The president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, acknowledged this Friday that she has “a 'very low' opinion on cryptocurrencies” and revealed that her own son, ignoring her advice, lost 60% of what he had invested. in them.

“He completely ignored me, which is his right. And he lost almost all the money he had invested. It wasn't much, but it lost approximately 60%,” he said at a colloquium in Frankfurt with 200 young people organized by the Bundesbank.

She explained that later, when they talked about it, he reluctantly agreed that she was right.

Lagarde assured that what has been seen in recent months with Terra or Luna, FTX and now with Binance shows that cryptocurrencies are “a highly speculative asset.”

“People are free to invest their money wherever they want, they are free to speculate as much as they want, but people should not be free to participate in criminally sanctioned operations and businesses,” he said.

This week, the world's largest cryptocurrency platform, Binance, agreed to pay a $4.3 billion fine and resign its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, for money laundering, following an accusation described as a “point of inflection” by the United States authorities.

For his part, the founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, is awaiting a prison sentence after being found guilty this month of seven crimes of fraud following a criminal trial, and has another process pending, promoted by the Commission of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

On October 7, their lives were shattered and they went through hell in the middle of the war.. Some 240 people were kidnapped in the Hamas attack on the music festival near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, where they were taken.

Forty-nine days later, Israel and the Islamist group have reached a four-day truce pact with which 13 kidnapped Israelis have been able to return to their homes, in addition to 11 Thais, a Filipino citizen and 39 Palestinian prisoners.. These are the names of the nine women, the three girls and the boy released this Friday by the Palestinian Islamist group.

The families have revealed the identity of Adina Moshe, 72, and Margalit Moses, 78, in addition to that of four other elderly women, who were part of the first group of hostages that has already arrived in Israel.

Twelve of the thirteen released lived in the Nir Oz kibbutz, one of the hardest hit in the Hamas attack, which kidnapped almost 80 people there.

Hamas and Israel reached an agreement that 50 kidnapped people will be released in exchange for the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners, in both cases all of them women and minors (boys and girls).

Among those released this Friday were also Danielle Aloni and her 5-year-old daughter Emilia, who were in the Nir Oz kibbutz at Danielle's sister's house when Hamas terrorists attacked, killing more than 1,200. people.

Her sister, Sharon Aloni-Cunio, was also kidnapped along with her two twin daughters and their father, David Cunio, who remain in the hands of the Islamist group.

Ruth Mundar, 78, her daughter, Keren Mundar, 54, and her grandson, Ohad Mundar, 9, have also been released.

Others who have returned are Doron Katz-Asher, 34, and his two daughters Raz and Aviv, 4 and 2 years old respectively.

The released minors are 2, 4, 5 and 9 years old.

Among the elderly women handed over by Hamas to Israel is also 85-year-old Yaffa Adar, whose video of her being transported by Hamas fighters in a golf cart went viral.

Spain faces a diplomatic crisis with Israel due to President Pedro Sánchez's statements about a possible unilateral recognition of the Palestinian State, if the international community does not make joint decisions in that direction.

“The time has come for the international community, and especially European countries, to make a decision on the recognition of the Palestinian State,” he stressed. And, then, he pointed out that it would be worth working together for it, “but if that does not happen – he added – Spain, of course, will make its own decisions.”

Sánchez's statement, made this Friday in Rafah (Egypt) together with the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander Croo, has not pleased the Israeli Executive, whose Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned the ambassadors of both countries “for a harsh reprimand” when considering the words like “support for terrorism”.

The president, who met this Thursday in Jerusalem with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has already transferred the “political solution” to the conflict and the commitment to the recognition of the two States as a possible solution to the current situation in Gaza, to which was met with a forceful reaction from the Israeli president.

“They are fighting to eliminate the Jewish state”. The Israeli leader, who has been at war with Hamas for more than 40 days after the terrorist attack on October 7, did not hesitate to publicly respond to Sánchez's request for a “political solution.”. “We are facing a peculiar type of enemy, especially cruel and inhumane,” he asserted.. “They are genocidal, they are not fighting for this or that territory, they are fighting to eliminate the Jewish State at any border they say,” he continued in his story.

“What is a democracy that is committed to the laws of war supposed to do? Do these laws provide exemptions to these criminals?” he asks.. Given this, Netanyahu says that “if we don't enter, we lose.”

“Israel has the right to self-defense”

After the meeting, the Spanish president gave details of his conversation with the Israeli and pointed out that “Israel has the right to self-defense, but it must respect international law and humanitarian law.”. The socialist president pointed out on his X account, formerly Twitter, that “it is urgent to stop the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.”

“We must hold an international peace conference as soon as possible with all the parties involved. Today the solution to the conflict involves the materialization of two States, Israel and Palestine, that coexist in peace and security,” he added.

EU and Canada close ranks on two-state solution

The European Union and Canada have pointed out this Friday the “worsening” of the humanitarian crisis in the Strip and have expressed their support for reviving the political process based on the two-state solution.

Within the framework of the summit held in St. John's, Brussels and Ottawa, Canada, have underlined the “deep concern” about the “worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza”, highlighting the importance of launching “urgent and expanded humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Strip” , as the United Nations Security Council resolution emphasizes.

“We reaffirm the imperative to protect civilians and ensure full compliance with international law, including international humanitarian law,” the joint statement states.

In this sense, Canada and the EU reiterate the importance of urgent and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid to reach Gaza “through all necessary measures.”

Regarding the future of the conflict, the European bloc and the North American country say they are “willing to contribute to reactivating a political process based on the two-state solution”, thus betting and closing ranks around the construction of a Palestinian State. independent, democratic, contiguous, sovereign and viable”, while making explicit their opposition to the forced displacement of Palestinians.

Pedro Sánchez's words at the close of his tour of Israel, the West Bank and Egypt about the possibility of unilateral recognition of Palestine have opened the first international diplomatic breach of the new coalition Government.

From Rafah, the only open border crossing with the Strip, Sánchez defended this Friday that “the time has come for the international community and especially the EU to make a decision on the recognition of the Palestinian State.”. If not, the President of the Government continued, “of course Spain will make its own decisions,” he pointed out.

These statements have greatly displeased Israel, to the point of summoning the Spanish ambassador, Ana María Salomón Pérez, for “a harsh reprimand conversation.”

Israel's slap on the wrist has also affected Belgium, whose Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, has accompanied Sánchez throughout this tour of the area.

“We condemn the false claims of the prime ministers of Spain and Belgium that they are supporting terrorism,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in a message on Twitter.

“Following his words,” Cohen continues, “his ambassadors will be invited to a harsh reprimand conversation,” he added.

In said message, Israel has defended that “it is acting in accordance with International Law and fighting against a terrorist organization worse than the Islamic State that commits war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, has also “roundly” condemned the statements of Sánchez and De Croo, since he believes that the two leaders did not clearly point out Hamas for the crimes committed, including the attacks against Israeli citizens and the use of Palestinian civilians as “human shields”.

Albares responds to Israel

Shortly after, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, responded to his Israeli counterpart that his accusations against the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, are “totally false and unacceptable”, he said in an official statement.

In this sense, Foreign Affairs has summoned the Israeli ambassador to Spain, Rodrica Radian-Gordon, to give explanations about these criticisms.

Sánchez's words have received support in Spain from the second vice president and leader of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, who has indicated that it is “justice” to recognize the Palestinian State: “It has been a firm commitment in the Government agreement. It is a matter of justice to do it now. We must move from words to actions,” Díaz said through a message on Twitter.

For their part, the PP has criticized Sánchez's statements, which in their opinion “make difficult” the “European consensus, with the EU and with NATO, and the consensus in Spanish foreign policy.”

According to popular sources, “traveling to Israel to offend Israel is the opposite of diplomacy”. In their opinion, they continue, “going invited to an ally's house to offend him is the worst letter of introduction for Spain.”

With his trip to Israel, Sánchez “has created a problem for Spain”. “To go last and create a conflict, it is better not to have gone,” maintains the PP.

What happened this Friday represents the most serious episode of diplomatic tensions between Israel and Spain after the Hamas attacks on October 7, although the Israeli Embassy in Madrid also expressed its discomfort at the positions of “certain elements” of the previous Government, in reference to former minister Ione Belarra.

At that time, the Spanish Foreign Ministry responded with a statement in which it called the Israeli accusations “falsehoods” and emphasized that foreign policy was set solely by Sánchez and Minister José Manuel Albares.

The largest iceberg in the world is on the move again after having spent more than 30 years stranded at the bottom of the ocean, as reported by the BBC this Friday. The iceberg, called A23a, measuring 4,000 square kilometers, separated from the Antarctic coast in 1986, but settled in the Weddell Sea, becoming like an 'ice island'.

Over the past year, experts have observed that it has been drifting rapidly and is now on the verge of breaching Antarctic waters. A23a was formed following a huge break in the Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986, when it housed a now dismantled Soviet scientific research base on its surface.

Because right now?

Expert Andrew Fleming, from the British Antarctic Survey, tells the BBC that he himself asked a couple of colleagues if there could have been some temperature change in the waters that would have caused it to move again after 20 years, “but the consensus was that the time had simply come.”

“It had been stranded since 1986 but over time it was going to lose enough size to lose grip and start moving. “We detected the first movement in 2020,” he explained. In recent months, A23a has been pushed by winds and currents and is now passing through the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Like most icebergs in the Weddell sector, A23a will almost certainly be ejected into the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which will throw it into the South Atlantic on a path that has become a kind of “iceberg alley.”

Scientists will closely monitor the progress of A23a, since if it runs aground in southern Georgia it could cause problems for the millions of seals, penguins and other seabirds that inhabit the island, since its large size would disrupt these species.

The stabbing of four people this Thursday in Dublin, three of them minors, has caused riots in the city, in which “thugs” from the “extreme right” have taken advantage of this incident to attack the Irish Police (Garda), according to sources of the order.

The head of the Garda, Drew Harris, explained that a number of officers have been attacked with fireworks, bottles and other objects in the area where a man stabbed a woman and three minors this Thursday, one of whom was a girl. five years old, is in serious condition.

The police leader described these protests as “shameful” and assured that they are driven by “a faction of hooligans” with “extreme right-wing ideology.”

Harris asked citizens to ignore “the rumors” circulating on social networks about the identity of the attacker, since they are “malicious information” disseminated by groups “for their own purposes.”

The Garda reported this Thursday that the knife attack that occurred in the center of Dublin “is not related to terrorism” and that it could be an “isolated” incident.

The attack

In an appearance before the media, Garda Superintendent Liam Geraghty indicated that the investigation is now trying to establish the reasons why a man in his 50s, arrested at the same place as the attack, stabbed the woman today, the three minors and he also injured himself with a knife.

The police official explained that the suspect attacked a number of people shortly after 1:30 p.m. GMT this Thursday in a busy area in the north of the capital and close to a daycare center.

Among the injured are a five-year-old girl who is in “serious condition” and a woman in her 30s, a school worker, who is receiving treatment for “serious injuries”, while the other two minors are out of danger.

According to Geraghty, the alleged aggressor, whose identity has not been revealed, is also hospitalized with stab wounds and is being interrogated to clarify the reasons for the attack, for which he urged citizens to remain calm and “avoid premature trials.”

Everything was prepared this Thursday for the first ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to be put into effect.. However, after ten in the morning, the Israeli bombings on Gaza continued; as they have done every day for almost seven weeks. Contradictory news then arrived about the delay of the truce; increasing uncertainty both in the Palestinian population and in the families of Israeli hostages who saw the return of their loved ones closer.. Finally, Qatar, the main mediator, has announced that the ceasefire will be delayed by one day. The cessation of hostilities will begin at 7:00 a.m. this Friday (6:00 a.m. Spanish peninsular time), although it will not be until 4:00 p.m. when the first 13 kidnapped by Hamas will leave Gaza.

One of the possible reasons for this delay has been the list of hostages and prisoners who will be released.. To close these issues, the head of Mossad (the Israeli intelligence agency), David Barnea, traveled to Qatar on Wednesday night, where he received the list of kidnapped people and handed over the list of Palestinian prisoners. On this Thursday afternoon, the Israeli Government acknowledged that it already had the names of the first batch, so everything indicates that the release will finally be this Friday.. “Designated officials verify the details of the list and are in contact with all families,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

For its part, Qatar has specified that the first 13 hostages will be women and children, taking into account “purely humanitarian” issues, said the Qatari Foreign Minister, Majed al Ansari.. Another of the countries that, together with the Gulf State and the United States, is an active party in the negotiation is Egypt, which has also acknowledged having received the list of hostages and prisoners this Thursday and “hopes” that the ceasefire will begin on Friday. humanitarian.

In total, during the four days of the truce, Hamas is expected to hand over 50 hostages, between 10 and 13 each day, in exchange for a truce in hostilities and the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners who have not been convicted of blood crimes.. The latter, all young or women. Although the agreement is for four days, the signatory parties contemplate that the truce can be extended to a maximum of ten, provided that a minimum of 10 hostages are released each day.. This would imply that up to 150 of the 240 kidnapped people could return to Israel, while the Hebrew State would free up to 300 Palestinians.. The exchange ratio would always be one hostage for every three prisoners.

The al-Qasam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, have also confirmed the start of the truce and have recalled that the pact with Israel includes the entry into the Strip, including the northern part, of between 100 and 300 trucks with food and medical aid, in addition to fuel, essential for the electricity supply and the operation of hospitals. In addition, the Red Cross will be able to visit the hostages who are still being held and will provide them with medical care, something that the Islamist organization has not assured.

Israel has also committed to suspending the flight of surveillance drones over the Strip: six hours a day, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the north, and all day in the south.. This petition seeks to prevent the Israeli Government from locating the hideouts of both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The bombings do not reduce their intensity

With the truce date constantly wavering, the war has continued with the same intensity. This Thursday, Israel “continued to attack terrorists, infrastructure and locate underground posts” of Hamas, the military spokesman said. “During the Army's activities in Gaza over the past day, airstrikes were carried out on more than 300 targets,” including, according to Israel, “military command centers, tunnels, weapons storage and manufacturing facilities, and places of launch of anti-tank missiles.

The Israeli Army reported that the 401st Combat Brigade found “four entrances to tunnels of significant depth” in an area around Jabalia, in the north of the Palestinian enclave, “from which significant mortar launches towards Israel were recorded.” “. “These tunnels used by the Hamas terrorist organization, which are connected to the electrical grid, converged on a central tunnel located in a building linked to a senior Hamas official,” reads the military statement. Israel claims that the city of Jabalia is already “completely surrounded.”

And it was precisely in the refugee camp in this town where the Gaza Ministry of Health, controlled by Hamas, has reported the death of at least 27 people after an Israeli attack against a school managed by UNRWA.. Furthermore, the attacks have not only occurred in the north, but also in the southern town of Khan Yunis. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported this Thursday the death of dozens of people and hundreds of injuries due to the attacks throughout the Strip.

Bombings have also occurred in northern Israel. The Lebanese Shiite militia party Hezbollah fired nearly 50 projectiles this Thursday, being its largest attack since the outbreak of the conflict.. According to Israeli media, two projectiles hit some homes, with no information on casualties at the moment.. Hezbollah had assured on Wednesday that they would join the ceasefire, but when this did not happen, they have continued their attacks on Israel.

Since the Hebrew State declared war on Hamas in response to the murder of 1,200 people and the kidnapping of more than 240, Israeli attacks have killed more than 14,800 Palestinians.. Among them, more than 6,150 minors.