28/03/2025

FRIDAY | MAR 28, 2025

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Court rejects bid to lift deportations bar

South Koreans mourn loss of historic temple ANDONG: Charred, black ruins at South Korea’s Gounsa temple stood in stark contrast to the kaleidoscope of colours that are a trademark of the country’s historic palaces and temples. Many of the buildings at the temple complex, first built by monks in the year 681, burned to the ground this week as a wildfire swept through forests and towns, killing at least 26 people and destroying or damaging priceless cultural sites. “There was a wind stronger than a typhoon, and flames whipped through the air like a tornado, burning the whole area in an instant,” said Gounsa temple chief Deungwoon. “The buildings and remains of what monks have left over 1,300 years are now all gone.” A massive, ornate bronze bell sat in the ruins, cracked from top to bottom. Two out of the three national treasures at the site burned, while a handful of other structures escaped the blaze. Gounsa was one of at least 18 heritage sites or objects, including two national treasures, that had been destroyed or damaged, according to the Korea Heritage Service. “About 750 people were deployed to national heritage sites as of Wednesday, and preliminary checks and emergency measures are being taken,” the service said in a statement. The measures included preventive spraying, deploying fire-retardant cloth, cutting fire prevention lines, and removing historic items, including statues. At least 1,566 relics were moved from major temples, including Gounsa, and old family homes in the area. At the picturesque Hahoe Folk Village, a Unesco World Heritage Site, authorities deployed retardant and other measures in an attempt to save its thatch-roof buildings nestled on a bend in the Nakdong River. Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung visited the Gounsa site yesterday and called for extra protection of other threatened sites. – Reuters Taiwan readies for large-scale disasters TAINAN: Taiwan President Lai Ching-te oversaw yesterday the first civil defence drills under his new social resilience committee simulating how to respond to a large-scale disaster. The drill, in the southern city of Tainan, was held under the auspices of the Whole-of-Society Defence Resilience Committee set up last year to prepare to deal with natural disasters or other emergencies. Lai said these were the first live drills for the committee and involved around 1,500 people and there would be more next month. “The aim is to build the resilience of Taiwanese society to cope with large natural disasters or major accidents. As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure,” he said. Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said China held another “joint combat readiness patrol” yesterday around the island with 28 fighter jets, drones and other aircraft, as well as warships. The Tainan drills simulated scenarios such as a tsunami, “explosions” at a passenger port terminal, evacuating casualties to triage centres and setting up emergency response command posts. Under tents, casualties were laid out on the ground and treated, as other officials used large white boards to keep track of their care and who had died or the level of injuries. Also at the drills were the de facto US, European Union, Polish and Indian ambassadors to Taiwan, among other senior foreign diplomats including Britain, Singapore, Japan, Israel, Canada and Australia. Taiwan sits on active fault lines and is frequently struck by earthquakes. – Reuters

o ‘President bound by laws’

deportation flights and removals of violent criminals from the US”. During a hearing on Monday at which the government sought to have the court order lifted, Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign said it “represents an unprecedented and enormous intrusion upon the powers of the executive branch” and “enjoins the president’s exercise of his war and foreign affairs powers”. Millett said “Nazis got better treatment” from the United States during World War II under the AEA. Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed suit against the deportations along with other rights groups, welcomed the appeals court move. “The decision means that hundreds of individuals remain protected from being sent to a black-hole prison in a foreign country, without any due process whatsoever,” he said. Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, said “President Trump is bound by the laws of this nation, and those laws do not permit him to use wartime powers when the United States is not at war and has not been invaded.” – AFP

not members of Tren de Aragua, had committed no crimes and were targeted largely on the basis of their tattoos. Judge Patricia Millett, an appointee of Democratic president Barack Obama, and Judge Karen Henderson, an appointee of Republican president George H.W. Bush, voted to keep the temporary ban on deportations using the AEA in place. The third judge on the panel, Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, dissented. Millett said the Venezuelan migrants had been deported based on the government’s allegations alone “with no notice, no hearing, no opportunity – zero process – to show that they are not members of the gang.” “If the government can choose to abandon fair and equal process for some people, it can do the same for everyone,” she said. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited the prison in El Salvador on Wednesday where the Venezuelans are being held. Noem said on social media before her arrival that she would be meeting Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to discuss how the United States “can increase the number of

WASHINGTON: A US appeals court denied on Wednesday a bid by the Trump administration to lift a lower court order barring summary deportations of Venezuelan migrants using an obscure wartime law. A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to temporarily keep in place the ban on deportations carried out under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA). President Donald Trump sent two planeloads of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to a prison in El Salvador on March 15 after invoking the AEA, which has only been used during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II. District Judge James Boasberg issued a restraining order that same day temporarily barring the administration from carrying out any further deportation flights under the AEA, which the Justice Department appealed to remove. Attorneys for several of the deported Venezuelans have said that their clients were

Tourists take in the scenic view at Alishan National Park in Chiayi, Taiwan. – REUTERSPIC

Chasing cherry blossoms on a steam train ALISHAN: Nearly a hundred passengers hopped aboard an old steam train in Taiwan this week, as the annual cherry blossom season entered full swing in the island’s scenic mountains. that dates from Japanese colonial times and was originally a logging railway. “It’s novel and the cherry blossoms are really beautiful,” said train passenger Chang Ya-Jou.

beautiful,” Ya-Jou said, referring to Taiwan’s highest peak which is nearby. The narrow gauge railway is one of Taiwan’s most popular tourist attractions, and only fully re-opened last year following damage from typhoons and earthquakes. This is the eighth time the special train has been organised. – Reuters

“When the steam train turns, the view out there is magnificent, especially when it passes by the snow-capped Yushan. It’s truly

The special blossom-themed train chugged up Alishan, in the southern part of the island, for a scenic six-hour journey on a heritage line