Overnight highlights: South Korea upholds president's impeachment amid crisis
It happened while you were sleeping. Here's what global agencies reported overnight from Thursday to Friday.
- The Constitutional Court of South Korea decided on Friday to uphold the decision to impeach President Yoon Suk-yeol in connection with his declaration of martial law last December. According to the constitution, elections for a new head of state will be held within 60 days. All eight judges of the Constitutional Court unanimously supported the impeachment request for Yoon and his removal from office.
- Severe weather is causing chaos in the central United States, bringing life-threatening floods and devastating tornadoes. The natural disaster has already claimed at least seven lives. Due to the extreme weather conditions, five deaths were reported in Tennessee, one in Missouri, and one in Indiana. Local authorities report that the storms have caused widespread destruction and power outages.
- President Trump has not only prevented the outbreak of World War III but has already made significant progress in talks on ending the war in Ukraine, said Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev in an interview with Fox News on Thursday. Putin's adviser also argued that Russia does not demand the lifting of sanctions.
- The United States is interested in a deal allowing them to acquire minerals from the conflict-affected Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), stated Massad Boulos, senior advisor to President Donald Trump on Africa, who began his first official trip to the continent on Thursday.
- The substantial tariffs announced on Wednesday by President Donald Trump pose a serious risk to the global economy at a time of slow economic growth, said the head of the International Monetary Fund on Thursday.
- The foreign ministers of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger are in Moscow, where they announced the formation of joint forces to combat terrorism. The Kremlin immediately offered them assistance and promised to provide weapons and instructors. Meanwhile, the Africans and Russians accused Ukraine of supporting terrorism.
- Historical turning point: for the first time in Germany's history, non-religious individuals make up a larger part of the population than Catholics and Protestants. This is according to data compiled by the research group Weltanschauungen in Deutschland, writes the dpa agency.