24/03/2025
FTS 8.30
*Russia and U.S. initiate Ukraine ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia
*South Korean court reinstate impeached PM as acting leader
FTS 8.30
*Russia and U.S. initiate Ukraine ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia
*South Korean court reinstate impeached PM as acting leader
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NewsTranscript
00:00In Venezuela, a new plane carrying 199 nationals deported from the United States landed as
00:18part of the return to the homeland plan.
00:24Delegations from Russia and the United States will meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss a potential
00:29Ukraine ceasefire agreement.
00:36And the South Korean Constitutional Court dismissed the impeachment proceedings against
00:41Prime Minister Han Deok-su, reinstating him as acting president.
00:58Hello and welcome to From the South, I'm Alejandra Garcia from Telesur Studios in Havana,
01:03Cuba.
01:04We begin with the news.
01:17In Venezuela, as part of the return to the homeland plan landed a plane that made a stop
01:23over in Honduras with 199 Venezuelan migrants that were deported from the United States.
01:30The repatriated migrants arrived in the country an hour after midnight and were received in
01:36the airport by Minister of Interior, Peace and Justice, Gustavo Cabello.
01:40The Government of Venezuela has increased its efforts to ensure the return of Venezuelan
01:45migrants who were victims of the Trump administration's immigration policies, especially those who
01:51were illegally sent to El Salvador.
01:54Let us recall that the return to the homeland was established by President Nicolás Maduro
01:59in 2018 as a humanitarian initiative to facilitate the return of Venezuelan migrants who had
02:05left the country deceived by the so-called American dream.
02:21On Sunday, March 23rd, the presidential debate took place in Ecuador.
02:32During the event, the candidate for the Citizens' Revolution, Luisa González, and the candidate
02:37for National Democratic Action, Daniel Novoa, presented their proposals for the ballotage.
02:43The campaign began with a debate transmitted in national television between the current
02:48president and candidate for re-election, Daniel Novoa, and the candidate of the political
02:53party Citizens' Revolution, Luisa González.
02:56During the debate, that lasted approximately two hours, was centered on five thematic axes
03:03– education, health, health and social security, crime and safety, economics, unemployment
03:10and governance.
03:11Next April 13th, the Ecuadorian people will elect between both presidents the next four
03:19years.
03:26In this sense, during his intervention in the presidential debate, the candidate for
03:30National Democratic Action, Daniel Novoa, emphasized that by strengthening dollarization,
03:36the economy of Ecuadorians can be warranted.
03:46We will work in an integral way so that everyone in society has what is fair, so that everybody
03:51has the right to have first-level health care, to have the necessary income to be able to
03:56have medical care, to be able to transport themselves, and at the same time to have the
04:01security that they so deserve we have given order to the public finances, things that
04:06left U.S. in disarray.
04:08And now we have a system in which we have increased our international reserves, we have
04:13stabilized the balance of payments, we have strengthened dollarization.
04:18And in this way, by strengthening dollarization, we will be able to move forward and fulfill
04:23all our promises and give each and every Ecuadorian what they need.
04:28And dollarization is essential.
04:32Presidential candidate Daniel Novoa affirmed that his family is part of the controversial
04:36Novoa Trading Company, which has been involved in several cases of drug trafficking.
04:46I am not the owner, but members of my family are members of this company Novoa Trading
04:51has cooperated in each one of the cases.
04:54And this has been clarified before the public prosecutor's office that from there disassociates
04:59any official of Novoa Trading from any illicit act.
05:04The candidate for the Citizens' Revolution Party assured that during her administration
05:08she will install security systems in the vicinity of schools in order to warranty protection
05:13against violence and thus recover education.
05:18Almost 90% of the infrastructure is totally deteriorated, here are the percentages, and
05:28that will be the responsibility of the government, of my government.
05:33We are not going to make our fathers and mothers who dream that their children will be educated
05:37pay for this.
05:39To fight crime we are going to declare safe zones in educational areas with video surveillance
05:45cameras and permanent patrols, with a specific anonymous line to report cases of violence.
05:53This way we will recover education and our children and young people so that they do
05:57not continue to be prey to violence, death and the abandonment of an absent state.
06:05Candidate Luisa González also emphasized that in order to sustain the Social Security
06:09Institute it is necessary to increase the number of members.
06:17The only way to sustain the IES is to increase the number of affiliates, which in my government
06:23went from 1.5 million to 3 million.
06:27The next thing is that this government has reduced the number of affiliates by more than
06:3128,000 in just one year.
06:34This is how we put our retirement pensions at risk.
06:37Next is employment, which is the only source of adequate employment to sustain the IES.
06:43260,000 jobs were lost in one year of Daniel Noboa's administration, and that is where
06:50the IES is at risk.
06:52On security issues, candidate Luisa González said she intends to strengthen the country's
06:57armed forces, combat illicit enragement and take control of ports and borders.
07:03What are we going to do?
07:14Control, take control of the ports, airports, borders and fight against illicit enrichment
07:21and, also, money laundering.
07:25Intelligence and technology, which, surprisingly, the intelligence units of the armed forces
07:31were dismantled and their budget has been taken away during this government.
07:37Strengthening of the armed forces and the national police with equipment, but we are
07:41also going to give them greater preparation, greater strengthening from training together
07:46with our neighboring governments, assistance with the United States, with the European
07:52Union, with whom we have already met, and work on equipping the 1,300 UPCs and UVCs
08:00that are still abandoned, and our police are looking for where to sleep and how to
08:04eat.
08:05And now we have a short break coming up, but first remember you can join us on TikTok at
08:10TeleCity English where you'll find news in different formats, news updates and more.
08:14We'll be right back, stay with us.
08:30Welcome back to From the South.
08:38In Panama, several unions continue to fight a proposed Social Security Fund reform which
08:43will not benefit the working class.
08:46The People United for Life Alliance announced a new demonstration for next Thursday, March
08:5127th.
08:52In a communiqué they announced demonstrators will gather at the Belisario Porras Park from
08:58where they will march towards the side of the National Assembly to voice their rejection
09:03to the privatization of social security.
09:06The unions say they contemplate several other protest strategies, including a general strike,
09:11despite having been met so far with harsh police repression, with many demonstrators
09:18having been beaten and arrested.
09:26Argentina commemorates this March 24th, the 49th anniversary of the last civic-military
09:31dictatorship and massive mobilizations are expected throughout the country.
09:36On this day in 1976, the government of MarĂa Estela MartĂnez de PerĂłn was overthrown by
09:42the armed forces led by Jorge Rafael Videla, Emilio Macera and Orlando Agosti.
09:49From this day until 1983, massive violations of human rights took place, including arbitrary
09:55detentions, torture, forced disappearances, extrajudicial executions and a systematic
10:01plan of baby stealing.
10:04The government of Javier Millet once again released a video which denies state terrorism
10:09and the disappearance of 30,000 people.
10:12Human rights organizations will lead marches in different parts of the country to raise
10:17their voices for memory, truth and justice.
10:28The former president of Brazil Dilma Rousseff was re-elected as head of the New Development
10:33Bank, known as the BRICS Bank, a position that she will hold since April 2023.
10:39During the China Development Forum 2025, she announced her re-election to head the New
10:45Development Bank, founded in 2015 by the member nations of the BRICS Group, initially comprised
10:51in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
10:55For its part, the Brazilian government and the Brazilian Workers' Party congratulated
11:00Rousseff for heading another term as head of the BRICS Bank.
11:04Rousseff's re-election, now for a five-year term, was proposed by the President of Russia
11:09Vladimir Putin after negotiations with the Brazilian leader and unanimously approved
11:14by the Bank's Board of Directors.
11:30Russian and US delegations met in Saudi Arabia to discuss a ceasefire agreement between Russia
11:35and Ukraine.
11:36The negotiations will focus on the possible renewal of the Ukraine Transport Agreement,
11:42also known as the Black Sea Initiative.
11:45The meeting will be behind closed doors and Saudi security agents asked journalists to
11:49leave the Ritz-Carlton Hotel where the meeting is being held.
11:54The meeting comes after Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump held a call last week where the
11:59Russian President accepted his US counterpart's proposals to introduce a 30-day ceasefire
12:05on attacks on energy infrastructure in Russia and Ukraine.
13:05Welcome back to From the South.
13:15In Palestine, overnight attacks by the Israeli regime against the gas stream left at least
13:2121 people killed.
13:22In a new war crime, the Zionist entity bombed the Nasser Hospital in the south of the enclave.
13:29Local media reported that five medical staff and patients were burned to death during the
13:33Israeli airstrike that targeted the second floor of the Reception and Emergency Department
13:39of Nasser Hospital in Kanjunis.
13:42On early hours of Monday morning, the occupation army carried out more than 15 bombings in
13:47the area.
13:49One of the attacks hit an area of tents, killing at least six people and injuring several others.
13:55Israel broke the ceasefire agreement last Tuesday with bombing raids on Gaza that have
14:00killed more than 670 citizens and has been blocking the entry of humanitarian aid to
14:06the devastated Palestinian enclave for more than 20 days.
14:18The Palestinian Center for Human Rights accused Israel of using the lack of water as a weapon
14:23to make the Gaza Strip inhospitable.
14:26The organization warned that the humanitarian disaster in the region threatens the lives
14:30of over 2 million people as they do not have access to basic supplies such as clean and
14:36safe water.
14:37In this sense, the organization informed that the water and wastewater treatment infrastructures
14:42had been severely affected due to the Israeli bombings.
14:46The entity further stressed that Tel Aviv's decision to cut off the electricity supply
14:51to a desalination plant in Gaza aggravated the humanitarian crisis.
14:56Meanwhile, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced that these actions were
15:01part of the ethnic cleansing campaign to wipe Palestinians off the map.
15:12The Yemeni army launched an attack against the main airport of Israel in solidarity with
15:16the Palestinian people and after receiving strikes by U.S. weaponry against its civilian
15:21and military infrastructure.
15:23After the strike to the Ben Gurion International Airport conducted using a hypersonic ballistic
15:29missile, the Yemeni Houthis assured they will continue attacking Tel Aviv until the end
15:35of the Zionist aggression against the Gaza Strip.
15:38In this context, the Yemenis also confirmed an action with drones and missiles against
15:43the U.S. aircraft carrier and several warships of the enemy army in the Red Sea.
15:49Tensions in the region have further escalated amid continued Israeli violations of the ceasefire
15:56and U.S. support for the occupation and displacement of the Palestinian territories.
16:08Dozens of people mobilized in Israel in rejection of the mishandling of the hostage crisis by
16:13the Netanyahu's government.
16:15Demonstrators gathered outside of the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem to manifest
16:20their disagreement with the measures implemented by the cabinet.
16:25The demonstrators affirmed that they have lost confidence in the country's cabinet
16:29and demanded that the hostages in Gaza should be returned to their families as soon as possible.
16:34On the other hand, citizens rejected the order issued by the Israeli Prime Minister
16:39Benjamin Netanyahu to dismiss the head of the country's internal security service,
16:45Ronen Bar, after accusing him of being responsible for the events of October 7, 2023, which served
16:52as an excuse to start the war against Gaza.
17:02In Syria, forces of the de facto government murdered 72 civilians in the last 24 hours.
17:08Human rights organizations denounced that the General Security Forces claimed 58 civilian
17:14lives in Tartus and Latakia provinces, while 14 others had been reportedly killed in Aleppo,
17:20Damascus, Homs, among other provinces.
17:24Those movements further condemned that over 4,000 civilians had been murdered indiscriminately
17:30after the overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad government.
17:39In South Korea, the Constitutional Court dismissed the impeachment proceedings against Prime
17:44Minister Han Deok-su, reinstating him as acting president after President Jung Suk-kyo was
17:50suspended for declaring martial law.
17:52This decision was reached with five votes in favor and one against by the members of
17:58the court, while two judges ruled that the motion against Han was invalid since two-thirds
18:04of the legislators did not approve it.
18:06The ruling came three months after the Korean parliament indicted the prime minister for
18:11his alleged role in President Jung Suk-kyo's declaration of martial law on December 3,
18:172024, among other charges.
18:19After his reinstatement, Han stated that he would spare no effort to address the urgent
18:25matters following his return and expressed his positive assessment of the process and
18:30the Constitutional Court's decision.
18:49In South Korea, a series of forest fires caused the deaths of at least four firefighters and
18:55the evacuation of 600 people.
18:58The fire broke out last Friday in Sangcheon County and, in addition to the fatalities,
19:03left six people injured, burned 16 houses, two factories, nine warehouses and two temples.
19:11Over the weekend, the flames spread to neighboring Handong County due to the strong dry winds
19:16in the area.
19:17In this regard, the authorities deployed 36 helicopters to assist from the air in the
19:22work of containing the flames, as well as to provide the necessary medical assistance.
19:30Meanwhile, in Japan, forest fires have also affected two areas in the western part of
19:38the country, damaging several houses and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate.
19:43In the city of Iwahari in the Ehime prefecture alone, large trees were ablaze on a hillside,
19:51while a helicopter was seen dropping water on the fire.
19:54Meanwhile, in the western city of Okayama, the fire broke out on Sunday afternoon and
19:59has since damaged five houses.
20:02Authorities advise the evacuation of several hundred residents of the affected district.
20:11And with this information, we have come to the end of this week's Brief.
20:15But you can find this and many other stories on our website at www.telesurenglish.net and
20:19join us on social media.
20:21We are on Facebook, Instagram, Telegram and TikTok as well.
20:25For TELUSURI ENGLISH, I'm Alejandra Garcia.