International
Harris and Trump commemorate the anniversary of the attack on Israel with symbolic acts
US Vice President Kamala Harris planted a pomegranate in her official residence on Monday, while Former President Donald Trump visited the grave of a prominent rabbi in New York, in acts of great symbolic content to commemorate the first anniversary of Hamas’ attack against Israel.
Both candidates sought to give a solemn air to the day with gestures that reaffirmed their commitment to Israel and, although they tried to maintain an institutional tone, the ceremonies acquired a clear political dimension less than a month before the November 5 elections.
“Today we plant a pomegranate in this garden because, in Judaism, it is a symbol of hope and virtue,” Harris said in statements to the press, in which she said she felt “devastated by the pain and loss” caused a year ago by the Hamas attack, which left 1,200 dead and took 251 hostages.
Trump and Harris star in symbolic acts for Israel
Harris reaffirmed his commitment that he will “always” ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself, but also considered that the world must work to alleviate the “immense suffering” of the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip, who have experienced “so much pain and so much loss during this year.”
In addition, in response to questions from the press, he said that he will not “surrender” in attempts to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages.
The vice president, like US President Joe Biden, has reiterated her support for Israel at all times, but has spoken with a firmer language about the suffering in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli offensive has already left more than 41,900 fatalities.
Trump visits the grave of a key figure for Orthodox Jews
For his part, Trump visited in New York the grave of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, a prominent figure of Orthodox Judaism who led the Jabad-Lubavitch movement for more than four decades until his death in 1994.
Known as the “Rebe of Lubavitch”, Schneerson was the seventh leader of this religious current and some considered him a messianic figure, although the Jabad movement has officially denied any interpretation in this regard.
With a black kippá on his head, Trump, who belongs to the Presbyterian Church, deposited a stone on the tombstone of Schneerson’s tomb, following a Jewish custom. In addition, in front of the cameras, he broke into pieces a small piece of paper on which he had apparently left a message for the rabbi and left it inside the mausoleum.
Trump did not make statements to the press at that event, but he will address the media this afternoon in Miami.
In a statement, Karoline Leavitt, one of the Republican spokespeople, reiterated that if the former president had been in the White House, the Hamas attacks “would never have happened.”
Biden lights a candle to honor the victims
Meanwhile, Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden, participated this Monday in a ceremony with a rabbi in which they lit a yahrzeit candle, used in Judaism to honor the memory of the deceased, and kept a moment of silence to remember the victims of Hamas.
The ceremony was officiated by Rabbi Aaron Alexander of the Adas Israel Congregation, a family friend of the American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was taken hostage by Hamas and whose body was found at the end of August in a tunnel in Rafah, in the Gaza Strip.
Although Biden did not speak during the event, in the morning he issued a statement in which he reaffirmed his commitment to Israel’s right to defend itself after the Hamas attacks, while reiterating his government’s determination to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza that allows the release of the hostages.
Condolences from the United States
“We will not give up until we bring the hostages home,” he said in his statement.
In addition, Biden spoke on the phone on Monday with the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, to express his condolences on the anniversary of the attack.
The president, however, did not call the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom he has not spoken since August 21 and with whom he maintains an increasingly tense relationship after the failed attempts of the United States to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas that allows a ceasefire and release the hostages.
International
Paraguay launches dengue vaccination for children in high-risk areas
Dengue fever, transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, remains a persistent threat in tropical and subtropical countries such as Paraguay, where it claimed the lives of 132 people among nearly 100,000 infections during the 2023–2024 Southern Hemisphere summer, according to official data. However, that figure was lower than the record set in the 2012–2013 season, when 252 deaths were reported among roughly 130,000 infections.
“Today marks a very important step toward protecting our children and bringing peace of mind to families,” Paraguay’s Minister of Health, María Teresa Barán Wasilchuk, said in a speech on Wednesday.
The vaccine will be administered to children between 6 and 8 years old in municipalities with the highest incidence of dengue cases in the past five years. Authorities will use TAK-003 (Qdenga), developed by Takeda—one of Japan’s largest pharmaceutical companies—which was approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2024.
“We celebrate this step, which positions Paraguay as a country with one of the most robust immunization programs,” said Héctor Castro, director of the Acosta Ñu Pediatric Hospital. “We will work tirelessly to ensure this government decision becomes a success in the fight against this scourge.”
Vaccinating children against dengue “is not only a historic and public health milestone, but also a humanitarian one,” Castro added during remarks delivered at the hospital in San Lorenzo, near the capital, Asunción.
International
President Paz dismisses Vidovic Over 2015 corruption sentence
Justice Minister Freddy Vidovic took office on November 9 after taking the oath of peace for a five-year term. However, his tenure was short-lived: he was removed from the position on Thursday after a past criminal conviction came to light.
In 2015, Vidovic was sentenced to three years in prison for bribery in favor of Peruvian businessman Martín Belaúnde, a former adviser to ex-president Ollanta Humala. Belaúnde was captured in Bolivia ten years ago and handed over to Peruvian authorities, who sought him for alleged involvement in a corruption case that also implicated Humala, who later served time for corruption charges.
At the time, Vidovic was part of Belaúnde’s legal defense team. He was accused of assisting the former presidential adviser in a failed attempt to escape while in Bolivia.
Following the revelation of the conviction, President Paz dismissed Vidovic and appointed Jorge Franz García as the new Justice Minister, according to the decree published on Thursday.
On Wednesday night, Government Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo confirmed the three-year sentence against Vidovic, noting that this background meant he “could not hold public office.”
Before his dismissal was made public, Vidovic acknowledged on his Facebook account that he had been convicted, but claimed he had been a victim of “kidnapping and torture” and argued that the ruling was “invalid and tainted.”
International
International organizations push for expanded kidney transplant access in SICA region
A group of international organizations held a high-level meeting in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala, to address transplantation as a key component in the comprehensive management of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in the countries of the Central American Integration System (SICA).
The meeting was organized by Spain’s National Transplant Organization (ONT), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and the Executive Secretariat of the Council of Ministers of Health of Central America and the Dominican Republic (SECOMISCA). It was conducted within the framework of the Triangular Cooperation Program of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and endorsed by the Ibero-American Donation and Transplant Network/Council (RCIDT).
The purpose of the gathering was to promote kidney transplantation as a priority option for renal replacement therapy, given its superior cost-effectiveness and health outcomes compared with dialysis.
According to a joint press release, the participating organizations also sought to encourage political commitment to advance equitable access to kidney transplantation and to identify common priorities for regional cooperation.
During the event, institutions presented the current status of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and access to kidney transplantation in SICA countries, as well as the 2019–2030 Regional Donation and Transplant Strategy (CD 57R11). The meeting also facilitated a regional political dialogue aimed at incorporating transplantation into the comprehensive management of CKD, with the goal of generating recommendations to ensure equitable and progressive access to renal replacement therapies.
Additionally, the organizations explored opportunities to improve CKD registry systems, including transplantation data.
The meeting was convened in response to the growing burden of Chronic Kidney Disease across the World Health Organization (WHO) regions.
Paraguay launches dengue vaccination for children in high-risk areas
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