump faces a fourth criminal investigation by a county prosecutor in Georgia into accusations he sought to undo his 2020 election loss in that state.

Documents case

In the documents case, prosecutors accused him of mishandling sensitive classified documents about everything from the U.S. nuclear program to potential domestic vulnerabilities in the event of an attack.

When the Justice Department tried to get Mr. Trump to return the documents, the indictment alleges, he asked his attorneys if they could lie to the government about the existence of the records. He was accused of conspiring with his aide Walt Nauta, who is also charged, to move boxes containing documents around inside his home at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to prevent them from being found. Nauta also has pleaded not guilty.

A second employee, a maintenance worker at Mar-a-Lago, Carlos De Oliveira, was charged on Thursday with conspiracy to obstruct justice, accused of helping Mr. Trump to hide documents.

A jury in federal court in Manhattan decided in May in a civil lawsuit that Mr. Trump must pay $5 million in damages for sexually abusing former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s and then defaming her by branding her a liar.

His real estate company was convicted in 2022 in Manhattan of tax fraud charges, though he personally was not charged in that case.

Special counsels are sometimes appointed to investigate politically sensitive cases and they do their jobs with a degree of independence from the Justice Department leadership.

Before being appointed by Garland to take over the two Trump-related investigations, Smith had served as the chief prosecutor for the special court in The Hague, tasked with prosecuting war crimes in Kosovo, oversaw the Justice Department’s public integrity section and worked as a federal and state prosecutor in New York.

Capitol attack

In the Jan. 6, 2021, rampage at the Capitol, Mr. Trump’s supporters used a variety of weapons including chemical sprays and riot shields to attack police and infiltrate the building, forcing lawmakers to flee for their lives. Five people died during and shortly after the chaos, while about 140 police officers were injured. Before the attack Trump told supporters in an incendiary speech near the White House to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell” to “stop the steal” of the election.

More than 1,000 people have been charged with crimes arising from the riot, including some who have been convicted of seditious conspiracy.

Mr. Trump and his allies lost a series of election-related lawsuits challenging the election results based on false claims of fraud. As his presidency wound down, Mr. Trump continued to push this false narrative, ignoring warnings from some of his White House advisers, former Attorney General William Barr and other officials that there was no evidence of widespread fraud.

A 2022 investigative report by a Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives committee found that Mr. Trump “corruptly pressured” former Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to count the state-by-state electoral votes that determine an election’s outcome during a joint session of Congress.

As part of that alleged scheme, the committee said Mr. Trump and several of his advisers oversaw a plot to have electors in pivotal states where Mr. Trump lost – such as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico and Pennsylvania – to submit fraudulent documentation to Congress and the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration that he had actually won those states.

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