Corée du Sud: premier verdict attendu pour l’ex-président Yoon
Un tribunal sud-coréen rend vendredi son verdict sur les accusations d’entrave à la justice visant l’ex-président Yoon Suk Yeol, première décision pénale d’une série à venir à la suite de sa tentative d’instaurer la loi martiale fin 2024.Un peu plus d’un an après son coup de force contre le Parlement, qui a provoqué une grave crise politique aboutissant à sa destitution, c’est l’heure des comptes pour l’ancien dirigeant conservateur de 65 ans.Lui-même un ancien procureur star, il est jugé dans le cadre de multiples procès, dont le principal, pour insurrection, pourrait se conclure par une condamnation à la peine de mort.Dans l’immédiat, le tribunal central de Séoul se prononce vendredi, à partir de 14H00 (05H00 GMT), sur un autre volet de l’affaire qui a plongé le pays dans plusieurs mois de manifestations massives et d’instabilité politique.Il lui est reproché d’avoir exclu des membres du gouvernement d’une réunion sur la préparation de l’instauration de la loi martiale, ainsi que d’avoir empêché les enquêteurs de l’arrêter.L’ancien président s’était retranché pendant des semaines dans sa résidence de Séoul sous la protection de sa garde rapprochée, faisant même échouer un premier raid.Il avait finalement été interpellé en janvier de l’année dernière lors d’un assaut musclé durant plusieurs heures. Il était devenu alors le premier président sud-coréen en exercice à être arrêté et placé derrière les barreaux.- Parlement cerné -A l’origine de cette crise, la soirée du 3 décembre 2024, quand Yoon Suk Yeol avait sidéré le pays en annonçant à la télévision l’imposition de la loi martiale, envoyant des troupes au Parlement pour le museler.Il avait fait marche arrière quelques heures plus tard, un nombre suffisant de députés ayant réussi à se faufiler dans l’hémicycle cerné par les soldats pour voter la suspension de son décret.M. Yoon avait justifié la loi martiale, une mesure sans précédent en Corée du Sud depuis les dictatures militaires des années 1980, par le fait que le Parlement contrôlé par l’opposition bloquait le budget.Dans son allocution télévisée, il avait affirmé agir pour protéger le pays des “forces communistes nord-coréennes” et “éliminer les éléments hostiles à l’Etat”.Il a finalement été destitué par la Cour constitutionnelle en avril dernier, déclenchant une présidentielle anticipé remportée par Lee Jae Myung, issu de l’opposition de gauche.L’affaire se poursuit devant les tribunaux pour l’ex-dirigeant et son entourage et les procureurs ont requis une peine de dix ans d’emprisonnement pour les accusations d’entrave à la justice pour lesquelles M. Yoon sera fixé vendredi.Dans son procès, distinct, pour insurrection, le parquet a demandé mardi la peine de mort, toujours en vigueur en Corée du Sud, même si aucune exécution n’a eu lieu depuis 1997.Le verdict est attendu le 19 février.Dans sa dernière déclaration avant la mise en délibéré, l’ancien président a affirmé avoir simplement fait usage de ses prérogatives légales de chef de l’Etat.”Il ne s’agissait pas d’une dictature militaire réprimant les citoyens, mais d’un effort pour sauvegarder la liberté et la souveraineté, et pour renforcer l’ordre constitutionnel”, a-t-il dit selon l’agence de presse Yonhap.Dans une autre procédure, l’ex-président est accusé par le parquet d’avoir provoqué la Corée du Nord en ordonnant l’envoi de drones au-dessus de Pyongyang dans l’espoir de déclencher une réaction du pays voisin qui aurait justifié l’imposition de la loi martiale.
Venezuela’s Machado says she ‘presented’ her Nobel medal to Trump
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said Thursday she “presented” her Nobel Peace Prize medal to US President Donald Trump, who has openly coveted the award that the Nobel committee says cannot be transferred.”I presented the president of the United States the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize,” Machado told reporters outside the US Capitol following her White House meeting with Trump.Machado, whom Trump had earlier dismissed as unfit to lead Venezuela, did not clarify if Trump kept it.She drew a comparison to the Marquis de Lafayette, the French officer who helped the United States in the Revolutionary War against Britain, saying he handed a medal with the image of first US president George Washington to Simon Bolivar, the Venezuelan who led a wave of successful independence fights against Spain.”Two hundred years in history, the people of Bolivar are giving back to the heir of Washington a medal — in this case, the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom,” she said.The Norwegian Nobel Committee earlier wrote in a statement on X that the prestigious prize “cannot be revoked, shared or transferred to others” and that the name of the winner “stands for all time” even if the medal physically changes hands.Trump — who has relished military action and on Thursday was threatening greater force against protesters in the US state of Minnesota — has loudly said he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize and was dismissive of Machado when she won it.Trump on January 3 ordered a deadly military raid into oil-rich Venezuela that removed Nicolas Maduro, the leftist president long described as illegitimate by the United States and several other countries due to elections riddled with reported irregularities.But after the operation, Trump said that Machado — whose opposition forces were considered by Washington to have won the last election — does not command the “respect” to lead Venezuela.Machado offered a positive account of their closed-door conversation, saying, “We are counting on President Trump for freedom in Venezuela.””President Trump knows the situation in Venezuela; he cares about how the people of Venezuela are suffering,” she said.She said she told him that Venezuelans “want to live with freedom, with dignity, with justice, we want our children back home, and for that to happen, there has to be democracy in Venezuela.”Trump has previously vowed to work not with Machado but with Maduro’s vice president turned interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, by threatening her with force if she does not comply on key US demands starting with benefitting US oil firms.
Venezuelan interim leader vows oil sector reform after Maduro ouster
Venezuela’s interim president on Thursday announced pending legal reforms to the country’s critical fossil fuel sector, as she seeks to recalibrate ties with Washington following the US military ouster of her predecessor, Nicolas Maduro.Since the January 3 capture of Maduro, US President Donald Trump has asserted that the United States essentially controls Venezuela, while making clear that accessing its vast oil reserves is a key goal of the intervention.Sanctioned by Washington since 2019, Venezuela sits on about a fifth of the world’s oil reserves and was once a major crude supplier to the United States.But it produced only around one percent of the world’s total crude output in 2024, according to OPEC, having been hampered by years of underinvestment, sanctions and embargoes.Without providing details, interim president Delcy Rodriguez told parliament Thursday there would be reforms to Venezuela’s Hydrocarbons Law, which limits the involvement of foreign entities in exploiting the nationalized resources.The changes would also touch on so-called anti-blockade provisions which give the government tools to counteract US sanctions in place since 2019.Trump has recently pressed top oil executives to invest in Venezuela.Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips exited in 2007 after refusing demands by then-president Hugo Chavez to cede majority control to the state. They have been fighting to recoup billions of dollars they say Venezuela owes them.Chevron is the only US firm operating in Venezuela, under a special sanctions exemption license.The US Department of Energy has unveiled a plan to develop Venezuela’s oil industry and has begun marketing Venezuelan crude.US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has said Washington will control the sales of Venezuelan oil “indefinitely.”Rodriguez said the envisioned legal reform would result in money for “new fields, to fields where there has never been investment, and to fields where there is no infrastructure.”The South American country produced over one million barrels of oil per day (bpd) in 2025 — up from a historic low of about 360,000 — but still far from the three million bpd it was pumping 25 years ago.Oil exports are Venezuela’s main source of revenue.
US court clears Norway’s Equinor to resume wind project halted by Trump
A US judge on Thursday authorized work to resume on a New York offshore wind project that had been suspended under an order by President Donald Trump’s administration.US District Judge Carl Nichols granted a preliminary injunction to the Norwegian company Equinor for its Empire Wind project, just three days after a different judge ordered the restart of a project by Denmark’s Orsted.Trump’s Interior Department in late December suspended all large offshore wind projects in the United States, affecting five projects.Empire Wind had requested the court’s intervention on an emergency basis, arguing in a January 6 filing that it needed to resume construction by January 16.Without restarting by that time, “the project faces likely termination due to disruption of a tightly choreographed construction schedule dependent on vessels with constrained availability, delay costs, and the existential threat to the project financing,” said the filing.The venture’s legal brief described the suspension order as “arbitrary and capricious.”Nichols granted the motion after a telephone hearing Thursday with the parties. He did not rule on Equinor’s underlying challenge to the Trump administration’s action.The project, expected to be fully operational by the end of 2027, could provide enough energy to power 500,000 homes.Equinor has already invested more than $4 billion in the venture, which is about 60 percent complete, the company said.Empire Wind “will now focus on safely restarting construction activities that were halted during the suspension period,” the company said.”In addition, the project will continue to engage with the US government to ensure the safe, secure and responsible execution of its operations.”The underlying lawsuit “will continue to proceed,” it added. The US Department of Interior did not respond to a request for comment.- ‘Ugly monsters’ -The Interior Department on December 22 said it had paused leases for Empire Wind and four other offshore wind projects under construction, citing “national security.”A press release pointed to “radar interference” due to “the movement of massive turbine blades and the highly reflective towers.”The US Department of Energy says wind turbines “can interfere with radar systems if they are located within the line sight of these systems,” according to its website.”In most cases, however, thoughtful wind farm site selection, planning, and other mitigations have resolved conflicts and allow wind power projects to coexist effectively with radar missions,” the agency adds.Trump has long complained that windmills ruin views and are expensive. During a trip last summer to one of his UK golf courses, the US president urged Britain to stop subsidizing the “ugly monsters.”The order on Empire Wind comes after US District Judge Royce Lamberth on Monday cleared another project, Revolution Wind off the coast of Rhode Island, to resume construction.Orsted has a 50-percent stake in the project alongside a renewables infrastructure developer that is part of the BlackRock investment group.In a one-page order, Lamberth wrote that Revolution Wind was likely to succeed in underlying litigation, faced “irreparable harm” without an injunction, and the venture’s request was “in the public interest.”Other projects affected by the Interior Department December action are Sunrise Wind, also in New York state and the CVOW project in Virginia. The fifth project, Vineyard Wind, has filed a challenge to the Trump action in federal court in Massachusetts.
Italie: l’AC Milan renverse Côme et revient à portée de l’Inter
L’AC Milan a souffert mais est venu à bout de Côme 3 à 1, grâce notamment à un doublé d’Adrien Rabiot, jeudi en match en retard de la 16e journée du championnat d’Italie, ce qui lui permet de revenir à portée de l’Inter.Distancé de six points au coup d’envoi par son grand rival, l’équipe de Max Allegri, qui compte désormais 43 points, a dû son salut au tandem Mike Maignan-Adrien Rabiot, qui a livré un match de haut niveau. Le premier a multiplié les arrêts, rappelant que son surnom de “Magic Mike” n’était pas usurpé (30e, 40e, 42e, 52e), alors que le second s’est fendu d’un doublé.Dans ce match reporté en raison de la participation de l’AC Milan à la Supercoupe d’Italie en Arabie saoudite en décembre, Côme a logiquement ouvert la marque par le défenseur allemand Marc-Olivier Kempf, qui a sanctionné un début de match timoré des Milanais (10e), dépassés dans l’engagement et par la maîtrise technique des hommes de Cesc Fabregas.Alors qu’ils étaient au creux de la vague, une accélération d’Adrien Rabiot a été stoppée de manière illicite par la défense de Côme, offrant un penalty transformé en force par Christopher Nkunku, le 4e Français aligné par les Rossoneri (45+1). Bien payé pour une équipe constamment au bord de la rupture, malgré l’énorme activité de Luka Modric, Adrien Rabiot et Youssouf Fofana.Après avoir obtenu un pénalty, Rabiot a offert l’avantage à Milan d’un enchaînement superbe contrôle de la poitrine-demi volée (55e, 2-1), avant de mettre fin aux illusions de Côme par un tir avec deux faux-rebonds à deux minutes du terme (3-1). Une leçon de réalisme.Dans l’autre match de la soirée, Bologne, qui restait sur cinq matches sans victoire, est allé s’imposer à Vérone (3-2) et pointe désormais au 8e rang (30 pts), alors que l’Hellas est lanterne rouge avec 13 pts.
Threats to Iran spike ‘volatility’: UN official
A senior UN official warned on Thursday that threats of military action against Iran, like those made by US President Donald Trump, increased “volatility” in the protest-torn country.Iran was shaken over the last week by some of the biggest anti-government protests in the history of the Islamic republic, although the demonstrations appear to have diminished in the face of repression and a week-long internet blackout. Until Wednesday, the United States was threatening military action against Iran should it carry out the death penalty against people arrested over the protests — and Washington’s envoy to the UN said Thursday all options were still “on the table.””We note with alarm various public statements suggesting possible military strikes on Iran. This external dimension adds volatility to an already combustible situation,” UN Assistant Secretary-General Martha Pobee told the UN Security Council.”All efforts must be undertaken to prevent any further deterioration.”Iran’s representative at the meeting Gholamhossein Darzi accused Washington of “exploitation of peaceful protests for geopolitical purposes.”Trump’s statements were “aimed at reigniting unrest,” he said.Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad, invited to address the Council by Washington, said “all Iranians are united” against the clerical system in Iran. “Millions of Iranians flooded into the streets demanding that their money stop being stolen and sending to Hamas, to Hezbollah, to Houthi” fighters, she said referring to Tehran-backed armed groups.In October a US judge jailed two men for 25 years each Wednesday for a plot to murder Alinejad allegedly hatched by Tehran.Iranians “welcomed when President Trump offered to rescue unarmed people being shot in their heart, in their chest by the security forces inside Iran,” said Alinejad who was become a prominent face of criticism of the Iranian government in the United States.US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said the United States “stands by the brave people of Iran period.””The level of repression that the Iranian regime has unleashed on its own citizens, its own people, has repercussions for international peace and security,” he added.