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.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
TESTING BAN: Satellite photos show a facility in the Chinese city of Mianyang that could aid nuclear weapons design and power generation, a US researcher said China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research center in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organizations said, a development that could aid nuclear weapons design and work exploring power generation. Satellite photos show four outlying “arms” that would house laser bays, and a central experiment bay that would hold a target chamber containing hydrogen isotopes the powerful lasers would fuse together, producing energy, said Decker Eveleth, a researcher at US-based independent research organization CNA Corp. It is a similar layout to the US$3.5 billion US National Ignition Facility (NIF) in northern California, which in 2022 generated
RSS