South Korea’s constitutional court has dismissed the impeachment of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, reinstating him as the country’s acting president.

Han took over as acting leader last December when President Yoon Suk Yeol was suspended from duties and impeached by parliament after he attempted to declare martial law.

However, Han only lasted two weeks in power before lawmakers voted to impeach him as well. Since then, South Korea has been led by deputy prime minister Choi Sang-mok.

South Korea has been roiled by political chaos since Yoon’s botched attempt to impose martial law.

Shortly after assuming the role of acting president, Han blocked the appointment of new judges to the constitutional court – something the opposition hoped would improve the odds of Yoon getting impeached.

As a result, they voted to impeach Han.

But on Monday, the judges ruled seven to one to strike down the impeachment.

“I thank the Constitutional Court for its wise decision,” Han said after the ruling was announced. “I will work to bring the government to order.”

South Korea remains on tenterhooks for another upcoming decision by the same court – on the impeachment of President Yoon.

Yoon was was impeached by parliament and suspended from his duties on 14 December- but this impeachment will only be made permanent if passed by the Constitutional Court. If the court overturns the impeachment, Yoon will return to his duties immediately.

Yoon’s court date has not yet been set for the verdict, but in recent weeks Seoul has seen swelling protests from Yoon’s supporters and opponents, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets of the nation’s capital last weekend.

(BBC News)

Flights have resumed at Heathrow Airport and a full service is expected on Saturday following an “unprecedented” loss of power caused by a nearby substation fire.

About 200,000 passengers were affected as flights were grounded throughout Friday, with inbound planes being diverted to other airports in Europe after flames ripped through the North Hyde plant in Hayes, west London, on Thursday evening.

The airport’s chief executive Thomas Woldbye apologised to stranded passengers and said the disruption was “as big as it gets for our airport” and that it could not guard itself “100%”.

The Met Police confirmed the fire was not believed to be suspicious.

The investigation will focus on the “electrical distribution equipment”, the force said.

British Airways announced eight of its long-haul flights had been cleared to leave Heathrow during Friday evening and it was “urgently contacting customers to let them know”.

Restrictions on overnight flights have also been temporarily lifted to help ease congestion, the Department of Transport said.

Passengers have been advised to contact their airlines for the latest updates.

Mr Woldbye said that a back-up transformer had failed meaning systems had to be closed down in accordance with safety procedures so that power supplies could be restructured from two remaining substations to restore electricity enough to power the airport.

Several airlines announced they would restart scheduled flights both to and from Heathrow, including British Airways, Air Canada and United Airlines.

An airport spokesperson said the first flights were focused on “repatriating the passengers who were diverted to other airports in Europe… and relocating aircraft”.

Mr Woldbye said: “I’d like to stress that this has been an incident of major severity. It’s not a small fire.

“We have lost power equal to that of a mid-sized city and our backup systems have been working as they should but they are not sized to run the entire airport.”

Asked if there is a weak point in Heathrow’s power system, he said: “You can say that but of course contingencies of certain sizes we cannot guard ourselves against 100% and this is one of them.

“I mean, short of anybody getting hurt, this is as big as it gets for our airport.”

“This is unprecedented,” he added.

Mr Woldbye went on to say the airport expected to return to “100% operation” on Saturday.

(BBC News)

Heathrow Airport is closing all day Friday because of a large fire at a nearby electrical substation that supplies it.

The airport is experiencing a “significant power outage” because of the fire, a statement from Heathrow said.

“To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until 23:59 on 21 March,” it added.

“Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport and should contact their airline for further information. We apologise for the inconvenience.”

“Whilst fire crews are responding to the incident, we do not have clarity on when power may be reliably restored,” a Heathrow spokesperson said, adding that staff were “working as hard as possible to resolve the situation”.

Passengers should not travel to the airport “under any circumstances” until it reopens, they said.

Heathrow is the UK’s largest airport, handling around 1,300 landings and take-offs each day. A record 83.9 million passengers passed through its terminals last year.

The fire at the substation in Hayes, in west London, has left thousands of homes without power and caused around 150 people to be evacuated from surrounding properties.

Ten fire engines and around 70 firefighters have been sent to tackle the blaze, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) said.

A 200-metre cordon has been put in place as a precaution, and local residents have been advised to keep doors and windows closed because of a “significant amount of smoke”.

More than 16,300 homes have lost power in a large-scale outage cause by the fire, energy supplier Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said on X.

“We’re aware of a widespread power cut affecting many of our customers around the Hayes, Hounslow and surrounding areas,” it added.

The LFB said it had received nearly 200 calls about the fire, which broke out late on Thursday night.

Emergency services were called to the scene at 23:23. The cause of the fire is yet to be determined.

“This is a highly visible and significant incident, and our firefighters are working tirelessly in challenging conditions to bring the fire under control as swiftly as possible,” said LFB Assistant Commissioner Pat Goulborne.

“This will be a prolonged incident, with crews remaining on scene throughout the night,” he added.

“As we head into the morning, disruption is expected to increase, and we urge people to avoid the area wherever possible.”

(BBC News)