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Hunger Strike, South Korea opposition leader hospitalised

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South Korea’s main opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was hospitalised Monday after 19 days on hunger strike to protest against government policies, his party said.

Hours after he was transferred to hospital, prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for him over corruption allegations.

Lee, 58, launched his hunger strike on August 31, over what he calls the government’s “incompetent and violent” policies, in particular its failure to protest against Japan’s release of treated wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactor.

Lee, a former presidential candidate, looked pale and weak in media footage. His transfer to hospital did not stop prosecutors from seeking to arrest him.

“Whether to fast or not and how to fast is a matter of personal freedom, but it should not affect the investigation or trial,” South Korea’s Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon told a parliamentary session.

“If a precedent is set that affects investigations and trials, wouldn’t everyone, including petty criminals, start fasting when they receive a summons notice?”

Prosecutors have accused Lee of bribery in connection with a firm that is suspected of illicitly transferring $8 million to North Korea.

He is also accused of breaching his duties, which allegedly resulted in a loss of 20 billion won ($15 million) for a company owned by Seongnam city during his term as its mayor.

Lee refutes all the allegations.

In order for a court to consider the prosecution’s request for an arrest warrant, Lee’s parliamentary immunity would have to be waived by the 300-member National Assembly, where the Democratic Party — headed by Lee — hold a majority.

Lee’s party slammed the latest development, saying the arrest warrant was “a clear sign of how violent and oppressive” President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration is, it said in a statement.

The National Assembly previously dismissed a request for an arrest warrant in February.

The ruling People Power Party has asked Lee to stop fasting and said that it was ready to talk with Lee on his policy concerns once he recovers his health.

A former child factory worker who suffered an industrial accident as a teenage school drop-out, Lee rose to political stardom partly by playing up his rags-to-riches tale.

But his bid for the top office has been overshadowed by a string of scandals. He faced scrutiny over a questionable land development deal and persistent rumors linking him to organised crime.

At least five individuals connected to Lee’s various scandals in the past have been found dead, some in what appeared to be suicides.

He lost to Yoon in last year’s presidential election by a margin of 0.7 percent.

AFP

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Democrats Win US midterm elections

Trump acknowledges the Iran war, and the rising cost of living, were factors in his Republican Party’s defeat – as the White House posts on social media: “Trump is still your president”

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US President Donald Trump

The Democrats win the Senate and the House in US midterm elections, taking control of Congress for the rest of Donald Trump’s tenure.

Voters in conservative bastions who had propelled the president to his second term in office just two years ago swung dramatically toward Democrats, fueled by deep frustration over the unpopular war with Iran, anxiety over the high cost of living and anger at ‌Trump’s stewardship of the country.

Trump acknowledges the Iran war, and the rising cost of living, were factors in his Republican Party’s defeat – as the White House posts on social media: “Trump is still your president”

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In Texas, the biggest Republican state, Democrats ended a decades-long losing streak in seismic fashion, winning a Senate seat and ousting three-term Governor Greg Abbott.Kansas elected its first Democratic senator since the Great Depression nearly a century ago, and in South Carolina, a state that Trump carried by nearly 18 points in 2024, Democrats turned aside his hand-picked Senate candidate.The results will usher in a new era of divided government in Washington, following two years in which the Republican-controlled Congress rarely exercised its power to rein in Trump.

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JUST IN: Plane Crash Near Trump’s Florida Home Kills All 9 Aboard

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A private Learjet 60 crashed into a residential neighborhood in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Sunday afternoon, killing all nine people on board, officials confirmed.

The aircraft, flying from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas, went down around 12:50 p.m. local time near Cresthaven/Greenacres, roughly 7–11 kilometers (about 4–7 miles) from President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

It struck near a busy roadway at the entrance to a mobile-home community, creating a large fireball and leaving a crater in the road. Debris was scattered across a wide area, and nearby power and water lines were damaged.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the crash a “horrific tragedy” and confirmed there were no survivors among the nine occupants.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis described the impact as “cataclysmic,” saying it “looked like a missile going down.” No injuries were reported among people on the ground. About 600 residents of a nearby mobile-home park were evacuated.

Trump had been at Mar-a-Lago earlier Sunday but departed on Air Force One from the nearby airport about an hour before the crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation, with support from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Early reports noted the crew had discussed moderate turbulence and ice shortly before the steep descent.

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Tens of thousands protest against Narendra Modi regime in Delhi

The protest was one of the largest shows of opposition strength in years, taking place amid a wider resurgence of anti-government dissent which has been systematically crushed over the 12 years of the Modi regime.

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Thousands of opposition supporters have gathered in Delhi as protests against the Narendra Modi government continue to gather momentum.

Led by the Congress party, India’s opposition alliance has brought together supporters from across the country, amid growing anger over a large-scale revision of the country’s voter roll that has seen 130 million names erased.

Opposition leaders have alleged the process gives Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) an electoral advantage, and have called for the resignation and impeachment of the chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar.

The BJP has denied the claims.

Addressing tens of thousands of party workers and supporters, the opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said Kumar had “carried out the biggest crime. He has tried to silence the voice of people, strangulate our country.”

Gandhi said the opposition, united under the acronym India (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance), would not let “democracy be finished in the country” and warned Modi: “You can’t run anywhere.”

The protest was one of the largest shows of opposition strength in years, taking place amid a wider resurgence of anti-government dissent which has been systematically crushed over the 12 years of the Modi regime.

The Guardian Uk

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