Amnesty said it found NoviSpy, an Android spyware linked to Serbian intelligence, on the phones of several members of Serbian civil society following police stops.
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North Korea has called South Korea a dictatorship after the latter's short-lived attempt at martial law.
Last week, South Korea's president, Yoon Suk-yeol, declared martial law in the country in a surprise announcement, citing the need to eliminate "anti-state" forces.
The unexpected decision was met with widespread protests, and hours later South Korea's parliament voted down the measure. Yoon's government quickly rescinded it.
In an article published by North Korea's state-run KCNA news agency on Wednesday, the situation in South Korea was characterized as "pandemonium."
It referred to Yoon as a "puppet" who proclaimed martial law "in a bid to escape from the worst ruling crisis."
Kim Jong Un exerts near-total control over North Korea's population, using extensive surveillance, state-run media, suppressing dissent, and offering no real choice in elections.
The article also criticized South Korea as a "fascist dictatorship," which it said was under the watch of the international community.
In reality, North Korea is widely regarded as a global pariah due to Kim's authoritarian governance, whereas South Korea is recognized as a democratic nation.
According to Freedom House's Freedom in the World rankings, South Korea scores 83 out of 100. In contrast, North Korea scores just 3 out of 100 and is designated "not free."
Martial law is no longer in place in South Korea, and Yoon is now under investigation for treason, with a travel ban preventing him from leaving the country.
But over the weekend an attempt to impeach Yoon narrowly failed after many lawmakers from his ruling People Power Party boycotted the vote. The main opposition party is expected to continue its impeachment efforts.
During the political chaos that rocked South Korea last week, there were concerns that North Korea might exploit the turmoil, using a moment of weakness to its advantage.
Business Insider reported that this could take the form of propaganda designed to erode trust in democracy in South Korea.
Before the war, Hamada Shaqoura was a food blogger. Now, he spends his days cooking to feed children and displaced people in Gaza. And he figured out a way to reach millions on social media without saying a word. His intense stare at the camera as he cooks various dishes has been easy for many to understand. Hamada finally opens up and shares his story with Business Insider. He told us why he sees food as a symbol of resistance and why it's important for him to cook food people had before the war, like chicken wings, tacos, croissants and popsicles.
After more than a decade of war in Syria, hundreds of inmates in one of the country's most notorious prisons are being reunited with their families.
Oscar Wong/Getty Images
As Japan grapples with a record-low fertility rate, Toyko's government is trying new strategies to try to encourage women to have more children.
The capital's government is introducing a four-day workweek starting in April next year, in effect offering state employees a three-day weekend.
The policy applies to the more than 160,000 employees of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, one of Japan's largest employers.
"We will continue to review work styles flexibly to ensure that women do not have to sacrifice their careers due to life events such as childbirth or child-rearing," Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said in a speech on Wednesday, according to a translation by the Japan Times.
The local government also said that it would allow parents with children in grades one to three of elementary school to sacrifice some of their salaries in order to finish work early each day.
The Japan Times said this would allow parents to reduce their working hours by up to two hours a day.
The measures intend to ease the burden of child-raising for working mothers.
"Empowering women, a goal that has lagged far behind the rest of the world, has been a long-standing issue in our country," Koike said, per the Japan Times.
Japan is one of the oldest countries in the world, with its population rapidly aging due to a combination of long life expectancies and low fertility rates.
Japan's fertility rate sank to a record low of 1.2 in 2023, far below the global replacement rate of about 2.1.
The replacement level is generally required to sustain a population over time, barring massive fluctuations in mortality rates or large-scale immigration.
According to Japan's Health and Welfare Ministry, 758,631 children were born in the country last year, the eighth consecutive year of decline.
Then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the decline "the biggest crisis Japan faces."
The International Monetary Fund said in May that many reasons contributed to the decline in fertility rate and births, including later and fewer marriages, as well as the high cost of living, a large gender wage gap, and expensive childcare.
Japan's government has spent billions on initiatives aimed at reversing these trends, such as improving access to childcare services and promoting egg freezing.
The local government in Toyko announced earlier this year the launch of a dating app that requires users to verify their income and desire to get hitched, in the hope of fostering more marriages.
Meanwhile, other Asian countries grappling with similar declines in marriage and fertility rates have introduced their own creative methods to try to help single people find a match.
South Korea, for example, is spending heavily onΒ preventing loneliness,Β as well as offering money to reverse vasectomies and providing subsidies to new parents.
JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images
Lee Jae-myung, South Korea's main opposition leader, initially thought the president's martial law declaration was a deepfake.
"I was lying in bed with my wife in our home β¦ when my wife suddenly showed me a YouTube video and said, 'The president is declaring martial law,'" Lee Jae-myung told CNN.
Lee said he was convinced it was a digitally manipulated video.
"I replied, 'That's a deepfake. It has to be a deepfake. There's no way that's real,'" he added.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shocked the world on Tuesday when he announced he was imposing martial law during a late-night address.
The decree, which enabled temporary military control and the suspension of civilian government activities and civil liberties, was the first since the country's democratization in 1987.
Yoon said the declaration was necessary to prevent subversion by North Korea, South Korea's longtime enemy, but it's likely he was seeking to quash domestic opposition and bolster his power.
He backpedaled six hours later, after the streets were filled with protesters. The decree was voted against by MPs who had to cross barricades and climb walls to make it into the National Assembly.
Lee went viral on social media for livestreaming himself climbing over a fence to the National Assembly building so he could vote against the decree. He described Yoon's move as unconstitutional.
Calls for the president's resignation are growing. According to the Yonhap news agency, all six opposition parties filed an impeachment motion on Wednesday, with a vote set for Friday or Saturday.
Yoon came to power in 2022, narrowly defeating Lee in the most closely contested presidential election in South Korean history.
Since then, his presidency has been riddled with controversy and low approval ratings.
Several senior government figures, including the defense minister, have resigned from their posts.
In the immediate aftermath, the South Korean won plunged as much as 3% relative to the US dollar.
To fill a car with gas, you generally just need a credit card or cash. To charge an EV at a DC fast charging station, you need any number of things to workβa credit card reader, an app for that charger's network, a touchscreen that's workingβand they're all a little different.
That situation could change next year if a new "universal Plug and Charge" initiative from SAE International, backed by a number of EV carmakers and chargers, moves ahead and gains ground. Launching in early 2025, the network could make charging an EV actually easier than gassing up: plug in, let the car and charger figure out the payment details over a cloud connection, and go.
Some car and charging network combinations already offer such a system through a patchwork of individual deals, as listed at Inside EVs. Teslas have always offered a plug-and-charge experience, given the tight integration between their Superchargers and vehicles. Now Tesla will join the plug-and-charge movement proper, allowing Teslas to have a roughly similar experience at other stations.
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South Korea's president, Yoon Suk-yeol, shocked the nation on Tuesday evening by declaring martial law.
The measure, voted down unanimously by parliament hours later, plunged Seoul into a night of confusion.
The National Assembly building became the epicenter of the early morning's dramatic events, as lawmakers raced to reverse Yoon's decision, military forces tried to enforce martial law, and thousands of residents arrived in protest.
Just before dawn, Yoon rescinded his declaration of martial law, returning rule to the civilian government.
Here's how Yoon's night of short-lived martial law transpired.
Yoon, a conservative leader who narrowly won the 2022 election, announced his decision in an unannounced broadcast on live TV.
He accused opposition parties of trying to take parliament hostage, saying he was removing pro-North Korean forces in the country.
"I declare martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect the free constitutional order," he said.
Yoon has been struggling to pass laws because his party's main rival, the Democratic Party, secured a majority in parliament during the legislative elections in April.
In the entertainment district of Hongdae, 29-year-old Kim Hongmin was watching the news with his friends.
"It felt unreal. Martial law was something I had only studied as part of Korea's historical events, I never imagined I would actually experience it myself," Kim, a freelance English translator, told Business Insider.
The last time martial law was declared in South Korea was in 1980, when a military dictatorship took over.
In an early blow to Yoon's declaration, the leader of his own party, Han Dong-hoon, quickly told local media that the move was "wrong."
"We will block it together with the people," Han said, per the Yonhap news agency.
Chris Jung/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Yonhap also reported that the opposition leader, Lee Jae-Myung, said Yoon had declared martial law "illegally and unconstitutionally against the people."
Both parties issued summons to their members, telling them to convene for an emergency vote.
Lee, who runs the Democratic Party, live-streamed himself on the way to the National Assembly, urging people to protest outside the building.
"Tanks, armored vehicles, and soldiers with guns and swords will rule this country," he said.
In Hongdae, Kim and his friends decided to heed the call to protest, driving to Yeouido, where the National Assembly is located.
"I didn't know what I could do, but I just felt that I had to be there," he told BI. Thousands of others would also make their way to the complex.
The race was on. Lawmakers were trying to vote quickly against Yoon's decision.
With martial law in action, troops would move to seize control of all political mechanisms.
Photos show that police began to set up a perimeter at the National Assembly building. Protesters started arriving.
Kim Hong-min
The speaker of parliament, Woo Won-shik, said lawmakers would open a session as soon as enough of them were present to hold a vote β 150 assembly members.
The politicians, including Woo, rushed to the National Assembly building. Some had to navigate barricades as protesters shouted for officers to let them through.
Kim, the translator, said that when he arrived, he filmed aides and journalists climbing over fences.
"It turned out that all entrances to the National Assembly were blocked by the police," he said.
Lee, the opposition leader who had been live-streaming his journey to the complex, ended his broadcast after hopping a fence and arriving at his office.
At about 11:40 p.m., veteran lawmaker Park Jie-won wrote on social media that over 100 opposition members had already gathered.
Protesters started to throng the streets outside the National Assembly complex.
"I began shouting: 'Abolish martial law!' It was the only thing I could do," Kim said. "Others joined in and were chanting the same."
Park Minjun, a 27-year-old graduate student who was present, told BI that there seemed to be no central leadership among the crowds.
Those who arrived first were party members and unionists, he said. Other civilians and families would join them in the cold, but only about an hour later.
Meanwhile, South Korean media broke the news that Yoon had appointed Park An-soo, the army's chief of staff and a four-star general, as the commander overseeing martial law.
Park laid out a series of rules, including full state control of the press, the banning of worker strikes, and the prohibition of rallies.
Notably, he declared that any activities of the National Assembly would have to cease.
As the National Assembly started to meet its quorum requirement, the first of the martial law forces arrived outside. Three helicopters unloaded armed teams with tactical gear.
Kim Hong-min
Watching the troops pour out of their choppers, Kim recalled the last time martial law had been declared, when soldiers massacred protesters in the Gwangju uprising four decades ago.
"Would the tragic history of soldiers shooting civilians repeat itself?" he said.
A small crowd of protesters and aides had pushed into the complex and stationed themselves at the main entrance of the parliament building.
Scuffling with the arriving military teams, they stalled these forces from entering the main hall for some time.
Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
Eventually, the troops broke into the building via glass windows. But they were soon met by parliamentary aides, who had blocked corridors to the main voting hall with chairs and desks.
YONHAP/via REUTERS
In one tense encounter, a civilian tried to drive back military forces by spraying a fire extinguisher.
Within the voting hall, politicians called for the count to start immediately, but Woo insisted they would follow procedure.
The Korean won began to plunge as soon as Yoon declared martial law and now had reached its weakest, at about 1,442 against the US dollar.
Led by Woo, the National Assembly officially began the vote on reversing martial law. At that time, 190 of the assembly's 300 members were present.
In less than a minute, every single person voted to rescind Yoon's declaration.
From the count, it's clear that those who voted to strike down Yoon's decision included more than just the opposition β which has 175 seats.
Heckled by aides and protesters, the troops departed the building almost immediately after the measure passed.
YONHAP/via REUTERS
Almost immediately after the vote, the won recovered to about 1,420 against the dollar, or about 1.4% weaker than Tuesday.
Kim said that as news of the successful vote reached the protesters, cheers broke out among the crowd.
Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
"I was conflicted, but I saw hope," he said. He and some 4,000 other protesters, including Park, stayed outside out of fear martial law would still continue.
Six hours after his shock announcement, Yoon acceded to the National Assembly's vote and declared an end to martial law.
Yoon's martial law was officially rescinded by an emergency Cabinet meeting, and dispatched forces returned to their bases.
With the threat of martial law receding, protesters like Kim and Park decided to return home.
For many Seoul residents like Lee Tae-hoon, news of martial law β declared and then rescinded β arrived only in the morning.
Lee, a 28-year-old researcher at a university, said he relies on his friends to get his news and he woke up to texts about what transpired the night before.
"After today, I'll probably take voting more seriously," Lee told BI. He did not vote in the last election, which Yoon won.
Daniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty Images
Despite the reckoning the country just faced, Lee said life had moved on quickly. He received a text from his boss not to show up to work, but said he was on deadline for a project and clocked in anyway.
"It looks like everyone came to work as normal, seeing that the carpark was full," Lee said.
"It is not clear what Yoon was trying to achieve," said Ellen Kim, a senior fellow at the Korea Chair for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, with regard to Yoon's decision to implement martial law.
"He may have thought he did not have much choice to break the political paralysis of his government created by the opposition parties that hold a majority in the National Assembly," she told BI.
The president now faces motions of impeachment filed by the opposition. His party leader, Han, urged that the defense minister also be removed over reports that the latter suggested the idea of martial law to Yoon.
YONHAP NEWS AGENCY/via REUTERS
Several senior aides to the president have also offered to resign, per South Korean media.
Kim, the CSIS fellow, said Seoul is already in a tense position internationally, with North Korea engaging in the Ukraine war and with Donald Trump soon taking the US presidency.
"The political vacuum created by Yoon's departure will create a huge political instability in South Korea," she said of the possibility that Yoon steps down.
Meanwhile, protesters like Kim, the translator, say they're not done. Kim is joining a protest at Gwanghwamun on Wednesday evening and Saturday to call for Yoon's impeachment. Counter-protesters have also taken to the streets to defend Yoon.
Seoul's younger generation, Kim said, has lived through tragedies like the Itaewon Halloween crowd crush, which sent Yoon's popularity plummeting.
"We share a collective sense of grief and urgency," he said.
Correction: December 4, 2024 β This story was updated to clarify the status of several senior aides to South Korea's president. The aides were widely reported to have offered to resign; it's unclear whether those resignations were approved or whether they have left their roles.
The former head of Polandβs internal security agency Piotr Pogonowski was forced to appear in front of a parliamentary committee investigating the alleged abuse of Pegasus spyware in the country.
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Australia's government agreed to a sweeping social media ban this week in an attempt to protect young people from online harm, though exactly how tech companies like TikTok, Meta, and Snapchat would verify users' age remains a giant question mark.
The law gives tech companies one year to figure out how to keep children under 16 from using their social platforms or risk up to $32 million in fines.
The legislation is among the strictest of its kind as countries around the world increasingly target social media as the next frontier for child safety laws.
"The law places the onus on social media platforms β not parents or young people β to take reasonable steps to ensure these protections are in place," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a November 21 press release.
The country's House of Representatives overwhelmingly supported the bill in a 102-13 vote on Wednesday, while Australia's Senate voted 34 to 19 in favor of the legislation on Thursday.
Some pornography websites and online gambling platforms have implemented ID checks in recent years to comply with a wave of legislation requiring online age verification in several US states, asking users to submit a selfie with a government-approved ID.
Australia's new law specifically bars social media companies from asking for users' IDs in an effort to protect privacy rights.
Julie Inman Grant, Australia's eSafety commissioner in charge of implementing the new law, toldΒ The New York TimesΒ that age verification technologies are improving daily and expressed faith in tech companies' ability to comply.
"They've got financial resources, technologies and some of the best brainpower," she told the outlet. "If they can target you for advertising, they can use the same technology and know-how to identify and verify the age of a child."
A government-commissioned trial looking into technologies that could be used for age verification, including biometrics, is underway in Australia and is set to deliver its report next summer.
Google and Meta had lobbied to delay the vote until the commission delivered its report. Snap Inc., which owns Snapchat, said "device-level age verification" was the best possible option to meet the requirements. Meanwhile, X CEO Elon Musk suggested the legislation was "a backdoor way to control access to the internet by all Australians."
Other critics of the legislation, including opposition lawmakers and some mental health experts, have expressed concern that the bill could have unintended consequences, especially for marginalized young people who have historically used social media to find online support.
Support for the legislation appears to be high in the country. A YouGov poll released ahead of the vote last week found that 77% of Australians backed the ban.
"This is a landmark reform," Albanese said. "We know some kids will find workarounds, but we're sending a message to social media companies to clean up their act."
AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon
Heavy snow continued to blanket South Korea's capital for a second day running on Thursday, following a record-breaking snowstorm in Seoul the previous day.
AP Photo/Lee Jin-man
Photos of the snowfall show South Koreans enjoying the unusual winter wonderland, the first snow of the season.
However, the severe weather also resulted in a number of deaths and led to travel chaos.
Park Jintaek/Xinhua via Getty Images
According to Reuters, at least five people died as a result of the adverse weather, with four fatalities due to structures collapsing under the weight of the snow, and one person dying in a traffic accident due to icy roads.
On Wednesday, 11 people were injured after 53 cars were involved in a pile-up in the city of Wonju, about 70 miles east of Seoul, amid the snowy conditions, the Yonhap News Agency reported.
AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon
The news agency said the snow caused trees and branches to buckle and collapse across Seoul and the surrounding regions, which led to authorities blocking entry to some roads, power lines snapping, and delays on some subway lines.
Yonhap also reported that more than 140 flights, the majority of them international, were canceled due to the weather.
JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images
Wednesday's snowfall in Seoul brought about 6.5 inches of snow to the city and surrounding areas, making it the heaviest snowfall in November since records began in 1907,Β per the Yonhap News Agency.
The previous record, set in 1966, saw considerably less snowfall, at about 3.7 inches, per CNN.
AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon
Data from the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) showed 11.3 inches of snow in Seoul at 8 a.m. local time on Thursday, close to the overall record of 12.2 inches recorded at a Seoul weather station in March 1922.
According to the KMA, Suwon, a city about 25 miles from Seoul, received almost 17 inches of snow on Thursday morning.
The snow is expected to lessen over Thursday.
GAVRIIL GRIGOROV via Getty Images
China is increasingly concerned about the alliance between Kim Jong Un's North Korea andΒ Vladimir Putin's Russia, according to Kurt Campbell, the US deputy secretary of state.
The US believes that more than 11,000 North Korean troops have deployed to Kursk in Russia, where Putin is attempting to take back territory that Ukrainian forces captured.
Meanwhile, Russia is providing North Korea with economic and diplomatic support.
"The topic that is becoming increasingly uncomfortable for Chinese interlocutors is the DPRK [North Korea] engagement with Russia," Campbell said at a talk for the Center for Strategic and International Studies last week, according to The Guardian.
"In some of the discussions we have had, it seems we are informing them of things that they were unaware of with regard to DPRK pursuits, and they are concerned that Russian encouragement might lead the DPRK to contemplate either actions or military actions that might not be in China's interests."
He added that China has not directly criticized Russia, "but we do believe that the increasing coordination between Pyongyang and Moscow is unnerving them," he said.
Russia and North Korea are among China's closest international allies, but analysts say Beijing is wary of the potential impact of an alliance between the authoritarian powers.
The support Russia is giving North Korea could upset the delicate balance of power on the Korean peninsula, where North and South Korea have for decades been locked in a frozen conflict.
South Korea has already threatened to hand weapons to Ukraine in response to North Korea's support for Russia, and the tensions could spill into East Asia.
The Russia-North Korea alliance could weaken China's influence in East Asia, and draw US allies in the region closer together.
Some observers also believe that President-elect Donald Trump could seek to drive a wedge between China and Russia, the US' two most powerful rivals, when he takes office in January.
"China likely regards deepening ties between Russia and North Korea with some wariness," Ali Wyne, an analyst with the Crisis Group, told Business Insider in June.
"It worries about the possibility of Russia's providing military assistance that could advance North Korea's nuclear and missile programs."
However, China has considerable leverage over both Russia and North Korea. It provided the Kremlin with crucial economic and diplomatic support in the Ukraine war and has maintained close economic and political ties with North Korea for decades.
If it chose, it could likely use that leverage to restrain the North Korea-Russia alliance, say experts.
Others believe that the alliance benefits China. "Officially, they might not really welcome it; they might see it as an alarming situation," Jagannath Panda, head of the Stockholm Center for South Asian and Indo-Pacific Affairs, previously told BI.
"But the Chinese are waiting for an opportunity where North Korea, Russia, and China can come stronger together, and I think North Korea sending the troops to Russia is a testimony to that."
Panda said that China's strategic goal is to build an authoritarian nexus that would undermine the current world order. The growing alliance between North Korea and Russia, he said, is a step toward that.
JAM STA ROSA/AFP via Getty Images and Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte openly threatened on Saturday to assassinate the country's president, marking the deepest fracture yet in an alliance they once formed for the 2022 election.
Duterte made the threat in reference to unspecified potential harm that could befall her, saying she'd spoken to a hitman in case anything happened to her.
"Don't worry about my security because I've talked with somebody," said Duterte, who spoke at an online press conference from a dark room in the Philippines' House of Representatives.
Her remark came amid a 45-minute string of expletives and criticisms she directed at President Ferdinand "Bong Bong" Marcos, accusing him and his allies of incompetence and corruption.
"I said: "If I'm killed, you'll kill BBM, Liza Araneta, and Martin Romualdez,'" Duterte said in Tagalog. She was referring to Marcos, the First Lady, and the Speaker of the House.
"No joke, no joke," she added in English. Duterte also said she had "given the order" to the hitman not to stop until the trio were dead.
Meanwhile, Marcos' office said on Saturday that it would boost the president's security.
"Any threat to the life of the President and the First Family, regardless of its origin β and especially one made so brazenly in public β is treated with the utmost seriousness," it said in a statement.
Eduardo AΓ±o, national security advisor to the president, added that authorities considered Duterte's threat a "matter of national security."
In a statement on Monday, Duterte downplayed her threat, saying it had been "maliciously taken out of logical context." She did not clarify what she meant.
But she also blasted the national security council, saying that its responsibilities related to the safety of the country, not a vice president's remarks about a president.
In the Philippines, the vice president and president are elected separately and don't necessarily hail from the same party or ideology, though Duterte and Marcos positioned themselves as running mates.
Both rose to power as the legacies of their fathers loomed large in the Philippines. Duterte's father, Rodrigo Duterte, was president from 2016 to 2022 and earned himself a controversial "strongman" reputation for his hardline war on drugs.
Marcos' father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., was a dictator who ruled the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, enacting martial law in 1972 to extend his grip on power.
The pair's families forged an alliance in 2022, uniting Duterte's base in the south and Marcos' voters in the north to secure a general election victory. They had vowed at the time to unite the country.
"It was really out of convenience," Ronald Holmes, who teaches political science at De La Salle University in Manila, told Business Insider. "There was nothing between them in the past that would've bound them."
Their partnership ruptured quickly after their win, as they disagreed on diplomacy and governance, like how to deal with a rising China.
As Marcos formed his cabinet, Duterte was also assigned the Department of Education instead of the national defense portfolio she had been gunning for. She resigned from the post two years later, in June.
Lawmakers then announced an investigation into her department, after Duterte faced accusations of improperly using funds and amid reports that students were faring poorly.
More overt signs of the pair's crumbling partnership emerged in October, when Duterte said in a press conference that she and Marcos had joined forces as running mates simply to win the election.
She said at the time that she had recently dreamt of Marcos and "wanted to cut his head off."
But her remarks on Sunday were more than references to dreams and jokes β they were an overt threat to the security of her nation's leader.
"This is no longer rhetoric," Jorge Tigno, a professor of political science at the University of the Philippines Diliman, told BI. "When you threaten the president, that's no longer a rhetorical statement. It's even worse when, afterward, you say it's not a joke."
Holmes said the likeliest course of action from the central government would be an impeachment attempt against Duterte based on her remarks.
Such an endeavor may prove turbulent. The motion must pass through the Philippines' House of Representatives and then the Senate, which is due for a change-up in the coming 2025 midterm elections.
"Conviction in the Senate at this point might be pretty difficult because you have about a third of the Senate who can be thought of as allies of the vice president," Holmes said.
Should impeachment fail, it's unclear what will happen within the Marcos administration. It is due to govern until the Philippines' next election in 2028.
Tigno said that Duterte, devoid of significant leadership roles, should have little effect on Marcos' running of the country.
However, he worries that the elite infighting will catapult national politics into further toxicity. The Philippines, with 117 million people, is Southeast Asia's second-most populated nation, and has been one of Washington's key allies as the US seeks to compete against China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific.
"We could end up with what they have now in the US. A polarized system, a polarized situation between the Duterte and the Marcos camp," Tigno said.
"But it's not a question of a 'good vs evil' kind of polarization. It's more of one elite group competing for power and position against another elite group," he added.
Spokespersons for Duterte and Marcos did not respond to requests for comment sent by Business Insider.
Arvind Yadav/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Varun Badhwar, director for growth and monetization at CondΓ© Nast India. It's been edited for length and clarity.
I've lived in Delhi my entire life β for four decades now β and I've seen it grow over the years into the melting pot that it is today.
Everyone is talking about the pollution in the city this week, but I've experienced it since I was a child.
I remember back in school we used to take these government buses with diesel engines. They would emit such huge clouds of black smoke that we would feel suffocated.
I bought my first air purifier in 2016, when people started talking more and more about the Air Quality Index (AQI). This week, when the AQI hit 1,500, I bought my third one.
At least three or four people in my circle have moved out of Delhi due to the pollution. The smog means people who develop breathing issues are advised not to stay here anymore.
I have considered leaving Delhi many times, but I still haven't.
Our population in Delhi has skyrocketed in the last couple of decades with an influx of people coming in for jobs.
Our infrastructure didn't grow at the same pace, and maybe our government didn't anticipate it.
From a geolocation point of view, Delhi is also at a disadvantage because of the surrounding mountains. It's harder for the winds to sweep away the clouds of emissions, so they linger.
Our state is also close to agriculture-heavy states like Punjab and Haryana, where burning of crop residue is common and adds to the situation.
It's especially worse in the winters every year; there was a picture recently of a woman standing in front of the Taj Mahal and you can't even see it properly.
I do my part to stay safe. I try to stay indoors, keep physical activity to a bare minimum during the winter, and work out extra during the summer months until about August.
I drink a lot of hot water and ginger tea, stock up on air purifiers, and do my breathing exercises.
The situation has become so common that people who can afford to move out of the city to less polluted places during the winter. I tend to go to the hills every time the pollution spikes in Delhi, and usually, it gets better in a few days.
This time, it was more concerning. I went to the Kanatal hill station for three nights, and when I came back, my air purifier said the AQI was still 900.
But I don't want to leave Delhi. I was born and raised here, my extended family is here. About five years ago, I thought of moving to Canada, but I didn't pursue it because the opportunities were better for me here.
I think I'm better off in Delhi than somewhere I'd have to start all over again. It's hard to find a community like this outside.
Apart from the pollution problem, Delhi has a lot of positives. It's a melting pot, and especially after the tech boom in Gurugram, people come from all over the world.
The malls have the biggest brands in luxury and high fashion, the heritage and history are incredible, and the job opportunities are great. It's a great place to be.
Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images
Jimmy Lai, once one of Hong Kong's most outspoken media tycoons, has been silent for more than four years since his arrest in 2020.
But on Wednesday, Lai was seen in a Hong Kong courtroom, where he spoke in his own defense in a national security trial that could well end in him being sent to prison for life.
Lai was charged under Hong Kong's far-reaching national security law, legislation introduced in 2020 that has had a chilling effect on protests and dissent on the island.
The national security law was enacted after the city erupted in grassroots-led protests against China in 2019.
Lai, who has been accused of sedition and foreign collusion, downplayed his ties to the West during his testimony on Wednesday.
The former media mogul had met then-Vice President Mike Pence during a visit to the US in July 2019 amid the protests in Hong Kong.
"I would not dare to ask the vice president to do anything. I would just relay to him what happened in Hong Kong when he asked me," Lai said in court, per Reuters.
Jimmy Lai is a Champion of Freedom & I was honored to welcome him to the White House in 2019. Today, he sits in prison for his support of Democracy in Hong Kong & @VoCommunism rightly awarded him their Highest Honor for his Courageous Commitment to Freedom. God Bless Jimmy Lai.πΊπΈ pic.twitter.com/oU69TSkex2
β Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) June 11, 2021
After the protests were quelled, a raft of arrests followed, including Lai's. Other symbols of the pro-democracy movement fled the city. Some were jailed, including student leader Joshua Wong and activist Agnes Chow.
Wong was one of the 45 influential pro-democracy protesters who, on Tuesday, were handed sentences of up to 10 years. This mass sentencing of Hong Kong's activists was also based on charges under Hong Kong's national security law.
In 2019, student leaders like Wong raged against the Chinese government for months. They were among the hundreds of thousands of people who marched in protest of a bill that allowed Hong Kong residents to be extradited to China for trial.
The protests turned violent, with people saying they were prepared to fight to the death for democracy.
In the maelstrom of Hong Kong's protest movement, Apple Daily, Lai's now-shuttered media outlet, drew the Chinese government's ire for its critical coverage and pro-democracy stance.
In August 2020, 200 police officers were sent to Apple Daily's offices to arrest Lai.
A second raid involving about 500 police officers took place in June 2021.
This time, five executives, including the paper's editor in chief and CEO, were arrested. Apple Daily ceased publication a week later.
"Jimmy Lai is the principal mastermind and perpetrator behind the series of riots that shook Hong Kong. He is an agent and henchman of those hostile to China," Lin Jian, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, said at a press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.
Lai now faces three charges β two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and a separate sedition charge. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Lai is expected to continue testifying in the coming weeks. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
In May 2020, weeks before his arrest, Lai said in a CNN interview that then-President Donald Trump was the only person who could save Hong Kong.
"If you save us, you can stop China's aggressions. You can also save the world," Lai told CNN.
In October, President-elect Donald Trump weighed in on Lai's case during an interview with podcast host Hugh Hewitt.
When asked about Lai, Trump said he would be able to free the former media mogul.
"That's going to be so easy. I'll get him out," Trump said without providing further details.
As he prepares to take office four years after leaving it, Trump is dealing with a different Beijing β and a different Hong Kong.
The imposition of the national security law marked the effective end of Hong Kong's political autonomy from China.
The sweeping set of legislation now criminalizes what China deems as subversion, terrorism, and collusion with a foreign country.
Those charged with the most severe offenses, like undermining the Chinese government, can face a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Samuel Woodhams, a security researcher, told Business Insider in July 2020 that the law would allow the government to block content, intercept private messages, and seize electronic devices.
"Above all else, the implementation rules have the potential to radically criminalize online speech in Hong Kong," Woodhams said.
In July 2020, during his first term, Trump signed an executive order ending Hong Kong's preferential trade status. When announcing the move in 2020, Trump said, "No administration has been tougher on China than this administration."
In February, Trump said he plans to introduceΒ 60% tariffs on Chinese goods.
