• Yoon accused of helping enemy state to provoke military tension.
• S Korea has neither confirmed nor denied flying drones to N Korea.
• Ex-president removed from office by Constitutional Court in April.
  

South Korea’s special prosecutor on Monday indicted former President Yoon Suk Yeol on additional charges of abusing power and aiding an enemy state related to his short-lived imposition of martial law last year.

Yoon attempted to provoke military conflict between South and North Korea in order to declare martial law, a prosecutor’s spokesperson told a briefing, citing evidence found on a military official’s mobile phone that included some words suggesting potential provocations against North Korea, such as “drones” and “surgical strike”.

Yoon was removed from office by the Constitutional Court in April and is on trial for insurrection stemming from his failed martial law declaration. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to death.

Yoon has said consistently that he never intended to impose military rule but declared martial law to sound the alarm on wrongdoings by opposition parties and to protect democracy from “anti-state” elements.

According to the memo, Yoon, former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun, and former military intelligence chief Yeo In-hyung planned to induce a North Korean attack against the South, the spokesperson, Park Ji-young, said.

The trio conspired to create tensions in the country as a justification for Yoon to declare martial law, she said.

Kim and Yeo were also indicted on the same additional charges, the prosecutor said.

The special prosecutor’s team has accused Yoon and his military commanders of ordering a covert drone operation into the North to inflame tensions between the neighbours and justify his martial law decree.

In October last year, North Korea said the South had sent drones to scatter anti-North Korean leaflets over Pyongyang, and published photos of the remains of a crashed South Korean military drone.

Despite intense scrutiny and political pressure, South Korea’s military declined at the time to comment on the suspicion of conducting a drone operation. A defence ministry official on Monday said it had no comment on the matter.

Former defence minister Kim is also on trial on charges related to the martial law declaration.

Yeo has said he deeply regretted not challenging the order from Yoon, according to media reports. The prosecutor’s spokesperson said Yeo was making excuses that did not make sense about the notes discovered on his mobile phone.

US senators reached a bipartisan deal on Sunday to resume federal funding, ending a government shutdown that has stretched to a record 40 days and brought many federal operations to a halt.

The agreement between Democratic and Republican senators a first step toward halting the shutdown  comes amid warnings that US air travel could “slow to a trickle” as thousands more flights faced cancellations or delays over the weekend.

According to outlets including CNN and Fox News, lawmakers reached a stopgap deal to fund the government through January, following disputes over health care subsidies, food benefits, and President Donald Trump’s firings of federal employees.

Commenting on the development after returning to the White House from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump said, “It looks like we’re getting very close to the shutdown ending.”

The Republican-led Senate quickly held a procedural vote on Sunday to move the measure forward, which appeared to have sufficient support from Democrats to advance.

Once the Senate approves the bill, it must pass the House of Representatives, also under Republican control, before heading to Trump’s desk for signature — a process that could take several days.

Earlier on Sunday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that continued shutdown could further worsen flight disruptions, particularly as Americans prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday later this month.

By Sunday evening, more than 2,700 US flights had been canceled, with nearly 10,000 delayed, according to FlightAware data.

Airports in the New York City area, Chicago’s O’Hare, and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson were particularly hard-hit.

Newark Liberty International Airport, a major northeastern hub, was among the worst affected.

At New York’s LaGuardia Airport, more than half of all outbound flights were delayed.

Splits over health care

Without a deal, Duffy warned that many Americans planning to travel for the November 27 Thanksgiving holiday would “not going to be able to get on an airplane, because there are not going to be that many flights that fly if this thing doesn’t open back up.”

It could take days for flight schedules to recover after the shutdown is finally ended, and federal funding — including salaries — starts to flow again.

Sunday marked the third day of flight reductions at airports nationwide, after the Trump administration ordered reductions to ease strain on air traffic controllers working without pay.

According to lawmakers, the bill would restore funding for the SNAP food stamp program which helps more than 42 million lower-income Americans pay for groceries.

It would also reverse Trump’s firings of thousands of federal workers over the past month, and assure a vote on extending health care subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year.

“This deal guarantees a vote to extend Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which Republicans weren’t willing to do,” Senate Democrat Tim Kaine said in a statement.

The bill — a so-called continuing resolution (CR) to keep government funded at pre-shutdown levels — “will protect federal workers from baseless firings, reinstate those who have been wrongfully terminated during the shutdown, and ensure federal workers receive back pay” as required by law, he added.

But many Senate Democrats are opposed to the deal, including the chamber’s top Democrat Chuck Schumer, who expressed anger that it offers a vote for extending the health care subsidies instead of extending them directly.

“I can not in good faith support this CR that fails to address the health care crisis,” Schumer told the chamber, adding: “This fight will and must continue.”

• BBC was accused of bias over Trump, Gaza and trans issues.
• US had blamed BBC for being a “propaganda machine”
• BBC board stunned by Davie’s resignation.

The BBC Director General Tim Davie and Head of News Deborah Turness resigned on Sunday amid mounting criticism over perceived bias at the British broadcaster, including questions over the editing of a US President Donald Trump speech in a recent documentary.

The BBC had been under mounting pressure after an internal report by a former standards adviser was leaked to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, which cited failings in its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, trans issues and a speech made by Trump.

The White House had recently denounced the broadcaster as a “propaganda machine” after its flagship Panorama documentary programme was found to have edited two parts of Trump’s speech together so he appeared to encourage the Capitol Hill riots of January 2021.

Davie, who has led the British Broadcasting Corporation since 2020, said he had decided to step down after “reflecting on the very intense personal and professional demands of managing this role over many years in these febrile times”.

Turness, the CEO of BBC News, also quit.

Respected abroad, questioned for news judgment

Widely respected around the world, the BBC has in recent years been accused of failing to maintain its commitment to impartial news, struggling to navigate the deeply polarised political and social environment.

The corporation, which is funded by a licence fee paid by all television-watching households, also comes under intense scrutiny from some national newspapers and social media, which object to its funding model and perceived liberal stance.

In recent years it had struggled to contain scandals over the opinion on immigration of its most highly paid sports presenter, Gary Lineker, which briefly led to a walk-out by staff, while it was condemned for showing a punk-rap duo Bob Vylan chanting against the Israeli military at Glastonbury.

It also pulled a documentary about Gaza earlier this year because it featured the son of a deputy minister in the Hamas-run government.

In the Panorama documentary, Trump was shown telling his supporters that “we’re going to walk down to the Capitol” and that they would “fight like hell”, a comment he made in a different part of his speech.

He had actually followed up that remark about walking to the Capitol by saying they would “cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women”.

Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, described the BBC as “100% fake news” in an interview published on Friday.

Turness denies bias claims

British culture minister Lisa Nandy thanked Davie for his work as director general, saying he had led the broadcaster through a period of significant change.

A person familiar with the situation said Davie’s decision had left the BBC board stunned, and he would stay on for the next few months while a replacement was found.

Davie said in “these increasingly polarised times” the BBC was of unique value, helping to build a healthy society and thriving creative sector, arguing it should be championed, not weaponised.

But he said it was not perfect, and while the recent scandal was not the only reason for his departure, it had been a factor, and he had to take ultimate responsibility.

The BBC, which has to negotiate a new charter with the government in 2027 to guarantee its future finances, had appeared to struggle to respond to the recent run of negative headlines.

The chairman, Samir Shah, had been expected to apologise to lawmakers for the furore on Monday.

Turness said in an email to staff that while mistakes had been made, “I want to be absolutely clear, recent allegations that BBC News is institutionally biased are wrong.”