Scores of Harlequin Dart Frogs seized at Bogota Airport
Scores of Harlequin Dart Frogs seized at Bogota Airport;
Palestenian football team made it to AFC Asia Cup round of 16;
White House vows response vs. drone strike perpetrators in Jordan
Palestenian football team made it to AFC Asia Cup round of 16;
White House vows response vs. drone strike perpetrators in Jordan
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Good afternoon. William Theo here and this is PTV News Now. A diminutive amphibian is tops in
00:08 today's news abroad. Meet the harlequin frog. So colorful and eye-catching yet so toxic and deadly.
00:16 Scores of them, 130 of them to be exact, were found and seized by authorities in Bogota airport
00:22 yesterday after a Eureka inspection discovery on a Brazilian woman traveling to Sao Paulo via
00:29 Panama carrying her valuable stash inside film canisters. She was arrested for the crime of
00:36 wildlife trafficking before being hand over to the prosecutor's office. Formal charges await her.
00:43 Harlequin frogs which thrive along the Pacific coast in Ecuador and Colombia and in Central
00:48 America are known for the highly toxic secretion that natives in the jungle tip their blowpipe
00:56 darts with as a lethal weapon against their enemies. Harlequins are also endangered and prized
01:02 in the international market where they can fetch up to a thousand dollars each to wildlife collectors
01:08 or enthusiasts. Despite all the misery, malady, mayhem and murder going on in rubble city,
01:17 Palestinians had something to cheer and feel proud of having made it to the knockout round of the AFC
01:23 Asian Cup. Yet their hopes and dreams were cut short by the defending champion Qatar who found
01:30 themselves trailing at halftime, had to dig deep to eke out a two-to-one nail biter against a feisty
01:38 Palestinian team. The bereaved families of the deceased, families and friends of civilians and
01:44 soldiers who lost their lives are grateful for the chance to have come as far as they did this year.
01:50 Gathered at a cramped room at the West Bank, they cheered as the Palestinian team
01:55 raised a one to zero lead against the defending Qatari champions
01:59 who in the end escaped by the skin of their teeth with a two to one final score.
02:04 Still smarting from the drone hit that took the lives of three U.S. soldiers in Iraq,
02:11 U.S. President Joe Biden and his national security are mulling how to respond to a drone attack on
02:18 a military camp in Jordan that snuffed out the lives of three American servicemen. An impulsive
02:24 or knee jerk could escalate tensions in what is a powder keg in the Middle East with a war in Gaza
02:31 and attacks against Americans in Iraq, Syria, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and elsewhere.
02:37 VOA's Anita Powell reports from Washington, D.C.
02:40 The White House is under pressure to react after a drone strike Sunday killed three U.S. service
02:47 members in Jordan, an act Washington blames on Iranian-backed militias operating in nearby Syria
02:52 and Iraq. On Monday, administration officials expressed confidence that Iran was behind the
02:57 attack but did not give details, nor would officials lay out their next move.
03:01 I am not going to telegraph any punches here from the podium, nor will I get in front of
03:05 the president or his decision making. As he said yesterday, we will respond. We'll do that on our
03:11 schedule, in our time, and we'll do it in the manner of the president's choosing as commander
03:16 in chief. We'll also do it fully cognizant of the fact that these groups backed by Tehran
03:24 have just taken the lives of American troops. But Kirby said one thing is clear.
03:30 We are not looking for a war with Iran. We are not seeking a conflict with the regime
03:37 in a military way. Iranian officials on Monday denied responsibility.
03:41 We are not seeking tensions even with America, inside or outside the region. The Islamic
03:49 Republic of Iran seriously believes in political solutions to international and regional disputes.
03:55 The head of NATO in Washington on Monday also expressed his concerns and pointed a finger at
04:00 Iran. We see Iran continue to destabilize the region. Iran also bears responsibility for
04:09 backing terrorists who attack ships in the Red Sea. Tehran's behavior reminds us of what a world
04:18 without rules look like. Unpredictable and dangerous, a world where our security becomes
04:26 more expensive. It is also clear that this strike is part of the fallout from Israel's ongoing
04:31 military operation in Gaza after militant group Hamas conducted a stunning attack on civilians
04:36 on October 7th. And analysts say one more thing is clear. The U.S. strategy, if it was starting
04:44 three months ago, not to let regional tensions escalate, that strategy has failed. And from
04:49 Jordan's capital, far from the drone strike, residents and analysts say they feel this
04:54 represents a new phase in this conflict. That represents a new dimension of this conflict,
04:59 actually targeting the American troops inside Jordan or on the Jordanian border represents that
05:07 this targeting is expanding from Syria to Iraq and now to Jordan. So what now? It rests on these
05:16 shoulders. Yes. Jesus. Anita Paul, VOA News, Washington.
05:46 And that's a wrap for today. Join us again tomorrow, same time, same location on your
05:53 remote and browser. And remember to always stay informed, get smart and keep fit while
05:59 you catch the news right here.