International
Israel operates throughout the city of Rafah and leaves more than 25 dead in attack on displaced people
The Israeli Army intensified its attacks and incursion in the heart of the city of Rafah, southern Gaza, as well as on its western side; causing, according to medical sources, at least 25 deaths in an attack on displaced people’s tents – which is not attributed – and great destruction in residential neighborhoods.
As Palestinian sources confirmed to EFE, the attacks are now concentrated in Al Auda, in the center of the city of Rafah, and in Tal al Sultan, a neighborhood in the northwest. The southern and east areas are already under their control weeks after the Israeli tanks began their incursion into the city, on May 6.
“The whole city of Rafah is an area of Israeli military operations,” Ahmed al Sofi, mayor of Rafah, said today in a statement released by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Telegram. “The city is experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe and people are dying inside its tents due to the Israeli bombings.”
Sofi added that there is no medical center left in operation in the city and that residents and displaced people – according to UNRWA about 65,000 people, although before the military incursion there were 1.4 million Gaza refugees in Rafah – cannot meet their daily needs for food and water.
The third point of intense military activity, according to local sources to EFE, is still the so-called Philadelphia corridor, the 14-kilometer border line with Egypt that Israel aspires to control, according to military sources, in order to cut the network of tunnels that supplies Hamas and helps it both to rearm itself and to attack.
In this area, the destruction of infrastructure is being absolute, and a kind of buffer strip has been created, as in the Saudi Quarter of Rafah (west), where units of Army engineers are flying residential buildings.
Since this morning, at least 25 Gaza people died and 50 were injured after an Israeli bombing of displaced people’s stores in Al Mawasi, northwest of Rafah, according to the Ministry of Health, an event that the Israeli Army, after a preliminary investigation, claims to be unaware of but claims to be investigating.
In the northern city of Gaza, at least 17 Gazans died: ten after Israeli fighters bombed a home in Beach Camp, five municipal officials in an attack in the center of the city and two others in attacks in the Zeitun neighborhood, the Palestinian agency Wafa reported.
In addition, two more Gazazians lost their lives today north of the city of Rafah, in the neighborhood of Khirbet al Adas, according to Palestinian sources, which would increase the total number of deaths to 37,470 in eight and a half months of Israeli offensive.
In the north, the lack of food and food is still a critical issue. According to UN data from July 1 to 18, of the 61 coordinated humanitarian assistance missions in northern Gaza, only 28 – 46% – were facilitated by the Israeli authorities, details the UN Agency for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
“The absence of healthy food and drinking water accelerates the spread of diseases,” Hosam Abu Sfiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, in the northern Strip, warned today in a statement. “We have not received any essential supplies in the northern Gaza Strip, especially food for children.”
The reality in the enclave is that only a tiny minority can eat regularly, in the absence of food or unaffordable prices. Many do it once a day and there is a lack of milk and porridge, denounce organizations on the ground. In addition, the shortage of fuel forces you to burn plastic or firewood to cook.
Some diseases are re-emerging, such as hepatitis and gastroenteritis.
“All we can offer are some medical solutions for malnourished children,” Hosam Abu Sfiya continued. “We demand the entry of fuel, food and medical supplies.”
For its part, the NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned today of the psychological trauma that the war is causing to the children of Gaza, with some not wanting to continue living surrounded by so much death.
“What we are seeing in young children, especially, are symptoms of depression because they have lost everything. They have lost their parents, their siblings, their home, their toys, everything that made their daily life normal,” the organization said in a statement.
International
Democrats pressure Donald Trump with a vote in the Senate on in vitro fertilization
In an attempt to corner former US president and Republican candidate Donald Trump, Senate Democrats put to a vote on Tuesday a bill to guarantee access to ‘in vitro’ fertilization, a proposal that the conservatives blocked.
The vote took place just two weeks after Trump said that, if elected in the November 5 elections, he will not only protect access to in vitro fertilization, but will also make the Government or insurers cover the cost of this service.
Taking advantage of these statements with which they intend to attract moderate voters, the Senate Democrats decided to put the legislative initiative back to a vote, three months after it was blocked by the Republicans.
The architect of this strategy was the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, who this Tuesday appeared with his co-religionists at a press conference on the stairs of Congress, surrounded by dozens of photos of families with children conceived by ‘in vitro’ fertilization.
“For many Americans, starting a family is one of the greatest joys. However, millions of people fight infertility every year. Unfortunately, as we have seen this year, access to ‘in vitro’ fertilization can no longer be taken for granted,” he said before the vote.
The senator recalled how the conservative majority of the US Supreme Court ended in June 2022 with federal protections against abortion by repealing the ‘Roe vs Wade’ ruling, which protected that right for half a century, allowing each state to set its own rules.
Twenty months later, the highest judicial instance of the conservative state of Alabama banned ‘in vitro’ fertilization by accepting the argument of the evangelical right that frozen embryos should be considered children.
That decision, later reversed by the Alabama state parliament, has fueled the debate about this reproductive method that has infiltrated the election campaign. The vice president and Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, defends the technique, while Trump has maintained ambiguous positions.
Although he recently expressed his support for in vitro fertilization, he has also repeatedly boasted of having appointed the three Supreme Court judges who contributed to annul the federal right to abortion.
Trump has promoted the idea that the Republican Party is a “leader” in ‘in vitro’ fertilization, but the reality is that the formation is divided: the moderates are committed to protecting this method and the most religious sectors consider that it should be banned.
For his part, Harris has made the defense of reproductive rights a pillar of his campaign. In a statement issued after the Republican blockade of the measure, he harshly criticized the position of the Republican Party and described its resistance to women “freely deciding on their own bodies” as “extreme, dangerous and wrong.”
The legislative project, baptized as the “Law of the Right to ‘in vitro’ fertilization”, received the support of all Democrats and Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine). The rest of the Republicans opposed it.
The text only received 51 votes in favor and could not exceed the barrier of 60 supports necessary to be debated in the Senate and, subsequently, be submitted to a final vote.
The project aimed to make access to ‘in vitro’ fertilization more affordable by requiring some insurers to cover fertility treatments.
According to the FertilityIQ organization, dedicated to providing information and guidance on fertility, the average cost can exceed $20,000. However, the exact price depends on the circumstances of each patient, including the coverage of their insurance.
International
The Government of Ecuador decrees a curfew in six provinces during a national blackout
The Government of Ecuador decreed a curfew in six provinces and one canton (municipality) of a seventh province during the eight hours that the power outage will last throughout the country, which will begin at 22:00 local time (03:00 GMT) on Wednesday.
The curfew will govern in the coastal provinces of Guayas, Los Ríos, Manabí, Orellana, Santa Elena, El Oro and in the municipality of Camilo Ponce Enríquez, in the province of Azuay.
In these same areas there is currently a state of emergency in force to face the organized crime gangs that operate in Ecuador, mainly dedicated to drug trafficking, and whose violence has led the country to register in 2023 the highest homicide rate in Latin America, with 47.2 per 100,000 inhabitants.
The Presidency indicated that police and military will strengthen their actions to ensure citizen and country security, “with special attention to the cantons (municipalities) and parishes in which this suspension of freedom of transit governs.”
He said that, in due course, he will communicate other complementary measures that they consider necessary depending on the situation next week.
Wednesday’s blackout was initially attributed by the Government to maintenance in the national electrical infrastructure to face a new period of electricity rationing due to lack of generation in the main hydroelectric power plants in Ecuador, before what the Executive described as the worst dry season of the last 61 years.
But on Monday night, the Administration of President Daniel Noboa anticipated that from Monday to Thursday of next week there will also be eight-hour blackouts during the nights throughout the country, due to the impossibility of supplying the national demand for electricity.
During these blackouts, the Police will deploy more than 46,000 agents nationwide to carry out patrols that will focus especially on financial institutions, residential complexes, fuel service stations and prisons.
This was anticipated on Tuesday by the Chief of Police for the Metropolitan District of Quito, Henry Román, who pointed out that there will be police controls at the entrances and exits of the main cities of the country, where all vehicles will be inspected.
For its part, it is expected that the military will take control of the Mazar reservoir, the second largest in the country, as provided by Noboa in the previous days to avoid sabotage in this critical infrastructure for the supply of national electricity demand.
The Mazar reservoir, located in the southern Andean province of Azuay, has a capacity of 410 million cubic meters of water and serves to supply a complex of three hydroelectric plants located in the Paute River basin with an installed capacity of 1,757 megawatts.
However, in recent days the level of this water reserve has dropped drastically due to the prolonged absence of rain.
International
Harris expresses confidence in the Secret Service and criticizes Trump’s anti-migrant rhetoric
The vice president of the United States and Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, expressed her confidence in the Secret Service on Tuesday, after the second assassination attempt suffered by former President Donald Trump, and charged against the anti-migrant rhetoric of the Republicans.
During a conversation with the National Association of African American Journalists, Harris said that she feels safe with the protection of the Secret Service and immediately criticized Trump’s campaign for spreading the lie that Haitian migrants from Springfield (Ohio) steal and eat the neighbors’ pets.
“I feel safe. I have the protection of the Secret Service, but that does not deter the importance of fighting for the safety of all people in our country,” he said.
The Democratic aspirant stressed that “not everyone has a Secret Service,” she regretted that “there are too many people who do not feel safe” and gave the example of Ohio, where threats against Haitians have grown due to the hoaxes of Trump and his vice presidential candidate, J.D. Vance.
Likewise, Harris revealed that this same Tuesday he called Trump to talk about the assassination attempt he suffered on Sunday, when a man armed with a rifle was arrested in the vicinity of the West Palm Beach golf course (Florida) where the Republican was.
“I told her what I have said in public: there is no room for political violence in our country,” the vice president said.
This is the second assassination attempt suffered by Trump so far in the campaign, after the one that occurred in July when a man shot the Republican at a rally in Butler (Pennsylvania).
Trump blamed on Monday the second attempted murder on the “lies” that Harris spreads against him and the “rhetoric of the communist left.”
Democrats pressure Donald Trump with a vote in the Senate on in vitro fertilization
The Government of Ecuador decrees a curfew in six provinces during a national blackout
Harris expresses confidence in the Secret Service and criticizes Trump’s anti-migrant rhetoric
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Ecuador prison riot leaves at least 43 dead
-
International4 days agoSpain reduces the escalation of tension with Caracas in the midst of the diplomatic crisis
-
International4 days agoWashington and London leave in the air the authorization to use their missiles against Russia
-
International4 days agoNorth Korea seeks to break into the US presidential elections with its uranium centrifuges
-
International4 days agoThe reform of the Judiciary in Mexico is declared constitutional and awaits officialization
-
International4 days agoKamala Harris seeks to shorten distances with Trump in conservative areas of Pennsylvania
-
International4 days agoUkraine and Russia exchange more prisoners while attacking and counterattacking in Kursk
-
Central America3 days agoU.S. Secretary of State Blinken congratulates El Salvador on 203 years of independence
-
International22 hours agoPetro considers that the ELN attack in Arauca “closes a peace process with blood”
-
International21 hours agoDemocrats pressure Donald Trump with a vote in the Senate on in vitro fertilization
-
International2 days agoFour injured in russian school hammer attack by 13-year-old student
-
International22 hours agoThe US promises “not to spare resources” investigations into the assassination attempt against Trump
-
International3 days agoWittenberg University in Springfield takes extreme precautions after threats of shooting
-
International21 hours agoThe Government of Ecuador decrees a curfew in six provinces during a national blackout
-
International22 hours agoBlinken promises González Urrutia and Machado that he will defend “democracy” in Venezuela
-
International22 hours agoThe Venezuelan Parliament presents a draft agreement on the rupture of relations with Spain
-
International2 days agoEl Salvador’s Independence celebrated with flag displays in New York and Qatar
-
International22 hours agoRecord registration of Latino voters after Harris’ arrival in the presidential race
-
Central America2 days agoMurdered Environmentalist Juan López Laid to Rest in Honduras Amid Mourning and Outrage
-
Central America2 days agoEl Salvador bonds surge following president Bukele’s fiscal announcement
-
International21 hours agoHarris expresses confidence in the Secret Service and criticizes Trump’s anti-migrant rhetoric