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.
Rebellion
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.
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.
A teenager has been arrested in Australia after boarding a commercial aircraft with a loaded shotgun, police have said.
The 17-year-old boy was overpowered and detained by crew and passengers following the incident at Avalon Airport, about 60km (37 miles) from Melbourne, on Thursday, Victoria Police said.
None of the approximately 160 passengers and crew on the Jetstar Airways plane were hurt.
Police charged the teen with eight offences, including endangering the safe operation of an aircraft and possession of a firearm.
During an appearance by the teen at a juvenile court on Friday, police alleged that he had planted a fake homemade explosive and threatened passengers and crew, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Victoria Police Superintendent Michael Reid told reporters on Thursday that the teen had been overpowered by several passengers.
“No doubt this would have been a very terrifying incident for the passengers of that plane, and Victoria Police really commend the bravery of the passengers who were able to overpower that male”, Reid said.
Barry Clark, one of the passengers who tackled the suspect, told local media that he had sprung into action after noticing the suspect becoming agitated while arguing with a flight attendant about the firearm.
“I saw the barrel butt, and when I saw the complete gun, I said we’re in trouble here and I saw it toward her chest, and so I thought, well, I’ve got to do something”, Clark said in an interview with Network 10.
“This is all happening in a matter of seconds. So I got up quietly. He had his back to me, the young girl was facing me, and the gun was only visible”, Clark said.
SpaceX’s Starship has exploded shortly after takeoff in the second launch failure this year for Elon Musk’s interplanetary exploration programme.
But Musk’s rocket company was able to successfully return its mammoth first-stage booster to the launchpad following Thursday’s test-flight, catching it in its giant mechanical “chopsticks” for the third time.
SpaceX’s livestream showed the Starship spacecraft spinning uncontrollably in space minutes after its liftoff from the company’s launch site in Boca Chica, Texas.
“You can see we’ve lost several engines and we’ve lost attitude control for the vehicle”, SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot said during the livestream.
“Once you lose enough of those centre engines, you’re going to lose attitude control”, Huot added.
“And so, we did see the ship start to go into a spin, and at this point, we have lost contact with the ship”.
Footage posted on social media showed fiery debris streaking across the skies of south Florida and the Bahamas as the remnants of the craft reentered the earth’s atmosphere.
The Federal Aviation Administration briefly halted flights to four Florida airports, including Miami international airport, due to falling debris.
The aviation regulator , said it had also launched a “mishap investigation” to “determine the root cause of the event, and identify corrective actions to avoid it from happening again”.
The mixed outcome comes after SpaceX’s seventh test-flight in January ended with the mid-flight breakup of the Starship, forcing airlines to divert flights to avoid falling debris.
In a statement after Thursday’s botched launch, SpaceX said the space vehicle had “experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly” before contact was lost.
“Our team immediately began coordination with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses”, the company said on X.
“We will review the data from today’s flight test to better understand]the] root cause. As always, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will offer additional lessons to improve Starship’s reliability”.
NASA has contracted SpaceX to develop its Starship for use in its Artemis programme, which aims to return astronauts to the moon this decade.
United States President Donald Trump has signalled he intends to move forward with plans to dismantle the Department of Education, despite mixed signals from his administration.
“Well, I want to just do it. I mean, we’re starting the process”, Trump said at a signing ceremony in the Oval Office on Thursday.
A directive to wind down the Department of Education was expected to be among the orders Trump signed on Thursday.
But in the hours leading up to the Trump’s public appearance in the Oval Office, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt denounced reports of an announcement as “more fake news”.
Still, Trump has made no secret of his intention to shutter the Department of Education, a point he revisited on Thursday. Reporters had asked if he had any “second thoughts” that would lead to a delay, something the president refuted.
“ We’re trying to get the schools back into the states. Let the states run the schools”, Trump said, misrepresenting the department’s functions.
The Department of Education is charged with distributing federal financial aid, conducting education research and ensuring school compliance with anti-discrimination and accessibility policies.
It does not set school curriculums, a decision left to state and local officials.
Still, Trump doubled down on the idea that the department was a barrier to the states ‘ control over their schools.
“If they run their own education, they’re going to do a lot better than somebody sitting in Washington, DC, that couldn’t care less about the pupils out in the Midwest”, he said.
When asked about what would happen to the department’s distribution of federal student loans and grants, Trump proposed assigning that responsibility to other agencies.
“That would be brought into either Treasury or Small Business Administration or Commerce”, Trump said, naming other departments.
“And we’ve actually had that discussion today. I don’t think the Education should be handling the loans. That’s not their business. I think it will be brought into Small Business maybe”.
The US Department of Education building is seen in Washington, DC, on November 18, 2024]Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo]
Rumours of an executive order
Trump has been on a campaign to downsize the federal government, moving to close entire agencies and lay off thousands of workers.
“ We’re cutting it down”, Trump said of the government’s size on Thursday. ” You can’t have that kind of fat. It’s bloat like nobody’s ever seen before”.
The Republican leader has already gutted bureaus like the US Agency for International Development (USAID), closing its headquarters and reducing its staff to a skeleton crew of essential employees.
But no president in recent history has attempted to close a federal department, something that would require congressional approval.
News outlets including The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal obtained drafts of an executive order that offered insight into how Trump would approach such a feat.
The drafts called upon Education Secretary Linda McMahon, a Trump appointee, to take “all necessary steps” to wind down the department to “the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law”.
Trump has previously faced criticism for overstepping the boundaries of his executive authority, including by withholding congressionally mandated funds and undermining other entities Congress established, like USAID.
Democrats immediately pounced on the news that the department’s demise was imminent.
At a news conference on Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer argued the department’s closure would irreparably harm access to education, particularly for low-income Americans and students with disabilities.
“ The blast radius of this order will harm nearly every child, every teacher, every family and every community”, Schumer said.
“Taking a chainsaw to the Department of Education and undermining its mission to educate our next generation would be horrible for our schools, our families, the children Secretary McMahon is supposed to serve”.
What are the criticisms?
As with many of the agencies that Trump has sought to dismantle, the Department of Education has long been a target of conservative ire.
In his campaign for a second term last year, Trump echoed right-wing criticisms that the education system had become too “woke” — too influenced by social justice priorities.
In the 2024 Republican Party platform, for instance, Trump and his allies said they would “ensure safe learning environments free from political meddling”.
Part of their strategy has been to close the Department of Education, which enforces policies like Title IX, which bars discrimination on the basis of sex.
It also ensures school compliance with federal laws that guarantee equal access to education for students with disabilities.
In addition, the department plays a financial role in the country’s education system, providing approximately 8 percent of the funds for public elementary and secondary schools.
It also distributes federal research grants and funds to cover student financial assistance at colleges and universities. Overall, the Department of Education wields approximately $102bn, representing 0.9 percent of the overall federal budget for 2025.
But Trump has outlined a vision where the Department of Education’s responsibilities are reassigned to individual states.
“We want to move education back to the states, where it belongs”, Trump said at the first cabinet meeting of his second term on February 26. “Iowa should have education. Indiana should run their own education”.
But politicians like Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont warned that redistributing the department’s tasks would simply increase the tax burden on individual states — particularly rural ones with fewer resources to draw from.
“Do we need to make the Department of Education more efficient? I believe we do. Do we need to destroy it and wreak havoc for working-class families across this country? Absolutely not”, Sanders said in a news conference on Thursday.
ABC News reported that the Trump administration scuttled its planned executive order on Thursday over questions about potential public backlash.
The legality of Trump’s order
The Department of Education has roots going back to the 19th century, under President Andrew Jackson — one of Trump’s presidential idols.
But the modern-day entity started to take shape in the 20th century, as the federal government started to take a more assertive role in public education, in part due to civil rights issues.
In 1979, then-President Jimmy Carter established the Department of Education as it is known today, in order to unite various federal programmes under the same umbrella. Its leader has been a cabinet-level post ever since.
But for just as long, there has been conservative pushback towards the department, as a potential hindrance to states ‘ rights.
In addition to pushing for the department’s closure, Trump has also sought to reshape US education in other ways.
He and Secretary McMahon are vocal supporters of “school choice” policies that would allow parents to use taxpayer funds — ordinarily earmarked for public education — to pay for private schools.
Trump has also said his administration is working to roll back what he believes are ideologically driven ideas around racial and gender equality in education.
But Trump himself has not been shy about conditioning federal support on adherence to his political priorities.
On Tuesday, for example, Trump wrote on social media that universities must crack down on students who participate in “illegal protests” or face consequences, including a halt in federal funding.
Gunmen loyal to deposed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad have killed at least 15 security personnel in ambushes in the coastal province of Latakia, a security source told Al Jazeera.
The attacks took place on Thursday near the town of Jableh in the Latakia countryside, part of the coastal area which forms the heartland of the Alawite minority sect to which the al-Assad family belongs.
A Syrian security source told the Al Jazeera Arabic network that 15 security personnel were killed in “various armed ambushes”.
“The Syrian state will impose its authority on all groups outside the law and will not allow security to be threatened”, said the source.
Reporting from Damascus, Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, said tensions were running high after the attacks.
“Since the fall of the Assad regime three months ago, this is perhaps one of the biggest security challenges that the new government is facing”, he said.
The central government had sent reinforcements consisting of “dozens and dozens of military vehicles” to the city of Latakia from several governorates, including Hama, Homs and Idlib, he said.
Soon after the attack, a video was released by an Assad-era commander, saying that a resistance group called the “coastal shield regiment” had been formed against the new government, said Serdar.
The security director of Latakia province had earlier told the Syrian state news agency SANA that security forces were clashing in the Latakia countryside with armed groups loyal to Assad-era special forces commander Suhail al-Hassan.
Security forces in Latakia announced that the situation was now under control and that several of the attackers had been killed, with “many more captured”, said Serdar. A curfew was also announced in the coastal city of Tartous.
