Internacionales
Husband of the deceased after eating at a Disney store rejects arbitration requested by the company because he had joined Disney+
The family of a woman who died in 2023 due to an allergic reaction after eating at a Disney restaurant in Florida, USA, rejected on Thursday a request from the company to dismiss the lawsuit, based on an agreement that favors arbitration in case of conflicts and that was contained in documents when her husband accessed the Disney+ streaming service in 2019.
Kanokporn Tangsuan, a doctor at a New York hospital, died in October 2023 due to a severe allergic reaction to nuts and dairy products after eating at a restaurant at the Disney Spring shopping center in Orlando.
Tangsuan had gone to dinner with his husband Jeffrey Piccolo, and his mother, on the night of October 5 at the Raglan Road Irish Pub restaurant, as described in the lawsuit filed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Orange County (Florida).
According to the complaint, which alleges death by negligence against Disney, the woman had asked in the restaurant several times about the ingredients of the dinner warning about her allergies.
The doctor succumbed without being able to breathe after several minutes of eating and died in a hospital center due to “anaphylaxis due to the high levels of dairy and nuts in her system,” says the lawsuit about the results of the autopsy.
Her husband sued Disney for damages and requested a jury trial.
However, according to the entertainment company, the case should continue through arbitration, out of court, alluding to Piccolo’s Disney+ account and to avoid the high costs of the trial.
Disney bases its defense on the fact that Piccolo accepted a similar language of arbitrating “all disputes” against The Walt Disney Company or its affiliates not only when accessing Disney+, but also when he bought tickets for the park online in September 2023.
“There is simply no reading of the Disney+ Subscriber Agreement that supports the notion that Mr. Piccolo agreed to arbitrate claims that arose from injuries suffered by his wife in a restaurant located in facilities owned by a Disney theme park or resort and that finally led to her death,” the family’s defense detailed, according to the NPR channel.
Internacionales
Rubén Gallego says U.S. policy may push for Cuba regime change under Trump administration
Democratic Senator Rubén Gallego said on Friday in Madrid that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has an “obsession” with Cuba and suggested that the administration of President Donald Trump is determined to change the Cuban government by any means necessary.
Speaking in Spanish during a meeting with journalists at the Elcano Royal Institute for International and Strategic Studies, Gallego said he believes there could be an attempt to alter the Cuban government, potentially through military or other non-democratic means.
“I think there will be an attempt to change the government of Cuba, it could be through the military or in another way,” said Gallego, who is of Mexican-Colombian origin.
The Arizona senator argued that Cuba does not represent a threat to the United States, describing it as “a very poor island of nine million people.” However, he acknowledged the significant political influence of Cuban-Americans and of Secretary of State Marco Rubio within the current Trump administration.
Gallego also expressed opposition to U.S. military interventions aimed at overthrowing foreign governments, stating that such actions are unacceptable, particularly when their objective is regime change.
He noted that “almost 99% of Democrats” oppose any military intervention in Cuba.
The senator also referred to the U.S. operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on January 3, stating that although Maduro is “a horrible and very corrupt man,” this does not justify overthrowing governments through force.
“If we start arguing that a president is a criminal, what prevents China from saying the same about Taiwan or other nations?” he warned.
Gallego further described the political transition process in Venezuela as a “failure,” arguing that little has changed in terms of governance outcomes.
“We went from one dictator to another, so from a geopolitical and strategic point of view it has been a failure, until we see whether Venezuela achieves a real democratic transition,” he said, referring to Maduro’s replacement by Delcy Rodríguez.
Internacionales
Ecuador extends state of emergency amid escalating violence and crime crackdown
Since taking office in November 2023, Ecuador’s president Daniel Noboa has repeatedly declared states of emergency as part of his campaign against organized crime groups, which have turned Ecuador into one of the most violent nations in Latin America, with a homicide rate of 54 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2025, according to official data.
In response to rising insecurity, Noboa declared an “internal armed conflict” in 2024, allowing the military to be deployed on the streets. The move has drawn criticism from human rights organizations, which have raised concerns over alleged abuses by security forces.
Through a decree issued on Thursday, the president extended the state of emergency in several coastal provinces — Guayas, Manabí, Esmeraldas, Santa Elena, and El Oro — key transit routes along the Pacific where around 70% of cocaine shipments from Colombia and Peru pass through.
The measure also applies to nine provinces in total, including Pichincha, home to the capital Quito, as well as four additional areas where violence remains concentrated.
Under the decree, the government has suspended certain constitutional rights, including the inviolability of the home and private correspondence.
Earlier this week, a nighttime curfew imposed in Guayas, Los Ríos, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, and El Oro came to an end. The curfew had been part of a broader offensive against organized crime, supported by United States.
Internacionales
Major winter storm threatens “catastrophic” ice and snow across much of the U.S.
A major winter storm is threatening to blanket large portions of the United States with a dangerous mix of freezing rain and heavy snowfall, potentially creating “catastrophic” conditions across areas home to nearly 160 million people.
Several U.S. states have declared a state of emergency as the Arctic blast advances from the California coast across much of the continental United States, affecting central regions, including the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains, according to forecasts.
The National Weather Service warned the storm could cause a “catastrophic accumulation of ice,” leading to prolonged power outages, widespread tree damage, and extremely dangerous or impassable travel conditions.
Meteorologist Ryan Maue cautioned that “the next 10 days of winter will be the worst in 40 years in the United States.”
“Think about where you can go, what you can do, and who may need even more help to survive the coming week. This is not an exaggeration or a joke,” Maue said.
He urged residents to prepare for temperatures dropping below -18°C (0°F).
More than 1,500 weekend flights had already been canceled, according to flight tracker FlightAware, including numerous flights in Texas.
In the southern state, many residents still recall the devastation caused by a similar storm in February 2021, which resulted in more than 200 deaths linked to hypothermia, carbon monoxide poisoning, and traffic accidents.
Texas authorities have assured the public that the power grid, which suffered widespread failures during that storm and left millions without electricity, is better prepared to withstand the extreme weather this time.
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