International
The head of the largest unit of the Israeli Army resigns due to the failure of October 7
Commander Yossi Sariel, in charge of the intelligence unit 8200 of the Israeli Army, the largest of the armed forces, submitted his resignation this Thursday for his responsibility in the attacks of October 7, in which thousands of Palestinian militiamen led by Hamas attacked the country from Gaza and killed some 1,200 people and kidnapped another 251.
“On October 7 at 6:29 I did not fulfill the task that was expected of me, as my subordinates and commanders expected and as the citizens of the country I love so much expected of me,” begins a letter sent by Sariel to the members of unit 8200, collected by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Take responsibility
In the letter, the commander assumes responsibility for the failure of the unit that day, assuring that he failed in the understanding that the border with Gaza “demands as a system a different risk management, based on having the minimum margin of error that exists.”
Less than a month after the anniversary of the Hamas attack, Sariel submitted his resignation in agreement “with the state of the war, with the processes of consolidation of service and building resilience in the unit, as well as after the completion of the processes of the preliminary investigation into what happened.”
Leave unit 8200
Unit 8200 is the largest information collection unit of the Military Intelligence Directorate, responsible for both creating and using tools to collect, analyze, process and share information, which makes it a spearhead in the field of cyber warfare of the Israeli armed forces.
According to a report collected by the news channel 12, the most popular Israeli network, the 8200 was in charge of designing the alert system to warn of a possible invasion of the Gaza militiamen in 2014.
Fourth senior who leaves his position
Sariel became this Thursday the fourth high-ranking official to resign from his position as a way of accounting for October 7.
Aharon Haliva, the then head of military intelligence, was the first figure of the authorities in a position of responsibility who resigned, as well as one of the few, along with the head for the southern district of Israel for the internal intelligence service -Shin Bet- and the head of the Gaza Division of the Army, General Avi Rosenfield.
Discontent among society due to the lack of performance
The lack of accountability in Israel has been a focus of discontent among society, which charges especially against the high levels of the military sector and the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has not assumed any kind of responsibility publicly after what happened.
In October, the head of Shin Bet, Ron Bar, apologized for what happened on October 7 and assumed his responsibility, but for the moment he is still in office.
Although the Army is conducting an internal investigation into the failures that allowed the Hamas attack, there is no national commission of inquiry, which could target the Netanyahu government.
International
Three U.S. Executions Set for Same Day as Trump Pushes to Expand Death Penalty
The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 U.S. states, while three others —California, Oregon and Pennsylvania— currently have moratoriums in place.
The United States is set to carry out three executions on the same day, a rare occurrence that has not happened since 2010, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center.
President Donald Trump has sought to expand the use of capital punishment for what he describes as “the most heinous crimes.” In April, the Department of Justice proposed expanding execution methods to include firing squads, lethal gas and electrocution.
Tennessee is scheduled to execute Anthony Darrell Dugard Hines, 66, on Thursday. He was sentenced to death for the 1985 murder of a woman, according to local media.
In Oklahoma, Carlos Cuesta-Rodríguez, 70, is scheduled to be executed for a 2003 murder.
Meanwhile, Alabama plans to execute Jeremy Williams, 42, who was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl.
The United States carried out 47 executions in 2025, the highest number since 2009, when 52 executions were recorded.
Florida conducted the largest number of executions last year, with 19, followed by Alabama, South Carolina and Texas, with five each.
Of the executions carried out in 2025, 39 were conducted by lethal injection. Three were carried out by firing squad and five through nitrogen hypoxia, a method that involves forcing nitrogen gas into a face mask, depriving the prisoner of oxygen.
The United Nations has condemned nitrogen gas as a cruel and inhumane method of capital punishment.
International
Colombia Earthquake Death Toll Reaches 265 as Rescue Teams Race Against Time
The 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck Colombia on Monday, the strongest to hit the country this century, has so far left 265 people dead and around 3,500 injured.
In Cali, Pereira and other cities in western Colombia, rescue teams are working around the clock as they search for survivors. The first 72 hours following the earthquake will be reached at 7:34 a.m. local time (12:34 GMT), a critical window for rescue efforts as the chances of finding survivors generally decline significantly after that point.
Among those anxiously awaiting news is Valeria Cardona, a 26-year-old student searching for two of her cousins in Cali.
“We have some suspicions about their location, but there are no signs of life,” she said. “Hope is the last thing you lose, but we are anxious about receiving news we don’t want to hear.”
A team of members from the Topos Aztecas, the renowned Mexican volunteer rescue group, has also arrived in Cali to join the search. The rescuers had been working in neighboring Venezuela, where a double earthquake on June 24 left more than 6,000 people dead.
“We all came from Venezuela, from La Guaira. The 41 days we spent working there made us stronger because we overcame hunger, pain and sleepless nights,” said Héctor Méndez, 80, president of Topos Aztecas.
Méndez encouraged those affected by the disaster not to lose hope and emphasized the commitment required from rescue teams during an emergency.
“Do not feel like victims. This is not an office or workshop schedule. This is real life, where the best part of the human spirit emerges. These are things of nature that happen,” he said.
International
German Authorities Investigate More Than 100 New Cases Against Convicted Nurse
German authorities announced Monday that they are investigating more than 100 additional cases involving a nurse who was sentenced to life in prison in November for the murder of 10 patients.
The man, who was 44 at the time of his conviction, worked in palliative care at a hospital in Würselen, near Aachen. He was also found guilty of 27 attempted murders.
Aachen prosecutors are now examining 121 new cases, a spokesperson for the office said.
Prosecutors leading the investigation are preparing a new indictment that could be filed next year. Nearly 40 bodies have so far been exhumed as part of the investigation, which covers alleged incidents dating back to September 2022.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in the city of Cologne are investigating 18 additional cases. According to a spokesperson, the oldest case dates back to 2010.
Before working at the Würselen hospital, the nurse is believed to have worked at a clinic in eastern Cologne, according to local media reports.
At the time of his November conviction, the court ruled that the severity of his crimes was particularly serious, a finding that would make it difficult for him to obtain early release after 15 years in prison.
Between December 2023 and May 2024, the nurse administered overdoses of sedatives or painkillers to terminally ill patients, most of them elderly, according to the indictment in the original case.
His alleged motive was to sedate patients who required care so that he could minimize his workload during night shifts, prosecutors said.
According to the indictment, the nurse worked «without enthusiasm» and «without motivation». When faced with patients requiring extensive care, he allegedly became «irritated» and showed a lack of empathy.
The case has revived painful memories in Germany of Niels Högel, a former nurse and serial killer who was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2019 for the murders of at least 85 patients.
Three U.S. Executions Set for Same Day as Trump Pushes to Expand Death Penalty
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