Author: Daily Sabah With DPA

Suspended South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol once again refused to appear for questioning on Friday, the third day of his detention, as investigators requested he be formally placed under arrest, the country’s Yonhap news agency reported. Yoon communicated through his lawyer that he had already thoroughly stated his position to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) on the first day of questioning and “doesn’t see any reason or need to respond to a question-and-answer type of interrogation,” Yonhap reported. Yoon had already failed to appear the previous day, citing health reasons. In a video message released on…

Russia will not leave unanswered Ukrainian missile attacks using long-range US and British missiles, the Defence Ministry posted on its Telegram channel on Tuesday. The post followed an attack on a munitions factory in Bryansk in western Russia. Russian air defences had shot down six US ATACMS missiles and eight British Storm Shadow missiles, the ministry reported. Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz confirmed the attack, which was initially reported on social media. He said there had been no casualties but did not provide details on any damage caused. The Mash Telegram channel seen as close to Russian security organs reported three…

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday dismissed incoming US president Donald Trump’s demands that Germany and other NATO allies spend at least 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence. “Five percent would be over €200 billion ($204 billion) per year, the federal budget is not even €500 billion,” Scholz said at an election campaign event in the central German city of Bielefeld. “That would only be possible with massive tax increases or massive cuts to many things that are important to us.” However, Scholz promised that Germany would adhere to the current NATO target of spending at least 2%…

Defence Ministers from Poland, Germany, France, Italy and the UK are set to meet in Warsaw on Monday to discuss European security matters in a new five-way format established in the wake of Donald Trump’s US presidential election win. The European allies, responding to Trump repeatedly undermining US reliability in the NATO alliance, are above all seeking to strengthen European security and conflict readiness. It is unclear if or to what degree the US will continue its current military support for Ukraine under Trump’s leadership. With a week until Trump’s inauguration on January 20, the European defence ministers also want…

Thousands of Israelis demonstrated again across the country on Saturday evening for the release of hostages. At a rally in Tel Aviv, the friend of a kidnapping victim recently found dead in the Gaza Strip called for an agreement with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas. The relatives of the other hostages should not also have to embrace coffins, said Masen Abu Siam, an Arab Israeli. The Gaza war had led to much unnecessary bloodshed on both sides, he asserted. His 53-year-old friend and his 22-year-old son were found dead a few days ago in a tunnel in the Gaza Strip.…

Thousands of Israelis demonstrated again across the country on Saturday evening for the release of hostages. At a rally in Tel Aviv, the friend of a kidnapping victim recently found dead in the Gaza Strip called for an agreement with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas. The relatives of the other hostages should not also have to embrace coffins, said Masen Abu Siam, an Arab Israeli. The Gaza war had led to much unnecessary bloodshed on both sides, he asserted. His 53-year-old friend and his 22-year-old son were found dead a few days ago in a tunnel in the Gaza Strip.…

Two North Korean soldiers have been taken prisoner during fighting in Russia’s southern Kursk region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday. The men had survived despite their combat injuries and had been taken to Kiev, where Ukrainian intelligence operatives were interrogating them, Zelensky posted on social networks. The press would be given access to the prisoners, he said: “The world must know what is happening.” It was not his first report about captured North Koreans. However, previous prisoners had died of their injuries, according to Zelensky. North Korea is believed to have sent around 12,000 soldiers to Russia to…

After the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) was detected in a herd of water buffaloes in the eastern German state of Brandenburg, pigs in a nearby region are also to be culled, officials said Friday. The deputy district administrator of Märkisch-Oderland, Friedemann Hanke, said that all cloven-hoofed animals within 1 kilometre of the pasture with the affected water buffalo herd would be killed. This includes a pig farm with around 200 animals in the neighbouring district of Barnim, as well as four sheep. The outbreak in Märkisch-Oderland, not far from Berlin, represents the first known cases of FMD in Germany…

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was hospitalized for a week with severe pneumonia but has since returned home, dpa has learned. Von der Leyen posted a photo on Instagram on Friday showing her working from home, with the caption “Home sweet home… office!” The 66-year-old spent around a week in the University Hospital in the central German city of Hanover, dpa learned. The commission said von der Leyen was not in intensive care and had been in daily contact with her team while in hospital. A commission spokesman had previously said von der Leyen was suffering from severe…

Tens of thousands of members of the paramilitary Basij militia have travelled to Tehran as part of a large-scale manoeuvre, media reported on Friday. The Tasnim news agency reported that around 110,000 members took part. The drill, entitled Rahian-e Quds (Travellers to Jerusalem), was part of a major military show of strength that took place against a backdrop of growing domestic and international tensions. Military equipment was also on display at a parade in the centre of the Iranian capital. Elsewhere in the country, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hussein Salami, commented on the recent change…