International
Israeli far-right minister asks the US to “respect” its rejection of the truce in Gaza
Israel’s Finance Minister, the anti-Arab ultra-nationalist Bezalel Smotrich, asked the United States to “respect Israeli democracy and the position of its officials,” after the Government of the North American country criticized him for rejecting a possible truce with the Islamist group Hamas.
“Just as the United States would reject international pressure to reach a surrender agreement with Al Qaeda and Bin Laden, Israel will not be subjected to any external pressure that could damage its security,” the minister wrote on social network X.
“I respect the position of the United States and thank it for its support of Israel in the face of regional threats, but I hope it respects Israeli democracy and the position of the citizens of Israel and its elected officials,” he added.
The United States, Israel’s main partner and supplier of weapons, is also a mediator – along with Qatar and Egypt – in the war between the Jewish State and the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip.
On Thursday, the mediating countries demanded that Israel and Hamas “resume urgent discussions on August 15 in Doha or Cairo to close all remaining gaps and begin the implementation of the agreement without further delay.”
The initiative received extensive support from the international community, and even Israel – which is receiving more and more pressure to sign the agreement – agreed to send a delegation with the mediators.
However, Smotrich said that the draft of the truce agreement – prepared by US President Joe Biden – is a “dangerous trap” that creates “an illusory symmetry between Israeli hostages (…) and despicable terrorists.”
The Biden government will not allow “extremists,” even in Israel, to deviate talks about the ceasefire from their course, White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said on Friday.
“The idea that [Biden] would support an agreement that puts Israel’s security at risk is simply erroneous, outrageous, absurd,” the spokesman stressed, stressing that Smotrich “should be embarrassed.”
However, the far-right minister returned to the charge this Saturday: “The surrender agreement lets most of the kidnapped die, frees many murderers, returns terrorists to the north of the Gaza Strip, leaves the border and allows Hamas to smuggle weapons and restore its power to return and attack Israel,” he wrote in X.
“No criticism or attack will distract me from the goal,” he concluded.
Until now, the agreement had been stalled by Hamas’ demand that the ceasefire be definitive, and the insistence of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to resume fighting until the Islamist group was “extinguished”.
The war broke out on October 7 of last year after a Hamas attack on Israel that left about 1,200 dead and 251 kidnapped. Currently, 111 hostages remain in the Strip, although at least 39 would have lost their lives.
After more than 10 months of escalation, the Israeli offensive has left in the Gaza Strip almost 40,000 dead – mostly children and women – more than 90,000 injured, 10,000 missing under the rubble and 1.9 million displaced people who survive in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
International
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump criticized what he described as unfair fees imposed on American ships passing through the Panama Canal and threatened to demand that Washington take back control of the strategic waterway.
“Our Navy and commerce have been threatened in a very unjust and reckless way. The rates that Panama charges are ridiculous,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The president-elect also denounced the growing influence of China in the canal, a situation he called concerning as U.S. businesses depend on the waterway to transport goods between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
“This complete scam against our country will end immediately,” he stated.
The Panama Canal, completed by the United States in 1914, was handed over to Panama under the 1977 treaty signed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Panama took full control of the commercial passage in 1999.
“It was exclusively for Panama to manage, not China or anyone else,” Trump said. “We would never allow it to fall into the wrong hands!”
“If Panama cannot guarantee a ‘safe, efficient, and reliable’ operation of the canal, we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us in its entirety, without a doubt,” the Republican added.
Panamanian authorities did not immediately respond to Trump’s statements. While he will assume office on January 20, Trump has been exerting his political influence in the final days of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Five percent of global maritime trade passes through the Panama Canal, which allows vessels traveling from Asia to the U.S. East Coast to avoid the long and dangerous route around the southern tip of South America.
The countries that use the Panama Canal the most are the United States, China, Japan, and South Korea.
In October, the Panama Canal Authority reported earnings of nearly $5 billion in the last fiscal year.
International
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised more “destruction” in Ukraine on Sunday, in response to a drone strike that hit a residential building in the city of Kazan, located in central Russia, on Saturday.
Russia accused Ukraine of launching a “massive” drone attack, which struck a luxury apartment block in Kazan, about 1,000 kilometers from the border.
Videos shared on Russian social media show drones hitting a high-rise glass building. No casualties have been reported as a result of the attack.
In his statements, Putin addressed the local leader of Tatarstan, the region where Kazan is located, during a virtual ceremony marking the opening of a road.
The attack in Kazan is the latest in a series of increasingly frequent bombings in this nearly three-year-old conflict. Ukraine has not commented on the attack.
Putin had previously threatened to strike the center of Kyiv with a hypersonic ballistic missile in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities were retaliation for Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied missiles to target Russian territory.
International
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
At least nine people were killed on Sunday after a small aircraft crashed in a commercial area of the tourist city of Gramado, in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, authorities confirmed.
“There are nine confirmed deaths according to Civil Defense services, and there are no survivors from the plane,” said Cléber dos Santos Lima, director of the Interior Police Department of the Civil Police of the state, in a statement to AFP.
Authorities have not yet confirmed the exact number of passengers and crew aboard the aircraft, a turbo-prop Piper Cheyenne 400. However, Civil Defense had previously stated that “preliminarily, the plane was carrying ten people.”
The plane crashed on Sunday morning “into the chimney of a building, then onto the second floor of a house, and finally fell onto a furniture store,” according to a statement from the Rio Grande do Sul Public Security Secretariat.
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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