International
Guterres: “It’s time to give the Palestinians hope that there will be a Palestinian state”
The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, assured this Saturday that it is necessary to agree on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, release the hostages in the hands of the Islamist group Hamas and give hope for the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
“It’s time to create hope for the Palestinian people that there will be a Palestinian state,” Guterres said at a press conference from Arish airport in Egypt, after visiting the Rafah border crossing, which connects the Sinai peninsula with the Gaza Strip.
The head of the UN said that “everything possible” must be done to avoid an Israeli offensive in the Palestinian town of Rafah, in the southern end of the Strip and where about 1.5 million displaced people are crowded by the war that began on October 7.
“Everyone is going to assume their responsibilities with History. For me, it is clear: We need to avoid a catastrophic situation in Rafah,” Guterres said, adding that there is “a clear consensus” between the United States, the European Union, the UN and the international community against that ground offensive.
Asked how the effects of an offensive in Rafah could be mitigated, the diplomat replied: “Don’t ask me how I can guarantee that the Israeli Government does anything, because it is clear that the Israeli Government does not normally do what I ask.”
Guterres described the obstacles to the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip as “moral outrage”. According to the Egyptian authorities, more than 7,000 trucks loaded with assistance are waiting for instructions from Israel to enter the Palestinian enclave.
“A long line of rescue trucks blocked on one side of the door, and the long shadow of hunger on the other side. This is more than tragic. It’s a moral outrage,” Guterres said at a press conference from the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, which connects the Egyptian Sinai peninsula with the Gaza Strip.
The head of the UN, who today made his second visit to the border with Gaza since the beginning of the war on October 7, also warned against an Israeli operation in the Palestinian town of Rafah, in the extreme south of the Strip and where about 1.5 million displaced Gazans are crowded.
“All this shows that it’s time for an immediate ceasefire. I say it again. It’s time for a strong commitment by Israel to full and unrestricted access to humanitarian goods throughout Gaza,” Guterres urged.
He also appealed to the “spirit of compassion” of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan fasting for “the immediate release of all hostages” in the hands of the Islamist group Hamas.
“It is monstrous that after so much suffering for so many months the Palestinians in Gaza celebrate Ramadan while Israeli bombs continue to fall, bullets continue to fly, artillery continues to strike and humanitarian assistance continues to face obstacles behind obstacles,” the Portuguese lamented.
Upon his arrival in Egypt, Guterres met with the governor of the province of Northern Sinai, Mohamed Shosha, who told him that Israel “is hindering the entry of trucks” into Gaza due to severe restrictions and lengthy procedures, something that has caused about 7,000 trucks to have not yet been able to enter the enclave, according to a statement from the provincial administration.
The head of the UN reiterated that “nothing justifies the horrible attacks in Hamas of October 7,” in the same way that “nothing justifies the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” in reference to the retaliation of Israel – which has resulted in about 32,000 lives – for the attacks of the Islamist group that left about 1,200 dead.
“Now more than ever it’s time to achieve an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. It’s time to silence the weapons. Palestinian children, women and men in Gaza are still trapped in an incessant nightmare, communities destroyed, houses demolished, entire families and generations annihilated by hunger and starvation that stay the population,” Guterres recalled.
In this sense, he urged all UN member countries to support humanitarian work, after several countries suspended funding for the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) after Israel’s accusations against a dozen of its members of participating in the Hamas attacks.
“I want the Palestinians in Gaza to know that they are not alone. People from all over the world are outraged by the horrors that we all witness in real time (…) We have already seen enough. We have already had enough and we still believe that human dignity and decency must define us as a global community,” Guterres said.
International
85% of Haiti’s capital has fallen into the power of gangs, according to UN reports
The power of criminal gangs in Haiti continues to grow and at the moment they control about 85% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, according to “certain estimates” that this Monday were cited in the UN Security Council by Miroslav Jenca, Undersecretary General for Europe, Asia and the Americas in the UN Political Affairs Department.
The gangs have begun to attack the places of “relative security” that remained in the capital, such as the Petionville neighborhood, where UN offices, embassies and foreign personnel are located. There, an attack recorded last Tuesday left “dozens dead,” he said.
In response, spontaneous groups of neighbors have begun to organize armed patrols, to set up unofficial road controls “and to take justice into their hands,” Jenca lamented.
The number of displaced people reaches 700,000
In the vast areas where gangs have control, the security and human rights of their inhabitants are in danger, and especially those of women, since gang members resort to all forms of violence, often sexual violence, to subjugate neighbors.
This situation has caused 700,000 Haitians to flee their homes and are now in a situation of “internally displaced people.”
Despite this, neighboring countries continue to deport Haitians (170,000 so far), mainly from the Dominican Republic, although Jenca did not cite this country.
What is the situation of the Multinational Mission to contain gangs in Haiti?
The Multinational Security Mission that was supposed to train the Haitian police has so far received only 400 agents of the 2,500 that it must gather, mainly due to lack of funds, and the prospects are so pessimistic that the Government of Haiti has already asked that the MMS be transformed into a classic mission of “blue helmets”.
However, this will not be easy because so far Russia and China oppose the deployment of a peace mission in Haiti arguing that the last mission of this type left the country among very serious accusations of sexual abuse and having caused and spread in 2010 a cholera epidemic that was fatal for the country, leaving thousands dead.
International
One-week preventive detention for Princess Mette-Marit’s son of Norway for rape
An Oslo court issued this Wednesday preventive detention of one week with a ban on visits for Marius Borg Høiby, son of Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, for two cases of rape of two different women.
Høiby, 27 years old and the result of a previous relationship with the princess, had been arrested on Monday night for the third time since August for an alleged rape, but the Prosecutor’s Office revealed today at the end of the hearing, held behind closed doors, that another case had been discovered during the investigation.
The young man, who is not part of the Royal House, is also being investigated for injuries and damages against three of his ex-girlfriends and for threats to a man.
Prison for two cases of rape in Norway
The hearing began at 14:00 local time (13:00 GMT) and ended two hours later, but Judge Anne-Lene Åvangen Hødnebø did not issue her opinion until after 22:00.
According to public television NRK, the police used as evidence recordings found on Høiby’s phone.
In both cases it is sexual intercourse without penetration, reported the Prosecutor’s Office, which had requested two weeks in prison.
“The reason we asked for two weeks is that we discovered another violation last night. It is a case of sexual relationship without intercourse with a woman unable to resist the act. We are investigating two rape cases,” prosecutor Andreas Kruszewski said at the end of the hearing.
HØiby’s lawyer, Øyvind Bratlien, stated that his defendant denies the accusations and described the allegations as a “catastrophic” error of judgment.
Three arrests since August
Høiby was arrested on Monday night when he was driving with his ex-girlfriend, the protagonist of the incident that led to the first arrest and which he is forbidden to contact.
His home in Skaugum, on the same property where Crown Princes Haakon and Mette-Marit reside, was searched by police officers.
According to Norwegian media, the first alleged rape occurred at the young woman’s home in March of this year; the other, in her residence in Skaugum a few weeks ago.
It is the third arrest of Høiby, who was arrested a few hours ago in early August after an incident in his ex-girlfriend’s apartment and was accused of injuries, damage and threats, in a case that was later expanded and that also includes two of his previous partners and another person.
Høiby admitted a few days after his arrest in August in a statement part of the accusations and admitted to having problems with alcohol and other drugs and suffering from mental problems.
The Royal House is reluctant to talk about the case
The Norwegian Royal House has been reluctant to comment on the case of the young Marius Borg Høiby, which has generated a lot of media attention in this Nordic country, and only Prince Haakon has made statements.
“I think Marius faces serious accusations. The judicial system must do its job,” Haakon said today from Jamaica, where he attended an event organized by the UN.
The heir to the Norwegian throne said that as “parents” they have tried to get the young man to receive “help.”
Høiby is the result of a previous relationship of Mette-Marit and has no official commitments to the Royal House, although he attends some celebrations such as the birthdays of his stepbrothers and has always maintained the relationship with both Haakon and Kings Harald V and Sonia.
International
The next attorney general Matt Gaetz manages to stop the report on his sex scandal
The Ethics Committee of the US House of Representatives did not make public this Wednesday due to lack of agreement the report of its investigation into Matt Gaetz, nominated by President-elect Donald Trump, to be the next attorney general and investigated for inappropriate sexual behavior and drug use.
The president of that commission, Republican Michael Guest, told the press at the end of the nearly two-hour meeting at the Capitol that there was no consensus among the members when making that document public.
That body was going to put its decision to a vote last Friday, but Gaetz’s resignation from his seat two days earlier, after being appointed by Trump, delayed that scrutiny and effectively ended the investigations into him.
Although with the departure of the Florida representative of Congress, the commission was left without jurisdiction to investigate him, the publication of the conclusions of his investigation opened in 2021 for alleged inappropriate sexual conduct, irregular use of campaign funds, acceptance of bribes and drug use was still in the air.
Committee interviews
The committee interviewed two women who testified that Gaetz, nominated for attorney general, paid them for having sex at a party in Florida, where prostitution is illegal.
According to the women’s lawyer to the NBC News channel, Joel Leppard, one of them also testified that she saw Gaetz having sex with a minor, although he said that he did not think he knew that he was 17 years old at the time.
Gaetz has denied those accusations and Trump’s transition team considers them unfounded and recalls that the Department of Justice closed a parallel investigation without charges.
Review of the report
Several senators, both Republicans and Democrats, had said that they wanted to review that report before the Judicial Committee of the Upper House examines Gaetz’s nomination next year and then the plenary of that hemicycle validates or stops it.
The authorization of the positions of the future cabinet depends on the Senate, but until then Gaetz has the support of Trump, who has stated that he does not question his own decision, and also of the future vice president, JD Vance, who accompanied him to Congress this Wednesday.
Report on Gaetz next attorney general has had leaks
However, although the House Committee on the House of Representatives stopped the dissemination of the report, there have already been leaks in the national press.
The lawyer of the two women indicated that they provided that committee with numerous photos related to the time they spent with the Republican, who according to that lawyer paid 6,000 dollars to one and 4,000 to another to sleep with them.
The leader of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, had wanted to stay out of the committee’s decision, but at the same time he did not consider it appropriate for it to disseminate his investigation: “That would open Pandora’s box and I don’t think it’s something healthy for the institution,” he said.
85% of Haiti’s capital has fallen into the power of gangs, according to UN reports
One-week preventive detention for Princess Mette-Marit’s son of Norway for rape
The next attorney general Matt Gaetz manages to stop the report on his sex scandal
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