US believes circulating video from Syria could show missing American, officials say
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(LONDON) — The U.S. believes an individual seen in a video circulating online could be Travis Pete Timmerman, an American who went missing from Hungary earlier in the year, two officials familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Officials said they were seeking to provide support to the person, who doesn’t speak in the short video and is seen lying on a mattress on the floor.
Timmerman, 29, has been missing since June 2, 2024, the date of his last contact, according to Missouri State Highway Patrol.
It wasn’t immediately clear when and where the circulating video was taken, but the person speaking in Arabic to the camera identifies the man as an American, according to a translation. The speaker was identified as a Syrian local.
Police in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, published a statement in August seeking information about Timmerman, whom they said was missing.
“According to available data, the 29-year-old man was last seen at a church in District II, and has since left for an unknown location, with no sign of life,” police said, according to a translation.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared an “emergency martial law” in a televised speech on Tuesday, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Yoon said the measure was necessary due to the actions of the country’s opposition, which he accused of controlling parliament, sympathizing with North Korea and paralyzing the government.
“I declare martial law in order to eradicate the shameless pro-North Korea anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people and to protect the free constitutional order,” Yoon said, as quoted by ABC News editorial partner KBS.
Hours after the declaration, the National Assembly voted early Wednesday morning demanding that the president lift the martial law order. A majority voted to lift it.
Explaining his decision, Yoon accused the opposition-dominated parliament of “paralyzing” judicial affairs and the administration via 22 proposed cases of impeachment issued since the body convened in June.
Yoon’s conservative People Power Party has been locked in a fierce budget dispute with the liberal opposition Democratic Party.
“The handling of the national budget also cut all major budgets to have control over the essential functions of the state, the budget that was formed to crack down on drug crimes and maintain public security,” Yoon said Tuesday. “This undermines the essential functions of the state and leaves the public in a drug paradise and public security panic.”
“The National Assembly, which should be the basis of liberal democracy, has become a monster that collapses the liberal democracy system,” he added.
The Democratic Party responded by calling on its lawmakers to assemble at the National Assembly building in Seoul, Yonhap reported. Party leader Lee Jae-myung said Yoon’s martial law declaration was an “unconstitutional” measure that “goes against the people.”
“President Yoon declared emergency martial law for no reason,” Lee said, as quoted by Yonhap. “Tanks, armored vehicles and soldiers with guns and swords will soon control the country.”
Police and soldiers gathered around the National Assembly on Tuesday night after Yoon spoke. Footage from the scene also showed crowds descending on the building, some people making their way inside. Yonhap reported clashes between security personnel and National Assembly staffers as the former tried to enter the building.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon — a member of Yoon’s People Power Party — was among those who called for an immediate reversal of the declaration. “As mayor, I will do my best to protect the daily lives of citizens,” he added in a post to Facebook.
President Joe Biden’s administration is “in contact with” the South Korean government and is “monitoring the situation closely” following Yoon’s declaration, a White House National Security Council spokesperson confirmed to ABC News.
The spokesperson did not provide any further details, including whether Biden had been briefed on the matter.
Tuesday’s declaration is the first since the country’s democratization in 1987. Martial law was last declared in 1979 after the assassination of dictator Park Chung Hee.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Fritz Farrow contributed to this report.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a news conference on August 14, 2024 in Tokyo, Japan. (Philip Fong-Pool/Getty Images)
(TOKYO) — The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer Sazanami passed through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, marking the first time a modern Japanese warship has navigated this strategically sensitive waterway.
The Japanese destroyer was en-route to multinational naval drills. Australian and New Zealand vessels are also reported to have transited the strait.
China has consistently opposed foreign naval vessels transiting the strait, which it considers part of its territorial waters.
Japan’s move aligns with the stance of the U.S. and other allies, asserting that the strip constitutes international waters where freedom of navigation must be upheld. Recent transits by warships from Britain, Canada, France, Australia and Germany have also reinforced this principle.
The Japanese ship’s movements come as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is on his way out of office this month.
China often tests Japan’s response to their air and naval movements but they’ve been upping ante as of late. A People’s Liberation Army Navy aircraft carrier recently maneuvered between two of Japan’s southern islands. And the Chinese military tested on Wednesday its first ICBM in decades, a launch about which Japan hadn’t received prior notification.
The decision to send the Sazanami through the strait is significant given Japan’s decades of post-war pacifism. The government has tread lightly on all things military, to avoid stirring unrest at home. This bold move by Japan would’ve been hard to imagine a decade ago, but as the China’s assertiveness grows, so has Japan’s effort to beef up its national defense. It also appears to signal that Japan will stand with allies, as well as support Taiwan.
Japan’s government and Ministry of Defense have not yet made public statements about the move.
The ship’s movements come as the U.N. General Assembly meets in New York, where U.S. President Joe Biden spoke on Tuesday of his efforts to build a strong trilateral relationship with Japan and South Korea. Those relationships have been part of Biden’s strategy to counter China’s influence in the region.
“These partnerships are not against any nation,” Biden said on Tuesday. “They’re building blocks for a free, open, secure, peaceful Indo-Pacific.”
(CAIRO) — Dozens of tourists are feared missing after a diving boat sank off Egypt’s Red Sea coast, authorities said on Monday.
The Sea Story, as the boat is known, sank off the southeastern Egyptian town of Marsa Alam, near the Shaab Satayah area, which is popular for its coral reefs, the Red Sea Governorate said in a statement.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
