Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol made his first appearance in court Tuesday to answer questions over his botched Dec. 3 martial law declaration. The Constitutional Court will ultimately decide whether to remove Yoon from the presidency, which would in turn trigger an election.

Yoon denied allegations he had ordered members of the military to remove lawmakers from parliament during the incident, while his legal team argued the martial law order was ”never intended to be executed.”

Yoon’s lawyers argued he had sought to draw attention to alleged abuses committed by the opposition Democratic Party. The declaration and Yoon’s subsequent weeks-long standoff with police has plunged the country into political crisis: Supporters of the embattled president rioted Sunday after a judge issued a warrant to extend his detention, and police surrounded the courthouse Tuesday to hold off hundreds of Yoon supporters who had gathered nearby, the BBC reported.

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Elon Musk made a rare public outing with Shivon Zilis, the mother of three of his children, as the pair attended a pre-inauguration event for President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C.

The Tesla and SpaceX chief, 53, was seen mingling at the National Building Museum on Sunday, Jan. 19, alongside Zilis with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner and with fellow tech titan Jeff Bezos, who was joined by fiancée Lauren Sánchez.

Musk was a major backer of Trump’s election campaign and is expected to be a prominent adviser to his administration.

He was also in attendance as Trump was sworn in at the U.S. Capitol on Monday, Jan. 20, alongside Bezos, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and others.

Related: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg Among Several Tech CEOs Filling VIP Seats at Trump's Inauguration

Since Trump’s election victory in November, a number of leading figures from Silicon Valley and other parts of the business world have publicly reached out to him, including traveling down to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago in Florida. That’s also drawn criticism from Trump opponents who argue the moguls are cozying up to him.

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A total of 27 people were injured during a 6.2-magnitude earthquake that jolted island of Taiwan at 12:17 am Tuesday (Beijing Time), CCTV news reported.

The epicenter, with a depth of 14 km, was monitored at 23.24 degrees north latitude and 120.51 degrees east longitude, the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) said.

According to the emergency medical management system of the local health and welfare departments, 27 people have been reported injured and are receiving medical treatment following the earthquake. Tainan city reported the highest number of injuries, with 16 cases, followed by Kaohsiung city with 3, Yunlin county with 4, Chiayi city with 3, and another person in Chiayi county, according to CCTV news.

Fire department of island of Taiwan reported 15 people have been injured and sent to the hospital for treatment. Additionally, according to local media, the earthquake caused buildings to collapse in Tainan city, and some individuals are trapped, according to China Central Television.

A resident surnamed Chu, living in Taipei, told the Global Times on Tuesday that he and his family are currently unaffected in the region. “Taipei just shook a few times, and everything is completely normal so far. However, some areas in Tainan city have been more severely impacted,” said Chu.

Rescue personnel are still assessing the damage. Furthermore, the meteorological authorities of island of Taiwan announced that a magnitude-6.4 earthquake occurred in Dapu township, Chiayi county, at 12:17 am Tuesday, with a depth of 9.7 kilometers. The epicenter was located 37.9 kilometers southeast of the Chiayi county government, and the tremors were felt across the island. 

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A large number of senior career diplomats who served in politically appointed leadership positions and also lower-level posts at the State Department are leaving their jobs at the demand of the incoming Trump administration, which plans to install its own people, according to current and outgoing U.S. officials.

Personnel changes in the senior ranks of the department, like those at all federal agencies, are not uncommon after a presidential election, and career officials serving in those roles are required, just as non-career political appointees, to submit letters of resignation. However, it is unusual for incoming administrations to seek the resignations of officials serving in positions not nominated by the president.

In the past, some resignations have not been accepted, allowing career officials to remain in their posts at least temporarily until the new president can nominate his team. That offers some degree of continuity in the day-to-day running of the bureaucracy.

One senior career diplomat who is staying, Lisa Kenna, was appointed acting secretary of state shortly after Monday's inauguration. She was only in that job for several hours, until Marco Rubio was confirmed by the Senate as top diplomat. Kenna will return to a previous job she held as executive secretary.

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The Senate quickly confirmed Marco Rubio as secretary of state Monday, voting unanimously to give President Donald Trump the first member of his new Cabinet on Inauguration Day.

Rubio, the Republican senator from Florida, is among the least controversial of Trump’s nominees and vote was decisive, 99-0. Another pick, John Ratcliffe for CIA director, is also expected to have a swift vote, as soon as Tuesday. Action on others, including former combat veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, is possible later in the week.

“Marco Rubio is a very intelligent man with a remarkable understanding of American foreign policy,” Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the senior-most Republican, said as the chamber opened.

It’s often tradition for the Senate to convene immediately after the ceremonial pomp of the inauguration to begin putting the new president’s team in place, particularly the national security officials. During Trump’s first term, the Senate swiftly confirmed his defense and homeland security secretaries on day one, and President Joe Biden’s choice for director of national intelligence was confirmed on his own Inauguration Day.

With Trump’s return to the White House, and his Republican Party controlling majorities in Congress, his outsider Cabinet choices are more clearly falling into place, despite initial skepticism and opposition from both sides of the aisle.

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As the crypto industry celebrates the arrival of a new administration in Washington, D.C., nobody is taking quicker advantage of the coming changes than the person leading the charge: President Donald J. Trump.

On Friday night, crypto A-listers rubbed elbows with political elites and members of Trump’s inner circle at the Crypto Ball, held at the opulent Mellon Auditorium, just down the street from the White House.

Meanwhile, Trump’s net worth was about to explode from an asset that, up to that point, didn’t exist. The same night of the party, the incoming president launched $TRUMP, a meme coin built on the Solana platform. Its market cap over the weekend climbed past $14 billion. Like with other meme coins, there’s no underlying product. Trump told his followers in a social media post, “It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING!” 

The website for $TRUMP says 80% of the coins are held by the Trump Organization and affiliates.

Inside the Crypto Ball were some of the leaders of the platforms allowing ordinary investors to buy into Trump’s newest project. They included Coinbase

 CEO Brian Armstrong and Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell.

Trump wasn’t done after one token.

On Sunday came the introduction of $MELANIA, named after the first lady. The coin quickly spiked more than 40%, surpassing $2 billion in value. Both the Trump and Melania coins have dropped significantly from their highs.

Then there’s World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance project endorsed by the Trump family, which hiked its token price from 1.5 cents to 5 cents and released an additional 5 billion tokens for sale. The project, initially launched in September, has raised more than $300 million in total sales so far, according to blockchain firm Arkham Intelligence.

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China on Tuesday expressed its firm support for the World Health Organisation (WHO) after US President Donald Trump announced the US withdrawal from the UN health body, accusing it of mishandling the Covid-19 crisis and failing to carry out reforms.

Soon after his swearing-in on Monday, Trump signed an executive order beginning the process of withdrawing America from the WHO, the second time in less than five years that the US has ordered to withdraw from the world body.

Reacting to Trump’s move, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Tuesday that China will continue to support the world health body in fulfilling its duties.

Guo said that as an authoritative international organisation in the field of global public health, WHO plays a central coordinating role in global health governance, and its role should be strengthened, not weakened.

China will, as always, support WHO in fulfilling its duties, deepen international public health cooperation, strengthen global health governance, and promote the building of a global community of health for all, Guo said.

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“The WHO regrets the announcement that the United States of America intends to withdraw from the Organization…We hope the United States will reconsider,” said WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic, hours after the new President signed an executive order at the White House, bringing US involvement in the UN agency to an end in 12 months.

The US joined WHO in 1948 after a joint resolution was passed by both chambers of Congress. The resolution requires the country to provide one year’s notice to leave the organization.

President Trump took steps to withdraw from the WHO in 2020 during his first term – but the move was reversed by the Biden administration.

Responding to journalists’ questions in Geneva, Mr. Jasarevic insisted that WHO “plays a crucial role in protecting the health and security of the world’s people, including Americans, by addressing the root causes of disease, building stronger health systems, and detecting, preventing and responding to health emergencies, including disease outbreaks, often in dangerous places where others cannot go.”

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President Donald Trump’s second inauguration on Monday became not just a political event, but a showcase of wealth and influence, as some of the world’s wealthiest individuals gathered at the U.S. Capitol. 

With a combined net worth exceeding $1.2 trillion, billionaires from across industries and continents attended, signaling their support and interest in Trump’s pro-business policies.

Among the high-profile attendees were SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos. Joining them were global leaders like Indian magnate Mukesh Ambani and LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, making it a rare congregation of financial and technological power.

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inauguration distinctive was the prominence of Silicon Valley elite.

Easily identifiable were the world's three richest men - Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. And that's not to mention some of the billionaires not placed directly in view of the cameras.

When the riches of the billionaire tech founders, millionaire business people and wealthy politicians are totted up there was more than $1trn - over a thousand billion - in the rotunda of the Capitol on Monday morning.

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