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00:00After nearly six hours of standing off with security forces, South Korean authorities
00:05suspended efforts to arrest the country's impeached president.
00:11Thousands attend a vigil for the victims of a mass shooting in Setinjez, the government
00:15says weapons possession rules will be tightened.
00:21Police in Finland say the crew of the tanker suspected of damaging the Estlink-2 power
00:26cable have been detained indefinitely.
00:31UNICEF urges European governments to prioritize the safety of migrant children whose parents
00:37are killed at sea.
00:42South Korean authorities suspended an attempt to arrest the impeached president Yoon Seok-yol
00:47after an almost six-hour standoff with security forces.
00:51The country's anti-corruption agency said it withdrew its investigators after the presidential
00:56security service blocked them from entering Yoon's residence.
01:01The events were the latest confrontation in a political crisis that has paralyzed South
01:06Korean politics.
01:07It began in early December when Yoon, apparently frustrated that his policies were blocked
01:12by an opposition-dominated parliament, declared martial law and dispatched troops to surround
01:18the National Assembly.
01:20He overturned that declaration within hours in a unanimous vote and impeached Yoon, while
01:25South Korean authorities opened a criminal investigation into the events.
01:29A Seoul court issued a warrant for Yoon's detention after he evaded multiple requests
01:33to appear for questioning and blocked searches of his office, hindering an investigation
01:38into whether his ill-conceived power grab amounted to rebellion.
01:43Yoon has remained defiant, vowing to fight to remain in office.
01:50Thousands of people have attended a vigil to remember the 12 victims of a mass shooting
01:57in Montenegro.
01:59It happened on Wednesday in the central town of Cetinje when a man started a shooting rampage
02:04after a bar brawl, killing 12 and wounding at least four others.
02:09Two children were among the victims and the man, named as 45-year-old Arko Matinovic,
02:14died after shooting himself in the head.
02:17It's a tragedy, but it's a misfortune for the whole city.
02:23It's a terrible tragedy.
02:26I think the society has to work to prevent things like this from happening again.
02:33The government has declared three days of national mourning and all planned New Year's festivities
02:38have been cancelled throughout the country.
02:41Visiting Cetinje on Thursday, Prime Minister Milojko Spajic announced a tightening of rules
02:47on weapons possession.
02:48We will also tighten the criteria for holding arms.
02:49Tomorrow we will probably have a National Security Council meeting where we will discuss all
02:50modulations, even the complete ban on arms.
02:51This is a tragedy that we need to ask ourselves.
02:52Who can have arms in Montenegro?
02:53Sports and hunting, we understand.
02:54But these criteria must be maximally tightened.
02:55We will tighten the criteria for holding arms.
02:56Tomorrow we will probably have a National Security Council meeting where we will discuss
02:57all modulations, even the complete ban on arms.
02:58This is a tragedy that we need to ask ourselves.
02:59Who can have arms in Montenegro?
03:00Sports and hunting, we understand.
03:01But these criteria must be maximally tightened.
03:02We will tighten the criteria for holding arms.
03:03Tomorrow we will probably have a National Security Council meeting where we will discuss
03:04all modulations, even the complete ban on arms.
03:05Montenegro, which has a population of around 620,000, is known for its gun culture and
03:30many people traditionally have weapons.
03:33In August 2022 in Settinjärvi, an attacker killed 10 people, including two children,
03:39before he was shot and killed by a passerby.
03:42Police said that Wednesday's shooter received a suspended sentence in 2005 for violent behavior
03:48and had appealed a conviction for illegal weapons possession.
03:57Police in Finland say the crew of a Russia-linked tanker suspected of damaging a power cable
04:03under the Baltic Sea have been detained indefinitely.
04:06The Eagle-S crew consists of 24 people, with Finland's Central Criminal Police imposing
04:12movement restrictions on eight.
04:32The Eagle-S is suspected of damaging the Estlink-2 power cable, which runs under the
04:37Baltic Sea between Finland and Estonia by dragging its anchor along the seabed.
04:42The cable went down on Christmas Day, but there was little impact to services.
04:48The Helsinki Police Department seized the vessel and moved it to port in Porvoo a day
04:52later to conduct an investigation.
04:55The Eagle-S is flagged in the Cook Islands, but has been described by EU officials as
05:00being part of Russia's shadow fleet of tankers shipping oil and gas in defiance of international
05:05sanctions.
05:07At the end of December, NATO Chief Mark Rutte said he had spoken to Finland's president
05:12and agreed that NATO will enhance its military presence in the Baltic Sea.
05:17Finland shares a more than 1,000-kilometer border with Russia and abandoned its decades-old
05:22policy of military neutrality and joined NATO in 2023 in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
05:30Austria's Chancellor Karl Nehammer welcomed Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to
05:41Vienna on Thursday, on the occasion of the two countries' 30th year of EU membership.
05:48The two leaders held talks focusing largely on migration.
05:52We are allies in the fight against illegal migration.
05:56Sweden is an important, reliable partner here, a strong voice.
06:01Under Kristersson's conservative government, Sweden has tightened its asylum rules.
06:06I think both the Chancellor and I, we share the desire to think outside the box now, not
06:11to settle and say things are complicated.
06:14We knew that already.
06:16Complicated things are meant to be solved, not to be discussed.
06:2130 years after joining the bloc, both leaders aim to push for stronger EU border security
06:26and better mechanisms for returning migrants whose asylum applications are denied.
06:31They plan to advocate for these changes at the EU Commission.
06:40The UN Children's Fund has urged governments to prioritize the safety of migrant children
06:45whose parents are killed at sea.
06:47The UNICEF statement comes after two boats sank in waters off eastern Tunisia on Thursday,
06:52killing at least 27 people.
06:55It's a popular departure point for irregular migrants hoping to make it to Europe.
07:17According to the International Organization of Migration's Missing Migrant Tracker,
07:282,275 people were unaccounted for in the Mediterranean in 2024.
07:35That brings the total number of people missing since 2014 to more than 31,000.
07:41The majority of those are believed to have died on the perilous central Mediterranean
07:45route which is used by people smugglers from Libya and Tunisia to ferry people towards Italy.
07:51According to Eurostat, in 2023 more than 2,200 people considered to be unaccompanied minors
07:58filed asylum applications with Italian authorities.
08:02For Greece in the same year, that figure was over 2,600,
08:06while Spain handled just 30 such applications.
08:10Applications for asylum from unaccompanied minors across the whole of the European Union
08:15have generally fallen steadily from a peak of more than 88,000 in 2015.
08:28The highly decorated army soldier inside a Tesla Cybertruck packed with fireworks
08:33that exploded outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas
08:37shot himself in the head just before detonation, according to local authorities.
08:42The explosion caused minor injuries to seven people but virtually no damage to the hotel.
08:48Police said 37-year-old Matthew Liversberger likely planned a more damaging attack
08:54but the steel-sided vehicle absorbed much of the force.
08:58Authorities say they are still searching for a motive but that it's not lost
09:02that the explosion happened outside of a Trump Hotel in a Tesla vehicle.
09:07Liversberger served in the Green Berets, highly trained special forces
09:11who worked to counter terrorism abroad.
09:14Authorities searched a house in Colorado as part of the investigation.
09:18Neighbors said the man who lived there had a wife and a baby
09:21and did not give any sign of posing a danger to anyone.
09:28The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, known as the PCBS,
09:32estimates that Gaza's population has decreased by about 6% since the start of Israel's war.
09:38The decline of about 160,000 people puts the enclave's current population at 2.1 million.
09:45The Palestinian State Institution says more than 55,000 people are presumed dead.
09:51The figures include Gaza's health ministry stats which confirm more than 45,000 dead
09:56as well as 10,000 others who remain missing.
09:59The bureau also estimates that around 100,000 Palestinians fled from Gaza
10:04at various points since the beginning of the war.
10:07Israel claims these numbers are fabricated
10:10but they match estimates released by the UN's Humanitarian Affairs Office.
10:14The PCBS slammed Israel for its continued aggression against the Gaza Strip
10:19and the deliberate wiping of its population.
10:22International human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch
10:27accuse Israel of committing a genocide against the Palestinian people.
10:31They also accuse it of manufacturing a humanitarian catastrophe.
10:35The UN says almost all of Gaza's population have been internally displaced,
10:40some multiple times, and are at risk of starvation.
10:50Volunteers in Aleppo are working to transform the ancient city's landscape
10:54as they slowly attempt to return to normal life.
10:59They are planting trees in the streets and alleys.
11:02In addition to municipal officials,
11:04local residents and young members of the Orthodox community joined the initiative.
11:10Saplings and flowers have been planted in parks and public rest areas,
11:14bringing new life to the city.
11:17The civil war in Syria has left its deepest scars on the ancient city of Aleppo.
11:22Many parts of the city were bombed, resulting in massive destruction.
11:29Almost one month after rebels toppled the regime of Bashar al-Assad,
11:33the challenge is now to rebuild the country.
11:37Many of Aleppo's residents are positive about the future,
11:40saying life has been easier since the fall of Assad.