SEOUL: South Korea’s opposition Democratic Party on Monday urged the country’s Constitutional Court to swiftly rule on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment, saying keeping the country waiting is “irresponsible” and deepening social division.
As the eight-member court continued deliberations well into the third week, political tensions have surged between those who demand Yoon’s ouster for declaring a short-lived martial law in December and supporters who want him reinstated.
The court had wrapped up arguments on February 25, where Yoon said his martial law declaration was needed to root out “anti-state” elements but he never intended to fully impose emergency military rule.
“The country and the people have come to the breaking point,” a Democratic Party leadership member Kim Min-seok said. “We wait for the court’s responsible decision. Further delay is not normal and irresponsible,” he told a party meeting.
In 2017, former president Park Geun-hye was removed from office 11 days after the final arguments in the Constitutional Court in her impeachment trial.
South Koreans have gathered in huge numbers in the capital Seoul supporting and backing the conservative leader’s removal, saying the delay has been frustrating and made confusion worse.
Yoon was impeached by the Democratic Party-controlled parliament in December for violating his constitutional duty. He committed acts that are a grave threat to rule of law and more than disqualify him from office, the impeachment motion said.
Yoon is on a separate criminal trial on charges of leading insurrection, which is punishable by death or life in prison.
The fallout of Yoon’s martial law declaration has widened the rifts between the conservatives and liberals and those in the public, adding stress on institutions and putting much of the government policy making in limbo.
Some of the country’s top military commanders have been taken off duty and face criminal trials for their roles in the martial law decree. Arguments in the trial of former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun on insurrection charges begin on Monday.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who was briefly acting president after Yoon was impeached and suspended from power on December 14, has also been impeached and the country is now led by the Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok.
South Korea’s opposition says delay of Yoon impeachment ruling is irresponsible
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South Korea’s opposition says delay of Yoon impeachment ruling is irresponsible
- The eight-member Constitutional Court continued deliberations well into the third week
- Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached by the Democratic Party-controlled parliament in December
Air India crash death toll climbs to 270 as victim identification continues
- Only one of 242 people on London-bound flight survived
- Doctors have identified 32 individuals through DNA matching
NEW DELHI: The death toll from the crash of an Air India flight from Ahmedabad to London has risen to 270, as bodies, including those of people killed on the ground, continue to be identified.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed less than a minute after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Gujarat state on Thursday.
It was carrying 242 people — 230 passengers, two pilots and 10 crew members. Only one person, a British national sitting in an emergency exit seat, survived the crash.
It remains unclear how many people were killed on the ground as the aircraft fell on B.J. Medical College and a hostel for students and resident doctors of the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital.
Dr. Dhaval Gameti, president of the Junior Doctors’ Association at the college, told The Associated Press on Saturday that the hospital had received the bodies of 270 victims.
The process of matching DNA samples to confirm their identities is underway.
Dr. Rajnish Patel, additional superintendent at the hospital, told the media on Sunday that only 14 bodies had been handed over to their next of kin.
“In the Ahmedabad plane tragedy, the DNA samples of 32 deceased individuals have been matched,” the hospital said in a statement.
“The mortal remains of the deceased whose DNA samples have been matched are being respectfully handed over to their families.”
Dr. Sarbari Dutta, secretary general of the Indian Medical Association, told Arab News that at least four medical students were confirmed to have been killed when the plane crashed into the college compound.
“More than 20 students are admitted in the hospital, some of them with very severe injuries,” she said, adding that the actual number of casualties would “definitely” be higher.
India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is leading the inquiry into the cause of the crash.
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said on Saturday, after the aircraft’s digital flight data recorder, or black box, had been found at the site of the crash, that an investigation report would be issued within three months.
“The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has also given an order to do extended surveillance for the (Boeing) 787 planes,” he said.
“There are 34 in our Indian aircraft fleet today. I believe that eight have already been inspected and with immediate urgency. All of them are going to be done.”
Two killed, 32 injured after bridge collapses at tourist destination in India’s Maharashtra
- Incident occurred in Kundamala area in Pune district, which has witnessed heavy rains over the past few days
- It was not raining when the bridge collapsed in an area frequented by picnickers, PTI news agency reported
NEW DELHI: At least two people died and 32 others were injured after an iron bridge over a river collapsed at a popular tourist destination in India’s western Maharashtra state, the state’s top elected official said Sunday.
At least six people were rescued and hospitalized in critical condition, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis wrote on social media platform X.
The incident occurred in Kundamala area in Pune district, which has witnessed heavy rains over the past few days, giving the river a steady flow, Press Trust of India reported.
It was not raining when the bridge collapsed in an area frequented by picnickers, the news agency reported.
Police said teams of the National Disaster Response Force and other search and recovery units have undertaken rescue operations, Press Trust reported.
Rescue work at the scene has been accelerated, Fadnavis said.
Ukraine’s Sumy region on edge as Russian advance closes in
- Ukraine held swathes of the territory for eight months, until a spring offensive by Russian forces supported by North Korean troops pushed them back
STETS’KIVKA: Despite the driving rain, a few elderly residents wander into the streets of Stetskivka in northeast Ukraine to catch a yellow bus to go shopping in nearby Sumy, the regional capital.
They are worried about the Russian drones that have been striking the area with increasing regularity, more than three years into Moscow’s invasion.
“I’m afraid. Nobody knows what could happen to the bus we take,” Galyna Golovko, 69, told AFP at the small shop she runs near the bus stop.
Golovko said she never goes out in the morning or evening when Russian drones criss-cross the sky.
“It’s scary how many drones fly in the morning.... In the morning and in the evening it’s just hell,” she said.
The border with the neighboring Russian region of Kursk is just 17 kilometers (11 miles) away.
The Sumy region was the starting point for a Ukrainian incursion into Kursk last year.
Ukraine held swathes of the territory for eight months, until a spring offensive by Russian forces supported by North Korean troops pushed them back.
Moscow has since advanced toward the city of Sumy, taking several villages along the way and forcing mandatory evacuations of civilian residents.
At the Stetskivka bus stop, an elderly woman said she had packed up in case Russian troops arrive in town, where Ukrainian soldiers have replaced a pre-war population of 5,500 people.
The town is just 10 kilometers from the front line, and residents said there is heavy fighting nearby.
Beyond Stetskivka, “everything has been destroyed, there is not a single village,” Golovko said.
On her shop counter, there was a plastic box with a few banknotes — donations for a local family that lost its home, destroyed by a Russian glide bomb.
Ten kilometers to the south lies Sumy, a city that had 255,000 inhabitants before the war.
So far, restaurants are crowded and there seems little concern about the Russian advance.
But buildings in the city bear the scars of Russian bombardments.
And, when the sounds of car horns go down in the evenings, explosions can be heard in the distance.
The streets are lined with concrete bunkers against the increasingly frequent strikes from Russia, which has said it wants to set up a “buffer zone” to prevent future Ukrainian incursions.
“The enemy is trying to advance,” said Anvar, commander of the drone battalion of the 225th regiment, which is leading the defense of the region.
“We are pushing them back. Sometimes we advance, sometimes they do,” he told AFP in an apartment that serves as a base for his unit.
“We still have troops in the Kursk region. Nobody has tried to drive them out,” he said, calling the conflict in the region a “war of positions.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said the Russian offensive in Sumy had been stopped, just a day after Russian forces said they had captured another village in the region.
Sitting next to Anvar, one of his men soldered microprocessors in silence, except for electronic clicking that made the room feel like a laboratory.
Surrounded by 3D printers and piles of batteries, the members of the brigade are busy transforming Chinese drones into flying weapons.
“It is now a drone war,” the commander said.
Anvar said that Russia was continually sending “cannon fodder” along this part of the front to try and overwhelm Ukrainian troops.
“I know people who have gone mad because of the number of people they manage to kill in a day.”
Russian soldiers “continue marching calmly” amid the bodies of their fallen comrades, he said.
In Stetskivka, Golovko voiced confidence that Ukrainian soldiers would hold the line and said she was “not going anywhere.”
“I will stay at home,” she said tearfully, beating the counter with her fist.
“I have traveled to Russia. We have friends there, and relatives. Everything was fine before.
“One day, this madness will end. The madness that Putin unleashed will end,” she said in a shaky voice.
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‘Hidden treasure’: Rare Gandhi portrait up for UK sale in July
- Gandhi, one of the most influential figures in India’s history, led a non-violent movement against British rule
- 1931 painting by British-American artist Clare Leighton is believed to be the only oil portrait Gandhi sat for
LONDON: A rare oil painting of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, which is believed to have been damaged by a Hindu nationalist activist, is to be auctioned in London in July.
Gandhi, one of the most influential figures in India’s history, led a non-violent movement against British rule and inspired similar resistance campaigns across the world.
He is the subject of tens of thousands of artworks, books and films.
But a 1931 painting by British-American artist Clare Leighton is believed to be the only oil portrait he sat for, according to the painter’s family and Bonhams, where it will be auctioned online from July 7 to 15.
“Not only is this a rare work by Clare Leighton, who is mainly known for her wood engravings, it is also thought to be the only oil painting of Mahatma Gandhi which he sat for,” said Rhyanon Demery, Bonhams Head of Sale for Travel and Exploration.
The painting is a “likely hidden treasure,” Caspar Leighton, the artist’s great-nephew, told AFP.
Going under the hammer for the first time next month, the painting is estimated to sell for between £50,000 and £70,000 ($68,000 and $95,000).
Clare Leighton met Gandhi in 1931, when he was in London for talks with the British government on India’s political future.
She was part of London’s left-wing artistic circles and was introduced to Gandhi by her partner, journalist Henry Noel Brailsford.
“I think there was clearly a bit of artistic intellectual courtship that went on,” said Caspar, pointing out that his great-aunt and Gandhi shared a “sense of social justice.”
The portrait, painted at a crucial time for India’s independence struggle, “shows Gandhi at the height of his power,” added Caspar.
It was exhibited in London in November 1931, following which Gandhi’s personal secretary, Mahadev Desai, wrote to Clare: “It was such a pleasure to have had you here for many mornings doing Mr.Gandhi’s portrait.”
“Many of my friends who saw it in the Albany Gallery said to me that it was a good likeness,” reads a copy of the letter attached to the painting’s backing board.
The painting intimately captures Gandhi’s likeness but it also bears reminders of his violent death.
Gandhi was shot at point-blank range in 1948 by disgruntled Hindu nationalist activist Nathuram Godse, once closely associated with the right-wing paramilitary organization RSS.
Godse and some other Hindu nationalist figures accused Gandhi of betraying Hindus by agreeing to the partition of India and the creation of Muslim-majority Pakistan.
According to Leighton’s family, the painting was attacked with a knife by a “Hindu extremist” believed to be an RSS activist, in the early 1970s.
Although there is no documentation of the attack, a label on the back of the painting confirms that it was restored in the United States in 1974.
Under UV light, Demery pointed out the shadow of a deep gash running across Gandhi’s face where the now-restored painting was damaged.
“It feels very deliberate,” she said.
The repairs “add to the value of the picture in a sense... to its place in history, that Gandhi was again attacked figuratively many decades after his death,” said Caspar.
The only other recorded public display of the painting was in 1978 at a Boston Public Library exhibition of Clare Leighton’s work.
After Clare’s death, the artwork passed down to Caspar’s father and then to him.
“There’s my family’s story but the story in this portrait is so much greater,” he said.
“It’s a story for millions of people across the world,” he added.
“I think it’d be great if it got seen by more people. Maybe it should go back to India — maybe that’s its real home.”
Unlike countless depictions of the man known in India as the “father of the nation” — in stamps, busts, paraphernalia and recreated artwork — “this is actually from the time,” said Caspar.
“This might be really the last truly significant picture of Gandhi to emerge from that time.”
Iran denies asking Cyprus to convey messages to Israel
- Christodoulides told journalists Iran had asked Cyprus to convey ‘some messages’ to Israel but he did not say who specifically the messages were from or what they said
DUBAI: Iran did not send any message to Israel via a third country, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on Sunday, after Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said earlier Tehran had asked Nicosia to convey “some messages” to Israel.
President Nikos Christodoulides said Sunday Iran has asked Cyprus to convey “some messages” to Israel, as the east Mediterranean island appealed for restraint in a rapidly escalating crisis in the Middle East.
Christodoulides spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and he has also spoken to the leaders of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Greece, his office said Sunday.
Christodoulides told journalists Iran had asked Cyprus to convey ‘some messages’ to Israel but he did not say who specifically the messages were from or what they said.
Cypriot officials offered no clarity on the nature of the messages, which came after the Cypriot foreign minister spoke to his Iranian counterpart on Friday night.
Christodoulides also said he was not happy with what he said was a slow reaction by the European Union to the unfolding crisis in the Middle East.
Cyprus, the EU member situated closest to the Middle East, had asked for an extraordinary meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, he said. Projectiles sent by Iran to strike Israel were visible from various locations across Cyprus on Friday and Saturday night.
“It is not possible for the EU to claim a geopolitical role, to see all these developments and for there not to be at the very least a convening of the Council of Foreign Ministers,” Christodoulides told journalists.
Cyprus has offered to assist in the evacuation of third-party nationals from the region, and has called on all sides to refrain from actions which could escalate the conflict.
