Author: Admin

by Admin Dec 4, 2024 Things went south for South Korean President Suk Yeol after the South Korean parliament vetoed his declaration of martial law after the president accused his citizens and opposition parliament members of being sympathetic and aiding insurgency with the North Korean government. President Suk Yeol said that “I am imposing martial law to protect the country from anti-state forces that sympathized with North Korea”. Less than two hours after the announcement, the military and police were deployed and took over the streets and the airspace. In contrast, the military headed towards the parliament building where the members of parliament were gathered to vote against the martial law. The military then announced that all parliamentary activity was suspended under martial law while protesters stormed the building to prevent the military from entering the building and disrupting the proceedings while other protesters took to the streets of Seoul, the capital city to protest against the presidential imposed martial law. Lee Jae-myung, the opposition’s Democratic Party leader went on a live broadcast and called on the citizens to assemble at the parliament building and defend their democratic rights to freedom. He further pleaded with his fellow members of parliament to ensure that they found their way into the building to ensure a fair vote was held to counter the presidential martial law. The Democratic main opposition party whose lawmakers were forced to jump over the parliamentary fence fences and wrestled with security forces so they could vote to overturn martial law.  President Suk Yeol, a conservative politician and former reputable public prosecutor, was elected president in 2022 and has been facing serious allegations from the opposition parties. On May 9, 2024, the president issued a public apology for his wife’s actions of accepting an expensive luxury handbag as a gift.  On November 26, President Yeol vetoed a bill calling for a special counsel investigation into corruption allegations involving his wife, the third time he rejected the opposition-led bill. These and many other cases have plagued President Suk Yeol and his latest attempt to declare a nationwide martial law which was short-lived by the parliament and a call for his impeachment was made by opposition leaders. The liberal opposition Democratic party, which holds a majority in the 300-seat parliament, said its lawmakers had decided to call on President Yeol to stand down straight away or they would take steps to impeach him. He said, “President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law declaration was a clear violation of the constitution. It didn’t abide by any requirements to declare it”. Kim Yong-Hyun, the defense minister, has issued his resignation letter amidst an impeachment motion from the Democratic party. If  President Yeol accepts Kim’s resignation before parliament votes, the defense minister would no longer be subject to the impeachment process. The South Korean parliament is set to vote over the impeachment process on Friday against President Yeol after a series of parliamentarians submitted their letter for the call for an impeachment trial against the president. 

by Admin Nov 30, 2024 In a surprise attack against the largest city in Syria after Kurds militants launched an offensive against the city on Friday, killing several civilians and Syrian soldiers for the first time in the past nine years. The attack has left the city in ruins and thousands of civilians to flee the city. It has increased tensions in the Middle East, which has experienced endless fighting since Hamas orchestrated an offensive against Israel last year October. The city of Aleppo has not suffered such enormous attacks since 2016 after the Syrian forces retook control of the city with the help of Russian and Iranian forces in a bloody military operation against ISIS and Kurdish militants. Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) of the Kurdish Liberation Front began a major offensive on Wednesday earlier this week from their base in the Idlib countryside, a narrow patch of land located in Syria’s northwest province. In a deadly offensive against the Syrian army, the armed militiamen reached the city of Aleppo within three days after a series of clashes and missile attacks in the city. The Syrian authorities closed Aleppo airport as well as all roads leading into the city on Saturday and have ordered the Syrian troops to withdraw from the city in preparation for a major counter-offensive against the militants in the next 48 hours. Russia’s su-34 jet fighters carried out a series of air strikes against the insurgents killing two hundred militants on Friday night while President Putin of Russia announced a new shipment of weapons to Syria on Monday. David Carden, the UN deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis said that the three-day battle left 27 civilians killed. At the same time, hundreds more were injured from mortar shells and rocket barrages. The rebel forces in a swift wave recaptured dozens of towns and villages in the Aleppo countryside, seizing a military base, weapons, and tanks from Syrian government forces. In the heat of the battle some Turkish-backed Syrian rebel groups based elsewhere in north-west Syria joined the fighting and launched their offensive against the Syrian government forces taking over the Aleppo government headquarters and Aleppo University. Dareen Khalifa, of the nonprofit International Crisis Group said “The regime’s lines of defense have crumbled, I think they were taken aback. No one anticipated how fast the rebels would reach towards the edge of Aleppo.” Bashar Assad’s government which began in 2011 has witnessed endless violence and fragile peace since it took power and reclaimed lost territories in 2016 from rebel forces. However, President Assad has yet to address the situation in Aleppo as the Syrian government continues to scrabble around for more support from Russia and Iran.  The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying “The regime’s lines of defense have crumbled, I think they were taken aback. No one anticipated how fast the rebels would reach towards the edge of Aleppo”. Prodesq political war analyst Temitope Oladeji said the attack on Aleppo has the hands of the Israeli government all written over it, in the past few days Israel has dramatically escalated airstrikes against Iranian forces stationed on the ground in Syria, carrying out over 116 strikes on Syrian territory killing 100 civilians and have left over 500,000 people to relocate.  However, Temitope Oladeji further stated that the attack on Aleppo is a major escalation of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, in which observers have seen Ukrainian mercenaries in Syria carrying out attacks on Russian weapons deports in Syria and training Syrian rebels in the operation of drones.  Dmitry Peskov, The Kremlin spokesperson on Friday said that Moscow regarded the rebel attack as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty and wanted the authorities to act fast to regain control.

by Admin Nov 28, 2024 In a shocking revelation by the Brazilian police, an investigation has revealed that Jair Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president was actively involved in a coup attempt to overturn the presidential election results of 2022 which he lost to current President Lula, the police investigation report reveals. The Brazilian police presented an 884-page report to the Brazilian Parliament, which made the report available to the public. The report highlighted eight major pieces of evidence against Jair Bolsonaro which included secret meetings with the Brazilian Army leadership to plot a coup in 2022. The police accused the former president and 36 high-ranking military and government personnel of taking part in the plot, among the officials named were former Minister of Defence Walter Braga Netto, ex-National Security Adviser Augusto Heleno, former Minister of Justice and Public Security Anderson Torres, and the head of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party, Valdemar Costa Neto. The report revealed that “The evidence collected throughout the investigation shows unequivocally that then-President Jair Messias Bolsonaro planned, acted, and was directly and effectively aware of the actions of the criminal organization aiming to launch a coup d’etat and eliminate the democratic rule of law”. The report has been sent to Paulo Gonet, the highest Brazilian prosecutor who is yet to decide whether or not to lay indictments on the former president. Jair Bolsonaro has denied all allegations laid against him and said he was never part of any kind of coup plot to overturn the 2022 elections but leaked audio recordings suggest high-ranking members of the Brazilian Army were involved in conspiring to keep Bolsonaro in power. However, after the election results which President Lula won by a run-off emerged ahead by just over 2.1 million votes, former President Jair Bolsonaro refused to publicly concede defeat, his refusal sparked a dangerous protest which led to the blockage of highways and attacks on police stations. On January 8, 2023, a week after President Lula was sworn into office, a mighty protest broke out as supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro took to the streets and descended on government buildings, they destroyed the Three Powers Plaza, a square in Brasilia that houses the presidential palace, the Supreme Court, and both houses of Congress. The protest was evoked to spark a military intervention which would likely be used to remove President Lula from office but the Brazilian police returned normalcy to the country while hundreds of protesters were arrested. 

by Admin Nov 28, 2024 Australia’s parliament took one of the boldest steps as a pro-democratic country. It passed a law that bans children under 16 from accessing social media in what is regarded as the strictest regulations targeting the platforms in the world. The Parliament passed the law on Thursday afternoon after weeks of long deliberation, the law requires social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok to prevent those under 16 from having any form of social media accounts. The Australian Senate said the failure of any of the social media platforms to comply with the new law attracts a fine of up to AUS$50 million (US$32.5m). Anthony Albanese, the prime minister of Australia led the campaign for the law and was at the forefront of rallying parents to support the bill. The Australian prime minister said, “Social media is a platform for peer pressure, a driver of anxiety, a vehicle for scammers and, worst of all, a tool for online predators”. Albanese further said that he wants to encourage the Australian children to “turn off their phones and onto the footy and cricket field, the tennis and netball courts, in the swimming pool”. Sarah Hanson-Young, a Greens senator, said before the vote that the legislation was “boomers trying to tell young people how the internet should work to make themselves feel better.” However, advocacy groups and academicians in Australia have warned that the ban could prevent vulnerable young people, especially those from the LGBTQ community and immigrant teenagers, from finding a support group through online networking.  Also, Australia’s Human Rights Commission has condemned the law saying that the law is interfering with the human rights of young people by blocking their ability to participate within society and keeping up with the outside world.  Prodesq gathered that some social media platforms companies, including WhatsApp and YouTube, will also likely be granted exemptions, because teenagers may need them for work or recreation.

by Admin Nov 24, 2024 Violence erupted in Pakistan when unknown gunmen laid an ambush on Shiite Muslim convoys traveling under the protection of the Pakistani police on Thursday and 43 people were killed in the process, this incident made the Shiite Muslims accuse the Sunni Muslim Pakistanis of the slaughter and descend on their community which led to a three-days brutal conflict. Pakistan is a Muslim country with a majority of the Sunni sect. Still, it also hates the Shiite Muslims who majorly reside in Kurram district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province — near the border with Afghanistan. A local administrator who chose to be anonymous said, “The clashes and convoy attacks on November 21, 22, and 23 have resulted in 82 fatalities and 156 injuries”. He further disclosed that “Among the deceased 16 were Sunni, while 66 belonged to the Shia community… The mobile network across Kurram remains suspended and traffic on the main highway is halted”. Prodesq gathered that over 300 families, mostly from the Shiite Muslim community, fled their homes and moved to Afghanistan after Sunni Muslims descended on their community with guns and other deadly weapons. The Pakistani Police have regularly struggled to control the violence in Kurram, which was part of the semi-autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas until it was merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018. Aftab Alam Afrid, a Pakistan provincial lawyer disclosed that “Our priority today is to broker a ceasefire between both sides. Once that is achieved, we can begin addressing the underlying issues”. A delegation from the provincial government held talks with the Shiite community on Saturday and is set to hold another meeting with the Sunni community on Sunday. The meeting with the Sunni community was delayed after the helicopter conveying the provincial government delegates came under gunfire in the region with no casualties or injuries recorded. Both the Shiite and Sunni have always been at loggerheads with each other for decades, last month a total number of 16 people were killed including three women and two children when both sects clashed. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said 79 people died between July and October in sectarian clashes. There have been large protests in Lahore the second-largest city, and Pakistan and also in Karachi the commercial heart of the country against the ongoing violence.  A seven-day cease-fire has been agreed between the two sects after the meeting with the delegation of the provincial government.