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Netanyahu Interfered 230 Times With News Site Coverage

Israeli demonstrators gather for a demonstration against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside his official residence in Jerusalem, calling upon him to resign on Nov. 28, 2020. Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images.
Israeli demonstrators gather for a demonstration against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside his official residence in Jerusalem, calling upon him to resign on Nov. 28, 2020. Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images.
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Netanyahu Interfered 230 Times With News Site Coverage

Israeli demonstrators gather for a demonstration against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside his official residence in Jerusalem, calling upon him to resign on Nov. 28, 2020. Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images.
Israeli demonstrators gather for a demonstration against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside his official residence in Jerusalem, calling upon him to resign on Nov. 28, 2020. Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images.

An amended indictment against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu filed by the State Prosecutor’s Office on Sunday details 230 instances in which Netanyahu or members of his family sought to improve coverage of them on the Walla news website while he served as communications minister.

In the most serious of the three cases against him - known as Case 4000 - Netanyahu is accused of providing regulatory benefits to Bezeq, the country’s largest telecommunications group, in exchange for positive media coverage on its news site Walla.

The amended version of the so-called Case 4000 removed all language referring to Netanyahu's family, zeroing in on the premier alone.

In addition, the prosecution listed in the amended indictment 315 incidents in which various Netanyahu family members or other intermediaries of the prime minister demanded that the Walla website give them more positive coverage.

Last May, Attorney General Avichai Mandelbilt officially delivered the Israeli Prime Minister’s indictment to Knesset Speaker -- Netanyahu will stand trial for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in three different corruption cases.

While his trial was scheduled back then, his lawyers obstructed the court’s activity. However, the Israel Judicial Authority announced a strict schedule that stipulates holding three sessions every week starting Jan 6.

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Seoul: 'At Least 100 North Koreans Killed' Fighting for Russia

South Korea's spy agency has said there are signs Kim Jong Un is planning a fresh deployment of forces for fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine. STR / KCNA VIA KNS/AFP
South Korea's spy agency has said there are signs Kim Jong Un is planning a fresh deployment of forces for fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine. STR / KCNA VIA KNS/AFP
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Seoul: 'At Least 100 North Koreans Killed' Fighting for Russia

South Korea's spy agency has said there are signs Kim Jong Un is planning a fresh deployment of forces for fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine. STR / KCNA VIA KNS/AFP
South Korea's spy agency has said there are signs Kim Jong Un is planning a fresh deployment of forces for fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine. STR / KCNA VIA KNS/AFP

At least 100 North Koreans deployed to support Russia's war effort in Ukraine have been killed since entering combat in December, South Korean lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun told reporters Thursday.
Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to reinforce the Russian military, including to the Kursk border region, where Ukrainian forces seized territory earlier this year.
"In December, they (North Korean troops) engaged in actual combat, during which at least 100 fatalities occurred," Lee said, speaking after a briefing by South Korea's spy agency.
"The National Intelligence Service also reported that the number of injured is expected to reach nearly 1,000."
Despite those losses, the agency also said it had detected signs North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was preparing to train a new special operations force to ship westward, AFP reported.
Lee noted that the North's elite Storm Corps -- from which the initial deployment was drawn -- had "the capacity to send reinforcements".
The NIS also predicted "that Russia might offer reciprocal benefits" for a new deployment, Lee said, including "modernizing North Korea's conventional weaponry".
The lawmaker added that "several North Korean casualties" had already been attributed to Ukrainian missile and drone attacks and training accidents, with the highest ranking "at least at the level of a general".
The NIS said the high number of casualties could be attributed to the "unfamiliar battlefield environment, where North Korean forces are being utilized as expendable frontline assault units, and their lack of capability to counter drone attacks," said Lee.
Burden or asset?
"Within the Russian military, complaints have reportedly surfaced that the North Korean troops, due to their lack of knowledge about drones, are more of a burden than an asset," Lee said.
His comments follow a senior US military official on Tuesday saying North Korean forces had suffered "several hundred" casualties fighting Ukrainian troops in Russia's Kursk region.
Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky previously said North Korean troops had been at the heart of an "intensive offensive" in Kursk.
North Korea and Russia have strengthened their military ties since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. A landmark defense pact between Pyongyang and Moscow signed in June came into force earlier this month.
Experts say North Korea's Kim is keen to acquire advanced technology from Russia and battle experience for his troops.
Pyongyang on Thursday lashed out at what it called "reckless provocation" by the United States and its allies for a joint statement criticizing North Korea's support for Russia's war in Ukraine, including the deployment of troops.
A foreign ministry spokesman said the 10 nations and the European Union (EU) were "distorting and slandering" Pyongyang's "normal cooperative" ties with Moscow, according to state media.