South Korea's ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol rearrested
During Wednesday's seven-hour hearing, a special counsel team argued for the arrest warrant on five key charges, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.The charges include Yoon's alleged violation of the rights of cabinet members by not inviting some of them to a meeting before he declared martial law.Yoon initially attended the hearing alongside his lawyers to deny the charges, before being taken to Seoul Detention Center to await a decision on an arrest warrant.He was first arrested in January following a lengthy stand-off, with investigators scaling barricades and cutting through barbed wire to take him into custody from his residence in central Seoul. Yoon was released two months later after a court overturned his arrest on technical grounds, but still faces trial.If found guilty, he could face life in prison or the death penalty.Prosecutors have reportedly found evidence that Yoon ordered military drones to be flown over North Korea to provoke a reaction that would justify his martial law declaration, according to reports. Other senior officials also face charges including insurrection and abuse of authority over the martial law declaration.Insurrection is one of a small number of criminal charges from which South Korean presidents do not have immunity, but now Yoon is no longer president he is open to other criminal charges.South Korea's new president, Lee Jae-myung, was elected in June following a snap election after Yoon's impeachment.Lee campaigned on the promise to strengthen the country's democracy following the crisis and appointed a special counsel team to investigate Yoon over the imposition of martial-law, as well as other criminal allegations surrounding his administration.
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BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
North Korea's Benidorm-style resort welcomes first Russian tourists
A new beach resort in North Korea, criticised by human rights groups for the harsh treatment of construction workers, has welcomed its first group of Russian tourists this Wonsan Kalma resort was opened in a grand ceremony last month by North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, who hailed it as a "world-class tourist and cultural destination".The details of how this resort was built have been shrouded in secrecy in a country largely closed to the outside Verify has studied satellite imagery, obtained internal planning documents, and spoken to experts and former North Korean insiders about their concerns over human rights abuses during the development of the site. Echoes of Benidorm Kim Jong Un spent much of his youth in Wonsan, and prior to the building of the new resort the town was a popular holiday destination for the country's elite. "When the Wonsan tourist area was initially planned… the idea was to attract around one million tourists to the area while keeping it a closed-off zone," says Ri Jong Ho, a senior North Korean economic official involved in the resort's early planning stages and who defected in 2014."The intention was to open North Korea up a bit."In 2017, a year before construction began, Kim sent a delegation on a fact-finding mission to Spain, where the team toured the resort of North Korean delegation "included high ranking politicians and many architects who took lots of notes," recalls Matias Perez Such, a member of the Spanish team that hosted the delegation on a tour including a theme park, high-rise hotels and a marina.A North Korean brochure with a map of the resort has 43 hotels identified along the beach front, as well as guest houses on an artificial lake, and camping sites. We've matched these locations with high-resolution satellite imagery, although we are unable to verify whether they have actually been completed. An aquatic park, complete with towering yellow water slides, is set back from the north, there's an entertainment quarter which includes buildings that are identified in the plan as a theatre, recreation and fitness centres, and a cinema. Beginning in early 2018, satellite images taken over 18 months reveal dozens of buildings springing up along the 4km (2.5 mile) stretch of the end of 2018, around 80% of the resort had been completed, according to research carried out by satellite imagery firm, SI Analytics, based in South following this whirlwind construction effort, work on the site then appears to have paused. Construction then resumed after a June 2024 meeting with Kim and Vladimir Putin, where the Russian president said he would encourage his citizens to visit North Korea's holiday resorts. The human cost of construction This rapid pace of construction has raised concerns over the treatment of those working at the UN has highlighted a system of forced labour used in North Korea, in particular "shock brigades" where workers often face harsh conditions, long hours, and inadequate Heenan of the UN Human Rights Office in Seoul says "there are reports that the resort was built using what they call shock brigades"."We've also seen reports that people were working 24 hours at the end to get this thing finished, which sounds like a shock brigade to me." The BBC has spoken to one North Korean who served in and eventually managed shock Cho Chung Hui - who has subsequently defected - wasn't involved in the construction of the Wonsan resort, he recalled the brutal conditions of the brigades he oversaw."The principle behind these [brigades] was that no matter what, you had to complete the task, even if it cost you your life," he said."I saw many women who were under so much physical strain and eating so poorly that their periods stopped altogether." Kang Gyuri, who worked in Wonsan before fleeing to South Korea in 2023, says her cousin volunteered to work on the construction site because he saw it as a pathway to residency in the country's capital of Pyongyang, which is reserved for citizens trusted by the regime."He could hardly sleep. They [didn't] give him enough to eat," she said."The facilities are not properly organised, some people just die while working and they [the authorities] don't take responsibility if they fall and die."Ms Kang also said residents in Wonsan were driven out from their homes as the resort project expanded, often without not specific to Ms Kang's experience, BBC Verify was able to identify through satellite analysis the demolition of buildings near a main road leading towards the resort. In their place, larger tower blocks are now visible. "They just demolish everything and build something new, especially if it's in a good location," Ms Kang said."The problem is, no matter how unfair it feels, people can't openly speak out or protest."The BBC reached out to North Korean officials for comment. Where are the foreign tourists? North Korea has been almost entirely closed to foreign visitors with only a few highly-controlled tours permitted to visit the country in recent Kalma is seen not only as playing an important role in reviving the sanctioned country's ailing economic fortunes, but also as a means of strengthening its ties with Russia - which have grown closer following Pyongyang's military support for Moscow's war in to early planning documents seen by BBC Verify, the initial goal was to attract more than a million visitors, with foreign tourists expected to mainly come from China and Russia. We have scanned tourist agency sites both in China and Russia for any listings promoting trips to the new of the Chinese agencies we checked were advertising trips to Wonsan. In Russia, however, we identified three agencies offering tours that included Wonsan called one of the Russian agencies in early July posing as an interested customer a week before its first scheduled departure on 7 July and were told that it had attracted 12 people from week-long trip to North Korea, including three days at the Wonsan resort, cost $1,800 (£1,300) - that's 60% more than the average monthly salary in further trips have been scheduled for August, according to this tour operator. We contacted the other two agencies offering similar tour packages, but they declined to disclose how many people had signed Lankov, an expert in Russian-North Korean relations at the Kookmin University in Seoul, said Wonsan Kalma was "highly unlikely to become seriously popular with Russian visitors"."Russian tourists can easily go to places like Turkey, Egypt, Thailand and Vietnam, which are far superior to everything North Korea can develop," he said."The standards of service are higher and you are not put under constant supervision."Additional reporting by Yaroslava Kiryukhina, Yi Ma and Cristina Cuevas. Graphics by Sally Nicholls and Erwan Rivault. What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
Who were the two pilots who flew the Air India jet that crashed?
NEW DELHI, July 12 (Reuters) - Investigators probing a deadly Air India crash said in a preliminary report that the aircraft's engine fuel switches were flipped to an off position briefly, leading to confusion in the cockpit and putting focus on the pilots flying the Boeing 787. Below is a brief profile of the two pilots based on the preliminary investigation report and media reports: The 56-year-old had an airline transport pilot's licence that was valid until May 14, 2026. He had obtained clearances to fly as pilot-in-command on several aircraft including the Boeing 787 and 777 and the Airbus ( opens new tab A310. He had total flying experience of 15,638 hours, of which 8,596 hours were on a Boeing 787. Sabharwal had called his family from the airport, assuring them he would ring again after landing in London, according to a Times of India report. A pilot who had briefly interacted with him told Reuters he was a "gentleman." The 32-year-old had a commercial pilot license which was issued in 2020 and valid until September 26, 2025. He had obtained clearances to fly Cessna 172 and Piper PA-34 Seneca aircraft as pilot-in-command and as co-pilot on Airbus A320 and Boeing 787 jets. He had total flying experience of 3,403 hours. Of that, 1,128 hours of experience were as a 787 co-pilot. Since his school-going days Kunder was passionate about flying, and in 2012, began serving as a pilot, Indian media reported, citing his relatives. He joined Air India in 2017.
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Boxing champ Gervonta Davis arrested AGAIN on battery charges in Florida
WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis has been arrested again on a domestic violence charge. As seen in jail records obtained by Daily Mail, Davis is now facing a battery charge after being arrested in the early hours of Friday morning in Miami Beach, Florida. Fox Sports Radio's Andy Slater is reporting that Davis is accused of his hitting his ex-girlfriend on the back of the head and slapping her. The incident in question took place on June 15 outside the ex-girlfriend's home, is reporting. Police pulled him over after running his plates and learning he had an outstanding warrant. Daily Mail has reached out for comment to Miami-Dade police and an attorney who represented Davis in a previous domestic violence case. He was previously accused of domestic violence in 2023 by Vanessa Posso, who is the mother of Davis' daughter. Posso has since publicly withdrawn her abuse allegations. Davis was arrested in December of 2022 in Florida on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge after allegedly striking a woman with a 'closed hand-type slap' and leaving her with an abrasion on her lip, according to a Broward County Sheriff's Office incident report. A recording of the alleged victim's 911 call was released by TMZ: 'He's going to kill me!... I need help, please! I'm trying to go home. I have my baby in the car, and he attacked me in front of the kid. And, now he's messing up my tires!' Later in December, Posso said on Instagram that Davis was not guilty of domestic violence. 'These past days have been hurtful, and extremely exhausting for all parties involved,' she wrote. 'I pride myself on being extremely private; this situation was the last thing I wanted to be made public. 'The state of our relationship has been in a fragile space and Gervonta and I were both at fault for the argument,' she continued. 'While the emotions were running high I made an unnecessary call to law enforcement at an intense moment while I was frantic. Gervonta did not harm me or our daughter. 'Today, we have sought the help necessary to move forward with our lives. I am confident that we will succeed within our co-parenting dynamic with the counselling provided to us.' Davis broke his silence in an Instagram post he later deleted to deny the accusation. 'I NEVER PUT MY HANDS ON MY CHILD MOTHER NOR MY F***ING DAUGHTER ARE YOU F****** CRAZY!!' Davis wrote. 'I'M NOT A MONSTER.' Posso and Davis later reunited and in 2023, announced that they were expecting a second child. The lightweight champion previously surrendered to Florida police after he grabbed the throat of another ex-girlfriend at a charity basketball game in 2020. In 2017, assault charges against Davis were dropped after he allegedly punched childhood friend in the head. He was then accused of getting into a fight with a man at a mall in Virginia and was charged with disorderly conduct after a street brawl in 2018. Davis is 30-0-1 after coming away with a controversial draw against Lamont Roach Jr. back in March when referee Steve Willis neglected to deduct a point when Davis took a knee in the ninth. Roach's team filed a complaint, but the New York State Athletic Commission refused to overtun the result, stating that "the referee's call was not outcome-determinative.'
