International
The Legal Medical Institute identifies all 62 victims of the plane crash in Brazil
The Medical Forensic Institute (IML) of São Paulo reported on Thursday that it concluded the identification of all 62 victims of the Voepass airline plane crash that occurred last week in this state of Brazil.
The agency indicated that it has already delivered the respective mortal remains to the relatives of 42 of the victims and that it hopes to release the rest this Thursday.
Of the 62 victims, 40 were identified by typing examinations and the others by analysis of their dental arch or by other physical characteristics.
The IML collected genetic samples from the relatives of all the victims, but it was not necessary to use genetic comparison methods to identify them, explained the superintendent of Technical-Scientific Police of the IML, Claudinei Salomão.
“The identification processes dispensed with complementary DNA tests because the experience we have allowed us to compare the bodies with pre-existing data, such as fingerprints or radiological images of the victims,” he said.
Despite the difficulties due to the state in which some of the bodies were left after the explosion and the fire that occurred after the fall, which destroyed a large part of the aircraft, the forensic doctors said that none of the corpses were completely charred.
Those responsible for the investigation of the accident managed to recover all the information contained in the black boxes of the crashed plane and promise to deliver a preliminary report in 30 days.
The Brazilian Air Force clarified on Thursday in a statement that so far no media has had access to the contents of the black boxes, after Globo television published statements by the pilot allegedly taken from the transcript of the cabin recording.
According to that version, in the last minutes of the flight the co-pilot is heard saying that the plane was without power.
The crashed plane, a twin-engine ATR-72-500 model and French manufacture, covered the route between the city of Cascavel and São Paulo with 58 passengers and 4 crew members on board and crashed when it had about 80 kilometers left to reach its destination.
The device crashed in the backyards of a set of residences in the municipality of Vinhedo, without affecting any building or leaving any victims on the ground.
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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