*EU leaders meet to discuss Ukraine
*U.S. threatens Gaza, but holds talks with Hamas
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*U.S. threatens Gaza, but holds talks with Hamas
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NewsTranscript
00:00U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he will pause the application of tariffs
00:17on Mexican imports until April 2nd.
00:22The leaders of the European Union hold an emergency meeting to discuss the situation
00:26in Ukraine and the rift with the United States.
00:33And the Palestinian Resistance Movement confirmed talks with Washington and claimed that President
00:38Trump's threats to Palestinians are upholding Israel's decision on not complying with the
00:43ceasefire deal.
00:48Hello welcome to From the South, I'm Luis Alberto Matos from Televisa Studios in Caracas,
00:52Venezuela.
00:53Let's begin with the news.
01:00U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he will pause the application of tariffs
01:12on Mexican imports until April 2nd.
01:15Through his social media, Truth Social, Donald Trump affirmed this agreement was reached after
01:20a conversation he had with his Mexican counterpart, Claudia Sheinbaum.
01:23Trump assured that he made the decision out of respect for the Mexican leader.
01:27Earlier today, Sheinbaum confirmed the decision in statements to the press, where she affirmed
01:32that Mexico will not be required to pay tariffs on its products within the United States-Mexico-Canada
01:37agreement.
01:38This deal will last until April 2nd, when Washington will announce reciprocal tariffs
01:42for all countries.
01:49For her part, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum took to her social media to address the phone
01:53call with U.S. head of state and expressed many thanks to President Donald Trump.
01:58We had an excellent and respectful call, in which we agreed that our work and collaboration
02:03have yielded unprecedented results, within the framework of respect for our sovereignties.
02:08We will continue to work together, particularly on migration and security issues, which include
02:12reducing the illegal crossing of fentanyl into the United States, as well as weapons
02:16into Mexico.
02:17As mentioned by President Trump, Mexico will not be required to pay tariffs on all those
02:21products within the T-MEC.
02:23This agreement is until April 2nd, when the U.S. will announce reciprocal tariffs for
02:27all countries.
02:33Later during her routine morning press conference, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum described
02:37her talk with Trump as very respectful and highlighted that she had shown good results
02:42Mexico was delivering in border cooperation.
02:49In February alone, the reduction in the seizures of fentanyl on the United States side of the
02:57border with Mexico decreased by 41.5 percent.
03:02He did not know this chart until we sent it to him, and, besides, I explained it to him,
03:11not what we had decided, of sending 10,000 guards to the border to deal with customs
03:18checks.
03:19Well, it was delivering results.
03:26And the Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao responded to the U.S. move to impose tariffs
03:30on the country, urging the government to take internal actions to tackle the fentanyl issue
03:34and assuring coercion and extortion would not work on the Asian country.
03:39I want to emphasize that the U.S. must respect the facts regarding the fentanyl issue and
03:44take proactive actions itself.
03:51Simply shifting blame to China will not solve its own problems.
04:01Using this as a reason to impose tariffs on China is misleading and distorting the truth.
04:10Coercion and extortion will not work on China, and they cannot intimidate China either.
04:16China is firm in its resolve to upholding and safeguarding its own interests.
04:21As for the unilateral tariffs imposed by the U.S. side, we have already taken necessary
04:27response measures in accordance with basic principles governing international law and
04:32the relevant laws and regulations.
04:37If the U.S. side goes further down this wrong path, we will fight to the end.
04:44The government of Panama assures that there is no total adjustment for any vessel arriving
04:48from the United States.
04:49Canada authorities on Wednesday denied statements by White House spokesman Carolyn Leavitt,
04:54claiming that they had eliminated tariffs on U.S. ships.
04:57The spokeswoman's statements arose in response to a journalist's question regarding President
05:01Trump's remarks a day earlier in Congress, where he reiterated that the U.S. will take
05:05over the administration of the canal.
05:07The Panamanian executive also denied these statements.
05:16Migrants deported to Costa Rica denounced physical, psychological and nutritional mistreatment
05:21by U.S. authorities.
05:22According to the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture, migrants transported
05:26to the Costa Rican capital, San Jose, affirmed they were detained, held and transferred in
05:32shackles during their transfer without any explanation given.
05:35In addition, they referred rough treatment from the authorities and accused them of withholding
05:40their identity documents and belongings.
05:42Also complaining of the poor quality of food and accommodations.
05:50We have now our first short break coming up.
05:52Remember you can join us on Tiktok at El Esplendor English, where you'll find news in different
05:55formats, news updates, and much more.
05:58We'll be right back, stay with us.
06:19Welcome back.
06:20With three days ahead of primary and internal elections in Honduras, efforts to guarantee
06:24the agility of Sunday's elections are moving forward.
06:27So far, 24,858 electoral ballots with their corresponding biometric devices and 8,258
06:34technological kits have been distributed nationwide for the upcoming elections.
06:38In addition, the National Electoral Council pointed out that around 5,741 voting centers
06:44will be set up, where the polling stations will be installed with their corresponding
06:48informative custodians.
06:50In this context, the Electoral Council assured that the logistics implemented in these commissions
06:55will also guarantee the general elections of November 30th.
07:03And the Colombian Congress continues to debate on the health care reform on Thursday, with
07:0793.4% of its articles approved.
07:11With 101 votes in favor and 21 votes against, the Colombian legislative body approved Thursday
07:15articles 48, 56 and 57, leaving only four articles to be debated.
07:21On Wednesday, after more than seven hours of debate, and with the presence of the Ministers
07:25of Interior Armando Benedetti and of Health Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo, the plenary approved
07:3124 key articles of the reform, including the most controversial ones.
07:46In Ecuador, the death toll of the torrential rains impacting the country has risen to 16,
07:54as authorities report at least 77,000 residents affected.
07:58The National Secretariat of Risk Management briefed that floods, landslides and mudslides
08:02led to the fatalities, also leaving 91 people injured.
08:06Furthermore, authorities estimated the weather event caused structural damages in at least
08:1020,400 houses.
08:13They further reported losses in agriculture, namely 1,000 hectares of harvest and about
08:1845,000 dead farm animals.
08:20In view of the forecast of non-stop rainfall until March 7th, the Risk Management Entity
08:25has issued an emergency red alert for six of the 24 provinces.
08:30And after a meeting in the United Kingdom, the leaders of the European Union held an
08:44emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Ukraine and the rift with the United States.
08:49The heads of the bloc and the President of Ukraine are meeting again in Brussels to secure
08:53their military defenses and to check that Kiev is properly protected.
08:58Less than 48 hours ago, the United States halted all codes and intelligence exchanges
09:02and afterwards deactivated the guidance systems for the Himars rocket launchers.
09:07In view of this situation, the Ukrainian head of state has asked Washington for a new opportunity
09:12to talk about peace.
09:27Member States possibility to invest in the Ukrainian defense industry or to procure military
09:34capabilities that go right away to Ukraine.
09:38So it is to the benefit of rearming Europe, rearming the European Union, but also arming
09:44Ukraine in its existential fight for its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
09:50Of course, the security and defense of Europe is not separated of Ukraine security and defense.
09:57A stronger European defense, it boosts Ukrainian defense and a stronger capacity for Ukrainian
10:08defense is also very important to boost our own defense.
10:14And Kremlin issued a statement rejecting Emmanuel Macron's claims that Russia was a threat
10:18to be counteracted, even alluding to Europe's nuclear rearmament.
10:22On Wednesday, the French President encouraged nations to a major European rearmament and
10:26noted that France is ready to harness its nuclear deterrent to safeguard Europe in the
10:31face of supposed threats from Russia.
10:33In this regard, the Russian spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called Macron's remarks highly confrontational
10:39and stressed this stance is aimed at keeping up with war, even willing to use its nuclear
10:44weapons to hold its regional leadership.
10:46Likewise, Peskov underscored that Macron failed to acknowledge the fact that Russia has been
10:51on the threats from NATO as the bloc continues to approach its borders.
11:05And in this regard, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded on Thursday to the
11:09French President's remarks on the use of nuclear weapons in Europe, calling them a
11:13threat to Russia.
11:17This is a threat to Russia.
11:20If Macron considers us a threat, calls a meeting of the chiefs of general staff of
11:25European countries and Britain, says that it is necessary to use nuclear weapons, prepare
11:33to use nuclear weapons against Russia, this, of course, is a threat.
11:39On Thursday, the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, announced the appointment of Alexander
11:43Darshev as the country's new ambassador to the United States.
11:47The diplomat designated has a distinguished career, having served as a counselor at the
11:51Russian embassy in the U.S. for five years, and as ambassador to Canada from 2014 to 2021.
11:57The appointment ends several months without a head of the Russian diplomatic mission in
12:00Washington after previous ambassador Anatoly Antonov returned to the Eurasian nation in
12:05October 2024.
12:07The U.S. government gave the go-ahead for the new diplomat on February 27 during consultations
12:12with the Moscow delegation in Turkey.
12:18We have now our second short break coming up, before we invite you to visit our Facebook
12:21page at Telefli English, there you'll be able to watch our top stories, special live coverage
12:25and much more.
12:26Follow our page and activate the notification button to stay up to date on the world's most
12:30recent events.
12:31Found your break, we'll be right back.
12:42Welcome back.
13:04The Palestinian resistance movement claimed on Thursday that the U.S. President Trump's
13:08A senior Palestinian authorities confirmed having held a meeting with a special envoy
13:19of the White House.
13:20The leader further asserted the talks left a positive impression, although Washington
13:24has just focused on releasing Israeli hostages, namely those with U.S. citizenship.
13:29In this context, White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt confirmed that the Trump administration
13:33engaged in direct talks with Hamas, saying the discussion aligned with U.S. interests.
13:38The encounter, facilitated by Qatari intermediaries, has been the first ever since 1997, and breaks
13:44the U.S. rule of not engaging in direct talks with those that Washington labeled as terrorist
13:49groups, as is the case of Hamas.
13:57Palestinians in Hanioni shared their views after U.S. President Donald Trump said that
14:00the people of Gaza would be dead and face hell unless Israeli hostages are freed.
14:06If Hamas submits to Trump's decisions and threats, it signifies our failure.
14:15We must neither comply with him nor fear him.
14:20There is nothing left to weep for.
14:21We have been devastated.
14:23Our homes reduced to rubble, our sons, fathers and elders lost.
14:26There is nothing left to mourn.
14:28The United Nations lately warned of impending food shortages in the Gaza Strip.
14:39The U.N. alerted that current food stocks will just supply less than two-week operations
14:43of bakeries and kitchens, posing a risk to the food security of thousands of people.
14:48The entity noted that it may be necessary to reduce the size of rations to cover the
14:52needs of more people and the fuel available to maintain bakeries and food transport.
14:57Meanwhile, the Palestinian Health Ministry's latest briefing accounted the Israeli offensive
15:01against Gaza Strip for over 48,440 deaths and 111,845 injured.
15:13Likewise, the United Nations Children's Fund and the U.N.'s World Food Programme warned
15:17about the crisis facing the population of Gaza after Israel's decision to prevent humanitarian
15:22aid from entering the territory.
15:24In a statement, UNICEF said that if medical supplies are not delivered to the territory,
15:29routine vaccinations will stop, which will have a severe impact on children.
15:39Moving on to other news, violence unleashed during operations ordered by Syria's de facto
15:43government has left 13 people dead so far in the southwest of the country.
15:48In this regard, it was reported that forces loyal to the de facto president Mohamed al-Jilani,
15:52a former member of Al-Qaeda now called himself Ahmed al-Shara, carried out brutal raids in
15:57the Dada governorate.
15:58This way, they seized the rural town of Al-San al-Main with the aim of capturing supporters
16:04of former president Bashar al-Assad.
16:06The action led to heavy fighting between rebel groups and al-Jilani forces that, according
16:11to a preliminary report of the de facto authorities, killed eight members of their troops, one
16:15civilian and four rebels, and left several wounded, among them women and children.
16:23Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Thursday the National Political Advisers attending
16:30the joint group meeting at the 14th National Committee of the People's Political Consultative
16:34Conference.
16:36The head of state, who is also the Secretary General of the Communist Party and Chairman
16:40of the Central Military Commission, took part in the discussion of the political sectors
16:44of the Chinese Democratic League, the Chinese Association for the Promotion of Democracy
16:49and the Education Sector.
16:50This is the highest political advisory body in the country.
16:53The simultaneous meeting is known as the two sessions because it brings together concurrently
16:58the plenary sessions of the Political Consultative Conference of the Chinese People and the National
17:04People's Assembly of China.
17:06In Brazil, the Beja Flor Samba School won on Wednesday the Rio de Janeiro Carnival Competition.
17:22The city that hosts the most famous open-air carnival in the world, crowned the ensemble
17:27as champion after a showcase that paid tribute to late carnival director Laila, who passed
17:31in 2021, after a lifetime of contribution to the festivity.
17:35Like this, Beja Flor became the third biggest winner in Rio Carnival's history with 15 titles.
17:42For the 2025 competition, the second place went to the Grande Rio School, while the third
17:47prize was awarded to the Imperatriz Leopoldinense Ensemble.
17:52The parade was held as is tradition at Rio's Marques de Sepucay Samba Drum, in front of
17:5870,000 people and millions of viewers from all over the world.
18:05And like this, we have come to the end of this news brief.
18:07You can find these and many other stories on our website at telestroenglish.net.
18:10You can also join us on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Telegram and TikTok.
18:15For Telestro English, I'm Luis Alberto Matos.
18:17Thanks for watching.