South Korean president indicted on insurrection charges after martial law declaration
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(SEOUL) — South Korean prosecutors formally indicted President Yoon Suk Yeol on Sunday, charging him with insurrection over his brief imposition of martial law in December, according to opposition lawmakers and South Korean media.
“The prosecution has decided to indict Yoon Suk Yeol, who is facing charges of being a ringleader of insurrection,” Democratic Party spokesman Han Min-soo told a press conference, Reuters reported. “The punishment of the ringleader of insurrection now begins finally.”
Yoon had declared martial law in a televised speech on Dec. 3. The president said the measure was necessary due to the actions of the country’s liberal opposition, the Democratic Party, which he accused of controlling parliament, sympathizing with North Korea and paralyzing the government. A South Korean court issued an arrest and search warrant on Dec. 31.
The indictment follows Yoon’s arrest ten days ago, when South Korean prosecutors finally succeeded in forcing him to surrender at his residence after a prolonged stand-off with his presidential bodyguard.
Yoon has previously pledged to fight the charges. He has been suspended from his position since Dec. 14.
(LONDON) — Europol, the law enforcement agency of the European Union, has conducted a “large-scale hit against child sexual exploitation” whose members are part of a criminal group engaging in the distribution of images of minors fully generated by artificial intelligence, authorities said.
With support from 19 countries in Europe, a total of 25 arrests were made worldwide in the operation — named Operation Cumberland — that was led by Danish law enforcement and carried out simultaneously on Wednesday, according to Europol.
In total, 273 suspects were identified, 25 arrests were made and 33 house searches were conducted, Europol said.
“The main suspect, a Danish national who was arrested in November 2024, ran an online platform where he distributed the AI-generated material he produced,” officials said. “Following a symbolic online payment, users from around the world were able to obtain a password to access the platform and watch children being abused.”
Operation Cumberland has been “one of the first cases involving AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM), making it exceptionally challenging for investigators, especially due to the lack of national legislation addressing these crimes,” Europol said. “In this regard, EU Member States are currently discussing a common regulation proposed by the European Commission to tackle this new situation and protect children from being sexually abused and exploited.”
More arrests are expected in the coming weeks in the ongoing operation.
“These artificially generated images are so easily created that they can be produced by individuals with criminal intent, even without substantial technical knowledge,” said Catherine De Bolle, Europol’s executive director. “This contributes to the growing prevalence of child sexual abuse material, and as the volume increases, it becomes progressively more challenging for investigators to identify offenders or victims. Law enforcement will need to develop new investigative methods and tools to address these emerging challenges.”
Online child sexual exploitation remains one of the most threatening manifestations of cybercrime in the European Union and continues to be one of the top priorities for law enforcement agencies, which are dealing with an ever-growing volume of illegal content, Europol said.
“Self-generated child sexual material constitutes a significant share of the CSAM that is detected. AI models able to generate or alter images are being abused by offenders to produce CSAM and for sexual extorsion. Such models are widely available and have developed quickly, with output that now increasingly resembles genuine material, making it harder to identify as artificially generated,” Europol said.
“This poses significant challenges to authorities in identifying the real victims. Even in cases when the content is fully artificial and there is no real victim depicted, such as Operation Cumberland, AI-generated CSAM still contributes to the objectification and sexualisation of children,” officials continued.
Europol said that it, along with its partners, will be launching an online campaign in the coming days highlighting the consequences of using AI for illegal purposes and targeting potential offenders where they are most active: online. The campaign will use online messages to reach buyers of illegal content, as well as other methods such as knock-and-talks, social media messages and warning letters.
“Operation Cumberland demonstrates an ongoing coordinated effort by law enforcement to tackle this threat comprehensively, from arresting criminals to preventing future crimes through education, deterrence and providing support to those who want to seek support or help,” Europol said.
(LONDON) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said overnight missile and drone attacks launched by Russia showed that Moscow’s claimed support for a ceasefire in Ukraine is not “real.”
Ukrainian authorities reported airstrikes in several regions of the country, including a drone attack on a hospital in the northeastern city of Sumy. The barrage came hours after Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin agreed to a halt in attacks on energy infrastructure as part of the White House’s peace efforts.
“Now in many regions you can literally hear what Russia really needs,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. “About 40 Shaheds in our sky, air defense is working,” the president added, referring to the Iranian-designed strike drone used by Russia.
“Unfortunately, there are hits, and precisely in civilian infrastructure,” Zelenskyy continued. “It is precisely such night attacks by Russia that destroy our energy, our infrastructure, the normal life of Ukrainians. And the fact that this night was no exception shows that we must continue to put pressure on Russia for the sake of peace.”
Ukraine’s air force reported a total of six missiles and 145 drones fired into the country overnight. Seventy-two drones were shot down, the air force said, with another 56 lost in flight without causing damage. The Sumy, Odesa, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv and Chernihiv regions were affected by the attack, the air force wrote on Telegram.
“Today, Putin actually rejected the proposal for a complete ceasefire,” Zelenskyy said. “It would be right for the world to reject any attempts by Putin to drag out the war in response.”
“Sanctions against Russia. Aid to Ukraine. Strengthening allies in the free world and working towards security guarantees,” the president added. “And only a real cessation by Russia of attacks on civilian infrastructure as evidence of a desire to end this war can bring peace closer.”
Russia’s military claimed to have neutralized seven of its own drones after receiving Putin’s partial ceasefire order. The Defense Ministry said the drones were destroyed while in the air having been aimed at “Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities related to the military-industrial complex” in the Mykolaiv region.
The Kremlin said Tuesday that the call between Trump and Putin was a “detailed and frank exchange of views.” Putin did not agree to the full 30-day ceasefire proposed by the U.S. and Ukraine, the Kremlin statement said, with the Russian leader again framing any pause in the fighting as beneficial to Ukraine’s armed forces.
The two sides did agree to a ceasefire on energy infrastructure attacks, the Kremlin said, after which Putin “immediately gave the relevant order to the Russian troops.”
Hours later, Russian authorities reported a drone attack on an oil depot facility in the southern Krasnodar Krai region’s Kavkazsky district.
“Due to falling debris there was a fire at the oil depot,” the local administration said in a statement posted to Telegram. “The pipeline between the tanks was damaged.”
Local authorities reported no casualties, though added that 30 workers were evacuated from the area and operations suspended.
The region’s Operational Headquarters Telegram channel said the fire at the depot spread to more than 18,000 square feet in size via a leak in a tank. “Emergency services are keeping the situation under control,” it said, noting that “179 people and 54 units of equipment are involved in extinguishing the fire.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 57 Ukrainian drones overnight. The ministry said the attack in Krasnodar Krai represented “another provocation specially prepared by the Kyiv regime aimed at disrupting the peace initiatives of the U.S. president.”
The Russian federal air transport agency Rosaviatsia said operations were temporarily suspended at airports in the cities of Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Nizhnekamsk, though did not specify the reason. Flights at Russian airports are regularly disrupted during drone attacks.
The White House said on Tuesday after the call between Trump and Putin that the two leaders “agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace. These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East.”
Trump, in his own social media post later Tuesday, called the hourslong conversation “very good and productive.”
“We agreed to an immediate Ceasefire on all Energy and Infrastructure, with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a Complete Ceasefire and, ultimately, an END to this very horrible War between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump wrote.
Trump also said securing the 30-day ceasefire sought by Ukraine “would have been tough,” in a released clip of a pre-taped interview on Fox News.
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler, Oleksiy Pshemyskiy, Tanya Stukalova and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Israeli strikes killed at least 86 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip since the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday, Gaza’s Civil Defence body in the Hamas-run territory said.
More than 250 other people were injured in Israeli attacks, they added.
The strikes came despite the ceasefire agreement announced on Wednesday after weeks of intense negotiations in Doha, Qatar. The final round of talks followed more than a year of failed efforts to reach an accord.
The first of three ceasefire phases is set to go into force on Sunday, though is still pending approval by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet. If the first is successful, the second phase will begin after 42 days, according to Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who announced the deal in Doha.
On Thursday, Netanyahu’s office accused Hamas of trying to renege on parts of the deal, an allegation Hamas denied, saying in a statement that “The organization is committed to the ceasefire agreement announced by the mediators.”
Mediators hope the nascent ceasefire will form a roadmap to end more than 15 months of conflict in Gaza, which has devastated the Palestinian territory and created a vast humanitarian crisis.
Gaza Health Ministry officials said Thursday that at least 46,788 Palestinians had been killed and 110,453 injured in the strip since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a terrorist attack on southern Israel.
Some 1,200 people in Israel were killed in the attack, with 253 more taken hostage by militants, according to Israeli officials. Following several rounds of hostage releases, Israeli officials say 94 abductees remain in Gaza, including 34 who have been confirmed dead. Four more hostages abducted in 2014 are still being held in Gaza by Hamas, two of whom are believed to be alive.
More than 400 Israeli soldiers and security personnel have been killed during the fighting inside Gaza, nine of whom were killed in the past week, the IDF said.
The Israel Defense Forces claims to have killed more than 15,000 Hamas fighters and other militants throughout the course of the war. Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif were among those killed since October 2023.
ABC News’ Samy Zyara, Diaa Ostaz, Nasser Atta, Meredith Deliso, Somayeh Malekian and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
