© Nina Riggio for The New York Times
A huge cleanup operation is taking place after a fire devastated one of the world’s biggest secondhand clothes markets.
Thousands of traders’ stalls were destroyed in the blaze that started at about 10pm on 1 January and consumed large sections of Kantamanto market in Accra, Ghana’s capital.
The Ghana national fire service (GNFS) deployed 13 tenders to combat the flames. Goods worth millions of Ghanaian cedi have been destroyed, the GNFS said.
“This is devastating,” said Alex King Nartey, a GNFS spokesperson. “We’ve not recorded severe casualties, but the economic loss is enormous.
“Preliminary investigations suggest faulty electrical connections might have sparked the blaze, although we are not ruling out arson,” Nartey told AFP.
As much as two-thirds of the market has been destroyed and there are estimates that 8,000 people have been affected, though this number is expected to rise.
Alhassan Fatawu owned a stall where he used bits of material from secondhand clothes to make and sell his own designs, and was notified in the early hours of Thursday morning that the market was on fire.
“The man who runs the neighbouring stall called me and said everything had burned. I started panicking,” he said. He went to see the damage for himself at about 9am.
“I found burnt stalls. There were still parts burning,” he said. “I couldn’t salvage a thing [from my stall]. Everything has gone. Now my daily bread has been cut. I used my stall at Kantamanto to sustain myself.”
Before the fire, Kantamanto was a sprawling complex of thousands of stalls crammed with clothes from brands including H&M, Levi Strauss, Tesco, Primark, New Look and more. About 30,000 people depend on the market for their livelihood.
According to the Or Foundation, which campaigns against textile waste in Ghana, 15m secondhand garments from countries in the global north such as the UK, the US and China arrive at the market every week. The Kantamanto community is responsible for recirculating 25m pieces of secondhand clothing every month through resale, reuse, repair and remanufacturing.
The market is a vibrant hub of creativity and a necessary alternative to fast fashion. The fire has left many families in distress after catastrophic losses for retailers, upcyclers and other market members, as merchandise, shops, tools and equipment have been destroyed.
Yayra Agbofah, co-founder of the Revival, a community-led organisation creating awareness, art and jobs with textile waste arriving in Ghana, lost storage space in the blaze. He was at the market on Friday morning along with hundreds of others, clearing the debris. All that remained of many stalls were blackened and charred piles of clothes and ash.
“The goal is to rebuild in a week,” he said. “People have to return to work because they don’t have anything.”
He added: “There has been no information about what the government is going to do. We have to take things into our own hands and rebuild our market.
“The traders have lost everything. A lot are in debt. This is their livelihood. There are no other alternatives. We have to find ways to get our feet back and start work. The only option is to build back and start from scratch. It’s a devastating situation.”
（德国之声中文网）央视等中国官媒的报道中均强调，“对发现的违法违纪问题，将依法依纪严肃处理”。但报道中并未就事件本身披露更多细节。
英文版《南华早报》报道称，事件最先是由一名专事打击人口买卖的民间志愿者最先披露的。这位名叫上官正义（音）活动人士从山西大同第一人民医院的一名清洁工处获得了该医院存在买卖婴儿现象的线索。
此前，中国媒体《南方窗》报道称，去年11月南风窗记者曾同上官正义一起前往大同实地探访，并同提供线索的医院清洁工线下见面。这位王姓女子坦承自己介绍买卖孩子的事实，并将其称为“做好事”。同时她还表示，大同第一人民医院一位王姓妇产科主任也曾参与买卖婴儿的事情，并曾因此被公安调查。 2024年12月27日，上官正义在大同第一人民医院妇产科见到这位王姓主任，其当面承认确有此事。但她表示具体情况同王姓清洁工的描述不符，她在其中没有获利，只是介绍双方认识，而且司法机关对此已有定论，其被免于公诉，不追究刑事责任。
根据中国刑法，拐卖妇女儿童者，可被判处五年至无期的刑罚，而情节特别严重者，则可判处死刑。而买家也将被判处最高三年监禁的刑罚。今年九月，《新苏黎世报》发表评论称，尽管中国政府不断发起打击婴幼儿买卖问题的专项行动，但收效并不显著，原因之一就是相关法律过于宽泛。“在中国，购买婴幼儿的买家，面临最高三年的刑期，而贩卖珍惜动物物种则面临终身监禁甚至死刑。”
《南华早报》报道称，根据上官正义提供的线索，2023年，河南三名官员被判刑入监，因为他们参与了一起售卖五千份出生证明的案件。上官正义称，这些出生证明被买到其他省份，以方便一些人为其来路不明的子女登记户口。
在中国，拥有户口是获取公共服务的先决条件，只有拥有户口的儿童，才能接种疫苗以及办理入学等手续。
中国《南方网》周五发表评论称，“医院相关人员参与买卖婴儿，是对法律的公然践踏、对生命尊严的极大漠视，伤害了无数家庭的心，造成的社会影响及危害更为严重。山西大同市第一人民医院相关人员涉嫌参与婴儿买卖一事快速成为热点、热搜，足以印证这一点。”
（综合报道） © 2025年德国之声版权声明：本文所有内容受到著作权法保护，如无德国之声特别授权，不得擅自使用。任何不当行为都将导致追偿，并受到刑事追究
The stand-off started long before dawn. By the time we arrived in the dark, an army of police had pushed back suspended president Yoon Suk Yeol's angry supporters, who'd camped out overnight hoping to stop his arrest. Some of those I spoke to were crying, others wailing, at what they feared was about to unfold.
As dawn broke, the first officers ran up to the house, but were instantly thwarted - blocked by a wall of soldiers protecting the compound. Reinforcements came, but could not help. The doors to Yoon's house stayed tightly sealed, his security team refusing the police officers entry.
For several hours the investigators waited, the crowds outside growing more agitated - until, after a series of scuffles between the police and security officials, they decided their mission was futile, and gave up.
This is totally uncharted territory for South Korea. It is the first time a sitting president has ever faced arrest, so there is no rule book to follow - but the current situation is nonetheless astonishing.
When Yoon was impeached three weeks ago, he was supposedly stripped of his power. So to have law enforcement officers trying to carry out an arrest - which they have legal warrant for - only to be blocked by Yoon's security team raises serious and uncomfortable questions about who is in charge here.
The investigating officers said they abandoned efforts to arrest Yoon not only because it looked impossible, but because they were concerned for their safety. They said 200 soldiers and security officers linked arms, forming a human wall to block the entrance to the presidential residence, with some carrying guns.
Getty ImagesThis is arguably part of Yoon's plan, leveraging a system he himself designed. Before he declared martial law last month – a plan we now know he cooked up months earlier – he surrounded himself with close friends and loyalists, injecting them into positions of power.
One of those people is the current head of his security team, who took up the job in September.
But although alarming, this situation is not entirely surprising. Yoon has refused to cooperate with the authorities over this investigation, ignoring every request to come in for questioning.
This is how things reached this point, where investigators felt they had no choice but to bring him in by force. Yoon is being investigated for one of the most serious political crimes there is: inciting an insurrection, which is punishable by life in prison or death.
Yoon has also spurred on his supporters, who have gathered in force outside his residence every day since the arrest warrant was issued. He sent them a letter on New Years' Day thanking them for "working hard" to defend both him and the country.
Although most people in South Korea are upset and angry at Yoon's decision to impose martial law, a core of his supporters have stayed loyal. Some even camped overnight, in freezing temperatures, to try and stop police reaching his home.
Many told me this morning they were prepared to die to protect Yoon, and repeated the same unfounded conspiracy theories that Yoon himself has floated – that last year's election was rigged, and the country had been infiltrated by pro-North Korea forces. They held up signs reading "stop the steal", a slogan they chanted over and over.
Attention is also now on South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok, and how far his powers extend; whether he could and should sack the president's security chief and force the team to allow his arrest. The opposition party says police should be arresting anyone who stands in their way.
Although investigators have until 6 January to attempt this arrest again – this is when the warrant runs out - it is unlikely they will go in once more without changing their strategy or negotiating with the security team in advance. They will want to avoid a repeat of today's failure.
They also have to contend with the throngs of Yoon's supporters, who now feel victorious and empowered. They believe they are largely responsible for the authorities' climb down. "We've won, we did it," they have been singing all afternoon.
As their confidence grows, so will their numbers, especially with the weekend approaching.
Getty ImagesApple has agreed to pay $95m (£77m) to settle a court case alleging some of its devices were listening to people without their permission.
The tech giant was accused of eavesdropping on its customers through its virtual assistant Siri.
The claimants also allege voice recordings were shared with advertisers.
Apple, which has not admitted any wrongdoing, has been approached for comment.
In the preliminary settlement, the tech firm denies any wrongdoing, as well as claims that it "recorded, disclosed to third parties, or failed to delete, conversations recorded as the result of a Siri activation" without consent.
Apple's lawyers also say they will confirm they have "permanently deleted individual Siri audio recordings collected by Apple prior to October 2019".
But the claimants say the tech firm recorded people who activated the virtual assistant unintentionally - without using the phrase "Hey, Siri" to wake it.
And they say advertisers who received the recordings could then look for keywords in them to better target ads.
Apple has proposed a decision date of 14 February in the court in Oakland, California.
Class action lawsuits work by a small number of people going to court on behalf of a larger group.
If they are successful, the money won is paid out across all claimants.
According to the court documents, each claimant - who has to be based in the US -could be paid up to $20 per Siri-enabled device they owned between 2014 and 2019.
In this case, the lawyers could take 30% of the fee plus expenses - which comes to just under $30m.
By settling, Apple not only denies wrongdoing, but it also avoids the risk of facing a court case which could potentially mean a much larger pay out.
The California company earned $94.9bn in the three months up to 28 September 2024.
Apple has been involved in a number of class action lawsuits in recent years,
In January 2024, it started paying out in a $500m lawsuit which claimed it deliberately slowed down iPhones in the US.
In March, it agreed to pay $490m in a class action led by Norfolk County Council in the UK.
And in November, consumer group Which? started a class action against Apple, accusing it of ripping off customers through its iCloud service.
Getty ImagesWayne Osmond, a founding member of family band The Osmonds, who had a string of hits in the 1970s, has died at the age of 73.
Wayne was a singer and guitarist, and co-wrote many of their biggest hits, including Crazy Horses, Goin' Home And Let Me In.
"Wayne brought so much light, laughter, and love to everyone who knew him, especially me," wrote brother Donny. "He was the ultimate optimist and was loved by everyone."
Merrill Osmond called his late brother "a genius in his ability to write music" who was "able to capture the hearts of millions of people and bring them closer to God".
He continued: "I've never known a man that had more humility. A man with absolute no guile. An individual that was quick to forgive and had the ability to show unconditional love to everyone he ever met."
Merrill and Donny said the cause of death was a stroke.
Getty ImagesBorn in August 1951, in Ogden, Utah, Wayne was the fourth oldest of nine children and raised in a Mormon household.
As a child, he started performing in a barbershop quartet with siblings Alan, Merrill and Jay.
By 1961, the harmonising brothers were regular performers at Disneyland in Florida. A year later, they made their TV debut on The Andy Williams Show.
They quickly became regulars on the show, earning the nickname "one-take Osmonds" because of their flawless, tirelessly rehearsed performances.
Younger sibling Donny joined the line-up in 1963, and they began to broaden their repertoire to include clean-cut pop songs.
Their initial singles flopped but, after the success of the Jackson 5 showed that family pop could be a commercial success, MGM Records signed the band and sent them to work at the famed R&B studio Muscle Shoals.
There, they were given a song called One Bad Apple (Don't Spoil the Whole Bunch), which had originally been written for the Jacksons but was rejected by their record label.
Perky, bubbly and bright, the song topped the US singles chart for five weeks in 1971 and established the band as a chart presence, a decade after their professional debut.
For a while, the siblings generated the same sort of fevered excitement as The Beatles.
When the band flew into Heathrow Airport in 1973, 10,000 teenage fans packed the roof gardens at a nearby office block to see them arrive. Part of the balcony railing and wall collapsed amidst a crowd surge, slightly injuring 18 women.
On their departure, hundreds of fans mobbed their limousine. A reporter for the New York Times said "they were lucky to escape alive", while the Guardian said the scenes almost led to a ban on pop groups entering the UK via Heathrow.
But pop is a fickle industry, and The Osmonds' record sales started to tail off by the mid-1970s.
At the same time, Donny and Marie Osmond were offered their own TV variety show, which became a massive hit in the US and was screened by BBC One in the UK.
As a result, the band went on hiatus and ultimately dissolved in 1980, although they regularly reformed for county fairs and reunion tours over the coming decades.
Wayne Osmond suffered a number of health problems during his life. He was diagnosed with a brain tumour as a child, which resulted in cognitive problems.
In 1994, he noticed that the condition was worsening.
"I noticed I couldn't play my saxophone any more because my head would start throbbing," he later recalled. "And my knees would fall out from under me when I was on stage. This all began happening within a week."
The subsequent surgery and related cancer treatments resulted in significant hearing loss that persisted for the rest of his life. He also suffered a previous stroke in 2012.
In 2019, the musician joined his siblings Alan, Merrill and Jay for their final ever performance on TV show The Talk.
Performing in front of a screen that showed a montage of their career highlights, the original quartet performed a song called The Last Chapter, written as a thank you to their fans.
Sister Marie, who presented the show, joined them afterwards to pay tribute, saying: "I am so honoured to be your sister. I love you guys. You've worked so hard. Enjoy your retirement."
Wayne spent his retirement indulging in hobbies including fly fishing, and spending time with his family. He maintained an optimistic outlook, telling Utah newspaper Desert News that hearing loss didn't bother him.
"My favourite thing now is to take care of my yard," he said. "I turn my hearing aids off, deaf as a doorknob, tune everything out, it's really joyful."
He is survived by wife Kathlyn and five children, Amy, Steven, Gregory, Sarah and Michelle.
He is also survived by his eight siblings: Virl, Tom, Alan, Merrill, Jay, Donny, Marie and Jimmy.
Getty ImagesAs the world rings in a new year, lawmakers are convening on the US Capitol to kick off a new Congress.
Friday marks the start of the 119th Congress, with Republican majorities in both the US House of Representatives and the Senate.
This marks a Republican trifecta given that President-elect Donald Trump is also returning to the White House later this month. The US hasn't seen unified control of all three branches of government since 2017, when Trump was last in office.
Republicans are eager to get started on an ambitious to-do list, but things may not come easy - and their majorities in both chambers of Congress leave little room for disagreement. The first test of the party's unity comes on Friday with leadership elections in the House.
Here are five things worth watching as the new session of Congress begins:
Republicans may have the majority in the House, but not by much.
And it will be put to the test as soon as the session begins. The House cannot certify election results or pass laws until lawmakers select their next speaker - the leader of the chamber.
Despite an endorsement from Trump, current speaker Mike Johnson faces opposition from several members within his caucus who remain unconvinced he deserves a second chance.
The party's majority is so small that if Johnson loses just two Republicans in his campaign, it could set off a series of ballots until Republicans coalesce around a lawmaker. In 2023, it took 15 rounds of votes and four days for Kevin McCarthy to win the speakership.
Johnson already faces one hard "no" from Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, but several other Republicans have put themselves in the "undecided" column.
The Republican Party was left with a five-seat majority when the final House races were called in the 2024 election. But that has shrunk after Trump tapped several House members to serve in his administration.
"Do the math," Johnson said during an early December press conference. "We have nothing to spare."
Getty ImagesIn the Senate, lawmakers have already selected their majority leader: South Dakota Senator John Thune won an internal Republican Party vote.
This means senators can move to official business on Friday, but they will face challenges in other ways. Lawmakers are scheduled to begin a string of confirmation hearings for some of Trump's controversial cabinet appointees.
The Senate must sign off on some 1,200 appointments for the new president's administration, but some will come with the tense hearings that attract public attention. They'll first appear before a Senate committee and answer questions, before the full chamber votes.
The nominees include Trump's pick for defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, who faces sexual assault allegations from 2017 which he denies, as well as his pick for health and human services secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, who is a vaccine sceptic with a history of spreading misinformation.
Trump's picks were seen making their rounds on Capitol Hill last month to win over Republican senators. But nominees will have to appear before bipartisan committees - meaning the hearings could get heated as senators from both parties use their platform to address criticisms and grievances.
However, the Senate could chose to expedite confirmation hearings from some national security nominees - following a New Year terror attack in New Orleans that left 14 dead and an explosion of a vehicle outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas.
"The US Senate must confirm President Trump's national security team as soon as possible. Lives depend on it," Wyoming Senator John Barrasso wrote in a post on X.
A nomination that clears a committee typically does not face opposition on the full Senate floor, but given some of the initial backlash over Trump's picks, the path to confirmation may be bumpy.
Getty ImagesOne item that rises to the top of the legislative to-do list for Congress is addressing Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which expires in 2025.
The 2017 legislation - which passed at a time when Republicans controlled both the House and Senate - involved a $1.5tn (£1.2tn) overhaul of the tax code, changed tax brackets and lowered tax rates for most taxpayers.
It marked the biggest tax overhaul in decades. The largest cuts went to businesses and the wealthy, which Democrats have called to reverse.
Trump campaigned on the economy - vowing to extend tax cuts, further slash corporate taxes, and eliminate tax on tips, overtime pay and Social Security income.
How Congress gets it done - an extension of the 2017 bill, a combination of old and new legislation or by other means - is up in the air.
Keeping provisions from the 2017 tax cuts would add an estimated $4tn to the deficit over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. This may not sit well with many hard-line Republicans who are adamantly opposed to increasing the nation's debt.
Getty ImagesExpect to see legislation move on several key Republican priorities, ranging from curbing illegal immigration to cutting government regulations.
There could be proposals to reduce military aid to Ukraine, impose new tariffs, cut spending for clean energy and enhance border security.
In a November press conference, Johnson outlined a Republican agenda that aimed to reduce inflation, secure borders, restore the country's energy dominance, implement "education freedom" and "drain the swamp".
Lawmakers will also have to address the debt ceiling - the total amount the US can borrow to meet its obligations. The issue already popped up at the end of 2024 when lawmakers faced a government shutdown.
Trump demanded that lawmakers raise or even suspend the debt limit in any spending deal, but the provision was dropped from the final version of the bill that passed in both chambers.
It is possible several priorities may be combined in what is known as a reconciliation bill, which allows Congress to pass a bill on taxes, spending and the debt limit with just a majority. This method avoids the possibility of a filibuster in the Senate, in which opposing lawmakers could delay or even derail a vote.
However they choose to approach it, lawmakers may be spending more face-time on Capitol Hill to tackle their priorities in the next session.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune has scheduled notably more days and weeks for the Senate - including working days on Mondays and Fridays, which traditionally have been considered travel days.
Getty ImagesThe end of the last Congress offered a glimpse at the influence that Trump and his allies have on the congressional agenda.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has been tasked with advising the Trump administration on cuts to government spending, posted dozens of times on his social media platform X to condemn a spending deal Johnson spearheaded with Democrats to avert a government shutdown.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance joined in, and the bill was squashed.
Both Trump and Musk threatened to withhold funding and endorsements from sitting Republicans who supported the bipartisan spending bill, raising the question of how much sway they will have over the legislative agenda.
Musk and pharmaceutical entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy could have more opportunities to weigh in. The pair will be co-leading a newly-formed advisory committee focused on cuts to regulations and spending.
On the other side of the aisle, Democrats are re-grouping, with hopes to win back the House during the 2026 midterm elections. Expect to see centre-left lawmakers vying for influence.
Groups within the party all hope to shape its future - such as the Problem Solvers Caucus, a group of lawmakers focused on advancing bipartisan legislation; the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of centrist Democrats; and the centre-left, "pragmatic" New Democrat Coalition.
Getty Images
© Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Robotaxi observers worldwide believe one thing about the industry in China: It’s moving aggressively. NYT dubbed Wuhan “the world’s largest experiment in driverless cars,” thanks to significant government support both in terms of regulations for testing and data collection.
The hottest Chinese startups are going public in the US, too. Most notably, Pony.ai 小马智行 made its Nasdaq debut the day before Thanksgiving. The company recently said it would expand its robotaxi fleet from 250 to 1,000 in 2025, significantly growing its commercialization prospects.
Pony.ai’s IPO was valued at $5.25 billion. Not peanuts, but less than its $8.5 billion Series D. Compared to its heyday, Pony is being tested by a harsh market reality and may face stringent international regulatory barriers as it tries to bring its technology abroad. To understand the future of Chinese AVs, ChinaTalk dove deep into the industry’s history and interviewed both cofounders of Pony.ai. We get into:
Pony.ai’s rise to China’s leading robotaxi company
How broader changes in the robotaxi industry and Chinese companies’ fundraising environment affect Pony.ai’s IPO
The challenges of commercialization for Pony.ai
Pony.ai’s plans for overseas expansion amidst international hesitance to accept Chinese AV
In late 2016, James Peng 彭军 and Tiancheng Lou 楼天城 left their jobs at Baidu’s autonomous driving department to found Pony.ai, a company that develops Level 4 autonomous driving technology. L4 refers to the stage of automation where a vehicle can drive without a human driver.
The self-driving industry boomed during those years. Hundreds of startups were founded across a complex web of transportation systems, and autonomous driving was largely believed to be the first momentous application of artificial intelligence in the pre-GPT era. Uber started its self-driving unit in 2015 and acquired Otto, a self-driving truck startup, in 2016. The same year, Google’s self-driving unit, where Lou used to work, became Waymo and publicly demonstrated its technology. Almost every major automaker announced partnerships to develop these technologies or invested in a startup.
In China, Baidu started investing in autonomous vehicle research in 2013 and began the Apollo project to develop its own driverless vehicles in 2017. Many of the big names in China’s robotaxi industry came from Baidu, including the founders of Pony.ai and WeRide.
Thanks to the strong technical backgrounds of Pony’s founders, China’s biggest investors were immediately interested. HongShan 红杉中国 (formerly Sequoia China) led Pony’s seed round in 2017. Then in 2020, Toyota participated in Pony’s Series B, and later became a key partner in Pony’s attempts to commercialize its robotaxi tech: Pony develops self-driving software and hardware, and Toyota provides the vehicles.1
Pony also expanded quickly in its first five years. In 2018, Pony became the first company in China to launch a public-facing robotaxi service (ie, fully autonomous vehicles with safety drivers) regularly operating in Guangzhou, while obtaining a permit to test in Beijing. Around the same time, the company started to explore robotrucks and established a trucking division in 2020. In 2021, Pony began to remove safety drivers in some of its robotaxis in Guangzhou.
At the end of 2020, Pony was valued at $5.3 billion and raised $2.5 billion in Series-C funding thanks to investments from sovereign wealth funds such as Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan and Brunei Investment Agency. By June 2021, the company was on the verge of initiating an IPO, but launch plans came to a grinding halt when SEC asked for a “pause” on US IPOs of Chinese companies.
That marked the beginning of a downturn for many USD venture funds in China and left Pony in an awkward situation: Autonomous vehicles are capital-intensive and R&D-driven, and the commercialization process had only just started. Given the company’s high valuation, there were doubts about whether Pony could drum up more interest from private funds without an IPO.
But Pony wasn’t horsing around — it closed a $1.1 billion Series D at a valuation of $8.5 billion. In October 2023, amid a bonanza of Middle Eastern investments in Chinese EV and AV companies, Pony secured another $100 million from the financial wing of NEOM, Saudi Arabia’s urban desert megaproject.
In its IPO filing, Pony disclosed the current scale of its operations. And these numbers are modest, to say the least.
Pony has a fleet of around 250 robotaxis operating across four tier-one cities in China: Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. It’s charging fares for fully driverless rides in the first three. During the first half of 2024, each fully driverless robotaxi received an average of 15 orders per day.
By comparison, Waymo currently operates a fleet of over 700 vehicles which complete more than 150,000 rides every week in metro Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Baidu has a fleet of 500 vehicles in Wuhan alone.
AV companies are facing a tough reality in 2024. General Motors just axed funding for Cruise, the AV startup it acquired a decade ago. Cruise had been burning through money, and after a major accident involving a fully autonomous vehicle, it was only testing robotaxis very slowly, one city at a time, without offering public-facing services. Other automakers have been similarly unable to pony up the necessary cash for AV development.
For Pony.ai, there is an additional level of complexity, because unlike Apollo, Waymo, and even Amazon-owned Zoox, Pony is not backed by a major tech giant. It needs funding more urgently, perhaps, than any other AV company.
“It is my disadvantage,” Lou told me. “I have to wait until the cost structure is stable to add a car. But that also means that I have to do well.”
By “cost structure,” Lou was referring to per-vehicle operating margin. Usually, that’s the difference between passenger fare and per-vehicle cost which includes maintenance, research, and manufacturing. Lou and Peng were optimistic that the margin would turn positive in 2025. In other words, when adding a new vehicle to the robotaxi fleet, the company does not lose money.
But right now, Pony.ai is still a money-losing business: While revenue rose from $68 million in 2022 to $71 million in 2023, net loss attributable to the company was $148 million and $124 million in these two years respectively. R&D still accounts for the highest percentage of Pony’s operating expenses, adding up to over $123 million in 2023.
The good news is that losses have begun to narrow over time. But Pony’s IPO filing promise — that robotaxis would be the company’s main source of revenue — is still far from becoming a reality.
Pony has about 190 robotrucks, which generated 73% of its revenue over the first six months of 2024. Much of this new revenue came from transportation fees collected by Cyantrain, a joint venture founded by Pony and Sinotrans, for freight orders fulfilled by robotrucks.
Lou told me that it’s harder to scale robotrucks than robotaxis. The hardest part about robotaxi is the technology, he said. As long as the technology is mature enough to allow the vehicles to drive fully autonomously, it’s not hard to build tens of thousands of vehicles with that capacity. However, when it comes to trucks, which are larger and faster, there is a higher safety standard to meet.
Another way to diversify revenue is by selling so-called L2++ technology, which Pony started doing in 2022. L2++ refers to technology that assists human drivers instead of replacing them, which is sold to OEMs.
Other Chinese self-driving startups are choosing this road as well. WeRide went public in October but only sold 3 robotaxis and 19 robobuses in 2023. Revenue from these products declined by almost half between 2021 and 2023, from 101 million yuan to 54 million yuan. And even these numbers are padded by government contracts (“local transportation service providers”) as opposed to public-facing, fared robotaxi services. Meanwhile, WeRide’s service revenue (eg, L2 to L4 technical support and R&D services) increased from 36 million yuan to 347 million yuan during the same period.
Regardless, Pony clearly benefits from a Nasdaq IPO: US investors are likely more lenient about the intensive time and capital requirements of self-driving vehicle development. Several investors told me that they didn’t expect a newly minted tech IPO to be profitable.
But investors won’t wait forever — eventually, AV shareholders will push for a path to profitability as proof that they bet on the right horse.
Pony is already the leading robotaxi company in China, with operations in four tier-one cities, but questions remain about the company’s post-IPO international expansion plan. Pony now has research centers in Silicon Valley and Luxembourg, and potential operations in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Luxembourg.
“We have set up a layout of operations in these places,” James Peng said in an interview. “The ‘layout’ doesn’t necessarily mean that the cars are already there. It’s more about technological partnerships or selling parts. In some of these places, the cars are still on the way, but eventually, we will have them.”
The market is still very new, so Pony is still adjusting their overseas investment, Peng added.
Pony is also partnering with Uber to offer driverless car services in overseas markets, although Uber has also inked cooperation agreements with Waymo, Cruise, and Wayve. Before Pony’s IPO, Bloomberg reported that Uber was in talks to invest in the startup’s offering.
Pony doesn’t have any immediate plan to expand operations to the US. California suspended Pony’s California driverless testing permit in the fall of 2021 after a reported collision in Fremont, a one-party incident where the vehicle hit a street sign. (The state’s Department of Motor Vehicles also temporarily revoked Pony’s permit to test vehicles with a driver in 2022, alleging the company’s failures to monitor the driving records of safety drivers, before the permit was reinstated at the end of 2022.)
“We are mostly focusing on China, because there is a large enough market, sufficient demand, and policymakers are supportive,” Peng told me.
It is not easy to compare self-driving regulations between the US and China. I’ve heard US transportation officials saying that the Chinese government is more proactive in regulating self-driving tech. To me, the main difference is that the Chinese government has adopted a more top-down approach to regulating autonomous vehicles. The first set of major guidelines for testing robotaxis on public roads was released in 2018.
Then in November 2023, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and three other departments jointly issued the “Notice on Carrying Out Pilot Work for the Access and Road Usage of Intelligent Connected Vehicles.” This notice focuses on conducting access pilot programs and road usage pilot programs for intelligent connected vehicles with L3 (where the driver should still remain in the vehicle) and L4 autonomous driving systems within designated areas.
More than 30 Chinese cities and provinces have released their own sets of guidelines and permitting schemes for the testing and operation of robotaxis. Some are more supportive than others. Yet, in all cities, robotaxis still can only operate on designated public roads, which could negatively impact attempts to scale.
Wuhan, sometimes called the “robotaxi city of China,” is arguably also the largest testing ground for robotaxis in the world, as the opening testing area for the technology has reached about 3,000 square kilometers (over 1,160 square miles.) Even then, Baidu has yet to reach its goal of deploying 1,000 robotaxis in the city within 2024. (The consensus thus far is that at least 1,000 fully autonomous robotaxis are needed in a city to achieve scalable commercialization.) An expert from Baidu told Huxiu that the peak of robotaxi commercialization will arrive between 2028-2030.
In both US and China, “The policies are more advanced than technological development,” said Lou.
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In its IPO filing, Pony said it established a joint venture with Toyota, where the latter would supply vehicles as a fleet company. This is similar to Waymo’s partnership with Jaguar. Toyota is the biggest shareholder of Pony.ai.
© Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
（德国之声中文网）近日中国政府为公务员加薪的传闻获得多方证实。根据路透社消息，在此次薪资调涨之后，中国公务员的月工资平均增加了约500元人民币，整体涨幅约5%。其中，一些基层政府雇员表示，其月薪增加了约300元人民币。
中国社群媒体传出「公务员普调500」传闻，彭博社本周二（12月31日）报导引述多名知情人士披露，称中国政府近期已向多地公务员实施了多年来的首次显着加薪，目的是为了提升士气并刺激消费。报导指出，加薪还覆盖了教师、警察和政府官员。
回溯自2024年7月
知情人士称，本次加薪可追溯自2024年7月开始。许多公务员在12月份的工资单上看到一笔标注为「欠薪」或「补发」的款项，便是从7月份开始补发的加薪。
路透社试算的结果显示，如果符合条件的4800万名公务员都按照此标准加薪，本次发放的工资将一次性地为经济注入约120亿至200亿美元。
除此之外，退休公务员的退休金也将大幅提高。博主「蛋小黄」在社媒平台YouTube称他收到的消息说，退休人员的退休金基本工资将增加10%以上，部级干部每月加600元，科级加400元。
中国上次公开上调公务员工资是在2015年，当时约4000万政府雇员月薪平均上调了300元。
基建放缓：江苏南京，距离上海约300公里的省会，成排高铁列车在南站停靠。中国计划2024年新开通14条高铁，全长1700公里。多年来，中国一直力推基础设施建设。但如今，大规模基建放缓。
东三省的困境：图中是今年春节前夕辽宁沈阳的一个市场。近年来，在房地产危机之下，中国经济受到重压，影响到就业、社会的方方面面。沈阳所在的东北地区曾是中国重工业的摇篮，如今经济萧条。
农业与天时：盛夏，重庆的农民收获了玉米和辣椒。今年，由于洪水、酷热高温等极端天气，农田被毁，农产品价格飙升。
清洁能源与光伏内卷：在宁夏腾格里沙漠，光伏电池板组成大片的光伏基地。中国正大力推动清洁能源。然而，光伏产业如今正面临产能过剩，光伏企业面临严重内卷。
民以食为天：江苏如皋的工人在手工生产酱油。民以食为天。今年，中国也爆出食品安全事件：油罐车混装化工煤油和食用油，引发公众愤怒。
新疆的活畜市场：5月，新疆伊犁的活畜交易市场看上去颇为热闹。
期待日子“红红火火”：夏日，重庆的工人们将红辣椒分包待运。
内卷的汽车：南京一处报废汽车停放场地。作为全球最大汽车销售市场，中国汽车行业内卷十分严重。与此同时，报废汽车对环境的污染问题也有待解决。公务员加薪救得了内需吗？
此次加薪适逢北京当局力图提振低迷的国内经济。中国在2024年出台多项措施刺激消费，包括促进消费「20条」和优惠贷款等。而在去年底召开的中央经济工作会议，也将提振消费、扩大国内需求列为2025年重点任务。
经济学人智库（EIU）高级经济学家徐天辰（Xu Tianchen，音译）表示：「北京的策略似乎是鼓励更愿意消费的人消费。」他指出：「到目前为止，我们看到的是向贫困人口派发现金以及公部门的加薪。低收入群体通常会将更大比例的收入用于消费，而公务员由于享有较高水平的社会保障福利，相比私企员工可能更倾向于消费。」
不过，中国政府至今并未公开宣布或详细说明公务员加薪一事，因此很难确定该计划的范围或预算从何而来。此外，一段时间以来，中国地方政府面临负债率过高、财政收入不足的问题，许多公务员更是遭遇了减薪。
一名女性教师告诉彭博社，虽然她确实收到了最新一轮的加薪，但随着近年来相关奖金的大幅削减，她的实际工资并未真正上涨。另一名公务员也表示，此次的加薪远不足以弥补过去的多轮减薪。
老百姓怎么看？
网上不乏对于公务员涨薪的质疑，一位微博用户写道：「针对一小部分公务员的涨薪如何刺激整体消费？」在推特上，有人戏称这是「救民先救官理论」。
有网民猜测：「公务员加薪这么静悄悄，是不是官方不想刺激其他人？」《联合早报》网站主编韩咏红撰写的评论提到：「薪资普涨有违高层一再强调政府要长期坚持『紧日子』，换取民众『好日子』的立场。也或许，这波地方公职人员涨薪的财政来源尚无保障，或者财政来源暂不便公开，所以涨薪也只好悄然进行。」
彭博社报道指出，公务员加薪可能引发在私人企业工作的老百姓强烈反对，因为许多私企员工正受到经济下行的影响，被迫减薪或暂停涨薪。长期关注中国议题的台湾两岸关系专家赖荣伟则向「自由亚洲电台」表示：公务员加薪，平民百姓却没有受惠，会令他们觉得体制内的人没有一起共度难关。
华府智库「战略与国际研究中心」（CSIS）学者李恒青向《联合早报》提到，中国政府目前没有为公务员加薪的条件，仅仅是希望透过发钱稳定公部门的人心，以巩固其政权。
而台湾智库中华经济研究院学者王国臣则认为，加薪措施不但很难达到中国政府所期望的目标，地方政府最后还可能因为缺钱，无法落实中央的加薪政策。他对《联合早报》表示：「我们看到很多实际面是在降薪、裁员，所以一定会搞到最后是上有政策下有对策。」
没有总理记者会的两会：30年的传统终结：2024年3月的两会没有总理记者会。已故前总理李克强曾在2020年记者会上指出，中国有六亿人月入不足千元，引起轩然大波。今年两会上，李强表示经济增长目标为5%左右。习近平提出“新质生产力”口号，但高科技能否创造足够就业岗位存疑。与此同时，军费开支增幅为7.2%，与去年持平。
高层动荡、去向成谜：2024年7月中共三中全会公报称秦刚为“同志”， 表明他未被完全排斥，但去向仍是个谜。此前6月，前国防部长李尚福与其前任魏凤和均被开除党籍军籍。中共中央政治局公告称二人均收受巨额钱款，魏凤和还被指“信仰坍塌”。11月底，中国国防部宣布，海军上将、中央军委委员、政治工作部主任苗华因“严重违纪”停职调查。
恒大虚增巨额收入 许家印被禁证券市场：2024年1月，中国房地产巨头恒大被勒令清盘。3月，中国证监会称，在2021年崩盘前两年，恒大虚增收入5641.46亿元。恒大创始人许家印被终身禁入证券市场。恒大负债超过2.4万亿元人民币。中国房地产被认为曾贡献了中国经济增长的三分之一，并雇佣大量工人。
如何救经济？：2024年11月，中国政府批准10万亿元经济振兴计划，不过，不是用于消费，而是化解地方债务。这一金额被外界认为远远不够：国际货币基金组织估计中国地方债务额高达60万亿元。12月，中共中央政治局宣布将实施“适度宽松”的货币政策，被认为是14年来第一次：14年来一直是“稳健”。美国总统特朗普明年上台，预计中国出口可能愈受阻力。
欧盟加征关税 产能过剩何去何从：2024年10月底，欧盟宣布正式对中国产电动汽车加征关税：在原有10%的基础上，加征最高35.3%的新关税。在此之前的一年内，欧中就此进行了八轮谈判，但欧盟官员称仍有“重大分歧”。德国汽车制造商反对该关税，担心反制。与此同时，包括中国汽车在内的制造业存在产能过剩，在多个国家受到关税阻挡。
五十年代以来首次提高退休年龄：2024年9月，中国政府宣布延迟退休。官方称，男性60岁退休、女性55岁和50岁退休是50年代依据国情制定，如今特别是老龄化带来影响。在渐进式延迟下，到2040年，男性退休年龄将达到63岁，女性干部为58岁，女性工人为55岁。中国社科院2019年曾公布一份报告称，养老金将在2035年枯竭。早在11年前，中国政府就已正式提出渐进式延迟退休政策，但一直受到很大反对声。
中国台湾“互不隶属”：2024年1月，赖清德赢得大选，并于5月正式就任。10月，在庆祝台湾国庆演说中，赖清德称“中华民国已在台澎金马落地生根，和中华人民共和国互不隶属”，“中华人民共和国无权代表台湾”。不过，他同时表示，有决心致力维护台海和平稳定，也愿意和中国共同因应气候变迁和传染病。北京予以谴责，并以军演回应。
对台军事施压常态化：2024年5月赖清德就职后，北京举行“联合利剑-2024A”环台演习；10月双十节讲话后，“联合利剑-2024B”如期而至。军演模拟封锁台湾。创纪录的中国军机飞越台海中线。12月，赖清德出访太平洋三国，过境夏威夷和关岛。一周后，台湾国防部表示，在日本列岛以南水域到南中国海之间，出现近90艘中国海军和海警船只，为30年来最大规模的中国海军部署。分析认为，中国对台军事施压正在常态化。
北京“支持尽快”立法 23条通过：2024年3月，香港通过“23条”立法。立法会投票，0票反对。这是继2003年后，港府再度推动23条立法。当年民间忧虑23条侵害自由和人权，引发50万人在七一回归纪念日上街抗议，最终搁置立法。此后数任特首都没再把这个政治敏感话题提上议程。今年两会期间，中国副总理丁薛祥表示支持香港尽快完成23条立法。特首李家超7月称，已立法的23条与国安法“浑然一体”。
“47人”案宣判：香港最大规模国安案件“47人”案宣判：法律学者戴耀廷获刑10年；社运人士邹家成，被判处7年9个月；前区议会议员赵家贤、区诺轩分别遭判7年和6年9个月；前《立场新闻》记者何桂蓝判刑7年；外号“长毛”的前立法会议员、社民连主席梁国雄被判处6年9个月；前香港众志秘书长黄之锋被判4年8个月；还有其他被告被判四年到七年。被告中几乎包含香港所有民主派政党和许多著名政治领袖，年龄介乎20多岁到60多岁不等，涵盖不同政治光谱。他们几乎在同一天被捕：2021年1月6日，警方国安处在全港展开大规模拘捕。两年后案件才开审。至宣判之日，大部分被告已被关押1356天。（综合报导）
© 2025年德国之声版权声明：本文所有内容受到著作权法保护，如无德国之声特别授权，不得擅自使用。任何不当行为都将导致追偿，并受到刑事追究
Getty ImagesThe number of people with flu in hospital in England has risen sharply over Christmas, NHS chiefs warn.
The latest data shows there were 5,000 patients in hospital with the virus at the end of last week - almost 3.5 times higher than the same week in 2023.
The levels are not as high as those reached in the same period in 2022.
The figures come as top doctors warn about the impact of very cold weather over this weekend on vulnerable patients and the health system.
Professor Julian Redhead, NHS national clinical director for urgent and emergency care, said: "These latest figures show the pressure from flu was nowhere near letting up before we headed into the New Year, skyrocketing to over 5,000 cases a day in hospital as of the end of last week and rising at a very concerning rate.
"With what looks like an extreme cold snap expected right across England ahead of the weekend, we know the low temperatures can be dangerous for those who are vulnerable or have respiratory conditions".
Prof Redhead says people at risk should try and keep warm and make sure they are stocked up on any regular medication.
Getty ImagesApple has agreed to pay $95m (£77m) to settle a court case alleging some of its devices were listening to people without their permission.
The tech giant was accused of eavesdropping on its customers through its virtual assistant Siri.
The claimants also allege voice recordings were shared with advertisers.
Apple, which has not admitted any wrongdoing, has been approached for comment.
In the preliminary settlement, the tech firm denies any wrongdoing, as well as claims that it "recorded, disclosed to third parties, or failed to delete, conversations recorded as the result of a Siri activation" without consent.
Apple's lawyers also say they will confirm they have "permanently deleted individual Siri audio recordings collected by Apple prior to October 2019".
But the claimants say the tech firm recorded people who activated the virtual assistant unintentionally - without using the phrase "Hey, Siri" to wake it.
And they say advertisers who received the recordings could then look for keywords in them to better target ads.
Apple has proposed a decision date of 14 February in the court in Oakland, California.
Class action lawsuits work by a small number of people going to court on behalf of a larger group.
If they are successful, the money won is paid out across all claimants.
According to the court documents, each claimant - who has to be based in the US -could be paid up to $20 per Siri-enabled device they owned between 2014 and 2019.
In this case, the lawyers could take 30% of the fee plus expenses - which comes to just under $30m.
By settling, Apple not only denies wrongdoing, but it also avoids the risk of facing a court case which could potentially mean a much larger pay out.
The California company earned $94.9bn in the three months up to 28 September 2024.
Apple has been involved in a number of class action lawsuits in recent years,
In January 2024, it started paying out in a $500m lawsuit which claimed it deliberately slowed down iPhones in the US.
In March, it agreed to pay $490m in a class action led by Norfolk County Council in the UK.
And in November, consumer group Which? started a class action against Apple, accusing it of ripping off customers through its iCloud service.
Getty ImagesWayne Osmond, a founding member of family band The Osmonds, who had a string of hits in the 1970s, has died at the age of 73.
Wayne was a singer and guitarist, and co-wrote many of their biggest hits, including Crazy Horses, Goin' Home And Let Me In.
"Wayne brought so much light, laughter, and love to everyone who knew him, especially me," wrote brother Donny. "He was the ultimate optimist and was loved by everyone."
Merrill Osmond called his late brother "a genius in his ability to write music" who was "able to capture the hearts of millions of people and bring them closer to God".
He continued: "I've never known a man that had more humility. A man with absolute no guile. An individual that was quick to forgive and had the ability to show unconditional love to everyone he ever met."
Merrill and Donny said the cause of death was a stroke.
Getty ImagesBorn in August 1951, in Ogden, Utah, Wayne was the fourth oldest of nine children and raised in a Mormon household.
As a child, he started performing in a barbershop quartet with siblings Alan, Merrill and Jay.
By 1961, the harmonising brothers were regular performers at Disneyland in Florida. A year later, they made their TV debut on The Andy Williams Show.
They quickly became regulars on the show, earning the nickname "one-take Osmonds" because of their flawless, tirelessly rehearsed performances.
Younger sibling Donny joined the line-up in 1963, and they began to broaden their repertoire to include clean-cut pop songs.
Their initial singles flopped but, after the success of the Jackson 5 showed that family pop could be a commercial success, MGM Records signed the band and sent them to work at the famed R&B studio Muscle Shoals.
There, they were given a song called One Bad Apple (Don't Spoil the Whole Bunch), which had originally been written for the Jacksons but was rejected by their record label.
Perky, bubbly and bright, the song topped the US singles chart for five weeks in 1971 and established the band as a chart presence, a decade after their professional debut.
For a while, the siblings generated the same sort of fevered excitement as The Beatles.
When the band flew into Heathrow Airport in 1973, 10,000 teenage fans packed the roof gardens at a nearby office block to see them arrive. Part of the balcony railing and wall collapsed amidst a crowd surge, slightly injuring 18 women.
On their departure, hundreds of fans mobbed their limousine. A reporter for the New York Times said "they were lucky to escape alive", while the Guardian said the scenes almost led to a ban on pop groups entering the UK via Heathrow.
But pop is a fickle industry, and The Osmonds' record sales started to tail off by the mid-1970s.
At the same time, Donny and Marie Osmond were offered their own TV variety show, which became a massive hit in the US and was screened by BBC One in the UK.
As a result, the band went on hiatus and ultimately dissolved in 1980, although they regularly reformed for county fairs and reunion tours over the coming decades.
Wayne Osmond suffered a number of health problems during his life. He was diagnosed with a brain tumour as a child, which resulted in cognitive problems.
In 1994, he noticed that the condition was worsening.
"I noticed I couldn't play my saxophone any more because my head would start throbbing," he later recalled. "And my knees would fall out from under me when I was on stage. This all began happening within a week."
The subsequent surgery and related cancer treatments resulted in significant hearing loss that persisted for the rest of his life. He also suffered a previous stroke in 2012.
In 2019, the musician joined his siblings Alan, Merrill and Jay for their final ever performance on TV show The Talk.
Performing in front of a screen that showed a montage of their career highlights, the original quartet performed a song called The Last Chapter, written as a thank you to their fans.
Sister Marie, who presented the show, joined them afterwards to pay tribute, saying: "I am so honoured to be your sister. I love you guys. You've worked so hard. Enjoy your retirement."
Wayne spent his retirement indulging in hobbies including fly fishing, and spending time with his family. He maintained an optimistic outlook, telling Utah newspaper Desert News that hearing loss didn't bother him.
"My favourite thing now is to take care of my yard," he said. "I turn my hearing aids off, deaf as a doorknob, tune everything out, it's really joyful."
He is survived by wife Kathlyn and five children, Amy, Steven, Gregory, Sarah and Michelle.
He is also survived by his eight siblings: Virl, Tom, Alan, Merrill, Jay, Donny, Marie and Jimmy.
The stand-off started long before dawn. By the time we arrived in the dark, an army of police had pushed back suspended president Yoon Suk Yeol's angry supporters, who'd camped out overnight hoping to stop his arrest. Some of those I spoke to were crying, others wailing, at what they feared was about to unfold.
As dawn broke, the first officers ran up to the house, but were instantly thwarted - blocked by a wall of soldiers protecting the compound. Reinforcements came, but could not help. The doors to Yoon's house stayed tightly sealed, his security team refusing the police officers entry.
For several hours the investigators waited, the crowds outside growing more agitated - until, after a series of scuffles between the police and security officials, they decided their mission was futile, and gave up.
This is totally uncharted territory for South Korea. It is the first time a sitting president has ever faced arrest, so there is no rule book to follow - but the current situation is nonetheless astonishing.
When Yoon was impeached three weeks ago, he was supposedly stripped of his power. So to have law enforcement officers trying to carry out an arrest - which they have legal warrant for - only to be blocked by Yoon's security team raises serious and uncomfortable questions about who is in charge here.
The investigating officers said they abandoned efforts to arrest Yoon not only because it looked impossible, but because they were concerned for their safety. They said 200 soldiers and security officers linked arms, forming a human wall to block the entrance to the presidential residence, with some carrying guns.
Getty ImagesThis is arguably part of Yoon's plan, leveraging a system he himself designed. Before he declared martial law last month – a plan we now know he cooked up months earlier – he surrounded himself with close friends and loyalists, injecting them into positions of power.
One of those people is the current head of his security team, who took up the job in September.
But although alarming, this situation is not entirely surprising. Yoon has refused to cooperate with the authorities over this investigation, ignoring every request to come in for questioning.
This is how things reached this point, where investigators felt they had no choice but to bring him in by force. Yoon is being investigated for one of the most serious political crimes there is: inciting an insurrection, which is punishable by life in prison or death.
Yoon has also spurred on his supporters, who have gathered in force outside his residence every day since the arrest warrant was issued. He sent them a letter on New Years' Day thanking them for "working hard" to defend both him and the country.
Although most people in South Korea are upset and angry at Yoon's decision to impose martial law, a core of his supporters have stayed loyal. Some even camped overnight, in freezing temperatures, to try and stop police reaching his home.
Many told me this morning they were prepared to die to protect Yoon, and repeated the same unfounded conspiracy theories that Yoon himself has floated – that last year's election was rigged, and the country had been infiltrated by pro-North Korea forces. They held up signs reading "stop the steal", a slogan they chanted over and over.
Attention is also now on South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok, and how far his powers extend; whether he could and should sack the president's security chief and force the team to allow his arrest. The opposition party says police should be arresting anyone who stands in their way.
Although investigators have until 6 January to attempt this arrest again – this is when the warrant runs out - it is unlikely they will go in once more without changing their strategy or negotiating with the security team in advance. They will want to avoid a repeat of today's failure.
They also have to contend with the throngs of Yoon's supporters, who now feel victorious and empowered. They believe they are largely responsible for the authorities' climb down. "We've won, we did it," they have been singing all afternoon.
As their confidence grows, so will their numbers, especially with the weekend approaching.
© Lawrence Bryant/Reuters
（德国之声中文网）韩国总统尹锡悦12月3日突然发布戒严令而震惊全国。本周五（1月3日），韩国高级公职人员犯罪调查处（公调处）和警察前往总统官邸试图拘留尹锡悦。不过，在对峙近六小时后，公调处决定停止拘留尹锡悦。
此前，周五清晨，数百名尹锡悦支持者聚集在总统官邸附近，誓言“以生命”阻止拘留尹锡悦。
据路透社报道，公调处及警方人员于周五早7时抵达总统官邸大门，并步行进入。一名公调处人员向媒体表示，进入总统官邸后，总统警卫处人员和军警人数超过了前往执行拘留的公调处和警方人员。
他补充说，200多名总统警卫人员和军警阻挡执行拘留人员进入。双方发生争执。他表示，警卫人员似携带有武器，但无人拔枪。
这名公调处人员表示，尹锡悦本人在双方对峙期间没有露面。
周五下午1时30分左右，公调处取消了拘留尹锡悦的行动。公调处表示，这是出于担心人员安全，并表示“对尹锡悦的不服从行为深表遗憾”。公调处表示将考虑下一步行动。
尹锡悦律师：公调处无权调查内乱罪
内乱罪是韩国总统不拥有豁免权的少数刑事指控之一。
据韩联社报道，公调处过去两周以涉嫌带头发动内乱和滥用职权妨碍权利行使为由，三度传唤尹锡悦接受调查。但尹锡悦均未予响应。随后，公调处向法院提请签发尹锡悦拘留令。上周二（12月31日），首尔西部地方法院批准了对尹锡悦的拘留令，有效期至1月6日。
周五公调处停止拘留行动后，尹锡悦的法律团队在一份声明中称，公调处无权调查内乱罪，并对公调处试图在敏感安全地区执行非法拘留令感到遗憾。声明称总统官邸是“与国家安全直接相关的安全设施”。
法院目前颁发的对尹锡悦的拘留令只允许调查人员对尹锡悦拘留48 小时。此后，调查人员必须决定是否再次申请拘留令或释放他。
突如其来的戒严令
12月3日尹锡悦深夜宣布实施戒严令，以摆脱政治困境并“铲除反国家势力”，震惊了亚洲第四大经济体。韩国被视为该地区最具活力的民主国家之一。
不过，在数小时内，190名议员不顾军队和警察的封锁，投票反对尹锡悦的命令。在颁布戒严令约六小时后，尹锡悦宣布撤销戒严令。
尹锡悦后来对自己的决定进行了坚决辩护，称国内政治对手同情朝鲜，并引用了未经证实的选举舞弊指控。
对尹锡悦的弹劾案正在宪法法院审理，以决定是否恢复其职务或永久免职。该案的第二场庭前听证会已于本周五举行，由此完成庭前准备程序。宪法法院定于1月14日进行首次正式庭审，开始辩论程序。
朝媒报道韩国政局
朝鲜媒体发表了关于韩国政治动荡的详细报道，包括对尹锡悦发出的拘留令，称他“顽固拒绝接受调查，完全用谎言否认自己的罪行”。
朝鲜一直对尹锡悦持严厉批评态度，称其对平壤采取强硬政策，并以此为由将韩国称为“头号敌对国”，宣布放弃统一作为国家目标。
（路透社、韩联社）
©2025年德国之声版权声明：本文所有内容受到著作权法保护，如无德国之声特别授权，不得擅自使用。
The magpie in its various species is common throughout much of the world, and in Europe has become associated with various folk tales and behaviours. A member of the family Corvidae (crows), it’s smart and capable of near-human skills such as working in teams and playing games. There are long-held associations with both good and evil, and an old English nursery rhyme starting “One for sorrow, two for joy” to express that ambivalence. They also have a justified reputation for collecting shiny objects, another of their human behaviours.
Although an everyday species, magpies are surprisingly popular in paintings, albeit in cameo appearances rather than as stars. One association in classical myth is with the nine daughters of King Pierus, the Pierides, who were turned into birds after being defeated by the Muses in a contest of song. While they’re often said to have become magpies, that’s now considered erroneous, and they were actually turned into jays.
Hendrick van Balen’s Minerva and the Nine Muses (c 1610) shows all the key figures involved. The nine Muses are seated, forming a small orchestra with their contemporary rather than classical instruments. Minerva, at the left, is being engaged by a tenth woman, whose identity isn’t clear. In the far distance, just beyond a waterfall, Pegasus is about to take off from a high cliff. Above there are two magpies, implying the imminent arrival of the Pierides.
From the early Northern Renaissance onwards, magpies feature in several prominent European paintings.
Out in the garden, midway between their knees, in Jan van Eyck’s Madonna of Chancellor Rolin from about 1435, there are two magpies, presumably here signifying joy. They’re shown in the detail below.
Another appears on the exterior tondo of Hieronymus Bosch’s Wayfarer triptych from 1500-10. This shows the figure of a travelling man in the foreground, against a countryside background with a single tumbledown building. To the right is a small field gate and a tree, behind which is a single magpie on the ground, and a cow. This could be ‘one for sorrow’ given in the rhyme.
In Jacopo Tintoretto’s Susannah and the Elders from about 1555, immediately above her head is a magpie, presumably for its association with mischief and theft. This is clearer in the detail below.
The associations in Pieter Brueghel the Elder’s Magpie on the Gallows (1568) are darker still.
It has been suggested that this painting may allude to popular proverbs, such as ‘dancing on the gallows’ meaning mocking the state, or the folk role of the magpie as a gossip (and Ovid’s story of the Pierides), and gossip as being life-endangering in times of political tension. The magpie is shown in the detail below.
Magpies are capable of speaking, although not as well as parrots. I’m unsure whether that’s Alessandro Magnasco’s reference in his unusual painting of The Tame Magpie (Teaching the Magpie to Sing) from about 1707. Against a backdrop of ruins, a motley assortment of misfits and the poor are seen watching the young man in the centre trying to teach the tame magpie on the barrels to sing.
Around 1870, Monet, Renoir, and Pissarro painted many snow scenes. One of Monet’s best-known is paradoxically The Magpie (1868-9), where the bird is probably the smallest and least conspicuous part of the whole motif.
A magpie also makes a cameo appearance in Luc-Olivier Merson’s marvellous painting of The Wolf of Agubbio from 1877. Set in the town’s central piazza, it’s a cold winter’s day, so cold that the waters of its grand fountain are frozen as they cascade over its stonework. As the townspeople go about their business, there’s the large wolf of its title with a prominent halo, standing at the door of the butcher’s shop. Leaning out from that door, the butcher is handing a piece of meat to the wolf. In the details are a menagerie of creatures, including a magpie in the entrance to the butcher’s, as seen in the detail below.
© Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
Getty ImagesProposals on the long-term funding of adult social care in England are unlikely to be delivered before 2028 at the earliest, the government has confirmed.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting is promising "to finally grasp the nettle on social care reform", with an independent commission due to begin work in April.
But the commission, chaired by Baroness Louise Casey, is not due to publish its final report until 2028.
Councils and care providers say it is too long to wait for reform of vital services which are already on their knees.
The government also announced immediate plans to get care workers to do more health checks, and a funding boost for services to help elderly and disabled people remain in their homes.
Social care means help for older or disabled people with day-to-day tasks like washing, dressing, medication and eating.
Only those with the most complex health needs get social care provided free by the NHS, so most care is paid for by councils.
In England, only people with high needs and savings or assets of less than £23,250 are eligible for that help, leaving a growing number of people to fund themselves.
Some face paying hundreds of thousands of pounds for their care and may be forced to sell their own home as a result.
The government's ultimate aim is "a new National Care Service, able to meet the needs of older and disabled people into the 21st Century", said Streeting.
He said he had invited opposition parties to take part in the commission "to build a cross-party consensus to ensure the National Care Service survives governments of different shades, just as our NHS has for the past 76 years".
Baroness Casey - who has led several high-profile reviews, including into homelessness, the Rotherham child exploitation scandal and the Metropolitan Police - said she was pleased "to lead this vital work".
She is viewed in government as being straight-talking, with good cross-party links, and as someone who gets things done.
Even so, drawing up a plan for a National Care Service that meets the needs of an ageing population and is affordable is perhaps her biggest challenge yet.
There is agreement that the care system has been in crisis for years, struggling with growing demand, under-funding and staff shortages.
The problem has been getting political agreement on how overdue reform will be funded.
In 2010, Labour plans to fund social care were labelled a "death tax"' in that year's election, and Conservative plans were called a "dementia tax" in the 2017 election.
There have also been numerous commissions, reviews and inquiries over the past 25 years which have failed to bring change.
The 2011 Dilnot Commission plan for a cap on individual care costs came closest, making it into legislation, but was not implemented.
It was finally scrapped by the new Labour government last summer because it said the last Conservative administration had not set aside the money to fund the reform.
However, providing enough support for people in their own homes, care homes and supported living remains a pressing issue.
The care systems in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are slightly more generous, but all are facing the pressures of growing demand and squeezed finances.
"Our ageing society, with costs of care set to double in the next 20 years, demands longer-term action," said Streeting.
The government had promised a National Care Service in its manifesto, although provided little detail.
The independent commission will work with users of care services, their families, staff, politicians and the public to recommend how best to build a care service to meet current and future needs.
"Millions of older people, disabled people, their families and carers rely upon an effective adult social care system to live their lives to the full with independence and dignity," said Baroness Casey.
"An independent commission is an opportunity to start a national conversation, find the solutions and build consensus on a long-term plan to fix the system."
The commission will report to the prime minister and its work will be split into two phases.
Phase one will identify critical issues and recommend medium-term improvements. This will report by mid-2026.
Phase two will look at how to organise care services and fund them for the future. This report is not due until 2028 - a year before the next election.
The King's Fund independent health think-tank urged the government to "accelerate the timing".
"The current timetable to report by 2028 is far too long to wait for people who need social care, and their families," said its chief executive, Sarah Woolnough.
Councils, which are under huge financial pressure, pay for care services for most people.
Melanie Williams, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, agreed that the "timescales are too long".
She believes much of the evidence and options on how to reform adult social care are already known and worries that "continuing to tread water until a commission concludes will be at the detriment of people's health and well-being".
About 835,000 people received publicly funded care in 2022, according to the King's Fund. The charity Age UK estimates there are about two million people in England who have unmet care needs - and according to workforce organisation Skills for Care, while 1.59 million people work in adult social care in England, there are currently 131,000 vacancies.
Helen Walker, the head of Carers UK, which represents millions of unpaid people who provide care to family members, said families were "under intense pressure and providing more care than ever before"
When older or disabled people are unable to get the help they need in the community they are more likely to end up in hospital, or get stuck on a ward when they are ready to leave.
Amanda Pritchard, NHS England chief executive, said: "We hope this vital action plan and commitment to create a National Care Service will both help better support people and ease pressure on hospital wards."
The government also confirmed an extra £86m would be spent before the end of the financial year in April to help thousands more elderly and disabled people to remain in their homes.
The money is on top of a similar sum announced in the Budget for the next financial year.
Overall, it should allow 7,800 disabled and elderly people to make vital improvements to their homes which should increase their independence and reduce hospitalisations, says the government.
Other changes include:
Getty ImagesThe number of people with flu in hospital in England has risen sharply over Christmas, NHS chiefs warn.
The latest data shows there were 5,000 patients in hospital with the virus at the end of last week - almost 3.5 times higher than the same week in 2023.
The levels are not as high as those reached in the same period in 2022.
The figures come as top doctors warn about the impact of very cold weather over this weekend on vulnerable patients and the health system.
Professor Julian Redhead, NHS national clinical director for urgent and emergency care, said: "These latest figures show the pressure from flu was nowhere near letting up before we headed into the New Year, skyrocketing to over 5,000 cases a day in hospital as of the end of last week and rising at a very concerning rate.
"With what looks like an extreme cold snap expected right across England ahead of the weekend, we know the low temperatures can be dangerous for those who are vulnerable or have respiratory conditions".
Prof Redhead says people at risk should try and keep warm and make sure they are stocked up on any regular medication.
ReutersA day of high drama has drawn to an end in South Korea, with investigators suspending an attempt to arrest ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol after a six-hour standoff with the security team outside his home.
"We've determined that the arrest is impossible," said the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), which has been investigating Yoon's short-lived martial law declaration.
"Next steps will be decided after review," the CIO said, adding that Yoon's "refusal of the legal process" is "deeply regrettable".
Yoon's supporters, who have been camped out in front of the presidential residence for days, cheered in song and dance as the suspension was announced. "We won," they chanted.
Investigators have until 6 January to arrest Yoon, before the warrant expires. However they can apply for a new warrant and try to detain him again.
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