*Stampede during bathing ritual in India leaves at least 40 people dead
*U.S. court sentences ex-senator Bob Menendez to 11 years in corruption and bribery case
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*U.S. court sentences ex-senator Bob Menendez to 11 years in corruption and bribery case
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NewsTranscript
00:00Ecuador's presidential candidate for the Citizens' Revolution Party, Luisa González, presented
00:15Wednesday a plan to benefit the country's region where violence, unemployment and immigration
00:20have worsened.
00:24A federal court in New York sentenced Wednesday former Senator Bob Menéndez to 11 years in
00:29prison after a bribery and corruption case.
00:36And at least 40 people lost their lives while dozens were injured in India after a stampede
00:42at a bathing ritual during the Hindu festival of Mahakam.
00:52Hello and welcome to From the South, I'm Alejandra Garcia from Telesur Studios in Caracas, Venezuela.
00:57We begin with the news, stay with us.
01:12Ecuador's presidential candidate, Luisa González, of the Citizens' Revolution Party, RC, presented
01:18Wednesday the Casa Play Safe plan, focused on the central highland region of the country
01:23where violence, unemployment and immigration have worsened.
01:27According to the presidential candidate, the plan includes the construction of a regional
01:31paediatric hospital and the creation of an extended surveillance centre at a special
01:37economic development zone linked to the Latakunga airport.
01:41On the other hand, regarding insecurity, she pointed out how January has been the most
01:46violent month in the country's history, with more than 645 homicides, mainly in the central
01:52highland region.
01:54In order to address this problem, she proposed, as part of the Casa Play Safe plan, to increase
01:59police presence in the area and use advanced technology for intelligence tasks.
02:09We are going to create a special surveillance monitoring centre, a more expanded 911 that
02:14can ensure the security of our brothers and sisters throughout the region, throughout
02:18the central zone, and it will be located in Ambato City.
02:28In third place, the productive sector, which has been so affected.
02:32We are going to build a special economic development zone that will also be linked to the Latakunga
02:37airport, and in this way we will also generate economic dynamism in the whole area, thus
02:42generating employment.
02:47The National Assembly of Nicaragua is moving forward in the discussion process to approve
02:52a partial reform of the country's constitution.
02:55According to the information disclosed by the legislative body, the reform is aimed
03:00at modernising and updating the government in order to warranty security and prosperity
03:05in the nation.
03:06Through the debate process, deputies will approve the country's political administrative
03:11structure as well as the privacy of the constitution, its reform and constitutional laws.
03:18In this sense, the first Vice President of the Parliament, Arlene Alonso, pointed out
03:23that in this second stage of the revolution with the government headed by President Daniel
03:27Ortega, the positive aspects stated in the original reform were retaken in the constitution.
03:38The Mexican government dismissed the US administration's threats to impose an increase in export tariffs.
03:45During her daily morning conference, Mexican President Claudia Chambon assured that she
03:50has already prepared a plan to deal with the increase in tariffs proposed by the government
03:55of the United States.
03:56She also affirmed that this plan will only be revealed if Trump fulfils his threats.
04:02However, she reiterated that her government's position is to maintain positive bilateral
04:07relations with Washington.
04:09The statements came after the White House confirmed that from February 1st, an increase
04:14in export tariffs would come into force for Mexico and Canada, both trade partners of
04:20the United States.
04:29We don't think it will happen, and if it does we also have our plan.
04:33We will inform you, we will do it in due course.
04:35But we don't think it will happen.
04:37As I said, there are talks, there is dialogue, so we don't think this definition of tariffs
04:42is going to happen, but we are also prepared.
04:52The Mexican President Claudia Chambon assured that the national economy has improved considerably
04:58and that everything is ready to welcome the migrants deported by the US President Donald
05:03Trump.
05:09Mexico's economy is very strong, the reserves of the Bank of Mexico are at record high,
05:14we have already dealt with the issue of inflation, employment is doing well, so there is a lot
05:19of strength.
05:27And yesterday I was also very happy, let's see if we invite them to the morning conferences
05:32or we can hold an event, this vocation, a union of many Mexican businesswomen and businessmen
05:37who said that this is for our fellow countrymen and women, 50,000 jobs are ready for our migrant
05:49brothers and sisters, if they come to Mexico whether for deportation or for voluntary reasons,
05:55because they decide to do so, they will always be welcome here.
05:59And now we have a short break coming up, but first remember you can join us on Tiktok at
06:09TELUS or English, where you'll find news in different formats, news updates and more.
06:13We'll be right back, stay with us.
06:25Welcome back to From the South.
06:32A federal court in New York sentenced Wednesday former Senator Bob Menendez to 11 years in
06:37prison after a bribery and corruption case.
06:40The deliberations took just over 12 months over the course of three days after Menendez
06:45and two other defendants were convicted on all counts against them last July.
06:50Prosecutors have asked the federal judge to give the Democrat 15 years behind bars
06:55for crimes that included acting as an agent of the Egyptian government and selling his
07:01once considerable cloak in Washington for gold bars, a luxury car and hundreds of thousands
07:07of dollars in cash bribes.
07:09The court had also given seven and eight years in prison sentences to two New Jersey businessmen
07:15who were convicted of paying bribes to Menendez.
07:18The former senator has been seeking a pardon from President Donald Trump after he was unable
07:23to get one from former President Joe Biden.
07:31Former Senator Bob Menendez managed to be the Hispanic with the highest ranking position
07:36in the United States and was always a strong advocate for keeping the illegal sanctions
07:41against Cuba and Venezuela.
07:43In 2014, together with then-Senator Marco Rubio, he introduced a bill to extend for
07:49three years more the illegal sanctions against Venezuela.
07:53According to Menendez, the blockades should be maintained since, in his opinion, any attempt
07:58to lift them would empower governments that do not respond to the interests of the United
08:03States government, even if such actions may violate international law.
08:12In Greenland, 85% of the population rejected annexing the island to the United States territory.
08:19An opinion poll indicated the figure of Greenlanders that do not wish their arctic island to become
08:26a part of the US.
08:27The survey by Polstervarian, commissioned by the Danish newspaper Berlingske, the Greenlandic
08:34daily Cermedsiag, showed only 6% of Greenlanders are in favour of annexing their island to
08:41the US, with 9% undecided.
08:44In addition, the poll showed that 45% viewed Trump's interest in Greenland as a threat,
08:50leaving 13% undecided.
08:52The poll comes amid tensions with the United States after President Donald Trump said that
08:57Greenland is crucial to his country's security and that Denmark should give up its control
09:03over the island.
09:04A plane of Colombia's air force landed on Wednesday in the country with 105 Colombian
09:16citizens deported from the United States, constituting the third flight of its kind
09:21that lands in the South American nation.
09:24The passengers included several children who've returned to the country with their families
09:28that now face a difficult situation after their expulsion from US territory.
09:33The flight is part of the repatriation process coordinated between the Colombian authorities
09:38and the US government within the new migratory measures implemented.
09:42Meanwhile, the Colombian government indicated that it will provide support to the returnees
09:47in the reintegration process and it has also provided basic assistance and guidance to
09:53ensure that those affected can adapt in the best way possible.
10:04The sixth international conference on world violence under the name With All and For the
10:09Good of All is being held in Havana, Cuba.
10:12The conference brings together 900 delegates from 93 countries and 400 Cubans and is a
10:19world's meeting of plural and multidisciplinary ideas held every two years by UNESCO's José
10:25Martí Project for International Solidarity.
10:27During the opening session on Tuesday, the coordinator of the event's organizing committee
10:32stressed the urgency to build a better future as dreamed by Cuba's national hero, José Martí.
10:39He pointed out that Cuba does not organize this conference to gain credit for its contributions
10:46subjected to an international conflict, an arms race, climate change and social injustices
10:52across the world.
10:53The conference will close on Friday.
11:02I am going to insist only on one aspect, which is the deep admiration that Fidel felt for
11:07what we could call Martí's intellectual honesty, his profound honesty and this character of Martí.
11:21Seen by Fidel as a man of virtues, in particular Fidel used to tell me, for example when we
11:26were working on he booked 100 hours with Fidel.
11:32He used to say, you can ask me, whatever you want, I will never tell you a lie, I will
11:42never tell you a lie.
11:44Even the book ends by him telling us.
11:54You can come back and see us whenever you want.
11:57The doors of this country will always be open and we will never lie to you.
12:27Welcome back to From the South.
12:36The German government slashed its growth forecast for 2025 as industry leaders sent dire warnings
12:43over the country's economy and staged nationwide protests to urge reforms.
12:48Europe's leading economy is expecting to increase by just 0.3% this year, according to the Ministry
12:55of Economy.
12:56The figure was significantly lower than the government's previous estimate of 1.1% growth
13:02made in October last year.
13:04According to Economy Minister Robert Habeck, another 12 months of near-zero growth would
13:09follow two straight years in which the economy has been in recession.
13:14The downward revision could be traced back to domestic political instability, with Germany
13:19headed for an early election on February 23rd, after the collapse of the government last
13:24year.
13:28We see that my services, and those of my staff, are only worthwhile for the tax authority.
13:33We see that out of every 100 euros we earn, only 30 euros goes to our employees.
13:39That's simply too little.
13:43We have been talking about deindustrialization for a very long time, about the fact that
13:48Germany must become a service society.
13:51But none of this has been thought through.
13:54Minister Habeck himself said that he was just throwing ideas around, and that he would
13:57work out the details later.
14:00In India, at least 40 people lost their lives and dozens were injured after a stampede at
14:05a bathing ritual during the Hindu festival of Mahakumbh.
14:09The event took place at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers in the state
14:14of Uttar Pradesh, northern India.
14:16The crowd rushed to enter the river to bathe in the early hours on Wednesday, January 29th,
14:22on Mauni Amavasya, considered one of the most auspicious days during the 45-day festival
14:27that runs until February 26th.
14:30At least 20 bodies were handed over to their families after 14 hours of work to assess
14:36the exact number of fatalities.
14:38Prime Minister Narendra Modi regretted the event and sent his condolences to the families
14:42of the deceased.
14:52In Venezuela, a tribute was paid to Piedad Córdoba, who dedicated her life to defend
15:00human rights and peace in Colombia and Latin America.
15:04During the ceremony, participants and authorities highlighted her role as Senator of Colombia,
15:09since she dedicated her life to promote projects in favor of social equality and against discrimination.
15:15They also recalled her struggle in defense of the Union of America and the fight against
15:20colonial interests that seek to plunder the natural resources of the country of Latin
15:25America and the Caribbean.
15:26It should be noted that this event took place within the framework of the exhibition Canto
15:31para Piedad, which will be open to the public until January 31st at the Romulo Gallegos
15:36Center for Latin American Studies in the city of Caracas.
15:47Also launched Wednesday, a special metro train decorated with traditional Chinese symbols
15:51to mark the Lunar New Year.
15:53The train features intricate designs of a golden dragon and other iconic Chinese imagery
16:00and will run for about a month to offer commuters and tourists a unique cultural experience
16:06as it traverses the Russian capital.
16:08According to the Chinese ambassador to Russia, the train is a symbolic gesture to strengthen
16:14cultural and diplomatic ties with China.
16:16The train will connect the eastern and western parts of Moscow and is expected to be seen
16:21by around 250,000 locals and visitors over the coming months.
16:33We have come to the end of this news brief, but remember you can find this and many other
16:37stories on our website at telesecenglish.net and join us on social media.
16:42We are on Facebook, X, Instagram, Telegram and TikTok as well.
16:46Por telesec English, I'm Alejandra Garcia, thank you for watching.