South Korea opposition accuse ruling party of ‘second coup’

South Korea opposition accuse ruling party of ‘second coup’
Protesters tear signs, depicting the names of ruling People Power Parties’ lawmakers who did not vote during the impeachment motion against South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, during a rally in Seoul on Dec. 9, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 09 December 2024
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South Korea opposition accuse ruling party of ‘second coup’

South Korea opposition accuse ruling party of ‘second coup’
  • President Yoon Suk Yeol plunged the country into political chaos with his attempt to scrap civilian rule
  • His declaration of martial law lasted just six hours after lawmakers managed to vote the measure down

SEOUL: South Korea’s opposition on Monday accused the ruling party of staging a “second coup” by clinging to power and refusing to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his declaration of martial law.
Yoon plunged the country into political chaos with his attempt to scrap civilian rule, which lasted just six hours after lawmakers scuffled with soldiers in the parliament building and managed to vote the measure down, forcing Yoon into an embarrassing U-turn.
The president and a slew of top officials are now being investigated for insurrection, but a bid to impeach Yoon failed Saturday after a boycott by the ruling party, who claim the wildly unpopular leader has agreed to hand power to the prime minister and party chief.
“This is an unlawful, unconstitutional act of a second insurrection and a second coup,” Democratic Party floor leader Park Chan-dae said, urging the ruling party to “stop it immediately.”
Under South Korea’s constitution, the president remains head of government and commander in chief of the army unless he or she is incapacitated, resigns or steps down.
In such a case, power would be handed to the prime minister on an interim basis, until elections could be held.
Claiming that Yoon can remain in office but has delegated his powers to the prime minister and leader of his ruling People Power Party — who is not an elected official — is “a blatant constitutional violation with no legal basis,” Park said.
“Their attitude of placing themselves above the Constitution mirrors that of insurrectionist Yoon Suk Yeol,” he added.
Investigators have already detained the former defense minister, raided his offices, slapped a host of top officials with travel bans, and on Monday called in the general who was made martial law commander for further questioning.
Yoon himself could be called in for questioning, police said Monday, adding that they are “considering” whether to ban him from traveling, as their investigation gathered speed.
“There are no human or physical restrictions to the subject of an investigation,” said Woo Jong-soo, head of the National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency.
Police will investigate “in accordance with the law and principles — without any exceptions.”
The defense ministry confirmed Monday that the embattled Yoon remained at the head of the country’s security apparatus, despite the apparent power vacuum in the country — which remains technically at war with the nuclear-armed North.
“Legally, (control of military forces) currently lies with the commander in chief,” defense ministry spokesperson Jeon Ha-kyou said.
Yoon, 63, has apologized for “anxiety and inconvenience” caused by his declaration of martial law but has not stepped down, saying instead he would entrust decisions about his fate to his party — and accept all political and legal responsibility for the martial law fiasco.
There is no constitutional basis supporting the ruling party’s claim that Yoon can stay in office but hand over his power to unelected party officials, said Kim Hae-won, a constitutional law professor at Pusan National University Law School.
“It seems to resemble an unconstitutional soft coup,” he said.
“If there are issues with the President, there are ways laid out in the Constitution such as suspending the president from his duties, and then move on to proceedings set out in the Constitution, such as impeachment,” he said.
The opposition has already said they will try again to impeach the president, with leader Lee Jae-myung saying another vote would be held on Saturday.
Huge crowds are expected to gather again outside the National Assembly building.
Yoon’s approval rating hit 11 percent, a historic low for the unpopular president, according to a new Gallup poll commissioned by local media.


As Trump declares ‘Gulf of America,’ US enters name wars

As Trump declares ‘Gulf of America,’ US enters name wars
Updated 23 January 2025
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As Trump declares ‘Gulf of America,’ US enters name wars

As Trump declares ‘Gulf of America,’ US enters name wars
  • “In claiming the right to force others to use the name of his choosing, Trump is asserting a sort of sovereignty over an international body of water,” Gerry Kearns, a professor of geography at Maynooth University in Ireland

WASHINGTON: For years, as disputes over names on the map riled up nationalist passions in several parts of the world, US policymakers have watched warily, trying to stay out or to quietly encourage peace.
Suddenly, the United States has gone from a reluctant arbiter to a nomenclature belligerent, as President Donald Trump declared that the Gulf of Mexico will henceforth be called the “Gulf of America.”
In an executive order signed hours after he returned to the White House, Trump called the water body an “indelible part of America” critical to US oil production and fishing and “a favorite destination for American tourism and recreation activities.”
The term Gulf of America was soon used by the US Coast Guard in a press release on enforcing Trump’s new crackdown on migrants, as well as Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, when discussing a winter storm.
Deep-sea ecologist Andrew Thaler said Trump’s declaration was “very silly” and would likely be ignored by maritime professionals.
A president has the authority to rename sites within the United States — as Trump also did.
“The Gulf of Mexico, however, is a body of water that borders several countries and includes pockets of high seas,” said Thaler, founder of Blackbeard Biologic Science and Environmental Advisers.
“There really isn’t any precedent for a US president renaming international geologic and oceanographic features. Any attempt to rename the entire Gulf of Mexico would be entirely symbolic,” he said.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has cheekily suggested calling the United States “Mexican America,” pointing to a map from well before Washington seized one-third of her country in 1848.
“For us it is still the Gulf of Mexico and for the entire world it is still the Gulf of Mexico,” she said Tuesday.
The International Hydrographic Organization, set up a century ago, works to survey the world’s seas and oceans and is the closest to an authority on harmonizing names for international waters.
The United Nations also has an expert group on geographical names, which opens its next meeting on April 28.
Martin H. Levinson, president emeritus of the Institute of General Semantics, said it was unknown how much political capital Trump would invest in seeking name recognition by other countries.
“Does he really want to strong-arm them for something as minor as this?” Levinson asked.
“I think the political benefit is to the domestic audience that he’s playing to — saying we’re patriotic, this is our country, we’re not going to let the name be subsumed by other countries,” he said.
He doubted that other countries would change the name but said it was possible Google Earth — a more ready reference to laypeople — could list an alternative name, as it has in other disputes.

Among the most heated disputes, South Korea has long resented calling the body of water to its east the Sea of Japan and has advocated for it to be called the East Sea.
The United States, an ally of both countries, has kept Sea of Japan but Korean-Americans have pushed at the local level for school textbooks to say East Sea.
In the Middle East, Trump in his last term angered Iranians by publicly using the term Arabian Gulf for the oil-rich water body historically known as the Arabian Gulf but which Arab nationalists have sought to rename.
The United States has also advocated maintaining a 2018 deal where Greece agreed for its northern neighbor to change its name to North Macedonia from Macedonia, but Athens ulitmately rejected due to historical associations with Alexander the Great.
Gerry Kearns, a professor of geography at Maynooth University in Ireland, said that Trump’s move was part of the “geopolitics of spectacle” but also showed his ideological bent.
With Trump also threatening to take the Panama Canal and Greenland, Trump is seeking to project a new type of Monroe Doctrine, the 1823 declaration by the United States that it would dominate the Western Hemisphere, Kearns said.
“Names work because they are shared; we know we are talking about the same thing,” he wrote in an essay.
“In claiming the right to force others to use the name of his choosing, Trump is asserting a sort of sovereignty over an international body of water.”
 


Trumps’ top diplomat Rubio affirms ‘ironclad’ US commitment to Philippines amid China threat

Trumps’ top diplomat Rubio affirms ‘ironclad’ US commitment to Philippines amid China threat
Updated 23 January 2025
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Trumps’ top diplomat Rubio affirms ‘ironclad’ US commitment to Philippines amid China threat

Trumps’ top diplomat Rubio affirms ‘ironclad’ US commitment to Philippines amid China threat
  • Marco Rubio discussed China's “dangerous and destabilizing actions in the South China Sea” in a call with his Philippine counterpart, says State Department spokeswoman

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday the United States under President Donald Trump remained committed to the Philippines’ defense, as tensions simmer with Beijing in the South China Sea.
In a call with his Philippine counterpart Enrique Manalo, Rubio “underscored the United States’ ironclad commitments to the Philippines under our Mutual Defense Treaty,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.

The Philippines has been embroiled in wrangles at sea with China in the past two years and the two countries have faced off regularly around disputed features in the South China Sea that fall inside Manila’s exclusive economic zone.

China claims most of the strategic waterway despite an international tribunal ruling that its claim lacked any legal basis.

Rubio’s call followed his hosting of counterparts from Australia, India and Japan in the China-focused “Quad” forum on Tuesday, the day after President Donald Trump returned to the White House. The four recommitted to working together.
Quad members and the Philippines share concerns about China’s growing power and analysts said Tuesday’s meeting was designed to signal continuity in the Indo-Pacific and that countering Beijing will be a top priority for Trump.
In the call with Manalo, Rubio “underscored the United States’ ironclad commitments to the Philippines” under their Mutual Defense Treaty and discussed ways to advance security cooperation, expand economic ties and deepen regional cooperation, the statement said.
Just ahead of Trump’s swearing-in, the Philippines and the United States carried out their fifth set of joint maritime exercises in the South China Sea since launching the joint activities in 2023.
Security engagements between the allies have soared under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has pivoted closer to Washington and allowed the expansion of military bases that American forces can access, including facilities facing the Chinese-claimed but democratically-governed island of Taiwan.
Visiting the Philippines last week, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said a trilateral initiative to boost cooperation launched by Japan, the US and the Philippines at a summit last year would be strengthened when the new US administration took over in Washington.


New explosive wildfire erupts near Los Angeles

New explosive wildfire erupts near Los Angeles
Updated 23 January 2025
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New explosive wildfire erupts near Los Angeles

New explosive wildfire erupts near Los Angeles
  • Meteorologists say strong winds and low humidity create conditions ripe for rapid fire spread

CASTAIC, United States: A new wildfire erupted north of Los Angeles on Wednesday, exploding in size and sparking orders for tens of thousands of people to evacuate in a region already staggering from the effects of huge blazes.
Ferocious flames were devouring hillsides near Castaic Lake, spreading rapidly to cover more than 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares) in just a few hours.
The fire was being fanned by strong, dry Santa Ana winds that were racing through the area, pushing a vast pall of smoke and dangerous embers ahead of the flames.
Evacuations were ordered for 31,000 people around the lake, which sits around 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of Los Angeles, and close to the city of Santa Clarita.
“I’m just praying that our house doesn’t burn down,” one man told broadcaster KTLA as he packed his car.
The fire came with the greater Los Angeles area still suffering after two enormous fires that killed more than two dozen people and destroyed thousands of structures.
Robert Jensen, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, urged everyone in the impacted area of the new blaze — dubbed the Hughes Fire — to leave immediately.
“We’ve seen the devastation caused by people failing to follow those orders in the Palisades and Eaton fires,” he said.
“I don’t want to see that here in our community as well. If you’ve been issued an evacuation order, please get out.”
Television footage showed police driving around neighborhoods urging people to leave.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic was under an evacuation order, and around 500 inmates were being moved to a neighboring facility.
He told broadcaster KCAL9 that around 4,600 inmates being held at other jails in the area were sheltering in place, but buses were on hand in case conditions changed and they needed to be moved.
Melissa Camacho, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, noted the rights group’s opposition to “the expansion of the jail system especially in dangerous fire zones,” adding that “we are gravely concerned for the safety of people incarcerated in those jails.”
California Highway Patrol said the fire was impacting traffic on the I5 freeway, with a section of the road — which runs the length of the US West Coast — shuttered.
Helicopters and planes were on the scene dropping water and retardant on the blaze.
That fleet included two Super Scoopers, enormous amphibious planes that can carry hundreds of gallons (liters) of water.
Crews from Los Angeles County Fire Department and Angeles National Forest were also attacking the blaze from the ground.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has been the target of criticism by President Donald Trump over his handling of the Los Angeles fires, said he had ordered officials into action.
“State resources have been deployed to the Hughes Fire in the Angeles National Forest to assist in the federal response,” he said.
“We will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide the federal government with whatever it needs to extinguish this fire.”
It was not immediately clear what sparked the fire, but it occurred during red flag fire conditions — when meteorologists say strong winds and low humidity create conditions ripe for rapid fire spread.
Human activity, including the unchecked burning of fossil fuels, is changing Earth’s climate, increasing average global temperatures and altering weather patterns.
Even though January is the middle of the region’s rainy season, Southern California has not seen any significant precipitation in around eight months, leaving the countryside tinder dry.


Nearly 6 million Somalis need aid this year: UN

Nearly 6 million Somalis need aid this year: UN
Updated 23 January 2025
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Nearly 6 million Somalis need aid this year: UN

Nearly 6 million Somalis need aid this year: UN
  • Somalia is currently facing “widespread dry conditions following poor October to December rains,” says UN humanitarian agency OCHA said

UNITED NATIONS: Nearly six million people in Somalia, almost a third of the country’s population, need humanitarian aid this year, the United Nations said Wednesday as it launched a $1.43 billion funding appeal.
The Horn of Africa nation is one of the world’s poorest, enduring decades of civil war, a bloody insurgency by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab, and frequent climate disasters.
“Somalia continues to face a complex, protracted humanitarian crisis,” a statement from the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said, citing a range of issues from conflict to “climate shocks.”

 

The country is currently facing “widespread dry conditions following poor October to December rains,” OCHA said.
The funding appeal launched Monday with the Somali government aims “to support some 4.6 million of the most vulnerable people in the country,” it added.


Europe posts record year for clean energy use as Trump pulls US toward fossil fuels

Europe posts record year for clean energy use as Trump pulls US toward fossil fuels
Updated 23 January 2025
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Europe posts record year for clean energy use as Trump pulls US toward fossil fuels

Europe posts record year for clean energy use as Trump pulls US toward fossil fuels
  • With another 24% of electricity in the bloc coming from nuclear power, nearly 3/4 of EU's electricity is considered clean energy
  • In contrast, economic giants China and the US still get nearly 2/3 of their energy from carbon-polluting fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas

A record 47 percent of the European Union’s electricity now comes from solar and other renewables, a report Thursday said, in yet another sign of the growing gap between the bloc’s push for clean energy and the new US administration’s pursuit of more fossil fuels.
Nearly three-quarters of the EU’s electricity doesn’t emit planet-warming gases into the air — with another 24 percent of electricity in the bloc coming from nuclear power, a report released by the climate energy think tank Ember found. This is far higher than in countries like the United States and China, where nearly two-thirds of their energy is still produced from carbon-polluting fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. Around 21 percent of the US’s electricity comes from renewable sources.
Experts say they’re encouraged by Europe’s fossil fuel reductions, particularly as the US looks set to increase its emissions as its new president pledges cheaper gas prices, has halted leases for wind projects and pledged to revoke Biden-era incentives for electric vehicles.
“Fossil fuels are losing their grip on EU energy,” said Chris Rosslowe, an energy expert at Ember. In 2024, solar power generated 11 percent of EU electricity, overtaking coal which fell below 10 percent for the first time. Clean wind power generated more electricity than gas for the second year in a row.
Green policies and war drive clean energy growth

Illustration courtesy of EMBER

One reason for Europe’s clean power transition moving at pace is the European Green Deal, an ambitious policy passed in 2019 that paved the way for climate laws to be updated. As a result of the deal, the EU made their targets more ambitious, aiming to cut 55 percent of the region’s emissions by the end of the decade. The policy also aims to make Europe climate neutral — reducing the amount of additional emissions in the air to practically zero — by 2050.
Hundreds of regulations and directives in European countries to incentivize investment in clean energy and reduce carbon pollution have been passed or are in the process of being ratified across Europe.
“At the start of the Deal, renewables were a third and fossil fuels accounted for 39 percent of Europe’s electricity,” Rosslowe said. “Now fossils generate only 29 percent and wind and solar have been driving the clean energy transition.” The amount of electricity generated by nuclear energy has remained relatively stable in the bloc.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also spurred the move to clean energy in Europe. Gas prices skyrocketed — with much of Europe’s gas coming from Russia becoming unviable — forcing countries to look for cheaper, cleaner alternatives. Portugal, Netherlands and Estonia witnessed the highest increase in clean power in the last five years.
Europe cements its place as a clean energy leader
The transition to clean power helped Europe avoid more than $61 billion worth of fossil fuel imports for generating electricity since 2019.
“This is sending a clear message that their energy needs are going to be met through clean power, not gas imports,” said Pieter de Pous, a Brussels-based energy analyst at European think tank E3G. De Pous said the EU’s origins were “as a community of coal and steel because those industries were so important,” but it is now rapidly becoming a “community of solar and wind power, batteries and smart technologies.”
Nuclear growth in the bloc, meanwhile, has slowed. Across the European Union, retirements of nuclear plants have outpaced new construction since around the mid-2000s, according to Global Energy Monitor.
As President Trump has pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement aimed at curbing warming and is pursuing a “drill, baby, drill” energy policy, Rosslowe said the EU’s leadership in clean power becomes all the more important. “It’s about increasing European energy independence, and it’s about showing this climate leadership,” he said.
On Tuesday, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said: “Europe will stay the course, and keep working with all nations that want to protect nature and stop global warming.”