South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol lifted martial law early Wednesday, just hours after imposing it, following a dramatic nighttime confrontation that saw troops surrounding parliament and lawmakers voting unanimously to reject military rule.

The declaration was formally rescinded at 4:30 a.m. during an emergency Cabinet meeting, after being in effect for approximately six hours, according to the Associated Press. The retreat came as troops and police were seen withdrawing from parliament grounds following a bipartisan vote to overrule the president's decree.

National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik had swiftly declared the martial law "invalid" and promised that lawmakers would "protect democracy with the people." All 190 lawmakers present voted to lift the extraordinary measures.

The president's unprecedented move, reminiscent of the country's authoritarian era of the 1980s, drew immediate condemnation from both the opposition and the leader of his own conservative party. The declaration allowed the military to restrict press freedom, assembly rights, and judicial powers.

Lee Jae-myung, who heads the liberal Democratic Party holding the majority in the 300-seat parliament, led his party's lawmakers in occupying the Assembly's main hall until the order was formally lifted.

In Washington, the White House expressed serious concern over the developments in Seoul. A National Security Council spokesperson told the Associated Press that President Joe Biden's administration had not been notified in advance and was in contact with South Korean officials. At the Pentagon, spokesman Maj Gen Pat Ryder said the situation did not affect the more than 27,000 US service members stationed in South Korea.

Protesters gathered outside parliament, with some engaging in scuffles with troops. One demonstrator attempted to grab a soldier's rifle while shouting "Aren't you embarrassed?" At least one window was broken as troops tried to enter the Assembly building, though no major injuries or property damage were reported.

While announcing the lifting of martial law, Yoon continued criticizing parliament, accusing lawmakers of "unscrupulous acts of legislative and budgetary manipulation that are paralyzing the functions of the state."

The declaration marked South Korea's first implementation of martial law since its democratization in 1987. The country's previous martial law period occurred in October 1979, following the assassination of former military dictator Park Chung-hee.

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The World Health Organization is working with Cambodian authorities after two confirmed human cases of H5N1 bird flu were found in one family in the country.

Describing the situation as "worrying" due to the recent rise in cases in birds and mammals, Dr. Sylvie Briand, the director of the epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, told reporters in a virtual briefing that WHO was reviewing its global risk assessment in light of the recent developments.

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Cambodian authorities on Thursday reported the death of an 11-year-old girl due to H5N1 and began testing 12 of her contacts. Her father, who had been showing symptoms, has also tested positive for the virus.

"The global H5N1 situation is worrying given the wide spread of the virus in birds around the world and the increasing reports of cases in mammals including humans," Briand said. "WHO takes the risk from this virus seriously and urges heightened vigilance from all countries."

In February, Argentina and Uruguay each declared national sanitary emergencies after officials confirmed the countries' first infections. Argentina found the virus in wild birds, while dead swans in Uruguay tested positive.

Countries including Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia in recent months reported their first cases.

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China's population decrease for the first time in decades last year as its birthrate plunged, official figures showed Tuesday, adding to pressure on leaders to keep the economy growing despite an aging workforce and at a time of rising tension with the U.S.

Despite the official numbers, some experts believe China's population has been in decline for a few years – a dramatic turn in a country that once sought to control such growth through a one-child policy.

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"China has become older before it has become rich," said Yi Fuxian, a demographer and expert on Chinese population trends at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The National Bureau of Statistics reported Tuesday that the country had 850,000 fewer people at the end of 2022 than the previous year. The tally includes only the population of mainland China, excluding Hong Kong and Macao and foreign residents.

Over 1 million fewer babies were born than the previous year amid a slowing economy and widespread pandemic lockdowns, according to official figures. The bureau reported 9.56 million births in 2022; deaths ticked up to 10.41 million.

The last time China is believed to have experienced a population decline was during the Great Leap Forward, a disastrous drive for collective farming and industrialization launched by then-leader Mao Zedong at the end of the 1950s that produced a massive famine that killed tens of millions of people.

China has sought to bolster its population since officially ending its one-child policy in 2016. Since then, China has tried to encourage families to have second or even third children, with little success, reflecting attitudes in much of east Asia where birth rates have fallen precipitously. In China, the expense of raising children in cities is often cited as a cause.

The statistics bureau said the working-age population between 16 and 59 years old totaled 875.56 million, accounting for 62% of the national population, while those aged 65 and older totaled 209.78 million, accounting for 14.9% of the total.

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The United Nations estimated last year that the world's population reached 8 billion on Nov. 15 and that India will replace China as the world's most populous nation in 2023. India's last census was scheduled for 2022 but was postponed amid the pandemic.

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Israel's Aleph Farms, which grows steaks directly from animal cells that are not genetically engineered and not immortalized, has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with two of Asia's largest food companies, global protein leader Thai Union and Korean food and lifestyle company CJ CheilJedang, the company announced this week.

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Asia is leading the global food industry in supporting and adopting cell-cultured meats. Singapore is the first country in the world to approve cultivated meat and to offer it on a restaurant menu.  Cultured chicken had its global debut in Asia, a region of the world that, while vulnerable to food insecurity and struggling with scarcity of natural resources, is also seeing increased meat consumption thanks to rising income, growing populations and increased urbanization.

Thai Union and CJ CheilJedang are expected to help to accelerate Aleph's scale-up, go-to-market activities and elevate distribution of cultivated meat in existing marketing channels across the APAC region. Aleph Farms announced a similar agreement with Mitsubishi in Japan.

Recently, Aleph Farms raised $105 million in a Series B round led by L Catterton, the largest global consumer-focused private equity firm, and DisruptAD, ADQ's venture platform, and included participation from Temasek, a global investment company headquartered in Singapore.

"We are excited to partner with key players in the Asia market and establish a new category of meat products to address increasing consumption in the region," said Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO of Aleph Farms.

"We carefully consider partnerships that reflect our core values and sustainability commitments, and both Thai Union and CJ share our resolutions for achieving carbon-neutrality and enhancing food security for all people of Asia and around the world. Temasek is an ideal investment partner with an intrinsic understanding of the Asian market," Toubia said.

"We are highly excited to deepen the relationship with Aleph Farms to explore the market potential of alternative beef produced from cultured cells," said Sze Cotte Tan, CTO of Food R&D at CJ CheilJedang. "We are at the forefront of a trend in Asia food industry as Asian consumers show increasing interest in alternative proteins, and we have the opportunity to lead consumption patterns toward a more sustainable, resilient future that benefits all of Asia and the world."

Beef is Southeast Asia's second fastest growing meat category, with consumption expected to increase as much as 16% by 2022 in a region that, historically speaking, has primarily consumed fish and other seafood. Research from Thai Union and Aleph Farms reveals that 74% of Singaporeans and 97% of Thais are willing to try cultivated meat. In Singapore, a key motivator for trying cultivated meat is the environmental benefits, while in Thailand, diners favor the ability to trace the meat's origins.

Thai Union is closely tracking changing consumer demands and the need to find new, sustainable ways to meet increased global protein demands to respond to the growing population of the world. Thiraphong Chansiri, President and CEO of Thai Union, said "Following our investment, we are excited to work with Aleph Farms, which is already well known for its technological advancement and strong commitment to sustainability, to further explore collaboration opportunities in Asia."

Aleph Farms revealed the world's first cultivated beef steak in 2018, produced meat in space in 2019 and cultivated the world's first ribeye steak earlier this year. The company is planning an initial market launch in 2022, pending regulatory approval.

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The UN chief told a Security Council ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders that "the new frontier is cyberterrorism – the use of social media and the dark web to coordinate attacks, spread propaganda and recruit new followers."

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He stressed that the response to the unprecedented terrorist threat "must complement security measures with prevention efforts that identify and address root causes, while always respecting human rights."

Russia, which holds the council presidency this month, organized the meeting on cooperation between the UN and three Eurasian organizations in countering terrorism – the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The United States and its Western allies echoed the secretary-general, stressing the importance of respecting human rights in counterterrorism operations.

"Efforts to counterterrorism that do not respect human rights ultimately breed resentment and violent extremism," US Deputy Ambassador Jonathan Cohen said. "When member states or regional organizations conflate terrorism with nonviolent political dissent, they do a disservice not only to the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms but to our global effort to defeat terrorism."

He said the world is witnessing this "dangerous approach" in Syria, where the government and its Russian allies "justify as legitimate counterterrorist operations airstrikes on civilians, schools, ambulances, and hospitals that have killed over a thousand people since April and wounded over 2,000."

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that the "terrorist threat" coming from Syria and Iraq is very rapidly spreading through Africa, including Libya, "and Central, southern, and Southeast Asia are also becoming areas where savage acts of terrorism are perpetrated."

Alluding to Western criticism, he said, "The double standards used by some countries make it more difficult to react to the challenges today, including the terrorist challenges."

"It is unacceptable – I underscore that – using terrorist entities for political purposes," Lavrov said. "There can be no justification for this."

Vladimir Norov, secretary-general of the eight-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization, said the fight against terrorism and related threats is one of its main activities and called Wednesday's meeting "extremely timely" because of increasing instability in the world due to the terrorist threat and its emerging link to transnational crime.

He said fighters that supported the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq "are striving to create new strongholds, including in the Eurasian space." And he warned that "the threat of their access to radioactive and toxic substances is growing, and their possible use of new types of financing and weapons."

The organization, which counts among its members Russia, China, India, and Pakistan, has half the world's population and is regarded as the primary security pillar in the region, but Norov stressed that "it's not a military organization aimed at other states."

Valery Semerikov, secretary-general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, told the council, "The world is under threat of global terrorism" and joint work to combat it is needed today.

He said the organization, a six-nation military alliance of Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Belarus, made an open appeal to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in May "on increasing trust and developing cooperation" in countering global threats and challenges.

"I would like to address the foreign ministers of NATO and ask them to consider and react to the open appeal lodged by the ministers of foreign affairs of the CSTO," Semerikov said.

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The company said it will invest about $50 million at its plant near the Dead Sea, where it has exclusive rights in Israel to extract minerals. It anticipates the expansion will generate additional revenues of $110 million a year starting in 2021.

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The expansion will increase production capacity of TBBA (tetrabromobisphenol A), a bromine compound used primarily in the manufacturing of printed circuit boards for the electronics industry, by up to 25,000 metric tons annually, it said.

The new agreements in Asia follow a decrease in bromine production in China, said Israel Chemicals, the world's largest producer of bromine and bromine-based products.

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According to the report, EU countries accounted for 41% of imports, whereas 14% of imports were of US origin. Imports from Asia accounted for 23% and 22% were from the rest of the world.

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Israel's trade deficit stood at 7.2 billion shekels ($2 billion) for that period, the report said.

For the period of January to May 2019, Israel's trade deficit stood at 8.6 billion shekels ($2.4 billion), compared to 3.2 billion shekels ($890 million) in the comparable period in 2018.

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