*Germany: Parliament dissolved ahead of snap elections
*India decrees 7-day mourning for former PM's death
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*India decrees 7-day mourning for former PM's death
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NewsTranscript
00:00Israeli forces have stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, forcing 350 people
00:14out, including all the patients and medical staff.
00:20The President of Germany, Frank-Walter Stehmer, announced Friday the closure of the Bundestag,
00:26the lower house of parliament, ahead of February's snap elections.
00:34And the Government of India decreed seven days of national mourning for the death of
00:38former Prime Minister Mahmood Khan's son.
00:45Hello and welcome to From the South, I'm Alejandra Garcia from Telesur Studios in Havana, Cuba.
00:49We begin with the news.
01:08Israeli forces have stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, forcing 350 people
01:13out, including all the patients and medical staff.
01:17Authorities are reporting that around 50 people have been killed in this process, including
01:22five medical staff, as a result of an Israeli airstrike on a building near the hospital.
01:27Israel has ordered the evacuation of the hospital, endangering not only the staff but the nearly
01:3375 patients who remained hospitalized.
01:36In the last weeks, the attacks against this hospital, the most important in the area,
01:41have been constant and the Gaza authorities have denounced an ethnic cleansing operation
01:47in the north of the Palestinian enclave.
01:54In Israel, at least 18 people were injured as they ran to take shelter from several Yemeni
01:59missiles early Friday morning.
02:02The Zionist Defense Forces claimed to have intercepted the missile at around 3 a.m. local
02:07time.
02:08Hours later, the Major David Adams Service, in charge of medical emergencies in Israel,
02:14confirmed the number of people wounded.
02:17As consequence, the Ben Gurion Airport, the most important in the country, temporarily
02:21suspended its operations.
02:23The strike comes hours after Israel bombed Yemen in an attack that nearly killed the
02:28president of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who was on a mission
02:33there.
02:39Military expert Andrei Marakchuk reported Friday that Russian troops crossed over the
02:44Volzhia River to prepare a new offensive in northeastern Kharkov, Ukraine.
02:50Marakochko specified that this advance generated a positive trend as they are making progress
02:57within the city downtown.
02:59The incursion attached great importance for future military operations as they managed
03:04to take over almost half of the village.
03:06The expert further noted that Ukraine sent its military forces to stop the advance, however,
03:12the Russian military successfully held their positions and destroyed several enemy strongholds.
03:21On Friday, South Korea's opposition-controlled National Assembly voted to host acting President
03:27Han Deok-su.
03:28The Democratic Party initiated the motion just weeks after the prime minister assumed
03:34the role following the impeachment of President Jong-suk Gyeol, who is facing rebellion charges
03:39related to a controversial martial law declaration.
03:43Opposition lawmakers accused Han of failing to appoint judges to the constitutional court,
03:49a critical step for addressing Yun's impeachment process, and claimed he had acted in support
03:55of Yun during the political crisis.
04:02I announce that Prime Minister Han Deok-su's impeachment motion has passed.
04:06Out of the 192 lawmakers who voted, 192 voted to impeach.
04:14In Mozambique, steady clashes between inmates and security forces led to 21 deaths in the
04:20last 24 hours as a result of a wave of violence following elections.
04:26The national police chief, Bernardino Rafael, briefed that a confrontation between escaped
04:30convicts and security forces brought about the death toll of 33 inmates out of the 6,000
04:36fugitives from the Maputo prison, while other 15 were injured.
04:42In this regard, both the chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mohamed,
04:48and the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed their concern for the escalation
04:53of violence in the country.
05:00And now we have a short break coming up, but first remember you can join us on Tiktok at
05:04Telecity English where you'll find news in different formats, news updates and more.
05:08We'll be right back, stay with us.
05:23Welcome back to From the South.
05:32The President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, announced Friday the closure of the Bundestag,
05:38the lower house of Parliament, ahead of February's snap elections.
05:42Precisely, the electoral process was called after Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote of
05:47confidence in that lower house on December 16th.
05:51Members of both the ruling Social Democratic Party, SPD, and the conservative opposition
05:56Christian Democratic Union, CDU, then set February 23rd as the election date, six months
06:02ahead of schedule.
06:04The next German government will have to decide how to deal with immigration and boosting
06:10their economy, among other challenges.
06:21Dear fellow citizens, I have decided today to dissolve the 20th German Bundestag and
06:26to schedule new elections for the 23rd of February next year.
06:30A letter to this effect has just been handed over to the President of the German Bundestag.
06:39In Panama, the canal celebrates 25 years in the hands of the country, but it continues
06:44to be overshadowed in a nation that is the fourth most unequal in the world and now faces
06:49the imperialist threat of the United States to conquer it again.
06:53Our colleague Reha Chadinamani with the details.
06:57When the Panamanians recovered the canal in 2000, the waterway ceased to be a US military
07:04asset and became an enterprise at the service of world trade, connecting 1920 ports, 180
07:12maritime routes, and serving 170 countries.
07:16And although the canal generates billions of dollars a year, these benefits seem imperceptible
07:21to the majority of the population.
07:26But history did not end up making the most collective use possible of the assets that
07:30were reverted.
07:36It turns out that here, after the invasion, once the military regime was suppressed, the
07:46democracy of those at the top organized things in such a way that those reverted goods passed
07:51into the hands of the oligarchy, and $30 billion went to the great robbery of that century.
08:01The milestone comes with a bittersweet taste.
08:04US President-elect Donald Trump's onslaught on recovering the canal, citing alleged Chinese
08:09control and high tariffs, has brought to the fore debates on the background and remaining
08:15forms of interventionism after the reversion.
08:20The canal is problematically involved with a treaty called the Canal Neutrality Treaty,
08:26which is not legal, is not in accordance with international law, and is not convenient for
08:31Panama.
08:32Because of that, it turns out that the reverted areas are in the hands of the new North Americans,
08:38in quotation marks, the new white people, and not in the hands of the Panamanian people.
08:48But we have to disassociate ourselves from that treaty and that should be the government's
08:52position to start talking about it.
08:55We cannot accept that every time they want they threaten us because we are a small nation.
09:04After the signing of the Torrijos-Carter treaties in 1977, the U.S. Congress unilaterally introduced
09:10at least six amendments before ratifying it in 1979, the Conchini Amendment and the church
09:16in number reservations being the most controversial and interventionist in tenor.
09:24We continue to be seen by the United States as their position to take care of their backyard
09:28in South America, and that is what Donald Trump is referring to in the face of the possibility
09:33of a global conflict, to put us as a military objective of their enemies.
09:43The Mulino government has been cautious in its responses to Trump, whose statements come
09:48as a bucket of cold water in the face of the accommodating attitude that has characterized
09:52all post-invasion Panamanian governments.
09:55Trump replaced current Ambassador Mari Carmen Aponte with Kevin Marino Cabrera, a Miami-Dade
10:01County Commissioner in Florida, an active Republican member and businessman, which signals
10:06a 180-degree turn in relations between the two countries.
10:10With control of the canal, now the central focus.
10:20Also in this context, following the U.S. president-elect's claim that China had illegal
10:25influence over the Panama Canal, the Asian nation's foreign ministry stressed it respects
10:30the Latin American country's sovereignty over the waterway.
10:36I also noticed that Panama's President Mulino pointed out that the Panama Canal is not directly
10:41or indirectly controlled by any major power.
10:43From China's side, we will continue to respect Panama's sovereignty over the canal and recognize
10:48the canal as a permanently neutral international waterway.
10:53The Chinese government has sanctioned seven U.S. companies following Washington's recent
10:58approval of a multimillionaire military aid package to Taiwan, which the Asian nation
11:03states infringes China's sovereignty and territory.
11:09In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law of the People's
11:12Republic of China, the Chinese side has decided to take countermeasures against seven U.S.
11:17military industrial enterprises and relevant senior executives.
11:22China urges the United States to abide by the one-China principle and the provisions
11:25of the three joint communiques of China and the U.S., especially the August 17 communique,
11:30to immediately stop arming Taiwan in any way, to look at China's development and China-U.S.
11:35relations in an objective and rational manner, to refrain from implementing the negative
11:39China-related provisions of the relevant bills, and to stop adopting wrongful words and actions
11:43that jeopardize China's interests.
11:47In the United States, weeks after President-elect Donald Trump signaled Tom Homan to be in charge
11:54of managing immigration policies, the former police officer has announced he'll detain
11:59foreign families starting on January 20, 2025.
12:03Baptised by the GOP as the border's Caesar, Homan assured Thursday on an interview to
12:10a U.S. outlet that he is planning to detain all those with their minors.
12:15The politician added that authorities won't mind if children are born in the United States.
12:21They will be detained regardless and later deported.
12:24Moreover, the immigration official detailed that parents will have to relinquish custody
12:29of their children to leave them in the U.S., otherwise their minors will be deported with
12:34them.
12:35We have a second short break coming up, but before going back, it's a visit to our YouTube
12:43channel at TELUS or English, where you'll be able to re-watch our interviews, top stories,
12:47special broadcastings and more.
12:49Hit the subscribe button and activate the notification bell to stay up to date on the
12:53world's most recent events.
12:55Fine, a short break, don't go away.
13:08Welcome back to From the South.
13:10The Public Prosecutor's Office of Venezuela has issued a statement informing the arrest
13:14of an Argentinian gendarme linked to terrorist actions in the Bolivarian nation.
13:20The communique states that Mr. Nahuel Agustin Gallo has been arrested for having attempted
13:25to enter the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, irregularly hiding his real criminal plan
13:31under the guise of a sentimental visit.
13:34He follows by explaining, said citizen is under investigation for his connection to
13:40a group of people who tried to carry out a series of destabilizing and terrorist actions
13:45from our territory and with the support of international ultra-right-wing groups.
13:50The accused is at the disposal of the judge based on the provisions of our constitution
13:55and national laws.
13:56Furthermore, the official communication stresses that the statements and actions made by the
14:01Argentine government, using the relatives of the accused as well as the judicial resolution
14:06taken by the Federal Chamber of Mendoza, make clear the complicity of the authorities of
14:12that nation in their subversive plans that seek to attack by any means the Venezuelan
14:17state and its legitimate institutions.
14:20In its closing remarks, the communique states, this Prosecutor's Office, as well as all
14:25the public powers who stand firm in the supreme duty to preserve and defend peace, sovereignty
14:31and the principle of self-determination of the peoples, as fundamental pillars on which
14:37our Republic is built.
14:42In Haiti, the Presidential Transitional Council dismissed the Minister of Public Health and
14:46Population, Diket Saint-Laurent Blema, following the attack perpetrated last Thursday by the
14:52criminal group Living Together against the State University Hospital.
14:56The government officials who gave this information did so on the condition of anonymity due to
15:02the tense situation of violence.
15:05They indicated that the Minister of Justice, Patrick Pellissier, will take over as the
15:09new Minister of Health on a provisional basis.
15:12This attack on the hospital was one of the worst ever recorded, killing two journalists
15:17and a police officer when members of the coalition of criminal groups came in shooting
15:22at those on the premises.
15:28In Ecuador, more families denounced forced disappearances of their children and adolescents.
15:33The indignation caused by the forced disappearance of three teenagers and a child, who were detained
15:38by a military patrol in Guayaquil, has prompted the emergence of more reports of similar cases.
15:45Just as happened with Steven, Saul, Ismael and Josue, two mothers, Sandra Tiaga and Janeth
15:51Escobar, have denounced a similar case.
15:54Their children have been missing since December 6th, two days before the ones in Guayaquil.
16:09We are the mothers of the boys, three missing.
16:13I ask you to help me to share this because they are children, three minors, two sons
16:18and my son-in-law.
16:31This happened in Orense de Garaycoa, in the Hacienda Fortaleza, the military came in to
16:36do raids and took six children, of those six children my two children and my son-in-law
16:42are included.
16:43Since those days we have no communication, we don't know where they are, nothing, no
16:47trace of them.
16:52The Argentinean government, led by Javier Milley, set the lowest minimum wage in the
16:57past 20 years.
16:58The resolution stipulates a pay raise for minimum wages of 9.3% to be paid every month
17:05from December 2024 to March 2025.
17:09This salary increase covers up to only 60.9% of the basic food basket.
17:15In this regard, the spokesperson of Milley's executive stated that the rise is planned
17:20to be revoked in the near future.
17:22In this context, experts from the Study and Training Institute of Buenos Aires deemed
17:27that the resolution imposed what constitutes the lowest minimum salary recorded in the
17:32country in two decades.
17:39Having a minimum wage is a conceptual error.
17:41I have already explained the issue many times on conferences, since for example, if there
17:45are people willing to work for less than such minimum wage, the law system does not allow
17:49you to hire them, since you cannot pay them less than this minimum living wage.
17:56The National Assembly of Nicaragua approved on Thursday the Law for the Administration
18:00of the Monetary and Financial System, aimed at establishing a regulatory framework.
18:05Legislators considered that the regulation meets what the Constitution sets forth regarding
18:10the accountability of the State in boosting the comprehensive development of the nation.
18:15In this motion, it intends to stipulate that monetary and financial policies correspond
18:21to national goals, such as poverty reduction, increased productivity and economic growth.
18:27Thus, the Monetary and Financial System will guarantee better results through the coordinated
18:31work of the institutions involved in the area.
18:40The Peruvian Congress is investigating former official Jorge Torres Arabia, suspected of
18:46running an alleged prostitution ring with the Legislatura Torres, who previously headed
18:51the legal and constitutional office and is linked to the right-wing Alianza para el
18:56Progreso party.
18:57It is accused of exploiting young women to provide sexual services to lawmakers in exchange
19:03for political favors.
19:05The investigation intensified following the murder of Andrea Vidal, a former employee
19:10who was reportedly involved in recruiting women for the operation.
19:15As public outrage grows over this scandal, Torres has denied any wrongdoing, asserting
19:21that hiring practices were managed by human resources.
19:31In Bolivia, authorities issued an orange alert for the flooding of the Acre River in the
19:36Amazonian city of Covija in the north of the country.
19:40Authorities argued that the alert intended to warn the population and minimize the risk
19:44of possible overflow.
19:46Since the beginning of 2024, the north of Bolivia has been suffering the worst floods
19:51in the last 10 years due to the overwhelming flow of the Acre River, whose waters rose
19:56from 1.5 to 17 meters in a week, an upsurge attributed to the deforestation of the Amazon
20:03and illegal gold mining operations being carried out along its waters.
20:13The Government of India decreed seven days of national mourning for the death of former
20:18Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
20:20In this context, several authorities joined the mourning as a sign of respect for the
20:25leader's death, with the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing his deep sorrow in
20:30the middle of the state funeral.
20:31During the mourning period, the flag is flown at half-mast at national level, as official
20:37celebrations are suspended until next Wednesday, January 1st.
20:41Manmohan Singh consolidated bilateral relations and pursued cooperation and friendship with
20:47several countries of the region and the world.
20:54The Venezuelan government issued a communiqué to offer their sincere condolences to the
20:59Republic of India for the death of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
21:03The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela stated,
21:07We deeply regret the passing away of Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister of the Republic
21:12of India, who was a recognised creator and promoter of the economic reforms that significantly
21:18transformed the socio-economic panorama of his nation.
21:22The communiqué added,
21:23During his lifetime, Singh left an indelible legacy who gained momentum as a visionary
21:29leader by pursuing economic policies that not only boosted the breakthrough and modernisation
21:35of India, but they also strengthened the ties of South-South cooperation, opening
21:40opportunities for a fairer and more united exchange among developing nations.
22:05For more UN videos visit www.un.org