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Live updates: Free at last! All 12 boys and their coach rescued from Thai cave

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An ambulance leaves from the Tham Luang cave area as operations continue for those still trapped inside the cave in Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park. (AFP)
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Policemen secure the hospital in Chiang Rai where the boys rescued after being trapped in a Tham Luang cave for nearly two weeks have been brought for observation. (AFP)
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In this undated file photo released by Royal Thai Navy on Saturday, July 7, 2018, Thai rescue teams arrange water pumping system at the entrance to a flooded cave complex where 12 boys and their football coach have been trapped since June 23, in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand. (Royal Thai Navy via AP)
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The “Wild Boars” team. (Photo courtesy of social media)
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The 12 boys and their football coach who have been trapped in a flooded cave complex in northern Thailand for more than two weeks. (Photo courtesy of social media)
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Diagram showing the estimated height of passages at selected cross sections of the Tham Luang cave system in Thailand. (AFP)
Updated 10 July 2018
Arab News
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Live updates: Free at last! All 12 boys and their coach rescued from Thai cave

  • Authorities in northern Chiang Rai province began the dangerous mission to bring out the 12 boys and their coach earlier on Sunday
  • “Wild Boars” team has been trapped inside the Tham Luang cave complex since June 23
Updated 10 July 2018
Arab News

MAE SAI: Thailand's navy SEALs say all 12 boys and their soccer coach have been rescued from a flooded cave in far northern Thailand, ending an ordeal that lasted more than two weeks.

They say the four boys and coach rescued Tuesday, after other rescues in the previous two days, are all safe.

The SEALs say they're still waiting for a medic and three Navy SEALs who stayed with the boys to emerge from the cave.

Elite divers on Sunday began the extremely dangerous operation to extract 12 boys and their football coach who have been trapped in a flooded cave complex in northern Thailand for more than two weeks, with some of the rescuers reaching the area where the team is sheltering.

The “Wild Boars” team has been stuck in a cramped chamber several kilometers (miles) inside the Tham Luang cave complex since June 23, when they went in after football practice and were hemmed in by rising waters.

Their plight has transfixed Thailand and the rest of the world, as authorities struggled to devise a plan to get the boys and their coach out through twisting, narrow and jagged passageways that in some places are completely flooded.

Premier League side Manchester United have invited the Wild Boars football team, like the Chilean miners rescued in 2010, to visit Old Trafford following their dramatic rescue on Tuesday. 

The dozen players — aged 11 to 16 — and the coach had already received an invitation from FIFA chief Gianni Infantino last week to attend the World Cup final on Sunday in Moscow — although after their traumatic experience they may not be up to the trip physically or mentally.

Rescue operation timeline

 

TUESDAY 12:00 GMT

Three ambulances, their lights flashing, have been seen leaving the site of the flooded Thai cave where rescuers are involved in an all-out effort to rescue members of a youth soccer team and their coach trapped deep within.
Earlier Tuesday, Thai navy SEALS said a ninth boy had been brought out of the cave on the third day of the rescue effort. The departure of the three ambulances suggests others also have been rescued, but there was no immediate official confirmation.
Rescuers hope to complete their mission Tuesday after rescuing four boys on each of the previous two days. That left four boys and their 25-year-old coach still in the cave.
The 12 boys and their coach were trapped by flooding in the cave more than two weeks ago.

TUESDAY 10:00 GMT

A local government official said that the tenth boy was rescued from the cave.

"The 10th is at the cave entrance on the way to the field hospital," a navy official told AFP requesting anonymity. A local government official confirmed the rescue while a police source, who also did not want to be named, said "the ninth and tenth were about 20 minutes apart."

TUESDAY 04:20 GMT

A Thai public health official says the eight boys rescued from a flooded cave in northern Thailand are in “high spirits” and have strong immune systems because they are soccer players.
Jesada Chokdumrongsuk, deputy director-general of the Public Health Ministry, said Tuesday that the first four boys rescued, aged 12 to 16, are now able to eat normal food.
He said two of them possibly have a lung infection but all eight are generally “healthy and smiling.”
He said, “the kids are footballers so they have high immune systems.”
The second group of four rescued on Monday are aged 12 to 14.
Family members have seen at least some of the boys from behind a glass barrier.
Four boys and their football coach remain in the cave.

MONDAY 12:20 GMT

An aide to the Thai Navy SEAL commander says four boys were brought out of the flooded cave in northern Thailand on Monday and the ongoing rescue operation is over for the day.
The aide, Sitthichai Klangpattana, didn't comment on the boys' health or say how well the operation has gone.
A total of eight of the 12 boys have now been brought out of the treacherous cave system by divers, including four who were brought out on Sunday, when the rescue operation began.

MONDAY 11:50 GMT

A total of four ambulances have left the area around the flooded cave in northern Thailand where members of a youth soccer team have been trapped for more than two weeks, suggesting eight of the 13 trapped people have now been extracted.
Thai officials have been tight-lipped about the rescue operation, and would not comment on how many people were removed Monday.

MONDAY 11:30 GMT

Two more ambulances have been seen leaving the site of a flooded cave in northern Thailand.
That brings to three the number of ambulances that have left the site Monday during the second day of a high-risk operation to bring the boys out of a labyrinth cave system made up of tight passageways and flooded chambers.

MONDAY 10:10 GMT

Thai authorities are being tight-lipped about who was inside an ambulance seen leaving the site of a flooded cave Monday, as they were the night before when four of the 13 people trapped inside the underground complex were rescued.
Multiple calls to senior government officials and military personnel leading the operation to rescue the members of the youth football team rang unanswered Monday evening.
On Sunday, officials waited until several hours after the rescued boys had been transported to hospitals to announce their rescue.

MONDAY 09:41 GMT

Thai public television has aired live video of a medivac helicopter landing close to a hospital in the city of Chiang Rai, near the site of the cave where a youth football team has been trapped for more than two weeks.
Medics appeared to remove one person on a stretcher but hid the person’s identity behind multiple white umbrellas. An ambulance was seen leaving the scene immediately afterward early Monday evening.
Less than an hour earlier, an ambulance with flashing lights had left the cave complex, hours after the start of the second phase of an operation to rescue the football team

MONDAY 08:25 GMT

Australia’s foreign minister says 19 Australian personnel are involved in the Thailand cave rescue operation including a doctor who’s played an essential part in assessing which boys can leave and in what order.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told reporters in Australia that anesthetist and experienced cave diver Richard Harris is working with the Thai medical team inside the cave “to make the decisions about the order in which the boys were to be extracted.”

MONDAY 08:18 GMT

Thai authorities say they have resumed operations to rescue members of a boys’ football team trapped in a flooded cave after successfully getting four of the boys out Sunday.
The chief of the international mission on Monday said he was expecting “good news” shortly.
“All the equipment is ready. Oxygen bottles are ready... in next few hours we will have good news,” Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters, after announcing the second phase of the rescue bid had begun.

MONDAY 08:07 GMT

Thai authorities say overnight rain did not change the water level in cave where the boys and their coach are trapped.
They said the second phase of the operation of the rescue mission will begin at 11 a.m
“We are using more personnel than yesterday,” said the chief of the rescue mission.

MONDAY 07:58 GMT

Thai authorities say the four boys rescued from the cave on Sunday are hungry but in good health. 
Officials said at a news conference that the parents of the rescued boys, whose names have not been released, have not yet been allowed to have physical contact with them, pending more extensive examination of their physical condition.
Eight boys are still inside the cave and along with the team coach. The operation to get them out was supposed to resume only after new oxygen tanks could be placed along their route of escape, which is partially underwater.

MONDAY 07:46 GMT

American tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has proposed a mini-submarine to save the boys trapped inside a flooded Thai cave, floating the idea on social media while linking it to his space exploration business.
After garnering headlines with initial ideas of installing a giant air tube inside the cave complex and using his firm’s penetrating radar to dig holes to reach the boys, Musk’s latest concept is the pod.
“Primary path is basically a tiny, kid-size submarine using the liquid oxygen transfer tube of Falcon rocket as hull,” Musk said in a tweet to his 22 million followers.
“Light enough to be carried by 2 divers, small enough to get through narrow gaps. Extremely robust.”

The mini-submarine is due to arrive in Thailand on Monday, Musk wrote.

MONDAY 07:26 GMT

Authorities are preparing to resume extractions of a youth football team from a flooded cave in Thailand a day after four boys were rescued.
There was a heavy but brief downpour Monday morning. New oxygen tanks were being placed in the cave before the second stage of the rescue effort began.
Thailand's interior minister says the same divers who took part in Sunday's rescue of four boys trapped in a flooded cave will also conduct the next operation as they know the cave conditions and what to do.
In comments released by the government, Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda said officials were meeting Monday morning about the next stage of the operation and how to extract the remaining nine people from the cave in the country's north.
Anupong said divers need to place more air canisters along the underwater route to where the boys and their coach have been trapped since June 23. He said that process can take several hours.
He said the boys rescued Sunday are strong and safe but need to undergo detailed medical checks.

SUNDAY 13:54 GMT

The head of the rescue operation has confirmed that the number of boys recued from the Thai cave were four, not six as previously reported by Reuters.
Chiang Rai acting Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn, who is heading the operation, said the first boy exited the cave at 17:40 local time, adding the four boys have been safely delivered to hospital in Chiang Rai.
“The operation went much better than expected,” Narongsak said at a news conference, adding that the healthiest were taken out first. He said the next phase of the operation would start in 10-20 hours.
He said 90 divers, including 50 foreigners and 40 Thais, are involved in the operation to remove the boys from the cave.
Just after 9 p.m., Thai navy SEALs posted on their Facebook page again, saying: “Have sweet dreams everyone. Good night. Hooyah.”

SUNDAY 12:50 GMT

Six boys have exited a flooded cave in northern Thailand where they have been trapped for more than two weeks, a senior member of rescue operation’s medical team said on Sunday.
Authorities in northern Chiang Rai province began the dangerous mission to bring out the 12 boys and their football coach earlier on Sunday.

SUNDAY 12:15 GMT

Four boys among a group of 13 trapped in a flooded Thai cave reached the rescue base camp inside the complex on Sunday and will walk out soon, the country’s defense ministry spokesman told AFP.
“Four boys have reached chamber three and will walk out of the cave shortly,” Lt. General Kongcheep Tantrawanit said, referring to the area where rescue workers had set up a base.

SUNDAY 11:49 GMT

The first two members of a Thai schoolboy football team have been rescued from the flooded cave where they had been trapped for more than two weeks, a local rescue official said on Sunday.
Authorities in northern Chiang Rai province began the dangerous mission to bring out the 12 boys and their coach earlier on Sunday.
“Two kids are out. They are currently at the field hospital near the cave,” said Tossathep Boonthong, chief of Chiang Rai’s health department and part of the rescue team.
“We are giving them a physical examination. They have not been moved to Chiang Rai hospital yet,” Tossathep told Reuters.

 

SUNDAY 11:15 GMT

Two ambulances have left from a cave in northern Thailand, hours after an operation began to rescue 12 youth football players and their coach.
The ambulances were seen Sunday evening, but it was unclear who was inside them.
Chiang Rai province acting Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn, who is heading the operation, said earlier Sunday that 13 foreign and five Thai divers were taking part in the rescue and two divers will accompany each boy as they’re gradually extracted. He said the operation began at 10 a.m., and it will take at least 11 hours for the first person to be taken out of the cave.
The boys and their coach became stranded when they went exploring in the cave after a practice game June 23. Monsoon flooding cut off their escape and prevented rescuers from finding them for almost 10 days.

SUNDAY 10:50 GMT

Thai authorities say it is unknown when the first group of boys trapped in a flooded cave will begin their dive out of the cave, the key part of a rescue operation underway.
In a statement released late Sunday afternoon, Chiang Rai acting Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn says "divers will work with medics in the cave to assess the boys' health before determining who will come out first."
He added: "They cannot decide how many of them will be able to come out for the first operation. Based on the complexity and difficulty of the cave environment it is unknown how long it might take and how many children would exit the cave."

SUNDAY 07:45 GMT

“Today is the D-day. The boys are ready to face any challenges,” rescue chief Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters near the cave site as weather forecasters warned of more monsoon rains late on Sunday that would cause further flooding in the cave.
Narongsak said the first boy was expected to be brought out of the cave by around 9:00 p.m. (1400 GMT) after navigating the planned six-hour journey.


However another operation commander said the operation would take two to three days to complete, with the boys and their coach being brought out one-by-one, and that the weather conditions would play a role in determining how long it would take.
The boys, aged from 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach were found dishevelled and hungry by British cave diving specialists nine days after they ventured in.
But initial euphoria over finding the boys alive quickly turned into deep anxiety as rescuers raced to find a way to get them out, with Narongsak at one point dubbing the effort “Mission Impossible.”

 

(With AFP, Reuters and AP)

Topics: Thailand Thai cave soccer football

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Russia planned ‘acts of terrorism’ in the air, Polish PM says

Updated 4 sec ago
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Russia planned ‘acts of terrorism’ in the air, Polish PM says

Updated 4 sec ago
The explosions occurred in depots in Britain, Germany and Poland in July
Russia has denied involvement in the incidents and Tusk did not mention them specifically

WARSAW: Russia planned ‘acts of terrorism’ in the air against Poland and other countries, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Warsaw.
Security officials have said that parcels that exploded at logistics depots in Europe were part of a test run for a Russian plot to trigger explosions on cargo flights to the United States. The explosions occurred in depots in Britain, Germany and Poland in July. Russia has denied involvement in the incidents and Tusk did not mention them specifically.
“The latest information can confirm the validity of fears that Russia was planning acts of terrorism in the air not only against Poland,” Tusk told a news conference. He did not say what acts he was referring to or elaborate on the contents of the information.
Moscow has regularly denied any involvement in the courier depot explosions, as well as break-ins, arson and attacks on individuals which Western officials say were carried out by operatives paid by Russia. The Russian embassy in Warsaw has not immediately replied to an emailed request for comment on Tusk’s statement.

US must not become complacent to a growing terrorism threat, a Counterterrorism Center official says

Updated 38 min 50 sec ago
AP
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US must not become complacent to a growing terrorism threat, a Counterterrorism Center official says

  • “We are in a period where we are facing an elevated threat environment,” Holmgren said
  • He also points to mass migration from the Russia-Ukraine war that has sent central Asians to countries including Turkiye, Syria, Iraq and even the US
Updated 38 min 50 sec ago
AP

UNITED STATES: Brett Holmgren got woken up early on New Year’s Day by alerts that a driver had plowed into a crowd of revellers in New Orleans.
The rampage, which killed 14 people, was the deadliest attack on US soil in years and was inspired by the Daesh group.
The National Counterterrorism Center, which Holmgren leads, sprang into action to help the FBI run down information on the culprit from Texas and his plot.
It was a rare recent example of a mass attack motivated by religious extremism to hit the US homeland. But it didn’t occur in a vacuum, coming at a time when a terror threat that has waxed and waned in the two decades since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is decidedly on the rise around the world.
“We are in a period where we are facing an elevated threat environment,” Holmgren said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We faced that last year. We’re going to face it again in 2025.”
The NCTC emerged in the aftermath of 9/11 as a centralized US government hub to collect and analyze data and intelligence on the international terrorism threat, providing information to the White House and other agencies to shape policy decisions and protect against attacks.
A former counterterrorism analyst and assistant secretary of state, Holmgren was named its acting director last July and intends to step aside at the conclusion of the Biden administration.
At that point, new leadership under President-elect Donald Trump will grapple with managing some of the global hot spots like Syria that have vexed officials in recent months and that the NCTC has been tracking.
Holmgren cites multiple factors for why the threat is higher than before, including passions arising from the Israel-Hamas war — a conflict that he says has been a driving factor in some 45 attacks worldwide since October 2023. He also points to mass migration from the Russia-Ukraine war that has sent central Asians, some with ties to the Daesh group, to countries including Turkiye, Syria, Iraq and even the US
Around the world, officials are monitoring tensions in Africa, which Holmgren called potentially the greatest long-term threat to US security given that the Daesh group has a large footprint on the continent and is investing resources there.
He says the “most potent overseas threat facing the United States” right now is the group’s Afghanistan-based affiliate, known as Daesh-Khorasan, whose attacks include a March 2024 massacre at a Moscow theater and the August 2021 bombing that killed 13 US service members and about 170 Afghans in the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
One ongoing spot of concern is Syria, where an insurgent group named Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS, led a lightning offensive last month that toppled the government of President Bashar Assad.
HTS is a Sunni Islamist group that formerly had ties with Al-Qaeda, although its leader has preached religious coexistence since taking over in Damascus. The group has not plotted against US interests in recent years and has been “the most effective counterterrorism partner on the ground,” Holmgren said.
HTS has been designated by the State Department as a foreign terror organization, a label that carries severe sanctions.
Asked whether that designation would remain, Holmgren said that was a policy decision, though he noted: “They want to be perceived as being on the right side of the international community at this time when it comes to (counterterrorism). But we will continue to evaluate not just their words but also the actions that they’re undertaking.”
In an indication of Syria’s continued instability, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told The Associated Press last week that the US needs to keep troops there to prevent the Daesh group from reconstituting, and intelligence officials in Syria’s new de facto government already have thwarted a plan by Daesh to set off a bomb at a Shiite shrine in a Damascus suburb.
US officials, meanwhile, remain concerned about the possibility of Daesh gaining strength by taking over weapons left behind by Assad’s government or through a mass release of fighters who are now imprisoned.
“A large-scale prisoner release in Syria could provide a real boost in the arm for IS at a time where they have been under significant pressure,” Holmgren said.
The counterterrorism center’s focus is on international terrorism, which includes cases in the US like the New Orleans rampage in which the attacker was inspired by a group from abroad. The culprit, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, pledged his allegiance to Daesh in videos he recorded just before he drove his speeding pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street early on Jan. 1.
As of now, Holmgren said, there’s no evidence that Jabbar was communicating with any Daesh operatives overseas or guided by anyone, but given that he was a lone actor who was radicalized, “this symbolizes exactly the type of attack that we’ve warned about for some time.”
“And I think it illustrates that while we have been quite effective as a government and across administrations at disrupting plotting overseas and going after terrorist leaders, we have a lot more work to do when it comes to countering violent extremism at home, countering violent extremist propaganda abroad,” he added.
“That is ultimately what is going to be needed to prevent more attacks like the one in New Orleans,” Holmgren said.
By the same token, through vast intelligence collection, hardened defenses and overseas counterterrorism operations, the US has made the risk of another large-scale attack like Sept. 11 lower than it’s ever been.
“But if we get complacent as a country,” he warned, “it will come back to bite us.”

Topics: National Counterterrorism Center Brett Holmgren Syria Iraq Daesh US

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South Korean investigators arrest President Yoon in insurrection probe

Updated 33 min 50 sec ago
Seung-ku Lee
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South Korean investigators arrest President Yoon in insurrection probe

  • Yoon is the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested
  • His last month’s short-lived martial law order plunged the country into turmoil
Updated 33 min 50 sec ago
Seung-ku Lee

SEOUL: South Korean authorities arrested President Yoon Suk-yeol on Wednesday over accusations of insurrection following his briefly imposed martial law.
The arrest ended a standoff between investigators and Yoon’s presidential security team, which had prevented his detention earlier this month.
The Corruption Investigation Office announced it had “executed an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk-yeol today at 10:33 am,” after which he was seen stepping out of the car wearing a white shirt and suit as he slipped through the CIO’s back entrance for high-ranking officials.
“I decided to answer to the CIO’s investigations in order to prevent unsavory bloodshed,” Yoon said in a pre-recorded video statement released by his lawyers following the arrest.
“That does not mean I recognize the CIO’s investigation as legitimate.”
The CIO is leading a joint probe — together with military investigators and police — to probe allegations against Yoon.
He is charged with insurrection and will be held at the Seoul Detention Center. Authorities now have 48 hours to question the president and seek a warrant to detain him for up to 20 days.
The probe coincides with Yoon’s impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court. The trial began on Tuesday but hearings were adjourned minutes after it started due to Yoon’s absence.
The trial follows the National Assembly’s vote on Dec. 14 to impeach Yoon over the imposition of martial law on Dec. 3 — a move that lawmakers swiftly overturned hours after it was announced.
Yoon is the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested.
The CIO’s legitimacy in investigating Yoon has come under scrutiny as the president and his lawyers argue that it lacks the legal authority to investigate insurrection charges.
“The CIO does not have the right to investigate insurrection charges ... we strongly urge them to follow due legal processes,” Yoon’s lawyer and friend of 40-years, Seok Dong-hyun, said in a press conference after the president was taken into custody.
But Prof. Hong Young-ki from the Korea University School of Law told Arab News it was a matter of interpreting the law, “but the court has already confirmed the legitimacy” by approving the arrest warrant.
“The court already recognized the CIO’s jurisdiction when it issued the arrest warrant. Then who can go against the court and say that the CIO is illegitimate? How can a third party do it?” he said.
“The president wants to say that, but how can someone who was merely a prosecutor say his interpretation is more correct than that of the court? I don’t really think his argument has that much persuasive power.”
Claiming that the CIO’s investigation was illegitimate, Yoon was trying to evade arrest also during the eventually successful second attempt, which started at 4:10 a.m., with 3,000 officers surrounding his hillside house.
Buses and barbed wire were set up on the road leading to Yoon’s residence to prevent entry, while lawmakers from the president’s ruling People’s Power Party gathered at the site, tried to block the authorities, and shouted that “South Korea’s rule of law has collapsed” and that the “constitution has been destroyed.”
The opposition Democratic Party welcomed the arrest.
“A bit late, but it shows that South Korea’s governmental authority and justice is still alive,” floor leader Park Chan-dae said in a briefing.
“(Yoon’s arrest) is the first step in restoring liberal democracy and realizing the rule of law.”

Topics: South Korea

South Korean investigators question President Yoon in insurrection probe

Updated 41 min 51 sec ago
Seung-ku Lee
Follow

South Korean investigators question President Yoon in insurrection probe

  • Yoon is the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested
  • His last month’s short-lived martial law order plunged the country into turmoil
Updated 41 min 51 sec ago
Seung-ku Lee

Seoul: South Korean investigators began questioning President Yoon Suk-yeol on Wednesday after arresting him over accusations of insurrection following his briefly imposed martial law.

The arrest ended a standoff between investigators and Yoon’s presidential security team, which had prevented his detention earlier this month.

The Corruption Investigation Office announced it had “executed an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk-yeol today at 10:33 am,” after which he was seen stepping out of the car wearing a white shirt and suit as he slipped through the CIO’s back entrance for high-ranking officials.

“I decided to answer to the CIO’s investigations in order to prevent unsavory bloodshed,” Yoon said in a pre-recorded video statement released by his lawyers following the arrest.

“That does not mean I recognize the CIO’s investigation as legitimate.”

The CIO is leading a joint probe — together with military investigators and police — to probe allegations against Yoon.

He is charged with insurrection and will be held at the Seoul Detention Center. Authorities now have 48 hours to question the president and seek a warrant to detain him for up to 20 days.

The probe coincides with Yoon’s impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court. The trial began on Tuesday, but hearings were adjourned minutes after it started due to Yoon’s absence.

The trial follows the National Assembly’s vote on Dec. 14 to impeach Yoon over the imposition of martial law on Dec. 3 — a move that lawmakers swiftly overturned hours after it was announced.

Yoon is the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested.

The CIO’s legitimacy in investigating Yoon has come under scrutiny as the president and his lawyers argue that it lacks the legal authority to investigate insurrection charges.

“The CIO does not have the right to investigate insurrection charges ... We strongly urge them to follow due legal processes,” Yoon’s lawyer and friend of 40 years, Seok Dong-hyun, said in a press conference after the president was taken into custody.

Prof. Hong Young-ki from the Korea University School of Law told Arab News it was a matter of interpreting the law, “but the court has already confirmed the legitimacy” by approving the arrest warrant.

“The court already recognized the CIO’s jurisdiction when it issued the arrest warrant. Then who can go against the court and say that the CIO is illegitimate? How can a third party do it?” he said.

“The president wants to say that, but how can someone who was merely a prosecutor say his interpretation is more correct than that of the court? I don’t really think his argument has that much persuasive power.”

Claiming that the CIO’s investigation was illegitimate, Yoon tried to evade arrest also during the eventually successful second attempt, which started at 4:10 a.m., with 3,000 officers surrounding his hillside house.

Buses and barbed wire were set up on the road leading to Yoon’s residence to prevent entry, while lawmakers from the president’s ruling People’s Power Party gathered at the site, tried to block the authorities, and shouted that “South Korea’s rule of law has collapsed” and that the “constitution has been destroyed.”

The opposition Democratic Party welcomed the arrest.

“A bit late, but it shows that South Korea’s governmental authority and justice is still alive,” floor leader Park Chan-dae said in a briefing.

“(Yoon’s arrest) is the first step in restoring liberal democracy and realizing the rule of law.”

Topics: South Korea

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Dense fog over Indian capital delays flights, trains

Updated 15 January 2025
Reuters
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Dense fog over Indian capital delays flights, trains

  • Visibility at Delhi’s main airport was between zero to 100 meters, over 40 trains across northern India delayed 
  • Delhi was ranked as the world’s most polluted city in live rankings by Swiss group IQAir on Wednesday
Updated 15 January 2025
Reuters

Dense fog and cold weather delayed train and flight departures in several parts of northern India, including its capital New Delhi, on Wednesday.
India’s weather office issued an orange alert for Delhi, the second highest warning level, forecasting dense to very dense fog in many areas.
Visibility at Delhi’s main airport was between zero to 100 meters (328.08 ft), the weather office said, and more than 40 trains across northern India were delayed because of fog, local media reported.
Some aircraft departures from Delhi were delayed, airport authorities said on social media platform X, warning that flights lacking the CAT III navigation system that enables landing despite low visibility would face difficulties. Delhi’s main airport handles about 1,400 flights every day.
“Low visibility and fog over Delhi may lead to some delays,” the country’s largest airline IndiGo said in a social media post.
Local media showed images of vehicles crawling along highways through the fog, and people huddled indoors as the temperature dipped to 7 degrees Celsius (44.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
Delhi was ranked as the world’s most polluted city in live rankings by Swiss group IQAir on Wednesday, with a reading of 254, ranked as “very unhealthy.”
The Indian capital has been battling poor air quality and smog since the beginning of winter.

Topics: India fog

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