International
The British Government activates emergency measures due to saturation in English prisons
The British Government announced on Monday that it has activated emergency measures to prevent overcrowding in English prisons, due to the increase in those convicted of the violent riots that broke out two weeks ago.
The measures, activated under the so-called ‘Operation Early Dawn’, allow the accused to be held in police stations cells and not have to appear before a court until a place is available in a prison.
The emergency provisions affect the regions of the north of England, such as Yorkshire, Cumbria, Lancashire, Manchester, Mersydide and Cheshire.
The prison system in England, already quite saturated, has been overwhelmed by the recent increase in those convicted of violent acts.
The anti-immigration riots were instigated by far-right groups in response to the knife attack three weeks ago in a recreational center in Southport, in the English northwest, where an aggressor killed three girls and injured ten other people.
The Secretary of State for Prisons, James Timpson, said today that the Labour Executive “has inherited a judicial system in crisis” and, therefore, “we have been forced to make difficult but necessary decisions to keep it in operation,” so “Operation Early Dawn has been activated to manage the pressure felt in some parts of the country.”
Nev Kemp, deputy director of the National Council of Police Chiefs, told the media that law enforcement will continue to make arrests in order to “maintain the safety of the public, including the surveillance of protests and events and the guarantee that people will be arrested, as expected.”
According to the Government, the rapid measures to prosecute and accuse those responsible for the riots “have exacerbated the capacity problems that have already existed for a long time in our prisons.”
More than 470 people have been accused of various crimes after the revolts that broke out in several British cities, where numerous people – in many cases with their faces covered – threw stones, bottles and cans against the police who tried to contain the violence, but also attacked hotels that housed asylum seekers and mosques.
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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