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Nine foreign aircraft linked to drug trafficking were destroyed in Apure and Amazonas.

On Tuesday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro congratulated the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) for the results of anti-drug operations carried out in the states of Apure and Amazonas, which border Colombia and Brazil.

RELATED: Venezuela Condemns Possible U.S. Arms Sales to Taiwan

“A record! Nine foreign drug-trafficking aircraft were neutralized in 24 hours. I congratulate our FANB and the military aviation for remaining vigilant. We are closing out a year of offensive operations against criminal gangs and all enemies of the homeland,” Maduro said.

“In 2025 we destroyed 39 aircraft and 430 since this law came into force. We are victorious! My recognition!” the Bolivarian leader wrote on his Telegram channel.

On Monday, Maduro said the FANB had ensured that Venezuela has an exemplary model in the fight against criminal gangs and drug trafficking “by land, air and sea.”

BREAKING:

🇺🇸🇻🇪🇨🇳 The oil tanker just SEIZED by the US off the coast of Venezuela is Chinese-owned and Panama-flagged pic.twitter.com/0FTvAN7sk2

— Megatron (@Megatron_ron) December 20, 2025

The FANB reported the destruction of one aircraft in Apure state and eight aircraft in Amazonas state, allegedly linked to drug trafficking and accused of violating local airspace laws.

FANB Strategic Operational Commander Domingo Hernandez said the operation in Amazonas was carried out in the Alto Orinoco municipality, near the border with Brazil, where four camps were also found and destroyed.

He said the aircraft were operating from illegal clandestine runways, which flagrantly violates the country’s laws. In another operation, the Venezuelan military destroyed an aircraft in Apure that did not have the required permits to be in the country or an approved flight plan.

During a visit to an agricultural community, President of #Venezuela Nicolas Maduro highlighted the work carried out by the Bolivarian National Armed Forces to combat drug trafficking and criminal gangs. pic.twitter.com/5ARQTov0qH

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 30, 2025

teleSUR/ JF

Sources: EFE – VTV

From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

The president highlighted this on the social media platform X, on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the institution, founded by the historical leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro.

“With Fidel’s inspiration and founding ideas, ICAP continues to have, and today more than ever, the valuable task of uniting peoples and supporting the noblest causes of humanity,” Díaz-Canel wrote.

He added that the celebration had “special significance” at the institution’s headquarters, where “the commitment to peace, friendship, and solidarity among nations has marked every step” during its 65 years of work.

For his part, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez congratulated ICAP and its staff on the anniversary.

Rodriguez acknowledged on the digital platform their “effective and arduous work in promoting solidarity, friendship, and the defense of Cuba against imperialist aggression and in supporting just causes.”

At the main event held the previous day, ICAP President Fernando Gonzalez described the institution “as a bastion of ideas, a workshop of friendship, and a strategic element in the defense of the Revolution.”

abo/arm/mem/mks

The post Diaz-Canel: ICAP is a bridge between peoples, a voice for just causes first appeared on Prensa Latina.

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According to an official statement, the curfew will take effect at 5:00 p.m. local time this Tuesday and will remain in place until 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

The measure excludes emergency cases, as well as medical personnel, ambulances, and firefighters.

In this context, Interior Ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba urged the citizens of Latakia to respect the law and refrain from any action that could disrupt public safety or undermine national unity.

In statements to the official SANA news agency, the spokesman urged residents of the province not to be swayed by inflammatory rhetoric, irresponsible individual behavior, or maneuvers aimed at generating chaos and instability in the country.

Al-Baba affirmed that the Syrian state categorically rejects any act of sabotage or aggression that threatens the dignity of citizens or their property, and warned that such actions constitute a clear violation of the law, for which those responsible will be subject to the corresponding legal measures.

Several regions in western Syria were the scene in recent hours of riots and sectarian violence, directed primarily against members of the Alawite community, according to local sources and monitoring organizations.

abo/arm/mem/fm

The post Syrian city imposes curfew after sectarian violence first appeared on Prensa Latina.

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This percentage is the lowest recorded in the entire historical series of the National Continuous Household Sample Survey (PNAD Continua), which began in 2012.

The result indicates that 5.6 million Brazilians unsuccessfully sought employment between September and November. In October, there were 5.9 million workers looking for work.

Now, the IBGE identified 39.4 million formal workers in the quarter ending in November.

The number of people working in the country also reached a record. With a total of 103 million employed, 1.1 million more jobs were filled in November 2015 compared to the same month of the previous year.

abo/arm/mem/ocs

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The document states that these restricted security zones will be classified as secret, under the control and responsibility of the Armed Forces, without implying military ownership of the locations.

The text recalls that on April 7, 2024, after declaring the existence of an internal armed conflict to combat organized crime, Noboa instructed the Ministries of Defense and the Interior to prepare studies and technical reports on security zones in the country’s prisons.

Since then, the government has ordered the surveying of prison security perimeters, their establishment and control according to the type of penitentiary, as well as the implementation of anti-drone technology, which includes the remote inhibition or downing of drones.

The government also ordered the jamming of signals and control of access to telecommunications, the prohibition of tunnel or underground construction, and the restriction of horizontal or vertical buildings within the perimeters defined as security areas.

The government considers Ecuador’s prisons to be one of the main sources of criminal violence in the country.

Since 2021, nearly 600 inmates have been murdered inside penitentiary centers, mostly during clashes between rival gangs.

abo/arm/mem/avr

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Since 2018, election campaigns have been plagued by a constant wave of fake news, and this phenomenon is compounded by the expansion of deepfakes (AI-manipulated multimedia content), capable of mimicking voices and images.

AI accelerated this process during 2025 with more accessible tools. The difference between reality and manipulation became increasingly difficult to discern.

“It was the year in which these tools experienced impressive growth,” cybersecurity expert Rodolfo Avelino assessed in statements to the radio station of the Brasil de Fato portal.

He noted that one of the challenges posed by this scenario is knowing how to distinguish the real from the fake.

The AI ​​Regulation Bill (PL 2338, 2023), currently under consideration in the Chamber of Deputies, addresses the regulation of this technology in Brazil.

However, the initiative did not advance in 2025, a fact that Avelino attributed, among other factors, to corporate pressure surrounding the issue.

The professor also has low expectations for 2026. More structural policies are unlikely to be put to a vote.

He pointed out that “the law that emerges from this legal framework, PL 2338, which has been under discussion for approximately five years, will address some important factors, such as who controls them, who will be responsible for the impacts generated, and, above all, who will benefit economically.”

abo/arm/mem/ocs

The post Warnings about AI and the electoral risks in Brazil for 2026 first appeared on Prensa Latina.

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This article by Alexia Villaseñor originally appeared in the December 30, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

In response to the call to form committees to defend the New Mexican School (NEM) and Free Textbooks (LTG) made by the Director General of Educational Materials of the Ministry of Public Education (SEP), Marx Arriaga, specialists and teachers pointed out that the official is late to the teachers’ struggle and “presents himself as the champion of the resistance when he has never stood with the rank-and-file teacher; he continues to be the voice of the State, let him not deceive us.”

Brazilian Marxist Paulo Freire, founder of critical pedagogy

A couple of days ago, Arriaga published a statement on his X account arguing that education in the country is being privatized, hence the need to form committees to be a “real counterweight” and thereby “refound the Ministry of Public Education and the National Education System”.

This is not the first time this official has made controversial comments from and against the agency where he has worked since 2021. At the beginning of this month, he criticized the use of educational materials generated in this ministry during previous administrations and called those who recommended them in the bibliography of the new curriculum support booklets for teaching practice “sewers of the SEP” (Ministry of Public Education).

Under his direction, since last year he has been holding meetings in basic education schools called “Study Circles: ‘Freirean Bonfires’”, some of them led by him.

These are collaborative spaces open to schools across the country, “inspired” by the pedagogy of Paulo Freire, so that teachers can critically reflect on their practice and transform their reality in accordance with the New Mexican School, the official explained in a video.

Marx Arriaga Navarro

Teresa Martínez, a professor at the Faculty of Higher Studies Aragón of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), noted that teachers in Mexico have been resisting and fighting for decades. An example of this is the alternative teaching and learning model of the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE), known as the popular educator model, which aims to bring students and the community closer together.

The goal of the popular educator workshops, according to teacher Elvira Veleces, leader of section 14 of Guerrero of the coordinator, is to learn from the teachers themselves, since it is through teaching experience that teaching practices can be improved, she explained in a conference on the subject.

Martínez explained that the rebellion Arriaga is calling for from within the institution “cannot be taken too seriously, since he is part of the government and speaks from a political standpoint that assumes he can transform anything from within the state institution, in this case the SEP (Ministry of Public Education), and that is very difficult.” Furthermore, he added, Arriaga committed “one of the most egregious errors that has been denounced time and again: not asking the teachers, not consulting them about what they want and how it can be done.”

2025 CNTE Occupation of Zócalo in Mexico City

Challenges in the New Mexican School

The academic argued that under this government there has been no improvement in the country’s classrooms or in the working conditions of teachers, issues that cannot be separated from one another.

There is an overwhelming administrative burden for teachers that does not allow progress in terms of pedagogy, in linking the school with the community, which is the idea of ​​the NEM, he argued.

Meanwhile, elementary school principal Francisco Bravo reiterated the need for a diagnosis of how the NEM has worked in order to be prepared.

“We need to move forward in diagnosing how the new proposal for the Mexican school is going, because we don’t have it, how can we know if the teachers understand it or not; otherwise we could fall back into simulations,” he said when asked about the challenges this model faces.

Teresa Martínez stressed that “nothing that comes from the institution can be alternative, even though the NEM and the Free Textbooks talk about community and formative fields, they are still a vertical and authoritarian imposition.”

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  News Briefs

  Education Dissident Marx Arriaga “remains the voice of the state, let’s not be fooled”: Specialists & Teachers

  December 30, 2025December 30, 2025

  Critics point to the alternative teaching and learning model of the CNTE, which aims to bring students and the community closer together.

• 

  News Briefs

  Mexico’s Director General of Educational Materials Sounds Alarm About Creeping Education Privatization

  December 30, 2025December 30, 2025

  Marx Arriaga Navarro made a Christmas call to form Committees for the Defense of the New Mexican School to defend public education against internal operatives and corporations.

• 

  News Briefs

  Mexico City’s Participatory Budget Will Increase to 2.3 Billion Pesos for 2026

  December 29, 2025December 29, 2025

  The participatory budgeting model was first used in 2011 as a direct democracy mechanism, allowing residents to propose and vote on specific projects to improve their neighborhoods, towns, and districts.

The post Education Dissident Marx Arriaga “remains the voice of the state, let’s not be fooled”: Specialists & Teachers appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.

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Roads are being blocked in protest against threats to food security and employment.

On Tuesday, Polish farmers launched protests in over 170 locations across the country to express their opposition to the free trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR).

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They blocked roads with agricultural machinery to denounce the threats posed by the EU-MERCOSUR Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to their agriculture, food security and jobs.

The farmers argue that European producers are not adequately protected from the effects of excessive trade liberalization. They say Poland has the capacity to be self-sufficient through its own agricultural production, which eliminates the need to import food from other countries.

The Samoobrona Agricultural Union warned that signing the EU-MERCOSUR FTA would condemn farming families to an unprecedented economic catastrophe. It also stressed that the protest is part of a struggle for the dignity of farmers against bureaucratic measures imposed from Brussels, which ignore the realities of Polish soils.

🇵🇱🚜💥🇪🇺💶
Farmers across Poland are protesting against the EU-Mercosur agreement. pic.twitter.com/qiDx0TOZOR

— Based Poland 🇵🇱 (@Poland_Based) December 30, 2025

One of the main drivers of the protest is concern over sanitary standards, with farmers warning that the EU-MERCOSUR agreement would allow the massive entry of products produced using pesticides that are strictly banned in Europe.

Polish farmers say it is an unacceptable contradiction for the European Union to demand high investment costs to meet internal environmental standards while opening the door to MERCOSUR goods that do not comply with those safety regulations.

Poland’s resistance has joined a broader bloc of opposition that has also gained momentum in France and Italy, leading to another postponement of the signing of the FTA until early 2026.

#europeanfarmers #protest In the following countries, farmers stand up against the Elites: Belgium 🇧🇪 France 🇫🇷 Germany 🇩🇪 Italy 🇮🇹 Holland Norway 🇳🇴 Poland 🇵🇱 Romania 🇷🇴 Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Slovenia 🇸🇮 Spain pic.twitter.com/4XaHTh0dzT

— Dolly van den Berg (@dendolly1) December 22, 2025

Polish farmers are calling for the implementation of so-called “mirror clauses” and a reduction in administrative burdens, arguing that competing under conditions of structural inequality will only deepen the crisis facing domestic farms.

Although Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has promised to impose unilateral quotas and tariffs in the event of disproportionate imports, farmers’ discontent persists due to Warsaw’s inability to consolidate an effective blockade within the EU.

After 25 years of negotiations, the EU-MERCOSUR deal aims to create one of the world’s largest free trade areas, facilitating the exchange of European machinery and automobiles for South American raw materials. However, for European social and agrarian movements, this free trade agreement would only deepen social inequality while favoring the expansion of large transnational corporations.

Brazilian political activist and Coordinator of the Brazilian landless Rural Workers' Movement Joao Pedro Stedile commented on the agreement between #Mercosur and the #EU, considering it a mistake and of little importance to #Brazil. pic.twitter.com/5xhwbHc2cA

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 22, 2025

teleSUR/ JF

Sources: Sputnik – EFE

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The following call was published by Marx Arriaga Navarro, Director General of Education Materials at Mexico’s Secretariat of Public Education, on December 25, 2025 and disseminated through his social media accounts. Since 2022 he has led the New Mexican School project and the development of free textbooks within the framework of Mexican Humanism, commissioned by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Committees of the Defense of the New Mexican School & Its Free Textbooks

The teachers who created the Free Textbooks (LTG), along with Marx Arriaga Navarro, call upon all free, insurgent souls with critical thinking and awareness to organize themselves into Committees for the Defense of the New Mexican School and its LTG. These committees are spaces for organization where the principles of Mexican Humanism and the 2022 Curriculum for preschool, primary, and secondary education are constantly promoted, as well as the values of Obradorism and the Fourth Transformation. All of this is to educate ourselves: first, in the philosophy, theology, and pedagogy of liberation; second, on the mechanisms used by state operators when implementing public policies for the privatization of education. Through this education, we will build popular power, a mass movement, under a clear political formation based on non-negotiable principles. Also, to agitate ourselves and become indignant about the injustices and inequalities that occur in our territories. Finally, and most importantly, to organize ourselves to develop political actions that defend public, popular, critical, emancipatory, and democratic education. In short, in the Committees we will educate ourselves, mobilize ourselves, and organize ourselves as real counterweights to the hegemonic powers and political operatives who seek to privatize education. Our goal will be to refound the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) and the National Education System to humanize it, put it at the service of the people, and fill it with delegates trained in critical thinking, social justice, and popular power.

Retrospective

Educate yourselves because we will need all our intelligence!

As a result of the Revolution of Consciences and the principles of Mexican Humanism, a battle was waged during the previous six-year term to halt the privatization of public education. Hundreds of thousands of teachers across the country succeeded in designing the 2022 Curriculum, which proposes an alternative to the instrumental and inhumane education that business blocks (OECD, IMF, World Bank, COPARMEX) have installed in the SEP’s public policies.

Without a doubt, the LTG (Teachers’ Guide Textbooks) were the territory where the struggle was most evident. Thousands of injunctions; two constitutional controversies; hundreds of articles in traditional and alternative media; thousands of political and administrative operations to stop the design, printing, and distribution of the LTG. All of them carried out by corrupt individuals, by public officials aligned with the interests of the perverse and inhumane business blocks. Political and administrative operations that demonstrated the animosity that the LTG and the New Mexican School (NEM) generated within the conservative block.

Since 2018, an educational transformation has been underway in Mexico, ranging from a constitutional reform to Article 3 and the General Law of Education; to the closure and dismissal of some oversight bodies such as the National Commission for Continuous Improvement of Education (MEJOREDU); to the cancellation of contracts with international companies or organizations such as CERLALC, Castillo Editores, Grupo SM, Editorial Trillas, Santillana, Grupo Nexos… for the design, illustration, or purchase of textbooks, study plans and programs, or educational materials; to the participation of millions of Mexicans in the design of the 2022 Study Plan and its General Laws.

Reading Reality

Agitate yourselves, because we will need all our enthusiasm!

While basic education is operated throughout the country under the principles of the 2022 Study Plan and the 107 books that make up the New Family of LTG are distributed, it is also true that the old practices of control and exercise of power of the neoliberal education model have been inherited, such as: simulation; administrative burdens; profiting from [providing] training, workbooks, educational materials, and lesson plans; coercion to deny teachers their right to professional autonomy; and the most serious: implementing the policies of COPARMEX, the OECD, UNESCO, the IMF, and the World Bank in the formation of a citizenry submissive to the neoliberal consumer system with basic skills mastery subordinate to business needs; without a critical consciousness that questions the injustices and inequalities in our territories, which have caused the war, hunger, disease, and death we experience.

Proof of this is the signing of the Mexico Learns By Reading Alliance with 11 states (Aguascalientes, Campeche, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Guanajuato, Nuevo León, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, and Yucatán), along with the Natura Institute Foundation, UNESCO, the Coppel Foundation, the Compartamos Foundation, Promotora Social México, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the SM Foundation, Zorro Rojo and others. These organizations aim to return to the competencies-based model of neoliberal education and displace the New Mexican Education Model (NEM). Another example are the Curriculum Support Notebooks for Teaching Practice: Development of Mathematical Skills, which the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) itself disseminated, where the Learning Teachers (LTG) and their critical transformative educational model are ignored.

Furthermore, the trend towards privatization of the National Education System continues by allowing the REVOE (Official Recognition of Studies) for the establishment of more private schools without regulation of: tuition fees, educational materials they request, uniforms, teachers’ salaries, the benefits they provide to their teaching staff… All of the above is operated by hundreds of municipal, state, and federal public officials who oppose Mexican Humanism and who, in clear resistance, are putting into practice a political strategy for the return of a traditional, conservative, classist, and meritocratic education; paving the way for Mexicanos Primero, and its satellite civil organizations, to profit from education and seize control of the SEP (Ministry of Public Education).

The Dream of the Future: The Prospective

Organize yourselves because we will need all our strength!

[I am] calling for the formation of Committees for the Defense of the NEM and its LTG implies recognizing that the Assault on Heaven that begin in 2018 is not yet complete. We have only conquered some corridors, but the grand avenues, the great halls, palaces, and dungeons are still in the hand of COPARMEX, the OECD, the IMF, the World Bank… For this reason, we say: the struggle continues!

All those insurgent souls who are willing to question the established powers that threaten the NEM and its LTG are called upon to organize themselves through Committees. Those who are so inclined, please access the following questionnaire, answer it and scan the QR code provided to register in the WhatsApp group where you will receive more information about the process of instruction, agitation, and organization.

https://forms.gle/yAhMNRhHwdMbYtu5

Although this call will remain permanently open and we will be establishing Committees throughout the country, from January 1st to February 1st, 2026, with those insurgent souls registered, we will begin a period of reflection to build our principles, the Dream of the Future, the prospects and the hope that will fuel our struggle.

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• 

• 

  News Briefs

  Education Dissident Marx Arriaga “remains the voice of the state, let’s not be fooled”: Specialists & Teachers

  December 30, 2025December 30, 2025

  Critics point to the alternative teaching and learning model of the CNTE, which aims to bring students and the community closer together.

• 

  News Briefs

  Mexico’s Director General of Educational Materials Sounds Alarm About Creeping Education Privatization

  December 30, 2025December 30, 2025

  Marx Arriaga Navarro made a Christmas call to form Committees for the Defense of the New Mexican School to defend public education against internal operatives and corporations.

• 

  News Briefs

  After 200 Day Student Strike, Mexico State University’s Rector Building Returned to Become Cultural Center

  November 22, 2025

  The student movement had been holding the property since May.

The post Mexico’s Director General of Educational Materials Sounds Alarm About Creeping Education Privatization appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.

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The ‘Justice Mission-2025’ includes long-range live-fire exercises north and south of the island.

On Tuesday, Lin Jian, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry, defended the People’s Liberation Army’s military drills around Taiwan and criticized the stance adopted by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

RELATED:

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“The PLA’s drills are a punitive and deterrent action against separatist forces who seek ‘Taiwan independence’ through military buildup, and a necessary move to safeguard China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.

“To advance their separatist agenda, the DPP authorities are turning Taiwan into a powder keg. Their massive and desperate arms purchases further reveal their true nature as provocateurs, saboteurs of peace and warmongers.”

“Anyone who tries to arm Taiwan to contain China will only embolden the separatists and push the Taiwan Strait closer to the peril of armed conflict,” Lin warned.

“The Taiwan question is at the very core of China’s core interests. Nothing will deter China from defending national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity. Anyone who crosses the line or makes provocations on the question will be met with China’s firm response. All attempts to hold back China’s reunification will invariably fail,” he concluded.

🇨🇳 China encircled 🇹🇼 Taiwan in its largest-ever military drills, the closest yet to the island. The exercises began 11 days after the 🇺🇸 announced a record $11.1B arms package for Taiwan, sharply raising regional tensions.#China #Taiwan #PLA #US #IndoPacific #BreakingNews pic.twitter.com/uMgHcGfZW8

— @Conflict_Eye_Official (@Conflict_X_Eye) December 30, 2025

Military Drills Included Long-Range Live Fire

On Tuesday, China stepped up military pressure on Taiwan on the second and final day of the “Justice Mission-2025” maneuvers, with long-range live-fire exercises north and south of the island.

The Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army said live ammunition was fired starting at 9 a.m. in waters north of Taiwan and, four hours later, another similar drill was carried out to the south, along with a simulated long-range joint strike involving Navy, Air Force and Rocket Force units.

Images posted on Weibo showed a multiple-launch rocket system, believed to be the PHL-16, firing salvos that struck the sea.

According to the military command, destroyers, frigates, fighter jets and bombers were deployed Tuesday to conduct simulated attack and assault drills against maritime targets, as well as air defense and anti-submarine operations north and south of the island, aimed at testing air-sea coordination capabilities and “integrated blockade and control.”

The command also reported exercises east of Taiwan focused on multidimensional force projection and the seizure of key ports.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pledged firm countermeasures against provocations by Taiwan independence forces and against U.S. arms sales to Taipei. He also said Taiwan is “an internal matter of China” and that U.S. arms sales “fuel tensions” in the strait.

#FMsays FM spokesman Lin Jian said on Tuesday the People's Liberation Army drills in areas near the #Taiwan island are punitive and deterrent actions against separatist forces seeking "Taiwan independence" through military buildup. His remarks came after comments by US President… pic.twitter.com/H0gSeuXnI6

— China Daily (@ChinaDaily) December 30, 2025

Taiwan Government Urges Calm

Taiwan confirmed the live-fire drills and said the projectiles, fired by long-range PLA artillery deployed in China’s Fujian province, landed near the 24-nautical-mile line off its coast.

Taiwan Defense Minister Wellington Koo oversaw the response from the Joint Operations Command Center. He also confirmed that between 6 a.m. Monday and 6 a.m. Tuesday, Taiwanese authorities detected 130 military aircraft, 14 warships and eight Chinese vessels operating nearby.

Taiwan President William Lai urged the public to “remain calm” and said the armed forces would act “responsibly” and “without escalating the conflict.”

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump played down the Chinese drills, recalling that Beijing has been conducting naval exercises in the area for “20 years.” He added that Chinese President Xi Jinping “has not told him anything” about them

#FromTheSouth News Bits | China: The Foreign Affairs Ministry called the United States detention of a Venezuelan oil tanker arbitrary and a serious violation of international law. pic.twitter.com/IJKMpCJccn

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 25, 2025

teleSUR/ JF

Sources: EFE – Xinhua

From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.

Since Saturday, strong winds and rain have been affecting the territory, causing buildings (previously damaged by bombings) to collapse and flooding the tents where most of the residents live.

The representative of the UN Agency for the Relief and Works of Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, Philippe Lazzarini, stated that these people are forced to endure “more misery, despair, and death” and denounced the restrictions imposed by Tel Aviv on aid teams.

“The people of Gaza are surviving in flimsy, soaked tents amidst ruins. Supplies are not being allowed in at the necessary level,” he said.

For its part, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that in recent hours, weather conditions caused more casualties, including hypothermia in children and illnesses related to sewage overflows.

According to the UN, another storm earlier this month left 13 dead, including two babies.

In addition, 17 buildings collapsed and more than 42,000 tents or makeshift shelters suffered total or partial damage, affecting at least 235,000 people.

jdt/arm/mem/gas

The post UN warns of complex situation in Gaza first appeared on Prensa Latina.

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Personnel perform general surgery, orthopedics, pediatrics, neurosurgery, and gynecology.

On Tuesday, Jordanian authorities announced that the country intensified its humanitarian support in Gaza during 2025, fitting 703 prostheses for amputees, evacuating 1,849 people, and performing hundreds of medical operations in field hospitals.

RELATED:

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Launched in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) in March, the Jordanian Medical Corridor initiative facilitated the evacuation of 498 patients, mostly children and those with chronic illnesses, along with 1,351 family members.

While evacuees were transported by land and air, many returned to Gaza after receiving treatment, which reaffirms Jordan’s opposition to the forced displacement of Palestinians amid the Israeli genocide.

Jordan operated in its three field hospitals, including two in Gaza and one in Nablus, in the West Bank. The Khan Younis hospital performed 23,679 surgeries and 314,296 consultations, despite resource shortages.

Palestinian father lowers his daughter by rope to cross the apartheid wall to meet her mother, a powerful scene that exposes the suffering inflicted by Israeli movement restrictions, which continue to tear families apart. pic.twitter.com/BrXtQgaVRB

— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) December 29, 2025

The northern hospital in Tal al-Hawa reopened in December after repairs and performed 1,139 surgeries and 124,415 consultations. These centers offer general surgery, orthopedics, pediatrics, neurosurgery, and gynecology.

In addition, Jordan sent emergency aid with 564 airdrops of food, medicine, and essential supplies. At least 400 of those airdrops were carried out in collaboration with allied countries, which strengthened international assistance.

Three Jordanian mobile bakeries, in cooperation with the World Central Kitchen organization, produced “millions of loaves of bread,” with a daily capacity of 70,000 each.

Since the start of the Israeli offnsive in 2023, the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 70,900, mostly civilians, and including more than 20,000 children. According to the Gaza-based Health Ministry, the number of wounded has reached 171,000, and many have lost their homes.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Middle East: In Palestine, Catholic leader Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa presided over Christmas Mass in Gaza alongside families displaced by the Israeli aggression. pic.twitter.com/XNj2SVv8T9

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 24, 2025

teleSUR: JP

Source: EFE

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According to the Central Korean News Agency (KNA), the objective of the training was to review the counterattack readiness and combat capabilities of the long-range missile subunits, train their personnel in mobility and the order of fire mission execution, and verify the reliability of the strategic weapon system in question.

The missiles hit their targets after traveling for 10,199 and 10,203 seconds along a planned orbit in the skies over the West Sea of ​​Korea.

Chairman Kim expressed great satisfaction, stating that the results of the exercises constitute practical verification and clear demonstration of the absolute credibility of the country’s strategic counterattack capabilities and combat readiness.

He emphasized that routinely verifying the credibility and rapid response capabilities of key components of the DPRK’s nuclear deterrent, and continuing to demonstrate its capabilities, constitutes a responsible exercise of the right to self-defense and war deterrence under the current security threat.

abo/arm/mem/nvo

The post Cruise missile launch exercise conducted in DPRK first appeared on Prensa Latina.

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The DNA seized various contraband goods, vehicles, suspicious packages, and counterfeit items worth more than 1.4 billion pesos (just over 36 million dollars).

This figure surpasses the total for 2024, a record year for Customs in terms of the value of seizures.

There was also an increase of more than 70% in the average value per successful operation, compared to last year’s data.

Regarding contraband cigarettes, seizures to date have exceeded last year’s figures by more than 80%.

In the fight against drug trafficking, 35 drug seizures of varying significance took place, most of them at Carrasco International Airport.

The National Customs Directorate (DNA) indicated that it is making the necessary adjustments for the implementation, on January 1st, of changes to the annual duty-free allowance system and the collection of VAT on postal shipments from countries without trade agreements signed with Uruguay.

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Amendment targets UN agency’s facilities in East Jerusalem and bans utilities, telecommunications, and financial services.

On Monday, the Israeli Parliament approved an amendment to a 2024 law that declared the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) illegal in Israel.

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The decision violates international law, strips UNRWA of its immunity, orders the expropriation of its premises in East Jerusalem and cuts off its supplies.

The amendment, which merges three proposals introduced by lawmakers from the far-right Jewish Power party and Israel Beiteinu party, has sparked outrage from UNRWA. Currently, this UN agency provides services to 5.9 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.

Israel strips UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) of diplomatic immunity. Ashraf Shannon reports from Gaza City on the implications of the move pic.twitter.com/6p3a5MyhvI

— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) December 30, 2025

Stripped of immunity

Article 6 of the amendment states that “the provisions of the United Nations Ordinance on Privileges and Immunities of Dec. 14, 1947, shall not apply to UNRWA.”

That ordinance implemented the United Nations convention of the same name, adopted a year earlier, which guarantees the inviolability of UN premises against “entry, requisition, confiscation and expropriation,” as well as immunity for its officials from arrest or prosecution for acts carried out in the performance of their duties.

The convention also exempts United Nations bodies from all direct taxation and from customs restrictions on the import or export of goods for official use or publications, and obliges UN member states to grant them communications facilities equivalent to those accorded to any other government.

UNRWA spokesperson Jonathan Fowler said that neither Israel nor any UN member state can unilaterally exclude from a convention it has signed — and that is binding — one of the organization’s agencies.

“You cannot simply decide to withdraw from it and say that it does not apply to part of the United Nations,” he said. “They have chosen to take unilateral measures, and that is completely illegal under international law.” He added that the decision is unprecedented and therefore “shocking at the global level.”

Israel is carrying out a systematic campaign against UNRWA to tarnish its image and halt its operations. The occupation claims that UNRWA is involved in military activities, despite all investigations disproving this allegation.

Recently, the Israeli government closed the UNRWA… pic.twitter.com/jBAQqqq71f

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 30, 2025

Expropriation of UNRWA premises

The law authorizes the Zionist state to seize real estate owned or used by UNRWA or by representatives acting on its behalf in territories Israel considers under its jurisdiction, whether state or municipal.

The Israeli army and police must carry out the expropriations within a maximum of 30 days from the law’s entry into force.

Specifically affected are the agency’s headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, which was already closed in January 2025, as well as the Qalandia Training Center, which trains young people and is located near the military checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem.

On Dec. 8, Israeli police and municipal officials had already forcibly entered the East Jerusalem headquarters and replaced the U.N. flag with an Israeli flag.

Under the approved amendment, Israel’s justice minister may modify the list of properties and areas subject to seizure with the approval of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Cutoff of Essential Supplies

One of the approved amendments expands Article 2 of the original law and requires state authorities and bodies exercising public functions to revoke any license, permit, authorization, or benefit granted directly or indirectly to UNRWA, unless it can be shown that they are not intended for the agency.

This will result in the cutoff of electricity, water and gas to the agency’s premises located in what the law defines as “Israeli territory,” meaning areas not under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.

If the UNRWA’s name appears in official records, the supplier must disconnect the service within 15 days.

Telecommunications and Financial Services

The new law explicitly prohibits the provision of telecommunications services to UNRWA, applying a regime similar to that for basic utilities.

Israeli banking, financial and payment institutions may not “provide banking, financial or payment services to UNRWA,” including accounts, transfers or payment systems.

The ban extends to individuals or companies acting on behalf of, or for the account of, UNRWA, even on a temporary or ad hoc basis. Providers, according to the law, may turn to local authorities, police or security forces to verify compliance.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | Middle East: Israel accelerated expansionist projects in the occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/t2Ng1INjGX

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 29, 2025

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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The release indicates that, to further develop international cooperation among young people, the Russian president decided to convene the World Youth Festival in September 2026 in the city of Yekaterinburg.

The 2024 World Youth Festival was held in the Russian Federal Territory of Sirius, in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. At that meeting, participants agreed that the next event would be held in 2030.

The Russian presidency release stated that the 2026 Festival will be smaller in scale, with an expected attendance of 10,000 people.

Thematic meetings with 2,000 participants were also announced to be held in 2027, 2028, and 2029 between the two future events.

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Without providing further details of the operation, the General Staff of the military also announced in a statement that on December 27, units of the Fuga Kene group bombed refugee sites used by the aforementioned extremist elements.

At the same time, on the same day, air assets also destroyed armed bases belonging to irregular groups in an area of ​​the northern region of Timbuktu, a territory that includes emblematic sites that constitute a World Heritage Site, the document stated.

Following these operations, the Malian Armed Forces indicated that their armed units remain vigilant in the theaters of operations, prepared to strike against any enemy incursion.

Authorities in Mali, a Sahel country that suffered coups in August 2020 and May 2021, along with other countries in the region, including Burkina Faso and Niger, are demonstrating their determination to eradicate terrorist groups, such as the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, an Al-Qaeda affiliate.

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Somaliland is legally incapable of entering into any agreement with another country, they stated.

On Monday, the three African members of the Security Council — Algeria, Sierra Leone, and Somalia — along with Guyana, collectively known as A3+, strongly condemned Israel’s recognition of Somaliland as a sovereign state.

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Somaliland Recognition Triggers Regional Backlash and Displacement Fears

“A3+ strongly condemns the flagrant assault by Israel on the unity and the territorial integrity of Somalia by recognizing as an independent entity the northwestern region of Somalia, the so-called Somaliland,” said A3+ in a joint statement at an emergency meeting of the Security Council.

Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia, “is legally incapable of entering into any agreement or arrangement or recognition with another country,” said the statement read by Somali UN ambassador Abukar Dahir Osman on behalf of A3+. “Any such purported arrangements are, therefore, null and void.”

Israel’s recognition of Somaliland represents a direct violation of the United Nations Charter, the African Union’s fundamental principles, and a breach of the cornerstone of international law, said the statement.

Israel’s recognition of Somaliland undermines Somalia’s sovereignty, escalates tensions in the Horn of Africa, and opens the door to using African land for war and for the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.
This is illegal. It’s destabilizing. And the world must… pic.twitter.com/OPCes5nDOq

— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) December 29, 2025

“This act of aggression is aimed at encouraging fragmentation of the territory of Somalia … and is destabilizing the Horn of Africa, entire Horn of Africa, and the Red Sea region. It should be firmly rejected and condemned unequivocally by all (UN) member states. A3+, therefore, rejects this announcement by Israel and calls for it to be rescinded,” said the statement.

A3+ further calls on all UN member states to take a unified and principled stand against this illegal action. A3+ unequivocally rejects any steps aimed at advancing the forced, involuntary relocation of Palestinians from their homeland to other countries, including any attempt by Israel to relocate the Palestinian population from Gaza to Somaliland.

“This action is not only unlawful, but is morally reprehensible… A3+ will neither accept nor condone the illegal use of any territory, let alone that of a sovereign state, which is a member of the United Nations.”

Israel recognizes Somaliland as an independent state.

Why?

Here's one of the reasons.

(Via @sov_media) pic.twitter.com/ytdmFbrjWp

— Carlos Latuff (@LatuffCartoons) December 29, 2025

Neither the future of the Palestinian people nor the territorial sovereignty of Somalia can be used as a bargaining chip. Israel’s actions not only have set a dangerous precedent but also pose a serious threat to regional and international peace and security, the statement said.

A3+ calls on the international community to uphold its responsibility under the UN Charter and to reject any act that undermines the sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Somalia or the rights of the Palestinian people through manipulative and immoral actions, it added.

The A3+ is a coalition of three elected African members of the Security Council, known as A3, plus an additional like-minded country from Latin America and the Caribbean region. Over the years, they have steadily enhanced their coordination in pursuit of a common African position.

Thousands of Sahrawi residents participated in the fourth call for mobilization, rejecting the United States' initiative to grant the territory of Western Sahara to #Morocco pic.twitter.com/RQgP6zleXt

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) October 31, 2025

teleSUR/ JF

Source: Xinhua

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Al-Yamahi condemned “the dangerous and systematic escalation of incursions by extremist settlers” on the Esplanade of the Mosques, or Temple Mount, a site known to Jews as the Haram al-Sharif.

The official asserted that such provocative actions are an act of organized terrorism and a flagrant violation of the historical and legal status quo of the area, occupied by Israel during the 1967 war.

He also criticized settler attacks against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank, stating that they are carried out under the official sponsorship of the Israeli Army and Government.

The AP speaker urged regional legislatures, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to take urgent steps to classify extremist settler groups as terrorist organizations.

Official figures state that more than 750,000 Israeli settlers currently live in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, distributed among some 200 settlements and several outposts.

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During the year, ENEL carried out major maintenance on strategic hydroelectric plants, which allowed it to supply approximately 13 percent of the national electricity demand through this means and contribute to Nicaragua exceeding 80 percent of its energy matrix based on renewable sources, according to the Pastrán Report bulletin.

According to the publication, the company also strengthened its Geochemical Laboratory, key to the exploitation of the country’s vast geothermal potential, estimated at between 1,500 and 2,500 megawatts.

This progress directly impacts sustainable development projections and the consolidation of a reliable and clean energy supply, it stated.

He added that as part of that process, the company made progress in the accreditation of said laboratory through the implementation of a Quality Management System, with validation of testing methods, assurance of results and continuous updating of its specialists.

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The head of MICI, Julio Molto, said that, in addition to continuing to promote traditional products, the government is working on diversifying sales, with a greater emphasis on the services sector, as part of the strategy to broaden the export base and strengthen the country’s competitiveness.

The official specified that through last October, accumulated exports reached $835 million, representing a 3.1 percent increase, equivalent to an additional $24.8 million, compared to the same period in 2024.

For Molto, this is a record figure, the highest accumulated value between 2010 and 2025.

Among the leading export products are shrimp, bananas, watermelon, and sugar, sectors that continue to be pillars of Panamanian foreign trade.

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Addressing the opening of the Seminar on the International Situation and China’s Diplomacy 2025, the top diplomat stated that the Taiwan issue is an internal matter and the core of the country’s fundamental interests.

Wang noted that China firmly opposes the provocations of Taiwanese separatist forces and the massive sale of US weaponry to the island.

He underscored that achieving the complete reunification of the country is an inalienable historical mission, within the framework of the legal defense of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

He also indicated that more and more countries are reiterating their adherence to the One China principle, recognizing Taiwan as part of Chinese territory, and opposing any attempt at secession.

Wang pointed out that any action aimed at blocking this historical trend is doomed to failure.

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In a post on X, the Indian head of government stressed that ongoing diplomatic efforts remain the most viable path to ending hostilities and achieving lasting peace.

He urged all parties involved to remain focused on these efforts and avoid any actions that could undermine them.

Yesterday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reported that, during the night of December 28-29, Ukrainian authorities carried out a terrorist attack using 91 long-range attack drones against Vladimir Putin’s state residence in the Novgorod region.

The Russian Foreign Minister emphasized that all the drones were destroyed by Russian Armed Forces air defense systems and noted that no injuries or damage from falling debris were reported.

He also stressed that the attack took place “during the intense negotiations between Russia and the United States to resolve the Ukrainian conflict.”

During an interview this Tuesday on the Rossiya 1 television channel, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova asserted that Kyiv will face a response for its acts of terrorism.

The high-ranking diplomat stated that “the latest actions of the Ukrainian authorities demonstrate that this is a genuine, bloodthirsty terrorist regime with a neo-Nazi base, but they will receive a response for it.”

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Etsegenet Mengistu, Chairperson of Legal and Justice Affairs Standing Committee of the House of People’s Representatives (Parliament), commented in a briefing that these agreements signify Addis Ababa’s growing diplomatic influence and its commitment to international regulations. The meeting provided a platform for experts and legislators to analyze the frameworks and ensure their alignment with the nation’s sovereign interests and legal integrity.

The analysis included the two agreements with China, focusing on the transfer of convicted persons and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.

Meanwhile, with Brazil, the Committee examined a bilateral treaty on the repatriation of convicted persons, along with a formal extradition agreement with South Africa for citizens sought for criminal prosecution.

The Committee underscored that these measures are intended to create a solid legal framework for addressing transnational crimes and managing the exchange of detainees with greater transparency.

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The second most populous city in Andalusia, in southern Spain, with around 600,000 inhabitants, is one of the country’s cultural hubs, with other branch museums, such as the Georges Pompidou and the Thyssen-Bornemisza, whose main locations are in Paris and Madrid, respectively.

The Picasso Museum Malaga had a banner year in 2025 with 792,366 visitors, a figure that confirms the stabilization of visitor numbers and the strength of the institution’s cultural project, the institution noted.

The year began and ended with two exhibitions of the artist’s work, each with a different starting point: Picasso: The Royan Notebooks, and Picasso: Memory and Desire.

The year began and ended with two exhibitions of the artist’s work, each with a different focus: Picasso: The Royan Notebooks, and Picasso: Memory and Desire.

In the contemporary artists section, the Museum hosted William Kentridge’s installation More Sweetly Play the Dance as a guest work, and the exhibition Genius Loci by Belgian painter Farah Atassi.

Educational and cultural activities were a cornerstone of the museum, with nearly 30,000 participants in conferences, seminars, courses, screenings, and concerts, reinforcing its commitment to art education and dissemination.

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