SOUTH KOREA
Yoon refuses summons
Suspended President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday refused a summons to appear for questioning, the third time he has defied investigators’ demands in two weeks. Investigators probing Yoon had ordered him to appear for questioning at 10am, a demand he rejected. Yoon, a former prosecutor, also failed to attend a hearing he was summoned to on Wednesday last week, giving no explanation for his absence. The National Assembly on Dec. 14 stripped the conservative leader of his duties, following a short-lived martial law declaration that plunged the country into its worst political crisis in decades. Yoon faces impeachment and criminal charges of insurrection, which could result in life imprisonment or even the death penalty.
GERMANY
Editor resigns over op-ed
A senior editor of Welt am Sonntag resigned after the paper on Saturday published an opinion piece by Tesla CEO Elon Musk in which he defended his support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). Musk doubled down on his Dec. 20 comments that “only the AfD can save Germany,” writing that the anti-immigration party was the “last ray of hope for the country” at the “brink of cultural and economic collapse.” The guest opinion piece provoked outraged reactions. “Today a piece by Elon Musk appeared in the Welt am Sonntag. Yesterday I handed in my resignation after it went to print,” opinion editor Eva Marie Kogel wrote on social media. Greens’ campaign director Andreas Audretsch also responded. “We must not allow the Elon Musks of this world, the Chinese state or Russian troll factories to undermine our democracies in Europe,” she wrote online.
AUSTRALIA
Fisherman killed by shark
A shark attacked and killed a 40-year-old pastor who was fishing with his family in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef, officials said. The predator bit him on the neck on Saturday afternoon off Humpy Island on the east coast, emergency services said. He sustained “life-threatening injuries” and died about an hour-and-a-half later, Queensland Police Service said. A Queensland ambulance spokeswoman yesterday said that he died at the scene after sustaining a “significant life-threatening wound to his neck.” Luke Walford, a youth pastor at the Cathedral of Praise church in the central Queensland town of Rockhampton, was believed to have been spearfishing at the time of the attack.
UNITED STATES
Two die in Sasquatch search
Two Oregon men were found dead in a Washington state forest after they failed to return from a trip to look for Sasquatch, authorities said on Saturday. The 59-year-old and 37-year-old appeared to have died from exposure, the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook. The weather and the men’s lack of preparedness led the office to draw that conclusion, it said. Sasquatch is a folkloric beast thought by some to roam the forests, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. The two men were found in a heavily wooded area of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. A family member reported them missing at about 1am on Christmas Day after they failed to return from a Christmas Eve outing. Sixty volunteer search-and-rescue personnel helped in the three-day search, including canine, drone and ground teams. The Coast Guard used infrared technology to search from the air.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
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