we're hearing forces. but now we're hearing that south korea's parliament has voted to block the president's declaration in a surprise live television address. yoon suk yeol said the move was necessary was a necessity to remove pro—north korean elements and safeguard the country's constitution. it comes as the president accused the nation's opposition of controlling the parliament,

sympathising with north korea and paralysing the government with anti—state activities. but now the south korean parliament speaker says that martial law declaration is invalid. these are currently live pictures in the capital seoul, where large crowds are gathering outside the national assembly building as soldiers and military vehicles have been seen in the area. downing street says it's closely monitoring developments in south korea. uk nationals are being advised to monitor travel updates . now two christmas updates. now two christmas masterchef specials have been pulled from the bbc's festive line—up after gregg wallace stepped down from hosting. the bbc confirmed that celebrity masterchef christmas cook—off and strictly festive extravaganza will no longer air following the ongoing investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour from 13 people over 17 years. in a statement, the broadcaster said

that while the current series of masterchef the professionals will continue, the celebrity specials no longer fit with their programming plans. the bbc has also pulled three repeats of inside the factory , which inside the factory, which wallace co—hosts his lawyers have denied the allegations, calling them entirely false . the calling them entirely false. the king has officially welcomed the emir of qatar to the uk for a two day state visit, with crowds lining the streets to witness the royal procession and military parades. in her most high profile engagement since her cancer treatment, the princess of wales greeted sheikh tamim and his wife at buckingham palace alongside prince william. meanwhile, queen camilla has scaled back her involvement after suffering from a chest infection. now confirmed as a form of pneumonia. a royal source says her condition has improved, but she continues to experience bouts of extreme tiredness . experience bouts of extreme tiredness. sir keir starmer experience bouts of extreme tiredness . sir keir starmer says tiredness. sir keir starmer says the uk won't choose between

america and europe, insisting both alliances are crucial in dangerous times. speaking at the lord mayor's banquet in london, the prime minister rejected calls for the uk that he must pick sides pledging to deepen ties with the us while rebuilding relationships in the eu . eu. >> the idea that we must choose between our allies , that somehow between our allies, that somehow we're with either america or europe is plain wrong . i reject europe is plain wrong. i reject it utterly . attlee did not it utterly. attlee did not choose between allies. churchill did not choose the national interest demands that we work with both . with both. >> in other news, the fate of the elgin marbles remains in the hands of the british museum after the prime minister and his greek counterpart failed to discuss the sculptures. when asked a spokesperson confirmed

the government has no plans to change the law, leaving the decision to the museums trustees. it remains unclear if a loan agreement will be reached for the iconic pieces. a loan agreement will be reached for the iconic pieces . andrew rt for the iconic pieces. andrew rt davies has quit as leader of the welsh conservatives, calling his position untenable. it follows a confidence vote this morning after some senate members threatened to resign from the shadow cabinet unless he stepped down. mr davies says a substantial minority of the group rejected his leadership strategy, leaving him with no choice but to resign . five choice but to resign. five members of an organised crime group that smuggled 2.7 tonnes of cocaine in a shipment of bananas have been jailed. they were arrested by organised crime partnership officers at an industrial estate in tottenham industrial estate in tottenham in february of 2021, after receiving 41 pallets of bananas, into which the cocaine had been stored. the drugs had a

different brand stamp on them, which corresponded to particular organised crime groups that were going to sell them on the streets of london and other parts of the uk. the drugs would have had an estimated street value of £210 million. well, those are your latest gb news headunes those are your latest gb news headlines for now. i'm lewis mckenzie. there's more from me in an hour's time. >> thank you very much for that. a nice, quiet day in the world there. i'm michelle dewberry and i'm keeping you company until 7:00 tonight alongside my panel, i've got alex dean, the political consultant, and mike buckley, the former labour advisor. good evening. good evening to you. very welcome. tonight as our each and every single one of you at home as well. there's lots to discuss, both both home and abroad. you can join the conversation in all the usual ways. you can email me gb views @gbnews. com go to the website gbnews.com/yoursay. or of course you can tweet or text

me. i've seen donald trump. he's been tweeting some quite no messing, no nonsense stuff on twitter, hasn't he.7 saying messing, no nonsense stuff on twitter, hasn't he? saying that he expects all the hostages to be released before he becomes president in january? he says there will be all hell to pay in there will be all hell to pay in the middle east if that does not happen, what do you think to that? so much we need to get into today . but it's not just into today. but it's not just about donald trump and some of the things that he's been saying. ladies and gents, i know because have you seen what's been happening in south korea? if he was walking past a tv set today, you might have just glanced up and thought to yourself that he was watching some kind of movie. some of the scenes armed police leo varadkar the military on the streets , helicopters in the streets, helicopters in the skies above. many people on the streets having absolutely none of it, trying to get themselves into parliament come what may. it's absolutely shocking scenes, andifs it's absolutely shocking scenes, and it's all because the president of south korea declared martial law. he says he wants to protect the country from north korean forces. what

is it with our unpopular leaders kind of trying to act like mini dictators in this day and age? joining me now is doctor lee jones, the professor of political economy and international relations. what do you think to that? what is going on? doctor lee jones. >> hi, michelle. well, on? doctor lee jones. >> hi, michelle. well , this is >> hi, michelle. well, this is an act of desperation, frankly, from a deeply unpopular president. he has approval ratings in the high teens and low 20s and has done for many months. he only narrowly won the 2022 presidential elections, and his party lost control of parliament in the legislative elections early this year. and so politics has basically been gridlocked because he can't get any of his legislation through parliament and parliament keeps trying to investigate him and his wife for corruption and to impeach government officials for not investigating this corruption thoroughly enough. so matters have come to a head over the budget bill. the president can't veto his own budget, but

parliament has amended the bill to impose various budget cuts, including to the prosecutor's office, which is yoons power base. yoon is a former government chief government prosecutor, and that's where he leapfrog from into the presidency. so the president essentially has declared martial law in order to try to eviscerate somehow the opposition and get his own way and salvage his own political career. and it really is, i think, an act of really profound desperation that has plunged south korea into a very serious political crisis . political crisis. >> and you talk about people , >> and you talk about people, leaders essentially being quite weak, but trying to act in certain ways to, i don't know , certain ways to, i don't know, egotistically. i suspect you would perhaps put it to try and get some curry favour, if you like, with on the international stage, rather than focusing enough on what's going on in their home territory. is that right? >> yeah, well, certainly president yoon has been unpopular and unable to get his

agenda through domestically almost since he was elected . and almost since he was elected. and what he's done instead is spent quite a lot of time overseas. he's been courted very heavily by the us and the wider west in the context of the confrontation with russia and with china. and he's been invited, for example, to nato summits and so on. and he made a state visit to the uk, indeed, and signed the downing street accord with prime minister, then prime minister rishi sunak . so he's definitely rishi sunak. so he's definitely been courted by the west. and it's much more popular with western governments than he is with his own people. and we often see this when people become very unpopular at home, they sort of escape accountability and escape the criticism and abuse that they're being subjected to domestically by flying off internationally and looking very important . but, and looking very important. but, you know, the west should have realised that yoon is a very weak and unrepresentative figure and that his foreign policy

stance of cosying up to the west probably won't last any longer than he does. and i think now with this, his days are probably numbered . the south korean numbered. the south korean people have a very strong record of mobilising en masse 1502 0