South Korea: former president Yoon Suk-yeol sentenced to life imprisonment for insurrection

Today's headlines: Maharashtra removes reserved quotas for Muslim communities from its records; Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte refuses to appear before the International Criminal Court; Indonesia signs 11 trade agreements with the United States; Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan hold summit on combating cigarette smuggling.

SOUTH KOREA

The Seoul District Court has sentenced former President Yoon Suk-yeol to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of insurrection for declaring martial law in December 2024. This sentence, the harshest handed down to date, is expected to have far-reaching consequences in South Korea, where society is highly polarized. A recent poll revealed that 75% of South Koreans expected Yoon to receive the death penalty or life imprisonment.

USA – IRAN

According to the White House, Iran would do “very well” to reach an agreement on nuclear power to avoid military action by the United States and Israel that could last several weeks. Washington is sending a second battleship to the region and, according to US media, an attack could take place as early as Saturday, despite statements by the negotiating teams in recent days that progress had been made.

INDIA

In recent days, the Indian state of Maharashtra has abolished the issuance of caste verification and validation certificates to Muslims, ending a policy in place since 2014 that reserved 5% of places in education and the public sector for certain disadvantaged Muslim communities. However, the policy had long been unenforceable due to legal obstacles.

PHILIPPINES

Former President Rodrigo Duterte has announced that he will not appear before the International Criminal Court on February 23 for the confirmation of charges hearing, refusing to recognize the jurisdiction of the Hague court over him. Attorney Nicholas Kaufman yesterday submitted a written request to the court's Pre-Trial Chamber regarding the decision. Meanwhile, his daughter Sara, the current vice president, is facing a fourth impeachment case against her.

USA – INDONESIA

A group of Indonesian and US companies yesterday signed 11 trade agreements worth .4 billion ahead of a meeting between Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and US President Donald Trump, who are expected to sign a final trade agreement today. The agreements include a deal for the development of Indonesian oil fields and a memorandum of understanding between US mining group Freeport-McMoRan and the Indonesian Ministry of Investment for cooperation on rare earths.

RUSSIA

The Russian Business Week, organized by the Union of Entrepreneurs and Industrialists (RSPP), is currently underway at the Carlson Hotel in Moscow. This annual event, which has been held since the 1990s, was attended by the owner of the metallurgical giant Severstal, Aleksey Mordashov, who stated that “the main challenge for the Russian economy lies in insufficient economic space and reduced production measures,” and stressed the need to expand the market in countries open to relations with Russia, now numbering 350 million people, to reach 700 million.

KAZAKHSTAN

A meeting was held in the province of Almaty in Kazakhstan, at the premises of a large tobacco manufacturer, a meeting was held between representatives of the Kazakh and Kyrgyz state bodies and those of the Eurasian Economic Commission to discuss the problem of “gray” tobacco imports and cigarette smuggling in the EAEU countries, which amounts to 10 billion cigarettes, with losses of over €60 million in Kazakhstan.