International
New blow against Israel at the UN in an overwhelming vote in favor of the ceasefire
The UN General Assembly approved by an overwhelming majority two resolutions to which Israel opposes regarding the situation in the Palestinian territories: one, in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza, which received 158 votes in favor and 9 against, and another, in support of the mandate of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which was 159 votes in favor and 9 against.
A two-thirds majority was required to advance these non-binding resolutions, which represent another international blow for Israel and its traditional ally the United States, due to the brutality exercised in the Palestinian enclave and the international inability to stop hostilities.
Several Latin countries among the support for Israel at the UN
Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Hungary and the Czech Republic were the most prominent countries that voted on the side of Israel and the United States in their rejection of a ceasefire in Gaza.
Likewise, Albania, Cameroon, Georgia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Ukraine and several small island states abstained in this vote.
“These two resolutions have no logic and challenge any concept of morality (…) UNRWA is not a neutral actor, but an entity where Hamas infiltrates. It is an open secret, said the Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, during the session.
The resolutions, which were co-sponsored by more than 50 countries around the world, follow the path previously traced by others ratified in the same assembly, where a ceasefire was already called for in December last year and the “end of the Israeli occupation” in September, although both with lower margins of support.
The US was isolated again
Today’s vote also comes after last month the US vetoed for the fourth time since October 7, 2023 another resolution in the UN Security Council for a ceasefire in Gaza, once again evidencing its international isolation in the United Nations with regard to Palestine.
“The lasting end to the war in Gaza must come with the release of the hostages. Hamas feels isolated by the ceasefire in Lebanon and supporting these two resolutions could send a dangerous message that it is not necessary to release them,” said the US deputy ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood.
And he added: “Israel’s struggle is against Hamas not with UNRWA (…), but the resolution has serious flaws, since it does not establish the way to restore trust between Israel and UNRWA,” thus justifying his new vote against.
Russia’s statement
For his part, the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vasili Nebenzia, directly blamed the United States for continuing the war in Gaza – where more than 44,800 people have already died and another 106,000 have been injured – for his inaction in the Security Council.
For Nebenzia, with his position the US sends “a clear message” that “if you are a (American) partner, you should not feel constrained by international law.”
Other Arab and Muslim countries, such as Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Iran or Turkey, also dedicated sharp speeches against Israel’s intervention in the Palestinian enclave, which has already lasted fourteen months with disastrous humanitarian consequences.
“We are witnesses of genocide and ethnic cleansing (…) This is a stain on humanity,” they said from the representation of Algeria in the UN.
The approval of these resolutions is not binding but, after them, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, must issue a written assessment and a detailed report in the next 60 days with a short, medium and long-term plan that paves the way for the resolution of the conflict.
International
Noboa once again entrusts the Vice President of Ecuador to the vice president he appointed by decree
The President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, returned this Thursday to delegate – for the second time – the Presidency to the Secretary of Public Administration and Cabinet of the Presidency Cynthia Gellibert, whom he himself appointed by decree vice president in charge, in the face of the open confrontation he maintains with the vice president, Verónica Abad.
As he did last week, Noboa again issued a decree in which he announces that he is absent from the Presidency from Thursday to Sunday, to make an electoral campaign in search of his re-election in the elections of February 9, and during that period of time it will be Gellibert who will be in charge of the head of the State.
This action of the president of Ecuador is a matter of evaluation by the ordinary and constitutional justice at the request of the vice president, Verónica Abad, who claims to assume the presidential functions during the full period of the electoral campaign, in which according to the Constitution the head of state must ask for leave for being a candidate for re-election.
In his decree, Noboa argues that, although the Constitution determines that the Vice Presidency must assume the head of State in the event of the absence of the president, this “is not limited to the elected vice-president, but to the person who to date is exercising the functions of the Vice Presidency.”
Before appointing Gellibert as vice president in charge by decree, Noboa sent Abad to the Ecuadorian Embassy in Turkey, after a judge annulled the five-month suspension that the same Government had imposed on him. Until now, the vice president remains in Ecuador to claim to be the one who temporarily assumes the Presidency.
The new period of Gellibert with presidential powers began at 18:00 local time (23:00 GMT) this Thursday and is scheduled to end at 22:00 (03:00 GMT) next Sunday, time at which the debate between presidential candidates is expected to end where Noboa is summoned to participate.
After the debate, Noboa plans to travel to Washington to attend Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, according to the Ecuadorian Presidency.
After the first assignment of the Presidency to Gellibert, Abad denounced a “coup d’état” and urged the Organization of American States (OAS) to apply the Democratic Charter, considering that the constitutional order had been broken because it had not received the presidential powers, as contemplated in the Ecuadorian Constitution.
In addition, he filed a protection action with which he seeks that the Justice annul the decrees in which Noboa appointed Gellibert as vice president in charge and delegated the Presidency to him. A court admitted the appeal on Friday, but did not accept some precautionary measures that Abad also asked for to suspend those effects immediately.
Controversies like this will be part of the analysis and evaluation of the electoral observation mission (EOM) of the European Union (EU) for the Ecuadorian elections, as anticipated on Wednesday by its leader, Spanish MEP Gabriel Mato.
The confrontation between Noboa and Abad began in the electoral campaign for the second round of elections for the extraordinary elections of 2023, and was reflected when he assumed the charges, when in one of his first decisions, the president sent the vice president to Israel as ambassador, with the mission of seeking peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Abad has denounced Noboa for alleged political gender violence and has accused her of leading a harassment against her to force her to resign and thus avoid having to delegate the Presidency to her during the electoral campaign period, which runs from January 5 to February 6.
The titular vice president has also accused the Government of being behind the corruption investigation in the offices of the Vice Presidency that involves her son in a case where the Prosecutor’s Office also sought to indict Abad, but the National Assembly (Parliament) voted mostly against lifting the jurisdiction, although the ruling party voted in favor.
The general elections in Ecuador are called for Sunday, February 9 and, according to the polls published so far, Noboa and the candidate of the correismo Luisa González appear as prominent favorites to move on to the second round.
International
Musk’s Starship was lost after a smooth takeoff
The second stage of the Starship spacecraft, the largest and most powerful rocket in the world, was lost this Thursday after a smooth takeoff from the SpaceX base in Boca Chica, in southern Texas (USA), on the border with Mexico.
Before confirming the news, the company of technology tycoon Elon Musk pointed out during the live broadcast that it had lost contact with the rocket, which was supposed to dwell in the Indian Ocean.
However, the takeoff itself had no problems, and even the first stage, the Super Heavy, managed to return to land, to the base, and be caught by the clamps in a spectacular way, for the second time.
“The Starship spacecraft suffered a rapid and unforeseen dismantling during its ascent. The teams will continue to review the data from today’s flight test to better understand the root cause,” SpaceX said on the social network X.
He added that in a test like this, “success depends on what we learn, and today’s flight will help us improve the reliability of the Starship spacecraft.”
The rocket had been improved for this seventh test flight and the part that was lost was carrying cargo into space for the first time, in this case a dozen replicas of Starlink internet satellites.
The lost spacecraft was to fly in a suborbital trajectory for about an hour, after which it planned to land in the Indian Ocean, as in the last tests.
In these initial test flights, the idea is not to reach orbit but to go around the planet and descend by the tail ahead and propelled by rockets in the Indian Ocean.
The SpaceX company signed up for a new success on Thursday with the launch of the seventh test flight of the Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket in the world, which this time was improved, took cargo into space for the first time and also managed to catch the propeller on the ground for the second time on its return to the base in Texas.
The rocket had taken off today at 16:37 local time (22:37 GMT) powered by the Super Heavy as planned after several delays due to unfavorable weather conditions.
SpaceX proposed in this new Starship test to launch a ship with significant improvements, and attempt the first payload deployment test, the Starlink.
He also wanted to fly multiple reentry experiments aimed at capturing and reusing ships, and launching and returning the Super Heavy thruster to the base in Texas, as he succeeded.
As in the most recent test flights, the first stage propelled the upper one out of the dense lower atmosphere before returning in a controlled manner.
Remains of the Starship ship, the largest and most powerful rocket in the world, passed through the north of the Dominican Republic, according to electronic news pages from the United States and according to images spread on social networks.
International
Mark Carney announces his candidacy to replace Trudeau as Prime Minister of Canada
Former Bank of Canada governor (2008-2013) Mark Carney announced on Thursday that he will present his candidacy to lead the Liberal Party and become the country’s prime minister.
Carney, 59, who was also governor of the Bank of England (2013-2020), is the first of the main candidates to publicly communicate his desire to replace Justin Trudeau, who announced his resignation in December.
In a speech in the city of Edmonton, in the west of the country, he acknowledged that “the system is not working as it should” and that many people do not find affordable housing or a family doctor.
With a centrist and nationalist language, Carney declared that “these are normal times for us” and warned that “in just four days Donald Trump will become the 47th president (of the United States), a man who threatens his closest and most faithful allies, including Canada, with economic strength.”
In this sense, he explained that he wants to be the leader of the Liberal Party and Canadian Prime Minister because Canada faces “unprecedented challenges.”
Carney also referred to the leader of the Conservative Party, Pierre Poilievre, whom polls point so far as the winner of the next general elections, and criticized that he is worried “looking for the support of Donald Trump and Elon Musk.”
“Sending Poilievre to negotiate with Trump is the worst possible idea,” he added.
The former governor of the Bank of Canada recalled the seven years he spent at the head of the Bank of England: “In the United Kingdom I saw from the front row what happened there after years in which the conservatives shouted that the country was broken.”
“Conservatives don’t shout that Canada is broken because they want to fix it, what they want is permission to destroy it,” he said.
Carney concluded by pointing out that he will win the next elections to “build a strong economy for all and to defend Canada against Trump.”
The Liberal Party will reveal on March 9 the name of Trudeau’s substitute, who on December 16 announced that he will resign when the political formation chooses his substitute.
Chrystia Freeland, until December vice prime minister of the country, is expected to announce her candidacy next week, which will make her Carney’s main rival.
The opposition parties, which have a majority in Parliament, have already announced that as soon as the sessions of Parliament resume on March 24, they will present a motion of censure to hold early elections.
Noboa once again entrusts the Vice President of Ecuador to the vice president he appointed by decree
Musk’s Starship was lost after a smooth takeoff
Mark Carney announces his candidacy to replace Trudeau as Prime Minister of Canada
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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