International
The Court urges the judge to continue proceeding in the case of Obiang’s son
The National Court has urged Judge Santiago Pedraz to carry out a series of pending proceedings in the open investigation of a son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang, and two other members of his government for the alleged kidnapping and torture of four opponents in November 2019.
The second section of the Criminal has considered the appeal of relatives of the victims, which was adhered by the Prosecutor’s Office and the Movement for the Liberation of Equatorial Guinea-Third Republic (MLGE3R), against the order of the magistrate who refused to practice those proceedings having ceded jurisdiction to Guinea.
In its order, to which EFE has had access, the court recalls that that decision to cede jurisdiction has already been revoked, so that in the same way the denial of evidence agreed by the judge must be understood to be revoked.
And he specifies that these evidentiary proceedings requested by the accusations “had already been previously admitted” by the judge and therefore “must be practiced” unless, “for a reason other than the revoked transfer of jurisdiction, they were not considered necessary.”
Among the proceedings requested are the statements of several members of the working group on arbitrary arrests of the UN or that of a former UN rapporteur against torture.
The order of the Chamber, dated April 19, arrives a few days after the magistrate declared the summary concluded and raised it to the Criminal Chamber.
Judge Pedraz adopted that decision after the Chamber, also when resolving an appeal from the relatives of the opponents, warned him that he, as an investigating judge, was not competent to cede jurisdiction in this case to Guinea as he had agreed in January, but responded in “exclusively” to the Criminal Chamber itself.
In addition, last February, the Chamber forced him to issue European and international arrest and prison orders against those investigated.
These are the son of Obiang, current Secretary of State for the Presidency of Equatorial Guinea; the director of Presidential Security, Isaac Nguema; and the Minister of State, Nicolás Obama.
According to the complaint filed with Pedraz, the four victims, the deceased Julio Obama, Martín Obiang, Bienvenido Ndong and Feliciano Efa, left on a trip in November 2019 from Madrid to Juba (South Sudan), but were arbitrarily detained and transferred to Equatorial Guinea on a presidential plane to be imprisoned and tortured. EFE
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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