As hundreds of thousands of Palestinians return to the bombed out ruins of their homes in northern Gaza, Israelis await the return of more loved ones held hostage in the enclave. One of those hostages is 29-year-old Arbel Yehoud, who was supposed to have been released last Saturday. However, the Islamist militant group Hamas, whom the EU, US and others consider a terror organization, released four female Israeli soldiers instead. In response to the violation of the…
South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, has resumed oil production after nearly a year-long shutdown caused by the ongoing conflict in neighboring Sudan. The announcement of the restart, which began on January 8, 2025, has been met with optimism as well as skepticism, as the country continues to struggle with chronic economic challenges, corruption, and institutional weaknesses. South Sudan’s minister of petroleum, Puot Kang Chol, believes, however, that fresh opportunities await. “We know that our economy is suffering,” he…
Some three years ago, a Danish public radio podcast brought to light one of the darkest chapters in relations between Denmark and Greenland: the so-called IUD scandal. The podcast made public a Danish government program that forced thousands of young women in Greenland, many of them minors, to have intrauterine devices (IUD coils) inserted into their wombs as a form of compulsory birth control in the 1960s and 1970s. Although Greenland — which is mostly…
Trump administration rescinds memo to halt federal funding The Trump administration on Wednesday rescinded a sweeping directive to freeze all federal grants and aid after the move was temporarily blocked by a federal judge. The funding freeze, which came into action on Tuesday, is believed to have disrupted tens of billions of dollars in spending across healthcare, education, disaster relief, housing assistance and other programs. A memo sent by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to…
US President Donald Trump’s administration has revoked a decision that would protect some 600,000 Venezuelans from deportation, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Wednesday. Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, had ordered an extension of the deportation relief from April 2025 to October 2026. What do we know about the Trump administration’s plan to deport Venezuelans? Noem told the Fox News broadcaster that she had rescinded the Biden administration’s extension, which also gave Venezuelans access to…
The public-private collaboration between Uparpo and the Galician Institute for Economic Promotion (IGAPE)-dependent of the Xunta-resulted in in 2024 a new increase in activity for the SGR and greater access to financing with autonomic public product for Galician SMEs . This casuistry occurs in an exercise that has been characterized in the sector due to the combination of a productivity drop attributed to the increase in labor costs and high interest rates before the de…
Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic resigned on Tuesday, as months of student and civic protests began to take their political toll. Vucevic is a member of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and a close political ally of President Aleksandar Vucic. The mayor of Novi Sad, Serbia’s second-largest city, and fellow SNS party member Milan Djuric also resigned. “This shows that we who were elected to assume responsibility are assuming responsibility so that the situation does…
A US judge temporarily blocks Trump’s freeze on aid. Trump’s plan to pause the disbursements of federal grants and loans minutes before it was set to go into effect late Tuesday. What to know about Trump’s plan to freeze federal aid The Trump administration late Monday directed federal agencies to pause federal grants and loans in the US on Tuesday evening, in a sweeping move that threatens to disrupt education, healthcare, housing assistance, disaster relief and…
Increased repression halts humanitarian aid in Yemen because of key decisions by Yemen’s de facto government, the Houthi army, seem to indicate the Houthis are on a zigzag course in the ongoing Yemeni conflict. Last Thursday, the Houthis kidnapped 7 UN employees in the country’s capital Sanaa. On Friday, they released the 25-member crew of the Galaxy Leader, a merchant ship they had seized in November 2023. The Israelis are also playing a long game in…
A Christmas gift for regional deputies accompanied by controversy. The Madrid Assembly table approved on December 26 a salary increase of 6% which was approved by the PP, PSOE, Vox’s rejection for extra spending in public requires a Link it to the revaluation of pensions in Congress, which was lying with the Omnibus decree. The text states that these salaries have been reduced between 10 and 15%, which have only increased twice (2% in 2020…
US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed trade and a potential state visit to Washington in a phone call on Monday. The White House said Trump emphasized the importance of “moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship” as well as the importance of India procuring American-made security equipment. The two leaders also discussed plans for Modi to visit the White House. “We are committed to a mutually beneficial and trusted partnership,”…
The Minister of Economy, Employment and Digital Transformation, Guillermo Santamaría, has held a new working meeting with representatives of the family business association, AEEF, to advance the implementation of measures regarding the lack of labor, the administrative simplification or the generational relief plan, “in which we are incorporating their necessary contributions.” Santamaría stressed that Extremadura GDP grew by 2.5% in the third quarter of 2024, a data that has been known today. He has also…
Thousands of people across Germany took to the streets on Saturday to protest the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, just weeks before the general election on February 23. Demonstrators in Berlin gathered at the Brandenburg Gate, lighting up their phones, blowing whistles, and singing anti-fascist songs, while in Cologne, protesters carried banners condemning the AfD.
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Greece on Sunday The mass protests demand justice for rail crash victims demanded of the nation’s deadliest rail disaster in 2023. Demonstrations broke out in 97 cities in Greece and 13 locations abroad. Marches in the largest Greek cities of Athens and Thessaloniki had about 30,000 and 16,000 demonstrators respectively. “What is happening today is majestic,” Pavlos Aslanidis, the father of a victim, told the media…
An undersea fiber optic cable between Latvia and Sweden belonging to Latvia State Radio and Television Center (LVRTC) was damaged in the Baltic Sea on Sunday. The cable linked the Latvian town of Ventspils with Sweden’s Gotland island. “We have determined that there is most likely external damage and that it is significant,” Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina told reporters following an extraordinary government meeting. “We are working together with our Swedish Allies and NATO on…
The United Kingdom will study its entry into a paneuro commercial treaty following new talks with the EU commision to find a solution to Boris Johnson’s post brexit deal which does not work. The Chancellor of Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, said this Sunday that she is willing to examine the proposal launched by the European Commission of Commerce, Maros Sefcovic, that the United Kingdom joins the commercial agreement known as the Pan-Euromediterranean Convention (PEM). “We will…
Is Colombia seeing more war than peace? Since January 16, the guerilla group ELN and offshoots of the former militant organization FARC have been fighting each other in the Catatumbo region in the northeast of Columbia near the border to Venezuela. At least 80 people have died so far in the violence. At least 20 more people have been killed in clashes in the Amazonas region in the south of the country between rival splinter…
Thousands march to protest against the AfD and Elon Musk. Thousands of Germans took to the streets in several cities to protest the rise of far-right extremism and the growing popularity of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany AfD party. Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), has classified the AfD as a “suspected” far-right extremist organization. Musk hosts X talk with German far-right leader Weidel Elon Musk is…
South Africa, Malawi and Uruguay on Saturday announced that soldiers from their respective armies were killed as they battled to halt the advance of M23 rebel fighters in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The South African National Defense Force (SANDF) said that nine of its soldiers were killed during a pitched battle with M23 fighters as they attempted to advance on the city of Goma, the key city in the mineral-rich east. Congolese…
The new United States Executive has announced the official name change of the Gulf of Mexico and Mount Denali (Alaska), which will henceforth be called the Gulf of America and Mount McKinley, respectively, according to a statement from the Department of the Interior. “Pursuant to President Donald J. Trump’s recent executive order, the Department of the Interior is proud to announce the implementation of name restorations that honor the legacy of American greatness, efforts that…
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is demanding the reopening of a pipeline carrying Russian gas through Ukraine in return for his support for the extension of European Union sanctions on Russia. The EU has imposed 15 rounds of economic sanctions on Moscow since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but there won’t be a 16th unless the bloc’s members unanimously vote to extend the measures by January 31. But Hungary’s Orban, a right-wing…
US President Donald Trump traveled to North Carolina before continuing on to California on Friday to visit people affected by hurricanes and wildfires. The visits are Trump’s first trips outside of Washington, DC, since taking office in his second term as president. Trump critical of Biden administration policies and fire response Trump has heavily criticized California Governor Gavin Newsom and other officials for the response to the wildfires that caused widespread devastation this month. However, as the pair…
Parts of Ireland and Northern Ireland are grappling with the devastating impact of Storm Eowyn, which hit early Friday with wind speeds exceeding 180 kilometers per hour (112 miles per hour). One person in Ireland died when a tree fell on his car, said police reports. The storm has forced public transport to come to a standstill, closing schools and roads. Hundreds of flights were canceled at airports in the cities of Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh and Glasgow.…
Caixabank has closed the year 2024 with the granting of 31% more mortgages in the Aragonese community. Specifically, mortgage loans have exceeded 148 million euros. The entity, which leads the mortgage market with a 25.6% share at the national level, has granted 83.5% of fixed type mortgages in Aragon. A fact that the trend of recent months is maintained despite the decrease in interest rates. It is also due to the fact that CaixaBank maintains…
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has been elected taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland for the second time, following intense debates in the Dáil (Ireland’s lower house of Parliament). The Dáil faced multiple suspensions on Wednesday due to heated exchanges between the government and opposition parties.
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