Lisa Desjardins:
We start the day’s other headlines with the deepening political crisis in South Korea.
The country’s Parliament has voted to impeach acting President Han Duck-soo. Today’s vote is the nation’s second impeachment in just two weeks. It comes after Han decided against appointing three judges to the court reviewing the previous impeachment of his predecessor. President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached on December 14 after his decision to declare martial law earlier this month.
That decision set off a series of events that has left the nation in turmoil, and it leaves the deputy prime minister and finance minister, Choi Sang-mok, in charge.
The White House now says it too sees indication that a Russian air defense system may be to blame for an Azerbaijani airliner crash this week, echoing preliminary findings by Azerbaijani officials. The flight was heading from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to the Russian republic of Chechnya, when it turned toward Kazakstan and crashed while trying to land.
In Azerbaijan, the first funeral took place today for one of the 38 people killed; 29 others survived with injuries. For its part, Russian officials say fog and the threat of a Ukrainian drone strike prevented the flight from landing at its initial destination.
Turning to the Middle East, Palestinian health officials say Israeli soldiers raided and burned one of the last functioning hospitals in Northern Gaza today, after forcing many staff members and patients from the facility. The Kamal Adwan Hospital is located in Beit Lahia, where Israeli soldiers have been fighting and offensive against Hamas militants.
This footage shows the hospital earlier this month. Israel claims militants were using it as a base. Staff members deny that and say the hospital has been hit several times recently by Israeli strikes.
Also, in Northern Gaza, U.S. officials confirmed they pushed for a retraction of a recent famine warning for the area. It was issued by the U.S.-funded Famine Early Warning System this week, and blamed Israel’s — quote — “near-total blockade of food and water.”
The U.S. ambassador to Israel criticized that report, saying it didn’t account for rapidly changing circumstances on the ground and included out-of-date numbers. The U.S. Agency for International Development, which funds the group, said it found discrepancies in the data and asked for greater review.
Meantime, the Yemen main international airport reopened today after Israeli airstrikes hit the facility. At least three people were reported killed in yesterday’s attack. Israel says it was targeting infrastructure used by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who had been firing projectiles at Israel for several days.
The head of the World Health Organization had been about to board a flight when the missiles struck. One member of his plane’s crew was injured. Meantime, in Tel Aviv, rocket sirens rang out earlier this morning as the Houthis responded to Israel’s attacks. The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile fired by the group.
In New York, word of an indictment in a disturbing crime, the death of a woman who was lit on fire and burned to death in a subway last weekend. Police say Sebastian Zapeta identified himself in photos and surveillance video of the incident during questioning. Prosecutors say he lit the woman on fire at Brooklyn’s Coney Island station Sunday morning and then watched as she burned.
Zapeta was indicted on multiple counts of murder, as well as arson. Prosecutors said the charges were the toughest they could bring.
