26/12/2024
FTS 12.30
*Russian FM Lavrov addresses key international matters
*Haiti: deadly floods hit countryside
FTS 12.30
*Russian FM Lavrov addresses key international matters
*Haiti: deadly floods hit countryside
Category
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NewsTranscript
00:00The Israeli troops killed five Palestinian journalists in Gaza early Thursday morning
00:16at the Al-Adwa Hospital, located in the Nusra Refugee Camp.
00:23Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a press conference covering key aspects of
00:28the international scene.
00:33And the Haitian government faces a new crisis as floods have ravaged the countryside in
00:38what constitutes one of the worst natural disasters recorded in the Caribbean nation's
00:43history.
00:48Hello and welcome to From the South.
00:50My name is Belinda de los Santos.
00:51I'm from Telescope Studios in Havana, Cuba.
00:52We begin with the news.
01:10Now we begin with the news.
01:11The Israeli troops killed five Palestinian journalists early Thursday morning at the
01:16Al-Adwa Hospital, located in the Nusra Refugee Camp in Gaza.
01:20Faisal Aboukoumsam, Oman Al-Yadeh, Ibrahim Seykhali, Fadi Hassouna and Mohamed Al-Lara
01:27were the journalists of the Al-Quds television channel from where the massacre was confirmed.
01:33According to the Palestinian media, the mobile unit was hit while the reporters were carrying
01:38out informative work.
01:40The attack has caused damage to the hospital as well, as one of its doctors was seriously
01:45wounded in the midst of the heavy explosion.
01:48The genocidal troops once again tried to justify these war crimes by linking the victims
01:54to the Palestinian resistance.
02:00We stay in Palestine as just 48 hours.
02:03Four babies have died in southern Gaza due to low temperatures and the poor shelter conditions
02:09imposed by the genocidal Israeli government.
02:12The death toll has been confirmed by doctors treating the population of the Al-Mawasi refugee
02:17camp.
02:19The latest victim was reported by the General Director of the Gaza Health Ministry, Dr.
02:23Monir Al-Burj, who had previously informed on the passing of other three babies, two
02:28of whom were less than a week old and one who was a month old.
02:33Al-Mawasi, located along the Gaza coast in the Rafah governorate, is designated as an
02:38alleged safe zone, according to Zionist.
02:41However, there is no fuel or protection for the winter season.
02:45The arrival of humanitarian aid is slow and scarce.
02:53And the Lebanese army denounced the violation by Israel of the ceasefire agreement in force
02:58since November 27th.
03:01This way, Lebanon's armed forces, which is monitoring the ceasefire implementation in
03:06coordination with the United Nations Interim Force, condemned the destruction of villages
03:11and towns in the south of the country in violation of the nation's sovereignty.
03:16In this context, authorities have increased their alerts at several checkpoints due to
03:20the presence of Israeli military units in the surrounding areas.
03:24Precisely in the capital, Beirut, several border crossings with Israel were closed after
03:30multiple attacks by the Tel Aviv regime.
03:37In other news, resistance forces of the ousted Syrian government mounted an overnight operation
03:43annihilating over 10 security personnel of the terrorist administration in the western
03:48governorate of Tartus.
03:50The terrorist Hayat Tareed al-Sham, the HTS coalition, has toppled al-Bashar al-Assad's
03:56cabinet.
03:57Resistant forces mounted an overnight raid, killing 14 security personnel of the Interior
04:03Ministry.
04:04The appointed minister, Mohammed Abdul Rahman, confirmed this, adding that other 10 HTS officials
04:10had also been injured.
04:11Moreover, clashes bursted out where the extremist regime tried to perform arbitrary unreasonable
04:18searches and seizures of houses.
04:25And in Afghanistan, at least 46 people were killed in an airstrike carried out by the
04:29Pakistani army in the Afghan province of Baktika.
04:33The incident, which also left six people wounded, has intensified tensions between the two neighboring
04:38countries.
04:39In this regard, the Afghan government qualified the attacks as a flagrant act of aggression
04:44and has assured that it will respond to this action.
04:48For its part, Pakistan asserted that the target of the bombings was a camp of the insurgent
04:53group Tariq al-Taliban Pakistan on Afghan soil, who days earlier claimed responsibility
05:00for an attack in southern Pakistan that left 16 members of the security forces dead.
05:10And in other news, on Thursday, Japan Airlines reported a cyber attack that caused delays
05:15to domestic and international flights.
05:17The airline, which is the country's second largest, said that 24 domestic flights were
05:22delayed by more than half an hour due to a network disruption that began at 7.24 am on
05:29Thursday.
05:30After the news broke out, the company's shares fell as much as 2.5% in morning trading before
05:36recovering slightly.
05:38The airline is the latest Japanese company to be hit by a cyber attack.
05:42This type of breach in security was also experienced in June by popular Japanese video-sharing
05:48site Nikoniko.
05:49In addition, in 2023, both Japan's space agency and one of the country's busiest ports were
05:55hit by a ransomware attack.
06:01And in other relevant news, we're going out to Mozambique as authorities have confirmed
06:06that over 1,500 prisoners escaped from Maputo prison after a riot that left 33 dead.
06:14The riot took place in a maximum security penitentiary in the province of Maputo in
06:18Matola.
06:19The General Commander of the Police of the Republic, Bernardino Rafael, declared that
06:24a group of demonstrators approached the facility, making noise and demanding the release of
06:29the prisoners.
06:30The agitation caused disturbances that provoked the collapse of a wall, and the prisoners
06:35took advantage of the moment to escape through the doors.
06:39Rafael warned that in the next 48 hours, a sharp increase in crime could be expected
06:44in the city of Maputo, and also called on all the society to unite to fight crime in
06:50the country.
06:55And now we have a short break coming up, but first, remember you can join us on TikTok
06:58at TELUS for English, where you will find news in different formats, news updates and
07:03much more.
07:05Stay with us.
07:24Welcome back to From the South.
07:25On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a press conference with national
07:30and international journalists, covering key aspects of the international scene.
07:34Regarding the conflict with Ukraine, the Russian diplomat stated that achieving definite legal
07:39agreements that guarantee the security of Russia and its neighbor countries is key.
07:44Lavrov also stressed the need for Syria to remain an independent country, and stated
07:48that Israel should refrain from solving its geopolitical problems at the expense of the
07:54war-torn country.
07:55Regarding Latin America and the Caribbean, the minister assured that Russian relations
08:00with the region are based in mutual respect and cooperation.
08:04He also stated that Western powers need to overcome their loss of power in the transition
08:09to a multipolar world.
08:13So a multipolar world definitely would take for granted that other Western colleagues
08:24also participate, without a doubt.
08:28But how can they position themselves, whether they will get through that psychological loss
08:34of domination that they enjoyed for half a century, all of that depends on their political
08:38culture and their real sound understanding of their place in this real life, and their
08:46ability to act accordingly, in accordance to their new situation.
08:52And in this context, the Russian Foreign Minister also highlighted the relevance of the BRICS
08:57bloc in this new world scene.
09:01Popularity of BRICS is immense and enormous.
09:04A delegation of 35 nations attended the BRICS summit in Kazan, and six multinational, multilateral
09:11international organizations attended, including the UN Secretary General, and that speaks
09:17of a high clout of BRICS, and the fact that the interest to pursue a rapprochement with
09:27BRICS by other international entities.
09:33And Russia's Federal Security Service confirmed that it prevented a series of Ukrainian terrorist
09:38attacks targeting high-ranking military officers.
09:41One of the attacks was aimed at a senior official of the Ministry of Defence.
09:45The bomber was a Russian citizen from Ukraine who would have arrived via Moldova.
09:51Other attacks were planned to be delivered to the officers as envelope bombs to be detonated
09:56from Ukraine as soon as the targets were safe.
09:59The Russian authorities confirmed that at least four detainees, all of them with Russian
10:03citizenship, who provided work and residence addresses of senior military commanders.
10:14We go now to other topics.
10:15In Georgia, the parliamentary leadership decided to raise the security level to yellow for
10:19the inauguration of President-elect Mikhail Kaveliashvili.
10:23The legislature specified that the representatives of the mass media will have to apply to the
10:28parliament for special accreditation.
10:31In this regard, the yellow security level will be enforced at the Georgia's Parliament
10:35Palace, to which visitors will be restricted from entering.
10:40It should be noted that this measure is part of the preparations for the inauguration of
10:44the President-elect, to be held on December 29th.
10:52We go now to other topics.
10:53The President of Panama, José Raúl Molino, assured that the Chinese military is not interfering
10:59in the Panama Canal.
11:00The statements of the Panamanian head of state responded to the allegations of the U.S. President-elect
11:06Donald Trump on the alleged presence of China's military personnel in the Latin American country.
11:13Likewise, Molino ratified his administration's will to foreign investment.
11:19The President reaffirmed his country's sovereignty, underscoring that no company has the authority
11:24to make decisions regarding the canal.
11:33And also, in the United States, President Joe Biden signed a law in April that would
11:37block TikTok in the country under accusations of espionage.
11:41But the owner of the well-known app filed a legal dispute that is about to come to an
11:46end.
11:47Our correspondent Henry Camillo with the details.
11:51The countdown to the U.S. ban on the TikTok platform is already underway.
11:56The reasons?
11:57An apparent danger to national security.
12:03Some Republican members have joined that Democrat effort to somehow, number one, shut down the
12:09platform or eliminate it entirely from the United States of America, or number two, force
12:14its owners to sell it and have it bought out, to be bought by purely American capital.
12:21However, the strategy of the company ByteDance, owner of TikTok with Chinese shares, would
12:28be to appeal to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, that is, to the right of
12:33its citizens to free speech, something that users of this platform believe would be hindering
12:38them from being eliminated.
12:43In the sense of watching, of seeing the news, which is what is trending, while one says
12:48they are restricting my freedom, my freedom to communicate, my freedom to inform myself.
12:58According to experts, behind the attempted elimination or sale of TikTok would be the
13:02fall in popularity of Facebook, since, according to a report by We Are Social, this application
13:08would have had a loss of users of 89 million accounts in the last year and Instagram of
13:13about 54 million, respectively.
13:18Obviously, TikTok's booty is very appetizing.
13:24We are talking about a company that has grown a lot in just a few years, becoming the preferred
13:28platform of the young Generation Z and also of some millennials.
13:34In fact, it has replaced in that demographic sector the Instagram platform that belongs
13:39to Zuckerberg, the owner of Meta.
13:47The company ByteDance, owner of TikTok, has said that if it were to sell the application,
13:53it would be without the ultra-addictive algorithm, which makes young people not stop using the
13:57app under these conditions.
13:59It is estimated that the price of TikTok would be around $35 billion.
14:03However, Mark Zuckerberg would not be able to participate in the purchase of TikTok due
14:08to a conflict of interest.
14:15At the end of the day, what they want is control and power.
14:21And if they manage to eliminate TikTok, and if they manage to acquire TikTok, literally
14:26confiscated from its legitimate and original owners, they will be getting away with it.
14:35The possible closure of TikTok would affect some 170 million users, many of whom generate
14:42their livelihoods through the app.
14:43The Supreme Court is expected to issue a final decision on January 19.
14:57And now we have a second short break coming up, but before we invite you to visit our
15:00YouTube channel at Telesur English, there you will be able to re-watch our interviews,
15:04top stories, special broadcastings, and more.
15:07Hit the subscribe button and activate the notification bell to stay up to date on the
15:10world's most recent events.
15:12Final short break, don't go away.
15:34Welcome back from the South.
15:47In Bosnia and Herzegovina, authorities have declared a natural disaster in several parts
15:51of the country following heavy snowfall that has caused road blockages.
15:56According to local media, all houses in the city of Konsevo are without electricity and
16:01all access roads are blocked by a thick layer of snow, which in some places exceeds 100
16:07centimeters.
16:08They also noted that several dozen Bosnian towns and villages have been cut off by the
16:13snowstorm with many vehicles stuck on the roads, which have quickly become impassable
16:18since the storm began.
16:20So far, rescue teams together with the local NGO reported that they have rescued about
16:25100 people, including women and children who had been trapped for hours in about 50 cars
16:31in the town of Troche, located in the northwest of the country.
16:40The Haitian government faces a new crisis as floods have ravaged the countryside in
16:45what constitutes one of the worst natural disasters recorded in the Caribbean nation's
16:50history.
16:51In turn, in the past 72 hours, civil protection authorities confirmed 13 deaths, 15 injured
16:57and one missing person.
16:59Steady rainfalls are especially hitting the northern region, where farmers, bastions of
17:04rural economy have lost almost all their crops while irrigation systems are practically inoperable.
17:11In addition, official reports informed that over 500 houses have been fully destroyed
17:17and 16,515 have been flooded.
17:20In this context, authorities have yet to provide figures for the material damages in the also-affected
17:26north, northwest, Grand Andes and Nipes region.
17:34And in Argentina, during the year of Javier Mele's presidency, only 14 sentences were
17:39handed down in Crimes Against Humanity, the lowest number in the last 10 years.
17:44Federal Prosecutor María Ángeles Ramos, in charge of the report, stated that since
17:492006, when the trials for Crimes Against Humanity were reactivated, 1,195 perpetrators
17:56have been convicted.
17:58These trials aimed to hold military officials responsible for their participation in the
18:03disappearance and torture of civilians during the country's last civic-military dictatorship.
18:09However, in 2024, only 20 people were convicted and 12 were acquitted.
18:15Experts point out that the low production of sentences coincides with the coming to
18:19power of a government that denies and justifies the crimes of the dictatorship.
18:31In Ecuador, the relatives of the four minors who disappeared in the forced manor in Guayaquil
18:36came to provide data for a forensic comparison.
18:39The finding of four corpses in the area of Taura, in the province of Guayas, has required
18:45the families to provide data to carry out anthropological examinations.
18:49These bodies were found in the same area where the children were illegally transferred by
18:54military personnel in an operation that was part of President Daniel Novoa's plans to
18:59combat crime.
19:01The Ecuadorian government is being strongly questioned for trying to hide the operation
19:06and for repeated human rights violations.
19:13In Suriname, the government announced that the former president, Desi Bouters, passed
19:17away at the age of 79 and the causes of the death are still unknown.
19:21Through a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed that the news of the death
19:26was learned by the family and governmental inquiries.
19:29For his part, the head of the state, Chan Santoki, offered condolences on behalf of
19:34the cabinet to the wife, children and the rest of the relatives of the former president
19:39and added that the government is waiting for more detailed information.
19:43Bouters governed from 1980 to 1987 and in 2010 he won the presidential elections to
19:50remain at the helm of Suriname until 2020, when he officially retired from politics.
20:10Indian authorities prepare for 400 million pilgrims during the six-week-long Kumbh Mela.
20:16A makeshift city is being built for a festival that is expected to be so big it will be visible
20:22from space, the largest congregation in history.
20:26The Kumbh Mela is an ancient festival with its origins rooted in Hindu mythology.
20:31This edition, from January 13th to February 26th, is expected to be a mega-draw coinciding
20:37with a particular alignment of the planets.
20:40Around 150,000 toilets have been built, 68,000 LED lights poles have been erected and community
20:47kitchens that can feed up to 50,000 people.
20:51The last Kumbh Mela in 2019 gathered 240 million deputies.
21:02Nowhere in the world will you see a gathering of this size.
21:04What makes this event unique is its magnitude and the fact that no invitations are sent
21:09to anybody.
21:18Everyone comes on their own, driven by pure faith.
21:21People in huge numbers come here to bathe and this is a very unique aspect of the festival.
21:32A city is being built here.
21:35We are expecting 350 to 400 million devotees to visit the Mela, so you can imagine the
21:40scale of preparations.
21:43Preparations for the fair started 2.5 years ago, during which the infrastructure of the
21:48city had to be strengthened.
21:53And like this, we have come to the end of this news brief.
21:55You can find these and many other stories on our website at thalesoreenglish.net.
21:58You can also join us on social media.
22:01We are on Facebook, Instagram, Telegram and also on TikTok.
22:05For Thalesore English, my name is Belén de los Santos.