The Civil Protection authority of Iceland declared a state of emergency throughout the territory on November 11 due to the imminent risk of eruption of the Fagradalsfjall volcano, located on the Reykjanes peninsula, in the southwest of the country, after more of 30,000 earthquakes of magnitude greater than 5 since October 25 and a CNN team has traveled to the site to show the volcano and the effects of its immediate eruption from the air.

Flying over the vicinity you can see huge cracks in the roads of Grindavik produced by the pressure of an underground magma flow and, Andri Johannesson, a pilot with the Icelandic Coast Guard, explains that you can see “differences between days” as the cracks They widen and “run to the ocean.”

Likewise, the Coast Guard is on alert all the time: “In case the volcano starts, we will fly over the area to help the people of Waikato,” admits Johannesson.

The consequences could be dire and there are fears that the entire surface of Grindavik will end up completely drowned by lava.

“I can't even imagine…it's just crazy,” says Hrannar Sigurdsson, another of the pilots.

Experts point out that it could be the most destructive eruption in the last 50 years from the same volcano, which last erupted in 2021, and the 4,000 inhabitants of the town of Grindavik have been evacuated because it is feared that its surface will end up completely drowned. by the lava.

A week after the eviction, Icelandic authorities continue to do everything they can to save the city and its infrastructure, such as a geothermal power plant where ground crews are trying to build a level space to protect it.

The mayor of New York, Democrat Eric Adams, has been accused of an alleged sexual assault committed in 1993 in his work environment, when he belonged to the Police Force.

This is stated in a judicial document that was made public this Thursday.. The victim, a woman whose identity has not been revealed, has filed a complaint alleging that she was sexually assaulted by Adams in 1993 while the two worked at the same police station.

The mayor, through a mayoral spokesperson, has rejected all accusations. “My career speaks for itself. It's something that absolutely never happened.. “I don't even remember knowing the person who made these allegations,” he stated in several American media.

The moment in which the alleged victim filed this complaint is not coincidental.. It came hours before an existing legal window in New York state to seek justice for years-old sex crimes expired.

Known as the Adult Survivors Act, the rule has led to thousands more actions against high-profile figures, from Donald Trump to singer Axl Rose to rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Adams was elected mayor of the city in 2021 after serving for several years as Brooklyn borough president. Previously he had been working in the New York Police Department (NYPD) for 22 years. The Democrat has also been the focus of a corruption investigation and his mayoral campaign is also being studied by the FBI for possible links to Turkey.

Rescue teams temporarily interrupted drilling work to rescue 41 workers who were trapped twelve days ago in a tunnel under construction in northern India, after the tunnel boring machine suffered technical problems during the final phase of the operation.

“We have had to pause operation of the machine at this time and some repairs are being carried out. “We will probably enter the next phase in which we will consider other options,” one of the international experts in charge of the rescue, Arnold Dix, told the Indian agency PTI.

This new obstacle casts cold water on the hopes of the authorities, who this morning reported that the operation had entered its final phase and were confident that the rescue would be completed this Thursday.

The workers were trapped in the early hours of November 12 when a section of a tunnel under construction collapsed in the town of Silkyara, in the northern state of Uttarakhand, causing a blanket of debris nearly 60 meters thick.

The rescue plan consists of creating a cavity in the rubble wall large enough to insert a pipe almost a meter in diameter through which the workers can exit.

As space is opened with tunnel boring machines, lengths of pipe of about six meters each are introduced, while expert welders join each end.

Alternative plans

However, the authorities have prepared five alternative plans to reach the workers, which include excavating a vertical tunnel from the top of the mountain that reaches the area where they are located or drilling a rescue tunnel of about 483 meters long from the other side of the mountain.

This was stated this Thursday by Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain, of the National Disaster Management Authority of India, during a press conference in which he assured that “a five-pronged approach is being adopted” and added that workers ” “They are safe and are in a two-kilometer-long stretch inside the tunnel.”

A makeshift hospital with 41 beds, doctors, aid teams, 41 ambulances and helicopters wait outside the tunnel, while rescue teams discuss how they will get the workers out once they reach them.

Director of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Atul Karwal, informed the media that once the last pipeline is installed, the NDRF personnel will slide to the area where the workers are trapped and will pull them out one by one. to one by using stretchers pulled by a rope from the other end of the pipe.

This operation will not, however, be immediate, since the twelve days they have spent trapped in the tunnel, with limited supplies of water and food that the rescuers sent them through a narrow pipe, have weakened them and will require a progressive adaptation to the conditions outside.

This pipe, which was already present before the accident, also serves to supply them with oxygen, while the rescue teams remain in contact with the workers from the day of the collapse using walkie-talkies.

More obstacles

This is not the first time that the rescue has suffered complications. The operators had to stop the operation last night after a metal object obstructed the movement of the pipes, preventing them from being inserted.

They were also forced to replace the machinery last week due to multiple breakdowns and to replace it with the current tunnel boring machine, with greater power.

The broad victory of the far-right PVV party, led by Islamophobe and Eurosceptic Geert Wilders, has taken the Netherlands by surprise, which now faces a puzzle to form a government.. Many parties have ruled out negotiating with the extreme right, but its number of seats prevents it from being cornered into the opposition.

The polls in the days before the elections warned of a rise of the PVV, but continued to place it in second place, after the right-wing liberals VVD, with Dilan Yesilgöz at the head. The electoral result is far from those predictions: the PVV obtains 35 seats, and the VVD 24, placing third in a Parliament of 150 deputies.

In second place is the left-wing bloc formed by the social democrat PvdA and the green GroenLinks, headed by former vice president of the European Commission Frans Timmermans, with 25 seats.. New Social Contract (NSC), party of Christian Democrat Pieter Omtzigt, enters Parliament for the first time with 20 seats.

No party has achieved a sufficient majority to govern alone, but the Netherlands has always been led by coalitions. The current Government, headed by Mark Rutte (VVD), is made up of four parliamentary groups.

The Netherlands now opens a stage of negotiations, and as the PVV has achieved the greatest number of seats, Wilders has the priority to bring these talks to a successful conclusion.. He could achieve a majority with VVD and NSC, which would add 79 seats in a three-party cabinet, but Yesilgöz and Omtzigt have already said that “it will not be easy” and that they are not willing to have him as head of government.

With the support of the BBB farmers' party's 7 seats, an eventual coalition with the centre-right would give Wilders a commanding majority of 86 seats.

Timmermans has already made it clear that he will not govern with the extreme right, so if Wilders fails, the left could try to negotiate a government with the VVD and NSC, in addition to the left-liberals D66, which, despite having suffered a setback electoral, they maintain 10 of their 24 seats. The four would total 79, if the polls are confirmed, which has a margin of error of one seat.

“This is the time to defend democracy and the rule of law,” Timmermans said.

Legal and constitutional framework

In his first speech after learning these results, Wilders asked the other parties to give in to form a government with him and warned that the PVV could no longer be cornered in the opposition because that would be “very undemocratic” and “voters would not accept it.” .

Before the crowd that attended the PVV election night in the coastal neighborhood of Scheveningen, in The Hague, Wilders assured that he was ready to be the leader of “all the Dutch” and find solutions “within the legal and constitutional framework.”

“The hope of the Netherlands is that people take their country back. “That the asylum tsunami is limited, that more money reaches citizens' wallets,” said Wilders, who considered that “the voter has spoken” and the PVV will make sure to “prioritize the interests of the Dutch” in the next legislature. .

Since its founding in 2006, the PVV has proposed a referendum on the Netherlands' exit from the European Union (Nexit), as well as the closure of mosques, the banning of the Koran, and the application of a strict policy against immigration and asylum, points that led multiple parties to exclude him as a partner during the campaign.

However, one week before the elections, Wilders assured that his priority is no longer to avoid the “Islamization” of the Netherlands and that the Dutch “have more important problems”, in a nod to Yesilgöz, who had not ruled him out as a partner.. The PVV soared in the polls after these statements by Wilders.

After casting his vote this Wednesday, Wilders reiterated that promise: “I want to be prime minister of everyone in the Netherlands, regardless of origin or religion.”

Muslim and Moroccan immigrant organizations in the Netherlands showed their concern after the victory of the extreme right. “The anguish and fear are very great,” said Habib el Kadouri, of the Association of Dutch-Moroccans (SMN).

“We can do nothing but cling to the Constitution that mentions equality and religion as rights,” added Muhsin Köktas, from a contact body between the Muslim community and the Dutch government (CMO).

The president-elect of Argentina, Javier Milei, invited the president of the United States, Joe Biden, to his inauguration on December 10, but he declined due to agenda issues, Diana Mondino, head of foreign policy at La Libertad, reported this Wednesday. Keep it up.

“It was a very kind communication,” the elected representative assured the media in the vicinity of the Libertador hotel, Milei's bunker for several weeks.. Mondino regretted that Biden could not attend Milei's first act as the new president of Argentina.

Asked if the US president has already invited Milei to visit the United States, Mondino limited herself to confirming that the new president plans to visit several countries in the coming months.. “There are issues to discuss everywhere,” he said.

According to Mondino, Milei and Biden talked about the agreement for the release of fifty hostages by Hamas in the war with Israel.

The Argentine congratulated Biden for the United States' mediation between Israel and Hamas, which also involves a four-day “humanitarian truce” in the Gaza Strip. Milei condemned Hamas attacks during the election campaign and reaffirmed his support for Israel, even displaying that country's flag at several events.

In addition, Mondino reported that Milei and Biden also discussed energy and food. On this last point, the representative commented that Argentina could “contribute to the world's food security.”

The White House confirms it

The White House confirmed the call in a statement in which it detailed that Biden congratulated Milei on her election and applauded “the strength of Argentina's institutions.”

Both leaders discussed “the importance of continuing to build the solid relationship between the United States and Argentina” on economic and cooperation issues and on shared priorities such as the protection of human rights, food insecurity and investment in clean energy, he added.

The US Government statement does not refer to Milei's invitation to Biden to visit Argentina.

Biden, 81, will run for re-election in the United States, which will hold presidential elections in November next year.

Among the Republican candidates who could face Biden in the race for the White House is former President Donald Trump (2017-2021), an ally of Milei and for whom the Argentine economist has had very complimentary words.

The Italian Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida, stopped a high-speed train this Tuesday to get off at an unscheduled station on the route and thus arrive on time for an inauguration.. This act has outraged the opposition, which has requested his appearance in Parliament.

The train, which was two hours late, made an improvised stop on the outskirts of Rome so that Lollobrigida, brother-in-law of the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, could get off, according to the newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano.

“The stop in Ciampino has not meant any further delays for travelers, nor repercussions on traffic, nor additional costs for the company,” Trenitalia said in a statement, in which it explains the technical failure that caused delays in all connections between Rome and southern Italy.

According to the public company, the train stopped shortly after leaving Rome Termini station “due to what was happening on the line” and a detour was agreed so that it could make a planned stop in Naples before its destination. final.

“After the resumption, the stop was arranged at the Ciampino station, where the institutions present on board got off, in order to comply with institutional commitments,” the company indicated. The justifications, however, have not served to calm the spirits of the opposition parties, who also highlight that the institutional act consisted of the inauguration of an urban park.

“Not everyone can afford to stop a train. Lollobrigida's behavior seems arrogant and unworthy to me,” criticized the opposition leader. Elly Schlein has indicated that she has asked him to appear in Parliament to give explanations.

For his part, the former Prime Minister of Italy and current leader of the centrist Italia Viva party, Matteo Renzi, announced that if the facts are confirmed “he will ask for Lollobrigida's resignation in parliament.” “Ministers can use state vehicles but they cannot stop trains for all citizens,” Renzi said, calling the action “an unprecedented abuse of power.”

In recent months, Lollobrigida has been the protagonist of other controversies, such as when he stated that Italy could not “give in to the idea of ethnic substitution” to maintain its economic and social system.

The elected president of Argentina, Javier Milei, offered to the president of Ukraine, Volodímir Zelenski, that Argentina host a peace summit on the war between the European country and Russia, reported this Wednesday Diana Mondino, head of foreign policy for the La Libertad party. Keep it up.

The elected representative of Milei's party expressed Argentina's interest in hosting this meeting on the conflict, the first to be held in Latin America.. “We offer to be the headquarters if it is appropriate,” Mondino assured the media in the vicinity of the Hotel Libertador, Milei's bunker for weeks.

The Ukrainian president thanked Milei for his country's “clear support” in the context of the Russian military invasion in a message published on the social network will happen on December 10. “No ambiguity between good and evil. Simply clear support for Ukraine. We Ukrainians are aware and appreciate it very much,” Zelensky said in his post.

The relationship between Latin American countries and the Ukrainian Government has been complex since the start of the war.

kyiv has invited leaders such as the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to visit the country on numerous occasions, but so far has not been able to do so.

In the case of the outgoing Executive, led by the Peronist Alberto Fernández, Zelensky's efforts have involved the search for a clearer position condemning Russian aggression on the part of Argentina.

Milei, who has called Russian President Vladimir Putin an “autocrat,” has been highly critical of Fernández's policy regarding the war in Ukraine and during the campaign opened the door to greater cooperation between the two countries.

The transition to the new 'Milei era' this Wednesday had markedly diplomatic overtones. In addition to Zelensky, the president-elect held talks with the US president, Joe Biden; the Chilean, Gabriel Boric; and the Peruvian, Dina Boluarte.

A vehicle exploded this Wednesday on a bridge over the border between the United States and Canada, near Niagara Falls.. At least two people have died after the explosion and one has been injured, according to the local newspaper Niagara Gazzette.. At the moment it is unknown if the event was provoked or if it was an accident.

Both CNN and FoxNews agree that the explosion was caused by a car bomb and Canadian opposition leader Pierre Poilievre has described the event as a “terrorist attack.” The US authorities are investigating the explosion but, however, no source has confirmed so far that a terrorist motive was behind it.. More forceful has been the governor of the state of New York, Kathy Hochul: “Based on what we know at this moment, and I repeat that everything can change, there are no signs of terrorist activity with respect to this crash.”

Apparently, the vehicle that exploded was trying to enter the United States from Canada over the Rainbow Bridge, which rises over the famous falls.. According to the aforementioned newspaper, the vehicle accelerated, knocked down a fence separating the two directions and moments later the explosion was felt.. However, this media has not said that it was a car bomb.

For its part, The New York Times has reported that, according to the preliminary investigation, the car did not contain explosives.. The investigators cited by the media believe that the explosion could have been the result of the impact of the collision.. The same sources also indicated that a suitcase that did not contain explosives was found near the vehicle.

According to FoxNews, the two people who died were the occupants of the vehicle that exploded, while the local newspaper Niagara Gazzette states that the injured person is a border agent.. As indicated by the Canadian authorities, both the Rainbow and three other bridges that link the United States with Canada are closed in both directions.. Additional security measures have also been taken “at all border crossings in the country.”

Both the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, and the Minister of Public Safety, Dominic LeBlanc, have said that “the situation is very serious”. Trudeau has also expressed that he is in permanent contact with the US authorities to “continue receiving information and working on this very serious situation.”. For his part, LeBlanc indicated that he cannot give more details about what happened because “the situation is evolving rapidly” and the authorities have received contradictory information.. Joe Biden's Government has not yet commented on the matter.

“I have been informed about the situation that occurred at the Rainbow Bridge in Buffalo,” said Hochul, who also assured that the state police are actively working with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force to monitor all entry points to NY. “State agencies are on site and ready to help,” he added.

“I am traveling to Buffalo to meet with authorities and emergency services and will update New Yorkers when more information is available,” Hochul said on his X account, formerly Twitter. Meanwhile, the federal government in Washington has reported that the president, Joe Biden, “had been informed” and that he and his team were closely following the investigations.

The local media Buffalo News cites “a source with knowledge of what happened” and assures that the driver of the damaged vehicle entered the bridge at high speed and invaded a road in the opposite direction, before colliding with a barrier set up by the Traffic Service. Customs and exploit. A video that began to circulate shows the white car entering the border area at full speed, and a witness cited by the Canadian media claims that it was going “at 200 kilometers per hour.”