SEOUL: South Korea’s Constitutional Court has termed the law criminalizing abortion as unconstitutional, media reports said on Thursday.
This has been a landmark ruling that is likely to overturn a ban on abortion that had been in place since 1953.
The court said the ban on abortion, as well as a law that made doctors who conduct abortions with a woman’s consent liable to criminal charges, were both unconstitutional.
The court had previously upheld the abortion law in 2012. (Agencies)
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has said there could be a better chance of peace talks with India if Prime Minister Narendra Modi wins the 2019 election, Indian media reported.
PM Khan said if Congress forms the next Indian government, chances of peace talks would be slim since Congress might be ‘too scared’ to seek a settlement with Pakistan over Kashmir.
If the BJP wins, a kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached, according to PM Imran Khan, the reports said.
He, however, said Indian Muslims, who had been happy about their situation in India, were now worried by extreme Hindu nationalism.
Khan also stated that Modi, like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was electioneering based on the “fear and nationalist feeling”. (Agencies)
KUALA LUMPUR: Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, was temporarily arrested on Tuesday, international media reports said.
She was arrested by the country’s anti-corruption body and will be charged again for her involvement in a solar power project for rural schools.
KABUL: Some five people, including three U.S. soldiers and a U.S. contractor and an assailant, were killed in a suicide car bombing in Afghanistan on Monday, media report said on Tuesday quoting authorities.
Eight others were injured in the explosion and are receiving treatment, authorities said in a statement.
NEW DELHI: Indian Congress President Rahul Gandhi criticized the BJP manifesto of being short-sighted and arrogant, Indian media reported.
He slammed it of not being representative of the people.
Top brass of the BJP, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief Amit Shah, Union ministers Rajnath Singh, among others unveiled the party manifesto named ‘Sankalp Patra’ in New Delhi on April 8.
The opposition Congress had unveiled its manifesto named ‘Congress Will Deliver’ on April 2.
Rahul said the Congress manifesto was ‘created through discussion’, and alleged the BJP manifesto of being created in a closed room. (Agencies)
KATHMANDU: With the general elections just around the corner, ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of India has unveiled its election manifesto with commitment for good governance, national security, and prosperity for the next rule.
The election manifesto was unveiled amid a special program in the Indian capital New Delhi on Monday for 17th Lok Sabha election which is beginning from April 11.
BJP, in the manifesto, expressed commitment to recognize 11 Nepali speaking communities of Darjeeling and Sikkim as indigenous nationalities in an effort to take them into confidence.
BJP had made similar commitments in the general elections of 2014, too.
KUALA LUMPUR: Police said that they found 37 people believed to be Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar on a beach in northern Malaysia, international media reported on Monday.
According to the report, the finding has filled authorities with fear as they believe it could be a new wave of people smuggling by sea.
In recent months, dozens of Rohingya in Myanmar and Bangladesh have boarded boats to reach Malaysia.
There was a sharp decline in arrivals after a 2015 crackdown on trafficking. Last month, 35 migrants were found on Sungai Belati beach in the northern state of Perlis.
On Monday, 37 men were detained around the town of Simpang Empat after landing at the same beach in the early morning . (Agencies)
SEOUL: Hyundai Motor Co has denied a report of signing a preliminary deal with Chinese technology firm Tencent Holdings to develop software for driverless vehicles.
Hyundai’s comments come a day after medias saying that the two companies planned to conduct joint research and development on safety and security systems for self-driving cars, which Hyundai seeks to roll out commercially by 2030.
Hyundai said in a statement on Sunday that its cooperation with the Chinese tech giant was focused on infotainment. Modern cars have so-called infotainment systems on a screen below the dashboard to provide services such as navigation and music.
(Agencies)
WASHINGTON: The United States is preparing to move its de facto embassy in Taiwan to a new site next month, media reports said.
Nearly 500 staff, including active US military personnel, will relocate to the new US$255 million complex in the Neihu district, Taipei on May 6.
They will leave behind the old premises that was set up to defend Taiwan against any military action from Beijing before 1979.
The new American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) will occupy a five-floor office and other buildings that take up about one-third of the 6.5-hectare site.
It took more than nine years to build the new structure. (Agencies)
KARACHI: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has blamed India’s ruling party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for whipping up war hysteria.
He also accused the party of an attempt to win elections through whipping up war hysteria. The remarks by the Pakistani prime minister come following a revelation by US-based magazine that India didn’t down the fighter F-16 aircraft.
“The truth always prevails and is always the best policy,” Khan said in a Tweet. “BJP’s attempt to win elections through whipping up war hysteria and false claims of downing a Pak F 16 has backfired with US Defence officials also confirming that no F16 was missing from Pakistan’s fleet,” he said in a tweet.