Rana Sanaullah resigns as Punjab Law Minister

LAHORE: Rana Sanaullah has resigned as Law Minister after Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif summoned his resignation.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore Shahbaz Sharif said he had asked Rana Sanaullah to resign over the Model Town tragedy in which nine people lost their lives.

Sources add that Rana Sanaullah has tendered his resignation and has sent it to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Punjab government sources further add that Rana Mashhood, provincial minister for education and sports, is likely to be made law minister.

South Korean PM resigns over ferry disaster

SEOUL: South Korea´s prime minister resigned Sunday, blaming corruption and "deep-rooted evil" for the sinking of a passenger ferry that left 300 people dead or missing, as anger grows over the bungled response to the tragedy.

Chung Hong-Won admitted he had not been up to the task of overseeing rescue operations after the Sewol capsized with 476 people -- many of them schoolchildren -- on board.

"I offer my apology for having been unable to prevent this accident from happening and unable to properly respond to it afterwards," he said. "I believed I, as the prime minister, certainly had to take responsibility and resign.

"Parents and relatives of the missing and the dead have blasted the response to the sinking, saying the rescue was too slow to swing into action and this may have cost lives. There has also been rage over perceived corruption and lax safety standards that may have led to the disaster, with claims that the ferry was overloaded and the passenger list was inaccurate and incomplete.

"Looking at the latest accident I came to a painful realisation that there is too much deep-rooted evil and corruption in our society," Chung said. "I hope that such wrongdoings will be rooted out this time so that an accident like this will never happen again.

"The role of prime minister is largely ceremonial in South Korea, with the presidency holding the lion´s share of executive power.

In Jindo, the nearest island to the wreck, relatives of the dead and missing were unimpressed. "So what?" snapped Ji Hyung-Soo. "My son is there in the sea. His resignation will never ease my bitterness and sadness. "Anybody responsible for this disaster must be punished severely, but the most urgent thing to do now is to recover the bodies as soon as possible. I´m not interested in anything else.

"Prosecutors looking to mete out the justice that relatives want raided the offices of state sea traffic controllers in Jeju island on Sunday, the intended destination of the Sewol, and in Jindo. They seized records of radio communication with the Sewol and surveillance video footage, Yonhap said. A transcript of communication released earlier revealed panic and indecision among crew and sea traffic controllers in the crucial final moments, with neither able to make the call to evacuate passengers.

The confirmed death toll from the tragedy remained Sunday at 187. A total of 115 people are still unaccounted for, with many bodies believed trapped in the sunken vessel. Divers were battling decompression sickness and atrocious weather in their grim search for corpses. Further complicating their efforts was the increasing depth of the wreck as it slips slowly into the silt of the seabed, making an already dangerous diving operation even more hazardous.

Despite waves up to three metres (nine feet) and near gale-force winds, teams were still trying to search the ferry. A coastguard spokesman said 98 frogmen were trying to get into rooms on the fourth deck of the 6,825-tonne Sewol, but he warned the operation was hard. "As the ship has sunk further... the diving depth has also increased to more than 40 metres (130 feet), posing even more difficulties for search efforts.

"A growing number of divers are reporting decompression sickness," he said. Pressure rises as divers go deeper, increasing the amount of air they breathe from their tanks. This not only reduces dive time, but also heightens levels of nitrogen in their bloodstream, raising the risk of potentially harmful bubbles forming in body tissue.

Strong underwater currents, poor visibility and waterlogged debris were making conditions inside the ferry treacherous, coastguard chief Kim Seok-Kyun said on Sunday. "Hallways and cabins are packed with carpets and blankets swollen by water as well as furniture, blocking entry by divers and making search efforts even more difficult," he said.

Yonhap news agency, citing one rescue worker, said divers were having to blindly stick their hands into clumps of floating objects to fumble for bodies.

On the surface recriminations continue, with four more of the ship´s crew arrested on Saturday. Their arrest means all 15 surviving crew members responsible for sailing the vessel are in custody, facing charges ranging from criminal negligence to abandoning passengers.

Prosecutors have also raided a host of businesses affiliated with the ferry operator, the Chonghaejin Marine Company, as part of an overall probe into corrupt management. The widening investigation has seen travel bans imposed on eight current and former executives of the Korea Register of Shipping -- the body responsible for issuing marine safety certificates.

South Korean PM resigns over ferry disaster

SEOUL: South Korea´s prime minister resigned Sunday, blaming corruption and "deep-rooted evil" for the sinking of a passenger ferry that left 300 people dead or missing, as anger grows over the bungled response to the tragedy.

Chung Hong-Won admitted he had not been up to the task of overseeing rescue operations after the Sewol capsized with 476 people -- many of them schoolchildren -- on board.

"I offer my apology for having been unable to prevent this accident from happening and unable to properly respond to it afterwards," he said. "I believed I, as the prime minister, certainly had to take responsibility and resign.

"Parents and relatives of the missing and the dead have blasted the response to the sinking, saying the rescue was too slow to swing into action and this may have cost lives. There has also been rage over perceived corruption and lax safety standards that may have led to the disaster, with claims that the ferry was overloaded and the passenger list was inaccurate and incomplete.

"Looking at the latest accident I came to a painful realisation that there is too much deep-rooted evil and corruption in our society," Chung said. "I hope that such wrongdoings will be rooted out this time so that an accident like this will never happen again.

"The role of prime minister is largely ceremonial in South Korea, with the presidency holding the lion´s share of executive power.

In Jindo, the nearest island to the wreck, relatives of the dead and missing were unimpressed. "So what?" snapped Ji Hyung-Soo. "My son is there in the sea. His resignation will never ease my bitterness and sadness. "Anybody responsible for this disaster must be punished severely, but the most urgent thing to do now is to recover the bodies as soon as possible. I´m not interested in anything else.

"Prosecutors looking to mete out the justice that relatives want raided the offices of state sea traffic controllers in Jeju island on Sunday, the intended destination of the Sewol, and in Jindo. They seized records of radio communication with the Sewol and surveillance video footage, Yonhap said. A transcript of communication released earlier revealed panic and indecision among crew and sea traffic controllers in the crucial final moments, with neither able to make the call to evacuate passengers.

The confirmed death toll from the tragedy remained Sunday at 187. A total of 115 people are still unaccounted for, with many bodies believed trapped in the sunken vessel. Divers were battling decompression sickness and atrocious weather in their grim search for corpses. Further complicating their efforts was the increasing depth of the wreck as it slips slowly into the silt of the seabed, making an already dangerous diving operation even more hazardous.

Despite waves up to three metres (nine feet) and near gale-force winds, teams were still trying to search the ferry. A coastguard spokesman said 98 frogmen were trying to get into rooms on the fourth deck of the 6,825-tonne Sewol, but he warned the operation was hard. "As the ship has sunk further... the diving depth has also increased to more than 40 metres (130 feet), posing even more difficulties for search efforts.

"A growing number of divers are reporting decompression sickness," he said. Pressure rises as divers go deeper, increasing the amount of air they breathe from their tanks. This not only reduces dive time, but also heightens levels of nitrogen in their bloodstream, raising the risk of potentially harmful bubbles forming in body tissue.

Strong underwater currents, poor visibility and waterlogged debris were making conditions inside the ferry treacherous, coastguard chief Kim Seok-Kyun said on Sunday. "Hallways and cabins are packed with carpets and blankets swollen by water as well as furniture, blocking entry by divers and making search efforts even more difficult," he said.

Yonhap news agency, citing one rescue worker, said divers were having to blindly stick their hands into clumps of floating objects to fumble for bodies.

On the surface recriminations continue, with four more of the ship´s crew arrested on Saturday. Their arrest means all 15 surviving crew members responsible for sailing the vessel are in custody, facing charges ranging from criminal negligence to abandoning passengers.

Prosecutors have also raided a host of businesses affiliated with the ferry operator, the Chonghaejin Marine Company, as part of an overall probe into corrupt management. The widening investigation has seen travel bans imposed on eight current and former executives of the Korea Register of Shipping -- the body responsible for issuing marine safety certificates.

US health secretary resigns after website fiasco

Kathleen Sebelius (65), Barack Obama’s Health and Human Services Secretary, resigned on Thursday a few months after the disastrous rollout of the ‘Obamacare’ website, healthcare.gov, which became a magnet for criticism of the President’s landmark Affordable Care Act.

Although Republicans, many of whom have been fiercely critical of the healthcare reform policies of the White House, called for Ms. Sebelius’ resignation last fall, she ended her five-year tenure only after the enrolment period ended at the end of last month.

A White House official noted that Mr. Obama would formally make announce that Ms. Sebelius would step down on Friday and that he would also nominate the White House Budget Office Director Sylvia Matthews Burwell to replace her, subject to Senate confirmation.

“The President wants to make sure we have a proven manager and relentless implementer in the job over there, which is why he is going to nominate Sylvia,” said Denis McDonough, White House Chief of Staff.

He added that Last month, Ms. Sebelius had approached Mr. Obama earlier and said to him that the March 31 deadline for sign-ups under the healthcare law “provided an opportunity for change,” and that he would be “best served by someone who was not the target of so much political ire.”

Ms. Sebelius departs from the Obama administration as strong favourite of top Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi who defended the Secretary’s record, saying, “From Day One, [Ms.] Sebelius has remained laser-focused on a single purpose: to make health care a right, not a privilege, for all Americans. Her leadership has been forceful, effective and essential.”

Notwithstanding the controversy over the healthcare.gov website, which at points appeared to collapse under the sheer momentum of enrolments last year, Ms. Sebelius also departs with at least part credit for exceeding the ‘Obamacare’ enrolment targets to more than 7.5 million people.

However the website controversy has apparently come at a high political cost for the President and his party, leading to Democrats’ poll numbers to plunge from its highs during the 2013 government shutdown. Some predict that the issue may also fuel Republicans’ midterm elections campaign this November.

Mali's first post-war premier resigns

BAMAKO: Mali's first post-war prime minister has been replaced just six months into office after he announced the resignation of his entire government, a statement from the presidency said.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita made leading economist Oumar Tatam Ly his prime minister in September as the troubled west African nation began to set up a government charged with turning the page on months of political chaos and war.

"The president of the republic... has brought to an end the duties of Prime Minister Oumar Tatam Ly, upon receipt of the resignation of the government of the republic," a statement from Keita's office read out on state television said.

Keita appointed planning minister Moussa Mara -- at 39, 11 years Ly's junior -- to take over and asked him to form a new government, the statement said.

It gave no details about the reasons for the government's resignation.

Ly, a 50-year-old career technocrat and the son of a celebrated writer, was an adviser to the governor of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), based in the Senegalese capital Dakar, before being appointed to the premiership.

He is the son of the late novelist and political activist Ibrahima Ly, who fled Mali after spending time in jail and complaining of being tortured under the regime of Malian military dictator Moussa Traore.

His mother, Madina Tall Ly, served as an ambassador under Alpha Oumar Konare, president of Mali during most of the 1990s.

Ly pipped a number of more obvious choices, including Tieman Coulibaly and Soumeylou Boubeye, both recent foreign ministers.

One of his stated priorities was to make good on the president's pledge when he was inaugurated in September to unite Mali and end endemic corruption.

Keita won a landslide victory in the presidential election in August last year after a campaign focused on law, order and ending the culture of impunity in public office.

His election in the first presidential polls since 2007 was seen as crucial for unlocking more than $4 billion in aid promised by international donors who halted contributions in the wake of a coup.

Army officers angry at the level of support they had received to combat a separatist Tuareg rebellion in Mali's vast desert north overthrew the democratically-elected government of president Amadou Toumani Toure on March 22, 2012.

In the chaos that followed, the Tuareg seized control of an area larger than France before being ousted by Al-Qaeda-linked groups.

Their actions drew worldwide condemnation and prompted France to launch a military offensive at Mali's behest in January last year that ousted the groups.

Mara is the middle of three children of former soldier and justice minister Joseph Mara, who was jailed for five years in the late 1970s under the dictatorship of Mousse Traore.

Active in Bamako and then national politics since his late 20s, Mara was a losing candidate in last year's presidential election.

He managed 1.5 percent of the vote in the first round as president of Yelema -- "change" in Mali's indigenous Bambara language -- a party he founded in 2010.