about two years ago from a man who was very close to president park geun-hye's longtime friend choi soon-sil. they started digging into the connections with two non-profit organizations. >> translator: we thought there was pressure coming from somewhere that forced the conglomerates to donate money. >> reporter: then they got proof that showed choi was very influential even with presidential aides. they found a video that showed one of park's aides was very loyal to choi. choi's since been indicted on charges of coercion and conspireing to abuse the president's power. >> translator: the media should act as a watchdog for people in power, but generally speaking, it doesn't play its role as much as it did before. on the other hand, we as a newly established channel have a fighting spirit and enthusiasm. >> reporter: the cable channel, jtcb, was also heavily involved in covering the influence-peddling scandal. in october, they broke the story saying they obtained presidential documents from choi's tablet pc. a recent survey shows jtbc is the top outlet for deliveringing information on the scand

what is choi soon—sil going to be asked in court? it is going to be formalities.of media are here. she went in on a bus, with windows that are closed to the public. it is about formalities and who you are going to call, what witnesses, what might the argument be to both sides. so it is very much a matter of formality to begin in about 30 minutes. having said that, this is the main court in central seoul and it will be fast tracked, so we could actually get a full trial within weeks even. the fundamental charge is that she received secret documents from the president. she is still the president, even though she is impeached. she got money out of companies, but the accusation. she says there was nothing improper about it, there were mistakes made maybe but they didn't amount to criminal extortion of funds from big companies. that's the main argument. we are going to leave it there because the line is breaking up, but hopefully we will be back with us in a few hours on bbc world news. ntu. —— thank you. aid workers have told the bbc that an increasing number of migra

that friend is choi soon-sil. she was accused of receiving confidential government documents from park. furthermore, it was alleged choi used her relationship with park to pressure conglomerates to donate money to two non-profits she's connected to. choi, along with two of park's aides and even a music video director, has since been indicted on numerous charges including coercion and conspiring to abuse the president's power. the scandal led to weekly protests across the country, the biggest since south korea democratized in 1987. it crippled park's ability to governor and led to her making three national public apologies. now that park is suspended, the country's prime minister will take over her duties. the next step is for the constitutional court to weigh in. it will have 180 days to decide whether to overturn the motion or to follow through with kicking her out of office. if she's forced to step down, an election to choose her successor will be held within 60 days. then there's the issue of the special prosecu

choi soon—sil is accused of extortion and abuse of power. 0ur correspondent, steve evans, has been followingass. in the court she said virtually nothing. through her lawyer she denied that anything she had done was criminal. there may have been misjudgement, but it didn't amount to serious crime. she said nothing apart from saying, "i agree with my lawyer." this matter may now proceed pretty quickly. this is the main court in seoul. separately, president park who is stripped of her power, though she remains the title president has also denied that anything that was done, that was wrong, amounted to serious crime. president park's argument is that it was misjudgement and not crime and certainly not anything serious enough to mean that she should be stripped from office and kicked out of the presidency. christmas is less than a week a way, and it's not only the children who are excited — it's one of the busiest times of year for the toy industry. it's a critical season for the likes of mattel, lego and hasbro and hundreds of others all hoping their toy is top of the present wish list. aaron he

choi soon—sil was interviewed behind closed doors, after the authorities refused to allow a televised the closure of australia's famous national park at uluru. waterfalls appeared on the landmark, also known as ayres rock, in central australia. the bureau of meteorology described the massive christmas storm as a once—in—half—a—century weather event. the world's fastest land animal, the cheetah, is said to be rapidly heading for extinction. a study by the national academy of sciences in the us says cheetahs a study by the national academy of sciences in the us says cheetahs are coming increasingly into conflict with human beings as they roam far beyond protected areas. 0nly around 7,000 cheetahs now remain in the wild across africa and in a small area of iran. doctor laurie marker, founder of cheetah conservation, has been telling me why the numbers are falling. it's certainly bringing the numbers together from all the years of research that a collective group of us research that a collective group of us have been involved in showing that the numbers are primarily outside of protected

choi soon—sil was interviewed behind closed doors after the authorities refused to allow a televised sailing around the world single—handed without stopping. in his fifth attempt, it just took 49 days for thomas coville to beat the previous record, also set by a frenchman, francis joyon. daniela relph has the story. he looked as though he couldn't quite believe he had done it. the arrival in the port of brest in north—west france, the moment thomas coville truly knew the weeks of long, lonely, gruelling days were over. 0n the quayside, hundreds out to welcome him back. 49 days after he left on his round the world trip. family, friends and others who'd made this journey possible. addressing the crowd, he said he had felt an intense and deepjoy. he told them he had tried, he had dared, he had never given up and today it had worked out. it was thomas coville's fifth attempt at breaking the record. alone in his boat, he had rarely slept for more than three hours at a time. his solo route around the world had taken him from brest, past the cape of good hope and cape horn. he travelled aro

it stems from accusations that she granted special favors and access to choi soon-sil, a long- time confidante's also accused of arranging for choi to receive classified documents. choi has been indicted on charges of using her influence to bully businesses into donating nearly $70 million to her charity. president park denies any criminal wrongdoing, but her standing in public opinion polls has plunged to just 4%. the drama has raised concerns that north korea-- with its active nuclear weapons development program-- might try to take advantage of political troubles in the south, where nearly 30,000 u.s. troops are stationed. >> we're going to continue to meet all our alliance commitments, especially with respect to defending against the threats we've seen emanating from north korea. >> reporter: for now, president park's duties will fall to the prime minister, while south korea's constitutional court decides whether to uphold her ouster. for the pbs newshour, i'm margaret warner. >> woodruff: a dutch court convicted anti-islam lawmaker geert wilders of hate speech today. the judges found wild