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A South Korean court has cancelled impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol’s arrest warrant, paving the way for his release from jail after he was detained for imposing martial law.
The suspended president filed the request with the Seoul Central District Court last month, pleading that the arrest warrant issued against him was illegal.
“It is reasonable to conclude that the indictment was filed after the defendant’s detention period had expired”, said a document from the Seoul Central District Court.
“To ensure procedural clarity and eliminate any doubts regarding the legality of the investigative process, it would be appropriate to issue a decision to cancel the detention”, the court added on Friday.
“South Korea’s rule of law is still alive”, Yoon’s legal counsel said after the court’s decision, according to South Korean broadcaster YTN.
Local media said Yoon is expected to be released and take part in his trial while out of detention.
However, Seok Dong-hyeon, Yoon’s lawyer, said prosecutors could still appeal the court ruling.
“Yoon has been held for just over 50 days in a detention facility south of Seoul, pretty much since his arrest in the middle of January”, said Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from the South Korean capital.
“It does remain a question whether]Yoon] will be released later this Friday, which is an expectation, or whether the prosecutors in this case will appeal against that, in which case the detention will continue”, he added.
South Korea’s presidential office welcomed the court’s decision on Friday, saying it hoped Yoon would return to work soon.
The suspended president was arrested in mid-January on insurrection charges over his brief imposition of martial law weeks earlier.
Investigators have alleged that Yoon’s martial law decree amounted to rebellion. If he’s convicted of that offence, he would face the death penalty or life imprisonment.
Yoon’s lawyers had argued the arrest warrant issued on January 19 that has kept him in detention was invalid because the request filed by prosecutors was procedurally flawed.
Yoon declared martial law on December 3 saying it was needed to root out “antistate” elements but lifted the decree six hours later after parliament voted to reject it. He has said he never intended to fully impose emergency military rule.
Weeks later he was impeached by the opposition-led parliament on accusations he had violated his constitutional duty by declaring martial law.
It is now up to the Constitutional Court to decide whether to formally end Yoon’s presidency or reinstate him. If the Constitutional Court upholds the impeachment, he will be officially thrown out of office and a national election will be held to choose his successor within two months.
Naomi Ackie is back on the big screen in Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-ho’s new twisted tale.
Mickey 17 sees the actress starring opposite Robert Pattinson, who leads the cast the titular Mickey Barnes.
The thriller follows Mickey, a disposable employee on a colonial mission to an ice planet named Niflheim. His role on the colony ship is to take on deadly assignments, only to be cloned every time he dies.
Ackie portrays security agent Nasha Barridge, who sparks a romance with the first incarnation of Mickey and sticks by his side throughout his various lives.
While many moviegoers will recognise the film star from Zoe Kravitz’s 2024 thriller Blink Twice, Ackie has had a varied career dating back to 2015.
Born and raised in London, the 32-year-old actress graduated from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2014.
She bagged her first professional TV role on Doctor Who in 2015 and later featured in her first film Lady Macbeth.
The 2016 period drama saw Ackie, who was just 24 at the time, starring opposite accomplished actors, including Florence Pugh and Cosmo Jarvis.
Three years later, the Londoner landed her breakout role in Netflix’s The End of the F****** World, which earned the TV star her first BAFTA for Supporting Actress.
Following her big break, Ackie portrayed Jannah in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. She then went on to fill the shoes of Whitney Houston in the late icon’s 2022 biopic, I Wanna Dance With Somebody.
Fortunately for her fans, the actress has no plans of slowing down just yet. Ackie is slated to star in three upcoming productions: The Thursday Murder Club, Morning and I Love Boosters.
The Netflix alum recently shared the details about the latter film, helmed by second-time director Boots Riley.
In a Hero Magazine interview, she told her co-star Robert Pattinson: “[…] the project I just got back from was with Boots Riley. It’s got Keke Palmer and Taylour Paige]in it] and it’s… mental.
” The film is called I Love Boosters and it’s about this group of women who steal clothes from fancy stores and then sell them for cheap on the street. But obviously it has this surrealist, magic-realism element. I feel like my jobs are getting more and more chaotic and weird as I go on. “
Ackie has opened up about her experiences with grief after losing her mother to cancer, when she was 22.
In a recent conversation with The Telegraph, she revealed that she spent her twenties in a ‘ fog ‘ after the devastating loss.
” I felt like I was on the brink of life, ready to leap into it all. I’d just been on my first holiday with a friend, to New York. Then, suddenly, everything came to a halt. It just stopped. Nothing, “she said.
” Looking back, I was in a fog for the rest of my 20s. I was working, I was trying to embrace all the experiences, but I can’t remember a lot of it. There was a sense of deferred emotion. “
She continued:” I feel like I’m living my 20s in my 30s, which is why I don’t think I’ll have children – if I’m lucky enough to be able to – until my 40s. “
The Mickey 17 star has previously expressed her plan to delay motherhood until her 40s.
Back in 2024, she told The Hollywood Reporter:”]I’m] not ready to have my own child until I’m probably like 40…]It’s] actually good to know… that one day you can just look at a baby and think, ‘ I want you. ‘ “
She continued, acknowledging the risks of pregnancy in older age:” I know it’s bad the longer you wait, but I feel really intentional about wanting to be married for a few years before that happens.
“And I don’t own a home. I can’t even look after a f****** plant, mate. And can I keep my house tidy? No. I didn’t even make my bed before I left for L. A”.
Mickey 17 is out in cinemas now.
Steven Yeun has added another notch to his belt with a supporting role in Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17.
The science-fiction comedy, written and directed by the Oscar-winning filmmaker, has finally landed in cinemas. Its plot follows Mickey (played by Robert Pattinson), a man who flees his debt on Earth by joining a mission to colonise the ice planet Niflheim.
Mickey lands a less than desirable job as an expendable, whose role is to take on dangerous assignments. Each time he dies, he is cloned using advanced technology, and sent out on even more deadly missions.
Yeun plays Mickey’s shady friend Timo, who also joins the colonial journey as a pilot.
As the Korean-American actor steps back into the spotlight, viewers are curious to know more about his life beyond the screen.
Born in December 1983 in Seoul, Korea, Yeun’s family migrated to Canada when he was five years old, then moved to Troy, Michigan a year later.
Growing up, the accomplished actor’s ‘ hero ‘ was Will Smith, primarily because he did not see his Asian-American identity represented on TV. To a young Yeun, Smith was the ‘ closest ‘ reflection he could see of himself in popular cinema.
Speaking to The Hot Corn, he shared: “When I was young my hero was Will Smith. That’s because he was probably the closest to my own personal journey, of feeling ‘ other ‘ or ‘ outsider. ‘ Fresh Prince]Of Bel Air] was exactly that.
” Then, you try to connect to mainstream stuff, and it’s not to say I can’t connect to a film that has a white protagonist, like of course I can, we’re all human beings, those things spoke to me. But sometimes, having a more nuanced approach to how it can connect to you is really that much more important. “
Similar to Smith, the 41-year-old celebrity got his big break on a TV show.
The Walking Dead premiered in 2010 and featured Yeun as Glenn Rhee, a core member of main character Rick Grimes ‘ (Andrew Lincoln) survival group.
He was introduced to viewers in the second episode of the zombie apocalypse drama and quickly became a fan favourite.
Unfortunately, he met his brutal fate in season seven at the hands of villain Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), before the birth of his first child.
Glenn’s death sent shockwaves across the show’s fanbase, who had watched the characters tempt fate for six years. However, Yeun has admitted he was ‘ ready ‘ to let the character’s story end.
He previously told The Independent:” I actually was]ready to go].
“That show is one of the greater experiences of my life. I got to work with such incredible people and I got to experience life in its ups and downs in every facet, so it’s very integral to my being.
” But at that moment, it felt very, very appropriate to leave – not because I wanted to go, not because they wanted me to – just that’s when my character’s story was done. There’s nothing greater in my opinion than someone telling you that there’s an end to something. “
Yeun is married to professional photographer Joana Pak. The pair tied the knot in 2016 and share two children: 7-year-old son Jude and daughter Ruth, aged 5.
Although the couple keep their relationship relatively private, Yeun recently gave a heart-warming nod to his wife and kids in a Golden Globes Award acceptance speech.
He won the prize for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Limited Series, for his role in Netflix’s hit drama Beef.
” I’m just so thankful, “he said.
He continued:” I’m just the recipient of a long line of compassion and love and protection and goodwill, so I appreciate this. Joana, I love you. You are my strength. Thank you to Judie and Ruthie […]. “
Mickey 17 is out in cinemas now.
United States President Donald Trump’s executive order to establish a Bitcoin strategic reserve and a stockpile of other digital assets has failed to impress crypto markets, with Bitcoin’s value plummeting following the announcement.
Bitcoin fell as much as 6 percent following Trump’s order on Thursday, which did not include plans for the government to actively buy Bitcoin.
After dropping as low as $84, 900, the cryptocurrency was trading at about $87, 700 as of 05: 00 GMT.
In a statement announcing the order, Trump’s crypto tsar David Sacks said the “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” and “Digital Asset Stockpile” would be capitalised with assets forfeited in criminal or civil proceedings.
“This means it will not cost taxpayers a dime”, Sacks said on X.
“It is estimated that the US government owns about 200, 000 Bitcoin, however, there has never been a complete audit. The E. O. (executive order) directs a full accounting of the federal government’s digital asset holdings”.
Sacks said the order also called for the Secretaries of Treasury and Commerce to develop “budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional Bitcoin” provided they are at no cost to the US taxpayer.
Trump’s order came after he repeatedly flagged plans to establish a cryptocurrency stockpile or reserve as part of his pledge to turn the US into the “crypto capital of the planet”.
Some crypto enthusiasts, however, were less than impressed.
Shayan Salehi, a German tech entrepreneur, described the announcement that the government would not acquire additional assets as “famous words than can unleash a bear market”.
“Market muted”, Spencer Hakimian, the founder of New York-based Tolou Capital Management, said in a post on X alongside a screenshot of a graph showing Bitcoin’s fall.
Hakimian said the plan was “very underwhelming”.
“They will not currently buy any new Bitcoin unless they can do it in a revenue-neutral way. Nothing the federal government does is revenue neutral”, he said.
The US owns an estimated 200, 000 Bitcoin seized during criminal and civil forfeiture.
Sacks suggested the reserve would function like a “digital Fort Knox” by helping Bitcoin retain its value.
“Premature sales of Bitcoin have already cost US taxpayers over $17bn in lost value. Now the federal government will have a strategy to maximize the value of its holdings”, he said.
In addition to a Bitcoin reserve, Sacks said a separate stockpile would be established for “digital assets other than Bitcoin forfeited in criminal or civil proceedings”.
That stockpile could include tokens such as ether, XRP, Solana and Cardano – assets named by Trump earlier this week in a social media post detailing his plans for a cryptocurrency reserve.
The value of Bitcoin soared after Trump was elected in November, hitting a record peak of $109, 071 in mid-January.
The president’s support for cryptocurrency has come under scrutiny, as his family has amassed billions of dollars in crypto wealth, including through a Trump meme coin launched in January.
The Nigeria Sanctions Committee (NSC) has designated controversial Biafra agitator, Simon Ekpa, and 16 entities as alleged terrorism financiers in the country.
According to a document obtained from the committee on Thursday, those named on the list include Simon Ekpa, Godstime Promise Iyare, Francis Mmaduabuchi, John Onwumere, Chikwuka Eze, Edwin Chukwuedo, Chinwendu Owoh, Ginika Orji, Awo Uchechukwu, and Mercy Ebere Ifeoma Ali.
Others are Ohagwu Juliana, Eze Okpoto, Nwaobi Chimezie, Ogomu Kewe, Igwe Ka Ala Enterprises, Seficuvi Global Company, and Lakurawa Group.
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The list was approved by the President upon the recommendation of the Attorney General of the Federation.
“The Nigeria Sanctions Committee held a meeting on March 6, 2024, where specific individuals and entities were recommended for designation following their involvement with terrorism financing”, the document read.
“The Attorney General of the Federation, with the approval of the President, has thereupon designated the following individuals and entities to be listed on the Nigeria Sanctions List.
” In accordance with Section 54 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, you are required to:
“(a) Immediately identify and freeze, without prior notice, all funds, assets, and any other economic resources belonging to the designated persons in your possession and report the same to the Sanctions Committee.
” (b) Report to the Sanctions Committee any assets frozen or actions taken in compliance with the prohibition requirements.
“(c) Immediately file a Suspicious Transactions Report to the NFIU for further analysis of the financial activities of such individuals or entities.
” (d) Report as an STR to the NFIU all cases of name matching in financial transactions prior to or after receipt of this list. “
The committee ordered the immediate freezing of bank accounts and financial instruments associated with the listed individuals and entities across multiple banks, payment platforms, and financial institutions.
” Freezing measures should be extended to all accounts associated with the designated subjects. For designated entities, this should include accounts linked to their signatories and directors to ensure comprehensive enforcement of the sanctions regime, “the document added.