World
Where India Turned Against Modi
Narendra Modi set a lofty goal for an election he hoped would send him to a legacy-defining third term as prime minister: winning a majority so staggering that his party would cement itself as the only plausible option to lead India for years to come.
To do that, his Bharatiya Janata Party, or B.J.P., aimed to expand on its deep support across the so-called cow belt in India’s populous north, while also making significant inroads in the country’s south, which has been more resistant to the party’s Hindu-nationalist agenda.
But little went according to plan for Mr. Modi when the election results arrived on Tuesday. His party did not just fall well short of its goal of winning more than 400 of the 543 parliamentary seats. It took such a steep dive — losing more than 60 seats — that it no longer had a majority in Parliament.
To stay in office, the powerful Mr. Modi is now forced to do something that does not come naturally to him: work with others, in a political coalition. That alliance, known as the National Democratic Alliance, or N.D.A., will face a reinvigorated political opposition, led by the Congress party, that significantly improved its performance since the previous election, in 2019.
Modi’s N.D.A. alliance lost swaths of territory in this election
The B.J.P.’s losses were sprinkled around the country, from Maharashtra in the west to West Bengal in the east. But Mr. Modi’s biggest setback came where it was least expected: the northern belt where his party was well entrenched and its Hindu-nationalist ideology had strong backing.
It appeared that some of Mr. Modi’s tactics had backfired in this region, perhaps because his party’s candidates there were seen as incumbents without much to offer after a decade in power. Those losses were offset in part however by gains in stretches of the south, where the B.J.P. — as a new entrant that has had little footprint there in the past — found better reception to its messages.
In Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state, with a population of 240 million, the B.J.P. won just 33 seats, down from 62 in the previous election. It was in this Northern state that Mr. Modi in January inaugurated the lavish Ram temple, seen as one of his biggest offerings to his Hindu support base. But the B.J.P.’s chest-thumping over its Hindu-first policies turned off many lower-caste voters more concerned with issues like unemployment, inflation and social justice.
One of the biggest surprises was in the city of Ayodhya, the site of the Ram temple. The B.J.P. lost the seat in the city and other seats in its neighboring districts.
In the important state of Maharashtra, home to India’s business and entertainment capital, Mumbai, the B.J.P. won only nine seats, down from 23 in the last election. The party’s coalition partners suffered even worse losses.
The vote was seen as a verdict on the B.J.P.’s heavy-handed ways of reshaping the state’s political map. The B.J.P. had used pressure by government agencies and enticements of cash and power to split both of the state’s two largest parties. A faction within each of the two split parties then aligned with the B.J.P. The move backfired, however: In what was viewed as a sympathy vote, the original factions from the two parties outdid the B.J.P. allies by large margins.
The B.J.P. did have some good news: It continued to expand its support in the south, where it has struggled to establish a lasting foothold. In Andhra Pradesh, it formed a strong local alliance with two secular parties, and their coalition won 21 of 25 seats because of the unpopularity of the party in power in the state. It won a seat for the first time in the left-dominated state of Kerala and several seats in the state of Telangana.
N.D.A. alliance gained territory in the east and south
The party’s most impressive gains came in the state of Odisha in the east. That state is part of the “tribal belt,” which weaves across central India and is the only part of the country where the B.J.P. has unified support. Its relatively poor communities have been skillfully targeted by the B.J.P.’s Hindu-first politics and welfare benefits.
But the party’s progress in eastern and southern India was far from enough to make up for its losses in the north. Now, with Mr. Modi deprived of the landslide victory he had sought, the country will see how he responds. Some of the strains in India’s democracy might be mended as Mr. Modi is forced to consult with coalition partners who could restrain his more authoritarian tendencies. Or he could crack down more fiercely than ever, worried about losing more ground to a revived opposition.
World
Paramount Sends ByteDance Cease-and-Desist Letter Over Seedance AI Videos, Alleging Intellectual Property Infringement
Paramount Skydance accused ByteDance of engaging in “blatant infringement” of its intellectual property with its Seedance video and Seedream image generative AI platforms, alleging the Chinese internet giant is illegally ripping off IP including “South Park,” “Star Trek,” “The Godfather,” “Dora the Explorer” and more.
The media company sent a cease-and-desist letter Saturday to ByteDance, a copy of which was obtained by Variety, demanding it discontinue the alleged infringement. The letter from Gabriel Miller, Paramount Skydance’s head of intellectual property, was addressed to ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo.
That came after Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter Friday to ByteDance asserting the company’s AI platforms are making available “a pirated library of Disney’s copyrighted characters from Star Wars, Marvel, and other Disney franchises, as if Disney’s coveted intellectual property were free public domain clip art.” “ByteDance’s virtual smash-and-grab of Disney’s IP is willful, pervasive, and totally unacceptable,” David Singer, a partner at Jenner & Block, wrote on behalf of Disney.
Seedance is the latest AI video system to set off alarms across Hollywood. After videos generated by ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 went viral this week — including one of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt fighting on a rooftop (pictured above) — the Motion Picture Association condemned ByteDance on Thursday, calling on the company to immediately cease its infringing conduct. Actors union SAG-AFTRA and the Human Artistry Campaign, a coalition of artists’ rights groups affiliated with Hollywood unions, also spoke out against the ByteDance AI model.
Paramount’s Miller, in the letter to ByteDance, wrote that “much of the content that the Seed Platforms produce contains vivid depictions of Paramount’s famous and iconic franchises and characters, which are protected under copyright law, trademark law, and the law of unfair competition (among other doctrines).” The content in the AI-generated images and videos produced by ByteDance’s platforms “is often indistinguishable, both visually and audibly,” from Paramount’s copyrighted characters and stories.
Reps for ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.
According to Miller’s letter, Paramount properties including “South Park,” “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Star Trek,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “The Godfather,” “Dora the Explorer” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender” have “all been repeatedly infringed by the Seed Platforms’ production and subsequent public performance and distribution of these images and videos.” Moreover, with the recent release of the Seedance 2.0 video generation tool, “ByteDance’s infringing activities appear not only to be continuing but becoming more prevalent and the unlawful outputs more widely disseminated,” Miller wrote.
In the letter, Paramount Skydance demanded that “ByteDance immediately take all necessary steps to (i) prevent violations of our intellectual property rights by ensuring that our content is not used or created by ByteDance or the Seed Platforms going forward, and (ii) remove all infringing instances of Paramount’s content from ByteDance’s platforms and systems.”
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U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Saturday that it had carried out ten strikes against over 30 ISIS targets in Syria in recent days as part of a joint military effort to “sustain relentless military pressure on remnants from the terrorist network.”
CENTCOM said, from Feb. 3-12, its forces “struck ISIS infrastructure and weapons storage targets with precision munitions delivered by fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and unmanned aircraft.”
Recently, CENTCOM forces conducted five strikes against an ISIS communication site, critical logistics node and weapons storage facilities in Syria between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2.
US MILITARY IN SYRIA CARRIES OUT 5 STRIKES AGAINST ‘MULTIPLE ISIS TARGETS’
Operation Hawkeye Strike targets over 30 ISIS sites after a December ambush that killed US troops. (CENTCOM)
“Striking these targets demonstrates our continued focus and resolve for preventing an ISIS resurgence in Syria,” Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of CENTCOM, said in a statement at the time.
“Operating in coordination with coalition and partner forces to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS makes America, the region and the world safer.”
AFTER TRUMP DECLARED ISIS DEFEATED, US FACES NEW TEST AS DETAINEES MOVE AMID SYRIA POWER SHIFT
On Jan. 27, President Trump told reporters he had a “great conversation with the highly respected” president of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
More than 50 ISIS terrorists have been killed or captured and over 100 ISIS infrastructure targets have been struck. (CENTCOM)
“All of the things having to do with Syria in that area are working out very, very well,” said President Trump. “So, we are very happy about it.”
The Operation Hawkeye Strike mission was launched in response to an ISIS “ambush” attack that left two U.S. service members and an American interpreter dead Dec. 13, 2025, in Palmyra, Syria.
AFTER TRUMP DECLARED ISIS DEFEATED, US FACES NEW TEST AS DETAINEES MOVE AMID SYRIA POWER SHIFT
“More than 50 ISIS terrorists have been killed or captured and over 100 ISIS infrastructure targets have been struck with hundreds of precision munitions during two months of targeted operations,” CENTCOM said.
The Operation Hawkeye Strike mission was launched in response to an ISIS “ambush” attack that left two U.S. service members and an American interpreter dead. (CENTCOM)
On Thursday, CENTCOM announced it had completed its withdrawal of American forces from al-Tanf Garrison in Syria, pointing to a broader shift in U.S. posture in the region.
CHAOS IN SYRIA SPARKS FEARS OF ISIS PRISON BREAKS AS US RUSHES DETAINEES TO IRAQ
“Striking these targets demonstrates our continued focus and resolve for preventing an ISIS resurgence in Syria,” said Adm. Brad Cooper. (CENTCOM)
Operation Inherent Resolve was launched in 2014 to combat ISIS with American troops maintaining a limited presence to support partner forces and prevent ISIS from returning after it was territorially defeated in 2019.
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Fox News Digital’s Ashley Carnahan and Greg Norman-Diamond contributed to this report.
Limits to pardon powers
But there are limits to presidential clemency, and already, Trump has brushed against them.
In December, Trump announced that he would pardon Tina Peters, a former county clerk in Colorado who supported Trump’s false claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election.
Peters, however, was also convicted of state-level crimes, after she used her office to allow an unauthorised person to access her county’s election software.
A president may only pardon federal charges, not state ones. Peters continues to serve a nine-year prison sentence. Still, Trump has sought to pressure Colorado officials to release her.
“She did nothing wrong,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “If she is not released, I am going to take harsh measures!!!”
While Trump has argued that presidents have the “complete power to pardon”, legal experts have repeatedly affirmed that clemency is not without bounds.
Pardons, for example, cannot be used to avoid impeachment or to undercut the Constitution, nor can they be used to absolve future crimes.
Still, the question remains how to enforce those limits — and whether new bulwarks should be created to prevent abuse.
Love points to the state pardon systems as models to emulate. Delaware, for example, has a Board of Pardons that hears petitions in public meetings and makes recommendations to the governor. More than half of the petitions are granted.
Like other successful clemency systems, Love said it offers public accountability.
She measures that accountability by certain standards: “Can people see what’s going on? Do they know what the standards are, and is the decider a respected and responsible decision-maker?”
Trump’s sweeping actions, however, have prompted calls for presidential pardons to be limited or eliminated altogether.
Osler cautions against doing so: It would be a “permanent solution to a temporary problem”.
“If we constrain clemency, we’ll lose all the good things that come from it,” Osler said.
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