Seoul: Supreme Court reinstates Prime Minister Han as interim president

Today's news: Israeli raid on Gaza hospital to target hospitalised Hamas member, death toll exceeds 50,000. Chinese Vice-Premier meets global multinational leaders to encourage investment in the country. Motion of no confidence in Paetongtarn Shinawatra: ‘His father is the real head of the government’. Russian dissident Aleksandr Skobov sentenced to 16 years in prison.

SOUTH KOREA

The Constitutional Court has rejected the impeachment of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, reinstating him as interim president of South Korea, in the midst of the political chaos following the attempt to impose martial law by the suspended president Yoon Suk Yeol. Five of the eight judges on the Court, while identifying misconduct on the part of the prime minister, did not consider it serious enough to justify impeachment. Two other judges voted to dismiss the motion completely. The Court has not yet announced the date of the ruling in the Yoon case, but many observers expect it to come sometime this week.

ISRAEL-GAZA

At least five people were killed last night and many others injured in an Israeli air strike targeting Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. The attack destroyed a large section of the hospital. The target of the raid was Ismail Barhoum, a senior Hamas political figure, who was receiving treatment at the hospital for injuries sustained in a previous Israeli attack. According to Palestinian health sources, the death toll in Gaza has risen to over 50,000.

CHINA

Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng met the heads of several large multinationals including Apple, Pfizer, Mastercard and Cargill in Beijing yesterday, reassuring them about the potential for their activities in the country. Beijing is keen to attract foreign investment in a context of growing geopolitical tensions, while politicians are trying to stimulate domestic consumption in a slowing economy to compensate for the impact of US tariffs.

THAILAND

The Thai parliament is today debating a motion of no confidence presented by the opposition against Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who is accused of incompetence, tax evasion and (above all) of being a mere front for his father Thaksin Shinawatra. Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, leader of the opposition and the People's Party, declared to the Assembly that 38-year-old Paetongtarn does not have the necessary knowledge for national administration nor the intention to solve the problems. Paetongtarn can however count on a majority of votes in parliament, so it is unlikely that the motion will be approved.

PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN

The Pakistani army killed 16 Islamist militants along the country's western border with Afghanistan in a firefight that took place during the night between 22 and 23 March in the North Waziristan district. Islamabad claims that the Islamic militants who attack inside Pakistan and its army have safe havens in Afghanistan, a charge that Kabul denies.

RUSSIA

Russian dissident Aleksandr Skobov has been sentenced to 16 years in a hard labour camp, as well as a fine of 300,000 roubles, for having publicly criticised ‘the Kremlin's war propagandists’. At the trial he intervened stating ‘it is I who condemn you, together with Putin's clique that reeks of corpses for having conducted the criminal war against Ukraine, and for having thrown Russia into political terror’.

TAJIKISTAN

In honour of the spring festival of Nawruz, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon has pardoned 897 prisoners, based on ‘humanist principles’, mostly those convicted of minor crimes. The last time Rakhmon pardoned 400 people was in 2020, on the occasion of his umpteenth presidential term; there are currently 13,500 prisoners in Tajikistan.