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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was detained on Wednesday after a massive law enforcement operation at the presidential compound that ended a weeks-long stand-off between his bodyguards and the country’s anti-corruption agency. He is wanted for questioning about his Dec. 3 decision to impose martial law on the country.

The National Assembly voided his short-lived declaration just hours after it was announced.

At the time, Yoon claimed he took the action because the liberal opposition, which has a legislative majority, was obstructing his agendas and even the approval of his budget. He described the opposition as North Korea-sympathizing, “anti-state forces” responsible for “wreaking havoc and are the main culprits of our nation’s downfall.”

Here is a timeline of events:

Anti-corruption investigators and police raid the presidential compound and detain Yoon, more than six weeks after his ill-fated power grab. Yoon, the first sitting president to be apprehended, had been holed up in the Hannam-dong residence in the capital, Seoul, for weeks while vowing to “fight to the end” the efforts to oust him.

The Constitutional Court held its first formal hearing in the case. The session lasted less than five minutes because Yoon refused to attend. The next hearing is set for Jan. 16.

The chief of the presidential security service, Park Jong-joon, resigns.

Scuffles occur on Jan. 3 when dozens of investigators were stopped from entering Yoon’s compound by presidential security forces, military personnel and vehicle barricades.

Seoul Western District Court issues a warrant to detain Yoon for questioning.

The National Assembly votes to impeach South Korea’s acting President Han Duck-soo over his unwillingness to fill vacancies on the bench of the Constitutional Court, plunging the country into further political turmoil.

The National Assembly passes the motion 204-85, impeachingYoon. His presidential powers and duties are subsequently suspended and Prime Minister Han, the country’s No. 2 official, takes over presidential powers.

Yoon defends his martial law decree as an act of governance and denies rebellion charges, vowing to “fight to the end” in the face of attempts to impeach him.

The National Assembly passes motions to impeach national police chief Cho Ji Ho and Justice Minister Park Sung Jae, suspending them from official duties, over their alleged roles in the enforcement of martial law.

Kim Yong Hyun, the former defense minister, is formally arrested over his alleged collusion with Yoon and others in imposing martial law. The Justice Ministry says Kim was stopped from attempting suicide hours before a Seoul court issued his arrest warrant.

South Korean police send officers to search Yoon’s office to look for evidence related to the martial law introduction but they are blocked by Yoon’s security team from entering the compound.

Police detain the national police chief and the top officer for Seoul over their roles in enforcing Yoon’s martial law orders.

Kwak Jong-keun, commander of the Army Special Warfare Command whose troops were sent to parliament after Yoon declared martial law, tells lawmakers that he received direct instructions from former defense minister, Kim, to obstruct them from entering the National Assembly’s main chamber. He says Kim’s instructions were to prevent the 300-member Assembly from gathering the 150 votes necessary to overturn Yoon’s martial law order.

Kwak says Yoon later called him directly and asked for the troops to “quickly destroy the door and drag out the lawmakers who are inside.” Kwak says he did not carry out Yoon’s orders.

South Korea’s Justice Ministry bans Yoon from traveling overseas as police, prosecutors and South Korea’s anti-corruption agency expand competing investigations into allegations of rebellion and other charges in connection with his martial law decree.

Prosecutors detain former defense minister, Kim, over his alleged role in planning and executing Yoon’s martial law enforcement.

Yoon apologizes and says he won’t shirk legal or political responsibility for declaring martial law. He also says he would leave it to his party to chart a course through the country’s political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office.”

Yoon survives an impeachment vote that most ruling party lawmakers boycotted, denying the motion that required a two-thirds majority.

In a bombshell reversal, Han Dong-hun, reformist leader of Yoon’s party, expresses support for suspending Yoon’s constitutional powers, saying that the president poses a “significant risk of extreme actions, like reattempting to impose martial law, which could potentially put the Republic of Korea and its citizens in great danger.”

Yoon replaces his Defense Minister Kim, a close associate believed to be the person who recommended the president declare martial law. Han, the leader of Yoon’s party, says he would work to defeat the opposition-led impeachment motion — even though he criticized Yoon’s declaration as “unconstitutional.” Han says there’s a need to “prevent damage to citizens and supporters caused by unprepared chaos.”

Shortly after midnight, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik says through his YouTube channel that the Assembly will respond to Yoon’s martial law declaration with “constitutional procedure.”

Woo reaches the Assembly’s main chamber around 12:35 a.m. Some South Korean troops break windows to enter the Assembly but fail to reach the main chamber. Woo opens a meeting at 12:47 a.m. to hold a vote on whether to lift martial law.

At around 1 a.m., 190 lawmakers, including 18 from Yoon’s own conservative People Power Party, voted unanimously to lift martial law. Troops and police begin to retreat from the Assembly shortly later.

At 4:30 a.m., martial law is formally lifted following a Cabinet meeting.

In a surprise announcement at 10:29 p.m., President Yoon tells a national television audience he’s declaring martial law, saying the opposition-controlled National Assembly has become a “den of criminals” paralyzing government affairs.

Yoon vows to “eradicate” his political rivals, describing them as North Korea-sympathizing, “anti-state forces” responsible for “wreaking havoc and are the main culprits of our nation’s downfall.” He doesn’t back his claims with direct evidence.

In reaction, the main opposition Democratic Party calls for an emergency meeting.

As lawmakers begin rushing to the National Assembly, the military’s martial law command issues a proclamation declaring sweeping government powers, including the suspension of political parties’ activities and other political gatherings that could cause “social confusion” and control over media and publications. It says anyone who violates the decree could be arrested without a warrant.

Hundreds of heavily armed troops encircle the Assembly, apparently to prevent lawmakers from gathering to vote on the martial law declaration. Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung live-streams his journey from a car, pleading for people to converge on the parliament to help lawmakers get inside. The shaky footage shows him climbing over a fence to reach the grounds.

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Associated Press writer Patrick Quinn in Bangkok contributed to this report.

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(Reuters) – Russia pounded critical infrastructure facilities in western Ukraine, authorities said on Wednesday, in the latest airstrike on the latter’s hobbled energy grid as it approaches mid-winter.

The governor of Ukraine’s western Lviv region said two facilities, in the Drohobych and Stryi districts, were damaged in the attack.

In neighbouring Ivano-Frankivsk, the governor said local air defences were fending off Russian attacks on facilities there.

Both said no injuries had been reported but did not provide any other details.

Earlier on Wednesday, Ukraine’s national grid operator introduced emergency power cuts in six regions amid warnings from Kyiv’s air force of missiles launched by Russia during a nationwide air-raid alert.

Separately, Ukrainian energy minister German Galushchenko said on social media that “preventative measures” involving the distribution system were also in force.

Russia has carried out regular air strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid as its ground forces press ahead on the battlefield in the Kremlin’s three-year-old invasion.

(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Best-selling British author Neil Gaiman released a statement Wednesday denying he had ever engaged in non-consensual sex after a magazine this week published allegations from several women, accusing him of sexual assault.

The 64-year-old author of “The Sandman” comic book series and novel “American Gods” was responding to a New York Magazine article that detailed allegations of assault, abuse and coercion leveled by eight women. The allegations of four of them had been broadcast in July in a Tortoise Media podcast.

Gaiman said he had watched stories about him circulate on the Internet for months with “horror and dismay.”

“As I read through this latest collection of accounts, there are moments I half-recognise and moments I don’t, descriptions of things that happened sitting beside things that emphatically did not happen. I’m far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever.” Gaiman posted on the social media platform Tumblr.

Gaiman said he had read back message exchanges he had had with his accusers. They still read like “two people enjoying entirely consensual sexual relationships and wanting to see one another again,” he said.

“And I also realise, looking through them, years later, that I could have and should have done so much better. I was emotionally unavailable while being sexually available, self-focused and not as thoughtful as I could or should have been. I was obviously careless with people’s hearts and feelings, and that’s something that I really, deeply regret,” Gaiman said.

Most of the allegations relate to occasions when Gaiman was in his 40s or older and living in the United States, Britain and New Zealand.

One of the accusers, Scarlett Pavlovich, told New York Magazine she met Gaiman through his then-wife, U.S. performer Amanda Palmer, on a New Zealand island where the couple lived with their son in 2022. Pavlovich alleges Gaiman abused her several times starting the night they met.

Some of Pavlovich’s allegations were first made public six months earlier in the podcast.

She told the magazine she filed a police report in January 2023 accusing Gaiman of sexual assault.

New Zealand Police this week would not say whether Gaiman was, or had been, under investigation.

“In general, Police cannot respond to queries which seek to establish whether specific individuals are, or have been, under Police investigation. Additionally, anyone who makes a complaint to Police has the right to privacy,” New Zealand Police told The Associated Press in an email on Tuesday.

The AP’s messages to Gaiman’s agent, his office and to Bloomsbury, publisher of several of his recent books, were not returned.

Amazon Prime Video and Netflix, which both have Gaiman-related projects scheduled for this year, haven’t responded to the AP’s messages.

Several of Gaiman’s works have been turned into movies and television programs.

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DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh’s Supreme Court on Wednesday acquitted former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in the last corruption case against her, paving the way for her to run in elections that an interim government says will be held either in December or in the first half of 2026.

Zia is ailing and traveled to London earlier this month for medical treatment after being cleared in another corruption case brought under former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted last August in a mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule.

Zia and Hasina are archrivals who have dominated Bangladesh’s politics for decades, and Hasina’s ouster has created an opportunity for Zia to make a comeback.

On Wednesday, a five-member Appellate Division of the Supreme Court overturned a 10-year jail sentence handed down by the High Court in 2018 on charges of embezzling some $250,000 in donations meant for an orphanage trust established when Zia became prime minister in 1991.

The High Court had also sentenced Zia’s son, Tarique Rahman, and four others to 10 years in prison for involvement in the case. Rahman is the heir apparent in Zia’s party under Bangladesh’s dynastic political system.

Wednesday’s verdict by the Supreme Court also cleared Rahman and the others.

Zia’s lawyers said the verdict means she will be able to contest in next election. Under Bangladesh law, anyone imprisoned for more than two years cannot run for political office for the next five years.

Zia had faced a total of 17 years in prison — 10 years in this case and seven years in the other corruption case. She was acquitted in the other case after Hasina was ousted from office in August.

Defense lawyers and Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party denied any wrongdoing involving the trust fund and said the charges were politically motivated.

Zia is the wife of late President Ziaur Rahman and Hasina is the daughter of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Hasina fled into exile in neighboring India following her ouster amid violence that left hundreds of people dead in July and August. She faces charges of mass killing under the interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus. A special tribunal has sought help from international police organization Interpol for Hasina’s arrest and requested that India extradite her.

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LONDON (AP) — Inflation in the U.K. unexpectedly fell in December, a move that will likely fuel pressure on the Bank of England to cut interest rates again next month.

The Office for National Statistics said Wednesday that inflation, as measured by the consumer prices index, was 2.5% in the year to December, largely as a result of easing price pressures in the services sector, which accounts for around 80% of the British economy.

That was down from 2.6% the previous month. Economists had expected no change in the annual rate.

Though inflation has fallen, it remains above the Bank of England’s target of 2%.

If the Bank of England decides to cut its main interest rate from 4.75%, it could well ease the pressure in British government bond markets, which have been volatile in recent weeks.

The uptick in the interest rate investors are charging the British government to lend money over 10 years hit a 16-year high in recent days, piling pressure on Treasury chief Rachel Reeves to cut spending or raise taxes in order to allay concerns.

Inflation is way down from levels seen a couple of years ago, partly because central banks dramatically increased borrowing costs from near zero during the coronavirus pandemic when prices started to shoot up, first as a result of supply chain issues and then because of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which pushed up energy costs.

As inflation rates have fallen from multidecade highs, central banks have started cutting interest rates, though few, if any, economists think that rates will fall back to the super-low levels that persisted in the years after the global financial crisis of 2008-2009.

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By Nellie Peyton and Siyabonga Sishi

STILFONTEIN, South Africa (Reuters) -South African rescuers have pulled out 36 dead bodies and 82 survivors from a gold mine deep underground in two days of operations, police said on Tuesday, adding that the survivors would all face illegal mining and immigration charges.

Police began laying siege to the mine in August and cut off food and water supplies for months in an attempt to force the miners to the surface so they could be arrested as part of a crackdown on illegal mining.

Hundreds more men and dozens more bodies are still trapped underground, according to a miners’ rights group that issued footage on Monday showing corpses and skeletal survivors in the mine.

Rescue operations, which involve the use of a metal cage to recover men and bodies from a mine shaft more than 2 km underground, will continue for days, with police saying they would provide a daily update on numbers.

A Reuters team at the site, about 150 km (90 miles) from Johannesburg in the town of Stilfontein, saw rescuers carrying one man on a stretcher on Tuesday. A group of other men, one of them emaciated, sat on the ground surrounded by uniformed police officers and paramedics.

Typically, illegal mining takes place in mines that have been abandoned by companies because they are no longer commercially viable on a large scale. Unlicensed miners, often immigrants from other African countries, go in to extract whatever is left.

The South African government has said the siege of the Stilfontein mine was necessary to fight illegal mining, which Mining Minister Gwede Mantashe described as “a war on the economy.” He estimated that the illicit precious metals trade was worth 60 billion rand ($3.17 billion) last year.

‘SMOKE THEM OUT’

Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said in November: “We are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out.”

But a court said in December that volunteers should be allowed to send down supplies to the trapped men, and another ruling last week ordered the state to launch a rescue operation, which began on Monday.

“All 82 that have been arrested are facing illegal mining, trespassing and contravention of the Immigration Act charges,” police said in a statement, referring to all those pulled out alive on Monday and Tuesday.

The statement added that two of them would face additional charges of being in possession of gold.

The government crackdown, part of an operation called “Vala Umgodi” or “Close the hole” in the isiZulu language, has drawn criticism from human rights organisations and local residents.

A 26-year-old woman living near Stilfontein, who gave her name as Matumelo, said her husband had gone down the mine in June when she was pregnant. She last received a letter from him in August and has since given birth.

“My husband, is he alive or dead?” she said, declining to give her family name for fear of retribution from the authorities.

There was a small protest by local residents and rights groups outside the venue where police and mining officials addressed the media on Tuesday. “STOP THE SACRIFICE. #FREETHEMINERS,” read one placard.

($1 = 18.9325 rand)

(Additional reporting by Bhargav Acharya, Sfundo Parakozov, Tannur Anders and Alexander Winning in Johannesburg;Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Sharon Singleton)

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By Andrew MacAskill and Catarina Demony

LONDON (Reuters) -The British minister responsible for financial services and fighting corruption resigned on Tuesday after weeks of questions over her financial ties to her aunt Sheikh Hasina, ousted last year as prime minister of Bangladesh.

Tulip Siddiq, 42, had repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and Prime Minister Keir Starmer said last week he had full confidence in her.

The resignation of a second government minister in two months is a blow to Starmer, whose approval ratings have plunged since his Labour Party won a general election in July.

Siddiq was handed the portfolio for financial services policy after the election, a role that included responsibility for measures against money-laundering.

In a letter to Starmer, Siddiq said she was resigning because her position was “likely to be a distraction from the work of the government”.

The government’s ethics adviser said in his letter to Starmer released at the same time that although Siddiq had not breached the ministerial code of conduct, he found it regrettable she was “not more alert to the potential reputational risks” from her family’s close association with Bangladesh.

“You will want to consider her ongoing responsibilities in the light of this,” he said.

Starmer swiftly appointed Emma Reynolds, who was a pensions minister, to Siddiq’s role.

Hasina, who had ruled Bangladesh since 2009, is being investigated there on suspicion of corruption and money laundering. Hasina and her party deny wrongdoing.

Siddiq was named in December as part of Bangladesh’s investigation into whether her family were involved in siphoning off funds from Bangladeshi infrastructure projects.

The anti-corruption commission alleged financial irregularities worth billions of dollars in the awarding of a $12.65 billion nuclear power contract, saying Hasina and Siddiq may have benefited.

After facing further scrutiny over the use of properties in Britain linked to Hasina and her supporters, Siddiq referred herself to the government’s independent ethics adviser.

Siddiq lived in a north London property given to her family in 2009 by Moin Ghani, a Bangladeshi lawyer who has represented Hasina’s government, documents filed with Companies House and the Land Registry show.

She also acquired a separate property in London in 2004, without paying for it, from a developer linked to the Awami League, Hasina’s political party, the Financial Times reported this month.

Hasina fled Bangladesh after being toppled following weeks of protests.

Siddiq’s departure follows the resignation of British transport minister Louise Haigh late last year. Haigh acknowledged a minor criminal offence before she entered government, relating to a mobile phone that she had wrongly reported stolen.

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill, Catarina Demony, Muvija M, editing by William James, Elizabeth Piper and Kevin Liffey)

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By Simon Lewis, Daphne Psaledakis and Humeyra Pamuk

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday laid out plans for the post-war management of Gaza, saying the outgoing Biden administration would hand over the roadmap to President-elect Donald Trump’s team to pick up if a ceasefire deal is reached.

Speaking at the Atlantic Council in Washington in his final days as the U.S. top diplomat, Blinken said Washington envisioned a reformed Palestinian Authority leading Gaza and inviting international partners to help establish and run an interim administration for the enclave.

A security force would be formed from forces from partner nations and vetted Palestinian personnel, Blinken said during his speech, which was repeatedly interrupted by protesters who accused him of supporting genocide by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza, which Israel denies.

He was speaking as negotiators met in Qatar hoping to finalize a plan to end the war in Gaza after 15 months of conflict that has upended the Middle East.

“For many months, we’ve been working intensely with our partners to develop a detailed post-conflict plan that would allow Israel to fully withdraw from Gaza, prevent Hamas from filling back in, and provide for Gaza’s governance, security and reconstruction,” Blinken said.

Trump and his incoming team have not said whether they would implement the plan.

Blinken said a post-conflict plan and a “credible political horizon for Palestinians” was needed to ensure that Hamas does not re-emerge.

The United States had repeatedly warned Israel that Hamas could not be defeated by a military campaign alone, he said. “We assess that Hamas has recruited almost as many new militants as it has lost. That is a recipe for an enduring insurgency and perpetual war.”

PROTESTERS

Blinken’s remarks were interrupted three times by protesters, who echoed accusations that the Biden administration was complicit in crimes committed by Israel in the war.

Blinken has denied Israel’s actions amount to genocide and says he has pushed Israel to do more to protect civilians and to facilitate humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Israel launched its assault after Hamas-led fighters stormed across its borders on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s aerial and ground campaign has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, drawing accusations of genocide in a World Court case brought by South Africa and of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court. Israel denies the allegations.

The assault has displaced nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million population and drawn the concern of the world’s main hunger monitor.

“You will forever be known as bloody Blinken, secretary of genocide,” one protester shouted before being led out of the event.

Blinken remained calm, telling one heckler: “I respect your views. Please allow me to share mine,” before resuming his remarks.

Blinken said U.S. officials had debated “vigorously” the Biden administration’s response to the war, a reference to a slew of resignations by officials in his State Department who have criticized the policy to continue providing arms and diplomatic cover to Israel.

Others felt Washington had held Israel back from inflicting greater damage on Iran and its proxies, he said.

“It is crucial to ask questions like these, which will be studied for years to come,” he said. “I wish I could stand here today and tell you with certainty that we got every decision right. I cannot.”

(Reporting by Simon Lewis, Daphne Psaledakis, Humeyra Pamuk and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Sharon Singleton)

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TORONTO (Reuters) – Canadian Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne on Tuesday said he would not run in the race to replace Justin Trudeau as leader of the ruling Liberal Party.

Champagne, seen as a leading contender, told the Toronto branch of the Canada Club that he would spend the rest of the government’s term focusing on his ministerial responsibilities.

“It was probably one of the most difficult decisions of my life but I think it’s the right one at the right time,” he said.

Trudeau said earlier this month he was stepping down and would stay in office until the party named a new leader, a decision that is due on March 9. Champagne is the fifth major cabinet minister to announce he will not take part in the race.

Polls show that the Liberals, who first came to power in November 2015, are set to lose the next election. The vote, which has to be held by Oct. 20, looks set to take place in May.

(Reporting by Divya Rajagopal, writing by David Ljunggren; editing by Barbara Lewis)

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LONDON (AP) — Britain’s anti-corruption minister resigned on Tuesday, bowing to mounting pressure over her links to her aunt, ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Tulip Siddiq said that she had been cleared of wrongdoing but was quitting as economic secretary to the Treasury because the issue was becoming “a distraction from the work of the government.”

Siddiq, 42, is a former local councilor who was elected lawmaker for a north London district in 2015. She was appointed to the government after Prime Minister Keir Starmer ‘s center-left Labour Party won a landslide election victory in July.

Starmer has been under growing pressure to remove Siddiq from her post since she referred herself to the government’s ethics watchdog in early January following reports that she lived in London properties linked to her aunt.

Starmer said he was sad to see Siddiq go, adding in a letter that the watchdog — independent adviser on ministerial interests Laurie Magnus — “has assured me he found no breach of the Ministerial Code and no evidence of financial improprieties on your part.”

Starmer offered Siddiq the possibility of returning to government, saying “the door remains open to you going forward.”

Hasina was Bangladesh’s longest-serving prime minister and ruled the country for 15 years until August 2024, when she was ousted amid a mass uprising in which hundreds of protesters were killed and thousands were injured. Hasina, who has fled to India, faces many court cases over the deaths, including some on charges of crimes against humanity.

Siddiq, who is responsible for tackling corruption in financial markets, was named last month in an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh against Hasina. The investigation alleged that Siddiq’s family was involved in brokering a 2013 deal with Russia for a nuclear power plant in Bangladesh in which large sums of money were said to have been embezzled.

Magnus said he accepted “at face value” Siddiq’s statement that “she had no involvement in any inter-governmental discussions between Bangladesh and Russia or any form of official role.”

The minister faced further questions about her links to her aunt’s government after reports in the Sunday Times and Financial Times newspapers alleged that she had used two London apartments given to her by associates of Bangladesh’s Awami League, led by Hasina.

Magnus said “a lack of records and lapse of time” meant he had not seen all potentially relevant information, but added that “I have not identified evidence of improprieties” over the apartments.

Magnus concluded that Siddiq hadn’t breached ministerial standards. But he noted that given her role in government “it is regrettable that she was not more alert to the potential reputational risks — both to her and the government — arising from her close family’s association with Bangladesh.”

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