A day after authorities failed to execute an arrest warrant on the suspended leader due to his brief but brief declaration of martial law, thousands of South Korean protesters staged rival rallies in Seoul.
On Saturday, the protesters staged a standoff with Yoon, who was reportedly wanted for impeachment or for his arrest.
The growing political conflict comes as the country’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, was being pressured by the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) for High-Ranking Officials to order the country’s security service to comply with a Yoon arrest warrant.
In a six-hour standoff inside the impeached president’s compound, Yoon was prevented by the president’s security service and soldiers on Friday. In response to safety concerns, investigators eventually called off the arrest attempt.
The court order is set to expire on Monday, but the showdown reportedly included shoving but no shots fired.
The first arrest warrant for a sitting president was issued on December 3 due to Yoon’s martial declaration, which also spooked South Korea and caused a serious political crisis.
Yoon faces criminal charges of insurrection, one of a few crimes not subject to presidential immunity, meaning he could be sentenced to prison or, at worst, the death penalty.
His lawyers decried Friday’s arrest attempt as “unlawful and invalid” and said they would take legal action.
Also on Saturday, the police asked Park Chong-jun, the chief of the presidential security service protecting Yoon, to appear for questioning on Tuesday, Yonhap News reported.
Supporters of Yoon gather in the Gwanghwamun area, Seoul]Philip Fong/AFP]
Al Jazeera’s Patrick Fok, reporting from Seoul, said the protests on Saturday have been peaceful and orderly.
There have been many positive aspects to that, but there is definitely growing growing frustration with President Yoon, he said.
If the situation persists, “and you wonder how long these rallies can continue to be peaceful.”
Yoon supporter Kim Chul-hong, 60, said the impeached president’s arrest could undermine South Korea’s security alliance with the US and Japan.
He told the AFP news agency, “Protecting President Yoon means protecting our country’s security from threats from North Korea.”
Meanwhile, members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, South Korea’s largest umbrella union, attempted to march to Yoon’s residence to protest against him but were blocked by police.
In scuffles with the police on Saturday, the union reported that two of its members were detained and several others were hurt.
Before the court’s order expires on Monday, investigators may still submit a second warrant to arrest Yoon. If the warrant lapses, investigators may also apply for another.
A new board game from Taiwanese company Mizo Games allows players to play everything from military leaders to covert agents to civilian resistance fighters fighting a fictional Chinese invasion.
The game, named “2045”, will be released in Taiwan this month. It will also be available in English in Europe and the US later in January.
In August 2024, Mizo Games launched a crowdfunding campaign raising more than 4 million New Taiwan dollars ($121, 707 USD) within two and a half months.
Chang Shao Lian, the creator of Mizo Games, said in a December interview with Reuters that “I want players to feel they want to win and think about what they will do to win.”
In response to China’s increasing military presence on the island and civil defense organizations’ growing efforts to prepare for any potential invasion, the game is being released.
How does the game operate and how might one go about starting a war?
What is 2045 all about?
Players play the role of characters in the 10-day days leading up to an attack in the board game, which simulates a Chinese invasion of Taiwan 20 years in the future.
Players are evaluated on how successfully they accomplish their character’s specific objectives rather than just the defense of Taiwan.
“There are two types of victories, individual victory and the victory of Taiwan. The players are in a major value conflict because of the two outcomes. Shao Lian told Reuters: “I don’t want players to play the game with just the mindset of learning, but I want them to play the game with the desire to take part and win this war on the table.”
Players in 2045 can participate in different aspects of modern warfare, including cyberwarfare, economic meltdown and civil upheaval.
The creation of “2045” has encountered several challenges, notably concerns about censorship and production limitations.
Due to the controversial subject of the game, Taiwanese board game companies’ customary production methods prevent its production in China.
Has Mizo Games produced other warfare-themed board games?
Yes, Mizo launched its first warfare-themed game, Raid on Taihoku, in 2017. Players must survive the bombing of their hometown in the World War II setting in Taiwan. The US aerial assault on Kaohsiung (then known as Takao) in November 1944 is the inspiration for the video game.  ,
What factors are influencing the popularity of military simulations?
According to Paul Booth, author of Board Games as Media and professor of media and pop culture at DePaul University in Chicago, games with social and political themes are not new.
“A game like 2045 is crucial because it enables us to consider and experiment with the possibilities of what might occur.” In a way that, like a TV show or a movie, we can watch it, we can feel invested. We can feel involved.
” The power of a game like this is to allow players to feel connected, like participatory, connected to this alternate history. “
2045 is part of a longstanding enthusiasm for” gamifying “important social issues, Booth said.
Board games that engage social commentary date back more than a century. Elizabeth Magie’s 1902 novel, “The Landlord’s Game,” aimed to teach players about the negative effects of land consolidation under monopolistic and monopolistic control.
The game was later renamed Monopoly thanks to Charles Darrow and Parker Brothers’ adaptations and commercialization in 1935.
Another reason for the production of games for military and civilian purposes is because of the war.
” War is a significant topic going back centuries. Generals would arrange military maneuvers on a gigantic table and play war games. That is a very common kind of board game antecedent, “explained Booth.
” The kind of war gaming culture is actually still going very strong, and we see it in things like Warhammer]released in 1983], or miniature tabletop games. “
When it comes to the idea of a Chinese invasion, Taiwanese media companies are attracted to more than just board games.
” Zero Day “a 10-episode TV fictional drama series, portrays a potential Chinese invasion. The show depicts a scenario in which the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the military force of the People’s Republic of China, attacks the island, a possibility that has cast a shadow over Taiwan for generations.
This year’s release of the show is on schedule in Taiwan.
Why are Taiwan and China at odds with one another?
The Chinese Civil War, which lasted from 1945 to 1949, is where the conflict between China and Taiwan came from. The Communist Party of Mao Zedong’s victory over Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Party, also known as the Kuomintang (KMT), was the outcome of this conflict.
Following the Chinese Civil War, Chiang Kai-shek relocated the Republic of China (ROC) government to Taiwan, while Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on the mainland. Years of political unrest and conflicting claims over Chinese sovereignty were exacerbated by each regime’s claim that it was the only legitimate government of the entire country.
Taiwan is still viewed as a division of its own territory by China.
In his 2025 New Year address on China’s state TV channel CCTV on Wednesday, China’s President Xi Jinping stated:” The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family. No one can sever our family bonds, and no one can stop the historical trend of national reunification. “
However, Taiwan is opposed to any kind of” reunification “and regards increasingly frequent Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait as” provocative”.
What joint military exercises has China conducted in Taiwan?
In response to Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022, China launched missiles over Taiwan. It described this as a” military exercise”.
Under its” one China policy”, the US does not formally recognise Taiwan’s independence from China. However, it does support its membership of international organisations such as the World Trade Organization. Additionally, the US is committed to providing Taiwan with essential military equipment and support services in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) of 1979 to ensure Taiwan maintains a sufficient capacity for self-defense.
At the time of Pelosi’s visit to the island, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) denounced China’s military exercise, deeming it a serious threat to national security and a dangerous escalation of regional tensions.
In May 2024, China conducted large-scale military exercises, codenamed” Joint Sword-2024″, during Taiwan President William Lai Ching-te’s first week in office. The military exercises around Taiwan involved 111 aircraft, 46 naval vessels and operations including sea assaults, land strikes, air defence drills and anti-submarine activities.
China claimed in October 2024 that the PLA’s Eastern Theatre Command ordered new military exercises off the coast of Taiwan as “repudiation” for a speech by Taiwan’s president Lai, in which he pledged to “refuse” annexation “or” encroachment on our sovereignty. Taiwan reported that it had spotted 125 aircraft and 34 naval vessels close to the island.
In response to the sighting of nearly 90 Chinese navy and coastguard ships in waters close to Taiwan, the southern Japanese islands, and the East and South China Seas, Taiwan put its military on “high alert” and began conducting combat readiness drills and having an emergency center “ticking in enemy threats” on December 9.
In the previous 24 hours, the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense reported tracking eight civilian vessels close to the island, including 11 navy ships and 11 military aircraft.
The Eastern Theatre Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted military drills in Beijing, China on October 14, 2024, in the area of the Taiwan Strait and the provinces to the north, south, and east of Taiwan. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang (Reuters)
Is Taiwan’s military using games to prepare for war?
To evaluate the government’s readiness for a military escalation with China and to assess the effectiveness of various government agencies in maintaining societal stability and continuity during times of crisis, Taiwan’s Presidential Office conducted its first-ever “tabletop” “war-game exercises” for military and government officials in December.
The presidency’s vice president, Hsiao Bi-khim, and the secretary-general of the National Security Council, Joseph Wu, led the war game simulation exercise, according to a statement from Taiwanese government officials.
As Israeli forces increase their raids throughout the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian teenager has been killed and nine others have been injured in the Balata refugee camp.
Muhammad Medhat Amin Amer, 18, was shot dead at the camp, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, on Saturday during an overnight raid on the camp’s outskirts of Nablus, in the north of the occupied West Bank.
Nine people are in , “critical condition” after being wounded in the raid, which began on Friday night and triggered violent confrontations, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Israeli soldiers “installed snipers on the rooftops of nearby buildings,” according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
In a statement on Saturday, the Israeli military said that soldiers fired on “terrorists”, who had “hurled explosives, molotov cocktails and rocks, and shot fireworks at the forces”.
Since the Gaza Strip’s conflict broke out following Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, violence has gotten worse in the occupied West Bank.
According to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Health Ministry, at least 815 Palestinians have been killed since then in the area by Israeli soldiers or settlers.
In the same period, Palestinian attacks in the occupied West Bank have killed at least 25 Israelis, according to official Israeli figures.
A Palestinian child named  was shot in the eye by bullet fragments on Friday during an Israeli military raid on homes in the town of Tuqu, which is located southeast of Bethlehem.
Additionally, Israeli forces raided three towns in the occupied West Bank’s Hebron region in separate raids.
Israeli soldiers established checkpoints in the town of Idhna, west of Hebron, where they stopped cars and checked ID cards, according to local sources.
In ash-Shuyukh, north of Hebron, Israeli patrols removed Palestinian flags from streets in the town. Separately, soldiers detonated areas of the nearby refugee camp’s Arroub refugee camp.
Palestinian Authority raids
Since December, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has also been conducting raids in the Jenin refugee camp, located in the north of the territory, saying they want to crack down on the armed Palestinian resistance.
There have been clashes for weeks, with both civilians and members of the Palestinian Authority’s security forces killed.
The Palestinian father and son’s family claimed responsibility for their deaths in the camp on Friday.
However, the PA’s security forces denied that their security forces were stationed in the area in a statement. Instead, they placed the blame on Jenin refugee camp fighters.
The militant group Jenin Battalion blames the Palestinian Authority for killing at least 16 Palestinian civilians since October 2023 in a statement.
Major Rashid Shaqo, a member of the Palestinian General Intelligence Service, passed away on Friday in the camp as well.
According to state media, 15 people have been injured and at least eight have been killed in a fire at a market in Hebei, northern China.
According to Xinhua News Agency, a government official in the market’s Qiaoxi district, the fire at the Liguang market in Hebei’s city of Zhangjiakou broke out on Saturday around noon local time (04:00 GMT), which was mostly extinguished two hours later.
After the fire, state broadcaster CCTV reported that “the injured have been sent to a hospital for treatment,” and that they are not currently in danger of dying.
Authorities were looking into the fire’s cause, according to CCTV.
Large flames and huge dark billows of smoke were seen in videos posted on China’s Weibo microblogging site.
According to company data provider Qichacha, the Liguang vegetable market, which opened in 2011 and sells everything from fruits and seafood to electronics.
Such traditional markets frequently have a high demand for lower prices than those found in supermarket chains.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the 42-year-old suspected driver in the New Year’s truck attack in New Orleans, was a United States citizen and US Army veteran.
However, President-elect Donald Trump, Republican leaders, and influencers on social media quickly made speculations that Jabbar entered the US illegally shortly after the attack, which left 15 people dead and is currently being investigated as a terrorism plot.
Citing Fox News,  , social , media accounts on January 1 said Jabbar “crossed the US-Mexico border at the Eagle Pass crossing just two days ago” and that there was “blood on the hands of the Biden administration”.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, the US representative for Georgia, reported on X on a 38-second Fox News clip that Jabbar “is said to have crossed the border in Eagle Pass TWO DAYS AGO!!! Shut the border down!! “!
Two days prior to Eagle Pass’s reported crossing the border, a terrorist from New Orleans is said to have attacked the attacker. !
Shut the border down!! !
Who recently targeted innocent Americans with our government bomb?
pic.twitter.com/EsD2UVuR5J
Donald Trump Jr , said on X that Biden’s “parting gift” to the US was “migrant terrorists”.
Biden’s parting gift to America — migrant terrorists. https://t.co/PQBr8A6KDt
On Truth Social on January 1st, the president-elect made reference to the attack , saying that “the criminals coming in are much worse than the criminals we have in our country.”
Law enforcement claim that Jabbar struck Bourbon Street crowds with a rented Ford F-150 pickup truck just before 3 a.m. on New Year’s Day before passing away in a police shootout.
According to “federal sources,” the truck had crossed the US southern border two days prior and had driven it, according to a Fox News broadcast on January 1.
Reporters returned this shortly after airing it. The network issued a correction within an hour saying that the truck entered the country in mid-November , and , it wasn’t driven by Jabbar.
However, it was too late to make up any falsehoods about Jabbar’s illegal immigrant status. Fox News contacted PolitiFact, but the publication did not respond.
Here’s how misinformation about the suspect spread.
Fox News ‘ reporting timeline
As officials worked to confirm details about the attack, Fox News reported that the pick-up truck Jabbar rented came into the US at the Eagle Pass, Texas, border crossing.
A Fox News reporter reported on January 1 at 10:40 am ET (15:00 GMT) that federal sources had license plate information that indicated the suspect and the truck were at the southern border days prior to the attack:
“The suspect drove a truck with that Texas license plate, according to federal sources, and he is only entering our newsroom from Griff Jenkins and David Spunt working with federal sources on this. He is also operating a truck with that Texas license plate through Bourbon Street. According to their sources, to Spunt and Jenkins, this person came through Eagle Pass, Texas, two days ago”.
At about 10: 47am ET (15: 47 GMT), Fox News correspondent David Spunt made clear that reporters didn’t know whether Jabbar was driving the truck.
“We’re hearing that the vehicle was intercepted at Eagle Pass, Texas, two days ago from Mexico, where it was reported to have entered the country. To be clear, we don’t 100 percent know that this man, and we do know the suspect is a man, was the person driving that across the border. That is unclear at this point”, Spunt said.
“We only know that a border crossing reader picked up the actual license plate. According to two federal law enforcement sources, it was picked up crossing at that border station in Eagle Pass, Texas, two days ago. We are providing information to our viewers as we can, the most accurate information, so that’s what we know at the moment. I am aware that raises more questions than answers.
Trump sent his Truth Social post about “the criminals coming in” at 10: 48am ET (15: 48 GMT).
At 11: 55am ET (16: 55 GMT), Fox News corrected the timeline , on air, saying that the truck crossed the border in mid-November and confirmed that it wasn’t driven by Jabbar.
“Our sources now tell Fox that that truck from Eagle Pass, Texas, did not cross two days ago. According to Fox News correspondent Bryan Llenas, the driver who crossed the border does not appear to be the shooter when it crossed on November 16.
Fox News on-air personalities did not repeatedly repeat the original inaccurate report throughout the day, according to PolitiFact.
Despite Fox’s correction, many of these erroneous posts remain online without clarification.
Long after law enforcement established Jabbar as a US citizen, Trump continued to support the inaccurate immigration argument in another Truth Social post on January 2.
“With the Biden ‘ Open Border’s Policy ‘ I said, many times during Rallies, and elsewhere, that Radical Islamic Terrorism, and other forms of violent crime, will become so bad in America that it will become hard to even imagine or believe”, Trump wrote. “That time has come, only worse than ever imagined”.
India outlasted Australia for 181 in the absence of captain Jasprit Bumrah, surviving an extraordinary second day of the carefully balanced fifth Test with a lead of 145.
Bumrah took the first wicket to put India in motion at the sun-drenched Sydney Cricket Ground, but he later left with the team doctor for medical scans of his back after suffering spasms.
To rout Australia and give India a slender first-innings lead of four runs at Tea, Prasidh Krishna (32-41), Mohammed Siraj (33-51), and Nitish Kumar Reddy (5-1) stepped up to fill the significant bowling void left by their captain.
However, the wicket had still plenty of spice, and paceman Scott Boland added four wickets to his four-wicket total on Friday as Australia dug deep into the middle order and slammed the Indian batting top.
In a stunning 28-ball half-century to end the rot, Rishabh Pant threw off the shackles and scored some incredible shots, but he also departed for 61 in the final inning, with Australia’s captain Pat Cummins taking the day’s 14th wicket.
Scott Boland of Australia has taken eight wickets in the match]Cameron Spencer/Getty Images]
At the close of play, Washington Sundar, unbeaten on six, and Ravindra Jadeja, who was eight without out, were the only ones who could claim their fourth victim, according to Boland, who had just eight more to play for.
When asked how big of a lead the Indian bowlers would feel at ease defending, possibly without Bumrah, Krishna responded, “As many runs as possible would be great for us.”
“We don’t really know how the wicket is behaving. It’s going up, it’s going down. If you can be aggressive, there is risk involved, but you get a reward of runs”.
Andrew McDonald, the coach of Australia, said his plans for Day Three were simple because he believed the “generational” bowling talent on both teams contributed to the number of losing wickets.
“First and foremost, we’ve got four wickets to get, to try to keep that total as low as possible”, he told reporters.
“There’s a long way still to go … so we’ll see what happens”.
As the momentum shifted back and forth between the crowd of 47 and 257 as it has with the series, which Australia leads 2-1, they certainly got their money’s worth.
Debutant all-rounder Beau Webster, whose 57 was Australia’s highest score, was cheered to the rafters for his half-century and again when he removed Shubman Gill for 13 later in the day to claim his maiden Test wicket.
India’s Virat Kohli is dismissed by Scott Boland in what is likely to be his final innings in Australia]Darrian Traynor/Getty Images]
After Bumrah’s departure, Virat Kohli, who is currently India’s captain, was booed to the crease and cheered back to the boundary rope after Boland caught him in the slips for a timid six.
Boland is quickly becoming a cult hero in Australia, and the most audible roar came when he bowled a peach of a delivery to end a promising innings on 22 to win opener Yashasvi Jaiswal’s off stump.
The morning session saw the dismissal of Marnus Labuschagne by Bumrah, who increased his series total to 32 wickets on an average of 13.06, to add to the Indian fans’ cheer.
When Steve Smith was caught in the slips for 33 to break up a fifth-wicket partnership with Webster and leave the former Australia captain five short of 10,000 Test runs, Krishna also waved the Indian flags.
India, who dropped captain Rohit Sharma for the match, need to win in Sydney to square up the series and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
