South Korean Acting President urges all to respect Constitutional Court’s upcoming ruling on Yoon

Posted on by Vividh Bharathi

Seoul, March 18 (IANS) South Korean Acting President Choi Sang-mok on Tuesday asked the public to respect the upcoming ruling of the Constitutional Court on South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment amid concerns over an intensifying social conflict.

“I sincerely urge the people to respect and accept whatever decision the Constitutional Court makes,” Choi said during a Cabinet meeting.

“As tensions between supporters and opponents rise ahead of the Constitutional Court’s crucial decision, public concerns over potential violence and clashes are growing,” he added.

His comments came as the Constitutional Court deliberates whether to reinstate or remove Yoon from office following his impeachment over a brief martial law declaration on December 3.

The court is widely expected to announce its final ruling later this week, Yonhap news agency reported.

With the final decision looming, large-scale rallies and protests, either opposing or supporting Yoon’s removal, took place in major urban centres across the country over the weekend.

Although the demonstrations ended safely and without any major incidents, many are concerned about possible violence after the ruling.

Earlier on Monday, five Opposition parties of South Korea decided to file a petition with a global body of legislatures to request an investigation into South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed martial law bid.

Political turmoil has persisted since Yoon’s surprise declaration of martial law in December. At that time, the National Assembly was briefly sealed by martial law troops before lawmakers voted to demand Yoon lift the martial law decree.

Rep. Lee Jae-jung of the main Opposition Democratic Party told reporters that the parties plan to request the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to conduct the probe and seek its “support for the South Korean people in ending the insurrection and defending constitutional order.”

If Yoon is ousted, the country will be required to hold a snap presidential election within 60 days. If reinstated, he will serve out the remainder of his term through May 2027.

–IANS

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Eventful week for Indian stock markets, budget holds key for directional breakout

Mumbai, Jan 25 (IANS) Bulls made several attempts to bounce back but the overall sentiment remained weak as Nifty slipped for the third consecutive week amid geo-political uncertainties.

It was, however, an eventful week on both global and domestic fronts but despite the developments, there was no significant change in the price structure.

“Aside from Tuesday’s strong sell-off from higher levels, the week saw choppy sessions, eventually ending with a modest loss of around half a per cent, just below 23,100,” said Rajesh Bhosale from Angel One.

While the broader markets were under pressure, the sell-off in the benchmark index showed signs of slowing down.

“This could be a precursor as we approach the budget week, a key event that often sets the market tone, either continuing the current trend or signalling a reversal,” according to Bhosale.

Indian stock markets remained volatile on Friday as selling pressure at higher levels weighed on benchmark indices.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex was at 76,190.46, down 329.92 points or 0.49 per cent, while the Nifty 50 slipped 113.15 points or 0.49 per cent to finish the day at 23,092.2.

Both indices touched intra-day highs of 76,985.95 and 23,347.30, respectively, before losing momentum. Indian equities ended a volatile session on a weak note as global optimism failed to lift domestic markets.

According to Siddhartha Khemka of Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, broader market indices this week were under heavy selling pressure as Nifty midcap100 lost 1.6 per cent and Nifty smallcap100 plunged 2.4 per cent.

The FPIs offloaded equities worth Rs 5,463 crore on Friday, pushing their cumulative outflows for the month to Rs 66,322 crore.

In global developments, the Bank of Japan hiked interest rates by 25bps to 0.5 per cent, bringing its policy rate to its highest level since 2008, as it seeks to normalise its monetary policy.

“On the other hand, US’ benchmark S&P 500 rose to a record high, while the other two indices gained for the fourth day in a row after US President Donald Trump called for lower interest rates and cheaper oil prices,” said Khemka.

According to market experts, traders should closely monitor these levels and adjust their strategies accordingly.

“In the midcap space, we saw mixed performance, with some days experiencing sharp sell-offs and others seeing strong rallies. Such volatile movements and themes are likely to continue, so traders need to remain agile in their stock selection,” said experts.

Domestic equities are expected to trade within a broad range with some volatility amidst the Q3 result season, unfolding of US President Trump’s economic policies and the Union Budget on Saturday (February 1).

PSU and capex themed stocks such as railway, defence, capital goods will be in focus ahead of the Budget, said experts.

—IANS

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Telangana tunnel tragedy: Intense efforts on to trace remaining 7 missing men

Hyderabad, March 10 (IANS) Day after recovering one body from the debris, rescue teams continued intense efforts to search for the remaining seven people in the SLBC tunnel in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool district on Monday.

Rescue teams from various agencies were undertaking digging work at another point identified by the cadaver sniffer dog squad from Kerala.

Rat miners from Uttarakhand, miners from Singareni Collieries and personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were carefully digging around the point with mini-excavators.

The search operation continued for the 17th day in the last 70 metres of the 14-km-long tunnel, where the eight workers were trapped after a portion of the tunnel roof collapsed on a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) on February 22.

Rescue workers on Sunday evening exhumed one body from the point identified by the cadaver dog squad.

The body was identified as that of TBM operator Gurpreet Singh. The 40-year-old hailed from Punjab and was working for Robbins Company, which supplies and operates tunnel boring machines.

The body was shifted to government hospital at Nagarkurnool and after completing medical and legal formalities was taken to his hometown in Punjab.

The seven people yet to be traced are Manoj Kumar and Sri Niwas from Uttar Pradesh, Sunny Singh from Jammu and Kashmir and Sandeep Sahu, Jegta Xess, Santosh Sahu and Anuj Sahu, all from Jharkhand.

The rescue agencies hoped that more bodies would be recovered soon based on the sniffer dog leads and the ground probing radar (GPR) scanning information provided by the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI).

The rescue workers continued to face challenges due to the debris of the TBM and the large amount of muck.

The TBM, which had a total length of 132.5 metres, was buried under silt and rocks in the February 22 incident.

The workers who were present in the front portion of the TBM were trapped while 42 others who were at the back end managed to come out of the tunnel.

The technicians from the South Central Railway (SCR) have so far cut the TBM into pieces for a length of about 60 metres.

The head portion of the TBM remained buried in the debris and the last 70 metres of the tunnel is still filled with 3 to 9 metres deep slush and other debris, posing a risk to the rescue workers.

While continuing dewatering and desilting, the rescue agencies were mobilising special equipment for the workers to carry out their work without the risk of being trapped in the slush.

Two cadaver dogs trained to locate missing humans and human bodies were brought from Kerala by a special helicopter three days ago.

According to officials, these dogs of the Belgian Malinois breed can detect smell even from a depth of 15 feet.

Indian Army, Navy, NDRF, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Singareni, SCR and other agencies are participating in the search operation.

The authorities on Saturday deployed robots for rescue operations in the tunnel as suggested by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy during his visit to the tunnel on March 2.

Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy announced the deployment of robotic technology to accelerate rescue operations.

Robots equipped with cameras, infrared sensors, and robotic arms have been deployed to assess conditions and aid extraction.

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy expressed condolences over the death of Gurpreet Singh and announced Rs 25 lakh ex-gratia to his next of kin.

–IANS

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Maha: MVA moves motion against state council Deputy Chairperson

Mumbai, March 5 (IANS) The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Wednesday filed a motion to the legislative secretariat proposing the Maharashtra Legislative Council Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe be removed from the post as she has lost the confidence of the house.

The motion was signed by the Leader of the Opposition in the state council and Shiv Sena UBT leader Ambadas Danve and nine other legislators of the Maha Vikas Aghadi under the section 183 (G) of the Constitution and rule 11 of the Maharashtra Legislative Council rules.

“MVA has submitted the motion to the legislature secretariat saying that Neelam Gorhe has lost the confidence of the house. It is expected to come up before the conclusion of the budget session. All 10 legislators, who have signed the motion, will stand up and put up their argument when the motion is taken up for consideration, demanding Gorhe’s removal,” said Shiv Sena UBT legislator and former minister Anil Parab.

In the 78-member Maharashtra Legislative Council, the ruling MahaYuti has 32 members and Maha Vikas Aghadi 17 members. The party-wise strength is BJP 19, Shiv Sena 6, NCP 7, Congress 7, Shiv Sena UBT 7, NCP-SP 3 and independents 3. Of the 78 members, currently there are 52 sitting members while 26 seats are vacant as the local and civic body elections have yet to take place.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi’s move to file a motion against the state council Deputy Chairperson comes days after Gorhe hogged the headlines after she claimed that “in the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena, without giving two Mercedes cars, no one was given any post. This is a fact.”

Gorhe, who crossed over to The Eknath Shinde Shiv Sena, further added that “when Balasaheb Thackeray was alive, he kept watch everywhere. After him, the Sena slide began. When Uddhav Thackeray became the Chief Minister, the Sainiks were overjoyed because we thought Balasaheb Thackeray’s son had got the post. But soon things began to surface…even MLAs were denied meetings.”

She targeted Uddhav Thackeray during the recently concluded 98th Akhil Bharatiya Sahitya Sammelan.

Incidentally, it is not the first time such a motion is moved. When Gorhe was with the Thackeray camp, the BJP had moved a similar motion. However, after Gorhe deserted Uddhav Thackeray and joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, BJP withdrew its motion.

After Gorhe joined the Shinde camp, she remained in the post of Deputy Chairperson. On various occasions, the house witnessed heated exchanges between her and Shiv Sena UBT in particular and other opposition parties.

–IANS

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