SEOUL – South Korea’s impeached President Park Geun-hye on Sunday broke a month-long silence over her alleged role in a corruption scandal, publicly denying charges of wrongdoing and saying that the accusations against her were”fabrication and falsehood.”

Park also said that she was set up over allegations that she ordered the government to support a 2015 merger of two affiliates of South Korean conglomerate Samsung, a deal which has become central to the investigation. “It’s completely framed,” she was quoted by local media as saying, without elaborating.

Park is being investigated over accusations that she gave favours to big businesses in return for financial contributions to entities controlled by her friend, Choi Soon-sil.

On Sunday, Park denied Choi was allowed to wield undue and wide-reaching influence over state affairs.

In a hastily arranged briefing over tea, the leader met reporters from domestic media in her first event since being impeached by parliament on Dec. 9.

Park’s fate is in the hands of Constitutional Court judges who have up to 180 days to uphold the impeachment or reinstate her.

She last appeared in public on Nov. 29, offering to step down if parliament could agree on a way for her to leave office.

Opposition parties rejected that offer and led a motion to impeach Park by a wide margin, joined by some members of her own Saenuri Party. The Constitutional Court is set to begin hearing arguments from both sides.

Park has denied wrongdoing previously but apologised for carelessness in her ties with Choi, a friend for four decades, who has also denied wrongdoing. Choi is in detention while on trial.

SAMSUNG MERGER UNDER SCRUTINY

Park said on Sunday that the decision by the country’s national pension fund to back a merger between two Samsung Group affiliates was “a just policy decision” made for national interest, and that the deal was supported by many brokerage firms at the time. “I did not have an iota of thinking to help anyone and the thought never crossed my mind,” Park said.

“This is not the place to tell you all the details, but what I can clearly say now is that I did nothing whatsoever to favour anyone or collude with anyone to do that.” The merger in 2015 of Samsung Group affiliates Cheil Industries Inc and Samsung C&T Corp has become a key part of the probe into influence peddling at the pinnacle of South Korean politics.

The deal has been criticised by some investors for strengthening the founding family’s control of Samsung Group, South Korea’s largest “chaebol”, or conglomerate, at the expense of other shareholders.

The National Pension Service, which had 545 trillion won ($451.78 billion) under management at the end of September and was a major shareholder in the two Samsung affiliates, voted in favour of the merger without calling in an external committee that sometimes advises it on difficult votes.

Park, 64, is accused of colluding with Choi to pressure big businesses including Samsung to make contributions to non-profit foundations backing presidential initiatives.

Hundreds of thousands of people have turned out in central Seoul for ten straight weekends to demand Park’s immediate ouster, but she has defied the call and indicated through her lawyers that she will fight impeachment in court.

Park’s comments on Sunday were more detailed than previous ones, and also touched on allegations of negligence over the handling of the Sewol ferry disaster in April 2014 that killed more than 300 passengers, mostly school children.

Park was criticised for mishandling the rescue efforts and questions have persisted about her whereabouts during the seven hours between the first report of the accident and her appearance in the government’s emergency room.

Park said she had remained in the residential quarters of the official Blue House residence on April 16 because no official event had been scheduled, but received reports about rescue operations before moving to the nearby situation room when the magnitude of the disaster became evident.

She denied allegations that she failed to pay closer attention to the rescue because she was receiving a cosmetic procedure at the time. “That is not possible even by common sense.”

NEW DELHI –

The death toll from landmine collapse in the eastern Indian state of Jakandebur rose to 17, as rescuers continued to search for the bodies of six missing miners.

A huge mound fell on the Larmatian Opencast Mine on Thursday, about 240 miles (390 km) from the state capital Ranchi.

“We have now removed 17 bodies and thought the toll could rise to 23,” Jakand police spokesman RK Mallick told AFP.

“In addition to challenging terrain and foggy weather, the cave area is about 300 meters away and obviously takes time to clear debris and look for immature miners,” he added.

Baleshwar Mahato, a bulldozer operator at the mine site and his son who died in the accident, said mine operators ignored two safety warnings before the crash.

“After the first warning, about 6 pm (Thursday) there was an alarm when a large piece of mud slid down,” Baleshwar told the Indian Express.

“But continuing to work, Kurishwar (his son), then, this tragic raid,” he added.

No immediate explanation for the collapse, but the government has begun to investigate the incident.

Jharkhand is one of India’s richest mines, accounting for about 29% of the country’s coal reserves. However, it is also one of the poorest areas in India and the center of the Maoist insurgency.

Compared with neighboring China, India has maintained a relatively safe record of mining-related accidents, with an average of 1,000 deaths a year.

In 2015, India killed 38 people at 570 mining sites.

The last large-scale mining accident in India occurred in 1975, when 372 workers died after the Chasnala mine flood in Dhanbad.

NEW DELHI –

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in Saturday’s New Year speech a series of incentives for the poor, farmers, women and small businesses, and defended his recent decision to abolish high-denomination notes.

TV speech is widely considered an opportunity, Moody’s in November 8 radical action to cancel all 500 and 1000 rupees bills, accounting for 86% of the currency in support of currency support.

Millions of Indians were forced to queue for hours outside the bank to deposit old money and extract as much new money as possible, allowing widespread anger and concern over the growth of the Indian economy this quarter.

The so-called “demonetization” aims to smash India’s huge shadow economy, increase taxes, promote the use of bank accounts and digital transactions, but that this ambitious operation was disturbed Modi status.

Only a few weeks ago, Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous country with 200 million people, held an election to test whether people’s leaders have been weakened.

Modi praised the patience of the Indians. “In this fight against corruption and money, it is clear you want to be with us (government) side by side,” Moody said.

“For us in the government, this is a blessing … Corruption, money and counterfeiting in the social fabric of India has become so rampant that even honest people are brought to their knees.

The State Bank of India, the state bank of India, announced a 90 basis point cut on Sunday.

Lower lending rates could increase credit growth and trigger a recovery in private investment.

NO “BIG BANG OFFERINGS”

On Saturday, Mr Moody urged banks to increase their lending to the poor by announcing a series of measures, including a 4 per cent discount on home loan rates of up to Rs 900,000 ($ 19,165), 2017 by middle class Indians people.

Moody also said the government will increase the credit guarantee for small businesses and provide additional incentives for digital transactions.

There are steps to help pregnant women and the elderly, as well as financial support to farmers, apparently to win the support of a large rural population in Uttar Pradesh, heavily hit by cash repairs.

Modi did not say how the government would pay for these measures, although economists said the package could not be too expensive. It was announced when the government announced its annual budget, possibly for some time in February. “It’s clear that Modi has been condemned and there is no big bang today,” said Mohan Guruswamy, chairman of the Center for Alternative Policy, the independent economic think tank.

He is clearly doing so to win back political support. The Uttar Pradesh investigation will be a touchstone between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and his ruling Bharti and will in some way determine the chances of the Prime Minister in the Chinese National Poll 2019 Of the second term.

Although he implemented several major reforms in Asia’s third-largest economy, the cash ban was seen as his biggest political gamble so far.

Major opposition party members quickly criticized the speech.

A senior member, Prithviraj Chavan, said the address was vague and lacked accurate accounting details. “It was the day when he submitted the report card and specifically disclosed the benefits of” exit “, but apparently the whole operation was a failure.

In his speech, Modi tried to take this action as all the Indians should support the matter. “I urge all political parties and leaders to stay away from a” more solemn person than you “, focusing on giving priority to transparency and taking firm steps to free up money politics and corruption.

JAKARTA – At least 23 people have been killed and 17 are missing after a passenger boat caught fire on Sunday near Jakarta, according to officials.

The boat was ferrying around 200 people from Jakarta to Tidung island – a tourist destination 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the capital – on Sunday morning when the fire broke out, according to the national disaster agency.

“194 people have been rescued. The boat’s manifest says there are around 100 people on board, but obviously that’s wrong, so we are still searching,” disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told AFP.

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A rescue team has been deployed to search for the missing passengers.

The Indonesian archipelago of more than 17,000 islands is heavily dependent on boat transport, but safety standards are lax and fatal accidents common.

At least 54 people died in November when an overcrowded speedboat carrying three crew and 98 passengers – mostly Indonesian migrant workers – struck a reef and sunk on its way from Malaysia to Batam.

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2015-12-20 17:28:25

Photo Gallery

First victims found in Indonesian ferry accident: Official

Source: AFP, Twitter

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