12/12/2024
FTS 8.30
*Mexican Chamber of Deputies passes 2025 federal budget
*Syrian Baath Party temporarily suspend its activities
FTS 8.30
*Mexican Chamber of Deputies passes 2025 federal budget
*Syrian Baath Party temporarily suspend its activities
Category
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NewsTranscript
00:00In Venezuela, President Nicolás Maduro has condemned calls from the far right for a civil
00:17war in the country.
00:22The Mexican Chamber of Deputies approved on Wednesday 9.3 trillion pesos, equal to
00:27442.7 billion euros, for the 2025 federal budget.
00:37And the Syrian Socialist Party, Baath, has suspended all of its activities and functions
00:41until further notice, while it is currently working on the release of its militants.
00:52Hello and welcome to From the South.
00:54My name is Belén de los Santos, I'm from Televisor Studios in Caracas, Venezuela.
00:58We begin with the news.
01:11And now we begin with the news.
01:13In Venezuela, President Nicolás Maduro has condemned calls from the far right for a civil
01:18war in the country.
01:19During an assembly with the candidates for justices of peace, whose election will take
01:23place next December 15th, the Venezuelan head of state referred to the recent calls of the
01:28extreme right wing to burst out a civil war in the country, stating that in Venezuela
01:33there will be permanent mobilizations to guarantee peace.
01:37The president further stressed that these calls to violence have serious consequences
01:42since they go against national laws.
01:44Concurrently, he pointed out that through his public denunciations, the representative
01:49of the extreme right Edmundo González is not only violating the legal framework of the
01:54country, but also the agreement that he signed in order to obtain political asylum.
02:10And now you are calling for a war in Venezuela.
02:13Old man, be careful with what you say from there.
02:16It has serious consequences.
02:20Watch your words.
02:22Do not make a mistake with the people of Venezuela.
02:27In Venezuela, there will be no war.
02:31Old man, what causes me to tell you, old man, do not play with fire.
02:37Respect Venezuela.
02:43Do not play with fire.
02:46You are violating the agreement you signed.
02:48You are violating the right to asylum with Spain.
02:52Stop calling for a civil war in Venezuela.
02:56Stop calling for a civil war in Venezuela.
03:00We continue in Venezuela as activities are underway in the framework of the upcoming
03:0524th Summit of the ALBA-TCP.
03:07And Caracas youngsters participated at an ALBA political council model to learn and
03:12promote the mechanism principles.
03:16First of all, in the framework of the ALBA, well, it is really important that we, as Venezuelans,
03:22get to know this type of organization, of activities, as students as well, because we
03:27get to know a little more about the current world, what surrounds us, and the great importance
03:32that the ALBA represents for Venezuela.
03:38We are already going towards the transition of a new world, of a new multipolar world,
03:42and the ALBA-TCP is adheres to that new world, where all the islands are not a colony, but
03:46are independent and sovereign peoples, and also, we, from here is the ALBA, talk about
03:50the peoples directly, about the social movements, we also break with the paradigm of the relation
03:54state-state, and we go beyond.
03:56Towards the human being with the human being, towards the man with the man, towards the
04:00woman with the woman, towards the child with the child, towards us to be able to discover
04:03that new horizon, that without a doubt the traditional model has not allowed us to know.
04:08It is undoubtedly important to adhere to this integration mechanism in order to be able
04:11to live and learn first-hand about these experiences, which will surely be the future of Latin America
04:15and the Caribbean.
04:20And in Peru, Minister of Education Morgan Quero described those killed during protests
04:26against the government of Dina Boluarte as rats.
04:29In the framework of Human Rights Days, the Minister of Education issued a series of
04:33despicable comments, emphasizing in a press conference that human rights are for people,
04:38not for rats, after being questioned about the lack of government pronouncements on the
04:43death of protests in the protests.
04:46In the citizens' demonstrations, 49 civilians were killed by the forces of order in different
04:52departments of the country, after demanding the exit of President Dina Boluarte and the
04:56members of the current Congress.
04:58For her part, Boluarte is being investigated by the public prosecutor for the alleged crime
05:04of genocide.
05:11And also in Honduras, President Xiomara Castro assured that her administration has made the
05:16largest public investment in the history of the country.
05:19The President expressed this in the activity for the 199th anniversary of the forces in
05:26Tegucigalpa, the capital of the Central American nation.
05:30She also highlighted the construction of hospitals, schools, sports fields, roads, as well as
05:36the coverage of social programs related to food and health, in addition to giving an
05:40account of the progress of government in the fight against crime and drug trafficking.
05:52My government has made the largest public investment in the history of Honduras.
06:07In highways, productive roads, airports, education, schools, scholarships, free tuition, school
06:15lunch, health, hospitals, sports, support for agriculture, energy, security, fuel subsidies.
06:27And now we have a short break coming up, but first, remember you can join us on TikTok
06:30at TELUS for English, where you will find news in different formats, news updates and
06:35much more.
06:36We'll be right back, stay with us.
06:58Welcome back to From the South.
07:00The Mexican Chamber of Deputies approved on Wednesday 9.3 trillion pesos that is equal
07:05to 442.7 billion euros for the 2025 federal budget.
07:11After over four hours of debate, legislators passed the first budget of the shame-bound
07:16government with 349 votes in favor and 129 against, registering no abstentions.
07:24The spending plan of the executive has been estimated at over 472 million euros, which
07:30will be fundamentally allocated to social programs.
07:34Moreover, Marilyn Gomez Pozo, President of the Finance Commission of the Legislature,
07:39assured that the regulation priorities prioritizes economic growth, shared prosperity, economic
07:45stability and public finances.
07:54And also in other news, Haitian authorities have confirmed a new massacre that left at
07:58least 20 people dead, perpetrated in the department of Arte Bonit, in the center of
08:03the country.
08:04Between Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, while sleeping in their homes in
08:09the commune of Petit Rivier, at least 20 people were killed in an armed attack perpetrated
08:15by the criminal group known as Gran Grif.
08:18Authorities of Arte Bonit Peace Initiatives Committee described that among the dead victims
08:24were children who were brutally murdered.
08:27The attack is a retaliation against the residents of the area who have managed to eliminate
08:31several members of the criminal group since the return of the Haitian National Police
08:36to the region.
08:44And also in Colombia, on Wednesday, the Economic Commissions of the Senate and the House of
08:48Representatives voted against the financing bill proposed by the government of President
08:53Gustavo Petro.
08:54The bill, which began its processing on Wednesday after several days of delay, was supposed
09:00to guarantee close to 12 trillion Colombian pesos for sustainable economic reactivation,
09:06adaptation to climate change and sustainable development within a framework of fiscal sustainability
09:11and new tools to strengthen the control and operation of the tax system.
09:17President Gustavo Petro assured via his social networks that the decision is a hard blow
09:22against the people, while the Minister of the Interior assured that a sensible discussion
09:27of the norm was not allowed.
09:37The regrettable thing about today's decision is that a discussion was not allowed and we
09:42had urged the benches, the members of the third and fourth commissions to open the debate
09:49and to discuss point by point the advance payment of the fiscal rule, because taxes
09:54and gambling were excluded in the report.
09:56We wanted to discuss each one of the points of the reform and there was no opportunity
10:01to discuss them, to move forward in that debate.
10:05It seems to me that there was a haste on the part of the commissions in not allowing the
10:09debate.
10:10I believe that the country deserved that debate.
10:17And we stay in Colombia, where the bidding for the minimum wage increase has started
10:21and some unions have already proposed their percentage, which is far from the proposal
10:26of the workers represented in the central labor unions.
10:30Let's see more in the following material.
10:36As usual for this month, the central labor, trade unions, industrial organizations and
10:41government meet to discuss the increase in the minimum wage for workers in the country.
10:46The Colombian Association of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises initially put on the
10:51table its proposal of 5%, a figure that could be approaching the other unions.
10:57However, they did not give their proposal and left in the hands of the Ministry of Labor
11:02and the government the evolution of the table of consultation.
11:10The great interest that we have is to reach an agreement this year.
11:14Some people ask us why we have not given a number.
11:17And the reason why we have not given it is because we really believe that the probability
11:21of agreement increases a lot if we allow the government to play the role of intermediary
11:26or conciliator in the middle of this tripartite work.
11:30As it happened in the year 2022 and in the year 2023, we almost succeeded in achieving it.
11:36For their part, the workers, who were members of and represented by the National Unitary
11:48Command, assured that the initiative of the small businessmen is illegal since it does
11:54not take into account other indicators, only the inflation index.
11:58They proposed a two-digit increase and made a series of suggestions with measures to maintain
12:04the purchasing power of the workers and thinking of the increases that are coming next year.
12:13We need a review of the housing rental rates, that the increases of products regulated by
12:18the state be reviewed so that they are never higher than inflation, that the proposals
12:24of the pensioners be considered so that the pension allowance is equal to the minimum
12:29wage and that the health contribution is reduced, as well as the contribution to the
12:35family compensation funds, that the Bank of the Republic's interest rates be significantly
12:49reduced because they have been a brake on economic reactivation, that financial expenses
12:55be reviewed, and that the minimum wage increase for 2025 be 12 percent.
13:05In this context, what expectations do ordinary citizens have regarding these negotiations
13:14and their results?
13:15It is not enough for a person who earns the minimum wage, and even more so for a person
13:22who pays rent, who has a family.
13:25They always raise it very little, and then they raise the public transportation.
13:29So no, it must be something that allows one as a Colombian to be able to subsist.
13:39Perhaps in a middle ground between what the private sector and the workers' union are
13:44asking for, because it is really necessary for all people to have access to a better
13:49quality of life.
13:50That is the idea.
13:53The key data for the discussion of the minimum wage are inflation, which is 5.2 percent,
14:02the contribution of wages to GDP, which is 2 percent, and productivity, which ranges
14:08between 1.73 percent and 3.43 percent.
14:12The first deadline is December 15th to reach a consensus on the minimum wage increase,
14:19where for the moment the parties seem to be distant.
14:21The deadline is December 30th, otherwise it will be signed by decree.
14:49Welcome back to From the South.
15:13This Wednesday the Syrian Socialist Party, Baath, suspended all its activities and functions
15:18until further notice, while it is currently working on the release of its militants.
15:23The party's Secretary General, Ibrahim al-Hadid, informed that the measure will allow the militants
15:28to return to the entities in which they originally worked and to make themselves available to
15:34them.
15:35Al-Hadid also called on the militants to hand over all the mechanisms, vehicles and weapons
15:40to the Ministry of the Interior or to the nearest police unit or police station and
15:45to draw up an official record of the same.
15:48The goods and funds of the party will be under the supervision of the Ministry of Finance
15:54and the Ministry of Justice, and in addition, its revenues will be deposited in the Central
15:59Bank of Syria to be dispersed in accordance with the law by the current government.
16:11We stay in Syria as the Military Operations Department announced the cancellation of the
16:16curfew imposed last week in Damascus by terrorist factions.
16:20The Syrian entity called on citizens to return to their work normally and contribute to the
16:25formation of the new Syria.
16:27It also urged the Syrian people to keep their distance from public institutions and military
16:33barracks.
16:34The organization also reiterated its commitment to guaranteeing protection and reward any
16:39person with information about the existence of secret prisons.
16:44On November 27th, terrorist forces launched a surprise offensive against the Syrian army
16:49taking control of several cities and proclaiming the fall of the government of Bashar al-Assad.
17:02And the government of Egypt condemned the Israeli attacks on military installations
17:06in Syria and the actions of the Zionist state in the Golan Heights.
17:11The Egyptian Foreign Ministry considered this Israeli aggression against military installations
17:16and its attempts to expand its zone of influence by occupying Syrian territories as a flagrant
17:22violation of international law.
17:25Cairo also stated that the Israeli authorities seek to profit from the political vacuum exposed
17:32by the Syrian aggressive escalation of terrorist factions.
17:36In this regard, the Foreign Ministry called on the United Nations Security Council and
17:40the international community to take measures to stop the escalation of the Israeli occupation.
18:06The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted two resolutions calling for a ceasefire
18:11in the Palestinian city of Gaza and rejecting the Israeli regime's restrictions on the Agency
18:17for Palestinian Refugees, UNRWA.
18:19The ceasefire resolution was approved by 158 countries, nine were against and 13 abstained.
18:27The decision includes the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees along with immediate
18:32access for the civilian population of the Gaza Strip to basic services and humanitarian
18:38assistance.
18:39On the other hand, the resolution prohibiting operations against the UNRWA was approved
18:44with 159 votes in favor, nine against and 11 abstentions.
18:49It determines that Tel Aviv must comply with its international obligations and respect
18:54the immunity of this Agency.
18:56However, it is important to note that the resolutions of the UN General Assembly are
19:00not binding.
19:07We now move on to other topics.
19:09On Thursday, in a televised address, South Korean President Yun Sung-kyo defended his
19:14decision to implement martial law in the country.
19:17In his second public appearance since last week's martial law decree, he classified it
19:22as an inevitable measure to protect liberal democracy from the opposition's parliamentary
19:28dictatorship.
19:29Yun is currently being investigated for a crime of insurrection that can carry life
19:35imprisonment or the death penalty.
19:38Senior military commanders have claimed in recent days that both the President and the
19:42former Defense Minister Kim Jong-un personally gave them orders to forcibly empty the parliament.
19:53And like this, we have come to the end of this news brief.
19:55You can find these and many other stories on our website at TELUSREINGLISH.NET and also
19:59join us on social media.
20:00We are on Facebook, X, Instagram, Telegram and also on TikTok.
20:05For TELUSREENGLISH, my name is Belén de los Santos, thank you for watching.