World Briefing: December 6, 2024

Large-scale rallies are set to take place at multiple locations in Seoul on Saturday where citizens will protest President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law and call for his resignation, or if he refuses, impeachment. The largest one will be held near the National Assembly in Yeouido, where the critical parliamentary impeachment vote is slated for 7 p.m. that day. At the rally site, the participants are expected to wait for the results of the vote together. The organizers initially planned to gather at Gwanghwamun Square, the symbolic place where millions of people gathered for candlelight vigils in 2016 to oust former President Park Geun-hye over corruption scandals. But they moved to Yeouido to exert more pressure on ruling People Power Party lawmakers who are hesitant about voting in favor of impeachment. Ruling People Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon stressed Friday the urgent need to swiftly suspend President Yoon Suk Yeol's powers and duties in order to protect Korea and its people, virtually supporting impeachment of the president following Yoon's bungled martial law declaration. The shift in stance by Han, who initially said until the previous day that his party would make efforts to prevent impeachment, has significantly increased the likelihood of the impeachment motion passing at the National Assembly's plenary session on Saturday - Korea Times

Tens of thousands of people are fleeing Syria's third-largest city Homs in fear that Islamist-led rebels will continue to advance towards the capital, Damascus. The rebels seized Hama to the north on Thursday, a second major blow to President Bashar al Assad who lost control of Aleppo last week. The leader of the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, told residents of Homs "your time has come". Syrian rebels launched a surprise offensive against the government last week and have so far captured two major cities. They have been advancing south - and Homs is the next city on the road from Aleppo to Damascus - BBC

French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation Thursday following the resignation of ousted Prime Minister Michel Barnier, a day after a historic no-confidence vote at the National Assembly left France without a functioning government. In his speech, Macron vowed to stay in office until the end of his term in 2027 and announced that he will name a new prime minister within days but gave no hints as to who that might be. He also laid blame at the door of his opponents on the far right for bringing down Barnier's government. They chose “not to do, but to undo”, Macron said, adding: “They chose disorder.”  The president said the far right and the far left had united in what he called “an anti-republican front” and stressed: “I won’t shoulder other people’s irresponsibility.” The president said the far right and the far left had united in what he called “an anti-republican front” and stressed: “I won’t shoulder other people’s irresponsibility.” Both the left-wing New Popular Front alliance and the far-right National Rally vowed to topple the government after the right-wing Barnier pushed an unpopular social security budget bill through parliament without a vote. Macron confirmed that a special law will be presented by mid-December to enable the state to levy taxes from January 1 and avoid a shutdown. “Public services will be operational, businesses will be able to work,” he said. The new government will then prepare a budget law for 2025, which will allow France to invest as planned in its military, its justice and police – and also to support struggling farmers, Macron said. Earlier in the day, Macron officially accepted Barnier's resignation following the no-confidence vote - France 24

A multibillion-pound money-laundering operation run by a Russian businesswoman which helped fund Kremlin espionage has been taken down, the UK’s National Crime Agency has said. The network is said to have allowed gangs, oligarchs and even the state broadcaster Russia Today to convert illicit funds into property, drugs and cryptocurrency. Investigators made 84 arrests, including 70 in the UK, in the NCA’s biggest money-laundering case for a decade. Those behind the operation have also received sanctions. The secretive network was run by two seemingly legitimate Russian financial institutions, Smart and TGR, the NCA said. Smart was operated by Ekaterina Zhdanova, a Russian national said to have been born in Siberia before making it in the financial industry and building up connections in Moscow. The Kinahans, a notorious Irish drugs cartel, are among those accused of using the scheme, which is said to have involved swapping proceeds of crime for illegally extorted Russian cryptocurrency, some of which was derived from ransomware attacks on the NHS. The network, which operated in more than 30 countries, allowed Russians sanctioned after the invasion of Ukraine to disguise the origin of their wealth and continue to buy property in Britain, the NCA said. It was allegedly used to move funds from the state-controlled television network RT, which was sanctioned in 2022, to its journalists based in the UK. The scheme was also used to pay spies based in other countries - The Times

Thousands of Romanians gathered in a popular square in the capital Bucharest to stage a pro-Europe rally. It comes just a few days before the second round of the country’s presidential election, as concerns over the political scene veering towards populism loom large. More than 4,000 Romanians participated in the demonstration in University Square in downtown Bucharest.  Protesters waved Romanian and European Union flags side-by-side, and were heard chanting pro-EU slogans. The rally comes just a few days before a presidential runoff vote takes place in the country on 8 December. The first round of the presidential race saw independent far-right populist candidate Calin Georgescu win almost 23% of the vote after polling in the single digits in the week leading up to it - Euronews

The head of Britain’s armed forces has warned that the world stands at the cusp of a “third nuclear age,’’ defined by multiple simultaneous challenges and weakened safeguards that kept previous threats in check. Adm. Tony Radakin, chief of the defense staff, said Britain needs to recognize the seriousness of the threats it faces, even if there is only a remote chance of Russia launching a direct nuclear attack on the U.K. or its NATO allies. While the Cold War saw two superpowers held at bay by nuclear deterrence and the past three decades were characterized by international efforts to restrict the spread of nuclear weapons, the current era is “altogether more complex,” Radakin said Wednesday in a speech to the Royal United Services Institute. “We are at the dawn of a third nuclear age…’’ he said. “It is defined by multiple and concurrent dilemmas, proliferating nuclear and disruptive technologies and the almost total absence of the security architectures that went before.”The owner of the Guardian Media Group is expected to announce on Friday that it has agreed to the sale of The Observer to digital start-up Tortoise despite two days of strikes from staff over the deal. Members of the Scott Trust met on Thursday evening to discuss the deal, under which Tortoise will acquire the 233-year-old Sunday newspaper for a small sum but with the promise to invest £25mn in reviving and growing the title over the next five years. The Scott Trust, a £1.3bn fund that has owned The Guardian since 1936 and The Observer since 1993, has agreed to allow the sale to go ahead, according to people close to the situation. The board of the Guardian has already given its approval to the deal. The deal is expected to have a number of conditions attached to meet staff concerns, which have boiled over into open criticism of Anna Bateson, chief executive of the media group, as well as Guardian editor Katherine Viner and members of the Scott Trust - FT

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