Request comes after attempts to detain Yoon Suk Yeol were thwarted by presidential security service guards last week
South Korea’s investigating authorities have requested an extension of a warrant to arrest the country’s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol.
The corruption investigation office for high-ranking officials (CIO) made the application at Seoul western district court on Monday.
Continue reading...Event in February that commemorates signing of New Zealand’s founding document expected to draw tens of thousands but PM will not attend
Organisers of New Zealand’s national day commemorating the signing of the country’s founding treaty between Māori tribes and the British crown are expecting record attendance in 2025, following a year of rising tensions over the government’s policy direction for Māori.
In February, tens of thousands of people are expected to descend on Waitangi, in New Zealand’s Northland region, to commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, which was signed by Māori chiefs and the British Crown in 1840 and is instrumental in upholding Māori rights.
Continue reading...Crowds gather outside South Korean presidential residence where suspended leader is protected by security officers
Thousands of rival South Korean protesters have rallied in the capital a day after a failed attempt to arrest the country’s suspended president, Yoon Suk Yeol, for imposing a short-lived martial law decree that led to his impeachment.
The country has been plunged into political chaos since last month, with Yoon defiantly holed up in the presidential residence surrounded by hundreds of loyal security officers who have so far resisted efforts by prosecutors to arrest him.
Continue reading...Itooka, who died at a care home in Ashiya, enjoyed bananas and had been a keen mountain climber
A Japanese woman who was the world’s oldest living person has died at the age of 116.
Tomiko Itooka, who was awarded the Guinness World Record status last year, died on 29 December at a care home in Ashiya, Hyogo prefecture in central Japan.
Continue reading...Cause of fire in city of Zhangjiakou in Hebei province is under investigation
At least eight people have died and 15 are injured after a fire broke out at a food market in northern China, according to state media.
The fire at the Liguang market in the city of Zhangjiakou broke out at midday on Saturday and had been mostly extinguished two hours later, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing a government official in Qiaoxi district where the market is located.
Continue reading...It was not clear whether Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held virtually incommunicado since 2021 coup, would be among those released
Myanmar’s military government will release about 6,000 prisoners and has reduced other inmates’ sentences as part of a mass amnesty on Saturday marking the 77th anniversary of independence from Britain.
There was no sign that the prisoner release would include Aung San Suu Kyi, 79, who has been held virtually incommunicado by the military since it seized power from her elected government in 2021. She is serving a 27-year sentence after being convicted of a series of politically tinged prosecutions brought by the military.
Continue reading...Airline staff were celebrating New Year’s Eve in Nadi when the alleged incident occurred
A man has been charged with the alleged rape and sexual assault of a Virgin Australia crew member in Fiji in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
The man “will be produced in court on Monday”, after having been taken into custody on Wednesday, acting police commissioner Juki Fong Chew said in an email that confirmed a report by ABC.
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Continue reading...Vice-president Sara Duterte is facing an investigation over her alleged threat to kill Ferdinand Marcos Jr
The Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, has removed his vice-president, Sara Duterte, from the national security council (NSC) a month after she allegedly plotted to kill him, according to an executive order released on Friday.
The order, signed on Monday by Lucas Bersamin, a lawyer and the Philippines’ executive secretary, removed Duterte and all former presidents from the council, which advises the president on policies affecting national security.
Continue reading...Paetongtarn Shinawatra made required wealth declaration to national anti-corruption commission
Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, has declared £324m in assets including a collection of 217 designer handbags and 75 luxury watches in submissions on her wealth to a government body.
Paetongtarn, daughter of the billionaire ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, took office in September, the fourth member of the powerful family to lead Thailand.
Continue reading...Yoon Suk Yeoul has vowed to ‘fight to the end’ as he resists attempts to hold him accountable amid political crisis
South Korean anti-corruption officials attempting to arrest the country’s suspended president, Yoon Suk Yeol, must know by now what he meant by his repeated vows to “fight to the end”.
In the month since his calamitous declaration of martial law, Yoon, along with most of his party, his legal team and, crucially, his security detail, have resisted at every turn attempts to hold him politically and legally accountable.
Continue reading...Prefectures in north hit by falls of up to 30cm in a day as similar weather pattern affects parts of north America
Heavy snow fell across northern Japan on Thursday, with the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori, Yamagata and Niigata particularly affected. Accumulations of 20-30cm over a 24-hour period were recorded across the affected areas, with local totals of more than 30cm near Aomori City.
The snowfall was a result of heavy showers generated by a cold airmass moving in from the north-west across the relatively warm waters of the Sea of Japan. This resulted in warming of the lowest levels of the atmosphere, leading to rising motion and convective shower development caused by the increased moisture. Ascent was further aided by the mountainous terrain across northern Japan.
Continue reading...The prominence of the US flag at conservative rallies reflects a complex intersection of religion, politics and identity that defines South Korea’s far-right movement
As investigators attempted to arrest president Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday morning, his supporters gathered outside the presidential residence waving two national flags: the South Korean Taegukgi alongside the American Stars and Stripes.
To outsiders, the unexpected combination may seem baffling. But to Yoon’s supporters, America represents more than an ally: it’s a perceived ideal. The symbolism of the US flag is a declaration of a broader cultural and spiritual order they believe is under threat.
Continue reading...No evidence of physical trauma on Greta Marie Otteson and Arno Els Quinton, who were found in separate rooms
The bodies of a British woman and her fiance have been discovered in separate rooms at a tourist villa in Vietnam, police said.
The victims were named locally as Greta Marie Otteson, a 33-year-old Briton, and Arno Els Quinton, a 36-year-old South African, who were staying at the complex in Hội An in the central Quang Nam province.
Continue reading...About 807,800 Australians visited Japan between January and November last year, nearly 200,000 more than the previous record in 2019
Japan’s tourism board has urged holidaymakers to swap Tokyo and Kyoto for towns in Tohoku and Kanazawa as Australian tourists flood Japan’s cities in record numbers.
About 807,800 Australians visited Japan between January and November last year, nearly 200,000 more than the previous record in 2019, according to provisional estimates from the Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO).
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Continue reading...Letter rallying supporters comes as he faces arrest over declaration of martial law and allegations of insurrection
South Korea’s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has rallied his supporters in a letter saying he will “fight until the end” as he faces an attempt by authorities to arrest him over his short-lived declaration of martial law, a lawyer said.
“I am watching on YouTube live all the hard work you are doing,” Yoon wrote late on Wednesday to the hundreds of supporters who had gathered near his official residence to protest against the investigation into him.
Continue reading...Airline sends support staff to Nadi after reports of assault during a night out in the early hours of 1 January
A suspect known to Fijian police has been questioned over an alleged sexual assault of a Virgin Australia flight crew member amid ongoing investigations.
Fijian authorities were investigating allegations the crew member was assaulted while celebrating New Year’s Eve, and separately, that another crew member was robbed.
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Continue reading...Pressure builds on authorities to establish cause of crash which killed 179 people
Police in South Korea have raided Muan international airport, the scene of Sunday’s plane crash, in which 179 people died, as well as the office of the airline that operated the flight, media reports said.
Jeju Air flight 2216 was carrying 181 people from Thailand to South Korea when it issued a mayday call and belly-landed on the runaway, before crashing into a barrier and bursting into flames. Two flight attendants survived the crash, the worst aviation disaster on the country’s soil.
Continue reading...Leila de Lima enraged Rodrigo Duterte when she began investigating killings carried out during his ‘war on drugs’
Leila de Lima, one of fiercest critics of the former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody “war on drugs” who was jailed for more than six years on baseless charges, will try to return to politics in 2025.
De Lima was one of the few politicians who criticised Duterte during his time in office, and enraged the former leader when she began investigating killings carried out during his anti-drugs crackdowns. She knew to expect retaliation, she said. “I thought it would just be regular vilification, the slut-shaming, the verbal attacks,” she said. She did not anticipate that she would spend more than six and a half years in prison.
Continue reading...Authorities hope for vital clues as contents of cockpit recorder are converted into audio format
Investigators in South Korea have extracted data from one of two black boxes retrieved from a Jeju Air plane that crashed shortly after landing on Sunday, killing all but two of the 181 people onboard.
The country’s deputy minister for civil aviation, Joo Jong-wan, said initial data had been retrieved from the Boeing 737-800’s cockpit voice recorder, and that the contents were being converted into audio format.
Continue reading...Experts hope flight recorders will provide answers to key questions surrounding crash in which 179 died
As investigators set to work unpicking the cause of Sunday’s devastating plane crash in South Korea, the black boxes carried on the aircraft will be of prime importance, with retrieval of data from the cockpit voice recorder under way.
All but two of the 181 people onboard died in the disaster, with the victims aged from three to 78. The Korean airline’s chief executive, Kim E-bae, said he wanted “to bow my head and apologise”, according to a statement on the company’s website, adding it was “difficult to determine the cause of the accident”.
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